Marco's Pov
xXx

The second Star sits back down the bell rings, signaling that class is over and school is done for the day. Everyone cheers and races out the door. They all step on my feet on the way out.

I turn to Star. Her face still displays a sheepish grin. As I'm debating whether or not to ask the blonde to come home with me to work on the project, she speaks up.

"So, uh, can I come over?"

Thank god I didn't have to ask.

"Uh, sure." I gulp. A girl is coming over to my house. Star nods and smiles sweetly, then dashes out of the classroom, leaving me by myself.

I put my tablet back into my binder and zip it up.

"See you tomorrow, Mrs. Skullnick." I wave good-bye to my teacher as I leave. Mrs. Skullnick just grunts and continues reading her book.

I walk down the hallway to my locker and sigh out of relief that the lock isn't backwards this time. I open the lock and carefully place my books inside, grabbing my backpack and then quietly closing my locker. I turn around to see Star waiting for me.

"Let's go, Wild Man." She whirls around, smacking me in the face with her long hair. My cheeks turn red at her use of my new nickname.

We leave school together and start the walk to my apartment building. She walks beside me silently, giving me a chance to think about what happened earlier.

When Star dropped her purse.

And everything fell out.

I've never really seen the inside of a girl's purse, but most of the stuff Star had in there seemed normal. Compact mirror, cash, tampons, the normal girl stuff.

Except for one thing.

It looked sort of like a plastic toy, the kind that a mother or a father would buy for their child to play with. It was purple in color and had a yellow star shaped decal on the front of it. I don't know what it could possibly be, other than a toy, of course. But why would Star be carrying around a children's toy in her purse?

"H-hey, um, Star..." I start, breaking the silence.

"Yeeeess?" Star drawls out her reply in a nervous tone.

"If you don't mind me asking, uh... wh-what was that, in your purse?" As soon as the words leave my mouth I see her flinch.

"What was what?" she asks after a moment, seemingly have regained her composure.

"I-I don't know what it was... you were h-hiding it behind your b-back?"

Star stops walking, so I stop too.

"It was nothing." her voice is sharp. She clearly doesn't want to talk about it.

"Uh, okay... I swear I saw something, though..."

We start walking again, in silence.

Why did Star sound so defensive? Is that thing, whatever it is, not a children's toy? If it is, why would Star be embarrassed about it?

I continue thinking about what secret Star was keeping until we arrive in front of the apartment building.

"Uh, h-here we are..." I stammer. Star looks up at the building, her eyes wide with surprise.

"No way! I live here, too!" she exclaims. She seems to have forgotten about my question. She races inside the building. I blink and run after her.

"Hey, wait up!" I call. As I push open the doors I see a flick of blonde hair disappearing around the staircase.

"St-Star! Wait!" I dash up the stairs after her. I see her relunctantly waiting at the top of the staircase. Her hands are on her hips, her foot is tapping against the floor, and her lips are pursed in annoyance. She actually looks really cute.

I meet her at the top and smile coyly.

"You don't know what floor I live on."

"Let me guess!" She puts her index finger on her chin, lightly rubbing her lower lip. Her eyes close in concentration.

After a moment of hesitation, Star's aqua eyes shoot open. She jumps back and points her finger in my face confidently.

"You live on floor three!"

"Not even close." I laugh. She crosses her arms and pouts.

"Hmph! Well, which floor do you live on, Mister Smarty-Pants?"

"Floor seven." I push past her to start climbing the stairs again.

"Hey, one floor below where I live!" She jogs to catch up with me.

"So we're like, vertical neighbors."

"Guess so, Wild Man." She grins cheekily at me.

We climb up six more sets of stairs to the seventh floor. The way our apartment building is set up makes it so that each family gets their own floor. I take off my backpack and get the key to the house, then after unlocking the door, I open it for Star, who dashes inside right away. I enter the house myself, then lock the door behind me. I take off my shoes and place them neatly to the side. I hang my backpack up on the coat hook and look around for Star. Where has she gone?

I hear my mother's excited voice coming from the kitchen. Oh no.

I run over to the kitchen entryway and instantly regret that decision.

"Marco, my son! You brought home a niña!" my mother exclaims, wrapping me in a hug tight enough to break my bones.

"Mom!- Mami!- You're crushing me!" I manage to get out. She giggles and releases me. I crumple to the floor.

"So, girl, please, tell me your name?"

"I'm Star! Nice to meet you, Mrs. Diaz!"

"Please, Star, call me Mom!"

"Okay, Mom!" Star beams at my mother.

I scramble to my feet. I can feel my face burning as my mother wraps Star in a bear hug. She turns to me.

"Marco, your padre is in the shower, he'll definately want to meet this girl!"

"N-no! Star is here to work on a project! With me!" But my mother won't hear it. She kisses me on the cheek and smiles at me softly.

"Have fun, Marco, be safe!"

Understanding the meaning of her words makes my face heat up, once again. Star grabs my hand.

"Come on, Marco!" She drags me out of the kitchen. I can hear my mother laughing.

"If you need anything, come get me!" Then, more quietly: "Mi niño ha crecido!"

As Star drags me down the hallway to my room, I wonder how she knows where to find it. I realize that all the apartments are set up the same, so her house is the same as mine, in a way.

Star drops my hand when we get to my room. She throws her backpack in the corner and flops down on my bed while I stand there awkwardly, waiting for her to say something.

"Cool room." she says, giving the place a once-over.

"Uh, thanks." My arms are placed stiffly at my sides.

"Woah, Wild Man-" Star rolls off the bed, walking over to a trophy in the corner. "What'd you get this for?"

"Uh, karate." I answer. "I'm a red belt."

"That's awesome."

"I guess."

Ugh, small talk.

"So, uh, wanna do our project, now?" I ask awkwardly. I remember how she laughed at me the last time I asked that. She shrugs.

"Sure."

We take out Star's book and my laptop and get to work. Even though I wouldn't normally rush through a project, we decide to try and complete it as fast as possible.

"H-How many kids?"

"How about three?"

"O-Okay, what about a form of transportation?"

"I want a motorcycle!" I stare at Star skeptically.

"You want a motorcycle?"

"I want a motorcycle!" I blink.

"Star, motorcycles are dangerous..."

"Oh, Safe Kid, "dangerous" is my middle name."

"What action movie did you steal that from?"

I feel my nervousness really start to ease away. As we continue working, I start to feel as if I really know Star. It's weird, this feeling. This feeling of trust.

"Wanna call it a day, partner?" Star asks. She's laying back against the carpet with her legs crossed, her arms behind her head.

"Sure. We got a lot done." I smile down at her. She looks so relaxed, laying there on my bedroom floor. The blonde lets out a whine-like noise, showing her content with being here. After a moment she sits up.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." she announces, standing up and sliding her purse strap off her shoulder, dropping it on the floor. She exits the room, shutting the door behind her.

I check to make sure she's gone, listening for her footsteps. When I know for sure that she won't suddenly burst in through the door, I avert my eyes to her purse. I take it into my hands, holding the zipper between my fingers. I pause. Is this wrong? Going through a girl's purse? I immediately start to feel guilty, even though I haven't done anything. Yet.

I'm really conflicted. I want to see what Star is keeping from me. I want to know what it is that fell out of her purse. I want to know why she felt like she had to hide it.

But I also want to stick to my morals. Going through her purse would be a violation of everything my parents taught me about being a gentleman. Going through her purse would break her trust. I mean, if she didn't trust me, not even a bit, she wouldn't have left her purse here.

Surely Star will understand why I have to do this.

My hands shaking, I gently pull at the zipper on her purse, excited to find out the secret that is inside.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

xXx