Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You- the new ghoul in school- listened absentmindedly to Frankie Stein’s rambling as the daughter of Frankenstein pulled you this way and that, dragging the both of you down the halls of the school in a very makeshift sort of tour.

The tour being given probably wasn’t what the headmistress had in mind when she’d volunteered a random student for the task, but it was definitely informative in more niche ways. Places to avoid sitting for lunch, the best bathrooms for skipping class, shortcuts from your locker to the other side of the school and so on.

“Oh!” Frankie drew up short, stopping both of them in their tracks and causing the you to nearly trip over her striped wedge heels. “You should totally meet my boyfriend! He should be in the science hall, and we haven’t stopped there yet”. Frankie turned 180° and began walking in that direction, and you just dutifully followed.

“Just FYI, he is a normie! Well, part normie.  Sometimes it throws monsters for a loop. But I swear he’s the nicest normie I know!”. Frankie vows, tossing the words behind her as they turned down a hallway.

You had never met any normies before, your only frame of knowledge for them coming from stories or history lessons. At the very least, you knew that most other monsters had a negative bias against them. Though you had no time to really think about that because Frankie came to a stop outside of a pair of large wooden double doors. She raised a hand to knock but paused when the sound of laughter echoed past the door.

A maniacal cackle could be clearly heard, that edged into sounding slightly insane before the sound of a large explosion followed. The doors flew open and released a cloud a smoke into the hall, and emerging from the scene was one slightly soaked teenage boy with goggles pushed up onto his head, and soot covering his face. He was coughing up a storm, halfheartedly waving a clipboard around to dissipate the smoke. A tattered lab coat hung off of his lanky frame, splattered with brightly colored stains. 

His eyes landed on Frankie and his face lit up. “Oh, hey Frankie! What are you doing here?”. He stepped over to her, and you belatedly noticed Frankie blushing, a green flush coloring her cheeks.

The two shared a brief chaste kiss, and if possible Frankie turned even greener, cheeks flushed and flustered. 

“What just exploded in there?” You ask, and Jackson turns, just now noticing you for the first time.

“Oh that?” He rubbed the back of his neck, seeming embarrassed. “I almost had my new formula down but it still needs some work. I’m getting closer though!”. He throws his head back and does the same laugh again that sends a chill down your spine.

Frankie seems completely unbothered, giggling at her boyfriends antics. “I’m just showing this new ghoul around school. Full circle moment”. She laughs. “This is Jackson”. She waved between the two of you and Jason sent a wave and a shy smile towards you. “We’re still on for fanging out after school, right?“ She adds, questioning Jackson.

“Of course. After Holt’s band practice yeah?” 

Frankie nodded. The sprinklers in the lab finally shut off and most of the smoke had cleared.

“Well I better get back in there. Nice to meet you”. Jackson nodded towards you as he slipped his goggles back onto his face.

He turns back to Frankie, an easy smile on his face. “See you later”. He adds in a sickeningly lovesick tone of voice.

“Byyeee”. Frankie sing-songed back, cutely wiggling her fingers his way as Jackson disappeared back into the laboratory.

You stared after him, unaware if all normies were this weird.

Frankie sighed, utterly besotted. “Isn’t he just the sweetest?”

-

Frankie is probably the nicest ghoul you’ve ever met, if a bit overzealous, and you don’t have any arguments when she suggests you tagging along with her to a party later that night.

You’d never really had friends before, at least not close ones, so you’re all too thrilled to help Frankie pick out an outfit to wear. She throws a dress onto the floor from her closet into the no pile and holds up another one that’s covered in a mismatch of green and blue plaid.

You wave your hand in a so-so gesture and she tosses it towards the maybe pile.

“I just really wanna look killer, my boyfriend is gonna be the DJ tonight”. She says while sat at her vanity applying mascara. She had finally decided on a denim mini skirt, a bright red off the shoulder crop tee, with a dark black low cut vest on top.

“Your boyfriend… is a DJ?”. You asked hesitantly, desperately trying to connect the image of the nerdy unnerving scientist boy you’d met earlier with the typical rambunctious and effortlessly suave vibes of a record spinning disk jockey. You found you couldn’t even imagine the concept in your head. The idea of the mad scientist you’d seen the other day behind a booth spinning records was so absurd you had to bite back a laugh.

“Sure is! He’s always playing at the best parties. It’ll be a total scream, I can’t wait to introduce you!”.

You opened your mouth, slightly confused, to remind Frankie that you’d definitely already been introduced to her boyfriend but before you could she squealed. “I forgot I had this top! It’s the one don’t you think?”. And the subject was quickly forgotten in favor of fashion.

