Okay, next one. "No Good Deed." Again, not a very memorable one and unlike the last episode, the song doesn't really make up for much. But I'll do my best!

Here we go!

Stretch, Stinkie, & Fatso: Muahahahahahaaaa!

Molly: Can't believe you're all mine

Fatso: Uh, what?

Molly: You and me for all time

Stretch: No way!

Molly: I'm never, ever, EVER gonna be alone again

Stinkie: This stinks!

Molly: It's just you three and me

Fatso: For all eternity?!

Molly: For all ETERNITY!

Stretch, Stinkie, & Fatso: NOOOO!

Molly & Ghostly Trio: It's the Ghost-Ghostly Trio and Molly McGee

Fatso: We've been cursed!

Stinkie: It's the worst!

Molly: Now you're stuck with me

Molly & Ghostly Trio: We're never gonna be apart

Stretch: Is there a way to hit 'restart'?

Molly: Nope!

Molly & Ghostly Trio: We're the Ghost-Ghostly Trio and Molly McGee

Molly: That's me!

Stinkie: Well, that's she. Hee, hee, hee!

Molly & Ghostly Trio: Ghostly Trio and Molly McGee!

Fatso: Oh yeah!

Chapter 12

Goody Boo-Shoes

It was another average day at Brighton Middle School. Things were just as quiet and dull as they'd always been. Teachers were in their classrooms spouting off boring lessons while students did their best to listen without dozing off. Little did they know, though, that things were about to get way more interesting.

Darryl McGee discreetly pushed the janitor's cart down the hallway and to the top of the staircase. After setting it in the perfect position and adjusting it to the correct angle, Darryl turned to his invisible cohorts, the Ghostly Trio.

"You guys sure about this?"

"C'mon, kid! Live a little!" Stretch argued. "Have we ever steered ya wrong before?"

"I mean…yeah."

"But ya always had fun when we did, right?" Stinkie reminded him.

Darryl grinned. "Well…yeah."

"And let's face it, these poor kids could use a little excitement right now, riiiight?" Fatso encouraged.

"Yeah! You're exactly right!" Darryl climbed into the cart and strapped on a pair of safety goggles. "Okay, boys…let's do this…"

The Trio whooped and joined Darryl in the cart.

"Three…two…one!"

The cart tipped down the staircase and the next thing Darryl and the ghosts knew, they had flown out the school doors and had gone airborne. The kids at recess looked up in awe and cheered as Darryl flew by. He waved to them before landing, the cart still maintaining momentum.

"Yay! Go Darryl!" the kids cried.

Darryl then zoomed by a custodian, allowing Stretch to swipe his leaf blower and use it to build up the cart's speed.

"Oh yeah, baby!" Fatso fist pumped.

"Let's reek and roll!" Stinkie cheered.

Next, Darryl swung by the basketball court where his sister, Molly, was practicing her dribbling. He did a few spins around the hoop, launching the Trio out of the cart and into Molly's face.

"Uh…guys?" she quickly removed them. "What's going on?"

"Oh, just some typical playground mischief." Stretch told her.

"Not that you'd understand, Little Miss Play-by-the-Rules." Stinkie remarked.

"Whoo! That's my man!" Fatso called. "Go, D-Dog!"

Darryl slid the cart onto a damaged fence like a ramp and soared into the air once more.

"Aw yeah!"

Finally, Darryl removed his goggles, jumped out of the cart, and did a somersault onto the ground in front of the other students while the cart crashed behind him.

"Ta-da!"

The students surrounded the troublemaking boy and began showering him with compliments.

"Yeah!"

"Way to go, Darryl!"

"That was awesome!"

They lifted him into the air and chanted:

"Darryl! Darryl! Darryl!"

Darryl laughed, enjoying all the attention the students were giving him. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones to notice his little stunt.

Just then, a loud whistle blew across the schoolyard and the other kids immediately dropped Darryl and made a run for it. When Darryl sat up, he was face-to-face with three of the school's faculty members: Miss Lightfoot, the science teacher, Mrs. Roop, the history teacher, and Mr. Bates, the gym coach. All of them looked very angry.

After school, the three teachers, along with Principal O'Connor, had arranged a meeting with Darryl and his parents. Molly and the Trio waited outside, listening in through the door.

