Sharon McGee slowly woke up to the sounds of thunder. "AAAH! Not the face, not the face!" Was Sharon angry that her house was haunted? No, not at all. If anything, it was a blessing in disguise. Since it wasn't disclosed in the contract, it meant she was able to get a refund on the house. Now she and Pete could afford college… in five to ten years... and only for one kid! But that wasn't bad, per say. Darryl didn't express any interest in going to college, and with his grades, they didn't have high hopes for it either.
She walked out of bed, going downstairs… and spotted some kid in a cloak running around the living room and trying to shoot lightning bolts at Scratch, which he kept dodging. "STAND STILL!" He screamed frustratedly.
"Sorry, no leg! Can't stand!" The ghost stopped floating around and stuck their tongue out at the kid… giving the balls of light the moment they needed to hit the ghost, actually hurting him, much to her shock (no pun intended). "Pain, pain!"
Sharon turned to Molly, who was sitting by the counter. "Short version?"
"I took Scratch out for ice cream under the impression we were meeting one of his friends, when in reality it was this kid named Steven Universe, a really cool name, BTW, who he's been tormenting for years by making the boy believe he was crazy and seeing hallucinations his whole life." Molly quickly explained. "Now I'm trying to get my two new friends to calm down and let bygones be bygones."
"Never going to happen!" The boy, presumably named Steven, scowled. "This pile of blue snot made me think I was CRAZY my whole life! I went to therapy because of him! I went on MEDICATION because of him!"
"In my defense, you made everyone else miserable, it was a gold mine!" Scratch tried to justify.
"You… did this… for pure misery!?"
Rumble
"Strange, I don't remember the weather forecasts calling for thunder storms." Pete scratched his head as he walked down the stairs.
"That's 'cause Bluey here has powers that come out of the wazoo depending on how he's feeling." Scratch grumbled. "If little Miss. Sunshine didn't expose me yesterday, you'd all be swimming in misery fog right now."
"Or we can make it a happy fog full of cheer and sunshine!" Molly cheered.
"Yeah ...I…can't do that…" Steven sighed as he finally stopped creating those balls of energy. "My powers only… react from negative emotions. If I'm sad, I make people cry. If I'm scared, I freeze things. If I'm angry, well…" He looked at the scorch marks his lightning bolts left scattered all over the living room, "...you can figure that one out." He finished sheepishly, clearly feeling sorry for messing it up.
"If it makes you feel any better, this isn't the worst mess we've seen." Sharon softly assured the boy.
"What could be worse than this?" Steven raised an eyebrow while gesturing to the living room.
"For legal purposes, it's best that you don't know." Darryl warned him as he made his way down the stairs.
"What's that me-"
"Nevermind all that!" Molly laughed nervously. "We're getting off topic. Mainly, your inability to use positive feelings to fuel your weather powers. Let's fix that with some happy sunny breakfast!" Molly proposed with a huge smile
"Good thinking, Molly." Scratch snapped his fingers, turning to her. "Woman, get in the kitchen."
Molly, Pete and Darryl froze as Sharon felt rage beginning to rise up."Back up the stairs, kids, back up the stairs!" Pete dragged the kids out of the blast range.
"What? I just said-" She grabbed the ghost by the nose and pulled him in close to her face.
"I don't care about whatever supernatural chicanery you two boys have, but I grew up in my family's restaurant spending months on greasy grills and uncomfortable freezers, and that was enough cooking to last a lifetime, are we clear?"
"...Eeep!" The ghost immediately hid behind Molly.
"...bahahahabaababssbabaabbababaa...!" And Steven began laughing. "Ahahahahahaahahahabavabaaaahhaa!"
"Aww, I knew we could get a smile on that face eventually!" Molly gushed.
"Yeah, and it came at my expense!" Scratch gripped.
"You've scared him for years, Scratch, you owe him this." Molly scolded him. "At least until you two become BEST FRIENDS!"
That made the boy stop laughing. "...You're kidding, right?"
