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Wednesday had never been fond of rules. There were natural rules, of course, laws of the universe. Those were different, and her family managed to subvert most of them anyway. But man-made rules were inherently flawed, and beyond that, annoying.
Her life had been a mess of rules since she had returned to Nevermore. It seemed the new principal had learned of Wednesday’s… adventures from the previous school year. While they had ultimately saved the school, people still acted the same around her.
She wasn’t magically a different girl, full to the brim with school spirit and a knack for socializing. No. She was still unashamedly herself. Which meant she was the automatic target of the new principal.
“Oh my god, can he even do this!?” Enid paced around their room, a frustrated growl slipping from her throat.
“He did,” Wednesday said from her desk, where she was still staring down at the paper she had been given in the principal’s office.
“Since you’re such a special student," the man had said to her. Wednesday had noticed how his thumb rubbed over the new officially recorded autism diagnosis on her papers, before he glared down at her disciplinary history, “I’ve compiled a list of special rules for you.” Wednesday had left the office as fast as possible with her new list of rules in hand.
“This is insane, Willa, he can’t possibly expect you to not leave the classrooms at all. What if you have to use the bathroom, or you’re bleeding or sick? There are no exceptions!”
“I know,” Wednesday said, rubbing her temples and looking back down at the warning at the bottom of the paper, which simply read, “I’ll be watching you. I’ll know if you step out of line.” Well. They’d have to see about that.
“So, do you have a plan?” Enid walked over and settled down beside her at the desk, peeking over her shoulder at the paper again.
“Don’t get caught?”
“You’d better not. Eugene tracks me down and follows me around whenever you’re in detention,” Enid put a hand on her shoulder, “you should rip up the list, it’s bullshit.” Wednesday stiffened slightly at the touch. But it felt nice. Enid’s touches always did, unlike everyone else’s.
“I never pegged you as the type to actively encourage someone to disobey authority. Particularly if that someone is me.”
“I follow fair rules,” Enid said, “these are insane, and you’re my friend. Of course I don’t want you to listen to them.”
“Selective rule-following. I must say, it suits you,” Wednesday put the paper away, meeting Enid’s eyes. They were soft, empathetic, and a little bit crazy all at once. Wednesday liked it when she was mildly unhinged, just like Enid liked it when Wednesday was mildly sociable. The best parts of themselves were rubbing off on the other person. Or the worst, it really depended on one's viewpoint.
Thing crawled onto Wednesday’s desk, officially reading the rules himself.
“You are to be in your room when you are not in class and will not leave the classroom between the time your classes start and end. You will sit in sight of teachers in the quad or the library during lunch hour. Furthermore, you are restricted from the more advanced reading offered in the library. You will stay in your room at night and you are never allowed in the woods.”
Yeah. The rules definitely weren’t going to work long-term.
She’d have to find a way to subtly subvert them, though. She couldn’t afford to get expelled. Her only other schooling option was homeschooling, and she would die of boredom in the process. She also did want to face the stinging sadness in her parent's eyes if it came to that.
And then there was Enid. And Eugene. And Xavier, kind of. Her friends of some sort. She enjoyed their company, at the least.
“Good night, Willa,” Enid said, walking over to her side of the room to sleep.
“Sleep well,” Wednesday said absentmindedly, beginning to plan various ways to sneak out of the room over the coming nights. There had been a few robberies in town. Nothing major, or even very interesting, but something she wanted to investigate nonetheless. And nobody would keep her from it. She fell asleep around midnight, Thing laying on her nightstand with his own small pillow that Enid had made him.
She let her mind settle and pushed thoughts about the rules and robberies aside for later, closing her eyes. She slept, but she didn’t rest, something common enough for her.
He still haunted her dreams, no matter how many times the battle played out in her mind. She’d been face-to-face with him before, a killer, and hadn’t known it. That was the infuriating part. But not the scary part.
No. What wrapped the slightest tendril of terror up her spine was when his face flashed through her mind while she slept. That look in his eyes.
He was a predator.
And she had almost died.
Flashes of blue and red and white plagued her dreams, so vivid that she could easily mistake it for a vision. She had mistaken a nightmare for one before, when she had once called her mother as panicked as she ever got after dreaming of her father’s death, in what was now one of the most embarrassing moments of her life that she was slowly attempting to block out of her mind.
