Wednesday, February 12

My friends are so blissfully in love. Phantasma and Isaiah, Winnie and Sidney, and now it seems like Elsa is pining over another Frankenstein's monster in our Debate class, Alex. She's been trying to get up the nerve to ask him out since the beginning of the semester, but she has never quite found the courage to do so.

All of this makes me wonder...will I ever find love? I feel like I'm happy on my own, but at the same time, it would be really cool to find someone who cares about me deeply, and treats me like I'm the most special vampire in the world.

Sybella decided to wear a fancy blue velvet top today, which she felt super cute in as she approached her friends at the breakfast table. Many of them were already close to finishing up what they were eating, while Sybella was just picking up her traditional cereal and a biscuit with strawberry jam.

Winnie and Sidney were making googly eyes at each other, trying to be cute.

"Don't make me have to come over there…" Sidney intentionally paused for effect. "...because then I'd have to attack you with kisses!"

"Oh, please try!" Winnie challenged, as Sidney made her way over to sit on the werewolf's lap. Granted, they were still in the early stages of their relationship, so they hadn't really moved beyond little peck kisses on the cheek. Sidney did just as she promised: dozens of little kisses all over the werewolf's furry face.

"Aww...that's so cute!" Tanis smiled.

"After seeing those two together, I don't know if there could be a cuter couple, honestly." Phanty complimented.

"Yeah, those two are adorable together!" Sybella agreed.

Phanty's boyfriend, Isaiah started to walk past the breakfast table, but stopped when he noticed his phantom partner.

"Oh, hey babe!" Phantasma greeted.

"Nah, I don't agree." Isaiah ignored his girlfriend's comment, looking at Sybella. "That shit's kinda gross."

"Aww, c'mon babe. We've PDA'ed so many times in public." Phantasma reminded. "You can't let two other lovebirds have their moment?"

"That ain't it. I just mean, you know, they're both girls." Isaiah clarified.

"Yeah, what about it?" Sybella challenged.

"Well, I'm just sayin' what I feel. Girls makin' out in public is kinda weird and shit. I wish they'd just keep it in private if they have to do that." Isaiah stated his beliefs.

"Um, excuse me? Winnie and Sidney are my friends. The two of us make out in public all the time. Besides, they're not even getting that intimate. Just leave them alone and keep your opinions to yourself." Phantasma sternly replied.

"I just think that bein' gay is creepy. What's next, makin' out with bears or some shit?" Isaiah rhetorically asked.

"Hey!" a deep voice growled, quickly revealing itself to be a monstrous-looking grizzly. "I'll have you know that I'm a Were-Bear and people love making out with me! In fact, if I could make out with myself, I would!"

"Whatever, man. Sorry, Phanty. I thought your favorite thing 'bout me was that I spoke my mind, and that I wasn't fake about shit!" Isaiah half-heartedly apologized.

"Not when you offend other people! Sidney and Winnie have already felt awkward about dating because they're both girls, so insulting them and saying their love is wrong just is hurting them more! In fact, they're the ones you should be apologizing to, not me." Phanty snapped. "We've gotta get to class, but I want to talk to you about this more later."

"Fine, geez. I didn't know you'd be so bent outta shape about this!" Isaiah sighed.

"Just promise me you won't say anything like that to them ever again." Phanty growled.

"I won't, okay, dude. Sorry!" Isaiah stormed off in a huff.

"I'm really sorry, girls. He never should have said any of that stuff." Phantasma apologized profusely.

"It's okay." Winnie said, while hanging her head a bit in embarrassment.

"No worries." Sidney shrugged. Sybella assumed the witch was trying to look like she wasn't affected by what Isaiah was saying to her.

"We've gotta get to class, anyway." Elsa reminded.

"Hey, are you going to finally ask Alex out today?" Sybella inquired. "You've been saying you will for a month now, and you haven't."

"Umm...I guess…" Elsa looked cautious.

"Just do it! Then you'll finally know if Alex likes you, instead of wondering like you have been for weeks." Phantasma encouraged.

