Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“We're almost there Mittens,” Emira said as she kept her eyes fixed on the road, “Only an hour left till Gravesfield! Are you excited?”

“Not really,” Amity replied, “Hard to be excited about a place I know nothing about.”

“I know,” Emira sighed, “But this is a very nice town with a very nice school system, please just try and have an open mind.”

In truth, that was only half the reason Emira had moved herself and Amity all the way across the country to Connecticut from California. It was to get as far away from their parents as possible.

After a year and a half of court battles, Emira was able to wrestle custody of her baby sister away from their parents. Now, the 21-year-old was the guardian of a 14-year-old and the first thing she thought to do was get a change of scenery for the poor girl.

“I still don't know why we couldn't have found some place warmer,” Amity pouted.

“Because this is the only place I could find a job that works around my schedule,” Emira answered. That was a half truth. Sure, she was able to get a job as a receptionist at a local hospital while she continued college online, but she also felt that Amity needed someplace different than where she grew up. Gravesfield was small, cheap, and quiet, the exact opposite of Los Angeles.

“Listen, I know you're not exactly happy about this change but please have an open mind,” Emira pleaded for what felt like the 1000th time since she told her they were moving. Amity never did well with change.

Amity just gave a grunt before she angrily put in a pair of earbuds, seemingly ready to ignore Emira for the rest of the drive.

The hour passed with few other words being said by the two. Amity mostly just listened to old 2000s emo albums and spiraled, dreading her new life.

She felt bad that she wasn't looking forward to this. Emira had spent so much time and effort to get her away from their parents which she was really grateful for. She was overjoyed to no longer be forced to suffer their abuse. She was happy that she got to stay with her sister now.

She just wished she could do it someplace more interesting than a town in the middle of nowhere, Connecticut.

Eventually, the dense forests of New England gave way to the small town of Gravesfield. Amity made sure to observe everything she could as they drove through. They passed the high school first, where she was supposed to start tomorrow. Eventually, they made their way through the town square, and Amity noticed a building labeled “Gravesfield Historical Society” with two statues next to it. Nearby was a libary and next to that was a couple of local businesses. There was a park in the center of everything. There were a couple kids her age hanging around, no doubt enjoying their last day of freedom before the new school year. 

Before long, they pulled into a single-story house near the edge of town. A moving truck, parked outside their new home, was already half empty.

“We're home.” Emira smiled as she put the car in park.

“Yaaaay,” Amity let out sarcastically as she unbuckled and quickly left the car. Amity made her way to the trunk and pulled out her duffle bag. It was filled with the clothes she packed for the hotels they stopped at on their drive from Los Angeles. One night in Colorado, one night in Missouri, and a final night in Ohio.

As Amity began to walk from the car up the porch, she took a glance to the side to one of her neighbors houses. As she did, she noticed someone looking out their window at her. They had light brown skin, but that was the most Amity could make out from where she stood. It seemed the figure noticed Amity looking and quickly darted from the window.

Amity continued to make her way up the porch with her sister following close behind. Amity opened the door to her new home and walked inside to find boxes littering the floor, and a certain older brother placing a stack down near the kitchen.

“Welcome to your…new home,” Edric huffed out, clearly a bit out of breath. Edric had offered to drive up the moving van filled with stuff and help unpack everything.

“Hey there Ed,” Emira said as she placed her duffle bag down, “Glad you made it in one piece.”

“Yeah….same…” Edric continued to breathe heavily, “Mittens…how are you?”

“Same as I felt when Emira said she was forcing me to move to Connecticut,” Amity snarked.

“You'll get used to it, this town is lovely,” Edric replied, “A weird lady with grey hair sold this Rolex for super cheap looks,” Edric said as he held up his wrist to show off a fake watch with its gold paint already peeling off.

“Yeah that's great,” Emira sighed as she rubbed her temple.

“Anyway,” Edric said, “Can you help me unload the rest of these boxes?”

Emira let out a loud sigh as she unfolded the last of the lawn chairs that would have to make for their sitting arrangements until their needed furniture was delivered in a few days. An old computer monitor with a dvd player had been placed on the ground to work as entertainment for the time being, and both girls' rooms were fitted with air mattresses.  

“Congratulations, you two have officially moved in,” Edirc said with a smile.

