Two hours later, Jake woke up from his nap. Now that his headache was gone, he came out of his room and sat with the Steins on the couch.

"How are you feeling?" Frankie asked.

"Much better now that my headache's gone." Jake responded.

"That's good!" Viktor said with a relieved smile.

"Yeah...I need to tell you guys something." Jake said, careful.

Frankie, Viktor and Viveka diverted their attention immediately.

"What is it?" Viveka asked.

Jake swallowed. "Gil was, um, able to have his schedule changed so that he could join our Dramarama class. Today, after class was over, he pulled me off to the side and told me to stop hanging out with Lagoona."

Instantly, the Steins were confused as to what they just heard.

"Why would he do that? Is his jealously getting worse?" Frankie asked.

"I don't know, but this next part's pretty bad. He told me to stop hanging out with Lagoona or else something bad was gonna happen to me. Basically, he threatened me!" Jake exclaimed.

Frankie, Viktor and Viveka were both shocked and angry; they didn't take threats to people they cared about lightly.

"Okay, no, no one is going to threaten our kid!" Viktor said, mad.

"Jake, you're sure that's what he said?" Viveka asked him to make sure she heard him correctly.

"Yeah, that's what he said! I couldn't believe it when I heard it but it's true!" Jake said.

"Well, the first thing we're doing when we get to school tomorrow is telling Bloodgood, 'cause NO ONE makes threats to you and gets away with it!" Frankie exclaimed in anger.

"I cannot believe this, first it was Toralei and now Gil. This is completely unacceptable." Viktor mused.

"I know. I'm trying not to think about it 'cause I don't wanna have a panic attack." Jake said.

"Just breathe, honey. Everything will be okay." Viveka reassured.

Jake took a few deep breaths to calm himself down; after that, he went to the refrigerator and took a lot of drinks of water, then went back to the couch.

"I forgot to tell you guys that I really did have a headache, I, um, get them when I'm super stressed out." Jake said.

"Oh, do you?" Frankie asked.

"Yeah. It runs in my family, actually." Jake replied.

"I think anybody could get headaches when they're stressed, though." Viktor said.

"True." Jake said. His stomach then rumbled, indicating that he was hungry.

Viveka got up and said, "I'll start on supper" before heading to the kitchen.

"What are we having, Mom?" Frankie asked her.

"Grilled chicken!" Viveka responded sweetly.

"Yummy!" Jake, Frankie, and Viktor said, getting pumped to eat.

When Viveka got all the things she needed to prepare the chicken, she turned on the air fryer and heated it to 450 degrees, then put the raw chicken inside and set the timer for 30 minutes, then went back to the couch.

30 minutes later, the chicken was done. Jake, Frankie, and Viktor sat at the table while Viveka grabbed 4 plates and served everyone including herself, drinks included; they began eating.

"How is it?" Viveka asked.

"This is amazing! You make the best grilled chicken ever!" Jake said happily and sincerely.

Viveka gave an appreciative smile. "Thank you, baby!"

"You're welcome. Frankie, Mr. Stein, you love it, too?" Jake asked them.

"Yes, we do!" Viktor responded, grinning.

"No doubt about it!" Frankie said, also grinning.

"I'm glad you guys love it. I made to sure to cook it for just the right amount of time." Viveka said.

The family ate their grilled chicken while conversing about this and that; when they were done, they put everything in the sink and sat on the couch to watch reruns of The House with 1000 Monsters.

XXXXXXX

Late in the nighttime, while Viktor and Viveka were fast asleep, Jake and Frankie weren't. They were having a hard time sleeping because they couldn't stop thinking about Gil and his behavior. Never in a million years they thought he would threaten somebody, let alone a friend.

Frankie walked out of her room and went up to Jake's; she knocked on the door lightly.

"Come in!" Jake yelled from inside.

Frankie entered the room after opening the door and sat next to Jake on his bed. Her face showed that she was worried about him.

"Hey." Jake said.

"Hey. You doin' okay?" Frankie asked.

