Chapter 3 – The New Kid in Town

"Wow. This place looks so… different! Like a little village or something." I state as I take it all in.

"Sure is! Now, let's head over to my house first." Theresa exclaims as she points toward the direction she wants me to walk.

As Theresa and I enter the town, we are bombarded by little girls. Man, when she said there are only girls in this town, she meant it. There have to be a dozen or two of them. There are more little girls here than there are houses! The worst part is, they're all too young for me to even want to hit on them.

"Theresa's back!" One of the little girls shouts.

"And she brought a boy with her!" Another adds.

"Theresa has a boyfriend! Theresa has a boyfriend!" The crowd of girls begins to chant.

"Stop!" Theresa yells back at them, but to no prevail. The girls simply continue chanting.

I look down at Theresa who now seems discouraged by my presence. I'm the one who decided to follow her here in the first place, so I'm the one who'll have to fix it!

"HEY! Relax!" I scream at the girls in a vicious tone. They all stop chanting.

"Now, let's get one thing straight. I am not dating Theresa. In fact, I only met her a little while ago in the forest. She is just showing me around town." I state to the crowd before me.

"So you're a visitor? We rarely ever get those." One of them mentions.

"What's going on over here?" A boy who begins grumpily pushing through the crowd asks.

"Zack, I would like you to meet my brother Nicholas!" Theresa points to her brother. Nicholas has blue eyes and long black hair with bangs that are brushed to the side. The tips of his bangs touch the top of his glasses. It's quite a stylish look. He seems like nobody that I've seen before, but still nothing special.

Nicholas looks up at me after his sister finishes her sentence. He begins to have an intrigued, yet curious expression at the sight of me. After a few seconds of his silent examination, Nicholas begins to speak.

"Zack, is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Nick." He smiles as he shakes my hand.

"Anyway, I was just about to bring him on a tour around town. Come on Zack!" Theresa pulls on me.

"How about I walk him around the town so you can play with your friends?" Nicholas asks his sister.

"Okay, but don't hurt him, Nick. You are older than him!" Theresa smiles. With the tone she was speaking in, it's as if she doesn't even expect him to hurt me. In fact, it's like she thinks he wants to hang out with me. I wonder if that's what his voluntary act to tour me is all about.

"Okay Zack, let's go this way first!" Nicholas runs in the direction he wants to go. I chase after him for a few seconds. Once we are a good distance from the girls, he slows down.

"So, how old are you Zack?" He initiates a conversation out of nowhere.

"Fourteen. I'll be fifteen soon though."

"That's cool. I'm sixteen myself. I'll be seventeen since my birthday is soon too."

"Where exactly are we going?"

"I'm going to show you the town auditorium first and then we'll go to the river. How does swimming sound?" Nicholas asks. He seems like a rather mature, serious type of guy. Not really my favorite kind of person to hang with, but I might surprise myself.

"Awesome! I don't have a bathing suit with me though."

"Well you have two choices then. Choice number one would be to borrow one of mine. Choice number two is of course you can swim in your boxers." Nicholas sticks his tongue out.

"Or there's choice three: I don't swim." I add.

"Awww that's no fun."

"Since when did you get all playful?" I ask. It kind of shocked me that he would be saying any of this with all the straight forward responses he's been giving so far.

"Why? Do you not want me to be?"

"No, not at all. I like that side of you better."

"The truth is I've never really had a boy… I mean guy friend before, so this is all new to me. I usually am serious though because there's nobody around here to have a good time with."

"Yeah, I heard you're the only boy around here. Lucky you, having all these girls to be around." I nudge his chest.

"Not really. For starters, they're all young. That isn't the main issue though. It's just that I need a guy around to hang out with. Do you get what I mean?"

"Makes sense. Well good thing I showed up then. Now you can have some real fun!" I smile at Nicholas as he smiles back. I don't think I've ever been this wanted by someone before. All that this poor guy wants is to have some guy time, and that's what I'll give him!

"Now, here's the auditorium. There are events that go on here every night! It's really a lot of fun."

"That's cool. What will be happening here tonight?"

"It's Karaoke night! You should give it a shot. You look like you'd be quite the singer!" Nicholas chuckles through his sarcasm.

"Oh, please. I'm not gonna…" I pause for a moment. "You know what? Let's make a deal. I will sing tonight if you also sing!"

"Fine, but you're singing first." He winks at me.

"Ha ha ha. We have a deal."

"Now, let's head over to my house to grab some bathing suits. I'm just dying to go for a swim."

"Alright then, but are you sure your bathing suits will fit me?"

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Maybe," I say as we both begin to laugh. Nicholas really isn't half bad. I've been going after girls for so long that I forgot how much fun making new guy friends could be.

