The next day, Frankie and Jake were already up. They joined Viktor and Viveka on the couch to watch TV. All 4 of them had already eaten breakfast by the way.
"We're glad you kids had a great time at the listening party yesterday." Viktor said, making conversation.
"Did your friends enjoy listening to Michael Jackson?" Viveka asked.
"They sure did! Isn't that right, Frankie?" Jake asked, looking at her.
"Yep! I think it's safe to say he's one of my favorite artists now." Frankie said with a smile.
"How exactly did you guys listen to him?" Viktor asked.
"On my phone. I connected it to my bluetooth speaker to get the best quality sound." Jake responded.
"Nice! You know, back in our day, we listened to music on these things called vinyl records." Viveka said.
Frankie gave a mischievous smirk. "We know what those are, Mom."
"Our friend, Operetta, listens to those." Jake added.
"Good for her!" Viktor said, grinning.
Suddenly, Frankie and Jake's phones vibrated. They pulled them out and their screens showed text messages from Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, and Ghoulia asking if they want to go to the Maul.
"The ghouls wanna know if we wanna go to the Maul this afternoon." Frankie told Jake.
"That sounds fun! I've never been to the Maul here before, actually." Jake said.
"You'll love it, Jake. It's the best shopping center in town." Frankie said.
Viktor and Viveka overheard the conversation. "What about the Maul?" Viktor asked.
"Our ghoulfriends texted us asking if we wanna go there with them in the afternoon." Jake said.
"Oh. Do you wanna go?" Viveka asked.
"Yeah, if you're okay with it." Frankie said.
"Of course we're okay with it!" Viktor said with a chuckle. "Just be careful."
"We will." Jake reassured.
XXXXXXX
When the afternoon came, Frankie and Jake got texts from their friends saying they would meet them at the Maul; Viktor and Viveka said bye to them as they left the house.
Frankie and Jake got in the car; Jake connected his phone to it via bluetooth, opened Musi, selected Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album and pressed play, then put the keys in the ignition and drove off.
"Oh, Off the Wall! My second favorite Michael Jackson album." Frankie said happily.
"It's my personal favorite, with Thriller right next to it." Jake said.
The two sang along to Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, the first track on the album on the drive down.
(20 minutes later)
Frankie and Jake arrived at the Maul. They got out of the car and approached the entrance where Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, and Ghoulia were sitting at the patio.
"Hey, ghouls!" Frankie greeted.
"Hey!" the 5 ghouls greeted in unison.
Draculaura looked at Jake and said, "Jake, I think you put us in a trance."
"What do you mean?" Jake asked with a confused giggle.
"Ever since you exposed us to Michael Jackson, he's all we wanna listen to now." Lagoona said.
"Seriously, we've been listening to him non-stop." Clawdeen said.
"We're obsessed!" Cleo said.
Jake gave a proud smile. "Well, I'm honored you ghouls love the guy as much as I do!"
The gang laughed endearingly. They then went inside the Maul and began walking around. Jake looked around and immediately took a liking to it, noticing all the stores and stuff, and especially the monsters.
"I like this place so far! It has everything you'd expect in a normie mall." Jake said.
"Except for monsters." Frankie said, giggling.
"True. Anyway, I don't know about you ghouls but I'm getting hungry." Jake said.
"I could go for a bite, too." Cleo said.
"Me too." Clawdeen said.
"Same." Draculaura said.
"Ditto." Lagoona said.
Ghoulia spoke zombie, also saying that she was hungry.
"The food court's down that way. We can get something to eat there." Frankie suggested while pointing ahead.
At that moment, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jake walked to the food court. They stumbled upon a pizza restaurant and decided that's what they wanted to eat.
"What kind of pizza do you guys want? I'll buy." Jake said.
"Oh, Jake, you don't have to do that." Clawdeen said, feeling guilty.
"No, I insist!" Jake said happily.
"Are you sure?" Frankie asked.
"Positive." Jake said.
"Well, that's very generous of you." Lagoona said with a smile.
Jake grinned. "What toppings do y'all want?"
"Um, we all agreed on half pepperoni, half cheese." Draculaura said.
"Half pepperoni, half cheese, got it." Jake repeated back.
"What kind are you gonna get?" Frankie asked.
"I'll do cheese. I'm not a huge fan of pepperoni pizza." Jake replied.
"What?! Pepperoni pizza's delicious!" Cleo said, giving a shocked grin.
"But it's so greasy! That doesn't make it enjoyable for me." Jake said.
"Yeah, it is greasy, but I still love it." Clawdeen said.
At that moment, Jake went up to the counter and ordered 7 slices of pizza. After he paid the cashier, he handed him the slices and wished him a good day.
The gang sat down at a table and started eating. Jake took all the eyeballs off of his pizza before taking his first bite.
