[ Chapter 7 ]

In my notebook I've written millions of things like: "Being with you was like a nightmare come true, you've got me head over tails, it was love at first fright, I'll always have a monster crush on you no matter the century, you're immoral scary cute, with you I'm batty with glee, you're so horrifically adorable, I think you're terrifyingly funny, hauntingly bright, and scary intelligent, for me you're the purrfect manster, you're spooky fun, and you're my Square-Bear". I wrote these things down because in actually I do have a Monster of a crush on you, but of course you already know. But what you don't know is: whenever I'm around you, I always get bats in my stomach and ghost bumps. I like you, and I can't help it. And although I would never admit it out loud again for fear of being regretted, I want you to know that seeing you with Frankie just rips out my heart. I really like you, and I'm sorry, but I can't help it. I'm totally head over tombstones for you, completely love bitten.

Xoxo, hugs and stitches, signed Mia

"Mia…seriously…this is a little much, don't you think?"
"What do you mean?" Mia frowned, lowering her eyes.
Dakota lifted a brow. "Didn't you already confess to him? What's the point of doing it all over again?"
"Well, I don't know…jeez. I just got to thinking one night when I was looking at my binder and that's just what I wrote." Mia said quietly, turning away from Dakota, who'd been still holding her letter on the computer screen. He reread it to himself once more as Mia pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her mouth to her knobby knees. Thinking of Jackson made her face turn red.
"You must really like him." Dakota concluded, shrugging although Mia couldn't see.
"I don't like him, I'm totally love-bitten…" Mia sighed to herself.
"Yeah, sure you are, Mia." Dakota rolled his eyes. His best friend was always so dramatic when it came to love. She was always misreading signals and gestures, claiming they're something when they're usually nothing. He ever wondered if she'd grow out of that…
"I am!" Mia suddenly snapped around and stared at Dakota with a hard, intense gaze. "I don't know what to do…I just know that I'm…like this, in love."
Dakota tried his best not to do another eye-roll. "Well, alright. So tell me: What is it that you like about him the most?"
"What do I like best?" Mia repeated to herself. "The way he snorts if he laughs too much? His glasses? His eyes? How smart he is, his girly voice? How sensitive he is, or maybe his shyness? Or…how about his talent for art? Or maybe his love for books? His kindness, or maybe how sweet he is? His silly dancing, cute adorable walk? His crooked smile, his dimples, or dyed hair? The piercing on his eyebrow that can't be seen? Oh ghoul, how am I suppose to know? I just like him. I don't know why, I just like him because I do, there's no reason."
"Okay, that doesn't make any sense. If you can't tell me exactly why you like him then…maybe you're not really in love, Mia." Dakota looked away.
"You don't understand!" Mia moved closely to her laptop, crawling on her warm cover. She flopped down in front of the computer, making sure her face was seen. Her eyes were wide with certainty. "You just don't get it because you're not in love! I just love him like I love my horns, or like I love your mom's cooking. I love him like I love my odd heel-shaped hooves," Mia looked away for a moment and looked back. "Or like I love my own style fashion. I just love these things because I do. It doesn't matter why, they're special to me and that's all, so I love them to bits and pieces. I don't need a reason..."
"I guess." Dakota shrugged, giving up. Maybe his best friend had been right, maybe he didn't understand because he wasn't in love, although he somehow felt he was on the right track... Either way, maybe Mia had just been being dramatic again; in all honesty, he wasn't quite sure.
"Hey, I've got to go, sorry, but Jackson's calling." Mia smiled apologetically, getting ready to close her laptop.
"Hold on, hold on! Don't go." He said just before the laptop had closed. His screen had frozen for the billionth time and he hadn't caught a word of what she'd just said.
"Fine, hold on a sec, okay?" Mia said, lifting the screen.
"Okay." He gave her a thumps-up sign to let her know he heard her as their connection started to glitch and freeze.
"Yeah, Jackson? Hello?" Mia said, getting up from her bed and leaving from in front of the recording camera.
"Hi there," Jackson said in a low tone with his congested feminine voice. "Are you busy?"
"Nope, of course not!" Mia answered a bit too quickly. "Umm…so what is it you wanted again?"
"Well, um, about your crush on me…"
"Yeah?" Mia sank to the floor and leaned against her bed, her heart beating quickly as she crossed her ankles and poked at the hooves.
Jackson hesitated. "Well, I was thinking: would you like to go to Dance of the Dead with me?"
"Is this a prank call?" Mia said faintly, staring blankly at her bedroom wall with wide eyes.
"No," Jackson chuckled, a bit nervous. "I was just thinking that the least I could do was to repay your feelings since I can't return them. So, will you go with me?"
"Oh. My. Hairy. Goat. Legs!" Mia stood, ghouly-joy suddenly bursting from her. Her smile was wide and joyful, her face intensely bright red. She jumped on her bed, beginning to bounce around. "I'd love to, I'd love to, I'd love to!"
