Wednesday, May 1
The semester is almost over! I'll be on my way home tomorrow for the summer, and for once, nothing is going to ruin my last few days of the semester. It seems like something always comes up to distract me from truly making the most of my last few days of the school year. I want to try to appreciate my last bit of time at Grimwood's as much as I possibly can.
With that thought, Sybella bounded out of her coffin, ready for an amazing day. She quickly acquired a ruffled top from her dresser drawer, as well as some cute shorts. The temperature was supposed to be extraordinarily warm today, getting to nearly 90 degrees, so she wanted to dress accordingly.
The first thing on her to-do list this morning was an Economics final exam, which she sort of dreaded. She had studied thoroughly for the test, however, her level of confidence surrounding economics was a bit shaky. Regardless, she assuredly would do poorly if she didn't get a good breakfast in her before taking the exam, so instead of doing her last bit of studying in her room for the test, she grabbed her Economics notebook off her desk drawer, right next to her diary, and shuffled down to breakfast.
The first thing Sybella was greeted with was Matches. Sybella patted the pet dragon on the head affectionately as he mumbled something the vampiress couldn't understand in his dragon language.
"You ready for the test, Sybella?" Phanty asked as the vampire approached the breakfast area.
"I think so." Sybella shrugged. "I'm going to try to study a little more after I eat breakfast. How about you?"
"Yeah, I think. Even if I'm not ready, I won't let the stress of it kill me. Oh wait…" Phanty smirked.
Sybella quickly shoveled down her breakfast, so she'd have time to study, just as Elsa joined them.
"I hear you both have a huge test in Economics this morning." Elsa mentioned.
"Yeah, we do." Phanty replied. "Sybella's studying right now."
Sybella was actually just taking out her notebook from her backpack, only to realize she had inadvertently taken her diary with her. She never let her diary leave her room, mainly because her relationship with it was so personal. She used her diary to journal about some of the most private things in her life, things that if they got out, could be very embarrassing and might potentially strain some of her relationships. As much as she loved her friends, sometimes they did things that frustrated her, which she almost always detailed in her diary.
Sybella quickly set her diary under the table so no one would ask about it. She'd be sure to run it back up to its usual home in her bedroom right after breakfast.
"I thought you always kept your diary in your room, Sybella." Tanis said as she joined the other three ghouls. The vampire princess had vaguely told her friends about the fact that she journaled, but never any details of what she wrote in it.
"Yeah, I just accidentally grabbed it with my Economics notebook. I guess I was in a rush." Sybella quickly admitted, hoping the subject would change immediately.
"Hey guys!" Winnie greeted, which provided a much-needed distraction for Sybella. "Can you believe it's the end of the year already? It felt just like yesterday that we were starting our junior year."
"No, it's crazy. After two more days, we can truly say that we only have one more year left at Grimwood's." Sybella reminded.
"I'm really going to miss this place." Tanis sighed. "I mean, I know we have to move on at some point, but I do love it here."
"Speaking of moving on, we've all got to get to class!" Elsa said, pointing at the time, which showed three minutes until class began.
"Oh yeah. See you guys later." Sybella said, rushing off with Phantasma in a hurry so they wouldn't be late to class.
"Hello, Sybella." Mr. Jaffe smiled as Sybella entered the room. "Are you ready for the exam?"
"Yeah!" Sybella said cheerfully, even though she wasn't 100% sure she was fully prepared. She didn't feel there was really any other answer to provide that wouldn't make her look horrible and unprepared.
Sybella sat down between Phantasma and Tamera just as the bell rang.
"Hey! I finally called A. Gorilla!" the vampiress could overhear George saying to Jonathan, referencing the events of the day of the party several months ago.
"Cool!" Jonathan replied. "Who picked up?"
"A gorilla." George said plainly.
"Hello everyone." Mr. Jaffe greeted. "You've been a wonderful class, and I'm sad to see the semester come to an end. However, today is our last day together, which means it's time to take the final exam! Does anyone have any questions?"
"Umm...yeah." Tamera meekly said. "Is the sentiment on the whiteboard a clue about the question on the test related to the U.S.'s current economic situation?"
The other vampiress then pointed to a comment on the whiteboard, written in red marker, reading "we're screwed!"
