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It was embarrassing for Toralei, realizing that she'd been so vocally wrong and was now friends with the people she swore to take down. Of course, she kept her head held high and didn't let anyone know how humiliated she felt, but everyone knew what had happened.
She was half-tempted to go back to being a bully to Clawdeen and her pack but, ultimately, she knew she would regret that even more than her original prefect campaign. Besides, would anyone even buy that? Sure, some of the people at Monster High weren't exactly the brightest, but she was pretty sure that Clawdeen would see right through her.
So, at the end of the day, she stayed friends with the lot of them. That wasn't to say that she was completely a different person or anything. No, she still acted a bit like the stereotypical mean girl but, like Cleo had the previous year, she'd reformed. Mean girl more just applied to how she carried herself, as opposed to how she treated others.
And, to her shock, she felt better after she'd made that change. She'd expected it to be hard and a slog, but no. She felt better about herself when she was raising others up as opposed to putting them down. She felt better now that she had real friends and not just a gang of yes-men who only liked her because she was pretty and popular.
Yeah, this whole reformed-asshole thing was actually pretty nice. She could work with that.
Heath was actually a pretty interesting guy, once you got to know him. Of course, just looking at him, Toralei assumed he was nothing more than a dumb jock, or maybe a bit of a class clown as well. Considering he was a part of Clawdeen's pack, she figured he wasn't a bully (or, if he had once been, he wasn't anymore), but he definitely seemed like a mischief-maker.
In all fairness, this was a valid read of him. He got up to a lot of mischief. He was a jock and not exactly the brightest, at least when it came to his decision-making. And, yes, he was a class clown. He got a lot of joy out of making his classmates (and even the cooler of his teachers) laugh at his jokes and antics. He was a bit disruptive in class, but not so much that he got in trouble for it unless the teacher penalizing him was particularly uptight.
But, he was a person just like any other monster (or half-monster) at the school, and Toralei knew that a part of being in Clawdeen's pack meant that she now had the opportunity to get a closer look, and cats were nothing if not inherently curious.
"Hey, Heath" she greeted one day as she approached where he was sitting during the lunch block. He'd recently been taking to occasionally sitting on his own during lunch to collect his thoughts and learn to enjoy quiet. Since Deuce wasn't at school that year, he decided to embrace the more peaceful aspects of life, just like Deuce had. As it turned out, this was, in fact, quite nice, so he was peacefully enjoying a hotdog until Toralei came along. "Are you busy?" she asked. He shrugged, so she sat across from him. "How are you doing?"
"Tired" he answered honestly. Junior year was harder than people gave it credit for and some of these classes were really kicking his ass. Besides, he had a hard time, well, reading, and that made everything even harder. He used to think he was just stupid, but he found that he had less issues reading when he could adjust the font, font size, background, and text colors, and use screen readers on digital devices. He wasn't illiterate, the words just bounced around the page. After telling this to Frankie Stein, they informed him that he likely had a classic case of Dyslexia. He was just still in the process of getting in-school accommodations for that. Until then, he just had to suffer through it. "Apparently I have Dyslexia" he explained. Sure, he didn't know Toralei that well, but it wasn't really anything to be ashamed of, so he had no qualms about informing her. "I don't have proper accommodations in place, so these classes have been really kicking my ass this year"
"Oh" Toralei replied, a bit surprised at this newfound information. "I had no idea that was something you struggled with"
"Neither did I, until recently" Heath chuckled. "I just thought I was stupid. I mean, to be fair, I'm not exactly a genius or anything, but I'm actually not that bad academically. I don't really flaunt it since it goes against the image I'm going for but I have a 123% A in math" he told her. Toralei's jaw dropped. She had straight A's, but never anything that high. "I just have a hard time with words"
"That must be hard" Toralei replied. Heath shrugged.
"Anyways, that's enough about me" he went on, realizing how much he'd talked about himself now without asking anything back. This was a type of consideration Toralei hadn't expected of him. She was beginning to think that maybe she shouldn't make so many assumptions about people simply based on what stereotype they seemingly fit. "How are you?"
"Well, I'm..." she tried to think of a confident way to answer that, but... No. She wanted to be a part of Clawdeen's pack. These people, regardless of their flaws, were emotionally open. They didn't hide so much. She wanted to be more like that. Wear her heart on her sleeve, not cower in fear of what people might say. She had to start somewhere. "Honestly, I'm really embarrassed about how I acted during the prefect campaigns" she admitted. Heath nodded, listening intently as he ate more hotdog. "And even more that I so clearly switched sides. I hate everyone knowing that I was wrong, and I regret a lot of it" she explained. "I mean, I guess I was partially just a byproduct of the society I'd grown up in and was scared because of my..." she trailed off, not feeling comfortable with the word trauma. Heath didn't need to know how badly the witches incident messed her up. No one needed to know that. Not yet. "I was scared. But, still, that's no excuse for how I acted, and I just wish I would've behaved differently"
"Everyone makes mistakes" Heath reasoned. "I mean, back in middle school, I was kind of a bully" he admitted. "Me and Deuce both were. Our pranks and mischief were more commonly at the expense of others and we would especially target the kids who didn't have any friends. Anyone who was an easy mark" he shook his head. "I feel terrible about all the pain that we caused, and I know he does, too. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a good prank, but it shouldn't come at the cost of another person's wellbeing"
"I'll be honest, Heath, you're a lot more emotionally intelligent than I expected"
"So are you" Heath smiled. "You want a hotdog?"
