𝒮𝒽𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓌𝑒𝒹 𝐻𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 | Xavier Thorpe x Jessamine Addams

Chapter 2: Woe is my familiar

"Nevermore was founded in 1791 to educate people like us. Outcasts, freaks, monsters, insert your favorite marginalized group here." Enid rambled off, like she was reading a script.

"You can save your sales pitch," Jessamine interrupted.

"We don't plan on staying here for long," Wednesday finished. Jessamine resisted the urge to bite the inside of her lip, something she always did when she disagreed with someone. Staying at the school couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Why not?" Enid asked, and Jessamine snapped out of her head.

"This was our parents' idea. Oh look, there's my mother smirking at me now." The girls turned to see a young Morticia staring at them out of a photo, a boastful smirk plastered over her face. Captain of the fencing team, like she always boasted, along with the rest of her achievements. "They've been looking for any excuse to send me here. It's all part of their nefarious yet completely obvious plan."

"What plan?"

"To make us a version of themselves," Jessamine told her.

"In that case, perhaps you both can clear something up. Rumor's been swirling around that you guys killed a kid at your last school, and your parents pulled strings to get you off."

"Actually, it was two kids, but who's counting," Wednesday said flatly. Enid stopped, falling behind the girls as they kept walking. Jessamine exchanged a smile, and Wednesday looked at her, inwardly smiling back.

A door pushed open and sunlight streamed in. Students bustled around, sitting at benches or walking and chatting.

"Welcome to the quad!" Enid said, hurrying to catch up with them.

"It's a pentagon," Jessamine corrected.

"Okay, I don't know what your guys' problem is, but let me tell you this," Enid snapped. "The whole snarky goth girl thing you have going might've worked at a normie school but things here are different."

Jessamine and Wednesday exchanged slightly impressed glances. The girl wasn't all fluff and sunshine after all.

"Let me give you a wiki on Nevermore's social scene," Enid continued.

"I'm not interested in participating in tribal adolescent cliches." Wednesday said flatly.

"Well then use it to fill your obviously bottomless pit of disdain," Enid retorted. "There are many flavors of outcasts here but the four main cliques are Fangs, Furs, Stoners and Scales. Those are the Fangs," Enid pointed to a group of students sitting at a table, all wearing shades. "Aka, vampires. Some of them have literally been here for decades. That bunch of knuckleheads are Furs, aka werewolves," Enid pointed to a group of rowdy teens as they continued their walk around the quad. "Like me!"

"Let me, guess, they dominate the sports here," Jessamine said blankly, staring at the howling, fighting boys.

"Yep, and full moons get kinda loud here, so I would invest in some noise canceling headphones." Enid nodded quickly, like she had shared something useful, like how to successfully perform a lobotomy with household items.

"Don't worry, we're used to falling asleep to people screaming. Our favorite noise to help us sleep actually," Jessamine remarked offhandedly. "I'm sure it won't be that different." Enid's eyes widened but Wednesday spoke before she could.

"I assume the Scales are sirens."

"You catch on quick," Enid grinned, snapping right back on track. "And that girl, Bianca Barclay, is the closest thing Nevermore has to royalty."

Wednesday and Jessamine turned their heads to stare at a girl with a shaved head sitting by the fountain. Her fingers shimmered with scales as they dipped under the water. Her piercing blue eyes stared into them, but Wednesday and Jessamine stared right back.