Chapter 17: How To Handle a Break-Up

They say 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'.

And oh boy, was Sally scorned.

She had just arrived for class that day. And, it being the first day back after the apparent break-up, she wasn't too ecstatic. In fact, she considered just skipping the day altogether. But no, that wouldn't really help her much, now would it? Already, Igor knew something was wrong, and, despite not currently being on good terms with Jack, she'd decided to keep what had happen between her and the skeleton prince a secret. (Igor would surely murder him if he found out who made his little sister cry.)

Of course, said secret would only remain hidden until someone figured it out. Which wasn't at all a hard task; they refused to even make-eye contact, let alone talk. Who wouldn't notice that the same two who had been clearly in love since day one suddenly wanted nothing to do with each other?

Regardless, Sally knew the day was going to be one of her worst, and she sure as heck wasn't prepared for it.

Ah, well...not much she could do anyway...

"Hey, Doll-Face, what's up?"

She turned around warily to glance at the source of the sudden voice, half-hoping—er, dreading that it would be Jack. Oddly enough, it was Oogie Boogie.

Figures.

"Oh...hi, Oogie...how are you?" she greeted politely, attempting a smile. Which she really hoped didn't look extremely awkward on her face since it was practically forced.

"Gooood. Just—uh—you and Jack didn't happen to break up, now didja?"

Well, there went her smile. Ah, bluntness...such an amazing thing. "Why do you ask?"

"He's being a total manwho—ah, I mean, flirt. Yeah...so, I figured you guys were over."

"You figured we were over," Sally deadpanned with a sigh, forgoing her happy, 'everything is okay' attitude.

"That's how Jack rolls. He flirts with a girl, they get together for a few days, break up, then he moves on. Rinse and repeat, baby." The Boogie Man smirked, crossing his arms and looking off to the distance. Had he kept his eyes on the rag-doll, he would have noticed the heartbroken expression that momentarily crossed her face. But alas, he did not, and when he did glance back at her, she had cleared her face from any emotion.

"I see."

"Yup."

"And where is Jack?"

"Probably hitting on the entire All-Girls Potions Club."

"Huh..."

"He's going for one of the banshees."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Oogie then grinned, leaning closer as though he were about to divulge his deepest, darkest secret. "'Cause I was hoping you might be interested in me more if you knew he had someone else."

He had someone else. He had someone else.

Not you, not anymore. Someone else. A banshee, maybe. A gorgeous, beautiful banshee that you are totally not.

He's with someone else.

He's over you.

This was why she locked herself away. Why she kept her feelings bottled up inside. There were walls around her heart for this particular reason.

And yet, she had let one stranger—only one—open up her cage. Let him uncap the bottle. Let him tear down her walls.

And for what?

A few stupid kisses on her cheek, false praises and endearments, fake declarations of love, and a broken heart.

She wouldn't cry this time. No...she was better than that. She was strong. She could do this. She'd fight.

Fire with fire.

"...so, uhm, Oogie..."

"Yeah?"

"Wanna talk?"

That was definitely a new record.

Totally, no doubt about it.

He scored a date with all of the females in the Potions Club. All of them.

Bonus? They were all so freaking hot.

Apparently, good-looking girls loved to make potions and things of the like.

Sally must, too, because she was definitely the prettiest—

Pfffffffttttttt—WOAH.

No, no! He didn't care, he didn't care, he didn't care.

Pfft. Sally? What about her? Who was Sally? He didn't know. Don't ask him.

He didn't love her. Of course not! That painful tingle in his chest was nothing. Probably tired, or worried about the upcoming endless boredom in the form of his classes. Yes...that was it. And his stomach wasn't in knots; he was so obviously hungry. The warmth in his cheeks? Why, the weather was unbearably horrid! Sunny, and all that.

No, it was not raining outside. No, there were absolutely no clouds—

CRACK! BOOM!

WOOSH!

—and those were definitely not thunderstorms or howling winds!

It was hot! The sun—which was definitely there and not hidden behind the almost-black clouds—was out and bright!

Bad weather, I tell you!

