The Paranormal Powerwashers and the Missing Ghosts

1

Lilly

"I just wish I could kill the president and get away with it, y'know?"

Lillybelle rolled her eyes. This again.

With Venus, the subject of this exclamation was always one of two people. Well, three, but it's not that one. The first possibility was Yasmine, the snobbish sophomore class president who always picked the stupidest ways to spend the student body's money. Something tells me it's not Miss queen B, though.

"I mean, seriously," Venus continued, throwing her thick braid of brown hair over her shoulder. "Why does he have to be such a prick?"

Of course it's him. This time, Venus was talking about Alexander Mallen, and honestly, Lilly agreed. Alexander was smart, blonde, charismatic, and a massive misogynistic douchebag. He was the current president of the Paranormal and Supernatural club, although as soon as he had gotten more votes than Lillybelle, he had renamed the club something ridiculous.

The Paranormal, Supernatural, and Extraterrestrial Theorist and Investigative Adventurer Club, Lillybelle shuddered at the name. Or PSETICAC, for short. She sighed.

If the last president had put a limit on how many times a person could vote, Alex never would have gotten close to winning, she thought to herself, trying to wave away the part of her that was begging for a recount. But I guess that's what happens when no one thinks ahead. Well, what's done is done.

Lilly shot a look at Jeannie, who had taken the opportunity to retuck her short red hair behind her ear. She was shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she nodded in obvious agreement with Venus, who waved her arms around in an exaggerated manner.

"I'm not looking forward to the meeting today." Jeannie said, offering Lillybelle the stack of posters in her arms.

"Why not?" Lilly frowned, taking one off the top and using her prosthetic to press it against the white brick wall.

"Because," Venus pushed herself off the wall of green lockers and peeled a piece of tape off of the roll that she had slid up her arm. "The club president is an asshole who makes it feel like everything we do is a joke?"

"Kind of." Jeannie shot her friend an almost apologetic smile. "I mean, he used to genuinely care about this stuff in middle school, but now it's just a popularity contest for him."

She's right. Since Alex had become club president, there had been an influx of new attendees, but none of them took it seriously. The freshman girls would fawn over his nerdy jokes and goofy smile, which only fueled his massive ego. It's like no one actually cares about what we're trying to do.

"It does feel like all of our efforts at being taken seriously are kinda going down the drain." Lilly said softly, taking the offered pieces of tape.

"I'll say!" Venus was nearly shouting. "I mean, look at this poster!"

Lilly took a step back to look at the article that Venus found so offensive. A shiny purple ghost was smiling out at them, a camera flash taking up most of the background. Along the bottom, in a garish silver font it read: Join us on our paranormal and extraterrestrial expeditions every Thursday! Beam on over!

"It's ridiculous! It looks like the ghost is posing for the picture!"

Lillybelle grimaced. "You're right, you are completely right, V. It misrepresents what we as a club stand for. We don't want to capture the paranormal like it's all some circus attraction, we just want to prove it exists! This is a club about the science, the magical intellect behind it all. This poster makes it look like all we want to do is take selfies with ghosts."