"Oh my god, what are we going to do?" Ashley exclaimed, following the ghost of Merlin's warning.
"Well, I know what we don't need to do, and that's panic." Velma assured. She definitely didn't believe herself, but she felt a sense of duty to calm her students. "Merlin's never done anything before, so why would he now?"
"He's never spoken or done anything besides harmless mischief before either, but yet here we are." Annabelle pointed out.
"It's just another one of his pranks, probably." Velma shrugged off. "Maybe he was a little grouchy that we were learning about him."
Velma felt the complete opposite of the things she was saying, but she felt like that's all she really could say. She didn't want to rile her students up further and make them feel like she had lost control of the situation. In her opinion, it was an educator's job to ensure a safe environment for her students.
"I'll tell you what, I'll talk to Whirlen to see what I can do about Merlin's interruptions of our class. I'm sure he'll know exactly what to do!" Velma promised. She was thinking more along the lines of going to Whirlen and begging him for a solution, because she felt fearful in her classroom, but she supposed she hadn't been untruthful.
This seemed to calm the students down enough for her to continue with the lesson. She just wished she could calm herself down.
The first thing Velma did was march straight to Whirlen's office.
"Hey sis, wait for me!" Madelyn called after her.
"Oh, hi." Velma felt a little embarrassed that Madelyn had followed her. Her sister had heard all her fake-confident musings, and now she'd see her sister basically throw up her hands and ask for help from the headmaster as a last resort.
"You sure don't seem too worried about this Merlin thing. I was terrified!" Madelyn shared with her big sis.
Velma debated whether to put on a fake bravado with her sibling, acting like the brave older sister and teacher who was completely in control. She was fine doing that with her students, but she loved her sister too much to lie to her.
"To be honest, I am too." Velma sighed. "I don't know what to do about Merlin. You all say he's never done this before…does he do this in any other classes?"
"None that I've been in, or heard of." Madelyn responded.
"Well…maybe he's doing it in other classes that you don't know about or something." Velma struggled to think of any possible explanation that wasn't as terrifying as the thought of Merlin targeting her class specifically.
"I don't know about that, sis. Everybody knows everybody pretty well at this school, so I think I would have heard." Madelyn challenged.
A male student in a red shirt and jeans passed by them.
"Yo, what's happenin' Madelyn Grace Dinkley, student ID number 246135?!" the student said in a sly voice. "Heard you got only $7.54 left in your lunch account! Thinking about replenishin' those funds at any point?"
"See what I mean?" Madelyn addressed Velma. "And Jack, yeah, my parents are sending more at the end of the week!"
"Okay, cool! I got $28.98 left in mine! Spread the word, alright?" Jack asked.
"I will, Jack." Madelyn rolled her eyes. "Boy, I know we're close-knit at this school, but that guy takes it too far sometimes."
Velma held the door open for her sister as they got to Whirlen's office at the end of the hall.
"Oh, hello Velma, Madelyn!" Whirlen greeted. "And what brings you here today? Let me guess, was it the miniature butter toffees I just put in the candy dish? Kids love toffees!"
"No, it was to talk about an issue with my class." Velma informed.
"Let me guess, is Madelyn giving you trouble? Because if she is, thanks to our new no-tolerance policy at this school, we can easily address issues like that. I don't think I'd be able to have her expelled within the hour, unfortunately, but I'd be able to have her expelled by 3!" Whirlen promised.
"No, no! Nothing like that!" Velma replied in shock. "I'm having some trouble with your ancestor."
"Zounds!" Whirlen oddly exclaimed. "I knew this day would happen. My ancestor Jerlin Merlin was always a persistent troublemaker."
Velma felt herself losing a bit of patience with her extremely strange boss. "Not that ancestor. Merlin himself is giving me problems."
"Oh thank goodness. My next guess would have been my temptress ancestor Flirtin Merlin." Whirlen went off on a tangent. "Anyway, what's Merlin doing?"
"He keeps coming into my class and scaring the students, but today, he threatened us and told us to leave this school or there'd be consequences!" Velma recounted.
"Egads!" Whirlen's face dropped. "These miniature butter toffees are 20 calories a piece! I shan't be having these sugar-infested diet-wreckers anymore. Anyway…egads! He's never threatened anyone before."
"Have you received any other reports from other instructors about Merlin?" Velma asked.
"I'm afraid that information is classified." Whirlen's face looked apologetic. "Well, at least it would be classified if I had received any reports, which I haven't, so the answer is no. Unless I did actually receive reports and I'm concealing the information from you because it's confidential…but I'm not, so the answer is no."