"Why wouldn't my best friends be best friends?" She asked. "It's my mission to Enhappify Brighton, and that means making everyone smile and join in harmony!"
"...Look, Molly, you seem like a nice girl, and honestly, you'd be the first new friend I've made in… over seven years by this point." Steven began. "...But you're asking me to be nice to the monster that's tortured me for seven years. It's like trying to have a tea party with the boogeyman, it ain't going to happen."
"Unless you redeem the boogeyman into a nice person." Her little girl countered with a smile.
"Now you see my pain, Bluey." Scratch groaned.
"Hey, I've lived with it forever." Darryl went to the counter. "It's endearing after a few months."
"I will not be endeared!"
"Except you will." Molly promised. "'Cause you're with me, my forever and ever bestie!"
"... You are unusually optimistic for someone living in Brighton." Steven mused.
"New person." Scratch groaned.
"Not to mention he is my forever bestie. 'Cause he cursed us to be friends forever." Molly smirked.
"Wait, he cursed you?" Steven blinked.
"No, SHE cursed ME." Scratch grumbled. "I bound our souls together so I could haunt her forever, and…" The ghost looked embarrassed. "..I... didn't realize that meant I would be stuck with her forever."
"...So, you, a misery hungry and causing ghost… trapped yourself with the one girl in town that can't feel any?" Steven summarized, before smirking and turning to Molly. "Molly, I believe you and I will be spending a lot of time together."
"Like I told you, the three of us will be best friends! Dad, can we have some pancakes for our first day at school?"
"Only if Darryl promises no fires." Pete said.
"I promise… for the first month." Maybe it wasn't too late to send their youngest child to military school.
"Trust me, fires are going to be the least of your worries around this town." Steven muttered. "Now that I know I'm not crazy, I can tell you that this town is full of ghosts. Snot man here is the biggest pest, but there's a lot of animal ghosts here too... mainly birds." The boy recounted.
"And I will befriend all of them!"
=========================================================================
Libby idly sat down, pulling her homework out of her backpack and placing it on top of her desk. Given that she only had one friend, the logical choice was to just get to class quickly to avoid humiliation and shame from peers, then proceed to wait for the other.
She had to admit, the last seven years were… Well, they weren't perfect, far from it… But Libby felt they were as close to perfect as things could get. Steven was a massive comfort in that regard. Her first, and only, friend was a joy in her life. They loved talking to each other, learning and sharing information, reading, and turtles.
And despite what most would think, Libby wasn't obsessed. She had her own interests and things she did outside of hanging out with Steven. Like watching horror movies… Steven wasn't a fan of gore or scares. Well, she didn't like scares either, but the paranormal mystery was where it was at! He was more into artistry and music, while such things gave Libby a panic attack at the mere thought of public performance.
They were like salt and sugar. They could mix together well, but weren't required to be together. Besides, one could and did fine joys in being alone.
And there he was now, walking in… with a frown. "Andrea attack?" Libby questioned.
"Not today." Steven shook his head as he slumped into his desk. "So… I found out why I see visions all the time yesterday." He tapped his fingers on his desk.
"You did?!" Libby gasped. "Steven, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you! Was it a stem cell that went-"
"It's ghosts." He revealed.
"…Ghosts?" She asked with a bewildered look.
"Uh huh." He nodded.
"…That's impossible." She shook her head. "If you could see ghosts, you clearly would have noticed them forming anytime someone passed. I know you're not dumb."
Steven audibly groaned at that as he looked upwards. "YOU have no room to talk." He turned back to her. "Libby, I've lived in the Korean countryside for the first seven years of my life and spent the next seven years trying to keep my powers in check to not hurt anyone. The last thing I'm going to notice is when and how people die and if they come back as the undead." Steven paused as he looked in the air again. "What did I say about talking!?" Steven suddenly yelled as a little white ball of what looked like light shot out from above his head, making a hole in the corner of the ceiling
"Hmm… usually anger translates to lightning…" Libby mused as she wrote that down in her notes. "Maybe because it's more focused this time around…"
"Students." The teacher spoke up. "I'd like to introduce you to a new transfer. Give it up for Molly McGee."
