"He's trying to do what?" Velma gasped. She couldn't believe what Marlin had just said. What purpose would Merlin have for usurping his ancestor as headmaster of the school?
"You heard me. Merlin wants to take over this school and become the headmaster." Marlin repeated.
"Why would he want to become the headmaster?" Ashley began to panic.
"This school was his pride and joy; he built it on one of his last days alive. Legend has it he'll come back to reclaim his school 1,500 years after he died, and based on what's happened, it seems like that's what he's doing now." Marlin clarified.
"Wait a minute…I've got a question. If that's really Merlin, then why was Ms. Dinkley able to knock him out so easily?" Kara asked.
"Perhaps he wanted you to think you'd defeated him, so that he could use the power of surprise to come back stronger than ever." Marlin pondered.
"Why kidnap anybody in the first place if he was just going to pretend to be defeated?" Annabelle wondered.
"Maybe it's like Marlin said." Madelyn replied. Velma could sense a hint of fear in her voice, so clearly Marlin's words were resonating with her. "He just was trying to create fear. He didn't actually care about kidnapping Parry or I; he just wanted to do something that would really shake the school up for a while before he started his real plan."
"What do we do, then?" Ashley shuddered, looking to Velma and Marlin. She looked absolutely terrified.
Velma quickly moved her gaze over to Marlin. She didn't feel any more confident on how to process this information than the students did, so she didn't want them to turn to her for advice.
"I'm not sure if there's anything to do, given we don't actually know if Merlin's still around. I suspect he is, though. Let's just all agree to keep an eye out for Merlin and if you see anything suspicious, report it to Whirlen or I." Marlin suggested.
No one said a word, but everyone nodded their heads.
"I like the idea of this club, though. You should definitely keep meeting to discuss your ideas about Merlin." Marlin continued.
"I do too." Velma confidently said. Although she felt terrified of Merlin's potential return, she thought this was the smartest way of determining a plan to stop Merlin if it were possible. Although she did consider herself to be very smart, she had no idea what she would do if she were confronted with Merlin again. "Let's just keep this between us. Don't share that you're in this club with other students or faculty. That's going to minimize the possibility of Merlin finding out about this. What do you all think?"
Once again, Velma's remarks were met by verbal silence; however, everyone nodded.
"I think that's the smartest idea." Marlin said. "The fewer people who know about this club, the better. You never know when Merlin might be listening."
Velma wished he hadn't said that last bit. The possibility that Merlin could still be lurking around anywhere felt insidious to her after what she'd been through a few weeks ago. All she wanted to do is teach her students. She never asked to get involved in something like this, but it felt like for whatever reason, she was Merlin's primary target.
"Alright. I think we've had a good discussion for today. We'll plan to reconvene next week on Monday, if that works for everyone."
"Can we meet multiple times a week?" Ashley asked. "I think I'd feel better if we were regularly meeting so we could bring up any concerns we might have that happen during the week."
"Yeah, I'd like that too." Sadie agreed.
"Maybe we could meet Mondays and Wednesdays at 4:00pm?" Madelyn suggested.
"I like that idea." Velma agreed. "How does that sound to everybody else?"
A mixture of 'yes's and head nods abounded.
"Good, then it's settled. We'll meet again next Monday. Have a good weekend, everyone!" Velma said, as everyone began heading out of the room.
Velma felt confident in her plan, but she still felt uneasy about Merlin's potential return. At least now, she didn't feel so alone in dealing with this, because she'd have her students and Marlin to discuss anything related to Merlin.
Velma tried to distract herself the rest of the weekend, although it was difficult. Madelyn had invited her to another board game night, which she hoped would preoccupy her anxious mind for a short time. As she and Madelyn approached the student common room area, she noticed several familiar faces from her class - Mitch, Annabelle, Sadie, and John - as well as Mr. Mistara.
"I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable playing games with us, sis." Madelyn said.
"Me too. It's fun playing with you guys." Velma smiled back, before approaching the other students. "So what are we playing tonight?"
"I think you should choose, Ms. Dinkley!" a blonde female student whom Velma didn't recognize suggested. "Heroes deserve first pick!"