"Okay...I suppose I could…" Elsa stuttered.

Sybella had rarely seen the Frankenstein's monster that nervous, so she really hoped Elsa would actually follow through this time.

As Sybella took her customary seat in between Sidney and Kathryn, she could see Isaiah going over to Phanty out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey Phanty, sorry we were fightin'. I didn't mean to offend you. We should just do what you said and I shouldn't say that stuff in front of them." Isaiah agreed.

"Good. I'm glad you realized how wrong it was to think like that about two of my friends." Phanty responded.

"Oh no, I still think that gay shit is pretty weird." Isaiah revealed.

"WHAT?" Phantasma roared at her phantom boyfriend. "You said you weren't going to say that to them ever again!"

"Yeah, I did. I said I wasn't going to say it to them. I'm still gonna speak my mind when they're not around. Someone bein' gay just is unpleasant to look at. That's not how it's supposed to be." Isaiah asserted.

"How is it supposed to be? Winnie and Sidney love each other, so they're just supposed to ignore that because you don't like it?" Phanty pushed.

"Yeah. Just try to fight it and find someone to make out with so that it doesn't look disgusting. Winnie and Sidney are probably just confused. They don't know what they want." Isaiah presumed.

"I don't want to date someone who thinks like that. No one's saying you have to be gay, just don't insult people when they have found true love with someone of the same gender!" Phanty hissed.

"I'm not changin' my beliefs. I don't try to change you, why you gotta try to change me?" Isaiah asked.

"Because you're trying to change other people!" Phanty yelled.

"Well, if you're tryna change me, then that means I get to change you. I don't want you hangin' out with Winnie and Sidney anymore, because they're into some weird shit." Isaiah commanded.

"Isaiah, I'm breaking up with you! This relationship is over!" Phanty stormed back to her seat.

Sybella really hoped Sidney and Winnie hadn't overheard any of what Isaiah said about them, but she feared they did.

All of a sudden, Elsa looked like she was about to jump for joy.

"Sybella! Sidney! I want you to meet my new boyfriend, Alex." Elsa introduced.

"Hi, nice to formally meet you." Alex smiled.

"I finally asked Alex out, and he said he felt the same way about me!" Elsa grinned.

"Yeah, Elsa and I are interested in so many of the same things. We're big science nerds." Alex explained.

"Nice to meet you, Alex!" both Sybella and Sidney replied at the same time. However, before they could talk more with the new lovers, Mrs. Lange started the class, prompting Elsa and Alex to sit in their assigned seats.

"Good morning, class!" Mrs. Lange chipperly greeted. "I hope all of you are having a good week. Today, we are tackling an issue that is a bit tougher. We will be debating about religion versus spirituality. All of you will number off by threes, to create six different groups for three different debates. The groups will be as follows: Sybella, Winnie and Tanis will be debating against Sidney, Elsa, and Alex. For the second groups, Jonathan, Eric and Joey will be debating against Kathryn, Melissa, and Tyler. The last groups will be comprised of Phantasma, Charlie and Tom versus Isaiah, Jacob, and Ali. Please go over and find your group members to discuss your debate strategy. You will have 30 minutes to do so before we start debating. Sybella, Jonathan and Phantasma's groups will be arguing for spirituality. Isaiah, Sidney and Kathryn's groups will be arguing for religion."

Sybella made her way over to where Winnie and Tanis were sitting to discuss their strategy.

"This is going to be hard." Tanis sighed.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to argue for something we don't even believe?" Winnie inquired.

"I believe in spirituality." Sybella reminded. "It doesn't preclude the existence of God. It just means thinking about how souls and spirits work."

"Well, Phanty's a spirit, why don't we ask her?" Winnie teased.

"That's not what I mean." Sybella rolled her eyes in a silly way. "It means thinking about how different spiritual energies might influence what we experience in life. What beliefs do you both have about life?"

"Well, I think things happen to us for a reason." Winnie shared.

"Yeah, to make us into better people." Tanis compounded.

"See, that's a spiritual belief." Sybella pointed out.

