Disclaimer: I do not own Monster High, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Monster High: In Session
Chapter two: Welcome to New Salem
Draculaura's day at Old Salem High was, all things considered, a six out of ten when it came to how much she enjoyed it. Even though she had some degree of tolerance from the in-crowd of Old Salem High (despite how said 'in-crowd' was barely more popular or financially well off than any other student at Old Salem High, Draculaura included), the vampire girl still had to deal with remarks here and there from the few bullies that were students at the school because they made her out as a target due to her being one of the very few monster students at the school.
Also not helping to make Draculaura's day was the fact that she ate literally nothing that day from the moment she walked out the door of the cheap apartment where she and her father lived in the Old Salem projects. Despite what little bits in the way of food that the two vampires had at their apartment, Draculaura took solace in the fact that, by going home, she was going to a place that at least had food for her. The vampire girl was absolutely starving by the time the final bell of the day rang, eliciting a chorus of cheers from the vast majority of the student populace of Old Salem High.
As Draculaura was walking through the main hallway that lead straight to the front double doors that led into and out of the main building for Old Salem High, she was caught up by two human girls that were the closest thing that Draculaura had to having friends, with only some naysaying from some superstitious normies being the only thing standing in the way of the three from being able to hang out regularly. "Hey, Draculaura," one of the human girls, a slender mixed-race girl of Caucasian and Asian descent who dressed like what one would expect of a 'perky goth', "You heading out for the day?"
"Yeah, I've got nothing keeping me from going straight home," Draculaura replied with an indifferent shrug. The vampire girl was right; after all, given how meager her funds are, as well as how normies in Old Salem typically keep monsters at bay, she had no reason to do anything but head straight home to do her homework, eat what little food she would have for dinner, and maybe watch a little bit of TV before clocking out for the night. Sleeping was something that Draculaura found herself looking forward to, as she found that, to an extent, resting a lot helped to conserve what little food and funds she and her dad had.
"I was kind of hoping that you might have already done some of the history assignment for our history class," said the other girl of the pair, a slender blonde-haired girl with fair skin that had a very light but noticeable tan. This girl could be considered by conventional standards to be the stereotypical high school pretty girl, what with her red midriff exposing tank top, her stylish jeans, and open-toed sandals. Wincing slightly out of embarrassment, the stylish girl admitted, "I might get into some big trouble if I don't get some help, so I was hoping that you might have already done some of the assignment so I could copy it." The perky Goth girl likewise admitted to needing what little help she could get on the history homework.
Gently shaking her head, Draculaura replied, "Sorry, but I have yet to get cracking on the assignment myself." The vampire girl couldn't honestly begrudge the two girls that were the closest things she had to having friends seeking her out the way that they were; Draculaura was one of the few in their class who didn't struggle with history, always passing whatever work that was given out in class. A student failing that class could do wonders to boost their grade by regularly copying Draculaura's homework.
The stylish girl and the perky Goth girl both nodded in understanding as a few random students dashed past them on their way to the front office, as if something had gotten their attention. The three girls that were talking paid this no mind, however, as they were still talking to one another. "I understand," the stylish girl replied, "At least let me and Sam copy it when we all get here tomorrow before classes start?"
Draculaura nodded a few times in the affirmative to the two human girls, drawing sighs of relief from both of them. As the two human girls sighed in relief, the group as a whole was approached by two of the girls that were in Old Salem High's excuse of an 'in-crowd'. When the two popular girls got the attention of Draculaura, the stylish girl and the perky Goth girl, they both focused on Draculaura in particular.
"Hey, vampire girl," the first popular girl began in something of a wondering and mildly accusatory tone, "Do you know any simulacrums?"
Having no idea what the popular girl was talking about, Draculaura replied in a mildly wondering and confused tone, "…No, I don't." Turning around to face the popular girl and her companion, Draculaura asked with a hint of accusation in her own tone, "Why do you think I would know one, though? It's not because I'm one of the few students here at school who's a monster, is it?"
The second popular girl jerked a thumb over her shoulder to point in the direction of the front office, where a lot of students were rushing towards while Draculaura and her associates were busy talking to each other. "…A limousine pulled up in front of the school," the second popular girl began to explain, "This pretty lab golem simulacrum girl got out, she entered the school, and then went to the front office and began asking for you."
