I sit on top of the ladder putting up the sign for the dance tonight. "Thanks for, uh, agreeing to go with me tonight, Star. Dances make me a little anxious," I say tying the sign to the vent.
"What are you so worried about?"
"Well, I had a nightmare that I came to the dance alone, and everyone laughed and threw tomatoes at me! Then all my teeth fell out, oh and then Jackie saw me and said I looked pasty," I said yanking my hair replaying the nightmare in my head.
"That's not gonna happen. It'll be fine." I look back at the tie seeing if it'll hold but I see a rat in the vent. I fall off and land on Star. I grab what I thought was my leg.
"Ah! Whoa! My leg, I can't feel my leg!"
"That's my leg!"
"Oh!" I let her leg go. "Sorry."
"What happened?"
"I just saw a huge rat in the air duct."
"Yeah! This place is a dump."
"Star! Come here!" I turn seeing Janna.
"Janna Banana!" She hopes off the stage and run to Janna. I get up from the ground.
"Hey Marco." I turn seeing Jackie with her helmet on and skateboard in hand.
"O hey Jackie," I say trying to act cool.
"So, I was wondering. You want to go to the dance with me tonight."
"Wh-what? You and me at the dance? Together? Tonight?"
"Yea. If you want."
"O yea totally! I'd love to go, with you." She chuckles.
"Okay see you later!" She skates off. I couldn't contain my smile.
"Marco! Marco! Marco!" I turn to Star smiling big.
"Squeeeee!"
"Are you okay?"
"Jackie Lynn Thomas just asked me to the dance, and I said yes! Wait! Bu-but you and I were gonna go together."
"No no no no no, Marco! This is perfect! I totally forgot that I promised Janna that I'd resurrect a dead clown with her tonight so you should totally totally totally go with Jackie." The smile came back to my face.
"Really?"
"Marco! Clown séance." I jumped up happy.
"Yes, yes, yes," I say happily walking to the exit of the gym, dancing with Miss Skullnick, then exiting. "Yes!" I head home.
"Hello Marco. Did you finish decorating?" Dad asks.
"Yea. I'm going to take a shower! I'm going to the dance!" I run up the stair and to my room. I look through the closest. Yes. I pull out my suit and place it on the bed with underwear's. Perfect. I go to my desk cabinet and pull out a tape and went to grab the boom box from the living room then back to the restroom. I place it on the counter and put the tape in that is set for the mood. I take a good long shower. I press play on the box and get ready.
I grab my hair gel, no sweat deodorant, and body spray. I look up at the foggy mirror. Okay I can do this. I grab the hair dryer and turn it on, facing the mirror seeing it clear. It showed me.
"Here we go." I grab the deodorant. "1 wipe, 2 wipe, 3 wipe, 4, 5 wipe, 6 wipe, sweat no more." I place the deodorant down then grab the cologne. I spray it on my wrist then sniff it.
"Yeah that's it," I spray in front of me. "that will do yeah-" I trip. "What the heck?" I get up.
"Watch where you're going Marco!" I hold the towel up, so it won't fall.
"Janna! Wha-wha-what are you doing here?" Star pops from behind me.
"We just need a few more supplies for our séance tonight."
"Now my backside smells like cologne," I say looking down at my butt. Suddenly Janna slaps it. "Hey!"
"Ain't nothin' wrong with that!" She sniffs the air. "It's nice." Star sniffs the air as well.
"Yeah it's nice."
"Stop smelling me!" I yell. Then I hear the doorbell. "Oh my gosh she's here!" I start panicking running to the shower. "Uh uh ..okay okay. Uh, what am I doing? Where's my.. Where's my room?" I hop out the shower. Star points to the door. "Oh yeah uh.." I run to my room and getting ready. I drop the towel and get dress. What do I say? I look up in my phone will quirk. I'm going to forget! I grab a pen and write it on my hand before running out and to the stairs! Okay act cool. I stood tall.
"Hey." I look downstairs to the living room. I place a hand in my pocket smiling.
"Hi Jackie."
"¡Ay, Mi'jo!" I walk down the stairs and walk up to her.
"You look amazing."
"Heh, you too."
"A plus!" I say pulling thumbs up. She snickers and I didn't know why till I looked at my hands seeing I did thumbs up on instinct. "Uh...sorry."
"Smell his butt. You'll thank me later." O gosh.
"Oh Star! Um, please take a photo of my handsome son and his beautiful date.
"Sure." I look at Star seeing her pull her phone out. I stand next to Jackie gesturing an arm.
"Uh smile!" We start walking to school for the dance. I had my hands in my pockets as we walked, smiling at her. We walked in silence. The sky turned dark. Play it cool Diaz, play it cool. Okay. I fold my arms.
"Uh.. So, I was just gonna ask.." I look at my hand seeing the things I wrote. "What are your hobbies?"
