"Hah! I win again!" I dropped my pencil on the table.
"You're too good at this!" Krel crossed his arms.
"Since you're so bad at the game of tic tac's and toes, little brother, why don't I give it a try, hm?" Aja pulled up a stool next to him.
"She's not the only one, this cheeky one here is pretty good too!" Douxie pointed to Olivia who was playing rounds with him.
Olivia laughed and tapped her feet in excitement. I turned my attention back to the crowd, most of the people were sitting down now and just enjoying their time.
I still felt out of place, but a lot less now that I've been distracted by my friends... And then I noticed two people approaching us.
"Well, look who it is. I didn't think the lone girl would come to a sick party like this." Mary giggled.
"What made you decide to come, Phoenix?" Darci peeked around from behind her friend.
I stayed silent.
"Darci, Mary! Your song was uh... Interesting!" Aja smiled at them.
"Hi Aj, I knew you'd be here, this atmosphere is totally your style!" Mary glanced at me. "I didn't think Karl was into this either." She lowered her voice.
"It's Krel." Krel corrected her and crossed his arms.
"Maybe you two should leave and go find something else you're interested in. It's not like you'll be doing any karaoke."
I could see the daggers she was shooting at me in her mind, or maybe they were mine. She did seem relatively snarky toward me tonight.
Instead of responding I just crossed my arms and changed my focus on something else.
"Don't talk to my cousin like that!"
"Girls, calm down, this is supposed to be a calm and fun night." Douxie held out his hands.
"Sorry, D. I guess it's hard to understand someone who comes to karaoke night and doesn't get up to do karaoke."
"Mary?" A shocked expression fell across Darci's face.
"That was a little mean, Mary." Said Aja.
Before I could even register what I was doing, I stood up and brushed past Mary as I made my way to the stage.
"What is she doing?" Krel stood up.
"I bet she doesn't even sound good, come on Darci, Claire is waiting for us." Mary started heading out.
I wrote down a song on the list for the person in charge of the music and stepped onto the makeshift stage. It was then I realized what I was doing and it was probably too late to back down.
'why am I doing this? I have insane anxiety and I put myself on stage?' I thought to myself. I became stiff and everyone was staring at me.
'you know what, this is your moment to prove her wrong. Wait, I never cared before, why do I care now?' I tried to control my breathing and gripped my stitch's harness.
I could hear everyone whispering, they weren't being very quiet about it.
'I bet I look incredibly stupid right now.'
A soft piano melody started and I noticed the man give me a thumbs up out of the corner of my eye. I focused on the back of the room and saw Krel, Douxie, and Olivia all give me thumbs ups too.
I took a deep breath and stared down at the clock on the wall above them.
"Windows down on my favorite street." I started, I panicked, and tried to steady myself.
"Sunset in the rearview got nowhere to be. For a moment we feel like we're kings and queens, in nothing but a t-shirt and ripped-up jeans."
'why am I standing so awkwardly, I bet I sound so much worse than I think.' my anxious thoughts filled my head.
"We are free... Can you feel it too?"
"What?" Mary turned around from the door.
"It's nights like these, that only prove...'
"She's pretty good." Darci headed towards the crowd and pulled out her phone.
"And this is when the moments turn to memories, and this is when the future gets so clear to see." I could feel my heart beating to the sound of the drums in the music.
"And this is when tonight becomes a masterpiece, and this is when the moments turn to memories... Memories." I began to tap my foot to the music.
Although I couldn't tell, I was getting more comfortable and gained confidence as people formed the crowd again.
I could see Olivia and Aja cheering me on from where we were sitting and Krel and Douxie had the biggest grins on their faces.
"Deep breath in and I come alive, it's a feeling I'll remember for the rest of my life. So I sit back and watch the sun paint us gold, for a moment we feel like we rule the world. We are free... Can you feel it too?"
Mary crossed her arms and watched from the door while her best friend happily recorded everything.
"It's nights like these, that only prove..." I took a deep breath and I could feel a smile appear on my face.