"Maybe that's our strategy then." Winnie suggested. "Spirituality doesn't preclude the existence of God. You can still have spiritual beliefs while believing in God, but you can also have them without believing in God. Spirituality works either way."

"I love that!" Tanis agreed.

"I think that's our strategy, then." Sybella smiled. She felt incredibly confident that they were going to win this debate.

"Alright class, I believe it appears everyone is ready to present. Sybella and Sidney, would your groups like to go first?" Mrs. Lange inquired.

"Sure." Sybella responded, as Sidney simply nodded.

"You may decide which side wants to start." Mrs. Lange notified.

"After you." Winnie offered to be polite to her girlfriend's side.

"No, after you." Sidney negated.

"No, I insist, after you!" Winnie urged.

"No, I couldn't possibly take such an honor away from you. After you!" Sidney's polite tone started to become playfully frustrated.

"For the love of god, will someone just please go?!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"We'll go first." Elsa laughed. "Religion is the only way to have a belief in something based on the socially established truth."

"Yeah, if you don't have religion, you could just be making things up." Alex backed up.

"Spirituality doesn't preclude the existence of a higher power, though. You can be spiritual and religious." Tanis pointed out.

"Besides, how do you know people didn't just make up those socially established truths?" Sybella challenged.

"Uh…" Sidney stuttered. A long pause occurred where the other side did not know how to respond.

"A bit lost for words?" Mrs. Lange questioned.

"Yeah, that's a really good argument." Sidney looked inspired.

"Besides, all of us are spiritual and not religious, so it's kind of hard to argue for something we don't believe." Elsa admitted.

"You did a good job trying, though." Mrs. Lange assured. "The point of this assignment is to challenge you into arguing a point of view that you may not hold, however, I recognize this is very difficult and I do not expect you to be perfect on the first try. A good debater should be able to argue both sides. Jonathan, would your group like to go next?"

"Hell yeah we would!" Jonathan overly exaggerated, as his group members joined him up at the front of the room towards the left side of the classroom. The other group also got out of their seats and stood on the front right side of the room.

"So, if you don't believe in religion, you're a HEATHEN!" Eric shouted.

"Yeah, you're going straight down to Hell to watch a live edition of the 'Teletubbies: Fun with Numbers!' marathon that the Devil has specifically picked out just to torture you!" Joey attempted to persuade. "Oh yeah, and the IRS are gonna tax you down there too. Did I ever tell you about the time when my dad got the mail one day? The birds were chirping, the sun was out, bears were dancing in the street, because it was just that fucking good of a day. But then, when my dad opened the mailbox, his life changed FOREVER when he got a letter. It was from the IRS! It said they were gonna tax him! Tax him on our house, tax him on his car, tax him on his job earnings, tax him on EVERYTHING! So, by this point, the sun had been extinguished, because the IRS taxed the sun into bankruptcy too, all the birds and bears had been shot, possibly by the IRS, and my dad was real angry! I tell you, for as long as I live, I'll never forget the deafening roar of him running around the neighborhood screaming 'OH FUDGE!'"

"Joey, I can't help but feel you've gotten a bit off topic." Mrs. Lange disapprovingly criticized. "Besides, your group is actually arguing in favor of the other group's point without them even saying anything! You were supposed to argue that spirituality was better. Kathryn's group wins by default."

All of a sudden, Joey's brow furrowed and his face formed a scowl, as he got an insane look in his eye. Apparently, he was so angry that he felt the need to shout something, which rang out throughout the room for a few seconds. "Oh FUDGE!"

"Would the other groups like to make their argument now?" Mrs. Lange clearly looked not amused by the antics.

"Sure." Phanty agreed, looking quite upset herself. "I'll start. I think spirituality is far better, because it doesn't exclude groups of people. You know, like people who are just trying to love what they love."

Isaiah looked quite triggered by Phanty's argument, which was clearly targeted at her ex-boyfriend for his behavior this morning.

