Chapter 1

New Prism

Late at night, around 12:40 at night, as the stars that were always in the sky were still shining, Sage paced back and forth in the Star Darlings common room. While all the other Star Darlings were asleep, Sage was up. Walking back and forth, mind racing around, replaying the events that happened yesterday.

Prior, when the time was 8:00 in the morning, Sage had woken up. The day was like any other. Like every morning, Sage awoke, sitting up and rubbing her big eyes. Her long, long purple hair a complete mess all around her. She got up and flipped it back over her shoulders. Since it was the weekend, MO-J4 wasn't around to wake her up, instead it was the constant knocking she was hearing on her door. She did a little smile and got up out of bed and walked towards it. The moment her door opened, Libby was on the other side and glomped her. The mass of pink almost engulfed her in a vice grip of a hug. Sage could only laugh and hug back, her laughter strained from how tightly Libby was hugging her. When Libby let her go, Sage let out a loud cough, mixed with a subtle laugh.

Libby spoke a mile a minute, talking about what she usually talks about. Boys.

Something about a trip to New Prism to pick up a dress for the Shining Star Dance and seeing Ganymede was all Sage could make out of Libby's jumbled words, until Scarlet kicked her own door open and shouted, "Will you two SHUT UP! I can barely hear myself trying to ignore you two!"

Sage laughed, "Sorry Scarlet, we'll go in my room now."

"I don't care what you do! Just cool it!" Scarlet yelled back as she turned back into her room, slamming the door. Libby pushed Sage into her room but before Libby started rambling again, Sage calmly asked, "Libby how about you do my hair and tell me what's going on?"

Sage knew Libby could talk better if her hands were idly doing something, she could stay on one subject. Sage sat down on her favorite chair, the swing type shair she had hanging from her ceiling. Libby stood behind her and started to move her hands to manipulate Star Power. Around Sage's head, the glittery and starry glowing lifted up the locks of Sage's long hair. Libby began talking.

"OMS Sage, you are going to flip when you see New Prism!" Libby shouted, bouncing up and down.

Sage made a face, "Um so said I was going to New Prism?"

"Oh sorry, I didn't mention that? My parent's said I could take a friend with me! And I NEEEEED you to come! What if I don't know what to say when I see Ganymede? I would literally DIE if I slip up in front of a boy as zoomy as him! I need one of my girls with me to help me! Pleeeaaase?!"

"I'd love to Libby, but I'm sure there are other starlings who could benefit better than me joining you."

"Come on Sage! Scarlet's a complete raincloud, Leona would TOTALLY outshine me! Vega would be reading the whole time and Cassie is... well you know."

"No Libby, I DON'T know, what's wrong with Cassie? She was the most excited out of all of us when you showed the pictures the last time you were in New Prism. I think she'd like it!"

"But she's... well you know"

"Libby, I just told you I don't know," Sage llaughed, "Is it because she only cared about the Library? Just take her, drop her off at the Library's and go do your own thing. She can take care of herself, plus I think she would know better what to say with boys."

"That's not it at all Sage! You can't honestly sit there and act like you don't know that she... y'know cheers for the same team..." Libby muttered, still moving her hands as Sage's hair began to curl around the locks.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sage looked over her shoulder at Libby, giving her a stern look, but her mouth was still turned in a smile.

"Are you going to make me spell it out? SHE LIKES GIRLS!" As Libby shouted, she accidentally tugged at Sage's hair as she lost a bit of control over her star power causing. Scarlet kicked the wall on the other side and shouted out, "SHUT UP!"

Sage started to laugh, uncontrollably but in her hand to try and muffle herself. She stood up, having only one braid in since Libby was only half done.

"Is that what this is about, Libby? You're completely beautiful and all, but don't think just cause Cassie likes girls means she's going to try anything while you two are on the trip." She spoke between laughs, "Seriously, you don't have anything to worry about."

Libby stomped her foot, "I KNOW, SAGE! But what if Ganymede thinks I like girls too?! What if he thinks Cassie is my girlfriend or something?!"

