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"First day of human school you can do this, well I hope I can." He gripped the small key tightly in his hands. It was 7 in the morning, he had checked it around 3 different times just to make sure. Looking over his outfit one more time he took a deep breath. His hair was pulled back as it normally was with a black beanie covering his ears, he wore a short sleeved shirt with a hood on the back. It was like Luz’s but hers was a cropped top while his wasn’t and he had a black long sleeve shirt underneath it. His had a logo that said Nike with a check on it. Luz had helped him pick out some human clothes and outfits, most had either a hood or a jacket just in case something went wrong with his hat. He was still super nervous. Glancing over his outfit one last time he hurried down the stairs past Luz’s room into the living room where Eda and King were waiting.
"You'll do great kid." She gave him a thumbs up before heading into the kitchen. "I wish I could go, this isn't fair." King pouted on the couch, he sat with his arms crossed annoyed. Hunter chuckled a bit, "I doubt you would make a good human." He frowned before jumping up. "I could too! I could be the most amazing human!" Hunter pushed the key and watched the portal open in front of him.
"You go to the human realm all the time King, Eda loves bringing you." His pout grew. "Thats not the same thing." Hunter shrugged before heading through the portal. Luz and Camila had made him a human backpack full of the things he'd need. It didn’t matter how many times he'd tried to convince her that he needed at least one weapon she wouldn't budge. Luz had reminded him about a million times if he needed something to go to either her or Vee.
Knocking on the door, Camila opened it with a smile. "How are you feeling?" She asked politely, only for a certain human to yell his name from inside. "Hunter!" Luz called before appearing behind her Mom. "You know you can ring the doorbell when you come?" Walking inside he looked at her funny. "You do know what a doorbell is right?" She questioned him leading him into the kitchen.
"Would I look stupid if I said no?" She nodded and went back to making a sandwich. "It's the button outside near the door. It makes a loud sound inside so you know someone's at the door, so like knocking but earlier." He rolled his eyes. "You humans have the weirdest things."
There was shuffling upstairs and he looked up to see Vee leaning over the handrail then she called out to Luz. "Have Brenda, Ryan or Root come by yet?" Luz didn’t look up from the sandwiches she was now bagging. "Nope! But its 7:18 so they'll probably be here soon." Vee made a noise of agreement. Hunter looked up in horror as Vee jumped over the handrail and then jumped down about 6 feet. "Vee! I thought I told you not to do that!" Camila shouted from a room upstairs. "Sorry Camila!" Vee shouted before fist pumping Luz. "She never really made about that just freaks her out because you don't have bones." Luz joked to her sister. Hunter watched the exchange in interest.
"You’ve changed since the first time I saw you." He noted, Vee turned to look at him. "Yeah the human world does that too you, and Luz has been a terrible influence, plus you've changed." Luz took in the conversation not saying anything as she finished packing 3 lunches. "You seem a lot happier since being away from the isles." He told her, she nodded brushing some hair behind her ear. "You seem a lot more out going since being away from him." He opened his mouth to apologize before she cut him off. "It's in the past, plus its not like you could have done anything to help anyways. Luz I'm off!" She grabbed one of the lunch boxes with rainbow flowers on it, then headed into the next room grabbing her backpack and went out the door. Luz blinked.
"You knew Vee before the whole Day of Unity thing?" Luz asked handing him a lunch and going over to the other two backpacks. "Uh yeah, I mean not personally but Belo’s showed me the Basilisks once, he never told me what they were being used for. Just explained that he brought them back from being extinct, its more that when I look at her i feel like I could have done a little more you know." Luz gave him a pat on the back. "You cant save everyone, and if you dwell everything wrong he ever did you'll miss the things you can change right now." She gave him a smile before handing him a bag.
Picking things out of the bag Luz gave a brief explanation on what was in the bag and what classes he have to use them for. Then she glanced to the clock and they were off walking to the school. "You ready for your first day of human school?" He shook his head and she lightly punched him in the shoulder. "You'll do great buddy. Plus according to your ID your me and Vee’s older brother so if you need help they'll probably let you see us both." He nodded along, looking at the amount of kids around. "Want to go over your answers to questions?" Luz asked and he nodded frantically.
