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“Can you tell me again why we’re out here in the middle of the night?”
“You know why,” Jinx grunted, from underneath the parked boat.
“It’s freezing!” Enid hissed.
“Well, we couldn’t just do this in the daylight—pass me the wrench,” she muttered, all the while blowing bubbles with her gum.
The blonde sighed and bent down to fetch the requested tool and pass it over to her new criminal friend. Why was she a psychopath magnet?
“Here you go,” she softly singsonged.
“Thanks, wolfie.” Jinx flashed a grin and blew a bubble as she took the wrench and swiftly slid back beneath the boat.
“So you’re doing this to impress a girl, right?” Enid wondered, balancing her weight back and forth on the balls of her feet.
“Yup, a blondie, just like yer’self,” Jinx replied and tossed the wrench aside, lithe fingers reaching for the screwdriver.
“Let me guess, she’s your roommate, too?” Enid bit her lip, smiling to herself. She wondered if they started out like Wednesday and her.
“Too?” Jinx shot back with that inquisitive tone that made Enid giggle.
“Me and Wednesday… um, we’re kinda close,” Enid said dreamily before quickly adding “but we still haven’t gone public or anything so… don’t tell anyone!”
“Oh, a secret romance?” Jinx finished doing whatever she was doing under the boat and sprung to her feet, with a wide smirk on her lips. “Saucy,” she wiggled her brows and nudged Enid’s side.
“Yeah, secret,” Enid punctuated, “tell me you won’t tell anyone.”
“Aw wolfie, gimme some credit, we’re friends now. Your secret’s safe with me,” Jinx grinned as she picked up her tools and swung the toolbox over her shoulder. “Now, let’s skedaddle, and bring you back to pigtails before she gets jealous.”
Enid rolled her eyes. As if Wednesday was capable of jealousy.
Walking side by side with the pyromaniac whiz kid, Enid was thankful for the turn of events that made their paths cross.
It hadn’t been Enid’s day, week, or month for that matter. But that was a different story.
It had been an ordinary Monday for the most part, a new start was always good, after an invigorating weekend, she was ready to tackle anything!
On Tuesday, Enid stared at her phone, a lump forming in her stomach as she re-read the anonymous comment on last night’s blog post.
‘You are really stupid if you think anyone cares about your opinion, stop gossiping about people and get a life. You’re pathetic.’
Rage bubbled and took control of her thumbs as she typed out a response.
‘Yeah? Who do you think you are to tell me what to do? It’s my blog, no one asked your opinion, people come here to read mine, loser.’
Without thinking too hard about it she sent the message and froze the thread to stop any new comments to be submitted beneath it.
How could people be so mean? Wiping the corner of her eye she went about her day. She wouldn’t let one stupid commenter ruin her week, like, who do they think they were? And why would Enid care about their opinion? She didn’t care, she could ignore them… If they weren’t so persistent. Not an hour went by when the anonymous hater under the guest name ‘accurate_wisdom’ struck again.
How self-absorbed could anyone be to call themselves accurate and wise while hiding their true identity to harass someone online? A coward was what they were.
They not only insulted her and her content, but they also started making fun of her grammar and spelling, pointing out obvious mistakes that Enid made, and others that were meant to be puns! How could someone be so tone-deaf and idiotic? She stayed up all night, replying to the accusations, and ended up deciding to delete some of the more hateful comments.
The next day she had a test that she’d completely forgotten to study for. And she was already doing terribly in her Botany class.
“I’m going to fail,” she groaned to herself, dropping her backpack on the tiled floor of the bathroom. “Ugh, stupid hater, with their stupid opinions. You hate my blog? Well good for you, just go away! No one made you read it!” She angrily opened the sink and sprayed water on her face. “I hate them, I hate them!” She whispered bitterly.
Breathing deeply, she glanced up at her weeping reflection. Ugh, she looked pathetic. Tearing multiple paper tissues, she roughly wiped away mascara–stained trails from her cheeks. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Who’s stupid?” A soft raspy voice asked over her shoulder and Enid all but jumped out of her skin.
All the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she jerked forward and grasped the sink, turning around to hiss at her furtive companion.
A short, foxy blue-haired girl watched her with wide, curious eyes, that seemed to glow an unnatural shade of pink.
“Sorry,” Enid stammered, retracting her claws and rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, “I was just talking to myself, I’ve had sort of a rough week.”
The girl made a soundless ‘ah,’ nodding in understanding as she stepped closer and took Enid’s hand into hers.
“‘M sorry ta’ hear that,” she mumbled, inspecting her multi-colored fingernails and squeezing the cuticle.
“Uh…”
Growing bored of her unfruitful prodding, the blue-haired girl put Enid’s hand down and looked up at her eyes. “What seems to be the issue?”
The blonde hesitated but upon searching the girl’s eyes she seemed genuinely interested and Enid could use someone to vent to. She loved her roommate but Wednesday was terrible at listening and even worse at cheering people up.
“So, I have this blog…” Enid prefaced, “you’ve probably heard about it, it’s quite popular.”
The sun shone in high noon, not a single cloud in the sky as the rally was about to begin. The boats of the competitors lined the peer, and it was easy to spot the one that belonged to Jinx and her team. The front was shaped like the snout of a shark, with jagged, pointy teeth lining its jaws. It was formidable and a little bit scary, despite the bright pink and blue doodles decorating the length of the boat.
