the one & only { w e n d y }

So camp was slowly coming to an end.

At least for Tomie, that was. The first week felt like it had gone by in a total flash, even though so much had happened. She could barely believe so many things had happened in such a short amount of time; She’d fallen off a cliff, JR had asked her to the dance, and she’d said yes. She’d punched a boy in the face… had been banned from going to said dance. She’d bonded with Shelby like she’d never bonded with another girl before. She’d learned how to play quodpot, and gotten pretty good at it, and she’d even had time to make a couple of friends from other countries.

She couldn’t really keep her brain from imagining all the fun adventures everyone was going to have when she went home, though. It couldn’t really be helped, but it did grate on her a bit. She just wanted to be where everyone else was, doing what everyone else was, with the extremely lax camp rules. Things at home were a lot more strict, and while it made her feel guilty for thinking it, it was definitely another reason why she didn’t want to go home.

At least she’d have Benny, though. She was looking forward to checking in with him after this whole whirlwind of an experience. It was actually kind of funny – she was seeing him every day at the moment, but it was still the least she’d seen him for… probably as long as she could remember. At home, they were always in each others’ hair, and at school they slept basically a room apart.

A knock on her door made her jump, even though she’d been expecting it. “Come in,” she called, not hopping down from where she was sitting on her top bunk. She grinned at Wendy as her Ravenclaw friend opened the door. Shelby was at some early morning sciency class thing, and so was Wendy’s roommate, so Tomie had invited her over. She was still in her pyjamas. Wendy didn’t take her shoes off at the door and Tomie bit her tongue, cringing a little internally, but not wanting to say anything. It was sort of too late anyway, she reasoned.

“Look what I’ve got,” she said, holding up the newest issue of a Mikky Blue takes on… comic, still wrapped in its plastic sheet. She’d had to beg her brother to steal one from their parents newsagency, from out the back in the cardboard boxes. It wasn’t even supposed to be on the shelves for another three days, and if her parents found out about it they'd ground her into oblivion. Or maybe just kill her outright. "Wanna just come up here?" she asked, nodding at the ladder.

Wendy had been having so much fun participating in the camp that the thought of going home soon was starting to make her feel sad. Though she had originally considered returning home at the end of summer after staying for five weeks, she knew that it would be an imposition on her parents, especially because they still needed help at the inn and her older siblings didn’t always stop by to help. Not that she blamed them, Wendy often thought about how nice it would be when she could leave the family farm and venture into the city on her own for her tailor-made adventure. But she knew that it would be some time before that would happen, she still had to get through the rest of school and she really did like living on the farm with her parents. It was much more spacious now that her older siblings had left home and it really was the best environment for reading.

Therefore, Wendy had made sure to spend as much time with her friends as possible, following the camp’s motto to make as many pleasant memories before she would have to head back home. She had even made a couple of new friends as well but as expected, felt comfortable and closest to her friends from back at Hogwarts. She wondered if they would have the chance to meet up at any point during the rest of the summer. It would be nice to hang out again, she figured, even if it was just having them over for dinner or something or spending a day in Diagon Alley. Wendy decided that when she had a plan, she would bring it up.

Though a girl she had gotten to know in one of the arts and crafts classes had invited her out on a morning hike, Wendy had turned her down apologetically, already having made plans to go over to Tomie’s that morning. Opting for a simple dress and a sweater, she made her way over, knocking promptly at the door of her cabin and hoping that she was not late. When she heard her friend invite her in, she smiled up at her. “Hey, Tomie! Did you get breakfast already?” she wondered, reaching into her bag to show her some snacks she had brought along. “Brought some snacks if you’re interested,” she offered.

It was a little early for treats and candy, probably, but some of them were healthy too. Wendy had brought some granola bars and juice as well, probably way too many snacks for two people but she’d leave some for Shelby as well. But she didn’t dwell on it much, her eyes widening when she saw Tomie hold up a copy of the next issue of the comic book she had been so into lately. “What!? Already, ahh if I read it all today I’m going to have to wait forever! Should I pace myself?” she said excitedly, ranting a little as she spoke.

Nodding excitedly, Wendy took her shoes off at the base of the bunkbed before climbing up and making herself comfortable on the edge, setting her bag down. “You’re welcomed to anything in there,” she said, “Can I see?” she asked excitedly, her hands moving excitedly as she reached out for the comic.

