The next day Luz was summoned to the principal's office. She was sitting in her first period with Willow when she heard her name over the intercom. Luz entered the office, she was surprised and confused to see Eda sitting there not looking very pleased.
"Miss Noceda, take a seat, please." Her principal directed.
Luz nodded, taking a seat beside Eda. She looked over to Eda with a questioning gaze. Eda seemed to ignore her, keeping her eyes firmly on the principal.
"Now, it's been brought to my attention that you were in an altercation with one of your classmates; Boscha, correct?" The principal started.
Luz rose an eyebrow, remaining silent. Was that what this was about?
"Boscha came in here after you ran out of school yesterday. She claimed that you punched her. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Eda looked at Luz with a puzzled expression.
She truly couldn't believe that Luz would do something like that, unless she was provoked first. She was shocked when she got the phone call that morning, asking her to come to the school. She was even more shocked when she heard the reason why.
Yesterday, Luz had come home with a huge grin on her face. Eda didn't remember a time when she had seen the kid so happy since she arrived in this world. Eda didn't pry, not wanting to ruin Luz's good mood. Her kid had been so depressed for the couple of weeks, especially after finding out about her mom. Eda was just glad to see Luz happy. She deserved it.
"Really?" Luz asked. "Did Boscha tell you what provoked this 'altercation'?"
"You admit that you punched her?" The principal asked again for clarification.
"Yes, because she was bullying me. She had me cornered against a wall and wouldn't let me go, so I punched her." Luz explained, starting to feel very annoyed.
"That is irrelevant, we do not tolerate the use of physical violence at this school. You must write a letter of apology to Boscha."
Luz gripped the arm of the chair, not believing what he was saying. "What?!"
Eda raised her hand, silencing Luz.
Luz sat back down with a huff.
"She will do no such thing."
The principal sighed. "Miss Clawthorne, you must understand the seriousness of this situation."
"You mean where the school doesn't tolerate physical violence-" Eda mocked. She stood up, towering over the principal. She pointed a finger at him. "-but you won't do anything about the bullying that causes it?!"
"Miss Clawthorne, I would urge you to calm down. What your charge did-"
"Was self-defense." Eda cut him off. "My kid-" Eda corrected. "-defended herself, and she will not be punished for that."
"According to school policy, if she is not willing to apologize and make amends with the victim-"
"Victim?!" Luz exclaimed. "She was bullying me!"
"According to school policy, you are suspended for one week. You may come back next week when you have hopefully had a chance to reflect on your actions." The principal said, leaving no room for argument.
"Fine. Luz, let's go." Eda put a hand on Luz's shoulder, leading her out of the office. Eda turned back when she reached the door. "If you think this kid will be doing anything but having fun over the next week, you're wrong. She has nothing to reflect on, but you do. And you will have more to reflect on when I contact the superintendent."
Luz waved to the principal as she left his office along with Eda.
The two of them climbed into Eda's car.
"Thanks, Eda." Luz said sheepishly.
"Anytime, kiddo. I'm proud of you for what you did. That principal of yours has always had a stick up his ass. He was the exact same when I went to school here."
"Seriously?" Luz chuckled, only beginning to imagine the horrors Eda could have possibly inflicted on the school.
"Oh, I've got some stories for you..."
Eda grinned as started the engine, feeling suddenly reminiscent about her school days.
"Please tell me." Luz begged.
"Okay, but take notes. If I get another call from your school, we'll go out for ice cream." Eda said, dead serious. "Okay, so there was this time during science class, I swapped out the dead frogs with live ones. Some of the more paranoid students thought that the frogs had come back to life! Ha, that was hilarious!"
Luz laughed hard.
"Another time I hacked into the PA system, and played who let the dogs out. It ran for three hours before one of the teachers managed to find me and shut it off. And of course, there was the time the school was holding a pet adoption day. I released all of the dogs. The school had to call the police to round them all up!"
By the time Eda had finished her story, they were pulling into the driveway.
"So, Luz, what do you feel like doing? I made a promise to your principal that your suspension would be a blast."
"Yeah, you definitely wouldn't want to disappoint him." Luz mused.
They got out of the car and entered the house. Luz couldn't stop laughing from Eda's stories. "I'm not sure, but how about an adventure of some sort?"
