SvsTFOE - Makeup

A seemingly normal Friday Morning at Echo Creek. It was breakfast time but one girl was carefully applying makeup on her face ratter than going down to take breakfast with her family. Muffled voices could be heard through the door of her room, she simply finished and looked in the mirror, she could see her face with a radiant smile and perfectly applyed makeup.

She left her room, the voices now were clearly of a man and a woman having a heated argument. she simply waltzed by the livingroom, grabbed her backpack and exited the house.

"Morning, Hope!" She heard someone say just as she got outside.

"Oh, Good Morning, Janna, nice to see you." Said Hope smiling at seeing Janna standing right outside her house.

"Here, catch!" Said Janna while tossing an apple that she pulled out of her lunch box at her. "Eat that, it's not much but better than starting your day on an empty stomach."

Hope caught the apple, stared at it for a bit and then just thanked Janna while taking a bite from it and smiling from ear to ear, she has known her for years so she could guess that she probably walked by her house and heard the argument happening inside, so she decided to wait outside for Hope to come out and give her something to make up for the breakfast she obviously was gonna skip.

The two girls then hit the road towards Echo Creek's Academy chatting along the way about random topics, they finally reached the academy and went to their respective lockers, which conveniently were right next to each other.

"And now at your left, we see our daily display of pitiful shame!" Janna suddenly said waving her hand towards another set of lockers.

Next to then was their long time classmate and acquaintance, Marco Diaz, looking at his wristwatch eagerly.

"And here she comes." Said Janna in a condescending tone.

And sure enough, right on cue, another of their classmates, Jackie Lynn Thomas was rolling into the academy and as she passed by Marco he simply nodded at her.

"So Sad." Said Janna crossing her arms with a smug expression.

"This happens every single day, I wonder why he just nods at Jackie instead of just saying Hi or something." Said Hope. genuinely not understanding Marco's actions.

"Hahaha! Oh, Hope, please never ever change!" Janna said laughing loudly at her friend's naivety.

"DId I say something funny?" Hope asked confused at Janna's reaction.

"Nevermind that, lets go to class already, I stayed awake reading message boards until very late last night and I want to sleep a bit during class to make up for it." Said Janna yawning a bit.

"Oh, that "channel 3" site or whatever is called, again? you need to show me what's so interesting about it sometime!" Hope asked looking very excited.

"... I better not, I want to keep you pure!" Said Janna in a joking tone.

"Pure...?" Hope asked even more confused than before.

"Just... let's go to class..." Janna groaned and dragged Hope by the arm before she could ask more questions.

During class Hope made sure to wake Janna up before the teacher would notice she is sleeping during class, she was very used to this after years of being friends with Janna the troublemaker, and she enjoyed a lot helping her friend in any way she could even if sleeping during class was something she considered wrong.

Time seemed to pass very fast and before Hope realized, it was time to go home, something she wasn't looking forward to at all that particular day, she then went to her locker and waited there until Janna arrived too.

"I was wondering." Said hope to Janna who was picking up her stuff from her locker. "Can I hang out with you at your house for the evening?"

"No can do." Said Janna as she closed her locker. "I will leave for the weekend to a camping trip with my folks and..." Janna cut herself off suddendly.

"I see." Said Hope as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a cosmetic compact and checked up her makeup in it's mirror. "Sounds like fun!" she said smiling.

Janna remembered something she wished she had earlier, she just stared at her closed locker for a bit, it took a lot of will power for her to not slam her head into it.

"Y-yeah, it will be fun." Said Janna with the fakest smile ever, thankfully Hope was too naive to notice it.

Hope just continued to look into the mirror of her compact still smiling, then Janna got an idea.

"Please wait here for a little while! I will be back before you know it!" Said Janna as she dashed away towards the class rooms.

"Oh, okay?" Said Hope very confused as she was left alone.

A few minutes passed, then Hope saw Janna running towards her, but she was wearing a familiar looking red hoodie.

"JAAAAAAANNAAAAAAA!!" A very angry scream echoed thru the halls and then a very angry looking Marco Diaz in hot pursue of Janna came into view.

Janna then stopped right in front of hope.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Said Janna and then turned around towards her pursuer.

"Give me *gasp!* back my hoodie, Janna!" Said Marco completely out of breath.

"Relax, Marco." Janna said standing close to Marco. "I just wanted your attention for a bit and this was the best way to get it. You see, Hope here needs some company this evening and I won't be available for a few days. So be a gentleman and spend the evening with her at your place, okay?"

Hope was just still checking up her makeup with her compact.

