Boiling Isles RPG

Amity’s POV

Luz was really starting to bother Amity.

Of course she couldn’t admit that to anyone, Willow and Augustus would lecture her and Boscha would use that as a go-ahead to be worse, but the girl was getting harder to ignore.

It had been a month since Luz had first dripped into the classroom and it was clear as day that she didn’t care at all. The girl spent the first week zoning out during class, not taking notes, just staring at the whiteboard or the clock with a blank expression. They had the first quiz at the end of that week, Amity got a 95 which was… fine. She’d missed a negative sign but still got partial credit, she’d just need to study harder for the next one. It had somewhat bothered Amity when Luz didn’t even turn her quiz paper over and proceeded to spend the next three days doodling in her notebook. Then she actually slept through their review period for the quiz the next day. But you know what, Amity didn’t care, what did she care if Luz flunked out of the class while she spent hours studying. Hell she’d been tired too after a mystery based mission in the Boiling Isles went a little later than usual the night before but that didn’t stop her from giving Mr. Bump her full attention.

After they got their grades back for the second quiz, Mr. Bump had called Luz to stay at the end of class and after that she made sleeping in class much more of a habit. The first few times Mr. Bump woke her up and told her to pay attention but after the third quiz he stopped bothering and Amity just had to deal with it while Bosha blew spitballs into Luz’s hair while she was passed out.

For those second two quizzes, Amity had gotten an 85 and a 90. She’d almost felt like throwing up. That wasn’t good enough, she’d studied, she’d worked, she did every problem in the book and then some and it wasn’t like the quiz was full of trick questions or anything, she just… didn’t get it. At the same time, Luz was sleeping through classes and throwing her returned quizzes into her binder without even looking at the grades before laying her head back down. Amity wasn’t sure why, but it bothered her how little the other girl cared about this class. Amity was struggling and Luz just didn’t care. It made her feel a little better thinking about the failed marks that the other girl was probably getting because she definitely deserved whatever score she received.

Their first test had been on Friday. It was Monday now and Mr. Bump was handing their papers back. Luz had of course woken up long enough to shove the paper into her backpack while Amity sat stiffly in her seat. She’d studied all week, worked so hard, looked over each question twice. Yet the bright red 91 followed by the sharply written ‘Good Job’ starred up at her like an omen, and that was with the extra credit on the last page. She could see her mother’s disappointed scowl already, nothing was ever good enough but this could go very badly.

Her mother was always harder on her than her siblings. Amity had never been sure why but anything below a 95 had always been the equivalent of a failure for her. She hadn’t had to tell her mother about the quizzes but she would definitely want to know how the first test went.

Mr. Bump spent the class going over the test. Amity just stared off into space, thinking of her next course of action. They finished early and Mr. Bump dismissed everyone but Amity had something to do first.

She strode up to the front of the class and approached Mr. Bump’s desk with her books held tight to her chest. “Mr. Bump, if you have the time, I would like to speak with you about my test grade.”

“Yes, you did very well if I recall,” Mr. Bump looked up from the grade book that he’d been marking. “What would you like to speak about?”

Amity felt stiff. “I would like to know how I can do better on the next one. I studied for hours, did every practice problem in the textbook and then some but I still only got…” she glanced over to Luz who was thankfully still sleeping on her desk since the bell hadn’t rung and woken her up yet. “The score that I got,” Amity continued in a lower voice.

“Ms. Blight, this is an incredibly advanced class and you’re clearly doing everything I’d recommend to anyone else who was struggling, but you received one of the highest grades in the class, there’s not a lot else you can do at this point.”

Amity felt herself clam up, her heartbeat was pounding in her ears. She had to have something to show her mother that she was working to improve, that was the only way she could minimise whatever reaction the woman would have. “Please, there has to be something,” she wracked her brain, “you said I had one of the highest grades in the class, who did better than me? Maybe I could talk to them.”

Mr. Bump had a look of worry on his face, definitely noticing how anxious Amity was getting. He glanced back at his gradebook, “That… actually might work, I’d been meaning to talk to a student about some issues she’s been having but this could solve both of the problems. Ms. Noceda?” He called, looking past Amity.

Amity glanced behind her to see Luz sit up with a jolt, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Amity’s shoulders slumped, Luz probably needed extra help too but Amity was admittedly hoping for a one on one thing, but she’d take what she could get, even if it was just something she could tell her mother about.

