Prologue

"Caller number sixteen, you're on with Cupid, goddess of love." Her voice said, linking through the cords of the tangled telephone connection, going from Point A to Point B, from one end of the microphone to the iCoffin speaker. "Tell me, what matters to your heart?"
"Well, Cupid," the bashful, feminine and gentle ghoul's voice said, being absorbed by the iCoffin phone receiver and now entering the ears of every monster who'd been listening to Cupid's radio show. "There's this one monster…and well, I don't know really know their name, but they sent me a love-note with only their initials. I think I know who it is, but what should I do?"
"Well caller, do you have any feelings for this monster?" Cupid voice says, enlightening those who are listening close by.
"Maybe." The ghoul looks away, her eyes staring at the purple-pink stale barrier inside of the Ghoul's bathroom. She shifted uncomfortably on the white toilet seat lid, wondering why she was so embarrassed all of a sudden. "But that isn't the problem. The problem is: we're too way different people. We don't even belong to the same social class. How am I suppose to handle that type of fear pressure?"
"Don't," Cupid said simply, as if it'd all been oh so easy. "Why does social class matter? Love is love and that's all there is to it."
"Maybe." The ghoul replied again with the same plain answer. "But that's not the only problem."
"There's more?" Cupid said, surprised. "What else could there be?"
"Well," the ghoul hesitated, her face brightening to an intense red that caused the rest of her flesh to heat. She leaned into the phone, preparing to whisper. "I think my secret admirer is another ghoul..."

Introduction

She is made out of pure stone; her skin is entirely created of rock, even her short hair, slanted eyes, teeth, fingernails and big ears, which may come as shock. She was once on the Crasketball team, her official number of the past was seven. Her bloodies are Clawd, Crasketball team captain. Kevin the giant and Romulus too, but then again there's also Deuce. Although many may not know, she's quite close to Holt Hyde. They both seemed to share a love music deep inside. Her height is five foot nine; her shoes are a size eight. She's been thinking you're scary cute since before today. Her favorite food seems to be Ghost chili pizza, but the list goes on and on. You'd never really know unless you could tell which food was gone. Other than her love for music and Crasketball, she has a secret talent for drawing. She's also a master at Tombstation, ask her a cheat-code and suddenly she'd probably keep going and going. Her favorite radio station is KBLOOD that always played her favorite death metal Normie pop. She was a counselor at Camp Creepaway for two years and was awarded for Favorite-Camp-Counselor on the spot. She was once a store lurk for Maul Mart; she's even worked at Dairy Scream. She thinks you're creepy cool, the only question is:
Will that special ghoul for her, be you?
Sincerely, R.S

"Well, um…okay then…" the ghoul sighed as she glanced down at the note. A wave of exhaustion overwhelmed her.
A secret admirer? She's had them before; check.
A secret admirer who wrote cute poetry? Check.
A secret admirer who wrote cute poetry and asked that she be their ghoulfriend? Check, check, and check again.
But a secret admirer who wrote cute poetry and asked that she be their ghoulfriend while also being another ghoul? Well, there's a first time for everything, right?
"Turanga," (*pronounced Tur-on-ga) a voice called out, echoing loudly through the gym. There was only one voice that was that piercing and was able to make any monster shutter instantly. "Luna Turanga, what is it that you think you're doing?"
Luna stood on command, although Cleo de Nile hadn't yet stated any of her demands. It was automatic, robotic, as if Cleo had some type of chip implanted in Luna's head, or maybe was it an ancient Egyptian code that had been engraved somewhere in Luna's brain?
"Sorry Cleo, I just thought that I'd do some studying before practice, since you weren't here yet and all." Luna said, quickly tucking away her folded letter back into its scented envelope and shoving it back next to the contents in her purple plush purse.
"Ever heard of fashionably-late?" Cleo said, tapping her foot as she waited for Luna to join everyone else on the gym's glossy floors. She stared at her with narrowed eyes. Cleo had been curious as to what Luna had really been doing.
"My bad." Luna apologized, joining everyone else. She made her way through the crowd, hurrying to the back of the line. Once she was there, Cleo gave the following command to Ghoulia Yelps with the snap of her fingers.
