Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 19:30:36 -0600
From: Kurt King <kingkurt1339@gmail.com>
Subject: The New Life of Xander King Chapter 7

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	In the last chapter, we have Xander's thirteenth birthday party,
where the third main character, Luke, is introduced. Xander mentions that
Luke looks a lot like Kevin, and if you've read everything up to now, you'd
know that Kevin's the person who brought Xander out of his shell...then
kidnapped him and abused him, raped him, and let others do that, too.

	This chapter is going to show the results of the 'date' Luke set up
the day before so he can buy Xander's birthday present.

	I hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't forget that you can
message me to give your feedback (or even suggestions, if you're one of
those people)!

~~Chapter Seven – A Hop, a Skip, a Kiss, and a Smack~~

[Finn]

	After our morning routine, Xander got dressed and went to the front
doors to wait for Luke, who's to arrive at eight. I can tell he doesn't
want to hang out with Luke, but at the same time, I think he wants to. He's
actually put on his nicest set of clothes, too. He thinks Luke's cute, I'm
sure of it.

	I'm waiting with him, trying to assure him he doesn't have to hang
out with Luke if he doesn't want to, but he seems to think he has to, and
no matter what I say, he doesn't get that. Xander looks nervous, and a
little scared, and not the good kind, either, which kind of contradicts him
putting on his best outfit, which suggests, as stated, attraction.

	Then Luke shows up. Luke's definitely thinking this is a date, from
his styled hair and his nice outfit. He looks damn adorable, and I want to
unbutton that shirt right here and now, get it off him as we get into
bed...

	His arrival has happened at last. Xander's foot tapping and
constant small whimpers was starting to get annoying.

	"IlikeFinn," Xander says quickly when Luke reaches us.

	"Huh?" Luke frowns.

	I don't think Luke caught that. Twice in two days, Xander's kept
him from babbling.

	"He said he likes me," I look at Xander, whose cheeks turn bright
red. "You know I already knew that, right?"

	"No," his eyes widen.

	"Xander," I laugh. "I read your journals, remember? The last one is
practically nothing but you saying I'm cute. And annoying, but there's more
cute than annoying in there. It's okay to like more than one person, I can
tell you like Luke."

	"Ilikeyou," Xander says just as quickly as he did the first time,
cheeks turning redder.

	"That's fine!" Luke's not happy, judging by the quick look of
sadness on his face, but he quickly switches over to happy and bubbly, like
always, as if he's got practice at faking it. Why would he need practice?
As far as I know, his life's pretty sweet, and I know quite a bit about his
life. Wow, that sounds a bit stalkerish. I'm not, I swear!"So I've got the
day planned out. First, we're going and getting breakfast, then we're
getting your present, then we're going to the pool, then-"

	"Xander doesn't swim," I interject there, as fear appears on
Xander's face as soon as he hears the word 'pool'. "Doesn't own any swim
trunks."

	"We can get him some, then," Luke continues on, oblivious to the
whimper that Xander just let out. "He can just dangle his legs in the
water, or tan, or whatever. After the pool, we'll go to lunch, then go hang
out at the mall, and then-"

	"No pool," I say. "Xander doesn't do pools, not even to just hang
out at while his friends are swimming. That's why he doesn't own swim
trunks. We've been trying to convince him into it all summer."


	"We can go to the park, then," Luke switches, and I can see an idea
pop into his head as he jolts himself for a moment. "You can draw me at the
park! Then after the mall, we can go to the movies, there's this really
cool one playing today, and I haven't seen it yet, since I've been out all
summer. I bet you've already seen it, but I haven't yet. Parker's gonna
meet us for the movie, he's got other stuff to do all day."

	"We actually have stuff for the afternoon," I interrupt the
babbling. "Xander still needs to go school shopping, and school starts
tomorrow. Anyway, my ride's here. You two have fun."

	"Wait!" Xander grabs my arm, and when I look at him, he looks a
little nervous. He pulls me to him. "Um...I really like you."

	"I know," I say, and before I can say anything else, he kisses
me. Not a quick kiss on the lips, either, but a long one that involves a
little tongue. He breaks it off, then looks at his feet, looking
scared. "Damn, Xander, I've been kissed by a lot of guys, but damn...you're
a damn good kisser. Was that you asking me out?" He nods. "Then here's my
answer," I kiss him, and he blushes. "Don't look so scared, we're all gay,
here."

	"But Mr. and Mrs. Scott-"

	"Are fully aware that I'm gay," I say. "That I'm not a virgin, and
yet they still let me come over whenever I want, even unannounced. They
won't care if you are or not. Now go have fun with Luke. The more fun you
have, the better, even if it's doing it."

