This felt a lot longer while writing it, and has been done for several weeks - sorry for the late posting.
I don't know how you guys like these slower, personal-focused chapters compared to the more plot heavy ones, but I'm tired of them. They're definitely not my strong point, so it's a good thing we're going back to plot next.
This episode, Janna and Marco start dating. Enjoy.
Unfortunately, earning a bit of extra cash had come at a cost for Janna. Metaphorically speaking.
That cost made itself immediately apparent when she awoke the first morning after her first job, feeling like she hadn't slept at all. Her head throbbed, protesting an all-too-cheerful sunbeam that had found its way into the living room. Her ears began working a moment later and gave a similar protest as the house bustled with activity around her.
Well, 'bustled' was maybe the wrong word. There was a gentle thrum of running water as Marco took his morning shower upstairs, and her mother, having successfully nudged her eldest awake, at least had the courtesy to shut the door quietly behind her.
Still, to say she went back to sleep would imply that she had a choice. In actuality, sleep hit her in the face like a black pillow.
What felt like (and might very well have been) only 20 minutes later, Marco was prodding her back to consciousness. "Janna, c'mon, we've got school."
"Feeling sick…" Janna murmured and pulled a blanket over her head, but Joleen put a stop to that as she passed out the front door. Now that Janna had taken over her scissors, she actually had to leave first.
"Remember what mom said!"
After a long string of truancies during the previous year, Janna's mom had made her a deal: if she went to school, she kept her phone. If she stayed home, she did not. And with the Diazes around to bear witness, she doubted she'd be able to just take a walk around the block like she'd done before to fool her sister, nor was she keen on trying to find a way to fool the truancy officer... though she expected that the unregistered, unofficial new address would've helped with that, at least.
But besides all that, but the prospect of fighting with her mom over Glossaryck after the episode yesterday was nigh-unthinkable.
So, begrudgingly and with an extreme amount of protest from muscles she didn't even know she had, she sat up.
Fortunately, having Joleen's scissors meant that her commute-time to school had been cut down to zero—but even so, it was close. Without even the luxury of having her own room to change in, she managed to make it to the bathroom where her previous day's clothes were still lying discarded, then back downstairs to meet Marco at the door.
He gave her a concerned look when he saw her state, but chose not to say anything. After the 'incident' yesterday, Diaz-Russo relationships were a bit… eggshell-adjacent.
A quick portal to school and Marco was leaning against his locker, exchanging a morning's customary nod to Jackie. Janna slumped down against the wall, dimly registering the first bell ringing while simultaneously feeling her head inflate with every breath.
While Jackie stopped to chat with Marco, a muddy splatter of inspiration struck. She quickly thumbed through her phone to find the spell that would grant her the food she wanted most. Wishing for nothing more than the strongest cup of coffee ever conceived by man, she managed to strangle out the incantation, pointing directly at her own face.
A small spout of hot espresso washed across the bridge of her nose before she managed to angle it into her mouth. Surprisingly, it tasted far less bitter than she remembered from a singular previous experience. It was closer to hot chocolate than coffee.
After a few long gulps, her heart skipped a beat and her head cleared a bit. The miracle of caffeine probably wouldn't be enough to get her through the entire day, but hopefully homeroom attendance would suffice to keep a truancy officer away from her mom.
She just managed to catch the tail-end of Marco and Jackie's conversation. "So I was thinking, it was pretty fun hanging out at the convention," Jackie was saying, "and I was wondering if you wanted to go get some pie or something after school?"
Marco's response was typical. He'd not had his several prerequisite minutes to prepare himself, and a request like that was truly a step forward. Which meant it was time for him to take two steps back.
"Uh—you want me to—go to pie—I mean, eat your—I MEAN PIE! Jackie go with Marco to—AGH!"
He was hitting himself over the head while Jackie watched, the girl more bemused than anything, and the second bell rang. They were now dangerously close to tardy.
"Well, when you get around to it, let me know. See you in class!"
Jackie skated off, and Janna watched as Marco took the opportunity to slam his head into the locker. "What's wrong with me!" He moaned.
Janna, now closer to sleepy-drunk than full-on last-round knockout, was feeling the usual spike of anger and annoyance from Marco mentioning his crush, that she still couldn't quite identify—this time about 10 times stronger than normal. Her emotions had seemingly decided to just forget that Jackie was her best girlfriend, her brain insisting that she switch to attack-mode. After all, who the heck did she think she was? Just asking like that? The nerve! Janna was standing right there—except wait, why did she care, again?
