Between classes, Frankie enjoyed learning how to use their phone. They also worked out what social media platforms were common among their fellow classmates. Phones also had so many useful apps! It made her brain happy with the collection of applications and programming. It was a nice distraction. They were starting to realize that being around so many people all at once, all day, was exhausting. Other monsters were also way too touchy for their liking.

When they left the bathrooms, Clawdeen caught their attention.

"Hey Frankie." Clawdeen greeted.

"Oh hey!" Frankie said, "This thing is so inventive. All of the genius parts of my brain love it. It has a flashlight and a compass. We'll need this tonight, And, who invented the selfie cam? It's like a mirror in a camera." they rambled excitedly, "And I love being constantly connected. I've signed up for eight social media platforms." They stalled slightly, "Of course, I haven't actually figured out the whole 'connected' part yet. I don't have any followers."

Just then, their phone screamed.

"Wait, I just got one!" Frankie stomped excitedly.

Just then, Cleo and some other girls came out of the washroom.

"Oh, yeah, that'd be me." Cleo said, pointing to Frankie's phone, "Now we can be beasties online. Fun." Cleo looked to Clawdeen, "Night-night, ghouls."

Yeah Frankie had a feeling Cleo really didn't mean that in a nice 'lets be friends way.' Cleo was smart but wasn't exactly the nicest ghoul in school. It made Frankie feel odd, and not in a good way. They fidgeted with their phone in their hands.

"You know what?" Clawdeen said as they walked, "Forget about her. I'm gonna follow you right now."

Frankie smiled, "That doesn't count." they were already friends without social media.

"Oh."

"Ooh, cute gorgon." Frankie said, noticing Deuce walking towards them.

"Hey Clawdeen, Frankie. How's it going?" Deuce greeted.

"Deuce, hi good." Clawdeen said.

Frankie stared at her, something was suddenly off.

"Hey, you're giving the speech at the founders day dinner, right?" Deuce asked Clawdeen.

"Yes, right." Clawdeen said.

Yes this was definitely turning awkward. They studied Clawdeen's face. She seemed both happy and distressed?

"I usually help out at it." Deuce explained, "So I've heard a bunch of student ambassador talks. If you wanted to jam on your speech sometime, maybe I could help."

"Wow." Clawdeen gave a nervous laugh. "That sounds…"

"N-no pressure." Deuce said with a charming smile, "just, you know if you wanted to hang out."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Gotta go, bye." Clawdeen said, leaving abruptly, leaving Frankie confused.

They stared at each other for a second, "I'm with her, so-" then Frankie followed after Clawdeen.

"Hey." Frankie called, catching up to Clawdeen, "You okay?

"You know that whole strong emotion fight or flight thing?" Clawdeen said, mildly panicked, "Apparently Deuce triggers it." Her tone changed "He really triggers it."

"Oh. I wonder why." Deuce didn't really seem dangerous but Frankie supposed he was a gorgon. But Clawdeen seemed to light up when she saw him. "Oh, is it because you like him?"

"What-no! Stop!" Clawdeen stumbled over her words.

Was that somehow alarming?

Clawdeen lightly pushed Frankie forward, encouraging them to move towards their dorm room faster.

Clawdeen needed time to collect herself as she was definitely freaking out. Frankie sat on her dresser and picked up a very fuzzy, soft pink notebook. It felt nice so they fiddled with it, running their hands along the material.

"Your intense emotional reaction makes perfect sense." Frankie said, "It's so interesting when monsters are attracted to each other. My spleen wrote a lot about it actually. It was shakespeare's"

"I'm not attracted to him." Clawdeen said.

Frankie shrugged, "I mean I totally get it. He's handsome, nice- A little dangerous…"

"No, no." Clawdeen said, taking the notebook from them, missing the feeling of it on their skin, "no, no, no, no, no. No, I don't like him."

"Too loud." Draculaura called, reading from her coffin.

"Not like that." Clawdeen said in a hushed tone.

Frankie shrugged, not really convinced.

"He's, you know, just a nice guy."

Who likes you like that. Frankie thought.

The door to the room opened with a familiar voice following it.

"Hi," Cleo said in a sing-song voice, "I couldn't help but overhear, you have a crush on Duce."

Frankie was pretty sure they were eavesdropping, but she isn't wrong, Clawdeen is showing classic signs of having a crush. The turning human one isn't normal for most monsters but most monsters weren't half human.

"No, I don't." Clawdeen insisted, "And it's none of your business anyways, Cleo."

