3Below: The Summer of Tarron

Chapter 6

How could she hide him? Hmm... She could just tell everyone it was a really good cartoon impersonation if they asked.

Krel did his best to hide behind his sister, placing one pair of his arms behind his back and one pair in the front, holding onto Aja anxiously.

"Krel, it looks more natural if you don't hide. You could be a cartoon impersonator and I don't think those hide. No one will figure it out," she assured him, feeling his hands tremble.

"I believe the Eli referred to it as a cosplay," Krel corrected her, causing her to shush him quickly.

"We'll be calling it a cosplay then! Just behave yourself and act natural. We'll be pretending we came from a cosplay place, or I could act like I really like the character from whatever fake television show this is," Aja quickly strategized.

"Okay, let's do it fast!" Krel replied.

Aja took a deep breath, grumpily gathering her best acting skills before beginning.

"Wow!! How lively!! You're a totally regular person dressing as a character from my favorite cartoon television show from Canteloupia! Can I have a writing of your name on a piece of paper?!" Aja pretended to fangirl as they walked past the few people on the street while Krel nervously laughed the whole time in his true form.

"Is that a costume, bruh? That's a cool one!" One of the people exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder as he passed them.

"Yes, and thank you," Krel replied to the person.

Once they made it to the other side of the street, they both sighed of relief.

"Thank Seklos they believed us," Krel whispered, still halfway hidden behind Aja just in case another person came along.

"I was highly convincing in my acting skills," Aja told him, causing him to roll his eyes and laugh.

"Sure," he said, having learned sarcasm well from Seamus earlier.

"You appear doubtful of that," Aja pointed out, growling slightly, although she had a joking tone to it.

"Anyway, what happened with Erica? Why did she betray you?" Aja asked him, turning more serious. Her overprotective big sister instincts wanted to go kick Erica into next week for hurting her little brother, but she had to restrain herself until she heard the whole story first.

His smirk dropped and he shrugged, looking downwards. Erica seemed to like him, but apparently not enough to keep him out of trouble.

"Can you tell me about it? If you don't, I'll be kicking her tomorrow for hurting you, even if you're annoying," Aja told him as she turned around.

"No, no! Don't kick her. It's just... she took me on a date. We went up to a wall on the street, and she started spraying it with a cylindrical spray of color. Then when she handed me one of them, the police caught me and she ran away," Krel explained, then sighed, "It's a good thing they didn't imprison her as they did with me, but I wish she would've at least... let me know it wasn't of legality. That's okay though... I don't know if I have romantic feelings for her. I thought I would, but I do not know whether or not they are present."

"So you are not— as they call it, heartbroken, right?" His sister confirmed with relief.

"No, the broken-hearted feeling was stronger when our parents were killed," he told her, "This felt more like an unfriendly embarrassment of a betrayal I was faced with."

"A broken heart is not only to do with romance, so you are correct in feeling so. I understand your feelings of this with our parents... I miss them too Krel," she said, beginning to walk beside him instead of in front since they were coming closer to their house, "But if you do not feel this with Erica, then I will not kick her in the dorsal."

"Please don't," be pleaded, albeit rather jokingly. He knew what pain his sister was capable of inflicting on her enemies, but he didn't want her to do it on his supposed love interest.

He wasn't completely sure what infatuation was, but he felt a little embarrassed to ask Aja. Maybe he was feeling it with Erica? Maybe he wasn't? What was it supposed to be like?

Deciding to bite the bullet, Krel went on to ask, "Aja... how do you know you're... well? I suppose, how should you know if you have a strong preference for another person, as you and Steve have with one another?"

Aja laughed, "You'd know if you were in love, little brother. When I was around Steve, I felt this... increase in bodily and facial temperature. All I could think about all whenever he was around was how golden his hair was, or how his eyes held such a deep sweetness whenever he made eye contact... I believe it would differ for everyone. Just think about how you feel with a friend in comparison with how you feel around Erica," she explained, offering a smile.

Krel nodded, holding his chin with uncertainty as he tried to think. When he was around Steve, he felt obvious annoyance, but with Erica, it was more like he wanted to seem not odd. When he was with the Eli, he didn't really feel anything different than he would've felt around any other Akiridion he knew. It didn't really make much of a difference.

When he was around Erica, he did feel nervous. Maybe that was a sign he liked her. Although now, he didn't want to be around her anymore. She felt like a traitor.

"I'm not sure I like Erica," Krel told his sister, "How do I not be her boyfriend anymore?"

Aja thought for a moment. "In this situation, you have to perform what I've heard is called a break-up. When I watched a movie with Darcy and Mary, it showed that when a girl didn't like her boyfriend anymore, she did this activity by telling him that their relationship wasn't correct and that she didn't want to be with him any longer," she told him, "However, the boy did try to get her back so do not be surprised if she comes back singing with a... boom box over her shoulders with a slow song about love."

Krel chuckled, imagining the tough Erica singing a soft song along with the radio. "Great Gaylen, I don't know what I'd do with that!"

"Do not stress, for we will find you a better girlfriend in place. I'll request that Steve assists you in doing so," Aja reassured laughingly.

She was glad he wasn't too fond of Erica, considering how she had her own doubts about her. If anything, she would make sure that another girl never got him that far into trouble again. Aja hated that he grew terrified enough to actually cry in front of her, since she knew he never did it unless he was truly fearful.

"Alright, thanks," Krel replied.

They had finally made it to their house, and were definitely tired enough to go straight to bed.

However, as tired as Krel felt, he couldn't go to sleep. Was it even worth making all this effort to find someone who liked him, or would he finally be able to fix the ship and go home? What if he couldn't even fix the ship, and he didn't find anyone anyway?

Another thing was... how in the world was he supposed to break up with Erica tomorrow? She was a tough girl who could most likely throw him ten miles into a garbage can. Hopefully it wouldn't go down too badly.