Jelly Janna

Star and Marco were in the school cafeteria, eating lunch together. Star gave her friend a worried glance. He was being particularly quiet today, and eating very slowly, only occasionally taking bites of a soggy meatball sub. He looked lost deep in thought.

"Is something wrong, Marco?" Star asked, after Marco had been in quiet contemplation for about five minutes.

"You know what, Star?" Marco replied, not looking at her, still staring off into the distance. "I think I'm gonna do it."

"Do what?"

"Ask out Jackie."

Star blinked, then squealed with joy. "YES! I keep telling you Marco, you just need to go for it-"

"Yeah, and you're right!" Marco put his sandwich down. "I mean, what do I have to fear? Rejection? I almost got crushed by a glass box, why should I fear rejection? Life's too short to keep delaying this sort of thing. You have to seize the moment! Live while you can!"

Star winced. She still didn't like being reminded how Marco had nearly died at Toffee's hands. And ever since that incident, Marco had changed slightly - become a little bit more reckless, almost as if his brush with death had left him less afraid of it. "Y-yeah," she said. "And Jackie's nice, even if she says no she'll let you down easy...but I'm sure she'll say yes! When are you going to do it?"

Marco got up, wiped his greasy hands on a napkin, and threw it down into his tray. "Right now," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Right NOW."

"Wooo! Go Marco! Go Marco!" Star chanted, as Marco marched off, determined.

***********************************************************

Jackie was eating lunch with hope and...Janna, of course. It had to be Janna, the person Marco least wanted to do this in front of. He was sure she was going to try to make some smart-ass comment. Well, he just wouldn't let her.

Jackie had her back to him as he approached. Hope was giggling at something she had said, while Janna was pushing around some applesauce on her tray, bored. Janna was the first to notice him. Her eyes lit up, and she smirked and opened her mouth to say something. Marco silenced her with a glare and an upraised hand. Surprisingly, it worked. Janna was so shocked at the casual dismissal that she kept quiet, allowing Marco an opportunity to take control of the situation.

"Jackie!" he said, a little too loudly. Jackie turned around and looked at him with those huge green eyes of hers, and Marco felt his heart drop into his stomach.

"Oh, hey Marco," Jackie said, always happy and relaxed. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?" Marco asked.

Across the table, Janna gasped, and slapped her hand down. "Ha!" she said, looking as if she was grasping for some witty remark, but couldn't find one. Hope gave her a worried glance.

Jackie ignored Janna. "Oh, sure. I was going to go to the skate park with Janna later, we could all hang out together then."

Marco breathed in deep. "No, I mean, could we hang out alone? Like, a date?"

There was complete silence at the table as Jackie looked at him with surprise.

Janna was struggling to think of something to say, but everything that came to her mind was way too mean and cruel for this situation. She wanted to say JUST the perfect thing that would make Jackie say No to Marco, but wouldn't make Marco hate her for ruining his chances. But he looked so determined, so confident...Janna couldn't bring herself to crush that. So instead she sputtered and sipped her milk quickly. She could feel Hope at her side staring at her.

"Sure, Marco," Jackie said. "When did you want to go?"

"Tonight, I'll come by your place at seven. I figure we can go out to dinner, and then decide where to go from there?"

"Sounds great," Jackie replied, giving him a big smile.

"Great. Good. Yeah." Marco flashed a smile back at her. "I...I'll see you then." Then he walked off, a little stiffly.

Janna waited until he was out of earshot, then burst out with a forced laugh. "So, gonna get a free dinner off that loser, eh Jackie? Jackie?"

Jackie was smiling quietly, pushing some food around on her plate dreamily. Janna stared at her. Was....was she blushing? "Marco's a really cool guy," Jackie said finally. "I was kind of hoping he was interested in me."

Janna made strangled noises as Hope buried her face in her hands. This was a mess.

"You used to hang out with him a lot, right Janna?" Jackie continued.

"Yes," said Janna, miserably. "He...he was such a nerd, heh. A real dork."

"Do you think....do you think you could help me with this date? I want to make sure it goes as good as possible."