Luz glanced around, noticing that the classroom was empty and started to pack up her stuff. “Sorry I missed the bell.” Luz mumbled, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“You didn’t miss anything, Ms. Noceda. Would you please come up here for a moment.”

Luz glanced skeptically at Amity before slinging her backpack over her shoulder and shuffling up to the front of the room. “Am I in trouble?”

“Hopefully not after this,” Mr. Bump clasps his hands in front of him on his desk. Luz shifted in place, clearly uncomfortable with the attention even if only Bump was directly looking at her. “Are you aware how much class participation counts towards your overall grade?”

“Fifteen percent,” Luz responded immediately. Amity was surprised she knew that much.

“Yes, but are you aware that the school has a policy for when a student has a zero in class participation that calls for disciplinary action?”

Luz paused at that, Amity could practically hear the gears turning in her head. She wondered how long it’s been since the girl had used them. Luz looked away, actively avoiding eye contact. “No, I wasn’t aware of that. But does class participation even matter? I mean, if everything else is-”

“The rule was put into place in an effort to prevent students from ditching class.”

“I haven’t been ditching class though,” Luz defended herself. She was raising her voice slightly which really just meant that it was above her usual mumble. Amity realized that this was probably the most she’d ever heard the girl talk like a normal person.

“True, but that doesn’t change your grade. However, I believe I have a solution to both yours and Amity’s problems.”

“Mr. Bump,” Amity had heard enough of this conversation. “With all due respect, I don’t think that sharing a tutor with Luz will be beneficial use of either of our time.” Whoever Mr. Bump was going to set them up with as a tutor, Amity knew that Luz would just sleep through the whole thing or doodle in her notebook. It was bad enough she was stuck next to the girl during class but if Luz was just going to keep distracting her while their tutor was speaking, then Amity wasn’t seeing much of a point in doing it at all.

Mr. Bump tented his hands, “Ms. Blight, Ms. Noceda would not be sharing a tutor with you, she would be the one tutoring you.”

Amity blinked. It felt like her brain was running on a single ram as she tried to figure out how in the world the girl who slept through every class and had a notebook full of cartoons could possibly be any good at the subject she had to place so much effort into. She looked at Luz who similarly looked like her mind was going a million miles an hour.

“Ms. Noceda scored a 103 on the exam and I imagine it would have been higher if she had finished the rest of the extra credit. She’s also gotten perfect scores on each quiz.” Amity’s shoulders slumped, she couldn’t believe that that was true, there was just no way, it wasn’t possible. Luz seemed to shrink into herself, uncomfortable with the attention. There was a scowl on her face that probably matched Amity’s perfectly.

“Uh, Mr. Bump,” Luz cleared her throat. “I don’t have time to tutor everyone, I work after school, then I’m doing stuff until really late at night. Does my class participation really matter if I’ve been turning in all of the homework and have been doing fine on the exams. Technically, I have an 85 in the class at this point, that’s more than passing.”

“Yes, you are doing fine grade wise which is why I would like you to participate in something to show that you actually care about this class.” Bump looked a bit exasperated, “Look, I’m not going to be unreasonable but you’ve been sleeping in class. I’ll say this, you two can work things out on your own schedule, if Ms. Blight’s grade improves, then I will give you five bonus points for class participation which will solve your issue.”

Luz frowned, glancing at Amity before promptly returning her gaze to the floor. It was clear that she did not want to spend more time with Amity and she could say that the feeling was mutual. “Can’t I just stop sleeping in class?” Luz asked.

Mr. Bump frowned at the bluntness of her statement. He hadn’t said it, she had. He cleared his throat, “Of course you not sleeping in class would be the ideal, but unfortunately at this point, unless you agree to this arrangement, the administration will need to contact your parents.” Luz’s face fell at that. “This is a very lucky final chance for you to avoid that. If you agree to this I will give you one point in the class participation category immediately to avoid having to contact your parents and four more points if Amity’s overall grade improves. If it becomes apparent that you aren’t helping her, your parents will be contacted immediately.” He straightened some papers on his desk. “Does that sound alright with you Amity?”

Frankly Amity was still in shock that Luz had somehow gotten a 103 on the test. “Uh, yeah, sure.”

The bell rang, Luz made a move towards the exit but was stopped short by Mr. Bump. “And how does that sound to you Luz?”

The girl didn’t turn around but Amity could still see the look of bitterness on her face. She clearly did not want to do this but well, neither did Amity so tough luck. “Fine,” the brunette turned her head to look back at Amity, “let me talk to my boss and see what I can do about timing.”

