A Bruising for Boscha

A/N: Hey everyone! Firstly, thank you for checking out my first chapter. I imagine all (or most) of you are Owl House fans if you are clicking on this story/collection. Please note I am writing this about 1 day after posting.

This was supposed to be the first chapter in a story - but after I wrote it, I didn't really like it. I know, I know, shocking, perhaps, but honest. I had this idea in my head - a general idea but not a clear roadmap of how to get there.

I DO know I wanted to flesh out Edric and Emira Blight. Possibly try to create an OC - although my attempts have never been well received...by myself or anyone else.

I have...not been happy with my writing as of late. It just seems too...wordy? Or maybe whatever the opposite of genuine is. Like I am writing for others instead of myself. I don't know.

Making this a series of one-offs and short stories may help me get back to my roots. Try out new ideas and different styles. If one chapter doesn't work, maybe the one after it will. :)

Thanks for sticking with me so far and please give me a chance.

Best - Quiet Wyatt

One eye closed, careful to hold it steady, Luz slowly tipped her tube of fairy spit over the bubbling cauldron. She glanced down at the instructions in her textbook and tapped out one…two drops into the lavender-hued potion, which faded into a sourish green color with a muted hiss.

Luz glanced around the classroom, ribbons of acrid smoke swirling as her head snapped from side to side. Phew! No one's potion looked any different than hers, meaning she was improving…or every one of her classmates had messed up the ratios. Again.

Professor Simmersteam stood in front of his desk, his menacing brown eyes watching - always watching – his students with a gaze that felt like a spotlight; at least, Luz always felt like she was being scrutinized under one when he focused on her. While she was loathe to admit it, potions was by far her weakest class at Hexside.

'And Eda focused on this track when she was in school' Luz thought to herself; she stifled a giggle thinking of her Wild Witch mentor sitting in this stuffy under ventilated room mixing bits of this and that together.

SPLAT!

Luz's head jerked forward as something unpleasantly wet smooshed against the back of her head and neck. Instantly, the exposed skin began to unpleasantly itch and tingle. Fighting the urge to scratch, Luz closed her eyes, taking a deep beath; inhaling through her nose before blowing out through her mouth. Internally, she repeated something her mother had taught her years ago.

'Huele las rosas, apaga las velas, mija.'

Luz took another deep breath as a quiet shock of laughter reached her ears; right away, Luz knew both whom the laugh belonged to as well as the origins of the projectile. Underneath the desk, her fists clenched.

OF COURSE, it was Boscha. It was ALWAYS Boscha.

"Boscha!"

Apparently, Professor Simmersteam had not failed to notice. Silently, Luz pleaded that he had some other announcement for the class.

'Teachers always make it worse. Teachers always make it worse!'

"Yes, Professor Simmersteam?" called an innocent voice from behind her. Boscha, acting as if she hadn't flung a spoonful of Itch Pitch at the back of Luz's head.

"You will stay after class."

"What? But I didn't do anything!"

Professor Simmersteam was a tall witch; although he was anything but, his dark cloak, shaved head, and tattooed scalp gave him a menacing appearance. He never appeared to be in a great hurry to get anywhere, taking slow, measured steps. Every movement suggested a calm and controlled demeanor. Luz had never heard him raise his voice.

Luz's eyes began to water; the itch and tingle was slowly transitioning to a sting and burn. Slow, methodical footsteps grew closer and closer, echoing in the large classroom. They suddenly stopped; Luz raised her head and met Professor Simmersteam's gaze. Eyes blurred with unshed tears, she watched as he drew a spell circle in midair, a blue sheen illuminating the desk in front of her as Professor Simmersteam's scalp tattoos flashed the same blue hue as his spell circle.

Luz felt a sudden coolness on the back of her neck, as though some invisible jug of ice water had been upended over her head. She gave an involuntary sigh of relief as the burning subsided. Professor Simmersteam raised his eyes and focused on the young witch sitting behind Luz. His voice was soft but carried unquestionable authority.