"Janna!" Marco turned to her with desperation in his voice. She tried to rearrange her face into something that wasn't a scowl while she squashed that whatever-it-was currently setting fires in her brain, chest and stomach. "Do you have a spell that can help me talk to Jackie?"
YES, Janna's mind cawed at her. YES, YES, YES. Oh I'll do you one good, Diaz, just asking me like that, like I'm just here, just the convenient solution. She'd abandoned trying to figure out why she was angry, simply too tired to care. Instead, she revelled in it.
"Oh, yes." She said savagely, and Marco looked worried before steeling himself. The last time Janna had magic'd him, he'd ended up swimming in a molotov cocktail of artificial emotions that he still hadn't quite sorted out. And there was that time he'd demolished part of downtown with a monster arm, of course. But this was for Jackie, and he was tired of being tongue-tied. That part of him could just stop. Permanently.
Janna, for her part, actually did have the perfect spell. Glossaryck had warned her it was mostly used for interrogation, and that unless the person was especially crafty, they'd always speak their mind, completely honestly, no matter what.
Sounded like just the thing to put this boy in his place. So, withdrawing a pencil and paper from her backpack, she consulted the book (Glossaryck himself having apparently had something better to do that morning), drew the symbols, and concentrated as hard as she could.
"Marco, you should be more honest."
The runes glowed for a moment, then faded. The spell was a success, but Marco frowned slightly.
"Well, I don't feel any different. This stupid magic never works right. At least it didn't give me a monster arm this time."
Janna considered pointing out that it almost certainly had worked, but abstained. He could learn for himself.
Marco looked around and realized that they were now nearly five minutes late for class. "Shoot, Janna, you made me late again! Let's go!"
Janna only smirked, satisfied, as she followed behind him.
"DIAZ! RUSSO! TARDY!" Skullnick shouted as they entered the class. As she hadn't risen from her desk and the rest of the class was talking, they hadn't exactly missed much.
"Sorry, Miss Skullnick!" Marco said. "Janna was casting a spell on me in the hall."
This earned some snickers from the students who cared to listen, which he promptly turned to correct. "And we were NOT doing anything weird."
Skullnick stared at him and then shrugged her enormous shoulders. "Whatever. Hand in your homework."
Marco took to his desk, Janna in her usual seat behind him, and they passed it up. As he did, he remarked, "I also did Janna's."
Janna felt another dull spike of annoyance as Skullnick took her assignment from the stack and tossed it in the trash, but with the caffeine rush fast fading, she was only barely able to care and rapidly returning to her exhaustive stupor. She was only able to raise her hand for roll-call before slumping down into her seat.
The rest of the period passed in a blur, Janna only realizing it was over when the bell cut through the molasses covering her ears. Struggling to her feet, she managed to grab her bag and make it to the hall before disappearing out behind the school. There was a quiet spot behind the gym that had once been a favorite of hers for such things.
She was barely able to get her backpack behind her head before passing out.
When she awoke, she could immediately tell that she'd slept for another few hours at least. The sun had gone from hiding behind the roof of the gym, to retreating behind the roof of the building which enclosed the other side of the alleyway.
The stench around her was suddenly palpable, and she realized that she'd been sleeping amongst a pile of old trash bags that definitely hadn't been there when she'd settled down. Another gift from the Janitor, it would seem.
She stood up and dusted herself off, still thoroughly content with her extra few hours of sleep, and heard a bell ring on the other side of the building. A quick check of her phone (with Glossaryck still nowhere to be found) confirmed that she'd slept through lunch, and was due back in Skullnick's class. Perfect timing, too—roll-call only happened twice a day, and she'd woken just in time to make the 2nd occurrence.
So, stretching, she made her way to class only a minute late, quietly sneaking in while Skullnick had her back to the room. She took her usual seat behind Marco, again, and he gave her a strange look before talking to her, perfectly normally and at room-volume.
"Janna, you really gotta stop sneaking into class!"
Janna kicked him in the small of his back, irritated. Doubly so when Skullnick turned around and growled, "Janna, detention, tomorrow!"
"What was that for?" She hissed at Marco, and he shrugged.
"Couldn't help it."
The now-tardy girl couldn't remember much from that morning, but did remember that she'd been mad at Marco, for some reason. Whatever it was, this must've had something to do with it.
