A/N: I want to thank those who reviewed. I'm really glad you guys enjoyed it!
DonDonatek: How she came to the past will be revealed in future chapters.
relire12: Thanks!
diadelosmuertos: Nice to hear your enjoying it
Disclaimer: I do not own SvtFoE, obviously, or else I wouldn't be writing a fanfiction.
#************#
Luna struggled with her lock, and by six minutes with her locker still shut tight, she grunted in frustration. The three heavy textbooks in her arms seemed to pull towards the ground more as time flew by. "Come on," she said. "There has to be something that's working!"
With every kid who walked by, Luna could feel their hard stares behind her back. Some groups whispered amongst themselves, then laughed. 'Yeah, laugh at the new girl struggling with her locker at school.' She bit her lip, waiting for a small click to announced her success.
An odor that could melt the nose hairs off someone blew into Luna's face when the locker no longer trapped it inside. She backed away, bent over,gagging and coughing. Her eyes watered and she wiped them with her blue sweater sleeve. "Who had this locker before?" she asked to no one in particular, her voice hoarse. "They ever hear of soap and water?"
Cautiously, and with her breath held, she quickly placed her books inside and closed it as of the whole process was timed. Breathing heavily, she muttered, "this is going to be an enjoyable thing to do after every period."
"Yeah, that used to be Smelly Shelly's locker," laughed a guy. Luna turned to see a short, overweight boy. He had a tuft of orange hair and green eyes. The grey shirt he had on was two sizes small for him judging by the way his stomach stuck out from the bottom of it. "I'm Ferguson. Who are you?"
His voice had a tone that made Luna uncomfortable. She subconsciously put her hands in her hoodie pocket and said, "Hi. I'm Luna." His hand was stuck out, and she shook it but only for a second before placing back in the warmth of her sweater.
"I like the narwhal sweater," he complimented. She smiled and looked at the small smiling narwhal that was on the right side of the garment.
"Thanks," she said, smiling at his compliment. It did take her forever to choose which sweater she liked the best. He moved a little closer, and she moved with her back against the row of lockers. Feeling claustrophobic, she felt like shrinking or melting into the floor. The look over he was giving her did not give her a good first impression of the red head.
After wiping his nose, he said, "New girl, huh? I'll show you 'round the school." The way he talked told Luna he was interested in her, making her want to run away. Just when she thought she was going to make a run for it, another one came and grabbed Ferguson. Luna could finally breathe again when he was pulled away from her.
"Really, Ferguson? Hitting on the new girl?" scoffed another boy with an odd accent. The teenager that saved Luna had curly brown hair and glasses had his arms crossed. In other words, he was the mayor of Nerdville. Ferguson made an innocent look on his face and shrugged.
"What? I couldn't help myself, Alfonzo." He jerked his thumb at her and whispered, "she seems more like your type." Alfonzo blushes and inspects her. She had Hispanic features, with green eyes and medium length brown hair in a pony tail. The sweater she had on was blue, with a cartoon cyan narwhal on the right. She had a black skirt with white knee socks that had two cyan lines and Converse.
Ferguson noticed Alfonzo in a daze and elbowed him. "Go get her, tiger." Upon hearing this, Luna's shoulders drooped out of embarrassment. 'This day just keeps on getting better and better,' she sarcastically remarked in her mind.
Alfonzo put a hand to his chest and said, "I'm Alfonzo. Who are you?" The way he smiled made Luna feel like he was a madman. She nervously smiled and clutched her math book tighter against herself.
"I'm Luna. I-I got to get to my first class," she gestured towards a door that read "Ms. Skullnik".
Ferguson put his hands together and said, "Aw. She's shy! Come on, Al, let's give her a free-of-charge-tour!" They waited for an answer from her but she didn't even make a small peep. "So, whaddya say Luna?" he asked, thinking she did not understand if he was asking a question earlier.
"No thank you. Thanks for the offer though," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me I gotta get to math class before the bell rings. Don't wanna be late on the first day, right?" She moved past them but was too late, Star and Marco walked towards the group. Luna could hear the Time Pixie's high voice in her head again.