Principal O'Connor was looking through Darryl's permanent record, which was stacked full with reports of misbehavior.

"So, what is he up to now, Principal O'Connor?" Pete asked.

"This is his 27th offense…" Principal O'Connor reported.

"Oh. That's…surprisingly low for him." Sharon noted.

"…in the last three weeks."

Sharon and Pete gave their son a look of disapproval.

"The punishment will have to be severe." the principal informed them.

"C'mon, this isn't fair!" Darryl insisted. "I'm just tryin' to have a little fun."

"I believe now is a good opportunity to run down the list of your son's most recent charges." Mrs. Roop suggested. "But in the interest of time, we'll just give you the highlights."

The Trio phased their heads through the door as the history teacher found a report she had written up.

"Here we are. Last Tuesday, Darryl took it upon himself to fill my entire classroom with spiders before school started. How he got in though, I have no idea, since I always keep my door locked."

Stretch laughed to himself. "Like a locked door is gonna stop a ghost!"

"That's nothing!" Miss Lightfoot grabbed a report of her own. "On Wednesday, he planted a stink bomb in the girl's restroom!"

Stinkie kissed his fingers. "Ah, my finest creation yet."

Finally, Mr. Bates retrieved his report. "No, the worst incident was when he stole all the ice cream sandwiches from the cafeteria and handed them out to everyone in gym!"

"To be fair, I didn't give away all of them." Darryl pointed out.

"He's right," Fatso claimed. "I ate the majority."

Miss Lightfoot scoffed at Mr. Bates. "Really? That was the worst incident for you?"

"He gave out ice cream…in gym class!" Mr. Bates emphasized. "Don't you understand how contradictory that is?"

"You wouldn't think it was that bad if you were a woman and had to go into the restroom just to have your nostrils assaulted with the worst smell known to humankind!"

Mrs. Roop rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Couldn't have been worse than that stinky salmon you microwave in the teacher's lounge."

"I have a vitamin D problem!" Miss Lightfoot argued.

"Take a supplement!" Mrs. Roop demanded.

"Supplements are a lie!" Mr. Bates yelled.

Principal O'Connor sighed and rubbed his forehead as the teachers kept going back and forth between each other.

"I really need to schedule a teacher team-building day…"

Molly pulled the Trio through the door.

"Well? What's going on in there?"

"Chaos like ya wouldn't believe!" Stretch stated. "It's a face-off!"

"It's a fight to the death!" Stinkie added.

Fatso reappeared in a mustache and red hat. "It's-a-me, Fatso!"

Annoyed, Stretch force-fed his youngest brother a purple mushroom, causing him to shrink.

"Wait, they're fighting?" Molly worried. "Who's winning? Is it Darryl? He's taken at least one-and-a-half taekwondo classes."

"No, the fight's between the teachers!" Stretch explained. "So move outta the way before we miss the good stuff!"

"No, no, no! Wait!" Molly warned, but it was too late. The Trio charged right at the door while she was standing in front of it, splattering her with ectoplasm.

"I believe I've come up with a fair punishment." Principal O'Connor finally said.

"Hopefully it's expulsion." Mr. Bates grumbled.

"Oh, you would suggest that." Miss Lightfoot glowered.

"What's your solution, then? Gentle reassurance?" Mr. Bates retorted.

"Enough!" Principal O'Connor commanded. "I've made my decision. And that decision is…"

He slipped a piece of paper in front of the McGees.

"Six years detention!"

Darryl picked up the paper and read it. "But…middle school is only three years."

The principal laughed in a condescending way. "Not at the rate you're going!"

All four faculty members gave Darryl one last look of disappointment and then the meeting was adjourned.

"There goes your fresh start at a new school!" Sharon scolded on the car ride home.

"I thought Brighton was gonna be different, Darryl!" Pete lectured.

"Hey, go easy on the kid." Stretch offered from the trunk.

"Yeah, he was only tryin' to liven up recess." Stinkie added.

"Things haven't been the same since they condemned the swingset." Fatso mentioned.

"Oh, don't even get me started on you three!" Sharon directed her anger at the Trio. "You're always encouraging him to behave like this! You've been bad influences since day one!"

"How dare you!" Stretch sneered. "Sure, we may give 'im the motivation, but Darryl's the one who decides whether to act from it!"

