Miss?” A voice called to Lagoona from above the surface of the pool. She popped her head up out of the crystal-blue water and gazed at one of the most handsome mansters she had ever seen. He smiled at her and asked, “Miss? Can I bring you a cool beverage?”

Lagoona kicked her legs out from the wall, holding on to the pool’s edge with her arms. She shook her hair back from her face and smiled. “That would be great,” she said. “Do you have Clamato juice?”

“We can give you whatever you wish,” the manster replied, grinning back at her. He pointed over to a large buffet table several feet away. “We just restocked the buffet with fresh sushi, by the way—please help yourself! The rolls are especially to die for,” he added with a wink.

Lagoona blushed happily. “Sure, why not?” As the cute waiter strolled away, she thought of Gil. She missed him and wondered what he was doing at that very minute. Probably something very similar to what she was doing—relaxing in a pool, waiting for someone to deliver a cool drink.

Lagoona had checked out the ship’s ports of call when they had boarded earlier in the day, searching hopefully for the island where Gil’s family was vacationing. She’d noticed they were going very close to the resort where Gil’s family would be, but they weren’t actually stopping there. She would just have to wave as they sailed past. She wished the captain could reroute the ship just slightly so she could have one afternoon in this oceanside paradise with her boyfriend. But she knew there was no way she could make that happen. After all, there were hundreds of other passengers on board who probably wouldn’t appreciate having to take a detour on their scarecations!

“Goona!” Dewey, Squirt, and Tadpole were all screaming at her from the top of the waterslide. “Watch this!” As she watched, the three little tadpoles hurtled onto the waterslide together. A moment later, they zoomed out of the slide in a train of little bodies. They plunged headfirst into the deep, swirling water and tumbled over one another in the pool. All three boys kicked to the surface and popped out of the water, laughing.

“Pretty fintastic, dudes,” Lagoona said, giving them a thumbs-up. “Are you having a monstrously fun time?”

“Are you kidding?” gasped Squirt. “This ship is the best! Wanna slide with us?”

“In a little bit,” Lagoona promised. “I’m going to grab a snack and get some laps in first.” Without another word, the three boys ran to the top of the slide stairs again. The cute waiter returned a moment later to deliver Lagoona’s drink. With her drink in hand, Lagoona slipped out of the water and strolled around the edge of the main pool. Just as her parents had promised, there were three pools on deck—one shallow pool for little kids, one big lap pool with a water-volleyball net stretched across the center, and an incredible surf pool at the stern of the ship. There were hundreds of lounge chairs set up around the edge of the pools, perfect for catching some sun between swims.

Lagoona had heard some of the other passengers talking about a dance party they had on board every night. She couldn’t wait to check that out. Her Monster High ghoulfriends would love the idea of a dance party in the middle of the ocean! She could just imagine Frankie, Draculaura, and Clawdeen grooving on the dance floor with her. As fun as it was to spend time with her family, she couldn’t help but wish she could share this trip with some of her ghoulfriends or Gil. The thought made her even more determined to make some new friends on board. She hadn’t seen any other ghouls her age yet, which was kind of disappointing, but she remained hopeful she’d come across some soon. There were a ton of tadpoles on board. Lagoona figured that at least one of them must have an older sibling who was looking to make a new friend too!

Lagoona helped herself to some sushi, making sure to sample one of the rolls the waiter had recommended, and settled into a lounge chair. She let her eyes wander around the deck, taking in all the families and little kids splashing around in the pool, looking for ghouls her age, and…

Wait a minute.…

Lagoona pushed her sunglasses up and squinted. “It can’t be.…”

“Can’t be what?” Kelpie said, flopping down beside her sister.

Lagoona stared. There, on the other side of the deck, was an all-too-familiar face. She lowered her sunglasses down over her eyes and shook her head. Not possible… “It’s nothing,” she told Kelpie, hoping she was just seeing things. Maybe her eyes were drying out from too much time out of the water. Yeah, that must be it.

Lagoona took a bite of sushi and listened as her little sister talked about a Hula-Hoop competition the lifeguards were organizing for the pool deck later that evening. “You’ll do it with me, won’t you, Goona?” Kelpie begged.

“Uh…” Lagoona wasn’t so sure. Hula-Hooping in front of all the other passengers? “I’m not the best Hula-Hooper, kiddo. But I’ll watch and cheer you on for sure!”

“Please?” Kelpie begged. “You don’t even know anyone here. Why not just give it a try?”

Before she could answer, a familiar voice hissed behind her, “Well, well, well, look what the waves washed up.”