"Uh, I dunno if that's such a good idea," Hope tried to interject, but Janna just gave a crooked little smile and said "Sure, Jackie. I'll help you out."

"Thanks Janna! I'll talk to you later about it." Jackie reached out and squeezed her friend's hand. "I'll see you guys around, I gotta go get to class."

"Yeah," said Janna quietly. "See you later."

After Jackie had left, Hope turned to Janna. Her friend was quiet, eyes downcast, her expression a trembling smirk."Janna," she began, gently.

"I'm fine," snapped Janna. Then she slumped back in her chair and groaned. "Ugh. No I'm not."

"It's just a date."

"Yeah, a date with the girl he's had his eyes on for ten years." Janna forced a laugh again. "A date with the girl that made him blind to all my flirting." She leaned up in her chair, noting Marco in the distance, excitedly talking to Star. Janna closed one eye and put her fingers up to her face. "Oh my god, Hope. He makes me SO ANGRY sometimes." She closed her fingers, pretending to crush Marco's head. "Why didn't I say anything? Oh god, why did I agree to help Jackie?"

"You could just call it off, tell Jackie you can't do it." Hope smiled vainly. "Just hang out with me tonight, Janna. I know otherwise you're probably just going to go light fires in the woods again."

"Lighting some fires DOES sound fun," Janna replied thoughtfully. Then her eyes lit up, and she gave a devilish smile. "But...no. I couldn't abandon my friend. I'll help Jackie out, alright."

***********************************************************

Marco had found Star's delight and enthusiasm at his success pretty uplifting, at first. But as the day wore on, she had picked up a strange idea, most likely off the internet. By the time they got home from school, she was insisting that she needed to trail them on their date.

"Star, no," Marco said for the fiftieth time, as he walked into his house and slipped his backpack off his shoulders.

"Marco, YES," Star replied. "I've been watching a lot of earth television, and when friends have a first date, you ALWAYS follow  them, and feed them poetry from the bushes, and just generally make sure their date goes great."

"You can't believe everything you see on television."

"Well, it still sounds like a good idea to me."

"No, Star, just listen." Marco took her by the shoulders. "This is something I need to do alone. Alright? I mean, I'd appreciate it if you helped me pick out an outfit for the date or something. But that's it."

Star was about to protest once more, but she saw how serious her friend was. "Oh, alright. I'll help you pick out an outfit." SUddenly, she broke out into a huge smile. "Marcooo, you're going on a date with Jaackie! Oh my god, you're going to be so cute. Are you excited?!"

Marco smiled. Yeah, actually, I am. I'm gonna go start getting ready."

"What?! You have like...three hours."

"I gotta be PREPARED, Star!" Marco ran up the stairs. "I'll call you when I'm choosing my outfit."

Star smiled after her friend, then walked to the couch and flicked on the television.

"OH GOD, OH GOD NO," screamed an awkward looking man in a shrill voice, seated in the middle of a stone room. "I'M IN THIS STONE ROOM, AND THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON ME. OH GOD, I'LL BE CRUSHED. I'LL BE CRUSHED TO DEATH, AW GEE, AW MAN. AND THE WORST PART IS, NORMALLY I'M A VERY CAUTIOUS GUY, AND I'M IN THIS SITUATION BECAUSE MY BEST FRIEND DRAGGED ME ALONG. BOY, I SURE HOPE THEY COME TO SAVE ME IN TIME. OH GOD, THEY DIDN'T SAVE ME IN TIME! OH GOD, MY BONES ARE BEING CRUSHED! OH GOD, BLOOD AND GUTS EVERYWHERE! I BET MY BEST FRIEND IS GONNA FEEL GUILTY ABOUT THIS THE REST OF THEIR LIFE-"

Star gasped and changed the channel. The screen showed a man sitting in his house on a sofa, with his girlfriend at his side, reading a newspaper.

"Oh god, Mary," said the man. "Apparently, my best friend Mark just died in a very cool but totally dangerous motorcycle/scuba diving accident."

"Oh wow," replied his girlfriend. "Didn't you guys use to do everything together?"

