Halloween Academy

Chapter 3: Choosing Houses; the B.L.O.B and Spider-Girl

Hollow's Eve Academy

The Next Day

Girls Dorm

The girls dorm was located in the far corner of the academy, next to the boys dorm. Coraline's room was a single bed room, living quarters and kitchen and bathroom. The alarm clock went off as she slammed the alarm off. She groaned as she finally got up, groaning with her hair messed up; she was dressed in a white spaghetti strapped nightgown that ended at her knees. She scooted off the bed she was in as she sat up, and stretched out the kinks in her back. She looked around as she took in her new room; the bags had not been unpacked but the room looked pretty good. Still there were some designs on it that were a bit Halloween-ish for her.

Suddenly, Cheshire jumped on to her bed and rubbed himself next to her. Coraline smirked as she petted her cat, "Hey, Cheshire," she scooped up the little furball as she rubbed him cheek-to-cheek, "Glad to know you slept well last night." the two then looked at the calendar, and both just frowned as Coraline playfully scolded, "I know… I hate Mondays too."

After she had cleaned up and got dressed, she stepped out of her room, with Cheshire following behind her. She had come up with the idea that if her cat was with her, the other monsters around the school would get the idea that she was some sort of witch. That would help throw the suspicion that she was a human a lot better than just saying she was a vampire or something.

As she walked down the halls, she saw the other girls leaving for the school house as well. As she looked at them, she couldn't help but smirk at this change of pace. Most of the male monsters she had seen were all in their true forms. But the girls, they were all in human disguise, which she had to smirk in some way that was a huge relief for her. 'At least they don't pick a fight with one another,' she smirked as she pulled her backpack on her shoulders. 'Good thing they don't go for each other's throats like that Sampson guy.'

As Coraline and her cat walked down the hallway, she didn't notice a pair of eyes watching out on her in the dark. Then in a flash, they disappeared as the rest of the girls rushed to the one place they were heading for today: Sorting Day.

Main Hall

All the students were all gathering there for the main event: being inducted or sorted into their school house. Apparently Coraline had heard that some schools did this in Europe; sort of school house teams. She squeezed on through the students, trying to make her way through to find a place to stand or sit. Then suddenly, she felt something smoosh under her feet; she cringed as she heard it bubble and ooze. "Ewwww," she cringed and whined, "Please tell me I didn't step in puss. Or worse…"

She looked down, and saw that she was standing in a light blue puddle of what appeared to be slime of sorts. Freaking out, she jumped out of the puddle as she looked around, "Who'd leave a puddle here?"

Suddenly, the slime puddle gurgled and slushed upward, taking shape. Suddenly, it was a three and a half foot creature, with the bottom as a conglomerate of the blob slime, and the upper half a thin torso, with arms enlarged at the forearms and hands with two bulbous fingers and thumb. Its neck was one foot elongated with a bulb for a head, and a lone green eye, while wearing an orange ballcap on its head. The creature then simply said in a happy-than-smart tone, "Hi, I'm Bobby."

Following fear instincts, she screamed, "AAAAH! BLOB MONSTER!" and then, acting on instinct, she spun kicked him, causing his upper half to become separated from his body.

"Coraline, wait!" a famliar voice called out as someone pushed through. Coraline saw that it was DJ, much to her delight. However, the skeleton boy seemed a bit distressed as he stated, "Cor, why'd you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, but then remembered, "Oh that, well you see…."

"AAAAH! MY BACK!" the slime creature shouted, as his upper half reformed back into a torso, arms, and head as its lone eye looked terrified at seeing himself split in half. However, the look was dropped by a smile as he looked at the two, "Just kidding! I don't have a back!" and then he slurped himself back to the other half, making himself whole again as he chuckled moronically.

Then DJ walked up to the blob, as he gave him a double thumbs up, "Yo, B.o.!"

"You, Bone-Daddy!" the blob now known as Bobby did the same.

