Dancing & Disputes
“Wednesday… What are you doing in here?”
Wednesday kept a cool face even as she felt Thing replacing the camera behind her back with a knife. If Xavier was the monster, as Wednesday strongly suspected he was, he would kill her easily in monster form. But if it took him longer than 27.3 seconds Wednesday’s personal best to transform, Wednesday would drive the knife through his carotid artery.
It would be a pity to waste her first kill on Xavier - Wednesday had hoped to have a much higher target - but desperate times and such.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Wednesday said coolly, shifting to a more comfortable pose to stab from. “You’ve spent quite a bit of time with the monster, have you? It’s so strange, because just last weekend you were questioning its very existence.”
Xavier took his eyes off Wednesday, a fools move, and looked at the painting closest to Wednesday. It was a particularly interesting one, one that exposed the lair of the monster.
Something Xavier never should have known and now Wednesday was fully aware of.
“Yeah, I thought you and Harry were just making it up, honestly,” Xavier said absently, locked on the painting like it held answers to all his questions. “But then I started dreaming about it, and now it’s all I can paint.”
“A guilty conscious, perhaps?” Wednesday suggested, edging to the side so that she had a clear line to the door.
Xavier caught her movement, turning and facing her, blocking her exit once more.
“Guilty conscious? For what?” he asked. He ran an agitated and trembling hand through his hair, tearing the smooth locks from the bun it had been held in and letting it loose, masking the scratches down his neck.
Too little, too late.
“For Zackary Cliff, Shannon Story, Kelsey Ramsey, and John Doe,” Wednesday said, listing off the names of the four normie victims of the monster. “Why did you take their organs, Xavier? Were they trophies or snacks?”
Wednesday believed they were trophies, Thing thought they were snacks.
Enid refused to place a wager on what the lungs, liver, heart, and, most recently, the pancreas had been taken for. Harry had simply turned green when he saw the autopsy reports.
For a serial killer of his success, Harry had a surprisingly weak stomach.
Xavier frowned at Wednesday as if he were finally seeing her for the first time. His face held an amusing mixture of disbelief and disappointment, he could have been a marvelous actor if he weren’t a cold blooded monster.
“You think… you think I’m killing those people?” he asked. “What the hell, Wednesday? I would never!”
“Everyone is innocent, until they’re proven guilty.” Wednesday kept the knife in her left hand while her right waved to showcase all of Xavier’s paintings. “What level of proof do you believe Sheriff Galpin would call this?”
“These are just… dreams! Visions!” Xavier snapped, becoming dangerously angry. If his transformations were triggered by emotion, Wednesday would prefer to not be there during it.
“We’ll see about that,” Wednesday said, taking another slow and sideways step toward the doorway. “We don’t have to be enemies, Xavier. I simply want to know why you do what you do.”
“‘Enemies’?” Xavier quoted her. Something in his eyes broke then and his face went from furious to a more downtrodden look that Wednesday was more accustomed to seeing on Harry’s face.
“You were in here, the other day,” Xavier said emotionlessly, a quick shift in tone, one that Wednesday would expect from a serial killer who wasn’t Harry.
Harry was a terrible actor, Xavier clearly was much more skilled.
Xavier laughed a short and dark laugh when Wednesday neither confirmed nor denied his accusation. “You didn’t come to ask me to the dance, did you? You just got caught spying on me and made up some stupid excuse!”
“Technically, I made up an excuse to find out how and why you do what you do,” Wednesday informed him factually. “You certainly didn’t catch me spying that day.”
And it was mortifying to be caught then. Uncle Fester would be so disappointed.
“Get out,” Xavier said flatly. He stepped to the side, clearing Wednesday’s path to the door. “GO! LEAVE!” he shouted when she didn’t move. “Stay out of here and stay out of my business, Wednesday!”
If Xavier expected to be the first to request that of Wednesday, then he was doomed for disappointment.
All mysteries involving murders were Wednesday’s business.
Wednesday entered her room, ignoring the ridiculous sound Enid was making from where she laid on her bed, and went straight to her desk to begin preparing solution to develop her photographs.
“Where’ve you been?” Enid asked, her voice muffled from where she apparently believed it was proper to speak into a pillow and expect a response.
“Taking photos of my proof,” Wednesday said smugly. Enid was another one who didn’t believe Wednesday about her theory on Xavier being the monster, and Wednesday would be thrilled to shove her proof beneath Enid’s tiny button nose.
“Oh?” Wednesday could hear Enid shifting on her bed, sniffling heavily.
