Chapter 2: familiar beginnings

Time frame: A Lying Witch and a Warden

Luz woke up early due to excitement, this was the day she'd blow everyone out of the water with her The Good Witch Azura book report that had a couple "live props" to make it that inch better. She felt inspired to put in this little bit extra effort after Eric showed her the screenshots of his science project, which was a fair bit over the top. The science project was about "How to be creative in a scientific field", a field in which Eric excelled, and as he typically excelled in this field Eric felt the need to show up everyone by creating what seemed to be some kind of windows-like software that functioned pretty darn well Luz had to admit.

She still had an hour to school to that was more than enough time to walk to Eric's house and pester him, her book report, granted was indeed on The Good Witch Azura series, was going to grab her an A, especially with her surprise "Participants" for the book.

As Luz stepped out of her house, the sun was to rising over Gravesfield. The warmth of the morning sun was already starting to seep into her skin as she started her walk to Eric's house. She knew she had to wake him up for school, and the clock was ticking. They had just one hour before school started.

Luz walked down the quiet streets, enjoying the calmness of the early morning. She breathed in the fresh air, feeling energized and ready for the day ahead. As she turned the corner onto Eric's street, she could already see his house in the distance.

Eric's house was a modest one-story home, with a small garden in front. The garden was overflowing with vibrant colors of different flowers, and Luz couldn't help but stop and appreciate the beauty of it all. She then quickly made her way to the front door and rang the bell.

As she waited for Eric to answer the door, Luz glanced down at her watch. They were running out of time. A few seconds later, the door creaked open, revealing Eric, who was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Luz immediately explained the situation to him, reminding him that they only had an hour before school started. Eric, still groggy from his slumber, stumbled back into the house to get ready. Luz followed him inside, taking a quick look around at his science project, which sat on his desk. From what she remembered about the program that eric was making it was like windows, but it used an algorithm that was centred around two factors, first was "Program Usage Frequency" which based of the amount of times the user would use a certain program for lengths of time and how often it was opened, second was "Program Priority Assessment" which based off the user's specifications of their hardware would prioritize certain programs over others in order to make certain programs run more efficiently.

She could hear Eric's parent's talking down the hall, both of them tended to leave at the same time. Eric's dad had a couple hour drive to Manhattan, he worked as a system's analyst & computing technician for one of the big tech companies there, the name always escaped Luz. Eric's mom worked as a teacher, not local, she worked in New Haven, a shorter distance than what Eric's Dad had to travel. It seemed they were talking about Eric's surprise for the summer. This peaked Luz's Curiosity. She walked away from Eric's bedroom door to the kitchen, it seemed like slightly more relaxed morning than usual, Eric's dad was on his lap top and Eric's mom was looking over some documents.

"Hello Mr and Ms Neil." Luz said waving her hand.

"Morning Luz, do you have your book report and science project finished?" Ms Neil asked

"Still working on it, but should have It done for Wednesday." Luz answered with a slight tinge of guilt on her face.

"So what was the surprise for Eric you guys were talking about?" Luz answered in her usual perky voice.

"How much did you hear?" Mr Neil asked looking up from his laptop.

"Only that you guys can't wait until Wednesday to tell Eric about it." Luz answered shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, do you promise to keep it a secret?" Mrs Neil asked lowering her voice.

"yeah sure." Luz answered matching her tone.

"Well, you know that Eric is intelligent, and despite his grades whenever he is capable he performs really well in school." Mrs Neil said.

"So well that a certain P.I.E.E that only gets offered to one hundred of the brightest students around the country is making an offer based of the quality of Eric's work rather than his grades, all he needs to do is have his science project finished." Mr Neil said.

"P.I.E.E?" Luz asked confused.

"Par..Oh hey Eric." Mr Neil said before cutting himself off after noticing Eric walking towards the kitchen.

"What were you guys talking about?" Eric asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well if you must know, we were thinking that on Wednesday we'd go out somewhere fancy to eat, we know school finishes for summer on Friday but I need your mom to come down to NY with me for few hours." Eric's dad said, clearly rehearsed this Luz thought to herself.

