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As Valentine walked down the halls of Monster High, he could tell something was wrong.
He couldn't pinpoint quite what it was just yet, but the emotions everyone was letting out were downright bitter.
Was it because of him? No, that couldn't be the case.
Everyone was quite vocal about their ever persistent contempt towards him. In fact, not a single day goes by without someone reminding him of it! Val has to change where he eats lunch everyday just to avoid harassment from certain monsters who don't know when to quit.
Right now though, the students were anything but vocal. They were tense, speaking in hushed whispers, and looking over their shoulders. So if it's not him, then what was going on today? Who or what could've possibly stirred up such negative energy?
Val felt nauseous just being in the area. It was times like this that being an emotional vampire only came back to drive a stake through his heart.
How could he not be concerned when he was being bombarded with all these horrible feelings? He wishes more monsters liked him, then he could always be in the know rather than fussing about in the shadows...
Wait.
Valentine immediately scrambled to pull out his iCoffin, almost dropping it in his frenzy. Luckily, he caught it right before it could hit the ground Even if he could afford it, he wouldn't be spending money on a new phone today. Absolutely not.
He already bought a new one last week.
A couple monsters looked over after that frankly embarrassing display, rolling their eyes at him, but the vampire paid them no mind. He was used to the hate at this point.
Well actually he's not, but it was easier to deal with everything when he could pretend he was fine with it.
Besides, he needed to check the Ghostly Gossip immediately! Something was going on and Valentine couldn't stand not being in the know.
The word “nosy” has been used a few times to describe him. Maybe a lot of times. But again, it's not his fault he knows what monsters are feeling!
His curiosity was scary understandably, thank you very much!
Upon reading the first line of the article, he almost dropped his phone again.
“OH MY GOTH!?” Valentine's not sure what he expected to find on Spectra’s blog, but it certainly wasn't this.
More monsters were staring at him now, but the vampire honestly couldn't have given a creepcake. His eyes scanned over the screen repeatedly, as if refusing to believe what was written on it.
Honestly, had it not been for the photo—scratch that– video Spectra so kindly attached, he wouldn't believe it at all.
Because what in Valentine's undead life do you mean Spelldon Cauldronello, his best friend in the whole world, CURSED OUT Manny Taur???
There was no way.
Val immediately pressed play on the video, as if it would actually show anything different from the article’s title. He just wanted to have some more faith in his usually level-headed friend, okay?
But not only did it really happen—Spelldon throwing absolutely every curse word in the dictionary at the minotaur, even slipping into Greek— the witch also turned Manny into a pig afterwards.
SERIOUSLY, WHAT IN THE SHOCKLATE CHIP COOKIES???
Now that Valentine was in the know, he could more easily put together fragments of the students' chatter.
There were two things he realized:
- They were talking about Spelldon.
- They were scared of Spelldon.
The school's resident cool guy, the manster who always kept to his own, had seemingly snapped out of nowhere. And well, no one wants to risk being turned into a pig for rather obvious reasons.
Val shook his head, trying to snap out of his stupor. He couldn't just stay here and fang around, he needed to find the witch like last century.
He was clearly upset about something, and, as his beast friend, it was Valentine's duty to find out what the stitch-uation was and cheer him up!
If he knew Spelldon—and he does— he'd guess the witch was hiding out in the library.
So to the library he'll go!
His gaze shifted to the time on his screen. The bell for second period would be going off in just a couple minutes.
The vampire really didn't like skipping classes. He may not have all the best grades in the school, but he tried being a good student and following the rules. For Spell though? Well he'd do anything. One absent mark is nowhere near as important.
Upon arriving at the library, Val assumed he'd be able to find Spell by following the negative energy in the room.
He sorely underestimated just how upset his friend was.
Spelldon's negative emotions practically flooded the area. The vampire had absolutely no clue where he'd even start.
And it didn't help that he wasn't very sure of the layout either. If he was, he'd check out the potions or botany section—Spelldon's favorite types of books to read. But Valentine was never here unless he was accompanying the witch, or if it was his lunch spot for the day.
Kieran Valentine is not illiterate, he just has a library at home. He likes reading!
…Kinda.
Under normal circumstances, Valentine would transform and fly around the room, but he quickly reminded himself that'd be a scareable idea.
If the witch was this fangry, he may not recognize it was Val and turn him into a pig! Maybe that was an irrational fear, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, the vampire pulls off pink excellently, but he doesn't think his beauty would translate well if he was a pig—not that they aren't adorable! He just looks better as he is, that's all.
“Spell!” He called out, “Spell, where are you!?”
No response…
Some monsters would go away after that, giving Spelldon some space to be by himself. Others would continue searching the library in silence.
Val, however, decided he'd just call out louder.
