Hi everyone.

Wow… I only had one chapter up, and already this story has over one hundred favs and follows. I'm both flattered and honored. Thank you, I did not expect this story to gain such a following so soon. But I am very eager to get this story started as many of you have been asking questions that I haven't been able to answer without delving into some pretty serious spoilers. All I can say regarding this story is that I have a plan in place and I'm hopeful that you will enjoy it.

Now, with that being said, let's get this chapter started as we're introduced to a certain quartet.

Restarting Over

A young woman with light brown skin, dark cyan eyes, and long braided, teal-colored hair had leapt backwards onto the stone ground. She was clad in a white and black dress with a yellow star on a purple yoke, with a white pointed hat and a gold coronet attached to it. She wielded her staff with a blue tear-dropped crystal at the tip as she faced the enormous monstrous snake that glared down at her with yellow eyes.

"Foolish child! I could swallow you whole!" The gigantic snake proclaimed as it hissed at her.

"Do not underestimate me, Gildersnake! For I am the Good Witch, Azura! Warrior of peace!" The witch named Azura said in a regal manner. "Now eat this, sucka!" She exclaimed as she wielded her staff like a shoulder-mounted rocket-launcher and fired multiple explosive blasts at the giant snake.

"No! My only weakness! Dying!" Gildersnake cried out before falling into the pit.

"Victory!" Azura declared. "And now… the world is at peace."

"Luz..?"

"Hmm? Who is there?" The witch took a battle stance. "Show yourself, foe!"

"Luz. Luz! Wake up!"

With a gasp, her eyes opened as Luz Noceda had woken up, having fallen asleep in the back of the car with the open book titled 'The Good Witch Azura' sitting in her lap.

"We'll be at your school any moment, now." Her mother, Camilla Noceda, told her as she was currently driving her car.

"Sorry… Mama…." Luz said tiredly as she rubbed her eyes. "Still not used to waking up this early…"

Luz Noceda was a thirteen-year-old Dominica-American girl with tan skin, light brown eyes, with short, dark brown hair kept in a slightly messy pixie-cut style. Her current attire consisted of a pair of black circular earrings, short-slaved, half-lavender and half-white t-shirt that also had a hoodie with cat ears, a pair of gray shorts with dark grey leggings that stretched to her ankles and white loafer sneakers.

Her mother, Camilla Noceda, was also Latina, with tank skin, brown eyes, and brown hair tied in a bun, while wearing a pair of red and black framed glasses. Her current attire was that of a veterinarian with primarily blue work clothes and white shoes.

Both mother and daughter were residents of Gravesfield, Connecticut. It seemed like a relatively small town at first glance, but it was also connected to the much larger city of Hartford, so much so that one could bike between the two in a timespan of ten minutes, minus any traffic issues of course.

"This is your first day of high school, Mija. You need to make a good impression here." Camilla told her.

"Don't suppose I can have some of your coffee to give me a jumpstart?" Luz asked jokingly.

"The last time you tried to drink coffee, you told me it tasted it like dirt." Her mother pointed out, causing Luz to wince as she remembered the bitter taste.

"It was just a joke…" Luz muttered as the car pulled up to their destination: Gravesfield High School. A two-story building with an old bell tower built onto the roof. Many other students were arriving for the first day of the Fall Semester, some were being dropped off by their parents, others took the bus.

"Now remember, I've got a late shift tonight." Camilla said to Luz. "You'll have to take the bus home and make yourself some dinner. There should be plenty of microwavable stuff at the house, I don't want you using the stove if I'm not there."

"Yeah, I know." Luz replied as she was about to step outside. "Thanks for the ride, Mom…"

"Oh, one more thing Luz." Camilla stopped her as she held out her open hand. "Hand over your Azura book."

"What? Why?" The girl asked in surprise. "I'm not gonna take it in class or anything!"

"No, but you're not going to be able to talk with some of the other kids if you burry yourself in the same book that you've read and finished for years." Camilla pointed out.

"It's a great story." Luz held the book closer to her.

Camilla sighed slightly before speaking to her daughter. "Luz, this is your first day at a brand-new school. It's a chance to start over and make some friends."

"Unless some of the kids from middle school also ended up here…" She muttered, looking away slightly with reluctance.

"But there will be some kids you don't know and now is a chance to get to know them." Camilla encouraged with a smile. "Maybe they may be into some of the things that you are, and perhaps you might take interest in whatever they like doing. This is an opportunity for you to step out of your comfort zone and try new things with new people. You can't stay in your fantasy world forever."

