"Rise and shine princess! It's time to wake up," Hope's voice stirred him from his slumber.

She leaned over the bathroom sink and placed her toothbrush into the holder. Then she took her brush and combed her long curly hair, pulling through the knots.

Cole laid there longer to agitate her.

"We have to get up," she said with urgency.

He was a morning person, if he had a reason to get moving, otherwise back to sleep. Since he was fighting to get to Mars with his best friend, Cole jumped out of bed.

He announced, "Turn on TV." The screen against the wall displayed the last channel that was on. It showed the ending of the movie credits then it switched to a celebrity news show.

"Hey look there's Skye!" He nodded towards the screen. Skye posed on the red-carpet next to a new guy wearing a black tuxedo. Then, Maria exited the limo with Jacob.

The announcer declared, "Skye Bett arrived with Rick Rogers. Maria Gonzalez is with Jacob Hunter again."

"That bitch!" Cole said, angrily.

"Huh?" Hope asked.

"I did not hear a word from her and now..." He stared at the screen.

"She never messaged you or anything?"

"Nothing."

"It's been weeks. I figured you'd get over it."

"I am, but it's rude. A simple 'Hey I'm not dead.' Would've been enough."

Hope said, "Skye spoke to Maria after a week."

"Wait, you talked to Maria again?"

"Yes. I speak to her all the time. Why are you jealous?"

"Yes. I am."

He went to the sink, brushed his teeth, and straightened his hair.

Hope put sun protection on her arms, neck, and face. That reminded him to do the same. He stretched his arms over his head and noticed his muscles were sore and the inside of his right hand had a blister. He would need to use his left hand more today.

He detected Hope gazing at him.

"Is something wrong?" He checked himself in the mirror.

"No. But today is a better day because we have more time to talk."

"About what?"

She moved to him and said shyly, staring at the floor, "Well, Maria did tell me that I should tell you that..."

They heard a knock on the bedroom door when her grandfather entered. "I hope you two..."

"Name Jinx!' She shouted.

He was not ready, again.

"Come on. We're betrothed." He pleaded with her, and he pointed at the bracelet. "Mars or Bust? Nothin'?"

She pinched him. That hurt every time she did it. He did not build up a tolerance.

"Dammit!" He yelled again.

Her grandfather laughed. "Breakfast is ready. I made scrambled eggs, toast, and we have bananas too. Just remember, we don't want to eat too much, because it will slow us down. But we must eat something. I'll meet you outside."

Cole and Hope walked to the table. A carafe of freshly squeezed orange juice was in the center. The aroma of the food was tasty, but he was not hungry. He placed eggs on his plate and ate a banana, washing it down it with the juice. Then they marched outside.

Her grandfather waited for them and said, "I have something for you." He handed him a wide brim straw hat like Hope's.

Cole smirked and said, "Thank you." He put it on and moved his head from side to side. "I love it. It fits, and it's something I need. Thanks again."

He had lost her grandfather's attention because he was standing by his plot of sunflowers. It was next to his cornfield.

The sunflowers were taller than them. Bees and flies flew from one sunflower to another. A fat black and yellow striped bumble bee buzzed, hovering over the middle of one of his flowers. Her grandfather was eye level with the bee, observing it. Its wings appeared too short to fly, but it did not stop it. It dug its face into the florets on the center. One after another.

Cole tried to breathe in the aroma from the flowers, but the other plants and manure overpowered them.

The Weather Service had predicted record highs for today. The temperature was manageable right now. There were no clouds in the beautiful blue sky. So, that verified it would be another hot one.

Hope said, "Grandpa! There is this one student that beats me every time. Studying and planting practice. He is light years ahead of me. He knows every answer before it's asked, and he's already conditioned for the work we are doing. Also, he had a cousin that took third place and is on his way to Mars."

"That could help. But he still had to train."

"Do you guys know anybody that passed?"

They shook their heads.

"Then, I think you should scout your opponent."

"You mean, like stalk him?" Cole asked.

"Kind of. You want to see where he goes and find out why he's better."

"Before you start with the rest of your questions, I have some for you. How will you pollinate your plants on Mars?"

"Now we manually pollinate the plants, which is inefficient. They are working on bringing bees, insects, and birds."

"You should focus on that when you go. Bees and insects are much better at it. They have millions of years of evolution on their side. Also, it is a wonderful symbiotic relationship, they get food, and we get pollination. I see that as a fair deal."