"I'm not sure. I can't sleep." Jake responded tiredly.

"Me neither. I'm worried about you, though." Frankie said.

Jake scratched his forehead. "I'm worried about me, too. All I wanted was to make a friend in Gil. When I first met him, he was such a cool guy, and to see him act this way now deeply upsets me. How could he treat his best friend and his girlfriend like this?"

"I don't know, his jealously is getting the best of him." Frankie said, very sullen.

"You got that right." Jake agreed with a nod.

Morose, Frankie pulled Jake into a hug, which he gladly returned.

"I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, Jake. I promise." Frankie whispered to him sincerely.

"Thank you." Jake whispered; there was a slight break in his voice.

After the two let go of each other, Jake and Frankie looked at each other and smiled.

"We're gonna get through this." Frankie said.

"Never doubt it!" Jake exclaimed.

Frankie giggled softly and hopped off of Jake's bed. "Welp, I'm gonna try to get some sleep now."

"Me too. Good night, Frankie!" Jake said.

"Good night, Jake! Love you." Frankie said.

"Love you, too." Jake said.

At that moment, Frankie left the room and closed the door behind her. Then, Jake grabbed his phone to call Lagoona as he wanted to make sure she was okay, if she was even awake, that is. Luckily for him, she was.

"Hey, Jake."

"Hey, Lagoona. Sorry to call you this late at night, I wanted to check on you and make sure you're okay." Jake told her.

"Well, I appreciate that. I need someone that isn't Gil to talk to."

"Oh. Are you okay? You sound like you've been crying." Jake said, concerned.

"I was."

"What happened?" Jake asked.

"I, uh, had another fight with Gil. I called him after Cleo told me he threatened something bad was gonna happen to you if you didn't stay away from me. Words could not describe how furious I was at him, Jake."

"I'm sure you were. I was scared after he said that stuff to me, and angry at the same time." Jake said.

"I told him he could've scared you but he didn't care! All he cared about was his resentment towards us."

Jake sighed with defeat. "Why is he treating us like this?"

"I'm wondering the same thing, mate."

"Like, I didn't think he'd be the type to get jealous for no reason I first met him." Jake said.

"His behavior is baffling. All the times he's stood up for me and defended me to his parents seem meaningless to me now, like he it did all for nothing, you know?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean. At least Bloodgood'll be getting an earful from us tomorrow and hopefully she'll put an end to this whole thing." Jake said.

"Yes! I wonder how she'll react when we tell her."

"She won't take it lightly, I can tell you that much." Jake said, chuckling.

"Heh, right. Anyway, um, I'm gonna let you go now and try to get some sleep."

"Alright. I'm gonna try to get some sleep, too. I'll see you tomorrow!" Jake said.

"You too! Take care, love."

"I will, bye!" Jake said.

"Bye!"

Jake hung up his phone and locked it, then put it on the nightstand beside him. After that, he turned off the light, got in bed under the covers, and went to sleep.

(The next day)

In the morning, Jake and Frankie just so happened to wake up at the exact same time, greeting each other on their way out of their rooms.

"Good morning, Frankie! How'd you sleep last night?" Jake asked her.

"Pretty good! You?" Frankie asked.

"Same here." Jake responded.

"That's good." Frankie said with a smile.

Jake smiled back as he and Frankie went to the dining room table for breakfast where the elder Steins were sitting.

"Good morning!" Viktor and Viveka greeted, chipper as usual.

"Morning!" Jake and Frankie greeted back.

Everyone started eating while engaging in conversation; after they were done, they put everything in the sink. Jake and Frankie freshened up, said bye to the parents, and left for school.

XXXXXXX

When the two got to Monster High, Jake and Frankie stood by the steps and waited for their friends to show up.

"As soon as our friends get here, we're going straight to Bloodgood's office." Frankie said.

"Okay." Jake said with an affirmative nod.

A few minutes later, Draculaura and Clawdeen arrived with Clawd, Cleo arrived with Deuce, Ghoulia arrived with Slo Mo, and Lagoona, Jackson, and Heath arrived by themselves, ready to report Gil.