"Oh, no thanks" she shook her head. "I'm more of a coffee and croissant girl myself. Thank you, though"
"Yeah, of course" he replied. She stood up, getting ready to leave him with his peaceful silence for the rest of the lunch period. "Hey, thanks for stopping by and chatting" he spoke up before she left. She looked back at him. "You're actually pretty cool when you're not being an asshole"
"Thanks" Toralei smiled, and it was genuine. "You too"
It was hard to find a time when she could have a one-on-one conversation with Cleo. After all, the mummy was one of the most popular students in the entire school and, unlike, Heath and Deuce, she didn't seem to have any sort of interest in quiet times by herself. Much like Toralei had previously had, she was typically followed around by a gaggle of fans, though she no longer abused this power.
Eventually, though, Toralei happened to catch Cleo alone in the hallway and figured that was as good a time as any to strike up a conversation. This one was more nerve-wracking than Heath, though, since she and Cleo had a bit of a rivalry in middle school. Still, she wanted to befriend these people. You got this, Toralei.
"Hello, Cleo" Toralei greeted. Cleo stopped abruptly in her walk so as to not run into the other girl. She was a bit startled, but her expression changed when she saw who it was.
"Oh" Cleo said, unamused. "It's you"
"I'm trying to be nice, okay?" Toralei told her, a bit irritated. She took a deep breath to calm her anger. Snapping at the mummy wouldn't get her anywhere. "Look, I'm sorry for how I was before. I was stupid and- Well, not unintelligent, but I was acting like an idiot, and I was mean, and I treated everyone like crap, and I feel really bad about it, and I want to be better" she sputtered out. Cleo's expression softened. This was all quite familiar to her, as a fellow reformed mean girl.
"I get it" Cleo nodded, understanding the werecat a bit better now. "And I'll forgive you, but" she held up a finger. "You need to follow me back on social media and you owe me a drink from the sweets cart tomorrow"
"Alright" Toralei shook her shoulders back and sighed, a slight grin coming to her face. "We've got a deal"
"Great" Cleo smiled. "Now, walk and talk, werecat. I'm not just standing here all day"
Frankie Stein was also hard to find by themself, though not because they were particularly popular. Quite the opposite, in fact, they were more the follower type, and could typically be found following around Clawdeen and sometimes Draculaura. Those were the people who really got them, and they felt a lot more secure with one of them nearby. However, Toralei eventually was able to spot them hanging out in the back of the library, alone.
They liked the library. Due to their highly intelligent hodge-podge of a brain, they were able to read extremely quickly. They knew they had a bit of a volume control issue, so they would always hang out in the back to avoid disrupting people who were studying or getting reprimanded for being too loud by the librarian.
They were slightly startled when Toralei was suddenly sitting next to them and sparked slightly, though thankfully did not electrocute the werecat. Toralei was a bit startled by this, as she had a phobia of lightning stemming from her trauma with the witches, but she knew going in that this may happen (after all, this was the same Frankie that accidentally shut down the school's entire power grid), so she didn't panic. She swallowed thickly, calmed her nerves, and decided to greet the monster.
"Hey, stitches" she greeted. Frankie smiled (they were pretty much always smiling) and awkwardly reached out their hand to shake hands with the werecat, who promptly obliged.
"Hey, Toralei" Frankie responded cheerily. "Did you need something? Normally you don't talk to me unless Clawdeen is also there or you need something" they said. Toralei winced at this. "Oh, sorry" Frankie apologized upon seeing her reaction. "Was I not supposed to say that?"
"No, no, it's... Fair" Toralei sighed, leaning back against a bookcase. "I've not made much of an effort to be a good friend to you" she admitted. "I'm sorry"
"It's fine" Frankie shrugged. "I haven't made the effort, either. Honestly, I'm still not really good at this whole friends thing" they explained. "I thought all you needed to do was find good friends, and that is a part of it, but I still don't understand social skills or anything like that. My brain is made up of so many parts and it doesn't work the same as everyone else's, and that was fine when it was just me and Clawdeen and Draculaura, but it's harder with other people. Like you, for example" they pointed at the werecat. "You're popular and you seem to have everything together- Apart from your prefect campaign, that was messed up, but also everyone messes up. I guess I've just been intimidated by you"
"Well, for the record, I think you're pretty cool" Toralei shrugged. Frankie's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah" Toralei nodded. "You don't have a filter on what you say. It's refreshing, being able to talk to someone and know they're going to be honest with me" she went on. Frankie felt a part of their heart heal with this. "We should start hanging out more"
"You mean that?"
