wallymaddieandcharley

[wallymaddieandcharley]

School Spirits 1x06||Season 2 Teaser

[wallymaddieandcharley]

[wallymaddieandcharley]

This is going to be long. Contains Maddie & Charley, Maddie/Wally, Charley/Wally. because they all care about each other and deserve happiness together

(These are just my thoughts (there are a lot of thoughts), but I will turn them into a fic when I get the chance. and just an fyi: I started writing this after episode 6 but before we got episode 7&8)

Wally is bi (and so is Maddie but that doesn’t matter right now). it took him a while to come to terms with it because of when he grew up. it was only after meeting Charley, and the two of them started to trust each other, that Wally really let himself think about it. because he knew he liked girls: there was a cheerleader that he was supposed to go to the homecoming dance with. it wasn’t anything serious, but maybe it could’ve been if he hadn’t died on the field. after years and years of friendship with Charley, learning about the LGTBQ+ community from here, and watching how some things (but not everything) got better, he starts to accept that part of him.

Charley and Wally have had a few little moments that could be brushed off. Wally, while more comfortable with his sexuality, isn’t ready for the jump. Charley is just glad to have a friend to talk to. He gets along with the others, but Wally is probably his best friend.

They’re all teenagers, so things happen. The lines start blurring between Charley and Wally. Charley is tentative to ever initiate anything, knowing how hard it is to come to terms with the fact that you’re different. He doesn’t want to push Wally too far and loose whatever is building. Not when, for the first time since Emilio, he might get the chance at a real relationship.

They’re still brand new, new enough that only Rhonda knows, when Maddie arrives on the scene. Charley is assigned to greet her, try and get her to come to group. And he likes her, as a person. She can be brash and one-track minded, but she’s honest, real. She’s also the first one since Rhonda to be murdered, and the only one with gaps in her memory. For the first few days after she joined them, he’s the only one from their group that sees her. He’s her first friend of the ghosts.

Things change when Maddie first comes to group. She’s already had a run-in with Wally, and she’s unimpressed. The only one she even semi-trusts is Charley. Her trust in him only grows as he finds out Simon can see her.

The thing is, that isn’t the only thing that changes. The relationship between Charley and Wally changes, too. Wally knows Charley is hiding something from him, and he doesn’t know what. Wally also can’t help the ways his eyes are drawn to Maddie. Part of him hates it, hates that when he’s starting to feel comfortable with himself, she arrives. The other part of him, a lot smaller, but still there, wishes he could just give in and focus on her. It would be easier. And he hates that part of himself too, because he cares about Charley.

And Charley sees this. He sees the way Wally is being drawn into Maddie’s orbit. He knows Wally has a big heart and just wants to help, but he also recognizes that look in his eyes. It helps that Maddie is too focused on her death to notice the small things about Wally.

Charley doesn’t know what to do. He wants both his friends to be happy, and part of him will always long for closure with Emilio. He wonders if taking a step back will make a difference. But the three of them always end up together. Sometimes they’re not alone, and Rhonda is there, too. But as Maddie opens up and gets a little more used to being dead, they get closer.

Maddie is aware that of the ghosts, Charley is her closest friends. She likes him, and when she realizes she can help him with Emilio (through Simon), she vows to help. She asks Wally (who reminds her of a golden retriever) if he thinks it would be a good idea. She doesn’t know when the feelings she has toward Xavier go from being hurt and angry and heartbroken, to hurt and angry and annoyance. She’s pretty sure he didn’t kill her, but he cheated on her, so she’s not above using him to find clues.

It’s Charley who initiates the conversations with both Wally and Maddie, separately. He starts with Wally. They have years more of history, and their (still new and unlabeled) relationship makes things both easier and harder. They’re friends first, before anything else.

