The ties that bind us

to say that things changed radically at school due to there being a human present would definitely be an overstatement. Sure people were more cautious about what they were talking about in the hallways. Always looking over their shoulder before saying something too risky to make sure Wednesday wasn’t around to hear them. All in all Enid was pretty sure that to an outsider it just looked like everyone at school were having whispered conversations about an impendent bank heist they didn’t want anyone else to know about

Yoko had called her a few hours after she got home the day before and said that her parents had in fact sat her down and explained what was happening. That the school board had been trying to prevent it from happening and didn’t want to cause any panic amongst the kids if everything worked out in the end. Which Enid and Yoko had agreed had been kind of stupid since it had just resulted in them being warned literal hours before a human walked into the school rather than having had weeks to prepare

In the end the only thing that was really different was class. A fact that Enid was silently cursing Friday morning as their P.E teacher was walking them through the plan for today. The cover story apparently being that everyone had completed their P.E requirements early so there was no clear lesson plan for now. Which everyone present but one knew meant that they were free to do whatever they wanted as long as they kept it human standard. The one person who did in fact not know that this entire thing was a ruse was currently standing at the other end of the lineup of students listening to coach Cripes. Enid having positioned herself as far away from the girl in order to avoid both the constant goosebumps she got from being in her presence and having to spend the briefing feeling like someone stuffed a pile of dead leaves in her nose

Once Cripes finished Enid hurried over to the track where she started jogging at her best impression of a human pace while most of her classmates were making their way either back inside or towards the grassy area to relax in the sun. no one seemingly interested in actually doing P.E other than Enid herself and Wednesday who Enid could faintly hear discussing something with Cripes. P.E was usually one of the few chances Enid got to actually let loose and work out some of the nervous energy that tended to build up in her body throughout the week. And with her parents still not home she’d really been looking forward to doing just that today. Another thing that Wednesday had managed to screw up for her.

Enid did however not plan on letting the human get completely in the way of her stress remedy as she turned off towards the woods once she’d made it a ways down the track. Quickly looking back to check that no one could really see her Enid started to pick up the pace until her legs started burning and she felt relieved to finally be using her muscles properly

As refreshing as the run was Enid also knew she couldn’t keep it up forever and started headed back towards the school grounds after going for what seemed like a solid chunk of class. Her gut feeling was confirmed when she emerged from the edge of the forest, making sure to adjust her speed again as she approached the track, and saw that most of the students had already retreated. The only exceptions being Wednesday who was doing some sort of training regiment and Bianca and Yoko who was apparently waiting for Enid to return. Bianca enjoying the sun while Yoko was very pointedly hiding in the shade of one of the trees surrounding their athletics area

“good run pup?” Yoko asked teasingly as Enid approached. Shooting her a look to say she knew that Enid hadn’t exactly followed the rules of acting human. As if the fact that she was currently covered in sweat wasn’t enough proof of said fact

“could have been longer” Enid shrugged making sure not to block Bianca’s sun as she walked over to Yoko. There being no telling how testy the girl was considering how short of a fuse she’d had yesterday

“you always say that you know” Yoko said patting on the grass next to her inviting Enid to sit which she declined with a small shake of her head. Preferring to stay standing for the time being

“not my fault I’m made for running all night” Enid shot back offering a small smile so Yoko knew she nothing was up other than her enjoying the feeling of her legs being worn out

Yoko just shrugged and returned to what she’d been doing before Enid arrived. Which had apparently been spying on Wednesday as she ran through whatever exercises Cripes had asked her to do. Which at the moment seemed to be running half assed laps between to neon colored cones

“he’s had her doing that for literal ages” Yoko said when she noticed that Enid was also looking Wednesday’s way “and before that it was yoga and spear throwing. Girl is either gonna figure out the secret or just think we have the world’s worst P.E teacher”

“not his fault for not having a human ready program prepared” Bianca commented from the ground “although it has been fun watching her skitter about”

“okay it’s weird having you sound more than me” Yoko scoffed looking over at Bianca

“Sirens can be dangerous too” Bianca stated matter of factly

“and here I thought you were just big singing fish” Yoko grinned which earned her a glare from Bianca who was clearly about to say something back before Enid cut in

“and I think the human is totes gonna hear you” Enid said hurriedly nervously bouncing on her heels since Wednesday had in fact stopped running her laps and had noticed the three of them looking her way

