Chapter 8: The Halloween party
October 31, 1968
In the close to three weeks since meeting Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Fred on his first day at Central High, Henry has started to fit right in at Central High and made plenty of friends.
Henry regularly counts Shaggy in his circle of friends, and as his intelligence became known among his friendship circles, Shaggy came to regularly attend study groups with him.
Naturally, as word about Henry's intelligence spreads throughout school, it was only a matter of when for Henry to cross paths with Alice Carswell.
Take Alice's jealousy towards Daphne's increased popularity among the boys, increase it tenfold, then it describes what Henry had to put up from Alice's spitefulness towards his refusal to let her copy his answers to their class assignments.
That spitefulness stemmed from a math class in which Henry deliberately wrote down the wrong answers on an assignment for Alice to copy, and then while she was busy chatting away with her pals, he quickly corrected his answers.
Needless to say, Alice never got over the subsequent embarrassment when she smugly volunteered to be the lead in taking up the assignment answers, only to later find out that the answers she copied from Henry were wrong.
What probably infuriated Alice more was the way Henry casually shrugged off any of her vicious remarks towards him, no doubt he has taken heed of Shaggy, Fred, and Daphne's advisement about her.
It was in the backdrop of Henry's indifference towards Alice's efforts to get under his skin that he, along with the vast majority of the students and faculty, arrived at school in costumes for the occasion of Halloween, complete with a custome party to be held later that afternoon.
Shaggy was dressed as a masked cowboy with his costume consisting of a green shirt, brown jeans, black shoes, a brown vest, a light-brown cowboy hat, a brown scarf, and a green mask, which made him bear some resemblance to the Lone Ranger.
In carrying his guitar, Shaggy had provided a complete picture of a singing cowboy.
As for Scooby, he, too, was dressed as a cowboy, albeit more simpler and consisting of a blue bandana replacing his trademark dog tag, a white shorter cowboy hat, and a brown vest. With his demeanor, one can easily conclude he was Shaggy's sidekick in fighting outlaws.
The duo were walking down the hallway and heading towards Shaggy's locker when they encountered Debbie, who was dressed as a costumed heroine.
"Howdy, Shaggy, Scooby." She said. "I like your costumes."
"Like, thanks, Debbie." Shaggy smiled. "You look really good in that costume, too. Kind of reminded me of Batgirl."
"Thanks." Debbie smiled. "So are you guys looking forward to the party?"
"We sure are, eh Scoob?" Shaggy replied.
"Reah, reah, reah!" Scooby nodded excitedly.
"Hey guys." Henry called out, prompting the trio to turn towards him, only for Scooby to suddenly leap into Shaggy's arms in fright.
Henry was dressed like a Qing mandarin, completely with a long pony tail and mustache, though his face looked pale white and hideous, and at closer look, he was wearing fake long fingernails.
"Zoinks, I almost didn't recognize you, Henry!" Shaggy said as Scooby leaped off his arms upon recognizing Henry in the costume.
"What are you dressed as?" Debbie enquired.
"A goeng-si." Henry explained.
"Roeng-si?" Scooby raised an eyebrow.
"It's kinda like a combination of a Western vampire and zombie." Henry explained. "Though the terms 'hopping corpse', 'hopping undead', or 'zombie' would usually suffice in explaining what it is."
"Like it actually hops when moving around?" Shaggy asked.
"Yes." Henry nodded. "Watch."
Henry raised both his arms forward and then began to hop forward, prompting some other nearby students to pause and turn towards him in puzzlement.
After demonstrating the hop, Henry turned towards the trio and said, "That's how they move, and while they may be mindless like a zombie, they do target the neck of a human like vampires do and occasionally bites."
"Zoinks." Shaggy gulped. "Looks like you'll take the cake in the costume competition."
"We'll see." Henry said.
"Well, well, howdy strangers." A fifth voice joined in, prompting the quartet to turn and see Fred.
With a cowboy hat, orange bandana, brown vest with a yellow star pinned on it, complete with a fake mustache, it didn't take much to figure that he was dressed as a sheriff.
