And here is the second part. Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen: Strange Brew Part II

Principal Archibald "Archie" Simpson had been through a lot in his time at Degrassi. He had been a student and had found a fellow student dead. He had seen what choices his friends had made and tried his best not to follow down that path. As a teacher he had gone through cancer, a school shooting and falsely accused as a rapist. Things as a principal had been somewhat easier, but not by much. He had two students commit suicide as a principal; each could have been handled in time.

He rubbed his temples in a circular motion; trying to relieve some of the stress. He looked up to see the guidance counselor; Darcy Edwards nee Parker looking at him.

"Do we have a good idea of what's going on?"

Darcy shrugged. "I've had Toby and Marco go check the areas where the kids claim to have seen something. When they got back; Blue and Imogen went out and double checked the same areas. In both cases; they didn't find anything out of the ordinary."

"You talked to them?"

Darcy nodded. "All three of them are sticking to their stories."

Simpson sighed. "So Ms. Coyne sees a girl in the art room painting; goes to talk to her and sees that the girl is painting a portrait in blood. She runs out and runs into Mr. Mason and my grandson; who each claim to have seen ghosts." Simpson stood up and shook his head. "If this is someone's idea of a really sick joke…"

Darcy interrupted him. "You saw their faces Archie; two of the three of them were scared out of their minds. Mr. Mason was the only one that wasn't, but I'm sure he was before consoling his friends."

"I'm not sure what to do here Darcy." Simpson looked out the window. "Two of the three of them are stone sober; I'm sure of that. My grandson? I know he's not." He turned to the counselor. "I'll talk to them but I'm not sure punishment is the way to go on this."

Darcy nodded again. "I'll send them in." As she turned to leave; she stopped and looked at him. "Archie; this might not make sense, but try to hear me out."

Simpson nodded and motioned for her to continue. "When I was in Africa all those years ago; I'd seen things that I couldn't explain either. There was one moment that stands out in my mind. This girl who was no older than fifteen had been killed in the village of where I was working at that time. About a month later; there was an uproar in the village square real late in the night. I went out to help; thinking that it was some animal, but I was way off."

"What happened?"

"Some of the villagers noticed that there were people that were out causing problems. They were making it a point to chase these people out of the village. One of the troublemakers was that girl." Darcy shuddered. "I looked straight at her and watched her run away. She looked at me as she was running away."

Simpson looked at her confused. "But she was dead…"

"I saw her placed in a grave Archie. I know she was dead." Darcy looked at her boss. "She was running around; the witch doctor said she was angry because the person that killed her was still loose." She leaned against the door. "It was strange, but the village had to take care of it. Everyone was part of a protection ritual; myself included. We weren't bothered after that, but there were times we all thought we would see her from time to time."

"I never knew…"

Darcy nodded. "Not many people know about what I just told you. I never told my family or friends about it. I had a hard time working it out in my head as well. I still do." She turned to leave again. "Whether it's a prank or not; they were scared as much as I was back then. Try to take it easy on all of them." She then walked out the door and let the kids come in.

The three students walked in; Nikki and Gabe taking the seats in front of the desk. Benny stood against the wall behind the two of them. Principal Simpson watched the three of them; he could tell that something spooked them. He nodded and decided to find out what happened.

A short time later…

Veronica Mason wandered out into the hallway with Emily and Shane behind her. They had been having a good time dancing and talking. Ronnie noticed that her brother had been missing for a while and wasn't sure he had disappeared. They hadn't seen Nikki either; which was more concerning for Ronnie. They decided to go looking for them. They had just passed the main entrance when Ronnie noticed her best friend and brother along with Benny walking out of the principal's office. They met just in front of the office desk and talked. Nikki had run up to Ronnie and hugged her tightly. Emily walked up to her brother; only for Benny to walk out the front door. She went after him only to be stopped by Principal Simpson. Shane walked up to Gabe.

"What is going on?" Shane could see something was wrong, but couldn't tell what the problem was. He could see that Gabe had a haunted look on his face.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Gabe muttered. "This has been the strangest Halloween I've ever experienced."

"I can tell." Shane looked at his friend; concerned. "Anything that you want to share?"

Gabe was about to say something when Simpson came up by him. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"I'm fine Mr. Simpson. Thank you for your time." Simpson nodded and left towards the gymnasium. "Shane let's just leave it at that." Shane nodded and the two turned looked at the girls. "I don't know about you two, but I'm done for the night."

"Don't be like that Gabe; it'll be fine." Emily smiled. "I know that you're not in serious trouble, but I'm surprised that you're hanging out with my brother."

"He's not hanging out with Benny;" Nikki started. "We just had something very odd happen." She smiled at him. "If it wasn't for Gabe; I would still be very upset and shaken."

"Look," Gabe stated in an irritated voice. "I'm chalking tonight up to some really weird shit went down and honestly; I'm leaving it at that." He headed for the door. "If you excuse me; I think I'll go and head on home. Ronnie; don't be out too late." Gabe had spoken in an authoritative voice; something that not one of the group had ever heard before. Gabe headed out the main doors and headed home.

Shane turned to the group; speaking as he pointed at the door. "Okay; someone want to explain to me what the hell is going on? Gabe disappears for about an hour, and then comes back with Burn Boy and Nikki; only he's all quiet and ticked off to the nth degree."

