"Like, huh?" Shaggy shook his head in utter confusion. That huge brute was just chasing them at full speed. How was it possible that there was now absolutely nothing out there?
Shaggy had to peek his head out into the hall just to be sure. He couldn't believe his eyes: Mr. B was exactly right. There was not a soul out in the hallway, nor any sign that The Freak had even been there.
"Like, I swear he was out there!" Shaggy exclaimed. He would have felt relieved if not for how embarrassed he felt about telling the entire class there was a murderer chasing him, when said murderer was nowhere to be found.
"We all saw him too." Fred said.
"Well…I'm sorry, kids. I believe you, but nothing's out there now." Mr. B informed sympathetically. Shaggy was so embarrassed that he could have crawled under the desk and hid. Everyone in the class was looking at them with a bewildered look. "So, it looks like everybody's here now other than Marcie. Anybody seen her this morning?"
Shaggy of course wasn't going to say anything, even if Fred's theory that Marcie was The Freak was pretty much validated now. He would be liable to get even more strange looks if he told everybody that Marcie had just been running after them down the hall in a Halloween suit. Thus, he stayed quiet.
The rest of the gang looked quite disturbed as they all took their seats. Each of them gave each other a look, as if to say "what the heck just happened to us?" Ultimately, while Shaggy was utterly perplexed at what happened, he was so happy they were safe.
Classes went by in a blur today, but part of that was admittedly that Fred had not bothered to pay much attention in his classes. Usually, he was quite studious and focused in his courses, but with everything that had happened with The Freak this morning, he'd been really distracted and anxious. He was wondering how in the world that The Freak could have disappeared in a few seconds flat like that. One possibility Fred thought up was that perhaps The Freak was a real spirit, but he quickly shook this possibility from his mind. Ghosts weren't real, he reminded himself, even though his lingering anxiety tried to convince him otherwise. His other thought went back to what Dusk had previously been saying. The Freak seemed to enjoy scaring them, but whenever there would be too large of a group of people, he'd stop chasing them. The Freak seemed hesitant to strike in front of too many people, which comforted Fred a bit. Still, though, the idea of a murderous maniac chasing him and his friends through the hall this morning was extremely terrifying to Fred.
He felt stupid for it, but for the first time since he came here, he wanted to go home. Even if this place had given him new friends, he didn't want to stay here anymore.
He didn't really feel like going home was an option right now, and he really wanted to process the situation more with his friends. However, that unfortunately wasn't really an option either at the moment. He had football practice this afternoon, which was mandatory.
"Alright, guys. Before we get started with practice, I want you guys to do a few warm-ups." Coach Hayes informed. "The first pass I want you to practice the slant pass."
"That shouldn't be too hard." Fred said aloud, realizing he probably sounded pretty stupid as he said it.
"Jones! You get the ball first, and pass it to Herring." Hayes barked.
Oh god. Fred thought. That was probably the person Fred least wanted to have to deal with. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much choice in the matter.
Fred was not at all in the right mindset to do football practice; he'd much rather be hanging out with his friends, watching television, or even reading a book. The anxiety of having the situation with The Freak hanging over his head felt almost too much to bear. He just wanted to do anything he could to escape this situation. At first, it seemed like just a whimsical little investigation that allowed him to build this friendship with his roommate and five other new friends. However, it had quickly evolved into something sinister and foreboding. He would do anything to go back to his simple life of being at his old high school and not having to worry about his safety.
He quickly tried to snap himself out of this panic attack he seemed to be having. He realized that Red would be waiting for him to throw the ball. He tried to focus as much as he could, but The Freak still lurked in the depths of his mind as he made the pass.
Fred tossed the ball to Red, but he soon realized that he hadn't made a particularly graceful pass. The ball got a strong start, but its momentum quickly petered out and started veering towards the ground.
"Ha! You couldn't make a pass if your life depended on it, could you, ya weenie?" Red teased.
"I…" Fred stuttered, struggling to think of what to say that would explain his poor performance. He was mortified that he had screwed up twice in front of his team. Surely they would think he was a bumbler now. "...I'm sorry. I'm going through something right now."
The team just stared at him vacantly. Nobody offered their sympathy or their support; they just looked at him as if he had just said a bunch of gibberish. Their blank stares and lack of response felt like it hurt even more than if they had jeered him. The fact that his pain wasn't even worth an acknowledgement to them made him feel completely alone.
