In the Human World:
Jaded
Quick notes:
This chapter finally addresses what happened before Luz, Amity, and King were launched through the portal. I appreciate the questions about Mittens 2.0, you probably wouldn't imagine how seriously I considered those. I will get more into that next chapter. Thank you again for the reviews, please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think.
{I made it to Willow's.} Amity to Emira and Edric.
{Okay. If you need anything just let us know.} From Emira.
{Anything, Mittens? You two want snacks? We can bring snacks?} From Edric.
{We're fine, I'll see you tomorrow.} From Amity.
{We made it back safely. Sweet dreams, Luz. Good luck talking to your Mom and Eda.} To Luz from Amity.
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The Park fathers had welcomed Amity's sudden appearance with the same warm and friendly nature she remembered from the years before. Willow, it turned out, had already explained that the two were mending their former friendship. Amity thought she had managed to avoid tear stains from earlier, but the reaction of her friend's parents proved otherwise. Amity was internally split between wanting to escape the comforting group hug she was pulled into and wanting to sink into the warmth being offered. When the adults released her from the hug, she found Willow standing by with a very amused smile, and a quick excuse to pull them away to her room.
"Did you two eat yet?" One of Willow's parents called after them.
"Uh, not yet." Willow admitted, exchanging a look with Amity.
"I'll make you some sandwiches, you girls go talk." He replied and both girls let out a relieved sigh.
"They haven't changed, I almost forgot how much I liked visiting your house." Amity told her friend, finally pulling the beanie from her head and worrying it between her hands. "Thank you for letting me come over tonight. I just, I don't feel ready to even look at home yet."
"It isn't a problem." Willow said kindly, taking a seat at the end of her bed and watching the other girl pace a bit. "If you feel up to it, I have been wondering what happened. Ed and Em told us you got thrown through a portal by Lilith? They were less detailed about what led to that."
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The following events take place during and shortly after the events of "Young Blood, Old Souls":
To say that Amity Blight disliked being confined to Blight Manor would be an understatement. Her parents had been less than pleased with her injury, and with her vague explanation for why she had been involved in a Grudgby scrimmage game when she was no longer a member of the team. They seemed to believe her when she claimed she was merely assisting her former teammates in some after school training, but that did not stop them from expressing their displeasure with her all the same. The private healer which had come to check her fracture had applied additional healing glyphs, insisting that with bedrest the new glyphs would heal the injury in a much shorter time. Bedrest, however, was not something the teen witch took to easily. She was used to hours at the library, private training sessions with Lilith, school clubs and councils, as well as occasionally tutoring other students for extra credit.
The morning of the field trip to the Emperor's Castle Amity had tried to sneak away to school, the twins even tried to assist her. Unfortunately, her parents had anticipated the escape attempt and all three siblings were scolded for trying it. Amity had sulked in her room, though she would never admit to that, until she decided to watch something on her crystal ball.
That decision had taken a bad day and made it so much worse, and there was nothing she could do about it. As news of Eda's capture and sentencing interrupted regular viewing Amity had felt cold fear wash over her. If Eda was captured, where was Luz? She considered attempting to leave by the window of her room, but she had been warned by Emira that their parents had placed spells on the windows before leaving for work that day. She could not walk out at the time, the staff who worked in the manor during the day had been informed she was not to leave.
So, Amity was left that day with sporadic messages to and from the twins, and a few from Willow, as well as the live news coverage of the event. She had felt helpless, worried, and angry as she had watched events unfold. As much as Amity had always worked to become a member of the Emperor's Coven, to serve the Emperor and be a part of something bigger than herself, she couldn't fathom the sentence handed down to the Owl Lady.
Amity had not spent large amounts of time with the wild witch, but the time she had spent had not suggested crimes worthy of petrification. Eda seemed to be gruff, eccentric, perhaps egotistic, but kind to those she allowed into her circle. She appeared to treat Luz as family, even though the human had basically dropped into her life. It just seemed unfitting of her primary crimes: petty theft, con-games, and refusal to join a Coven.