"Nice, I'd be game for that, is Luz coming as well?" Eric asked.

"Of course, Camilla is working late that day anyway, so she asked us if it'd be okay for her to come along that day." Mrs Neil said.

"Now that cat's out of the bag, you got everything for school, science project and all?" Mr Neil asked trying to change the conversation.

"Ah crap, almost forgot it." Eric said darting back to his room.

"That was a close call." Eric's mother said with a sigh.

"What about you Luz, Eric mentioned you have a book report today presentation?" Eric's father asked turning to Luz after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, it's about The Good Witch Azura, but it's not going to be a 100% normal book report presentation, It's got a bit more of a show let's say." Luz answered with a smile on her face.

"Sounds fun." Eric's mother said.

Eric came running from his room with his bag slung over his shoulder, his hair was slightly messy but he never really saw that much of a need to fix it for school, slightest bit of wind and his hair would be all over the place.

"Ready to get going?" Eric asked Luz.

"Wait, you haven't had breakfast yet." Eric's dad said.

"It's okay, we'll grab something on the way there." Eric replied.

Luz and Eric said their goodbyes to Eric's parents and stepped outside into the warm morning air. The sun was shining, and the sky was had not a single cloud.

As they walked, Eric couldn't help but feel excited for Luz's book report presentation on The Good Witch Azura series. They had both read the series and loved it, and Eric was eager to hear Luz's thoughts on it.

Luz was also excited to present her report, she had put a fair amount of effort into this presentation, especially the finishing touches being done the previous night. As they made their way to the school, they talked about the series and what they thought about the characters and plot. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they almost missed the turn that led to Gravesfield Middle School.

As they entered the school building, they were greeted by the familiar sound of students chattering and lockers slamming shut. They walked past groups of students, receiving some minor stares and eye rolls.

For a good while Luz had always been a bit of an outside due to her eccentric and nerdy nature, the later quality being a shared trait with Eric who was ostracized for being "The new kid" despite being in Gravesfield for the past thirteen months, but this wasn't exactly a bother to either of them.

Eric and Luz parted ways as they headed to their respective classrooms. Eric's class was on the second floor, and he took the stairs two at a time to make it to class on time.

Luz's class was on the first floor, and as she walked towards her classroom, she couldn't help but feel a sense of nervousness wash over her again. But she took a deep breath, pushed her anxieties aside, and walked into the classroom ready to present her book report.

For Luz, it was just another boring Monday in school, but at least her presentation would be fun.

The class gave minor applauds, a few of his fellow students didn't care, understand. But those who did, including the Teacher were thoroughly impressed with Eric's work, it wasn't anything amazingly special, but the algorithms & work put into this project was enough to earn eric an A, this is exactly what he needed to make sure his Mother and Father would be happy.

"Very good Eric, very good." Ms. Oldman said clapping her hands. "Now, let's see, Nicky why don't you show us your project" Ms. Oldman said to a slim, long brown haired girl at the back of the class.

"Ugh, Ms. Oldman is it okay I go last." The girl groaned in an unpleased voice.

"Ugh, girl if I wanted you to be last, you'd be last, now show us your report. And minus the tude." The Ms. Oldman said, mimicking the girl's tone.

He took out his portable hard drive from the computer and went back to his desk and put his hard drive in his bag, then there it was. That feeling, a slight shiver, nothing series, almost as if someone put cold water all over his body, the hairs on his neck and arms stood, time almost slowed down for him as his sense activated. "Again?" he thought to himself. "Can't I just score a win without someone giving me my daily dose of annoyance?" his thought continued, He could let what was coming to him hit, or… "alright you wanna do this? Sure, I can play that game." He thought to himself. He quickly leaned to the side and rotated his shoulder to mimic a gesture of discomfort. Splat, the spit ball missed Eric and hit the teacher's "Big Brain Time" mug. The teacher's eyes darted up and she saw one of the students in the back quickly stuff a something into his pocket.

