( chapter one )
WEDNESDAY ADDAMS AND THE WOE OF HAVING ROOMMATES.
Evie watched Enid with a slight smirk plastered on her face as the blonde moved around their room in a rush. The two would be getting a third roommate today, something uncommon at Nevermore.
Principal Weems had said that since Ophelia Hall was so much bigger than the other dorm rooms, it was the perfect place to fit a third girl. Evie just thought there was no more open space anywhere else as they were already halfway through the term.
So, Enid continued to clean up. She wanted to make a good impression on their new friend, her words not Evies. And Evie took that as her leave to let Enid do as she pleased. It didn't hurt her that in the fuss her space would get a good cleansing too.
"You know, I heard she killed someone." Enid spoke, eyes wide. Evie moved around for a moment, criss-crossing her legs as she sat up. "Is that the real reason why you're cleaning so much? You don't want a germaphobe who kills you when you sleep?" Evie smirked as the image went into Enids mind.
And then Enid threw a stuffed animal at her.
"Hey!" Evie gasped, throwing it back on top of her friends bed. "There is no time for joking, Eves. Ajax said she stabbed someone. I really don't want to be stabbed." Enid worried, cleaning more.
Evie rolled her eyes slightly, leaning back down on her bed. "You're worrying too much. As long as you get on this girls good side you won't have to worry about her killing you." Enid shook her head. "You're horrible. How are you not worried?"
"Because I don't care about this as much as you do, E. Either we have a cool roommate or someone who's never killed anyone, that's about as far as I think about it." Evie shrugged, slipping part of her headphones back into her ear.
Enid huffed. "Your definition of cool is very worrisome." But this time Evie just ignored her friend, knowing that after a moment Enid would give up on continuing the conversation and would go back to cleaning their room.
It happened faster than Evie had expected.
She smirked to herself when she was able to put her other headphone in, closing her eyes as the music took over her thoughts. While Enid turned on her own music, singing loudly along with the pop tunes, Evie found comfort in the solace of her own drab ones.
She supposed they worked well together, to an extent. Enid seemed to bring out something close to a smile from Evie while Evie helped Enid focus on the things that mattered while not freaking out over the little things. One of them was often working harder than the other on their task, though.
Evie played with her necklace instinctively, twiddling with the golden chain like she always seemed to do. All Sirens at Nevermore had a similar chain, one that kept their powers basically dormant when they wore it. It made it so other students didn't live in fear of the Sirens and their abilities, they could trust their own minds around the slipper serpents.
Evie thought it all to be a bit extreme, in all honesty. Sure, some Sirens use their voice to get their way but she couldn't remember the last time she even wanted to use it. Maybe when she was little to make her younger sister Missy leave her alone but that's all she could think of.
It wasn't everyday Sirens just went around forcing people to do things they didn't want to do in the first place. Evie rarely saw people at Nevermore fear vampires or werewolves but cowered at the idea of a Siren without their golden chain.
It was... strange. To be so feared by people who she'd known for such a long time while they told her there was nothing to fear. True friendship vs. the pull of desires, a tricky web to weave.
But Evie supposed that's how the Siren group was able to become so close so fast. When only a few people can relate to your biggest struggle those tend to be the people you associate with the most. Those who get you.
"Oh, my god! Evie hurry hurry! She's supposed to be here soon. What should I do? Should we be chatting? Or should I be reading to show her that I am smart. Maybe we can keep cleaning to show we think about her space too?" Enid rambled, pacing slightly with panic. Evie sat up, removing her headphones from her ears and pausing her music. "Maybe just start with hi?"
Enid nodded, pointing to Evie. "That's good, great even. I can introduce myself and then you can introduce yourself. We can all get to know each other and then I won't have to be so worried about her anymore because I'll know her."
"Were you this nervous when we met?" Evie questioned. She'd gotten crazy from Enid before, but this felt like a new level. Enid turned to her with wide eyes. "Oh, yeah. That day was horrifying but you were cool... so maybe she'll be cool."
Evie finally stood up, placing a hand on her friends shoulder. "You'll be fine, E. She'll love you and if she doesn't... she'll learn to. Happens to everyone."
