Greenhouse || Xavier Thorpe x Male Reader

community cup || chapter 28

 The groups scramble to fit the key scraps together like puzzle pieces. After about five minutes, they have it assembled. I crane my neck to get a better view of them as they set out onto the lake in five boats, paddling as quickly as they can.

Nothing too eventful happens on the water, thankfully, and the first canoe docks. Everyone gets out and waits for the rest of the caravan to arrive before heading into the forest. The groups disappear, coming back a few minutes later with a cup.

They head back to the shore to thunderous applause. Ten minutes, quicker than any Poe Cup. Weems announces the time as the head boat crosses back into the end zone. When the captain and co-captain hear the news, a sight I never thought to see occurs.

Bianca Barclay grabs Enid's hand and raises it in the air, both of them still clutching the cup. An old rivalry paused for the Community Cup.

"We did it, bitch!" Enid tells her with a wide smile.

Bianca nods, mirroring her expression. "And I thought the competitive one was fun."

"Power of friendship," Wednesday buts in. "Or whatever you want to call it."

"Admit it, you had fun too," Enid teases. Wednesday shrugs.

"I didn't hate it."

Enid hands the cup to Bianca and takes her girlfriend's hand, leading her back over to where we stand, waiting. "Did you hear that? Wednesday didn't hate this!"

"I know. Unbelievable," Xavier jokes. "Who would have thought?"

"Do you want to live to see your next birthday?" Wednesday hisses at him. He laughs.

"Sorry, Wednesday. Won't mention it again."

"Fine. Let's go eat something, we lost lunch for the games, so they should have food now."

~=~

We sit at a table, chatting about the event and the day. Community Day isn't like anything Nevermore has hosted yet, but it's a welcome change. The general consensus amongst the group is that the event was a success. Whereas Wednesday still stands by her moral of death being better than community building, she has admitted that the Community Cup was mildly tolerable.

After everybody finishes their food, we split up as usual. Wednesday and Enid head down to Jericho with Enid's friends, Ajax goes to find some of his other friends, and Xavier and I go for a walk.

"Has it ever occurred to you that we don't seem to have a real social life?" I ask him, walking backwards so I can see his face.

"I've been pretty content as it is," he responds, shrugging. "The majority of the school still sees me as the 'mysterious tortured artist' and doesn't want to kill the vibe of that."

"I'm happy being with you as well."

His face flushes red and he takes my hand. "That's not exactly what I meant with that statement, but it is also true."

We continue to walk around, aimless chatter filling the holes in our conversations. The silence can be a blanket, a peaceful break, but right now neither of us wants it hanging over our walk.