Thanks again to everyone that's reviewed. I'm glad that you are all enjoying it and feeling that I'm staying true to the Monster High Universe that we all love so well. I'm trying very hard to do justice to them.

Now on to what you really want :D

Purrsephone wasn't really sure what to expect the next morning at school. Neither was Deuce. However, he wasn't really surprised to find Clawd and Romulus waiting for him at the door. He knew he had worried Clawd the night before and Romulus would definitely want to know how the previous night went. After greeting them, he jerked his head to the side. "Want to go over to those trees to talk?"

Clawd almost objected but then looked at the growing number of students at the entrance and nodded.

Once they were away from everyone else, Clawd turned around and demanded, "Ok, what's going on?" It was obvious the werewolf had reached the end of his patience and Deuce couldn't blame him. The previous night had been all on trust and, now, Clawd wanted answers.

Deuce took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to explain everything that had happened this week to Clawd. The only thing he could come up with, though, was the truth. "Ok, dude, you know that ghoul that was writing me?"

Clawd nodded.

"Well, I got her to meet me Monday." Deuce paused, hesitant to go into the next part.

"So...you're dating her and just don't want Cleo to know?"

Deuce shook his head, unable to suppress a smile. Purrsephone hadn't wanted to upset Cleo while the Egyptian was dating Deuce but he knew none of the werecats were afraid of her. "No, but I didn't react real well." He rubbed the back of his neck as Clawd stared at him in confusion. Deuce sighed. No wonder Purrsephone had been so hesitant to tell him who she was. This was definitely not easy. "It was Purrsephone."

Clawd was obviously startled and his thinking ran immediately down the same paths Deuce's had. "So, it WAS a trick!"

Deuce immediately shook his head and Romulus laid a paw on Clawd's shoulder, restraint and comfort at the same time. "Bro, calm down and let him explain."

"Explain?" Clawd turned on Romulus. "You don't know what all those cats have done! They don't do nice so whatever reason she sent those notes-"

Deuce cut in angrily, "Dude, they do nice just fine. It's you that doesn't understand."

Clawd turned back towards Deuce, confusion and betrayal warring in his eyes, "You KNOW what they've done to Draculaura-"

"Yeah, I do, which is why I yelled at Purrsephone Monday, the exact same things you're yelling now. But, dude, there's more than one side to the story, ok?"

Romulus moved in between them and laid his paw on Clawd's shoulder again. "Listen to him. Remember, things aren't always what they seem." Clawd glared sullenly at his old friend. "Remember, the pack almost brought down the school 'cause we wouldn't talk to the vamps. We just said, 'they're bad, always been bad, always will be so of course they took Howleen'. But, hey, vamps can't be all bad like we always heard, can they? 'Cause Draculaura's a vamp and she's a sweet ghoul."

Clawd processed what Romulus was, swayed by the reasonableness of his friend's argument but he continued to frown as he demanded. "Yeah, Draculaura is sweet. So, why are you defending the ghouls that have been making things so hard on her?" His eyes sparked with another idea. "And does this have anything to do with what happened on the track?"

Deuce nodded and sighed deeply, "Look, dude, try to just let me explain. I found out the ghoul writing the notes was Purrsephone and I yelled at her, said pretty much the same stuff you did."

"And what excuse did she give?"

"None. She yelled right back at me. Pointed out some mistakes that've been made on the other side and pointed out that I had promised she was my friend no matter who she turned out to be. She didn't pull any punches and she left me confused because what she yelled back at me was true."

Clawd tilted his head, curious, "What did she say?"

"That I'd lied to her and that maybe the other ghouls and we weren't in the right as much as we thought. Then she took off and I was confused...so I talked it out with Romulus-"

Clawd's head shot up, "Not me?"

"Dude," Deuce held his hands up placatingly, "No offense but I knew what you would say...the same thing I said and the same thing you just said. I needed someone that would say something different to see if what she said might be right...and...ummm, getting ahead of myself, anyway, after Rocco sent me off the track, I put a few things together and figured it had to be because of Purrsephone."

Clawd growled softly. "She put him up to it?"

"No. I went looking for her to ask and ended up overhearing her yelling at him, telling him he shouldn't have done it. His ghoulfriend put him up to it...well, I don't know if put him up to it is the right way of saying it, but Toralei openly admitted she had called Rocco and told him I hurt Purrsephone."

"The twins don't yell," Clawd's eyebrows were drawn in confusion, "They don't even speak."

Deuce laughed softly, seeing his own prior assumptions in his friend's words. "Yeah, they do when they want to. They just don't seem to do it around people they don't like."

"So, what did you do after you heard them admit it?"

"I walked out and asked Purrsephone if we could talk."

"You walked out...are you crazy?!" Clawd was loud enough that several monsters on the steps turned towards their group and both Romulus and Deuce had to remind him to calm down so they didn't bring a whole audience.

