"Cheerleading practice again," Sabrina said. She and the others girls were all sat in the cafeteria. Another week of school had gone by and classes weren't looking any easier.

The girls all sighed as they took out their lunches.

"You sure that's enough, Chantel?" Megan said, eyeing her friend's small salad. "Practice is gonna be tough. You don't want to train on an empty stomach."

"This is all I want, thank you," Chantel replied.

"You sure?" Andrea asked. "My mom packed an extra sandwich." She offered it to her.

"Uh-uh, I only overeat when I'm stressed," Chantel insisted. "The last thing I need weighing me down are carbs."

"You'll be skin and bones by competition time," Megan warned.

"As long as I don't have acne, I'm okay with that."

They all began to chow down, all the while hearing snippets from the various chatter coming from the students around them. After a few minutes of silent chewing, Megan broke the silence.

"Brace yourselves. Brittney's coming."

They all looked up as their "friend" and captain approached them. She never ate with them, so it was obvious what she wanted with them.

"I expect more out of all of you today," Brittney glared at all of them. "No offense, but you girls all stink."

"We're sorry, Brittney!" Sabrina blurted out. "It's just… you know, classes and all."

"Then get a private tutor, duh," she spoke as though it was the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. "Like me."

Andrea giggled, remembering their last test. If Brittney heard it, she didn't bother to look. "Look, I didn't pay my way to Captain so I could lead a bunch of losers. The Opossums are depending on us to keep the other teams distracted, so that's what we're going to do! Remember…"

"Possums Persevere and Prevail," the girls weakly joined her in their school's slogan.

"Exactly," Brittney said. She began to walk off when Sabrina got up.

"Uh, Brittney?"

Brittney turned to face her, still uninterested. "Yes, Sabrina?"

Ignoring the confused looks of her friends, Sabrina gave her best smile. "I… we… just wanted to thank you again for taking us to the Adam Bomb concert. It really means a lot to us."

Brittney didn't seem particular touched. If anything, Sabrina's comment seemed to annoy her. She rolled her eyes. "Well, remember that during practice today."

"We will!" Sabrina said and, maybe because Star had left a bigger impression on her than she thought, reached out and hugged Brittney.

"Ew, get off!" Brittney shoved her off. "Ugh. Our seats better not be together."

"You ought to know," Megan said. "You bought them."

Brittney raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Now, all four girls went silent.

"Uh…" Sabrina said, "You bought our seats?"

"You think I'm paying for your tickets?" Brittney snorted. "I said I would take to the concert, as in, give you a ride. I never said I would pay for you to get in. You know how expensive they are?"

Upon seeing her friends' shocked reactions, Brittney simply huffed. "Just be ready for practice later." With another hair whip, she was off to sit with the other cool kids.

Chantel turned to Andrea. "I think I'll take that sandwich."

"Is she serious?!" Megan cried as Sabrina sat back with them. "We've been busting our butts for her and she doesn't even bother buying us tickets?!"

"What are we going to do?!" Andrea cried as Chantel stuffed her face.

"Let's not panic!" Sabrina spoke up, though the unease in her voice suggested otherwise. "Okay, so tickets are $40 each. How much do you have?"

They all pulled out their purses and began digging through them for any sign of green. "I have…" Andrea pulled out a crumpled bill, "ten bucks."

"Five," Megan slammed hers on the table.

"I'm broke," Chantel shrugged.

Sabrina's face fell flat as she layed out a single $5 bill. Not even enough for one ticket. "I thought we all got summer jobs?"

"Yeah, but I bought a few games right before school started," Megan admitted.

"New makeup kit," Chantel added.

"Painting supplies," Andrea fessed up.

"Not to mention my folks made me start buying my own school supplies," Megan rolled her eyes as the others scoffed in agreement. "What about you, Sabrina?"

She nervously stroked her ponytail. "Well…"

Sabrina was walking down the sidewalk when an apple dropped from a nearby tree and hit her on the head. "Ow!" She stumbled forward, trodding on the tail of a stray dog, which snapped at her legs. "Yikes!" She stumbled into the road and was hit by a car.

The others all let out exacerbated moans.

"Way to go, Back Luck Backintosh," Chantel muttered.

"Sorry guys," Sabrina whimpered as she buried her head in her hands.

"So...we're practically broke," Chantel moaned. She eyed her salad before glancing up at Sabrina's uneaten lunch.

"Don't do it, Chantie," Megan warned her.

"Our parents?" Andrea offered, her arm around Sabrina in an attempt to comfort her. "I mean, I guess I'm not too proud to beg."

Chantel sighed. "Worth a shot, I guess."

"97 (grunt) 98 (grunt) 9… 9!"

From her baby carrier on his back, Mariposa giggled as her brother forced himself to do one final pushup. "100!" He shifted to a sitting position, wiping off his forehead. "Phew, thanks for spotting me, Posey."

