The next day Luz is preparing to go to school as usual, but she wasn't happy as always; on the contrary, she seemed rather dejected. Evidently she would have very much liked to avoid any place where there was the possibility of meeting Boscha, Skara and above all Amity, but despite that se didn't even think for a moment of asking Eda to let her stay at home; she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of making her skip school two days in a row. So, albeit more slowly and with less enthusiasm than usual, she put on her now clean uniform again and ate her breakfast early in the morning.
Gus and Willow as usual reached into her pocket to accompany her; Eda had told them that the magical amulets wouldn't be ready until the afternoon, so they had no reason to wait at home. They also didn't want to leave Luz alone, and she almost certainly wouldn't want to try to go to school on her own. Matt emerged from his terrarium and wondered if perhaps he should accompany them too, but then he decided it wasn't worth it and went back to sleep.
Luz walked towards school briskly, as if she was in a hurry to get there... or rather, as if she was in a hurry to get off the road before something convinced her to go somewhere else. Gus and Willow knew that if the puppet didn't trust herself before, she certainly trusted herself a lot less now. Fortunately there were no problems along the way, but when she arrived in front of the school Luz saw three people she knew very well in the courtyard, and as soon as she saw them her blood seemed to boil.
Amity, Skara and Boscha were sitting on a low wall in front of the building, looking towards the street as if they were waiting for it. Amity looked different than usual: sure, she still maintained a posture and bearing worthy of a queen, but now her back was slightly curved and her hair wasn't perfectly symmetrical as usual, as if that morning she hadn't paid much attention to fix them because her mind was in another place. Luz found the change rather strange. The others were a little different too: Skara was clearly nervous, which was demonstrated by the amount of sweat she was losing, and Boscha, despite continuing to maintain her haughty attitude, also had a strange light in her eyes.
Luz was tempted to go the long way around to avoid him, but she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing she now feared them, so she continued on her way. As soon as she was close enough Amity got up first and stood in front of her. The two girls looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and Amity felt the guilt grow stronger as she lost herself in the puppet's furious and resentful eyes. Luz had always had eyes full of joy, which inspired confidence and courage; Amity could hardly believe that those same encouraging eyes could become so intimidating. "Hi, Luz..."
"What do you want, Amity?" Luz asked without even saying hello.
Amity shivered; it was the first time he had heard so much venom in Luz's voice. She gathered her courage and said: "I just wanted to tell you that... I'm sorry. I didn't want what happened to happen... but that prank we played on you was also really bad and you didn't deserve it. I acted like a bitch"
"We all acted like bitches, actually" Skara said walking to Amity's side. She hadn't been scolded by Lilith in the same way as her friend, but she hadn't needed it: even if she had initially been in favor of that joke, after seeing Luz's reaction she had completely changed her mind. After all, Amity had gotten hurt and Luz had had a nervous breakdown: it couldn't be said that their actions had been good. The quick look of anger and disgust that Lilith had given them when Amity had revealed everything to her had been the final blow: Skara had spent the whole night awake thinking about what had happened, and when Amity had declared her intention to apologize to Luz, she found herself totally agreeing.
Boscha let out a snort. "Yes, that's what they say. We did something wrong and we're sorry" she said, then she turned away immediately afterwards.
But despite the three girls' apologies, Luz's furious gaze didn't change. "Did you wait for me to apologize?"
Amity nodded albeit with a bit of uncertainty. "Well ... yes..."
"Good, now you've done it. Leave me alone now, I have to go to class" the puppet said, and she walked past them and without even looking back entered the school. Amity tried to call her back, but Luz ignored her.
The day continued as usual: Luz followed the lesson without a hitch, taking notes and underlining some sentences in her books. Every now and then she felt stares at him from the desks of Skara, Boscha, and Amity; when she turned the first two pretended they had never looked at her, but the third on the contrary didn't hide and clearly showed a look of sorrow. But despite this, the only reaction Amity got from Luz was a snort of indifference before the puppet's gaze returned to focus on the teacher.
As class ended, Luz began to put her books back in her schoolbag, when Amity approached her again, followed shortly by Skara and Boscha. "Luz..."
"What do you still want?" the puppet replied sourly. "You wanted to apologize, you did. You can calm down that little trace of remorse that you have the courage to call your conscience and go back to believing that you did the right thing. Ultimately, I'm the bitch who doesn't accept apologies, right? That's what you'll tell yourselves, right?"
Amity swallowed and felt guilt tear at her heart as if it were an expert torturer. Luz's every word seemed to pour molten lead into her chest. "Luz, I know you're angry and you have every reason to be. We did a really bad thing. But we're really sorry. I don't know how to say it, I've never really apologized to anyone before..."
"Who knows why, it doesn't surprise me at all. But either way, I don't care. If you've never apologized to someone before, then still don't, because I don't care about your apologies anyway!" Luz retorted, her voice shaking slightly, before grabbing her stuff and quickly walking out of the classroom.
Amity stood still with an idiotic expression. It wasn't just guilt... she felt like Luz's simple refusal to listen to her apologies was wearing her down from the inside out. She couldn't remember ever feeling so hurt. She probably would have stayed staring at the wall for a long time if Boscha's voice hadn't woken her up: "Maybe we should stop"
Amity stared at her with fiery eyes: among the three of them, Boscha was the only one who hadn't shown the slightest sign of repentance. "Why?" she growled. "Because she is the bitch who won't accept apologies? Is that what you think!?"
