UNDEAD BECOMES HER, wednesday addams

i. ain't gonna be counted in the next census

Whenever Ollie got stressed, she found solace in pinning butterflies in the greenhouse. She'd brought a particularly beautiful specimen with her to school during the last break, a giant owl butterfly bigger than her palm.

Unfortunately for her anxiety,  she had an essay due that she'd already had to beg for an extension for. She sat in the quad (which was technically a pentagram) with a table all to herself. Her books were spread around her, although they weren't being very helpful.

"Friggin' English," she muttered. "Friggin' teacher that I wish would drop dead of a wasting disease in the next twenty seconds. Friggin' essay that I should've done last night but I didn't 'cause I'm stupid-"

"Ollie! Hi!" an overly cheerful and wonderfully familiar voice chirped. "Meet my new roomie!"

Ollie turned around and hoped she looked cheerful enough not to dampen Enid's spirits. "Enid, hey. Did I spell this word right?"

An extremely pretty goth girl strode forward and looked at the word in question, then at the book she was reading. "The word is spelled correctly, but this author has no standing. Although, to their credit, of which they have very little, he does have some excellent points on the practice of necromancy."

"Well, you know what they say," Ollie said. "There are two things that never fail to liven up the party- dead parents, and necromancy."

"Ollie ollie oxen-free, you can spell?" one of the Furs shouted from across the quad.

"Stop saying I can't spell!" Ollie shouted back.

"I can't believe it!"

"CHRISTINA I'VE KNOWN YOU SINCE KINDERGARTEN!"

"Just because we've known each other since we were toddlers doesn't mean anything. Now give up on that stupid essay and get over here. We're playing Cards Against Humanity!"

Ollie sighed. "Thanks, sugar, but I'm giving up on this. I'm Ollie, by the way." She put out her hand to shake, and the girl took it, her expression unreadable. 

"Wednesday Addams," she introduced herself, her voice monotone.

"Oh, we're doing full names? I'm Ollie Archemoros, then. Red spider lily."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You're Enid's roommate, right?" At Wednesday's nod, Ollie said, "That means you're in Ophelia Hall, which means you have the same dorm mother as us, Ms. Thornhill. She'll bring you a plant later, a flower she matches through personality. Mine's the red spider lily."

"A symbol of death," Wednesday said. "Perfect. I hope I receive the same."

"Unlikely, they're all unique. Five bucks she gives you..." Ollie took in the full form of Wednesday Addam and drew upon her plant knowledge. "A black dahlia. I hope you enjoy suffering, because you have a lot of schoolwork to catch up on."

She gathered up her stuff and shoved it into her bag. The Furs weren't super picky on who sat with them, considering they all had horrific manners and worse senses of humor. Considering Ollie and Christina had grown up together, it sort of meant that she had a place with them.

"Yeah, he's our star runner," Christina was saying, throwing down a card. "Fourth Varsity. Not quite first, considering he's been running for all of about thirty seconds."

"I'm not even that fast," one of the boys said, chewing with his mouth open.

"Shut up, dude. How much freedom can you find in a kilometer? While you're at it, deal Ollie in. Hey, Ollie, how did asking out the drum major go?"

"Met with complete silence. Maybe I shouldn't have been carrying a bird skull while I asked."

"You shouldn't have done that," the same boy said. "That's like the janitor asking out the CEO. No offense."

"None taken, but shut up. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take," Ollie replied. "Although apparently I also miss 100% of the shots I do take. Stop laughing!"

Ms. Thornhill, her very favorite teacher, helped her finish her assignment after school, and even let her feed a couple of the venus flytraps.

Ollie began the long walk back to her dorm, but paused briefly as a truly haunting rendition of 'Paint It Black' on cello echoed through the halls. It was nice, and then it was over, and she continued on.

She had a single dorm, although there was room for two, because nobody wanted to share with her. She didn't blame them. Her mattress was crawling with all manner of insects, animal skulls were nailed to the walls, and she always left her stuff lying around everywhere. 

There was also the matter of Francis, her bird. She'd found him lying on the side of the road when she was ten and brought him home to fix him up. She had to replace his heart and head, swapping the heart out for a raven's and simply removing all of the flesh and meat from his head, leaving a bare skull. She'd coaxed up vines through his rotting ribcage to hold him together, and he was as good as new.

"Hey, buddy," she cooed. "Mommy's home." She stroked his back feathers and was grateful that the only noise he could make was the clacking of his beak. "Remind me I have a Hummers meeting tomorrow, huh? I'm going to bed."

She changed into her pajamas and crawled into her bed, which she'd had to bring in special. It was a metal bed frame filled with soft soil, a woven comforter of sweetgrass drawn over her. The dirt had been changed yesterday, so no new plants had time to grow, but they would soon enough.

Briefly, she wondered who had been playing that beautiful cello music, then decided it was probably the new girl, Wednesday, since it started the day she got there. 

I'll have to ask where she learned, Ollie thought, then promptly fell asleep. Perched on the headboard, Francis stood guard and occasionally ate the bugs that crawled out of her mouth.