Boscha narrowed her eyes as she turned the corner and looked at her locker. There was some girl there that she didn’t recognize there which was enough to peak Boscha’s interest. Not because she was excited for a new friend but because she’d turned down plenty of nerds who tried asking her out like this, or entirely destroyed the moral, and sometimes their arm, of people who thought they could make her stop hurting their friends ‘or else’. Luz had been smart enough to follow up the threat with something entertaining at least.

She wasn’t about to lie though, the girl was pretty cute. She had bright, green hair that looked like fertile grass but then blended perfectly into pink curls. Actually, not just curls. They looked almost like pink Blood Blossoms. Must have a pretty good stylist to manage that. Did she not go to Hexide though? Actually, scratch that. Plenty of her suitors broke the dress code to dress up for her. A pink dress was pretty bold though, even with the black vines and thorns that accented the bottom, sleeves, and collar of the outfit. Those seemed to be some attempt to match her black wrist bands with steel spikes on them.

What didn’t match was the fact that the girl looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack. She was sweating, fidgeting, and Boscha could watch her chest heave with each labored breath. That last one was actually pretty nice though as she’d filled out even more than Boscha had already had. If she did ask her out, the bully might just have to give her a shot. She’d get some feedback first though.

The girl turned as Boscha got close but only managed to get out a strangled squeal as Boscha wrapped her arm around the girl’s neck and did her dual eyed wink before shoving the poor model against the wall. After all, it was fine if Boscha touched someone but she needed to make it clear that it was only for her Penstagram. Speaking of, she left a simple caption of, ‘Cute?’, before looking back at the girl while leaving her phone out. “So, who are you?”

The girl tapped her fingers together for a few seconds before saying, “Um, uh, someone, who, uh, was hoping to ask you some questions.”

Boscha rolled her eyes before putting her hands on her hips. “I meant your name, but I guess I don’t need to worry about any weird confessions. You’re too weak for something like that.”

There was some sort of light in the girl’s eyes before she held her fists up and let the light glint off of her cuffs. She then said, in a tone and cadence that Boscha immediately recognized as practiced a thousand times, “I’m not as weak as I look. I wear these for a reason.”

Boscha immediately grabbed the girl’s arms right under her cuffs before forcing them apart so that the girl couldn’t hide her face. “That’s adorable, but I’m a little tougher than most bullies. Who even told you that that’d work?”

The girl fidgeted a bit as her cheeks became increasingly red. “Um, uh, my mom. She even made my cuffs...”

Oh, this was too easy. The poor girl wasn’t going to be able to sleep for a week with how naive she obviously was. So, with her eyes half closed to promise things that would never happen, she whispered, “Oh? And are you hoping I’ll take them off of you as you call me mommy?”

The shy girl’s face turned hot enough to start glowing before she began to hum. Kind of. It was more of a high pitch keening that made Boscha let go of her and cover her ears. “What the heck? It’s supposed to make you run!” She then pressed against the side of her head harder as she asked, “Are you part bat or something?”

“Boscha, what did you do?”

The keening stopped instantly when the shy girl looked at Amity. She looked like she just saw a ghost as she tried to say something until finally managing to squeak out, “I gotta go,” and running off.

Boscha shook her head a bit to clear it before taking her hands off of her ears. She then looked over at her bestie as she let out an exasperated sigh. “What makes you think that was my fault?”

Amity didn’t say anything. She just tapped her foot and stared at her friend. Boscha didn’t try to fight it though as she rolled her eyes. “Fine. I couldn’t help myself though! Did you see how easy she was to freak out? Not to mention cute.”

Amity frowned for a second as she rubbed her neck before saying, “You shouldn’t have been so harsh on her and please never call her cute like that again.”

Boscha leaned against her locker as she smirked at the serious girl. “Oh am I only allowed to call you cute like that?”

Amity didn’t show any signs of mirth though as she instead just glared at Boscha and said, “Do not. Look at her. Like that.”

Boscha’s eyes actually drooped a little before she placed a hand on Amity’s shoulder. “Are you okay? I mean, a year ago and I would just think you were disgusted by how try hard I was being but you seem genuinely angry.”

Amity glanced at where her familiar normally sat on her shoulder. “Sorry. It’s probably just because I had a bad night’s sleep and had to leave my abomination in their case.”

Boscha finally tickled her locker to get her books as she smiled a little. “Oh, did you finally lose control of the little guy?”

Amity rolled her eyes. “No, he was just being overly affectionate and needed a reminder that some space is good.” She then smirked and said, “Something I wish I could force into you sometimes.”

Boscha merely grinned before she put her books to her side and began walking with her bestie with the random girl disappearing from her mind like any random idiot who thought they had a chance getting as close to her as Amity. Because they were trying to date her! Wait, no. She meant getting closer than Amity. Yeah, of course it was closer. A significant other was definitely trying to get closer to her than her bestie. Because they were best friends. “Best friends.”

Amity groaned for a second before saying, “You know how insecure you sound when you randomly say that, right?”

Boscha’s cheeks turned red before beginning to split away from Amity down another hall. “Um, uh, I actually should find my vice-captain. Got that game this weekend after all and we need to talk strategy.”

Amity just rolled her eyes before waving goodbye. Of course Boscha would run off. It’s what she expe- The serious blinked a few times before pressing one hand against her temple. Where did that even come from? “Okay, Amity, you’re going to sleep early tonight.”

======+++++======

Luz tilted her head as she saw a boy arguing another group of students. It wasn’t really that a fight was happening, especially after Amity kept stopping her from getting involved in every last problem that occurred in the school. It was instead the fact that she really wished they would stop because if Amity passed by and heard people arguing about Lumity versus Luscha, she might finally find out what shipping is.

