To The Sun And Beyond

4. ASTRONOMY

THE NEXT DAY MARKED MY FIRST
Astronomy class. I trudged to third hour, absolutely exhausted.

Mr. Preston had screamed at us and tried to hammer the math curriculum into our brains. I was so ready to leave.

I got to the door, took a deep breath, and walked in.

The room was small and square. Desks were scattered about and a long desk sat on the far left, a chalkbored behind it. To the far right, a door led into another enterence.

I felt all eyes on me.

The class consisted of ten students. Each of us had the same necklace.

I recognized the three of them that I saw the day before. The tall boy, the blonde girl. The short girl with the cornrows waved at me, and patted the seat next to her.

I looked at her surroundings and noticed that she had already captured Fin.

I plopped my butt down next to the short girl, who smiled at me warmly.

"Hello! I'm Kayla, welcome to astronomy!" She through her arms out as she said that.

Fin smiled at me from behind her, and waved at me.

I smiled and waved back, and directed my gaze back to Kayla.

"I'm Celeste, and I see you've already met my brother, Fin." I said to Kayla.

"Yes, I have, and he's such a gem!" Kayla gushed.

Fin's cheeks turned a brilliant red.

"I'll introduce you to everyone," Kayla began.

She pointed at the tall boy with the white hair. His face was dotted with freckles and he had a crease between his eyebrows as he scribbled on a peice of paper. He fiddled with his necklace as he pondered what to add to his paper.

"That's Donnovan," she explained. "He's nice, and loves art. He can draw the coolest things!"

Her finger moved to the blonde girl. She sat quietly at her desk, reading a book. Her neaklace dangled around her neck and glinted in the light.

"That's Tessa. She's super smart and likes to read. You'll often see her with a book."

And then she pointed to a young boy with sweepy blonde hair and brown eyes, holding a rubik's cube. His hands moved swiftly, as he shifted the multi-colored squares. It made me a little dizzy.

"That's Luke. He's a sophmore, this is his first year in astronomy. He likes puzzles."

His necklace was blue.

Kayla directed her finger to a girl with light brown hair, and dark blue eyes shielded with thick glasses. She was very concentrated, pulling a needle through a soft pink fabric.

"That's Emma. She likes to sew. She makes the coolest dresses!"

Emma's necklace was a light shade of ember.

"That's James," Kayla said, pointing to a boy with short, black hair and light green eyes. He sat all alone in the corner of the room, holding a wooden sculpture of a dog."He can carve anything you ask him too. He's shy, though. Doesn't talk much."

James' necklace had a white gemstone in the center.

Kayla switched to a girl with red hair, and grey eyes, drumming her fingers on a desk. I noticed her fingers were covered with beautiful gold rings.

"That one is Genevive. She loves jewlery. She welds her own rings. Makes a lot of money."

And her necklace was gold.