Flashback
Luna tried to calm herself down. Her parents were teenagers. Kids. That could only mean one thing with her grandparents being young; she was in the past.
"Honey, are you alright?" Angie asked soothingly. Luna didn't know the answer to that question. She could only imagine the long lecture her father was going to give her when she came back. If she came back. The question had fear grip her heart in an iron grip. What if she can't travel back to the future? "Honey?"
Snapping back from her thoughts, she managed to mutter, "h-hi. I uh a-am al-alright." As Luna sat up, she tried to make sens of what was happening. From all of the time traveling movies she saw, there was something called the Time Continuum, and if you spoil enough things from the future into the past, it will collapse and everything will cease to exist. She started to feel the tremendous pressure on her shoulders about no destroying . The smallest mistake could result in the worst outcome.
Star moved past Marco and said, "what's your name?" Am I even allowed to tell her my name? Luna's mind was in chaos, with thousands of thoughts coursing through her brain. There has to be some chapter in the Spell Book about this. There wasn't anything about it.
"Look,"she started, "I really got to go. Wrong house..." She got up and began walking toward the door. Star got in front of her before she could escape.
"Wait!" Star shouted. "I haven't even met you yet! Can you please stay for more time?" Luna shook her head as she eyed the green door. Suddenly, there was a "poof" noise. Everything froze in place, Star had her hands together, Marco's mouth was open, and his parents were in mid-sentence.
"Uh, uh , uh!" shouted a squeaky voice with a sassy tone. "What in Pixtopia do you think you're doing?" Luna blinked, the little pixie had olive skin, with purple eyes and hair. She was wearing a gold dress, shoes, and a necklace with a clock. Her silver wings were furiously flapping. "Princess Luna Angela Butterfly-Diaz," she started, "You gotta be way more careful when you traveling in time, girl!"
Luna did not have the slightest clue what was happening. The way the Pixie talked reminded her of how her Aunt Ponyhead talked. "Who are you?" The Pixie rolled her eyes dramatically and rested her hands on her hips. If possible, she shouted louder.
"Really? You do not know who I am? That is disappointing for you, Princess. Especially when you- oh never mind. I'm what you call a Time Pixie. We are the guardians of all time and space. I-"
"Oh! So basically you guys prevent the destruction of the Space Time Continuum!" Luna interrupted. "Do you work side-by-side with Father Time?" Time Pixie frowned and pointed her bony finger on Luna's nose.
With a strangely threatening voice she hissed, "Don't. Ever. Interrupt. Me. Again. Got it?" Luna nodded, smiling while holding her hands up. The Pixie patted her head as if she were a dog.
"Good girl. Now, when I unfreeze the Diaz family, and Star Butterfly, you better go get rid of those royalty clothes and crown." The navy blue dress decorated with a white and silver sash tied around her waist, with her crystal crown, was a neon sign shouting she was from a royal family. "They will forget everything in the past hour. Tomorrow, you'll enlist in the Echo Creek Academy as a new foreign exchange student. And, jeez, girl! If you're visitin' Earth, look like you came from the dang planet!"
She spoke up. "Actually, I was born on Earth. My older brother is the one born on Mewni." When she gave Luna a dark glare, she added, "Nevermind." The pixie nodded in satisfactory.
"Got that right, love. Now run 'cause if ya don't you'll regret it." The little fairy was beginning to disappear, and Luna panicked. The list of problems grew increasingly longer in her head.
She ran at her, "Wait! No! Where am I going to sleep? Where am I going to stay? Will this place be sanitary or safe? Is there anyone willing to care for me?" Luna was in a complete new time, and nothing was the same. Everyone she knew that she could trust either don't exist yet or she can't introduce herself to them with all the wibbly, wobbly, timey, wimey..stuff. (A/N: I do not own this quote- BBC does. Can anybody guess which show this quote belongs to?)
The Guardian shrugged. "You're a smart girl, honey. You'll figure it out. She paused before continuing, "Someday. Bye! Now run or we will have to do this all over again."
End of Flashback
Star, with her arms wide open, ran over to Luna and hugged her. "Hi! I'm Star Butterfly, a princess from another dimension. Nice to meet you, Friend! What's your name?"
