Changes: Ghoul School

Revision as of 17:01, 1 July 2020

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Story

Plot

When Liam Erdman arrives at his new school and sees his classmates for the first time, he is in disbelief. One boy has bulging green eyes, one girl drools, one girl is licking the wall, and another girl is chewing a ruler. Worst of all, they're all staring at him. Liam's family just moved to town, and he's already missing his old school. All of the kids introduce themselves to Liam, and each seems to have something strange about them.

During lunch, Liam sits by a boy who wears a dog collar. Liam is appalled when all of the other kids begin screaming, running around, spitting, and doing other bizarre things. Liam runs to the teacher, Ms. Barker, and she informs Liam that the kids are acting how they're supposed to because this is a ghoul school. Afraid, Liam declares that he is not a monster, but his teacher ominously says that he should let the other students know. Liam leaves the room but comes back shortly after. He sees Ms. Barker eating a sandwich with a blue finger in it.

When Liam gets home, he explains what's wrong with his new school to his parents. Mrs. Erdman says that Liam will need to set a good example for his peers. Liam's dad offers to give Liam a "special police protection device". The item looks like a liver button, but Liam isn't told what it does.

At school the next day, Liam's peers demand to see him transform into his monster form. The kids say they will eat Liam if he can't prove that he's a monster, but Liam is saved by a girl named Marnie. Marnie says that she has seen Liam transform, but he can only transform under a full moon. The kids agree to meet up tomorrow night. Liam suspects that Marnie might just be a normal kid. Marnie invites Liam over to her house. When the two kids meet up, Marnie gives Liam Halloween supplies to make a disguise out of.

The next night, Liam and the kids all meet up on the school's playground. At the moment when Liam is supposed to put on his monster mask, the band on the back breaks, and his fake eyeball falls off. The other kids call his attempted disguise pitiful, and they transform into real monsters. Liam pushes his button, but nothing seems to happen. Suddenly, a team of officers appear and detain the monsters. Liam's dad appears and reveals that he isn't actually a shopping mall cop. He is the chief of the Police Undercover Monster Squad. As it turns out, the silver button was a listening device. The police are detaining Marnie, but Liam stops them, telling them that she is a normal kid.

Mr. Erdman instructs Liam to walk Marnie home. Once they're alone, Marnie grabs a fly and eats it. She explains that she never transformed because she was shy. When Marnie smiles, she reveals her fangs, and she says that she often bites.

Trivia

This story references the book How to Eat Fried Worms.
In her monster form, Susan turns into a giant, snake-like tongue. Oddly, this isn't the only giant tongue-monster in the Goosebumps franchise. The book One Night in Payne House would go on to feature a creature similar to Susan called the Tongue Thing.
At 52 pages, this is the longest story in the Goosebumps Triple Header series.

Goosebumps Triple Header series
Book 1	Ghost Granny • Spin the Wheel of Horror • Teenage Sponge Boys from Outer Space
Book 2	Ghoul School • The Revenge • The Mummy with My Face

