Gnawing on her wand was a habit Star's mother had told her to break. The Queen of Mewni had said that it was… undignified behavior for a princess.

Star knew that, of course - that's sort of why she did it.

To her, it felt like an excuse to slow down and be a little irresponsible without repercussions - her wand kept her safe, and her anxieties kept her mind busy. Chewing on the wand instead of her fingernails or her lips seemed like a less physically-harmful alternative, and it was a self-contained habit that she could stop at anytime if she wanted.

That being the case, she was positively gnashing her teeth against the hardened exterior of the Butterfly heirloom as she watched the door to her bedroom close, transfixed by the sight of Marco sighing at his cellphone. He gripped it to his chest momentarily with his eyes closed, and the beady green eyes of a dinosaur in a birthday hat starred back at her.

"Okay, so we have four hours until my parents will be home," the brunette began, shooting a glance over his shoulder to a mercifully unconscious Ms. Skullnik. "We can sort this out before then, wipe her memory, and pretend like this never happened."

"I don't - " Star began, but Marco was already pacing and muttering to himself. His usual scowl was positively frightening when he would glance up towards Ms. Skullnik.

"You said you don't know how to turn her back… how did you learn that shitty spell in the first place?" Marco rounded on her, and the blonde flinched. He mumbled a quick, "sorry," but his glare did not falter.

The wand at her lips lowered slowly. "It was a spell supposed to, um, I guess 'mellow' her out? It's hypercheer droll reflex, meaning it should take someone who's droll and make them cheery, or take someone who's too excitable and make them calm down."

To her surprise, a look of understanding flashed across Marco's face.

To her even greater surprise, he then started laughing.

"S-sorry," he said for the second time, a hand on his knee and the other clutching his ribs. Truth be told, Star thought he sounded a little hysterical. Not the good kind, either.

"I just - this is so damn weird. I can't - I mean, I know you're magic but it's real weird to like, see it, you know? We have antidepressants and shit here for people who are like that. Well, I think they take antidepressants?" He tapped his chin, and Star blinked, confused. "You basically just described a spell for manic-depressive people."

"Marco! This is serious!" Star snapped, and he sobered instantly. "I-I could lose my wand for this! I could be sent to St. O's. Oh, oh pegasus feathers. This is such a serious violation of magical laws, and I just… I just wanted to help. Why wouldn't she just let me help?!"

Hopping off the bed, the blonde willed herself to turn her admonishment to anger and determination rather than tears. She marched across the room and stood a few feet from Ms. Skullnik, chest heaving.

A muted pair of sneakers strolled across her spotless floors, stopping a few paces behind her. Star didn't turn around. Instead, she spoke to her charge.

"Why, Ms. Skullnik? Why are you so mean to Marco? I didn't want this…" she hung her head, looking at the slightly-drool-stained face of her wand, the crystal star of her namesake reflecting back at her. At least the spell hadn't rebounded...

After their teacher had taken one look at her reflection, she staggered backwards into a desk and toppled backwards. The thwack of ogrish, thick skin against hard linoleum floors was disturbing enough, but the girl couldn't shake the horrible gritting sound of the woman's ghoulish canines scraping together when the weight of her body pushed into her jaw. Just thinking about it was making Star's stomach roil with nausea.

"Hey, Princess, relax." Marco instructed, stepping beside her with both hands buried in his pockets. A brown pair of eyes glanced sidelong in her direction, and she barely managed to hold his gaze. "I've done way worse shit than this and I've gotten in a lot less trouble than you're talking about. No one saw anything at school. Just me and you. We'll fix this, okay?"

Unbidden curiosity overtook her guilt momentarily. She raised both brows, looking between the heap haphazardly propped up against one of her dressers and the boy beside her, who was wearing a positively devilish grin.

"How could you possibly have done worse than this?"

He responded by pulling out his lighter and flicking the top, a cigarette materializing in his other hand. "There's a lot you don't know about me. I'm not exactly the town's golden boy or something."

"Please, can you not smoke in my bedroom, at least?" She complained, already tasting the bitterness of burnt paper in the air. It wasn't a pleasant smell by any means, though she had frustratingly begun to find it somehow… comforting? No, that wasn't exactly it. More like… like dipping her toes in a tub of cold bathwater, there was something strangely thrilling and familiar about it.

Obviously, it was an extension of Marco. He had quickly become one of her very best friends; that must be why. She wished it didn't come at the expense of years of his life, though.

Exhaling, the boy in question let out a slow, gray exhale before he responded. "I will smoke wherever I want, thanks. Skullzy could wake up any minute, shouldn't we, uh, try to do something?"