	I turn and make my way to the car, knowing full-well that I just
made both of them blush deeply. Fucking hell, Xander, that was amazing. I
bet if he really got into it...I shake my head, breaking myself out of the
thoughts.

	"That was a nice kiss," the driver chuckles.

	"Shut up, Ian!" I say, and he laughs. "Damn, he's got me all hard,
too."

	"You'll have to take it slow with this one, though," Ian
says. "Just remember that."

	"You've no idea how slow," I look out the window.

	"I'm surprised he's got your attention," Ian comments. "Xander's a
bit older than most of the boys you go after."

	"Not by much," I reply. "And he looks younger than he really
is. Even though I know his age, he's still sexy. So's Luke, for that
matter. Need to be really gentle, though, and not push things, not with
what he's been through. What Xander's been through, I mean."

	I should turn in Xander's journals, let the authorities know what's
been done to him. But some part of me says not to, says to wait, let Xander
be ready for it on his own. But that bothers me, those monsters are still
out there, and who knows if they've done things to others, or if they've
got other victims right now.

	Plus, I want to take a look at his journals again, there's
something in them that bothers me, but I can't quite put my finger on
it. Bothers me more than his rape and abuse, I mean. It might take me
awhile, with how bad his handwriting is.

	Yeah, yeah, I lied to him about destroying the keys and not making
doubles. I'm going to go to his journals again when I have plenty of time
and know he's distracted, so probably Saturday, when he's doing his usual
routine, since I know he'll be away for hours. While I'm there, I'm going
to make scans of the first fourteen journals, so I can compile them for
myself and not have to sneak around his own schedule, I want to figure out
what it is that bothers me in them.

	Not, like, a bad bothering, but like something's off. I hope I can
find it quickly, I don't like mysteries, and I want to know if it's because
there's something there I can use to befriend Xander, to bring him out of
that shell of his.

 [Xander]

	Luke really doesn't stop talking, does he? I discover during
breakfast that I don't even need to respond to him for him to keep going,
he just does, sort of like the Energizer Bunny.

	"What are you thinking about?" Luke suddenly asks me, and I stare
at him. "The look on your face. What were you thinking about?"

	"The Energizer Bunny."

	"Really?" He asks. "Why?"

	"You."

	"Don't see the connection," he shrugs. "I'm a Duracell guy,
myself. Love it to death, and hate all other battery brands. Alright! I'm
done eating. We've been here, like, an hour, and you barely touched your
food. You alright?"

	"Already ate."

	"Sure you did," he says. I did. I had breakfast after my morning
exercise routine, as I always do, and while I'm starving, I don't want to
eat more, not with Luke here. He's ruined my appetite. He's cute, but I'm
scared. He looks too much like...him. Not HIM, but him. Kevin. I start to
panic when I think his name, and then Luke interrupts my thoughts with his
cheerful voice. "Let's go!"

	The next place we go is the craft store, and Luke drags me over to
the section with the sketching things, and he stares at everything with
wide eyes.

	"Whoa," he says. "I never knew there were that many different
things you could sketch with. Wow, that's a lot of different pencils. Hey,
look, it's a miniature model. What kind of things do you prefer?"

	"Pencil and paper."

	"Huh?" He stares at me, and I stare back. "Xander, I can't
understand you if you're not actually saying it."

	I don't want to talk about it because I'm embarrassed by it. He
thinks I use stuff like this, but I just doodle on notebook paper,
usually. I suck at art. I like drawing, though, but like I said, I suck at
it. I can't draw, and I'm no good, and I'm not worth the good stuff. Luke
keeps poking me in the side, even though I keep flinching away, and he
keeps asking me what I mean.

	"I've only drawn on notebook paper before," I snap, feeling my
cheeks heat up as soon as I say. I look at my feet, don't know where else
to look. I didn't mean to snap, and he's probably going to be mad. I have
to finish answering, juch as I don't want to, or he won't leave me
alone. "Usually in the margins on my notes. I just like drawing, is all."

	"Oh!" Luke's eyes widen, and I feel like he's going to make fun of
me for it. "Hey, Mrs. Gates! This is a new classmate, here. His name's
Xander, we've got the same homeroom teacher. Whatcha doing?"

	"Buying a few supplies for the class," she answers, looking at
me. "Nice to meet you, Xander."

	"He likes to draw," Luke says. "But he's only really drawn with
scratch paper before. I didn't get to get him a present for his birthday
party yesterday, so I'm getting him some drawing stuff now. He doesn't know
what to get, though, since he's never had this stuff before. What would you
recommend? I've got no clue, I don't do art. Oh! Xander, this is
Mrs. Gates, the art teacher at the middle school. She's super-cool, and a
professional artist sometimes. If you ever have any questions about art,
just ask her, she can probably give you advice. Mrs. Gates, what do you
think would be good for him to start off with more than just doodles?"

