mere mystery, wavier

16. one step ahead

three days later, the tuesday that wednesday, enid, bianca had been waiting for arrived. the new boy was arriving at nevermore that day, and hopefully it would lead them one step closer to finding out who the spy working for the evil normie men was.

the boy was introduced in their botanical sciences class as harrison pate. he just so happened to be wednesday's exact age and could not keep his eyes off of her. of course, that did not bother wednesday. it was actually a blessing in disguise. 

of course, it did make someone else angry, and that someone else just so happened to be xavier.

harrison was seated next to wednesday in class. he said hello and asked her what her name was. "wednesday addams," she replied. harrison smiled. "it's really nice to meet you wednesday. you seem like a very cool girl," he replied.

wednesday stared back at him and disgustingly found herself saying, "thank you." wednesday knew she had to pretend to be someone else to keep the boy's attention. 

she needed to pretend to be interested in the things he was so that she could get close to him. if she could get close to him, she could figure it all out. if he was going to get "close" to her to use her, she would do just the same to him.

after class, harrison was asking wednesday a question as he walked next to her down the hall and xavier quickly caught up to him and slung an arm over wednesday's shoulder. "sorry, dude," he said to harrison, "i don't know if you've heard, but wednesday's my girlfriend. she is taken."

wednesday quickly whirled around to fight, and xavier was flat on his back on the floor in seconds. "ignore him," she told harrison. "i broke up with him weeks ago and he still keeps trying to find his way back like he is eternally stuck in quicksand." 

harrison chuckled, with fearful eyes, as he stared at the boy lying flat on his back. "so, what do you guys do for fun around here? are there any clubs or secret societies?" he asked.

wednesday stared at the boy, deadpan, as she replied, "there are countless extracurricular activities. you can join the chorus, participate in archery, or assist in attending to the bees. i am unaware of any secret societies, though they may exist underground."

"really?" harrison asked with a quirked eyebrow. "i would've thought you would know the most about those kind of things. you seem to fly under the radar pretty well."

"contrary to your belief, i gain more attention than i would hope. you have only known me for half an hour, harrison pate. how would you have any knowledge of who i am before attending this school?" wednesday asked, hoping to get under his skin and make him feel threatened.

harrison shrugged. "i've just heard things around. my girlfriend, ivory, used to go to school here."

wednesday felt her heart skip a beat thinking about the girl who had somehow seemed to steal all of xavier's attention and affection for a short period of time. of course, there shouldn't have been any reason for her to care about it anymore. it's not like she still had feelings for xavier...

"your girlfriend's name is ivory. does her last name happen to be glade?" wednesday asked with a dark, intense glower.

harrison's face bloomed with a deep pink coloring his cheeks. "yeah, that's my girlfriend. you guys weren't really friends when she was here, were you?" he hesitantly asked.

"no, we were not, and for good reason," wednesday replied bitterly. "why do you seem so keen to befriend me if your dear lover holds such hatred for me in her heart? have you decided to betray ivory like a female praying mantis when she decides to eat her mate?"

harrison clenched his fingers into fists as he stared at the ground while they continued walking through the halls. "no, of course not. i love ivory. i'd never do anything to hurt her. i've just heard different things about you from different people. i guess i just wanted to make up my own opinion about you without having them shout their own opinions in my face."