“Thanks for all the help, Ed, and not just today, through all of this,” Emira said to her twin.

“What are big brothers for?” Edric smirked.

“I'm older than you,” Emira reminded him.

“By 5 minutes,” Edric sighed, “Anyway, are you sure you don't want me to stay? I can take a few personal days.”

“No,” Emira answered quickly, “I can handle this on my own, you need to get back to the zoo. Plus you already bought the plane ticket back and I don't have a third air mattress.”

“Fine, whatever you say,” Edric sighed, “Speaking of which I need to take the moving van back now if I'm going to catch my flight,” Edric turned to Amity who had been mostly silent since they arrived, “Mittens, come give me a hug.”

Edric moved in to give Amity a hug and she promptly stepped away from her brother. “Please don't,” she pleaded.

“Ed, you know how she gets,” Emira scolded.

“Right, sorry,” Edric said as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Can I at least get a high five?”

“That I'll do,” Amity replied as she held up her open palm for her brother who promptly connected his own palm to it, gently of course.

“Please be good to your sister,” Edric asked before he turned to his other sister, “Can I get a hug from you?”

“Of course,” Emira said before she and her twin embraced for what was likely the last time for a while.

“Good luck,” Edric said as he held Emira tight. “If you need anything at all, call me and I'll catch the first flight from San Diego to here.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Emira replied before the two let go of each other, “Make sure you send me a request for the money I owe you for the Uber to the airport.”

“Will do,” Edric said as he began to walk towards the door. Before he exited, he turned around, “I love you two, by the way, just hope you both know that.”

“Softie,” Emira chuckled, “but we love you too.”

Edric just rolled his eyes before leaving his sisters alone in their new house.

“I'll go order us a pizza,” Emira said once Edric had left the driveway, “You go pick out a movie for us to watch.

“Okay,” Amity sighed as she started to dig through the pile of old DVDs, “Please don't get any pineapples on it this time.”

“You're no fun,” Emira pouted as she pulled out her phone to search for any local pizza places.

Emira sat back in the uncomfortable plastic chair as “The Good Witch Azura 2: The Tale of the Wand” continued to play on the TV. 

“Never letting you pick out a movie again,” Emira sighed.

“Oh hush,” Amity snapped back, “At least let me enjoy something today.”

“Fair enough,” Emira said as she took a bite of her pizza. Emira glanced over to her sister to find that she had still only eaten a single slice, “Mittens, do you not like the pizza?”

“No it's good, I'm just full,” Amity replied as she continued to watch the movie.

“Amity,,” Emira gave a worried look over to her sister, “You can have more pizza if you want, no one's going to stop you anymore.”

“I'm fine,” Amity said sternly.

“If you say so,” Emira turned away, a bit frustrated. Ever since she got custody of Amity it'd been a battle to get the girl to actually eat a healthy amount. The girl was thin in an unhealthy way. But she had been conditioned to eat as little as possible, and short of shoving food down her throat, Emira couldn't do much at the moment. Hopefully her therapist could help her out.

Before Emira could dwell on it any further, someone suddenly knocked on their door.

“Someone's here?” Amity asked, panicked.

“Probably just one of our new neighbors coming to say hi,” Emira explained.

“Shoot, I already took my make-up off,” the brunette said before she stood up and rushed toward her new bedroom.

“Amity, wait-” Emira tried to convince Amity that it wouldn't matter but another knock on the door interrupted her and Emira let out a frustrated grunt before heading towards the door.

The green haired girl peered outside the peep-hole to see an older woman with tanned skin and tired, kind eyes standing outside holding a container of something. Emira opened up the door to be greeted by the smiling face of her new neighbor.

“¡Hola!,” The woman said cheerfully, “My name is Camila Noceda, I'm your new neighbor,” Camila pointed to Emira’s right at a nice two story house,  “and thought it would be nice to bring you some leftover enchiladas from my family's dinner tonight!”

“Oh, thank you so much, Ms. Noceda,” Emira said as she happily took the plastic container from the older woman, “I'm Emira Blight.”

“Please, just call me Cam,” Camila replied, “So what brings you and your child here?”

“Child?” Emira stepped back, a bit shocked, “I don't look that old, do I?”

“Was that not your child that moved in with you?” Camila asked, confused.

