Sugarcoat took a measured sip of tea, then sighed. “You know, Sunny Flare, it’s so nice to just not be―”
 
“Surrounded by idiots,” Sunny Flare interjected with a slight giggle after she bit carefully into her donut. “I can completely relate.” She chewed for a bit. “I understand having friends is considered a [i]good [/i]thing, though.”
 
“Not to mention the future networking advantages though maintaining friendly communication,” Sugarcoat said as she rested her teacup in the saucer. “But having friends [i]sucks.[/i]”
 
Sunny hummed as she took another bite of her donut. “What do you mean?”
 
“They just”―Sugarcoat clenched her teeth and grunted―“they just have the dumbest problems.”
 
“Like what?”
 
Lemon Zest stumbled into the kitchen, her face flush and her breathing ragged. She flashed a grin. “I just, uh, the door was unlocked. Did you get my text?”
 
Sugarcoat sipped again on her tea. “This is what I was talking about.”
 
Sunny returned the smile. “Oh, hey, Zesty! Is this the text about the [i]ghost [/i]in your house?”
 
“Yeah,” Lemon said as she took a seat at the table with her two classmates.
 
“So, what’s the problem?” Sunny asked as she maintained the smile.
 
Lemon cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath. “Guys.”
 
“Yes?” Sugarcoat asked as she set her cup down once again.
 
“… there’s a ghost in my house.”
 
Sunny Flare’s smile slowly softened into a slight frown. “Uh, I think we’re all on the same page with that already, yeah.” Sugarcoat groaned as she twirled a few strands of one of her twintails.
 
“Lemon,” Sugarcoat grunted, the hair-twirling starting to intermingle with slight tugging, “ghosts don’t exist.”
 
Lemon Zest glared at Sugarcoat. “Oh, no, you’re not pulling that on me.”
 
“Pulling what?” Sugarcoat intoned.
 
Sunny hummed. “Yeah, the only thing she’s pulling is her hair right now.” She shot a glance at Sugarcoat. “Which is rather unladylike.”
 
“I only do this when I’m in the company of idiots,” Sugarcoat said as she continued her tug-twirling.
 
“So you must have been yanking on your hair for a while before I got here,” Lemon said, which drew a scowl from Sunny. Sugarcoat slightly smirked before returning to her usual neutral expression.
 
“Anyway,” Sugarcoat said, “there’s no such thing as ghosts and you’re retarded for thinking there is.”
 
Lemon shrugged. “You’d also probably have called me retarded for suggesting that one of our classmates was going to turn into a multiverse destroying demon, but, you know―”
 
“Look,” Sugarcoat said as she stared at Lemon Zest, “just because Twilight briefly turned into a harbinger of the apocalypse doesn’t mean that spectral forms of the departed are in your house.” Sugarcoat exhaled, then grabbed her forehead. “I never thought I’d have to say that in my life.”
 
Sunny Flare furrowed her brow as she exchanged a glance between Lemon and Sugarcoat. “You know, Zesty has a point, as do you, Sugarcoat.”
 
Lemon and Sugarcoat looked at Sunny. “What?” they asked simultaneously.
 
“You’re both right,” Sunny said as she delicately bit into her donut. “The rules of reality have kind of changed, if you think about it. I mean, we just did a music video with girls who can grow wings and horsey ears,” she said, pantomiming ears with her hands.
 
Sugarcoat sneered at Sunny. “That doesn’t―” she sighed and buried her face into her palm ”―one doesn’t qualify the other. You can’t just start [i]assuming[/i] everything is real because weird things with no precedent are happening.”
 
“Well, um,” Lemon said as she rested her jaw on her hand and looked at Sugarcoat, “there’s weird sounds coming from the attic and I feel super uncomfortable around my toaster.” She frowned. “[i]You [/i]tell me what that is, then.”
 
“Probably your [i]naiveté[/i] showing no precedent.” Sugarcoat sipped on her tea while receiving an unnoticed glare from Lemon Zest.
 
Sunny clasped her hands together and beamed. “That second part sounds like it could be an electrical thing! My mom has a thing that tests for that kind of stuff. A, uh, EMF thingy or whatever―”
 
“An EMF meter?” Lemon asked as she stared wide-eyed at Sunny. “I looked that up online but it looked super complicated to build. Is you mom a ghost hunter?”
 
“Um, no.” Sunny raised an eyebrow. “She’s an electrician. She uses it for, um”―she rubbed her face―”electrician stuff.”
 
