Alex's New Life: Next Generation Chapter 19
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, in the story at least. For anyone wondering, the song at the beginning is a parody of we're going to get our Christmas tree by Tom Paxton if you want to look it up and get it stuck in your head. As always don't forget to donate to Nifty https://donate.nifty.org and feel free to send any messages to sithspawn78@yahoo.co.uk
Chapter 19
\\\ Nick ///
"We're gonna get a Christmas tree
My boyfriend, his cousin, my sister & me
Come on everyone let's go see
Come on Ben & Sammie
Cold December days are here
Ringing the warmth of Christmas cheer
We'll find the perfect tree this year
The loveliest tree in the forest"
"What the fuck are you singing?" I asked while laughing at Lucas' song.
"It's a song called we're going to get our Christmas tree, I thought it was pretty apt for this." He replied with a huge smile as he carried on bounding up the path. There was a strange nervousness to him today, like he was excited about something but trying to show he wasn't worried at the same time. The only way I can describe it is like the nervous excitement you get before you go on a scary ride. I had no idea why though, as far as I knew we were just going to get a Christmas tree from the forest behind the farm.
He'd been acting strange since he left my house the previous weekend. I told Ben about him being a bit distant when I'd mentioned working out with him and he just said he'd talk to him about it. When I met up with Lucas again in school he seemed back to normal like nothing had been off at the weekend. He just told me how his family had a tradition about getting a Christmas tree and asked me if I wanted to come along. Every year in early December, they'd go up to the forest behind the farm where they had an area just dedicated to fir trees, pick a tree to take back to the house, and then plant a new one so it could grow for a few years until it was needed. Normally it would be Lucas, Sammie and their dads doing it but this year it was just us kids fetching the tree as all our parents stayed back at the house talking about who knows what.
I was actually really excited to do this as we'd never had a real Christmas tree when I was growing up. Usually we just had a cheap plastic piece of crap wrapped in tinsel from one of the local budget shops. Brandon never really gave a shit about this time of year, but now I can see that it's because most people are nice to the ones they care about. This year was going to be different though. We were going to have the big day at the farm with all of our families together, and even our grandparents coming along to make it even bigger.
Lucas had led us to a path behind the farm that I'd never been up before. Even though I'd seen the main house and the studio quite a few times I'd never been further back on their property. We first went past another building that Lucas told me stored all their farm machinery, and then there was another big barn behind it that he just said he'd show me later. I was curious about it but Ben just told me it was their rec room, which I though was strange as it was a big building and most of their time was spent either in the studio or in the house. As the path carried on it became more densely forested, with all the trees that had shed their leaves coming into winter, until we finally came to a more evergreen area.
"Ok, here we are. Now who wants to do the honours of picking the tree?" Lucas asked looking from Ben to me and back again.
"I think Nick should do it as an official welcome." Ben replied. I was a little confused by that as I assumed I had already been welcomed to the families, or did it only become official at Christmas time?
"Um...ok...how about..." I scanned the trees to see if any looked right. Alex had shown us where the tree would go in the house so we would know what size to get and as I looked around I saw a few that looked big enough but not too big. "How about that one?" I asked, pointing to a nice sized one a few yards away.
"Ah, excellent choice." Lucas replied and then looked like he recognised something about it. "Hey Sammie, isn't this the one we planted the last time Ben came for Christmas?" Sammie just smiled and nodded.
Before Lucas spoke again he seemed to take a deep breath, like he was readying himself for something. "Alright then, before we get the tree out of here I have to confess something." He started and then looked straight at me like what he was about to say was only directed at me. "I actually wanted you to come up here with us today as we've got something huge to tell you. Now it's going to be a little...strange, but it's something we feel you need to know."
"Oh my god! We're not breaking up are we?" I asked.
"I hope not." Lucas replied grimly. What the fuck did that mean? Was he testing our relationship? "Ok, so what I want you to do now is bring that tree back over here." He was right, this was getting strange. I looked over at the tree and then realised that we didn't have an axe or a saw to chop it down. Ben had just brought a shovel and Sammie was carrying the baby tree we were going to plant afterwards.
"You want me to dig it out?" I asked.
