I return! Hullo! Is Selphie, Lord of birds, Brownies, and socks! This is my latest Mario story. Surprisingly, this one has not already been finished like my previous two, "The First Adventure" and "The Next Friend Found." Yeah, well, I don't feel like boring you right now. So, on with the story!

Disclaimer: All I own is Jessie, Ian, Nicole and a new friend who will appear in a later chapter. I do not own anything from Mario. I do not own "Calling All Angels," "My Private Nation," or any other song by Train for that matter. I don't own "Fallin'" or any of Alicia Keys' other songs (not that I know any others). I don't own "My World" or any of Avril Lavigne's other songs. If there's anything else that I think of that I don't own (appearing in the story of course) I will let you know promptly.

By the way, there are a few parts in this story where I played around with font so that everyone would have their own special handwriting. Examples of this are at the end of the invitation and the message from Jessie to Nicole. It won't appear when I post this, but I just wanted to let you know because it's important to me for some odd reason.

On with the fic!

Chapter 1: Princesses and Dresses

Summer was waning in the Mushroom Kingdom. Jessie, Ian, and Nicole, having been reunited earlier in the summer, were enabled to celebrate Jessie's fifteenth birthday that June. They had made friends with some of the other kids- non-human, of course- around Toadstool Town. Mario, Luigi, and Jessie had also worked on their band over the summer.

One day they got a Lakitu with a message from the castle.

To the Mario Family,

You are cordially invited to attend a royal gala to observe the coming school year. Dress is semi-formal.

Where: The Royal Palace

When: Saturday August 16, 4 o'clock in the afternoon

RSVP: by Wednesday August 13

Hope to see you,
Princess Toadstool- Princess of Mushroom Kingdom, Prince Ian- Prince of Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Daisy- Princess of Sarasaland, Princess Nicole- Princess of Sarasaland, Toad Musar- Advisor to the Royal Family

"I didn't know there was school here!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Well, yeah," Luigi said.

"If there was school, why didn't I go earlier?" Jessie asked.

"Well, you didn't really know anything about Mushroom Kingdom and it was already halfway through the school year," Mario said. "It didn't seem worth it to start you up then."

"Man, I thought I was done with school," Jessie grumbled.

"Hey, don't get too down. I didn't think school was so bad," Mario said.

"Yeah, we even enjoyed it, even if it was a challenge," Luigi added. Jessie gave them the "I know you're lying look." They shrugged their shoulders and she stared even harder.

"All right, fine, so we didn't like school any more than the next kid, and it wasn't exactly easy," Luigi sighed.

"But we still did it, and you have to do it too," Mario continued.

"Yeah, I know," Jessie said sulkily. Later she wrote to Nicole about it.

Dear Nicole,
Can you believe we still have to go to school? This stinks like some frigging crap! I mean, they could have at least told us we were going to have to go to school instead of waiting until the day the bus came. I wonder if we will use some variation of a bus...? Anyway, I hope they have the same sports we had. From what Mario and Luigi have told me, their school system is almost exactly like ours.

You ready for the party this Friday? I don't know that I like the idea of a party for going back to school. It's not really something you celebrate. And it's a party for something that affects kids, yet the dress is semi-formal. Kids don't dress semi-formal; they dress casual. Plus, this means I have to wear a freaking dress. I hate dresses! You know I do. You remember the complaining I did when I found out we had to wear kilts for lacrosse, which Luigi already got me a new stick for, BTW. Oh, well. I guess I'll live.

Any-who. I guess I'll see you Friday. TTYL

Your friend,

Jessie

"I would've thought you'd stay home rather than be caught in a dress!" Ian laughed when Jessie showed up at the party with her brothers.

"Eh-he-heh," Jessie mock laughed, and slapped him lightly upside the head. "Look, I lived when I played lacrosse, I think I can live now. Besides," she lifted her skirt up to her knees, revealing capris underneath, "I'm covered just in case it gets too annoying."

"Ditto," Nicole said, copying the act and showing the pants she had on underneath as well. They all fraternized with their other friends throughout the afternoon. But later, something happened that surprised them all.

The DJ stopped playing his tunes and the curtains on the stage drew back. Jessie happened to be near her brothers at that point. "Oh, I've got a bad feeling," she said when she saw what was on the stage: guitars, drums, violin, piano, etc.

"Mario, what do you think Peach is up to?" Luigi asked as Peach ascended the stairs to the stage.

"Oh, nothing good," Mario replied as she took the mike.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, especially the boys and girls," Peach said. "We thank you for attending our royal gala. The evening is almost over, but before you all leave, I'd like to put the spotlight on my very good friends, the Mario family." A spotlight shone on Mario, Luigi, and Jessie.

"Guys, I don't like where this is going," Jessie whispered to Ian and Nicole.

"You should all know Mario and Luigi from all the evil-fighting they've done in the past, and some of you may know their baby-sister, Jessie," Peach continued. "However, I'll bet you didn't know-."

"Oh, she's not," Mario groaned.

"-That this family has another hobby," she continued still. "In their free time, they have a band-."

"Oh, she is," Luigi moaned.

"And we have set up some instruments for their use, to make their debut in front of all of you," Peach concluded. "Guys, come on up."

The Marios trudged up to the stage, glaring at Peach. She smiled at their sad faces. "If I didn't have any experience with bad guys, I'd say you were pure evil!" Jessie hissed under her breath. They continued all the way back stage and heard questioning from the party. "What? You expect us to be prepared at the drop of a hat?" Jessie yelled to them.