"Phantasma, I think you're missin' an important point. Some things just aren't natural, and you gotta admit that. Religion provides order, so we don't all just act like crazy jackasses!" Isaiah insulted. "I'm religious and I like to think I'm pretty on the up and up about stuff. I know what's right and wrong, but you don't."

"Fuck you! I can't believe I ever dated a narcissistic bigot like you." Phanty shouted, as she stormed out of the room.

"Well, that was highly inappropriate!" Mrs. Lange gasped. "Class, I would like you to take an example from Sybella and Sidney's groups. Half of this class clearly did not take the assignment seriously at all. Debating is supposed to be fast-paced and exciting, listening to the conflicting opinions, but the one no-no of debate is personally attacking another person. Once you have attacked someone, you have diverted your attention from the issue and lose your way from what you believe in. I will see you on Friday, in which I will expect much better behavior from all of you."

"I can't believe Phanty did that!" Winnie exclaimed, once Mrs. Lange had dismissed the class.

"Well, Isaiah deserved it for what he was saying to you and Sidney, but you're right that it was quite inappropriate of her. Just because Isaiah stooped that low didn't mean Phanty had to do that too." Sybella replied.

"Hey, look on the bright side, I got another awesome video!" Sidney pointed out, pulling out a tablet which she must have rented from the multimedia lab.

"Phantasma, you are a master debater and should be on some sort of national speech team! Why, in fact, I've never met a more polite, courteous student than you. You get an A+ just for being yourself!" the obviously edited Mrs. Lange said in the video.

"Fuck you!" Phanty shouted, in the same unearthly, deep, masculine voice that had been falsely attributed to Sybella at the end of last semester. Phanty then lifted both middle fingers up in the video, which was placed on a one-second loop so it looked like she was continually flipping Mrs. Lange off, whilst a rap-style beat with someone chanting began to play. A graphic reading "flippin' da bird," with an angry-looking robin extending its middle wing feather, flashed across the screen during the loop.

Sybella simply rolled her eyes and waved goodbye to her friends, as she walked to her next class.

Sybella couldn't quite get Phantasma off her mind, even when she arrived in her next class and sat next to Kenzie. She just couldn't believe Phanty would stoop to that level just because her ex was being dumb, especially in front of a teacher. If she admitted it to herself, she was a bit worried about Phanty too. Was she going to be okay, now that she realized someone she let her guard down for was not at all what she thought they were?

Apparently Sybella's worry was very noticeable, as Kenzie asked the vampiress. "Something on your mind?"

"Yeah." Sybella admitted. She trusted the witch, so she didn't have any problem disclosing what was going on in her life to her. "My friend just had an issue with her boyfriend, and they broke up. Her boyfriend turned out to be a real jerk."

"That sucks. Yeah, people aren't always what they seem." Kenzie sighed.

"Boy, you're sure right. Did you guys know my full name isn't even Dan? It's Dathaniel!" Dan joked.

"Hello, class." Ms. Cohn greeted. "Today we'll be discussing what I find to be quite an interesting topic: the reasons why people react the way they do to deviant behavior. One major reason is fear. They are afraid of the deviant behavior, because it doesn't seem like it can be normal to them. It disrupts what they believe is normalcy, so their brains cannot comprehend how a 'normal' person could have that identity. Thus, they stigmatize that identity, and try to ridicule the person into being more like them."

Sybella felt this related so much to why Isaiah suddenly hated Winnie and Sidney. She felt a thirst for more knowledge, compelling her to raise her hand.

"Yes, Sybella?" Ms. Cohn inquired when the vampire princess raised her hand.

"How do you convince that person otherwise?" Sybella inquired. "Like, if the person hates someone for no reason because they find something about their identity to be wrong, how do you change what they think?"

"That's a great question, Sybella." Ms. Cohn complimented. "I just wish there was a good answer. Sometimes, you can explain to that person why they are incorrect in their beliefs, and how it's wrong to judge other people over things that have no effect on other people's lives, and over time it will cause them to change. However, sometimes people refuse to ever listen, in which case you just have to try to be civil with them, and ignore them if they are being obnoxious."

