Hope's late for lunch

>Ring ring goes the school bell
>It's lunch time
>Everyone in Star and Marco's class runs out the door before Ms. Skullnick can finish handing out the results of their latest test
>Only person left who wasn't fast enough is poor Hope
>Ms. Skullnick grabs her wrist before she can bolt out the door and hands her the rest of the papers
>"Hope, do me a favor and hand the last of these out to your stupid classmates before lunch ends" -Ms. Skullnick says as she shoves the last of the papers into Hope's hands
>"But Ms. Skullnick, I was gonna eat lunch with Janna and-" -Hope gets out before Ms. Skullnick interrupts her
>"I don't want to hear any excuses, you get those out or I'm giving you a zero for the day!"
>"Yes Ms. Skullnick" -Hope sighed
>What was Hope to do? She couldn't get a zero for the day! How would her parents react? But she was so hungry....
>Hope gets an idea
>"I'll ask Star if she can magically get these papers to everyone!" -Hope exclaims
>Hope runs off to find Star
>After running around the school for a few minutes, she spots Star and Marco heading to the Cafeteria
>"Hey Star! Marco!" -Hope yells
>Star and Marco stare as Hope runs right into them, almost knocking them both down
>"Hey Hope, what's up?" -Star asks
>"I need a spell or something to get these tests back to their owners; can you do that?" -Hope asks
>"I can't think of anything that would have that sort of effect Hope, I'm sorry" -Star responds sadly
>Hope stares down at the tests and starts to get teary-eyed
>Marco sees this and gets an idea
>"No reason to cry Hope! How about me and Star help you? That way we'll finish much quicker and still have time for lunch. What do ya say?" -Marco offers
>Hope stares at Marco with a glimmer of hope in her eyes
>"Really? You two would do that for me?" -Hope starts to get teary-eyed again
>"Yeah, we will, won't we Star?" -Marco says while pleading with his eyes at Star, not wanting Hope to start crying right there in the hall


>"Oh, yeah, of course we will Hope!" -Star quickly agrees
>"Thank you so much!" -Hope says as she hugs both Star and Marco gratefully
>All three share a quick group hug, then Hope passes out a third of the tests to both Star and Marco.
>"Almost everyone should be in the cafeteria within the next few minutes, so if we hurry we can get them their tests before all the good grub is gone" -Star says while collecting her share of the tests
>"Alright then, off we go!" -Yells Marco as he starts heading toward the Cafeteria with Hope and Star close behind
>Once the trio get to the back of the line for food, Marco weaves in and out, handing out the tests to their classmates; while Star uses a faster variant of her hover cloud to spot her classmates from above
>Finally, Hope chases after the kids too "cool" to eat in the Cafeteria after collecting their food
>After a rather exhausting (except for Star that is) 10 minutes, the three group back up in line just in time to still get at some of the decent food
>"Wow, that was much faster than if I had to do it alone! Thanks you two!" -Hope gushes as she hugs both Star and Marco for their help
>"No problem Hope, just helping out a fellow class person in need!" -Star says as she returns Hope's hug
>"Same here; you'd do the same for us I'm sure" -Marco replies while still being apart of the triple-hug
>Hope smiles, happy that everything went better than she'd hoped
>The trio separate and go their own ways to enjoy their well-earned lunch, with Star and Marco headed to their usual spot with Alfonso and Ferguson, while Hope headed to meet with Janna and Jackie
>Once Hope sits down, Janna and Jackie ask why she was late to lunch
>"Oh, Ms. Skullnick made me hand out yesterday's test to everyone, but it's alright; I had Star and Marco's help" -Hope tells them
>"Ah, good ol' Marco, being a shining example of a good student to the rest of us lowlifes" -Janna jokes


>"No really, he seems to be a nice guy" -Hope rebuts
>"Yeah, he's pretty nice, and kinda cute too" -Jackie says while smirking at Janna
>Janna nervously laughs while trying to hide her face with a magazine she pulled from her backpack
>Hope glances between the two girls
>"What? Janna thinks Marco's cute or something? - Hope asks Jackie while she's laughing at Janna
>"Ha, ah...yeah, something like that I guess Hope" -Jackie says as she finishes laughing
>"Hmmm....well I guess he is sorta cute, in a dorky way..." -Hope offhandedly states before lightly blushing and hiding her face with a cafeteria tray
>Jackie looks back and forth between her two friends, trying not to laugh too hard
>Janna peaks her head out from behind her magazine and eyes daggers at Jackie
>"Poor Janna, you thought it wasn't super obvious that you've had a thing for Diaz for awhile? -Jackie says while eating what's left of her lunch
>Hope puts down her tray and looks over at the table that Marco is at, surrounded by his friends
>"Well, if Janna's got a crush on him, maybe there's more to him than I think..." -Hope thinks to herself as she starts in on her lunch while furtively taking peeks at Marco