"Yeah, it ain't like we're mind-controllin' him or anythin'!" Stinkie promised. "Right, Darryl?"

The Trio surrounded the boy with mischievous grins spread across their faces. Suddenly, Darryl began to stare off into space with a blank expression.

"Yes, masters…"

The Trio snickered, prompting Molly to throw them back into the trunk. Once Darryl snapped out of it, he sighed.

"Molly? What's your secret? You've never gotten called down to the principal's office a day in your life. What are you doing that I'm not?"

"It's more about what I'm not doing." Molly admitted.

"Which is pretty much anythin' you're doin'." Fatso phased through the backseat and poked Darryl on the nose.

"Well, then do you think you could teach me your ways?" Darryl requested. "Show me how to not get into trouble?"

Molly beamed. "Ooh, like…nice lessons? I think I might be able to provide those."

As soon as the family got home, Molly wasted no time setting up a goodness curriculum for her brother. Once she finished, she called him, as well as the Trio, down into the basement (with the door open, just in case another Polterguzzler was on the loose).

"Welcome, class, to my first ever seminar, 'How to be Good'!"

"Boooo!" the Ghostly Trio heckled.

"Just to clarify, we ain't tryin' to scare ya." Fatso explained.

"We just think ya stink!" Stinkie finished with a laugh.

"Yeah, bein' good's for suckers!" Stretch claimed, stuffing a literal lollipop into Molly's mouth.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Molly spat out the candy and groaned in annoyance. She then picked up a spray bottle and squirted its contents into the Trio's faces.

"Gah! Hey, what the-?"

"What is that stuff?"

"It's in my eyes!"

Molly smirked. "Please refrain from distracting the other students. Now, for our first lesson, we'll be learning the twelve steps to being good."

"Twelve?!" Darryl whined. "How am I even going to learn two? My attention span is like fifteen minutes, including a snack breeeaaa…" he turned his head at a fly buzzing around the basement.

Molly looked through her presentation slides.

"Okay, we'll skip being considerate to your elders, having a strong moral compass, befriending stray kittens…um…why don't I just boil it down to the three essentials…"

Fatso raised his hand. "Stretch, Stinkie, and Fatso?"

"Uh…no. The three steps are 'Think about others,' 'See the problem, be the solution,' and 'Take responsibility.'"

Stretch scoffed. "Oh please. If ya ask me, the steps should be: 'Think about scarin' others,' 'see the problem, be a bigger one,' and 'Take whatever ain't yours'!"

"Don't make me use this again." Molly threatened him with the spray bottle. "Okay, let's begin with step one!"

For the first lesson, Molly tried to teach Darryl, and the Trio by extension, the importance of thinking of others. She demonstrated by laying out exactly five donuts on Darryl's desk, hinting at him to share them with the rest of the class. But instead, Darryl ate all the donuts himself. Frustrated, Molly went to grab the rest of the donuts so Darryl could try again, only to find Fatso inside the box, having eaten them all.

So, Molly moved on to step 2: "See the problem, be the solution." To help him learn this, Molly took her brother to pick up trash. At first, things didn't go well, thanks to Stinkie throwing trash at the two of them, egging Darryl to throw it back. But when Darryl noticed Molly was struggling to pick up after their mess, he did the right thing and helped her out. Molly grinned at this, for the lessons were starting to take effect.

Finally, it was time for step 3: "Take responsibility." This was the ultimate test for Darryl to prove he would start on a new path. Over the next few days, Darryl made up gift baskets for each of his teachers in an effort to say he was sorry for his past actions. Stretch, of course, tried to ruin this kind gesture by attempting to put spiders into the baskets, but thankfully, Molly stopped him in time.

When the teachers received their gifts, they were very pleased with them and the new Darryl. But it wasn't just them. Molly was very proud of him, too. Most of all, though, Darryl was proud of himself. It seemed Molly's goodness lessons had made things better for everyone. Well, except for the Trio, but Molly figured she would deal with one bad egg at a time.

It's nice to be nice

As my mother once said

It's good to be good

And it's fun to be fun

It's nice to be nice

Ooh…

It's nice to be nice

To be nice, to be

Ooh…

It's nice to be nice

As my mother once said

It's good to be good

And it's fun to be fun

By the time next Monday rolled around, Darryl had made a complete turnaround. In the morning before school, he even prepared breakfast for everyone in the McGee house.

