The following morning, Jake woke up after a pretty good sleep. His scratches were already starting to heal overnight, much to his relief. He hopped out of bed and came out of his room, followed by Frankie.

"Good morning, Frankie!" Jake greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning, Jake! Did you sleep alright last night?" Frankie asked.

"Yep." Jake said.

"That's good. I noticed that your cuts are going away already." Frankie said.

"Oh, yes! My body doesn't hurt as much either." Jake said.

"Awesome!" Frankie said, giving a cheerful smile.

Jake smiled back. He and Frankie walked down the hallway and came into the living room, then sat at the table, joining Viktor and Viveka.

"Morning, kids!" Viktor greeted.

"Morning." Jake and Frankie both greeted.

The kids began eating breakfast; the Stein parents did the same thing.

"How'd ya sleep last night, buddy?" Viveka asked, looking at Jake.

"Pretty good. My body doesn't hurt as much as it did before." Jake responded.

"That's good. Your scratches are already going away we noticed." Viktor said.

"Mm-hmm." Jake said with a nod.

Viveka looked at her daughter. "What about you, honey? Did you sleep good last night, too?"

"Sure did!" Frankie replied.

"So did we!" Viktor said, referring to himself and his wife.

"Well, would you look at that? We all slept good last night!" Jake said happily.

The 4 laughed endearingly at that statement.

XXXXXXX

When Jake and Frankie arrived at school, they got out of the car and entered the building, greeting Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, and Ghoulia.

"Hey, Clawdeen, can you find your brother and tell him to come over here real quick, please?" Jake asked her. He had a mischievous grin on his face.

Clawdeen was confused but nodded, replying, "Sure." She walked in the opposite direction.

"Looks like your scratches are already healing, Jake!" Draculaura said, changing the subject.

"Yep! My body pretty much doesn't hurt anymore either." Jake said.

"You know what they say, miracles do happen." Frankie said.

"Some people heal faster than others." Cleo added.

"That's right." Lagoona said.

Ghoulia nodded in agreement.

Clawdeen and Clawd came back to the group. They were curious at Jake's request.

"Hey, Jake. Clawdeen told me you wanted to see me. What's up?" Clawd asked.

Still grinning, Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a tennis ball. This immediately got Clawdeen and Clawd excited as they're eyes widened and started panting.

"Fetch!" Jake said, and threw the ball across the hallway.

Clawdeen and Clawd got on all fours and chased after the ball.

The ghouls looked at Jake and smirked.

"What was that all about?" Frankie asked.

"I forgot I had a tennis ball in my suitcase, so I just decided to bring it with me and entertain Clawd and Clawdeen for the heck of it." Jake said.

"They sure love playing fetch, that's for sure." Draculaura said.

Clawdeen and Clawd came back with the ball, although Clawd was the one who had it in his mouth, much to his sister's disappointment.

"I got it!" Clawd said happily.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and gloat." Clawdeen said while rolling her eyes.

Jake grabbed the ball and put it back in his pocket. "I only had one ball with me. I should've went to the store and got another one before school. Sorry, Clawdeen."

"It's okay. It's no big deal." Clawdeen said with an understanding smile.

At that moment, the bell rang and the gang headed to first period, sitting at their desks. Jackson, Deuce, and Heath came in a moment later. They noticed that Jake's wounds were halfway cleared up.

"You're looking better already, bro!" Deuce said, grinning.

"Thanks! I feel a lot better, too." Jake said.

"I hope so since you're scratches looked pretty painful." Jackson said.

"They were, Jackson, they were. But I managed to tough it out." Jake said.

"That's my guy!" Heath said cheerfully.

Jake smiled gleefully at that statement.

Shortly after, Mr. Rotter stood up and presented himself.

"Good morning, class!"

"Good morning, Mr. Rotter!" the students greeted.

"Jake, it is great to know you are doing much better." Mr. Rotter told him.

"Thank you, Mr. R.!" Jake said with gratitude.

Mr. Rotter smiled and began his lesson. Since he taught both dead languages and math, the first half of the block was dead languages, and the second half was math.

(1 hour later)

It was time for second period. Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jackson walked to Mad Science and took their seats. Then, Robecca came in and did the same; she got excited and worried when she noticed Jake.

"Jake, you're back!" Robecca said happily while hugging him.

Jake giggled and returned the hug.

"How are you? Are you okay? You look a lot better." Robecca said.

"I'm okay, thank you for asking." Jake responded.

"Your scratches are pretty much gone and you look rested." Robecca said.

"Yep! My body stopped hurting, too." Jake said.

"Oh, that's so great! I'm glad you had a rather fast recovery." Robecca said, smiling.

"Me too." Jake said, smiling back.

Robecca sat back down and looked at the gang. "How are the rest of you?"

"We're good! How are you?" Draculaura asked.

"I'm good!" Robecca replied.

Now that the gang was all good, Mr. Hack put his newspaper down and eyeballed his students.

"Alright, my students, listen up. Today, we will starting on our first Mad Science project of the year. Any questions?" Mr. Hack asked.

Jackson raised his rand.

"Go ahead, Jackson." Mr. Hack said.

"Um, what's the project about?" Jackson asked.

"You'll see." Mr. Hack responded.

At that moment, Mr. Hack began passing out construction paper to the class along with litmus paper. Then, he gave out different solutions and went back to his desk.