"Yeah, Ms. Dinkley! You're like the coolest person at this school. You get to make the pick." another brunette female whom Velma didn't recognize spoke up.
Velma still hadn't really come to terms with the fact that the school considered her a hero. She hadn't even really felt she'd done anything that special, other than making a snap decision to save her sister. In that moment, she had no idea if the idea was even going to work, she simply acted without thinking and hoped luck would be on her side. That line of thinking certainly didn't feel like it was worthy of being put on a pedestal. However, she supposed it wasn't hurting anyone…in fact, it was actually benefiting her…so it was useless to fight against it.
"Let's see…" Velma said as she headed over to a shelf in the corner with a number of board games. "Magical Sorry, Stage Magic Monopoly, Magical Life…is every game you have here related to magic?"
"Yes, this is a stage magic school after all." the familiar voice of the headmaster said, as he approached the game shelf and began going through the titles of the other games. "We've also got Magic Clue, Magical Sequence…Jumanji? How'd that get in here?! There's no magic in that title!"
Whirlen disgustedly plucked Jumanji out of the stack of board games and held it in his hand.
"Well, which one do you want to play, Velms?" Madelyn asked.
None of the games particularly sounded interesting to Velma, but she supposed Magical Life sounded the least boring of the bunch.
"I'll do Magical Life, I guess." she replied.
"Excellent choice! The scenarios are redonkulously random, you'll love it!" Mr. Mistara informed.
Velma picked the board game from its shelf and began helping the students set it up.
"Whirlen…I've been meaning to ask you about this. What exactly is the Head of the Teachers' Committee position?" Velma inquired.
"I'm so glad you asked that!" Whirlen replied. "You've got a heck of a campaign going."
"That's just it, though. I didn't start this campaign. I don't even know what the position is." Velma said.
"Yes, isn't it wonderful?" Whirlen exclaimed. "This position would have you serving as the representative for all teachers. You'd get to present any concerns the teachers have to me at our staff meetings."
"Who's running against me?" Velma questioned.
"Sam Spangles is. You'd have some tough competition." Whirlen explained. "I know you'll be up to the challenge, though. I've never seen the students build such a compelling campaign like this before with no help or interest from the candidate!"
"What do you mean, a compelling campaign? Are you just talking about the commercial?" Velma inquired.
"You mean you haven't seen?" Whirlen looked surprised. "Two campaign ads, a huge marketing campaign, debates!"
"How could there have been debates if I wasn't even there?" Velma wondered.
"Well, see for yourself." Whirlen headed over to a TV that was in the corner, and picked up a VHS tape that was precariously set atop the VHS player. He quickly put it in the player.
The screen showed an announcer in a suit standing next to two podiums. Sam Spangles stood at one podium, while the other podium labeled "Velma Dinkley" was completely empty. Velma was befuddled by how such a debate could have even happened without her knowledge.
The announcer began reading the first question. "What is the impact of a teacher not addressing a student falling behind?
The camera shifted to Velma's podium first, and given she wasn't there, the question was met with silence.
"Oh my god, she's right!" the announcer gasped. "Her lack of presence here is a metaphor for the fact that not addressing a student's struggles leaves them completely voiceless!"
"Her absence spoke louder than her presence ever could!" someone cried from the audience.
Whirlen ejected the VHS tape as the sound of a crowd cheering could be heard. "Well, I think you've got the idea."
Velma rolled her eyes. Only at this school could someone build up an entire political campaign for her without her even knowing it.
"Alright, who's going first?" Mitch inquired. "Is it our next Head of the Faculty Committee?"
"Sure." Velma said. She was still recovering from the shock of the news about her candidacy. She rolled the dice and got a 10. "Let's see…mermaid brushes your hair and makes it softer. Move ahead six spaces."
Velma did as the game instructed her. She landed on the "get married to an Elf Queen" space and grabbed an extra plastic person from the bag.
"The final debate is on Monday night, by the way. Wednesday is Election Day." Whirlen informed.
"Okay, I'll be prepared." Velma agreed.
"Ah dang it, a dragon roasted my behind. Move back 5 spaces." Mitch lamented.
