Alex's New Life: Next Generation Chapter 10
I'm running out of things to say at the start of these chapters now. Anyway, donate to Nifty and enjoy https://donate.nifty.org/
Chapter 10
\\\ Ben ///
"Oh God Oh God Oh God!!" I looked over the mezzanine in the studio after hearing the door close to see Lucas pacing around below. Sammie still had her arms wrapped around my waist as she rested her head on my shoulder to see what Lucas was doing.
"What's wrong with you?" She called out, sounding slightly annoyed that we'd been disturbed. I couldn't blame her though; we finally scored some alone time after all the craziness in town when had Lucas burst in taking the lord's name in vain. He looked up to see us and came bounding up the stairs before sinking into the other couch.
"I sort of asked Nick out." He said suddenly. "Well, not asked out but asked him to meet me and the girls in the dance studio tomorrow."
"Ok, so what's the problem?" Sammie asked.
"I don't know if I can talk to him, what happens if he thinks I'm a complete twat?"
"Wow, you're really expecting him to get to know you that quickly?" She asked and I tried (slightly unsuccessfully) not to laugh at that.
"Fuck off!!! You know what I mean." Lucas didn't look amused at all.
"If he's willing to join you and your friends then that's progress isn't it? You don't need to jump his bones straight away, just hang out with him the same way you have with me and the other guys." I said.
"What if he chickens out and wants to hang out with you guys instead? I can't just drag him back to school...well I can, but it won't be very graceful."
"I'm pretty sure I can make it difficult for him to do that." I replied with a sly grin, knowing exactly what I'd have to tell the guys later. "Trust me, he'll either join you tomorrow or go home alone."
"Look, you and Nick will get on fine; he's kinda like Ben here, just a little more shy." I felt her squeeze me a little tighter as she said that; thankfully not as tight as I knew she could. Lucas suddenly noticed how we were holding onto each other and a smile crept over his face.
"So you two finally got together eh?"
"Nearly, we were just getting comfortable with each other when some arsehole decided to barge in acting like a little bitch."
"When did this happen? Do our dads know?" Lucas asked, ignoring Sammie's snarky reply.
"When things died down in the music shop we walked back here and decided we should stop messing around and say how we really feel, turns out we kinda like each other." Sammie turned to me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips which I could never get enough of. Why the fuck didn't we do this sooner? "And no, our dads don't know yet, we'll tell them later." I suddenly became very worried about her dads finding out. Josh intimidated me at the best of times but if he knew I was making out with his daughter he'd probably give me a rather stern talking to. Note to self, bring clean underwear when we tell them.
Turns out they might find out sooner rather than later though as the twins insisted on me staying for dinner as it was just going to be them and their dads otherwise. I'd eaten at their place before but I was still amazed at how much food they prepared, the table had a massive spread on it and they could probably eat much more between them if it wasn't for the power shakes they drank to keep their hunger at bay. I remember my dad telling me about how bad those shakes smelled but thankfully Alex and Josh had worked on perfecting the flavour so now they just looked like regular milkshakes. Uncle Luke told me he'd tried one a few years back and even one gulp had made him sick all night due to how potent they were, so I was definitely going to avoid them.
"So what's been going on with you lately Ben?" Alex asked. "We barely see you for years and now you're becoming a regular fixture round here."
"I dunno, I think seeing the way Nick hated us when he arrived made me look at all the good things he missed about us all and made me want to get us all back together again." I replied.
"Nick is Brandon's kid, right?" Josh asked and I nodded in reply. "I'm still not happy about you guys hanging round with him, if he's anything like his father..."
"He's not DJ, he's a nice guy." Sammie cut him off but Josh just let out an annoyed grunt and carried on eating.
"We'll probably be seeing a lot more of Ben around here anyway, won't we Sammie?" Lucas said with a beaming smile as Sammie scowled and kicked him under the table.
"Knock it off you two. What do you mean by that anyway?" Alex asked. Before Lucas could answer Sammie grabbed my hand and laced he fingers through mine and laid them on the table. I didn't even bother trying to pull away as I knew I wouldn't have any luck but I couldn't help getting an uneasy feeling now the cat was out of the bag. Without a word Josh pushed his seat back and rose up to his full height and I could swear he was getting more muscular as he stood up. All the while he stared straight at me and I couldn't pull my eyes away from his. He took a step towards me as I tried not to cower in fear; this is one of my dad's best friends. He wouldn't hurt me, right? He reached down to pluck me out of my seat so I was standing eye level with his enormous chest, convinced I was about to die.
