Hi readers! Hope the story's going good so far. Don't worry, this chapter should be a bit longer than the first two. Time to see how Vega and Sabrina are doing, living each other's lives! Will things go okay, or not so much? You're about to find out…

Chapter 3

The ladybug-themed heroine transported Vega to a big building, which she soon realized was Sabrina's school. They landed in front of the building's steps, where a Wishling girl was tapping her foot and waiting for them. The girl had blonde hair in a long ponytail, a white shirt with black stripes, a yellow sweater, white pants, and white high heels.

"She's safe now," said the superhero.

"Ladybug, what took you so long?" the Wishling demanded rudely, "Because she wasn't here all morning, I actually had to do all my work myself!"

Ladybug sighed and shook her head. "Bug out," she mumbled before swinging away with her yoyo.

The Wishling flicked her ponytail and started up the school steps. "Come on, Sabrina. Our first class after lunch is about to start, and you have a lot of catching up to do. Since you weren't there to do my assignments for me, I'll make sure you get twice as much homework to do once school's over!"

Vega instantly realized who this Wishling was: Chloe. So she's the girl who's trying to control Sabrina's life. She quickly followed Chloe to her homeroom, where many students were already seated. Seeing an empty seat beside a Wishling girl, Vega walked over and sat next to her. The girl had brown wavy hair with dark orange edges. She was wearing thick black glasses, an orange and white plaid shirt, and blue jeans.

The girl turned, surprised and confused to see "Sabrina" sitting next to her. "Uh, isn't your seat over there with Chloe?"

Vega jumped. Of course. Starf! What had she been thinking? With an embarrassed smile, she got up and moved to the table where Chloe was sitting, leaving the girl with the glasses sitting there in confusion. Chloe was clearly not happy with "her BFF's" little mistake, but before she could say anything, a woman with orange hair tied into a bun walked into the room. Vega noticed how all the students seemed to snap to attention once they noticed her, and she immediately realized the woman was their teacher.

"Good afternoon, class," said the woman. "Good afternoon, Miss Bustier," replied the students.

Miss Bustier frowned. "Still no sign of Marinette and Adrien?"

"I'm sure it's no biggie," said a girl dressed entirely in pink at the back of the room, "It's not the first time they've been absent or late."

"Well," said Miss Bustier, "let's hope they both show up before the end of the day. Now, did all of you finish the work Ms. Mendeleiev gave you?"

"Oh don't worry, Miss Bustier," Chloe replied with a smug smile, "I've got everything covered." She winked at Vega, who was immensely disgusted by it. When she saw Miss Bustier didn't seem to notice the wink, Vega realized the likely chances that none of Chloe's teachers had any idea that she never actually did any work. Sabrina did it all, and Chloe really did get away with forcing her to do it.

But that's going to end today, Vega thought. It was time to put a stop to Chloe's bossiness and start improving Sabrina's life. Reasoning with Chloe would have been a starmendous option, but according to some things Sabrina had said about her, simply reasoning with her would likely prove ineffective. So instead, Vega turned towards Chloe, focusing on her with all her might. All of the Star Darlings had special skills that came in handy on Wish Missions, and Vega's skill was mind control.

Tell the teacher the truth, Vega chanted in her head. Tell the teacher the truth. Tell the teacher the truth. Tell the teacher the truth. Tell the teacher the truth. As Vega continued chanting in her head, Chloe found herself saying things against her will. "Actually Miss Bustier, I have a confession to make. I always tell Sabrina to…d-d-do my…" Chloe quickly realized she seemed to be under some kind of spell. She covered her mouth, bit her tongue, and clenched her teeth, doing whatever she could to stop her unwanted words from escaping her mouth. But whatever power was being used on her proved too strong for her. "…homework! And I make her do it in my wardrobe, in the dark! I never do my own work, whether it's at school or at home!"

All the Wishling students were starstruck. Miss Bustier was also starstruck, but she was able to hide it more easily. "It's true, Miss Bustier," said the Wishling Vega had sat next to by mistake, "I never understand why Sabrina lets her treat her like that."