"Jeffery, you got my attention, stay back after class." The teacher said in firmly.

"Son of a…" Eric heard the boy mutter. He knew Jeffery would most likely find some other way to get on Eric's nerves, but he let himself smile anyway. Ms Oldman wasn't exactly the kind of teacher who you'd want to be on the bad side of, it was always good to see a bully get their comeuppance. But it would be spoiled as Eric's sense went again, feeling of cold and hairs standing up, he sensed that something, no, multiple somethings were on the floor. "Probably marbles." Eric tried to shrug the feeling, but it wouldn't stop, those multiple somethings were moving, slithering. "Uh Ms. Oldman." Eric said raising his hand.

"Yes Eric?" Ms. Oldman said turning from the desk where the students would do their project presentation.

Eric gestured with a frightened look on his face at the door, Ms Oldman Turned around to see a small but easy to notice bright green snake, no, not one but more than one. One crawling under a desk, one wrapped around a chair, and another, another on her desk only inches away from her hand. And in quick succession to their teacher, thanks to Eric pointing out the one at the front, the students all noticed too, Some screaming, some running into the hall, some climbing onto their tables, Eric heard one of the other students say that there was nothing to be afraid of, green smoothsnakes didn't have venom, as a fact quite a few students knew this, but having snakes in your class for an unknown amount of time caused rationality to disperse. Now, the class was in anarchy, the students that still remained in there were shocked, crying or laughing at the situation, down the hallway sounded the same. One student even ran past Eric's class with two snakes in her hair, If this was some sort of prank, Eric had to congratulate the prankster, this was one hell of a prank.

After everything calmed down and the snakes were dealt with, Eric went to the lunch hall to find Luz, but she was nowhere to be found. He asked around, but no one had seen her since the incident with the snakes. Eric was worried about her typically she'd be first to the lunch hall out of the two to make sure they got a table that wasn't near the trash. He thought it was strange that she would just disappear like that.

As he was walking down the hallway, a group of bullies started to laugh at him.

"Looking for your girlfriend four eyes?" One of the smaller bullies said,

"Yeah, like is she actually your girlfriend? I heard she once asked my sister out." One of the female bullies snickered.

Eric tried to keep is composure, but with how hectic things got and the addition of this hassle it was clear it was unamused.

"I take it you know where she is?" Eric said in a stern voice, more stern than he'd like to have said it.

"Oooh lookey here, dorkster here is developing a backbone. Yeah she was at principal Hal's office, saw her mom there too." One of the other bullies was said in a mocking tone.

Eric knew this was serious, and he wanted to see if he could call the bullies out on their lies, but to his chagrin they were right, and the funniest part of it, hadn't the situation be serious, was the fact for once bullies actually said the truth.

"Luz, please tell me this these guys talking crap." Eric thought to himself as he walked up to principal Hal's office. It was empty, no signs of a single person was there "Crap, he must've gone to the Teacher's lounge." Eric's thoughts continued after observing through the window.

He continued to search for her and eventually saw her through a window. She was getting into her mom's car, and he knew he had to talk to her before she left. Eric ran out of the school and caught up with the car just as it was pulling out of the parking lot.

"Oh shit, Luz what did you do?" he sighed to himself with his shoulders slouching as he watched Camilla Noseda's car drive pull out of the school parking lot and drive away.

Eric walked back to the cafeteria, his appetite suddenly gone. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Luz had gotten suspended from school for bringing live snakes into the classroom. He had known that Luz had a tendency to act impulsively, but this was on another level. He felt frustrated and disappointed, but he knew he needed to talk to her make sure she was okay. He finished his lunch alone, lost in thought, before heading off to his afternoon mathematics class. He tried to concentrate on the equations and formulas, the other students talking about what happened did not help his concentration.

Later that day, Luz arrived home, she felt bad about what happened. As she and followed behind her mom and said in a disappointed tone "sorry about what happened, am I grounded?" Luz asked.