Still, facing forward and quickly zoning out as Skullnick began to drone on about U.S. history, the rest of the lesson passed without incident.
At the end of the class, she was greeted with an additional little tidbit from the teacher.
"Janna, turn in that assignment from this morning, done yourself, tomorrow morning or it's detention Wednesday as well."
Oh yeah. That had happened, too.
So, in the passing period, she cornered Marco for an explanation.
"What is your problem?" She demanded.
Marco only shrugged. "You shouldn't have been late to class."
"And the homework?"
"You should have done it yourself."
It wasn't that he was wrong, but as they both changed out supplies at his locker, Janna was fuming. "You could've just said something beforehand."
"Well I didn't have the spell on beforehand."
"The -" The morning's events came back to her in a flash. Yes, of course, the personality spell. Glossaryck had warned her it made people a little intolerable. That needed to come off, right now. "Oh, right, that. Well, it's officially outlived its welcome, so I'm going to just take it off now…"
She'd reached for her phone when Jackie walked by. "Hey, Marco! Looking forward to tonight!"
"Me too! More than anything I've looked forward to in my life!" Marco replied, and Jackie gave him an odd look before walking off. Then, he turned to Janna. "Please don't take off this spell, it's the only way I'll ever be able to have a real conversation with her."
Janna smirked, and put her phone back in her pocket. Somehow, she expected that an unfiltered evening was going to be worse for Marco than if she'd taken it off—and something about ruining his date with Jackie still just seemed like an amazing idea. "Fine," she acquiesced, and the bell rang over their heads. Next class, coming up.
"You're great, when you're not making horrible things happen." Marco smiled as if that were a compliment, and Janna grimaced in response.
The end of the school day rolled around far too quickly for Marco's liking. Just because he could speak without it sounding like word-vomit didn't mean he wasn't practically biting his nails at the prospect of an actual date with Jackie.
This was made apparent as soon as he met up with her at the front of the school. "Hey Marco? How are you doing?" She asked. Standard question, standard response right?
"Well, I'm nervous, sweaty, and I think I probably smell funny so don't stand too close to me, also this was probably a huge mistake and I'm going to do something horrible and make a fool of myself in front of you and then you'll never talk to me again! Also, you look totally amazing, did you do something with your hair?"
Jackie blinked at the candid answer, felt her hair, and then leaned in for a sniff.
"No, it's the same as it always is, and you smell fine. Let's go get pie."
"Right, pie!" Marco said as they set off. "Sorry about this morning where I made it sound weird, I was really having trouble talking for some reason, but Janna cast a spell on me that made it easier to talk to you, but now I can't stop talking, so sorry if it comes across as—oh, jeez, I'm being annoying, aren't I? Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
Jackie laughed as they turned the corner towards downtown, other students dispersing around them. "You're not annoying, Marco. And you've talked to me normally, like, during magic stuff, and at Creek-Con… kinda. Why did you think you needed a spell?"
"This is still better than being a tongue-tied idiot."
"No way man, I like you the way you are." Jackie gave him a glance and he looked away.
"The way I am, or the way I am in front of you?" He asked quietly.
"I guess I'll have to find out."
Marco had no response, his mind graciously choosing that moment to go blank.
While Marco started on his date, Janna was already back in the Underworld, continuing the endless repairs on the dungeon for her self-made monster.
Far from wanting to be there, she was motivated by the suspicion that a small handful of gold coins probably wasn't going to be enough to sustain the family. Not only that, but she got the impression that The Union was expecting her to relieve him again—plus, it was kind of her own mess that she was cleaning up.
Transcending all of these points was the burning annoyance she'd felt when Marco had left school with Jackie. And there was nothing like a little bit of extreme labor to help take your mind off of such things.
And, sure enough, after less than an hour she'd already forgotten Marco and Jackie. She'd forgotten almost everything, really, in the face of near-immediate exhaustion. Instead, she was left to focus on other problems she wasn't ready to think about, like the magic-powered monstrosity making every effort to break free while she built around it.
But she kept at it. Work was work, and at least she got paid for it, which meant it trounced her other options of homework or sitting at home ruminating on why Marco and Jackie going out bothered her so bad. And with the Underworld's magic-charged atmosphere, it almost didn't even feel like she was repeatedly killing herself!
She was surprised when Tom swooped down into the pit next to her, as she hadn't even seen him on the way in. He looked a bit surprised, too.