"Calm the boiling spirits. I've never said anything like that" Boscha replied with a strange seriousness in her voice, unusual for her. "Regardless of our personal opinions on the matter, whether or not to accept our apology is Luz's choice alone. We cannot force her to do so. She has made it clear that she no longer wants to talk with us; it would be appropriate to respect her wish"
Amity opened her mouth to reply, but she quickly closed it again. Incredible to say, what Boscha had just said was absolutely rational and true: she had no right to continue apologizing if Luz herself had told her not to. Continuing would be selfish, just as Amity's motives for playing that horrible prank had been selfish. If she truly wanted to make amends, then respecting Luz's choice to no longer speak to her was also part of the package.
Skara scratched her head. Unlike Boscha, she seemed decidedly sadder about the matter, but she fully agreed with her partner in crime: "Amity, I'd also like to be able to really apologize to Luz... but if she doesn't want to, we can't force her to listen to us. Let's leave her alone for today, we'll try again tomorrow when maybe she's calmed down a bit"
It would have been the most rational thing to do... but strangely for once Amity had no intention of following rationality. "I want to give it another try"
"Why?" Boscha asked her. "You already know that she will chase you away in a bad way. Why do you want..."
"Because I don't want to lose her friendship!" Amity exclaimed in one breath, clenching her fists tightly.
Boscha and Skara raised an eyebrow and looked at each other. Amity had never fought to defend a friendship; in fact, she had never even seemed interested in maintaining a friendship at all. They had often been in doubt about what the word friendship meant to Amity; even though over time the three of them had become inseparable, both Skara and Boscha felt that Amity was still on a pedestal above them, a completely different rank. They wondered if she would want to fight for them the same way she was fighting for Luz. "Okay. But this will be the last try, after that I'm going home" Boscha blurted out with a bit of jealousy in her voice.
That was enough for Amity, so they quickly exited the school and followed the route they knew Luz would take, and sure enough, they found her there heading towards her house. When she saw them, the puppet seemed to explode: "You again!? Do you understand that I don't want to hear your false apologies!?"
"Luz, please! Just listen to me for a second!" Amity exclaimed. "I know you don't trust us and you have every right to, but we really are..."
"Don't try to say you're really sorry!" Luz stopped her. "I don't believe it! You can't be sorry! People who trample on others for their own personal interest can't be sorry!". Her body trembled with anger and a few tears formed in her eyes. "I thought you were my friends, but it was all an act, right? You used me when you realized that having me, the school's living puppet, in your group would help make you even more popular, and then when you decided that I was becoming a nuisance, you threw me away! It's easy to throw away an object, right?"
Amity opened her mouth in horror at those words, and Boscha and Skara's faces also showed dismay. That wasn't what had happened at all... they had enjoyed the puppet's company. But Luz was probably now seeing the whole situation terribly distorted because of what they had done. "Luz, I assure you, it didn't happen like that at all! We didn't..."
"It didn't happen like that at all? So you claim that I'm not an object, Amity? That I'm not just a puppet?" Luz growled.
Amity didn't have to think very hard to understand where these questions were coming from, and she cursed herself when the memory of what she had said to her at the beach resurfaced in her mind. Damn, why had she said such mean things? "Luz, I..."
"I'M NOT A REAL GIRL!" Luz screamed making everyone jump, even Gus and Willow in her pocket. By now the puppet was crying visibly, but nevertheless she didn't stop saying in a voice full of venom: "This is what you wanted to hear from the starts, right? Well, there you finally can hear it! I'm not a real girl and I never will be! I hope that you are happy now that you finally made me say it!" and after shouting that, she turned and ran away faster than she had ever run in her life, leaving the three girls speechless and motionless in the street.
Luz ran until she reached a nearby park; there she sat down on a bench and put her face in her hands, sobbing profusely. Willow and Gus peeked out of her pocket; they had heard and observed everything, and now both had a look of pity on their faces. "Luz, are you okay...?"
"Go away" Luz whispered. "Please, I want... I want to be alone for a while. Come home, I'll meet you there"
"Luz, I don't think this is a good idea..." Willow tried to say.
But the puppet sniffed and shook her head violently. "Please… I really need to be alone"
Her tone was so subtle it sounded like a plea. Willow and Gus looked at her indecisively, but then they nodded and the cricket grabbed the spider and flew away. Luz remained alone in the little park and sank her head between her knees, letting go of all the anger, disappointment and resentment accumulated in a silent cry. Willow and Gus, who were actually only a few meters away and were hiding in a nearby tree, felt thrir hearts broken to see her like that. "Poor Luz. She is really hurt" Gus commented.
Willow let out a half-sob, then she exclaimed: "I've had enough! Now I go to give those three bitches a damn!"
"Wait, Willow!" Gus told her. The cricket expected the spider to want to stop her, but instead he said to her: "Take me with you. I want to scold her properly too!"
Tomorrow, to everyone's joy, you will be able to start loving Amity again. Consider it my present. Merry Christmas to all of you!