Harriet Jinjur vs. the Academy

Chapter 7: Jackalope in the Body

"You shouldn't have assigned her on this."

Miss Hazelnut has invited Mr. Spinks over to her room after she learned that Harriet would make a speech in honor of Gloucester during the do-over service. Even she knew how bothersome the sea serpent was, and worried that assigning her to learn more about his kind would only cause more mayhem to the Academy.

"It'll be good for her," he reasoned. "It might help her process all this grief she's been bottling up."

"Mason, I've heard about that girl constantly in my life, and I know for a fact she doesn't listen when we force things on her."

Mr. Spinks then turns to her intently, "Then, what do you call Bert?"

"A special case," she elaborated. "But he has nothing to do with this! He already witnessed true horror in the first time in his life. A horror that we're responsible for!"

"The Headmaster won't bat an eye," said Mr. Spinks. "Harriet wasn't exactly harmed."

"Oh, don't keep calling him that while it private," Miss Hazelnut groaned. "Ripley doesn't give two shits about that overgrown nuisance."

"But he does care about Harriet being the center of attention," he explained. "Maybe we can use that for our advantage."

"Out of the question!" Miss Hazelnut stood up from her bed. "She'll always on top of his mind as opposed to the rest of us, whether she's Jane or not! All we must do is go along with this contrived through-line, just so he can make up a villain for her to threaten and for him to act as a savior!"

"I take it this is a setback to you."

Miss Hazelnut cleared her throat, "Forgive me, Mason. There's a reason why I come to you for matters like this. However, tangents aside, he still brought this school back in operation. I'm sure he wants to good morale on top of it, however little we'll get, and this grisly murder isn't exactly helping matters for all of us."

"Agreed," said Mr. Spinks. "Come to think of it...do you know who killed that beast?"

"Like I'm interested in tracking down his murderer," Hazelnut said dismissively. "The Academy Grounds are quite big. There's bound to be possible suspects, but all I'm concerned about is finding that body and that smitten tramp is our only connection to that bothersome..."

Just then, Bennadonner slams open the door, startling the two of them,

"Still no sign o' 'im, mum!"

"Would you get out of here?" Miss Hazelnut said crossly. "We're having a private conversation!"

"Oh, I see," he winked. "Prefer slimmah men, I take..."

Miss Hazelnut swings the door on front of his bloated face before he could finish.

"Everywhere I go, I swear..." she growled. "...I happen to be with incompetence."

"I know what you mean, Henrietta."

"He should've gone beyond the meadow!" Miss Hazelnut threw her arms up. "That transplantation sac I had was practically underutilized from collecting dust! Why, there could've been enough fluid in him to go around the world and back in a minute!"

Mr. Spinks then suggested, "Maybe he stayed to barter with the children?"

"Perhaps..." said Miss Hazelnut. "A mutual consensus for his stagnated adolescence."

"Still warm as ever, I take it, teach," he smiled.

"I don't see myself as that anymore, Mason. I'm more of a glorified watchdog, foreseeing Ripley's project and report on every little misgiving that occurs. It's just that some misgivings happen to less damaging than others. That death might've been an unnecessary impairment, but I won't let that distract me on what I'm after."