Philophobic : Tyler Galpin

4: The Weathervane

Monday, October 15th

[victoria's pov]

"How much was the taxi ride this morning?" my mother questioned me in the car.

"It was free since I'm the principal's daughter."

Of course, my mother being the mother she was, would not allow me to get into the car with a stranger. But she would let me take a taxi, with a stranger who I don't know because they're "being monitored by the taxi company."

But...

It's not like she cared about Jericho enough to know there aren't any taxis right now–as far as I knew. There probably weren't good enough drivers around here.

"Oh wonderful, does their service work like that?" she thought happily. I nodded. "Great! Now you can take the taxi every morning. Saves me some gas and beauty sleep."

Great.

Now how am I supposed to work this out?

"No amount of beauty sleep can beautify you," Wednesday said from the back of the car.

Why was Wednesday sitting in the back of my mother's car? Well that's because we were taking her to therapy and later, my mother would drop me off at home. And I could see why Enid was threadbared about the newcomer.

"Excuse me?" my mother asked.

"It's scientifically proven," Wednesday stated. "No amount of sleep can beautify the human skin."

My mother was at a loss for words.

"I heard that smiling makes your skin crinkle," I said, turning to Wednesday. "You must not smile a lot."

Wednesday's eyes were glued on me temporarily with a flicker of appreciation. "Thank you."

My mother's eyes trailed back and forth to us. Turning back, I saw we had arrived at Doctor Kinbott's office. As Wednesday got out of the car, my mother's eyes followed her until her two braids were out of sight.

I sat, scrolling on my phone to message Enid. I hadn't told her about Tyler yet, but mostly because I didn't think it was that important enough to bring up.

———

Enid: WHERE ARE YOU?

Me: My mother is dropping me off home early.

Enid: NOOO YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE FOR MORAL SUPPORT

Me: To talk to Ajax-?

Enid: Ohmygawd he's coming over to talk to me. OMGOMGOMG HELP ME VICTORIA

Me: Look on the bright side, you don't need me anymore if he can approach you with no problem.

Enid: Kill me now.

Me: Remind me tomorrow. Good luck with Ajax.

———

Shutting off my phone, I realized my mother's car was still parked.

"I thought you're taking us home?" I asked, noticing Shanks' unsteadiness. She wasn't a fan of sitting in the car for long.

"It won't be until after Wednesday's appointment," my mother said, checking her teeth in the front view mirror for any imperfections, even though her teeth were already perfect. "I've got to keep my eye on that one."