Luz knew there was never any chance of winning an argument with her mother, so with great reluctance, she handed her the book that she treasured so much and opened the door to step outside, hoisting her backpack up.

"You have your lunch, right? I don't want you eating anything out of this cafeteria until I know what they serve." Camilla said. "Be sure to ask for a copy of the menu if you can."

"I got it, and I will." Luz replied.

"I'll see you tonight then, Mija. I love you." Camilla blew her daughter a kiss before driving off.

Luz then stood in the courtyard of the high school. Despite there being several other students around her, she felt completely isolated as she gazed up at the tall building. She heard all kinds of things about high school, all the harder classes, and the hard-core jocks, some might end up hitting on her, and being looked at by complete strangers in such a manner didn't make her all that comfortable. But then again, she also doubted it, as many of the kids at her old middle school told her… who'd want to hang out with a weirdo like her? Even if none of the people from her middle school were at this school, she still didn't know anybody. Maybe she could just say 'hi' to some people but keep her head down for the most part and see what happens. She tried to be open about her interests at middle school, all she got from it was just people calling her names. So, maybe it was time to keep a low profile and work her way from there.

'Let's get this over with.'

But right before she could even think about walking forward, something hard and fast had suddenly struck her in the side and knocked her to the ground.

"Ow!" She felt her side and looked up to see that it was a bicycle that had rammed into her.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" The girl who was riding the bike quickly got off and helped her to her feet. "I wasn't paying attention! Are you okay?!"

"Eh… yeah. I'm alright." Luz said in a slight groan as she stood up fully and got a good look at the girl in front of her.

She was a Thai-American teenager with light brown skin, messy auburn hair, and dark brown eyes. She currently wore a light blue T-shirt with a white cat face in the middle of it. She also wore a short purple skirt with white socks and yellow sneakers, as well as a blue bike helmet that had a sticker on it that read 'I love my cat' with a heart in place of the word 'love'.

"Are you sure?" The girl asked Luz. "I don't need to call an ambulance or anything?"

"Nope, still in one piece. I got skin of steel." Luz said as she tried to put on a bit of a tough act.

This caused the girl to sigh in relief as she took off her helmet. "Aw thank God. First day of school and I don't wanna be responsible for manslaughter."

Luz actually laughed at that. "Hope I didn't damage your bike or anything."

The girl scoffed. "You kidding? This is a hybrid, built for road and mountain-biking. This baby can take some serious punishment." She said as she put her bike in the bike-stand on the side of the building and locked it in with the bike-lock. "It's basically a motorcycle without an engine."

"So, you must really like to bike." Luz said as she noticed the cat picture on the girl's shirt as well as the sticker on her helmet. "And you like cats too, huh?"

"Oh yeah! Nothing's more precious to me than my baby, Domino. Here, you wanna see a pic?" She pulled out her smartphone and showed a picture of a small black cat with white paws, a white tip on the tail, and big yellow eyes.

"Awe, that's cute." Luz gushed at the picture. "You know what else is cute?" She brought up her hood. "Meow, meow." She said as she pushed up the cat ears with her fingers and put on a cutesy face of her own.

The girl gave something of a mix between a squee and a laugh. "Okay… that is just adorable!" She calmed down a bit and smiled to the girl in front of her. "You're pretty cool, I'm Anne by the way." She offered her hand to shake. "Anne Boonchuy."

Luz blinked a bit as she looked in surprise. Did this girl just call her cool? She only just met her a few minutes ago and already someone thinks she's cool. A smile formed on her face as she reached out to shake the hand that was offered.

"My name's Luz. Luz Noceda."

"Noceda." Anne repeated the last name and thought about it for a minute. "I like the way that rolls off the tongue. So, you new here?"

"Aren't we all? First day of high school, after all?" Luz responded. "Well except for Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors."

"Good point." Anne admitted. "Guess we're both new. Come on, we should head inside find our lockers before we get detention on our first day." She said as she took her pink backpack and walked up toward the doors with Luz following her.

Already her spirits have picked up quite a bit since first stepping out of her mother's car. This Anne-girl was definitely something. She thought she was cool and laughed a bit at some of her jokes. Not a bad start to her first day at high school. Though that could change, so Luz's hopes weren't quite that high up yet.

Once inside, Luz found her assigned locker in the hallway. Just like all the other lockers, it didn't have a lock so she had to buy her own padlock upon her mother's request, which wasn't all that expensive. But upon glancing to her right, she was surprised to find that Anne's locker was only six lockers away from her.

"Wow, we're actually pretty close." Luz commented.