"Luna," she answered, her voice strained due to the suffocation of Star's hug. When Star let go, Luna could feel her head again. "Luna Acosta."
"Nice to meet you Luna. Ooooh, I like that name! Nice narwhal, sistah. This is Marco." Star pulled Marco into the conversation, literally. "My best friend!"
"Hey," he said, recovering from being brought into the conversation so quickly. Of all the things about Luna, Marco noticed her green eyes first. They looked so similar to someone he knew. Who else had those exact eyes? All of those thoughts disappeared when he looked at his watch. "I gotta go and say hi to Jackie!" he gasped, turning to sprint. "Bye Star, see you in math!" He ran out of sight, leaving the trio alone with the new student. Luna noticed Star's eyes sadden and the hearts on her cheeks drooped. Neither Ferguson or Alfonzo noticed.
Ferguson said,"You know, I heard they're dating now. Jackie and Marco, I mean. Good job, Marco." Alfonzo agreed. Star's wand glowed green with and only she and Luna noticed.
"Finally. He liked her for the longest time. Hey, if he can get a girlfriend, so can we. There's hope for us yet, right, Star?" Star was silent, a small frown on her face when she heard the word "girlfriend". Luna grimaced at seeing her mother's pink hearts crack the slightest bit. Her mother was hardly ever depressed or mad and it was strange -in a very bad way- to see her in such a glum mood. "Star?" Alfonzo repeated louder. Her hearts repaired themselves and so did Star's mask.
"Yeah! You guys will find someone nice and all." It was obvious she was distracted but the two boys leave it alone. Luna felt horrible as the silence became awkward.
She decided to break it, "So, um, Star... Can you give me a tour? You know, of the school?" The blonde brightened and put her arms around Luna.
"Of course! I'll show the most magical room ever! It is called "the bathroom"," she chirped. The two girls were soon out of sight, and the boys scratch their heads in confusion.
"I wonder why she didn't want us to give her the tour," whined Alfonzo. Ferguson shrugged and leaned against the lockers.
With a confident hair whip, he said," Maybe she was too nervous to be around the most handsome guys in this school." As if karma heard that, Ferguson last his balance and fell on the floor. The girls who were walking by giggled before walking away.
"Yeah," Alfonzo laughed. "100%."
#************#
After the short tour, Luna must have memorized the whole school's layout and not-so-advanced architecture. Star showed Luna the cafeteria, to the gym and everything in between. The school had a Block schedule,which meant each student had a total of eight periods. They had the first four classes on Mondays, and Thursdays and are called "A-Days". Tuesdays and Fridays were reserved for the remaining classes, and were known as "B-Days". As it turned out, Luna had first period math with Star, Marco, Janna, and Jackie Lynn Thomas- who she had a grudge against ever since she almost kissed her dad right in front of her mom and her.
The teacher, who was a troll, had some kind of prepared disliking to Luna that was reserved just for her. Even before Luna had the chance to say a simple "good morning", she waved her off and told her to leave her alone to "not make her already suffering life more miserable". That didn't stop the her from paying attention to what she taught. The students native to Echo Creek Academy donned her with the nickname "the Safe Girl" when she wrote her notes with utmost importance and treated Miss Skullnick like a lady. Luna was far from amused to already having a title.
By third period (Gym), Luna was shaking with excitement for lunch; she had heard the lunch ladies were serving cupcakes for dessert. She needed a cookie or cake or anything sugary to satisfy her huge sweet tooth. "I can not wait to eat cupcakes!" Star told her as they walked together to lunch.
"Can't agree more," Luna agreed. "You know if they have sprinkles on them? Or if it is vanilla? Vanilla is my absolute favorite. Well, actually it's confetti." Star gasped dramatically and her eyes sparkled.
She jumped in front of Luna and held both of her hands. "No way! That is my favorite one too!" Like a rabbit, Star sharply turned her head. "Look there's Marco!"she said before she dashed. Luna screamed in surprise as Star suddenly ran at her top speed.