"Thank you." Sybella appreciated. Ms. Cohn's explanation made a lot of sense. You couldn't change someone if they did not want to be changed. However, even though this gave Sybella a lot of clarity, it also gave her a lot of confusion about if the vampiress ever decided to date. How can you know if you could trust someone? Part of her wished she had a boyfriend, but the experience Phantasma had to go through with Isaiah was horrible, and made her question if she even wanted to ever risk making herself vulnerable for someone who might just turn out to be a horrible person.

Savana, Sami and Sam provided a nice distraction for the vampiress's anxious mind...at least at first.

"It's poll day!" Savana exclaimed.

Sybella had almost forgotten. It was time for the girls to count up the votes for each yearbook poll that the school had voted on last week at lunch. All the categories were the same as last year, but with a whole new freshman class, it would probably shake up the results a bit.

"So, it looks like we're all here." Sami replied, as Sybella set down her backpack on the floor and got comfortable in her chair at the table with the other three girls. "What categories does everyone want to count up?"

"I can do sportiest, most innocent, and bubbliest personality." Sybella offered.

"I've got teacher's pet, most organized and best couple." Sami declared. Sybella knew that Winnie and Sidney were the likely winners for best couple. They were seen as a cute couple almost universally by the school, or at least the vampiress was pretty confident they were.

"I'll do drama queen, most likely to become famous, and best smile." Savana volunteered.

"I guess that leaves social butterfly and best dressed for me." Sam shrugged. "I still say there should have been an awesomest most OG homie category."

"No, there shouldn't have!" Sami rolled her eyes, while she finished counting up the votes at a rapid pace. "I've got most organized. It's Kennedy."

That was a student's name that Sybella didn't recognize, to her surprise. She thought she knew almost all of the students at Grimwood's by now, given she was a senior, but this one must have been one of the few she hadn't met.

"Drama queen is, once again, Jessica." Savana chuckled. That was absolutely who Sybella thought would win, given her quickness to anger.

"The social butterfly is Winnie. Shoulda been me though." Sam playfully grumbled.

"So is sportiest." Sybella confirmed as she finished counting the votes.

"Oh good, you girls are counting up the poll results." Miss Lillard smiled, as she entered the room.

"Yep." Sami acknowledged. "The teacher's pet is...oh, it's you Sybella."

Sybella blushed a little bit, though when she thought about it more, she wasn't all that surprised. People likely were receptive of the fact that she wanted to be a teacher, and the two teaching assistantships that she held.

"Most innocent is Tanis." Sybella meekly said, still a little embarrassed about the teacher's pet thing even if no one probably cared.

"Most likely to become famous is Maxwell Richcashmoneycheddarameister." Savana's tongue became twisted reading the long last name. "I'll buy that given the name."

"Best dressed is me." Sam tried to say as casually as she could.

"Hey, are you falsifying the votes?" Sami looked disapprovingly over at her werewolf teammate, noticing a red Sharpie on the table and several votes that were crossed off, with whoever the person had voted for replaced by 'Sam.'

"Umm...no?" Sam looked sheepishly.

"I think what you meant to say is 'yes'." Sami did a quick recount of the votes Sam was supposed to count. "The winner is actually Savana."

"Sweet!" Savana exclaimed, putting her fist triumphantly in the air. "Best smile is Kathryn."

Sybella could definitely see that. Kathryn was almost always in a good mood.

"Bubbliest personality is Tanis." Sybella read off her final category. "I guess that makes two wins for her this year!"

"And the final poll result is in!" Sami dramatically read. "Drumroll, please."

Sybella joined Savana and Sam in slapping their hands on their knees to create a drumming-esque sound. "Best couple is...Phantasma and Isaiah, for the second year in a row!"

"Oh no." Sybella gasped. Phanty would be so angry. Isaiah probably would be too, but Sybella didn't really care about how he felt at this point. "Can we please change the result, Miss Lillard?"

"Why's that?" Miss Lillard looked concerned.

