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Emily had always found Luz Noceda to be a weird kid, the butt of jokes others would make. The kind of class clown nobody really thought was funny, just annoying. In 8th grade alone she was responsible for 3 incidents that practically went down in the school’s history with how much gossip they spouted, the sausage guts at the Romeo and Juliet fall musical tryouts, the griffin taxidermy that “breathed spiders” in art class, and the book report with the live snakes which escaped.
Emily certainly remembered all of them. But no one had seen Luz for the entire summer, and when she had come back she seemed different, and turns out, everyone agreed.
After all, Gravesfield wasn’t a big town, and everyone who hadn’t known Luz from middle school the year before had heard of her reputation as a student.
But she acted completely normal, which paradoxically, was anything but normal. She brushed her usually messy hair neatly and stopped infodumping about her favorite book series to anyone who dared to breathe close to her. She never talked in class unless it was to ask or answer questions, and even then, she always raised her hand
She acted like a normal student, but that in itself was what was unsettling.
As they did, rumors began to spread. Emily would know better than most, as her and her friends had come up with probably half of them.
And as rumors go, some of them were more outlandish than others.
“Did you hear Luz Noceda was killed at summer camp and they replaced her with a robot hoping no one would find out so the camp wouldn’t get sued?”
“That’s insane, she was obviously kidnapped by aliens and replaced with one.”
“Well, I heard that she isn’t actually Luz, she’s Luz’s evil twin sister named Zul who’s lived locked up in the attic for all these years and has locked the real Luz up there as revenge.”
Emily didn’t actually believe in any of that. Her personal theory was that Luz finally learned how to control herself and was just having a blast listening to all these conspiracy theory rumors, but just pretending not to be so they’d continue like the attention seeker she still was deep down. She had to be secretly enjoying this. At least, that made more sense than the crap her classmates were spewing.
Sebastian, or as his students called him, Mr. Barriga had heard all about the troublesome student Luz Noceda was from other teachers. She’d apparently gained a reputation at her middle school for constantly acting out. So he felt a little nervous when he saw her name on his class list for Freshman English.
But he firmly believed no student was unteachable, so Sebastian taught like any other class.
And he was pleasantly surprised. It was almost as though all those teachers who had complained about her reputation had taught a completely different student, because Luz was one of the most well behaved students Sebastian had ever had in his 20 years of teaching. She only ever talked in class to ask and answer questions, and was always focused, calm, and studious. She had an A+ in his class and had gotten a perfect score on both tests he had assigned so far.
He’d heard other students spreading rumors about her, so one day he’d pulled her aside after class.
“I’ve heard a lot of students spreading rumors about you, and I just wanted to let you know that if you feel bothered by that you can go talk to a counselor, okay?” He’d said
Luz had smiled softly “Thanks, but I’m not really bothered by any of it.”
He was convinced she was just a really good student who had gone through a few issues in the past, but was trying her best to make up for her mistakes in the past.
That had all changed one dreary morning in late September, like the flick of a light switch. Looking back on it, Sebastian could see the signs. Luz had acted a little strangely for about a week before, but it was nothing like what had happened that morning. She’d come into his class, wearing a red beanie and an old letterman jacket instead of her usual cardigan, sat down near the back, and placed her head down on the desk, looking out the window.
When class started, she didn’t even move, but she eventually pulled out a notebook in the middle of class. But it didn’t appear she was taking notes, instead she looked like she was drawing?
“Luz, can you see me after class?” he asked her quietly while passing out worksheets
“Mmmsure” She muttered in reply
After class she got her stuff together, slinging her backpack lazily over her shoulder, and moped up to his desk.
“You’ve been acting a little different today than you normally have, is everything okay?” Sebastian asked her
“Oh, yeah!” She replied quickly, smiling
Her eyes seemed empty though, and he couldn’t help but notice the scar on above her right eye.
“Well, if there’s anything going on, whether it’s at home or at school, you can always talk to your counselor about it, okay?” He replied
Her face paled, but she continued to force a smile “I think I’ll be fine. Thanks… Mr. Barriga?”
She seemed to rush out of the room quickly after that, muttering something about reminding herself to “ask Vee what that was all about”.
It was uncanny. Almost as though she’d forgotten the kind of student she was a week ago. Almost as though she’d completely forgotten his name.
Luz Noceda, was by all factors, a normal kid. But there was something completely off about her, and Carlie didn’t know what that something was. She’d acted like a perfect student for the first 3 weeks of school, but then, Carlie never saw her outside of school, hanging around like most kids. All of that led her to almost believe the rumors the popular kids were spreading about Luz, that she was secretly a robot or something. Almost.
