Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2017 17:26:37 -0600
From: Kurt King <kingkurt1339@gmail.com>
Subject: The New Life of Xander King 16 (Revised)

	This story may contain sexual acts between males, persons below the
age of consent, and relatives. If this offends you or is illegal for you to
read where you're at, please close this website and go elsewhere.

	This story is fictional and entirely the work of the author's
imagination. And resemblance to persons, places, or things, real or
fictional, are entirely coincidental, and any views stated do not
necessarily reflect those of any companies or organizations which do exist
in real life, nor necessarily reflect the views of the author.

	This story is the property and copyright of the author, do not
share, reproduce, repost, or any other such act which is illegal to do
without the author's permission.

	You can find my other story at the following link:
	NLCK:
http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/the-new-life-of-cal-king/

	Don't forget that you can always contact me to give me feedback! I
can be found at kingkurt1339@gmail.com, and I do my best to respond to
every email if I can! Any comments, questions, or suggestions are always
welcome, especially as I'm constantly changing events that happen in the
story, and will be publishing other stories! If you want to be added to my
mailing list, let me know!

	As always – don't forget to donate to Nifty at:
	http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html to keep the archive free!

	This story is not a quick jack-off story. If you are looking for
that, you would be best going to another story. If you are interested in
not just the sex, but also the lives of the characters and their romances
and dramas, then read on, and I hope you enjoy it!

	In the last chapter, Xander went to the court, in case he was
needed to testify, and when he was on the stand, he had a complete
breakdown, reliving what Kevin did to him. Finn and Luke hooked up for some
sex, and Dylan got invited by Tessa to go to the zoo with her, and that
there was the possibility of someone else (Xander) going to be there. The
chapter ended the day of Luke's birthday party, with him having the driver
take him to a restaurant to get cheesecake to bring to the party. In this
chapter, we'll see the party, then Xander's decision about the zoo, as well
as a little bit more that I won't spoil for you. :P

	Anyway, on to the story!

~~Chapter Sixteen – Fun~~

[Luke]

	Xander had a rough time after the hearing on Wednesday. Today is
Friday, two days after the initial trial, as well as the day of my birthday
party. Xander reluctantly agreed to come spend the night, after I told him
that he owed me for wishing me ill in the sauna.

	Okay, that's a lie. I think he just feels sorry for me, after I
fell in the sauna. I'm a little scared, though - the last time I spoke to
him, he told me that Mr. Scott was having Eric, Mr. Scotts' chief of
security, teach him how to use a gun. I'm not sure I want him to be at my
birthday party.

	Especially since his tone said he was kind of happy about getting
to learn how to use a gun.

	So for the total cutie count, we have blond-haired, dreamy-eyed
Xander, brown-haired, brown-eyed Parker and me, and black-haired, blue-eyed
Garret. No one else is worth inviting, and naturally, I'm invited to my own
party.

	Yeah, blond-haired Xander. He finally stopped dying his hair,
though Finn didn't know that until this morning, when he stopped by his
godparents' house to wish Xander good luck on the final day of the
trial. It would have completely blind-sided me when he got here, had I not
expected it.

	The moment Xander showed up at my party, one hand in his jacket
pocket, the other holding a bag with something mysterious inside with some
logo of a wolf sitting in front of a dragon, I was stunned hard. He's even
more of a god now than he was before, and he looked so shy standing there,
as if he wasn't sure if he deserved to be here, even though I invited him.

	It actually took me a few moments to realize he was holding that
bag.

	"What's that?" I finally collect my senses.

	"Present," he answers. "One of them. The rest is for us. You only
get one slice. Cal put strawberry slices on top, though, so it's
extra-special. He does that for me every time. Probably because the kitchen
staff is incompetent."

	"Huh?"

	"The Wolf's Dragon," he says. "It's the restaurant I got this
from. Are you going to keep standing there, looking like an idiot with your
boner pressing against your pants, or are you going to let me into your
room?"

	Parker and Gavin crack up laughing behind me. Xander's so blunt
sometimes, and the things that would embarrass a normal kid to say, he says
with ease. Like commenting on the boner pushing against my boxers and
basketball shorts.

	"What's funny?" He looks past me, completely ignoring my presence.

	Who's this, and what did he do with Xander? The Xander I know would
never ignore the person standing right in front of him.

	"Xander," I reach out to take the bag, and the next thing I know,
he's holding up a canister of pepper spray, aimed right at my face.

	"Don't touch me."

	Oh, okay. That's why he was comfortable enough to ignore me.