"You're here?" He asked. Disbelief was evident in his voice. "I mean, no offense, I just thought you weren't going to show up again."
"Nope, nothing like a little manual labor to keep the brain sharp!" Janna grunted as she lifted one of several hundred nearby enchanted beams above her head.
Tom watched for a moment while she slotted it into the cage, his expression shifting as he deliberated what to say next. When he did speak, Janna dropped her next beam, both of them watching it plummet down into the darkness below.
"So, want to go out?" He asked.
And the beam sailed down, into the infinite black.
"Yes. Like, on a date, out? Yes." She replied without a second thought.
Tom gave a sigh of relief. "OH, good. Good, I'm glad you—yeah, okay, yeah, let's go out!"
They flew up and out of the pit together, Janna's mind buzzing. Sudden or not, the hot demon prince had just asked her out! On a date! Her first date, too! Was that how it was supposed to work all the time?
A small part of her teenage-girlish self (one she worked very hard to keep suppressed) nearly broke free at that moment, demanding that she scream her joy to the heavens.
Once they were out of the pit, Tom whistled for The Union to get back to work, and then summoned a portal. The smell of fresh grass and clean rain washed out of it. A nearby zombie hissed in discontent.
Stepping through, Janna found herself next to Tom on what was unmistakably some kind of alien golf course. Trees, sand-traps and close-cropped lawns stretched out to the horizon, peppered here and there by a handful of interdimensional creatures but otherwise mostly deserted.
"Oh." Janna said glumly. Her glee disappeared in a moment. "Golfing. You wanted to go golfing." Next to watching the green itself grow, golfing was about the dullest thing Janna could think of. From a demon prince of the underworld, she'd expected more.
"Well, yeah?" Tom looked slightly taken-aback. "Do you not like golfing? Everyone likes golfing. You'll like it."
Janna doubted it, but bit her tongue. Out of her and Marco, at least she had that option.
Her first tip-off that something was out of place was when Tom procured the clubs. Janna, imagining that she was in for a dull few hours of (at best) wildly hitting a ball off the green, was unprepared for what was presented.
Rather than a bag, the caddy provided an assortment of what were unmistakably war clubs, of all shapes and sizes. Each was longer and thicker than her arm, but ranged in materials from bone to wood to steel, with heads decorated to look like skulls, rams, demons, minotaurs, and other grimacing baddies.
Janna hefted the largest one, finding it surprisingly light. "Tom, I don't think you know how golf works."
Tom gave her a look. "Just wait."
The next bizarre event was finding the right ball. The two were presented with a wire-mesh cage filled with some of the strangest creatures Janna had ever seen. They had completely flat faces squashed into otherwise round, furry bodies, with orange, glowing rear-ends. Each was about as large as a balled fist.
"Three each, please." Tom directed the attendant, who set the creatures aside for them. Janna gave him a look, to which the prince explained, "exploding pobbles. Native to Mewni."
Soon after, with their bizarre assortment of supplies (the pobbles now screeching and scratching inside a small burlap sack being carried by a caddy), the two were on the green, where Tom demonstrated that Mewni golf was as different from Earth golf as possible.
"You see the pegs, out there?" He asked. Looking out, Janna did indeed. Stretching out across the green, small brown pegs were sticking out of the ground, each about 6 inches high and as wide around as her leg.
"The goal is to hit them with the pobbles." Tom explained. Demonstrating, the caddy presented the bag and in one deft motion, Tom withdrew a pobble, tossed it into the air, then smacked it just before it hit the ground like a low softball pitch.
The creature flew away with a jubilant scream, landing a distance from the nearest peg before exploding in a small puff.
Janna raised an eyebrow. She wasn't exactly an animal rights activist, but that seemed… excessive.
"Doesn't that hurt them?" She asked, and Tom shook his head.
"Nah. they love it. Come right back, look—" as he said that, the pobble scurried back on the grass, the glowing spots on its back faded but still present."
"The pegs are their food," he said. "So if you manage to get close enough to one, they'll see it, pop it, and get some of their explodey-ness back. You take turns doing it until the targets are gone, usually, but we'll probably be able to just go until the pobbles get tired of running back."
Apprehensive, but bemused, Janna took Tom's offered club. "Make sure to hit it out of the air, cuz they don't get much distance on the ground." He directed. "And don't hit the glowy bit, or it'll explode.