Nikki sighed and started the whole story. She had explained what she was doing and had ran into Gabe and Benny after what happened in the art room. She then explained what had happened in Mr. Simpson's office. She left no details out in her version of the story. When she had finished; she turned her attention to everyone.

Shane chuckled. "That's what happened? The three of you got spooked by someone playing a Halloween prank?"

Nikki looked at Shane; her eyes shooting him daggers. "I know what I saw! She seemed as real as us standing here!"

"I'm not saying that it didn't happen, but you have to admit that it's hard to believe." Emily replied; looking at Shane and Nikki. Nikki glared back at her; to which she put her hands up. "Hey I'm just saying. It's a bit weird; that's all."

Emily had turned to where Ronnie was standing a minute ago; only to see that she moved closer to the door. The rest of the group looked and followed her.

Nikki placed a hand on Ronnie's shoulder. Ronnie took a deep breath. "Still with us?"

She turned to her closest friend. "Yeah." She turned back and watched the shadow of her brother; which no one could see anymore from that vantage point. She sighed and looked back at Nikki. "I worry about him so much."

"We all do sweetness." Shane came up behind them. "He just seemed so weird. Is there something that you want to share with us?"

Ronnie sighed. "It's not my story to tell…"

As Eleven O'clock moves closer…

The taxi pulled up to the Manning residence. The back door opened and Alyson Manning had stepped out. She moved to the front passenger door and paid the driver. The taxi drove off into the night and Alyson moved closer to the front door. As she was digging for her keys in her purse, she heard a sigh from the front porch. She looked up and saw a mass. She reached in and found a can of mace.

"I'm not afraid to mace you! This is the bear grade stuff!"

The person spoke; the voice sounded tired and sad. "You'd mace your boyfriend?"

Alyson relaxed a bit. "Gabe, is that you babe?"

"Yeah. Sorry to scare you like that."

Alyson sighed. "No it's fine. I wasn't expecting you for a while." She looked him over. He was dressed in his old Chuck Taylors, beat-up pair of jeans, a dark beanie and a beat up old sweatshirt. "You didn't want to wear your costume?"

Gabe shuddered. "Could we head in where it's warmer? I'm freezing."

Alyson nodded and unlocked the front door. She walked in and Gabe followed her in. She locked the door and motioned for Gabe to follow her into the kitchen. She put her purse down and took off her dark bridge coat. She noticed that Gabe took a seat at the dinner table; removing his sweatshirt and beanie. She looked at his and nearly gasped; her good mood slowly started to dissipate. His voice mirrored his looks; he looked tired and beat up.

"Gods what happened to you?" She moved closer to him. "Did you get into a fight with that whore?" She sat in the chair next to him. "I'll make her pay for what she did."

Gabe chuckled a bit; then winced. "No it's nothing like that." He looked around. "Mom and Dad are gone?"

Alyson got up and walked into the bathroom. "Yeah, mom had to go to Montreal for some convention and dad went with her." She came back out with what looked like a small first aid kit. "So I was supposed to go hang out with Angie, but she was going to a party in the city. She invited me to go, but I decided to just head back here and make the best of the night. That's when I called you."

She sat back down and looked him over. "So what happened to you?"

Gabe sighed and went on about what happened after he talked to her. He told her about the two boys in the bathroom, the incidents with Nikki and Benny and the talk with Simpson.

"Wait; you're hanging out with burn boy?"

"He ran into me literally. He was really freaked out."

She nodded as she applied a little peroxide to a cotton ball. She dabbed some on a scratch on his chin. Gabe didn't even flinch when she applied it. "So what did Simpson say?"

"Strangely nothing; which is a surprise to me. I figured that he'd yell or put us in detention for not being in the dance. He was…" Gabe fidgeted for a moment before continuing. "He almost seemed sympathetic; at least with Nikki and I. Benny on the other hand wasn't as lucky."

"Grandpa let him have it?" Alyson tossed the cotton ball in a small bag. She reached for another one.

"I can only guess." Gabe offered his left arm to her. "I high-tailed it out of there after getting annoyed with some of the commentary I was receiving." Gabe winced for a second when Alyson got his elbow. "I loathe Halloween."

Alyson looked at him with sympathy. "Should I ask?"

Gabe looked into his girlfriend's eyes and smiled. "I suppose I can let you know."

"Only if you also include why in the seven levels of hell that you're so beat up." Alyson grumbled. "You look like you got hit by a bus."

"That's an easy one to answer." Gabe shrugged. "It actually ties into the whole story."

I know; I'm such a bastard!

In truth, I didn't want to end it here. There's a whole lot more to tell between these two. However; it happen to work out that this would be a perfect stopping point. So the story will continue next chapter with Alyson and Gabe talking.

I want to thank all of you for being so loyal and patient in waiting for the next chapter month after month. I've been trying to keep up with the story, but it's been very hard recently. I'll do my best to keep up with once a month; if not more than that.

Something that I would like to ask you readers: There are points in the story (much like this chapter) that conversations and story points get left out for various reasons. I was thinking of putting those parts into another working title (kind of like cut scenes on DVDs and Blu-Ray. What do you think?

Thanks for following!