Not too long ago Enid and Wednesday were running for the cup. Sitting in the front row of the competition was an entirely different experience, and she was glad Wednesday wanted to be close to the action as well. After the night they had last night, Enid was rooting for Jinx.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Wednesday said plainly when the race began.
“It’s a beautiful day and I’m here with my roomie, of course I’m in a good mood,” Enid quickly replied.
“Half of that statement is debatable,” the black-haired girl mused, turning to take a glance at her. “Don’t you miss being in the middle of it all?” Wednesday wondered.
After last year’s cup the Cats and Bees agreed not to enter this year’s competition to let the rookies have a trying chance.
“A little bit,” Enid admitted, glancing back at the racing boats. “But, I did help one of the teams out,” she said with a grin.
“The arsonist?” Wednesday guessed.
“How did you know?”
Wednesday shrugged. “I saw you waving at each other.”
“Well, yeah,” Enid said sheepishly, she didn’t think Wednesday was paying attention.
“How did you meet?”
“Uh, well, I was moping in the bathroom after the Botany exam,” Enid said. “She sorta crept up on me, really,” she laughed, rubbing her shoulder.
“I did notice you were upset, I didn’t want to bring it up in case you didn’t want to talk about it,” Wednesday said, and Enid paused, a sudden knot forming in the pit of her stomach.
Wednesday noticed?
“Oh, uh… I didn’t think you would, sorry if I was a downer or something,” she murmured.
“You weren’t, I only noticed because you weren’t talking to me as much,” Wednesday replied, “I was able to do a lot of writing, but…” she trailed off.
Enid frowned, maybe she did the right thing not bothering Wednesday with it. Jinx had been super helpful, the comments stopped almost immediately after she ‘took care’ of it for Enid.
“I’m glad, and it’s all fixed now, so don’t worry about it.”
“Hm, good,” Wednesday subtly rested her hand over Enid’s on the bench and it took everything in the blonde’s power not to squeak or move.
This was the closest Wednesday had ever gotten to PDA. Enid’s heart thundered wildly and she had to make a conscious effort to keep her eyes trained forward but she couldn’t stop the warmth that crept up her cheeks. Wednesday’s fingers traced hers and eventually intertwined with Enid’s as they both watched the race. Well, Enid assumed Wednesday watched, she was too busy not freaking out.
The only indication that any time passed was when the crowd began cheering louder and standing up as the first boat neared the finish line.
“Jinx!” Enid squealed, squeezing the hand slotted in hers.
Wednesday squeezed back and spared Enid a glance. “They’ve done an excellent job,” she commented.
A sudden flash of light blinded them momentarily and another team’s boat raced forward at an amazing speed.
“What was that?” Enid blinked, furrowing her brows.
“I think they have a mage,” Wednesday said.
“You think they’ll—” Enid was cut short as an explosion sent the rapidly approaching boat flying and a manic cackle roared in the background.
“Not your race, Blondie!” Jinx screamed as her boat reached the peer and her team ran to the finish line.
There was a pause when they lifted the trophy in celebration. Enid looked at Wednesday as the crowd cheered and they laughed.
“That was awesome!” Enid exclaimed.
“And you helped her do that?” Wednesday asked with a mischievous glint in her eye.
“I—”
“Yes, she helped!” Jinx was suddenly standing in front of them and eyed her interlocked hands, giving Enid a knowing look. “Did ya see me!?” The blue-haired vibrated in place, grinning widely.
“Yes, it was so cool,” Enid stood up and Jinx nearly tackled her, hugging her tight.
“I beat her! And I couldn’t have made it if ya didn’t help me sneak into their dorm!”
“Her? Are you talking about the mage?” Wednesday interjected.
“Yes, did you see her face?” Jinx laughed, turning to Wednesday, and resting a hand on her shoulder as she wiped a tear.
Wednesday shook her off but she barely noticed.
“Wait,” Enid blinked, “didn’t you say you did this to impress a girl?”
“Yes, I think blowing up her ass is pretty impressive, don’t ya think?”
“Oh Jinx,” Enid said, deflated.
“What?” She hummed, pink, sparkling eyes focused on the taller girl, and Enid didn’t have the heart to tell her.
“Nothing,” she sighed.
“Alright, time to go check on my girl,” Jinx said and immediately disappeared into the crowd.
“You think she’s doomed don’t you?” Wednesday murmured.
“Well, yes! She blew up her crush! That’s not the way to get a girl to like you.”
Wednesday hummed with a narrowed look to the general direction Jinx went.
“What?” Enid asked.
“I’d be impressed,” Wednesday mused.
Enid rolled her eyes. “Of course, you would, weirdo.”
“And for the record,” Wednesday hooked her arm into Enid’s, as they walked together, “you can tell me when you’re upset,” she said, “I’ll make whoever makes you sad regret their pathetic existence.”
“That’s… sweet,” Enid said softly, following as Wednesday led the way back to their shared room.
“I know,” Wednesday said. “It’s disgusting, but I… you’ve changed me.”
Enid teared up. “I have a name,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Jinx took care of it, but she also gave a name,” Enid said.
Wednesday stopped and raised an eyebrow, grinning widely. “Then what are we waiting for?”