Disclaimer: I do not own Casper's Scare School, Little Shop of Horrors, or anything else present in this story except for Carly Bradford (and, you know, the plot).

I should also point out that this story follows the canon of the movie more than the canon of the TV series. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Ah, Scare School. A place where creatures of all shapes, species, and regions of the Underworld learn the proper methods of scaring fleshies until their blood boils and they run off crying for their mommies. Until now, that is. Now, the creatures of Scare School and the fleshies of Deedstown are on much friendlier terms, and are quite content with scaring (and being scared) just for fun.

And that's not all. Scare School has recently started something called the Fleshie Exchange Program, for fleshie kids who are interested in the supernatural. And though not everyone was on board with it (*cough* Thatch *cough*), new student Carly Bradford was welcomed with open arms…and claws…and tentacles.

Who's Thatch, you ask? Why, he's the coolest vampire this side of the Valley of the Shadows (at least, to him). And no matter what you say to change his mind, he hates fleshies. The only thing he likes about them is when they become pants-wettingly terrified when they see him on the street.

Only two fleshies have never shown fear of him; Casper the friendly ghost's friend Jimmy Bradley, and Carly.

Today, the school was holding auditions for their yearly musical, "Little Shop of Horrors." As auditions went on, Mickey, Monaco, and Triclops became the three chorus girls, Slither became Orin Scrivello, Quasi became Mr. Mushnik, and Wolfie became the voice of Audrey II.

Finally, the time had come to cast the role of Audrey. "Would any of you lovely ladies like to audition," said Alder, one of the headmasters.

"Don't sugarcoat it, Alder," said Dash, Alder's literal other half, "they all know they're hideous."

As the silence continued to dwindle, a voice finally piped up from the crowd. "I do."

All eyes drifted toward Carly, and Thatch practically burst out of his seat. "What? You can't be in the play," he yelled, "You're a fleshie!"

"Uh, I beg your pardon," Carly retorted, "but the posters said 'Open Auditions,' meaning anyone can try out."

Thatch scoffed. "Well, I'm pretty sure 'unless you're a fleshie' was implied."

"Oh, bite me, Blood Breath."

Before the argument could go any further, Alder and Dash stepped in.

"Alright, alright, break it up, you two," said Dash. "Thatch, I know it doesn't seem normal for a fleshie to be in a Scare School production, but Carly's right." Turning to her, he said, "You are free to audition."

"Thank you, sirs," Carly said, then turned and stuck her tongue out at Thatch, who did the same to her. She walked up to the stage, took a deep breath, and began to sing.

When she was finished, everyone in the room burst into applause. "Bravo, bravo!" cried Alder, tears flying off of his face. "Simply remarkable," added Dash, "I think we've found our Audrey." He picked up a clipboard and looked over the cast list. "Okay, now on to the final role, Seymour Krelborn. Who would like to audition for Seymour?"

At that, Thatch started up to the stage. "Are you kidding me," he chuckled, "You're seriously going to give these losers a chance? Everyone knows I'm destined to be the lead."

Dash rolled his eyes, but replied, "Alright, Thatch. If you think you have what it takes, let's hear your audition."

"Audition? Please," said Thatch, "you're better off just giving me the part."

"You still have to audition if you want to-"

Angrily, and through clenched teeth, Thatch growled, "Give. Me. The part."

Alder's head cowered behind Dash's as Dash sighed. "Congratulations, Thatch. You have the lead role."

As everyone in the room groaned, Carly seemed to be affected the most by this. Seriously, she thought. I have to act alongside him? As she glanced over at Thatch, who was receiving congrats from his (rather small) group of friends, he caught her watching him and sarcastically blew her a kiss. Carly groaned and buried her face in her hands.

It was going to be a long year.

In the two days she has so far spent in Scare School, Carly has made friends with Casper, Ra, Mantha, and Wolfie, but since there wasn't enough room at the lunch table for all of them, Carly was perfectly content with sitting by herself. As she texted her mother asking her to bring her some lunch, because the food they served in the cafeteria was very inedible to her, she was approached by the one person she didn't want to talk to.

"Hey, uh, Carly, right?" Thatch asked.

"What do you want, Blood Breath," she remarked, not daring to look up from her phone.

"I just think, you and me," he answered, "we got off on the wrong foot. And since we're going to be costarring in this play together, maybe we should start over. I'll go first." He cleared his throat and extended a hand. "Hi, I'm Thatch."

Carly finally glanced up at him and smirked. "And I'm leaving now, because from what I hear, you're a manipulative, egotistical jerk." With that, she walked away, returning to her phone as her mom texted her reply.

Thatch seemed completely oblivious to her dislike towards him. "So, I guess I'll see you around, then?" he called back, then he sighed, resting his head on his hand.

Casper and his friends noticed this exchange, and were slightly confused by the outcome. "Well, that was weird," commented Ra.

"I know, right?" Mantha remarked, "He was such a jerk to her at the auditions, but now he was genuinely trying to be nice to her."

"Hey," Casper said, "do you guys remember when I snuck Jimmy into Scare School? When Thatch found out he was a fleshie, he completely flipped out." He chuckled at the memory. "But he's not doing that with Carly."

"Well, with the implementation of the Fleshie Exchange Program, he really has no reason to," said Mantha."

Ra shrugged. "Yeah, but knowing Thatch, he still probably would have."

As Casper cast one more look towards Thatch, he noticed something strange in his demeanor. "Wait a minute," he muttered, floating over to where he sat. Thatch appeared to be staring off into space, sighing dreamily every once in a while. Casper also noticed a small line of drool running down his cheek (not that he was going to tell him that).

As he went back to his friends, he instantly came to a conclusion about what was going on.

"Guys," he told them, "I think he has a crush on her."

In case you're wondering, the song Carly sings at her audition is "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri (which I do not own).