Luz P.O.V.
I looked at the two men blocking my path.
"What the fuck's your problem?" I spat, my good mood instantly ruined.
"Oh, got a temper, huh?" The man on my right chuckled.
"Just how I like 'em," The other man moved closer to me.
I backed up to get them out of my face, only for them to continue to move closer.
"Back the fuck off!" I shoved one of them back, making him stumble a bit before hardening his expression.
"You gonna choose the easy way?" He glared.
"Or are you gonna choose the hard way?" The other man finished the sentence.
"Did you not hear her?" I looked past them to see Amity impatiently standing behind the two guys. "Since you're obviously deaf, I'll relay the message. Back the fuck off!"
"Ooh, some feisty ones, hey?" The first man chuckled.
"Looks like we got lucky," The other one smiled mischievously.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Amity shook her head and chuckled. "You don't get the memo?"
"What's that sweetheart? You don't want a piece of the action?" He turned completely to face Amity.
Our eyes locked for a moment, relaying a silent message. She ever so slightly cocked her head, and I gave a small nod.
Simultaneously, I kicked the man on the right in the back of the knees, while Amity swept her foot under the other man's legs, successfully getting both of them to fall.
Immediately, Amity grabbed my hand, dragging me through the crowd. I felt my face heat up as I looked down at my hand in hers.
I know, I know. This isn't the time to be gushing over some girl I just met 15 minutes ago, but something about the way she knocked that guy over and immediately took the initiative to get us out of there was hot.
She led us to a door near the stage that was tucked away in a corner behind a bunch of spare chairs and tables and immediately went through it, shutting it behind her.
"Well, if we didn't lose them there, I don't know what'll shake 'em." Amity sighed, breathing a little heavier than normal. Then she looked down at our hands, which were still locked together, and immediately let go, blushing a bit as she did so. Then there was a bit of an awkward silence as we stood there by the door to what I assumed was backstage, going over what just happened in our minds.
"Thank you," I said, looking over to the teal-haired girl beside me. "I don't think I could have handled them on my own, so thanks for jumping in."
"Oh, it was nothing," She shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. "Guys like that show up here all the time. There's really no way to stop them from coming, so I've just learned to avoid them."
"Well, either way, I owe you big time. Those are the kinds of guys that make me question liking guys at all," I chuckled.
"Those kind of guys just solidify in my mind that I don't like guys," Amity started to walk away from the door, with me in tow.
"So you listen to girl in red?" I asked with a grin.
"And you listen to Sweater Weather," She turned around and smugly grinned at me.
"Good observation. But you didn't answer my question," I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head slightly.
"Yes. I do listen to girl in red," She turned back around, only to nearly run into someone coming from around a corner.
"Hey! Watch it-" Amity started. "Oh, sorry Jerbo."
He chuckled nervously. "It's fine Amity!" He squeaked out. Then he noticed me. "Wait, who's this?"
"Oh!" Amity turned around, remembering that I'm not usually here. "This is Luz. Luz this is Jerbo. He helps set things up for the performances."
"You know Raine doesn't like when people come back here..." Jerbo said hesitantly.
"We were just hiding from some creeps," Amity rolled her eyes and dragged me by my wrist away from Jerbo.
"Man, you already want me alone?" I asked with a little smirk.
"Not yet," She smirked, but soon her tone turned back to being serious. "I'm trying to get you back out of here before your friends start to get too worried."
My eyes widened, remembering that Willow and Gus were still waiting for me to come back. "Hold on, lemme text them real quick,"
Amity dropped my wrist and stopped for a moment, impatiently leaning against the wall.
Me: Heyyy guys! Sorry for disappearing... may have got distracted. I'll explain in a minute when I get back! 😅
I started to put my phone away and then it buzzed with a reply.
Willow🌸: You better.
I chuckled. Willow hated that I had a flower in their contact name, but for some reason it felt right. And that emoji with the tone of the message they sent did not look right side by side.
"Alright, I'm good," I pocketed my phone and started to follow Amity.
