Hope grasped his hand, led him to the side away from the students, and next to the freshly painted navy metal lockers. She typically did that when she wanted to yell at him. Shockingly, she did not scream. She grinned at him and seemed to be pondering what to say. Her hands were warm and moist which meant she was nervous.

He remembered her debacle in Kain's class and asked, "What happened? I can't believe you didn't know most of those answers."

"My mind was distracted."

"On what? This is the only thing you think about."

"Not anymore."

She blushed which usually meant she was hiding something or embarrassed or both. But her not divulging everything was a first. "You tell me everything. Why would you stop now?"

She leaned closer to him and said, "I cannot think, knowing you and Skye are together."

He interrupted her, "When I agreed that we were in this together, I meant it."

"Wait," She placed her index finger over his lips and said, "stop talking."

He did.

She continued to stare into his eyes.

"It's more than that because seeing you two together made me realize how I feel about you. I thought we could put this off until Mars, but Skye has made it clear that we cannot."

"Talk about what?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." He responded immediately.

"That's not what I meant." She paused, glanced at the ground, then looked back at him. "I know why you're with Skye, but why didn't you choose..."

A group of twenty people busted through the entrance near them, chanting, "Hey! No Way! Don't let Mother fade away!" They repeated unceasingly, marching around in a circle, and their angry voices echoed throughout the school. They carried handmade signs: one of them said:

DO NOT ABANDON

MOTHER EARTH

Another sign had a hastily drawn blue and green Earth on it with:

YOUR MOTHER

NEEDS YOU

A man at the front with long black hair under a frayed black baseball cap and an overgrown beard carried a megaphone. He pushed a button on it, and it chirped loudly.

The people stopped chanting.

His voice amplified through the speaker, "The Great Spirit, Mother Earth needs you. You must not abandon her in her hour of need."

A young woman wearing gray sweatpants and a white shirt with Mother Earth spray painted in green was next to him. "You tell 'em, Jimmay." She shouted in a raspy voice.

The intruder placed the microphone next to his mouth and repeated his statement, "The Great Spirit, Mother Earth needs you. You must not abandon her in her hour of need."

"That guy looks familiar," he said to Hope. Yet, he could not determine from where.

"Yeah, he does." Hope took a long look at him and asked, "Is that your uncle?"

Uncle Jimmy? He inspected his face. It was difficult to get a clear view with his hair covering it.

"I don't know. The last time I saw him, he was clean shaven and headed to rehab."

The horde marched toward them, the crazy man shouted, "Cole! There you are," and rushed over.

"Crap."

He ran into Cole and embraced him with strong arms. He wreaked of rotten garbage and sweat. Cole pushed him away to an arm's length.

"It's me. Your uncle Jimmy!" The man pointed at his face and beamed. "I haven't seen you since last year."

"Hope!" He hugged her too.

She had the same reaction.

"Wow! You two grew up."

"And you grew a lot of hair," Hope said.

"Yes. I've been trying to speak to you and your family, but your father keeps sending me away."

"Because of this?" Hope asked.

"Exactly. You cannot go to Mars!"

"Why not?"

"Bettencourt's technology is not safe. He's using you as his Guinea pigs."

"That doesn't sound right," Hope responded.

"Also, Mother Earth needs you. Do not turn your back on her." He pointed to the woman's sign.

The woman grinned and said, "You need to stay here and help us save our home."

"You can't abandon me either," his uncle added. "You're my only family and you're leaving me for good."

A dozen security guards surrounded the intruders. The closest one punched his uncle in the face and the others pushed them backwards.

The people restarted their chant and the guards forced them out of the building. He had never seen the security before. He decided that they probably arrived when Skye did.

Hope checked her viewer, "We're late. We need to go." She sped ahead of him.

He ran to catch her, aware of the rules.

He remembered that she wanted to tell him something. "So, what were you going to say?"

"Now is not the best time. We can talk later."

"Just say when. I'll be there. We need to go to a different classroom for Petrov. Room 132."

She appeared lost in thought until she turned to him and asked, "When did Ansh magically become smart. He has been average his entire life."

