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One Week Ago
The Dugan-Whitmore Household
Blue Valley
Nevada

It had been a mistake, an accident. Even Jack Knight had agreed with that, but it had done little to ease the feeling of disgust that rose in Courtney’s stomach every time she thought of it. Murder had never been acceptable, accidental or otherwise and it was a crime that she had now found herself guilty.

One accident had defined her future in the blink of an eye, and looking around her old room of hues of pale blue she came to realise just how much things had changed. The Cosmic Rod was gone; she had returned it to Jack Knight in disgrace before she had packed her belongings and made her way back to Nevada. The Californian-born girl had found herself at home with her mom, her sister and Pat.

Blonde hair was pulled back from her face into a high ponytail, and her fringe was quiffed, and held with hairspray, away from her face. Sitting with her legs folded on the edge of her bed, holding her blue scarf to her face she tried not to cry as she looked at her former costume. Heroism had been everything she had wanted it to be, but Courtney had spent most of her life trying to define herself amongst the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.

Looking away from the costume she realised her fatal flaw, she had risen to power and she hadn’t been able to cope with it. Persistence and determination had been her building blocks, but her impulsive nature had been the eighteen year olds downfall.

Knocks sounded at the door, but she kept her back to it. Footsteps entered and she closed her eyes, she couldn’t look anyone in the face. Her hopeful naïveté seemed to be obliterated; she failed to see that there was still hope in her life and a chance to reinvent her life. Courtney was wallowing in her self-pity.

“Court?”

She couldn’t help but smile, the voice was soothingly rough. Pat Dugan was her stepfather, and he was a seasoned hero in the not-so-ancient past. Stripesy had been his name, and he had battled for the greater good before his retirement to be a husband and a father to not only his own child, but to his wife’s also. Things had changed when Courtney had become the second Star-Spangled Kid, he had become S.T.R.I.P.E to protect her, even though he had retired once again shortly after her reinvention as Stargirl, when she had become her own independent heroine.

Pat was now just a small-town sheriff, and the head coach for the local football players. His life seemed so dull to Courtney, but she knew that he was more content than he had ever been. She turned to look over her shoulder; he hadn’t changed an inch since she had last seen him almost a year ago. His round face, his thick bristled moustache and his short red hair, everything was familiar and she was thankful for that.

Familiarity was what she had wanted in returning home. Her mother, Barbara, had already enrolled her back into the local high school but it hadn’t been easy, Courtney’s alternate identity was not so secret thanks to her numerous slip ups and she was due to start on the Monday. Courtney was still reeling from her accident, and now she had to deal with the Sunday night blues.

Patricia had grown so much, she was walking now.

Pat had been at work when Courtney had returned; with Barbara working in the kitchen and making dinner while Patricia slept it had almost felt as though she had been alone in the house. She had known Pat would make it his business to console her; he had been more of a father to her than her biological father had ever been. She may have had two fathers but Courtney had always known that she only had one dad.

“It’s tough, kid,” he said to comfort her, still standing at the door of her room. “I seen a lot of this in my time Court, shit happens. It was a mistake, and it was unfortunate but it has given you the chance to re-evaluate your life.”

Courtney looked away from him, her eyes turned to the curtains bustling at her window.

“You’ve made the right choice. You had too much, too young. I was there Court. It hurts now, but you’ll get over it. You’ll go back too school and after a few weeks, things will be back to normal. This is you’re home kid, and it’s what you need at your age, not gallivanting across the country.”

The words echoed in her ears. Courtney knew that he was probably right but she didn’t want to believe that her passion had come to an end. She opened her mouth, but the words seemed to get caught in her throat so she refused to try again. Glaring at her costume, once again, she fought back against the tears in anger. Everything she had built seemed to have fallen apart, and it was killing her inside.

“Court?” Pat enquired, but he received no answer. “I’m always here if you need.”

He exited the room, and she pushed herself to her feet as she ran forward to close the door close on his heels. Leaning against it she wiped a tear from her hands. She slid down the door, hitting her head of the handle as she did so, and grunting at the surge of pain. Still, Courtney refused to speak.