"You will stay after class."

A loud HUFF told Luz that Boscha was probably scouring her brain for another phrase to highlight her trumped-up inculpable behavior.

"Miss Brewer?"

A little more bass. A little more power.

Silence from behind Luz. Satisfied, Professor Simmersteam gracefully turned on his heel and started towards the front of the classroom.

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"

Luz had always liked the weird school bell at Hexside; in her mind, a magical witch school could only have something crazy to mark the end of classes. She began to gather her things. Professor Simmersteam addressed the class as she shoved the last of her belongings into her bag.

"Today's class was an improvement over our last meeting. All of you are showing improvement. Your Itch Pitch Potions are some of the best I have ever seen, although some of you seem to have made them a tad too strong. Your homework is to review the ingredients, proportions, and simmering time to prepare for next week's test. Have a good afternoon."

Without a backwards glance, Luz hurried from the classroom.

"Luz, over here!"

Luz bobbed and weaved her way through the throng of students, grinning as she skipped to a halt in front of her two best friends.

"Hiya, Goops and Willow!"

Gus covered her mouth, his eyes darting back and forth.

"Quiet! It's bad enough that Eda started calling me that – "

"You're the best, Goops!"

Gus narrowed his eyes at a passing student who was waving frantically at him.

"….That guy."

Gus cupped his hands around his mouth.

"It's Gus! Augustus!"

"Whatever you say, Goops!"

The student gave another cheery wave and was metaphorically swallowed by the crowd. Gus's shoulders slumped. He turned back towards his two friends, his hands raised level with his ears, his face a mask of disbelief.

"We're in the same grade! How does he not know my name?"

Willow placed a comforting hand on Gus's shoulder.

"At this point, I think he's just messing with you."

Suddenly, Willow's pocket chimed. She pulled out a scroll and unfurled it. She read the message and turned it around for Luz and Gus to read.

"It's Hunter! Look at the cute picture he sent!"

Luz leaned in, resting her chin on Gus's shoulder. Her eyes lit up. A red bird, a cardinal, was perched on a gloved finger and appeared to be chirping happily.

"Awwwwww! I remember that little guy! I still can't believe he decided to partner with that jerk Golden Guard."

Willow looked up, her reply halfway typed out.

"Hunter really isn't that bad."

Gus threw his hands in the air.

"Not that bad? He tried to force us into the Emperor's Coven! And then that crazy abomination guy was going to cut us up!"

Luz's head pivoted back and forth. Willow shrugged her shoulders.

"Hunter told me Darius was going to bring us back to Hexside –"

"Wait. Darius? That was THE Darius Deamonne? Head of the Abomination Coven?"

"What about Darius Deamonne?"

Luz felt a small hand slip into hers; at the same time, she caught a whiff of a familiar perfume and turned towards her girlfriend, a shining grin overcoming the gloomy expression that had occupied her face since leaving potions. She threw her arms around Amity.

"Sweet Potato!"

Amity's face flushed as she returned Luz's hug. She glanced at Gus over Luz's shoulder and repeated her question.

"Oh, nothing. He just tried to kill us. Never meet your heroes, I guess."

Amity raised an eyebrow. She looked in Willow's direction with a 'please clarify' expression on her face. Willow smiled.

"Hunter kidnapped us and was going to us to the Emperor's Coven. But then he had a change of heart and saved us from Darius, who was actually bringing us right back to Hexside."

Amity mouthed the name Hunter. Luz whispered a few words in her ear. Amity's eyes widened.

"That jerk from Eclipse Lake!?"

Luz put her hand over Amity's mouth and glared at a few students until they returned to their own conversations.

"He was in their team picture, remember? The Emerald Entrails?"

Amity began to count on her fingers.

"So, Hunter joined your flier derby team, named your team, kidnapped you, and then saved you from Darius Deamonne?"

Gus put his hands on his hips.

