Here's chapter 4!Also, I finally remembered to put of the things I've been meaning to put in the other chapters but forgot to mention!
1. This fic takes place after 'Flirting with Disaster,' mid-season 2. There may be moments where episodes before 'Flirting with Disaster' are referenced throughout the course of the fic.
2. Essentially this fic is meant to (somewhat) serve as a "series rewrite." However, there are some noticable differences that you will see throughout the course of the fic that makes my fic different from a normal series rewrite fanfic. Or this fic could be seen as a "retelling," either way, this fic will handle episodes and character development very, VERY differently from canon(or lack thereof).
Shout out to my beta, sarasanddollar and my phamily on Slack who has put up with me rambling about this! Enjoy the chapter!
4. A Introspective Moment on Perspective: Star
She doesn't want them to go. For the (relatively) short time she's known them, it's the quickest that she's ever formed a connection after just meeting them. It took a week for her to form a connection with Paulina and over a month for Kwan and Dash-which only grew stronger over the years. Yet here she stood, centimeters away from being reunited from her friends and family and she honestly wants to stay right here, right in this moment with her new friend.
Wow, that didn't sound desperate at all.
Clockwork reaches over her to open her door, unintentionally brushing against her shoulder as they do so, and a surge of something shoots through her. Star doesn't know what it is, but she wants to feel it again.
"-you have to go home."
Snapping out of her chaotic thoughts, looking between Clockwork and the door, a fond smile took over. "The last twelve hours have been pretty interesting."
They really were, getting lost in an alternate dimension, meeting/befriending ghosts. All in all, it caused a certain thrill despite the surreal, numbing fear of dying at any point in time. Perhaps it was her inner adrenaline junkie speaking.
Remembering that Clockwork was (and still) tired from their earlier endeavors, "Or tiring, in your case." She laughed softly.
"Don't be a stranger Clockwork!"
'Really.' Star adds silently.
"I don't intend to be," the Time Master replied.
'I'll hold you to it.'
She should step inside, relieve the Time Master the burden of making sure she gets home safely. Placing one foot in the doorway, Star flashed one last smile, her brightest one before she finally enters her house, "Have a good rest, see you whenever."
Star wonders what they said in response after she closed the door. Maybe it was something snappy? Maybe something witty? Or maybe it was nothing at all.
Whatever it was, she has to know.
Just as Star thinks of the idea to open her door and shout after Clockwork, she's instantly smothered by red and white picking her up and twirling her around.
"Star!" That was Kwan. Her boyfriend. "I'm so glad to see you! In one piece! I'm not sure what I would even do if something were to happen to you. Dash and Paulina tried to tell me nothing happened to you, but it's Amity Park you know? Anything can happen! Ghost attacks, muggings, serial killers," his voice trailed off, his disquieting glance lingering on his seemingly unharmed girlfriend. "Nothing happened to you right? No one did anything to you right?"
That was Kwan, her rambling, overprotective teddy bear of a boyfriend squeezing her, holding her against his chest.
She's home. Home with her friends and family. She allows her boyfriend's voice become a permanent fixture of her mind, his modulated, mellow voice to drown out all her other thoughts, as Kwan's coarse hands gently but firmly gripped her sides. Burying her head against his chest, smelling the peppermint honey that coalesced into his shirt, alerting her that he had showered not too long ago. Her hands crawled their way up Kwan's jacket sleeves, gripping the folds and creases as tightly as she possibly could, afraid that if she didn't hold on tight enough, she would lose him. Star takes several deep breaths, her chest rising and falling in sync with Kwan's. It's impossible to tell exactly how long she's been doing it but she finally loosens her grips on his sleeves, Star's hands ghost over the rest of Kwan's jacket until she can firmly squeeze his cheeks, sighing in relief.
"No, nothing happened," Star answered, kissing him on his nose.
'That's not true and you know it,' she berated herself for lying to him.
"Look here 'Teddy', you ain't the only one that missed her. Paulina and I wanna see her too!"
"Si, please put Star down so we can see her too!"
Giving the other two teens a blank stare, Kwan doesn't respond, instead holding Star tighter to his chest, afraid that if he let her go then he'll lose her again. Not again, he doesn't want to deal with the fear that took over him.
"Baby, I'm right here," the gentle voice of his girlfriend breaks him out of his trance, along with her fingers tenderly pulling on his jawline to get him to look at her. "I'm right here, nothing is going to happen to me."