"Yeah, why not? I wanna be your friend"
"Okay!!"
"Now..." Toralei pointed at the book in Frankie's hand. "What are you reading?"
"Oh, it's called 'The Good Witch Azura'. It's a fantasy series for younger audiences. A bit below my reading level, but I like the brain break sometimes. Oh, and there's a character named Hecate, which is actually a reference to..."
It wasn't hard to track down Clawdeen by herself, but that didn't make it necessarily any easier. After all, they'd pretty recently been rivals. Sure, they made amends when Toralei helped out in Draculaura's rescue, and they were on equal terms now, but that didn't take away how oppressive Toralei had been.
"Werewolf, hey" she called out, seeing Clawdeen walking by herself on the way to her dorm to drop off her bag before the lunch period rang in. Clawdeen turned her head and smiled.
"Oh, hey Toralei" Clawdeen greeted. "What's up?"
"Spend lunch with me?" Toralei blurted out, sounding almost panicked. Why was she so nervous? "I mean, uh, would you like to spend lunch with me?"
"Yeah, sure" Clawdeen shrugged. "Just the two of us, or-"
"Yes"
"Okay" Clawdeen nodded, pulling out her phone. She typed something out and then put her phone away. "I was just letting the pack know I won't be there today" she explained. "Let me drop off my bag"
"Okay" Toralei nodded, awkwardly standing in the hallway as Clawdeen went into her dorm room to put down her bag. She came back out shortly after and went back to the werecat, and the pair walked out of the building together.
Once they'd gotten food, Clawdeen led her to the quiet bridge Deuce had taken her to her freshman year. It was peaceful there, and no one would bother them, so they wouldn't have to worry about anyone saying anything about them spending lunch alone together.
"So..." Clawdeen said awkwardly as she sipped at her drink. "Did you want to talk to me about anything specifically?"
"Can a cat not just want some company?" Toralei challenged. Clawdeen simply shrugged. "...Okay, yeah" Toralei sighed. "I owe you a proper apology"
"Toralei, you don't need to-"
"How I treated you during the campaign was bad" Toralei asserted. "Even before prefect elections, I was cruel to you just because of your heritage" she went on. "All my life, I was told what everyone else was: Humans were bad and pure-blooded monsters were superior. I missed the memo and I didn't do well to catch up. I should have been kinder, to you and Draculaura and all your pack" she sighed. "I'm really sorry, Wolf"
"I accept your apology" Clawdeen said with a small smile. "I've done and said some messed up stuff. We all have" she continued. "Besides, I knew you'd come around. We share the moon, after all"
Toralei chuckled at this. She felt lighter now. Clawdeen was her... Friend, and they spent the rest of lunch chatting and laughing.
It was absolutely heavenly.
Draculaura was the final person she wanted to speak to, and that was easily the scariest.
On her own end, she was nervous around the witch. She knew now, of course, that witchcraft wasn't actually the problem, but that didn't erase her trauma. But, beyond that, she knew that she'd been especially terrible to the vampire. Hell, if it weren't for her, witchcraft may not have gotten temporarily banned and Draculaura may not have left with Ellis. All that terrible stuff could've been prevented, if only Toralei hadn't been so vocally against witchcraft.
Still, Toralei was many things but one thing she absolutely refused to be was a coward. She could own her shit. She had to own her shit. It was only fair to Draculaura for her to do so.
She knocked on the vampire's dorm room. She'd seen Clawdeen and Frankie out in the hallway, so she knew that they, at least, wouldn't be in there. As for whether or not Draculaura was in there, she wasn't actually sure. She was kind of just banking on the notion that Draculaura was a shut-in.
Thankfully for her, Draculaura was in there, and she opened the door with an annoyed expression a minute or so later.
"What do you want?" the vampire asked, annoyed by who it was. She had every reason in the book to not like Toralei, so it wasn't all that surprising of a reaction.
"I wanted to apologize" Toralei said, figuring that just throwing that out from jump would be the best course of action. However, Draculaura was clearly unimpressed and shut the door in the werecat's face. "No, hey, wait!"
"I'm not interested" Draculaura's voice was heard through the door as she returned to her coffin. Toralei sighed and walked away.
Maybe one day, you can befriend her, Toralei told herself. Just not today. You aren't owed forgiveness, after all. She doesn't owe you anything, especially not after how you treated her simply for finding passion in something.
That one would have to take some more time...
Toralei, while still a bit catty (pun intended), and easily falling into the archetype of popular mean girl, was a part of the pack, now, and her days of senselessly bullying people over things they had no control over were behind her.
She was a changed werecat, and she was glad for it.