"What kind of adventure?" Eda asked, crossing her arms. A smirk came to her lips, having an idea at just what kind of adventure her little witch might want to do.
"Perhaps something a little more mischievous?" Luz asked, feeling a buzz of excitement course through her.
Eda gave her a playful grin. "You're speaking my language, kid. Let's brainstorm something good."
They spent the next hour brainstorming some fun ideas until finally, they came up with the perfect plan. They were going to pull a little prank on the principal.
Eda was so proud of her little rule breaker. Up until this point, Luz seemed to enjoy following the rules. She usually gave Eda crap about some of the stuff she had pulled during the time she had been living here. Like that time Eda was just borrowing some money and Luz swooped down on her staff and told her she had to give the money back.
Luz had come up with the idea mostly on her own. Sure, Eda would have had more fun with it, but it was her kid's first real prank. But, as it was still only the beginning of the day, they were going to have a long wait until they could pull this off. So, she had some time to offer some more suggestions...
A knock sounded on the door, interrupting their planning session.
Luz looked towards Eda, silently asking if she was expecting anyone. Eda shrugged in response, clearly confused herself.
Luz got up off the couch, having to move a sleepy King and Stringbean from her lap. They both whined in protest, but just shifted over to Eda's lap instead. They snuggled into her and promptly fell back to sleep.
Luz threw on her beanie that she always kept by the door, then answered it. There, on the doorstep, were her-
"Friends!" Luz exclaimed in pleasant shock and surprise.
Standing there were Willow, Gus, and Amity, holding a large cake. They smiled and waved at Luz, who was speechless.
"Surprise!" they said in unison.
"Guys? What? What are you doing here? Don't you all have school?" Luz asked, still stunned.
"Yeah, when we heard from Boscha that you were suspended, we decided it was worth it to come check on you." Amity explained.
"Yeah, Amity filled us in on what had happened yesterday. The fact that you're being punished for what she started is so unfair!" Willow vented.
Luz blinked and looked at them with disbelief.
"But, don't worry. She'll get what's coming to her as well." Amity said with a smirk. "The principal will be receiving a lovely little video."
Luz smiled at her girlfriend, grateful she had her back. That they all did.
"But just so you know, that also means that we don't have leverage against Boscha anymore, so she may go back to being more of a pain in the ass." Amity warned.
Luz looked away, suddenly feeling a bit shy. She felt her heart skip a beat whenever she looked at Amity. She looked back up and saw a spark of affection in Amity's eyes.
"I'm so glad you're all here! But you didn't have to skip school for me. What about your parents?" Luz asked, feeling guilty.
Gus and Willow shrugged. "It's worth it." They said in unison.
Amity nodded in agreement. "It's worth it, but my mom is seriously going to chew me out later. I may be grounded for life." She said with a sigh.
Eda watched the scene unfold from the couch, feeling amused and proud. She was happy Luz had friends that were willing to go to the end of the Earth for her. It reminded her of her old friend. She hadn't seen them in years, though. She wondered what they were up to now.
Eda cleared her throat and spoke up. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up." She said with a grin.
She got up from the couch and walked towards the door. King and Stringbean followed her, curious about the visitors.
Stringbean floated into the air and around the two friends she had grown used to seeing. She greeted them with a friendly hiss before floating over to Amity. Amity watched the snake shifter with fascination as she floated through the air.
"Uh, Luz..." Eda warned, her eyes not leaving the snake shifter.
Luz's eyes widened, realizing she had totally forgotten to tell Eda that Amity knew her secret.
"Um, yeah, there's something I forgot to tell you... After I escaped from the school yesterday, Amity chased after me and kind of discovered the truth..." Luz giggled nervously.
"Oh, I see. So you and the cotton haired girl had some alone time together? That makes sense why you were so cheerful yesterday." Eda remarked.
Luz felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she recalled the events of yesterday.
Eda raised an eyebrow at the silence from Luz and Amity. Both had the same blush. Did something else occur yesterday?
She would have to ask Luz about that later.
"Anyway, why don't you all come in?" Eda suggested.
Luz stood to the side and let her friends enter the house. Judging by the lack of reaction from Gus and Willow, Luz assumed that Amity had told them what had happened.
