Therese awoke with a headache in the morning, every sound hurt her head, so she activated a healing cycle from her Space-Girl ring and soon felt better. Peter was already up, and she noticed a cup of coffee on her nightstand so Therese sat up and took a sip. Peter’s coffee was no better than his normal, but Therese relaxed as the caffeine entered her brain. “Liquid happiness.” said Therese to herself, before taking a fast shower and walking out for breakfast.
“I feel like crap, but the coffee helped a lot, thank you.” said Therese, wore out from their adventures and her first effort at drinking.
“You look great.” said Peter truthfully, amazed at how beautiful Therese could look first thing in the morning.
“And aren’t so bad yourself.” said Therese, taking a bowl of cereal from Peter, and still feeling as lucky to be with him as their first day.
“Ready for college?” Peter asked Therese.
“No, but I think I can wing it, it can’t be worse than high school or fighting gophers.” said Therese between bites of her cereal. Peter noticed Therese still liked to chew carefully and deliberately and look forward when she ate, an old habit that had stuck with her.
They took Therese’s car to the community college, despite being enrolled, and having all their books, neither had set foot on campus because of the events of the summer, but Ben had taken care of both of them. “Look, there’s Kara.” said Peter pointing to the end of the parking lot at their friend.
Therese parked the car carefully and took a deep breath to calm herself, breathing slowly and expanding her abdomen. “I’ve got this.” Therese told herself.
“We’ve got this.” said Peter. Therese was no longer alone.
“Hurry up, we’ll be late and we need to grab some coffee, you know how this math teacher is when people fall asleep in his class, Peter!” teased Kara. Peter shook his head and laughed, he couldn't believe he was starting his first day of college with the same teacher he struggled with in high school, but then again, this class started at 9 AM, so he might have a chance.
Therese insisted that they all arrive early, and so the trio was the first to class. Peter went to put his books down at a back desk, but Therese stopped him. “You know we sit upfront, at least for Mr. Shank.” Therese corrected him, and Peter cooperatively but reluctantly grabbed his books and followed Therese to the front with the three of them taking the three most upfront desks, Therese in the middle.
“Good morning class.” said Mr. Shank coming in the door next.
“Good morning, Mr. Shank.” The three said, as monotone as possible to be funny, and Ed laughed.
“Okay, let’s start a pool. I pick Therese gets the best grade, Kara busts three noses, and Peter falls asleep three days a week.” Mr. Shank teased.
“No way am I taking that bet.” said Peter, while sliding down in his chair.
“So what do you think, do I look all professor like?” said Mr. Shank tugging on his tie.
“Lose the tie, it makes you look outdated.” suggested Kara.
“I like it, he looks all serious.” argued Therese.
“Do I have time to run and buy a coffee?” asked Peter.
“Make it four and you won’t be late.” said Ed to Peter, who grinned and walked for the door, and was out as fast as he could. Other students started trickling in, and mostly filled the back of the room. Ed went up to the front of the room and pulled his copy of the book out of his bag. Ed Shank was excited, he both escaped the high school and had his three favorite students, and he found that even more exciting than being a Space Sailor.
Therese was afraid to look back, she did not want to look towards the class, if she did not see any familiar faces, then she thought they did not exist, so Therese made herself look forward. Kara looked around, she didn’t care if she saw a familiar face, and if she did, Kara wanted them to see her with her friends.
“Good morning, I am Ed Shank, please call me Ed, This is College Algebra, we are going to start today with a review quiz, please take one and pass it back.” said Ed, passing a stack to each row, or in Peter’s row’s case, setting one on his desk and passing the rest to the next seat.
Peter came in with a drink carrier holding four cups of coffee, and passed one out to each of his friends, and then sugars and creamers. “There is a quiz on your desk, thank you, I’ll buy next time” said Ed. Peter started doing his quiz, and then took several sips of coffee, and then went back to his quiz. Peter looked at the quiz and remembered Therese tutoring him, and he could hear her say every step to each problem in his mind, and he filled out the answers the best he could.
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Kara looked at her power ring and wondered if it had a math setting, but she didn’t think it did, so she went back to filling out her quiz as best she could. Kara looked over and saw Therese and remembered the first time she sat next to Therese again, and Kara smiled then went back to completing her quiz.
Therese looked at her paper, amazed at the silence in her head, it was so nice to focus on a test without worrying about what the voices said. The voices were faint whispers at best now, and they were in her heart and not her head. Therese looked up at Ed, who caught the glance, and he took a sip of coffee in her honor, then Therese smiled and went back to doing her test.
“When you’re done, bring me your quiz, you can start your homework, doing review problems on pages thirty-four and thirty-five, make sure you put your names on your quizzes before you bring them up. We’ll be doing review the next two classes, as there may be a lot of add and drops.” said Ed, while kicking back in his chair and sipping his coffee. Ed Shank liked teaching college very much.