They stood in a huddle talking. "I don't suppose there's any way out of this?" Luigi suggested.

"I don't think so," Mario answered, shaking his head.

"Which songs are we going to do?" Jessie asked.

"Let's start with the one song of yours, 'Fallen ,' Jessie," Luigi said. "Then we'll do 'Calling All Angels.'"

"Then we need something upbeat," Mario said.

"Flow right into 'My Private Nation,'" Jessie instructed. "Then 'My World.'"

"All right," Mario said. "So, Luigi, you can be drums for every song, Jessie, you do piano for the first two songs and switch over to guitar starting at 'My Private Nation,' and I'll start on violin, then go to bass until 'My World' when I'll get the electric guitar."

"Let's go," Luigi said. They took their places and waited for Peach. She took the stage again and got everyone's attention.

"Thank you for waiting!" she called out over the room. "And now, without further ado, the Mario family!" The room clapped unenthusiastically, doing nothing to calm the Marios' nerves. Luigi and Mario looked back at Jessie at the piano. She nodded her head. She sang and they gradually added in instruments. ((A/N: As with the last story, I've taken out the lyrics to the following songs because copyright laws/website rules say we can't use them. Jessie's about to sing Alicia Keys' "Fallin.")

After Mario picked up the bass Luigi sang (Train's "Calling All Angels").

Very quickly, Jessie picked up the guitar she had next to her. Luigi sang (Train's "My Private Nation").

Mario picked up the electric guitar. Jessie sang (Avril Lavigne's "My World").

The end of the song came and the Marios stood up and waited. It came slowly at first, but they could hear about five people clapping (probably Peach, Ian, Daisy, Nicole, and Toad) and it kept building until the whole room was filled with wild applause.

"Were we really that good?" Jessie asked her brothers.

"Apparently," answered Mario, who also seemed to be amazed.

They all bowed and descended the stairs, despite Peach's offer for them to continue. The DJ started playing music again and the curtains on the stage closed.

"Rock on," Nicole complimented when Jessie had returned to her and Ian.

"Thanks, but honestly, were we really that good?" Jessie asked.

"What are you sounding so surprised for? You've been a musician for- ," Ian said but stopped to count on his fingers ("Four, five, six..." he whispered.) "Six lifetimes!"

"Well, yeah, but, it's never been for the purpose of entertaining the masses or anything. Maybe just a way to amuse my friends and family and get my feelings out, but never for a public. I didn't think it could be that good," Jessie explained.

"Girl, you are far too modest to be human," Nicole said, placing a hand on Jessie's shoulder. The room was starting to empty out. Apparently the party was pretty much over.

"By the way, I recognized the third and fourth songs. The third one Link II wrote in (New Hyrule), and the fourth was from Hyrule. Zelda forced you into playing something at your birthday party," Ian said ((A/N: Meaning those characters would have sung those songs if I'd actually written those stories.)).

"I was trying to think why this seemed so familiar," Jessie replied. "Tetra did it at hers and Link's wedding too. Princesses are somewhat underhanded, aren't they?"

"Ahem!" Nicole cleared her throat.

"Uhn-uh!" Jessie responded, pointing her finger at Nicole. "No! You did the same thing too!"

"I did no such thing!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Yes, you did! I remember now! Last year at our end of season party for soccer!" Jessie responded. "You forced me into it too! When is Daisy planning on doing it? New Years? Or maybe my sweet 16th party?"

"It doesn't matter, what happens, happens," Ian said, putting a stop to the topic. "What about this whole school thing?"

"Oh, not a smart move, dude," Jessie said.

"This was the first I'd heard of it," Nicole said. "I thought we were done when we landed here."

"I know, what were they planning on doing, wait until the bus showed up to take us there?" Jessie added.

"I dunno, but let's just hope we don't have any variations of some of the teachers we had at out old school," Ian put in.

"One in particular..." Jessie replied, referring, of course, to their former English teacher.

"I feel sorry for the kids who are still stuck with her," Nicole said.

"Yup, but I will miss some of the teachers," Jessie said.

"La profesora de Espanol?" Ian offered.

"Especially. And my journalism and theater teachers," Jessie added. "Man, we probably won't even have Spanish anymore."

"Yeah, there aren't any other languages in Mushroom Kingdom. Everyone speaks the same tongue," Nicole said.

"Stinks," Jessie said.

"Any friends or family you miss?" Nicole asked.

"Well, I miss my best friend Nicole and a friend of mine named Ian," Jessie joked.

"Ha-ha," Nicole rolled her eyes. "But seriously, anyone you miss?"

Jessie thought for a moment. "Well, as far as my 'family' goes, the only person I really miss is my cousin, Martin."

"I'm so glad I have cousins here in Mushroom Kingdom!" Ian play-sobbed, grabbing Nicole around the arms in a pretend hug.

"I'm glad to have you too, Cuz," Nicole returned the pretend hug. The fact was that Peach and Ian's grandfather was Daisy and Nicole's grandfather's brother. So they weren't first cousins, but they were cousins.

"You will never see me hugging Wario or Waluigi that way," Jessie said. They all laughed, and Nicole and Ian let go of each other. "Fact is, I'm happy just having my brothers." As if on cue, Mario and Luigi came over at that moment. "Speak of the devil."

"Sorry, Jess, time to go," Mario said.

"Okey-day," Jessie said. "See you later guys."

"Bye," Ian and Nicole said. Jessie and her brothers walked home.