“What proof?”
“Xavier has paintings of the monster in excruciating detail hidden away in his studio.” Wednesday spun around, prepared to gloat, then drew up short when she took note of Enid’s appearance.
Gone was the bright eyeshadow and annoyingly distracting glossy lips. Instead, Enid’s eyes were swollen, puffy, and still leaking tears.
It was as if Wednesday had been dropped directly into a world where emotions were a thing that everyone displayed. It was frankly disturbing.
“What happened to you?” Wednesday asked. Just because she disliked Enid’s colorful decor and strongly odored nail polishes didn’t mean that others were able to cause the girl to cry.
If Enid were going to be crying at five o’clock in the afternoon, then Wednesday would prefer to be the cause of it. For anyone else to do so was unacceptable.
Enid sniffled again and swiped beneath her nose with the sleeve of her fuzzy sweater, causing Wednesday to actually cringe at the disgusting action. In the name of personal hygiene, Wednesday grabbed a box of tissues off Enid’s dresser and handed them to her.
“Thanks,” Enid said gratefully. After she blew her nose and dabbed beneath her eyes, she released a heavy breath. “I asked Ajax to the dance and he said no, he already has a date.”
Wednesday clenched her jaw. Enid was wasting her time with petty complaints about unpleasant and uninteresting teenage boys when there was a monster killing the locals off one by one.
“Ajax is a simple-minded imbecile and you could do much better,” Wednesday told Enid. She walked back to her desk, focusing on the actual important task before her. “I don’t understand your fascination with this dance. You dance in our room every morning, why must you do it in heels and for an audience?”
“It’s called having fun, Wednesday,” Enid grumbled. “It’s not going to be fun for me to watch you and Xavier dancing and Harry and Tyler.”
“Xavier and I won’t be dancing because we are no longer going,” Wednesday said. She moved to her wardrobe that she had converted to a makeshift dark room to develop the photographs. With any luck, within an hour Harry would be back and she would be able to show him that his ‘friend’ was the monster that tried to attack his beloved pet.
Enid climbed off her bed and walked over on Wednesday’s side of the room, standing directly behind Wednesday and peering over her shoulder while Wednesday worked to develop the pictures.
“So you don’t have a date either?” Enid asked. She had the audacity to actually prop her chin on Wednesday’s shoulder. She was quite lucky that Wednesday was pouring the solution in the tubs for developing or Wednesday would push her away.
“I do not,” Wednesday confirmed. “Which means I’m no longer obligated to waste my time there.”
“Or you could get a new date?” Enid suggested hopefully, her floral perfume managing to overpower the bitter scent of the developing solution.
Wednesday focused on her task when she began moving the film out of its roll. If Xavier destroyed or hid the evidence after she left, the photographs would be the only proof they ever existed.
“You and I could go together?”
Wednesday’s hand jerked and she was seething as the first image on her roll was undoubtedly ruined.
“I’m not going,” Wednesday grit out. “I have no desire to watch our classmates act like fools and turn a place of education in to one of a poorly written romance novel setting.”
“Oh, okay.” Enid finally took the hint and backed away, leaving Wednesday to only smell the developing solution.
“It’s just… if Xavier is the monster and he does go, Harry’s going, right? I figured you’d want to go and keep an eye on him.”
Wednesday growled quietly and sat down her work so she could spin around and pin Enid in place with an accusing look of irritation.
“You’re manipulating me,” Wednesday said with narrowed eyes.
Enid clasped her hands behind her back, turning side to side with a mischievous grin.
“Is it working?” she asked.
Wednesday sighed, “Unfortunately.”
If Wednesday had been unable to convince Harry to skip the event thus far, she doubted if she would convince him in the next twenty-four hours.
“I’ll make you a deal,” Wednesday told Enid, thinking quickly. “I will go to the Rave’N with you on the condition you go with me to scope out the monster’s lair afterward.”
“Do you promise to dance with me and not be grumpy the whole time?” Enid countered with immediately.
“Moot point, I was born unhappy.”
“But you’ll dance with me?”
“If you whine about upholding your end of the bargain I will remove one of your fingers,” Wednesday warned her.
“Yay!” Enid squealed and jumped up and down. “Okay, great! I’m going to go stay at Yoko’s tonight then! We’re having a sleepover so we can all do each others hair and makeup before the dance! Oh,” Enid stopped jumping and Wednesday knew what ridiculous question she was going to ask before she even asked it, “do you want to—”
“No. Goodbye,” Wednesday said curtly, mentally already back at work on her project.
