"Well I didn't notice anything weird." Clawdeen reaffirmed munching on the last of her Home Ick leftovers.
Frankie pouted at her lunch table thinking about her mystery. InvisiBilly noticed, but she was the only other it seemed. Something was wrong and she was really worried he was sick or something.
"Beside you flirting your hand off in Home Ick…" Cleo mumbled into a water bottle.
Ghoulia opened her mouth, as if she was about to say something, just as Cleo made a face and slammed down her water bottle sliding it towards Ghoulia.
"Ghoulia I said a COLD one!"
Ghoulia closed her mouth and rolled her eyes, her input lost as she ambled back towards the lunch line.
Frankie flipped through her Monster Beat teen magazine, hoping for some clues.
"You aren't going to find anyfang in there Frankie!" Draculaura peeped up, sitting on the opposite end of the lunch table as Clawdeen to avoid watching her gffl chow down on leftover farmyard creatures. "Those magazines are only helpful for like fashion trends, all the advice is terrible."
"Who we talking 'bout?" Abbey joined in straightening out a water stained library book.
"Frankie thinks Jackson's been hiding something." Clawdeen explained.
"Oh. That one easy. Holt Hyde and Jackson. Same person." Abbey added helpfully, no one entirely sure if she was actually trying to help or...
"That was joke." she confirmed.
Frankie stopped on a page skimming the advice columns.
"Wait guys, this might be helpful:
So you think your man's hiding something?
He's acting suspicious around you.
Always sounds like he's in trouble.
And is acting different than usual.
There's a chance he could be cheating on you!" she bit her lip sounding frightened by the suggestion.
Cleo raised her watery blue eyes to make eye contact "Frankie. You aren't even dating."
"Oh yeah…" the mint green ghoul went back to page flipping "Well… something's up regardless."
"Wait Jackson's acting oddly too? Crikey, I thought it was just Holt feelin' blue or something." Lagoona slid Cleo's abandoned water bottle towards herself.
"Same person" Abbey reaffirmed shrugging, putting her hand to her chin "Although… blue one… Was in library yesterday..."
"Holt goes to the library?" Clawdeen squinted.
"I thought same thing." Abbey looked at Frankie suddenly involved with her information to share "But I don't know him very well. Maybe you ask Heath?"
"That's what InvisiBilly said too…" Frankie rested the weight of her head on her securely newly tied wrist, without worry it'd break off on her.
"Ugh I don't know how you stand him Abbey.." Draculaura snapped a remaining carrot before munching on it, most everyone done with their lunch at this point.
"Oh Draculaura we can't all be blessed with having the perfect man" Cleo butted in with pride. Clear she wasn't talking about Clawd.
"Oh Heath's alright if you know how to wrangle him." Lagoona winked "Or have a spray bottle on ya."
This elicited a giggle from Clawdeen and Draculaura as Frankie kept staring blankly at her unhelpful teen mag.
Clawdeen gave Frankie a light shove "Oh ghoul, he's not worth all this frettin'…"
"Clawdeen has a point, he's kind of more trouble than this is worth right?" Draculaura rolled her eyes "I mean haven't you gone through this before?"
"He really isn't up to the standards a ghoul like you deserves" Cleo gave Frankie a very light half sympathetic pat "If you're ever going to have a boyfriend you should wait for the perfect one. I mean as perfect as you could manage anyway."
"I asked him out…" Frankie sighed.
"You WHAT?"
It only sounded louder because everyone said it at the same time.
"Oh ghouls give her a break!" Lagoona defended. "You know she never got over him…them…"
"I thought that was just because you were… friends!" Draculaura said.
Clawdeen started laughing "Oh ghoul so that's why you were so… handsy in Home Ick."
Frankie pouted, kicking her werewolf lunch buddy.
Clawdeen kicked back playfully.
"You're gonna kick my foot off again…" she warned before closing her magazine dramatically "I don't know… I don't know why I asked him. I guess I just… I mean partially I just wanted to know what was up… He kind of started to ask me first… things have been…" she rested her head in her arms on the table "Building up…"
"Oooh sparks are flying between the two of you~?" Clawdeen kicked her leg again.