"And this is when the moments turn to memories, and this is when the future gets so clear to see!" I closed my eyes to take in the moment.
"And this is when tonight becomes a masterpiece! And this is when the moments turn to memories! Memories!"
I could hear the crowd gasping and I opened my eyes only to see a blue shimmery smoke around me.
'This is probably Douxie playing some trick to get me to gain confidence.' I thought and rolled my eyes.
"Woah! Do you see that? It's like she's magical or something!" Olivia jumped onto a chair to see past the crowd.
"That's my sister..." Douxie whispered to himself.
"Time is moving faster, than ever. We've got to try to capture, remember it now..." I waved my hand around the beautifully colored smoke and it swirled around my arm as if it was alive.
"And time is moving faster, than ever. We've got to try to capture, remember it now, yeah! And this is when the moments turn to memories, and this when the future gets so clear to see."
I took a deep breath, feeling like the main character of a story, like what I'd been waiting for was right before my eyes.
"And this is when the moments turn to memories! And this is when the future gets so clear to see!"
I watched as the smoke swirled around me, it was magnificent.
"And this is when tonight becomes a masterpiece! And this is when the moments turn to memories! Memories!"
The soundtrack stopped and the smoke vanished as if it was never there to begin with. Then the sound of cheering and clapping shocked me out of my thoughts and I bowed my head before swiftly walking off stage.
"Oh my god, you were amazing!" Olivia held out her arms as I rushed over.
Expecting to hug her, I was thrown off guard when Aja slammed me with her own hug.
"You were amazing!" She squeezed me.
"Thank you! Aja, I can't breathe!"
"Oh right, sorry!"
Olivia hugged me right as she let go.
"I wasn't bad was I?"
"They just said you were amazing, of course, you weren't!" Krel smiled.
Olivia let go and began jumping up and down with Aja.
"May I get a hug now?" Douxie held out his arms.
I chuckled and hugged him as well.
"How did you make the pretty air?" Aja looked over at me.
I sat down on a chair, "I don't know... I thought Douxie did it."
"That wasn't me."
"It wasn't?"
He shook his head.
I looked down at the ground as I thought about what it was.
"Oh, Aja we need to get you home before-"
"Before Mom and Dad ground us? Good idea Krel!" Aja cut him off.
"We're going now?" Olivia asked.
"Probably a good idea, I'm about to close the karaoke anyways. Hope you four had fun!" Douxie headed behind the counter.
"Thank you Douxie!" Aja waved both of her hands in the air.
"See you later Doux." I smiled at him and followed the others out of the cafe.
As I walked out the door, Mary and I glared at each other.
"That was amazing! I'm so glad we all came!" Aja spun around.
"I have to admit it was nice." Krel held my hand.
"Thank you for letting me come." Olivia quietly said.
"You're welcome, cuz." I sighed, thinking about how I sang in front of dozens of people. My anxiety arrived again...
'I sang in front of people... They must have been recording right? That means I'll be posted somewhere, and more people will see it. Why did I do that it was so stupid!'
"Hey."
I jumped and looked at Krel who had a concerned expression.
"W-what?"
"Are you okay?"
I looked down and realized I was squeezing his hand. In a panic, I loosed my grip and looked at the street lights.
"Yeah, I'm alright."
"You don't seem alright."
I sighed, "I...think I did too much than I could handle." I chuckled.
"Well, if it makes you feel better. I think you handled it very well, my princess." He pulled our hands up and kissed the back of mine before dropping them.
I blushed at the gesture and turned my focus back on Aja and Olivia. I'd like to say I had fun, but I don't think I'll be doing this again anytime soon.
~~*~~*~~
"Now does anyone know what happens when you mix barium, sodium, and potassium?" Mr. Toll asked the class.
I raised my hand in eagerness.
"Anyone besides Phoenix?"
Krel and Aja raised their hands.
"Oh, Aja!" He called out as we put our hands down.
"It causes an explosion?"
"Yes! But more specifically, they simply ignite easily and can cause an explosion.
"Hey, good job Aja." I leaned past krel to see her.
"Thank you, how come you're always the only one to answer?"