"Hit it." Cleo said sternly, as if no more words were needed. The zombie clicked on the purple radio, slurping her Toxic Punch juice through her bright green straw. She watched as the fearleaders began to practice, listening to the music that exploded from the speakers. The zombie nodded slowly, counting silently along with Cleo, who'd in turn been counting silently in her head as well. The fearleaders moved to Cleo's rhythm with ease, perfectly coordinating themselves to her all-win-no-lose cheer. They'd been absolutely perfect, as if mimicking her moves by watching a stop-motion video step-by-step. Somehow they complimented Cleo with every move that they'd gotten just right. But of course, for the dynamic dictator Cleo de Nile, "just right" wasn't in the Fearleading Vocabulary, neither was the word "better".
"You ghouls have got to work harder!" Cleo demanded. "Monster Mashionals is no joke. Get. Your. Acts. Together – and quick!"
The fearleaders were struggling to breath. They had no energy to protest as they collapsed on the bleachers. Just how many times had they done this cheer in one day? Five times, six? Twelve?
"UhhhHhhHhhhHhhhHHHhhh." The fashionable zombie groaned, sucking her Toxic Punch again.
"Give them a break?" Cleo repeated her words. "As. If. These ghouls need to train harder. They don't even compare to my old squad."
"What the heck?" one of the ghouls said breathlessly as she laid upside down on the bleachers. She breathed heavily as she continued to speak. "We aren't…your old squad…screw your…head…on…straight. And…what are you…anyway? A junior, right? How many squad have you had anyway? This is total torture!"
"Whatever." Cleo gave her a cold glare before snatching away Ghoulia's punch. She sucked the last drops down, ignoring the fact that Ghoulia had already drank from the almost empty cup. "Practice is over. Leave when you're doing changing."
"Fine…whatever…we'll go." The ghouls groaned, still breathing heavily from the bleachers. They slowly stood, beginning to grab their things. Soon they all dragged themselves to the locker room, where a few of them took showers. Others began to empty things from their lockers and call people from their iCoffins. Upperclassmen and their social lives…
Luna would never be such the social butterfly, despite being a Fearleader. She'd still been a freshman and her only friends were the ghouls on her squad, who treated her like a baby sister most of the time.
"What you got there?" one of the upperclassman said as they took Luna's letter from right behind her. Luna flashed around in a panic.
"Um, it's nothing!" she stood, attempted to grab the letter back. She failed. "Doesn't look like nothing to me, you big liar." The upperclassmen said, reading the love letter to herself. "What is this? Oh my ghoul, is it a love note? Did someone send this to you?"
"No, god, just give it back!" Luna jumped, trying to snatch the letter from mid-air. Too bad all her seniors had been much taller than her.
"Hey Clawmantha!" the ghoul called out. "Come here for a sec, will ya?"
Clawmantha, a wolf with a pin-up girl's figure and auburn hair came up to them. She'd been wrapped in a pale, mint green towel and her face free of her usual heavy makeup. Her auburn curls had now been glossy and loose. "Yeah?"
"Take a look at this." the vampire ghoul said, skipping around the provided bench to Clawmantha. She handed over the letter for her to read. Luna waited, a defeated/embarrassed look on her face as she lit to a bright red.
"Oh my ghoul," Clawmantha smiled to her vampire bestie. "S.R!"
"I know right!" the vampire ghoul said, rolling her midnight colored eyes and twirling a strand of dark hair around her thin finger. She gave a sinister smile.
"Roxanna Stone!" they said together. "It's totally her!"
"Wait, what?" Luna asked, finally snatching the note. She stared intensely at the initials scrubbed at the bottom of the page. Then it hit her: Roxanna Stone. "Oh my Cyclops!" she gasped, her face reddening even brighter.
It had been written by Roxanne Stone: Monster High's greatest of scary cool nightmares, AKA "Beauty in Vain".

Chapter 1

"Yeah, I wrote it." the ghoul shrugged casually, scratching at the back of her neck. "That a problem?"
"You actually like me?" Luna asked, her head lifting at the ghoul's words.
The ghoul blinked her grey stone eyes. "Yep."
"But…aren't you…?" Luna looked away momentarily.
"A monster? Why yes, yes I am." The ghoul grinned coolly, shoving her hands in her leather jacket pockets as if not seeing the problem at all.
"No, that's not what I meant. I mean…um…aren't you…" Luna blushed, leaning in so that no one else could hear. "…a ghoul?"
Suddenly Roxanna bursts into laughter, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around her stomach. She begun laughter historically, it took Luna's concerned and embarrassed face for her to stop.
"Well yeah, of course I am. What's your point?"
"Well!" Luna's eyes widened, as if it should have been obvious. "We're both ghouls!"