Her grandpa pointed at the roots. "What we do to recover the soil, is important. Sunflowers are great because they die where they stand. That means your soil will be enriched for the next time." He paused for a few moments then asked Hope, "So, where do you want to start?"

"The first semester focused on planting. The second semester will be harvesting."

"So, we would like to practice harvesting by hand," Cole declared.

"That's good because I have a field ready to harvest. I have a machine, but we can teach you the best method and work on your conditioning."

"Follow me." He rushed through his farm to a field on the right. When he reached the rows, he stopped and grabbed an ear of corn. "The first thing we have to do is determine if the corn is ready. We need the bigger ears with these dry silks sticking out. We want to leave the others."

He grasped the ear in the palm of his hand and said, "We bend straight down and then pop it up." He did the same things with his hand. Cole heard the snap.

Hope did it next. She had done this before.

"That's easy," Cole said, insisting.

It wasn't.

He did it, but his hand and wrist hurt. This would require muscles and tendons he had not used yet.

He gave them gloves which they put on and said, "Get to work. I'll be back when it's lunchtime."

Cole checked the next one for size; it appeared OK. He was not sure. He glanced back at Hope when her grandfather returned driving his pickup truck. A swarm of gnats drifted past him. A few of them got in his mouth, and he spit them out. Gross!

Hope's grandfather said, "These are all ready to pick, but I wanted to explain the differences before you began. Throw them back in here."

He grabbed a wheelbarrow and put it out front. Cole could load that then push to the loading spot, dump it, and rush back.

Cole picked ten more ears and his wrist hurt. The heat was rising, and the true test of today's lesson would begin soon.

"Nice hat, farm boy. Come here often?" Hope batted her eyelashes at him and chuckled to herself.

"Whatever. You look as bad as I do."

"Let's make this fun," Hope stated. "The one that collects the most before lunch, wins the loser's dessert."

"Wait. What?"

"GO!" Hope yelled and sprinted to the next plant, pulled an ear of corn, and tossed it into her wheelbarrow. They were in the middle of four rows. Hope was on the left and he was on the right. She did two more, threw them into her wheelbarrow and moved it further down.

He took a few seconds, to realize what she said and did. He was behind.

"That's cheating."

He started picking them and bellowed to her, "Challenge accepted!"

She kept her body facing the corn and gave him a thumbs up.

The challenge focused him on defeating her. He battled through the pain and watched Hope push harder when she noticed him catching up. It was relatively easy the first two hours, then the heat raised, and the sun beat on them. They agreed on a break to get plenty of water and they used it. By the end, the heat, sunrays, and exertion made him dehydrated and delirious. She had enough for a final push. He did not. He was not able to force his body to move the way he knew it should. Sensing his demise, he gave up, fell to the ground on his back, and spread out like an angel.

Not moving felt amazing. He was still dizzy. The field spun.

Her grandfather returned, covered in dirt from head to toe. "Wow! You two are impressive. You know what you're doing. Stick to your game plan and when you acclimate, you'll pass him. Go take a long lunch even a nap and meet me out here at 2:00pm for the second session."

They had delicious cold chicken sandwiches with lettuce and tomato on wheat bread, sweet crunchy apples, and a lot of water. They ate fast standing, grabbed their viewers, and lumbered over to the couch. They laid on it and he read Perfect System more. He peaked at Hope's viewer. She was reading an article about bees.

"That looks interesting," he said.

"It is."

He made it through the rest of his chapter with heavy eyes, gave in to his fatigue, and slept.

Cole took a deep breath inside his pressurized suit. He wore a helmet and stared out the glass faceplate. The volcano Olympus Mons plateaued in front of him.

"Congratulations, sir." A metallic male voice spoke to him through his helmet's intercom. "You are the first person to climb the highest peak in the Solar System."

He beamed. An unfamiliar, striking, young woman with long, straight, purple-hair climbed over the ridge too and stood next to him.

"We should stay up here," he said to her.

The ground and his body rumbled. Then the floor in the center fell away and hot lava rose from the bottom, surrounding him with heat and molten magma.

Cole reached with his right hand and gripped the ridge he had just peaked. The young woman lost her grip and fell toward her boiling demise below. He held out his hand to her. She seized his hand in time. Her feet dangled over the rising heat and melted the bottoms of her boots.

She shrieked. He swung her up toward the ridge. She grabbed it with her hands. Both pulled themselves over to the other safer side, adrenaline pumping through their veins. They could feel the heat growing and the volcano rumbled.