"You're gonna rock that debate, sis!" her ever-supportive sister said.
"I certainly hope so." Velma replied.
Velma kept busy the entire weekend between hanging out with her sister, prepping for class, and preparing her speech for the debate. Nothing strange had happened in class today, and while that relieved Velma, it also made her wonder if she was just worrying the students for nothing. Perhaps the lights going out a week ago was just an electrical malfunction. Regardless, the DA had another meeting today, which Velma was currently on her way to now. Maybe her students would have some more ideas about why the lights went out.
"Hey Velma! Ready for another meeting of the DA?" Owen asked as he approached Velma in the hall. Unfortunately, he spoke far louder than Velma would have wanted.
"Yes, but you might want to be quieter when you say that." Velma cautioned.
Velma nearly jumped ten feet when she heard a voice behind her. She quickly realized it came from Sam Spangles.
"Why would he need to be quiet?" Sam asked. "What exactly is the DA, and why are you going there?"
Although Velma didn't think Sam had any connection to Merlin, she still didn't want to tell him what the DA was. He could spread the word to the entire school, and then Merlin would find out.
"Uhhh…the District Attorney." Owen stuttered. "My mom accidentally misparked her car last week and we got a ticket. She's trying to fight it, saying she didn't know. Ms. Dinkley was kind enough to help me."
"Why did you say another meeting?" Sam further questioned.
"Well, she really parked it badly." Owen sheepishly said.
"Okay…" Sam didn't seem convinced. "I'll be watching you…present your History of Magic and Citizenship paper in front of the class tomorrow!"
"Okay! I can't wait, Mr. Spangles!" Owen eagerly replied.
Velma felt herself tense up for a moment until he began walking the other way. She chose not to say anything until she and Owen had made it into Whirlen's office. When she got safely in the office, she saw the faces of her other seven students.
"Phew, that was a close one." Velma finally blurted once the office door was safely closed. "Great thinking, Owen!"
"Well, I tried!" Owen laughed.
"What was a close one?" Mitch asked.
"We almost got caught by Mr. Spangles when I said something about the DA. Thankfully, I was able to convince him it was something else." Owen breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh my gosh, that would have been awful!" Ashley exclaimed.
"It's okay, everyone. Owen made a little mistake, but everything's fine now." Velma attempted to comfort her students.
Velma felt her heart race as she heard a loud knock at the door.
"Umm…w-who is it?" Velma stuttered.
"Marlin. Just coming to join you."
"Oh, thank goodness. Come on in." Velma could feel her shoulders loosen up from the tenseness. She was a little surprised Marlin wanted to join them again.
"Great to see all of you again." Marlin said once he had opened the door.
"Any news, Marlin?" Velma asked.
"Nothing. I haven't seen any sign of Merlin." Marlin responded.
"Nor have I. I'm starting to wonder if the lights going out that day was just a fluke." Velma stated.
"Do you mind if I bring up a question?" Kara inquired.
"Go ahead." Velma nodded.
"I think the subject got switched last meeting, but I'd love to hear more people's thoughts on if Merlin is a real ghost or not." Kara asked.
"My sister has caught lots of fake ghosts before." Madelyn informed, causing Kara to quirk an eyebrow. "She'd know if it were fake or real."
"This one seems pretty real to me." Velma responded. "Usually, whenever I caught fake ghosts with the gang, it was just some goofball in a Halloween costume. I never felt a cold icy chill down my spine with any of those ghosts."
"You were a part of a gang?!" Owen gasped. Velma simply didn't respond to that comment, as it was too complicated.
"That still doesn't explain how you were able to push him into that wall so easily." Kara pointed out.
"Well, some ghosts are solid and others are see-through." Sadie provided her thoughts.
"Maybe Merlin wanted you to easily defeat him, so he could trick everybody and then have the element of surprise on his side for when he actually attacked." Sabrina said, sounding incredibly worried.
"Oh god! What if Sabrina's right?" Ashley panicked. It seemed she was the most easily frightened of anybody here. "Maybe he's just waiting for his moment to pounce?"
"Merlin's not a cat." Mitch rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, but he could be, if he turned into a cat using his powers." Sadie brought up.