Unbeknownst to the gang, Jake's mouth was getting really dry; this happened whenever he got stressed or anxious. He started smacking his lips in response to this.

"Okay, guys, you ready to tell Bloodgood about Gil?" Frankie asked.

"Yeah! We need to put an end to this immediately." Draculaura replied swiftly.

However, it didn't take very long for Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, Clawd, Deuce, Heath, and Slo Mo to notice Jake's apparent lip-smacking.

"Are you alright, bro?" Deuce asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's just that my mouth is super dry. I'm gonna go get some water while you guys go to Bloodgood. I'll wait for you." Jake said.

"Alright." Frankie said while making a face.

At that moment, the gang went inside the building and headed towards their desired destinations; Jake stopped at the water fountain and his friends walked to Headmistress Bloodgood's office.

As Jake finished his last gulp of water, he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. He turned around and made a 'You gotta be kidding me!' face when he saw Gil standing there with his arms crossed.

"Thirsty?" Gil asked, mocking in his tone.

"My mouth was dry, Gil." Jake told him derisively.

"Ah, yes. Dry mouth. One of your many health issues, I suppose?" Gil asked.

Jake squinted his eyes, aware he was being mocked. He didn't like it one bit.

"What do you want, Gil? You already threatened me yesterday so I don't know what there could be that you haven't already gotten out of your system."

Gil stepped closer to Jake and looked at him dead in his eyes.

"I'm watching you."

"Watching me? Watching me for what?" Jake asked, highly perplexed.

"To see if there's anything suspicious going on between you and Lagoona." Gil responded.

"Oh my God, Gil! For the last time, I am not interested in her! In fact, do you wanna know who I am interested in?! Rochelle and Robecca, okay?! You happy now?!" Jake yelled. He was getting mad again.

"Well, if you like them so much, then go hang out with them!" Gil yelled.

"Maybe I will!" Jake yelled.

Jake just so happened to see Robecca and Rochelle talking to each other a few feet away from him; he approached them accordingly.

"Hi, Robecca, Rochelle." Jake greeted.

"Hi, Jake!" Robecca and Rochelle greeted jovially.

"Do you, uh, wanna hang out after school?" Jake asked.

"Just the three of us?" Robecca asked.

"Yep." Jake said.

"Sure! What do you want to do?" Rochelle asked.

"I was thinking we could go the Maul, if that's alright with you guys." Jake suggested.

"The Maul sounds good! We'll meet you there after school." Robecca said.

"Alright! See you ghouls later!" Jake said, and walked away.

"Bye, Jake!" Robecca and Rochelle said while waving to him.

After that, Jake headed to Dead Languages and took his seat.

"Good morning, Mr. Rotter."

"Good morning, Jake. Where are your friends? They are usually with you at this time, aren't they?" Mr. Rotter asked, curious.

"They, uh, should be at Headmistress Bloodgood's office by now." Jake responded.

Mr. Rotter became even more curious. "Why?"

"Gil threatened me by saying something bad was gonna happen to me if I didn't stop hanging out with Lagoona." Jake said.

"WHAT?!" Mr. Rotter asked with wide eyes.

"My friends had to find out, it scared me. So they're telling Headmistress Bloodgood about it." Jake added.

Mr. Rotter was in a state of incredulity. "Threatening students here at Monster High is a big no-no! I'm glad your friends are standing up for you and doing something about it, Jake."

"Me too, Mr. Rotter." Jake said, nodding. He pulled out his phone to keep himself occupied until class started.

Meanwhile, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, Clawd, Deuce, Heath, and Slo Mo made to the aformentioned office of Headmistress Bloodgood and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Bloodgood yelled from inside.

The 11 students entered the office after opening the door, wasting zero time ready to tell their principal about the situation.

"Hello, students. What can I do for you?" Bloodgood asked. She was surprised to see this many people in her office.

"Headmistress Bloodgood, Gil threatened Jake." Frankie said bluntly.