"Hey Fred." Debbie said in greeting.
Nodding back at her, Fred turned towards Shaggy, Scooby, and Henry and said, "Don't reckon I've seen you 'round these parts of town before, stranger."
"Could say the same thing about you, sheriff." Shaggy drawled as he momentarily removed his mask. "Did the town had an election that I missed? Probably should've come by earlier so I could run and beat yer sorry behind."
"Reah reah!" Scooby piped up excitedly.
"How long you suppose you're staying here?" Fred asked, ignoring Shaggy's taunt.
"In the next while, stranger." Shaggy replied with a grin.
"Oh, is that so?" Fred asked. "Around here, my word is law, stranger, and this town ain't big enough for the two of us plus your sidekick here. What do you say about that?"
"Like, I say we draw our weapon." Shaggy replied.
"Fine with me." Fred nodded before the two school rivals prepared for a mock gunfight as students nearby watched with interest and excitement.
With their backs facing each other, the two rivals each took ten paces in the same time.
Then, when it came the moment to draw their weapons, they each took out a sketchbook and a pencil and started drawing.
Fred was the first to finish his drawing and showed it Shaggy. It was a sketch of himself in a combat pose as if he knew martial arts.
"How's this, stranger?" He asked.
"Not bad, sheriff." Shaggy nodded before showing his own drawing.
It was a sketch of himself and Scooby preparing to do some fighting together, with himself being dressed like the Green Hornet while Scooby took on the role of Kato.
Relatively speaking, Shaggy's sketched looked life-like with the 3D realism, a stark contrast to the more-cartoony look of Fred's sketch.
"Like, how's this?" Shaggy then asked.
There were a sea of "Whoa!" coming from the students as they saw Shaggy's sketch.
Fred whistled when he saw the sketch, then he raised his hands up in mock surrender. "Looks like you've just blown me right out of the water, stranger."
Shaggy nodded his thanks as it became clear that he had won the mock gunfight hands down. "Like, the Green Shaggy-net and Scooby Ka-Doo, to the rescue!"
"Reah! Scooby Ka-Doo ro re rescue!" Scooby barked.
"You've won, Shag." Fred said. "But next time, I'll make sure to beat you in drawing after I finish my drawing lessons."
"Yeah, like, good luck with that." Shaggy chuckled.
"But seriously, I really like your costumes there, Shag." Fred said as he put away his sketchbook. "You do look a bit like the Lone Ranger, though with your guitar and without the mask, you quite reminded me of a singing cowboy."
"Oh, really?" Shaggy laughed. "Like, in that case, I probably should be hanging out with a cowgirl and asking her to look me up when she travels to Texas sometime."
(Note: If You're Ever Down in Texas, Look Me Up is the song sung by Tom in the 1950 Tom and Jerry short Texas Tom when he tries to woo a cowgirl)
Gesturing towards Henry, Shaggy added, "Though I think, like, Henry takes the cake with his goeng-si costume."
"A going-what?" Fred asked.
"A goeng-si." Shaggy said. "As in a hopping corpse."
"Like a zombie." Fred offered.
"Yes." Henry nodded.
"Groovy, I barely recognize you in it, Henry." Fred said.
"My sister Suzie and mom spent about five minutes putting on the makeup." Henry said proudly.
"I say it was worth the time." Debbie interjected as the other boys nodded in agreement.
At that moment, Tom, dressed as a cowboy, was chasing Jerry, also dressed as a cowboy, down the hallway, nearly crashing into Fred.
"Like, watch it, guys." Shaggy said to the cat and mouse duo.
The duo paused and nodded, with Tom pointing at Shaggy with a wink as if he was saying, "By the way Shag, I really like your costume."
Jerry nodded as he pointed and winked at Henry, as if he was saying, "Though I think yours take the cake, Henry."
Exchanging looks with Henry, Shaggy said, "Like, if I am not mistaken, Henry, I think both Tom and Jerry thinks your costume is the best."
Turning towards the duo, he added, "Right, guys?"