So, Amity worried, even once she witnessed the televised escape. As Amity worried, she had begun to re-examine everything she had once held as fact. Slowly she had been treated to more details, a call from Willow had enlightened her that Lilith had captured Luz and used her as bait to draw Eda out. Amity had not twitched on the video call, but out of view a swift circle drawn with her finger had ripped the poster of Lilith from her wall. The next day, in their typical trouble making fashion, the Twins had snuck Luz into her room after school. Amity had not thought to thank them, as she had awkwardly stumbled from bed to hug her friend. Over the next few hours, she managed to draw the full details of what Luz had seen, done, and heard from the other girl. The explanation of Luz being thrown by Lilith to the spikes below the bridge caused her to want to burn that torn poster.
The end of another week had come, and Amity was counting down the days until the cast would be removed and she could return to school. She and the twins had been called to the lounge to speak to their parents. Edric, Emira, and Amity all managed to withhold any urge to smile as their parents informed them of a sudden business trip. The promise of their parent's absence for a time was enough to lift the spirits of all three teens.
Amity was planning to return to school, already certain she was falling behind, and follow that with time at the library. The twins somehow bounded up the stairs while making almost no noise, and both waited at the top to see if Amity would ask for their help. Amity moved slower on her crutches, which meant she was near the lounge doorway as her parents began to talk about their work.
"Polaris and his team have been working on an artifact that was recently acquired." Alador Blight's voice conveyed in the lounge.
"Surely that is not what all of the fuss in the Coven is about." Odalia replied to her husband and Amity stilled to listen.
"Polaris and his entire team were pulled from other projects by order of the Emperor himself." Alador confirmed. "He told me it is a portal to the human realm."
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It had been easy to convince the twins Amity just wanted to see Luz, it had been harder to convince the twins to let her go alone. Not only had they been concerned because she was on crutches, but they were in the mood to play their favorite role of annoying older siblings. Amity had played the only card she could think of to get them not to follow her.
"I might try to tell her how I feel today, and I can't do that if you're both watching." Amity told them and the twins immediately turned into cooing messes.
"Oh, Mittens is finally going to make a move?" Edric danced a bit in place from excitement.
"So proud of you, Baby Sister." Emira playfully winked at her. "Go get your cutie."
"You two are embarrassing." Amity informed them, but thankfully the lie had the sought-after effect. They allowed Amity to head to the Owl House alone, watching her summon an Abomination to carry her there. Once she arrived, and dealt with the bird tube, she was finally able to crutch into the living room and was greeted by three curious inhabitants.
"Amity!" Luz abandoned her homework and bounded over to her friend, wrapping her in a careful hug before helping her over to the couch. "I didn't know you were coming; I would have walked with you."
"How certain are you that you destroyed the portal, Luz?" Amity jumped to the topic quickly and everything seemed to go quiet as Luz's expression wavered.
"I slapped about twenty fire glyphs on it, and I saw them activate." Luz told her. "It was in pieces on the floor when I last saw it."
"We might have a problem." Amity told them, taking hold of Luz's hand and turning her attention to the older witches in the room. "I overheard my parents speaking, and the Emperor's Coven has an artifact they say is a portal to the Human Realm. One of my father's friends oversees the team working on it."
"Working on it how?" Eda asked, exchanging a look with Lilith.
"I'm not sure, but whatever they're doing to it they're supposed to start testing it soon." Amity sighed. "I wasn't allowed to leave the house until my parents left a few hours ago, and I didn't want to risk telling you this any other way but in person."
"We can't let Bonehead keep that, we'll have to bust in." Eda said, her tone suggesting that was the most obvious action to take.
"Into the Emperor's Castle? Without your magic?!" Amity shifted her gold eyes between her human friend and the elder witches, hoping one of them would tell her that was not what they meant.
"They will not have had time to properly change the security protocols." Lilith stated, looking at Eda as she seemed to consider her personal knowledge of the Castle. "I believe, if we are careful, I can lead us in undetected."
"Maybe we should go knock out some Coven members at the market, steal their robes as disguises." Luz suggested.