"Yeah? What if?" Sage replied

"THEN HE WON'T EVEN BOTHER LIKING ME BACK!" She shouted back at her.

Sage couldn't stop herself from laughing. Libby couldn't stop herself from scowling at her friend. "Sage! I'm serious!"

Sage wiped the tear from her eye, "Libby, if he honestly can think of any reason to not like you, he isn't worth your time. If he can judge you by the person you're hanging out with, then he's not worth it. Seriously. You really shouldn't care what he thinks."

Libby crossed her arms, "I shouldn't care what the zoomiest guy in all of Starland thinks of me?!"

"Yes! Cause if he's judging you in a way that makes you feel self conscious about yourself, then he's not the zoomiest guy in Starland, heck, he's not even worth your time. Let's say you two get together, and you're constantly worrying about what he thinks of you, then you probably shouldn't be with him in the first place. You should like him because he makes you feel special and nice! Not if you're constantly worried about what he thinks of you. If he does make you feel like you should ditch a friend who wants really bad to go to new prism just cause you're worried about what he thinks, he's not worth your time."

Libby calmed down a bit, her eyes looking around as she thought about what Sage just said to her. She looked back up at Sage, "So what should I do?" she asked.

"Look, odds are Ganymede won't instantly know Cassie's gay. Even if he somehow does, he should have the guts to ask you if you are too and if he does, just tell him the truth. If he gets creeped out by you cause of something that isn't even true, then he is..." Sage leaned in, waiting for Libby to finish her sentence for her.

It took Libby a while but she finally replied, "Not worth my time..."

Sage smiled and sat back down on her chair. Libby continued to do Sage's hair in two loose braids. It was an unspoken agreement that Libby would take Cassie with her. When Sage finally had her hair done, she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Amazing as always, Libby! Thank you!" She said, doing a little spin in the mirror. Libby had her arms crossed, clearly deep in thought. Sage could tell by the way Libby's expressions kept changing.

"Fine. I'll take Cassie, but if something goes wrong, you owe me a billion cups of zing!", Libby declared

"How about just two?", Sage replied

"Three!" Libby snapped back.

Sage laughed, "Fine then, three it is."

Later that day at around 2:00 in the evening, Cassie and Libby left. Sage gave them both a hug Good-bye and asked for a lot of pictures. Yet even though the plan was that Cassie and Libby would be home that night at around 10:00 at night, there was no sign of them.

11:00, no sign of them.

12:00, no sign of them.

Sage had spammed both Cassie and Libby on her Star Zap asking where the two were. She never got an answer, as she walked back and forth she panicked, wondering what happened to her two friends.

Were they okay?

Was there an accident?

Then, as it a message from the stars above, she saw a light shimmer around the entrance to the common room. Someone was manipulating Wish Energy to open the door. Her head turned to see Libby and Cassie at the door. Sage let out a long and loud sigh of relief and ran to them. She went to hug Cassie, but instead of Cassie's usual reaction, where she would instantly jump a little to hug Sage better despite her height, Cassie stepped back. As Cassie stepped back Sage finally got a good look at the little Starling.

Cassie for once, was not wearing her usual outfit that consisted of a one piece style sleeveless shirt and ruffled up pink skirt. She was instead wearing a darkly coloured hooded sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants. Her pink hair, which she often had tied up in two tight buns, was all put down, the locks of faded pink hair was gently rolling down her back and shoulders.

Sage simply stared in half disbelief at how her friend was. She looked sick, or upset about something. She wasn't able to bring herself to say anything; luckily Libby was there to break the silence. As she spoke a mile a minute as usual, Sage kept her eyes on Cassie. Cassie's eyes however, were looking all over the place while her head stayed perfectly still.

"Oh my Stars Sage, Lazybones here REFUSED to get out of bed when we got to the hotel that we were only supposed to be in for like a few hours! She refuses to speak like, at all, it was so embarrassing I was waiting for her at the club for like I don't know a billion lightyears!"

Libby continued to ramble, while Cassie just gave Sage a little night as if to say "Star Night" and she instantly went into her room. As Sage watched her go into her room, she turned to Libby, "Libby... I think I owe you three cups of zing..."