“…you’re off the hook for now fangs” Bianca muttered as she noticed Wednesday looking their way as well

“off the hook? Okay you can’t tell me that one wasn’t on purp- hey!” Yoko exclaimed her joke having been cut off by Enid hurriedly leaning down and slapping the back of her head

“thank you” Bianca sighed before pushing herself off the ground and climbing to her feet “now lets go. Enid’s got to get hosed down unless we want to deal with the smell of sweaty dog for the rest of the day”

Enid was about to protest at the insult but decided against in order to not draw any more attention to them with Wednesday this close. Plus in Bianca’s defense she had gotten pretty sweaty. So instead Enid simply followed Bianca back towards the locker rooms while Yoko was following along still half whispering absolutely horrible fish puns

After getting cleaned up and dressed Enid actually felt halfway decent for the first time in the past few days. The run and subsequent shower having done her more good than she had anticipated as the three of them were making their way towards their ancient philosophy class. The only class that almost their entire friend group had together since it was an elective they’d all chosen. Well, all except for Kent who’s AP history class had gotten in the way of him taking it

Enid’s good mood was however brief as the announcement system clicked to life when they were about halfway to class

“will Enid Sinclair please report to principal’s office” the secretary’s voice rang out making Enid stop in her tracks with Bianca and Yoko following suit both looking questioningly at Enid

“the hell did you do Sinclair?” Bianca asked sounding downright shocked that Enid of all people were being called up to speak with Weems

“I… I don’t know” Enid said racking her brain trying to figure out what might be going on Did Wednesday actually report her for the credit card thing? Or? “do you think Cripes told on me?”

“not unless you went like… full wolf out there” Yoko said after craning her neck to make sure Wednesday wasn’t following behind her

“har har” Enid deadpanned so Yoko knew she wasn’t being helpful. Not like Enid was going to wolf out at 8:25 in the morning. If she ever managed to do it at all that was

“had to check” Yoko shrugged with a smile “now you seriously don’t want to keep that woman waiting for longer than necessary”

“oh yeah sure” Enid said before starting to turn around to make her way towards the office “see you guys after class?” She asked which both Bianca and Yoko confirmed as Enid started to walk away. Catching the tail end of Bianca chastising Yoko for how often she’d been called to the office

Making her way to the office Enid was ushered through by the secretary almost as soon as she’d sat foot inside the door and soon found herself carefully closing the door behind her and facing Weems who was sitting behind her desk smiling at her. The woman making every bit of furniture around her seem small in comparison in a way that even Enid’s uncle didn’t manage

“ah yes mrs Sinclair” Weems greeted warmly “please, have a seat” she continued gesturing towards the two chairs situated in front of the desk. Enid picking the left one at random and sitting down focusing on maintaining eye contact with the woman and not looking as nervous as she felt

“there’s no need to be scared, you’re not in trouble” Weems said as if she’d been reading Enid’s mind “I just wanted to talk with you” Weems used the tip of her pen to push a small bowl of sweets further along the desk towards Enid who reached over and grabbed one but didn’t eat it just yet

“so how are you adjusting to these new developments?” Weems asked the warm smile still plastered across her face in a way that seemed unnatural simply because Enid wasn’t used to seeing her look like this. Weems’ usual smile being a resigned polite one mostly put on to please others

“fine… I guess” Enid said carefully not really sure what Weems wanted her to say or why she was even asking Enid about this in the first place. Unless Wednesday really did report her and this was Weems’s weird way of giving her a chance to come clean “it’s no different than being in town”

“that’s nice to hear” Weems said starting to absentmindedly fiddle with her pen “and things are alright here? And at home?” Weems continued making Enid’s eyes flick down to focus on the pen in her hands as she got a sudden sinking feeling what this meeting was actually about

“yeah” Enid said just a tad to quickly judging by way Weem’s smile dropped ever so slightly before she pulled herself together and folded her hands together

“of course. It’s just that we’ve tried getting ahold of your parents concerning this recent development but we’ve only been able to contact your older brother Jeremiah?” Weems still had the same smile on her face but Enid had no trouble hearing the way her tone of voice had changed. She didn’t sound angry or annoyed but rather like she was trying to lead Enid in the right direction with her questions

“and he didn’t seem to be able to say where exactly your parents were” Weems continued letting the unsaid question hang in the air between them

“they’re travelling for work” Enid said swallowing thickly suddenly feeling very sweaty under Weems’ gaze “they got an offer up north and had to go for a few days”

“of course. One has to go where the work is” Weems said with a small huff in what was probably an attempt at being reassuring “where exactly did they go?”

