Archery & Plants
The next day went what you would call the opposite of flawless. Every class period besides fifth was a pure train wreck. You practically sat in the back of the classroom trying your best not to be mentioned or seen. Showing up early enough so that you weren't forced to sit by anyone too anxious to speak with them.
Yet their eyes were on you like dogs when seeing a sight of fresh meat. It was unsettling for you to be put in that type of situation. It made your brain crawl and not the good kind. And it didn't help that your body had both an anxious and another feeling you've never been able to identify; it pierced everywhere on your body and it stung. To find a sort of comfort you held your own hand and dug your nails in the back reminding yourself that Wednesday was still there just not physically present but there. Reminding yourself with the thoughts of just four more periods. Just three more periods. And so on until Weems' eyes caught you.
She had given you a small list of clubs to join. And by small list she outright walked you to the one outside of your talents that you never did care to learn. Placing you there, she left you there right besides the torture artist. Oh how everywhere you went he was just right there waiting for you patiently. It was odd and yet a part of you liked it; a dangerous amount of it too.
"Hey moonlight." There was that nick or pet name again. Ones that had come to cause a flutter in your stomach. To cause your heart to skip a beat. Were you about to have a stroke?
"Moonlight?" Your heart spoke against your mind. For some odd reason you liked his presence. And every word you seem to say during your last interactions had never made him hurt you verbally.
"Do you not know what a pet name is?"
"Pet names are used by a singular person, it's more intimate than a regular nickname." You informed him flatly sharing your knowledge.
His laugh filled the air. It caught you incredibly off guard. Why was he laughing? Was there something funny in your remark? Last time you checked there wasn't. "Good thing to know you know pet names."
"Why do you call me, Moonlight?"
Xavier places an arrow in his bow as he clicks his mouth, thinking of an answer. "Do you allow anyone to give you nicknames?" He dodges the question. Preparing himself to shoot.
You frowned but answered him anyway, "No, they can use my name."
He shoots, missing the bullseye. "Am I the only one allowed to call you moonlight, Moonlight?"
"No and stop calling me that." You hissed out. The feelings you felt for this pet name barely registered in your brain and it annoyed you to no possible end.
The long straight haired teenager turned towards you with a sly smile that enchanted others. "Alright... moonlight." An irritated groan left your lips. "Ready to shoot some arrows." He moved the subject.
Damn you Larissa Weems. You cursed in your thoughts. You kept your mouth shut. The first time your heart hadn't spoken against your wishes.
"Show me your tricks." Xavier waves you over.
Your feet move towards him as he grabs a bow. "Square stance. Load the arrow like this—"
"I've seen Wednesday do this plenty of times." You interjected. Which was true. But you've never truly shot an arrow before. But that was because you were obsessed with learning one of your favorite subjects at the time, the supernatural philosophy.
You went to grab a spare bow but Xavier stopped you holding out an arm protector and a glove that covered three fingers. You look him in the eyes with a raised eyebrow. "You've seen Wednesday put this on too?" He teases.
Rolling your eyes, you grab the arm protector and slide it on your non dominant arm. Then you slide the glove on your dominant arm. "Wait, you didn't tighten it." He leans towards you, his hands grabbing the strings and giving them a hard yank. Looking through his eyebrows he asks, "Did that hurt?"
You simply stated, "I'll be fine."
He finishes tightening the arm protector and pulls away.
You load the arrow, the only yellow tip facing up towards you. Standing in a square stance. Lifting your arm, you pull the bow string to just what you thought was enough. Yet you felt hands being placed on top of yours, making you pull back further all the way to your cheekbone. "Make sure the string is all the way here." He hums softly into your ear, his warm breath crawling against your skin. You could feel his chest pressed against your back as he continued to help you. "Aim." He whispers. His breath continues to tickle your neck. He pulls his hands away from yours but never moves entirely. "And shoot when you're ready."
And you shot when you were ready. Hitting the edge of the target. "Was this your first time?"
"I hate Weems." You mumble out loud.
✦➶ 𝕥𝓘мẸ ˢк𝐈𝐩 ➷✧
The Thorpe teenager had been as kind as to walk you to class and somehow made conversation with you. Keeping the flow at a good comfortable level and when things started turning back to your old ways he would spark up a new question in a bizarre way, shocking you and you answered obediently.