"Umm...because they're not together anymore." Sybella admitted. "Isaiah said something really bad about Winnie and Sidney, and Phantasma said she couldn't be with someone who thought that way."

"Hmm…" Miss Lillard thought for a moment. "I think we could make a disqualification, given the best couple isn't actually a couple anymore. Let's go with whoever people had the second highest vote."

"That would be Sidney and Winnie!" Sami revealed.

That made Sybella's heart happy. The perfect revenge to Isaiah for saying that Sidney and Winnie shouldn't be together.

Thursday, February 13

I hope Phanty is doing alright. I haven't seen or talked to her since yesterday, and I'm really worried about how she's holding up now that she found out Isaiah's true colors.

Sybella, who was feeling somewhat physically confident in her fancy blue sequin dress she had decided to wear today to look more fashionable, felt a lack of emotional confidence when she saw her four best friends and Sidney eating in silence.

"Umm...so, how was everyone's night?" Sybella stuttered, a bit nervous that Phanty might lash out in response. Phantasma looked like she was in quite a mood this morning. The vampire princess didn't fault the ghost for feeling that way...she would too, had she dated a creep like Isaiah, but at the same time, she didn't want to trigger Phanty any more than she already was.

"It was fun!" Elsa exclaimed, before dialing her tone back a bit, realizing she might come off a bit tone-deaf. "Alex and I had a nice time together on...uh...our date last night."

"Well whoopty-fucking-do, good for you!" Phanty snarled.

"Jeez, Phanty, dial it back a notch!" Winnie attempted to calm the peeved phantom down.

"It's okay." Sybella assured. "She's just hurting, I think. Give Phanty her space."

All of a sudden, an unexpected surprise occurred: Phanty started to break down and cry.

"You're right! I am hurting!" Phanty sobbed. "I'm so sorry, guys. I shouldn't take this out on you like I am. It's Isaiah I'm angry with. I can't believe I trusted that idiot! Why couldn't I see how horrible he was? Whenever we had a fight, we always just agreed to disagree instead of actually talking it out. That was so unhealthy!"

"It's okay to hurt right now. There's no way you could have known he would be like this." Sybella rushed over to give the phantom a hug, which Phantasma accepted.

"Will I ever be better?" Phanty sobbed. The vampire had never seen her friend be so emotionally vulnerable with anyone before.

"Yes. It's just going to take a little time first." Sybella assured. "Honestly, this experience has even made me cautious about dating anyone."

"No!" Phanty cried out. "Don't just stop dating people on my account. I'm sorry I freaked out on Elsa about her date."

Sybella was hesitant to admit that she meant she was cautious because of Phanty's horrible experience with Isaiah, but Winnie indirectly answered the vampire's question.

"I think if I've learned anything from dating Sidney, it's that sometimes vulnerability works. You've just gotta find the right person and hope that they're presenting their authentic self to you. That's really all you can do." Winnie advised.

The werewolf was right, even though it wasn't the quick-fix answer Sybella was hoping for. She supposed that falling in love was always a risk. Falling in love created a lot of amazing opportunities, but it was also scary, because you have to be completely vulnerable with someone. Hopefully, someday, Sybella would find love too, but this experience made her realize that maybe it was okay to be happy alone. Being in love with someone was an added bonus, but you didn't have to be in love with someone else to be happy. She just hoped Phanty could learn that lesson too.

After a bit more collective comforting of Phanty while the ghouls ate breakfast, they all made sure the ghost was in an okay mental space to be able to focus in class. Once they ensured she was, each of the ghouls departed for their classes, Sybella headed off to Coach Micucci's classroom to attempt to salvage whatever ridiculous lesson plan that he likely had.

The vampiress was a little embarrassed to be arriving so close to the bell, which quite literally rang seconds after she joined the coach at the front of the room. The coach didn't seem to mind, however.