"Oh Marcoooo," Star sang as she skipped into his room. "Your parents wanted me to tell you that lunch is ready."

"Thanks," Marco gasped. "I need a bite." Star went over and plucked Mariposa from her carrier. "Aw Mariposa," she said in a cutsy voice, "Are you helping your big brother with his 'oousting twwaining?" The baby babbled back.

"Yeah, she's been great support," Marco said, getting up and looking at himself in the mirror. Star joined him and lifted up his shirt. "Aw, still no abs," she frowned.

"Yeah, but at least I'm shaking off the rust," Marco pushed his shirt back down and stretched. "Oh yeah, I already feel like my old self. Hi-ya!" He did a karate chop, only to squeal and grab his arm. "Ah, sore!"

Both Star and Mariposa began laughing, which to Marco's displeasure resulted in him blushing. Turning away from the mirror, he hastily tried to change the subject, "So, uh, how's my introduction coming along?"

Star thought back to her work on it eariler that day.

Citizens ran in terror out of the dog park, the once peaceful green now covered in burning, incorrect spellings of "Marco" and rapidly evolving into a massive inferno. In the center of it all stood Star, dog whisle halfway to her mouth and a look of utter bewilderment on her face. A bark came from below and she looked down to see one of the laser pups peeing on her leg, the rest all still running amuck, happily ignorant of the destruction they'd

caused.

"Oh, it went great," Star replied cheerfully. "The pups have almost got your name down!" "Excellient," Marco smiled. "You keep working on that and I'll be here, sweaty, smelly, and pumping iron."

Star took a sniff. "Well, you're smelly," she smirked, before sniffing the air again and grimacing. "Whoa, make that stinky." Looking down, she realized the source of the smell. "Posey! Pew!"

The baby laughed as her full diaper made Star scrunch her face up in disgust.

"You'll get used to it," Marco assured. "Actually, can you change her for me? I'm starving." Before Star could respond, he walked out of the room, a shrill shriek following him moments later.

Marco strutted into the dining room, where his parents had prepared a plate of sandwiches. "Oh, don't mind if I do," he quickly took several on a plate for himself.

"Whoa, save some for Star, Marco," Rafael said.

"I'm not surprised, Raf. He looks like he just ran a marathon," Angie added, noticing her son's sweaty state and smell as he wolfed down a sandwich. "If it's not to much to ask Marco, what's with the sudden exercise craze? Every meal for the last few days, you've been coming down, smelling like a gym sock."

Marco paused mid-chew on a second sandwich. After a moment of thought, he swallowed and exhaled. "Well, remember when I told you guys I got knighted on Mewni?"

Angie chuckled. "Yes, I remember your cape."

"And how I said that Star's aunt was running the kingdom now?"

"Eclipsa, right?" Rafael asked.

Marco nodded. "Well, she's hosting this big jousting tournament thing in a couple days and she's asked me to take part in it."

His parents' smiles slightly dropped and they glanced at each other in consideration.

"Guys, I promise this isn't anything like the Neverzone," Marco assured them. "Eclipsa's a good friend. She wouldn't ask me to do something life-threatening. Star would kill her."

His parents turned back to him and, to Marco's delight, they were smilng again. "Well, as long as you're sure it's safe," Angie said. "And you've been a great help to us with Mariposa, Marco. I think you deserve a little fun time."

"YES!" Marco pumped his fist in the air.

"When's it happening?" Rafael asked.

"Oh, this Friday," Marco said, taking another bite of his sandwich. He stopped chewing, however, when he saw his parents' faces drop. Once again, they looked at each other and this time, weren't smiling when they turned back. He swallowed, a bit uneasily. "Uh… is something wrong?"

Angie sighed. "Marco, I'm afraid we need you here on Friday."

Thunder conveniently crackled from the outside storm as Marco dropped his sandwich. "What? Why?"

"Okay guys, Mariposa has a bit of a blowout," Star strolled in with Mariposa, the baby now dressed in a frilly, fancy dress. "But we got her all clean and dressed, didn't we?" She stopped. "What's with all the long faces? Did I cast another sadness spell in my sleep?"

"Star, we're really sorry, but we're afraid we can't let Marco attend your aunt's joust," Angie explained.

Baring aside the fact that Marco had his folks thinking Eclipsa was her aunt, Star looked just as shocked as Marco.

"Rafael and I have this really important job interview in Los Angeles on Saturday. We'll be staying there all weekend and we need Marco to watch Mariposa for us while we're gone," she went on.

"Well…" Star stammered, "Can't she just go with you?"

"No, we both have to attend and it's no place for a baby," Rafael replied.

"Well, then we'll just take her with us."

"Star, you're not taking a six-month-old to a violent, jousting contest," Angie said flatly.