She was walking slightly in front of me, and I felt the urge to match her pace and grab her hand. I know that I shouldn't push too much on her this soon. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. So I just walked behind her in silence.
"Well here we are," Amity stopped at another door, cracking it open slightly to look who was on the other side.
"Where is here?" I asked.
"The other stage door. It's on the opposite side as where we came in. If they followed us, they shouldn't find you now," She opened the door fully and waved me out.
I started to leave, but I stopped before fully exiting the doorway. "You coming?"
"Nah. I think I'm gonna go home. It's almost 1:30 so I should probably head back before I won't be able to sneak back in," She laughed to herself. "But it was nice meeting you."
"Nice meeting you, hermosa," I flirted. "Text me, alright?"
"Sure thing," She smiled and waved as she shut the door, leaving me alone.
I whistled quietly. How am I this lucky? A pretty, badass, snarky woman is interested in talking to me. Me! The dork that can barely flirt!
I shook my head to clear my thoughts and I started walking towards where Gus and Willow should be sitting. When I arrived, they were both looking away from me.
"Heyyy!" I said, ruffling Gus's curly hair.
He snapped his head around to look at me. "Luz!"
"Where the hell did you go?" Willow asked, sounding slightly angry. Then they noticed my expression, and a wave of realization washed over them. "Ah, okay. I see."
"You see what?" I said defensively as I sat back down in my seat.
"You met someone, didn't you?" Willow grinned, and Gus gasped.
"Oh my god she totally did!" Gus exclaimed, making my face grow redder. "Tell us everything!"
"No," I looked between them both, deadpanned.
"Oooohhh Luz has a crush~!" Gus drew out the last word, making me groan.
"Shuddup..." I said under my breath, slouching in my chair.
I felt a buzz from my pocket and smiled. I quickly put her name in my phone so I wouldn't forget her number.
Amity⭐️: Hey asshole guitarist
I laughed under my breath before responding.
Me: well hello there hermosa 😉
There was a moment of no response while I assumed she was thinking of something to say back.
Amity⭐️: Comment allez-vous jolie fille?
Me: although I don't know what the heck you just said, i'm going to take it as a compliment, so thank you 😊
I could just feel the facepalm she must be doing.
Amity⭐️: Whatever. I'm almost home, so I'll have to talk more a little later.
Me: Alright, hermosa. ttyl!
I mentally cringed at that last part, but I put my phone in my pocket, looking up to see that Willow had left the table.
"Where'd Willow go?" I asked, confused.
"They went to go get some shots," Gus said nonchalantly, looking down at his phone.
Just as he said that, Willow walked back with nine shots, three for each of us.
"Alright! Whoever can get all three down fastest wins," They said, grinning.
"Wins what?" Gus put his phone away and got ready to take the shots.
Willow slapped a twenty down on the table. "Anybody else wanna pile in?"
I shook my head. "I'm nearly broke. There's no way I'm putting money into this,"
Before I even got to finish my sentence, Gus put another twenty in the middle.
"Well someone's eager," Willow chuckled.
"Wait a second," I paused. "Who's gonna tell who wins if we're close?"
"Just record it, dumbass," Willow said deadpanned.
"Oh, right," I propped my phone up on one of their drinks so that all of us were in view and hit record.
"Alright," Willow rubbed their hands together. "Ready... set... go!"
All three of us downed the first shot, and Gus took a moment before reaching for the next while Willow and I showed no hesitation in downing another.
Willow hesitated. Only for a split second. But that was all the time I needed to down the third and slam the glass on the table in victory.
"Bam!" I threw my arms in the air to see Gus wincing and drinking some of his other drink.
Willow shook their head. "Man, that was pathetic. Lost to a newcomer,"
I reached over and stopped the video. "Well, as you know, this isn't my first time playing a drinking game," Then I looked at the time and noticed that it was 1:50 and I jumped up.
"What?" Gus looked up at me with concern.
"I gotta go out front soon or Eda's gonna leave me here," I said simply.
"Well, this was fun," Willow got up to wave me off. "Other than the fact that you were gone off with some chick most of the night."
