Creeper High

A big building loomed over the students. Students who never made the cut when leaving their respective scare schools around the world, teenage bodied forms all summoned to the Himalayas to enter a veritable palace. Caspar made his way up the frosty path, surrounded by strangers. Creatures being trained in how to truly be a monster. He hadn't seen anyone from Scare School for a good few years now. It was uncertain if any of his old friends would be there anyway.

There were too many people. Monsters everywhere. Seven years worth. Demons and alligator creatures and vampires, Cyclops and genies, ghosts and cat things and the odd dragon or two, zombies, witches and wolves. It would have been intimidating were these not all being viewed by other second rate creatures in the exact same situation. He made his way into the entrance hall and found himself swept away at once, gathered with a few other ghosts from around the world. The effective youth of the spirit world who weren't quite good enough. There were more creatures here than there had been in Scare School. Ones who didn't even speak the slightest bit of English. Specialised classes.

Everything seemed like a blur. The headmistress, some kind of zombie named Principal Marshwood, gave some speech on how these students before her had no reason to fear as their path to true scariness was almost at its end, and then sent any and all zombies off to start the tour. One group of creatures at a time. Casper craned his neck, trying to see into the group. A balding male in baseball clothes, a pair of twins with bleach blonde hair, something with only one working leg...Mantha wasn't there. He couldn't spot Ra or Wolfie anywhere. Harpy managed to stick out like a sore thumb though.

He barely paid attention during the tour, where all the other ghosts were too focussed on messing about to do anything else. There was a science lab and specialist classes for different students, a room where they could all lay back and relax, maybe play a few games, and one big scare ball court. And then there were the dormitories. 2B. The second set for the boys. The female ghosts were sent to 2A. Casper found himself with the other three ghost boys, an icy blue one who seemed to leave the cold wherever he went, a pink one whose first instinct was to hide in the corner and one that looked like he had a Mohawk.
"Uh...hey..."
The three of them looked at him as though he was filth.
"I'm Casper..."
"Albie." Replied the cold ghost in a bored tone.
"Waylon." Mohawk muttered sourly.
"R-R-Ra-Rash-sh-shid..."
"...Rashid?"
The pink ghost nodded quickly, then shrieked when a knock came on the door. A bored-looking reptilian woman came in and handed each one their class timetables for the next day. No time to get settled, no time to work things out or get to meet people. Just...straight in.

The first class the next day consisted of 14 students. A science class. A pale woman with her mouth slit from ear to ear was teaching. "Now, most of the students in my class have been taught by...incompetents...taught utter nonsense about how your victims work. I am here to tell you the anatomy and physiology of a human is the same as that of a zombie, vampire, witch or myself. With no offence to the zombie, witch and vampire in the class." Casper took a look around then, trying to gage if anyone he knew was there. A vampire covering his face with a long fringe. A large bear-like wolfman. Between them sat Harpy. On either side of Casper, Pumpkinhead and a large rat-like creature with protruding teeth and a horn the colour of its fur. Behind him sat a fly boy...the same one from school. Three people recognised. And behind Flyboy was an armoured female with great golden wings. By the window sat Wolfie, and right in the middle of the room was a green haired lad who resembled Mosshead. Two skeleton females with calavera markings. Mickey and Monaco? More people had failed Scare School than he thought...Mantha and Ra definitely weren't here. There was a pink thing that resembled a turtle with no shell as well. All listening intently and taking notes. Casper didn't know what to make of the strange rabbit-chicken-antelope thing kicking the vampire cheerfully. Just leave her to it, that would be a good idea.

