A/N: Thanks to fareyaWH for reviewing the last chapter.

These first few chapters are going to focus on Jack's building friendship with Alex and Skylar.

Chapter 2

"You're getting better." Tim remarks, holding out his hand.

"Well, you're not the one on the ground now, are you?" Skylar retorts, taking his hand and pulling herself up.

"Man, you've been real sassy since winter arrived." Tim chuckles.

"Dick says it's the cold talking." She shrugs.

They laugh for a few moments. She hears footsteps behind her and turns her head to see Dick walking up with his eyes glued to his watch. "Okay, guys. You did some good practice today. Why don't you take a break?"

The two nod and walk over to the benches. "So, anything new?" she asks, trying to strike up a conversation. It wasn't like she was trying to prevent the moment from being awkward. She was very much comfortable with her brothers. As much as she loved Dick, she enjoyed Tim's company a lot.

He shakes his head, pressing a towel to his face. "Nothing much, just a new freelancer showing up in Gotham." He says.

"Is it a he or a she?" she asks, taking a drink from a water bottle.

"She." He says.

"She any good?" she asks.

"Actually not bad." He comments. "She's actually one of the people we rescued from the Reach four years ago. Her name's Stephanie Brown; goes by Spoiler out in the field." He turns to her. "How about you? Anything new in your 'average teenage life?'"

She almost chokes trying to hide her smile. He'd always pull this phrase when she'd least expect it. He always did make fun of her double life as a struggling high schooler living with her brother who was the ward of a billionaire and her life as Wonder Girl. Yep, average teenage life. "Nothing new." She grins. "Unless you call getting a new student 'new'."

"Only?" he asks. "Well, enough about personal issues, let's talk about Thanksgiving. It'll be your first as a member of the Wayne family."

"Yeah, I'm excited." She says. "I just can't wait for it to come. Too bad it's two weeks away."

"Well, I can say personally that we're all looking forward to seeing you again. Or at least Alfred is, the rest of us get to see you pretty much every day." He says.

"That's true." She agrees.

"Anyway, good training." He says, packing up his duffel bag and swinging it over his shoulder. "Hopefully we'll have something exciting tomorrow. I'm getting tired of staying in this Cave."

"Never thought I'd say this, but me too." She says. "With our luck we'll get a mission tomorrow."

"Keep praying." He grins, pulling her into a quick hug before heading for the zeta tubes.

Alex pulls a face at the glob of casserole piled on his plate as he walks over to where he usually sits. He's so busy staring at the extremely unappetizing meal that he misses Skylar's eye roll. "Seriously, will you stop with the long face?" she grumbles.

He looks up, placing his plate and sliding down into a chair. "But have you ever eaten something so bad?" he complains.

"I've been here for a year, Alex." She says. "I know exactly how that tastes like. It's not that bad. But," she nonchalantly looks down, "if you wanna leave it and go hungry, well…"

"Okay," he huffs, "I'll eat it." He tries to ignore the obvious smirk on his best friend's face. She grins and takes a bite of her apple, looking around the high school lunchroom.

Ever since she walked through the doors the year before, she had been labeled. She hadn't taken everything that seriously, but it soon showed that separate high school cliques had their own tables. From where she was sitting, she could see a group of huge, buff, muscular guys in Varsity jackets along with girls who wore uniforms with skirts that were a little too short in her opinion (the popular group); jocks and queen bees. She looks over the tables, seeing skaters, choir group, instrumentalists, bands, matheletes, photographers, etc. She looks back down at their table, where she sat alone with Alex, joined occasionally by a person, but that happened very rarely. Alex used to sit with the popular group even though he wasn't a jock, but changed once he met Skylar. They were self-proclaimed loners, open to everybody and not afraid to stand up for anybody.

She blinks once and then sees Jack looking around the room aimlessly. Just as she's about to raise her hand, her eyes catch something about him. The newcomer seemed lost, extremely.

Even I wasn't that lost, and I was raised on an island in the middle of the ocean…

Alex turns around to see what she's staring at, then lifts his arm up and waves. "Jack! Over here!"

The brown haired boy looks at them and his face breaks into a relieved smile. He walks over to their table and places his plate of food on it, sliding into a chair. "Nice of you guys to invite me to eat with you today as well." He smiles.

"Dude, don't mention it." Alex says. "We don't mind at all, right Skylar?" he turns to her and she looks up from her food, smiling at Jack. "Of course, Jack. You're welcome to hang out with us anytime." She shrugs. "Anyway, like my brother always says, three is always better than two."

"Where do you think he got that idea from?" Alex grins.

"Probably Barbara." She replies. "Apparently, she, Bette and Artemis were a pretty formidable trio."