"I just like science, chemistry to be specific, and no one ever wants to answer so I do." I shrugged.
"I think it's cool." Krel turned to me.
I gave him a slight smile and suddenly his eyes turned electric blue and black.
I let out a gasp, "krel, your eyes."
"What?"
"Oh no, krel, your transduction!" Aja looked over at her brother.
"No, no, no, why now." He put a hand over his eyes.
"It's okay! Class ends in..." I looked at Krel's watch, "3... 2... 1!" The bell rang and everyone already started standing up to leave.
"Remember, your homework pages! 91-93."
We grabbed our things and rushed as fast as we could outside the classroom.
Due to the class swap, there were tons of kids in the halls.
"Where can I go? There are too many people!" Krel then grew two extra arms.
Aja and I yelped in sync as I clipped stitch to my backpack and untied my jacket before covering Krel.
"The field, there's no P.E. outside today!"
"Where is that?" Krel and Aja looked at me.
I took both their hands and led them through the first set of double doors. Looking around, I opened one of the doors and pulled them outside before shutting it closed.
We all sighed, putting our backpacks down right when Krel transformed.
"I still don't think this is the safest spot." Aja looked around.
Krel scoffed, "I don't think anywhere in this school is." He took my jacket off and handed it back to me.
The door began to open and in a panic, I quickly shut it and stood in front of it. We all exchanged a look of fright before I was pushed to the ground by the opening door. I knew right then we were screwed.
I turned around and saw Mr. Toll standing in the doorway.
"Phoenix, what are you-" he looked to the left and saw Krel in his true form. "Ach du lieber Gott! What is-" he quickly shut the door behind him.
"It's not what it looks like!" We all said in sync as I stood back up.
"Explain." He turned to me.
My heart dropped and Krel quickly stepped in front of me.
"It's not her fault! She did nothing wrong!" He held out two arms in front of me.
"It's a... Costume, Mr. Troll." Aja tried to lie.
"It is no costume, there is no way Krel could change in that amount of time unless he was an alien." The teacher crossed his arms.
"Well, that's not a very nice word, Mr. Troll." Krel stated.
"Alright, how did you two get here?"
There was a silence as none of us wanted to answer.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, you have my word. I know the secrets of this town and if it means helping you, you need to tell me." He leaned against the wall.
"...he's right, you know. He does know everything strange that happens here." I brushed off the grass from stitch.
"But we can't just go letting our secret out to everyone!" Aja shook her head at me.
"Are you sure Phoenix?" Krel turned to me.
"Positive, Mr. Troll is the only teacher who I'm closest to. If anyone else is to know, it can be him." I gave the two a small smile of reassurance.
They both turned to him.
"Alright, there's no going back anyways so we might as well tell you."
"Krel and I are from a planet called Akiridion-5. We were forced to come here when General Morando attacked our home. Our mother ship made sure that we look just like you." Aja started.
"But it only lasts a few horvaths before it wears off, and mine has chosen a bad time to."
"No matter the case, you two need to be extra careful. There are bad people in Arcadia who would want to get their hands on you. But if you let me, I can help make your secret easier to keep."
'he really is a good man, not only does he know Jim's secret but now he has another to hold onto.' I thought.
"I'll drive you two home, stay out here and make sure no one comes outside. I'll be right back." He walked back inside, shutting the door tightly behind Jim.
"That... Went better than I thought." Aja sat down on the grass.
"Tell me about it! I was scared for my life!" Krel sighed.
"I'm just glad it wasn't anyone else... He's right though, you two do need to be more careful."
"Why would your transduction wear off already little brother?"
"It was probably because I transformed so late yesterday, the form might've been what was left over from yesterday." He thought out loud.
"Well, since you're going home early, now you can work on the daxial array, krel." I took a step towards him.
"There's one good thing." He crossed his arms. "Hey... Do you think you can come over after school? I'd like to show you something."
"Yes of course! What is it?"
"It's a surprise, I'm not telling you."
"Really? I wonder-"
"Ahem... Are you two planning a dating ritual the humans do?" Aja interrupted.
