Chapter Text
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! This is really happening!” thought Luz as she stared in awe at the main building of Hexside School of Magic and Demonics.
Her eyes followed the beautiful marble columns up to the banners hanging over the entrance that welcome students to the start of a new semester. Luz stopped before the steps leading to the main doors and reached into her messenger bag and fished out a pen and the Hexside informative brochure that Principle Bump gave her several weeks ago. She opened up the brochure, which had already been worn down from repeated opening and closing, and brought her pen over to the “Advanced Requirements” panel.
“Two spells? Easy peasy lemon squeezy!” Luz declared as she put a check mark next to the requirement.
“Basic runes? That’s where it gets a little sour, but I know most of them!” she assured herself as she began to pen another check mark, but stopped halfway through writing it, leaving more of a ‘v’ than the full check mark right above it.
“There, that’s most of a check mark, for knowing most the runes! Another lesson or two with Eda, and I’ll finish that line there .” Luz thought as she folded the brochure, clipped her pen on it, and put it away in her bag.
Luz adjusted her bag and uniform and thought “ Okay, Luz, just play it cool, so what if you’re the only human to ever be at Hexside and also be banned and then unbanned? No need to have the wibbly wobblies in your legs, be confident! You’re the apprentice of Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!”
Taking a deep breath, Luz walked up the steps and through the main door and was greeted by a completely empty room.
“Heh, well I guess I am a little early…” Luz realized as she walked down the hallway past rows of lockers and classrooms, not seeing any other students quite yet. She saw a map of the school on a bulletin board and snapped a quick picture of it with her phone, before shifting her attention to the variety of posters for sports and clubs that are pinned up next to the map. Luz saw posters for the Grudge-by team, a Hexes Hold’em club, and many more. She took a picture of each poster, and brought up the map on her phone.
“I’ll just do a little exploring to make sure I don’t get lost at all today! ” thought Luz as she started planning her route through the labyrinth of halls. As she was walking down a hallway and took a left, she looked away from her phone and saw the cafeteria, seemingly as empty as the rest of the school she had seen so far.
Grinning mischievously, she poked her head in and shouted “Echo! Echo! Echo!”, giggling to herself as her words bounced off the walls of the large dining hall and repeated for a few seconds before fading away.
“Well, there goes my chance at a peaceful start to the new semester.”
Luz whipped her head around and saw Amity Blight, seated alone at a table with several notebooks and papers strewn about in front of her as well as a teal mug giving off steam. Luz noticed the smallest of smiles on Amity’s face as she walked over with a sheepish grin.
“Hehe, sorry about that Amity. It’s just that I was so excited to start my first day! I got here super duper early, but I didn’t realize just how super duper my super duper early was. I haven’t seen any other students yet, so I was planning on adventuring around to get used to everything, because honestly this map is pretty darn confusing. Like how does this door on the second floor lead to this door all the way over here on the third floor? Well, I mean, magic, duh! But why does it do that, you know? And oh my gosh, did you see they have a Hexes Hold’em club? That’s so coolio! I’ve tried to get Eda to teach me, but she never wants to, and-”
Luz’s rambling was cut short as a magic glow covered her mouth. Amity took a deep breath before picking up her mug and taking a huge drink. Luz stared wide eyed down at her own mouth, kept making noises, all of them incoherent and muffled, and flailed her arms about. Amity slowly exhaled as she set her mug back down on the table.
The teal haired witch paused for another few seconds before saying, “Uh, sorry Luz, I didn’t have the energy quite yet to deal with”, Amity cringed at her phrasing, “to, er, listen with my full attention to everything you were saying. Here, let me undo that.” Amity went on to draw a circle in the air, and the magic aura surrounding Luz’s mouth dissipated.
Luz caught her breath before saying “No worries Amity! I did kind of, sort of, totally crash your, uh, well, what were you doing here so early?”
“I was going through all of the classes I’m taking this semester and putting all the important information from the syllabi in my bullet journal. I like to get to school early and do some organization to decompress.” Amity explained, smiling sheepishly, holding up one of the notebooks from the table.
