That Saturday, Sky and Star were jarred awake by Brie calling their names. However, her voice sounded as though she were standing in the hall between their bedroom doors, rather than just calling to them from the foot of the stairs as she usually did on the weekdays. Brushing sleep from their eyes, the two groggily made their way out of bed and to the doors of their rooms where they squinted at her in confusion.

“You’re up here?” Star asked hoarsely, wiping more sleep from her eyes.

Scowling back at where Sky was clad only in his underwear, and Star only in a long t-shirt, Brie responded, “is that a problem?” she asked, though her relief that they came out of separate doors was still clear in her voice.

Scoffing at the obvious meaning behind her words, Sky spoke with a voice just as hoarse from sleep, “it’s like eight. And Saturday” he added.

“Yes, well your father and I RSVP’d before kiss-gate” Brie mumbled.

“What?” Sky asked, then furrowed his brow, “and what?”

“That convention in the city is today. And we agreed to go. Back then, we thought it was safe to leave our two seventeen year old children alone in the house together” she told them stiffly.

The two then scoffed in unison, before Star spoke, “we kissed, mom. We didn’t go on a murder spree” she argued as she and Sky gave each other furtive looks.

“Please, save me another speech about how seventeen year olds are practically adults. It still doesn’t change the fact that we don’t want either of you doing those things as long as you still have to live together under this roof. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. And hate us for it if you must. But at least respect our wishes, ok?” Brie told them with another deep breath.

They both shook their heads, “fine” they agreed as they moved to turn back towards their rooms.

“And while you’re respecting our wishes, could you please start by not running around in this house together, half-naked?” she added uncomfortably.

The two scoffed again before Sky spoke, “we just got outta bed, mom.”

Star shook her head then too, “so now you want us to go to bed fully dressed too?” she asked with slight sarcasm.

“Would it kill you?” Brie returned. Both just sighed heavily and began to turn towards their rooms again, when Brie interrupted their departure once more, “as a matter of fact, we think that if we have to be gone all day today, we’d feel better about it all if you invited some friends over or something. Not asking you to throw a party or anything, just one or two friends. We’d just be more comfortable if we knew you two weren’t alone here in the house together all day.”

The two gave her another look of disbelief. Sky then spoke again, “you want us to find some friends to babysit us? Is that it?”

“Not babysit, per se” Brie stated, “it just would be nice for you two to spend time with people who... don’t have the same last name as you.”

“Unbelievable” Sky mumbled.

“I’m trying here, Sky. I mean, if this happened with other adoptive parents, they’d probably be sending you off to boarding school or something. Give us a little bit of credit. And just try to meet us halfway. Ok?”

“Fine” he repeated with annoyance before finally heading into his room and tossing the door shut behind him. Then Star just shook her head at Brie again and disappeared behind her own door as well. Brie just sighed heavily and started down the stairs once more.

As the two of them only even knew one person that they had had so much as a conversation with since arriving in this new reality; Crista was their obvious choice of ‘babysitter’ that day. Though Sky still hadn’t left his room since Brie woke them up and opened up negotiations early that morning. So, Star was the one left to let Crista in while the two sat quietly waiting for Brie and Connor to head into the city for the day.

Once the adults were gone, Star sighed over at where Crista had been watching her, only to blush and turn away once Star’s eyes moved to her. Swallowing a bit, Star spoke up, “it’s still pretty warm out. Pool?” she offered, making what was likely her first attempt ever at hanging out with another teenage girl at her house on the weekend. The idea itself was commonplace for most every other teenager in the world, but it felt more than foreign to Star after the very strange life she had already led; which revolved mainly around her ‘brother’ and many other less pleasant things as well.

When the two took seats at the edge of the pool, Star couldn’t help memories of freakish weather conditions, as well as other things that had happened last time she had found herself in that spot, all those years ago, in that other reality.

Star was distractedly looking toward the upstairs windows when Crista’s voice interrupted her thoughts, “so are you two going tonight?”

“What?” Star asked as she pulled her attention back to the younger girl.

“To goth night?” Crista clarified with a smile.

“Um,” that was when Star blushed slightly, “I don’t know if we’re really... into that much, anymore” she managed.

“Well you used to go all the time though, right?” Crista asked.

“Technically, yeah” Star conceded. If it was true in the other world, she couldn’t imagine why it wouldn’t be true in this one. Then again, she honestly had no way of knowing what all the ramifications of their supposed attack on Crista’s sister actually had been.

Crista smiled, “well I’d love to go. I’ve heard some pretty crazy stuff about the people there, and the stuff that happens” she allowed a slightly giddy laugh.

