C9 Third betonic
Luz ran swiftly across campus in a panic, trying to hide from her friends.
What was she thinking?! Of course Willow was going to be upset!
She needed time to think through how to explain to her that it would only be a short-lived crush like some others, that her emotions would eventually fade away.
For now she was panicking.
So she wouldn't go back to her friends.
...
At least not until lunch.
The Dominican, slowing at last her hasty run, catching her breath, realized that she was close to the path to the meadow.
A place far away enough from Willow and Gus.
With a calm step she crossed the path, and as she reached the meadow, she patted the pockets of her coat.
She had a small heart attack.
My phone!
She quickly recalled the places she had taken it out.
The last one had been...
Next to Gus and Willow...
Ugh.
What a way to make a fool of herself.
She sighed wearily and looked around the field, searching for some way to entertain herself.
Few things tortured her more than boredom and standing still doing nothing.
The meadow was so large that the small groups of seated teenagers seemed to be few.
But evidently none that Luz knew well enough to approach.
She glanced at the stables.
King was there, peacefully peering out of his respective stall.
And Luz could have sworn he was looking at her.
Almost calling out to her.
The horse snorted and gave a brief happy whinny.
Awwww!
Luz took a few steps in his direction.
'Just try not to unleash any horses, please.'
Luz braked suddenly.
It had taken her an awful lot to regain Amity's trust.
Maybe approaching horses wasn't a good idea.
But King is so cute!
No!
Bad Luz!
The young woman turned away trying to resist her impulses.
Then she saw her.
Amity was leaning against a thin willow tree a few feet from the path.
Reading that black-covered book.
So cute...
ENOUGH!
And from what she could see, she was a few dozen pages away from finishing.
She had never seen someone read so eagerly about financial mathematics and business.
That was what Amity had told her when she wouldn't let her look at the book at lunch the day before.
Amity's gasp brought her out of her thoughts.
Looking at her again she noticed that the young woman had drawn her knees tight against her body, pulling the book close to her face as she devoured paragraph after paragraph with ecstatic excitement.
Luz knew those expressions.
And something told her that Amity wasn't studying finance.
So what was she reading?
Clearly she wasn't going to tell her, she had already kept it from her the day before.
Amity let out a brief little cry of annoyance.
Oh!
Now curiosity was killing her.
Luz pondered.
When she tried, she could be as stealthy as a mouse.
And Amity was perfectly focused on her reading.
She could...
No.
It's not like it would affect her...
No.
She just had to sneak behind the tree trunk.
No.
Give a little peek...
No.
Know what the book was about...
No.
And walk away without Amity noticing it.
No.
She just had to be quick and discreet.
Is there anything more useless than impulse control in a person with attention deficit disorder?
Luz slipped behind the trees that surrounded the meadow and stealthily jumped and hid behind each one, cautiously approaching the one that bore the weight of the dean's daughter.
Finally, she reached the right tree, where the auburn was still reading with such a hungry look that she didn't notice her classmate peeping behind her.
Luz bent down very carefully.
No breathing.
Not a sound.
Like a ninja.
Focus.
Being close enough, she could finally make out one of the paragraphs in the book.
The magnificent green-haired witch flew nimbly through the air, dodging the bright, fiery sparkles with which her rival was fiercely attacking her.
"You're going to need more than fireworks to defeat me Hecate!" she mocked playfully.
"Oh!" laughed her opponent. "This is only the beginning, you won't be able to handle half of what I plan to give you-"
"AZURA!" Luz shouted impulsively.
"AH!" Amity screamed in horror throwing her body to get away from the shout that terrified her, ending up lying on her side on the grass. "LUZ! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!"
But Luz completely ignored her words.
"You like the good witch Azura?! I've never met another fan!"
Amity blushed and paled a moment later.
"Of course not!" she claimed in panic.
Luz was jumping up and down with excitement.
"Oh, this is great! Did you get to the part where they find the goblet of-" Amity threw herself like a spring, knocking Luz down and covering her mouth with her hands.
"Shut up, I'm four chapters behind! I didn't even know if they were going to find it!" the auburn angrily claimed.
In spite of everything, Luz, behind the gag, sparkled with joy, it was her first opportunity to share her favorite saga with someone.
She took Amity's hands, removing them from her mouth and sitting down on the grass, with the other girl half in her lap.
But at that moment she was the least of her concerns.
"Why didn't you tell me you liked the good witch Azura?!" She exclaimed excitedly.
Amity blushed again.
"Stop talking so loud!" She reclaimed in a whisper. "Someone might hear you!"
Luz tilted her head to the side without understanding.
"And what's wrong with that?"
Amity sighed and broke away from Luz to retrieve her book.
