Amity felt butterflies in her stomach on her way from Blight Manor to Willow's plant house. Willow invited her to a sleepover after school, and it would be the first sleepover that these two ever had, Amity counted her fingers, in eight years? Being a perfectionist, Amity could not help but wish it to turn out well.

Initially, Amity asked Luz if she wanted to tag along to Willow's slumber party, but Luz said that she would like Amity to hang out with Willow and Gus more often without her. Although she would love to have Amity all for herself, she cannot be a selfish girlfriend. Maybe it is time that you two work on something, Luz suggested. Amity appreciated her girlfriend's consideration and planted a small kiss on Luz's forehead.

Knocking on the front door of the plant house, Amity held onto the hem of her black tunic. A gesture that she did subconsciously when she was anxious. However, her anxiety was half gone when Willow opened the door with a big smile.

"Amity! As punctual as always."

Willow was in her exercise outfit with a towel, the same as the last time Amity met her alone for advice.

"Thanks for inviting me over. I hope I'm not causing you too much trouble." Amity waved and smiled sheepishly.

"Nah, come on in!"

It turned out that her afternoon time with Willow was quite fun. They did a bit of everything they liked since they were kids. Amity enjoyed all of them, but she couldn't help feeling that something was off.

They were playing strategic chess. Willow's scroll beeped when Amity was figuring out her next move. Willow picked up the scroll and quickly typed something. Amity did not pay attention because it happened all the time when she still hung out with Boscha.

This happened twice when they were taking care of Willow's plants.

And a couple of times when they were watching live flyer derby games on the crystal ball.

And again when they were having dinner with Willow's dads. Amity was extremely nervous at the dinner table because one of the dads was watching her with scrutiny. She expected Willow to do something to get her dad's attention away from her, but Willow seemed to be more interested in her scroll.

Amity finally made up her mind to intervene when she opened Willow's bedroom door with snacks in both hands and saw Willow laughing on her bed holding the scroll.

Willow is very far from Boscha the attention seeker, Amity thought to herself, why does she keep checking out Penstagram?

To avoid violating her friend's privacy, however, she resisted the temptation to peek at the screen of that scroll.

Amity put down the snacks and sat on the edge of the bed next to Willow, "What's going on? You seem to be on Penstagram a lot today. Did you find another hot plant store owner?" She joked half-heartedly.

Willow looked up from her scroll and scratched the back of her head, "Oh, just texting Caleb…hmm, Hunter. He wants to learn sewing and my dads happen to have a couple of books that can come in handy. His failing at understanding the acronyms is hilarious." She clicked on the person's profile and showed Amity.

"The Golden Guard?!" Amity gasped. She couldn't believe her eyes, "How could you still be in contact with him? Haven't I told you about my fight with him at Eclipse Lake? What about Luz's encounter with him at Latissa?" She genuinely thought Hunter being a team member of Willow's Emerald Entrails was a one-time thing, and Willow wouldn't keep in touch with him after he went back to the Golden Guard duty.

"Yes, and he tried to force my team into the Emperor's Coven," Amity's shocked and concerned voice did not seem to affect Willow, "but he also regretted his decision, protected us from the Abomination Coven Head, and let us go. I believe he has a good heart deep down. Besides, we just chat about daily stuff."

That golden jerk somehow found a way back into Luz's and her life. By exploiting the good nature of her sweet old friend. Amity determined to put a stop to this before it spiraled into something worse.

"You cannot be serious," Amity declared, "He tricked me into releasing him and left me captured. If Eda did not catch me, I might have been dead in that pit! You simply cannot trust that guy. He can have two faces. You know, he's using you to get to Luz!"

Willow put down her scroll and placed both of her hands on Amity's shoulders, "Calm down, buddy. He's just trying to be a friend. I'll notice it if he's up to anything bad. Have a little faith in people, alright?"

"Willow, listen to me," Amity pushed Willow's hands off her shoulders and held them in hers, "You can't befriend someone from the Emperor's Coven. They are all deceptive power-hungry little shit. Think about Kikimora! Luz helped her get home but she turned on Luz the moment she heard about a promotion!"

"Amity, please stop. Hunter is not like –"

"No! He is a jerk!" Amity could no longer keep her frustration down, "He threatened Luz's life to force me to give in. I'm telling you all the truth because you are my friend. I cannot let bad things happen to you too. Trust me, I'm doing this for your own good."

FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

It triggered the bitter emotions that Willow had buried away for a while.

Willow avoided Amity's intense eye contact and lowered her head, whispering: "You are like this again…"

Amity was too deep in her own emotions to notice the mood shift of her black-haired friend. "What?" She asked, "Sorry but I cannot hear you clearly –"

"STOP PATRONIZING ME!" Willow suddenly withdrew her hands and shouted.

Amity froze at Willow's words, "I'm not -" She tried to deny her accusation.

"The last time you were like this, you broke our friendship! In the name of protecting me from your parents, you hurt me, deeply." Tears started to form in the corner of Willow's eyes, "I endured years of bullying but my old best friend just put on a cold face and pretended that I didn't exist. I spent years thinking that I was weak because they all insulted me with 'half-a-witch' and you didn't even blink an eye." Willow pointed a finger at Amity's chest, "You never trusted my ability and now my judgment. Titan, even Hunter is a better friend than you are, because at least he doesn't lie to himself and pretend everything is okay! Can you say the same thing for yourself?"

Amity stayed dumbfounded by Willow's outburst.

Willow crossed her arms tightly and turned away from the speechless witch: "Just leave, Amity. I don't want to see your face right now."