"Actually, as long as none of you ask why, I might have acquired a few robes and masks and kept them hidden away." Eda informed them with a short laugh.
"You what?!" Amity and Lilith exclaimed this in unison, though Luz only gave a happy cheer.
"Perhaps we should give this a bit more thought." Lilith said, as Eda turned with the clear intent of leaving the room.
"We can't risk Bonehead getting that portal working, Lily." Eda disagreed. "Between the three of us we should be able to steal it back or finish torching it."
"Four." Amity corrected and brought all their eyes to her.
"Kid, you already have a broken leg." Eda reminded her.
"My cast comes off in a few days, if you're willing to wait." Amity responded. "Otherwise, I'm not letting Luz, or any of you, try this with only glyphs." She turned her eyes to Luz. "I know you already used them pretty successfully once, but you might not be as lucky a second time."
"And your leg, Amity?" Lilith asked uneasily.
"I can have an Abomination carry me, as I did on the way here."
"You're not going to stay behind, no matter what we say, are you?" Eda asked, watching Amity and seeing the teen's determined expression.
"Not a chance." Amity agreed, her hand tightening on Luz's hand seemingly without either girl noticing.
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Amity was more uncomfortable than she would ever have expected in the stolen robes. In order to infiltrate the Castle they had nixed the abomination carrying Amity, instead they actually carried her in on a stretcher, an extra cloak thrown over her to hide her cast, and she pretended to be unconscious behind her mask. Lilith led them to a lesser gate of the castle, one near the wing of full-time healers which worked inside the castle itself. Eda and Luz followed Lilith, allowing the former coven leader to do any needed talking, as they carried Amity between them.
"We're almost in A. . ." Luz stopped herself, nearly muttering her friend's name but remembering she had been told not to use anyone's real name here. She tilted her cowl and mask covered head down a bit, watching her disguised friend. "Anytime now."
"What's this about?" A burly guard at the gate asked, and Lilith held a hand up to tell them to stop.
"A wild witch got the drop on this one, she needs to be taken to the healers." Lilith's voice was deeper than normal, the result of a hastily cast spell from Amity.
"Proceed." The guard waved them past, seemingly having lost interest in them already. This was followed by several minutes of silence, and several shifts in direction. Finally, Amity heard a door open, and it seemed they had entered a side room. The stretcher was eased to the ground and Luz was soon helping Amity to her feet.
"It shouldn't seem at all strange to see a coven member on crutches leaving this wing, at least." Lilith told them, as Eda got the crutches off the underside of the stretcher.
"I still think we would have moved faster with the abomination idea." Eda grumbled which drew a sigh from Lilith.
"We need stealth more than speed, Edalyn." The elder Clawthorne told her.
They did not stay long, departing and making their way as casually as possible through the halls of the castle. Lilith had a theory as to where the portal would be stored, if it were really here, while they were trying to piece it back together. The entire event required a lot of trust in Lilith, which left the teens of the group both feeling fidgety. King's voice floated from the lump on Luz's back where he was concealed beneath her cloak. He spoke softly but loud enough for the four to hear.
"Are we there yet?" The demon asked in a bored tone.
"Hush." Eda muttered back toward King.
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Present time:
Amity's retelling of the events was interrupted when Willow's father knocked on the door before opening it. He set two plates with sandwiches and two cups of apple blood on Willow's desk. The man offered them a kind smile again and reminded the girls not to stay up too late since it was a school night. They both agreed and thanked him, before he slipped back out and closed the bedroom door.
"When did someone catch on to all of you?" Willow asked as they ate.
"The first room Lilith thought it was in was wrong, and she bluffed about our presence. I think that probably caused suspicions and they might have alerted someone." Amity shrugged. "The second chamber we checked had some experiment, and I even noticed my father's friend. Lilith had nearly convinced some Coven Guards we were there to give them a break when another group burst through the doors."
"Looking for you?" Willow watched Amity nod and winced.