“they didn’t say exactly where” Enid tried her best to sound calm even though her heart was beating at about a thousand miles per minute “but they did leave a number for the hotel that we could call just in case” Enid lied through her teeth when Weems’ expression made it clear she wasn’t satisfied “plus they should be home by Monday” Enid finished really hoping that would be enough for Weems not to ask her to provide the very much fake number she’d just made up

“well of course” Weems said with a smile after a few seconds “we’ll have to try and contact them then”

Enid blinked a few times the words not quite registering with her until she realized she’d also forgotten to breathe and she had to take a sudden breath to make her lungs stop being angry with her. She really had to work on getting better at lying

“and if anything urgent comes up we can always reach out to your uncle Jedediah” Weems added with a small nod

“oh no you don’t need to disturb uncle Jed” Enid quickly spurted out “he has enough going on with-“

“with the full moon. We know dear” Weems finished Enid’s sentence for her with a small nod. Enid nodding along as well. Neglecting to mention that she was kind of more concerned about the fact that her parents probably hadn’t told her uncle that they were leaving rather than him having to prepare for the full moon

“Now that that’s settled” Weems said making her meaning clear before raising an eyebrow towards Enid “unless you had any questions of course?”

“nono I’m good” Enid said quickly shaking her head before slowly getting up from the chair and turning towards the door

“have a good mrs. Sinclair” Weems said as Enid opened the door. Having already shifted her focus back towards the paperwork on her desk. Her warm demeanor exchanged for the no nonsense attitude that Enid knew. Which strangely enough helped Enid calm down somewhat as she nodded in response and hurried out of the room and past the secretary

Trying to calm herself by breathing deeply as she walked back down the hallway Enid had maybe half a second’s notice when her nostrils were suddenly filled with the scent of rotting leaves just as she reached the end of the hallway. Wednesday turning the corner at the exact same time with Enid barely managing to stop before they collided

However much to Enid’s surprise Wednesday reacted almost even faster than her and managed to half step, half pirouette out of the way much more nimbly than when she’d been tackled yesterday. Wednesday looking at Enid questioningly clearly surprised at her presence

“shouldn’t you be in class?” Enid almost spat out before Wednesday had a chance to say anything herself. Enid having already been a pretty crappy mood before the goosebumps and shivers that usually accompanied Wednesday’s presence made it worse

“I have no obligation to explain myself to you” Wednesday responded coldly raising her eyebrow slightly in response to Enid’s hostility “and I could ask you the same”

“I… had to talk with Weems” Enid sighed after a few seconds of trying to justify her anger towards the other girl. Who in reality hadn’t done anything to her other than giving her a bad vibe. And kind of accused her of stealing but Enid was willing to forgive that

“I thought you weren’t in the mood for talking with the principal?” Wednesday said and Enid could swear she saw the shadow of a smirk on the girl’s lips as she asked. Was she sassing her?

“she didn’t exactly give me much of a choice” Enid sighed willing to bury the axe but not quite sure how to act normally around this girl. Which might be partly because compared to human Wednesday, Enid was very much abnormal

“I have a free period” Wednesday solved Enid’s conundrum of how to continue the conversation as well as apparently answering why she wasn’t in class “I have a lot of credits from my old school so my schedule is empty a lot of the time” she continued to elaborate

“but they’re still making you take P.E?” Enid scoffed considering how downright pointless a lot of the exercises Cripes had made Wednesday do seemed

“I asked to take it. I like keeping active” Wednesday shrugged Enid biting her cheek at how she’d still somehow managed to half insult Wednesday without meaning to

“yeah it’s nice” Enid responded “keeping active I mean. I like it too”

Wednesday just nodded in response leaving the two of them self in silence again before Wednesday gestured the way Enid had come from

“I do have to get going”

“oh yeah of course sorry” Enid said not really sure what she was apologizing for as she moved to make sure she wasn’t in the way despite Wednesday having plenty of room to get by as she walked past Enid with a nod and made her way the hallway leaving Enid alone feeling a mix between happy that the two of them were apparently on somewhat good terms but beating herself up that she’d still somehow managed to be as awkward as usual

In the end Enid’s meeting with Weems took too long for her to get to class in time. If you factored in the time she spent getting ahold of herself in the hallway that is. So instead, Enid waited for them in the cafeteria so they could meet up for lunch. Which was meatloaf today which Enid was a hell of a lot more excited about than veggie lasagne. Why did they even do vegetarian days when there were so many carnivores at the school?