"Mija you made a mistake with the best intentions, I'm not going to punish you for having an overactive imagination. But that doesn't mean you're out of the woods." Camilla said in a motherly yet firm tone.

"So…." Luz said with a slightly confused face.

"You're still to do your school work, and rather than doing a science project you are to write up an essay on the actual project and describe how it works, on top of your other classes." Camilla answered.

Luz nodded, knowing she needed to make it up to her mom and prove that she could still be responsible despite her recent antics at school. She walked up stairs and into her bedroom, she left her bag on the floor and closed her door, a small tear welled up in her eye, she didn't enjoy letting her mom down. But she knew she was going to do her best with this report, she took out one of Eric's science text books and started reading it on her chair. Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. Luz heard her phone vibrate on her table, she reached over and picked it up, it was Eric. She answered the phone.

"Hey Eric." Luz said setting the phone between her shoulder and head.

"Hey Luz, how's things?" Eric asked, clearly knowing the answer but used the typical on phone greetings.

"Oh, you hadn't heard?" Luz asked with a hint of sarcasm and genuine surprise.

"Yeah, yeah I heard." Eric said plainly.

"Dude, I didn't mean for things to get so out of hand. I just wanted to make my book report presentation more interesting." Luz said in a frustrated voice.

"I mean, it was certainly interesting, so interesting we had few in my science class." Eric said with a slight laugh in his voice.

"This isn't funny Eric, I really screwed up." Luz said with sadness in her voice, Eric was almost sure there was potentially a tear.

"So what's the plan now?" Eric asked.

"Well, I've got to turn my science project into a report. So at least that should be simple enough." Luz said taking a sip from her can of soda.

"If you want I could come around in a while and help out?" Eric offered.

"Nah, I appreciate the offer Eric but I need to do this myself." Luz said firmly.

"Well you know if you need help I'm not exactly far." Eric said in a cheery voice.

"Thanks, I'm going to get going now, I'm gonna need to dive into this head first if I'm going to have this done by Wednesday. Come up tomorrow if you want?" Luz offered in a more happy voice.

"Sure, can swing by. If you're on a break from your report we could watch a show or something." Eric Suggested.

"Sounds good, See ya tomorrow." Luz said then quickly hanging up the phone.

"uh, see ya I guess." Eric said looking at his phone with a blank expression, turning to his desk and looking at the mess of web leakage. "Okay, now to clean this up before someone comes home." Eric said to himself.

For the remainder of the night and all day Tuesday Luz hammered away at her report, spending time studying, collecting notes from multiple tutorials and looking at different PDF books explaining relevant information. Eric came up for only half a hour before he had to go, typically as always he looked extremely tired and was struggling to stay wake watching one of Luz's Isekai anime shows, not out of boredom as the show itself wasn't too bad, more so due to his night time activities. He read the report, it was a solid piece of work, one or two corrections but for the most part Luz's work was impressive, especially since science wasn't her speciality as she was more interested in creative writing. The Wednesday Luz handed her report to Eric for him to deliver to the school, Mrs. Oldman was impressed with the work and gave Luz an A. Mrs. Old man even expected Eric of either helping her too much or doing it himself, but he refused and even stated that he was only at Luz's for half a hour during the Tuesday and went straight home on the Monday, so he couldn't have done luz's work. Eric called luz straight away and gave her the heads up, she probably would be ecstatic if it wasn't only ten thirty in the morning and she herself had stayed up all night and wanted to sleep in.

The school day went by fairly quick, Eric had is computing class which he excelled in, then his art class which was the opposite of how he operated, Eric knew nothing about art, never understood it, he liked fancy pictures but struggled with naming conventions and things. He rushed home to get washed and get changed, he noticed his mom wasn't in the home, his dad mentioned that she had gone to pick up Luz before they went for dinner. He wore a black suit, black tie and white shirt, probably a tad bit over dressed but Eric's dad was wearing similar so it worked out. Funny enough when Luz showed up she was wearing the same, black shirt, black tie and Eric noticed the cuff links when Luz fist bumped him, small rectangular shaped cufflinks with a Pink line at the top, purple in the middle and blue at the bottom. Eric knew Luz was Bisexual, she never exactly hid the fact she liked both boys and girls but most people always assume that others typically are hetero. "Good for her." Eric thought. "Good to see she's a bit more comfortable showing this." The thought continued as they climbed into the car, buckled themselves in and left.