She was caught by surprise when Enid hugged her from behind, releasing her too quickly for Wednesday to get a proper kick out.
“You’re the best!! I’ll see you tomorrow! Come to Yoko’s if you change your mind!!”
Wednesday would absolutely not be changing her mind.
*****
Harry had been in a stunned daze the entire walk back from Jericho to Nevermore. He carried the garment bag as if it were a newborn- something fragile and precious.
Instead of taking it to his room, Harry went straight to Wednesday’s room. She hadn’t waited around for him after her session with Dr. Kinbott so he figured she must have not wanted to go shopping with him.
“Wednesday?” Harry poked his head in Wednesday and Enid’s room after knocking and getting no response. That wasn’t entirely unusual, oftentimes Wednesday was too caught up in her writing to hear when he knocked.
“Come here,” Wednesday told him, a trill of excitement in her tone. She stood in front of her wardrobe with her blazer off and her long sleeves pushed up to her elbow. “I have something to show you.”
“Me too,” Harry told her, equally excited by his own discovery. He gently placed the clothes he hadn’t even looked at yet - if his dad bought it then Harry would wear it no matter what, but why didn’t he talk to Harry? - on Wednesday’s neatly made bed and stepped over to the wardrobe.
“Look at this.” Wednesday lifted a paper from a tub of something foul smelling and Harry squinted as an image slowly appeared on the page.
“That’s the monster,” Harry said, startled. He looked at what wasn’t a direct photo of the monster, but a picture of a painting of monster. It was incredibly detailed, down to the grotesque lines in the monster’s eyes.
“Who drew that?” Harry asked Wednesday softly. He had a funny feeling he already knew, and it sat like a lead weight in his stomach.
“Xavier Thorpe,” Wednesday said, sounding smug. She grabbed a page that had been dripping the smelly liquid from where it was pinned to the back wall of her wardrobe and held it carefully by the edges so Harry could see it. The monster itself wasn’t in that painting, more like its shadow inside a cave.
“And I think this is where he goes to transform,” Wednesday told Harry. “Enid and I are going to check it out tomorrow. I would ask you to go with us, but I don’t want you to.”
“What?” Harry stepped away from Wednesday with a hurt look. “You don’t want me to go with you?”
“Obviously not, it will be dangerous. If Xavier is there, he could transform and try to kill you.”
“Oh.” Harry grinned a little at that, it wasn’t that Wednesday didn’t want Harry to go, she was just being protective. “Well I want to go anyway, but I think you’re wrong. Xavier doesn’t really seem like the kind of bloke who would go around killing random people.”
Harry could practically hear wednesday rolling her eyes. She closed her wardrobe doors and turned out with a disbelieving expression.
“How else would he know where the monster’s lair is, Harry?”
Harry shrugged and plopped down in Wednesday’s desk chair, spinning it around while he thought it over.
“His dad’s a psychic, like you, right?” Harry mused aloud. “Maybe he got a vision?”
“That was his excuse as well, but I’m not buying it,” Wednesday said stubbornly. She crossed her arms and sat on the foot of her bed, carefully not sitting on Harry’s bag.
“Wait.” Harry stopped spinning when he had a horrifying realization. “You didn’t tell Xavier that you thought he was the monster, did you?”
“I did,” Wednesday said carelessly. “It may make me a target, but I don’t believe in false niceties.”
Harry huffed and laced his hands behind his head, feeling rather fond of Wednesday in that moment. It must be brilliant, just saying your thoughts all the time with no fear of repercussions. Wednesday was the bravest person he knew.
“That might make the dance a little awkward tomorrow, won’t it?” he grinned.
Wednesday suddenly averted her eyes away from Harry, looking up at the board of information on all her mysteries instead.
“I won’t be going with Xavier. He wasn’t pleased that I discovered his paintings.”
Harry frowned and had been about to tell Wednesday he was sorry, even though it didn’t seem like Wednesday even liked Xavier, but then she quickly went on.
“I told Enid I would go with her.”
“Oh,” Harry blinked and then nodded. “Good.”
Wednesday scowled at him. “It was a bargain.”
“Sure,” Harry shrugged.
“I am only going so she goes to investigate with me!” Wednesday snapped.
“I believe you,” Harry told her.
“What did you want to show me?” Wednesday said, sounding as if she were speaking through a clenched jaw. Harry didn’t know why she was so annoyed, he thought it was great she was going with Enid. It would be like Harvest Festival except for without someone trying to kill them.
Hopefully.