	Wait, what? The hell? Where did he get pepper spray from?

	"Where did you get pepper spray from?"

	"It's mace."

	"Where did you get mace from?" I almost shout.

	"I asked Mr. Scott for some," he says. "In case you tried touching
me."

	Parker's laughing even harder now. He's got his normal laugh when
he's with me or his other friends, or just chatting with people. Then he's
got his Xander laugh, which is one of pure amusement that puts stitches in
his side.

	It's my birthday, and Xander's making my best friend laugh so hard
he actually fell off of my bed, all within two minutes of showing up and
not even getting into my room, just by making fun of me. If he wasn't so
damn hot and amazing, I'd punch him.

	Well, and if he wasn't holding a can of mace up.

	"I won't touch you," I hold my hands up. "Unless you expressly give
me permission, I forget my promise, or by accident. Please don't spray me
with the mace."

	"I'll consider it," he puts it back into his pocket. "Your boner's
gone. Will you let me in now?"

	Of course it vanished, I had a canister of mace held up, ready to
be sprayed into my face. Of course, it doesn't take long for the boner to
pop back up, as that's what happens when I'm around a god such as Xander.

	I let him into my room, and only after he removes his jacket and
backpack does he reveal his prize: four slices of cheesecake. One for me,
one for Garret, one for Parker, and one for himself. It isn't until I open
mine that I realize it's not normal cheesecake, but blueberry cheesecake
with strawberry slices arranged on top, then having some sort of pale pink
drizzle that I discover is a strawberry cream cheese drizzle. Damn is this
good.

	I've heard rumors that Xander's disappeared somewhere pretty much
every Saturday after he goes and plays with the dogs. Does he go to eat
this amazing treat from the heavens? What is the Wolf's Dragon restaurant?
Where is the Wolf's Dragon restaurant? Why have I never heard of it before?

	"Hey, Xander?" I look at him, and the mace is in his hand
again. "Whoa, dude, chill out. I was just going to ask where this
restaurant was."

	"Not telling."

	"Why not?"

	"So you can't come bug me while I'm there," he says.

	I stare at him, into his eyes, which are filled with determination,
even if his face is devoid of all emotion. Fuck, I need to get off.

	"Let's play a game."

	"No."

	"You missed the rest of my party."

	"I'm still undecided on whether or not I'm staying the night," he
says. "I'm only here because I feel sorry for you, after you declined to
hydrate while in a sauna, then stood up quickly, and fell and hit your
head. Not hard enough, in my opinion."

	Ouch. You didn't have to just say that, Xander. Wait! Did he just
say he wished I hit my head HARDER? I'm not sure how I feel about that.

	"Please just play the game for me?"

	"Maybe I'll just leave now," he starts to stand up.

	"Please don't!" I beg. "Please stay, Xander, and play the game. I
promise, you won't have to do anything you don't want to."

	"What if I don't want to stay?"

	"Then you can leave," I say. "I keep fucking up. I did do what you
said last time, though. Please stay and play the game?"

	"What game?"

	"Strip poker."

	"You have a terrible poker face," he tells me. "I can always tell
what you're thinking. You'll be naked first, unless you get lucky."

	Says the guy whose eyes tend to say more than his mouth.

	We start playing. Xander loses a shoe. That's it. I'm not fucking
kidding. He loses one fucking shoe by the time Parker, Garret, and I are
completely naked, including our watches and the silver chain Parker wears
around his neck. One. Fucking. Shoe. This kid's got a damn good poker face.

	"I was right," Xander says to me. "You were naked first. It was fun
watching you struggle."

	He's full of just hitting me today. Is it confidence due to the
mace? Or is Xander finally starting to get bold?

	Wait, no. It's probably just his nerves. I do remember that he
talks more when he's nervous or uneasy. But he doesn't usually just keep
hitting someone, he normally just tells them to go away or puts himself
down.

	This is an interesting and confusing development.

	"Not going to lie, Xander," I say. "But I want to see you naked."

	"You already have," he says. "Use that for your perverted
fantasies."

	And then he calls me a pervert. I can tell that Garret and Parker
are trying to not laugh.

	"Not going to lie to you," I say. "But I want to touch your dick
again, feel it in my hands, in my mouth."

	"You already know what that feels like," he says. "I'm putting my
shoe back on. Goodnight."

	He grabs for his shoe, and before I can think of a way to keep him
here, Parker speaks up.

	"Hey, Xan," Parker says. "Garret and I are both enjoying your
presence here, and we'd be sad if you left."