Naturally, Janna did both immediately—throwing the pobble up in the air just as Tom had, she missed her swing and the creature hit the ground with a thump. It dodged the second and third attempts, but on her fourth go of it, she managed to connect squarely with its backend.
It exploded with a crack, making it about 10 feet and blowing the club out of Janna's hands. She looked at Tom, only slightly sheepish, and he shrugged. "Not bad for a first attempt."
Creek-con, Marco quickly realized, had been some kind of fluke.
How else could it be explained? There, he and Jackie had been surrounded by conversation topics, and stuff Jackie knew about. They'd had chemistry. Jackie had knowledge of everything from cartoons to comics, to games, to cosplay, and Marco had just been along for the ride.
It had only cemented how cool Jackie just naturally seemed to be. And now, sitting in a corner booth and sharing a chocolate pie with her, it also called to mind just how out of his league she was.
Janna's spell had at least helped him string his words together, which might have been helpful if he'd be able to think of anything to say to begin with. More than anything, he wished he was able to shut his mouth. Not many girls, he figured, would really care about a perfect toothbrushing technique, or a 3-step method for getting all your homework done each night.
And yet, as he concluded his verbal essay on why keeping your laundry organized was the cornerstone of a fulfilling lifestyle, Jackie seemed absorbed. She'd frozen, a piece of their shared dessert halfway to her open mouth, fixated (and, to Marco, probably appalled) by the explanation.
"Sorry," Marco started. Alarms were blaring in his brain. Head it off at the pass! You can save it! "I know you don't want to hear about this stuff, but it's just that spell, so I can't stop. I just don't know what to say, and I'm not sure what I'm doing here, and actually, I should probably just go before it gets any worse…"
He made to stand up before having a spoonful of pie forced into his mouth. Jackie's hand pushed his shoulder back into his seat, where he struggled to swallow the sudden obstruction.
His date sat back in her seat, arms now crossed, and frowning.
"I'm having a good time," she said defiantly. She didn't sound like she was having a good time. "Why wouldn't you think that?"
"Because!" Marco burst out. "I'm being a total safe kid! Why would you want to know about my homework or my routine? What kind of person talks about that kind of stuff? What kind of girl wants to hear about it? And now I'm complaining about it! That's so lame!"
Jackie cocked an eyebrow. "And if I'm that kind of girl?" She asked coolly.
"Then you'd be - you're -" The spell hadn't stopped, but Marco still couldn't find the right words.
"Awesome." He finally finished. "Why are you so awesome?"
Jackie's frown was replaced by a strange smile, and she gave Marco a searching glance. There was a moment of silence, which Marco occupied by stuffing more of the - admittedly, delicious - dessert into his mouth… if only to keep himself from talking.
Finally, Jackie asked him, "So that spell makes it so you have to be completely honest, right? About everything?"
Marco, mouth still full, could only nod.
"Alright then." Jackie stood up, dropped a pile of change on the table, and grabbed her board before heading to the door. "C'mon!" She called, and then muttered to herself, "I can do that, too…"
Even though Janna sucked at it, Mewni golf quickly proved to be an absolute blast. She found out quickly that the pobbers were likely to bite if held for too long, and the resulting swing after acquiring a sore thumb netted her her first point.
She considered talking to Tom, in between their attempts, but wasn't quite sure what to say. Her magic was probably pretty pedestrian compared to his, she didn't have a lot going on outside of that, their only common experience involved destroying an ancient shrine and creating a wand behemoth, and she doubted that leading a conversation with "so I sabotaged my friend's date earlier…" was a great way to strike up dialog.
Her few attempts at it were mostly ignored, and she realized that she might not be the only one not knowing what to say. Tom's swings were getting angrier and angrier, the pobbles rocketing out further and further as time went on, and he was scowling.
After the final pobble rocketed off towards the sunset (far beyond the distance where it was likely to walk back), Janna finally crossed the gap. "So, am I making you angry for some reason? Cuz this is nothing like Earth golf."
Tom started, like he'd just remembered that she had a voice. "Oh, no, it's not you." He gave her an attempt at a smile. Janna only frowned in return.
He sighed. "Okay, look, if I be honest, try not to be mad."
Janna crossed her arms. "Well the date's been pretty good so far, but still, I make no promises."
Tom gave her a searching look, then explained.
"To be honest, I really only asked you out because of my mom."
