Marco heard his name announced through the loudspeaker, calling him to the principals.
"Looks like I'm in trouble." He muttered to himself, and walked over to the door.
"Do I need a hall pass?"
"Just go." Miss Skullnick said, so Marco walked to the principals office, where the principal was standing right outside of his office, next to a girl with blonde hair who was toying with the water fountain.
"Marco! I want you to meet our new foreign exchange student – Star Butterfly." Principal Skeeves said, and Star stopped playing with the water fountain to wave, before messing with it again.
"Uh...ok."
"I need a responsible, never-take-chances type to keep an eye on her, and who better than you, the safe kid?"
"A lot of people."
"Ha. Funny. I think. Anyway, just show her around. Be her friend." Principal Skeeves whispered. Star still heard him, but still.
"What?! No-no-no-no! I am completely wrong for this. Nope." Marco hissed, but he truely knew he had to do this whether he wanted to or not. Which he didn't.
"Just do it. I'm not asking you become her best friend overnight, I just want you to make sure she doesn't light the school on fire or commit any crimes. Do you think you can handle that?"
"Sure." Marco put his hands into his hoodie pocket, and the principal left the school grounds, off to who knows where.
"Hi." Star stuck her hand out.
"Hey. I'm Marco. Star, right?" He said, and Star nodded. They made brief eye contact, and they reconized each other in an instant. They didn't say anything, but they did.
"Nice to meet you." Star half curtsied.
"Geez. What are you, a princess or something?"
"Uh...yeah."
"Good one."
"I'm serious but ok." Marco rolled his eyes.
"Ok. I'll show you around, I guess."
"Look. We're in the same boat here. I don't want to be your friend and you don't want to be mine, so you might as well just go back to class. I can figure it out on my own."
"Works fine with me, just be careful, I was basically told to not let you break the law."
"No breaking the law. Got it."
"Ok. I'm going home." Marco shook his head, leaving the entire endeavor behind him as he headed home, and neither of them would have known that they would be friends for the rest of their lives.
Marco reached in his pocket for his keys, as he stood on the doorstep, hearing laughing from inside.
"Dang it Janna." He muttered as he found his pocket empty, but tried the knob, and walked into his parents, his baby sister, Mariposa,...and Star.
"Oh, Marco! Come meet the new foreign exchange student who's gonna be living with us!" Mr. Diaz said, and Marco was holding back the urge to facepalm.
"You've got to be kidding me." He said.
"Hey Marco." Star said.
"Marco, why don't you show Star her new room?" Mrs. Diaz suggested, holdind Mariposa on her lap. Marco nodded before taking Star upstairs. He offered to carry the trunk, but Star just used her magic to float it up the stairs. Marco stared.
"What the heck did you just do?" He asked at the top of the stairs.
"Magic. Oh yeah. You don't have it here. That's what Mom said."
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Why would I be kidding?" Star seemed colder then she had at school. More standoffish.
"Literal magic."
"Yup. Which one's my room?"
"This one." Marco said, opening the door.
"I can work with this." Star said, looking around the room. Marco braced himself as she pulled out her wand to poof up fairy lights, which she hung up around the walls and bed.
"I'm...gonna go do homework. I'm right across the hall if you need anything. And my parents are downstairs."
"Thanks." Star said, pulling out her compact.
Not less then 15 minutes later Marco heard thuds and magic sounds, and then a knock on the door. He opened it, and Marco couldv'e sworn his jaw dropped to the floor. A monster was holding
"Help." Star said, ver voice barely more then a whisper.
"What the-"
"Shut up and help me!" Star screamed.
"This...this is not what I meant." Marco stepped out of his room, slamming the door behind him. Marco grabbed Star from the monsters grasp. Monsters charged towards them. She clutched her wand, and Marco jumped in front of her, kicking the monster.
"You...you can fight." Star said.
"It's called karate." Marco said with a shrug, before keeping a few more monsters off their tails.
"You any good?" Star asked, and Marco gave her a look that said, dang-right-I'm-good-but-I'm-not-going-to-brag.
"Ok then." Star held the wand in her hand, before coming up with spells on the spot. In probably no less then 5 minutes, Ludo took out his dimensional scissors.
"No...You see, you morons?! This is what happens when you don't work out! Your muscles are like pudding! Come on, back in the portal, back in the portal." Ludo ushered the monsters through the muddy brown portal, each one of them covered in bruises.
"Beaten by two teenagers...I swear..." Ludo muttered, going through the portal last, glaring at Marco and Star. Mostly Star.
"So...uh...that happened." Star said.
"No kidding! You...literally brought monsters here."
"I didn't get a choice about coming here to Earth, and you didn't get a choice about having to deal with me. I'll find someplace else to live, and I'll be out of your hair." Stair said, her hands behind her back. Marco's expression softened.
"That was amazing! I was amazng, so were you- We were amazing."
"Yeah. I guess we were. ...Well... I should probably go pack my bags." Star headed back to her room, and Marco stopped her, holding onto her shoulder.
"Wait! I don't want you to go. I want you to stay with us."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. So...should we clean up this mess?" Marco gestured to the mess they'd made of the hallway.
"Yeah." Star said, chuckling, and Marco opened a closet and handed her a broom, and took one himself.
"Are there gonna be monsters attacking us all the time?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Star shrugged, and the two cleaned up the mess.