A girl walked in, smiling brighter than any Brightonian Libby'd ever seen. "Hello! My name is Molly, and I-gaaaahhhh!" She began slipping around.
Steven glared at the air again. "How do you sleep at night?"
"Uh Steven?" Libby whispered. "What are you-" She looked as if the new girl was still slipping, although her clumsy attempts at rebalancing herself looked like some weird dance moves.
She eventually stood back in front of the class. "…And I… like dancing." The new girl chuckled nervously, and that seemed to do the trick as the class cheered.
"As first impressions go, that was bad." Steven nodded with a cocky smirk for some reason.
"Agreed… but… she's going to come now." Libby muttered in fear and slight disdain as a familiar pale blue haired girl in a pink sweater began making her way to the front. "The real test is coming now."
"OMG, that was so cool." The bane of school walked up. "I'm Andrea, the popular girl of the school, and I'd feel honored to be your new friend."
"Come on Molly, you can do this…" Steven muttered as he looked in the air again. "Yes she can… she can!"
"What's the Reaper muttering about this time?" She heard a student ask.
"Dunno, but the way he talks to himself is so creepy." Libby could only stand by and feel sympathy for her friend as the murmuring got worse.
"Wait, are they talking about Steven?" the new girl raised an eyebrow.
"Don't pay attention to it, it's just meaningless gossip." Andrea waved off as she took a selfie with Molly. "Now if you have any questions about school, Brighton, or fashion, you can come to me." She grinned. "I'll be happy to help in any way I can."
"Yeah, she says that now…" Steven rolled his eyes.
"I'll be sure to keep you in mind, Andrea." And the class murmuring was instantly replaced by gasps.
"Hehehehe… it's Andrea, not Andrea." The rich girl twitched angrily.
"And so it begins." Steven sighed.
"...Isn't that what I just said?" Molly titled her head.
"No, you said Andrea, it's not AND-rea, it's AN-drea." The girl stated, before taking a deep breath. "It's fine, you're new, and you didn't know.*
"Of course Andreeea… I mean Andea. I mean Andela. Or ah-sorry, Andeeera?" And the twitching got worse.
"Oh dear, it seems we have another one." Libby winced.
"Welcome to the outcasts club, where we run away from the Mean Queen herself." Steven muttered, as a ball of energy hit Andrea's chair.
"Steven, cool it." Libby hushed as she held his hand. "You don't need the attention right now. Just think of calm, relaxing thoughts."
"Right… sorry... my mind's still on the ghost thing…" Steven rubbed his temples.
"Wait, was it Andrea, or Andrea, or was I supposed to make an o sound…?" The new girl continued to dig her own grave as Andrea looked like she was about to explode.
The teacher, thankfully, noticed this and nervously interrupted. "That will be all, Andrea. Molly, why don't you take a seat?" The teacher sweated.
"Yes… take a seat... new friend.." Andrea growled, making it clear 'friend' was the last thing she wanted to call Molly.
"Right, I'll just… take a seat here..." Molly reached for a nearby desk, only for the other students to move their own desk away from hers like she had the Black Plague. "...Guess I'll make my own seat-" She turned towards them. "Oh, hi Steven! Same class bestie!" Molly raised a hand for a high five.
"Right…" Steven slowly raised his hand to hers.
"She's made contact with the Reaper!" A classmate gasped in horror.
"She's cursed now!"
"We must stay away from her at all times!"
"The Reaper of Gloom has found another Horseman of Misery!"
Molly blinked in confusion, before smiling. "Does the Horseman title come with an actual horse? Are we horse racing!?" And the new girl took it in stride.
"...Your friend's pretty upbeat." Libby jotted down.
"Tell me about it." Steven sighed as Molly took her seat. "Sorry about that. I should've warned you about Andrea. Now you're a pariah for life."