"Dude, it was ok. Rocco only did what you or me would probably have done if we heard about some manster hurting Ghoulia or Frankie from a very upset ghoulfriend. I mean, c'mon, what would you do if Draculaura told you one of the gargoyles had broken Frankie's heart?"

Clawd growled low and looked away, a grudging agreement even if he wouldn't admit it.

"So, anyway, it got arranged for me to talk to her at Rocco's party." Both werewolves looked at him like he was insane and Deuce shrugged, "I had promised her I'd talk to here wherever and whenever she said. It was either at the party or I broke a second promise. Besides, I owed her. I screwed up Monday. But it was fine, she and I talked and..."

"And," Clawd prompted.

"And they aren't innocent of any wrong doing, but they didn't really start this whole thing either."

Clawd growled angrily, "Are you saying Draculaura-"

Deuce quickly shook his head. "No, she didn't start anything. Nefera started it, Cleo continued it, the werecats reacted and it's escalated ever since." Deuce rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to get Clawd to understand. "Draculaura became a target because she was close to Cleo who is the main one they're mad at...and, then, when Cleo's friends never called her on the stuff she pulled and just put up with her attitude, that made them even more of targets too."

Clawd cocked his head, "What do you mean they're mad Draculaura never called Cleo out on her attitude?"

"Purrsephone pointed out how badly Cleo treats her friends and all the other ghouls let her. The werecats don't understand how they can call themselves each other's friends and pull some of the stunts they've pulled on each other." He shook his head. "I'm not saying the werecats are right to pull the stunts they've pulled but...if you think about it, Purrsephone has a point. And they can be really nice, you know. They did help out Frankie...and they did help stop Nefera at Mashionals...and they have a point that Cleo's friends aren't helping her anymore than I was when they don't call her on the things she does." He looked over at Clawd. "Look, I'm not asking you to like her. I don't blame you for being mad at her for the things she's pulled on your ghoul but...she's my friend now."

Clawd prowled back and forth for several moments, thinking, obviously torn between his anger over how his ghoulfriend had been treated and his loyalty and trust in his friend's judgment. Eventually, he stopped and glared at Deuce, "Fine, maybe she had reasons against Cleo but not against Draculaura, so, if she is your friend, tell her to leave my ghoulfriend alone!"

Deuce nodded. "That's fair, dude."

Romulus smirked and put his arms over their shoulders, "Now, that that's settled, can we go in before we completely miss the cute ghouls in the short skirts bouncing around?"

Deuce couldn't help laughing at Romulus' comments as they headed toward the gym. He, also, couldn't help remembering exactly how nice Purrsephone bounced and moved when the music had played last night. He didn't even notice when he sped up and completely missed the glance the werewolves shared, one worried, the other smirking again.

Inside the gym, practice had not been going well.

Once everyone had finished stretching and warming up and Frankie had taken extra time to check and tape her stitches with Ghoulia's help, Cleo had shown them a new routine. She ran through it a few times and, by the third time, the werecats had gotten it down and the other ghouls had grasped it but were struggling with some parts of it, as usual. Toralei rolled her eyes as Cleo berated the werecats for not putting enough energy into the moves.

"You are Monster High fearleaders, you should be honored to support Monster High on my Mashional winning fearleading team." She tapped her foot and appealed to the heavens, "Though why am I even wasting breath on you? Wearing those scarves last night? What do you plan for our game against the zombies next week?"

Toralei shrugged, "To cheer for Monster High. None of us are dating the zombies."

"Oh, my Ra-" Cleo cut off in mid-rant as the door opened and Deuce, Clawd and Romulus walked in. Purrsephone noticed the look of pain that crossed the ghoul's features at seeing the gorgon before a cold mask settled into place. Turning back, she looked over at Toralei, "Well, at least you have the moves right. You teach the others while I go deal with something."

The werecat tilted her head to the side, inquiringly. "Why?"

Cleo had been about to walk off but immediately turned at Toralei's question. "I have instructed you to. You helped Frankie improve and now you can make yourself useful and do the same for the rest of the team."

Toralei sneered. "Isn't it the captain's job to teach the team how to improve?"

Frankie and Draculaura interposed themselves quickly before Cleo could respond. Frankie smiled at the werecats. "But you're such a great teacher!"

The vampiress nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Frankie is totes better now and I know you could do the same for me."

Toralei smiled. "Yeah. I could." Her tail suddenly lashed back and forth. "But, I won't. If princess 'captain' doesn't want to do her job then why should I do it for her?"

Draculaura's face fell, "But...but you did it for Frankie."

Frankie stared at them in confusion. "Yeah, you did it for me. Why won't you help Draculaura?"

Toralei shrugged, "Why should we?" Turning on her heel, she jerked her head toward the locker room. "C'mon, let's go."

The werecats immediately turned and sauntered off towards the locker room, completely ignoring Cleo's scream for them to return.

Clawd turned a glare on Deuce but before he could say anything he was drowned out by an enraged mummy striding toward the mansters, "You!"