Draculaura and her associates all went wide-eyed with shock; a girl that rode to the school in a limo was here? And asking for Draculaura in particular? The richest student that attended Old Salem High was a member of the school's cheerleading squad, and she was classified as the richest student at the school because her family owned the nicest vehicle, a used car that was a model from the late 1990s, out of any family that had a student at Old Salem High.
…That being said, this supposed lab golem simulacrum girl that rode to the school in a limo, and from the sounds of it treated the whole deal as casually as any Old Salem High student treated asking a friend for a piece of gum, sounded like she vastly outstripped the cheerleader girl whose family owned a used car that was modeled in the late 1990s in terms of financial power. Said apparent wealth would go a very long way in making the simulacrum the hottest thing at Old Salem High, if she were to enroll as a student.
Gesturing to Draculaura for her to follow them, the two popular girls took the vampire girl with them to the front office, with the stylish girl and the perky Goth girl following along out of curiosity to see the girl that rode to the school in a limo. After walking for a bit, the group of five girls, four humans and one monster, made their way to a crowd of students gathered outside of the door leading into the front office. The two popular girls got the crowd to back off enough so that Draculaura could get into the office and meet with the simulacrum that wanted to see her for some odd reason or another.
With the stylish girl and the perky Goth girl waiting outside of the front office with the gathered crowd of onlookers (not by their choice, exactly), Draculaura was led inside by the two popular girls. Once in, the vampire girl saw the monster girl that was supposedly waiting for her. True to what Draculaura had heard, the monster girl was a lab golem simulacrum. She had straight, long black hair with streaks of white in it, pale pastel green-colored skin with stitches around her neck, knees and elbows, along with two small metallic bolts sticking out of the sides of her neck, one on each side.
The simulacrum girl wore a pretty top that was electric blue in color with yellow detailings along the neck hole, sleeve ends and hem of the top, a matching pleated skirt with frills along the hem and said skirt reached halfway down the girl's knees, and a stylish pair of shoes that looked to be a mix of high heels and platform shoes; the shoes were electric blue in color, although the straps that allowed the shoes to stay secured to the girl's feet were yellow in color and had small silvery strap buckles. The simulacrum girl also had a backpack on over her back, and even though it was the least stylish part of the girl's wardrobe due to being moderately plain compared to the rest of the girl's outfit, it still looked really cute by the standards of the girls at Old Salem High.
Getting the simulacrum's attention, the first popular girl said to her while gesturing to Draculaura, "Here you go. This is Draculaura van Helwing."
"She's literally the only vampire here at Old Salem High, so there's no way anyone can miss finding her in the crowd," the second popular girl explained.
The simulacrum girl focused her attention on Draculaura for a moment, walking up a few steps and getting just a little bit closer than what was exactly comfortable for the vampire girl. "…Yup," the simulacrum girl remarked after looking at Draculaura up close for a few moments before backing up a bit, "You're the girl I'm looking for, alright." Straightening herself up a bit, the simulacrum girl said, "The name's Frankie Stein. Nice to finally meet you after what I was told by my Grandpa Victor and your father."
"Wait a minute," Draculaura began, a mildly surprised look on her face, "My dad is friends with your grandfather? Since when?"
Frankie, as she had introduced herself, looked like she was about to explain something to the confused Draculaura, but she was cut off when Dracula came walking out of a side room in the front office. Seeing his daughter right there, the vampire man turned to face her, walking a few steps closer so he was within easy talking range. Draculaura could see the look on her father's face, a look that told her that he had something big that he was about to drop on her.
Letting out a resigned sigh, Dracula said as he addressed his daughter, "Draculaura, sweetie, I know that this is out of the blue, and I wish that I was able to give you more of a warning beforehand, but here's the deal. We're moving away."
"We're moving?!" Draculaura exclaimed, very clearly caught off guard as she took a step back.
Nodding once in the affirmative, Dracula explained, "Yeah. I just got done taking you out of Old Salem High so I can get you into the high school over in the town that we're moving to."
