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*Whimpering*

*Crying and sniffing*

I'm so sorry... Marco.

I'm so sorry... Marco.

Episode 14: Picnic

Janna and Hope, the latter holding a picnic basket, walked to the diaz household, where the first thing they noticed was the lack of protective barries. They went to the backyard and Hope got the picnic ready while Janna walked back and forth in worry.

"Hope, I still think this isn't a good idea." Janna uttered. "Marco had it rough earlier, maybe we should just leave him alone."

"Janna, you got a good point: Marco has been through a lot." Hope replied. "However, what Marco needs is not to be left alone, he needs people that can lighten his mood and help him get through this experience."

"Then why did I have to come too?" Janna whined. "What makes you think I won't get him more pissed off?"

Hope simply frowned and quickly responded, "You're right, maybe you should stay behind in the wild where anything could attack you without warning."

Janna immediately changed her mind upon hearing Hope's answer. "I'll be nice, just this once."

"Good girl."

Janna blushed and turned away as Hope looked up and spotted Mrs. Diaz's sillouethe on her room's window. "Come to think of it, maybe I should take care of Marco for now." She blurted before turning back to Janna. "How about you go upstairs and see if you can cheer up Mrs. Diaz?"

The girl reacted with justified shock. "You honestly want that bitch to cheer up? She tried to get Star and Marco to pork just to have grandchildren. Why should I try to cheer her up? She's been a bitch!"

"You've been a bitch too, but I didn't point it out right in front of your face while I ranted about what you did among other things and made you feel bad about it." Hope retorted, rendering Janna speechless. "Look, just go upstairs and cheer up Mrs. Diaz while I stay here and cheer up Marco."

"Fine."

Janna climbed the wall and Hope whistled, which got Marco's attention from his room. The boy opened his window and saw Hope waving her hand. The boy closed the window, quickly went down, got out of the house and tumbled his way to Hope, and he sat down once he reached her.

"Does the crotch still hurt?" Hope awkwardly asked.

"I'm afraid so." Marco flushed. "Anyway, how about we begin the picnic?"

Hope briefly glanced at the upper level of the house, where she saw Janna give her a thumbs up before going inside. Hope smiled, turned back to Marco and cheerfully answered, "Let's start!"

(At Mrs. Diaz's House)

Janna barged in the room and closed the window just as Mrs. Diaz noticed the girl's presence. The woman ignored Janna and continued to cry as she weent to her and uttered, "What's up, Mrs. Diaz?"

The woman simply replied, "Leave me alone Janna, I'm not in the mood."

"Sorry, but I'm under orders from Hope to cheer you up." Janna responded before sitting close to Mrs. Diaz. "So, what can I do to help you get rid of that droopy attitude?"

"Travel back in time and convince me to never try force Marco and Star together."

A speechless Janna frowned and scratched her head. "Yeah, that's gonna be easier said than done."

Mrs. Diaz continued to cry after Janna's comment, which got the girl's curiosity. "Why are you so upset about this, anyway? Wasn't your plan to have Marco impregnate Star with your grandchildren? She is most likely pregnant with them right now."

"The problem is that I wanted to force Star and Marco, my own son, together." Mrs. Diaz started before explaining. "If Star had used the aphrodisiac pill to get Marco to nail her, then things could have been bad. But then Tom arrived and made it all go worse. I would have lost no matter what happened, but Tom made sure I suffered for it."

"Huh, so the situation you wanted to see happen was a lose-lose situation all along." Janna remarked sympathetically before looking to the ground. "That's...really sad."

"But it is nothing compared to the fact that I used my own son for my own needs. You think they'll take it without complain, that they will take anything you throw at them, and that they'll be with you no matter how badly you treat them."

Janna remembered the times she ever treated Hope like trash or was a jerk to her upon hearing Mrs. Diaz's comment.

"And then something happens that makes you know that you've made a grave mistake, that you have treated someone that could be precious to you like trash, and that your relationship with them will be ruined forever thanks to that."

The girl immediately remember moments that fit Mrs. Diaz's description, which made her cry and whimper as she realized what she had been doing all along.

"I have been so blind until now."

"That is why I'm horrified by what has happened, why I'm so upset about this." Mrs. Diaz uttered before adding in a stern tone. "You probably don't even know what I mean."