	"Really?" Xander looks at him, suspicion and curiosity not just in
his eyes, but on his face.

	"Yeah," Parker grins at him. "You keep verbally attacking
Luke. It's funny."

	"I'm just stating the truth."

	"Maybe," Parker's grin grows wider. "But it's still hilarious. Why
don't we come to a compromise? I know you don't want to be touched,
especially by Luke, but how's this? We keep all physical interactions with
people and dicks to jacking off? No oral, no anal, nothing like that."

	"I don't want to be naked with a pervert."

	Will you stop that already? This is MY birthday party.

	"I know," Parker says. "But Garret and I are both naked and putting
up with him. Luke may be a narcissistic bastard who can't keep a promise,
but he doesn't want to hurt you, either. I heard he put himself between you
and Kevin when he realized what Kevin did you to. He just wants to make you
feel good."

	"I'd feel good if he disappeared," Xander's hand is in his pocket,
and I'm pretty sure he's clutching that canister of mace again.

	"Almost everyone would," Parker says, and I glare him. He ignores
it. "But think you can do this just for his birthday? No oral or anal, just
jacking off. There might be cuddling after. Are you alright with that?"

	"I like cuddling," Xander starts undressing.

	Wait, seriously? That's what got him to change his mind? I'm still
upset with Parker over what he says, but am grateful for being naked. If I
didn't already have a raging boner, the sight of Xander's three and
three-quarter inches would have made put me this way. I can't possibly get
any harder.

	It's only as he sits back down after undressing, face red, that I
realize two things about him. The first is that he's grown a quarter of an
inch and a little bit of thickness since I saw his boner two months ago.

	The second is that he is completely and entirely hairless below the
neck. I'm not just talking about chest, crotch, and armpit hair, but he
doesn't even have arm or leg hair. I know Xander's not vain enough to shave
it off, which means that that's got to be natural. I'm so jealous.

	Here's a rundown of the rest of us. I'm still at three and a
quarter, cut, and I have a few sparse brown hairs. Garret's cut dick stands
just a little more than two and a half inches, with a couple of black
hairs, though since he's closer to Xander's age than my own, I don't think
he'll be staying small for long, as he should start growing soon. Parker's
cut dick stands at two and a half, but just slightly smaller than
Garret's. We've already measured ours before. Parker's got a couple of
brown hairs, too.

	So that's where we're all at. Parker and Garret will be growing
soon, Xander's apparently already growing, and has shot past me in size,
despite being almost a year younger. My uncut crush is going to be bigger
than anyone I know when he's done growing, I'm sure.

	I do have to say, though, that I'm surprised Xander's already
hard. I'd have expected him to be flaccid until he started getting
physically stimulated.

	"Just remember," Parker looks at Xander. "It's just jacking off,
there's no need to be worried about getting or being expected to give a
blowjob."

	Xander nods, then asks how we're going to do this.

	"Jack the person to your right," I say. "So I jack you, you jack
Garret, Garret jacks Parker, and Parker jacks me."

	"Try to do more," Xander grabs something beside him then holds up
the mace. "And I will spray you."

	"On my honor."

	"That would require you having any."

	Parker and Garret laugh at that, and I decide to get things in
motion and wrap my hand around Xander's dick. He gasps, starting to breathe
heavily, and I'm pretty sure he's scared. I consider stopping, because I
know how hard it is for him to deal with this. Or rather, I can only
imagine how difficult it is for him to not stop me, but he doesn't try.

	No, what he does instead is sets down the canister and grabs
Garret's dick, starting to jack him off. Garret grabs Parker's, and Parker
grabs mine.

	Fuck, is this so hot.

	Garret, Parker, and I are starting to breathe heavier, and I know
I'm getting ready to cum. Xander just seems focused, determined, and I
think he's trying to make sure he doesn't screw up. He'll be perfect no
matter what he does. Or who.

	I cum first, shooting five loads of my cum onto myself and
Parker. Parker and Garret both shoot, Parker four loads, Garret five, and I
think Garret doing it surprises Xander, who jumps a little when it happens.

	Xander still hasn't cum, and by now, I'm jacking him off
furiously. I so badly want to suck him off, but I know it'll upset him. I'm
so focused on his dick that it takes me a moment to realize he's staring
down at me, a weird look in his eyes.

	"You last a long time, you know that, right?"

	"You look funny with cum on you," he says extremely seriously and
matter-of-factly. "It also looks appropriate."

	Did he just say I look like I should have cum on me? Is that his
way of calling me a slut? I almost stop jacking him off because of that,
but his next comment stuns me, actually causing me to stop and stare at him
in shock. Not just me, but Garret and Parker, too.