Lemon Zest chortled. “It’s kind of funny that your mom’s an electrician because her name’s Solar Flare.”
 
“Ah, heh, yeah, I guess,” Sunny said as her eyes widened.
 
Sugarcoat snorted as she took another sip of her tea. Sunny glowered at Sugarcoat.
 
“Hey, she says it keeps her busy,” Sunny said as she crossed her arms, “and at least it adds more to society than [i]your [/i]mom―”
 
“Networking with high-powered clients on behalf of my father.” Sugarcoat set her teacup down. “She’s actually been instrumental in closing a few deals.”
 
Sunny snorted. “From what I heard it’s more like she can’t close her―”
 
“[i]A-ny-way[/i],” Lemon interjected, “are you going to help me with my ghost problem or not?”
 
Sunny blinked, then nodded. “I’d be glad to help get to the bottom of this.”
 
Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I had anything else planned this afternoon.”
 
[hr]
 
“Wow, Zesty, your house is [i]soooo [/i]small,” Sunny Flare said as she walked into Lemon Zest’s home, EMF meter in hand.
 
“As to be expected from a scholarship student,” Sugarcoat added, examining the premises.
 
Lemon Zest beamed. “Yep! I’m the first one in my family on track for college!”
 
“Apparently,” Sugarcoat said as she sat down on the couch, then grimaced. “This couch [i]feels [/i]poor.”
 
“Uh, um―well, here’s the toaster, Sunny,” Lemon said as she waved in the direction of the toaster.
 
“Yeah, um,” Sunny said as she turned on the device, “I saw it when I got into the house, but thanks, Zesty.”
 
Lemon’s cheeks turned roseate as she grinned and chuckled weakly. “Oh, right. Of course.” Lemon looked at Sugarcoat. “Do you want anything to eat?”
 
Sugarcoat stared at the floor. ‘Um, I’d kind of feel bad taking food from a poor person―”
 
“Nonsense,” Lemon said, a slight sneer crossing her face as she walked into the kitchen, pulled a box of crackers out of the cabinet, and lobbed them onto the couch next to Sugarcoat. “My parents say that hospitality is the [i]true[/i] show of wealth.”
 
Sugarcoat looked at Lemon, then the crackers, then took a sleeve of crackers out and opened it. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
 
“Yeah,’ Sunny said from the kitchen, “it looks like the area around your toaster is giving off some… stuff, it looks like.” She looked at Lemon and smiled. “I can ask my mom to take a look at it.”
 
Lemon pursed her lips and scratched the back of her head. “Um, I could ask for extra hours at the grocery store to―”
 
Sugarcoat looked up from her cracker feast. “You work at a [i]grocery store?[/i]”
 
Lemon’s eyes darted around as she sulked. “Look, not all of us were born with silver spoons in our mouths.”
 
Sugarcoat snorted. “I actually have a golden spoon as a heirloom.”
 
“[i]Whatever.[/i]” Lemon clenched her fist.
 
“Anyway,” Sunny Flare said as she patted Lemon on the back, “I could talk to my mom about doing it pro bono if you’d like.” She smiled. “As a favor to a friend.”
 
Lemon put a hand to her chest and the other on Sunny’s shoulder. “You’d do that? That’s―”
 
The three of them looked up when the sounds of errant scratching filtered in through the ceiling. Lemon shivered.
 
“That’s the ghost.”
 
Sugarcoat groaned. “It’s not a ghost. It’s probably a squirrel.” She stood up. “Where’s the attic?”
 
“Uh, uhm, follow me,” Lemon said as she waved Sunny and Sugarcoat to follow her. “The stairs are in my room.”
 
“The stairs are in your―[i]ow![/i]” Sugarcoat was cut off by Sunny yanking on one of her twintails and glaring at her. They entered Lemon’s bedroom to see her pulling down a trapdoor from the ceiling which unfolded into an extremely steep set of makeshift stairs, then gestured towards the new hole in the ceiling.
 
“There’s the attic,” Lemon said.
 
Sugarcoat eyed the attic stairs down. ”Poor people stairs.” Lemon shot daggers with her eyes at Sugarcoat, which Sugarcoat appeared to not notice. “Okay, get me a bat.”
 
Lemon looked at Sugarcoat. “What’s a bat going to do against a ghost―”
 
“It’s not a ghost. Just get me a bat.”
 