"Hey, look at you assuming who I was with," I tried to catch them off guard, but that never worked.
"We all know that you don't act like that when you meet a guy, so shut up," Willow said deadpanned.
"They're not wrong," Gus shrugged.
I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. "So what if it was a girl? It's not like she saved me from two guys that were harassing or anything..." I paused. "Anyways! I'll see you guys tomorrow!"
"Wait wait wait." Willow grabbed my arm before I could leave. "She saved you from being harassed?"
"Heh... yeah. They were getting a little too close and we may have knocked them to the ground and then she grabbed my hand and dragged me backstage and now we're here," I said in one breath.
I got two looks of shock from my friends.
"Well that's an eventful night," Willow chuckled. "But you should probably get going. Unless you wanna walk home."
"Yeah no. See you guys!" I waved and left the club.
While I was waiting outside in front of the convenience store, I pulled my phone back out and texted Amity.
Me: you know, you look really good on stage
I don't know why I felt the need to say that, but I decided to be flirty.
"Hey kid!" I saw Eda pull up and roll her window down. "How was it?"
"Eh," I got in the car. "It was alright." I then got a response from Amity and a smile worked its way onto my face.
"You sure about that?" Eda had seen my expression and was smirking.
"Well... it was interesting to say the least," I decided not to text Amity until I got home, in fear of being drilled with more questions from Eda.
"What happened that was interesting?" Eda started the drive back home.
"Well other than getting harassed by two men for a minute there, it was great!" I said sarcastically.
"Harassed?" Eda looked over at me with concern.
"Yeah. But it's okay because someone dragged me out of it," I smiled, thinking about the way Amity grabbed my hand.
"Oh, I see." Eda turned her attention back to the road.
"You see what?" I gave her a little glare.
"Nothing, nothing," Eda had a massive smirk on her face that just screamed 'I know everything!' "You just met a girl, that's all."
I turned my attention to the passing trees out the passenger window, saying nothing.
"And that just confirmed it. What's she like?"
I hesitated a minute before saying, "Her voice is just insane... she's beautiful... not to mention she's got an attitude and she's a bit of an asshole, but also a little soft," I rattled off.
"So what you're saying is that she's your type?" Eda said bluntly.
"Hey! I don't have a type!" I acted offended.
"Yeah, right," Eda snorted. "Say that to your last few partners."
I grimaced. I didn't like any of my exes. I'm not even sure I could consider them exes, since I'd never actually started officially dating any of them. I regret even talking to most of them.
"Just because all of the people I've talked to are slightly similar doesn't mean I have a type," I argued. "Besides, what does that matter? It's not like we did anything other than flirt."
"You gotta start somewhere kid," She shook her head but her grin disappeared after a moment. "You didn't happen to meet the owner of the club, did you?"
"No. Why do you ask?" I looked over at Eda's uncharacteristically sad expression.
"Oh, no reason. Just wondering if they're still the same as when I knew them," At that comment, she smiled. It was more of a nostalgic, hurt smile, not one of joy.
I could tell the subject was touchy for Eda, so I decided not to press it further. And when there was silence in the car, I reached over and turned on the radio. I cranked it up and started dancing to the music, which made Eda laugh.
Mission accomplished.
"I'm surprised you even like this music enough to dance to it," Eda continued to crack up at my awful dancing skills.
"Oh! I don't!" I said cheerily, which only made Eda crack up more, struggling to keep her eyes on the road.
"Kid, you gotta stop!" She said between fits of laughter. "I can't drive if you're making me laugh my ass off!"
I stopped, but laughed with her. But before I could say anything else, we pulled up to the Owl House. Don't ask me why it's called that, because to be honest, I don't even know. I've asked, but all I got is, "Because I'm wise! Like an owl! And this is my nest!" from Eda.
"Well kid, go text your girl. I'm gonna head off to bed," Eda got out of the car with me in tow.
"Who said I was texting someone?" I closed the car door.
"The look on your face when you got in the car," Eda said matter of factly as we entered the house.
"Pfff no..." My voice continuously got quieter.