“This!” Harry said excitedly. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to know who the monster was (and he really doubted if it was Xavier, Wednesday just seemed to dislike anyone who was too nice), but his dad being alive was much more interesting in the moment.
Harry grabbed the garment bag and held it out in his arms with a broad smile. Wednesday looked down at the bag then slowly up to Harry’s face.
“Fascinating,” she said drily. “You purchased a suit for a dance, this is a truly ground breaking event in history.”
“I didn’t buy it,” Harry told her before lowering his voice, “I think my dad did.”
Wednesday suddenly looked much more interested, as Harry knew she would. She reached out for the bag and Harry nodded, letting her take it.
“Why do you believe your father bought it?” Wednesday asked him as she turned the bag over this way and that, probably scanning for some sort of clue.
Harry told her about his experience in the store, including his confusion about why his dad would buy him something and not stick around to talk to him.
“His motives elude me,” Wednesday murmured once Harry was finished. “May I?” she asked, her hand hovering over the zipper. Harry nodded, excited to see what his dad picked out, and watched with baited breath as Wednesday slowly unzipped it.
“He has exquisite taste,” Wednesday commented after she pulled out a suit set from the bag. She squinted at the suit then at Harry. “Go try it on.”
Harry felt a bit like a prat, but he was curious to see how he’d look in the posh and expensive looking black suit. His dad had even gotten him a black dress shirt to wear beneath the jacket and an emerald green tie to wear.
It wasn’t blue, like Bianca suggested, but Harry figured he’d still fit the theme with black and green to stand out against the decor.
“Adequate,” Wednesday nodded at Harry when he came out of her bathroom with his arms at his side, showcasing the suit that fit him perfectly.
“Harry, do you have no idea how to tie a tie?” Wednesday sighed. “Come here, it’s a simple knot.”
“My school tie clips on,” Harry blushed. He held still while Wednesday quickly tied the knot and tightened it against his throat, almost too tight. “Er… do I look okay?” he asked, feeling suddenly anxious about it.
“You make a striking image of the adolescence ideal of beauty.”
Harry fidgeted with the knot against his neck, loosening it slightly.
“I… I don’t know what that means,” he said, feeling stupid.
Wednesday sighed and undid Harry’s tie for him, slipping it off and putting it back on the hanger from the garment bag.
“You look handsome, Harry. And I will deny with my final breath ever saying such a touching sentiment if you dare repeat it to anyone.”
Harry was still grinning when he practically skipped back to his room to hang his suit up, much more excited for the Rave’N than he thought he would be.
“Wednesday! Can you— oh.” Harry burst in Wednesday’s room the next afternoon, his tie in his hand, and stopped when he saw Wednesday standing in the center of the room.
“You look great,” Harry told her genuinely. She was nearly unrecognizable, really. She had on a floor length frilly lace dress, in black, which wasn’t surprising. But she also had her hair unbraided and pulled up in an elegant bun with her bangs and a few loose tendrils framing her face. Harry even thought her makeup looked different, more… striking, somehow.
“I look ridiculous,” Wednesday said flatly. She stepped forward, a clacking noise alerting Harry that she was even in heels, and held a hand out for his tie. “I won’t be returning your compliments, I already feel sick.”
Harry figured she already complimented him yesterday and he didn’t need to hear it anyway, he felt brilliant in the suit his dad picked out for him. And Harry could count on one hand the amount of times he felt brilliant.
As soon as Wednesday finished Harry’s tie, he stepped back and tested his smile out.
“Your hair looks different,” Wednesday said, scrutinizing Harry from top to bottom. “Did you comb it?”
“Er…” Harry patted his hair nervously. All he’d done was try and brush it to the side a bit, make the messy mop look more formal. “Yeah? Did I mess it up?”
“No.” Wednesday reached out and combed her fingers in Harry’s hair, pushing the blue and black fringe right back on his forehead. “It looks better like this.”
“Thanks,” Harry grinned. He offered Wednesday his bent arm politely. “Are you ready?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Wednesday sighed as she accepted his arm.
All of Harry’s excitement twisted into nerves when he and Wednesday descended the staircase for the dorms together and Tyler and Enid were waiting at the bottom. Tyler was leaning against the trophy case, looking at the photos of previous students on various teams inside the case and Enid was pacing the bottom of the stairs anxiously.
Tyler looked brilliant, in a white suit jacket and trousers with a blue dress shirt beneath the jacket. Harry felt terrible when he realized he forgot to tell Tyler that people weren’t supposed to wear white, but, peculiarly, Enid was also wearing white. Her dress had a fuzzy collar and bell sleeves that ended in white fuzz to match the silver colored sequins of the dress itself.