"I know, weird." Anne said as she put all her stuff in her locker. "I just wish Marcy and Sasha had their lockers close by too. Oh, they're my friends, by the way." She was about to explain it to Luz when they both suddenly heard a yelp on the side and turned to see a girl having just slipped on a spot that a nearby janitor was working on with a mop, flopped on her back and slid across the wet puddle to slam into a wall where all the contents of her backpack fell out and all over the place.

"Marcy!" Anne quickly ran to the girl and helped her out with Luz right behind. "You okay?" She asked as the girl was brought back up on her feet.

"Yep. Still in one piece." The girl apparently named Marcy assured with a smile. This girl was Taiwanese-American teenager with olive skin, short and shiny black hair with a green barrette, and dark brown oval eyes. She currently wore a bright green hoodie with the sparkling image of a unicorn on the back, a gray skirt, and brown shoes with white socks.

"Seriously Marcy, you need to watch where you're going." Anne told her as she and Luz helped pick up her stuff. "You could have gotten really hurt."

"Sorry, sorry." Marcy apologized. "I was just in the middle of reading an epic battle between Azura and Hecate so I…" She just then realized that her book was missing. "Hey, where's my book?"

Marcy looked down and noticed a kneeling Luz who held the book she was looking for in her hands and looking in surprise. This was a copy of 'The Good Witch Azura'! But it wasn't hers. She knew she gave her book to her mom. But if this wasn't her book, then…

"Uh… is this yours?" Luz handed the book to Marcy.

"Oh yeah, thanks." She took her book back. "This is one of my absolute favorite fantasy series, right next to the Cynthia Coven!"

"No way…" Luz's eyes widened with sparkles as she looked to Marcy with an overly excited smile. "Azura's my favorite too!"

That earned a gasp from Marcy as she mirrored Luz's expression with a wide and open smile and sparkling eyes. "O… M… G! A fellow Azura fan!" She pulled in Anne with an excitable look in her face. "Anne! Who is this girl!? Where did you meet?! Is she an old friend?! Why didn't you tell me about her!?"

"Okay, easy, easy, Mar-Mar." Anne said as she lightly removed Marcy's hands from her shoulders. "Marcy, this is Luz. I just ran into her on the way here…. Literally" She winced at that one part before speaking to Luz herself. "Luz, this is Marcy. She's one of my oldest friends and a total fantasy geek."

"You're into fantasy?!" Luz looked to Marcy, still not over excitement. "Of course, I should have figured from the unicorn hoodie!" She said, looking to the image on her back.

"Yeah, unicorns are all over the place!" Marcy went on. "Some people think they're all about sparkles and prances and little kid stuff, but they can be really cool too!"

"I know, right?" Luz responded. "They can shoot beams or even elemental stuff from their horns, sometimes they can run on clouds or on the water… why do people always think they're lame?"

Marcy groaned as she rolled her eyes. "Cause they go sense of imagination, that's why."

While a lot of what they were talking about went over Anne's head, she was glad to see that one of her oldest friends was getting along with the girl that she had just met. Luz seemed pretty cool and she was apparently into all the fantasy stuff like Marcy. Now all that was left was…

"Hey, Boobchuy!" Suddenly, Anne was pushed in the back and was almost knocked down. She turned around to see who it was that did that.

It was a Caucasian girl with light skin, freckles on her cheeks, a gap in her teeth, and ginger colored hair tied in pig tails. She wore a dark grey sweatshirt with a pink skirt and dark brown thigh-high socks with white boots and a cap on her head that she wore backwards. And she wasn't alone. Standing behind her was another girl with lightly tan skin with blue eyes, blonde hair in the shape of a willow's peak and a pink streak running across her hair. Her attire was a blue sleeveless tank top with red pants and white shoes.

"Ugh, hey Maggie." Anne groaned, recognizing one of the girls.

"Thought you'd seen the last of me, huh? But now we're stuck together for four more years." The girl apparently named Maggie mocked. However, this also drew Marcy and Luz's attention, causing Maggie to look at them. "So, who's the new meat?" She asked, referring to Luz.

"No way…" The girl behind Maggie seemed to recognize her. "Noceda?!"

Luz's expression suddenly went dim as she knew who this girl was. "Stacy…" She muttered.

"What are you doing? The hospital for wierdos is down the street." The blonde girl named Stacy said to her. "This is place is for normal people."

"Uh…. It's high school." Anne pointed out. "Between the band geeks and the jocks, who's really normal?"

"Definitely not you, Boobchuy!" Maggie continued to mock. "Maybe you should get along before I make you."

