Chapter Two: Out of Her Belfry

The clatter of her shoes echoed as they pounded furiously up the winding staircase that lead up to her room, yelling a quick hello to her father over her shoulder. The little vampire girl had been on edge all day, her face blushing a soft pink hue constantly, the slightest noise making her jump out of her seat. She spent a good deal of time staring down into her lap twiddling the hem of her skirt between her fingers instead of paying attention to her friend's latest adventures. Apparently there was some sort of plague cast of Cleo's wardrobe? She couldn't pay attention. She cursed Clawdeen for roping her into this whole debacle, Draculaura was not a girl who could last with a guilty conscience.

As the flight of stairs leveled off, Draculaura ran into her room, puffing from all the unnecessary exercise. With a bounce of her heels, she kicked off her quite literally painfully cute shoes and flopped onto her bed. Strands of pink and black locks spilled over the edge of her mattress as she hung half of her body upside down, her legs sprawled upwards. Hanging upside down could really help her clear her head. Looking up, Draculaura spotted her right hand bat, Count Fabulous, curled up moodily in a dark corner of her canopy bed. Seeing him, she smiled her first genuine smile in hours. He could always brighten up the gloomiest days. "I did something bad today." She chirped, directing her words to the furry friend above her head. At the sound of her voice, the bat stirred, beady eyes peering moodily down at his owner.

"Oh don't you give me that look!" Draculaura huffed, her arms crossing over her chest, "You shouldn't be so judgmental, okay?"

Count Fabulous swooped down, landing gracefully on her bed. With his wings splayed out awkwardly on Draculaura's frilly pink comforter, he crawled closer to his owner. She sat up, folding her legs underneath her, and gently picked up her companion. In return, he settled into her lap, a soft purring noise escaping his throat as the petite ghoul stroked his head. "Just, like, no judging until I'm done, 'kay?" she asked, looking down at him with big eyes.

Count Fabulous didn't say anything, as usual, but the silence spoke for itself. Draculaura took a deep breath, preparing herself for a rant. "Okay, so you know the whole deal with Frankie and Jackson and Holt, right? Like first Frankie liked Jackson, but he kept bailing which I totes get because he used to do that to me all the time when we used to date. Well, not really date. I don't think it counts as a date if he always stood me up? Annoying. But anyway, we all realized it wasn't even his fault because he's also Holt… or maybe Holt's also him? Which is a major bummer for them, I mean, could you even imagine? But then Holt and Frankie totally started hitting it off and we were all like 'go for it ghoul!' except that she could never choose between him and Jackson and they both liked her and it got super stressful so she broke it off with both of them?"

"Phew!" she gasped, mockingly wiping her brow "Got all of that?" she said, receiving what she could've sworn was an eyeroll from Count Fabulous.

"Well I just wanted to make sure you remembered. A lot of drama goes down at school sometimes. Okay, all the time." Scratching her pet behind his giant ears, she continued. "Well, they're supposed to be bloodies now, but Holt and Frankie were having a total moment in class today. Like, super romantic. But who can blame her, I mean, the guy is way hot. ...What? Anyway, Clawdeen was being a total Mama Wolf again, and flipped. She was texting saying that Frankie couldn't stay away and Holt was totally playing her and whatever. She was being totally paranoid, and… somehow I was convinced to sneak a peek at what Holt was writing. Just to see if it was about Frankie." She winced, squeezing her eyes shut. Opening one, she peered down at Count Fabulous, looking for his reaction.

If bat's could raise their little eyebrows, he would've at this moment. She knew that he knew that Draculaura wouldn't feel that guilty over sneaking a peek at someone's Dead Languages notes. Still, the ghoul didn't really feel like confessing the last part of what happened that day. The two locked eyes in a stare-down that lasted several moments, the big innocent-looking eyes covered in a heavy coat of mascara trying to avoid the sensible red orbs that gazed back at her. After another few seconds of awkward silence, Draculaura finally tossed her head back in resignation. "Fine, fine! Okay, maybe something else might possibly have happened to some extent. Maybe."

