The Love Life of Victor Frankenstein

Something's Wrong With Persephone

About three weeks had passed; Victor had a black eye and his left arm in a cast and sling, but he didn't seem to mind. Even though he couldn't properly build any new inventions nor do any big science projects or new home movies and the cast he wore itched like crazy, he was okay. And luckily, he was right handed... and Elsa was usually there to help him if he needed it. He felt more and more comfortable, happy, and safe around her; he felt she was someone he could really connect with.

One day at school, Elsa approached Victor's desk in class with a rather worried look on her face.

"Hey, Victor. How's your arm doing?" She asked.

"A little better than before. Still kind of itchy." He replied before he looked up and noticed his friend's worried look. "Elsa? What's wrong?"

"Uh, it... it's Persephone. I think she might be sick."

"Sick? Oh no. Tell me what's wrong."

"Well, she's been having trouble keeping her food down. She's thrown up four times in the past two days. She's also been really tired lately; she's been taking more naps during the day, which isn't like her at all. I'm really worried about her."

"Okay, don't worry. I'm sure there's an explanation. Maybe we should take her to the vet after school, just to see if it's anything serious."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Victor."

"No problem."

"Okay, kids. Quiet down. Take your seats; we have a lot to discuss." A woman with brown hair, glasses, and a green sweater said as she entered; the class recognized her as the sixth grade English teacher, Mrs. Winston.

As Elsa promptly sat down at her desk, Victor raised his hand.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Winston? Where's Coach Barnes?" He asked.

"Oh, she won't be teaching your class for a while." She replied as she turned to face the class. "I will."

"Um, no offense Mrs. Winston, but do you know anything about science?" Elsa asked, nervously raising her hand.

"Of course I do, dear. Just because I teach English doesn't mean I can't teach other things from time to time." Mrs. Winston replied.

Victor and Elsa glanced over at each other, unsure of what was in store for them and the rest of the class. The teacher cleared her throat.

"Now before we begin, I'd like to introduce a couple of new students today." Mrs. Winston said as two young girls entered the room and stopped beside her; one girl had her dark hair pulled up into a bun and she was wearing a grayish yellow sweater and the other had puffy light brown hair and rectangular glasses. "This is Hillary and Mae-Lee; they're your new classmates. Why don't you go take a seat, girls? Then we can start class."

The two girls nodded at Mrs. Winston and they each promptly took a seat in the front row. Toshiaki and Nassor glanced at the girls curiously, not sure of what to say. The girls looked in their direction.

"Hello." The girl in the sweater said to them. "My name is Mae-Lee."

"Hello." Toshiaki replied, reaching out to shake her hand. "I am Toshiaki and this is my associate, Nassor."

"Hello." Nassor said as he shook the other girl's hand. "You must be Hillary."

"A pleasure to meet you." Hillary replied with a nod.

"Yes, you two seem very mature and sophisticated for your age." Mae-Lee pointed out.

"Thank you." Toshiaki said; Nassor nodded in agreement.

"Okay, that's enough. As nice as it is to see the new girls making friends already, you lot can get to know one another after class." Mrs. Winston said; as sweet as she was, she still had to enforce the class rules.

"Mrs. Winston?" Edgar raised his hand. "What are we going to do today?"

"I was just getting to that, Edgar. Now let me see, where did you kids leave off...?" Mrs. Winston said as she opened the binder sitting on the desk and took a look. "Oh, it says here... we're going to do something a little different today."

"What do you mean 'a little different'?" Toshiaki asked.

The teacher smiled; she then walked around the classroom and gave a packet of paper to every student. On the front page it read in big bold letters: "Make Friends Through Pen and Paper". No one knew what it meant.

"Mrs. Winston, what is this?" The Weird Girl asked.

"This is your new assignment." Mrs. Winston replied with a sly smile.

The packet read that the students were required to write a one page letter and send it off on a balloon and if a letter comes back, then the students would each have a pen pal. And the letter was due the next day because that was when they would be launching them into the sky.

After a long day, the bell finally rang. Victor and Elsa were walking down the sidewalk side by side on the way home... and they were discussing the assignment Mrs. Winston had just given them.

"So what do you think of this project, Victor?" Elsa asked.

"I don't know. I'll have to see what my parents think of it first." Victor replied.

"Yeah. Same goes for my uncle. I just hope he doesn't make too big a deal out of it."

"Uh, speaking of your uncle..."

Elsa looked up and saw Persephone lying on the front lawn of her uncle's house and she wasn't looking so good; the Mayor was standing over the poodle and glowering at her.

"Uncle Bob? What's going on?" Elsa asked as she and Victor ran towards him.

"Your dog is acting up again." Mayor Bergermeister replied.

"Oh no, she looks terrible." Victor said, kneeling down to get a better look at Persephone.

"She looks even worse than before." Elsa said worriedly.

"Victor?" Susan called as she strode towards the Mayor's house. "Honey, what's going on?"

"Oh, mom!" Victor said as he looked up at his mother. "Can you drive me, Elsa, and Persephone to the vet? We think she's sick."

"Oh no, the poor little thing." Susan said, kneeling down and gently stroking the poodle's head. "Let's get her in the car. We can go right now; Sparky can come too."

"But Sparky hates the vet." Victor pointed out before he heard Persephone start to gag.

"Oh boy, not again." Elsa said, taking a small step back; Susan and Victor stood up and did the same before the poodle finally threw up right there on the walkway.

Mayor Bergermeister stood in shock and disgust before he glowered at Elsa and Victor.

"I'll go get Sparky." Victor said before heading to the backyard of his house.

"Um... Elsa? Would you help me get Persephone into the car?" Susan asked.

"Sure." Elsa replied before she picked up her beloved dog as gently as she could and went next door with Susan.

"Wait a minute, who's going to clean this up?!" The Mayor shouted as he stood before the puddle of dog vomit on his lawn.