Luuko woke up to a ring of her phone and picked it up in a sleepy stupor. There was a text from Felix.

4:13

‘Sara and me are at the park, want to come?’

Luuko fell back asleep, making a mental note that she’d wake up later.

She did wake up later, sitting up from her bed and wiping her eyes, before looking back to her phone, making sure she hadn’t dreamt the text.

Confirming it was there, she slid out of bed, then prepared to leave. She forgot to text him back.

Luuko sluggishly walked through Changeton’s busy streets, hands in her pockets. Today she had dressed in dark, baggy jeans and a light jacket. She had to admit, it wasn’t her usual colors, but as long as it was comfy enough, she was happy.

Luuko slept a lot, yes, but she was a fully functioning person. While she acted sleepy, it wasn’t necessarily chronic hypersomnia, though she did have a form of that, it was mostly what happened when her schedule was off. For the past few days, she had managed to keep her usual sleeping schedule. It was actually normal for her to wake up at 4:30, hence why she had woken up a little later.

If she had a messed-up schedule, though...she’d be left half asleep, lazy, and klutzy. Well, no, she was klutzy either way.

The issue was, not only was her body very sensitive to changes in sleeping schedule but she...Luuko kinda sucked at keeping up a schedule. She theorized that so much time asleep had impeded the growth of her perception of time, but that seemed a little out there. She was fairly awake, today, so she took the time off to say hi to the other schoolers. It wasn’t like she had much else to do.

Luuko walked into the park grounds and began walking the circular asphalt path through it. Since there was a lake in the middle of the park, you couldn’t miss anyone if you just walked the loop. There was also the chance that Felix and Sara had dipped out since she was late.

With her sleepies, Luuko had singlehandedly(kinda) cleaned a large portion of the park, but for some reason, many chunks of asphalt had crates remaining in them she couldn’t clean, basically proving that whatever cataclysm had hit the park was no tornado. For some reason, however, all the craters were patched up, with no trace, overnight.

Drade’s resources seemed endless, as Luuko couldn’t think of anyone else who would have repaired them.

The only person she saw as she walked through the park was a man in a top hat, who tipped it in acknowledgment as he passed her. Luuko saw him on many occasions as she did her community service, but he always looked so vigilantly watchful.

It kinda creeped her out, so she made a note to avoid him in the future.

On the other side of the park, Sara and Felix were lying next to each other beside the lake, holding their upper body up to look into the clear pond with downcast expressions. They didn’t notice Luuko approach, so much like herself, Luuko eavesdropped, hiding behind a nearby tree to listen so their conversation wouldn’t be interrupted.

She closed her eyes and listened.

Sara: “I just feel like we don’t do enough together, you know...?” Sara spoke with an unusually low and serious tone.

Felix: “I’m sorry...I really don’t have anything wrong with being your boyfriend, but it’s just been a lot of pressure.” Felix sounded about the same as usual, nervous and with an apparent lack of confidence.

Sara: “What do you mean?”

Felix: “Between school, my family, the Friends, and you, I’m dealing with a lot. I’m so work-focused that I don’t really know what to do with you...”

Sara: “Oh...I get it. Well, we can talk about that, ok? If it doesn’t have to do with your feelings, we can do whatever you think we need to, but there’s no good reason for us to cut it short over that...Even if It’s not everything I could dream of....I’ll be fine.”

They remained silent for a while.

After that earnest conversation, Luuko revealed herself, stepping from behind the tree. “Hey. I’m here...” she said, feigning sleepiness with a low, unassertive tone.

That was enough to make the couple jump in surprise, their emotional defenses not prepared for Luuko’s appearance.

Although she tried to pretend nothing had happened, Sara’s stale trails of tears made it obvious she’d cried. “Oh, I entirely forgot we invited you. Hey Luuko.”

They ended up in a small playgym with two swings. As was usually the case, the two just wanted to spend some time getting to know Luuko for some social entertainment. It probably would help to get their minds off whatever they were talking about, Luuko thought.

Luuko took a seat, leaning against the swing’s support beams, while Felix and Sara hopped onto the two swings.

Felix talked first, “So, do you know Drade well at all?”

Luuko responded, “Yeah, we met a while back before he started the Friend Group. I know him pretty well, at least in comparison to the rest of you all.”

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Sara was surprised, “Really? Is that why he’s so open to being your headrest?”

“Mmm, I think he’s just the type of person who doesn’t feel embarrassed about that sort of thing.”

Sara got a mischievous smile. “Oh? You sure he doesn’t really...like you...?”

Luuko yawned, turning her annoyance at Sara’s irrepressible romantic curiosity into exhaustion. “I don’t think that quite makes sense. With my limited knowledge of the guy, he’s practically asexual. Though, if he had to choose someone outside of his family he’s closest to, I’d be high up there...not that that would mean much. He keeps people at a distance.”

“Well, that’s disappointing. It would be interesting to see who someone as strange as him chose as his partner.”

“Well, we will probably know soon enough. His mom asked him to try dating for some self-development reason.”

Felix looked like their conversation gave him a headache, rubbing his head annoyedly. “Don’t tell me both of you get pleasure out of seeing people hook up!”