"Whatever kid, just lemme sleep," She trudged off to her room and left me alone in the living room.
When I knew she was gone, I pulled my phone out to see what Amity said.
Amity⭐️: Aw how sweet. I bet you'd look better up there though
I know she only meant to flirt, but that got me thinking. I've been playing guitar since I was 13 and I went through a bit of a gender/sexuality/identity crisis and I used it as a way to cope. I've also been writing songs, just for fun. But I'd never really thought about doing anything with them. Maybe playing them to a significant other in some soft, super cliche, cute moment, but making a band? It sounded appealing. The only problem was the lack of people to make a band with. That would be something to bring up to Gus and Willow tomorrow at school.
But before I could think about it any further, I decided that I should probably text Amity back before it seemed like I was ghosting her.
Me: hah! as if hermosa you're fucking badass up there
Amity responded almost immediately.
Amity⭐️: Thanks, but I should probably get to sleep so I don't have my parents yelling at me for not sleeping tomorrow lol
Me: they know youre up?
Amity⭐️: No, but they would if I look like a fucking zombie from the lack of sleep
Me: fair point lol
Amity⭐️: goodnight!
Me: goodnight hermosa 😉
I smiled at my phone. I thought about bringing up my idea to her, but it was something that could wait.
I actually took in my surroundings for the first time today since walking into the house. My younger adopted brother, King, was passed out on the couch. Okay, he's technically not that much younger than me, but I like to tease him about it. It just makes it ten times better since he's so small and his voice never really got that deep, so hearing him argue or get mad is just hilarious. I don't know how a nearly 18 year old boy still hasn't hit puberty, but you know, some people are just a little late to get into things.
I walked over to him and flicked his head, which made him immediately jump up.
"Hey!" He screeched. "What was that for?!"
"You fell asleep on the couch. Figured you didn't wanna wake up with a sore neck," I shrugged and tried my best to keep a straight face. But then again, how straight of a face can you make when you're not straight?
"Whatever," He got up and rubbed his eye as he walked up the stairs to go to his room. "Just don't wake me up again." He tried to sound threatening. That was kind of his thing. We don't really know why his birth parents named him King, but he took the name to heart, that's for sure.
I shook my head and chuckled quietly as I took my shoes off and went to follow him.
When I entered my room, I took off my beanie and chucked it on my dresser, and then I took off my flannel, t-shirt, and jeans, leaving me in my boxers and a sports bra. I quickly set an alarm on my phone, plugged it in, and flopped on my bed, passing out almost instantly.
*le bi time skip*
I woke up to the blaring of my alarm and a headache. I thought back to the previous night.
Did I even drink that much? I thought. I guess I did have that rum and coke... and those three shots... and that other thing... yeah I guess I did this to myself...
I begrudgingly got out of the warmth of my bed and dragged on my school uniform, which consisted of black dress pants (Eda convinced the school to bend the rules a little bit since I really didn't want to wear a skirt), a white button-up shirt, and a royal blue blazer with the school emblem on the front. I then threw on my navy blue beanie and made my way to the bathroom, where I found King already brushing his teeth.
We greeted each other without speaking, and we didn't exchange a word as I started brushing my teeth or when he finished and left. There was more time for conversation later. We were both too tired. I'd head from Eda that he'd spent last night out with a couple of his friends, and they may have had a couple drinks, so I figured we were in the same boat.
After completing my morning routine, I sent Amity a good morning text and went downstairs to see Eda making pancakes in kitchen and King already digging into his small, but substantial stack.
"Good morning, kid!" Eda chirped. "How was your sleep?"
"Better question," King said before I could speak. "Why are you in such a good mood? Oh! Did Hootie finally die?" Hootie is Eda's really weird pet bird, that really really likes to mess with you and just annoy the absolute shit out of you any chance he gets.
"No," Eda's expression hardened at that, but immediately went back to being cheery. "Am I just not allowed to be happy? Is that what you're saying, King?"
"Well, I haven't seen you like this since that one time you managed to steal that one rich guy's wallet," I commented.
