Peggy Sues are rather interesting, don't you think? Especially when they begin their story years before the actual story begins.

Prologue

Jackie Lynn Thomas supposed it began just before they were 7. Everything before she was 7 years old was behind a youthful haze but she remembered the event as if it happened… well the saying is yesterday but that wouldn't do it justice. Marco said it was due to brain stuff growing at around that age but not even he could explain why that memory remained so vivid. Whatever the reason, the moment was etched into her mind with a brightness and clarity that felt surreal. The kind of moment that not only felt real despite years of passing but of the sort that made everything else feel less real. Like watching nothing but movies all your life only to creep out of your room and see the dawning of the sun.

It was a month after classes started and they had just gotten used to one another. Marco then was, well, odd. He was smart even then, no doubt, but he mostly kept to himself. Still, there was something about him that seemed different. She as well as her friends thought he was just some quiet weirdo. No one bothered him about it though given how nice he was and how the teachers doted on how responsible and smart he was.

The fact that he seemed to look at us the same way the adults did probably had nothing to do with it.

...Rambling. Anyway, the thing you need to know about Lars Vanderdud is that he's big. Really big. Even when he was six he was big, at least compared to the rest of us. He's our star quarterback for a reason. He's a huge softie but he wasn't always that way. In fact, and I'm ashamed to say this, I still think of him a bully. He was a bully for all of one month but I can't help but see him as one ever since. I can't help but think I'm the only one.

Francis is the closest thing to an equal Marco has at Echo Creek as far as academics are concerned and last I heard he was on girlfriend number six but back then he was more… well, he was less respectable than he was now. Lars saw easy pickings and tried to scare him into giving him his lunch. The rest of us kept away because we didn't want to fight Francis but Marco immediately stepped between them with his lunch in hand.

He gently pushed Francis away from Lars and offered his food to the bully. "Sorry to hear you're so hungry. Here, take mine!"

Lars was taken off balance for a moment before smiling back like a child who'd just found a sucker. Both kinds. "Thanks, loser."

He then pushed Marco out of the way before confronting Francis. "Give me your lunch, baby!"

He tried to move closer to the scared kid, probably to intimidate him, when Marco grabbed his hand with a smile on his face that was definitely the same as their teacher's when we were being unreasonable. "Don't you think that's enough, Francis? I don't think you need more than two lunches."

Lars turned around and grabbed Marco by his collar. "Yeah, whatcha gonna do about it?"

Marco kneed him in the stomach, swept Lars' feet out from under him as soon as the bully let go and spun him around with a slap as he tackled him. He had grabbed the arm that had held his collar while Lars was unbalanced such that when Lars crashed on the ground flat on his face, his arm was trapped right behind his back with Marco right on top of it and him.

Lars had his mouth covered a moment before he began bawling from the sudden pain. "Not so fun when you're not the big guy, huh?"

Marco moved himself off of Lars and looked him straight in his eyes. Lars whimpered at the sight and he wasn't the only one. Marco turned to Francis who wilted under his gaze.

He gave a beaming smile that lit the room and lifted the looming pressure from just a few seconds ago. "You and Lars want to eat lunch with me?"

She f-

A voice broke Jackie's gaze from the screen. She turned to face her beanie-wearing best friend. "J.L., watcha looking at? Star and Marco are waiting!"

Jackie nodded at her friend before turning back to the screen. The video had looped back to the start. "Oh, sorry, Janna. I got distracted by one of the memories."

"Well, time won't fix itself," Janna leaned in to see the screen more clearly before grinning, "Dude, is that Marco? Is that Lars? No way, he was badass even then?"

Jackie continued to watch the screen, her voice softer than before. "Yeah, me and Marco have a bit of history. He's always been like this."

Janna turned her gaze towards the end of the hall before tugging at the hem of Jackie's shirt, "So you planning to come meet up any time soon?"

When a minute passed with her friend glued to the screen and no answer, Janna shrugged and sauntered away. Before she disappeared out of the blonde girl's view though she made one final, snarky comment. "You know you're not gonna get anywhere unless you do something. Star's a princess after all."

Jackie turned towards the voice before taking one last glance at the screen. It had looped once more, back to the moment she had met her first and closest friend. She trudged herself down the hall. "I know."

Scenes flashed across the screen. A boy and a girl six and seven respectively, together, smiling proudly while surrounded by happy classmates. By the time they were eight, the boy had taken to wearing a cape much to the girl's embarrassment and their classmates' amusement. In hindsight, the cape should have been a dead giveaway as to what he had been planning. At ten, a third girl had entered the group, much to both the boy and girl's chagrin. They would get over it quickly. When they were twelve, their newest member decided to give the boy a sword as a joke. He took to it a lot more than either of them were comfortable with. On his thirteenth birthday, the two girls had a set of armor commissioned for him, this time only partially as a joke. As if in response, he only partially liked it. The three stood together amidst their friends and classmates, content with the world and filled with a confidence and self-assurance that was positively infectious.

Sometime in their fourteenth year, a third girl entered their lives like a shooting Star.