The musings of a Terran Exchange Student
Sometimes I think I'm dreaming. It all seems absolutely impossible; the concept of going to high school in the middle of outer space all seems like science fiction. But here I am, Aimee Brightower, a 17-year-old girl from California, and I'm heading to a place called Flutor to attend my last semester of high school with E.T. and his friends!
Only a month ago, my life was as normal as can be. Sure I never had a lot of friends at school, but that's not what an education is for; I'm getting ready for college so I can become a doctor someday. Anyway, there I was watching Jeopardy with my brother and crushing his male ego in the process by answering twice as many questions as he could when my parents came in from their parent teacher meeting at school. They started babbling excitedly about what? They were telling me I was chosen to become one of the first human exchange students to attend school at Galaxy High School! Galaxy High School? That sounded like where Judy Jetson would go to school! My life was about to become some strange science fiction movie, and I had no Earthly - no pun intended - way to wrap my head around the very concept! Of course the next thing I knew I was putting my suitcases into the trunk of a taxi cab that looked like it belonged on Star Trek, and the driver!?! Was it me, or did he really look like a giant one celled organism!?!
Having to accept my new life in the middle of who knows where, I hugged my parents and brother good-bye, blinking back the tears that were welling up in my eyes. This wasn't a week or two at summer camp; this was the final semester of my senior year, and I wouldn't see Earth and my home town of El Segundo again until after finals were over! I climbed into the taxi and got a good look at the neighborhood where I lived my whole life before my brother called out to me to say hi to ALF and Mork. His snickering was the last thing I heard before the cab's motor roared to life, and I was whisked away.
Before we were to take off into the middle of Andromeda, the one celled organism, who amazed me by speaking fluent English and introducing himself as Ollie Oilslick, told me he was going to pick up the other human exchange student, a boy who was also chosen for the program! Could it be true? Was there a boy like me who loved his studies as much as I love mine? At last, there would be a guy who wouldn't tease me for being such a geek! Something was wrong here; we hadn't gone far at all, only to a neighborhood on the other side of town where a lot of working class families lived. Oh no! Not him! Not that swelled headed, dumb jock who couldn't pass a class if his inflated ego depended on it! Don't tell me Doyle Cleverlobe is the other exchange student! I escaped from my brother's jibes, only to spend my last semester being mercilessly teased by this jerk? He'd been picking on me since we were in elementary school! I can't be sure, but I think he might have been the one who put that fire cracker in my lunch box; good thing it was a dud and only burned my food! Of course it goes without saying that this adventure just got a little more - hmmm, shall we say wacked! The two of us exchanged terse, yet cordial hello's and said nothing else to each other during the trip.
Well, here we are in space and Doyle's sitting right next to me, and there is nothing I can do about it now, so I guess I had better just sit back, enjoy the ride, and think of what it is going to be like when we get to Galaxy High. One question that immediately comes to mind is will Doyle and I be able to breathe when we get there? Sure the cab has oxygen in it, but what happens when we get out? Will we have to wear space suits during our entire time at this place? Will we have to wear masks and carry tanks around like Grandma did before she died? If we have to wear masks, how do we eat? Maybe there will be oxygen inside and we'd only have to wear masks outdoors? OK, time to think logically, this is a highly advanced campus. They had to do some research to see if their students would survive in their atmosphere. Why send us to a place where we would certainly die? OK, there has to be some kind of accommodation they would have to make for us like a force field that holds in oxygen. Maybe the rest of the extra terrestrials also breathe oxygen, and the ones who don't go to school somewhere else.
I wonder what the food will be like? OK, if they are prepared for us, they should have stuff we can eat that wouldn't harm us. How about the work? I know Doyle can't handle the classes he took on Earth, so it goes without saying that he will still struggle here. Of course will the work be beyond me since the subject matter might cover planets I never knew existed? Maybe there will be tutoring or refresher courses Doyle and I should take. Do they speak English at Galaxy High? I know Ollie does, but what about the rest of the students and faculty? I guess if worse comes to worse, we would be taught the language like they do with our own exchange students back home. So many questions are running through my mind like crazy, but most of them can be answered when we get there. We should be safe there; it wouldn't be in their best interests to get bad PR because they brought in students who asphyxiated or starved under their care or were left to flounder about unable to speak the language. I guess the thing I should be most concerned with is what the aliens will be like.
OUCH! That darn Doyle has been twirling that stupid football of his on his finger for an hour now, and he just dropped it on purpose, smacking me with it in the left ear! If not for the high risk that we would be sucked out the window, I would surely toss that ball out and merrily watch Doyle rocket out after it! I sure hope the kids there aren't like him. Will they like me in space? I know I don't expect to make very many friends; it wouldn't make sense to get too attached when I will only be going to college back on Earth next fall. On the other hand, it would be nice to have at least one or two friends while I'm there. I'll just have to wait and see how it goes; it certainly can't be any worse than it was back on Earth with the kids calling me "Little Girl Geek" all the time; naturally, Doyle was the ring leader who coined that stupid nickname. Maybe it's one of those culture things, and being smart isn't such a curse at Galaxy high.
Deciding there was nothing more I could do, I resolved that this could be an exciting adventure if I let it be; so I spent the rest of the trip quietly reading my copy of Tom Sawyer. I was so engrossed in my book that I was barely aware that Ollie was landing the taxi in front of this large, ornate building with a bright pink flashing sign that read GALAXY HIGH SCHOOL! There was an orange building that looked like Saturn nearby that looked to be connected to the main building with some kind of pipeline; and I can't be sure from this distance, but I think it says something about a pizza parlor. More of those pipelines connected some round buildings; one pink and yellow, and the other blue and yellow. I wonder if those are student housing? We got out in front of the large building, and Ollie said he would leave our luggage in our dormitories with the receptionists, and we could move into our rooms as soon as we were ready. Now, Doyle and I were left to embark on this adventure on our own. Sooner or later, we were going to have to talk to each other, and I bit my lower lip wondering when the awkward conversation was going to start. I hugged my book bag to my chest and drew ever closer to what looked to be the front entry way. Like a snake, Doyle slid up next to me, his jacket and gym bag in his left hand and that ridiculous foot ball spinning on his right index finger. When I caught the look on his smug face, I realized that the awkward conversation I was dreading was about to begin.
After listening to him spout off enough hot air to fill ten thousand balloons and generate the school's power for the next year and a half, I angrily promised Mister ego-maniac that I wouldn't go anywhere near him and cramp his style. With that, I pressed the button I assumed was either an elevator button or the doorbell, only to see a round doorway open up and suck us into the building! There's no turning back now; I'm one of the newest students at Galaxy High school.