What's The Point of Falling (Lumity, Human Au)

Chapter 3: Huh?

"Oh, hey Boscha."

Boscha smiled at me, glancing at Luz, who stood beside me. "Hey Amity."

I looked towards Luz uneasily. Boscha was usually nice, but she could be... Competitive... And impulsive... And insensitive.

"This is, uh, Luz. She's in our grade I guess. She's new, so I'm showing her around."

"Ah, cool." Boscha replied. "Can I help?"

I looked at her, unsure. She was bouncing on her heels. She seemed a little too excited about helping show around some new kid.

"Boscha..." I started. I noticed her fiddling with her pockets. "What's that?"

"What's what?" She asked, even though she clearly knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Your pockets. What's in your pockets?"

She froze. "Oh, um... Nothing?"

"Boscha." I said her name sternly.

"It's nothing!"

"Boscha, empty your pockets."

My friend put her hand over her chest, as if I'd emotionally wounded her. "Amity- I- you don't tRuSt me?"

"Empty them."

"Fine."

Boscha pulled her pockets inside out. Suddenly, glitter was pouring onto the ground. I looked down in dismay. Some of it had landed on my vans.

"Boscha, what the fuck?"

I heard Luz giggling beside me. At least someone was amused by this situation.

"What?" Boscha asked, her voice having raised an octave. "You asked me to empty them. I emptied them!" Despite the tone she spoke in, she had a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Boscha, has anyone ever told you how insufferable you are?"

"I may have been told a few times." Boscha replied.

"Ugh." I turned to Luz, who had a smile on her face. Hers was infinitely more endearing than Boscha's stupid grin. Kinda cute, actually.

"You wanna go get your stuff, Luz?"

She thought for a moment before responding, "Yeah, I don't remember how to get back though."

"Good thing we're going with you then." I replied, bumping Luz's shoulder with my own.

"Oh." Her face fell.

My heart dropped. Had I misread the situation? Did she not like me?

"I- um..." She paused, blushing. "Listen, I don't want to... burden you? I guess? If you just tell me how to get there, and how to get to my room, I could get my stuff on my own. I'm fine, really. I-"

Ah. Self deprecation. I could relate, but Luz's seems unjustified.

"That's stupid." I said, cutting off her rambling.

Her eyes widened. "Huh?"

"Sorry." I said, backtracking. That'd definitely come off as rude. "I just meant-" I tried thinking of how to string some kind of sentence together, increasingly aware that Boscha was observing this interaction.

"I just meant," I continued. "Don't, like, self deprecate. You're not a burden, or whatever. I'm, like, literally head of the student council. This is kind of my job."

I looked towards Boscha, who in fact was actually not paying any attention to the conversation. She was busy trying to clean up the glitter she'd spilled onto the floor, shoving fist-fulls into her pocket. Where'd she even get that much?

"And Boscha would definitely love to help you carry your stuff. Though she probably just wants to show off how much she can carry. Toxic masculinity and all that."

"Hey!" Boscha said, still crouched in the floor and concentrating on her glitter. "Rude."

"I'm just telling the truth." I said.

"I don't-" Luz began.

"Nope. Not listening." I said, pulling Boscha of the floor by her arm.

"But my glitter..." Boscha whined, reaching her hand back towards her pile of glitter as I dragged her along.

A moment later, I heard an exasperated sigh from Luz, followed by footsteps behind us. She'd given in.

***

"You know Luz," Boscha puffed, as she picked up one of Luz's heaviest boxes. "We have a weight room here. You didn't need to bring weights with you."

"Did you even read the side of the box Boscha?" I said. "It says books. Dumb jock."

"Uncalled for... Nerd." Boscha said as she moved the box she carried into another. She squatted so now she was carrying both boxes, her face pink. "Okay, let's go."

She waddled towards the door of the office in a sumo squat.

I picked up my box- it was labeled as being clothes- and followed after her.

Luz held the door open for us. She seemed guilty, probably because we'd left her with the lightest load.

She held an easel, as well as a rolling suitcase.

I hadn't been too surprised when I saw the easel sitting in the corner of the office when we'd walked in. Luz definitely seemed the artistic type.

"So," I asked, as we walked towards the dorm rooms. "What room are you in?"

"Oh, um... Didn't the therapist lady say I was rooming with you?"

My mind blanked. "Huh?"

A/N:
       So, there are some changes. I'm trying to keep the important stuff though. I swear. Sorry old readers for any inconvenience.

820 words.