Chapter 2
Luz and Amity were both on the ground now. Amity was holding Luz in her arms while she cried. "It's just a word" Luz repeated to herself on a loop inside of her head. No matter how many times she repeated it to herself, she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.
After around 3 minutes, Luz finally managed to contain her tears somewhat. As Amity helped Luz up, she realized she had no idea what to do to help. Amity had never experienced something like this. Homophobia was a nearly non existent concept on the boiling isles, even amongst its most hateful residents.
The events at school only seemed to make Luz more attached to Amity over her weekend in the boiling isles. It felt like Luz never let go of Amity's hand for the entire weekend, which didn't bother Amity one bit. What did bother her, however, was Luz's lack of energy and enthusiasm. All she wanted to do was sit around and be with Amity, much unlike her normally adventurous and energetic spirit.
Eventually, the weekend passed. Amity came with Luz to see her off, like she always did. Although this time, the kiss that the two normally exchanged was a lot longer. "I love you so much, sweet potato" Luz said as she stepped through the portal door. Amity felt nothing but heartbreak as she heard the sadness in her girlfriend's voice.
With the weekend behind her, Luz knew the inevitable had to happen. She had to return to school and risk more encounters with the girls who called her such a vile word. As Luz landed in the secure spot where nobody would notice her flying on stringbean, she began considering just flying back home and pretending to be sick. Forever.
Luz knew it was silly of her to get this worked up over some bullies. She had been bullied her entire life, she should be used to it. Heck, she had even been called the same word in the past when she tried wearing a bisexual pin to school. However, as Luz dismissed her idea of never showing up to school again and began walking to her college building, she had a realization. The slur upset her because it involved Amity.
Amity was Luz's vulnerability point. The crack in the armor Luz had built up throughout her entire life. Despite how long "Lumity" (as Gus called their relationship) had lasted, Luz still found herself unable to think straight around Amity. She still felt the same butterflies flying around in her stomach as when Amity first kissed her after the library incident.
It took Luz a second to realize she had arrived at her college building. She had been so lost in her own head that her surroundings became the least of her worries. Luz scanned the area, looking to see if anyone who would potentially torment her was around. When Luz saw no sign of Melanie or her parasitic, popularity leeching friends, she began walking up to the door.
Luz managed to go 2 periods without seeing the bullies. It was immediately after her second period that Luz's luck finally ran out. Standing right outside the classroom door was one blue haired, skinny, accessorized and popular Melanie Heart. Melanie's face went from a bored, neutral expression to a cocky smirk the second she noticed Luz finally exit the classroom.
"Oh hi there Luz! Long time no see!" Melanie said in her signature insincere tone. "We didn't get to finish talking yesterday! You just ran off! I'm glad I finally caught you!" Luz's lips folded into a frown and her eyes began to glare. Luz decided it would be a better idea to just leave the situation instead of the very mean spirited things on her mind. Luz sighed, looked down from Melanie, and began to just walk away.
Or at least, she tried. Not 3 seconds later did Luz find herself bumping into a wall of cloth and flesh, which revealed itself to be one of Melanie's allies when Luz looked up to see what impeded her progress. "Hey, where do you think you're going? I'm not done talking to you, Noceda." Melanie said in a fake friendly tone. Luz attempted to walk around the personality-less blonde, to no avail. She would simply side step along with Luz, much like a reflection.
Luz's attention was suddenly taken away from the girl in front of her by a girl behind her when a hand was placed on, and eventually dug into her shoulder. "So Luz, tell us more about this girlfriend of yours. Her name is Amity right?" The nails digging into Luz's shoulder and the voice berating her Luz's ears belonged to Melanie, who had snuck up on Luz while she tried to deal with Melanie's friend. "I'm quite curious about her actually. How much are you paying her? What type of secret do you have about her?"
Melanie's face remained still, the punchable smirk still worn across her face like a mask. Luz, already angry at Melanie, began to get even more angry. Her frown became more severe and her glare became even more narrow. Despite this, Luz still remained silent. "Come on Luz, I asked you a question. It's pretty rude to not answer." Before Luz could process what Melanie had just said, Melanie's hand was in Luz's pocket. Not even a second later, Luz's magic scroll phone was in Melanie's hands and being opened. Luz was paralyzed in fear. After the few seconds that felt like hours to Luz, she finally snapped back into reality and lunged at Melanie, the scroll being the only thing on her mind.
Melanie was never the captain of any teams, but she did play and thus was very physically capable. Melanie jumped back, causing Luz to stumble forward, grabbing only at the air where Melanie once stood. While Luz tried to regain her balance, Melanie had already found Luz's camera roll. What started out as a couple of snickers eventually became a full on howl as Melanie continued to swipe through Luz's pictures. Melanie's laughter continued for a few seconds, as Luz shouted at Melanie to give the scroll back. As if her voice had suddenly gone missing in the blink of an eye, the laughed stopped.
"Oh my god". Oh my god!" Melanie shouted. Luz couldn't tell what Melanie was looking at, but she knew it was bad. The friend who had been blocking Luz suddenly grabbed her arm, as kept her in place. This was to make sure that Luz couldn't do anything as Melanie began to show the photo she had shouted at to the crowd that had gathered around the commotion. The crowd started to murmur amongst themselves, with a couple of people laughing or even looking in disgust. It was when Melanie went to show people behind Luz that she realized what the photo was.
The photo contained what appeared to be a naked Amity, covered by a blanket, cuddling against a similarly naked but covered Luz. The picture had been taken directly after the pair had last had sex. Seeing the photo being shown to a crowd made Luz's heart sink faster than it ever had before. Luz simply stood silent for a second before she finally ripped her arm out of the grasp of Melanie's friend. As Melanie was still near Luz and not paying attention to her, Luz had the time to snatch the scroll out of her hand. Luz was already pushing through the crowd before Melanie had a chance to chase and reclaim the scroll.