Chapter Text
“You’ll love it here my little Viper,” Wednesday met her father’s eyes with a harsh glare, “This place is magical!”
“There’s nothing magical here father,” Wednesday’s tone is flat, “And I assure you I will not love it here, as I do not plan on staying long.”
“You’ll not try to break out of here,” Morticia spoke, a glint in her eyes, “We have eyes everywhere.”
“I will not be kept here,” Wednesday glared back, clearly accepting the implied challenge in her mother’s tone, “I’ll prove that you cannot keep me here forever.”
“Oh my Stormcloud,” Gomez gushed, “I do love you in your rebellious phase.”
“If you do not refrain from referring to my vehement hatred of you both as a ‘rebellious phase’ I will remove your eyeballs from your head and cook them into a stew.”
Gomez responded with a dramatic swoon as he looked over to Morticia, “Isn’t our daughter just dreadful Tish?”
“Oh very much so,” she responded with a smile on her face, side-eying Wednesday, “But I mean it Wednesday. If you run away from Nevermore, we’ll have nowhere else to send you. You’ve already been expelled from 8 different schools and this was the only way to keep them from pressing charges for those piranhas.”
Wednesday merely glared at her mother as she turned back towards her husband and began singing the song playing on the radio, their family hearse speeding towards Nevermore.
***
“Due to your… violent tendencies,” Larissa Weems, the school’s principal, looked down at the student record in her hand, “I have decided to place you in a dorm on your own.” Wednesday merely nods at the information. “Let me take you there.”
The macabre girl’s eyes hardened at the thought of the woman not leaving her alone, but she still said nothing as Weems led her down a hallway and towards a small room at the end of the hall. Wednesday approached as the principal opened the door for her. The inside was empty of decor, with a small bed in the middle of the room and a dresser along the side. There were black sheets on the bed and two black versions of the Nevermore uniform lying on top of them.
“We’ve given you all the necessities needed in black and white due to your allergy,”
Wednesday responded by stepping into the room and closing the door in Weems’s face. She could hear the affronted gasp on the other side, but chose to ignore it in favour of setting her bags on her bed and beginning to unpack. As she removed a pair of black leggings from the suitcase, she noticed a small lump that wasn’t there when she originally packed. With a hint of curiosity, she lifted the leggings to find a dismembered hand frozen in shock.
“You are a disgrace of a spy Thing,” Wednesday scoffed, “Is this really how mother planned to keep an eye on me?”
The hand scurried away quickly before flinching as the goth girl immediately scooped it up and shoved it into a drawer. Thing tried to scramble out of it, but was met with darkness as the drawer slammed shut on it. In a panic, it scrambled and tapped away, begging for release. After multiple minutes, Wednesday reached back inside and picked it up.
“Now, surrender your undying loyalty to me and I promise not to keep you locked up inside of there for the rest of the semester.”
There was no hesitation as the hand frantically mimicked a nod. Wednesday, satisfied with that answer, chucked Thing behind her and continued unpacking her belongings, “I do not wish to stay here longer than necessary, but we do have one issue that hinders my escape. They will no doubt be watching the account they have left me with to see what I purchase. I’ll need to get some money a different way.”
Thing tapped out morse code behind her.
“No, I refuse to remain trapped in this place,” Tap tap tap, “If you ever even insinuate that again I will place you back in the drawer,” Tap tap tap, “I refuse to even befriend anyone in this disgrace of an academy, yet alone fall in love like my parents you insufferable creature. There is zero reason for me to remain trapped in this establishment. Now let’s go, we must go search for a way to earn some cash.”
Thing didn’t respond, electing to instead jump up onto the macabre girl’s shoulders and check out Nevermore Academy as they walked. A few students jumped away as the two of them passed, though whether that was due to Wednesday’s glare or the dismembered hand on her shoulder, the girl wasn’t sure.
She knocked at Ms. Weem’s door three times, before pushing it open. The principal let out a “Come in”, though the goth girl was already standing there with a dark glare on her face.
“What do you need Ms. Addams?”
“I wish to go to Jericho, and to my knowledge you need a ride outside of the weekends.”
“That’s true, but I’m working right now,” Weems gestured down at the paperwork on her desk, “What do you need in Jericho?”
“I wish to procure a job.”
Weems appeared shocked at this statement, but quickly shook herself out of that stupor. She thought on it for a moment before finally answering, “I suppose I can take you in. If you can find a job, we can arrange for a ride every day necessary.” Wednesday merely nodded in response before standing in waiting, a cold stare fixated on the principal. Weems let out a sigh before stacking her papers and standing, “Let’s go.”
***
The drive to Jericho was silent, despite Weem’s best efforts. Once they had reached the small town, Wednesday immediately abandoned the car and moved towards the small businesses that made up the town.
