When two souls meet

Chapter 9: Am I allowed to care?

Marco was having flashbacks of his years of high school, being called the "Safe Kid" because he didn't get into trouble or go out to parties or with people other than his 2 friends he had. It was horrible to find out people still called him that behind his back, but it was worse to know that Star knew about it all now. He ignored the embarrassment and changed his tone to be more stern. "So even after hearing everything that people say about him, you STILL went out with him? Are you looking to find out if they're true? or are you just stupid!?" Marco could only compare himself to a concerned father scolding a rebellious daughter for being out too late, it seemed silly to him, but he was already in the argument, so he had to face what he had started. Star's eyes went wide and she clenched her fists, becoming furious, starting to yell. "No Marco, I'm not stupid, I just would rather learn about people and make a decision myself, not by listening to rumors that random people tell me. Because if I did do that, then why would I hang out with you!? Everyone says that you're a loser and that I'm too cool or too pretty to hang out with you, but you're a good friend and you help me when I need you. No wait, WERE. You were a good friend." Marco was speechless, did she just end their friendship right there? Was it that easy for her to just throw him away like that? "Star....... I only keep asking because of the fact that I care about you. Am I allowed to care? Because I want to, but right now, you're making it REALLY hard to want to care about someone like you." Star gave Marco a quick shove, causing him to take a step back, looking her and seeing tears forming in her eyes. "I don't need you to care about me Marco! I can take care of myself. I did it in middle school, I did it in high school, and I can do it now. I don't need some.... some dumb guardian angel looking out for me! So you can just piss off and let me make my own decisions without putting in your dumb, STUPID input every time you think you need to!" She shoved him again, looking at him with her watery but fiery eyes, showing no remorse for what she had said.

Marco wanted to just blow up, yell at her back, but he knew better, she was already upset and there was no need to escalate this any more. He took a breath and looked at her with a straight face, "Well, maybe you should just go to the party alone then, you obviously don't need to go with me if you can take care of yourself." As soon as he said that, Star realized what she had just done, softly blinking, letting all the tears she had been trying to block flow freely, looking at Marco stunned. After a moment she frowned, deciding that if that was the end of all this, she may as well make it count. "You're right, I don't need you. I'll still go, and have a great time without YOU." She turned to leave, but stopped, not thinking that was enough, she simply turned her face toward him. "Oh... and I never did tell you, I kissed him when he dropped me off, and he's a better kisser than you, he doesn't use too much tongue like you." She smirked a bit, thinking that was enough to walk away on, even if it was only half true, She wanted to hurt his feelings like he had hurt hers. Marco was a bit stunned at what Star said, but wanted to piss her off one last time before she was gone. "You know, the girls who talk about him, they say that's exactly how everything starts." Star turned back around and snapped, yelling back at him "Fuck you, Marco!" She had her mouth open to say something else, but was too angry to think of what to say to him, instead she flipped the bird and him and turned, storming off to her room alone. Marco watched he walk away and sighed after she turned the corner. "What did I just do? There goes one of my only friends at this school." "Can I even fix this? We both said some pretty messed up stuff, but I mean, couples do that all the time, and they stay together, so why can't friends do it? I was just trying to look out for her. But maybe she's right, maybe she's capable of looking out for herself, but everyone deserves to have someone there to help them too. Maybe Josh will know what to do.... He's always given me some good advice on girls before." Marco pulled out his phone and texted Josh, giving him a quick summary of what happened and asked if he could come talk to him. He got an instant reply and opened it. "XD You're a fucking idiot man! Yeah, come over. I got something for ya!" Marco just scoffed and rolled his eyes and headed to Josh's room.