And Harry and Wednesday were wearing black…
Harry tried to push away his worries of Tyler and Enid not fitting in, surely nobody would be rude to them about it, and focused on trying to have fun; just as Dr. Kinbott suggested he do when Harry tried to fixate on his endless worries.
“Oh!” Enid gasped and drew Tyler’s attention. She clasped her hands over her mouth, hiding a wide smile.
Tyler turned and looked at where Harry made it to the bottom step. Harry bounced from one foot to the other, stupidly hoping Tyler would say something.
“You look… amazing,” Tyler said. His eyes lit up when he stepped up to Harry and held his hand out for him. “Wow.”
Harry didn’t think he had ever felt so shy in his life, he knew his face had to be glowing red, but it was… it was a nice kind of embarrassed.
“You look good too,” Harry murmured, eyeing Tyler from beneath his fringe.
“Yes, yes, we all look like vapid and mindless creatures in our costumes for the masquerade,” Wednesday said. “Can we get this over with so we can check out the cave?”
“Cave?” Tyler asked Harry in a whisper while their group made their way to the ballroom.
Harry laughed quietly and tilted his head toward Tyler’s, not wanting Wednesday to hear him from where she walked with Enid in front of them.
“Wednesday thinks she found the cave where the monster hides,” Harry whispered to him. “We’re going to check it out after the dance.”
“Harry isn’t going,” Wednesday said from in front of them, apparently hearing him just fine. “Enid and I are.”
Enid turned and winked at Harry over her shoulder and Harry scowled.
Harry wasn’t letting Wednesday go around the monster without him. Last time he’d been near it, it hadn’t attacked him, but Harry couldn’t count on that happening again if Wednesday was near it.
“Oh, I was sort of hoping maybe we could hang out after the dance, you could give me a tour of your school?” Tyler asked Harry.
“Can we- can we maybe do it another night?” Harry asked him. He didn’t want to turn Tyler down when he’d agreed to come with Harry and was holding his hand and smiling at him like he actually enjoyed being there with him, but Harry didn’t want Wednesday to go to the cave without him either.
“Sure,” Tyler said after a moment of hesitation. He smiled at Harry, showing the dimples in his cheeks, and gestured to the doors that students were streaming in. “Ready?”
Harry was ready. For the first time in a long time, he just felt happy. He smiled at Wednesday and Enid and Tyler and realized it was thanks to all of them.
His friends.
“Ready.”
Harry’s smile fell the moment their group stepped inside and he realized he and Wednesday stood out like sore thumbs - like freaks - in their black outfits in the sea of white.
Bianca stood beside the table with the drinks and smirked when Harry saw her. She raised a steaming goblet of the blue punch they’d gotten for the dance and Harry felt a bit like a deflated balloon suddenly.
*****
Wednesday watched as Harry went from nauseatingly happy to something resembling a kicked puppy when they entered the ballroom. It didn’t take long for Wednesday to spot the problem- Bianca Barclay.
“You okay?” Tyler asked Harry. “Are you still sick?”
“He’ll be fine. Take him to dance,” Wednesday ordered Tyler while she eyed Bianca like the enemy that she was making herself in to. “Enid, with me.”
“Okay!” Enid said, always so eager to please. She bounced alongside Wednesday while she made her way toward Bianca, a sparkling smile on her face.
“How many knives do you have on you?” Wednesday asked Enid while she tried to formulate the best plot for revenge against whatever wrong Bianca had done to her cousin.
“Um… none? Unless these count?” Enid held her hand up and popped out her claws. They weren’t truly frightening, as they were merely six inch long sharp bits of sparkling pink, but it was a thoughtful gesture all the same. Moot, as Wednesday had a knife secured to her thigh with a garter that coupled as a knife holder, but still considerate of the girl.
“They might,” Wednesday assured Enid. “Bianca did something to upset Harry and I intend to find out what.”
“And then we’ll go dance?” Enid asked hopefully.
Wednesday gave her an exasperated look. “Yes, Enid, then I will uphold my end of our bargain.”
“Yay!” Enid said. She reached over and grabbed Wednesday’s hand, attempting to swing their clasped hands between them.
Wednesday would allow her to hold her hand, as it was a custom for those who went to the dance together, but she would hardly swing her arm like an empty-headed moron.