"So you want to date my daughter do you?" Josh rumbled. Did I mention I found Josh to be a little intimidating? Now I felt like I was about to lose all control of my bowels. I couldn't even answer him as I didn't dare take my eyes off the massive monster in front of me. He still held on to my shoulders and then suddenly this big smile washed over his face and he pulled me into a hug. "Of course you can, I wouldn't want her to go out with anyone else."
"You're such an arsehole DJ." Sammie said. I looked around the room as Lucas and Alex were clearly amused by my discomfort. Josh then began to shrink back to his usual gargantuan size and sat back down to eat while I still stood there trying not to puke through nerves. I finally sat back down and we spent the rest of the meal talking about any and every random thing that came up. The more the time went on the more I started to warm to Josh. Even though he was big (well ok, huge) and strong he was really soft spoken and I could tell how much he loved his family.
After dinner we hung out in the studio again and I could tell Lucas was getting really nervous about going back to school. I couldn't blame him though as I'd felt the same sort of nerves whenever I had the possibility of running into Sammie. I was glad all that was finally behind me and I just had to get Lucas into the same position. We hatched a plan whereby Nick didn't have much choice but to join Lucas, either that or find new people to hang out with. I messaged all the other Fleeks to tell them to make other plans for after school tomorrow and after a while they all came back with excuses to avoid Nick. Noah would be with his brother helping him convince his friends to take up free running, Tom and Jamie would be helping Jamie's mum and some other teachers making decorations for the upcoming Halloween house of horror/dance, Danny said he still had more research to do (whatever that meant) and I was going to come back to the farm with Sammie.
By the time school rolled around the next day the plan was fully in motion. I walked to school with Danny as usual and we met up with Lucas and Sammie near our lockers before first period. We tried our best to keep Lucas calm, especially when we saw Nick arrive. Lucas had his back to him most of the time while we were talking but I could see him further down the hall rummaging around in his locker. While I was watching he seemed to be messing about with something and then I saw a shocked look come over his face. He turned to look around and when he spotted Lucas with me he quickly shut his locker and started walking towards us with a sense of purpose. Lucas turned around just as he was approaching and we were all surprised when Nick suddenly threw his arms around Lucas in a big hug.
"Thank you, I don't know how you knew but that was really sweet." He said, looking into Lucas' eyes. "I'll see you after school ok?" Before Lucas could even answer Nick bounded off leaving all of us slightly stunned.
"What the fuck was that all about?" I asked.
"I have no idea, what was really sweet?" Lucas replied. I looked at Sammie who shrugged her shoulders then went to ask Danny who was trying to look innocent.
"Why do I get the feeling this has something to do with you?" I asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied, trying to hide a smile.
"You know these lockers look awfully uncomfortable to be stuffed into, and who knows how long it would take them to get you out if the doors were crushed into the framework." Lucas said in a rather menacing tone.
"Ok fine, he found the comics you left in his locker." Danny said nervously but now Lucas looked even more confused.
"What comics?"
"The ones his dad trashed a while ago. The ones illustrated by your dad that you bought, got signed by your dad and then sneaked into his locker." Danny was looking really guilty now but Lucas just broke out into a big smile.
"You crafty little bastard, how did you know which comics they were? And when did my dad sign them?"
"I kinda transferred the photos of his trashed room from his phone to mine and then got Ben's dad to track them down." He replied, looking a little less nervous.
"Wait, what? My dad knew about this?" I was shocked that my dad didn't tell me about any of this.
"Yeah, and then I took them to Alex to get them all signed. I told him not to tell you though so you didn't get nervous about how he'd react."
"Let me guess, that was why Alex said he'd seen you the other week." I asked Danny, who simply nodded with a big smile on his face.
"You are a sneaky little shit, but I'm beginning to like you." Lucas said as he draped his arm around Danny's shoulders. I wasn't quite so enthusiastic though.
"Gah!! What have I told you about meddling?" I chided. "It's gonna get you in trouble one of these days."
"What's the big deal? Nick loved them and thinks Lucas did a nice thing for him." Danny replied. He was beginning to look a bit annoyed like he expected me to be more understanding.
"The big deal is that he thinks Lucas did something that he never knew about. You're lucky Nick didn't start asking him loads of questions."
"Fine, I was just trying to help." Danny sulked.
"Aww leave him alone Ben; he did a nice thing, although I could've handled it in my own way." Lucas said, still with his arm draped across his shoulder.
"Well at least you know he's not going to stand you up later." Sammie said. "I really want to see how it goes with you two now."