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Ghoul School '''is a story in ''[[Goosebumps Triple Header|Goosebumps Triple Header: Book Two]].''
+{{Tabber/Story|next=The Revenge}}"'''Ghoul School'''" is the first story in [[Goosebumps Triple Header#Three Shocking Tales of Terror: Book 2|''Goosebumps Triple Header: Book 2'']].
 == Plot ==
+When Liam Erdman arrives at his new school and sees his classmates for the first time, he is in disbelief. One boy has bulging green eyes, one girl drools, one girl is licking the wall, and another girl is chewing a ruler. Worst of all, they're all staring at him. Liam's family just moved to town, and he's already missing his old school. All of the kids introduce themselves to Liam, and each seems to have something strange about them.
-Liam Erdman is starting his first day at a new school. As he walks towards his desk, he can't help but notice that the other kids are a little different. His first hint is when one kid has solid green eyes. Then the girl in front of her starts licking the wall. Another kid eats and then regurgitates a stick of chalk.  His teacher, Ms. Barker, however seems normal, with her horrifying trait merely being a mousy disposition and schoolmarm-looks.
-At lunch, Liam sits with a kid who outside of wearing a dog collar seems normal, until he starts barking like a like a seal. Liam runs back to the Room 5 classroom and asks Ms. Barker why he's not popular enough to sit at the ghoul kids table. She calmly tells him that it's because his classmates are monsters. After all, Liam is enrolled in '''Ghoul School'''! Ms. Barker insists that Liam's parents were quite insistent that Liam be enrolled in this school and that if Liam wants to survive, he should not let on that he's not a monster. Ms. Barker then shoos Liam out of her classroom so she can finish her ham sandwich in peace.
+During lunch, Liam sits by a boy who wears a dog collar. Liam is appalled when all of the other kids begin screaming, running around, spitting, and doing other bizarre things. Liam runs to the teacher, Ms. Barker, and she informs Liam that the kids are acting how they're supposed to because this is a ''ghoul school''. Afraid, Liam declares that he is not a monster, but his teacher ominously says that he should let the other students know. Liam leaves the room but comes back shortly after. He sees Ms. Barker eating a sandwich with a blue finger in it.
+When Liam gets home, he explains what's wrong with his new school to his parents. Mrs. Erdman says that Liam will need to set a good example for his peers. Liam's dad offers to give Liam a "special police protection device". The item looks like a liver button, but Liam isn't told what it does.
-Out in the recess yard, Liam briefly tries to mingle with the kids and almost gets his arm bitten off. He retreats back inside and tries to sneak back into the classroom, only to discover that he misheard Ms. Barker. She's not enjoying a ham sandwich, she's enjoying a ''hand'' sandwich.
+At school the next day, Liam's peers demand to see him transform into his monster form. The kids say they will eat Liam if he can't prove that he's a monster, but Liam is saved by a girl named Marnie. Marnie says that she has seen Liam transform, but he can only transform under a full moon. The kids agree to meet up tomorrow night. Liam suspects that Marnie might just be a normal kid. Marnie invites Liam over to her house. When the two kids meet up, Marnie gives Liam Halloween supplies to make a disguise out of.
-After somehow surviving the rest of the school day, Liam tries to reason with his parents, but they insist that they specifically wanted him enrolled in that school because it was closer to the house. Liam's dad, an undercover cop, gives Liam a special silver "panic button" which he is use only in an emergency.
+The next night, Liam and the kids all meet up on the school's playground. At the moment when Liam is supposed to put on his monster mask, the band on the back breaks, and his fake eyeball falls off. The other kids call his attempted disguise pitiful, and they transform into real monsters. Liam pushes his button, but nothing seems to happen. Suddenly, a team of officers appear and detain the monsters. Liam's dad appears and reveals that he isn't actually a shopping mall cop. He is the chief of the Police Undercover Monster Squad. As it turns out, the silver button was a listening device. The police are detaining Marnie, but Liam stops them, telling them that she is a normal kid.
-Back on the school-grounds the next morning, the ghouls crowd around Liam and force him to prove he's a monster by eating dirt. Since he won't eat dirt, the kids insist he transform into his monster form.
+Mr. Erdman instructs Liam to walk Marnie home. Once they're alone, Marnie grabs a fly and eats it. She explains that she never transformed because she was shy. When Marnie smiles, she reveals her fangs, and she says that she often bites.
-The kids are incredulous to his portrayal and it looks like curtains for Liam until a wild-haired girl named Marnie breaks up the angry mob by dragging the boy away from the rest. Marnie tells the angry crowd that she's seen Liam's monster-form.
+==Trivia==
-Marnie arranges for everyone to meet the next day at midnight on the playground, when the moon will be full. Liam tries to get out of the engagement by arguing that he has an existing conflict at midnight, as that's when the scarecrow walks. One of the ghoul-kids tells Liam that if he doesn't show up, the rest of the ghouls are going to throw a party and eat his entire family. Liam is relieved that he won't have to go grocery shopping for the party but is obviously still a little uneasy about the rest. Marnie tells him that she thinks he's just like her, which he takes to mean another normal human.
+*This story references the book ''How to Eat Fried Worms''.
+*In her monster form, Susan turns into a giant, snake-like tongue. Oddly, this isn't the only giant tongue-monster in the ''[[Goosebumps (franchise)|Goosebumps]]'' franchise. The book ''[[One Night in Payne House]]'' would go on to feature a creature similar to Susan called the Tongue Thing.
+*At 52 pages, this is the longest story in the ''Goosebumps Triple Header'' series.
+{{GoosebumpsTH}}
-During a science lecture, Liam gets passed a note from Marnie, telling him to meet her after class outside the grocery store. Liam sighs, as now there's ''no'' upside to the promised family-eating party.
-Luckily, Marnie only asked him to meet her there because she lives in an apartment above the grocery store. She runs upstairs and comes back with a box of halloween costume parts. Liam spends the next day practicing applying the werewolf disguise and gets the process down to seven seconds.
-Marnie meets him at the playground at midnight. Liam tries to keep his distance so he can turn around and chance, but the ghoul kids run after him and he attempts to apply his costume while running. He drops half of his parts and all that's left is a wig he puts on backwards and plastic fangs. The other kids laugh at him and then transform into horrible monsters with tentacles and wings. Liam figures this probably constitutes an emergency and pushes the panic button. Suddenly he hears the sound of a police siren. Dozens of cops swarm the monsters and begin shooting them with darts. As the cops haul the monster kids into the police vans, Liam's dad explains that the silver button was actually a microphone. Liam's dad secretly works for PUMS, the Police Undercover Monster Squad and thanks to Liam, the cops can finally shut down the monster school.
 [[Category:Goosebumps Triple Header]]
 [[Category:Short Stories]]
-[[Category:Pages needing attention]]
 [[Category:Monsters]]
+[[Category:Fall]]
+[[Category:Schools]]
+[[Category:Teachers]]
+[[Category:Police]]