The Storm Twins Conquer Monster High

Chapter 13: A Strange, grey school.

Chapter 13: A strange, grey school.

    As Cleo exited the other side of the portal, she found herself in a very grey attic with a big, grey fancy couch and three chairs in one of the corners of the room. As she cracked the attic door open, she could hear people talking in the hallways.
    As she left the attic and hid in the common area of the school, she passed by many students with unusual skintones. Some students were bright and colorful, such a three rocker girls who had hair in neon green, pink, and blue, and unusual skintones that looked monochromatic with their hair colors.     
    Other students were entirely in greyscale with only their eyes having color though. She saw a familiar pale grey girl wearing a white and black snakeskin dress, with split dyed white and black hair hanging out with a girl who wore only white and had white skin and long white wavy hair. There was also a grey boy with sliverly grey hair wearing earbuds who was talking to a grey girl with curly steel grey hair in pigtails. They looked like a couple to her, and she couldn't help but think of how her and Deuce's relationship used to be.
    From the top of a staircase, she saw the Twins decend downward into the common area, having a more intimidating air than she remembered. They strutted in perfect unison, their stileto heels making noise against the shiny black marble floor of the school building. Everyone around them looked at them with a fear and respect that made Cleo jealous. Cleo got nervous and one of her organ jars fell from her purse and almost rolled away from her, but last second she used one of her golden mummy wraps to grab it.
    Veronica noticed the flash of gold though, and the twins went over to investigate what was going on in their school. Nobody even wore gold anything, so this was very out of place. When they found Cleo hiding behind one of the vending machines in the common area, they silently, yet angerly gestured for her to follow them.
    "Don't address us. Don't make eye contact with us. Don't breathe on us.", Naomi threatened, her tone sounding a bit annoyed and angrier than Cleo was used to.
    
    The Twins then led her into a private elevator, where an orchestral version of the school's theme song played from the speakers. Finally they made it to the end of the hallway, to the entrance of a dorm room that had the names Naomi Storm and Veronica Storm in silver on a black marble plaque next to a set of large, silver double doors.
    When she followed them into the dorm, Cleo was amazed. This place was massive and looked just as luxurious as her own dorm room, but in an entirely different way. Beautiful deep purple and turquoise fabric was used as drapes and on the couch in the living area of the room. There was also a lot of silver and black marble in the furniture and the floor was black marble as well. All the black marble reminded Cleo of a part of a story about a Greek hero entering a Titan's lair that Deuce had told her about.
    "What are you doing here? You stick out like a sore thumb you know. If we weren't there to discover your prescence, who knows what would have happened?", Veronica told Cleo, her voice sounding more sarcastic than Cleo was used to.
    "My friend, Ghoulia, suspected that you two were from the Shadow High dimension based on your jewelry and we did a ritual to activate the portal that she found in an old book. And I know that you are Normies. I am sorry if my royal presence here bothers you.", Cleo said.
     "And I never got to thank you for what you did to Nefera. That was absolutely ingenious. She still talks about you two, by the way. Its kind of amusing seeing her so scared actually. She even got upset enough that she tried to curse you, but it didn't affect you because it was a curse that only works on vampires! And to think that she was beaten by Normies. Priceless.", Cleo said laughing to herself.
     "Look, I get that you just got here, but you need to leave. You don't belong in our dimension and the Portal Project is top secret between us and a few of our friends. Normally, we would threaten to expel you, but you don't even go here. Basically, you are a nobody here, a stranger.", Naomi said sternly.
    "Portal Project?", Cleo asked, a bit confused.
    "Have a seat and we will explain. Would you like some grape juice that tastes like red wine while you're here? We're not allowed to have alcohol on the Shadow High premises.", Veronica said, her voice sounding more neutral.
    Cleo nodded, taking the glass of juice from the Twins. It wasn't nearly as good as the red wine that existed in Ancient Egypt back before she was mummified, but it was certainly better than the grape juice from the Creepateria. Veronica and Naomi then explained the basics of the situation.
    "So Draculaura's new vampire friend, Elissabat, is actually someone from the First Generation of my dimension? I was wondering how she could just take night classes at Monster High and be weirdly familiar with everything. And that girl with the white and black hair with the snakeskin clothes, that's Heather?", Cleo asked, being impressed with how comfortable their couch was.
    The twins nodded in perfect unison. "And you're not bothered by the fact that we're actually Normies?", Veronica asked, curious.
    "No. I actually admire and am quite curious about Normies and Human culture. My friend Clawdeen is literally half Normie, I was a Normie before I was mummified, and many of the greatest fashion designers of all time are Normies. Lets just say that, Monster High is adjusting to the presence of Normies thanks to Clawdeen. And you two are cool, so I don't care what species you are.", Cleo said.
