Thursday, February 7
It's been a great semester so far. Great classes, great experiences, and great friends. I can't believe we're already four weeks into it.
Sybella decided to go a bit fancier today, and put on a maxi dress before heading down to breakfast. She didn't have a lot of time today, so she planned to quickly pick up a muffin and head to her first class of the day, Film Studies.
The vampiress sat in her typical seat next to Sidney and Winnie. She couldn't help but look over at Phantasma and Isaiah though, who appeared to be having a heated argument.
"There's no way God is some dude up in the sky." Phantasma snapped.
"Of course He's some dude up in the sky. Why do you think they call Him 'He'?" Isaiah clapped back.
"That's just because society believes God is a man. There's no proof. What if God is a woman? Non-binary? Just a force in the universe?" Phantasma challenged. "A very smart mongoose?"
"That's blasphemy, dude." Isaiah argued. "I absolutely believe God is a man!"
"That's fine if you believe that. As long as you're okay with being wrong!" Phantasma argued back.
Sybella knew from arguing with Phantasma in the past that she became incredibly competitive and hostile when she thought she was right. Personally, Sybella was more on Phanty's side, but there was really no way to know definitively as God, if such a force existed, wasn't going to exactly come out of the sky and tell them.
"Why are you guys arguing about this?" Tanis asked.
"Yeah, you've really never talked about your spiritual beliefs before now?" Winnie wondered.
"No. We're watching All Dogs Go to Heaven today, and I guess according to Coach Micucci we have to write a paper about our spiritual beliefs." Phantasma informed.
"Yeah, that's right." Coach Micucci replied as he walked in the room. He must have overheard what Phanty had said just as he was coming in. "The Ghoul Board came up with this idea though, I didn't."
"That's too bad. It's a pretty cool paper idea!" Elsa commented.
"Uh…I actually meant, The Ghoul Board came up with a different idea, but I said 'screw you! I've already come up with my paper idea!'" Coach Miccuci boasted, causing Elsa to roll her eyes.
"I hear the dogs all die at the end." Sidney attempted to spoil.
"No they don't!" Sybella chuckled at Sidney's falsehood. "This is a movie for kids."
Coach Micucci popped the VHS into the player mounted below the TV on the classroom wall. He already looked bored doing so.
"The…" one of the dogs began, before Coach Micucci ejected the VHS.
"God, this is boring! This one dog's already been talkin' for one second! Let's watch The Lorax 2."
Coach Micucci pulled another VHS out of his bag. The cover read The Lorax 2: Pretty Bad.
"It even says it's bad on the cover! Can't we just watch the other movie?" Elsa asked.
"Oh, that's just a response to a line in the last film. You know that song, How Bad Can I Be?" Coach Micucci clarified. "Well, the answer is 'Pretty Bad.'"
"How are we supposed to write our papers on our spiritual beliefs then?" Elsa inquired.
"Oh...just write 'em on if The Lorax inspired ya or not." Coach Micucci made up. "I know he inspired me...to keep litterin'! Don't tell me what to do, ya pushy thneed-hater!"
At that moment, Coach Micucci opened the classroom window and threw a king-size candy bar wrapper out of it.
"There, that'll teach him to try to teach me!" Coach Micucci asserted. "Now, let's watch the movie."
Sybella rolled her eyes, as she sat back and watched The Lorax sequel.
"Greetings, class!"
That was the voice of Mrs. Griffin. Sybella had just gotten to Human Studies class, and plopped down in her typical seat next to Alexis before Mrs. Griffin began the class.
"Today, we're going to begin our unit on religion. This is one of the reasons why humans dislike monsters. Monsters are socially constructed as heathens in society. Humans often see monsters as evil, as anti-God, and even as the Devil's spawn." Mrs. Griffin explained.
Sybella thought back to all of her interactions with humans over the years, particularly back to her first coaches, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy. Did they run away because they thought she was the Devil's spawn?
"What I'm trying to say is that human religion constructs monsters as the Other, as evil beings that cause humans to go astray on their path to salvation. Now, I realize it is a lot to ask, but I'd like to brainstorm some potential ideas to combat this harmful stereotype with you. Can anybody raise their hand and share a suggestion?" Mrs. Griffin asked.
Alexis's hand shot up.
"Yes, Alexis?" Mrs. Griffin called on.
"You could inform humans that monsters have their own religious beliefs." Alexis suggested.
