Chapter Text
It was a warm summer evening in Brighton, Molly and Scratch were back in their attic room after another adventure.
Molly was slouching on her bed, and Scratch was leaning back into nothing while floating in the air
“You Know Mol’, that charity bake sale was pretty good,” Scratch said, as he patted his ghost tummy
“You’re just saying that because you ate half the food on my table.” Molly responded, tired from a full day of volunteer work.
“Yeah, but I paid for it after!I care very deeply about whatever charity that was for!”
“You don’t remember what it was about, do you?”
“Of course I do! It’s about giving cinnamon cookies and red velvet cupcakes to the Living Impaired!”
Molly sighs as she leans back into her pillow, a cool breeze blows in through the open window, “Libby sure picked out a cute outfit to wear for the fundraiser.”
“Mol’, she wore the same sweater she always does! I don’t think she ever takes that thing off.”
“Yeah, I know, she’s great.” Molly responds, clearly not paying attention to scratch’s words as she absentmindedly hugs the turtle plushie that Libby gave her a month ago
“Okay Molly what’s going on with you and Libby?” Scratch asked, “You’ve been acting weirder than usual around her all week.”
Molly jumps up out of bed defensively, “What, n-no! I’m not acting weird! You’re acting weird!”
“Really Mol’, you’re telling me it’s normal to avoid your second-best friend for days, and then turn around and talk about how pretty she is?”
Molly has no response to that, she just stands there nervously for what feels like a full minute.
Finally, molly builds up the courage to speak
“I think . . . I might have a crush on her.”
“Wait, what? I thought you liked guys! Weren’t you drooling over that ghost hunter guy for months?”
“First of all, Ollie is a former ghost hunter, and second, I’m over him. We’re still friends, but right when I heard him say the phrase “Sweet Baby Carrots” I realized that we’re too much alike. That whole date felt like I was talking to a mirror.”
“Uh Mol’, that still doesn’t answer the other part of my question.”
Molly sighed, “I’m Bi, I like guys and girls.”
“And right now, you like Libby?” Scratch asked
“I- uh, I guess so” molly said, nervously
“Well I’m glad you picked someone good this time!” Scratch snatched Molly's phone, “Should we text her right now and let her know? And should we order a pizza to celebrate you coming out? I’m thinking spinach and black olive, but I’m open to other toppings!”
“No, scratch! We can’t tell her!” Molly blurted out.
“What? Why not?” Scratch asked
“What if she doesn’t feel the same way? What if the awkward tension ruins the friendship?”
Molly runs both her hands through her hair as she spirals in anxiety, “what if we do get together but the relationship doesn’t work out and we don’t even stay friends after the breakup?”
“WOAH woah woah, slow down there Mol’. It’s gonna be fine. I don’t know anything about romance that isn’t from TV, but I do know this, If you ask her out, she might say yes, she might say no, but if you don’t ask her, nothing happens!”
“Thanks, Scratch. I really needed that,” Molly said, calming down a bit
Scratch placed his hand on Molly's shoulder, “Besides, she stayed friends with you after you shoved her in a box and sent her through the mail. If that didn’t ruin your friendship, no amount of awkward flirting will either!”
“Scratch, that was to stop her embarrassing herself in the talent show,” Molly said defensively, “Also, she was only in there for like five seconds!”
Just then they heard a scream coming from downstairs, it was Molly’s dad, Pete,
“NO, I CAN’T GO BACK THERE!!! I CAN’T DO IT!!!”
Molly slammed down the ladder to the attic, raced down the stairs as fast as possible, and tripped at the last step
Scratch floated in behind her
When Molly got up, she saw that there was nothing to be afraid of, at least not nearby. Everything seemed normal, except for Pete, who was trembling, holding his knees up to his chest on the couch
“Dad, what’s wrong?” molly asked hesitantly
“I was invited back to Danville!”
Molly paused, not quite understanding why that would be so terrifying.
“Which one was Danville again?” Molly asked
“It’s the city we moved to after Arlen, Texas, but before Gravesfeild, Connecticut.” Pete clarified
“What’s bad about Danville? All I remember about that place was some greasy amusement park.”
“You’re thinking of Lard World. It’s amazing how that place hasn’t been shut down, it’s a major food health hazard, but that’s not what I’m worried about.”
Sharron and Darryl ran into the living room, Sharon was holding a broom like it was a weapon
“Pete, what’s going on? I heard screaming!”
“The Mayor of Danville invited me to the opening ceremony of the library I proposed as a city planning project six years ago. I’m supposed to give a speech for the ribbon cutting ceremony.”
Sharon put down her attack broom, and sat down next to Pete to comfort him
Molly and Darryl were both very confused
“Uh . . . that sounds nice, why is that a bad thing?” Molly asked.
“Yeah, If we go to Danville, we can visit Lard World!” Darryl added
“I second that, Lard World sounds great!” Scratch responded
Pete sat there, now in a normal sitting position, less tense, but still a little nervous
“You kids don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?” Molly asked
“Every project I proposed as a city planner in Danville ended in disaster! It’s like the whole town was cursed! I quit after eight months on the job and moved away in shame. The library was the last idea I proposed before I left, and even that wasn’t safe from calamity! The construction was delayed after an asteroid impact, a wave of flaming molasses, and several other incidents! Last year, a missing concrete drainage pipe flooded the whole construction site! If I go back there, the whole project might blow up in my face!”