Luuko weakly shrugged. “You could say one of my devoted hobbies is people watching.” She avoided the topic of her magic, which the two still didn’t know much about.

Drade had asked her to ‘keep it a secret unless you really got to reveal it’ a while ago, and she obliged. Of course, the two knew that she had magic, but they didn’t have any Idea what that magic might be.

Felix shook his head, “I don’t get it at all.”

Sara shrugged. “Maybe you should watch more TV shows with me, Felix. I’m sure you’d get it then.”

Felix sighed, exasperated, making Luuko get the feeling she’d missed an inside joke.

“So then, Luuko,” Sara continued, sounding a little more serious. “you don’t think you might have a chance with him, do you?”

“Even if I did, I actively avoid making too many direct relationships because I kind of have better things to do, like sleep. I’d just reject him...” She yawned, disinterested in the topic.

To be fair, Drade was pretty rich, but that sort of money came with a laundry list of downsides if someone wanted to be that close to him.

Instead of giving a snarky reaction, Sara got even more serious and stopped trying to swing. “Well, if he really liked you, I’m sure that would change things for you...”

Luuko shrugged with more purpose. “As I said, he doesn’t. He’s about as romantically involved as a rock, and I’m no different.” She chuckled, “Unless that counts as a romantic semblance.”

Sara seemed satisfied with the response and resumed her carfree swinging.

Felix seemed a little oppressed by the ‘girl talk’, so Luuko asked him a question through a forced yawn, “SoOOoOo, Felix, how’s life been for you?”

He was a little caught off guard by the sudden question. “Hmm? Oh, yeah, fine.”

Well, that was a lie.

Luuko stretched, thinking about what she could get a conversation out of Felix. “How’s that lax chime been working?”

All of the schoolers had been given a free magic item under the price of three hundred dollars for their attempts to help save the Blackmarket enchanting shop. Felix had gotten a ‘lax chime’, which was supposed to make the people in his house friendlier if he put it on the porch.

“Oh...It’s pretty subtle, but I think it works...” His face went a tad darker.

Well, that didn’t work at all. Luuko decided to reveal her hand to lighten spirits more. “I can’t reveal any of the details or anything, but I think I’m gonna be properly trained in my magic affinity.”

Both of them looked to her with curiosity, urging her to say a little more.

“Drade has manasense, so he’s using it to help train me. If it works, he might be able to train you all as well later on.”

Felix responded, “So it’s experimental?”

Luuko nodded, closing her eyes and letting herself get a little more settled down.

Sara had begun swinging extremely high, and after swinging nearly as far as the swing could go, she hopped off, flying vertically before violently hitting the dirt, almost ten feet below. She easily withstood the fall without flinching.

Felix stopped his gentle swinging in surprise, “Woah, Sara, that was an impressive landing!” He was obviously flattering her but was half-serious; her landing was impressive.

Sara gave a haughty laugh, “Not even an issue!” The strange conversation caused Luuko to open her tired eyes a little to observe.

Felix raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure, Sara? That was a pretty big fall. I’d hurt my butt trying to do that.”

Sara chuckled, “Well then, let’s see if that’s the case!” she ran behind Felix at what must have been her top speed, filled with giddy energy, then suddenly pushed him forwards on his swing, sending him pivoting upwards.

“Woah, if you’re gonna push me, at least do it a little slower!”

Sara raised her own eyebrow, “What do you mean...?” She waited for his swing to return to her, then shoved it at full force. “...I’m barely shoving you at all!”

Felix’s swing swung almost to its uppermost possible angle, “That is not barely shoving me. That’s throwing me at max speed!”

Sara laughed and waited for him to come down again. “That’s not max speed...” Sara shoved him one last time. “This is max speed!” She pushed Felix with all the force of a truck, moving with his swing to swing him incredibly quick, before launching into the air, despite Felix’s desperate attempts to hang onto his seat. He was thrown almost thirteen feet into the air and fell with a distressed yell.

After pushing Felix as high as she could make him go, Sara stood underneath him as he fell and caught him like a princess. Felix was shook. “OHhhhhhh my goodness, I saw my life flash before my eyes. What are you, Sara! A bodybuilder? Did you become a national athlete and I didn’t notice?!”

Luuko opened her eyes, confused by what she’d heard. Felix had definitely been flung way farther than normal, even if she had only heard it.

Sara suddenly found holding Felix in such a fashion quite taxing, so she gently let him down. “If you’re gonna flatter a girl like me so much, at least do it in a way that doesn’t make me sound super muscley and stuff!”

Luuko started to form a sentence in her mouth, then cut herself off short. She had to be using magic. Instead of asking questions, Luuko decided to ignore what had happened and talk to Drade about it later. She yawned before standing up. “I’m gonna go, but that was definitely magic, Sara. I don’t know what I just heard, but that’s my cue to book it.”

Sara looked to Luuko excitedly. “I used my magic?!”

Luuko nodded vigorously, “We are supposed to keep the details about our magic secret to our peers, though significant others should be allowed. I’m gonna be talking to Drade later today, so I’ll ask him about it. You two have fun...” She walked away, waving. “Bye!”

“Bye!” they said in unison, waving their hands as a pair.

Strange world out there, Luuko figured.