"That's a great suggestion! Monsters have a wide variety of religious beliefs, so many that there is a lot of disagreement." Mrs. Griffin responded. This made Sybella think back to this morning, when Phanty and Isaiah were fighting over their own religious beliefs.
Sybella was the next to raise her hand.
"Sybella, do you have a suggestion you'd like to share with us?" Mrs. Griffin pointed to the purple-haired vampiress.
"Yes. We need to remind humans that even they don't agree on their own spiritual beliefs. There's Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and tons more, and those religions fight all the time. Physically in some cases, like with the Crusades." Sybella mentioned.
"Yes! Good, Sybella." Mrs. Griffin smiled.
Sybella didn't particularly agree with any of the human religions. She considered herself more spiritual, but she'd be interested to know more about them.
Sybella arrived at Yearbook to notice someone new sitting next to Savana and Sami at their workstations. The individual was a witch with blonde hair, wearing a purple dress.
"Hi." Sybella introduced herself. "I'm Sybella."
"Nice to meet you!" the witch greeted. "I'm Alysa."
"Are you new here?" Sybella inquired.
"No, she's not." Sami answered before the other witch could. "Sam hired her to fill in for her all day."
"Yeah, Sam is at a Wülfsmöøon concert. So today, I'm Sam." Alysa responded.
"Miss Lillard stepped out for a minute to print some copies, but we're just working on formatting the images for all the students." Sami explained.
"Okay. Do you guys need help?" Sybella questioned.
"No. Actually, can you work on getting all the interviews formatted on the pages?" Savana asked. "We've gotta leave early today."
"Sure. And you do? How come?" Sybella asked.
"It's coven night!" Sami said, in an excited voice.
"Coven night? That's cool." Sybella answered. "What do you guys do there?"
"Just chill and vibe, ya know?" Savana responded vaguely.
"I didn't know you were a witch!" Sybella exclaimed.
"I'm not, but I usually tag along." Savana informed. "Sam does too...when she's here, that is."
"You can come too, if you want!" Sami invited.
"Yeah! Come see what practicing witchcraft is all about!" Alysa followed.
"Sure." Sybella offered. She didn't really know what to expect, but it could be fun. She'd get to experience a new religion, like she had been thinking about wanting to do in Human Studies.
"Awesome! Get those interviews formatted then, girl, so we can get going!" Sami exclaimed. Clearly the witch was quite excited to get Sybella to join them tonight.
Sybella hurried to get the remaining interviews formatted. In general, the girls were all making quick work of the yearbook. They still had many things to do before the book was distributed in the beginning of May, but they had made significant progress.
"I think I'm about wrapped up here." Sybella alerted the other girls.
"So are we." Sami replied, as she swooped her backpack from off the ground and slung it onto her back.
"What are we waiting for then, fam, let's go?" Savana instructed.
"Have fun, girls!" Miss Lillard, who had just gotten back from making her copies, well-wished.
And with that, Sybella, Savana, Sami and Alysa headed to coven.
"So how far away is coven?" Sybella asked.
"Closer than you might think…" Savana replied mysteriously.
"Umm...like, you mean, in the sense of 'coven's been in your heart all along'?" Sybella requested clarification.
"No, in the sense of it's right across the hall." Sami laughed.
"See, didn't you think it was going to be across the school or something?" Savana teased.
"C'mon in!" a familiar voice said from inside. It was Sidney's voice.
Sybella really had no idea what she was expecting, but this wasn't it. There were no broomsticks, witches gathered around a bubbling cauldron, or reading of incantations going on. It was just a normal group of girls, several of which Sybella recognized, sitting in chairs that they had arranged to be in a circle.
Sidney, Sarah, Julia, Jessica, and Kenzie were among the seven witches waiting for them.
"I think everyone's here now." Julia said. "Light the candles please, Jessica."
"You've got it!" Jessica said, doing as she was told.
"We've got some non-witchy visitors among us today, Sybella and Savana, as well as what appears to be a new recruit." Julia noticed.
"Nah, I'm just filling in for Sam today." Alysa explained.
"Excellent. I'd like you to all know you're welcome here anytime." Julia smiled. "The first thing we're going to do is our opening meditation."
As the others closed their eyes and spread their arms, Sybella noticed that Jessica was pulling out a small bottle that read 'acetaminophen,' causing Julia to look over.
"Jessica, I said opening meditation, not opening medication." Julia corrected.