"Oh, don't worry about it." The new girl shrugged. "I just have to show them kindness until we end up friends. It won't last forever."
"It will." Libby sighed. "Once a long time ago in the first grade, a young girl made the mistake of calling Andrea Andrea, and she has been all but a shadow in the halls of the Brighton school system ever since…" Libby reminisced in her spooky voice.
"I see. Then let us quest!" She shouted. "Be it night or day, we will find this mysterious girl who was tossed aside and make her accepted by the student body!"
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to mislead you that much. That girl was-well, IS me." She corrected. "I'm Libby."
"Then we shall do it NOW! With nothing standing in our way!" She stood on the desk.
"Ms McGee, please sit down, class is starting."
"...Class, class is always a good thing to sit through." They amended, sitting back down.
"Molly, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but Andrea never lets go of a grudge when it comes to her name." Steven explained. "It happened to Libby, it happened to me, and it's happening to you now."
"I don't care what you, Libby, or Scratch says, nothing is impossible with elbow grease and optimism." The new girl turned her head to the air. "No it isn't… no it isn't… I say it isn't… naha partner… it isn't~"
"She even talks to herself like the Reaper does.." The students murmured again.
"Talking to..." Libby muttered as she recalled what Steven said. "Wait, you were being serious about the ghost thing?"
"Oh yeah. Scratch is my new bestie. Introduce yourself." Molly talked to the air. "C'mon. C'mon. I'll give you a Scooby Snack." She took a bone-shaped treat out of her pocket and waved it around. "Okay, 8 Scooby Snacks this time." There was a pause. "...Fine, but only one scare."
"Wait, Molly, Libby doesn't-" Steven tried to tell her
"Heya tinkles!" Roared a giant, fanged, clawed creature with two beady yellow eyes.
"AAAAHH!!!" Well… nighty night, world.
========================================================================
Scratch dodged yet another blast from Bluey as they stood outside the back of the school. "Are you SERIOUS!? You already torture me, now you scare my best friend!"
"Well, yeah, now I can add her to the scare list." He pulled it out. "Let's see… Libby Torres… that's two r's, right?"
"The only thing I'm going to give you is OW for all the boos!!!" Bluey shouted as he threw more and more energy balls his way.
"Aren't you the kid that tries to keep a low profile?!" He yelped as he kept dodging.
"I just found out that you're the cause of all my pain, so I'm DONE trying to keep a low profile!" Bluey hissed. "I'm going to chase you down to the ends of the earth and annihilate you!"
"Uhh, news flash, I'm already dead." He responded. "I mean, you can hurt me… somehow… but I don't go anywhere. This is it." Besides the Flow of Failed Phantoms.
"Then I'm going to torture you until you DO disappear forever!!"
"Oooor we can learn to redeem him and make him our new friend!" The girl he was stuck with chimed in. "Isn't that right, Libby?"
"Aba... when... hiha..." The Sweater Girl sputtered as she woozily rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that a ghost has been scaring my best friend for the last few years… and the fact that ghosts exist…" The girl shook her head before she grabbed Bluey's cloak and pulled him back. "Steven, you're being WAY too volatile with your powers today. I understand your anger, but shooting around lighting and energy balls is NOT the way to go about it."
"Yeah." He agreed. "Listen to your girlfriend, would you? I'd like to keep the supernatural under wraps."
"I'm/She's not his/my girlfriend!" Sweater Girl and Bluey yelled at the same time, prompting both to look at each other for a brief moment before looking away, both their faces turning bright red.
"Whaaatever. Point is, us ghosts like being secret." He said bluntly. "Helps us stay scary. You three are only exceptions because Bluey can see me when invisible, Molls took residence in my house, and the Sweater Girl was a charity case from the other two."
"Charity case-no, no no NO!" Bluey gritted his teeth in barely contained rage. "I do NOT want to hear the word charity come out of your mouth like you actually care about anything! You are just a monster that I have to put up with until I get rid of you."