"I will zap you." she sighed "I don't knowww. Like no matter what I do I keep running into them. Knowing they're the same guy just… made things they do a lot more forgivable I guess." she made a face "And he's just been so cute lately. He started giving me weird compliments like Holt would give and kept offering to sew up my hand. I started to think that maybe they are getting along… maybe even just for the sake of me…"
Frankie Stein looked at all her friends forlornly "Maybe I'm just as crazy as they are…"
"Crazy is right…" Cleo looked towards the lunch line "Oh what is taking Ghoulia, lunch is nearly over…"
"Why don't you check on her?" Lagoona offered finishing off the water that was being replaced.
Cleo made a face "I'll just… give her a few more minutes."
"Cleo's right, they are kind of…" Draculaura made a swirling hand motion to her head "Weird, up there? I mean beside their whole uh hehe freaky flaw."
"It's pretty much all their freaky flaw though." Frankie defended "Like I know a lot about brains and all the memory problems and weirdness. I'm pretty sure it's their uh, condition." she smiled lightly though, that was part of what made them fun and quirky though. "Or maybe they just don't know how to act around a girl. I mean I nearly short-out around them too.."
"Yeah but, love, Holt knows how to act around girls and he was like depressed or something yesterday" Lagoona pointed out.
"True…" Frankie thought back to Home Ick "Jackson said it was just Holt liking me but… That's definitely not how Holt acts around… things he likes."
"You're over analyzing it." Draculaura finished her carrots "People don't always have to act the way you expect them too Frankie."
"Said the vegetarian vampire." Clawdeen licked the blood off her fingers, as Draculaura deliberately looked away. "She has a point though ghoul, you're over thinking it."
"You don't know him like I do…" Frankie mumbled looking at Abbey for support. "Something's wrong. If it's not physically than it might be emotional. And if it's that then I want to help him."
There was also the potential he was troubled by something at home. All the more reason to talk to his cousin.
"Gonna go see if Heath knows anything, I'll see you ghouls later, kay?"
Her friend group waved their goodbyes and Abbey accompanied Frankie to the boy table.
Frankie gave a lopsided smile to her tall stocky friend "You don't have to come with me."
Abbey winked "Making sure you no stealing my man, eh~?" she joked.
Frankie rolled her eyes with a half giggle "Thanks… Heath is… Heath."
"Oof… Abbey knows…"
She pressed a frigid hand to Frankie's shoulder, and Frankie tried not to make a surprised noise from the cold seeping through her mesh sleeves.
"You always good friend. Abbey, keep an eye on confusing boy for Frankie." giving reassurance that she wasn't as dismissive as her other friends.
"Awww, thanks Abbey…" Frankie smiled scooting away from a shoulder of ice crystals.
Watching as her yeti friend stopped at Heath's seat speaking to him privately. Then physically lifted him from the table and plopped him in front of Frankie.
"Err uh, thanks for the assist Abbey." Heath eased out clearly surprised from the lift, but looked at Frankie, scratching his neck "You wanted to…"
"See why cousin so weird." Abbey explained badly.
Heath squinted at her "Yeahhh I don't really have an explanation for that one, I mean hybrid monsters who knows…" he shrugged.
Frankie face palmed "No uh… fang on a second." she had to organize her thoughts "You haven't noticed him acting oddly lately?"
"Um... " Heath looked at Abbey, then back to Frankie "Which one?"
"Both of them."
"Well Holt didn't want to go to my slumber party tonight but I think that's just Jackson probably making him stay home. I talked to his mom and it wasn't her keeping him, so I think I have a plan for that." he smiled mischievously "I mean other than that…" he shrugged with a grimace "Probably just Jackson being… Jackson. Who knows with normies right?"
"How about just Holt?" she thought back to Clawculus "I know this sounds like a kind of weird question but what with his… "cool guy" rep" she finished with air quotes "He wouldn't be caught undead wearing Jackson's glasses right…?"