"Promise?" Enid wondered, looking towards Evie hopefully. Evie smirked lightly. "Yeah, that's what happened with me." Enid looked at her shocked. "What? I thought we bonded immediately!"
Evie laughed lowly. "That's what I said."
Before Enid could respond again, Evie held up a hand signaling for her to not talk. She listened closely as the sound of heels echoed through the hall. Evie looked to Enid. "Principal Weems is coming."
"Oh my god! Okay, um... I'm gonna sit at my desk and pretend to be watching something and you sit on my bed. Okay?" Enid freaked, ushering for Evie to do as she said. Evie just moved onto Enids bed, making herself comfortable before she placed one headphone in her ear.
Moments later the girls door opened and Weems walked in, followed by a girl and her parents. The mother gasped as she looked around while the father grimaced. "It's so... vivid."
Enid smiled, standing up from her seat and running to stand beside Principal Weems. Evie figured she might as well join and walked over to stand beside the blonde. "Howdy, roomie." Enid smiled wide, excitement and nerves evident to Evie.
"Wednesday, this is Enid Sinclair." Principal Weems introduced. Enid soon grew worried. "Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale." Evie watched as the girl, Wednesday, just stared daggers Enids way. "Wednesday always looks half-dead." Her father replied.
"Oh." Enid nodded before putting her arms out. "Welcome to Ophelia Hall." She went in for a hug and Wednesday stepped back, obviously not a hugger. Enid picked up on that as well. "Not a hugger. Got it."
Principal Weems then directed the attention to Evie. "Wednesday, this is your other roommate, Evie Ashford. With Ophelia Hall being our biggest room, it was the only place we could fit another person halfway through the year, so, you get two roommates."
"Hey." Evie greeted, waving slightly. She caught as Wednesday sent her the slightest nod, possibly appreciating having another roommate less excitable. Though Wednesdays mom turned her attention back to Enid when she watched the girl look around, not knowing what to say. "Please excuse Wednesday. She's allergic to color."
Enids eyes widened. "Oh, wow. What happens to you?" Wednesday just started at her. "I break out into hives and then the flesh peels off my bones." Evie smirked slightly, almost wishing that was true. "Luckily, we've special ordered you a uniform." Principal Weems chuckled before turning back to the girls. "Enid, Evie, please take Wednesday to the registrar's office to pick it up along with a copy of her schedule, and give her a tour along the way."
Enid grew excited once more as Evie watched Wednesday turn around. She saw how the expressions on her parents faces grew both worried and scared, it intrigued her to say the least. So, when Enid grabbed Evies hand to pull her along, Evie didn't oppose. She didn't even comment on Enids skipping.
The three girls walked through the halls as Enid began trying to make small talk with Wednesday, who ignored her. So, she changed her tactic to telling Wednesday the facts of the school. "Nevermore was founded in 1791 to educate people like us, outcasts, freaks, monsters, fill in your favorite marginalized group here."
"You can save the sanitized sales pitch. I don't plan on staying here for long." Wednesday responded, stopping in the middle of the somewhat busy corridor. Enid just looked at her a bit confused. "Why not?"
Wednesday looked around. "This was my parents idea. Oh, look, there's my mother smirking at me. They've been looking for any excuse to send me here. It's all apart of their nefarious, yet completely obvious plan." Enid just smiled deviously. "What plan?"
"To turn me into a version of themselves." Wednesday responded. Enid grimaced slightly before a smile planted on her features once more. "In that case, perhaps you can clear something up." The three started walking again, Evie listening closely to Enids question in hopes to find a good answer from Wednesday. "Rumor's been swirling around that you killed a kid at your old school and your parents pulled strings to get you off."
Wednesday continued to walk. "Actually, it was two kids, but who's counting?" Evie chuckled lowly to herself as she kept pace with Wednesday. "That's kinda awesome."
Enid subtly smacked Evies arm, who just smirked towards the blonde, enjoying freaking her out a bit. She didn't actually think murder was cool, but she was thinking Wednesday was cool. So the minor details were more just like interesting facts.