Admittedly, only this new boy was arguing for her and Boscha. He wore a black, button up shirt that was contrasted by a mud colored pair of cargo pants that were trying to hide how twiglike the tall guy’s legs were. He was kind of spindly in general though and from how light his brown skin, he might not get that much sun. Why would he need cargo pants then? The outfit was even more baffling when you took in his bright pink hair.

The boy then let out an exasperated sigh before shaking his head. “Look, I’m not saying Lumity is bad. I love Lumity. I think Amity is great. However, Luz and Boscha’s emotional dissonance is exactly why their relationship would be great! Mixed feelings of rivalry, hate, but then love blossoming amongst all of that… Let me try to quantify this. If Luz’s common emotional levels rest close to a five or six, Amity or Boscha being in danger will put it closer to eight or nine. Them being in mortal peril will bring it to a ten. However, Luz commonly gets to this point of heightened intensity simply around Boscha with her strongest emotions of anger and joy because Boscha’s own high emotional energies play off well with hers. This is because the way they express emotions to each other is so much more volatile than Luz and Amity and, trust me, it makes it a sight to behold whenever the two have to fight together. Besides,” he said with a smirk, “if Boscha began using sigil magic, imagine a last minute Grudgby win because everyone was out of magic but she could still pull off The Thorn Vault.”

Luz smiled a little at the thought of Boscha ever using one of Azura’s tricks as she tapped her foot behind the passionate boy. The noise got the other student’s attention and they paled at getting caught spreading rumors like this. “But you said it yourself; I hate her.”

The weird guy pressed his fingers against his forehead before turning around as he said, “I did, but there’s a difference between hate and jea-Ah!” His third eye opened wide as he almost jumped out of his skin. Luz could now see that the boy’s hair wasn’t purely pink, just mostly. She’d obviously dyed some of it with brown rectangles but there wasn’t any sort of rhyme or reason to where or how they were placed. If Odalia saw it, she’d have a stroke.

For now though, it was a little worrisome how all in the bow went on this whole Luscha thing if she’d dye her hair just to have both of their colors in the mess of a mop on his head. “Look, I like fanfiction as much as anyone else but maybe don’t do it about me? It’s kind of creepy.”

The boy fidgeted for a second as his face lit up like a Christmas tree before he reached into one of the deeper pockets in his baggy pants. He then yelled, “Distraction spell!” before throwing something straight into Luz’s face. He then scrambled away while Luz processed whatever had smacked her

Luz then looked down and gasped at what it was. “Sweet, Hex Mix!”

======Last Night======

Amity’s familiar smiled to itself as it awkwardly worked a pair of knitting needles. Another night spent trying to make its mother a nice present. All it had managed so far was a bunch of knots, if it even managed to properly get the yarn on its needles before the sun rose, but it was determined to keep trying. Tonight especially felt special since its mom for once helped it by helping it get started before she went to bed.

The abomination looked at its mother with a smile as it rested the needles for a second. It didn’t remember the last time it had been put into a cauldron or case because she let him be out and do his own thing most of the time. She trusted him and it meant the world to him. It would do anything to protect her and nothing would change that.

And then a black blur tackled it off of Amity’s dresser and onto the bed. It tried moaning out something to get Amity’s attention but whatever was attacking it covered the abomination’s mouth. The familiar didn’t stop fighting though. It was a Blight abomination after all and it wouldn’t be put down so… so…

It blinked a few times in confusion before looking at itself. The black goo was gone. But it hadn’t gone into the sheets. It blinked once as it realized it felt weird before that suddenly stopped. Its eyes glowed bright yellow for a second before the familiar smiled to itself. A hug was a great idea! Let its mom know that it protected her!

Amity didn’t get that message from the hug. This was mostly because her familiar had apparently forgotten one of the first things she’d had to teach it. Its hugs were sweet but hugs on the neck were called attempts at choking her. She squeezed her eyes shut at the pressure on her throat as one of her hands lazily spun in a circle. She’d stayed up late enough as it was and she didn’t want to have to get up or anything. Besides, her familiar was good enough that a simple command spe-

“Urk!” This time Amity sat up as her familiar squeezed on her tighter. The first bit had been annoying. She could still breathe, it just hurt a little. Now she was genuinely having issues. That wasn’t so okay and she tapped the familiar first as a warning. Maybe it just missed the command spell, somehow. Or… Or was it trying-

She growled at herself as she spun a wider circle and the abomination lost solidity for a moment. Amity then glared down at it before pointing to the glass box on her dresser. “Case. Now.”

The familiar looked up in confusion. Why was its mom upset? The last thing it remembered was the black goo disappearing. Its mom could still be in trouble. It began to try and say something but only got glared at as Amity hissed, “Now.”

The abomination began to move before hearing its mom sigh. It was then gently scooped up and put back on the dresser. “Sorry. Just… that hurt and I’m really tired. I promise it’s only going to be for tomorrow though, okay?”

The abomination’s form shifted and swayed a little before it raised a hand and gave Amity a nice, big smile and a thumbs up. It was the sort of sweet gesture from it that made its mother wonder if somehow Luz had been part of its creation. That was crazy though. Her and Luz having kids…

Amity, what the fuck are you thinking about? She turned away from her abomination, trusting it to stay in its case until she got up in the morning. She had to deal with the fact that she wasn’t going to sleep as her brain kept talking about kids. It wasn’t even with only Luz! She didn’t even want kids! Sweet, small idiots that would constantly remind her of-

Amity’s abomination peaked out of its case as its mother grabbed her pillow and began screaming into it. It hoped she was okay before slipping back into the case. If it had stayed out for another second though, the creature would have seen the shifting, black wisp that kept appearing and disappearing on different parts of Amity’s neck.