Down to the wire on this one here, ladies and gents. It's the bottom of the ninth, two outs and two strik- I mean... I have two exams left haha.
Heya folks it's Watermalone here with another installment of Ripples!
Not much to say after that, so onto reviews!
As always, an especial thanks to EVAunit42: Yay! Good thing you liked it otherwise that'd be really awkward to explain haha.
PROJECT K: Um... Um... Um... N-no? (How'd you find out my secret identity? HOW?) Haha just kidding of course, all joking aside, GolfAlphaMike is singly one of the most talented writers I have ever seen in this community, so if anything, I'm glad you compare my work to such high standards set by him, despite the fact that I don't personally feel quite at that level.
Romantic Sloth: Thank you! Here's hoping you like the next chapter too!
Lupus Boulevard: Haha thanks, and with regards to that whole preteen thing, I didn't want to call them teenagers because that would make them sound too old, they're definitely too old to be called children, and 'early adolescents' didn't exactly roll off the tongue in the heat of the moment. But good eye my dear reader... Good eye... *disappears into shadows*
totallyobsessedwithSVTFOE: Haha I've had my fair share of digging through lost and founds as a kid and I can fully say without a doubt, that was probably about as romantic as I could make it. Like... Believe me... I was sugar coating that... they're gross.
Okie dokie onto the chapter! As always, synopsis is posted in these intros explaining a definite time frame to be referenced by, along with a brief summary!
Synopsis: (Grade 3) Weeks after Star and Marco had met, Marco holds his first birthday party ever since moving to Echo Creek.
And without further ado, I present a little bit more emotional installment of Ripples. Hope you all enjoy!
Dis show isn't something I can claim... Er... See what I did there? Dis... Claim... Er...? Never mind...
"Maybe I'll give it a chance. A shot in the dark, y'know? Besides, he seems pretty nice…?"
Star stared at the ornate handle of the red wooden door, clutching the piece of paper close to her heart.
Slowly, she reached towards the doorbell, hand slightly wavering. Her fingertip was mere inches away from the button.
It was so close. It would be so easy to just lean a bit forward and accidentally press it, sending her on a spiraling journey into the future. A dam, filled to the brim with adventure and possibility, threatening to burst at its seams.
Yet, she faltered. Her arm dropped to her side as she stared at her shoes. What was the point? It didn't matter whether or not she went forward with this. And besides, what did this even boy mean to her? Apart from that one fateful day…
She clenched her jaw and balled her fists up in anger. No, not anger. Frustration. But who was she frustrated with? Her mind dove into frantic accusations. She was angry, er- frustrated at Lars and his gang for being giant jerks. At this boy, for saving her. At herself, for being so weak…
Star lifted up her arm and slammed her still clenched fist against the doorbell, a solemn chime rang through the home.
She inhaled deeply, half expecting the door to fly open any second, revealing crowds of people and a gust of random and exotic smells wafting through the doorway.
Instead, she stood there, waiting, in silence.
Star tilted her head quizzically. Perhaps she only imagined that she struck the doorbell. Maybe she had actually reached that sort of level of cowardice where she would even hallucinate these acts of courage.
She was just about ready to spin on her heel and leave when the red door creaked open slightly. Her ears perked up as she tried to maintain posture.
As it turned out, it wasn't required. Behind the small sliver of light that shone through the crack in the doorway, she could make out the figure of a short boy, dressed in a red hoodie. But otherwise, the inside of the house seemed rather too calm and somber for what the occasion should have been.
"H-hi." Star managed to stutter out that much.
The door opened wider, revealing the boy in his entirety, however now, with two figures standing behind him.
"Oh! Marco, is this one of your friends?" The woman's voice was soft and kind, light and happy.
Marco remained unresponsive. He seemed to be in complete shock, as though Star standing before him was just a figment of his imagination.
"Marco, aren't you going to introduce us?" The man's voice was deep and slightly accented, but with equal amounts of kind and jolly undertones.
Star felt beyond confused. What was going on? Was she the first to arrive? Or was no one else…
"Um… My name is Star Butterfly. I-I met Marco a few weeks ago…"
"Well, Star, how about you come in and make yourself at home? We have cake and soda if you would like any." The door, which Marco had latched onto at this point, swung fully open, causing him to trip over and fall.
He quickly recovered and scampered behind his parent's legs.
With the door fully opened, Star took a shaky step into the home, allowing herself to gain a full view of the interior.