Ed started reading the quizzes as they were brought up. The first few hurt his head. Therese’s quiz made him proud, Kara’s was promising and Peter’s reminded him he underestimated the boy. A few more surprising prospects and several more quizzes caused worry. “Relax, you all get full credit for these, I’m not holding you accountable for what I didn’t teach you.” Ed told the class, who breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s close enough for government time, see you all Wednesday.” Said Ed, excusing the class. Therese, Kara and Peter remained behind.
“So how’d I do?” asked Ed.
“I kind of miss the old days.” teased Peter.
“Peter, I think you’re cheating and you put on the answers on the back of your eyelids, because you keep looking there.” said Therese impersonating Mr. Shank.
“Was I that bad?” Asked Ed.
“No, you were that good, thank you.” said Peter.
“So do you think we’ll have any missions soon?” Ed whispered even though no one else was in the room with them.
“Nothing so far, but I’ll check the reports. I think Buck is monitoring them from home.” answered Therese.
“Do you think we could all just go do a moon cruise tonight, I’d kind of like to you know, go to outer space.” said Peter.
“My ship can hold us all if we flip down the jump seats.” said Therese.
“What time?” Ed asked, eagerly.
“Maybe 9:30 tonight, I want to close the shop for Erin.” said Therese.
“I’m in.” Said everyone else at the same time.
“See you all then, I think we have college chemistry next.” Therese said, pulling up her backpack.
“See you all tonight, I’m going to hang out and wait for the next class.” said Ed, putting his feet up and drinking coffee.
The group of three walked through the campus. Therese liked college, and Ben was right, no one knew who she was, or even cared. Peter liked college because it started later in the day and he would have time to nap between classes, but mostly he loved it because he was with Therese. Kara liked college because it was something to do, and because she could just be herself.
The group entered chemistry class together. “Four per table.” said the teacher, not looking up from his book. The three walked to an empty table and sat down, leaving one open seat. “At least we’re together.” said Therese.
The class started filling in, but no one sat with them. Therese’s heart sunk a little, she felt like she was getting picked last again, although neither Kara nor Peter seemed to mind. Eventually, they were the last table with an open seat. Then of all people, Peter’s nemesis he affectionately referred to as “herpes girl” came in, she stopped and looked at the last open seat and asked them “Hey, can I sit here?”
“Sure.” said Kara. Therese tried swallowing a frog in her throat, and Peter didn’t say anything.
“My name is Gina, in case you never knew.” said the girl. Therese felt bad, she had never known the girls’ name. Peter felt bad for his rudeness to her. Kara smacked her gum at her. “Look, I’m sorry about all that high school crap. I need this class for nursing school, and this is the only seat open. Just don’t drink from my water bottle, right Pete?” said Gina.
“Look man, I’m sorry.” said Peter.
“It’s okay, glad to see you still got the girlfriend, I heard you died.” said Gina.
“Any rumors of my death are greatly overstated.” said Therese.
“I’m surprised you aren’t with Megan.” said Kara coldly.
“I’m not sorority material, so if you all are good with this, this is all I have left.” said Gina.
“I’m happy to be in your group.” Therese said, smiling and extending peace.
“Thank you.” replied Gina.
Peter still felt uneasy sitting between Gina and Therese, but college was supposed to be different. The class began, and the teacher began explaining the long-detailed processes of how the class would be run. Both Kara and Peter became distracted and started doodling. Therese grimaced, now she had two Benjamins to worry about.
Finally, the class ended, and the group walked out together. “Hey guys, thanks for letting me sit in.” said Gina.
“Thanks for joining us.” said Therese, as she turned and her trio walked away. Gina was glad to be with the group, at least Therese seemed pretty solid and could hold the other two together.
“That’s it for today, should we go to work?” Kara asked Therese.
“I think Erin deserves an early night our, let’s go.” agreed Therese.
“Do we have to?” said Peter.
“Hey Peter, watch the store, I need to go eat a muffin with Kara.” said Therese mimicking Ben. Kara laughed, and Peter sulked.
“Look, take my car, I’ll ride with Kara, so you don’t have to go in early.” said Therese, tossing Peter the keys.
“Yah, I think I want a nap.” said Peter, kissing Therese goodbye.
And just like that their rings began vibrating. Therese looked around and saw it was clear and rubbed her ring. “Space-Girl Alert, all teams report in, this is not a drill.” said the message. The three jumped in their two cars and drove to the Cowffee Cup knowing the other team members would meet them there as soon as possible.
“Be careful.” said Erin as the three ran into her store and into the office. The store was full and Erin simply could not close it and runoff, like Ben and Vivo did, “Hey wait, Kara and Peter get back here.” Kara came running back.
“You know you’re grounded for the next nine months, and I need help with Ana too.” said Erin. Kara did not complain, but she hated to miss the mission. Kara picked up Ana and took her over to the bar counter and started reading her a book.
“You need to follow the two-parent rule, and go work the store.” Erin told Peter, sending him over to the Kookie Mart.
Buck went flying by, flopping his cane. “He’s not pregnant.” Erin told Kara.