Rumors go around very quickly in school. It was as if the iPhone X was in everyone’s hand. Then of course, it probably was.

    There was the boy who probably had the iPhone X in his hand. Connections were made, and friend request kept coming. He accepted them all. If only he had more friends was all he thought about. He created clubs, and quattuorseptuagintillion social media accounts like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Twitch, and whatever people like him do. The thirst for friends never ended. Never in his life did he think anything would go wrong.

    But then it happened. The final exams of 12th grade were just around the corner. All the students were… hopefully… studying. It was that time of year when the woman was going shopping for groceries when she saw it. There was a group of high schoolers hanging out at the local convenience store. Sodas in one hand, tablets in the other. One boy caught the eye of the woman. It was only for a second, but there was no way she could have made a mistake. It was 11:00 AM.

    The end of school day came. The boy arrived home. With him arrived the argument. The Nile was flowing out of the woman’s eyes. The man was screaming so loudly the whole block could here it. Protest for his free time was all the boy did. It wasn’t the words that made the horror. It was the silence that followed. It was a quiet 10.0 earthquake. The world shaked. The bright colors flashed. It was too much to handle.

    As I’ve said before, rumors go around very quickly in school. Everyone knew about the argument. It divided up the school into two. The debate became heated. The volcano on the verge of erupting. Then it came, with the speed of a flood.

    The final exams have arrived.

    They were all too concentrated on the debate. Everyone flunked. Except for those smart kids. However the boy who just sped throug the exam got the worst score of all. The argument fired up again, this time on the grades. Protest that it wasn’t his fault was all the boy did. The parents were shocked, heartbroken.

    It was all downhill from here. College was out of the question. The janitor job, however terrible it was, was necessary. Eventually, he just left, without telling. The whole town was overturned searching for the boy, who was probably living the worst of lives right now.

    The boy used to be a magnet, pulling the school closer. The boy used to be a gravitational point. However, when two galaxies are brought together, both galaxies collapse. Only the stars that pull away from the orbit of popularity thrive.

    All the students, like the boy, who fell - could they have been escaping stars? Or does it even matter, now that they can never turn back the hands of time?