Molly, Pete, Sharon, and the Ghostly Trio entered the kitchen to find the table set and Darryl wearing a tuxedo and fake mustache, his hair neatly combed and a towel around his arm.

"Dear family," he bowed. "Breakfast is served. Lots of condensed milk on the roti canai just how you like it."

"Wow, how'd you know?" Sharon took her seat, prompting Darryl to place a napkin in her lap.

"Nice people pay attention. Molly taught me that." he winked at his sister before pouring Pete a glass of juice.

"This is just like a restaurant!" he noted.

"This is so sweet of you, Darryl. Thank you." Sharon acknowledged. "Molly, I think it's safe to say your lessons worked!"

"Yep!" Molly boasted. "I'll admit it was harder than I thought it would be, mainly because the Trio kept trying to work their magic on Darryl like usual, but I think they realize now that goodness always prevails! And maybe the lessons have even inspired them to change their ways, too. Right, fellas?"

Stretch gave her a wicked smile. "Oh yeah, you're right, Molly. We're practically goody two-shoes now thanks to you! In fact, we even convinced Darryl to do a good deed to surprise you."

"Really? What is it?"

"You'll find out." Stinkie assured her with a snicker. "Once ya get to school…"

"OMG, I can't wait! Everyone, hurry up and finish your breakfast so we can go!" Molly ordered.

Before the other family members could take another bite, Fatso ate the remaining food on their plates.

"Mmm! Speakin' of goodness, that roti is divine!"

Later on, Molly and Darryl got dropped off at school.

"Okay, guys! We're here!" Molly said to the Trio once her parents were gone. "So, what incredibly nice thing did you convince Darryl to do?"

Stretch chuckled. "Just wait."

"You'll see it any second now." Stinkie claimed.

Fatso looked at his watch. "Three…two…one…"

Suddenly, several cop cars came zooming toward the school building, followed by a news media van.

"Wait…what's going on?" Molly wondered.

That's when she noticed all of the students crowded together near the front entrance. Principal O'Connor was there too, and from the looks of it, he was panicking about something.

"The teachers!" he cried. "The teachers are missing!"

Upon hearing this, the other students cheered and immediately started creating havoc.

"Wait!" Principal O'Connor chased after them. "I'm still responsible for you until 3:14 pm!"

Molly and Darryl stood wide-eyed as two students lifted the news van and somehow managed to flip it over.

"Wow!" Darryl was impressed with the whole situation. "This turned out even better than I thought it would!" he turned to the Trio. "Thanks for giving me the idea, guys!"

The Trio blushed.

"Aw, shucks!"

"Don't mention it, kid."

"It's our pleasure. No, really, we love doing this."

"Hold on…" Molly lifted her brother by his shirt. "This is the good deed the Trio convinced you to do?!"

"Yep." Darryl nodded. "But if I'm being honest, they probably wouldn't have come up with it without your help, Molly."

"My help?!"

"They told me it was your lessons that inspired them to inspire me to take action."

"What?! How?!"

"Cue the flashback!" Fatso ordered.

A few days prior, Darryl was busy putting together the gift baskets for his teachers when the Trio entered his room.

"Hey, D-man!" Stinkie greeted. "Check out what we found!"

Fatso held out a handful of dirt and worms.

"Pretty disgustin' huh?" Stretch asked. "I bet yer dad will think so too after we put 'em in his coffee. Wanna watch us do it?"

"Sorry, Stretch." Darryl apologized, tying a bow to a basket. "I gotta get these done."

"Hmph." Stretch picked up one of the baskets. "So, you're really takin' Molly's good lessons seriously, ain't ya?"

"Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, being a troublemaker is fun and all, but Molly showed me that being good can be fun too."

Stretch snorted. "Right. 'Cause pickin' up someone else's garbage for free is a rip-roarin' good time."

"Well, it really depends on the kind of garbage." Stinkie pointed out.

"Okay, yeah. I admit Molly's made me do a ton of boring stuff. But she's just trying to help me."

"Help you…or help the teachers?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it Darryl," Stretch wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder. "Molly keeps goin' on and on about how good she is, but ya ever notice how she only seems to act good toward one side? The teachers are happy, sure, but what about those poor kids at school? They don't seem to be benefittin' from yer new outlook in any way."