"I didn't know his name until today. Does this mean we're going to study more?"

"Yes."

"Great." He smirked. "I'm not allowed to do anything, anyway."

They ran down the rest of the hallway.

"We've never been to 132," Cole said, out of breath. He quit running and counted the classroom numbers. "This is it."

They entered the room.

Bright white lights illuminated the shiny linoleum floor tiles. Drop ceilings and pictures of farms projected on the white walls. In the center was a black chalkboard with a drawing of a seed that had arrows and names pointing to its major parts. There were fifty chairs jammed together on one side, but the seats were empty.

"Oh, no!" He gasped and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her closer. "The other students must have arrived first. They never had a chance. She ate them." He pretended to cry on her shoulder and vomit. He sat down, bracing himself on the table connected to his chair. He glanced up at her and whispered, "Run!"

"Class, will be outside today." Professor Petrov appeared in the doorway, scaring them. The Russian accent gave her identity away. He fell to the floor and pushed backwards against chair legs.

Then she set off back outside.

"Quit clowning around," Hope said and pulled him up by his collar.

He breathed in the scent of manure. "Do you smell that?"

"Yes." She replied.

They joined the other students that were encircling Professor Petrov. Bright sun, shined down, reminding him it was still September. Last year, this was an open space with grass, trees, and bushes. Now, it was farmland.

"This is all new." Hope told him.

"Where are the cows? Moo."

"Cole!" Hope glowered.

"Hello students. My name is Professor Petrov. I will be your instructor from now on. They transferred Professor Blanche to Mars. We will cover a lot and we will have two end of semester trials you will need to complete with a partner."

Petrov studied her students and continued, "In order to survive on Mars, you will need prochnost."

Hope flexed her bicep and mouthed the word, "Strength." to Cole.

Professor Petrov continued, "Prochnost is the Russian word for strength. But, when I mention strength, I am not merely talking about muscles. I am also speaking about stamina, perseverance, and willpower. Your ability to survive."

There were fifty students standing around the area.

"Anybody here familiar with farming?"

Hope reached her hand to the sky.

"Yes, Hope. Do you have experience?"

"Yes, Ma'am. My grandfather owns the farm that his great grandfather gave him when he died. My family visits him once a year to help him during the harvest."

"Good. That will be beneficial here and on Mars. Since we will be required to produce our own food. We will need to plant, care, and harvest by hand. We will not have machines."

"Today, we will plant corn seeds. I have already prepared the soil. That is something we will study later. How would you plant these?" She held corn seeds in her palm face up.

Hope stated, "That's easy. We need to plant them in rows about two inches deep and eight or nine inches apart. And the rows must be three feet away, maybe two and a half to save space."

Hope added, "We also need to use a lot of water when we plant them."

"Very impressive, Miss Anderson. Show me." Professor Petrov placed a bag of seeds in her hands. Hope picked up a hoe and created a burrow with it, then planted the seeds, covered, and watered them too.

"Nice work. Everybody else needs to do exactly what she did."

They had done this before when working with the inner-city gardens. They planted the seeds together and worked one row at a time.

Cole stuck his hoe into the dirt and carved out a line. "This is easy." He smiled at Hope. "Nothing we heard today was difficult."

Hope told him, "Correct. Planting one seed is easy. The hard part is being in good enough shape to plant hundreds faster than everyone else."

Then she paused and wiped sweat from her brow. "It's hot out here," Hope said. The sun was bright. Her pale face turned red.

"We should have brought hats." He finished placing his seeds and covered it. Then dug another row.

"It must be nice, being back on top."

She smirked and continued.

They worked for an hour when Professor Petrov stated from a few sections back, "Fantastic work, son. What is your name?"

"Ansh."

"You are a very quick learner. You've almost caught Hope and Cole. We need more people like you."

This tedious work was mind-numbing. It was simple but his muscles rarely did this, so he became exhausted. He rested, drank water, and took some in a canteen to his friend. Hope also drank some.

"Is he close?" She asked.

"You need to take a break. Your face is gonna burn."

She ignored him.