Sunny looked at Sugarcoat. “How can you be sure it’s not a―”
 
“[i]It’s not a ghost!”[/i] Sugarcoat shouted. Lemon handed Sugarcoat a bat. “Thank you, Lemon Zest. Now let’s navigate these stairs…”
 
Sugarcoat carefully climbed the stairs into the attic, leaving Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare in Lemon’s room.
 
Lemon pouted. “I don’t like how Sugarcoat looks down on me.”
 
“I don’t think she means any harm by it, Zesty,” Sunny said before she sighed. “You know how she is. She just says whatever comes out of her mouth.”
 
“It still hurts,” Lemon says as she pursed her lips. “It’s like she thinks I’m some kind of idiot because my parents don’t have as much money as hers. I mean,” she said as she looked at Sunny, “there’s [i]clearly [/i]something wrong with Sour Sweet and she doesn’t get this much trouble from Sugarcoat.”
 
Sunny put a hand on Lemon’s shoulder. “Sometimes actions speak louder than words, though. Even though she doesn’t think there’s a ghost in your attic, she still went in there expecting something dangerous.” Sunny returned Lemon’s look with a smile. “I’d say she considers you a friend.”
 
The corners of Lemon’s mouth turned up. “Yeah, I guess―”
 
Lemon Zest was cut off by the sounds of smashing wood and Sugarcoat shrieking, followed by Sugarcoat tumbling down the attic stairs into Sunny Flare.
 
Lemon Zest gasped as she looked at the contorted bodies of her friends. “Are you okay?”
 
“Ow.” Sugarcoat winced as she rolled off of Sunny Flare, the latter standing up and dusting herself off. “Yeah, I think I’m fine. Just got bit by a raccoon and tumbled down an entire flight of stairs.” She fingered the frame of her glasses. “I’m actually really surprised that my glasses didn’t break.”
 
“Rich people glasses, I guess.” Lemon looked at Sugarcoat. “So the raccoon was the ghost?”
 
“It is now,” Sugarcoat said with a grin as she waved the now-bloodstained bat a bit.
 
“Oh, thank you, you’re the best!” Lemon said as she hugged Sugarcoat, who let out a pained grunt. “Oh, sorry,” Lemon said with a chuckle, “let me get you something for the pain!” she said as she left her bedroom.
 
“And the bleeding!” Sugarcoat called out.
 
“Gotcha!”
 
Sunny Flare examined Sugarcoat’s body up and down. “Actually, do you want me to call 911?”
 
“Sunny,” Sugarcoat said as she turned her head to face Sunny, “have I ever told you how good of a friend you are?”
 
A vacant stare crossed Sunny’s face for a moment before she pulled out her phone. “… Yeah, I’m calling 911.”
 
Lemon Zest returned with two pills and a bandage in one hand and a glass of water in another. “Here, Sugarcoat, sit up and take these while I bandage your ankle.”
 
Sugarcoat grabbed the pills and the glass, then examined the pills that Lemon Zest had handed her. “Are these store brand―[i]ow![/i]”
 
Lemon looked at Sugarcoat with a smile. “Have to disinfect the wound before I wrap it up.”
 
Sugarcoat hummed, then shrugged and swallowed the pills. “I [i]am[/i] in a transcendent amount of pain right now.”
 
“You did just fall down poor people stairs,” Lemon said as she finished bandaging Sugarcoat’s ankle.
 
Sugarcoat chortled. “I can’t imagine they’d hurt any more than [i]my[/i] stairs.” Lemon chortled as well.
 
“Okay,” Sunny said, “someone will be here shortly. I also told them to send animal control on account of there now being a dead raccoon in the attic.”
 
“You mean a raccoon ghost,” Sugarcoat said with an impish grin.
 
A vacant stare crossed Lemon Zest’s face. “…yeah, you need to go to the hospital.”
 
“Eh,” Sugarcoat said as she laid back down, “it’s probably just a coping mechanism from encountering a near-death experience compounded with the adrenaline rush from the recent battle.”
 
Sunny pursed her lips and stared blankly at Sugarcoat.
 
“She means killing a raccoon and falling down the stairs is making her wacky,” Lemon said.
 
Sunny clasped her hands together and nodded. “Okay, then, I’ll take your word for it.”
 
Lemon Zest caught Sugarcoat twirl-tugging on one of her twintails. Sugarcoat looked Lemon in the eyes and motioned with her own towards Sunny, whereupon they shared a muffled giggle.