Chapter 18: Awkward, Disconnected Lines

Sally could safely say she'd never been in such an awkward position.

Even that incident with Reaper lacked the kind of tense atmosphere that had settled in the room at the current moment.

Well...not quite the whole room; just the triangle of hers, Oogie's, and Jack's seats.

And it seemed everybody but she was oblivious to the pointed death-glare contest between the skeleton prince and his (ex?) best friend.

Ignorance truly was bliss, it seemed.

Sally vaguely wondered if she should say something; after all, this was indirectly her fault. Somewhat. Maybe. Sort of.

Alright, she was completely to blame.

"Uhm..." she began timidly, unsure as to how to approach this situation.

The situation being her growing an interest in Boogie while still undeniably harboring strong, confusing feelings for Skellington.

Oh, dear god. If she didn't know any better—and believe her, she freaking did—she'd say they were stuck in some cheesy love triangle business.

But surely that wasn't the case; Jack hated her, didn't he? And if she remembered correctly, love triangles required love from all corners.

She shook her head. No. Absolutely not. There wasn't a love triangle. What was going on resembled nothing more than disconnected lines. She just happened to be the origin.

She was spared from having to start a conversation with the two by Igor casually ambling in, silencing the passing period chit-chats of the classroom. They had a mutual agreement with him that if they paid absolute attention and made no interruptions, he'd not only lay off the homework but give them a free period to do the in-class assignment of the day.

And it helped that everybody knew Igor's presence meant the lack of his quackjob father's.

"Professor Finkelstein is currently in a board meeting," he announced dryly, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe. Several girls giggled at that, making Sally roll her eyes. Igor didn't notice a thing, oblivious as he was. "So I'm here to give you guys some busy work."

The class immediately groaned in unison. All heads turned to the Boogie Man, expectantly waiting for a loud, drawn-out complaint filled with exaggerations and obscene references to insects. They were startled to instead be met with absolute silence.

Even Igor caught on to that. But he had to be at least a bit professional and therefore decided not to vocalize his teasing concern.

Sally didn't have to turn around to know Oogie was still glaring furiously at Jack.

What she would give to have heard the conversation that had transpired between them only a handful of minutes ago.

She didn't think she could ever forget the homicidal look on Jack's face as he slammed the doors open and menacingly approached her and Oogie; or the way he'd hissed, "Outside. Now," in collected fury at Oogie, whose grin—the one that had just been plastered on his face to amuse and flirt with Sally—vanished completely and so quickly that Sally wasn't even sure if he'd been grinning at all.

Nobody knew what had been said except the two of them. Apparently, they'd gone somewhere private and recluse. Otherwise, everybody would've been talking about the epic shouting match between the Pumpkin Prince and the resident bug overlord.

But whatever was said in their exclusive battle had clearly angered the both of them to the point that just looking at each other made their metaphorical blood boil. Sally didn't have to be a genius—though she really was—to know that she'd been the sole cause of the argument.

Now she swallowed nervously. Jack and Oogie, from what she could gather, had been friends for the longest time. If they fell out all because of her inability to keep others away, she didn't think she could set foot in Halloween Academy ever again. As it was, her earlier sadness and anger at the breakup took a backseat to this newfound guilt. Looking back, it seemed childish that she had been so caught up with the end of a small high school romance that probably wouldn't mean a thing to her in a year's time. When had she become so selfish? When had she put her emotions above everything else so carelessly that a seventeen-year-old friendship was at risk?

She had to fix this somehow.

As if aware of his sister's plight, Igor then announced that he'd let them work in groups of three, four if someone was left out. But preferably, three.

Three.

Sally made a mental note to make her brother's favorite for dinner that evening.

"Jack? Oogie?" she weakly attempted the moment Igor let them loose. Both boys turned to her in silent reply. However, she noticed that the ferocity of their gazes were nonexistent as they regarded her with fondness.

"What's up, Doll Face?"