"This happened just as someone activated this weird contraption, at the center of it were pieces of the portal. At lease Luz told me later they were pieces of the portal." The green haired teen frowned as she recalled the events of that night. "It became chaos, and because nearly everyone in the room was wearing coven robes sometimes it was hard to tell who was where. I stayed close to Luz and King, and I summoned an Abomination to carry me so I could move faster. We ended up backing up this ramp toward the portal, which was sparking."
"It was sparking?" Willow's green eyes grew wide as she watched her friend nod. "The new one didn't do that."
"I don't think they're supposed to, Luz seemed to think the sparks were weird too and she's seen the portal often before all of this." She drew a circle, casting an illusion spell which showed Willow what that portal had looked like. Both girls shuddered as the image shot sparks randomly in all directions. "At that point we were trying to destroy it, because we'd agreed if we were caught there was no safe way to get it out. Luz was preparing fire glyphs, King running between her and various points to attach them to higher spots on whatever the thing they were building was."
"Did any of them see your faces?"
"I don't think so, we managed to keep the masks and cowls on somehow. I don't know about Eda and Lilith afterward though."
"And then?" The other girl prompted when Amity paused.
"And then he seemed to come out of nowhere." She cringed very obviously, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "I have never seen the Emperor that close, and I don't think I ever want to again. He was holding Eda and Lilith at bay, and still approaching us. Lilith pulled a glyph and threw it more or less at us, and I had my abomination drop me and moved between us and the Emperor. . ." She appeared pained just thinking about it. "One of those ice pillars like Luz makes hit us, and it was huge. Luz, King, and I were thrown into the center of the portal thing and we landed hard in the dirt on the other side."
"In the human world?"
"That's where Luz said we were, though all I noticed at first was some cabin that was falling apart and strange trees. We were lucky, it tossed us out somewhere Luz was familiar with. We hid nearby at first, waiting to see if the portal would reappear, but after an hour or two we decided that wasn't going to happen." Amity sighed heavily and shrugged. "The rest was mostly just waiting for all of you to come get us."
"I'm sorry, Amity." Willow offered a kind smile. "I know you care about Luz, maybe her Mom will let her come soon."
"I, uh, I hope so." The green haired teen started blushing and avoiding eye contact. "Otherwise I might have to accost Eda just to go on our second date."
"Wait?!" Willow's face lit up with excitement. "You finally told her? And you two are finally dating?"
"Willow, it hasn't been that long." Amity replied in a very embarrassed manner.
"Watching you two was almost painful sometimes. I really thought you'd pass out blushing a few times." Willow laughed when that comment made Amity cover her face with her hands. She patted her friend's head; the other teen did not look up as she mumbled into her hands. "I'm happy for you both, you know. Sometimes Luz stares at you like nobody else exists."
"She what?!" Amity peeked out between her fingers and was greeted with a slightly smug grin from Willow. "You never told me that."
"I told you she watches you, I thought if I elaborated more I'd be kind of interfering too much." The plant witch shook her head. "I was starting to consider trying to push you two though."
"So, everyone could tell?"
"Pretty sure Gus had no idea, a couple times he asked if you were sick when you'd be blushing over Luz."
"We should try to get some sleep." Amity changed the subject and moved to go root through her bag. Willow grinned, she was still worried about Luz but at least this was good news.
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{Hey Ami, it's the first morning since you returned to the Isles and I already miss you. Mom isn't home yet, and I'm about to head out on my paper route. Not gonna lie, I really hope I see you again before you see this message. Give Willow and Gus a hug for me when you read this.} From Luz the Human to Mittens.
Luz Noceda had spent most of the night as a restless, over thinking, mess. Eda and King had slept on the couch, and Luz had paced her room for a few hours before she could even try to relax. She picked up an Azura book, but the green haired heroin on the cover just brought Amity back to mind so she set it aside. She pulled up fan fiction websites on the computer, but she couldn't fall into the stories because she was too anxious. At one point she just kind of yelled into a pillow so no one would hear the frustrated sound. She wished Camila had been home so they could have talked about everything before the Blight siblings went home. Still, she was incredibly grateful to Edric and Emira for gifting her a scroll. Her cell phone had never been able to interact with the scrolls, which was frustrating as well since the two served basically the same purposes.
