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Thanks to IamtheIinteam for reviewing the first chapter! Lets hopefully get some more reviews...please?


Cedric told of his not-so-admirable grades. Sally simply listened.

"Well, you'll need to study more Cedric." she said. Cedric winced. His mother always called him Ceddie, or Ceddie Bear (a play-on-words of teddy bear) The only time she called him Cedric was if she was irritated.

"Are you in any trouble thats distracting you?"asked Sally.

Cedric struggled to hold back a laugh. He never drank, smoked, did drugs, any of that. He never had a real girlfriend. Of course, there were girls who simply wanted to marry their way into the royalty life, but Cedric had never liked them. And they didn't really care about him, so why waste his time? No, Cedric Skellington never mixed in any of that business. He was never what you would call, lucky in love.

"No...I'm just...I dunno, struggling." he mumbled. He hung his head. "Its okay Ceddie. You just need to work harder." reassured Sally. She gave him a feeble smile. Cedric did not return it.

"Whats wrong Ceddie?" she asked. She could tell something was bothering him. "Its just..." then Jack barged in. "Nothing." Cedric stood and stomped out of the kitchen.


'What was I thinking? That I could just tell her all the things bothering me? Stupid!' Cedric thought to himself.

The truth was, Cedric felt like an outsider in his own home. See, when you have two older siblings, its always a competition to do as well as they did. But he wasn't a genius at school like Samantha, he barely pulled B's and C's. And he wasn't the scare master like Jake, he wasn't scary at all. He got laughs. Perhaps that was the worst.

The Pumpkin Prince, son of Jack Skellington, was a hopeless scarer. He was a joke in Scare class. It was humiliating. Apparently the only genes he had inherited from his father was looks.

And even those were off. His large stitch was obvious. He stood out like a sore thumb in his family. The only one he had ever felt like he could talk to was his mother. She was shy, and quiet like him. She loved him no matter what.

It wasn't that he didn't love his father. But, well, they saw things differently. Cedric still remembered the first day Jack had tried drilling him in scaring. He was so disappointed when his son was a lost cause. Cedric had tried his hardest, he really had. But he simply wasn't scary.

He knew he wasn't well-liked in HalloweenTown. He wasn't stupid. What good is a Pumpkin Prince if he can't scare? But once, when he was five, he heard talk of him being a mistake. Later that night, he asked his parents about it.


"Am I a mistake?" he asked. Jack and Sally stared at him. "Of course not Ceddie!" Sally exclaimed. "Whatever would give you that idea?" asked Jack indignantly.

"I heard people talking..." said Cedric. "Well, they're wrong." said Jack angrily. Sally looked at him with soft eyes. "We love you Cedric, you know that. Don't ever think you are a mistake." she cooed. Even Jack got sentimental. "How could you ever think that? We love you." he said.

He was young, and believed his parents could do no wrong. He was older now, and knew it was a bit of a scandal, the large difference between his age and his siblings.


Cedric was a mistake, a disapointment. His family simply attempted to cover it up.
"What's wrong with Cedric?" asked Jack, quite bewildered why Cedric stormed out of the room.

Sally sighed. "I don't know. He doesn't want to talk."

"Hmmmm...he's been so depressed lately. Is he in any trouble?" asked Jack. Sally shook her head. "No, and I think thats the problem."

"What do you mean?" asked Jack. "Well, when Jake and Sam were his age, they snuck out, had forbidden parties, and who knows what else. Of course, it was trouble, but they were never depressed like this." Sally explained.


(passes around tattered review hat) reviews anyone? any advice?