Disclaimer: I do not own Monster High or it's characters.

Chapter 19,

"So you think it's possible?" Heath asked with a smile and Ghoulia moaned.

"Well, I guess I could ask her... well I probably can't avoid that can I? But I should probably ask some other people too." Heath said.

"Ughhh, heh, ah?" Ghoulia suggested and Heath but his lip.

"Oooohhh, I don't know. Our friends don't really like Toralei." Heath said.

"Well, can you blame us after all the stuff she did?" Heath heard Clawdeen say and he turned to see the girls walking into study howl.

"Well, I know that you guys have your differences, but I think you guys could learn to like her. I don't think she's so bad." Heath said and Draculaura rolled her eyes.

"Well, maybe that's because she's never done a bunch of bad stuff to you." Draculaura said and Heath scoffed.

"Ok, but what about your friendship with Cleo? Clawdeen you use to absolutely hate her. I don't think you spoke to her for a month after she dumped Clawd to be with Deuce." Heath said defensively.

"That was different, I mean-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Frankie interrupted.

"Fang on a sec, guys. Did you seriously say that Cleo actually dated Clawd?" Frankie asked and Clawdeen nodded.

"Oh right, you weren't there for that. Well, they were both the most popular monsters at Monster High, and everyone just thought they would be a good couple, so they started dating. Looking back now, it was obvious that they weren't in love with each other, but I didn't realize it at the time. Deuce really liked her, and was a gentleman; refusing to make a move on her, because he respected her relationship with Clawd. But the second Cleo realized Deuce likes her, she dumped Clawd. Next day, they were dating, and it drove me crazy. Eventually we all got over it, and we became good friends; but I seriously don't see us changing our opinions on Toralei any time soon." Clawdeen said, quickly getting back to the discussion at hand.

"Well, you know, I can't say that I'm really surprised by your reaction, but I am disappointed." Heath said and Clawdeen rose an eyebrow at this somewhat patient response.

"You're disappointed in us?" Clawdeen asked and Heath glared at the girls and his hair caught hair and he stood up.

"Monster High is a place where we learn to be ourselves. Not only that, but it provided a lot of second chances for us students; or am I only speaking for myself?" Heath said, gathering his stuff up.

"Maybe I am. But then again, I never lasted long at any of my other schools. A day, a week, maybe a few months if they had some fire starters already. But all that changed when my parents found this place. And for the first time in my whole stupid life, I had found a place that accepted me for who I was, and even managed to make a few friends too." Heath looked away as some painful memories entered his mind, and he slung his bag over his shoulder.

"And now, I want to become friends wit Toralei. I think she's cool and if Frankie is the only one willing to give Toralei a change with me, then fine. Aside from Frankie and Ghoulia, when was the last time I hung out with any of you ghouls?" Heath said slowly, sounding so incredibly heartbroken, and then he left Study Howell. Heath knew it probably wasn't smart to leave like that, especially when he so rarely understands his math homework without Ghoulia, but he just couldn't stand to hear another bad thing about Toralei.

He wakes the nearly empty halls and sighed at how boring this could really be. Then suddenly, Heath could smell something incredibly floral. At first, he thought it was Venus, but she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, now the halls seemed rather barren; so where was the smell coming from? He smelt roses, lavender, and just a hint of orange.

"You look so confused." He heard and Heath smiled as his hair extinguished.

"Toralei." Heath said, relieved. She was laying on top of the lockers, and smiling down at him.

"Since when do you skip class?" Toralei asked and Heath shrugged.

"Well, study howl." Heath corrected and Toralei sat up.

"Well, it's a start. But what made you pull the trigger?" Toralei asked and Heath hesitated.

"They um, my friends and I had a little disagreement." Heath said and Toralei blinked. She hopped off the locker and slipped her hand in Heath's.

"I know what would be fun. Come on." Toralei said and Heath followed. Toralei lead Heath to one of her spots in school. An area high above the Home Ick classroom. They had a perfect view of the advanced culinary arts class.

"This is probably my favorite place in all of Monster High." Toralei whispered, and they laid side by side.

"Mmm, it smells so good, I can see why." Heath said and Toralei closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"I smell seafood and butter." Toralei said and Heath stared at her happily.

"Do you like to cook?" Heath said and Toralei shrugged.

"Well... I can't say that I do, I mean all the heat, and sweat, and if you cook something bad, the scent will be stuck in your fur for the rest of the week... but I do love watching people cook." Toralei said and Heath nodded supportively.

"Oh, ok. Any special reason?" Heath asked, and Toralei bit her lip nervously.

"Well, I don't know if you would call it a special reason, but I do have a reason." Toralei started and she tucked some fur behind her ear.

