Opposites Attract~Wenclair

Chapter 9

One of the earliest memories Enid has is, surprisingly, a happy one.

She remembers vividly, standing alone in a park.

The heat around her not helping with her nauseousness, crying so hard she truly felt like her stomach was coming up through her throat.

Faceless shapes surround her, and she feels the rise of anxiety bubble over in her tiny chest, before it's overridden with a calm when she hears her name being called out.

She sees her mother shoulder barge through the blobs of strangers she couldn't make out through her own tears.

She thinks she recalls reaching out with her small stubby fingers, a few coated with some sticky leftover ice cream.

Enid sometimes wonders if this was a fake memory conjured up by her, in Wednesday's words before, a brief delusion projected, because in this one moment, she truly believed her mother loved her.

Enid remembers her mother holding onto her so tightly she was trembling, not even caring that Enid's sugary hands were ruining her probably expensive cashmere sweater.

It was one of the few times she had seen Esther Sinclair rattled and convey any kind of positive emotion or concern for her.

She cherishes the memory.

Because the years that had followed introduced backhanded compliments at best, and downright disdain and contempt, at worst.

All of which has accumulated to this weird limbo of a thinly stretched, strained relationship between the two.

Fight or flight responses flare up whenever Enid talks to her mother, setting her tense and on edge with every interaction.

In the end, it's easier for Enid not to talk to her mother at all.

Not that her mother has looked her in the eye since she was 18.

Although the disappointment had started years before then.

-

Statistically, the average age to present your secondary sex ranges anywhere from 10 to 12.

Of which, all of Enid's brothers had fallen within the range comfortably.

Growing up, Enid was similar to her brothers.

She was slightly taller than other girls her age, slightly stronger than most boys her age, despite her gangly build. And she was oaf-like, her body not knowing how to coordinate her growing limbs, her mind a bit on the slow side of comprehending most things.

She had idolized her mother, eager to follow her footsteps.

She wanted to be a great female alpha role model, just like her mother.

There was no doubt she carried perfect alpha genes and was well on her way to present as one.

So, she waited and she waited.

When she finally reached 10, she couldn't wait to show off her alphahood.

Just like Theo and Oscar had at this age.

A year onto 11, she considered being more like Felix.

Theo and Oscar were too mean for her to be like them anyway.

Into the last year of 12, she was convinced she's definitely more like Jude.

They were the closest in age and affinity, afterall.

By the time she turned 13, she thought no big deal.

One or two years off the average is fine.

14 came and passed and Enid started to get anxious.