"It's locked." Alexander stepped back.
"Should we try to break in?" Jason turned towards Michael who hadn't said a single word since they had reached Thomas' house.
"Are you nuts? She isn't home. We should just leave." Alexander spoke with his back against the house.

Alex and Jason were still discussing on what to do next when Michael spotted a man watching them from the next house. He quietly moved towards him and it took his friends a minute to realise that he was gone.

"Good evening." The man greeted him as soon as he was in hearing range.
"Yeah, good evening." He replied quietly.
"I guess you're looking here for Mrs. Simpson?" The man gave him a kind smile that for some reason made Michael really happy.
"Yeah. I met her a few weeks ago and she promised she'll tell me if she needs anything. And now the house is locked. Did she tell you where she was going?" He asked with a frown on his face.
"No. She didn't. But I guess she left this city and believe me, it was a good decision she made after her boys' death. It was getting hard for her to cope with his death. She once told me that her mother lives somewhere in Kansas, maybe that's where she went. I think a new start would do her good." The man smiled again.
"Yeah me too." Michael sighed.
"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" The man asked as he saw a woman signal him to come inside.
"No thank you. I'm good. I think you ought to go. Thank you for your time. Goodbye!" Michael managed a smile.
"You're welcome, boy. Goodbye!" The man trotted inside the house waving at the woman inside. Michael chuckled at this and turned around to see Jason and Alex running towards him.

"Whe-where did yah-ya go?" Jason asked, panting.
"Dude, breathe. Your 7-month tummy isn't happy at you running." Michael started walking towards the car and stopped when he realised that they weren't moving. Jason had his hand on his belly and was staring at Alex.
"Am I really that fat?" He asked, with a face so serious it put Phil Ivey's poker face to shame.
"No boy. You're beautiful and everyone who thinks otherwise is blind."  Alex smirked but Jason didn't see that and hugged Alex.
"Now don't kiss me, please." He pushed Jason away and saw him walk towards Michael. Soon the trio was in Alex's car with Jason riding shotgun.

He told them about the conversation he had with Mrs. Simpson's neighbour. They both seemed pretty satisfied with her leaving the town but Michael wasn't. He hadn't expected that, not at all. She just couldn't leave the town without informing anyone. But he had pressing matters to concern about right now. Sean Kern.

In about 40 minutes, they were standing outside his house.
Sean Kern. He would help them. The case would be reopened. Everyone will know that Thomas didn't kill himself. That someone killed him.

"Should we just go in?" Jason asked, as they kept ringing the doorbell. It had been more than a few minutes and no one had came out to see them.
"The door is half-open." Alexander turned to face Michael who was already moving towards the door.
"Damn, I wanted to break a door today." Jason whispered, flexing his muscles, hoping no one heard him.
Michael knocked at the door and shouted asking if anyone was at home. No response. They slowly entered the house and started looking for him.

The house was in a pretty normal state except a room that was supposedly Sean's room. The table was flipped over and the papers were strewn all over the floor. The water was still running in his bathroom and his clothes were neatly placed on the bed.

"Maybe he just left the town too." Jason suggested.
"Leaving the water running and the house unlocked?" Alex saw the problem with this assumption.
"Or he had some important business to attend to so he just left the house like that and will be back in an hour or so?" Jason's assumption made Michael roll his eyes.
"Leaving the house unlocked? Are you out of your mind? No sane person does this. I think he got kidnapped or something like that." Alex said.
"Agreed. The flipped over table and chair. The drop of blood on that paper." Alex and Jason hadn't noticed that before Michael said this.
"Yes, these are the signs of struggling. We should call the police and leave this place." Alexander said and called the police when Michael nodded in agreement with his plan.

They were sitting on the porch when the police arrived. Giving their statements, they left the house and were home before dawn.

Mr. Dixon was standing outside when Alex dropped Michael off his home.
"You didn't go to work today, are you alright?" Mr. Dixon asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"Yeah I was just busy with some schoolwork." Michael paused, "Thanks for asking." He smiled at the old man.
Very unexpectedly, Mr. Dixon hugged him and said, "You've been looking a little stressed lately. If you need any help, you can always ask me. Now get inside and join us for dinner or the old lady will have a mental breakdown."
Michael couldn't help but smile at what Mr. Dixon had said. He used to play with him sometimes and give him extra allowance when he was younger. They only hugged each other on Christmas and never on normal days but it didn't feel weird today. Michael needed it and Mr. Dixon had sensed it.

*********

"And our star is here." Alexander pointed towards the guy (who in fact was a girl) with a hood over his face entering the classroom.
"It isn't him. He skipped our first lecture and I came with Mr. Dixon today. I think he wouldn't even show up at school today." Michael saw the girl settle in the seat in front of them and smirked to himself.
"Someone is really short of attendance so he will have to show up." Alexander laughed.
It had been more than a week since his attempt at annoying Jason failed. The alarm plan hadn't worked so he had to come up with a new one.

