Chapter Text
Luz leaned up against the side of the cream colored bricks of the Owl House, lighting up the end of her cigarette and inhaled deeply before breathing out a small cloud of gray smoke. It had been a while since she last had a cigarette and missed the mind-numbing sensation they provided. They were easy to get a hold of in the human realm apparently, but much harder to come by on the Boiling Isles and were only sold by sketchy merchants who found washed up human rubbish that somehow made its way into a beached trash slug’s stomach.
She had learned a lot during her time on the Boiling Isles. Stare at a painbow for too long and your body will turn inside out. The rain there was quite literally boiling hot as were the vast oceans surrounding the area. Never let your guard down for danger lurks in every corner. In the demon realm, the key to survival is to know the land.
Even after all the training Eda and Raine put her through and all the fighting and life experience she gained since she was found by Eda when she was nine, nothing could have prepared her for her first day at Hexside.
High school. It was such a foreign concept to her to see herself as a normal seventeen year old girl since she was anything but ordinary. With the questionably legal activities Luz partook on a daily basis, she doubted most teenagers her age could say they've experienced and witnessed even a fraction of what she did. And for that exact reason, she had no idea how she was going to make friends.
Luz could handle fighting dangerous monsters or demons and even occasionally members of the Emperor's coven, but making friends was uncharted territory. She had King, of course, but he had been her friend forever; he was more of a brother to her now, really. Making friends wasn't ever on her agenda since she hardly had time to try to befriend any witches or demons anyway. She was too busy learning how to hold her own because the Demon Realm was unforgiving and ruthless, something the average human couldn't endure. That’s also probably why she was the only human on the Boiling Isles.
She was only ever able to build her strength and gain her skills through years of rigorous physical training and education on how to survive on the Isles. Eda would teach her hand-to-hand combat and how to cast spells, though Luz only had the capability to cast the glyphs Raine had taught her how to draw. Raine took care of Luz’s primary education, homeschooling her for the majority of her time on the Isles. That is when they weren’t dealing with coven stuff.
This was all part of Luz’s daily life until Raine decided it would have been a good opportunity for Luz to gain life experience by attending high school. What better school to go to than Hexside School of Witchcraft and Demonics? When Raine attended, they graduated at the top of their class and Eda… well, Eda attended Hexside, but Luz needed to experience what life was like for a young adult witch. Maybe then she would make some friends.
“Where did you get that? Raine hates it when you smoke those things, you know,” a snarky voice remarked.
Luz looked down and noticed her favorite demon best friend. She smirked and patted his head. “Raine doesn’t have to know, King.”
King dropped his head and sighed. “Fine, but I hope you know how bad those things are for you.”
“Hey, it’s my first day of high school. I need the nicotine to help me relax a little,” Luz replied. “Besides, I don’t smoke very often. Apple blood works better.”
“And I’m gonna pretend for your sake I didn’t hear any of that!” Eda’s voice chimed from around the corner of the Owl House. “Now come on, kid, I don’t have all day!”
“Mierda,” Luz muttered under her breath. “Sorry, buddy, I gotta go!”
“Wait! I want my goodbye hug!” King exclaimed and reached his arms up.
Luz smiled and kneeled down, hugging the soft, fluffy demon. “Bye, King. I’ll see you later!”
The human sprinted to where Eda was in the center of the field. The owl lady was already in the air on her staff waiting for her apprentice. She was sipping on presumably her morning cup of elixir mixed with apple blood. Then again, maybe it was just apple blood. Eda had been forgetting to take her elixir recently.
“You sure you don’t wanna stay in the Bad Girl Coven, Kiddo?” Eda asked as Luz mounted on the staff.
“It’s not like Raine gave me much of a choice,” Luz murmured.
Eda placed a hand on her apprentice's shoulder. “Look, they care about you and so do I. And it wasn’t a bad idea of theirs for you to gain some high school experience. You don’t exactly have any friends either.”
Luz scoffed. “I have plenty of friends, thank you.”
“King doesn’t count,” Eda chuckled. “If you really wanna make it on the Isles, you gotta know people. Make connections.”
“And know your way around and train how to fight giant monsters,” Luz added.
“Exactly, but life isn’t always gonna be about fighting dangerous monsters,” Eda pointed out.