"Haven't seen you this past week," DJ stated as he held out his hand, "Give me some goo there, Bobster." and then, instead of giving DJ a high five or low five, Bobby did exactly what he asked. He slapped DJ's hand, and left him a snowball sized glob of his slime. "Um… thanks, Bobby." DJ responded, looking a little grimaced as he shook the slime out of his hand.

Coraline, not understanding this, walked over to her skeletal friend and asked, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah," DJ answered as he introduced her to his friend, "Coraline Jones, this is Bobby. Nickname for B.O.B, which is an acronym for Bio-polymorphic Organic Bio-organism. He's basically the end result of a mad scientist's experiment between combining a radioactive fruit and a genetically-altered dessert topping." he smirked as the two looked and saw Bobby playing with his eyeball like a basketball, and laughing moronically. He sighed as he finished, "He's pretty much an indestructible gelatinous mass that doesn't eat living people, but anything he can. Downside is, well as you've seen, he has no brain."

"Yeah, pretty much," Bobby answered as he slithered over to them, "Turns out though, you don't need one. It's totally overrated; I don't see what the big…" but then he stopped as he gasped. Then his gut shrank some more as he started gasping; his eye growing big with panic as he wheezed out, "I can't breathe, I can't… I forgot how to breathe!" he then frantically grabbed DJ by the shoulders as he pleaded, "DJ! DJ, help me!"

"Bobby!" DJ calmed down his friend as he grabbed his friend by the shoulders, "You don't have to breathe. You don't have lungs."

For a moment, Bobby let that information sink in, until he huffed with relief, returning to normal. "Oh yeah," he said as he chuckled with relief, "Thanks, DJ. You're a lifesaver."

DJ looked at a stunned Coraline as he thumbed towards his blobbish friend, "See what I mean?"

"Why are you wasting your time with these idiots, DJ?" a voice asked from their side, as all three turned to face it. The voice who had spoken up was a girl, fourteen with a fabulous figure, dressed in a Japanese schoolgirl outfit. Her skin was pale green, and her hair was black and scaly, almost as if it were a cluster of snakes growing out of her head, and her eyes were yellow with green pupils with black slits. And her teeth were bright and shiny, with her canines long and sharp, almost looking like snake fangs. "Honestly, DJ," the girl stated in a fake concerned tone, "You don't need to help a charity case like him."

"Uh, excuse me," Coraline stated as she stepped up, "I don't know who you think you are, but not having a brain doesn't make Bobby a charity case."

The snake girl chuckled as she looked to Coraline mockingly, and then to DJ, "DJ, I didn't know you were seeing jailbait."

The blonde was about to lunge at her, in an attempt to gauge our her eyes, but DJ stopped her in time. He then looked to the girl as he replied, "She's my friend, Viper."

"Well, that's a bit of good news," Viper chimed as she relaxingly swayed her way to Coraline as she stated. "Just so you know, new girl… DJ's a bit out of your league." she then extended her hand out for a handshake, "However, seeing that you're new here, I'm willing to share a bit of info for you. You'll soon find out that some monster families in this town are far more better than others. It's best that you don't make friends with the wrong sort." she then let out a small smirk as she finished, "I can help you and DJ out on there."

Coraline looked at the hand, and then at the girl. She could already tell this girl was gonna be bad news, but considering she was a monster, she wasn't gonna be high school evil… she was just evil, evil. So she just huffed as she replied, "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself. But thanks, anyway."

The two girls then stared down one another, almost about to bite each other's heads off. Then, Miss Katsy, completely oblivious to the girls' silent fight, stepped up and cheerfully announced, "Okay, everyone. We're ready to sort you into your houses." the students paid close attention as they looked to them as she went on, "For you first time freshman, allow me to explain. There are four houses in this school: Monstars, which is home to where most of our famous monsters have come from. Hufflepuff, from where all our magic-using creatures of the night are trained. Gargoyleclaw, for our most powerful gain their education. And finally, and I'm sure that most of you already know what this house is famous for… Creeperin." she then cleared her throat as she finished, "In these houses, your classmates and friends… will be like family to you one and all. Work together as a family, you will earn points. Any rule breaking, and you'll be deducted points. The house with the most points at the end of the year, will be awarded the House Jack O'Lantern Cup."

