Ethan Charming was trying to formulate an apology when he saw his older brother, Chad, approaching. He instantly frowned. Chad had been mad at him the moment he slipped and said his best friend was a Vk. The two of them had been fighting since yesterday.

Ethan didn't like it when he made people angry, especially his brother. But no one ever stood up to him, not even Chad, and their parents couldn't help since they were always at their castle. Alex stood up to him. He was so cool! He scared four boys, he made it in the Tourney Team and he always looked so intimidating when people looked at him. He stayed with Ethan and even treated him as an equal! He wasn't going to listen to his brother and destroy probably the best friendship he ever had.

Ethan prepared to tell Chad to go away, but before he could even open his mouth, his brother picked Alex up and threw him in the pool.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled. "Get him out! Get him out! He can't swim!"

His collages started looking their way and one or two even gasped.

"He is dangerous and you shouldn't even stay near him!" Chad yelled, ignoring what his little brother was saying.

"Chad, he can't swim! Get him out!"

Paula, one of Ms Potts daughter, ran forward and helped Ethan get Alex out of the water. Chad narrowed his eyes and tried to move him away from the Vk, but his brother shocked him and everyone there when he pushed Chad away from him. People starred at Ethan, his brother included as he went and brought Alex a towel. They didn't expect him to have that much strength. Chad almost fell on his butt!

"Are you okay?" he asked Alex.

His friend spitted some water. "Sure. I just almost died. Nothing unusual."

What scared Ethan was how serious Alex was when he said that.

Alex glared at Chad, but he didn't growl. He was probably too tired to do that. Ethan didn't doubt that. He fell in the deepest part of the pool.

"Is this really how you treat people here?" Alex suddenly snapped, but he didn't turn again to look at Chad, he was looking at his wet clothes. "'Cause if yes, then maybe the Isle and Auradon are not so different after all."

In that moment every whisper stopped. Ethan could hear everyone's breathing, but Alex didn't seem to notice. He just looked annoyed that his forearm guards got wet.

He took the right one off and everyone saw the scars on his wrist. This time it was like in a movie. Everyone gasped at the same time, making Alex stop trying to take the water out of the cloth and look up.

"What? What happened now?" he asked annoyed.

Ethan never actually questioned him about his forearm guards. They went from right under his elbow, down the forearm and a little around his thumb, completely hiding his wrist. He thought it was just something to complete his Isle style, but it was actually to hide his scars. They were so many he couldn't even count them. His wrist was completely white from the scars. They were smaller and larger and longer, two or three were going from his wrist or thumb to his elbow.

Everybody was frozen, looking horrified.

"What happened?" Ethan asked quietly, but in the total silence Alex heard him perfectly.

His friend just looked at him confused, which worried Ethan even more. He finally realized they were looking at his right hand.

"Oh." Alex said. He tried to give Ethan a small smile. "Gee. If you act like that for only this, I guess I shouldn't take the other off." Alex continued, trying to enlighten the mood a little.

No success. Ethan actually looked more horrified.

"What's going on here?" the teacher finally came and Alex scrambled to get his forearm back on.

He took his beanie off and tried to get the water out. He shook his head, resembling a wet dog in the other student's eyes. His head was freezing.

Chad used the opportunity to speak.

"The Vk jumped into the pool, Ms. Evans. He knew it was against the rules and he still did!" So what if the little brat got a few scars? He probably deserved them.

Ethan's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his brother would lie like that! They were supposed to be the good guys! The heroes!

"Is that so?" the teacher said looking at Alex and Ethan was horrified to see that his friend didn't look like he was going to even try and say something in his defense.

Suddenly, it clicked.

He knows it won't matter.

And Chad knew it, too. Who was Ms. Evans going to believe? It was Chad Charming against a villain.

And Ethan knew his collages. They weren't brave enough to say something against Chad.

"Whatever." Alex said and got up. "But I'm not gonna get a lecture while I'm wet." He said and walked out of the room, not bothering to look at anyone.

"Mister Gothel! You cannot leave like that! This is not how this school works." The teacher yelled, but Alex ignored her.

Ethan watched him go while Chad looked smug. He couldn't let his friend down like that. It wasn't right.

"You're a liar!" he yelled and everyone turned to stare at him. Chad's eyes widened when he saw who Ethan was looking at. "Chad pushed him into the water! I saw it! He lied!"

"He jumped Ethan! You didn't see it clearly." Chad yelled, trying to convince the teacher.

"He didn't! He doesn't even know how to swim!"

"Ethan's right!" Paula suddenly exclaimed and a few kids started to nod.

Chad started chuckling nervously. "He lives on an Isle, of course he knows-"

"An Isle with a barrier around it, remember?!" Ethan suddenly snapped, making Chad take a step back.

The teacher turned to Chad. "Is that true Mister Charming?" By the look in her eyes, Chad knew he was in deep trouble.

Alex slapped his wet beanie back on his wet head as he continued walking. He was tired of everyone and everything in this place, annoyed by how clueless this princes and princesses are, angry at Chad Stupid Charming and above all, he was wet!

He passed Mal and Ben, who stopped talking as he passed by.

"Alex?"

"Why are y-"

"Don't ask. Do punch Tall Charming when you see him." He said and continued walking, not seeing Mal's eyes flash green.

