Chapter Summary: With Alder and Dash going on 'vacation' leaves the students in shock. With the leader of the underworld taking over everyone is on edge.

"Keep close." Thatch whispered, moving closer to the ghost. He didn't want to even get a foot away from Casper in the crowd of students. It was easy to get separated, and Thatch was still on edge about Dummy Girl. Casper nodded, then glanced over to Ra and Mantha who were silently walking on his other side. Ra seemed pretty tired, again so he wasn't talking all that much.

"This has nothing to do with you two, does it?" Mantha muttered softly, cautiously looking around as they walked. Casper could see she was popping her finger on and off again, he really needed to ask why Mantha has been doing it a lot as of late. Was it just a nervous tick or was that finger having trouble staying attached like the times her arms just refused to work? He really didn't want a repeat of that event. Casper couldn't answer her question either, making the zombie groan after a few silent moments. "Of course it is..."

The students all funneled into the main hall, whispering among themselves. Thatch made a point to pull Casper, Ra, and Mantha to the front of the crowd so they could see. Normally Casper preferred hanging around the back, but Thatch liked being the center of the attention and getting the best seats for everything and anything. Casper found it amusing, if not a little bit annoying. Thatch always had to get his way.

Alder and Dash stood by the front doors, looking nervous as Kibosh floated beside them, his red stern eyes watching the students as they filed in. Kibosh was just watching, saying nothing to them. The students all fell silent under the gaze of Kibosh, a deadly hush falling upon the normally talkative students.

Casper kept close to Thatch's side, his gaze kept drifting from Kibosh to Ra and Mantha. He had no clue how to explain the situation, nor did he know what would really happen. He just kept silent like all the other students, though he knew he felt way more guilty than anyone else in the room. He caused this, but perhaps it was for the better good? But he didn't want to get another headmaster like Master Blister. That man was horrid.

"Students." Kibosh spoke in a commander tone, his voice filling the room. "And teachers." Casper glanced around and on the second floor, he could see all the teachers standing around, even the cafeteria lady... monster had come. Casper could see the creature was upset because it was waving one of its long tentacles towards Alder, who was frowning and waving back in a childish manner.

Casper hadn't even noticed them at first, they were all so silent. "It has come to my attention this school needs some... major changes. So." Kibosh continued, clasping his hands together. "Alder and Dash are going on a long vacation." He put nicely. "And while they're gone, for however long that might be, I'll be running the school."

There was no cheering, no excitement. Just shock. Kibosh was going to run the school himself? Alder and Dash were going to be gone for who knew how long? Last time Alder and Dash were fired things did not go well at all. They could all remember the dreaded replacement that had ran the school like a military camp. Casper only hoped Kibosh knew he should be nice to the lunch lady.

Casper turned to Thatch, who uncomfortably shifted around, looking down at the floor as h tried to control his inner guilt. "Thatch," Casper whispered softly, pulling on the vampire gently. Thatch softly hissed in return, even if he couldn't meet the ghost's gaze.

"Shh, Casper, we did nothing wrong." He tried to assure the ghost. "They had this coming. They tried to stop... us." He almost whined, his shoulders slumping down helplessly. It was clear the vampire was feeling terribly guilty despite his words. Casper's guilt melted away and he nodded, trying to be strong for himself and Thatch. Alder and Dash tried to get between them. Thatch only exposed them for their ridiculous rules and made up bull. There was only one small lie, and that was only to his mom to help give her that little push to call Kibosh. They did nothing wrong. This was surely for the better!

"Well then," Kibosh looked around the terribly silent group of students. "I'll be monitoring for the first day or so to see how this school runs, and if needed I'll adjust things to make sure this school can offer the best scaring education possible!" He decided firmly. The students generally murmured and gave weak applause to their new headmaster, truly at a loss for what to do. Cheer? Smile? Weren't they supposed to be mean and growl? But surely growling and showing disapproval to Kibosh was not a wise thing to do.

"Goodbye students!" Alder dumbly waved with a big smile. Dash did not look impressed in the slightest. "I'll see you after our vacation!"

"We're not going on vacation, you dunce," Dash whispered harshly. Dash then grabbed their suitcase and the former headmasters left, Dash angrily bickering at Alder all the way out. Kibosh quickly shut the doors behind them. They certainly weren't welcomed here anymore.

"Um... Back to class, announcement over!" Kibosh boomed. The students were really slow to leave. They kept glancing at the green ghost, probably pondering if this was a dream or not. As Casper started to lead with his friends he could just feel Ra and Mantha staring at him. "I'll answer questions, promise." He whispered softly to them. Ra softly huffed, rolling his eyes but accepted the fact he'll have to wait. Mantha did not seem that calm and decided to press for answers right away.

