𓁹 ꧁Aʟʟsᴇᴇʀs꧂ 𓁹

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 12

Written by: glxtterbunnie

Astor woke up in his room at the Sparkle Squad, looking around at his surroundings. His room was essentially spotless, but there were a couple plates and forks left around from when he hadn't felt like eating dinner with everyone else.

He got changed into a high-necked, tight-fitting black dress, which hugged his figure tightly. It was not unlike his old crop top he wore at the treehouse, it was the same colour and had two heart-shaped cutouts. He also slipped his usual fluffy white jacket (with small black hearts) on. He turned around in the mirror, admiring his fashion taste for a while, before he decided to exit his room.

He opened the door, noticing Stella had gone downstairs already, and stepped out onto the dark grey carpet. The actual building that the Sparkle Squad had set up in was unfortunately quite ugly, but the bows he had put up around the place had really given it a nice touch.

He walked down the stairs, wishing the Sparkle Squad had an elevator instead. He noticed everyone else was already relaxing in the main rooms. It had been the night after one of the Sparkle Squad's parties, so most people had woken up late. Even so, everyone was still awake before him.

As he paused to look around, Aliyah, one of Leo's friends, passed him.
"Hey, Aliyah?" He stopped her.
"What's up?"
"Can you get me a slushie? Preferably blue."
"Sure, whatever."

He continued, sitting down by Leo on the sofa. "Hey." He greeted Leo. He had originally thought Leo was quite annoying, but had grown to somewhat care about him.

"Hi. Have you eaten yet?" Leo queried, shifting in his seat.
"Nope." Astor replied.
"Neither have I, let's get something." Leo then stood up, Astor with him.

Astor followed Leo to where they usually got food (the vending machine), and each bought some stuff. They returned to where they were originally sitting, to find Aliyah and her girlfriend, Embryn standing nearby.
"I got you that slushie." Aliyah mentioned, the little blue wings next to her eye which reminded him so much of Walter fluttering.

Astor thanked her briefly and took the slushie- blue, like he had wanted. He spoke a little more with the two of them before they walked away. Seeing Embryn had reminded him of Jackson- she was his ex, after all.

"Where's Jackson?" He asked Leo.
"Good question, actually. I've got no idea."
"We should probably find him, then." Astor got up, put his food into his bag and started walking to Jackson's usual spot, not checking if Leo was following or not.

Leo caught up to him, then slowed to his pace. "Speaking of, where's Stella?"
"No clue."
"Shouldn't we be looking for her, then?"

Astor didn't reply, as he had just spotted Jackson, who was kneeling down to pet Astor's cat, Jo.
"Jackson!" He walked over to greet the other player. "I missed you so much."
"Hi, Astor. Everything OK?"
"Of course, what about you?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm doing good. Have you seen Embryn recently?"

Astor looked away, replying, "Yeah, I have. She was with Aliyah, though."
"Oh, cool."
Astor thought he could hear some disappointment in Jackson's voice. Did he still like Embryn, then? They had broken up on good terms, and he had even helped Embryn find a partner after they broke up.

"Can we spend some time together? When you're free." Astor suddenly felt quite warm out of embarrassment, looking at Jackson, then away again.
"Sure, I'd love to. Where would you like to-" Jackson was unfortunately interrupted by another member of the Squad, who leaned into the room they were currently in to let them know, "Stella just called a meeting. She seems kind of pissed, so be careful."

Stella being pissed was nothing new, but Astor still felt slightly apprehensive as he entered the room where Stella liked to have her meetings, his arm intertwined with Jacksons as they approached the table.

"Astor, what the fuck?!"
"Oh, great." He glanced at Jackson and let go of his arm. "Is this about-"
"Your little 'idea', and how fucking stupid it is?!"
"I was just suggesting-"
"That we go to the Watchful One's realm and make him bring your friend back?!"
"Well, it's better than anything you could come up with!"

"No, it is fucking not!" Stella advanced towards him, glaring, "It's the stupidest idea I've ever heard in my life!"
"Well, I'm sorry if you and your Squad are too incompetent to handle it." Astor retorted, rolling his eye.

"It's not like you're going to join in, anyway. You're just going to sit there and watch! You have no idea what-"
"I don't care, either, I'll do whatever it takes to get him back."
"You're not even going to help us! You're calling us incompetent because we can't magically force the Watchful One to get your stupid little-"
"You're being so selfish right now. It's not like it's even going to come to banning anyone, anyway." He said, folding his arms.
"You're suggesting we go and risk everyone in the Squad, including your stupid boyfriend-" She looked at Jackson, "-just to get your friend back , and I'm somehow the selfish one here?!." Stella spat, glaring at him.

"Stella-"
"-You know what?! Fuck you, I'm leaving." She continued, louder now.
"And where are you intending to go? There is nowhere else, Stella." Astor looked her in the eye, certain that there wasn't any place Stella could go to.
"The treehouse, obviously."
"What?!" Astor's tone rose as he stepped towards her. "You can't possibly-"
"Whatever, Astor. Fuck you." Then, she left, slamming the door and leaving a horrified silence in her wake.

"Wait, Stella was leader, right? So now what-" A Sparkle Squad member asked, but quickly shut up under Astor's glare.
"Get out, all of you." He spoke, with a slight edge to his voice.

Most of the Sparkle Squad members left then, apart from Jackson. Astor knew nobody else would stay if he told them to go, and he was privately thankful for Jackson being there. There was a short pause before Astor crumpled into Jackson's arms, trying and failing to hold back any emotion. "Oh, Jackson, this isn't fair." He sobbed, his voice muffled slightly by Jackson's black sweater, which was becoming increasingly damp from Astor's tears.

"You're doing your best, that's all that matters." Jackson comforted him.
"What are we going to do?!" He asked, a note of desperation coming into his voice as he looked up at Jackson.
"Whatever you need us to do, I suppose. It's going to be OK, Astor."
"God, you remind me so much of.." Astor trailed off in fear of inciting more tears.
"It's going to be fine. We'll get him back, and then everything will be OK. Stella will come back soon, too, just you wait and see. She just needs time." Jackson assured.