"Oh, uh.. Lots of stuff, I guess. Uh, there's skateboarding, which you know. I'm kinda into history books. I read this really cool one about-" I cut her off. I look at my hand again. "Hm, interesting. What kind of music do you like?" I say placing my hand on my cheek looking at her.
"Uh.. I guess pretty mellow stuff? I know that's totally vague-"
"Next question! Do you like food? If so, what kinds?" I ask folding my arms again.
"Wait, hold on. Y-y-you just wiped something on your face." She stops in front of me.
"Wha-?"
"It's all.. It's all blue now. Here, let me see that." She grabs my hand.
"Oh! No, no.." She sees my hand that had written stuff. "No, no.. Eh.."
"Dude, you don't need this." She places a hand on my cheek and wipes what I'm guessing the ink that smeared on. "Now come on." She starts walking inside. I follow.
"Okay." When inside I stand next to her.
"Okay, let's see what's going on here." I look around. "There's Hot Wings Girl.. Snack table.. the Light Bulb Sisters.. Uh, looks like someone forgot to cancel the basketball game. Oh, there's Brad and Tammy. They look happy."
"Leave room for Lady Decency!
"Greeting kids! A corsage for the lady?"
"Thanks! But, we don't need one."
"But it's mandatory." We see another couple behind him.
"Ugh, it's crooked! You are such a disappointment." We watch Becky slap Zeke. I heard Jackie sigh.
"I think I made a mistake."
"Huh? What do.. What do you mean?"
"I never should have asked you to the dance." I frowned. I sighed.
"Yeah! No, yeah yeah, I mean.. You're right, you're totally right. Why would you go with me to a dance?"
"I should've just asked you on a date." I shot up. Wait.
"Huh?" Jackie looks at me.
"Do you wanna go on a date with me?" I was stunned.
"Y-yes please," I say nodding.
"Come on. Let's get outa here." She walks out.
"Uh.. Uh.. Uh.." I follow her out.
"So, what do you want to do?" I notice we were passing a gas station.
"Wait right here." She nods. I walk in the gas station and grab the stuff I want to show her. I tried it before, and it was good so maybe this won't be bad. I paid for it and saw Jackie leaning next to the door.
"What you get?"
"A little something to try."
"Cool. Want to head to the park?" I nod. I follow her again and we make it to the park and sit down on a bench. I pull out the stuff and hand one yogurt to her. I pop mine open and she pops hers open. I pull out the small box of cereal and pour some into mine then Jackie's.
"Okay, you got that? Alright."
"'Kay."
"Now, stir in the cereal." I stir my cup as I explained.
"Got it."
"Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, stir. And then, we add one, just one, malted milk ball." I pull two out from the bag. "One for me. One for you."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Jackie, trust the chef," I say confidently.
"Alright." She takes a sip, then coughs it out. "Ugh! Marco, it's terrible." She coughs again.
"Really? It was good the last time I had it." I take a sip "Ugh." I open my mouth for the drink back to the cup. I hear laughing. I look up seeing Jackie smiling and laughing. A smile forms on my face then I started laughing.
"See, Marco?" She lays back on the bench and places her legs on my lap. "You're adorable when you laugh at yourself.
"Wha..?" I was confused.
"Relax, dude."
"I.. I'm relaxed," I say, trying to get in a comfortable position but keeps falling over. I grab Jackie's legs and lift myself up. I let go and put my hands together.
"Seriously, why are you so nervous?"
"Uh.. I don't know. 'Cause it's a date. And your super cool and I'm just.. afraid of messing up," I say looking away.
"Marco, you already messed up." I look back at her.
"Wha..?"
"Yeah!" She sits up putting her legs under her. "You puked on my lap in third grade, you broke my skateboard, and then there was the weird box thing we got trapped in at Star's sleep over-" I cut her off.
"Okay, okay. I-
"You sent me anonymous text messages with cats-"
"Alright, point taken."
"Oh, and then there was that little that came out of your neck, or whatever-"
"Ja-Jackie, I don't.. wanna.. relive that." Especially finding out that Tom put that in me right after the Blood Moon Ball and I don't know how he did. Or want to know how.
"Fair enough. But you know what I like about you? Is that even after a humiliating, crushing defeat. You just pick yourself right back up and you hop right back on. Kinda like skateboarding," she compares.
"Yeah, well... I don't... know how to skateboard," I say truthfully. So, I really don't know what she means.
"What?"
"No, I never-" She stands up fast cutting me off from my sentence. "What are you doing?" I ask. She lifts her dress revealing her skateboard. "Woah-oh. You just.. keep that.. down there?" She bends taking two helmets out.
"Well?" She asks looking at me.
"No no no no no no no. What are you.."
"Come on."
"No no no."
"No, Marco-"
"Forget it."
"No, Marco-"
"I'm not doing thi-"
"You're gonna do this."
"Is that for me?"