"Alrighty then Hunter, What's your last name?" He lit up a bit. "Oh that ones easy, Clawthrone, I don't have the same last name as my siblings because I adopted." Luz gave him a thumbs up. "Perfect, next, Why are you eyes pink?" He inhaled then answered. "My eyes are pink because they are contact lenses because I have bad eye sight." She made a so so reaction to it. "Don't add so many extra words, just answer with contact lenses, people will know what your talking about." He nodded again.
"Ok who are your siblings?"
"Vee and Luz Noceda"
"Where are you originally from?"
"A small town in Idaho?" Luz nodded. "Just don't answer like its a question."
"Why weren't you in school up until now?"
"Oh I had bad social anxiety but decided to try school this year." Luz smiled. "You'll do perfect Hunter, now lets get both our schedules."
They both walked through the halls of the school, Hunter looked around noting all the possible exits in case something went wrong. He had studied everything Luz had told him about human school but it still made him nervous that they wouldn't be together. What if he did something wrong and everyone found out he was actually a witch from a different world. He breathed in and out a couple times and followed Luz into the principals office. She greeted him explaining that she was a returning student coming late in the semester and that Hunter was her brother just starting.
"Welcome back to you Luz, and nice to meet you Hunter." He nodded saying nothing. "Actually I was wondering if I could take like couple minutes during first period to show Hunter where everything is?” The Principal considered this for a moment before she answered. “Your mother said he was new to school didn’t she?” Luz nodded and lightly elbowed Hunter who immediately nodded too. “Feel free to show him around then, Ill inform your first hours, but please don’t be gone too long. You both are probably very behind to begin with. I don’t want you to fall anymore behind.” Luz nodded with a bright smile. “Thank you Mx. Principal Grain” Luz turned on her heel before heading out through the doors. Hunter glanced back at the Principal for a second before following behind her.
“Ah what a weird family.” They chuckled going back to the paperwork she was finishing.
“This is the cafeteria after the second bell this is where you’ll go, see it says on the paper.” Hunter squinted at it, before responding. “Is it just like Hexide?” Luz nodded. “Basically except everything is a whole lot less deadly, like lockers aren’t alive just made of metal. The food here doesn’t fight back ever, even on Fridays. Theres nothing magic here so nothing to hurt you that was. The only real thing would be fire drills.”
“Ha its not a fire drill it’s just a a fire human.” He laughed at her mistake, before glancing seeing her not laughing. “Yeah uh we don’t do that in the human realm.” He blinked confused.
“Yeah its just a drill there is no real fire.” He took a second before commenting. “But what if its a real fire how is everyone supposed to know what to properly do, like what do the healers do?” She frowned and sighed.
“Ok healing magic again doesn’t exist here so if someone got burned they would have scars and a lot of problems, and fires aren’t common at human school because humans don’t have a fire training class or magic.” Hunter frowned. “This place is so weird.”
“Ok these are for filling up water bottles or drinking from, but i really would not suggest it. School water probably has lead in it.” Hunter kinda just stared at her blankly, but she ignored him continuing on. “Ill start from your classes backwards, show you your locker, then take you to first period ok?” He nodded at that, still taking in information.
The human realm was so much different than the boiling isles, it was going to take a lot of time to adjust. But he knew he could do it, or at least he hoped he could.
“Your last period is World History, which i can help you with because I took it last year.” Luz droned on as Hunter followed. “Then your next one is Culinary 1 you might be with some freshman but you probably wont care much. I doubt you’ll talk to many people anyways. Then your second class is geometry, I’m sorry about that one, math just sucks in general you took math classes in the Emperors Coven didn’t you?” She asked Hunter nodded along, he had a taken a couple and might even be a head of the human course but decided to not bring it up. “I know for Geometry you have it with Vee so she can help you with anything. Oh here’s your locker.” Luz pauses looking at bye lockers, she hadn’t lied they were just metal. She juggled him for his schedule which he handed over without thinking.
