Hello again everyone! Thank you for tuning back into Life on Earthni-this has been such a fun series to write. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. We are in the endgame now-just a couple of chapters left. And let me tell you-thinking of something with an 'X' in it was hard to come up with but once I thought of xylophone, it kind of began to flow. Anyway, I don't own Star vs the Forces of Evil. Hope you enjoy this story.

24). Xylophone Prodigy

"Okay, Butterfly. Let's do this." Meteora muttered to herself as she walked onto the Echo Creek Academy Cornball field. She glanced left and right, seeing different players stretching or tossing a ball back and forth to one another. A couple of her old teammates waved at her as she passed. Giving a sad smile, Meteora waved back as she continued forward.

And swerved to the left, face-planting into someone's chest.

Straightening up, she backed up to see the coach stood with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed at her. "What are you doing here, Butterfly? You know you were kicked off the team last year for excessive aggressive contact. Get off the field."

Hands balling into fists, Meteora jutted her chin up and glared at him straight in the eye. "I'm not here for you, 'Sir'." Sarcasm dripped off her words. The coach narrowed his eyes as she continued. "I'm here for band tryouts. I'm going for the drumline." Though, if Meteora was honest with herself-that was only part of the reason. She and Mariposa had had many a late-night sleepovers discussing joining the high school band so she could at least go to the games for free. And if one of the players got hurt-they'd HAVE to ask her to play and she'd be back on the team…But she wasn't about to tell him that!

"Drumline?" The coach laughed, throwing his hands on his stomach. "That's a first. You can't just walk in and make the drumline-those kids are the cream of the corn crop." He shook his head, walking away. "Drumline. HA!" As he walked away, Meteora narrowed her eyes at him. What did he know?

"Meteora! HEY!" Whirling around, she saw Mari racing up to her in her Echo Creek Cornball Uniform. "Have you tried out yet?"

Shaking her head, Meteora shrugged her shoulders as she glared over at coach. "No-but I'm about to punch in his stupid face."

Mariposa looked over at coach and winced before looking back at her best friend. "Yeah…he's a total jerk. But sophomore year! We are totally gonna rule this school!" Meteora rolled her eyes at her best friend affectionately as Mariposa began to speak faster and faster. Something she and her brother had in common. "I mean-if you're on the drumline and I'm on the cornball team, we will totally know everyone in school and get invited to all the cool kid parties. Though, it would be cooler if you were on the team too. I mean-" She began to use air quotes as she spoke, causing Meteora to laugh. "You're too 'aggressive' and caused 'too many bodily injuries to our opposing teams' and you are 'a danger to others around you' or whatever." Mariposa sucked in a deep breath. Meteora took this time to slap a hand over her mouth with a giggle.

"Thanks for the support, Mari. But I gotta get ready to go to tryouts. And shouldn't you be at practice?" The pair glanced over at the team, who had gathered around coach. He seemed to be pounding his fist and raising his voice with each sentence.

With a shrug, Mariposa took Meteora's hand off her mouth with a smile. "Nah. I wanna watch you try out. And you know coach. He just started his monologue on past failures as a team." She checked the time on her compact mirror in her pocket before looked back up. "So we have about an hour, maybe an hour and a half before practice starts back up." Dipping her head to her best friend, she cocked her head to the side. "You feel ready for tryouts? You're totally going to make it!"

Smiling, Meteora cracked her knuckles as she turned toward the band members arriving at the stands. "Oh-I'm ready. I've been practicing all summer with my mom. Did you know she plays guitar? She wanted to start a mother-daughter band but I put a stop to that real quick." Noticing everyone beginning to line up, Meteora jogged over to the group. "Wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Mari cried as she jogged to the stands to watch her best friend try out.

As Meteora leapt into the crowd, she bumped shoulders with someone. "Oops, sorry, I-oh, never mind. It's you." She turned back toward the director, who had started to direct different students to different instruments.

