Clawdeen took a hard look at herself in the mirror, fixing her outfit. She pulled at her skirt smoothing the bottom of the exterior making sure it laid down. She applied an off hot pinkish hue to her eyelid and a mix of twilight blue along the upper eyebrow. Her dark pink lipstick gave her look an extra boost she needed to complete her look. After looking at herself repeatedly in the mirror up and down, a smirk played on her lips as she imagined her boyfriend's reaction to her new look. A loud honk interrupted her out of her thoughts outside of her window.
"Clawdeen! It's for you!" One of her brothers' yelled up the stairs.
"Here I come!" She yelled back grabbing her bag. She took one more look in the mirror before closing her bedroom door and rushing down the stairs and out the front door. There she found her boyfriend waiting on the hood of his car, arms crossed intensely focused on his ICoffin. She giggled at the look of his face and kissed his cheek to break his concentration. He smiled down at her baby faced features and childish behavior.
"I see I caught your attention." Clawdeen said coming closer to the now smirking wolf. Romulus wiggled his arms tightly around his girlfriend's waist and pulls her close enough to close the space between them. He chuckled letting his hands roam down to her hips, she glared at Romulus with squinted eyes and a hard stare. He bit the inside of his cheek, trying his absolute hardest to contain his laughter.
"Don't. You. Dare." She warned knowing exactly what her mischievous boyfriend planned to do. Suddenly she jumped when she felt a hard grip on her butt. She growled lowly at him and watched her boyfriend erupt into a fit of giggles. His grip tightened as she struggled to escape his grip. With a rough push to his chest, Clawdeen managed to get her boyfriend's paws off of her.
"After you My Lady." Romulus says opening the passenger side of the door. Clawdeen rolled her glamorous eyes at her boyfriend and got into the car. Romulus jogged to the driver side slipping himself into the driver seat and taking off.
"I'm feeling your new look baby." Romulus said trying to break the silence. He couldn't stand silence, sometimes it was nice but hearing absolutely nothing but weird background noise creep him out. He took a quick glance at his girlfriend, he saw a small smile grace her lips and her silky small fingers play with the zipper of her purse. He smiled at seeing how shy she could be when he complimented her. He loved seeing her act like they just started dating; it reminded him that only he could make her feel that way.
"Thank you," She uttered quietly.
"So what do you think we're going to see this year? I heard a whole bunch of monsters were coming after Boo Years break."
"I hope not, I'm seriously not putting up with monsters like amanita. Cleo, I can tolerate but that ghoul?! She's asking for paw to the face."
"Agreed. I still don't understand how Cleo sat there and watched her and deuce dance together."
"I know! It took months and I mean months before I could even touch the guy!" Clawdeen said rolling her eyes as her boyfriend chuckles.
"Speaking of ghouls who annoy you, how's your sister? I know she's taking that heartbreak pretty serious considering the fact she wouldn't even talk to me."
"What does not talking to you have to do with her behavior?"
"Because she loves me." Romulus said in a matter-of-fact tone. Clawdeen smiled and rolled her eyes at her silly boyfriend. "I'm sure she does." Clawdeen laughed.
"Any boo, she's fine now, although there are somethings that I noticed that were different about her."
"Like what?"
"Well first off, she hugged my brother Clawnor."
"What's wrong with that she's showing him some brother-sister love."
"Okay, but what if you resented your sisters since the day she was born and then out of nowhere started being super nice to everyone including the ghouls she doesn't get along with."
"Okay that is a little eerie... but maybe she didn't like who she was and decided to change for the Boo Year?" Clawdeen rolled her eyes at Romulus' response.
"You and I know both know Howleen never sticks to her Boo Years Resolution."
"Well maybe she decided that this time she will. Maybe she's changing herself."
"And that's what scares me the most." Clawdeen looks out the window recalling the night she found her sister wearing her red over-sized t shirt. Her little body was sprawled across the bed, a big light pink paw covered pillow on top of her head to drown out her cries. She failed miserably as Clawdeen read the text message sent from her now ex-boyfriend. She remembers sighing and crawling into bed with her younger sister and hugging her and rubbing her back telling her it'd be okay.
The car came to a halt and Clawdeen looked to her boyfriend who was getting out the car.
"We're here Love." He spoke. She shook her head a little and got her things and got out of the car. She grabbed her boyfriend's hand and walked as close to him as possible. She saw new faces and new faces meant she'd teach them that Romulus was hers and hers only.
"Clawdeen! Over here mate!" Clawdeen broke from her boyfriend's grip and embraced her saltwater friend.
"Lagoona! Its' so fangtastic to see you! I've missed you so much! How was visiting Gil's' parents?" Clawdeen asked releasing her friend from their bone crushing hug.
"It was so much better than I thought! I thought they were going to treat me the same way they treated me years before… And look what Gil's mum gave me!" Lagoona pulled her bag up to her chest, she dug her hand deep inside searching for the mystery present. Lagoona then pulled out a pearl necklace with a pretty kelp twisting into around the beautiful circles. Clawdeen gasped at the sight. Lagoona giggled at the face her friend made at the jewelry.
"Lagoona... It's bootiful! His parents are really starting to like you now, huh?"
"Yeah! They're really warming up to me. I thought for sure they'd just ignore me and turn the other way but they hugged me and welcomed me to the family!"
"And all it took was gill-for-brains, here, to finally stand up to his Mom and Dad." Clawdeen snapped her head to see Gil sheepishly smiling with a faint tint of blush on his smiling face.
"Enough about me! Tell me about your break love!" Lagoona cooed grabbing the wolf's hands and walking toward the lockers with their boyfriends following them like little lost puppies.
