I'M RUNNING IT I'M DOING IT
Bare with me, just a few more chapters to go, let's see where this goesss!
Also I'm so sorry, this was meant to be kind of fun why am I like this
Something made Amity's chest tighten.
Was it fear? Was it anticipation, exhilaration?
Gulping, she stood in front of her locker, staring at the book in her arms. She really, really didn't like this subject, politics of the Boiling Isles, which was basically just a big ode to the emperor for bringing order into their magic and laws to abide by.
They didn't learn anything about alternative systems like Luz and Eda had told her about, or any historic politics other than the usual talk about how it used to be chaos before the emperor came.
But was it really the class she wanted to skip?
This had been her idea, she chastised, and she wouldn't stay in school forever. At seventeen years of age, Amity was kind of running out of time. Especially because graduation was going to happen in a few months. She couldn't just wait until graduation without having skipped at least once.
She had promised it to Luz.
Smiling to herself, she pulled out the Grom picture her friends and she had taken three years ago. Luz looked so happy on this, and she remembered her addicting laugh that made her heart want to soar.
For a long time, she hadn't been able to look at this picture, until last year, when she had pulled it out of a forgotten drawer again and kept it on her person at all times, like back then, before Luz had died.
Brushing a thumb over the used and worn surface of the polaroid, she felt her heartwarming, a solemn sadness squeezing her heart, but only just for a moment before she pulled the bucket list from the same pocket. The first note still didn't have a check.
She had wanted to keep this one open, to signify that anything could still happen and to be her own witch, in Luz's place. Since she didn't know what that would mean for her yet, and because only life could tell, she had left it like this.
The next was checked, and Skiing even had about a dozen checks, each reminding her of one time she had been skiing after that. By now, her siblings and friends were crashing less and had started building abilities and practicing their techniques. She had also tried out snowboarding but had decided to continue with the skis because it was a lot more comfortable for her.
She hadn't been skydiving anymore, though, after Eda had suggested using a bedsheet as a parachute, where Willow had firmly drawn the line.
Shakily breathing through, she reread the next task that she was about to complete.
Skipping school.
It hadn't really been planned by a long shot, she had just thought of it this morning, but the thing holding her back was her grades. Her reputation.
She was always in school, always present, her grades were excellent. She knew that logically, skipping once wouldn't even make a dent in any of this. Logically, consciously, she knew that.
Yet she feared what her teachers could say in the worst-case scenario or her parents.
She knew her parents wouldn't even care, and except for the occasional reprimand to make good grades, nothing more would come of this. Her teacher probably wouldn't even give much more than a shrug, knowing exactly that she would come back the next lesson and keep her stellar grades.
She knew all that.
Yet, somehow, she was still terrified out of her mind, even if she knew that she didn't necessarily have to do what she intended to do.
She could just go to class, worry about skipping another day, make sure to build an alibi, and try again another day.
Logically, she knew it.
But staring down at the picture resting on top of the bucket list made her want to be spontaneous, like Luz. Luz who had accepted living in an for her completely strange world, who had just started rolling with it, taking the situations how they came.
Amity breathed through, one last time, and made a decision. Nodding to herself, she folded up the bucket list with the picture inside, grabbed her bag, and went for the exit. It was the last class of her day anyway and she really didn't want to sit through a song of praise to the murderer of her friend.
Even if she was terrified out of her mind.
Leaving school was surprisingly easy for her. Her feet flew down the flight of stairs leading up to the main entrance and just as the bell screamed, she was out of there.
"Hold up.", a voice suddenly stopped her dead in her tracks and Amity spun around, already waiting to face a scolding.
A three-eyed redhead approached her, Boscha, and Amity released a breath she hadn't known she was holding when her classmate sauntered over, looking all too comfortable in her skin. Their relationship had improved when they had grown older, and Boscha wasn't known to snitch, even if the self-assured, confident smile the other girl wore did make Amity feel a little uneasy.
"Is that the Abominations prodigy skipping school?", she drawled and Amity rolled her eyes.
"As if you aren't skipping."
Boscha merely shrugged, looking off to the road leading to Bonesborough, then she turned back to her.
"You're the stuck-up overachiever.", she then brushed off Amity's accusation, before grinning at her, "Let's get out of here, loser."
A small grin snuck on Amity's lips when she started walking with Boscha. Skipping with someone else seemed a lot easier. She hadn't even thought about where to go after leaving school.
Suddenly, a weight settled in her stomach again and she groaned.
"Ugh, what am I doing, I gotta go back. I still got time to claim I'm late.", she mumbled, but a hand gripped her uniform on her shoulder, pulling her ahead. Boscha grinned at her.
