My Dad is out of this world. Seriously. He's an astronaut and he gets to explore outer space for a living. Such a cool job. A new planet was recently discovered in our solar system and NASA sent my Dad and his friend Jim to investigate. I can't wait to hear all about it.  "We've got enough rock samples for NASA to look at. It's time to head home. Looks like a meteor shower is heading our way" my Dad said. "Too bad we didn't find any life on this planet. Hopefully we'll get to come back here on day" Jim added.

As the astronauts headed back to the space shuttle, they failed to notice that they were being followed by a tiny orange creature. "I wish we got to spend more time on that planet. I'm sure there are lots of cool things yet to be discovered " Jim said enthusiastically. "Same here. I can't wait to get back to Earth and tell my son all about it. He keeps expecting me to bring him a pet from outer space. What a character!"

WELCOME HOME DAD!

"Dad! How was outer space? Did you discover any new alien life forms?" "Not this time pal but we're probably going to go back soon to do more exploring." "Cool!" "I'm going to go say hello to your Mom. Would you be a good dude and bring my bags upstairs for me?" "Yes sir!" I saluted. I walked upstairs and dropped off my Dad's bags in his room. As I made my way down the hallway I felt as though I was being followed. I turned around but nobody was there. Weird.

One day it'll be me exploring the galaxy with a team of astronauts. For now I find great joy in looking at the sky through my telescope hoping to discover a new planet of my own. And one day I will. "Gorp!" What was that? "Gorp!" Standing in front of me was a tiny three-eyed orange alien. Shocked by what I saw I dropped my telescope and it made an awful racket. "Are you okay Jack?" my Mom yelled out. "Uh, yeah! Accidentally dropped my telescope!" "Well try to be more careful. You know how expensive it is!" "Yes Mom!"

What was the crazy-looking orange thing? "Gorp!" he replied again and again. "Um, hi Gorp. My name is Jack. Where did you come from?" Did this little bugger sneak his way onto the shuttle and into my Dad's luggage? "Gorp!" "I don't know what that means little guy. Are you hungry? Thirsty?" He handed me what looked like an iPhone. "This will help you understand what I'm saying Earthling." It turns out that he accidentally got dug up with some of the rocks my Dad brought to Earth. But what do I do with him?

I couldn't tell my parents about our outer space house guest so I decided to keep him a secret. I was going to have to take him to school with me and hope that nobody noticed. And for the first part of the day things went swimmingly. I almost forgot that I had a tiny orange alien in my knapsack. One more class and the day would be over. I was almost there when I accidentally walked down the wrong hallway and ended up by the "cool kids" lockers. "Hey Space Boy! Whatcha got there?" one of the kids asked pointing to my transmitter.

"What are doing in the Grade 8 section anyways? You know that there are no little kids allowed" the bully in blue bellowed. "What's that you're holding? Is that one of the gadgets that your astronaut father uses in outer space? I want it!" the other bully demanded. "I don't want any trouble guys. Can you please give me my transmitter? It's very important." "Oh, what's the matter kid? You gonna cry?" "Gorp!" "What did you just call us?" the bully in black shouted.

GORP!

Before I could respond Gorp had puffed up to 10 times his normal size. Soon the bullies were covered in a pink sticky slime that poured out of Gorp's mouth. it was so gross! I had to get out of there and fast. I retrieved my transmitter and told Gorp that we had to leave. He proceeded to shrink down to his normal size as we ran down the hallway and out the back door of the school. The school custodian looked on in disbelief at the two bullies who were covered in slime. "What happened to you guys?" "Gorp!" one of the bullies muttered. "Gorp?"