Being Thirteen is Stupid

Disclaimer: Monster High is the sole intellectual property of Mattel whom I do not work for in any shape or form. Be nice if I did, though.

This story takes place while the characters are in Junior High.

Chapter One: Language Barriers

"I will divide you up into groups of two." The Social Studies Creature walked down the aisle of students, touching their desks as he went past.

"Draculaura and..." He looked down at his clipboard. "Clawdeen." The two girls squealed and hugged each other.

"Heath and... Gil." The boys shared an uneasy smile. Even though there were no hard feelings between the two, fire and water were not the best of combinations.

"Deuce and..." The teacher scanned the room for the best possible partner. Nearly everyone seemed extremely eager to be paired with the young Gorgon. He did seem to be fairly popular with other kids. The creature looked over at the new student silently reading, completely detached from the others. If only... And then an idea came to the creature had an idea. "Nebetah."[1]

Deuce furrowed his brow. "Who?" The other students giggled at his question and the creature was not pleased. He wasn't trying to be mean. He honestly had no idea who that was.

The creature ignored his unintentional transgression and continued pairing off the remaining students. "All right. I want you and your partners to get together and start planning your projects."

As everyone started getting up and moving around, Deuce looked around, confused. He leaned over towards Heath and asked in low voice, "Okay, seriously. Who is Nebetah?"

"That new mummy girl." The hot head pointed at a girl sitting in the front. She showed no sign of moving or that she even noticed people around her. "I heard she's totally stuck-up. Won't talk to anyone. Good luck, man."

He glanced over at the girl Nebetah and frowned. Since she clearly wasn't going to move, he gathered up his stuff and headed over to her desk, flashing a nervous grin to Gil as they traded seats.

Up close, she looked a lot more frail and small. Deuce wondered if all mummies were this delicate looking. She was wrapped complete from head to toe in beige bandages and was covered in so much jewelry, she looked like she would topple over. Her long, thin fingers drummed against the page of her book. His chest tightened and for some reason, he felt more nervous than before.

"Hey." She looked up at him and just stared at him. She didn't say anything. Just stared. His mouth went dry and he totally blanked on what to say. "Um..." Without a word, she went back to reading.

"Mr. DeMontino, can I please have a different partner?"

The creature looked up from his papers. "Is something wrong with Nebetah?"

"Well," Deuce trailed off. He hated ratting on people, but he was at his wit's end. "Every time I try to talk to her, she ignores me. I've been doing all the work and haven't really gotten much done."

Mister DeMontino laced his fingers together. "I'll be honest with you, Deuce. I paired you with her for reason." Deuce tilted his head and waited the creature to continue.

"Nebetah has been here for several weeks now and she hasn't opened up to anyone; made any friends. You're so …popular with the other students, I was hoping you'd be able to bring her out of her shell, so to speak."

"So I'm not getting another partner?"

"If that's what you really want, I could probably put you with another group, but I'd really like you to try and help her fit in."

The Social Studies Creature was a master at guilt trips. Hard to tell if it was the Mister Rogers voice or unusual bush baby sized eyes or his tendency to burst into tears, but he was really hard to say no to. Deuce hung his head in defeat."Okay." Stupid conscience.

"So..." He paused, trying something to say that would get her at least acknowledge him. "What do you think of the school so far?" But nothing he said had any effect on her. He glanced over at the creature who motioned for him to keep trying. Across the room, he saw Heath mouth the words "I told you so."

"Got any... bands you like?" "Books?" He tried again. "Anything?" Frustrated, he rolled his eyes, not that anyone could tell behind the sunglasses. It wasn't like he to get so irritated, but he had put up with almost two weeks of this. Their project was no way near getting done and to be perfectly honest, he wasn't used to being ignored.

Nothing. Throughout the entire class, she had done nothing but scribble something down on a piece of parchment in what Deuce assumed was hieroglyphics, but he wasn't too savvy with that ancient Egyptian stuff. It was all she did, so maybe if he showed an interest...

"What 'cha writin'?" He leaned over her shoulder to try and get a good look. She started to edge away from him, muttering something under her breath.

He groaned. "Είναι αδύνατη!"[2]

"You speak Greek?"

It was so soft, at first he thought he might have imagined it. Deuce turned to see his partner looking at him thoughtfully. "...Yeah. My family's... Greek, so..."

Her lights lit up and he felt a flutter in his chest. She left out a rapid fire of words so fast, Deuce was barely able to catch any of it. It didn't help that everything she said was incredibly wordy and formal. Mostly, it sounded like complaints of "commoners" and "Sub par"- everything. But there was something she said that really struck him.

"Wait." He let the words sink in. "You can't speak English?"

"No. I cannot understand a word anyone says. It is completely intolerable." She squared her shoulders. "I am grateful to finally make the acquaintance of someone I can speak to, so I will forgive your minor offense." Deuce flushed. He thought he saw her face twitch into a smile, but it was hard to tell under all the bandages.

He cleared his throat, cheeks still burning and suddenly wishing she'd go back to ignoring him. "I'm Deuce." He held out his hand. "Deuce Gorgon."

She glanced down at his hand and cocked her head to side. "Why are you holding your hand out like that?"

"It's a … greeting." Awkwardly, he let his hand drop.

"Ah." She mimicked him and held her hand out. "I am The Princess Nebetah, King's Daughter of His Body and King's Daughter Whom He Loves."

"That is a really long name." He slipped his hand into hers. She tilted her head, puzzled as to why he was moving her hand up and down. "I think I'll call you Cleo."

Notes:

Cleo's "real" name comes from an Egyptian Princess born at the end of the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Read More. If Cleo is from before the Ptolemy era (which it is heavily implied she), it is unlikely she'd have the name Cleopatra as that is actually a Greek name.

Translation: "She is impossible!"

It probably goes without saying, but the italics meant they were speaking Greek.