She’d brought snacks; truly a good friend. “I didn’t go to breakfast, I slept in,” Tomie admitted with an easy smile, “but I did eat a bit.” Merlin if she hadn’t eaten yet, everyone would know about it. It was ten o’clock, for Merlin’s sake.

“No, Wen, that’s the best thing,” she said excitedly, “the spin-off series is starting on the first of August! They’re gonna do like a one-two thing, what’s that called?” she clicked her fingers, “alternating, that’s it. They’re gonna alternate between Mikky Blue and Vera Miro? Remember the girl he met during the whole double-dimension arc, but then she had to go back and…” she trailed off, knowing that Wendy knew exactly what she was talking about. “Anyway, it’s set in her dimension.”

She watched as her friend climbed up the ladder. Tomie usually had a bit of a thing about clean beds. She’d inherited it from her mum or something, but she always liked to keep her bed free from outside clothes. This was just one time, though, she thought. And it was sort of worth it to be able to sit up here on her bed together. And she didn’t want to come off as weird, and make them both sit on the floor or something. “Yeah, I haven’t read it yet, it only came this morning.” she answered with a grin, holding the comic out. “Figured I’d wait,” she said, glancing at Wendy to gage her reaction.

“I woke up starving, probably was the first person at breakfast,” she said with a grin. Wendy had never been an early bird in any sense of the word and was probably half asleep when she had been eating breakfast but she was glad she had, if not she would be complaining about hunger and eating all of the snacks she had been piling up on from the camp canteen.

“That’s awesome! I wouldn’t be able to wait long anyway, I waited almost a year for a book once, way too much stress,” she expressed with a small frown. It had probably not been anything to stress over as many would have told her but no one quite understood her love for books and how devastating it was to sit around waiting to read what would happen next. Her mind completely boggled by her own ideas on how things should happen only to be disappointed or extremely pleased with how the author decided to continue the tale. One of the amazing things about comic books, apart from the fact that Tomie liked them and they were therefore by definition the coolest pieces of literature ever, they were published in quicker succession.

With Tomie’s connections, Wendy didn’t have to wait long at all. “Yeah, yeah, I remember, that sounds so cool, you think they’ll develop the romance parts as well?” she wondered, though it was obvious to her friend that Wendy mostly cared about the romantic bits as opposed to all the action. All of it was fun, though. “You’re the best!” she added, taking the comic book and admiring the cover before moving closer to sit next to Tomie. “Then let’s read it together.”

“That’s why comics are better,” Tomie said with a half-smile. She read books when she was younger, but she’d never really gotten into reading novels as she’d gotten older. Nowadays she read a lot of different comics, though. She liked that there was cool visual art, and she liked that they were shorter to read. Sometimes she got Benny to draw her favourite characters for her at like, the beach or whatever. She had one such drawing pinned on a board above her bed at Hogwarts.

“I mean, the Mikkera romance was pretty cool,” Tomie said, “Or was it Vikky? I don’t remember. Anyway that romance plot is probably dead, because of the whole world-ends-if-the-dimensions-cross-again thing, but I think Vera’s gonna have a new love interest.” Honestly, she liked the romance plot because it had been doomed from the start and the writers had actually followed through. They’d written themselves into a corner where any backtracking would be seen as cheap from the fans.

Wendy moved closer and they bumped arms. “Sorry,” Tomie said, adjusting the sheet on her lap. “That sounds good,” she said with an easy smile, delighted that Wendy seemed to like her little surprise.

“I still have a soft spot for my books, though, but the comics are growing on me,” she added with a bright smile. It was not likely that Wendy’s collection of novels at home would turn into one of comics anytime soon but she had definitely grown fond of them. “At least now I know comics aren’t just for boys,” she continued, somewhat a little embarrassed to admit that she had felt that way about comics to begin with. Not that Wendy didn’t like adventure and action just as much as the average boy (or girl) but the comic books she had read in the past had never really focused on anything else other than that. Wendy obviously had not looked into it very well because as soon as she had met Tomie and her love for comics, all sorts of great plot driven romances were falling into her hands in between novels.