“I’ll be back in a few hours to pick you up,” Weems called out from behind her. Wednesday ignored her as she reached a store called ‘Uriah’s Heap’
The store itself didn’t seem terrible. Working next to taxidermied animals and weird nick-nacks with minimal customers sounded like the ideal work environment. Unfortunately the place wasn’t hiring and Wednesday wouldn’t resort to begging even if she really didn’t want to work anywhere else in this godforsaken town.
So the goth girl continued down the streets of Jericho, stopping in shops that seemed even mildly intriguing in hopes that they would be looking for a new employee. Though unfortunately every attempt ended in her back outside, moving towards the next.
After nearly an hour of stopping at different shops, irritation began to eat away at her. She had hoped to find something within the first twenty minutes of being here, but it seemed that lady luck was not on her side today, not that that was unexpected though.
With a groan the girl turned a corner to spot a coffee shop. ‘The Weathervane’ sat above the door. Entering the shop, the smell of caffeine and burnt goods intruded upon her nose. Approaching the counter, she eyed the disgruntled looking boy who was messing with the espresso machine. He didn’t notice her at first, before jumping in surprise at her presence, “Holy crap. Do you make a habit out of scaring the crap out of people?”
“It’s more of a hobby,” she responded with a cold stare.
“Right,” he responded with a sigh, “What can I get for you?”
“I need a quad over ice.”
The boy, who’s name tag read ‘Tyler’, stared down at the espresso machine beside him.
“It’s four shots of espresso,” Wednesday continued, her look only darkening.
“I know what a quad is,” Tyler sighed, “But spoiler alert, the espresso machine is having a meltdown, so all we have is drip.”
“But drip is for people who hate themselves and know their lives have no real purpose of meaning.”
Tyler only side-eyed her, before looking back down.
“What’s wrong with your machine?” Wednesday questioned, annoyance clear in her eyes.
“It’s a temperamental beast with a mind of its own, and it doesn’t help that the instructions are in Italian.”
Wednesday glanced down at the machine before moving around the corner and picking up the instruction manual from off the counter. Flipping through the pages, she quickly figured out the issue. “I need a tri-wing screwdriver and a four-millimeter Allen wrench.”
“Wait, you read Italian?”
“Of course,” Wednesday looked up at the Barista, distaste filling her mind at his curious face, “It’s the native tongue of Machiavelli. Here’s the deal, I’m going to fix your coffee machine, and then you’re going to make me a cup of coffee for free.”
Using the tools Tyler had out, she examined the machine some more. It wasn’t difficult to spot the reason it was broken once she looked inside, with a few quick turns and a tightening of one of the bolts, the steam pouring out of the espresso machine vanished.
“Wow, thanks,” Tyler said, the shock evident on his face, “I’m Tyler by the way. I didn’t catch your name?”
She hesitated, before giving the boy a once over, “Wednesday.”
“So Wednesday, you wouldn’t happen to be needing a job would you?” he began, “Because I could really use a competent hand around here.”
The goth girl perked up at this, though you wouldn’t notice it unless you were really paying attention, “Actually, I am.”
Tyler clearly wasn’t expecting that answer, and it was now clear to Wednesday that he was asking in jest. After a few moments, he finally spoke, “How about instead of that free coffee, I let you skip the interview process?”
Wednesday didn’t need any time to ponder over the question, “Deal.”
“Anything I should know before you start here?”
“Yes actually,” Wednesday responded, tilting her head up slightly to meet his eyes, “I’m allergic to colour.”
Tyler chuckled slightly, before zeroing in on her emotionless face, “Oh you aren’t joking, are you?”
“Why would I be joking? The pigments irritate my skin. If I am exposed to too much colour, I break out into hives and then the flesh peels off my bones.”
Tyler’s eyes widened. He shook his head and blinked a few times before responding, “Well then, I guess we can get you a custom apron. When can you start?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Well how about right now?” Tyler asked, before preparing the quad she had asked for, “We’re only gonna be open for a few more hours, but we could start your training.”
“I do not need any training.”
“O-kay,” Tyler exaggerated, “Well then, your first customer is coming up right now. You can pay for your quad afterwards.”
Wednesday nodded before turning around. She looked up to see two people approaching the counter. One was a boy, a blue beanie over his head and a nevermore uniform messily wrapped around him. A snake head was slithering from underneath his hat and he was holding hands with a girl.
Said girl was also wearing the Nevermore uniform, though it was in a much neater condition, but wasn’t sporting a beanie or a head covered in snakes. Instead she had what looked to be longer, painted claws. A large smile was on her face as she approached the counter, nearly skipping. And on top of her head was a colourful disaster that Wednesday could only describe as an affront to her eyes.
Wednesday met the girl’s eyes with a hostile glare, daring her to come any closer. Unfortunately, the girl didn’t seem deterred as she pushed right up against the counter with a giggle, “Hiya!”