TEN.   the pieces fall right into place

If Kennedy could kill Bianca without repercussions, the siren would be long gone. On top of Enid freaking out about the Poe Cup because both Presley and Yoko were in the infirmary from a garlic incident, she was still incredibly angry about last night. If there was one thing that was worse than a breakup with a boyfriend, it's a betrayal from a friend.

Enid was pacing around her room crying, practically ripping her hair out. "I don't what to do, Kenny. What do we do?" She panicked.

"E, we don't have enough members to compete. Maybe we should forfeit—"

"DON'T even consider that an option, Kennedy Eden!" She interrupted with a fierce point of her finger.

Kennedy held her hands up.

In the middle of her break down, Wednesday came into their room. "There you are!" Enid exclaimed.

"What's going on?"

"Yoko and Presley are in the infirmary. Garlic accident." Said Kennedy.

"It wasn't an accident. Bianca's behind it." Wednesday declared.

"How do you know?" Enid asked through her sniffles.

"It doesn't matter. You, me, and Kennedy are going to take her down tomorrow."

Her cried calmed down. "Wait, you're joining The Black Cats? You're willing to do that?" She said with a tear streaked face.

Wednesday backed up when she inched closer to her.

"For us?"

Her stare darkened. "I want to humiliate Bianca so badly that the bitter taste of defeat burns in her throat." She looked at Kennedy. "What do you think?"

Kennedy smirked. "I couldn't agree more."

"Yeah, but mostly you're doing it because we're friends, right?" Enid asked.

Wednesday felt discomforted. "Tell me how she keeps winning." She changed the subject.

"It's a real brain cramp."

"No other boat had made it across and back without sinking. Her team's full of sirens. Coincidence? I think not." Kennedy grumbled.

"Sounds like sabotage."

"There are not rules in The Poe Cup and like Kenny said, she is a siren which makes her a master of the water." Enid informed.

Wednesday looked between them. "Then we just need to beat her at her own game." She determined.

Soon after, Enid went back to her room, now joyful that they didn't have to back out of the Cup, and Wednesday stayed behind. She turned her head and watched Kennedy sit on Enid's colorful bed while fidgeting. "You okay?" She asked.

She looked shocked. "Are you asking that genuinely?"

It looked like it was painful for her to ask. "What happened in Xavier's room. You were crying."

"I don't know why."

"You love him and they betrayed you. That's enough to ruin anyone." Wednesday affirmed.

Kennedy was surprised. Wednesday never showed her feelings. She didn't like to. She thought showing your real emotions made you weak. "I. . ." she started.  What was she supposed to say to that? "I'm not ruined,  Wednesday. I'm just hurt."

"I know what happened to you, Kennedy. Presley told me. You were a wreck after Xavier broke up with you." Wednesday continued.

"I was a wreck before he broke up with me."

"Because of your mom?"

Kennedy's face fell. "What?"

"Your dad died. Your mom is horrible to you. Your boyfriend broke up with you," Wednesday continued, pushing the conversation further. "I'm not an expert on these things but obviously they've changed your life drastically."

She stood from the bed. "What's going on in my life is my business, Wednesday. I barely know you. So please, just drop it. I'll see you at The Poe Cup."

Wednesday watched her storm out of the room, the door echoing when she slammed it shut. She wondered to herself if she went too far.

The next day while everyone headed to the lake for the tournament, Kennedy met Enid and Wednesday outside the school. "Okay, anyone want to tell me what the plan is?" She voiced.

"And spoil the surprise?" Wednesday asked in slight amusement.

Enid grabbed her arm out of excitement. "Speaking of surprises, your costume's in the tent!" She expressed joyously.

Wednesday' looked horrified. "Costume?"

Kennedy zipped up the back of her costume and adjusted the cat ears on her head, careful to not mess up her straight pressed hair. She exited the tent and Enid squealed at the reveal. "You look amazing as always, Kenny!"

She grinned. "Thanks, E. Where's Wednesday?"

On que, Wednesday walked out of the tent wearing the all black cat costume and cat ears. Her dark expression appeared to darken even more. Enid gasped. "OMG, you look purr-fect! Doesn't she, Kenny?"

"Purr-fection." Kennedy smirked and laughed harder at the glare she received.

"Only thing, where are your whiskers?"

"Ask again, and you'll be down to eight lives." Wednesday threatened.