"How is it, Jake?" Lagoona asked him.
"Pretty good! I'll just have to get used to it having eyeballs on it." Jake said with a chuckle.
"All of the food here has eyeballs on them." Frankie said.
Jake made a grossed out face. "That's kinda gross."
"Not for us!" Draculaura cheerfully said.
When Jake swallowed the bite he took, he set his pizza down and wiped his hands with a napkin. He then pondered a question that was on his mind for a while.
"So, Draculaura, Lagoona, Cleo, um...can I ask you ghouls a question?" Jake asked.
"Of course!" Cleo said welcomingly.
"How do I put this? Uh...do Clawd, Deuce, and Gil have a problem with us hanging out together?" Jake asked. The tone of his voice showed clear hesitation.
Draculaura, Lagoona, and Cleo were a little caught off guard by that question, shown in their facial expressions.
"No, not at all. Why?" Lagoona asked.
"I just don't want them to get jealous. I'm afraid that if they get jealous, they'll end up disliking me and I don't want that to happen." Jake said.
"Why would they get jealous?" Draculaura asked, confused.
"Because they're your boyfriends and I'm one of your guy friends. What if they feel threatened by me?" Jake asked apprehensively.
Cleo leaned forward. "Jake, our boyfriends aren't going to feel threatened by you. A boy and a girl can be just friends without getting romantically involved with one another."
"Yeah, Jackson's also one of our guy friends and Clawd, Gil, and Deuce aren't threatened by him." Frankie reassured.
"No offense, but I think you're worried for nothing, dude." Clawdeen said with a chuckle.
Ghoulia spoke zombie while nodding her head in agreement.
Jake was grateful for the reassurance. A big thing about him was that he tended to get really paranoid about stuff, like relationships for instance.
"Well, thanks for reminding me. I've never told you guys this, but I have really bad paranoia and anxiety. Diagnosed, by the way." Jake said.
Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, and Ghoulia immediately became concerned for their friend.
"Jake, are you okay? Is there something going on with you that we don't know about?" Frankie asked.
"What do you mean?" Jake asked, perplexed.
"First, your family dies tragically in a plane crash, then you get put through foster care, then you're getting really thirsty and going to the bathroom a lot, and now you're telling us you have anxiety and paranoia." Draculaura said.
"We've only known you for a week and all this stuff is happening to you and it's happening so fast. That's why we're worried about you." Clawdeen said.
Jake slumped down in his seat. "Well, uh, my family dying I definitely didn't see coming, me going to foster care just kind of happened at the last minute, the thirst and bathroom thing was sort of a fluke, and I don't show my paranoia all the time. I sometimes hide it."
"That's not good, mate. It's not good to bottle up your emotions like that." Lagoona warned.
"But I don't like feeling that way, Lagoona. I hate dealing with anxiety so I try my best not to show it, you know? Even though it eats me up inside." Jake said.
"We understand that, but still. Like you said, it's eats you up inside and it's not healthy. It's better to open up and talk about these things." Cleo said.
"Like you're doing right now." Frankie said.
Jake was trying his hardest not to be ungrateful at the ghouls' worry for him. Constant worry put him under stress.
"I just don't want you guys to think I'm some ungrateful jerk." Jake mused.
"Jake, what are you talking about? You're not being ungrateful at all!" Draculaura said.
"You've shown your appreciation for us many times over the course of us knowing you. You're far from ungrateful. Also, I'm sorry for saying you were worried about nothing before. I wasn't trying to be insensitive." Clawdeen said apologetically.
Jake understandably smiled. "It's alright, Clawdeen. I sometimes think I worry too much myself."
"We've all felt that way before." Cleo said.
"But remember this, Jake. No matter what happens, we'll always be here for you." Lagoona said.
"That's a ghoulfriend's promise!" Frankie said.
"Through thick and thin!" Draculaura said.
Ghoulia agreed by speaking zombie.
Touched, Jake wiped away a tear from his eye and smiled.
"You know, um, nobody except my family ever cared about me this much. What you're saying means so much to me, truly."
"That's what best ghoulfriends are for!" Frankie said happily.
"And I'll always be here for you guys. You can count on me for that." Jake reassured.
The ghouls smiled; the gang's bond was getting stronger and stronger every minute. After they finished their pizza, they left the food court and continued walking around.
"While we're all here, do you guys need anything? I know I need some new clothes, that's for sure." Cleo said.
"I wouldn't mind going clothes shopping." Clawdeen said.
"Me too. I've been piling up in laundry the past couple weeks." Lagoona said.
"Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Ghoulia, do you guys need anything from here?" Cleo asked them.
"No thanks, Cleo, we're good." Draculaura responded.