"Okay?" Roxanna shrugged. "And?"
Luna rolled her round black colored eye. "Ghouls don't confess to other ghouls! Do you even know what kind of gossip people will spreading? Are you crazy, nuts, a total casketcase?"
"Nope, just in total like-mode," Roxanna said, lifting her skinny stone finger to Luna's vanilla chin. "But I guess that counts as crazy, right?"
Luna lowered her eyes for a moment, becoming stiff from Roxanna's touch. She froze for a second, not sure what to do. "Well…no…I didn't mean to…"
"Oh my cement…could it be possible?" Roxanne said, leaning in closer and examining Luna with wide grey eyes, as if she had been a scientist that just discovered the cure for Mumingitis and she was analyzing her scientific results for the first time. "Do you…like me back?"
"What? No!" Luna slapped her hand away, stumbling back in the process. "You're another ghoul – just like me! How could I like you?"
"But…you totally do, don't you?" Roxanna said, suddenly amused by Luna's flabbergasted reaction.
"No!" Luna yelled, drawing attention. She looked away, turning her head to the side as she stared at the snacks in the venturing machines. She waited to speak. "Jeepers…where does your confidence come from?"
"Does that matter?" Roxanna said, suddenly pouncing forward and grabbing Luna hand, which caused her to blush again. "Let's go on a date!"
"What?" Luna's spine straightened at the word date. "N-No way! I have a boyfriend!"
"Yeah right, now come on." Roxanna said, pulling Luna off suddenly. As Roxanna began to pick up speed, Luna's feet began to run along too. Before she knew it, Roxanna had been dragging her in her steed, pulling her right along without stopping. Roxanna dragged her outside to the front of Monster High, smiling widely as if glimpsing a new world. Luna wondered, what was Roxanna seeing?
"Would you let me go!" She forced her hand away.
"So, what should we do? We got out early today, lucky us, right? We've got extra time to spend together." Roxanna smiled, her affection pure and enlightening. By the blaze in Roxanna's sweet eyes, you could tell she'd been comfortable holding Luna's hand, as if the whole thing had been natural.
Luna blinked, her face turning pink. Had she really been being like this much? "I…um…have Fearleading practice, you know. If you really liked me, you'd know that I was on the team…and that I had practice today. Cleo will kill me if I don't go since I already skipped morning practice because I was trying to find you."
"Of course I know that, duh." Roxanna rolled her eyes. "And we'll go, but after that, what'll we do then – for our date I mean?"
"Well…I don't know," Luna's stomach suddenly felt fluttery. "But I've got to go to Fearleading practice."
"Okay," Roxanna suddenly head-butted Luna softly, causing her dazed expression to disappear. The cyclops ghoul stumbled back, looking up at Roxanna wearing a slightly confused face. She blinked, causing Roxanne to smile. "Come on, I'll walk you there."
Luna didn't object as Roxanna's hand snaked back into hers. She didn't protest as Roxanna led the way. But then again, she didn't dare look up either to acknowledge the ghoul that'd been holding her hand so gently.
But then again: How was she suppose to? In this sudden turn of events too…
Luna blinked, ignoring whatever was happening or what Roxanna thought was happening between them. For now, Luna would just ride this wave out and see where the tide brought her. She didn't have to think too deeply about this, right? It'd been a joke, a simple prank, right?
Either or, Luna found herself somehow becoming interested in this ghoul. She didn't quite know her well, they shared probably one or two class's total, but she wanted to know what she'd been like. In Luna's eyes, the ghoul had been confident, courageous if the word fit. She was fearless, cool, cute and sweet. Although her stone skin had cold, she'd been warm, and Luna liked that about her the most. It made her heart flutter somewhat as she followed Roxanna into the gym. As they approached the older fearleaders, she quickly let go of Roxanna's hand. She didn't know why, but she couldn't look up at Roxanna when she glanced over to her questionably.
Had she been embarrassed to hold another ghoul's hand? But besties did that all the time, what reason did she have to feel embarrassed?
"Um…h-hey ghouls!" she greeted a bit nervous as she stood next to Roxanna, the revealed secret admirer.
"Yo," Clawmantha greeted from the sidelines. "Cleo's late. Take some time off, it'll probably be a while."
"She's right you know, Fearleading practice just started. Cleo isn't due here for about another thirty minutes for so." Vampira greeted from the bleachers next to Clawmantha. She gave a bored grin.
