Here you are :) getting closer to some backstories being revealed! Be prepared, and enjoy! :P

The next day at school passed relatively quietly. Kendall had spoken to Carlos that morning, saying that if he wasn't provoked, he would no longer try to get him into trouble at school. They met in a sort of rocky compromise, shaking hands before marching into school like they were the kings, and not the outcasts. James shook his head in bewilderment and walked after them. At lunch, the three sat together and swapped some snacks and class stories amongst themselves, laughing and joking. For about five minutes, James decided to pretend that he was the only teenager living in his mother's house, that these were his friends he saw at school every day, that he sometimes invited over. Sometimes they invited him over too. Carlos' mom was quiet but very sweet, always looking to please everybody. And Kendall's parents were . . . hmm. Cold, somewhat. But Kendall made up for it with his sparkly personality, and those dimples.

James walked out of school in a sort of dazed state.

"Me and Kendall are going to get some stuff on the way home," Carlos said to James as he felt. "Mom said she wanted strawberry ice-cream and salted crackers . . . who knows why. We're gonna get some other stuff too, she gave us funds for it. Do you want to come?"

James thought about it for a second or two, glancing back and forth between them. Then he shook his head. "Nah, you guys go. I'll just head home." He watched them leave in the other direction, talking together almost as if they were in their own secret bubble. Was there something going on between them?

James sighed and headed off to catch the bus.

"You're kidding me!" Kendall spluttered, hand clutching his side as he nearly doubled over with laughter. "He actually said that?"

Carlos nodded, laughing loudly as they neared the corner store. "Yeah, and he had a deadly serious expression on too! Like telling me that I was a complete buffoon who needed a good talking to was a completely common thing for one student to say to another."

"He's just jealous, he probably studies at the weekends while you . . ." He stopped. "Um . . . what do we do on weekends?"

Carlos shrugged. "Whatever we feel like, I guess. Cause havoc, sit at home and act like civilised human beings, whatever floats the boat."

Kendall chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so."

They reached the store, walking past the cars at the gas pumps and making their way to the door. A gang of five boys about their age stood off to the side, passing some cigarettes between them. "Hey," one of them called to the two. "Wanna come have a smoke?" Another of them chuckled.

"Nah, we're good," Carlos called back nonchalantly, turning away and walking into the store, Kendall following him. "Okay, so I get the ice-cream and you get the crackers?"

Later on, Carlos was puzzling over the freezer when Kendall came to join him, packet of salted crackers in hand. "Having trouble reading the labels?" Kendall teased.

"No," Carlos retorted. "There's just about a million different kinds."

Kendall looked down into the freezer. Carlos was right; this store had an unusually large selection of diabetic-friendly, dairy-free, and just regular ice-cream of many many different brands. "Here," Kendall said, choosing a tub. "This one is nice; I used to eat it when I was a kid and my throat hurt. My mom would treat me to it."

"Okay, cool. Maybe we can get some more, just for the house?" Carlos picked out three more different flavours and balanced them in his arms. "Let's go pay and head back, maybe we can catch the next bus before it leaves."

They paid for their groceries and Kendall carried them in a plastic bag. As they left the store, a voice caught their attention. "Hey, blondie!"

Kendall and Carlos turned to see the boys from before. One of them sloped forwards, hands in his pockets. "So, obviously your friend isn't interested, but do you wanna come hang out with us?"

"With you?" Kendall looked thoughtful, glancing behind the boy at the rest of his gang. Carlos could sense he was probably trying to spot anyone he might be interested in.

"Yeah." The gang, and the boy in front, were smirking. "It'll be fun, come on."

Carlos looked from Kendall's face, to the guy's face, to his friends, and back to Kendall. He was no genius but he still had five senses and could use them fairly easily. "Kendall, I don't think that's a good idea . . ."

The stranger laughter. "Oh look, it's the stick in the mud!"