"And take that wierdo with you." Stacy added, pointing to Luz. "Trust me, the more you hang around her, the more nobody will want to be around you either."

"Too late for that. Little Miss Wu's about as spaced-out as you can get." Maggie mocked with a cackle.

Luz looked away with a guilty expression with Marcy trying to ignore their cackles as she put up her hood over her face. Anne meanwhile glared at both bullies with her face turning red with embarrassment.

"Hey, Stace! Margo!"

All eyes turned toward a Caucasian girl with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and a long bang parted to the right side of her head. She had almond-shaped blue eyes with a beauty mark underneath her left eye. She currently wore a dark maroon colored, button up, jean-jacket that was open and exposing a black shirt with a flaming guitar on it, as well as a pair of jean shorts with white socks and black shoes.

"Leave them alone!" She told Stacy and Maggie as a boy behind her practiced his electric guitar in the background. "Also, nice guitar solo, Vince." She told the boy.

"Yeah!" He flashed a pair of 'rock-on' devil horns with his hand in response.

"Oh yeah? Or else what?" Maggie questioned as she and Stacy glared back.

"Or else you can both forget about coming to my awesome house party, next week." The blonde said as she walked up to them. "It'll be really sad when the whole class is enjoying the pool… without you." She told them with a smirk.

"Grrr. Fine." Maggie groaned as she walked away with a pout. Though Stacy stayed behind slightly to glare at Sasha, who glared back in return, before walking away as well.

Luz couldn't help but blink in surprise. While she didn't know this Maggie-girl all too well, she knew Stacy from her middle school days, and virtually nobody talked to her like that. Yet, this girl was able to get her to leave with just words alone.

"Thanks, dude." Anne thanked her.

"Yeah, thanks Sash." Marcy also thanked.

"No worries. Nobody messes with my girls and gets away with it." She then noticed Luz. "Speaking of… who's this?"

"Oh right. Sasha, this is Luz." Anne introduced. "I kinda ran her over with my bike on the way into school…" She said with a wince.

"Oh, and she's a total fantasy fangirl like me!" Marcy said excitedly. "I think she's pretty awesome!"

The girl that was apparently named Sasha didn't exactly pay attention to Marcy's comment but was more focused on what Anne said. "Seriously? You tanked a hit from Anne on her bike and you're still standing?"

"Eh… yeah." Luz confirmed.

"Dang, you're tough." Sasha commented with an impressed smile. "Even I'd limp away a bit if Anne tried to run me over."

"I mean… I wouldn't actually try to run you over…" Anne put in with an embarrassed smile and a blush.

"How'd you do that, by the way?" Luz asked Sasha.

"Do what?" She asked in response.

"Get her to leave." Luz clarified. "I've known Stacy in middle school and I haven't seen anyone boss her around like that."

"Oh that's easy. You treat people like her as different from you and learn to speak their language." Sasha explained. "Kinda has them feel that you're the superior one and that they shouldn't mess with you. So, friends with my girls?"

"Uh… I guess so." Luz confirmed. She wouldn't quite say 'friends' right away. Though she did seem to have a nice start with Anne, and she found some common ground with Marcy in their shared love for fantasy, especially Azura, but it seemed a little too early to say 'friends'.

But before the conversation could continue, the bell rang in the hallways.

"Up, that's the five-minute bell! Time for class!" Marcy said.

Sasha rolled her eyes. "Buzz kill. See ya girls at lunch."

"Yeah, see ya." Anne said as they went off. She the noticed Luz was about to head off to class herself. "Hey Luz!" She called to get her attention. "Come look for us at lunch and you can sit with us."

"Really? You guys would be okay with that?" Luz questioned in surprise.

"Don't see why wouldn't." Anne said. "If you're worried about Sasha, don't. She might be a little intimidating, but she's the coolest. I think you'd get along with her very nicely."

Luz thought for a moment before smiling slightly. "Okay… I'll see you at lunch then."

"Great, see ya then." Anne waved off before they went in separate directions to their respective classes.

The first three of Luz's classes were pretty straight forward, her first being Algebra, followed by Biology, and then World Literature. Each one had an introduction of sorts where she and the rest of her classmates got to know her teachers and learned the curriculum of each specific class. While she had neutral thoughts when it came to her Algebra and Biology class, she was actually somewhat excited about her World Literature class. She would be learning about some of the stories from around the world, which may include mythology, and that was something of a fantasy in of itself. Though she was happy to see that neither Stacy nor Maggie were part of any of those classes, she was also disappointed to find that Anne, Marcy, and Sasha weren't there either.