	"You can suck me if you want," he says. "I know you want."

	It takes me several moments to recover from the shock. Actually, I
don't think I've recovered. Xander just said I could suck him. I think he's
serious, so after recovering enough to process that (as well as I can), I
bend over and replace my hand with my mouth. As I start to pleasure my
silent crush, he puts his hand on my head, lacing his fingers into my
hair. He's got his other hand on the ground, supporting him as he leans
back.

	I only hold the base of his dick, not touching his balls at all,
despite my desire to do so, just in case. For now, I'm happy he'll let me
suck him off, and the feeling of his dick in my mouth has me hard again. I
stop holding his balls and put my hand on the ground so I can take all of
him in, and when I start pushing my tongue under his foreskin, he gasps,
ever so softly. As with last time, he's so silent when he gets a blowjob.

	Since he seems to enjoy that, I do it a few times, even using a
hand to pull back his foreskin so I can just suck the head of his dick and
swirl my tongue around it. He's lasting a lot longer than he did last time,
and I'm loving it. The longer he lasts, the better this has got to feel for
him.

	"Gonna cum!" He squeaks.

	I keep going, and a few seconds later, he cums, sending eight
blasts of his hot, salty, yet slightly sweet, cum into my throat, and I
swallow every drop.

	"Damn," I sit up and look at him, grinning. "You lasted a long
time."

	"Sorry," he says softly.

	"Fuck, Xander!" I laugh. "It's not bad, it was amazing. Last time I
sucked you, you didn't really last that long."

	"I've been practicing."

	"Practicing?" I lift an eyebrow.

	"Yes," he says. "Holding out. You told me I didn't last long, so I
practiced holding out. I don't cum quickly, now, if I don't want to."

	He managed to be able to last that long after just two months?
Looking at the clock on my desk, I was jacking him, then sucking him, for
over half an hour. How the hell did he manage to hold out that long?

	"Mind telling me," I say. "What you do to practice? Just jack off?"

	"I suck myself."

	I think we all stare at him in shock at that. Xander's got a small
frame, he'd have to be REALLY flexible to manage that at his current dick
size.

	"You do?" All three of us ask him.

	"Yeah," his face turns bright red. "It felt really good when you
did it, so I wanted to try it. It's better than..."

	He starts breathing heavily, and I scoot over next to him and wrap
my arms around him, knowing what he's doing. He's thinking about when he
was forced to suck people off. After several minutes, he calms down, then
declares he's taking a shower and goes into my bathroom.

	He locks the door behind him, and the shower starts running.

	"What was that about?" Parker asks. "Does it have to do why he
missed school the last few days?"

	"Yeah," I answer. "But I'm not telling you why, it's kind of
personal and has to do with a lot of why he freaks out easily. I will tell
you this, though: he was severely abused, and I hope all of the
motherfuckers that hurt him burn in hell."

	Xander finishes his shower after about eight minutes, and when he
comes out, he's got a towel wrapped around his waist. Parker, Garret, and I
go into the shower, and we have a little bit of fun. When we come out,
Xander's passed out on my bed, and he's spread himself out across it. I
check his hair, because it's not good to go to bed right after a shower,
when your hair's still wet, and find that his is completely dry. How the
hell?

	He's still naked on my bed, and that makes me happy. Not because I
want him, which I do, but because it means he's starting to trust me a
little bit. We all climb onto the bed and cuddle Xander. Well, I cuddle
Xander on one side, and Garret on the other, with Parker cuddling me on the
side opposite of Xander. We're all exhausted, first because of all of the
games we were playing before Xander showed up, then the actions in the
shower. Plus, I'm exhausted just from trying to get Xander off. That boy is
killing me!

[Xander]

	I wake up before the rest of them. Oddly, I slept okay. I still had
some bad dreams, but not enough to disturb me enough to affect my sleep. I
wonder if it's because I was exhausted. I was, both physically and
mentally. I need a new dream catcher for the room, if I can sleep better at
Luke's than at the house, and Luke doesn't have a dream catcher.

	Luke and Garret are both cuddling me, and Parker's cuddling Luke. I
think back to before I took the shower, and my face starts burning at the
thought of it. And the fact that I'm naked around them. No one made fun of
me for being ugly. Probably because they were all horny and wanted to get
off. That never stopped the others.