"Casper, what did you do?" She asked in a demanding tone, grabbing the ghost's wrist just to assure she had his attention.

"Hey lay off, he's innocent." Thatch frowned. "I did this, not him." He said, almost as if he was scolding the zombie. "Now shut up." He hissed rudely. Casper gently pulled on the vampire, looking at him with disapproval. He liked Thatch's protection, the love and care he received were great, but Mantha and Ra didn't need to be treated so. Thatch just had to relax and realize they were there for him first after all.

"Thatch lay off, she was only asking. She has a right to know." Casper reminded gently. "We'll talk at dinner, let's just survive our classes." He firmly decided. Thatch seemed annoyed, but he wasn't fussing much anymore, just keeping right by Casper's side. It was honestly a relief Casper was able to control the vampire so well. The ghost only hoped he could keep this control or something bad might happen at this rate. Sometimes he wishes he had that magical power his mom had to hush the vampire with a single motion. That would be handy.

Dinner was awkward and silent. Hell, all their classes had been just like this as well. With Kibosh randomly popping in and out none of the students knew how to interact with each other. The teachers were also having heart attacks every time the green ghost decided to just, show up. Ms. Heady nearly fell off her table when Kibosh randomly popped in, giving the severed head a heart attack, if that was possible. Wolfie had managed to catch the orb she was in right before she hit the floor, thank goodness Wolfie was always restless in his seat. Kibosh quickly decided to never just fly in through the chalkboards after that.

It was certainly a bit of a mess but Casper was just pleased they survived until dinner. As they all settled at their normal table Casper noted once more that Thatch hadn't bothered to grab a tray, instead, he was munching on those dumb blood worm candies instead of actual food.

"So..." Mantha started out slowly, poking her food absentmindedly as she watched the blue-eyed ghost. "Casper, what happened?" She carefully questioned, her eyes darting around nervously for any sign of Kibosh.

"Yeah, where were you two this morning? I looked everywhere." Ra crossed his arms grumpily.

"If you opened my coffin, I will bite you."

"I had to look." Ra defended quickly. "Not my fault you sleep in some dumb coffin."

"And you sleep in a sarcophagus. Stop fighting." Mantha put an end to that right away. Casper flashed her a relieved smile. As always Mantha knew how to help him. Ra and Thatch angrily glared at each other, but after a moment the vampire actually backed down with a huff, just munching on his bag of candy.

"Anyways, as Ra meant to say was we couldn't find you this morning. What happened?" She kindly pressed on.

"Alder and Dash took us to their office," Casper willingly answered. "They wanted to get us in trouble, blame us for all the fighting. They said the garlic and Blood Blossom was our fault."

"Excusemewhat?" Ra mumbled through a mouthful of food. Mantha looked grossed out and covered Ra's mouth herself just to save everyone the torture of Ra and his horrible manners.

"Gross Ra, chew with your mouth shut." She scolded. Ra groaned and quickly swallowed before pushing Mantha's hand away.

"Whatever, anyways they tried to blame you two for being attacked?"

"It was dumb," Thatch grumbled softly, and Casper nodded.

"Yeah, it kinda was. But it's fine now. Kibosh is in control." Casper tried to comfort his friends. He hated seeing that distressed look upon their faces. He didn't want them to stress out. Surely this was for the better good of all students! They didn't have to follow the two-headed monster's dumb rules anymore.

"How? How did you get out of trouble... Is that why Kibosh is taking over now?" Mantha sighed heavily. "What did you two do?"

"I said it was just me... And for what I did... My mom got mad." Thatch shrugged, finishing the bag of candy with a pout. When he looked up only then did he see the puzzled look of Ra and Mantha. "Er, what? What's with that look?"

"Your mom got mad... So Kibosh is here?"

"Well a lot sorta happened," Thatch muttered and looked over to Casper for some help, which the ghost was more than happy to give.

"They were threatening to expel us or call our families so... Thatch called them out and told them to call his mom. And when they did, his mom... Well, I hate to say it but she isn't friendly."

"Course she's not. She's a vampire, like me." Thatch proudly stated, puffing his chest out before he pulled out yet another bag of candy from the inside of his cloak. Honestly, that thing might as well be magic at this point. Casper never found any pockets in his cloaks but Thatch seemed to be able to just hide things in there like some sort of supermarket. There had to be a secret pocket somewhere in there.

"Yes... right." Casper muttered. Mantha raised a brow, clearly having a dozen more questions. "Ok well uh. His mom got mad when there were no real rules we broke, and when Thatch told her we had been attacked she kinda... went off on Alder and Dash. Threatening to uh..."

