Chapter 2

First Day of 8th Grade

7 years had passed since Molly and Libby became best friends. Throughout their friendship together, they had always stood by each others side no matter what! Whenever one of them was sad, the other would always comfort her friend and make her feel better. As the years went by, Molly and Libby were both ready to start their first day of 8th grade.

The sunlight shone through Molly's window before she opened her eyes to see Scratch with a terrifying expression on his face. Instead of being scared, Molly just stared at Scratch with an amused expression.

"Are you still trying to scare me, Scratch?" Molly giggled.

"Hey! I need my practice to impress the Ghost Council!" Scratch pointed out. "I still can't believe that you are going to be starting 8th grade already!"

"Me neither! This is going to be my last year of middle school, and I'm going to make the most of it!" Molly exclaimed.

Suddenly, Molly and Scratch were surprised when a portal to the ghost world appeared out of nowhere. With a roll of his eyes, Scratch decided to go through the portal to see what the Ghost Council wanted this time.

"It looks like the Ghost Council wants me. You just get ready for school, and I'll be back soon!" Scratch announced.

"Okay! Bye, Scratch!" Molly waved goodbye as Scratch was sucked through the portal.

Once she was alone, Molly changed out of her pajamas before getting changed in her white shirt, blue vest, purple skirt, and red and yellow shoes. Her bracelet was the last thing she put on. She made her way over to a nearby desk where her green friendship bracelet laid.

After Molly put it on, she couldn't help but admire it with a smile. It has been 7 years since she and Libby exchanged friendship bracelets and she cherished every moment that they had spent together since then. After everything that they had been through together, Molly knew that she and Libby had a bright future together.

Meanwhile in the ghost world, Scratch was teleported through the portal, where he was face to face with the Ghost Council, which consisted of a green ghost named, Sir Alister, a blue ghost named, Bartholomew, a pale colored ghost named, Lucretia, and a purple ghost named, Grimbella. Standing tall behind them was the ruler of the ghost world, The Chairman. The Chairman was wrapped in a black cloak and had a face that resembled a skull.

Instead of being intimidated by them, Scratch simply stared at the Ghost Council in annoyance. "Hey, is there any reason why you guys dragged me here?"

"We merely want to speak to you about your scare numbers, Scratch!" The ghost named, Grimbella was the first to speak.

"It would appear that you have been slacking in making everyone in Brighton miserable!" said Sir Alister.

"Uh, yeah! I admit, things have been a little slow lately, but I've been working on it!" Scratch explained.

"Then perhaps you should work on it faster!" Lucretia urged, losing her patience with Scratch.

"I don't think we need to remind you what would happen if you fail us." Bartholomew reminded before he and the rest of the Ghost Council brought their attention to The Chairman.

At that moment, The Chairman raised a skeleton-like finger, summoning the Flow of Failed Phantoms right behind Scratch. That was when Scratch felt himself being slowly sucked into the flow as he was desperately clinging to the ground.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Okay! You've made your point! I'll do better!" Scratch promised as the Flow of Failed Phantoms disappeared.

"See that you do!" Sir Alister glared before Scratch was brought back to the human world.

After his encounter with the Ghost Council, Scratch returned to the McGee's household. When Molly asked Scratch if something was wrong, Scratch simply lied and said that he just forgot to turn in a scare report.

Before long, everyone was ready to leave, so Pete and Sharon drove their kids to school. Both, Molly and Darryl stood in front of the school as their parents were getting ready to take their picture.

"I can't believe it! Darryl is starting his first year of middle school, and Molly is starting her last year!" Pete started to get emotional. "They're growing up so fast! Next it's going to be college, then a career, then grandkids! Oh my gosh, I'm going to be a grandpa! You do it!"

Pete handed Sharon the phone to take the picture. "Okay, big smiles! Who's ready for a fantastic school year with minimal trips to the principle's office?"

"Me!" Molly exclaimed with a big smile.

"Her!" Darryl said, pointing at his sister.

After taking the picture, Sharon put away the phone before she and her husband decided to leave. "Alright, you two! Have fun!"

Once her parents left, Molly was excited to begin her first day of 8th grade.

"Oh, my gosh! This is so exciting! I'm going to make my last year of middle school, the best year ever!" Molly exclaimed.

"And I'm going to make my presence known by using all of my best pranks on the teachers!" Darryl said with a mischievous grin!

"Hey, mind if I join you?" Scratch asked. "I could really improve my scare numbers for the Ghost Council!"

Before Molly could even open her mouth to argue with that, Scratch and Darryl already left to pull off their first prank. This caused Molly to sigh as she wished that Darryl would stay on his best behavior for once. It wasn't long before Molly took notice of her best friend. With an excited gasp, Molly ran towards Libby and gave her a hug.

"Heya, bestie!"

Upon noticing Molly, Libby gave her a friendly smile before hugging back.

"Hi, Molly! How was your summer vacation?" Libby asked.

"It was great! My family and I managed to save up enough money to go on a couple of trips! We even went to Sunnyland at one point!" Molly reminisced on the fun summer she had. "As fun as the summer was, I'm ready to start my first day of school!"

"I wish I can have your optimum, Molly! I'm pretty sure that this is going to be the same as every other school year!" Libby sighed.

Upon noticing that Libby wasn't looking forward to this year, Molly decided to assure her that everything was going to be fine. "Hey, as long as we stick together, there is no doubt that we can make this the best year ever! Now come on! Let's head to our first class of the day!"