Dakota looked back at his computer screen, questioning what Mia had been doing. He looked at her jumping dark brown goat hooves and hairy beach blonde goat legs in confusion. "What's going on, Mia?" he asked, getting no response.
"You'll really go?" Jackson said in his nerdy stuffy feminine voice with an excited tone. "You really mean you'll go?"
"Of course I will!" Mia continued to bounce, causing her neatly made bed to become messy. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, I dunno. I thought you were sort of mad…" Jackson said quietly, slightly a bit embarrassed.
"How could I ever be mad at you? Oh my ghoul!" Mia's eyes turned wide again as she bounced up and down. "What should I wear to the dance? And what about my hair?"
"Mia!" her mother said, suddenly barging in the room and opening the door. She gave Mia a mother's glare. "Stop jumping now! You're causing the whole house to shake for goat's sake…"
"But mom," Mia said, jumping up one more time and flopping down to her knobby knees. She held the receiving end of the phone away from her mouth and covered it with her hand. "I just got asked to be someone's date – to the Dance of the Dead Monster High dance!"
"Mia, oh my ghoul, oh my ghoul!" Rhae said, running into the room and pouncing on Mia's bed as if she'd been jumping into a pool. She embraced her daughter into a tight hug, squeezing her like a rag doll. "I'm so happy for you! That's so great, congratulations!"
"Thanks mom." Mia said, smiling and lowering her head as her shoulders hunched when her mother kissed her forehead. She giggled as her mom kissed her forehead again and again. "Ok, ok, enough already, I'm still on the phone!"
"Oh, you are? Gimme, gimme, hand over the phone." Rhae said, taking the phone. She cleared her throat. "Hello there? What may I ask is your name, dear?"
"Oh, um, it's Jackson, ma'am." Jackson said, getting ready to prolong his self-introduction, just in case. "I'm a friend of your daughter's, from school in fact. I volunteer to work in the Scarebrary during lunch and I'm our school's Office-Aid."
"Office Aid," Rhae mouthed to Mia. "What's that?"
Mia shrugged her shoulders, pretending to be clueless as she put her ear to the phone to listen. "Well anyway," Rhae continued to speak. "So you'll be the boy taking my loving daughter to this dance?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am – with your permission of course!" Jackson added quickly.
"I see." Rhae said, pretending to think. Mia sat up straight to give her mother's arm a good slap. She leaned her arm away and mouthed "Fine" before going back to speaking. "Well Jackson, I'm more of the 'go with the flow, do what you want' parent, but I must warn you about my husband. He's a complete worrier."
"Yes, ma'am, thank you for the warning." Jackson said, smiling amusingly.
Mia rolled her eyes, smiling too. If anything her mother had been the worrier of her two parents. Rhae tucked a strand of bleach blonde hair behind her floppy goat ear, as if already knowing what Mia had been thinking and letting her know that she'd been offended. "Anywho, moving along, I'll allow you to take my Mia to this dance, but the only condition is that I can take pictures."
"Mom!" Mia complained, not being the photogenic ghoul in front of others. And to take a photo with Jackson? That was too much… She much rather preferred doing the photographer behind the lens, taking photos had been her specialty after all.
"Shhh," her mom scolded, putting her index finger to her ruby red lips. "We're trying to speak, loud-mouth. So Jackson, what do you say?"
"I say…that's completely fine with me." The boy said, sealing the deal.
"Jackson!" Mia whined.
"Sorry Mia, but I really want to make it up to you." He said apologetically. Mia huffed, exhaling, which caused her to blow her bangs and make them scatter on her forehead. Great, now she needed them done again. Rhae giggled at her daughter, adoring her youth.
"Ah, to be young…It's great, wouldn't you agree, Jackson?"
"Yes ma'am, I would." Jackson said softly.
"Call me Rhae, dear."
"Whatever, just go!" Mia said, attempting to push Rhae from the bed. Her mother swatted her hands away.
"Fine, fine, I'll go, don't trip over hooves and make such a fuss." Rhae said, getting up from the bed. "And by the way, goodnight, Jackson."
"Goodnight, ma'am, and thank you for your permission." Jackson, his voice casual over the phone.
Mia took the phone from her mother and close the door shut. She then proceeded to flop down to her bed, rolling over to her back. She stared up at the ceiling. Dakota watched her with interest.
"Hey Jackson, mind if I call you back later? I totally forgot about something."
"Yeah, sure. Talk to you again next time, Mia."
"Okay, bye Jackson." Mia said before clicking the phone off. She listened to the buzzing dead line of her ended phone call for a moment.
Still, she could not believe that this was happening.
"So, he's taking you to your first dance? Congrats." Dakota finally spoke.
"Thanks." Mia said, turning her head to the side and smiling at her old, dear childhood friend. Dakota blinked in awe for a moment. Her smile had been so haunting familiar and bright that it seemed to take on a whole new level of beautiful in his eyes. Of course he'd seen that smile before in the past, but now it'd been so much more different. On Mia it on looked so much more very natural and peaceful. He sensed that his childhood friend had truly been happy at this very moment.
