Chapter 7: The Talk(s)

Marco's POV

I woke up to the sound of Nick's door, as someone was presumably knocking on it. " Hey Marco, someone's here to see you." Great. While it is ironically funny how Nick is knocking on his own door, I can't help but feel that I'm going to regret answering him. "Who is it?" I respond lazily. "Someone named Angie" he replies.

Wonderful. Just Wonderful. My mother is here, presumably to talk about the 'incident' between me and Star. If I say no, she'll stay there all night waiting for me. I've gotten myself too far into this. "Come in." I respond grudgingly. As the door slowly opens, I see my mother in a very concerned facial expression. She sat down next to me with hesitation. "Marco…" she started. Before she talks about the "incident", I stop her. "I know what I did was wrong, but I made rules for Star because I didn't want to see her get hurt."

Mom was taken aback by my response before she could even ask her question. "Why did you have to be like that?" she asked with intent concern. "I don't know…" I respond while choking back tears and emotion. I'm not even sad. I just feel guilty. Guilty about what I did to Star. "…I've just had so much built up anger." I continue, slightly shaking with fear and sadness just like Star from a an hour ago.

Mom just stood there, thinking of what to say. I honestly wouldn't know what to say either. We've never discussed about anger issues before, making it all the more awkward. Probably because I've never been THIS angry before.

"Can I just stay here tonight?" I ask slowly, not wanting to accidentally release all my emotions at once in front of my mother." We can just talk about this tomorrow and I don't want to make things worse with Star." I continue on. Her face turns from concerned to sad, probably from lack of understanding. "If that's what you REALLY a want…"

She did that thing. That thing mothers do to make you feel guilty whenever they want to lure you into agreeing with them. I hate it when she does it. I hate it because she's so good at it and it usually works. But not this time. "I DO really want that" I say softly. I tilt my head away from mom, facing the wall. "I need time to think."

"Okay, Marco" she says in a somewhat understanding manner. As she stands up to exit, I can't help but feel how much of a douche I've been in a span of only a few hours. I went all out on Star and now I'm blocking out my own mother.

When she shuts the door behind her, I immediately force my face into several pillows while screaming and crying simultaneously. I hate myself for what I've done. I let my emotions get the best of me and I payed for it. I've possibly lost my best friend, my parents will never view me the same again,and, with my luck, Jeremy will spread rumors about the whole incident. He has physical proof too; his injuries. I just wish I could work this out somehow.

Jackie POV

I travel down the sidewalk on my skateboard slowly. I check each house on the block to see if it's Nick's house. When I get to about the 6th house, I see Nick in the doorway. He looked a little surprised to see me. I don't usually go to many people's houses, so I guess that's why.

"Oh! Hey, Jackie!" Nick says with shock. Weird. He doesn't look like a person that would be surprised by many things, especially visitors. Maybe it's just an exception for me. I am fairly new to him, after all. "Hi. I'm here to see Marco, if you don't mind." I ask, almost stuttering. He shot me a confused look. "Ooookay then" He questionably said, while slowly backing up and closing the door.

I wait for about a minute while thinking. 'Why would he be surprised for me to see Marco? He hasn't been here for a day!' I think to myself before I realize the door opening again. Nick looked over me and grinned. "Why are you smiling?" I ask, sounding a bit annoyed.

He looks down to me while still smiling. "He doesn't believe me." Nick responds nonchalantly, despite their being a smile on his face. "What did he say?" I questioned. "Marco said 'There's more of a chance that the president of the United States of America is here to present me with $1,000,000 than Jackie Lynn Thomas wanting to see me'" Nick said with a hint of smartass in his voice.

I felt extremely flattered but even more confused than before on how Marco viewed me. Ive seen him as a friend on several different occasions. Whenever he got Ms. Skullnick to leave Echo Creek, I was kinda impressed. I've always nodded to him at school. Since high school, anyway. I didn't notice he's been nodding to me since Kindergarten until Star told me about it a few weeks ago.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head at me. "Why are you doing that?" I snap back, feeling slightly offended. "You don't realize it, do you?" he asks. "Realize what?" I snap back again. "Just between you and me, I think Marco has a…"

"…person standing in front of him that should step aside!" exclaimed an unknown voice. Nick turns around and steps aside simultaneously to reveal Marco Diaz, now starring Nick down. "Thank you" he says while shifting his attention from to Nick to me.

