The teen who was set afire on the bus: the lives behind a...

You probably remember the story, the one about an agender teen wearing a skirt who was set on fire while riding an AC Transit bus in Oakland.

It happened in November 2013, almost four years ago.

Another passenger on AC Transit’s 57 bus, Richard Thomas, flicked a cigarette lighter at the hem of a skirt worn by Sasha Fleischman. The bus was traveling on MacArthur Boulevard near Ardley Avenue, just a few blocks from Fleischman’s home in Oakland’s Glenview neighborhood.

Fleischman’s skirt caught fire, causing second- and third-degree burns on Fleischman’s legs.

We know what happened, but do we really know why?

That’s what Oakland writer Dashka Slater set out explore. Slater’s new book, “The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives,” is a nonfiction narrative about the shocking crime that illuminated divisions in race, class and gender in Oakland.

In “The 57 Bus,” Slater, a children’s book author and journalist, points out the obvious: The circumstances surrounding the incident aren’t black-and-white.

“The kid who set this skirt on fire is a complicated person who had his own history and was a kid behaving like some impulsive kids do,” she told me in an interview this week.

When he got on the bus, Thomas, who is black, was a 16-year-old junior at Oakland High School struggling with schoolwork and truancy. Oakland High was his third school in three years.

Violence had interrupted Thomas’ life in ways most of us can’t fathom. Two of his aunts had been slain before he was a teenager. In early 2013, his best friend was shot and killed while sitting in an East Oakland parking lot. And just about a week before his encounter with Fleischman, Thomas was robbed at gunpoint of his money, phone, coat and sneakers.

“What happened to Sasha is terrible, but the person who did it is also a human being who is deserving of our compassion,” Slater said.

Slater isn’t making excuses for Thomas. Rather, she peels back the layers that led to the crime. The book, which expands into the surrounding group of friends, family, teachers and the larger community, serves as a warning to teens and adults that our actions affect others — and there are consequences.

“I was really interested in the question of what is my role in this story as somebody who lives in this town, as an adult who helped make this world these kids were born into,” she said. “I didn’t set the fire, but I do feel like all of us have a role to play in making the world in which these things happen.”

Disparities in life have directly impacted young black teens like Thomas who come from families decimated by drugs and incarceration. It’s something we should all consider: How much does instability at home weigh into the decisions that teens make?

Thomas was charged as an adult in the attack on Fleischman. He was sentenced to seven years at a state juvenile center. At sentencing, Thomas was told if he earned satisfactory progress reports, his term would be reduced to five years.

At the time of the attack, Fleischman, who is white, was 18 and a senior at Maybeck High School, a small private school in Berkeley. Fleischman was a straight-A student, a teen who gathered 27,000 Internet signatures asking then-President Obama to address agender sensitivity.

Fleischman was named Luke at birth, but does not identify as male or female, instead preferring the term “agender” and the pronoun “they.” The case introduced many captivated readers and TV viewers to gender nonconformity.

Fleischman, who attends Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, goes by Emily now, according to their parents, Debbie Crandall and Karl Fleischman.

“They’re a senior now, so they’re really panicking about the whole adulting thing,” Karl Fleischman said.

I met Fleischman’s parents Wednesday night at East Bay Booksellers on College Avenue, after Slater sat for an in-store conversation.

“It certainly was a watershed moment in our lives, and I’m really excited she wrote the book,” Crandall told me.

In a 2013 interview with The Chronicle, Fleischman said it was tough being thrust into the spotlight.

“It’s horrible that this happened, but I’m glad that the subject finally got in the news — that an agender person actually became a big story,” Fleischman said. “It’s sort of surreal that that person is me.”

According to Slater, Thomas has one year left on his sentence. He’s serving his time at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton, where he’s earned the highest level of privileges, she said.

Thomas wrote letters expressing his remorse to Fleischman, Slater said. But she hasn’t been in touch with Thomas in a while.

“He at some point wanted to focus on the future and not the past,” she said.

That’s something Slater understands.

“When you’re writing about teenagers, there is kind of a very definitive ending point,” she said. “Because I want them to go live their lives and not be defined by this forever.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr