Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I finally got the motivation to finish another chapter.
It's probably not what you were all expecting but I decided to get the drama moving along and finally involve Draculaura into the story. The idea was pretty last minute and I'm not 100% if I was able to make it as good a chapter as I envisioned but alas, here it is: Chapter 6.
Enjoy and Review!
Spectra had opted out on lunch, instead, spending the next hour hunting down Cleo De Nile. She heard about what happened to Deuce that morning from Heath, who was babbling a mile a minute about the situation, and couldn't help but feel peeved that she had missed out on such a big scoop. Lucky enough though – well, for her anyways - Heath had to stay after class during lunch and complete the assignments he hadn't completed.
Spectra decided to take advantage of the situation and get an exclusive Q&A session with the Queen Bee. But she couldn't find her anywhere; she flew through every room inside of the school, lurked in all the female restrooms and even searched the catacombs. When the final chimes, signaling the end of first lunch went off, she sadly floated from the catacombs up into the track field.
"What kind of mess is this? The #1 reported missing out on news?", sighing, she flew up and headed towards the main school building, but stopped when she spotted Clawd Wolf, heading towards the bleachers.
She remembered Heath saying Clawd was there when it happened, "I can't find Cleo… So why not try the next one? A story is a story." "Clawd! Hey Clawd!" she called out as she flew down towards him.
"Ugh. Times like these make it hard to appreciate having such a ghostly whisper for a voice…", when she finally she caught up to him, she froze at what she saw – Clawd and Cleo, together; Embracing each other each.
"Oh… My… Ghoul!"
Quickly, she whipped out her phone and took a couple photos of them; Clawd brushing Cleo's face, the two of them laughing and the two of them hugging.
"I have to blog this A.S.A.P!" and with that she quickly vanished away.
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A part of her knew that this was wrong, that this would probably be the worst thing she could ever do to friend. But she had a duty as a reporter and not just any reporter, Monster High's #1 reporter.
"This is going to be big, big news", Spectra said as her fingers hovered over the keyboard, "I can't just NOT tell the mass, that'll be… that'll be." What, backstabbing your audience? You don't think you'd be doing the same to Cleo and Draculaura?
Spectra frowned, ever since she befriended Frankie and the other ghouls, there was always this voice in her head that kept badgering her on what to do and what not to do. It was so annoying, always making her feel bad and guilty. Which she shouldn't because, "This is obviously the right thing to do!", she yelled at herself, "And this time, I'm not making anything up!"
She felt her head tingle, her inner self telling her that this was a big no-no. Frustrated, she clicked some files on her laptop and the pictures she took popped up.
"Two exes hanging out together… okay not too bad, but in the middle of the school day? Outside and hidden within the bleachers? Is that not suspicious?!"
"And furthermore," she continued, as she told herself off, "I know for a fact that Clawd has been avoiding Draculaura for quite some time, cause Lala told me herself. And then all of a sudden, Cleo starts beating up Deuce and embarrassing him in public? Or is that just coincidence?"
She smiled in triumph as her inner good girl had no response to that, "Look. I know that I usually mess things up all the time with spewing out things I know nothing about but come on now. This looks way to bad, Clawd is cheating on Draculaura and Cleo on Deuce. They have a right to know!"
"You think telling the whole school is the best way to let them know?"Spectra gritted her teeth; damn inner voice always had to have the last say, didn't it?"How about you stop causing trouble and actually fix it for once? Or are you just that awful of a ghoul to not help the friends you constantly throw under the bus? How about you make that a report? Ghostly Gossip reporter is a coward and a boogie bitch."
Spectra flinched at the harshness of her own mind, and after a few moments, closed down her laptop. Last time she made a report about her friends, it had gone terribly wrong and only made everyone upset with her, she remembered Clawdeen yelling at her after that, "You need to get all the facts, before spreading rumors Spec! That's what makes the difference between a reporter and a sleezeball."
"She's right. And you're right too… If I want to be respected as a real reporter, then I need to get the whole story", and with that Spectra grabbed her phone, notebook and pen and vanished within the walls, searching for Clawd.
Unbeknownst to her, a figure laid perched on a shelf hidden the dark, tail flicking in the air and yellow eyes flashing with mischief, "Well, what do you know? Guess little miss snitch does have a conscience. Too bad I don't."