"Yeah well, don't even think about gate crashing, I want to see how he is without you guys around."
\\\ Nick ///
What a way to start the morning. I bounded happily into my English lesson and flashed a smile at Mrs Forster as I passed her desk to find my seat. I think it might have taken her off guard as I usually tried not to make eye contact with her. I couldn't help it though; when I saw what Lucas had done I was just so happy and couldn't resist hugging him. Oh my god! I hugged Lucas! OH MY GOD!!! I HUGGED LUCAS!!! Right there in the hallway in front of everyone!!
I suddenly started to panic as I looked around the room. Why was that kid looking at me so strangely? He had a smile on his face like he knew something and gave me a little wave. Was he in the hallway too? Did he see what happened with me and Lucas? Does he think I'm gay now? Oh god!! I was starting to hyperventilate. More students were filing into the room and as Noah walked in he looked at me and seemed to notice something wasn't right.
"Are you ok?" He asked, giving me a concerned look, and then turned to look to the front of the class. "Mrs Forster, I think something's wrong with Nick." Oh shit!! Now everyone's looking at me. This'll be all over the school now!! Before I knew it she'd come rushing over to see what was wrong and I worried that everyone was going to think I was a freak.
"Nick I need you to listen to me, I want you to breathe with me ok?" Mrs Forster crouched next to me holding my hand and led me through some breathing techniques to try to calm me down. "That's good; now keep going like that ok. What you're feeling now might be scary but it's not dangerous. Now are you ok coming out into the hallway with me?" I just nodded my head and she led me out of the calss with Noah. I sat on the floor as she quickly sent a message on her phone. A minute later Jamie came sprinting down the hallway and skidded to a stop in front of us.
"Is he ok?" He asked, looking slightly worried.
"He will be, he just had a panic attack. Can you guys just sit with him out here until he feels better?" She asked and they assured her they would, allowing her to go back to her lesson. Jamie seemed to know how to deal with this as he kept using the same breathing techniques as his mum had done; meanwhile Noah held my hand for comfort and kept reassuring me that everything would be ok. Finally I started to calm down and the guys helped me up.
"Are you ok to go back in there? I can stay with you if you want, Mum won't mind."
"What about your teacher?"
"Fuck him, this is more important." I smiled as Jamie said that and nearly hugged him, but then I remembered that was what triggered everything off the first time. I went back into the classroom and true to his word Jamie stayed with me without any hassle from his mum. At the end of the lesson we hung back to talk to Jamie's mum as all the other students filed out.
"How are you feeling now Nick?" She asked.
"I'm ok, thanks for the help...all of you." I replied, looking between them.
"Want to tell me what it was all about?"
"I...no, it just sounds really dumb. I'll be ok though, it's just something I need to face later."
"Ok, but if you need to talk we're here for you ok?" I nodded solemnly then we headed out the class to our next lessons.
"Look, I think we know what the problem is but don't worry, things will all work out ok." Jamie said as we walked along and I started to worry again that everybody knew I was gay. If that's the case though then at least these guys didn't seem to mind.
"We've both got things to do after school but we can cancel those plans if you want." Noah said, still with a look of concern on his face.
"No, I'll be fine...thanks guys." I replied.
"Are you sure?" Jamie asked, not looking convinced. I assured them both a few more times that I'd be fine, even though I didn't quite believe it myself. Jamie then draped his arm over my shoulder, giving me a quick squeeze before they turned to head down a different corridor. I trudged off to my next lesson, trying not to think about what happened earlier but still feeling anxious about meeting Lucas later.
By the end of the day my stomach was churning so much that I felt like I was going to puke, just like my first day here. I finally pulled myself together as I walked past the cafeteria and saw a photo of my dad in the trophy case again. I'd been beaten down by him for so long and running away from this was just letting him beat me some more. A wave of determination swept through me as I marched past the main auditorium and dressing rooms, then down the corridor that connected the main school to the performing arts building to deal with this head on. As I approached the main doors I saw a notice pinned to them saying the building would be off limits next week as they'd be setting it up for the Halloween fright night. I had no idea what that was all about but it kinda pissed me off that I wouldn't be able to use any of the facilities in the building while it was closed.
I knew the layout pretty well as I'd paid more attention to it than I had to any other part of the school, so I knew the dance studio was up one flight of stairs and towards the back of the building. Taking a deep breath I walked past all the classrooms on the ground floor before heading up the stairs to the music rooms and dance studio. When I finally reached the door I could hear music thumping inside and a fresh wave of panic started to overtake me as I reached for the handle.