It was festively decorated, with an intentional Latino theme to it. Cacti and ferns littered the home, from the staircase on the left, to the corners of the dining room, even atop the mantle of the fireplace. An assortment of painted pictures hung in the comfy looking living room, most of which were completely unrecognizable, but had a wide variety of color and a rather... interesting arrangement.
But what really caught her eye was the dining table. Or the room itself, instead.
Lining the bricks of the arch separating the kitchen and dining hall, was a white banner, scrawled in cursive but colorful paint and splattered with glitter.
Happy 8th Birthday Marco Diaz!
The scene made Star's heart plummet further as she slowly made her way deeper into the home. On the table sat a lone birthday cake; untouched, intact, and drooping from being ignored for too long. The candles that should have been lit with the soft warm glow of flames now looked diminished and weak, with small wisps of smoke still exhaling from the tips.
No one else had come. Marco Diaz, the new kid, the boy who had practically saved her life, had been alone and forgotten on his own birthday.
Wandering his house, Star felt like a phantom, living through the cold nightmares of every child. To feel abandoned, castaway by peers, and unaccepted. Sure he was the new kid, but that didn't mean he deserved this.
Star had remembered the first day of school and how Marco shyly went back and forth from student to student, hesitantly handing out invitations to everyone. The strange looks he got in reply, the awkward exchange of smiles, the false look of promise in their eyes.
And then he approached her.
"H-hey S-Star… I- er… I'm…"
What could she do? Say no? Of course not, she wasn't heartless. In fact she was quite thrilled. Not many people really enjoyed Star's company. That wasn't to say she particularly cared, most of the people at ECA were bone-headed losers anyways. But Marco seemed different, and if she was going to make contact with anyone, why not start with him?
"Your birthday party? Sure, I'd love to!"
Seeing the look of exasperated relief spread across his lips was absolutely heart warming.
Star just never understood how much it truly meant until now.
"S-so thanks… for um… coming I mean…"
"Huh?" Star turned around to see Marco, still standing by the doorway, unguarded by his parents. "Oh, yeah I-I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Marco turned his head away, appearing to mumble something completely inaudible to himself.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
His cheeks flushed red. "N-no. It's... nothing."
A moment passed in awkward silence.
"Um… if you don't have anything to do, I-I mean unless you do then I guess… never mind…"
Star's eyes widened. "No no no, I don't at all! If you wanted to, y'know, play or something, I think that'd be fun!"
"Really?" He emitted sort of a smile, even though it was difficult to tell. Nonetheless, seeing him at all happy, was sort of… cute. "Well, I've got a bunch of video games upstairs, if you wanna play anything?"
"Hmm…" Star scanned the boy up and down. Surely he didn't have…
"I've got Ninja Zombie Slayer 3, I know it just came out but-"
She grinned at the title. Every boy at school was completely fawning over it, each desperately begging their respective parents to buy it for them.
"Um, yeah sure! Why not?" In truth, Star wasn't really into video games. She preferred reading from her parent's personal library, but one game couldn't hurt, right? Especially if it was to make Marco happy.
"Awesome! Follow me!" Marco quickly dashed up the staircase towards his room, Star, instinctive to follow, placed the piece of paper she had been holding onto this entire time onto the dining table, before pursuing him.
It was a birthday card. Poorly decorated with the subtlety and randomness of a child, but every detail put into it was to the best of her ability.
Happy Birthday Marco! Had been scribbled across the top with an assortment of coloured markers and then sprayed with glitter. On the inside of the front cover was a lollipop, excessively taped over and over to prevent it from falling out.
But on the right side, was an image of a boy, dressed in a red hoodie, again, poorly drawn, but standing over top a group of larger boys with X's over their eyes, his arms raised in triumph. An arrow pointed to Marco labelled 'Hero', the pile of unconscious bodies labelled 'Bullies'.
And with that concludes a brand new Ripple. Hopefully you all enjoyed it!
Now for a bit of news, coming this winter break I'm going to be updating my other short story Silhouettes again (shameless promotion is shameless), which means this story will be put on pause temporarily. Don't worry, it won't be too soon, after all, there is a certain holiday themed installment I'd like for you all to read... (Gee wonder what holiday that is?) Not to mention the break will only be for as long as I intend to continue the other story.
Of course, as always, reviews and comments are deeply appreciated, I know I've been super busy these past few weeks, but luckily exams are almost done so that means I'll definitely have time to not only do more writing, but get back into the community as well!
