"Son, I forgot to tell you that your cousin, Jenny, is staying with us for the holidays," Mr. Belpois said as he and Jeremy got Aelita's bags from the car.

There had been a great deal of argument over this particular topic.

Aelita had insisted that she could get her own bags, but Jeremy had doubly insisted, along with his father, that she was their guest and they could get her stuff.

Now that he knew she was coming, Jeremy didn't know whether to be happy or groan, knowing that his cousin's personality could lead to his happiness or demise, depending on how she acted.

Still feeling guilty, Aelita walked inside with the two as they put the bags in Jeremy's room.
Suddenly, they heard a car engine outside.

"That must be Jenny," Jeremy's father said.

Jeremy and Aelita walked outside, standing in front of the house as a white car pulled up.

The door opened and a girl with auburn hair and pigtails came out.

She ran over, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Jeremy!" the girl squealed, latching onto and almost knocking him over.

Smiling widely, Aelita watched with mild amusement.

"Hey Jenny," Jeremy smiled down at her, affectionately ruffling her hair.

"It's Jenn, and I told you not to do that," she frowned, trying to fix it. Jenn turned her attention to Aelita.

"Hi!" she chirped brightly. "Jeremy talks about you all the time. Are you his girlfriend? You're very pretty. Do you like reading?"

Jenn asked the questions so fast, poor Aelita could barely understand.

Fortunately, Jeremy had practice dealing with her, and at the second question, his face had turned a lovely hue of red.

"Jenn, you know people can't keep up with you. Talk slower," the blond ordered.

"You can keep up," she smirked at him.

He scowled.

"Okay... I said, that Jeremy talks about you basically all the time. In fact, I can't really remember a time when he wasn't telling me how smart you were, or how nice, or how beautifu-"

"OKAY, I think that's enough, Jenn. Why don't I help with your bags?" Jeremy interrupted loudly, his face the same shade of red it had before.

Jenn smiled sweetly at Aelita, who had turned the exact same color as her bubble-gum pink hair and looked at Jeremy curiously.

He hurriedly looked away.

Then she headed to the car with Jeremy.

"Hey, Jenn? I need you to behave this break. I don't need any of your normal antics."

"Jeremy, you know me, I always behave," Jenn said, smiling innocently as she and Jeremy each grabbed a bag.

"Look, I don't need you embarrassing me in front of Aelita, alright?" Jeremy sighed as they walked into the house.

"Translation: 'I don't need you embarrassing me in front of the girl I like'," Jenn said. "I'll try not to."

Jeremy now faintly resembled a blond tomato.

"I didn't know anyone could be that red," Jenn commented. "Man, you must really like that girl."

"I don't like Aelita, okay? She's my friend, and nothing more," Jeremy said firmly, although his blush convinced Jenn otherwise.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. My mom is leaving. I'm going to go say goodbye," she said, bolting suddenly out of the room.

Jeremy sighed. If Jenn planned to be this way for the whole time she was here, it would be a tough break, at least for him.

This girl was way too smart for her age.

"Is she always like that?" Aelita asked from the doorway.

Having been jolted out of his thoughts, Jeremy jumped as his cheeks turned red, fervently hoping she hadn't heard the conversation. Trying to compose himself, the young blond put the bag that he'd still been holding (For which reason, he knew not) down and turned to face her.

"Yeah, she's almost as hyper as Odd… Don't be fooled though, because she's really smart, too much so for her age," Jeremy added.

Aelita giggled. "Intelligence must run in the family then," she said.

"Pretty much," Jeremy nodded. He went out to get another bag just as Jenn came in.

She perched herself on the bed after putting the bag down. "So, what do you think of Jeremy?" she asked, her bubbly side gone. The girl sounded more logical now.

Aelita saw what Jeremy had meant.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, what do you think? Is he nice, smart... handsome?" Jenn asked with an innocent smile, laying down on the bed and looking at her upside-down.

"Yes, he's very nice, and handsome- uh, smart," Aelita seemed to catch herself, cheeks turning a cotton candy pink.

"Oh, okay," Jenn said, giving a smile that unnerved the older pinkette, making her shift uncomfortably.

"Jenn, what did I tell you about smiling like that?" Jeremy asked from the doorway.

"I was smiling like that? Oh… It makes other people feel weird, and that I shouldn't do it," Jenn mumbled, expression suddenly changing to a more adorable one.

"Right. Come on Aelita, I'll show you my room," Jeremy said, in actuality giving her an excuse to leave his (What he thought was senile) cousin.

"Sure," Aelita said.

Jeremy led her out of the room as Jenn smirked after them.

Unable to resist, she followed.

"And that's about it."

Jenn saw Jeremy as she peered through the crack in the door.

"Thanks Jeremy. I really appreciate all that you've done for me," Aelita said honestly, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

Jenn smirked as she saw Jeremy blush and smile abashedly. "There's no need to thank me," he mumbled.

Jenn sneaked back into her room with a huge grin. Her cousin definitely liked this girl.

"Plan hatching hath commenced," she said quietly, rubbing her hands together.

Jenn would get them together over the break, and no one would ever suspect it, because she was just a small, innocent, eight year-old...