The morning dawned on the students of Monster High, but two kitties were not quite ready to face the morning light. Meowlody lazily ran a brush through her long white hair while Purrsephone took her time getting her fur cleaned.
"Girls!" a thunderous voice called from downstairs. "You are going to be late!"
Meowlody sighed and rolled off the top bunk of the girls' beds. "You think it would be the end of the world if we missed the first day of school?"
"No," said Purrsephone as she followed her sister down the stairs. "But you know that mother is finicky if we're not purrfectly on time."
"Good morning, sweethearts!" the twins' foster mother said, pulling them into her bulky green chest for a morning hug. "I made you your favourite, Tuna-O's and a saucer of milk." Despite not being a werecat herself, Meowlody and Purrsephone's foster mother did her best to give them everything that would be considered normal in a werecat family.
As their foster mother sat down with her own breakfast of slugs and worms in a bowl of mead, a troll breakfast favourite, the girls lapped up their breakfast and once they were done they each planted a kiss on their foster mother's cheek.
"Have a good day girls," their mother said with a warm smile. "But try to stay away from that Toralei, she is such a bad influence!"
"We will," the twins replied in singing unity while hiding their crossed fingers behind their backs.
They only had a ten minute walk to school, but Purrsephone barely made it out the door before she was tugging at the hem of her skirt. "Stop that," Meowlody hissed.
"It keeps riding up!" Purrsephone whined at her sister.
"No it doesn't. Mine's not." Both girls were wearing the same Calvin Klein miniskirt, Meowlody in light pink, Purrsephone in light purple. They both had paired it with a plain white tank top that flattered their striped fur, and Meowlody topped it off a deep mauve blazer from Precis Petite while Purrsephone instead chose a deep purple pashmina scarf. It was the first day back from summer break and they had to look purrfect.
"At least the boots are comfy," Purrsephone purred.
"Yes, and make sure mother doesn't find out we are the ones that put them on her credit card. See by Chloe may be their alternative line," Meowlody said as she admired the soft purple suede boots. "But I doubt mother would understand that these boots were a steal!"
The werecats arrived at school to find themselves very fashionably late. Classes had already begun, but they had received their class schedules a week earlier and easily found their way to their first class, mad science. They found Toralei lounging in the back row of seats and went to join her. Half way back they passed Clawdeen Wolf, the smelly hound who had been nothing but bad news when they first started at Monster High.
"Hey," Clawdeen whispered as they passed. "Nice boots, skin a cat for them?" Clawdeen howled at her joke while Meowlody hissed and readied to pounce.
"She's not worth it," Purrsephone said as she held her sister back. "Not worth a single scratch." Pulling her twin away, the werecats found their seat under the watchful glare of Mr. Hackington. There were definitely not having the white cat luck they'd been hoping for so far, and Mr. Hackington's introductory lecture had all the makings of a very necessary catnap.
They day didn't improve much with lunch. By time they reached the front of the line the lunch lady was completely out of fish tacos! Purrsephone was about to settle for some kelp salad when Toralei hissed, "she's got to be hiding some in the back," in her ear. Meowlody's ears perked right up at the thought of there being an alternative to kelp and put down her tray.
"What are you suggesting?" Meowlody asked even though she already new the answer.
"There might not be any out here, but you know the lunch lady has it out for us after that time I happened to 'find' the extra milk fridge." Toralei said as she pulled the twins out of the line. "I say we go back there and check."
"Are you sure?" Purrsephone asked, but Meowlody looked excited about going snooping. It was officially too late to protest, so she followed along. It was more entertaining than kelp salad anyway.
The twins followed Toralei into Mr. Ogrethor's supply room. Upon previous school fridge raids Toralei had discovered that behind the mops was a small vent that led directly to the kitchen of the cafeteria.
"Give me a boost," Toralei hissed at her partners in crime. Meowlody and Purrsephone each put their hands out for Toralei to step on to and pushed her up into the vent. Meowlody followed after her and Purrsephone managed to claw up the wall just enough to get into the vent.
Moving as quietly as a whisper they made their way through the vent until Toralei signalled them to stop. Her ears twitched back and forth on her head, listening for any sounds or hints that they had been detected. After a moment she gave the all clear sign and one by one the three werecats dropped silently into the kitchen.