Okay, so maybe she definitely believed that, there’s no way any student, especially one like Luz Noceda who definitely had something going on in middle school, could be that perfect.
But then, unexpectedly, she just randomly burned out one day. She stopped smiling at school, and looked completely dumbfounded when Carlie asked her for notes when she missed a day in math for a dentist appointment.
Around the same time, Carlie started to see her outside of school.
Carlie didn’t have very many friends, just Alex, Ray, and Maddie, but the four of them would get together outside of school all the time, practically every day. They had considered inviting Luz into their friend group multiple times throughout middle school, because deep down, they were really all misfits, but it had always gone by the wayside.
The first time she saw Luz outside of school wasn’t too long after her sudden switch, about 3 days after. She was with a big group of kids that Carlie had never seen before, which was rather strange because Gravesfield was a small town and she knew of practically everyone around her age. So seeing 5 new kids hanging around Luz was an incredibly strange appearance.
Alex waved them over, as extroverted as he was, and started a conversation.
“Hey! I don’t think I’ve seen you guys around here before! What are your names?” He asked them
“I’m Gus.” The shortest kid of the group spoke first, giving Alex a high five while grinning
“I’m Willow.” the girl with green highlights in her black hair was the next to speak
“And you already know me.” Luz shrugged, motioning over to the tallest boy with scars on his face “But this is Hunter.”
Hunter stood there and stared like he wasn’t completely sure what to do.
“My name’s Amity.” the girl with purple hair said quickly
“And I’m Vee.” the girl with blond and turquoise hair finished, waving awkwardly
“I feel like I really would’ve noticed you guys at school, do you go to Gravesfield High?” Alex asked
“Umm, no.” Amity muttered
Vee stood there awkwardly, gritting her teeth.
“So… where do you guys go to school? Gravesfield middle?” Maddie asked
“Actually, they’re not going to any school right now…” Luz muttered “It’s complicated and sucks to talk about, but they’re staying with my mom and I until things can work out.”
All the kids glanced down, as though they were reminded of something they deeply missed, except for Vee, who moved a little closer to Luz.
“Anyways, we better get going. The delicious blueberry muffins at the cafe aren’t going to eat themselves!” Luz exclaimed
As they walked away, Carlie could’ve sworn she heard Gus say: “I don’t know what a blueberry is but I can’t wait to find out!”
But then again, what kind of weird kids show up randomly, don’t go to school, and don’t know what blueberries are? Supposedly, kids who were weird enough to be friends with Luz Noceda.
Ray was in Mr. Barriga’s English class when it happened. It was late October, only a couple days before Halloween, and they had just finished the first book of the year, Fate of Free Will. It wasn’t anywhere near the best book Ray had ever read, but like most assigned books, it was kind of meh.
“...this epic ends with not just the homecoming of a man, but a hero.” Mr. Barriga finished his lecture
Luz chuckled, looking up slightly “Hero? Everywhere he went people just ended up suffering.”
Ray looked over at her. Since school had started, almost 2 months ago, he’d only heard Luz talk in class when being called on, or not at all. He then noticed the two new pins on her beanie, one that looked like an eye, the other a bi flag. He smiled a bit, in a small town like Gravesfield, wearing something like that took guts. His sister was lesbian, and had gone to Boston for college where everyone was much more accepting apparently.
“It does get bleak, but no one ever said his mission would be easy.” Mr. Barriga commented, slightly smiling at the fact that Luz seemed to be participating again “and when you take into account the ripple effects of his actions-”
“Who cares about the ripple effects?!” Luz snapped, banging her fist on her desk.
All heads snapped over to her.
“He was just a pawn in someone else’s game!” she cried, standing up and climbing onto her desk "a-and he was never smart enough to realize it! If his friends and family knew about his mission, they’d know their lives would have never been in danger if it weren’t for him. They should hate his guts, and it would’ve been better if he literally NEVER EXISTED!”
Everyone was staring at her now, and Luz seemed to only then realize it, freezing, and sitting back down, hiding her face in the sleeve of the old letterman jacket she always wore.
“Well, that’s um…” Mr. Barriga muttered, somewhat in shock “Certainly an interesting way of reading it. Let’s move on to the theme of family though…”
When the bell rang, Ray tried to talk to her, because at some points in her little monologue, it almost sounded like she was talking less about the main character, and more about herself, and she really didn’t sound okay. But she rushed out of there as soon as she could, and Ray didn’t see her again for the rest of the day.
Or the rest of the week for that matter. She hadn’t come to school on Friday.
