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Chapter 7: "You're Drop Dead Gorgeous"

The most racking pangs succeeded a grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death. Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness.

There was something strange in my sensations, something indescribably new and, from its very novelty, incredibly sweet. I felt younger, lighter, happier in body; within I was the conscious of a heady recklessness, a current of disordered sensual images running like a millrace in my fancy, a solution of the bonds of obligation, an unknown but an innocent freedom of the soul.

I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought, in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine. I stretched out my hands, exulting in the freshness of these sensations; and in the act, I was suddenly aware that I had lost in stature.

– excerpt from the late Dr. Henry "Harry" Jekyll

[monster high]

Jackson sat at the kitchen table, wearing his pajamas, absentmindedly dunking cookies into a glass of milk and occasionally even remembering to eat the cookie when he was finished.

It was really late on Sunday night, almost midnight and long past the time that Jackson should have gone to bed. But, he wasn't at all tired, so he was staying up late, munching on cookies and waiting for his mother to come home from work. Her job had such a crazy schedule; going in before the crack of dawn some days, coming home at two-o'-clock in the morning others... It was impossible for Jackson to keep up with his mother at all.

He was lost deep in thought at that particular moment, and all he could see was Frankie Stein. Her beautiful, mismatched eyes. Her striped hair. The pretty smile on her face...

Sydney entered the house just then, trying to be quiet at first so that she wouldn't wake Jackson up, but then she saw that he was still awake and allowed her shoes to clack against the floor.

"Hi, honey," she said, ruffling his hair as she walked past where he sat. She chuckled when he looked up at her in irritation.

Pouring a glass of milk for herself, she collapsed at the table across from her son and started eating cookies herself. "So, what are you doing still up on a school night?"

Jackson sighed, blowing the bleached bangs out of his eyes, his new eyebrow piercing flashing in the light for a moment. "When Deuce took me to the maul last night, I saw this girl. A monster girl. We talked for a minute, and now I can't get her face out of my mind."

Sydney cocked one of her red eyebrows curiously. Perhaps he had been entranced by a vampire, or a genie, or some other monster that he wasn't used to?

She watched as her son picked up a piece of scrap paper and a pencil and began doodling, making a simple drawing of a ghoul's face. Black-and-white striped hair emerged, as did bolts and stitches.

"A Frankenstein..." she murmured, more to herself than to her son.

Jackson looked fascinated. "Like, as in 'Dr. Frankenstein?' The mad scientist?" He spoke the name with a certain amount of adoration, the mad doctor in question being one of his idols.

He paused and looked sheepish for a moment. "Well, Deuce did say that her name was Frankie Stein. I guess I should have put that together, huh?"

Sydney laughed quietly. "Well, even the genius prodigies can't win them all, sweetheart."

Downing the last of her milk, the grown fire-elemental stood and moved to set the glass by the sink. "Come on, Jackson. It's long past time for you to get some sleep. You don't want to nod off in the middle of calculus..."

She trailed off suddenly. She stood directly behind him at the moment, and she was shocked to see a tattoo poking out from the back of his pajama shirt.

Gripping the back of her son's shirt, she pulled it down and found herself staring at an inked yin-and-yang symbol.

"Did I or did I not distinctly tell you not to get a tattoo?!" She scolded him, raising her voice but trying hard not to actually yell at the boy. "What were you thinking?! You are in so much trouble, young man! I ought to hit you upside the head! As of now, you are grounded to your room! And you won't be allowed to..."

She ground herself to a halt when she realized that he wasn't even listening to her. Instead, he was staring at the picture he'd drawn of the Frankenstein girl, something of a dreamy expression on his face.

'He has a crush!' She realized all of a sudden. 'For the first time, he has a crush on a girl and he can't get her out of his mind no matter how hard he tries!'

It occurred to her that it was probably difficult for him, since he had never actually had a crush on a girl before. He had always played it safe and kept his nose in a book, and had seldom paid girls any attention at all.

She found herself smiling and giggling uncontrollably as she stared at the look on his face.

Jackson heard his mother giggling and turned to stare at her nervously. "What's wrong, Mother?"

"Nothing, sweetie. You're just so adorable when you're crushing on a girl!"

"I-uh-what... a crush?"

Jackson was struck by this thought. Did he have a crush? He'd never had one before...

He certainly was attracted to this Frankie girl. She was pretty. She was sweet. She was a fascinating specimen of scientific advancements, and he could do nothing to get the lyrical sound of her voice out of his head...

Maybe he did have crush. But, what should he do now?


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