Jade Mountain High School

Stress-Starflight

Starflight's eyes popped open as soon as the alarm clock rang, which was promptly followed by his sister, Fierceteeth, barging in and throwing a pillow at his face.

"I was already up!" he protested, groping around for his glasses that he couldn't see without. "No harm in double checking," she shrugged. Her jet-black ponytail set off her sharp cheekbones and she wore a black turtleneck sweater and ripped black jeans.

Starflight tumbled out of bed, collapsing onto the floor. He dragged himself up and managed to put his glasses on. When he got up to inspect the contents of his closet, he was met with disappointment. He didn't own any cool-looking clothes, and he didn't want to look lame in front of Sunny Bright, his crush since seventh grade.

Given no other choice, he put on a soft gray T-shirt and jeans and ran downstairs. "Good morning, Mom, Dad." "Hey, Starflight," Mastermind said. He was writing a document at the table and Farsight was making bacon and eggs. "Where's Fierceteeth?" Starflight asked his parents.

"She left with Strongwings a few minutes ago," Farsight explained, setting a plate down in front of him. "Thanks," he said, and began to eat. There wasn't much conversation at the breakfast table because Mastermind was busy with his documents and Farsight was making coffee.

When he was finished eating, Starflight said goodbye to his mom and dad and went outside to his black Lincoln. The drive to school was short and boring, until he got out and saw Sunny at a table with Deathbringer and Fatespeaker. Sunny. His heart leapt when he saw her. But Fatespeaker saw him before Sunny did, and the look she gave him made Starflight feel a tiny bit guilty.

He knew Fatespeaker had a crush on him, but he was so in love with Sunny. He didn't know what to do. He smiled at both of them and walked over, gripping his favorite scientific study. Fatespeaker and Sunny jumped up to greet him at the same time, but Fatespeaker got to him first and threw her arms around his neck. "Hey, Fatespeaker," he said, looking at Sunny the whole time.

"Are you excited for senior year? Sunny asked, hugging Starflight as soon as Fatespeaker released him. Starflight's gasped and breathed in the scent of her hair. "Yeah," he said when Sunny backed away.

"Do you know when Glory is gonna get here?" Deathbringer asked anxiously, wringing his hands and almost making Starflight laugh at how crazy Deathbringer was about Glory until he realized that was the same way he was about Sunny.

"She didn't say anything yesterday or text this morning. Sorry. No," he admitted. Deathbringer sat back and crossed his arms, trying to look cool. "Fine. She's the queen; she can get here when she wants."

Deathbringer still looked nervous, but his little sister, Moon, Starflight thought, came up with some boy. Starflight had no idea who he was. "Hey, Moon," Fatespeaker said. "Fatespeaker, Deathbringer. Qibli and I came to talk to Starflight," Moon told them.

"Me?" Starflight asked. "Mhm," Qibli nodded. "Our science teacher suggested it." Starflight laughed internally. The science teacher recommended me to a freshman and a sophomore.

"How can I help?" "Well, he said you do tutoring on Wednesdays and we were wondering if you could help us?" Qibli asked, rubbing Moon's arm. So they're dating. Starflight didn't know why he observed that; he didn't really care.

"Sure," he said. "Fatespeaker can give you my address." Moon and Qibli nodded and walked back to their friends.

"Isn't it funny how your little sister is dating my little brother, who is the soccer player in the jock crew?" Sunny asked Deathbringer. "I guess," he shrugged. "Wait, that's right! Qibli is the jock crew soccer player. Isn't he only fifteen?" Fatespeaker asked.

"Yeah, but he's cool," Deathbringer shrugged. Just then the sound of a motorcycle came from the parking lot and he ran away. Fatespeaker sat down next to Starflight and said, "Can I look at this book?"

He nodded enthusiastically and opened it to his favorite chapter. A few minutes later, Deathbringer came back to the group with Glory in tow. There was a slight red mark on his face, and Glory was shaking out her hand like she'd just delivered a slap.

The rest of Starflight's friends continued to arrive while he and Fatespeaker read on and on about science. Starflight personally didn't think that Fatespeaker was nearly as interested in science as he was, but was pretending to be because of her crush on him. He wouldn't know so much about crushes if he wasn't suffering from one himself.

He snuck a glance at Sunny, the way her golden curls fell around her face, framing it like liquid gold, the stark contrast of her gray green eyes against caramel-colored skin. She was gorgeous.

Another twinge of guilt ricocheted through him when he looked back at Fatespeaker. She was pretty enough, with black hair that was dyed dark purple at the end, nice lavender eyes, and pale skin, but she wasn't Sunny.

He decided not to think about either her or Sunny, and focused on the rules of physics. They were much easier to understand than girls and crushes. They were predictable and steady, never changing despite letting little exceptions slip through.

But no matter how hard he tried to block Fatespeaker and Sunny out of his head, he kept thinking about them. Everyone else had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Tsunami had Riptide, Glory had Deathbringer, and even freshmen and sophomores. So what was wrong with Starflight?

They reached the end of his book and Fatespeaker said, "Can we go back to page 13? I didn't really understand the reference to black holes." "Sure." Starflight flipped back to the beginning and poured all of his attention into explaining the universal phenomenon.

Saving him as he dove farther into science to avoid the real world, the bell rang and he practically ran away from his friends, needing to be alone to sort through his feelings.