"I was going to just pretend to check his notes to mine and check out what he was writing, but then Operetta came by and it looked like he was packing up and I didn't know what to do so… So… I swapped out our notebooks!" She cried out, squeezing her pet bat tightly to her chest. This earned a sharp squeak from Count Fabulous, and his tiny wings struggling to escape her tight grip.

She remembered her heart beating loudly in her ears as her eyes darted from Holt's journal to hers and back again. He was leaning against his desk, one hand nearly touching his open notebook, filled with doodles, scribbles and whatnot. She knew she would never get another chance to look at what he was writing if he snatched it away, and it was important to help her friend, right? Flipping her notebook open so the bedazzled cover wouldn't be obvious, she nonchalantly set it down on his desk and pretended to be engaged in whatever Operetta was chattering about. Apparently Katy Scary had been caught stealing lyrics from one of Operetta's favorite R&B artists, and it had gotten the rockabilly belle in a tizzy. In the corner of her eye Draculaura saw Holt reach back for his journal and acting on impulse, Draculaura quickly snatched it up before he had the chance. Tucking it under her arm she quickly trotted out of the room calling back over her shoulder "Gotta go, Holt! Ttyl, kay?" before slipping it into her Boo-is Vuitton bag. She didn't wait around for his response and instead hustled back to meet her friends.

After that, the day had been a wreck, racked with an ever present sense of guilt. She had tripped twice in the hallway in front of countless other monsters when she was too absorbed with her thoughts to notice her own feet, and a cackling kitty named Toralei didn't let her forget it for the rest of the day. She was pretty sure that instead of writing down the answers to a pop quiz in Howlgebra, she had simply doodled broken hearts and pumpkins with little frowny faces. Even her own doodles betrayed her true feelings. Worse of all, she had snapped at her beloved boyfriend, Clawd, who's surprise kiss didn't receive the usual giggle from her, but instead had her wriggling out of his arms with a flimsy excuse and a nasty tone. She felt absolutely awful and spent the next free period texting him apologizes and little love notes, but he still gave her dejected puppy eyes the next time they met in the hall.

Realizing that her favorite bat was being squished into her chest, she snapped out of her flashback and quickly released him, cradling him in her arms and began to lovingly pet him again. His frilly pink bow had gotten rumpled and hung crooked on his head. Draculaura started to fix his clothes as she began talking again "It was wrong, I mean, I know that. It's stealing! But, it'll be okay right? Right? ...Keeping secrets really bites."

Sighing, she made a mental note to send another text to Clawd telling him what a good boy he was and how much she cared about him. Count Fabulous crawled off her lap in a huff and began to clean his face with small claws, stopping for a moment to peer up at Draculaura knowingly.

"You're totally right, Count Fabulous!" Draculaura smiled, tiny fangs poking out over her bottom lip, "I can just return it tomorrow! Big misunderstanding, we'll laugh it off, maybe he'll buy me a coffee after class…" her bat chirped sharply, causing Draculaura to laugh "Kidding, kidding! I'm tied down now, I know that."

Thinking about Clawd again, she blushed, biting down happily on her bottom lip. Even though they were officially a hot couple at Monster High, and had been dating for almost forever, Draculaura still felt little twinge of happiness whenever she thought about the handsome werewolf that was her partner. Handsome, athletic, clever… toned... It felt as though there were little bats fluttering inside her stomach and the young vampire giggled, rolling over to hug one of the numerous fluffy pillows that lay scattered across her bed. She nuzzled her face into one, too absorbed in her rose-colored romance to notice Count Fabulous, his outfit now as prim and proper as himself, flap off to a corner of her room. He tended to leave when things got overly-sappy for his taste.

