When the fall play is announced and Luz is determined to prove herself to Skara, she drags Amity into being the best Romeo and Ghouliet Hexside's drama club has ever seen. But is success more important than honesty? And will their real-life blossomi...
The three weeks before tech week flew by, but not without incident. Luz and Amity had recovered from their little hiccup, but now Luz had fallen hard, and with a new hair color and cheek kiss things were becoming more complicated. This was only exacerbated when Amity didn't show up to rehearsal for a week afterwards, bringing the two behind on their practice. But, with opening night around the corner, Luz hoped that she would have no choice but to appear at the dress rehearsal.
"Where's your Ghouliet, human?" Skara taunted, startling Luz as she waited in line for her fitting. "She hasn't shown up in a while, did you really mess up with her that bad?"
"She'll be here! At least, I hope..." Blood rushed to Luz's cheeks. Maybe she was right, maybe she did mess up somehow. Amity kissed her, sure, but was her reaction off? Should she have said something? Did Amity regret it? She was nearly completely sure she was avoiding her. Still, she held out hope that she would show up eventually. She had to, right?
"Well, if she doesn't show, Chadley and I would be elated to take your place." A sickly sweet grin crossed her face as she patted Luz on the shoulder. "Shame to waste such talent, huh?"
Luz grunted in frustration and turned her gaze to the door. Amity would walk through any second, she was sure of it.
...
The fittings concluded, and still no Amity. Luz could hear Skara laughing with her fellow thespians as she trudged to the dressing room, costume in hand and eyes on the marble floors. Everyone else was off talking or messing with their costumes, so she figured it would be a good time to get ready before the dressing rooms filled. But as she opened the door, she found she wasn't the only one with that idea.
A girl sat at the mirror, half-costumed and trying to get her newly shorter hair to stay in Ghouliet's signature bun. Her brown undercut was exposed, as well as faint freckles that were usually hidden by makeup. She hadn't finished getting dressed, only wearing a red, long-sleeved slip and black tights beneath it. It wasn't until she finally pinned up the final strand of thin purple hair that she noticed Luz red-faced and frozen in the doorway.
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The two stared at each other like deer in headlights, wordless and thoughtless, fully unprepared to face the other just yet. "You're... here," gasped Luz, breaking the silence.
Amity wanted to run, like she always did. She was nowhere near ready to bear the consequences of her actions, especially if those consequences were rejection. But, with nowhere left to run, she simply sucked in her breath and stood. "Yeah, I'm here."
An awkward moment passed, only to be broken when Amity walked over to the rack of costumes to finish getting ready. Before Luz could ask, she answered: "I asked to get fitted yesterday. Mr. Millar thought it was because I would get teased or something and allowed it."
Luz leaned against the wall next to the vanity and fidgeted. "Why would you get teased?"
"I think he's noticed how Skara treated us."
"Then why doesn't he do anything about it?"
Amity sighed and slipped into her second layer. "Favoritism, probably. She's been in the program since grade one, she's a prodigy." a small, solemn chuckle fell from her lips. "I'm honestly surprised we made it this far,"
"Heh, yeah, me too." Luz looked down at her twiddling thumbs, but Amity struggling to tie up the back of her dress caught her eye. "Need help with that?"
The witchling cringed at the intimacy that would require, but after weighing the options found that the help would be preferable. "Uh, yeah, thanks."
As Luz tied the dress, Amity could feel her breath on her neck. It was a small, mundane gesture, but in the moment it made her heart skip multiple beats. She was glad to be facing away from the girl so as to not let her see how red her face was. When she felt it was finished, Amity turned back to thank her again, but was distracted by how close they really were.
"Well, I should be getting changed now too," cracked Luz, nervously backing away. "So I'll just go to the, uh, bathroom for that!" She gathered her costume from the vanity and bolted out of the room, leaving Amity once again alone and even less hopeful than before.
