"AHHHH! No way! No way!" 16-year old Zenon Karr squealed in disbelief.
"Yes. Your cousin, Cursa, is coming up from Earth and staying with us." Mrs. Karr replied, smiling.
"How long?"
"As long as we want to keep her here."
"You mean she'll be living with us"
"Yes, Zenon. Now will you leave your mother alone." Mr. Karr interrupted, giving Zenon an annoyed look.
"Yes daddy." Zenon responded before she turned and skipped out the door, still squealing with delight.
"You didn't tell her that the reason she's staying with us is because her parents died." Mr. Karr said to his wife.
"No. I didn't want to bum her out about her aunt and uncle." Mrs. Karr replied.
"Yes. But what about Cursa?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she's not likely to tell anybody about it. She'll keep it all inside."
"Zenon can help her if anybody."
"But until then…who will?"
Mr. and Mrs. Karr looked at the now empty doorway.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
"Nebula!!!" Zenon yelled down the Space Stay hallway. Nebula, Margie, and Orion stopped walking and turned around to see Zenon racing towards them.
"Why are you so excited?" Margie asked, wondering why Zenon looked like she had been awake for a week and just had another cup of coffee.
"I just found out that my cousin Cursa is coming from Earth to live with us!" Zenon blurted out.
"Are you kidding? No way!" Nebula screeched happily as well. The 2 girls were jumping up and down, holding hands, screaming with excitement.
"Who is Cursa?" Orion asked curiously.
"Cursa is only the best cousin a girl like me could have!"
"How do you think she'll feel? I mean…hasn't she lived on Earth her whole life?" Nebula questioned.
"Yeah. So what's your point?" Zenon answered, looking at her best friend with a slight smile.
"How did you feel when you were on Earth?"
"Ugh…disgusted, major."
"Then how do you think Cursa will react, suddenly moving into a Space Stay?"
Zenon was silent. She had not thought of how Cursa would feel moving from her home to some strange place. Of course, Zenon had zap-padded Cursa a lot, but they never actually met. It actually dawned on her. In addition, why was Cursa moving in now? What possessed her to leave Earth? Was it her choice? Or did something happen?
"When is she arriving?" Margie questioned, bringing Zenon back from her thoughts.
"Transport 968 from Earth has arrived." A voice said over the intercom.
Everybody looked at Zenon. "Today!" she screamed as she took off for the docking bay. Nebula, Margie, and Orion ran after her. By the time they had caught up to her, she was bouncing up and down anxiously. The dock doors opened and out walked a girl with long black hair and light gray eyes. She was wear navy blue jeans and a black halter-top.
"Wow. Those are the strangest clothes I've ever seen." Nebula stated, starring at Cursa's outfit.
"That's normal clothes on Earth. To people from Earth, the clothes you wear are strange." Margie replied, with a tint of sarcasm. Nebula made a face at Margie, who did one in return. The girls laughed.
"Cursa!" Zenon called, rushing up to her cousin.
"Zenon!" Cursa answered just as happily. She put down her suitcase and hugged Zenon, them both laughing as they did so.
"Hey Z. How've you been?"
"Great! What about you?"
Cursa hesitated. "Just fine." She answered, a fake smile plastered on her face.
"That's great. How's Aunt Gwen and Uncle Tom?"
Cursa bit her lip, hesitating once again. "They're great. They wanted me to try living here in space for a little bit while they traveled the Earth."
"Stellar! You'll totally love it here in the space stay."
"I'm sure I will."
"Oh! I'd like you to meet my friends, Nebula, Margie, and Orion."
"Hey." They said in unison. Cursa waved back.
"C'mon. I'll show you to your room." Zenon continued as she turned around and headed back down the corridor, taking Cursa's suitcase with her. Cursa adjusted the backpack on her shoulder as she followed her cousin down the Space Stay hallway, followed by the other 3 friends. Zenon
"Z, where are we going? Your room is like…way back there." Nebula said, looking behind her, only to meet with the face of Cursa.
"We have no room by us so Cursa's staying next door to Orion." Zenon explained. "And I hate to say it but you both have to share a bathroom."
"What?!" Cursa shrieked.
"You're kidding, right?" Orion spat out in disbelief.
Zenon laughed. "Nope. Sorry guys. I guess you'll have to work the schedule out. I'll let you get settled in while I tell mom and dad that you're here. Later C." And with that, Zenon walked away. Cursa hit the button and the door opened. It was completely plain inside. She entered it and stood in the middle of the room, examining it.
"It a lot more spacious then my room on Earth." She mumbled.
"Need help?" Orion questioned.
"Not really. I don't need help from anybody and I don't let anybody help me. But we do need to talk about that bathroom schedule." Cursa replied, putting her backpack on the bed.
Orion chuckled. "Yes we do."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"You did that purposely!" Nebula gawked as her, Margie, and Zenon walked away.
"Of course. I could tell that Orion and Cursa would be the perfect couple, major." Zenon answered as he blonde hair bobbed up and down for emphasis.
"But you and Orion liked each other." Margie proclaimed.
"Key word there Margie…'liked.' As is the past. We're just good friends."
Margie and Nebula just smiled and shook their heads at their mischievous friend. But nobody knew what lied ahead for them…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I honestly don't care Orion. It's all up to you." Cursa insisted as she hung up her clothes in the closet.
"It's not only up me. This does include you too." Orion answered. "Your clothes are so…"
"Strange?"
"I was going to say eccentric but strange works."
"Yeah? Well, your clothes are 'eccentric' as well." Cursa said, emphasizing 'eccentric' with sarcasm. Orion chuckled. There was a knock on Cursa's door.
"Come in." She called. In walked Mr. And Mrs. Karr.
"Hello Cursa." Mrs. Karr greeted.
"Aunt and Uncle Karr!!!!" Cursa exclaimed happily as she ran to them and hugged them. "How are you?"
"We're busy, actually. We were on our way to the lab and we decided to drop by and say hello." Mr. Karr answered.
"Oh. Ok. Well it was nice to see you."
"Same here. Later sweetheart." Mrs. Karr said as her and her husband left the room. Cursa closed her eyes as her room door shut. A very soft sigh escaped her lips. No matter what, people are always too busy to spend time with me. She thought sadly.
"Are you okay?" Orion's voice cut in. Cursa's eyes snapped open as she turned to face him.
"Yup. I'm fine." She answered, going back to her unpacking. As she continued to unpack, there was another knock on her door.
"Come in." She called again. The door opened and Zenon burst into the room.
"Oh my god, Cursa. You have to see the latest catalog from the virtual mall!" Zenon exclaimed rushing over to her cousin.
"No thanks Zenon. I like my clothes, Gracias."
"No offence Cursa, but if you go walking around the space stay in that stuff, people will make fun of you."
"I don't care Zenon. I'm not gonna change the way I dress just to please everybody else on this secluded space stay."
"Just look through it and see if there is anything you like. Please!!!" Zenon begged.
"Fine." Cursa growled, giving in. Zenon smiled as she handed Cursa the catalog. Cursa sat down next to Orion as she browsed through the pages. To her, all the female outfits were too girlie for her. Some of them were reasonably good, but the outfits she liked the most were the casual pants. She marked what outfits she wanted and handed the catalog back to Zenon. Zenon then left Cursa's room.
"Was that so bad?" Orion asked, amused. Cursa could sense his amusement so she smacked him on the shoulder in return. He laughed as she continued to put her clothes away, unaware of what was in store for her. Little did she know that she was going to fall hard…and have to rely on the help of others…