Star's POV
As Marco was taking his shower, I was already getting dressed for school. I would've just waited for him to come out, but I was getting famished. I walked down stairs and the intoxicating smell of bacon filled my nose. I immediately ran into the kitchen and saw Marco's mother fixing bacon and pancakes.
She smiled when she noticed me, "Good morning Star. How you feeling today?", she asked.
"Oh I feel fantastic! I slept with Marco in his bed last night and I'm pretty sure he's the comfiest pillow on earth!", I said.
Marco's mom chuckled, "Well, just don't do anything too romantic if you know what I mean. I don't want my son to be a father anytime soon."
I felt my face heat up at what was implying. "Trust me ma'am, I'm not having kids anytime soon, and me and Marco aren't doing anything too romantic. Even though he is extremely cute. And nice. And smart."
Marco's mom chuckled as she turns her focus back to her cooking. "Can I ask you a question?", I asked.
"Ask me anything sweetness."
"Why is Marco so depressed?"
She suddenly froze, she was obviously caught off guard by the question. "What exactly do you mean?", she asked.
"Oh come on, you know what I mean. He's your son, I know you've noticed how he acts. Ever since I've come to earth I haven't even seen him smile once. His eyes, beautiful as they may might be, are dead. There is no emotion in them. They are a pretty shade of brown, but they might as well not be there. His voice, though comforting and soothing, is filled with sadness. I can sense it. It's full of sorrow. His face is even more emotionless than his eyes. He's cute, but after a while of looking at it, you start to realize that he barely reacts to anything. He might be happy, he might be sad, you'd never know looking at that dead face of his. Marco is definitely depressed, you must see it.", I said listing off the things wrong with her son.
Marco's mom put the last of her pancakes on a plate and sighed. The pan and spatula nearly slipping from her hands. She looked at me and sniffed like she was about to cry. "Of course I've noticed Star. I've noticed every single thing you've said and more. Much more. I just, don't know what to do anymore.", she said as tears started to stream down her face.
I went up to her and gave her a hug and let her cry on my shoulder. "I don't think he'll ever be the same again.", she cried onto my shoulder.
I was extremely taken aback by this. I asked a simple question, I didn't expect it to cause this much emotion. I decided to stay quiet and let the woman cry. She obviously needed it. She finally regained her composure and said, "Dammit! I'm so sorry Star." She wiped her tears and washed her hands.
"It's fine", reassured her, "But I have to ask, did something happen to Marco that made him this way?"
Marco's mom nodded, "A lot of things have happened to Marco to make him into the boy he is today."
"What was he like before?", I asked. Misses Diaz sniffed still recovering from her recent crying fit, "He was the complete opposite of what he is now. He was full of life. He was the happiest boy you'd ever meet and he was so outgoing, he wanted to be friends with everyone."
Marco wanted to be friends with everyone at one point? He didn't even wanna be friends with me at first. I can't possibly imagine the introvert I know today wanting to be friends with everyone.
"He even came home everyday from school everyday talking about a girl he had a crush on. Jackie Thomas I believe her name was. He was always so happy and excited when he was talking about her, it brought a smile to my face to see my boy so happy and in love", Misses Diaz said with a smile.
My jaw dropped when I heard the name "Jackie Thomas." That was obviously Jackie Lynn Thomas. Marco had a crush on Jackie! No wonder he accepted her friendship so easily. They will make the cutest couple!
"Star! I'm almost dressed! Get ready to go!", I heard Marco's voice yell from upstairs.
"Star", Misses Diaz said getting my attention, "I'm getting off of work early today so I'll be able to answer any questions you have about Marco. Until then, please don't ask him any questions, he gets annoyed very easily, ok?"
I nodded and smiled widely, "Thank you so much for helping me learn about Marco. I really appreciate it."
Before she could respond Marco came walking downstairs and stood behind me. He grabbed my hand and said, "Come on let's go." I gave him a sharp look, "Don't you think we should eat some of the food your mother made us?"
He looked at the plate full of pancakes and cringed, "I don't eat breakfast in the morning.", he said.
"Oh come on Marco, please?", I begged. The boy looked toward his mother who gave him a small smile, "Please Marco, I make a big breakfast for you every morning and you never eat it."