Janna's stomach dropped. "Oh." She'd been with River to "meet" the Queen of the Underworld, once, but she hadn't thought she'd made that much of an impression.
"Oh, not like that," Tom corrected, as if reading her thoughts. "Like, she keeps bugging me to go get engaged, now that I'm getting closer to 150."
Janna's stomach gave an unpleasant flop, and it must have shown on her face, because Tom blanched. "No, not like that either!"
Janna scowled. "Well, like what then?"
"I think I might have mentioned it before the wand-thing, but she's trying to arrange a marriage between me and Princess Pony-Head."
He spat out the name like it left a bad taste, and Janna vaguely recalled him mentioning it in their carriage ride, some weeks prior. She'd been a bit distracted by the foul taste of a much more memorable soda, at the time.
"And that's… bad." She ventured.
Tom scowled and tossed his club to the caddie, who was waiting a respectful distance away and took that as notice that they were done. "Yeah, that's bad." The demon explained. "Basically, take the most horrible, terrible person you can think of, and multiply them by cancer."
"That's bad," Janna reflected, and Tom nodded.
"Doesn't do her justice. But since I don't have a… well, a girlfriend, my mom said she'd be arranging an engagement, so I asked the only person I knew who I thought wouldn't be weird about it."
Taking a thought, Janna's stomach settled. So the hot demon prince hadn't actually asked her out. She was just a decoy-girl. She knew she ought to be mad. Offended, even.
And yet, she wasn't.
"Sorry," Tom said. "I was kinda worried you'd say no if you heard the real reason."
Considering that she hadn't known how fun Mewni-golf could be before that afternoon, Janna was inclined to agree. But still.
"I only showed up to work because my two best friends are going on a date and I don't like how it feels." Janna replied.
They shared eye contact for a moment, then Tom smirked. "So, I use you to get away from Pony Head and my screwed-up mom, you use my work to get away from your friends and your screwed-up head." He summarized. "Fair enough. But for what it's worth, this actually was… pretty fun. I'll try to be, uh, less angry, next time."
Next time… Janna thought to herself, but was interrupted.
"So, getting late." Tom said, gesturing to where the sun was touching the horizon. "Dinner?"
Janna pulled a face, still remembering the last time she'd tried something to Tom's taste, and he laughed. "Don't worry, you can pick. Make-up for leading you on. Yeah?"
Janna pulled her scissors from her pocket without a second thought. "Yeah."
"We should not be doing this. This isn't safe. We shouldn't be doing this…"
Marco was keeping his cool remarkably well, considering how freaked out he wanted to be. He'd never ridden tandem on a skateboard before. Even now, as he held onto Jackie's shoulders in a grip that was probably way too tight, he wasn't sure such a thing was even possible.
So he muttered his thoughts to the wind, hoping they'd get lost among the general hubbub.
"We can walk if this bugs you." No such luck.
"No, I'm soared and I should be wearing a helmet, but I'm also trying to seem cooler!" Marco replied. After all, Jackie had suggested the idea, and he hadn't turned her down then.
Despite his misgivings, riding tandem was surprisingly simple, even if it was dangerous. All Marco had to do was hold onto Jackie from behind while she guided them along the sidewalks. They weren't even really going that fast, only hardly topping out above running speed.
It just felt fast.
"This is not safe…" he resumed his mutterings.
The sun was beginning to set when they alighted upon their destination: Echo Creek's very own sad excuse for a waterfront amusement park.
"The pier?" Marco couldn't keep the disappointment from his voice. Living next to a small amusement park might have seemed fun, but Marco had never indulged. The entire area wasn't much more than a stubby ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, a spinning contraption that everyone called the scrambled egg machine, and a bunch of game stalls designed to take money from tourists.
"Yep." The pair dismounted the board, and Jackie snatched it up before grabbing Marco's wrist. "C'mon."
To his surprise, it wasn't the ferris wheel she led them towards, instead veering towards the game kiosks and only further underlining the fact that he had completely lost the thread of what they were doing.
"I think these are probably rigged," he offered, to which Jackie gave him another funny look.
"Not for me."
They approached the first stand, and the attendant looked up from her newspaper. "Sorry kids, we're just about to - oh hey, Jackie! Aren't you still, uh, banned for life?"
"Why are you banned from an amusement park?" Marco interjected before he could stop himself.
Jackie didn't answer, instead giving her attention to the attendant. "Can I owe you a favor?" She asked. The attendant took that as her cue to steal a glance at Marco.