"Ansh. How many rows?"

"Three." He should have said one hundred to get her to take a break. Although he was uncertain that would have stopped her.

She thrusted the hoe harder and placed the seeds faster.

"You can't keep going like this," he stated, warning her.

She did not lift her head. She just kept working.

He lumbered back to his row and continued. He spaced out and continued for about another hour when his body demanded another break. He was lightheaded already. He drank extra water to stay hydrated, but it was not enough.

"We need to dress better tomorrow," he said to Hope. She did not respond. He wanted to yell it, but the evil Russian lady hovered over them, so he refrained.

Hope kept going. She did not talk or get any more water.

After another hour, he tried to get eye contact with her to see if she was ok. No response. He paused again and carried water to her. He was about to pass out. It was difficult to complete the once simple steps.

One hour remained.

"On Mars, there will be a great deal of physical labor and you will have to handle any challenge." Professor Petrov made eye contact with him even though she said it to everyone. That motivated him to work harder during the last sixty minutes.

His lightheadedness degraded into deliriousness. He dreamed about being able to fly and sweeping Hope away from here. He picked her up like a baby and carried her back to her house into the cold and refreshing air. The cool air filled his lungs.

Back in reality, he misplaced his footing which triggered his adrenaline to kick in. He regained his balance.

"Ten minutes remaining," Professor Petrov announced.

He could not continue anymore, and he worried about Hope. He dropped his hoe and seeds and stumbled back to her. He could not get her attention. He waved his hands in front of her. She was on her knees with red skin and glassy eyes. She froze and did not talk.

"You need to drink something." He handed her the canteen.

She shoved it away and threw up instead. They had not eaten since breakfast, so It was mostly bile.

A boost of adrenaline allowed him to lift her over his shoulder, and somehow, shamble her into the indoor classroom out of the sun. The air conditioning was a relief. He sat her down on the floor and braced her against the wall. He kneeled on the ground in front of her and placed his forehead against hers.

He said, "You did really well but you need to take small sips of water. We do not want you to get sick again."

She stared at him.

He snapped his fingers in front of her and waved.

She grinned at him and took the canteen.

Professor Petrov and the rest of the kids returned to the classroom. She reiterated with her Russian accent, "Like I said earlier, we need smart and strong people on Mars. That is all for today. Go home and rest. I need to prepare for tomorrow's class." She stormed back out to the farm.

He lifted her off the ground, rested her arm over his shoulder, and they hobbled to the parking area. The walk took forever. Each step was painful and laborious. He saw his mom's car when they were closer,

His mom got out and ran toward them.

"Oh, my god. What happened?" She helped with Hope and they quickened their pace. He placed her in the back of the car and put on her seatbelt.

He caressed the back of her hair to soothe her. She fell asleep. He continued to run his fingers through her hair. This was unlike her to be unprepared or lose.

Were they in over their heads?

"What happened?" His mom asked once more.

"Worst day ever."

"Thanks for making it clear. Describe in detail what happened," his mom said.

"First this evil Russian lady replaced Professor Blanche because she's going to Mars."

"OK?"

"Then this other boy, Ansh, became super smart and trained for farming over the summer."

"Ansh? That is weird. He's not smart. Anybody can gain stamina though. That means you need to train more."

He did not want to hear her tell him to train harder, so he quit talking. He lightly rested his wrist against her forehead and felt her body burning.

They drove into their cull de sac. "Now, what?" his mom asked, slowing down. Cole noticed a stretched white limousine parked in the street in front of Skye's house.

Her mom pulled next to a young woman with dark brown hair that loitered in the middle of the street, blocking their way. The unidentified girl was pretty and since we know everybody on our block, a new person stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Excuse me," his mom called to her, "Do you need help?"

The young woman wearing blue jeans and a black tee shirt strode to their car. She poked her head in through his mom's window. She had long, curly dark brown hair with pink highlights, she removed her sunglasses to reveal her dark brown eyes.

"I'm looking for Skye, but I went to her house and she's not there." He stared into her dark brown eyes. She was familiar. She smiled at him which helped him recognize her.