Kennedy slowly blinked. She stayed back to fix the whiskers on her face and she applied black eye line to make the costume pop. Walking out of the tent again, she spotted Xavier in his jester costume. His face was painted white and his lips were painted red to appear as a smile. "Wow, this is so fitting."

Hearing her, Xavier turned around and saw her chuckling at him and the rest of the rosters. "I can say the same." He replied with a smirk. "What do you say?  Be the cat woman to my joker?"

She laughed incredulity. "Technically, you're a jester. Also, I don't think that pair happened in the DC universe."

"Always a good time to start."

Kennedy rolled her eyes and looked away. When she went to smile, she remembered the event that happened last night in his room. "Well,  may the best team win."

She went to walk away but he quickly stopped her. "Kennedy."

She closed her eyes for a brief second. Plastering on a fake smile, she turned back around. "Yeah?"

The eagerness he expressed vanished when she looked at him. She made him nervous, both in a good way and bad way. "Um. . . good luck out there." Xavier stated.

Kennedy swallowed the disappointment she was feeling and faked another smile. She quickly walked away to find her team.

Kennedy's hand tightened around her oar as she glared daggers at Bianca. She sat at the front of her boat with an arrogant smile on her face. It made Kennedy want to slap it off. She felt a kick to her back. "Focus. You can kill her another time." It was Wednesday.

She caught Xavier's eye before she turned away. He sent her a confident smirk. All she did was roll her eyes and stared at the back of Enid's head again.

"What do we have here? The runt of the litter." Said Bianca, her taunting directed toward Wednesday. She looked at Kennedy and her smirk grew. "Oh, sorry about your friend, Kennedy. Guess they got carried away with the garlic."

Kennedy gave her a death glare. "For the record, I don't think I'm better than everyone else. I just know I'm better than you."

The arrogant expression on Bianca's face fell and eve smirked, knowing she got her right where she wanted.

"I want to welcome you all to the Edgar Allen Poe cup," Weems announced to everyone over the microphone. "This is one of Nevermore's proudest annual traditions, dating back to 125 years. Each team must row across to Raven Island, pull a flag from Crackstone's Crypt, and hustle back without sinking or being sunk. First team to cross the finish line with their flag wins the cup and bragging rights for a year,  as well as some special privileges."

Hearing small taps from the bottom of the boat,  Kennedy looked down to see Thing crawl by. "Hey,  Thing." She smiled.

He waved at her.

"Let The Poe Cup begin!" 

When the shot went off, the teams immediately started rowing. "Come on, guys, row!" Kennedy ordered.

The jesters paddled by them. "Oh, excuse us!" Xavier boasted.

She huffed in annoyance. The team of vampires rowed next to them and one of them pulled a lever from inside their boat. A large axe came swinging at them. The Black Cats ducked before their heads were taken off. "Assholes!" Kennedy shouted.

Suddenly, the team of vampires noticed something was going on with their boat. "Turn! Turn!" One of them shouted.

She tried not to pay attention and she kept rowing, keeping her eye on the prize. The vampire's boat steered them into one of the barriers, causing their boat to snap in half and they fell into the water.

"Faster!" Enid ordered her team.

Wednesday lowered her oar. "Thing."

Glancing down, Kennedy saw Thing hit one of the levers in the boat. "What did you do?" She asked her.

"Got rid of the problem." She answered flatly.

The jesters were the first team to reach shore and they climbed out of the boat, taking off to the crypt. Kennedy glared at them competitively and rowed until they reached the shore. She and Wednesday jumped out of the boat. "Stay here and make sure they don't sabotage our boat." Said Wednesday to Enid.

The pair took off into the woods. Kennedy ducked up the low hanging branches. She ran as fast her long legs could carry her until she saw Crackstone's Crypt. "Hurry!" She yelled at Wednesday.

Unfortunately, Xavier and Ajax got there first. They were the first ones to get a flag. "Later, Kennedy!" Xavier shouted at her while laughing and the boys ran past them.

She glared. "I'm going to kill him." She said to herself.

Running ahead of her, Wednesday grabbed the flag and suddenly, she went into a vision. Kennedy caught her before she fell. "Whoa, Wednesday!""

The vision didn't last longer. Wednesday's eyes flew open.

"Wednesday, are you okay?"

She didn't even bother to notice the sirens. Bianca grabbed the flag and smirked at them. "Taking a cat nap?" She taunted and her and Divina took off running again.

