"So what's the plan?" Marcus asks as he is running down the hall with Rebecca.
The two are in the darkly lit hallways of Starlight High, running from a ghost who's chasing them on all fours.
"Where's your backpack?" Rebecca asks.
"It's back in the classroom," Marcus replies.
"Okay, I need to go grab that chip thing-"
"You mean the planchette?"
"Yeah, whatever you call it. Because if that's how we can communicate with the ghost then..." Rebecca begins to say.
"Then it might be able to communicate directly with the ghost!" Marcus finishes her sentence.
"Exactly, you get that ghost to follow you, I'll head to the 2nd floor, and we meet back up in the cafeteria, got it?" Rebecca says.
"Heard you loud & clear!" Marcus replies as the two go their opposite ways down an intersecting hallway, with the ghost following Marcus.
As Marcus runs down the halls, he wonders why he's acting this way. Usually, he's more reserved but he's been acting more outlandish. Is it because he's dealing with the paranormal? Is it to prove a point to Rebecca? Whatever the reason is, the thing that matters most is actually getting to the cafeteria.
But can he? He's already wasted a ton of stamina running and despite being on all fours, the ghost is still as fast as ever. Despite his thoughts telling him he'll fall, he still keeps on running. All the while the doors to the cafeteria get closer and closer.
_______________
Rebbecca runs upstairs to the second floor of Starlight High and makes her way to the classroom. When she gets there, she sees Christopher & Hamster chatting amongst themselves.
"Oh hey, you're back!" Christopher remarks, "I guess you've been working your cardio."
Rebecca ignores him as she opens up Marcus' backpack and rummages through it as she looks for the planchette. She finds some notebooks, a folder, a limited edition 3DS, and finally the Ouija board. When she lifts the board up the planchette falls out and she grabs it.
"Yes!" Rebecca says to herself.
"Hey you shouldn't be stealing," Christopher says as he walks over.
"I'm not stealing, just borrowing, and besides I need to head to the cafeteria," Rebecca says as she begins to run out of the classroom.
However, as she runs, she feels that her feet are getting lighter. When she looks down she realizes her feet are off the ground. She looks to see Christopher carrying her in one arm, and Hamster in the other arm.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rebecca squeals.
"I'm hungry, Hamster realized Bennet ditched him to go to the cafeteria, and you need to go there too," Christopher says, "So I figured this would be the fastest way to get there!"
As Christopher sprints down the hall towards the cafeteria, Rebecca hopes that the school doesn't have any cameras so nobody else will witness this.
_______________
In the cafeteria at Starlight High, Alex Smith is there trying to grab something from the vending machine. Since the school was renovated, there's actually a balcony overlooking the cafeteria on the second floor however the staircase to the first floor is blocked off.
"C'mon work you damn machine," Alex says as the machine begins to push a bag of chips out.
However the coil sticks to the chips he wanted and he can't grab them.
"STUPID MACHINE!" Alex says as he slams his fist into the side of the vending machine, inadvertently shattering the glass of it.
Alex looks around to see if anyone is around to see that, only to see Bennet The Hamster standing on the railing. His mouth agape and his eyes filled with shock.
Alex stares at Bennet.
Bennet stares at him.
"I'll give you a chip and you don't snitch," Alex says.
Bennet nods in agreement and Alex begins to rummage into the vending machine. As Alex opens the bag though, the lower lever doors to the cafeteria open as Marcus comes running in, with the ghost following close behind.
"AH!" Alex screams as he tries to stuff the bags into his hoodie pouch.
Marcus looks up to see Alex there and says, "Alex! I need your help!"
"I'll be right down!" Alex says as he walks to the staircase, only to realize is blocked off by some more vending machines.
As Alex looks around, he sighs, "If this doesn't work I'm so going to haunt this place."
Alex takes a few steps back and then runs straight towards the balcony, and then jumps off of the railing. Just as he does this, the doors swing open as Christopher, Hamster, & Rebecca arrive. Rebecca tosses the planchette toward the first floor of the cafeteria.
"Hit the ghost with this!" Rebecca says.
Alex sees the planchette flying by him and he grabs it with his right hand and makes a fist. The Ghost looks up to see Alex descending towards him; his hand reeled back ready to punch him and bags of chips flying out of his hoodie pocket. Alex swings his right fist toward the ghost's face. As the punch lands, the ghost is sent flying back and collapsing to the ground while Alex lands on the ground.
As the group of kids is silent, Christopher is the first to loudly exclaim, "WE DID IT!!"
Marcus and Alex fist bump while Bennet pours a bag of chips from the balcony to the first floor; almost as if it's confetti. Christopher pushes the vending machines out of the way of the stairs and walks down. Hamster joins Bennet in the make-shift confetti and even Rebecca has a smile on her face.
As all the people on the balcony reach the first floor, Rebecca walks over to Marcus & Alex. Marcus gives a nod to her but she doesn't reciprocate. As the group is celebrating though, they begin to hear a groaning sound.