"That's right. Until I met you! I probably would have been with him if I wasn't dating you. To think: My best friend probably would have gotten me KILLED if I didn't have a girlfriend."

Star frowned, and changed the channel again. Now, two cowboys were on the screen, staring at each other across a wind-blown desert.

"I didn't WANT you to do what you did," said the first cowboy.

"But I did it anyway."

"Why'd you do it?!"

"I'm yer friend, Halfhat Johnny."

"Don't you give me that bullshit, six-shooter Jack. If you were my friend, you would have listened when I told you I didn't want you to do the thing you did."

"It was fer yer own good, Johnny. Sometimes, a friend doesn't know when something's being done fer their own good."

"I'm angry, but I fergive you."

There was a silent, dramatic wind blowing sand across the desert.

"Let's make out," said the first cowboy.

"Okay."

Star nodded thoughtfully as the cowboys passionately embraced. "Yes," she said, "It all makes perfect sense."

She WOULD follow Marco on his date and make sure it went well. Marco just couldn't know she was there.

**************************************************************

Marco had dressed semi-casually for his date, in a button-down shirt that Star had cryptically insisted "Might save your life, in the long run!" Star had seemed like she had been hiding something in general before he left, but he had no attention to spare for her antics tonight. He needed to focus on Jackie.

She answered her door when he knocked on it, opening it with a smile. She was wearing a dark pink blouse and, surprisingly, a layered skirt. "Hey Jackie! Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you in a skirt before," Marco said.

"Hey Marco! Yeah, usually I just wear jeans or something. But I figured, hey, why not?"

"Looks good on you."

"Thanks! You look pretty good too. I'm pretty hungry, where were you planning on dinner?"

"You like chinese?"

"Yeah!..."

Janna watched from the bushes of Jackie's house as the pair went strolling off, laughing and smiling. Damn, why did they have to get along so well? What had happened to Marco's nerves around her? Why did JACKIE have to think he was cool, too? Janna hadn't seen that one coming. She had thought Jackie was oblivious to Marco.

It didn't matter. She had told Jackie that she'd follow them along on the date and watch them and give them suggestions. Jackie had thought it was a little weird, but Janna had insisted on it. She didn't like that she was going to sabotage her friend, but...well...Love is War. If Marco was taking her for chinese, she knew exactly where they were going.

It was the exact same place that Marco used to go with Janna when they were kids. At that memory, Janna felt sadness stab through her heart. "Hoo boy, that's a painful one, " she said, trying to stay cheerful. "It's okay Janna, force it down, force it down, woo. All gone."

Then she set off through the woods, to a shortcut to the chinese restaurant.

**************************************************************

Star had tried to cast an invisibility spell before she left the house, but had only managed to turn her clothes invisible. After that embarrassing incident, she had settled on a spell that changed her hair color to red, morphed it into a pixie cut and dressed in some of her old punk clothes. Marco shouldn't recognize her, as long as she stayed a good distance away from him. She felt like all this was very clever, and was feeling very full of herself.

Star peeked through the window of the chinese restaurant, looking in at Marco and Jackie sitting at their table, laughing and talking. Good, everything seemed to be going very well. But magic could probably only make it better. Star tried to think of the most romantic thing she could picture. “The severed heads of my enemies, presented as a gift,” she muttered. But who were Jackie's enemies?

As she was glancing around, Star suddenly noticed Janna, furtively sneaking around the back of the restaurant. What was Janna doing here? And why was she being so sneaky? Star actually liked Janna a lot, she seemed fun, if a little...off, sometimes. But she was also aware of how much Janna loved to torment Marco. Was...was that what she was here for?

“Not today, Janna,” whispered Star, cocking her wand.

/*******************************************************

Janna strolled in to the back of the chinese restaurant casually, walking nonchalantly into the kitchen. She knew these guys pretty well, and they wouldn't stop her. “Hey Chang,” she called out to the head cook. “Which one of these dishes belong to Marco?”

“Oh, you mean cute boy? Why you want cute boy's dish Janna?”