Marco was holding hands and talking with a familiar blonde girl with a turquoise streak in her hair. Star halted, Luna almost falling forward from the momentum Star had produced. "Oh, hey, Star," he greeted. "If you, uh, don't mind, Jackie will be sitting with us." Star nodded and put an arm around Luna. It hurt Luna to see her mother's reaction.
With a fake smile, Star said, "Oh! No, I don't mind. And if you don't mind, Luna here will be also sitting with us. Yeah, she's cool." Inside, Star felt betrayed. They had agreed that they were going to invite Luna to their table to help her fit in. Marco was the one who came up with the idea, and now he was inviting his girlfriend when they already had made an arrangement? Hiding her anger, she grabbed Luna and led her to the table. Marco and Jackie followed. The lunch table was round, with enough room for about five people to eat their lunch. Ferguson and Alfonzo were already occupying it.
"Hey, Luna," purred Ferguson. She made a face and backed away a little from the boy eating messy red buffalo wings. Marco glared at Ferguson. There was something within him that despised Ferguson hitting on Luna for some reason. He knows for a fact it wasn't being interested in her since he has Jackie, but didn't understand anything else about the odd protective feeling inside him. Even if he only met her briefly, she seems like a younger sister to him already.
Star pouted, "Oh...It looks like only five people can sit here. And I really want Luna to sit with us." Star's gaze fell on Jackie. Marco frowned and looked over at Jackie, who seemed to be in an awkward position with her supposedly being the problem. He couldn't believe Star would blame Jackie like that, it was like she was just saying that Jackie couldn't sit with the group. Being the one who offered, Marco wasn't going to let Star's odd attitude change that. He decided to confront her about it later at home, though she was a little more moody ever since she lost Glossaryck and her entire family history to Ludo.
Star stayed in silence staring back at Marco. Alfonzo, noticing the strong tension, offered, "Ferguson and I will go and sit with Jenna." Ferguson, for a fraction of a second, didn't move, but stood up to follow Alfonzo. He did not want to be there when the brewing storm took action between the two best friends.
"Okay, now we all can sit," Luna said, hoping to avoid any arguing. Nobody moved a muscle except for the ones in their eyes.
Jackie spoke next, "Yeah let's sit and eat." In a painfully slow process, the group sat down. Jackie was in between Marco and Star, with Luna sitting to Marco's other side.
Words couldn't describe the whole lunch. Both Jackie and Luna tried to start up a conversation, but all of their attempts flickered and died. Not one of the teens at any of their lunch. Marco and Star avoided each other's eyes, looking down at their own plates of cold food. Halfway through lunch, Luna began to nibble on the frosting of her cupcake before getting full and packing it into her backpack for later. She was the only one who ate anything.
"What's up with them?" Janna asked, tilting her head in the unusually silent part of the cafeteria. Both boys knew she was talking about Star and Marco. "Not like I care or anything, but shouldn't they be laughing their butts off by now or something?"
Ferguson shrugged, "Dunno. All I know is that Star invited the new girl to sit with them, and Marco invited Jackie. There wasn't enough room for me or Alfonzo so we volunteered to sit over here." Janna immediately lost interest.
"Second thought, don't care." But she did. Janna remembered how distracted Star was the night when they tried to resurrect Bon Bon the Clown. Star was far from normal that night. The girl spent the whole night staring at a picture of Marco and Jackie together, and Janna's instincts told her that even if she deleted the picture, Star must have saved it. It did not even occur once to Janna why the princess cared so much about it.
That's when she remembered the Truth or Punishment game. Somebody lied on that last question. Janna knew she wasn't lying, nor was Jackie or Marco. The creepy fangirl was telling the disturbing truth, and Star? Did Star lie about having a crush on Oskar? "Sometimes your head and heart disagree, and you don't know what you want." It all made sense now to Janna.
She took a satisfied sip of her chocolate milk. Now she knew Star's secret, and she decided that the new girl was next.
#***********#
"May Luna Acosta please come to the Principal's Office?" The P.A. announcement made Luna look up from the book she was reading. "May Luna Acosta please come to the Prnicipal's Office?" With a sigh, she closed her book and got up.