“Why are you in the cafeteria though, and not like, the library? Or even your super secret hideout?” questioned Luz as she took off her bag and sat down across from Amity.
Amity shrugged before saying, “The library is in a separate building and isn’t open this early unfortunately. I don’t want to stay at home and risk being distracted and bugged by Ed and Em, so here I am.”
“Huh, I guess that makes sense. So, what kind of wild classes are you taking, miss Hexside’s top student? Maybe we have some classes together!” exclaimed Luz in excitement as she threw her hands up in the air.
Amity’s eyes widened as she noticed the yellow sleeves Luz was wearing. She flipped through a notebook before turning it around and pushed it towards Luz.
“I am in the abomination track, so most of my courses are about different types of abomination magic. However, I am still trying to learn as much of every time of magic out there, so I can join the Emperor’s coven. I’m taking some introductory classes as well, and I’m assuming you’re taking “Introduction to Potions” this semester? I have it third period, see?” Amity elaborated, pointing to the yellow highlighted text in her notebook.
“Meowza, wowza! I have it during third period too! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting! Wait, I’m going to do what you did and make a cute little schedule for myself too!” Luz gushed, placing her bag on top of the table and pulling out a notebook of her own and a fresh pack of colored pencils.
“Aw rats, I don’t have a pencil sharpener, do you have one I can borrow, Amity? Pwease?” asked Luz as she pouted and put on a puppy dog face.
Amity blushed and stammered out, “Uh, yeah, er, let me find it.” Flustered, Amity searched through her bag for a few seconds before finding it and handing it over to Luz.
Luz wrapped her hands around Amity’s hand and inched her face closer to Amity before whispering “Miss Amity Blight, I owe you my life. I will forever be in your debt. I shall treasure this gift above all else.”
Amity quickly pulled her hand back, desperately wishing her face wasn’t as red as she knew it probably was, and muttered “Whatever, it’s just a pencil sharpener.”
She glanced over at Luz who was holding it close to her chest. Amity rolled her eyes as Luz opened up her hands and started sharpening a teal colored pencil. Amity grabbed her notebook and turned it back around. She chuckled as she saw Luz sticking her tongue out in concentration as she was sharpening the pencil. Amity smiled as she drew a heart around “Third Period: Introduction to Potions” in her notebook. She held her notebook up and drew a tiny circle in the air as the heart glowed briefly before fading away. Amity tapped the notebook again where the heart was, and it appeared briefly before disappearing again. She nodded and smiled, approving of her work.
The two students sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company as they filled out their schedules. They both started to hear other student shuffling in to Hexside. Amity took a sip from her mug as her eyes wandered over to Luz’s messenger bag covered with a variety of pins. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at most of them.
“Aw, that’s a really cute Azura pin, I need to ask Luz where she got that. Wait, why does that pin say ‘Mothman is real and is my boyfriend’? What does that even mean? Of course Mothman is real, but Luz couldn’t possibly be dating him. What would she even see in him? I only met him that one time camping with Ed and Em, but he was super rude! He doesn’t deserve Luz.”
“Amity, are you okay? Why are you glaring at my bag and why is your face so red?” Luz had stopped doodling in the margins of her schedule and looked up in concern at Amity.
“Whew, I almost passed out. Wait, was I getting jealous? No way, definitely not. Why is Luz always so confusing? Shoot, she asked me a question.” Amity panicked internally.
“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine, I think I brewed my wake-up potion a little too strong today. Could you explain to me some your weird human pins on your bag?” replied Amity.
Luz’s concern was quickly replaced with excitement as she lit up.
“Of course! Well, first off, this one about Mothman is just funny. He’s such a cutie patootie! Do you know about Mothman? Is he in the Boiling Isles? Humans have a bunch of stories about him, and he just seems super cool! This next one just says ‘bi-disastor’ in the bi-pride colors. And then I got this Azura one at a local convention. This one artist hand makes them, they’re so talented! Oh, and this one is super neat too!”
Amity zoned out as soon as she saw Luz point out the bi-pride pin, not hearing any of Luz’s explanations for her various pins.
