Halloween Academy

Chapter 4: Coraline’s Hidden Talents; Rivals in What? Pt.1

During Lunch

Coraline was just leaning on the bulkhead, fuming to herself as her cheeks puffed up. In her hand, she held an open bottle of milk, usually for skeletons to fix and rejuvenate their skeletal bodies, to which DJ had once told her. Coraline set the can down as she angrily placed her hands on her hips and interrogated, “Just what is she to that skinny hussy? He was completely head over heels for her!”

“If you ask my opinion,” Cheshire mumbled as he cleaned out his ear, and looked at his finger, “The boy better be careful around women. Especially strange ones like you, my dear.”

It was then that he felt a chill go down his little spine as he slowly turned around. The black cat then paled at the frightening visage he saw now as his fur suddenly paled up. Coraline’s eyes were comically glowing bright yellowish orange as both of her bawled up fists, with a wall of flame erupting behind her, overshadowing her and leaving only a silhouette.

The human girl then growled at the small black cat as she threateningly asked, “Who are you calling ‘strange’?”

“Nothing,” Cheshire quickly responded as he turned away, avoiding the blonde’s icy stare as the girl finally calmed down a bit. He sighed in relief as the color returned back on his face, ‘Note to self: never tick her off now that I can talk. It’ll be the end of me and my nine lives.’

After the girl had calmed down, Coraline looked to her cat as she suggested, “I think we should keep an eye on this girl… just in case. If she’s a girl at the school, we’ll know about it.”

“Why?” Cheshire asked, feeling a little worried about this idea, “I mean, she’s probably harmless. And I think the last thing you‘d want is to be labeled as a stalker.”

“Who‘s a stalker?” Bobby suddenly asked, after appearing out of nowhere. The girl and cat nearly startled, the blob boy asked, “So who‘s stalking what now?”

“Oh, it‘s just this new girl, Bobby,” Coraline asked, not wanting to get into it. “She‘s putting the moves on DJ, much to my distaste.” she even sighed as she looked at seeing DJ’s figure walking out of the cafeteria. Her anger then turned to sorrow as she sighed, “That and she stole a kiss from him too.”

“Who stole a kiss from who now?” Bobby asked.

“Bobby,” Coraline scolded, “Weren’t you paying any attention at all?”

“Huh?” Bobby asked clueless until he chuckled, “Oh sorry, I was just looking at that zombie over there.”

Coraline sighed, knowing now of the blob’s only fault. Just then, she spotted the girl that snatched DJ away earlier, Lydia. The raven haired girl stopped for a moment, and saw Coraline as well, making eye contact with the girl at this moment. The two girls just locked into each other’s eyes, a sudden spark of rivalry/competitive nature locked between the two. It was almost as if sparks of electricity were shooting out towards them. But as the two were sizing up to scratch one another’s faces off, DJ was going over on what happened yesterday as he was walking out of the cafeteria.

‘What happened? The whole day, I just spent time with that girl, Lydia,’ DJ told himself, going on over in his head as he took notes during the class, ‘I wasn’t even in complete control of myself. It all happened right after she kissed me,’ he grumbled to himself as he grimaced as he remembered what happened at Coraline’s arrival. At first he thought she’d get PO’ed at him, but she seemed more likely to get into a catfight with that new girl, and then what he said to her before they left. He sighed as he told himself, ‘I need to talk to Coraline later after Lunch.’

As both Coraline and Lydia looked at one another in competing rivalry of sorts, someone going unnoticed in the room looked at the blonde a little evilly as she thought, ‘Just a little more….’

It was just then that the school bell rang signaling lunch was over with. DJ got up as he turned around… only to find both of the girls gone. He then gulped at this, “Oh, this is not good.”

Afterwards

Classes were done with and it was nearly the end of the day. However, for one human girl and a fluffy and cute black cat, the day wasn’t over yet. Coraline was leaning near the wall to where the stairway was at, while Cheshire waited in the backpack, though peeked a bit from inside as he muttered to himself, ‘Something’s not right about this Lydia,’ he then scratched his fuzzy chin in deep thought on this one, ‘She doesn’t seem menacing… so why all this?’

“I can’t believe this,” Coraline fumed as she snapped open a soda can she had picked up and drank it, “That over-the-hills floozy. She thinks she can just use DJ like some sort of homework buddy/slave! I’ve got the right mind to clobber her on the head and to cut off her scalp in the process,” she then finished her can of soda as she nearly crushed it with just one hand as she fumed out even more, “And then there’s DJ! Geez, he’s completely gone head over heels for her! What was all that talk about being there for me, or I’ll never give up on you? He just talks smooth just for show! That jerk! Stupid-head! Dummy!”

The Black Cat looked at his blonde haired owner questionably, and then absentmindedly asked, “Um, Cory? From the way you’re talking, it sounds like you’ve got a…”

“It is so imperative that you don’t finish that sentence,” Coraline warned him, giving her a look telling her to not go that far.

“So… the new girl‘s either a cat girl, or a witch, eh?” a voice called up from the stairway, causing the two to look upward. There, they saw Lydia sitting on the railing with her legs crossed and looking down at them with a smug smirk on her face, “Those are at least a few of the rumors, surrounding the new girl,” and then she hopped off the railing, causing some of the students, who didn’t hear what she said, to look in horror as she fell off the stairs.

Then in a surprising turn of events, she landed gracefully in a crouched position, the kind you‘d see Spider-Man pull off. And then stood upright in front of the blonde haired girl, letting go of her shock. Some of the boys whispered out on that the girl was a petite beauty, next to Viper, whom was absent at this point. However, the two girls ignored the boys drooling over the new girl as Lydia smirked and placed a hand on her hip as she smirked at the two, “So… you want to know what I want. It’s simple: I’m going to take DJ away from you, Coraline Jones,” she then grinned seductively as she placed her index finger on her lip, “Of course… we could share him, if you’re up to it.”

Coraline, the now arriving Bobby, and even Cheshire misunderstanding what she had just said to them. Coraline paled at this as she thought, ‘Oh, she’s that king of girl!’

Bobby, being the dumb one, was the only one to think out loud as he dumbfound but casually asked, “You mean ‘you… DJ… and Coraline… together? I didn’t think you into that kind of relationship and all, but…”

Lydia had a look of shock and embarrassment on her face, realizing she had misled what she was trying to make her point. So she shouted, “NO THAT’S NOT IT! LISTEN UP; I LOVE BOYS AND ONLY BOYS!” She had calmed down now and was blushing at the thought of boys, “After all, a Spider-Girl‘s gotta try her luck in the pick of the litter, doesht she?”

“A spider-girl?” Coraline asked aloud. The two just looked at her deeply confused until she asked, “Then what to you want DJ for?”

Lydia struck a seductive pose and explained, “It’s a simple yet master plan of mine, ever since I came here. I intend to turn the entire school campus into my personal harem… and to turn all the boys into my love slaves,” this slight bit of information caused the two, as well as anyone else to overhear this plan, to pale in shock, as she continued, “It would have been a flawless plan… if the guys didn’t go for that skank, Viper M. Edusa.”

“Yeah, she can be a pain alright,” Coraline pointed out, “At least that’s one thing we can agree on.”

Lydia then smirked as she pointed out, “And that’s where DJ comes in. A good-looking girl, hanging around a semi-cute fellow, not to mention him being the son of the Pumpkin King, like that will only advertise one thing and one thing only: Boys desire what they can’t have,” she then placed her hands behind her head as she shrugged, “When they see me with him, all the boys will drop whatever skank they’re hanging out and come flocking… to me… right after I dump DJ’s butt like a sack of potatoes.”

The two kids had listened to the whole thing, and realized that this girl was a major player. And what was worse, she was going to drag JD down with her. Coraline, seething with anger on her part, heard enough and couldn’t stomach this, “Pervert, you’re sick! You can’t do that to DJ, even if you tried to sweet talk it! He doesn’t have anything to do with this! Any bit of it!”

“Yeah!” Bobby shouted, but then asked, “What‘re we talkin‘ about?”

Lydia shot back, “So what? I don’t care about what happens to him, as long as I’m the one who’s happy here!”

It was then that between the two girls, a fiery aura was around them, emphasizing the jealousy and anger that was directed towards one another. Even other students saw this as one guy gulped, “Those two are going at each other with a huge unhealthy dose of jealousy.”

