#or when she was rummaging around the trashcans she didn't really have the opportunity to eat bread in loafs

[money-and-dandellions]

at some point of the roadtrip, Lester bought a crusty loaf of bread at the gas station and let Meg do the first bite and she was delighted after that for 10 more minutes

[l-egionaire]

Owl House Fanfic - Can't Hurt Her

"Ha-ha! Not fast enough Luz-er!"

"Give it back!" 

Luz's cries fell on deaf ears as the large jock she'd been running at  tossed her Azura novel over her head and into the waiting arms of the cheerleader standing at the other end of the hall. Around them, a crowd of students laughed as Luz turned around and raced towards the cheerleader.

The whole mess had started just a few minutes ago. Luz had been walking through the halls,  her face deep in the latest Good Witch Azura book. She'd saved up for a month to get the special edition with the maps of Azura's home and exclusive wraparound cover art. Unfortunately, Luz had been so wrapped up in reading that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was walking and accidentally bumped into someone, causing her to fall to the ground. She looked up and, to her horror, saw that the person she’d walked into was Allison Greer.  Head cheerleader, most popular girl in school, and person who delighted in picking on her at every opportunity. Behind her was her usual entourage of jocks, cheerleaders, and other assorted cool kids.

Allison gave Luz her usual “your existence is bothering me” glare. “Watch where you’re going, Noceda.”

Hoping to avoid yet  another humiliating encounter with the girl, Luz muttered out an apology and quickly scrambled to pick up her things that had fallen to the floor. But before she could pick up her new Azura book, Allison snatched it up.

"Hey!"

Allison flipped open the book and rifled through the pages. "Jeeze, is this the kind of nerdy junk you’re always looking at?” In an overly dramatic and sarcastic tone she recited “Azura swept Hecate into her arms, her trembling fingers sweeping the hair out of Hecate’s face so that she could see her deep blue eyes. 'Oh Hecate! I’m so glad that you’re alright! I couldn’t bear to imagine life without you!' Allison and her friends all laughed. “Really riveting.”

Luz sighed, used to this kind of thing by now. “Can I just have it back please?”

Unfortunately for Luz, Allison’s face got the smirk she always had when she was about to do something mean. 

“Aw but I’m not done reading it. Although, it might be easier without this lame cover.” Allison used her manicured nails to begin scratching the cover off the book.

Luz panicked. “Stop!” She ran at Allison to try and take her book back but Allison noticed and threw the book over to one of the jocks near her causing Luz to turn around and go towards him instead.

This led to the humiliating game of back and forth Luz was currently engaged in. The crowd had gathered after a few minutes to indulge in her embarrassment.

After  charging the jock once more, only for him to chuck the book to Allison, Luz finally stopped in the middle area between them and cried to the cheerleader. “Please! Just give me my book back.”

Allison looked at her for a moment before sighing. “Fine.”

Luz’s chest filled with glee. She ignored the sound of the crowd groaning in disappointment and walked straight to Allison, her hands outstretched. “Thank you!”

But, rather than return the book to Luz, Allison once again gave her her signature evil smirk. Her eyes then locked on to something behind her.

“You know Noceda, I’ve got to admit. After only reading a few pages of this lame book, it seems like garbage. So...I’d say it belongs in the trash!”

With one last strong throw, Allison hurled the book into an arc in the air until it landed into an open garbage can.

Luz cried out in shock, “No!” She bolted to the trashcan and hurled herself halfway into it,  clawing through the trash to find her lost novel. After a few seconds, her hand found the books spine. But before she could pull herself out, she felt someone grab hold of her legs, lift them up, and stuffing her fully into the trash can before putting the lid on top of the can, leaving Luz surrounded by stink and trash.

Even from inside the can Luz could hear the rest of the students laughing at her.

"Well, that's two pieces of garbage that got thrown away." She heard Allison say.

                                                                 __

Luz trudged down the street, garbage juice soaked into her clothes and tears running down her face.

After managing to pull herself out of the garbage, Luz had unfortunately run into the school principal. She'd tried to explain what had happened with Allison but, as usual, he didn't believe her and assumed Luz had gone dumpster diving to look for elves or something else strange she usually did.  So he'd sent her home to change out of her dirty, smelly clothes. And worst of all, her brand new Azura book was ruined!

Beneath the sadness, humiliation, and pain Luz had stored up from today, one other emotion bubbled to the top.

Rage.

She couldn't do this anymore. She'd tried hard to ignore the bullying and just make the best of her school days but this was the last straw. She was going to call her mom, tell her what happened and she'd…..do something. Tell the principal to believe her? Pull her out of school? She didn't know. All Luz knew was that she couldn't keep pretending things were okay at school. She had to come clean.

Soon, Luz arrived at her house. She unlocked and opened the door only for her eyes to widen in shock at the sight of her mom sitting asleep upright on the couch, her head laid back and drool leaking from her mouth.

Luz walked over and gently shook her mother's arm. "Mamá?

Camila immediately shot awake and blinked tiredly around her before noticing Luz. "Whah!? Oh, ugh, I'm sorry Mija."

"Are you okay? What are you doing home so early?"

"Oh, I'm just tired. I've been working so much this week that I've barely gotten any sleep. " Camila stood up from the couch and yawned before slouching over. "And after I accidentally brought a doctor a baked potatoe instead if the replacement spleen he needed he may have suggested I go home and get some rest.

Luz let out a small chuckle but then actually noticed how worn out her mother was. There were heavy bags under her eyes, her whole body sagged with exhaustion. Even her voice sounded haggard and weary.

"Mamá, are you sure you're okay?" Luz asked worriedly.

"Si, Si, I'm fine. But, what are you doing home so early?" Camila rubbed her eyes then looked at Luz again. She then seemed to notice the stains on her clothes. "What happened?" She then sniffed the air, cringed and held her nose. "And why do you smell so bad?"

Luz suddenly remembered what had happened and clenched her fists. This was perfect. She'd been planning to just call her mom at work but now she could tell her to her face-

And make her have to deal with even more. 

That took the wind out of Luz's sails. She once again looked at her mother and took in her still lingering signs of exhaustion.

Her mamá had already been pushing herself so hard at work to bring home money and keep a roof over their heads. And now Luz was going to make her have to deal with her problems too?

Luz sighed internally and plastered a sheepish smile onto her face. 

"Oh that. I, uh, dropped my new Azura book into the trash so I went into the trashcan to get it back."

Camila groaned. "Luz, I've told you before. You can't go rummaging through the garbage! Now look at you. You got your school clothes ruined. "

Luz laughed weakly, struggling to keep her false grin. "Heh, heh, sorry mom. I just...couldn't help myself. You know how I am."