"Ugh, what the hell," The ghost begins to say as it gets back up, "Why did you have to hit me so hard?"
Everyone looks at the ghost as it grabs the black hair that's covering its entire face, and tosses it aside. Revealing that the ghost was...
"X?!" Everyone else in the room says as X takes off the white shirt stained in 'blood'.
"Yeah, that's my name," X Locke begins to say as he then readjusts the clothes he had on under the shirt, which he tucked in and pulled up to disguise himself, "I bet you have a lot of questions. For starters, the ghost story? I made it up so I could sell more of my book. The blood? Not actual blood, just strawberry jam. And the Ouija board? Yeah, I was the one pushing that planchette."
"What about Ronnie?" Marcus asks.
However, his question is answered when the doors to the cafeteria's bathroom open and Ronnie walks out. Ronnie looks at the scene in front of him and asks, "So uh, what happened?"
"Okay maybe I did a small lie," X says before he pitches his voice higher, "And as for the little girl giggles? Well, there's a thing called voice acting!"
Everyone is silent as X begins to laugh and return to his normal voice, "Man you should have all seen yourselves! My god this prank was amazing, I should totally do this again!"
X finally realizes nobody else is laughing, "Oh come on, it was funny!"
Alex, Marcus, Rebecca, Christopher, Hamster, & Bennet look at each other before they nod in unison. Together the group all jump X and begin to beat him up.
"HEY STOP! IT WAS JUST A PRANK! DON'T PULL MY HAIR!" X yells as he's getting beaten up.
As Ronnie watches, not knowing what to do, he sees Ray Ramirez enter the cafeteria, completely soaked.
"So that's where you were," Ray sighs in relief.
"What happened with you?" Ronnie asks.
"I was outside talking to an electrician. They said the power is out all over the place but it should be back in a bit," Ray Ramirez explains, "Then I had to go pay a delivery driver."
"A delivery driver? For what?" Ronnie asks.
"Pizza. I dropped it off in the classroom," Ray Ramirez says which causes everyone to stop beating up X and look at him.
"Wow, you're so kind Mister Ramir-" Marcus begins to say while X stands up.
"There's a pizza that has my name on it!" X says as he begins to rush over to Ray. However, Ray stops him.
"X, after what you just did today, you aren't getting any pizza," Ramirez says.
"Awe c'mon Ray-Ray," X tries to say but Ray still insists.
As the two argue, the rest of the kids start heading to the classroom. Though as Marcus starts walking, he sees Rebecca walk up to him.
"Well it looks like what you said didn't happen," Rebecca scoffs, "there was no ghost after all."
"Ah, that's true," Marcus says as he's walking back to the classroom, "well looks like you were right about that but what about the whole seeing us as useless thing."
"That..." Rebecca begins to say, "I still haven't figured it out yet."
"Awe that's nice," Marcus begins to say.
"By that, I mean how useless you are. I don't know whether it is 100% or 80% or 75%," Rebecca explains.
"Oh," Marcus sighs deflated before saying, "but still the fact that you're considering it means you aren't as heartless as I thought. You were actually kinda cool today."
Hearing those words, Rebecca is taken aback, "C-Cool?!"
"Hey I don't know if you should get so worked up Reb'," Ronnie says as he walks towards the classroom, "He compliments everyone."
"R-right," Rebecca sighs.
As the group of kids continued to walk to their classroom, despite none of them really realizing it, they all had grown just a smidge closer than they ever would have otherwise. While the day wouldn't be seen as important to some; this day would be the initial step to a much more intriguing day.
_____________________
In the cafeteria, X & Ray Ramirez are walking up the steps to the balcony. As they do so, X whistles as he rubs some of his bruises.
"Say, X why didn't you fight back?" Ray Ramirez asks.
"Why didn't I fight back?" X begins to say, "Well that's because."
X begins to playfully wiggle his arms as he teasingly says, "My bones are itty bitty and so fragile. I can't even hurt a fly."
"Yeah sure, but still, you shouldn't be doing shit like this in the first place," Ray Ramirez states, "Just be glad nobody got hurt from your little stunt."
X looks at Ray and remarks, "Oh so you do care for the students!"
"No shit, it's my job to," Ray Ramirez says, "If I didn't get paid I wouldn't be here."
"Sure sure," X says however he stops as he looks up at the window in the cafeteria.
X sees a girl's face looking down at him, staring directly at him. Their face still and filled with rage. When X tries to get Ray's attention, whatever was looking at him is nowhere to be seen.
Since that day, X would try to tell anybody he could about how the school was actually haunted. But nobody would ever believe him. Not the teachers nor any of the students. Nobody ever saw any more ghost sightings after that day. However, it is still said that those who went to Starlight High, they'd occasionally get a feeling when nobody else was around.
The feeling that something or someone was watching them.
See You Next Chapter!~