"I was only 6 years old when I started living alone on the streets. I needed to scavenge, sometimes steal, or occasionally fight for things like food, and clothing. And I couldn't always watch television, but sometimes I would look in peoples houses and I would see how people were. Families that were happy, sad, broken, loving, mourning, or whatnot. But there was something that was special about cooking. Something that was really nice about taking a moment to care for yourself or someone else, and make something that could make you feel better." Toralei paused to smile.

"You know, living on the streets all those years... I never had many options to cook or to have a home cooked meal. Which, I guess is a shame because the smell of cooking... it's the smell of home." Toralei said and Heath blinked. He looked at the students below, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, as Toralei had earlier.

"It's beautiful." Heath agreed, opening his eyes once more and he chuckled lightly.

"What's funny?" Toralei asked and Heath shrugged.

"Nothing, I guess. I was just thinking of some of those steaks you scared Draculaura with, may have come from here." Heath said and Toralei smirked.

"Some of them, but I'm not too worried about her now." Toralei said.

"Worried? Why would you be worried about Draculaura?" Heath said. Toralei looked at Heath and she hesitated.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but if you tell anyone I'll dunk your head in a bowl of liquid nitrogen." Toralei said and Heath smiled at her.

"I'd like to see you try." Heath teased gently and Toralei giggled.

"Ok, ok. Do you remember when all those vampires and werewolves first got transferred to our school?" Toralei said and Heath nodded.

"Yeah, ancient feud is kinda heart to forget." Heath commented.

"Well, I remember lists of the vampire students would talk about how weak Draculaura was for constantly passing out whenever she saw blood or meat. I also heard some of the werewolves saying 'at least the girl isn't a real vampire'. I guess it was a little harsh of me to force raw steaks in her face and such, but before I went to juice I got pushed around and had to face my fears every single day and I never knew when danger would jump out at me. So, randomly scaring Draculaura like that, forced her to get better." Toralei said.

"You think?" Heath asked simply.

"Yeah. She use to be so scared that she would pass out, and now she can hold steaks without them bothering her. I know, she took Clawd's lunch out of his hands, like it was a tomato." Toralei said and Heath nodded.

"Oh, yeah. I remember that. 'Don't put the eat in meat'." Heath said.

"Exactly. And she's 1600 years old. I don't necessarily have anything against Draculaura, but she's literally loved a thousand times longer then the rest of her friends, and she was so easily frazzled. She needed to learn how to be strong and defend herself, otherwise anyone could take advantage of her. Everyone 'knows' I was mean to Draculaura because I was joking with her. But no one seems to realize how strong Draculaura's become since then." Toralei said and Heath smiled. They watched the students cook for a bit, but there was another thought in Heath's mind.

"Hey, Toralei? Can I ask you a personal question?" Heath asked.

"I suppose so?" Toralei said.

"What did you get sent to Juvie for?" Heath asked and Toralei blinked at him.

"Does it really matter?" She asked and he shrugged.

"I mean, I guess not. I was just curious." Heath said, prepared to let the subject drop.

"I would steal animals from people's homes." Toralei said bluntly and Heath froze.

"What did you do with them?" Heath asked and Toralei bit her lip.

"Well... remember Jimmy at the movie theater?" Toralei said.

"I remember he wanted me to call him Jim." Heath said and Toralei smirked.

"Well, anyways, Jimmy and his boyfriend helped me out. Jimmy took care of the smaller, less dangerous animals at home until they could be taken to the shelter. Nick took care of the more serious cases." Toralei said and Heath realized something.

"Wait a minute, are you saying that you were arrested for rescuing animals from abusive homes?" Heath asked.

"I couldn't prove it, of course. The families seemed so nice, most the time; I don't know why they were so cruel to their pets. Refusing to feed them, or letting them out to use the bathroom then punishing them for using the restroom inside, breeding them only so you can sell the children off, making them fight and possibly die only for money... I caught rescuing Sweet Fang from these disgusting poachers. Wanting a o raise her until she was fully grown before killing her for her fur and turning her bones into tiger bone wine, and god knows what else." Toralei said quietly, but viciously, then she sighed.

"I saved Sweet Fang and I instantly fell in love with her, so I decided to keep her. They took Sweet Fang away from me when I got arrested, but I guess she must have escaped or something, because she found her way back to me here at Monster High." Toralei said and Heath almost couldn't believe it.

"Toralei, can I ask one more thing of you?" Heath said with a sweet smile.

"What's that?" Toralei asked and Heath blushed as he tucked some of Toralei's fur behind her ear.

"Just... hold still." He said, leaning forward and kissing Toralei's cheek. Her fur was incredibly soft, but it tickled his lips slightly.

"What was that for?" Toralei asked bashfully and Heath shrugged.

"Being a beautiful monster." Heath said, just as bashful.

Together, they laid there watching the class, talking, laughing, and unbeknownst to either of them, loving.