“Ok lockers are pretty easy see these numbers at the top.” She didn’t pause for Hunters reaction. “They are the numbers you turn this little dial to to open your locker. It takes a little getting used to, but you can leave your books from different classes or your backpack in here for later. We can put your lunch in here if you want, I was gonna do that for mine.” He nodded watching her turn the dial before the locker opened. “Im gonna go find mine real quick be right back.” She waved before turning a corner.
He looked at the locker and stared into it, he set the lunch box in the top shelf. Was he really cut out for this? Sure the only class he didn’t have any pervious knowledge on was the humans world history, which he want to learn anyways. But could he really do this? Interact with other humans all day, and even worse teen humans. Sure he gets along fine with Willow, Gus, Amity and Luz and even Vee he’s fine with, but they are exceptions. It would be easier now that people didn’t know he was the Golden Guard, but he still needed to figure out how to navigate this new world. Maybe he should have never agreed.
“Ok Im back, sorry the door got stuck- Hunter?” Luz waved her hand in front of his face, he flinched back turning to her. “You were just staring off into space, are you ok?” He opened his mouth then shut it. Would she hate him if he told her the truth, that he was regretting his choice, that he wanted nothing more than to go back to hexide again. He felt like it would crush her, he took a breath before putting on a fake smile. He could at the very least try one day. “Yeah I’m great, what my first hour.” Luz’s face light up before walking down the hall. He was a little thankful she had yet to be able to tell his fake smile from a real one.
“Your first hour is English, its pretty easy, just reading and writing both of which your great at anyways. Ive got to go, cya during lunch.” She waved before sprinting down the hall. He waves a bit before looking at the door, and knocked.
A girl with tight curls opened the door, she wore a skirt and long sleeve shirt with frogs on it. She blinked before having a moment of realization. She whispered under her breath new kid, then went and sat back down in a seat. The teacher turned and looked at him. He had a smile on his face. “Ah you must be Hunter, you can have a seat next to Anne she’s the one who opened the door.” He nodded putting his backpack on the back of his chair looking at the desk, he had no idea what was going on or what to pull out.
The teacher went on about a horror story project, the class was going to do, in groups of 3 and then told Hunter he could come to the front of the class for further instructions. When he had finished explaining the rules, all the kids got up to find their groups. Hunter headed to the teachers desk. “Hello its nice to meet you, as you heard were doing a group project right now, I know you and your sister came half way through the semester so you might need some help catching up. Normally since I had been informed you have an anxiety disorder id allow you to work on your own, that wont really work for this project. Are you willing to work in a group?” He asked looking at Hunter. Hunter wanted nothing more than to hide his ears more from his view but agreed. “Wonderful, I have a pair that always tries to get out of trio projects, they are both some of the nicest girls you will meet, it should be great to work with them.” He said before calling two names. “Marcy Anne will you come here for a second, the girl from earlier and a new girl with short bangs and short hair tied into a small ponytail both came to the desk. “This is Hunter, Hunter this is Anne.” he pointed to the first girl. “And this is Marcy.” The pointed to the second. “Would you two be kind enough to let Hunter here join your group, and explain a little bit more about the project.” Both the girls nodded.
“Here we can work on my laptop.” Marcy said moving to the other side of the classroom. Before starting the project the two chatted with him, just basic things all the questions he had practiced. He also learned that them and another girl who wasn’t in this class named Sasha were good friends, and Marcy really enjoyed video games. Anne liked frogs and other amphibians a lot. Then the got started on he project, turns out it was incredibly easy, they finished it in the class time.
“Dang were a great team.” Marcy said cracking her knuckles, then bell cut off whatever Anne was going to say. Both waved him goodbye and he hurried to his second class. He really hoped math would have a lot less talking, less chance of him messing anything up.
The class flew by, and at the end he now just stood next to Vee as she talking with one of her friends. He couldn’t tell which one it had been, he had yet to really learn their names. It wasn’t long until Luz showed up she started to chat with Vee and her friend. Hunter really wished he could have brought his scroll, at least it would give him something to do. But he just kind of awkwardly stood there until they finished talking. Luz explained that Vee was going to sit somewhere else rather than both of them.