Her giggling fit coming to an end, Draculaura pushed herself back up onto her knees, scanning the room for her bat. She couldn't find him at the moment, so she simply shrugged and turned her head to stare at the purse containing the reason for her worries. Holt's notebook was poking out of the top of her bag, looking absolutely harmless. Really, all this fuss over some paper. She lifted it out of the bag, running her fingers over the dark surface. The boy had scribbled flames over the surface, intricately drawn with different shades of red to look as if the fire was shooting up from the bottom. Etched deeply on the cover was 'Holt's private digs, yo' and was underlined many times. She had already stolen someone's journal over a petty bout of paranoia, it would just make things worse if she read his private 'digs'.

But… on the other hand… it wasn't as if he would ever find out. And in the end, it was all just to help a friend, right? Her eyes darted across the room, checking if anyone was there. Of course, no one was. She didn't even hear her daddy, but what else was new? Having Count Dracula for a father, one could never be sure if he was in his study or lurking in the shadows behind you. Even Count Fabulous wasn't there to cast a haughty eye on what she was doing.

Declaring the coast clear, she quickly opened the journal, thumbing eagerly through each page before finding the one marked with today's date. Scanning the page, Draculaura let out a gasp of disbelief as her eyes settled on what was written in surprisingly fancy script. Though there were couplets and questions written around the borders of the page, the main article in the center made her have to re-read the entire thing several times before she could fully believe what she saw. This was… so not Holt!

In looping cursive on the middle of the page, Holt had written:

Frankie Fine, with beauty untamed

how can I explain what you mean to me?

turned inside out, by a rockin' muse

who mixes the tunes of this monster's heart.

call it puppy love, or maybe fate

you're electrifying, personifying

what a guy would die for, my dream ghoul

don't you see, ghoul? you're

And that's where it ended. All reservations of invading private thoughts were stripped away, and Draculaura spend the next hour fixating on the poem, eating up the words and artwork like her favorite escares at the Coffin Bean. She liked the poem. Hell, it was actually good, even though she preferred her poetry with more rhyme than rhythm.

"Oh. My. Ghoul." she whispered, after reading Frankie's poem one more time. She had to tell everyone! Her hand automatically reached for her phone, but she quickly stopped herself. No, no she couldn't! This was a side of Holt that she had never seen before, maybe there was a reason for that. He would be so fangry if he found out she had stolen his private journal, read it, and then send a mass text to all her BFFs telling them what an artistic guy he was.

Still, something deep in her chest told her that she needed to talk to him about this. At least to give him the chance to open up, one poet to another. Even though she would have loved to read it again, Draculaura reluctantly slipped the notebook back into her bag and instead of spilling to Clawdeen everything she learned, tapped away at another text to Clawd, promising to give him an extra kiss tomorrow.

~xXxXx~

Early the next day, Draculaura hustled through the crowded halls of her school, hoping to find a certain fire elemental. She tried listening for him instead of directly looking. One would think finding a guy with flaming red hair, a cerulean skin tone and an intense tattoo that ran from his eyebrow to his cheek, but in a school filled with creatures that sported tentacles, multiple eyes, heads, or limbs, and some that lacked skin altogether it was really hard to pick someone out of a crowd. Even the skin Draculaura herself was a pastel pink hue. And since the top of her head came up to most monster's shoulders, and that was with the benefit of her sky-high heels, she didn't think she would be able to find the boy in a sea of waists and torsos.

It didn't take long for the piercing sound of Holt's voice to cut through the regular chatter. "Yea-ahhh! That's right, next time you try messing with DJ Double H, you'll be gettin' more than just my boot up your ass!"

Oh no. Draculaura's heart fluttered nervously inside her chest. She had completely forgotten about Holt's temper. Even though his face was usually painted with a pearly white grin, it didn't take very much to get the boy flying off the handle. "Oh my ghoul, oh my ghoul, oh my ghoul…"

"Simmer down, sugar," came the drawling voice of Operetta, using one hand to hold Holt back by the collar. "If ya don't hush up your yapper it'll be your second detention this week. I reckon that fella's gotten enough rough talk anyhow."

