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Wednesday preferred solitude, so it didn’t take her long to find a few spots on the Nevermore grounds that few frequented that allowed her to view everything and everyone from a safe distance. A cement bench underneath a tree near the edge of the woods, forgotten as part of a garden, she could tell, seeing the remnants of a birdbath nearby and the overgrowth of dead roses no one had bothered to clear that sat as a shield between her and the school. It suited her, offering her just enough coverage to go unnoticed, not – she knew – that anyone would be looking.
Except she could see someone was.
Making her way around the building, Enid peered out at her classmates, stopping them on occasion to question, and Wednesday watched her sigh of frustration as she received the same recoil of surprise, the same shake of the head, the same unseen whispered interaction as the blonde wolf continued her search. Wednesday frowned, seeing a pair of sirens giggling together as they departed her, bowing into one another with secrets about Enid while she obliviously moved onto the next group.
For a moment she considered what could be so important, but some part of her knew it was nothing out of the ordinary. Enid rarely came to her with anything more than trivial gossip or mundane chat to try and pry information from her, sometimes an off-handed question about her investigation into the monster lurking in the very forest she sat at the edge of. It intrigued her, that her roommate could continually pout in disgust and yet show interest in any new details she gleamed.
Wednesday could see she’d run into Ajax and she rolled her eyes, seeing the way Enid’s body suddenly swayed in an entirely different way, like a radio antenna sending out signals to an absent receiver, she considered, watching how Ajax merely shook his head and smiled. Wednesday looked to her textbook and read another paragraph on moon phases and werewolf transformations, but she found herself glancing back up to see Enid skipping away from Ajax and in through a hallway towards the open spaces within the walls of Nevermore where students generally gathered after classes.
With an exhale, she traced a finger over a diagram of a werewolf, posed like Davinci’s Man portrait and she wondered what her roommate’s wolf would look like, when it finally emerged. Blonde, she knew, probably small, though her reading had informed her that human size was not generally indicative of werewolf size, and, she imagined gentle.
Wednesday released a small humph of breath at the thought – a gentle werewolf.
Enid would be, she imagined. Smaller fanged and trimmed down claws, incapable of a full fight. Wednesday set her textbook down, open, and she pulled her notebook into her lap, beginning to sketch out that wolf in her mind. The thin frame, the length of agile arms and legs, the curl of fingers too delicate to do any true harm, a small fluff of tail perfectly manicured, probably accessorized with a bow Wednesday refused to draw. Her pencil scratched lightly at the fur of her chest, and then gradually to the small smile on her lips and then her eyes.
Staring into the eyes she drew, Wednesday’s pencil stopped.
“Whoa, that’s a good werewolf!”
Her heart leapt into her throat, watching the wolf in question settle onto the small bench beside her and she raised her eyes to Enid, staring down at her innocently. “Thank you,” she told her simply, seeing the way she pulled her bag off her shoulders and dropped it between her feet, turning her toes inward to shrug.
“I have been looking all over for you,” Enid exclaimed seriously. “If there were a competition of Hide-N-Seek on this campus, you would definitely take the trophy – no one’s had a glimpse of you all afternoon. Finally I just thought to myself, self, where would I be if I didn’t want to be seen by anyone and I thought of this spot literally no one likes to sit in because they say it smells weird and it’s way too close to the forest and,” Enid turned, gesturing with a bright smile. “Here you are.”
“Here I am,” Wednesday stated, watching as Enid began to bring her own books and a fuzzy pen out, sorting her belongings and then reaching into her bag to grab a pair of granola bars to set on the bench between them. “Enid?” Wednesday questioned, looking down at the items, hearing her small noise of acknowledgment. “Is there any particular reason you’re joining me here right now?”
Offering her a tilt of her head she told her plainly, “I thought we could study together – the room is awfully quiet without you there sulking, y’know.”
Nodding, Wednesday looked out at the students, all too far to notice them. All lost in their own world, the one Wednesday imagined Enid would want to belong in. She eyed her as she worked to open her book and find the last chapter they’d been assigned, brow furrowing in concentration as she began reading. “I thought you would prefer having the room to yourself seeing as that was the arrangement when I arrived.”
Enid looked up, slowly, admitting, “I hated being there by myself.” Then she glanced around at the space and then back at Wednesday, nodded with understanding, “But that is the arrangement you prefer.” She closed her book and smiled. “Sorry, I’m intruding – you’re a solitary creature by nature and I’m just a mess, I’ll get out of your braids – your hair,” she pushed her books into her bag and grabbed her granola bar as she stood, bag swinging. “You should eat yours, it’s just chocolate chip, and I’ll see you upstairs later, ok?”
Mouth open to begin uttering her name, Wednesday watched her dash off quickly, blonde hair flowing behind her as she rounded the start of a stairway and made her way up, head bowed as she went. Wednesday looked to the drawing of her werewolf, still open in her lap. She looked again to the sadness in her eyes and she groaned, closing her books to shove them into her backpack, standing and moving to follow before stopping to turn and grab the granola bar Enid had left her, holding it between her hands.
