the one & only { w e n d y }

Tomie laughed at Wendy’s assertion that Mikky and Vera needed to be together. If she were honest, the romance plot line in the comics was probably her least favourite part. Who cared about who kissed who? Tomie was far more interested in the levelling up and the powers and the epic, tragic plot lines. She liked a good ensemble cast, enjoyed complex interpersonal relationships, sure. But love triangles? Eh… Not so much. Luckily, the comic didn’t have too much of that stuff in it.

Shelby’s comment about boys getting gross as they got older made her pause, and though she was a little impatient to turn the attention back to the comic they were reading, Tomie wondered what exactly Shelby meant. She glanced from her brunette friend to the blonde at her other side as Wendy started talking about princes and heroes. A part of her wanted to roll her eyes, but she refrained for Wendy’s benefit.

“Me getting a boyfriend right now would be a fast-tracked ticket for my parents straight to Azkaban,” she commented helpfully, “On account of, y’know, the murder they’d commit upon finding out.” She half-smiled, glancing from one girl to the other. “Murders, plural, I guess,” she added, thinking that they’d probably kill the boy, too. There was something overwhelmingly appealing about the whole concept, but Tomie figured it probably had more to do with the disobeying-her-parents thing rather than the actually-dating-a-boy thing.

Shelby laughed a little too, emboldened by Tomie's giggles. It didn't make sense to her at all, why it mattered who got with who. If the writers really wanted people to care about that, maybe they would have put the character's birthday's in the front of the book.

This idea of just... finding a person to be with forever was so overwhelming to the young witch. And having to make choices, like Mikky choosing between Vera and Keeyla - that was scary! What if you chose wrong, and then were stuck with the the wrong boy forever and ever? Shelby had yet to experience divorce in her life so far, and the way her mum told the story it sounded like adults just 'fell' into marriage. Why do that when there was a perfectly good way to make sure things would work out?

All this was on the tip of Shelby's tongue, but she lacked the right words for it, and felt pretty sure at least one of the girls would laugh at her for it.

Plus, this was skirting uncomfortably close to what Shelby and Tomie and Hazel had been talking about the other day. Shelby shifted, slowly, off the bed, grabbing her bag. "Thanks for sharing that with me," she said softly, pulling her shoes back on. "I think I should get to my next class though. See you at lunch?" She waited just a second for an answer, gave a small little wave, and was gone.

[[out]]

Although the Willbond spent much of her time daydreaming about her favorite fantasy novels and did spend a considerable amount of time thinking about the intricate romance plots, she had never considered what being in a relationship was supposed to be like in real life. Sure she knew how the idea of becoming older, getting married, and having kids worked. In theory, it was what she intended to do in the future. But that sort of plot line felt too straight, too uninspired, and too boring for someone with an active imagination like Wendy.

She laughed at Tomie’s comment, feeling similarly about what might happen should her parents find out that she had a boyfriend (not that she’d know who to date, she wasn’t sure how she felt about holding hands with boys, yet). “Tomie, your parents sound really strict,” Wendy observed but this wasn’t the first time she had felt that way. Wendy supposed that her mum could be strict too when she put her mind to it.

But before she could continue thinking about it outloud, she looked over at Shelby as she prepared to leave. “Have fun!” Wendy replied, giving the girl a wave of her own. Wendy wasn’t sure if by lunch that meant that Wendy was also invited but she felt weird asking. She figured Tomie would let her know.

“Oh – yeah cool!” Tomie called with a wave, waiting until Shelby had shut the door before turning back to Wendy.

The whole dress/sweater combo wasn’t the kind of thing Tomie would ever willingly wear. She wasn’t a dress person unless it was a family funeral or something, and even then... only reluctantly. On Wendy, though, it looked sweet in a way that she didn’t typically find appealing, but did today. She looked cute, Tomie thought, just not in a way that Tomie wanted to look.

‘Uh,” she said, feeling a bit distracted by her thoughts. “Yeah... They are strict.” She skipped back in the conversation a bit. Tomie didn’t talk about it much unless she was cracking jokes, but out of all of her friends, her parents were probably the least lenient.