Not long after Yoko and Bianca trudged over along with Kent and Divina who were all way too excited to hear what Weems had wanted with her. Enid did her best to dismiss the questions until she had the chance to quietly explain what had happened to Yoko who in her usual protective fashion took the hint and managed to change the subject onto something she’d heard Mayhiew say earlier in P.E

Other than that lunch definitely helped lift Enid’s spirits as all of made their way through their meals. Divina moving over next to Enid to discuss a new song she’d heard the other day which she thought Enid might enjoy. The move also helped in getting her out from between Yoko and Bianca who were getting a pretty heated discussion about the new star wars show that had dropped recently. Kent was apparently acting as a moderator but Enid had a feeling he was just enjoying the chaos

“okay there’s like twenty minutes till class and I’m dying for a smoke” Yoko said Bianca groaning at the joke as Yoko got up from the table and turned back to face the rest of them

“come on chop chop let’s go people” Yoko hurried them along throwing her arms out to the side to accentuate her point. She had however not checked her surroundings as she did and managed to get within an inch of hitting Wednesday, who once again pirouetted away from the contact with surprising speed

Enid had just enough time to think that Wednesday had a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time when Yoko suddenly jolted away from the shorter girl curling in on herself as she did

“OW FUCK THAT BURNS!” Yoko suddenly exclaimed making Enid bolt to her feet as well as most of the cafeteria turning their heads to see what the ruckus was about

Enid was at Yoko’s side in seconds and it didn’t take long for her to see what had made her friend scream. An angry looking burn that was still slowly expanding across Yoko’s hand as she was gripping her own wrist for dear life

Instinctually Enid turned towards and almost caught herself growling at the girl before she got ahold of herself. Wednesday hadn’t meant to hurt Yoko and honestly looked as surprised as anything at what was going on. What was more likely was that Wednesday as the literal only student at Nevermore was wearing something silver which Yoko had brushed against when she almost hit the girl

Turning her focus on how to not make this blow the school’s cover Enid instead leaned in towards Yoko frantically trying to come up with a way to hide the literal burn wound spreading across her friend’s wrist. Enid knew it would clear itself up in a couple of minutes but there was no telling if they’d be able to hide it from that long. And Enid was pretty sure there wasn’t a normie explanation for sudden third degree burns

Enid halfway noticed someone moving next to her but since she knew Wednesday was still behind her, based on the general direction of her goosebumps, she didn’t pay it much mind until Bianca’s voice suddenly rang out beside her

“Everything is alright. Leave. Now”

Enid caught herself almost making a beeline for the cafeteria doors having to almost literally shake her head to force the compulsion to go away despite the fact that the order hadn’t even been directed at her. She spared at quick glance towards Bianca, who looked as surprised at her own actions as Enid felt, before looking back towards Wednesday, half expecting the girl to be sprinting out of the room with how hard Bianca’s song had hit

But instead Enid saw that Wednesday hadn’t moved an inch and was instead standing stock still staring at Bianca with a raised eyebrow as if she was merely confused at what the other girl had been trying to achieve. Which now meant that they still had to come up with an explanation for Yoko’s wound, which still wasn’t freaking healing

“is she allergic to silver?” Wednesday suddenly interrupted Enid’s thoughts making her turn around and face her. Grabbing Yoko’s wrist to cover the burn as she did. Ignoring the small whimper the vampire made at the contact

“uhm… yeah. It’s pretty bad” Enid mumbled a bit confused that Wednesday was offering up an explanation to the issue herself and not even questioning how seriously weird the entire situation was

“my apologies, I was unaware” Wednesday continued either not noticing or pointedly ignoring the way Enid was still holding on to Yoko’s wrist “the nurse might have some antihistamines if she needs them”

“uhm yeah we were gonna take her now” Enid played along despite knowing that their nurse definitely did not have antihistamines since only like two students were in any way susceptible to allergies. But much to Enid’s surprise it seemed to work as Wednesday nodded before dashing off in her usual fashion. Weaving around the people who’d gotten up to see what was going on

