All The Stars We See // muke

chapter thirteen

His class was unnaturally quiet when he walked in with a frown on his face, and he slammed his bag unnecessarily loud on his desk as he peered up at all the faces who sat in differing elevated rows beyond his face. "Before we start, welcome back. None of us are glad to be here, but we are. Any questions before I begin my lesson?"

Hands shot up faster than he expected given their tired and disinterested expressions. "Yes, Kyle?"

"What happened?"

Luke took his coat off as he began writing on the whiteboard. "The school was under maintenance for the earthquake we experienced a few days ago. It triggered many systems and until we shut them all off and rebooted them, Andrew Hemmings decided it would be best if you all were not in the way." He lied easily to their faces. "Yes, Aleisha?"

She cleared her throat. "Did you hear about the UFO people seen on Friday? Did you see it?"

"She's crazy! Aliens? Really?" Someone else shouted and soon the adolescences started an entire war over whether aliens were real or not.

"They are too! How can you expect us to be alone in this entire universe?" A boy cried as he pushed his glasses up his nose while cradling a NASA notebook to his chest.

"Pfft," a girl waved a hand. "- you expect me to believe some advanced race came and wanted to stop here? Earth is like the Wyoming of the universe. No one even knows it exists and those who do, don't care."

Luke leaned against his desk as he felt his head swim with millions of voices, all of which were saying nothing of importance. It was all useless chatter and bickering, claims and accusations flying from one corner of the room to another. He's sure he heard things hitting desks and the floors too, but he was too drained to look up and actually give the resemblance of a care. He just needed to find his patience and at least one nerve that wasn't wearing thin.

"Earth is the only suitable place for living organisms. The only alien here is your mom." He heard a boy snigger as his eye twitched in irritation.

"The universe is bigger than comprehension! There could be thousands of Earth's out there!" Another girl pushed her belief as a bang sounded in the classroom.

Luke almost didn't think it was him until he felt the silence bleed through the classroom like a cut and his palms stinging while pressed tight against his desk. "That's enough." He declared as he looked up. "This is a learning environment, not a conspiracy theorist bunker."

"But isn't a scientist's definitive trait supposed to be curious and ask ques-"

"- We raise out hands if we have something to say." He rose his voice as he stared at the student expectingly. "We use our inside voices. We do not tear our peers down for what they believe in, and we certainly do not talk about people's mothers. You are teenagers on your way to becoming adults, stop acting like elementary children."

He took a deep breath, deciding if he was going to rant to his class today he was going to remind them what this school expects. He was going to inadvertently push the frustration he held out on the class. Was it unfair to them? Perhaps, but he didn't care. He was tired of being lenient and pushed over by a bunch of teenagers.

"To The Stars Academy is here for those who wish to explore in depth the secrets and science behind astrophysics, astronomy, cosmology, aeronautic piloting, and aerospace crafts. Because you're here it means someone you know has money they are spending on you to learn and not bicker like petty kids. Because you are here it means you have an opportunity many want but can't afford and by sitting in class wasting all of our time arguing over aliens you're taking advantage of that privilege." He stared at them all as he stood up straighter. "This school is not a right. You are not entitled to be here."