“No, Amity is my sister,” Emira chuckled, “It's a long story, but I'm now her legal guardian and decided she needed a change of scenery from Los Angeles.”

“Oh, this must be a very difficult time for you,” Camila consoled.

“You're not wrong,” Emira sighed, “So, uh, do you have any kids of your own?”

“Yes I do,” Camila’s mood seemed to brighten up at the thought of her children, “I have two girls, one is 16 and the other is 20.”

“My sister is 15!” Emira said excitedly, “But she turns 16 next month."

 “Maybe we can set up a playdate or something?” Camila suggested.

“I'm pretty sure they're too old for playdates,” Emira chuckled, “But it would be nice to help Amity get some new friends, she didn't exactly have any back in LA.”

“That sounds good, maybe you two can come over for dinner one night? I can make our world famous Noceda cocktails! It’s a secret family recipe.” Camila added with a wink.

“That sounds lovely,” Emira answered, “But can we skip the cocktail, Amity doesn't exactly do well around alcohol currently.”

“Of course,” Camila said, not even a second thought about accommodating her baby sister.

“Then let me see if I can get Amity on board at some point,” Emira replied.

“Sounds good, I'll be in touch,” the woman said, “Oh and welcome to the neighborhood, you two will love it here. Goodbye for now, encanta.”

“Bye,” Emira said with a slight blush at the woman's term of endearment. Emira proceeded to place the leftover enchiladas in the mostly empty refrigerator before she made her way towards Amity’s room and knocked on her door, “Mittens, they're gone, can I come in?”

“Sure,” Amity called out.

Emira opened the door to find Amity sitting on the floor, looking sad, “You okay?”

“Not really, someone almost saw me like this,” Amity's hand seemed to instinctively run along the noticeable scar that ran across her chin. She used a hefty amount of concealer to cover it most of the time.

“Mittens,” Emira sat down next to her baby sister, “You can't worry about it too much, you'll drive yourself crazy worrying about what other people may think.”

“It's not about what they think,” Amity replied as she curled in on herself, “It's about how I feel.”

“Amity…” Emira was at a loss for words. She was in no way qualified to comfort Amity about this. She was barely qualified to handle raising a kid who wasn't traumatized beyond belief.

“Why don't you get ready for bed, you should be well rested for your first day of school,” Emira finally said.

“Alright,” Amity sighed as she got up to go take a shower.

“Hey Mittens,” Emira said before Amity left the room.

“What?” 

“I love you.”

“I know, you said that already,” Amity replied coldly as she left Emira alone to contemplate how she was going to do this.

Chapter Text

Emira awoke with a soft gasp.  The shrill beep of her alarm pierced her sleep-sensitive ears. She patted for her phone on the air mattress and finally found it to turn off that horrible noise. She checked the time. 6:00 AM. Just enough time for her to get ready for work before she had to wake Amity up in an hour for school. She sat up on the air mattress and stretched her hands out wide before rubbing at her eyes. When she reopened them she let out a shocked gasp as she noticed a figure on the floor.

Her eyes adjusted quickly as the light peeking through her blinds gave her just enough visibility to see that the figure was a sleeping Amity, sprawled out on the hardwood floor, covered neatly in the weighted blanket Emira bought for her and head resting on her favorite purple pillow. The brunette stirred slightly but did not wake up from her deep sleep (Amity was notoriously a heavy sleeper, something she and Edric used to tease her about).

Emira wasn't sure what to do here. Should she wake her up? Leave her be? She was still sound asleep and she didn't have to be up for another hour so maybe that would be for the best. Any damage to the poor girl's back was already done by this point so there wasn’t much point.

But now Emira was a bit concerned. Why did she end up here anyway? Did she have a nightmare? Could she just not sleep? Why didn't Amity wake her up? 

She felt some comfort in that Amity didn't feel scared to sneak into her room, that was something she for sure didn't feel with their parents back home.

But did Amity know that she'd gladly move to her baby sister's room and sleep on HER floor if she needed the comfort?

Emira let out a sad sigh as she quietly began to get ready for the day.

One quick shower later and the green-haired girl found herself in the kitchen scrambling some eggs when she heard movement from the hallway. Soon enough, her baby sister made her way into the kitchen and sat down on a plastic chair she pulled into the kitchen in front of a TV tray Emira had set up.