“you okay?” Enid asked Yoko once she was sure Wednesday was out of Earshot. Letting go of her wrist as well which Yoko seemed very thankful for

“yeah… I’m fine. But shit it hurts” Yoko said lifting her wrist up to inspect it “like is she wearing something from the Vatican vaults? I mean look at this”

Yoko finished her sentence by holding her hand out towards Enid who had to agree that the burn was pretty bad. There seemed to be a clear indent almost seared into Yoko’s wrist that looked like it outlined whatever it was that Yoko had brushed against. The mark looking like a half circle with a square part at the top. On top of that most of the skin around the mark itself had blistered up as well. But at the very least it looked like the burn had stopped spreading or blistering up further

Although Enid’s relief was momentary as she looked around only to finally notice Bianca standing stock still with an unreadable expression on her face. Still staring at the spot where Wednesday had been standing moments earlier

“are you okay?” Enid asked again definitely sharing somewhat in Bianca’s shock that Wednesday had somehow managed to shake off her song like that

“she didn’t even move” Bianca muttered after a few seconds finally looking away but still looking disheveled. Kent and Divina were likewise looking shocked behind her which Enid thought made sense since they’d always said that Bianca was the more powerful of the bunch.

“maybe you’re just getting rusty” Yoko joked while she cradled her wrist. Enid wanting to tell her that Bianca definitely hadn’t been anywhere near rusty since she’d almost made Enid double time her way out of the room. Yoko having not felt the effects since compulsions like that tended to slide off the undead rather easily

“also Weems is gonna kill you when she hears you sang at a human” Yoko continued. Enid shooting her a glare since she was in no way helping the mood

The rest of the day was spent with all of them anxiously waiting for the hammer to drop. All of them almost taking turns trying to lighten the mood but there being a clear feeling that they were just waiting for Bianca, or all of them, to be called to the principal’s office

However the end of the day came along without anyone really breathing a word about what had happened. The rest of the student body having apparently found some semblance of solidarity as no one had tattled to the teachers and the only attention they issue got was Yoko’s English teacher asking about the wound which Yoko blamed on staying in the sun too long. Which the teacher thankfully bought clearly not knowing what it looked like when a vampire got sunburned

So the group tentatively parted after school. The group chat already starting to blow up less than an hour later as they started talking about what they’d been too scared to mention at school out of fear that someone would overhear. Bianca and Divina were understandably more than a little creeped out about Wednesday’s immunity while Kent was trying to explain it with theories that Weems could have put some sort of protection charm on Wednesday in case of situations like this. Yoko was exclusively complaining about how much her wrist still hurt and how she was going get her blood on once she got home in order to heal up

Luckily people seemed to slowly relax about the whole thing and come evening the chat had descended back into it’s usual chaos of genuinely horrible memes and in-jokes. All started by Yoko sending a selfie of her sipping out of swirly straw which everyone then agreed was definitely the worst way for her to go about that. Considering what everyone knew was in the cup

As Enid woke up Saturday morning, having gone to bed way too late Friday because she was still too nervous to sleep, it didn’t take her more than a few second to notice that something was different in the house. At first she wasn’t sure what it was that felt different until the sound of plates clacking together made her wake up enough to notice the smell of bacon frying

Enid sat up in bed and sniffed the air again to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. But no, someone really was making breakfast. And considering none of her brothers could even approach a stove without starting a fire there was only really one explanation. Which was why Enid hurried out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats before making her way out to the kitchen

Much as she’d thought her mom was busy cooking as Enid walked into the kitchen. Looking up from the pan briefly as Enid entered the room

“good to see you awake” her mom remarked as Enid made her way to the fridge. Thankful to see that it had finally been properly restocked before grabbing the jug of OJ to pour herself a glass

“had a late night” Enid mumbled ignoring the slightly disapproving tone in her mom’s voice as well as not commenting on the fact that it was barely ten on a Saturday so she’d hardly slept in

“Jeez Enid you could at least try to sound like you’re glad to see me” Her mom chastised as Enid unscrewed the cap on the juice. Thankful that she had her back to her mom so she couldn’t see the face she was pulling

“I am glad to see you” Enid sighed her relief that her parents were home already being replaced by the usual frustration at having to deal with them. But at least she could escape that by leaving the house “where’s dad?”

