Batsy Claro's Brand-Boo Students diary

Cover
I have a hang-up about monsters reading my diary

May 25th
Honestly, some monsters should just stay in the city. "It's too hot." "The bugs are biting me." "When do we stop for lunch?" "My bed has a snake in it!" "There's a giant spider in my tent!" Hey! It's a jungle for screaming out loud! What do they expect? Then, about the time I seriously start to consider just leaving them to find their own way home, I take a deep breath and I escort them to a crystal clear, refreshingly cold waterfall to make them forget the heat. I spray them with monster-strength insect repellent (a concoction I created myself from all natural ingredients) to keep off the bugs. I find a shady spot on the trail and feed them the most scary sweet tropical fruit they've ever tasted. I remind the boa constrictor that the beds are for tourists and I tell the spider that while she is indeed beautiful, perhaps using the inside wall of a tent is not the best place to show it off. (especially if that tent contains a ghoul who is arachnophobic) I was complaining to my father today about a particularly whiny group, and he reminded me again that the tourists we guide are guests in our 'home' and they if we make them feel welcome then they will want to return, and they will tell their friends about the wonderful time they had as well. I guess he's right, but I really am tempted to answer the next tourist who asks me, "Is it always hot here?" with, "Only when it doesn't snow."

June 1st
Last year I guided a group of teachers from Monster High. They were scary cool and excited about everything, although the school couselor, Mr D'eath, seemed to spend a lot of time jumping at his own shadow. It was a five day trip so I got the spend a lot of time with all of them. I really liked Headless Headmistress Bloodgood, who know a lot about the jungle, but also asked lots of good questions about things she didn't know. She also told me about their monster exchange program, and encouraged me to sign up for it. I wasn't too sure about it, but she said it would be a great way to meet other ghouls and mansters and get them excited about coming to Costa Shrieka and seeing my beautiful country for themselves. So I sent in an applicaton for the program, never thinking that I would ever be chosen. I actually forgot about it until today when my guidance counselor called me into her office to tell me that I'd been accepted. She was as excited as I was surprised. "This is a great opportunity for you, and I definitely think you should take it." she said. I'm still not sure, but I have a couple of weeks to give them my answer so I want to think about it some more before I make a decision. I hope the fact that I'm dating somebody isn't clouding that decision, but I really like him, and even though I'm not easily confused, this has me completely turned around without any sense of direction.

June 12th
The only tour I had scheduled today was for a group of retired monsters who were all part of an orchid club. Every year they choose some place in the monster world that is known for its orchids and hey all get together and go there. It was only a half-day trip, so I figured I would hustle them in and out and have the rest of the day to myself. Didn't quite turn out that way because I may have been the guide, but they were the experts; in particular was a tall old gentle monster of a werewolf with bright blue eyes and almost completely white fur. Usually I spend the majority of my time answering questions, but today I definitely did more of the asking. They were all so enthusiastic and respectful of everything they saw and came into contact with that I was sorry when the tour was over. I actually offered t take them to a place I rarely ever show the tourists. Yes, I understand that its selfish of me, but I'd rather keep it to myself than waste in on random groups of monsters who might not appreciate it. Not all of them took me up on the offer because they had other things scheduled for the day, but a small group did. So I led them to a secluded spot where a small waterfall spills out of a cove in the side of a cliff and collects in a beautiful, clar green pool down below. The pool is surrounded by flowers and orchids of every shape and size. It's the most beautiful spot in the jungle, and they gasped when they first saw it. Of course, when Mom flew out f the cave with a picnic lunch for us all, I had to tell them it was my front yard. While we ate they asked me all sorts of questions about my unlife and what I wanted to do with it. They mostly all agreed that living in a place this beautiful would make it hard to ever want to leave, but none of them wanted to tell me what I should do one way or the other. That is, except for the elderly werewolf himself, who told me that if I didn't go I would always wonder, but if I went away and came back then I would always know. He also told me that he happened to have several great-grandchildren who had gradulated from Monster High, and a few more who were still there. After lunch they thanked Mom for the excellent food, and me for sharing the beauty of our home. The werewolf didn't say anything else about what I should do, but he did give me his card. It had a family crest and a phone number on it. "If you do decide to go, just call that number and I'll make sure our pack will take care of you as well as you have taken care of us." I was still thinking about what he said several hours later when I sent Headmistress Bloodgood a note telling her I would come.

June 15th
I realize that I don't exactly seem like a soft and cuddly kind of ghoul, at least on the outside. Maybe it's because the jungle, even in all its beauty, can be a rather harsh place, and I was taught from the time I was just a little ghoul that I needed to pay attention to everything around me, and to never forget that just because conditions are perfect one minute, there is no guarantee that they will remain that way the next. So I have to be firm - or harsh depending on whom you ask - when it comes to ealing with certain situations in the jungle. More than once I've had to yell first and apologize later when someone in a tour group needed to pay attention to his surroundings and wasn't. So how did I manage to mangle breaking up with my manster friend so badly? I knew exactly what I need to say; "I'm going to Monster High and I don't think a long distance relationship would be good for either of us, so it would be best if we just broke up face-to-face rather than dragging it out long distance." Direct and right to the point I thought. And so I met him at his locker ready to say what needed to be said. Only when I opened my mouth nothing came out. Not a growl, not a chirp, not even a squeak. It was like my heart reached up, grabbed my tongue and tied a knot in it. I must have sounded like a ghoul trying to quote Spooksphere after having her mouth numbed by the dentist in preparation for an all day sesison of cavity filling. I think I may have even drolled at one point. Eventually I was able to semi-coherantly tell him, but by that time it was clear that it wasn't what either of us wanted. So we decided to try to give the long-distance thing a chance. Hopefully before I leave I can do something way less stressful, like pull a jaguar from a tourist's tent.

June 18th
I left the cave early and flew to a pinnacle of rock that rises above the thick canopy of trees that surrounds us. I sat on a ledge and listened as the music of the night faded. It's the time when the creatures of the night are closing their eyes in sleep and the day walkers have yet to open theirs and wake. I love this time of day, it is the only time the jungle is ever quiet. Just a brief moment before the sun rises and a new day begins. I wonder if there is ever a time in the city when there is this kind of quiet? Well, I suppose that I should get used to learning what it means to be a tourist. Hopefully, I'll listen to my guides at Monster High better than the tourists listen to me... lol.

June 20th
Monster High! Some creature from that... place has taken a ghost orchid! Like it was some common dandeadlion. There are only a handful of ghost orchids left anywhere in the monster world and the idea that some monster, any monster would steal one from the jungle just to add to thir collection makes my blood boil. I cannot in good conscience attend a school that would agree to let something such as this happen. I feel like I have failed in my duties as a protector of my home. I should just stay here and not allow any monsters to ever enter the jungle again, but then the orchid would still be in a place that it should not be. No, I will go to Monster High so I can bring back the ghost orchid and return it to its rightful place. A lace where it shall never be in peril again.