"You'll be testing both the acidity and basicity of different solutions using the litmus paper in front of you. You'll keep track of your progress on the construction paper I passed out. You may work by yourself, with a partner, or in a group. Does anybody have any questions before we get started?" Mr. Hack asked.

Frankie raised her hand.

"Frankie?" Mr. Hack asked.

"When is this project due?" Frankie asked.

"By the end of class. You have a little less than an hour to work on it, so get movin'." Mr. Hack said.

With that being said, the class started working. Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, and Robecca looked at each other in preparation.

"Are we, uh, working together as a group?" Jake asked.

"You bet we are!" Clawdeen said excitedly.

Jake grinned. "I had a feeling!"

The gang began to work on their project. They used the litmus paper to test which solutions were either acidic or basic, then recorded that data on the construction paper. This lasted until the end of the block.

(1 hour later)

After the class finished their projects, they turned them in on Mr. Hack's desk and left, heading to third period.

Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jackson walked to Clawculus, saying bye to Robecca on their way in. They took their seats and greeted Operetta; all of them were glad that Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody weren't there.

"Jake, are you, uh, doin' okay?" Operetta asked him.

"Yeah. My scratches are healing and my body doesn't hurt." Jake said.

"That's great! I gotta be honest, you took this whole situation like a champ." Operetta said.

Jake made a face. "I don't think I did. I cried in the bathroom after I was attacked."

"Hey, that's okay. Just because you cried doesn't mean you're a coward or a wimp. Contrary to popular belief, crying isn't a sign of weakness, Jake. It's something that comes naturally." Operetta said.

Those words made Jake smile. He always felt ashamed to cry around other people, but now that he got reassurance, he no longer felt the need to feel that way.

"Thank you, Operetta. I needed to hear that." Jake said gratefully.

"Of course." Operetta said, smiling.

Soon enough, Mr. Mummy started his lesson and the class followed along.

XXXXXXX

Right after Study Howl, Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, and Operetta went to the creepateria for lunch. Abbey, Robecca, Spectra, Clawd, Gil, Deuce, Heath, and Manny joined them.

Jake looked at Gil. "So, Gil, you've been having fun listening to Michael Jackson?"

"Oh yeah! Good thing Lagoona showed me his stuff on FrightTube, otherwise I never would've known about him." Gil said.

"I just knew you would love him, babe." Lagoona said with a grin.

"What's your favorite album?" Jake asked.

"It's a tie between Off the Wall, Thriller, and Dangerous." Gil responded.

"Great choices!" Jake said cheerfully.

Gil smiled.

Spectra chimed in. "How long have you been a Michael Jackson fan, Jake?"

"Since I was a toddler. There was a point in time where he was all I'd listen to until I started branching out later." Jake said.

"In my opinion, Michael Jackson blows Justin Biter and the Jaundice Brothers out of the water. No comparison." Frankie declared.

"Definitely! His writing, his performances, everything, is leagues above those two in every way." Cleo said.

"That's why he's not only the king of pop, but the king of music, too." Jake said.

Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Abbey, Robecca, Operetta, Jackson, Clawd, Gil, Deuce, and Heath all agreed to that.

"Me and Spectra still haven't listened to him yet." Manny said.

"He's on FrightTube, just type in his name and he should be the first thing that comes up." Clawd said.

At that moment, Spectra and Manny pulled out their iCoffins, opened up the FrightTube app and searched for Michael Jackson. Fortunately, they were able to find him easily!

"I found him!" Spectra said excitedly.

"Me too!" Manny said, just as excited.

"Awesome!" Jake said with a happy grin.

Spectra looked at Manny and asked him, "Manny, do you wanna listen to Michael Jackson together after school?"

"Heck yeah I do!" Manny replied, very ecstatic.

"Great! This is gonna be so exciting!" Spectra cheerfully said.

Jake smiled at the thought of his ghost and minatour friends about to be in for a real treat later, not to mention he just loved sharing his admiration for his favorite singer with people who've never heard of him.

"You guys are gonna have the time of your lives, I can guarantee it!" Jake said.

"You won't regret a single thing." Heath added.

After that discussion, the conversation switched to a more recent matter.

"Jake, if I'm being honest, I didn't think you'd come to school today." Deuce said.

"Me neither. The nurse said my scratches would take a few days to go away but they started doing so overnight. I guess I got lucky." Jake said.

"Has Frankie and her parents been taking good care of you?" Draculaura asked.

"Mm-hmm. They checked on me all day yesterday. Right, Frankie?" Jake asked her.

"Yup!" Frankie said with a nod.

Abbey looked at Jake and Frankie. "How has you two living together going? You guys haven't said anything about it."

"Oh, it couldn't be more amazing. I love having Frankie as a roommate." Jake said, smiling.

Frankie blushed and smiled. "Jake, I love having you as a roommate, too."

"And her parents have been so good to me. It's like they already think of me as their child." Jake said.

"Is it better than living in a foster home?" Jackson asked.

"Psssh, a million times better, Jackson! I actually feel secure and cared for. I mean, I felt secure and cared for at my old home, but it's just better at Frankie's." Jake responded.

"That's how we were hoping you'd feel when we took you in. Secured and cared for." Frankie said softly.

Jake smiled joyously.

When lunch was over, the gang threw away their food scraps and put the trays back where they were, then headed out.

XXXXXXX

At the end of the day, Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, and Ghoulia, as well as their friends, left Monster High. Spectra and Manny left together so they could listen to Michael Jackson; Manny also brought his girlfriend Iris Clops along with him.