---

Blue Valley High School
Blue Valley
Nevada

Metallic hallways and the same clichéd students where what stood between her and her classes, but Courtney had done her best to avoid any connection with both as she walked from her classes. Courtney had used this method to avoid them for the first three periods of class; however, she knew that the upcoming lunch break would be her downfall. It was then that she would be forced to face her peers in the concrete jungle that was high school.

Joys, she thought as she clutched her arms around her file.

Footsteps and slamming doors echoed around her but she came to a stop outside her biology class, there had to be something of merit for her to do in the school. Courtney was still strung up on the loss of her source of power, she had the Converter Belt in a box in her wardrobe with her costume, but the Cosmic Rod had been more spectacular in its powers, she had flown. Flying had always been something she aspired towards and it was one of her biggest regrets that she could no longer fly unassisted.

Paranoia seeped over her as she looked over her should.

Her blue eyes caught sight of a petite figure watching her from across the hallway. The girl was unnoticeable unless she warranted attention, her dull red hair lay limp around her pale face and her glasses rested on the crook of her nose. Courtney watched her for a moment, she was an outcast in the menagerie of cliché’s but that alone told the former heroine that the girl was just another.

Pursing her lips, Courtney walked out of the sight of the girl as she entered the girl’s toilets, they smelled of overused perfumes and stale cigarettes and neither were smells that she appreciated. Placing her file and school bag on the sink, Courtney looked at herself in the mirror.

It disgusted her that she was living a standard life when she had taken someone else’s, but the life she was living was more of a punishment than anything else. Sighing as she reached into her bag and pulled out her mascara, leaning closer to the mirror for a better view. Holding the mascara wand to her lashes she froze at the figure behind her.

“You’ve been gone awhile Court.”

Mary Somerville stood with her hands on her hips; her short brown hair was ruffled and messy while her firm upper lip was taut, almost as though she was waiting for something. Courtney recognised her instantly, they had been like sisters when Courtney had first arrived in Blue Valley and she had abandoned her to pursue a superhero career. She was thinner, and sleeker than the old Mary, everything about her screamed popular and all she could do was smile. It had always been Mary’s goal to become the Queen Bee, maybe she had accomplished what had seemed so impossible.

“I would ask if anything exciting had happened, but I think I know better by now.”

Courtney was flustered by this, Mary had been the first person she had every told about her adventures as the Star Spangled Kid in the earlier days but she hadn’t seen her since she had become Stargirl. Mary had missed so much of her life, but it was clear that she was still aware and that she remembered.

“Mary...”

“Don’t worry, I’m not annoyed,” the other girl interjected. “We all have to follow our dreams, right?”

“I guess.”

Mary moved to the other side of her, pulling lip gloss from the pocket of her jeans and applying it over the harsh red lips she had painted for herself. There was a more dominant side to her, the years had been good to her and she was in control of her own life. Courtney commended her for the strength she harnessed, it seemed all too familiar and all too destructive.

“I heard about Stargirl’s,” Mary paused briefly as she considered her words. “Fall from grace. It’s unfortunate.”

Awkward silence came between the pair, and after a few nervous glances towards the other’s reflection Mary turned to face her old friend.

“How’re you?” she muttered.

Courtney didn’t know how to answer.

How was someone when everything they had known came crashing down around them? Or when life’s next hardball knocked them out of the running? She shrugged slightly; she had no idea what Mary expected from her. A friendship between the pair was long gone, and it wouldn’t come back over a quick q and a. Courtney wasn’t foolish enough to believe things would be as they were; she had just expected them to be easier and smoother.

Not that she had expected to find Mary the way she was.

“I’m as good as can be. I murdered a guy...”

“Killed. You didn’t plan to do it,” emphasised Mary as she turned back to the mirror.

“I killed a guy and here I am an outcast in my own life. Heroism was all I ever knew, I was at it from so young and I grew and I became somebody. It’s hard to be a nobody again but hey, I’ll just have to get used to it, right? As of today, I’m just another cliché walking these hallways.” Courtney’s anger seeped through her every word, and she hadn’t intended to sound as aggressive or distraught as she had.

“You’re not a nobody,” smiled Mary. “So maybe you’re not the Star Spangled Kid or Stargirl anymore, but remember. You’re still Courtney Whitmore, and she was beneath those masks all along.” Mary eyed her up and down before bouncing onto the sink basin. “Look, we lost one of our star girls last week and we could use you.”

