AN:
Hey friends! Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately, I keep forgetting to come check this site too. I'll be better once I have a regular schedule, I promise. I'm going to try and make sure I'm stopping in at least once a week, though. Love you all! Thanks for sticking through this with me. 3

Monday 07:55

The classroom had been empty when Jim had arrived. It was the rare cadet that gave up free time at breakfast just to get to class early. Five minutes before class began people started to trickle in. The first one in was the sparrow man with the large glasses. He fluttered his way up to his desk and laid his tiny tablet before him.

Mohamed walked in chatting with Hogarth. Both flashed Jim a smile, though they were too absorbed in their own conversation for much more than that. Matt entered soon after. He glanced towards Jim as he made his way to his seat. Jim gave him a small nod. Matt nodded back.

Jim scanned his palm on his tablet and opened the messaging system. He tapped in a quick message to Matt and hit send.

Message failed. Messaging is blocked at this time.

Jim grumbled under his breath. The messaging system was internally contained, and all classes had the ability to turn off messaging for the duration of class. Jim had not yet run into a teacher that would turn it off for anything other than tests. Of course it would be the most boring class that had blocking activated at all times.

The teacher took the front of the classroom and raised his hands for silence. The boys quieted and turned their attention to him. Jim heavily considered a nap before discarding the idea reluctantly. The instructor had been watching him like a hawk since their unfavorable interaction. He didn't need more weeks of service. Especially if Braxton wasn't even going to talk to him at breakfast.

Braxton was still openly ignoring him. Jim certainly wasn't about to pay him any attention either. If he wanted to be childish then Jim would just let him. He opened his tablet and slipped the stylus out of the holder at the top. He had notes to take and he wasn't going to let any cyborg distract him.

"You don't have to be wrong to apologize."

Sy's words echoed through Jim's mind. He mulled it over again. Maybe there was some truth to his words. Would it hurt to be the first one to reach out? He could apologize next class, get things back to normal. 628 would follow whatever Braxton did. Things could be how they were meant to be.

The teacher droned on in the background as Jim formulated his plan. Matt would be pleased to see that they had made up. It was tough on his friend to be in the middle of their fight. Sy would be glad to see he'd followed his advice. Jim could already picture the younger boy's bright smile and the way his eyes would light up.

Sy had one of the friendliest smiles Jim had ever seen. He shined like the brightest star in the sky when he was happy. Jim was still convinced that there were flecks of gold in those bright green eyes. They were what added the extra sparkle when he was laughing. It always felt good to make him laugh, like he'd done something right for the world. Jim propped his chin on his hand and let himself get lost in his thoughts.

Something bounced off Jim's face. He looked sharply at Matt. Matt jerked his chin towards the front of the room. Around them students were beginning to turn off tablets and put away notes. The instructor had his back to the class as he wrote on the board.

3000 word essay - the pros and cons of wood - due Monday

Jim wrinkled up his face but jolted down the information on his empty note page. He shoved his stylus back into its slot. Matt's kneaded eraser lay abandoned on the floor beneath his desk. Jim snagged it and shoved it into his pocket as he stood up. He turned for the door and came face to face with Hogarth.

"Hey!" The younger boy was practically vibrating in place. In his hand was a nearly empty cup of the strongest smelling coffee Jim had ever had the misfortune of being around. "I wanted to talk to you about your opinion on the subject matter for our essay. You seem really smart and like you know a whole lot about these kinds of things and I want to write the best essay I can! I'm way more familiar with metal instead of wood. I started studying it when I first met the robot and had to figure out how to feed him and why he might be eating it and everything!"

Jim walked around the younger cadet and headed for the door. Matt met him there and headed out with him. Hogarth followed after them still talking, "-metals don't always rust, some of them tarnish instead. I mean, I guess it's a type of rust. But that still isn't very good and you need ways to keep that from happening. Also different things make the metals react, like when iron-"

Jim shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out Matt's eraser. He handed it over. Matt accepted gratefully. He shifted his sketch tablet to let Jim see what he had been working on in class. He had sketched out the cross section of several different types of tree, sorted by their properties and how useful they were for a building material.

"-then there's that gas that instantly rusts just about any metal that comes into contact with it, except weirdly enough it doesn't do anything to yttrium, so that's being considered as an option to help study that planet, though it wouldn't be good for most lifeforms due to the lung issues, so we really need to think about who would be able to-"

Matt and Jim stopped outside Matt's art class. Braxton wasn't waiting for them. Jim wasn't really surprised, but it still hurt to see. Jim leaned against the wall to wait for Hogarth to take a break. Matt pulled out a pen and rolled up his friend's sleeve. Jim closed his eyes and tried to guess what Matt was drawing.

"-so anyway that means there's a small chance the robots themselves could manage the venture, but they would all need to be made out of the same material, and we probably aren't going to find much of anything anyway. I'd feel so bad if those robots went and got hurt because we judged things incorrectly though. It's not worth discovering anything if they're going to end up damaged over it. Don't you agree?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course." Jim grinned at the younger kid. "I'll see you Wednesday. I need to get to my next class."

"Oh, me too! I want to swing by the cafeteria and refill my coffee. I'll message you for help with that essay!" Hogarth waved and bolted off down the hall.

Jim let out a long sigh. "I hope he has less to say about wood than he does metal."

"I think that's why he wants your help," Matt laughed. "There, how's this look?"

Jim rotated his arm so he could see what Matt had been working on. A long tree branch worked its way down Jim's forearm, ripe fruit dangling temptingly between the leaves. "Good enough to eat."

Matt beamed. "I wasn't happy with how some of those trees had turned out during class, I really need to practice them."

Jim shook his head. "You always amaze me, Matt. This looks perfect to me. I don't think I could pick out anything that needs improvement."

Matt tucked his pen behind his ear. "You flatter me. I gotta get going, though. I've got some paint to mix. I'll catch you at lunch, okay?"

Jim flashed his friend a bright smile. "See you at lunch." Matt headed into his classroom. Jim turned and made his way alone to his. It felt wrong not to have Braxton by his side.