She woke up with her body feeling heavy and her stomach feeling tight, getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. Enid currently wasn’t in the room, Wednesday checking the time by tapping on her roommate’s bright pink tablet that she had left hanging haphazardly over the edge of her desk. It was much later than she usually awoke. But she still had enough time to get ready for her classes.
She briefly thought she might be ill after her hands shook as she dressed. But she didn’t have the heavy, fuzzy feeling behind her eyes that always came with illness. She had overslept. That was all there was to it. The door to the room opened right after Wednesday finished getting ready, and Enid entered, carrying two plates,
“Oh, good, you’re awake. You finally slept like a normal person today and didn’t go and play your cello at sunrise while your poor unsuspecting roommate tries to sleep. Thank you so much,” Enid said, setting the plates down, “I got stuff we both like, we can share.”
“Oh,” Wednesday said quietly, Enid giving her a wide smile in response,
“I also got strawberries for Thing to play with.” They watch Thing roll the strawberries around while they ate. “Gotta go meet Yoko,” Enid said once she was done, “I’ll see you in English today, right?”
“Probably.” Enid nodded and rushed off, gone as soon as she had arrived, it seemed. Wednesday would never understand her energy. However, she did know that Enid had a note of ADHD on her file where Wednesday’s had said autism, though.
Wednesday, realized where the exhaustion was coming from the moment she sat down in her first class and was officially trapped, of course. There was a sickening sliding feeling between her legs as she sat. Heavy and wet. She was bleeding.
Wednesday didn’t particularly mind menstruation in of itself. Though the side effects were often annoying, it equally as often let hormones conjure up a perfect morose mood for righting.
But the feeling of her own blood sliding between her legs and sticking to her skin below the waist for hours on end was not a pleasant sensation. She gritted her teeth and looked over at the teacher, who was already addressing the class. Okay. She couldn’t leave. Rather, she wasn’t allowed to leave.
Wednesday scanned the room, taking note of the windows and their placement. The tight feeling in her stomach grew greater as she did so, and she swallowed, sitting on her feet and staring at the piece of paper the teacher had passed out. Right. A quiz. She’d be fine. Wednesday didn’t try hard at all in school. She didn’t have to. She’d learned most of the topic ahead of time in her own research or was able to pick up on them much faster than the other kids when they were taught.
She did the quiz, ignoring Xavier’s increasingly desperate signaling from behind her, until it grew too annoying to ignore,
“ Xavier, I am trying to focus, ” she hissed.
“I just need a pencil,” he said. She dug one out of her bag and was about to give it to him. But that look in her eyes made her briefly flash back to the look in Tyler’s.
Leering. Hungry. Predatory.
She threw the pencil at him. It stuck directly into his forehead.
And that was how she ended up in the principal’s office before the end of the first class. She sat down uncomfortably in the seat she had grown so accustomed to, her stomach doing its best impression of a rocking sea. She swallowed, looking out the window as the principal looked directly at her. There was the usual, “Ms. Addams, physical violence against another student is never acceptable.” She barely paid attention, trying to stop herself from rocking as his voice grew deeper and more displeased. Finally, he simply sighed,
“You only get one warning, Ms. Addams, step a toe out of line and I’ll bring your mother into this.” Wednesday almost snorted. That would have been a good threat to anyone other than her. She had full confidence that her mother could destroy the principal. Quite literally if she really wanted to. “Go off to your next class now. Hurry.” She got up and walked away, meant with the unfortunate feeling of a full bladder as she continued walking. She’d simply have to hold it.
She was dreading fencing. At least the darkness of her uniform would hide the blood.
It was with tired, heavy arms that she picked up her rapier once it was time for a mid-day practice. She performed as awfully as she expected, sitting down once it was over, her heart beating rapidly and sweat running down her face. She had never tripped over her own feet before in a fencing practice. She closed her eyes for a moment and was about to push herself up on her own when a hand was suddenly offered out to her. Bianca’s. She ignored it and stumbled to her feet.
“Addams. A word,” Bianca said. Wednesday followed her gaze to the door,
“I am currently not allowed to leave the room until the complete end of practice.” Bianca raised an eyebrow,
“That’s bullshit. You really going to listen to that?” There had been an uneasy peace between them since the events of Crackstone, Thornhill, and Tyler. A respect of some sort. Or a mutual understanding.