"just do this for me will ya?" Said Janna while wrapping her arm around Marco which made him lean away. "Do it and I will reward you handsomely." Janna said using her trademark flirty tone.

Marco then grabbed Janna away from him. "I'm not sure about this, I known you well enough to know theres always something fishy when it comes to your requests, Janna!"

Janna then hit Marco in the stomach with her elbow.

"Oofff!" Marco said while curling in pain and holding his stomach "Wh-what the heck, Janna!? Why did-!?"

Then Janna got closer to Marco's face and whispered into his ear so Hope would not hear.

"Listen Marco, I can't explain right now but I screwed up big time by forgetting what date it was today, I need you to keep Hope company just for this evening, PLEASE, you are the only one I know I can trust with this..."

Marco was very confused, he wondered if something was wrong with Hope, but he glanced at her and... she looked perfectly fine, she was smiling and leaning her body back and fort very happily, she seemed to look as cheerful as ever if not more than usual. but then he turned around and glanced at Janna. she had an extremely concerned look, almost like if it was painful for her to even look at Hope.

Marco had known Janna since kindergarten, and every single time he trusted her with something it ended in him being pranked, but somehow this time he felt it was okay to trust her.

"Okay, I'll do it, don't worry about anything." Marco whispered to Janna.

"It's settled then!" Said Janna slapping Marco in the back which made him fall face first into the ground. then she whispered something to Hope and left quickly.

"Ouch...! Grrr! that woman drives me insane!" Said Marco starting to regret a little agreeing with Janna's plan.

"So um..." Marco said not really knowing how exactly to go about this whole situation, he had known Hope for almost as long as Janna but they were never exactly close.

"Cute shirt." Finally Hope said giggling a little.

"Huh?" said Marco confused, then looked down and realized he was wearing his KarateKon shirt. "AAAAHHH!!, I forgot to get my hoodie back from Janna!! ARGH!!" Marco realized the cause for Hope's silence was she trying to not laugh at his shirt, still he was a little glad this was a great way to break the ice.

"Don't worry, I will make sure to get your Hoodie back from Janna once she is back." Hope Said trying to reassure Marco.

"So I guess I have to formally ask." Marco said. "Would you like to hang out with me and Star at my place?"

"I'd love to!" Said Hope putting her hands toguether. "Speaking of Star, where is she? I am used to seeing you two toguether all the time it's weird to not see her here."

"Oh she's over there." Said Marco pointing towards a window where titular character, Star Butterfly was looking out of.

"Hey Star." Marco said as he approached her. "Are you ready to go home? Hope will be hanging out with us today and... oh no..." Marco then noticed Star's crush, Oscar, jamming on his keytar on top of his car like usual.

"Just 10 more minutes..." Said a drooling Star with her eyes glued on Oscar and chewing on her wand.

"... well I hope you don't mind waiting untill the princess is ready to go." Said Marco to Hope.

Hope walked towards Star and tried to talk to her getting no response, then she waved her hand in front of her eyes and also got no reaction.

"Why is star like this? is something wrong with her? is she sick?" Hope asked looking concerned.

"She... is fine, don't worry, just give her some time." Said marco amazed at how naive and innocent Hope was. hard to believe someone like her is good friends with Janna, which is pretty much the opposite personality wise.

So about 10 minutes passed and Star returned to the real world and Marco was explaining why Hope was gonna hang out with them on the way home.

"It's so awesome that we will get to hang out with you, Hope! but why didn't you told me earlier?" Asked Star.

"Star, you were there, the entire time, you just were tripping too hard in Oscar-land to notice anything was happening." Marco complained.

"Tripping?" Hope asked looking very confused.

"N-nevermind that! the important thing is that we will get to spend a fun evening the 3 of us." Marco said realizing it will be hard getting used to Hope's innocence.

"It would been fun if Janna joined us too." Star said. "Why she could not join us?"

"The reason is because every 4 months or so she goes into a camping trip with her parents." Hope replied as she reached into her pocket to grab her compact and start checking her makeup. "She will be back in a few days."

"Awww! your compact it's soooo cute!" Said Star with sparkles in her eyes.

"You like it?" Said Hope with a huge smile. "I have a lot of these, so I can give you one if you want."

"Naaaah, I don't really use makeup so it would go wasted." replied Star scratching the back of her head.

"Now that I think about it." Marco said. "I think you are the only girl in our class that wears makeup, Hope."

Hope just smiled and did a little shrug at that detail, shortly after they arrived at the Diaz residence.

Marco went to the door. stopped for a second, facepalmed and then turned around and made a hand gesture to Star.

"Ah, sorry! I forgot!" said Star as she rushed forward and opened the door.