"Yeah," Stinkie concurred. "After all, without you, they don't got no one to give them a little excitement in their dull, worthless lives!"

Darryl frowned. "Huh. I guess I never thought about it that way. Maybe there's something I can do for them, too?"

"Exactly our thoughts!" Stretch agreed. "Actually, we already know how yous can make it up to those snot-nosed skin sacks."

"Yep!" Fatso cut in. "And it's reeeeaaal easy!"

"'Cause ya only gotta do one thing!" Stinkie finished.

"Really?" Darryl perked up. "What? Tell me!"

"Relax, kiddo." Stretch patted Darryl's head. "We'll tell ya. As long as ya don't go repeatin' what ya heard to yer teacher's pet of a sister."

"I promise! I won't tell anyone else!" Darryl swore.

"Okay. In that case…" Stretch pressed his face against Darryl's. "All ya gotta do…is get rid of those pesky teachers…"

Darryl paused to think about this suggestion. "Wait…what?"

"You asked how ya can make those little bone bags happy." Stretch recalled. "And that's how ya do it!"

"Yeah, but…getting rid of the teachers? Doesn't sound like something Molly would say is a 'good deed.'"

"Sure it is!" Stretch argued. "It follows her lessons to a T! You're seein' there's a problem, so you're gonna take responsibility to think of others and find a solution to that problem! The problem bein', of course, that teachers ruin all our-I mean, your fun! So, what's the solution? Make 'em go away!"

"Make 'em hit the road!" Stinkie persuaded.

"Make 'em laugh, make 'em laugh! Don't you know everyone wants to laugh?" Fatso sang.

"I'll laugh…at this!" Stretch whacked Fatso on his head.

"So, how am I going to pull this off?" Darryl asked.

"We already got somethin' in mind. As long as you give us your permission. You do trust us, right?"

Stinkie and Fatso surrounded Darryl on both sides and the kid stared into Stretch's eyes, which almost looked like they had spirals in them.

"Yes masters…I trust you completely…" Darryl said nonchalantly.

Stretch patted his head once again. "There's a good boy…"

The Trio then let out an evil laugh.

Back in the present day, Darryl continued to tell Molly about how they pulled off the scheme.

"So, the plan was to send the teachers somewhere else entirely. I didn't know where at first, but then Stretch reminded me about the prisoner pickup we saw during our highway cleanup. Then the Trio swiped some orange jumpsuits and I packed them in the teachers' gift baskets, along with some notes I forged from Principal O'Connor that made their team-building day seem legit! Is that brilliant or what?"

Molly was speechless at first.

"…So…in other words…you sent our teachers to prison?!"

Darryl raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait…what's with your face? That doesn't look like a face that says you're proud of me."

SNAP!

Molly and Darryl saw a brief flash and turned to see Stretch holding Molly's phone.

"Check it out, boys! We got another pic for the 'Molly McGee's Biggest Fails' album!"

"Ooh, do one with the failure filter!" Stinkie suggested.

Darryl gave a big smile and two thumbs-up as Stretch switched on a filter, covering his face with a goofy-looking emoji and Molly's with a sad emoji.

"So, I did good, right?" Darryl nudged his sister.

"No!" Molly shouted. "You did bad! Very bad! This is like the worst possible thing you could have done!"

"No it ain't," Fatso disagreed. "He could have killed someone!"

Molly pointed a finger at the ghosts. "And you three! You turned my own lessons against me! I thought you said you were goody two-shoes now!"

Stretch smirked. "Yeah, well, the funny thing about bein' a goody two-shoes is…you kinda gotta wear shoes!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the Trio laughed in her face.

"Ugh!" Molly was exasperated. "What are we gonna do, Darryl?"

"What do you mean?" Darryl questioned. "There's nothing to do! I made everyone happy!"

"You made the kids happy, but what about the teachers?! You think they're happy?! In prison?!"

Darryl's face fell. "Oh…I guess I didn't think about that. To be fair, Stretch told me teachers don't have feelings."

"He what?! You…never mind! We'll deal with the Trio's corruption of you later! Right now, we have to-"

Darryl and the Trio threw out guesses.

"Flee the country?"

"Flip over more cars?"

"Stink up the playground?"

"Get more ice cream sandwiches?"

