The Curse of Boyhood
This chapter takes place somewhere around the first couple episodes of season 2.
One peaceful Friday, Scratch was out playing tricks on people from simple scares to messing with their things. Then after his tenth victim on the
sidewalk, he saw Molly running his way. And she looked scared. So Scratch followed her into a clothing store to find out what was going on. He found her hiding in a ring of coats and floated next to her.
"Molly, are you okay?" he asked. "You look like you just saw a giant spider."
"Hi, Scratch." Molly responded while peeking between two coats. "I went to visit Libby at her place only to find out that her relatives came to do
the same thing, only it's for the whole weekend."
"Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing? You love people."
"Yes I do, but one of those relatives is... Gordy!"
Then as if on cue, Gordy came into the store and looked around.
"Oh, Molllyy." he called out in a sing-songy voice. "Don't you want to hold hands? I'm a man now."
As the young flirter kept searching, Scratch imagined Molly running from him while he hopped after her. He then snickered at the idea until Molly popped his thought bubble with her finger and a deadpan face. After several suspenseful minutes, Gordy gave up and left. Once Molly was sure he was gone, she let out how she felt.
"This is a nightmare! I cannot have him hitting on me all weekend!"
"Did you try saying no?" Scratch asked.
"At least five times! He can not take a hint! The only way he'd ever leave me alone is if I was a boy!"
"Then let's make you one."
"Wait. You can do that?"
"Yup, but you'll need some new clothes."
Luckily for Molly, they were already in a clothing store. So she grabbed some denim pants, a rainbow striped shirt, and a pair of neon sneakers. She then payed for them and went into a changing room. All of her new clothes looked a little big on her, but she liked what she saw in the mirror.
"Okay, Scratch. Do your stuff!" she said.
Scratch donned his chairman robe and warped the changing room.
"AS CHAIRMAN OF THE GHOST WORLD, I NOW CURSE YOU, MOLLY MCGEE! UNTIL THE ONE KNOWN AS GORDY LEAVES THIS TOWN, A BOY YOU SHALL BE!"
Molly's body glowed for a moment before the room changed back. She looked in the mirror again and saw her hair get shorter and her body get a little taller.
"So this is what boy me looks like." Molly said just before realizing another change. "Woah! My voice is lower! This is going to be a fun curse! Thanks, Scratch!"
"This is already weirding me out." Scratch said.
Molly walked out of the store ready to enjoy the weekend with her or rather his new body. She- no, he then saw Gordy near the end of the sidewalk. Curious as to how well the curse works, Molly walked up to him and stood there. Gordy practically acted like Molly wasn't even there and walked away.
"Yes!" Molly quietly said with a fist-pump. "No more flirting problems."
Then he and Scratch headed to the corner of the sidewalk and found Libby looking around.
"Where is that Gordy?" she said clearly annoyed. "I told him to leave Molly alone."
"Is that guy down the street who you're looking for?" Molly pointed the way.
Libby quickly turned and saw Gordy.
"Yes it is. Thank you-" Libby froze the moment she looked at the boy who just helped her.
"No problem." Molly said. "The name's Marty."
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" was all Libby could mutter.
"And you are?" Molly was confused.
"L-L-L- uh... Libby! I'm Libby." Libby kept staring at him without moving a muscle
"You were looking for someone?" Molly reminded her.
"Oh right! Bye!" Libby took the chance to run before anything else happened.
Scratch looked at Molly with a smug smile and waited to hear what his comment would be.
"That was weird." Molly said. "Wait, I think I know what just happened."
"You do, huh?" Scratch asked.
"Yes, Scratch. I think... I scared her."
Scratch stared at Molly for a few seconds before facepalming and sliding his hand down his face.
"Really? That's your theory?"
"Of course. What else could it be? I'm gonna have to apologize to her for that the first chance I get. But first we better get home and explain this curse to the family."
After a few minutes, they needed to turn another corner and when they did, Molly had a surprise collision with Andrea, causing them both to fall on
their butts.
"I am so sorry." Molly got up first and helped Andrea.
"That was my fault actually." Andrea said. "I was a tiny bit busy with my pho-"
The moment she saw male Molly, she felt like she just met a deity. Molly quickly noticed the similar behavior to earlier.
"Andrea Davenport. Social influencer, future disrupter, Brighton Middle School's official good will ambassador, and popular single girl. What's your name?"