"Oh, no." Mr. Jaffe laughed, as he quickly erased it. "That must have been left on the whiteboard from the Environmental Studies class that meets in here on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons."
"Before you all start, I would like to let you all know that I am aware of the Underground Cheating Ring that two members of this class planned to participate in to cheat on the test." Mr. Jaffe continued, while George and Jonathan gave sheepish looks back. "That's why I've decided that no one will be able to leave to go to the restroom during the test. If you leave the room, then you must hand in your test as is. Now, if anyone needs to go to the bathroom, do it now before you start the test."
"I have to go!" George exclaimed. "I...uh...forgot my notebook in the bathroom. Yeah, that's a believable excuse!"
"Can I go to the bathroom three minutes after George gets back?" Jonathan asked. "You know, just to check if George remembered to bring his notebook back with him from the bathroom."
"No! Both of you sit down, please." Mr. Jaffe sighed as he began handing out the test to each of his students.
Speaking of notebooks, Sybella had remembered that she entirely forgot something in the dining hall: her diary! She had been in such a rush to get to class that she didn't remember to take it back up to her room. Thanks to George and Jonathan's shenanigans, Sybella wouldn't be able to retrieve her diary until after class. By that time, someone could find the diary and read all of Sybella's most vulnerable thoughts! At this point, there was nothing she could do except try to do her best on the test and hope her diary was still there when she got back.
As soon as the bell rang, Sybella bolted out of the room to check the breakfast area for her diary. When she checked under the table, however, her worst fears were confirmed: the diary was gone. Sybella manically searched the room, and her backpack one more time, just to make sure she hadn't remembered to slip it back in there after all. It was no use, though. The diary had officially disappeared.
In a mopey way, Sybella sauntered over to the main dining hall for lunch, and sat down with her four best friends and Kathryn.
"What's up, Sybella?" Kathryn greeted.
"How'd the test go?" Elsa inquired.
"Fine, I guess." Sybella mumbled.
"Wow, that good, huh?" Phantasma sarcastically said.
"No, the test was fine. Remember when I accidentally took my diary to breakfast this morning? I forgot it at the breakfast table, and now it's gone. Somebody took it." Sybella elaborated.
"Ah man, that really sucks!" Winnie exclaimed. "I'm sorry, Sybella."
"That's horrible!" Tanis cried out. "Who would do that?"
"I don't know. Let's just talk about something else. I don't want to think about the horrible things the person who took it could be doing with my diary." Sybella sighed.
She had always confided in her diary as a safe space where she could confess her deepest emotions, but now that someone else had it, her diary was the most dangerous space of all.
Sybella tried to force herself to be cheery even though she felt like crap, because her and Kenzie were presenting in Sociology and she wanted to be excited for that. Kenzie was such a smart girl and Sybella loved being in her presence. The vampiress most certainly didn't want to ruin what could potentially be the last time talking with her, should they not have any classes together their senior year.
"Hey Sybella! How are you?" Kenzie smiled cheerfully as Sybella entered the classroom and sat in her accustomed seat.
"Oh, I'm pretty good." Sybella said in a less than convincing voice.
"You don't sound like it." Kenzie chuckled a little.
The vampiress decided to just admit what was bothering her. She considered Kenzie to be a trustworthy person, so there was probably no harm in explaining.
"Someone stole my diary." Sybella shared.
"Oh my gosh, that's horrible! I'm really sorry that happened." Kenzie apologized.
"It's okay. I'm excited for our presentation today!" Sybella tried to change the subject.
"I'm excited for your presentations as well." Ms. Cohn spoke up, as a transition into starting class. "Would you like to start, Daniel? I believe you chose to work alone, no?"
"Absolutely! And yep, it's just me!" Daniel exclaimed. "My final presentation is on the sociology of bullying!"
The werewolf put a video tape in the classroom's VHS player, and his video promptly began playing. The opening scene depicted a Frankenstein's monster bully hitting a helpless werewolf with his own paw.
"Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" the Frankenstein's monster taunted repeatedly.
"Please stop!" the werewolf whimpered.
At that moment, Daniel came into the frame on the video and began speaking to the bully.
"My esteemed sir, may I ask you a question?" Daniel inquired.
"Sure, ya nitwit!" the bully teased.
