favorite liar | xavier thorpe

1. new school, new me

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Iris Addams is too nice. . . for her family's standards that is.

While her younger brother and twin sister were electrocuting each other and having sword fights, Iris much rather preferred beheading her dolls than real people.

When Pugsley stole his first stop sign, Iris was still using mere traffic cones as room decor.

When Morticia and Wednesday started bonding over the best ways to hide a body, Gomez was just teaching Iris the beauty of simple kidnappings.

The Addams never made Iris feel excluded from common family bonding moments, - like séances or poison brewing - but it was an unspoken thought hanging in the air over the dinner table every evening that Iris was. . . a late bloomer.

They weren't sure she would ever grow into her torture shoes: solid, emerald green boots with enough space to hide an array of devious devices but comfortable enough to sprint away from the authorities if need be, that is.

And so, when Wednesday was getting expelled for dropping piranhas into the school pool to get revenge on the swim team who locked Pugsley in a locker, and Iris was cheering said victim up by reading him a book of successful tax evasion scandals, the siblings' parents thought it a wondrous opportunity to send their girls to Nevermore.

Suspenseful music plays.

It's how they got into the situation they're in right now, with Wednesday and Iris both sitting next to each other in the back of the hearse, sulking out their respective windows as their parents indulge in the usual acts their parents indulge in whenever they're within two feet of each other.

"My darlings," Morticia Addams begins as she turns her head away from her husband and sees her daughters' now scornful glares and their direction. "How long do you intend on giving us the cold shoulder?"

"Lurch," Wednesday turns as Iris resumes with her petty gaze out the window. "Please remind our parents we are no longer speaking to them." The two girls, despite their obvious differences (Wednesday only ever wearing black and white while Iris dabbles in gray as well), they've always had moments of sharing common ground - this being one of them.

Lurch just groans and Morticia "hms" softly.

"I promise you, my little vipers," Gomez leans forward, trying to catch Iris' eye so he can look at both his girls. "You will love Nevermore. Won't they, Tish?" Gomez then turns to look at his wife, obviously.

"Of course," Morticia nods. "It's the most perfect school for them," she answers Gomez as if the two girls aren't there.

"Why?" Wednesday stares deadpan. "Because it was the perfect school for you?"

Iris has to admit, she has a better relationship with their mother than Wednesday does.

Morticia was the first person Iris told when she had her first vision - the cute girl from her history class passing her a note to ask her out - because she knew Wednesday would just be condescending about it.

The twins talked about how they both experience visions eventually, but it was clear Wednesday's had a. . . darker undertone to them. Meanwhile, Morticia and Iris bond over their "dove" perspectives, and Wednesday still refuses to tell anyone else in the family about what she experiences.

However, while Iris never feels the need to overthink her relationship with her parents, she still knows they're just sending her to this school for outcasts to "unlock her true potential" (go on a serial killing spree), and she can't but feel they think she's too soft.

And! Even if she is, she hates that there's something wrong with that. So what if she doesn't have it in her to drop chandeliers on her enemies heads. . . actually, maybe her parents kind of have a point. . .

But still! She's not some lab rat they can send to this school like some sort of experiment to see if she'll ever turn into a sociopath like the rest of their family.

"It's where I met your mother," Gomez is saying as he once again looks romantically at Morticia who nods along knowingly when Iris finally zones back in to the conversation. "And we fell in love."

Iris has always longed for a love like her parents. Sure, it gets gross and weird sometimes, but it's no secret they would die for each other. Or kill for each other. Either way, what fun.

Her mother psychoanalyzed her after her first few visions and explained that Iris' hopeless romantic tendencies were the reason reoccurring themes in her visions were make-out sessions and coffee dates.

"You guys are making me nauseous," Wednesday clearly has a different perspective on the topic. "Not in a good way."

"Darling," Morticia now fully puts her attention on Wednesday as Iris feels irrelevant to the conversation once again. "We weren't the ones who got you expelled. That boy's family was going to file attempted murder charges. How would that have looked on your record?"

"Terrible."

"Everyone would know you failed to get the job done," Iris nods understandingly, empathizing with her sister's disdain.

"Hm," Moriticia nods as well.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

"Wednesday is certainly a unique name," Principal Weems stares with a strange grin at the name-saked girl as the Addams family (minus Pugsley who's playing with dynamite outside the front of the school with Lurch) settle in her office for an introduction.

Morticia and Gomez took the chairs on either side of the two in the middle, and Wednesday is sitting next to their mother and Iris, who's next to their father, on the little ottoman thing in the middle.

"Was it the day you were born?" Weems continues with the small talk.

"We were born on Friday the 13th," Wednesday easily brings Iris into the conversation as she notices the girl starting to get distracted with the various trinkets on the principals desk.

"Her name comes from a line in my favorite nursery rhyme," Morticia then elaborates. "'Wednesday's child is full of woe.'"

"You've always had a unique perspective on the world, Morticia," Weems says in a way that doesn't seem like a compliment. "And Iris, like the flower, how lovely," she then turns to the other twin to give her the same treatment, although she seems slightly weary now.

"We were choosing between that and Lily," Gomez explains now. "Two plants commonly used in poison."

"Wonderful," Weems is disdained. "Did your mother tell you we were roommates back in the day?" She now switches the subject to more small talk, Iris is indifferent, but Wednesday sounds more bored than usual when she responds:

"And you graduated with your sanity in tact?"

"Impressive," Iris says earnestly.

"Well," Weems turns to the papers on her desk now and starts talking about educational journeys and whatnot.

"Larissa," Iris listens to her mother when she uses the principal's first name now. Funky name. "And what about Wednesday's therapy sessions? They're court ordered."

"The school has a relationship with a therapist in Jericho," Weems explains. "She can meet her twice a week."

"We'll see if she survives the first session," Wednesday doesn't seem supportive.

"I've assigned the two of you to your mother's old dorm," Weems changes the subject once again. "Ophelia Hall."

Morticia gasps and smiles excitedly at this.

"Ophelia's the one who kills herself after being driven mad by her family, right?" Iris asks no one in particular, but notices her father nodding approvingly at her statement.

"Fitting," she then adds in a quieter voice.

a/n:
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii welcome to my book hope u love and enjoy and tell me every thought you've ever had in your entire life <33333