"Sheesh Bluey, it's not like I'm Andrea or something, I'm mean because I have to. She's mean because she wants to." Scratch rolled his eyes.
"Come on, you don't have to be mean." The girl he cursed himself to be around attempted to make him conform to her views. Ha, fat chance.
"So you just ignore me when I say it's my job to make people miserable?" He asked. "I'm asking for clarification. Because frankly, I want to ignore you too."
"You can't ignore a positive attitude!" Molly grinned as a couple of students walked by them. "Observe. Salutations, my fellow Brightonians-" And the students immediately turned the other way the second they saw Molly.
"Ahh, so you see first hand how pointless it is." Scratch smugly chuckled.
"You're right… I need to step up my game. Give them warmer and friendlier greetings!" And the girl was unphased, as she had been since yesterday. "You can't judge a book by the cover." And of course… the singing. "Some books start out slow." She walked up to some kids. "And the first time you try kombucha." And the kids walked away. "You might think it's gross."
"Who doesn't like perfectly good kombucha?" Bluey raised an eyebrow as Molly closed her lunch bag dejectedly.
"Well, I'm just like that kombucha." The girl went back to smiling, walking forward to her classmates. "Keep on sipping and you'll see." She held out her arms for a hug. "That I'm great (She's really great)." One that students ducked under. "So won't you take (won't you take), A second chance on me (won't you take a second chance)?"
"When Andrea's around, there's never a second chance." Bluey groaned as Molly began walking towards a door, only for it to swing open on her face. "Or mercy... or kindness... or just common decency in general."
"Take a second chance on me!" They exclaimed. "I'm begging please (won't you take a second chance)!" She went to the lunch table full of students and offered them her food. "Take a second chance on me!" The other students scooted away from the smiling pain in the ass.
"Just like a stinky hunk of cheese..." Molly was rolled over by said wheel of cheese as she was stepped around by a passively paying attention Andrea. "On the platter of party charcuterie! Won't you take a second chance on me."
"Okay, before ANYTHING else…" Molly took a breath as she did her best to wipe the cheese stink off herself. "Did anyone else hear the musical montage?"
"They started popping up with this kid around." Scratch pointed to Steven. "Weirdly enough, his nanny too, whenever she's alone."
"It's a tradition. Dad's a musician and Pearl likes to sing. I'm more into drawing myself." He shrugged.
"I don't get it. Why is the whole school ignoring me?" Molly moped. "Even the teachers are getting in on it." She looked to the teacher's lounge, where the teachers inside put a blinder over the window of the door.
"That's what I was warning you about Molly." Steven groaned. "I got Andrea's name wrong when I moved here, and she got the whole class to shun me for the whole day… and if that wasn't bad enough... she pelted me with paint… and... gave me that stupid reaper nickname." Bluey grumbled.
"Yep, it's completely hopeless. Nothing you can do." Scratch shrugged with a sadistic smirk. "No miracle. You, Molly, have hit rock bottom for the worst first day in school history."
"...You're right, Scratch, I have hit rock bottom." Yes… yes… finally, now she'd move- "Which means I can only go up!"
"...The optimism of this girl is inhuman." Sweater Girl whispered to Bluey.
"I know. My crying mist doesn't even affect her." Bluey responded.
"I-you-no! How can you get optimistic now!?" Scratch shouted in dismay.
"Oh, I can do it anywhere, even the bathroom. Heck, once I did it at a funeral." They bragged. "Now, I'll start planning for tomorrow. And if that doesn't work, I have the WHOLE year to make friends with everyone!"
"No, no no no NOOOO!!!" Scratch complained. "GAHH! YOU'RE RUINING MY AFTERLIFE!!"
"Or I'm making it happier." The girl smiled.
"HAPPINESS RUINS MY AFTERLIFE!" He screamed! "Gah, it was perfect too! Blue made the whole town miserable, I literally only had to scare ONE lonely brat and take it easy! Where did it go wrong!? What did I do to deserve this!?"