But now, it was lunch time. Despite having her own packed lunch, Luz had gone up to the server and asked for the menu, only to learn it could be accessed on the school's website. Don't know why her mom never looked into that, but it was a minor oversight that Luz didn't really pay much mind to.

She then looked around the cafeteria at the many tables where she saw all the other kids eating and talking, but none seemed be to paying any attention to her, and that was fine. No need to stand out and be called out for being a wierdo, she already had enough of that in middle school.

"Hey, Luz! Over here!" She heard her name being called as she turned to her left to see Anne waving for her to join her, Sasha, and Marcy at the table they were at. With a smile, Luz went over and sat down next to Marcy and across from Anne and Sasha.

"Hey guys. Thanks for inviting me." Luz said.

"Dude, it's just lunchtime, you don't have to get all fancy about it." Sasha pointed out.

"Sorry." Luz replied with a bit of embarrassment as she pulled out her lunch from the bag she had.

"Hey, quick question." Marcy got her attention. "If you brought your own lunch, why were you standing in line?"

"Probably because she don't want a literal gorilla serving her whatever it is that everyone else is eating." Sasha pointed to the server, who was a rather bulky and hairy man as he scooped a clump of mashed potatoes, or whatever else looked like it, onto the tray of a the student in front of him.

"Well… actually my mom asked me to get a copy of the menu for her." Luz answered. "I'm uh… lactose intolerant." She said in a moment of brief embarrassment.

All three girls winced at that. "Yesh, sorry to hear that." Anne said.

"So, obviously milk is a no-go, for you. But you can't have pizza or ice cream or anything?" Sasha asked.

"I can have a little bit of pizza, like one or two slices, and if it doesn't have any extra cheese…" Luz explained. "But yeah, no regular milk or ice cream. Instead, I got almond milk and frozen yogurt."

"Oh, I've had both of those. They're actually really good." Marcy said. "Almond milk has a very sweet taste to it and it really goes well with Fruity Loops."

"Yeah, I've had it before. It is delicious." Luz agreed with a slight smile.

"But isn't frozen yogurt still dairy? How can you eat that?" Anne asked.

"Oh, that's easy to explain." Marcy began. "Someone who's lactose intolerant can better handle frozen yogurt, because unlike regular yogurt, it's diluted and doesn't contain any live, active cultures that help to digest lactose…"

"Marcy." Sasha stopped her. "It's lunch time, as in, we get a break from all that stuff. I swear, biology's gonna be a pain for me." She said as she leaned back in her seat.

"Ugh, tell me about it." Anne agreed. "I am not looking forward to dissection day."

"So, you guys are taking biology too?" Luz asked the two in front of her. "I didn't see you when I was there."

"We probably just have them at different periods." Anne brushed off. "So what kind of electives you got this semester?"

"Well, I signed up for Spanish and Creative Writing for my fourth and fifth periods." Luz answered.

"Whoa! I got Creative Writing for fifth period!" Marcy pointed out excitedly. "Hey, wanna collab an Azura story together?"

"Well if the teacher lets us, then yeah! Maybe we can even write a haiku about Azura!" Luz was already excited herself.

"Oh, I already got one!" Marcy coughed before she began. "With a staff in hand, she strikes down her enemies, and brings peace to all."

Luz clapped her hands. "Beautiful. Just beautiful."

"How is that a poem? It doesn't even rhyme." Sasha said.

"Haikus aren't meant to rhyme." Marcy explained. "They're just supposed to have three lines with five syllables in the first, seven in the second, and five in the last."

Sasha rolled her eyes slightly. "Well, I got woodshop for fifth period. Figured I could make some nunchucks or something. But I also got Spanish for fourth so… see ya there?" She asked towards Luz.

"Looks like it." Luz nodded. "My last class for the day is American History."

"Huh, that's my last class today too." Anne said. "Looks like you got each of us, Luz."

"Yeah, I guess I do." Luz said with a small smile.

From then on, Luz and the rest of the girls ate their lunch and made some small talk with each other for the next half hour. Though Luz appeared to talk the most with Marcy and they went on about Azura, though Anne and Sasha didn't contribute much to that conversation, that is until a demonic cat from one of the Azura stories was brought up, prompting Anne to bring up Domino again, something that Luz talked with her about before their conversation turned into one surrounding animals with Luz bringing up bats, snakes, and spiders, some of her favorites. Sasha happened to take a small liking to Luz when it came to that as each of those animals she felt were rather 'badass' in her own words.

Lunch soon came to an end, prompting the girls to head to their lockers and get the stuff they needed for their last three classes for the day.

