Star Darlings; the Other 12

The Break of Lumiere

Piper was interrupted from her dream. Again. By the ding of her star-zap. Again. Something that always happens to her, when she was right on the verge of an epiphany.

Last time it was on the meaning of Light, this time it was on the meaning of existence.

Sighing, she picked up her star-zap, checking out the message that it is displaying.

All Star Darlings report to the Headmistress' office. She read in her head. Further detail will be given.

Piper stood up, before gathering her mat. She was one of the few people in there; most went to the bandshell for the Star Darlings band performance today. Not one to sit in a crowd and listen to the performance (she was also there for all the rehearsals), she had decided to stay and meditate. It should be ending by now.

She started for the exit of the Lightning Lounge, only to be distracted by a conversation at the bar.

"Hello, sir." a Bot-Bot bartender said. "What would you like today?"

"Friends told me to get the drinks. Dunno why it's me. Here's the list." A male voice said. He produced a holo-list and passed it to the Bot-Bot.

"These drinks are not in store as of now." The Bot-Bot said. "For most of these drinks to achieve perfect taste will take a while."

"Why did they order the fancy stuff." the boy asked himself. "Fine. I'll wait."

Piper looked at the boy peculiarly. By his stature, he didn't look over 12. Perhaps a family visiting a student? Then why would they send a child for drinks?

Coming to the conclusion of just a lazy family, Piper headed out the door, heading for Lady Stella's office.

Piper being Piper, she took her time, still stopping occasionally to take notes as inspiration as always.

It was the end of the school year, with the Break of Lumiere starting soon. She was going into her 3rd year here, which still made her question the flow of time. It had only felt like two weeks ago since she came here!

With the Break of Lumiere starting, Piper still hasn't made plans. She was thinking about spending the time at Starling Academy to prepare herself to move to the Big Dipper Dorm and get extra credits or go home to Gloom Flats with her grandma.

She idly deposited the mat she was carrying in the arms of a passing Bot-Bot to be transported back to her dorm and hopped on the cosmic transporter.

"Hey, Piper!" Libby's voice called from behind her. Piper turned to find Libby and the others in the band hurrying towards her. "Have you seen the Holo-text?"

Piper nodded, flipping over her star-zap.

"I really hope it's another wish mission," Sage said. "I know we've all went on our own wish missions, but it'll be great to go again!"

"And I never got to really fully finish mine!" Leona piped up.

"I just want to taste chocolate again," Scarlet said.

Piper smiled. Only a month or two after the Rancora incident, they had all but recovered from the experience; Vega from having the life sucked out of her, Leona from that depressing experience of knowing she had failed, and Scarlet being kicked out of the Star Darlings.

They reached the end of the cosmic transporter and stepped off. The other SDs arrived shortly after before they opened the door.