All For Not

Page 18

Took a birthday break yesterday so here's some reading material lovelies........

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"Morella," I stopped, turning towards the black haired girl, "sister," nodding in greetings she nodded back and walked forth stopping just before me, "Principal Weems has assigned a list extracurricular activities for us to look into," in her hand she held a small piece of paper, folded neatly by her own hands, "a list..." He handed it to me and as soon as I grasped it I unfolded the small slip and began to flicker my eyes down through the writing, "school clubs, you must be joking." She had a blank look on her face, "you know I never joke about these things, first on the list is choir." I frowned, "I assume it's an ulterior motive on your end then," she nodded and as I tilted my head looking at the list I spoke, "understandable, I'm understanding we'll be required to attend each of these meetings then?" She nodded again and I sighed, turning around and heading in the same direction of the un-powered siren songs filling the quad.

Opening the double doors I frowned at the sight of sirens swaying and snapping in song, "how dreadful..." Wednesday walked forward almost instantly and I followed after her, "Weems said you'd be stopping by. But to be honest, after your performance at the Harvest Festival, drama club might be more your speed." Wednesday ignored her words in favor of her much needed question with the hope she'd receive some answers, "after I passed out, who did you tell? The sheriff?"

"You think I'd trust normie cops? I went straight to Weems and let her handle it. Anyway, let's get this audition over with. What are you? Alto, soprano or just loco?" I raised a brow, watching the Sirens laugh while Wednesday opened her mouth letting out a certain itch, the frequency no doubt crackling glass across the school. "What was that?" I peered past her to the younger student with now cracked lenses, "a note only dogs can hear." Everyone was equally stunned as she turned to leave, "hey we're not done yet, you, what's your-" I interrupted her, turning around to leave as I spoke, "I'm afraid mine's on a whole 'nother spectrum," subtly looking at the cluster of sirens with my head turned to the side I finished my sentence with a side eye, "I would prefer the quad to not have your eardrums rupture," turning I began to walk, "the grass is fortunately beautiful enough without the blood..."

.......

"Huh. So you two actually showed up after all." Xavier didn't bother looking at Wednesday first but instead me even as I stood behind her, "ever shot a bow and arrow before?" I nodded as she spoke before me, "only on live targets." His smile faltered at her, a nerve for some reason almost popping at the idea of my sister being around him, "okay. Square stance." He doesn't bother wasting time, the meeting solely to find out what we would actively participate in outside of the usual required curriculum, "load the arrow like this, yellow side out." His stance is practiced and lean, his fingers draw in the string and he speaks again, "three fingers. Pull back and... let it fly." I watched, dismal interest as they locked their sights on each other, only after turning towards us, "any questions?"

"When's the last time you saw your roommate Rowan?" He smiled, keeping his sights on her, a feeling of annoyance began to wither my patience, "you mean the one that was killed by a monster?" Wednesday was not impressed with his playful tone and he somber-ed up just the slightest, speaking again, "the Harvest Festival. I haven't talked to him since." He's more than just acquaintances with the boy in question, it was undoubtedly clear with the way his voice came out, "but his side of the room was all packed this morning."

"Rowan's always been a little off, but, uh, the last couple weeks he's been more erratic. You know, telekinesis can mess with your head, you know. He's... It started to freak me out." Wednesday looked at me and I leveled her with a knowing stare. She knew I had brought it up and now she had proof in a way that the boy was suffering in some way, or was...

"So what's the deal with you and Tyler?" Her head shot back to face him and he paused holding his hands up in a sort of compliance as he spoke with another sarcastic tone, "I'm sorry, were you the only one who got to ask non-archery questions?" His bow dangled in his hand as they watched each other intently, Wednesday being the first to avert her gaze to the floor before looking back up at him.

"There is no deal. He was doing me a favor driving us out of town." His eyes shot to me, "you guys are leaving?" I had no facial reaction as I quickly answered, "no, plan's have changed..." He nodded in thought and then looked between us as he lightened his mind and mood, right before he became serious, "yeah, word of advice. Steer clear." I scrunched my brows, knitting them together as I tilted my head in question, "Why? Because he's a normie?" He scoffed at Wednesday as she took the bow from his hands and took her stance watching him from the side, "Tyler and his friends are jerks. They can't stand that this school's propping up their Podunk town." These two were clawing their way into an aggravated fight with verbal throws, "says the boy whose life was served on a silver platter." I looked over to her, pausing at the way she judged him so harshly with no reason of any kind, "hey, girls in glass houses..." She interrupted him with a scowl, fully turning her body his way after grabbing an apple from the closest haystack only to take her stance again, "should throw bigger stones."

"At least I'm not an elitist snob." She pulls the bow string, drawing it taut as the apple falls back down quickly and the boy string snaps; the arrow pierces the apple and the target. Her words leave my mouth sour and my body tense, the disrespect, the rudeness, every bit of her short sentence had me filled with an unfamiliar feeling, "ouch." She looked between us as I stayed quiet, suddenly an idea had popped up inside of her cobwebbed mind ignoring her previous words and his reaction towards her rude and volatile words, "Morella, she will join your club," my eyes shot to the side to meet her sudden intense gaze, her idea clear as bloodied water; keep your enemies closer. Although I seemed to not have an issue with the boy at all, it would be difficult with his prying if I stuck to the archery club.

She walked off without a single word to either of us and he was left to watch her back shrink alongside me. "You're sisters a bitch..." He paused looking at me, "sorry I didn't mean to-" he cut himself off as soon as he looked down to find me peering up at him, "you uh, look you don't have to join if you don't want to," I frowned, "the only other club deals with bees and honey, I'd prefer to stay if that's okay..." He knitted his brows together curiously, "why's that?"

"Insects see me as a heating pad of sorts, whether or not I feel cold they are drawn to me. My predatory status seems to not have any deterring factor for smaller creatures, unless there are rabbits of course..." He peered at me curiously but didn't press, instead choosing to study my being as I turned to look at the archery area. "Well, it's only a meeting right now so there's no real practice yet until everyone's here next Monday," he took a moment looking back at the school, "I can walk you to your next class?" I pondered for a small moment and gave a small nod to accompany my answer, "that would be appreciated, Enid only showed us the first floor of the school, specifically only the common social spaces," he chuckled, "okay, what class do you have next?"

"Botanical sciences, you?" He smiled widely at me and began to walk after setting the equipment down, "looks like we have the same class then, come on, follow the leader," I smiled before dropping the expressive motion and following him up towards the front of the school.

"Hey, what's your sister doing?" I looked over to the entryway of the school, in the drive there was not only a sleek black car and Miss Thornehill but Rowan and Wednesday stood talking, "investigating..." The boy got into the car along with the auburn haired teacher and they drove off past us, Thing sitting on the back of the car, I stepped out stunned and whipped my head towards Wednesday. She caught my eye with hers and turned in a rush, walking away.

"I hate to disrupt our walk after you offered to escort me but it seems as though my sister is overstepping, please excuse me," instead of walking away I looked back at him and waited so as not to cause issues between us, "yeah, okay, I'll see you later yeah?" I nodded about to walk away before he grabbed my forearm, "wait a sec, sorry," he dropped his hand and I waited, "don't you two have the same classes? She should be in the same place we're going right? Maybe, I could still show you the way..."