Kwan side-eyed Paulina and Dash before gently putting her down, allowing the other two A-Listers to fervently hover over Star. Paulina and Dash checked her for any hidden injuries before swooping Star up in their own possessive hugs, relaying their joy that she had safely returned.
"Don't disappear on us Star," Dash said suddenly, a deep frown tugging at the corner of his lips, "God knows that no one can placate that anxious teddy bear boyfriend of yours." His lips quirked upward in a crooked smile as he hugged Star tightly, ruffling her hair and Dash's crooked smile growing even wider as she huffed random strands of blond hair out of her face.
Paulina flicked Dash's arm playfully. "Shut up," she snarked out with a toothy grin. "But seriously, no one can calm that teddy bear down. So don't disappear."
"I live in Amity Park," Star blurted out suddenly, "It would be absurd to not disappear."
Kwan snatches her out of Dash's hold, coarse hands squeezing her arms gently. He stared into her eyes for what seemed to be forever before he muttered out, "Don't disappear."
Star plants her face in his shirt, smelling the peppermint honey once more before gripping his jacket sleeves.
She's home.
Star leans against Dash's arm, belting out an exhausted yawn as she pathetically attempted to pay attention to the group work the A-Listers were doing. Kwan causally scribbled down the answers while Paulina filed her nails, dictating what she wanted Kwan to write down. Dash thumbed through the history textbook, copying down main points from the textbook. The three teens worked efficiently, drowning out their rambunctious classmates. Time flies by with the teacher redirecting the class at certain points throughout the period, students chaotically fretting about in the classroom, picking up supplies, and dropping off papers.
"You have eight minutes left in class, I would advise that you turn in the group packets. You'll be able to work on them next class, but please turn them in so that I can have them for safekeeping."
Paulina patiently waited for Kwan to write his last sentence, who handed her the packet. She then gently nudged her arm into Star's side, receiving a wide-eyed stare from the blonde and laid the packet in her open hands.
Paulina jerked a thumb at a teacher's desk, Star absently nodded in a hazy understanding.
Pushing herself off Dash, Star stood up out of her desk, standing still for several seconds to rid the tingling, numbing sensation that resided in her legs. Her strides are slow and sluggish, similar to dragging a stick through mud. No one comments on how Star looks almost dead, her eyes unfocused and hazy, simply waving it off as her having an 'off day'. The other students that had noticed moved out of her way, not wanting to accidentally incur the blonde's wrath.
Star slowly trudges through the makeshift pathway, dropping the group packets on the teacher's desk; making the mistake of turning around too sharply, she had to grip the corners of the teacher's desk to her to keep her grounded.
"Star, are you alright?" asked the teacher, reaching out towards the teen and suppressing shock when Star weakly swatted the offending hand away.
A weak nod, "Peachy, Mr. Garcia."
Mr. Garcia noted how his student gripped the desk as if it were a lifeline, her knuckles paling to a sickly white. He's not too sure what he can do at this point, she hadn't complained of anything bothering her(albeit the fact that there was something clearly bothering her) nor does he have any 'valid reason' to send Ms. Lewinski to the nurse's office. Gritting his teeth at his incapability to help his point, he nodded his head, "Alright, Ms. Lewinksi," he raised an eyebrow, still not convinced the teen was as peachy as she said she was. "If you're feeling any different, no matter how inconsequential you think it is, please go to the nurse's office."
A small nod was his response. He watches as she slowly trudges back to her group where her friends were. Mr. Garcia huffs out in sudden irritation, with both himself and the sham of a school system that he taught in. Another student walks up to his desk to hand in her group's packets before scurrying off wherever she came from. Looking down, he picks up the packets that most of his students have turned, stacking them together and sliding them in a folder before sticking said folder in the cabinet filer.
Gracefully maneuvering around his cluttered desk to the front of the classroom, Mr. Garcia loudly claps twice, successfully gathering the attention of his students, "Alright class, at this point, I need any remaining groups who haven't turned in their packets to do so. Also for homework, make sure you-" The bell catches him, rudely interrupting whatever he had to say next.
"Have a good day everyone!" He says instead, grabbing a marker to write today's assignment for his incoming class.
