C7 First betonic.
Once they were in the classroom, Luz looked at the seat she occupied most of her time yesterday, next to Amity.
She found it empty.
The young girl lay in her own seat, reading the same black-covered book from the day before.
It was a rather thick book.
And she was already more than halfway through it...
Out of sheer curiosity, Luz looked a second longer than necessary, and sensing herself being watched, Amity looked up.
In a ridiculous attempt to hide the shamelessness of her gaze, Luz quickly turned her head away.
But the damage was done, Amity had noticed, if the way she rolled her eyes meant anything.
Luz frowned and walked to the spot next to Willow's, where she sat down.
Again she glanced at Amity, this time out of the corner of her eye, found her doing the same, and, for the second time in less than a minute, looked away in panic.
Which, though she didn't notice, Amity had done as well.
Ugh...
We're not off to a good start.
Luz sighed.
She wouldn't have to deal with Amity until recess, at least for now, she could relax.
Luz got her supplies ready while Willow sat next to her, waiting for the math class teacher to show up.
And yes, the teacher came in, a young man, blond, wiry and probably shorter than Luz, but he wasn't alone, he was accompanied by Miss Morningstar.
Luz's stomach tightened.
"Good morning kids!" the teacher greeted in a tone way too loud for such hours of the morning, there were a few despondent grunts in response.
The teacher laughed.
" I can tell it's just the second day..." She thought aloud. "Well kids, Professor Massour allowed me to use five minutes of his class to assign your final seats, I was planning to do it tomorrow in my class, but I'd rather you get used to it as soon as possible, so please, starting with the right row, exit in order and enter as I call you."
Professor Massour sat at his desk and arranged his materials as the students lazily filed out of the classroom.
And since it seems that things are never going to go as Luz expects, she ends up in the fourth row of the fourth column, next to the window.
And right next to Amity.
It wasn't that she was particularly unlucky to end up sitting next to Amity, but clearly Miss Morningstar intended for the pairings to be together for as long as possible, and, just like them, all the pairs were seated next to each other.
There was no further instruction from the female teacher, who simply thanked the professor for his time and left, bidding farewell until the next day.
And so they did not speak to each other at all throughout the course of class.
And Amity felt... Uneasy.
And annoyed, because she felt uneasy.
On one hand, even though she had only known her for one day, Luz's attitude felt... odd.
One day she goes out of her way to apologize, to the point of being a pain in the neck, longing to be her friend, and the next day... She ignores her?
Amity snorted with disdain.
She hadn't even tried to say hi to her.
Well, who does she think she is?
Ugh!
She shouldn't even care.
Surely Luz had been satisfied with yesterday's apology, probably just wanted to satiate her guilt.
And now she was keeping her distance.
And that was okay.
Wasn't it?
...
Agh.
Minutes turned into hours as the first week of school slowly ticked by, until, finally, it was time for recess.
Luz remained static in her seat, her neck tense.
She had spent the classes avoiding turning to look at Amity.
But now she didn't know what to do.
Now she had to talk to her.
And Amity surely resented having been deliberately ignored all morning.
Or maybe she didn't.
Maybe Amity was grateful that Luz had finally stopped bothering her, that she'd finally limited herself to speaking to her only when absolutely necessary, right... Probably-.
"Luz." Her partner pronounced sternly. "I'm literally standing right next to you, you could at least look at me."
Yup, she was definitely resentful.
"Ah, sorry." The brunette excused herself as she finally looked at her. "I've been distracted all morning."
"I noticed..." Amity replied."It seems to be your natural state."
Amity didn't mean it as a joke, but still, Luz laughed.
And for some reason, Amity smiled and snorted softly.
"Uh..." Luz began with slight discomfort. "Shall we go to the meadow?"
"Ah, yeah, it's a wide place, so it's not too noisy, we can talk peacefully there." The girls left the classroom and walked down the hallway, Luz briefly waved goodbye to Willow. "Just try not to unleash any horses, please."
They both laughed lightly again as they walked down the hallways to exit the building and head towards the meadow, between quiet footsteps and a silence that mimicked them a phrase simultaneously flooded both young girls' minds.