"But…but why are we moving, though?" Draculaura asked, still very much shocked to hear that she was going to be leaving Old Salem. Mind you, Draculaura had lived a lower class life in the Old Salem projects for pretty much all of her life that she could remember, but it was the only life that the vampire girl had ever known; as such, she got used to it. So to hear that she and her father were going to be moving, and in so sudden an announcement to boot, really sent her for a bit of a spin. The two popular girls were also shocked, but nowhere near as much as Draculaura.
Dracula put a hand on his hip as he gestured to Draculaura with his other hand while saying, "I just got offered a new job that I accepted, and said job requires me to move over to New Salem so I can begin work on it."
"We're…" Draculaura began, still shocked but now a good bit of confusion was entering her expression, "…We're moving to New Salem?"
"Hang on," the second popular girl said, "That's the town that's populated primarily by monsters, isn't it?"
Dracula nodded in the affirmative to the human girl's question before turning his attention back to his child. "We're going to be heading back to the apartment, where we'll begin the process of packing up and loading all of our stuff into the moving van that Victor's assistant will be driving for us," Dracula explained to Draculaura, "Anyway, you and Victor's granddaughter here ought to head out to the limo so we can get back to the apartment building."
The vampire girl felt as if her head was swimming; she was moving away from Old Salem and over to New Salem without warning, her dad apparently got some new job, and the biggest point of all was that she, Draculaura, was going to get to ride in a limo. Draculaura had a fair bit of trouble processing all of what was happening all at once; luckily for her, Frankie was right there with her, and the simulacrum girl was more than happy to be the friend that Draculaura needed.
"Trust me, you're going to love it in New Salem," Frankie said as she and Dracula led the still confused vampire girl out of the front office and out of Old Salem High for the last time that Draculaura would ever get to see the somewhat poor high school. Draculaura could hear some of the whispers of the gathered onlookers as she, her dad and Frankie made their way to the front double doors that led in and out of the main building of the school. Walking through, Draculaura spotted a black limo sitting parked outside; even though she was now seeing it, Draculaura still had a bit of trouble processing the rumors about said limo.
Gesturing to the limo, Frankie said to the Van Helwings, "Well then, shall we?"
Nodding once, Dracula said, "Yeah, we got to get back to the apartment so Draculaura and I can pack what we have." The vampire man and girl followed Frankie over to the limo and got in after her. The whole situation was still so surreal to Draculaura, who looked out the window at her old high school until it was no longer in sight because the limo turned a corner to head down the street that Draculaura had to walk to get from the projects to Old Salem High.
"…Well, Old Salem," Draculaura thought as she sat silently in the limo after her old high school was out of sight, "I guess that this is good-bye."
To the surprise of Draculaura, there were already some men moving larger furniture out of her and her dad's apartment by the time the limo had pulled up next to the apartment building in the projects. The vampire girl noted that most of the men were normies, but she did spot two monsters mixed into the group, with those being a werewolf and another lab golem simulacrum. "Yeah," Frankie explained, "Those normies are actually a few wizards that my Grandpa Victor's assistant Allister is familiar with. As for the two monsters in the group, the lab golem is actually my dad Viktor, and the werewolf is Mr. Clawrk Wolf."
Turning to regard Frankie, Draculaura said, "I thought your grandpa's name was Victor."
"It is, but grandpa's name and my dad's name use different spellings," Frankie explained, "Grandpa Victor uses a 'c' and my dad uses a 'k'."
Looking over to where Viktor and Clawrk were loading the somewhat beat up sofa that was in her and her dad's living room, Draculaura said, "And you know that werewolf man."
Nodding twice, Frankie said, "Yeah, Mr. Wolf is a pretty chill guy. The same applies to his son Clawd, who is the captain of Monster High's football team." Gesturing to Draculaura, Frankie continued, "Clawd's personality, combined with his being one of the smartest guys in school, his position as the football team's captain and overall being one of the coolest-looking guys pretty much makes him the most popular guy at Monster High."
"Umm, excuse me a moment," Draculaura said as she, her dad and Frankie got out of the limo to head into the apartment building. As the three monsters made their way up to the top floor of the apartment building where the Van Helwings' apartment was located, Draculaura said to Frankie, "But this 'Monster High' place that you speak of. I assume it's the high school that you go to?"