"Oh, oops. Sorry." Jessica blushed, as she put the lid back on the bottle of acetaminophen.
Sybella did as the others did, and attempted to clear her mind for a moment. It felt like a matter of only a few seconds before Julia brought the group back together. It was so peaceful and liberating that the vampiress couldn't believe that it had been five minutes, according to the clock.
"Thank you, everyone. I hope this helped free your mind." Julia said in a very calm, peaceful voice. "Following our opening meditation, I'd like everyone to write a short letter of intention to the goddess of beauty, Venus, talking about how you appreciate yourself, to honor the lessons she's taught us."
Sami handed out a piece of paper and pencil to each witch (and the two vampires). Sybella really didn't know what to write about, but she decided to approach it like one of her journal entries.
Goddess of love and romance, I honor myself as I honor you. I deserve to be loved, and I love who I am. I am a free spirit, empowered and confident in who I am. I am beautiful, comfortable and happy with myself regardless of what's going on around me. I enjoy every part of my identity. I put care into everything I do, including myself, and make brave choices. I embrace my unique quirkiness and choose to exert positive energy into the world.
Sybella wasn't used to just writing about herself, but she slowly realized that it wasn't narcissistic to do so. The witches were right that sometimes you needed to practice self-love in such a difficult world.
"Umm...does Venus start with a 'v' or a 'p,' Julia?" Jessica inquired, to which Savana started snickering.
"Definitely a 'v'." Julia said, a bit embarrassed to answer Jessica's odd question.
"Dang it, I've been writing to the god of lust again then." Jessica erased her paper.
"How long does this need to be?" Savana asked.
"Any length you want. It can be two sentences or two pages." Julia comforted. "Wrap up whatever thought you were writing, because we're going to move on to the next thing. I brought a few healing crystals for us to use. Is there anyone in particular need of healing?"
"I am." Sarah said somberly. "My cat just died."
A chorus of "oh no's" broke out.
"I'm so sorry!" Kenzie gave Sarah a hug much to the latter's discomfort.
"Please don't touch me, but thanks." Sarah brushed off Kenzie's hug.
Julia handed the healing crystals over to Sarah.
"Let's comfort our fellow witch and each share one way we've sent positive vibes this week." Julia led. "I'll start. I planted a tree this week in my backyard, in order to help replenish the damage to the Earth from the paper I've had to use to write for school."
"I told someone I liked their shirt earlier this afternoon." Sidney revealed.
"I held the door open for someone this morning." Sami said.
"I said 'thank you' when Sami held the door open for me this morning." Savana giggled.
Sybella tried to think of anything nice she'd done for anyone today, but she really couldn't think of anything. She felt a bit embarrassed, but decided to admit it to the witches.
"I can't really think of anything off the top of my head. I'm sorry." Sybella hung her head a little.
"It's okay, Sybella. It's nice enough that you graced us with your presence today." Julia assured. "That can be the positive thing you did."
"I'm filling in for Sam today." Alysa shared.
"I told someone their tag on their shirt was showing, so they could fix it." a witch that Sybella didn't know the name of said.
"I didn't get angry at anyone randomly today. But I'm starting to!" Jessica gritted her teeth and shook her first.
"There, there, Jessica." Julia patted the angry witch on the head. "It's okay, as long as you're not using your magick to hurt anyone. We need to work on that anger issue."
"The fact that you said that makes me kinda angry!" Jessica growled.
"I gave someone half of my lunch today." another witch that the vampiress didn't know said.
"I gave Sarah a hug. I don't know if she liked it though." Kenzie shrugged, looking awkwardly cute as she did so.
"Excellent." Julia smiled. "For the last thing on our agenda before we call our coven meeting for today, I'd like us all to go around and say one nice thing about ourselves. For me, I'm very loving of the environment and care about what happens to it."
"I have empathy for animals." Sarah said.
"I'm always making people laugh." Sidney responded.
"I'm really good at writing for the Yearbook." Sami replied.
"I'm great at singing." Savana complimented herself.
"I always try to be as kind to people as I can." Sybella shared.
"I'm great at filling in for Sam!" Alysa spoke.
"I'm a great listener." a witch Sybella didn't know said.
"I'm a good person…when I'm not angry!" Jessica smiled, before her expression turned sour and she began to shake her fist again.
"I'm a people person." a different witch said.
"I try to rebel against stereotypes to create a positive example in the world." Kenzie finished.