"Uh, Marty."
"Awe, what a cute name." Andrea took a picture of Molly. "I'd love to stay by your side, but Mommy and Daddy are expecting me back home. Byyye."
She then skipped away while happily staring at the picture of Marty.
"Did Andrea just flirt with me?' Molly asked.
"No, she asked you for directions." Scratch sarcastically said. "Of course that's what she was doing!"
"Oh great. First Libby gets scared of me and now-" Molly suddenly put two and two together. "Ohhhhhhh."
"Ladies and gentlemen, the brilliant mind of Molly McGee."
Later, Molly and Scratch were almost home when they spotted Ollie walking their way.
"Hi there." Ollie said. "Are you new in town?"
"Oh not exactly." Molly answered with a blush and a nervous smile. "I'm just visiting. Heheheheh."
Normally, Molly and Ollie would be too busy acting shy and lovey to notice that each other was doing the same thing, but since Ollie doesn't know who he's talking to right now...
"Woah, hold it. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind if you're attracted to me, but I don't like boys that way. Sorry."
"Wait, what!? I didn't mean to..." Molly didn't know what else to say, so he ran past Ollie as his face got redder.
Scratch stayed close to Molly mostly to stay away from the ghost hunter. Luckily for Molly, they were close enough to home to run the rest of the way and far enough to avoid any confusion or suspicion. Molly hurried inside and rested against the closed door. Then he remembered that he still needed to inform the family. Now he was curious about their reactions.
"Oh, family, I'm hoooooome!" Molly sung.
Those words with that voice got everyone's attention. Pete, Sharon, and Darryl all rushed into the living room and were confused by some boy they had never seen before.
"Uhhh, who are you?" Darryl asked.
"Would you believe that I'm Molly?"
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..." the whole family was baffled.
"Hellooooooo." Scratch pointed at himself. "Ghost. Curses. Duh."
Molly then went over and hugged his parents.
"That's Molly alright." they knew Molly's hugs anywhere.
"Sweet. I have a brother now." Darryl said. "But why?"
Pete and Sharon wondered the same thing.
"Because Libby's flirty cousin wouldn't leave her alone." Scratch said.
"I tried to reason with him, but he just wouldn't listen." Molly added. "So Scratch has me staying like this until Gordy leaves Brighton. It's only for the weekend."
"Well I guess we can't blame you." Sharon said. "But I think we need to have a word with Libby's relatives."
"Thanks, Mom. And now to test one of the boy perks I've heard about."
Molly stepped over to his brother and picked him up with a hug.
"Woah! Boys really do have more upper body strength. You feel so much lighter, Darryl. I wonder if I could carry you around town like a baby."
"Not gonna happen." Darryl wiggled and kicked to get out of Molly's grip, but in the process...
*DING!*
"OWWWWWW!" Molly let go of Darryl from accidentally being kicked below the belt and fell to the floor.
*Hiiiiiss!* "Sorry, Molly."
"Are you alright?" Pete asked as he crouched down by Molly's side.
"I thought that part was always exaggerated." Molly said in pain.
"Afraid not. You have your downsides and we have ours."
"At least none of yours happen once a month." Sharon commented.
Molly recovered and got back up.
"Well I'm still looking forward to whatever else it's like being a boy." he said. "Look out, world. Here comes Marty McGee! A.K.A., Boy Molly!"
"Boy Molly? I thought that was your boyfriend across the street." Darryl teased.
"Ollie's not my boyfriend!" Molly denied with a red face.
"Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that." Scratch said. "Hopefully it'll be true later."
The rest of the day and the whole night didn't have anything interesting happen. Then came the morning when Molly had just used the bathroom after having breakfast.
"I just can't get over being able to stand up in a bathroom." he said.
"Too much information." Scratch commented.
The other McGees were all in the living room on Molly's way out.
"Bye, everyone. I'm off to roam the town as a new person."
"Don't forget what to say if anyone asks questions." Sharon said.
"I won't."
Molly opened the door and there on the porch about to ring the doorbell stood Libby who was surprised to see him again.
"Marty?" Libby blushed. "W-w-w-what are you doing here?"
"Didn't Molly tell you?" Molly answered. "I'm her cousin."
"I didn't see much of her yesterday thanks to one of my cousins. How's Molly doing?"
"She plans to spend the day inside so he doesn't keep bothering her."