“oh he’s still sleeping. We were on the road till late” Enid’s mom said gesturing in the general of the bedrooms. Where Enid knew for a fact that both of her brother’s were also still sleeping but they definitely weren’t going to be criticized when they got up

“how was the work?” Enid asked only really having half a grasp about where her parents had been and what they’d been doing. Her best guess it had been something construction related under the table since dad’s strength usually made him good for that

“ugh just horrible. Had us working for days and then barely paid half of what they’d promised” Her mom tsked and Enid couldn’t stop herself from pulling a face which her mom clearly noticed with the way her own face fell “oh don’t look at me like that Enid you know what it’s like out there”

“I wasn’t doing anything mom” Enid sighed

“oh I’m sure we’re out there doing our best for you and when we get back you can’t even show a little gratitude?” Her mom shook her head frantically flipping pieces of bacon so the grease started flying across the table

“I’m not…” Enid started before giving up on defending herself knowing that it wouldn’t do anything anyhow “did you talk to Jeremy?” she said instead trying to steer away from her mom’s rant

“oh no he had to go as soon as we got here. You know how it is Enid”

Enid did in fact know how it was. Her parents having to jet at a moments notice and expecting Jeremy to take off from work to watch her and their brothers for days on end despite the fact that he was risking getting fired. Which would mean he’d loose his apartment as well and would have to move back home. Not that their mom would mind since that would just mean more free babysitting. But Jeremy had worked his ass off to get that job and she didn’t even care

“the school’s been calling” Enid said making it clear that’s why she wanted to know whether Jeremy had said anything. Her mom impatiently gesturing for her to go on

“they wanted to talk to you guys about them letting the human into the school” Enid said taking a bit of pleasure in how her mom almost dropped the fork she was using as her back shot up ramrod straight

“they let that hu... hussy into your school?” into your school her mom asked turning around to face Enid. Who was wondering what in the world she had been planning on saying that was worse than calling Wednesday a hussy “last we heard they were sure it wouldn’t have to happen”

“guess they changed their mind” Enid shrugged taking a sip of her juice as she watched her mom go through all five stages of grief in front of her “I told principal Weems you guys would be home monday so she’ll probably call you then”

“well I guess I can give that woman a piece of my mind then” Her mom shook her head before pulling the bacon out of the pan “I can’t believe your uncle let something like that happen”

“Uncle Jed knew?” Enid raised an eyebrow considering she’d seen her uncle just a few weeks ago on his way to one of the school board meetings and he certainly hadn’t seemed nervous. Which he was usually even worse at hiding than her

“oh he’s one of the few people who had the common sense to go against the suggestion” her mom said kissing her teeth in disapproval “now go tell your brother’s there’s breakfast. And don’t wake your dad”

Enid sighed but put her glass down on the table and dutifully went to get her brothers assuming her usual role of errand girl for her parents

__________________________________________________________________________

The rest of Enid’s weekend was spent getting to clean most of the house which they’d apparently not done to her mom’s standards as well as her dad asking for her help with the yard sunday afternoon. The latter of which Enid didn’t actually mind as much as it was nice spending time with her dad as well as getting to actually move her body. But all in all it meant that she was more than a bit worn out come monday which certainly didn’t go unnoticed by neither her friends or teachers

Tuesday was hardly anymore promising as her phone reminded of the full moon that night. Although it was hardly necessary as Enid had barely gotten out of bed before her mom reminded her that she was on house sitting duty later while the rest of the family went out. Her mom not outright saying why they were going or why Enid couldn’t come but also making sure that both of them knew exactly why

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on perspective) Yoko had apparently decided that she wasn’t about to let Enid mope about it. A fact she made very clear seconds after Enid sat down in homeroom

“okay so” Yoko started after physically grabbing Enid and turning her towards herself “I’ve talked to the others and we’re thinking dinner at the Weathervane tonight followed by the cave”

“I can’t I’m on housesitting duty” Enid sighed

“yeah no duh girl we know that. That’s how we’re gonna get you out without parental supervision” Yoko said as if that was the most painfully obvious thing in the world

“my mom is going to freak if she finds out I ditched” Enid continued to resist although she was somewhat warming up the idea

“yeah and your mom is also going to be out in the woods till like 5am along with your dad and brothers” Yoko huffed “I’m pretty sure we can have you home in bed before that”