"That about sums it up. It was probably one of my more memorable weekdays."

Amity suddenly groaned and put a hand over her face.

"Also, the Emerald Entrails? That sounds like something Ed would come up with."

Amity turned her attention to her girlfriend, giving her a little nudge with her elbow.

"You're being uncharacteristically quiet. Everything go ok in potions?"

Luz froze; after a few seconds too long, she shook her head.

"I'm still not getting any better at mixing – OW!"

Something aggressively bumped past Luz's shoulder, pushing her into Willow, who caught her and steadied her before she could tumble to the floor. Amity turned her head and glared daggers into the back of Boscha's head before turning back to her friends.

"Oh hell no. Again? What did she do now?"

Luz lowered her gaze, before slowly raising her hand to scratch the back of her neck. Her other hand tightened around her own waist.

"Well, we made Itch Pitch in class today…and Professor Simmersteam said that….some people…made their potions a tad too strong."

Luz looked up at the sound of a gasp and a muttered "shit". Willow and Gus had angry looks on their faces while Amity, who had sworn, had her hand over her mouth. She quickly shifted to a concerned expression. She tightened her grip on Luz's hand ever so slightly.

"She didn't!"

Luz held up her hands, pulling out of Amity's grip.

"Guys! It's fine. Professor Simmersteam healed my neck and kept – "

"It is not FINE, Luz!"

The look on Amity's face had shifted back to one of cold anger. Even Luz felt a little intimidated.

"She cannot keep doing this to you! I'm going to talk to her."

Luz grabbed Amity's hand as the latter turned and began to stomp away.

"Amity, really, I'm ok – "

"NO! This is going to stop!"

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"

The bell.

Amity's voice softened. She leaned in and kissed Luz on the cheek.

"I'll talk to Ed as well. He can probably help you with potions. I'll see you after school."

With that, she pulled away from Luz and disappeared around a corner.

Luz grabbed Gus's arm.

"Let's get to class, Goops!"

"Oh man, I thought that lesson would never end."

Luz elbowed her classmate playfully.

"I thought you lived for illusions?"

Gus laced his fingers behind his head.

"Can anyone truly say they live for school?"

"No. No, I suppose not."

The pair walked in silence for a few seconds. Gus finally spoke up.

"Are you still coming to watch flier derby practice?"

Luz perked up.

"You bet I am, buddy!"

She narrowed her eyes for a second.

"Is….Hunter coming?"

Gus raised his hand in a dismissing gesture.

"Nah. Willow said he's going to be too busy for a while. Guess it's just the four of us."

The pair turned a corner and screeched to a half; down the hall, a group of students was gathered around a bank of lockers. Luz and Gus exchanged curious glances and slowly approached. Snickers and snorts, distant at first, became more audible as the pair approached.

Luz stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the heads of the crowded students. She glanced around and spotted two heads that she instantly recognized. She squeezed between them and elbowed the slightly larger one in the ribs.

"Heya, Ed! Em!"

Amity's twin siblings spun on the spot, anxious expressions quickly transforming into identical beaming grins. Luz eyed the two, instantly suspicious.

"Is everything ok, guys?"

The twins exchanged a glance before flicking their eyes back to Luz. Emira cleared her throat and spoke up, her voice one octave too high for Luz's liking.

"Um, hey, Luz. Nope, nothing to see here. Right, Ed?"

Her brother nodded in agreement. Luz raised an eyebrow.

"What's everyone gawking at, anyway? Did Bump lose his Palismen and have to lure him out with a jug of Apple Blood again?"

Luz moved to push past the two, but Ed moved closer to his sister, blocking her path. He nervously glanced over his shoulder. Luz put her hands on her hips, feeling her temper rise.

"Seriously, guys. What is going on?"

The twins exchanged another look, this one lasting twice as long. After what seemed like an eternity, Emira let out a sigh. She held her hands up.