Both Tom and Jerry nodded enthusiastically, which is when McWolf raced by them, apparently in an effort to lose Droopy.
Seeing Henry in his costume, McWolf paused and whistled lowly in admiration.
Just then, Droopy appeared out of nowhere and said in his signature monotone, "He thinks your costume is the best, Henry."
McWolf nodded in agreement, only to pause when he realized that Droopy is right in front of him. With his eyes bugging out, he quickly raced off in the other direction.
"Ri wonder what re did ro Droopy now." Scooby remarked to the others, who all shrugged in response.
"Beats me." Fred said.
"Golly, was there a cowboy contest or gunfight competition that I missed, guys?" A sixth voice joined in, prompting the septet to turn and see Kelly of the Mysteries Five walking towards them.
She was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood with a red hood over a maid's dress, and Tom resisted the urge to whistle.
"Seems like it, yeah." Debbie responded, nodding at the fact that Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Tom, and Jerry were all dressed as cowboys. "Though you should look at Henry, his is something else entirely."
"I'll say." Kelly agreed as she nodded at Henry. "If I may say so, Henry, you look...dead."
"That's the intention." Henry nodded.
"What is it that you're dressed as?" Kelly asked.
"It's a goeng-si, or zombie to put it simply." Henry explained. "Another way to put it is a hopping corpse, due to its tendency to hop."
'Very frightening." Kelly remarked. "And this outfit...is that how they usually look?"
"Not necessarily, after all, you don't see vampires all dressed with cloaks like Count Dracula now, do you?" Henry asked.
"Good point." Kelly nodded.
"Hey guys." A seventh voice soon joined in, and when they looked, they saw Daphne dressed as a witch with a broomstick and wearing a dress comprising of a purple blouse with black sleeves and a black skirt, complete with a green witch's hat, and a pair of black leather boots.
At the sight of Daphne, both Tom and Jerry resisted the urge to whistle, while Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, and Henry simply stared.
Seeing the boys reactions to Daphne in her costume, Debbie turned towards Kelly and said, "I think Henry's got a serious challenger in the costume contest."
"Tell me about it." Kelly deadpanned.
It was Shaggy that eventually broke the silence as he sputtered, "Like, um, nice costume you're wearing, Daph."
"Rlease don't cast a spell ron rus." Scooby added.
"I think that ship's already sailed, Scooby." Henry said.
Daphne only covered her mouth to suppress an urge to chuckle before she placed her hand on Shaggy's shoulder and said, "Thanks, guys. Must say I really liked your costumes, especially Shag's."
"Thanks." Shaggy nodded. "Like, maybe if I sing If You're Ever Down in Texas, Look Me Up, then I'm definitely fitting in as a singing cowboy."
"And it would seem you were late for the gunfight, Daphne." Debbie said.
"So I've noticed." Daphne nodded.
"Though you should check out Henry's costume, Daph," Shaggy said as he pointed his thumb towards Henry. "Until you came along, we all thought Henry's taking the cake with his goeng-si costume."
"Goeng-si?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.
"Means 'zombie'." Fred explained as Henry nodded. "One that hops, for that matter."
"Golly." Daphne remarked as she turned towards Henry. "Must say you've put a lot of effort into your costume, Henry."
"Ah, my mom and Suzie did most of the hard work, especially with the makeup." Henry said.
Several more students joined in the group, and practically everyone that joined agreed that the costume contest is going to be a tight race between Daphne and Henry.
"If anything, you guys are both gonna have our lunches at the costume contest." Dee-Dee was saying. She was dressed as a pirate.
"It's still too early to say." Henry said. "I still see some equally good costumes that are worth consideration, like Shag's, for instance."
"You've got that right, Henry." Biff agreed. He was dressed as a medieval knight with his armour made of cardboard with tin foil.
"Well, well, if it isn't a bunch of cowboys engaging in cowboy diplomacy." A rather unpleasant voice spoke, prompting everyone to turn and see Alice Carswell and her gang.