"I'm sorry. I have to go." Fred blurted before he fully processed through what the right thing to say was. He was so anxious that he couldn't bear sitting amidst their judgment even a moment longer. Their icy stares felt like sharpened needles digging into his skin, and their judgment, whilst intangible, felt like huge boulders perched atop his shoulders. He could not really process the long-term implications his actions might potentially have; he just needed to get himself out of this situation. He knew he probably looked like a fool as he did it, but he ran out of the football stadium and headed back towards the front entrance of the school. He felt so embarrassed that he didn't really want to see his friends right now, and just needed a moment to himself. Luckily for him, Shaggy had said he'd be at the first Poetry Club meeting this afternoon.
It was time for the Poetry Club meeting, and Daphne couldn't be more excited. Of course, there was a lingering cloud of nervousness that hung over her head because of this morning's events, but the redhead tried to push it to the side as much as possible, so that she could fully enjoy Poetry Club.
"Like, hopefully they don't expect us to be too good. This seems like a place where a guy could really, like, feel inferior." Shaggy gulped.
"It seems like this a pretty inclusive place, at least if Avalon was representative of what the club is like." Luna reminded.
"Hi!" the familiar friendly voice of Avalon greeted, as the three friends entered the room. "Feel free to sit anywhere! We're just getting started!"
"Thanks!" Daphne exclaimed. This already seemed like such a warm, vibrant environment to her. It usually took her a moment to adjust, but she was almost immediately comfortable here.
She found a few open seats near the front, but there was no group of chairs that had three or more empty spots together, except in the back. Given this, she motioned for the others to join her, as she headed towards the seats in the back so that they could all sit together.
"Hello everybody, my name's Avalon, and I'm the president of Poetry Club." Avalon introduced herself.
A slender, short girl with long brown hair stood up from her chair and walked to the front of the room next. "I'm Grace, and I'm the vice president. However, there's no real hierarchy in this club. The two of us lead the club because we started it, but basically, we're all on the same level here."
"The main purpose of Poetry Club is to hone our creative spirits, and use this weekly time together to workshop our writing with other people who enjoy poetry. It doesn't matter what level you're at, so regardless of if you write poems every day or have never written a poem in your life, we want to create an environment where all writers can feel supported and welcomed." Avalon added.
"That being said, this is a judgment-free zone. We're pretty chill on rules here, but the one rule we have is no mean-spirited critique of another person's writing." Grace informed.
"We're going to start things off super simple, and just have everybody do a brief writing exercise on their own." Avalon said. "The first week of classes can be really stressful, especially if this is your first week at a new school. I want you all to write down a few words or phrases that you've felt throughout this week. Just take a moment to do that, and I'll give you your next instructions afterwards."
This would be pretty easy for Daphne, who had written poems for fun every now and then over the years. She considered herself to be an emotionally intelligent person, so it was easy for her to identify what she was feeling. For somebody like Shaggy though, who hadn't had any significant experience writing poetry, this would likely be a much more difficult task.
Daphne thought about it for a moment, and identified the three emotions that she was feeling most: hopeful - for a great school year, thankful - for the new friendships she already seemed to be making, and anxious. She wasn't going to say she was anxious because of a psychotic murderer who chased her down the hall this morning, so if asked, she would play it off that she was anxious about the transition. Technically, she told the truth, she was indeed nervous about transitioning into a school where murders were rampant and supernatural creatures were trying to scare her at every turn.
"Alright, now that you've written that down, try to create a short poem using those three words." Grace instructed. "It can be just a few lines, if you want. It's just an exercise to get the creative juices flowing."
That would be pretty easy for Daphne.
Anxiously awaiting
Hopefully optimistic
Thankfully experiencing
Excitedly living
Writing the poem was a little harder than Daphne thought. She'd had plenty of experience writing poems in her spare time, but she'd never really written poems that were meant for other people to read before, which added quite a bit of pressure. She'd shared a few of the more generic ones with people, but most of them detailed her innermost thoughts and were her way of processing through situations that worried or bothered her, so she didn't share those with anybody. She hoped she'd done a good job of writing her poem regardless.
"Alright, everyone finished?" Avalon inquired.
Each person in the room nodded. Daphne realized that she really hadn't taken the time to look around to see how many people were in the room. She saw ten girls, and one other boy besides Shaggy sitting in the room.