A steady flow of students walk into his class, several of them chatting with their friends as they made their way to their desks. One of his students greet him with a wide, infectious smile that he can't help but return. Two of his students walk up to him and ask about his day as he continues writing the class agenda.
Nothing is out of the ordinary, the antithesis of Casper High. The bell rings as a few more students straggled into his class and he began to teach.
Merely minutes later, a scream causes Mr. Garcia to drop everything he's doing, run into the hallways, skidding to a stop when he saw two students: one standing stock still, screaming her head off before her horrific screech faded out while the other student darts his eyes towards the teacher, lost as to what to do next. Mr. Garcia, looks from the corner of his eye, his students are now peeking out of the classroom to see what was happening. Turning towards his students with a stern glare, he commanded them to go back to class before turning around to the situation before him.
"Nathan, what happened?" he asked calmly.
"I d-didn't mean to, I was only trying to help her!" Nathan's shaking, stuttering to the point he can hardly get a word out without it being horribly mangled by his stuttering, "M-m-mr. Gar-c-ia y-yo-u have t-to beli-ev-e-e me!"
Mr. Garcia nods his head, "I never said you did anything Nathan, you're not in trouble. All I need is for you to calm down and to tell me what happened." Nathan was still shaking, but began to slowly calm down, "Are you alright now?"
He received a jerky nod. "A little."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Again, Nathan nodded in the same jerky motion, "I was w-walking to class after the bell had rang when I saw Star slowly walking the halls. She didn't look well so I thought I could redirect her to either her class or the nurse's office. I caught her attention but I tripped over my own two feet and my experiment flew out my hands. I told her to lookout but she-she just didn't seem to respond in time and it ended up on her shirt."
Mr. Garcia patted Nathan on the shoulder, "You aren't in trouble Nathan." Seeing Nathan frown and he knew that the child was over thinking things. "Nathan, I will make sure that you don't end up in any sort of trouble. I'll explain to whoever you have this block what happened and I will make sure Star is okay."
Nathan frown deepened in concern, "But what if her friends-"
"I will make sure they understand you meant no ill will towards Ms. Lewinski," the teacher pointed to his classroom, "Go sit down in my class and calm yourself down while I handle her."
Nathan scurries away from the two into his classroom, the door slamming behind being the only indicator he went in there.
Mr. Garcia sighed as he turned around to face Star, and he was sure that he could never erase her terrified, catatonic face or unhear her petrified screams. He reaches his hand out to gently brush her arm, partially relieved that Star hadn't screamed again and partially unnerved by her lack of response. Suddenly, he feels his hand being gripped.
Okay, so he got a response.
"Star, can you tell me what's wrong honey?"
A choked sob, broke out from the blond, "I-I can't b-b-breathe."
"Can you tell me what's hurting?" She shook her head, attempting to blubber out nothing was hurt had only served to frustrate the teacher but he had managed to mask his irritation at her blatant lying before Mr. Garcia continued to speak, "You're hurting somewhere, Star. Please just tell me where so I can help you."
She hesitated before slowly raising her hand to her chest and gently tapping against it.
"Your chest hurts?"
Star nodded.
"It hurts," a long, painful sob accompanies her statement and Mr. Garcia swore that he heard his heart break in two. "It hurts."
"I know, we can figure something at the nurse's office."
A heavy silence took over the teacher, save for Star's choked wails as he figured out how he could get her the help she needed. His brown eyes lit up as he was struck with an idea-it wouldn't work unless his student gave the a-okay, but ie was an idea nonetheless. "Star, I want to pick you up and carry you to the nurse's office. Can I pick you up so I can do that?"
Her eyes widen at the request, another sharp cry escaped before she nodded her head. Mr. Garcia gave her the gentlest smile he could muster before he swooped her up in his arms, shifting her around slightly so that he wouldn't risk dropping her. Slowly he began to walk down the halls, trying but ultimately failing to tune out the heartbroken sobs that reverberated in empty hallways of Casper.
Okay, for anyone who wanted to know why Star had trouble breathing, remember that Star had ended up in the Ghost Zone by being shot by one of Skulker's weapons specifically designed to send any person hit by it to be sent to the Ghost Zone. Despite the fact the weapon was nonlethal, no one enters and escapes ghost encounters as the same person.
In addition, Sports Star/Celestial Player(KwanxStar) is the most, pure, wholesome ship in DP.
Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! See you in March in for chapter 5! R&R, feedback is always appreciated! :D