The following day, when Jake and Frankie arrived at school, their friends were standing in the hallway ready to apologize.
"Jake, we're very sorry about yesterday. We weren't thinking clearly." Draculaura said.
"We were so mad at Toralei that we didn't conside your feelings." Cleo added.
"It's okay. I'm sorry for getting mad at you guys. I was overreacting." Jake said.
"It's all good, man. Forgive us?" Clawd asked.
"Yeah!" Jake said with a smile.
Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Abbey, Robecca, Operetta, Spectra, Rochelle, Venus, Iris, Howleen, Jackson, Clawd, Gil, Deuce, Heath, Manny, and Slo Mo smiled as well. They then owed 3 other monsters an apology, in which they found them playing on their iCoffins and went up to them.
Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody noticed the gang, with Heath right in front.
"Hi." Toralei greeted.
"Hi. I'm sorry for setting the sprinklers off on you guys, that was immature of me." Heath said.
"It's okay, Heath. We know why you did." Meowlody said understandably.
"No hard feelings." Purrsephone said, smiling.
Abbey chimed in. "And we're sorry for letting it happen."
"We're all good! I do wanna say something, though. I know the three of us haven't been the nicest ghouls at Monster High, but starting today, that's gonna change. We're gonna prove to you guys that we can be kind to people, no exception." Toralei said.
The main 6 ghouls, Abbey, Robecca, Operetta, Spectra, Rochelle, Venus, Iris, Howleen, and the mansters were surprised, but glad. Jake grinned as he was proud of the werecat trio.
"Well, that's very mature of you, Toralei!" Frankie said.
"We are impressed." Rochelle said with a nod of approval.
Coincidentally, a werewolf ghoul was having a hard time opening her locker; Toralei approached her, ready to help.
"Do you need help opening your locker?" Toralei asked.
"Yeah. It must be jammed or something." the werwolf responded.
Toralei grabbed the skull lock and twisted it a few times, in which she was able to successfully open it.
"There you go!"
"Wow...thank you, Toralei!" the werewolf said, thankful.
"You're welcome!" Toralei said with a smile.
The werewolf put her notebook in her locker and closed it, but not too hard; she didn't want it to get jammed again. She smiled at Toralei before walking away.
"Didn't I tell you guys she had it in her?" Jake asked his friends.
"I guess you proved us right!" Deuce said, grinning.
Clawdeen chimed in. "Hey, Toralei, Purrsephone, Meowlody, do you wanna sit with us at lunch?"
"Oh, uh...no, thank you. We wanna give you guys your space." Toralei said.
"Are you sure? 'Cause you're welcome to sit with us if you want." Lagoona said.
"That's okay, we'll join you some other time. But thanks anyway." Toralei said.
"Sure!" Draculaura said happily.
At that moment, the bell rang and it was time for first hour. After him, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, Clawd, Deuce, and Heath went to Dead Languages, Jake looked at them.
"Do you guys trust Toralei and her friends now?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I think so. They seem like they could be nice from now on." Jackson replied.
"Hopefully they stay nice." Frankie said.
"They will, I just know they will." Jake said.
The ghouls and mansters smiled at Jake's sheer optimism. As long as he remained trustworthy, they remained trustworthy, too.
Mr. Rotter went up to the chalkboard and began teaching, in which his students followed along accordingly.
(1 hour later)
Second period was on the rise. Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jackson walked to Mad Science, with Robecca coming in immediately afterwards.
"Hey, Robecca, do you trust Toralei?" Jake asked.
"It's safe to say I do. I believe in her." Robecca responded with a smile.
"Good." Jake said, also smiling.
"Do you trust her?" Robecca asked.
"Totally!" Jake said.
"Good!" Robecca said.
Mr. Hack overheard the conversation. "Who do we trust?"
"Nobody!" the gang lied, giving nervous grins.
"Uh-huh, that's what I thought." Mr. Hack said with his eyebrow raised. "Alright, class, today will be a note-taking day, so pay very close attention!"
With that being said, the class took out their notebooks and opened them, ready to write. Mr. Hack turned on the projector (which had the notes the class was about to take) and the lesson started.
(1 hour later)
When Mad Science was over, Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, and Robecca walked out and began heading to third period.
On the way to Clawculus, Jake stopped at his locker to grab his textbook; this was when Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody went up to him.
"Hey, Jake!" the cats greeted welcomingly.
"Hey, guys!" Jake greeted. He had just opened his locker.
"Whatcha doin'?" Toralei asked.
"Getting my Clawculus book out of my locker. I didn't wanna forget it." Jake said, giggling.
