Chapter 10 Basic Biology
It was 8:25. The school day was just minutes away from starting, yet Lemmy couldn't put down his textbook. His eyes were glued to it, almost as if somebody had used a hot glue gun. The information that was being talked about was very fascinating indeed. Seriously, who knew that something as tiny as a cell could hold so much important stuff? The ribosomes in particular; they were probably the smallest organelles, yet they had one of the most important jobs out there! It was so cool!
"Lemonade."
Lemmy glanced up and saw Iggy smiling like a maniac. Lemmy's green haired brother appeared to be vibrating, almost as if he had drunken a gallon of coffee. In other words, he was acting normal. Lemmy returned his smile.
"Is it time already?" he asked.
"Just about!" Iggy exclaimed. He let out a high strung chuckle. "Are you prepared?"
"Oh yes, very much so!" Lemmy said. "I know exactly what I want to talk about too!"
"Really? Would that be cells, by any chance?"
"Yep!" Lemmy turned the page of the textbook. "I just can't stop reading about them! I'm pretty sure that the students are going to adore them!" Lemmy chuckled. "In other words, I want to 'cell' the students some information."
Iggy rolled his eyes as Lemmy giggled.
"Well," Iggy said as the smile returned to his face. "As long as I'm here, I am one hundred percent positive that the students will walk away with great material stocked away in their heads."
Lemmy chuckled.
"You mean if I'm here."
Iggy's eyes darted back and forth.
"Sure. Let's go with that." The school bell rang, and Iggy eagerly turned toward the door. "Oh, fantastic! It's time!"
Lemmy closed the textbook and skipped over to the door. As he stood in the hallway, he could see high schoolers of all different species walking to and fro. Some of them came directly toward his classroom, which made his heart swell with excitement. He seriously could not wait to teach these people. Once the tardy bell rang, he closed the door and skipped back to the desk.
"Good morning, everybody!" he exclaimed. "How is everyone doing today?"
Each of the students stared at Lemmy. Some did it in confusion. Others did it with a teasing look in their eyes.
"Since when did Mr. Kara turn into a midget?" one of them joked. Lemmy just laughed and went over to the front of the classroom.
"I am not Mr. Kara," Lemmy said with a smile on his face. "Mr. Kara is going to be taking a week off to go to a wedding. My name..." Lemmy grabbed a hold of one of the markers and started writing on the whiteboard... "is Lemmy Koopa. Or, as you may call me..." Lemmy wrote another word down on the whiteboard and turned back toward the class with a grin... "Sensei."
Some members of the class laughed out loud. Lemmy smiled in satisfaction as he placed the cap back on the marker. A girl sitting on one of the front tables raised her hand.
"Sensei," she said, "you said that your full name is Lemmy Koopa. Does that mean that you're one of the Koopalings?"
Lemmy's spirits soared higher than World 7.
"Why yes! I am one of the Koopalings! And so is my brother, Iggy, over there!"
The class started to murmur excitedly. Lemmy could hear that some of them were genuinely excited and impressed. He grinned as he realized that this meant he was off to a good start.
"Alright, alright, that's enough ogling." Lemmy paused. "For now." He giggled and started to write on the board again. "Now, can anyone tell me anything about cells?"
The class fell silent, all previous excitement that they had gone. A boy raised his hand.
"Uh, Sensei, we don't know anything about cells. Mr. Kara hasn't started that unit yet."
Lemmy's spirits soared so high that they were practically floating in space.
"Oh ho! I suppose that makes my job so much easier! You see, cells..."
"Cells are the building blocks for all organic material," said Iggy. Lemmy fell silent as his younger brother walked up to the front of the class.
"Uh, Iggy, this is my class, remember?" Lemmy whispered. Iggy chose to ignore him.
"You see class, there are two types of cells; plant and animal." Iggy reached into his hammerspace and pulled out two poster boards, each containing pictures of cells. Lemmy gawked.
"Hey, did you make those yourself?" he asked. Iggy chuckled a little, but that was the only acknowledgement that he gave to Lemmy's question. He turned back toward the class.
"Now, there is one main difference between plants and animal cells. Can anyone take a gander at what those are?"
One of the students at the back of the room laughed.
"One is for plants and the other is for animals?"
The class laughed. Even Lemmy found humor in the joke. Unfortunately, Iggy resumed with his lecture after the joke was told, further dampening Lemmy's mood.
"Well yes. Technically, that is correct. However, the big main difference between plants cells and animal cells lies in the structure." He pointed toward the picture of the plant cell. "Plant cells are rectangular in shape and contain a cell wall. Animal cells, on the other hand, are spherical, and lack a cell wall."
Lemmy nodded. he knew that! He had spent the entirety of last night reading about it! He smiled as he faced the classroom.
"Yes, that is the main difference between plant and animal cells! And, of course, the reason why a plant cell has a cell wall and an animal cell doesn't...
"Is because the cell wall helps to provide structure and strength to the plant!" said Iggy. Lemmy cast his brother a glare.
"Iggy, I'm supposed to be teaching this class, remember?"
Iggy chuckled.
"Lemmy, please! I have obtained one of my nine college majors in biology; I think I know what I'm talking about."
"Yes, but Bowser assigned me to teach these guys! And I've been looking forward to teaching about cells all of last night!"
Iggy chuckled again, causing Lemmy's blood to boil.
"Lemmy, you don't have to worry about anything. I've got everything under control. You can just sit back and enjoy the rest of the school day."
"Yeah!" said one of the boys. "Go enjoy yourself, Sensei!"
"You'll certainly have a better time than the one that we're having," said another boy.
"Go buy some empanadas from the senior class!" said a girl. "They're delicious!"
The entire class started to chime in. Lemmy knew that they were trying to be encouraging. But here's the thing; ultimately, this was Lemmy's job. He was the one who was supposed to teach this class. Sure, it had initially been assigned to him as a punishment, but he had grown to like the concept of cells. He should be the one teaching about them; not Iggy!"
"But...but..."
Iggy placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Lemmy, I'm trying to help you. I'm having fun doing this. Besides, now you don't have to worry about your punishment anymore! Go buy some empanadas from the senior class; they need the money for their class trip."
With that, Iggy resumed with his lecture. Lemmy felt his heart sink like a ship. With his tail between his legs and his head aimed toward the floor, Lemmy started to make his way out of the classroom.
