Salem had always been the shy one, the weak one, the unimportant one. But that was about to change; at least, she hoped it would. When her mother had told her she would be transferred to Monster High this year, Salem was surprised... and relieved. After two years of being bullied, she would finally be able to make a fresh start; show everyone she was worth something.

Now if only she could muster enough courage to ask someone where the History of the Undead classroom was.

Scurrying nervously around the hallway, she approached a dark-haired girl wearing a black hoodie and tapped her nervously on the back. "Um, e-excuse me, do you know where the, err... History of the Dead, I mean, Undead classroom is?" She stumbled over her words and blushed hotly under her pointed hat.

"Yes, it's down the hall, right next to that ugly purple statue," The girl replied, waving her hand nonchalantly to show her the way, "It shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Oh, thanks..." Salem gave the girl a trembling smile then whispered "Do you want to um... hang out some time? Together? I'm Salem by the way... Salem Tr-Trials."

"Harmillia," The girl answered, then paused. Her reputation of getting kicked out of schools had not been forgotten and Harmillia didn't want to leave another batch of friends behind; still, hadn't her parents said this was a 'different' school? She turned away and replied smoothly, "Maybe I'll see you in the Creepateria."

Salem stayed, confused at whether it was a rejection or not. Still wondering, she turned around... and smacked right into a winged ghoul, her books and papers went flying everywhere. Blushing and mumbling apologies to the other girl, Salem stooped to collect her falling papers.

"Watch it, witch! You almost broke my $567.86, custom made, deluxe glasses!" The bird-like stranger whined in a nasally voice, adjusting the owlish glasses on her beaky nose. Salem noted that they weren't even scratched. (AN: If any of you have ever read Toralei's diary, this is the harpy sitting in front of her, with the milk spurting out of her nose)

"I-I'm r-really sorry... I-I wasn't paying attention and..." Salem stuttered, her voice cracking and stood up, she could see the other girl clearly now; everything about this girl screamed NERD, from her scraggly bun to her horrible outfit of olive green and purple. Even her droopy wings looked pathetic. The harpy noticed Salem's staring and gave her a hard poke, causing the witch to drop all her things on the floor.

"You should be! I'll have you know that I'm a top level, straight A, graduate of the international monster math camp!" She stomped forward, backing Salem into the coffin lockers, "You wrinkled my clothing as well! I could sue you for this!"

"I don't know why, that outfit looks like it came from Dollar Skull..." Salem murmured, quietly so the enraged ghoul wouldn't hear. She suddenly felt a sharp elbow jab at her ribcage. The harpy narrowed her eyes and hissed, "Did you say something?"

Salem took a deep breath and answered as loudly as she could — which was not that loud, "N-no... m-m-maybe y-you need um, a h-hearing aid," She paused then added "b-birdbrain..."

A couple of ghouls nearby snickered and Salem felt an ounce of joy at her new confidence and toughness. The harpy's face turned bright red and Salem regretted it instantly.

"A hearing aid? Well, m-m-m-m-may...b-b-beeee... y-y-yo-you-you sh...sh-sh-should g-ge...g-g-g-et sssso... s-so-some help with that stutter, P-Pumpkin." The feathered ghoul squawked loudly, and when everyone was done laughing, she continued on with the mocking, "And what is with the green skin? If I didn't know better, I'd mistake you for a sickly normie! Lame..."

More laughter.

Salem felt a familiar burning sensation in her eyes, closing her eyes tightly; she willed the tears to go away. But the harpy wasn't done.

"Just answer this simple question and a word won't come out of my mouth for the rest of the year, ready?"

"W-wha...?"

"Stupidghoulsaywhat!"

"I... what?"

"Gosh, and I thought you were supposed to be smart! Or at least have the average IQ level and understanding... of a normie! Now, what's the radius of a circle with the circumference of 23.56295?"

A deep voice called out, "Four!"

The harpy swivelled around, surprised, and then smiled, "Close; in fact, way closer then Miss brain-dead – no offense to any of you zombies- Witchy!" She turned back to Salem, examining her closely then started giggling, snorting between giggles, "She's crying! Really, over something as little as that? Crying because you're dumb doesn't do anything!"

Yes, Salem was crying. Soft, gasping sobs escaped from her lips as tears rolled down her face, the teasing was starting all over again...

"Excuse me," A voice stated over the laughter, "But I don't believe you are being very nice."

Through her watery vision, Salem saw a girl with auburn hair and reddish yellow wings step up to the still cackling harpy.

Phiona Nix minded her own business... most of the time. The only times when she did not were when she herself was involved, or when someone was being hurt. Now was such a time. "I do know exactly what has happened, but I do believe she," Phiona pointed to Salem, "does not deserve this. I ask that you all go away and mind your own business."

There was little grumbling from the crowd of onlookers, they all knew what would happen if anyone got Phiona mad. Needless to say someone would get a bloody nose plus a second degree burn. As the ghouls thinned and scattered, the harpy girl was the only one left, looking at Phiona defiantly. The daughter of the Phoenix smirked and her hair suddenly burst into red flames; squealing, the frightened harpy scrambled down the hall, her papers flying out from behind her.

"Well, that took care of her," Phiona murmured triumphantly then looked back at Salem. "Hey, don't believe anything Harp Eez says, Hun. She's a bad scarenut, that one. It'll be best if you stayed away."

Numbly, Salem nodded then flashed a small smile the other girl's way. This was the perfect chance to make a new friend! Clasping her crumpled papers to her chest, she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, "D-do you want to be friends?" A second later, she clamped her hands around her mouth as she realized how strange her words must seem to the other girl.

Phiona studied her intently then replied with a casual "Sure," before handing the rest of Salem's papers to her and walking down the hallway. Salem stared after her, crushed at the apparent dismissal. A few seconds later, Phiona turned and frowned at her, "Are you coming or not?"

A glow with joy, Salem nearly skipped to catch up with the redhead, momentarily forgetting about the past events. Striding down the hallway together, Phiona asked her some questions and Salem answered them. Slowly and quietly at first, but as they kept talking she found herself telling Phiona everything; her cat and her mother, about transferring to this school. And Phiona listened, cutting in once in a while to tell Salem her opinion.

"... and you'll really Delphine and Chris, they're both kind of shy, like you," Phiona chattered as they rounded a corner, "Delphine's a total bookworm and she can see the future, Chris is really into parties and talks way to much but since she's like, half werewolf-" She suddenly stopped and put a finger to her lip to signal Salem to be quiet, "... Seems like a fight's going on..."

"...no one spies on Danny Addason Wolf!"

"Do you really have to say your middle name as well?"

Phiona walked slowly past the next corner to see a furious werewolf girl looking like she was going to beat the living death out of a ghost while another werewolf looked on. Shaking her head at why people seemed to appreciate violence so much, she stepped out and angrily said, "Let him go."

Author's note: As you may (or may not) have noticed, this chapter is longer than the other mainly because I wanted to introduce some minor characters and the ONE of the antagonists. Also, Hiroshi makes a voice cameo here.

I'm going away on vacation tomorrow so I'll try to get the next chapter up today, really sorry if I can't.

If don't like how your character was portrayed, feel free to tell me in the review or PM me.

BYE!