Marco kept his straight face, but still mumbled a quiet, "Fine."
Me and Marco sat down at the table while his mother fixed our plates. "Eat up kids", she said handing us our food. We all started to eat. I was pretty much chowing down while Marco took little bites of his bacon.
"See Marco?", I said with a mouth full of pancakes, "Eating breakfast with the whole family."
Marco just rolled his eyes and said, "Technically it's not the entire family, dad is still at work."
At the mention of her husband Misses Diaz stopped eating and gave her son a concerned look, but before she could say anything, her son interrupted her, "No mom, I am not upset that dad is almost never here. He has to make money and in order to make money he has to work. If that means he's never here, then that's just something I have to get used to. And I've gotten used to it already."
I realized that I have never seen Marco's father before. I looked at him concerned, "Why is your father always at work?", I asked.
Marco rolled his eyes, "Swallow your food and I'll tell you."
I blushed with embarrassment and swallowed all the food that was in my mouth. Marco wiped my mouth off with a weird white cloth (napkin) and said, "My father got a promotion at his job, so now he has to stay at work longer."
"What's a promotion?", I asked.
Marco sighed, "It's when a person gets more responsibility at work. More responsibility means you have to stay at work longer, if you stay at work longer that means you get more money."
"Can't you just ask the fair bank for some money?", I asked.
Marco face palmed while his mother laughed. "What I'm gonna do you?", Marco asked. "Alright Star it's time to head to school."
"What! I haven't even finished eating my pancakes yet!", I said. "Sorry princess, but there's no way we can avoid going to school.", Marco said grabbing his bag.
I sighed and hugged Marco's mother, "Thanks for being so awesome Misses Diaz.", I said before following Marco out the door.
"You kids have fun!", Marco's mom called after us.
As me and Marco started to walk down the street, I felt him grab my hand, which I understand. After what happened with that Jeremy boy the other day, I wouldn't mind him wanting to protect me against any danger we might encounter. Also, the feeling of his hand on mine is heavenly.
"So, what were you and mom talking about?", Marco asked suddenly. I was taken aback by his question but I didn't show it, "We weren't talking about you."
"Oh really?", he said sounding unconvinced, "So what were you talking about then?"
"Love.", I said without thinking.
He turned to me with his emotionless, yet beautiful eyes, "Love? You really expect me to fall for that?"
"I was hoping you would", I thought.
"Why don't you tell me what you were really talking about, it was about me wasn't it?", Marco asked accusingly. "Okay fine", "I asked your mother if you had ever fallen in love.", I said lying threw my teeth. The boy was now completely silent. I can't really tell what he's thinking with his face being emotionless and all.
"What did she say?", he finally asked breaking the silence.
I smiled, "She said you used to come home everyday talking about a girl named Jackie Thomas, and you would be so happy whenever you were talking about her."
He blushed and groaned in annoyance. "That girl wouldn't happen to be Jackie Lynn Thomas now would she?", I taunted with a large smirk on my face.
"No.", Marco dead panned.
"Oh really? I just find it odd that...", he cut me off by putting his hand over my mouth. "I was never in love with anyone. Understand?", he said.
I rolled my eyes, "Suuuurrrre, you never had a crush on anyone before. I definitely believe you.", I said with a heavy amount of sarcasm in my voice.
Marco rolled his eyes as we continued to walk to school. We were quite for the rest of the walk with the only noise around being the cool breeze that wind gave off. As we approached the school I asked, "Do you think they'll have anymore of those hamburger things for lunch?"
"Maybe. I haven't memorized the lunch schedule. You know, I can make you a hamburger when we get home if you want?", he said.
I slowly turned to the cute boy, "R-Really?"
"Yeah. It's easy." I squealed and gave him a tight hug, "Thank you Marco! You're the best!"
Marco blushed in embarrassment, "Star, please put me down. Now." I ignored him and hugged him even harder.
"Aaaahhhhh."
I turned to my right and saw a bunch of girls looking at me and Marco. "Star, is this your boyfriend?", one of them asked.
