Our Hope

23 - Hope

She observed Cole napping, jealous of his ability to sleep whenever he wanted. She did not eat much of their pre-made breakfast, not because it was flavorless like Cole said, but because she was too nervous. It smelled liked most scrambled eggs with breakfast. She expected to be hungry afterwards.

She was already on-edge about the test and now it rained buckets. Extra apprehension because the last time she closed her eyes; she had a horrifying dream about losing Cole. She never wanted to repeat that nightmare. She was perfectly content here in awake land where he rested right next to her.

The car stopped. He opened his eyes and asked, "Why are you watching me?" he asked.

"Why not?" She did not do it on purpose.

"Time to go," his mom said, breaking their attention.

"Thanks mom," she said to his mom and winked at her.

"Good luck. And Cole, try your hardest. Don't give up. We are counting on you."

"I know mom."

They both exited the car.

It was still raining, yet it had changed to a drizzle. He opened his umbrella and they walked toward their school together.

Once inside, they continued to Petrov's classroom where the other students were waiting. Ansh stood in the corner, whispering to his partner. They were wearing matching rain gear.

Ansh said to Hope, "I saw what happened to your protégés on Friday. I'm certain the next time Dr. Bettencourt has to choose the best student, he'll pick me."

Her face flushed, she rushed to Cole, and asked, "Is it against the rules to punch him in the face?"

She knew it was but talking to Cole always calmed her nerves.

"I didn't read the rules, yet I'm pretty sure it is." He shook his head. "He's just trying to aggravate you. He prays that you punch him because he knows you're the best. Don't fall for it."

Professor Petrov bellowed, "All right students. You will store your packs in this room. But you will not be given a break. You will have eight hours to plant four different kinds of seeds. Your first field will be wheat, then kale, then carrots, and the last one will be corn."

"You must fill 100 rows of each plant. Then you will choose one type of seed, and plant those until our time is up. You typically would not work in these conditions, but you need to be prepared for anything. Also, accuracy counts. I will not count seeds that are too close or not deep enough."

"Ready?" She inspected her students.

"Go!" She shouted.

Cole and Hope raced to their spot outside. Her feet sunk into the mud with every single step. Being closer gave them a head start because the other students needed to slosh through the farm to their spots.

They had talked about pacing themselves which they did, yet understood at some point they would have to push when their bodies said no.

Cole was born with that skill and he spent time trying to teach it to her. She had drilled him on measuring without using a ruler. They also studied videos from the Mars Prep show of them planting together and altered their previous strategy. Now, he would carve the trenches and she would plant. He would dig to the end, then turn around and plant on his way back. They would meet in the middle. It differed from everyone else's style. Plus, their more efficient system disguised how many they had done. It was faster than the way Ansh did it. Yet, his training and conditioning allowed his team to stay ahead of them.
They finished their first section of wheat and met in the middle. She checked her viewer. It took a little over an hour. The rain was still light which was manageable because she remained relatively dry in her rain gear.

Cole bellowed, "Hey look who stole our method!"

He pointed at Ansh. She turned and saw them using Cole and Hope's new idea.

"You cheating bastards!" She yelled pumping her fist in the air.

"Language," Cole said, sarcastically.

Their plan was to drink water in between each round and eat a small portion of the food. She did and so did Cole. Then they plodded through the mud to their next field, Kale.

They were fine with drizzle during the first two hours. They maintained a slight lead throughout kale and carrots. But Ansh and Sai caught up to them, during the last stage corn. They planned on doing that until the end because they did it fastest.

The rain poured harder and changed to sleet. The wind also picked up and powerful gusts pushed her off balance. That combined with her movements caused the rain to soak though her clothes. The freezing water and strong wind sent a biting chill through her body and her mind begged her to cease. She fought through and continued working with Cole.

Ansh and Sai pulled ahead near the end and her drive to beat him was not enough to keep pace. The cold sapped any remaining fight out of her.

They finished second.

Professor Petrov stomped passed them, splashing mud in her face. "Time is up. Congratulations Ansh and Sai on another successful display of why we need strong and smart people on Mars." She glowered at her. The water pelted off Professor Petrov's face, yet she had no reaction.

Petrov headed to her classroom. The students followed, slowly. She announced, while moving, "OK. Class. This semester is finished. I will post the official results tomorrow."

Her and Cole hobbled to the classroom, sat down, and removed their water-soaked rain gear and jackets. She was still freezing. Fortunately, they had brought dry clothes to change into.

Cole said, "If we want to win, we need to spend our entire break at your grandfather's farm. We did not have time to go there yet."

Hope grinned through the pain. "Yes. We do. We are out of shape. But we are close."