𝕸𝖀𝕽𝕯𝕰𝕽 | 𝖂𝖊𝖉𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖉𝖆𝖞

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞-𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙

~

XXXVIII

~

For what seemed like the hundredth time this term, Weems paced in front of Wednesday and Aiyla, angrily lecturing them as they sat in her office.

"How is it that you two manage to end up in the centre of every bad thing that happens here?" Weems demanded, glaring at the two girls.

"Incredible luck," Wednesday replied.

"As of now the school is on full lockdown," Weems continued, not heeding her reply, "And your off-campus privileges are revoked until further notice."

Aiyla internally rolled her eyes. She was an Asian girl - call her stereotypical, but sneaking past strict adults was her specialty.

The two girls exchanged a look and turned away from Weems and walked out of the office.

...

Aiyla sat on her bed, fletching the last of the arrows that were meant to go to Xavier as soon as she could give them to him. Probably before the term ended, that way he'd get to become used to using them throughout the summer.

She watched as Enid put on her coat and tried to push back a grin of anticipation.

"You guys go, give me a minute."

Aiyla lingered in her room as Wednesday and Enid left, ready to crash poor Tyler's hopes of a date. She pulled up Snapchat on her phone and quickly wrote: 'The girls, Tyler and I are going to the Gates mansion. Dw we'll be careful. If you want to come then text me when you get there.'

And then she nodded to Thing and Onyx, grabbed a couple of knives and raced after her dorm mates.

To be honest, she felt slightly sorry for Tyler as he drove them. The poor boy had been pining after Wednesday for so long, and the girl would constantly kick him to the curb - of course, she didn't mean to; but Aiyla decided she would have to have a conversation with Wednesday about that anyway. It was very clear, at least to her, that Wednesday was crushing on Tyler. She reciprocated his feelings in her own weird way.

Wednesday was different from Aiyla in that regard. She was reserved where Aiyla was impulsive. Calculating where she was reckless. They complimented each other very well. Aiyla understood that Wednesday would need her time, and also time to come to her own thoughts and decisions about Tyler. The most likely realisation is that Wednesday did like him, but was unsure how to convey it, and hence didn't want to act on it. But the other realisation, the one that only Aiyla could decipher, was that Wednesday was terrified for herself and Tyler - she was scared she would hurt him and herself and thus kept pushing him away.

As they pulled up towards the Gates mansion, Aiyla made a mental note to also have a detailed conversation with Tyler and assure him that Wednesday did actually like him back.

They got out of the car and Aiyla instantly wished she had brought an extra coat.

She stood there, shivering in Xavier's hoodie and a pair of cargo trousers. In her defence, at least she was wearing fluffy socks under her boots. But that was mostly so that the knife that she'd hidden in it wouldn't harm her skin.