𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
While Wednesday got a very enthusiastic werewolf as her roommate, Enid Sinclair, Iris was stuck with some vampire, Yoko Tanaka, who wasn't even in the room to welcome her like Principal Weems said she would be. Great.
It's how Iris trails along now, behind Wednesday, as well as Enid, who's been instructed to give the girls a tour on their way to the office to pick up their personalized uniforms and schedules.
Iris would like to think she would've been fine with the indigo color everyone else is wearing, but, unfortunately, she gets similar hives to Wednesday when exposed to color - and the purple/blue is kinda ugly anyway.
"Nevermore was founded in 1791 to educate people like us," Enid recites as they walk down the steps, students bustling around them. "Outcasts, freaks, monsters. Fill in your favorite marginalized group here."
"You can save the sanitized sales pitch," Wednesday's had enough as she walks to stand face to face with Enid, Iris also stopping, but now just taking in her surroundings. "We don't plan on staying here for long."
"What?"
"Why not?"
Iris and Enid stare at the girl taken aback, and Wednesday stares similarly at her twin. "You want to stay?" She seems to almost interrogate Iris.
"Well, no," Iris answers technically, "but I thought we were gonna give it a shot," she thinks back to the pep talk she was giving herself during the entire walk to Weems's office when they first arrived, trying to build her confidence about being here.
"You know they've been looking for any excuse to send us here," Wednesday assumes Enid can understand she's answering for her perspective as well. "It's a part of their nefarious yet completely obvious plan."
"What plan?" Enid converses.
"To turn us into a version of themselves," Iris catches on, understanding Wednesday has a point.
"Well, in that case, maybe you can clear some stuff up," Enid starts walking again, Iris and Wednesday now a step behind. "Rumors are swirling around that you killed a kid at your old school, and your parents pulled some strings to get you off."
"Two kids," Wednesday replies simply, now walking ahead.
"They had it coming," Iris assures, taking the spot next to Enid, but she still looks slightly taken aback.
They keep walking. . . More words. . . Something something. . . Blah blah blah.
". . . resident tortured artist," are the words Enid says that bring Iris back to the conversation.
"He's cute," she's never been known for her filter.
"Careful. Bianca Barclay's kinda crazy. And possessive. She might drown you if you get too close to him," Enid warns.
"All the more enticing."
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
After the end of the cliché rundown of the Nevermore social scene, an awkward interaction between some Enid and some Gordon she obviously has a crush on, and Iris's goodbye hug for both her mother and younger brother, Iris stands in front of her father to say bye before the family leaves her and Wednesday at this hellhole for the rest of eternity - a few months.
Wednesday and Morticia are having some deep talk a few feet away, and Iris figures they need it, so she turns to hug her father for a moment longer.
"You'll look after your sister?" Gomez assures as they pull away and he holds Iris by the shoulders to look into her black eyes.
"Of course," Iris nods promisingly.
"And you'll look after yourself?"
". . . Of course," Iris seems to hesitate at this.
It's not like she lacks self preservation habits, she's just so used to everyone around her emphasizing family and the importance of looking after others, especially Pugsley because he's younger and especially Wednesday because sometimes she lets her lack of emotions get the best of her.
"We've sent you to this school to help you find yourself, my scorpion," Gomez notices this and takes it upon himself to give his daughter one last reassurance.
"You've sent me to this school to help me find the version of myself you want me to be," Iris allows herself to express her concerns about her family's expectations for her now.
"Of course not," Gomez guarantees with a slight shake of Iris's shoulders. "Always remember, you are perfect the way you are. All we've ever wanted for you was happiness. . . and torture. What better place to give that to you than here?"
"I know," Iris looks down, feeling ridiculous now. She knows her parents love her almost as much as they love each other. "I think I'm just scared to disappoint you."
"Oh, you could never disappoint us, my dark void," Gomez pulls Iris in for a deep hug. "You're mother is leaving Wednesday with a crystal ball, and we'll talk to you in a week," he then parts with.
Iris nods as she moves to stand next to Wednesday who's just finishing her conversation with their mother, crystal ball case in hand.
"Bye," Iris waves after the hearse and Pugsley who's waving through the window as Wednesday just stares darkly.
Freshly charged with her father's words of reassurance, Iris takes a deep breath and turn to walk back into the school.
"Come on," Wednesday turns similarly, but with different intentions. "We need to come up with our escape plan."
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
"An Iris," Iris acknowledges as Ms. Thornhill hands her a potted plant in her dorm room.
Yoko, the roommate, is still nowhere to be seen, and Iris was just finishing neatly displaying her vinyls on a small shelf where her record player rested when the school's plant teacher - or whatever she does - and her dorm head came in to properly introduce herself.
"You're lucky, this was the last one I had left after my crop died out from root poisoning," Ms. Thornhill explains in response before going into her spiel about dorm rules and whatnot. Iris goes to put her namesake plant on the same shelf her records rest on as Ms. Thornhill changes the subject:
"So, your sister-" Iris almost rolls her eyes. She loves Wednesday more than life itself, but she'd like to have a conversation with someone at least once in her life without them somehow weaseling her psycho sister into it - and she uses psycho as the highest form of compliment.
"Whatever trouble she's caused you-" Iris starts her rehearsed apology that she's used to giving teachers when Wednesday does something out of pocket and leaves Iris to explain how her sister's complex personality causes her to be kinda a bitch sometimes.
"No, no, nothing like that," Ms. Thornhill hastily interrupts. "Not yet at least," she adds quieter to herself. "Just, she's very. . . eccentric, isn't she?"
"That's a word."
"I just mean-" Ms. Thornhill finds Iris's dry remark amusing, "-is she always so. . ."
"Rude? Terrifying? Alarming? Strange? Unnerving? Sinister? Daunting?" Iris lists as Thornhill trails off.
"Isolated?" The redhead fills in her own word.
"Oh," Iris takes in the considerably tame adjective. "Well, yeah, of course." As Wednesday's said quite often, why be around others when you can by yourself.
Iris has never really agreed with the statement.
Sure, she took a quiz and her personality type is ISTJ (something about being introverted and logic-based), but somewhere in the back of her mind, growing up feeling like she doesn't fit in - too normal for her family, to weird for other people - Iris finds herself trying to fit into any and every conversation just to feel like she belongs somewhere.
"Well," Ms. Thornhill recognizes she's lost Iris to her own thoughts and claps her hands as a placeholder movement. "I'll let you settle in."
And she walks out the door, leaving Iris alone in the room once again.
a/n:
spending too much time watching tavier edits instead of writing this story anyway lmk what u think :)