Luz went straight to her Spanish class and happened to sit at a desk on the side of classroom with Sasha right next to her.

"Hola, class." The teacher greeted her students. "Hope you're all ready for the joy of learning a new language."

"Estoy lista." Luz said toward Sasha as the teacher handed out a copy of the syllabus for the class to each of the students. "It means 'I'm ready.'"

"You already know how to speak Spanish?" Sasha asked.

"I'm Latina, you do the math." Luz explained. "Or don't cause it's not Math class." She tried to joke a bit.

"So why take even take this class?" Sasha asked.

"My mom's telling me that I need to get better grades. This seemed like an easy A for my report card." Luz answered with a smirk.

Sasha couldn't help but grin herself. "Dang, taking advantage of the system. I'm impressed. Don't suppose I could ask you for some 'tutoring' if I need help?"

¿Que te parce?" Luz replied. "It means 'what do you think?'"

Sasha chuckled. "I like you."

Up next was her Creative Writing class, and she sat in the middle desk with Marcy on her left. Like many of her previous classes, the teacher handed out the syllabus and schedule of what they would be doing over the course of the semester.

"Hey, look at that, no tests here." Marcy pointed out. "Just writing stories and essays."

"One of the reasons I took this class. I get write to my heart's content and be graded for it, and not really judged for it either." Luz said.

"I know! This sounds like a lot of fun." Marcy commented. "I'm gonna try and take art for my next elective in the winter semester. What about you?"

"Same thing." Luz began. "I really wanna be a writer someday. I'll be able to write my own stories, draw some illustrations for it… If I'm lucky, it'll get adapted into a movie series or even a show."

"Oh, a series?" Marcy responded almost playfully. "Not a single movie?"

"The thing with movie-adaptations, there's only so much you can put in a two-hour movie." Luz explained. "Unless you plan to go for a full three hours, you'd be better off making a trilogy or even a television series, that way you have more room to explore the characters, the themes, the setting, the whole package. Like how they did War of Thrones."

"I'm not sure that one really counts." Marcy pointed out. "The series caught up with the books pretty quickly so they had to kinda go in a different direction. Not to mention the final season…"

"Ugh, tell me about it!" Luz rolled her eyes. "So many important plot points and world building, all thrown out the window! They even made the dragon queen the bad guy! That came out of nowhere! They should have had at least one season to build on that!"

"Oh my gosh, totally!" Marcy agreed. "Not to mention how they handled the final battle against the Ice King and all of his zombies…"

"Ahem!" The teacher coughed to get the attention of all the students, signaling that class was about to start.

"We'll talk more on this later." Marcy whispered to Luz.

"Agreed." She whispered back.

Luz's final class of the day was American History, which she shared with Anne, both girls sitting near the back of the classroom as the latter skimmed through her textbook.

"So, what made you wanna take this class?" Luz asked Anne. "I hear you can choose between American History and World History for the freshman year before doing the other for sophomore."

"Well considering I live in America, this just felt like the easier class." Anne replied. "Easy A means parents are off my back and I get to relax a little bit." She leaned back in her seat.

Luz happened to look through the index of her book to at least get an idea of what she would be learning this semester and was unsurprised to find that they were starting off in the colonial days that led up the Revolutionary War, but she was surprised that there was a whole chapter dedicated toward a specific topic.

Witch trials

Granted, that seemed to fit given that all happened around the time of the colonial era as well as the Revolutionary War and even sometime after it, but she didn't expect a whole chapter dedicated to it.

"Witch trials, huh?" Anne asked as she looked over Luz's shoulder to see the page in her book. "How does that even work? You're arrested just for doing magic? That stuff's not real."

"It's more about practices that go against the church." Luz replied before putting her hand on her face. "But it's absolutely ridiculous, especially since they killed innocent people."

Anne groaned. "What a bunch of idiots."

"What's so sad is that there's still people like that today." Luz lowered herself slightly, something that caused Anne to look with concern.

"You uh… deal with stuff like that?"

"I'm… pretty weird. I'm different from most people… and not everyone likes different." She muttered.

"Well those people are idiots." Anne pointed out. "I've only met you this morning and I think you're pretty cool."

Luz slowly looked up towards her. "You really mean that…?"

"Yeah, I do." Anne smiled. "You're cool, Luz. I like you."

The girl smiled somewhat emotionally at that. She only just met Anne and she already thinks she's cool? Just knowing that suddenly made her day.

"Thanks…"

With the final bell, all the students quickly filled out of the building as they prepared to either board the soon-to-be arriving busses or waited for their parents to come pick them up. Luz stepped outside as well alongside Anne, Sasha, and Marcy.