"Wolfie!" He called, jogging after the werewolf. Wolfie looked over with a smile.
"Hey man, how's it going?"
"Great! I was worried I wouldn't know anyone here."
Wolfie looked at him a moment, frowning. "Casper? No way! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!"
"I was afraid of the same. You still in touch with Mantha and Ra?"
"Yeah, I am! Man, it's great to see an old friend here again!"
They were interrupted by a loud clang, and turning, they saw Albie and a few others stood over the vampire from class. By the looks of things, they had just hit him over the head with a pan. Wolfie ignored it and walked on, but Casper hung back.
"Albie, cut that out!"
Albie just laughed. "Stay out of this, Casper. Manora's getting just what he deserves right now."
"Manora?" He repeated uncertainly as the vampire attempted to crawl away.
"Let it slide." Wolfie warned. "They'll just go after you too."
Casper flew after him. "We can't just let him get beaten!"
"They're probably creature-puritan or something. They brought up the Outcast's name."
"You mean Manora?"
"It's a really fancy vampire family, isn't it?"
They were silent for a moment, and then Manora himself came past, head down, books clutched messily to his chest. Casper heaved a sigh. "Great."
"He's got to share a room with the other vampires." Wolfie pointed out.
"What's the big deal with him?"
"I'm not totally sure. I know there was a family called Manora that was like super important or something...never heard much about them, but they outcast their son..."
"Why?"
"They labelled him the defective son or something, I don't know."
"I didn't know you knew any of this stuff really."
"I've been more in tune with things, I guess." He shrugged and sped up as the clock struck the new hour. The werewolf was late for his next class, and Casper had to go elsewhere.

The students for this class were made to stand by the door as the teacher wrote his name on the chalkboard. The chalk scratched sharply against the board, noise grating against everyone's ears. The troll, with bulging muscles and protruding tusks, turned to the students and let out a loud roar. The students shrieked and clumped together, apart from a younger troll who was clearly very used to this. It was obvious he was related to the teacher off the bat.
"Good evening, students. My name is Mr Bridger, and I am your tutor for scare dynamics and stratagem. And as you can see, my son is a model student. Come here, Junior."
The younger troll walked to the front of the class.
"Brave, unflinching, powerful, and with great lungs. You could do amazingly well if you can become even half as good as my boy."
There was a collective groan amongst the others. Perfect. He was this kind of teacher.
"What was that, new meat?" He snarled at them. They all pretended it was nothing.

Lunch time. It was a big hall, with plenty of stuff to look over. Casper stood uncertainly by the door, not sure what to do. It seemed too big to search for his friends here, if indeed he had any. Everything seemed too strange. He couldn't see anyone in this crowd apart from those who passed him directly. Manora walked in and took a tray, going off to get his food. Casper followed him uncertainly. Maybe he could make a friend here.
"Hey, excuse me..."
The vampire ignored him. Casper stopped and sighed, but a loud crash drew his attention, and the next thing he knew, Manora was storming out, covered in what was supposed to be his lunch.

He found him curled up on a bench next to the scream ball courts. "Manora?"
He didn't look round.
"That is your name, isn't it?"
"It's Thatch, actually. That's my first name."
"Thatch?" Casper repeated uncertainly before placing a lunch tray next to him. "I used to know someone called Thatch...anyway, I saw what happened in the canteen and I thought you might be hungry..."
The vampire glanced down at the tray. Casper could get a proper look at him now. Skinny, in a loose white shirt and black trousers, an old, rusty chain serving as a belt. He had a small, white bat shape clipped to his shirt. He had violet eyes, or at least the eye Casper could see was violet. The left side of his fringe was clipped short, but the right side hid the right side of his face, which was probably sporting some damage. He picked at the food placed before him miserably. "This is just perfect...everyone here hates me except Caspuke the wimpy..." He stopped and heaved a sigh.
"What are you doing here?" Casper asked, trying to hide his surprise.
"Same reason you are." He answered bitterly. "I'm a useless failure."
"No you're not. And neither am I." He rested a hand on Thatch's shoulder. "If we're failures, so are the rest of the hundreds upon thousands of students here."
"Triclops passed. Triclops. I was in my final year and I was good but I still failed!"
"And...your parents kicked you out, right?"
He was silent but after a moment gave a slight nod, and stood. "I'm not sitting here and talking to you."
"I'm on your side!"
"You're friendly. I actually plan on passing this time, but you're just a little wimp with no interest in being a real monster."
There was a long silence as Thatch walked off.
"I'm here for you if you need a friend." Casper offered before taking flight.