Out of This World

Andy

Andy was feeling pretty good at the moment. She tapped her pencil against her desk, looking down at her math worksheet. She finally knew how to solve polynomial function equations thanks to Krel. Speaking of Krel, the dark haired boy was sitting across from her and doing his best to avoid eye contact. They were taking a test, but she felt that it went deeper than that.

She looked back down at her test, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Krel sneak a glance at her. She gave him a discreet smile so Ms. Janeth wouldn't see and think she was cheating. He blushed a deep red and looked down at his paper quickly. He pulled his backpack under his chair nervously, fidgeting.

Jesus, what was up with him today? She knew he was odd, but this was odd even for him.

Andy opened her locker and pulled out her biology textbook. As she opened her backpack to put the textbook in it, she heard Krel clear his throat behind her.

She jumped, startled. She turned to see Krel standing off to her right, holding something in his hand. "Oh, hi Krel!" she said, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.

"H-hi," he stammered. He was already red.

"How do you think you did on the math test?" she asked, but she already knew the answer. He got a perfect score, but he wouldn't get the A+. Seamus got the A+ now, ever since Krel had let him win the math duel so he could go to space camp. Seamus's racist father had made a fuss about Krel, who was Hispanic, being better at math than his white son. The whole thing had made Andy very angry; she had wanted to beat up Seamus's dad, but Krel had stopped her.

"Perfect score," he said, shrugging. It was not an arrogant remark, it was the truth. Krel really just was a math genius. "You?"

"I'm hoping for a B-," she said. "Fingers crossed, am I right?"

He chuckled. After an awkward pause, he ran his fingers through his hair in a nervous way and said, "So... before you go home..."

"Yeah?"

In response to that, he held out the box he had tucked under his arm, towards her. She looked at him, and looked at the box.

"Do you want me to..."

"Take it?" he managed, face still the reddest Andy had ever seen.

She took it gingerly, and she saw Krel visibly relax as if someone had deflated all the air out of a balloon. "Do I..."

"Open it?" he supplied again.

Andy turned the box over in her hands, looking for a way to open it. It was not made of any substance that Andy recognized; it was black and smooth to the touch. There seemed to be a small latch at the top, which Andy flipped. She peeled the top off the black box; inside of it was a bocce ball sized black orb. She picked it up and turned it over in her hand. It was... a... well, she didn't know.

"Thank you!" she chirped, smiling at Krel. After a moment she looked at him again and asked, "What is it?" She cocked her head.

The look on his face was a hard mix to read. It looked somewhere between confusion, disappointment, and sadness. Andy immediately felt bad. But before she could apologize or say anything, Krel spoke. "It's a portable music player," he explained. "Here, I'll show you how to turn it on." He demonstrated where she should place her fingers. "Now push in," he said, "gently."

She did as he showed her to, and the orb vibrated slightly. The surface, which had been black, turned on and glowed a soft blue color. It lifted out of her hand and began floating around her head in a lazy circle, playing a Papa Skull song at a low volume. "What the hell?" she breathed. She had never seen anything like this before. This was incredibly high tech. "Krel... this had to have been expensive," she said, looking up at him. "I really can't..."

"No no no! Don't worry, it wasn't expensive at all," he reassured her. "I uh... I made it."

Now Andy was plain confused. She knew Krel was a math genius... was he a tech genius too? "You made it?"

"Yeah," he said, awkwardly. He reached out and tapped the orb as it floated past his head, and the music stopped. It went dim, and settled into his hand. He handed it to her.

She took it from him gingerly. "Why?" she asked, out of genuine curiosity. She had never received a gift like this from someone outside of her family.

"Well..." he began, awkwardly, "on A- uh, I mean in Cantaloupia, we give each other gifts on all sorts of occasions." The poor kid looked really nervous. He was fidgeting with his backpack, and his face was red. He was also refusing to make eye contact with Andy. "We get them on certain anniversaries, and certain holidays," he explained, "but we also... we give them to the person... the uh... the person we... the person we wish to court." He squeezed his eyes shut. "It shows we feel... an affection for them."

Andy looked down at the orb in her hands. "Are you asking me out, Krel?"

"Is that what you call it?"

Andy let out a short, awkward laugh. "Yeah, that's what we teenagers call 'courtship' here in Arcadia. Well, America in general."

"Then yes. Yes. I am 'asking you out,'" he said, nodding. He looked like he was trying to convince himself more than Andy.

She gave him a big, genuine smile. "I would love to go out with you," she said. She put the orb back in the box gingerly and set it carefully into her backpack. She reached over and hugged him. He stood there, somewhat stiff in her arms, before hugging her back warmly. This was nice. This was really nice.

Krel had walked her home, the music orb thing circling around them, playing Papa Skull. Krel showed her how to change the song, change the type of music, make a playlist, change playlists, and all sorts of other things. He even taught her how to change the color of light it emitted, or how to sync the lights and colors with the music. This gift was probably one of the coolest things Andy had ever gotten. However, nothing compared to what it meant. This gift meant that Krel Tarron liked her. She was on cloud fucking nine right now, and nothing could bring her down.

"C'mon Claire, pick up!" Andy whispered to her phone, bouncing from foot to foot on the rug in her room. She had to tell Claire. She HAD to.

"Hello?"

"CLAIREYOUARENEVERGOINGTOBELIEVEWHATJUSTHAPPENEDTOME!"

"....what?"

"WELLFIRST-"

"No, no, no, I meant what did you say? I can't understand a single word you are saying."

Andy took a deep breath. "Okay, sorry, sorry. Claire, you are NEVER going to believe what just happened to me!"

"I think you might be surprised," she said, and Andy could hear a little bit of smugness in her tone.

"So you know how I like Krel?" she said, voice full of excitement.

"Yeah," Claire replied.

"And you know how we had a fight, and he apologized by singing a song to me in the middle of the night in a tree outside my house?"

"Wait wait wait wha-"

"WELL HE JUST ASKED ME OUT!" Andy squealed, jumping from foot to foot.

"Holy sheeshkabob!" Claire exclaimed. "There was a LOT in that story I didn't know. What did he do outside your window? And... HOW DID HE ASK YOU OUT?!"

Andy started from the beginning, telling her all about Krel's apology and how he asked her out. Claire listened intently, making the occasional reactionary noise or remark. The two girls chatted for a couple hours until Claire had to go.

Andy flopped down onto her bed, grinning at the ceiling like an idiot. She pulled out her phone again, planning to text Krel. Today had been a good day. No, scratch that, today had been an AMAZING day.