“Dad, relax, I’m sure all that was just a series of coincidences!” Molly said
Scratch left through a ghost portal and came back with a scroll, “You said you think the town was cursed?”
Pete nodded, “Of course, how else could you explain the constant disasters?”
Scratch looked at the scroll, squinted, and then summoned a pair of thin reading glasses to put on
As Scratch was reading, molly noticed that scratch’s glasses don’t actually have lenses, and are entirely for show
“Okay, so Danville isn’t cursed. The only cursed cities are Jacksonville, Florida, and Gary, Indiana. No surprises there.”
“Are you sure it’s not on there?” Pete asked.
“Nope. Every time a ghost curses, it gets added to the records auto-magically,” Scratch clarified, “And the scroll of cursed cities only has two items listed.”
“Every time I curse, I have to put a quarter in this jar.” Darryl replied, holding up a nearly full jar of coins.
“Huh . . . so the city isn’t cursed,” Pete said, contemplating this new information, “and it can’t be that I’m cursed, otherwise the disasters would follow me from city to city.”
“I guess the disasters in Danville could have been a coincidence,” Sharon said, “and I know how much work you put in with the Library Idea, it would be a shame not to see it complete.”
Pete leans back and smiles, distracted from his anxieties at the prospect of seeing his creative vision come to life
“You’re right, Honey,” Pete said, “I had some amazing ideas for that library that I can’t wait to see implemented! Do you kids want to hear all the great things the library will have?”
“Do we have to?” Darryl groaned
“You’re right,” Pete said, “I should save all that fun information for the drive. It’ll be a pretty long road trip to Danville.”
“It’s a one and a half day drive to Danville from here,” said Sharon, “So it wouldn’t make sense to stay there for only a day. We could find a place to stay on Share-B&B, and stay for a week or so!”
Scratch got a twisted smile on his face, Molly could tell that he was planning some sort of scheme, but couldn’t tell what it was.
“Hey, if we’re going on a road trip to Danville, we should take Libby with us!” Scratch suggested, before winking at Molly.
Molly was not at all prepared to tell Libby how she felt, and worried about her finding out.
Libby was always so smart and perceptive,
and looked really cute in detective mode,
and Molly knew how terrible she was at keeping secrets
Molly realized that she had completely zoned out of the conversation, lost in her own anxious thoughts, and regained her focus, noticing Sharon hanging up her phone.
“Okay, Libby’s on board,” Sharon said, putting her phone back in her pocket, “her mom let us know about her dietary restrictions, her oddly specific allergy, and will take care of the turtles while she’s gone!”
Molly forced on a smile and said, “Great! That’s perfect.”
Pete got his old V-tech laptop, and started planning out the route with Sharon.
Molly grabbed Scratch’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen
“Scratch, what the corn are you doing? Why did you invite Libby?”
“You like the girl, don’t ya?” Scratch asked rhetorically, “What’s wrong with spending a vacation with her?”
“Scratch, there is no way I’m ready to tell Libby how I feel about her! A-and I don’t want her to figure it out on her own. The more time I spend with her, the more time she has to notice me acting weird around her!”
“Molly, I get it, you’re worried about flirting with her, but relax! I’m gonna be your wing-man. Or uh, wing-ghost. Nah, that one sounds like a Pokemon.”
Scratch and Molly started talking over each other, Molly repeatedly telling him not to do it while Scratch work-shopped better names for what he was doing, any outside observer would not be able to make out a single word they said
That’s when Molly noticed that there were multiple outside observers. Sharon, Pete and Darryl were standing in the doorway
It turns out that pulling someone into the other room to talk in private doesn’t work when the room is a kitchen with an open floor-plan
“Uhh how much of that did you hear?” Molly asked as she turned around
“Oh we didn’t hear anything ,” Darryl responded sarcastically, “the lack of a door and no wall to the dining room really blocked out all the sound.”
“Molly, I’m just going to say, we love and support you,” Pete said, “Oh my gosh, my little girl is growing up, soon she’ll have a girlfriend, then they’ll get married, and I’ll be walking her down the aisle-”
“Daaaaad!!” Molly groaned in embarrassment
“Oh sorry, I was going a bit too fast there.” Pete said, kneeling down and placing his hand on Molly’s shoulder, “But if you want to convert to Judaism when you get married you have my full-”
“Pete, stop getting ahead of yourself!” Sharon interrupted
“Wait, I’m confused, wasn’t Molly into guys?” Darryl asked while grabbing a bag of chips
“I’m Bi. I like guys and girls!” Molly clarified
“Molly, I’m glad you felt secure enough to share this with us,” Sharon said, “After we eavesdropped on your conversation, that is. Uh, sorry about that.”
Scratch swooped in the middle between the family, “So, me and Molly were thinking of ordering pizza to celebrate her coming out.”
“That sounds like a good idea, Scratch.” Pete said
“Yeah, I’m thinking we could order one large pizza with spinach and black olives, and then another pizza for you guys!”