Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2016 21:36:27 -0600
From: Kurt King <kingkurt1339@gmail.com>
Subject: The New Life of Xander King Chapter 1

	This story may contain sexual acts between minors and males, if
this offends you or is legal where you live, close the browser and go do
something else.

	The characters and places in this story are fictional, and any
resemblance to persons or places, living or dead, is just a coincidence.
Any reference to actual companies or businesses or objects is used
fictitiously, and this story does not necessarily reflect the views of
those companies, and nor does it necessarily reflect the views of the
author.

	This story is owned by the author, please don't copy, change, share
elsewhere, or post somewhere without first receiving permission from the
author.

	And as always, don't forget to donate to Nifty to keep the site
running!

	A note before We get into the story: this is my first story I've
attempted to published on Nifty, though it's not the first story I've
written that could go on Nifty. If this one gets a big enough fanbase, I'll
go back and start publishing the first one I wrote, which takes place in
the same world as this one. There might be similar themes to other stories
you've seen on Nifty (I've been reading it from the shadows for years, and
some of the stories have awesome ideas and themes and plotlines, but also,
there are no new plots), but the story is all my own.

	In this chapter, we'll meet two of the three main characters, as
well as a dog. I was hungry when I named him.

~~CHAPTER ONE: TURTLE THE DOG.~~

[Xander]

	My stomach growls. I'm hungry, it's been awhile since I last ate. I
should probably get back to the orphanage, now. It's starting to get
dark. As I start the walk back, though, I come across the pet store. I
always stop inside the pet store. They don't mind an orphan like me,
wearing my second-hand clothes and worn sneakers and my unruly, shaggy hair
coming in. I just look at the pets for adoption and leave.

	Today, I walk into the pet store and make my way straight to the
kennels. Saturday's adoption day, so they have dogs inside. I like dogs,
though usually not the ones they've got. When I go in there, I see a puppy
with shaggy fur that's a mix of gold and black, but he's mostly gold. He's
really hyper, and really cute. I want him.

	The guy working it knows me, and knows I'll stay with the dogs, so
he lets the puppy out for me to play with. He's barely old enough to be put
down, and the guy says that if no one adopts him, they'll be forced to,
since he's been with them the longest, even though he's only months old.

	The worker puts the puppy, whom he's nicknamed Turtle, back into
his kennel when I'm getting ready to leave, and when I stand up, I see a
boy around my age standing there, watching me. I'm twelve, almost thirteen,
and can often pass by unnoticed with my shaggy brown hair that hides my
blue eyes, and my cheap, worn clothes.

	This kid, though, will attract the eye to him everywhere he goes.
His skin's extremely pale, chalk white, and his hair is so white, it's
almost translucent, and his eyes are a deep crimson. He's got on faded
white jeans, white sneakers barely marked with dirt, and a plain, bright
white t-shirt. This kid stands out, and he knows it and flaunts it. I could
never do that. It takes me a moment to notice that his shirt actually has a
gray design on the left side, a swirling pattern of some sort.

	I try to make my way past him, but he blocks my path, moving
slightly to do so, and talks to me. His appearance kind of freaks me out.

	"Seems like a nice dog."

	"Yeah."

	"You like him?"

	"Yeah," if I keep to short answers, like I always do, he'll
probably go away.

	"I'm Finn," he sticks out his hand.

	"Xander," I ignore his hand, trying to get past him.

	This time, he lets me go, and I make my way back to the orphanage
without a problem, but there's no food left. At least I got to play with
Turtle. I go up to my room and start on my homework, and my roommate's
grabbed by one of the other orphans. Some rich family's here to scout out
the orphanage.

	Supposedly, they're going to make a generous donation, and I think
the others are going to try and get adopted. We have lots of sponsors, none
of whom adopt anyone. Supposedly, these guys are richer than anyone else
we've ever had scout us before by far. I stay in my room, even though they
want to meet everyone.

	I'm finishing up my homework when there's a knock on the door. I
ignore it, they'll go away. The door opens up. They're persistent.

	"Hi," the intruder says. Female. I ignore them. "I'm Karma."

	As if. I continue to ignore her, and she moves to sit on the bed to
my right, my own bed. We share a desk, but have our own beds. Two beds per
room. I can see her out of the corner of my eyes. Brown hair that goes
halfway down her back, green eyes, fair skin, and the start of breasts.
She's my age, I think. I need to finish studying, the school year's almost
over, and that means Final Exams before summer break. Next year, I'll be
starting eighth grade, and want to start it off on a good note, since I
struggle in school.

	"How are you?" She asks as soon as she sits down.

	"Fine."

	"Everyone else is downstairs."

	"Homework," I say just that, hoping she gets the idea and bugs off.

	"Cool," she says. "I got mine finished yesterday. My brother'd be
here, but he got distracted while out walking and ended up talking Dad into
adopting a dog, so he's got homework to do, since our parents want it done
by Saturday night. Is that Math homework? Need any help on it?"

	"No," I answer, even though I do.

	Eventually, my one-word answers shoo her away, and sometime later,
my roommate returns, saying that he wonders what Karma was doing in the
bathroom so long. So she told them she was going to the bathroom. Probably
heard there was someone keeping to himself and got nosy. My roommate
comments about how hot she is and other stuff, and makes me wonder what
he'd do if he found out that I've got no attraction for girls at all.

[Finn]

	Instead of doing my homework, like I should have, I went for a
walk. It just means I'll have to hurry to get it done if I want to go scout
out the orphanage with the family. As I'm walking, I notice this kid with
shaggy brown hair that hides his eyes, wearing worn-out clothes and
sneakers that look like they needed replacing months ago walking down the
street.