"Why are you hitting yourself...with the crippling realization that you are, in fact, terrorizing someone because you find them inferior to you?" Daniel asked. "Is it because you think making someone else feel worse for their flaws will make you feel better about your own?"
The Frankenstein's monster initially had his face scrunched in a scowl, but it slowly softened after Daniel's comment, until he began to break down and cry.
"Oh god, you're so right! I was only harassing this guy because I felt insecure, and it made me feel powerful to take someone else's self-esteem away. I'm sorry, my furry friend. Live your life and be free! I won't torment you anymore."
"And that, my friends, is the sociology of bullying!" Daniel explained in the video, trying to sound smart.
"Oh my god, it is?" the bully asked in a genuinely surprised fashion.
"Shut up." Daniel shut the Frankenstein monster's comment down.
"Well, should we give the people what they want?" Daniel said in a teasing tone.
"Yeah, dude." the bully replied.
The words "Bullying Montage" flashed across the scene, followed by a number of scenes with Daniel and the Frankenstein's monster bullying each other in various ways, including giving each other wedgies, wet willies and noogies, followed by Daniel slapping his friend repeatedly across the face.
"Stop it!" the Frankenstein's monster giggled.
"No! Why do you think they call it 'slapping someone silly'?" Daniel explained as his friend kept laughing.
One final scene depicted Daniel's friend about to hit him over the head with a baseball bat.
"Wait a minute, how is this bullying? This is just viole -" Daniel said, before the scene cut to a black screen right before he was (presumably) hit over the head, with a sound effect of a baseball announcer shouting "Heeeeee's OUT!".
"So, what'd you guys think?" Daniel laughed.
"Well, the first part was quite interesting, but the second part was quite odd and violent." Ms. Cohn admitted. "In fact, as a mandated bullying reporter, I shall have to ask you the name of your friend after class so I can report him to Miss Grimwood."
"Fine by me!" Daniel chuckled in a zany way.
"Kenzie, would you and Sybella like to present next?" Ms. Cohn inquired.
"Absolutely." Kenzie smiled, as she and the vampiress got up in front of the class to speak.
"Our presentation is on the looking glass self." Sybella explained. "The looking glass self is a combination between our sense of self and others' sense of us. If we focus too much on what others think of us, we begin to think we are defined through how others see us."
"You might look at me and think: burnout, scary girl, and bad at school." Kenzie listed. "In reality, I'm none of these things. I try to be very approachable, I'm great at school, and have aspirations to go onto college and maybe even graduate school after I graduate from high school. That's because I don't let myself be influenced by how others might think of me."
"The lesson here is not to care so much what others think of you. You can't control what others think, you can only control yourself." Sybella gave insight. She only wished she could internalize those words more for her own dilemma regarding her missing diary.
"The looking glass self is summed up by the last of those words: self. You are the only one who defines yourself, and there's no way to know what others truly think of you." Kenzie elaborated.
"And besides, why waste your life worrying about what others think of you?" Sybella smiled. Again, another sentiment Sybella wished she could internalize more. "People are always going to find reasons to judge you, so it's just not worth it.
"Excellent job, girls!" Ms. Cohn replied as the girls concluded their presentation and the rest of the students clapped. "I can tell you've really taken a lot away from this class."
"Thanks." Kenzie beamed. "I'll really miss this class."
"Yeah, this has been one of my favorite classes I've ever taken here." Sybella added, as she took her seat so the next presenter could begin. Though she didn't say it, she honestly liked the class so much she might consider studying it further in college.
Today was a big day for more reasons than just the fact that it was one of the last days of her junior year. Today was the day where all her hard work this year with the creation of the yearbook paid off. She and the Yearbook team were going to be giving out the yearbooks!
Upon entering the Yearbook room, Sybella was greeted with Savana's excited musings.
"I can't believe we're giving out the yearbook today! We've been working on this so long!" Savana exclaimed.
"I know, right?" Sybella agreed. She was trying to be excited, but she really wasn't feeling it. As much as she wished she could take her own advice from her Sociology presentation, she wasn't sure how.
"Girls, I'm so proud of you." Mrs. Lillard praised. "You've been working so hard this year and all the work you've done is finally going to be released into the world."
"I'm sure we'll work just as hard again next year." Sami responded.