Star took another breath as more memories of her old life began surfacing, “well, you’ve got time. You are only fourteen, right?”

“And you’re only seventeen” Crista scoffed, then continued, “besides, didn’t you guys go when you were my age?”

“Yeah, I guess we did” Star agreed as she averted her eyes again.

“And wasn’t that party that my sister keeps telling lies about; that was when you were fourteen too, right?” Crista asked curiously.

“Yeah” Star agreed a little shortly.

“No, don’t get upset” Crista quickly continued, “like I said, I don’t believe that you and Sky did that,” she stated, her voice dropping, “the point I was getting at is that you two went to the club and parties and all that when you were my age. I guess I just wanna get some idea of, you know, what all you guys were doing when you were fourteen, so I know, what I should be doing” she attempted to explain her inquiries.

Star couldn’t help a scoff and a slightly worried look back at the blue haired goth pixie sitting next to her. She swallowed a bit as she tried to find the proper response, “believe me, Sky and I are the last people you wanna base any kind of comparison on. The last people” she stressed.

“So, you’ve done a lot then, huh?” Crista asked with a self-conscious biting away at the silver lip gloss she wore that day.

“Yay more questions about our sex lives” Star sighed, though she spoke the words more to herself.

“Sorry, but the only other girl I can actually ask is my mother” she shuddered, “or my bitch sister. I figured I’d rather ask you” Crista finished sweetly.

Star just groaned, “ask me what, exactly?” she gave in to the hopeful look in those brownish green eyes looking back at her from underneath all the glitter and eyeliner.

Crista then smiled back over at her, “well I guess the big one is, how old were you, you know, your first time?”

Star looked up at the sky with a deep breath, “I believe I was fourteen” she then looked quickly back at the fourteen year old next to her, “but I’m pretty sure the average for girls is still sixteen. Like I said, I’m not a good one to compare yourself to” she added pointedly.

Crista gave her another giddy smile before continuing, “so, was it some hot goth boy from the club?”

Star thought on that one a moment before sighing again, “technically, I suppose” she answered, figuring it wasn’t exactly a lie.

“And was he as gorgeous as Sky?” Crista couldn’t help asking. Then she quickly added, “sorry, I guess asking you if you think your brother’s hot is a little weird. Especially with all my sister’s bullshit rumors and all” she told her apologetically.

That was when Star took another deep breath and looked back at the hopeful and expectant look on Crista’s rather pretty face. It was at that point Star decided maybe she really would like to have one friend. A real friend. On that thought, she took another brave breath and spoke again, “you know me and Sky are adopted, right?”

“No I didn’t know that” Crista admitted, “what about it?”

That was when Star gave in and finished her thought, “it means our parents aren’t our parents” she then decided to clarify further, “we don’t even have the same biological parents. We’re not actually related to each other at all, other than the same couple adopting us” she finished that statement and let out a breath of relief at finally letting someone know at least one small part of the truth about her own life.

Crista looked back with obvious surprise, “seriously, you two aren’t actually related at all?”

“Seriously” Star confirmed, fighting the urge to bite at her own lip nervously.

“And how long have you known you’re not really related?” Crista asked.

“A while” was the only answer Star could come up with that wasn’t an all out lie.

“Well then I guess I feel less icky about asking you if you thought he was hot. And it does make the rumors a lot less gross. But still bad!” she added quickly.

“Trust me, there are worse things in the world to have to endure than rumors” Star told her with a sadness behind the words.

After another long moment of silence, Crista spoke up again, “so do you think he’s hot?”

“Crista” Star returned, but only averted her eyes uncomfortably.

“You’d have to if you have eyes” Crista answered her own question before moving on, “you must have a lot more willpower than me.”

“Pardon?” Star asked as she let out another uncomfortable laugh.

“I just mean that if I had that living in the same house as me,” she shook her head and bit her lip again, “I mean, let’s be honest, if I had to share a house with someone who looked like him; shit, I’d be in my room masturbating every night.”

Star couldn’t help letting out another laugh, despite the discomfort of having another girl speak so bluntly about the boy who had been her lover for years now. Though, it wasn’t like the two of them didn’t have other lovers in those years, but it was still a little awkward, and somehow amusing at the same time.

Then Crista sighed ruefully, causing Star to give her a curious look, “yes?”

With a small blush, Crista responded, “that’s another thing I should ask you about.”

“Masturbation?” Star laughed, hoping that wasn’t what the girl actually meant.

“Well, yeah” Crista confessed with further discomfort, which Star shared.