"Alright, today we're talkin' about abusive relationships. So, if your dame says she wants ya to buy her a jewel, which of these four options do ya say?" Coach Micucci asked the class. "Option A. Ya already got enough jewels, ya sleazy skank! B. I'll show you a choker!" Micucci read off of a paper he had nearly right in front of face, shaking his fist. "C. I don't really think we can afford more jewelry. D. Another jewel? I'll kick you in the jewels, ya hussy!"

Sybella remembered this class lesson well from when she took Health with the coach.

"Umm, coach, since I took this lesson too, do you mind if I suggest a different method of teaching them?" the vampiress asked, worrying she was overstepping her bounds.

"Oh, I think I get what ya mean." the coach guessed. "So, raise your hand if you're in an abusive relationship right now!"

"No!" Sybella looked alarmed at how overly personal the coach got. "I mean, can we just talk frankly about what an abusive relationship is? They might not know."

"Oh yeah, sure. I forget that students are gettin' dumber by the day with their Snapchat and their Reddit. I was actually gonna offer to set up a MySpace profile for whoever won, cuz that seems like the most stable of the social networks. All the others'll probably come and go, but that one's gonna stay forever. I just know it!" Coach Micucci assumed. "You can talk to them if ya want."

"Oh, really...I mean, you're the teacher." Sybella reminded, worrying that she was overstepping her authority as a teacher's assistant.

"Nah, go ahead. What you've got ta say is probably better than what I do. I've never been in a relationship, after all." Coach Micucci revealed. "I love love...sure would like to be a part of it someday."

Sybella decided to speak from the heart and authentically tell her students what an abusive relationship was like. Though Isaiah wasn't necessarily abusive from the beginning to Phanty, telling her that she shouldn't hang out with Winnie and Sidney anymore and dissing them seemed like a pretty shitty thing to do.

With a deep inhale, Sybella began to relay what she had learned from her friend going through an abusive-like relationship.

"An abusive partner tells you what to do, and may order you around, forcing you to believe what they believe or do what they want you to do. They may even use physical force." Of course, Isaiah obviously hadn't done this, but Sybella found it important to inform her students of all the dangers. Or...she meant Coach Micucci's students. They sort of did feel like her students, however, since she knew she was teaching them such a valuable life lesson. "If you ever think you're in an abusive relationship, you should break up with that person if you can, or if you don't think it's safe, to go to a person you trust and attempt to get help. You deserve better than to be mistreated by someone who claims they love you."

This wasn't a lesson Sybella delighted in teaching her students, but she felt it was an important one. A lot had happened over the last few days...some happy, like Elsa getting a new boyfriend, and some sad, like Phanty realizing her boyfriend's true personality. It would likely take a long time for the phantom to recover, but the important thing was that she had several great, true friends, that would be there to help her whenever she was struggling. Sybella also promised herself that she would never lower her bar for someone just because they seemed cool.

The vampiress had a hard time trying to find a takeaway from such a sad, heart-wrenching experience for her friend, but she supposed the best thing she could do was always listen to her head and heart. If problems arose in her future relationships, then she would have to do her best to communicate with the person and come to a common understanding. If they refused to communicate, well, then maybe Sybella deserved better. If she did ever fall in love, she vowed that she would always try to make sure that she never tried to make someone else happy at the expense of her own happiness.

Author's note:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Relationships can definitely be very hard to navigate, especially if one person is being difficult, so I actually had a challenging time trying to figure out how to wrap this one up. I always like to end the chapters with Sybella recapping her main takeaway, but sometimes, there really is no way to know a person's true colors because they can sometimes change from when you first met the person.

This chapter also included a lot of different callbacks to the ghouls' first semester. Coach Micucci's lesson on abusive relationships referenced back to chapter 5, and Joey's tax story with his dad was one he had previously brought up in chapter 9 in Sybella's Creative Writing class.

Only one reference this time for reference time! Coach Micucci's comment "I love love...sure would like to be a part of it someday." is a reference to a comment by Michael Scott on The Office that seems to be widely acclaimed as memorable: "I love inside quotes...sure would love to be a part of one someday." And yes, hooray, it's an actual The Office reference this time instead of the unintentional "Jimothy" one from chapter 10 lol.