"Well, after I said goodbye to Romulus, my family and I went to Scaris! My sisters and I got to compete in a fashion show when Clawdia came with us! My brothers went on a frenzy trying to find this bootiful mysterious stranger they met in a little café by the boovie theater. Clawd boo-vooed Draculaura the whole time we were there. I wanted to barf, but then I remembered, what if that was me and Romulus, I got to say Goodbye to my beast friend, Clawd didn't, so I guess I understood how much missing the one you love can really hurt. It was really nice but it would have been even better if-"
""If I were there?" A voice called behind them. There she stood, in all her bandages and her snake headed boyfriend standing right beside her, Cleo DeNile gave a cool smile before meeting her friends in a group hug.
"CLEO!" The two screeched. The hug would have lasted forever if Lagoona weren't the first to pull away.
"How was your break, Cleo? I know it had something to do Tiaras and Diamonds."
"Ehh Close. I went the pyramids to visit my Grandmummy, then went to the Spring of Everlasting Hope, OH and then-"
"Bottom line," Deuce interjected with a grin "Boo Year's Eve was awesome."
"Oh and why's that? Because you didn't spend Boo Years with me and I know you didn't spend it with any of the mansters because all of, including Manny already had plans. So, who were you with that made everything sooo awesome? Hm... Did you spend it with another ghoul?!" Cleo said looking at her boyfriend as an annoyed look flashed across his face. Clawdeen couldn't help but smile. No matter how many times Deuce told her he was here to stay Cleo would always accuse the poor boy of being with another girl.
"Yeah actually I was… I didn't know you and my mom were competing for my love because if you are I'm easily persuaded." Cleo giggled wrapping her arms around Deuce's muscular neck and reached up to kiss his cheek.
Deuce, never really being skinny, picked up a lot of muscle after he joined the casketball team. Soon after Clawd's nonstop begging, he then joined the infamous scream team composed of Clawdeen, Abbey, Operetta, Rochelle, Robecca, Gil, Clawd, Manny, Heath and Invisibilly. Not only did Deuce mature, but some other Monsters did too! Manny had grew facial hair and didn't pick on any monsters as much as he used to, His love for iris, however only seemed to grow stronger whenever she got him alone. Clawd didn't change much, he grew a couple of inches, his baby cheeks had disappeared to a chiseled chin and his abs had started to show underneath his shirts. Heath changed more than any or the monsters she'd come to know.
Heath now standing at 6'2 towered over his girlfriend even when she wore heels, was proud of who he become. His face had matured and become much handsome than before, his voice had gotten a bit deeper and his body was now muscular and ripped. He was like a huge orange-ish walking teddy bear, only sexier and much, much better than a regular old teddy bear.
"Hey Ghouls missed me?!" That voice surely snapped Clawdeen out of her thoughts as she saw the ghoul centimeters from her. A ghoul covered in stitches, two bolts sticking out from her neck ready to spark from all the excitement the girl held back, and her pastel green skin smooth as silk reached out and touched the wolf in one shift move pulling her into another group hug.
Soon again the group was united and stood around the ghoul's lockers talking, reminiscing and just having a good time. This lasted for a good 5 minutes before Clawd began to act strange, he began to growl lowly in the back of his throat and clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, this went did not go unnoticed by Draculaura who immediately turned to her boyfriend.
"Look at locker 205." Was all he could let drip off his tongue without going on anger rampage.
"What about it?" Cleo asked somewhat annoyed by his lack of communication.
"It's Jackson's' locker! Someone is using Jackson's' locker! We reserved that locker just for him when he got back! Now some other monster is going to be doing Ra knows what to it!" Clawd said angrily waving his fists in the air.
"Clawd, Bloodgood wasn't going to hold on to that locker forever and, it's senior year, and not to mention it's a boo year, don't you think it's time to let it go? Besides, if Jackson wanted to come back he would have come back a long time ago." Lagoona tried to reason with the stubborn wolf. Yet all Clawd could do was shake his head and watch a stranger occupy his best friends locker. Clawd sighed and began to take a walk.
Clawd never got over Jackson's' departure, it hurt him to the deepest depths of his soul when his normie friend left. Jackson knew everything about him, his favorite color, favorite food, and his secrets that only someone he knew was loyal and trustworthy would keep. Clawd grew closest to Jackson. Letting the Normie sleep over when he and his dad weren't on good terms or his moms' drinking became so bad it pained Jackson just to watch her. Jackson told him everything, his home life, his relationship with Frankie, everything, even the real reason he left. But Jackson had made him promise not to tell the others for fearing that they'd pity him instead of seeing him as a friend.
"You know, he's just being Clawd." Clawdeen said filling her nails staring at the boy who now had Jackson's locker. He'd been organizing and filing things around for what seemed like centuries.
"I know but it doesn't seem like he's getting any better. I'm really starting worry about him, it's been two years since Jackson left and he's still sulking!" Lagoona said with fearful eyes. Frankie couldn't help but sigh, every time Clawd did this, she and him always ended up fighting when she tried to help. Even though her helping consisted of pushing Jackson out of his mind and replacing it with Neighthan. She did that to everyone who missed Jackson. She'd brainwash them into trying to being friends with her boyfriend. Clawd hated when she did it to him and refused to so much look her way when she tried to influence her boyfriend into Clawd's business.
"I'll talk to him later if you want." Clawdeen said placing a hand onto the skunk haired girls' shoulder. Frankie sighed and turned to Clawdeen.
"Thanks ghoul friend. Now come on before we're all late to class!" Frankie smiled pulling Draculaura and Clawdeen into their first period.
This was going to be a long year….