Alex swore as he looked at his still wet arm guards. You'd think he'd have at least one more pair with him, but he forgot his only spare at Dizzy's shop.

Someone knocked on the door and he rolled his eyes. How stupid could someone be to bother him while he was in this mood?!

He huffed and opened the door, ready to yell at whoever was to beat it, but he stopped when he saw Misses Evans. He wanted to growl at her. She deserved to be growled at, but he didn't want to go back to the Isle. Not yet.

He didn't trust himself to open his mouth and say hi. Fortunately, he didn't need to.

"I came to announce you that Mister Charming will be punished for that little stunt he did an hour ago and that I'll talk with Fairy Godmother to allow you to do something else next time the class goes to the Pool." She announced, pretty formal.

Alex could do nothing but stare at her. He seriously doubted that Chad admitted he pushed him in the pool.

Misses Evans' eyes sparkled for a moment, but Alex wasn't sure if it was from anger or happiness or something else.

"Your collages made sure I heard the whole truth after you left, but you should thank Ethan Charming the most though." She said and left.

Alex still didn't say anything.

Ethan protected HIM?

He never would have expected that. Why would he do it? Dizzy would. But why Ethan? They barely knew each other for two days!

It felt good. Alex decided. To know that there is someone in Auradon who would have his back. His friends couldn't risk doing too much and he understood them. He couldn't risk doing too much for them, either.

He sighed. He should probably find Ethan and thank him.

And looking at the clock, he should probably go and help Ben with Carlos, too.

Or Carlos with Ben. He couldn't be sure.

Ben was looking at the watch while he waited for Carlos to come. If he finished here early he would have about 15 minutes to go and figure out why Alex was wet a few hours ago and why Chad suddenly got detention and a pretty nasty bruise on his arm.

"Hey." A voice said behind him, making him jump.

He turned and saw Alex there with an amused smirk on his face.

"Hey." He said. Maybe he wouldn't need to go and talk with Fairy Godmother after all. "How are you doing?"

"Great."

"Do you want to train with us?"

Alex made a face. "I think I had enough training for one day. But I was planning to tag along."

The tone of his voice told Ben that he wouldn't take no for an answer. Not that he would have said no anyway, he really did want to talk with Alex. And figure out if he was going mad or not, because he couldn't get the similarities of him and his brother out of his head.

"Awesome." He said and then he turned to Carlos, who was just coming towards them. "Okay Carlos, we're going start with some sprints, okay?" he yelled and he and Alex moved a little further.

Carlos nodded and prepared to run. Ben took out the chronometer and watched with the corner of his eye as the kid looked at it curiously.

"Okay…. Go!"

Just then Alex heard a growl.

"What's that?" he asked taking a defensive stance, but Ben was too busy with the chronometer to notice.

Alex and Carlos spotted it at the same time.

A dog was chasing Carlos, barking. Alex felt his blood freeze. His friend started screaming and running even faster.

"Oh! Ah! No, wait!"

Ben was still oblivious.

"Sweet!" he praised, looking at the time.

"Carlos!" Alex yelled and ran after him.

"Carlos?"

"AHH!"

Ben couldn't believe how fast they were. Especially Alex.

Carlos climbed a tree while still screaming.

"Alex! Ben, help! Alex!"

Alex ran and planted himself between Carlos and the dog. The Gaston twins put their hunting dogs to attack him as often as they could. They were much bigger and dangerous looking than this one. If he could fight them and survive, he could certainly fight this one, too. Especially if it was for Carlos.

Ben finally made it to them when he heard Alex growl and he froze. But not from fear.

Because he knew that growl. It was his father's growl. He only heard it once or twice, but he was sure it was the same.

He was snapped out of his thought when he heard Carlos screaming.

"Ben! Help me! This thing is a killer!" He yelled from the tree, pointing at Dude. "He's gonna chase me down and rip out my throat. This is a viciousrabid pack animal!"

"Hey, hey. Who told you that?" Ben asked incredulously. Dude wasn't even barking anymore.

"My mother." He said in a 'duh' tone.

"Cruella?" Ben asked surprised.

"She's a dog expert. A dog yellerer!"

Ben picked Dude up. Alex froze in his fighting stance and looked at him with wide eyes. The same blue eyes that kept haunting him for the past few days.

"Why are you holding him?! He's gonna attack you!" Carlos screamed and Alex looked like he wanted to yell the same thing.

"Carlos, you've never actually met a dog, have you?" Ben asked gently.

"Of course not."

"Dude meet Carlos, Carlos, this is Dude." Ben presented."He's the campus mutt." He added.

"…He doesn't look like a vicious rabid pack animal." Carlos said and slowly got down from the tree. "Jeez. You're a good boy, aren't you? You're a good boy." He said taking Dude in his arms.

When nothing bad happened, Alex dropped his arms and quickly moved closer, trying to get a better look. He looked so much younger now.

Ben's heart actually melted when he saw with how much wonder he looked at something as common as a dog. Exactly how bad were things on the Isle?

He took Alex in his arms and he felt him freeze, but he relaxed quickly after he saw that Ben did nothing more than pick him up so he can look at the dog better. Dude licked Alex's cheek and Ben chuckled.

Hey Snowflakes!

I hope you like the new chapter and please continue to review and tell me what you think. Next update will probably be about Ben and his parents and how they'll discover the truth. Who's excited?

Frostbite out