"Drink their blood, but as she said- their blood is so gross a werewolf wouldn't touch it." Thatch recited off without flinching. "Mom said she could run a better school, a few more things, then she got mad and hung up on them to call Kibosh."

"Your mom called Kibosh?" Ra leaned forward, his jaw slacked in shock.

"Whoa Thatch, your mom sounds so... so..."

"Awesome? Astonishing? Magnificent? Badass? Amazing?" Thatch grinned widely. "I know she is." Casper was trying his best not to giggle. Such a momma's boy. "My mom is extraordinary... Very intimidating as well." Thatch noted calmly, nodding to himself as he was utterly assured his mom was the best thing in the world and everyone had to agree with him. He popped another bloodworm in his mouth, swinging his legs under him like a happy child.

"Why don't we ever hear about her?" Ra asked. "Like, in the school textbooks or something?"

"Those textbooks are so outdated," Thatch muttered. "If they were to be rewritten I bet my dad would be in it," he almost whispered with a heavy sigh.

"Really? What did your dad do?" Mantha questioned. Thatch shook his head at this point and leaned back. When Thatch didn't answer Mantha turned to Casper, who quickly shook his head.

"I won't make him talk," Casper said firmly. "Let's not focus on the now anyway. Kibosh is here and he said he might change some things."

"Maybe we'll get a better lunch?" Ra offered as he poked his food, in which the food growled at him. "We better get better lunch."

"Can you stop thinking about food? Think about the new books we could get! Updated textbooks and everything!" Mantha said excitedly. "Maybe I should give some suggestions to Kibosh."

Casper weakly smiled and nodded. "That would be nice. My book is falling apart, plus maybe with some updated books we can start learning some useful things about fleshies, like how they don't got monkeys in their brains or that sweat isn't called Scare Juice."

"That, would be amazing." Mantha laughed softly. "Honestly what a joke. Who got these books anyways?"

"I bet it was Alder," Ra muttered.

"Is Alder smart enough to order books?" Thatch smirked.

"... Yeah, you're right." Ra snorted. "No way." The two former enemies started to laugh together, and Casper felt so relieved. This was all for the better, he had to keep reminding himself. Everything would be ok, they all had each other, hold up. Where's Slither?

Casper raised his gaze from the table, and even as his eyes scanned the large room he couldn't see Slither, he didn't even see Dummy Girl. "This isn't good," he mumbled, instantly catching the attention of his friends. They followed his gaze and Casper could hear Thatch's low hiss.

"Where are they?" Thatch growled, moving to stand up upon the realization they haven't seen Slither since the big school announcement. Casper quickly grabbed him by his cloak and gently pulled him back down, shaking his head. "What? I need to find Slither."

"I'll look, I can't get caught," Casper spoke softly as he took Thatch's hand in his own. "I'll go take a look around. I'll see you guys soon-"

"Wait, it's Friday. Slither is at the nurse getting checked out." Thatch visibly relaxed, sighing heavily. "I can't believe I forgot that."

"Whoa dude, it's already Friday. Time flies." Ra mumbled softly, looking to Mantha. "That's so cool, it's finally the weekend. I really need some more sleep."

"Yeah, time flies when a former friend is trying to hurt us." Thatch grumbled, utterly deflating the mummy's mojo. Thatch sighed heavily, looking annoyed as he drummed his fingers on the table. "Normally I take Slither to the nurse... But Dummy Girl is probably with him." Thatch moodily mumbled. Casper's eyes narrowed, watching the vampire carefully. Something was... really off about Thatch. Casper looked to Ra and Mantha, and neither of them showed any signs of noticing.

"I'm... I'll be back." Casper mumbled and stood up. Thatch looked up and grabbed the ghost's wrist quickly, preventing Casper from leaving his side. As Casper looked down at the vampire he could see Thatch's eyes just pleading for Casper to stay.

"Where are you going?" He demandingly asked. "Can't you stay here?" He shifted in his seat, facing Casper more.

"I uh... I forgot my backpack." Casper muttered the lie. It felt horrible yo lie, but he needed to go.

"I'll go with you." Thatch eagerly said and started to stand.

"I'm fine, Thatch," Casper said firmly, pulling his hand away and to his surprise, he found it easy to do so. Thatch's hold was oddly weak. "Stay with Ra and Mantha." He tried to order, then felt so guilty when he saw the sad violet eyes watching him. Thatch looked so hurt now. "I'm fine Thatch, I'll be back soon." He said comfortingly. He leaned down, kissing the vampire's cheek before he walked away. It still felt awful, Thatch was awfully clingy and it was almost concerning. Maybe Slither had some answers to the vampire's behavior. Honestly, he was just grateful Thatch stayed put as he wanted.