I finally put Marco down and we both blushed. "N-No he's not my boyfriend, he's my best friend.", I said, "Although he is really cute."
Marco blushed even harder as the girls nodded their heads in agreement. "He really is a cutie", a blonde girl said.
"And look at that hair, it's so wild! It just screams bad boy!", a red hair said rubbing her hand in Marco's hair.
"Please stop", Marco said threw his gritted teeth, but his request fell on death ears.
The blonde girl started touching Marco's arm, "Oh my gosh, his arms are really big. Do you work out?"
Marco groaned, "No. Now can you please let go of my arm."
The blonde girl let go of Marco's arm, but not before squeezing it one more time. "Don't mind him, he's a bit of a grump.", I said pinching one of Marco's cheeks. "Stop pinching my cheek", Marco mumbled.
I laughed and grabbed his hand, "See you around girls!" The girls waved goodbye as me and Marco started to walk inside the school.
"Do you even know who those girls are?", Marco asked. "Nope", I said, "But they're my new friends now."
Marco face palmed, "Whatever. Just don't pinch my damn cheek anymore. It's embarrassing."
I looked at him confused, "How is being extremely adorable embarrassing?"
Marco blushed even harder, "Let me explain, I don't want girls coming up to me asking if I'm your boyfriend or telling me how cute I am. Basically, I don't want girls noticing me because I hang out with you. So please refrain from pinching my cheeks or calling me cute in public."
I rolled my eyes playfully, "Oh you're just being modest. Y'know in Mewni if a girl calls you cute that means you have good luck for a whole year."
"This isn't Mewni, Star, this is earth, and on earth there is no such thing as good luck. If a girl calls you cute here, it means absolutely nothing.", Marco said.
"Oh come on, you know that's not true. Jackie thinks you're cute, that must mean something.", I said.
Marco didn't respond, he just stayed quiet. I guess me mentioning his crush made him nervous. So cute! I absolutely need to get these two together! We continued to until suddenly I see Janna and Jackie walking up to us out of the corner of my eye.
Marco's POV
"Hi Janna! Hi Jackie!"
I cringed as I heard angelic yet loud voice call out to out two other friends. I turned and saw Janna and Jackie walking towards me and Star. I got butterflies in my stomach as I looked in Jackie's eyes. It's truly bizarre looking at her now. I used to see her as a beautiful care free girl that had no problems at all. Now I see her as a beautiful girl with a lot of problems. A girl who thinks she dosen't deserve to exist, a girl who thinks she is ugly, a girl who is abused by her parents, a girl who deserves much better than what she has. I know who the real Jackie Lynn Thomas is now, but I still think think she's perfect. I'm gonna make her believe that.
"Sup love birds", Janna greeted with her usual casualness.
"Hi guys", Jackie greeted sweetly. God damn that voice is music to my ears.
"Jackie, Janna, tell me I'm not crazy, you think Marco is cute right?", Star asked. I gave Star an angry glare, "Why must you embarrass me every chance you get?"
"I still don't understand what's so embarrassing about being cute", Star said cluelessly.
I groaned at her cluelessness as Janna and Jackie laughed. They obviously got a kick out of our bickering.
"Yes.", Janna said after she stopped laughing.
"Yes what?", I asked.
"Yes, I think you're cute, genius.", Janna said. "I-I think you're cute to", Jackie said stuttering a bit.
I blushed as Star said, "See? That's five girls now. That's five years of good luck!"
I face palmed once again. "What is she talking about?", Jackie asked.
"Don't worry about it. It's just Star being Star.", I said. "Of course it's Star being Star, who else would I be?", Star asked absolutely clueless.
Jackie and Janna laughed as I shook my head, "Forget it."
Star shrugged, "Whatever." She turned to Jackie, "So Jackie, do you wanna explain how you and Marco ended up sleeping in the same bed last night.", she said with a smirk.
Oh. My. God. I'm gonna have to kill this girl aren't I? Jackie's face immediately turned red, as did mine. Janna also had a smirk on her face, "Hold up, did you guys have sex last night?"
"What's sex?", Star asked.
I covered her ears and turned to Janna, "Don't. You. Dare!", I said with aggression in my voice. Janna put her arms up in surrender and I uncovered Star's ears.
