At lunch that day, Draculara and Frankie walked up to Purrsephone as the werecat got in the lunch line.

"You can sit with us if you want to," Draculara offered.

"Thanks, but I don't want to impose," Purrsephone said. "Besides, I've already got plans to sit with Operetta."

"You two are friends?" Frankie asked.

"Of a sort," the werecat answered.

"How did that happen?" Frankie asked.

"My cousin works at the music store she goes to a lot," Purrsephone lied. She was worried about Clawdeen and the rest of her new kind-of-friends would think if they knew how she really got to know Operetta.

…..

(Begin flashback)

Meowlody and Purrsephone were in the catacombs under Monster High. They were sitting down against a wall and smoking joints when they heard footsteps approaching them.

"Hey there," Operetta said with a hint of irritation. "What have I told you two about comin' down here to smoke weed?"

"That we have to share?" Meowlody asked as she handed a joint to the southern ghoul.

"Darn straight!" Operetta enthusiastically replied as she grabbed the joint and joined them on the floor. Purrsephone gave her a lighter, she lit up and took a small drag. "Woo weee! This is good stuff."

(End flashback)

…

Toralei got her food and sat down at a table with Scarah. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Scarah replied. She did a great job of maintaining her composure but was caught a little off guard that Toralei approached her first. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Same here, but let me go first," Toralei said. "With Purrsephone's defection and Meowlody out of town right now, it has occurred to me just how few really close friends I have outside of the twins, so I'm planning to have a little get together tomorrow night. It's just going to be you, me, Spectra and this girl Teala that you've never met."

"Sounds good, but tomorrow night's not going to work. I've got a date tomorrow."

"Please tell me you're not going out with Flame Brain."

"Uhhhhh," Scarah muttered as she wondered what she should say.

"You are, aren't you?" Toralei asked.

"Yes," Scarah sheepishly answered.

"Didn't I say not to tell me that?" Toralei replied angrily.

"I'm sorry," Scarah said.

"So what changed your mind?"

"Heath made fun of Hoo Dude for wanting to pursue Frankie. Since Frankie created him, Heath accused Hoo Dude of wanting to make out with his mom."

Toralei snickered at this.

"That's not funny," Scarah said. "Okay, it's pretty funny but you still shouldn't laugh. Anyway, Despite Heath's intentions, that was exactly what Hoo Dude needed to hear because he ended up getting over his unrequited feelings for Frankie so I'm going to reward Heath with a date. The way I figure it if he meets my low expectations, I'm in for a surprisingly pleasant evening. If not, then I can use the fact that I gave him a shot and he blew it to discourage him from pursuing me. Either way works for me."

"That is very cold, detached and somewhat underhanded," Toralei said. "I've never felt closer to you."

"Thanks," Scarah said awkwardly. "As I was trying to say earlier, Purrsephone talked to me earlier. She wanted me to tell you that she has not told Cleo or her friends anything about your mixed scaritage or your sexual preferences and that I read her mind to verify that she was telling me the truth."

"Can you be sure of that?" Toralei asked. "When we first met, you didn't know what I thought of you until I told you."

"That was quite some time ago: I've gotten much better with my telepathy since then."

"Really? What am I thinking of right now?"

"You're thinking about how pissed you'll be if it turns out I really am an alien after all this time."

"Lucky guess. What am I thinking about now?"

"You're wondering how gross the area underneath Cleo's bandages are."

"Wow. You really have gotten better with that," Toralei said in admiration and then began processing Purrsephone's message. She was still pissed at Purrsephone but considered that the dark-haired twin was holding back, and not just for blackmail purposes. She then thought about all the disagreements with Purrsephone that ended with Toralei getting her way.

Did I drive her to this, Toralei asked herself.

"Thanks for delivering her message," Toralei thanked Scarah. "Will you be coming to my get-together on Saturday?"

"That depends," Scarah said. "Is this going to be a sleepover?"

"No," Toralei answered. "I tried that once with Spectra and she ended up sleep-haunting me."

"Sleep-haunting?" Scarah asked.

"It's exactly what it sounds like," Toralei replied with irritation thinking about it and then relaxed. "Besides, I understand how my tastes make you a little uncomfortable."

"Not that uncomfortable," Scarah said. "It's just that I don't like you that way."

"That's cool. I stopped liking you that way when I found out you weren't an alien."

….

In another part of the creepateria, Purrsephone sat down with Operetta.

"I'm very impressed with you, Purrsephone," Operetta said. "I mean, I'm not scared of Toralei but a big part of that is because I can scramble her brain if she tries something funny. For you to piss her off like, that takes serious guts."

"Thank you," Purrsephone said with a grin.

"Though I don't really understand why you want join Cleo's group so much," Operetta said. "They're a little too PG for my taste."

"I know, but I have my reasons," Purrspephne said. "If anyone asks how we know each other, say that my cousin works at the music store you go to a lot."

"Kay," Operetta agreed. "I imagine that your weekend's lookin pretty open what with you being on bad terms with Toralei and your sister. If you want," the southern ghoul looked around to make sure no one was nearby and then whispered, "you can bring some of the good stuff to the catacombs on Saturday."

"I will do that," Purrsephone said with a grin.