Carlos scowled, because he was not a stick in the mud. But he looked at Kendall, who turned to glance at him too. He tried to use the look in his eyes to plead with Kendall to see reason. Kendall looked like he was considering it. But then the boy rested a hand on his arm and the gaze was broken. And Carlos could tell Kendall was slowly reverting to the other side.

"Do you always do what your friends tell you, Kendall?" the boy asked.

Kendall shrugged. "No, not always." Then, to everyone's amazement, he turned around, groceries in hand, and walked off. "Come on, Carlos. Don't wanna let this stuff melt."

Carlos jogged after, unable to keep the amazed mp smile off his face. "Wow," he joked as they neared the bus stop. "I guess miracles do happen."

"Don't get too comfortable," Kendall said, rolling his eyes and sitting on the bench, taking out his change.

James walked into the estate, hand holding onto the strap of his backpack. He was almost at his house, and dreading the amount of English homework he had to do, and wondering who the hell is future brother or sister's father was, when he suddenly heard a tiny whimper.

Then James suddenly spotted a flicker of movement and turned to glance at the other side of the quiet street. He frowned when he saw a small thin dog nuzzling at an empty Chinese food carton on the sidewalk. He recognised it immediately as the little dog he'd seen before, walking with that old man. He glanced left and right, seeing the street was still empty. He darted up the path into his house and headed straight for the kitchen, opening the fridge. The first thing he spotted was a cardboard box with Kendall's leftover pizza from the previous night. He picked it up and ran back outside. Sure it was cold, and wasn't exactly dog food. But the poor thing was so starving, he didn't think it would matter.

Stepping outside and seeing the dog was still there, he let out a shrill whistle before, "Here boy! Come here!"

The dog's head snapped, up, ears pricked up slightly. James slowly made his way towards him, going down onto his knees and crawling the last couple of feet when the dog cowered slightly. "Hey, I've got something for you." He opened the box and slid a pizza slice across the sidewalk towards him.

The dog took a small step forward, sniffing the food apprehensively. James just knelt there and watched him, until the dog opened his mouth wide and practically swallowed it whole, licking his lips and looking up hopefully. James chuckled, taking out another slice and breaking it into pieces. "Don't go so fast this time." He tossed the pieces onto the ground and the dog crawled forward, gobbling them down one by one.

James moved the box aside and took out the last two slices, putting one down on the ground by his knees. The dog looked up at him as if he hoped he would push the food forward. But when he didn't, the dog moved forward and ate that too. When James gave him the last piece, he slowly reached out and placed the palm of his hand tenderly on the dog's head. The animal started, darting back and looking at him with scared eyes. James inched forward again, slowly reaching out and repeating the action, before gently stroking the dog's head. The dog's tail began to wag a little. James grinned down at him. "Good boy."

The dog nuzzled his head up against James' hand, and James kept petting him gently. His fur was coming off in chunks, and he could see the outline of the animal's ribs. He felt angry at that man, who had the nerve to neglect anything so much it fell into this state. He hoped he'd never had any children. He'd make James' father look like an angel.

"What the fuck are you doing with my dog?!"

James leaped back in fright, landing on his butt on the sidewalk and staring up in shock. The man hobbled towards him, wrinkled face curled into a nasty scowl. "I-I"m sorry," James stuttered, scooting back on the sidewalk. "I was just—"

"You leave my dog alone or you're gonna be sorry," the man snarled. The dog cowered at James' side. "Lousy good for nothing children . . . come here, you scumbag!"

For a startling moment, James thought that the man was talking to him. Then he saw the dog's ears prick up slightly and realised it.

"Get over here!" the man snarled. "Come on, you piece of shit!"

James started at the man, then at the dog, in horror. Don't go over, don't . . .

But the dog, tail between its legs, walked back to his owner with his head hung low. The man looked at James disdainfully and gave a nasty smile, before turning around and moving off, the dog following him. James just stayed there on the sidewalk, watching with a kind of numb feeling in his chest. He felt disgusted, and disappointed, in both the man and the dog. How could any animal be so loyal that they go back to that kind of treatment?

"Hey, James!"