"Are you going to be on the team again next year?" Savana asked Sybella.
"Of course!" Sybella smiled. Yearbook was one of her favorite pastimes (when she wasn't preoccupied worrying about her diary, anyway), and it would look great on her college applications. There was no question in her mind that she was going to continue next year.
"Awesome! Then I guess we're all working together again next year!" Sam added.
"We make a great team!" Savana added.
"No thanks to Ms. Awesomest Most OG Homie over there." Sami teased.
"Bro, you mad or something? Have a Snickers." Sam suggested, handing her a candy bar, to which Sami just rolled her eyes and ignored.
"I've already set up a table to hand out the yearbooks near the front of the school." Mrs. Lillard informed.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's give out some yearbooks, guys!" Sami exclaimed.
"But that's so far to walk!" Sam whined. "It's all the way on the other side of the school."
"It's not that long!" Sami rolled her eyes. "Just suck it up."
Sam then held out the Snickers bar again, as if Sami was mad, slowly moving it closer to her and raising an eyebrow.
"No!" Sami playfully snapped, as the girls started making their way to the front of the school.
The girls had set up right by the front door of Grimwood's, so that they could catch the students as they were leaving for the day.
"Yearbooks, get your yearbooks here!" Savana called out.
"You've gotta put a little more pizazz into it! We're not selling Ghoul Scout Cookies; we're selling a way for people to remember the year at this school!" Sami jokingly scolded, as she began a sales pitch of her own. "Do you want a way to remember your high school year for the rest of your life? Pick up your copy of the first edition of the Grimwood's Finishing School for Ghouls Yearbook today!"
"I'll take one!" Tanis purchased, as she walked past the door.
"That will be $20, please!" Savana said, handing the mummy the yearbook.
"Also, Sybella, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for making you sad by spending more time with Tom and other friends. I never meant to hurt you, and I hope you can forgive me!" Tanis apologized.
"What?" Sybella gave her a confused look. She was sad about Tanis spending more time with friends a long time ago, but she hadn't felt that way in a long time. "Why do you think I'm mad at you? I'm not."
"Oh...there's been a rumor floating around the school today that the two of us are fighting. I guess it wasn't true. Sorry to confuse you!" Tanis shrugged.
That was weird. Sybella wasn't sure if she had ever heard a rumor being circulated around Grimwood's before, much less such an absurd one that had no basis in reality.
"I'll take one!" Elsa said.
"$25, please." Sam nonchalantly said.
"$25?" Sami gave Sam a confused look. "It's $20."
"Uh, there's a new handling fee." Sam shrugged.
"No, there's not! Elsa, it's $20." Sami corrected.
"Jeez! Can't a girl make some extra money?" Sam scoffed.
"I'll take a copy!" Julia said, as Sybella handed the copy to her in exchange for her money.
"Me too. But do I have to pay for it?" Gabriel inquired.
"Yes. It's $20." Sami informed.
"Oh god no! I don't deserve to have to pay for anything!" Gabriel asserted.
"We'll take one copy each as well." Winnie said, pointing at Phantasma, who was right next to her.
"Hey, Sybella. Can we talk?" Phanty asked.
"Sure. What's the problem?" Sybella stepped to the side to talk with Phantasma in private.
"Look, I'm sorry you still don't like my choice of dating Isaiah, but he's a good guy. Ugh, I thought we had gotten over this." Phantasma harrumphed.
"Uh…." Sybella stuttered in shock. "We have."
"Oh...really?" Phanty looked surprised herself. "I've been hearing a rumor all day that the two of us are fighting. I'm really glad everything's okay though."
"That's weird." Sybella said suspiciously. "I just heard that another rumor was going around that Tanis and I were fighting."
"And I just heard another rumor that Mrs. Grimwood got the money to expand the school by setting up a shady pyramid scheme." Sam alerted.
"Where would that absurd rumor have come from?" Savana raised an eyebrow.
"Me." Sam looked sheepishly.
"Hmm...I guess people are just bored at the end of the year and making up rumors. That's really strange, though." Phantasma pointed out, as she and Winnie walked away together whilst Sybella got back to staffing the Yearbook table.
It was very strange indeed. Who would want to make up all these random rumors about her and her friends? Moreover, her diary was still missing. Was this school going crazy?