When she slipped out to start her paper route Luz was hoping the physical act of riding around would burn some of her restless energy. She challenged herself to make it to Señora Cortez's to pick up the papers faster. She challenged herself to finish each street of her route faster. She might have accidentally bounced papers off of windows once or twice, nothing broke though. By the time she was returning to the house she was extra sweaty, breathing hard, and still hadn't truly burned away that restless feeling. Her mother was not home yet, so she stowed her bike and all but bounced inside. Eda groaned something and rolled away from the noise of Luz's return.
Luz checked her scroll, no messages yet. She caught a shower and checked her scroll again after. No messages. She missed her friends, and now that Amity had gone home that only amplified the feeling. By the time Camila returned from work, breakfast was on the table, dishes were done, and Eda and King were both sipping coffee and looking less than happy to be awake. Luz was bouncing in place, checking her scroll again, when Camila entered the kitchen. As soon as the younger Noceda noticed her she bolted over to hug her mother.
"Hola, cariño. (Hello, Sweetie.)" Camila greeted her, returning the hug as she eyed their guests. "Did Edric, Emira, and Amity head home?"
"Yeah, couldn't risk the twins being gone over night on a school night." Eda responded before yawning into her coffee mug.
"SO. . ." Luz interrupted and began rocking on her feet. "Time to talk, right?"
"Cariño, you need to go to school." Camila reminded Luz and stopped her with a look as the teen looked ready to object. "School today is not optional."
"Sí, mami.(Yes, Mommy.)" Luz agreed as her shoulders sagged. Camila kissed Luz's head and hugged her.
"Confía en mí, cariño. Tengo mucho que discutir con la señorita Eda, pero no decidiré nada hasta que llegue a casa. (Trust me, Sweetie. I have a lot to discuss with Miss Eda, but I won't decide anything until you get home.)" Camila tried to reassure the teen and received a sad little nod in response. Eda quietly eyed them, she still did not understand Spanish, but the tone of a comforting promise was easy to detect.
"Your daughter is a good kid." Eda said after Luz had left the room to get her school bag. Camila's brown eyes regarded the gray-haired witch with a careful look, before she moved to pour herself a cup of coffee.
"I have a lot of questions and concerns to discuss with you, if you feel awake enough." Camila said from where she was fixing her coffee. Eda rested her cheek on one hand, and that elbow on the table, as she watched the other woman.
"I think if I drink another coffee, I should be good for any conversation." The witch finally said and was rewarded with a quiet laugh from the human.
"She woke you far earlier than you would have liked?" It was worded as a question, but Eda could tell Camila knew the answer before she spoke those words.
"Yes!" King yelled, inserting himself into the conversation. The little demon was never one for tact, and this was no different. "She is so antsy since Amity left."
"Yeah, Little Blight means a lot to her." Eda agreed with a smirk. Her gold and gray eyes watched Camila walk over, the other woman setting another coffee in front of Eda before taking a seat at the table and sipping her own.
"Amity is wonderful." Camila commented, before pulling out a notepad with a long list of questions. Eda smirked even as King groaned. "Why did you let my daughter stay with you at the beginning of summer? She said she wanted to learn magic, but why did you agree?"
"Snacks." King said and Eda tapped his nose to quiet him.
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Edric, Emira, and Mittens 2.0 arrived at Hexside early and made their way to one of the entrances to the Secret Room of Short Cuts. They slipped inside and waited, Edric and Mittens 2.0 starting a game of Hexas Hold'em on the floor to pass the time. Emira smirked in amusement, Edric had made a mission of teaching the game to the advanced illusion clone and she was honestly getting pretty good at it. They were on their second game when the sound of a door opening drew Emira's golden eyes away from watching them. She saw Viney, Amity, and Willow enter through a door part way up the looping ramp. Amity was in the casual clothes she'd worn the day she'd left for the Owl House, and Emira felt her chest tighten slightly at the thought. Amity vanishing from the face of the Isles was probably the most terrifying thing the twins had experienced in their young lives.
"What are you doing?" Amity asked as Emira pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she was close enough. She squirmed a bit, before submitting and hugging her sister back. "Em?"
