When she got to Draculaura’s house a short while later, Frankie lifted the huge knocker on the castle’s front door and let it crash down with a resounding thud. A moment later, Draculaura flung the door open and exclaimed, “I thought you would never get here!” Frankie’s always-cheerful ghoulfriend gave her a hug. She broke into a huge smile, revealing two adorable vampire fangs, and her cheeks flushed a deeper pink color as she squeezed Frankie tight. “Come in, come in. I can’t wait to show you something. I bought you a little present on my trip this week, and I’m so excited for you to see it!”

Frankie smiled happily. Draculaura loved helping Frankie shop for clothes—and Frankie loved having her help. Frankie’s beast ghoulfriends, Draculaura and Clawdeen Wolf, had spooktacular style, and they were always happy to share their fashion wisdom with Frankie by helping her put together creepy-cool outfits. Frankie had no doubt that Draculaura’s present was a piece of clothing.

Draculaura chatted excitedly about her latest trip as she led Frankie through the winding halls of the castle. Frankie was always amazed at the beauty of Draculaura’s home. When Draculaura and her father had left Transylvania many years earlier, Dracula had all the pieces of their castle shipped over to the Boo World and reassembled. Their castle looks just like the one they’d had in Transylvania, which Draculaura said helped to make the Boo World feel more like home when they had first arrived. Of course, now Draculaura loved the Boo World and was totally thrilled to be attending Monster High.

Frankie followed her friend to her bedroom, which was decorated in wall-to-wall pink, Draculaura’s favorite color. Clawdeen was waiting for them there, sprawled out on Draculaura’s floor. The contents of Draculaura’s closet were thrown across every surface—it was clear that Clawdeen and Draculaura had been preparing outfits for the coming week of school while they waited for Frankie to arrive.

“Check out the fierce skirt Draculaura got for you, Frankie!” Clawdeen exclaimed as she leaped nimbly up off Draculaura’s floor and rushed over to greet Frankie with a kiss on the cheek. The bold and beautiful werewolf held up a black-and-white-striped skirt with purple lace stitching. “This is going to look clawesome on you!”

Draculaura bounced up and down in excitement. “Isn’t it fangtastic? Try it on, Frankie! It will look totes adorable with the shirt you’re wearing right now.”

Frankie stepped into a corner to change. Meanwhile, Clawdeen pawed through Draculaura’s jewelry stash and found a few things she wanted to borrow for their first week back at school. “You have no idea how great it is to be with you ghouls again,” Clawdeen said, letting out a sigh that sounded more like a growl. “I am so ready for the scaremester break to be over.”

“Same here,” Frankie said.

“Did I miss anything fun while I was gone?” Draculaura asked.

“Actually, I have news!” Clawdeen said excitedly. “Clawd met up with some of the other guys to play Casketball yesterday, and Deuce said that he heard from Cleo that there are a few new Monster Exchange students coming to Monster High after the break.”

“New ghouls?” Frankie wondered.

“I think so,” Clawdeen said. “Apparently Headmistress Bloodgood is looking for students who might be willing to show them around during their first week at Monster High. You know, Monster Exchange buddies.”

Frankie felt a bolt of excitement rush through her body. “I would love to do something like that! I remember exactly what it was like to be the new ghoul at school, and it would be voltageous to make sure the new students feel welcome right away!” Frankie’s mind was going a mile a minute as she thought about how much she wanted to be a Monster Exchange buddy to one of the new ghouls. “It’s hard to start at a new school when you don’t know anyone! Where do I sign up?”

“You’d be such a great Monster Exchange buddy,” Draculaura agreed. “You know better than anyone that a new student needs to feel welcome during their first week. You should definitely tell the headmistress you want to do it, Frankie.”

Frankie’s entire body was buzzing with excitement. She tried to rein in her enthusiasm. Sometimes, when she got too excited about things, she would spark—and that had caused a few problems in the past. She tried taking a deep breath to calm herself down. “I’m going to drop by the headmistress’s office first thing tomorrow morning,” Frankie proclaimed happily. Then she stepped into her new skirt and pranced into the center of the room to model it for her ghoulfriends. “What do you think?”

Draculaura cheered. “I knew it would look fangulous on you. Oh, I’m so glad I bought it. You have to wear it on the first day back after break, okay?”

“That will be the perfect outfit to wear for your fall project presentation,” Clawdeen added. “Scary-cute, smart, and sophisticated!”

When she heard the words fall project presentation, Frankie’s excitement fizzled. “Ugh. Our fall project…”

“You did finish your project… right?” Clawdeen asked slowly.

“Um,” Frankie mumbled. “I haven’t exactly started. I haven’t had my spark of inspiration yet, so I’m totally stuck!” Everyone at Monster High had been asked to do an independent study project over break. They were supposed to do a project and put together a presentation that would give their classmates a behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of things they liked to do in their time away from school.

They had been given total freedom with the project. Monster High students were allowed to do an art project, write a story, complete a research project about a place they had visited, build or sew something… anything. The great thing about this project was that they were allowed to do anything that got their sparks flying.

Clawdeen’s eyes widened. “We’re supposed to present our projects in class on Monday! I stitched up one of the pieces in the clothing line I’ve been designing, to show everyone my freaky fashion skills.”

“That’s a great idea, Clawdeen,” Frankie said. Usually, Frankie was the kind of ghoul who finished her schoolwork right away—but with this fall project presentation, she was stuck. “I can’t come up with anything to do for the presentation.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Draculaura said, trying to be as encouraging as possible. “There are still four days left before school is back in session. You still have time to come up with something totes amazing for your project.”

Frankie took another deep breath, her good mood crashing to the castle floor. She couldn’t believe there were only four days left to start and finish her fall scaremester project! What if she couldn’t come up with anything?

When Frankie had first heard about the assignment, she decided that she wanted to do something that gave her classmates some insight into what made her special and different from every other monster. If there was one thing Frankie was sure of, it was that freaky flaws were meant to be celebrated. But what kind of project could she do that celebrated what made her special?

Remembering how excited she had been about the project when they first heard about it, Frankie couldn’t believe she hadn’t come up with anything yet. Usually, school projects really sparked her excitement. She tried not to worry herself too much. Because Draculaura was right—she still had four days to develop something fearsome. As far as she was concerned, only one question needed to be answered.…

Frankie grinned at her ghoulfriends. “So, do either of you have any idea what I should do for my project?”