Chapter 1: Thrown Away

Marco hated his life.

After yet another day at school, he just wanted to relax. It's not that school itself was horrible, but rather it was the people there that made it horrible. But once he got home, he had been forced to clean the entire house by himself yet again. And if he missed anything, his uncle would yell at him and might even hit him again.

After spending four hours cleaning up the house while his aunt and uncle just lounged around the house, he also had to make dinner for them. And every day, after dinner, he was always confined to his room regardless of the time. On the bright side, at least this meant he didn't have to worry about his uncle or aunt for the rest of the night.

Marco's aunt and uncle barely took care of him. He was barely fed, and had very few clothes. His outfit always consisted of a cheap white tee shirt, cheap black jeans, and cheap shoes. But at least they were comfortable.

His anxiety didn't help, either. Sometimes, if he was put in a stressful situation, he was in danger of having an anxiety attack. It didn't always happen, but they were still horrible. His vision would blur, his body would shake, and he'd be overwhelmed by a crushing feeling of fear and panic. He would barely be able to hear anything, if he was able to still hear at all. The worst ones would have his vision go entirely black with more violent shaking. One time he even passed out altogether.

And to top it all off, he also suffers from depression and very low self esteem. If you were to ask him how highly he thinks of himself on a scale from one to ten, he'd answer with a zero. He practically hates himself. He berates himself every time he messes up, and even when he does something perfectly, he believes it's luck more than his own skills showing through.

Right now, it was the next morning, and Marco had school again today. Getting ready for school, Marco was deep in thought about the thousands of ways his life could've been better. Maybe if he had a friend or loving parents or didn't have anxiety, things might be better.

As he continued to get ready for school, a ripping sound caught his attention. In his yard, what looked like a portal of some sort appeared in his own yard. Something was heard from inside of it before a girl was harshly thrown through it, landing face down in the dirt. A small suitcase was then thrown through as well, hitting the girl in the back of the head, before the portal closed. This girl then let out a livid scream.

"Fine! I hate you too!" She shouted at the air where the portal had disappeared.

Heading outside, Marco heard the screams of the girl along with some magical noises. He was curious, and he still had some time before the bus arrived, so he decided to check it out.

As soon as he turned the corner, he was immediately tackled to the ground by this girl, who was aiming a glowing magic wand at his throat. Before she fired a spell that would kill him however, she looked into Marco's eyes.

He was scared, of course, but there was much more than that. His expression told her that he had been expecting to die in a way similar to this for a few years now. Like he had been randomly attacked before. He looked as though he had been through a lot in the past, and this was nothing more than another way life has tortured him.

He looked as though he didn't care if he died, as long as his death was quick.

Hands trembling, she dropped her magic wand and began crying heavily. "I'm so s-sorry! I-I-I don't know what I'm doing. I… everything's just been so horrible." She cried. "I just… I… I hate everything about my life. You can't understand how this feels. To be thrown away like nothing."

"Believe it or not, I… know… what it's like to feel like nothing."

"You… you do?" The girl said. "I'm… my name is Star. Star Butterfly. I'm sorry I almost killed you."

"Marco Diaz." He said shyly. As he got a better look at the girl, he noticed a few things about her. She had long blonde hair, a fancy dress, pale skin, and dull blue eyes. On her cheeks, there were two dull, gray broken hearts. And while he had literally just met Star, he had a feeling those weren't supposed to look like that, although he decided not to ask about it.

"Hey, um… do you know where I can find this place called 'Echo Creek High'? I've been told I need to go there and hand some papers over to this 'principal' person." Star said.

"Well, uh… I was actually waiting for the bus that takes me there before you, uh… you know." Marco said.

"Can I get on the bus with you?" She asked, getting up off of his chest and putting her wand in her small suitcase.

"Um, s-sure." Marco agreed. Star stood up and extended a hand towards Marco, still on the ground, who looked at it in confusion. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm helping you up, of course. It's what friends do." Star said. Marco just looked at her. "You do have friends, right?" She asked innocently.

Marco shyly averted his eyes. "Um, no. I… I've never had any friends before." He admitted. His body stiffened up when she wrapped her arms around him. "Uh, w-what are you doing?"

"I-I don't know, it just… feels right." Star said. Marco shrugged and returned the embrace. "I'm sorry you've never had a friend before, Marco."

"It's fine, Star." The two sat there, embracing each other. They weren't quite sure what it was they were doing, but it felt good. Marco wanted to stay that way forever.

Unfortunately, the arrival of the bus made them separate. Marco stood up, followed by Star, and they boarded the bus. The bus driver looked at Star with a curious look. "Is it okay if my friend rides the bus?"

"Sure. Go ahead, kid." The bus driver shrugged. Marco led Star to the back of the bus, where he usually sat alone, and they took their seats. The other students also looked curiously at Star and her fancy dress.

"What's with these people?" Star huffed. "It's like they've never seen a princess before."

Marco's eyes widened. "You're a princess?" He said.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I didn't tell you that about myself yet." Star replied. She opened up her small suitcase. Among the clothes and wand, there was also a crown in the luggage as well. "I'm kind of a magical princess."

"Okay, that is admittedly kinda cool." Marco said. "However, you might want to keep all of that hidden from everyone else."

"Why?" She asked.

"Well, the people at school are big jerks. If they know you're a magic princess, things will not go well." Marco said.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Star agreed.

The bus pulled up in front of the school and everyone got off, with Star and Marco being the last ones off.

"So you need to see the principal, right?" Marco asked. Star nodded. "I'll take you to him, okay?" Marco led Star to the main office of the school, where they saw the principal sitting at his desk.

"Ah, Star Butterfly. I've been expecting you." Principal Skeeves said. "And Marco, perfect."

