Chapter Summary: The relationship it out and sides are being taken. What will the school do now that thatch and Casper are publicly together?

Casper could feel his whole face go red, Thatch's lips pressed against his in such a public place. The blue-eyed ghost shut his eyes tightly, feeling his heart pound away in his chest. He didn't pull away from the kiss. No, Casper rather stay just like this, unable to see the people around them. To feel Thatch's warm body, his comforting hold. The ghost moved his hands, resting them on the vampire's chest, just to have some sort of grounding It was then he could actually feel the faint pounding of Thatch's heart. So the vampire really did have a beating heart- actually, he had noticed it before, perhaps it just never clicked until now. When they slept together Casper had the faint memory of the gently thumping bringing him comfort and lulling him to sleep... While Casper himself didn't have one, he felt great comfort feeling Thatch's. How it pulsed quicker when they kissed, how it slowed when he was asleep. It was fascinating.

Despite Casper's desperate wish for the kiss to last, Thatch pulled back from the ghost. Casper kept forgetting that Thatch actually had to breathe. Stupid lungs...

There was pure silence in the normally loud room. Casper didn't know what to say or do, and in truth, he could tell neither did Thatch. After what seemed like forever of silence Wolfie chuckled, his tail wagging as he laughed. "Oh, I thought you smelled like Thatch Casper, so this is why!" He joked. A lot of students started to laugh along, out of nervousness or just because they wanted to make fun of the very strange ghost and vampire. Wolfie himself seemed surprised by the laughter. He truly didn't mean to start that.

Casper felt his heart sink and he turned to face forward, looking back at their lunch table. Mantha seemed annoyed with the laughter, her gaze hardening as she looked around at all the laughing students, making note of every single one of them as if she was planning some sort of hit list. Ra seemed to be fuming as he turned the golden medallion around and around in his hand as a nervous tick, or maybe an angry one. It was hard to tell at times because Ra had been doing it a lot as of late. Casper couldn't see what Slither was doing, the snake monster was still under the table in his hiding spot. Honestly, it was probably for the best that way.

Thatch seemed to be getting annoyed with the laughter- Casper knew Thatch was terribly quick to get mad and start fights, but before the vampire could do anything Fly Boy flew over, nervously buzzing in the air near their table. Casper lifted his gaze and offered a weak smile to the fellow student. He liked Fly Boy, he helped that student out a lot. Thatch was known to pick on Fly Boy as much as Wolfie in a bad week.

"Y.. yoooou guyzzz... Make aaah cute couplezzz...." The insect monster spoke, giving a little twitch now and then as he hovered close, unable to stay in place as he floated.

Thatch seemed... pretty much at a loss for words. He wasn't use to saying nice things to other students so Casper decided to. "Thanks, Fly Boy." He happily said, leaning against Thatch more. Fly Boy now pleased with himself flew away, going back to sit by Pumpkinhead to finish his breakfast. Fly Boy honestly didn't care what many others were thinking, he figured the relationship would be fine because within the last week or so Thatch hadn't picked on him once. If it was because of this relationship why should he protest?

The laughter in the room was pretty much gone now, no one really sure how to react. Ok, so Thatch and Casper kissed. Fly Boy claimed they're a cute couple. Wolfie had been smelling Thatch on Casper before this, and Casper has been saving Wolfie from his daily beatings... Well, one thing's for sure. Thatch was a lot more passive. So no one really wanted to outwardly disapprove of this now- it was too early to start much drama... unless you were Dummy Girl.

"That is disgusting," she yelled across the room, angrily watching Thatch. She had put down her fork, refusing to eat as if the sight of the kiss made her lose her appetite."I mean honestly, a vampire and a ghost? How weird can that get?" She laughed, nudging the skeleton sisters who nervously joined in.

"This is Scare School, not Kiss School," Mickey remarked coldly.

"Oh my god, you're so right," Monaco joined in cheerfully, putting down her mirror as she finished fixing the paint on her face.

Wolfie growled, his fuzzy ears pressed back in annoyance. "Hey, Casper! You and Thatch really a thing?" The werewolf called from his table, not willing to stand up and get close to Thatch still.

Casper flushed deeply and before he spoke Thatch decided to answer for him. "Well, obviously. Why else would I kiss Casper? He's clearly mine." He said possessively, his arm wrapped around the ghost's shoulders to keep him nice and close. Wolfie wagged his tail in response, watching them with great interest.

"I got to know how this happened. You two were like, the biggest enemies!" He said excitedly. Figures Wolfie would want to know all the details. But also Wolfie's positive seemed to be changing the atmosphere in the mess hall.

"Ugh, shut it bark breath!" Dummy Girl hollered. "Don't be encouraging those idiots!" The general disagreement ended up erupting anyways despite no one really wanting to cause a fuss at first. Students arguing over this was ok or not, though mostly it was Dummy Girl trying to silence anyone that was starting to accept the relationship and because of that students started to join the bandwagon, rallying behind Dummy Girl's aggressive words.

Mantha seemed to have enough for in the middle of all the debate she made a motion and started to sneak everyone out of the cafeteria just to avoid the mess they've caused. Ra, Casper, Thatch, and Mantha left- oh they forgot Slither. Thatch stopped at the door, noticing the mistake right away. He reluctantly let go of Casper and hurried back to their table, crawling under it. Casper contently waited by the door with his friends, watching as the vampire spoke to Slither and coaxed him out, hurrying him across the room and into the safety of the hall.

"Whew... that was a mess," Thatch laughed softly.

"Worse than a mess..." Slither gloomily added. "I'm pretty sure this will affect the entire day," he drew out, keeping his gaze low. "What a terrible day."