“I think it’s more of a rivalry than jealousy,” Cheshire muttered to himself in the backpack, but then gulped a little, “Though I doubt this storm could get any bigger.”

“There you are, Coraline,” DJ called out as he ran over to the girls, getting their attention, especially Lydia, “I was looking all over for you. You just took off after lunch.”

Another guy who watched this fight, gulped at this turn of events, “This’ll be hell; a real downpour of blood over on this end.”

“DJ…”, Coraline smiled, a little relieved to see her first friend ever.

DJ, looking a little ashamed about what had happened, nervously tried to apologized, “Um, look, Cor… about what happened with me and Lydia…”

It was then that only Lydia heard it; a hissing sound from behind her as she knew what that was and paled for only a moment. Suddenly, Lydia ran over to DJ and embraced him in a hug, as she cheered, “DJ, my hero!” she then snuggled up as she rubbed her cheek up to his, “Oh, I missed you so much!”

Not really in the mood for it, DJ lightly pulled her away as he started out, “Sorry, Lydia, but I really need to talk to Cor,” however, Lydia wasn’t about to give up yet, as she shot up to him, and gave him a kiss on the lips again, further making Coraline agitated.

But Bobby just went wide eyed as he stupidly asked, “DJ‘s got a girlfriend?”

Suddenly, as Lydia pulled away, DJ felt that strange control over him, ‘Oh no, not again,’ and his eye suddenly glazed over in a trance. It was then that he smirked at Lydia and then spoke out in a deadpan voice, and pulled a smirking Lydia back into his arms, “I’m sorry… I guess there wasn’t anything to talk about…”

Coraline couldn’t believe this as she shook her head and pointed out, “DJ, don’t! Get away from her.”

“She‘s right,” Bobby defended, “She‘s got cooties!”

“Eh, why?” DJ asked as Lydia rested her head on his chest, hiding her conniving smirk from Coraline and Bobby, but not from Cheshire.

“Why?” Coraline asked, not believing that this was happening, “It’s because she’s dangerous! She’s just using you!”

“There’s no such thing,” DJ answered, still in his daze. “You‘re just a scaredy cat, that‘s all.”

Then Lydia turned towards Coraline as she pointed out, “You know, I just noticed a while ago… you smell a bit like a human,” this caused Coraline to flinch at that part, remembering her little secret, as Lydia continued, “I’m starting to wonder if you’re just hanging around DJ just because he might protect you all because of that scent. I mean, most monsters go after anything with a human‘s scent.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” Coraline shouted, as she started to become even more worried about what this girl was saying, “I’m not using them or anything, I just…”

“She’s right, you know,” DJ spoke out, shouting in his head to stop, ‘STOP, DON’T SAY IT!’ Lydia turned away and she saw someone in the shaodws; that same hissing sound as that figure smirked, making a V-sign for her upcoming victory, as DJ spoke out hypnotized still, “Maybe that’s the reason why you befriended me,” Coraline looked shocked by this, with a hint of fear and sadness on her face, as Cheshire and Bobby just looked shocked by this, as the hypnotized skeleton boy finished, “I guess I’m just a bodyguard for you just so you can get on by without a scratch, all because you‘re too weak to defend yourself.”

This earned a huge rumoring crowd from the students present in the hallway. However, the blonde human didn’t care about that as she nearly staggered behind, letting what her undead friend had just said to her sink in. “You’re… you’re wrong, DJ… ” Coraline weakly said, as two tears suddenly ran down her cheeks. And then finally, she grabbed her backpack and ran out of there, crying quietly and softly.

“Ah! Caroline, wait!” Bobby called up, but looked at DJ as she shot him a look, “You should be ashamed of what you just said! And I don’t even know why that is!” and then high-tailed it right after the blonde as Cheshire ran after them.

Lydia, on the other hand, didn’t look too proud on what had just happened. However, in the shadows, the figure just smirked at this little victory. They saw Lydia was still in DJ’s arms as the mysterious figure snickered at this whole scene of events. The stranger lightly chuckled at this, seeing the look and the tears go down her former competition’s face, ‘Coraline Jones… you’ve been smashed!’

