To Love a Space Cadet

By Dr. John Smith

Red McArthur stood in front of the blue house nervously. She was clad in sunglasses and a trench coat so as to not be noticed by any of her friends, especially Annie Knitts. She was the popular girl at South Park Elementary. But she had a secret. She was dating the school's most well known dork; Kevin Stoley.

You can do it Red… It's just a date… Nothing more. You can do it… She thought to herself. The redheaded girl was about to go to the movies with the school's most infamous dork; Kevin Stoley. But how did it all happen? How did Red manage to go on a date with Kevin Stoley of all people?

-000-

It all started one day at lunch. Red and Annie were walking to the girls table when she noticed a huge scene. A crowd of kids huddled around someone. It was Cartman publicly humiliating Kevin in front of the entire 4th grade class.

"Kevin, how many times have I told you that we don't do FUCKING Star Trek!" Yelled Cartman. Kevin sat there silently as he looked to the ground. "Say something Stoley! Fucking say something!"

"Cartman stop it!" Yelled Kyle.

"No Kyle!" Shouted Cartman. "This little bitch needs to get it through his fucking skull!" He turned his attention back to Kevin. "Kevin, what the FUCK are you wearing?" Cartman's glare pierced through Kevin, but the boy didn't budge. He just looked to the ground expressionless. "KEVIN!" The fatass shouted.

The boy muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"A Starfleet uniform…"

"That's right!" Cartman yelled out. "A fucking Star Trek bullshit!" He said to the crowd before turning back to Kevin. "You better not fucking wear that shit tomorrow, Stoley." He said before shoving the boy's food in his face. Kyle and Stan could be heard giving Cartman tons of shit for what he had just done.

Soon the crowd dissipated and Kevin was left sitting there. Covered in his lunch. Red couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy.

"That's just sad, isn't it?" Annie commented.

"Huh?" Questioned Red.

The blonde motioned to the scene before her. "This," she began. "Look at it. Stoley just sitting there all… sad looking." Red felt for him. Something deep down told her to do something. The redhead left her blonde haired friend and walked up to the sad looking boy. "Hey, you okay kid?" She asked.

The boy looked up in confusion. She was Red McArthur; the most popular girl in school. Able to make anyone bend to her will. Why was she wasting her time with a dork? "Hey kid. I asked you a question." She said, helping him stand.

"Y-Yeah." Was all he managed to stammer out. He had gotten lost in her beauty. The way the fluorescent light glistened off her bloody red locks of hair. Her navy jacket with mauve trimming and gloves. He couldn't help but blush slightly at her.

She'll think I'm a dork… Like all the rest of 'em…

He thought to himself. The girl handed off her lunch tray to him, much to his surprise. "Here. Looks like you could use it."

"Th-Thank you…"

The girl gave him an odd look. "Why are you acting so weird? Fatass made you wear your lunch, so I'm giving you mine." She then noticed the bits of gravy and peas dripping down his shirt. "Oh man… That shirt looks expensive."

The boy looked down to his uniform. It was covered in the lunch of the day. He let out a low sigh as he slowly shambled to his table. "This shirt took me a year's allowance to buy…" Red felt an anger growing in her hearing how he saved up that much money to have his shirt destroyed like that. She sat across from the boy as he looked at the tray of food.

"Something wrong?"

"Why?"

Red tilted her head in confusion. "Why what?"

"You're Red McArthur. Most popular girl in school. Cheerleader. Why are you wasting your time with a dork like me?" Asked the boy. Red wasn't quite sure how to respond. She was popular. Always seen with an entourage and heading any social event. Why was she wasting her time with him? Before she could answer the bell had rung, signaling that lunch was over. She looked at Kevin's current state and halted him before he could stand.

"You're not going to class like that."

"But I left my jacket at home."

"Stoley." Red said sternly. "You aren't going to class covered in salisbury steak." Kevin tried to protest but to no avail. Red had made up her mind and took the boy by the hand.

-000-

On the walk back to Kevin's house the two were mostly silent. Kevin was deeply impressed that she had managed to not only convince Mr. Mackey that he needed to run home, but also convinced PC Principal as well. It was still a quiet morning, most of the adults on Kevin's street had gone to work by this point. Kevin looked up at Red silently. Focusing on her face. He blushed a little when she glanced over to him. "You okay?" She asked. The boy quickly fixed his gaze back to the sidewalk.

"F-Fine! I'm fine. Just l-looking at the sidewalk." He said. Red could tell something was off. The rest of the walk was fairly quiet. Red struggled to think of something to talk about. She noticed his shirt but couldn't exactly think of how to approach the topic. She knew next to nothing about Star Trek.

