Entwined | Wednesday ★

Part 8: In Which Apples are Given and Taken

When Wednesday and Sylvie got to campus they parted ways. At Wednesday's request, Sylvie went to wander the woods to see what else she could learn about the monster.

She didn't learn anything because instead of conversing with the forest creatures like planed, she had helped a lost, and extremely noisy, donkey. He had left his pasture a few days ago and was hopelessly lost in the dense woods.

She returned him to his farm and was given a basket of apples as a reward by the farmer.

By the time she was finished with that she needed to head to archery practice.

She went to the archery shed and put on her glove and arm guard.

Then she grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows and headed to the range bringing the apples as a treat for her teammates.

She set the basket of apples next to Xavier who she noticed seemed distracted and off his game.

She threw down her quiver and started her warm up on a standing target. She was running late and knew the enchanted moving targets where where the rest of her teammates, bar Xavier, were.

She was just starting to get in the zone when her teammate said, "Huh. You actually showed up. Ever shot a bow and arrow?"

"Only at live targets."

"Okay," her teammate replied.

Sylvie released her arrow, and turned to watch Xavier make a fool of himself. She decided to go offer Wednesday an apple from her basket. She decided to plop down on some baled hay with the basket next to her while she waited for Wednesday to finish with the boy.

"...let it fly," Xavier finished. "Any questions?"

"When's the last time you saw your roommate Rowan?"

"Oh. You mean the one that was killed by a monster?" He mocked.

"Don't be an ass, Xav," Sylvie piped in.

He sighed grabbing another arrow. "The Harvest Festival. I haven't talked to him to him since," he nocked the arrow, "but his side of the room was all packed up this morning. Rowan's always been a little off, but, uh, the last couple weeks he's been more erratic."

Sylvie hummed in agreement.

The boy gestured to his head. "Ya know, telekinesis can mess with your head, you know. He's... It started to freak me out."

"The rest of us too," Sylvie added.

He drew back his bowstring and abruptly changed topics. "So what's the deal with you and Tyler?"

He released and Sylvie watched as his arrow flew and stuck itself in to the outermost ring of the target, feigning disinterest in the new topic.

He turned to the dark haired girl and said, "Oh. I'm sorry, we're you the only one who got to ask non-archery questions here."

Wednesday glared at the boy then turned and glanced at the girl behind her fidgeting with an apple stem. "There is no deal. He was doing me a favor driving me out of town."

The boy roughed handed the girl the bow as he said, "Yeah, word of advice. Steer clear."

"Why because he's a normie?" Wednesday asked taking the arrow he offered.

"Cause Tyler and his friends are a bunch of jerks."

Wednesday turned and handed Sylvie her clipboard and looked at the basket of apples, silently asking her friend to give one up for the slaughter.

Sylvie smiled at her friend, excited to see if her archery skills were up to par.

"They can't stand that this school's the only thing propping up their Podunk town."

"Says the boy whose life was served to him on a silver platter," Wednesday said nocking her arrow.

He turned to her and said, "Hey. You know girls in glass houses..."

"Should throw bigger stones,"the girls cut him off together.

Wednesday turned to Sylvie smirking and accepted the apple she offered.

She walked to the line and said, " At least I'm not an elitist snob." She threw the apple, drew back the bow string, took careful aim, and released the arrow. It hit the apple and the previously unmarked red center of Xavier's target.

"Ouch," was the boys only reply.

Sylvie then shooed him away to go collect and and clean his arrows.

Sylvie took a bite from an apple as they watched the boy disapprovingly.

Finally Wednesday turned to the silver haired girl.

"So I'm guessing you won't be joining the archery team with me?" Sylvie asked.

Wednesday just raised an eyebrow at her friend who took another bite from the apple. "Did you find anything else out about our monster from you woodland friends?"

"No, I got stuck helping an ass."

"Who? Him?" Wednesday jerked her head towards the boy who was still struggling to remove Wednesday's arrow from the target.

"No. Like a literal donkey."

Wednesday huffed rolling her eyes at her friend's double entendre.

"If you're still looking for a club to join I'd try the hummers. It's out in the forest cause so many people are scared of bees so Weems can't spy on you," Sylvie said turning to glance at Principal Weems watching them from a window. "Plus Eugene is a sweet kid and he doesn't snitch."

"I'll think about it," Wednesday replied picking up her clipboard.

"Okay, well I've gotta go meet up with the rest of the team at the moving targets. Do you want an apple before I go?" She took a bite out of her apple and a trickle of juice slid down her chin. Wednesday wiped it off the girls chin gently with her thumb.

"You need to be more careful, mi vida," Wednesday said sucking the apple juice off her finger. Then she took Sylvie's half eaten apple from her hands and took a bite. She hummed in appreciation. Then, the black haired girl turned and walked away with the apple leaving a breathless Sylvie in her wake.