"Luz, we don't know who did it, but we didn't want you to see. We tried to clean it off…well…"

Emira took a deep breath and stepped to the side; Luz and Gus pushed past several additional students until they came to the front of the crowd. Gus gasped. Luz just stared.

In the middle of a bank of lockers, one in particular had been vandalized. Written in what looked like black paint were the words

ITCH PITCH FOR THE HUMAN BITCH

And underneath

GO HOME, ROUND EARS

Luz froze. Suddenly, she felt like it was her first day of seventh grade. A particularly nasty girl had vandalized her locker, leaving several comments that had sent Luz crying through the halls, only causing her more humiliation.

Gus reached up and grabbed Luz's shoulder.

"Oh man, Luz…."

Luz didn't respond. She slowly brushed Gus's hand off her shoulder and, with what felt like a gargantuan effort, shuffled forward, her face blank, her eyes burning with tears.

'Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.'

She pulled her locker open with numb fingers and pulled her books into her arms. She gently closed her locker door before turning and silently walking through the throng of giggling students. She stopped briefly as she passed Gus.

"Let's go the pitch."

Her voice was barely a whisper. Without waiting for a response, she continued around the corner the two had originally turned. Gus glanced over his shoulder at the twins. The two carefully avoided meeting his eyes. He turned and jogged after his friend. Behind him, the twins exchanged one more look before following.

As she pushed through the front door of Hexside, Luz's brain was abuzz with a swirl of emotion. Hurt, sad, anger…they seemed to mash together. The burning in her eyes, already at a tipping point, finally boiled over and tears ran down her cheeks. She sucked in a gasp of air and wiped her eyes….and to her horror she spotted the one person she did not want to see.

Boscha was standing a few feet from the foot of the front steps, dribbling a grudgby ball by alternating kicking it up and hitting it with her knee, surrounded by several other witches Luz had seen before but whose names she didn't know. One of the girls noticed Luz and nudged Boscha, who turned around to face Luz. She gave the ball one final kick and snatched it out of the air as it came back down. She shot Luz a nasty grin. She called out to Luz, her voice carrying a falsely cheery tone.

"Hey there, human! We were about to go practice some grudgby; gotta keep in shape before the big game, right?"

Luz stood rooted to the spot. Boscha began to stalk closer, her sickly sweet disposition turning malicious.

"Oh, what's wrong, human? You look mad about something. Wait, are you going to cry?"

Behind her, one of the girls snickered. Luz finally found her voice.

"What did I ever do to you, Boscha?"

Boscha dropped her gaze, pretending to admire her nails. Finally, she looked up, scowling at Luz. She stepped closer.

"What are you even doing at our school? Do you think you can ever truly be a witch?"

"Well, I can't cast spells the way you can – "

"I know that, Luz! I know you have to…draw your stupid little glyphs. But are those even real magic?"

Luz felt fresh tears building in her eyes, these ones from anger.

"Yes, glyphs are real magic. I found them in nature! They came from the Titan!"

Boscha rolled her eyes.

"Oh my god, nobody cares, Luz! Why don't you cry on home to that weirdo owl lady?"

Boscha took a step closer, her face hovering just inches from Luz's.

"Before you came here, everything was perfect. I honestly don't understand what Amity sees in you."

"Boscha!"

Boscha leaned to the side to peer over Luz's shoulder. Her smile widened. She leaned close to Luz to whisper in her ear.

"Oh look, the girlfriend. I guess it's lucky she's here to fight your battles, you freak."

Without warning, Boscha threw her hands out and shoved Luz, hard. Luz felt her feet leave the ground; time seemed to slow to a crawl as she fell.

Luz's shoulders slammed into the ground, knocking the air out of her lungs in a whoosh. She lay, dazed, vaguely aware of her surroundings as she gulped in oxygen.

Standing over her, with that hateful smirk, Boscha's casually extended her index finger, igniting a fireball, her eyes focused on Luz's own.