Miss Bustier sighed. She was a very kind and considerate woman who never liked having to punish her students; not even Chloe. But at the same time, she had a wild side too. The point of going to school was to learn, which was clearly not what Chloe had been doing all this time. Normally she would have sent her to the principal's office in a case like this, but the teacher knew better. The last time Chloe had a disagreement with the principal, she had managed to force him into taking her side by calling her father, the mayor of Paris. As a result, one of Chloe's classmates had been wrongfully suspended for a week.

"Chloe," said Miss Bustier, "go to the principal's office. And to make sure nothing goes wrong, I'll go with you." Turning to the girl Vega had sat with by mistake, the teacher added, "Alya, can I trust you to watch the class until I come back?"

The girl, Alya, nodded, and Miss Bustier left with Chloe. When they were gone, Alya got out her phone and called someone. "Marinette, I can't believe you were late today! You missed the coolest thing ever!…I don't know if Horrificator did that to her or what, but someone just put words in Chloe's mouth! She said these things she wasn't even trying to say, and…No, it wasn't Vanisher at all. Sabrina was right there! She was like staring right at her the whole time! You'd think she really was the one doing it to her, but yeah! Chloe just blurted out that she does all her work for her, and Miss Bustier just took her to Mr. Damocles's office!"

As she listened to Alya talking on the phone, Vega lay back in her chair and sighed happily. As she finally found a moment to let herself feel relaxed, she began to realize that her friends had been right. Taking a vacation had been a starmendous idea—especially if it involved a task similar to Wish Missions!

Meanwhile, Sabrina was realizing that having a 7-day vacation on Starland wasn't as fun and exciting as she thought it would be. When she'd first encountered all those female students with sparkly hair and magic powers they were born with, being part of their environment had seemed like the most exciting thing she had ever done in her life. But then classes began, and Sabrina realized that most of the subjects taught at this school were nothing like the classes back at Collège Françoise Dupont. They all involved the students using their powers to get things done—powers that Vega had, but that Sabrina did not.

Piper, Astra, and Clover (who each had a few classes with her) helped Sabrina as best as they could each time "Vega" had to use her powers, but the auras that surrounded them once they did gave them away every time. Finally, after Clover got caught doing the work for her in the last class of the day, she, Astra, Piper, and Sabrina had all been sent to Lady Stella's office for a lecture on cheating. "I'm very starprised, Vega," said one of the teachers as the foursome left, "You're everyone's top student. Why would you see the need to cheat?"

As she, Piper, Astra, and Clover walked to Lady Stella's office together, Sabrina could feel tears running down her cheeks. She wiped them away, trying hard not to look at Vega's friends as she did.

"It's not all bad," said Astra, "Everyone who doesn't know we're Star Darlings thinks we're just in a study hall, even though we're all doing starmazing in our classes. If they were on to anything, they can't be anymore."

"Are you kidding?" Sabrina sniffled. "I've only been here for a few hours, and I've already ruined Vega's reputation!"

"There's always a loophole," said Clover, "You just have to tell the professors you weren't feeling well and you didn't want to say anything because it would mean missing class, and that would risk dropping your grades." She chuckled. "Yeah, that does sound like something Vega would do if she got sick."

"But she wanted me to record everything that happened in class," said Sabrina, "And that was the only thing I did right!"

"We will record the classes for you," Piper decided, "In the meantime, you will relax in our dorm room on a pretend sick leave."

Sabrina was shocked. "But friendship is all about loyalty and giving! To maintain a friendship, you have to tend to your friend's needs at all times! I can't do that by relaxing all day!"

Astra stopped in her tracks and sternly looked Sabrina in the eyes. "There's a lot more to it than that, newbie. Friendship's really all about balance. If you make it too much about yourself or too much about someone else, it never ends well. And you're making it too much about someone else. Just like you always did with Chloe!"

"If I made it all about me, that would be selfish," said Sabrina.

"But it doesn't have to be all about you," said Piper, "As Astra said, it is all about balance. Sometimes it's about you, and sometimes it's about your friends. But there cannot be too much of either."

Clover nodded. "If you want to do something for Vega even though you're not a Starling like us, try taking our advice. Don't do our work for us, order our meals for us, make our beds for us, or anything like that for us. It's good to help others, but when you do it too much, it makes you look more like a servant and less like someone who's in a real friendship. It'll make her more proud of you than Chloe ever could be."