“I wish it was,” Luz sighed.
Owlbert suddenly took off and Luz enjoyed the cold early morning breeze that moved her semi-long dark hair. Her dark green long sleeved jacket, purple and white striped shirt, and jeans kept her warm enough as she glided through the air. She was glad Hexside decided to ditch their uniform policy a year before she attended, so she was able to wear what she wanted.
Within minutes, the giant school buildings of Hexside came into view. Luz had only ever been once when she had to prove her skills in the acceptance auditions a couple weeks before the new semester started. She honestly didn’t expect her glyph casting to get her accepted, but it did. That, and a bunch of recommendations from the Bard Coven leader who just so happened to be Luz’s other parental-guardian, Raine Whispers.
She couldn’t deny she owed Raine a lot. Eda was right when she said Raine cared about her. Even though they were shy and it was hard for them to communicate with Luz due to their incredibly busy schedule, Raine made sure Luz was accepted and placed in whatever track in school she wanted. All Luz had to do was figure out which track she wanted to join. Today she was going to find out. Raine had hoped Luz would show interest in the Bard track, which granted Luz was curious about, but there were eight other tracks she had to choose from which made her decision difficult.
Luz broke free from her buzzing thoughts as Owlbert landed them on the school grounds. Luz was suddenly very happy that she wore her beanie that covered her ears. She would have stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the student population since her round ears were a dead giveaway that she was a human. That she was different. All she wanted to be seen as was ordinary. Blending in was always better than sticking out. At least for first appearances.
“You nervous, Owlet?” Eda asked.
“Huh?” Luz asked stupidly. “Oh, uh… a little.”
“Heh, that’s normal. Of course, I became super popular on my first day,” Eda boasted and then smiled. “I’m sure you’ll have no problem. You’re my kid after all.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Eda,” Luz nodded.
“You want to bring your lucky wooden fighting pole with you?” Eda asked, starting to pull a dark red baseball bat covered in paper glyphs out of her hair.
Luz snorted, still wondering how Eda’s hair worked. “Am I even allowed to?”
“Sure, why not? If these kids are allowed to carry around mystical swords and training wands, I don’t see why you can’t bring your human stick-thing,” Eda grinned in encouragement. “Make sure to really hit a sucker who deserves it.”
“Obviously,” Luz rolled her eyes with a smile. “I’ll make sure to only whack someone if the teachers aren’t watching too.”
“That’s my girl,” Eda nodded with a proud expression. “Just… try not to make any enemies on your first day if you can avoid it.”
“That’s why I’m blending in. Can’t make any enemies if no one detects me,” Luz explained.
Eda glared at her, raising a brow. “You can’t make any friends that way either. You wanna make friends, don’t you?”
Luz wasn’t sure. Making friends while growing up didn’t really happen for her, mostly because she was too busy training to make any. Eda and Raine knew lots of people and had friends of their own, but Luz could never connect with them or become friends with them due to the significant gap in age which made things awkward.
She had survived this long without friends, but maybe Eda had a point when she said not all things in life were about fighting monsters. Luz truly couldn’t say she experienced her life to the fullest as a human-witch without having awesome adventures with people she considered as her friends.
“Maybe,” Luz shrugged. “I’m just attending Hexside to figure out which coven I should join when I’m older.”
Eda sighed and shook her head. “You’ve got two years till you’re nineteen and go through the choosing ceremony, so maybe in that time you’ll learn that using wild magic is way better than coven magic.”
“Wild magic is cool and all, but Raine told me I need to join a coven if I wanna fit in society,” Luz countered.
“Ugh, I love them, but I question their logic sometimes. Listen, there’s nothing wrong with learning wild magic. Just look at how I turned out!” Eda exclaimed with a wide and cocky smile.
“You’re a wanted criminal who needs to wear a disguise every time she goes out in public,” Luz laughed, gesturing to Eda’s hood that covered her head.
“Fair point, but being a criminal ain’t so bad either! I’ve stolen so many snails, I could buy myself a second Owl House!” Eda pointed out.
“I don’t know how Raine puts up with you,” Luz snickered.
Sometimes Luz did truly wonder about that. Raine was a coven leader which meant they couldn’t be involved in any criminal activity. Dating one of the Boiling Isle’s most powerful witch criminals wouldn’t have been good for their reputation at all.
