Victor, clutching the freshly carved wooden crocodile head with its sharp scales, was rolling around on his bed—his 'kingdom' right next to the bathroom door—exaggeratedly, like a large abandoned dog.
"Oh—I've been abandoned by the heartless detective lady—"
He drew out his words, burying his face into the crocodile's cold wooden teeth, his voice muffled.
"She won't even take her loyal Watson on an adventure!"
"Right now you're just like a pathetic simp," Venom retorted bluntly, emerging from his shoulder, its huge white eyes rolling.
"Need me to put on some sad music for you? Like 'All the Chocolate Has Left Me'?"
Victor abruptly sat up, holding the crocodile head in front of him, staring into its hollow wooden eyes.
"No," he blinked, the feigned misery on his face instantly replaced by new excitement. "She doesn't need me? No problem! I can find my own fun!"
He hopped off the bed with the crocodile head and announced enthusiastically, "Then I'll just go play with Enid!"
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Venom let out an exaggerated groan, covering its face with a tentacle.
"Your solution is to find a rebound? Now you're a total scumbag through and through! Just so we're clear, if you ever get your head chopped off by the goth girl or the rainbow Little Wolf Girl or anyone else, I'm not saving you!"
"It's called social flexibility!" Victor corrected, already bouncing towards the door with the crocodile head. "Besides, Enid is so adorable, like a piece of ever-energetic strawberry milk chocolate!"
Meanwhile, Enid was busy with her two friends around their canoe named "black cat."
The air was filled with the smell of paint and grass.
"Yoko, the colors need to be brighter! Make them look fierce! We have to win the Poe Cup this time!"
Enid cheered on her companion while painting bright yellow stripes on her own paddle.
"Hey! Are you building Noah's Ark? Is there a spot for me?" A familiar voice suddenly chimed in with a laugh.
"Victor?" Enid turned her head in surprise, but her smile instantly froze, turning into a short shriek—"Oh my god!"
A ferocious, wide-gaping wooden crocodile head was shoved right in front of her eyes!
Startled, she jumped back sharply, tripped over a paint can, completely lost her balance, and flailed her arms as she fell backward!
"Whoa! Careful!"
Victor reacted extremely fast. He immediately tossed aside the culprit crocodile head, stepped forward, extended an arm, and firmly wrapped it around Enid's waist, pulling her back, saving her from a fate of falling into a pile of damp paintbrushes and paint cans.
"Oh, that was close," Victor said with a grin, looking down at the flustered Enid in his arms.
Enid's cheeks instantly turned as red as the fresh red boat paint she had just applied.
Her heart was pounding, half from the fright, half from the warm, steady arm around her waist and Victor's overly close proximity.
She could even smell the faint mixed scent of pine wood shavings and chocolate on him.
"Whoa..." Enid's two friends simultaneously let out a long, suggestive teasing sound off to the side, exchanging 'you know what I mean' looks.
"Haven't we seen this scene not too long ago?"
Venom thought human interaction patterns were really lacking in novelty.
"I think I just heard you mention the Poe Cup. What's that?"
Victor asked, his arm still wrapped around Enid's waist, seemingly having forgotten to let go.
At the mention of this, Enid instantly seemed injected with energy, springing up from his arms, full of fighting spirit.
The blush on her cheeks was also replaced by excitement: "That's my sole pursuit this year! Half canoe race, half cross-country hike, and most importantly—no rules at all!"
She excitedly explained to Victor while unconsciously smoothing her slightly messy hair, trying to hide her still-red ears in her golden locks.
"No rules?" Victor's eyes instantly lit up, as if he had heard the most beautiful words in the world.
"That sounds amazing! Need me to help out?" He bent down to pick up the troublesome wooden crocodile head and enthusiastically offered.
"Really? It would be so great if you could help!" Enid's eyes sparkled, completely failing to notice the knowing look her two friends exchanged.
"Hey, I think the pizza we ordered is almost here," one of the girls suddenly spoke up, linking arms with the other. "We need to check at the school gate. We'll leave this to you two for now!"
"Oh, okay," Enid's mind was already fully on the competition and talking with Victor, so she answered absentmindedly. "Take your time, be careful."
Watching the backs of her two friends quickly walking away, Victor cradled the ferocious crocodile head and mysteriously leaned close to Enid: "Hey, Enid, I just had a brilliant idea!"
He was almost whispering into Enid's ear, lowering his voice, excitedly gesturing. "When the time comes, we can take this crocodile head and do this... then this... and then that... Goodness, they'll be scared out of their wits."
Warm breath brushed against her ear. Enid couldn't help but shrink her neck, but hearing this outrageous yet tempting plan, she couldn't hold back a laugh, her eyes curving into crescents: "Oh my god, Victor! You're such a bad boy! But I like it."
She paused, feeling her cheeks heating up again, and quickly added, "I mean, I like your prank idea!"
Her two friends, now farther away, glanced back at the two figures on the grass, heads almost touching, whispering secretively over a wooden crocodile head.
"Maybe... we can come back later?" one suggested.
"Good idea," the other agreed deeply. "How about finding a place for a long afternoon tea? I don't think they need us for a while."
The two walked away laughing, leaving Enid and Victor enthusiastically planning their battle strategy under the sun.
The two got so engrossed in discussing their battle plan that they almost forgot about their afternoon class. Enid didn't even remember her two friends who had gone to get pizza and never returned.
In the afternoon Botany class, the classroom was enveloped in a peculiar smell—a mix of fertile soil, humus, and the pungent scent of some strange plants.
Victor and Enid sat side by side in the last row's "designated seats for underachievers."
This spot had an open view and was far from the dangerous-looking specimens on the lectern that appeared wilted but were said to induce hallucinations or make one grow ferns all over.
Their attention was completely captured by the intense duel at the front of the classroom.
Wednesday Addams and Bianca Barclay, like two battleships with all guns blazing, were bombarding each other in the sea of knowledge.
"Aconitum napellus, also known as wolfsbane," Wednesday's voice was cold and clear, like a scalpel slicing through velvet.
"It contains the highly toxic aconitine. Poisoning symptoms include paresthesia, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, ultimately leading to death from respiratory paralysis or ventricular fibrillation. By the way, don't its withered flowers look like a hood prepared for the deceased?"
Bianca picked up almost immediately, a hint of arrogance at the corner of her mouth: "Accurate but unimaginative description, addams. Why not discuss its ritualistic use in Gallic Druid culture?"
"Or its other, more widely known name—'the goddess's slipper'?"
"And to correct you, its flower form is more commonly likened to a monk's cowl, not a hood. By the way, is your knowledge about hoods from personal experience?"
Wednesday didn't even bat an eyelid:
"At least my sources of knowledge aren't some siren legends that need singing to attract attention."
"By the way, the 'monk's cowl' you mentioned caused a careless gardener in 1581 Italy to writhe in agony for a full twenty-four hours before dying. His last words were complaining about the burning pain in his fingertips—that doesn't sound very 'holy,' does it?"
"Now this is interesting!" Victor watched with shining eyes, couldn't help but pull out a box of popcorn—chocolate-coated—from Venom's body, stuffed a big handful into his mouth, and naturally offered it to Enid.
Enid, engrossed in watching, subconsciously took some popcorn and stuffed it into her mouth, her eyes still fixed on the war without gunpowder ahead, mumbling in agreement, "How do they know everything..."