	He stops and looks at the adoption sign at the pet store, and then
makes his way inside. He looks to be about a year or two younger and is
pretty cute, so I make my way inside. I locate him by the kennels, playing
with a German shepherd and golden retriever mix. I know what the dog is
because I talk with the worker, who's not busy. He tells me the cutie's an
orphan who shows up every Saturday to play with the dogs, and that he
doesn't talk much. Then he gets distracted by another worker, and then the
orphan's ready to go home. I stop him as he leaves.

	"Seems like a nice dog," I say, and he doesn't meet my gaze.

	"Yeah."

	"You like him?" I ask.

	"Yeah," he looks impatient to go, probably uncomfortable or
antisocial.

	"I'm Finn," I stick out my hand, hoping he'll shake it.

	"Xander," he steps around me and leaves.

	Guess not. Maybe I'll try again later. There are plenty of
orphanages in town, it'll take time, but I should be able to find him. I
call Dad up as soon as he leaves.

	"You said," Dad says. "You'd be home at four. You're half an hour
late, got a good excuse?"

	Dad tries to sound strict, but I know I won't be grounded.

	"Trying to avoid Karma," I answer. "Found this really adorable dog
named Turtle. He's a puppy. Can we adopt him? Please? You've been saying we
might get a dog for years now, and if no one adopts him, they're gonna have
to put him down. He's only, like, ten months old."

	"He's a big dog, isn't he?" Dad asks, and I don't answer. They've
been discussing medium-sized or small dogs, and Turtle is still growing,
and he's already past medium. "Finn..."

	"Please?" I beg, looking at Turtle, who's trying to bite his
tail. "He's so adorable, Dad, please?"

	"Where are you?" I can hear him sigh. "Alright. Let me talk to your
mother, and we'll see what she decides."

	He hangs up, and twenty minutes later, he walks into the store. I'm
playing with Turtle at this point. My twin sister, Karma, follows him
over. Karma's one of those girls who is super friendly, but as soon as you
mess with her or her friends, well, Karma's a bitch, as they say. I know
she'll want Turtle.

	"Is his name seriously Turtle?" She asks me, crouching down to
scratch behind his ears.

	"No," the worker walks over. "He doesn't have a name, that's just
what I took to calling him. When he was younger, he reminded me of those
turtle treats, the chocolate and caramel. As he grew, the gold started to
take over, though the last few months of growth, it's stopped that. Whoever
adopts him can change the name if they like, giving him a permanent one."

	"What did Mom say?" I ask, and Turtle barks at Dad, wagging his
tail.

	"She said it's up to me," he looks down at Turtle, and I stand up,
scratching behind his ears. Dad looks to the worker. "Is he trained?"

	"Yes," the worker answers. "Turtle's not a slow learning, he's very
intelligent, and it didn't take me long to house train him. We haven't had
any issues with him in six months, and he's only ten months old. He's still
a puppy, so he's very hyper, and should be taken for walks regularly and
needs a lot of attention. He doesn't chew on everything, thank goodness,
but again he's very hyper."

	"Okay," Dad says, and I look at him. "Yes, Finn, we'll adopt him."

	"Yes!" I pump my fists.

	The paperwork gets signed, then Turtle, Karma, and I are in the
backseat of Dad's car, on the way to the house. I have to do my homework
instead of going to the orphanage Dad is thinking of writing a check to.

	"Finn," Karma says on the trip home. "Aren't you the reason we
haven't gotten a dog yet? You've been adamantly against it from the start,
even when you were five."

	"Yeah," I mess with Turtle's hears. "But he's so adorable," I turn
his face to Karma. "Isn't he adorable? Aren't you adorable?"

	Turtle barks, and I hug him, rubbing his stomach.

	"Why were you in there?" Karma asks. "It's not like you'd go in
there normally."

	"Well," I hesitate. "There was this guy I saw going in there. He
looked lonely, so I wanted to talk to him. He wouldn't talk to me, though,
just gave me one-word answers. Said his name's Xander. Cool name."

	We get home, and Dad tells one of our maids to take care of Turtle
while I do my homework. I work on it, finishing in time to play with Turtle
some before they get back from the orphanage.

	"So," Karma says to me as she joins me out back with Turtle. "I
think I found the kid you were talking about."

	"Really?" I ask.

	"Shaggy brown hair," she says. "Couldn't see his eyes, since his
hair was blocking it and he wasn't looking at me. Name's Alexander, but
goes by Xander, only gave one-word responses to everything I said. Very
antisocial. Very cute."

	"Probably him," I answer. "Year or two younger?" She nods. "Yeah,
probably him, especially if he was at the orphanage, the worker said he's
an orphan who goes there every Saturday."

	"The other kids said that, too," she nods. "Every Saturday, he can
be found playing with one of the dogs at that store. He looked so lonely,
the other kids didn't seem to like him, but I got the impression that he's
left to his own devices, not made fun of or anything. Plus, he's really
cute. Think Mom and Dad will adopt him? I feel so bad for him, he's never
known his family, and he's all alone there, even with everyone else
around."

	Karma can be very sensitive at times. While I can hope that Mom and
Dad would adopt someone at cute as Xander, odds are low of it. I know that
Karma's probably already suggested it to Mom and Dad. Me? I'm just going to
see if I can get him to talk more. I know where he goes once a week, so I'm
going to make sure I'm there.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

	Thanks for reading! This is my first attempt to have others read my
stories, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated! - Kurt