Luna nodded, still staring at the glossy gym floor. She nudged Roxanna's arm with her own. "Well, um…want to hang out…over there?" she asked, shyly pointing to the bleachers.
"Sure, why not." Roxanna said, taking the lead once again. Luna followed her to the bleachers, up the stairs and to the sixth rox, the highest one. They stayed silently for a moment, creating a somehow nerve-wracking atmosphere. Roxanna gulped under the pressure as Luna cleared her throat.
"So…" Luna tried to start a conversation. It was as if she'd been making friends in a new school all over again.
"Yeah?" Roxanna lifted her eyes to the now shy Luna. Roxanna grew shy at Luna's bashful grin. She turned her head away when Luna suddenly looked her way.
"Can I ask you something, you know, personal?" Luna bit her lip.
Roxanna nodded awkwardly. "Sure…um, go ahead. Fire away!"
"Why did you quit the Crasketball team?" Luna asked, more straightforwardly then she'd normally be. She hadn't planned to ask, but she just had to know.
"Why?" Roxanna turned her way. "Well my parents said I had to – low grades and that kind of stuff, you know?"
"Oh?" Luna said, not really sure what to say. For some strange reason the ghoul thought there'd been some deep dark secret behind her quitting. And to find out that there were know just made her feel stupid.
"Want me to teach for some moves?" Roxanna suddenly stood, surprising Luna enough for her to flinch just a bit.
"Um, sure?" she replied, standing too. Her posture had not been as stiff as Roxanna's, but then again, she hadn't been facing the ghoul she'd liked since the beginning of school.
"Cool, be right back, okay?" Roxanna gave a nervous smile before running off. Luna watched as she went down the bleachers and out of the gym. After a moment or so she returned with a black crasketball, the lining the color of pink. She nodded her head to the crasketball hoops, hinting that she come down and play. Luna smiled to herself, this would be the first time she tried anything other than Fearleading, grimnastics, yoga, dance or the trampoline.
She'd been a perfectionist whenever it came to her jumps and flips, but one could say she grew to become an outstanding fearleader for it. The yoga was just to keep her body flexible and calm whenever she needed to do abnormal twists.
"Well, I guess I'll teach you how to actually shoot the ball first." Roxanna said, eyeing the hoop. She did a quick demonstration, which impressed Luna greatly.
"Coolness!" the young ghoul announced, in total awe.
Roxanna giggled at Luna's airhead cuteness. Something like that had been totally easy. A beginner's best move even! "You're turn."
Luna stumbled back a bit when she caught the ball that Roxanna threw. She bent her knees, taking a stance as she studied the hoop. Could she make it?
"Oh wow, I guess I suck, don't I?" she said, forcing a fake laugh.
Roxanna grabbed the ball, bouncing it as she walked towards Luna. "Nah, you just need some practice."
Luna nodded, smiling slightly at Roxanna's kind and encouraging words. She took the ball when Roxanna handed it to her. "Well then, I guess I'll keep practicing."
"Practice makes perfect." Roxanna stated, folding her arms.
Luna tired again and attempted the shoot the ball into the hoop. Again, she failed. She rubbed the back of her neck as Roxanna went to get the ball. "Sorry."
"It's no problem, no one gets good at something just by doing it once or twice. Maybe we'll try…" Roxanna said, not finishing her sentence as she sat the ball down. She went behind Luna, causing her to stiffen in her place. Luna robotically moved into a better stance as Roxanna perfected her sloppy position. For some reason, she felt even more embarrassed. "Alright here we go, try again. I can grantee that it'll work this time."
Luna nodded, taking the ball. Her heart became to pound when she realized that Roxanna wasn't going to move from behind her. She grew stiff again, for fear of bumping into her. But she took a deep breath, trying again.
She gasped. "Oh my Cyclops," she said excitedly. "I did it – I really did it!"
"Nice, congrats on making your first shot." Roxanna said, lifting her arms.
Luna high-fived her back, lifting her arms as well and slapping both her hands into Roxanna's. She suddenly found herself hugging onto Roxanna, rocking from side to side. "You're such a great coach, that was so much fun!"
"Um, I'm glad." Roxanna froze in her place, blushing. When Luna realized that she'd been hugging Roxanna, she pulled away quickly. "S-Sorry. I, um…"
"It's cool." Roxanna offered a cool grin. Suddenly, the two ghouls began to snicker and giggling, laughing all of a sudden, as if in on some private joke. Luna smiled to herself; she'd made a new friend, who wasn't on the Fearleading squad.