The two remaining weeks of the summer break had passed unnoticed and now Luz was getting ready for the first day of seventh grade. This time was probably the first time she was excited about school because she would be there with friends and finally get to meet Anne and Marcy's other friend named Sasha, but first she had to get out of bed. Luz wasn't a fan of school uniforms because she liked to express herself with the clothes she wore, but the uniform was mandatory for the dress code of the school. Another thing Luz didn't like was that it was the girls had to wear skirts, not shorts or jeans, and she never liked skirts because she found them uncomfortable. She put on her faded purple skirt and a gray t-shirt with the school logo and a collar the color of the skirt. She also decided to get a gray hoodie with the school logo on it in case it got cold. Luz came downstairs to get breakfast and saw her aunt making an egg omelet. Luz had started to see her aunt less and less and couldn't talk to her much, and she had a few things to ask her.

''Good morning Luz, do you like omelettes?" greeted Tara. ''If not I'll make you something else.''

Luz pulled out one of the chairs on the table to sit down. ''Don't worry, I love omelets. And good morning to you as well. By the way, where's Vee?''

''She's still in her room.'' Tara said hesitantly. ''Uh... she has... online classes. She's studying online.''

Luz thought about what would be the best way to ask the question. ''I talked to my mom a few days ago and told her about Vee...'' when she heard that Tara tensed up. ''She told me that I don't have a cousin named Vee.''

''Did I say cousin?'' her aunt said with an awkward smile. ''She's my er... adopted daughter? Yes, she's my adopted daughter.''

Luz didn't notice the nonchalance in her voice and asked something else. ''By the way, what are you working on? Once when I was passing by your office, I saw that you were researching some runes.''

''I find and research artifacts.'' Tara said with the same uncertainty, though what she said was somewhat true. ''Then I give them to the museum and that's how I put food on the table.''

''Is that why you're gone all day?

''Yes, I go to caves or places all day... and look for artifacts!'' Tara put the omelet she just made into a plate and placed it in front of Luz. ''Now eat while I make you something for lunch.''

Luz again didn't notice the uncertainty in her voice and happily started eating her omelet while her aunt prepared lunch. After eating breakfast, Luz took her backpack and put the lunch made by her aunt.

''Thanks for the breakfast and lunch, say good morning to Vee for me!" said Luz happily and left the kitchen.

Tara sighed in relief. She hated and wasn't good at lying. She went to Vee's room and knocked on the door then opened it. ''Vee, just so you know, you're my adopted daughter now!

Luz walked out of the house and looked around. She saw Anne coming lazily towards her and started waving her hand. Anne waved her hand back.

''Hey Anne what are you doing here?" asked Luz a little confused.

''I'm going to school, I'm passing by your aunt's house because it's on my way.'' said Anne sleepily. ''I'm usually going to school accompanied by Marcy because she lives a few houses away from here.''

The girls set off for school with Marcy joining them on the way. Marcy and Luz talked about the Azura books Marcy had read in less than two weeks, which impressed Luz quite a bit. During this time Anne rubbed her eyes sleepily in an attempt to fully wake up. When they got there, Sasha was already there, looking at her phone. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, her uniform was just like Luz and Anne's only instead of pale purple it was pink. On top of her uniform she wore a jean jacket. She looked away from her phone and turned to them with a smile. Marcy nearly knocked her to the ground with a hug, Anne came after her and joined in the embrace.

''I missed you girls too.'' Sasha chuckled and turned to face Luz. ''So you're the Luz that Anne and Marcy were telling me about.'' Sasha extended her hand in a friendly manner. ''Nice to meet you.'' Luz accepted her hand and they shook hands, then Sasha continued. ''Do you want to go to the mall after school? We still need to catch up from her summer to get to know Luz if she wants to join the trio. Then I actually think we won't be a trio anymore, but a quartet? We'll think about it later.''

Luz was frozen in place for a moment as she read, but then her eyes lit up. ''Are you really thinking it? I've never been part of a friend group before.'' Sasha nodded and smiled back at her.

