"Ugh." Ben groaned as he watched Winnie grinning up at Zork.
She was giggling as if Zork had said the funniest thing in the world.
"What if he's asking her to join Team Orange?" Ben thought.
That would be terrible!
He picked up speed, zooming toward Winnie and Zork.
"Ouch!" a goblin shrieked as Ben floated through him.
"Hey, Ben, want to buy a T-shirt for Team Orange?" a cheerleader asked.
"No thanks," Ben said. "I'm on Team Black."
"What about a Team Black T-shirt then?" another cheerleader asked.
"Maybe later," Ben said. "Hey, Winnie!" he called.
"Winnie!" By now, Winnie and Zork had started walking away together down the hallway.
Frustrated, Ben shot up to the ceiling above the crowd. "Winnie!" he yelled once more.
This time she heard him and stopped.
He flew over to drop down directly in front of her.
"Oh, hi, Ben," she said.
"Hey, Ben," Zork added.
Ben gave him a curt nod before turning back to Winnie.
"Do you have a minute?" he asked.
"I wanted to talk to you about something. It's kind of important."
"Sorry." Winnie shook her head.
"I can't talk right now.
I need to find my cousin Serena. She's visiting my family for a few days."
"I didn't know your cousin was coming."
Winnie let out a sigh.
"I wish I could forget it myself," she said.
"She was supposed to meet me outside the auditorium before the pep rally, but she never showed up.
I have no idea where she is."
Zork puffed out his chest.
"I've been helping Winnie look for her.
I'll go and check the gym now.
If I spot her, I'll send you a message."
"Thanks so much, Zork." Winnie flashed a smile at him.
"That's so nice of you."
"He's just walking around school," Ben muttered as Zork hurried off.
"It's not a big deal. I can help you look too."
"Okay, great." Winnie pulled out her phone and began scrolling through her messages.
"Why hasn't Serena texted me?"
Ben was still worried that Zork was going to ask Winnie to be on Team Orange.
"Hey, do you want to be on Team Black with Mog and me?" he blurted out.
"Deb's on the team, and so is Waldo."
Winnie looked annoyed.
"I already told Mog no.
I have a lot of homework this week, and Serena is visiting."
"Zork didn't ask you to be on his team, did he?"
"What?" Winnie blinked in surprise.
"Ben, are you accusing me of lying?"
"Of course not!" Ben said quickly. "I'd never—"
"Good," Winnie snapped.
"Because I'm telling the truth.
Like I said, I'm stuck with my cousin for the next three days.
Come on, let's keep looking for her."
As they walked through the halls, Ben didn't bring up Field Day again.
Winnie seemed to be in a really bad mood.
Ben had never seen her so irritable.
"Your cousin must be awful," he said.
Winnie bit her lip.
"She's not really awful . . . It's just that she's always at the center of attention."
"What do you mean?" Ben asked. "Does she—"
"Ar-roo!" A werewolf's loud howl cut him off.
As Ben and Winnie approached the library, Ben saw a group of male monsters standing in a large circle.
While the werewolf kept howling, a two-headed monster stood on both heads, and a squid monster spun around like a break dancer.
"What is going on in there?" Ben asked.
"I know exactly what's going on!" Winnie said. "Serena is in there!"
Winnie stomped into the library, and Ben floated in after her.
Sure enough, standing in the center of the large circle, was a witch—the most beautiful witch that Ben had ever seen.
"Wow!" Ben thought.
Without realizing it, he let out a gasp.
Winnie was pushing her way through the crowd.
"Excuse me!"
"Hey, cousin!" the beautiful witch said.
"Hello, Serena." Winnie gestured at the lovesick monsters.
"Can you please fix this situation?"
"Sure." Serena looked at the monsters and smiled.
"Okay, guys. I found my cousin, so the rest of you can go now.
Thanks for the welcome to Monster Academy."
A skeleton clattered over to Winnie.
"Is Serena really your cousin?" he asked.
"Yep," Winnie replied.
He put a bony hand on his heart.
"Wow, you're the luckiest witch in the world!"
Serena heard him and threw an arm around Winnie's shoulder.
"Lighten up, Winnie," she said.
"We're going to have so much fun while I'm here!"
Ben heard Winnie mutter a few words in reply.
It didn't sound like she was having fun yet.