Frankie wondered if Clawdeen just wasn't aware of it.

"Well, let me offer a little advice." Cleo said.

Frankie gripped the slides of Clawdeen's dresser and began fidgeting with the edges as she approached.

"Please don't." Clawdeen said, but Cleo ignored her.

"Forget him." Cleo said, "Don't get me wrong. I know how you're feeling. Even when I was once a little, naive mummy's girl," Cleo looked at a visibly uncomfortable Frankie, "Believe it or not."

"Not." Frankie noted. Hoping that she would leave soon.

"You can trust me, okay?" Cleo said, "I don't bite, but Deuce will."

"I don't like Deuce." Clawdeen said.

"Okay." Cleo said, "Well, good, 'cause' he's way out of your league."

Frankie was so confused. Cleo comes into their space, was actually really nice to start with then starts to insult them. What is with this mummy? They're like a double sided scalpel.

"Sure you're fun but your sense of fashion is way off Deuce's tastes." Cleo said to Clawdeen, then looked at Frankie, "You're some weird science experiment…" then back to clawdeen, "You don't stand a chance little puppy."

Frankie and Clawdeen looked down at the floor.

"Cleo." Draculaura said from her side of the room, "Oh my. It looks like you got a new friend there."the vampire gestured to her nose.

Frankie looked back at Cleo and saw a predominant pimple they swear hadn't been there before.

"Whoa." Frankie said, handing Cleo Clawdeen's purple mirror. They struggled to suppress their smiles.

"How did-" Cleo looked in horror, and screamed. Frankie felt oddly satisfied with Cleo's own distress. This is what Frankie would call Karma. "I never get pimples! I have perfect skin!"

Cleo threw the mirror on Calwdeen's bed and left in tears. Sure Frankie felt bad that she had left crying but they were too happy that the other girl was gone. They felt oddly invaded upon.

Clawdeen looked to be struggling to contain herself as well.

The announcement for curfew sounded, causing Frankie to grin.

"That's our cue." Clawdeen said with a nod.

Frankie was excited as they changed into their clothes again. Phones in their pockets, they snuck out of the dorm room. They almost ran into a few wandering faculty but with Clawdeen's ears, they managed to hide out of sight.

Finally exiting out of the school, they began walking towards the graveyard.

"This is so exciting!" Frankie said, "I've never done anything like this before. Hanging out. With a friend!"

Clawdeen laughed, "Neither have I. Though this is a strange wat to hang out. I've never had any friends before either."

Frankie smiled. Clawdeen was in the same boat. Well, almost. Clawdeen was a lot better at talking to people than they were. Sure Frankie wanted to make friends but sometimes it was stressful talking to other monsters. Sometimes being themself isn't enough. The boys from this morning were an example of that.

Soon they came to the cemetery gate which apparently was locked. Frankie was also not a good climber. They were still getting used to walking and the occasional jog.

"Okay." Clawdeen said, seeming far too pleased for the predicament.

Next thing they knew, Clawdeen jumped 9 feet in the air, over the gate. That was definitely not a normal trait.

"What!?" Frankie said, jumping excitedly.

"I know." Clawdeen laughed. Clearly pleased with herself.

Clawdeen found a lever and pulled, resulting in the gate swinging open to let Frankie in.

"Wow, werewolf powers are cool." Frankie said, "What else can you do?"

"Well," Clawdeen thought for a moment, "There's super-hearing, super-night vision, super-smell. Though that's not always so great." Frankie cringed, they would suppose not.

"Oh hey!" Frankie said, noticing a headstone, "It's my uncle Phil's grave. He died sad and alone. I have his thigh." Franki frowned, thinking to the interactions they'd had throughout the day, "I wonder if I have his social skills, too."

Clawdeen frowned at them.

"Can I tell you something personal, Clawdeen?" Frankie asked, almost tripping over the root.

"Frankie, you literally know my deepest, darkest secret." Clawdeen said with a smile. Frankie assumed that was a yes.

"My parent's designed me to be brilliant at everything, and I am, except this whole making friends thing." Frankie stated, "My brain has all these parts. I know it works differently from everyone else's, but I feel like there's a rule book for all this that I never got to read." Frankie frowned and felt like crying, though they weren't sure if they were capable of it, they were just so frustrated at knowing so much but also so little. "Out of all my social media apps, I've literally made one friend besides you, and it's Cleo, and that's only to make fun of me."

"Frankie, I've been alone my whole life." Clawdeen said, "So, I don't know anything about that rulebook either. All I know is, I'm your friend, and I like you, and your brain and all your parts."