The restaurant was a while away about a half hour drive to New Haven, Luz Looked out the window, watching all the cars going by. She always enjoyed playing a small mental game, she'd pick one out specifically and write up a whole back story about the family and where they were from and where they were going in her head. She saw a green Volkswagen golf being driven by a young lady, definitely in her teens, maybe two, three years older than her. She imagined that the person in the Volkswagen leaving home after a family dispute, away to start a new life elsewhere, free of troubles and able to do anything she wanted. How Luz wanted such freedom, sadly if in the real world things don't work out like that usually, but why would she want to run away? Her mom, her only family would miss her, no, Luz couldn't do such a thing, but the prospect of this summer camp she was being sent to sat uneasy with her.

"So, you kids heard the news?" Eric's dad said trying to strike up a conversation.

"Only person that keeps up with the news is Eric, he actually borrows the teachers' newspapers." Luz said with a small grin and a slight mocking voice whilst looking at Eric.

"Oh what, like there's a problem with reading the news?" Eric stated in confused voice.

"Not from the newspapers, I got a bit of news to drop on you two. Take a guess who I saw today. Mr Neil said with a smile on his face.

"I don't know, That guy who used to be an astronaut, the one with the podcast?" Luz asked.

"JJJ Jr? Nah, ain't him." Eric's dad said with a slight chuckle in his voice.

"Then who is it?" Eric asked confused.

"Spider-Man." Eric's dad answered.

"Not just the Original Spiderman by the way, the second one as well, with the black and red suit." He followed up.

"Whoa, what happened?" Eric and Luz said in sync.

"Nothing much, I was doing some data entry and was chatting with one of my colleagues and he pointed out the two of them outside standing on a rooftop across the street and down a little. At first I thought it was a couple kids doing Tiktoks or whatever but then saw them swing across the street and out of sight. When they're swinging it's like a blur." Eric's dad explained.

"What about the new one?" Eric asked.

"Didn't see the new kid, I mean seeing two of them is lucky enough." Eric's dad answered.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy that we have not one, but three superheroes protecting like that" Eric said, excitedly.

"I know, right? It's like out of a comic book or something," Luz added, still in awe.

Eric's dad continued to talk about the different superhero sightings he had witnessed over the years, but Luz's mind was elsewhere. She wondered what it would be like to have superpowers, to be able to swing through the city like Spider-man.

After a few more minutes of driving, they finally arrived at the restaurant. It was a large, elegant building with a sign out front that read "Danny Francesco's." Eric's mom insisted on taking a picture of Eric and Luz in front of the restaurant before they went inside. Eric and Luz shrugged and walked in front of the sign, made an overly excited gesture pointing at the sign, Eric the same pose. "Okay another." Eric's mom stated. As Eric took off his glasses to clean them he felt the ground leave his feet as Luz picked him up in a bridal position. "Give some warning at least" Eric chuckled. "Eh, this is funnier." Snap and flash, Eric's mom took another photo with her camera. "Okay one more." Eric's mom stated again. "Awh, come on mom." Eric groaned, being put down back on his feet. "Yeah Veronica, kids are hungry." Eric's dad said copying Eric's lack of enthusiasm. "Oh, fine. We can get another at the table." Eric's mom said walking towards the restaurant with Luz and Eric and Eric's dad following in tow.

The restaurant was a high-end establishment, and as they walked in, the ambiance was immediately noticeable. Soft lighting and elegant decorations adorned the place, and the scent of freshly cooked meals filled the air. They were greeted by the maître d' who showed them to their table.

Eric's mom took out her phone and snapped a picture of Luz and Eric, beaming with pride as she did so. "You both look so grown up," she said, showing the photo to Eric and Luz.