…

"I don't like this," Cleo said as she looked at Purrsephone and Operetta. She was sitting down with the rest of the fearleading team plus Lagoona and Abby.

"Are you really that upset over finding out that Operetta has been on friendly terms with the werecats?" Frankie asked.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Cleo clarified. "Having lunch with Operetta is part of Purrsephone's plan to make us like her more. This way, she avoids pushing things with us or coming off as too needy."

"Is that really so bad?" Clawdeen asked. "I know Purrsephone has her own reasons for wanting to be part of our group, but the fact that she wants us to like her that much proves that she really wants to no longer be a part of Toralei's acts of chronic bitchery. And how could that be anything but good?"

Cleo thought this over for a moment. "Good point," Cleo conceded. "I'm a little surprised that you stood up for her like you just did."

"You and me both," Clawdeen said. "I was really mad at her about that whole 'making me think she was mute' thing. And her betrayal of Toralei, while good for us and most people, contradicts werewolf values of loyalty which is a little confusing for me. But after enjoying the first two episodes of 'Grizzoli and Biles' that I watched last night and thinking about how Purrsephone's defection will impede Toralei's ability to be a pain in our asses, I have decided to let go of my anger with her and give her a chance."

"I'm very glad to hear that Clawdeen," Draculara said. "Why hold on to old grudges when you can make new friends?"

"About making new friends," Lagoona spoke up, "I'm not ready to give her a shot yet. Venus told me about the run-in she had with Purrsephone this morning."

"Can you at least give Purrsephone a chance to speak in her own defense?" Frankie asked.

"Okay," the sea creature answered.

"How do feel about his, Abbey?" Frankie asked.

"I'm willing to friendly with the kitty," the female yeti replied. Jackson then walked over to their table.

"Hey ghouls," Jackson said as he sat down.

"Hey Jackson," Frankie said. "What's up?"

"I need to tell you something about Purrsephone," He began.

…..

Back with Toralei and Scarah, the two of them had been making small talk with the last few minutes.

"I have to ask," Scarah said. "After what I've told you, are you still mad at Purrsephone?"

"Yes, but not as much," Toralei said. "I can't believe she did this to me so soon after my near-death experience."

"But I thought that trip to Syria your step-dad brought you along on was over a year ago," Scarah said in confusion

"It was," Toralei clarified as she rubbed the scars on her stomach from that unfortunate trip. "I'm talking about a trip he and my mom took me on last month to my ancestral homeland, Japan. I don't really want to talk about what happened, so why don't you just read my mind."

"Okay," Scarah said as she began to do just that. As she started looking through the werecat's mind, she saw some incredibly strange things. She saw an Asian man transform into a yellow bird monster that did not look like any kind of bird monster she knew of. Next, she saw a male werecat resembling a lion and a lizard woman fighting a group of grey humanoids with short horns on their heads that were all wielding spears. Lastly, she saw the strange bird monster wrap one of its talon-like feet around the lizard woman's throat and begin squeezing. Scarah then felt an intense wave of pain that made her break telepathic contact.

"I don't know what happened to you in Japan, and I don't want to know," Scarah said with her pupil-less eyes wide in fear.

…

After school that day, Ghoulia, Frankie, Clawdeen, Draculara, Lagoona and Abbey were standing outside the front door of the school. They had texted Purrsephone to join them and she did after a few minutes.

"Hi," Purrsephone said.

"Hi," Frankie said. "We need to talk about a few things."

"For starters," Lagoona began, "you were pretty mean to Venus this morning."

"And you're saying she wasn't mean when she temporarily robbed me of my free will to infringe on my right to not give a crap about the environment?" Purrsephone shot back.

Lagoona thought this over for a moment. While she definitely shared Venus's environmentalist philosophies, she wasn't sure that Venus using her mind control spores to enforce those philosophies was justified.

"Fair enough," she conceded. "But can you not be so confrontational with her in future?"

"Okay," Purrsephone said. "But I'm still going to wear a surgical mask around her as a precaution."

"That sounds fair," Lagoona admitted.

"More importantly," Frankie said, "Jackson told us about how you assured him that Toralei threatening him had nothing to do with him."

"Even though it meant letting him know that you could talk, which you didn't want people to know back then," Draculara said. "Care to explain that?"

"Toralei threatening Jackson like that," Purrsephone began, "was overly cruel, even compared to a lot of the other stuff she….. we have done. Not to mention unnecessary: even if Jackson decided to put on brightly colored spandex and play amateur monster slayer, we'd have nothing to worry about. Even if he teamed up with four other brightly colored normies, he probably wouldn't be that threatening by himself."

"Okay," Frankie said awkwardly. She did appreciate Purrsephone trying to help Jackson like that but she did not need to picture the mental image of him trying to kill monsters like that.

"You can have lunch with us tomorrow if you want," Clawdeen said.

"Sounds good," Purrsephone said as she smiled. "What would it take for Lagoona to bring extra sushi?"

"You like sushi?" Lagoona asked.

"It's raw fish: what's not to like?" Purrsephone relied.

"Bring me three dollars and I'll have some for you," Lagoona said.

"Purrfect," Purrsephone said with a wide grin. The first day of this arrangement had gone better than expected. She was feeling very good about how this was going to go.

….

Author's notes: I promise that the visions of Toralei's time in Japan will eventually make sense.