Opposites Are Supposed to Attract Right

chapter 17

Clawdeen looked around at all of her friends and sighed unhappily. They were all happy; they had boyfriends. Clawd and Draculara were laughing about a joke Clawd just told, Cleo, Deuce, Frankie and Jackson were all sharing milkshakes, Spectra and Phantonian were talking about their schoolwork, and Lagoona and Gill were staring dreamily into each others' eyes.

Clawdeen felt entirely left out and it didn't help that none of them had engaged her into any of the conversation at all. Finally the werewolf couldn't take anymore and stood from the table, leaving her untouched lunch and moving out of the cafeteria. All of her friends watched her go and Lagoona sighed.
"What could have made Toralei change her mind?" the sea monster mused. "The relationship seemed so solid and then Toralei just breaks it off."

"Well, you know those cats. Always going back on their word. Heh." Clawd gulped as Draculara stared after Clawdeen. Cleo avoided Deuce's gaze and everyone at the table stared at the three.
"What did you three do?" Gill asked suspiciously.
"W-we didn't do anything!" Clawd said softly, trying to play off his nervousness.
"Yes you did because Cleo won't look me in the eye through my sunglasses." Deuce replied.
"What did you do?" Lagoona asked.
"Ok, ok! We might have influenced Toralei's decision to break up with Clawdeen… just a little."
"A little?" Frankie asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.
"Ok, maybe completely." Clawd said, his ears flattened to his head.
"What." Phantonian demanded. "Did. You. Do?"
"We might have had some kids beat her to within an inch of losing her first life." Cleo mumbled.
"What?" the entire table screamed, making the cafeteria go silent.
"Why would you do that?" Frankie demanded.
"Because they're opposites!" Clawd exclaimed. "It's not supposed to-."
"So because of some stupid superstition, you made your sister completely miserable?" Gill asked.

"So miserable she's not even eating?" Lagoona added, looking at Clawdeen's plate.
"Oh no," Frankie snorted. "She's eating; she's just not eating meat."
"What do you mean?" Spectra asked.
"She's taken on Draculara's diet." Frankie told them. "She only ate her lettuce on her burger. She didn't touch anything else."
"But Clawdeen hates vegetables!" Draculara gasped.
"Yeah, well, apparently losing Toralei also made her lose her appetite." Deuce quipped.
"I can't believe you three." Gill sighed.
"Gill and I didn't let his parents' superstition about sea monsters ruin our relationship." Lagoona pointed out.
"And normies always say that Egyptian princesses should marry someone with good looks and lots of money." Deuce added.
"But… you're good-looking." Cleo said timidly.
"Not to normies, I'm not. They'll only always see the snakes for hair and stone changing eyes."
"And vampires and werewolves have fought for millennia, but you two are together." Frankie finished, eyeing Draculara and Clawd.

"Alright! We get it!" Clawd exclaimed. "But how do we fix this? Clawdeen won't even talk to me."
"That's probably payback for all those mean comments you made about her and Toralei." A voice said. Clawd turned to see Howleen glaring down at him.
"Hey Howleen." Clawd said, smiling slightly. He knew Howleen would take his side, he just knew it.
"I made you a present Clawd." Howleen said softly.
"Really?" Clawd asked.
"Yup, especially for you."
"Can I have it?"
"Sure." Clawd waited a moment and was surprised when a very strong punch landed the side of his head.
"That's for making Clawdeen miserable!" Howleen growled, punching him again. "And that's for making Toralei miserable too!"
Clawd moaned slightly. "I can understand why you're sticking up for Clawdeen, but why are you sticking up for the cat?"
"Because I actually liked her. She took me out for ice cream whenever she and Clawdeen went. She made me feel welcome and she made Clawdeen be nicer to me. It's because of Toralei that I haven't been unhappy. Now, I'm unhappy that my sister and my close friend are both unhappy."
"But how am I supposed to fix it?" Clawd demanded.
"Figure it out yourself!" Howleen growled. "You made this mess, you clean it up. And I mean ALL of it!"
"Or what?" Clawd sneered.
Howleen clapped her paws and almost every student in the cafeteria stood up. "These are the kids that care about Clawdeen. Not to mention the entirety of Crescent High. I'll get all of them to attack you, Cleo and Draculara if this mess isn't settled by the time the end of year dance comes around." Howleen clapped again and the students went back to their lunch. Clawd groaned as he sat his head on his hands.
"What am I going to do?" he muttered.
"We'll help you out." Frankie volunteered while Lagoona and the others nodded.
"Really?" Clawd asked. "Thanks guys!"
"We're not doing it for you." Gill snorted.
"We're doing it because Toralei became our friend too." Frankie told him.
"Now let's get down to planning, people." Cleo ordered.
Purrsephone strode over to Toralei and laid a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Toralei, please eat." The black and white cat mewed.

