Escape // Lumity

Chapter 4: She's So... Pretty

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Boscha has been my... "Friend" for the longest time, and in all the years we were, she wasn't exactly, well, the easiest to tolerate. But she's better than that, right? She wouldn't tell my parents... Would she?

Great, another thought to occupy my mind in the middle of class. What's going to happen to my top student status now? My parents are going to kill me.

I prop my elbow up on my desk, and rested my chin on my fist, doodling things at the back of my notebook. I find myself drawing that light glyph Luz always does, but that was as far as it went. I didn't touch it. Maybe it's going to distract everyone and the teacher might send me to detention.

I really should start listening to this lecture.

Fixing my posture, I flip my notebook and open a blank page. I'll start taking notes. These distractions can't bother me forever.

I'll think about Boscha later.

As I finished class, my mind went back to racing with thoughts I couldn't control. Finally focusing on a lecture after days of not being able to got me thinking, do I still want to join the Emperor's coven? After what they did to Eda? And Luz? If not, then what am I still worrying about high grades for? Am I doing this for me? For someone else? My parents?

Is it worth it? How much value does being a top student hold?

I sighed, making my way towards the cafeteria. I guess I've always strived to be the top student my entire life, that I don't know what to do if I'm not. I'm a Blight. I'm supposed to be the best. But do I want to be the best? Is this really how I want to live my life?

"Hey, Amity."

I stopped walking once I heard that voice, and I see Willow coming up to my side. I give her a small smile. "Hey Willow."

"Your abominations are getting better," she comments, looking at the Abomination tailing me at my back, carrying my books. "That's a thousand times better than what I could do."

"Well to be fair, you aren't really skilled at the Abomination track." Oh boy, I worded that wrong. Quick, add something. "Don't take it the wrong way. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Your strength just happened to be Plant magic, and not... Abominations."

She chuckles. "It's okay. I get it. I'd agree with you on that."

I smiled at that. I really wouldn't want to lose my friendship with Willow again. That's a path I'm no longer willing to take.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," she mentions, to which I didn't know how to react. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah." I chuckled uneasily. You're a Blight, Amity, you can't show weakness. "I don't even remember what I was thinking about."

She tries to hide a look that meant she wasn't convinced, but I could see right through her. Thank the Titan she didn't pry further though, or else I probably would have spilled my heart out.

"Alright," she says, then she walks ahead. "Do you wanna eat with Gus and Luz and I? Our table has room for one more."

A smile escapes my lips, and in all honesty, I couldn't bring myself to say no. I'd been dreading lowkey if I was just lying to myself about things being better, now that I was friends with the people I used to call nerds and was labeled inferior than people like me and Boscha and Cat and Skara. But once I went with Willow to sit with her friends, our friends, in the cafeteria, there was a sense of assurance inside of me that made me feel warmth, and essentially, security.