"Sooooo…"

"So…"

The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. "So that shirt took you a year to buy"

The boy nodded. "Yup. Every cent of allowance, birthday, and Christmas money went towards buying this shirt." For a brief moment Kevin seemed happy. It brought a smile to Red as she managed to take his mind off of Cartman's bullshit.

"Tell me about Star Trek." The girl asked him. Kevin blushing slightly, nodded.

"Well what do you wanna know?"

"Everything! Start from the beginning."

Kevin's smile grew even larger as he went into a long ramble on everything Star Trek. The Federation, the Kliongons, Romulans, the war with the Borg, Everything. It was a mini history lesson on the lore and Red couldn't be more fascinated. What made her smile even more was seeing how passionate he was about it. It wasn't long until they finally reached the Stoley household. The boy walked up to the door and stopped and turned around to face Red. "You coming?"

It was Red's turn to look surprised now, as she expected to wait outside as he ran in to change. "Huh? But-"

"My mom wouldn't want you to wait out here in the snow, Red." Kevin said. Red had no choice but to oblige and entered the Stoley household. What she expected wasn't what she saw. It was a fairly normal living room, say for the trophy case of official sci-fi props, it was a regular home. "Mom! Are you home?"

A woman in late early 40's peeked her head out from the kitchen. "Kevin? What are you doing home so early?"

"I uh- I had an accident at school. The principal let me come home to change."

"And who is this?" His mother asked, noticing Red.

Red blushed slightly as she found it hard to speak up. "R-Red!" She blurted out. "I'm Red. Red McArthur."

"Oooh! You're Moira's little girl!" Red nodded. "Well, why don't you sit while I make some snacks." She then turned her attention to her son. "Kevin, you go change and put that shirt in the hamper."

"Yes captain!" Kevin said, giving his mother a salute before running upstairs.

"Captain?" Red questioned with a slight chuckle.

"Kevin likes to call me Captain."

"What about Mr. Stoley?"

Mrs. Stoley let out a soft giggle. "He calls him Commander." Both women chuckled.

"So is that Kevin's trophy case?" Red asked. The case was immaculate and filled with props from not only the original run of Star Trek, but also an original Lightsaber, a few blasters, and a Sonic Screwdriver. That was just a small portion of what the case held.

"Oh no, Kevin's father used to collect props when he was in his 20s. He's why Kevin likes Star Trek so much." Red was fascinated by the props in the case. It wasn't long until Kevin came back down. She expected some other uniform, or even Jedi robes, but he wore his simple blue jacket. "Do you kids need a ride back to school?"

"No mom, I think we can walk back." Said Kevin. On the walk back Kevin was explaining his stance on the Kirk vs. Picard debate. She couldn't help but smile at his passion for sci-fi.

He's so cute when he's passionate.

Red stopped in her thoughts. She barely knew him, yet she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. Mentally suggesting that they skip school and go see a movie. She knew how to bribe the ticket taker at the Bijou Cinema. It wasn't long until the two reached back to the school. "Well I guess I'll see you at recess, Stoley." She said sweetly. As she began to walk back to the doors, Kevin stopped her.

"R-Red!"

"Yes Kevin?"

Kevin swallowed his words as his face began turning a bright red. "T-There's a re-release of Star Trek: First Contact this Saturday… would you wanna go see it?" He asked her. Red stared at him for a moment. He had just asked her on a date. Both stood in silence for a moment.

Say yes Red! Say yes!

Red's thoughts began running a million miles a minute, but she stopped it all with a simple smile.

"I'd love to."

With those words, Red delivered a small peck onto Kevin's forehead. The boy was at a complete loss for words. His face shone a bright red as he collapsed to the ground. Leaving Red with the task of lugging him back to class.

-000-

Kevin, dressed as his typical Spock persona, opened the door to gaze upon his date. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of her dressed like she was hiding. "Red?"

"Shhhh!" She hushed as she placed a finger to his lips. "I have to make sure no one followed me." Kevin chuckled as he lowered her arm.

"Red, it's just a movie. Your friends won't make fun of you for seeing a movie, right?" She let out a sigh as she entered his living room.

"I guess you're right." She disrobed the trenchcoat to reveal a red TOS uniform. Similar to Uhura's uniform. She blushed deeply as Kevin finally saw her. "H-How do I look?"

"You look beautiful." Kevin said in awe. Red blushed at his compliment. "Shall we?"

"You kids have fun." Mr. Stoley said while reading the newspaper.

"We will!" Kevin said as the two headed out.

-000-

The date went better than Red had expected. They had the entire theater to themselves, thanks to a recent big release. It was her and him. She looked over to Kevin and smiled. Nuzzling her head into his shoulder as they watched the movie. Kevin blushed a bit at her nuzzling but took a bold move and held her hand. Red closed her eyes as she gripped her hand around his. Not wanting the moment to end.