Chapter 10- Return to Morton's

Disclaimer: All characters belong to MysteryBen27 and company, except for the boring adults and Patricia, who I accidentally made a complete bitch. Oh well XD Btw, I do not own 'The Goatman,' a creepypasta, either.

Last night's events were probably either going to be events we would laugh and joke about in the future, or events we would never speak of ever again. And right now, the second one was sounding much better. I had forgotten to retrieve my sweatshirt from Vivi, so I most likely wouldn't ever get it back. Oh well. My mother had asked me this morning where my hoodie disappeared off to and I shrugged, saying I wasn't sure myself. She didn't seem convinced, but she shrugged it off, thankfully.

Now I was heading to Study Hall, shuffling awkwardly down the hallway. Vivi was back to normal, dismissing the whole ordeal as if it never happened, but I still felt uncomfortable about it. I had asked her about Patricia and her rude attitude in free period. My friend responded saying she was just going to 'forgive her and forget about it.' Forgive and forget? More like resent and remember. At least Arthur wasn't there to see the whole thing go down, that would've made the situation worse.

The second I put my foot through the door, Arthur was rushing up to me, calling out, "Yo Lewis!" He flashed a toothy grin. "How did yesterday with that blue haired chick go? I'm sorry I couldn't make it. We'll have to hang out over the weekend or something. But how was it?"

"It was okay," I replied hesitantly, not wanting to give out any details. "Didn't exactly go as planned, but it was fine."

I sat down in my usual spot in the back corner and Arthur followed close behind. He was wearing his usual dorky getup, the no-sleeve orange bubble jacket and sweat pants. Most of the bruises on him were fading quickly, minus the black and purple around his left eye. "Say," the boy's eyes widened curiously. "Your friend from yesterday, she was really interested in talking about my ghost gear. Is she into the supernatural, too?"

"Yes, and I am, as well. But Vivi's way more passionate about horror and ghost hunting than I am. I just find it amusing." I explained, shivering slightly because of the breeze coming from the vent behind me.

"So that's the case," Arthur spoke, stroking his tiny goatee. "I've recently been studying and observing how the ghosts react to different spiritual equipment. I'm trying to figure out how exactly ghosts can manipulate the gear and other objects. I don't get a kick out of the thrills like others do, but I find the science of ghost hunting intriguing. How about you?"

"Well..." I took a moment to clear my throat. "I haven't exactly had any paranormal experiences, but I guess I'm fascinated with how ghosts would behave, if I ever see one. That's usually what I find more compelling in books. Vivi enjoys the paranormal in general. She's a big thrill-seeker too. She even plans on going into the spiritual investigation field sooner or later."

"Cool, I didn't think I'd have much in common with that Vivi girl. I think it would be super fun to start a ghost hunting group. Is she actually gonna do it or is she just saying that?" Arthur interrogated, tapping his pencil rhythmically on my desk.

"Vivi's determined to go into the ghost field, as far as I know," I described to the yellow haired boy. "Her brother used to do investigations, so she wants to borrow his old equipment to start her own cases. He won't let her have it, but that girl's stubborn when it comes to ghosts. She'll win eventually. Vivi doesn't have the materials for ghost hunting, but she's got the dream, I guess. I agreed to join her when she finally does get some gear, actually."

"You know, I went out and bought a good amount of equipment last year. I've got infra-red cameras, EVP recorders, an EMF detector, some night-vision cameras, even a few motion detectors! I think she'd be interested in knowing I share a few things in common with her. My gear is mostly in good shape, besides my two brothers constantly breaking everything. I can easily fix it though. Anyway, I'll have to talk to you and that Vivi girl more often," Arthur fished out a tiny slip of paper and dropped it in my humongous hands, "Here's my number. You've got a phone, right?"

"Yeah, I have one. I also have Vivi's number, too." I said stiffly. "I could give her your phone number, if you're okay with it."

"Totally. And I forgot to say, thanks about yesterday again. If it weren't for you and Vivi getting that locker open, I would've been stuck in there all day! I owe you guys big time! I'm kinda sorry I didn't really thank you two that much yesterday.."