"What did you do-are you SO selfish that you actually believe you're the victim here!?" Bluey asked, baffled.
"Uh, yeah." He said. "I have to live with this annoying smile forever now." Scratch poked the human girl he was cursed with. "And why are you complaining? I didn't scare your little girlfriend and her family out of town. Frankly kid, I was going easy on you."
The kid… began growling. "I don't care how long it takes…" The blue kid's aura flared up as his eyes glowed a piercing blue. "I'm going to find some way… TO RIP YOU APART FOREVER!" And he shot a little electro ball.
"Wowza!" He ducked just in the nick of time.
The blue ball of energy bounced around the room as the door opened. "What's going on in-" And hit the bully girl square in the pucker, sending her into a locker, slumping to the ground.
"...Wow, I always knew you'd cause a death with your powers, but I always assumed it was gonna be more of a depressed suicide than anything else." He noted, staring at the blue haired girl's unconscious body.
"Oh, sweet baby corn, this isn't good!" Molly rushed to the girl and began trying to shake her awake. "Andrea-Andrea, come on on, wake up, wake up!"
"I believe it was pronounced, Andrea." Scratch corrected.
"Not the time!" Libby called out as she knelt down, putting her finger on the girl's neck. "Oh good, she's still breathing... But when she wakes up, she's going to be really mad and get one or all of us suspended." Suspended…
"Quick, grab the cart!" Molly ordered.
"Ah, disposing of the body, quick thinking." Scratch pulled it along.
"No, we're bringing her to the nurse's office!" They clarified.
"Don't worry, I know a shortcut!" He plucked the body, put it down on the cart and began driving it down.
"...Wait... he's going the wrong way!" Steven pointed out.
"A shortcut to the wrong place is still a shortcut!"
"No, no, no, no!" Molly panicked. "Steven, do you have any superspeed we can use!?"
"No, my powers are all emotion based!" Bluey cried out. "You follow from behind, me and Libby will try to cut him off, go, go, go, our school lives depend on stopping that snot!"
========================================================================
Steven did his best to chase after the ghost. The ghost that caused nothing but suffering this entire time. The ghost that has ruined his life the moment he entered this school, the ghost that made him make his best friend cry. Molly may have been new, but she actually presented a smidgen of hope that he didn't HAVE to be miserable all the time, and he would be DAMNED if he let that ghost get away with this.
Libby was right... His anger towards the ghost led to him misusing his powers… And he ended up hurting someone... Granted that someone was Andrea, but just because he hated her didn't mean he wanted to HURT her… okay, run out of town maybe, but not hurt!
"Steven, we can't catch up on foot!" Libby yelled as they ran side by side. "We need transportation with wheels!"
"Teacher chairs?" Molly suggested from behind. "You know, the fun ones that everyone likes to sit in because you can adjust them and spin around on and go 'woo' all day long?" Again, weirdly optimistic… even Libby and Pearl were affected by his tears, and they just got on because they were 'used to it'.
"Not a bad idea!" Libby agreed as she went into another classroom and quickly dragged two chairs out of it. "Steven, we're going to need your above average strength to give us a push!"
"Wait, you have super strength?!" Molly gasped as she and Libby got on the two chairs.
"Enough to lift a half filled bookshelf over my head, but now's not the time to ask questions!" Steven remarked as he stood on the plastic railings behind the chairs. "Hold on, this is going to be bumpy!" And with a strong kick, he launched the chairs into the air.
"Wooo!" Molly cheered as they flew forward, past hallways, closer to the cart… and they grabbed it… right as they flew into a door, the cart tumbling and sliding on the ground, its passengers thrown off onto the floor. "…Still fun!" Molly cheered yet again.
"Come on." Libby grabbed Andrea by her right side, pulling her up. "Help lift the body." Steven did so by grabbing her left side.
"And I'll pull on this rope for no reason whatsoever." Scratch yanked on a rope… lifting a curtain they didn't notice before..