Thursday, May 2
Sybella really wanted to write in her journal as she usually did in the morning, but nonetheless, she still hadn't found it. It felt extra impactful given today was her last day of the school year, and she really wanted to be able to document it. It was so wrong of someone to take that away from her!
Nonetheless, she tried to distract herself, because she had to get moving for the day and get down to breakfast. Slipping on a yellow top and an orange skirt, she felt like a spring flower. The vampiress was getting increasingly comfortable with experimenting with her fashion and looking a bit "cuter," as she realized it didn't make her any more vulnerable or less "spooky" so to speak.
"Hi everyone." Sybella greeted the rest of her four ghoul friends, who were already down eating breakfast at the table.
"Hi!" Tanis cheerfully reciprocated the greeting. "How are you?"
"I'm okay. I'm a little thrown off about someone taking my diary. Plus there's those couple of strange rumors people have been making up about Tanis, Phantasma and I." Sybella sighed.
"Oh yeah. Speaking of that, I've been meaning to apologize to you." Winnie began. "I'm sorry for the stuff I did with Gabriel during the election. Kathryn told me that you were still mad about that yesterday."
"Huh?" Sybella shook her head in disbelief. She hadn't told anyone she was mad at Winnie since the election results were counted. "I got over that, like, seven months ago. You realized what you did wrong, and I really respect you for stepping up and admitting you were wrong."
"Oh...I wonder where Kathryn heard that, then." Winnie pondered.
This was getting really weird. At first, Sybella thought she had just happened to be involved in two different rumors with other people, but it seemed all the rumors were about Sybella. What was going on in this school?
Sybella tried not to let the rumors get to her too much, and followed the other girls to the final session of Film Studies. Sidney was always a great distraction with her goofy personality, so Sybella looked forward to letting the waves of silliness wash over her.
As the vampiress sat down in her normal seat, she was met by crossed arms from Sidney.
"Hi! Everything okay?" Sybella observed the witch's cold demeanor.
"I thought so, but I've been hearing some buzz around the school that you've been secretly mad at me." Sidney informed.
"What? Why would I be mad at you?" Sybella could feel her heart rate increasing. Who would be this determined to spread damaging rumors to ruin her life?
"I heard that you thought I peer-pressured you into the party. I'm sorry if I did, but why have you pretended everything's okay between us for over a month now? That's kind of a jerk move." Sidney snarled.
Wait a moment. This rumor actually had some basis in truth. She had been mad at Sidney for a little while because of how she assisted in facilitating the wild party while Miss Grimwood was gone, that if it had gone even minutes longer, could have got Sybella, Phantasma, Winnie, Elsa and Tanis in serious trouble with Miss Grimwood. She'd been frustrated at first, but didn't want to make a big stink out of it. She lost some respect for Sidney initially, and after a week or two, forgave the witch for her antics. Sidney made a mistake and Sybella couldn't judge her on it forever. However, she had never told anyone any of this. The only place she let these frustrated thoughts about Sidney escape from her head was in her diary.
As she thought about it, all of these rumors had some basis in truth at one time. She had been frustrated with Winnie around the time of the class president election, which she'd written in her diary. She'd confided in her diary about her initial hesitancy about Phantasma's new boyfriend, Isaiah. She had also written about feeling jealous of Tanis and her new relationships with Tom and Sarah in her diary.
There was no doubt in Sybella's mind now. Whoever had her diary was reading off all her deepest, innermost thoughts one by one, and letting the rumors spread to the whole school.
"Sidney...listen. I guess there is a little truth to that rumor. I was frustrated at first because it felt like you pressured me into having a party that I wasn't ready for. But I got over that, and very quickly. I never told anyone about this. Someone stole my diary and is reading all my old thoughts and using it to spread rumors about me. You have to believe me! Please!" Sybella desperately pleaded.
"Hmm, so that's where that rumor about your makeup obsession came from." Sidney chuckled, immediately becoming lighthearted again.
Sybella blushed a little. "That's an old one. From my Sweet Sixteen."
"It's okay, Sybella. You have the right to not agree with everything I do. I'm sorry some jerk is reading all your secrets and blowing them out of proportion." Sidney sympathized.
"Hey dude!" Isaiah called over in a less-than-pleased fashion.