With no small amount of disdain, Star turned back to their teacher. "Yes. Yes, you're right. I just don't know… I can't ask Mother. She would be furious."

Tapping one of her ballet flats, Star absently began to twirl one of the ribbons that cascaded down her back with a lock of her hair. There wasn't anyone else she could really ask for help - Glossaryck was a definite no, as he might tell Mother. (And, probably, make fun of her to no end). Marco didn't know the first thing about spells, Pony Head was locked up in St. O's…

A new and surprisingly mellow voice interrupted her thoughts. "Sup."

If Marco hadn't been rocked by a fit of coughing, clearly just as surprised as she was, Star might have thought he had been trying to do some sort of weird impression. Instead, however, they both snapped their attention to the window beside her balcony, in which a bored-looking girl sat.

Star was thrilled, all but forgetting about her predicament for a few moments. "Janna?"

"The one and only," the girl replied with a smirk, fixing her cap. She nodded in the direction of the unsightly, impossible-to-overlook orc woman propped unceremoniously in the corner. "Geez, I knew you hated Skullzy, but man, Marco - this seems a little harsh."

The boy huffed tendrils of smoke through his nostrils, and Star did not find his tone very encouraging. "Hey, Janna. why don't you, uh, I don't know, fuck off?"

"Well, if you insist, though I would have thought you'd at least want your wallet back," she shot Star a wink, who couldn't help but giggle slightly at Marco's reaction. His hands explored every crevice and pocket on his person, only to come up empty-handed.

"Whatever," he muttered and turned away, putting that gross tobacco stick to his mouth again.

Wearing a sad smile, Star averted Janna's gaze as the girl hopped fully into the room. "Please don't tell anyone about this."

"Aw," the dark-haired girl sighed, sounding amused. "If you're sure. Everyone would think it was really hilarious, but, this is your biz. Speaking of which… what happened?"

"Well, Marco and I were about to -"

"Why are you here, Janna?" Marco cut in. He had drifted to the opposite wall and was eyeing her distrustfully, and as if to exacerabte the issue, Janna swung an arm over Star's shoulder.

The camaraderie wasn't exactly unwelcome, but Star still had not grown used to people on Earth's inability to respect personal space. Frankly, it made her more nervous than it did comforted, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

"I just wanted to see my friend here. Lighten up for five minutes, dude."

Star chuckled uncomfortably and jumped in before Marco could respond again.

"A-an-anyways! We were about to leave class, and Ms. Skullnik made a mean comment about Marco, and Marco, um…"

"Acted like a dick," he offered helpfully, but Star couldn't bare the crude comparison. She blushed and shook her head.

"H-he got defensive. L-long stor-ry short… I just, um, j-just wanted her to calm down, you know? I u-used a spell and it d-didn't work exactly right."

By the time Star finished, Janna had released her hold on her and the blonde felt her lungs gasp in relief. The girl strode towards Ms. Skullnik on the floor, bending at the waist to better appraise her, and Star began to nibble at the corner of her wand again.

"Huh. So instead of making her chill, you turned her into… a… whatever this is."

Neither Marco nor Star made to confirm her conclusion, as if it were necessary anyways. It's not as if their teacher had entered fifth period that day with scaly green skin, claws, a gemstone in her stomach or a massive underbite protruding from her face. The spell's consequences were as clear as the horrible smell of Marco's smoking, now mixed with the general terrible hygiene of ogres.

Janna stood upright and shrugged, spinning on the spot. "Welp. That sucks."

"Thanks. So glad you broke in," Marco muttered darkly, but the girl was all smiles.

"So, you guys gonna fix her?" Janna quizzed, hands on her hips. "I think she almost looks better like this. It's not like her love life could get much worse."

Scowling, Star pointed her chin slightly. "That's not very nice, Janna! Ms. Skullnik might be… a little mean… but she's still a person."

"No, no. I wasn't being insulting for no reason. I'm not an asshole." She paused, glancing pointedly over her shoulder towards a certain sulking figure who happened to be putting out his cigarette. "That's why she's mean, Star. You haven't been around long enough to know, but Skullzy's kinda got a reputation for being, ah… unfortunate in the love department. Her husband left when we were still in elementary school, and word is she just gets worse every year. It's been a long time since anyone dated her and, to be honest, I half believe that's why she's such a bit- such a bitter person."

Blue-eyes wide, Star listened as a swell of pity formed in her abdomen. No wonder the woman was in such a foul mood all the time. Sure, that didn't justify her being mean specifically to her best friend, but then, it's not like Ms. Skullnik was the only human or Mewman who had ever misdirected their anger before. It was just something that happened…

Marco walked towards the pair of girls, stopping between them and looking down at Ms. Skullnik. He ran a hair through his hair, clearly frustrated, and turned towards Janna.

