Short tonight, but not as bad as last night....

     Surprisingly, nobody had very much to say to her question.  One by one, they resumed eating their food.  Once everyone had finished, they made the trek back to High Glen.  Just as Perry and Anthony were about to split off from the girls to walk to their dorm, Gali said,
     “Well, should we figure out what’s going to happen next?  We can do something on Halloween, but we still have a weekend before that.  Halloween is on a Tuesday, I think.”  Perry and Samantha gave sidelong glances to Anthony, as though they half-expected him to tell the rest of the group that he would no longer be coming.  
     “Yeah, okay,” said Mr. Rhodes.  “Maybe we could all just get together or something, instead of going out somewhere and doing something ghost-related.  It would be good to take a bit of a break before we do something intense again.”
     “We could have a study group!” said Samantha, seeming rather proud of herself for thinking of the idea.
     “That’s….” began Perry.
     “…a good idea!” said Gali.  “It is always easier to stay focused when you break things into small bits and then alternate between fun things with friends.  Plus, I have a lot of homework that I need to get done.  We could even try to get a little bit ahead to make up for going out on Halloween.”
     Mr. Rhodes shifted his hand to cover his mouth.  Sometimes he forgot that all of the students who attended High Glen were extremely academically motivated, despite any paranormal interests they may happen to have.
     “That is a good idea.  We could come to my house, if you would like.  We can bake cookies or something!”
     “Yeah!” shouted Samantha.
     “Can we do that?” asked Anthony.
     “What do you mean?” asked Gali, “Why couldn’t we?”
     “Well…. Because we are students.  And we would be alone with him, in his house.”  An extremely uncomfortable silence settled over the group.
     “Uhhhh….  Whoa,” said Perry.
     “No, seriously,” said Anthony, “Is there not something wrong about that?”
     “Maybe,” said Gali.  “But since we just spend the night walking alone in a graveyard with him…. I don’t see why it’s a problem.  When I started this club and had all of those stupid talks with Mr. Kozicki, he never mentioned where we could and could not go off campus – and I definitely made sure that we could go off campus.  It’s not like there is just one of us going by ourselves: all four of us are going.  So I say that it is fine.”
     “They are always telling us as teachers to try and formulate ‘small communities’ with our students, so as to foster the ‘tools necessary to succeed as a group.’  So, since you all would be coming over with the intent to study, I don’t see where the problem would be.  And if someone somehow finds out that you were all over, and it’s a problem, then I guess we will just have to deal with it when we get to it.”
     “Okay,” said Gali, “That’s about it, then.  I’ll email you guys with details when I work them out with Mr. Rhodes.  Have a good night!” she waved, walking towards the girls’ dormitory.  Perry and Anthony walked in the other direction, and Mr. Rhodes made his way to the teacher’s parking lot.  The town of Finbell Winter did not have its own police officers nor its own grocery store, but it did have a teacher’s parking lot designated for its private school.