"How sure are you that your plan is gonna work?" Alexander asked. The class was about to start and Jason was nowhere to be seen.
"I was at his place last night and I'm sure he uses that shampoo and conditioner everyday. I confirmed with Elise and she says that since Jason has light coloured hair, the plan will surely work." Michael replied, his eyes glued at the door.
"Awesome." Alex grinned and kept on grinning to himself even after Michael had asked him to stop.

The bell had rang fifteen minutes ago and there was still no sign of him. All the seats except the one in front of them were occupied. And then he came. Wearing his hood exactly like the girl in front of them was wearing. He sat with her and ignored them when they tried talking to him.

"1..."

"2..."

"3..."

"Pull!" Michael shouted and the dumbass pulled both the girl and Jason's hood.

A pink head.

A blue head.

Two loud gasps were heard.

Everyone stopped and stared at them.

"Can I take a picture?"

"DAMN! You both are actual couple goals!"

"Jason dyed his hair pink to support his girlfriend!"

"When did they start dating?

Jason turned to see the girl sitting next to him. A very familiar face. Melissa? Probably. Her cheeks weren't that red when they'd met before. Maybe she's embarrassed right now.

The whole class kept on shouting about them and his friends were laughing their asses off behind them.

"This is the best thing I've ever done." Michael spoke as soon as he could stop himself from laughing.
"You are dead." Jason said, if the situation wasn't all too funny, the threat would've scared someone.

The laughter died as soon as Mr. Smith entered the classroom. He stopped when he caught sight of the colourful heads and his eyes widened but he quickly returned to his normal poker face. The lecture started and everyone almost forgot about what had happened.

After half the lecture was over, Mr. Smith gave them a break and the blue-haired girl turned around to take something out of her bag.

"Hey I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. It was just for Jason and not you. I didn't want to pull your hood like that." Alex said to her.
"It's ok. I couldn't hide it forever. I'm just a little short of confidence, that's it." The girl replied smiling.
"I think I have seen you before but I don't know your name." Alex smiled back nervously, both Michael and Jason were listening to their conversation by now.
"Probably. We have Math together daily. I didn't show up for the first lecture today. My schedule has changed a bit so I have English in second lecture now. By the way, I'm Abigail Louisa Anderson. You can call me Abby." She grinned at him.
"You said it was Melissa!" Jason almost shouted.
"I told you I made that up." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Your hair looks nice." Jason commented, probably because he couldn't think of a better comeback.
"Thanks, your's too." Abby replied with a sarcastic grin.

Before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Smith started speaking again and they had to wait till the lecture was over. After the bell rang, Michael ran out of class but Jason caught him and they both started a wrestling match outside the class.

"Come on Mickey! You can do better than that!" Elise came running towards them.
"Don't—" Punch. "Call me—" Punch. "That."

"Oh My God! JASON! You look so beautiful!" Elise shouted again. Alex and Abby slowly walked out of the class.

"Hi Elise. This is Abby. Abby, Elise." Alex introduced the girls to each other. Even though they have been in the same school for more than two months, they hadn't noticed each other yet.

"I forgive you." Jason said, hyperventilating.
"Ha-ha you're tired." Michael laughed.
"YES I AM! Can we eat now?" He had caught his breath by now.
"Sure. Elise? Abby? Would you both like to join us?" Alex said and out of the corner of his eye, saw Michael roll his eyes. Abigail looked hesitant but both of them agreed in the end and they went to the canteen to eat something.

Michael explained how he dyed Jason's hair by adding colour to his shampoo and conditioner last night and Abigail told them a little about herself.

"Mikey, I asked you to help me with Maths. I've been failing in all my tests and you just don't seem to care." Jason feigned hurt.
"Sorry mate but I've taken enough days off from workshop and I can't afford to miss another day." Michael shrugged and Jason sighed in disappointment.

"Elise can help you." Alex suggested.
"Yeah she's really good at Maths." Michael added, watching Abigail who sat nervously between Alex and Jason.

"Elise? She's good at something?" Jason looked genuinely surprised. Elise rolled her eyes at him but chose to help him anyways.
"I'll be at your place before 4, ok? Jason? Are you ok with it?" She almost shouted when Jason was busy staring at his blue-haired neighbour and was successfully ignoring her.
"Yeah. Yeah, why are you speaking so loud?" He looked confused.
"I'd rather not say." Elise gave him that do-you-really-want-me-to-say-it look and he didn't say anything after that.

They were just done eating when the bell rang and all of them left for their classes. Alex and Elise went together for biology and Jason and Abigail left for Math together. The couple-goals comments hadn't ceased yet and he didn't seem to mind them anymore.

It's time to have some fun of my own, Elise thought as she watched the pink head walking out of the cafeteria with a small smirk on her face.

***********

A/N
Hey peeps,
Poor Jason, don't you think? ;)
And yes the trios' only lead had disappeared but don't worry they'll figure something out.

Don't forget to vote, comment, and share.
(I think this line is getting boring but I like it xD)