“Well, high school is supposed to be four years, but I got that done in two. College was another four years, but I managed to chip that down to two as well. Medical school I managed to finish in three, and then I only needed a year of residency to pass the exam,” Simon shrugged. “I was rather young, though. A twenty-two year old surgeon? No one was willing to let me cut them open unless I had some grey-haired stiff standing next to me, even though I was fully qualified.”

Kaylee gaped at him, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open. When she had asked Simon just how much education he had to go through to be a doctor, she hadn’t quite anticipated all of that. She knew he was smart, but...

“So, what about you?” Simon poked Kaylee in the shoulder playfully, completely ignorant of the fact that Kaylee was starting to look embarrassed. She cleared her throat nervously.

“Well, I went to a nice grade school in the next town over...it was real small. Only eight kids in my whole class.”

“Wow, that must have been nice. Knowing everyone in your class,” Simon commented. "Very cozy and personal. It was too easy to get lonely surrounded by all those people at my schools."

“Yeah, I guess,” Kaylee blushed at her somewhat less prodigious academic career. “I didn’t do too good though, with my schoolin’. Seems like all I ever was good at was machines.”

“You’re good at so many other things besides machines, Kaylee,” Simon said truthfully. “It’s just you’re so astronomically genius at them, that everything else you excel at pales in comparison.”

Simon noticed her shoulders ease up, and he knew his mouth had finally said the right thing, the right way, just as they were intended. That certainly was a first.

“Wow, thanks, Simon,” Kaylee grinned, pleased both at the compliment and the fact that they had been talking for a while now and she hadn’t stomped off in a huff yet. “That’s real nice to hear, comin’ from a certified brainiac like you.”

“So, what about after grade school?”

Kaylee fidgeted, but Simon was