	For the next hour, Luke, Mrs. Gates, and I talk, and Luke ends up
buying two sketchbooks and four sets of pencils and erasers for me, plus a
pack of these things called 'blenders', and two how-to books on sketching
that Mrs. Gates recommended. I didn't want him to, but he said it's his
birthday present to me.

	It's an expensive birthday present, I saw the prices of everything,
and it was well over a hundred dollars. But he insists, saying that it's
pleasure to get that as my birthday present if I've never had this stuff
before. He found out I'm an orphan during the conversation. Mrs. Gates is
really nice. They don't seem to care that I'm an orphan, but they're
probably just acting.

	I know Luke's acting, because he got all serious at the house when
I told him I liked Finn, and then put on a happy face. I wish I could do
that, just pretend to be happy when I'm not.

	After that, we go to the pool. I didn't want to, but Luke insisted
on it, since he's already wearing his swim trunks under his shorts. He goes
swimming, I stay as far away from the pool as possible, so that I won't get
wet or have a chance of ending up in the pool.

	Safely away from the pool, but still nervous and scared, I try
sketching with what the book says to do. I kind of already know how, but
I've never been good at shading, so I try sketching Luke and work on
getting the shading.

	I hate myself when I finish. I'm probably horrible, but even in the
sketch, Luke's cuter than I am. I'm ugly and horrifying and worthless, and
a sketch of Luke is godlike. I did him as he is right now, in just his swim
trunks, and he's really fit, his body muscled and strong, and he's got
well-developed abs and muscles. I'm careful as I draw them, making sure to
get them just right. I hate it.

	"Whatcha looking at?" Luke scares me, speaking up from right beside
me. I didn't notice him there until he spoke, and it's too late to cover
it, he's taken the sketchbook right off the table. "Whoa! This is awesome,
Xander! You've really only ever doodled on scratch paper before?" I
nod. "This is amazing! It looks so real! Wait, why am I sweating in this?"

	"You're not," I want to take it back from him, but I'm scared. He'd
probably just like Kevin, and not just in looks. I don't want to get on his
bad side. "You're...it's awful."

	"Wait," Luke looks at it closely. "I'm not sweating! I'm wet from
the water! Whoa! This is so awesome, Xander! It's so lifelike! Wow! Wait,
it's awful? What do you mean? I mean, it's not professional, but still,
it's amazing!"

	"Mine," I grab it, flipping it closed. He's lying. "Go away."

	"I'm your ride," he says. I can walk. "Let's go get lunch, I bet
you're starving!"

[Luke]

	I think I upset Xander at the pool when I looked at his drawing. He
looked terrified, but I'm not sure why. He probably just looks terrified
when he's upset.

	I'm not sure what to say over lunch, and he doesn't look
happy. While we're eating, Mrs. Scott, who apparently adopted Xander, and
the ghost show up. I saw him texting a little bit ago, guess that's
what. It's to take him school shopping. Good luck with that, you two, it
was a pain to get him to agree to let me buy him that stuff as presents.

	When I get home, I collapse onto my bed and stare at the
ceiling. Xander likes the ghost, and they kissed right in front of me. I
know Xander was the one who initiated the kiss and everything, but it still
upsets me. I really like him, and wish I could be his boyfriend, and then
he has to go and kiss the ghost and tell the ghost he likes him right in
front of me, as if I don't matter. Why does Xander hate me so much?

	I know he hates me, he doesn't like being around me. He looked
scared the entire time we were hanging out, and relieved when it was time
for him to leave. Probably kissed the ghost when I showed up just to make
sure I knew that he didn't want me.

	Wait. Why were they together this morning? Is Xander taken already?
Did he get with the ghost? Am I really not good enough for him, but that
freak is?

	"Hey, Luke!" Parker flies into my room, a grin on his face. His
grin fades when I look at him. "Wait, are you crying?"

	"No," I sniffle, rubbing my eyes as I sit up.

	"What's wrong?" He asks, and I start bawling.

[Finn]

	I can't help but notice that Xander looked relieved when we showed
up to pick him up to go supply shopping for school. Then, while we're
shopping, Xander keeps going for the stuff that's on deals, not necessarily
the stuff that's going to last.

	I did manage to get him to agree to an Under Armour backpack,
somehow. That took a miracle and a half, and an argument that it would last
longer than the one he wanted, which would probably need to be replaced by
the end of the year.

