A Wooletts Courage

Wrapped Up

The next morning.

As Marco's doctor is performing the routine checks on his harm, he thinks to himself about what he and Tom talked about.

I haven't realized it, but...not having Star here the past couple days has felt...freeing. Maybe Tom is right, maybe spending too much time around her was keeping me attached...

I still need time to process all this, but...I think I'm ready to talk to Kelly at least.

"Hey, is Kelly still here?" Marco asks.

The doctor nods. "For another 24 hours. She had another minor breakdown. She says it's not like the others, but...we found her crying under the hospital stairs. So we figure it best to keep her here for one more day, just to be sure."

"Oh..."

Marco thinks back to the odd sound he heard yesterday.

It was her...she was outside the door. She overheard me talking about...

"Could...could I see her? Or at least, could you ask her to come see me? When this is over?"

The doctor nods. "We can ask, but if she declines, we can't force her." She puts her tools down. "The good news is your arm is healing very quickly. We can have you out of here in a cast by tomorrow. So the both of you can leave together."

Marco looks away, out the window. "Together, huh?"

The doctor writes something down in her clipboard, then heads out the room.

Marco, alone, ponders the future.

Why DO I like Star? I mean, obviously she's one of the coolest girls I know. We're always there for each other. But I mean...we've known each other for so long by now that it's kinda natural.

Plus, she's dating Tom. They have that sort of opposites attract thing going on. I'll admit, they're...not a bad couple.

How long have I known Kelly...well, I first met her back at the goblin dog cart, but...we didn't really start hanging out until the Soulrise.

I...I wrapped my jacket around her. Why did I do that? I guess...I was feeling extra hopeless that day, and wanted to do something nice, and she looked cold...

No she didn't, we were in HELL! Plus she has so much hair, I couldn't imagine how hot it would get in Hell with all that hair.

It IS really soft.

Even though we've not known each other as long as I've known Star, we've still bonded a lot. She's always just...so chill and fun. It took me ages to get used to Star's weirdness, but Kelly and I just...clicked?

No, it took a while there, too. I mean, there was the whole apples thing at the goblin dog truck, the psychedelic dance moves at the Bounce Lounge. But that's a pretty average amount of weirdness to me.

She's nerdy about things too, like me. Even things I'm not into. I feel like Star's nerdy, but only about things I'm into. Mostly because I helped introduce them to her. But hey, I got Kelly into Mackie Hand, she got me into wrestling even though I ruined it a bit for her...and she wanted to get me into Cornball, she seemed super passionate about that...