you can occupy my every sigh

Chapter Two

Wednesday could feel everyone's eyes on her as she and Enid walked toward the front office to get her schedule. She ignored them in favor of dissecting every minute of the short conversation with Tyler.

One thing about Wednesday that everyone seemed to universally understand was her lack of emotions. She was cold, aloof, deadpan, and cynical. So why, she thought, had all of that gone out of the window for this stranger? Surely this wasn't normal; this level of obsession, the way the few words they'd exchanged had set her alight, etc. For a girl like Wednesday, nothing could've been more out of character. What to do about this? To her chagrin, Wednesday surmised that she'd have to reach out to her mother. As much as she loathed to admit it, she needed her mother's advice. Wednesday could think of no one in her life as obsessed with their partner as her parents. Maybe it was a family curse.

The hyde thing was a new mystery to solve, hopefully, one that would bear monstrous fruit. He had to be strong, right? Or else, what reason would the students have to be nearly pissing themselves every time they passed him? She'd check out the school library (the only thing she'd remotely looked forward to) and see if she could find any information on hydes as a species. If not, she'd just have to conduct the research herself. Wednesday doubted Tyler would have any reservations.

On the topic of Tyler - she truly didn't know that much about the boy. Sure, on some fundamental level, their souls matched up. Their personalities were complementary, and he kept her attention (something very few could do), and she definitely felt the pull to make him hers , but aside from those fundamentals, she didn't know him. That wasn't to say that she wasn't infatuated - it was scary how few reservations she had about just storming up to his room and taking him right there without any more information or even the pretense of 'taking things slow'.

Enid snapped her bright-tipped fingers in front of her face. Wednesday debated biting them off or reaching for the dagger strapped to her thigh and taking them off with a slice. The knife was sharp. Enid would barely feel a thing.

"Wednesday! Are you even listening? I need to know what you and Tyler talked about, it'll be all my readers want to know!"

Even though Wednesday truly couldn't care less about whatever drivel Enid was referring to, she asked anyway.

"What readers?" Wednesday's tone didn't lift at the end, making it barely a question.

"Well," Enid's voice was filled with pride, "I run the most successful gossip page on campus! You were all the rage, but now that you and Tyler, who everyone pretends they don't want to know about, but secretly do, have talked ! It'll be everything anyone's gossiping about!" The girl's voice reached near squeaking levels in her excitement. "So, roomie, tell me everything !"

Wednesday sighed before she had an idea. Maybe Enid could be useful.

"I'll tell you the barest outline in exchange for information."

Enid pouted.

"What information?"

"Tell me what you know about Tyler."

Enid smiled conspiratorially, motioning Wednesday to a nearby cluster of plush chairs.

"Oh, I know a lot. Where to start..." Enid tapped her nails on the edge of the chair as she thought of where to begin and what to divulge. "He's 16, like us, but he's not from out of town. He has family in Jericho." Enid said this as if it was important, but Wednesday hadn't the foggiest idea what Jericho was.

"What is that?"

"Oh, right, you probably haven't heard. Jericho is the town right below Nevermore, and they hate us for, like, no reason. Always have. It's weird because Nevermore basically funds the town, but whatever."