Chapter 1

Homecoming (Part 1)


"Wake up there, kiddo. We're here."

Jackie Lynn-Thomas stirred as her mother's voice punctured through her sleep. Slowly she drifted into her far less comfortable reality. At some point she'd pressed her face up against the car window and now her right cheek was numb. Stretching as best she could in the cramped conditions of the car, she looked out over the highway and, through her foggy gaze, caught a glimpse as the suburban landscape appeared over the crest of the hill.

It's so small, she thought. Already they were very close and yet she could still see from one side of the town to the other. How could everything a town fit needed into such a small place? This was going to be their home now?

"Echo Creek," her mother said, though Jackie knew the enthusiasm was more for her sake than her own. "Nice enough town, y'know, for suburbia. Lot more open than San Fran. 'Lotsa trees." She glanced away from the road, just for a moment to gauge her daughter's reaction, only to see the disappointment on Jackie's face. "And yeah," she went on at a more tempered tone, "It's going to be different, but different don't mean it's going to be bad."

Jackie only responded with a noncommittal grunt and settled back into her seat. They'd argued over a spectrum of topics for this move in the last couple weeks and they'd only be rehashing the same material if she tried to bring any of it up again now.

"Com'on, sweetie," her mother sighed, "Just... give it a chance. Ya might find you like it, even! Eyes on the road, keep moving forwa-!"

Her attention was suddenly dragged back to the highway as another driver cut dangerously close across her.

"Hey! Get in lane, ding-dong!" she shouted, honking her horn for good measure too.

As her mother vented her anger, Jackie tried her best to bottle her's up. She didn't quite trust herself not to say something awful if she opened her mouth, even if it was well justified considering how her mother had gone about the last week and a half.

A week and a half! Who thought that was enough forewarning to give anyone that they were moving? A week and a half wasn't long enough to say goodbye to everyone, let alone sort out your life! Heck, she'd spent the first couple of days alone going around in a daze!

She'd been ripped from her home, her life, bundled into the back of an ancient people carrier with all their things and driven off to places unknown! No discussion and definitely no explanation.

"Change of pace." "Away from the fish smell." "We can't afford rent in San Fran anymore." Every time Jackie asked why, it was a different answer. Her mother led her on a merry dance the whole way around the truth. All she wanted was a straight answer, but had yet to meet the person who could get that out of Mina Lynn-Thomas. Oh, what she would do to be able to read minds.

They descended down the slipway and into the streets of Echo Creek, passing through the outer limits full of hundreds of detached suburban homes and into the town itself, which wasn't much taller. Seriously, nothing was higher than three stories.

She had to admit, there was a lot more activity than she would have thought, but it still paled in comparison to back home. A lot of it could probably be chalked up to the morning rush though and would return to silenceville the moment everyone had settled into class and work. Most of those she could see going up the footpaths looked like students, which strengthened that theory...

...And there were more of them by the minute. As they drove, the amount of teenagers with backpacks on the sidewalk just grew and grew. She was puzzled for a bit, until something twigged in her head that her mother had said the previous day. Something she had brushed off at the time.

"Mom?" she said, "You're not bringing me to school are you?"

"Well," her mother said as though she were speaking all the sense in the world, "I'm not seeing the landlord until three, so that means we've got time to kill. And you wouldn't want to spend all that time with your momma, would you? So..."

Uh, no way! This was disgusting, so disgusting that there was only one way Jackie could show her disapproval, a heavy groan. "Com'on, really? Mom, I slept in a car all night! I haven't had a shower!"

"It's also a Friday, making it a school day, kiddo. And you don't smell that bad."

Jackie felt like tearing her eyes out, but she settled with just slumping back into her seat and said no more. Her mother was doing her damndest to really, really make it impossible to talk to her civilly today.

Following the trail of students in silence, they eventually pulled up in front of the school, Jackie got her first look at her new school; Echo Creek High School. It wasn't anything special; the facade especially was like a thousand and one other schools around the country, nothing to immediately condemn it...

...Except for the giant banner with the words 'HOMECOMING DANCE TONIGHT' stretched over the entrance.

"Huh," her mother grunted. "Is it that late in September already?" But while her mother was only registering the dullest surprise, Jackie was in full-on panic mode. Quite literally getting cold feet on the day of a dance.

Turning on her mother, she fixed her with what she hoped was a damning look.

"Alright, you really don't expect me to have my first day of school right before a dance do you? I mean, I'd be totally lost. Let's just go..." She struggled to think of anything. "Do something else. Make a fresh start on Monday, alright?"

"You kidding? This is perfect!" Before Jackie could even respond, her mother had reached over her to open the door and was shoving her encouragingly onto the sidewalk. "Just keep your head down. Take in the lay of the land, scout around. No one's going to looking at you with that looming over them. Then just take everything you know and use it to make your debut on Monday. Easy peasy."

Alright, she was not getting anywhere with this and, worse still, now her mother sounding reasonable. She needed to get out of there before she totally believed what her mother was saying. Just tell tell her yeah and then skip class. Go find somewhere to decompression for the day.

Just as she was closing the door though, her mom suddenly put out a hand. "Hey, one last thing." Stopping, Jackie turned back. Her mother was wearing a sad smile, looking the most genuine she had seen her in a long time. Jackie actually leaned in, keen to hear what she wanted to say.