“Good morning, Mittens!” Emira said with a smile as she prepared Amity a plate.

“Morning,” Amity huffed out.

“Soooooo,” Emira said as she placed the plate in front of Amity, “How'd you sleep last night?”

“Meh,” Amity replied as she kept her eyes glued to her plate.

“Do you want to talk about anything?” Emira asked, hoping to get something, anything, out of the teenager.

“No,” Amity replied coldly, “I really don't.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right,” Emira reassured.

“I know,” Amity said, “There's just nothing to talk about.”

“Alright,” Emira conceded, as much as she wanted Amity to just talk with her, she knew it was best to not force her to. That's what their parents would do and Emira would not be like them.

The rest of the sisters' breakfast was held in awkward silence. Emira was unsure of what to say, and Amity clearly did not want to say anything. Soon, however, the bus was pulling up for Amity.

“I guess I need to go now,” Amity said as she quickly got up from the TV tray and headed towards the door.

“Good luck on your first day,” Emira called over to Amity as she picked up her backpack from the ground, “I love you.”

“I'm aware,” Amity sighed as she opened the door. She paused for a moment, then glanced at Emira before saying, “See you after school.” Amity soon left Emira alone to get ready for her first day of work.

Emira looked up at the daunting structure in front of her, a wave of nervousness overtaking her as she stared in all at the red sign that simply read “hospital.”

Today was her first day at Gravesfield city hospital, a hospital held in very high regard despite its location in a relatively small town. Despite her schooling, the only position she qualified for was a receptionist. After a few more semesters, she'd be set to apply to shadowing at the hospital.

With a deep breath, Emira pushed the heavy doors of the hospital open and entered into the reception area. The hospital was split in half, one side held places for normal doctors appointments while the other side contained the emergency room as well as the locations for surgery. Emira would be working on the side for the normal appointments. Emira walked up to the desk in the center of the room which was being run by a young man with black hair.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The man asked with a smile.

“My name is Emira Blight, I'm the new receptionist,” Emira answered.

“That's great, let me get someone to cover for me while we begin your training,” the man said.

The next few hours of Emira's life was spent getting familiar with everything. The man training her, who she discovered was named Jerbo, first showed her to the employee station where she would clock in and change into her scrubs. It also doubled as a very nice break room.

Eventually, Emira found herself at the desk to the right of Jerbo as he guided her through the ins and outs of the hospital's computer system. She quickly picked up how to check patients in, how to notify doctors that their patient arrived, how to log billing information, how to process payments, and that was just today's lessons, Jerbo promised there would be more to learn tomorrow. 

Beyond computer stuff, she also learned what forms to give patients and how to work the phones. She'd often need to call and remind people of appointments and also schedule appointments over the phone. In all honesty, it was a lot of work and she was supposedly going to be busy all the time while at work. 

“Downtimes are few and far between somedays,” Jerbo told her, “You need to savor every bit you get.”

That last part certainly sounded daunting, but Emira had been through a lot harder stuff in the past year, she was committed to tackling her job as hard as she could.

“Okay, I think you're ready to handle the next patient on your own,” Jerbo said as he stepped back from her space. He had been guiding her through the first few patients she had seen.

“Alright,” Emira said as she took a deep breath before she grabbed a check-in clipboard from the corner and saw a familiar name on it, “Luz Noceda?”

“That's us!” Emira looked up to see Camila walking up to her desk with a teenage girl next to her. The girl had dark slicked-back hair and brown eyes, she looked to be about Amity's age. “Emira? You didn’t tell me you worked here!”

“Yeah,” Emira said with a chuckle, “Small world I guess?”

“I suppose so,” Camila smiled, “Oh, I'm being rude, Emira, this is my daughter, Luz. Mija, this is one of our new neighbors, Emira.”

“It's nice to meet you, Luz,” Emira smiled down at the girl.

“It's nice to meet you too, uhhh, Emira, right?” Luz replied with her own smile.

“Uh, yeah,” Emira replied, a bit confused. Had Luz not been listening?

“I, uh, met your sister at school earlier today,” Luz said, and if Emira’s ears could perk up like a dog’s, they would.

“You did? How was she?” Emira asked.