“What have you done to Harry?” Wednesday demanded of Bianca once they approached the girl. Wednesday didn’t look as intimidating as usual with a dress on and Miss Sunshine and Rainbows holding her hand, but it would be a mistake on Bianca’s part to underestimate her.
Bianca smirked at Wednesday and batted her silver painted eyelashes coyly.
“Me? Nothing,” she said. “He looks fine to me.”
Wednesday glanced to where Harry and Tyler were standing near the DJ, Tyler was speaking to Harry in a low tone, his head tilted by Harry’s head, and whatever he said had the return of pink to Harry’s cheeks. Slowly, Wednesday looked around the room, attempting to identify what had Harry upset upon their entry, and it dawned on her as she recalled what Harry said to her before he went to find a suit to wear.
Harry had originally intended to wear a blue suit, ‘to stand out against the decorations’. Wednesday thought that Harry had finally decided to stop acting as a wallflower and embrace his uniqueness, but she should have known better.
“You told Harry to wear blue, didn’t you?” Wednesday asked Bianca sharply, spinning back to face her angrily. “Were you hoping he made a fool of himself?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Bianca said with a glimmer of laughter in her eyes. “Go away, Addams, I don’t want to ruin my night with your oh so charming conversation.”
Wednesday narrowed her eyes and stepped closer to Bianca, glaring up at her fiercely.
“It won’t be my conversation that ruins your night,” Wednesday hissed venomously. “But rest assured, your night will be ruined.”
“And your stupid plan didn’t work anyway,” Enid added cheerfully. “Harry looks very handsome and I’m sure everyone’s noticed. He really stands out, like a black suited star.”
Bianca curled her lip up at Enid. “I didn’t ask you, half-wolf-girl.”
“What is your problem?” Wednesday demanded, shoving Bianca in the chest after she slung her insult at Enid. “What has Harry or Enid ever done to you?”
“Maybe I just don’t like normies trying to take spots in our school that should go to fellow outcasts,” Bianca sneered with her own shove to Wednesday’s shoulders. “Some of us are here for a reason and we shouldn’t have to see the freaks that could attend any other school in our halls!”
It was the word freak that caused Enid’s lower lip to tremble and that led Wednesday to forget all of her years of training. Instead of attacking Bianca in a subtle and deadly way - preferably with a knife to a vital organ - Wednesday drew her hand back and punched the girl as hard as she could in the mouth.
Then the fight was on.
Wednesday growled when Bianca grabbed her hair and began pulling it, like Pugsley before he learned jujitsu. She aimed a knee at Bianca’s stomach and flipped her around, locking her bare arm behind her back. Wednesday twisted it up, preparing to break it, but they were interrupted.
“GIRLS!” Principal Weems rushed over when Wednesday was debating on either water-boarding Bianca in the bowl of punch of smashing her face into the ice statue. “Wednesday Addams, let her go, now!”
Wednesday did with a harsh shove, causing Bianca to slam in the table of drinks and splash a blue glass all down her front.
“Explain yourself, now,” Weems snapped at Wednesday, glaring down at her coldly.
“I was rectifying a wrong,” Wednesday said, brushing herself off easily. She looked around quickly and, aside from a few nearby students who were gawking at the brief and painless fight, it seemed as if the two girls had gone mostly unnoticed.
Certainly not by Harry or Tyler who were still talking on the other side of the room, both of them smiling once more.
“I will not have my students scrapping like heathens during the Rave’N,” Weems said, staring down Wednesday, Enid, and Bianca. “Who started it?”
All three girls responded simultaneously.
“Wednesday,” said Bianca.
“Bianca,” said Enid.
“I did,” Wednesday said.
Weems pinched the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed for a moment. Wednesday did warn the woman that accepting her as a student would be a decision she would one day regret, it seemed as if the day had arrived.
“Wednesday, leave,” Weems ordered Wednesday, as if it were a punishment. “Consider yourself excluded from this dance. I expected better. Bianca, Enid, one more infraction from either of you and you will be out as well.”
Wednesday was already halfway to the door before Weems finished what she was sure was a very well-thought out lecture on the merits of not fighting fellow students. And she was correct, in that aspect, Wednesday wouldn’t be fighting Bianca again.
Next time she would stab first.
“I’m going to the cave now,” Wednesday told Enid when she skipped up to her side. “Are you coming or staying?”
Enid’s eyes inexplicably began watering and Wednesday looked at her lips instead, refusing to break out in hives just before going to trek through the woods.
“You promised you’d dance with me,” Enid said, a quiet tremble in her voice that managed to bring up a remnant of the guilt that Harry once inspired in Wednesday. “Did you get kicked out on purpose?”
