Caleb's P.O.V.

        Bustling corridors, cluttered classrooms, noisy chatter, bright displays, obscure annoying announcements, friends arrive, smiles, grins, teacher enters, hush descends, register called, day begins, math, literature, geography, science, homework was forgotten, homework lost, homework crumpled in bottom of bag, dog ate homework, baby puked on homework, just kidding, homework in right on time, home time, goodbyes, hurried trot to bus, slide into middle row, not cool enough for back row, daydream, watch world go by. There was nothing like coming back to school on a Monday morning.

        "Caleb! Vacation's over and we still haven't finished the project. You want me to fail my favorite class, don't you?" Kat pushed a loose hair out of her face. Her hair resembled nature at its earliest stages. Green and nothing but green. Kat ran her hand through her close-cropped hair three times in quick succession and scrutinized face into something that could have frozen the Pacific. She snarled more than spoke. "I swear if I get a bad grade because you wanted to play Happy-Go-Lucky with a bunch of untalented wannabes then you're going to be dealing with more than just a girl on her period." She rearranged her bag on her shoulder roughly and walked toward our teacher's class. This wasn't going to be good. 

        "Caleb Jones?"

        "Present!" Mr.Paige marked something on the attendance sheet and continued to call names. As I waited, I doodled ST3LLAR on the corner of each page in my notebook. I made some of them big, while others were small. Most of the word looked sloppy but made me happy in the least.

        At some point during my extravaganza toward the moon, Mr.Paige had called my name. Twice. "Yes?" I said, looking up slowly. The classroom hummed with light chuckles. "Are you ready to present your report with your partner?"

        I took a deep breath. "Sure...." I took the notebook full of doodles and stood in front of the classroom. Kat stumbled next to me, focusing on the floor. I turned to a blank page and began the project.

        "Human interaction, it's like a connection between two people. It does not have to be skin deep, but it's there. Like Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy." Some guys in the back laughed like drunk turkeys." It was not that funny. "I have a connection with my mom-. My mom-...." It didn't feel right to talk about her. There was someone else on my mind. 

        "Over break, I had a great experience. I managed to win tickets to a concert. As everyone seems to know, I love ST3LLAR. There a damn good band. I had a connection with ST3LLAR. I even had the privilege to meet them.  Then there were three. Jackson, Maddy, and Luke."

        "Jackson was pretty nice to me. He didn't seem like the ass everyone claimed he was. He was just following the leader. Maddy. Maddy was a good guy. His face was red most of the time, but he looked happy. Sadly, he managed to get alcohol poisoning along the way. I enjoyed the both of them. But then Luke came along...and he swept me off my feet." There was a cool silence. Kat unglued her eyes from the floor and looked at me. She mouthed 'Gay?'. I didn't respond. 

        "Anyway...After getting to know him a little, he was an ass. He was so snotty and selfless and it made me sick. I had spent all this time looking up at him like an ideal. I was a fool." Mr.Paige held his hand up interrupting the assignment. 

        "As a philosopher, I am under the impression that this argument is biased."

        "It's not an argument, and it's not biased. He is a fool," I explained. 

        "Caleb, look at it from his point of view. This Luke character seems like he has a lot to carry on his shoulders. Don't you think?"

        A student in the back raised their hand. It was a blonde named Jess. She made it clear she didn't like me in the beginning of the year, so her question wasn't that surprising.  "Kat, I heard he fucked your Mum!"

Ohs passed around the room. Was that even true? Was she trying to get on my bad side? I turned to Kat, but she looked as guilty as someone who got caught cheating on a test. 

        "Are you serious? Really, Kat? You couldn't tell  me that before I stood up here and made a fool of myself?" Her shoulders rolled back. She didn't care. 

        "Students we don't have time to waste. Caleb, wrap up your speech so we could hear Kat's speech. Then, compare and contrast your human interactions." Mr. Paige walked to the back of the classroom and waved his hand in the air. "Begin."

        "Luke and I never really had a connection. He brushed me off his shoulders and left me to evaluate my life. The point I am trying to make is that human interaction is a bunch of bull. Thank you." I closed my notebook. Everyone began to clap in sync, including Mr. Paige. Then it was Kat's turn.

        She talked about her nephew that died of cancer. At one point she began crying, which made her make-up run. She looked terrible. One of the reasons why I like guys over girls. She wrapped up her speech with a prayer and everyone clapped. It was ten times louder than mine. She deserved it.

        Mr. Paige settled everyone down and began asking questions. "Were there any similarities between the two speeches?" Jess raised her hand. "Well...they both loved something that wasn't going to last long." Her blunt voice enraged me. Mr. Paige nodded, "Expand on that idea."

A student sitting next to Jess spoke up.

        "Human interaction between them involved emotions. It was simple at first, but then it got harder. Like a violet storm beginning to form." Mr. Paige nearly jumped in excitement. He ran to his chalkboard and wrote,'Emotions make us human. Denying them makes us beast -Victoria Klein.'

        "We have one theme down, plenty more to go." Kat and I went back to our seats. I had to admit that I was kind of mind blown. If that statement was true, am I a beast for denying my emotions? I would have to ask Mr. Paige at the end of class.