5. Old Friends.

“Luna!” a tiny, gothic Japanese girl with black streaks through her hot pink hair waved as we exited the airport. “I haven’t seen you in forever!” she shrieked, running over and tackling me.

“You know, Ceres. It looks kind of odd to have some random person attack you while you’re on vacation in Hawaii,” I smirked, getting up. “And!” I continued, holding up a finger, “it’s only been three years.” I grinned looking at the saddened Ceres from the corner of my eye. “Buuut, I suppose it has been a while.”

She perked up and beamed. “Yay!” she giggled wrapping me in a death hold. I mean, hug. “Oohh, lemme guess, this is Orion?” she asked, letting go of me as she walked around Orion and stared at him.

“Sadly, yes,” I grinned, stepping between them and linking my arms in theirs. “Come onnnn, I don’t want to grow old and die before exploring the island!” I tugged them along side of me.

“Waiiiit! Who’s this person?” Orion asked, peeking over at Ceres as we walked. “You didn’t tell me there was a person waiting for us.”

“Well, I didn’t know. Remember the nerdy kid from our class three years ago? She wore the whole nerd get-up and I was the only one who talked to her?” I laughed as Ceres made a face at me. “The nerd that seems to have acquired style over the years.”

“The one who followed you over to my house when I was sick? And helped you throw me into the tub filled with boiling water?” he grumbled, staring at the two of us as we tried our best to look angelic.

“Yup, Ceres is that girl,” I smirked and nodded at her. “I bet she knew we were coming here so she traveled ahead of time to greet us. Little Miss psychic person!” I gasped, pointing at the laughing Ceres.

“What? She is not,” Orion chuckled disbelievingly. “How do I know that you didn’t call her up and organize this? It’s a conspiracy against me, I tell you! A conspiracy!”

“I’ve dealt with this for an adequate length of time,” I sighed. “Stupid techno-irritant. Orion, turn around. Every time, I swear. She always thinks it’s a conspiracy.” I said, spinning him around. “Stupid little chips,” I muttered, lifting Orion’s hair up and pulling a flashing chip off of his skin then tossing it into the ocean.

“Thank You, Luna!!!!” Orion yelled, gripping me in a bear hug. “Never ever let me go to Sam’s house again. She’s pure evil.” He gasped, putting me down then falling over.

“She’s not ‘evil’ per say. She’s more of a… stalker. Heh, you have a stalker.” I snickered, plucking one of his hairs. “If you don’t want to fight for your free will, stay away from her.” I sighed, pulling him back up. “If she thinks I’ll never tell the difference between the two of you, she’s sadly mistaken.”

“You’re cruel.” He grinned, getting back up.

“Cruel, but honest. So, I’m guessing she activated the chip after I dashed off towards the airport?” I started walking again and they followed. “I’m going to enjoy my vacation with Ceres and lover boy, nothing shall stop me!” I beamed as we walked towards the hotel.





“Whoa,” I stared in awe at the towering gold structure with tropical plants in the gardens on all sides. Vines wrapping around the building, covering a good amount of it.

“Double whoa,” Ceres added.

“Dude,” Orion gasped.

“Shall we go in?” I asked, tearing my gaze from the building and picking up some of the luggage. “Orionnn, get the rest? Pretty please?”

“’Kay,” he mumbled, dragging the rest of the luggage in with us.

“I got the keys!” Ceres waved the plastic cards as she walked back from the desk. “I get 706 and you two get, um…” she pushed the bag slung over her shoulder behind her and squinted at the numbers. “…708. Yay, our rooms are next to each others!”

“What?” Orion asked, flabbergasted. “I thought you were joking about sharing a room?” he nervously chuckled.

“Orion, relax. Just think of it as the sleepover we had when we were four,” I patted his back, then walked over to the elevator and pressed the ‘up’ button.

“But you tried to kill me then!”

“I had a logical explanation!” I snapped. “I thought you were a character from a horror movie! A creature so vile, it chilled me to my very soul.” I murmured, staring blankly ahead of me.

“We watched a videotape of Barney,” he folded his arms as he came up next to me.

“Sha, his eyes were freaky. All plastic and lifeless, singing songs about manners and whatnot. I mean honestly, parents can teach their kids a whole book of etiquette in the time it takes to recover from watching the episode!” I shouted, throwing my arms up as we walked into the elevator.