His features seemed to relax slightly at the words of his beastie, running his fingers through his hair, a common nervous habit of his "Aww, man, I don't know what came over me. One minute the guy was talkin' about coming to one of my shows and next thing I know…" He made an explosive noise with his mouth, rolling his eyes.

"You've been ornery all day" Operetta noted, swinging one hand over to her hip.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Holt shrugged "Just on edge I guess."

Draculaura attempted to elbow through the crowd to reach the DJ before he decided to split from the scene, softly apologizing to any monsters that she stepped on or jostled on the way. She felt a little sweaty, possibly from nerves, and paused for a moment to fan herself with one hand. She wasn't exactly the most athletic monster at school, far from it in fact. Even being on the Skulltimate Roller Maze team for a brief period of time was extremely challenging for her. She preferred strolling peacefully, and sometimes, when her spirits were high, skipping.

"Holt! Holt wait… ow, watch it! Coming through! Holt!" Five pink fingers wiggled within rows of backpacks, reaching as high as they possibly could to be seen. Draculaura jumped slightly in her pink knee-high boots, as the crowd finally parted to let the tiny vegan through. "I, whoa there! Hey!"

Finally able to walk without getting elbowed in the head, she walked up to the two of them, feeling her anxiety flare back up under both of their steady gazes. "I… um…" She started, cursing herself for all this stuttering.

Thankfully, Holt's face broke into his signature cocky smile and he wrapped one arm around the small pink girl, having to lean down. "Ula D! Just the sweet little vamp I've been wanting to see. I believe that this," Rummaging in his bag for a second, he triumphantly pulled out a thick pink notebook, caked with rhinestones, glitter and sketched little hearts surrounding phrases like "Lala + Clawd 4evs!" and Heath's name that had been violently scribbled out. "Is yours?"

"Oh! Thank you!" In all the fuss over Holt's belongings, Draculaura has nearly forgotten about her own homework for that day. Mr. Hack was riding her hard about how her hemophobia was going to cost her a passing grade in his class, so she needed the extra credit. She pressed both hands over her heart, smiling sweetly. "You're a total unlife saver."

"Ha, don't mention it, ghoul." he said, a smirk spreading on his face as he leaned in closer to her "Now, do ya have anything for me?"

Scoffing, the vegan took one finger and used it to push Holt's forehead away from hers, creating an appropriate amount of distance between the two of them. "What I do have is a protective boyfriend, who wouldn't like you putting the moves on me." Sometimes she wondered how Frankie could handle the flirtatious fellow.

Holt held his hands up in a sign of surrender, laughing a little before shoving them into his pockets. "Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

She rolled her eyes, grinning as his good mood was infectious. "I guess. Anyway, yes I actually do have something for you!" She pulled his journal from her purse, holding it out gingerly. "Good as new! Or, well, good as when I found it."

Seeing the notebook in the flesh, Holt's face lit up like the 13th of July. "Ohhh baby! I thought I'd never see you again!" Snatching the notebook out of Draculaura's outstretched hands, he ran his long blue fingers lovingly over the cover. She was always used to seeing Holt keep up his cool cover in public, and she almost never saw him go gaga over anything before. Even when her friends had rescued him from the awful Trick or Treatment last Halloween, Holt had only allowed himself a few moments catch his breath after he was out of danger, then the vulnerability was over and it was full on DJ mode again. Now he seemed actually elated.

She giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. It was a nice change of pace to see this side of Holt. Honestly, she didn't know he even had other sides, besides literally his other half, Jackson.

"Reunited at last," Operetta smirked. "Do y'all want to get a room, or should we just leave you two so's you catch up? Is this why you've been in a funk all day?" She playfully elbowed him in the ribs, causing the flame haired boy to scrunch up as he laughed.

"Hey, this baby has a good month of work in it, and I don't mean any of that Clawculous crap. I put my soul into it, man. I gotta right to get a little funky."