And he wasn't in love with Sally and NO, he did not miss her, thankyouverymuch!

"Running late, Skellington?"

Jack started at the voice, thoughts of obvious denial shattering. He whipped around, only to come face-to-face with a very put-off Harlequin. Unlike usual, the clown was simply holding onto his unicycle instead of riding around on it.

Now wasn't that weird?

"Hey, Clown Face. What's wrong with you?"

"You know how you and Sally broke up?" bluntly said the bigger monster haughtily with a scowl, arms crossed. In front of him, the future king shifted nervously.

"Yeah?" he muttered, unable to leave out the contempt in his voice.

"Well, me and the rest of the guys were kinda hopin' to put the moves on her, y'know." Right. Like that was a good thing to say to a girl's ex-boyfriend. Geez...why so blunt? "But Oogie, that scumbag..."

"What about Oogie?" Jack questioned sharply, narrowing his eye slits. He felt a deep sense of foreboding at the pit of his stomach, something he was not normally accustomed to. The last time he felt this anxious was when attempted to climb up a rich classmate's mansion in order to flirt with his sister. He didn't really need to point out all the flaws in that one. But that story was for another day…or lifetime. He'd rather not remember.

Harlequin seemed to pay no attention to the other's warning tone. Which was a shame, because he missed the deadly aura and tense atmosphere as well.

"Obviously he's already gotten a head start; he's flirting with her right now."

Jack was gone no sooner were the words out of his friend's mouth.

She really shouldn't be doing this.

It wasn't very nice.

She'd rather not hurt anybody.

No more, please.

But...

"—then we jumped outta the window and old Fink threw a buncha beakers at us! Ah, good times, good times..."

"You guys get into a lot of trouble," Sally laughed, swinging her legs back and forth. Oogie was leaning against her desk, grinning in amusement. She smiled up at him and he suddenly looked away, cheeks burning.

"Y-yeah. We never get caught, or anything..."

"Uh-huh. It's pretty amazing you haven't died again by now..."

"I know, right? That's 'cause I'm totally awesome. My plans never fail."

The rag-doll giggled again, her stomach in knots. She couldn't help but think Oogie looked kind of adorable when he wasn't trying to up-one Jack. Then she mentally slapped herself for thinking such a thing.

'Where did that come from?'

Perhaps she had too much fun talking with him. Perhaps she realized that he appeared to be more serious about relationships. Perhaps his attitude was so different from Jack's that she couldn't help but be intrigued with that.

Perhaps she found someone she could really relate to.

Oogie wasn't the only one who was always in the shadows, after all.

He was cute and sweet. In his own demented way...

At the same time, a voice in the very, very, very back of her mind reminded her that he wasn't—and never would be—Jack. But since the voice was in the very, very, very back of her mind, she quickly ignored it.

"Hey, Rag Doll..."

"Yeah?"

"If—if you want...maybe…would you wanna check out my casino? I'll let ya in before we open up...and...it's pretty cool…" Oogie trailed off, unable to make eye-contact with her. Beside him, Sally stiffened briefly, mind racing.

'That would be a date...'

Did she want to go on a date? With someone who wasn't Jack Skellington?

No?

Yes?

Maybe?

Would this make her the bad guy? Would people see her as a cheater?

But...wasn't Skellington the one who was going off in some sort of rampage, hitting on every girl possible? Surely he wouldn't care if she decided to see other guys... It wasn't his business anyway.

At the same time, his best friend? Would that be a safe bet?

And what about her? What was her motive, really? Did she want to date someone else for the sake of doing so, or was she just trying to annoy her ex-boyfriend? Did she even like Oogie?

Well…she could. Perhaps if she got to know him better…perhaps…

Thankfully, she never had to answer.

Because at that precise moment, Jack came bursting through the door, looking absolutely venomous.

A/N: Oh, God. THIS. Story.

Kill me now.

I don't even know what I was planning to do...TBH, I haven't had any interest with this fandom in such a long time. However, I felt obligated to finish this up. No matter how hard DX

Short chapter is short. Sorry bout that.

By the way, thanks for the reviews! They're so lovely ;)

Until next time~!