Eric's dad handed out the menu to everyone, and they took their time perusing the many options available. Luz's eyes widened as she saw some of the dishes on offer, never having been to such an upscale restaurant before.

As they waited for their meal, Eric's dad continued to regale them with stories of his work at the office, while Eric's mom listened attentively. Luz joined in on the conversation, asking questions and showing genuine interest in what Eric's dad had to say.

As the meal progressed, they enjoyed each other's company, laughing and chatting, and sampling the various courses on offer. The restaurant's sommelier came over and recommended a wine to go with their meal, and Eric's mom and dad decided to try it.

Towards the end of the meal, Eric's mom cleared her throat, the others at the table's attention. "I have some exciting news to share," she said, a twinkle in her eye.

Eric and Luz looked at each other curiously, wondering what it could be. Eric's mom continued, "Eric, due to your grades being wobbly you almost messed up a life changing opportunity, but after someone from a high up place gave a phone call to your school you weren't selected based off your grades, instead your science project was enough, so, you've been selected for the Parker Industries Education Experience."

Eric's dad chimed in, "That means you'll be going to Manhattan for a week. It's a fantastic opportunity."

Luz looked confused, no Idea what a P.I.E.E was she asked ""So, what exactly is this Parker Industries Education Experience?" she asked.

Eric smiled, eager to explain. "The P.I.E.E is a program that only selects 100 students from across the country. They fly you out to a residential building they own, where you'll be staying for a week, working on projects" he began.

Luz listened intently as Eric continued. "Parker Industries is a major player in the field of science. They focus on a variety of areas such as cybersecurity, health and wellbeing, education, and robotics," he explained.

"The previous year's theme was based on software programming, and students were given the opportunity to work on projects related to that. At the end of the week, you get to take your project home, and there's even the potential to be given a scholarship after high school graduation." Eric added.

Luz was impressed. "That sounds amazing! No wonder you're excited about it," she said.

Eric nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, it's a huge opportunity for me. And I'm really grateful to have been chosen," he replied.

Luz smiled in response. "I'm happy for you, Eric. It sounds like you'll learn a lot and have fun while doing it," she said.

Eric beamed. "Thanks, Luz. And don't worry, I'll still keep in touch while I'm away," he promised.

"Wait a second, if you knew this year's theme was going to be about robotics why didn't you attempt something like that for your science project?" Luz asked Eric.

"The program I made was something that I've been wanting to do for a while and it's been something that I've chipped away in some of my spare time so I figured I might as well roll it into Ms. Oldman's science project presentation." Eric said shrugging his shoulders.

As Eric's mom paid the bill, Eric and Luz stepped out of the restaurant and into the cool evening air. They walked side by side, taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling city. As they walked, Luz kept her head down, lost in thought. Eric could tell that something was bothering her, but he didn't want to push her to talk about it. He decided to change the subject instead.

"So, tell me more about this summer camp," Eric said, trying to sound interested.

Luz sighed. "It's just some stupid camp my mom signed me up for. She thinks it'll help me think more inside the box or something. But I don't want to go. It's going to be so boring, and I'll be away from everyone I know for three months."

"I'm sorry, Luz," Eric said sympathetically. "That sounds really rough."

Luz shrugged. "It's whatever, I guess. I just wish I could stay here and hang out with you goof off."

Eric noticed that Luz looked really unhappy about the camp. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll come and visit you while you're there, okay?"

Luz looked up and smiled. "Really? That would be amazing. That'd be so cool."

"Of course," Eric said. "I'll make sure you don't get too bored without me around."

Luz giggled. "Thanks, Eric. You're the best."

As they turned the corner, they saw Eric's dad pacing back and forth on the phone, and Eric's mom waiting by the car.

"I should probably get going," Eric said reluctantly. "But I'll text you when I get home, okay?"

Luz nodded. "Okay. Thanks for everything, Eric. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Eric said with a smile. "I'll see you soon."

As Eric got into the car, he couldn't help but feel a little sad that he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with Luz before he left for the P.I.E.E program. But he was determined to make the most of the time they had left.