Alice was wearing a long purple wig, complete with a tattered dark green dress without sleeves and with a low square neckline, a torn purple scarf around her waist and a stich-filled skirt ending just below the knees.
Her face looked pale, long and gaunt without a nose, no doubt from the makeup, and she had dark blue eye shadow around both her eyes, rosy cheeks, red lips, and false sharp fangs.
Her gang were wearing matching dresses and with similar make up on their faces, complete with pairs of green opera gloves and small green high-heeled shoes.
"Alice Carswell, I may never had guessed if it wasn't for that foul stench of rotten peaches that seems to lurk around wherever you go." Kelly spoke, prompting the others to nod and murmur in agreement.
"At least I don't do my costume cheap." Alice retorted icily before she nodded towards Henry and asked, "And who's the Chinese emperor over there?"
"Well, I guess that solves the very mystery on how you had to repeat history class." Henry replied nonchalantly, prompting a few snickers from the others.
"Alice, Henry's no emperor, he's actually a zombie." One of Alice's gang pointed out.
"Ah yes, I know I can always count on you, Mai Le." Alice replied before focusing on Henry and said, "Really, a zombie? Why the elaborate dress then?"
"Same reason Count Dracula is always seen wearing capes." Henry casually shrugged.
Before Alice could respond, the school bell rang, prompting the students to disperse.
"Anyhow, no time to chat, gotta get to class now." Shaggy said as he placed his hand on Henry's shoulder. "Come on, guys."
Everyone else nodded as they began to disperse with Henry joining Shaggy, Mark, and Skip in heading to their first period class, leaving Alice fuming as usual.
Later that early evening, the school's Halloween party was well underway as students and faculty, all dressed in costumes, gathered in the school gym.
There were refreshments and food, and naturally Shaggy and Scooby, joined by W.W., Too-Much, Tinker, Clam, and a few others were gathered at the food table.
Mark, who was dressed as a doctor, was chatting with Fred as Shaggy, Scooby, Tinker and Henry were chatting away near the refreshment stand.
Tinker was dressed as a construction worker, complete with the safety vest, steel-toed boots, and safety helmet.
"Man, I sure can't wait for the costume contest." Henry remarked as he sipped a cream soda.
"Like, same here, man." Shaggy nodded before taking a bite of his sandwich. "Given what we've seen so far, I think you and Daphne are going head-to-head on who's gonna be crowned as the champion."
"Looking forward to listening the band that you have arranged to come over, Shag." Augie added as he, W.W., Clam, and Mike joined them.
"Yeah, same here." Shaggy agreed as he took a sip of his soda drink.
Meanwhile, at another part of the gym, Daphne was chatting with Debbie, Arlene, Dee-Dee, April, and a few other girls.
"This Halloween party sure is groovy." Arlene remarked. She was dressed as a sorceress for the party.
"You said it, Arlene." Debbie agreed. "Sure can't wait to see the band Shaggy has invited over to perform for the party."
"Same here." Daphne nodded. "And wish the Mysteries Five luck in the regional school band competitions in Los Angeles."
"Yes. To the Mysteries Five." April, who is dressed as a ghost, nodded as she raised her drink of soda.
The other girls followed suit and after clinking each other's glasses, they each took a sip of their respective drinks.
Eventually, the school principal Phillip Spears walked onto the makeshift stage where a lectern and microphone was set up. He momentarily tapped into the microphone before announcing, "Alright Central, listen up!"
With everyone's attention on him, the principal continued, "Thank you all for taking part in tonight's annual Central High Halloween Costume Party."
Looking at the large cluster of cowboys and cowgirls in the crowd, the principal, who was dressed as a mad scientist said, "And given the rather large cluster of cowboys, cowgirls, and sheriffs we have in the crowd, it would seem a lot of us, myself included, missed the memo on the western theme this year, if there ever was a memo."
Glancing at Ethan, who is the Class of 1969's class president and is dressed as a goblin, Spears continued, "Anyhow, while the refreshments were being provided, vote-counting got underway on who will be nominated for the final candidates to vote on in the costume contest tonight."