"Nu-uh, you left the school, you're already skipping. No take-backs, Blight!", Boscha smugly stated, making Amity roll her eyes and shake off her hand.
"You're not my boss, I'm free to go.", she retorted, but as soon as she turned, Boscha spoke up again.
"You're in debt to that human.", she said, but instead of the snark Amity expected, she only heard a softness that she hadn't anticipated from Boscha at all. Turning, she furrowed her eyebrows, looking back at the red-headed demon.
"What did you just say?", she inquired and Boscha took a step after her, gesturing to the bucket list Amity was still holding.
"You told me about the bucket list, remember? When-… When you talked to her that night. You made a bucket list and you're working it off bit by bit."
Gulping, Amity looked down to the bucket list she was still holding, accompanied by the polaroid of better days. Right, she had told Boscha about that, when they had made up for past mistakes. She had even taken Boscha skiing once. Looking back up to her again, Amity's lip quivered but she quickly controlled herself.
"It's not a secret what's on there.", Boscha continued and Amity slowly nodded. She hadn't wanted to keep it a secret, neither the bucket list nor the content, "I know you're trying to skip. So-… Want some help?"
Skeptically, she eyed the young witch, before cocking her eyebrow at Boscha.
"Why do you wanna help?"
Boscha shrugged, burying her hands in her pockets, before huffing.
"That human was special to you. And, you may not believe it, but you used to be special to me, too.", at that, Amity's eyes went wide, "I wanna do my part to make you happy. The others are already helping with other things, and I think… Well, I could help you with this one."
Suddenly smirking, Amity went back the other way and waited until Boscha had caught up to her, making their way towards Bonesborough.
"Does that mean you were waiting for me to skip school? Did you spy on me?"
Laughing, Boscha shook her head, even at the teasing grin, Amity gave her.
"Believe it or not, but this was a coincidence. I just seized the opportunity, especially when you looked so torn when you left school."
They giggled before quieting down again and Amity tapped her bucket list, before turning back to her former friend. Maybe friend?
"You-… You were-…"
"We're not talking about that right now.", Boscha grumbled when she sensed in what direction Amity was trying to steer the conversation, but the witch was persistent.
"When?"
A quick side glance confirmed to Boscha that she wouldn't get out of this. She would have to answer or Amity would pester her all day long. Rolling her eyes, she decided to indulge the green-haired witch, feeling the slightest bit embarrassed but it felt good to get it off her chest at last.
"Before the human came along. I don't know, we were kind of friends but also not and-… One day I thought, maybe I could get together with you.", humming, Boscha shrugged, "But then the human came along-"
"Luz.", Amity firmly interrupted. Boscha's reluctance to call her by her name had irked Amity the whole time already.
"… Right, Luz.", she finally repeated and Amity nodded, "Anyway, she came along and you started acting weird and then you ditched us and, you know, stuff happened."
Like her death. Amity sighed at the slight pang that still caused in her heart, despite being three years in the past.
"Right… You said it was in the past. When did it stop?", she asked and looked back up to her classmate. As far as she knew, Boscha had a girlfriend from Glandus, so she had to have moved on from her, right?
She seemed genuine, something Amity had grown to see more often on her the older they got.
"Just about after she died.", Boscha's voice got quieter and Amity swallowed around the familiar lump in her throat, "You looked so worn out and sad. That's when I understood that you were-… You know, crushing on her."
Amity nodded, rubbing over the polaroid she had taken out of the folded-up paper, sighing.
"Yeah. I was in love with her. I wished I had told her at Grom. At least she would've known, then."
A quiet snort made her seek eye contact with Boscha.
"She knew, Blight. We all knew.", she finally said and Amity swallowed thickly.
"Did she?", she asked and Boscha nodded. She didn't even have enough strength to wonder where Boscha knew that from, but she figured, if Boscha had been crushing on her at that time, she would probably know if Luz knew.
"She figured it out. That was also a reason why I didn't try anything because it didn't seem like she was reluctant towards that. I may have been a bully but I sure as Titan's asshole didn't wanna get in the middle of that, I knew I'd just lose."
Before Amity could control herself, she felt a hiccup, and the world blurred. Once again, for the thousandth time in years it seemed, Amity remembered the conversation on the phone, the last Luz ever had, and sniffled.
"Why didn't she say anything…?", she mumbled and Boscha snorted, but not a mean one.
"The same reason why I didn't. Not to hurt you more than necessary."
Amity felt an arm wrapping around her when the first sob escaped her throat, her lip quivering and her eyes watering. Boscha pulled her close, smiling down at her.
"C'mon, let's get an eye scream. My treat."
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