Star and Marco vs Evil Book 2

V

It all went to shit so quickly.

Jackie had turned eighteen two months before Star returned. Although she celebrated with Chloe, her dearest friends from Echo Creek ... Star, Marco, and even her closest and oldest friend Janna ... did not join her. Janna had given up her Echo Creek life to follow Marco to Mewni, and while she stayed in frequent contact with Jackie, she felt that, as Marco's de facto aide-de-camp and protector, she should not be away from Mewni. Marco and Jackie were still estranged, although neither would have admitted it, due to embarrassment and plain old teenage misunderstanding. Star was literally a monster.

In two more months, Jackie would be graduating from high school. Again, Jackie was a lone woman in that regard. Chloe had graduated several months earlier from her school in France; she was now working at Echo Creek Academy, assisting in teaching world history, and French language. Marco and Janna had earned their High School Equivalency Diplomas several years early. Star's institutional education ended when she returned to Mewni.

For the first time, Princess Oblivious wondered what Janna's parents thought of their daughter's decisions. Star also wondered what role her own parents were playing in Janna's life. It seemed to Star that Janna had simply walked away from everything as a child ... a teen child but still a child ... and nobody seemed to be caring for her in a parental way. Star had met Janna's mother, who'd been very pleasant and nice, but couldn't recall Janna ever really talking much about either parent. She made a mental note to follow up on that, as she turned her attention back to the pile of shit the day had become.

It had seemed simple enough: Star, Marco and Janna would take Jackie, along with Chloe and Tom, on a weekend trip to another dimension as a combined birthday and graduation gift for Jackie. It would be simple, nice, and fun ... but would also, in theory, allow Star, Marco, and Janna to assess what they could do when Jackie and Chloe came for their promised extended visit come summer.

When Jackie had traveled to another dimension on Star's interdimensional field trip three years prior, Jackie had made the same kinds of poor choices that the rest of the class made. Marco supposed that, since with age came wisdom, there'd be no issues, but inter-dimensional travel could be very dangerous. The 'Safe Kid' needed to know, not suppose, how Jackie and Chloe would behave and react to the misadventures that always occurred.

On Friday night, they camped out in the Camping Dimension, a rustic dimension with no dangerous lifeforms, technology, or permanent settlements. They had pitched tents, then created a campfire. For several hours they roasted weenies, made delicious, hot, schmoes, and told funny, and sometimes embarrassing, stories about themselves and their friends.

In a somber moment, Janna wanted to conduct a séance to contact friends now gone, but everyone else suggested a toast instead. With raised cornapple cider, they saluted Ponyhead, Alfonso and Ferguson, and Rich Pigeon, in turn. Providing the weekend's first tense moment, Star accidently belched when toasting Rich Pigeon. Star was mortified, but Marco, Janna and Tom pulled muscles stifling laughs. Jackie and Chloe were merely confused, not yet having been told the cause of Rich's demise, even as delicious a tale as it was.

As the evening wore on, they began to talk about what they would do the next day. The plan had been to spend the entire trip together as a group; however, as they discussed what would be fun, it quickly became apparent that some portion of the group would be miserable engaging in activities the other part found preferable. Finally, they agreed they would spend the first day in pairs, meet up again for a party in the evening, then play it by ear the second day, before returning to their respective homes in the evening. Marco had misgivings leaving Jackie and Chloe alone, not only for their safety, but because he didn't see how he could assess them if he wasn't with them. Janna convinced him she'd keep an eye on them with her magic and would allow him to view the video later.