"It is," Frankie replied, "There's another high school in New Salem, but it's the one that the normies living in the town send their kids to, so you don't have to worry about it." Gesturing to Draculaura, the simulacrum girl explained, "You're going to be enrolled at Monster High, if what your dad here says is true."
Draculaura turned her head quickly to see her dad, who nodded twice in confirmation. With a bit of hesitation in her expression when she turned back to face Frankie, Draculaura said, "Well I hope that things won't be too confusing for me."
Waving a hand in a dismissive gesture, Frankie cut Draculaura off as she said, "No need to worry about that, Dracy. You got me to fall back on, as well as my friends Isi and Abbey in the dance club at school." Nodding once, Frankie continued, "And I'm certain that Clawd can be convinced to give you a few pointers on getting used to being a student at Monster High. He's on friendly terms with the dance club, as well as pretty much every club at school."
The vampire girl, despite still being nervous about going to a new school all of a sudden, started to feel just a little bit better about the situation that she found herself suddenly thrusted into. By the time that Draculaura had finished regaining enough of her confidence, she, as well as her father and Frankie, had reached the top floor of the apartment building.
Entering the apartment where she and her father used to live, Draculaura was surprised to find it as barren as it was. This was due to the absence of the sofa, the coffee table in front of it, a plush leather armchair that was on the sofa's right (if you sat on the sofa and faced forward) and the TV in the living room. However, the TV stand in the living room and the small dining table over in the kitchen area were still in the apartment.
Figuring that she might as well get on with packing what little stuff she had, Draculaura went right to her small bedroom, with Frankie following along to help out however she can. Draculaura, despite just meeting the simulacrum girl, was glad to have someone who knew the layout of what life over in New Salem was like; she was figuring that she was going to need something of a guide to tell her what all that she'll be needing to know if she were to avoid being eaten alive by the scene over in New Salem.
Draculaura's bedroom in the apartment was small and very much unadorned; there was a plain twin-sized bed, a four-foot-tall and two-foot-wide plain light brown wood dresser in the upper corner opposite of the bed, a desk along the left hand wall (if you enter the bedroom and just stand in the doorway) an armchair with a side table next to it along the wall opposite of where the bed was pushed up against, and along the wall between the bed and the armchair was a door that was clearly for the bedroom's closet. Additionally, a folding cell phone's charger cord was laying on the small table next to the armchair, with the plug of said cord plugged into a power outlet in the wall.
Aside from a small row of books and a keepsake box sitting on top of the dresser, there was literally no manner of decoration in the room to speak of; if one walked into the bedroom without any knowledge of who slept in there, they would have no way of knowing right off the bat of the gender of the bedroom's occupant without searching the place properly. Just looking into the room, one would think that it could pass for persons of either gender.
Draculaura noted the unused packing boxes laying on her bed; given how little the vampire girl owned as well as how big some of the packing boxes looked even in their unused state, she was figuring that she only needed one of the bigger ones to shove all of her belongings inside, aside from the larger furniture pieces, and she could just unplug the cell phone charger and shove it into her school backpack. Putting that thought to the side for the time being, Draculaura went to her bed and began setting up one of the large packing boxes.
As she watched Draculaura at work, Frankie looked around the bedroom, a contemplative hum in her tone as she held her right hand to her chin. "…No offence, Dracy," the simulacrum girl said, "But you need to work on decorating your new bedroom when you move to New Salem, because the room you have here is rather bland."
"If I had the money to spruce up my bedroom any," Draculaura replied dryly as she had just finished unfolding a large packing box and began to put some of her belongings inside, "Then I would have actually used said money to get some actual food instead." Setting her collection of seven books that made up the book row on her dresser, with two of said books actually being personal journals that she had kept (one of which she was still working on filling up), Draculaura went on, "Things have been…pretty tight money-wise for me and my father for pretty much all of my life that I'm able to recall."
Frankie felt a bit guilty when she realized that she had just made her new vampire friend confess about the lower class life that she lived. Hoping to try to cheer Draculaura up some, Frankie said in an attempt to be helpful, "Well at least your dad's new job will help, right?"