"Yes, Sal?"

She smiled warily. "Would you guys like to work with me on this group assignment?"

"Wait, what group assignment?" Oogie asked in surprise, glancing around to see that, indeed, they had just been given a task. Igor conveniently decided at the moment to slap a bound packet of aging paper onto Oogie's desk.

"This group assignment, Boogie Man," he chortled, unable to conceal his amusement at the disgusted look on Oogie's face. He turned to Jack and Sally. "Did I hear right? You three are working together?"

"Unfortunately," sighed Jack, glaring hatefully at his once friend. He noticed Igor frowning at him as his words and their implication sunk in. If he could blush, he most certainly would. "I-I meant Oogie," he backpedalled nervously, eye sockets wide. "I'd love to work with Sally—she's very pleasant to be with and so very pretty—uh, pretty smart! Yeah. I didn't say she was pretty—wait, I don't mean it like that—she is, you know! Pretty. And nice..."

Sally turned away and covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Igor raised an eyebrow but thankfully decided to leave the flustered prince alone. He walked away slowly, as if waiting for Jack to go on another spiel. When Igor was out of earshot, Jack let out a relieved sigh.

"That was mortifying," he muttered under his breath. Sally grinned.

"I thought nothing could mortify you, oh great scary Pumpkin Prince?"

"My dear, nothing scares me," Jack boasted cockily, back to his normal egotistical (yet oddly charming) self. "That was merely a common phrase that others use."

"Uh-huh," said Sally dubiously. "I'm sure."

Oogie just scowled.

It turned out that Jack didn't hate her at all. Sally almost wished that she'd just struck a conversation with him after the incident in her room during that stormy night; the forty-five minutes of class she just spent chatting with Jack patched things up quite nicely. They hadn't back gotten together, per se, but at least they were friends again.

Oogie had been a part of their conversation, too. Except he mostly threw insults at Jack while Sally tried to be the level-headed mediator.

But their bonding came with a price; five minutes before the end of the class and they hadn't done a single thing.

"Oh, no..."

"What's wrong?"

"We had an assignment," whispered Sally as she frantically flipped through the packet. The questions were easy enough and she could definitely complete them in around two minutes, three tops. But as it was group work, it required group effort, and she was sure her father would be able to tell if she did the whole thing.

"Four minutes left of class," Igor called suddenly, shattering her thoughts. "What you guys haven't finished is homework. Due Monday."

"You see?" Jack grinned triumphantly. "We can just meet up over the weekend!"

Oogie made a face. "Ugh. Like I need to spend more time with you, bonehead."

"Nobody's asking you to come," snapped Jack in retaliation. "I was talking to Sally, anyhow."

"Well, Igor knows Oogie's part of our group," Sally defended the burlap sack, causing him to grin at her. "He can't skip out on the work..."

"He can write our names in the front," scoffed the skeleton royalty, flicking his hand in distaste. He noticed Sally giving him a pointed look and finally sighed. "Alright," he relented, to the relief of the pretty rag-doll. "Whatever. He can work with us."

Resisting the urge to remind Jack that it was never really up to him to decide whether or not Oogie would be part of the group, Sally turned to the packet. "Okay..."

Jack probably wouldn't want to set foot near Oogie's casino home. And Oogie surely would rather burn at the stake (for the eighth time) than enter Jack's mansion.

Which left only one option.

"You have friends coming over, right?"

"Yes. Igor, are you positive Dad'll be gone the whole weekend?"

"Sal, you know how board meetings are. He'll be arguing with the Christmas Town department of mad science chair for hours just about the seating arrangement." Her brother laughed then, closing the newspaper he'd been reading. Sally nodded absently as she wiped the sleek black surface of the dining table for the hundredth time that morning. Igor watched her in amusement from his seat on one of the matching chairs. "Sally, that thing's been spotless for at least two hours."

"Still."