“I, uhhhh,” Luz seemed to freeze after being put on the spot. “She, uh-”

“Could we maybe chat about this back at home?” Camila quickly chimed in, “No offense, dear, but I'd really like to see our doctor so I can get Luz back to school.”

“Oh yes, sorry,” Emira shook her head as she pulled up Luz's file, “Are you two still at Braves Street?

“Yes.”

“Do you still use Wittebane insurance?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Are you still working at Gravesfield family vet?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” Emira smiled as she picked up a new clipboard and set a form on it to hand to Camila, “Just fill out this form and hand it to the doctor.”

“Alright,” Camila said as she took the clipboard, “I'll see you later today, I'm sure.”

“It was nice meeting you!” Luz said as she waved adorably at Emira.

“It was nice meeting you too,” Emira waved back, “See you two later!” Emira watched as her neighbors walked over to the waiting section before she leaned back down in her chair.

“You know the Noceda's?” Jerbo asked, shocked.

“Yeah, they're my neighbors,” Emira answered as she tilted her head back to peer at Jerbo.

“Huh,” Jerbo replied, “Y'know they come in here a lot.”

“Do they?” Emira's curiosity was definitely piqued by that statement.

“Yeah, about once a month they come here,” Jebro sat down at the desk next to Emira.

“Interesting,” Emira wasn't sure what to do with that information. What could be so serious that Camila would have to pull Luz out of class once a month? She could ask, but that'd be grossly overstepping at this point in her and Camila's relationship. She just met her yesterday. Perhaps she'd find out eventually.

 “Anyway,” Jerbo continued, “Good job, you’re a fast learner.”

“Thanks,” Emira smiled.

“Now I'm going to go back to work. Come to me with any questions you have,” Jerbo said before he sat down at his desk, leaving Emira alone to do her job.

Well, as alone as she could be with Jerbo right next to her.

The day continued on as a steady influx of patients arrived for her and Jerbo to check in, the monotony only broken up when Luz and Camila came to say goodbye.

As the day went on, Emira couldn't help but wonder what brought some of the patients in. She wasn't allowed to really know any of the specifics of their visits besides what doctors they were seeing. Some were obvious, like the occasional person with very heavy coughs or a stuffy nose, but a lot others just seemed fine. 

About an hour after the Noceda's left, there was a noticeable dip in the amount of patients that were coming into the hospital.

“Now might be a good job for your break,” Jerbo told Emira, “I'll handle it for now, take 30.”

“Yes sir,” Emira replied half-jokingly as she got up and headed towards the break room. Once there, she pulled the slices of leftover pizzas she had brought out of the refrigerator and sat down.

Emira checked the time and realized that Amity was probably out of school by then.

“Maybe I should text her to see how she's doing?” Emira thought to herself before she pulled out her phone and opened her messaging app.

You: Hey Mittens, how was your day at school? Are you doing okay? 

Emira stared at her app for about a minute only to see that Amity hadn't even opened the message yet. Emira was getting a bit concerned. Concerned enough that she decided to call her sister. The phone didn't ring for very long meaning that Amity probably just denied the call, which, ironically, made her feel a little better. Knowing that she wasn’t in danger and was just ignoring her was a bit comforting.

Still, Emira would really prefer to speak to her sister so she tried again, only to be met with Amity declining the call once more. 

“Dammit, Mittens,” Emira sighed in frustration.

“Let it go, it ain't worth chasing after a ghoster,” came a raspy voice from the doorway. Emira looked up to see a surgeon with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and olive eyes standing in the doorway. Emira couldn't help but notice she was very pretty.

“Oh, no, this isn't that,” Emira let out a nervous laugh.

Why was she nervous? This was a person she never met.

“I was trying to reach my sister,” Emira clarified, “Today was her first day of sophomore year of high school and I want to make sure she's okay.”

“So you have a teenage sister?” the surgeon asked.

“Yeah, we just moved here and I'm a bit worried about her,” Emira replied.

“Isn't it your parent's job to worry about her?” The surgeon asked, confused.

“Thankfully, not anymore,” Emira sighed.

“I… suppose that's none of my business,” the surgeon mused as she placed a pod in the coffee machine and placed a cup underneath it, “Judging by the fact that you just moved here, I take it you’re new to GCH?”

“Yes, I'm Emira Blight,” The green-haired girl watched as the surgeon leaned back against the counter as coffee began to drip out of the machine, which seemed to mesmerize the girl somehow, “I'm a receptionist.”