"What should I do then?" Velma asked. "I'm sorry, I know I should know what to do since I'm the teacher, but I'm scared. It seems like he's targeting my class specifically for some reason."
"Being a teacher isn't always knowing the answer. It's about providing education and mentorship to students with the knowledge that you have." Whirlen provided his insights.
Honestly, it was the most insightful thing Velma had ever heard come out of his mouth. Whirlen could be an odd man sometimes, but this made Velma feel like underneath all the weirdness, there was a really smart person inside.
"You're teaching your students about Merlin, correct?" Whirlen asked.
"Yes. They're reading all sorts of books on his history, and biographies and such." Velma shared.
"Have your students tie in their knowledge from other courses." Whirlen replied.
"Hey, that's an awesome idea! I'm in Magical Technique right now, and a lot of others are too. I'm in History of Magic as well…that could come in handy!" Madelyn pointed out.
"Exactly! Perhaps then Velma can both teach her students and make them feel empowered to solve the Merlin problem." Whirlen agreed. "Besides, I have a hard time believing my ancestor would be violent, so I don't think we have to worry about that. Spirits stay in this realm because they have something they're holding on to, so maybe we just have to find out what that is. I don't know how much you know about mysteries, but perhaps you could work a bit of sleuthing into your class and solve that mystery with your students together. It would certainly make for a memorable experience for them."
Velma couldn't help but let out a little smirk. "I know quite a bit about mysteries."
Velma and Madelyn had just finished their typical nightly movie viewing in Madelyn's room. The room was quite modest, though if Velma was honest, it looked a little nicer than her own room. The floor was carpeted, as opposed to Velma's tile floor. The large lamp in Madelyn's room stood freely on the ground, as opposed to the small lamp sitting on a table in Velma's. The chair sitting in the corner looked much more comfortable, and much more sturdy for that matter, than Velma's chair. She didn't mind overly much though, as Velma had really grown to love her room.
Tonight, they had watched the film A Bungle in the Jungle, which was just some Tarzan knockoff as far as Velma was concerned. One thing the movie did execute interestingly was that Tarzan was the villain of this piece rather than the hero. Even his name was cleverly switched around to be Nazrat, presumably as a metaphor for the characterization reversal.
"Hey sis, I'm curious…was this anything like the evenings you had back when you were at home?" Madelyn asked.
"Not really, I always just read a book. How come?" Velma inquired.
"You read every single night? Wouldn't that get a little boring?" Madelyn asked. "I mean, you were already working in a bookshop surrounded by books all day!"
"Not really. I mean, I missed how things were with the gang. We would go to a new place practically every night, out solving mysteries at all hours. However, that's not how things are anymore." Velma said. "I enjoyed the routine of reading every night. Every book is a new adventure waiting to be had."
"They certainly picked the right person to teach literature." Madelyn chuckled. "I'm hanging out with Sadie tomorrow night after dinner, but after that, do you wanna do something completely different?"
"Like what? Movies are fine." Velma shrugged.
"Oh, like hang out somewhere outside our rooms and do something like play a board game?" Madelyn offered.
"Sure. I don't really know where to go, though. We explored the castle that one time together, but I don't really hang out outside my room much, other than for meals and class." Velma plainly informed.
"You really should explore the castle more, sis. There's so many exciting places to hang out here!" Madelyn reminded. "Anyway, maybe we could meet in the common room tomorrow night and play a board game."
"You sure the students won't mind that there's a teacher in their space?" Velma wondered.
"I doubt it. It's not like you're like some uncool grown-up trying to give them homework or yell at them or something." Madelyn laughed. "Goodnight, sis!"
"Goodnight!" Velma said, as she got up off the couch and headed for the door to Madelyn's room.
Velma admittedly felt very much like "some uncool grown-up." The conversation with Madelyn had made her realize that even though she had taken this completely new experience teaching at Whirlen Merlin's where literally every aspect of her life had changed, she was still staying in her comfort zone. Her daily routine typically consisted of practicing for class the mornings she had it, getting lunch, going to class, preparing for the next class afterwards, getting dinner, watching a movie with Madelyn, and then repeating it all the next day. She rarely did anything out of her room other than teach and get meals. Maybe it was time to start doing new things, like working outside her room every once in a while or just sitting in lounge areas around the castle so she could be out and about. She couldn't believe a quarter of her time teaching had almost concluded, which made her feel even more like she needed to start taking advantage of this adventure.