"So long as I can count on not having ramen for dinner for more than half the nights in an average week, then I'll be happy," Draculaura said, still being dry of tone.
Letting out a mildly resigned sigh, the simulacrum girl remarked, "Geez, Dracy. You keep that tone up at Monster High and the resident mean girls will think you're up to something."
Draculaura, who was using some of her mildly building frustration to fuel her effort in packing up what little she owned, stopped short when she heard what Frankie had said. Turning around to face Frankie, Draculaura said with a mildly curious look that had a milder hint of worry, "What do you mean by 'resident mean girls'?"
Frankie, looking more troubled than she did when she realized that she had inadvertently made Draculaura upset, cast her gaze to the floor on her left. The look of being troubled on Frankie's face could not be mistaken for anything else. Frankie, as she rubbed her right bicep with her left hand, explained, "There's a number of groups of students over at school that like to get up in each other's faces. There's very little unity throughout Monster High as a whole, and every day there's no less than half a dozen spats between groups and cliques over anything and everything that you can think of."
"You…you're joking, right?" Draculaura asked, looking and sounding mildly alarmed.
The simulacrum girl's expression of ashamedness couldn't be mistaken for anything else. "…I'm afraid so," Frankie replied as she looked up from the floor to Draculaura, "It's always been that way, at least since before I became a student there."
The vampire girl's worry faded a bit when it was replaced by an equal amount of serious curiosity. "And I'm guessing that what you said about the 'resident mean girls' at Monster High is involved in some way?" Draculaura asked.
Nodding once, Frankie said, "Yeah. Most of the spats are between the girls at school. The guys at the school, although the specific groups aren't friends with one another, tend to act amicably towards one another."
"Do you know how this happened?" Draculaura asked, her curiosity itching more and more as she learned about the social scene at the monster school that she was going to be enrolled in.
Holding up her right index finger, Frankie explained, "All that I know on the subject is that a girl who used to be a student at Monster High, Nefera de Nile, was one of those queen bee mean girl types, and she used some sort of divide-and-conquer strategy to manipulate the student populace while she still attended, mainly to attain, keep and maintain a high level of popularity. She also won every manner of popularity contest at school that you can think of."
Draculaura crossed her arms over her chest as she regarded the simulacrum girl. "…Sounds to me like this 'Nefera' girl you speak of is a right proper nasty piece of work," the vampire girl remarked dryly, drawing an agreeing nod out of Frankie.
"Even though Nefera had graduated sometime before I enrolled, the effects of her manipulations back when she was still a student still taint the social ladder of Monster High to this day," Frankie said, both her expression and tone carrying hints of concern, "It's the main reason why so many of the groups of girls at school tend to grind each other's axes."
"Well I'm glad that you found all of this out," Draculaura remarked as she gestured to Frankie.
Gently shaking her head, Frankie said, "I only know all of that because of Ronalda Alverez, a chupacabra girl who attends Monster High, was in the same freshman class as Nefera but got held back two times, thus she's still a student at school. It was Ronalda who told me all about Nefera." Gesturing to Draculaura with her left hand, Frankie added, "Oh, with that being said, I'm going to tell you this since Ronalda will probably tell you the same. It's best if you steer clear of Cleo and her posse."
"Who?" Draculaura replied, a look of genuine confusion on her face.
Frankie let out a sigh before she proceeded to explain what she was talking about. "…Cleo de Nile," the simulacrum girl began, "She's Nefera's younger sister. From what I've seen with Ronalda, Cleo is shaping up to be just as much of a queen bee mean girl type as her older sister, as she currently commands a lot of popularity over at Monster High. Those three werecats that are in Cleo's posse, Toralei and the twins Purrsephone and Meowlody, are sort of like Cleo's little army slash enforcer squad."
Frankie cocked her head to the side a bit as she looked up towards the ceiling on her left, a look of mild wonder on her face. "…I don't think there's much I can say in any capacity about that zombie girl and that troll girl that are also in Cleo's posse, and I'm still wondering why Cleo would willingly add girls like them to her squad since they don't look like the kind of girls that a pretty miss popular type like Cleo would willingly befriend. Still, if they roll with Cleo, then it wouldn't hurt to exercise caution around them."