"Umm...hi Isaiah." Sybella meekly said. She was worried that this was going to be some other secret from her diary.
"So word around school has it that you still don't like me very much? Why you gotta be like that?" Isaiah snapped.
"I'm sorry…" Sybella immediately apologized. "Someone stole my diary and has been telling everyone what I wrote. I promise I like you now! That rumor must have come from an old entry back when you and Phanty started first dating."
"Oh...well then, no worries my dude!" Isaiah shrugged.
"Sybella, I need to talk to you." Coach Micucci looked very serious when he came into the room. "Is it true that you hated my health class, and you thought it was just a stupid, pointless waste of your time?!"
"No! No, not at all!" Sybella defended profusely.
"Oh good. I was just pollin' everyone on what they thought. So far, 9 out of 10 say it was a stupid, pointless waste of their time!" Coach Micucci alerted.
For a moment, Sybella worried that Coach Micucci had heard a rumor about something she wrote in her diary. In all honesty, she probably had written something like that.
"Speaking of stupid, pointless wastes of time, what movie are we watchin' today?" Coach Micucci asked.
"The Lorax." the class apathetically sighed.
"You know it!" Coach Micucci grinned. "God do I love that movie!"
Sybella simply rolled her eyes as she prepared to watch the film for nearly the thirtieth time.
The vampire princess could feel the clock was ticking on finding her diary as she inched closer to the end of the day. If she didn't find it after her Human Studies class, she would have to go an entire summer with some weirdo having her journal, where they could do anything they wanted with the information she put in there. Nonetheless, she powered on to her classroom and joined the rest of the class for the final class period of the semester.
She was half-expecting to be greeted with more rumors about how people were mad at her for something she'd written in her diary months ago, but luckily, the vampiress was greeted as normal.
"Hey, Sybella! Ready for that presentation today?" Alexis inquired.
"Oh...yeah!" Sybella paused for a moment. She had almost forgotten about the presentation she was doing with Alexis today.
"Hello, students. It's been so great to have you all back in Human Studies for a second time around." Miss Griffin gleamed. "You have been an amazing class, and one of the best ones I have had at Grimwood's. Who would like to start presenting today on your monster rights issue?"
"We can." Harry offered.
"Our monster rights issue is awareness of witchcraft as a legal religion." Sarah informed, as she and Harry got up in front of the class.
"You can probably guess who came up with this idea." Harry joked, pointing at Sarah.
"Was it Sybella?" Jessica asked ineptly. No one responded, and the other five students (and Miss Griffin, for that matter) simply looked perplexed.
"Witchcraft deserves to be seen as a legitimate religion. Just because it isn't mainstream for humans, doesn't mean that our government shouldn't legalize it." Sarah reasoned.
"Damn Muggles!" Harry swore.
"In fact, many humans and non-witches practice witchcraft as well, even though they don't have magical powers." Sarah explained. Sybella remembered her experiences attending coven earlier this semester well. "I would go as far as to argue that witchcraft is considered a religion of terror by much of mainstream human society. People fear it, and think that we're going to zap them with spells and stuff, even though that's not how most witches use their magic. Witches have to train for years to be able to become in touch with their magical abilities, and have to work hard to be able to channel enough energy to cast a spell. Much of witchcraft is about getting in touch with your inner self and the environment. We're literally one of the most peaceful religions out there."
"Umm, isn't there a Witch's Council or something?" Charlie the goblin inquired.
"Yeah, but monster governments don't have any power over the human can only enforce laws for monsters. Human governments don't think monsters exist. There's not like a 'United Nations' for monsters that can make the final decision about which government is right. " Sarah explained.
"By saying that witchcraft is a bad, dangerous thing, you're stripping wizards and witches of their basic monster rights." Harry concluded.
"Excellent work, Sarah and Harry!" Miss Griffin complimented as the rest of the class clapped their hands. "Jessica and Charlie? Would you like to go next?"
"Yeah! We want to argue that emotions are basic monster rights." Charlie began.
"We have the right to feel whatever we want, whenever we want! And right now...I feel a little angry…" Jessica's expression intensified.
"If I may butt in, what form of government is preventing people from expressing their emotions?" Miss Griffin challenged. "That was a key component of this assignment."