	I don't know why I let Luke suck me off. Probably because I knew he
wanted to suck me off? I still don't trust him. My face burns even hotter
when I realize I told them I suck myself off. I'm sure most guys do it,
since they don't always have someone to fool around with or use, like Luke
and Kevin, but still, I feel weird and embarrassed.

	I get dressed and write a note for Luke, letting him know I
left. I'm not sure why I do, since he's annoying, but I do it. I grab my
backpack and pull it on, leaving. It's five, my normal wakeup time. I go
for my jog, this time with my bag on, and end up back at the Scotts' house
at my usual time. I had to adjust my route.

	Then I go to the workout room and do some weights. I don't like
lifting weights, but I try to do some. After about ten minutes, I switch
over to martial arts, then go up to the room and take a shower before
packing some food into my backpack and leaving again, this time, taking the
bus to the zoo.

	When I arrive, Tessa and Josh are there, along with two others. One
is a girl named Bethany who goes by Beth who was at the party. She's got
brown hair and brown eyes, and like most girls of thirteen, she's not
really developed in the chest. Tessa's a freak in that aspect, but she's a
good person, and she knows how to ignore the haters. That, or abuse their
hate for her own amusement. I like her, she's nice. And she's a good
actress and singer, too. She'll go far in life, unlike the worthless me.

	The fourth member of their small group is a boy I don't know. He's
got dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, a slender build with muscle, and
glasses. He's also really cute, and as soon as I see him, my face flushes,
my mind going back to last night. For some reason, as soon as I see him, I
want to be naked with him. I don't know why. That worries me. Did someone
drug me, and I don't know about it? He's cuter than Finn, but not as hot as
Luke. If Luke doesn't make me think stuff like that, why would he? Is he a
rapist?

	"This is Dylan," Tessa says to me. "He plays soccer, and he's
gay. Dylan, this is Xander, the boy I was telling you about."

	"I know I saw the pictures," Dylan looks at her. "So I may be
remembering wrong, but didn't he have brown hair?"

	"I told you," she says. "He had blond roots. Doesn't he look even
hotter with his hair in its natural color?"

	"Yeah," Dylan looks around nervously. "You didn't warn me he'd be
this hot, Tessa. Crap, I'm hard."

	"Aw," she teases him. "The little horndog got hard, and now he's
going to be uncomfortable at the zoo."

	She sticks her tongue out at him, and Josh and Beth roll their
eyes, then we all head inside, and Tessa leads us up to a counter just
inside the entrance.

	"Five soda bracelets, please," she says, then to me. "My friend
Matt, who says you accidentally went to his house looking for my party, is
paying for us to have drinks here. We might run into him here, he said
he'll be here, hoping to see a peacock following him around so he can share
it to his channel. The video he'll be shooting of it, that is."

	We all get these bracelets we put on our wrists, and they give us
unlimited soda refills with them, as long as it's in the souvenir cup for
this year. We have to buy those cups, but Tessa does that right after,
taking us to another counter, this one for food and drinks. She gets us all
funnel cake. It's good. I get the powder everywhere, and Josh laughs, then
looks at Dylan.

	"You gonna lick it off of him?" He asks, waggling his eyebrows.

	"Quiet, you!" Dylan laughs, then looks at me, lifting an
eyebrow. "Unless you want me to."

	My face heats up at the thought of him licking it off of me. Maybe
they did drug me. But when? I could have sworn none of them were near
before any of this happened. Maybe they had someone get me on the bus?

	"Look, Xander!" Josh suddenly exclaims, rushing up to an
exhibit. "It's your cousins!"

	I walk over and look into the pen. It's a pack of wolves. Was she
making fun of me?

	"My cousins?" I look at him.

	"Yeah," Tessa grins at me, and I look at her. "Strong, silent, and
pretty dang cool."

	"Oh," I say. "It's a metaphor?"

	"Sort of," she smiles a little. "It's more like a joke."

 "But you're comparing me to wolves," I say. "Due to similar traits that I
disagree with, but you seem to think exist. Comparing two things without
using 'like' or 'as' is a metaphor. You're saying I'm related to wolves,
making the comparison based on said traits that don't exist. I believe that
would be akin to me comparing Luke to a monkey, or saying that he's their
cousin."

	"Who's Luke?" She asks.

	"A very annoying, narcissistic kid who has a crush on me," I
answer. "His fourteenth birthday was yesterday. I went to his party because
I felt sorry for him. I brought cheesecake. It's rude to not bring
something to a party when you come. I forgot to do that at the Halloween
party. I brought you cookies to make up for it."

	"Hey," Tessa smiles at me. "No worries, Xander - friends don't need
to bring things to the parties a friend throws."

