Milky Way's class was full of students. The stars sat at certain desks. Around them, various planets had gathered, watching them with admiration. The boldest of these planets would talk with them and try to impress them, while some of the stars kept themselves cool and others showed off their skills and knowledge.
The hot star we talked about – Sun – was there too, sitting at one of the middle desks. Around him sat his group-mates: Venus, his own cousin; Mars, this latter's boyfriend; Uranus and Neptune – a cool-headed couple; Pluto-chan, apathetically staring at her phone and chatting with her emo squad from the junior class; and Mercury, who sat right beside Sun and talked with him about various scientific things, periodically adjusting her nerdy glasses, while Sun watched her from behind his sunglasses and gave her a blazing grin.
The door banged open, and cries of junior boys sounded:
"Aww, Jupiter-san, please, let's meet at lunch-break!"
"Saturn-san, show us your famous trick at lunch-break, pretty please!"
"Damn, they're so gorgeous!"
Soon, the expected girls came in – Jupiter, showing off her blazing crimson-to-orange hair, and Saturn, a beautiful blondie with that magical circle around her head. They coquettishly smiled and waved hands at the dumbfounded junior boys.
"We'll join you at lunch-break, younglings!"
Jupiter gave them a playful wink and Saturn sent them a kiss. They closed the door, leaving the juniors red-cheeked. Then they turned to Sun and waved hands at him:
"Sunnie! How are you, big guy?"
They ran up to him and overshadowed the tiny Mercury-chan. This latter adjusted her glasses in anger:
"Hey!"
"Hmph, move, Mercury!" Jupiter snarled at her and took a place right beside Sun, while Saturn sat before him.
"Aww, the pride of our group in sports events!" Sun adjusted his sunglasses with a blazing grin. "I am fine, ladies. Thank you. So, what have you planned for today's sports performance?"
"But Sun-kun, we were talking about our history test!" Mercury pouted – these two elder girls were so annoying!
"Hehe, chill, Mercury-chan..." Sun caressed her on the hair with his warm hand. "History test shall be tomorrow, while the sports event is today, so we must take measures immediately for this latter one. But don't you get discouraged!" he sent her a warm smile once noticed her sorrow, "You can drop by my room today and we'll review all the material."
"Ah, fine!"
Mercury rejoiced – she was allowed to spend time together with Sun in his room, while these two girls would only be talking with him in classes! At such a strategy of hers, Saturn and Jupiter snarled, but tried not to expose their anger too much. They instead warmly grinned at Sun:
"So, what are we doing for our basketball team formation, Sunnie?"
"I thought of taking tallest people. I'll be the captain and the center as always. You two will be the guards. I thought of taking Uranus-kun as one of the forwards this time, but have got to see what he says about it..." Sun turned to Uranus who was talking with Neptune: "Yo, Uranus-kun!"
"What?" Uranus asked. He was admired by Sun a lot, as one of his finest group members, but he didn't think of Sun as a big deal.
"Will you play as one of the forwards in our basketball team today?"
Ugh, let him only accept! He was one of the finest basketball players. If he were included in their team, they'd surely win.
"Don't know." Uranus shrugged. He turned to Neptune, his eyes sparkling with excitement: "Neptune-chan, will you play?"
"No. I've got to study for tomorrow's test. Sorry, darling." Neptune shook her head and got back to her history book.
"I've got to decline." Uranus turned back to Sun.
Sun grimaced with displeasure. He decided to try different tactics:
"Please, Uranus-kun! Without you, we'll lose!"
"Don't give a damn."
Neptune gazed at them with her blue eyes, observing the heated discussion that had burst up.
"Ugh, come on! Don't you care about our group's success?!" Jupiter grew angry, even her hair taking more of a red shade now, "We have to win!"
"Come on, Neptune-chan! If you accept, surely Uranus-kun will play too!" Saturn gained a sad face to impress the always-empathetic Neptune-chan and make her consent.
"Told you – I've got to study for the test!"
"Come on, Neptune-chan, darling!" Sun-kun beamed at her now, "You can come together with Mercury to my place this evening, if you want... You and Uranus-kun together." he added, for he saw how Uranus was getting flared up once heard Neptune was invited to Sun's place alone. "I'll help you with the studies."
"Hahaha!"
They all frowned at Mars – the freckled hothead with messy crimson hair, who had embraced Venus with his arm and held a phone in his other hand. He had apparently eavesdropped on the whole conversation and now had burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Sun furrowed his brow – he admired Mars-kun, this bold and brave little guy, but sometimes he got on his nerves too much.
"Helping them with studies? As if you're a good student yourself, Sun-kun! You're only average if compared to the other stars in our class."
"Huh? To your knowledge, I'm one of the brightest students!"
"Say that to Betelgeuse," Mars grinned with pride, "My big sis is the best in this class!"
"Hmph, she has no group handed to her, unlike me!"
"I'd gladly be in her group if she had one, but she told me she doesn't need such a headache."
"Huh? Don't you dare insult Sun-kun's brilliance, Mars!" Jupiter and Saturn flared up in anger.
Uranus chuckled on his part, amused by Mars's such boldness. He was good friends with Mars and admired him quite a lot.
"If Mars plays as the other forward, I'll play too." he said.
"I'm not allowing such a pipsqueak in my team!" Sun grunted.
"Too bad for you. I've won multiple awards already. But I wouldn't be willing to share my glory with the likes of you." Mars reclined on his chair and put his feet on the desk.
Sun gnashed his teeth in indignation, getting such insults one after another from this little red planet.
"Well then, if he's not playing, I'm not playing either." Uranus shrugged and turned back to Neptune-chan.
Sun snarled – such stuck-up boys! He sighed and glanced at Mars:
"So, Mars-kun, will you play?"
"Nope."
"Well, fine then! I'll find someone better than you two to join our team!"
Sun began looking around for possible candidates when he heard a faint, shy voice:
"Um, I could play if you want... Sun Senpai..."
(NOTE: Senpai (先輩) – "earlier colleague" (Japanese). It is a term used to refer to an older colleague in a group, an organization, school, etc.)
They all started and glanced at Earth-chan.
"Earth?" Sun blinked.
Jupiter and Saturn burst out laughing:
"You of all people? Don't even think about it, flatty!"
"I'm not flat!"
Earth-chan flared up, but then widened her eyes in shame and sadness, for she saw how Sun-kun too, laughed.
"Good joke, Earth. But seriously, I need to find members."
Sun began walking around to search for some stars whom he was friends with. Earth's heart sank – Sun-kun laughed... at her.
"Serves you right!" Jupiter and Saturn cackled.
Earth was barely able to hold back her tears. She sat down beside Venus and Mars, who both watched her with pity.
"Earth-chan..." Venus wanted to console her. Earth had covered her face with her hands to hide her tears. "Aww, dear..."
Mars clenched his fists so strongly they nearly bled:
"That settles it! I'm going to teach that blondie a good lesson."
He walked to the desks behind, where was sitting a two metres tall girl with dark skin and long wavy red hair – Betelgeuse.