Shades of Cool, Tyler Galpin

THREE.   watch the world from the sidelines

Kennedy made Andy feel comfortable, something she never felt in her life. Living in the Addams's family home always puts you on edge. It's always cold and spooky. Kennedy was a lot like her, and not as bubbly and in your face as Enid, but she was still nice, and she didn't look at Andy like a freak. "I think it looks perfect," Kennedy expressed with excitement, eyeing her side of the room that was now decorated. "Definitely matches my vibe."

Luckily for the both of them, everything Andy owned was black: her clothes, her shoes, even her toothbrush. "Yeah. We have good taste, I guess." Andy responded, hinting a very tiny smile.

She wasn't good at making friends. On top of being an Addams, which resulted in almost every girl in school being afraid of her, she was quiet. It didn't leave a lot of invitation for people to come up and talk to her. She felt lonely a lot of the time. Maybe, just maybe, Kennedy and Nevermore were her chance to open up.

"Yes. Very edgy." Kennedy flopped down on her bed. "By the way, you're not the type to sleep walk, sleep talk, or anything like that, are you? Cause I had to room with Yoko one year and she's a vampire and I would wake up to her hovering over me in her sleep."

"Uhh, no," Andy replied, slightly weirded out by the information. "I'm just a heavy sleeper, that's all."

Kennedy smiled. "Okay, good. . . So, your sister's pretty intense."

She assorted the collection of books she brought on her bedside table. "Uh, yeah, she can be," Andy downplayed. "But she's good once you get to know her. I know she can seem scary, but, there's a different side to her."

The other girl hummed. "Sure. If she's rooming with Enid,  there's definitely a possibility she'll go soft."

"I wouldn't count on it."

Kennedy laughed.

There was a knock at their door. In walked a woman with short red hair and large glasses. "Good evening, girls," she announced with a big smile.

"Hi, Ms. Thornhill," Kennedy sang with a large grin.

"You must be Andromeda," Ms. Thornhill observed and stood in front of her, her hand outstretched. "It's so nice to meet you, Miss Addams. I'm Ms. Thornhill, your dorm mom. I trust Kennedy's given you the old Nevermore welcome?"

Andy nodded lightly. "Y-Yeah, she has."

"You know me. I'm the best tour guide in school," Kennedy said from her side of the room.

Ms. Thornhill smiled. Andy looked stand saw that she was carrying a plant. She held it out to her. "Here's a little welcome gift. I try to match the right flower for each of my girls. When I saw that your birthday is in December, I just knew this one was perfect."

It was blue Allium Caeruleum, a flower that was in the shape of spheres. "Wow," Andy observed in shock and took the gift. "It's beautiful."

Her smile increased. "Before I leave, I want to go over a few house rules with you. Lights off at 10:00, no loud music, and no boys, ever." Ms. Thornhill explained the rules.

Kennedy nodded. "Ever," she repeated.

Andy pursed her lips and nodded. "Got it."

"I was just with your sister across the hall and she asked me about Jericho. Passes to Jericho are a privilege, not a right. It's a 25 minute walk and there's a shuttle on the weekends," she continued. "The locals are a tad bit wary about Nevermore, so please don't make any waves or perpetuating an outcast stereotypes."

Kennedy had stood up and walked to the girl's side. "Not to worry, Ms. Thornhill. Andy's in good hands," she promised.

Ms. Thornhill smiled. "Of course. Thank you, Kennedy."

She bid them a good night and left the room. "She's also the science teacher. But don't worry, she's really nice. And she loves me. I can have you get away with anything," Kennedy explained, walking back over to her bed.

Andy nodded again. "Cool. I'm, uh, gonna go say good night to Wednesday," she explained, pointing to the door.

Kennedy hummed. "Sure thing."

When she got across the hallway, Andy knocked on the door and waited until a cheerful come on! allowed her to open the door. "I just wanted to say goodnight to Wednesday," she explained, peering to her sister on the other side of the room.

Enid gasped. "Of course! I tho knits great the two of you are across the hall from each other," she expressed happily. "Did you guys share a room at home?"

"No, Andy can't handle my pet scorpions." Wednesday answered with lack of emotion.

Her face fell.

Andy nodded with a hum. "She's right. They terrify me."

"Are you going to survive without me?"

"I think I can manage. Maybe I can actually get some sleep without worrying about being eaten alive," Andy joked but she was dead serious. She took a closer step toward her sister. "Please don't scare anyone off. I think this can be good for us." She kept her voice low.

Wednesday never broke eye contact, seeing as how they were the same height. "No promise," her voice remained monotonous.

Andy sighed. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Andy!" Enid waved to her as she exited their room.

As she walked back to her room, Andy thought about how one of the hardest things about being Wednesday's sister was that she felt like she couldn't have the sibling relationship she wanted. Wednesday was contemptuous and didn't like to show her emotions, even with her own family. Wednesday didn't show her love with words. Andy couldn't change it. She just had to learn to live with it.

Andy walked into the fencing room with caution. She was grateful that there was an extra white uniform instead of an all black like she knew Wednesday was going to wear. She wanted to blend in, not stand out. She felt more comfortable that way.  Andy could feel eyes on her when she walked into the room and her hands tightened around the helmet that she was holding.

"Andy!" Kennedy waved her over.

Sighting with relief, Andy made her way over to her, seeing Ajax standing with her. "Hi," she voiced sheepishly.

"What's wrong? Never seen fencing before?"

"No, Wednesday and I took lessons when we were kids. But all our school had at school was basketball and water polo," she explained, observing the fencing students. "And, well, you know. . ."

"You killed them." Ajax blurted out.

The girls slowly looked at him.

His eyes grew wide. "Did I say that out loud?" Ajax laughed nervously. "I'm just gonna, uh, go over there." He pointed to Xavier.