"Alright. Are you gonna come with us while we shop or?" Cleo asked.
"Actually, there's this arcade on the second floor we wanna show Jake, so no." Frankie said.
"Gotcha! We'll all meet up once we're done with whatever." Cleo said.
"Sounds good!" Jake said.
At that moment, the gang split up into 2 groups. Frankie, Draculaura, Ghoulia, and Jake went in one direction, while Clawdeen, Lagoona, and Cleo went in another.
Frankie, Draculaura, Ghoulia, and Jake approached an escalator and rode it to the second floor of the Maul.
"What's this arcade you ghouls wanna show me?" Jake asked, curious.
"Without giving away too much, let's just say it'll blow your mind." Draculaura said with a smile.
Ghoulia nodded, showing her agreeance.
"You're in for a real treat!" Frankie said.
That got Jake's hopes up. He loved going to arcades, whether they had classic games or just redemption games.
Frankie, Draculaura, and Ghoulia led to Jake to the arcade. When they went inside, Jake was already floored.
"Holy crap! This place is gigantic!" Jake exclaimed with a big grin on his face.
"See? We told you it was going to blow your mind!" Draculaura said happily.
The 4 looked around for games they wanted to play. Stumbling upon a 4-player air hockey, they went up to it and decided that as their first game.
"I'm gonna go get some tokens." Frankie said, and walked to the change machine. She inserted a 2-dollar bill into the machine and after it ejected a good amount of tokens, she went back to her friends.
Frankie inserted 4 tokens into the air hockey game and it was fired up. She, Draculaura, Ghoulia, and Jake grabbed the paddles and began playing.
Meanwhile, on the first floor, Clawdeen, Lagoona, and Cleo were wandering around a clothing store looking for new clothes to buy. They looked at various outfits and the price tags on them; much to their disappointment, everything was so expensive.
"So far, this store isn't giving us much luck." Clawdeen mused.
"Yeah, everything's so overpriced. I guess that's what happens when you shop in the Maul." Lagoona said.
"It's exactly what happens when you shop in the Maul. The prices are always twenty times the amount you'd expect at a regular retail store." Cleo said.
The trio continued looking around, but unfortunately for them, they couldn't find anything they liked.
"Ugh, let's just get outta here. This place isn't worth our money." Cleo said, disgusted.
At that moment, Clawdeen, Lagoona, and Cleo left the clothing store in a let-down manner.
"I don't know what I expected going into that store. Do you ghouls feel the same way?" Clawdeen asked.
"You bet. At least this time we didn't waste any money." Lagoona said.
"That's true. I guess we learned our lesson from previous visits." Cleo said.
Back at the arcade, Frankie, Draculaura, Ghoulia, and Jake were playing all sorts of games, including Skee-Ball, racing games, strength testers, and much more. After they traded in their tickets for prizes, they left the arcade and rode the escalator down to the first floor.
"What'd you think of the arcade, Jake?" Frankie asked him, awaiting his answer.
"Did you have fun?" Draculaura asked in an ecstatic tone.
Jake smiled thoughtfully. "I was pleasantly surprised. The variety of how many games they had is what sold me."
Ghoulia spoke zombie.
"Ain't that the truth!" Frankie said.
Frankie, Draculaura, Ghoulia, and Jake met up with Clawdeen, Lagoona, and Cleo near a bench.
"Clothes shopping didn't go over well?" Draculaura asked.
"Nope. The store we went to, I forget the name of it, didn't have anything we liked." Clawdeen replied.
"Plus every piece of clothing there was too expensive for our liking." Lagoona said.
"So we just decided 'forget this' and left." Cleo added.
Jake smirked mischievously. "I didn't know you ghouls were such fashionistas."
Frankie, Draculaura, and Ghoulia giggled at Jake's joke, while Clawdeen, Lagoona, and Cleo had a different reaction.
"Well, I'm more of a fashionista than Lagoona and Cleo." Clawdeen said with pride.
"Not true! I'm just as much of a fashionista as you are!" Cleo exclaimed, looking at Clawdeen.
"And I'm not a fashionista at all. I just get roped into things a lot of the time." Lagoona said.
"I'm just joking!" Jake said, chuckling.
Realizing that Jake in fact was just joking, Clawdeen, Lagoona, and Cleo laughed endearingly as well.
"Oh, Jake, you really know how to pull our leg, bro!" Clawdeen said while playfully hitting him in the arm.
Jake giggled in response. He actually did have a well sense of humor and knew when to use it.
During this time, the ghouls decided to give Jake a tour of the Maul. They explored the entire building, although they didn't go into every place, like the movie theater for example.
XXXXXXX
Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jake all had a wonderful time together. Jake gave the ghouls rides back to their respective homes before he and Frankie headed back to their place.