''Hey Sash, I won't be able to be out for a long time after school.'' Anne looked down and scratched her neck nervously. ''I want to study a bit more this year and not have you make me run away from classes, I don't want to disappoint my parents and-''

''So you'd rather stay at home reading useless stuff you probably won't even need instead of coming to the mall with us? Sasha didn't sound angry, she sounded like a disappointed parent. ''Anne, we haven't seen each other in two months and you don't even want us to go out for a bit? You could have just said you didn't want us to be friends anymore.'' Sasha closed her eyes insultingly and turned her back. She had venom in her voice.

''No I-I Sash, I didn't mean it.'' Anne stuttered, trying to form her thought. ''I just don't want to disappoint my parents and, I want us to be friends but-''

''Anne listen, you're coming with us. End. The Discussion.'' Sasha said in a stern tone. Her words shot Anne in place.

Anne looked down sharply, sweat began to form on her forehead. ''A day out won't hurt.'' she said as she tried to hide the trembling in her voice. ''I have a whole school year after all.''

Sasha looked at her and smiled victoriously. ''That's right Anne, that's my girl.'' the bell for the start of classes would ring. ''I'm going to class now, I don't want my math teacher lecturing me again because I'm late.'' Sasha walked into the school as if nothing had happened.

The three other girls followed her into the building. Luz noticed that Marcy didn't say anything throughout the conversation, just looked away uncomfortably. Anne walked with her head down. It didn't seem right to her, but then again she never had any friends so it was probably normal. Sure arguments happened sometimes, but that was part of friendship after all, everyone couldn't always get along. Luz had English with Anne and the two girls headed to one of the classrooms. Anne didn't say a word on the way. When they entered the room Anne headed for the furthest back desk followed by Luz who sat next to her.

''Are you alright?" whispered Luz.

Anne shoved her gaze into her notebook to avoid meeting Luz's gaze. ''Yeah, it's fine, sometimes Sasha is like that, but otherwise she's a really good friend, she's always protected me and Marcy from bullies.'' Anne whispered back. Her voice sounded kind of sad and still a little shaky, though she tried to hide it. ''I have to listen to the teacher and write notes in my notebook. Let me know if there's anything.'' The girl started to write a simplified version of what was written on the board in her notebook. Luz decided to do the same.

The teacher explained something meaningful for exactly 10 minutes and then started explaining why she hated Justin Bieber for the rest of the lesson. It was safe to say that no one learned almost anything meaningful. She met Marcy at the lockers and the two went to their next class. The time passed unnoticed until it was time for PE. Luz had never been into sports and it was safe to say she had never liked PE. Especially if playing dodge ball or doing laps. Her weak nerd arms couldn't throw the ball hard enough or far enough to hit anyone and she was always the first target because the others liked to bully her and during a game they could justify it by just trying to eliminate someone on the other team. They always used a lot of unnecessary force to bring down the person they hit. The laps were even worse for her because after the first 80 meters, it felt like her lungs had caught fire and her legs were going to give out at any moment.

Unfortunately for her, they were going to do laps. On the bright side, the other three girls would be with her and the time would go by faster. Marcy couldn't run like her and she and Luz would stay behind at the end while Anne and Sasha passed further ahead.

''How... are they doing that!" asked Luz between rapid breaths. ''If I had to run for my life I'd be dead by now!

''Me too.'' replied Marcy between wheezes. ''Sasha is the captain of the cheerleaders and she's pretty tough, Anne practices tennis. You should see her, she moves like lightning in the field!''

''I have to get through this alive first.'' Luz said out of breath.

They heard footsteps coming behind them and Anne's voice. ''Hey girls. How are you?''

''How did you end up here!'' Luz stopped for a moment and hunched over to catch her breath. Marcy stumbled in front of her and fell on her face, not bothering to get up.

''I finished the first lap and decided to catch up with you.'' Anne said, only a little out of breath.

Marcy got up from the ground on her knees. ''Should we be doing more than one lap?! Nope, leave me here and bury me, tell my story.''

''Not going to happen. No one is dying.'' Anne grabbed Marcy by her t-shirt and pulled her to her feet. ''You've only got two more laps, now let's get going before Coach gets us all screwed.''