Kennedy helped her up. "Wednesday, what did you see?"

She eyed the crypt with terror in her dark eyes. "I'll tell you later. We have to go." She quickly grabbed a flag and ran off. The two of them sprinted back to the boat where Enid still was. They were last the last ones to get back to the boats. "Hurry up, we have to go!"

"Did anything happen while we were gone?" Kennedy exhaled and quickly got in the boat.

Enid smirked. "You'll see."

The Black Cats paddled their way through the river and they swam by the jesters, who seemingly couldn't go anywhere because their boat was sinking. Kennedy grew a smirk.

"See ya, jesters!"

Kennedy looked over her shoulder. "Later, Xavier!" She shouted with a wide smirk.

"Cheaters!" She heard him shout back.

"I just asked myself, 'WWWD?' What would Wednesday do?" Enid recited proudly.

She laughed and patted her on the back. "Nice one, wolf!" She praised.

The only thing standing in their way of winning was the sirens. When their boat came into view, Kennedy looked over her shoulder. "Got any more tricks up your sleeve, Wednesday?"

Instead of replying, Wednesday flicked another switch in the boat and metal arrows appeared out of the side of their boat. They paddled and paddled until they were just close enough to The Gold Bugs.

But before anything could happen, their boat started to rock and move without their control. "What the hell?" Kennedy grumbled and tried paddling, but it didn't work.

They were being dragged to one of the large barriers and she started to panic. Breathing heavy, The Black Cats tried paddling their hardest to get away. Suddenly, whatever was drifting them away disappeared and they were able to paddle in control again.

Kennedy gritted her teeth. "I'm going to kill that bitch."

Seeing The Black Cats swim by them again, the sirens looked nervous. The team swam close enough to them so that the spikes pieced through their boat and water started to fill inside.

"Gotcha!"

"Let's get that win, girls!" Cheered Kennedy.

When they reached the finish line, all the students and teachers clapped happily for their victory. They started waving around black flags in honor of their win. When they got to the deck, The Black Cats climbed out of the boat and ran past the finish line with their flag. Enid bounced with excitement. "WHOO! WE DID IT!"

"We did it!" Kennedy exclaimed and the two girls embraced tightly. She lifted her small frame off the ground.

"OMG, Wednesday, we did it! This is the greatest moment of my emote life!" Enid shouted and shook her.

Kennedy stood behind Wednesday and put her hands on her shoulders. "Smile, Wednesday. We won! Embrace it!"

"You have to admit, you did kinda get into the whole school spirit thing."

Wednesday smirked when she watched The Gold Bugs swim to the deck and pull themselves out of the water. Bianca's blue eyes flashed angrily in her direction. "You didn't tell me it was a dark, vengeful spirit."

Kennedy smirked. "Told you we'd get her."

After changing out of their costumes and back into their uniforms, The Black Cats stood by as Principle Weems announced them as the winners. "The first Poe Cup took place in 1897 as a way to not only honor Nevermore's most famous alumni, but to celebrate those values that all outcasts share. Community, perseverance, and determination."

"And vengeance." Kennedy mumbled to herself.

"And we certainly saw those values on display today," Weems continued. She walked over to the display and picked up the cup. She handed it to Enid who was the closest and held the cup up in the air with liberty. "Congratulations to Ophelia Hall!"

There was an erupting of cheers from everyone. Wednesday walked away but Enid and Kennedy were too busy celebrating to notice. The pair of girls embraced again. "We did it!"

Enid bounced up and down again. "Whoo, we did it! I'm going to go find Wednesday!"

She skipped away and Kennedy walked through the group of people congratulating her. She gave them quick smiles and passed the angry sirens, making her smile turn into a taunting smirk.

Xavier was sitting by himself while his teammates talked to the others. A plate with a single cupcake rested in his hands but he only stared at it in defeat with his shoulders slumped. "What did that cupcake ever do to you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Not cheat, that's for sure."

She rolled her eyes at his childish remark. "That's how the game goes, Xavier." When he didn't respond, she reluctantly sat next to him on the bench. "Cheer up, will ya? You're making my sweet victory a little less sweet."

He rolled his head to the side and gave her an unimpressed look, making her chuckle. "You're not funny."

"I think I'm hilarious."

Xavier rolled his eyes again but this time, he smiled.