Invisible Crown [SVTFOE AU]

ii. interlude

September 26th, 10th grade

It was unnoticeable at first. Only the most observant people would be able to pick up on the way this boy was treated. Luckily, Star was one of those people.

His binder had dropped to the ground in the middle of class one day. It was an apparent accident. She sat behind him, so obviously she took immediate notice of this. He collected it back up as quickly as possible, looking around to see who had noticed.

She saw it, though. On the corner of the green binder, scribbled hastily in red permanent marker. 'Loser'. It was there for a split second before he picked the binder back up and whisked it away. The memory of it burned into her eyes, trapped in her vision. Red ink on green sheer plastic. 'Loser'. Why would that be there?

Marco did not seem like the type who would write himself notes that did not pertain to the lesson. Much less one such as that. It was hostile and angry, screaming at her to pay attention to it, to be upset by it. There was no way Marco would do that sort of thing to himself or his books. When Star wrote on her books, it was always happy things. Things that she could look back on and smile, making herself in the future laugh. Why would he write that?

Then, it occurred to her that maybe he didn't write that.

It could have been one of his friends. Janna would affectionately call Star names, and the term 'loser' reminded her sharply of Brittney's signature way of addressing her friend group. It was a possibility that one of his friends had scribbled it down. Maybe it was an inside joke. A pretty bad inside joke, and one that for the life of her she could not think of a punchline for, but who was Star to judge?

But Marco's friends did not seem like that at all. She seldom saw them interacting; when she did, it was hardly ever in a joking manner. His friends were few, and they all seemed like nice people. They were too shy and kind to act like that towards one another. And a friend, Star thought, wouldn't write so crudely or bold. There would be some funny picture, some explanation for their joke. Not just the words, plain as day for everyone to see.

So it had to be someone else.

-----

Star had a habit of taking the long way around the school so she could check on Marco's locker. It was a pretty bad habit, and it totally wasn't because she was a stalker, nope, no way, no how, but it did give her some assurance that he was doing well.

This time around, Marco was at his locker when she swung by, getting his books. He had no decorations on his locker, unlike Star, whose locker was decorated with neon stickers and pink wallpaper. Just his books and folders. It was sort of boring. But Star noticed something weirdly neon colored in the few glances that she took while the locker was still visible. It was hard to see because Marco was standing right in front of his locker, but she thought she saw something unusual. She looked closer. Green highlighter markings- words- scribbled on the inside of his locker. Before she looked for too long and accidentally made eye contact, Star kept walking, letting him and his locker out of her sight. She heard a loud sigh and a locker slam on her way out, and then footsteps behind her.

Instead of taking her usual exit, Star looped back around the school. Was it so bad that she wanted to see what was on Marco's locker? She slowed down once she finally arrived. Her hand reached for the lock but then hesitated. What if someone saw her? The hallway was empty, so she could probably get away with opening someone else's locker.

Star fiddled with the lock. Turns out Marco's locker was one of the ones where the lock didn't properly work unless the door was shut by force, so she had no trouble opening it. Immediately she noticed writing, and the pit in her stomach grew. The locker was nearly empty. The green highlighter print started neatly but grew more frantic once it reached the top, larger and shakier strokes, words getting more vulgar. In pink were notes printed neatly in the middle of the locker door- seeming harmless at first, filled with hearts and smiley faces, but reading the words caused Star's stomach to twist and knot- 'good luck finding all your stuff! Something at the bottom caught her eye- red sharpie, just like she had seen previously. 'Loser'. Same exact handwriting.

Star blinked a couple times, hands shaking.

How could Marco put up with this?

If he wouldn't, then she would.

She pulled her backpack onto her shoulder and made her way over to the bathroom. Pulling as many paper towels as she could from the dispenser, she then snuck into the supply closet, grabbing the window cleaner while the door was open because the janitor was out and about cleaning the school. She quickly stuffed these into her backpack and walked away unsuspiciously.

There was still no one in the hallway once she returned. She threw her backpack onto the floor and swiftly took out the paper towels and window cleaner, opening the locker with her free hand. It was easy for her to fall into a cleaning rhythm- spray, wipe, spray, wipe. She continued until all the markings were gone.

Star hesitantly pulled out a blue marker of her own. In her neat, loopy handwriting, she wrote in small print on the side of the locker. 'Next time, don't be afraid to kick your locker shut.' Her hand hovered over the place where she would normally sign her name. No way he could find out it was her. She scribbled over the start of the 'S' and wrote down one last afterthought before gathering up her things and leaving.

'By the way, nothing that they wrote was true.'