For the students at Norwich High School, the mundane week full of pointless assignments and lectures seemed to drag on for eternity. Fortunately, for them, it was a cool, autumn Friday in October, which meant a weekend full of partying that was followed by fall break– a relaxing weekend away from torturous wake up times and the same dull lectures that plagued the minds of the overworked students. The only obstacle that stood in the students' way was the last class of the day, which was history. In history class, the teacher, Mr. Finch, lectured the entire class while holding a long, yellow meter stick, pointing to a set of various years written on the green chalkboard. With the meter stick, he tapped on a specific year on the board: 1936.
"This is the year that miners settled into this very town and introduced its citizens to a new, alternative source of energy in the form of coal. The first miner to discover its usefulness was a miner by the name of Earl Hutteroy. His accomplishments led to…"
Mr. Finch continued lecturing to his students while some of them scribbled down notes into their notebooks. The classroom was set up into three columns of seven desks and in the second column in the middle was Luz Noceda. She had her head leaning in on her right palm, trying not to doze off into a slumber as she tried to focus hard on the facts that spewed out of the teacher's mouth. In the first column, a few desks behind Luz's, Amity Blight leaned in her desk, resting her elbow on her waist with her right fist placed onto her right cheek as she looked fondly at her long-time crush, daydreaming romantic scenarios. Sitting in the same row as Amity was her siblings, Edric and Emira Blight who were twins. Edric was slumped over in his desk with his arms folded, his head angled downward as he snored quietly. Emira was sitting next to her twin brother trying to fight the urge to succumb to the same fate, lightly grumbling to herself. She peered up at the clock that hung on the top right of the room, reading the time– precisely three twenty-nine. The minute hand on the clock creeped eternally towards the number thirty. Once it finally hit, the bell rung loudly throughout the entire school, waking up both Luz and Edric with a jolt and snapping Amity out of her dream-like state.
At the sound of freedom, the class retreats back to their respected lockers that are situated on the sides of the classrooms. Standing in front of her blue and white locker is Luz, who opens it to take out her backpack to pack her notebook in. Amity comes up next to her locker to open her own. The inside of her locker is painted all black with a cleverly hidden polaroid picture, located on the back of a small circular mirror, of Luz holding Amity close to her with her other friends in the background, Willow and Gus, at the homecoming dance with the year "1984" on the bottom of the polaroid.
She smiles to herself. Oh Luz, you were so amazing that night.
Amity puts the picture back into place on the mirror and closes her locker. Upon closing her locker, she looks to her right to see Luz right in front of her, causing her to squeal.
"Sorry about that, Amity," Luz apologized, chuckling to herself in the process. "I didn't mean to startle you there.
Embarrassed by the squeal she produced, Amity turned away from Luz in attempt to hide her blushing.
"Uh, it's-it's okay, Luz."
Amongst the crowded hallways scattered with teenagers were two of Luz's best friends, besides Amity– Willow Park and Augustus "Gus" Porter. The two friends laughed right beside each other as they approached Luz.
"Hey, you guys!" Luz called out.
"Hey Luz," Willow greeted cheerfully. "And Amity."
Amity gave a small nod, bringing her pointer and middle finger together on her forehead and back off in a salute.
"What are your guy's plans for this weekend?"
Gus leaned against the locker, crossing his arms. "I might see that new 'Friday the 13th' movie that's playing this weekend. I heard this time that Jason Voorhees gets resurrected or something like that…oh and Tommy Jarvis is back! He's such a good character" He beamed.
Walking in front of the group was Edric and Emira who overheard the group's weekend plans and decided to intervene on the discussion.
"Or you can go this sweet, cool party that we are hosting at Hutteroy Lake."
Amity looked at her siblings in a puzzling look. "Wait, this won't be like that time last year where you brought alcohol to that abandoned church party and almost gotten yourselves arrested?" she questioned with disfavor.
"Oh, come on, Mittens. We didn't drink any of the alcohol." Edric said defensively. "Plus, who said we'd ever would be caught in the first place?
"I don't know about that." Amity shot back wittingly.
This caused her older brother to groan. "You sound just like mom and dad."
Emira leaned towards Amity's ear. "Plus, you can invite your 'girlfriend' along with us." She snickered, causing Amity to become flustered.
Luz could not hear exactly what was being discussed among the Blight siblings but decided to break the awkward atmosphere surrounding them.
"That sounds like a fun idea, Emira! I would absolutely love to come."
Amity and Emira snapped their heads towards the cheery girl.
"For real?" they said in unison.
"Oh yeah. This provides me a good opportunity to try out my new bathing suit." Willow commented.
"And I'm totally free to do whatever since my father is out of town." Gus added.
Before anyone else could say anything else, Boscha came up to the group with a cherry-flavored lollipop in her mouth. She wore a black letterman jacket with a red embroidered "NHS" on the right-hand side of the jacket with ripped blue jeans and dark black combat boots. She put one hand on the lockers in between Willow and Gus.
Boscha takes the lollipop out with a 'pop' sound. "What up, assholes?"
Amity pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. "Oh, fuck me." she mutters to herself. "What do you want, Boscha?"
"I overheard you all had a little, secret party and I wanted to attend." She turns towards the twins. "The more the merrier' they say, am I right?"
Emira rubbed the back of her head. "Sure, Boscha."
"Cool. See you chumps later." Boscha concluded, walking away from the group. A sigh of relief was heard from everyone.
"So, anyway, meet Edric and I at the lake tomorrow." she glanced at Luz and her friends. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to miss this kind of party."
With that, the twins walked away with their hands inside their matching leather jacket pockets. Luz was now giddy with excitement. Never in her life would she even be invited to a party, let alone a private one with, arguably, the coolest siblings in the entire school. She gathered Amity, Willow, and Gus into a huddle.
"This is so exciting, you guys!" Luz squealed. "We get to finally go to a party for once."
Amity raised her finger, catching Luz's attention. "I know you are excited about this party and all, but aren't you at least concerned that my siblings might be acting a little too suspicious?"
"Yeah. They did seem a little 'off', to put it lightly." Willow said.
"Aw, come on, think about it guys. A whole weekend where we can just be ourselves. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to hang out with the coolest seniors in school and to, you know, have some actual fun." she paused. "Plus, I get to try out this new blue bikini top before the weather gets too cold."
Amity tried hiding a noticeable blush that suddenly appeared across her face as she thought of Luz in such an outfit.
"True that." Gus commented. "Got to try out my new shark swim trunks."
Everyone giggled and Luz continued.
"Anyway, if we all meet in the school parking lot tomorrow afternoon, I'll drive us all up to the lake. Sound good to you all?"
"Sounds great, Luz! Can't wait for it!" Gus said, shaking his hands in excitement.
"Alrighty, I will see all your lovely faces tomorrow afternoon. See you all later!" she turned around and waved goodbye at Amity.
Amity still stood in the middle of the hallway love stricken, shyly waving back. Oh Lord, how am I going to handle this tomorrow?