"Don't worry, that's fine," I reassured him, "I hope those two jackasses get what they deserve for shoving you in a locker, though. I don't get how they find screwing with people so entertaining."

"They should be getting sent to the principal's office right about now. The school counselor actually wanted us to have some kind of group mediation today, but I turned her down. There's no way I would ever do a stupid group therapy session with those idiots." Arthur paused, stopping to think about who knows what. "Hey Lewis, can I see that slip of paper I gave you for a sec?"

I quietly handed him the paper and began scribbling something at the bottom in pencil. It looked like an address. When he finished writing, I asked curiously, "Are you left handed?"

"Nah, I'm a righty at heart, but I can write with both hands, whatever it's called."

"You mean you're ambidextrous?"

"Yeah that's it," Arthur beamed. "I've always been able to write with both hands. That kind of thing helps when you're always having to fix stuff. Not just my ghost gear, but other things too. I'm a middle child, and my two brothers are always roughhousing, so things are constantly getting broken. I've fixed cell phones, TV remotes, computers, furniture, car parts, and pretty much everything under the sun. So having dexterity in both hands is a true advantage when it comes to being a mechanic like me."

"Interesting," I murmured. "I don't know too much about mechanics, aside from knowing how to operate a car. Okay I don't know anything about mechanics..."

"Good luck dealing with me then," The orange haired boy chortled. "I can ramble on forever about my gear and how it works and mechanics forever. It may not seem like that at first, but you'll see it eventually."

"You don't look like a person who enjoys mechanics. Especially since you kind of look like a freshman." I spoke hesitantly.

"Everyone says that! I don't get it! I even have a goatee! What could possibly make me look so much like a freshman?" Arthur exclaimed furiously, throwing his hands up in the air.

"You've got a... How do I say this? You've got the face of sixth grader, minus the facial hair." I pointed out, shifting uncomfortably in my tiny desk.

"What? No way!"

"It's true... You have a bit of a baby face..." I trailed off as the bell began to ring obnoxiously loud.

"Later Lewis," Arthur waved, heading towards the door. "Text me sometime after class!"

I nodded silently, grabbing my books and making the journey to my lunch period. I shuffled through the overcrowded halls and finally reached the cafeteria. There, I pulled out my homemade lunch and started eating, thinking about Arthur and Vivi and Patricia and all of that fun stuff.

I pondered about how Vivi and Arthur would make good friends. They were both cheerful, they were both passionate about ghost hunting, they were even almost the same height, despite Arthur being just slightly taller. Yet somehow I liked being around Vivi more. She was less awkward, she made me feel a bit more welcome, I just felt more comfortable around her. Maybe it's because we had been friends longer, yeah that's it.

I curled up in my desk chair the second I got home from school and continued my creepypasta spree. Now I was rereading The Goatman for probably the third time because the story was just way too confusing. It was about these kids and the narrator's redneck cousin going camping in a forest and being terrorized by a shape shifting, pig eating creature. I was at the part where the group was hiding from The Goatman in a trailer when they realized they had handed out a hot dog to a twelfth person, despite there only being eleven people, who each got one hot dog only. It was a fairly interesting story, but it was extremely chaotic and there weren't many explanations as to what was happening, which made the creepypasta somewhat confusing.

I was just getting into the story when my phone began to vibrate furiously on the bed next to me. Sighing in annoyance, I stopped reading and snatched my phone. It was from Vivi, of course. "Lewis, I sorted things out with Patricia 2day and as an apology she said the next time we go 2 Morton's 2gether she'll pay for everything! Isn't that nice? So maybe u, me, and Arthur could go there for lunch tomorrow :)!"

Oh dear. I didn't trust that waitress's offer one bit. After what she did to Vivi, there was no way she was going to redeem my first impression of her. This was a horrible idea. "Do you even want to go back there after what happened yesterday?" I texted back.

"I'm there right now," my blue haired friend replied not even a second later. "And Patricia swears that she's not gonna screw up our orders or behave like that again. Her manager seconds this XD."