"Good thing, we're reading chapter six." Purrsephone said.
"We are?" Jake asked.
"Yep. Hey, are you still having problems with your thirst and bladder?" Meowlody asked.
"I had some a couple weeks ago, um, I finally went to my doctor about it and he said it was because I was drinking too many liquids. Ever since then I've been monitoring my liquid take." Jake responded.
"Oh wow! And you've been good? No issues?" Toralei asked.
"Mm-hmm." Jake said while grabbing his textbook and closing his locker.
"That's great, Jake! We're relieved." Purrsephone said, smiling.
"Me too! My friends have been checking on me and looking out for my health." Jake said.
It was at this time that Jake, Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody started walking to class together.
"We were hoping they would be." Meowlody said.
"Yeah. What'd you guys do while you were suspended?" Jake asked.
"Not a lot of stuff, we just thought about what we did to you and reflected on it." Toralei said.
"Oh. I myself tried not to think about it too much." Jake said.
"That's understandable." Purrsephone said.
The 4 made it to Clawculus and took their seats just in time before the second bell.
Operetta looked at Jake and told him, "Y'all seem to be gettin' along really well."
"We sure are." Jake said.
"To be honest with you, we didn't think you guys would apologize to us. That's really big of you." Toralei said with a smile.
"We were being petty and let our anger get the best of us." Frankie said.
"No, it's okay. We can be petty, too." Meowlody said.
"Everyone can be petty. It's a natural emotion." Draculaura said.
Jake, Frankie, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, Operetta, Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody agreed to that.
Soon enough, Mr. Mummy left his desk and stood in front of the class to start his lesson.
"Good morning, everyone!"
"Good morning, Mr. Mummy!" the class greeted in unison.
"Before we start, Toralei, Meowlody, Purrsephone, Jake, is everything okay with you guys?" Mr. Mummy asked.
"We're all good!" Jake replied, grinning.
Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody gave a thumbs up while also grinning.
"Well, I'm glad! Anyway, please open your books and turn to chapter six." Mr. Mummy said.
At that moment, the students opened their textbooks and turned to the chapter assigned to them. Mr. Mummy went back to his desk and opened his own book to follow along.
(1 hour later)
After Clawculus, the class closed their books and left as Mr. Mummy said bye to them on their way out.
The gang stopped by their lockers to get their Dead Languages and Mad Science homework (they already had their Clawculus homework with them) before going to Study Howl. When Jake opened his locker, the door accidentally hit Hoodude Voodoo in the face; not that it hurt him anyway, he was a voodoo doll made of fabric.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, man! I didn't see you there. Are you okay?" Jake asked worriedly.
"I'm okay, you didn't hurt me." Hoodude said with a chuckle.
"Oh, okay, good!" Jake said. He then got a good look at Hoodude. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you supposed to be?"
"I'm a voodoo doll." Hoodude said.
Jake's eyes widened. "A voodoo doll?"
"Yep!" Hoodude said happily.
"Who made you?" Jake asked.
"I did!" Frankie said, chiming in. She put her arm around Hoodude.
"Yes indeed, Frankie thought she needed a boyfriend at the last minute and put me together." Hoodude added.
"How long did you two date?" Jake asked.
"We didn't really date. I got tossed to the side and then I came alive." Hoodude said.
Confused, Jake asked, "You got the tossed to the side?"
"It's not what you think, Jake. I didn't know Hoodude would become alive after I 'discarded' him." Frankie said defensively.
"I see. Well, it's nice to meet you, Hoodude! I'm Jake Wilder." Jake said.
"Nice to meet you, too, Jake!" Hoodude said while shaking his hand.
"Can I see your schedule? I wanna see if we have any classes together." Jake said.
"Sure." Hoodude said. He and Jake pulled out their schedules and compared them; unfortunately, they didn't share any classes with each other.
"Doesn't look like we have any classes together." Jake mused.
"I guess not. Oh well! We can always hang out at lunch!" Hoodude said matter-of-factly.
"That's true! I'll see you then." Jake said.
"Alright." Hoodude said.
As Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, and Operetta headed to Study Howl, they all said, "See you later, Hoodude!" to him on their way.
"See you guys later!" Hoodude said while walking in the other direction.
When the gang made it to Study Howl, they sat down at their favorite table and started working on homework while also chatting at the same time.
"Operetta?" Jake asked her.
"Hm?" Operetta asked.
"You trust Toralei, right?" Jake asked.
"Yeah. Judgin' from the way she's been actin' lately, I think she could become an ally instead of an enemy." Operetta responded.
