What if I didn't?

Chapter 8: Recovery

(Marcos POV)

I sat next to Star, eating pancakes. My parents seemed tired, but they were doing their best to keep us cheerful. I snorted inside. I was doing the same thing for Star. I looked at her. She seemed to be doing much better than she had before, but her eyes were missing the usual sparkle that I loved so much. I had also noticed another positive sign: the color in her wand was returning to its regular pink shade. I don't think she'd noticed this, as the wand had remained on the coffee table since the other day. I reached my hand under the table and grabbed hers, squeezing it lightly. She looked at me and gave the same tired, cheerful smile that I saw whenever I looked at my parents, or in the mirror. We both finished our pancakes, and I grabbed our plates and took them to the sink. I looked up at my parents. They were sitting side by side, looking at my Dads phone. Their expressions were pretty blank, but they were definitely interested in what they were looking at. 

"What's that Dad?" I moved in the see what it was. 

"Oh, Marco. Well, it's an email gone out to people whose kids were victims of, uh, Friday." He finished, obviously trying not to say the event for what it was. I looked at him quizzically.

"Why'd you get the email?" 

"Well, Marco, you and Star were victims. It's basically from the people in the community, offering to help us out with chores and other things while we recover, but we don't need it. You two are fine, that's the best we could ask for." He finished with a smile. I smiled back. I walked back to Star, and noticed she was wiping a tear from her face. 

"Hey, what's up?" I put a hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm fine." She took my hand and kissed my cheek. I blushed, thinking my parents were right there, but thankfully they had left. 

"Are- are you sure, Star?" 

"Yeah. Absolutely one gazillion percent super positively sure of it!" She smiled at me. That was the old Star, the Star I knew. I smiled on the inside. At that moment, the phone rang. I went to it, thinking to myself, Please-don't-be-the-FBI-or-CNN-please-don't-be-the-FBI-or-CNN-please-don't-be-the-FBI-or-CNN. I picked it up. 

"Diaz residence, Marco speaking."

"Oh hey Marco." To my surprise, it was Janna who answered me. I realized I hadn't even thought about her, if she had made it out. I felt bad, but I answered.

"Janna! Oh, I didn't expect it to be you! So, are you, you know, okay?"

"Well, mentally, that was a horrible experience and I'm still not over it, might not ever truly be over it. Physically, I had a piece of shrapnel in my left foot, but I am completely healed and back to reviewing your personal information." I sighed in exasperation. I noticed that Star had hopped on one foot over, and was now leaning into me for support. 

'Who is it?' She mouthed.

'Janna.' I mouthed back. Stars eyes lit up, and a grin invaded her face. I grinned back and spoke to Janna. 

"So why'd you call?"

"Well, I was wondering what you're doing, if you wanted to, uh, hang out or something." I sucked in my breath and looked at Star. She looked at me confused. She hadn't caught what Janna said. 

"Well, uh, Janna." I gulped. "Star and I are, um, together now, so-"

"Oh!" Janna cut me off. "No, no no no no no, not like that. Not like that at all." She laughed into the receiver. Thank GOD, I thought.

"So Starco is a thing now?" She asked. "'Bout damn time."

"Starco? What's 'Starco'?" 

"Never mind that Diaz. I was asking if both of you wanted to hang out, Star included."