Diaz and His Princess

Ch. 3, Marco's Truth

For the next two weeks Star scarcely saw or spoke to Marco Diaz, instead she spent most of her time with Jackie and an old friend she had introduced to Star named Janna. The three got along quite well and ate together everyday at lunch, even going to each other's houses after school quite often to study or talk.

It wasn't until after Star's second Thursday at echo creek high had come and gone, that she finally realized Marco probably wasn't going to talk to her again now that she was friends with Jackie. This suited Star just fine, but for some reason she felt a slight twinge of disappointment that confused her to no end.

Star was pondering over this disappointment absentmindedly as she walked home from school the following Friday. Other thoughts of the party Jackie had invited her to the next day, or the boy that had offered his seat to Star on the bus fighting for attention.

Deeply immersed in these thoughts Star was completely caught off guard when someone grabbed her backpack from behind.

With a sharp inhale of breath Star spun around and grabbed her backpack hastily from the hands of none other than Marco.

"Hey Princess," He smirked with satisfaction and let go of her backpack, slipping something into his own that Star didn't bother to identify.

Star glared at him angrily before slinging her bag back over her shoulders, turning her back to Marco and continuing her walk back home.

"Oh come on I know you missed me," Marco chuckled, catching up with her.

"What's there to miss?" she hissed, almost cat-like, though the small glimmer of happiness rooted in her stomach was throwing her off.

"You know..." Marco ran his hand through his hair and winked at Star mischievously.

Star rolled her eyes. Though with great frustration and denial she had noticed Marco wasn't wearing a beanie and he looked rather handsome without it.

"No I don't know...you're a shitty person," her frustration at finding him handsome just infuriating her more.

"How so?" Marco smirked, though Star figured that if he didn't regret that question now he would in a few seconds.

"Hm, for starters what you did to Jackie was exceptionally shitty," Star replied, tugging the hem of her dress down absentmindedly.

Marco's smirk faded and was replaced by an annoyed frown.

"You're biased," he said simply, a grim look on his face.

"And how's that?" Star asked.

"You've only heard Jackie's side of things, you don't know the whole story," Marco replied matter-of-factly, sounding like he'd rather talk about something else.

Star was almost gleeful that she was able to frustrate Marco as he had her, but her joy was overpowered by disbelief, anger and curiosity.

"You cheated on her, I don't care how you perceived it there's no justifying what you did," Star said, gripping the straps of her backpack more firmly.

"I didn't cheat on her, Elizabeth came on to me," Marco stated.

Jackie had never really spoken about her ex-best friend, Star figured this was out of resentment but either way she didn't know her name was Elizabeth.

"And I suppose she just forced you into bed with her?" Star retorted.

"I never slept with her!"Marco practically yelled, his anger reaching its climax.

Star gradually shifted as far away from Marco as she could without leaving the sidewalk, the look on his face almost murderous. Star wasn't worried about Marco lashing out at her, but if he did she was worried she'd pull out her wand, and exposing her magic was the last thing she needed to fret about now.

"Really?" Star asked incredulously, but before he could answer she continued, "what's the...true story then?"

Star half-expected some messily thrown together story about how Jackie had framed him or something else equally as ridiculous, but she found herself facing a collected Marco who looked prepared but remorseful at the prospect of explaining his side of things.

"Jackie and I weren't getting on so well, she accused me of flirting with Elizabeth in situations she had forced the two of us together-"

"Why would Jackie force you two together?" Star cut him off, the disbelief clear on her face.

"Well she didn't exactly force us together on purpose, but she'd make me attend some stupid party where Elizabeth would be and if I even said hello to her Jackie would get suspicious. Anyway, well Jackie was still getting over the idea of me cheating she got in some big fight with Elizabeth, who in turn came on to me to get back at Jackie. I turned her down and she got all pissed and bragged to Jackie about sleeping with me, who, for some god-forsake reason, believed her and broke it off with me," Marco explained wearily.

Star had never seen the arrogant Marco like this, looking defeated and tame.

"If it wasn't true then why didn't you fight for Jackie?" Star asked curiously.

"She was too jealous and controlling for me, so I didn't fight too hard to make her believe me, it was an...easy way of getting out of things I guess," Marco frowned and shoved his hands into his jean pockets.

The two walked in silence for a short amount of time before Star spoke up.

"Why should I believe you?" she asked quietly.

Star could almost see the arrogance returning to Marco's face and the shell reforming around him.

He snickered lightly.

"I guess you don't really have a reason to," a smile crept onto his face, though Star didn't understand what about their conversation was funny.

"It's the truth though," he shrugged and grinned playfully at Star before running his hand through a lock of her hair and walking away without another word.

Star lightly grazed her fingers across the part of her hair he had touched and thought about their conversation.

He had made a lot of sense, but Jackie was her friend and she felt like she was betraying her by even talking to Marco.

Wiping her hands off on her skirt, Star decided she would try and subtly ask Jackie some questions tomorrow before the party. Hopefully then she could decide how she felt about Marco.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry it took me this long to update I had a softball tournament this past weekend and didn't get a chance to write at all! Also, sorry about the length of this chapter, I tried to make it longer but was feeling a little uninspired today, anyway Let me know what you think!