Oh, did I forget to mention that Eda might be a felon and might just steal things and rip people off? Well, yeah. She does that. And that's why we can afford to feed three people and two birds. The other bird, if you were wondering, is Owlbert. He's definitely my favorite out of the two because he's a lot more cuddly and he can be helpful. Unlike Hootie, he likes to greet you warmly when you come home, and leaves you alone once you either put him back in his cage or shoo him away.
"Well, if you must know," Eda started. "I have just come into the possession of a large sum of money, and I was just thinking about all the shit I can do with it!" Her smile was about as big as her hair, and that was saying something.
"You didn't rob the bank, did you?" King seemed almost uninterested as he continued to chip away at the pancakes in front of him.
"No!" She put a hand over her chest in mock offense. "How dare you assume I only get money from stealing! My great uncle or something just died and left me a bunch of money!"
Both King and I stopped what we were doing to look up at her with concern.
"Uh... Eda? Are you okay?" I asked wearily.
"Yeah kid! Why wouldn't I be? I got a bunch of extra cash!" I couldn't see any other emotion besides excitement in her eyes.
"Bro, your great uncle died and your celebrating," King gave her a weird look before digging back into his food.
"Eh, it's fine! I didn't even know the guy all that well! Only met him when I was like 4!" Eda took the pancake that had just been cooking and flopped it onto a plate and handed it to me.
I nodded in thanks and asked, "What are you gonna do with all that money, then?"
"I dunno. I was gonna ask you guys," Eda started to wash the pan.
I thought back to my idea I'd had the previous night. "What about if I started a band?"
For a moment there was silence. And then all of the sudden, King nearly choked on his pancake and Eda dropped the pan with a loud bang as both of them broke out laughing.
"As if you would have enough people to make a band!" King squealed.
"Yeah, and what are you even gonna do? Blast out people's eardrums with your voice?" Eda gave me a playful shove and wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. "Ahh... that was a good one kid."
"I'm serious," I crossed my arms and leaned back into my chair. "First off, I do have people to join my band, and second, my singing voice is ten times better than yours, Eda, so shut the fuck up both of you."
This just made both of them burst out into more laughter, causing me to blush out of a combination of anger and embarrassment.
"Ah, whatever," I got up without eating my food. "I'm going to school. See you guys later."
They were both still dying of laugher as I grabbed my car keys and school bag, slipped on my shoes, readjusted my beanie in the mirror, and walked out the door.
Making a band wasn't that bad of an idea, right? I guess I would have to ask Gus and Willow first, to see if they were even interested before I pressed the matter with Eda further.
I got in my car and checked my phone before pulling off, only to see I had a text from Amity. She'd said good morning back with one of the little sun emojis, which brought a smile to my face.
She's so cute. No, stop it Noceda. You just met her yesterday. You've only spoken once in person. Just wait for those thoughts once you get to know her better. That's assuming you two keep talking... and you still get to go to the club... and she still wants to talk to you...
I shook my head to clear those thoughts, and started my drive to school.
The sky was still dark, but you could just see the sun beginning to rise on the horizon. It was always very peaceful to me, especially since there weren't many people out this early. I enjoyed the calm before the storm. I knew things would get more hectic as soon as I stepped out of my car. That's just one of the downsides to having a reputation like mine. There's a lot of people who stay as far away from me as possible, but there's a handful that won't stop pestering me, despite my constant threats.
I pulled into the school parking lot and made my way to my spot. It was one of the perks of being a senior. You get one of the first picks on parking spaces, and the way our school did it was by alphabet, but since our school was so big, you also had to pay for a spot if you wanted a good one. Unless you were in a sport, which I am. I'm on the basketball team, and even though the season is over, I get to keep my premium parking space.
After I park, I grab my stuff and make my way into the school, and then to the cafeteria, where I meet Gus and Willow.
"Heyyy!" I walked up to them and took a seat at my usual spot.
"Oh! Hi Luz!" Gus looked up from his phone and gave me a smile.
"Hey." Willow just waved, not even breaking their eye contact with their phone.
"Texting your girlfriend, Willow?" I smirked, knowing that would get a good reaction out of them.