Janna, instead of answering, simply hugged the woman and weakly said, "Actually, I understand what you mean, Mrs. Diaz... I understand what you mean."

Mrs. Diaz was stunned out of shock for a while, but she eventually smiled and returned the hug as Janna continued to cry.

(Back with Marco and Hope)

The teenagers leisurely ate sandwiches while Hope watched Janna and Mrs. Diaz hug at the window. She frowned and swallowed as Marco moaned in delight.

"These sandwiches are amazing, Hope."

"Thanks, I made these myself...with my wand." Hope replied.

Marco laughed and took another bite of his sandwich before calming down. "Now, about the alliance with you and Janna...I don't know if that would benefit everybody. You and Janna will have our help, but I don't know if you'll give back the help."

"Are you doubting me, Marco?" Hope asked.

"No, It's Janna who's making me doubt. She's not been the nicest to you, yet you stick by her side. Why?"

Hope blushed and replied, "Marco, this isn't about my relationship with Janna, this is about the alliance we need if we wanna go anywhere in this game."

"Alright, the alliance is a-go." Marco answered, much to Hope's delight. "Now tell me, why do you stick with Janna even when she's been a bitch with you?"

Hope stopped blushing and calmly answered, "Well, I guess that's because I know Janna's not a bitch, that's not her real self. She's just nervous due to the nature of the game, that and we both know she tends to be rather competitive."

"Oh right, I forgot she was one of the most competitive girls in the school."

The teenagers laughed for a while before Hope scratched her head and nervously asked, "Marco, are you angry at your mother for the aphrodisiac fiasco?"

"Yeah, she's dead to me. For now and forever."

Hope almost spat out her sandwich when she heard Marco's answer, and she took a deep breath before replying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's...rather harsh, don't you think?"

"My mom planned to have Star and I fuck just so she could have grandchildren!" Marco snarled. "She tried to use us to get what she wanted!"

"Okay, so you have reasons that justify you being angry at her, but does it really justify considering the person that brought you to the world and cared for you since you were young to be dead?"

Marco flinched and remained silent before sighing, "You wouldn't understand, Hope."

The girl simply sighed and gave Marco a serious look as she stated, "Marco, if the one who wanted to force you and Star to fuck together was a random person you don't know at all whose only justification is to please their own needs, you'd have a reason to be so enraged at them to think they're dead to you."

She paused and turned to the reader, giving them an angry look before turning back to Marco. "But your mother made a honest mistake she never intended to do. She wanted to force you to have grandchildren, yes, but had she thought about the consequences, I'm sure she would have backed down."

The boy was left speechless.

"Marco, please, even if it takes your forever to do it, could you just try to talk with your mother and see if she's guilty of what she did?"

The boy thought about it for a moment, took a deep breath and stated; "Try is the keyword."

With his mind spoken, Marco got up and went back to his house, groaning in slight pain as he did. After he left, Hope got up, sighed and used her wand to clean up what was left of the picnic. "That definitely could have gone a lot better."

Just as she started to wonder where Janna was, Hope was surprised when she heard Janna land on the ground next to her. She turned around, and instantly noticed that the girl's face was somehow obscured by her beanie.

"Oh hey Janna, did you manage to cheer up Mrs. Diaz?"

Janna shook her head without uttering a single word.

"Yeah, I was afraid that would be the case." Hope replied. "I didn't manage to cheer up Marco either, but hey, at least he agreed to the alliance! Isn't that great?"

Janna remained silent.

The next thing Hope noticed was Janna was holding her house keys in her left hand. "Oh look, you got your house keys back! At least you got something from meeting Mrs. Diaz!"

Once again, Janna remained silent.

"Janna, I can't your silence anymore, if something's bothering you, just tell me and I'll see what I can do to fix it."

After a while, Janna finally responded by showing Hope her face. Janna was crying a river and could barely hold them back before she shouted, "I'M SORRY!" before hugging Hope and crying her heart out.

"Uh...I'm lost."

"I'm sorry for being such a horrible teammate! For treating you like trash! For being an insufferable whore! For every bad thing I ever did to you! You have stood with me even after everything I did to you, and I'm sorry for not rewarding you for that!"

"Janna..."

Hope smiled, shed a few tears and returned the hug before stating:

"Apology accepted, Janna. Apology accepted."