Friday Addams || Xavier Thorpe

12

I was helping Enid and her friends prepare our boat for the Poe Cup she intended to win this year. I wiped the goofy grin, from my time with Xavier, off my face as my competitiveness kicked in. From what I could gather of Enid's instructions, Bianca always had a trick up her sleeve that led to continued victory in the Poe Cup and I was determined to keep that from happening again.

"Ladies, come on! Let's work on those teeth." She continually circled the boat while the rest of us painted, giving continued criticism. "More scowl. This kitty is taking no prisoners. If Bianca Barclay wins again this year, I will literally scratch my own eyes out!"

"I would pay money to see that," my twin commented as she appeared behind Enid, causing the girl to jump slightly. I continued to paint while keeping my ears tuned in on the conversation between the two.

"Howdy, roomie! I'm so glad you decided to stay." The werewolf could hardly contain her excitement at my sister staying. I did not understand why she enjoyed having my sister around, but I assumed it was because opposites attract.

"I thought you wanted your single room back. Or at least have it down to only Friday."

"Full disclosure, I don't like living solo and Thing gives a killer neck massage. It's a win-win. So... why the change of heart?" I knew the answer to this question and wondered if Wednesday would answer, giving the information to another person.

"I refuse to play the role of a pawn in someone else's corrupt game."

"You mean Rowan?" She tilted her head as she asked my twin. I set my paintbrush on the ground and walked over to the duo. I felt the need to join this conversation and defend the fact that Rowan was murdered.

"We witnessed his murder, Enid," I said. This was a fact that I was certain of in the confusion of these troubled times.

"It's just, we all saw him this morning. Very much, like, not dead." This was the fact that didn't make any sense due to what we had seen. I did know that something was off with the whole situation.

"I know. Which leads me to believe I've been losing my mind. It's not nearly as fun as I had anticipated-"

"-You're not losing your mind, Wednesday. Because there's no way we could both be losing our minds, I don't have visions, and I saw him get murdered-"

Wednesday ignored my interruption and simply continued her conversation with Enid. "You're Nevermore's gossip queen. What's Rowan's story?"

"Other than being a weird loner... uh... No offence." She realized that Wednesday was technically classified as a weird loner too.

"None taken."

"Xavier Thorpe's his roommate. If you had a cell phone, you could just text him and ask him." As Enid turned to face the boat, I thought about how I could try to ask Xavier about Rowan in conversation. He had told me that he believed me but that didn't mean he wasn't lying. "Yoko. Come on! Flare those whiskers. The Poe Cup droops for no one."

"What is the Poe Cup anyway?" My twin asked. I had already received the whole spiel about it on the way outside from the gym.

"My entire reason for living right now. Part canoe race, part foot chase, no rules. Each dorm has to pick an Edgar Allan Poe short story for inspiration," Enid explained it to Wednesday in a shorter summary than what she had ranted to me about, mostly because she spent half of it complaining about Bianca.

"You could grab a brush. Ms. Thornhill's just ordered pizza. Want to take a stab at being social?" I offered an invitation for Wednesday to join me in being social with our Ophelia Hall dormmates.

"I do like stabbing. The social part, not so much. Besides, it'll cut into my writing time."

"No worries. Just as long as you're lakeside cheering us to victory on race day. Or you can just glare uncomfortably. Whatever works for you." Wednesday nodded and walked away from the canoe to head to the dorm. I decided to take a break from the decoration of our boat and followed her.

I sat on my bed while Wednesday committed to her writing time. The clack from the keys of the typewriter soothed me as I sorted through the facts that I knew about the situation to find a solution to the strange case of Rowan being alive. "What were you up to while I was at my therapy?" I heard the plain voice of my sister ask me.

"Oh nothing, I just sat around and read a book. I didn't want to search for clues without you and I didn't really have much else to do. I joined Enid in preparing the canoe for about an hour before you came back. She is very determined to win this Poe Cup race," I slightly blushed while I thought of my time with Xavier but did not want to share that with my twin.

"You ramble, your voice changes pitch, and you go off-topic when you lie. Even if it is a half-truth." Her attention remained on her typewriter as she continued writing. I should've known that my detective sister would be able to know when I'm lying, but I did not take notice of that fact.

I sighed, unsure if I would be able to keep the truth from her. "Fine, I was fencing with Xavier. I promised him a match while you sparred with Bianca. I wanted to prove that I could beat him." I gave a simple explanation of what I had intended it to be. The conversation we had wasn't the most important detail anyway.

"That's all it was? Just an after-hour sparring match? Did you win?"

"Yes, we just wanted to spar since you and Bianca took everyone's attention during class. I would say that I won but he might agree to disagree on that one." We had tied during the match and never declared a true winner.

"If you say so." Our conversation ended with these words. Wednesday had been trying to imply something that I couldn't quite notice. I lied back down and stared at the roof as she continued to write in silence for the rest of the hour.