"Everyone, I think we're getting off track here." Velma replied. "It's not going to do any good using these sessions to spiral into our worries about the worst case scenario. Let's get back to the subject: is Merlin a real ghost or not?"
Everyone remained silent for several moments.
In an attempt to keep the conversation going, Velma quickly thought of a question. "Marlin, how closely is he abiding by the legend?"
"Pretty closely, I'd say. Other than the possession part." Marlin responded.
"Possession?!" Ashley shouted. Velma worried that her voice had gotten loud enough for someone out in the hall to hear, but she refrained from saying anything for now.
"According to what Marlin's told me, Merlin is supposed to possess the body of somebody in this school." Velma explained.
She immediately felt bad as all of her students looked back at her in horror.
"It's just a legend, guys. There's no guarantee it will happen." Madelyn stepped in when she saw her sister was struggling to comfort the students.
Albeit awkwardly, she tried to change the subject. "Well, I think that can wrap up our meeting for today. The debate's tonight, so I should probably start getting prepared. I hope to see you all there!"
Velma wished she hadn't said that. It only unnecessarily worried the students, when she didn't even know if it was something that was going to happen. If she were honest though, the thought disturbed her too. Having two students kidnapped was bad enough; she couldn't imagine someone in her class being possessed on her watch.
The time had come for the debate. Although it was past school hours, nearly all the students chose to stay and gather in the gym to watch Velma and Sam. Although there were a ton more students watching her than she was used to, she tried to just imagine it as another class day, where she had to prepare a lecture to entertain everyone.
Velma was currently standing at the podium set up at the front of the gym, placed right next to Sam's podium. Both wooden podiums had the candidate's name on them, and were decorated with red, white and blue garland. Whirlen stood in between both of them wearing a fancy suit.
"Greetings, everyone!" Whirlen announced. "We are about to begin the final debate for the candidates poised to run for the Head of the Teachers' Committee. I will serve as moderator, and will be asking the candidates a series of five questions."
Velma tried not to worry about the huge audience watching her too much. Quite frankly, she didn't even really care about this position, but the fact that the whole school seemed so passionate about her running was enough to motivate her to keep going.
"Alright, your first question is: what are you going to do about discipline at this school?" Whirlen inquired. "Sam, you may start."
"Thanks, Whirlen." Sam replied, in a very professional, confident sounding voice. "I'm going to take a hard line with discipline. While students might think it's clever or even "funny," misbehavior is disruptive to the classroom experience and cannot be tolerated. Any student who misbehaves will be given a firm warning, followed by being forced to sit out in the hall for a short period if there is continued misbehavior. If they continually refuse to listen after this, I'm going to create a rule mandating teachers to send the troublemaking student to the principal's office, so that the other students' learning does not have to be compromised."
"Velma, what about you?" Whirlen asked.
Velma realized her anxiety had caused her to stand too far away from the podium, so she took a few steps closer. Unfortunately for her, her foot slipped causing her to nearly fall. As a last ditch effort not to look clownish, Velma stomped her other foot firmly on the floor so she could regain her balance.
"Woah!" someone from the audience called. "Ms. Dinkley's really putting her foot down on discipline!"
"Wow, that's so much better than Sam's answer!" a faculty member said in the audience. "She's so dedicated to being hard on discipline that she didn't even have to give an answer! Talk is cheap. Action is what we're looking for!"
"Mr. Spangles is out of touch with all these antiquated ideas. Ms. Dinkley's way more with the times!" a male student shouted from the audience.
"Ugh, I know right?" a prissy-looking blonde female student in the audience agreed. "Saying your answer is, like, so last year."
"Excellent answers." Whirlen responded. "Now, we're moving on to the second question. What's your strategy for keeping students interested in the classroom?"
"Good question, Whirlen." Sam responded. "To keep students interested, we must show them the value of what we are teaching them. In other words, we need to combine theory with practice, and show the practical applications of what they are learning through a number of targeted methods of engagement. Student Development Theory has a number of things to say on this, and I use this to ensure our students are engaged. Our students will graduate knowing so much more than they did when they arrived."