Molly became annoyed. "Save the teachers!"

Darryl glanced at the Trio. "She really does have weird ideas on what fun is."

Meanwhile, at the Brighton Correctional Facility, Miss Lightfoot, Mrs. Roop, and Mr. Bates were being escorted into the building with the other prisoners.

"Huh, strange place for team building." Mr. Bates observed. "But what do I know?"

Mrs. Roop chuckled. "Bates, don't give me a set-up line like that."

The three teachers were then placed into their own cell by an officer.

"Oh, I see what this is!" Miss Lightfoot beamed. "It's an escape room! And it's so realistic-looking, too! The walls even smell like…" she sniffed. "Despair!"

Mrs. Roop got out her phone. "I should let my wife know I'll be late for dinner!"

The officer swiped it out of her hands and crushed it with his fist. "No phones!"

Mrs. Roop wasn't upset, however. "How authentic!"

"Oh please. You two are so easily impressed." Mr. Bates approached the bars. "These are totally fake. Watch."

The gym coach bit into the bars to demonstrate how poorly-made they were, but instead he ended up losing his false teeth.

"Huh." he discreetly put them back in. "Okay, production value isn't bad."

"Enough wasting time!" Mrs. Roop insisted. "Pam's makin' stroganoff tonight and I don't wanna miss that! Start lookin' for those clues!"

The three of them spread out and began searching for a way out.

Outside the prison, Molly and Darryl had just arrived, trying to convince a guard to let them in.

"You don't understand!" Molly begged. "They were falsely imprisoned!"

"Sorry, kid." the guard told her. "I'm not lettin' you in and I'm definitely not lettin' anyone out."

Molly stepped away sadly and Darryl put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I know another way we can get in."

"Wait…you do?"

"Yeah…but…it may involve being just a little, teeny, tiny bit bad."

The Trio appeared beside Molly.

"That's it. Come over to the dark side, Moll." Stretch persuaded.

"Yeah! The fun side!" Stinkie added.

"Molly McGee, I am your father." Fatso said in a deep voice while wearing a black helmet.

Stretch slapped him. "That ain't even how you're supposed to say the line."

Darryl led the group over to a fence on the other side of the facility.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Molly inquired. "We gonna climb over the fence or something?"

"Why would we do that when we can just go through it instead?" Darryl pointed out.

"But…we can't go through a fence."

"Maybe we can't…but we've got someone who can."

Darryl gestured to the Ghostly Trio.

"Oh, that is so predictable." Stretch rolled his eyes. "Countin' on us to solve your problems again, huh?"

"I mean, why not?" Molly asked. "Seeing as how you're the ones who caused this."

"Oh and now you're blamin' us for your problems, too. I'm sorry, just whose idea was it to send the teachers to prison again?"

"Yours!" Molly screamed.

"Oh yeah, you're right." Stretch grinned. "It was our idea."

"We're such geniuses." Stinkie commented.

"Next week, we should enroll 'em in the military!" Fatso offered.

Molly was growing more and more irritated. "Will you guys just go through the fence so you can let us in already?!"

"All right, all right." Stretch relented. "Maybe you oughta get some lessons of your own on how to control that temper. Let's go, boys."

The Trio lined up near the fence.

"On three…one…two…three!"

They charged toward the fence and then…

ZAP!

They successfully made it to the other side, but not before the fence zapped them with a powerful surge of electricity. The three fell onto the ground, not moving.

"Oh.." Darryl winced. "I guess it's an electric fence. Heh, heh…good thing we did not decide to climb over that." he looked at Molly. "So, uh…are they dead?"

"Um…I don't think a ghost can die…"

Suddenly, the Trio sprang up, their eyes crossed and big, dopey smiles spread across their faces.

"Woo! What a rush!"

"I feel so alive! Metaphorically speaking."

"Ooh, I'm still tingling!"

They noticed Molly standing on the other side.

"Hey! Look, fellas!" Stretch pointed. "It's our best friend, Molly McGee!"

"Hey, Molly!" Stinkie waved. "Lookin' good! Smellin' good, too!"

Molly sniffed herself, knowing that if Stinkie liked how she smelled, she must have smelled bad. She didn't seem to stink.

"Uh…thank you?"

"Aw, ain't she just precious?" Fatso cooed. "No wonder we gave up on breaking that curse that binds us forever!"