Climbing the staircase, Wednesday eyed those who passed her, seeing the odd looks they gave her, and she scowled, walking towards her dorm room and opening it with Enid’s name on her lips, uttered out to hang in the emptiness there. Her eyes drifted to the colorful space at her left and she glanced out through the window to see the balcony deserted as well. Turning, she closed the door and stood at the edge of the stairs that led back down to the school and mapped out in her mind every hallway and every classroom Enid might have escaped to.
It should have felt natural, thinking through the motivations of a subject, but for some reason, trying to work out Enid’s inner thought process made her anxious, like prying into somewhere she had no business being. Her feet carried her down the steps and through to the quad, eyes scanning tables and realizing she didn’t know Enid’s inner circle – she’d only seen her chatting here and there with classmates assigned to share tables in classrooms. Friends? Enid had mentioned Yoko? But the girl sat in the shade, exchanging flirtatious dialogue with Divina.
Ajax, she considered, but she could see him laughing with a group of stoners off in a corner. Her eyes drifted up, searching along the balcony there until she saw the leg dangling off the edge and followed it up to see Enid sitting there. Her back was pressed to the column, reading the textbook open in her lap, looking as confused as she ever did when studying. Wednesday searched out the nearest stairway and strode towards it, parting students like the sea as she did.
The hallway lead towards Iago tower, Wednesday knew, and not many students ventured there so the corner was usually quiet, desolate, and Wednesday had earmarked it as a good location to study as well. She looked to her roommate curiously as the girl flipped a page and took a long breath. Perhaps her wolf would retain those little bits of pink and blue in her hair, she though to herself irrationally, wondering why she was so obsessed with what Enid’s werewolf might look like.
“You didn’t have to leave,” Wednesday told her firmly, seeing the way her eyes lifted quickly, alarmed, knowing she hadn’t heard or smelled her, hadn’t sensed her the way she should have. Wednesday approached her leisurely, hands wrapped around the straps of her backpack, granola bar secure in the fingers of her left, eyes drifting away to look out over the quad as Enid surveyed her movements. Her wolf would be observant. “I’m not… accustomed to company,” Wednesday admitted.
“Neither am I,” Enid told her sheepishly.
Gesturing out with the point of a finger, Wednesday asked, “Aren’t you always with company?”
Head shaking, Enid looked out and explained, “There’s all these social circles and I know about them, like, I know all of their names and their connections and their gossip, and, of course, they all know me, but I’m just sort of fluttering around them, not really in any of them.” She glanced at the furs. “I should be there, but they don’t want me.”
“Because you can’t turn,” Wednesday surmised.
Bowing, Enid repeated, “Because I can’t turn.” Then she looked to Xavier and told her, “You should be there, with them.”
Wednesday curled her upper lip, listening to the small huff of amusement Enid gave in response before she told her honestly, “I’d rather make my own circle.”
“I don’t prefer it, but it’s what I got.” Nodding, Enid gestured at the space around her, “Like Glinda floating around Oz.”
Considering it, Wednesday asked, “Were you hoping to expand your circle when I arrived.”
Her cheeks went pink and she looked away, telling her quietly, “Hoping is a pretty strong word.” She shrugged. “I know we’re different in ways that aren’t really compatible. I’m ok with that.”
“We’re alike in that we’re both different in ways that set us apart from all of them.” Wednesday looked out over the students below, reaching the space beside Enid, her feet set at either side of the other girl’s bag on the ground. “Perhaps that’s our circle.”
Enid’s smile was shy as she nodded. “I get that you’re solitary, Wednesday, and I’m kind of a pack person – you don’t have to be nice.”
“I’m never nice, Enid,” Wednesday stared into her, making her point known. “Consider this our contradictory pack of solitude and never speak of it again.”
“I can do that,” Enid told her quietly.
Moving away, Wednesday pulled herself up on the same ledge, leaning her bag into the cement pole beside her and she removed her books to place at her left, setting her granola bar atop them before looking up to the question in Enid’s eyes. She nodded to her, inviting her curiosity.
Her finger came up, pointing to her notebook before curling back. “You were drawing before, a werewolf – was it for an assignment? Did I miss that?”
Speaking honestly, Wednesday told her, “I was drawing what I assumed your werewolf form would be.”
“You were thinking about… me?” Enid’s question was soft, almost afraid and Wednesday felt a small twinge of fear understanding the admission Enid had clocked easily.
“Your werewolf form,” Wednesday corrected awkwardly before stating blankly, “Yes.”
Turning away, Enid bashfully replied, “I looked pretty good.”
Wednesday opened her notebook to look at the drawing, shielding it from her companion. Enid’s werewolf would be stronger than necessary, she revised in her head, and would be determined. Her werewolf would fight valiantly, Wednesday thought as she continued to shade in more hair. Looking to the sadness in her eyes, Wednesday paused and then glanced up at the girl taking a bite of her granola bar as Wednesday lifted hers. Enid’s werewolf would be gentle, Wednesday decided, but only for her.