Heath started laughing suddenly pulling out his phone "Actually I have a couple of funny pictures regarding that, he steals them a lot… sometimes he'll send me pics in Jackson's bow tie with the best captions."
"Oh! I'm good…" Frankie made a face not wanting to see Holt making fun of him at the moment "But I mean like, besides when he's messing around?"
"Hey look, I didn't even know he was my cousin until like super recently." Heath explained raising his hands in cluelessness "They don't disappear with the clothes though for some reason so maybe he forgets…?"
Frankie squinted "Wait do you know how they're clothes work because even I don't-"
"Jackson doesn't either but I know I catch Holt taking them off right after he fwooshes out of nerd mode." He looked at Abbey "Uh sorry was that helpful? Why are you asking?"
Frankie looked past him at the boys table engaged in their own comradery.
"Well. At first I thought he might just be sick. Then I thought I was crazy. Then InvisiBilly told me he was acting weird too. So I thought maybe there was some business going on at home maybe?" she squeaked out hopefully.
"I mean not that I can think of recently. I mean sides the dude not really having a dad but I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about that.." he suddenly looked guilty.
"What happened to his dad?"
"Ehh, I'm not really supposed to talk about it I think…" Heath folded his arms clearly having trouble withholding information "But he's probably over that by now. Like I said nothing recent. To my knowledge anyway. Auntie's kind of a private lady when she wants to be."
Noticing Frankie still looked concerned.
"Hey Frankiee" he put his arm around her only to be immediately tugged back by Abbey "Listen. You're overthinking this. Whatever you think is going on, he's fine, believe me."
"Then… where is he?" she asked looking at the lunch table missing him, though he could have left early.
"Huh? Oh." Heath laughed "It's Jackson. If he ever does make it to lunch you only have like a 50/50 chance of getting him or Holt." he looked curiously at the lunch doors "I think they get lost sometimes, who knows? If you text him he'll probably show but you shoulda done that when lunch started."
The bell rang to signal the opposite.
"I have him next class if you want me to ask him?"
"Oh! Actually don't even bring this up if you could." she bit her lip looking guilty "It makes me sound like a huge snoop or something. And I think he has an aversion to people doting over him like a nurse…" she thought back to the nurse's office silently.
"Probably because his mom's a doctor." Heath swung his arm around Abbey's arm, that was stiff and didn't reciprocate. "Or whaaat do you think something all sci fi and spooky is going on?" he asked grinning like she was off her rocker.
Frankie looked at the emptying the creepiteria "You never know at a school like this…" not that she had a lot to compare her only school ever to. Never having grade school after all.
"What student do you even know who could do… whatever you're thinking?" Heath pressed "No one duh. We don't even have any shapeshifters here."
"If there were shapeshifter at Monster High, we would not know" Abbey added wisely.
"Woah! Abbey you're right! I have a lot of things to rethink now." Heath suddenly looked mind blown.
"That was joke."
"Are you sure because I think you have something going there?" Heath bounced a little excitedly, as he was tugged out of the room by his stronger girlfriend, "Oh! Bye Frankiee!" he waved at her as he left.
She waved weakly back. Thinking back to that topic. Well it wasn't a family problem. Probably. How could Heath be so oblivious to his own family?
Then again his comment about Holt.
She knew he knew Jackson for a long time. But not Holt…? That sounded so sad.
Assuming Holt was there when they were younger.
Huh... she wondered if asking about that would be rude...
Jackson didn't even know about Holt though..
Thinking to Jackson's parent's decisions on that one. Wondering if it was the whole Hyde thing. Or just knowing if Holt and Heath were ever in the same room something would end up burned to the ground or in the emergency room.
She rolled her eyes at the thought, joining the passing crowd, probably the latter.
Probably just overthinking it.
She'd know for sure by Swim Class.
Anxious about dress-out day, making a mental note to find something to cover her bolts with before she fried the rest of the class.
Save for maybe her fire-proof boy.