A few days had passed, and Velma had pondered upon what Madelyn's suggestion had brought to the forefront of her mind. She really should get out and take more advantage of all the unique opportunities this experience brought her, because she would only have four months of it before it was all over.
Starting next week, she had decided she would try to get her work done in different places around the castle. That would allow for some much needed variety, and would get her more immersed in what was going on around the school.
She was on her way to meet Madelyn in the student lounge. Whilst walking through the drafty castle halls, she bumped into a familiar face with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Oh, hey Whirlen." Velma greeted.
"Hello there! I'm surprised to see you out and about at this hour!" Whirlen checked the leather watch on his right hand.
"I thought I'd explore the school a bit, since I'm in my room so much otherwise." Velma replied. "Madelyn and I are playing games in a half-hour."
"I'm on my way to watch fencing." Whirlen shared.
"I didn't know you had fencing here!" Velma exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes! In fact, you can see it right out here!" Whirlen pointed out a window in the hall.
Velma glanced out, wondering if she would recognize any of the students on the fencing team, but she didn't see anything. All she saw were some construction workers, appearing to be building something. She tried to hold back her groan when she realized what they were actually constructing.
"It's a fine looking fence, isn't it?" Whirlen proudly declared.
"Yeah, looks great." Velma tried to fake being impressed. "I'll see you Monday at breakfast."
There was a few second delay before Whirlen responded. "Ah…yes, yes, I will. Sorry, I was distracted by the fencing. This team has such fine moves."
Velma simply chose to keep moving. Whirlen's literal interpretations of things were enough to drive her crazy at times.
"Over here, sis!" Madelyn thankfully distracted Velma from having to respond to Whirlen's odd remark. "I've got a couple different games picked out: Magic Mystery Mansion, Sorry, and Magical Scrabble."
"Magical Scrabble? How's it different from regular Scrabble?" Velma asked.
"Oh, it's exactly the same." John said. "It's just a cheap capitalist venture to get people to spend more money on the same product they already bought thinking it's different, but hey, they gave us 10 free tips on how to up our Scrabble strategy!"
"Oh, hi John. I didn't know you were here." Velma suddenly felt a bit nervous. She had thought it would be just the two of them; she didn't realize Madelyn was inviting her to a game night with other students. "Don't they include that piece of paper with 10 tips in the original Scrabble too?"
"Well yeah, but it's free!" John exclaimed, seemingly missing the point entirely.
"Hey, Ms. Dinkley." another familiar student's voice greeted. Velma quickly glanced over to where the voice came from, and saw it was Sadie.
"Hi again, Sadie." Velma smiled.
"Your sis must have invited you to game night?" Sadie asked.
"Wait, Madelyn's your sister?" Annabelle gasped.
Velma's face fell. She wasn't really comfortable with her students knowing that she was currently teaching a class that her sister was taking.
"Woah, I didn't know that!" Mitch gasped.
"Wait, how many people are at this game night?" Velma questioned.
"Quite a few…" Madelyn pointed to the back corner of the room once Velma had fully entered the student lounge. She saw at least 20 students here, some of which were in her class and some which she had never seen before. "Sorry, I should've remembered to mention that."
"I don't know if I want to play." Velma muttered, accidentally blurting her feelings out loud.
"Why?" a girl wearing a red sweatshirt and jeans asked.
"Well, I'm a teacher, and I don't want to ruin your fun." Velma admittedly felt weird playing board games with a bunch of teenagers as well, but she didn't say that part.
"We don't mind!" Madelyn assured. "Besides, our Vocabulary of Magic teacher's here too!"
Her sister pointed to a man in a black button-up shirt and gray trousers. He had a stern look on his face.
"By the way, all of the words you play here will be on Monday's test." the man authoritatively informed.
Several kids let out groans, presumably because they were in the man's class.
"The test of how much of a bossed-up time you had tonight! Yeah!" he continued, before blowing a loud noisemaker and pulling out a boombox from behind his back. The gray-trousered man pressed the power button on the device, prompting electronic dance music to blare from it.
"I'm sorry…I'm…" Velma struggled to think of an excuse to get out of there. She wasn't comfortable hanging out informally with so many students at once. Quite frankly, she found it inappropriate. She was an esteemed teacher that students were supposed to look to for knowledge. She couldn't be informal or share parts of her personal life with them. Sadie sharing that Madelyn was her sister was a complete violation of her privacy, and she was uncomfortable. "I've got a headache. I need to go back to my room. Maybe another night."