So much so in fact that he didn't think she'd think twice about taking a picture, if it had been with Jackson.

"Are you sure? You really mean it?" Mia asked, her stomach tangled and emotions haywire. "I really, seriously don't look weird at all in the slightest? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, Mia. Glob, stop asking already." Dakota rolled his eyes from over the screen. His arms folded.
How many times had Mia asked now?
"Are you really, really sure?" she asked again.
"I'm really, really sure." He stated, encouraging this little game of theirs.
"Really, really, really sure?" Mia bit her lip, her face turning bright red.
"Super seriously really, really, really sure." Dakota grinned.
"But are you positively sure that I don't look weird or something?" Mia asked a final time.
"I am positively sure that you don't look weird – or something." He concluded, offering her a warm smile.
"Okay," she let out a loud sigh, closing her eyes for a moment. "Good, I was getting worried."
Rhae giggled softly at her twelve year old daughter. "Sweetheart, take a good long look at yourself in the mirror, there's absolutely no possible way that a daughter of mine – of whom I've personally styled – could look weird."
Mia turned around, taking a total of ten small steps. She opened her eyes in one go, before she gave herself the chance to hesitate. Her lips parted at the sight. Finally, for the first time, she'd resembled her mother in such a way that anyone could've mistaken them for twins.
Wearing her mother's makeup, her childlike face had been done in such a way that made her look older than how she normally appeared. For her swollen lips, Rhae had taken the liberty of soothing three sticky coats of a bright red lipstick. It had been as red as fresh scarlet blood. Flattered by a clear gloss, her lips glistened under her bedroom's ceiling-lamp and sparkled intensely, magnifying the plumpness of her cherry painted lips. Mia's eyes had been done with a glittery black eye shadow. Rhae, being an expert at these things, had gave Mia's eyes a rich new look that made them pop. She had done the bold lining of eyeliner across Mia's eyelids so naturally that they resembled a pointed streak so fine that it looked as if it had been done by a skilled master artist with a graceful stroke. Rhae knew that the black glitter eye shadow would give her daughter a certain mysterious look that would emulate the darkness of her eyes and yet make her dazzle like a gem in all her youth. As for Mia's puffy squirrel like cheeks, they had been decorated with a soft crushed cream color. The color, although it blended with Mia's vanilla skin tone, embraced her common skin tone and enlightened it to give it a glow. And then there was the dress of choose. It been a plain, simple black dress that stopped just above Mia's knees and wide shoulder straps, but still on Mia it looked polished and sleek. It gave the figure she didn't have some amount of high class sexiness. It would make others have the desire to debate or whether or not Mia was a petite specialty that had a unique build or just a young faun in a simple black dress. Either way, although Mia possessed a small, child-like body, the body gave her an ump.
That of which was sure and did not need to be debated.
In her mother's tall, round at the toe black plumps with the skinny heel, Mia had grown a feet or two in size. Now, instead of being four foot eleven, she'd grown to the height of at least five foot two. In comparison to Jackson, she'd probably now finally reach her chest instead of his stomach. For Mia, although she'd never admit this to another living (or dead for that matter) soul, this height uplift for her had been vital. Although no one knew, Mia had been thinking of kissing Jackson all night – and her short four foot eleven height played a big role in how things were going to go.
She blinked, drawing a conclusion. "I look so…beautiful."
"Oh, Mia hunny, don't cry." Rhae said, going over to Mia's desk and grabbing two tissues. "You'll ruin my masterpiece."
Mia took the tissues, carefully dabbing her eyes. "Sorry, I just…I totally wasn't expecting this at all…and you worked so hard too…"
Rhae smiled lovingly, softly at her young faun daughter. She was such a sweet ghoul. "Why wouldn't I work hard? You're my greatest work of art, my perfect little model, my beautiful creation…oh no, now I'm tearing up. Do you see what you've done now?"
Dakota watched, an amused grin spread across his face. He watched mother and daughter as they embraced each other, hugging each other dearly as if they truly cherished one another. Tears continue to fall down both their faces. "You know, you guys really shouldn't cry."
"Why is that?" Rhae asked, snuggling against her beautiful daughter.
"Well you see," Dakota began to explain. "Girls are usually beautiful when they cry, right?"
"Yeah? What's your point?" Mia blinked, not following.
"Well, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but crying really, seriously doesn't suit the two of you, at all." Dakota concluded, although his words were harsh, he meant well.
"Oh shut up Dakota, no one asked you!" the faun females said in unison. Rhae, in a sour mood with her bottom lip poked out, threw a pillow at the computer screen.
"You're so rude! I'll never know how you came to be friends with my dear sweet little baby." She said, hugging the life out of Mia once again.
Mia began to laugh, suddenly feeling bubbly from the scene. She sniffed back the running snot dripping down her nose and cried just a little more. Her mom knew just as she did: Dakota would always be family, even if he'd broken Mia's heart. Her and him, would furever be best beast friends. They would be best beast friends furever and on.