"Velma, how do you keep students engaged in your classroom?" Whirlen asked.
"Well, I always try to cater to their interests. It's boring for students to just listen to lectures all the time, so as a teacher, it's my job to incorporate examples of things they like outside of school so they can see the benefit of what I'm teaching them." Velma responded. She felt like that wasn't as formal or as detailed of an answer as Sam's, but she hoped everyone liked it.
"Heck yeah! I knew she'd tie in my interest of pepperoni pizza, fire trucks, and jacked-up mega-slaughter army tanks into our learning!" a student from the audience called.
"Honestly, I was half asleep just listening to Mr. Spangles's answer already! He can't engage students!" another female student added.
"Yeah, I agree with her! Just hearing the teacher talk all the time is boring as heck! Lectures are conjectures!" a male's voice responded.
"Dude, what's a conjecture?" another student asked.
"I don't know…I heard some teacher use it, but I don't have enough information to know what it means. I'm not good with big words." the original student answered. "Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but I get a weird vibe that Sam's answer had undertones of Antidisestablishmentarianism!"
"Moving onto question 3. This will be our final question before you respond to each other's arguments." Whirlen responded. "How can you prove you're going to be a good leader?"
"I -" Velma began, before her face grew bright red. She'd spoken out of turn. Sam was always the one that went first, and she'd stupidly forgotten that.
"Woah! Velma's going to lead no matter what!" a student gasped. "That's the quality we need in a leader!"
"Well, that was kind of rude." Sam snapped at Velma. "It's my turn to go first, you go second!"
"Mr. Spangles is putting people in their place, and he's not even in the role yet! He's gonna go mad with power!" a student from the audience guessed.
"Now don't jump to ridiculous conclusions!" Sam shouted at the audience.
"Wait a minute…Mr. Spangles is always telling me to put a conclusion in my papers for him. So why's he saying no conclusions now?" another boy said. "He must be wishy-washy or something."
"I think this display more than answered the question." Whirlen said. "Now, it's time for you to face off against each other and respond to each other's answers beginning with this question. Our fourth question is, what is your leadership style, and why is it a fit for this school?"
"Whirlen Merlin's School of Magic is an academy of great prestige, so I think you need a strong leadership style. I would lead with strength and endurance, so that everybody would feel confident in my ability to represent the teachers at this school." Sam responded.
"I think it's important to make sure everybody's heard." Velma began. "As a leader, it isn't just your job to dominate everything. You should make sure you're listening to those around you, and making a change if things aren't working."
The crowd began cheering vigorously.
"We love you Ms. Dinkley!" someone yelled out.
"Well, what if those around you are wrong?" Sam challenged. "If you're the leader, you have to be the one to take charge when someone's spouting incorrect ideas. You have to be assertive and let them know who's boss."
"I think by listening to others, you can help them improve themselves. If I'm elected to this position, while I'll have a strong vision, I don't think this means I can't still listen to those who I'm leading. Being a teacher is about learning, and I consider myself a lifelong learner. I'm still learning little things from my students every week." Velma responded.
"You tell him, Velma!" a student cried from the audience.
"Yeah, everybody knows being assertive is the new smoking!" another student called out.
"Are you kidding?" Sam sighed. "You're teaching them, not the other way around! Have you forgotten what your job is here?"
Velma was getting upset now. Was this man actually so full of himself that he thought he knew everything? "We're all learning and growing every day. For example, let's say a difficult student is making your life hard. Well, then you have to find a way to adapt to the situation and help the student succeed. In doing that, you're learning new ways to help students. That's our job as teachers. If you don't know that, I'd say you've forgotten what the job is."
Sam stood quiet for a moment. Clearly Velma's point had resonated with him, which she was glad about. Campaign or no campaign, a teacher's joy should be continuing to learn new things every day so they could improve their own teaching style. A teacher was not equivalent to a ruler who had nothing to learn; teachers should always be learning new things as they went along in Velma's opinion.
"And now for our final question!" Whirlen announced. "How are you going to positively represent the faculty at the Me School of Magic?"
"I will positively represent our esteemed faculty here by maintaining a professional demeanor at all times. To put it bluntly, we all have the same goals here, so I think we'll find by working together, we'll achieve these goals as a unified whole." Sam answered.