And with that, the figure jumped down and opened the laptop.
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"So Opretta and I were thinking of joining Howleen's band. Not that I know how to play an actual instrument... Or that Opretta can actually sing live, but you know. Still going to be tote's awesome."
No response.
"Not to many people seem to be interested so I was thinking, why not?"
Still no response.
"... Well, I was thinking all of us should try out. You, Abbey, Lagoona, Clawdeen, Cleo and even Ghoulia!"
Finally, Draculaura stopped walking and turned to Frankie, throwing her a glare.
"Let's go down the list of why you shouldn't try out for the band, huh? First of all this is Howleen's band. HOWLEEN. The younger sister of Clawdeen. The one who is tired of being second rate to her older siblings? I'm quite positive that the last thing she would want when trying to do her own thing, is for her sister and friends to get involved."
"Secondly, why on earth would you try out for a band when you have no idea how to even play an instrument? And then try to coax your friends into doing it when they too, don't know how to play anything?"
Frankie frowned, "I was just trying to-"
"What you WERE doing, was sticking your nose into something that doesn't include you. Again."
"Now, wait a minute! I-"
"Love being the center of attention", Draculaura interrupted as her glare intensified. "You join the fearleading squad to get popularity and even after a year, you're still the weakest link. You run and win the presidential election and have yet to make any improvements on the school. You stick your nose into everyone's business yet have no experience what so ever in anything!"
Stunned at her friends harsh words, Frankie mumbled a "Hurtful, much..." and quietly walked to the other side of the hallway to class.
Frankie had no idea what the hell was going on. Draculaura had been going deeper and deeper into this depression-rage as the weeks went by and it was starting to put all her ghoulfriends on edge. At this point, Frankie was beginning to not want to be bothered with her vampire friend. At least, not on her own. This wasn't something she knew how handle and wasn't sure if she wanted too, in the first place.
Clawdeen would have known what to do, but for whatever reason she had taken almost three weeks from school. None of them could get in contact with her, and she refused to meet any of them whenever they stopped by her house. She even had her sister pick up her homework from her classes after school and Clawd dropping them off in the morning.
Without a middle man, to balance out the tension, Frankie thought it was best to all out avoid Draculaura. But that would prove difficult since Frankie and Draculaura had not only intertwining schedules, but the same lunch and the same hall for their lockers. There was really no getting away from her.
"And I shouldn't have to put up with her stupid mood swings." Frankie thought bitterly, "Is it my fault that she's having a hard time? I shouldn't have to be her punching bag!"
As the two of them were about to enter their next class, Frankie stopped and issued a nasty look to Draculaura, "You can call me nosy and even obnoxious but that is much better than what you're being right now. All I'm trying to do is be there for you, but if you want to be alone, then fine! At least now I know why not only your boyfriend but your best friend don't want to be around you."
With a quick stick of her tongue, Frankie spun on her heels and marched right into the classrooms. It was when she was walking to her seat that she realized that she sat right next to Draculaura. "... Way to effin' go Miss Stein, acting without thinking again...",
There were no assigned seats in Mr. Rotter's AP history class, but everyone had long ago claimed a seat of their own, and in a school full of monsters, it was best to leave issued territories alone. Timidly, she found her way to her seat and prayed that Draculaura would resort to simply glaring and nothing more
Draculaura though, was still at the front of the door, stunned from Frankie's response. "Who knew that Frankie Stein actually had a backbone? But she is right. I have been acting like a 'Torelai' lately... I really need to get myself together." And with a deep breathe, she entered the classroom and took her seat next to Frankie.
She whipped her head around and gave the hardest glare she could muster. Frankie could feel Draculaura's eyes burning into the side of her head and forced herself to keep her ground.
"Frankie."
Frankie jumped at the sound of her name, how could someone make one word sound so... scary?, with a confidence she didn't really feel, she turned and replied "Yes, Draculaura."
"You called me a bitch."
It wasn't a question, it was a statement. A true one at that, but Frankie sure as hell wasn't going to agree to that. She wasn't sure what Draculaura was capable of but as the daughter of the most notorious monster known to the undead, she really didn't want to find out, "Wha-what?... No, no, you was just, ummm... I'm uhhh, you know..."