"Well. Well. Well. What are you doing here, Butterfly? Slumming it with the band geeks?" Meteora gritted her teeth together as she glared forward, unsuccessfully ignoring the boy next to her. Dumb Carter. He just thought he was so cool and awesome and cute. Just because he had dimples and handsome yellow eyes and some chiseled jawbone on top of a swimmer body with strong horse legs doesn't mean he was cool or awesome or…well, okay. She'd give him cute. She grunted at the monster boy as she continued to listen for her name. Finally, the director called her name.

"Meteora Butterfly? Huh, thought you would be playing on the team. Well, welcome to the band. You're at…xylophone two."

"XYLOPHONE?! But I have been practicing the snare and tenor drums!" She cried out. Carter snickered and she swore he heard him say, "Lol. Xylophone. What a loser."

"Sorry, Ms. Butterfly. But you have to work your way up to the tenor or snare drum." The director dipped her head forward, one of her snakes for hair flickering their tongue at her while others pointed her toward the xylophone. Growing red, she balled her fists and stomped over to the xylophone. She had to resist taking the instrument and lifting it over her head and tossing it at Carter's stupid, handsome face.

The director glanced down again at the list, looking up at who was left in the group and spotted Carter in the crowd. "Ahh, yes. Our star swimmer and musician. Mr. Carter Man-Carver, xylophone one." Carter's mouth dropped in shock and Meteora chuckled to herself.

As he stalked over to the instrument next to her, she glanced over at him with a smirk on her face. "Wow. Xylophone. I thought you said losers play xylophone."

"Shut up, Butter-flop."

Taking up her mallets, Meteora sighed as she looked up at the director. Her snaky hair looked at each student-somehow she had just enough snakes to have an eye on each individual student. The director called out to the high schoolers. "First, let's start with a C major scale. Ready? One-two-three." Using her hands, she directed the drumline. Each bass drum played their drum, the tenors and steel drums practicing in unison. The snares held a steady rhythm. Meteora and Carter glanced at one another before turning back and playing the C scale. "Very good. Snares, remember to keep tempo. Now, C minor. One. Two. Three."

The director began to direct each scale, the instruments either kept time or played the notes as a team. Meteora and Carter would glare at one another before each scale. To Meteora's surprise and delight, she was able to play each scale perfectly. Maybe those scales her mom taught her hadn't been a waste of time! When playing the B-minor scale, Carter played with one hand while wiggling his eyebrows at the former princess. Meteora threw her mallet like a boomerang and somehow (Meteora wasn't sure how she did it but she didn't care) played F-major. Carter snorted, stomping his hooves angrily as she winked at him with a grin.

"Woohoo! Way to go, Meteora!" Mariposa called from the stands. Meteora smiled over at her friend then grimaced as coach's voice blasted over a megaphone.

"Diaz! Time to get your butt off the stands and start practice! Now move it or you'll be off the team like Butterfly over there and forced to play 'Twinkle-twinkle Little Star' until your fingers bleed!" Mariposa and Meteora caught each other's eyes.

Not looking away from Meteora, Mari called over to the coach. "But what about reviewing the play tapes, Sir? We haven't done that from last season." The Cornball coach straightened up indignantly, pushing over two kids onto the ground.

"You-go get the tv!" He pointed at a small Mewman kid who blinked rapidly through big, brown eyes. The coach dashed over to the nearest building, throwing open the doors. "Wait there or it's a week of leg day." He disappeared into the building as each cornball player breathed out a breath of relief. Mariposa shrugged her shoulders and grinned over at Meteora, causing the former princess to grin. And that was why they were best friends.

The director then had each instrument play individually, giving time for Meteora to look over the music sheet in front of her. Something about it was really familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had heard the song before. "So why you here, Butterfly?" Jerking her head up, she narrowed her eyes at Carter.

"Why are YOU here? Shouldn't you be working on a back-stroke or something?"

"It's off season for swimming and I actually care about what this band." He tossed his head, causing his shoulders to ripple. Meteora bit her lip as she looked at him then jerked her head back down to the music. Dumb Carter with his dumb muscles.