The party is loud, music blaring to the point where you’re sure the house will be shaken out of its foundation. You almost forget entirely about Frankie’s earlier promise as she totes you around from ghoul to ghoul, introducing you to her beasties and dragging you into dance circles.

It’s fun, exhausting but fun, and as you take a break to sip some-hopefully not spiked-punch, Frankie appears without a hair out of place. “Hey! Lost you for a second there, sorry”.

You shrugged. “Nah it’s fine. I needed a moment. This party is kinda crazy”. And indeed it was. You were pretty sure the entire school was there, not to mention monsters from other neighboring school too. “Are all monster high parties like this?”.

Frankie laughed, the bolts around her neck sparking a bit with giddiness. “The best ones are. Ooh c’mon, I want you to meet my boyfriend!”. She says, and starts tugging you over to DJ booth.

You remember your earlier thought, and wonder if maybe you’d just misheard or perhaps Frankie forgot that you’d already met her boo the other week; but as she drags you over through the crowd to where the music is at its loudest, you realize you’re entirely incorrect.

The monster behind the DJ booth looks like some kind of fire element, and he’s spinning records so fast your eyes nearly blur.

“Holt! Hey! I want you to meet my new friend!”. Frankie shouts, barely audible over the heavy beats spouting from the speakers.

The DJ has fiery hair and warm blue skin, a pair headphones lazily hung around his neck, and a patterned leather jacket slung over his shoulders. A gleaming silver piercing is threaded through his left eyebrow. He looks entirely the opposite of the nerdy boy Frankie had introduced you too before. When he spots Frankie his eyes light up.

“Frankie-fine!”. A blazing grin stretches across his face. “I’ve been missing you all niiiight!”. He drags out the last word with an overdramatic shrieking high note that makes Frankie giggle.

“I’ve been glued to the booth, but the party’s totally on fire right?”. He asks raising his eyebrows and nodding his head towards the pulsating crowd.

Frankie shoots a thumbs up his way. “Totally! Oh! Before I get distracted again, I wanted you to meet my new friend!”. She says, pulling you forward. You give an awkward wave as Holt’s eyes land on you.

He shoots you a two finger salute in lieu of a wave. “Any ghoulfriend of Frankie’s is a friend of mine. Nice to meet ya!”.

He goes to say something else, but is cut off when the beat switches and a new song blares out around them. “Ooh! This is my new track! Inspired by you ghoul”. He winks at Frankie and pumps his fist in the air. “Par-tayyyy people! Let me hear you screaaamm!”.

The crowd erupts, cheering and dancing to the electronic hyperactive beat. Frankie herself is shimmying to the music and you frown as she and Holt swoon at each other, both clearly only having eyes for the other. 

Frankie had introduced you to Jackson, the mad scientist, and her boyfriend; And now she was introducing you to Holt, the loud party going DJ, and also apparently her boyfriend.

There was only one possible conclusion…

Frankie Stein was a two- timing cheater!

Chapter Text

You pressed far up against the side of the locker you were currently hiding behind, peeking around trying to remain discrete as you snooped on the targets you’d been following for the past few days. 

Was this behavior stalker-adjacent? Perhaps. But this entire situation was driving you crazy! You needed to find out the truth. You had observed multiple dates, half a dozen cutesy pet name exchanges, and countless moments of PDA and the like between Frankie and the two separate boys who seemed to be entirely unaware of the way she was playing games with both of their hearts!

This entire thing was made all the worse by just how nice Frankie was being to you! Offering you a seat at lunch every day or inviting you to the mall with her friends. You’d had to dig your nails into your palms just to resist giving in, smiling tightly as you declined, making excuse after excuse to why you couldn’t join in. It’d be so much easier to pretend you didn’t know and just go along with the whole thing. Be Frankie’s friend and put the drama in the back of your mind to forget all about it all together.

But then, you thought about yourself being in Jackson and Holts shoes. If someone was dating you whilst also secretly dating someone else, and how much it would break you inside. It would shatter your heart into a million pieces! You’d want someone to tell you! And that firmly cemented your decision to break the news to both of Frankie’s boyfriends. 

…Somehow.

You argued internally whether to do it with them together or separately. Two birds, one stone and all that. But they were boys after all, would they do something idiotic like blame each other? What if they started fighting or something!?

But even just finding the two of them together was a lesson in futility. Much less finding at least one of them alone without Frankie there! They were both one of those couples it seemed. Attached at the hip, hardly ever apart. Even now while at Jackson’s locker, Frankie was hovering nearby making cutesy small talk with the mad scientist student.