Both of them looked stricken.
"Uhh, the Emotion Police!" Jessica exclaimed. "They gatekeep people's emotions and scold people if they get too angry! God, do I ever hate them!"
"Ah, damn it, Jessica. We shouldn't have waited until lunch today to start on this presentation. Sorry, guys." Charlie shook his head.
"Well, I guess if you're done, it's Sybella and Alexis's turn!" Miss Griffin introduced the final presentation.
"Our presentation is on protections for monsters being brought into legal discussions." Alexis introduced their topic.
"Currently, there are no legal protections for monsters in our laws. Humans can basically do whatever they want to us, because according to the law, we basically don't exist." Sybella revealed.
"Now, we recognize that we just can't go flooding the streets in protest, because that would make us vulnerable and validate all the horrible stereotypes people have about monsters. All monsters know that." Alexis began.
"But we can raise awareness by continuing the efforts that many monsters have already tried doing, having our monster senators reach out to the human senators, and even writing letters to the human senators ourselves." Sybella suggested.
"Eventually, maybe human and monster governments can coexist and come to some sort of agreement on how to enforce laws, because right now, the monster government tends to not challenge the human government's actions if they try to enforce their jurisdiction in a situation involving a monster." Alexis further elaborated.
"That will likely be a long time from now, though. However, every little contribution to the cause helps us get a little closer to monster equality." Sybella concluded.
"Wonderful, girls! I can tell you researched your topic very well." Miss Lillard verbally applauded, as the class physically applauded with their hands.
Sybella would have felt amazing given her presentation went so well, but one little thing still weighed on her mind: her missing diary. She now had less time than ever to find it.
After Human Studies, Sybella finished packing up her stuff, in hopes my diary would turn up at the last moment. But alas, it seemed almost certain now that she wouldn't find her diary this year, so she said her goodbyes to her friends over the chatter of the many students that were still congregating around the door, waiting for their parents to arrive. Upon looking out the front door, she saw that her daddy had already arrived.
"Bye, everyone!" Sybella waved to her four best friends, over the loud talking of the various other students waiting for their parents.
Just as Sybella was about to open the car door and greet her father, she saw Tanis sprinting after her.
"Sybella! Come back in! You've got to see this!" Tanis tried to catch her breath from running so quickly.
"What happened?" Sybella said in horror, worrying something terrible had happened.
"We found your diary!" Tanis panted.
"Oh my god, where?" Sybella exclaimed.
"Eric is reading it to the entire school right now, and I don't see Miss Grimwood anywhere!" Tanis shrieked.
"Vhat? Vhy I'll rip that verevolf limb from limb!" Count Dracula threatened.
All of a sudden, a man in a police uniform came up to Dracula's window as he was about to get out of the car.
"Sir, you seem a bit angry tonight. Is there a problem?" the police officer asked.
"Who vants to know?" Dracula snapped.
"I do! I'm an officer of the Emotion Police, and I demand you explain everything you're feeling to me right now!" the officer commanded.
"Shut up!" Dracula snarled. "There is no Emotion Police!"
"Wait, there isn't?" the officer looked shocked. "God, what in the world was I thinking then?"
"Just let me through so I can get my daughter's diary back!" Dracula pushed the man out of the way.
"You know, now that you say it, it is pretty strange I've never met my boss before. Or my coworkers, for that matter." the officer realized. "This must be what a mid-life crisis feels like!"
Sybella raced back in Grimwood's to find Tanis's story confirmed: Eric had her diary open and was reading everything she'd written!
"Wednesday, January 17! Kenzie is just the coolest girl ever!" Eric laughed. "She's so cool and unique, and I wish I was her!"
Some of the other students began laughing their heads off. Upon hearing it said out loud, what she had written back then did sound a bit awkward. Nonetheless, Eric had no right to be reading her private thoughts out loud.
"Hey!" Sybella shouted at Eric. "Give me back the diary. You have no business reading any of my private thoughts. You should be cowering in shame right now."
"Thursday, January 18! God, I'm so embarrassed that I have a monkey's uncle!" Eric read.
"It doesn't say that!" Sybella hissed.
"Give my daughter back her diary!" Dracula snarled, looking vicious and going straight for Eric's neck. Granted, Sybella knew he wouldn't actually bite Eric, but it would probably do the idiotic werewolf some good to have the living daylights scared out of him.