"We just both really missed you, Mittens." Emira whispered and felt Amity seem to relax a bit more into the hug.
"I missed you idiots too." Amity conceded quietly.
"Baby sister!" Edric yelled before joining the hug with only that exclamation as a warning. Amity found herself squashed between the twins, who actually tightened their hug until she jokingly yelled at them to stop. Willow giggled off to the side as Viney coughed in an effort not to laugh at the siblings' antics.
"Okay, okay!" Amity was finally able to break free of the group embrace and found herself stopping to stare at a seemingly perfect double of herself waiting nearby. "Hi?" She said because she really did not know what else to say.
"Hello." Mittens 2.0 responded, eyeing her with a slightly canted head. "We brought some of the notes, but most of them are on your desk back at the manor. I made sure they are organized by date and class."
"Oh, uh, thank you." Amity could not hide her surprised expression, and she was surprised the twins had created anything that would be so organized.
"Here's your bag." Emira held the messenger bag out to her, which finally pulled her attention away from her clone. "There's a uniform at the top, and that door over there leads to one of the least used restrooms in the school."
"Well that's convenient." Amity said in a clearly still surprised voice.
"I'll go with Amity." Willow said and offered Mittens 2.0 a wave as they passed.
"Nice to meet you." Amity said as a farewell before she and Willow slipped through the indicated door. Edric turned to his twin with a playful grin and waved Mittens 2.0 over.
"Come on, Mittens 2.0." Edric threw an arm across her shoulders and started toward a different door. "I'll show you the fastest way to sneak off campus. You remember where you're supposed to go, don't you?"
"Of course." She replied as they slipped out one of the doors, leaving Emira and Viney alone in the main room for the moment.
"So. . ." Viney approached Emira with a shy smile. "When I got home there was a package waiting for me."
"Was there?" Emira said, her voice taking on a very sly tone. "Imagine that."
"You really don't need to send me gifts, Emmy." Viney told her, reaching over and playing a bit with Emira's cowl.
"But I wanted to." Emira told her and moved so that she could slip her arms around Viney's waist. The shorter witch hummed a bit and kissed her cheek as she returned her embrace.
"So, the candy and Griffin treats had nothing to do with having to dodge dates?" Viney whispered and was rewarded with a guilty look for the green haired girl.
"Did Puddles like her treats?" She asked to avoid the question and got a laugh from the Duel Track student.
"Puddles loved the treats." Viney confirmed. "Are you planning to spoil my Griffin?"
"Aww, Puddles is such a good girl I don't think it's possible to spoil her." Emira basically cooed and it sent them both into a bout of laughter.
"Thank you, Emmy." Viney said as they slowly stopped laughing.
"Anything for my girl, and her adorable sidekick."
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Luz dragged through her school day. Her restless night caught up to her as she had to sit through classes, and she found it impossible to focus. Instead she doodled in her notebook, trying to look like she was taking notes instead of drawing tiny versions of her friends. King with a little crown, a little caricature of Gus waving his flags, Willow holding a flowering plant, Eda smirking, adorable little Owlbert, Barcus, Viney, Jerbo,. . . And Amity. Amity several times. Amity smiling, Amity in Grudgby gear, Amity reading with little hearts around her.
"How did I not realize sooner?" Luz whispered to herself at lunch, as she really noticed how many of her doodles were versions of Amity. She smiled tiredly, working on a more detailed sketch of her friend . . . Huh, girlfriend. Luz let that thought sit in her mind, feeling a sort of warm feeling spread inside her as she really thought about that. "I have a girlfriend." She whispered to herself with a dumbfounded grin.
"Nosensa!" A voice called and Luz closed her notebook. She really did not feel like seeing this guy again, but sure enough Todd was walking over to where she sat under a tree on the grass. "Where's your friend?"
"My girlfriend is sick today." Luz told him, hoping she sounded polite rather than aggravated. She really did not feel like putting up with him, she would rather daydream if it would make time pass faster.