“What?” Courtney frowned at the direction of the conversation.

“I’m the head cheerleader, I can get you in. No questions asked,” Mary clarified as she looked at her hopefully. “I mean, you’re a gymnast so you have the skills.”

Courtney was startled; it was never where she had seen herself in high school.

“C’mon, you said you wanted to be somebody.”

---

Now
Blue Valley High School
Blue Valley
Nevada

It was cold, but she wouldn’t have chosen to be standing in an empty parking lot outside the school stadium in a cheerleading outfit if she hadn’t thought there was something going on. Courtney was worried that her imagination was running away with her, she had accustomed to life as a civilian on the surface but her heart and her soul still yearned to be the heroine she had known herself to be. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to catch sight of the fuchsia from before, rubbing her arms and stepping back she felt a hopelessness coming over her.

Maybe it was in my head, she thought to herself as another wind chill whispered in her ears and her breath billowed in clouds of fine smoke.

It was colder than she had ever known Blue Valley to be, Nevada had quite a warm climate. Walking forward, her eyes flitting above her, Courtney composed herself. Heels sounded as she moved across the grey tarmac car park, it soothed her that there was only one set to be heard but it also frightened her to think that it had all been in her head. Was she losing her mind?

The chill hit her harshly, and she shivered in its grasp. Her eyes were vigilant but she found herself confused by the goings on, and desperate that she could achieve something more. Each step she took sounded around her and snapped her back into reality as she moved through the narrows spaces between the cars, feeling led as she pushed her way towards the school’s principle auditorium, a fascination marked across her face at the sight before her.

Fuchsia flashed.

---

Three Days Ago
The Somerville Household
Blue Valley
Nevada

“Just like old times, eh?”

Mary smiled at her, she lay sprawled across her bed, her eyes wide and they reminded Courtney of Bambi, innocent and pure. It hadn’t been easy, the friendship appeared to be back on track but she couldn’t be sure. Her mother, Barbara, was pleased and that was all that really mattered. Courtney wanted to make her family happy, she had done nothing but create trouble and strife for them over the last few years. She knew it was time for her to give something back.

Cheerleading was her gift, her mom had been a cheerleader and it gave her that sense of belonging. Courtney wanted to have that high school feeling, but she was just another cliché in the hallways. Had she really been anything more as a heroine, or had she just been hiding behind the mask as Mary had suggested?

Pat’s pep-talks had continued over the past week at home, Courtney’s depression seemed to be fading and her sadness was leaving her eyes. She wasn’t great, but she was okay. She could smile and she could be friendly, her secret alias as Stargirl was known to almost the entire school but people had gossiped about it and moved on in the run-up to the first major football game of the season, all eyes were on reaching state as the majority of the footballers were seniors like herself. College was on everybody’s mind.

Getting up from her seat as she reached for her bags, her school bag and the bag that contained her new uniform which was skimpier than her costume had ever been, she moved towards the bed.

“Yeah,” she smiled at her friend. “Just like old times.”

Mary rolled from the bed and onto her feet. “We should be going.”

Courtney looked around her as she followed Mary, eyeing the floral patterned wall paper of the Victorian style house as she descended the stairs. The house was empty but there was something about it that remained appealing, trinkets and hand-me-downs were scattered around the house as various ornaments but that was what made the Somerville house seem like a home, the headquarters of the Justice Society of America had never felt like a home to her.

---

Blue Valley High School
Blue Valley
Nevada

Mary babbled on about who was sleeping with whom and who was on and off of drugs as Courtney walked beside her. She didn’t care for any of the meaningless information that was slipping into her short-term memory bank but she was patient and accepting of her friend. Mary hadn’t been a ‘hero’, her life had never revolved around more than just her own problems in the small-town. Courtney hated herself for hating this, she had become a snob in her time as Stargirl and it was tearing her apart that she felt the same as she always had.

Sliding to a stop as Mary grabbed her by the arm; she looked over her shoulder at her friend, who stood open-mouthed. Following her line-of-sight, Courtney’s eyes fell upon the boy who had literally stopped Mary in her tracks.