"For your date? Eh, sure. But you owe me one. And no prizes!"
She handed over a set of roughly wrist-sized hoops for the game. It was a standard affair - rows of milk bottles stood under the tarp, a throw's distance away.
The attendant disappeared around a corner a moment later, and by the time she returned, Jackie had already sunk every ring she'd been given, perfectly.
"Still got it!" The woman whistled. "Everyone else knows the score, so have fun."
With that, they set off. Jackie towed Marco between the different stalls, each one more of the same. The next was an aiming challenge involving air rifles. Then an odd variant of the claw game. And so on. Each time, the attendant knew her by name, and each time, she dominated the challenge. Each time, Marco grew more amazed.
They finished the last challenge just in time. With the sun now touching the sea, somewhere on the pier someone shouted "Close 'em up!" and every attendant present began packing up their game.
While they walked down the dock and past the ferris wheel, the attractions folded themselves up around them.
Marco had asked - repeatedly, and despite himself - how Jackie managed to be so good at the games, to no response. Fortunately, the spell seemed to have some kind of grace period so he didn't have to keep rehearsing the line every few seconds, but still. As the two stood and observed the sun dipping below the horizon, the compulsion was increasing to ask for a fifth go-around.
Rather than meet the spell's demand, Marco shifted tracks. Jackie was looking out at the water, a little forlorn despite her previous display of skill, when he caught her eye. "You're awesome," he said.
Her frown deepened. "Marco, you are… ugh!"
"Did you not know I'm constantly thinking that before we started?" Marco tried to keep his tone light, but worries were starting to cross his own mind. "Because to be honest, I have no idea what else to say. Still."
"I'm not awesome!" Jackie burst out. "All of that is the opposite of awesome!"
She marched Marco to a nearby shack and pushed him toward the window. "Look!"
Inside, still lit up, was the prize shop for the stall winners. It looked like a Jackie-porium. It wasn't a large room, but Marco had seen everything in it before.
Her teal-and-white shirt lined entire racks, some sporting logos for the carnival, accompanied by lines of backpacks that were identical to hers. Pencils, notebooks, even shoes - everything her. On the back wall, there was even a set of skateboard decks that had the same design she used.
"This is what I waste time on." Jackie explained. "I got so good that they banned me. Because I thought it'd be cool."
Marco, though was only more confused. "It… is cool? It seems cool that you're so good at this stuff. I can't do any of that!"
"Well I don't," Jackie said sharply. "You're way cooler than I am."
"I don't think I heard you right." Marco turned to face her. "You just said I'm cooler than you?"
"I spent months learning how to do this stuff, because my parents kicked me out during the day for playing too many video games." Jackie was only getting angrier. "This is stupid! All I'm good at is skateboarding and carnival games, and you're so much more... together!"
"That's not -" Marco started, but Jackie was on a roll, now.
"Which one of us fights monsters?" She demanded.
"Technically me, but -"
"Which one of us is even able to fight monsters?" Jackie cut him off again.
"Me. But -"
"What's your GPA?" She persisted.
"Huh?"
"Your grades, what are your grades?"
"A 4.0." Marco mumbled.
"Why are you mumbling! That's amazing! Mine's 2.8!" Jackie exclaimed. "I suck at school! I learned to do this," she motioned toward the claw game next to her, "instead of learning karate, picking up a sport, or learning how to study!"
Before she could continue, Marco rounded on her. "Which one of us knows how to skateboard? Which one of us actually knows how to have fun? Which one of us can actually talk to the other person in complete sentences without a spell, and also, this is not a good place to have this argument!"
True enough, the former stall attendants were all watching. A few were openly staring, but most had the courtesy to at least pretend to be hiding or cleaning up.
Jackie threw her arms wide, turned a circle and shouted. "Are you not entertained? Who cares! I'm a fake! Look at me everyone, big ol' fake that just tries to be cool for everyone else!"
"So what!" Marco got louder to match. "Hey everyone, safe kid over here! He needs a 5-step process to pick out clothes, even though he wears the same thing every day! The only interesting thing about him is the people he hangs out with!"
"You are not a safe kid!" Jackie shouted at him. It felt good. She hadn't blown her top in a long time.
"I am so, but you are actually cool, and I can't lie!" Marco shouted back.
After this, they both paused, looking at the entire crowd now openly gawking at them from a few yards away.
