Among the Stars (Shidge AU) [Book 2]

Chapter Ten

Katie looked down at the paper her teacher had just passed out to the class. It was a pop quiz.

The teacher, Mr. Loweham, loved pop quizes. He always said that if you didn't know the what he was teaching off the tip of your brain, than he wasn't doing his job right. It got to the point that his students would be more afraid of pop quizes than the tests themselves.

Yesterday, the class had learned a lot in the geography section about the state of Kansas. And just like Katie had guessed, he decided to do a pop quiz the next day.

Katie looked at the top of the paper and wrote her name, Katie H. Than right beside it she wrote the date, May 2nd, 2030.

She starred at the first question, honestly regretting not studying last night even though she guessed there would be a pop quiz.

1. One-fifth of the corn grown in the US, is grown in Kansas.

True or False?

She remembered him saying something like that yesterday. She was about to circle True, when she thought: Wait, what if it was wheat instead of corn? Agh, this hurt her head. Why was she even learning about this? Would a cop pull her over when she is older and ask her this question, and if she got it wrong would they send her to jail?

She did want to learn about Kansas. All she needed to know is that Kansas is where all the farmers live, and that car rides across Kansas are the most boring rides ever.

She gave up and selected "true" and went on to the next question.

2. Why does Kansas have no original or native trees?

a. Kansas was too dry for trees.

b. Millions of years ago, Kansas used to be an ocean.

c. The Native american who used to lived in Kansas chopped them all down before they could replenish them.

d. No one knows.

What kind of question is this? Kansas has no native trees, because Kansas was too boring for trees. They were all like, Nope! And left for more fun states like Missouri, and Texas.

She than decided to pick the more "Historical" answer and circled "c".

She was only finished the first two questions, and her head started to hurt. Why did they have to learn about the most boring and non-important state so called Kansas?

Honestly, she kept thinking about how they kept delaying her father's estimated arrival date due to technical errors. He was originally estimated to come home on April 16th, and he was still in space.

But Jose McClain was an excellent pilot, they would arrive home, right?

She than shook off the thought out of her mind as she looked at the next question.

3. What is the capital of Kansas?

a. Kansas City

b. Wichita

c. Topeka

d. Dodge City

She remember that in one of her visits to Missouri that Kansas City was actually located in Missouri, so that couldn't be the capital.

She also remembered Mr. Loweham saying it yesterday, and it wasn't a normal name, so it couldn't be Dodge City.

It had to be one of the two weird named ones.

She remembered on their trip to Missouri, her mother said they passed the city of Wichita, which was the biggest city of Kansas.

And she remebered her teacher saying that unlike some places, Kansas' biggest city wasn't it's capital, so the answer had to be "c".

After answering that she felt more confident about this pop quiz.

But as soon as she was going to move on the the next question, she heard her teacher speak up, "Katie?"

"Yes." She answered looking up from her quiz.

"There is someone here to see you." He said as he pushed up his glasses and went back to working on something.

Everyone looked at her, some with smile and some with curious faces. She than got out of her chair and headed to the doorway of her classroom.

The door, though was at an angle she couldn't see, so if anyone was standing there, which apparently there was, she couldn't tell who it was immediately.

Once the person came in sight, she immediately rushed into their arms. It was her father. "Dad!" She cried with joy. "I missed you."

It had been five months, since she had seen him. His longest mission so far. He had only left five days after Christmas, and now it was almost summer break.

"Be careful Katie!" He laughed. "I'm still trying to get used to Earth gravity."

She than motioned him the kneel, which he did, so she could whisper in his ear. "Could you check me out? I don't want to finish this pop quiz."

He than smiled as he said, "But won't you have to do it tomorrow anyways?"

"Yeah, but I can study for it." Katie replied.

He than stood up as he said, "Than go get your stuff."

Katie smile as she headed back to her desk to gather her stuff.

Her teacher than looked up at her father and asked, "You checking her out?"

To which her father shook his head in confirmation.

Mr. Loweham than directed his attention back to Katie and said, "Pack up your stuff and hand me your quiz so you can finish it tomorrow."

---

After wards, Katie's father than picked up Matt who was a little bit more down the hallway, and than left with the two, and their mother who was waiting in the car to drive them home.

In the car ride, though, Matt had a question. "Hey, dad?"

"Yeah?" Their father answered.

"When will you be going back to space?"

"In about five years." He answered.

"Woah! Why so much time to prepare?"

"Because Matt, the next time I leave Earth, I'll be heading all the way to Kerberos."

***

Hey! An update!

Just so you know, I have been super busy recently, and really only have time to write on the week ends. Sorry.

Also, for any of you who are from Kansas, don't worry, I'm not making fun of, or bashing Kansas, I was making fun of people who stereo type Kansas.

I actually lived there for a lot of my life, but I don't live there anymore.

Anyways, See ya!

~KanGian