Luz was annoyed at how quickly her absence disappointed her.
The auburn returned to the brunette's side resting the book on her lap.
"My parents don't like me reading the Azura saga." The dean's daughter confessed sorrowfully. "They say it promotes witchcraft and heresy, even if it's just fiction, they can' t know I read them."
Luz raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Oh!" She exclaimed softly. "That's... odd."
Amity raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really think so? I know a lot of parents who do it, though I think they really overreact, it's just a story, it's not like it's going to change my faith..."
Luz snorted.
" Right, but that's not what I meant." She replied with an amused smile.
Amity looked at her without understanding.
"So... Amity Blight has a rebellious side?" Luz clarified lightly nudging the auburn with her shoulder. "I wouldn't have believed it."
Amity smiled shyly.
"It's a secret... A very small one." Then she hugged herself with slight discomfort. "I don't think it will affect them... As long as they don't find out."
An uncomfortable silence was heard.
"Uh..." Luz began after a couple of moments. "Where are your friends?"
Amity came back from her reverie and relaxed her arms.
"Oh..." She uttered. "I usually read while they chat, but today Boscha got really annoying and tried to take the book away from me to force me into listening to her, so I left."
Luz looked at her with widened eyes and Amity noticed the oddity of her words.
"I-It's not like that all the time!" She excused. "I usually chat with them, but when I have a new book it absorbs a lot of my attention! Besides I had very little left to finish, so I'll be back with them at lunchtime and-"
"Can I read with you?" Luz interrupted.
Amity, obfuscated, only managed to relax.
"Uh..." She hesitated. "It's the fourth release, it came out quite a while ago, but I have a hard time getting them without my parents noticing... I think you already read it."
"Yes." Luz confirmed while scratching her head. "But right now I don't want to go back with Willow and Gus, and I wouldn't mind reading it again with you."
Amity looked at her curiously.
"Did something happen?"
Luz raised her hands defensively.
"Oh no, no!" she dismissed quickly. "Just a little awkward moment, I was too embarrassed, so I don't want to go back for now."
Amity looked at her conflictedly for a few moments.
Then she raised her eyebrow arrogantly.
"Can you really stand still reading for more than two minutes?" she asked with defiant mockery.
Luz snorted.
"Are you challenging me Blight?"
Amity laughed lightly too.
"Okay." She finally said with a smile. "But the first time you interrupt, I'm going to flee from you."
" Deal!" The brunette replied, extending her hand, which was immediately shaken by the auburn.
Amity opened the book on the thighs of both of them, and indicated to Luz the spot where she had stayed.
Without much difficulty, they fell into an uninterrupted reading.
As their rhythm synchronized by turning pages and reacting to events, Amity didn't notice how her head slowly settled on the brunette's shoulder.
The minutes ticked by and recess was nearing its end.
But Willow and Gus still had some things left to talk about.
"You know, now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense." Willow said after a few minutes of bickering. "Amity's never had a boyfriend."
" You' re fifteen." Her friend replied simply. "It's not that weird, besides I don't think the dean would allow her to have a boyfriend."
"Emira has a boyfriend." Willow countered.
"Willow, twins don't respect any rules." Replied Gus.
"No, but they're not dumb either." She mused. "At least Emira isn't, and her relationship isn't exactly a secret."
"Amity is much more reserved..."
"Why is this a debate?" Willow asked, interrupting her friend.
" It''s not!" the young man defended himself by raising his hands in front of him, "I'm just trying to reason out what you're saying."
Willow put a hand to her chin.
"Amity never liked any boy..." She started again. "Not even when we were little kids."
"What's so weird about that?" Gus asked again.
"You know when you have a crush as a kid? I really liked Prince Flynn Rider... And Rapunzel too, but I found that out much later, I also liked Prince Charming and some others, or celebrities too, I really liked Harry Styles and Shawn Mendes."
This time Gus raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Me too." He confirmed. "I always loved Black Widow, I still do."
Gus sighed romantically.
Willow rolled her eyes.
"Amity never told you any of that?" Gus continued to inquire. "Not a single one?"
"Not really... Amity liked whole families and the idea of being a mom in one of them, and her favorite characters were always... Women."
The young man was silent for a moment.
"Always?"
"Always."
"That's..."
"Gay Gus, that's pretty gay, and I don't know how I didn't notice before, Amity had a giant poster of Eiza Gonzalez hidden in her diary the last time I opened it."
Again, Gus was silent for a moment.
"... The last time?"
"Unimportant." Willow dismissed. "What's important is, Amity always turned guys down, always saying she's 'waiting for the right one,' but I've never seen her try anything, and the guys who've asked her out are... Almost princes, so I never understood."
