Jackson takes his status as lacrosse captain very seriously. It is potentially the most important thing in his life, and he cannot abide Scott's newfound sports prowess. Jackson decides early that the only explanation for Scott's miraculous transformation is drugs, and he vows to find out what Scott is on.
Jackson makes it a point to attack Scott on the field and try to get his teammates to shun him. This only fuels Scott's anger and unbeknownst to Jackson endangers them all.
Scott separates Jackson's shoulder before the first game where Scott will play first line, and Jackson goes to the hospital at Lydia's behest to get a cortizone shot. She pressures him to get another shot just before game time. Jackson's plan to have the team exclude Scott works for most of the game, but the team is also losing because they are avoiding making good plays. Eventually, the Coach overrides Jackson's order to his teammates, and Scott scores them the winning points. Jackson finds Scott's discarded lacrosse glove on the field and discovers holes in the fingertips where Scott's claws ripped through. He doesn't know what it means, but he knows he's onto something weird.
Because Lydia has decided to make Allison her new friend, Jackson is forced to hang out with her and with Scott. They sit at his table during lunch, where Jackson mostly shows off his ignorance. He doesn't realize that cougars and mountain lions are the same thing. Lydia pretends to be dumb to stay on his good side, although she does correct him.
Lydia then arranges that she, Jackson, Scott, and Allison go on a bowling date. Jackson is highly competitive and gets Scott to declare that he's an excellent bowler, even though he's a terrible bowler. At the lanes, Jackson laughs at Scott's lack of skill, until Scott starts using a bit of his werewolf skills to improve his game. Jackson is further humiliated when Lydia reveals that she is also a good bowler and doesn't need his attempts at help. While Scott tries to clear the air between them, Jackson further solidifies their rivalry by vowing to found out what Scott's secret is an expose him.
After Derek gets shot with a wolfsbane bullet, he goes looking for Scott at the high school. He finds Jackson instead and demands to know where Scott is. Jackson assumes Derek is Scott's drug dealer and says that he'll tell him where Scott is if he reveals what Scott is on. Derek looks at him like he has no idea what he's talking about, but Jackson names a few steroids so Derek can follow this conversation. Derek tries to leave, but Jackson steps in front of him and suggests that he stop sampling the merchandise because he looks terrible.
Blood seeps down Derek's arm and drops onto the floor. He clenches his fist inside in jacket sleeve to hide it. He tries to leave for a second time, but Jackson grabs him to stop him. Derek grabs Jackson by the neck and slams him into a locker. His claws come out without meaning to, and he leaves deep wounds in Jackson's neck. For the first time, Jackson looks a little terrified by something.
On a date night, Lydia and Jackson pull up outside the Video 2C. Jackson is explaining the Hoosiers (iTunes) is the best sports movie ever, although Lydia couldn't possibly care less. She refuses to watch it, and Jackson angrily tells her that he's not watching The Notebook (iTunes) again. She just looks at him, and the next thing we see is Jackson in the video store asking for help finding The Notebook. The store is deserted, and a phone continues to ring in the background. As Jackson walks further into the store, he sees feet sticking out the end of one of the aisles. He approaches slowly and falls back in horror when he finds the store clerk with his throat slashed open. Jackson knocks over the ladder holding up the light fixture, which causes the electricity throughout the store to start flickering.
Jackson hears something in the darkness and turns around to see the red glow of the alpha's eyes. He attempts to hide between some rows of shelves, but the alpha knocks them over like dominoes, and Jackson is caught under one of the displays. He lies perfectly still, gasping, as the alpha draws back the collar of his coat to examine the claw marks that Derek left on him. The marks glow with a purple light, and the alpha quickly leaves him, bursting through the store window and past Lydia's car.
The Sheriff and Stiles arrive at the Video 2C to take Jackson and Lydia's statements. Jackson demands to know why he can't go home. Jackson gets in the Sheriff's face and yells about his right to leave, trying his best to belittle this public servant who doesn't appear to be serving. He calls the Sheriff a minimum wage Rent-a-Cop. Eventually, he's allowed to go home.
The next day in the boys' locker room, Jackson checks on the claw wounds on his neck, which are still red and raw. He starts getting ready but then sees two glowing red eyes in the cloud of steam in the shower. He starts to panic and falls back in fear, only to discover that the dots were from a set of headphones. He lets out a breath and then turns to see Derek. Jackson stumbles back against a locker and stutters out that he doesn't know where Scott is. "I'm not here for Scott, I'm here for you." Jackson is terrified and continues to stutter. Derek asks him what he saw, and Jackson insists that he didn't see anything. "I swear, I'm not lying." "Then calm down and say it again," Derek says as he closes in on him.
