What Really Matters (Lumity AU)

Amity

I couldn't believe the audacity.

Yes, Edric had always teased me about girls, but never Emira. Emira had always sided with me. Until now.

"Continue flirting," she'd said, as if I'd ever flirt with a girl, as if I would ever have the social skills to flirt with anyone.

At least I could always return to my books. Azura the Good Witch would always have my back. I'd just buried my face in my book again when Edric started walking near me. "So. Luz?"

"No."

"Mittens, don't-"

"No. I'm trying to read, Edric, go flirt with Jerbo." The last comment caused Jerbo, who was walking with Viney and Emira a few steps ahead, to go red, but it did not have the intended effect on Edric.

"I'm curious," he insisted. "Everyone can see you pining for-"

"Shut up! I've told you a million times, I'm straight!" He stayed silent for a few moments, and I was the one to break the silence. I wouldn't have, but I was holding my breath from trying not to yell again. "Whew, almost passed out," I muttered as I gasped for air, and Edric snickered.

"WhEw, AlMoSt PaSsEd OuT," he mimicked. "And anyway, you're not straight."

"I'm completely straight."

"Yeah? Have you ever had a crush on a guy?"

No, but I wasn't about to say that. "Of course I have. In fact, I'm crushing on a guy at school right now."

"Really?" Edric asked sarcastically. "Let's hear about this guy, then. What's he like?"

Okay. This shouldn't be too hard. I just had to imagine what I would want my future boyfriend to look like and describe that to Edric. "Well, he's Hispanic," I started. "He has short brown hair. And brown eyes, too, but more, like... amber. They're very pretty. He's taller than me, but only barely. He's read The Good Witch Azura, I've heard him talking about it to his friends."

That seemed adequate, like someone I might date in the future.

Edric only stared at me. "Wow. I have never in my life seen someone in denial of something as much as you are right now."

"I have no idea what you mean," I scoffed.

"Sure." His voice dropped low enough that no one else could hear, not that anyone was listening in the first place. "Mittens, I think this guy might really exist. Except, she's not a guy. Do you realize that you just described Luz Noceda with he/him pronouns?"

"I did not," I said immediately. The words sounded like a lie even to myself.

He shrugged, though he clearly believed me even less than I did. Before I could pitifully defend myself again, however, he picked up his pace to again talk to Jerbo, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my book. It was infuriating.

Luz

I stared at Amity from two steps behind her. She looked like she was reading--or trying to, anyway. Her eyes skimmed the pages, but she looked unfocused, as if her brain wouldn't stop thinking about something she wanted to stop thinking about.

I'd been there.

I was about to ask her if she was okay when Emira announced, "We're here!"

I blinked at the sight in front of us. The place that the twins had set up for us was the side of a hill. On the top stood... not a mansion, exactly, but definitely bigger than most houses. At the bottom of the hill grew a few trees, maybe fifteen, that weren't big enough to be called a forest, but definitely big enough to pretend it was a forest if I lived in that house. I didn't know how big an acre was, but this hill had to be at least one of them. (The author doesn't know how big an acre is either, so just imagine it however big you feel like it. Sorry.) Soft grass covered most of it and in the middle of the area were two large bins filled with water balloons.

Emira had been right. This was the perfect spot for a water balloon fight. However, I was a bit worried about who lived in the house and if they would get mad at us for water balloon fighting in their backyard.

"Really?" Amity said dryly from next to me. "The secret place we were going is our backyard?"

"You live here?" I asked, and she gave me a small nod.

"Yep. Home sweet home."

We'd all worn our swimsuits to school under our clothes. It was uncomfortable, but it was worth it for the balloon fight. We all began to pile our backpacks and school clothes as we stripped down to our swimsuits, except Amity, who made her way to one of the trees and sat in the shade, reading.

Wasn't she going to balloon fight with us? My plan about finally becoming her friend was not going to work if she wasn't going to even hang out.

"She doesn't like goofing off," Edric said from next to me, somehow guessing what I was thinking about. "But, uh, I'm pretty sure she won't notice you staring. If she'd noticed you already, her face would be bright red. Like a tomato."

"I'm not staring, exactly," I mumbled. "Just, uh, looking at her?" Because she was really pretty and looked so concentrated and- yeah, okay, I was staring.

But it didn't matter. She wasn't even going to hang out with us.

"Not sure if you noticed," Edric continued, "seeing as you seem pretty focused on dramatically staring at Amity with a betrayed face, but everyone else is starting to get water balloons and you're going to get soaked if you don't start running. Would you like an example?" Without waiting for an answer, he tossed a mint green balloon in my face, and it popped, getting my face wet like it was supposed to. Not only did he get me wet, he had the audacity to do it with my favorite color.

I glanced up at where the bins of water balloons were. Willow, Gus, Jerbo, and Edric (How did he even get there that fast?) were all surrounding the balloon bins. Viney and Emira were chasing each other in circles around the main fight. I could go join the battle.

My eyes drifted to Amity.

I could go join the battle... but I had a better idea.

1048 words.
Hello again.
I have absolutely nothing to say for myself.
I am so sorry.
But this chapter is like twice the usual chapter size to apologize.
I said I was going to update in likeThe? January or February or something like that? And it's March. So I'm sorry. And it's not going to have a constant schedule anytime soon.
The thing is I used to write a ton to escape the world but now I read a ton as an escape and don't write as much, but I still do want to keep writing and I still do write every once in a while.
The other thing is school. I am actually pretty good at school tests and stuff, I can retain information and math usually even makes sense to me, but I. I cannot do assignments. I literally just don't focus or whatever, so then I can't get stuff done and I almost fail even though I'm good at tests. How I was able to find the time to write this chapter is because I just finished all the exams for this trimester.
I have a break for a week. I'm going to try to get out one or two more chapters during the week and then I go back to school for about three more months. After that, I have a break for three months because it's summer, and I might be able to have a slightly normal updating schedule during the summer. We'll see. I don't plan to give up on this story, no matter how long it takes me to actually finish it.
SO IN CONCLUSION I'M REALLY SORRY AND PLEASE ENJOY THIS SUPER LONG CHAPTER AS AN APOLOGY GIFT