"If Amity's gay then why did she stop being friends with you?" Willow's face shadowed with melancholy. "Ugh, sorry, I spoke without thinking!"
"It's okay Gus." Willow dismissed, still grimacing slightly.
The black-haired girl pondered for a few moments.
"Amity... Has the most traditional and conservative family I've ever seen, they won't even let her compete in the track club because 'it's not ladylike'." Willow argued, remarking the phrase with mockery. "I don't think it's the best environment for... uh... exploring your sexuality?"
Gus pondered for a moment.
"It seems... Possible." He conceded.
"Yes! And Amity has always had few friends, so it's possible she's never really found the right guy because... There is no right guy." She finished triumphantly.
Gus looked at Willow for a few moments.
"Sounds... logical." Gus conceded again. "But it doesn't necessarily have to be..."
"You're not my number one fan today, are you?" replied Willow with annoyance.
"I always am!" Gus exclaimed. "It's just..."
The young man came closer and put his hand on Willow's shoulder.
"Willow... Don't you feel like you're trying to justify what Amity did to you? You're my best friend, I don't want you opening wounds you've already healed."
The sound of the bell ended their conversation.
Willow's expression changed to one of melancholy.
"Amity and I are no longer friends Gus, nor will we ever be again, I don't care about her anymore, I just want Luz to be safe." She concluded walking away from the boy's grip and heading for the Judas building.
But her tone did not convince anyone.
Gus decided to settle the issue and follow her friend in silence.
The young High School students milled around outside the door and crossed the halls.
The pair of friends continued on their way to their respective classrooms.
That's when they saw them.
Luz was holding a black-covered book and making dramatic gestures bordering ridiculousness, sound effects included.
But that wasn't weird.
What was weird was that Amity was with her.
Laughing.
Holding her stomach and half covering her mouth to muffle her voice.
Willow hadn't seen her like that in years.
And more importantly.
She' d never seen her like this in public.
Gus, next to her, was as stunned as she was.
That was without counting a few more anonymous onlookers.
The black-haired girl smiled mischievously.
" Luz..." Willow called once she was close enough, catching the brunette's attention. "Can I talk to you for a bit?"
Amity silenced her giggles immediately, returning the serious, prefabricated semblance she had to wear in public.
"I'll see you inside, Luz." She said simply, advancing into the classroom.
When Willow was close enough, Luz had her hands in front of her trying to justify the last 20 minutes of her existence.
"Willow, you see! It's just... Amity and I were getting ready for class presentation and-"
"Your phone." Willow announced simply, placing the device in front of her.
Luz blushed deeply.
"Ah... Thank you." She said scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "Uh, Willow-"
"It's okay Luz." Willow assured smiling calmly. "I didn't react in the best way, I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."
"What? No! Of course you were going to react like that! I'm sorry..."
"No Luz, it's okay." She affirmed again. "The heart is not something you can control, and my problems with Amity have nothing to do with you."
Luz pressed her phone to her chest.
"Still..." She pronounced guiltily. "I'm really sorry, and seriously, I don't plan on doing anything about... you know what... But, I wanted to tell you because you're the first real friend I've ever had and-"
"Luz, really, it's all right." The black-haired girl walked over to the taller girl and held her by the shoulders. "You can do whatever you want, you're free, I'm not going to interfere, and I'm not going to get mad at you."
Luz's eyes sparkled.
"Really?"
" Yeah." Willow affirmed, then turned away from Luz and fiddled with her fingers without taking her eyes off the brunette. "Just... Be very careful, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."
Luz blowed a raspberry.
"Don't worry about it! Still... There's not much sense in trying something with the ''straightest girl.'' Right?" She concluded with a look of mild sadness on her face.
"Right..." Willow replied warily.
She didn't want to give Luz hope either, she could be wrong.
" Ladies, what are you doing outside?" A female voice asked, interrupting their conversation. " Now come on, come on, class has already started!"
Ms. Morningstar gave them slight nudges leading them into the classroom.
"Good morning class!" she announced. "Sorry for being late! We're going to start with presentations! We'll be beginning with the teams backwards!"
She directed her gaze to the far left of the classroom.
"Amity, Luz, please begin."
Luz and Amity hurried to get up from their desks, but the auburn, being left-handed, got up on the left side, bumping into the brunette, and almost stumbling.
But Luz stabilized her by grabbing her shoulders before anything else could happen.
They walked calmly to the front of the classroom.
"You always fall for me~." The brunette mumbled mockingly for only Amity to hear.
"Shut up." The auburn replied to her with a small laugh.
End of Chapter 9.
Work is driving me crazy.
That and other projects you will see very soon...
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