Handsome barely described the young man. His tawny hair, vivid blue eyes and strong jaw-line caught her attention from where she stood. Her eyes widened and she forced herself to look away, Courtney had already planned out her life. Heroism had waylaid her plans once before and she refused to fall from her track for a second time. Gulping down the sudden burst of emotions she nudged Mary and began to drag her away, but she refused.

“Do you know who that is?”

Courtney just looked at her and she understood.

“He transferred here from Ohio,” she was informed as she looked over her shoulder at the musculature of his body beneath the grey t-shirt. “He’s our new star quarterback.”

The cheerleader and the quarterback, the groan was almost audible in her head.

“Maybe I should make my move.”

She noticed that Mary’s eyes were on the boy like a predator and it angered her, she had never before fallen for a boy with such intensity or been faced with the teenage melodrama that others may be interested in him. Courtney knew she should politely inform Mary of the situation but she dropped her eyes and looked away, forcing a slight nod of her head.

Bobbed brown hair flared around her face and Mary stormed towards the man with enough energy and determination to force an elephant from her path.

Slowly, she followed behind.

“Mary Somerville, and I’m your personal welcoming committee,” cooed the teenager as she offered the boy her hand daintily as if she expected him to kiss it.

Courtney glared, she would lose all respect for him if he fell for Mary’s childish games and this frustrated her because Mary was her friend, her only friend in fact.

To her surprise the boy placed his hand in Mary’s and flipped it over into a shake. “Nathaniel but most people call me Nate.”

His bright, almost transparent, eyes fell on her.

“Courtney,” she replied to his unasked question.

“Ladies,” he smiled as he stepped away from them. “It was nice to meet you and I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

Nathaniel walked away from them, his rucksack bouncing across his shoulders. Courtney was impressed but Mary was awestruck as she stormed off towards the toilets, rage seethed from her pores as she slammed her way from the hallway. As she had done since her return, Courtney followed the temperamental cheerleader and made promises that she had no idea, nor wished, possible.

---

Now
Blue Valley High School
Blue Valley
Nevada

Courtney paused at the sounds of voices. Mary, Pat and Barbara, with Patricia in her arms, stood behind her with looks of puzzlement on their faces. All had witnessed her scatter from the field after the routine and they had come to know that the excited buzz she now emanated only meant one thing was possible. Her eyes drifted downwards to avoid the glares of her raven-haired mother or the scowls from Mary. It was Pat who gave her support through his very demeanour, he accepted her burden but he wanted to help her.

Barbara and Mary stood back as Pat approached her. Doe-eyed and seemingly lost she stared at her surrogate father figure with an intensity that surprised even her. She had found solace in his kind words but no comfort from his presence now, in close proximity she realised the stern features that marked his brutish face.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he silenced her as she attempted to interrupt him. “This is neither the time nor the place Court. Can’t you just let it die and let the heroes deal with it if something arises?”

She considered this. “No.”

“Courtney!”

Her mother’s voice echoed behind her as the young blonde, in her Bluebird cheerleading uniform, rushed closer to the auditorium and the origin of the lights that had fascinated her. It was a mystery and she had always loved those. Edging her way into the building through the difficult, heavy-duty door she came to a stop at the top of the steps that led through the mass of red seats and onto the stage.

Shooting her gaze from crevice to crevice she moved forward. She would deal with the consequences of her impulsive departure from her family and friends when she got through this. If she got through this, it was those thoughts she pushed to the back of her mind.

Fuchsia blazed around her, and the heroine finally saw the bald sorceress.

Jinx swayed hypnotically on the stage even as she lay, her dark eyes were emotionless and vacant but this made them all the more alluring and a smirk formed in the corner of her lips. She was an amazingly beautiful and dominating woman in terms of composure but there was a sheer wickedness that surrounded her otherwise entrancing aura.

“Today,” she drawled in her Middle-Eastern accent. “The Stargirl dies.”

Courtney’s arms shot up defensively but she knew her chances were numbered. Magic vs. Brawn seemed a little difficult to picture.

---

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Next Issue: In Stargirl #2: Stargirl faces of against Jinx, and if she survives she’ll have to face someone far worse, her mother.

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