The hearse bus pulled into Gravedale High. Sarah Schneider came off the bus carrying a white box.
Sarah came into the classroom with the box. Suddenly, the box was yanked off the table.
"Hey!" Sarah shouted.
It was Frankentyke. "What's in the box, Sarah?"
"It's full of valentines!" Sarah said, yanking the box out of Frankentyke's grubby hands. "And I spent all week making them!"
"Valentines?" a snide voice said.
Sarah looked over and saw Duzer. "Don't tell me you plan on handing out valentines to our class. This isn't preschool."
"Preschool or not, Valentine's Day is a very special holiday." Sarah replied. "And I'm just showing my holiday spirit."
"Guess you're not the only one, man!" Frankentyke looked at the Valentine's Day decorations Mr. Schneider put around the classroom. "Why does Schneider have to put these sissy things all over the place?"
"Come on, Frankentyke. Valentine's Day is not a sissy holiday." Mr. Schneider said. "It's about showing others that you care about them and vice versa."
"Speaking of which..."
Hearing that cool voice, Sarah looked to the window and there was her boyfriend Vinnie Stoker. He flew down and put his arm around Sarah.
"Nothin' wrong with spreading the love." Vinnie kissed Sarah on the lips. Sarah sagged into his arms and really felt the love herself.
"Not in class you two!" Mr. Schneider said.
Vinnie unhooked his lips from Sarah. "Hey, don't be a heartbreaker, Teach!"
"Sorry, Vinnie. But class first, kisses later." He set his briefcase on his desk. "You'll all have plenty of time for Valentine fun after class."
"He's right," Duzer said. "Because Nardo and I have a big date tonight!" Her snakes hissed in excitement.
"J.P. and I are going on his family yacht!" Blanche said dreamily. "It'll be so romantic!"
"I still think Valentine's Day is for sissies, man!" said Frankentyke.
"Well, sissy or not, I got a special valentine for you anyway." Sarah opened her box and handed the little monster a red paper heart. Frankentyke frowned, but kept the card anyway.
With that, Sarah handed out her valentines to all her classmates. And everyone loved them.
"You're quite the queen of hearts, darling." Sid said with his comical deep voice.
Sarah smiled. "I guess you could say that." she said. "By the way, Sid. What are your plans for Valentine's Day?"
"Well..." the invisible kid started off. "My parents like to go out for Valentine's Day. So I just stay home and just hang around."
"Oh, well, you could always hang out with us, Sid!" Sarah offered. "Vinnie and I are going for a night on the town!"
Sid shook his head. "No, thanks. I don't wanna be a third wheel. Besides, Sid the Invisible Kid's a solo act. I can stand on my own two feet."
After school, everyone left. But Sid was the last one to leave the building. He looked around and saw a lot of couples smooching and giggling, holding each other in one another's arms.
And Sid felt very empty.
That night, Sid was at his home bored out of his invisible skull. There was nothing good on TV and nothing good to eat in the fridge but his mother's leftover swamp soup. And that stuff reeks when cooked leftover.
Sid sighed and clicked the TV off. "I wonder if Papa Igor's is open." He got off the couch and left the house.
Out of all the creepy and dismal houses in Gravedale, Sid's was actually the most clean, well-kept and human looking of all the houses.
Invisibles were a very rare breed of monster. Sid's family were the only ones known to exist. At least the ones who want to be noticed anyway.
Sid was on his way to Papa Igor's for a slice of pizza, but the store was closed for Valentine's Day.
"Figures." Sid left and decided to venture into some new territory. So he decided to check out Midtown.
For a monster in a human town, it was hard for Sid to have fun without scaring the humans.
Sarah and Mr. Schneider were the only humans that liked having him around. He sure wished there were humans like him. Maybe a nice female human who felt the same way...
But there's no way a human like that exists without reacting negatively to an invisible boy.
"Maybe I should just head home." Sid was ready to call it a night.
Until...
"This way, man!"
Sid's sharp ear picked up something. Curious, he decided to investigate.
To be on the safe side, Sid removed his clothing and hid them behind an old dumpster. He went on the other side of the street and went around a corner. There, he spotted three human boys running somewhere.
And by the pace they were running, it must be somewhere epic.
"Hmm, color me intrigued." Sid said.
He ran after the boys. It was no trouble following them. They eventually slowed down and walked at a leisurely slow pace.
And Sid was right behind them.
"Dude, this is gonna be awesome!" one boy said.
"Where was this party again?"
"We're almost there!"
'Party?' Sid thought. 'This Valentine's Day could be fun yet!'
Sid followed the boys and they arrived at their destination; a fancy larger than life mansion!
Loud music thumped from inside, people were going nuts in the pool and water slide. There were even people drinking and partying on the roof of the building!
As the humans joined the party, Sid stood there, not believing his eyes. Even on the outside, this place looked like a total nuthouse!
Especially since most of the girls were in bikinis!
Sid decided to take a dip in the pool first. He turned and was about to circle around the house until spotted a face that made him go stiff.
It was Beth. The girl that almost tarred and feathered Sarah when she first moved to Midtown. She and another girl were both wearing bikinis and harassing the most beautiful girl Sid had ever seen in his entire life.
In Sid's invisible eyes, she was glowing. She had messy ginger hair worn in a bun and had on a pink tank top with white cargo pants.
The girls were blocking the girl's way to the party. "Look, a little lost piglet." Beth teased. "Isn't she cute?"
"You better run along, wee one." Beth's follower mocked.
"I am not a piglet!" the redhead replied. "You guys are the real pigs!"
"Yeah? Well, you need a date to get in, it is Valentine's Day." Beth said. "And that separates the bees from the wannabes." She flicked the girl's forehead and the two laughed.