I'm supposed to be mad at her...
A few meters away from the path leading to the meadow, Amity finally asked the question she kept in the back of her mind all morning.
" Luz..." She said breaking the silence softly. "Is something bothering you? You were so much more cheerful yesterday."
So Luz panicked.
I can't tell her that I know she is homophobic and that it makes me uncomfortable.
"Uhhhh... " She hesitated, looking for an excuse. " Yesterday you told me we were just going to work together so uh... I didn't want to make you uncomfortable?"
Amity raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Oh..." That tone in her voice was... disappointment? "I see, but... I'm not mad anymore, I wouldn't have minded that you at least said hi to me..."
Luz couldn't help but feel guilty.
Amity didn't know what she knew... And she had to get along with her, at least through the first semester.
"Uh... That' s good to know." She said smiling sheepishly.
"Let's sit here." Amity said before Luz could say anything else.
They then proceeded to take a seat under a thick, leafy oak tree.
"So..." Luz began. "What should we talk about?"
The auburn took the black covered book out of her bag and, from inside, a thick, long piece of paper which she spread out in front of her.
"I made a list." She announced.
Luz snorted and Amity looked at her with a frown.
"What's so funny?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
Luz threw her hands up innocently.
"Nothing, nothing! Just... I think making a list is something that suits you a lot."
"Ohhh!" The auburn exclaimed at length. "So one day is enough to turn me into an open book?"
"I didn't say that!" Luz cocked her head to the side smiling smugly. "Besides it wasn't even a full day, you only agreed to talk to me in the morning and before you left."
Amity smiled.
"Totally your fault, and seeing what you did yesterday, I'm sure you always get into absurd problems."
Luz laughed.
"Probably as often as you make lists." She conceded.
Amity gasped dramatically.
"Oh no, you should be in jail then!"
"Are you admitting that you make too many lists?"
Amity snorted again.
"Since you know me so well, why don't you tell me more things I don't know?"
Luz looked at her with amusement, accepting the challenge, and bringing a hand to her chin, she began pondering.
"Let's see... You're the best in the class, in all classes, also in sports and whatever you take in arts, you turn in everything always perfect and on time... "She thought some more biting the nail of her right index finger. "We're barely freshman but I'm sure you were on the middle school student council, and I'd bet my special edition of Good Witch Azura's exclusive comic book that you were the president."
Amity was stunned, almost shocked, for a few moments.
"That good huh?" Luz continued, smugly.
Amity finally snapped out of her stupor.
"Ah... Yes." She said regaining her own assurance. "Do you want to know what I think?"
"Oh?" replied Luz raising an eyebrow as well. "Tell me?"
"I think..." Amity mused. "That you're spontaneous, so much so that you're impulsive, probably the kind of person who picks up stray animals without a second thought, you're... Annoyingly cheerful, and perky, I'm sure you've done some pretty crazy stuff, probably some dangerous stuff, you talk to people like it's nothing and forget that there's such a thing as personal space, like right now." She concluded by nudging the brunette's face, which had advanced to hers as her speech progressed.
Luz's eyes glittered with excitement.
"How did you know?" She asked her fascinated.
Amity thought for a few moments.
"I..." She began. "I don't really know, I just... guessed? From the way you acted yesterday..."
"Wow! Let's keep playing! Let me see..." She mused again. "You like simple things, like reading on your own or writing in a diary, you are of few, but good friends, you work hard, you have very big dreams and... Your favorite color is pink."
"Wha- How did you know about the diary?! And about the pink?!"
Luz laughed softly.
"I don't know, you seem very much like la chica de rosa to me."
"L-la, lah shicah do rouseh?" Amity mused, confused.
"La chica de rosa." Luz said again, with more clarity. "It's a movie my mom and I like, it's a girl who gets bullied at school because she doesn't have much money, but her bully's boyfriend actually likes her and-"
"Oh! Pretty in Pink, I know it, my siblings love it, they know the lines by heart." She said rolling her eyes.