"No!" We turned to her.
"Right because it seems like-"
*Beep beep*
"Get in Tarron's." A white truck pulled up in the field and Mr. Toll opened the passenger door.
"Is that Señor Uhl's truck?" I tilted my head.
"He's my uncle, I'm the only one allowed to use his truck."
The resemblance made sense now, I always thought those two looked similar.
Aja got up and practically dragged her brother into the truck. I picked up their backpacks and realized Aja's was surprisingly heavy.
"Geez, Aja what do you have in here, bricks?"
"Mother said to be prepared for change, so I carry it around."
Mr. Toll and I exchanged a confused glance as I plopped their bags onto the truck carpet.
"Go get to class Phoenix, I got it from here."
"Yes sir- oh! The- they live near my house, but like, the next cul-de-sac."
He nodded and Aja closed the passenger door once she was seated.
"Thank you, Mr. Troll. Your trustworthy ness is a great deed." Aja suddenly became overly regal. "Bye phoenix! See you later!"
Krel waved with a shy smile in the backseat before Mr. Toll started to turn the truck around.
Turning around to head back inside, I opened the door and noticed the halls were empty, as to be expected when we were outside for a few minutes.
Feeling my phone vibrate, I pulled it out of my pocket and immediately smiled seeing a text from krel.
[When you come over, I want to practice my royal duties with you, my princess :) ]
[Is that the surprise?]
[No, why would I tell you such a wonderful thing?]
I turned my phone off before entering my next class and slid it into my back pocket.
"Any reason for your tardiness Ms. Overland?" Ms. Janeth blurted out.
I looked around and everyone had their eyes on me. I felt like dying right there.
"Mr. Troll needed my help." I managed to say.
"Where are the Tarrons'? They are usually with you are they not?"
"They had to go home, Ms. Janeth." I replied. I started making my way to the back of the class when I heard the kids whispering.
"Teacher's pet." They snickered.
I stayed silent and only thought of telling them off. I could never bring myself to actually do that unless it was Mary.
Sitting in the furthest seat, I pulled out my math notebook and flipped to the first blank page before copying what was on the board.
"Don't forget, tomorrow is the science fair, I hope to see a lot of you there, and please... No more volcanoes, you are smarter than that. I hope." Ms. Janeth said before carrying on with the lesson.
~~*~~*~~
I sighed closing the door behind me and placing my backpack to the ground.
I opened my eyes to see luug running around and barking.
"Hi luug! How's the sweetest boy?" I knelt down as he ran up to me.
"Hey." Krel said in an offended tone and looked down at me.
"I take it it was a rough day without us?" Aja tilted her head.
"Yes." I chuckled. "Olivia is at home so I'm free to do whatever here." I stood back up.
"Hi, honey bun! I made some freshly baked cookies. Would you like one?" The mom blank darted up to me.
"No, I'm good, thank you." I took a step backward.
"Hey, leave her be Mom blank. Ay, yi yi." Krel turned to me.
"So, is this surprise just a you two thing, or am I allowed to join?" Aja asked eagerly.
"It's... Just an us thing, but I'll tell you what it is." Krel proceeded to cover my ears as he whispered to his sister.
"Really? Seklos and Gaylen, you're going to love it Phoenix! Its-"
"Aja..."
"Sorry, I won't say anything!"
"Well, since you can't join us, how about we have a sleepover this weekend."
"What is a sleepover?"
"Look it up, you'll be amazed." I winked at her.
"Okay, I will! I just need to find my phone..." She felt around her pockets before looking around.
Krel let out a laugh that brought a smile to my face.
"I'll let you know when she's seen the surprise, Aja, then you can come and join us."
"Okay! Have fun with your dating ritual!" She teased.
3283 words!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter
Another hint about my past self *wink wink*
I really wanted to draw a picture of the blue smoke around me but I just couldn't 😔
So I just drew Mary and I glaring!
I really like it, it's my first time drawing Mary (as you can tell I do not like her 😊)
Anyways ext chapter will be out next week! K thanks byeee!!!