Work Text:
"Make sure you walk them to their first class so they know where to go," Camila insists, grabbing Lucia's arm to keep her still.
"Mami, I know. We went over this twice already," Lucia groans, hopping out of the car. "Love you!"
Luz and Vee are already on their way into the school, and Lucia finds them easily in the crowd even though they're short and lost.
"Both of you, follow me," she says. "We don't want you getting lost and dying on the first day, okay?"
Vee shrinks behind her immediately, grateful for the shelter, and Luz rolls her eyes but follows them.
The girls are going to have a rough time. It's nothing to do with them, really; it's just high school, and high school isn't kind to people like them. Someone's going to pull on the ears of Luz's hoodie and make a joke about pussy, and Vee's little barrette is going to get stolen in ten seconds, and they'll get spectacularly lost. Vee is going to talk too much about Jane Austen and the whispers of "teacher's pet" are going to follow her around forever, and Luz will try to join every club and make friends with all the popular kids and not understand why they never want to hang out with her. And if it weren't for Lucia, they'd have it worse.
Lucia doesn't have a big sister to save her. She's the oldest, and as long as she can remember she's been tough, because her sisters can't be tough to save their lives and they'd both be dead if she weren't there. Lucia showed up her first day of high school and sat in the back of the class and snarled "what are you looking at?" at some guy who tried to touch her hair, and for weeks she was pushed and teased and had her notes stolen, until she started fighting back in earnest.
Now, two years in, things are a little better. She has a grand total of one friend (Will, who helps Lucia study for tests and wears the same yellow raincoat no matter what the weather's like), and most people just ignore her, since she's not weird enough to be fun to tease. Amelia Blight still teases her, but Lucia doesn't know what her problem is. Lucia rants about her at the dinner table and Camila says that she should just ignore her, and Luz and Vee giggle –
Right, Luz and Vee. Vee is still cowering beside her, but Luz is gone.
"Luz, I swear to all that is holy if you leave and get lost I will beat your ass!" Lucia calls, but there's no response. She's not serious anyway, but Luz likes to act all terrified, and Lucia will pull her lips back from her teeth and pretend she has claws, and Luz waves her hands in the air and casts magic, and Lucia dies dramatically, clutching her heart and wailing, and Camila asks snippily if they're done and can start setting the table.
That hasn't been happening as much lately. Luz isn't quite so invested in playing pretend, and Lucia understands that they're growing up, but it's just so weird. Luz has always been in her own little fantasy world, and they've gotten used to that. Lucia doesn't have the same kind of imagination, but she plays along with Luz's daydreams and sometimes gets her out of trouble, because Luz deserves that much. She's a great kid.
"This is your classroom, Vee," Lucia says, and Vee nods and goes in, clutching her books to her chest. She looks so small.
Lucia gets through the first half of the day, dozes off in first period and runs into Edric and Emira Blight between classes, exchanges the same sentence about what she did over the summer with dozens of people.
At lunch, Vee joins her and Will. Luz doesn't. She's sitting across the room with Will's little sister and some other freshman, and seems to be doing okay.
"How was it?" Lucia asks. "You meet any nice kids?"
Vee nods, but doesn't say anything, and starts unpacking her lunch. That means things went badly, but Lucia's not going to press her now. Vee is more normal than Luz, as far as siblings go, but she's harder to work out. Vee doesn't talk about things, and she's awkward and shy and painfully self-effacing. She'd cut her own head off if it was in someone's way. Vee likes the weather report on TV and balancing checkbooks and has strong opinions on the right way to iron box pleats, and somehow that's harder to figure out than Luz's wild mind. Vee is so normal it's scary.
"I have two classes with Amelia Blight in the afternoon," Lucia complains to nobody in particular. "This is going to be a fun year."
"Oh, yes, how horrible," Will says blandly, stealing one of Vee's carrot sticks. "You know, you could try having a civil conversation with her."
"I'm not having a civil conversation with her until she apologizes," Lucia says firmly.
"Well, maybe she feels the same way. Maybe you're both being stubborn," Vee suggests. She's pretending to look innocent, but there are the beginnings of a wicked grin on her face.
"What would I have to apologize for?"
"Well, let me think." Will starts ticking off events on their fingers. "Tried to steal her notes, called her a stuck-up bitch when she caught you, punched her in the face and got you both detention –"
"That was a long time ago," Lucia mutters. Will thinks that everyone is mostly good once you get to know them, and Lucia really isn't sure how they've gotten this far with that kind of mindset.
"Yes, that was your first week of high school, and things have only gotten more tense and homoerotic since then."
Oh, Christ. Will teasing Lucia about it is one thing, but Vee is right there, and Vee will tell Luz since they don't have secrets from each other, and Luz is physically incapable of keeping secrets so the news is going to get to Camila, and Camila takes things seriously. It's not like she's homophobic or anything, but she's old-fashioned, and soon it's going to be "why don't you bring your girlfriend home for dinner so we can meet her?" and "what do her parents do?" and "I'm so happy you've found someone". And Lucia doesn't need that. Especially when she hates Amelia Blight with the burning passion of a thousand suns. Which she does. Just to be clear.