“Love, mostly,” Eda murmured. “And a whole lotta sweet talking on my part!”
“Sounds about right,” Luz agreed.
“Alright, get outta here, kid. I wanna get home. I miss the warmth of my nest,” Eda shuddered as a cold gust of wind blew against them. “Have a good first day.”
“Thank you, Eda. I’ll see you after school,” Luz smiled slightly.
Luz hopped off of Eda’s Palisman and grabbed her baseball bat, placing it in an empty slot in her book bag. She slung the book bag over her shoulder and exhaled, waving to Eda as she flew away.
The main campus was huge and Luz could only picture what the rest of it looked like. Many students passed her by without even batting an eye and so far her plan to blend in appeared to be working. She looked over her list of things to do on her scroll and checked off the first one that said arrival to Hexside. The next task on her checklist was to meet one of her classmates who would act as her guide for her first day. He was the President of the Human Appreciation Society which made sense as to why he was chosen to show Luz around.
The human was expecting her guide to be a senior or at least in her grade, but she was surprised to see a fifteen year old boy wearing a skull t-shirt and ripped black pants waiting for her. Luz was a junior, so she found it strange that an underclassman would be showing her around, but she didn’t say anything.
The boy smiled as she approached him. “You’re Luz, right?”
His voice was a little deeper than Luz expected, but he sounded nice.
“That’s me,” Luz chuckled awkwardly.
“I’m Augustus! Nice to meet you! And uh,” he leaned in close so no one except for them could hear. “Is it true that you’re a human?”
Luz sighed and rubbed the side of her arm. If she was going to make friends, she needed to gain trust first. Honesty was the best route to take if she wanted to do that. Augustus seemed trustworthy enough.
“Yep, I’m the most humanish human you’ll meet,” Luz nodded, moving her beanie up slightly to reveal her round ears as proof before slipping it back down.
Augustus’s brown eyes went wide with wonder. “Woah, that’s so cool! Tell me what it’s like to be a human!”
“I dunno, it’s… erm, just like being a witch? Except I can’t do any spells that I know of, only glyphs,” Luz said and pulled out a light glyph sheet and pressed the top, producing a tiny ball of light.
The younger witch began writing notes. “Hmmhm, hmmhm, interesting. Is that stick thing a part of your culture?”
Luz took her baseball bat out of her bag. “This? Technically, I got it as a gift from my mom… I-I mean from Eda.”
“Eda? She isn’t your mom?” Augustus asked.
Luz felt like she just put her foot in her mouth, desperately wanting to avoid the subject. “Uh… it’s complicated.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t probe,” the boy assured her.
“I appreciate that, Gus,” Luz smiled, deciding Augustus was too long of a name for her to say. Gus sounded better and suited him.
“Gus? As in, a nickname? A human nickname?” Gus asked in awe. “Aw man, this day just keeps getting better!”
Luz chuckled. “Hey, if you like humans so much, why don’t we sit together at lunch? You can try some of my, uh, human food?"
The younger witch nodded vigorously. “I would love that! Thank you.”
“Sure thing, kid,” Luz smiled, internally laughing because that was something Eda would say.
“Actually, I’m in your grade,” Gus pointed out. “I only look younger because I skipped two grades.”
Oh, so he was smart. Like really smart. Luz decided he might come in handy later on. She wasn’t sure if Gus was her friend now, but at least she could consider him an ally.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume,” Luz apologized. “I think that’s pretty cool that you’re smart enough to be a junior at what? Fifteen?”
“Yeah. A lot of kids pick on me for my intelligence,” Gus said sadly.
Luz snorted. “Pft, sounds like they’re all jealous. Whenever someone teases someone else for their intellect, they’re practically screaming that they’re insecure.”
Gus’s expression lightened. “I’ve never thought of it that way.”
“Never let someone else put you down for something you're good at,” Luz grinned and patted his shoulder.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gus smiled. “Now, do you know which track you’re in yet?”
“Nope, I’m supposed to find out today,” Luz shook her head.
“Oh, you don’t know yet? Can I see your schedule?” Gus asked.
Luz nodded and handed him her scroll. Gus slowly scrolled down, narrowing his eyes as he read. Luz wondered if he needed reading glasses.