Jackson repeats that he didn't see anything while Derek listens closely to his heartbeat. Then Derek checks the back of his neck and advises that he have a doctor look at the wounds. Jackson is too afraid of him to do or say anything about being manhandled.
That night, while his parents in a conference at school, Jackson is out in a field trying to throw a lacrosse ball into a can. He gets more and more frustrated and eventually throws his beer bottle at the tree in tears.
A few days later, Jackson wanders by the lacrosse field and stops to watch as Stiles pummels Scott with lacrosse balls for some reason. Eventually, Scott gets hurt enough that he's knocked to one knee. The closer Scott gets to changing, the worse Jackson looks. Later in the locker room Scott says it smells like something is rotting or dying in the locker room. Jackson comes around the corner, sweaty and pale and looking generally ill. He takes his shirt off, then the bandage on his neck. The claw wounds are still bleeding. Jackson hallucinates retching up wolf claws.
Jackson finds Allison sitting in the hallway reading her mythology book. He sits down next to her, and she tries to pretend like this is normal. She asks him if he wanted something, and he says he wants to talk. He apologizes for being a jerk to her and to Scott, much to Allison's surprise. She replies that she doesn't think he's being sincere. He tries to explain to her what it felt like to be the star of the team and then suddenly have some kid come along and take that away from him. He says it feels like something's been stolen, and he'd do anything to get it back. Allison tries to make a joke, "Haven't you learned there's no I in team?" "Yeah, but there is a me," Jackson replies. The joke falls flat, and Jackson realizes that she must really hate him. She claims she doesn't. Jackson says he really likes her, which she suspects is a come on, but he adds Scott's name in there, too. He wants them both to like him. Jackson leans in to ask Allison what she's reading, and she recoils from him.
That night, Jackson and Lydia pick up Allison, who was supposed to go on a date with Scott but he never showed. Jackson, Lydia, and Allison show up at the school, because the text Allison got was supposedly from Scott telling her to meet him there. The text is dated Feb 7 at 7:12pm. Although somehow it took them 2 hours to get to the school, because it's 9:26pm when they arrive. Allison notes that one of the doors is open, propped open by the bolt cutters. She heads for it, and Jackson offers to come with her. She turns him down, and he almost says "Be careful," much to her amusement. She likes him looking genuinely concerned. It's a little flirty, and Lydia just watches them, fuming.
Lydia and Jackson wait in the car without talking. They're facing Stiles's Jeep, and Jackson notices that the hood looks crappier than usual. He goes to take a look, and Lydia insists on going with him. There are claw marks on the hood. Jackson is more disturbed by this than Lydia and starts backing away toward the school.
Jackson and Lydia enter the school, and Lydia announces that she has to use the bathroom. Jackson tells her that he's starting to get tired of her and her annoying habits. As soon as she's gone, Jackson turns to see a form looming in the hallway. He thinks it's Scott at first, then he's afraid that it's Derek. But it's actually the alpha. He starts huffing in panic and touches the wounds on his neck. Lydia returns, and Jackson tells her he hasn't found the others.
Jackson and Lydia meet them in the lobby, and the alpha comes crashing down through the ceiling. They all run. They go into the cafeteria, and Scott locks the door at the top and bottom. Scott starts moving things in front of the door, while Stiles tries to tell everyone to stop. They ignore him and keep stacking everything in front of the door in orderly fashion. When he finally yells loudly enough that they listen, he asks them what they should do about the 20-foot wall of windows. They all stare, dumbfounded.
Allison asks Scott what's going on and what that thing was. Scott just moves away from her and doesn't say anything. Stiles takes over and tells them that someone killed the janitor. Everyone starts to freak out then. Lydia says that it was supposed to be over because the mountain lion is dead. Jackson says that it was never a mountain lion to begin with, and Allison demands to know what the killer wants. She asks who it is, and in desperation, Scott tells them it's Derek.
Scott keeps going with this story, telling everyone that Derek has been killing people around town. If they don't escape, he's going to kill them, too. Jackson suggests calling the cops, but Stiles tells him no, arguing that they don't know what he's armed with. "Your dad is armed with an entire Sheriff's department. Call him!" Jackson argues reasonably. Lydia calls 911, but the operator hangs up on her. They got a tip that there would be prank calls about a break-in at the high school. If she calls again, they'll trace the call and arrest her. Allison tells her to call again, but Stiles explains that they won't trace a cell and will instead go to Lydia's house before coming to the school.