"Oh no." Steven whispered as the crowd stared at them. "School assembly."
"The Reaper and the new kid killed Andrea!"
"Public… crowd…" And Libby began hyperventilating.
"No no, she isn't dead!" Molly tried to assure the crowd. "Just unconscious!"
"The Horsemen of Misery attacked Andrea!"
"They were trying to get rid of her so no one would mock them!"
"Yeah, let's mock them for it!"
And the crowd began booing, Steven grabbed Libby and cradled her as Molly… frowned. "Molly, come on, if we leave now, we can avoid the tomatoes and turnips."
"No… it was my choice to prove Scratch wrong, and... That led to this…" Molly sighed. "If I stay here, maybe I can take responsibility for Andrea being knocked out and get some of the heat off of you and Libby."
"...But... but..." Steve sputtered. "But I'm the one who knocked her out."
"And I'm the one who pushed Scratch and you to be friends... I'm sorry for pushing you so hard..." The girl sighed.
"Yes! A frown! Finally!" And the ghost in question… was dancing. "Oh yeah! Who's the ghost, who's the ghost!? I ain't losing my touch!"
"Well, thanks a lot, you floating pile of blue snot." Steven grumbled. "Bad enough you make my life hell, but you ruined a perfect normal girl's reputation too, and the reputation of someone who just wanted to be your friend."
The ghost scoffed. "Hey, I'm not the one who knocked Andrea out, that's on you, bub."
"Would it KILL you again to show some empathy for once?!" He shouted, before shaking his head. "What the heck am I saying? Of course it would. Because a miserable creature like you loves being all alone and ridiculed twenty four seven."
"Hey, that's uncalled for-"
"Is it? 'Cause you've ALWAYS been alone for the last seven years I've seen you. All you do is float around, scare people, float alone, scare people... Some life." Steven rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't be capable of having a friend if you were bribed, let alone tried to."
He picked up Libby, walking to the stage door. Best to just leave the thing to rot… he and Pearl could try comforting Molly later, at least she seemed nice… even if her rep would never recover from this. And it wasn't like he could do anything… nobody at this school liked him. Anything he did would only make things worse.
"Hey, hey, gang, it's me, Andrea Davenport!" Suddenly, what sounded like Andrea's voice, except kind of scratchy sounding, spoke up as the girl herself suddenly got up… and began moving like a puppet with a bad puppeteer. "I'm awake and A-okay. Give me that applause already, what I gotta do?" They waved to the audience, who did just that.
"...What in the name of Mary Shelly is going on?" Libby asked, understandably confused.
"Okay, where to start… first, I'm over the whole Andrea Andrea thing. Call me whateves, I'm cool with it. BELIEVE me when I say life is too short."They waved off. "Call me Andrea, Andrea, Orgrea, I say get creative, go nuts with it!" The girl began stumbling over to the stand, flopping down on it. "Now I'd like to get a little serious, take it down a bit. Because there's a girl out there having a really rough day, and I think in some small, small way, that's my fault."
"Wait… Scratch?" Steven saw Molly whisper in confusion … wait, that ghost could possess people-wait, that was a dumb question, OF course this monster could possess people.
The ghost possessed girl kept going. "So give it up for… Libby Stein-Torres!" They gestured to the girl in Steven's hands.
"...Eyes…" Libby whimpered. "All those eyes on me-eep!" And she was now trying to hide under her sweater as the applause got louder- "Wait, is that actual applause!?" The girl gasped.
"Oh, and, lay off Molly McGee or whatever, it's her first day." They added dismissively.
"Ahem." Molly fake coughed as she gestured over to Steven.
"Just take the win." They whispered with a sneer.
"So that means I'll have to give the next two boxes of Scooby Snacks to Daryl's pet spider?" Molly whispered back. "Guess I could also give her the mini mansion I built, you know, the one that's super cozy and roomy?"
