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Rory groaned. So much for trying to smooth things over with Marceline. And there was the matter of-

"THE MIRROR!" Rory clapped his(Glen's) hand to his(Glen's) forehead. That had been the entire REASON Rory had sought out Glen at the beginning of the school day - for advice on how to ask Marceline to give back the freaky blank mirror he'd given her a month ago!

And now he'd just utterly blown his chance to talk to her one-on-one.

"Heyyyyy!" It was just then that Glen popped up next to Rory, giving Rory that weirdly vague sense of deja-vu dread that seeing his own body moving around without being controlled by him caused. "So, how'd your test go?"

"How did my-do you realize what you did to Marceline?! That she thinks I did?!" Rory asked, incrdulousy. Glen shrugged and grinned.

"Didn't I do a great job reacting just like you would? The nerve of her, treating you, I mean me, I mean you, that way!"

"But-but I-" Rory stammered, but he couldn't quite get the words out. Glen tapped a finger on his cheek, thinking out loud.

"I wonder if Marceline is going to be joining in the SKRM practice. Doesn't she have Home Ickonomics next? "

"Yeah, she has it before lun-wait. SKRM practice?"

"Yeah, those of us in Physical Deaducation are going down to the Roller Maze track, remember? Maybe she made arrangements to present early or something."

"We can't do that!" Rory nearly jumped three feet in the air. "We're in the wrong bodies! I can't skate in the Roller Maze! I don't even know how to skate, period!"

As if Glen had to be reminded of that! How often had he offered to teach Rory the joys of Skulltimate Roller Skating?!

"Relaaax!" Glen patted Rory on the shoulder. "You're going to give me a heart attack. Right now I'm seeded into the third wave. It's pretty unlikely I'd even get to skate this practice. And remember? I have all those magical talismens to use! This is gonna be great!"

And just like that, once again, Rory completely forgot about asking Marceline about that blank mirror.

Astrid turns around to face Layla, cheeks red and skin absolutely soaked in teary glitter. "Yeah?" She mutters, "But how am I supposed to fit in with monsters staring at my wings all the time? It completely sucks them, in, how in the world am I supposed to make real friends!" Astrid shows Layla her inter-dimensional feathers - reflecting galaxies, space clouds, and stars within her tufts. "Oh, let's not forget my horn!" She points to her horn. "And my skin!" she points to her fantastic skin. "Oh, oh, my tail too!" Astrid lifts up her white and gold bladed tail, which seemed to come out of nowhere.

Astrid then stares Layla dead in the face. "Let me tell you where I'm from." She thinks to herself for a second, "... No, I don't mean space. I mean my species." She hisses in a very unwelcoming voice. "Us alicorns aren't the pretty ponies compared to pegasus and unicorns... No! We are mean, violent, edgy, aggro, OH and our style is wayyyyy ghouler than you!" She flips her glorious hair as if to prove her fashion is superior.

"Wow." Atomica watched as Estrella Espacio just turned and walked away. "SUPER rude."

She turned to Kai.

"You must be doing a terrible job at this if they're just leaving. Well....byeeee!"

Atomica turned and headed towards the SKRM track for practice. She filed "Estrella" in her databanks under 'hostile and utterly bogus.' She put a reminder in her memory core to talk at lunch with Lin and Gryff about how rudely she'd been treated.

Trigular Calcometry was, as Draconia suspected, a brutal final hexam. It was the one course the Headless Headmistress herself taught, except when she had other duties and the Substitute Creature Mr. Zarr filled in.

Draconia fumbled with her calculator on the final few problems. At least next scaremester she'd be taking Advanced Dragonomics instead. THAT class, she could ace.

"Done!" Draconia put her pencil down and softly congratulated herself as she finished the last problem. Why were tests so concerned about trains leaving stations at certain times and figuring out when they'd meet?!

Draconia picked up her iCoffin and quietly dropped a text to Glen.

Rory's iCoffin....make that GLEN's iCoffin buzzed with an incoming hext, but he couldn't answer it. He and Glen were moving too far down the catacombs to get a signal....so far down that they reached the Skulltimate Roller Maze track...

Harry was about to enter the school when he was accosted by three boos. Specifically, three draugr boos with papier-mache unicorn horns on their heads. One had a boosical instrument made from bones and one was very, very large....and in shorty shorts.

"AW, HARRY HERNE, DON'T YOU DARE BE SOUR! CLAP FOR OUR AWESOMNESS AND FEEL OUR POWER! WE ARE THE NEW DEAD, YES WE ARE!"

The three boos danced around him, two of them chanted 'New Dead rots!' while the third made...noise...with his trom-bone. Harry blinked. Crimson and clover, what was this mess?

"Um, do I know you?"

The massive boo with the tiny shorty shorts took the lead. WHY WERE HIS PANTS SO TINY? gonk

"We are the future of Monster High! We are magical unicorns! We are the New Dead!"

GAH! HE WAS NOW GYRATING! gonk The one with the trom-bone started in on Harry now.

"WE...will lead all sports teams. WE...will lead all the hobby clubs. WE...we lead all the unicorns, magical and otherwise, and do you know why?"

"Uhhhh..."

The third boo leaned towards Harry and spoke.

"Cause...New Dead rots! NEW DEAD ROTS!"

The chanting and dancing started again. Why, why was this happening to him? He just wanted lunch and to Sell Out like he deserved to. The chanting stopped and the one with the trom-bone introduced the group.

"I am Hexavier Woodz. My friends are Moldy Killston and Corps-E Tinypants."

It was true. His shorty shorts....they were so, so tiny.

"And you, Harry Herne, are newly dead inside so you should join The New Dead!"

The chanting and dancing started again. What was a failed hippie turned Sell Out to do?

"Uhmm... Hello... Kai..." Nekki poofed up in front of Kai, sending a bazillion needles and goosebumps all over his scaly arms. "I was, uhh. Trying to talk to you this whole time. You didn't hear me..."

The ghastly ghoul cleared her throat. "I would like to see this SKRM Roller Maze thing you talk about... It sounds..."



"....... interesting."

Nekki smiled. "Are they recruiting?" She wags her fish tail in excitement.

"He really needs the winter break to catch up on advances in wood technology, why is he even teaching if he can't figure it out?"

bzzzzzzzzt

Gryff reached into his back pocket and somehow eased a phone out of a space so tight one would imagine it'd be difficult to get a piece of paper inside.

Bzzzzzt bzzt

A few bars of a Normie Weekend (you've probably never heard of them) song buzzed unrecognizably (philistine).

"SKRM practice is starting, that's probably where Atomica is. Come on, we can stop in on our way to the lair, I need to use the private restroom because the boo's rooms are full of ghouls and they're hogging the mirror. As if most of their haircuts could actually be improved by 3 minutes in a high school bathroom," he said, rolling his eyes.