"But the day has just started." Ra cheerfully counter. "Come on, it'll be fine. Once Dummy Girl accepts this it'll be all ok. Fly Boy and Wolfie seemed accepting of this right away." Ra didn't seem to like how Slither was bringing the mood down but didn't say anything directly- not for now.

At the moment the group needed to stick together and just try to get past whatever the other students were thinking about. Good or bad they all needed to rely on each other, which meant Ra needed to turn off his Mummy-Mommy mode and just try to get along with Thatch and Slither, no matter how strange the two seemed to be.

So, Casper gently started to guide them all to their first class of the day, figuring they could all get in their seats and just try to be good and get along, establish themselves before their disgruntled classmates joined them.

When they arrived in their normal class Casper went over to his desk and sighed as he sat down. He became confused when Ra didn't sit down right away so the ghost boy turned around in his seat and noticed Ra and Thatch briefly talking before the vampire came over and took the mummy's normal spot. Ra sat at the desk to Casper's right, and Slither sat beside Ra. Mantha contently took the desk behind Casper and Thatch, deciding she could watch the boys from this position and assure everything was alright.

Casper felt protected this way, nearly surrounded by friends. Even when the other students started to pour in he felt protected. He gently smiled, taking out his class supplies and seemed eager to learn, though he admittedly knew he might be distracted with Thatch sitting right beside him. He wondered if the vampire would be distracted as well.

When Dummy Girl entered class she was utterly fuming to see Thatch beside Casper, and even Slither was beside Ra of all people! She huffed angrily and walked over to Slither and Ra's table, slamming her wooden hands down on the desk just to startle both students at the act of aggression. She had learned well from Thatch it seemed. "Slither! Come sit with me," she demanded. "You don't have to follow Thatch, you belong with us." She said simply, implying herself and Mosshead as his true friends.

Slither's pale skin seemed to pale more, and he slowly started to sink down into his seat, looking away from Dummy Girl and right at Thatch for some backup. Slither didn't necessarily like to fight with who he thought were his friends, and honestly, one-time Dummy Girl had bitten Slither's 'hand', one of his striped tentacles for limbs and it had hurt worse than anything he ever knew. Wooden teeth were nothing to joke about. With all the gossiping Dummy Girl did Slither knew she had a strong hinge on that ever-moving mouth of hers. Honestly, it was like a nutcracker. So, the serpent could only let out weak, whispering protests which even Ra couldn't hear.

"Come on Slither, don't look to him!" She demanded as she reached out to grab the serpent monster, disgusted with the fact that HER friend would turn to the traitorous vampire for help and protection. "He's no good for us anymore.".

"Hands off!" Thatch snapped, though he did not rise from his seat. He hopes his words simply held enough bite to keep Dummy Girl at bay, but sadly she was being more stubborn than a tree. Thatch had lost all control he had over her, which meant things were going to spiral out of control real quick.

"Oh, whatever Blood-Breath." She rolled her eyes and grabbed onto Slither's arm. "Come on, you're sitting next to me," she simply decided for herself. Slither just couldn't find the words to defend himself.

"Um excuse me, but I'm pretty sure he's sitting next to me," Ra interjected, frowning deeply as he grabbed Slither's other arm. Yeah, he didn't like Slither, but if Slither didn't want to go, then he didn't have to go! At the touch, Slither wanted to recoil from them both, but he also knew he rather stay with Ra than Dummy Girl, so he leaned towards the mummy more. "You can go away, Termite-Head." Ra sneered.

"Termite-Head! Why I oughta knock you right out of those bandages."

"I like to see you try," Ra growled, rising from his seat and leaning across the desk to look down at Dummy Girl who released Slither's arm. Slither sunk back in his seat, silently watching as he pulled his arms fully into his robes, looking more like a worm now. He really didn't want to be between these two at all, let alone get into any fight.

Something about Ra's threat seemed to make Dummy Girl question herself, but she only shoved Slither roughly before she turned and walked away- releasing her anger on the less intimidating male. The wooden doll went to her seat and sat down, nearly shaking with anger as she watched her former so-called friends. Mosshead was just trying to comfort her now, assuring that she was clearly in the right and everyone else had gone insane.

Slither refused to look her way. Instead, he looked at Ra with a confused look, watching the mummy retake his seat. Slither was nervous, and he just had no clue how to thank the mummy. They had never really directly fought, not until last week that is. But they were never once friendly. Slither could remember the first time he met Ra, long ago on Cappy's ship. He had actually sat beside Ra while Thatch was going around and threatening the other students, claiming to be the biggest and the baddest. It was a laugh at the time because he knew Thatch was nothing but a softie, though he was surprised when Thatch actually bit off part of one of the benches. Vampire teeth were scary things, but at the same time, he had taken note of Ra's willingness to stand up and sass anyone, no matter how scary.

There was a lot to question- mostly about how aggressive the mummy has been lately. Intimidating anyone he feels the need to, taking over the situation at times. It was confusing, and what was more confusing is that Thatch, Casper, and Slither all thought they could see a slight glow from Ra's eyes- but maybe they were seeing things because Ra seemed perfectly normal, taking out his book and rubbing his eyes like he was sleepy once more, relaxing how that Dummy Girl was away and Slither was safe by his side. Safe, still startled, but safe nonetheless.

As Casper looked around the room he could tell there was a great divide. To be for or against this new situation, and what exactly to do about it. Yes, it was strange, dating in Scare School wasn't really common when the students were supposed to be mean to each other- unless there was a fleshie; in that case, they were expected to help each other for the better good of the Underworld.

The rules of the school were a bit confusing to the ghost, but he knew dating certainly wasn't smiled upon here. It made him almost sad the monsters had to be mean to each other. But he tried to brush the thought away and focus on class...

And he inwardly groaned when he saw the final exam of their current unit was today. Great.