“Shut up,” Janna groaned, grabbing a coke and taking a sip from it before the tray was taken out to the dining area by a waitress. She peered out the window into the dining room. It just so happened that the coke was Marco's. “Indirect kiss,” she whispered as Marco sipped from it. “...Well. That's unsatisfying.”

She looked up at the order slips hanging above a row of sizzling dishes until she found Marco's. He was still ordering the orange chicken. Janna gave a little smile as she took out a vial and prepared to pour it onto the order. “Sorry, Marco,” she whispered.

But right before she was about to dump it onto the chicken, someone caught her hand. Janna spun around to see some red-headed punk girl that she didn't know. Behind her, someone took the dish away, and Janna growled in anger at the lost opportunity.

“What is this, Janna?” said the girl, grabbing the vial.

“Who are you?” Janna snatched at the vial.

The red-headed girl fended off Janna with one hand and read the label. “Superlax. It makes you poop!” She gave Janna a disgusted look. “Why are you trying to make Marco poop?”

Finally, Janna noticed the wand in the girl's other hand. “Star?” she asked. “Is that you?”

“Listen Janna. I can tolerate your pranks sometimes. But not today,” said the red-headed girl that was apparently Star. “This is Marco's life on the line! Plus, ruining his date is pretty cruel, even for you. That's not fun so much as it is mean.”

Now, Janna was pissed. She didn't have time for this. She didn't have time to be explaining herself. Especially not to Star, the other girl in Marco's life that made her jealous. She remembered how she used to go on adventures with Marco when they were younger, until he lost interest for some reason. Now this stupid extra-dimensional Princess just strolled into his life and started taking him on adventures, and Marco was perfectly fine with it. Deep down, Janna actually liked Star a lot. But she wasn't in the state to deal with yet another reminder of how little she meant to Marco in comparison to other people. “I don't care,” snapped Janna, snatching at the vial. “Just...leave me alone. Why are you even here?”

Star's eyes widened with shock, then narrowed. “Wow, Janna. I use to think you were cool. Well, I'm not going to let you ruin Marco's date. I'm going to just have to make sure you're kept under control until it's over.” With this, Star pointed her wand at Janna, and it began to glow.

Janna's eyes widened, and she ducked beneath a table. Star's wand blasted the trash can behind where Janna had stood, trapping it in a magical bubble. “Oh come on Janna, you can't run forever-” groaned Star.

Suddenly, Janna popped up from behind the table, and threw a packet of dust in her face.

“Wh-what? What is this?!” Star said, spitting out the grit in her teeth.

“Pixie dust,” said Janna smugly.

Star stared at her, wide-eyed. “Oh no,” she whispered. Suddenly, her disguise slipped away. Janna cocked an eyebrow at her as Star tried desperately to operate her wand again. It was no use. It wouldn't work until it had a good cleaning.

“That ought to even things up, don't you think, Star? Man, why were you in a disguise?” Janna tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Could it be that Marco doesn't know you're following him around on his date? Boy, I sure hope he doesn't see you. By the way, Chang, sorry.”

The head cook glanced up, utterly unconcerned about the two teenage girls fighting in his kitchen.  “Sorry for what?”

“This,” said Janna, scrambling on top of a chair and holding her lighter up to a sprinkler head installed in the ceiling.

The fire system activated, and all the sprinklers began spraying water everywhere. In the chaos of outraged cooks, patrons and waitresses, Janna managed to slip away.

/***********************************************

Jackie and Marco had only finished about half their meal when the sprinklers went off, but it didn't matter. Both were full. And they had been having such a good time that the sprinklers didn't seem to phase them at all. They simply laughed and vacated the restaurant, both of them hiding beneath Marco's jacket to shield them from the water. As they exited the restaurant, Jackie spied Janna dashing into the parking lot, glancing around nervously.

“Aw man, I think I left my cellphone inside. Hold on, I gotta go grab it,” said Marco. It was the perfect opportunity to go talk to Janna. Jackie nodded at Marco, and then quickly dashed over to Janna.