	"It's not professional."

	"It's also a middle school Halloween party," she laughs. "Being
professional got thrown out the window the moment it was conceived. You
brought yourself, that's all that mattered."

	"But we're not friends."

	"Yes, we are," she walks over to me and puts an arm across my
shoulders, looking at me. "And thus, I declare us friends! Now, you said
you had cookies? What kind?"

	"Oatmeal raisin," I answer. "I made them on Thursday, since I was
going to be busy yesterday and not have time this morning. They'll probably
be disgusting."

	"I'll be the judge of that!" She exclaims. "Let's try them!"

	I pull off my bag and pull out the box of cookies, and she tries
one, her eyes widening as she takes a bite. Yeah, it's disgusting.

	"Oh, my goodness!" She exclaims. "Where did you get this recipe?
It's so amazing! Whoa! Guys, you've got to try this, they taste almost
exactly like Matt's cookies!"

	"Matt's?" I ask. "Matthew King's? The one who lives three doors
down from you?"

	"Yeah," she says as Dylan, Josh, and Beth try the cookies. "Why?"

	"I got the recipe off his brother's vlog," I say. "They're both
supposedly good cooks, so I figured the recipe might still come out good,
even if I'm a bad cook. You're probably just saying they taste good to make
me feel good."

	"Nah," she grins at me. "I'd just tell you they taste bad. These
really are good, Xander. Can I have another?"

	"I brought them for you," I say.

	"Thanks!" She grabs another from the box.

	They all eat two cookies, leaving four left. I brought twelve. I
didn't want to make her suffer anymore than she would just from eating
one. I don't know why they'd force themselves to eat crappy cookies to make
myself feel good. I feel weird because of that. I can't describe the
feeling I've got from that. That confuses me.

	After they devour the cookies as if they're not nasty, I put the
rest back in my bag so we can carry them around, and we explore the
park. The primate house is small, the train is cool, the sea lion show is
awesome, the food is expensive, and we all have to pee like crazy all the
time because we make use of the unlimited soda refills.

	I like the polar bears and the wolves and the tiger. There's a
puffin house here, which is really just a giant room with these giant tubs
of water designed to imitate icebergs, and it's really cold, because
puffins are sort of like penguins, but weirder. They have a few penguins,
too, but they're mostly puffins in the puffin house.

	We see Matt a few times. He's being followed around by a peacock,
and Liam's filming it. Liam's his boyfriend, and he has blond hair and
brown eyes, and some freckles on his cheeks, and he's really cute.

	I get used to them constantly teasing each other about things,
though I don't really participate in that. They don't tease me much, but
it's still fun. I like these four better than anyone at my school or that I
know away from it. They don't try to force me to be their friends, or
participate, or have fun, or talk, or anything else, like everyone else.

	They ask me if I want to do something, and if I say 'no', they ask
what I want to do. A lot of what we do is because I want to do it. Well,
they all want to, too. We compromise, going off a schedule determined by
what we want to see. We all do things we don't want to, but also do things
we want to.

	When I go places with the Scotts or the Masons or Luke or the
twins, they do what they want, they don't really give me a choice. I like
this group of people, they don't do that. That weird feeling stays with me
all day, though, because of that.

	They're a lot of fun to be around. And they're funny.

	When it's time to go, Dylan's mom asks me how I'm getting home, and
I tell her that I'm taking the bus.

	"That'll take too long," she says. "Let me give you a ride."

	"I'll be fine. Thanks for the offer."

	"Nonsense," she says. "It takes forever, and it's starting to get
late."

	"I know," I say. "But it'll just impose on you. I'll take the bus."

[Dylan]

	Greta finally manages to convince Xander to let us give him a ride,
and I think he directs us to the park. I manage to talk Greta into stopping
by our house, first, with the claim that I need to pee really bad (I do),
and Xander says he does, too.

	"I'd like to talk with your parents first," Mom tells
Xander. "Before letting you into my house. Make sure they're okay with it."

	"My parents are dead."

	We're silent for a minute, and then his phone rings. I noticed that
it kept buzzing while we were out, and he never answered any of the
texts. He jumps, pulling the phone out of his pocket and answering it.

	"What?" Wow, he's rude to whoever that is. Hope it's not his
guardian. "I don't know. Is it okay if I go pee, first? Okay, thanks. Bye."

	He hangs up and looks at Mom.

	"They said I can go pee before going back to the house."