"H-hey Jackie!" Marco stuttered. I would see why, remembering what he said a moment ago. "W-would you like to come in?" he asks, while stuttering again. "I'd love too!" I say somewhat excited. "Follow me!" Marco says, opening a door and signaling me to come along.

Nick closes the front door while I walk into another room. The room seems pretty normal to me. You have your bed, dresser, lights, window, and ceiling fan. "So why did you want to see me?" Marco asks while sitting down on the queen-sized bed. Should I really talk to him about what Jeremy told me? I barely know Marco and I feel like it's a little awkward to just ask him if he beat up a kid.

"So I ran into Jeremy earlier…" Before I could continue I was cut off by Marco groaning loudly. "What did he say?" Marco asks in bored expression. At least now I don't have to awkwardly tell Marco what happened since he already knew what I was going to say. "He said that you called him a bastard along with you beating him up." I responded, waiting for Marco's answer. His face turned from understanding to no emotions, as he walked to the wall in front of me. He put his extended hands and arms on the wall and looks down silently.

"I can't, can I?" Marco says softly. "What do you mean?" I ask. "I can't just be angry without being accused of being a monster, can I?" Marco replies angrily. What? I don't think I called him a monster. Is that what he thinks? "Monster? I didn't say that!" I say quickly, trying to calm him down.

"I know but…that's what you think! Right?" he says. We'll sort of. Seeing what he did to Jeremy, this was new to me and probably new to everyone else including his parents. But I can't just say it to him.

"Look, Marco. It's alright to be mad once in a while. Just try not to lash it out on others, okay?" I say trying to shift to another topic. "I know but…he kinda deserved it. He hassles me everyday. He always brags about he's better than me at Tang Soo Do because he's a black belt, but the only reason is his parents are rich. That and he cheats. A lot." He says in defense. Whe he puts it like that, he has a legitimate reason to do that. "You still shouldn't do that. It just makes you look like a jerk." I say firmly, trying to get my point across.

I look at him and see tears start to form in his eyes. "Oh" He replies with a shaky voice. I rethink about what I just said and now I feel like an idiot. "Wait, Marco! I didn't mean it like that!" I say quickly, trying to advert any kind of drama. I try to think of something to do to calm him down. I do something that I haven't done in a while to any boy; I gave him a hug. He immediately perks up. He also feels kinda…soft. Not "baby soft" but "huggable soft."

I let go and he immediately returns the favor, as he hugs me. In any other scenario, I would be disgusted and even creeped out.. But I could see what he's going through is new to him and he needs comfort. "Thank you" he says quietly and lets go.

"Hey, Jackie?" he asks. Great. A question. "Yeah, Marco?" I respond wanting to get it over with since I'm not a very good talker in dramatic scenarios. "Would you mind if I spent more time with you?" I'm stunned. I didn't think he would ask something like this.

"Are you hitting on me?" I say slightly offended. After all I barely know him. "What?! No! I meant to hang out more often since we don't do it at school and it IS summer break" he replied. Well I've never actually done anything with Marco before. "Oh! Sure! Where to?" I ask.

"I heard there was a new gym that opened up! Maybe we could go see it? I know it's not an ideal location for a first time, but I wanted to go somewhere new" he replied. By the look in his eyes, he REALLY wants to go. It's strange. I've never seen Marco as an athletic type. Sure he does martial arts, but a gym is still a little weird to me.

"Okay I guess" I finally say. I pat him on the back and say "See ya tomorrow, Marco!" I get up and walk out the door. As I'm leaving, I quickly turn around to say "And try to lighten up, okay?" I see a weak smile grow on Marco's face as I walk out the door.

Regular POV

Nick walks into his room and just stares at Marco, who is currently dazed with a huge smile on his face. "What are you so happy about?" he questions as Marco begins to pace the room. "I did it…" Marco replies, barely audible. "Did wha.." Nick says before being cut off by Marco jumping in excitement.

"I FINALLY DID IT! I OVERCAME MY FEAR OF TALKING TO JACKIE!" Marco exclaims, barely containing his excitement. "Relax. It's not a date…but at least you scored a "hang-out" with her!" Nick says with pretend excitement. "WHO CARES?! I FINALLY DID IT!" Marco exclaims and collapses in Nick's bed. " I guess I'm gonna go to the couch now" Nick responds as he walks out of the room.

(What do I have in store for our friend Marco? Will he ever get to first base with Jackie Lynn Thomas? Will Nick ever get his bed back? [Probably not] Find out this and more in the next chapter!)

(I do not own Star vs. the Forces of Evil or its characters and never will.)