Amity finally opened her mouth to argue, but she got a flashback to that very first time she put on the "mean girl" mask, told Willow that she did not want to be friends anymore, and asked her to go. Now the karma came back for her. So she just bit her lower lip and walked out of Willow's bedroom in silence.

Luz was feeding the echo mouse when Hooty came through the window to inform her that her girlfriend was at the door. She was annoyed because she thought Hooty was playing a trick on her.

"April Fools' Day only lasts for one day and it is already over. Stop bugging me," Luz told Hooty, but she opened the door anyway.

She owed Hooty an apology now.

"Amity? I thought you were having a sleepover at Willow's." Luz immediately noticed that her girlfriend's eyes were red, probably from crying."What happened?"

"I screwed up…again. Willow…she hates me now. How stupid I was!" Amity sniffed and swept her eyes with the back of her hand.

Did they have a fight? Luz was full of questions but she took Amity's hand and led her into the Owl House, "Let's not jump to conclusions yet. Take a deep breath first."

Amity was in such a mess. Luz gave her two boxes of tissues and she was trembling in Luz's arms for quite some time before she could form a full sentence and told Luz about the quarrel between Willow and her.

"I think you have a point to take it with a grain of salt, although I personally agree with Willow that Hunter might not be so bad and is just misguided. But put aside whatever he is, how are you feeling now?" Luz asked while gently stroking her girlfriend's soft purple hair.

"I…I'm upset…confused…and scared. I was SO happy when she asked me to braid her hair and later invite me for a sleepover. I thought we could be like old times again. I really, really want to have her back, but I'm not sure she would let me if she is still holding a grudge! I don't blame her though. I was a terrible person for years. Do you think she will ever forgive me?" Amity looked guilty and miserable.

"I do. I can see the way you change and I believe Willow can too," Luz comforted her, "It takes time to heal a wound though, you know? Give her some room too. She will come around."

"I hope so. Sometimes I just can't stop myself from overstepping the boundaries. I think my mom rubs the wrong things on me." Amity covered her face and sighed heavily.

"I don't know about your mom, but I know you did that out of good intentions. Just don't be too hard on yourself and put more faith in the people you care about."

Amity smiled for the first time since she entered the Owl House tonight, "Thank you, Luz. Willow said something similar. You also got me thinking, did I patronize you too?"

Luz hesitated: "Well, I won't call it patronizing –"

"But?" Amity raised an eyebrow. "You know you can be honest with me."

"You could be a teeny weeny overprotective sometimes." Luz brought her thumb and her index finger close to make a pinched gesture.

It made Amity giggle: "I know I can be paranoid at times, but let me know when I crossed a line, okay?"

"Yes, cariño. I actually like the protective side of you." Luz said affectionately, thinking of the several times that Amity saved her, "My shining knight in a cloak and abomination armor."

"And I like the cheesy side of you, mi princesa." Amity chuckled and kissed Luz on the cheek.

Amity took a deep breath and knocked on the door of Willow's house, embracing herself for a scolding from one of Willow's dads. She was surprised to hear Willow's voice instead.

"Amity?"

"Ahh, Willow! I wasn't expecting you – no, no, I'm not saying that I did not expect to see you, I mean –" Amity stuttered, her social skills failing her again.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Willow said bluntly.

"What? No! Don't be!" Amity blurted out, "I should be the one apologizing! For treating you badly. For turning a blind eye when you needed a friend. For not putting faith in you. I got it all wrong. I thought I was protecting you while I was actually hurting you. I'm not good enough to be your friend because I doubted you and overstepped the boundaries. I will get out of your hair if you don't want to see me anymore."

She looked down, waiting for Willow to ask her to go again, but it did not happen.

"Yeah, you may not be good enough," Willow paused a little, which got Amity panicked, "but you are getting better. I believe everyone deserves a second chance, and that includes you, Amity. I accept your apology."

Amity could feel the sincerity in Willow's words, which made her heart sing: "Really? Thank you —"

However, Willow put out one finger to shush her: "Bah, bah, bah, not so fast. While I'm letting you be my friend again, can you give Hunter a second chance too?"

Amity sighed with relief: "Yes, Willow. I'm not promising that I can be his friend, but I will go easy on him the next time I see him, as long as he doesn't do anything nasty."

"That's a good start." Willow grinned.

"And I have to admit that I overreacted because I was jealous of his friendship with you. I feel that you were hanging out with me here but cared more about him on Penstagram." Since they were both opening up, Amity thought she should be more honest with her feelings.

"I appreciate you telling me about this and I'm sorry you felt this way. Since it's late at night, do you want to continue the sleepover? I will put away my scroll." Willow offered her hand.

"Of course I do!" Amity almost jumped and bumped into Willow. Willow laughed and hugged her old friend tightly like they did when they were little.

On their way up the stairs to Willow's room, Amity poked Willow on her arm and said in a playful tone: "By the way, I'm seriously concerned about the amount of time you spent on Penstagram. Are you sure you don't see him as anything else but a friend?"

Willow blushed a little and punched Amity on the shoulder.

"Ow. I'm certainly onto something." Amity rubbed her shoulder but cheered, "Spill the beans, girl!"

"Shut up, Blight. Or I'll throw you out of the window." Willow pretended to threaten her by drawing half a magic circle in the air.

"Alright, alright. Boundaries, I get it," Amity chuckled while turning the knob on Willow's bedroom door, "but if you want my advice later, I will always be there for you."

"Okay, when the time is right. Now let's set up your bed for the night."