“ Why am I nervous right now? Why is my stomach fluttering so much? Okay, so Luz is bi. I guess I could invite her to the pride club today after classes. Of course, it’s my responsibility as the president of the club to spread awareness to any interested students. I guess I’d get to spend more time with Luz too, which wouldn’t be awful, I suppose. But wait, I don’t want her to think I like her like that or anything, which I don’t. I mean, I like her, as a friend. I like her as a weird interesting human friend who always surprises me and makes me laugh and smile, but that doesn’t mean anything. What if Boscha finds out I invited her and reads into it? Ugh, why does Luz always make everything so complicated?”
Amity’s tuned back in to Luz’s explanations as Luz was describing yet another Azura pin.
“And this one I got at a different local convention, and oh my gosh, that reminds me, Amity! Did you want to hang out after school today and read Azura together?” continued Luz.
“Sorry Luz, I can’t today, I, uh, have to get started with some extra homework Principle Bump said he’s going to start giving me.” Amity replied, thinking up an excuse.
“Really mittens? Em and I haven’t heard about you getting special work.”
“Besides, don’t you have that little club you run every Monday? The first meetings of clubs are always super important!”
Edric and Emira sat themselves down at the same table, Edric next to Amity and Emira next to Luz. Amity glared at her siblings and opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.
“Hey Luz! We’ve been looking for you since we got here!”
Luz looked up and saw Willow and Gus waving at her from the hallway outside the cafeteria.
“No worries if you’re busy Amity! I’m going to go say hi to Gus and Willow, thanks for letting me hangout with you this morning! See you later Amity! Bye Edric, bye Emira!” Luz said quickly before pushing all her belongings messily into her beg. She skipped over to her friends, embracing them both in a group hug.
“Byyyyye Luz” Emira said, winking at Amity.
“Ugh, what is your problem?” Amity shouted at her brother and sister.
“Why didn’t you want to tell Luz about the club?” Edric inquired as he leaned in.
“Yeah, Mittens, it’s pretty obvious that you have a soft spot for the human.” commented Emira as she picked up Amity’s notebook, flipping through it.
“What?! I don’t like her like that. Give me back my notebook Em!” Amity demanded as she reached out for it.
“Really now Amity?” Emira turned the notebook around before touching the page, causing it to glow with a light blue aura. The heart surrounding “Third Period: Introduction to Potions” re-appeared and remained there even after Emira removed her finger from it.
“Awww, that’s so cute Mittens, you even have a class with her! Imagine the study dates!” Edric cooed as he stood up and put on his backpack.
“That wasn’t there before! I don’t know where that came from, okay?!” Amity denied, blushing furiously.
Emira closed the notebook and handed it back to Amity as she stood up and grabbed her own backpack. She sighed and shook her head.
“Mittens, look. Ed and I know that we go too far sometimes, but we both can see that Luz has changed you since you met her. We’ve noticed you’ve been less closed off and nicer to, well, pretty much everyone since you’ve started spending time with Luz. We just want what’s best for you, okay?” says Emira as she pulls Amity into an awkward sibling hug.
Edric smiled and followed up by saying "Anyways, we have to get to class, but for what it’s worth, I think you should invite her to the pride club. Oh, and you forgot your lunch.”
Edric placed a lunch bag with a winking puppy dog design on it on the table in front of Amity. As he and Emira were walking away, he turned around said “We love you mittens! Have a good first day!” before he and Emira vanish into the crowd of students.
Amity sighed and started packing up her papers and notebooks. She finished the last of her wake-up brew before putting on her backpack.
She paused for a moment thinking, “Maybe Ed and Em are right. I don’t know. It’s just scary opening up at all. I don’t want to show any signs of weakness. But, when I open up to Luz, I don’t really feel weak. I feel stronger than I ever have before. It’s a new semester, and it feels like everything is changing. I guess I’ll see what happens. I’ll figure it out.”
Amity smiled to herself as she left the cafeteria and walked towards her first class, feeling more optimistic and hopeful than she had felt in a long time.