The faculty murmured as Ethan produced a list and handed it over to Spears, who now began reading the tally from the votes that were casted over the past four days with only one vote per student/faculty.
"Alrighty, let's see who's who on the contest for tonight." Spears began as he read through the list. "The top ten spots of tonight's contest goes to...Yogi Bear, Taffy Dare, Norville Rogers, Daphne Blake, Droopy McPoodle, Henry Chan, Kelly Zimmerman, Huckleberry Hound, Jerry Mouse, and Alice Carswell."
There was some murmurs from the students when Alice's name was mentioned, among them being Shelly Ronaldson, who quietly turned towards Biff and said, "Seriously, that yapping siren got into the top ten spots for the finals?!"
"I know, baffling for sure." Biff agreed. "Guess not a lot of people thought your maid outfit stood out."
"It's not just that, I just don't like the thought of that windbag dominating the contest." Shelly quipped. "Heck, we probably won't hear the end of it for the rest of the year."
As Biff and Shelly chatted, Alice turned towards Shaggy, Daphne, and Henry and placed her hand on her hips.
"Well, well, well, looks like there's something more to you losers than I would've thought." Alice remarked. "Guess it now a matter of how long you guys last in this."
Turning towards the others, Shaggy quipped, "Let's see now...people had said that I would entertain others with my singing cowboy act, Droopy's sure darn good at catching fugitives that fled north of the border, Yogi is keeping the peace in a national park, Huckleberry delivers everyone's mail, Taffy stiches people up when they get hurt, Jerry's keeping the peace with the livestock at a ranch, while both Daphne, Kelly and Henry sure as well gonna attract attention with their authentic outfits."
Turning back towards Alice, Shaggy folded his arms and continued, "Gotta say the odds look good to me, though I'm not sure if I could say the same thing about you, Alice."
"Right there, Shaggy." Yogi nodded. "Because I'm smarter than the average bear!"
"Just you wait and see." Alice huffed dismissively.
After several rounds of voting, which was done through ranked ballot, the costume contest was down to three contestants: Henry, Yogi, and Alice.
Shaggy merely shrugged when he learned that he and Jerry have been eliminated in the latest round of voting, and as he walked off the stage, he walked towards Henry and Yogi.
"Like, you guys got this." Shaggy said. "Guess it's a shame Jerry and I couldn't stay on any longer."
"Oh, no worries, Shaggy." Henry replied as they saw Jerry exchanging shrugs with Tom, who then turned towards Alice with a glare. "As long as either me or Yogi comes out on top, it should be good."
Watching Tom giving Jerry a light pat in the shoulder, Shaggy nodded.
As Shaggy and Henry were chatting, Scooby turned towards Tom and Jerry and noticing the unfavourable glare the former had shot towards Alice, he asked, "Not impressed with the way Alice weaseled her way to the final round?"
"Not at all, Scooby." Jerry shook his head as Tom observed. "She must have quite the hold on her crew."
"Yeah, we sure noticed." Scooby agreed as he nodded towards Shelly and continued, "If even someone like Shelly Ronaldson gets rubbed the wrong way, it's practically an indicator on how bad she really is."
"Who are you planning to vote for, Scooby?" Tom asked.
"I'm kinda split between Yogi and Henry, but one thing for certain is that I won't bother wasting ink ranking Alice at all." Scooby replied.
"Exactly our thoughts." Jerry said as Tom nodded in agreement.
Elsewhere in the gym, Daphne was chatting with Fred, Biff, Dee-Dee, Mark, Skip, April, Butch, and Stephanie.
"So who'd you guys think will be the costume champion?" Daphne was saying.
"You know, it's kinda a toss-up between Yogi and Henry." Stephanie responded. "Sure is a mystery how Alice made it to the final round, though."
"You said it, Steph." April agreed.
As the partying continues, the school principal took to the stage.
"Okay, students and faculty, listen up!" Principal Spears announced, getting the attention of all of the students and faculty. "The final round of the student Halloween costume contest is now under way and we're down to three contestants."
Gesturing towards Yogi in his ranger costume, Principal Spears announced, "Yogi Bear!"