Sabrina thought it over. "I guess it would be nice to be on the receiving end of kindness more often…"

"That's the spirit," said Astra, "So as soon as we're done telling Lady Stella the story about your sick leave, we're going to show you what being a true friend is all about. It'll be fun, trust me."

"Now let's go, friend," added Clover, linking her arm through Sabrina's. Sabrina chuckled and allowed Piper to link her arm through her other arm. Astra linked her arm through Clover's free one, and together they walked the rest of the way to Lady Stella's office. As they walked together, Sabrina couldn't help smiling. These girls' definition of friendship wasn't the kind that her father and Chloe had always taught her was right. But she could feel positive energy in the air as she gazed at her companions; a kind of positive energy she realized she had never felt around Chloe. This kind of energy seemed…better.

Luckily, Lady Stella believed the second-year Star Darlings' story about "Vega's" illness. The girl had never tried to cheat in class before, and Clover had been right; Vega really could be desperate enough to hide an illness. In fact, that was exactly why Lady Stella believed their story.

"You're probably sick because you've spent so much time studying," the headmistress said gently, "How about taking the next few stardays off?"

Sabrina was impressed at how real her fake sigh of relief sounded. "Okay Lady Stella," she said, "I'll do it."

Lady Stella smiled and snapped her fingers, causing the office door to open by itself. "I'm sure a little rest is nothing you can't handle, Vega. Piper, I'm counting on you to keep an eye on your roommate. Make sure she gets plenty of rest, and feel free to include her in any meditations."

"Yes, Lady Stella," replied Piper, clearly delighted to hear that last bit about the meditations. She, Sabrina, Clover, and Astra left the office together, and the door closed behind them. Once they were in the hallway, all the girls burst out laughing.

"Moons and stars, I can't believe we actually pulled that off!" Clover exclaimed.

"See, this is why you need to take risks more often," Astra told her, "Then you get to feel the thrill!"

"Now I am very glad Vega is taking a vacation," affirmed Piper, "After what Lady Stella, I think Vega really would have been sick if we hadn't done something!"

"Yeah," Sabrina found herself saying, "maybe she would have been." She sighed. Why was she feeling sad all of a sudden? It wasn't like she had a problem with being overworked like Vega did…right?

Suddenly Vega's Star Zap (which Sabrina had been given before its true owner's departure) vibrated. Sabrina picked it up and noticed she'd received a message from Leona.

Band practice started a starmin ago! Where are you?

"Oh starf," said Clover, "I'd better bring you to the Lightning Lounge before she gets even more impatient."

"Star salutions," Piper and Astra said, walking ahead of them.

"Star salutions," replied Clover, waving. Sabrina saw her waving and waved too. She was beginning to get the hang of Starling lingo.

Clover led Sabrina down the hall, explaining Leona's holo-message as they walked. "Sage, Libby, Scarlet, Vega, and Leona play in a musical band together. Vega plays the bass guitar, so…that's what you'll have to do in her place next. In case Vivica barges in, we have to make everything look normal."

Sabrina froze. "The…the bass guitar?"

Clover nodded. "Do you know how to play it?"

Sabrina shook her head, and Clover (who was never too happy when she had to fill in for someone in the band) groaned. "I'll give you some pointers. Let's be lucky this is the only band rehearsal we'll have to do without Vega, since rehearsals take place once a starweek." When she heard that part, Sabrina relaxed a little. As long as this Vivica person didn't intervene, everything would be fine.

Eventually Sabrina and Clover arrived in the right room, where Sage, Libby, Scarlet, and Leona were waiting with their instruments. Leona was impatiently tapping her foot, holding a sparkly yellow microphone. She was about to say something, but Libby stepped forward and stopped her.

"Star greetings, Sabrina," said Sage.

"Hi…I mean, star greetings," said Sabrina. She looked around the room. All the present band members were with their instruments; Sage and her lavender guitar, Libby and her pink keytar, Scarlet and her star-shaped pink drums, and Leona with her golden microphone. There was another instrument in the room, a shiny blue star-shaped guitar, but it was sitting by itself. Sabrina correctly guessed it was Vega's instrument.

"Okay Sabrina," instructed Leona, "let's see what you've got." Sabrina nodded and nervously went up to Vega's bass guitar.