"Creeperin?" Coraline asked in a whispered tone as she turned to face DJ and asked, "What's that house famous for?"

"Well, you ever heard of the Boogie Man, the Creeper, or maybe even, um… Pennywise?" DJ asked in the same hush tone. Coraline shook her head as DJ answered, "That's because they're the most notorious criminals in our world. And every one of them went to that school house."

"Okay, everyone. Step lively," Miss Katsy announced as they all stood at the ready, and looked in front behind Miss Katsy to view the staff. At the staff, were a few monster creatures that seemed normal, but not much.

One was a scientist in a wheelchair, with sunglasses and looked like his skull was designed to open up on a whim. The other was a stout fellow, with a top hat five times as big as him, and looked like he had two faces; one sad and the other happy. He was currently on the happy face at this time. The other teacher appeared to be a fellow in a black leather getup, pale and bald, with nails driven into his head. The other was a beautiful brunette witch of sorts, dressed in a black and yellow witch getup, and a black witch's hat. The other teacher, appeared to be a bloated fellow dressed in a white tuxedo trench coat, a black top hat, blue, elf ears, with bottle glasses, and a massive overbite stuck in a permanent smile. The other individual was a man in a black trench coat, white silver hair slicked back, and carrying a cane with a skull top on it. From a bizarre scene, he seemed to hate the light as his section of the room was darkened. And finally, the head of the school, was a man in a white cloak ensemble, with a few chains wrapped around his waist, arms, and a necklace Rosario around his neck. The man's face was completely overshadowed by the hood pulled over his eyes, but it was evident that he was human by his skin… or at least appeared human.

"Now before we begin…" Miss Katsy announced, "The Head Master of the Academy, Father Cross, would like to say a few things."

The white cloaked fellow stood up as he looked to the students, and announced, "I just have a few start-off term notices I wish to announce. Freshmen, please note that the Dark Forest beyond the edge of the graveyard is strictly forbidden for all students during dusk. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Grundy, has asked me to remind you all that the 13th floor corridor is out of bounds… for all those who do not wish to die a horrible and painful death." the students were all quiet, nearly freaking out by such news as they gulped. "Thank you," the head master finished as he sat down.

Miss Katsy nodded as she brought out a list, and she looked at the students, "When I call your name, come up here, and be seated." She pointed to a seat with an old witch's hat as she stated, "The Sorting Hat will sort you to your houses." she looked at the list, and called out, "Lydia Deedsly."

As soon as the name was spoken, a girl who went by that name stepped up. She was a pale girl with black hair as long as Coraline's but tied up in a ponytail by a purple ribbon with a spider badge on it. Her figure was just like Coraline's, slim and not yet developed as a teenager's should be. Her eyes were violet as well, with dark purple eye shadow, and had purple lipstick. She was wearing a tight full body black footsie, turtleneck skin suit that exposed her fingers, with a red poncho top and a poncho-style skirt, with black webbing designs on it.

She stepped up and sat in the chair, as the Cat Woman teacher placed the ratty old hat on her head. Suddenly, the hat came to life, using the wrinkles to form a face, as it spoke out, "Hmmm, let me see here." the hat then smirked as he announced, "Monstars!" the students cheered out as Lydia stepped down to meet with her house students.

"B.O.B."

The Blue blob slithered up on to the podium and onto the chair as the hat was placed on his head. The hat frowned for a moment as he mumbled, "Mmmmm… not much brains to work with on this one. But a stick-to-it attitude and a voracious appetite… Monstars!"

"Miss Viper M. Edusa," Viper walked up and sat in the chair. But before the hat could be placed on her head, the hat announced before he was even six inches from her head, "Creeperin!"

Coraline frowned as she gulped, "I guess it's gonna be watch my back with her from now on."

"Jack Skellington Jr."

DJ took a deep breath, as he looked to Coraline. The blonde merely smirked as she patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

"Hope so."

