It was the first day back at Monster High after summer vacation and everyone was as excited as ever.

Greta Whovier was the daughter of the Grinch and she was going to Monster High. Greta was very nervous about her first day at a completely new school, especially in a town she never even knew existed. But she usually felt comfortable going to places alone and she knew that she can handle herself just fine.

Cameron Cat was the son of the Cat in the Hat and he was as excited as anyone else would be on their first day at a new school. He always looked on the bright side of things and he thought that today was going to be a fantastic day. Even though he didn't really know anything about the school or the town in general, he wanted his first day to go off without a hitch.

The first half of the first day was pretty good for both of them; however the both of them found it rather boring. Then it was lunchtime; every monster was sitting at a table and talking and laughing while eating their food. But just as Greta was about to go find her older sister and sit down at a table, she bumped into Cameron Cat and she dropped her tray of food and it fell onto the floor with a crash and a splat.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, stranger! That was my lunch!" Greta angrily shrieked as she knelt down to pick up her spilled food.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry about that! Let me help you clean this up." Cameron cried as he knelt down to help.

"No! I can get it myself! I don't need any help."

"No, really. I want to help you. Let me do this."

When they reached out to grab the milk carton, their hands touched and they looked each other in the eyes. Greta's angry sneer faded into a dazed stare, as if she were hypnotized; Cameron did the same thing, only his mouth hung open at the sight of this stranger.

"Hi." Cameron murmured, not turning his gaze away from the girl.

"Hi." Greta whispered back, keeping her eyes locked on the boy.

"Ooh! Look at that!" A voice hissed. It was the voice of Toralei Stripe, one of the meanest ghouls at Monster High. "The newest power couple; how romantic. Eugh!"

Toralei's two friends, Meowlody and Purrsephone, laughed and sneered along with her.

"Hey! Back off, Toralei!" Another voice said.

This was the voice of Clawdeen Wolf, who was one of the most popular ghouls around school as well as the student body.

"They're just the new kids. Cut them a little slack, why don't you?"

"Uh, Clawdeen? I don't think they're even listening." The werewolf's friend Frankie Stein said, looking back at the dazed creatures.

"Your breath smells like pickles… I like it. I also like your hair." Cameron commented.

"Thanks. I like your hat… and your outfit." Greta added.

"Thank you."

"No prob."

"Hey!" Clawdeen's voice rang through, clapping her hands in front of the two. "Are you guys okay?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Cameron stammered, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Yeah, sorry." Greta stuttered, sheepishly rubbing her arm.

"Hey, Greta! Over here!" An overly cheerful voice called out.

Greta looked and saw an old friend from Whoville sitting at another lunch table and she was waving her over. She blushed embarrassedly as she looked back at the boy.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly.

"That's okay. Go ahead. I… I'll see ya around?" Cameron said politely.

"Yeah, sure… See ya." Greta said as she hurried towards her sister's table.

"Hey." The girl said nonchalantly.

"Merry! What are you doing here?!" Greta hissed.

"It's my first day at Monster High, too." Merry replied.

"Don't do that again! You were embarrassing me back there!" Greta whispered as she quickly sat down next to her.

"Me? Embarrass you? That's a new one." Merry said, shocked. "You never get embarrassed, not even when you had toilet paper stuck to your shoe in the eighth grade."

"No, I mean you were embarrassing me in front of… in front of him!" Greta said, pointing a finger at Cameron who was trying to find a place to sit.

"Who? You mean that cat boy? Wait… Something's off. You… getting flustered… around a boy?"

Merry thought about what the young Grinch just said; in all of the years she had known Greta, she knew she would never behave like this. How could Greta's attitude so quickly? Finally, after a few seconds of thinking, she finally put two and two together and she gasped as a huge smile spread across her face.

"What?" Greta asked uneasily.

"Greta? Call me crazy, but I just thought of something… you have a crush!" Merry screamed.

"WHAT?! ME?! No, I don't!" Greta shrieked.

"You so do!" Merry said. "You're blushing like crazy! I can even tell through all the fur on your face!"

"I am?" Greta asked as she covered her mouth, nose, and cheeks with her hands. "Does anyone else notice?"

"Nope. Just me." Merry answered.

"Um, excuse me?" A new voice shyly asked. "Is it okay if I sit here?"

Merry and Greta looked to the right and saw that the owner of the voice was a girl with fair skin, bluish green eyes, long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, and wearing a blue polo shirt tucked into a denim blue skirt and a black necktie.

"Oh sure. Go ahead." Merry said kindly.

"Thank you."

Greta looked at the girl who just sat across from her; she cocked an eyebrow at her. Did Greta know this stranger from somewhere? That was when she noticed the ring on the girl's finger. The band was a silver metal and it had a small ruby gemstone smack in the center. Greta's eyes widened as she met the gaze of the girl nervously sitting before her.

"Shelby Ipkiss?!" Greta asked in disbelief.

"Greta Whovier?!" The girl gasped in the same tone.

That was when the two girls smiled, squealed with excitement, and stood up before hugging each other tightly.

"It's been too long!" The girl, now dubbed Shelby, said.

"Man, you've changed… a lot. You look great!" Greta said.

"You've changed, too… Well, aside from the longer, messier red hair and the rancid garlic and pickle breath, you still look great!" The human girl said.

"Uh… Greta? Who is this? How do you know each other?" Merry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, right. You two haven't officially met. Merry, this is my childhood friend, Shelby Ipkiss. Shelby, this is Merriweather. She used to babysit me back in Whoville." Greta introduced.

"Nice to meet you. Greta told me a lot about you… I'm just surprised we haven't met sooner." Shelby giggled as she and Merry shook hands.

"Yeah, me too." Merry said. "Greta, how exactly do you know Shelby?"

"Oh. Shelby and I actually met at summer camp when we were little." Greta explained. "We both went to Camp Greenwater just about every summer until we reached age eleven. Shelby and I met while we were at the arts and crafts meeting in the mess hall during the first day. Hey, Shelbs, do you remember how you kept on spilling the glitter everywhere… even though you weren't supposed to be using it yet?"

"How could I forget?" Shelby chuckled. "After the incident with the glue and that family of raccoons in the dumpster out back, the head counselors permanently banned glitter from the site. And I still remember that you were stuck in the shower for hours trying to get the sparkly gunk out of your hair, all of it."

"Yeah. Best shower I probably ever had in my life. Hey, what happened to the letters we sent each other when we stopped going to camp?"

"Uh… I lived in Edge City at the time and regularly getting mail without it either getting stolen or read by your crazy landlady was pretty hard to come by, honestly… especially when you have some random psychotic cop who's always hounding your dad for some weird reason."

"A cop?" Merry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Long story, don't ask."

"Well, it's great seeing you again. But what are you doing here?"

"I go to school here now. I moved to Salem about a few months ago with my dad and it's my first day today."

"Really? It's my first day, too!"

"Really? Wow. What are the odds, huh?"

"Yeah. So what's new?"

"Nothing much, aside from my dad getting a new, better paying job and moving into a nice small house out here. What about you? And what's all this about a boy and a crush?"

"Boy? What boy? What are you talking about? There's no crush here! This is a crush-free zone, always was and always will be! Never forget that, okay?"

Shelby knew something was up with her old friend, but she didn't want to start any big arguments so she said, "Okay, okay! I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Greta said with a sigh. "Okay, now tell me what you did since I last saw you, girl! We have so much catching up to do!"