The Whimsical World of Wanda

Chapter five

Wanda's summer of suffering eventually came to an end and despite her vow to not give up on reconciling with John, she found herself distracted by a more fruitful venture when school returned. It appeared to be that yet again, science class was the spot to be for Wanda's love life to flourish. You see, it is here that Wanda met Vasily. Vasily was like catnip for Wanda. He was tall, blonde, skinny and pale to the point he looked iron deficient and most importantly, Russian. Wanda had long harboured an obsession towards Russia. It had all began when she was a little girl and her favourite doll was Abbey Bombinable, a yeti who lived in Russia from the Monster High collection. As she grew older, she quickly found that all her favourite books were by Russian authors: Anna Karenina, Dr Zhivago, War & Peace, etc. Then there was the food, Wanda absolutely loved Russian food. So to cut a long story short, even if Wanda had intended on continuing to burn a candle for John, once Vasily sat beside her in science class, that plan went out the window. They did not share nearly as much in common as she had with John but Vasily made her laugh. He made her laugh so hard she almost cried and she could use some happy tears rather than sad ones after the summer she had had. Vasily enjoyed Wanda's company as well and he was happy to have a girl show so much interest in him. Despite his good looks and charm, he was of a pretty low ranking on their school's social hierarchy. Wanda, on the other hand, was of a considerably high ranking for the sole reason that she did not care about her popularity.

Since it was autumn, after school Wanda would walk over to her job at Spirit Halloween. Today she was particularly excited because Vasily had told her there was a chance he'd visit after he picked up his younger brother from school. "You're late," Andrea, her manager, said as Wanda clocked in on the company computer. Wanda always chuckled whenever the computer greeted her by saying "It's so fun, it's scary!" "I know, I'm so sorry Andrea. My teacher held us back a few minutes because some boys were talking over her so we had a five-minute detention," Wanda explained. "Ah, that does suck. I'm sorry Wanda. You're a good worker, I trust you," Andrea responded. It was true, Wanda was a good worker. She always wore Tim Burton-themed outfits to work and showed a level of enthusiasm rarely seen in retail when she interacted with the customers. However, today her mind was distracted. She was preoccupied with the idea of Vasily visiting her. Alas, her shift came and went and Vasily never appeared.

October, as it is for all goths, was Wanda's favourite month. One of the many Halloween-themed traditions Wanda participated in was decorating a cake with her next-door neighbour, Milena. Wanda considered Milena an aunt to her because she had been close with her since the day she moved in with her parents when she was five years old. Milena was Serbian and Wanda's paternal grandmother had been Croatian and rather than that being a thorn in their relationship, it actually glued them together. However, in the past couple of years, a rivalry had been brewing for Wanda's affection. You see, Wanda's other next-door neighbour, Julie, was also beginning to enjoy her company. Julie had always lived next door to Wanda but only as Wanda grew older and formed an appreciation for classic literature, art-house movies and other things only a person of high intellect such as the two of them had, did they start to form a bond. "Milena is my aunt, Julie is my friend," Wanda always said. But that is not how the two ladies saw it, they had never gotten along and now their jealousy over one another's relationship with Wanda had only worsened matters. But none of that had any effect on Wanda and it was the last thing on her mind as she happily walked over to Milena's house to decorate a cake for Halloween.

Milena always had a certain schedule she followed when Wanda came over. First, they would have dinner with Nikola, her husband, then they would decorate. "Manti? This is too good to be true!" Wanda exclaimed when Milena began serving dinner. "Nothing but the best for our favourite girl!" Milena proclaimed then she kissed Wanda on the cheek. As they ate dinner, Milena and Wanda caught up on each other's lives with Nikola occasionally chiming in with a witty joke. Nikola was a man of few words but those he did dare to utter were more impactful than that of anyone else Wanda knew. After dinner, Wanda and Milena began decorating their cake. "What shall we go with? Ghosts? Dracula? Frankenstein?" Milena inquired. "Dracula!" Wanda replied with a fake Transylvanian accent. Milena grabbed some black, red and white icing and then handed them to Wanda. Then Wanda began using the icing to make a big version of Dracula's face that would cover the whole surface of the cake. When the two of them finished decorating the cake, they took a triumphant photo of themselves with it and then feasted on their creation.

"Please Nick, please!" Wanda begged her friend during their lunch break at school. It was the first year she was eligible to go to their school's annual Halloween costume ball but she was too scared to go alone or ask out her crush Vasily. Unfortunately for her, her only friend at school was Nick and he was less than willing to participate in this social event. "Wanda, I would rather be subjected to the electric chair!" Nick huffed. But then he paused for a moment before saying anything else and looked deeply into Wanda's eyes. He loved her, not in a romantic way but the way a brother loves his sister. He felt as though he was her older brother and needed to protect her despite the fact he was quite a few months younger than her. He had developed a layer of toughness that she did not contain. She was so emotionally fragile. He knew that by accompanying her to the costume ball, he would help her in a way she would never forget. "Fine, I'll go. But I'm not going to wear a stupid costume," Nick declared. "Okay, I know you hate hugs but I'm going to give you one anyway!" Wanda giggle and then hugged Nick, much to his chagrin.

Wanda had been thinking about what she would wear to the costume ball for the entire month of October, she eventually decided she would be a female version of Pennywise from the movie It. Nick showed up at her house earlier than she expected, she was still in the middle of applying her clown makeup. "Nick! You're too early! I'm not ready!" Wanda complained. "It's okay, I'll just watch some Star Wars with your dad," Nick reassured her. The joke in Wanda's household was that Nick preferred her dad's company more than hers. Nick was like a younger version of her father. They both loved Star Wars, LEGO, Jurassic Park and had terrible time management. Her dad often told Nick that he was like a son to him. It was a mistake letting Nick watch Star Wars with her dad because it meant once she was ready to go, Nick didn't want to leave. However, after her mother and her yelled at the men enough, Nick got up from the couch and the two of them left.

"He's not here!" Wanda huffed. She had done a quick scan of the gymnasium and did not see Vasily. "Great! Does that mean we can go?" Nick said in a triumphant tone. "No, of course not! We have to wait a little bit longer." Wanda exclaimed. The two of them waited for an hour before deciding to leave. Vasily never arrived, the music was horrible and Nick was uncomfortable with having to do so much socializing.