James turned around with a tired sigh to see Kendall and Carlos making their way towards him, both smiling. Something surprising that did nothing to lift his mood. "You'll never believe what happened," Carlos joked. "Okey, so we were at the store and ran into this gang of guys, about our age and they were all smoking outside the door and asked us if we wanted to join! I said no, then they start going all over Kendall asking him to come along and hang out with them. Now, I could easily see that these guys were trouble—"

Kendall rolled his eyes.

"So I told Kendall this, trying to get him to stay with me. And shocker of the century, he actually did!" Carlos spread his arms out in an attempt to be more dramatic. "It was unbelievable, the impossible had actually come true—"

"Carlos, shush." Kendall was frowning, looking at James intently. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm?"

"You look unhappy, what's wrong?"

"Oh . . ." James sighed and told them about the dog, and how it had gone back to its owner without even hesitating. "I just find it so sickening . . . how could anyone be so cruel to something that trusts them so much?"

"People do it to each other all the time," Carlos shrugged. "That's what soap operas are made of."

"That doesn't make it any better."

"The world is cruel, James, that's all there is to it," Kendall told him. "That's all it is."

"Have you ever had a dog?" James asked them both suddenly.

Carlos shook his head and added, "Never had a pet in my life."

"I had a cat," Kendall replied. "Back when I lived with my parents . . . they're actually not as different to dogs as people would think. He always knew when I was sad, and he was loyal to me. Pretty much my only comfort when I . . ." He trailed off. "When I lived there."

James glanced at Carlos, who was frowning. He frowned too and looked at Kendall. "Kendall . . ." He didn't know that question he wanted to ask the most. Why did your parents give you up? Why did you need comfort? Why is your dad in prison? Why do you act the way you do? Why don't you eat? Why won't you tell us anything?

But before he could ask any or all of it, Kendall glanced towards the house and cut in suddenly, "Where's Logan? Haven't seen him all day."

"We've been out all day." But he suddenly realised, that he hadn't seen Logan. They'd walked into school together, but after that . . . He hadn't even noticed when he was walking home; no sign of Logan.

"Yeah, but I didn't see him in school either." Kendall quirked an eyebrow. "Think he ditched?"

"No way!" Carlos sad incredulously. "Logan would never ditch! I'm the one who ditches!"

"Okay, maybe he's just really good at hide-and-seek then," Kendall shrugged. "I don't have a clue with him, honestly. I share a room with the guy and it's like he's sleeping in the next state."

James shrugged. "Well, let's go inside. He'll show up eventually."

The three of them went inside, going straight into the kitchen. They all gaped at the two sitting at the table; Brooke and Logan. Logan was reading, making no attempt at any conversation. Brooke was chopping up some carrots on the chopping board. "I think I'm getting used to the whole 'cook regularly' idea," she told Logan, who just nodded and kept reading. Then Brooke looked up and saw them. "Oh, boys! I was beginning to think you'd never show! Did you miss the bus?"

The three of them stared at Logan, who looked up at them with a blank expression on his face. Kendall nudged Carlos in the side, who nudged James, who quickly replied, "Yeah, we got asked to stay behind and help move some desks around."

Of course, James knew what that nudge really meant. Kendall saying 'I told you he ditched!' and Carlos passing it on. James, now that he held this message, wasn't sure what to do about it. Tell his mother? On the off chance that she got angry, he didn't want Logan getting into trouble. Ask Logan or confront him about it? But he could already see by the closed off look on Logan's face that he wouldn't reveal anything.

"So, Mom," Kendall said at last, handing Carlos the grocery bag and sitting beside her. "We got your groceries," he said brightly. "What's for dinner? Need any help?"

The night when she left, the boys ate dinner alone in front of the TV and sort of did their homework. Logan did some schoolwork too, but somehow James doubted he'd been assigned to it that particular day. He caught Kendall's eye, and the blond nodded slightly towards Logan and mouthed the word, 'Tomorrow'. James nodded in agreement. Tomorrow, if Logan was going to ditch again, they were going to catch him out. And they were going to find out why.