“No, just be patient. You’re lucky I thought to bring any,” Jill said.
“Fine.” T.K. huffed and peered up at the sky. The others followed suit. “Is that Orion’s Belt?”
“No,” Mick said.
“Is it the Big Dipper?”
“No.”
“Is it a UFO?”
“Yes,” Jill said.
“Really?” Kate asked.
Jill sat up. “I mean, fuck, there’s so many out there.” Her eyes expanded to saucers. “As far as we know, all the stars are UFOs. And maybe the UFOs are actually stars.”
Abby scoffed. “What?”
“The government wants to hide aliens from us. Best way to do it is in plain sight.” Jill tapped her temple.
Mick snorted. “They’re just stars.”
“But you don’t know. Have you been up there?” Jill asked.
“I just know what I know.”
“But why?”
“Because I do. Don’t fuck with me right now.”
“I love you guys,” T.K. sighed, throwing her arms around Kate’s and Mick’s shoulders.
Abby chuckled and poked at the fire.
“I’m just saying, how do you really know that they’re stars and not UFOs?” Jill pressed.
Mick huffed. “Because I went to school. Because that’s what we learned.”
“Brainwashing!” Jill shouted.
“Keep it down,” Abby said, glancing over at the coaches’ tent.
“It’s just always been that way,” Mick said.
“Since when?” Jill asked.
“Since always, I don’t fucking know. Since the history of education, Shupe, you stoner, conspiracy theory idiot.”
“Socrates,” Kate said.
The four of them swiveled their heads to her.
“What?”
“The history of education. Socrates would’ve been one of the earliest teachers, right?” She paused, glassily watching the fire, shoving a marshmallow into her already full mouth. “Or I guess the Egyptians, maybe? They had scribes. The Babylonians had libraries…”
T.K. and Jill snorted. Abby grinned, smitten as always.