“They’re…” She waved a hand, as if the gesture would help Wendy understand what she was trying to say. “They’re pretty traditional, I guess? I dunno. It’s kinda hard to be myself at home sometimes.” After a beat, she added, “maybe that’s why I get up to so much trouble at school.” She smiled a little.

“But you’re so great, Tomie! I can’t imagine that your parents don’t think you’re the coolest,” she said enthusiastically, leaning closer to gently bump her shoulder into Tomie’s as if to emphasize the fact. “Do they expect you to wear like dresses and be girly, things like that?” she asked before she could think it through, but when she considered the question, she back-tracked a little. That hadn’t come out right.

“Because you are girly, you’re a girl but like…” she paused, she didn’t feel as intelligent talking to Tomie as she normally did, “like do they want you to act differently at home?” she concluded, wondering how much Tomie would be willing to tell her. Sure it might have been weird for a parent to think that their kid was cool or above the rules of their house, but normal things didn’t seem to apply to Tomie and Wendy couldn’t really figure out why.

Maybe it was because Tomie always seemed really mature and well-put-together. “But it must be tough,” she added because she did sympathize, “Mine aren’t like crazy strict but they’re very particular about things like chores,” she explained. Wendy wasn’t sure if she had told Tomie about the farm, even though she had mentioned telling her about the big family before. “ I live on a farm, did I ever tell you that?” she asked.

Tomie laughed, Wendy’s compliment making her feel warm (which showed on her face) and also a touch nervous (which she did her best to bury deep). “Um,” she started, still tingling from the combination of the compliment and the shoulder-bump. “I… Guess…” she started, but their words overlapped a little as her Ravenclaw friend backtracked conversationally. “Yeah, I – no I get what you – Yeah, I guess,” she finished, after Wendy had stopped talking.

“Like, it’s not just that, I don’t mind some stuff…” she loved cooking with her mum, for example, and she actually didn’t hate cleaning, generally speaking. “Dresses, yeah... Not really my thing, but my mum makes me wear them sometimes.” Like, to any family event, for example. She shrugged uncomfortably; most of the time at school she wore her uniform or pyjamas, and in the spaces in between she got to wear whatever she wanted. Tomie was invested in keeping her friends’ perspective of her the same. The idea of Wendy imagining her in conservative dresses made her skin crawl.

She raised her eyebrows and looked at her friend. “I feel like maybe you mentioned it at some point, but maybe I forgot,” Tomie said plainly. “Do you have like... cows and stuff?” Growing up in north Islington and almost never leaving the city, Tomie could barely imagine living on a farm. The space. “Do you have to share a room with your siblings?” she asked quickly. Everyone knew Wendy had lots of siblings, but even if she had mentioned a farm, Tomie had probably imagined them living in some London apartment this whole time anyway.

Wendy wasn’t sure if Tomie was hesitating because she was offended or didn’t want to talk about it or a combination of both but she mentally scolded herself anyway, realizing that it might not have been the best way to word the question when she really had no knowledge about what Tomie’s life was like outside of school.

The Ravenclaw had this thing where she wanted to feel like she was informed so instead of asking direct questions like anyone else might have, Wendy resorted to asking for clarification on things she thought she already knew. The good thing was that if she was wrong, she wasn’t above getting corrected, at least not usually, so when Tomie spoke, she was really paying attention.

“Well I think you look great in whatever you wear, so there’s that,” she added with a bright smile though in retrospect it probably didn’t matter what she thought about it. It was something completely different to hear your friend say it as opposed to your actual mum. While Tomie might not have been a fan of dresses, Wendy could not imagine wearing jeans and other sorts of pants around the school when she wasn’t in uniform.

Sure, it had something to do with her whole inner princess thing but more importantly, it was much more comfortable for things like sitting for a long time and reading. But for someone as active as Tomie, it made sense that she did not like dresses. Plus, it didn’t really seem like her style.

