Page 40 of Christmas at the Movies

Present Day

On Wednesday after school, Nick and Julia were huddled together at a table in the library. Julia was writing in a notebook, while Nick shaded in a drawing of a cruel half-lizard, half-alien villain who bore a striking resemblance to Damon Carter.

He and Julia had been meeting in the library twice a week after school, on the days her brother’s football training was on. They had nearly finished planning out the first volume of their manga. Together, they had invented a character named Kayda who could transform into a fire-breathing dragon.

‘So, I was thinking,’ said Julia, looking up from her notebook. ‘The goodies can escape by finding a portal to another dimension. But time stands still in the real world, so the baddie’s still waiting for them when they come back.’

Nick quickly sketched out a scene, showing Kayda tearing open a portal into another realm with her dragon claws.

‘Give her longer fangs.’ Julia offered Nick a Haribo sweet from a bag hidden in her blazer pocket. (Snacks were strictly forbidden in the library.)

‘Maybe they should stay in the other dimension, where they’re safe,’ said Nick, erasing the dragon’s fangs.

Julia chewed on a fizzy cola bottle as she thought. ‘No – they’ve got to go back and fight, of course.’

‘Hey, that’s really good.’ Nick turned around and saw his maths teacher standing behind them. Mr Wu must have been on library duty. ‘May I?’

Nick handed Mr Wu the sketchpad as Julia quickly hid the sweets.

The teacher studied their work. ‘This is very impressive. Maybe the two of you should set up a manga club. My wife’s an illustrator. She used to work on manga – I’m sure she’d be happy to give you some tips.’

Nick and Julia exchanged grins.

‘That would be cool, Mr Wu,’ said Julia.

Nick and Julia returned to the new dimension they were creating. They were so in the flow that they didn’t notice how quickly the time had passed.

‘There you are!’ exclaimed Adam, coming into the library, wearing his muddy football kit.

It wasn’t obvious that he and Julia were twins, because her fair hair had been dyed black.

If you looked closely, though, you could see that they had the same wide blue eyes, button noses and pale skin. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’

‘Sorry,’ said Julia. ‘I lost track of time.’

Nick’s heart sank when he saw that Julia’s brother was with Damon Carter and a few other boys from the football team.

Damon’s eyes gleamed with malice as he sauntered over to their table. He was eating a bag of crisps and when he finished, he threw the packet at Nick. ‘Well, well, well. Isn’t this sweet? Two little freaks having a play date.’

Nick sat frozen with dread.

Damon snatched Nick’s drawing. ‘Look at this!’ he crowed, waving it around. ‘He’s drawing CARTOONS! What a baby.’

‘Give that back,’ said Nick, trying to grab the drawing.

‘Make me!’ taunted Damon. He held the paper higher, laughing as Nick jumped up and tried to get it back. It was no use – the other boy was much bigger than him.

‘Give it back to him,’ demanded Julia, her voice even.

‘I will if you ask me nicely,’ said Damon.

‘Please can I have it back,’ pleaded Nick, willing himself not to cry.

‘I didn’t mean you, loser, I meant her,’ said Damon. ‘Goth Girl.’

Julia stood up and scowled at Damon. ‘Give it back, dickhead!’

‘OK, then. Have it your way.’ Slowly, deliberately, Damon tore Nick’s sketch up into tiny pieces and sprinkled them over Nick’s head. ‘Oh, look.’ He sniggered. ‘It’s snowing. Or is that Nick’s dandruff.’

Julia slammed her Doc Martens down on Damon’s foot.

‘Ow!’ Damon wailed. He hopped around, clutching his foot. Then, his eyes narrowing, he lunged at Julia.

With courage that he didn’t know he possessed, Nick jumped in front of his friend, to shield her from Damon. ‘Don’t hurt her!’

‘Get out of my way, freak,’ hissed Damon. Nick could smell cheese-and-onion crisps on his breath. ‘I’m going to teach your girlfriend some manners.’

Nick stood his ground, refusing to budge.

‘Don’t you dare lay a finger on my sister!’ shouted Adam, pulling Damon back. ‘Or her friend.’

The commotion brought Mr Wu hurrying over. ‘All of you – out! This is no way to behave in the library. I’m giving you all a detention.’

‘But if I get another detention I’m off the football team for the rest of the season,’ whined Damon.

‘You should have thought about that before you tore up Nick’s drawing.’ Mr Wu reprimanded him. ‘This school has a zero-tolerance policy about bullying.’

Nick hastily shoved his belongings into his backpack.

Outside of school, Damon and his football friends hurried off, muttering darkly. But Adam stayed behind with Julia and Nick.

‘Your friend is a jerk,’ said Julia.

‘He’s not my friend,’ replied Adam. ‘We’re just on the same football team.’

‘Thanks for sticking up for me,’ said Nick.