Then she was out the door before Amity could mutter an ‘okay.’

Luz’s POV

Luz got out of that classroom as quickly as she could. This was so stupid, why couldn’t she just keep doing what she had been? Why did there have to be some stupid rule? She was trying very hard not to let her anger show as she marched to the far corner of the school where her locker was situated.

She was almost there when something shoved against her shoulder and suddenly she was pushed up against a locker. “Hey loser.” Luz’s throat tightened, she didn’t have the energy to deal with this right now, not that she ever had the energy for it. Boscha’s grip tightened on her collar causing the hoodie to dig into the back of her neck. “Look at me nerd!”

Luz tried and failed to swallow the lump in her throat as she met the other girl’s gaze. She was a good three inches taller than the dyed red head but as the soccer player had her pinned against the hard metal locker, she felt a lot smaller. The smirk on Boscha’s lips ran chills down Luz’s spine as the two of them wasted the precious seconds of hallway passing time in a staring contest. Luz didn’t say anything, she tried to keep her expression calm but could tell by the gleam in the other girl’s eye that her nervousness was showing through.

“Where’s your lunch money Noceda?” Boscha finally broke the silence.

Luz blinked, “I… I don’t have any.” It felt as if something cold were gripping her chest, she was scared to find out where this was going.

Boscha’s eyes narrowed, they were as dark as coal. “Your lunch then, I didn’t see any in your locker so where is it?”

The latina bit her tongue, hesitating before shaking her head. She didn’t have the spare cash for lunch money, and after a few too many instances like this one at her last school, she didn’t have the spare food to have her lunch stolen either. Luz probably hadn’t eaten lunch at school since she was twelve, thank god her mother didn’t know or else it would lead to another earful about the importance of nutrition that wouldn’t fix the fact that whether she brought anything or not, she wouldn’t get to keep it long enough to eat it.

Boscha’s knuckles pressed into the ribs beneath her collarbone making Luz hiss as she tried not to show how much it really hurt. Her new grip was forcing the front of Luz’s hoodie into her throat. “Well,” Boscha said as if the girl in front of her wasn’t wheezing. ‘“If you don’t have anything, then what am I supposed to eat?” She pressed harder making Luz wince. “What do you think the rest of the school will do when they find out that you’re the reason that I wasn’t able to keep my energy up during soccer?”

Luz thought about pointing out that soccer season was in the spring and that it was barely October but thought better of it. Instead she pursed her lips and braced herself for whatever Boscha was going to do to her.

“What’s going on over here?” A voice called from down the hall. Boscha’s grip released as the sound of high heels echoed against the tile floor. Luz stayed slumped against the lockers, trying to steady her breathing as Boscha pasted a sickeningly sweet smile onto her face and turned to face the woman walking towards them.

Luz looked up at the woman. Regal was the only word that could be used to describe her. She wore a long, black dress with matching hair and blue eyes that seemed to glow in contrast to her pale skin. She walked as though there was a broomstick attached to her spine. The woman also had the disinterested look of someone who wasn’t a teacher but held some higher authority.

“Vice Principal Clawthorn!” Boscha exclaimed as the woman approached. “Luz tripped and we were just helping her back to her feet.” The red head shot Luz a pointed look and brushed some nonexistent dirt off of the girl’s shoulder for emphasis. She had to fight not to flinch at the contact.

Luz glanced back over to the woman, the name Clawthorn sounded familiar. She couldn’t recall ever meeting the vice principal but she’d probably read the name in an email somewhere. “Yep,” Luz’s voice was strained. “I’m a bit clumsy.” She tried for a reassuring smile. She was not very good at those.

The vice principal gave her a once over and nodded. “Next period is starting soon. I recommend you all get to class.” With that the woman continued on, the click of her heels fading as she turned the corner.

The second she was out of sight Boscha started to walk off, slamming Luz back against the locker as she went.

Luz waited until they were gone to finally head to her locker but as she approached, her heart sank. Releasing a defeated sigh, Luz removed the broken lock from its latch and opened the door. A glob of shaving cream mixed with mustard fell out and plopped onto her shoes. Thankfully her laptop and the more important of her textbooks were in her backpack but the rest of the contents of her locker were ruined including the gym clothes she’d brought for later that day. Luz slammed her locker shut and punched the one beside it but no one heard because the bell that signified the start of next period rang off.