She notices Jack's small yet uncomfortable smile as the two heroes talk among themselves. "Dang it, if Alfred was here he'd kill me." She mentally kicks herself. "Where are my manners? Jack, you should tell us more about yourself."

"Yeah, what was your old school like?" Alex asks; glad to shift the topic of conversation.

"Well, I was…kind of…homeschooled." Jack says, not sure how to put it.

"That's great!" Alex says, happily. "Skylar was homeschooled too before she moved."

"Really?" he asks and she raises her eyebrow. The way he said it was off, like he didn't know kids got homeschooled these days. That guy was getting weirder and weirder.

"Yep, so you two can bond over that while we're here." Alex says.

She chuckles and stands up, picking up her plate. "I'm sure we will, Alex. But for now, I'll have to excuse myself since I have a plate to throw away." Saying so, she walks away. The two guys stare after her for a second before turning to each other.

"She does know how to make an impression, doesn't she?" Jack admires.

"Believe me, she does."

The school bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Jack sent up a silent thank you to the Moon for ending this day. As a 300-something-year-old, he was finding modern study difficult. Hardly there for two days and he was already called out thrice by the teachers.

He was supposed to be the Guardian of Fun. But right now, he wasn't having any fun at all.

"Hey, Jack, wait up!"

He turns around, closing his locker. He looks slightly surprised at Alex who's running up to him. "Oh, hey, Alex. What's up?"

"Skylar and I are meeting up at her house later on." Alex explains. "Wanna join us?"

Jack's eyes widen. "Already? But it's been barely two days…"

"No buts!" Alex cut him off. "Skylar's brother got her that new videogame that's out in stores, and I'm just dying to play it." His phone suddenly rings. Excusing himself, Alex goes a little way away, talking in hushed tones. A few minutes later, he puts the phone down, turns his head and smiles at the brown-haired boy. "So, see you there?"

Jack grins. "I'm there."

"Dude, will you calm down?" Alex hisses.

Jack's head snaps up in surprise. "I'm not sure about this, dude. I mean, she doesn't even know I'm coming. What if…?"

"Skylar won't do anything because she herself said that you were one of us now." Alex cuts in. "It'll be just fine."

He walks up to the door and rings the bell before stepping back. Within a few minutes, the door opens, revealing Skylar.

"Hey Alex, Dick's just gone out to get that game, but he'll be back any second…" it's then she notices Jack standing sheepishly behind Alex. "Oh hey, you brought Jack." She steps aside. "Why don't you guys come in?"

The two walk in and the first thing Jack sees is a huge golden dog running up to him. He watches as Alex bends down to pet the dog. Alex then turns around and gestures to him to come closer. As he bends down and pets the dog, Alex begins to explain. "This is Shiloh, Jack. She's Skylar's dog. I have a dog too. His name's Buddy. He's a little older than Shiloh…"

"Alex, would you quit yapping and let Jack come up already?" Skylar half-groans.

Grumbling, the redhead gets up and follows her into the kitchen where she's opening the fridge.

"Good thing Dick went grocery shopping yesterday." She says. "What do you guys want while we wait for him to get back?"

The two boys exchange looks before turning back to her. "Some juice will be fine." They both say at the same time. She grins before pulling out a carton of juice and three glasses, pouring out the juice quickly and handing each of them a glass. Suddenly, the door opens and a guy walks in with a package under his arm.

"Hey, Skylar, I got that game you and Alex wanted…" He looks up and sees Jack. "Oh, I see we have a newcomer."

Skylar walks over to him. "Dick, that's Jack." She looks at Jack. "Jack, this is my brother, Dick."

Now that he thinks of it, he does see the resemblance. They share the same eyes, bright blue. Even though hers are a lot more captivating…wait, what? He shakes it off and tries to focus. Okay, similarities? Jet-black hair, blue eyes, skin color, basically everything else. Now that he actually sees it, Skylar's more or less the younger, feminine version of her older brother. He then realizes that Dick is still staring at him, and almost cringes at the look he's sending him.

"Um, hi…" he awkwardly says.

Dick turns to Skylar, handing her the game. "Okay," he says, drawing it out, "I'm going to go and do some work. You kids be nice." Saying so, he gives Skylar a quick hug, nods at Alex, and his eyes linger for a moment too long on Jack.

He shuts the door, and Jack releases a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Skylar grins. "Don't worry, he has that effect on everybody." She assures him.

"Yep." Alex agrees. "He wouldn't stop staring me down when I first was introduced to him."

"So, this is normal?" Jack inquires.

Alex and Skylar look at each other before bursting into laughter. "Jack," she says, "you're part of our life now, and our life is anything but normal."

A/N: Okay, sorry for the extreme delay guys, but I've just got the time to sit down and type this out due to a rush of inspiration.

Please tell me what you think of it.