He then walked up and sat in the chair as the others did. Miss Katsy, as well as the staff, eagerly watched, as she placed the cap on his head. Suddenly, the Hat came back to life as he called out, "Ah! Another Skellington," he then chuckled as he announced, "I know just where to put you…" he was silent for a moment as he announced, "… MONSTARS!" DJ sighed with relief as he got down and joined up with his friends once more.

"Coraline Jones"

The blonde human gulped, not really knowing what to expect at this point. She didn't know if the hat would see right through her, or put her in the wrong house. However, she gained enough courage as she walked up the stairs and sat in the chair. This time, it was the priest Head Master, who went unnoticed, looked at the girl with interest as he scratched his chin in curiosity. Miss Katsy placed the sorting hat on top of her head; Coraline looked out at the crowd, and gave DJ a nervous look on her face. However, he returned to her two thumbs up and a smile, which she returned the smile to him.

The hat then came to life, with a quandary on his face as he spoke out, "Hmmmm…. Difficult, very difficult," he then cocked a wrinkled eyebrow as he spoke out, "Not quite certain what monster you are… " Coraline gulped, but was relieved when she heard what came next, "However, you seem to possess some hidden talents, a thirst for knowledge, and a yearning to prove yourself… but where to put you…"

The blonde human closed her eyes as she whispered in prayers, "Not Creeperin, not Creeperin…"

"Not Creeperin, eh?" the hat asked, as he convinced her, "Are you sure? You could be great; almost as great as the Pumpkin King himself. And Creeperin will help you on the way to greatness." however, the girl was silent, but still chanting quietly not to be in Creeperin. The hat sighed, "No, eh?" he then smirked as he announced, "Better be… MONSTARS!"

The students all cheered at Coraline as she stepped down… and being greeted with a big slimy hug from Bobby. As soon as he hugged her, she slimed out of it instantly like someone grabbing a wet bar of soap. She ran over to DJ and gave him a hug to boot. When she broke the hug, the blonde noticed the Head Master, looking right at her and tipped his hood to her. She didn't know why, but there was just something funny about that.

Afterwards

In the Schoolyards

The school was hustling and bustling as it always did every day in the 'Town of Halloween'. However, another scene went a little unnoticed by anyone, as Coraline came walking outside to get a breather from today's sorting. Truth be told, she was grateful that she was put in the House of Monstars, and not in that creepshow house Creeperin. However as she stood for a moment of relief of a day's worth of school stress, she noticed someone standing right next to her. She turned and smiled as she was next to none other than her recovered friend, DJ.

"Hey," she casually smiled, almost for the first time as she asked, "So how's the shoulder been holding up?"

"Oh, not that bad," DJ groaned a bit as he rubbed his sore neck, and arched his back a bit to get out a few kinks as it cracked immensely, "Though it's still a little sore, somewhat," he groaned as he half-smirked, "."

Coraline couldn't help but smirk at that, or at him. Out of all the people that could have gone to help her in her time of need when that creep Sampson attacked her, it was him that pulled her out of that nightmare. And in just a few seconds or so, she surprised him by jumping at him, and hugging him. Slightly startled by the hug, DJ asked, "Um… okay… what's with the hugging?"

"Just a temporary thing for now," Coraline answered as she rested her head on his shoulder, "Just to let you know this is a 'thank you' from yesterday."

DJ just smirked at that as the two pulled apart, but then suddenly, got glomped on as he was encompassed in slime, "Hey, I wanted in on the group hug?" the skeleton boy pulled out as Coraline helped him up, with Cheshire on her shoulders as they looked to see Bobby, with his clueless smirk as always, "Cool! We got another friend in the mix! That makes us the Three Monsterteers, right?"

DJ brushed himself off a bit as he walked over to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Actually we're the dynamic duo, plus one princess," he turned to look at Coraline as he stated, "We're still on the works for a group name."

"Princess?" then Bobby looked at Coraline for a moment, and then to DJ as he pointed out, "You mean a 'she'?" He shook his head as he pointed to her, "No way! She's a boy; I mean, look at his boobies."

Coraline and DJ retained a moment of silence at this point, looking at Bobby stupefied. After a moment of being silent, DJ placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, and monotonely replied, "We need to have a talk."

