Time to Shine

Chapter Five

By the time third period rolled around, Amity and the others had met back up with Gus, but Luz was nowhere to be found. They were walking down the hallway, being led by another student to their classes, when they saw a large gathering of people in front of the lockers.

"Noceda's gonna beat his ass."

"No way, she'll totally lose!"

As soon as she heard this, Amity started pushing her way through the crowd. What was Luz doing?! She pushed to the front of the crowd to see Luz splayed on the ground with some guy kicking her repeatedly in the ribs. Her lip was split and bleeding. Amity started to draw a spell circle, but was stopped with a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't, Amity. We can't expose ourselves." Willow was making sense, but Amity was panicking at seeing her girlfriend being beat up mercilessly.

"Hey, Noceda." The guy grinned slyly. "I heard you got yourself a little girlfriend. Want to introduce me to her? She must be just as psychotic as you." Amity felt her anger bubbling over, but continued to hold herself back. Luz's eyes snapped open. Pushing herself to her feet, she looked him in the eye, her face full of hatred.

"Fuck you." She said, and threw a punch, hitting him square in the nose.

"Gah!" He fell backwards, holding onto his nose. Seeing him down, Luz kicked him in the groin. He groaned in pain. She continued to kick him.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE IT, DICK?!" Amity and the others stepped back. She had never seen this side of Luz before, it was scary.

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Luz was so angry. She couldn't feel anything but pure rage when he even dared to mention Amity. Seeing only red, Luz kicked and kicked until she was sure he wouldn't get up. Suddenly, she heard a quiet gasp through the red haze. Turning, she saw her friends and girlfriend looking at her with horror. Oh no no no. What had she done? She looked down at Sam. Luz looked back at Amity, who still looked horrified. She couldn't take this, this isn't what she wanted! Clutching her ribs, she pushed through the crowd and ran for the doors. I need to leave. I need to leave. It was hard to breathe, she was in so much pain.

When would it go away? Why wouldn't everyone just leave her alone? She was a monster, she only hurt people. She tripped over a crack in the sidewalk, crashing hard into the sidewalk. She scraped her hands and gasped as her ribs felt the impact as well. She tried to pick herself up, but her body wouldn't move. I'm a monster.

"Luz!" Luz lifted her head, and saw Amity and her friends running toward her. Luz tried to drag herself away. She couldn't let them see her like this. She wanted it all to go away. Please go away, please go away.

"Go away!" Luz cried out, she was in shambles now, tears pouring from her eyes. She was shaking. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton, it was all too overwhelming. Please go away. Then she felt a pair of arms around her torso, turning her over. Golden eyes met hers.

"Breathe, Luz. In for four, out for eight." Amity breathed in slowly, and Luz followed her example. After a few deep breaths, Luz's vision cleared and she saw Amity using a healing spell on her. She sighed in relief as the pain of her wounds faded. Sitting up, Luz saw the rest of their friends gathered around them. They looked sad as they looked at her.

"I'm so sorry!" Luz burst out, making Amity jump a little. They all looked confused.

"Sorry for what?" Willow asked. Luz looked at them as though they were crazy.

"That you had to see that! You all looked horrified!" She looked down. "Things are different now. I'm different, and I'm sorry for that." Amity stood and held her hand out to Luz. She took it and got to her feet. Gus approached, a nervous expression on his face.

"Can we hug you?" Luz looked at him dumbfounded, but nodded slowly. Everyone, even Hunter surrounded her and hugged her tightly. Luz stood there stiffly, not hugging back, but not pushing them away either.

"I'm so confused." She said when they pulled away. "Why aren't you scared?" Amity took her hand, intertwining their fingers. Hunter then spoke up.

"We're not scared. Surprised? Yeah. But mostly just worried about you." Luz was shocked. Amity sighed and rubbed her thumb across Luz's knuckles.

"Hunter is right, I can tell being here hasn't been easy on you. But we're here now, okay? We can help." Luz felt herself starting to cry a little. She laughed a little and wiped her eyes with her free hand.

"I just can't believe it. Four years." She smiled. A real, genuine smile for the first time in forever. It felt nice, and for a second she felt like her old self. They heard the warning bell in the distance.

"Well, you guys should go to class." Amity looked at her weirdly.

"Aren't you going too?" Luz chuckled and shook her head.

"Nah, I'm gonna skip. I need some alone time. Come find me after school, I'll be in the new music room. I'm gonna give you guys a ride home, you shouldn't have to ride that shitty bus." She kissed Amity on the cheek, and casually saluted the others before heading back to the school. They all looked at each other and shrugged before heading back themselves.

Luz spent the rest of the day practicing for the auditions next week, and was actually starting to have fun with it. Mr. Peterson was letting her use his room while he was out practicing with the marching band for football season. She also took the time to start learning the other songs in the musical as well. By the time she was done, it was almost three. Luz sighed and put the cover on the piano. She grabbed her satchel just as she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She called. She was expecting Amity and the others, but it was just Mr. Peterson. He smiled. It was a shit-eating grin if you asked her. Crossing her arms, she smirked back.

"Been practicing, I see. Good job, Noceda. Maybe you're more invested in this than I originally thought." Luz snorted as Amity and her friends came into the room.

"Luz?" She said. Mr. Peterson turned and saw the four new students in his doorway.

"Ah! You must be the new transfer students." He slyly smirked at Luz.

"You making friends with new kids, Noceda? Wouldn't have taken you for the type." Luz rolled her eyes.

"I'm not. They're old friends, and my only ones at that." Mr. Peterson raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm glad you won't be a hermit for the rest of high school. I don't need you in here constantly."

"Oh come on! I'm not that bad!" He gave her a deadpan stare.

"You need friends." Luz crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

"Maybe, but I'm still gonna be skipping class in here."

"Touché."