	Why does he have to be so stubborn about not letting people spend
money on him? Aunt Linda told me on the way to pick up Xander that he asked
yesterday whether or not there's a way he can pay them back for the clothes
they did buy for him, as well as me for the running shoes and the workout
clothes. He's probably worried that he's got to pay us back for the school
supplies, too.

	"Xander," I pull him aside while he's looking at pencils. He keeps
his gaze on the products as I talk. "You don't need to pay anything
back. Nothing. You need to stop worrying about being sent back, too - Aunt
Linda's adopted you, not taken you in as a foster kid. That means she's
committed herself to being your mother. I only just found out, but Aunt
Linda's been looking at you for almost two years now, had been going
through the adoption process for two years. When I first found out she was
adopting you, I thought it was because Mom had mentioned you to her. She'd
seen you on your weekly trip to the pet store, and after she found out you
were an orphan, decided you needed a mother and a safe, secure home, not an
orphanage. She's not going to make you pay anything back, she's spending it
on you because that's what mothers do. So stop worrying about needing to
pay everything back and getting the cheapest things possible, and let her
mother you, okay?"

	Xander stops moving and just stares down.

	"Okay, Xander?" I ask. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

	"No one wants me," he answers quietly, and before he can continue,
I smack him hard and right in the face, and tears start to well up in his
eyes.

	"Stop that," I order, angry with him. "You're wanted. Aunt Linda
wants you, that's why she spent a year and a half going through the
adoption process for you, that's why she wants to spend all this money on
you, that's why she's given you your own room and your own private
space. You're not worthless, you're not useless, and you need to stop
letting what they told you in the past to determine how you think you
are. You're handsome, you're intelligent, you learn martial arts pretty
quickly and speak three languages, you're a nice person, and you're
sensitive to others, even if you misinterpret everything. In most ways,
you're actually pretty ordinary. Those people who abused you? They're the
worthless ones, Xan, not you. You've got to stop letting them rule you,
especially now that they're not even in your life anymore. Now let Aunt
Linda mother you, for once."

	The rest of the time we're at the store, Xander doesn't say a word,
just lets Aunt Linda grab whatever she thinks he needs for school, then we
pay for everything and head to the next place, to get Xander a computer, so
that he can do his homework when he needs to without borrowing theirs or
one of the staff's.

	Xander doesn't protest even slightly to that, and I think I might
have gone to far, especially when the smack, but it was the only way I knew
would get him to shut up and just listen.

	When we get back to the house, I try to help Xander set up his
computer, and he finally speaks again.

	"Fuck off," he says quietly. "I hate you."

~~END OF CHAPTER SEVEN~~

	Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to message
me if you've got any comments, questions, suggestions, feedback, anything!
Even though I'm pretty far ahead, that doesn't stop me from changing things
when I go to submit stuff (sometimes as a result of me being so far ahead
– this chapter had something added in as a result of it), so don't worry
about that! Or I might even use it in a later chapter, or in another story.

	Speaking of other stories, I've had a lot of people asking me what
I meant by Xander being the 'only King' with a pretty foul mouth (an
excessive swearer), and some have even asked about the other Kings I've
written, so here's the thing: Xander isn't the first King I've written into
existence, all of my focus characters in my stories have the last name of
King (keeps things simple for me).

	And so, by request (somewhat), I've decided to start publishing the
stories of the other Kings I've written or have come up with. Right now,
I'm going to decide between three, and will announce at some point which of
the three I'm going to go with when I decide to start writing it, all three
of whom will be have NLXK crossovers. The three nominees are below. Email
me which of the three you want me to go with.

	Zack, the first King I ever wrote, who's outgoing, bold, and very
sure of himself and his sexuality, and a bit of a whore (and a top), and is
also a master martial artist and has desires to make a living off of
writing, a goal he's already achieving. He will be fourteen when his story
takes place, and it starts before NLXK, which begins in 2016, beginning in
2014, two years prior.
	Matt, the fourth King, but most talented King I've ever written,
who's good at pretty much anything he puts his mind to, but likes singing,
playing instruments, doing animation, and acting. He will be eleven, almost
twelve, when his story begins in the year of 2015.
	Benj, my newest addition to the Kings, who was created as part of
this story, but is given his own story instead. A little bit of a rebel, he
does his own thing with whoever he wants. Haven't actually started writing
him yet, so he'll be either 11, 12, or 13 when his story starts in 2014,
2015, or 2016. Most likely 11 or 12, due to NLXK reasons. Unlike Z and M,
won't have long-term goals (yet), mostly because I don't have him planned
out too much!

	Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned for Chapter 8!