"Good. I trust her, too." Jake said, nodding.
Jackson chimed in. "Hey, Jake, just letting you know, she's been nice to us before but it didn't last very long."
"What do you mean?" Jake asked.
"She would have her moments of kindness towards us for a minute but then she'd go back to her old self immediately afterwards." Clawdeen said.
"Like, she embarrassed me last year in Dramarama by setting off my stage fright. Even though she ended up apologizing to me, she continued to be mean to us and everyone else." Lagoona added.
"Wow! I didn't know you had stage fright, Lagoona." Jake said in surprise.
"I'm getting over it, our kissing scene not withstanding." Lagoona said, giggling.
"Right. But you know what I think? I think Toralei will continue to grow more and more kind as time goes on. I have faith in her." Jake said.
"So do we! Underneath her tough exterior, she's just a big ol' softie." Cleo said with a smile.
"Yeah!" Frankie agreed.
The gang smiled endearingly. They then continued doing their homework for the rest of the period.
(1 hour later)
At lunch, Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Abbey, Robecca, Operetta, Spectra, Rochelle, Venus, Iris, Howleen, Jackson, Clawd, Gil, Deuce, Heath, Manny, Slo Mo, and Hoodude were eating outside since the friend group was getting too big to sit inside. During this time, Jake was telling Hoodude all about him.
"So let me get this straight, Jake, both your parents AND grandparents died in a plane crash?!" Hoodude asked in shock.
"Yes." Jake said.
"And then you got sent to foster care?" Hoodude asked.
"That's correct. I'm living with Frankie now, though. She, um, wanted me to live with her so I wouldn't have to be an orphan for the rest of my life. Her and I are roommates and her parents are my guardians." Jake said.
"Oh, that's great! I'm happy for you." Hoodude said, sighing in relief and smiling.
"Thanks! I'm so indebted to Frankie and her family after what they did." Jake said with a grin.
Frankie grinned back endearingly.
Clawd changed the subject. "I had a weird dream last night."
"About what, babe?" Draculaura asked.
"Ozzy Osbourne was singing '...Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears!" Clawd said. He laughed in amusement.
The rest of the gang laughed as well, floored by Clawd's dream.
"Did he sing it in Britney's style or his own?" Deuce asked.
"He performed it in his traditional style. The whole time, I was thinking, 'Wait, Ozzy Osbourne doesn't sing this song! Britney Spears does!'" Clawd said with a chuckle.
"Dreams are weird." Jake quipped.
"Ain't that the truth." Spectra said.
"Speaking of music, did any of you guys share my playlist with Hoodude?" Jake asked.
"I took care of it!" Frankie said.
Jake gave a nod.
"Your playlist is just wonderful, Jake. So many genres mixed into one, it's a goldmine!" Hoodude said happily.
"Aw, thanks!" Jake said, flattered.
Hoodude smiled of endearance.
"You know, I watched this documentary on my phone last night that talked about eighties music. They talked about Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, that kind of stuff." Jake said.
"How was it?" Clawdeen asked.
"It was decent. My biggest problem with it was that it felt rushed to me." Jake replied.
"In what way?" Manny asked curiously.
"I don't know, it just, uh, seemed like they could've spent more time on it. Like, whenever they'd talk about one thing, they'd immediately move on to the next thing without giving me time to process the information, you know? It wasn't bad but it could've been better." Jake said.
"Interesting. How long was the documentary?" Heath asked.
"An hour and a half." Jake said with his mouth full.
"That's a perfect runtime. Not too long, not too short, just right." Robecca said.
"Mm-hmm." Jake agreed.
The gang continued conversing with one another until lunch was over. After they threw away their scraps, they went back inside the school and went to fifth period.
XXXXXXX
When the day ended, everybody said bye to their friends and went home; Jake and Frankie arrived at their house and were greeted by Viktor and Viveka.
"Hey, kids!" the elder Steins said.
"Hey!" Jake and Frankie said.
"School was good?" Viktor asked.
"Yep." Frankie said.
"Great!" Viveka cheerfully said.
Jake chimed in. "I met Hoodude Voodude today."
"He's the sentient voodoo doll, right?" Viktor asked.
"That's him! He's actually adorable now that I think about it." Jake said with a smile.
"He sure is. He's like a teddy bear." Frankie agreed, also smiling.
Frankie's parents giggled endearingly. In the meantime, the kids told them about they all made up with Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody, in which Viktor and Viveka were glad about that. After the discussion, the 4 started getting ready for dinner; grilled chicken was the meal for this evening.