There were loud cheers and whistles from the students and faculty, prompting Yogi to clasp his paws and shook them.
Gesturing towards Henry Chan in his goeng-si costume, the principal continued, "Henry Chan!"
The loud cheers and whistling continued as Henry hopped ahead with his arms straight forward, prompting Principal Spears to chuckle as he said, "Must say that was quite the demonstration of his zombie hop."
Turning towards Alice, Spears continued, "And last but not least, Alice Carswell."
As if what the principal had just said had killed the partying mood, the cheers, applause, and whistling from earlier died down. What cheering that did remain was much more-scattered, and if one were to listen closely, some boos can even be heard.
"Oh, come on. I'm sure you all liked my costume." Alice fumed.
Turning around to look, McWolf traced the sources of the cheers to members of Alice's gang.
Shaking his head, McWolf turned towards Droopy, who asked, "Impressive, isn't it?"
"If those cheers were the definition of 'impressive', then my southern cousin have just successfully taken down a brick house." McWolf drawled.
Having had heard the scattered cheers coming from Alice's gang when Alice's name was mentioned, Shaggy turned towards Daphne and quipped, "Like, perhaps if you cast a spell that transforms us into clapping seals, Daph, maybe Alice will get the cheers she so desperately craves for."
"That'll be something alright, Shag." Daphne chuckled.
Amidst the chatter, Principal Spears said, "Voting as usual will be taking place over the next hour, so be sure to cast your ballot during this time. While the rules remain largely the same as previous rounds, as a change we have decided to have the hall monitors supervise the voting process."
Gesturing towards the pair of ballot boxes, which is flanked by the hall monitors, Principal Spears continued, "Once you cast your vote, the hall monitors will cross your name off and you cannot vote again, nor could you cast your vote on someone else's behalf. It would seem that this step wasn't explained properly in the previous rounds."
There were some murmurs amongst the students as it was slowly dawning on everyone on how Alice was able to make it to the final round.
"Well, I suppose that explains how that windbag was able to make it to the final round." Dee-Dee quipped.
"Don't I know it." Taffy remarked. She was the first of the final ten to be eliminated in the first round of voting.
Noticing the way the class president, who had oversaw the voting process in the previous rounds, was interacting with Alice off-stage, April turned towards Fred and said, "Hmmm, given the way the voting process was handled, I wonder if Ethan Wicker is up to something with Alice."
"Something about the voting process certainly smells fishy." Fred agreed. "We may wanna go fishing and get to the bottom of this for sure."
"So without further adieu, may the final round of voting..." Principal Spears was about to continue when the whole gym suddenly went dark.
"Holy moly! What's going on?" Biff asked.
"Seems like the lights have went-" Clam was saying just as a minor explosion was heard, then a eerie blue light came on, accompanied by shots of thick smoke.
And to everyone's bewilderment, a glowing zombie-like figure in a vintage football uniform emerged from the smoke as it cackled.
"Students of Central!" The zombie football player hollered. "You have wronged me for a good 25 years and this has gone on long enough!"
"Great Scott, I don't believe it!" Principal Spears mouth dropped open, prompting Shelly, Taffy, and Augie to turn towards him in surprise.
"Restore my good name and acknowledge my contributions to this school's athletic achievements, or you shall suffer the consequences!" The zombie football hollered as it pointed at the assembled students and faculty. "You hear? Great consequences!"
As the zombie football player cackled, the eerie blue light beam shut off and then the lights returned.
When the lights returned, the students and faculty turned towards each other in confusion.
"What on earth was that about?" Augie asked. "Was that part of the party?"
"I don't remember seeing someone dressed as a ghost football player." Biff frowned. "Surely he would stand out if-"
"The 1944 Football Champion Plaque! It's gone!" Someone shouted, cutting Biff off from his remark.
All the students and faculty turned towards where all the plaques were hung on the wall, and sure enough, in between the football champion plaques for the 1924 and 1946 seasons stood a blank area supposed to be occupied by the plaque for the 1944 season.
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