I'm back from my Introduction to Creative Writing class. So far, this day has been going great. Professors Read and Hillenburg seem like good people to learn from and hang around, so I'm willing to bet the classes will be great from here on out. Sitting across from me on the dining room table, Quilene is looking over the syllabus from her Introduction to Human Evolution class. I can see from the look on her face that she's fully intent on reading this thing through.

"How's you day been?" I curiously ask Quilene.

"Pretty fascinating, I would say," Quilene answers.

"Oh really?" I lean over, my elbows touching the table ever so slightly and my hands cupping my face. "Tell me more."

Quilene clears her throat. "Well, Professor Hohenheim is teaching this class-"

I recognize the professor's last name instantly. "Oh my God, you've got my great-grandpa as your professor!"

Quilene looks at me, confused. "Wait, you're actually related to this guy?"

"Yeah. Remember when I told you that Jonah and I were adopted? Well... Mom adopted us from Malachite, who's your professor's grandchild. Malachite got pregnant with us really young, fourteen to be more specific, so Mom took us off their hands and gave us a better life with her than if Malachite had kept us. Oh, and our biological dads are also our great-uncles."

Now Quilene looks at me, horrified. "Oh God, that's disgusting..."

"Yeah, incest is pretty gross, especially when you're the result of it." I clear my throat in order to break up the silence. "But never mind that. You said my great-grandpa was teaching your Introduction to Human Evolution class?"

Quilene snaps out of her state of horror and resumes talking about her first class of the day. "Oh yeah, Professor Hohenheim's teaching the Introduction to Human Evolution class, and I gotta say that he knows exactly what he's talking about and how to get through to his students. He seemed a little tired, though. I wonder if he might have come down with something before school started?"

A solemn look presents itself on my face. "Oh yeah... he had to get a colostomy over the summer."

Quilene softly gasps. "A colostomy? What for?"

"He's been battling colon cancer for a while. He had to get a colostomy because he had a total mesorectal excision to treat the cancer. When we last spoke, he told me that he thinks he might be going into remission. The colostomy's also been reversed now, which is great. Hopefully, things will stay as they are, and he can get through the rest of the year in one piece."

Quilene covers her nose and mouth with her hands. "That must have been the scariest thing he went through, though."

I solemnly nod my head. "It was. It was scary for me and the rest of the family, too. We had no idea if he would make it."

"Wow. Okay, I guess if he ever needs me to do anything for him, I'll be sure to help him out. So what about you, Hope? How was your Introduction to Creative Writing class?"

"It was actually pretty neat. Professor Hillenburg seems like a pretty cool dude. He was talking about how he was born and raised in the state of Hawaii and how he worked as a fry cook at some restaurant called The Krusty Krab for many years before moving to New Jersey along with his romantic partners."

"Oh, you've got my dad as your Introduction to Creative Writing professor?"

I'm flabbergasted, to say the least. "I... I guess so? What a small world we live in. Is he actually your dad?"

"Well, he's one of my dads. That's what my birth certificate says, at least."

"So then why is your last name Summers?"

"My mom thought it would be easier to give me her maiden name than to give me a triple-barrelled last name like Hillenburg-Star-Thompson."

"I bet that'd be a mouthful to say."

"Exactly. I actually don't mind having three dads and two moms. The only problem I have with them is when they embarrass me in public sometimes."

I just chuckle. "I've been there. So you've got a lot of time to kill until your next two classes, huh?"

"Yep. In the meantime, I'll just be going over my syllabus and then getting to work on my first homework assignment. I bet you can't wait for your next three classes to start tomorrow. What classes will you be taking then? I don't think you ever said."

I instantly remember what she's talking about. "Oh... right. Well, let's see... tomorrow, I've got the writing-intensive Introduction to Philosophy class from 1 PM to 2:20 PM, the American Government class from 3 PM to 4:20 PM, and then I've got the Introduction to Linguistic Theory class from 5 PM to 6:20 PM. I bet the American Government class will be a real doozy when it's time to talk about what happened during the 2020s."

Quilene giggles at my little comment. "Wow, I guess you weren't kidding when you said you liked challenging yourself."

"I could say the same about you. I have a feeling that this will be a great semester for us."

The next day, I have a whole morning to kill until my first class of the day. The first thing I do is read one of the textbooks I bought for my Introduction to Philosophy class. This is some fairly basic stuff I'm reading about; talking about things like ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and logic. I'm a little curious to find out what Professor Faulken is like and how I might like her class. For that matter, I'm wondering how I might like my American Government and Introduction to Linguistic Theory classes. All I know about my American Government professor is that he's supposed to be this strict, no-nonsense guy who won't hesitate to fail you if you make even the tiniest mistake on your homework. As for my Introduction to Linguistic Theory professor, she seems more mellow in comparison. Guess I'll have to wait until the classes actually begin to see what the professors are really like.

Anyway, I manage to read through one of the required readings for Introduction to Philosophy before then calling up Jonah to see how he's liking Quilene.

"So... Jonah," I say to him.

"So... what?" he asks me.

"What do you think about Quilene so far? I just wanted to know, that's all."

"Oh..." Jonah doesn't say much of anything for a quarter of a minute. "She seems really cute, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what it is that actually makes her cute." If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was somehow blushing over the phone. "Maybe it's the hair or something, I don't know. I like how she's got that styled. She's also really smart. I mean she's taking that Introduction to Human Evolution class..."

I cut him off. "...that our great-grandpa is teaching. Yeah, she told me. She was actually pretty surprised and weirded out when I told her that her professor in that class is our great-grandpa... and that we're here because of incest."

"I mean... I can't say I really blame her."

"Me neither." I clear my throat. "Hey, listen, are you thinking about asking her out sometime? I could probably help you with that."

Jonah giggles nervously. "I've been thinking about that, but I don't know how or when I could do it."

"Well, that's why I'm here. I've only got about two hours left before I'm supposed to leave for Introduction to Philosophy, so why don't we go over things you need help with?"

In that moment, Jonah seems to beam up. "Sure, I've got nothing else better to do today anyway."