"Well, that was a cool first day." Marcy pointed out.

"Uneventful is more like it." Sasha commented. "But now that the three of us here…" She pulled in Anne and Marcy with an eager smirk. "We're gonna liven this place up."

Anne laughed at that, but she noticed Luz standing some distance away from them. Upon seeing that, Anne's mood faded somewhat. From what she heard in their last class, Luz probably didn't have any friends to hang out with. But now was the time to change up.

"Hey Sash, how about four of us this time?" Anne suggested, much to Sasha's own surprise. "Let's bring Luz in."

"Huh?" Both Luz and Sasha questioned.

"Hey, yeah! Let's do it! Instead of the three musketeers, we'll be like the Beatles!" Marcy already seemed eager for it. "And I mean the band, not the bugs."

"A-are you sure you guys want me in your group?" Luz asked, sounding a bit uncertain, something that Sasha felt as well.

"Well, what about her group? I'm not sure that they would like it if we…" Before she could continue, Anne whispered something into the blonde's ear.

"Sasha, I don't think Luz has any friends. Like, at all." Anne revealed, causing Sasha to look in surprise. Sure, Luz was a little quirky, but that's not a bad thing and there have to be other quirky kids out there, right? "Come on… I really think things could be way more fun with her. She seems pretty cool."

Sasha thought for a moment. Adding in a fourth friend could change up their dynamic, something they've had since kindergarten, and that didn't quite sit right with her. Although, Sasha did find some of Luz's quirks to be very entertaining, not to mention she seemed pretty tough too and she could respect that much. And having no friends at all…? Sasha honestly did pity Luz for that. So, even if this did change up their dynamic, Sasha could probably find a way to make it work, and if Luz stuck with them, Sasha would help make her stronger and more successful. She'd make sure of that.

"You know what? Why not? Let's do it." Sasha accepted with a smile.

"Really? You want me in?" Luz asked with big and hopeful eyes.

"Totally. The four of us together would definitely cause some chaos around here." Sasha smirked.

"And we could even start our own little Azura fan club!" Marcy said excitedly. "I checked the club list and they don't have one, but we can change that!"

"Come on here you steel-skinned little nerd." Anne invited as she, Marcy, and Sasha outstretched their hands for her.

Luz, however, found herself filled with so much emotion that rather than shake their hands, she leapt at them and wrapped her arms around all three of them in the form of a hug!

"Oh, we got a hugger." Anne commented as Luz pulled away.

"Sorry, sorry, just… you guys really made my day here." Luz had to wipe her eyes to keep tears from forming. Don't wanna look sappy in front of the new kids.

Marcy then reached into her backpack. "Well, since we're now officially quartet, let's make it… well… official!" She pulled out a small camera.

"You packed a camera?" Anne asked in surprise.

"Who even uses cameras anymore? It's all smartphones now." Sasha pointed out.

"I wanted to take a pic of us to mark the momentous occasion of the three of us starting high school together!" Marcy revealed. "But now, it's the four of us." She smiled towards Luz, who smiled emotionally back.

"Alright, I can dig that." Sasha accepted as she noticed Vince passing by. "Yo Vince, take a selfie of us?" She called to him.

All four girls were grouped up together as Vince held the camera and aimed at them. In the middle was Sasha as she put her hands on Anne and Marcy's shoulders with Anne wrapping her arm around Luz as she gave a peace sign with her other hand and a wide smile with closed eyes. Marcy looked with a smirk and a raised-eye brow at her friends while Sasha had a simple and straight forward smile. Luz however, had a wide and happy smile on her face, she was practically beaming by the time that Vince took the picture.

"Say cheese!"

Luz had stepped off the bus that had pulled up to the sidewalk that was close to her house. It was a simple two-story home with white walls, a gray roof, several windows on the front side, a driveway on the left side as well as a walkway that led up to the front door. Behind the house was a dense forest as well.

Once she was off the bus, she didn't quite step inside right away. Instead, she took out the photo that Vince had taken of her and the three girls she had recently met. There was even the acronym 'BFFS!' written on it, along with a heart, courtesy of Marcy that she wrote on each of the copies of the photo that all the girls had.

She almost couldn't believe it. It was only her first day of high school, and she was now part of a group of friends? They even considered her a BFF? It felt so surreal to her. Marcy was someone she liked instantly. At her middle school, she couldn't find anyone else who liked her Azura stories, but now she met someone who did and was into all the same kind of fantasy stuff that she was. Sasha however, didn't quite come off as a fantasy-trope lover like her and Marcy, but she seemed like a strong person, not to mention she defended her from Stacy and Maggie, something she really appreciated. As for Anne…

"Wait… Luz?"