Frankie smiled, a positive emotion swelling to the surface. Knowing, fer certain and not just speculating, that Clawdeen was their friend, made them feel better.

"Thanks," Frankie said, gesturing with their hand, "I think all my parts needed to hear that."

There was the sound of a loud moan, drawing the ghouls attention to a zombie now sitting up in a grave next to them, "Will you get off my bed? I'm trying to sleep."

"Sorry, Ghoulia." Clawdeen said.

Frankie awkwardly waved and the two of them continued on.

Frankie looked at the little dot on their map application and they were close, looking up at what was in front of them, "Ok the coordinates point right inside this very secure-looking stone structure."

They surveyed the spot and realized that there was no way to open it. No nob, no lever and not even a keyhole. Just a lot of vines and stone slabs.

"Wait." Clawdeen said, sniffing the air.

"What is it?"

Instead of responding, Clawdeen led the way to a dim light in the fog. What they found was their third roommate in front of a cauldron. They hid behind a couple gravestones.

"Unexpected." Clawdeen noted.

Frankie had to agree but they found it so cool to see! Draculaira said something they couldn't really hear but then she used a vial to scoop something out of the cauldron and sniffed it. Then, she started to float! They had so many questions

"Holy mother of minotaur!" Clawdeen said, revealing herself, followed by frankie.

"What are you doing here?" Draculaura asked.

"What are you doing here?" Clawdeen shot back, then pointed to the cauldron, "Witchcraft!"

"What? No. Definitely not." Draculaura tried in vain to defend.

"It is, isn't it?" Frankie said, then made a particular connection, "Wait, you made that pimple appear on Cleo's face!"

"No!" Draculaura started but Frankie could see they won this argument, "Yes, yes. Just please don't tell my dad. Vampires have been at war with witches for centuries. He'd kill me if I wasn't undead."

"Our lips are sealed." Clawdeen said with no hesitation. She seemed to be just as excited about it as Frankie.

"You can actually stitch mine shut if you'd like." Frankie grinned. They hoped they wouldn't but the option is still there.

Draculaura seemed surprised at their response. Frankie wondered why everyone was so shocked when they were accepted for something out of the ordinary.

"How did you learn how to do this?" Clawdeen asked.

"Well, It's not easy," she said, "You have to practice a lot."

"And smelling it makes you float?" asked Frankie.

"Yeah, it's called a power potion. It's supposed to lift you way off the ground. So, right now it's more of a pathetic potion. It's missing something I jut don't know what." Draculaura looked embarrassed, "I'm not very good yet."

"You seem pretty good." Clawdeen said.

Frankie had to agree.

That seemed to make Draculaura relax a little bit, "I know everyone says witchcraft is a filthy human habit but I love it." After a pause, Draculaura squinted at them, "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Clawdeen stammered, "I'm…well, you see…"

"Her dad is a human." Frankie supplied, they figured, with Draculaura being a witch, she wouldn't mind the whole human thing. Witchcraft was, afterall, a human discovery.

Draculaura's jaw dropped. That caused Clawdeen to spiral in the explanation about Hyde's lab and how Frankie found out.

"So, you're half-human and you need to find a potion made by a dead half-monster scientist, that may or may not be in a secret lab behind that locked door all before the Founders' Day dinner next week."

"Yep."

"Wow you summed it up really nicely there, yeah." Frankie said.

"That is complicated." Draculaura stated, "Man, my secret is big but yours is apocalyptic big." Draculaura approached to investigate the structure.

"I'd get kicked out of the only place I've ever really belonged." Clawdeen sighed.

Then, Draculaura spotted something and moved the vines, revealing a circular slab with a handprint carved into it.

"A palm print?" Frankie questioned, "There is a lock! It's just some kind of biometric hand reading lock. If Hyde made this he was ahead of his time."

Clawdeen tried it but her werewolf hand didn't work, much to all their disappointment.

"Okay." Clawdeen looked at Frankie, "Your parents didn't happen to give you Hyde's hand, did they?"

Frankie shook their head, that may have been useful, "Frida Kahlo's. You should see my self portraits.

"You know, there's probably a spell for that door." Draculaura stated.

"Wait, you'd help me?" Clawdeen asked.

"Here it is. Mist of releasing." Draculaura read.

"Sounds like a laxative." Clawdeen noted.

"It does." Agreed frankie.