“Well, what about it?” Star asked, forcing another nervous smile.

“Well, you started having sex three years ago, so you probably don’t even need to do that” she mumbled.

“Everybody does that” Star tried to comfort her, though her mind obviously snapped back to those nights in the apartment that summer.

“I suppose you do have to share a bathroom with him, right?” Crista asked mischievously as Star just swallowed another smile, “but yeah,” Crista attempted to move on, “I don’t even think I do that right.”

“You don’t masturbate right?” Star repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Crista blushed again, looking back at the house nervously before continuing, “I mean, I move my fingers in and out, and all I get is... wet fingers” she shrugged with a sad sigh.

Star couldn’t help another nervous laugh, “Um, well, it is a little easier for us, girls, if we concentrate more on the outside than the inside” she attempted her own rather strange version of sex ed that she never thought she’d be teaching. Not that they ever taught this particular subject in that class anyway in most cases.

“The outside?” Crista asked, raising her own brow then, “but isn’t the point of sex, to have him put it inside?”

Star laughed again, “well, yeah, but most of the time, when a girl comes, it’s not because of having a penis inside her.”

Crista looked back at her with widened eyes, “it’s not?”

“No, it’s really not” Star laughed again. She then tried to compose herself to try and make this explanation, “it’s the friction and the pressure, and all the stuff happening on the outside. The main reason the penis is even... in there... is cause that's what makes him come.”

With a wonderful sense of timing, that’s when Sky finally arrived on the patio, content that their parents were gone for the day. As he slid open the door, Crista turned five shades of red, and Star just smirked uncomfortably. Looking between the two girls, Sky furrowed his brow a bit, “am I interrupting something?”

“Just girl talk” Star chuckled.

Narrowing his eyes at Star’s seemingly good mood, he shook his head, “well perfect for me then. I have been accused of being more of a girl than most girls” he teased, as he took a seat cross-legged next to them, Star’s mood almost seeming contagious when the two of them were near each other. “So, what kind of girl-talk?” he managed a smile as Crista tried to keep from looking over at his bare chest, as he had only donned a pair of PVC pants since getting jarred from bed that morning.

“I was just going to explain to her about the c-l-i-t” Star told him furtively, causing Crista to give her a look of disbelief, though she did manage a small, still somewhat nervous laugh.

“Ooh that’s a fun subject” Sky smirked, “Are you also gonna tell her about the g-s-p-o-t?” he replied, mimicking her spelling of the word.

“Ok, enough with the spelling, you two” Crista bit back a smile, “stop making fun of the virgin, ok?” she chuckled again.

Star chuckled again, “I think I’ll let you handle that one, Sky.”

Sky couldn’t help laughing as well, “which thing am I handling in this conversation now?”

Star laughed more sincerely then, “I know plenty about the first one, but you’ve always been better at finding the second one than me” she smirked at him knowingly.

Sky blushed a bit at the statement, “yeah well I’ve probably watched more films on the subject than you have. I am still technically a guy, after all.”

“Wait, so you guys are saying that the g-spot is a real thing, then?” Crista had to ask.

Sky smirked again, “contrary to most of the patriarchy, yes.”

Crista then continued, “and you, a guy, also believe it’s a real thing, and can even... find it?” she had to ask, her breath catching slightly, considering the obvious attraction she had to him, not to mention the subject matter.

Sky then blushed slightly, but continued to smile, “it’s not like a scavenger hunt. Once you know where it is, it’s kind of always there” he shook his head, “then there’s just the question of knowing how to properly interact with it” he decided on.

“And, you know how to do that?” Crista asked, a little breathlessly.

“What on earth am I getting myself into here” Sky shook his head.

Crista looked slightly forlorn, “well can you teach me?” she then quickly shook her head, “or tell me, I mean, tell me,.. you know, how to find it” she quickly changed her request, nearly speaking under her breath then.

Sky let out another awkward laugh as he looked to Star, who just shrugged innocently, “I don’t even know how this conversation even got started, and now I’m supposed to provide instructions... or something?” he asked with feigned bewilderment to cover his own nervousness about discussing anything sexual with someone who wasn’t Star; and who most likely didn’t know that he and Star were lovers. He then looked back at Star again, “I’m not sure explaining that kind of thing to my sister’s fourteen year old friend, with my sister here...”

Though Star looked down and Crista spoke up, “oh she already told me you’re not really brother and sister” she attempted to keep him from leaving the conversation.

“She did, huh?” he repeated, looking back at Star questioningly, “anything else I missed her telling you?”