I let out a deep groan before responding, "Fine. I'll let Arthur know about this. I'll need details, though. And if Patricia fucks up again I'm going to have to have a talk with her."

I dropped my cell phone back on the bed and began rubbing my temples to relieve my stress. This is definitely going to go wrong, I just know it. I've barely overcome the challenge of maintaining a friendship, and now I'll have to keep up with two people. Even worse, what if that waitress makes Vivi cry again? It'll definitely be chaotic, especially with Arthur around. But what if it goes perfectly fine? Maybe Patricia's apology was genuine and we'll not only have free food, but we'll also get to know Arthur better. This could go horribly wrong or it could go smoothly-

My phone began vibrating like crazy, another message from Vivi. "It'll be fine! I guess we could all just meet up there around lunch time tomorrow, like 1 or 2 PM. I'd bike, but it's even colder now, so I'd rather not. Btw, what's Arthur's phone #? I could just tell him about it."

I quickly texted his phone number to Vivi and then texted Arthur. I waited for five minutes, but neither of them replied so I just went back to reading creepypasta. I browsed through stories and passages nonchalantly until my thoughts somehow managed to get in the way. I couldn't stop thinking about tomorrow. So much could go wrong in so little time.

I grabbed my phone and checked to see two messages. One from Vivi, one from Arthur. The text from Arthur read, "I know. Vivi beat me to it. I'll have to ask my dad, but I'm pretty sure he'll be okay with it since there's no games tomorrow afternoon. That's all he cares about. Anyway, I actually live near Morton's, so I can walk."

I yawned and switched over to the message from Vivi. "Arthur confirms he'll be there 2morrow. Yay :)! Let me know if you're able 2 make it, kay? If so, I'll see u 2morrow :D and PS, Patricia says 'hi, Vivi's boyfriend.'"

Vivi's message wasn't reassuring in the slightest. All I could think about was how tomorrow was going to be total chaos. I thought about bailing out of it, simply telling her that I was busy. But I couldn't, as much as I wanted to. It just didn't feel right lying to Vivi about my plans. And besides, if I didn't go, Vivi would be stuck with Arthur. He seemed nice, but I still didn't trust him.

I collapsed onto my bed, completely worn out. I wanted to go to sleep, even though it was only early in the evening. Oh well, I thought, rolling over on my side. A little nap wouldn't hurt. But it wouldn't solve my problems, either.

The next day I found myself back at Morton's Cafe, where everything went down two days ago. I really didn't want to be back there, but I had to do it for my friend. Plus there was free food involved. I hesitantly pushed open the door and strolled in, scanning the cafe for Vivi. She wasn't in sight at all, to my dismay. I quickly hustled over to the booth in the corner and sat down, anxiously waiting for my blue haired friend to arrive.

The whole thing was strange. It's only been eight days since I've known Vivi, and now suddenly we were good companions. Was it supposed to work this way? I mean, isn't it supposed to take longer for a friendship to form? Who knows? I wouldn't. My cousin Alfonso met his best friend one fateful day in third grade. They were seated next to each other in an assembly and they started up a small conversation since they were both fairly bored. They just clicked. He said they just kept on talking and they were best friends ever since.

So maybe it was okay to rush into a friendship like this. There was one thing that worried me though. Something lingering at the back of my mind, which just kept nagging me and nagging me. Was Vivi safe to trust? I trusted her, but you never know with people these days. Sometimes, the most unlikely people are the ones who break their promises, or tell others your secrets. My grandmother had once told me that back in her day, it was easy to tell who was trustworthy and who wasn't, but now you never know who the liars are. So far I was diving into this friendship headfirst, trying to keep up my side of the conversation and telling her personal things about me. I even told her about my grandmother, and barely anyone knows about that! Vivi looked very trustworthy, but she could turn her back on me at any second.

I wish I had someone there to tell me how to pull off this friendship correctly. Because I don't know how it works anymore.

While I was wandering deep in my mind, I didn't notice Patricia approaching me, so I was startled when she asked, "You're Vivi's friend from the other day... Lewis, right?"