"It's a powder spell." Draculaura deflated slightly, "Seriously advanced. I can't even pull off basic cauldron work yet. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this."

"So you practice." Clawdeen stated, "Put your mind to it and you can do anything. You've got this and We're here to help."

"Really?"

Frankie bounced on their toes in anticipation, "Yeah."

Draculaura looked almost sad but that wasn't the right word, Frankie thought.

"What's wrong?" Clawdeen asked.

"I never thought I'd see another monster actually be supportive of this." Draculaura admitted. It hurt Frankie's heart a little. "It's cool."

They approached the cauldron and Clawdeen picked up the book while Frankie took a look at all Draculaura's vials.

"Clawdeen, that's upside down." Draculaura said.

"Right." Clawdeen said, turning it around. "This isn't all in english, I can only read half of this."

"Yeah a lot of spell books are like that, some witches change things as time goes on and it gets better." Draculaura explained, "Sometimes it's like a code."

"Oh!" Clawdeen said, "Well Frankie is good with codes. They've got lots of genius brains in their head."

Frankie looked up at them and nodded. "It's true. I can speak several languages, including latin."

Draculaura handed them the spell book and Frankie began to read it over.

"You know, I've kept this a secret for a couple years because no one approves of it." Draculaura stated, "I've just met you and you're both so supportive. It's…unexpected."

"Well, I'm half-human and supposedly super dangerous." Clawdeen said.

"I'm only 16 days old. I know so much about everything but I don't understand the social aspect of existing. I want to make friends but it's harder than I thought. I also don't feel entirely comfortable around them either." Frankie explained, "Oh, what moss are you using?"

Draculaura stared at them, "Moss?" she looked over Frankie's shoulder, "that says fly."

Frankie shook their head, "No, it says moss."

"No, look at the tail. Musca." Draculaura read.

"That's a period. Musco." Frankie said.

Draculaura grabbed the book and held it closer to her face, "Oh." She handed the book back to Frankie, "Maybe you should list off everything."

Frankie smiled and Draculaura returned it.

Frankie handed Draculaura the moss then the vampire handed them a vial of potassium that they added to some of the cauldron. There came a satisfying explosion.

"You know, I don't really understand what the issue is." Frankies stated, "Witchcraft is like chemistry or any form of art. Everyone is capable of doing good and bad with it. Same for humans. Some of my parts came from human bodies and I don't think they would care much. Not all humans can be bad. Look at Clawdeen's dad."

"Aww, thank you, Frankie." Clawdeen laughed, "Dad is kind of into the whole 'being dangerous' thing though.

"Weren't your parents chased and almost killed by angry mobs though, Frankie?"

"Yes." Frankie shrugged, "That's why we have an alarm system, they are a bit paranoid considering they live in a town of monsters. Next to a town of humans. I don't really see the issue but that might be because I have never had a bad experience with a human. A lot of my human parts were treated poorly by other humans but they were treated well too." A spark, "Did you know Queen Elizabeth II gave my cortex, Alan Turing, a royal pardon in 2009, to right the wrong of him dying a criminal despite basically saving the world."

"I'm impressed." Draculaura said, "You were a little off putting at first I'll give you that, but I like the way your brain works."

"You're like, the perfect neutral party." Clawdeen smiled, You just kind of say whatever is in your head. It's refreshing.

"Thank you!" Frankie said, turning back to the cauldron, "You ready to give it another try, Draculaura?"

THe vampire took a deep breath and repeated the action of using a small vial to scoop the potion and inhaled it. This time, Draculaura steadily floated a few feet off the ground before it wore off, Frankieand Clawdeen rushing to catch her.

They all laughed.

"I can't believe it worked!" Draculaura said, "Moss! Frankie, you're a genius!"

"I know." Frankie said.

"We make such a good team!" Clawdeen said.

"We do." Draculaura agreed, "I've never felt like I could just be me before."

"I've only felt like that with my dad." Clawdeen admitted.

Frankie wrung their hands then fidgeted with their belts, "I feel like I don't fit sometimes."

"It's like people expect me to be something I'm not." stated the pink vampire.

"Yes!" Frankie bounced, "Exactly!"

"I've never really had friends before." Draculaura stated, "But I think we work."

"Yeah." Clawdeen said, "No one messes with the three of us."

They all had a good laugh as they decided to chat as they headed back to the school.

They all got ready for bed, again. Frankie was just getting comfortable when their phone screamed. Picking it up, they saw that they had a new follower. It was Draculaura. Frankie smiled, closing their eyes and quickly falling asleep.