"Cindy, you remember Haldrex Darnen from breakfast, right?" I nod. "Well this is her daughter." Aaron says.

"Nice to meet you." I say to her. She nods.

"What is your name?" I ask politely.

"My name is Haldrex Jinkyng."

"Ohhkkaaayyyy..." Geez Cindy, I think to myself, make yourself seem more interesting.

"So, um... what do you do?" I ask.

"Fight." She answers. Well okay. No need to explain it in that much detail, I think.

"So... you're in the army?"

"Yes." She says with a blank face.

"Umm, Aaron?"

"Yes Cindy."

"Can I talk to you in private for a moment please?"

"Sure." I take his arm and lead him around a corner.

"What?" he asked. I look at him with a look that could send him ten feet under if looks were that powerful.

"She is here why exactly?" I say with a awkward look on my face.

"She's only like that when she first meets a person. Don't worry 'bout it."

I raise my right eyebrow at him and shrug, before walking back to one of the most awkward aliens I've ever met in my life.

***

Once upon a time there was such a thing as dreaming about paradise. Now there is no need to dream. Aaron's planet is paradise in itself. There are glittering white sand beaches basking in the sunlight. Or, should I say, suns' light. Five suns hang in the air far above my head. The clearest turquoise water I've ever seen sparkles, catching my eye. I gasp at the warmth of the water as it laps at my toes. I notice rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearls, amethysts and garnet shimmering under the surface of the water. There are palm trees taller than skyscrapers with leaves that reflect sunlight better than mirrors. I spin slowly in a circle, marvelling at the sights laid out before me. But then Aaron taps me on the shoulder and as I turn around, he hands me a mini oxygen tank with a strap on it. I go on to ask him why I need this but he gets there first.

"The oxygen here is very thin so you'll need to take a breather around once every hour." I nod and pull the strap over my shoulder. And now that he mentions it, the air does taste different.

***

As Aaron shows me where I'll be staying, I ask,

"So... do I get a personal bathroom, or do I have to share with your alien friends." He just smirks and nods.

"Well? What does that mean?" I ponder.

"You get your own bathroom don't worry. It's just funny that you would ask that sort of question." He chuckles again. Idiot.

"Well, considering that I'm from a different planet, you would expect that I wouldn't feel very comfortable sharing with aliens." He nods quietly, then grabs my hand, swinging it from side to side.

"So what do you think of my planet so far?"

"Umm... well, for starters. It looks a lot like Florida's beaches apart from the jewels and stuff."

"Yeah it does doesn't it?" That's part of the reason that we were in Florida when we were on earth. We wanted to be comfortable on any planet if we were to move there. And there just happened to be a place that looked just like our home planet."

"Okay..." I quickly change the subject. "Your family must be very rich since you have all these jewels lying around, aye?"

"Huh, I never really thought of my family as rich, mostly just very wealthy." He shakes his head. "Anyway, it'll be getting dark soon. I should probably get you inside."

"Kk." I let him guide me inside the building that we reached. The inside of the building was almost as amazing as the rest of the planet. It looked like nothing on earth. Pun intended. The walls are made of white marble with colourful mosaics of Aaron's family made of gems. The ground has a rich red carpet rolled out, and it leads to a platform at the end of the room. Aaron steps onto the platform, and I follow his lead. The platform starts to rise. I kind of freak out when I realise there's nothing holding it up and there are no railings. But Aaron takes my hand, and although I can't stand him sometimes, I am glad for the support. The platform keeps rising, and we pass one... two... three... four floors. The first floor has a long corridor with multiple doors leading off of it. The second is the same. The third is a large room with strange and exotic creatures in it. The fourth floor has aliens bossing each other around and printing stuff off. We stop on the fifth floor, then walk across to another elevator. This one rises one floor, and we hop off. This floor has a comfy carpet and heaps of those personal preference chairs. Aaron sits me down on one, and takes a seat next to me.

"Wait here while your room is prepared." he says.

"Why do I have to do what you say?" I blurt out. I suppose being on a new planet has totally weirded me out, because I suddenly start questioning everything.

"Because I'm a prince." he answers simply.

"But that's not fair! Just because you're born into a certain family, you think you can tell everyone what to do!" I exclaim. Suddenly his watch beeps. He looks down and checks it.

"Aw. We have brunch with the head of foreign technology tomorrow." he complains. Then it beeps again.

"Oh, and your room is ready." he leads me to the middle of the room. After a few taps of his watch, a hole opens in the ceiling above us. Ohmagod it looks huge. Like double triple quadruple the size of my room at mom's. And that was big. A ladder descends, and we climb up into the room. It's made of white tiles, just like Aaron's attic. I walk around for a minute and am surprised when arms sneakily wrap themselves around my waist. I pull them off and turn around to look at Aaron. He pouts at me and I roll my eyes before climbing down the ladder again.

"So, what do you think?" he calls down to me.

"It's a bunch of white tiles." I answer.

"Well, you haven't even started decorating yet." he says.
"I decorate?"

"Yeah. But you would have to come up again."

"There wasn't anything there though." I shake my head, and climb the ladder.

"Okay, we're going to use my watch for this." he says, and holds out his wrist. Onscreen there are some words, but they're too small to read. Aaron taps something on the side of the watch, and it projects a holographic image. The words say 'Which color walls would you like'

Aaron gesture me to say something so I do.

"Could I-" Cough, cough. I look to Aaron and he makes a sign that means for me to be firm with the hologram. I nod and turn back to the hologram.

"I will have black walls. And don't forget red hearts in the corners. And the same with the ceiling." Aaron just stares at me with a look that says, 'Are you crazy.' But I ignore it. The holograph just continues. New words appear. They say 'Carpet, or no carpet?'

"Carpet." I answer. New words say, 'Which color carpet would you like?'

"Dark red." I answer. 'State your preference of bed.'

"Black four poster queen, with a black and red striped duvet. Two black pillows and one red heart pillow." the words change yet again. He shakes his head and I look at him like, 'Dude, what's your problem?'

"You have always like happy colours and now you're doing this." He gestures to the walls that have now been changed to my prefered colour. Opps. I guess I said that out loud.

"Yeah you did." I sigh and go to head back down the ladder.

"Wait Cindy!" I sigh for the upteenth time.

"What Aaron?" I say with a bored tone.

"What color did you want your chest of drawers?"

"Black." I mutter, before climbing down and walking away, leaving Aaron looking down at the ladder.