With a flash and a hiss of extinguishing flame, a wad of purple goop surrounded Boscha's hand, snuffing the flame and drawing the girl's attention. Boscha spoke, her teeth grinding together with every word.

"Stay out of this, Blight!"

"Leave her alone, Boscha!"

Boscha raised an eyebrow.

"And what are you going to do if I don't, Mittens?"

Amity's eye widened ever so slightly before narrowing. Her fist clenched; the purple goop tightened around Boscha's right hand with an audible crack - Boscha let out a scream which quickly faded into a whimper. One of her friends stepped forward.

"You'll pay for that, Blight!"

Another flash of light and a red line cut across Amity's forehead, speckling blood across the grass. Amity let out a cry and recoiled as if physically slapped and pressed her hand over the wound. Blood began to seep through her fingers.

"Luz! Stand up and help me!"

Luz shook her head, clearing out the last of the cobwebs.

"Right!"

She jumped to her feet; immediately, she felt something wrap around her leg. Looking down, she spotted a vine which had sprouted from the ground in front of a tall witch in green sleeves. The plant track.

Luz gasped as the vine tightened and sank multiple inch long thorns into her leg. Blood began to flow, soaking her legging. Her leg immediately buckled, sending her to one knee.

Boscha raised her left hand and drew a lopsided circle in the air and the purple goop vanished from around her right hand. She instantly grabbed it in her left, continuing to whimper.

Luz could feel her heart pounding in her chest - she figured the vine must have injected some sort of venom. She grabbed the left side of her chest and squeezed. She puffed out two more breaths.

The vine suddenly detected from her leg, leaving her legging in bloody tatters. Luz glanced to the right - Emira stood beside her, a green circle hovering in the air in front of her. She spoke to Luz out of the corner of her mouth.

"Give me a few seconds and I'll heal you."

Luz shook her head.

"No! Go to Amity first! I'm fine!"

Emira inclined her head but kept her eyes on Boscha.

"We saw what you wrote on her locker, Boscha. Why would you do something like that?"

Boscha, now kneeling on the ground, still cupping her hand, look up at the elder Blight sister, her eyes watery.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Emira."

Emira let out a dismissive snort.

"Don't pull that innocent shit with me, Boscha. We've known you long enough not to fall for it."

"Anyone could have done that to her locker. She's not exactly popular."

It was the witch in the back who had jinxed Amity. She knelt down next to Boscha and cast a ring of blue light around her friend's hand. Boscha seemed to relax. Her friend halted the spell and shook her head. She stood up. For the first time, Luz noticed her blue sleeves and leggings. The healing track.

"We didn't touch her locker. Boscha, you hand is in bad shape. We should go to the healer.

Luz glanced behind at the sound of running feet; Amity's older brother jogged towards the group from the direction of the school. Edric quickly placed himself in front of Amity. Emira pointed a finger at the blue-sleeved witch.

"Hold on, you're not exactly innocent here! You hexed my sister, Cat!"

The girl smirked.

"Jinxed, actually."

Ed learned closer, his voice low.

"What did you say, Cat?"

Cat placed her hands on her hips.

"I said I jinxed her, Ed. What are you going to do, fight a girl?"

Amity tried to shove her brother out of the way. Ed raised his arm, blocking her from advancing.

"He won't, but I sure will! Move, Ed!"

"What is going on here? Stop this, all of you!"

Principal Bump stood at the top of stairs leading in to Hexside. His arms were folded and, as if any further evidence of his disappointment was needed, his mouth was locked in a frown - something Luz had never seen on face of the normally good natured principal.

Standing beside him was Gus. Who looked positively horrified at the scene in front of him.

Bump's eyes scanned from side to side, taking in the carnage - Emira tending to Luz's bleeding leg, Cat with her arm wrapped around Boscha's shoulders, Amity with blood streaming down her face - and spoke, his voice low and mirthless.

"All of you, come with me."

Turning on his heel, he disappeared into the school once again.