Andrea's face looked like it was about to explode. "And maybe, I don't know, stop messing with the Reaper kid, that joke's played out, find another one to throw at him." The ghost flew out of Andrea's body, the girl herself suddenly blinking herself to consciousness. "Ugh, what just happened?"
"Andrea! Andrea! Andrea!" The school cheered Andrea's name the wrong way.
"What-hey, it's AND-rea!" The girl's protest went unheard as she suddenly plucked out some blue goop out of her ears. "Who did this!?"
"Now looks like a good time to get out of here." Molly led both her human friends (or half-human in his case) by the hand as they exited the stage.
Scratch floated down with a frown. "Do NOT think this is over, Bluey, I'll find a new way to torment you."
"And I'm going to find a way to use my powers to hurt you every chance I get, so do your worst." Now that he knew he could fight back, he wouldn't let Scratch push him around anymore. He just had to make sure nobody got in harm's way..
"Scratch… oh you old soft blue marshmallow!" Molly squeezed the ghost in a hug that looked like it was suffocating the ghost, despite not needing to breath. "I knew you had a heart underneath that grumpy pile of ooze."
"Don't push it." He shoved her away. "It was… that stupid curse. It made me do friendship things. Gaah, I need to wash my mouth."
"...Does it really work like that?" Libby asked.
"Nah, he just comes to my side whenever I want him there Like this! Oh Scratch!" Molly called out as the ghost was suddenly pulled by some invisible force... right into her face. "See! Instant friendship!" How could she see a fate like that as positive?… It was beyond Steven to understand.
========================================================================
Molly happily skipped through the halls as the school day ended. "See ya, Molly!" The students waved at her. Scratch's little stunt with Andrea may have been an invasion of privacy, but it totally got Molly into the good graces of the school, so she would take the win!
"Alright, I need to get my notebooks ready! I'm gonna memorize every name in this town!" She exclaimed with glee.
"I can actually help with that." Steven walked next to her, a small smile forming under that tired face of his. "Me and Libby have spent the last seven years going through everything Brighton has to offer. It's not much, but it's home."
"Aww, now that's a smile worth a thousand bucks." She took a picture of her new friend. "Again, I'm sorry about being so pushy today, I... tend to go overboard on the first impression." It was a habit she repeated over and over again.
"Nah, it's fine. I've spent so long feeling miserable that I didn't think anything would change." Steven sighed. "My dad, Pearl, and Libby were the only bright spots in my life." He looked at her. "And now I've got a new one… if you're still serious about being friends.."
"Yay, now I've got three new Brightonian besties!" She pulled Scratch, Steven and Libby all into a group hug. "We're gonna do everything together, and go on crazy adventures while learning life lessons!"
Steven groaned as he pushed away Scratch. "...I still hate that blue booger."
"But he can be nice." She argued. "Just like everyone on the planet. That's the power of enhappification!"
"En-Happi what now?" Libby asked.
"Ignore her, she loves making up random nonsense at inconvenient times."
"Ignore him, he's just cranky he didn't get his breakfast taco this morning." Molly waved off.
"Speaking of, you.. do have that box of Scooby Snacks, right?" The ghost begged.
"Here you go." She offered it to the ghost, who began munching. "So, you two wanna give me a tour of this soon to be smiling town?"
"Only if you allow me to make a detailed examination of your ghostly associate." Libby took out a pair of pliers. "I will need 5 gallons of ectoplasm for my studies."
"Nice try, baby, I'm not that easy to get a hold of." Scratch rolled his eyes.
"...I'll pay you in latkes?" Libby asked.
"...Is a latke fried in any way?"
"It's basically a giant hashbrown patty." Steven muttered. "Somone who's been haunting me for seven years would know that.."
"Deal!" Scratch shook Libby's hand as Steven rolled his eyes.
"Are you actually that certain this pile of snot can be friendly?" Steven asked her.
"Everyone can be friendly if you dig deep enough." Molly smiled. "There's nothing in this world you can't be friends with. Nothing at all!"