"Okay, turn to the partner next to you and give them your poem to read. If you have time, feel free to make a suggestion or two about how they could improve their poem." Grace instructed.
"It looks like we've got an odd number, so there'll have to be a group of three." Avalon noticed.
"Like, that's perfect for us." Shaggy said as he leaned over to Daphne and Luna.
"Here you go, Shaggy." Luna handed Shaggy her piece of paper. She quickly turned the other direction to speak to Daphne. "I can read yours."
"I guess that means I'll read Shaggy's!" Daphne stated, as she leaned over to take Shaggy's poem. Daphne glanced at the paper and began reading the shaggy-haired boy's work.
I'm really scared right now, and I feel alone
I don't know if I've ever been this nervous in my life
I'm fearful and I don't know if I'll see my parents ever again after going to this crazy school!
Shaggy's poem was sad to Daphne for multiple reasons. Firstly, his work wasn't really a poem at all; it was just anxious rambling that didn't have any sort of poetic style. Moreover, the emotions he talked about in his work were genuinely really sad. Daphne had talked about being anxious in her poem as well, but it was a controlled sense of anxiety. While Daphne definitely understood why Shaggy would be so nervous with the murderer, it almost seemed as if the fear was consuming his entire life.
"I really like your poem, Daphne!" Luna complimented. "I don't think I have any suggestions. It's perfect just as it is."
"Thank you!" Daphne appreciated.
"Like, man!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Wow!"
"What are you wowing, Shaggy?" Daphne curiously inquired.
"Like, Luna's poem is amazing! She should be a professional writer, especially when you compare it to the word pollution that my poor excuse for a poem was." Shaggy hung his head. It was clear to Daphne that Shaggy not only had an issue with anxiety; he also had a self-esteem problem. She definitely felt bad for him, but she didn't really know what she could do to help.
"Shaggy, your poem was not word pollution." Daphne chuckled warmly. "It may not be the most poetic thing I've ever read, but it definitely expressed some real feelings, and you should be proud of that. You're still learning, and it's okay not to be perfect."
"Like, really?" Shaggy asked.
Before Daphne had a chance to respond, Avalon began to make an announcement. "Alright everybody, I'm going to bring it back to the large group here. I'm going to pick one person at random to share their poem."
The blonde club president gazed around the room as she looked for somebody to call on, and quickly found her choice. "You there. The guy in the back with the green shirt."
"Like, uh-oh." Shaggy muttered, before he raised his voice to a louder tone for the group to be able to hear. "Like, uh, to be honest, my poem might suck."
"Hey, there's no using the 's' word in here!" Avalon playfully said to boost Shaggy's self-esteem.
"Aww, man! Guess I'll have to erase that line about Snuffaluffagus!" the other boy in the back lamented.
"I mean, like, I don't have a lot of experience with poetry." Shaggy admitted.
"That's okay, Shaggy." Grace exclaimed. "Go ahead and read it!"
"Uh…" Shaggy looked utterly terrified, but he still picked up his piece of paper and began reading. "I'm really scared right now, and I feel alone. I don't know if I've ever been this nervous in my life. I'm fearful and I don't know if I'll see my parents ever again after going to this crazy school! Anyway, that was my poem. I'm sorry it was so terrible."
"It wasn't terrible!" Avalon assured. "Even though you don't have much experience, you definitely were able to get into the poetic mindset. Part of it is being able to feel connected to your emotions and put them down on paper. I can tell you self-reflected here, and you opened up about your feelings. That's part of what poetry is about. In time, I think you'll learn to phrase your lines in more of a poetic way, but this was great for a first try!"
Shaggy wore a smile, but also looked quite surprised at the same time.
Daphne couldn't help but smile as well. She was happy that Shaggy was able to get a boost of self-esteem and realize that his work wasn't all that bad. Even if Shaggy didn't have the most eloquent of words in the front of his mind, Avalon was correct that he was getting into the poetic mindset through that exercise, and he had the makings of a great poet within him.
Velma was glad that it was dinnertime so that she was able to hang out with her friends again. She'd admittedly felt a little bit left out this afternoon, as everybody else was in activities except her. A part of her wished she'd just joined the Chemistry Club for the status of being a part of something, but alas, it was probably too late now.
