Out of This World

Andy

After she dropped Krel off at his house and drove back home, Andy sat in bed and pulled out her computer. Thinking about the conversation she had with Krel earlier, she decided to google 'Cantaloupia' to read more about the coup.

She typed the name into the search engine, but nothing about a coup came up. In fact, nothing about a country came up. This was strange... she didn't think Krel would lie to her about this, and the details of his story didn't change much, but there was no such thing as Cantaloupia.

Dav jumped up on her bed and began licking her right knee. She tried to push him away, but he was too heavy. "Okay, I guess you can stay up here," she said to him. He snorted in reply.

"What do you make of this, Davvy?" she asked him, closing her laptop and pulling the seventy pound bulldog puppy up into her lap. "Krel says he's from the country of Cantaloupia, but I can't find hide nor hair of it online," she explained. "I don't think he's lying to me either."

Another doggy snort.

"But why would he lie to me about that?" she said, scratching his chin. "It's more likely that he's simply not telling me the whole truth," she mused. "He's protecting something. That much I can respect."

Andy's phone rang. "Hello?"

"YOU HAD A BOY AT YOUR HOUSE AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!?" Andy held the receiver far away from her ear as Mary Wang went on her tirade. "Come on, Andy, we're FRIENDS! FRIENDS TELL EACH OTHER THAT SORT OF THING!"

"This is kind of exactly why I didn't tell you," Andy said, making a face. "You'd freak out and make a huge deal out of it."

"Claire said he was your math tutor... oh my God, is it Seamus!? Is Seamus at your house!? OH MY GOD DO YOU LIKE SEAMUS?"

Andy groaned. "No, Mary, I do not like Seamus. In fact, I kind of think he's annoying."

"Omg, omg, don't tell me don't tell me... NO," she gasped, her voice dropping. "It isn't the new kid, is it?"

"Who, Krel?"

"Yeah! Aja's brother!"

"Um...."

"OH MY GOD!" she squealed, and Andy had to hold the phone away from her ears again. "OH MY GOD YOU LIKE KREL!"

Andy made a face as Mary Wang continued to carry on about it. "Listen, Mary," she hissed. "If you breathe a word of this to anyone outside of our friend group I will personally make sure you never see Tight Jeans Hank again." Andy was a blackbelt in taekwondo, and Mary Wang knew that she could kick anyone's ass to the point of hospitalization. Now, Andy would never do this, but she couldn't afford to let this information get out into the world. She didn't want Krel to know that she liked him; they were friends and she did not want to make anything awkward between them.

She heard Mary gulp on the other line. "Okay," she said, in a less enthused voice. "Got it."

The next morning at school was an interesting one. When Andy sat down next to Krel in the morning, he seemed more focused on his paper than talking to her. Normally he was a bit of a chatterbox as soon as she sat down.

"Everything okay?" she asked, leaning over the aisle before class started.

He looked up as if startled. "Hm?"

"I asked if everything was okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm okay," he said. "Just a little on edge is all. Aja lost something and has been dragging my ass around everywhere to look for it."

"I can't have Vex knowing I lost my serrator!" I heard Aja protest. "He'll have my head!"

Andy shook her head and laughed. She had not yet had the privilege of meeting Varvatos Vex, but from what she had heard from the twins she could infer that he was quite intense.

Class started, quelling whatever argument the twins were beginning to have. Andy still sometimes couldn't believe the two of them were twins, they looked so incredibly different. Krel was very tan and his skin had a ruddy undertone, whereas Aja was incredibly pale with pink cheeks. His hair was dark, hers was nearly white. They didn't even look related. Despite that, they certainly acted like brother and sister.

After class, Andy was walking to her locker when Claire, Darci, Shannon, and Mary Wang came up to her. They all had their next class together, and like to walk together every day.

"I saw you talking to Krel," Mary said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Andy turned red and covered her eyes. "Dear Lord, when will this end!"

"Have you said anything to him yet?"

"When will I be free from this torment?"

"Have you been flirting?"

"I plead my heavenly Father to please, please release me from my punishment and take me up to be with you, oh Lord!"

Darci, Claire, and Shannon giggled at Mary's pestering and Andy's dramatic antics. Soon enough, the five of them were sitting in their class. Despite this, Mary had not stopped teasing Andy, and Andy was face down on her desk when Coach Lawrence walked in to start health class.

Andy was beginning to tire of Mary Wang's teasing. She tilted her head so that it was the side of her head on the desk instead of her face, and so she was facing Mary. "Remember how I can kick Tight Jeans Hank's ass?"

Mary gave her a quizzical look. "Can you?"

"Twelve years of taekwondo and a black belt, so yeah."

Mary sighed and sat back, stopping the flood of jabs and digs. "Fine, you win."

Finally, thought Andy.