Jackson

Over the course of the next few weeks, my status as Kieran's friend caused me to lose people who I'd once considered friends, and caused the already present animosity towards me to increase a bit.

Frankie and Clawdeen, unsurprisingly, were the first to stop speaking to me. Clawd joined that list pretty quickly, too, but that also didn't surprise me because he still, to this day, held a grudge against Kieran for trying to steal Draculaura's heart...even though that was almost two years ago now.

Cleo didn't really seem to care one way or the other; she never really paid attention to me anyway, nor did she ever interact with Kieran. It was the same with Rochelle, Lagoona and Robecca.

What was surprising was the list of people that chose to stick by me, and who even gave Kieran a chance. It included Heath, Deuce, Gil, Abbey, Gigi, and even a couple of others. Clair was still my friend, of course, and so was Chad. Naturally, Spelldon had quickly joined that list the more he, Kieran and I spent time together. We all found we rather enjoyed having long discussions together about science, alchemy, potion-making, and even witchcraft and vampirism since we still had that bite-ology essay going on. 

By the time Halloween rolled around, Frankie ended up losing the tag game since she'd refused to tag anyone. And the moment the game ended, I left the group chat.

Halloween itself went fine. The ghouls had their usual Halloween party down in the catacombs, Holt was the DJ, and afterwards, I just hung out with Clair, Chad, Spelldon, and Kieran. And unsurprisingly, Kieran got along with the former two really well.

As for the play, Mr. Where had the people in the class audition for the role they wanted. I auditioned for a couple of roles, and even auditioned for the role of Dr. Jekyll in the off chance I might actually get it. In my mind, though, it was alright if I didn't. I just thought I'd give it a shot.

"When do you think he'll tell us who we got?" asked Deuce one November afternoon while we were playing video games. He'd come over to my house earlier that afternoon, and once homework was out of the way we'd loaded up Minecraft.

"Not sure," I shrugged, "Hopefully soon, though. It's a fairly big play; we'll need a crap ton of time to rehearse and everything, especially since the set changes are going to be a lot more involved than normal. More props and stuff, you know?"

"Yeah," agreed Deuce, "Cleo's pretty confident she's got Lucy. I was honestly not sure which one she'd go for, since both seem like roles she'd pick. Lisa's Jekyll's fiancée and is part of the upper class and all that, but Lucy has a bigger role from what I saw in the musical we watched."

"I get what you're saying," I said.

"I auditioned for Jekyll, but I'm pretty sure I sucked," Deuce added with a laugh.

"You weren't that bad," I assured him, "Nowhere near as bad as Hoodude, anyway. And stop killing me!"

"Dude, I'm not even trying to! I'm aiming for the spider!" Deuce protested, before finally disposing of said spider.

"Hey, I meant to tell you, Deuce...thanks for sticking around," I told him.

"Hey, no problem," Deuce replied, "I wouldn't abandon you just because of who you hang out with. I think that's just low. And besides, Valentine's cool."

Soon after that day, we got the results of our auditions. Mr. Where handed everyone in the class a sheet of paper with the cast list and immediately, my eyes widened in shock when I read the name at the very top of the page.

JEKYLL AND HYDE CAST:

Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde—Jackson Jekyll

Lisa Carew—Frankie Stein

Lucy Harris—Cleo De Nile

Sir Danvers Carew—Neighthan Rot

Gabriel John Utterson—Heath Burns

Simon Stride—Bram Devein

Lady Beaconsfield—Toralei Stripe

Lord Savage—Clawd Wolf

General Lord Glossop—Deuce Gorgon

Richard Poole—Hoodude Voodoo

The Bishop of Basingstoke—Gil Webber

Nellie—Clawdeen Wolf

Sir Archibald Proops—Romulus

I...I actually got the lead role!

I had to admit, the idea of acting in front of a live audience made me nervous, mostly because that audience would contain a lot of people who either hated me or simply ignored me altogether, and the fact that I actually got the role seemed a bit surreal to me, but I was still overjoyed nonetheless!

Cleo and Frankie were also pleased with their roles, since they got their wish, and Deuce stated he'd have been fine with whatever role he got.

"Hey, cousin, did you see who I'm playing?" Heath asked me, then pointed to the sheet in my hand. "I get to play Utterson."