“No,” Wednesday said smoothly, a perfect truth. “I assure you, it was merely a happy accident. Bianca called you and Harry freaks and I had a momentary lapse in sanity. It’s common in my family. I did not intentionally ruin our ‘date’,” Wednesday barely refrained from scoffing at the last word.
Enid rocked back and forth on her heels with her bottom lip clenched between her teeth. “So you hit Bianca because she was being rude to me?”
“And Harry,” Wednesday added, feeling distinctly uncomfortable with the topic. “If you would rather not accompany me to find the cave, I understand.”
Enid smiled slowly and held both her hands out for Wednesday. “Will you still dance with me first?”
Wednesday sent a pointed look around the corridor they stood in, hardly the lavishly decorated ballroom.
“It may have escaped your notice, but I was banned from the dance,” Wednesday said, no true bite to her tone.
“I know.” Enid shrugged and kept her hands held out. “But we can hear the music out here and you totally owe me one dance.”
Wednesday kept her face impassive, but inside she felt shrunken and small, a vast difference from her usual feelings of apathy or anger. There was something vulnerable and hopeful in Enid’s eyes, something Wednesday would be a monster for crushing.
“One dance,” Wednesday said, accepting Enid’s outstretched hands.
“One dance,” Enid agreed, the hope in her amber eyes changing to joy.
Wednesday allowed Enid to put her arms around Wednesday’s neck and Wednesday held her waist lightly.
“You really do look nice, but I think I miss your braids,” Enid said softly.
Wednesday typically preferred inspiring fear, disdain, and violent anger - but there was something satisfying about making Enid look so joyful.
Not that she would be admitting that to anyone.
Ever.
*****
“Hey, you wanna get some air?” Tyler asked Harry after they’d been dancing for a while. Harry was a terrible dancer, awkward and self-conscious, but they mostly just moved around in place and talked, so it wasn’t unbearable.
“Yeah,” Harry said, relieved to have an excuse to cool down. Despite the snow and ice theme, Harry felt like he was burning in his not white suit on the dance floor where they’d been surrounded by other students. Harry hadn’t seen Wednesday or Enid since they all arrived, but he did see Xavier when he came over to Harry and Tyler and chatted for a few.
Xavier even complimented Harry’s suit, told him that he ‘looked sharp’. And would a monster do that?
Harry didn’t think so.
Tyler held Harry’s hand and led him toward the door that went directly out back to the school’s loading dock.
“Oh, my bad,” Tyler looked around the alley he brought them to and grimaced. “I thought maybe this would be some fancy garden or something.”
Harry laughed lightly and sat on the edge of the concrete dock, dangling his legs over the edge.
“They brought trucks here to unload the sound equipment,” he explained to Tyler. “It’s probably unlocked so that they can load it back up afterward.”
“Makes sense,” Tyler said. He sat down beside Harry and took his jacket off. He nudged Harry’s foot with his own and grinned at him. “You’re not a bad dancer.”
Harry laughed again, more loudly that time. “I’m rubbish,” he said, nudging Tyler right back. “I’ve never danced before in my life. I dunno what to even do with my hands.”
“Oh did your mysterious jail not have prom?” Tyler said teasingly, causing Harry to immediately duck his head and cringe. He never should have mentioned being locked up to Tyler. He was a shit liar and it seemed like everyone knew it.
“Hey, you can talk to me, you know?” Tyler’s hand inched over until it covered Harry’s on the ground between them. “I’m not going to judge you.”
“Everyone judges me,” Harry told him, giving him a quick and pleading look. “Can- can we talk about something else?”
Tyler’s eyes were soft, open and understanding. Harry rather liked his eyes, the mix of blue and grey was pretty and the way that some days they were more blue than grey, or vice versa, made them interesting.
Unique.
“Yeah,” Tyler said softly. “But just so you know, I wouldn’t judge you, not for anything.”
Harry kind of doubted that murder was included under that, so he only grinned weakly in response.
“Er… does your school have dances?” Harry asked, trying to find something to talk about that wasn’t his own past. Harry was sick of talking about his past, thinking about it, he just wanted to be happy in the present and prepare for a better future.
One with his friends, his cousin, his dad.
Tyler talked a little about his high school, outlining the various events they had through the year that he didn’t like to attend, and Harry was an apt listener. It was sort of fascinating to hear about normie high school.
“You guys don’t have fencing?” Harry asked him. He shook his head at Tyler with a playful tsk. “You’re missing out.”