Afterwards

After a long discussion with Bobby on the details of the differences between girls and boys, DJ was walking out by the lake near the academy. He and Coraline were going to eat lunch later on, along with Bobby whom would probably eat everything. Frankly, DJ wondered how Coraline was gonna eat their food exactly. It wasn't much or less normal lunch food to them, but for Coraline… well, they would figure something out. After all, there were a few foods for the more human creatures among the school. Still, he wasn't going to argue eating lunch with a cute girl like her. The young blonde had a few things to do before she could join her friend, but DJ was more than willing to wait for her.

"Ohhhhh," a soft voice moaned from the trees.

"Huh?" DJ blinked as he turned to where he had heard the voice come from.

What he found was a female student stumbling out from the trees. It was the girl, Lydia Deedsly, and she seemed to almost be suffering from exhaustion or dizzy spell, considering she was on all fours, breathing heavily. DJ got to her as he knelt down beside her, "Hey, are you… are you okay?"

The girl, Lydia, who looked like she had suffered from anemia, slowly looked up to him. When she opened her eyes, she innocently looked at him. At that moment, DJ blushed at that as he helped the girl up, realizing she was pretty light due to her petite size of being two centimeters small than him. He blushed a little more as she looked to him all innocently, and then a few garbled thoughts ran into his head, 'Wow! She's… really… cute! I've never seen a girl this cute before!'

"Ohhh, I think so," Lydia moaned. "I'm just having trouble standing up."

"Oh, here then," DJ replied as he reached down. "Let me help you up. I can help you see the school nurse."

"Thank you," the girl sighed softly. She reached up and grabbed DJ's hand before allowing herself to be brought to her feet.

SMOOSH

That was before she leaned into DJ and pressed herself against him. DJ blushed an atomic red as he felt her rub against him. It was all he could do not to think impure thoughts at the wrong moment.

"I…I think it's my chest," the girl sighed. "It just feels different today."

'I'll say it's different,' DJ thought with a blush. 'I always thought girls with meat on their bones were a hassle, but… No! Bad thoughts! Don't think that way!' He shook his head, clearing away such thoughts as he gulped, looking away from her nervously "Well…um…maybe the nurse could…um…take a look."

"Oh, you're so sweet," she purred. DJ helped her walk, not aware of the scheming smirk spread across her face.

ON the Roof

Coraline was looking out at the school grounds, sighing to herself. At the moment, she was drinking a can of tomato juice as she stopped for a moment to think, "I'm pretty useless," she told herself, "I mean, DJ's a skeleton who flames up, Bobby's an indestructible eating machine." she then sighed as she slumped her shoulders, "And I'm just a normal human in a place full of extraordinary guys."

"I wouldn't put it at that, Coraline."

The young blonde turned sharply to hear where that voice came from. So far, looking around, she saw no one. She gulped as she wondered if that was some sort of ghost. If so, someone else had caught up to her little secret. She was close to panicking, until she saw her cat, Cheshire, walking on the balance beam. She smirked as she walked over, and petted her cat, talking to him, "Well… at least there's someone normal around here I can relate to."

"And what makes you think anything around you is normal, Coraline?" Cheshire spoke out, startling Coraline incredibly as she reeled back from him.

"Okay," Coraline shot out as she pointed out to him, freaking out, "What are you? What did you do to my cat?"

"Oh, please," Cheshire stated as he sat up, looking at Coraline credulously, "I'm not a monster or an Other Cat. I'm me."

Coraline, a little worried, walked towards her talking cat slowly. She carefully observed him, despite knowing that this was her cat, and finally asked, "Well… I can see that you don't have anything telling me you're not my cat. But if you are my cat… how can you talk?"

Cheshire just shrugged, "I just can."

"Normal cats don't talk back home."

"No?" Cheshire asked, and shrugged, "Clearly you're the expert on things like this." he then hopped off the railing and stood up, looking up at Coraline, "After all… I'm just a big ol' wuss puss."