"Really? That's not like Molly." Libby almost suspected something, but was too distracted to think about it. "But I don't blame her."
As she kept looking at Marty, she developed one of those big blushing smiles and nervously laughed. Scratch and Darryl snickered behind Molly's back.
"I just remembered." Molly lied. "Since Molly can't show me around, she said she was gonna ask you to do it."
"Sh-sh-she did?" Libby's face looked even redder.
"Uh, yeah." Molly then stepped onto the porch. "Would you like to?"
Libby was so flustered that she couldn't think straight.
"Okay!" was all she managed to say.
So they walked together and the tour began. Pete and Sharon went about their business once the two were out of sight. However...
"Ooh hoohoohoo! This is gonna be good." Scratch said.
"Yeah, let's follow them." Darryl agreed.
For a couple hours, Libby had shown Molly the park, the retirement home, her own home, and a few other places. So basically, they didn't go anywhere new.
"And this is the local Diner." Libby said. "W-wo-would you like go in and have something?"
"That sounds good." Molly replied.
The two of them went into the diner and ordered a couple slices of pie before taking a seat.
"So uhm... where are you from, Marty?" Libby asked.
"Canada." Molly hoped that lie didn't give him away.
"Really? I didn't think Molly actually had any cousins up there."
It was then that Molly realized how distracted Libby's brain was.
"Huh. Libby's crush on boy-me makes her easier to fool." he thought. "Maybe this won't be so hard after all."
Meanwhile across the street, Scratch and Darryl were secretly watching Molly and Libby with binoculars, but they weren't amused at all.
"This is getting boring." Darryl said.
"Yeah. Where's all the embarrassing stuff?" Scratch complained. "We've been spying on them for hours and all they've done is talk almost normally. We can't even hear them!"
Then just as the mischievous duo was about to call it quits, they happened to spot someone heading for the Diner.
"Ooh. Maybe things will get interesting after all." Scratch said. "I'll be right back."
Darryl wondered what Scratch was talking about and went back to spying while he entered a ghost portal.
Back inside the Diner, Molly and Libby had finished their pie slices and the latter left some money on the table.
"I think I need to use the restroom." Libby said. "I'll be right back."
Molly happily waited while Libby went to the restroom. A few seconds later, the entrance door opened and in came Andrea. Molly didn't notice her until after she spotted him.
"OMG! Marty! It must be destiny that we met two days in a row." Andrea took the very seat Libby was in before.
"Oh! Hey there, uhhhh... Ann-drea was it?" Molly said on purpose.
"Actually it's Awn-drea." Andrea said before she got all flirty. "But you can call me anything."
Molly was starting to feel like he was in the same pickle that led to his temporary gender change in the first place.
"Oh well, thank you. But I'm waiting for-"
"Sooooo, do you have any plans right now?"
"As a matter of fact-"
"Great! I can show you around town."
Andrea got up, grabbed Molly by the wrist, and pulled him out of the Diner.
Darryl witnessed the whole thing before Scratch returned with a bunch of random ghosts.
"Okay, what'd I miss?" Scratch asked.
"Andrea practically kidnapped Molly." Darryl answered.
"Oooooh. The plot thickens."
Andrea dragged Molly to several places from the Middle School to the Davenport store. They even stopped at her mansion for a bit at one point. The latest stopping point was the movie theater where they watched some love story. Andrea did some typical date things such as holding Molly's hand and leaning on his shoulder. Molly may have liked the movie, but he didn't like what Andrea was doing. By the time they left the theater, Molly was fed up with her.
"She's as bad as Gordy." Molly thought while being dragged by the wrist again. "Why am I even letting her do this to me? Wait. Why am I?"
He skidded to a halt and pulled his arm free.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Andrea asked.
"I was already with someone." Molly said.
"And now you're with someone else. Me."
"No! You don't just drag people away like that!"
"If I really dragged you away from somebody, they would've come looking for you."
"Hey!" Libby shouted as she stormed over to them. "Everyone at the Diner told me what happened! You had no right to steal Marty!"
"I didn't see you with him, so it's not stealing." Andrea replied.
"Well give him back!" Libby grabbed Molly's right arm. "I saw him first!"
"It's not first come, first served!" Andrea grabbed Molly's left arm. "Marty deserves someone more like me!"
The girls then started a tug-o-war, pulling him back and forth.
"Marty's mine!"