Luz threw her beanie to the side as she closed the door. She grabbed her phone out of her bag and held it up. "So, anyone want to see a fun little magic trick?" Luz asked.
The trio looked puzzled but interested. They nodded enthusiastically.
"Great!"
Luz dialed the school, using the trick that Eda had taught her to hide her phone number from the caller ID.
As the phone started to ring, Luz cast a spell that would alter her voice. She had watched Amity's parents on TV enough times to imitate their voice perfectly.
"Hello?" The secretary answered.
"Hello, this is Odalia Blight." Luz greeted in a stern and commanding tone.
Her friends' eyes widened at the flawless voice change. Luz gave them a wink.
"What can I do for you, Miss Blight?" The secretary asked respectfully.
"I am calling to inform you that my daughter, Amity, will not be in school for the rest of the day." Luz said in a straightforward way.
"I understand, I will mark her as absent for the rest of the day." The secretary said.
"Good day." And just like that, Luz hung up the phone.
Everyone stared at her with their mouths hung open. Their disbelief quickly changed into huge grins.
"Okay, that was amazing!" Gus complimented. "Can you do my dad next?"
"And mine?" Willow added.
Luz nodded, while looking over to Amity.
Amity squealed as she got up and tackled Luz in a hug. "You're an awesome girlfriend!"
They stayed in the hug for a few seconds, feeling each other's warmth and presence.
"Wait, wait, wait. Back up for a moment." Eda interrupted.
The two girls separated, feeling flushed with embarrassment.
"When did this happen?" Eda gestured between the two of them.
Gus and Willow stood next to Eda, both wanting the details as well.
Luz awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. She knew she had a lot of explaining to do.
"Since yesterday. It happened shortly after she found out I was a witch." Luz responded vaguely, not keen to go into detail. She'd rather focus on the positive at the moment, instead of being reminded of why she ran away.
Amity held Luz's hand in her own, giving it a gentle squeeze to let her know that she was there for her.
Eda clapped Luz on the back. "Way to go, kiddo! I guess you finally figured out who she had a crush on after all this time."
Luz's felt as if her cheeks were on fire.
Gus and Willow snickered at her expense.
"What?" Amity responded, feeling very confused at clearly having missed some kind of inside joke. "Did I miss something?"
Luz was too embarrassed to speak. She hoped the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
"Oh yeah, Luz here thought you were crushing on someone." Eda started, mocking her kid. "She was very determined as well. When you asked her out to the carnival, she couldn't stop talking about how she finally had the perfect chance to ask you about your crush."
Amity blinked, then cracked up laughing. She couldn't believe how adorable and clueless Luz was.
Amity turned her attention to Luz. "Are they serious?" She asked in between breaths of laughter.
Luz nodded, hiding her head in her hands. Her cheeks were completely flushed.
"Aw, Luz." Amity wrapped her arm around Luz's shoulder and pulled her close.
She lifted Luz's chin up. She still had an amused smile on her face. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask. How long had that been going on for?"
Luz stayed silent, wishing she was anywhere else but here.
"Not sure how long exactly, but she bought you that necklace hoping it would give you the courage to ask out the person you liked." Gus added for good measure, loving to tease his friend.
Please stop. Luz thought to herself.
"Had it been going on longer?"
Eda looked between her clueless child and her new girlfriend. Luz was clearly embarrassed. That posed the question: Did she embarrass her more? Or let her off the hook? The answer seemed rather obvious.
"Luz wanted to help you ask out your crush since she learned what having a crush meant. That was at that expo a couple of months back." Eda explained.
Amity's entire face burned.
Memories flooded Amity of when her siblings were mocking her about liking Luz just because she had gotten extremely close to Luz faster than she had to anyone before. Amity was in denial, but it turned out they were right. At least she figured it out sooner.
Amity smiled softly at Luz who was blushing madly. She looked up at Amity shyly, looking like she would rather be anywhere else than here.
"Luz, that was so sweet of you. But you don't have to worry about anyone else. You're the only one I like." She said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Luz blushed harder than ever, but smiled nonetheless.
The group had agreed to drop the topic, much to Luz's relief. They had agreed that Luz had endured enough embarrassment for one day.
They decided to stay in and watch a movie. After Luz had called the school to excuse Gus and Willow, that is.