"Oh you're definitely more than a little funky," Operetta chortled, never passing up the chance to get in a good dig at her friend, and waved her hand in front of her face "Did you spray on more of that god awful Dead Spice today, or did you just roll around in a pile of sewage? 'Cause honestly, I can't tell the difference."

"Don't diss the Dead Spice, man! That shit's classy. And it covers up the normie stink I gotta live with all night. Plus…" He winked at a demure looking werecat that passed the trios, pointing a finger gun at her and clicking his tongue. She let out a surprised giggle and blushed in response. "The ladies dig it."

Draculaura was bouncing on her heels with a combination of excitement and nervousness. Even with her immortal body, she still wasn't a patient ghoul. She positively couldn't wait to talk with Holt about poetry; it had really changed the way she looked at the guy. Though she did feel guilty for peering into his private thoughts, she considered it to be a step forward in their friendship. She didn't really take the time to get to know the fire elemental that well, apart from a few dances that they shared, but who could really talk over all that bass?

Normally she would have been troubled by his flirtatious behavior, but she tried to keep her hopes high. She really wanted her ghoulfriend to find a nice guy, especially one that cared about her as much as she cared about him. Even if that guy was really two guys that shared a body. She had always been rooting for Jackson, because she knew from the few dates they had had that Jackson was smart, kind and kinda funny if you got some of his nerd-humor. Plus, Holt kinda reminded her of her crash-and-burn fling with Heath Burns, and no ghoul deserved to go through that.

Well, there was no time like the present. "Holt" she said, "Can I borrow you for a sec?" She looped her arm around his, starting off down the hall. Holt looked back at Operetta quizzically, but the phantom's only response was a shrug and a confused expression that match his own.

She lead him down the hall until they reached the entrance of the Catacombs, and stopped to lean against the wall. "What can I do ya for, Ula D?" he asked, raising one pierced eyebrow.

"Holt I… am going to be honest here. When our notebooks were switched, I accidentally… took a really quick peek at it and I saw what you wrote about Frankie. But nothing else! I mean, I know people think I'm a gossip but I'm not that bad." She laughed nervously, studying his face closely of a reaction. She braced herself for his usual fiery temper to flare up, but instead his features seemed to crumpled in confusion and disappointment

At her words his face fell, eyebrows knitting together with concern. "Draculaura… man. that is not cool, yo." He ran his thumb over the cover of his journal, clutching it tighter as if she was planning on snatching it again. "I mean, this is some personal stuff I got here. I… I didn't think you were that kind of monster."

Trying to save whatever mood they were sharing before she ruined it, Draculaura looked up at him, eyes wide and pleading. "I am so, so so sorry!" She clutched her hands together, a bit melodramatically but nonetheless sincere. "I-I just read the poem you wrote about Frankie and I just wanted to say how much I liked it. I mean, I'm no poetry critic but it was really touching but I know I shouldn't have and I am just so sorry!"

Holt stopped, his eyes widening slightly. "Ula D, you gotta tell me right now that you didn't tell her about that." For a moment, Draculaura thought he looked, well, scared.

"What, tell Frankie? Never! Holt, I promise I won't speak a word about it! ...But out of curiosity, just, you know, hypothetically? Why can't I talk to her about it?" She looked down at her hands, wringing them back and forth.

Holt moved closer to her, speaking in a hushed tone, "You know that pause Frankie's got me and my normie bro on right now? Yeah, well sometimes you gotta do things for a ghoul that means a lot to ya. I'm… I'm crazy about Frankie, man. But she doesn't have time for that right now."

Putting on a watered down version of his usual grin, he leaned back against the staircase again, placing his arms behind his head. "Besides, you know that I can come on a little hot and heavy with the ladies. ...I really don't want to scare her off." He looked down at Draculaura, meeting her gaze straight on, his features tightened with concern. "Do you get me?"

The small vampire nodded, biting down on her lip. "My lips are sealed" She pinched her thumb and forefinger together, making a lock and key motion over her lips and pretending to throw away the key. Her voice trembled a little as she spoke again, playing with her fingers."So… are we cool?"