"I care." She said, not looking up from her music sheet.

He narrowed his eyes at her, crossing his arms. He accidentally stabbed himself with his mallet, which he grunted and thrust them down on the instrument. "You don't care. All you care about is getting close to the Cornball field." He snatched up his own music, glaring down at it. "You don't care about anything but yourself and your stupid game. Some people actually care about what the band does."

Head snapping up, she stared in shock at Carter. Since when did he care about anything but himself? Her eyes softened as she noticed Mariposa cock her head in the background. Just as she opened her mouth to ask him what he meant by that, the director interrupted her thoughts. "Ms. Butterfly. Mr. Man-Carver. It's time for you to try out our marching number for this year. You've probably heard of it. It is by a famous Mewman musician named…" She paused as she looked back down at the paper. "Ruberiot. This is called the Ballad of Star Butterfly. Huh." She looked back up at Meteora. "Any relation to you, Ms. Butterfly?"

Meteora's mouth hung open in shock as Mariposa got out her mirror to begin recording the session with a smirk. Star's Song Day song. How did she not recognize it? Clearing her throat, Meteora shook her head. "Uhh, nope. No relation." Well, not technically…She took up her mallets, nodding her head to the director.

With a shrug, the director looked over at Carter. "Mr. Man-Carver, why don't you take the first verse?" Carter glared at Meteora as he took up his own mallets and began to play. Meteora blinked. He was good. Really good. A small smile grew on his face as he played, showing his dimples. Meteora blushed, instantly facing down at her instrument. With a flourish, he finished the verse, smirking over at her.

"Top that, Butter-flop."

Narrowing her eyes, she straightened up her shoulders and raised her mallets. "Just watch me, Sea-goat."

"Ohh, good burn, Meteora!" Mariposa called, laughing at Carter's blush.

Taking a deep breath, Meteora cleared her mind as she began to play. She accidentally hit the wrong note on the first try. She glanced over at the director. "Can I start again?!" Dipping her head, the director sighed. Each snake hissed in annoyance. Shaking out her fingers, Meteora took up her mallets and looked at the sheet. Well, better now than never.

She began to play the next verse, murmuring the words under her breath. She couldn't WAIT to tell Star they were playing her Song Day song in band. She'd hate it! The music began to flow from her hands. The melody floated through the air, causing her to smile as she began to continue to play the music. "She's a rebel princess, she's the best. She's a ball of lightning in a hot pink dress." It was like she was getting swept up in the music. Meteora closed her eyes, instinct taking over as she continued to play. Each note was like an extension of her soul. Suddenly, she reached the end of the melody as the music changed keys.

With a jolt, Meteora opened her eyes and blinked at everyone. Carter, the director, and all the other students were staring at her in shock. Even Mariposa's mouth hung open as she looked over her mirror which had recorded the whole thing. Blinking rapidly, Meteora blushed and tucked her arms behind her back. "Soooo, how about that song, right?"

The director's hair swayed, each snake seemingly hypnotized. With a nod, she turns toward Carter and gestured her head. "Wow. Um, Mr. Man-Carver…could you play the last page with Ms. Butterfly? Starting at…wow…the fourth measure?" Carter merely nodded, looking at Meteora with a funny look on his face that she couldn't quite read. Turning back to the music, she turned the page to the last part. Sucking in a breath, she raised her mallet and began to play.

The music began to flow again, but this time there was a richness to it. Glancing to her left, Meteora noticed a smile growing on Carter's face as he began to harmonize with her. To her shock, she realized she was grinning right back at him. Keeping their eyes on one another, the pair continued to play as the words ran through Meteora's head. "A prince of the princess's deepest desire. I don't need to show it, I think we all know it…" The music grew louder, each chord that was struck adding a deep sound that resonated around the whole field. Finally, the last few measures grew in a crescendo, ending with multiple chords ringing throughout the field as the song ended. Meteora and Carter both grinned at one another, sweat pouring down their faces. A blush crept on her face when suddenly she jumped as a wall of sound hit her.