"Wonderful. It's great to see you all again today, and I hope I'll see you again at our next meeting." Julia smiled.
Sybella couldn't resist going up to Julia and telling her how she felt about her first-ever coven meeting. "Wow, Julia, that was...great. And not what I expected."
"What did you expect?" Kenzie inquired.
"Umm…" Sybella blushed, a bit embarrassed to say.
"Casting spells, bubbling cauldrons, collective cackling?" Julia listed off.
"Well, kinda. Yeah." Sybella meekly nodded.
"It's okay. Everyone thinks witches are these crazy spellcasters, but in reality we're just very spiritual people in touch with our inner selves. That's where our power comes from. I mean, even though it's stigmatized, some humans even practice witchcraft." Julia educated.
"They do?" Sybella asked. "How can they? They don't have any powers."
"There are different kinds of witches, Sybella. Humans can be witches too, they just don't have actual magical powers like us sorceress witches do. Magick can just be sending positive energy someone's way or performing a ritual with crystals. We want magick to be inclusive to everyone, so we're not like coming to coven and casting spooky spells every week." Julia informed.
"Wait, we're not?" Sidney said, just as she zapped Sarah with a spell to make her have a rabbit's head and a fluffy cat tail.
"Stop being silly, Sidney." Julia laughed. "Covens are just to support each other as witches and remind ourselves to love each other for who we are."
"I had no idea this existed at Grimwood's." Sybella said.
"Yeah, after Miss Grimwood started offering extracurriculars, they really took off. All sorts of clubs popped up." Julia replied.
At that moment, someone knocked at the door and came in.
"Hi, my name's Enid. Do you know where the Shameless Reference Club meets on Thursdays?" a witch, apparently named Enid, asked.
"It meets in room 18. You can't miss it, there's a big sign on the door. When you get there, just knock on the door and give the secret code 'OK KO'." Sidney informed.
"Thank you!" Enid replied, as she shut the door.
"How did you know that code if you're not a part of that club?" Sarah, who'd been turned back into her normal self, inquired.
"I know a lot of things that I shouldn't." Sidney teased, her eyes becoming shifty.
"Thank you guys for this amazing experience." Sybella smiled. "This was truly something I'll never forget."
"Thank you, Sybella. You're always welcome back anytime." Julia smiled, as Sybella waved to the witches still chatting in the room.
Friday, February 8
The witch's coven last night was so amazing. They seem like such a cool, unique, and spiritual group of people. I think it would be cool to join, but I feel I shouldn't. I don't worship the goddess Venus, or believe in humans being able to cast "spells" simply through the mere process of giving off good energy. However, it's a very unique perspective and I love the sentiment behind it. I wasn't really sure at first when Sami and Savana suggested I go there, but now I'm so glad I did.
Sybella began her day feeling good. Following the witches' advice about self-love, she had put on one of her favorite pink plaid shirts this morning, which she loved the look of. Clearly, as Sybella was about to find out when she came into Economics class, others did too.
"I love your shirt, Sybella!" Phanty complimented.
"Fangs a lot." Sybella playfully smiled.
"So how was Yearbook last night?" Phanty inquired.
"Great! Though we spent a lot of it at the coven." Sybella shared.
"Coven? Neat!" Phantasma replied. "I've never been to a coven before. Witchcraft seems pretty cool to me."
"Yeah, it really was. It wasn't anything like what I was expecting either; they were just really calm people who radiated love." Sybella smiled, remembering back to her experience last night. "Speaking of love though, are you and Isaiah still fighting?"
"No. We just agreed to disagree. I told him I'm never going to agree with his perspective, and he said he's never going to agree with mine, but that's okay. We realized you don't have to agree on everything in a relationship." Phanty expressed.
Sybella opened her mouth, about to respond back, when Mr. Jaffe started class.
"Class, today we are going to learn about the Federal Reserve Bank." Mr. Jaffe declared.
"I robbed that place last week!" George sassed. "Right before I robbed your mom's house."
"One thing about the Federal Reserve Bank is that it is intentionally very high security. In fact, it's so high security, that all the money is transported in armored cars." Mr. Jaffe went off of George's clownish remark. "Now before I continue with my lecture, I have a worksheet for you that I'd like you each to complete."
"Does it involve robbing?" George asked.
"No!" Mr. Jaffe snapped in an annoyed voice. "It's about macroeconomics."