“Nice to meet you, My friends call me Viney, I'm a vascular surgeon,” The brown-haired woman replied as the coffee finished dripping into the cup, the aroma filling the small room.

“I've been wondering what a surgeon is doing in the break room over here, aren't you supposed to be working at the other side of the hospital?” Emira asked curiously.

“I like it better over here,” Viney sighed as she grabbed her cup of coffee, “Let's just say there's a few surgeons over there that have problems with me.”

“Why would anyone have a problem with you?” Emira couldn't keep her eyes off the girl as she mixed cream into her coffee.

“I wonder that myself,” Viney seemed to let out a sad laugh, “In addition, I like coming over here to bother Jerbo if you've met him.”

“I'm familiar with him,” Emira confirmed, “He's been training me. He's been really nice.”

“Yeah, he's good people,” Viney said before she finally took a sip of her coffee, “Speaking of which, I think it's about time I go bug him. I'll see you around, cutie.”

“What-” Emira was left speechless by just one word as Viney quickly left the room, which seemed to get colder once she left, despite the heat rushing to her cheeks.

For the first time in months Amity took a back seat in her mind. 

Though she still wondered how she was doing.

Chapter Text

A groan escaped Amity as her eyes fluttered open. Slowly, she lifted her head from her pillow, blinking away her sleep. It took her a moment to remember where she was.

Her sister's room.

As much as she wanted to, she couldn't fall asleep in her own room last night. Every random creek made her heart jump. Logically, both her parents were far away at this point and couldn't hurt her anymore but her mind was convinced any moment that her mother was going to barge into her room ready to punish her for something she forgot she did.

It was too unbearable for Amity and the only solution she could think of was moving to Emira’s room and hope that it helped.

And it did.

Too well.

As upset as Amity was at her sister for the move, Emira's presence helped ease Amity's anxiety; it did come at the cost of her back being sore, however.

In all honesty it did cross the young girl's mind to crawl onto Emira's air mattress with her but Amity had too much pride to do it.

“Shoot,” Amity thought as she looked over to see her sister's air mattress empty.

Great.

Just great.

Amity was kind of hoping she'd wake up before her sister so Emira wouldn't find out but it was too late for that. Amity now had to find a way to not talk about it with Emira.

Amity would worry about that later, for the time being she had to get ready for school. With another groan she quickly picked herself and her makeshift bed (A pillow and her weighted blanket) off the floor. She made a quick stop to her room next door to drop her bedding off and headed towards the bathroom.

Once inside, the teenager was greeted with her face in the mirror as usual, and like usual she hated it. Everytime she had to look at herself she saw that awful scar on her face. The ugly marking went from the right side of her lip and curved down to her chin. Everytime she sees it she gets reminded of that night her father came home drunk again.

She still almost throws up when she smells beer.

Amity quickly began to apply her routine of make-up to cover the scar up. She'd rather die than let anyone beside her siblings see it.

It took a minute but after a hefty amount of concealer and foundation she looked presentable to herself. Unless someone decided to stare at her for long enough no one could tell. 

Afterwards, she got her hair tied up and brushed her teeth before finally part of her morning ritual. She filled a paper cup up with water and grabbed the long pill separator sitting on the counter and dumbed the contents of the box with the big “M” on it in her hands.

She swore she took every type of SSRI they would prescribe a 14 year-old. Sterline, Hydroxyzine, Xanax, it was probably easier to go over what she wasn't on at this point.

They helped. A lot. It was the only way she felt okay enough to get out of bed. 

With one swift motion she placed the pills in her mouth before rinsing them down with water. She shuddered as they went down and gagged a little, it never seemed to get easier to take them.

Next she went back to her room and got dressed, just a simple black shirt and shorts was good for now, Emira promised she'd get her some nicer clothes once they got settled (who knew how long that was going to be).

“Good morning, Mittens!” Amity heard as she entered the kitchen, causing her to roll her eyes. She hated that nickname.

“Morning,” Amity huffed out as she sat down in front of the TV tray Emira had set up for her.

“Soooooo,” Emira said as she placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her, her favorite, “How'd you sleep last night?”