"Let me know if you have any trouble," said Clover. Sabrina nodded, but she quickly discovered that playing Vega's bass wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. The instrument didn't have some of the complicated features included on the guitars back in Paris, making the layout a lot simpler. Sabrina did have to learn which strings provided which notes and which areas of the strings to strum each time, but otherwise, this Starland instrument was so easy to handle. Within two minutes, Sabrina felt confident enough with Vega's bass to ask what song they would be rehearsing first.

"We'll start with Starlight," said Leona, "Clover can help you with the notes as we go along. The rest of you, just play the way we always do." Sage, Libby, and Scarlet nodded, and they began to play their instruments. Clover helped Sabrina strum the right notes for the first half of the song, but eventually she got the tune memorized and was able to play on her own. Relieved, Clover turned and headed for the door, but before she could open it, someone else opened it from the other side. Sabrina looked up and saw that it was a girl—definitely a Starling. She had on a pink shirt, a blue skirt, pale leggings, and pink shoes. Her hair was long and had a colour mixture of silver and pale blue. There was a glare on her face that instantly reminded Sabrina of Chloe.

"Practising your pathetic band again, Star Dippers?" the Starling scoffed.

"Go away, Vivica," sneered Leona. Hearing the name, Sabrina jumped. Vivica! So this was the girl Clover had warned her about on the way here.

"Fine," Vivica retorted, replying to what Leona just told her, "I just wanted to drop by and remind you how small your chances of beating my band are."

"It's not about the competition," Libby said. Her tone of voice was calm, but the look on her face showed that she wanted Vivica to leave just as much as Sage, Scarlet, and Leona did.

"All I'm saying is that my band will win," Vivica told them, shoving her way past Clover and walking over to get face-to-face with Libby. "We're a starmendous team of glowing musicians, and you're just ridiculous members of a remedial class that don't even stand a chance."

Libby nervously backed away from her. Leona clenched her teeth and was about to respond, when Sabrina stood up and faced Vivica. She'd seen this kind of behaviour from Chloe many times before, but she'd always stood up for it because Chloe was the one she was standing up for. But this case was different. This time the people she was supposed to be standing up for were receiving the negative attitude rather than giving it. Sabrina would still stick up for the Star Darlings of course; she would just have to use a new technique.

"Stop bothering us, Vivica," Sabrina said, gently but firmly, "If you need help with your self esteem, just let us know and we can help you."

Everyone stared at her in surprise. Vivica's glare almost disappeared and made way for shock, but she stopped that from happening. Immediately she got in Sabrina's face and yelled, "Who told you I had self esteem problems?!"

"No one," said Sabrina, "There's a girl I know back home, and she has trouble with her self esteem too. She never told me that though. I just heard her talking to herself about it when I came over for a sleepover once. You're acting just as mean as she can be, so I thought it might be for the same reason."

"I—you—just—UGH!" Vivica angrily stormed out of the Lightning Lounge, the door slamming shut behind her. As soon as she was gone, Sabrina rushed up and placed a hand on Libby's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Libby, a smile quickly spreading across her face, "How in Starland did you do that? I've never seen anyone stand up to Vivica the way you did!"

Sage nodded in agreement. "Starzactly. I mean, self esteem problems? None of us would have thought of it!"

"Like I said," explained Sabrina, "She reminded me of Chloe, and she's got self esteem problems."

"Vega's not gonna believe she missed that," commented Scarlet, "Because of you, I don't think she'll ever get bullied again."

"If we're lucky, none of us will ever get bullied again," added Clover.

"I didn't think I'd say this to you," Leona smiled, "but Sabrina…for a Chloe servant, you're not so bad."

Sabrina smiled in appreciation. "It's what a friend does."

"Just remember what Astra said about balance," said Clover, "Still, star salutions."

"Now let's get back to our rehearsal," Leona advised, "We only have fifty something starmins before Vivica's band needs this room for their own practice time." Everyone nodded, and they continued rehearsals together, positive energy all around them.

Wow…that turned out pretty good! I honestly had a ton of ideas for how this chapter would go, but in the end, I decided on this. Can't wait to see what you all thought, and see you in the next chapter! ;)