“At the moment, yes. In general? I’d rather slice open my own stomach and leave my intestines to rot in a field for the crows.”
“That’s a lovely mental image, thank you,” Bianca met her eyes, “you just having an off day or something? You definitely weren’t performing at your best today. And, hey, as much as I love naturally outshining you it isn’t nearly as exciting without some real competition.”
“I am fine,” Wednesday said.
“Uh-huh. Make sure you really are by the competition at the end of the week. Also,” Bianca pulled out her phone, holding out a picture that was posted on Instagram. Or Snapchat. Or Tik Tok. Wednesday still had no idea what the difference was, even with her own phone. Probably Instagram.
It was of her and Enid a few days after the battle on a bench inside the school, Enid’s head leaning on Wednesday’s shoulder. She winced. That had happened when Wednesday was slightly high from painkillers and Enid was slightly high from something other than painkillers, following Ajax’s encouragement for her to “experiment.”
“This has been circulating for a little while. Thought you might want a chance to defend your honor.”
“My honor doesn’t need defending, it is strong enough to fight its own battles,” Wednesday replied, her mind racing. Enid must have seen the picture. She was always on her phone looking at stuff from the other kids in the school. She didn’t care about the picture at all. But why hadn’t Enid told her?
“Please don’t die until after the competition,” Bianca walked off, Wednesday slowly taking her bag. Right. She had English class with Enid next. Her tired body gave her the slightest pleasure of relief as she walked in the direction of it.
The blood between her legs was unbearable now. Some of it had dried, but it had quickly been joined by newer, sticky blood. She could feel it with every slight movement she made. If she could slip into the restroom for a minute she could try to clean herself up. But she’d probably be late to class if she tried. The last thing she needed that night was detention.
Her legs had shifted from feeling heavy to aching from exertion. She couldn’t remember the last time things had been this bad. She let out a quiet sigh as she slipped into her seat. Enid wasn’t in the classroom yet. Her stomach hurt.
Wednesday’s body didn’t fully calm itself until Enid walked into the room and took her seat across the room with Yoko. Just her presence was enough for Wednesday. She did her best to half-listen to the teacher, wrapping her arms around her chest, which had also decided to ache.
She felt like the room was spinning around her, the swirling sensation in her stomach becoming unbearable. Even the slight rise and fall of her chest caused nausea to rush down her in waves. That wasn’t good.
She swallowed and pressed a hand to her mouth, the blood between her legs all the more apparent, the feeling of it sliding when she moved, pushing her already questionable sanity to the edge. It felt like scraping now, with the way some of it had dried. Wet scraping.
The teacher handed out the excerpts they’d been reading.
Scrape.
Rush.
Wednesday took out her pencil.
Scrape.
Rush.
She scanned over the paper, shifting in her seat.
Scrape.
Rush.
That was it. She could feel herself grow paler by the second, gritting her teeth as she felt more blood and tissue join the rest. She raised her head, swallowing again as she felt the urge to gag.
“Yes, Wednesday?” The teacher asked.
“I need to visit the restroom,” Wednesday replied, her hands shaking.
“I’m afraid you’re not supposed to leave the classroom during class. Can you wait until the break between classes?” Wednesday barely had time to rush to her next class, let alone stop in the bathroom during the short break between classes. She turned her head slightly, “I’m sorry, but -”
“-I really think you should let her go,” Enid said from across the room in a quiet voice, not loud enough to draw too much attention towards them, but still loud enough for the teacher to hear. She squinted at Enid, then nodded. Teachers usually listened to Enid much more than Wednesday, for fair reasons and not-so-fair ones. Enid quickly crossed the room and followed Wednesday out the door, ignoring the teacher’s yell for her to stay in the classroom while Wednesday left. “What’s the matter?” Enid asked once they were in the hallway. Wednesday took a deep breath, her legs shaking. She leaned back against the wall. Enid’s hand slowly moved toward her forehead.
“Stop,” she said. Enid stopped,
“You look sick, Willa, you’re even paler than usual.”
Wednesday took a deep breath, “do you have a pad, or a tampon, or something ?”
“Oh,” Enid’s eyes widened, “yeah, I do, I’ll go get a pad, they’re in my bag,” she ran back into the classroom and emerged with it, the teacher not protesting anymore. “Okay, the wrapping is pink but I promise it’s white.” Wednesday nodded and took it, freezing. If her face could grow any paler, it almost certainly did at that moment. Enid slid a small trash bin over with her foot, Wednesday doubling over and throwing up.