Headmistress Bloodgood was beyond shocked to her core.

"HE DID WHAT?!"

"He told Jake that if he didn't stop hanging out with me, something bad was gonna happen to him!" Lagoona exclaimed.

"We're not lying about this, Headmistress, we're telling the truth!" Jackson added, urgent in his tone.

The news didn't sound real to Headmistress Bloodgood. She never thought one of her students would threaten the life of another student, let alone a student previously known as a good one.

"I...I cannot believe this! Why on earth would Gil threaten Jake?!" Bloodgood asked incredulously.

"Because he's jealous of him and Lagoona working together in our Dramarama class." Clawdeen said.

"He threatened the life of another student all because of that?! Oh, no, no, no! NO ONE threatens ANYONE here at Monster High like that! We take threats very seriously at this school! Thank you for letting me know about this. I am going to call Gil down to my office right now and give him the scolding of his life! You guys better head to class, you don't want to be late." Bloodgood told them.

"Okay. Thank you so much for taking action, Headmistress Bloodgood. We really appreciate it!" Cleo said, exceedingly grateful.

"My pleasure. Now run along." Bloodgood ordered.

Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, Clawd, Deuce, Heath, and Slo Mo left the office accordingly.

Headmistress Bloodgood was livid at the thought of Gil.

"Oh, that boy!"

The gang (minus Slo Mo) were able to make it to Dead Languages just in time before the final bell rang. Jake wanted to know how their visit with the headmistress went.

"How'd it go? Did you tell her?" Jake asked desperately.

"We did. She's gonna give Gil the scolding of his life, as she put it." Clawd said.

"Oh, good! It sure ain't gonna be pretty." Jake said, sighing in relief.

"Yeah. Is your mouth still dry after you drank some water?" Frankie asked.

"No, it's fine now." Jake replied.

"Good!" Heath said with a smile and a thumbs up.

Shortly after, Mr. Rotter began teaching the class the lesson for the day.


In Clawculus, Gil was reading chapter 7 in his textbook. Him and Robecca ignored each other as they had nothing to say to each other, until...

Mr. Mummy's skull telephone rang; he answered it right away.

"Hello? Okay, I'll send him over. Thank you, bye." Mr. Mummy spoke into the phone. "Gil, Headmistress Bloodgood wants to see you in her office."

Upon hearing that, Gil put his hands over his face and shook his head, mumbling, "Can't wait for this disappointment..." under his breath.

"What did you do this time?" Robecca asked with her hands on her hips.

Gil didn't respond, he just exited the classroom and walked to Headmistress Bloodgood's office, expecting to get a lot of heat from her. He went inside as the door was already open.

"Sit down." Bloodgood commanded, super stern.

Gil did as he was told with no questions asked.

"Gillington Webber, I am VERY disappointed in you, young man!" Bloodgood exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Gil asked with a slight flinch.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! You threatened Jake and told something bad was going to happen to him if he didn't stop hanging out with Lagoona! How dare you threaten the life of another student like that?!" Bloodgood yelled as furious as ever.

Gil was caught red-handed now. "Headmistress Bloodgood, I-"

"For ghoul's sake, Gil, what am I going to do with you?! Your behavior has gotten out of control and you are hurting everybody around you!" Bloodgood yelled.

"I can't help myself! I know that sounds like a lame excuse but it's true! My jealously towards Lagoona and Jake just came naturally and the only way I can deal with it is to just let it happen." Gil said, cathartic.

Headmistress Bloodgood sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

"You know, at least when I had to deal with Toralei, she admitted to her mistakes."

"With all due respect, Headmistress, why are you dragging her into this?" Gil asked.

"Because you keep making excuses and trying to justify your behavior, Gil. I'm not going to let you do that." Bloodgood said. She was finally calming down.

Gil didn't even try to come up with a response to that, he just looked at the floor sheepishly.

"Now, I will give you three options to choose from, and you can only pick one. As punishment for your behavior, I can have you spend your time before and after school in detention, I can suspend you for a month, or I can expel you. Which is it going to be?" Bloodgood asked, firm.