Wally feels guilty. His sexuality is a lot easier to accept now. He’s grown a lot as a person, and it’s nice to be open about that part of himself, at least with Charley and Rhonda. He hasn’t come out to anyone else except the two of them. But he promised himself to be honest to Charley. So he tells him that yes, he’s been drawn to Maddie, and how he’s confused and torn about that. How he still likes Charley, a lot. He doesn’t get how you can like two people at the same time, because isn’t that like cheating? And he doesn’t want to do that. (when he hears about the untrue stereotype that bi people are more likely to cheat, it hurts even more.) Charley is grateful that he’s being honest, and he does admit hearing that hurts a little. But he tells wally that he likes Maddie, too, as a person/ghost. That maybe they can figure something out so everyone can be happy. Because Charley is worried that if he clings too tight, he’ll loose both of them anyways. Might as well try and find something that makes them all happy.

Maddie denies everything at first, and Charley gets why. She’s so focused on what happened to her that she’s not thinking a lot about her developing relationships with the ghosts. Her friendship with Charley is the one she notices the most, and then her growing friendship with Dawn. But subconsciously she’s definitely noticed Wally. He’s so different from Xavier, in a good way. She thinks he’s sweet, and she knows he just wants to help his friends, all of them. She really starts to see him during the homecoming game. When he takes his jersey off and sits next to his mom. It’s around then that she clocks what’s going on between Charley and Wally. She didn’t see it earlier because she wasn’t looking, but now it feels obvious. But she doesn’t want to hurt either of them, or mess up the progress she knows that both of them had to have made.

She still helps Charley out with Emilio, because she knows how much he needs it. She knows Wally wants to help him, too, but she’s the one who has a connection to the human world.

When Wally asks her to the dance, she hesitates. Pauses, until he adds the “as friends.” Because she will not be the one to hurt Charley. She knows that the pause before Wally added the disclaimer means something, but she doesn’t think about it. Not yet. But she says yes. She likes Wally, as a person, and she’s glad to see him a little more free, free from the game that killed him.

She immediately tracks down Charley once the game is over. They sit in silence for a few minutes on the roof before she starts talking. She finds herself telling him more than she thought she would, finds herself trusting him more than she thought he would. He’s her best friend in the ghost world.

They talk long into the night. They know at some point they need to sit down and talk with Wally, all three of them. However, they come up with a solution. There’s a lot about modern relationships that are so different from what Charley and Wally knew from growing up. Maddie knows about how gender and sexuality had evolved, about different types of relationships. She mentions polyamory as a potential option.

When Wally joins their conversation, he’s oddly quiet at first. He is mind is racing, and he’s feeling hopeful. He might be able to be with both Charley and Maddie. But it also doubles the risk if it goes wrong. He doesn’t know what he’d do if he lost both Maddie and Charley.

When they ask him what’s wrong, gentle voices and wide eyes, he’s powerless to lie to them. They’re both important to him. He cares about them, a lot.

They reassure him that they care about him. That they care about each other, and they don’t want to hurt each other. Maddie doesn’t want to hurt Charley or Wally. Charley doesn’t want to hurt Maddie or Wally. Maddie takes it upon herself to be the rational one. They have so much more history with each other, and she’s the newer one. She can bring a somewhat neutral view to this.

They decide to all go together to the dance. But they decide that each pair will have their own time together. Maddie and Charley to bond more as friends. Wally with each of them to further those relationships. Charley was also going to use the dance to try and gain some closure with Emilio.

He does gain some closure. He sits and watches Emilio read and react to the letter. Charley knows that Emilio will always be his greatest what if, his first love. He’s always going to miss what could’ve been. But he has another chance to be happy now. He wants to take it.