I jumped, causing her to chuckle a little. "I just want to tell ya I feel sorry about how I acted the other day. I was only trying to be funny, but I didn't realize at the time I was being more immature than humorous. I should've thought about how much Vivi was looking forward to the other day. For the past week she's been talking about you nonstop. That girl would not shut up about you so I suggested she bring you here. And then I screwed up. I wanted to do this for the two of you cause I'm sorry. So yeah."

I glared at the green haired waitress, not believing her bullshit for a second, but the guilty expression on her freckled face seemed completely genuine. She swept a strand of curly hair out of her face before continuing, "Look, I'm not that good with this whole apologizing thing. So I wanted to do this for you guys. I'll pay for the food, too. I don't care if you take my apology as bull crap, but at least take it. And I wanted to say one more thing," she placed her pale hand on my shoulder, making me flinch. "I saw you two outside the other day, and I think you trying to comfort the girl was very nice. It's not often you find a guy who isn't a complete moron. I wanted to tell you that you're a great friend for Vivi, even though you're kinda quiet."

I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the door swinging open and a, "Hey Lewis!" Vivi dashed over to me, cheerful and chipper as usual. Patricia grinned and walked away from our table. My short, blue haired friend slid into the booth and scooted over until she was next to me. "Did you see Arthur at all yet?" she beamed.

"Nope. Are we waiting for him to show up before ordering?" I asked, looking longingly at the menus as my stomach began to grumble.

"Of course, silly! We have to be patient, even though I'm pretty hungry." Vivi stated, adjusting her glasses. "If it interests you, last night I was doing some research about ghost attachments and I found some pretty cool stuff. According to this one website, ghosts can tend to linger in places that they were emotionally attached to when they were alive. Apparently, they can also latch onto inanimate objects, buildings, or even people who they were once emotionally attached to. It might not be true, but isn't that cool?"

"Yeah, I guess. I haven't looked into actual paranormal research a lot, I just know some background info from books. If you can call that information."

"Really? Okay then. I've got some cool websites you could check out. I'll send you links via email sometime tomorrow, if you want." Vivi informed me.

"Nah, I'll be fine without-" I was disrupted yet again by Arthur swinging the door open, a little bell pinging as he walked in. He looked like a big orange marshmallow with his heavy bubble coat on. Vivi swerved around to look at him.

"Oh, hey Arthur! Why did you bring a dog?" she questioned, a confused expression on her face.

"A dog?" I stood up to see a small husky-like dog standing next to the orange haired boy. The dog was mostly white with black paws, but what stood out most was its red and black mane, which looked almost like hair. He also had yellow spectacles, which I found pretty odd, to say the least.

"His name is Mystery," Arthur beamed as he bent down to pet the dog. "I've had him since I was a kid and he goes everywhere with me."

"He's cute!" Vivi exclaimed as she joined in on petting the strange dog. I was never an animal person, but dogs were okay. "I'm Vivi," she told the dog as if it could understand her. "And this is Lewis. We're Arthur's classmates."

"What dog?" Patricia asked curiously from behind the counter. She poked her head out and crinkled her nose. "I hate to burst your bubble, but you know dogs aren't allowed in here, right?"

"Oh it's okay, he's well trained," Arthur explained as he sat back in the booth with Vivi and I. "C'mere, Mystery!"

The dog hopped into the booth next to Arthur and sat down, giving the waitress a smug look as if to say, "You were saying?" I didn't think dogs were able to act sassy, but this one just proved me wrong.

"Oh dear," the green haired waitress sighed in defeat. "Fine, you can stay. As long as my boss never sees this. Comprende?"

"Comprende," we all replied simultaneously. Mystery nodded as if he understood too.

"So," Arthur questioned, rubbing his hands together. "What's on the menu?"

(A/N: Woo! It's one day late, but here's chapter ten! I'm probably going to take the weekend to get ahead on chapters 11-14, maybe 15. Keep an eye out for the next chapter :] And I also wanted to say thank you for all of the kind reviews and constructive criticism I've been getting so far! It's been quite helpful! Anyway, let me know what you think and I'll see you in the next chapter!)