Amity knew what she was going through, she was trying to get her to talk about why she found her on her floor that morning, and Amity did not want to talk about it, “Meh,” Amity replied as she lowered her eyes. She never liked eye contact to begin with but combine that with the shame she was feeling, it wasn't happening.

“Do you want to talk about anything?” Emira asked, for sure hoping Amity would bite and talk to her, but Amity wouldn't take the bait.

“No,” Amity replied coldly, “I really don't.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right,” Emira's reassurance fell on deaf ears.

“I know,” Amity said sternly as she picked at her food, “There's just nothing to talk about.”

“Alright,” Emira finally conceded, much to the brunette's relief. The rest of breakfast continued in a nice silence as Amity finished her eggs.

Amity faintly heard the sound of the school bus as she finished the last of her eggs, “I guess I need to go now,” Amity said as she quickly got up from the TV tray and headed for the front door.

“Good luck on your first day,” Emira called as Amity picked up the ugly hand-me-down backpack she got from her sister, it was covered in faded flowers, “I love you.”

“I'm aware,” Amity sighed as she opened the door. She paused for a moment, then glanced at Emira, feeling a tinge of guilt at her cold reply, she thought for a second of something nice to say and came to a simple, “See you after school.” Amity soon left the house and into the warm air of the waning New England fall.

The teenager let out a sigh as she watched the bus pull in front of her house and open its doors. 

“Are you Amity Bright?” the driver asked in an exhausted tone.

“It's Blight,” Amity corrected as she climbed up the steps of the bus.

“Whatever,” the driver said as he pulled the lever to shut the doors behind Amity. The brunette huffed as she began waddling through the bus. It seemed she was the last stop on the drivers route judging by the fact that every seat she passed appeared to be taken already, leaving Amity to be forced to take the open seat at the very back of the bus. 

Of course, she couldn't even be lucky enough to be the only person there, instead there was some girl in a blue hoodie currently grinning way too much for her liking.

Amity did her best to ignore the girl as she sat down next to her. Amity attempted to grab her phone from her pocket before she was interrupted.

“Hello,” the girl next to her said, “I think you're my new neighbor.”

Amity slowly closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She really wasn't in the mood for this but she figured it'd be too rude to just ignore the girl, “That's…cool.”

“It is!” The shorter girl said as she leaned in closer to Amity, clearly her new neighbor knew nothing of personal space, “My name is Luz Noceda, I'm really happy to meet you!”

“It's uh, good to meet you too,” Amity said as she tried her best to avoid eye contact with Luz, “I'm Amity Blight.”

“Nice to meet you Amity,” Luz kept that huge smile on her face as she backed away. Amity wasn’t sure if it was cute or obnoxious.

“Yes, very nice,” Amity said quickly before turning around and attempting to once again put her earbuds in and stop the conversation.

“So where did you move here from?” Luz asked, not getting Amity's hint as she turned back around to face Luz.

“Los Angeles,” Amity answered in an annoyed tone that seemed lost on her neighbor.

“Woah, what are you doing here?” Luz asked, “This is like the exact opposite of California.”

“You know I'm not sure,” Amity answered, “You'd have to ask my sister why.”

“Your sister?” Luz raised her eyebrow at Amity.

“Yeah, she's my guardian," Amity answered.

“Oh,” Luz seemed to grow quiet, “I'm sorry for your loss I know what that's-”

“What do you know!” Amity shouted, drawing the eyes of everyone on the bus, something Amity became hyperaware of as she curled back into herself, “You don't know anything about me, so why don't you just leave me alone.”

“I'm sorry,” Luz said as she turned away, “I didn't know it was a touchy subject, I'm sorry if I offended you.”

Amity didn't respond, which didn't seem to dissuade Luz.

“I just thought maybe we could be friends,” Luz continued, “You know, you're new here plus we're neighbors so I just figured it'd be nice.”

Hearing Luz's words, Amity began to be filled with guilt. Maybe she was too hard on the girl, she seemed genuine.

“I'm…sorry I yelled at you,” Amity was able to force out, “I think you may be right, maybe we can try to be friends, it would be nice to have someone here.”

“Really!” Luz said as she immediately perked up.

“Don't make me regret this,” Amity sighed as she turned back towards the shorter girl.

“You won't!” Luz said as she held up her hand, “Want to shake on a new friendship?”