After a moment's pause the DJ sighed, shoving his hand into his pockets. "Yeah, but I'm gonna need some time. Looking into my private thoughts like that, I just don't know if I can trust you. I mean, I know you're a sweet ghoul Ula D but that's not the way you treat a friend."

She started to speak in her defense but Holt was already walking back down the hall, journal in hand. She traced the rhinestones of her own notebook with her finger, feeling even smaller than usual. Not being in good graces with Holt was a little more painful than she had thought it would be, especially seeing how she was the one in the wrong. It wasn't usually like this. Whenever Draculaura messed up, or hurt a friend, they were always quick to forgive her and tell her that it wasn't her fault, even when it was. She still thought about the time she had tried to force Clawdeen into dating before she was ready with a guilty conscience. Dozens of drop dead gorgeous mansters had lined up to try to have a chance with her, and still Clawdeen had shut the entire thing down after only a few encounters. She and her werewolf beastie made up a few days later, but sometimes Draculaura still felt bad considering she how easily she'd been forgiven. The idea of someone actually holding a grudge against her was unnerving.

However, the vegan vampire did feel a weight ease off her chest knowing that she didn't have any more secrets to keep. Well, besides the one about Cleo using extra bandages to use as cheat sheets on her Dragonomics mid-term. But that one wasn't even that bad anyway. It wasn't like it was the actual answers, just notes. At least that's what Cleo told her. Cleo had insisted they were necessary because a monster of her caliber simply didn't have time to study like a 'commoner'- she had too many people to please.

She fished her iCoffin from her purse, and quickly checked the time. Only 2 minutes until second period. The girl turned in the direction of her next class, walking morosely down the hall. As she did so, she passed Holt and Operetta again, making out a few words of their conversation.

"So what'd y'all have to chat about?" She said, sauntering through the hall as if it were her personal stage. Holt gave her a one shoulder shrug, chuckling to himself, but said nothing all the same.

Huffing, Operetta rolled her eyes at the fire elemental "What? What, so now you got your little book back and suddenly it's all hush-hush from now on? What was so damn important about that lump of scrap paper anyway?"

With only a laugh in response, the phantom ghoul lunged and her friend, playfully scrambling to get the notebook out of his hands. Holt smirked and raised his arm above her head, causing Operetta to have to jump if she wanted to get it, and she did, hands grasping in the air. "C'mon give it! Hand it over, I ain't playing around no more!"

"Cool your jets, Primadonna," Holt said, bopping her lightly on the head with the book. "You know that vamp can talk for eons."

Operetta's hands quickly went up to fix her hair. "You better not've mussed up my hair or I swear on the King's grave the next time you turn your back I will drop an evil eye down those low-ridin' pants of yours."

Holt paused to look her up and down, taking on a mockingly-serious expression. As if he were a judge at a Mad Science Fair, he circled her, clicking his tongue and animatedly shaking his head. "No, no you you're still as horrifying as usual, I'd say."

This earned another eye roll from Operetta, accompanied by a chuckle. She sauntered down the hall again, her hips swung to the beats blaring from Holt's headphones "You're damn right I'm horrifying- Horrifyingly gorgeous! I swear, sometimes I catch me makin' eyes at myself just 'cause this is a face that don't ever quit…"

Her voice carried down the hall, and Draculaura felt a little better watching them go. She did, that is, until the shrieking of the tardy bell echoed throughout the hallway, making the little ghoul jump and hustle off in the opposite direction.

(A/N: ahhhh this took me longer than I thought it would to finish. The chapter I mean. There's still many more stories to go! Speaking of which, are there any stories you guys would like to see? Maybe they'd give me a little oomph for my inspiration!
Also: So, so, so, so sorry about Holt's poetry. I am an awful poet, but I always thought he would be better than me. I'm also rusty on my MH lingo, but hopefully that will go away. My bad poetry skills? Not likely :.