"Hey, if I wasn't so loopy, I'd bean you over the head for revealin' that." Stretch threatened. "But I'm too happy to care!"

"Me too!" Stinkie cried out.

"You know somethin'? I love you guys!" Fatso squealed.

"Aw, c'mere, ya big lug!" Stretch hugged him, along with Stinkie.

"I love you, too!"

"And we really, really love you, Molly!" all three exclaimed.

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Huh. The secret to bringing out a ghost's nice side is…electricity? I wonder how you fit that in a spray bottle?"

Back inside, the teachers were still looking around for clues, still believing that they were there for a team-building activity. They believed it so much, in fact, they even ignored the most obvious signs that this wasn't a game, like a literal sign in their cell that read: "This is not a game!"

Eventually, Miss Lightfoot looked under a poster of a monkey and found a huge crack in the wall.

"Ooh! Do you think this is a clue?"

The other two came over to investigate.

"Well, well! Nice goin', Lightfoot." Mr. Bates complimented. "Usually I find you feckless and annoying, but this time you've proved me wrong. This time."

"Great, so all we have to do is crack open the wall and crawl our way out!" Mrs. Roop concluded. "Quick, grab whatever pointy object you can find and start digging!"

She and Miss Lightfoot both picked up some spoons and immediately got to work on their escape while Mr. Bates stood watch.

"Hold on! Someone's coming!"

A guard walked by their cell to check in on them, but by the time he arrived, the hole was covered back up and the teachers were in the middle of doing their own exercises (Mrs. Roop did push-ups on the floor, Miss Lightfoot hung herself off the window to do sit-ups, while Mr. Bates meditated on the bed). The guard shrugged and went on his way, allowing the educators to get back to digging.

"Phew!"

"Got away with that one."

They kept digging and digging until at long last, they broke through the wall.

"Yes!" Miss Lightfoot cheered. "We did it!"

She turned to high-five her fellow teachers, but they seem distracted by something. Looking up, Miss Lightfoot realized what they were seeing: a very, very tall electric fence blocking the way out. A bird flew up to the fence and got zapped, freeing its soul.

"Something tells me we're not outta the woods yet." Mr. Bates said.

Molly and Darryl, meanwhile, were still waiting for the Trio to open the door for them. But they seemed a little distracted from having their brains scrambled due to the electricity. Fatso was playing a guitar and all of them were singing.

"It's nice to be nice as my mother once said…"

"Uh, you guys?" Molly spoke up. "Are you gonna let us in now?"

"It's good to be good and it's fun to be fun! Oh yeah…"

"That's beautiful, guys. Now will you open the door for us, please?"

"Hey, Molly! This one's for you, old pal!" Fatso called and started playing a different, familiar tune. "We're the Ghost-Ghostly Trio and Molly McGee!"

Stretch and Stinkie clapped.

"Yeah!"

"That's my jam!"

Molly groaned. "I'm starting to miss when they acted like jerks. Unless they're still acting like jerks and this is just some new way to get on my nerves."

"Just leave 'em alone, Molly." Darryl slumped onto the ground. "I don't think we're gonna get the teachers out anyway. No matter what, I'm just no good at being good. Even without the Trio influencing me, I'm always gonna be…bad."

Molly patted him on the back. "Hey, you're not gonna get perfect overnight. Give it time. For now…" she picked up a couple of shovels and handed one to her brother. "…Let's get diggin'! But first…"

She got out her phone and started to film the Trio singing praises of her. Darryl gave her an unamused look.

"What?" Molly shrugged. "It's for memory purposes."

While this was going on, the guard from earlier passed by the teachers' cell again. However, he had to do a double take once he realized it was completely empty. At once, he sent word about the escape and the whole place went into lockdown. A searchlight shone down onto the teachers, catching them red-handed.

"Over here!" a guard shouted.

A dog barked and gave chase to the three of them. They ran around a corner, accidentally bumping into a prisoner holding a leaf blower, knocking him into a prisoner who was spotting his friend as he lifted weights, and then smacking the hat off a buff inmate who was meditating. Soon, a free-for-all had started in the prison yard.

"Obstacle course!" Mr. Bates declared.

He began crawling on the ground, instructing the other two instructors to do the same.