Turning to the side, she saw the whole Cornball team, band, and Mariposa all cheering, giving a huge applause. One kid on a bass drum wiped away a tear. Turning toward the director, Meteora raised a cocky eyebrow. The snakes in her hair wiggled happily but she kept a face of stone. "Play like that at the next game and you're in the band." She glanced at Carter and nodded at him too. "Both of you. Just…don't stuff mallets down each other's throats and we will be fine." She looked down at her list. "Okay, next is cymbals. Ms. Prickle?" As she walked off, Meteora caught Carter's eye.

Before she could say anything to him, something tackled her from behind. "OH MY GOSH! You were amazing, Meteora!" Turning around in the hug, Meteora grinned at her best friend. Mariposa let go but continued to jump up and down in excitement. "I mean-I never realized you were so good! Can you believe-"

"DIAZ! WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY TIME-WE WATCHED THOSE TAPES IN OFF-SEASON!" Mariposa paled as their coach stalked over to her, arms crossed over his chest. Turning around, she gave him a small innocent smile but he narrowed his eyes at her. "Diaz, give me ten laps. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

Springing to action, Mariposa dashed down the stands, hopped the arm rail, and began jogging around the cornball field. The coach turned to Meteora and snorted. "Nice song." As he walked off, she stuck out her tongue at him.

Turning around, Meteora gasped as she almost bumped into Carter. He blinked rapidly, quickly stepping back from her. "Oh, hey. Congratulations, Butterfly."

Smiling, she dipped her head. "You too, Man-Carver."

"Just…call me Carter."

Heat rushing to her cheeks, she nodded at him. "You played super well. I mean-we both did, at the end there…we sounded so good together. I mean-"

"Yeah, you did too." Was he blushing? Before she could tell, he put an arm behind his head and stretched. "Seriously, you did great. Sorry I said you didn't care-it's just music is really important to me. And I guess I just get protective of my friends. I think we both are that way." He glanced over at Mariposa, who was sweating profusely (it was a family trait) as she jogged around the field. "Anyway, you could be a prodigy-but it could have been my influence."

Crossing her arms across her chest, she raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

Smirking, causing one dimple to pop up (which caused Meteora's heart to flutter, even though she would never admit it) he smiled at her. "Why not test it out Friday night-just to see if you really are as good as you think you are. Maybe we could grab dinner after?"

Meteora's jaw dropped. Did he just-"Of course she will!" Swinging to the side, the pair saw Mariposa jogging in place nearby, obviously eavesdropping. Meteora bit her lip and looked at Carter, her tail twitching.

"Sure. Why not?" Carter's face split into a big smile as he began to back away then jogged off to the school. Meteora looked back at her best friend, shaking her head in amusement. "You're a mess, you know that?"

"You still love me!" Mariposa called back, saluting her.

"DIAZ! THIS ISN'T SOCIAL HOUR! GIVE ME ANOTHER FIVE LAPS! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

Lol-I don't know about you, but I have had some crazy coaches like that. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. Could Mariposa and Meteora get their own spin-off series already? I also picture Meteora being boy-crazy, like of like how she liked Rasticore so much! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter-it was fun to write. I do both music and sports so it is fun to see how much people care about both sports and music and how both are super cool. Thank you for following, favoriting, commenting, and most of all reading my stories. Only two more left-and they are all Star and Marco! Hope you enjoy. Thank you again and until next time!

Sugar: Thanks for your positivity. There is a light side and a dark side to every occupation. (Except ice cream makers-there is nothing evil about that.) Lawyers can be both good and bad and I wanted to show how law can be used to make a difference. Thank you again!

Starco4everr: Thank you for your encouragement! I always appreciate it! Hope you enjoy the last couple of chapters.

Blackspiderman: Yay! So glad you liked that chapter-it honestly is my favorite one! The next two chapters will focus on Star and Marco-because they are the last two chapters of the series! Thank you for your encouragement. Hope you like the last couple of stories.