Their face turned slightly red and they looked me in the eye, trying to keep a serious expression. "So what if I am?" They asked defensively, and then looked back down at their phone and smiled.
"Nothing, nothing. It's just cute, that's all," I smiled to myself, thinking about texting Amity. But I don't know what she would be up to now. I figured she was also in school, but I don't know if she goes here or to one of the private schools around this area. It wasn't a topic that had come up last night.
"Have you been texting that girl you met last night?" Gus asked me with a little smirk.
"As a matter of fact, yes," I stated. But before I could continue, the 5 minute warning bell rang, signaling to me that it was time to head off to first period. "Well, I'll see you guys at lunch!"
They both got up with me, and we said our goodbyes before I went in the opposite direction as my friends.
I'll spare you the details of what happened in my first two periods. It was boring. Just note-taking the entire time. But my next class should be a bit better, since it was English and all we did was pretend to write papers. The teacher was very chill and sometimes kinda fun. I also heard from some people that we were getting new seats, which is always a little bit stressful for me. I don't wanna be stuck next to some kid that I hate for a couple months. I always hope that if I'm stuck next to someone insufferable, the teacher would let me switch. I don't cause much trouble in class and I get good enough grades, so I don't see a reason why he wouldn't let me.
When I walked into the English room, I saw people lined up on the wall, waiting for the class to actually start and we can get our seats. I didn't go too far into the room and just waited on the wall by the doorway until the bell rang.
"Alrighty class!" The teacher clapped his hands and gave us all a smile. "As you can tell, we're gonna switch things up today and get a change of scenery! Now I'm gonna go table by table and when you hear your name, just go on ahead and get ready for class!" He was almost overly enthusiastic, but I found it refreshing compared to all of the other teachers I have.
"Mr. K!" An annoying voice rose up above the general chatter. "I'm not in the back, correct? As you know, I have trouble seeing from-" He was cut off.
"Yes, Hunter. You are right here in the front," Mr. K didn't like Hunter. He was one of the few teachers who actually agreed on me with that. Hunter is an asshole and a suck up. His uncle is the mayor of our little town, and he makes sure to remind you, should you ever talk to him.
"Next to Hunter is Smith!" He continued on with the last names of the people who were at the tables in the first row, which was farthest away from the door, and I didn't hear my name until he got to the last table. "And all the way at the back is Noceda and then Blight in the corner!"
I made my way back and sat down. I saw someone with teal hair sit next to me out of the corner of my eye. I quickly looked over, and then shifted my vision back to the front of the room.
Wait a second... I turned back to see none other than Amity sitting at the table with me.
"Amity?" I asked with the shock obvious in my voice.
I could see her eyes widen as she turned her head to face me. "Luz? You go to this school?!"
"Uh, yes?" I raised my eyebrow at the obvious question.
"Oh, just great!" She huffed and turned her head back to the front, obviously annoyed at her luck.
"Well, it's nice to see you again too, hermosa," I grinned at the girl's redaction.
"Okay, listen up, Noceda,"
She already remembers my last name?
She turned to me with a serious expression and a threatening tone to her voice. "You will not speak to me outside of this classroom. You will not attempt to approach me anywhere else. You will not flirt with me in this school. Understand?"
I cocked my head, amused by the way she was cracking down on me like that. "What's wrong, hermosa? Embarrassed to be seen with me?"
"What did I just say?" She sighed. "I can't tell you here. Just meet me outside after school. I'll explain everything then."
Before I could question, Mr. K started the lesson, and I tried my best to pay attention, despite the shock and nerves of sitting next to Amity.
I couldn't believe my luck. Not only does she go to this school, but I get to sit with her for a while now. This should get interesting.
Holy shit this one is long-
Do you guys prefer long chapters or short ones? I don't wanna bore you but then again I can never seem to stop myself from over describing.
Either way, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, I would love to hear feedback. Or just random thoughts. Comments are greatly appreciated :) Especially if you understand some of the references cause sometimes I wonder if it's just me-
Anyways hope you have a good day!