Chapter Text
——May——
School takes a toll on all students during finals week and grades start to rise and fall like sound waves, hearing and seeing what you only want, instead of what’s actually there. The A’s and B’s turning into C’s and possibly D’s.
Joel is one of these students, probably one of the most ‘normal’ compared to the rest, or realistically speaking, he’s ’abnormal’. It’s gone unnoticed as time has gone on, as most students look human, sound human, and seem human, but there’s always a crack in the wall. Wednesday knows he’s practically a flat slab of sturdy concrete; his imperfect frame, brain, maybe even actions (because moving schools for a love you met when you were just a kid is definitely a very wise decision), but his surface and his core are all made up of a mixture of things that combine into one; nonetheless, his body is all made up the same. He is all human.
So then what is she?
——
Skies turn gray during the rainy season, but the sun finds its way through all the thick clouds to show a bit of sunshine. Joel still stands with an umbrella, even though there’s hope for a bright day.
Walking up from behind Joel, not very subtle, Enid comments on his umbrella, “Not very excited for the summer, are you?” She tilts her head
“Only——cautious for the rain,” he replies awkwardly as the two haven’t talked much since he arrived a couple of months ago (mainly framed by her small bits of jealousy produced by his automatic bond with Wednesday)
“There are bits of the sun coming out,” she points to some rays shining down from the clouds, “I doubt we’ll get crazy showers for the rest of today,” she adds,
“Then you’ll doubt that, but I don’t; I’ve got too many essays in my bag to let it get ruined because of folding this umbrella” Joel grips the handle, keeping it steady and away from Enids rainbow claws,
She gives him a look, like he’s a little crazy, and laughs, “Okay! I’ll let you do you, but using an umbrella meant for the rain in the sun is kinda weird,”
“This is a weird school, isn’t it?” A monotone voice pokes out from the opposite side of Joel, inching under the umbrella next to him.
“Well, you and Joel are,” she jokes, hands on hips
“We’re what?” Joel (mistakingly) asks,
“The weirdest couple in the weirdest school,” Enid smiles and Joel goes bright red as Wednesday stands next to him, barely even reacting that word now. Enid giggles as Joel turns away and waits for the crosswalk to turn green as he’s been doing, but Wednesday leans over past him and shoes off Enid, skipping off like a little kid.
“She does nothing but pry into other people’s business,” Wednesday sighs, unbothered by her comments, but aware of how Joel feels.
“She’s very—Well, she gets very personal” He stutters
“Yet bothered when it’s reciprocated,”
“—We shouldn’t gossip, she was here just a minute ago,” Joel whispers after a long moment, holding the umbrella over them, instead of himself
Wednesday eyes him from his shoulder and Joel stares back, both of them waiting for the other to admit that they actually enjoying talking about other people behind their backs; about the entire population of this school and what goes on beneath the surface when they say they don’t care; and they don’t verbally admit it, but there’s that look in their eyes that reflects off of one another. It’s so obvious.
——
“You’re seriously not going to study for finals? Which is in two days, may I remind you,” Xavier scolds Wednesday while walking in the halls on the way to breakfast,
“I know what I need to know, my grades are top tier, I don’t have anything to study,” Wednesday says nonchalantly
“I said that myself last semester and almost failed my math final, you should test yourself or ask one of the teachers for some material,” he reasons, stopping when she pauses at her locker for a book,
“That’d be similar to asking if I can study for the same material as pre-school math, nonetheless my teachers have given me everything they’ve possibly ever made, it’s all the same,” she shrugs,
“I—don’t think you even do math in pre-school?” Xavier ponders, still frustrated with Wednesdays train of thought,
“Exactly,” she stares at him and shuts her locker, turning away to head towards the cafeteria, and he blinks in confusion
“If you’re not studying, then why did you grab a book from your locker?” He catches up to her,
“It’s not for me,”
“You’re a tutor?”
“Not your tutor”
Wednesday walks into the cafeteria, ditching Xavier, and drops the book off at the table where Joel sits, papers and pencils scattered along with a computer and a charger plugged into the wall. He looks up and smiles before going back to writing on his worksheet, mimicking the video playing on the screen to study a math formula.
“I’ll grab you something from the line,” Wednesday says, turning around before he can deny her,
He stands up, almost going to stop her, but decides to fix his work area before she comes back with the food; she doesn’t really… enjoy a messy space. Messy can mean a lot, but generally, too much to the eyes. Color, texture, and amount, it feels like a tornado flew its way in and no one tried to prevent its damage, as Wednesday says. Giving into impulse; instinct.
You’re no animal, she once said, and he’s tried to be more…. human(?) ever since.
He piles the papers by subject and relevance; some of them are subtle reminders or small teacher comments, and some of them are straight-up study guides. He places them behind the computer since no one is sitting across from him, and grabs the book Wednesday placed on the table, ‘Glencoe Chemistry’ his worst subject yet. He flinches at the book, not sure where to put it since he’s been studying all this math just to avoid Chemistry altogether. He leaves the book where it is and sits back down with his paper and pen, doing practice problems for Pre-Calculus.
When Wednesday returns with a lunch tray in hand stacked with breakfast foods and 2 water bottles, she sits next to Joel and gives him some food, leaving the tray aside for trash.
She glances at the untouched chemistry book, “Still not too confident in stoichiometry math?”
He looks a bit defeated and shakes his head, “I mean, she gave me a synopsis when I got here, but now it’s the most complex problem I've ever seen, and I just can’t figure it out,” he exhales and itches his head through his curly black hair, “I’m just so confused,” he grips some strands of hair,
Wednesday taps his fingers, loosening them from his head, “She’s a stubborn teacher, all the kids in her class are either her favorite, or have bad grades, and you’re going to be neither of those,” she flips open to the stoichiometry section, finding the step by step procedure and going through them in a way that Joel can understand.
“The first number mentioned in a stoichiometry problem is always the first number you write down in an equation, everything else is determined by what the question is asking for,” she starts lowering his hands from his head while she continues to explain, “Also, unless it’s given, write out the balanced equation, it’ll help with balancing the amount of each compound or element in the final product,” Wednesday writes down a basic equation, or the most basic she can think of, and explains each step and portion to go through with her right hand, as her left-hand lays on top of his, restricting his bad habit.
When Joel understands something, he used to always be in doubt of it and still is, but now tries to prove his intelligence by repeating his version of it, usually, he gets it wrong, but it’s the thought that counts.
Every step she describes, he repeats what she says in his own words to figure out if he’s got it pieced together correctly; it’s more of like self-reassurance, but when he studies with her, it’s a good learning tool; and seems to help him out a lot even if it’s not that particular teachers version of doing things.
He looks at her, focused on the book and the paper on the table; her braids lay on her back, her bangs hover above her eyes, he posture is straight, but a little more relaxed, and her eyes stare pitch black at the work in front of her.
For a school full of abnormal people seeing Wednesday as an outcast, she’s probably one of the most normal to him.
Their own version of normal.