"Nope, no tools." He replied and I just looked at him sceptically. There must be something about this tree I didn't understand so I walked over and stood in front of it, trying to figure everything out. The trunk looked like it would be about big enough to wrap both hands around, but my fingers would probably only just about touch if I did. I gave it a tentative push and the top of the tree swayed a little but not much. I tried pushing harder, making it sway again, but it still seemed firmly anchored to the ground. I tried wrapping my hands as far around as I could to lift it but I couldn't move it at all. After I tried a few more ideas I was completely stumped. There was no way to get this tree back to the house without digging it up or chopping it down.
I looked back at Lucas, feeling defeated and expecting them to be laughing at me, but their smiles were just warm and not mocking. "I dunno what to do. Is there some knack to it I don't know about?" I asked.
"No, I just wanted you to be sure it was a genuine tree with no trickery." He replied with a smile. "Come here, let me do it." He walked over to the tree as I backed away and I was curious to see how he would do it. This obviously wasn't his first time so there must be a technique I didn't know about. He casually gripped the trunk with one hand and I noticed his fingers seemed to be pressing into the trunk itself a little. Before I could say anything he started to lift the tree straight upwards as the roots below started to appear on the surface. After a couple of seconds he placed his other hand lower down the trunk and lifted it up further until there was daylight between the tree and the ground beneath it.
"Wait but...that tree was...I mean...how the fuck..." I couldn't believe it. I looked over to Ben and Sammie but they just shrugged like it was normal. "There's gotta be something dodgy here."
"No trick, here, take it." Lucas said, holding the tree out for me to take as little chunks of earth dropped off the roots. I tentatively reached out and held onto the trunk, which felt like a solid tree trunk, and when I had a good grip Lucas let go. The tree instantly dropped like a stone and caught me off-guard, but before it went too far Lucas grabbed hold of it again with one hand to support the weight.
"That's impossible!" I backed away and stood looking at Lucas holding that tree like it was the first time I was seeing him. I know Amber had told me he was stronger than he looked but this was unreal.
"Not for their family." Ben said. "I know I was kinda shocked by it when I first found out but you must admit, it's pretty incredible." Lucas lay the tree down gently, brushing his hands together to get any dirt off them and then came over to me.
"So you're telling me you're super strong?" I asked.
"Yeah, basically." Lucas replied sheepishly.
"Wait I need to get my head around this." I replied turning towards Sammie to see her reaction but she was busying herself planting the new sapling and I suddenly realised something. Ben said it wasn't impossible for their family, did that mean they could all do these things? This was crazy. I couldn't have a super strong boyfriend, that's impossible!! But what if it was true? It would be kinda cool wouldn't it? The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to be freaked out; but that didn't happen. I was actually excited about it and wanted to see more. I turned back to Lucas and could see him looking anxious. I couldn't blame him though, I mean, he'd just shared a massive secret with the guy who'd hated him for years.
"Are you ok?" Ben asked but I didn't reply. I took a couple of steps towards Lucas and I could see the tears threatening to leak from his eyes.
"This is..." I suddenly threw my arms around Lucas and gave him the biggest kiss on the lips as his eyes went wide. I pulled back with my hands on his shoulders to look him in the eyes with the biggest smile on my face. "THIS IS AWESOME!! How strong are you? Have you got any other powers? Can you fly? What about..." Lucas pulled me into a hug again and I could feel him sobbing by the way his shoulders were moving up and down. I held him tight and stroked the back of his head as he let it all out. Ben came over and draped his hand over my shoulder as Lucas relaxed a little.
"Welcome to the family secret." Ben said. "He's been so worried about telling you but we told him it was the right time." I could see why they waited, I mean, how would I have felt if I found out the very first time I met Lucas?
"I dunno if any time would be the right time but I don't care, this is fucking brilliant!" I beamed.
"Wanna see some more?" Lucas asked shyly.
"FUCK YEAH!!" I yelled, causing them all to laugh at my enthusiasm. "Pull another tree out, a bigger one!!"
Lucas just laughed. "Nah, It'd be a shame to mess up the forest, but there's plenty more stuff I can show you back home."
"We'll take the tree back and leave you guys to have fun for a bit." Ben said. Sammie came over to give me a hug and apologised for keeping me in the dark but I told her I didn't mind. She then slammed the shovel through the tree's trunk to cut off the roots and then handed the shovel off to Ben, who gave me a lopsided smile as he shrugged his shoulder. I stood there with my mouth wide open as she effortlessly lifted the tree I couldn't even move, slinging it over her shoulder, and then gave me a cute smile as she set off down the path back to the house with Ben. Lucas and I hung back but followed them along the path as I kept bombarding Lucas with questions. I wanted to know if he had always been strong, how his dads worked out to get their bodies as amazing as they were, how he was working out to bulk himself up and loads more things like that. He managed to answer most of them but a few he evaded by giving me the `wait and see' answer. As long as I got to see it though I didn't care. I didn't think I could be happier than the first time we kissed but things just kept getting better.
