Well this has been overdue…Sorry about my lack of updates for this story. It's been a hectic last two months and I've been mostly focussed on my other story 'Ghostly Auror.'
This chapter is based very loosely on the episode, 'Shades of Grey'
Also a note of warning: I use a bad word in this chapter, though I think it's justified…
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 16
Weeks Later…
"Ok class, here is what you've been anticipating all class" Mr. Lancer said with mock enthusiasm. "Here are the results to your spelling quiz. You will collect them in an orderly fashion up at the front"
Mr. Lancer placed the stack of papers at the front desk and walked to his desk picking up his large novel and sat back cracking the unopened spine.
Meanwhile, no one had listened to Mr. Lancer's order and instead the acquisition of a test became a free for all battle where the people at the front of the class got the best chance to pick up their quizzes.
Star eventually got her chance to look through the thinned out pile of papers and finally found her quiz. She looked to the bottom of the page where in red pen ink read, "Great work" with a capital "A" beside the comment.
Star smiled to herself, feeling very proud of herself and her improvement in her grades. She turned and saw Danny smiling as well as he looked over his test.
"So what did you get?" she asked.
"A C+" he said enthusiastically.
Star nodded in approval, "I got an A" she said almost squealing in delight.
Danny smiled to her, "You deserve it, you work much harder in school than I do" he said reassuringly. "And thanks again for the study help for this, you're a life saver."
"Don't mention it Danny, it's good to study with a friend" she said blushing a bit at the cheeks.
Off to the side there was a loud dejected groan then there was a sudden slam that startled Star. She looked over and saw Dash stilling in his desk, gritting his teeth in frustration while looking down at his quiz.
The quiz score was clear to Star's view, and solid red inked "F" was drawn at the bottom of the page.
Dash looked up from his score looking more like an angry bull that his normally cool self. He scrunched the paper into a ball and looked ready to shred it to pieces. He looked up to Danny with fire in his eyes, thinking of violent ways to take out his frustration of his poor school marks. Then he saw Star and with a bug huff, turned his body to look away in an indignant form of disgust.
Star just smiled to herself, feeling very satisfied that Dash knew his place…as well as happy to have Danny free of the jock's bullying.
The day after…
Star walked through the halls listening to the constant stream of whispers of gossip running through the school like a sewage system.
She heard many whispers of words:
"Valerie…"
"Fired…"
"Ghost…"
"Poor…"
She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion as she heard of these murmurs, not sure how they all connected. Valerie was a popular girl in Casper High, an A-lister. Star used to be good friends with her when she was a part of the A-list.
She continued walking until she reached Sam's locker. The goth girl looked up to Star and smiled at her.
"Hey Star, how's it going?" She said while still looking through her locker.
"Good" Star started with a self-explanatory answer, and then she started to tread into the topic of the gossip. "But I've been hearing some gossip about Valerie. Do you know anything about that?"
Sam moved forward beside Star and started to talk very quietly. "Yeah, apparently her Dad got fired from his job and since they need money from that job her Dad sold their house to move into an apartment."
"Wow…do you know how he lost his job?" Star said remembering Damon Grey as the successful security technician that she met when friends with Valerie.
"Apparently a ghost was able to break into Axion Labs just as he was finished setting up their security system." Sam explained softly.
"That's horrible, maybe I should speak to Valerie" Star said to herself in awe.
"You do whatever you want Star, just don't involve me with it." Sam said to Star, closing her locker door and turning back to the blonde. "I'll see you at lunch? Ok."
"Yeah, sure" Star answered slowly.
And with that the two girls separated and went to their two different classes.
Later...
Star walked down the sidewalk at swift and eager pace. She looked up to the overcast sky wishing for some nicer weather to mark some sort of sign to a shining future. But no, she had to deal with the grey clouds covering the city landscape.
She made it to her destination, Valerie's house. It was a simple looking home, pretty big considering it was only Valerie and her Dad living in the home.
A moving truck was parked outside the home while the front lawn was filled with an assortment of items to be loaded into the truck. Star saw Valerie bringing out a large suitcase full of clothes. She gritted her teeth as she lifted the suitcase and slowly walked down the front steps of the home and deposited the bag on the front lawn.
She looked up at Star and stared at her in confusion. The blonde simply smiled and waved trying to convey that she was here to be a friend not an enemy.
"Hey Valerie, I heard about what happened at school and came by to check if you were ok. I didn't realize that you guys were moving" Star said stepping forward towards the African American girl.
"Yeah well, my Dad losing his job really hit us hard financially." Valerie said awkwardly.
"I also heard that you were cast out by Paulina as well"
She nodded. "Yeah, she didn't even give me a chance to explain myself, the moment she heard that I was poor she just cast me away like I was nothing…"
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Star said solemnly.
Valerie looked away rubbing her arm, looking a bit ashamed of herself. "Oh, right…"
"But hey, that doesn't matter, what matters is that Paulina is a bitch and you look like you need help." Star said trying to change the subject.
"Oh, you don't have to-" Valerie began shyly before being interrupted by Star.
"Oh come on, you look like you need a hand. And I want to help, with the moving and in school." Star said in a determined tone.