"Me and Marco did nothing last night, we had a little talk, we got very tired, and we ended up falling asleep", Jackie said with confidence in her voice. Man she's a good liar.
"Then why was he holding you?", Star asked with another smirk. Jackie opened her mouth to come up with a lie, only to find out she didn't have one. I take back what I said.
"I have a bad habit of hugging anything around me when I'm asleep. Sometimes it's a pillow, sometimes it's a blanket, sometimes it's a girl. Me hugging Jackie was just a coincidence.", I said.
"Well th-", I put my hand over Star's mouth so she couldn't ask anymore questions.
"I'm gonna go use the restroom", I said pinching my nose. As I walked away the girls started talking to each other about God knows what. I didn't really need to go to the restroom, I just needed to get away from those girls before Star could embarrass me even more.
I walked behind the school, the most unpopulated area on school grounds and for good reason. People thought that drug dealers, homeless people, prostitutes, and creepy old dudes hung out behind the school, for some reason. One day I decided to go behind the school to test out these claims, and of course, the rumors were false. The only dangerous thing behind the school is a family of mice that were scared shitless of anyone that walked back there. I loved it. Instead of going to the cafeteria to eat lunch, I come back here to get away from everyone. It's paradise.
As I started to get closer to the back of the school, I hear voices. Two familiar voices that I know I've heard before. "What the hell?", I mumble under my breath.
As I walked closer, I could make out what the two voices were saying, "Look, I know things look bad now, but I promise you that it's gonna get better.", said a feminine yet raspy voice.
"Will you stop with that?", said a higher feminine voice, "You know damn well that things gonna get better, yet you insist on giving me false hope. Just shut up a already!"
I was taken aback by the sudden anger coming the girl with the high voice, it was like she had been holding that in for a while. My curiosity got the better of me and I slowly peeked around the corner to see who the two girls were, and to my surprise, it was Leah and Hope. The latter had tears running down her eyes. I couldn't see Leah's face so I couldn't see if she was tearing up as well.
"Hope, please listen to me. You're parents will accept you for who you are one day, and even if they don't it doesn't matter, you don't need their approval", Leah said.
What the hell are they talking about?, I thought.
Hope wasn't sobbing, but there was still tears running down her face. "B-But how can I live knowing that my parents are ashamed of me? After I told them about us, they acted like they were absolutely disgusted with me. My father can't even look at me any more!", Hope said getting frustrated at the mention of her dad.
Leah remained silent, she had nothing to say. "And what about society huh?", Hope continued, "The things we do together are seen as sinful, disgusting, and just plain wrong in our society. I don't think I can go on with a bunch of people looking down on me just because of someone I lo-", Hope suddenly stopped.
"What?", Leah asked.
Hope didn't say anything, she just pointed to something behind Leah. And that something, was me. Leah turned around and jumped when she saw me, "Marco? What the hell are you doing here?"
What's the point in lying? I've already gotten caught. "I came here to get some alone time, but I heard you two talking. I guess I just got sucked into it.", I said truthfully.
Both girls looked generally appalled by me and my spying ways. I don't blame them. "I'm sorry, this is none of my business and I shouldn't be here.", I said starting to walk away, but Leah stopped me.
"Hold on Marco", she said grabbing my shoulder and turning me around, "What did you hear?"
I just can't get a break today can I? "I heard about Hope's parents being disgusted with her, and her fears of what society would think of you two as a gay couple."
At the mention of them being a couple, Hope blushed darkly and said, "No no no no no, you must've miss heard, me and Leah aren't together."
Leah looked back at her with an angry face, "So, you really are scared of people knowing about us aren't you?", she said letting go of me.
"No it's not that", Hope said blushing even harder, "I'm just not ready for people to know about us yet, it's bad enough that my parents know."
"We've been dating for months now Hope, I've been ready to tell our friends about us since the day we started going out, why the hell is it taking you so long to grow a pair and tell everyone that we're a couple?", Leah asked getting really annoyed.
Hope started to back away from Leah, "I'm scared alright. I love you so much Leah, but I'm just terrified that people will think differently of us."
"I don't think differently of you.", I said without even thinking.
