Initial Completion: October 13, 2020
Revised: November 4, 2020
Jim quickly left the building, the warmth of the afternoon sun striking his face. There weren't many people outside since most of them opted to eat in the dining hall. Both Jim and Kate would normally do so as well, but today they needed to be somewhere less crowded and noisy.
He promptly made his way to a small courtyard area of Jacaranda trees with brick rings around them. Jim caught a glimpse of Kate sitting on one of the dull red walls, reading her astronomy textbook, and taking notes.
There wasn't much room on the short brick walls, but they allowed enough space to sit and get some fresh air. Kate had suggested it would be a good place to clear their minds and prepare for their exam. She noticed Jim approaching and looked up at him.
Jim waved as he neared. "Hey," he greeted, "... sorry I'm a little late. I grabbed a drink from the dining hall." He lifted the paper cup in his hand to support his claim.
Kate gave him a friendly smile, "It's no trouble, I've not been waiting long."
Jim swiped away some of the fallen purple blossoms and sat down on Kate's left. "Ready for the exam?" he asked as he placed his book bag by his side.
Kate shook her head, "If I were, we wouldn't be here."
Astronomy was not a difficult class per se, and they were only a few weeks into this semester. But sometimes Delbert could get a little carried away with details, resulting in lots of homework. It was always very easy, but it was still a lot.
"Have you studied yet?" Kate asked, turning her body to face Jim. He hesitantly nodded as he pulled out his notes. "Yeah," he replied, "... it's just a lot of stuff to remember."
Kate nodded in agreement, flipping through her notes. "I think we should start how we planned," she suggested, looking through the pages, "With the terms?"
Jim turned his body to match Kate's as he looked in his notes, "Parallax."
She thought for but a moment, "The apparent offset of an object against the background when your perspective changes."
Jim smiled, looking up from the page, "Easy one."
Kate grinned as she looked in her notes for a term, "Retrograde."
He was quick, "When an object appears to move in reverse, usually just an optical illusion."
She was impressed.
"Ephemeris."
"A table giving the calculated positions of a celestial object at regular intervals throughout a period."
"Aperture."
"The diameter of a telescope's main mirror or objective lens."
"Conjunction."
"Meridian."
"Zenith."
The two spent the better half of the hour going over the many terms for the exam, adjusting their notes, and eating their packed lunches. They found themselves relaxing a bit in the warmth of the afternoon and under the shade of the purple tree. The two had opted to remove their uniform jackets and even talked occasionally.
The work was fairly easy, as it usually was. They had done well so far in their study session and even started to cite terms from memory.
"Precession," Jim said as he removed more of the paper that wrapped his sandwich. Kate was turned away, grabbing her beverage and taking care not to spill on her folded jacket. Despite her position, she didn't miss a beat, "Any slow change in the orientation of an object's axis of rotation."
Jim looked at her in slight awe. Kate turned back to face him, a satisfied smile on her face. "Did you expect anything less?" she asked, noticing his expression. Jim clapped dramatically slowly, both because he was being sarcastic and because he didn't want to drop his food. "Congratulations Miss Blake," he said with a smirk, "You've answered an easy term while holding a drink. What a feat."
Kate immediately dropped her smile as she scoffed and punched his arm, nearly knocking his sandwich out of his hand. Jim laughed at her reaction, "Hey, watch it! Or else you owe me lunch."
She humphed in frustration, but a grin sneaked onto her face. Kate hated it when he tried to be clever, especially at her expense. She shook her head and returned to the terms, "Kilonova."
Jim took a bite of his sandwich and scrunched his face in thought. He remembered this one being a little tricky.
'Thanks, Kate,' he thought somewhat bitterly.
Jim swallowed before answering, "An explosive event in a compact binary system that occurs when…" He paused to take another bite. Kate gave him an impatient look as she took a sip from her thermos. Jim raised a finger, quickly chewing and swallowing, "... when two neutron stars collide."
Kate placed her thermos down. "Or?"
Jim thought he had finished answering, so her interjection caught him in the middle of sucking the condiment off his fingers, "Or… three?"
She scowled, not satisfied with his answer, "Or a neutron star and a black hole."
Jim merely shrugged, moving to take a sip of his ginger ale.
Kate crossed her arms. "I'm beginning to think you're more focused on your lunch than on our exam," she said, not exactly happy with his physical response.
Jim waved his free hand in defense, quickly placing his drink down. "Hey, don't worry," he reasoned, wiping his mouth, "We've got this thing in the bag."
He wasn't wrong, both Jim and Kate were at the top of their classes ever since they started school at the academy. Regardless, Kate didn't budge, "One question could be the difference in a letter grade."
Jim gave an exasperated sigh before quickly stuffing the rest of his food, hurriedly chewing and swallowing. He might be a bit of a sloppy eater, but he was raised better than to talk with his mouth full. "Okay, okay, fine," he finally said.
He quickly wiped the crumbs off of himself, also being careful to keep his folded jacket, his pants, and his shirt mess-free. He fully turned his body and placed his right foot within the brick ring to rest on the mulch of the tree, while his left hung from the outside of the ring wall.
He rested his hand on his lap and leaned extremely close to Kate, dramatically widening his eyes, "You've got my full, undivided attention."
Kate scoffed at his exaggerated posture, turning just her torso but leaning in very closely as well. Jim kept his expression, but he was suddenly uneasy as she got closer.
Maybe he ate his sandwich too fast.
"Try again," she calmly demanded, staring at Jim intently, "Kilonova."
Jim stared right back, "A transient event that occurs when two neutron stars…"
Kate raised her brow and Jim mirrored her. "... OR a neutron star and a black hole…" he added.
She smiled and Jim felt his stomach turn.
It had to be the sandwich.
"... collide and cause an explo-"
Jim was unable to finish answering as something pushed his head forward quite suddenly, immediately causing him to lose his balance and nearly knock Kate back. They both were quick to support themselves on the wall and keep from falling, but whatever had pushed Jim did so hard enough for their faces to harshly collide.
He froze, eyes wide and staring into Kate's equally wide eyes as they found their lips meeting in a kiss.
Jim was quick to pull back, shocked at the unexpected contact. Kate adjusted her posture, her flushed expression mirroring his.
The two stared at each other, unsure of what had just happened.
But when Jim heard the tiny giggle of a certain little blob his expression changed from embarrassment to absolute anger.
"MORPH!" he screamed, quickly turning his head as he caught a glimpse of something pink. Morph moved into view, pointing and laughing at the color on Jim's face.
He knew he told himself not to be angry at Morph's teasing, but Jim's patience was already wearing thin and this was the very last straw. "That's it!" he yelled, bolting out of his seat and furiously eyeing the little bugger, "I've had it!"
Morph screamed in fear before speeding away as fast as he could, a fuming Jim dashing right behind him.
He was mad.
So mad.
In a flash, both Jim and Morph were gone, leaving Kate alone.
She didn't move a muscle nor say a word. She was still in mild shock over what had just happened, whatever it was that just happened.
But as she slowly raised a hand to her face, gently pressing her fingers to her lips, Kate wondered what to make of the situation.