"We don't all have the same goals, though." Velma challenged.
"Excuse me?" Sam looked shocked.
"Some of us might have different perspectives, but that's okay. Being a leader here at the Whirlen Merlin School of Magic means more than just trying to force everybody into believing the same thing. The world would be a really boring place if we all had the same opinion on everything. As head of the faculty committee, I'll make sure everybody feels listened to, and provide everybody a chance to voice their concerns. Then, we can try to incorporate as many ideas as possible into any policy proposals we might have for Whirlen." Velma answered.
"What if someone has a terrible idea? Are you going to feel obligated to use it simply because somebody has suggested it?" Sam questioned.
"No, not at all. If someone suggests something that would be harmful to the school, I would share my perspective as to why I believed it harms the school, and then ask other faculty members for their opinions as well. The question you have to ask yourself, Sam, is whose goals are they? Are the 'same goals' you mention just your own goals, or are you going to actually ask others what they want?" Velma rebuked.
"There's a sense of decency to be maintained here, you know! What if the majority of faculty suggest having donuts and chocolate milk for lunch?" Sam snarled.
"Do you have that little faith in our faculty, Sam?" Velma asked. "Personally, I'm confident that we've got a great community of faculty here, and nobody would make a decision like that."
"Well, no, I was just…" Sam stuttered.
Although Velma wasn't particularly interested in running for this position before, now she felt a duty to run. This man was clearly just in it for himself. He was meaninglessly saying whatever he could think of in an attempt to make himself look good.
"You were just trying to make yourself look good, right?" Velma questioned. "So far, not one of your answers has talked about any other faculty member but yourself. In my opinion, a good head of the faculty committee should put all the faculty members first. You just want this role so you can be in charge."
"Yeah Ms. Dinkley!" a couple of students shouted in support.
"I think when he was saying a unified whole, he was arguing for authoritarianism!" a student in the audience shouted.
"When he said 'we all have the same goals,' I think he secretly meant communism!" another student said.
"Omg, you're so right! That was, like, majorly Marxist." a girl in the audience said. "If they heard Spangles's answer, the creators of capitalism and socialism would be rolling over in their graves right now!"
"That concludes our debate! Thank you both for your excellent answers, and students, we'll see you tomorrow!" Whirlen said.
Velma felt like she was a shoe-in for this position now. Quite frankly, she was glad the students favored her. Sam's philosophy seemed very self-gratifying and narcissistic. He was clearly just in this for himself, but Velma knew that this amazing school deserved so much better. Quite frankly, she couldn't believe she only had seven more weeks left here, but she hoped getting elected could perhaps secure her a permanent position at Whirlen Merlin's.
All of Velma's students had filed into the classroom, and were patiently awaiting her to begin class for the day. Velma had quickly prepared a campaign commercial within the past few hours upon learning from Whirlen shortly after the debate that she'd needed to make one to show to all classes at the school before the students voted tomorrow. It wasn't difficult: rather than being flashy, she just chose to speak her mind. Openness and honesty would be best, she thought.
"Hi everyone, we're going to take a brief detour before we talk about The Unconventional Book of Tricks by Giranda Moshawk. We're going to watch my campaign commercial, along with Sam Spangles'. Remember, you should all vote tomorrow after classes." Velma informed. "I'll play mine first."
Velma put the VHS tape of her campaign commercial in the player, which had been wheeled in the room by Whirlen before class.
"Hello everyone, my name is Velma Dinkley and I'm running for the Head of the Teachers' Committee. If you elect me, I'm going to put everyone's voices first and make sure any and all concerns are heard. We're all in this together, so it's important to make sure everybody feels like they're enjoying their experience here at Whirlen Merlin. By listening to my fellow faculty and treating this position as a collaborative relationship with my colleagues, it's going to make Whirlen Merlin a better place for you to learn. I highly recommend you vote for me, Velma Dinkley, if you want to see positive change and an environment of inclusivity here at Whirlen Merlin's School of Magic." Velma said in her commercial.