“Oh...hey Jackie,” said Janna when she saw her approaching. “Hey, sucks about the sprinklers huh? Kinda puts a damper on your date. Heh, get it-”

“Janna! Things have been going great. We've hit it off really well!”

“You have, huh.” Janna gave her a big, wide smile. “That's greeeeeeaaaaaaaaat.”

“Yeah! What kind of place would Marco like to go to next, do you think? Like what did you guys like to do?”

Janna thought back to all the times when she used to hang out with Marco. What would cause him to be the most awkward, the most nervous? What place would he have the worst memories of? Janna remembered one time she had gone to the bowling alley with Marco. She had greased up his bowling ball, thinking that it would be a funny prank. Marco would drop it, and then they'd both laugh, and then he'd say “Oh Janna, you're so funny,” and throw his arm around her, and then she'd tease him back calling him a faggot, and then somehow they'd end up kissing. That had been the plan, anyway. What happened instead is that Marco dropped the bowling ball on his foot and broke every bone in it. When he found out Janna had been behind the prank, he hadn't talked to her for two months. Janna had never seen him bowl again, either.

“Take him bowling!” Janna suggested.

/**************************************************

Marco had been surprised but receptive to Jackie's suggestion. It had been a long time since he had been bowling. He couldn't remember why, now. He liked it a lot, after all. And he was pretty good at it, so it was the perfect chance to impress her.

At the bowling alley, Janna watched stealthily from behind a ball rack as Marco and Jackie put their shoes on. She busted out a bottle of grease. The same trick as before ought to bring the date to a premature end. She knew exactly what bowling ball Marco would grab, too: The one with a painted skull on it, because he was such a STUPID, ADORABLE cornball. She quickly greased up the finger holes.

“I'll grab you a ball,” she heard Jackie call out. Janna slapped her forehead in frustration as Jackie grabbed two plain blue balls.

“Psst, Jackie,” Janna whispered from behind the ball rack.

“Janna?”

“Yeah. Hey, bring Marco that ball, the red one with the painted skull on it. It's his favorite.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks Janna!”

Jackie returned with the two bowling balls. Marco's eyes widened with surprise. “Wow, you picked out my favorite ball.”

“Oh, did I?” Jackie said coyly. “Guess I'm just a mind-reader, huh? Or maybe I just know you that well.”

Marco took the ball, and hefted it up on to his fingers, preparing to play his first frame. But when he swung his arm back, the grease caused his fingers to slip, and the ball flew into the wrong lane entirely. But the awkward throw had also put so much spin on the ball that, miraculously, it jumped back into the right lane, and did an impressive curve into the pins, knocking them all down and earning Marco his first strike.

“Whoa, fancy,” said Jackie.

Marco stared at her, then stared down at the grease on his fingers. “Jackie,” he said, “Did….did you grease up my bowling ball?”

“Uh...”

Suddenly Marco laughed, throwing his arm around her. “Great prank, Jackie! You're so funny.”

And they both laughed and smiled and joked.

Watching this from around the corner, Janna fumed. “You...you know what? You know what?” she said to herself. “I think it's time for a trash can fire. Yeah. And then I'm going to throw all my fireworks into it and make them think the place is being shot up. Yeah, yeah, that sounds-OW!”

Star had finally caught up with Janna, and smacked her in the back of the head with her defunct wand.

“Janna, no more! I-”

“What the hell, Star! Christ, that stings!”

“Oh...sorry...I-”

“You could have given me a concussion! What's wrong with you?!”

“I guess I didn't realize how heavy this wand is-”

“Ah! God! My head is POUNDING! Why would you do that?!”

“Oh wow,” said Star, blushing. “I'm really sorry. Okay, look, I'm going to go get you some aspirin or something. I'll be right back.”

Janna watched Star walk off in shame. “Idiot.” Then she grabbed a trash can full of dirty paper towels and tossed a match into it. She waited a few minutes for the flames to begin belching smoke, and then reached into her pocket and bought out her fireworks.

“JANNA!” Star shouted. She had returned, holding a glass of water and a bottle of pills. She threw these to the ground.

