The Ghost and the McGee Twins

No Good Deed

At school, I was playing some basketball with Molly and Scratch. "Oops, out of bounds." Molly said, accidentally tossing the ball out of the court. "I got it, Moll." I reassured her, going to grab the ball, then out of nowhere, Darryl came speeding by in a janitor cart while holding a leaf blower as his engine. Darryl's cart almost hit me. "Hit the deck!" "That's my man! You go, D-Dawg!" Scratch shouted.

So, Darryl got in trouble with the school. Again. Mom and Dad were called. Again. Molly, Scratch, and I were eavesdropping on the conversation. "So, what's happening in there?" I whispered. "Oh, they're fighting." Scratch replied. "It's chaos!" "Fighting?" Molly asked. "Who's winning? Is it Darryl? He's taken at least one and a half Taekwondo classes." "No! The teachers are fighting!" Scratch explained. "They haven't even gotten to Darryl yet. Now let me go back. I'm missing the good stuff."

Six years in detention was Darryl's punishment for his stunt. I was still wondering how that's even possible. "There goes your fresh start at a new school!" Mom snapped on the way home. "I thought Brighton was gonna be different, Darryl." Dad added. "I was just trying to liven up recess!" Darryl explained. "It's been so boring since they condemned the swing set." "So, almost hurting your sister is your way to liven up recess?" I asked. "That doesn't mean you can commandeer a janitor's cart, Darryl!" Dad shouted. "Haven't we had this exact conversation before?!" "No. Those were shopping carts, custodian carts, and go-karts." Darryl corrected. "All carts are off limits." Dad grunted. "If it's got wheels, stop commandeering it!" "What's your secret, guys?" Darryl sighed. "You never get sent down to the principal's office." "Not true." I explained. "I was falsely accused of ripping a textbook." "What are you doing that I'm not, Molly?" Darryl asked. "It's more about what I'm not doing." Molly replied. "Which is pretty much anything you're doing." Scratch added. "Maybe you could teach me your ways?" Darryl suggested. "Show me how to not get in trouble?" "Ooh! Like, nice lessons?" Molly asked. "What could go wrong?" I wondered sarcastically.

Once we got home, Molly hosted a special seminar for Darryl. "Welcome, class, to my first ever seminar: How To Be..." Molly began. "Boo!" Scratch shouted. "Being good's for suckers. "Please refrain from distracting the other students." Molly said, spraying Scratch with a spray bottle. "Today, we will learn the twelve steps to being good." "Twelve? Okay, real talk, my attention span is, like, 15 minutes, including a snack break..." Darryl trailed off, getting distracted by a fly. "Darryl!" I shouted, slapping his desk with a shoe. "Okay, we'll skip being considerate to your elders, having a strong moral compass, befriending stray kittens." Molly sighed. "You know what? I'll just boil it down to the three essentials..."

The entire family and I were surprised the next morning to find Darryl making breakfast for all of us. "Dear family, breakfast is served!" Darryl exclaimed. "Lots of condensed milk on the roti canai, just how you like 'em." "How'd you know?" Mom asked. "Nice people pay attention." Darryl replied. "Molly taught me that." "This is just like a restaurant." Dad said. "Who are you and what have you done with Darryl?!" I gasped. "Wow, Darryl! Thank you!" Mom thanked. "Molly, Amber, seems like your lessons worked." "That is some good roti!" Scratch exclaimed, eating the rest of the food, including my entire plate. "Yeah, I'm not hungry." I sighed. I guess I just won't eat. Again.

After getting dropped off, Molly, Scratch, Darryl, and I walked to school together. "Wow. Doing good really does feel good!" Darryl admitted. All of a sudden, a bunch of cop cars drove up to the school. The local news was already reporting something at school. "What's going on?" I wondered. "The teachers! The teachers are missing!" Principal O'Connor cried out, chasing students that were running wild. "Wait! I'm still responsible for you! Until 3:14 PM!" "Wow! This worked out great!" Darryl exclaimed. "Wait. You did this?" Molly asked. "Eh, I kinda figured." I commented. "No, my sisters. We did this." Darryl corrected. "I followed your lessons to a T! I saw there was a problem, so I took responsibility to think of others and find a solution! The problem... Teachers ruin all the fun. But how to get rid of them? I remembered there was a prisoner pickup nearby because of our highway cleanup. So I gave the teachers orange jumpsuits to blend in on the bus, and I forged a note from Principal O'Connor to make their team building day seem legit!" "YOU SENT OUR TEACHERS TO PRISON?!" Molly exclaimed. "Darryl, you unbelievable nimrod. I didn't know you had it in you!" I gasped. "By your faces, I can tell that you're... proud?" Darryl questioned, posing for Scratch, who was taking pictures with Molly's phone. "Sorry, I just want to preserve this moment." Scratch explained. "And one more with the failure filter." "This is bad, Darryl! Really, really bad!" Molly shouted. "As much as I am impressed with this crazy scheme of yours, you messed up big time." I added. "How?" Darryl asked. "Look! I made everyone happy!" "You made the kids happy, but what about the teachers?" Molly wondered. "Do you think they're happy? In prison?!" "Teachers? Have feelings?" Darryl questioned with a sigh. "Wha... where does it end? Being good is harder than I thought." "Ya think?!" I shouted. "Okay, well..." Darryl trailed off. "To fix this, we gotta... flee the country?" "Save the teachers!" Molly and I shouted in unison. "Save the teachers, yes!" Darryl agreed. "Took the words right out of my mouth.