“Mikkera,” Wendy nodded in agreement, listening closely as Tomie explained her predictions. They were definitely more realistic than the ones Wendy had made up in her head but also a little disappointing. “No! They can’t just kill the plot, maybe there’s a loophole, there’s always a loophole,” she added, her voice rising just slightly as the thought of starting with a new love interest didn’t sit too well with her. “I’m invested now, I don’t want any new love interests,” she added, probably sounding a little whiny but feelings particularly passionate on the topic. Wendy did not do well with that sort of change, not when she had grown to love the pairing that was in the comics already.

Wendy smiled as they sat next to each other, shaking her head softly as Tomie apologized, “It’s okay,” she added, bringing her knees up closer to her chest as she rested her head on her legs. “Now I’m sad that the plot is going to end,” she said with a small sigh.

Tomie just nodded at the comics aren’t just for boys comment. She didn’t know what to say, statements like that were sort of weird. She was a girl herself, and she liked comics, so obviously she knew they weren’t just for boys, but in her experience, more boys read comics than girls did. Did that make it a “boy thing”? She wasn’t sure. Maybe it did; she tended to like more boy stuff than typical girl stuff.

She laughed when Wendy got enthusiastic about the romance plot in the Mikky Blue comics and its spin-off. Wendy was totally wrong, of course – bringing in a totally contrived loophole just to get two characters back together seemed pretty dumb to her – but she found her friend’s enthusiasm pretty endearing. “But why would they have totally different comics if they were going to get them back together?” she asked bumping her friend lightly with her shoulder.

“Don’t be sad,” she said with another light laugh, poking Wendy lightly in the arm. “At least wait to see what the new comic is like! We don’t know anything yet.” She smiled, watching some loose strands of long, blonde hair fall into Wendy’s face, checking her expression. “Um, and for now,” she said, after a beat, nodding at the comic, “open it.”

“You know,” She really had no clue as to how any of that would make any sense but Wendy didn’t read for logical plots and factual information, she read to dive into a reality that only added up in her imagination. “Maybe they’ll have separate comics and then bring them back together again in the end? Maybe they’ll find each other’s doppelgängers?” she asked, but the more she spoke the less confident Wendy felt about the conclusions she had made about the upcoming plot. “I mean it doesn’t make sense but that’ll be a pretty cool plot, right?” she asked with a smile.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said decisively. Tomie always seemed to know how to say the right thing, but maybe that came with the territory of being the coolest girl at Hogwarts, always knowing what to say to others to make them feel better. “But let’s read that one together, too, we can meet up or something it you want!” she offered, excited to make plans after camp with her if she was available. Wendy went on to consider that maybe they could have a sleepover and that Tomie could show her more of the comics she really liked, like the first ones she had been interested in or her favorite ones. Wendy believed that a person’s favorite book (or comic) said a lot about them, she only wondered what Tomie’s choices would say about her.

Wendy carefully took the plastic cover from the comic book, careful not to rip it in her enthusiasm before folding it and handing it to Tomie for safe keeping. Then, she admired the cover for a few moments before opening it, making sure to position it in a way for both of them to read. Wendy still had trouble understanding the order of the panels but tended to spend more time focusing on the words rather than the images. She was trying to change that though, especially since the images were so important too.

“Maybe doppelgängers,” she conceded with a grin. If she was totally honest, it sounded like a bit of a dumb idea. But it was sort of cute that Wendy wanted it so badly, even if it was a bit contrived.

“Oh… That’d be wicked,” Tomie said thoughtfully, thinking about meeting up with Wendy outside of school or camp. Just the two of them. At Wendy’s house maybe? Tomie wasn’t sure if her house was the best for hanging out or sleepovers or whatever, it made her feel a bit self conscious. “If my parents let me,” she commented with an eye roll. “It’d be cool to read together though.” She smiled at her friend, hoping that Benny wouldn’t be upset if she read it with Wendy first instead of him. They’d been reading the Mikky Blue comics since like, birth or something.

She settled in beside Wendy as her friend opened the comic for them to read. It was kind of nice to be able to be in this sort of space with Wendy, all sort of relaxed and alone. It was the sort of zone that she only really got with other Gryffindors, since they shared dorms and common rooms and stuff. There was something about being in comfy beds or being on comfy couches that made bonding easier, she’d decided. She’d gotten pretty close to Shelby the past week, and thinking about that, and about the witch beside her now, a part of her wished that she could access the Ravenclaw girl dorms from time to time.

“Oh, cool,” Tomie said, her eyebrows raising a bit as Wendy turned the page to a very impressive spread. One character was throwing a spear made of light across both of the pages, and their hair waved in animated slow motion.