As the group was settling on the couch, Eda had gone to cut up the cake that the friends had brought.
Luz had gone with her to make mugs of hot cocoa for everyone.
Luz brought the mugs out on a platter so that she didn't have to make more than one trip. She handed them around, everyone thanking her as she did so.
As Luz took her seat, she noticed Willow looking at her with a curious expression. "Hey, Luz, I wanted to ask, why do you always make us cocoa whenever we come over?"
"Eda always did it for me. I assumed it was some sort of Earth ritual." Luz looked around, seeing the looks on everyone's faces. "Is it not?" She asked for clarification.
"Well..." Amity started.
Willow ran over, placing a hand over her mouth, "don't listen to her!"
"What? It's adorable!" Willow stated.
"Ah, gross. Did you just lick my hand?!"
***
It was later in the day. Luz's friends and girlfriend (Luz blushed just thinking about that) had gone back to their homes around the same time school would have ended for them.
It had been a few hours since they left. It was finally time. All that they had discussed, all that Eda had taught her child was about to unfold. Eda certainly didn't need any motivation to teach her child the ways in the art of pranking, but after he had suspended Luz for no reason, he definitely deserved it.
Luz and Eda were now on a mission: to prank the principal who had suspended Luz for no good reason. They had spent some time gathering the materials they needed: spray paint, glitter, glue, fake spiders, and a whoopee cushion. Eda already had all of this in her weird stash of doomsday supplies and things she was going to sell to unsuspecting customers.
As they pulled into the parking lot of the school, Eda couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. It had been years since she had done something like this.
They slipped into the school after hours, evading the odd faculty members that still roamed around the school this late in the evening. Eda was like a ninja, and Luz was like her clumsy sidekick. They made their way to the principal's office, where Eda had a special surprise waiting for him. Eda, with her amazing photoshop skills, had edited a picture of the principal wearing a tutu and a clown nose.
Once they arrived at his office, she got started on printing out multiple copies that they would later hang throughout the school. While Luz got started with the other supplies.
Luz had a blast as she sprayed silly string everywhere. Then she poured glue all over the furniture and followed it up with glitter. The next thing that came were the fake spiders and snakes.
Luz turned around to see how Eda was doing. She had multiple copies of the photo printed out, and had started pasting a few up on the wall.
"Looks great, kid! You ready to do some more damage?"
Luz nodded way too enthusiastically, causing Eda to chuckle. The kid was finally acting her own age. She knew she gave Luz advice to not carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, but this sudden development shocked her the most. It seemed the Blight girl was a great influence on her, as well as Luz being a good influence on her. She knew how uptight her mother was. She could only imagine what she put on her children.
"Alright, let's go!" Eda said with a smirk.
Eda passed half of the posters off to Luz to hang around the school. Luz decided she didn't want to leave glue and glitter over the whole school, or else it would just become the janitor's problem, and that wouldn't be fair.
"Oh, hang on!" Eda said as she ran back to the principal's desk. She placed a note down that she had forged herself, stating it was from the superintendent and that the principal was being demoted.
They were about to leave when they heard footsteps approaching from the hall. They quickly closed the door and Luz cast a spell to make them invisible with Eda's guidance. The spell was tricky, though. They had to hold their breath to stay out of sight.
They watched as the principal walked in and sat down at his desk. Eda and Luz stifled their giggles as the principal looked around, puzzled. They saw his face turn red with fury. They saw him spot the note and gasp in shock, believing it was real. They enjoyed every second of seeing the horror wash over him, thinking the note was real.
The two struggled to hold their breaths to keep from laughing.
Luz grabbed Eda's wrist and led her out of the office. After they were far enough, they cracked up laughing.
"Oh, titan-!" Luz gasped out between breaths of laughter. "That- that was good!"
"Come on, we're not done yet." Eda said with a smirk as she held up the posters.
Luz smiled back, grabbing her own along with the tape. They both went in opposite directions: Luz covering the east side while Eda covered the west side.
They met back up by the side doors that would take them out to the back parking lot, both free of posters.
They finally made their escape without getting caught and walked back to the car, high-fiving each other along the way. "That was awesome!" Luz exclaimed.
Eda ruffled Luz's head. She couldn't help but feel proud of herself. She had passed on her love for mischief and adventure to the next generation.