"Yeah, I saw," I nodded. I read over the rest of the names on the sheet, and vaguely wondered who Bram Devein was. I got my answer when he came over to me. "Congratulations on the role, Jackson," he said, holding out his hand. "Bram Devein."

"Thanks," I replied awkwardly, accepting the handshake, "You, too."

"Thank you," said Bram, "I personally feel like Simon Stride is one of the most antagonistic characters in the play, so that should be fun."

"You're probably right," I agreed, not really knowing how to talk to this guy. It was honestly surprising that he'd even want to talk to me at all. But after a few more minutes of talking to him, I became somewhat less timid. Eventually he told me that he knew Kieran, and so did Gory.

"I can see why he likes you," he said when it came up, "You're honestly pretty easy to get along with; I don't see why Manny's got an issue with you."

"Oh, that's easy to explain," I replied, "He pretty much just picks on anyone who's smaller than him or anyone who's easily intimidated in general. It's kind of his thing."

"I see," said Bram, "Well, it was good talking to you, Jackson. I look forward to working together in the play."

"Yeah, me too," I told him, and he walked away as Mr. Where officially started class. Hoodude was really disappointed that he hadn't gotten the lead role, and he, along with everyone else, was amazed that I had.

Later that day after I'd finished my homework and everything, there was a knock at my door, and I opened it to see Clair and Chad, who I hadn't seen since Halloween. It was no one's fault, though, and it had really only been a couple of weeks.

"Hey," I greeted them, moving aside so they could get through the door.

"What's up, Jackson? Long time, no see," Chad returned the greeting.

"Are you avoiding us or something?" joked Clair.

"Yep," I couldn't help but smirk as I went along with it, "I just can't take any more of your crap." This made both of them crack up. "No, I'm just kidding. How have you guys been?"

"I've been alright," answered Clair as we all sat down in the living room, "Chad, too. Things are going pretty well. You?"

"I've actually been ...well, things are going good for me, too," I replied honestly.

'That's good to hear," said Chad.

"Yeah," I agreed, "But you guys already kind of knew that. I mean, you've met Kieran and everything, and you know about how things at my school have been since I met him."

Clair nodded. "By the way, we were wondering when Skulltimate Roller Maze started up; I'm hoping to get to check that out one day."

"It doesn't usually start until after spring break," I said, "I'm looking forward to it, though. I'm surprised you've heard of it."

"Deuce mentioned it in that old group chat once, and he told us about it when I asked," explained Chad, "Do you think we could come watch some time?"

I shrugged. "I don't see a problem with that."

"Sweet. Maybe we'll finally get to see Kieran again awhile we're at it."

"Yeah, possibly," I said, "although I honestly don't know whether he's into SKRM or not. I'd have to ask him."

"Hey, why don't we just make a group chat with the four of us in it?" suggested Chad, pulling out his phone presumably to do just that. "Oh wait, Spelldon should be in it, too, so five."

Soon enough both Clair's and my phones went off, announcing that Chad had finished setting the group chat up and adding everyone to it, and for the next little while we (along with Kieran on his end) tried to figure out a way to add Whisp, too. None of us were quite sure how well the Djinn-ternet would work in conjunction with normal Internet, but it seemed to work out well enough after some tinkering. 

However, before we got a chance to test a group call, Chad and Clair had to leave. "Sorry, Jackson. My mom'll chew me out good if I miss curfew," Chad informed me apologetically.

"I get that, it's all good. Maybe we can set something up soon?"

"For sure. See ya!"

"Bye, Jackson," called Clair.

"Have a good one, guys," I called back.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful aside from rehearsing my new lines and ensuring my homework was done - until I drifted off to sleep only to be confronted with a rather strange dream. 

I was in my own house in the dead of night, and it felt so real that I may as well have been wide awake for all I could tell. All the lights were off and clearly no one else was awake, yet I could hear an eerie sound coming from the direction of the living room. A shiver ran through me, and I slowly made my way through the house, feeling my way in the dark.

When I finally entered the living room, standing in the center was a ghostly pale blonde woman wearing a long, white nightgown and a rather unique cameo necklace. When she turned to look at me, I could see at once that her eyes were a startling shade of blue.

The exact shade as my own.

The woman said nothing, simply gazed at me in silent bewilderment. Probably the same look I wore, given the circumstances. Then in an abrupt puff of silvery white smoke, she vanished.

As she vanished, I awoke.