"I didn't know the name in English... But don't get distracted, it's my turn!"
"Ok..." Amity said playing along. "I think... You like bright colors and flashy stuff, I'm sure you like anime, even that you've done cosplay, you already told me you practiced boxing and baseball, but with the energy you have I'm almost sure you skate, and... You sure have some kind of fracture."
Luz, getting closer and closer without Amity noticing, was radiating fascination.
"Skateboard or roller skates?" she asked the auburn.
Amity thought about it for a moment.
" Roller skates." She said finally. "More freedom of movement... And more danger of falling."
Luz clapped her hands enthusiastically.
"Yes!" She affirmed excitedly. "I cosplayed Anthy Himemiya a few years ago, and I love skating, I have these-"
"Purple Rollers?" Amity tentatively asked. " Is that your favorite color?"
Luz gasped.
"Woooooow!" She exclaimed in awe. "You're so good! But... I've never broken a bone."
"I don't believe you." Amity replied, crossing her arms.
"I'm serious! It's not that I haven't tried, it's that I have strong bones!" Luz proclaimed tapping her knee.
Which was now touching Amity's.
As was the rest of her leg.
When did she...?
"My turn!" Luz exclaimed drawing Amity's attention again.
"I think..." Luz stared at her, as if she was studying her, she also looked at her uniform and the objects she was carrying, and ended up looking closely at her face.
Very closely.
"You adore your siblings even though they seem to get on your nerves, and you were closer when you were little, I suspect you really like romantic books and movies too, and your guilty pleasures are ridiculous romantic comedies, so you must love pretty in Pink too."
"Maybe~." Amity crooned.
And Luz cheated.
"You love romance so much, you dream of a prince charming, the perfect man, who will fall in love with you completely and give you the perfect family, and the perfect house."
Amity tilted her head, then snorted.
" Willow told you that." She said unable to help but laugh. "It's not exactly like that anymore, it's what I used to tell her when we were kids."
Amity was silent for a few seconds, watching the grass sway in the soft summer breeze, and smiled wistfully.
That weird smile that pinched Luz right in the diaphragm.
Wow...
"I think you're hiding something..." Luz blurted out helplessly, and Amity looked at her with surprise, and even a bit of indignation. "I think you're more sensitive than you admit, that you don't get carried away by emotions, but you'd love to, I think you daydream a lot... I think you'd like to be more free."
Luz's words were no longer charged with enthusiasm, they were calm, carried with caution.
Amity's lungs emptied.
But even with such care, Luz's words made her feel vulnerable.
"Ah..." Luz uttered breaking the seconds of that awkward silence, scratched the back of her neck and in a voice so soft it could be mistaken for a breeze said. "I went too far, didn't I? I'm so sorry."
Amity kept her stupefied silence for a few more moments.
And when the breeze blew again she surprised herself by saying.
"It's okay."
The surprise wasn't in the words, she'd said them a thousand times.
The surprise was that she believed them herself.
Luz had deciphered her deepest secrets without the slightest effort.
It made her feel vulnerable, one of the things she loathed most.
And... For some reason, that was okay.
"Ah." Luz spoke again. "Don't move."
The young brunette raised her hand bringing it closer to the auburn's face, finally landing on her hair, delicately capturing an adventurous leaf that had ended up in her hair.
Index finger and thumb held the intrusive nature, and the back of her hand, gently smoothed the maple colored strands.
Luz placed the leaf on her own palm, and blew on it to accompany the summer breeze.
Amity felt a tug in her chest.
What...
Her cheeks were warm?
Is...
She never had sweaty hands!
Happening?
A soft alarm interrupted her thoughts and Luz's fidgeting with the strands on the ground.
"Ah, five minutes left in recess." She announced standing up and reaching out to help Amity up. "Come on, or we'll be late."
The auburn took the brunette's hand and slowly got up from the grass, wiping herself clean of dead nature and smoothing out her uniform.
Well, that was strange.
The dean's daughter picked up her bag and took the first step towards the path.
"Oh wait..." Luz broke in again, bending down to pick something up off the ground.
"You almost forgot your list."