They walked through more of the school before Enid pushed open some of the doors leading outside. "Welcome to the quad." Wednesday looked around for a moment. "It's a pentagon." Enid rolled her eyes slightly and Evie lifted an eyebrow, amused by the sudden confidence. "The whole snarky Goth girl thing might have worked at normie school, but here things are different. Let me give you a wiki on Nevermore's social scene."
Enid smiled to herself proudly as she began walking again, Evie and Wednesday following behind. "I'm not interested in participating in tribal adolescent clichés." Wednesday remarked. Enid scoffed. "Well, then use it to fill your obviously bottomless pit of distain. There are many flavors of outcasts here, but the four main cliques are Fangs, Furs, Stoners, and Scales." Enid pointed to her left. "Those are the Fangs, AKA vampires. Some of them have literally been here for decades."
"That bunch of knuckleheads are Furs, AKA werewolves. Like me!" Enid continued and the werewolves began howling their way. Evie just rolled her eyes at the obnoxiousness of it all. "Full moons get pretty loud around here. That's when Furs like wolf out. I suggest you pick up some noise-cancelling headphones."
Wednesday sighed, looking forward at the group by the water as the group stopped. "I'm assuming Scales are sirens?" Enid nodded. "You catch on quick. Our wonderfully talkative Evie is a siren." Wednesday looked towards Evie. "You become a fish when in water?"
Evie nodded. "Something like that." Enid smiled at her friend lightly before looking back at the siren group. "And that girl, Bianca Barclay, is the closest thing Nevermore has to royalty. Although her crowns been slipping lately. She used to date our resident tortured artist, Xavier Thorpe. But they broke up at the beginning of the semester. Reason unknown."
"Fascinating." Wednesday deadpanned. "I know, right? My blog is, like, the number one source for Nevermore gossip." Enid exclaimed. Wednesday sent Evie a small look, obviously wondering if the brunette knew what truly happened.
Of course she knew, Bianca was her friend. But it wasn't her story to tell and she wasn't going to perpetuate any of the rumors surrounding that breakup, especially when they added to the negative stigma surrounding sirens.
And Evie adored Enid, but if she got her claws into that story, there'd be no stopping her from posting it as quickly as she could. Evie wasn't willing to take that risk, even on her best friend.
"Yo, Enid! You're not gonna believe the dirt I heard about your new roommate. She eats human flesh. Totally chowed down on that kid she murdered. You better watch your back." Ajax explained nervously. Evie tried to silence her laughter as Enid moved to the side, revealing Wednesday who'd just heard all of what Ajax was spreading.
She just stared at him. "Quite the contrary. I actually fillet the bodies of my victims, then feed them to my menagerie of pets." Enid chuckled awkwardly. "Ajax, this is my new roommate, Wednesday."
"Woah. You're in black and white. Like a living Instagram filter." Ajax gasped. "Ignore him. Gorgons spend way too much time getting stoned." Ajax walked away, still staring at Wednesday in shock while Enid continued. "He's cute, but clueless. You know, it's a small school and there wasn't much online about you. Oh! You know you should really get on Insta, Snapchat, and Tiktok."
Wednesday stared at Enid and Evie began to wonder if the raven haired girl ever blinked. "I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation." At that, she turned away and walked off from the two, likely to say fair-well to her family.
Enid turned to Evie, smiling. "Do you think I made a good first impression?" Evie nodded. "Totally, I bet she digged you." Enid smiled wider, nodding as she skipped off.
"Hey, Evie! Come over here." Bianca smiled once she caught the brunette alone. Evie sighed, it seemed she truly would never get a break between constantly going from Enid to Bianca and back again.
AUTHORS NOTE!
Chapter one yay! Sorry this took so long finals are next week and I've been really focused on setting myself up to end the semester with the grades I want and have had no time to just chill.
But I'm excited for my break where I can focus a lot more on this story and for this weekend where I can do the same!!! Tyler should be introduced in the next few chapters or so I'm not completely sure yet but I wanted to sort of set up the Enid and Evie dynamic with the Wednesday shift and sorta end everything showing Evies exhausting tug of war between friendships.
Hope you're all as excited as I am and make sure to comment a bunch cause that's my favorite part of writing! <3