The girl turned around in surprise to see none other than Anne herself coming to a stop on her bike and looking rather surprised herself.

"Anne?"

"What are you doing here?" Anne asked.

"This is my house." Luz gestured to the building behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way home, too." Anne answered as she pointed down the street to a three-way intersection with another road that led away from the forest, leading into a subdivision with several other houses. "My place is the fourth house in on that street."

Luz gasped before smiling widely. "No way, we're neighbors!?"

Anne chuckled slightly. "I guess we are."

"What about Sasha or Marcy? Are they nearby?" Luz asked excitedly.

"Eh… Marcy's on the other side of town, a bit closer to the city. Sasha's a bit more… spread out." Anne answered, though she wouldn't quite go into the details regarding Sasha's 'living status' with her divorced parents. If she found out that Anne did that without her permission, it would not end well for her.

"Oh, okay." Luz seemed alright with it. It'd be too good to be true if they were all neighbors together anyway. Right now, she was at least happy to have Anne nearby. "Hey, you wanna come inside?" Luz invited, gesturing to her house again. "My mom's not gonna be home till late tonight… we could probably microwave some instant ramen and binge watch Suspicion Island… If you're into that." She spoke that last part nervously, not sure if Anne was into the same kind of thing that she was.

"OMG, you watch Suspicion Island too?! I freaking love that series!" Anne exclaimed joyfully, much to Luz's elation. "Danny has gotta be the most suspicious guy out there!"

"Right below Heather and she's all kinds of suspicious!" Luz agreed as the two seemed to geek out for a moment before Anne winced slightly.

"But… I can't hang out right now." She said with reluctance. "My mom's expecting me home soon. See, she wanted me to take the bus to school, but I wanted to ride my bike so my dad thought it was at least worth the try to see how it goes the first time, and if I'm not back home soon, she's gonna freak the hell out. So, gotta go."

"Alright, that's fine." Though somewhat disappointed, Luz understood how overprotective a mom could get all too well. "So, we'll see each other tomorrow?"

"Totally. Later dude." Anne pointed a finger-gun at Luz and rode her bike down the street again before making her turn into the neighborhood.

Luz waved her off before getting emotional again the moment the girl vanished. Anne seemed like a really cool girl herself, maybe not as strong or in-charge as Sasha or a fellow fantasy lover like Marcy, but they both liked Suspicion Island, which was nice. Who knows what else they may have in common? And they were neighbors to boot. She turned around to go back into her house, and despite it being empty for a few more hours till her mom gets back, Luz didn't feel as alone anymore. She had already made three friends and that was more than enough to make her day.

"Yeah… I think things are gonna be just fine."

Done.

And so, we have finally met our quartet of girls! Luz, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy! The trio has invited Luz into their gang and not only do we have a very happy Luz for it, I personally can't wait to write their dynamic during this brief prologue arc and let me tell you, things are going to get very interesting.

I'm sure you've all noticed that this is something of an AU with the Amphibia side of things, so let me clarify something. First off (from the Owl House side), Luz is thirteen here, while the start of the canon show had her at fourteen. That is not a mistake, but rather intentional, as we have a whole arc for Luz to get to know the Calamity Trio and establish a dynamic with them before we get into the magical adventure stuff. Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are also thirteen at this time, but unlike canon Amphibia where they all live in Los Angeles, they all live in Gravesfield which is also connected to Hartford. I decided to connect the town to the bigger city because it gives that same kind of 'big city' feel that we had from the show, and I'm having them all live in Gravesfield together because of the importance it has to the plot, take a look at the scene with Luz and Anne's American History class to get an idea of what I'm talking about (hint, hint).

I also gave each of the Calamity Girls some more casual clothes since Gravesfield High School doesn't have any uniforms like Saint James does, but I gave their attires, particularly Anne's, something that was more reminiscent of their canon forms but also something that I felt suited each of their personalities.

And that Stacy girl is not an OC of mine, but rather that unnamed Owl House character with the blonde hair and pink streak, the one that has no speaking role and only made two appearances in canon with the very start of the first episode and "Thanks to Them". Though there is no official remarks regarding her personality, a lot of the fan comics I've read (notably those done by MorningMark) portray her as a bully and I decided to run with that to help establish some of the struggles that Luz had to go through on Earth.

Anyway, as I've said, I'm very excited to write this prologue arc and I'm hopeful that you guys will enjoy reading it. So, until the next chapter… I wish you all a very merry Christmas!