"Do I need a hall pass, Mrs. Dee?" she asked politely. The young woman shook her head with a smile, taking her glasses off.
"Oh, no dear. Just go on ahead." There were a few snickers coming from the class.
"Safe Girl," whispered one to another. Luna rolled her eyes and walked out the door. Despite her slight annoyance with her classmates, her hands were sweating. What did the principal want with her? This was her first day at Echo Creek Academy and she was already being called to the Principal's office.
The door had black letters painted for everyone to read: Mr. Skeeves. She pushed the door open and saw a small overweight man behind the too big desk. With his light brown hair greying and his head balding, the light from above seemed to make his hairless head shine. When he slipped out of his chair, the only part of him visible was his head. "Good evening, Miss Luna," he spoke with a professional voice, "There was a phone call for you." He gestured toward the black phone. "You may go and return the it."
He led her to it and waited. Luna had no idea how to use this version of telephone. It had a spiral cord connecting a long device which had little holes on the top facing inward and another set of black spots on the other end. The box it was connected to had buttons with numbers, presumably for dialing. The contraption confused Luna as she searched for the "voicemail" button.
As Principal Skeeves watched the foreign exchange student struggle, he sighed and muttered, "foreigners." He reached over and did a sequence of pressing buttons Luna could not remember. "Here you go. Now just hold the phone to your ear."
Luna did as she was instructed and held it up to her left ear. Little did she know it was upside down, with the bottom part with the cord touching her hair. Principal Skeeves noticed and turned it to the right direction, making Luna blush with embarasssment. "Thanks," she whispered.
"Hello?" The voice sounded familiar to Luna, but she knew if whatever she was using was a phone, it probably makes everyone sound different.
"Hi, I'm Luna Acosta. You tried to call me earlier?" Luna coudln't help but twirl the chord on her fingers as she talked.
"Oh yes! I heard you were looking for a host family to stay with while you are here. Is this true?" How does this woman know about my predicament? To learn more information, Luna plays along.
"Yeah..."
"Well, my husband and I decided you could stay with us. We already have another exchange student living in our household, and we still have a lot more room for one more. Oh dear, I haven't even introduced myself! How silly of me. My name is Angela Diaz, but you can call me Angie." Another voice boomed through the speaker, one with a heavy Mexican accent.
"Yes it is true! I am Rafael, this beautiful woman's lucky husband." Luna dropped the phone, the chord preventing it from falling to the ground, but it still hit the desk. Is this a coincidence? How did they even know about her? Did they now who she was? Did the pixie's spell not work on her grandparents? Will the Space Time Continuum be destroyed because of her?
The Principal cleared his throat, and Luna grabbed the phone. "Sorry a-about that. Old phones, right? Thank you so very much for offering, I can't be more grateful. Where do you guys live?" She heard a victorious yell from Rafael.
"Jut follow Marco, dear. He wears a red hoodie, brown eyes and hair? Has a mole? If you can't find him, then just follow Star. Star is very energetic and from another dimension so it will not be hard to find her."
"Thank you, Mrs. Diaz and Mr. Diaz." The words left an odd taste in her mouth. She has never referred to her grandparents like that. Never. The only grandparent she formally calls is Grandmother Butterfly, but her mother's father prefers "Grandpappy" or "Grandpops".
"Okay honey. Bye, see you soon!" The other line disconnected and she handed the device back to Principal Skeeves, who put it back where it was in the first place.
"Bye," she called out to the principal as she walked back to English. When she was past the Math Hallway,she was almost tripping over herself.
"Poof!" shouted a voice with really good voice pipes.
"Ah!" Luna screamed, jumping and falling. There goes my left eardrum...
"You were scared by a Pixie?" laughed the Time Pixie. "C'mon, get up now." Luna stood and looked around to check no one saw that. If that were to happen, she would be socially screwed for as long she had to stay here. "I see you have a house now. Problem solved."
"You are the reason the Diaz family is housing me?" gasped Luna. "What did you tell them? Did you tell them who I am? How did they react? Are the going to keep it a secret? Are they going to tell anyone else? Are they going to tell-"
"Woah girl! Hold yo pixie dust! I just did a little persuasion spell. They do not know anything about you other than your fake name and that you are from Cancun, Mexico." Cancun Mexico? Groaning in frustration, she felt like grabbing the pixie and shaking the pixie dust out of her.