"All this talk of how everyone at Monster High is divided…" Draculaura remarked in a concerned tone. Gently shaking her head, the vampire girl asked, "Is there anything that can be done to fix it?"
With a shrug, Frankie replied, "I can't say for certain, sorry." The simulacrum girl crossed her arms over her chest as she said, "I suppose that someone with as much influence in the student body as what Nefera had back when she still attended Monster High could try to rally the troops as it were, but the only student currently at school who can potentially pull that off is Cleo, and she looks fit to coast on her older sister's legacy. Kurama Kyubi could also pull it off, but he, like most of the other boys at school, tend to keep to themselves and their groups and not try to influence things for the student populace as a whole."
Frankie gave a gentle shake of her head as she remarked, "From the looks of it, things at Monster High are fit to stay as divided as they are for the foreseeable future. It'll probably still be like that by the time the two of us graduate, and will continue on like that more many more years to come, given that new girl students are dragged into the various cliques and groomed to carry on the will of whatever group that they are dragged into."
Draculaura, upon hearing the hopelessness in Frankie's tone when it came to potentially resolving all of the troubles at Monster High, couldn't believe what she was hearing. Loads of others at the school were practically at war with one another constantly due to the manipulations of a girl that had long since graduated, and those who had the potential to end said constant conflicts either did not care enough to step in to fix things, or were in fact willing to let it go on as it was a legacy that had been left to them. The vampire girl was worried now more than ever about moving to New Salem, if a place like Monster High was the school that she was going to be enrolled at.
It did not sit right with Draculaura at all.
By the time that she had finished shoving all of her non-furniture belongings into the one box and taped said box up, Draculaura heard a knocking on her bedroom door frame, a sound that also made Frankie jump a bit. They turned around and saw Dracula, who asked what was taking so long with packing up. The girls apologized, and Draculaura carried her one box out of the bedroom and down to the moving truck outside, writing 'Draculuara's stuff' on the side of said box with a black marker.
The moving men employed by Frankie's Grandpa Victor helped with carrying all of the furniture in Draculaura's bedroom out and down to the moving truck; by a quarter until six in the evening, all that there was in the Van Helwing apartment was in the moving truck that Allister was driving to New Salem, with Viktor and Clawrk riding in the moving truck's cab with him. The keys to the apartment were handed over to the management of the apartment building, a symbol that showed that Dracula and Draculaura truly had moved out.
The drive from Old Salem to New Salem took forty-five minutes, but Draculaura saw the 'Welcome to New Salem' sign along the side of the road as the limo she rode in drove into the town. It took a few more minutes after that until the limo pulled up to a large stately home that made one think of a castle that a mad scientist would live in as he was working on building his creature. As it was the residence of a mad scientist human that had two lab golem simulacrum as a son and a granddaughter, Draculaura felt that it was fitting.
When the vampire girl had expressed confusion as to why both the limo and the moving truck stopped here, Dracula explained to his adopted daughter that until he found a place in New Salem for them to live, they would be crashing with Victor; Victor's son was having a bit of a nasty spat with his (Viktor's) wife, so Frankie was staying with her grandfather for the time being in order to avoid being exposed to that nastiness.
Draculaura ended up hanging out with Frankie in the kitchen area while Dracula went out with Victor and Allister, as well as a few other guys including Viktor. The vampire man explained to his daughter that Victor, in wanting to celebrate the Van Helwings moving to New Salem, had decided to invite the guys out to have some drinks. As such, the adult men left while the two teen girls stayed at Victor's place to relax and cool down after the trip.
Draculaura was still unsure what to make of the new life that she had suddenly been thrust into, and she jumped a bit out of surprise when a small brownish dog that looked stitched up brushed against her right leg; the dog also had a row of horns on its head, resembling a Mohawk to some degree, and a pair of small dark grayish wings on its back. The stitches of said creature helped to separate the lighter brown patches from the darker brown patches. The creature also had one blue eye and one green eye.
