Notes:

Its finally Star's first Sunday on Earth! And we'll get to experience something *extremely* American that definitely didn't get brought up in a Disney cartoon. Star and Marco get ready to go to Church!

Chapter 18

The next morning goes fairly similarly to the last one. The Diaz family wakes up early, prepares a celebration, and throws up our banner again with a post-it note changing the streamer to happy 'second' day on Earth. Ridiculous that we keep doing it? Maybe, but the look of amazement in Star's eyes when she realizes it was happening again made the effort worth it. We usually stop whenever our exchange students stop being thrilled by our efforts, but that might… take a while in Star's case.

After everything is settled, and the cake is eaten (properly this time) my parents take Star into the kitchen to share some of their 'precious memories' of her time with us. I think my dad has managed to take over a hundred family photos since she arrived that he wants to show off, and my mother has written some poetry for her? I don't often participate in that part of the celebration, I personally think the cake is plenty.

I busy myself with getting into my Sunday best. I always hate leaving behind my red hoodie for church, but it just doesn't fit with the dress code. I've worn it under my other things a few times, but I was sweating like a dog even faster than usual. So, instead, I throw on my blue with white stripes button up dress shirt, a pair of khakis, and my dress shoes. After a few minutes in the bathroom touching up my hair, adding some cologne, and a few other basic hygiene checks, I'm ready to go.

When I come back down the stairs I see that my mother is just now finishing reciting her poetry for Star, who is doing her best to hold back tears at how thoughtful the gift was. Or something. I'd think she was crying at how bad the poem was, but my mother is actually scarily skilled at poetry. Comes with the whole 'being an English teacher' package I think. Man, I'm glad those middle school years are behind me, she was always right around the corner watching for me…

"Hey, Star. We're gonna be heading to church in about an hour, but the bathroom is free. Go get set up in something a bit nicer than usual." I hook my thumb towards the stairs.

"Church…? Like a temple?" Star blinks, then looks from me to my parents. "Your new outfit looks nice! I didn't even know you owned clothes other than your hoodie, jeans, and pajamas!"

Oh, shit. Different dimension. She might not even have religion, but she certainly won't have heard of Christianity. That is a conversation we do -not- have time to have. I turn my brain into overdrive to think of a brief explanation I can give for her that won't waste the whole day with the history and purpose of religion in our lives.

"Yeah. A place where we go to worship. He's a guy called Jesus, lived a few thousand years ago, and our holy book says his dad created the universe. You'll hear more about him there. Basically, its a lot of singing, a lot of 'do good or you'll burn in hell', that sort of stuff." Argh, such a gross oversimplification. Anything more would just confuse her though.

"Hmm… Hell? Oh! I know that place! We call it the Underworld on Mewni, my ex-boyfriend was the prince there. Total pain in the butt." Star rolls her eyes, then rushes off towards the stairs. "I love singing though! I'll be back down after I freshen up!"

My parents and I stare at each other in *deep* concern, "Prince of hell…? It can't be, right?"

"Mijo, Star Butterfly did not date Lucifer. I'm sure she's just confused about it all. We'll give her a more thorough education on it later tonight." My father says firmly. He's always been the most religious of the three of us, so I'm sure he's personally offended by the idea that his little angel could consort with demons.

I myself am not so sure as him. She seemed pretty familiar with the way that demon we fought yesterday worked. And it would make sense as to why she's so comfortable with being hit on, that's for sure. What would a prince of hell even want with a 14 year old princess? Did he want the wand? No, she only just got the wand, I'm so confused. I wonder how far they went? If demons are the incarnation of Sin, then… oh my god. The age of consent in medieval societies is way lower than today. She could have totally slept with him! Argh, that's going to consume my mind all day.

We chat for a bit longer on what this all means, but we really just don't know. Perhaps our conversation with Star later today will reveal something. She eventually comes back down the stairs, dressed in what I can only describe as a princesses dress. Poofy blue silk, dozens of layers, massively puffed out skirt, she looked basically like every Disney princess who gets dressed up for a ball might. Her giant mass of hair is up in a heart shaped beehive style hairdo that I refuse to believe is being held up by anything but magic.

Our family faces the second shock of the day when Star slowly comes down the stairs with a regal look on her face, then stops at the base and gives an actual proper curtsey. "Star Butterfly, Crown Princess of the Butterfly Kingdom, greets Lord and Lady Diaz. I wish you a wonderf-pfffpt" She breaks down in giggling halfway through her ridiculously stuffy greeting and that cold regal mask disappears. Suddenly she's the bundle of fun that we know her as rather than a stranger, even with that ridiculously overblown dress on. "Did I getcha? Hehe. My Mother always makes me practice my royal manners whenever I get the chance, but I'm pretty bad at them. Especially considering the looks on your faces!"

We let out a collective sigh of relief. If anything could have taken our mind off of Star's potentially demon loving tendencies, it was definitely that. I know she didn't purposely distract us, but I still find myself grateful for her ability to steal away any tension with her infectious antics.

"Star, you didn't need to get quite that dressed up. It's not a dance or party, its more…" My mother frowns, struggling to explain. "C'mon. Let's go take a look at both our closets and I'll help you pick something out."

The two of them rush off to have some girl time, and my father heads off to get himself ready for church as well. I wonder if we'll make it in time…? My parents tend to be terrible at timing, and I'm sure Star is worse. Oh well, no big deal. I set all the clocks in the house back thirty minutes -years- ago, so we virtually always make it to events on time no matter how late.

Still, I act stressed and tense when they come out 'late', to keep them moving. I wouldn't be calm if they were actually late to something after all, so they'd likely catch on. We all bustle through the house to get everything we need, then head out into our car. Star has traded her princess dress and beehive hairdo for a much simpler little blue dress, with pantyhose and pretty little sparkling dress shoes instead of her usual leggings+boots combo. Her hair is down, thankfully, though tied back in a ponytail to give it at least the appearance of being under control.

The drive over to church is quite interesting, as it was Star's first time in a car. She was thrilled by the feeling of being in a 'death machine' as she called it, and adored the idea of seat belts so much that she invented a new spell on the spot to make her own rainbow colored one. I personally think she was just interested in the new feeling, as we were in a far stickier situation flying that wagon yesterday…

My father has dressed in a nice polo and khakis, my mother in a crimson dress that otherwise looks similar to Star's. Perhaps one had borrowed from the other, though who borrowed which I couldn't guess. Fun drive or not, it did eventually end as we drove up to a bustling building. 'Echo Creek Non-Denominational' so the sign says. My parents are still rushing, though they appear to have gotten some understanding that they aren't as late as they expected. We do this almost every week, I wonder if they are actually fooled each time or are just playing along with the scheme? Who knows.