Finally, Frankie seemed to notice the time on her phone and got out a quick goodbye before she rushed off down the hallway. You turned to look at the wall, hoping to blend in with the bulletin board behind you, but it wasn’t necessarily; Frankie was in such a rush that she passed by you without even noticing you were there.

Now was your time to strike!

You quickly strode down the hall, coming to a halt where Jackson was pulling something out of his locker. It was a bulky and thick binder, with a ton of stickers covering the front of it. Jackson flipped it open, tugged a pencil out from where it was tucked behind his ear, and began to write something down.

”Uh…Jackson?”. You hesitantly asked, suddenly feeling a lot less sure of this whole plan now that you were right in front of one the victims. 

Jackson turned to you, blinking in surprise when he spotted you. “Oh, hey. Uh…Frankie’s new friend right?”. He smiled. It unnerved you, just a bit. Something about it was just a little off, too much teeth and far too much eye contact. “Nice to see you’re settling into school”. He continued. “If you ever needed any help, feel free to ask? I know firsthand that coming to Monster High can be a bit of an…adjustment, to say the least”.

You faltered at the unexpected kindness. “Oh, yeah…well, it definitely can be overwhelming. But everyone’s been really nice”.

Jackson nodded and before you could try to steer the subject back to what you wanted to discuss, he held up a single pale finger to pause you. “Hold on, let me write this down real quick. I’ve got plans with Frankie this weekend and if I don’t write it down it’ll mess up all of our schedules”. He explained, the quiet sound of his pencil scratching against paper was all that was heard between you before he finished whatever he was writing and closed the binder. 

“There! Sorry about that, keeping track of all of our plans can be a bit challenging. You wouldn’t believe how chaotic it was before we started doing this”. He slid the binder back into his locker, closing the door and twisting the combination lock. 

“So, uh, did you need my help with something?”. He awkwardly aimed the question at you with another polite yet off putting grin, as he pushed his thick rimmed glasses up on his nose.

”Oh, umm…”. You imagined the smile dropping off his face at the news, possibly anger or tears or whatever else came with sudden heartbreak, and felt suddenly queasy. Was the room spinning? You swallowed down a gag. “I think… I might need to go to the nurse, actually”. You held a hand against your stomach. “I’m feeling a little sick”. 

Jackson immediately started fretting. “What?! Oh geez, um okay, it’s this way! I have the way memorized from getting myself blown up in the lab every week! Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s just creepateria food- the spooky joes are not as good as they appear, trust me”.

Jackson nervously chattered away as he began to carefully lead you down the hallway with a hand hovering hesitantly around you, and you decided to put telling him first on the back burner. You’d try and speak to Holt first, the DJ seemed easy going and laidback enough. You were sure you could tackle that without feeling like you were gonna spill your guts on the school linoleum.

Probably…

-

Finding Holt was easy. 


The fire elemental was as loud and boisterous as always, singing loudly as he strolled through the halls. Most of the other students rolled their eyes at his antics, far too used to it after attending the same school as him for years. It was all too easy to track him down right before lunch and follow him until he turned down a hallway, drumming his fingers in the air to a rhythm only he could hear blasting through the headphones that you’d never seen him without.

You steeled yourself, turning the corner after him, ready for the confrontation. You wouldn’t chicken out, not like last time! It had been embarrassing enough to have the school nurse pressing at you while Jackson stuck around nervously hovering, worried about your wellbeing. 

Holt was standing at his locker, leaned down to peer in a mirror that was attached till the door on the inside. You still hadn’t completely gotten down the schools layout, but his locker seemed to be right near where Jackson’s was. Scarily close, to the point of being in the same hall in nearly the exact same spot. How the two had seemingly never bumped into each other was beyond you.

Holt carefully ran his fingers through his fiery red hair, swooping his fiery bright red fringe up and out of his face. He looked himself up and down before throwing himself a wink and slamming the locker shut with his hip. 

You took that as the signal to approach him, hesitantly stepped over, your bulky platforms clicking loudly on the linoleum floor.

”Hey, uh Holt, right?”. 

Holt turned to glance at you, eyebrows raising. “Heyyy! Frankie Fine’s friend from the party! What’s up?”.

”Hi”. You waved awkwardly. “I just…”. You pushed yourself forward through the anxiety flowing through your body, mustering up enough strength to continue. “It’s about Frankie-".

“Oh! One of her ghoul friends told you about the surprise party we’re planning? Perfect! I’m sure she’d love to see you there. I’m a total Frankie expert so I’m sure I’ll be able to give you great advice for a gift for her. You’re only like-“. He paused his bragging to count dramatically on his blue fingers. “The third, no fourth! Person to ask me today”. 

