This is how I feel things should have happened after Stargirl became Susan. Now, given the opportunity to rewrite Stargirl, I wouldn't, but, this is just a little...alternate part of the story. It's like an alternate ending, but it's not actually the ending. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Stargirl
Leo's POV
Susan.
Stargirl was no longer Stargirl. She was Susan.
At first, I was thrilled about this. I was so happy and proud that she was the one I held, the girl that I walked hand in hand with.
And yet...
As time went on, a tiny hole inside of me grew. Maybe it was there, from the beginning, from the first day that Susan started at Mica High and the day Stargirl left. Tiny, the size of a pinprick that continued to grow.
I enjoyed Susan's company, but being with her, holding her, didn't give me the same feeling. The same giddy, breathless feeling. I didn't fall headfirst into her eyes they way I did that one night at Stargirl's house.
She was the same, and yet so different. Stargirl was the girl who strummed her ukulele, left anonymous African violets on the doorstep of strangers to brighten their day. She was the girl who could see the beauty, something worth pointing out and looking at in ordinary things.
I told myself that she was the same person, but time tirelessly passed and one day, sitting on Archie's porch, I realized I'd been trying to fool myself.
He lit his pipe and I found myself telling Archie everything, from the shunning all the way up to the rebirth of Susan Julia Caraway. Archie glanced at Senor Saguaro. "It sounds to me," he said, "like the girl that you fell for was Stargirl, not Susan."
"Of course she's Stargirl," I lied. Sort of.
My lie was that she was still Stargirl. The part of my statement that didn't lie was that she was still Stargirl. I knew the goofy, rain dancing, Stargirl still existed deep inside her.
"I didn't say she wasn't Stargirl. I said that Stargirl was the girl you fell for."
It took some time of pondering what Archie meant, and denying it when I figured it out that I realized he was right. It happened when I was in her room. I saw her wagon, which contained two pebbles. I knew what had to be done.
And that's how I found myself tacking up a huge sheet to the road runner. That's how everyone stood awing over it the next day. And that's how I found myself having written:
LEO
LOVES
STARGIRL
I caught only a glimpse of her face as she read it. A dampness came to her eyes. She quickly blinked it back and disappeared into the throng of people, never to be seen again.
Susan never returned. Stargirl returned to Mica High the next day after her long vacation. The first thing I noticed was Cinnamon on her shoulder. I noticed her dress and finally realized that I wasn't looking at Susan, but that I was looking at Stargirl.
She took my hand. She smiled at me. It wasn't the same dazzling smile that could light up a football field. It was smaller, more private. It somehow had the same dazzling effect on me.
The sky grew darker. There was a crack of thunder as rain poured down on us. We didn't run. We didn't hold our arms over us to not get wet. She kissed me. Then, we danced.