Jackson breaks up their pow-wow and suggests that Stiles call his dad and tell him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Stiles won't drag his dad into this, and Jackson goes after Stiles to steal his phone. Stiles punches him in the face. Allison goes to see if Jackson is okay, and Stiles gives in. He calls his dad and gets voicemail.
the alpha busts the door down, and they all run. On the second floor, they hide in the Chemistry lab. Scott amusingly places a very small stool under the door to keep it closed. For some reason, the alpha passes by the lab, despite all the racing heartbeats inside. Scott asks Jackson how many people his car can hold. Jackson tells him 5, which Allison seriously doubts because she barely fit in the back alone. Scott then suggests they use the stairs from the lab to the roof and climb down the fire escape. The door, however, is deadbolted. The janitor has a key, but it means going back to the basement to find his body.
Scott says that he's going to go get the key. Allison tells him that he can't go out there unarmed, and Lydia points out that she can make a self-igniting molotov cocktail from the chemicals in the lab. Everyone gives her a stunned look, and she tries to play innocent. Jackson smashes open the cabinet, and Lydia gets to mixing. She asks Jackson for the sulphuric acid, but he's not sure which bottle it is and just hands her one. Scott takes the flask, but Allison tries to tell him that he can't go. She explains that he has a tell and she knows he's been lying all night. Jackson smirks.
Allison begs Scott not to go, but he tells Stiles to lock the door behind him. Allison kisses him goodbye.
Lydia asks Jackson if he gave her the sulphuric acid, because the cocktail won't ignite without it. He hisses that he gave her what she asked for. But Stiles and Lydia seem to know that he didn't. His mistake means that Scott's weapon doesn't work during his encounter with the alpha. When the alpha roars and forces Scott to shift, Jackson collapses to the floor in pain. The others try to help him, but he won't tell them what's wrong. They all get rescued by the Sheriff and have the next two days off from school as the police perform an investigation.
Now that Allison has broken up with Scott, Jackson tries to get closer to her. He takes a seat next to Allison in the lunch room. She has a bit of jelly on her lip, and he takes the opportunity to wipe it off for her and then lick his thumb clean. "Do you want the bite?" he hears her ask, and it startles him. When he asks her to repeat it, she says, "Do you want a bite?" and offers him some of her food. He demurs, touching the wounds on his neck. They ask each other how they're doing after the incident. Allison says she's mostly thinking about Scott and that she hasn't talked to him. Jackson tells her that's for the best and that Scott got exactly what he deserves.
At lacrosse practice that afternoon, Coach Finstock informs everyone that Scott is being made co-captain. Jackson could not be more furious. Danny, however, points out that Scott scores more than anyone else. "Oh, is that the opinion of my best friend?" Jackson asks. "The opinion of your best friend is who the hell cares who's team captain? He's a good player, and you need to seriously get a grip." However, Jackson tells his friends to make the game difficult for Scott, and Scott ends up wolfing out on the field and hurting Danny.
Later, Jackson runs into Allison in the sporting goods store while he's getting Danny a new helmet. They end up sitting in Jackson's parents' car. She wants to tell him something but only if he promises not to laugh. "I don't think it was Derek in the school." Jackson says he doesn't either. Jackson tells Allison that just because she can't trust Scott doesn't mean she can't trust anybody. She tells him that her family has been lying to her, too. She says she has a weird feeling that her dad knows more about what happened at the school than they do.
It's the night of the full moon, and Scott hasn't learned to control his shift. He runs through the woods heading straight for Allison. He finds her still talking to Jackson. Jackson is telling her how he saw a shape that looked like a man, but then it got down on all fours and ran away. It moved like an animal. Scott thinks he sees them kissing and gets angrier. He makes a run for the car. Scott lands on the roof, but before he can attack, Derek tackles him and sends him flying.
When Jackson gets home, he notices a fingernail stuck in the door of the SUV. He takes it and matches it to the ruined glove he took from Scott.
At the doctor's office a few days later, Jackson is getting his claw wounds examined. The doctor asks him what scratched him. Then he asks Jackson if he's been having trouble sleeping lately and whether he's had nightmares. Jackson tells him he's been having nightmares about a house on fire, and he can hear screaming. Apparently, Derek inadvertently shared his memories through his claws when he impaled Jackson's neck. Jackson asks the doctor what dreams have to do with the wounds, and the doctor grabs a pair of foreceps, saying he needs to take a closer look. He comes at Jackson with a clawlike device, cutting into the wounds, and then starts extracting a long, gnarled strand of wolfsbane. Jackson screams and turns to see the doctor transformed into Derek.