"Oh." Todd seemed to not have a plan for what to do with that answer, so they found themselves just kind of staring at each other awkwardly. After a few long moments, the jock spoke again. "What does she see in you?"
"What the heck does that mean?" Luz glared up at him, but the jock grimaced at his own words. He surprised her mildly by moving to sit beside her instead of continuing to tower over her.
"Sorry, that wasn't how I meant that to come out." He admitted and she watched him skeptically. Luz did not want problems, but this guy had generally been a jerk every time she had run across him.
"What did you mean?" Luz asked slowly, and in a less accusatory tone.
"Look, I'm a varsity guy." Todd said, and gestured to some patches on his jacket. "Made JV my Freshmen year, and varsity this year and last."
"Okay, I don't see where this is going yet." Luz admitted and Todd sort of squirmed in place. That was when Luz realized this was the first time she had run across the jock without his pack of friends.
"My sister went to junior high with you, she told me all kinds of strange stories." Todd informed her and Luz winced, because even not knowing who his sister was, she could imagine which stories he heard. "Did you really bring a bag of snakes to school last year?"
"They were for my book report!" Luz said defensively and Todd looked at her with a skeptical expression.
"Okay, sure, book report. Book report with snakes, right." Todd sounded like he still did not get it, but at least he was not saying anything insulting at the moment. "So, here's the thing: How do you, a freshmen girl with the social rep of an outcast, have a cute girlfriend? How do I, a jock that every damn movie says girls want, not?"
"Uh." Luz made a weird face as she turned that statement over in her mind. When she had first started attending Hexside she had had a weird little fantasy about maybe finding romance with an upperclassman. She did not picture someone like Todd, but now that he mentioned she could at least admit that stereotypes claimed he should be dating the cheer captain or something. "Are you actually wanting a serious answer?"
"Yes, Nosensa, why do you think I'm sitting here?" Todd snarked and Luz let a frustrated sigh free. This boy was a jerk, even when he appeared to be trying to be nice. She leaned against the tree, looking at her hands instead of Todd as she spoke.
"Well you could start with that."
"With what?"
"Learning people's names or at least not calling them something insulting." Luz sort of waved her hand about a bit as she spoke. "Amity and I have been getting to know each other for months, we didn't just suddenly decide we liked each other. I don't think I've ever met a girl who likes people that insult her friends." She thought about her time getting to know Amity, and an amused smiled lit her face at the way things had changed over time. "Amity and I have shared interests, so maybe spend more time around the girls who watch the games or the female jocks."
"I forgot your name." Todd admitted and Luz turned her brown eyes to the boy with a raised brow. He seemed uncomfortable admitting that. "I know it sounds kind of like Nosensa, but that's what my sister called you."
"Luz Noceda." She drew it out carefully to make it as clear as possible. "And who the heck is your sister?"
"You two were in cheer together, her name's Jennifer. I think she had a couple classes with you too." He elaborated and Luz winced.
"Oh, yeah, she was in basically every class that sent me to the office." Luz heard the older boy laugh and watched him to try to gauge if it was a bad laugh or a good one.
"She kind of hates you." He told her and shook his head. "You're weird as hell, kid. Still, that thing about the play try out sounded pretty epic."
"Uh, which play?" Luz rolled through a list of incidents in her mind, but she realized his sister was present for a lot of those moments. Yup, that was a person she'd probably never win over.
"I don't know, but you threw sausages or something as you pretended to stab yourself." He was grinning, and Luz at least felt like the intent was to laugh with her and not at her this time.
"It made the scene more real." Luz stated, feeling a little embarrassed about it now.
"Alright, Noceda." He said it carefully this time and pushed back to his feet. "Thanks for the advice."
"Anytime." Luz said in a confused tone, she found herself silently hoping he did not actually seek her out again. He nodded and walked away, so she hoped she at least did not have to worry about future harassment from the boy. She briefly wondered if he and Boscha would get along and discarded that idea with a shudder. No, Boscha needed calming influence if anything. Somebody that could balance out her, uh, crazy jock, bully moments. Yup, Luz was done with this line of thought.
TOH TOHTOH TOH tohtohtoh TOHtohTOH