Later On
Outside

Coraline was sitting under a shaded, yet spooky, tree, with her knees pulled up to her, and resting her head on them. Cheshire was sitting right beside her, patting the girl by the leg, considering it was the only part aside from the shoulder. She had taken what DJ told her pretty hard; in fact, she couldn’t get any more depressed by it any further. It was pretty much at that point; she started to wonder why she had become friends in the first place… friends with anyone at all, if she was the one using them completely.

It was just then Bobby slunked up and found them both, and looked distraught by his friend like this. He knelt down and placed a gooey hand on her shoulder, looking saddened at seeing her like this.

“You alright there?” Bobby asked, getting only Coraline shaking her head in a negative, “Well, I know I’m not the smartest one here. Heck, I don’t even remember what the lesson was today…”

“We didn’t have a lesson today,” Coraline mumbled, not moving away from her spot.

“All I’m saying is that I’m sure he didn’t mean to say that,” Bobby answered, ignoring the blonde’s response, “I know DJ better than anyone… at least as much as I can remember. He would nearly risk his own life to pull his friends out of any tight situation.”

“Well, yeah but,” Coraline started as she lifted her head up, showing her tear-filled eyes, “Now that I think about it… I mean, what kind of friend am I if he does all the saving?”

“Will you both snap out of it already?” Cheshire snapped at the two, getting their attention, “This is hardly the time to get depressed!”

“Hey, furball!” Bobby started, trying to comfort his new friend and scold the other, “DJ’s acting like a real jerk, Caroline’s in tears, and now you’re…”

“First of which… is pronounced Coraline,” the black cat corrected, “And second: the only reason DJ’s acting like a jerk is because of that submission toxin running in his system. And that, was done onto him by that spider-girl,” the two teens didn’t know what the black cat was talking about, giving him a clueless look on their faces. Cheshire just groaned as he scurried over to the backpack, and explained, “Here! Allow me to explain to those who don’t know… and those who just don’t have a brain.”

“The Spider Girl, are part of the Spider People; a race of demons who take the form of humans who’ve died in order to hide themselves. Once confronted or cornered, they allow their true nature to show, and they are skillful fighters, as well as expert trappers.”

“Powerful masters of stealth and trapping expertise, they are able to utilize their webbing into different forms or ways in order to ensnare their targets, or kill them with very powerful results. As for their sustenance, like spiders, they cocoon their victims and inject a special digestive enzyme that liquefies the victim‘s organs, or they just suck their blood and vital fluids like any normal spider would. Though this is not always their main sustenance; they have proven to actually go on a strict diet of fruits or vegetables. Though this is not their normal food source, this allows them to go on for a century without hunting,” Cheshire explained with the knowledge and performance of a college instructor.

Coraline sighed, “Well, that’s good news,” but then looked to Cheshire, “But how she doing that mind control thing on DJ?”

“DJ‘s being mind controlled?” Bobby asked, “But he doesn’t have a brain in his head. It‘s all hollow.”

“Not quite like you, my gelatinous friend,” Cheshire quirked quietly as he continued, “Their mouths possess two fangs that create different types of toxins for any useful situation, whilst their body odor causes blood vessels to dilate and causes a large amount of perspiration. If any creature is confronted by a Spider Person, unless they have a very strong mind or will, they would instantly be under their spell and ensnarement. Though their main way to snare a target is with their eyes at first contact; a sort of animal hypnosis that‘s rarely used. This technique is a hypnotic power called ‘Allure’, found by most of the Succubi race to use, but rarely used by the Spider People. It puts the victim in a half-dead state, leaving the victim in control of the Spider Girl.”

“So DJ wasn’t being a jerk at all,” Bobby smirked at this, nudging a relieved Coraline, “He’s just under mind control.”

“Yeah, don’t celebrate just yet,” Cheshire stated as he hopped on to Coraline’s knees, pointing out something crucial, “It gets worse: Once the victim and the Spider Monster are in an isolated area, the Spider will give the victim the ‘Kiss of the Black Widow’, rendering the victim to be subservient. The Slave will be under their complete control.. forever. Or until the victim/slave is sucked dry.”

Then Coraline paled at that as her eyes went wide with horror, “No… she… she can’t. I won’t let her do this!”

“Then we’d better start finding them both,” the black cat shouted as he got off of his master’s knees as the two got up, “Before that dope becomes the Spider’s soup de jure!”

Next Chapter: Coraline’s Hidden Talents; Rivals in What?