Further down the path Lucas came to a stop outside one of the buildings we passed on the way up to the forest.
"Is this like, your home gym?" I asked. "Ben said it was your rec room."
"This is where we come to let off a little steam sometimes. Welcome to the wreck room." He pulled one of the large, metal doors open and I couldn't believe my eyes. "And it's wreck room, spelt with a W."
\\\ Ben ///
When I saw Lucas the week before I told him what Nick had said to me and asked what he wanted to do about it. If Nick was going to spend Christmas with us all then he needed to know the secret otherwise it would make the whole day really awkward as everyone except him and his mum would know. We sat down with his dads and worked out a few scenarios for how we could tell him and came to the conclusion that to tell somebody outright wouldn't really work as they wouldn't believe it until they saw proof. The best way we could think of was for Lucas to demonstrate something and then see how Nick took it from there, and as they hadn't got their Christmas tree yet it made sense for us to go and get it with Nick.
"Was that what you expected?" I asked Sammie on the walk back to the house.
"Honestly? No. I was expecting one of us to go running after him through the forest with him freaking out, but I guess you never really know what to expect when people find out. Hopefully his mum's taking the news just as well."
It was a good thing the farm was so secluded as the sight of a teenage girl with an eight foot tree draped over her shoulder would've definitely raised a few eyebrows, especially with a slightly taller and, if I may say, pretty strong looking guy next to her just carrying a shovel. We reached the house and Sammie propped the tree up against a wall near the front door before we made our way around to the kitchen. When we walked in our parents were all sitting around the table laughing at a story that Uncle Luke was telling about Alex and Josh from when they were younger. There was a warped chunk of metal in the middle of the table and I could see the shape of fingers etched into is, as if someone had just haphazardly crushed it in their hands; almost like someone had taken a piece of Play-doh and just closed their hand around it so it just oozed out between their fingers.
"Hey guys, how did it go down here?" I asked.
"No problems here." Uncle Luke replied, smiling over to Summer.
"How did Nick take it?" She asked.
"Better than I thought he would, I haven't seen him so excited." I replied. "They're up in the wreck room so I don't think they'll be back for a while."
Alex let out a little chuckle. "That's not a bad thing. Lucas has been on edge all week so it'll be good for him to just let loose for a while. Did you get the tree ok?"
"Yeah it's outside." Sammie said.
"Cool, let's get it in and decorate it then." Alex started standing but I had to cut him off.
"Actually there's something else I needed to ask you guys about." Alex sat back down and I suddenly had seven pairs of eyes looking curiously at me. "Remember how we said about the showcase that the school do at the end of every year?" Everybody nodded but kept quiet. "Well Danny's had an idea for an act but it will mean the rest of our crew knowing about you guys."
They all looked a little uncomfortable but as I started to tell them about Danny's plan I could see the cogs going round in Alex's head and he was smiling quite a few times as I went into more detail. We kept bouncing ideas around the table about the logistics of his plan and how we could pull it off but it was definitely doable. It seemed like both Alex and Josh had been missing their days of dressing up so they definitely seemed up for it.
"Are you sure they'll all be ok with our secret though?" Josh asked anxiously.
"I think they should be ok. Tom might be a bit of a dick about it but he should be able to keep quiet." I replied.
"If we can get them to rehearse here as much as possible then that'll normalise things for them a lot quicker." Alex added.
"Maybe. I think we'll just get Christmas out of the way first and deal with that in the New Year." Josh said.
We spent the next few hours getting the tree set up in the living room and when it was done I thought back to the previous times I'd been here for Christmas. Sure I'd been jealous of Lucas when he'd been showing off his strength or bragging about the things he'd done, but I always liked having such a big gathering on the day. This year was going to be even better though as it now felt like my family was complete, and with Nick and his mum now in on the secret it meant nobody would have to watch what they do or say when we're all together. I checked my watch and was surprised to see the time. Lucas and Nick still hadn't come back yet so I wondered what they'd been up to.