A lone white star was one of fifty stitched onto the blue field of the American flag standing in the corner of Lone Star High School's room #124. Twenty-five kids stood at attention by their desks, each with a right hand over their heart... except for the maudlin boy Steven Fisk, alone yet surrounded in the center of the blue room, using the only hand he had left—his left hand.
"...And to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," the class recited in unison.
"…And justice for all", Yono whispered in Steve's direction.
Mrs. Krieg, a plump and squat science teacher in a skirt which nearly swept the floor clean, stepped up to her desk and grabbed the apple left on it by her favorite student. She winked to the little girl in the front row sitting in front of Steve. "Thanks, Zoe."
"You're welcome, Teacher," Zoe smiled back. Then, Zoe turned around to say, "Oh, hello, Steven! Welcome back. I just wanted to say how sorry I am about—", but Steve immediately looked away to avoid and ignore her.
At the front of the class, Mrs. Krieg took a big bite of her juicy red apple, and she started talking with her mouth full. "Now, class, I’d like to welcome back one—" She started choking on the apple, "—one—" (choke) "—one of our classmates. Oh, excuse me." She cleared her throat. "Please join me in welcoming back Steve Fisk."
"Welcome back, Steve Fisk!" the class chanted with half-hearted enthusiasm and unison. Behind Steve, three bullies didn't say a word.
Mrs. Krieg waddled up to the chalk board, and wrote in big bold letters: "STARS". "Class, what are stars made of?"
Zoe's arm shot straight up. "Oh, I know!"
"Zoe?"
"Why, yes, thank you for calling on me. " When Zoe stood up next to her desk, she was still shorter than her seated classmates. "Stars are usually and primarily composed of hot gas…"
From the back of the room, Billy cut a huge fake fart sound, making Drumstick and Mulvey crack up with laughter.
"Nitrogen and Helium, mainly," Zoe continued, proudly defying the immature shenanigans going on behind her.
"Yes, you are correct again, Zoe," Mrs. Krieg announced. "And Billy, you’ve got two strikes against you." Next to "STARS", she added "=Hot Gas" on the chalkboard. "I want to see everyone jotting down notes in your handy little handbooks!"
Steve's handbook was completely blank. He gave writing a shot as he held his pencil in his left hand and tried to jot down notes, but only awkward and disturbing scribbles came out. They meant nothing.
Mrs. Krieg walked across the front of the classroom and pulled down a map of the universe. "There are many different kinds and sizes of stars in the universe, ranging from dense, dark blue dwarfs to medium-sized ones like our own yellow sun, and there are even bigger, brighter and hotter ones than that—red supergiants!"
Steve tried his hardest to get any informative notes down in his book, but he quickly got frustrated and he snapped his pencil point. "Um, Mrs. Krieg?"
"Please raise your hand," she said with her back to the class. "You know I don’t like when people call out—"
"I—I—forget it," Steve said quietly. He looked out the window and refused to pay any attention for the rest of the class.
Krieg knew that she offended Steve, even though it wasn't on purpose. She sighed and tried to keep her composure. "But what makes stars so special is that while they are all different, they all radiate energy, and many other bodies are attracted to them, they gravitate towards them, like comets, asteroids, and of course, planets. Without stars, it’s not that life wouldn’t be worth living, it’s that there would be no life to live."