“... ask me after my english class?” Enid suggested trying to gauge whether she both wanted to go out tonight and also because she knew if anything was gonna drain her batteries today it was going to be english with mr. Carter while having to be in the same room as Wednedsay

“you gotta go sniff Wednesday before deciding?” Yoko said with a smirk followed by a laugh as Enid felt her cheeks heat up the accusation

“I don’t sniff.... you know you suck” Enid protested not happy about having to deal with dog jokes from both Bianca and now Yoko as well

“yeah no duh” Yoko said flashing her fangs before dissolving into a fit of giggles when Enid just rolled her eyes at her

In the end Enid ended up agreeing to let Yoko drag her out for the night. More than happy to play the reluctant victim until all five of them were sitting in booth at the Weatervane. Enid happily devouring a burger while Bianca recounted something that had happened earlier in class. Leaving Divina and Yoko in tears while Kent sat back and rolled his eyes at them. The entire thing almost being enough to make Enid forget what she was currently missing out on with her family and pack out in the woods

After dinner, which for Enid had been her burger along with an extra side of fries and a banana split, all consumed with Bianca side eying the amount of food Enid was shovelling inwards, the group started making their way towards the edge of downtown to their usual hangout

Said hangout, or the batcave as Kent had started calling it a couple of years ago, was actually just the roof of an abandoned building that they’d found a way onto. The way up entailing Yoko and Enid scaling the wall before leaning over the edge to pull the rest of the gang up. Hardly a smooth entrance, especially considering how they usually got down, but it also meant that they were left alone since anyone else would need a ladder to follow them.

Over the years Yoko and Enid had even managed to cart a few amenities up there as well, mainly chairs and an old table, and last year they’d even managed to get an old couch up there that someone had left out on the sidewalk for free. All in all it made for a pretty great hangout for the five of them

“how about we get this party started then?” Bianca said once all of them had gotten situated on the various chairs. Enid raised an eyebrow at the girl as she pulled off her backpack and unzipped it before pulling out a sixpack of beer that made everyone present ooh in excitement. Sans Enid who still hadn’t gotten around to actually liking beer

“oh no thanks I’m go-” Enid started before Bianca interrupted her by holding up a finger as she stuck her hand back into the backpack

“don’t worry princess I got you covered” Bianca said as she pulled a small bottle of cider out before tossing it to Enid who only just managed to catch it. Glaring at Bianca as she passed out the beers to everyone.

“I hereby declare operation distract Enid with food a success” Bianca smirked as she popped open her beer followed quickly by the rest of the gang

“you know not every problem I have can be solved by feeding me” Enid grumbled as she pulled the cap off her bottle. Only remembering to check if it was a twist off after she already had the very much standard bottle cap in her hand

“I’ll believe that when I see it” Bianca shrugged before taking a sip which Yoko loudly agreed to while she also placed her legs across Enid’s lap making her almost spill her Cider all over herself. Enid declined to respond to either of them and instead just rolled her eyes and took a sip of her cider

“so” Bianca said looking between each of them “how fucked is the school on a scale of 1-10?”

“Well there’s a human running around on school grounds” Yoko said sounding so fake casual that it made Divina giggle

“and the teachers have no idea how to reorganize classes to deal with that” Kent said sourly. He’d been pretty pissed off all weekend that his AP history class had more or less been reduced to a free period since no one at school apparently knew how to teach history without making references to non-human events and people. Making the entire curriculum a no-go as long as Wednesday was at the school

“not a great start” Bianca nodded seriously as if she was some judge considering a verdict “anything else?”

“they’re now making all students get food in the cafeteria even if they can’t eat it?” Yoko offered which Enid had actually been wondering about since Yoko had started sitting with either a bottle of water or some sort of food during lunch

“another good contestant” Bianca agreed before taking another sip of her beer “if that is all I’m sorry to say that we’re not even halfway through the semester and the school is already completely fucked”

“hear hear!” Yoko exclaimed raising her can in the air excitedly

“wasn’t it on a scale of 1 to 10?” Kent asked from his spot in the old lawn-chair

"let’s call it a nine then” Bianca shrugged

“wait what’s a ten then?” Enid asked

“school could be on fire” Divina suggested with a smirk

“that’s it. If the normie sets the school on fire it’ll officially be a ten out of ten” Bianca declared