The two girls turned their attention to me and gave me weird looks, and once again, I don't blame them. I don't know what came over me, I wanted to be far away from this conversation as possible, but thanks my big mouth I'm now knee deep in it.
"What are you talking about?", Hope asked, "You barely even know us."
"Good point, see ya.", I said starting to leave, but Leah once again grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. "Where do you think you're going? You've already ease dropped you might as well stay to see the break up.", she said.
I could almost feel Hope's heart breaking when Leah said those words. "W-What?", the crying girl asked.
Leah turned to her angrily, "I'm tired of hiding our love Hope! I fucking love you with all of my heart and I want to be able to kiss you, hold your hand, and hug you in public, but you're too afraid to tell out friends about our relationship. I'm sorry Hope, but until you're ready to tell everyone about our relationship, until you're not ashamed of being in a relationship with me, we're done."
I could see it in Hope's eyes, her whole world was destroyed by those simple words. Leah stormed off quickly so no one could see her tears, but I could see them clearly and there were loads of them. As soon as Leah ran away, Hope fell on her knees and started to sob, I think she forgot that I was there. I wanted to walk away from her and let her cry, but just like Star before her, I decided to help her. I can't leave a crying girl alone, my mother would kill me. Dammit mom.
I walked over to her and got on my knees so we were both at the same level. I put my arm around her and let her cry into my chest. I stayed quiet and let her cry, there's nothing I can say. I don't know shit about relationships, anything I could say will probably make this situation a thousand times worse. God damn, first I get in a fight with Jeremy, then I get the attention of Jackie Lynn Thomas, then I get into another fight with Jeremy, then I find a princess in the bushes, then I beat the fuck out of Jeremy for hurting Star, then I find out that Jackie Lynn Thomas, the girl I have a crush on, cuts herself, and finally, I'm sitting here with my arm around a crying lesbian. How the fuck do I get myself in these situations?
I stayed there with the crying girl for a good five minutes, my t-shirt was soaked with salty tears. Hope finally stopped sobbing and looked at me, "Why are you still here with me? I know you don't want to be here.", she said.
"A long time ago my mother told me that I can never leave a crying girl alone. She said that the rudest thing a man can do is leave a crying women women alone. Honestly, if she hadn't told me that, I wouldn't be here right now.", I admitted.
Hope sniffs, "At least you're honest, which is something I'll never be", she said looking at the ground.
Every fiber of my being was telling me to just get up and leave, but instead I asked, "What do you mean?"
She looked at me and said, "I've been lying to myself for so long. I've been trying to deny that I'm gay, but whenever I see Leah, I just wanna hug her and kiss her forever. I just wish we didn't have to hide our love."
"Then why don't you just tell your friends about your relationship? I'm sure they'll be super supportive of it.", I said fixing her messy hair.
"You don't understand", Hope said, her eyes filling with tears, "People in this world hate people like me and Leah. Remember when you heard me say society is disgusted by the things me and Leah do? I'm afraid that my friends will be the same way. If my own parents think I'm a freak, then what makes you think my friends won't think the same?"
Admittedly, I know what she's talking about. I don't keep up with the news, but I know that gay people are hated for reasons I'm not really sure about (I don't care about it at all really, it's just two guys (or girls in this case) fucking, who gives a shit?), and some people who have confessed to being gay have been kicked out of their homes by their parents. There's even one news story about a woman who tried to sue every gay person on earth (ha) because she believed that gay people were breaking the law.
It was really stupid situation that hurt a lot of people that that didn't even deserve it. Hell, it made an innocent girl like Hope cry, and that's awful. No parent should be disgusted with their child just because of who they are in love with (even if it's a guy like me who doesn't deserve love). I couldn't help but feel sorry for the crying girl I had my arm around, she didn't deserve to be sad. No girl deserves to be sad, especially for something as dumb as this.
But what can I say to cheer her up? I'm antisocial for many reasons, and having no social skills or compassion for other people once so ever our one of the main reasons why. I'm terrible when it comes to one on one conversations, but now that I think about it, I'm getting pretty good at them thanks to my countless talks with Star and Jackie. But I still have another problem, I know both about comforting people. The only thing I can come up with is 'Get over it!", but I get the feeling that that wouldn't help at all.