Lagoona spun around. So she hadn’t been seeing things. “Uh, hi, Toralei,” she said, forcing a smile. “Wow, what are the odds? So… we’re on the same cruise, eh, mate?”

Toralei rolled her eyes. “Looks that way.”

“Who’s this, Lagoona?” Kelpie asked, grinning up at Toralei. “A friend from Monster High?”

Lagoona and Toralei looked at each other. Toralei narrowed her eyes. After a long, awkward pause, Lagoona said, “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Kelpie, meet Toralei. Toralei, this is my little sister, Kelpie.”

Toralei yawned and waved lazily at Kelpie. Then she faked another smile for Lagoona and said, “Well, much as I’m sure you’d love for me to curl up for a long chat, I have places to be and things to do.”

Lagoona watched her classmate prance away. She took a deep breath, wondering how she could have gotten so unlucky. Of all the ghouls in the world, why was Toralei the one to end up on her cruise ship? Lagoona was the kind of ghoul who could chill with just about anyone. She loved making new fiends and could always find something in common with most ghouls. But there was something about Toralei’s kitty mischief that made it really hard for Lagoona to enjoy spending time with her. She just wasn’t very nice, and Lagoona valued kindness over everything.

Now here she was, on a big family scarecation, and it was beginning to look like the only person her own age on board the ship was Toralei? Lagoona couldn’t believe this was actually happening. She wished she could call Draculaura or Frankie or Clawdeen to tell them, knowing her ghoulfriends would help her find the fright side of the situation… but with no phone service, that was impossible.

But after a few minutes of fretting about being stuck on a boat with Toralei, Lagoona let her worries drift away. After all, she could just spend her whole day in the pool and avoid Toralei altogether. She knew her classmate hated water, so Lagoona could stake out the pool as her turf and Toralei could stay high and dry, napping on the deck. There was room enough for both of them on this ship. It was all good. “Come on, Kelpie,” she said, pulling her sister up. “Let’s go play in the pool, eh?”

To try to push all thoughts of Toralei from her mind, Lagoona splashed around in the pool with her sister and brothers. They were having a blast, but every once in a while, Lagoona would look up and catch Toralei smirking at her from her lounge chair on the deck. Briefly, Lagoona wondered if she should invite her classmate to fang out with them—maybe if she killed her with kindness, Toralei would try a little harder to be nice too. Maybe this could be the week Toralei and Lagoona could get to know each other, and then they would become ghoulfriends for life.

Ha! Lagoona had forgotten for a moment that this was Toralei. She didn’t do nice.

Besides, this was a family trip. Lagoona was here to fang out with her sibs, and Toralei surely wouldn’t want to do a bunch of little-kid activities. When the boys and Kelpie swam off to play on the waterslide again, Lagoona decided to get in some more laps. It was so relaxing to dig through the water, feeling the smooth pull of the gentle waves, letting her natural swimming instinct take over. But just as she was really getting into her workout, a ball knocked Lagoona on the back of the head. “Crikey!” she gasped, bursting out of the water.

“Oops,” Toralei said, covering her whiskers high up in the lifeguard stand.

Lagoona treaded water and looked up at the lifeguard chair, which Toralei was sharing with a scary-cute werewolf lifeguard. Then Lagoona glanced around the pool—it was suddenly full of tadpoles! Her lane was being overrun with little squirts who were all tossing around balls.

The lifeguard howled. “Volleyball time! Clear the pool.”

“So sorry, Lagoona,” Toralei said, not looking at all sorry. “Looks like you’re going to have to take a little break.”

Reluctantly, Lagoona climbed out and sat on the edge of the pool. It appeared that Toralei had somehow charmed the lifeguards and persuaded them to organize a water volleyball tournament. This seemed fishy, since Toralei would never dream of setting a paw in the water herself. So why was she so busy organizing water activities? Had she convinced them to close the pool for volleyball just so Lagoona would be forced to get out? That was just mean.

Toralei looked monstrously amused about the whole situation. For a moment, Lagoona wondered what she could do to get Toralei back for ruining her swim.… Then she felt bad for even thinking it. She tried to be nice in every situation, since treating people badly didn’t feel good. Plus, it usually came back to bite you in the backside. Lagoona believed firmly that what goes around comes around, and she always tried to treat people the way she liked to be treated herself.

That’s when Lagoona realized that the best way to deal with Toralei was to show her that she wasn’t at all bothered by her kitty mischief. In fact, Lagoona would join in the volleyball game and have a blast—that would show Toralei how to go with the flow!

Flashing a big smile, Lagoona yelled up to Toralei, “No worries, mate. I love volleyball!” Then she jumped up and dove into the deep end with all the little kids. “Who’s got room on their team for me?”