As they drove back home, Eric's mom and dad discussed the delicious food they had just eaten, while Eric and Luz chatted quietly in the back seat.

Eventually, they arrived back at Luz's house. Eric's dad dropped her off, and Eric and Luz took a short walk around the block before saying their goodbyes.

"Thanks for tonight, Eric," Luz said, giving him a small smile. "It was really fun."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Eric said. "And remember, I'll come and visit you at camp. You won't be alone."

Luz smiled. "Thanks, Eric. You're the best."

As Eric's dad honked the horn, Luz gave Eric a quick hug and hurried back towards her house.

Eric watched her go, feeling a little wistful. He knew that he was going to miss her a lot when he was away at the P.I.E.E program. But he also knew that they would stay in touch, and that they would always be there for each other, no matter what.

The following day Eric sprinted home from school, bobbing and weaving out of the way past people, he contemplated on yard hopping but opted against doing that, it would look bad and he wasn't in the mood to be dealing with being yelled at by his parents. As soon as he got into his house he sprinted upstairs and started packing his bags.

Eric was on his knees, packing clothes into his duffel bag as Luz leaned against the door frame. He could feel her gaze on his back, but he didn't turn around to look. The silence between them was palpable, and Eric knew he had to break it.

"You know, those cufflinks were really cool," Eric said, his voice slightly muffled by the clothes.

Luz's eyes widened, and she looked down at her wrists, where the cufflinks in question were still fastened. They were a simple design, just the bisexual pride colors in a stripe down the centre, but Luz had been so proud of them when she found them online.

"Thanks," Luz said, smiling softly. "I thought they were pretty cool too."

Eric zipped up his bag and stood up, turning to face Luz. "You know, I'm really going to miss you this week," he said, taking a step closer to her.

Luz's smile faded, and she looked down at her feet. "Yeah, I'm going to miss you too," she said quietly.

Eric wanted to tell her the truth, to let her in on his secret, but the words stuck in his throat. He didn't want to burden her with the weight of his responsibility, not when she was already going through a tough time.

"Hey, let's not be too down," Eric said, trying to lighten the mood. "I'll bring you back a souvenir from New York."

Luz looked up at him, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "You better," she said, punching him lightly in the arm. "Okay," Luz said, stepping back. "Be safe."

"I will," Eric promised, grabbing his bag and heading for the door. "See you soon."

As he walked out of the room, Eric couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. He wanted to tell Luz everything, to let her in on his secret, but he knew he couldn't. Not yet, anyway. He had to keep his identity a secret, not just for his own safety, but for the safety of those he cared about.

Eric took a deep breath and shook off the feeling, reminding himself that he was doing the right thing. This was a once in a life time opportunity, and he'd make sure to do his best to make everyone proud.

Luz sat in her bedroom, surrounded by the piles of clothes she had taken out of her closet for the trip. She wasn't looking forward to the camp, she had always been the one to have an active imagination, some might describe it as "overactive" but such a term never sat well with someone who wanted to be a writer. But her mom had signed her up for the camp in hopes of helping her think inside the box the box and become more focused.

Eric had left only a little over two hours ago, and she knew he would still be getting settled in at the Parker Industries Campus. She couldn't help but feel envious of him. He had the opportunity to attend such a prestigious program, and she was going to a camp that was supposed to tame children's and young teenagers' imaginations. She only had her mom since her dad died, and she knew that her mom was just trying to help. She wanted to make her proud, but she didn't know how.

Luz tried to distract herself by comfort reading "The Good Witch Azura" books. She had read them dozens of times, but they never failed to soothe her. She knew that they were just books, but she found solace in their fantastical world.

As she read, she started to doze off, the book sliding out of her hand and onto the bed. Times weren't just changing for her friend; little did Luz know that tomorrow would be the beginning of her adventure. She would be thrown into a world of challenges, excitement, and new friendships. She would discover things about herself she never knew existed, and she would come out stronger on the other side.