"Marty's mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
"Will you two let go of me!?" Molly freed his arms from the bickering girls.
However, neither one was done with the other.
"If you really think you're so great, then you can go have anyone else you want!" Libby yelled.
"Who I want is him, so you can just scram!" Andrea shouted.
"No! You've already separated everyone else from me before, but never again!"
"Oh really!? What are you gonna do about it!?"
For a few seconds, they stared at each other in silence, making Molly feel uncomfortable. The next thing anyone knew, the two girls were in a fist fight and creating a fight cloud.
Several yards away, Darryl was watching the whole thing in shock while Scratch and the other ghosts were enjoying the scene.
"Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!Fight!" they all cheered.
As for Molly, he finally had it up to here with all of this.
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" he screamed.
The fight cloud cleared up and revealed Libby pinning down Andrea.
"I can't believe either of you would act so barbaric just to spend time with someone! What are you, cave-women!?"
Libby let go of Andrea and they both got up to think about what they just heard.
"He's right." Libby said. "We should both know better than this."
"I guess I wasn't really that fair." Andrea admitted. "Like you said, you saw him first. I'm sorry."
She then walked away without another word. Molly would've said something, but that would risk blowing more than just his cover.
"I guess I should go too." Libby turned to leave.
"Hold on." Molly grabbed Libby's shoulder. "You may have acted badly, but it was for a good reason. I would love to spend some more time with you."
"Really?"
"That's right. For today, I am yours."
Libby suddenly realized what she said about him and hid her blushing head in her sweater. Molly just laughed and hugged her out.
"So is there anywhere else you'd like to show me?" he asked.
"I think I know one more good place." Libby led the way.
While they were going to where ever, half of the ghosts who were watching paid the other half some money they apparently lost in a bet before all of them returned to the Ghost World, leaving Scratch and Darryl by themselves.
"I think this is where things get boring again, don't you?" Darryl asked.
"Yeah. Let's go home." Scratch said.
So he and Darryl did just that. Along the way, they happened to pass by a store that Andrea had entered. Andrea now seemed completely ashamed of herself.
"Now that I think about it, I was never fair to Libby." she finally admitted. "I don't know how, but I'm going to make it up to her. All of it."
Then she spotted some interesting magazines.
"Ooh! The latest issue of Tween Vogue! I wonder who the 'Young Lady of the Month' will be this time."
Andrea paid for the magazine and started reading it on the way out. Then she stopped. It turns out that this month's winner was someone she had never heard of until now.
"Alina Webster? She looks interesting."
Libby and Molly ended up at the top of a hill where they could see the whole town. The view was so beautiful that it made Molly feel like he was in a love story. And that's when he realized a big problem. Libby was in love with Marty who was neither returning that kind of love nor going to be around past the weekend. He didn't know what to do. The problem was already starting to weigh on him like a growing boulder. Libby was enjoying the moment in silence which gave Molly time to think about what to do. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near enough time.
"Thanks for letting me show you around." Libby said.
"Sure. Thanks for showing me around." Molly nervously replied.
"To tell you the truth, I might've had a little crush on you since yesterday." Libby was now making it worse. "I bet Molly would be excited to see us together like this."
She just kept adding to the weight.
"I know it's a little too soon and I'm not much, but... would you like to... have a long distance girlfriend?"
And that was what did it.
"I can't do this anymore!" Molly screamed.
"Do what?" Libby asked with concern.
"It's me! Molly!"
Libby face and reaction went from confusion to surprise to shock.
"WHAT!?"
"Gordy wouldn't stop flirting with me, so Scratch cursed me into a boy until he leaves. I never meant to trick you, I swear."
"Then why didn't you tell me from the beginning!?" Libby was now mad. "Better yet, how could you even do this to me!?"
She then ran off with a broken heart. Molly almost went after her, but he was too full of guilt to even bother. So he went home in shame.
Pete was in the backyard, watering the flowers when he heard the sound of a door slamming. He went back inside to find out who had done it.
"Hello?" he called. "Who's home?"
Then he heard another door closing from above and suddenly knew two things. 1: Molly was home. And 2: Something was wrong.
Molly lied on his bed, hugging as many plushies as he could when Scratch came into the room.
"Moll? You Okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." Molly lied.
"That was the lousiest lie I've ever heard."
Then came a knock from the floor.
"Molly? Is everything alright?" Pete asked.