She was the first to sit down at dinner. She'd gotten her food about a half-hour early, and just did homework while she was waiting for the others. Her eyes lit up a bit as she saw the others come into sight. She saw it was just Shaggy, Daphne and Luna, which meant band and football practice must not have concluded yet.
"Hello! How was Poetry Club?" Velma inquired.
"It was amazing!" Daphne exclaimed. "I think I'm really going to look forward to those meetings every week."
"Yeah, they were great about being accepting of people at all levels of poetic experience." Luna added.
"What'd you think of it, Shaggy?" Velma felt bad about this, but a little part of her kinda wanted him to say that he didn't enjoy it. Not because she was malicious and wanted him to fail, but seeing others enjoying extracurriculars when she was involved in nothing made her feel a bit inferior. It was really silly to feel that way, because academically, she was at the top of her class. She hated that she was so socially inexperienced that the mere thought of someone being better than her in a non-academic way made her feel like she wasn't enough.
"Like, I actually really enjoyed it." Shaggy smiled.
"Really?" Velma exclaimed. This shocked Velma and quite frankly, made her a little jealous. Shaggy had been so anxious about everything about transitioning to a new school, so Velma thought for sure that he'd hate it.
"Like, Luna was right. They were actually really inclusive and made me feel like not such a bad writer. I was really on the fence about joining an extracurricular, but I'm glad I did." Shaggy answered.
"Maybe I should join an extracurricular too, then!" Velma exclaimed. She felt a bit silly about saying this in hindsight after the words left her lips, but she didn't want to be the only one in her friend group that was not in an extracurricular.
"If you want, sure." Daphne shrugged. At that moment, Fred came over with a tray full of food. He looked quite rattled, which was relatively unusual for him. He typically seemed so put together and unemotional.
"Fred, what's wrong?" Velma inquired, trying to distract the others from her previous embarrassing remark.
"I…I was really off my game at practice today, and everybody noticed. These guys are just so experienced here. I never had these problems at my old school, but I'm thinking I might have to quit the team. I'm nowhere near their level, and with everything going on, I just don't think I can improve." Fred sighed.
"I'm really sorry, Fred." Daphne sympathized. "My best advice is to just give yourself some time. You don't need to decide to quit the team today, and with how worked up you are, it might be best to just ride out the emotions and make a decision when you're calmer. We'll be there to help you process it if you need it."
Daphne always seemed so emotionally open and affirming to others, which made Velma feel further inferior for being so petty and hoping Shaggy didn't enjoy Poetry Club just to boost her own ego. It was something she knew she needed to work on, but she didn't know how.
"Yeah." Fred nodded. He still seemed flustered, but Daphne's advice seemed to relax him a little. "You're right."
"We were all a bit shaken up at lunch, so we didn't really talk about what happened with The Freak too much yet." Velma pointed out. "Do you think it's Marcie?"
"Based on the evidence, I do." Fred affirmed.
"I think that's probably the most likely, but…why would she chase us like that and then stop right as we went into the classroom?" Daphne inquired.
"Too many people." Velma commented. She may not have been good at emotions and social situations, but luckily for her, she was great at solving mysteries and evaluating facts. "The Freak just wanted to scare us away from Marcie's room, which would obviously point to Marcie being the culprit. She must not have been able to get the blood out of that knife, and didn't want anybody to see that. Plus, the fact that Marcie is now conveniently missing pretty much confirms it's her."
"What do we do now, though?" Daphne asked. "Marcie could easily attack us again, now that she knows we're onto her."
"Gang, I think the only way to stop this Freak is to try to trap it somehow." Fred pointed out.
"That seems easier said than done." Luna cynically replied. "How can we do that?"
Before anybody could respond, Thorn walked over to the gang's table. She appeared to be in a discomforted mental state. She did not seem to be panicked, but she looked very disturbed.
"Umm…hi." Thorn anxiously greeted. "Have you guys seen Dusk?"
"No." Daphne answered. "Luna and I didn't go back up to our room, though, since we had Poetry Club. Why do you ask?"
"Dusk seems to be missing." Thorn informed.
"I wouldn't worry too much." Fred said. "I assume she just stopped back up at her room after band practice today. She'll probably be down to dinner in a minute."
"Actually, the reason I'm asking is…." Thorn looked even more flustered now. "Dusk never made it to band practice today."