The lunch break bell rаng before they finished the third lap. Everyone went to the changing room, all covered in sweat. After changing the four girls went to the cafeteria and sat at one of the available tables. They started to exchange food and talk. Luz found difficulty with having a casual conversation with Sasha. She got along very well with Anne and Marcy, but Sasha was different. Luz was still trying to figure out what type of student or person Sasha was. She was definitely one of the popular girls, but she wasn't the type to bully kids, but she didn't seem to be the friendliest either. She also seemed to be the 'leader' of the friend group.

''So Sasha, what do you do in your free time?" asked Luz. ''I haven't gotten to know you very well yet.''

''Oh you know, the usual stuff, going to the mall, checking social media posts, watching crappy TV shows and playing games.'' replied Sasha, not even looking her in the eyes. 'You?'

''I watch anime, play video games, read...''

''So that's why you get along so well with Marcy.'' Sasha interrupted her.

''Yeah we have a lot of similar interests.'' Luz said uncertainly. Sasha didn't seem very interested in her. Am I doing something wrong?

''Speaking of reading...'' Marcy chimed in. ''Do you have any theories about the Good Witch Azura's sixth book? Because I do! In my opinion, the wizard who trained Azura is evil and all he wants to do is conquer the world.''

''I think so too.'' Luz said excitedly. ''He seems too friendly and it was very suspicious when he once started talking to himself...''

For the rest of the lunch break, Marcy and Luz talked with Anne occasionally including a dumb comment while Sasha scrolled through social media. The remaining few hours passed unnoticed until they came to History class. Luz felt like she was going to fall asleep at any moment and the teacher's lazy explanation of the lesson in the most boring way possible wasn't helping. Anne was sitting next to her taking notes, but Luz could see that Anne wasn't interested at all.

The school bell finally rang and the school day was over. They had to go out the front entrance because Sasha and Marcy were waiting for them there. Anne and Luz gathered their things and headed to their lockers to put some stuff in them. Luz saw that there was some group of kids leaning against their lockers.

''Excuse me? Could you guys please move a little?" asked Luz as he tried to sound polite.

The group was a group of 5 - three boys and two girls. All five kids looked at her and smiled mischievously. A girl with ginger hair tied in two braids and a cap on her head walked forward and stood in front of Luz. ''Look at you. You must be the new kid right?

''Leave her alone Maggie, I don't want to deal with you right now.'' Anne said rudely and irritably.

''Oh hello, Boobchuy.'' said Maggie mockingly. ''How long have you been hiding in Sasha's shadow? Why did you come out now? You'd better go back there. That's where you belong.''

''I don't-'' Anne paused. ''Can we please just use our lockers?

A few of the other people in the group chuckled. Maggie's smile grew wider. ''What's up Boobchuy?'' she said in the same mocking tone. ''Can't you stand up for yourself when Sasha isn't here?'' Anne's expression changed, Maggie noticed. ''What happened, did I touch a nerve?''

Anne was fed up, her look went from annoyed to angry. She pushed Maggie off her locker with her shoulder, sending her to the ground. She quickly opened her locker and left her things inside. The others had backed away in surprise, Maggie didn't move from the ground. Anne didn't have to turn away. She had always just stood her ground and let them bully her.

''What do you think-''

Anne took a deep breath. ''Please let me and Luz alone.'' her voice was incredibly calm and firm. ''I really don't feel like dealing with people like you today.''

Everyone except Maggie, who was still on the ground, backed up a bit more. There was silence for a few seconds. Luz decided not to miss the opportunity and quickly opened his locker and put his things inside. She could feel the eyes of the others in the short time she had her back turned to them.

''Thanks.'' Anne said in a sarcastic and hollow tone, then grabbed Luz's hand. ''Come on Luz, the others must be waiting for us.'' Anne said with a softer voice.

Anne let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Luz could feel the looks of the others. When they got near the front exit of the school Anne let go of Luz's hand and took a deep breath. 'Jesus, I can't believe I did that!" she said and chuckled in disbelief. ''They didn't expect it at all. Did you see the look on their faces?''

''Yes, but why didn't they expect it?'' asked Luz in confusion. ''Shouldn't you expect that if you bully someone, they'll fight back?

Anne rubbed her neck awkwardly. ''I've never fought back, Sasha was always protecting me. They probably expect me to just be passive until Sasha saves me. I wanted to show that I can handle myself too.''