“Sure,” Amity said as she grabbed Luz's hand. Strangely, Luz seemed to wince at Amity's touch, “I'm sorry did I squeeze your hand too hard?”

“Uh no, I just hit my hand on the counter last night and it's still a bit sore,” Luz said unconvincingly. It was a lie Amity could easily sniff out, mostly because it was a lie she had told herself numerous times. Amity didn't want to jump to any conclusions at that moment however, so she decided to store it in the back of her mind for the time being. Suddenly the bus began to slow down as they were finally at the school, “Come on, let me help you find your class.” 

“Alright,” Amity agreed. Once the front of the bus began to thin, Luz got up and Amity followed. As they stepped off the bus, Amity was looking over the old gothic building that was her new high school. Near the drop off location was a big sign that read “Gravesfield Public High School” with a letter tack below it that read “WELCOME BACK WOLVES.”

“So do you know who your homeroom teacher is?” Luz asked as they walked towards the open doors of the school.

“I think so,” Amity thought back to the paper schedule she spent last night memorizing with the hope that not asking for directions would save her from being noticed, “Pretty sure it was Miss Clawthorne.”

“Your homeroom teacher is Eda too?” Luz said excitedly.

“...You call her by her first name,” Amity widened her golden eyes in shock.

“Oh yeah,” Luz said nonchalantly, “I had her for english 1 last year, she's really cool.”

“Uh great,” Amity continued to follow Luz as they entered the school. The inside of the school was nice enough, though bland. The lockers were all a dark red and the walls were an ugly olive color.

However, Amity barely had time to look around before other teenagers began brushing aside her as they hurrIed to class, none being considerate enough to even give an “excuse me.” But that wasn't nearly as bad as the noise. All the talking, screaming, laughter, and even music from the other students was drowning out the sound of her own thoughts.

“Are the hallways always this bad?” Amity had to yell.

“They get better as the day goes on,” Luz yelled back, “But they're a pain in the butt first period.”

“That's great,” Amity sighed.

“So what's your locker number?” Luz asked as they continued down the hallway.

“203,” Amity replied quickly.

“No way!” Luz practically shouted, “I'm 202! We're right next to each other!”

“Oh that's nice,” Amity replied. As nice as it was going to be to have a locker next to an acquaintance, Amity very often found herself just wanting to be left alone and Luz didn't seem like the person that's compatible with that.

Luz led the pair up a flight of stairs and to a wall of lockers, one of which was covered and seemed to  have various marks on it as if it was covered in stuff that had been forcefully removed.

“Ugh those partypoopers removed all my stickers,” Luz complained as she walked up to the worn locker, “Now I'll need to get all new ones.”

“You had stickers on your locker?” Amity asked as she walked up to the much nicer looking locker next to Luz's.

“Yeah,” Luz replied, “I just want to add some personality to it and the first chance the school gets they rip it away.”

“I'm sorry,” Amity said as she began to twist the lock on the locker, she had memorized the code the night before, 2-8-5-1.

“I'll just add more stickers next that, that'll show them!” Luz said defiantly as she opened her locker.

“Good luck with tha-” Amity paused very suddenly, taped to the back of her locker was a piece of paper. 

The header of the paper said in big letters, “Experiencing or experienced domestic abuse? There are resources.”

Amity pulled the paper out from her locker and glanced over it. True to the header, it had various resources for someone in Amity's situation. Numbers to report abuse to, an address for a shelter, and even the room number for the school counselor.

“Whatcha got there,” Luz suddenly said, snapping the taller girl out of her trance and sending her into a panic. The last thing Amity wanted was for this to be out in the open in the school.

Quickly Amity began to crumple up the piece of paper, “Oh nothing, just a copy of my schedule,” Amity said unconvincingly.

“They don't usually put those in your locker,” Luz pointed out.

“Well uhhh maybe it's just because I'm new to the area,” Amity said as she haphazardly put the crumbled up piece of paper in her backpack.

“I guess," Luz shrugged. Amity breathed a sigh of relief that she bought the lie. Amity quickly placed her backpack on the hanger in the locker before pulling out the yellow binder she was going to use for English.

“Are you ready for class?” Luz asked as she shut her own locker, emerging with a cheap tie dye folder.

“I guess,” Amity replied as she shut her own locker, “lead the way.”