"Wait a minute…" the weightlifter spoke up as they passed. "Ms. Roop?"

Mrs. Roop recognized him. "Tommy Knuckles? Sixth-grade history?"

"Third period!" they said simultaneously.

Before he could say any more, Mrs. Roop's former student fell over from the barbell.

"Freeze!" a guard ordered.

Mrs. Roop kept moving, only to realize she had lost track of the other teachers.

"Psst!"

She heard a whisper coming from a laundry basket and she saw Mr. Bates poking his head out. She jumped in without a second thought.

"I hate to say it" Miss Lightfoot began. "But I think we're going to fail team-building."

"At this rate, we'd need some kind of rocket to get out of here." Mr. Bates noted.

Mrs. Roop's eyes widened as she got an idea. "Huh. I can't believe I'm sayin' this…but I think that delinquent McGee kid was onto something. Where's the guy with the leaf blower?"

Meanwhile, the Ghostly Trio were finally recovering from their sudden surge of sweetness.

"Ugh…" Stretch rubbed his head. "What the heck happened? I can't remember nothin'!"

"I dunno, but I feel queasy…" Stinkie retched. "If I had guts, I'd puke!"

"Tell me about it. I got a splittin' headache." Fatso's head literally split in half, revealing his tiny brain.

Just then, Molly and Darryl popped out of the ground.

"Okay, we made it!" Molly cheered. "Now all we need to do is set the teachers free and-"

"WOOHOO!"

Molly, Darryl, and the Trio looked up and to their utter shock, they saw the teachers in a laundry cart, powered by a leaf blower, flying above them. From the looks of it, they were having the time of their lives. They crashed into the electric fence, knocking it down, and zoomed far away from the correctional facility, hopefully never to return.

"Wow…" Stretch said after a moment of silence. "We missed a lot apparently."

"So did we." Molly mentioned, equally stunned.

When the teachers returned to school the next day, everything started going back to normal…except for the fact that the staff was now on much friendlier terms since their participation in their "team-building exercise." In the morning, they met up in the hallway before classes to have coffee and a chat.

"I have to admit," Mrs. Roop said. "I didn't have too much faith in you bozos, but we made a good team in the end."

Mr. Bates laughed. "We sure did!"

"Go team!" Miss Lightfoot cried.

Molly and Darryl observed them from afar.

"Think they'll ever figure out the truth that there was no team-building thing and they actually escaped a real prison?" Molly asked.

"Who cares?" Darryl shrugged. "It bonded them together, didn't it? I hope I can go to prison one day, too."

The Trio faded in beside him.

"Don't worry, kid." Stretch gave him a playful punch in the arm. "You keep takin' our advice, we guarantee you'll make it there."

Molly pushed Stretch out of the way in case he got into Darryl's head again. "Keep the eye contact to a minimum, buddy."

"Thanks for everything, Molly." Darryl acknowledged. "I learned a valuable lesson from all this."

"Really? And that is…?"

"That even when I try really hard to be good, I still get things wrong! Which is why I should just be me and hope for the best!"

Molly frowned. "Wait, what?"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I see an AV cart with my name on it." Darryl held out a leaf blower and walked off.

"No, no, no! That's not the lesson!"

But it was too late. A second later, there was an explosion from down the hall.

"Oh no…" Molly pinched her forehead in frustration, much to the Trio's amusement.

"Well, what do ya know?" Stretch taunted. "We didn't even get a chance to manipulate 'im that time! Some goodness professor you turned out to be!"

"Yeah, where'd ya get your degree?" Stinkie poked Molly in the nose. "Fartmouth College?"

"Aww…" Fatso faked sadness. "She's so adorable when she's naive, thinkin' she could get us to be nice! Like that would ever happen."

Molly only smirked and took out her phone, showing the Trio the video she filmed of them being nice to her.

"We're the Ghost-Ghostly Trio and Molly McGee! She's our friend! Until the end! Whoo!"

"Oh, you are bad." Stretch grumped.

"The worst." Stinkie grumbled.

"And she thinks Darryl gets it from us?" Fatso complained.

Ghostly Trio and Molly McGee!

It sure has been a while since I've gotten a review. You guys are really stingy, aren't you? Lol. Don't worry, though. I have ways of making you talk...

...and that's uploading more chapters, I guess.

Until next time...