“Ah, so that’s how Bump decided to do it,” Gus commented. “He wants you to try out all the coven classes for today and make your choice before you start your other core classes."
“That’s what I thought,” Luz nodded in agreement. “What coven track are you in?”
“Only the coolest coven track ever! The illusion track!” Gus beamed.
Gus circled his finger in the air and a small blue ring followed soon after before a shiny, golden crown made its way on top of Gus’s head. He also pointed at the little pin shaped like a mirror that had the words illusion track on it. Luz supposed when she picked a coven track that she’d get a similar pin.
“Man, I wish I could do magic like that,” Luz breathed out.
“Don’t lose hope, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Especially now that you’re going to Hexside,” Gus encouraged.
“Thanks, Gus,” Luz grinned, affectionately punching his arm.
“What was that for?” Gus asked, touching his arm.
Luz panicked slightly. “Oh, uh, it’s a human thing.”
“Well I like it!” Gus smiled, lightly punching Luz’s arm. “Come on, we should find your locker! According to your scroll, your locker is right by… oh no.”
Luz nervously laughed at Gus’s concerned expression. “Oh no? What do you mean oh no?”
“Oh uh, it’s just… your locker is right next to someone else’s locker. She isn’t very nice,” Gus grimaced.
Luz groaned internally. The last thing she needed was to interact with a bully every day. She just hoped she wouldn’t come across this person on her first day.
“Great,” Luz blurted sarcastically.
“On the bright side, it looks like your locker is pretty close to my best friend’s locker too! I think you’d like Willow!” Gus tried to lighten the mood.
“Maybe you can introduce her to me,” Luz suggested.
“Good idea! She’s probably in the greenhouse right now. Wanna go see if we can find her?” Gus asked. “We have a little time before classes start.”
“Sure, sounds good,” Luz gave him a thumbs up.
Luz followed Gus around the campus in search of the greenhouse. Even with her ears covered, Luz felt anxiety build up inside of her. She didn’t feel like she was fitting in because every time she passed a student, they stared at her as if they knew what she was hiding. Only Gus knew she was a human and Luz kinda wanted it to stay that way for now.
“Hey, Gus?” Luz asked slowly.
“What’s up?” Gus hummed as they continued to walk.
“Can you not tell other people I’m a human?” Luz requested kindly.
Gus frowned. “Why? I’m sure most people here won’t care, honestly.”
“Humans are… you know, different from witches. If people find out I can’t perform basic magic, that won’t look good,” Luz explained.
“Well, Willow kinda knows you’re human. I told her yesterday that I might be showing a human around school but didn’t know for sure,” Gus admitted guiltily.
“Alright, but she’s the only other person who can know for now,” Luz grumbled. “Once I get used to life here and meet more people, maybe then I’ll let everyone know I’m human. For now, I just wanna blend in. Think you can help me out with that?”
“Blending in, got it,” Gus nodded as they came closer to the greenhouse. ”The best way to do that is choosing a coven track. You already know the Illusion track is the coolest, but I get it, it may not be for you. Maybe you’re into plants. Willow sure likes them.”
The last thing Luz was expecting when she entered the greenhouse was complete and utter chaos. Tables were scattered in various places and a couple of the greenhouse windows were shattered as well. Based on Gus’s expression, he wasn’t expecting to see any of this either.
Loud gurgling sounds came from a monstrous green and pink plant with wriggling limbs and gnashing teeth in the center of the room. The plant held a student up in the air with one of its thick vines, slowly tightening its grip. The student was screaming and thrashing to get out of the plants grasp, but got nowhere.
“What’s going on? What can we do to help?” Luz asked the student frantically, pulling out her baseball bat to prepare for battle.
“I’ve got it,” a high pitched yet calming voice said from behind them.
Luz and Gus turned to see a girl who wore a beige trench coat and blue pants who already started to cast a green spell. She had wild dark blue hair and round glasses that displayed her intense glowing green eyes. The spell hit the plant, causing it to go into a trance-like state, lowering the student it had its vines wrapped around.
“Thank you, Willow,” the student murmured shyly, avoiding eye contact.
“Why are you here, Skara?” Willow asked coldly and her eyes stopped glowing.
Luz got a closer look at the student. She wore a distinct pin on her tank top that looked like it was the shape of a harp or lyre. The bard track.