“Definitely!” Wendy said excitedly, “Maybe we can have a sleepover! My mum can talk to yours if you want, if it helps,” she offered. Wendy didn’t know much about Tomie’s parents but figured that because her own mom was good at talking to people, it might be all that was needed to convince Tomie’s mom to stay over. She wasn’t really thinking about inviting other friends but on second thought, Wendy wondered if she should. She wasn’t sure if her mum would allow a co-ed sleepover, unless the boys slept in a different room of course, but it would be fun. Though she hadn’t asked anyone yet or made any plans, her mind wandered momentarily with the possibilities.

“But if not meeting up is good too, I have to help on the farm but I can take time off when I want to,” she added, just in case, reaching into her bag to pull out a juice box, grape-flavored, before turning to Tomie, “Want one? I have orange and pineapple, too,” she offered. Wendy would wait until later for the snacks, she didn’t want to ruin the comic by smudging it with any food. But juice boxes tended to be safe.

Wendy examined the spread slowly, her fingers lightly following the spear as it crossed from one page to another, “Wow,” she said enthusiastically, “She looks a little different, doesn’t she?” she wondered.  The character had always been this sort of warrior type but she seemed even more powerful like this, with a spear and the wind flowing through her hair. Wendy considered how she never would have imagined her looking like this, not in her head anyway. It was one of the many perks of comic book reading. Turning the page, she looked over to Tomie, “left to right, right?” she asked a little shyly. Wendy always felt like she needed to ask how the panels worked, especially since one time she read the comic from back to front without realizing it. Wendy had felt stupid at the time and insecure about it every time she picked up a new comic.

“Oh, maybe!” Tomie answered. Again, she wasn’t really sure what she would and wouldn’t be allowed to do. The idea of Wendy’s mum talking to her parents, but then being told that she had to be at home to help out at the shop or that… The camp had contacted them about punching that boy, and that she was grounded for all eternity or something… Too embarrassing to think about.

She thanked Wendy when she took a juicebox at random, trying not to look at the colour of the box so that the flavour would be a surprise.

“Yeah, she’s so cool,” Tomie said, nodding enthusiastically. Keeya Lime was a cool character, a simple, scrappy sort of farm girl who’d been swept up in a magical plot. And now she could transform into this warrior-princess sort of character with a spear made of light! So cool! “I think Mikky should date her,” She said, bumping Wendy’s shoulder again lightly. “Now that Vera is out of the picture, you know,” she added, teasing her friend with a cheeky smile.

She took a sip of her juice. Pineapple! "Oh yeah, almost all comics in English will be left to right, look..." Tomie pointed at the top left panel. "There isn't another way, Mikky," she said, reading out the words. Her finger hovered over the page as she drew a line from there to the panel on the right of it. "I have to go." She went diagonally down now, to the bigger panel underneath the others. "See, you kinda follow their line of sight here," she waved her finger at the characters on the left, looking to the right side of the page. "Then up to the next page." She glanced at Wendy to check if her explanation had helped at all.

Wendy’s favorite character was Mikky even though she felt a little more connected to Keeya Lime. The two of them were from a farm after all, and the idea of being somehow tossed into a magical universe, maybe even more magical than her everyday life, sounded like a dream come true. She would often lose herself to a imaginary world where she doubled as a student by day and a warrior by night, her task to save the world from imminent danger. It was a book Wendy eventually hoped to write, inspired even more by the comics that Tomie had introduced to her. If only she could find someone that drew as well as that, Wendy knew that she had the opportunity to eventually put her imagination to paper and let it run even wilder.

“Noo—” Wendy responded to Tomie’s comment, elongating the vowel a little longer than necessary to prove just why doing so was such a terrible idea. “It’s about loyalty, Mikky and Vera are the best match,” Wendy insisted, not happy that the writers would set that up only to separate them in the end. It was too tragic, much too tragic for someone like Wendy to process without feeling a little bit of grief. “They have to get back together in the end, what about their happy endings!” she insisted, watching carefully as Tomie pointed out the structure of the comic book an Wendy followed, nodding along.

