Out of This World

Andy

Andy sat by the statue, waiting for Krel. He wasn't late, she was just super early. She was excited to show him the overlook, and had been ansty about it all day. To tell the truth, she had wanted to show it to him ever since Claire had told her about it and then showed it to her while they were hanging out. It really had an unparalleled view of the sunrise over Arcadia, but looked just as beautiful during the sunset.

Speaking of Claire, Andy had not seen much of her in a while. This was a bit distressing, because Andy could honestly safely call Claire one of her best friends. She was also a little worried about Jim, he had been missing more and more school ever since showing Aja and Krel around. She knew how much Claire cared for him, and she would hate for anything to happen to the poor boy.

Despite the fact he was her neighbor, she had not seen much of him lately. Only his mother, coming and going to and from the hospital, the same hospital Andy's dad worked at. They both worked in the Emergency Room, and were both constantly frazzled and on call. Andy's dad was a physician's assistant, and Dr. Lake was the physician he assisted, so to speak. She was a really good doctor.

"A small coin for what you're thinking," said a familiar voice, goodnaturedly.

Andy looked up, startled out of her thought trance, to see Krel standing in front of her and smiling. He was wearing a black t-shirt with the Panic! At the Disco logo on it, and she smiled. She was the one who had told him to start listening to that band, and was glad he was liking it.

"I believe the expression is, 'penny for your thoughts,'" Andy supplied, stepping away from the statue to join him.

He nodded. "You are probably right, then. Penny for your thoughts?"

She smiled. "I was just thinking about my neighbor. Haven't seen him in a while, and I'm a little worried about him." The two of them passed Stuart's electronics, and Andy noticed Krel craned his neck a little as if to look into the store. His face lit up briefly, and then looked back at Andy. "What was that?"

"Oh, I know Stuart," he explained. "He gave me that box of boom!"

"Oh, cool!" Andy said good naturedly. "That thing weighs like a million pounds." She didn't know how he had managed to carry it around all day, but somehow he had.

"It is heavy, yes, but it does not weigh anywhere close to one million pounds," Krel replied.

She giggled. She wasn't sure if he was playing along or if he was being literal; something told her that he was being literal. Things like this, idioms, hyperbole, and other figures of speech sometimes went right over his head. It was adorable.

As the two of them walked to the edge of town, chatting, Andy's hand brushed Krel's. It was an accident at first, but grew more and more intentional. When they reached the part of the town where the buildings got fewer and the trees grew steadily in number back behind a neighborhood, Krel finally, yet gingerly, took Andy's hand. She smiled, blushing a bit and interlocking their fingers. He gave her a nervous smile in response, and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze in reassurance.

She led him through the forest on a fairly well known trail, high schoolers liked to come out here to party and whatnot. All the parties she had been to out here had been organized by Shannon Longhannon, who always made sure there was no alcohol involved, but Andy had heard that Mary Wang's parties out here could get a little crazy. Andy was not so much a party animal and frankly was glad she had never been to one of Mary's. She was always, of course, invited, but she never went.

"Wait a second, I know this part of the forest," said Krel, pausing for a moment. He stopped. "We're not going to the-" he started, anxiety plain in his voice.