“I… it was Boscha!” Skara said in defense. “She wanted me to mess with the plant to get you banned from the greenhouse or something! I didn’t want this to happen, I swear, Willow!”
Willow looked around the very damaged greenhouse and sighed again, taking off her glasses to wipe them off. “Whatever. Just get out of here and tell Boscha I’m probably gonna get detention for a week again. Then can you guys leave me alone?”
Skara looked at her finally, pressing her lips together. “I really am sorry.”
“Just go,” Willow said more harshly now.
Skara said nothing more and left quickly. Gus immediately ran over to his friend while Luz stood in shock, staring at the giant subdued plant Willow had seemingly put to sleep. She had encountered many beasts and ferocious plants on the Isles, but she hadn’t ever seen someone take one down so quickly and without harming it. More importantly, she had no idea why anyone would want to mess with this witch. Her power wasn’t something to trifle with.
“Are you okay, Willow?” Gus asked in a panicked tone.
Willow cracked her knuckles and pushed up her glasses. “I’m fine. It’s a shame I came when I did. It would have been funny if Skara started crying.”
“Yeah,” Gus chuckled uneasily.
“Who’s that?” Willow asked, gesturing to Luz.
“Oh! That’s the new exchange student I’m showing around,” Gus smiled.
“You’re the human?” Willow asked, snapping Luz out of her thoughts.
Luz was grateful it was just the three of them in the greenhouse so no one heard that. “Yeah, just don’t tell anyone yet. I’m trying to keep a low profile if you know what I mean.”
“That’s smart. Ever since some of the Glandus students transferred here for our Grudgby team, our school has adopted a lot of their ideologies. Only the strong survive. Laying low makes you less of a target since you’re less noticeable. People here like mysteriousness,” Willow explained.
Luz blinked at her. “Wow, that’s actually exactly what I meant.”
“Unfortunately, sometimes keeping a low profile won’t help you out,” Willow sighed bitterly, gripping the side of her trench coat. “Boscha and her little crew have been picking on me for years.”
“I don’t know who this Boscha girl is, but I don’t like her,” Luz blurted out. “Why would you hold back on your powers on the people who bully you? I would have knocked off some heads if I had powers like yours.”
Willow laughed. “Heh, I like you. What’s your name, human?”
“Luz Noceda,” Luz smiled, shaking Willow’s hand.
“Willow Park, pleasure to meet you,” Willow nodded.
“Seriously though, that spell casting was incredible!” Luz praised her.
The smallest smile made its way to Willow’s expression. “I’m glad someone thinks so. I’m not even in the plant track.”
Luz finally noticed the abomination track pin Willow had on her trench coat. “Why the hell not? With your badass skills, you’d be at the top of your class!”
“My dads wanted me to join the abomination track, so I’m stuck with it,” Willow said somberly. “But they can’t stop me from learning plant magic on my own. Every morning before school, I practice my plant magic here in secret. I guess it’s not a secret anymore since Boscha knows now.”
Luz thought for a moment. “Why don’t you just join both tracks? That way your dads are happy and you get to do something you want to do!”
Both Gus and Willow’s expression turned confused, making Luz raise a brow at them in question.
“You can’t do that,” Gus said slowly. “That’s why everyone chooses one coven track to join.”
Luz wrinkled her nose. “That’s stupid. What if you want to be in more than one?”
“You just don’t,” Willow shrugged.
“Hmph, we’ll see about that,” Luz grumbled.
Suddenly, the school alarm screamed, letting them know it was time for class. Luz was even more excited to go to her Abomination class now that she knew Willow was gonna be with her. It was her first class of the day, according to her schedule.
“Welp, I gotta go to my spelling class. See you guys at lunch!” Gus smiled and waved at them.
“Bye, Gus,” Luz and Willow said simultaneously.
Luz turned to Willow who had already started gathering her things. “It looks like we have Abomination class with each other. Wanna walk there together?”
“Yeah,” Willow nodded with a slight smile.
The two witches walked out of the greenhouse and wandered down the hallways full of alive lockers, passing by several students scurrying quickly to get to class. The closer and closer they got to their own lockers, the more dread filled Willow and Luz could see it clear as day.
“Alright, spill, Willow. Something’s bugging you. Was it the plant incident?” Luz asked.