Janna glanced at her, and then threw her fireworks into the trash can and ran away, laughing wildly.

“Oh no,” Star whispered for the second time, before the explosions began tearing through the building.
/****************************************************

Jackie and Marco had their bowling cut short by the fireworks. It had been terrifying when the explosions began echoing through the building, but it had turned out that some punk had just set a trash can fire and thrown some fireworks in it. Unfortunately, the bowling alley had still kicked out everyone.

“Man, maybe we're cursed or something?” Marco muttered. “That's two places in a row where something happened.”

“Aw, hey Marco, don't worry. I'm still having fun,” Jackie said, trying to cheer him up.

Marco glanced at her, then began smiling again. “You know what, you're right. I'm having fun too.”

“So, what do you want to do now?”

Marco looked at the sky. It was beginning to get kind of dark. “You know, the aquarium can be pretty cool at night, right before it closes,” he said. “Plus there's usually not many people there.”

Jackie's eyes widened. “I LOVE the aquarium!” she cried. “Yes! Let's go there!” As they walked away from the bowling alley, she saw Janna in the parking lot again. She smiled and gave her friend a big thumbs up. Janna nodded at her, and then began discretely trailing them once they were far enough away.

Star stumbled from the bowling alley, hair singed, eyes full of murderous rage. She saw Janna following after Marco and Jackie in the distance. “JANNA,” she growled.

/********************************************************

Janna watched Marco and Jackie strolling serenely around the aquarium, always hiding in the shadows. The tanks cast a peaceful blue light.

Damn it, why did they have to look so happy together? She could remember being here with Marco, too. In fact, it was here, in the glow of the tanks, that she had realized that maybe, just maybe, she had more than just platonic feelings for the boy….

Janna touched a hand to her face and was surprised to feel that she was crying. She didn't FEEL sad. She felt angry, so angry. Angry and confused.

Suddenly, as she watched, she saw Marco reach out for Jackie's hand.

“No...” she whispered.

Jackie took Marco's hand and entwined her fingers with it.

Janna watched this, speechless. “It….it's just hand holding,” she whispered to herself. “Who cares about that gay shit?”

What could she do to break up this situation? She glanced around, and then spied the shark tank. “Oh yes,” she murmured. Sharks. She'd crack open the shark tank. Sharks would end this. Sharks would end it all. Releasing some aquatic wildlife would bring the date to a very unpleasant end. Janna took out her hammer.

And then suddenly, she was tackled from behind. She felt the breath knocked out of her as she landed, hard, on the floor.

“Enough, Janna!” Star whispered furiously from behind her.

Janna kicked out and caught Star right in the chin. “You wanna scrap, Princess?” she snarled, jumping to her feet.

Star punched her in the face.

Janna reeled, her eyes went wide, her nose bleeding. She hadn't expected that Star could punch that hard. She didn't know how much of her life had been spent training and fighting monsters. She sucker punched Star and fled deeper into the aquarium, away from her, away from Jackie, away from Marco.

Star followed her into the shadows.

“Janna,” she called out, once she got her breath back.

“Go away.”

“I'm not going to let you ruin Marco and Jackie's date.”

“Pfft. You can't stop me.” Suddenly, from her left, there was a hissing sound, like a fuse. Star yelped as a small explosive went off under her feet, the bright flash blinding her. While she was rubbing her eyes, Janna kicked out the back of her knee. Star fell and lashed out, trying to grab her, but she came up with nothing. She heard Janna snicker, and begin to run off. This was bad. Janna was going to get back to Jackie and Marco and ruin everything.

With a yell, Star blindly flung her wand in the direction of Janna's snickering. She was rewarded with a loud “OW!” She jumped to her feet and could make out the blurry figure of Janna lying on the ground, rubbing her head. With a mewnian battle cry, Star leapt forward and pinned her to the ground.

“Ugh! Get off of me. How can you be so heavy?” Janna cried.

“You're defeated, Janna! No more!”

“Let me GO!”

“Why are you doing this? Why do you like tormenting Marco so much?”

“Get OFF!”