You had slowly started to think that you were making a new friend at this school. One that just kept showing up randomly in your life. Did you mind? Now that was an answer that you, yourself couldn't answer just yet. Something about him just seems to tug you to him. Something that you acknowledge as people who conveniently see each other around school that slowly become friends.
Your eyes landed on Wednesday as she stood in front of a plant speaking to someone. Furrowing your eyebrows you listened in, "How did you lose him in a bathroom with no windows?" Her face morphed into something you knew too well. "A lefty wouldn't fail me." She was talking to Thing. Shaking your head with a small smile on your lips. Thing will be confronted by you once school ends or once you caught up to you.
How didn't you catch him sooner? Now that was a thought that you allowed to go over your head as you heard. "Don't sulk. Now I'm going to have to find new evidence myself, since you lost our only lead."
"I see you've finally made a friend." Bianca jokes. "Even if it is a plant."
"I go for quality over quantity." She rolls her eyes and sits down amongst her other siren friends. Wednesday headed over to you, her eyes on you at all times. "Y/n." She greets.
"Wednesday." You greet back with a soft look. She stood there for a moment staring at the desk that you shared with Xavier before looking around seeing others occupying the rest of the desks. —Miss Thornhill had come to lie about there not being enough room.— She was silently asking you if she was allowed to share the same space as yours. You moved towards the middle of the desk and your twin grabbed a hold of a chair and sat right beside you.
Xavier held up his hand concentrating as the spider from his drawing came to life. The shaded in spider began walking around the table stopping right in between you and Wednesday. "I doubt the girls are impressed by your tricks, Mr Thorpe."
The artist hums out, "Admit it your a little impressed."
There was a moment of silence. Your eyes stared at the teacher as your sister's hand lifted up and smacked down on the fake spider making it go into lead dust. A deep frown settled on his face as he closed his sketchbook and pushed it aside. Students laughing at the sight.
Miss Thornhill removed herself from behind her desk and spoke up, "Wednesday, Y/n we're thrilled to have you two join us on our journey into the world of carnivorous plants." She clasps her hands together in front of her. "Now... who can tell us the name of this beauty?" Your eyes landed on the flower beside her.
Bianca raises her hand ready to answer but your sister beats her to it, "Dendrophylax lendeli."
"Otherwise known as the ghost orchid," Bianca added, glaring at Wednesday.
"First discovered on the Isle of Wight in 1854." Wednesday interjects.
Thornhill stares at your twin with a proud look. "Good job Wednesday." She praised.
Your hand moved with purpose as your eyes held a bit of a cloudy glossed look over them. The pencil moves around the paper elegantly. "You have some competition for first chair, Bianca." A woo of 'ooh's' left other students' lips. "Y/n perhaps you can identify the ghost's orchids greatest qualities." Thornhill tilts her head to the side watching you intently. Your eye color became its full color once again as you listened to the words that Thornhill had come to ask of you. She was testing your knowledge. Wanting to see if you knew as much as your sister did. Or perhaps she believed you weren't paying any sort of attention to the lecture.
You proved her wrong if she thought of the second reason, "Resilience and adaptability." You played with your fingers before you as you repeated the same words as Wednesday had come to tell you about the many plants—when it was one of her fixation—"It's able to thrive in the most hostile environments."
Bianca interrupted you, "But its mere presence can change the ecosystem, causing the established plants to reject it." You looked over at Bianca. There was a tone in her voice as she said that. A tone that was meant for hostile teasing. A hostile teasing that went unchecked by authority figures. Was she taunting of your position in your family? That your mere presence could change them entirely causing them to reject you in the end? Now that certainly wasn't true... was it?
Anger shown in your eyes as you gave her a death glare. "That reason being the native species thrives unchecked." You snarled. "You can simply fix it by adding a weed wacker." You matched her hostile teasing. One more comment or hint towards you not belonging to your adoptive family you would take out Bianca with a weed wacker. Quite literally. Sliced her up until she bled to death amongst the long glass that hid bodies.
"You can certainly try." She gives you an unafraid look.
"And I will."
"Are we still talking about flowers?"
Miss Thornhill said, "Thank you ladies for those illuminating insights." You tore your gaze from Bianca, your hand underneath the table finding your sister's holding it. Digging your nails into the back of her hand and she returned the gesture. "Clearly the plants aren't the only carnivores in class today."
Your eyes found Bianca's once again. Both of you are staring at one another with such a burning passion your eyes filled with anger.