"Well, well," a voice like gravel said from behind them and the three cats stopped dead in their boots. "Didn't believe me about the fish tacos, did you?" No other creature had such a deep, dreadful voice as the lunch lady and it sent chills down their spines. "Good thing Headmistress Bloodgood is on her way here! She'll teach you that curiosity killed the cat!"
"I will do no such thing," Bloodgood's dignified voice commanded as she entered the kitchen. "Girls," she snapped with her free hand. "My office, now." The three cats followed in a row behind Bloodgood on a walk of shame through the cafeteria.
"Oh did the little kitties get caught with their paws in the cookie jar?" Cleo De Nile cat called after them with a high pitched laugh. "Be good little kittens and find some yarn next time." Cleo and Clawdeen shared a laugh while their friends giggled around them.
"We should have never let them on the fearleading squad," Meowlody hissed under her breath. "Cleo thinks she's the cat's meow, but she's worse than anything the cat dragged in." Toralei and Purrsephone shared a solemn nod, too busy wondering what punishment Bloodgood would come up with this time.
"Toralei first," Bloodgood said leading the twin's orange leader into her office. "You two next." Bloodgood slammed the door behind her.
"Man," Purrsephone hissed. "First day and we're at Bloodgood's office. That's gotta be a record."
"I wish she would just punish us," Meowlody whined as she leaned back in her chair. "Instead she gets all purrsonel and wants to talk it out. It's worse than if she put us in the catacombs!"
Purrsephone shrugged. "At least she cares, if it wasn't for her we wouldn't have mother." Suddenly Purrsephone remembered what their mother had said as they left for school. "Oh no, what's mother going to say?"
"We won't tell her," Meowlody purred. "Bloodgood never calls home. It's fine. We'll just promise to do better and that will be that."
Bloodgood's door swung open and a depressed looking Toralei came out. Purrsephone went to comfort her but Bloodgood was tapping her foot and that meant "come here. Now."
Closing the door behind them, the Headmistress removed her head and placed it on the desk while the girls found their seats.
"Sent to my office on the first day," she clucked. "That may be a record." Purrsephone looked over at her twin who looked almost pleased with this accomplishment. "That is not a compliment," Bloodgood snapped. "All last year you two followed Toralei in every scheme, every plot. I understand as the only three werecats at Monster High you want to stick together, but I am starting to see it's not in your best interest. I think it may be in all three of your best interests if you spent some time apart."
"What?" Meowlody and Purrsephone cried out in unison.
"You can't do this!" Meowlody cried.
"That's not fair," Purrsephone whined.
"It may seem cruel," Bloodgood said as she put her head back on. "But I think you'll thank me for it. You two need to learn that you don't need to do everything Toralei tells you, and I've let that go on for far too long." There was to be no arguing. Bloodgood had put her foot down and her word was final.
Both Meowlody and Purrsephone spent the rest of the day sulking through their classes. All their teachers had been told they were to keep the twins separate from Toralei. Under no circumstances could they sit together, eat together, or talk to each other at all. It was like a grey cloud was floating above the cats' heads for the rest of the afternoon.
Once they thought the day couldn't get any worse they came home to the sight of a very angry troll.
"What is this thousand dollar charge on my credit card bill?" their foster mother roared when they came in the door. Both werecats looked at each other, unsure who to speak first. "Answer me!" their mother yelled when they stood in silence, barely inside the door.
"Boots," both girls mewed in unison.
"Boots?" their foster mother screamed. "You spent a thousand dollars on a pair of boots?"
"Well," Meowlody said barely above a whisper. "Two pairs of boots. So really they were only five hundred each."
"I don't care if you bought fifty pairs of boots! I told you if you used my credit card without asking one more time you'd really be in for it! Plus I got a call at work from Headmistress Bloodgood! You two were called to her office on the first day? What were you thinking?" Their foster mother's green skin was starting to glow a deep orange from deep inside. "I am putting these cards under lock and key and you will pay me back every cent you owe! That includes the purses you bought in July!"
"How can we pay you back?" Purrsephone mewed. "We don't have any money!"
"That's why we put everything on credit," Meowlody whimpered.
"Well that's going to change," their foster mother said, her skin starting to return to it's normal colouring. "I called in a favour to Mrs. Blue. Her daughter says the Coffin Bean had two people quit to go off to college just last week. Lucky for you, since you start tomorrow after school."
"What?" the twins hissed at the same time.
"Welcome to the working world girls!" their foster mother said with a smile. "I think you'll learn a lot!"