Whatever. She could handle vomiting. The annoying part was that it didn’t bring any relief to the nausea and pain in her stomach. And now some of it was on her dress and hair, another fun sensory experience.
“You okay?” Enid shifted over and brought herself into view again.
“Yes,” Wednesday said, “I will be, anyway.” She walked to the bathroom, aware of Enid standing in the doorway once she went inside. She sat down in one of the stalls and examined the mess. She definitely was going to have to retire her pants to wear only at home. Blood-stained clothing didn’t go over well in public, her family had found after a few incidents where they were reported.
She wiped blood from her legs with the rough toilet paper the bathroom provided, wincing at the new scraping sound, her body rocking for a minute. She’d have to wait until she was in her room to shower and truly clean up. The best she could do for now was just make things slightly more comfortable.
She glared at the outside wrapper of the pad and opened it, applying it and standing up after. It looked like she had just committed a murder. Her first day was always the heaviest, and she had just removed part of the accumulation from the entire day from her legs, thighs, and general area. She washed her hands after and walked back out. Enid was still standing there,
“All good?” She asked, giving Wednesday a warm smile. A ghost of a smile tickled her lips,
“Yes. We can go back now.”
“Okay, great! I want to punch the new principal in the face. Better yet, I want to see you or Bianca punch the new principal in the face. Or maybe I can just destroy him on my blog,” Enid rambled while they walked, waving to Thing, who was being intimate with a potted plant, waiting for them to officially leave class. Wednesday let out a quiet huff of amusement, going back into class.
She and Enid walked up to their room after, Wednesday immediately going to shower while Enid worked on what was presumably an entry to her blog. Wednesday washed the blood and vomit away completely, taking a moment to relish in the feeling of being free of unpleasant sensations. She got into her black nightgown and looked into the latest robberies in town on her phone while lying on her bed. Enid walked over, staring at her.
“Yes?” Wednesday asked, pushing herself up to sit.
“Any leads?” Enid flopped down beside her. Wednesday didn’t move away,
“I am still not entirely convinced that it isn’t my uncle. If it is, I suppose I should turn him in. He loves being in jail.”
“I’m not surprised,” Enid yawned, “I’m gonna guess that your day sucked?”
“Yes,” Wednesday admitted.
“I’m sorry. Is it better now?”
“Yes,” she nodded, curling an arm around her stomach as it started to tighten again. Enid stood up and got something from under the bed, Wednesday recognizing it as her heating pad.
“Here,” she offered it to her, then paused, “oh, wait a minute.” She wrapped the bright pink heating pad up in a black blanket, “there, either it’s more tolerable to your eyes or it will spontaneously combust into flames, I have no idea. Here, it plugs in. It’ll take a minute,” she plugged in the heating pad, gently and slowly placing it against Wednesday’s stomach once she deemed it warm enough to do so.
Wednesday couldn’t stop the content sigh that escaped her lips. Enid smiled, then yawned and threw her arms back, looking comfortable. Thing crawled over from the floor and settled down beside Enid. It was dark outside the windows and the room was calm.
“Good night, Willa,” Enid said.
“Sleep well,” Wednesday replied. Enid didn’t move back to her own bed. She stayed beside Wednesday, sprawled out, starting to growl in her sleep after a few minutes. Wednesday absolutely didn’t smile.
She closed her eyes herself, aware that everything was as it should be and she was comfortable at last.
For the first night in a long time, she didn’t have a single flashback in her sleep.
“The rules have been repealed.”
Wednesday stared at the simple piece of paper the principal had given her as she walked back to her room. She had been expecting to have to skirt around the rules for the rest of her time at Nevermore.
“Enid,” she called as she entered the room. Enid looked over at her from her desk, Wednesday holding out the paper for her. Enid squealed,
“OMG, I didn’t think it would actually work.”
“What would actually work?” Wednesday paused.
“Oh,” Enid looked up from the piece of paper she had been doodling on, “visiting the principal on a full moon while Bianca held him at swordpoint. She told me it would be very effective but I wasn’t sure.”
“That was you?” Wednesday said.
“Yep,” Enid turned around to completely face her. A mischievous grin was on her face, “and it worked too!” She went back to her doodling.
Wednesday felt her heart betray her and skip a beat.