“I wish,” Willow laughed darkly. “I’m just not looking forward to letting my teacher down… again. I suck at Abomination magic. I wish I could be good at it for once and make an A+ worthy abomination!”
“Maybe you can,” Luz thought out loud.
“Huh?” Willow looked over at her.
“I know how abominations act, so let me be your abomination!” Luz suggested with a confident smile.
“I don’t know, Luz,” Willow replied slowly. “If I get caught, I might get kicked out of the track and be a part of the detention track permanently. I don’t know if I wanna take that risk.”
Luz nodded as they approached their lockers. “I understand. I’ll respect what you choose to-”
Luz stopped mid-sentence when she crashed into someone, falling on the ground. She felt her beanie fall off her head and she freaked out, scrambling on the ground to find it. Before she could, her train of thought stopped once her brown eyes connected with fiery golden ones that were full of anger and irritation. Now Luz freaked out for an entirely different reason. She just knocked into one of the prettiest girls she had ever seen.
The girl she crashed into had long sea-foam green hair with brown roots and wore a long pink dress. The bracelet she had around her wrist had spikes, which probably also explained why she had several ear piercings. She also wore an abomination track pin as well as a gold star that had the words top student on it. Luz realized quickly that this girl was probably the worst person she could have crashed into.
“Watch where you’re going, dumbass!” the girl shouted in rage.
“I didn’t mean to, damn,” Luz countered in an annoyed tone.
The green haired girl narrowed her eyes as she stood up. “What’s wrong with your ears?”
Suddenly feeling embarrassed and remembering her beanie wasn’t on her head anymore, Luz squirmed and reached for her beanie before putting it back on.
“Birth defect,” Luz said quickly and out of breath.
“No wonder you’re hanging out with Half-a-witch Willow. You’re a freak just like her,” the girl smirked.
“Leave her alone, Amity!” Willow snapped at her.
“Or what, Half-a-witch?” Amity raised a brow. She twirled her finger in the air and a pink flame appeared over the palm of her hand. “I hear you’re good with plants, but can your puny weeds handle a little fire?”
There was an almost twisted yet pleased look in Amity’s golden eyes as Willow looked away out of fear. Luz really didn’t like Amity.
“Piss off,” Willow growled.
The pink flame disappeared and Amity smirked arrogantly. “That’s what I thought. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to class. As Hexside’s top student, I must insist you both get to class too before you’re late.”
Willow and Luz silently watched as Amity left them in the hallway. Luz instantly decided it would be best to avoid Amity altogether. The last thing she needed as a new student was to get into trouble.
“How is she Hexside’s top student?” Luz asked angrily as she stood up.
“Because she’s a Blight. Even her two older siblings Edric and Emira are top students. They do get in trouble a lot more than her though,” Willow explained.
Blight. That name sounded awfully familiar to Luz. She could have sworn she remembered Raine mentioning something about an Alador Blight who was working on something big for the Emperor. But Alador Blight was a famous abomination scientist. Luz didn’t know he had kids.
“Ugh, I’d sure love to wipe that smug grin off her face,” Luz grumbled.
“Let’s do it then. You said you know how to act like an Abomination, well… I’m sick of letting Amity one-up me. I want to one-up her this time,” Willow said in a low tone.
Luz poked her head out of Willow’s abomination pot. She was glad abomination goo didn’t stain clothing or else she would have ruined one of her favorite shirts. It did, however, stick to parts of her body which meant she’d have to wash it off once class was over.
“Okay, here’s the plan. As soon as my presentation is done, stay hidden and undetectable until class is done unless I need to summon you again,” Willow explained.
“Got it,” Luz nodded with a thumbs up. “Good luck, bleghhh.”
The fake abomination lowered into her container and waited. Luz knew the nicotine would have been useful for today. There was no way she could have done this sober; she would have laughed too much.
Once Willow pushed the pot into the classroom, she tapped the top which alerted Luz that class had started. Hearing what the teacher was saying was difficult, but Luz was able to decipher who the voices belonged to at least.
There were several times where she could hear Willow interacting with the teacher and then with someone else. Suddenly, she felt the pot move and she prepared herself. All she needed to do now was wait for the signal.
“Abomination, rise!” Willow commanded.