Maddie and Wally do have their little moments from canon. The corsage, the kiss. Wally and Charley have their first dance together. It’s good, it feels right. They all find that they’re good with the arrangement they decided to try that night. Maddie was the one to provide them with the term: polyamory. Because they’re all aware of each other’s feelings, and are okay with it, Wally and Maddie can date, and so can Wally and Charley. Maddie and Charley become best friends. There are things to learn as they navigate this new part of their lives (especially as each relationship develops at a different pace), amongst trying to figure out what happened to Maddie, but it’s worth it. They’re worth it.

side note: Wally calls Charley “Char” and Maddie “Mads” when he’s feeling especially sappy, which is often. he’s definitely the most outwardly affectionate when it’s just two of them, or all three of them around. he’s not sure about being out to anyone else besides Rhonda (and dawn because she just seems to know everything somehow)

[wallymaddieandcharley]

#𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰…𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧— 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝.

[wallymaddieandcharley]

School spirits is a show (part 2)

[wallymaddieandcharley]

okay, I’m still processing episode 8. there’s a lot to process. read ahead at your own risk

but I’m both kinda disappointed and also very interested in how the episode unfolded. definitely loved the Maddie & Simon and the Charley & Wally interactions. like Wally calling Charley “Char”? reminded me of nick and Charlie in the best way. (that reminds me to work on my Maddie/Wally Charley/Wally and Maddie&Charley thing I’m working on…)

not sure super excited that Maddie’s not dead bc I don’t think her “living” again is the best idea. all the characters have changed and grown because of her disappearance and presumed murder, and I worry that her coming back to life would ruin that. I do feel vindicated that Mr. Martin is up to something, though. I knew something was up with him. But I need to know more. Like about those journal entries and why there’s no written record of Janet, and why they lied about their deaths.

Xavier is becoming a more well rounded character, and even though he isn’t perfect, he is trying. Claire, too. she’s definitely an interesting character, and I’m interested to see where her relationship with Nicole goes

poor Simon. but he’s gonna have to realize Maddie isn’t just a coping mechanism, right? because she gave him information and clues he would never have been able to get on his own.

but overall there’s a lot still to be answered in (hopefully) season two. like, who hurt Janet-as-Maddie because they found a lot of her blood. if it was a little, one could argue Janet did it to set up the idea that foul play happened. but it was not just a little.

I’m also relieved that Dawn and Mina managed to stay fairly distanced from Mr. Martin by NOT going to his little group sessions. maybe being away from his influence and hearing the words she needed to hear, was what made her crossing over the way it was

(also, the lights flickering in the hallway when Maddie was alive?? I have ideas about that)

[wallymaddieandcharley]

No spoilers, but the dialogue between Maddie and Simon killed me. 😭💔

[wallymaddieandcharley]

Dawn.

I’ve really enjoyed her character. This episode showed us a lot more about her, got to see her more as just how she was first portrayed. I’m so glad she was able to heal in the way she needed to in order to cross over. She was never going to be able to hear what she needed to hear from her old “friends” but she heard them from Maddie. Maddie, who’s taken time to get to know the ghosts NOT involved in Mr. Martin’s group, like Mina and Dawn, despite her focus on solving her murder. You could tell how healing those words were to Dawn. To be taken seriously, to be accepted, to be told she’s a good friend.

The rest of the ghosts never really seemed to want to get to know her. They probably tried at some point, but since most of them died after Dawn, she had already been labeled as the weird ghost girl who sits on the lockers. And yeah, they’re kids. They can be self centered, and high schoolers can really get wrapped up in rumors. So Dawn stayed the hippie girl on the lockers, and Mina stayed up in the catwalks of the theater.

Until Maddie. She was willing to listen to Dawn’s ideas, to acknowledge Mina trying to keep people safe. In return, she’s gathered valuable information about who might be behind her death, and about them as people.

I’m going to miss Dawn. But I’m glad she was able to heal and cross over.

[wallymaddieandcharley]

[wallymaddieandcharley]

Wally, you know that you don't have to do what she wants anymore. You can do whatever the hell you want.

[wallymaddieandcharley]

because i think they all deserve happiness, and they clearly all mean something to each other, consider this:

both Maddie and Charley (best friends) dating Wally (the perfect golden retriever bf)

(and yes I will be expanding on this)

[wallymaddieandcharley]