“I don't get you, Janna. Isn't Jackie your friend? Even if you hate Marco, how could you ruin your friend's night?”

Janna was sniffling now. “I said get off...”

“I'm going to have to tell Marco about this. I thought you just sort of liked teasing him, but this is too much. Why would you do this? Why-”

“BECAUSE I LIKE HIM, OKAY?”

Star froze, and Janna took advantage of her shock to shove the Princess off her. Star leapt to her feet again, ready to tackle Janna, but the trickster wasn't going anywhere. Instead, Janna stood directly in front of Star and shoved her in the chest.

“I like him. I've liked him for YEARS.” Shove. “Satisfied? Happy? Big secret's out now!” Shove. “I was trying to sabotage his stupid date because I like him. I like him, I like him, I LOVE HIM!” One final shove, and Star was backed up against a wall.

Janna threw her hands up and growled in frustration, stalked off a few feet, and then slumped against a wall, drawing her knees up to her chest, lowering her head between them.

“Janna….” Star said, approaching her.

“He used to be my best friend when we were kids,” Janna said, her voice thick. “We hung out all the time. We used to go on dumb 'adventures' together. But...I guess we just….I dunno, we grew apart. I didn't want it, but it happened. And now I have to watch him date Jackie, and go on adventures with you, and….Oh my god, he makes me so angry. I'm so angry, I'm shaking.” She was. Her hands were shaking badly.

“I….why didn't you tell him?”

“I did! Well….not directly. But I flirted with him all the time! He only has eyes for Jackie.” Janna put her head back up, looked at Star with tears in her eyes. “God, I've been so stupid tonight, haven't I? I've been….pretty terrible.”

“Kind of.”

Janna staggered uneasily to her feet. “Whatever. I'm going home. You don't have to worry about me trying to ruin their date. I give up.” Janna hugged herself and slowly began walking away.

“Hey, Janna,” Star called after her. She felt like she had to cheer the girl up. Janna turned around. “You fight well. You are a challenge worthy of any Mewnian warrior.”

“God, you're such a dork,” said Janna.

/***********************************************

Jackie and Marco held hands the entire walk back to her house, strolling, taking their time, looking up at the stars, just enjoying being near each other. The night was dark, deep, the streetlights small refuge against the weight of the darkness.

Finally, they were at Jackie's front door again. “Thanks, Marco,” she said. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

“Me too,” said Marco, honestly. “You know, I was so nervous for the longest time about asking you out. But things went more smoothly than I could have imagined.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yeah. In fact, I'm pretty confident you'll agree to a second date.”

“I'm pretty confident you're correct.” Jackie smiled at him, her eyes reflecting the night sky. “I'll see you in school tomorrow, Marco.”

Marco nodded, giving her one last smile as she closed the door. Then he walked off and headed into the woods, taking the shortcut back to his house.

/*****************************************************

Janna was in the woods as well, retreating to the place she always went when she wanted to be away from everything. She and Marco used to hang out together here all the time.

She had messed up so bad. So, so bad. Really, she should be thankful to Star for stopping her. How would Marco have reacted if he found out that she was trying to sabotage his date? He'd hate her forever, that's how he'd react. She was stupid, so STUPID.

Janna yelled, and then punched a tree. It hurt like hell, but...at the same time, it felt a little good. She punched it again, with the other hand. And again. And again. Ignoring the pain, punching and punching, until her knuckles were bloody and raw.

And then, shaking, she sat down on a stump and pulled out a pack of cigarettes she had stolen from her dad. She lit one, took a drag, and then laughed and cried at the same time. “I'm a moron,” she muttered under her breath.

“Janna?”

Janna looked up in shock. The shadow standing about twenty feet away, approaching her, had spoken in Marco's voice. In a panic, she quickly wiped her eyes so he wouldn't see her tears, and burned herself on her cigarette in the process. Marco stopped a few feet from her. “Are you smoking?”

“Yeah, want one?”

“Ugh, typical. No. And you shouldn't be smoking either, they're terrible for you.”

“Okay, MOM, I'll keep that in mind.” She flicked the cigarette away.

