A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 19

Luna woke up to the alarm on the bedside table and tiredly glanced at it. She had been up late reading fanfictions, but it had amounted to nothing. The best she could figure was that the twins would be back where they were supposed to be once Padmé returned to their universe.

The clock reminded her that it was October twenty-seventh. Luna supposed that she should be excited. The day before her birthday.

She wasn't. Her birthday usually led to a false hope of people remembering it and actually forgetting it. Not that she'd ever feel like celebrating considering what else had happened on that day.... Still, cake would be nice.

Either way, Luna would have to stick around the house the entirety of Saturday in the unlikely case someone actually remembered when she would much rather be somewhere else.

But first, she had to make it through Friday.

Luna sighed.

She sincerely hoped that Anakin's appearance the day before wouldn't irk Ben or Henderson. At a different school, a teacher once interfered while someone was bullying her.

Luna paid for it the rest of the time she spent at the school. It had not been a fun year. She knew Anakin was only trying to help, but sometimes it was better to deal with things alone. It was the one way Luna knew how to do everything.

***

Lunch. As any teen would know, it could be the most dangerous part of the day. Not only was the safety of the food questionable at times and the taste anything but good, but there was also the entire student body to contend with.

For a loner like Luna, lunch could easily be the worst part of the day. However, thanks to years of practice, she knew how to deal with it.

Usually.

Even she couldn't find a way out of everything.

"Hey freak!" Henderson said, hitting Luna's lunch tray causing it to dump on the floor.

Here we go, Luna thought to herself. She kept her eyes on the floor, staring unseeing at the chunky mashed potatoes that had splattered onto the tiles in the hallway. She had been on her way to where she usually ate lunch, away from the rest of the student body, but Henderson, Ben, and Elise had been waiting to ambush her. She could practically hear Admiral Ackbar shouting, It's a trap!

Where was the Force when she needed it?

"Did you hear him?" Elise asked, shoving Luna and causing her to stumble into the lockers on the sides of the hallway. "Who was your friend the other day?"

Luna didn't respond, keeping her eyes on the ground.

Ben punched her in the gut causing the breath to leave her lungs and stumble a few steps back, only staying on her feet thanks to the lockers behind her.

If Luna were brave enough to try and stand up for herself, they'd just laugh and make it worse.

If she fought them, she'd get in trouble and get labeled as a problem child, the last thing a foster kid her age needed.

If she ran, it would only delay the confrontation, but as it was Friday, they may forget about it by Monday, she just needed to stay out of their way for a time.

Then there was a chance that they wouldn't forget.

So Luna did what she did best. She didn't run, she didn't fight, she didn't defend herself.

She just stood there, listening to every single word they yelled at her, not even trying to dodge when they hurt her.

Luna just bore what was given to her, as she always did.

She had dealt with worse horrors; she hadn't been broken.

Not yet.