Gil had to pick, otherwise he was playing with fire. "I'll take the detention..."

"Very well. You do know you're going to be there for the rest of the year, right?" Bloodgood asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Gil said politely.

Headmistress Bloodgood nodded and told Gil, "You may head back to class now."

With that being said, Gil left the office and walked back to Clawculus. Now he was livid because he knew his friends got him in trouble and Jake was the person behind it.

When I find that coward, I'm gonna kill him.


After Dead Languages was over, Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jackson went to Mad Science; Robecca was already there waiting for them.

"Hey, guys!" Robecca greeted happily.

"Hey, Robecca!" the gang greeted back in the same manner.

Jake looked at Robecca. "Did Gil tell you what he did?"

"No, he didn't. I kept asking him in Clawculus but all he said was it was none of my business. What did he do?" Robecca asked.

"He threatened me." Jake said.

Robecca's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, what do you mean he threatened you?!"

"He, um, he said if I didn't stop hanging out with Lagoona, something bad was gonna happen to me." Jake said.

"Oh my ghoul! Jake, you're sure that's what he told you?!" Robecca asked, dumbfounded.

"Positive, Robecca. Thankfully, my friends told Bloodgood about it." Jake said.

"We didn't mean to scare you, we just thought you should know." Lagoona reassured.

Robecca sighed with relief. "Well, at least Bloodgood knows. Are you gonna be okay, Jake?"

"I hope so." Jake simply said, sullen.

Robecca nodded. She was one more person that was worried about Jake and Lagoona, rightfully so.

Soon enough, Mr. Hack started on his lesson of the day, with the class following along.

(1 hour later)

When Mad Science ended, Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Jackson headed to Clawculus; Operetta, Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody came in a minute later and sat down. They all greeted one another accordingly.

"Hey, uh, Operetta, Toralei, Purrsephone, Meowlody, there's something we have to tell you." Draculaura said.

Operetta and the werecats exchanged confused glances, wondering what was needed to be told.

"What is it?" Operetta asked.

"Gil threatened me. He told me to stay away from Lagoona or else something bad was gonna happen to me." Jake replied straightfowardly.

"WHAT?!" Operetta, Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody asked in utter shock.

"Yeah...but don't worry, we told Bloodgood about it." Lagoona reassured calmly.

Operetta sighed with relief. "Oh, thank ghoul!"

All of a sudden, Toralei, Purrsephone, and Meowlody began to shudder. What Jake just told them reminded them of what they did to him not that long ago and how it caused him to get hurt, and they did not want that to happen again.

Toralei rushed over to Jake and gave him a tight hug, wanting him to feel safe.

"Um, are you alright, Toralei?" Jake asked, confused. He still returned the hug despite his confusion.

"I-I just don't want you to get hurt again." Toralei said while tears rolled down her face.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. I promise I'm not gonna get hurt." Jake reassured.

"You sure, Jake?" Toralei asked, sniffling.

"One-hundred percent! Gil's threats mean nothing now that we told Bloodgood. I'll be okay, Toralei." Jake said with an optimistic smile.

Feeling better, Toralei let go of Jake and grinned. "Good!" She went back to her seat and wiped her eyes.

It was at this time that Mr. Mummy started on the lesson; his students opened their textbooks and followed along.

(2 hours later)

Lunchtime struck upon the day. The students of Monster High were lined up inside the creepateria getting their food like they did every day.

Outside underneath the shady tree, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Abbey, Robecca, Operetta, Spectra, Rochelle, Venus, Iris, Howleen, Skelita, Jinafire, Twyla, Toralei, Purrsephone, Meowlody, Jackson, Clawd, Deuce, Heath, Manny, Slo Mo, and Hoodude expected Jake to sit with them, but he didn't; instead he was sitting on the steps of the school alone. Even though Headmistress Bloodgood knew about Gil's threatening of him, he still felt disillusioned about the whole thing.

"Jake! Over here, dude!" Heath called out, trying to get his attention.