    The Twins looked nervously at each other. One of Cleo's smart friends in the Monster High dimension had deduced that they were Normies and from another dimension just based on their SH jewelry and when analyzing Veronica's ears in a simple profile picture. If Heather heard about this, she would judge them so harshly.
    "Maybe I shouldn't have written that note in purple ink...", Naomi said nervously.
    Upon seeing the Twins' worried expressions, Cleo reassured them, "Don't worry so much. Me and Ghoulia decided to keep your little secret to ourselves. I won't even post anything on Eek-Tok or tell Lagoona about it. You're nobodies in my dimension anyways. Bloodgood gave me back the thumbdrive after uploading its footage. From what Ghoulia said, she didn't seem to even know where it came from. And how did you trick the school though? Normally, Normies lose any momory of Monster High just by stepping foot in its halls."
    "We have a cooler full of samples of Demi's blood and we hide a small bag of it in a secret compartment in each of our purses to mask our human scent. Its genius, isn't it?", Veronica said, getting a bit excited.
    "And Ghoulia says that maybe the system got confused because you don't look like Normies and because Shadow High was never disconnected from the Monster High Multiverse to begin with. Maybe it still recognizes you as a part of the Multiverse. I feel like based on that, even if you were to enter without the blood, you wouldn't be rejected like the Normies from the Human World are.", Cleo said, surprised at how smart Ghoulia's observations were making her sound.
    "Well now that that is all settled, would you like some more grape juice? We have plenty where that came from. And if you want, we can help find you an outfit to disguise yourself better. I am sorry if we don't have anything with authentic mummy wrappings.", Naomi apologized in advance.
    "Why are you being so nice to me, but put on an intimidating air around your peers all the time? Is it because we're friends or something?", Cleo asked.
    "Well, we felt bad for you and wanted to help you. We don't even do that for most of our own peers. Consider yourself very lucky.", Veronica said.
    "So we are friends... And what was even in that gum on Nefera's shoes? She literally had to get them shipped to a professional to get it removed.", Cleo said.
    "It was simply my chewed up gum mixed with superglue. Ingenious, right?", Veronica said.
    Cleo didn't know whether to be disgused or impressed. Veronica had literally spat on Nefera in a way with the gum prank, which Cleo found hilarious considering how Nefera thought herself to be literally untouchable. And subtle sabatoge like this made Toreli's sabatoge look dumb and obvious by comparison.
    The girls then looked in the Twins' huge, perfectly organized, walk-in closet for something for Cleo to wear as a disguise around the school, Cleo being amazed at all the goth clothing done by various designer brands.
    "Why is everything in here black, purple, and goth? Don't you wear any other colors?", Cleo asked the Twins.
    "Sometimes we wear hints of midnight blue or dark turquoise. Black and purple are just our signature colors.", Naomi said proudly.
    When they had finally decided on something, it was a midnight blue dress that they had outgrown, but that they thought would look good on Cleo. The fabric had a silvery gold trim and the color of the shiny fabric shifted from midnight blue to turquoise depending on the lighting and the angle that you looked at it. It was also one of their few less obviously branded pieces. They now knew the consequences of wearing branded clothes everywhere and didn't want Cleo to go through the same kind of suspicion by her peers.
    They decided to pair it with a pair of silvery-gold ankle strap heels that were a bit too tight for them as well. The gold accents in the clothes were there but very subtle compared to the obvious yellow gold that Cleo wore in her clothes and jewelry.
    When they showed Cleo the full outfit, she smiled a bit, "Its not my style, but it will have to do. Wait, is that midnight blue or turquoise?"
    "Its a special color shift fabric. It changes depending on the angle and the lighting. Its a bit small on us, so you can keep it.", Naomi said.
    Cleo was speechless as she went into their dressing room to try it on. She was surprised to find that they each had a special vanity from their "Wonder Models" show along with various acting, modeling, and Twin Con awards. This was an absolute fantasy to her, as she had a strong desire to be famous and respected by her peers.
    She couldn't help but look at the big silver framed poster in the room in between the vanities that had their signatures in deep purple iridescent ink. The top of the poster had the name of the Twins' famous tween drama show, "Wonder Models" in a luxurious looking font. Depicted on the poster was an impressive modeling shot of the twins, looking years younger, posing for the camera and wearing their signature black and purple color scheme. So they weren't lying about their acting and modeling careers, as it turned out.