“Oh my god, Janna, what happened to your hands?”

And suddenly Marco was kneeling down before her, holding her hands tenderly, examining her wounds with such compassion, that Janna felt a chill go up her spine. “I...it's nothing,” she whispered.

Marco looked up at her face. “Have you been crying?” he asked, quietly.

Janna said nothing, so Marco sighed, and reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a small emergency medical kit.

“Oh my god, did you honestly bring that on your date? Seriously?” Janna laughed out loud.

Marco rolled his eyes. “Well, it's doing you some good now, isn't it?”

He dabbed some antibacterial cream onto Janna's pulverized knuckles. She let out a small gasp of pain, feeling the sting. Gently, very gently, he rubbed it into her wounds. Janna kept quiet, not saying anything, just enjoying the feel of him holding her hands, her heart soaring at this gentle care.

“Would you like to tell me why you were crying?” Marco asked, quietly, as he unraveled some gauze.

Janna's laugh was almost a croak. “Boy trouble.”

“Really?” Marco looked surprised. “I would have thought it was something to do with your parents. I didn't peg you as someone to get upset over guys.”

“Diaz, you have no idea how much of a romantic I can be.”

Marco gently  began wrapping her hands with gauze, then asked, quietly again, “Did he hurt you?”

“No. No, he's great, he'd never do something like that. We're not even dating. I hurt myself, if anything.”

Marco froze for a moment, and then continued wrapping. “I really wish you'd take better care of yourself, Janna,” he muttered. “So what's the problem with him?”

Janna felt like her head was floating away, felt like this was all a dream. She looked down at Marco, lit by the bright full moon, treating her wounds so gently. “He...he doesn't know I like him, I think. He likes another girl more.”

“I can relate.” Marco laughed a little bit as he finished wrapping the gauze and took out his medical tape. “You know, so many people gave me the advice to just go for it, but I ignored them. I never would have thought you'd ever be shy about going for something you wanted, though.”

“I'm usually not. But this guy….he's just so great, I don't want to screw anything up. And you know how weird I can be.”

“You're interesting weird. Good weird. I'm sure he'd like you.” Marco rolled his eyes. “Besides, any guy you'd like, I'm sure he's a bit weird himself.”

Janna laughed, watching Marco pack his equipment back into his little medical kit. “Yeah. He's a little weird.”

Finally, Marco was done. Janna's hands were wrapped up and bandaged with delicate care. He got up, and helped her to her feet.

“Would you like me to walk you home?” he asked.

“N-no,” Janna said. “I'm not far from here.” She looked Marco up and down nervously, looked at the moonlight reflecting from his eyes. Tonight had been such a mess, so awful, and yet Diaz had been able to put her back together so easily. Her heart was racing. Her soul was screaming with a wild, crazy urge. “Hey, Diaz,” she said softly.

“Yeah?”

And then Janna grabbed his shirt, pulled him towards her, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Marco was in shock at first, feeling Janna's lips against his, but soon enough he pushed her away. “Janna,” he cried, in a strangled voice.

Janna looked at the shock on his face. Play it off, play it off. “That's a thank you,” she whispered. “You're a really sweet guy, Marco.” Marco broke free from her embrace, and stumbled backwards. Janna snickered. “Calm down, it was just a kiss, faggot.”

And then she ran off, laughing, into the night.

/********************************************

Marco arrived home in high spirits. Star was laying on the couch, groaning, nursing several bruises, watching television. “How'd your date go,” she said, exhausted and wounded.

“It...went...AMAZING!” Marco cried. “See Star? I didn't need your help. Some things, you just have to do on your own.”

“Yeah, yeah, that's great, Marco. On your own, that's great.”

“I'm gonna go upstairs and charge my phone. I gotta find more memes to send Jackie!”

“Uh huh,” said Star, watching the tv screen. Two men were on a boat, one with blood gushing from the stump of his leg.

“MACK!” cried the one man. “You jumped right in front of that shark for me! You let it bite your leg off just to save me!”

“And I'd do it again, Michael. I'd do it again. FOR A TRUE FRIEND.”

Star smiled.