Friday Addams || Xavier Thorpe

18

Everyone was cheering as the race began but I decided to block the cheers out and focus mainly on my rowing. I could hear some people from other groups yelling out words in an attempt to encourage them.

"Move. Faster!" One called.

"Come on ladies, let's go," another followed.

The boys rowed past and moved in front of us to prevent us from regaining our position. Wednesday held a serious look of concentration upon her face during the whole ordeal while I was focused on not falling into the lake. "Oh, excuse us," they called to our inconvenience.

The Siren's were falling in behind everyone but Bianca did not seem overly upset about the fact. I had a feeling that she had something planned but didn't get the chance to worry about it when another canoe full of boys pulled next to us. They had axes mounted on the sides and were covered in black hoods. One of the axes swung toward our heads, with which we all ducked away from and continued rowing.

A sudden push shook the boys' boat from underneath and I wondered if that was the work of Bianca. "Turn! Turn! Turn!" They yelled as their boat was pushed into a buoy and smashed into pieces, the boys inside forced to forfeit. Wednesday pulled out a monocular to spot something.

"Thing," she muttered for the hand to hear. He jumped down and pulled on one of the levers for our defences. We didn't have any of the same problems as the other group and made it to the shore of the other side.

"Stay here and make sure Bianca can't sabotage our boat." I followed Wednesday into the woods to assist her with grabbing the flag. It was better to stay in pairs than alone.

Everyone was cheering on their teammates and yelling at them to run faster in the race to grab the flags. "Later, Addams'," Xavier calked as he ran past with his team and flag. Wednesday passed out when she grabbed the flag, presumably from a vision. "Wednesday, you have to wake up!" I yelled at her.

Bianca rushed past as she began to awaken. "Taking a catnap?" I scowled at her and helped my twin up to her feet. We sprinted the rest of the way to our boat, planning on rowing as hard as we could to reach the finish first.

"Hurry, up. We have to go," one of the jokers called out as their boat began to sink. I smiled knowing Enid had done something.

"See ya, jokers." She called out as they desperately scooped water out.

"Cheaters!" Xavier called from his boat in frustration.

"I just asked myself, 'WWWD?' What would Wednesday do?" The werewolf smiled while we left the land and began rowing toward the end. Bianca's team already had a head start in front of us and we had a lot of water to cover.

"The final two teams are the Gold bugs..." Weems let her sentence trail off to allow for applause. "And the Black Cats."

As we got closer to Bianca's boat, Wednesday reached down to pull on another lever. It brought out spears from the sides to help in wrecking the other boat. Suddenly, a force pushed against us and began bringing us toward a buoy. Thing jumped into the water and managed to stop whoever had shook us and tried pushing the boat. We caught up to Bianca once more and poked a hole into the side of the Siren's boat. Water came rapidly in and they began to sink, all the while Wednesday had a smirk on her face.

Our team was the first to dock back at the start. I quickly got out of the boat and ran the rest of the way to the finish line beside Wednesday. We hoisted the plane up and I couldn't stop smiling at the defeat of Bianca. "We did it!" I exclaimed, panting slightly.

"OMG, Wednesday, we did it! This is the greatest moment of my entire life. Admit it, you kinda got into the whole school spirit thing." The werewolf was overjoyed at our victory in the competition. One she had spend so much time preparing for.

I facepalmed at my sister's next statement. "You didn't tell me it was a dark, vengeful spirit." Though she did have some truth to her words. It was mostly born out of getting revenge against Bianca.

We were forced to attend a celebration to announce the winners of the Poe Cup. Wednesday stood awkwardly next to me without any smile appearing on her face, not even a hint of one. "The first Poe Cup took place in 1897 as a way to not only honour Nevermore's most famous alumni, but to celebrate those values that all outcasts share," Weems began explaining the tradition. "Community, perseverance, and determination. And we certainly saw those values on display today." She finished with her usual bright smile.

Everyone cheered and clapped excitedly for our win. Even people who I didn't even know were cheering, maybe just to blend in with the crowd. "Congratulations to Ophelia Hall! As a former resident, I will be happy to see the cup back on the mantle after all these years."

Wednesday snuck off and I followed. Enid stayed behind to enjoy the celebration. I found her in front of the Edgar Allan Poe statue, staring into the vast void of nothingness. "What are you doing out here?" I asked her as I sat down next to her.

"Hiding. People keep randomly smiling at me, it's unsettling," she responded, still staring at nothing.

"Wednesday, you need to get better with people and it's called having your moment. We took down Bianca Barclay. Try to enjoy it." I paused for a moment, "The girls, specifically Enid, want to know if you want to hang out later." My twin shook her head at the prospect of hanging out with more people. "Oh, come on. It won't kill you."

"I'll think about it." Was her closed off response.