"Well, if I'm so fat, then let's see if I can run faster than you!" Nicholas says as he begins to sprint to his house.

After a few seconds of running, we both arrive at his house. Nicholas arrives first by a slight margin, but only because I didn't exactly know which house was his so I let him have the lead. He did have a head start, but I could've beaten him if I wanted to. I am a rather fast runner.

"Hey guys I'm home!" Nicholas yells into his house as he swings open the door. The first thing I notice is a man sitting on a chair in the room we enter into. He appears to be reading the newspaper. However, when he looks up from Nicholas' call, he begins to stare at me. He lowers his glasses a bit as most people with reading glasses do to see something at a distance.

"Who is this?" The man asks.

"This is my new friend Zack! Zack, this is my Dad."

Nicholas' dad stands up and walks over to me, still staring me down. He reminds me a lot of his son with this whole stare down thing. Nicholas was doing this when he first saw me too.

"Nice to meet you Zack. My name is Christopher." Nicholas' dad says as he offers me a handshake. Now a handshake too? I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

"So, where exactly are you from?" Christopher asks me.

"Well, I lived in Boston for most of my life, but nowadays I go to school on a boat."

Nicholas' eyes light up. "Really? That's so cool!"

"Yeah, but we're currently docked a walk away from your village, so when I ran into Theresa in the forest she brought me here."

"Oh that sister of mine is always bringing home interesting things, but a boy? That's a new one."

*RING RING*

"Ah that must be my work phone. Nice meeting you Zack. Have fun with Nicholas!" Christopher shouts as he runs to the phone.

"Work phone, huh? So what is his job?"

"My dad is the pastor in the local church."

"You mean like a priest?"

"Well, priests are the leaders in a Catholic church. He preaches in a Baptist church. I should've warned you that I live in a rather religious environment, so watch what you say or do."

"Got it! Anyway, go get the bathing suits. It's getting late and I'd rather swim before the sun goes down."

"Right. I almost forgot." Nicholas says as he darts up the stairs. "What are you waiting for, an invitation? Come on up the stairs!"

I shrug my shoulder and follow him up the stairs. I personally find the whole experience of walking into someone's house for the first time to be extremely awkward, but he is being inviting so I guess I should just not worry about it.

"Hello there." A women smiles at me when I reach the top of the stairs. She appears to be sorting clothes.

"Mom, this is my new friend Zack."

"That's so nice! About time a new boy moved in around here."

"Oh, I didn't move in. I'm just here for the weekend."

"Well make yourself at home. We have plenty of food. In fact, how would you like to join for dinner in an hour and a half?"

"That sounds great?" I gleefully accept her offer. I'm not sure where Cody and the gang are at the moment, so why not stick around here for now?

"Okay Zack let's go put on some bathing suits and head out to the river now."

"I'm right behind you."

As we enter Nicholas' room, I am shocked to find it extremely organized. His bed is made, there are no clothes on the floor, and everything seems to be placed in a specific spot. Kind of like Cody's room, except without an excessive amount of air freshener.

"Wow, you're really organized. My room is such a mess compared to this."

"Well if you like messy rooms then go take a look at my sister's room. It's a pigsty." Nicholas smirks from his own comment.

"Hmmm well I have to admit. For a guy, you're very neat."

"Why thank you. Now which bathing suit would you prefer? Blue with white stars or white with blue stars?"

"I like the white with blue stars."

"Good choice." He says, throwing the bathing suit at me.

"Is it okay if I wear no boxers in your bathing suit? I didn't bring a change of boxers with me…" I state, embarrassed at my asking.

"Uhhh su-sure." He hesitates, turning a shade of red.

I get behind his bed and quickly drop my pants and boxers. I slip on his bathing suit. I look back up to find that Nicholas is staring at the upper half of me that he can see with a thinking face.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just a little shocked you would get naked in front of me like that."

"It's not that big a deal. I was behind your bed. Besides, we both got the same stuff down there." I jokingly nudge him. Nicholas turns even redder than he was before.

"Stop that." He says, most likely aware he is blushing.

"Well then change so we can get going already."

Nicholas takes off his pants and throws the bathing suit over his boxers very quickly. Either he is dying to go to the river, or he has some upper leg flaw he doesn't want me to spot.

"Now then, we can finally be on our way to the river." I state. Nicholas shakes his head, ridding himself of the redness it once had and looks up with a smile.

"Alright! Here we go!"

What new experiences await Zack during his time in this town? Read on to find out! ^_^

I know it has been quite a while since I've updated this story, but I've been sidetracked with other stories! I promise I will not abandon this story for as long as I was ever again! =)

Anyway, PLEASE review so that I can know if this story is worth updating frequently!