‘That’s OK. Any friend of my sister’s is a friend of mine.’ Adam held out his hand to Nick. ‘I’m Adam, by the way. Julia showed me the drawing you gave her – it’s really good.’

Nick had been brave once today. He decided to be brave again.

‘Do you guys want to come and see an anime Christmas movie with me on Saturday night?’ he asked them.

‘Where?’ asked Julia.

‘The Plumdale Picture Palace,’ said Nick. ‘You don’t need to pay – my parents own the cinema.’

‘That’s awesome, man.’ Adam fist-bumped Nick. ‘We love it there.’

‘No wonder you know so much about movies,’ remarked Julia. ‘Of course we’ll come.’

Nick grinned as the twins waved goodbye and headed home to Stowford. He’d never got a detention before, but it had been worth it. His tally of new friends had just doubled – from one to two.

Nick stood at the bus stop. He didn’t want to go home, as his mum would be working on the script.

That’s all she seemed to do these days. He didn’t want to go to the cinema, either, as the film crew had already started moving in.

This stupid movie was ruining everything.

He wished he had dragon claws like his manga character so he could rip a portal to a new dimension and hide there until the filming was over.

But short of that, his gran’s flat would do.

There was something he wanted to talk to her about.

He got off the bus and walked to Valley Vistas. The lobby had paintings on the walls, comfy-looking sofas and a lift, which he rode up to the second floor. As he knocked on the door to his grandmother’s flat, he could hear noise coming from within. It sounded like she was having a party.

‘Oh, hello, Nick, dear,’ said Grandma, opening the door. He went inside and found her flat packed full of people and smelling deliciously of cinnamon and ginger. ‘What a pleasant surprise.’

The living room and kitchen were open plan.

Nick could see Roger in there, as well as a few of the ladies who went to the Golden Oldies screenings.

Everyone seemed to be baking and there was a rack of homemade gingerbread biscuits cooling on the table.

Roger was mixing up ingredients in a bowl, while Olwyn pressed out shapes and Vi slid a tray into the oven.

His grandmother, who had never baked anything in her life as far as Nick knew, seemed to be bossing everyone about.

‘Why, hello, Nicolas,’ said Pam, looking up from the dough she was kneading. She used to work at the Plumdale library and had introduced Nick to manga. ‘Do you want to take over for a bit – this is hard on my arthritis.’

‘Sure.’ Nick rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands. ‘What are you all doing?’

‘We’re making treats for a coffee morning tomorrow,’ explained Nick’s grandma. ‘It’s for charity.’

Nick’s mouth watered as he kneaded the dough. The biscuits looked – and smelled – amazing. And it had been a long time since lunch.

‘Show Vi your drawings, Nick,’ urged Grandma. ‘She’s a painter.’

Wiping his hands off on a tea towel, Nick obediently took his sketchbook out of his schoolbag and showed it to the pink-haired old lady.

‘Your characters are so expressive,’ said Vi appreciatively, turning the pages. ‘And your line work is very sophisticated – is this charcoal pencil?’

Nick nodded.

‘I usually work in oils,’ said Vi. ‘I run a life-drawing course in the recreation room once a month.’

‘Vi’s trying to convince me to be one of her life models,’ said Nick’s grandmother. ‘She says I have excellent bone structure.’

‘You’re very welcome to come along too,’ Vi told Nick.

‘Um, maybe,’ said Nick. Hell would freeze over before he’d draw his grandmother naked.

‘As you’re here, you can do me a favour,’ said Grandma. She led Nick into her bedroom. ‘Can you get that box on the top shelf,’ she asked, opening up her walk-in wardrobe. ‘It’s too high for me to reach.’

Nick dragged a chair over, stood on it and got the box down. It was full of Christmas decorations.

‘I wasn’t going to decorate for Christmas, but my friends insisted,’ she said.

Nick was glad that his grandmother had made some new friends, like him. He was excited to hang out with Julia and Adam outside of school.

‘We haven’t put our tree up at home yet either,’ he said. Picking out a tree was one of his favourite holiday traditions. When they were little, he and Holly used to play hide-and-seek among the rows of trees. He wondered if his parents had forgotten, as nobody had even mentioned it.

‘Well, your mum has been busy,’ said Grandma.

‘I hate that stupid movie,’ complained Nick. ‘It’s taking over everything.’ He especially hated Noa – what a smarmy show-off. Why couldn’t Mum see that his smiles were fake?

That reminded Nick of why he had come. He had questions, and he could always rely on his grandmother to tell him the truth.

‘Grandma … what’s a libido?’

‘It’s your sex drive,’ Grandma replied. ‘It is perfectly normal to have sexual feelings during adolescence. You mustn’t be ashamed of it.’

What? This wasn’t about him. It was about Mum. Actually, that was worse. Now he knew that when she was talking to Pari, it had been about sex. Gross.