“SPELLDON CAULDRONELLO ARE YOU HERE!?” He cupped his hands around his mouth, “SPELLY, SPELL, SPELL! I REPEAT, ARE YOU–”
A hand reached out and pulled the vampire back, “Don't yell in the library, Val.” the witch huffed. But, despite his tone, he could tell there wasn't any real bite behind Spelldon’s words.
Spell was always gentle with him.
A smile instantly spread across Valentine's face at the sight of his friend. He threw his arms around Spelldon, “You’re okay!! Oh thank goth, I was so worried about you, Spell.”
He felt Spelldon freeze in his hold and very pointedly remembered that it wasn't normal for mansters to be so touchy with each other.
Stupid heart making me act stupidly!!
“Haha…” Val laughed nervously, taking a step back, “So, uhm, Spell, what happened…? I heard about you hexing Manny, and I can feel your emotions. I've never seen you so upset before. Is everything alright?”
Spelldon looked away, his expression was hesitant. Like he wasn't sure if he should tell Val anything.
Now that stung a bit to the vampire. Did he not trust him? Was their friendship more one-sided than Valentine thought?
“Come on, Spell, you know you can tell me anything and I won't judge. What did he do?”
The witch grit his teeth before finally answering, “I got into an argument with Draculaura’s friends yesterday. You know how the monsters here are, they don't like us being friends. They don't know you like I do.”
Valentine nodded his head. He so desperately wanted to ask about the argument, but he wouldn't.
Whisp had told him that when someone is upset, it's best not to badger them for information. It could make them close up rather than open up. So he'd just listen to whatever Spelldon felt comfortable telling him.
He could be mature.
“It was on Spectra’s blog for an hour, just an hour until I got her to take it down. Of course, Manny Taur had to be one of the few monsters who still got to read the article though.” Spelldon said the minotaur's name with such hatred, it almost scared Val.
“He was on my case all of first period about how I'm an asshole and was so mean to Draculaura. I wasn't by the way, I just wasn't a monster pleasing suck up.” The witch added in just to reassure Valentine, he knew Draculaura was still a soft spot in the vampire's heart after all, “I was ignoring him, but then he just had to start mouthing off about you.”
“Me?” Val let the question escape his lips. He hadn't meant to say anything at all, he was just shocked.
Spelldon went off the rails in defense of him? For Valentine of all people?
“Yes! I told him if he didn't shut up that I was going to turn him into a pig, but he didn't want to listen. So I gave him a piece of my mind and made good on my promise.” A hint of a smile came across Spelldon's face then, “You shouldn't have to worry about anyone harassing you for a couple weeks though. I think the pig thing has them all scared.”
“Spell, you…you idiot.” Val didn't even know what to say. He was torn between feeling touched and thinking that Spelldon was the stupidest monster he'd met for risking his reputation over him, “You didn't have to do that.”
“I know I didn't, but I wanted to.” The witch replied, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, “I’m sorry though, I know you don't like monsters getting hurt.”
Oh wow. Val could feel the blood welling up in his eyes. If it wasn't insanely difficult for vampires to cry, he's sure he would've already started sobbing by now.
“Val! Are you okay!?” Spell immediately brought his hands up to cup his friend's face. He was panicking—vampire tears were rare for a reason, “If I knew it'd upset you this much I wouldn't have done it!”
Valentine shook his head frantically, “No, no, I'm- I'm fine.” He blinked back his tears, “I just wasn't expecting you would do something like that for me…”
A huff of laughter escaped the witch, “Then you're the idiot, not me. We're best friends, right? Of course I'd fight for you, Val.”
“It's ‘beast’ friends actually. We're monsters, or have you been faking your scaritage this whole time?” The vampire teased, a huge grin spreading across his face.
Spelldon dropped his hands from Valentine's face, rolling his eyes and letting out a groan, “Why do I put up with you again?”
“Oh please, you love me! No one can resist my charms, not even you, Spelldon Cauldronello.” Val batted his eyelashes at his friend.
"That's not-" Spelldon paused mid sentence, staring off somewhere in the distance, "Well..."
Val could tell he was thinking hard. As if he genuinely needed to weigh out the pros and cons of whatever potential responses his brain came up with.
What a nerd... Valentine was just about to crack another joke before the silence got too awkward when he noticed something.
A light blush spread across Spelldon's face.
Now that was dangerous. If Spell made expressions like that, Valentine wouldn't be able to help but entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, their relationship could be something more.
He knew Spelldon loved him—he could feel it, taste it even. Yet, what he couldn't do was decipher if that love was the adoration you'd have for your dearest friend, or the devotion you'd give your most beloved.
Normally Valentine opted not to give himself false hope, that way it'd hurt less if Spelldon ended up not returning his feelings. But as his crush finally responded to his little joke, Valentine chose to believe his unrequited love may not be so unrequited after all.
“...Yeah, that's true.”