"Alright, now we will view the campaign commercial for my opponent, Sam Spangles." Velma picked up a copy of Sam's tape, and put it in the player. She wondered what Sam was going to argue. Probably more of the same self-serving junk about how we all need to be working towards the same goals, which was actually just another way of supporting his own self-interest.
When the tape began playing, Velma was shocked to see Sam wearing baggy clothing and dancing around on screen while a rap-style beat played.
"S-s-s-spangles on that beat." Sam whispered in the video, before he began rapping terribly. His voice sounded so extremely autotuned that it sounded like the equivalent of if you asked a robot to rap for you. "Hey kids, would ya look at me? I'm runnin' for the head of the teacher committee. I'm cool and I'm hip; nah, I ain't gonna trip! Run to da booth and vote for me tomorrow, or your days at Whirlen gonna be filled with sorrow!"
"That was among one of the worst things I've ever heard." Madelyn blurted.
"That sounds worse than my dad's rapping robot. And he was pretty bad." Annabelle said.
"Woah, that was awesome! Mr. Spangles is rapping for us! Maybe he ain't such a square after all." John said.
"Yeah, you gotta admit, that was pretty wicked." Parry nodded. "I'm not voting for that other candidate. What was her name again, Binkley? What a sellout."
"I'm right here." Velma put her hands on her hips.
Velma couldn't believe this. Spangles had completely sold out. Even though he looked incredibly stupid, Velma recognized how smart his strategy was. He knew that he didn't have a chance, so he was going to do one last ditch attempt to seem like he could relate to the students. Maybe Velma didn't have this in the bag after all.
Velma had felt a little low for the last day since she'd seen Sam's commercial. She didn't understand how she'd gotten so invested in this to begin with, because two days ago, she couldn't care less about running for this position. However, seeing Sam trying to appeal to the kids in such a desperate, ridiculous way that didn't even address what he stood for infuriated Velma. A person like that shouldn't be in power, as he'd only abuse it to make all the decisions he wanted without actually caring about the school or the faculty.
She'd almost forgotten there was another meeting of the DA right before the voting took place. With her head a bit in the clouds, Velma wandered into Whirlen's office to see everybody was there waiting for her.
"So how's our favorite candidate doing?" Madelyn asked.
"She's not our favorite candidate." Owen rebuked. "I'm voting for Spangles! He really feels like he's on the same level as us kids."
"Ugh, are you kidding me?" Sabrina asked in disbelief. "It's so obvious that he just made that commercial so he'd seem cool. We all hate his philosophies, so he tried to appeal to people in the most lazy, generic way possible."
"Nah, he's pretty cool." Mitch replied.
"Yeah, seems like he's going to put us students first." Annabelle replied.
"It's the clearest example of pandering I've ever seen." Kara agreed with Sabrina.
"Anyway, to answer Madelyn's question, I'm doing good." Velma replied. "Now, let's get down to business and discuss Merlin. Has anybody seen him, or any clues that he might still be around?
"Not a peep." Sadie stated.
"Yeah, there's just nothing." Madelyn agreed. "I think he might really be gone. We would have seen some sort of sign by now."
"Should we come up with a plan for what we should do if Merlin were to appear again?" Velma inquired.
Her question was met by silence for a brief moment, but it was quickly broken by Sabrina. "Can we meet back here after voting? I'm really antsy to cast my vote and see who wins."
"Well…" Velma pondered for a moment. To be quite honest, she was also so distracted by the election stuff that she hadn't been thinking as much about Merlin the past few days. Quite frankly, Merlin had provided a really good distraction for her anxious mind. "Yeah, let's all vote and then come back here once they reveal the results. That shouldn't be a problem."
All eight students quickly hurried out to cast their vote. The voting would be taking place in the gym, which was only a few hallways away. After a few turns, she had arrived at the gym. A huge group of students, which Velma believed to constitute every single student in the school, stood waiting for the election to begin.
"Alright, students and faculty! It's nearly time to vote!" Whirlen announced.
"Wait!" a student wearing a red 'Whirlen Merlin' t-shirt exclaimed. "I've uncovered a video that is going to blow this election wide open! Is there a VHS player and TV anywhere around here?"