The steep drop below them forced him to cling to the wall.

Magma exploded through the mountain wall next to him. It burned a hole in his shoulder of his suit.

"We need to jump!" She yelled.

He knew it would be his death, but so was the volcano. He took her hand and the two of them leapt into air. He closed his eyes and anticipated his imminent peril not knowing how long it would take. He lost his breath falling.

Then, they soared through the air, flew over Olympus Mons and its molten lava.

Cole woke to Hope's mom knocking on the wall above him. "It's time to get back to work." Who was the pretty young lady with purple hair? That was odd since he had always dreamt about Hope.

Hope's elbow pressed across his nose, cutting off his air flow. Her viewer was lying in front of him. He pushed Hope off him and sat up, massaged his sore nose, yawned, and ambled to the bathroom mirror to inspect his face.

"It's time to wake up, Hope." Hope's mom laid next to her and rubbed her back.

"I'm up." A muffled scream came from her pillow. She rolled out of bed and glanced at her viewer's clock. "Two o'clock? I wanted to finish another chapter."

"Your grandfather is outside and ready for you." Her mom stated.

He rushed outside even though his brain was still dreaming with Hope behind him. The air was thick and hotter than before.

"When did you move to the sun?" he said, joking.

Her grandfather chuckled and slapped Cole firmly on the back. "You always make me laugh." It sent pain through him.

"Ready for a rematch?" he asked Hope.

"Of course."

His plan this time was to pace himself and lull her into going slower, then sprint at the end. He started again slower, but Hope did several ears fast and continued at the same speed as this morning. He hastened to catch her but expected a similar ending.

"Hope can your grandpa teach us a rain dance?"

"Yes." He declared, still behind them. "But you might not need it." He gestured at the sky behind him. Dark clouds appeared in the distance. They spanned the horizon.

That peaked his spirits. He worked harder and caught up to Hope and changed to his pirate impression. "Prepare to walk the plank, scallywag!"

"What about the rain? Are you going to cry for your mom and quit?"

The clouds were low and fast moving. It took thirty minutes before they reached them. There was an initial blast of warm rain which combined with lightning and thunder.

Her grandfather was wearing a poncho. He gave them each one. "I normally wait for the rain to pass. Then get back to it."

"We'll have to do this rain or shine," Hope yelled to him. "We need to keep going."

Cole would have gone inside if her grandfather had offered. "I knew you'd say that and you're right. We'll stick it out."

After the front moved in; it became cooler and windier. A steady downpour of cold rain was refreshing the first ten minutes, then the chill went through his entire body.

The rain soaked the ground and made their stability slippery. It continued for the next two hours. His feet stuck in the ground and pushing the wheelbarrow strained every muscle in his body.

They remained tied until Hope's foot got stuck and tripped her. She fell face first. He ran over, kneeled next to her, and rolled her onto her back. Her face was smeared in light brown mud and swollen where she smacked the ground. He tried to clean her face with his muddy hand but failed, it only made it worse. He picked her up and ran her into the house.

Her carried her back and opened the sliding porch door. Then stood on the mat with his mud-covered shoes.

"Did I win?" Hope asked.

He snickered. "Let's call that a draw."

Her dad saw them and ran over.

He inspected her and said, "Nothing serious."

"Lay her on the ground."
Cole did, trying his best not to not smack her head. He inspected the mud on his clothes and Hope's. He did not want to track it everywhere.

"Where does it hurt?"

She grabbed her head.

"How many fingers am I holding up.?"

He held up two.

"Two."

"She may have a concussion. It's difficult to tell."

Her dad grabbed an ice pack from his emergency bag placed it on her head.

He kissed her forehead and said, "You will be fine, but you should take the rest of the night off."

"But we still have to finish," Hope said, angrily,

"Doctor's orders."

She groaned with disappointment. "You can't use that every time I disagree."

"You will be able to continue training, but only if you rest now."

"Fine, dad."

"Is my dad here, yet?"

"No." Cole's mom removed his shoes and handed him clean towels.

His mom said, "He sent a text message saying he would not make it today. He's stuck at work again."

"That's a lie," Cole stated, "We're on Winter Break. What's left for him to do?"

Cole announced, "Call dad."

A light shined over him, but his dad did not appear.

"The person you are trying to reach is unavailable," his viewer announced.

"I wonder where he is," said his mom.