“okay but what if Yoko sets the school on fire?” Divina giggled

“eh nine point five” Bianca said after a small pause making all of them giggle

__________________________________________________________________________

They ended spending several hours nursing their drinks and shooting the shit about how crazy the last few days had been. By the time they decided it was probably time for them to go home it was definitely way past 10 and Enid was suddenly real happy that her parents usually spent the full moon over at her Uncle’s rather than at home. Something she appreciated even more as she approached her house and it was definitely pushing 12

However before Enid reached the door a breeze blew over her and she suddenly stopped to sniff the air. She hadn’t noticed on her way down the road, but there was definitely an unknown scent being carried on the breeze. Something alive, animalistic and foreign that was coming from the forest

Enid was about to shrug and blame it on a new pack of wolves that might have followed her parents scent from wherever they’d been staying when she suddenly caught a whiff of another much more familiar scent. Raind and rotten leaves

Enid wasn’t entirely sure why she started moving through the forest. Or why she sped up into a jog once she reached the first few trees. Something about the thought of Wednesday walking around in a forest with some new unknown animal just didn’t sit right with her. Along with the fact that there were at the very least 4 fully transformed werewolves running around the forest as well which Wednesday really did not want to run into

Luckily Wednesday was definitely upwind from Enid so following her scent wasn’t exactly difficult, And it wasn’t long before Enid caught sight of the girl who was making her way through the forest. Seemingly coming from the direction the town although Enid wasn’t quite sure where she was going since the forest continued for several miles in the direction the girl was moving. Until you reached Danport, the closest town in the immediate area

As she approached Enid must have stepped on something without noticing it as Wednesday suddenly turned towards her obviously surprised to see anyone else out there. Enid in turn froze in place as well surprised that Wednesday had heard her since humans were usually easier to sneak around

“uhm hey” Enid waved slightly which Wednesday didn’t respond to except for glaring at Enid. Who thought that the other girl might be considering jumping her although she wasn’t sure since Wednesday's default expression was pretty hostile

“Sorry I didn’t mean to sneak up on you I just...” Enid started before glancing over her shoulder and realizing she’d run so far into the forest that there was no normal way to explain how she’d known Wednesday was out back from her house

“I was cutting through here on my way home and saw you” Enid quickly changed her story

“and you’re new so I just wanted to warn you that there’s like a lot of wild animals out here?” Enid continued flashing Wednesday a small smile who was now looking at least a little less murderous

“I’m aware” Wednesday said followed by an awkward silence where Enid was waiting for her to continue

“I assure you I’m being plenty careful” Wednesday said gesturing toward one of her legs where Enid suddenly noticed that she had what looked like a pretty serious knife strapped on. The handle reminding Enid of one of her uncle’s hunting knives

“oh... yeah” Enid said very much surprised that Wednesday had something like that but also doubting that it would do her much good if she ran into one of Enid’s brothers... or her mom. Some of her fears were however placated when she suddenly noticed that whatever strange scent she’d noticed earlier had disappeared

As if she noticed the change as well Wednesday glanced in the direction she’d been going when Enid surprised her and sighed before turning back towards Enid

“I should probably get going then. Since it’s so dangerous out here” Wednesday said to which Enid nodded a few times

“yeah. I’ll see you at school then” Enid said

“of course. I’ll make sure to return your book” Wednesday said as she started to turn to walk away. Noticeably not in the same direction as she’d been going before

“oh you don’t have to. I’m still not really doing the assigned reading” Enid quickly reassured Wednesday kind of feeling like she owed the other girl one after sneaking up on in a dark forest

“shame. It's a good book” Wednesday said before starting to walk away and Enid could have sworn she saw the other girl smirk as she turned away fully. Leaving Enid standing alone in the forest feeling a little silly at having chased Wednesday down considering she could probably handle herself. Even if humans were so damn fragile

Enid was about to turn around and go back home shen she suddenly noticed a weird indent in the ground. Which upon closer inspection turned out to be a rather big pawprint pressed into ground. Enid quickly sniffed the air and looked around to make sure her family hadn’t been in the area without her noticing. But Enid was quite clearly alone out there, and she slowly realized that the print definitely didn’t look like it matched anyone she knew. It being around as big as her dad’s but deeper as if whatever had made it was heavier, as well the claws being noticeable longer than any wolf. Were or normal

Enid did a last check around herself before heading back home. Suddenly feeling a lot more uneasy about the weird scent from earlier