"I'm not hungry." Toralei mumbled, staring out at the city.
"But that doesn't mean your body can go without food." Purrsephone persisted.
"I'm not hungry, Seph."
"What's wrong with you, Toralei?" Purrsephone asked. "Why aren't you eating anymore? You're not as happy-."
"I was forced to break up with the girl that made me happiest!" Toralei snapped.
"Forced?" Purrsephone inquired.
"Yes. Clawdeen's brother Clawd got some kids to beat me near death until I told him I would break up with Clawdeen."
Purrsephone growled lowly. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded. "I could have set him straight for you."
"But he would have just kept doing it until I broke up with her."
Purrsephone's eyes softened at the shattered look Toralei had. "But I'm a coward. I have nine lives to live and I was afraid of giving up at least eight of them just so that I could say I still had nine. Now, I'm miserable and Clawdeen's miserable and Clawd's gloating, trying to get her to hook up with every male monster they pass. Notice he doesn't want her hooking up with any of the females, just the males."
"He just wants her to breed so they can keep the family going." Purrsephone mused.
"But they have tons of sisters and brothers. One lesbian in the family wouldn't hurt them that much."
"Unless the others started becoming lesbians too. He doesn't want anyone else in the family turning gay."
"I still shouldn't have broken up with her."
Purrsephone sighed. "I'll be back, alright?"
"Seph?"
"Hm?"
"Don't tell Meowlody."
"I won't Tor."
Purrsephone hurried down the stairs and into the main school building. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted her target and she rushed him, using his momentary surprise to slam him against the lockers and punch him as hard as she could. Strong hands pulled her away and Purrsephone didn't struggle.
"What's your problem?" Clawd demanded, wiping his lip.
"You're my problem!" Purrsephone hissed. "I finally got the story of what happened out of Toralei. Because of you, I've been worried sick about her for an entire week. She's been miserable without Clawdeen. She won't eat, she barely sleeps… all she does is mope all day and I've been trying to figure out why."
The arms holding her slowly let her go and Purrsephone continued. "I knew it had something to do with Clawdeen, but I didn't know exactly what happened. It turns out that you beat her to nearly an inch of death. I saw the bruises, but I thought she got into a fight. Instead, I find out that she was jumped by a bunch of kids who couldn't just attack her on their own. She told me you didn't lay a hand on her. You're a coward, you know that?" Clawd stared at Purrsephone and looked around at his friends.
"You didn't even fight her yourself?" Lagoona gasped.
"I… Clawdeen would recognize the markings I left."
"Coward!" Purrsephone spat, shrugging the oncoming arms off and punching Clawd again. "You're not even worth me fighting. I'm going back to Toralei. She needs me." They all watched Purrsephone go back up the stairs.
"I heard." Toralei murmured. "Thank you."
"You're my friend, Toralei." Purrsephone purred. "I'd do anything to defend you."
"Thanks Seph." The two stayed on the roof like that, Purrsephone stroking Toralei's hair as Toralei looked off at the city. Neither bothered to return to their classes that day.