They walked out of the entrance and found Sasha and Marcy waiting for them on one of the small benches next to the flag with the school logo. Marcy was shoving a book from the ''Good Witch Azura'' series in Sasha's face while excitedly talking to her about something.

''You guys are finally here.'' Sasha said boredly when she saw them. ''What took you so long?

''Maggie started messing with us, but I handled it.'' Anne said with a bit of pride in her voice.

Sasha's expression changed to a bit worried, but then she put on her usual mask. ''I'll have a good talk with her when I see her again.'' she said coldly. ''I changed my mind. I don't feel like going to the mall today. We can go to our place or Anne's if she wants and we can do our homework there.''

''At my place is fine.'' Anne said. ''My parents are at the restaurant, I can probably make something to eat.''

''Okay. Did everyone get their stuff?'' Sasha asked. ''Marcy, where's your sweatshirt? ''

''Uh... I think I left it in the library?" said Marcy ashamedly and got a groan in response from Sasha.

After taking Marcy's sweatshirt from Lost and Found, they went to Anne's house. Domino, Anne's cat, greeted them at the door and started to nuzzle into Luz's legs. The girl immediately took a liking to the cat and started playing with it.

''She quite likes you.'' said Anne. ''She generally takes longer to make friends with someone, or she never makes friends with them. Still hates Sasha for no reason.''

''What am I supposed to do that he hates me?'' muttered Sasha angrily. ''I don't care about that, I prefer dogs more.''

The girls moved to Anne's room and took out their homework and written notes. Anne took a seat at her desk with Marcy, Sasha leaned against one of the sides of Anne's bed, and Luz laid down on the carpet. It was safe to say Luz had never had so much fun doing homework. Handing over random notes, asking random questions, Anne's paper airplanes, Marcy's rants about random stuff, and even Sasha's sarcastic comments or just generally having someone to rely on, someone to talk to, someone to fill the time with. It all felt somehow, unreal.

''Hey guys,'' Luz began. ''Thanks.''

Sasha got up from Anne's bed. ''For what?''

''For everything. For including me in your friend group, for wanting to spend time with me,'' Luz said. ''I've just never had anything like that. Thanks.''

''Please, the pleasure is ours.'' Sasha said. ''I don't know why no one wanted you, you have the potential to be a great troublemaker. I say that as a compliment.''

''And you're a great Creatures and Caverns player.'' added Marcy.

''And a generally cool person to hang out with.'' Anne added last. ''You don't have to thank us. Now who's going to tell me how to solve the math problem 12 on page 56?''

Luz came home later than usual, however, she didn't find Tara or Vee. She srugged, they were probably still out somewhere. She went up to her room and looked at her phone. There was a message from her mother. ''Call me when you get home.'' She dialed her mother's number and waited for her to pick up.

''Hey mija! How was your first day of school?" her mother asked.

''It went really well!" said Luz excitedly. ''I did my homework with my friends after school. Marcy and Anne introduced me to Sasha. She was a little harder to connect with, but I think I did it.''

''I'm glad to hear that, Luz.'' said Camilla. ''I also called you because I want to talk to you about something.''

''Did something happen?'' asked Luz anxiously.

''Not really.'' her mother began carefully. ''You know why we moved to Connecticut. We have some not so good memories from there and I was thinking, what if we start over?''

''What do you mean?'' Luz asked with worry in her voice.

''I've been thinking about moving to LA for a while now.'' her mother continued, choosing her words carefully. ''I can work there for better money and we'll live where your aunt lives because she's planning to move. She said LA isn't the best place for finding ancient artifacts. I sent you to your aunt because I wanted to see if you'd like it.''

''And where will Tara go?

''Connecticut.''

''What? What kind of artifacts will she be looking for in Connecticut?''

''She's going to investigate some urban legend.'' Camilla said. ''Two brothers disappeared a few centuries ago and there is a legend that a witch kidnapped them to another world. Or something like that. It'll take me, hopefully, a few months to move in so I can start work right away. But Luz, are you okay with my decision?''

''I'm starting to get used to it here, I'm going to miss some things about Connecticut, but I made friends here for the first time. It's going to be hard to leave them. Are you going to get my Azura posters and stuff?'' Luz asked.

''Of course. So you're okay with it?''

''Yes.''