"You guys need counseling!" Shouted someone in the back.
As a pair, the two teens turned and walked the other direction, heading out to the edge of the longest pier. The sun had all but finished it's day, the water pink and turning purple at the edges.
Jackie was the first to let out a quiet giggle. Marco did a moment later, his a little less restrained.
Before long, they were both shaking with laughter.
"That felt really good." Jackie admitted. "I haven't been angry in awhile."
Marco nodded. "I still think you're cool, though. But maybe after yelling at you, I'll be able to talk to you like a normal person."
Jackie smiled, and they sat at a bench at the tip of the pier. She put her hand over his, between them, but when he recalled the previous conversation, Marco didn't find such an action nearly as nerve-wracking as he would've six hours ago.
He let his mind wander. "If this was a story, this would be the part where you realize that we're terrible for each other and my true calling is something too far away for you, and that I'm probably better off with someone else. And then I'd deny it, but you'd say that it's true! And I'd just go with it for some reason."
"What?" Jackie snickered. "No, dude, that'd be terrible writing. Imagine building a relationship up like that and then ending it so stupid! No, if this was a rom-com, this would be the part where the couple has their first kiss, and realizes that they were totally meant for each other, and then has their happily-ever-after." She cracked a genuine smile - the first one all evening.
"Well I don't feel like that at all," Marco said absently, waited a moment, and blanched. Jackie continued giggling next to him. "No, I mean - uh, shoot! - you're still great, which is what I just said a minute ago, but I mean, like, I want to get to know you better first! And besides, we already had our first kiss!"
Jackie recalled the instance - being damselfied (and mostly undressed) in some weird author's magic story, locking lips with Marco just because he was the protagonist and she was the love interest. She couldn't stand the trope, and hadn't watched an episode of The Second-Hand Crusade since.
"That doesn't count," she said. "That was just magic."
"Well, there's still magic," Marco reasoned, and gestured mildly to himself. "Maybe we should go on a date that doesn't involve magic."
"And make the magic ourselves, hmm?" Jackie wagged her eyebrows, and Marco laughed.
"You sound like Janna."
Jackie laughed too.
"Well, can you help me study this weekend? I could use the help, and maybe we could play some video games after" She suggested.
"That sounds nice. And I'll not be under a spell that time. Probably."
"Probably." Jackie agreed. "Then it's a date. A non-magic… date."
While Marco and Jackie went their separate ways and headed home, Janna and Tom were enjoying pizza at the most expensive parlor in Echo Creek. She'd been there exactly twice for birthday parties (neither of them hers), but since Tom was buying, she figured, why not splurge?
It was every bit as good as the cost implied.
"So," Tom hefted a loaded slice. "I'm thinking we meet up, oh, a couple times a month? You get to come hang out with me, we'll kill some time, maybe go on an adventure, and my mom doesn't marry me to the princess-that-will-not-be-named."
"Whuddabout work?" Janna asked around her own slice.
Tom only shrugged, and flicked an olive off his next bite. "Keep coming when you can, I guess. The Union likes his breaks."
Janna considered this. The part of her that had once repeatedly defaced her school wanted to ask, 'what's in it for me?' but she couldn't help recalling what Tom had said when she'd tracked him down the previous day. Can't say you've ever just popped by.
Her decent humanity won out, and she stuck out a greasy hand. "Deal."
Tom shook it, pulling a face as he did, then inhaled the remainder of his slice and stood up. "Well then, not to eat and run, but I actually really need to go tell my mom. When I left she was looking at seating arrangements."
Janna smirked. "If it still happens, make sure I'm front row."
"Yeah. See you Janna, and… thanks."
With that, he disappeared in a bout of flame, leaving naut but a minor scorch mark behind on the floor.
Janna mused as she finished the rest of the pie, determined to leave none on the table. It hadn't exactly been how she'd pictured the afternoon going, but somehow, she was okay with it.
As she left the parlor, she wondered if Marco's night had gone any better.
No comment response this time. Appreciate seeing your thoughts, though!
On the next episode of Janna Vs The Forces Of Teen Drama, we get back to plot! With Mewni's magic shrine acting up something fierce, Janna's called into action to help Tom capture a magic siphon device from deep within the bowels of Toffee's castle. Meanwhile, what was supposed to be a normal babysitting job for Marco and Jackie turns into something quite a bit more action-filled than they were expecting.
Join us next time for the next episode: Results & Consequences
