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Tomco chapter 2
Prologue
“tom?” Marco says surprised by the flaming haired demon falling out of his window “what the hell man,” Marco goes to help him up “what are you doing in my room?”
Tom stands and explains “I wanted to see if you were ok but I didn't want to wake your parents”
Marco gives him a skeptical look “why are you so worried about me and not star?” Marco moves to the door, ready to show out tom.
“I know star isn't ok, after today, she won't really be ok for a while but she'll be worse if you aren't ok” tom says almost reciting a line from a script.
“ok, I'm fine you can leave now” Marco's adrenaline has faded and his tired eyes struggle to stay open “please leave”
Tom obliges.
Part 1
Marco gets out of bed later in the morning, grabs some cereal, and gets ready for school. Then something comes to his mind, “oh shit, Jackie will be at school” he decides to skip school, he thinks about telling star to do the same but he can't do it in his right mind. He goes to star's room “star, I'm staying home, can you make it to school on your own?” Marco waits for a response but no one does. “Star? You in here”
Suddenly Marco's mother comes by “oh Mijo, star left for school early today, she told me that there's soup for you in the fridge, are you staying home sick?” Marco nods. “alright sweetie, I hope you feel better, your father and I are visiting your cousins today so be safe” she kisses him on the cheek and heads off to pack
Marco goes back to his room, gets into bed and goes back to sleep, several hours pass when Marco wakes up to the sound of the doorbell. “oh God, is this tom again?” he heads down the stairs and opens the door. It's Jackie.
“hey Marco…” Jackie indifferently says “how have you been, since yesterday?”
Panicking and wanting to cry again, Marco slams the door in her face. “WE CAN TALK BUT NOT FACE TO FACE” Marco screams through the door
“I can hear you fine dude, you've got this little window in your door” Jackie responds
“oh.”
“why can't we talk to each other's faces?”
Marco tries to come up with a reasonable answer “I'm sick, I don't want to get you sick” Marco now sounds gravelly, feigning sickness “why'd you come by?”
Jackie is skeptical “I'm sorry to hear that, I just wanted to see why you, Mr perfect attendance, weren't in school today”
“like I said, I'm sick” Marco just wants her to leave
“ok, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?” she starts to walk off his porch.
“Jackie wait,” Marco stops her, no longer speaking shallow “what I said yesterday, I didn't mean it, I want to be friends… actually I've always wanted to be more than friends to be honest.”
He gets cut off “I know Marco, you're not exactly subtle” Marco blushes “if I'm honest with you, I've never felt the same, I've known you for years now, we're practically family at this point,” this crushes Marco and Jackie feels it “I know it's not what you want to hear but I can't force myself to like you.”
“I understand, I hate it, but I get it.” bluntly
“I'll leave you alone Marco, I hope you feel better” Jackie leaves.
Marco sits in his foyer for a while.
Part 2
Star returns home and finds Marco playing video games on the couch, “hey Marco, feeling better are we? I figured my soup would make it all better” patting herself on the back
“absolutely” Marco pauses his game “how was school?” star hands Marco a small packet of papers “what's this?”
“homework, duh, that's what you get for missing” star starts to sniff, she takes a big whiff of the air around the door, she looks at Marco, distressed “Jackie was here”
Marco shoots up in defense “it's ok it's ok we just talked” star lunges to hug him. “Star, it's fine, I swear” he returns her hug. Remembering the night before “something weird happened last night, Tom showed up in my room-”
Before Marco could finish “I'LL KILL HIM!” star begins to flail, Marco calms her, “Why?”
“to see if I was alright, I guess” Marco informs her of his and Tom's conversation “he said if I'm not alright then you aren't alright”
Star looks at Marco “well that's true, you're my best friend ever, if you aren't happy then I can't be either”
Marco smiles warmly and hugs star again “let's both be happy, waddya say?” star nods excitedly. “good, how's about some nachos?” they get their salty savory snack and play video games
Part 3.
Late in the night tom returns to the Diaz residence, this time entering stars room “star” tom whisper yells, “star where are you?” his voice wakes the sleeping princess she comes to the balcony where he's waiting “how are you? Better I hope” star pulls out her wand and threatens to use it. “wait, I'm here for a good reason” star lowers her hand, “can you tell me what Marco means to you?”
This question stuns her, “we're best friends, nothing more or less, why exactly?”
Tom struggles to speak, “because I'm curious, that's why” Suddenly bitter “I'll go now, leave you to sleep, don't tell Marco about this” he gives the evil eye and leaves out the window.
Part 4.
Marco and star sit down at the kitchen table, star considers informing Marco on what happened the previous night but decides against it thinking about how tom looked at her gives her shivers. “morning star” Marco finally speaks up, star jumps “woah there, did I startle you?”
“I didn’t get much sleep last night, sorry” she apologises.
“it's cool star”
Star goes against her best judgement “tom showed up last night, asking about you” she blurts
Marco nearly shoots milk out of his nose “what?!”
“yeah, it's hard for me to remember what he actually said but he was really asking about you” star almost immediately regrets her decision. “What is his deal?”
Marco takes a moment to compose himself, “this is getting ridiculous, even for his standards.” a look of discontent rolls over his face
Star thinks it over for a minute then says “at least he’s trying, right?” A hopeful smirk grows. “It’s just how he does things I suppose.” The two return to their meal in silence.
Tom paces his lair, his mind fluttering with confusion, “What am I doing here? How does this benefit me?” He thinks trying to rationalize his recent behavior to himself, the more he thinks the more enraged he is. He hurls a chair across the room in a fit, “Damn him! It’s all his fault!” He screams aloud. “I can fix this, I can.”
End of Chapter!