	He didn't call it 'home'. Yeah, he definitely doesn't want us to
know where he lives. Probably embarrassed to be in the system or living in
a poor neighborhood or something. Mom looks at me like 'does he seriously
think that's fine?' and I just shrug and mouth 'go with it' to her.

	Reluctantly, she agrees to it. Xander looks between us, probably
confused about what we're communicating without words. We get to my house,
and I show Xander the bathroom and let him go pee first, then I take a
piss. After, I show him my room. It's a bit messy, as a boy's room should
be, and Xander just looks around it. Knowing we only have a minute before
Mom hollers for us, I go right for it, planting a kiss on his lips, and
hoping for a positive reaction.

	I'm not prepared for his reaction. He doesn't shy away, he doesn't
back off, he doesn't just let me. After a moment of hesitation, he returns
the kiss, getting his tongue involved and in my mouth. The moment I feel
his tongue against mine, it's like lightning courses through my entire
body.

	I want to take him to my bed and keep kissing and maybe lose some
clothes, feeling my boner pushing against my jeans, but Mom hollers from
down the hall that we need to go, and we both jump apart. Xander's face is
red, and he won't look at me. He fixes his gaze on some of my trophies.

	"I play soccer," I say. "Well, used to, stopped after getting into
the system and moving around a lot. Do you play sports? I could feel your
body, it's pretty fit."

	"Martial arts," he answers as Mom hollers again.

	"COMING!" I yell back.

	"HURRY UP!" She returns the shout.

	We leave, and Xander still gives us the park directions. After he
gets out, Mom wants to follow him, but I see him get picked up in a nice
car down the street, even if she misses it. A really nice, expensive car.

	Xander's not a poor kid, he's a rich kid. A rich kid who's not a
spoiled brat and is an amazing kisser. Soon after I get home, Tessa texts
me, and as soon as I say I'm available, she calls me.

	"So?" She asks. "What kind of house does he live in? Is it big?
Small? A trailer?"

	"No clue," I answer. "Though judging by the car he was picked up
in, he's not a poor kid."

	"There's excitement in your voice," she says. "What's got you so
excited."

	"So I kissed him..." I trail off, knowing it'll make her annoyed.

	"And?" She asks. "Well? What happened, Dylan?"

	"He kissed me back!" I exclaim. "And whoa, it's way better than any
kiss I've ever gotten, Tessa. I got his number on the way to drop him off,
and-" my phone beeps, and I look at it. "He just texted me! Probably
responding to me asking if he could hang out this weekend. Hold on!" I open
his text.

	Xander: Gronded for not rplying to txts. No for wekind.

	"Aw," I say.

	"What?" Tessa asks.

	"He said he's grounded," I answer. "For not replying to the texts
he kept getting while we were at the zoo. I was hoping we could hang out
this weekend."

	"Maybe that's just him saying 'no'," she says. "Did you see Matt's
newest video?"

	"Of the peacock?" I ask, then laugh. "Yeah, I was watching it when
you showed up. That boy...I swear, I want to know what it was like when he
was high on the social anxiety, low on the interactions with others. He
turns thirteen, and what does he do? Post a video of him being followed
around by a peacock at the zoo."

	"He's fourteen," she corrects.

	"Oh, that's right!" I laugh. "Yeah, I forgot. New to all this, hard
to keep up with everyone."

	"I just asked Liam," she says. Liam's Matt's boyfriend, and Matt's
this internet star that goes to our school. He's an amazing singer, but he
also does sketches, and Tessa has been shot in a few of them. "He said that
back in the spring, they went to the zoo, and the peacock just kept
following him around, so they went again today, just to see, and it did it
again. They were prepared this time, which is why they were filming
it. Sucks that Xander can't hang out this weekend, I know what it's like
when you're into a boy who clearly likes you. How good of a kisser is he?"

	"He's so amazing," I answer. "On a scale of one to ten, he's a
solid hundred. Oh, damn, I'm hard just thinking about it."

	"Go take care of it!" She laughs. "Later, D!"

	She hangs up, and I strip off my clothes, leaning back in my chair
and rubbing my dick, imagining Xander's lips on mine, then on my neck, my
chest, his tongue on my nipples, my stomach, my dick, my blond crush taking
my dick into his mouth, fondling my balls. I moan as I imagine him pushing
a finger into my ass, moving it slowly.

	"Oooh fuck!" I exclaim as I orgasm, my hips bucking as I shoot out
three small, weak loads of cum, then collapse onto my chair. "Fuck."

	"Language, Dylan!" Mom hollers from the hall. "And jack off
quieter! I can't hear your porn, I shouldn't be hearing you!"

