Without Toralei school was boring, tiring really. Usually around fourth period Toralei would find Meowlody and Purrsephone and sneak them out of class for a catnap. Not today. Today was full of math, science, dead languages, and worst of all, Home Ick, their last class of the day.
"Meowlody, Purrsephone!" Ms. Kindergrubber grumbled as the twins entered the Home Ick room. "You know the rules for our furrier students!" Ms. Kindergrubber pointed to a series of different sized hair nets hanging along the wall of the room. Hanging their heads Meowlody and Purrsephone grabbed two of the full bodied nets and got prepared for Home Ick.
"Now I know they caught fish in nets, but I never thought you could say the same for cats!" Cleo laughed to Frankie who let out a little giggle but kept her focus on Kindergrubber. "I'm just glad Ms. Kindergrubber makes them wear those," Cleo said a little louder so the class could hear. "I don't want to lose marks because of some kitty's stray whisker! Plus, ew! So gross!" A few members of the class nodded in agreement as Meowlody and Purrsephone slunk to the back of the class.
"That Cleo," Meowlody hissed. "Who does she think she is?"
"I thought Egyptians worshipped cats," Purrsephone hissed back at her sister. "She should be kissing our paws."
"No talking!" Kindergrubber snarled at the class. How such a sweet old lady could be so scary was always shocking to the first years at Monster High, but Meowlody and Purrsephone were use to her by this point.
After what felt like the longest day in Monster High history the final bell rang out and Meowlody and Purrsephone were free to remove their full body hair nets and escape campus. Then it hit them. They weren't heading home to have a catnap, or meeting Toralei so they could mess with Cleo. They were heading to the mall, but not for any retail therapy. They had to meet Lagoona so they could start their new job. Both kitties shivered at the thought.
"We start at four, we better get moving," Purrsephone sighed.
"What's the hurry," Meowlody mumbled. "I can't hurry in these heels anyway!"
"Mom will be mad if we're late. Lagoona will tell her mom and she'll tell our mom." Purrsephone was right. Mrs. Blue had been visiting Lagoona and wasn't going back to her grotto until it started getting colder. She was a bit of a gossip and would tell the twin's foster mother right away if they were late.
"Well at least we'll look amazing!" Meowlody purred, admiring her light peach tank top. Purrsephone had the matching one in teal, and both had paired them with shiny grey jeggings and platform heels. "Mom may have found out about the boots, but thankfully she didn't find out about these citrus and ginger tanks!"
"And they go so well with our Bluelabs!" Purrsephone said, admiring her sister's outfit. They really did look fabulous, they'd put in a lot of effort for their first day at work, they wanted to be sure people saw them as cool cats rather than coffee slaves.
The twins strutted into the Coffin Bean exactly two minutes to four and were quite proud of themselves for being on time. That is, until Lagoona informed them they were expected to be in at least fifteen minutes early to get dressed for work.
"What do you mean?" Meowlody asked, crossing her arms.
"Well mates," Lagoona said as she looked them over. "First of all you need to get changed."
"But our outfits are purrfect!" Purrsephone cried.
"Perfect for the catwalk, but not work," Lagoona sighed. "Here," she said as she handed them their uniforms. "And you don't have a change of shoes, do you?" The twins shook their heads in unison. "Tomorrow wear flats. Or running shoes." Both kitties scowled at the thought of wearing ugly shoes.
"I think our shoes will be fine," Meowlody said with a little hiss.
"You'll see," Lagoona said and showed them to the back room so they could get changed.
In the cramped back room of the Coffin Bean, in between shelves stacked with cups and bags of coffee beans Meowlody and Purrsephone took stock of their new uniforms. A bland teal apron matched with a long sleeved plain black shirt. How boring!
"We can make this work," Meowlody said as she looked over the apron. "A few scratches, a couple stripes. We can make this our own." Purrsephone nodded in agreement and ducked out to grab a cup of coffee.
"Crikey!" Lagoona said when she spotted Purrsephone. "Why aren't you changed yet, mate?"
"Sorry!" Purrsephone said with a sly grin. "I just wanted a sip of coffee to get me moving faster!"
"Okay," Lagoona said with a forgiving smile. "Usually you need to pay but I'll let it slide since it's your first day."
"Thanks!" Purrsephone purred as she skipped back to the back room. "Okay," she said to Meowlody. "I'm going to use the coffee to paint stripes on my apron!"
"I'm going to scratch some zigzags in mine and add a few coffee polka dots!" Meowlody said as she dipped her tail in the coffee and started dotting across the apron. Purrsephone dipped her tail in and started painting her stripes when the door for the stock room swung open.
"Don't forget to tie your hair back, mates!" Lagoona called before she saw what the twins were up to. "What are you doing?" She screamed, catching the cats red pawwed.
"The aprons were dull," Meowlody said. "We're making them cool."
"You're ruining them!" The twins had never seen Lagoona so mad. Usually she was the chillest ghoul at Monster High, but now her blood seemed to be boiling. "You'll have to pay for those!"
"We don't have any money," Meowlody pouted. "That's why our mom made us get a job!"