Rolling his eyes, Igor pushed himself off the chair and stretched, mindful to keep ahold of the paper instead of setting it on the table like he normally would've done. Sally immediately scurried over to push the chair in for him, wanting everything to be perfectly straight.

Igor almost laughed. There was Sally for you. "You're awfully jittery for just a homework date."

The look she threw him was incredulous. "Please don't say that word."

"Date?"

She shuddered. "Exactly. Anyway, it's not even a date. Ja—Skellington, Boogie, and I just need to finish that packet from yesterday."

"How hard, exactly, was that packet?"

"Not hard at all, between you and me," Sally admitted bashfully. She would never tell her father that, but Igor shared a different, more relaxed bond with her. He wouldn't tell a single soul half the things she'd shared with him over the years. "But we didn't really...manage our time, so to speak."

"Two boys over, and from what I hear, the most popular ones of your year! My, my, Sally, you're quite the heartbreaker, aren't you?"

"Igor," she groaned at the smirking ghoul, crossing her arms. "It's not like that."

"It's not like you were dating Skellington for a few days then broke up then used Boogie for rebound?"

Sally was sincerely grateful she hadn't been holding anything. Otherwise, she'd be cleaning up the broken pieces. "W-what?"

Igor just smiled. "I hear things, Sal. The good thing about being just a TA is that I'm both a teacher and a student—I speak both kid and adult rather fluently."

"Which means rumors get to you just as easily," she groaned in realization, covering her face with her hands. It took her brain a second longer to fully process what her brother had just said. "Oogie is not my rebound!" she exclaimed as her head snapped up, feeling very offended.

Igor had the decency to look ashamed. "Uh...maybe I shouldn't have worded it like that."

"Maybe you shouldn't have said it at all."

"I see this is a touchy subject for you," the older Finkelstein chuckled, nonplussed at the death glare he was receiving from his sibling. Walking away, he looked at Sally over his shoulder. "I trust everyone will behave accordingly. If you need me, I'll be upstairs."

Sally's mouth dropped open. "You're not staying with us?"

"Nope. The point of weekends is to be away from work." He paused, eyes sparkling. "Sally, you look really pretty."

"Huh?"

"Too pretty. That dress is adorable as hell."

"Thank...you?"

"Let me remind you that my absence does not mean I don't see and hear everything. I trust Skellington and Boogie to act as the gentlemen they claim they are, but just in case, I do have your back."

As an afterthought, he added, "I'd feel more comfortable if you wore one of Dad's lab coats. It'll be a real turn-off, let me tell you."

"I can imagine," giggled Sally with an eye-roll. She waved goodbye at her brother and headed into the living room where her school things laid. After making sure everything was there, she briefly checked the refrigerator to make sure the snacks she'd made earlier were still intact (Igor had quite an appetite).

Rotten pumpkin juice, brain-and-guts sandwiches, and applecore cobbler were just a few things they had. On a kitchen counter were some spider-leg cookies, fried moths, and chewy eyeballs.

Excessive, maybe, but better than lacking.

Sally ducked into the bathroom one last time to make sure the facilities were decent. Not a hair out of place, thank goodness. On her way out, she caught sight of her reflection and hesitated.

Her dress wasn't that pretty. It was just a bunch of rags and old cloth she'd found and stitched together. Why, it was practically a wearable quilt.

If anything, she looked underdressed. Maybe even sloppy.

Oh, dear. She needed to change! How could she possibly let Jack and Oogie see her like th—

Ding-dong!

Knock-knock-knock.

"What the hell, Oogie? I already hit the doorbell!"

"Hey, I was mid-freaking-knock when you decided to ring like an old lady!"

"Why, you little—"

Figuring she needed her group members alive (er...or as alive as they could get at Halloween Town) to work on this assignment, Sally practically sprinted to the door, her pathetic dress be damned. By the time she got the door open, Jack and Oogie were almost nose-to-nose in a terrifying stare-down. Unlike most ghouls, Sally could not only sense magic but see it; and right now, she could make out the green glow forming around Jack's clenched fingers and the unnerving, smirking shadow towering behind Oogie. Swallowing nervously, she willed herself to ignore both and cleared her throat.