Hope was confused and asked Marco what was wrong that he had to make Star open the door, he simply replied that it was "a long story."

"We are HOOOOOOME!" Star yelled as she entered the house, a hoard of laser puppies rushed towards the entrance to greet her and the others.

"Oooohh!" Said Hope as she picked up one of the puppies. "so these are the laser puppies I heard s much about! they are ado- WHOA!" Hope said as she barely dodged a laser blast. "-rable!" She completed her compliment with a huge smile despite almost being lasered in the face.

"Nice dodge!" Said Marco surprised at Hope's reflexes.

"Janna very often shows me dangerous wild animals that she finds, so I am used to dodge their attacks". Said Hope probably not realizing the gravity of what she just said. Marco just laughed nervously without commenting.

"Since today it's a special day what do you say we do something super special like..." Star says as she pulls out her dimensional scissors.

Marco simply shakes his head at her while furrowing his brow.

"...like watching TV and eating Marco's super special Nachos!" Star says as she slowly puts the scissors away.

"That would be lovely!" said Hope very excited.

Then they all proceeded to sit in the livingroom sofa, and suddendly Mr. and and Mrs. Diaz just blasted into the room holding hands and dancing.

"Hi, son! bye, son! we are leaving to our 14th honeymoon!" both of them said in unison while dancing around as they walked.

"Dad! Mom! could you two PLEASE behave!? we have visits!" Said marco facepalming but by the time he put his hand away from his face his parents were already gone.

"Those two are so in love makes one wonder if you have ever loved anything or anyone for real." Said Star.

"I think it's amazing that they can love each other so intensely after so many years." Hope said while checking her makeup.

"You sure love to check your makeup a lot." Marco said noticing a certain pattern.

"You think so?" Hope answered. "I just like to check in case I ruined it without noticing." she said with a smile.

"In case you ruined it without noticing?" Marco asked looking concerned.

Hope looked away for a brief moment. then just did a little shrug.

"Star!" Marco suddenly said. "Could you please start making the nachos? I will go help you in a bit."

"Eeehhh??? you are gonna let me make the nachos!?" Star said filled with excitement. Marco knew he would end regretting letting Star alone in the kitchen but he really needed a brief moment alone with Hope. Star rushed towards the kitchen and Marco took a deep breath.

"Can I ask you a question, Hope?" Marco said.

"Sure, ask away!" say hope cheerfully.

"I remember that a year ago you didn't wear any makeup, then suddenly you started wearing lots, to the point you clashed a lot next to Janna, why exactly you started wearing it?"

Hope's usual cheerful face vanished, she looked at the compact in her hand and opened it, looking at her reflection.

"It was a little over a year ago." She said while stil looking at her reflection. "I am not sure exactly what happened, but my parents started fighting a lot, until then I was always a very happy person, I had little reasons to be sad, but when I saw how my parents clearly liked each other less and less, I started crying a lot, it reached a point where i would cry almost all the time."

Marco was regretting even asking her, saying this had to be painful for her, but he continued to listen without interrupting her.

"My friends started to get really worried about me, specially Janna" she said lowering her head so her hair covered most of her face. "I don't blame them, they were so used to see me happy all the time, it actually pained me seeing them so concerned for me almost as much as seeing my parents fight."

Her grip on the compact on her hand started getting weaker, she was trembling a bit.

"I felt like it was all my fault, even if I could not do anything about my parents fighting, I at least wanted my friends to stop worrying about me, thats why I started using makeup."

Marco looked a little confused at how that can be related.

"I started applying makeup on my face very carefully every morning, and made a goal to keep it perfect for the entirety of the day, because you see..." As Hope said that marco noticed two streams of blackened tears running down Hope's cheeks. "...Nothing ruins makeup more than crying..." She said raising her face and looking at Marco, her eyes were red and filled with tears that washed off her mascara so her face was completely soaked in streaming darkened tears.

Marco just felt like crying, not even sure of what to say.

"The makeup was just an excuse." She said. "It was an excuse to not cry, because if I did it would ruin it, I didn't really care about makeup whatsoever but, it was a reason to not want to cry, as stupid as it sounds it allowed me to held off from crying more than my will power alone could, I am so weak, and yet this was not enough, sometimes just seeing other kid's parents or even hear about them being happy together would cause me to cry without noticing, thats why I always check my makeup whenever I hear something related to that, to see if I didn't accidentally started crying wthout noticing."

"A-and t-today is my parent's wedding aniversary, s-so it was too p-painful to be at home today... so... now... I... I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry you have to see me like this!" Hope started crying loudly and lost the grip on her compact which fell from her hand and hit the ground breaking its mirror.