    She changed into the dress and Naomi helped tighten it via her surprising sewing skills, as Cleo was more slim around the torso than the twins were. She then admired herself in the mirror. She had adjusted her gold mummy wraps to look like fingerless, elbow length gloves and the wrappings on her legs to resemble thigh-high socks.
    A simple, silvery-gold headband lay atop her head, catching the light. Her long, straight, dark blue hair with thin gold highlights hung loose and long down to her thighs. A little silvery-gold choker with a turquouse pendant hung from her neck. Little dangley silvery-gold earrings with little turquoise gemstones hung from her ears. The dress looked so classy and good on her, making her look more mature. The beautiful iridescent fabric shifted from midhight blue to turquoise depending on the angle she looked at it.
    The silvery-gold heels were much more delicate and modern looking than most of her gold sandals, but they did match the outfit. Her nails had been repainted in a midnight blue color and she now wore midnight blue eyeshadow with shiny silvery-gold as the accent color. Her lips had been done in a deep red, almost black color.
    The twins' smiled when they saw Cleo exit the dressing room. She looked so good in the new outfit and makeup, it was as if she was a different person.
    "You look stunning! Wait until Deuce and Frankie see you like this!", Naomi said, complimenting Cleo. Veronica nodded in agreement. Cleo really did look exceptionally beautiful in that moment.
    Cleo couldn't help but smile a bit, "Are you ghouls sure that I can keep this? This is too nice for just a disguise. Really. I have plenty of other clothes already...".
    "No. That outfit is yours now, and we don't do this for just anybody. It was a bit small for us anyways. We insist that you keep it.", Veronica said, speaking for both her and Naomi.
    When Cleo admired herself in the mirror again, she couldn't help but admire how beautiful she looked. If Deuce saw her like this, she felt that he would certainly be tempted to hang out with her more rather than Clawdeen. She then realized that it was getting late and that she should be heading back to Monster High in time for curfew.
    "Wait! We have to ask your opinion on a shared outfit! We are having a party in our dorm soon, and we need to decide if these dresses look good enough for it.", Naomi said, as her and Veronica slipped into the closet to get changed real fast.
    When they came out, Naomi was wearing a black leather minidress with purple lace trim that showed a bit more of her chest than her usual Versace enable. She was wearing her usual stiletto-heeled thigh-high boots. Paired with the outfit was Naomi's usual Versace earrings, the many silver rings on her delicate fingers, a simple black velvet choker with a deep purple gemstone pendant, and a black and silver studded bracelet. Most shockingly though, she wasn't wearing her iconic fur coat.
    Veronica was now wearing a deep purple minidress that looked very similar to one that Cleo had seen Demi wear, but Veronica looked a million times better in it. A simple black leather belt with a fancy SH buckle sinched the dress at Veronica's waist, showing off her figure.
    Cleo could also see Veronica's black satin hairbows with fancy gemstone charms on them more clearly since she had taken off her spiky headband for the outfit. She wore her usual dangling bow and pearl earrings and her legs were still covered by her black thigh-high leather socks and her usual iridescent dark blue and purple stiletto heels with the spikes on the back. She wore a fancy-looking, silver chain bracelet on the opposite wrist that Naomi wore her bracelet on, had many silver rings on her fingers as well, and wore an identical choker to her twin sister. She was also not wearing her jacket.
    Cleo was speechless. Seeing the Twins without their coats felt like she was seeing something that she wasn't meant to see. Without their coats, they were easily the palest, most ethereal ghouls of any species that Cleo had ever seen. They literally looked as pale as Death itself. Yet they were so breathtakingly beautiful that Cleo couldn't look away and couldn't help but blush a bit.
    "You're blushing. Are you okay? Are the outfits embarrassing or something? We tried our best to make them match. Are we being too matchy matchy like the Devious Twins or something?", Veronica asked.
    "Oh my Ra, why would two bootiful, perfect, ghouls like you ever feel embarrassed? You are just so goregeous right now! It simply took my breath away.", Cleo said.
    The Twins simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. We were worried that it was a bit too matchy matchy.", Naomi said.
    "Naomi, Veronica, I have to go back through the portal now, and I promise not to tell a soul about your dimension.", Cleo said, realizing what time it was and picking up her purse and her pyramid backpack that she had put her original clothes into.
    They then went to the attic, and thankfully, Heather and Demi weren't there. They proceeded to power up the portal with the crystals and send Cleo on her way.
    "And if you do any more impromptu visits, just make sure to let us know ahead of time and dress for it first. Another word of advice: if you encounter any annoying Normie twins with rainbow colored hair, tacky fashion sense, and who go by the names Laurel and Holly Devious, don't trust them.", Naomi warned, just before Cleo stepped back through the portal into her own world.