"Because I was acting like one." Draculaura said, offering up a small smile. Frankie gave her a wary look for a few second before relaxing and smiling back, "Let's not go around throwing words like that. I'm sorry for-"
"Don't." Draculaura cut her off, "You have nothing to apologize for, I'm the one that's sorry. For what I said earlier and my behavior for the past couple weeks. I don't know how to explain it but... The whole Clawd thing has been getting to me in ways that I don't understand. At first it was just... Sadness but now I don't know..."
Frankie placed her hand on her shoulder and gave her another smile, "I don't have much knowledge in the relationship department but I know Clawd. YOU know Clawd. He must be going through something that has him avoiding you like this."
"Something that he's not willing to talk to me about?"
"Not even Clawdeen, you're beast friend for like a decade, is willing to talk to you about whatever she's going through."
Draculaura sighed, "What is going on with the Wolf's..."
"Maybe it's a family problem. I don't really speak to Howleen but she's keeping to herself even more than usual. Perhaps a death in the family?"
"No." Draculaura shook her head, "Werewolf's have a ritual and tribute they do whenever someone in the pack dies. If that was the case, all the werewolf's in school wouldn't be here."
"Besides", She continued, "Clawdeen is avoiding everyone but Clawd is avoiding ONLY me."
Frankie sat back and pondered over other possibilities, "Well, did you do anything to either of them?"
Draculaura shook her head fiercely, "I would NEVER do anything hurt the two of the most precious people to me. Why would you even think that?"
"Calm down, lala", Frankie said, "I'm just thinking is all. You would never do anything to hurt them, yes, got it. But what if you did, unintentionally?", Draculaura raised an eyebrow.
"What if you hurt Clawdeen's feelings and she's avoiding all of us because she doesn't want us to try to fix it or tell you and made Clawd promise to not see? Or maybe it's reversed and you hurt Clawd and Clawdeen is so upset she wants nothing to do with you?"
"That's a bit extreme don't you think? And I'm sure one, if not, both would have said something to me. Their not really the quiet types when their upset..."
Frankie nodded in agreement. That was true, anytime there was a problem, the Wolf's would always approach Draculaura and talk it out. But before Frankie could theorize anymore, Mr. Rotter walked in and started writing on the board.
"Okay class, settle down. We have a new chapter to start this week, and if we want to keep on schedule we need to hustle!"
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As much as Frankie loved history, Mr. Rotter had a way of making everything sound like one long sentence. His accent was sometimes too hard to understand and after half an hour in class, his voice was like a monotonous buzz that went in and out of her conscience.
She had settled on playing tic-tat-toe and then hangman with Draculaura about twenty minutes into the lecture. She was just about to guess another letter, when suddenly the sound of alert beeps went off in the classroom and everyone quickly took out their phones and tablets to check.
Mr. Rotter frowned as he glared at the classroom, "Seriously, people? Just going to ignore my rules?"
Frankie whipped out her own phone and gave a questioning to look to Draculaura, "Not going to check it out? It's a Spectra update. We all know how much you love gossiiiip", she sang as nudged her.
Draculaura sighed, "I cut my phone off every hour because I don't want to be bothered by Clawd in case he texts or calls but turn it back on every couple minutes to see if he did. He doesn't… I settled on just keeping it off till I get home."
Frankie frowned, Damn this ghoul was depressing. It wasn't right, not just because they were friends but Draculauara's whole demeanor was of bubblegum and lollipops. When she was upset, everything just seemed to be… Dead. And that's saying a lot, coming from a monster made out of decaying body parts.
"Please don't get so sad D, it's bringing ME down. If you want, I can text you every day! Leave something positive to lift up your moods at night", she held up her phone in a texting motion to reiterate and then froze and gaped at her phone as the headlines of Spectra's latest article shined bright in blood red.
"Ummm... Frankie?" Draculaura called to her, snapping her fingers in front of her face, "What's wrong? You just spaced out."
Frankie quickly exited out of the ghostly gossip app and feigned a smile, "Oh, sorry. I was just, err… Hey! Have you seen Abbey around?"
