 #3 Wowza!
After several attempts that had taken almost an hour of his life, the incantation had worked; the gases had most gratefully compressed enough for a small, pulsing excuse for a star to live inside his jar.
Lived.
No, not lived - existed.
The excitement of getting what it was for him a complicated incantation to work lasted long enough for him to sit back on the stool, but not enough to put him in a completely good mood. One look around the room told him quite the sad tale: his star was by no means the brightest of them all, and actually looked a bit opaque compared to everyone else's.
He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and rested his chin on his palm. Intently, he stared at his Astronomy project, wondered what was wrong with it, and resolved he didn't actually wanted to know so much as he wanted it to fix itself; thinking that his less than perfect result was due to his lack of care when cleaning the jar would likely make him feel guilty. Ezra wasn't fond of those, so he focused on pressing one of his index fingers to the jar, and willed the star to liv--exist in a more acceptable fashion, preferably one that would get him an O in Astronomy, or at the very least an A.
Come to think of it, he would be more than fine with an A. Acceptable was more than acceptable for him, as far as marks went because it wasn't like he ever worked for more.
Mediocrity at its finest, really.
He hopped off the stool, then, and frowned in the general direction of the singers. They were quite irritating, but Ezra supposed they'd have to do; if his star was to occupy space in a more acceptable fashion, what more company could it use than people who were not embarrassed to display their lack of talents in public. If Ezra knew something about secondhand embarrassment - and as someone who spent so much time with Edita Happenstance and November France, he thought he did - there was nothing that encouraged people - or in this case, a star - more to look better and do her best than to be surrounded by those who... did not.
He patted the top of the jar. "I have homework to do." He had homework to copy off November. "And then some reading to catch up on." Otherwise known as sleeping in the library. "So, I'll be back in a few hours." Or more accurately, I'll be back tomorrow.
Ezra smiled widely, but dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'd be sad if you died alone." Well, that much was true. "Not to say you're actually alive, because, then, wouldn't that make me your father?" What a silly idea. Such a silly idea, it made him laugh, and it was high-pitched, nervous squeak. Ezra cleared his throat and patted the top of his own head. "But if you're thinking passing, at least wait til I'm here, yeah? It's the polite thing to do." Manners were important, his mum said so.
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