Everything
Amity’s POV
The first thing Amity noticed when she came into the building was the crowd surrounding the office, muttering so loudly she could barely make out the shouting coming from behind the frosted glass windows. She was early as per usual but didn’t care enough about whatever was going on to stick around and find out, Luz was probably already in the classroom and Amity wanted to make sure she made it to class before Boscha so that she could at least act as a buffer.
Rolling her eyes, Amity pushed through the crowd and ignored comments of “I can’t believe that happened”, “She got freaking pummeled!”, and “Ladies, ladies please, I got the whole thing on video!”, all the while the person, likely a parent, in the office continued to scream obscenities. Amity had just made it to the other side of the crowd when the door to the office burst open and the students surrounding the door scattered in an attempt to make it look like they weren’t eavesdropping. Amity wasn’t even going to bother looking, but then she actually heard the voice that was speaking.
Mrs. Havenstar was holding Boscha’s arm in an ironclad grip as she escorted her daughter out of the building. Amity’s eyes widened as she caught the tiniest glimpse of Boscha’s face before the girl turned to face the door. It was a bruised, bloody mess. She was holding an ice pack to her forehead, one eye was swollen, and Amity could see blood covered gauze sticking out of her nose. Even more unnerving though was the way she was walking. Amity had never seen that girl moving in any way but a confident swagger, but now she was slouching, her eyes downcast, letting her mom guide her out the door by the arm while the woman shouted about ‘hearing from her lawyer.’ Next came Skara and Emily, also led by their parents. They didn’t look hurt, but really shaken up and were fidgeting uncomfortably. It looked like their parents were angrily muttering some things to them and Emily’s dad gave her a bit of a smack on the back of the head the second they made it out of the front door.
Then, the last parent to leave the office made their appearance and Amity felt her heart stop. She had only met Luz’s mom once and it was when they’d nearly run into each other outside of that very office the Monday after the winter formal, and here she was again. She looked upset to say the least, but it was a quiet and stern kind of upset. Amity watched as Mrs. Noceda held the door to the office open as Luz shuffled out and Amity heard herself gasp as she took the taller girl in. Luz’s face was bruised and there was some gauze sticking out of her nose just like Boscha had, her blue hoodie had a few fresh stains that looked closer to dark purple on the side with some tears through which Amity was able to see what looked like a blood stained ace bandage on Luz’s side. She was also holding her left hand closer to her body as if she were trying not to move it too much. As Amity’s eyes went down to the girl’s hand, she saw bruising on the knuckles and her eyes shot back up to Luz’s face.
Luz had mumbled something to her mother that Amity was pretty sure was a thank you before Luz looked up and caught Amity’s gaze. The main foyer had cleared out by that point, the students having dispersed so it was just Amity standing at the other side of the room, frozen as though she’d been struck with an ice spell, waiting for Luz to flinch and avert her gaze like she always did when they were in close proximity. Except, that didn’t happen this time. Luz was actually maintaining eye contact with her with those deep brown eyes that Amity hadn’t even realized she’d missed until this moment. Despite the bruises, Luz’s expression looked calm, completely unlike the anxiety ridden features that she usually donned after having an altercation with Boscha. Then, Amity realized something else, Luz was a little taller than normal. She was standing up straight.
They only held eye contact for a moment before Luz’s mom placed a hand on her daughter’s back and began walking towards the door with a muttered “Vamos, mija.” Then the contact was broken and Luz walked out of the front door. She didn’t look back.
Amity stayed frozen in place. So many pieces were missing from her head but she could take a guess about what had happened, and what had been spoken about in that office. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had actually gotten Boscha in the principal’s office but she did remember that it hadn’t gone anywhere, that it had been one girl’s word against another's and Boscha’s family had enough power and influence that it had been dismissed. Amity felt her chest get tight, clenched her fists at her side, and before she knew it, she was yanking open the office door.
“It wasn’t Luz’s fault!” Amity shouted, startling Vice Principal Clawthorn from where she’d been leaning over her desk with her head in her hands. “It was Boscha, it’s always been Boscha!”
“Ms. Blight-”
“She’s been bothering Luz all year!” Amity knew that the drill in this situation was to let it go, to not say anything to a teacher unless Luz asked her to, but she was done with sitting idly by while Boscha got her way. “She’s a bully and a liar, and no one’s said anything because everyone’s afraid of her!” She was pacing around the office now, still shouting while Vice Principal Clawthorn sat at her desk. “I mean, who wouldn’t be afraid of her after what happened in the locker…” Amity stopped dead in her tracks. Should she tell her about the incident in the locker room? Would Amity get in trouble for keeping the information a secret until this point? Her eyes darted over to Vice Principal Clawthron was watching her intently and seemed to sit up a little straighter as she processed the last thing Amity had said.
At Amity’s hesitation Vice Principal Clawthorn pursed her lips and made eye contact with the girl. “Ms. Blight…” her voice was strangely calm. “I am not at will to discuss school incidents involving student altercations with uninvolved parties.” The vice principal glanced at the door to the principal’s office, Amity couldn’t recall even so much as a rumor about Principal Belos, but as the vice principal leaned forward and spoke in a lower tone, Amity got the picture. “But, if you are asking about the policies of the school board that I have no choice but to follow to the best of my ability…” Amity watched as she took a small, but thick, book out of a drawer in her desk and perched a pair of large round glasses over the bridge of her nose while flipping to a specific page. “Events taking place off of school grounds cannot be punished by expulsion, even in the worst of circumstances.” She flipped the page, “In the instance of a confrontation between students, even one taking place off of school grounds, all parties proven or witnessed to attack another student by two or more school officials shall be suspended.”
Amity frowned as Vice Principal Clawthorn closed the book. She had difficulty believing that Luz would ever attack anyone; then her thoughts flashed back to the bruised knuckles, the blood on Boscha’s face. She shook her head slightly, Boscha was always the aggravator. “But that’s not fair! Luz would never start anything, whatever happened, it wasn’t because of her!”
“Amity,” the vice principal tented her hands in front of her nose. “I want you to know that these are the best circumstances that could have possibly come out of the situation. A lot of schools have much harsher policies, and I rewrote this section of our school booklet myself after some… unfortunate experiences of my own growing up.” She glanced to the side as she spoke the last part. “However,” she pushed her glasses higher up on her nose before making pointed eye contact with Amity. “If you have any information of events that had occurred on school grounds, even ones taking place, say, several months ago, it will have to be taken into consideration and investigated.” Amity pursed her lips. They’d agreed that they wouldn’t say anything without Luz’s go ahead, but the ‘worse’ they’d been fearing would happen had clearly already happened. “And of course,” Vice Principal Clawthorn continued, “any students who had not brought forth information initially due to fear of retaliation from bullies would not face any repercussions for not providing said information sooner.”
Amity’s hands gripped the hem of her shirt as she set her jaw. The bell had rung for the start of first period a few minutes ago, but the vice principal made no effort to usher her off to class. Hesitantly, Amity took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Vice Principal Clawthorn’s desk and, after more than a few deep breaths, told her everything.