“Yeah!” she replied excitedly, “all sorts of animals, the cows are my favorite, but we’ve got little chicks too, and horses, love those as well,” she added. In short, Wendy loved all the animals and could go on and on about the subject when prompted. But she didn’t want to take over the conversation with talk about animals. “Just my youngest sister,” she explained, “but our house is like an entire inn so our space for living isn’t that huge. What about you? You live in a house? What’s it like?” 

“Oh, ha, thanks,” Tomie said, grinning, feeling flustered and then quickly trying to cover that up with a shrug. “I think dresses are more your thing,” she commented lightly, glancing down at the comic still open in her lap. “I mean, like, you look good in them,” she added clumsily, glad her cheeks didn’t really show it when she blushed. Get it together girl!

“Horses, cool,” Tomie said, trying to perk up a little and seem less awkward than she felt. It was stupid, really; why did it affect her so much? She shut her comic; it was clear that they weren’t going to do much more reading right now, but that was okay. “An apartment,” she corrected, “and I share with my little sister too.” Tomie rolled her eyes. “Not a lot of living space for us either. But at least Benny lives on the floor beneath us,” she added optimistically.

"Is it like a real Inn?" she asked, a little confused. "Like do people come stay there or...?"

Wendy wasn’t entirely sure if dresses were her thing even if she did like them but coming from Tomie, it felt extra true. “You think so?” she asked, feeling very touched by the compliment, “thanks!” she added. Wendy thought Tomie looked really good in her usual getup as well but didn’t feel the need to comment on it, especially not when she was sure that Tomie was well aware that she looked cool in everything she wore.

“That’s so nice to be neighbors with someone from school! Especially like a friend, too,” she continued, very interested in Tomie’s life outside of school and now Benny’s since the blond-haired Ravenclaw assumed that it must have been in one way or another relatively similar. “We don’t have like proper neighbors unless you count the ones way down the road,” she offered. It was one of the perks of living on a farm she supposed unless you were super social and missed hanging out with other people. Good thing that Wendy was practically best friends with her books.

“Well it’s more like a tavern,” she began to explain, her family had restored it to its former 1800s glory and though it was a lot of work to maintain, her family did an excellent job at keeping it in tiptop shape. “People normally stop by for food and a pint, but we’ve also got lodging. Lots of outside space, not a lot of inside space,” she explained. “Living in an apartment must be so cool, you guys have elevators and things like that? Or like a swimming pool?” she wondered; she had seen a place like that in one of her classes at Stowe. She wasn’t sure if apartments in England were that lavish but she figured if Tomie lived in one, she’d know.

She just nodded about the dress stuff, glad Wendy didn’t seem to notice anything off about her.

“Yeah, Benny’s the best,” Tomie said, nodding. “And not just him, like there’s Weasel Warren who’s in fifth year now, he lives on my floor. Then the twins in fourth year? I guess going into fifth? And my brothers – well, just one now that Matt graduated – and a few others.” she tilted her head, glancing away to the side as she listed them all internally.

“Benny’s little brother starts school next year, and my sister will in a couple more years… So there are lots of school-people who are also home-people,” she concluded. “Oh really?” she asked, looking back at Wendy. No neighbours? She couldn’t imagine it. Tomie had lived in a seven floor block her whole life. “Oooh, I get it,” she replied, nodding. A tavern. That was actually very cool! “Lots of outside space sounds nice,” she said, though Tomie didn’t really mind her backyard just being… the city of London.

“Elevators, yes, swimming pool absolutely not,” Tomie said, laughing. She actually wasn’t very good at swimming – maybe to the point of not being able to? She hadn’t had many chances to try, so she wasn’t ruling it out (it didn’t look that hard). "More like hot water that runs out all the time, an attic with an ongoing boggart infestation problem, noisy neighbours..." She trailed off, smiling. It was a joke, but it was all true, too. There was no way her block was as fancy as Wendy was imagining.

Wendy had lived around her siblings for so long that she couldn’t really think about what it would be like to live around anyone else. Sure, some of their schooling overlapped so it wasn’t like she was completely on her own away from school but even so, she figured that the experience was completely different. “I’m so jealous!” she exclaimed, though there was really no malice in her statement.