Oh boy. Sybella hated macroeconomics. She'd done a worksheet on it for homework earlier in the week, and it was incredibly difficult. She'd really have to tap into her positive vibes that the witches taught her.
As Mr. Jaffe handed out the worksheet, her and Phantasma began working on it together. In a matter of moments, George came over to talk to Sybella.
"Hey, let me rob your answers!" George said, snatching the paper out of Sybella's hand. Even though Sybella didn't believe in all of the facets of witchcraft, she had taken something from what the witches taught her: she needed to give off positive vibes. Getting mad would only cause hurt and anger inside her, and Sybella was feeling too good to let herself become frustrated with such a petty person.
"I'd really rather you not." Sybella said.
"Yeah, you heard the girl. She said get your whiny ass away!" Phanty snapped.
"I didn't say that, Phanty." Sybella laughed, trying to maintain a kind tone. "But I'm not going to let you copy off me. Sorry."
"Whatever. I'm gonna go copy off that kid that wears bread for shoes." George went over to Jonathan's table.
"You handled that really well, Sybella." Phantasma pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess I did." Sybella responded. Maybe she'd take a lesson away from witchcraft after all, even if she wasn't going to practice it.
"...and that is what causes class oppression, according to Karl Marx." Ms. Cohn said, right as the bell rang to end class. "Thank you, students. Have an excellent weekend. I will see you on Monday afternoon!"
Sybella had begun warming up to Ms. Cohn a bit. She seemed very strict and no-nonsense at first, but once Sybella got to know her a little better, she really enjoyed Ms. Cohn's intelligent takes on things and the interesting stories she sometimes interwove into the lesson.
"Hey, Sybella!" Kenzie said as Sybella was packing up her belongings. "It was great seeing you yesterday at coven!"
"Thanks, it was fun being there." Sybella responded.
"Awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Our next meeting is next Thursday on Valentine's Day and we're doing yoga, if you want to come." Kenzie offered.
"Umm...actually, I had a question for you about that. I loved all the positivity and self-love in witchcraft, but I'm not…" Sybella paused out of fear of offending Kenzie. "I'm not fully sure I believe in praying to goddesses and stuff. I hope that's not an offensive thing to say or anything."
"Not at all!" Kenzie chirped. "Everyone has different beliefs and that's okay. Praying to goddesses is a pretty core part of witchcraft, so if it's not for you, that's totally understandable. Besides, there's nothing saying you have to agree with just one single religion. You can just take bits and pieces from whatever religions you like and create your own spirituality."
"You know, you're right." Sybella realized.
"Well, if you ever want to come back to coven, you're always welcome." Kenzie smiled as she walked out the door. "Have a good weekend, Sybella!"
"You too!" Sybella responded.
Kenzie was totally right. Sybella was still kind of figuring out her spirituality. With all the new experiences she'd had with meeting all the new students these past few years, her identity had arguably changed a lot. It was totally okay for her spirituality to be a work-in-progress. For now though, Sybella was absolutely going to borrow the "sending positive energy" thing from witchcraft. As far the vampiress was concerned, one could always use more positivity in their life.
Author's note:
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! In case you weren't aware, there are totally real witches that are humans out there, and they aren't Devil-worshippers. I actually researched witches for this chapter in order to make sure I was getting everything down correctly for each of the characters. Real-life witches are self-aware of their own power, and believe that people giving off different energies are responsible for our behavior and feelings. As we see is true of Wiccans in Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, stuff like lighting candles, using crystals and herbs, and meditating are some of the ways in which human witches perform "rituals." They also spell "magic" as "magick" to differentiate it from stage magic, so that's why it's spelled that way in this chapter. From my understanding, the difference between Wiccans and witches is that witches believe in spiritual deities while Wiccans do not. If any witches happen to be reading this and I'm wrong, please feel free to leave me a review or send me a PM and I'll be happy to correct whatever I've gotten wrong, as I want this chapter to be as accurate as possible in depicting witchcraft!
And now, it's reference time!
- Wülfsmöøon from Big Top Scooby-Doo! is mentioned.
- Enid, the witch who comes in looking for "Shameless Reference Club" is a reference to how the show OK KO (which the secret passcode bit was referencing) included the girl ghouls in their Halloween special "Monster Party" in 2018 (that's why the club was said to meet in room 18). This is the girl ghouls' only official appearance outside of Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter as always, and until next time, bad dreams, sisters!