After pinching her nose she says, "I have never been to Cancun! Which is the most beautiful tropical paradise in all of Mexico! Great. Now they think I am from a rich family!" The Pixie shared Luna's annoyance and suddenly grabbed her shoulder. "What are y-"
With a loud snap, Luna found herself squinting from the strong sun. The sound of waves crashing into each other and the salty twist in the air made her awestruck. The gentle breeze tickled her lightly, making palm trees sway ever so slightly. Before she could fully take in everything, there was another snapping sound and she found herself smelling sweat instead of coconuts.
"There! Problem solved, Drama Queen!" Luna groaned again.
"You want me to stay with my future family. In case you haven't noticed-"
The Pixie interrupted her to Luna's dismay, "You'll survive. Just use Radiant Shadow Transform. If t doesn't work, you could always use make-up to cover up your cheek marks."
"Make-up is bad for skin," Luna stated matter-of-factly. She ignored her.
"Now you go get on to class and thank me later. You say anything about anything, you won't live to see tomorrow!" Luna obeyed the fairy and ran back to class.
The Pixie sighed and turned her head towards a trash can. "That goes for you too, little miss mind-your-own business."
Janna got up from where she was crouching. "What is there to tell?" she asked nonchalantly. "I don't know much at all."
The pixie scowled at her, "You already know more than you should know." She waved her hands at her. "Now shoo." When she didn't move, the pixie shot her with a yellow bolt of energy.
"Ow!" Janna said, rubbing her shoulder to ease what felt like a hot needle being stuck inside it. "What in the world was that?" The Time Pixie zapped her again and she backed away more.
"Called magic. Now, shoo!"
#*********#
When the bell rang to announce the end of the day, Luna almost fell on the floor. "Only newbies get the chair closest to the speaker," Brittney commented. Her "slaves" (as Luna called those poor girls) did a forced laugh and pointed fingers. The decent people left the classroom with their pity for her. "The Safety Gal" is probably going to be Brittney's new target for who knows how long.
Luna ignored the dramatic diva and strapped on her backpack. When she saw Marco in the sea of highschoolers, she tried to catch up with him but she couldn't make her way. Too many teenagers blocked her way and she dare not push through it all. Internally shuddering at the thought of even intentionally touching one of those sweat machines, all she could do when she got out of school grounds was run and take in fresh air.
She only had a moment to enjoy escaping the stench when she saw Marco. "Hey! Wait up!" she called. He turned around and stopped for her to catch up.
"Oh, hey Luna. You know which bus you take?" A line of yellow school buses were being filled with passengers.
She looked around for Star entering a bus but couldn't spot her with the swarm of eager students dying to get home after a long Monday. "Uh.. well... You see I have to take whatever bus you and Star take..." His eyes widened and Luna was preparing for a scream of surprise or him slowly walking away. That sounded a whole lot less creepy in my head...
He slapped his forehead, making her raise an eyebrow. "Duh! You're the new exchange student Mom and Dad were talking about this morning. Come on, just follow me." They got on bus number thirty-eight. By the time they were about to sit, Luna saw Star. Star got up from her seat and hugged her.
"Luna! You'll be taking the same bus as we are? That mean you will live close to us? Marco, she might be in the house across the street," she said, energy in her words.
Marco smiled, "Good news, actually. She is the girl staying with us, remember?" Star's heart marks turned into little clouds of smoke as she tried to recollect the conversation Angela and Rafael were having this morning. All she could think of were the pancakes.
Shaking her head she said, "Nope. But that's good news! You wanna be roommates? It will be so awesome! Please?" Luna didn't have time to answer.
"Hey, Marco, wanna sit together?" Jackie invited. Marco, hardly able to contain his satisfaction, nodded and took the seat near her in a second. Star, who was sitting alone in her seat waiting for Marco to come, sighed a bit but smiled again.
"C'mon Luna," Star said. "I'll tell you all about the Mrs. and Mr. Diaz."