"Don't spend the day alone. That never does anyone any good when they're lost."

For a moment Jackie panicked. She knew! What the heck? Could she read minds? Or was it just that obvious that Jackie was planning on walking out of there the first moment she could. As the moment passed though, she reasoned it through. There was no way she could know; Jackie hadn't mitched class before and despite everything why should she suspect her starting now. Besides, her mom was one to talk. What was that saying? Pot calling the kettle black? That would a good way to turn it on her, tell her it was her that needed to open up to others. She should say that!

"I'll try, mom."

Her mother gave her a small smirk. "'Atta girl," she said finished up, "Now, go get 'em! Dazzle them with the Lynn-Thomas charm."

Jackie fought down smirking in return. That had always been the thing about her mom, she could seem so sensible, make anything sound good. But she was also the person who had moved them with no rhyme or reason. This was a double standard and though she was well aware adults could get away with things she couldn't, she also couldn't help but feel this was particularly unfair. Jackie couldn't quite forgive her for it just yet.

Coolly closing the door, she turned and headed towards the school entrance without a word.

o0O0o

It was the sound of a stampede which woke Marco Diaz nearly instantly from a pleasant sleep. It didn't confuse him, he knew exactly what it was and who it was. He also knew that he didn't have much time.

Pulling his legs up just in time for his bedroom door to burst open, a familiar figure performed a standing leap from the doorframe onto his bed.

"He! Said! Yes!" Peeking out from the covers, Star stood on his duvet spread legged and arms wide, looking absolutely delirious with delight.

"That's great Star," Marco said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "Now could you get off my bed?"

Whether she heard him or not, he wasn't sure. But he did step off her bed in a dreamy daze, so he counted that as a win.

"I mean, I wasn't going to do it, but last night I thought 'there's no harm in trying, is there?' and so I sent him a text and this morning he texted back! Eeeeee~!"

Marco couldn't help but wince at his best friend's girlish squeal. He really didn't need it this early in the morning. Still, he had to feel happy for her.

"I'm so excited! I'm finally going out with Oscar!" then, as though a switch was flipped, her expression turned to horror. "But what am I going to wear? I don't have anything to wear!"

Marco was already feeling his goodwill turn to exasperated and he hadn't even gotten out of bed yet. "You do, Star." Throwing off the covers, he threw his leg out over the side of the bed and stretched. "Wear the dress you bought for this dance. The hot pink one."

She was stuck in anxiety however. "B-But what if we don't match? What if arrive and I should have worn another dress. This is our first date, Marco. I can't just throw on whatever and hope it works out."

She was spiraling, she got this way when she was anxious. But if he had picked up anything from fifteen years, it was how to curtail this.

Standing up, he walked over to her, Marco placed both his hands on her shoulders. This seemed to reset her, and she went calm again, focusing her attention entirely on him.

"Star," he said as calmly as possible, "He won't care what you're wearing. Suits are meant to go with any dress. So don't think about Oscar, focus on yourself."

With those words, she exhaled a breath she'd been holding and her anxiety disappeared with it.

"Thanks, Marco," she said, "Woah! I was really losing it for a second there." She laughed, brushing off the incident. "At least one of us is level-headed."

"Your welcome, Star," he said before turning to head to the bathroom. Before he could get anywhere, Star asked a question that stopped him in his tracks.

"So… who's the lucky girl, you're bringing to the dance?"

Marco tensed, only briefly, but long enough for Star to see it. Her features turned stormy very quickly.

"Marco Diaz!" she said in a tone much too like their mothers', "You didn't NOT ask anyone to the homecoming."

"N-No…?" he eventually said, trying to disentangle Star's question from the double negative. "I mean, I did ask Hope, actually."

This piqued Star's interest. "Oh?" she wondered aloud, wordlessly urging his to continue.

Marco could only scratch his head awkwardly. "One of the football team had already asked her and she'd said yes. And… I couldn't think of anyone else to ask, so I just… didn't."

Star fell back on his bed, looking disappointed, "Pity, I always thought you and Hope looked cute together." She smiled as Marco blushed at her insinuation. Then she proceeded to give him a dark glare. "But still. Really, in the entirety of our school, there's no one else you can think to ask to the dance."

Leaning against the doorframe (because he wasn't getting away anytime soon), Marco shrugged. "There's no one else I like enough to ask."

"And so, you'll go to the dance alone, again. Like last year." She shook her head. "Mmgh-mmgh, nope Diaz. You're wasting away your teenage years and I won't stand for it. Cinderella wouldn't be going to the ball alone!"

"Star, I think the point of that story is that Cinderella goes alone." Marco tried to point out, "Beside, trust me, I'm fine. There's no need for you to get all involved. So please, Star. Don't do anything drastic."

For a brief second, Marco thought Star wasn't going to agree. But then she sighed, her shoulder's falling.

"Alright, Marco. Nothing drastic, I swear."

Hoping to leave it at that, he turned and left for the bathroom. Still, he didn't believe that he had heard the last of this. Even as he turned away, the spark hadn't left Star's eyes.


Alright, now I'm flying by research here as I was never in the American school system (having been part of another, probably equally broken system). So feel free to correct me on anything that is particularly erroneous. Also, thanks for reading.