When two souls meet

Chapter 9: Am I allowed to care?

Friday January 17th 2:45PM

Tonight was Oskar's big "Back to School Bash" and it was only a few hours away. Marco had been thinking about it all week, excited to try and exit his normal safety bubble and experience something new and slightly scary, but he wasn't nearly as excited as Star was, she seemed to be going crazy all week just from thinking of what to wear. Marco had actually found it a bit of a mixture of funny and cute, she was adorable when she was flustered, but Marco seemed to always be able to help her figure out her problem when she needed him to. She had told him that her date with Oskar had gone well, they went to dinner and a movie, and that he had walked her back to her room and said goodnight. She had mentioned that she held his hand in the movie and on the drive home, but that there was nothing else to report of the night, and Marco wanted to believe it, but the rumors about Oskar made him want to pry at her more about it. But every time that he tried to ask her about it, all she would say is that she "didn't want to make him jealous." whatever that meant, it didn't sound good to him. Janna had told him that he needed to put his foot down and be assertive about it, while also making sure Star knew that if something had happened, she could trust Marco enough to tell him.

Marco met up with Star after their last classes and started walking back to the building, sharing about their days and their excitement for the party tonight, Marco decided that now was the time to try out what Janna had told him. As they walked past the fountain in the center of the campus, Marco glanced over at Star, taking a deep breath and made sure to keep his voice low, "You know Star, if... anything happened the other night.... you can tell me." Star looked at him and gave him an annoyed look, something he hadn't seem much of yet. "Marco, nothing happened that night that I didn't need to keep to myself." She said sternly, taking a breath to calm herself, running her fingers through her hair with her free hand and looked back forward. Marco took a moment to decide what to do next, knowing if he pushed any harder that it would irritate her more, but he didn't want to take that as an answer either. "I don't want to piss her off, but that just made it seem like something DID happen and that she's just scared to tell me about it? Or maybe I'm just over thinking it, It could have just been a really good date and she wants to spare me the details. No, no there's got to be more to it than just a movie and holding hands. It's Oskar, he doesn't have people spreading rumors about him for nothing." Marco took a deep breath and continued to try his luck at the conversation. "Yeah, I know that Star, I just meant like.... about anything, not just this. I want you to know that you can trust me." As he finished his sentence he placed his hand on star's shoulder, trying to reassure her. She stopped dead in her tracks and just stared ahead of her, not saying anything, which made Marco both happy and nervous. "Okay, she must have decided that it was okay to tell me something, so something MUST have happened that night." Star took a breath and let it out in one big, but soft sigh, turning her gaze to Marco, sending a cold shock up his spine and with a soft voice asked him, "You really want to do this here? Because I'm out of patience." "Oh fuck. I'm dead."

Star lifted her shoulder, letting Marco's hand fall off of it, back to his side as she turned her body to him, looking up at him. "Marco, you must have a really thick skull, so I'll tell you one more time, so I KNOW you understand me. I do trust you, and there's not a lot a wouldn't tell you, but what I do when I go out on a date, is MY business, its none of yours. I don't even tell my mom what I do on dates. so what makes you think I'd tell someone I just met this week!?" Marco was stunned, he'd never seen Star this angry at anything, but if she trusted him and called him her friend, why was she being so rude about all this? "Look Star, I'm just looking out for you, you don't know Oskar like Janna or I do, I've known him for almost 6 months, you've known him for like, 3 days. People around here talk about him, none of what they say is good, and I'd assume it's for a reason. I don't want anything bad to happen to you, not because we're friends or because I like you, but because It's just how I am, so I'm sorry that I'm pushy about this." He was starting to get upset, he was just looking out for Star's safety, and it felt like she was just slapping him in the face for it. Star rolled her eyes and huffed, crossing her arms and looking back up at Marco. "I can take care of myself Marco, I'm an adult and I am a strong woman, I can handle some dumb boy without the help of the 'Safe Kid' " Marco's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped, he hadn't been called that since High School, so how did Star know about that? "Yeah Marco, I know what people say about Oskar, and what they say about you. I'm a girl, we gossip."