"Aww, sis…but you'll miss all the fun!" Madelyn whimpered. It was clear she was really excited to have a fun evening with her sister.
"I'm sorry, but my head's pounding. You'll just have to go on without me. Have a good evening." Velma raced out of the room so fast that it probably looked unnatural, but it didn't really matter to her. A teacher's job was to facilitate giving her students knowledge, and anything beyond that was simply not appropriate.
"Well, looks like I'm the only teacher left! That just means we'll have to get things lit in this joint!" the other teacher exclaimed, as he turned on a nearby lamp. "I also forgot it's a dimmer switch, so let me make it even brighter!"
"Woah, Mr. Mistara's gettin' things turned up tonight!" Velma could hear Mitch shout, as the lights became brighter.
Velma felt like her reaction to the situation was not what it should have been; she should have more professionally articulated why she wasn't comfortable in that situation rather than acting weird and practically running away. She wanted this experience to make her more comfortable hanging out around the castle in public, but all this did was make her want to retreat even more to her room.
The weekend had come and gone, and week five loomed before her. If someone were to have told her she had been at Whirlen Merlin's for a month, she wouldn't have believed it. The time was going so fast, and she had expected to get in the swing of this job in a few days. Four weeks had already passed, and she didn't feel all that much more knowledgeable or prepared to be a teacher than she had on the first day. Moreover, she had spent most of yesterday moping over making a fool of herself on Saturday night in front of her students. How would she face them today after being so weird and awkward when she should have maintained a more professional demeanor?
She hadn't talked to Madelyn since the incident, which was very unusual and probably made her little sis even more worried about her, but she wasn't really ready to face anybody yet, at least not before she had to. Much less her little sister, which she felt really ashamed for letting down. By ignoring Madelyn and not showing up when she usually did, she was probably making the situation even worse and putting herself in a continuous cycle of trouble.
She came to breakfast extra late at around 9, hoping none of her students or Madelyn would see her. Thankfully, only a couple students she didn't recognize were at breakfast, and there was no sign of Madelyn. Velma didn't particularly enjoy the cereal she got for breakfast, as she was too consumed by her emotions to enjoy what she was physically consuming.
She then retreated to her room to practice for class, purposefully not leaving until nearly right before she had to.
Velma felt chills when she walked through the hall, only a small part of it being due to the drafty halls. She had gotten herself so worked up about everything: Merlin possibly appearing in her class again, the students making fun of her or being weird around her, and most prominently, having Madelyn confront her.
As she approached the door to room 1, her anxiety continued to increase. Although she had a lesson plan, she was feeling very nervous, certain that she would surely screw up or not be able to fill the time properly. When Velma came to the door, she closed her eyes and sighed to mentally prepare herself for today's class.
She saw that most students were already there, which made her regret her decision to wait until the last possible minute to show up, as perhaps she looked unprofessional to the students. A quick glance at the clock showed that she only had a minute to begin.
The orange turtlenecked teacher walked past Madelyn without saying anything, almost certain that Madelyn was going to confront her. Alas, she only got radio silence back from her sister, which honestly hurt a bit even though she knew she was doing the same thing. If Velma were honest with herself, it was sort of a cry for attention: she wanted Madelyn to know she was struggling, but didn't quite have the words for it yet.
Velma marched up to the front of the class. Rather than sitting up in front of the class for an agonizingly long minute of worrying, she decided to simply start the class right away. Confidence was the best repellent for anxiety.
"Good morning, class." Velma greeted. "Today, we're going to do something a bit different. We're going to use Scared a Lot in Camelot by Charles Nichols for a bit of a class activity. Since our class is themed around Merlin now, I wanted to come up with a fun way to learn the materials. Starting today, for the rest of the semester, let's approach this together as a way of using the information we read in these books to solve the case of our resident poltergeist. Think of everything you read as a clue that you have to piece together to uncover the bigger puzzle."
"You mean like a mystery?" Owen inquired.
The sides of Velma's mouth began perking up, forming into a smile. "Yes. Exactly like a mystery."
Author's note:
Speaking of clues, my esteemed readers, did you happen to pick up on the little pattern of references with the movies Madelyn and Velma watch? Once again, the movie they watch in this chapter, A Bungle in the Jungle is the title of an episode from The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Hour.
I hope you're enjoying the story so far! If you have any constructive feedback on what I'm doing well, or if there's anything you feel could be improved upon, feel free to leave a review!