Both boys turned to stare at her, the harsh expression on their faces melting into stunned awe. Both Jack's green glow and Oogie's shadow vanished with a blink of an eye.

Jack was stunned.

Sally was...holy hell, Sally was absolutely gorgeous!

She had donned a beautiful, sleeveless dress, made up of several types of cloth. It fell just below her knees, billowing out at the torn ends. The v-neck design showed off her stitches in a flattering yet not inappropriate manner. Her legs—were they always so shapely and, well, perfect?

But it was her face that did it for Jack. The way she kept her head bowed slightly, her eyes shy and lowered, as if she didn't want to meet piercing, judgmental gazes. It was oddly innocent.

Or maybe it was because Sally looked so unsure of herself regardless of the fact that she was absolutely flawless. Then again, maybe she was unsure because of that.

Whatever it was, Jack was smitten. Here was the only girl he'd ever met who hadn't been acutely aware of her natural beauty and willing to flaunt it whenever the chance came up. Here was a girl who probably had no idea she made every guy's head turn in the hallways, and made girls sigh in envy.

Here was the girl who'd unknowingly snatched his undead heart with that shy smile and careful greeting, who'd pulled him in when she'd initially shoved him away.

Here was the girl who'd buckled him down for the most intense emotional thrill ride he'd ever been on, and who'd stopped the ride at the top of the tallest hill.

Jack swallowed. His face felt unbearably warm and somehow he knew he wouldn't be able to speak even if he tried.

This wasn't the same as before.

He panicked. Whatever he was feeling now was scaring him.

Why did he feel so strongly?

Why Sally?

Oogie couldn't for the life of him look away.

Sally was hot. Smoking. The finest piece of work ever created.

Her dress was innocently sexy; it was obviously hand-crafted and very well made. Boogie liked that.

But it wasn't just how pretty she looked; it was how modest she felt.

He could tell Sally wasn't very confident and thought little of herself. While she didn't wear her heart on her sleeve, Oogie could read her like a book.

He was the same. His inner thoughts, his true thoughts, had been locked away to the deepest recesses of his mind, forgotten and untouched. This persona he'd put on—this loud, boisterous, bug-obsessed playboy—was only partly him.

Truth was, he felt scared. He was lonely. He hated Jack yet cared about him all the same. He was bitter he didn't have any parental figures growing like Jack did; he was angry that he didn't have a family to come home to at the end of the day. He was rich, sure—truth be told, his casino made him wealthier than even the Pumpkin King and his son—but even money got boring after a while. He wasn't completely miserable, but he was bothered.

And Sally would understand that, wouldn't she?

To be seen and judged just on outside appearances and status, and have what was inside—what mattered—completely disregarded—Sally had to understand.

And that was when he knew he was in trouble.

Oogie was so sure he was only physically attracted to Sally. He was convinced this crush was shallow and fun and definitely nothing long-term.

But now...it didn't seem that simple anymore.

And he was scared.

A/N: Ya'll probably getting tired of my erratic updates. I can't promise when the next one will be.

I'm such a hypocrite. I get all pissed when I'm reading a fic that hasn't been updated since 2009 and yet here I am, not giving two beeps about half my own fics. Ugh.

Where the hell are you going with this fic, you insufferable turd? you may be wondering (or not...I don't know you).

Well, this turd is here to say she has no freaking idea. Come, join me as I blindly try to figure out where the plot is.

I check my Tumblr more than I do this site, so if you wanna yell at me or something, hit me up there! I go by the same name, just for your convenience. Because I live to please. (*Eyeroll*)

Can I take this moment to apologize for all the grammar/spelling mistakes? Because this fic is full of them. Le sigh.

Until next time! (cross your fingers for April 2016!)

I jest.

Mostly.