Slowly, Luz rose out of the pot and made several grumble sounds, imitating an abomination. There were gasps all around, including from someone Luz had just ran into. She nearly froze once she saw those golden eyes that were still full of anger from their interaction earlier. Amity stared directly at Luz, not buying any of it.
Luz continued to obey the basic commands Willow gave her and thought she was doing pretty well, but she couldn’t help but to keep looking over at Amity who was scowling at her. What was her deal? Why did she even care? If the teacher was believing all of this, why couldn’t she just ignore it?
“Impressive, Miss Park. I am seeing great improvement, but can it speak?” the abomination teacher requested.
Luz had to think of something and something fast. Amity was keeping quiet for now and she didn’t know why, but all she could do was play along.
Willow nervously looked over at Luz. “Abomination, speak!”
“Uhhh… you… are a… star,” Luz said the first thing that popped into her head, drawing a small abomination goo star on Willow’s forehead.
The abomination teacher laughed. “Oh, splendid! It can even draw shapes! Well done, Willow. In fact, I am so impressed by your presentation and improvement, I think it’s safe to say you’re becoming our new top student!”
That, Luz knew would get Amity’s attention. And it did.
“Oh come on! You can’t actually believe that thing is an abomination!” Amity spoke up loudly and stood up from her seat.
“I beg your pardon, Miss Blight?” the teacher asked slowly.
Amity walked to the front of the room. “This is obviously a fake! Just look at it!”
Luz instinctually made an abomination noise and sunk lower into her pot.
“That is a bold accusation, Amity,” the teacher reminded her in a warning tone.
Amity growled and lunged forward, grabbing Luz’s collar. “I know what you are! Just admit it!”
It took everything within Luz to not let her survival instincts kick in and push Amity off of her. If she didn’t want to get caught, she had to keep up the act. She may not have fooled Amity, but she was fooling the teacher which was all she really cared about.
“That’s enough, Miss Blight,” the teacher snapped. “I understand that your position as top student is being threatened, but this is just pathetic. Now sit down before you embarrass yourself any further. This behavior will not be tolerated.”
The entire class erupted in laughter, causing Amity’s cheeks to turn bright pink. Defeated, the green haired witch tried to keep her composure and scoffed, walking back to her desk.
“Abomination, down,” Willow instructed and Luz happily lowered back down into the pot.
Luz wasn’t sure how long she sat in the abomination goo, squirming around while she waited for class to end. To cure her boredom, she played around with the goo to make little mini abominations and used the light from the opening of the pot to see what she was doing. Thankfully, she wasn’t needed for the rest of the class period.
When the school bell screamed, Luz felt relief wash over her. She couldn’t wait to get out of the murky purple goo. She felt Willow push her pot which meant she was leaving class. Once Willow lifted the lid, Luz smiled and climbed out. They were in one of the school bathrooms where Luz could wash the goo off her body.
“Well I’ll be damned, it actually worked,” Luz breathed out, turning on the sink.
“Yeah, but Amity probably won’t leave us alone now,” Willow chuckled.
Luz rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Pft, I’m not scared of her.”
“I’m not either,” Willow nodded. “You need to understand that she… wasn’t always like this.”
“What do you mean?” Luz asked in an intrigued tone as she turned off the sink.
“Believe it or not, Amity and I used to be really good friends. Then one day she told me she didn’t want to be friends anymore and she started to pick on me with Boscha and the other powerful rich kids in the school. Once I started the abomination track and didn’t do well, the treatment I received only got worse,” Willow explained.
“Fucking entitled rich witches,” Luz said under her breath. “I’m sorry that happened, Willow.”
Willow shrugged. “Nothing I can do about it now. I can’t ask you to be my abomination forever, but thanks for helping me get a good grade this time. I’ll just have to figure something out for the future.”
“Actually, I’ve been giving this some thought while I was sloshing around in abomination goo,” Luz replied. “What if you quit the abomination track and join the plant track? There’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t switch tracks.”
“My dads wouldn't allow that,” Willow shook her head.
“Maybe not. Show them your potential. And if that doesn’t work, show Principal Bump your skills. He might be able to convince your dads that you’d do much better in the plant track,” Luz suggested.
“That is true,” Willow considered. “I would get better grades if I was in the plant track and maybe then I won’t get picked on anymore.”