“Yeah the outside space is nice, but you know, gets a little lonely sometimes especially now since all my older siblings are away, my favorite brother works at the Ministry so I don’t get to see him very often but we write sometimes,” she explained. Wendy could not remember really sitting down and discussing life outside of school with any of her friends so this was nice, especially since she had sort of given up the opportunity to be with her family so that she could go to camp.

“I normally only see him during long breaks like these so when I go back home, I want to spend a lot of time with him, and his friends, they’re really nice,” she explained. Out of all of Danny’s friends, Freya was by far her favorite, and oftentimes the young Ravenclaw hoped to grow into someone like that instead of the bookish, shy little thing she was becoming. It was hard though, especially when she gravitated around her group of peers quietly. But this camp experience had certainly helped.

“Boggart infestation!?” she looked at Tomie with much surprise, “that’s kind of scary though, but I can't imagine you'd ever be afraid of anything, Tomie," she added with a smile, "you're so brave."

“That’s fair,” Tomie said, understanding. It never got lonely at her place; there were people crammed into every corner. They had a three bedroom house for six people, for Merlin’s sake. At least Matt and Ara’s room had been magically converted, with an extra loft space added magically the summer before her oldest brother’s seventh year. Her room was smaller and much more boring, and Evelyn’s toys always seemed to end up in her space.. Her parents didn’t think the girls needed the extra room, but Tomie thought differently. “My big brother lives at home still, but he’s never there. Always working at the hospital.”

Tomie snorted. “I mean it’s not like I have much to do with them,” she said, trying not to smile too much. No need to make Wendy think she was overly affected by the casual compliment or anything. “Benny and I do go in there sometimes, though,” she said, unable to resist the urge to brag just a little. It was true! though she hadn’t actually seen any boggarts. “The attic, I mean.” She tugged at the crinkled sheet underneath her lightly with one hand – she’d totally forgotten that they’d moved to Shelby’s bed, only for Shelby to leave not too soon after.

“Oh, is your brother like a healer?” she wondered. Wendy knew that Danny worked at the Ministry and he had probably told her on several occasions where he worked if she asked but those were the sorts of little details that she often failed to remember. Plus with Danny, it was always hard to tell whether he was being honest or if he was trying to trick her, he had done a great deal of that when they were younger and he was still in school. Though she had several siblings of her own, however, it was much more interesting to hear about Tomie’s own. She wondered about what they were like and if they were all as interesting and brave as she was. “Are the two of you close?” she followed up her question.

“Wow!” she replied almost immediately, knowing that she’d be way too terrified to even get close to something like that. The young witch liked fantasy as long as it lived within the comfort of her own head but she wasn’t brave in the least, not in the sort of way you had to be to defeat the terrifying type of creatures one encountered in the fantasy universe.

“Even going to the woods for that story time was pretty scary for me,” she revealed with a smile, curious to know if Tomie had remembered her complaining non-stop about the hidebehinds she had convinced herself lived in the woods of the North American forest. “Do you miss home and your family now that you’re at camp? I love hanging out with friends but I sort of wish I were back home,” she confessed her own feelings on the matter. 

“Yeah,” Tomie said with a nod. “So Matt’s the healer – in training – Ara’s the one in your house.” Even if Wendy had never met her brother before, Tomie was sure she’d be able to make the connection now that she’d pointed it out. She and her Ravenclaw brother looked very alike, and there weren’t that many southeast asians at school after all. “Ara’s probably my favourite, but we’re on-and-off for closeness I suppose,” she said with a slight shrug. Evelyn was annoying and Matt was great, but they never hung out.

Tomie smiled with unbridled smugness as Wendy exclaimed. Sure, she’d never actually seen a boggart, but when Wendy looked impressed like that, she couldn’t quite bring herself to care about that fact. When Wendy admitted to being scared in the woods, her smugness faded but the smile remained.  “Ummm…” Tomie trailed off, trying to figure out how much she missed home. “I guess it was kinda weird to have spent all year at school and then be spending the summer here.”

“I miss my mum’s cooking a lot,” she said, glancing down for a moment. Eating shared meals in the hall was fun, but it just wasn’t the same, was it? She didn’t really miss Evelyn, though; she was a brat.