But they stopped laughing when Beth's top fell off. She screamed and tried to cover herself.
Then her bikini bottom fell down to her ankles and she was pushed from behind. She tripped and fell flat on her face.
The girls screamed in horror, embarrassment and confusion.
The redhead gasped and jumped back. What just happened?!
"What the heck is going on?!" Beth's underling was beyond freaked out.
Sid's crush was feeling just the same.
"I'm what's going on." a voice said.
The redhead panicked. That voice came from nowhere.
But Beth was fully enraged. "Alright, who did that?!" She put her panties back on. "They are so dead!"
"Guess who, Porky?" Sid hissed in Beth's ear, making her scream.
But the redhead was the most terrified. She started running for her life. "THIS PLACE IS HAUNTED!"
"Hey! Wait up!"
The girl was still running terrified until she tripped and scraped her knee on the unforgiving cement. Now she was screaming in pain.
"Are you okay?!" Sid asked.
The girl turned and looked around. "Who's there?! What's going on?!"
"It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you." Sid said.
The girl trembled harshly. "Are you a ghost?!" She prayed in her mind that he wasn't a ghost.
"No, I'm invisible."
The girl shook her head to erase what she just heard. "You're what?!"
"Invisible."
Fear prickle the roots of her hair. "Invisible?! The Invisible Man?!" she squealed. She scrambled to her feet and tried to get away until Sid grabbed her arm.
"LET ME GO!"
"No! Don't be scared! I want to help you!"
"Help me?! With what?!"
"You're knee." Sid said. "It's bleeding."
The girl stopped struggling. She looked down and saw a small trail of blood come off her knee.
Sid loosened his grip and put his hands in her shoulders. He felt a girl flinch a little. "It's okay, I won't hurt you." Sid set her gently on the curb.
"Wait right here." Sid went back to the house.
And the girl stayed where she sat.
A few minutes later, the girl looked back and saw a floating box of band-aids and a damp rag. The girl showed Sid her knee and he got to work on it. She watched fascinated as the invisible boy used the rag cleaned up her wound.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Sid. What's your name?"
"Crystal."
"Crystal..." Sid placed the bandage on her knee. "Clear as Crystal."
Crystal laughed a little. "That's for sure." She held her hand out.
Nothing happened.
"You still here?"
Sid grabbed her hand. "Yup." He pulled her up. "So, wanna blow this dump?"
"Delighted." She put out her elbow and Sid hooked his arm around hers. They began walking together down the sidewalk.
"So, have you always been invisible?" Crystal asked.
"My whole life." Sid said. "Even my parents are invisible."
"For real?" Crystal asked, wide-eyed.
"Yeah, we live at Gravedale."
"Gravedale? You mean the town that's rumored to be haunted?"
She felt Sid pull her into an alley. "It's not haunted, it's a town for monsters."
Crystal saw a set of clothes float from behind a dumpster and watched Sid dress himself.
That's when Crystal gasped with realization. "Were you naked?!"
Sid put on his ball cap and sunglasses. "Yep."
"Oh my gosh!" Crystal covered her mouth and her face turned red as a valentine heart.
Sid chuckled. "Well, enough about me." He paused. "I'm sorry if you didn't get into the party."
"Don't be sorry." Crystal said. "Although, I kind of had my hopes up thinking I could get into a party with the cool kids." She smiled. "But I got to meet a really cool guy."
"You think I'm cool?" Sid said.
"Yeah, I don't know any other invisible kids who would help me like that." Crystal smiled and looked deep into Sid's sunglasses.
"Hey, you wanna hear a joke?" Sid asked.
"Sure."
"Okay, what goes 'boo, scream, splash?'"
Crystal shrugged.
"Someone seeing a ghost...in an outhouse!"
"Eww!" Crystal laughed. And Sid laughed too.
Suddenly, screaming came from the direction the two left.
"Do you hear that?" asked Sid.
"Let's check it out!" Crystal said. She and Sid returned to Beth's mansion. The screaming came from inside.
Sid pointed at the sky. "It's Vinnie!"
Vinnie flew over to Sid and Crystal. "Yo, perfect timing, Sid. We're crashing Beth's Valentine's Day bash. Care to join us?"
Sid and Crystal looked at each other.
"In a heartbeat!" Sid said.
So, with Crystal and Sarah recording the action on their phones, Sid and his Gravedale classmates began scaring and terrorizing Beth and her guests. Vinnie hissed and snarled, Reggie howled and prowled, Gil frightened everyone out of the pool and Sid chased away screaming bikini girls while laughing maniacally. He also pantsed a few of them too!
Faster than Goldilocks being chased by the bears, all the guests left the house screaming out onto the streets and into the night.
"AWESOME!" Sarah hollered.
Gil clapped his wet hands together. "Attention, dudes and dudettes! The pool is now vacant! Let's party!"
"YEAAAAAAAAAH!"
Sid and Crystal say by the poolside as the other monsters splashed and partied and having the time of their lives!
"Best Valentine's Day EVER!" Crystal exclaimed.
"So, I take it this Valentine's Day met your approval?" Sid said. "Even though it's not with the cool kids?"
"It is a party with the cool kids!" Crystal said. "If you ask me, you guys are the in crowd!"
Vinnie raised his glass. "A toast! To the new in crowd!"
"CHEERS!" everyone toasted their glasses.
But Sid slipped on some water and fell on top of Crystal.
Crystal felt something press against her mouth. She felt more and realized it was Sid's lips.
"How about coming up for some air you two?" Sarah teased.
Sid and Crystal got up and stared at each other.
"At least you have clothes on this time." Crystal joked.
Sid laughed. "Yeah, that's for sure."
And what else was for sure, was that Sid and Crystal had spent the most memorable Valentine's Day together.