"Well Mr.Spirit I'm quite impressed to see you decided to show up two days in a row, that must be a new record for you!" A green plant like woman with the head of a venus flytrap sat before him.

She brandished a name tag on her cardigan, Mrs Tanglevine. Her fingers were incredibly long; her nails resembled thorns. She swiftly jotted down notes in her notebook. The words were barely legible; the ink smudged slightly. The only words he could make out were his name scrawled at the top of the page.

He looked as if he were barely awake; his eyes appeared to be half-closed. Johnny already had pretty sunken in eyes with large bags underneath them. As though he hadn't slept in decades. Hanging from his shoulders was an incredibly tattered black leather jacket. It had press-studs lining the collar. His hair was pitch black in colour, with shots of violet streaks running through. His skin was both icy in appearance and to the touch.

"So Johnatha-"

"Johnny," He muttered under his breath.

She looked up from her notes for a second and up at him, "Right, of course, Johnny." She corrected herself. "How are you finding Monster High so far?"

"Dull," He plainly stated.

She found him to be incredibly cold; his demeanor was very straight to the point. Johnny wasn't her first transfer student; a lot of kids transferred over to Monster High on a regular basis. Though this was her first time dealing with someone who had been transferred due to the behavioural issues he had.

"Miss Bloodgood told me that you didn't get along very well with other students," She poked at him with an invisible stake.

He slowly blinked, "Have you ever thought maybe it was them who didn't like me?" Johnny spoke surprisingly calm.

Not that it helped in Johnny's case. You don't get multiple expulsions and a permanent transfer by being a well-behaved model citizen. His mom was a middle school teacher, and his dad was a decorated soldier, whom he very rarely saw. His mom seemed to be the only person who could see any kind of good in him. Everyone else just assumed he would be in jail the second he graduated; if he even graduated.

"Okay, well, um, your mother mentioned that you're musically inclined; have you ever thought about channeling all that anger into making art?" Mrs Tanglevine really thought this would envoke a reaction.

"If you're insinuating that I join the glee club, sorry, but I'd rather be in juvy," He scoffed.

She sighed heavily. "Your mom asked me to make sure you settle in; she brought you all the way from Louisiana, so it would be a shame if it were for nothing, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Spirit?"

He felt a painful tugging at the mention of his mom. Johnny took a deep breath for a moment. He thought about the phone call to his father, hearing his father's voice crack as he screamed down the phone to his sobbing mother. Once again, having to inform him that his son was a mistake.

'Can't you just coast through life like everyone else? Why do you have to put this strain on our family?'

"I'll stay out of trouble," Johnny exhaled. "But I'm not standing 'round the campfire holding hands and singing hymns,"

Mr. Hack's class was in session. Almost all of the students were seated and talking among themselves. In the back row, Operetta sat with her headphones on and her head buried in her hands. Scarah, who was sitting in the third row, glanced back at her with an uneasy smile.

She mouthed, "Where's your boyfriend? He's late."

Operetta rolled her eyes and ignored her, but it wasn't just her who was wondering where he was. Toralei, who was seated between the werecat twins, peered over at the empty seat next to Operetta. A wicked grin spread across her face. She leaned over Meowlody's body to face the redhead.

"Wow Operetta, have you managed to scare off the new guy already?" She giggled followed by her minions.

She ignored the three and stared blankly at the chalkboard. All she could think about was her dad. She knew he was right, but his constant pressure made her feel like she might snap. She was debating whether she should try to get him to pick her up or if she should stick to her guns. He liked it when she admitted she was wrong; it very rarely happened.

Mr. Hack was about to dive into the dissection of human organs when there was a knock on the glass-paned door. He marched over and yanked it open to see a tall, ghostly figure standing in the doorway.

"Late on your second day, not very good, Mr. Spirit," he tutted and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Guess I got lost, sorry Sir," He nonchalantly shrugged as he made his way to the back of the classroom.

He glanced to his right where the three cat girls were giggling among themselves and waving. To his left he saw Operetta trying her best not to glance at him. Mr. Hack had now had his attention lured to the back of the classroom, where he noticed she was blocking out the lesson. Johnny knew someone else was next to him, but she had been so quiet that he had completely forgotten she existed.

"Miss Phantom can you at least pretend you're listening to the lesson," Mr. Hack barked.

Operetta raised her head and removed her headphones, briefly making eye contact with Johnny as he sat down next to her. He didn't even emote. This was the first time he had really looked at her face. From his angle, he could only see her right side. Her eye was like a pool of gemstones, and she had long spider-like lashes on both the top and bottom. Her bright red lips slightly protruded and pouted. The left side was obscured by a white porcelain mask. It resembled a theater tragedy mask, with a single eye and no other visible features.

'That's a strange fashion statement if I've ever seen one'

The bell finally rang after what felt like an eternity. Operetta began packing her headphones and unused textbooks into her totebag. Johnny didn't have much to pack or sort out; he just sat still for a moment.

From the front row, a tall, slender vampire appeared in front of Johnny's desk. She had bobbed black hair and bright red eyes. Not unlike Toralei, she also had her own posse of vampire ghouls, who were twirling their hair and giggling. Gory leaned against the desk, pressing her palms onto the surface.

She was mere inches away from his face.

"Johnny, right? I'm Gory, Gory Fangtell. If you ever need some company for lunch, feel free to join us; we won't bite...well, we try not to." She hummed slightly biting her lower lip.

His expression barely moved; his eyebrows rose at her proposition. "I'm good thanks, but if I ever want to spend time with a bunch of shallow bloodsuckers, you'll be the first to know."

This was the first time Gory had ever been turned down by a guy before; he must be out of his mind.

'He must either be gay or have zero taste in women'

She hissed in disgust and promptly turned away; her friends gave him judgemental looks as they scurried off. Operetta could hardly contain her laughter at Gory's pure narcissism. She knew for certain that it wouldn't work. That not every guy at Monster High would fall to their knees in admiration at the sight of her.

"Operetta!" A loud Irish voice called out. "Are you coming? I'm starving!"

Scarah appeared as if she had materialized out of nowhere; when Operetta turned around, Johnny was gone. She felt as though they had connected, even if only for a moment. As if he had taken an interest in her.

'Operetta, don't be stupid,'

She brushed the idea out of her head and linked her arm with Scarah's. The two made their way towards the creepateria to satiate the banshee's hunger.