"How did you know I was coming?" Star asked.

"Someone came out of a blue swirling vortex and told me everything." Principal Skeeves said. "I didn't think there were any other dimensions until then."

"Anyway, I've been told I need to hand these papers to you." Star said, getting right to the point, handing him a small stack of papers.

"Thank you."

"But uh, if I may ask… do you know where I'm staying?" Star asked. "I was just told to find you, and that's it." Marco's eyes went wide, as did Skeeves'.

"You know what? I'm going to have you stay with Marco. His aunt and uncle house exchange students sometimes." Skeeves said, writing something on some papers. "And… done. Miss Butterfly, welcome to Echo Creek High."

"T-thank you, sir." Star said.

"Please, just call me 'Skeeves'." He replied. "Marco, you and your new friend can take the day off today so you can show her around."

Walking out of the principal's office, the teens looked at each other shyly.

"So, I guess we have the day to ourselves." Marco spoke.

"Yeah, I guess so." Star said. Marco was about to speak again when he fell face down on the ground suddenly. "Marco?" Then Star felt something shove her hard, causing her to fall on the ground next to Marco.

"Ha ha! Losers!"

Looking up, the teens saw a teen with extremely short hair and very big muscles. Lars the school bully laughed at the two.

"Well well well. Looks like Di-ass found his ugly twin!" Lars teased.

"Come on, Lars. Can't you just leave me alone please?" Marco said.

"Oh no no, freak. You aren't going anywhere." Lars picked up Marco by his shirt collar.

"H-hey. L-leave him alone." Star said, getting up. Lars just kicked her aside.

"You're pathetic, Diaz. You're nothing more than an antisocial freak, and your only friend is probably another antisocial freak. You two are lucky you have each other, because neither of you will ever make any friends!" Lars punched Marco in the stomach. Marco began crying. "Aww, is the widdle baby crying? Ha! That just proves how pathetic you are."

Marco's vision began blurring and he began hyperventilating as his anxiety kicked in. "P-please… stop…" Marco begged, his voice barely at a whisper. Lars shoved him to the ground, causing him to land on his hands and knees, and kicked him in the stomach before hitting the back of his head hard enough for his face to slam into the hard tile floor.

"This is why your real parents left you. You're nothing more than a waste of space. Face it, wimp! Nobody likes you!" Lars kept going at it, throwing insults at Marco, who was having a full on anxiety attack now.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Lars finally left, leaving Marco in his anxiety attack. He was on the floor, still crying, as his body shook and he hyperventilated. Star quickly headed over to Marco and tried to comfort him, though it was clear she didn't really know how to do it.

"It's… it's okay, Marco. He's gone now." Star said, embracing him as he continued to shake and sob into her shoulder. Various students passing by either ignored them, looked curiously at them, or even outright laughed at them. Nobody even tried to help.

Inside of Marco's mind, there was a voice that wouldn't leave him alone. 'You really are pathetic, Marco. You finally made a friend for the first time in your pathetic life, and she already knows how pathetic you are.'

'Please. Leave me alone.' Marco tried asking the voices to leave him alone, to no avail.

'Ever since your aunt and uncle adopted you, you've been nothing but a burden to everyone around you.'

'Stop… please…'

Meanwhile, Star was just sitting there awkwardly, not sure what to do. She had no idea what to do and felt absolutely horrible that she couldn't do anything to help.

After several agonizing seconds, Marco's shaking finally managed to subside as his breathing returned to somewhat normal. "I… I'm sorry about that. You probably think I'm pretty pathetic, don't you?" Marco said more than asked. "Just letting him attack me and not doing anything. I'm… I'm sorry you had to put up with me."

"No, I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop him. A-and… not to mention I almost killed you earlier. I'm a horrible friend." Star told him. "Let's just get out of here." Shakily, Marco got up and wiped his tears away with his forearm, sniffling. Star also stood up, and they headed out of the school and began walking down the sidewalk together.

"Is school always that bad for you?" Star asked.

Marco sighed. "Unfortunately… yes."

Star's eyes filled with emotion. "I've been through a lot, too." She said, then hesitated a bit. "Hey, um… is it alright if I ask you about… what happened with you when that bully was harassing you?"

Marco tensed slightly as the voice in his head began acting up. 'Why bother telling her? She's just like everyone else. She'll just make fun of you and ditch you.'

'No… she's not like the others. She's different, I can tell.' Marco thought.

'Don't you realize it's all just an act? She's getting you to expose yourself so she can attack you where it hurts the most.'

'She's not like that. Star is nothing like everyone else.' Marco decided to do his best to ignore the voice in his head and answer Star's question.

"Well, I have something called 'anxiety'. Sometimes, if I'm under stress of any kind, I'll have an anxiety attack similar to what you saw." Marco explained. "I also have this voice in my head that tells me I'm pathetic, a waste of space, and other things like that. And… I can't control it. It's like… my mind… has a mind of its own. If that even makes sense."

"I think I know what you mean." Star said. The teens continued to walk in silence until Marco laughed slightly. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just… we've only just met each other and it's like we've known each other for a long time." Marco said. "I mean, we've already told each other some things about ourselves that we probably wouldn't even say to a longtime friend." Star smiled for the first time since she met Marco when he said this.

"I guess you're right." Star agreed. "Anyway, um… could we… go back to your house? I'd like to see the place where I'll be staying."

Marco tensed up again. "Trust me… you don't want to. My aunt and uncle, they… um… n-nevermind."

"It's fine. You don't have to tell me." Star told him.

"Yeah, okay. Sorry about that, Star." Marco sighed. "I'll just show you around town until it's time to go home."

"Okay." Star said.