Chapter Text
"You take a deep breath and you walk though the doors
It's the morning of your very first day"
Luz Noceda pulled her blanket over her head to drown out the sound of her sister getting ready for school.
"Vee, I love Taylor Swift just as much as the next bisexual, but please it is too early."
Luz heard her sister open the curtains as light came flooding into the room.
"Sorry Luz, but I need music to get ready, and you should be getting ready too!"
Luz shifted, trying to burrow deeper into her bed sheets and block out the light from the windows.
"Breakfast is almost ready girls!" Their mother called, "Vee, did you get Luz up?"
Luz could hear the smirk in her sister's voice as she called back, "Not yet mom! Can I call in the big guns?"
Camila sounded far too happy to reply, "If the situation calls for it!"
Seconds later Luz felt a weight on her mattress, as Vee yanked back the bedding to reveal her grinning face.
Her brown eyes glinted and her straw colored bangs fell in her face, as she pounced on Luz and started to tickle her.
"Vee!" Luz yelped, "I'll get up I swear!"
Vee stopped tickling and raised a questioning eyebrow at Luz.
"I will!"
"Okay," Vee said, getting off of the lower bunk, "But be quick, because I am not missing the bus for you!"
Vee walked out of their room and into the kitchen of their apartment. "Love you too!" Luz called after her.
Luz got up and picked out some clothes, an Azura shirt, a pair of jean shorts layered over black leggings, and a purple zip up hoodie. She stared in the mirror at herself, her curly hair was cut close to her chin and was hard to tame. There were dark bags under her eyes from staying up late re-reading the third Azura book.
Luz picked up her blue backpack and her beat up white Vans, and walked out into the kitchen.
"Good morning mija, how did you sleep?" Her mother greeted.
"Ehh... I slept okay I guess..." Luz replied.
"Up late reading again?" Camila asked.
"You caught me," Luz smiled, "Tonight I'll sleep, I promise!"
Camila just smiled and flipped her eggs, turning towards Vee.
"Are you girls excited for your first day of school?"
Vee shot Luz a sympathetic look and turned back towards their mom, "I'm excited to see some of the kids I met over the summer! Hopefully we have some classes together so I know some people!"
Camila nodded her head as her daughter rambled on about her excitement for school. Luz was less excited than her sister, she had always been bullied at their old school back in Connecticut, she was not too convinced it would be any different in California.
Luz grabbed a piece of toast that her mom handed her, and walked to the entrance of their apartment, which was just off of the kitchen. She slid on her shoes and adjusted her bag straps.
"And you thought I would be late!" Luz teased, as Vee walked over to the front entrance to lace up her black boots.
Vee was wearing an orange sweater and a pair of ripped jeans, her wavy shoulder length hair was bleached and dyed blue at the ends, she wore it pulled back in a ponytail. She slid on her leather crossbody bag as she stood back up.
Camila walked over to embrace her daughters, giving them each a kiss on the forehead. "Be safe girls, have a good first day, don't do drugs!"
Luz grinned up at her mother, "Oh do drugs? Okay mom, if you say so!"
Camila just shook her head and ushered the girls out of the door, "Go on now, don't be late!"
"Love you!" Vee and Luz said in unison.
Their mother chuckled, "I love you kids too!"
The walk to their bus stop was mostly quiet, Luz was doing her best not to freak out. Once they were a few feet away from the bus stop, Vee spoke up.
"Luz?"
"Yeah Vee?"
"If anyone says anything to you, please tell
me, okay? I think you should at least try and talk to some people though, you never know what could happen."
Luz looked over at her sister, studying her face, Vee didn't look much like Luz at all. When the two of them were six, Luz's parents had found poor Vee all alone at the park. Vee was very quiet, at first, but she opened up to Luz very quickly. Vee didn't have any family, so Luz's mom and dad decided to adopt her. From that day on Vee was her sister, and their parents daughter, just as much as Luz was.
"Okay Vee, I promise."
When Luz looked away, the bus was already pulling up, so she let her sister take the lead as she entered the bus.
Their stop was an early one, so Vee and Luz were able to sit together, across the aisle was Masha, one of Vee's friends from the summer.
Masha had closely cropped dark hair, and they wore a black leather jacket on top of a band tee. They had chipped black nail polish and a mauve colored backpack.
Luz sat at the window and nodded politely as Vee and Masha made small talk, slowly the bus filled up as they got close to the high school.
Luz gripped her backpack straps tightly as the bus entered a drop off loop in front of the school. She followed Vee and Masha out of the bus as the two chattered, comparing their schedules.
Luz approached the front entrance, taking a deep breath as she looked up at the lettering on the front of the school.
"Alright Hexside High," Luz whispered to herself, "Let's see what you've got."
And she walked through the doors.
***
" You say, 'Hi' to your friends you ain't seen in a while
Try and stay out of everybody's way"
Willow Park does her best to squeeze between the crowds, hoping to stay under the radar. She clutches the strap of her denim crossbody bag, doing her best to make it to her home room class without being seen by-
"Aww if it isn't Two Dads Willow! How are your dads? Still gay?"
Willow turned to see Boscha grinning at her while her crew all laughed.
Boscha had been mean to Willow since they were small, she always made comments about Willow's weight and her spelling and anything she could think of. Her new favorite thing was to be homophobic about Willow's dads, which was rather annoying.
