Cold
Amity’s POV
“Luz, wait!” Luz was already out the door by the time Willow was able to get the words out as she got up from her chair but only managed to take a single step to the door before Boscha reached forward and yanked her chair back, making the leg hook around Willow’s ankle and sending her sprawling to the floor.
Amity was on her feet in a second. “Willow, are you okay?” She shot Boscha a glare before slipping into their aisle to help Willow pick up her books. Everyone else was too concerned with getting out of the classroom to concern themselves with what was going on in the back corner. Even Mr. Bump was already heading to the teacher’s lounge since he didn’t have another class during the next period.
For as long as she could, Amity tried to ignore the girl towering behind her back though she could practically feel Boscha’s gaze burning a hole in the back of her head. Finally, she had enough. After handing Willow the last of her papers, Amity stood up and whirled around to face Boscha. “What’s your problem?!” She couldn’t keep the anger from her voice if she wanted to. Boscha had done nothing but be a pain in everyone’s ass for her entire life and Amity had let it slide because they were supposed to be friends, and then she let it slide because it wasn’t her problem, and then because she figured it would just make it worse if she intervened, but goddamnit, she was done.
Boscha was taller than her, looking down her nose with a look that was some mix of anger and scrutiny. She scoffed “What’s my problem? What’s your problem?” She took a step forward getting toe to toe with Amity with her arms crossed but Amity refused to back down, she bawled her hands into fists and lifted her chin to meet Boscha’s gaze. “You used to be fun, then you… what, started being friends with losers all of a sudden? What happened here that I missed?”
Amity grit her teeth, everyone but the three of them had finished clearing out of the classroom and they needed to go soon too or else they’d be late but Amity didn’t care about that right now. “Lay off, Boscha.”
“Why?” Boscha gave an exasperated laugh. “Because you feel sorry for them?” She gestured to Willow who had been standing behind Amity. The black haired girl shrunk backward and Amity positioned herself further between the two of them. Boscha laughed again and leaned in closer, getting right in Amity’s face. “Newsflash Blight, they’re nothing and they’re never going to be anything. Twenty years from now, I’ll have gone pro, you’re going to be running your family’s company, and they will have already faded into oblivion.”
The bell signalling the start of the next class rang but neither Amity nor Boshca moved a muscle. Amity felt her fist clench harder in anticipation of doing something very specific to Boscha’s face when she felt Willow’s hand on her arm. “Amity, we need to go now.” Her voice was bitter but calm. Amity took one more second to stare down Boscha before turning and following Willow out of the classroom.
Right as Amity turned in the direction of her next class she felt Boscha’s fingers dig into her shoulder and heard her voice in her ear. “Do your parents know that you’re friend’s with the faggots’ kid?” and pushed forward making her stumble slightly.
As soon as Amity regained her footing, she whirled to snap something back but Boscha was already strutting away like nothing happened.
Luz’s POV
Luz had to force herself to unclench her jaw. It was the last period on the second day of school. A Tuesday, which meant that she was supposed to tutor Amity that afternoon. Maybe she should have asked Mr. Bump if her extra credit opportunity could be reevaluated for this semester and she could just make more of an effort to participate in class instead, but if she stayed after class that would mean that Boscha or Willow or Amity would be able to interact with her and that was the last thing she wanted.
Boscha had continued on with her usual antics but thankfully hadn’t pulled anything extreme like she had at the dance yet. Then on the other hand, Amity, Willow, and Gus had all attempted to talk to her multiple times over the last few days but Luz always found a way out of those situations. Gus had tried to pass her notes in history class but she just threw them in the garbage on her way out of the classroom without looking at them. Then the three of them had tried to wait by her bike yesterday for her to come by but Luz had waited in the bushes until Willow and Gus needed to leave for the buses and Amity’s siblings eventually came to pick her up. Luz had apologised for Eda for being extremely late that day but thankfully, Eda knew how anxious she was about the first day back to school and didn’t push. Luz still made Eda’s favorite that night for dinner to make up for it.
Her fingers drummed nervously against her desk as the teacher droned on in Spanish. Luz still wasn’t sure how she was able to convince the school’s administration that she was a beginner but she was more than happy for another easy class she could use to work on more important things, like the math homework that she and Amity were supposed to go over together that night.
All too soon, the final bell sounded and Luz trudged to her locker which had what appeared to be some kind of slime dribbling over the inside of the door from the grate that it had been squeezed through. She grabbed the few things that she couldn’t lug around in her backpack all day and headed out to the side of the school where the bike rack was.
A grimace pasted itself onto Luz’s face as she saw the lone figure standing in front of her bike as the last kid filed into their parent’s car and left the parking lot. Her green hair blew softly in the winter air as she pulled her coat more tightly around herself and looked down at her shoes. She was shuffling her feet, probably anxious but Luz didn’t want to know how she was feeling. Luz didn’t want to know anything about her.