Or the next week, although when rumors began to spread with what happened to her, a Sophomore named Masha insisted that Luz and her group of friends who didn’t go to school were on the haunted hayride.
“Yeah, the whole group of them seemed to freak out when I told them that old ghost story of the town’s history.” Masha had said to their avid, rumor spreading listeners “Wonder what that was about.”
Ray wondered what it was about as well.
Luz looked different when she’d come back after vanishing for a week, according to Maddie. It was the way her smile seemed brighter, her eyes lighting up too. The way she sat up straighter, although when Mr. Barriga commented that, she had responded with “but I’m still pretty gay” without missing a beat. She stopped wearing the red beanie, putting the pins on her backpack instead, despite the weather getting colder.
She’d even gone up to Luz and struck a conversation with her, which was typically an Alex thing to do.
“Hey, Luz!” She’d said “How are you?”
“Good” Luz had smiled
Maddie could’ve sworn Luz had fangs, but even her friends thought she was crazy when she told them about that, or the tiny bumps on her head that were barely visible through her curly hair.
“I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to join me and my friends for lunch today?” Maddie asked. It was about time someone in their little group had done that “Because us weird kids have to stick together?”
She regretted saying the last line after she’d said it. After all, not many people appreciated being called weird.
But Luz’s face split into a huge grin “Of course!”
“Oh, and one more question.” Maddie asked, smiling. “Where were you last week? You kinda disappeared.”
“Well, my aunt, Eda, who lives in… New Hampshire, she was really sick, so we went to go visit her, and it was pretty scary, but she got better!” Luz smiled
Maddie couldn’t help but think there was more to the story, but this didn’t seem like the thing to ask questions to.
“I’m glad she’s better.” Maddie told her
“Thanks. Well, I’ll see you at lunch!” Luz ran off.
At lunch, Carlie asked Luz how her friends who didn’t go to school were doing, to which she gave a very interesting answer.
“Well, everything worked out. They all got to go home and reunite with their families, except for Vee, because my mom adopted her.” Luz said, smiling brightly “It’s literally so awesome she’s my sister now, she’ll be starting here next semester and she’s the best sister I could ever ask for.”
“What about Amity? You two always seemed close when we saw all of you walking around?” Alex asked
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want Amity to be my sister because she’s my girlfriend.” Luz said casually “And for the rest of my friends, they’ll all come to visit sometimes, but I’m glad they got to go home.”
Maddie smiled. That did sound nice. No wonder Luz looked happier.
Kelly always thought Luz was a weird kid, and despite her rather normal behavior towards the beginning of the school year, she was weirder than ever. Sure, it wasn’t the same kind of bring-snakes-to-school weird as last year, but it was still weird.
Like the little purple wooden arm cuff that she wore everywhere that was some weird mixture of animals. Kelly could’ve sworn she’s seen it move.
Kelly knew Luz lived out of the edge of town, not far from the woods, and the house next to hers was abandoned and in rough condition. Kids used to sneak out there to make out or do drugs. But Luz’s family had bought the house, decorating it with flowers and a colorful new door.
Now kids were too afraid to go over there because there were rumors of strange happenings, not to mention, a fear of arrest.
Other than that old news, what was much more exciting was that it was the day of the winter formal. She hadn’t met any cute boys, so she was planning to go with her 6 friends.
Honestly, as she looked around the dark, decorated gym, drinking punch in her dark blue cocktail dress, none of the freshmen seemed to have any dates. That is, until a slow song came on, and Luz Noceda of all people went out on the dance floor in her red suit to dance with a girl who had purple hair and a lacy black dress. Kelly couldn’t help but find herself to stare, especially as most kids went over to hand out by the snack table, At the end of the song, the girl with purple hair kissed Luz ON THE LIPS, and Luz’s face was bright red before the two of them walked over to the snack table, some top 40 hit from 3 years ago coming on drawing most onto the dance floor.
Kelly was stunned, wondering how Luz of all people managed to get a girlfriend, she was incredibly weird, who would even want to date her?
The girl with purple hair, who now that Kelly looked closer at, definitely didn’t go to Gravesfield High, so whoever she was, noticed her staring and gave her a look that Kelly was very familiar with, the popular girl death glare.
“What was that about?” Luz asked the girl as they walked away
“Nothing, batata” the girl replied
Luz glanced back, and while it was probably just a trick of the colorful lights coming from the dj booth, Kelly could’ve sworn she saw her eyes glow yellow in the darkness of the gym.
So yeah, Luz Noceda was definitely weird, and so was the winter formal.
But she still somehow managed to get a date before Kelly did.
And she had no clue how.