Willow ignored her and scanned the hallway, people were starting to look. Behind her stood her posse, Amelia, Cat, Skara, and- Someone was missing. Boscha had one less follower than usual.
"Aren't you a little old for this Boscha?" Willow asked.
"Hah! Old for what Willow? I'm just stating the facts."
Willow rolled her eyes internally, "I don't have time for this today, see you later Boscha. Or hopefully not." She added under her breath.
Willow turned and walked away towards her class, turning a corner to bump right into a friendly face.
Augustus was a two years younger than Willow, but he had skipped a grade. The two had met when Willow was in seventh grade at Hexside Middle School. Augustus had asked Willow for help finding his class on the first day, Willow had agreed and tried to lead him around the school. They ended up more lost than they were in the first place, but they both left with a new friend. Augustus had been Willow's best and only friend ever since.
He was shorter than Willow, his bright smile contrasted with his dark skin. He wore his hair in small braids, with his head closely shaved on the sides and in the back. He had cargo shorts and blue tropical print button up layered over his dinosaur tee.
"Willow!" Augustus grinned, "What took you so long to come around the corner! I was tracking your phone to suprise you!"
Willow smiled softly, "Oh, just Boscha and her crew. It's no big deal, I don't let it bother me anymore."
He frowned, "I'm sure you don't, but she shouldn't be acting that way in the first place!"
"It's fine Augustus, come on, we're holding up traffic."
Willow ushered him to start walking down the hallway, "Oh shoot! My class is that way, sorry Willow! Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"
Willow gave him her best smile, "I'm fine, go to class twerp!"
Gus waved goodbye as he walked the opposite way. Willow walked a bit further down the hallway, scanning the classroom numbers until she found hers.
The door was already open and she walked through the entrance, making her way to an empty desk in the back of the room.
There was no teacher there yet, only a few students, chattering excitedly. She looked down at her lap, playing with the frayed strands of her jean shorts. Her gold nail polish was as well applied as it would get, she had spent all of the night before trying to get it right.
Willow pulled off her bag and set it on the floor next to her desk. She looked up to see that a few more students had filtered in, including a face she could recognize anywhere.
Amity had been Willow's best friend as a child, the two were inseparable from the moment they met. As they got older, Amity drifted away, she started following Boscha around. Amity had never been outright mean to Willow, but she didn't do anything to stop Boscha's teasing all throughout middle school.
Amity looked different from the last time Willow had seen her, her auburn hair was grown out to its natural color, with faded green only at the ends. She wore a loose pink hoodie and black leggings, and sat at a desk towards the front of the room reading a book.
Willow was brought out of her thoughts when someone had walked up to the desk next to hers.
"Could I sit here?"
Willow looked up towards the sound to see a girl with short dark hair, brown eyes, and a purple zip up.
"Oh," Willow said, suprised, "Sure, I guess. I don't think I've seen you before, I'm Willow."
The girl sat down, removing her blue bookbag and smiling widely at Willow.
"I'm Luz, Luz Noceda."
***
"It's your freshman year and you're gonna be here
For the next four years in this town"
Augustus Porter waved goodbye to Willow as he crossed the hallway. Her dark braids with green streaks bounced against her yellow shirt as she walked the opposite way.
His class was only a few hallways down, he walked past some familiar faces, and many new ones.
After some confusion, Augustus found his class. There were many paintings and easels around the room, and the desks were arranged into groups of four. Most of the desks had already been taken, leaving Augustus to choose between a few seats. Eventually he settled on a table with two empty seats.
Pulling off his clear plastic backpack, he sat down at one of the desks. Across from him was an older kid with shaggy blond hair and brown eyes. On his right sat a boy who looked to be around his age, with tan skin and dark brown hair, parted in the middle.
The boy on his right looked up from his phone, "Hello, I don't think I know you, what middle school did you go to? Assuming you're a freshmen."
Augustus was a bit startled by how bold the kid was, but he responded anyways, "I don't think I've seen you either, I went to Hexside Middle."
The boy nodded, "That makes sense, I went to Glandus Middle. I'm Mattholomule."
Augustus grinned at the boy, "I'm Augustus. Can I call you Matt or Mattie?"
"Only my closest friends can call me Mattie!"
"Then I guess you'll just have to accept that we are best friends now Mattie!"
Mattholomule rolled his eyes at Augustus. He went to ask for the name of the kid across from him, but the older kid had disappeared.
"Huh." He muttered to himself.
Augustus looked back at his phone to see if he had any texts, he was worried about Willow. Suddenly the blond across from him sat back down. He put his phone away to introduce himself.
"Hey! I'm Augustus, what's your name?"
The kid looked up from the desk, "Oh, I'm Hunter."
He was about to respond when the bell rung, and the teacher entered the room. He was tall and wore a purple dress shirt over purple slacks. "I'm Mr. Deamonne, I will be your home room teacher this year. Incase you hadn't noticed," He gestured around the room, "I also teach art here at Hexside, perhaps I will see some of you later on today for my class. I'm going to call attendance, please correct me if I say your name wrong, or if you prefer to be called something different."
Mr. Deamonne went down the list, he paused before saying Hunter's name, giving him a quick glance.
Home room was over before Gus noticed it, perhaps high school wouldn't be so bad.