“Well, actually-“.

”Now the party is gonna be slamminggg!”. He dragged the word out in that crooning sort of  high note that he was so inclined to do. “Make sure you’re fashionably late though, that’s when the really cool people show up. And there’s gonna be a bit of quiet time during the party”. He rolled his eyes in a way that seemed far too fond. “Some people just can’t handle loud music, y’know?”. 

“...Okay? I wanted to tell you-“.

He cut you off once again. ”That you have no idea what to get Frankie? No prob! I got you ghoul. Her favorite band just dropped a new album so- wait I think I already told someone that one. Okay, her favorite cafe has gift cards and…”. He trailed off. “And I think I already gave that one away too, damn”. He paused, biting his thumb and obviously deep in thought, before snapping his fingers. “Ooh! There’s this one store in the maul she loves. Literally you can’t go wrong with anything in there. But now that I think about it, she's probably got everything they've ever sold. I mean, she like loves that store".

You hesitated before opening your mouth, surely thinking there would be no more interruptions. 

“Actually-“.

Before you could get another word out, the school bell rang loudly, and a swarm of students began entering the halls. Holt swore under his breath, before holding up a peace sign your way, far too close to your face.  “Sorry, gotta run! I can not be late to class again, detention is so not in my schedule for today. See you at the partayyyy!”. And with a wave over his shoulder he disappeared into the crowd of students before you could even try to call him back. 

You watched him go until you couldn’t see his fiery hair anymore, and sighed heavily.

….Maybe you could leave a note or something.

-

“Have you never been to a party before?”. Cleo’s annoyed tone startled you, from where you’d been leaning against the wall and observing the party before you. Typical wallflower. 

You weren't and never had been a party person. Crowds of people tended to be a tad overwhelming, and even if that weren't the case, you didn't often have friends to attend parties with in the first place. Though since attending Monster High that had clearly changed. The school had a very tight knit community and parties happened far too often here. Any occasion seemed to spark celebration. End of school semester, party. Win a casketball game, party. Successful pep rally, party. 

Honestly it seemed exhausting.

Against Holt's advice, you had shown up early. You thought it might be easier to get Frankie alone if there were fewer monsters around. You’d decided to stream past the boys and strike the root of the entire issues itself. Maybe you could just make Frankie see reason with a peaceful non-confrontational conversation?

Though that hopeful thought was nipped right in the bud though, as you'd arrived to see most of Frankie's immediate friend group already there finishing setting up for the party. Then Cleo had spotted you awkwardly standing around and had put you to work helping. Before you knew it the party had moved forward into fully starting, and now there was other students everywhere, milling about and laughing. You’re a bit surprised the music hasn't started up yet, you could already spot Holt's DJ booth set up tucked away into a corner, waiting to be used, but the fiery monster was nowhere to be seen.

Cleo waved you away with perfectly manicured hands. “You’re absolutely ruining the vibe, go mingle! We didn’t invite you to this creeperific party for you to stand around by yourself all night!”.

Thus you now were making your way through the crowd, searching for the birthday girl in question. Was it impolite to find and interrogate someone at their own party? Or did cheating outweigh the impoliteness of that, making it all okay? This was far too much stress. Maybe trying to tell the boys together instead wasn’t such a bad idea after all. 

As if summoned by your thoughts alone, the familiar sound of Jacksons voice came from behind you, his typical anxious tone immediately recognizable.

“Are you sure about the music? I don’t wanna kill the party".

You turned around to see him not too far away, standing near Frankie. His outfit color scheme matched Frankie’s more than his usual clothes. Frankie herself was all dolled up for her birthday, hair immaculately styled in an elaborate updo, outfit pristine, and looking all around freaky fabulous all the way down to her shoes. That ghoul really had style!

Frankie waved off whatever Jacksons concerns were, grasping Jackson’s hand tightly in her own and staring him in the eyes.  “It’s my party, and my Birthday and today’s supposed to make me happy. You being around makes me happy, so there!”. She playfully stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. The fierceness of the cackle is toned down, but that mad scientist feel still leaks through. The chills it sends down your spine are minimal at the very least. After a moment Frankie tilts her head. "We'll probably get the music started in a bit anyways. I'm sure Holt is itching to fire it up!”

You barely manage to conceal your reaction of shock, still trying to hide the fact that you were obviously eavesdropping. Was she really talking to the guy she cheating on about the guy she was cheating with?!

 
That was it, enough was enough.