"Kids, we need you to understand how important this is," Rafael sighed. "We weren't going to mention this, but money's gotten kind of tight since this little nugget came along," Angie took Mariposa from Star. "I mean, she burns through diapers and food like there's no tomorrow."

"And now that you're back with us, Star, that's three mouths to feed," Angie added.

"You know I still get royalty checks," Marco said.

"We're not taking your money, Marco," Angie replied. "You should be saving that for college." "Uh, former princess right here," Star cut in. "If it's money you need, I can just call up Eclipsa and…" "That's very kind of you, Star, but we're not taking money from you either," Rafael cut her off. "But guys-" Marco persisted.

"No, Marco," his mom said, her tone firm enough to shut him up. "You're staying here with Mariposa and that's final."

Even with 16 years of Neverzone questing, Marco knew better than to challenge his mother when her voice got this way. He fell silent.

"Look, if we can get this job, we'll make enough to hire a babysitter," Rafael promised in a nicer tone, "and then you two can go to another tournament. Just not this one."

Dejected, the two teens hung their heads. Mariposa looked around. She didn't understand what was going on, but she saw her brother's face and knew something was wrong with him. Whimpering, she reached for him.

"Your sister loves you, Marco," Angie stroked her daughter's thin crop of hair. "You three can have a great time here. Now please, eat and you take a shower."

Marco got up from the table. "Actually, I'm not very hungry anymore." He walked off.

Star frowned. Now that she knew of the financial issues her caretakers were going through, she felt a tinge of guilt for practically barging back into their lives, especially after she'd up and ditched them last summer with no warning.

"Star, please don't feel guilty," Angie's maternal instincts were practically magic themselves. "We love you and we're happy you're back with us. It just costs money."

Star sighed, but forced a small smile in appreciation. How could she complain when she had such a loving, adoptive family? Reaching out, she playfully bopped Mariposa on the nose. "I think you should lay off the quiche. It gives her bad poopies." She turned and went after Marco.

When she got to his room, she found it empty except for a glowing portal.

"Oh boy," she sat down and began flicking magic at the wall. After about 30 seconds or so, Marco emerged, El Choppo slung over his back.

"How was the Neverzone?" Star asked.

Marco sighed. "Fine. Saved another village from goblins and crumpets." He sat down next to her. "So, did Eclipsa call while I was gone?"

"Nope."

Marco lay back, his head now next to Star's. "You know, I actually haven't been back to the Neverzone since Posey was born. I kept worrying that she'd get hungry or smelly while I was gone."

"After all the questing you did with Hekapoo, I'm not surprised," Star replied. "She ever stop by?"

"She popped in every once in a while, gave me a few slaps. I introduced her to Posey." He chuckled. "She took one look at her and asked if I'd been seeing other girls."

"Wow."

"Eh, everyone around here seems to think that," Marco put his arms behind his head. "Cashier at Stop n' Slurp even gave me a free drink for ' sticking around .'"

Star laughed.

"You'd think after everything we went through in Mewni, Earth would be a snore fest, but I've actually had a pretty productive time. Got my black belt, took a baking class, even applied for a few colleges."

"Oh goody."

"Yeah, I'd say I'm doing pretty good. Probably not going to end up scrubbing toilets on Garbage Island."

"Yeah, probably," Star scooted a bit closer to Marco. "Feels good not having to worry about your future anymore, doesn't it?"

"Except for taxes and bills," Marco laughed.

"Oh yeah," Star realized, "You know, since I'm not rich anymore, I've been thinking of getting a job. Actually earn money."

"I say go for it," Marco encouraged her. "You'd be a knack at a lot of things. Managing, dancing, I bet you'd make a killer politican."

"Yeah, I think I've had enough of politics for one lifetime," Star laughed. "Right now, I just want to be a regular 15-year-old girl."

"Well, in that case, you could always start with something simple, like working in a store or babysitting. You're pretty good with Posey and I heard you took care of Glossaryk."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I still have nightmares about changing his-" Star stopped midsentence and sat up. "Wait… Marco, that's it!"

Marco sat up. "What's it?"

"Let's hire a babysitter for Posey! We'll call them over after your parents leave, go the joust, and then be back before anyone knows we're gone. Your parents did say they would be away all weekend, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not leaving her with some stranger."

"Who said anything about a stranger? I'm talking about Jackie or Janna or Star13. They's more than enough girls at school to choose from."

Marco thought for a moment. "Okay, but I choose the sitter. And not a word of this around Mom or Dad." Star mimed zipping her lips shut. "I can do them for real, just to be safe."

"No. I'll find the sitter, you work on my enterance."

"Consider it done." Giving her friend a squeeze, Star danced out of the room… only to pop right back in. "But your mom's right. You seriously need to shower. Whew!"