“I’m sure,” Tyler laughed. “Swinging a sword at my classmates might work out some of our differences.”
“You really don’t get along with any of them?” Harry asked, feeling a pang of empathy for him.
“Not really no, I’m a bit of a loner,” Tyler said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Ever since last year when I stopped hanging around Lucas and Brian I never really found new friends.”
Harry edged closer to Tyler, smiling shyly at him. “We’re friends,” Harry told him.
“Yeah?” Tyler raised his right hand and slowly placed it on Harry’s cheek. “I kind of thought we were more than just friends.”
Harry’s lips parted when Tyler’s face lowered closer to him and Harry’s heart began beating so loudly that surely Tyler could hear it. He lifted his chin, his eyes fluttering shut. He could feel Tyler’s punch-flavored breath on his face, and—
“Ugh.” Tyler cringed and let go of Harry’s face to shield his eyes against the sudden and bright light that filled the alley. “What the hell?”
Harry turned and squinted to see that the lights were headlights for a truck. It seemed like their moment was ruined by the DJ’s company returning to start picking up their equipment. Harry could still hear music playing inside, but perhaps they were just arriving early.
“Damn,” Tyler swore quietly. He jumped off the edge of the loading dock, bristling when the truck pulled to a stop. When the driver and passengers climbed out, Harry jumped down to stand beside Tyler as well.
They weren’t from the DJ company, they were teenage boys who were in an area they definitely weren’t supposed to be in.
“What are you doing here?” Tyler asked the boy who had been driving the truck.
“A better question is what are you doing here?” the boy asked. He glanced at Harry and then smiled slowly, not a friendly smile. “Oh, boys, lookie here! Our little Ty snagged a date with an outcast.”
The other boys laughed and began making mocking coo’s at Harry, the boy with the dark skin who’d been driving made kissing noises at Harry that had him scowling down at the ground.
“Whatever you’re doing here, don’t, Lucas,” Tyler said harshly. “Get out of here before I call my dad.”
“Yeah? Running to daddy?” Lucas, the boy with the dark skin and close-cropped curls, stepped forward to get directly in Tyler’s face. “I’ve got a better idea, why don’t you make me, Galpin?”
Harry saw the other boys’ shoes when they shuffled up to stand behind Lucas, the three of them clearly not caring to fight Tyler over whatever history they shared and plan they had that brought them to Nevermore. Harry’s heart rate picked up as he remembered all the times he’d been ganged up on - three on one, four on one; always Harry fighting alone.
Tyler didn’t have to fight alone.
Harry picked his head up and glared at the three boys.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he said, trying to sound forceful. “You should go.”
“Ooh, sticking up for your boyfriend?” One of the boys with long dark hair hidden beneath a ballcap and an angular face, sneered at Harry. “What are you supposed to be? Some sort of vampire? Werewolf? Come on, what freak gene is floating around inside you?”
“Harry’s not a freak,” Tyler said, reaching around Lucas to shove the boy with the hat. “Shut your mouth, Brian.”
“You shut your mouth, Galpin,” Brian snapped, throwing a weak fist toward Tyler that clipped his ear.
“Don’t hit him,” Harry said shrilly, pushing Lucas until he stumbled back into Brian.
“Stay out of it,” the third boy with the red hair said, shoving Harry so he fell backward and hit his lower back on the concrete ledge.
Tyler, who Harry was used to only seeing with a casual lightness to him, suddenly seemed to snap and he grabbed the collar of the red heads jacket and pulled him close before hitting him with his fist hard enough to bloody his nose.
“Keep your hands off him,” Tyler growled.
It was a bit confusing after that. The three boys tried to gang up on Tyler, then Harry threw himself in the fray with fists flying and unfamiliar swears slipping from between his teeth. Someone elbowed Harry, cracking his glasses, but Harry got someone in the teeth with his fist, which actually just split his knuckles. Tyler grunted when someone slammed a fist to his stomach and Harry saw another hand flying toward Tyler and the ever-sparking power that felt like it flowed in his veins just…
Sparked out like an explosion and struck the three boys.
Harry gasped when his power, his magic, lashed out and threw the boys over the brick wall on the other side of the alley. Three loud cries of pain had Harry breaking out in a sweat.
All the work he’d done, all his effort to be a better person, a success case, free, was for nothing.
Tyler turned to Harry with eyes so wide they were practically bulging out of his head.
“What was that?” he asked breathlessly.
That was the end of Harry’s freedom, Harry was certain of it.