	I probably turn beet-red at that. No way to deflate a guy quicker
than have his mom yell that she can hear him jacking off. Not that I was
hard, that was the best orgasm I've ever had, and now I really want to know
what it'd be like to have sex with Xander.

	But not at home, there's no way Mom would let us here, she doesn't
let me and Sam do anything here, even though she's okay with us fooling
around.

	Did I just call her 'Mom'? I've never done that for one of my
foster parents before. I guess this home does feel like a home. Now I
wonder how long I've been calling her "Mom" without realizing it.

[Finn]

	I'm surfing through the net after I find out Xander's been grounded
because he's been at the zoo all day and never responded to a single text
(in his defense, it can be pretty noisy at the zoo, and he said that he
meant to check them, but kept forgetting), when I decide to check out my
favorite internet singer's channel. He's got a video up of him being
followed around by a peacock, with several shorter videos of specific
times, then seven hour-long videos of it, each one picking up where the
last one ended.

	I'm watching one of the scenes, when they're at the puffin house
(he lives in town, and I go and check him out at the park some Saturdays,
when it's not too bright out and the weather's decent), when I notice
something that catches my eye.

	A certain blond-haired boy with four others. Xander's staring at
one of the puffins while the others are standing beside him, chatting, but
it's clear they're with him. They even talk to him a few times, though he
mostly shrugs. Two girls and two guys, and both of the guys are kind of
cute. I can see one of the guys giving Xander looks, the kind that says he
wants him.

	I pause the video and stare at it, making sure it's Xander, and
when I do, I notice a remarkable resemblance between Xander and my favorite
artist. After a few minutes of taking a screenshot and cropping the image,
comparing the two, I make a conclusion.

	They're related. They have to be. Matt's not blond right now, but I
find a pic of when he's not got his hair dyed, and it's the exact same
platinum-blond as Xander's. They also have the same exact eyes, and even
their jawlines and noses are the same. They could practically be brothers.

	And what makes it even more likely: Matt has the last name 'King',
too.

	Same last name, and extremely similar looks. There's no way that's
a coincidence. These two have got to be related, probably brothers. After
all, no one knows if Xander has any family, and he's been an orphan since
birth.

	I sit back in my chair, wondering what I'm going to do with this
information. I need to do further research, first, just in case I'm wrong,
but I doubt I'm wrong about this.

	Xander has living family.

	And then something begins to bother me. His journals. I quickly
open them up. Something's been bothering me for a long time. Maybe he's
mentioned family in the journals before, and I didn't catch it? Didn't
realize it at first, due to his horrendous spelling? But then, wouldn't I
have caught it when I translated all of them?

	I still can't figure out where he moved them to.

	I don't find any references to family in the journals, even back at
the beginning, when things were better for him, but I do find an anomaly.

	Every now and then, on a Saturday, he mentions a name. I recognize
four of them. Emily. Cal. David. May. After digging into it, I confirm
it. Every time something bad happens during a week, he goes to a
restaurant. He never gives it a name, doesn't even mention it, just briefly
mentions that 'so and so was nice' or 'so and so tried talking to me today'
or 'so and so asked me for my name today', but the names match up with
workers at a restaurant.

	Those four I know by heart, they serve me the most. He mentions a
Gavin twice. He goes there every Saturday I met with him at the pet store,
when he went to check out the dogs for adoption, even if there wasn't
something bad that week, and I feel a little bit insulted.

	If he didn't like them trying to talk to him, he wouldn't keep
going there.

	It's not until I get to this summer and am looking through it again
that I realize something. He's been in there every single Saturday since I
met him up to the end of the journals, even after he was adopted. And at
the beginning of the summer, he mentions that Cal knew his name, and
convinced him to eat in. How did I miss the reference to a restaurant
there? He also mentions that Cal is psychic, and I wonder where he gets
that idea from.

~~END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN~~

	Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Any feedback, be it
comments, questions, suggestions, etc. can be sent to me at
kingkurt1339@gmail.com – I try to respond to every email! If you want to
be added to my mailing list, let me know!

	What was that feeling Xander had, the one he couldn't describe, as
he hung out with Tessa and Crew at the zoo? He enjoyed himself there, and
had a feeling he was unfamiliar with. Not fear, not uncertainty...but
something different, something new.

	Now that NLCK is over, I'll be posting NLXK a little bit more
frequently, until I start posting Matt's story as well. I'm...currently
working out some issues with it. Matt's being a brat, true to his nature.

	Thanks for reading, and look forward to Chapter Seventeen!