All Jake did was shake his head no.

Bemused, Heath set his tray down and walked over to Jake.

"Hey, how come you're not sitting with us? Are you okay?"

"I just wanna be alone right now, Heath." Jake said bleakly.

"Okay." Heath said with a shrug, and went back to the group. "He said he just wants to be alone."

"Well, I'm sure he's still stressed out about the Gil thing." Clawdeen guessed.

A short time later, Spectra, feeling great concern about Jake, flew over to him and sat next to him in hopes of maybe making him feel better.

"Jake, what's wrong?" Spectra asked.

Jake looked at Spectra and told her, "I'm just...I just feel lost."

"How come? Is it because of what Gil said to you?" Spectra asked.

"Yeah, and other things, too. I'm surprised you didn't write about it in your blog." Jake said.

Spectra was shocked that Jake would even think she would do something like that, since, one, she abandoned the Ghostly Gossip last year, and two, she would NEVER EVER go that far into her friends' personal business no matter what it was.

"Jake, I would never do that! You, Lagoona, and Gil are my best friends...well, Gil's not much of a friend at the moment but you get what I'm saying. What I'm trying to tell you is that I'd never ever betray you in any way. You can be sure of that." Spectra reassured.

Jake gave a light smile. "Thank you, Spectra. That means the world to me."

"Of course." Spectra said, smiling back.

Then, Jake started giggling because he was thinking about his first day at Monster High.

"What's so funny?" Spectra asked with a chuckle.

"I, uh, remember on my first day here, you came to greet me, you welcomed me, and you took my picture." Jake responded.

"Oh yeah, I did! I still have it saved on my iCoffin." Spectra said. She showed Jake said picture, which was him smiling and making the peace sign.

"Yep, that's a good one!" Jake said happily.

"I remember when you first saw me, I was like, 'Are you okay? You look like you've a seen a ghost.'" Spectra said.

"And then I said, 'Yeah, I'm lookin' at one!'" Jake said.

Jake and Spectra shared a good laugh over their first moment of meeting each other for the first time.

"You know, Spectra, I don't think I've ever told you that I think you have the cutest little voice and that you're one of the sweetest people I have ever met." Jake said, sincere.

Spectra was very touched by Jake's compliment. "Awww, Jake, that's so kind of you to say! That's, like, the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me!"

"Well, just know that my words come from the heart." Jake said with a smile.

"You're also one of the sweetest people I've ever met." Spectra said sincerely.

Jake blushed. "Shucks!"

Spectra giggled and added, "I want you to know that we'll always be here for you, Jake, and you can always talk to us about anything."

"Same goes for you guys. I'll be there when y'all need me." Jake said.

"That's what friends are for!" Spectra cheerfully said.

After their heart-to-heart conversation, Jake and Spectra went to their friends and sat with them, then resumed eating.

"You alright, man?" Jackson asked Jake, concerned.

"I'm alright." Jake responded. He then pulled out his phone and texted Viktor to ask him if he was cool with him going out after school. "Frankie."

"What's up?" Frankie asked.

"I just texted your dad asking him if he was cool with me going out after school." Jake said.

"What'd he say?" Frankie asked.

"He said he was cool with it as long as my homework gets done. I told him it already was, and, um, he gave me a thumbs up. He also told me not to stay out too late." Jake said.

"Oh, okay, cool!" Frankie said happily.

The gang continued chatting until lunch was over; they threw away their food and endured fifth and sixth period. Jake, Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Lagoona, Cleo, Ghoulia, Jackson, and Slo Mo were able to get through Dramarama despite Gil being in there making things worse for them.

XXXXXXX

When school ended, Jake and Frankie said bye to their friends and headed home.

"I'm gonna head to the mall now. I'll see you later." Jake said.

"Alright! Have fun!" Frankie said, grinning.

"I will! I shouldn't be gone long, but I'll let you know when I'm on my way back." Jake said.

"Sounds good." Frankie said, and got out of the car. "Bye!"

"Bye!" Jake said. He drove off as Frankie waved to him.