Well, maybe I can still say that, but in a less hurtful way. "Marco", Hope said knocking me out of my thoughts, "I'm just gonna go ahead and head to class", she said getting up.
She started to walk away, but I grabbed her by the skirt, "Wait."
She turned around slowly and gave me an odd look, but she stayed with me nonetheless. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm horrible at things like this, in fact whatever I say will probably make this situation worse, but I don't think you need to listen to me.", I said.
Hope scoffed and wiped some tears out of her eyes with her shirt, "Why should I listen to you? Your just gonna tell me the same thing Leah has been telling me for months. What can you possibly say that's gonna help me get over my fear?", she asked.
I shook my head, "No, I'm not gonna tell you what Leah's been telling you, I'm gonna tell you the truth." Hope raised an eyebrow and I continued, "You should be scared about showing your love in front of everyone because the world is filled with millions of assholes who can't handle the fact that gay people exist. I'm not saying that everyone is like that, only the small minority of morons, but if you let hat small minority get to you, then you're weak. You're weak because you can't face your fears and show the world who you really are. But you're not weak are you?"
Hope slowly shook her head.
"Well then face your fears and forget about the small minded minority because those idiots are always going to be there, you can't let them get in your head. You have the right to pursue happiness, don't worry about what a bunch of morons who don't even know you have to say. And as for your parents, fuck em. If they truly loved you then they wouldn't get mad at you over something as pointless as love."
Now if you asked me, I probably could've worded that entire rant better, but I'm terrible with words of encouragement. My random jumbled mess of a speech seemed to have made an impact on her though as she stopped crying and seemed to be in deep though.
After a couple of moments of just standing there, she finally looked me in the eyes and said, "Thanks Marco. I'll think about what you said", and with that she left me there alone.
I was stunned that she was actually able to understand that none sense, I mean it had good intentions behind it, but it was still none sense. I shrugged it off though because at the end of the day, if that dumb speech helped her, then I have nothing to complain about. I started to walk back to Star and the others. When I got back the girls were sitting on the benches still talking about God knows what, that's all girls ever talk about, at least to me.
My heart stopped when Jackie Lynn Thomas turned to me with her adorable smile and motioned for me to sit next to her. I got a little nervous but I was able to overcome it and sit next to the beautiful girl. She grabbed my hand and said, "Guess what Star told me."
"Do I have a choice?", I asked sarcastically.
She playfully punched me n the arm and said, "Star told me that you wanted to invite me to a sleepover at your house tonight."
My eyes went wide as I loved over at Star, "Oh did she now?"
Star just smiled and giggled. I'm gonna have to kill this girl one day aren't I?
"I accept", Jackie said as she kissed me on the cheek. I blushed darkly while Janna and Star giggled like preschool girls. I was going to tell them to shut up, but the sound of the school alarm bell cut me off. It was time to head to first period.
Star jumped up and grabbed my hand, "Let's get to class Marco!", she said jumping up and down. I groaned while Janna and Jackie laughed. They love it when I'm annoyed don't they?
The time between first period and lunch is a blur as I was struggling to stay awake threw most of it. I was up pretty late last night dealing with the whole Jackie situation so I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. All the classes today were pretty much review and catch up days for those who needed extra help with the material we were learning.
Star, being the new kid, didn't have to do any of these things, so she just drew on her desk with a crayon she found on the floor. Normally the teacher would tell her to stop, but sense Star is a beautiful princess and everyone wants to get on her good side, she let her do what she wanted. People still haven't gotten over the fact that there is now a princess at our school. I can tell by the stares Star was receiving from all the students in the classroom.
Anyway, since I didn't need to do any work, I just went to sleep on my desk, but I regret doing that now because I had another dream. It wasn't like the dream with the dead dog and the injured Jackie, it was worse, way worse.
Authors Note: I know this chapter was pretty uneventful, but this is mainly a set up for the next chapter witch is gonna have a lot of stuff in it. I want everything thing in this story to have meaning, whether it's a minor plot element or a major event. I hope you enjoyed this chapter everyone.