"Oh my! Yes, we have one right over here." Whirlen pointed to one in the corner of the gym, taking the VHS tape from the student. As he put it in the player, a picture of Sam Spangles popped up on the screen. What followed appeared to be a very heavily edited together video of Sam speaking.
"I - don't like - Whir-len Merlin - much." the jumpy footage of Sam collectively said, as it switched back and forth between short video clips of him wearing different clothing.
The crowd erupted in a gasp.
"OMG! That extremely disjointed video of Sam has completely changed my opinion!" a student yelled. "We all need to vote for Ms. Dinkley!"
"What?" Sam Spangles gasped from the back of the room. "I didn't say anything like that! That video is clearly made up!"
"Wait! I found another video! This time, it's real!" the same student exclaimed. "This is what some of Sam's students think of him."
Whirlen rushed over to grab the VHS tape the student was holding, and put the new one in the player. An image of a male student wearing a yellow shirt and black pants appeared on camera.
"Yeah, I know he made that rap video, but he's not so cool." the student said.
"He assigns way too much homework, and he's really full of himself." another female student wearing a black skirt and a white shirt said.
"He doesn't believe in teamwork at all." a male student wearing a black sweatshirt and blue jeans said. "In fact, he banned group assignments last week, because he said it was an affront to individualism."
To Velma's surprise, a short clip of Charlie Brown suddenly appeared on the TV screen, in which the singular-haired kid said: "He's kinda wishy-washy."
"See, I told you!" the same student who had originally called him this announced.
"No more distractions!" Whirlen said. "The election starts now! Please line up in an orderly fashion to cast your vote."
Although the videos were beyond stupid, the students had fallen for his terrible rap music video from earlier, so maybe this would give her the edge she needed to win the election.
Velma anxiously awaited all the students to vote, followed by several minutes of Marlin counting the votes. Whirlen stood by his side.
"Well, it's been several exhausting minutes of counting votes by hand, but I'm elated to announce our winner." Marlin exclaimed. "The new head of the faculty committee is Velma Dinkley!"
Velma felt so incredibly proud. She was incredibly honored the students had chosen her for such an important role, and she was glad that selfish Sam Spangles hadn't won.
All of a sudden, the lights suddenly flickered off, causing Velma's heart to pound. When they came back on, her previously rapid heartbeat nearly came to a complete halt when she saw the ghastly face of Merlin in front of her.
"So, you think you're going to elect a new leader, do you Whirlen?" Merlin rasped. "I hope you're ready for another new leader."
All of a sudden, Merlin completely transformed into a ball of energy as the lights began to flicker again. The energy ball went straight towards Whirlen until it hit him and knocked him out.
"Oh my god, what's happening?" Madelyn screamed.
When the lights came back on, Whirlen had gotten up off the floor and Merlin seemed to have disappeared. However, she quickly realized that Whirlen had not only gotten up off the floor…he was ascending into midair. She could see it in his eyes that the passionate, driven man Velma knew him to be was gone. Now, Whirlen had a terrifying soulless gaze on his face. His eyes now began to burn a shade of bright red, as he glanced directly at all the students and staff gathered in the gym.
"Whirlen is gone!" the voice of Merlin rasped from Whirlen's body. "I am the new headmaster of this school!"
Author's note:
It was so much fun writing this chapter. I'd previously done a chapter about elections in my other fanfic Fangs for the Memories, but this one was the first full-blown political satire I've done. Given how politically polarized things are at the time of writing this, I tried to be pretty neutral here and just generically joke about how foolish people can be when blindly supporting a candidate without knowing all the information. Thankfully, regardless of your political views, I was able to keep the jokes generic enough to be relatable, since that could technically apply to whatever political party a person happens to dislike.
A couple of miscellaneous pop culture references here again: Whirlen mentions Jumanji during the game night scene, which is a popular movie from 1995. Moreover, The Unconventional Book of Tricks by Giranda Moshawk is a parody of another book mentioned in the Harry Potter franchise, The Standard Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk.
Things are definitely taking a turn in the fanfic now, so I hope you're excited for the next chapter! As always, any favorites/kudos, follows/bookmarks and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!