"You're gonna do this.
"Forget it." There was no way I was riding th-
"Marco... Do it for me?" I sigh.
"Okay. I'm gonna do this." I stand up taking my phone out and placing it on the bench just in case I fall and break it. I walk to her. She hands me the helmet. I put it on and clip. She does the same. She places my foot on the board.
"Don't look down," I say to myself. I place my other foot on top. "Don't look up." I try to find my balance. "Woah. Okay okay." I felt a hand in mine. I turn to Jackie.
"Do you trust me?"
"Yeah, I trust yo-" She gets on and moves. O my gosh! I shut my eyes.
"Marco." I felt the wind. "Marco are your eyes close?"
"No?" I bit my lip form the lie. I felt Jackie's hands move. They held my wrists.
"Open them," she tells me. I slowly open them seeing ahead. The wind actually felt great, and we were moving in speed. A smile came to my face.
"Ahoooo!!!!" I smile as we grooved along the sidewalk. I lost my balance, but Jackie caught me and kept the skateboard moving.
"Hehe, don't worry! I've got you." I look at her and she looks at me. The skateboard still moving. I can be like this forever. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. We hit something and fell off the skateboard. Ow. I sat up.
"Whew!" I take my helmet off.
"Are you okay?" I ask helping Jackie up.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Haven't ate it like that in years." I look down seeing we were holding hands. I look back at her smiling and she was doing the same. "You know, I'm really glad I asked you out."
"Me too." The moment felt perfect. I started to lean in, and she did the same. We kissed. Something felt off and I opened my eyes seeing the moon red. I lean back from the kiss.
"Huh?"
"Marco, is everything okay?" I blink and the moon was back. I had a bad feeling. I went and grabbed my phone from the bench. I pressed it on seeing I got 57 missed calls from Star. I look back at Jackie.
"We have to find Star."
"Alright. Where?" She hands me the helmet back. Where is she? O that's right!
"The graveyard!" I hop on the skateboard and Jackie gets behind again and we skate to the to the Graveyard. I was really worried. I hope Star is okay. When we made it, I see Star had a spell sucking Ludo into a black hole. I jump off the skateboard taking my helmet off. I notice her spell change color and an explosion happen. I cover my face.
"Help!" I turn seeing Janna hanging onto a tree. "Bad vermin! Bad!"
"Janna?" Jackie skates to her. I was about to follow but a spider stopped me. I didn't hesitate to punch it right into the face. I took my stance. I flip, ready to kick but when I did, The Spider was gone.
"Huh?" I look to the squawks and see the eagle had it. I see the web shot out and grab Ludo with the spell book.
"No! No! No! No!" I start chasing Ludo. I try to reach for the book. My hand was on it.
"You really want to waste precious time chasing me? I mean look!" He points behind me. I turn seeing Star struggling. I let go.
"Star!" I start running to her. I ignore the laughs that came from Ludo. I run and she lost her hold on the ground. I slide and grab her hand pulling her back to me, but the hole was still sucking us.
"Marco, let go! You're gonna get pulled in, too!"
"I'm not letting go!" I felt a hand grab my other hand. I turn seeing Jackie pulling me and Janna pulling her other hand. I start walking to toward them pulling Star out the hole. Finally, the Hole stopped, and we fell on the ground. I instantly go next to Star. "You, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks to you." After I made sure she said that I went to Jackie.
"Jackie, are you okay?" I ask helping her up. She wasn't used to this stuff like me and Star.
"Yeah, I'm great. This is the funnest dance I've ever been to!
"Yeah, well.. I mean.. yeah. We're.. we're in a graveyard. So..."
"I can't believe.. Ludo took my spell book. It's got everything in it! That's my whole family history! All the spells.. everything! It's lost!" She started looking down panicking. I place a hand on her back.
"We'll get it back." I pull Star into a hug. She starts to crying.
"I've lost Glossaryck!" Glossaryck...
"W-we'll.. We'll get him back, too. I promise." Star continues to cry. I pull my phone out and hand it to Jackie. "Could you call my mom to pick us up. I'll drop you guys off home to." Jackie nods looking for my mom's contact then brought it to her ear. I rubbed circles on Star's back trying to calm her down. After a couple minutes she did. Her breathing started coming back. Soon I heard honks. Mom's here. I grab Star's hand and lead her to the car with Jackie and Janna following. I hop into the back telling Janna to take the front seat. Mom didn't ask what happen. I told her if we can drop them off first. She agreed. We dropped Janna off then Jackie.
"Night Marco." She placed a kiss on my cheek. I gave her a smile as she walked back to her house. Mom drive back home. Star fell asleep so I lifted her and took her to bed. I told my mom a bit of what happened when I got out. She frowned and said I should go to bed to. I nodded giving her a sad smile. I walk back to my room and lean on the door when I closed it. I'm sorry Star.