Draculaura gave her a puzzled look before shrugging, "Uh, no, haven't seen her all week to be honest. Or Cleo now that I think about it; seems like everyone has been so busy and-"
Draculaura stopped. Something was wrong. She looked around the classroom; all the noise and chatter had ceased, even Manny who was loud even when he wasn't talking didn't peep a word. Draculaura frowned as she finally looked back at Frankie, the creases around her smile were stiff, she's faking a smile, and her body was completely still, she's tense.
What had happened in the last thirty seconds? Nothing, just some phones going off- the phones! Grabbing her purse, Draculaura pulled out her icoffin and turned it on.
Frankie held her breathe; the whole class did too, even Mr. Rotter had stopped his presentation and was timidly giving a lecture on something totally unrelated.
And there it was:
Clawd and Cleo's Secret Affair: The two coolest ghouls in school are back together?
Every living being in the classroom went completely numb (the dead did too). It was only a rumor, of course, but everything started with a base of truth, and the attached photos of Clawd and Cleo hugging and laughing behind the school bleachers, did nothing to comfort the mind.
Frankie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "You know that Spectra is a bit full of it, always taking point A all the way to W." She laughed nervously, trying her best to ease the growing tension in the room and to calm down the rage she knew was to explode out of the vampire.
But said friend wasn't having any of it, she was staring down at the phone with an expressionless face. No anger, no tears, no confusion, nothing. And that was bad - REALLY BAD.
Frankie nudged her, "Hey, look… I'm sure it's nothing. Just bad timing and I mean… We don't really know what's going on… And…" She trailed off, unsure of whether or not she was actually making the situation better or worse.
Draculaura quietly put her phone back into her bag, slung it on her shoulder and walked out of the classroom.
There was an eerie silence that followed up for a few minutes before Mr. Rotter cleared his throat and brought the classroom attention back on him. "I know you youngsters are not fans of telling the teacher anything but can someone tell me, what just happened?"
Before anyone could respond there was an ear shattering sound that exploded in the hallways - a scream – everyone covered their ears as the walls shook from the intensity of it, cracking the windows. It was followed by the crunching and ripping sounds of metal and wood.
Then it got quiet again.
Manny, who was closest to the door, uncovered his ears and motioned the "Shh" sign to the classroom as he snuck to the door, listening intently for any sign of danger.
Sighing in relief, he said "I… I think whatever that was is gone now you-"
The door suddenly flew off its hinges, smacking Manny right in the face and flinging him to the other side of the room. They could hear the sounds of the other rows of doors in the other classrooms being ripped off and thrown.
Whatever force had thrown the doors, seemed to be trying to throw out every student in the classroom out of the window; "Under your desk, everyone!" Mr. Rotter yelled out.
The windows went from cracking, to right out exploding, showering half of the students in glass. The ground shook furiously, breaking the cement and the loud piercing sound seemed to go up in frequency, forcing everyone to cover their ears. Wind seemed to blow in out of nowhere; getting stronger and stronger, throwing furniture and books around in a frenzy.
Frankie could feel the stitches in her body starting to rip apart; she tightened her hold on the legs of her desk, praying that she wouldn't fly away in pieces. True, her limbs would sometimes fall off, but if she suffered too much damage on the seams of her body, she would never be able to reattach them.
She started to feel light headed and forced herself to not pass out; she glanced around the classroom, picking out a few ghoul mates. Scarah was on the floor, shaking furiously and frothing at the mouth. Venus's hands and feet were covered in blood, as the leaves around them starting to peel back and Jina Fire was vomiting profusely as tears ran down her face.
Then it stopped.
Nobody dared to move, afraid that the slightest movement would start it all up again. It was Mr. Rotter's voice that broke through the fear, "Is everyone alright?" He was responded with a handful of groans and crying. "What… What just happened?"
Skelita popped up her head first and gave Mr. Rotter's a fearful look, "Mierda acaba de conseguir bienes."
Well that was eventful. What do you all think? Was it good, bad? Are you fearful of Clawd's life?
And for those who didn't know, Clawd and Cleo actually did used to date, according to his "School's Out" diary. Spectra though made everything worse and is actually the reason why Clawdeen and Cleo used to dislike each other.