Marco not knowing what to say simply hugged her and let her cry on his chest. There was really nothing he could tell her to make her feel better since he was blessed with parents that love each other to absurd degree, he felt bad for sometimes being annoyed at their over the top displays of love. All he could do is allow Hope to let out all those tears she held up over the course of the day.

About twenty minutes passed, Hope cried the entire time, it was the most she had cried since she started wearing makeup. Marco noticed her sobbing was decreasing and she probably already could not phisically cry a single tear more.

"Feeling better?" Marco dared to ask.

"A bit, thank you so much for asking." Hope answered with her face still buried on Marco's chest.

Marco smiled feeling an immense relief.

"And also thank you for letting me cry on you." she said finally getting her face away from marco's chest. "Eeek! but I ruined your KarateKon shirt!" she said covering her mouth with both her hands at realizing Marco's shirt was completely smeared in all her washed up makeup.

"Don't worry about that!" Said marco laughing. "The next KarateKon is not too far off so I can get another one."

"You will kiss a Ninja again?" she asked.

"Is there even any doubt!?" Said Marco leaving clear that no Ninja will go kissless while he is at the event.

They both just started lauging, then the kitchen door opened and Star emerged from it along a curtain of smoke.

"Marco! do you have any flamable liquids? because we ran out of..., Hope!? Were you crying!?" Said star noticing the clear crying sings left on Hope's face. "Don't worry! I will get my fake mustache and fish! they are 100% sure to cheer you up!"

Hope and Marco told Star about what happened and what was going on with Hope's parents and how she was affected by it, after they were done explaining it all to her she sat down in the sofa with them.

"Sounds a lot like a problem I had myself when I was younger." Star said.

"Wait, what? really?" Said Marco a bit confused of never hearing about this.

"For sure, my parents are a very dysfunctional couple, my mom has kicked my dad off the castle so many times I lost count, that really messed me up when I was little, I would go as far as blame MYSELF for their arguments!" Said star as Hope and Marco listened and being very surprised Star had that kinda problem growing up.

"I would cry a lot over my parents fights, It even caused me to go thru a rebellious phase a few years ago! but thats a story for another time... the point is, It was very hard for me, that is until I learned that no matter how my parents felt for each other, they both loved me no matter what, and that whatever problem they had it was not my fault despite what I thought at the time."

Marco was actually really shocked, he never imagined it would be STAR of all people the one that would end helping Hope the most.

"And Hope, if I may be so bold, I BET you that both your parents love you probably more than you can possibly imagine, don't blame yourself for whatever issue they may have with each other, is not your fault, and also if you feel like crying, just cry, dont hold back your emotions, but remember, your parents love you so theres no need to cry for something thats not really your fault." said Star putting her hand on Hope's shoulder.

Hope felt really warm inside after listening to Star's words, she smiled and her eyes teared up a bit, it seems that despite she being completely out of sorrowful tears, she still had a few tears of joy in her.

Star then noticed the broken compact on the ground.

"Oh no! it's broken! and it was such a cute one too..." Said Star sheeding a tear.

"It's fine, I wont be needing it anymore anyway." Said Hope drying her tears.

"Why not?" Asked Star. "You will stop using makeup?"

"On the contrary, I will continue to use it, but this time I won't worry about ruining it by crying because I won't hold back on my emotions anymore, so if you see me and my makeup is perfect it means that day I didn't feel sad and cried at all!" Said Hope doing a cute smile and pointing at her face with both hands.

Both Star and Marco smiled and now would look forwards to see her makeup not ruined every day.

"Ah! before I forget!" Hope said reaching for a little box inside her pocket. "Janna gave me this and told me to give it to you as thanks for helping her."

Marco opened the box and inside were his house keys.

"...How nice of her..." Said marco very sarcastically. "at least now I can open the door to my own house again."

Hope just smiled at him then suddenly leaned back and rested her head on Marco's chest.

"H-H-H-H-Hope!? W-wha-what are you-!?" Marco said freaking out a bit.

"Do you mind if I stay like this a little more? it's incredibly comfortable and relaxing." Hope said clearly not grasping why this kinda thing was not something you just normally do with a friend.

Marco just turned to look at star looking really nervous and asking for help with his gaze.

"What? she's not wrong!" Said Star throwing her arms into the air. "Why do you think I fall asleep on you so often?! it's not my fault you are the comfiest human pillow in the multiverse!"

"T-that's good... I guess?" Marco said to himself, Now he had to deal with Hope snuggling him for the next minutes... or hours...


Her innocence was certainly a dangerous thing.

-T H E  E N D-