“Yeah, that makes sense, I get it,” she said, bringing her finger closer to the next page as she continued to read, “But there has to be another way,” she continued reading, careful to follow the pattern the way that Tomie had just explained again. “Isn’t there anything we can do?” she continued, the dialogue itself making her feel that tell tale sign of anguish over the parting of characters. Wendy turned to Tomie, making a face, “This is awful, Tomie, whyyy--?” she whined a little, looking at the page as a whole again before turning to the next one.

Tomie laughed when Wendy complained about the romance she’d suggested. “Vera and Mikky are done, sorry Wendy,” She shrugged jovially with a what-can-you-do expression. It was out of her hands. Of course, if it were in her hands, she wouldn’t have changed it. Tomie was excited for Vera Miro’s spin-off.

She was watching Wendy, rather than the page, as she read out the next couple of lines. She watched her expression, smiling a little whenever Wendy raised her eyebrows and looked surprised, or frowned and looked upset. It was cute. When Wendy looked up, Tomie turned her head a bit too, like she was looking up at the same time. Wendy didn’t seem to notice. Phew. Tomie laughed brightly at her whining. Introducing Wendy to the world of Mikky blue had been so much fun so far.

“Just keep going,” Tomie urged, glancing back down at the page herself instead of at the pretty blonde beside her. “Maybe it gets better.” She was a bit distracted, and not paying as much attention to the story and its pages as she usually did when she read, but she was still invested in Mikky’s arc – and if Keeya Lime was going to be a more main character, then she was invested in her, too.

“Woah,” Tomie said, pointing at Keeya’s transformation panels. “New outfit??” she asked urgently. So. Freakin. Cool.

She had run all the way to Sciences, excited to see what the super secret activity was. One of the older girls, someone who had done a lot of "muggle science" before, had said something about elephant toothpaste, which sounded so extremely exciting. Shelby packed her goggles the night before, just in case.
 
So when she walked into the science lab to a weird smell, she thought it was just something about the 'toothpaste'. Then she looked at the tables.

Shelby felt better that she was not the only one who had to be excused from the lesson, but also a bit like a wimp. Dissecting pygmy puffs (who the instructors had assured them had reached the end of their natural lifespan) seemed like something she could be able to do! But also, she had thrown up breakfast pretty much immediately. It was understandable that she was dismissed from class.

Shelby took her time going back to the dorm - her stomach felt weird still, and she wanted to brush her teeth, but also she didn't want to explain this to Tomie. How embarrassing. Oh, don't worry Tomie! Just your local coward, coming back from fainting like a dumb girl. Shelby groaned out load, startling someone drawing on the grass. This sucked.

Tomie didn't have anything until later, so Shelby figured she was home and had left the door unlocked (true), so she just walked in. "I don't want to t-" she began to say, hoping to cut off questions early, before she spotted Wendy sitting next to her roommate, blonde hair catching the light even from the top bunk. Unexpected. "Hi, Wendy," Shelby said meekly, kicking off her shoes and tossing her bag next to the bottom bunk. Um. "What are you guys up to?"

“I’m not giving up hope,” she said with a grin, “Maybe I’ll owl the company a very sad letter,” she said, only half-jokingly. Wendy was no stranger to writing letters to publishing companies and had done so several times to express her sorrows or joys over plot points. However, she had only gotten a reply once, from one of her favorite authors who sent along a signed photograph and a few generic words of encouragement. The young witch wasn’t sure if it was actually authentic but she was over the moon with excitement for at least a week.

Wendy continued to read, falling silent as she inspected each image closely, trying to figure out if there was any way to read in between the images to see more than the scares words on the page. It was the sad thing about comic books, she decided, that there never seemed enough dialogue or words in general to convey the information that she wanted from the characters. And it didn’t help that Wendy was no good at analyzing things like art or she might have understood the entire plot much better that way.

“Maybe this is all a dream or something,” she decided as she turned the page, her eyes lighting up as she looked at Keeya Lime’s new outfit, “Wow!” she replied, looking over at Tomie before smiling, “You’d make a pretty cool Keeya Lime for Halloween,” she offered. Maybe she could be Mikky.

When Wendy started to ask whether Tomie thought she was more of a Vera or Mikky, she looked down at the door, waving at Shelby as she came in. “Hey! How was science?” she asked enthusiastically. “We’re reading the new Mikky Blue comic, I brought snacks, want some?” she offered. Wendy wasn’t really sure if there was enough space on the bed for Shelby but they could move to the bottom bunk if Tomie wanted or if Shelby was interested. The young witch wouldn’t mind either way.