Ghouls, I have big news,” Cleo announced regally when she arrived in the Monster High Creepateria for lunch the next day. She waited until all her ghoulfriends’ eyes were on her. Then she declared, “We have received a letter from my mother. She is returning home to us!”

“Are you totes serious?” Draculaura squealed happily, her eyes huge. The tiny vampire flashed her small fangs as she smiled, then she jumped up and squeezed Cleo into a friendly hug.

Cleo’s smile widened. “Very serious,” she said, taking her usual seat at the head of the lunch table. “She will be home soon”

Frankie Stein clapped and said, “Oh, Cleo, this is voltageous news! I can’t wait to meet her.” Suddenly, Frankie’s hand popped off her arm. It scuttled across the lunch table and grabbed for one of Draculaura’s french fries. Frankie—who had been built of spare parts in her father’s lab—blushed a deeper green. She grabbed her hand and reattached it, then popped the fry into her mouth. “Whoopsie! Thanks for the fry, Draculaura.”

“Don’t mention it,” Draculaura replied with a grin.

Cleo sighed contentedly as she looked at her ghoulfriends. Sharing her creeperific news with them made it feel even more special. But then she realized a couple of her closest ghoulfriends weren’t there.

“Where are the other ghouls? I know they’ll want to hear my big news right away.”

“Lagoona has a swim-team meeting during lunch,” Draculaura explained.

“And Clawdeen had to make up a test she missed last week because her morning track practice ran long,” added Frankie.

Cleo was disappointed that all her best ghoulfriends weren’t there for her big announcement. She sighed and said, “Oh well, I will tell them later, and I just know they will be so thrilled! Ghouls, you have no idea how glamorous my mom is. Her fashion sense is to die for, her hair is absolute perfection, and the parties she throws are talked about for centuries.” She sighed dreamily, then paused dramatically before saying, “In fact, my father, sister, and I are planning a huge surprise party to welcome her home. We are going to throw a monstrously huge, fangulous ball! I’m sure Mother has gotten even more clawesome over the years—I certainly have, and I just know it runs in the family—so I bet her expectations for her welcome will be very high. I hope she will be pleased.”

“Will we be invited to the ball too?” Draculaura asked, clearly excited about the chance to get dressed up.

“Will I?” asked Deuce Gorgon, sidling up behind Cleo. Deuce and Cleo were the golden couple of Monster High. They made a really cute pair, even though Deuce was totally low-key and relaxed, and Cleo was, well… not. He and Cleo balanced each other out. And together, they ruled the halls of Monster High.

Cleo grinned at Deuce. “Of course—you’ll all be invited. My mother will want to be introduced to all my friends, and I’m sure you’re all just dying to meet her. Of course, you all know de Nile parties are absolutely legendary, so you won’t want to miss it. I’m sure now that my mother has returned, parties at our palace will be even more incredible. She has the golden touch that will take everything to the next level.”

“Sounds like this isn’t gonna be my kind of party,” Deuce mumbled. “Can I wear shorts?”

Cleo rolled her eyes. “Only the finest for my mom, Deuce. We’ll get you a new suit. Obviously.”

“So that’s a no to shorts?” Deuce grumbled.

Cleo ignored him. “In fact, you’ll all need new gowns.” She turned her attention back to her ghoulfriends. “This is an occasion that will require the finest fabrics, the most fangtastic designs, extraordinary food.…” Plans for her mother’s welcome-home ball swirled around in Cleo’s head. Thinking aloud, she whispered, “Ooh, maybe Clawdeen will help me design something one-of-a-kind to wear. I want to make sure my mother is impressed!”

“What if your mom has changed?” Draculaura asked suddenly. “I mean, what if she’s lost her fashion sense or something?”

“How could something like that possibly happen?” Cleo asked loudly, her voice rising several octaves. She paused and cleared her throat. When she spoke again, her voice was soft and modulated again. “I’m sorry, Draculaura. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just… absurd to think of my mother losing her fashion sense.”

“Sorry, Cleo. You’re right,” Draculaura said. She and Frankie exchanged a worried look. Both ghouls hoped that Cleo’s mom would be everything she remembered. But what if she wasn’t?

Cleo and her friends spent the rest of lunch discussing outfits they could wear to the surprise party of the century. Then they talked about the food Cleo would have catered in and the decorations that would best welcome her mother to the Boo World. Deuce kept chiming in with party ideas of his own, and Cleo kept shooting them down because they weren’t elegant enough. “Maybe you won’t be invited after all,” she said, after Deuce suggested changing the elegant Egyptian ball into a pool party, complete with waterslides and a lazy river. “This is a very serious event, Deuce.”

Deuce chuckled. “Do you really think your mom’s going to care what kind of party you have for this thing? Don’t you think she’s most interested in just seeing you and your fam again? Chillin’, gettin’ caught up, hangin’ out… you know.”

“This thing?” Cleo huffed, entirely missing the point of his question. “It’s a ball, not a thing. And chillin’, Deuce?! You know my family doesn’t chill. Ugh. This lunch is over.” She stood up and spun around, preparing to storm out of the Creepateria—and away from Deuce—to make a point. But before she could get even halfway across the room, she heard Frankie shriek.

Sensing something was wrong, Cleo spun around. Frankie was crouched behind the ghouls’ usual lunch table, her eyes the only thing Cleo could see peeking up over the edge of the table. Draculaura had already dashed away to meet up with Clawd before afternoon classes started. Cleo rushed back to the table, her face etched with concern. “Frankie?” she asked, tilting her head to one side. “Did you… fall?”

“Um,” Frankie muttered. “Not exactly.”

“Let me help you get up off the floor!” Cleo said, reaching out to lend a hand to her friend. She was glad Frankie hadn’t fallen but horrified by the thought that Frankie’s adorable outfit was rubbing against all the screechza stains on the Creepateria floor.

Frankie smiled meekly. “I—I—” she began.

“You what?” Cleo said, urging her ghoulfriend to speak up. In her many years of life, Cleo had learned that you most often got what you needed when you asked for—or demanded—it.

Frankie bit her lip and said, “I, um, kind of ripped my skirt?”

“Let me see,” Cleo ordered.

Frankie held up one corner of her skirt—an adorable, pleated black-and-white plaid—and grinned sheepishly. “It’s bad.”

Cleo put her hands on her hips as she surveyed the situation. “It is bad.” Frankie’s skirt had torn all the way up one side of her leg.

“I’ll figure it out,” Frankie said in a rush, tears filling her eyes. “No big deal. Once everyone leaves the Creepateria, I’ll just sneak over to Headmistress Bloodgood’s office. Maybe they have a spare skirt or pants I can borrow until the end of the school day.”

“Oh my Ra, no,” Cleo said, horrified. “You are not borrowing pants from the school office. Seriously, Frankie.”

“Why not?”

Cleo began to laugh. “Total fashion disaster.” She held out her hand again, urging Frankie to take it. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll sneak you out of here now, and we can try to do something to patch you up until the end of the day. I’m a pro at wrapping, so we should be able to figure something out to make this work for at least a few hours.”

“Seriously, Cleo?” Frankie said as the warning bell rang. “You’ll be late to class! And with everything you need to do to prepare for your mom’s homecoming, and getting ready for the ball—you can’t risk getting in trouble with the headmistress for being late to class.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cleo said, waving her off. “I never do anything I don’t want to do. Now, come with me. Let’s handle this fashion disaster in true de Nile style.”