"Oh god! I'm sorry! It was just a joke!" Eric explained. "I found this at the breakfast table yesterday and thought it would be funny to read it. Please don't kill me!"
"I von't...but only if you never do anything like this to my daughter ever again!" Dracula hissed, his fangs still bared.
"I won't! I promise I won't!" Eric cowered.
"Vhat a sniveling little ass." Dracula grumbled, with Sybella's diary in his hand.
"Let me ask you just one question." Daniel inquired of Eric. "I'm an expert now in the sociology of bullying. Are you sure you didn't just make up that monkey's uncle comment just because you're insecure about a similar situation happening in your life?"
"No...why would you say that?" Eric denied.
A few minutes later than would have been convenient for stopping the diary incident, Miss Grimwood came into the room with Olly by her side. Olly was holding a handwritten note, which he handed to the headmistress.
"Oh Eric? I just got a call from your father, and he said he won't be able to pick you up this year due to a sudden business venture that will last much of the summer. He said your Uncle Bananas from Monkey Island would be picking you up." Miss Grimwood read, causing Eric to blush.
Before he could respond, a large chimpanzee came to the door.
"Excuse me, does anyone know where my nephew Eric might be?" the talking chimp asked.
"Right here." Eric looked mortified.
"Where have you been, Eric? I was starting to go bananas waiting for you in the car." the uncle informed.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Eric sighed. "Before I go, anyone want a Junior Mint? It's our last chance as juniors!"
"Eric, stop monkeying around and get out to the car! I know you're gonna love spending the summer with me. We're going to go ape together!" Uncle Bananas exclaimed.
At that moment, Kenzie came up to Sybella, causing the vampiress to feel incredibly embarrassed due to the remarks she'd made in her diary. At least it wasn't anything negative like it had been with the other rumors, but nonetheless, it did come off very awkward and she didn't want to make Kenzie feel uncomfortable with her comments.
"Hi. I don't know if you heard Eric just reading my diary, but I'm sorry about the weird comments I made about you in there. I just thought it was pretty cool that you were so unique, and I wanted to write about it." Sybella explained.
"Why are you apologizing?" Kenzie asked. "It's super sweet of you to be so kind, even if you didn't mean for it to come out in the way it did. I'm honored to have been a positive influence on you, and I think you're pretty neat too!"
"Aww, thanks!" Sybella smiled. "I should probably go now, but it's been so awesome meeting you and I hope to see you again next year! My dad's waiting to take me back to our castle for the summer."
"Woah, you live in a castle? That's really cool! Have fun!" Kenzie responded.
Sybella waved Kenzie, and the rest of her friends, off as she got back in the car with Dracula and drove away. This semester definitely hadn't ended like Sybella had thought it would, but nonetheless, so many amazing things still happened. She got to meet cool new people, be a part of a coven, go to her first party (even if it did get too wild), take part in environmental activism, go to a college and career fair, and meet some more new people from another school!
As she drove away, she thought about the fact that she now officially only had one more year left at Grimwood's. She couldn't wait to see the amazing adventures she would have in her senior year!
Author's note:
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! As per usual with any final chapter of a semester, I included at least one line from every character that appeared in the chapters from this semester. An exception to this would be that I did not include any of the Gravedale High characters from the crossover in the last chapter, as obviously I didn't need to create a second crossover just so everyone got a line.
The only reference is this chapter is actually a reference to a previous reference (so reference reference time? haha). A. Gorilla, previously referenced in chapter 37, is a reference to Bart Simpson locating someone named "A. Gorilla" in the telephone book in The Simpsons episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts."
It has now been mentioned numerous times that the girls will be going into their last year at Grimwood's. Given this, if you haven't already guessed it, I will confirm that this fanfic will be ending after the girls graduate from Grimwood's. There will be ten more chapters, five for each semester, and the fanfic will conclude with chapter 50. I do really love writing this fanfic and it will be sad to stop, but there has always been an overarching story that I've wanted to tell with this fanfic, and that story ends with the girls graduating Grimwood's.
I've got a lot of fun stuff planned for these final ten chapters, so hopefully you're enjoying everything so far and are looking forward to what's to come!