She got a B

Part 3

After a long night of cramming Kathryn finished her 10 page paper. She was so exhausted that she actually forgot to drink her late night cup of coffee. She retreated to the bedroom and only slept for a couple of hours before the sun penetrated through the blinds of her building.

Slowly Kathryn got out of bed and got dressed. She grabbed her paper on her way out the door and headed off to Mr. Davis's office. She put her paper through the slot, and didn't think of it for the rest of the day.

That afternoon Kathryn entered her favorite class, 21st century studies. She was determined to shut up and not make any more mistakes today. After all she was getting fed up with Mr. Davis. But she knew that she needed the credit so she figured she should just suck it up.

Mr. Davis arrived promptly and placed his briefcase on the table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have graded your papers. I will be handing them out by grade. Some of you need to work on your research and your citations. A few of you should even consider dropping out of my class and going back to high school. But there were a few good papers. There are only two in this class that received an A on their papers. Those students should come up here and gather their papers."

"The first person is Justin T."

Kathryn held her breath.

"The other is Miss Kathryn Janeway."

Kathryn walked over to Justin. He was smiling at her. She couldn't help but smile back at him. She noticed the smile that Mr. Davis had on his face. He was obviously very impressed by her work. The two of them stood next to one another while Mr. Davis continued his ramblings.

"These students are the ones that you should look to for help. If you are struggling ask them for your assistance. If you received a paper below a C you should consider yourself in trouble. Any lower than that and you should consider leaving my class."

Mr. Davis turned and looked at Kathryn and Justin. "You two however are neck and neck in this class. From now on you two will be competing with one another regarding your grades. Who ever gets the highest grade at the end of this class will get my personal letter of recommendation. You two may be seated."

Mr. Davis took out a padd and began his new lecture.

"Today's lesson is going to be a little more complicated. We are going to discuss a topic that many of you have probably never heard of before. It is something that was lost in history. But something that is a very important part of history. Today's topic is illegal immigration."

And so the days went by. Kathryn and Justin seemed to enjoy their rivalry. Kathryn enjoyed the challenge and Justin enjoyed seeing her smile. The two of them began to date. And Justin felt privileged to have someone of her stature on his arm.

When Kathryn introduced him to her father, the admiral even he was impressed by his wit and kindness. Kathryn had never seen her father take to one of her boyfriends in such a kind and loving way.

The semester was winding down and Kathryn and Justin were still neck and neck grade wise. Mr. Davis had thrown everything at them trying to make one of them stumble just a bit. The rest of the class was far behind both of them.

And then it happened. Kathryn remembered the last month of class Mr. Davis had given them an assignment like no other. The assignment was for them to write a paper about what was important to them. What drove them to excel the way that they did. And how they managed to even though he was one of the most difficult teachers either of them had ever had.

Kathryn had a difficult time with the assignment. She spent days thinking about what to write.

Justin on the other hand seemed to have finished his paper easily.

Kathryn was puzzled but determined.

But Justin was already finished.

A week before the paper was due Justin and Kathryn went out on a date. Justin had told her to dress for a nice romantic restaurant outside of town. Kathryn had spent all day getting ready for her date. It was something very rare for her. Spending so much time with someone who had equal brains and interest.

When Justin arrived he was wearing a brown suit. Kathryn couldn't take her eyes off it. Or off of him.

Justin on the other hand couldn't take his eyes off of Kathryn in her long blue dress.

The two of them went to the quiet restaurant. They barely spoke and Kathryn was becoming more nervous by the second. Her hand traced the outside of her plate one last time and then she spoke.

"Justin is something the matter?"

"No, I was just thinking."

"About what Justin?"

"About how beautiful you look Kathryn. And about how smart and driven you are."

Kathryn blushed. "Thank you Justin but you are just as handsome and smart as I am."

What came next came as a surprise to Kathryn.

"Kathryn will you marry me? You don't have to answer now. In fact I would like to ask your father for permission tomorrow when he and I go on the shuttle."

Kathryn smiled and told him that she would think about it and let him know.

But she never got the chance.

TBC