Jackson blinks out of the hallucination to the doctor telling him he can put his shirt back on. His scabs are nothing to worry about. The doctor wants to give him antibiotics and tells him he has aconite poisoning. Aconite is another name for wolfsbane. On his way out of the hospital, Jackson stops by Melissa McCall's nurse station and asks her if he can use her computer. She replies that a handsome face like his probably doesn't hear no very often. He takes it as a compliment and smiles to himself. When she asks if he's one of Scott's friends, he tells her yes, and she lets him use her computer. Jackson hops on Inquiry-It and looks up wolfsbane, but we don't see what he finds.
At school, Jackson walks straight up to Scott and tells him he knows what he is. Scott tries to play dumb, but Jackson isn't buying it. He tells Scott that he wants to be a Werewolf, too. Scott will get him the Bite, or he's going to tell Allison.
In the lunchroom, Jackson is stares at Scott and Stiles from across the room. He then bites into an apple and watches curiously as Scott reacts to the sound. Then he tries talking to him without raising his voice. Scott tries to pretend that he can't hear him. Jackson has disappeared from the lunchroom, but he keeps asking Scott what else he can do. Jackson taunts Scott about being a cheater at lacrosse, and Scott starts to get angry. Jackson again threatens to ruin any chance Scott has with Allison if he doesn't get the Bite. Then he tells him he's going to have sex with her. Scott gets so angry he breaks his lunch tray in half trying to hold it in. Jackson smirks at him from the corner of the lunchroom and crunches into his apple.
Jackson and Allison race in the swimming pool. He wins and tells her that he has an unfair advantage with his aerodynamically perfect cheekbones. Jackson asks Allison if she's coming to the game and insists that she does when she says no. He tells her that Scott wants her to be there and hoped that she wouldn't feel weird about it. Jackson flirts with her more and splashes her.
Later, Lydia approaches Jackson in the hallway and tells him that his text isn't funny. He agrees. He's breaking up with her. He asks for his spare house key back and tells her that he's decided to drop some of the dead weight in his life. She can't believe that she's been dumped.
At the lacrosse game that evening, Jackson sits down next to Scott and asks him if it's the Bite that does it. Scott confirms but tells Jackson that he can't do it. He tries to explain that being a Werewolf is a whole lot more trouble than Jackson thinks it is. Scott tells him about the hunters and looks at the Argents in the stand. Jackson makes the connection between "argent" and silver, which explains the myths about Werewolf being killed by silver. Jackson gives Scott 72 hours to get him the Bite.
Jackson comes up to Scott after the and tells him that, if Scott can get him turned into a Werewolf, he will help him get Allison back in time for the winter dance.
The next day Jackson speeds through the warehouse district. He swings the car around, just doing doughnuts, when it comes to a sudden stop and the check engine light comes on. He gets out of the car, annoyed, and out of nowhere Chris Argent pulls up close by. Chris thinks that because of the claw marks on his neck, Jackson might be a Werewolf.
Chris puts on some gloves and offers to help Jackson with his car. Jackson demurs, but Chris is insistent. He leads Jackson around the back of the car to the engine compartment and has him lean in. This gives him a chance to pull down Jackson's collar and look at the claw wounds. When he mentions them, Jackson gets anxious and jumpy. Just then Stiles and Scott pull up in the Jeep. They offer Jackson a ride to the shop up the street.
When Jackson leaves the car, Chris pulls a device off the engine and pockets it. The car starts up fine, then. When Chris is gone, Jackson asks them if they're following him. Scott yells at him for almost giving away everything. "He thinks you're the second beta! He thinks you're me!" He then explains to Jackson that now he has to keep an eye on him so Chris doesn't kill him. Jackson turns the tables and claims that it's all Scott's fault. Stiles stops the fight from escalating. Scott tells Jackson that he won't be able to protect him because he can't protect anyone, and he gives Stiles a meaningful look.
Scott insists that Jackson doesn't want this gift, but Jackson fails to see how running really fast and being able to hear everything is bad thing. Scott tells him that half the time he's running really fast it's away from people trying to kill him. He says it ruined his life. Jackson thinks that it ruined Scott's life because he didn't know what to do with the powers that he got. Jackson gets in his car and drives away.