Molly knew this would only go on and gave in.
"No."
Pete opened the door, came up and sat on Molly's bed with him.
"What happened?"
"After spending a few hours with Libby, I felt guilty and told her the truth." Molly explained. "And now she hates me. Maybe she's right. If I had just told her from the start instead of leading her on, I wouldn't have lost one of my best friends."
Pete and Scratch gave Molly a much needed hug.
"If you give Libby a little time, I'm sure she'll forgive you." Pete said.
"Do you really think so?" Molly asked.
"Molly, I've been harassed by my siblings Billy and Jilly for years. If I can forgive them for all of that, then Libby can definitely forgive you for your mistake. Especially if she really is your best friend."
"Thanks, Dad." Molly felt better and hugged Pete back.
Molly waited until the next day and headed for Libby's home with Scratch tagging along. He thought about what to say since yesterday, but still couldn't decide. They finally arrived and found something unexpected. Sure Molly knew Libby's relatives would be leaving today, but what he didn't expect was Gordy getting scolded.
"Now what are you going to say the next time you see Libby's friend?" Gordy's mother sternly asked.
"I'm sorry for hitting on you and creeping you out." Gordy moaned.
"That's right, except you're going to say it like you mean it. Now get in the car."
Once all of the relatives were in said car, they drove off and left Molly and Scratch surprised.
"Okay, I'm gonna say it." Scratch commented. "He may be a man now, but he's not a very good man."
"I guess Mom told them about Gordy's behavior." Molly said.
"No. I did." Libby corrected from behind, getting both her friend's attention. "I also convinced them you were out of town so they don't come looking for you."
"What? But I hurt you." Molly said.
"Well I thought about what you said and realized you were telling the truth." Libby explained.
"Actually, I think I lied to myself."
"Huh?"
"You might wanna continue this discussion where nobody can see the curse wear off." Scratch said as he gestured to the random people walking about.
Molly and Libby looked around and saw how right he was.
"Oh corn. I forgot." Molly said.
So they went into the bookstore and snuck down to the archives. Once inside, they continued their conversation.
"So how did you lie to yourself?" Libby asked.
"Well when I realized you and Andrea had a crush on boy-me the other day, I started wondering if I preferred girls or boys or both." Molly explained. "So the next time I saw you, I played along to find out. I'm not used to having crushes."
"No comment." Scratch said.
"And?" Libby asked.
"Turns out I didn't feel anything romantically." Molly said. "I'm really sorry about the whole experience. Can you ever forgive me?"
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"
And thus they hugged it out. When they released each other, Molly felt something happening and smiled.
"Gordy's out of here!" he said.
His body glowed before shrinking back down and his hair grew back.
"I'm me again! Ah! Even my voice!"
He- I mean she was a girl again.
"And for the record, Libby, if I was a boy or just liked girls, I would definitely want you."
"Well that's a coincidence." Libby replied. "Because I would've wanted you too."
Once again they hugged.
"Okay, couple or not, this is way too mushy for me." Scratch commented.
"That's not what you said about Patty and Bobby." Molly teased.
Libby laughed a little and then something occurred to her.
"I wonder how Andrea will take not seeing 'Marty' again."
At around the same time at Davenport Mansion, Andrea was on her bed reading not only the magazine she bought yesterday, but any and all information she could find on Alina Webster. Never before had she found a more interesting person in her entire life. By the time she finished reading all of the info she gathered, all she could do was sit up in awe and say five words.
"I think I'm in love."
Author's Note: For this chapter, I have two people to thank. The first is Fanofeverything25 who requested this curse at least four times which was unnecessary because I write down all of the suggestions and double check them on my computer. The other one is a guest named Jamie O'Donell who added the idea of Libby and Andrea having a crush on him. That part was so good I couldn't refuse and since this was the first suggestion both in general and with more than one requester, I made this the second curse suggestion to come true in this fic. As for the story itself, I hope you don't mind the inclusion of Gordy. I needed a reason for Molly to become a boy and Gordy was the only idea that made any sense to me. And then there's what happened after the fight between Libby and Andrea. There were some details that were gonna be different at first, but it started to look like a Mollibby love story which I said I wasn't going to do despite liking that ship. Sorry, but this is as close as I'm going to get to that. I wonder if anyone guessed this kind of fight from my previous hint. Oh well.
Next time, Molly's joy will be in jeopardy.