Day 1 ~

Beetlejuice waited in Lydia's vanity mirror for her to come home from school.

He picked at his fingernails, finding all sorts of grime and mold inside - a tasty afternoon snack. He could see it was a stormy day in the world of the living - Lydia would be wet probably from her bike ride home. In fact, she may not come to her bedroom first to let him out before taking a shower and drying her hair.

The prospect made him feel like an abandoned puppy. He huffed in an irritated way, impatient to see her just as he always was. Her smile made him light up inside. Her words calmed him when he was angry. Her laugh made him laugh even more. To him, she was the world, and he was more than comfortable with that. After hundreds of years toying with the newly dead or haunting the living, he was grateful to have something else to do for a while. The whole afterlife scene had been getting so boring to him before he had met her.

Craning his neck over, he looked at the calendar. It was Monday. Damn. Five whole days of school before she could come to the Neitherworld and goof off with him. Now that she was sixteen, though, she often refused to go for whole days at a time, devoting herself to homework instead. What a disgusting prospect.

BJ didn't really like to think about what it would be like when Lydia hit college, or worse yet, when she got a regular job. Would she even bother to make time for him then? How much longer did he think this was going to last? When he looked at it like that, it was probably unhealthy to let his entire life hinge on her this much… but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but drop everything and focus solely upon her. She had her own magic to her… her own grace, and it was intoxicating, he admitted. Her eyes captivated him like nothing else could.

"I'm back!" Lydia said cheerfully, entering her room. She was out of her uniform and there was a towel around her neck - a sure sign that his guess had been right. She had just gotten out of the shower. "That rain was brutal!"

"Babes! You're home!" he declared with gusto. "Quick quick quick, lemme out already!"

"You got it!" she chirped. "Knowing that I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly haunting I turn loose… Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!"

Instantly BJ popped out of the mirror and stretched happily, cracking his back multiple times. Lydia cringed, but giggled anyway. "Did you miss me?"

"Every second of every day, babes." he replied, ruffling her hair. "So what horrors are we studying today? Quick, let's get it done so you can come play."

"Beej, I can't go to the Neitherworld today. I have to write a history essay. It's going to take me all afternoon, probably."

"Essay schmessay. I'll write it for ya in five minutes!"

Lydia gave him a very deadpan stare. "It's about the hundred years war in France. What do you know about that?"

"Hm… that was about a hundred and fiftyish years before my time, give or take a decade…" he pondered. "Bah, just make something up already and let's go!"

She laughed at him, opening her laptop. "Sorry, BJ, that's a no go. I've got to do this. Why don't you watch TV or something while I work?"

"All right…" he said, defeated. He clicked her TV on and didn't even have to change the channel - it was already on the horror movie network.

While girls in 1960s hairdos screamed frantically at brains flopping around the floor in the background, Lydia called behind her shoulder.

"Aren't you going to ask about my day?"

"Oh yeah, what's going on at Miss Shannon's School for yuppies this week?"

Lydia smiled. "Some boys from another school are taking our classes with us. They'll be here all week, and then there's going to be a dance on Friday for everyone at both schools to attend. I think it's a publicity stunt to get more funds out of the community for education."

"Boys, huh? At an all girls school? So I don't have to go in drag this week?"

"I didn't think about that. I guess not. Too bad though, I'll miss Bettyjuice!"

BJ chortled at that. "I think I'll miss her too. What can I say, she's a real charmer!"

After a pause, Lydia continued. "There's a boy in my art class who is really nice."

The ghost's ears perked. His eyes squinted. "Really? Does that mean you want me to put a snake in his spaghetti? An eyeball in his pencil box? Scare him to death in the bathroom mirror?"

"No!" she said, indignant. "I mean he's nice, and I don't want you to do anything to him."

He shrugged. "Lemme know if you if you change your mind. I'll be more than happy to set the juice loose."

"I was just… telling you, is all." she explained sheepishly. "About my day."

There was a pregnant silence between them now that BJ couldn't quite put his finger on. Was it tension? Was she trying to tell him something without actually saying it, a thoroughly annoying habit girls had?

He shrugged it off and went on watching TV. He would be doing the same thing in the Neitherworld at this time of day, he knew, but just being close to her made all the difference. Their ability to be together without saying anything had developed even more in recent years, as there was hardly a secret they didn't share, or a subject they didn't discuss, and it was an eventuality that they run out of things to talk about. It was all so comfortable to him. He didn't want to think about it being any other way.