Molly, Scratch, Darryl, and I rushed over to the Brighton County Prison to try and bust the teachers out. Molly began talking to security, trying to explain Darryl's prank. "Look, you don't understand, they're falsely imprisoned!" Molly explained. "He's not gonna listen to a bunch of kids." I said. "Not with that attitude, sis!" Molly snapped. "Just being brutally honest." I admitted. "Sorry, kid." The guard apologized. "I'm not lettin' you in or anyone out." "How does that 'Told Ya' dance go again, Moll?" I asked. "Don't worry, I know another way in." Darryl said, looking at Scratch. "But we might have to be a little bad to do a little good." "Let's do it." I sighed. "Okay, Scratch. Just go through the fence and open the door for us." Darryl instructed. "I mean, usually, people try to break out of prison, not in, but what the hey." Scratch said, going through the electric fence, getting shocked in the process, unable to move. "Is he dead?" Darryl asked. "I don't think a ghost can die?" Molly questioned. "Oh, look! It's the great ghost expert here to tell us all the ghost expert stuff she knows!" Scratch slurred. "Guess electricity makes ghosts... silly?" I wondered. "So glad you're here to enlighten us, ghost-pert!" Scratch exclaimed.

It's been a little while since Scratch went through the electric fence and he still hasn't opened the gate for the prison. He just decided to pull out his harmonica and start playing it. "Scratch, just open the door, please!" I begged. "I got them jailhouse blues!" Scratch sang. "Whoo!" "Yeah, that's great, now could you please just..." Molly chipped in as Scratch continued his song. "Beautiful, Scratch. So, could you please now..." "Shut up, Scratch!" I shouted, covering my ears. I wish I had brought a pair of headphones.

Hours have passed since then and Scratch finally fell asleep in midair. "I don't think we're getting the teachers out, guys." Darryl sighed with guilt, picking at the grass. "At least not till Scratch sleeps this off." "Tell me about it." I agreed. "I thought he'd never stop singing." "I'm just no good at being good." Darryl frowned. "I'm... I'm always gonna be... bad." "You're not gonna be perfect overnight." Molly said. "Give it time." "In the meantime, let's get digging." I added, handing each of my siblings a shovel.

It took at least an hour, but we finally dug our way under the electric fence, only for the teachers to make their escape on a cart of dirty prison jumpsuits. I guess Scratch woke up too. "I feel like I missed a lot." Scratch said.

The next day at school, everything seemed like it was back to normal, though, our teachers may or may not be wanted criminals now. "Not gonna lie, didn't have too much faith in you bozos, but we made a good team in the end." I heard Mrs Roop tell Miss Lightfoot and Mr Bates. "We did." Mr Bates agreed. "Go team!" Miss Lightfoot shouted at all the teachers went to the teacher's lounge. "Who knew prison would be such a bonding experience?" Molly wondered. "Yeah! I hope I get to go to prison one day!" Darryl exclaimed. "I think you will, sport." Scratch said. "I think you will." "And thanks, guys." Darryl thanked. "You've taught me a valuable lesson." "Wait, you actually learned something?" I cackled. "Aw, I'm glad to hear that, Darryl." Molly smiled. "Yep." Darryl chuckled. "I've learned that even when I try really hard to be good, I still get things wrong. So, I should just be me and hope for the best!" "Wait, what?" Molly questions. "There it is." I said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I see an AV cart with my name on it!" Darryl explained, turning on the leaf blower and going to the AV class. "No, no, no! That's not the lesson!" Darryl crashed his cart, causing a minor explosion in the hallway. "I'm dropping your class." Scratch confessed.