"Seriously, Janna, can you not spread the word on this? I don't want Star to get into trouble."

The girl raised a brow and took a moment to respond. "Well, duh, I don't want her to get into trouble either. Honestly dude, I'm more worried about you. Star's got a clean slate. If you don't get this sorted, you'll probably get expelled."

She reached into her pocket and tossed his wallet onto Star's desk, adjacent to them. The young royal felt a tremor of fear creep up her spine and looked desperately towards the two humans.

"W-wait, why would - why would Marco get blamed for this? It was entirely my fault. Really!"

Janna merely shrugged and offered Star a sympathetic smile, moving back towards the window from whence she came.

"What's more likely… A sweet princess cast a horrible spell onto an unsuspecting teacher? Or a known troublemaker, who openly snarked at Skullyz in the middle of class, did something? Doesn't matter if it's magic, Star. I don't know what things are like on Mewni, but on Earth, people just use the narrative that's most convenient." She paused, halfway out the window. "And, rumor has it your parents paid like, a crazy amount of money to the school. They'll want to keep it, and jump at the chance to get rid of Diaz here."

Stunned, Star mouthed like a fish seeking water - her gills were exposed, hurting, crying for something to relieve her. No air - no water - just panic. Panic. That wasn't right. That wasn't fair.

The girl gave a two-fingered salute before leaping from the house. Star had half a mind to wonder how she managed to climb to the second story in the first place, but then, she didn't know the extent of human acrobatics. Marco wasn't exactly a model of human fitness, she had learned.

Coincidentally, he coughed a few times and scratched his neck, looking out the window after their friend.

"Janna's a weird one. I gotta get bars for these windows."

"Marco?" Star called, unable to keep the tremble of anxiety from her voice. He turned, a brow raised.

"Uh, yeah?"

"W-was Janna… was she serious? You won't get expelled because of me, right?"

"Ahh…" The boy answered, rubbing his forehead. He cleared the length of the room and stood beside her, keeping his eyes on Ms. Skullnik's unconscious form.

"I mean, I don't know that for sure, but I wouldn't put it past the school. But don't think about that - we'll just fix it and then there won't be any chance of that happening, alright?"

Star began teething her wand again, shaking her head side-to-side. She removed her mouth long enough to comment.

"That doesn't make any sense. That was the whole point of trying to be diplomatic! If Ms. Skullnik just listened to what I had to say…"

"Princess, stop." Marco pursed his lips, something flashing in his dark eyes. "Seriously. I know you were just trying to help, but making a big fuckin' deal of it now won't help. But hey, learning moments, right? Don't trust a single word anybody on Earth says. Mewni sounds great if you can talk everything out, but you're not on Mewni. This is Earth, and everything is fucked up, and, god, I need another cigarette."

He quickly brought another one out and stepped towards his balcony, looking uncharacteristically apologetic.

"Don't worry so much about me. Let's worry about you and this mess with Skullz here, then we can worry about me. Okay?"

She didn't want to be okay with it. It wasn't okay. Star knew that. She hadn't been raised to be selfish. But Marco made it sound so easy. He was so confident that things would be alright, and Star just wanted to believe him.

Wearily, the girl smiled and nodded in his direction. "Okay. But let's worry about you, too."

Marco blew a plume of smoke over the edge of the balcony and smirked, shaking his head. "Whatever."

"That's your favorite word, isn't it?" Star teased, feeling a bit better after seeing him smile. She drifted after him, into the warming rays of sunshine from the early afternoon sun. "Whatever this, whatever that."

"Maybe. It probably used to be." Marco tilted his head to one side, looking almost bemused. Star inhaled sharply when one of his fingers brushed the bangs from her eyes, leaving a trail of heat where his hand ghosted over her cheekbones. It was a thousand times warmer than the sunlight had been, but oddly, Star shivered like an icy chill and kissed her brow. "I think my new favorite word is Princess, though. Mostly cause you get this really pissed off look on your face everytime."

Star hardly heard him, her heart positively thundering in her ears. What was wrong with her? It was the touching - that had to be it. Surely, it had been the same when Janna threw an arm over her shoulder, right? The electricity, the shock of awareness, the clamminess of her palms. Or - or when she hugged Flying Princess Pony Head. Or had to dance with Prince Lucitor at the Silver Bell Ball every year.

Yes. Totally normal, 'I-don't-like-to-be-touched' reactions. That was it.