With that, Molly and Libby entered the school building. As they walked through the hallway together, Molly and Libby knew that they had to make the most of this year as this would be their last year of middle school. It wasn't long before they took notice of Andrea, who was recording herself talking to her fans.

"How's it going, all my fandreas! This is Andrea Davenport! Today you are witnessing the beginning of my last year of middle school! I promise that this will be one heck of a school year, so don't forget to like and subscribe!" Andrea announced as she was already getting hundreds of likes and comments.

That was when Molly and Libby rolled their eyes in annoyance. Even though Andrea isn't nearly as bad as she was when they met her 7 years ago, they still didn't really consider her a friend. They can't remember a time that they ever hanged out with her, apart from a certain incident at Andrea's sleepover in the third grade. That was the last time Libby drank water before going to bed.

"Looks like Andrea has been getting a lot of followers lately!" Libby noticed.

"It doesn't surprise me! She is one of the most powerful influencers in Brighton after all! It makes me wish that she uses her social influencing to help others for once!" Molly replied.

"Yeah. Not to mention that she is still strict with how everyone pronounces her name." Libby said, remembering that fateful day in first grade. "I can't thank you enough for defending me the day we first met! If you weren't there to stand up for me, Andrea probably would have made me a social outcast!"

"Hey, it's what friends are for! I'm always going to be by your side no matter what!" Molly assured.

It was at that point when Libby shyly looked away as she felt her face turn red for some reason.

"Anyway, let's head over to our first class!"

That was when Molly took Libby's hand to lead her to the first class. Feeling Molly's hand caused Libby's heart to beat faster. She couldn't explain why, but a part of her just wanted to keep hold of Molly's hand and not let go.

Throughout the school day, Molly and Libby got introduced to their teachers and attended their new classes until it was time for gym class. This was the one class that neither of them were looking forward to because every year, they would always get bullied by the more popular students. This year was no different! The moment gym class began, Molly and Libby ended up avoiding dodgeballs, trying not to get hit.

"Is it just me, or is avoiding the dodgeballs tougher than usual?" Libby panted, dodging to the best of her ability.

"Just hang in there, Libby! We just have one more class after this!" Molly replied. "Once this school week is over, we can hang out at my house if you like!"

Libby briefly took her attention off the other students to talk to Molly. "Sure! I'll have to talk to my mom about it, but I think I can make time for us to spend time together!"

Libby was so distracted, she didn't realize that a dodgeball was flying straight towards were. Thankfully, Molly noticed it at the last second and pushed her out of the way. This caused Molly to fall on top of Libby as they both blushed from the awkward situation.

"A-Are you okay, L-Libby?" Molly stuttered.

"Y-Yes! Thank you for saving me, Molly!" Libby thanked before Molly helped her back up.

Before either of them could say another word, the bell ran, allowing the students to move on to their last class. For the last class of the day, the students were working in partners to finish their assignment. The teacher assigned Molly and Libby to be each others partner, so they both shared a text book together, working on their assignment.

As she read through the book with Libby, Molly took a quick glance at Libby before she shyly looked away. Today has been a really weird day for her. Whenever she was with Libby, Molly starts to get nervous, but didn't know why. She just couldn't keep her eyes off Libby and admired how cute she looked.

Little did Molly know that Libby was thinking the exact same thing about her. She couldn't stop thinking about how kind and caring Molly has always been. They were both so distracted they both moved their hands to turn the page of the textbook at the same time. This caused them both touch each others hand by accident. Surprised by this, Molly and Libby stared at their hands in embarrassment.

"Sorry!" Molly and Libby apologized at the same time before immediately pulling their hands away.

Despite that awkward moment, the girls somehow managed to finish their school assignment. With school over, they both made their way outside as they were about to go home.

"So," Molly was the first to break the awkward silence. "Today has been, uh, unexpected!"

"Y-Yeah! Today as has been something!" Libby agreed before changing the subject. "So, I'm going to ask my mom and see if I can come over this weekend."

"Sounds great!" Molly perked up before noticing Libby's mom driving up to the school. "It looks like your mom is here! I'll see you later, Libby!"

"Okay! Bye, Molly!"

Before leaving, Libby hugged Molly goodbye. This felt different from their usual hugs though. They both felt as though they didn't want to say goodbye. After breaking from the hug, Molly watched as Libby made her way to the car. Even after Libby left, Molly still found herself thinking about her. It was at that moment when Molly placed a hand on her heart to realize it was beating a lot faster than usual. She was too busy thinking about Libby she didn't notice that someone was behind her.

"Hey, Moll!"

"Aaah!" Molly screamed as she was startled out of her thoughts.

"Whoa! Calm down, Molly! It's just us!" Molly heard Darryl's voice.

Molly took a moment to calm down when she realized that Scratch and Darryl were the ones speaking to her. "Oh, hey, guys!"

"What's wrong, Moll? You look like you've just seen a ghost!" Scratch joked. "Guess all those pranks with Darryl made me a much scarier ghost! At this rate, the Ghost Council should give me a promotion in no time! Seriously, though! Why are you acting so jumpy all of a sudden, anyway?"

"Uh, no reason!" Molly lied before desperately changing the subject. "Why don't we just head back home? I'm sure Mom and Dad are waiting for us!"

After everything that had happened today, Molly silently wondered why she felt so nervous around Libby all of a sudden. She simply decided to shrug it off as she was sure that everything would go back to normal tomorrow.

AN: That's the end of the second chapter for this story! I decided to use this chapter to set up the eventual romance that would happen between Molly and Libby later in the story! I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and I hope to publish the next chapter soon!