ᴍᴏᴄʜᴀ | ᴛʏʟᴇʀ ɢᴀʟᴘɪɴ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ✔︎ [ON HOLD]

IX

One day back at Nevermore, Mother was already demanding my presence over the public announcement system. From Ophelia Hall, I took the longest route up to her office, biding my time and dragging my feet on the floor. "I heard I was in high demand?"

"Please, take a seat," she said. As usual, she was more focused on whatever was on her screen than me. "Now, since you've met Wednesday, I can't help but notice how well you seem to get along.

Well you're clearly blind.

"If you remember, when you first entered Jericho, you went for sessions with Dr Kinbott, and she reported to me the high levels of empathy she observed in you— which is exactly what we need to help someone special like Wednesday. I would like for you to accompany Enid as her guide and friend in Nevermore."

Now, this wasn't exactly a shock- it was more, of a "why? I mean, I know why, but WHY." And in situations like this, my mental barrier tended to lose power, in a way. I instantly felt a wave of pain enter my head. "Uh," I muttered. It was completely in my right to say no. I didn't have to say yes to everything she demanded. "Sure I guess."

"Lovely. Now, as the principal, I would like weekly meetings with you to report on what she's been doing, and be sure to keep track of all her activities."

"Got it."

Even when she talked to me it was about someone else. "Well, I need to get to fencing now that I've reclaimed my spot in the team. May I be excused?"

~~~

Honestly, I'd never thought I would miss fencing. The only reason I had joined was because I needed to live up to my expectations. I had no desire to be enclosed in a suit to poke someone else with a stick. But it felt oddly right as I zipped myself up to prepare for training.

By the time I entered, the session had started. I waved apologetically at the instructor, holding up the pass Mother gave to me to "excuse my tardiness". I shuffled to the side to watch Bianca and Rowan duel each other. Almost expectedly, Rowan stumbled backwards after a few seconds.

He pulled off his mask, hair sticking up all over. "Coach, coach she tripped me!"

And as per usual, he was ignored. To be fair, Bianca was the standing champion of the fencing team ever since she joined. Annoying overachiever. "It was a clean strike, Rowan."

"Maybe if you whined less and practised more, you wouldn't suck," Okay, maybe it wasn't that she was a perfectionist. It was that she liked to rub everything in everyone's face "Seriously, coach, when am I gonna get real competition? Anyone else wanna challenge me?"

Hear me out. On any other occasion, like if I had been constantly practising, I would have very confidently stood up to her. But, losing didn't feel good. Especially when it was losing to Bianca. You would go head-to-head with her super confidently and get a smack in the face and ego when you lost.

"I do."

All at once, everyone turned to the only black-clad person in the room, who just so happened to be Wednesday Addams. Oh goddamn this girl. "Oh," Bianca said. "You must be the physcopath they let in."

"And you must be the self-appointed Queen Bee. Fun fact about bees, pull at their stingers and they drop dead." A resouding ooh echoed through the room. I wanted to difuse the situation... but on the other hand, I didn't want to go against two already riled-up girls with long, sharp sticks.

The rest of the team began gathering around, and even our coach joined in. I made my way around the crowd to bend down next to Rowan, who was putting on his glasses angrily. "Hey, you okay?" I whispered.