Cupping her mouth, Coraline regretted muttering that once to him. She then apologetically stated to him, forgetting that she was still in shock, "Don't go, please. I'm sorry that I said that." she then asked, "So… how long have you been talking?"

"About as long as I've come here often," Cheshire answered as he scurried over to a pipe… and disappeared from sight. Coraline was deeply confused by that, until her cat popped up from behind her, "Cats can come and go anywhere around the world as they please." he even smirked to Coraline as he jumped right at her, with her catching him and holding him in her arms as she always did, "I even go around this school, keeping an eye on your skinny friend."

"You mean stalking DJ, right," the young blonde asked, not liking what she was hearing.

"More like, making sure he's alright," Cheshire tried to explain, "After all… that girl that was with him seems a bit mysterious to me at this moment."

"Girl?" Coraline asked, "What girl?"

Back on School Grounds

After a while, DJ had helped the girl, Lydia, make it back to the school grounds. They were currently walking down a patio hallway leading to the next building over. The two stopped for a moment, as DJ let the girl lean on one of the pillar bulkheads to take a breather, and he leaned next to her to do the same.

"I'm DJ by the way. Jack 'DJ' Skellington Jr.," he introduced himself.

"Oh, I know," she smiled.

"You do?" DJ blinked.

"We're classmates." Lydia answered with a smile. "Of course, any or every monster knows the son of the Pumpkin King."

"Oh yeah," DJ smirked, but then became puzzled as he asked, "We are?"

"I sit in the back of the class but you probably don't notice since your attention is always on Coraline."

"Well, she is my friend," said DJ.

"Maybe I can change that," smirked Lydia as she looked deeply into his gray eye. Then suddenly, she felt faint again as she fell foward. DJ suddenly reached out to her, as he caught her. Then suddenly, she reached out and planted her lips onto his bony lips, making him go wide eye with shock. Suddenly, as she pulled away, he found himself feeling a little lightheaded. "DJ… please, would you be my friend?"

"Uhhhh," DJ mumbled, feeling lightheaded and confused. Lydia then drew her arms around him, bringing him into an embracing hug as she rested her head on his shoulder. But then he dumbfounded smirked as he answered, "Okay…" hover, his head screamed out to him, 'Wait! What's going on? Why can't I think clearly?' he then smirked idiotically as he said, "Come here, you!"

And when her eyes stopped shimmering, DJ… had this uncontrollable urge to hug and hold her in his arms. And he did so as he instantaneously hugged her, causing her to cry out in a giggle or two, "Ooo! What are you doing? You naughty boy!" and hugged him right back, progressively enjoying every second of it.

However, at that time, who would have known that walking down that way was Coraline. She had gone out of her way to see what Cheshire meant by a girl with DJ. The cat was currently on Coraline's shoulder as the two were stupefied at what they were looking at. It was only that she stopped at a crosswalk did she see it. DJ was walking away towards into town… with a girl linking her arms around him… and it wasn't as friends.

"DJ?" Coraline asked, catching both teens' attention, "Who is that?"

"My, my," Lydia teased as she asked, "Aren't we all in the same class?" she then leaned her head on to DJ's chest as she asked, "Isnt that right, DJ?"

"Yeah… same class," DJ answered, almost sounding like he was in a trance of sorts. He then returned the hug once again; his thoughts screaming at the top of his lungs, 'What is going on? I'm doing it again!'

Coraline could only stare in shock of this scene, even as Lydia looked to DJ, "C'mon, DJ. Let's go have lunch together." and led him away, without any resistance from him at all.

"Wait, DJ!" Coraline called out, looking rather worried for her friend.

"No," DJ stated in a simplified tone, "I won't wait for you. I'm not gonna be a shield for you to hide behind." and with that, the two left Coraline behind, with her blushing iwht embarrassment, and from shock of what he had said to her.

Cheshire, who was watching the whole scene from his owner's shoulders, looked at Lydia in particular. He narrowed his blue eyes at the girl, deep in thought as he looked at her. 'Hmmm,' he thought to himself, 'There's something oddly familiar about her…'

Next Chapter: Coraline's Hidden Talents; Rivals in What?