"Hey, guys! Look! It's so cute!" Star said, running over towards a pigpen. My eyes drifted up to a sign above the pen advertising bacon. Oh no... if Star noticed the sign we were in for. I sighed and watched as her line of sight slowly moved upward and then her big blue eyes widened.

"Oh no! They're going to kill the pigs!" she said, tears welling in her eyes. Before we had any idea what she was doing she grabbed a piece of wood from up against the building and started whacking the lock on the pen. It was old and rusty, so it broke easily, letting all the pigs loose. I grabbed onto one, and Star and Oscar did the same, and before we knew it we were headed to to the town square.

We didn't realize there was a huge aggressive boar behind us until we had already collapsed into a pile in the square, with adults giving us suspicious looks.

Don't get me wrong, we weren't troublemakers. Star wasn't afraid of anything, and Oscar would basically walk into any dangerous situation. Me? I had um...reflexes. Which is what caused me to push Star behind me when I saw the boar.

"Stay back." I said, grabbing a red cloth from a random woman, who gave me a look. I didn't notice. At the moment, I was a bullfighter, just like my entire family before me.

I wasn't shaking. This was hereditary, right? The neuroses probably wasn't helping me to stay courageous.

The boar ran directly at me, and I moved the cloth to the side. It knocked into some guy. Mental note: apologize for that later.

I didn't even think. Bull-or boar, as the case may be-taming, came naturally to me. Before I knew it, the boar had gotten stuck in a building. My father was praising me to the surrounding crowds. And the woman grabbed her cloth back. And then a bunch of gaping adults started cheering...for Oscar. Including Star's father, who had seen the whole thing. Star and I exchanged a look. Oscar didn't...even do anything.

"Oh my gosh!" I heard Star say. I saw my guitar on the ground. The neck was broken. I felt like something was broken in my heart.

Everyone went back to what they had been doing before the pig stampede had interrupted as if it had never happened, and I was left with Star, who was facing her father...and he was NOT happy.

"You let a whole pen of pigs out because...why?" He asked.

"They were caged up and waiting to become bacon! I had to!" She said. He father sighed.

"I think it's time you went to Reform school to learn how to act like a lady." He told her.

"But I don't WANT to be a lady!" She said. That's about when I walked away-I didn't want to eavesdrop on something that seemed so private. But I wasn't alone. A little pink animal followed me all the way home. I made it a makeshift bed out of a cardboard box.

Only days later, we were saying our goodbyes to Star. I brought my new pet as a parting gift.

"Marco!" She said, hugging me. "I love him! I promise I'll take really good care of him."

"I'm going to miss you." I whispered to her. I don't know if she heard me or not.

"I...uh, didn't know we were supposed to bring presents." Oscar said. Star shrugged.

"I got something for you." She said, looking at me, and passed me a box before she was whisked away to catch the train. Oscar caught the bonnet that had flown off of her head in the rush.

I opened the box-and it was a brand-new guitar. It was a little big, but I would grow into it.

And on the side, there was something engraved in the wood.

"Play from the heart, Star"

I silently promised her that I would.