“You’re proving my point, Willow,” Luz smirked. “You should do it.”
Willow smiled brightly. “I think I will. Thanks again, Luz.”
“Anytime, friend,” Luz nodded.
“Wait, you want to be friends with me?” Willow asked, slightly surprised.
“Duh! You’re one of the coolest people I’ve met! You and Gus are definitely people I wanna hang out with,” Luz laughed.
“Okay!” Willow smiled again.
“Welp, I think I’m gonna get the rest of the goo off of me. You can go to your next class if you want,” Luz said as she found a patch of goo stuck to her hip and tried to remove it.
“I’ll see you at lunch then?” Willow asked.
“For sure! See ya later,” Luz waved before Willow left with her empty abomination pot.
Luz looked at her reflection in the mirror and heard the school bell scream again. She was late for her next class, but she wanted to make sure there was no more purple goop on her. So she shrugged and adjusted her beanie before going back to cleaning the slimy gunk off of her.
Someone suddenly entered the bathroom and Luz didn’t look up to find out. She was too busy scrubbing the last bit of abomination goo off of her pants.
“Sorry, I’ll move out of your way in a sec,” Luz said.
Suddenly the room lit up in hot pink. Luz recognized that color. Her head snapped in the direction from where the intense color was coming from to see none other than Amity Blight with a giant pink flame flickering in the air above her hand. Either Luz had very bad luck or Amity was intentionally following her. Luz assumed it was the latter.
Amity’s eyes flickered down to where Luz was washing off the goo on her pants and then back up again to meet Luz’s eyes in a silent standoff. Luz wasn’t going to let her get the first words in.
“Blight, we gotta stop meeting like this or else people are gonna start thinking you like me,” Luz smirked, feigning cockiness. “I wish I could say it’s good to see you again, but I can’t.”
“I want you to admit it,” Amity ignored Luz’s antics, walking closer.
Luz wore an innocent expression, but took a step back and instinctively looked over at her book bag where her baseball bat was in case she needed to grab it. “Admit what? I have nothing to hide.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, human,” Amity hissed and her pink flame grew twice in size.
Luz bristled when she heard that word. Amity must have figured it out. Being the top student meant Amity wasn’t stupid, so of course she would know what humans are. She just needed a really good look at Luz. She must have been silently figuring Luz out while they were in class.
“You oughta be careful with that. Wouldn’t wanna set the bathroom on fire, would you?” Luz raised a smug brow at her. “I hear you Blights have a reputation to uphold. It’d be a shame if you got in detention for picking on the new kid in school.”
Amity’s golden eyes widened at Luz’s words and her flame slowly died down when her free hand gripped the pinkish crystal necklace around her neck, but then she smirked. “Bold words coming from someone who helped Willow cheat into getting a grade we both know she didn’t earn using her own magic.”
“You have no proof,” Luz shot back.
“It’s my word against yours. And you said it yourself, you’re the new kid. Would they really trust you over someone who has been attending Hexside for their entire life?” Amity asked in a sickeningly sweet yet clearly practiced tone.
“Okay, Amity. We both have dirt on each other, so I say we should call a truce,” Luz suggested, smoothing her hair back. “Neither of us have to get in trouble and we can just forget today ever happened. Sounds good?”
The flame fully dissipated and Amity crossed her arms. “Fine, I will agree to that, but only if you admit that you helped Willow cheat.”
Luz groaned. “Titan, do you get off on being told you’re right or something?”
“Just say it!” Amity growled and the slightest amount of pink tinted her cheeks.
“Alright, alright, I helped Willow with her abomination presentation,” Luz deadpanned.
“You helped her cheat,” Amity corrected her. "Say it."
“If it’ll get you to leave me alone, then fine. I helped her cheat,” Luz admitted. “Are we done here?”
Amity nodded in satisfaction. “I suppose so. Now do yourself a favor and stay out of my way.”
“Believe me, I’ll have no problem with that,” Luz replied bitterly.
With that, Amity left. The very first thing Eda told her to avoid was making enemies and unfortunately, Luz couldn’t avoid that. Oh well, that’s life. She was bound to make enemies in a foreign place with so many people. Even if she had made an enemy, at least she made two new friends. That was a win in her book.