"Oh, that's Watzit," Frankie explained, "Grandpa Victor made him for me." Gesturing to the vampire girl, Frankie continued, "So Dracy, you want to take a look at what Grandpa Victor has here in the kitchen to eat? We probably ought to fix something up to eat for dinner."
"So long as we're having anything other than ramen, or mac n' cheese from the box, then I'm sold," Draculaura replied.
The simulacrum girl had to suppress an amused chuckle when she heard her friend's request for dinner. "Geez, your diet wasn't all that diverse before now, was it?" Frankie asked, "Dracy, there is no need to worry." Getting up from the table and walking over to the fridge, Frankie said, "I'm pretty sure there's still some of the fruit salad that Grandpa Victor made for last night's des-"
Frankie was cut off midsentence, and both she and Draculaura jumped in their skins, when they heard the front door of Victor's large home get thrown open suddenly. Watzit, who was alerted by the noise, began neighing, not barking, warningly in the direction of the front door, sounding very much like any given horse. The girls calmed down when it turned out to have just been the adult men returning to the house.
As Frankie got her simulacrum pet to calm down and stop neighing at Victor, Dracula and the other men, Draculaura noticed the look of surprised excitement on her father's face. "Hey dad, what's up?" Draculaura asked curiously, "Why do you look like something really big has just taken place?"
"That's because something really big did just take place," Dracula explained, "You see, while I was out celebrating the move with Victor and the others, I decided to spring for a lottery ticket at a convenience store here because why not."
"You bought a lottery ticket?" Draculaura asked, surprised that her adoptive father would decide to gamble with money, something that he never considered doing before due to the risks that were involved. Crossing her arms over her chest, the vampire girl continued with a good bit of admonishing in her tone, "Well it's clear to me that you won something, at least. But I still don't like how you could have risked what little money we had."
Victor chuckled a bit in self-amusement. "Young lady, your father just felt like celebrating a bit is all," the old scientist man said, "After all, he and you have a new life here in New Salem to look forward to." Continuing with a hint of amusement in his expression, Victor said, "Besides, given how much your father won, I don't think the two of you ought to be worrying about money anytime in the foreseeable future."
The last bit that Victor said caught not just Draculaura's attention, but that of Frankie as well. In fact, it was the simulacrum girl that asked, "Grandpa, how much did Mr. Van Helwing win with that lottery ticket, exactly?"
Victor's assistant Allister, who had his smartphone out, used it to look something up. "…Aha, here we go," the wizard said as he found what he was looking for. Turning his smartphone around, Allister said, "These are the winning numbers to the lottery that Mr. Van Helwing got a ticket for. Compare them to the numbers on Mr. Van Helwing's ticket." Curious, the two teen girls looked at both what was up on Allister's phone, then the lottery ticket that Dracula had.
The excited, surprised screams could be heard from clear across the street.
END, MONSTER HIGH: IN SESSION CHAPTER TWO
Author's notes;
Well the Van Helwings are now in New Salem, and the part of the plan to get Dracula the necessary wealth so that he would have more of the standing needed to run against Ramses for mayor has been taken care of. Not that Draculaura and Frankie need to know the finer details of said plan; besides which, the two of them will be busy with school, as Draculaura's first day of attending Monster High will be covered in the next chapter.
If you noticed, Frankie had explained that the various cliques of girls at Monster High are constantly at conflict with one another. This is an intentional problem, as it will be the issue that Draculaura will be dealing with, as well as try to fix, over the course of the story. Think of it as the main storyline quest in a single-player RPG, and Draculaura is the player character. A lot of other students at Monster High, either because they have no hope that things will be fixed, no care to try and fix things, or a desire to actually see things as they are continue onward, may not be willing to resolve what's wrong with all of the groups constantly at odds. But Draculaura is none of the above.
Another side note is that the main six girls will NOT be friends with each another in the beginning, and that they will be broken up into three pairs of two to start out with; the six of them all being united in the same group of friends is something else that will be achieved overtime, and it is something of a goal that I have set for Draculaura to achieve. Trust me, I know what I'm doing here.
Oh, by the way, one last thing; to those who had any issue with how I've shown Draculaura having a willingness to eat whatever due to her (former) low-income statue, relax. I'm taking care of it so that she'll exclude meat from her diet. You can relax now.