A/N: Hey everyone! So, as you might have noticed this story doesn't follow the 3Below timeline. The Zeron Brotherhood will not appear. I wanted the Tarron siblings to relax and get more comfortable with school. Also, there will be more focus on the Creepslayerz and the Tarron siblings. Jim and the gang will also appear. Thanks for reading!

Shortly after dinner, my phone rang. I rolled my eyes and ignored the call, knowing it was none other than Mary Wang. As much as I love her, I didn't want to talk to her if it was about the party.

Don't get me wrong. I have absolutely no problems with parties – just ask my brother. He's pretty much known as DJ Kleb for a reason. The Tarron siblings are pretty much invited to any party at this point just for the music, whether we like it or not. I keep reminding him to take a break from DJ-ing if it tires him so much but he hates letting people down.

The real reason was… Palchuk. I already knew he was going to be there, since he hates missing out on anything. He was probably the one who told Mary Wang to tell me. What angered me was that I actually thought he was nice at first. It's ridiculous how arrogant he can be, especially to Jim! Me and Steve? I had to laugh.

I was too busy glowering at my phone screen that I accidentally bumped into the couch Varvatos was sleeping on. "Sorry Varvatos," I said, grabbing a cookie from the table, recognizing their taste immediately. Mmm, thank Seklos and Gaylen for Toby's Nana.

When Varvatos didn't reply, I turned around and peered over the couch. He was lying down, but just barely, as his Akiridion-form was almost thrice as large as his human form. His blue eyes fluttered open and looked at me with a sort-of sadness. I realized he didn't even finish the box of cookies. For some reason it made me feel like crap.

"What's wrong?" I asked, walking around the couch to face him. "And where were you this morning?"

He mumbled something incoherent and tried reaching for the remote. Usually he would get up and wack me on the head with it. I watched him turn on the TV and make eye contact with it instead.

I waited, sitting there on the couch with Varvatos as some stupid show played on in the background. It felt so foreign to be in his presence and feel so distant at the same time. He remained in that position for a solid minute or two until I eventually got up and took the cookie box with me to my room.

Inside my room there was a large desk, a long mirror, my closet on one side and my bed on the other. Taped onto the walls were several posters of bands that Claire and Darci gave me. I tried listening to them once, but I could never get into them. I liked one or two songs at most, just to have something in common with Claire. She makes a point to give me one every week, so she has an excuse to come over and tape them up for me. There was a Papa Skull poster on the freaking ceiling now, for crying out loud.

I flopped onto my bed and stared at Papa Skull. Outside the sun was setting, and after a minute the silence started to kill me.

Bored, I went to Krel's room across the hall and knocked on his door. "What?" Came an annoyed voice from inside. I rolled my eyes and went in, clutching the cookie box.

"I'm full," I said, tossing the box onto his bed and falling face first into his sheets. He didn't even bother to look away from his computer screen. I hugged his blanket as the sound him typing on his keyboard filled the silence.

Krel has always been kind of a genius. As much as I hated it, he was so much better than me at, well, everything. At home, only my family knew he was talented. Everyone on Akiridion-5 is very smart, so he was only a little above average at school – but here on earth, it's crazy. He has straight A's in every single class and almost every teacher wants him as a student. With the exception of Coach Lawrence, of course. Compared to my brother I was hopeless. If my parents were here, they'd be so happy for him – and deep down I felt like they would hand him the throne given the chance.

I could tell he was coding in Java for a computer science project. I thought Java was a type of coffee, until he explained it was a programming language that he'd taught himself, with the help of Eli Pepperjack. Krel usually procrastinated so I guessed the project was due tomorrow.

"Are you DJ-ing on Friday?" I asked, my question coming out muffled from under the blanket.

"Yup," He finally said, taking a cookie, his eyes still fixed to his screen. "Why?"

"'Cause." I said. "You shouldn't."

"Claire asked me after school. It's too late," He took another cookie and faced me. "Why?"

"''Cause." I said. I couldn't bring myself to mention Steve's name. "You're busy."

"Aja, I have time." He said, typing away.

I simply stared at him and tossed my hair back before opening my mouth to say something inherently stupid. "Well I'm not going with you. I got invited out, see."

I awaited his reply as I kept touching my hair some more.

"Uh," My brother narrowed his eyes and rubbed his shoulder. "Didn't you just fight with Steve?"

"I'm not going with Steve you idiot! I'm going with Eli." The words tumbled out of my mouth. I don't know why I said this. "I hate Steve, remember," I blurted, trying to convince myself.

Eli simply glanced at me and I could tell he knew I was lying. "Forget it. I know you're going to end up going. It's who you are. You hate missing out on anything."

I lowered my head and sighed. Krel was starting to get on my nerves even though I knew he didn't do anything wrong. I just didn't want to face the truth.

I picked up the empty cookie box and headed out. It struck me that I really did want to go, and had been using Krel as an excuse this whole time. I didn't understand it – why would I want to deliberately go somewhere Steve would be? He has such a vehement hatred for me. And the best part is, I never did anything to him - or I couldn't have, right? He's just a self-centred, intolerable ass that exhausts everyone and everything around him. I stood there, glaring down the hallway and brooding to myself that I remembered how much I despised him.

And with that, I left a message to Mary just so she knew: I'm definitely not going.