Later that day, Jackson is working out in the boys locker room, when suddenly Derek turns his music off. He picks a different song, puts it on, and then stands up where Jackson can see him. Jackson grabs his lacrosse stick and challenges Derek to a fight, claiming he isn't afraid of him. Derek sort of grins at him and says that not only is he afraid, he's been afraid every day of his life. Derek offers Jackson the opportunity to become a Werewolf.
Derek brings Jackson to the Hale House. He tells him to go in. Jackson asks him what's inside the house. "Everything you want." When Jackson opens the door, Derek claps him on the shoulder and tells him everything is going to be all right. "This house... it's the same house," Jackson says, and Derek's demeanor changes. "What'd you say?" "I've dreamt about this place. I remember the staircase, I remeber these walls, I remember everything." Derek asks him if he's been there, and Jackson tells him it was just a dream. As he turns around, Jackson realizes that there's no one else there and no one else coming. He backs away and pleads for his life. Derek tells him that if he deserved to live someone would be there trying to save him. Then Scott announces himself and leaps down the staircase to come between them. Derek threatens to kill him, too.
And then a flash bomb arrow explodes nearby. Jackson scurries away, while Scott gets shot with an assault rifle.
Because he's banned from the formal, Scott asks Jackson to take Allison to the dance. Jackson tells him to go screw himself. Scott points out that he got shot saving Jackson's life, but when Jackson asks for proof, Scott can't give him any because the wound healed. Scott begs, but Jackson suggests having Allison's dad watch over her if the danger is so great. Scott obviously can't, though, without giving himself away. Jackson says it isn't his problem, but Scott doesn't believe that Jackson could have spent so much time getting to know her without coming to like her. Scott has to wolf out and threaten Jackson to finally get him to agree.
Jackson is sweating and plastering on a fake smile when he asks Allison when he should pick her up for the dance tomorrow. She asks him if he's okay, and he insists that not only is he great, he's just excited for the dance! As friends!
The night of the formal, Jackson pulls into a parking lot at the school and takes a shot of vodka before getting out of the car. He offers Allison some, but she doesn't take it. She asks Jackson if he knows if Scott's coming, and he tells her that he knows he's not allowed to because of academic probation. Lydia tells Jackson that he looks handsome, and he replies, "Obviously. It's Hugo Boss."
Inside the dance, Jackson sharing the vodka with Danny and another guy. Drunk, Jackson wanders outside alone. As he approaches some trees, sees a red glow in the darkness that looks like eyes. Jackson is looking for Peter. He falls to the ground and tells him that he wants to be like him, be one of them. But it turns out that there are hunters in the woods instead and the red dots were from their laser scopes. "Unfortunately, Jackson, I don't think I can give you what you want," Chris says, "but I have a feeling you might be able to help me." Jackson leads Chris back toward the formal and asks him to promise that he won't hurt Scott. "Of course not, he's just a kid." Jackson heads inside as Lydia heads out a different door looking for him.
He runs into Stiles, and Stiles asks him if Lydia found him. Jackson can barely speak as he tries to tell Stiles what he did.
After Peter attacks Lydia on the lacrosse field, he allows Stiles to call Jackson to tell him to come get her. Jackson carries Lydia back to the school, crying. He shouts for help, and someone calls an ambulance. Jackson heads into the hospital looking for Lydia. Sheriff Stilinski is there and demands to know what happened to her. The Sheriff gets angry and slams Jackson up against the wall, telling him that Lydia is his girlfriend and therefore his responsibility. Jackson tells him that she went to the dance with Stiles. The Sheriff lets him go, stunned.
After Stiles checks in at the hospital, he heads off to find Scott. Jackson offers to drive, but Stiles shoves him away, having no use for his guilt. Jackson still offers his car, and Stiles takes his keys. They try to leave, but Chris Argent and two red shirt hunters get in their way. Chris demands to know where Scott is, and Stiles tells him he hasn't seen him since the dance. They ask Jackson, but Jackson's such a bad liar that he can't say anything. The hunters throw the boys into an empty room. Chris gets answers out of Stiles, who accuses Kate of murder, but Jackson is largely left alone.
They do end up taking Jackson's car and arrive at the Hale House in time to see Peter fully shifted and attempting to kill everyone. Stiles and Jackson each throw self-igniting molotov cocktails at him, setting him on fire. After Peter is dead, everyone disperses, but Jackson goes into the Hale House looking for Derek. He tells him that he helped Derek get what he was after and now he wants what's his. Derek leaps down the staircase and gives Jackson an evil smile.