"Well it's obviously coming out of your paychecks, mates," Lagoona said, still fuming. "Plus you'll need to pay for a second one you can actually wear." Lagoona grabbed two more aprons out of a box to her left and threw them to the twins. "You have two minutes. And don't forget to tie your hair back!"
Grumbling, the twins did as they were told and put on the plain black shirts and teal aprons. Looking in the mirror they didn't look too bad, but it was a pretty dull ensemble.
"What do we get to make first?" Purrsephone asked. "A chai latte?"
"An upside down macchiato?" Meowlody chimed in.
"An orange mocha frappuccino?" asked Purrsephone.
"How about mopping floors and cleaning tables?" Lagoona giggled, pointing to the mop and rags by the back of the espresso bar.
Cleaning? The twins had to clean? Meowlody and Purrsephone grumbled and grabbed their new tools and got to work. It only took a minute before Meowlody let out the first complaint.
"My fur is getting soggy with mop water!" Meowlody whimpered.
"And my hands have a cramp!" cried Purrsephone.
Lagoona sighed. "The rush will start soon, and Robecca called in sick. Something about loose lug nuts. So Meowlody you'll be on cash and Purrsephone you'll help me make drinks." Lagoona went to showing both girls how to run the very simple cash register. Every item on the menu was there and all substitutions were shown when you selected the item. All Meowlody really had to do was count cash.
Making the drinks was a little harder. Lagoona tried explaining how to make the simple mixes, but without a customer to make it for, it was hard to explain the drinks without showing them. Luckily the first customer shambled up to the cash register not long after.
"Bluuuuh," Ghoulia moaned to Meowlody. "Bluuuuh gruuuuuh."
"Um," Meowlody fidgeted. "One second please!" Meowlody dashed to get Lagoona. "I don't know what she said, let alone ordered!" Lagoona gave her an understanding smile and a pat on the back.
"Sorry, Ghoulia," Lagoona said to her zombie friend. "What can we fix for ya, mate?"
"Bluuuuh gruuuuuh," Ghoulia moaned again, this time a little slower.
"Oh! A medium grey matter frappuccino! Can do, mate!" She showed Meowlody how to ring it in to the register and then went to show Purrsephone how to make the frothy, brainy frozen drink.
Purrsephone tentatively handed the beverage over to Ghoulia and waited with bated breath, hoping her first customer would like the first drink she'd ever made. Ghoulia slurped through straw and swished the frappuccino around in her mouth very slowly. After what seemed like an eternity she gave the ghouls a big zombie thumbs up, thoroughly satisfied with her drink.
"Excellent job, mates!" Lagoona congratulated her new coworkers. "I knew you had it in ya! Now let's help the rest of this line." Looking out at the Coffin Bean's sitting area, Meowlody and Purrsephone's jaws dropped. The line had somehow exploded to a huge length, monsters overflowing the shop and out into the mall hallway! "We can do it! Just don't stop and we'll get through this line in two shakes of a shark's tail!"
Lagoona was anything but right. Meowlody and Purrsephone tried to do their best, but just couldn't keep up with the ever growing line of monsters. Lagoona was running between the cash and the espresso machine and the twins thought they got in the way more than helped. It wasn't until almost closing time that things slowed down and Lagoona finally sat down and let the twins serve customers on their own.
"Hey, can I get a steamed milk with a shot of tuna flavour?" a voice asked as Meowlody started tidying around the till.
"Sure, will that be all?" she asked without looking up.
"Yes please," the boy's voice purred. Meowlody looked up and saw the most handsome monster she'd ever seen. His blue fur looked like spun silk and his eyes glowed like orange stars. Meowlody started to mumble and could barely manage to ring up his simple order.
The loss of words was contagious, when the werecat boy moved to pick up his drink Purrsephone could barely call out his order when it was done.
"Hey mate, you a werecat too?" Lagoona said, trying to break the ice for the twins.
"Close," he said with a smile. "Werepuma, little different but generally the same idea. Name's Felix, and yourself?"
"Lagoona Blue, and these two are Meowlody and Purrsephone." Felix shook the twins paws and they were both thankful he wouldn't be able to see their blushing beneath their fur. "Haven't seen you around before," Lagoona mentioned.
"Just moved here, I start at Monster High tomorrow."
"Funny, that's where the three of us go!" Lagoona said, feigning shock.
"Well I hope to see you cool cats there," Felix said as he walked away sipping his drink.
"Thank you, Lagoona!" the twins said in unison once he was out of earshot.
"You're welcome, but we need to clean up and go home. You can gossip then." That wasn't a possibility. Meowlody and Purrsephone were too busy talking about Felix's deep purr and his orange eyes, poor Lagoona was stuck cleaning the Coffin Bean by herself. It wasn't until Gil came by to pick up Lagoona after closing that the twins stopped talking about Felix.
"You two okay walking home together?" Gil asked, always the gentlemonster.
"Yes!" they meowed in unison. They didn't wait for Gil or Lagoona to say anything more, they raced right home, determined to select the purrfect outfit for class tomorrow. They had to make sure Felix didn't think that plain black shirts and aprons were their clothing of choice! Tomorrow they were dedicating themselves to being as ferociously beautiful as possible, and not even Cleo was going to ruin it for them!