Hunter knew him and Vee weren’t close friends not even close but he still felt a little sting after hearing that. Both headed to their lockers, it took Hunter a minute to finally get his locker open. He grabbed the lunch before putting his backpack in and shutting the locker. Next to him there was the sound of someone else opening their locker, he glanced to his side to see a weird looking kid. He muttered under his breath “Goggles?” He thought it was quiet enough not to be noticed but the kids flipped around looking at him. They awkwardly stared at each other for a moment before the kid spoke.
“Uh yeah there goggles…” He trailed off seeming a bit nervous. Hunter stared for a moment before responding. “Why.. are you wearing them excatly?” He questioned, the boy frowned before having a nervous expression.
“Is this a reuse to make fun of me?” Hunters eyes widen and he mad big motions. “Oh no that’s not what I meant-“ The boy smiled a bit. “There for chemistry, I like experimenting. Im Varian, I haven’t seen you around, or anyone use that locker are you new here?” Varian asked brushing his hair out of his face.
“Oh yeah I just transferred, because my sister went here last year.” he answered a little robotic, though the blue boy didn’t notice. “Who’s your sister?” Varian doubted he would know her, but it was common courtesy to ask.
“Ah Luz, Luz Noceda.” The boys eyes widen. “No way, she’s your sister, shes like the weirdest kid ever.” Hunter gawked at him. Varian immediately realized his mistake. “I mean not that I hate her or anything! It’s just that she nearly blew me up with fireworks one time- and like you know-“ Another voice cut off his rambling. Hunter glanced to the voice. It was tall boy with blond hair, and Hunter took his chance.
When Varian turned back around from Hugo, he found the beanie boy gone, he never even caught his name. Maybe he was a little too rude for a first impression. He felt like smacking himself. Way to ruin a chance at another friend.
Hunter found Luz fumbling with her locker. He walked and leaned against the locker next to her. “You brought fireworks to school?!” He whisper yelled to Luz. Luz turned to him cringing. “Look it seemed like a good idea at the time- wait how do you know that. Who told you?” She asked trying to be intimidating. Hunter cringed too.
“The person who has the locker next me he said his name was Varian.” Luz paused at the name before cringing yet again. “Oh yeah that was a bad day. Anyways I cant get my freaking locker open.” Hunter quickly moved his arm hitting the locker, then it suddenly open with a loud bang.Luz blinked. “What-“ He cut her off. “I watched some other dude do it after getting frustrated” He shrugged.
The pair sat, ate and chatted about how classes were going and anything else they wanted to. Then it was off to start another set of class. Luz gave him a big pat on the back. “You’ll do great I believe in you.” He groaned before heading to the rest of his classes.
It wasn’t long until the last bell rang, he trio met outside, Vee had one of her friends that she was talking with. Luz was scrolling through her phone while Hunter stared into space. Then he turned when Luz started to get excited. He caught her eye, she was looking off in the distance. He turned where she was looking to see Amity wearing a short dress. It was star themed with her hair down and a bandana on her head hiding her ears from sight. He smiled as Luz ran over before giving her girlfriend a kiss. That when he loudly over exaggerated he groaned.
Amity looked at him and smirked before coming over and flicked him in the forehead. “How was your first day of school dork.” He rubbed the spot she flicked. “What not going to ask your girlfriend first?” He mocked her, Luz was smiling at the pair interacting. It was nice to see them finally start to get along after what had happened at Eclipse Lake. “Well I know Luz is going to ramble on and on about everything that happened to her, but you wont.” He made a sound of agreement.
“Actually there was one thing, did you know the humans killed each other over minor disagreements, like killed thousands of themselves all at once for like not a good reason.” Amity frowned at that. “No way that’s was to stupid.” Hunter nodded. “I’m not joking it even happened twice!” Luz looked nervously at the pair. “As much as I’m glad your excited about human history, the World Wars are a big topic we should save for another day.” Vee said goodbye to her friend and the 4 started to head back to Camila’s house. Luz rambling on and on about her day just as Amity had guessed.
None. Of the four were close enough to hear the quiet whispers around with the people they had talked to that day.
“Those three are so odd aren’t they?”
“Who was that other girl they were with?”
“They all seem so weird to me?”
Even if the 4 had heard the whispers none would care at that time. Hunter smiled listening to his sister ramble, maybe he’d actually give human school a shot.