He walked away and Kennedy shook her head. She looked down at Andy and smiled. "Where's your sister?"

Before Andy could answer, the doors swung open and Wednesday walked in, decked out in the all black fencing uniform. It instantly caught everyone's attention and Andy sighed.

"How did she get a black uniform? I want one." Kennedy gasped.

There was a heavy thud. "Coach! Coach, she tripped me!" Rowan accused Bianca from the floor, his breathing heavy.

Coach Vlad just shrugged. "It was a clear strike, Rowan."

Bianca took off her helmet and rolled her eyes at him. "Maybe if you whined less and practiced more, you wouldn't suck." She sassed. "Seriously, coach, when am I gonna get some real competition?" She looked around the room of people staring at her. "Anyone else want to challenge me?" 

"I do."

Andy closed her eyes and sighed. "Shit."

Bianca turned around and met Wednesday's watchful gaze. Then, she smirked. "Oh, you must be the psychopath they let in." Her bright blue eyes cut to Andy. "Oh, and there's the other one."

The younger sister rolled her eyes.

"And you must be the self appointed queen bee. Interesting thing about bees. Pull out their stingers, they drop dead," Wednesday responded swiftly.

There was a round of oohs from everyone in the room. Andy formed a smirk.

Bianca appeared taken back. "Rowan doesn't need you to come to his defense. He's not helpless. He's lazy." She said quickly.

"Are we doing this or not?"

Ajax and Xavier came and stood by the girls. "So, is your sister good at fencing?" Ajax asked Andy.

The girl nodded. "Yeah, she's pretty good. Anything that involves sharp objects is up her alley."

Wednesday and Bianca put their helmets on and got in their positions. When Coach Vlad shouted for them to fight,  the girl's immediately charged at each other. Andy watched her sister with intense eye contact. When Wednesday stuck Bianca in the chest, she smirked proudly.

"Point to Wednesday,"

"Whoa," said Kennedy, her eyes wide.

Andy could tell Bianca was feeling threatened which made  Wednesday only want to beat her more. The siren stuck her and Wednesday dropped her blade.

"The score is even!" Shouted the coach.

Bianca took off her helmet and smiled smugly. "That first point was clearly beginners luck. Let's finish this."

"For the final point, I would like to invoke a military challenge," Wednesday announced.

Ajax's eyes widened. "Uh oh, I don't like the sound of that."

"What does that mean?" Kennedy asked.

"Nothing good," answered Andy.

"No masks. No tips. Winner draws first blood."

All three of them widened their eyes. "Is she serious?" Xavier questioned.

"As a heart attack. . .which in her case, she would love," said Andy, her arms crossed.

"It's your decision Bianca," said Coach Vlad.

Bianca made her decision and looked Wednesday up and down. "Let's see if you bleed in black and white." She threatened.

On the coach's mark, Wednesday charged at Bianca. Things in the room became more intense when the girls started running around the room. Andy never took her eyes off of her sister. "Don't back down, Wednesday," said announced sharply.

Wednesday did a flip and it caused Bianca to stumble back, but she quickly recovered before Wednesday could hit her with the blade.

"She's so cool," said Kennedy as she watched with a smile on her face.

Andy gasped when Bianca slit Wednesday's forehead. There was another string of oops from the students. Bianca stood there, smirking. "Your face finally got that splash of color it so desperately needed."

She walked forward and grabbed her sister's arm, glaring at the siren with a look none of the others had seen yet, and it was scary.

"Guess all those fencing lessons just went down the drain."

Wednesday glared at her in the corner of the room. "Your jokes make me to drown myself with weights tied to my feet. And not in a fun way."

Andy rolled her eyes. "And your personality is as dry as the dessert."

"Thank you."

"You're Wednesday, right? And Andromeda?"

The sisters glanced back at Rowan, the boy getting his blood pleasure taken. "Just Andy," the youngest responded monotonous.

He nodded. "Right. Uhh, Rowan. I know how you're feeling,"

"I guarantee you don't," said Wednesday.

"My mother promised me I'd finally fit in somewhere," Rowan continued, then he sighed. "I never thought it was possible to be an outcast in a school full of outcasts."

Andy frowned slightly. "Sorry you feel that way."

"It's okay. Looks like you're gonna give me a run for my money," he tried to joke but the girls didn't laugh. He pointed to his forehead. "Uh. . . sorry about the. . . nic." He said to Wednesday.

"No good deed goes unpunished,"  she replied flatly. Wednesday looked at her sister. "You go ahead and head back.  I'll be there later."

Andy nodded and stood from the chair she was sitting on. Cutting her eyes to Rowan, she exited the nurse's office.

Andy nodded and hopped down from the bed.  She waved goodbye to Rowan and walked out of the nurses office. There was nobody in the halls and Andy assumed they were all in their dorms. She felt comfortable enough to do more lurking around the castle.

It was so old that most of the wood was caving in and there was enough dust and cobwebs to turn someone into an asthmatic, but the details and decorations on the walls were so beautiful that you really didn't notice. She passed by the translucent display cases filled with trophies and photos of past Nevermore students. Almost all of them had her mother and father in them. She grew up hearing about how popular her mom was, but to see it with her own eyes was different. She twisted the ring on her finger.

Sometimes Andy feels like she's just watching her life go by from the sidelines. Afraid to step out into the light because of the criticism she would face. She wasn't like her family but Andy knew that nobody cared because she was an Addams, therefore she was exactly like her family. They were scared of her. They thought she shouldn't be allowed out into the world. To them, she was dangerous.

Andy didn't like that people thought of her that way. She wasn't dangerous. She wasn't an animal that should be locked up. She was a teenage girl. A girl of barely sixteen.