"There is nothing homoerotic about it. I hate her, and she hates me, plain and simple."
"You do talk about her a lot," Vee says, and Lucia groans.
"Enough, please. I've had enough of Amelia for a year."
…
Amelia arrives to class five minutes early, as always, before even the teacher arrives. She puts her crisp new notebook on her desk, then straightens it so it lines up perfectly with the edges of the desk. She puts her pencil down next, and straightens it, then straightens the notebook again.
"Hey, nerd!" someone calls cheerfully, and Amelia looks up, preparing to insult them. Oh, dear.
Lucia cut her hair, or evened it out from the discreet scissor attack Amelia executed last May. It's short and fluffy and mostly under her decidedly not dress-code appropriate beanie, but there's a longish piece on each side of her face. She's wearing the same oversized jacket (Amelia doesn't think she owns another one) and she's smirking the same way she always does when she's trying to upset Amelia. And okay, yeah, she's unreasonably hot. But that's irrelevant.
"New year, same counterproductive outlook on your education?" Amelia asks, and Lucia's grin disappears.
"Mm-hm. Maybe I just don't have to work so hard to get good grades. Maybe I'm actually smarter than you."
"How dare you!" Amelia snaps, but then the teacher arrives so she can't stand up and properly argue. Lucia slips into the seat behind her, where she can pass Amelia little snarky notes and whisper and steal her hair ties, but if Amelia turns around and shouts at her she'll get noticed.
Amelia does her best to take notes and ignore Lucia, but she starts threading a hand through Amelia's hair. Amelia waits for her to yank on it or flick pencils at her exposed neck, but none of that happens. Lucia pulls half-heartedly at a few knots, but then she starts touching Amelia's hair in a way that's so weirdly gentle that Amelia doesn't know what to do. She focuses her eyes on the whiteboard and tries to listen, but somehow all she can hear is Lucia breathing and her own heart rate, which is way too fast for something perfectly innocuous and even nice by Lucia's standards.
It feels nice, too, that's the weird thing. People don't usually touch Amelia; they get out of her way in the halls, and even her friends aren't touchy-feely. Mainly because she glares at them when they touch her until they get the point. She can't remember the last time someone's touched her just because they want to, and it's easy to pretend that it's someone who cares about her. Maybe her mother, brushing her hair.
Oh, no, that's weirder than the truth. Amelia tries to think of someone else who would touch her hair for reasons beyond pissing her off, and comes up empty. So now she's sitting at her desk, ignoring her mortal enemy being nice for some reason, and just trying desperately to pretend that she doesn't exist. If someone sees them, her life is over.
Lucia brings one of her hands to Amelia's neck, and slips a finger under her necklace. Amelia realizes that Lucia can feel her pulse spiking, and tries to do her breathing exercises. It does not work.
"Aww, did I scare you?" Lucia taunts, so quietly that Amelia thinks she's imagining it. "Big tough Miss Blight afraid of people touching her hair?"
"Shut up," Amelia hisses, dealing a vicious kick to her ankle. "We're in class, and I would like to pay attention."
"Then pay attention. What's stopping you?" Lucia's mouth is so close to Amelia's ear.
Amelia doesn't want to stoop to Lucia's level. She doesn't. She really doesn't. But it's the only way to win, to stun Lucia into non-action for a few minutes.
Amelia whips around and kisses Lucia. She's aiming for the cheek, but then Lucia jerks sideways and their lips meet. Lucia's hand is still in Amelia's hair, tangled in tightly enough that she couldn't pull away if she wanted to, and she doesn't want to.
Lucia pulls her hand out of Amity's hair and scrambles backwards so fast that she overturns her chair.
"What the hell was that?" she hisses, cheeks a flaming red. She looks horrified and confused and maybe, just maybe, a little bit flustered.
Amelia's finally found a way to one-up Lucia's teasing, and from now on she'll kiss her at any opportunity. Just to shut her up, mind you, not because she wants to kiss her. Really.
…
The next day, Lucia seems angrier than usual, and Will watches her make a beeline for Amelia the second she arrives.
"You!"
"Yes, me," Amelia says, smirk more pronounced than ever. "Do you need something?"
"I need you to get out of my life, does that count?"
"Oh, you're never getting rid of me." Amelia leans forward, and Lucia leans forward to meet her.
"We'll see about that."
Lucia leans forward and kisses Amelia, and Amelia doesn't seem to mind.
"What's happening with them?" Vee asks, and Will puts their hand over her eyes. Vee is far too young and innocent to see the details.
"Something that's been a long time in the making."
"I thought they hated each other," Vee comments, making no move to actually see them. Wise, since the kiss has gotten deeper and neither of them look like they're letting go any time soon.
"Love is complicated, kiddo. Love is complicated."
"Are you just saying vague aphorisms that have nothing to do with the situation at hand?"
"No, I'm being sensible and relevant. You're just not wise enough to see the truth behind my vague aphorisms."
Vee sticks her tongue out.
"Fine. Can you let go of me so I can get to class?"
Will lets her go, and opts not to disturb Lucia and Amelia. It's about damn time.