Valerie couldn't help but smile to the blonde girl. "Ok, we need to get the rest of the clothes, follow me"
Later…
Star puffed her cheeks out keeping her breath in desperately, her face turning red as she lugged a heavy box full of books down the Grey's household staircase. The strength in her muscles started to strain as she made it down the front steps and she quickly walked to the grass and placed the heavy box on the ground.
She exhaled and breathed deeply, trying to regain her breath.
It had been a couple of hours since Star offered to help the Grey's and they really appreciated the hard work that she was doing for them.
Soon Valerie beside Star carrying a box of her own and laid it on top of the box Star just carried.
"We're nearly done, just got to get the last few boxes upstairs, luckily they're not that heavy." Valerie said wiping the sweat off her brow and walked off back into the house.
Star nodded and started to follow Valerie back into the Grey's home. Just as she made the first step onto the house's front deck she heard a screaming echoing voice getting louder and louder.
"Boy! Stop!" The voice yelled.
There was a great big smashing noise from behind the blonde, startling her. What she saw made her instantly scream. Standing in front of her was a gigantic dog that looked to her to be size of Clifford the Red Dog. But instead the dog looked more like a bulldog that glowed an unearthly green, saliva drooling out the side of its mouth.
Before Star could even move the dog started to sniff at Star, its wet nose poking into Star's chest and in an instant the dog started to shrink down into the size of a small puppy bulldog. The dog smiled up at Star and gave out a small squeak of a bark, its tail wagging back and forth in glee.
Star couldn't help but smile down at the strange little dog. She slowly reached out and petted the top of the dog's head. The dog quickly jumped up onto its hind legs and landed its front paws onto Star's knees.
Star couldn't help but 'aww' at the strange dog and continued to rub its head.
"What, how is that so easy for you!" A dejected echoing voice said in front of Star.
Star looked up and gasped at the sight. Standing in front of her was the mysterious ghost that had both ruined her popularity as well as saved her life. He looked exactly the same as she remember, snow white hair, glowing green eyes, slightly tanned skin and a black and white get up.
The dog quickly went off of Star's knees and ran straight at the silver haired boy.
The ghost quickly caught the dog before it could lick at his face, its little legs wiggling in the ghost boy's grip.
"I'm sending you back to the ghost zone for good" The ghost boy said sternly. But the dog just ignored him and continued to try to get to his face for a good lick.
Footsteps could be heard from behind Star. The blonde teen turned to see the girl drop the box in shock as she looked over the scene in front her. Many of the furniture and boxes were smashed or overturned by what used to be the giant green dog.
"You! Haven't you and your dog done enough!" Valerie yelled angrily at the ghost boy.
The boy visible flinched at the words and took a step back from Valerie. The dog heard the yelling and started to growl in anger towards Valerie. Soon right before their eyes the dog started to grow out of the boy's arms and started loom high above them.
The boy floated into the air and started to pull at the dog's titanic neck trying to gain its attention.
"No! Bad boy! Bad!" The boy said in disapproval trying to get the dog to calm down.
The dog simply shook its neck and launched the boy away from him right into the moving truck in the driveway, a loud crash could be heard in the background, but the girls just ignored that as they tried to step away from the growling dog.
The dog leaned down, the lip trembling from the rumbling growl. Star closed her eyes in fear of the ghost dog while Valerie tried to keep her back as straight as possible but still couldn't impose the dog.
Right before the dog could make any more moves a high pitched whistle sounded from behind the dog. The dog turned quickly and saw the ghost waving his hands up and down trying to get its attention. "Come on, boy, come on!"
The ghost boy flew down and grabbed a nearby soccer ball from the front yard and shaked it, trying to get the dog excited. It seemed to have worked because the gigantic dog's tail now waged back and forth, its large tongue extending out of its mouth as the dog panted feverously.
"You want the ball? Now go get it!" The boy said as he threw the ball down the street.
The dog ran off going through the Grey's stuff, destroying some more items in his wake. The boy quickly flew behind the dog not noticing the dog's destruction.
Both Star and Valerie were silent as they slowly stepped down the house steps and inspected the damage in the front lawn. It looked like a disaster zone straight out of a movie, it just wasn't pretty.
Valerie ran over to the moving truck and saw that a good portion of the furniture was wrecked as well. She stared at it all wide-eyed putting her hands on the side of her head shaking her in disbelief. "I can't believe that- that this happened"
Star put her hand on Valerie's shoulder trying to comfort the African American girl. "Believe me, back when I saw that ghost at the pep rally…the time when I broke my shin bone, I couldn't believe it either"
"Bu-But what were those things?" Valerie said in disarray.
"Well, Danny's parents say that boy with the white hair is a ghost…that dog is probably one too"
"Wait a minute. Those were ghosts!" Valerie yelled in hysterics.
Sorry if the end of the chapter feels very forced, but I couldn't think of a better way to end it.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review what you think.
And if any of you are fans of 'Ghostly Auror,' don't fret the next chapter is on its way. It'll just take some time in between finals. Always remember, I try to update any progress on my profile for your benefit!
Until next time,
Prophet =P