Luz hadn’t been able to bring herself to really look at any of them when she’d gotten back to school. Amity was the only one she’d actually really spent time with in person prior to what happened at the dance so Luz had a good idea of how Amity looked when she was happy or angry or nervous, and Luz just wanted to forget it all and to never get the chance to know those things about Gus and Willow in the first place. They had lied to her, kept secrets from her. Salix and Caesar had been her best friends for years, and at one point Salix had been her only friend. Luz had always figured that they’d meet one day, but not like that. Not caught off guard at the winter formal with her face all bloody and them knowing way more about her than she knew about them. Not like-
“Luz?” Amity’s voice shocked her from her spiral as Luz’s head snapped up. For a split second they made eye contact. Amity’s golden eyes stared at her with a nervous, hopeful anticipation and Luz didn’t want to know what her own face looked like before she managed to tear her eyes away and focus on the ground as she marched towards the bike rack.
Amity didn’t move out of the way as Luz stepped forward and Luz wasn’t sure of whether or not she expected her to. “You… you only brought one helmet.” Amity’s voice was weary and Luz gripped her purple helmet tighter in one hand while holding out a small pile of notebook paper in the other. Luz didn’t look up but could feel the hesitation in Amity’s grip as she carefully took the paper’s from Luz’s hand. The second Luz released, she sidestepped Amity and knelt down next to the lock on her bike.
“Luz, what is this?”
Luz messed up the combination and needed to try again. Her tongue felt heavy as she opened her mouth to speak. “It’s tonight’s homework.” She wasn’t sure how she was keeping her voice so level. “I did it step by step on the paper with written notes to explain what I did differently than how Bump taught it.” She finally got the lock to release and stuffed it into her backpack. “Try the problems on your own first, then look over how I did them. If you have a question, please write it down on a sheet of paper and pass it to me at the start of class tomorrow.” Luz started to walk her bike over to the side walk, she still hadn’t looked at Amity.
“Luz, wait. Please.” There was a hand on Luz’s arm and every muscle in her body tensed at the contact. Immediately, Amity pulled her hand away but Luz remained frozen as if the touch had paralized her. “I’m- I’m sorry Luz. I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry.” Amity’s voice sounded so small and was wavering. For what felt like an eternity, Luz was still unable to move, she’d simply locked into place as Amity’s breathing got more and more erratic behind her. Finally, there was a hiccup and Luz finally snapped out of it and turned to look at Amity.
The girl was pressing one fist against her eyes as the other held the papers Luz had given her in a death grip. Her shoulders were hunched forward, shuddering as she heaved every breath, and there were tears streaking down her face that froze against her cheeks before they had the chance to make it to her chin. “I’m sorry, Luz. I’m so, so sorry. I fucked up. I- I was scared and I fucked everything up because…” She wheezed as she sucked in a breath, “I like you!” She tore her hand away from her face but her eyes were still squeezed shut as she said the words. Her expression looked pained and Luz felt her chest get a lot tighter than it had been before. “ I really, really like you, Luz. I like your laugh, and your jokes, and the way you talk about the things that you like, and how you never made me feel stupid for not knowing something like everyone else always did!”
Amity opened her eyes and met Luz’s for a split second before Luz was able to avert her gaze back towards her bike. “Luz, please. I… I think I might even….” Luz didn’t want to think about what words could have died on the other girl’s lips. There was a sniffle, and then Amity’s voice returned a little more evenly, “I… At least talk to Willow and Gus, okay?” She sniffled again, softer this time. “I was the one who told them who you were and I asked them not to tell you right away. I was scared and didn’t want to fuck it up but I ended up doing that anyway. It was my fault, not theirs. So… please.”
“Amity.” The word had to squeeze past the lump in Luz’s throat that had come into existence and she nearly flinched as she felt Amity snap to attention out of her line of sight. “I… I can’t.” She wanted to. Of course she did. She hated not talking to them every day, she hated spending her nights and weekends alone in an empty house without her headphones filled with the sound of laughter and cheering and the voices of her friends, all three of them.
But that didn’t change the way that she still felt like she was going to throw up every time she thought about them, the same way that she’d felt that night at the dance. It didn’t change that freezing, aching pain in her chest that hadn’t gone away and deepened like a chasm every time she heard their voices. Sure, her ribs were getting better and the bruise on her face had almost completely healed; but whatever the rest of it was, it was enough that she couldn’t be around them right now. “I need time, okay?” It wasn’t really a request and they both knew it. Luz didn't wait for an answer before she got onto her bike and started pedaling down the hill toward The Owl House, hoping that she could blame the tears in her eyes on the cold weather if Eda asked.