Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Three|| Speak of the Devil

As the days went on, Lydia and the Maitlands never mentioned anything about Lydia's wish that Betelgeuse would come back to Charles and Delia (although they had been noticing that they were behaving weirdly around them and didn't know why) and life went on for the five of them. Lydia had since forgotten all about the wish she'd made that one night that Betelgeuse would someday return and seek forgiveness, believing it to be nothing but a story. It was nearing fall and soon, another school year had started and Lydia and her family were not prepared for it.

Charles, Delia, and Barbara entered Lydia's bedroom at around a quarter after five in the morning on the first day of school and Barbara shook her awake. The teen grumbled in response.

"Ugh... just... five more minutes," the teen mumbled, grabbing a nearby pillow and putting it over her face.

"No, sweetie, you need to get up now." Barbara removed the pillow and helped Lydia out of bed. She summoned Lydia's school uniform out of the teen's closet and dressed her (with a flash of light to cover the fact that she wasn't wearing any clothes at the moment). The flash of light soon disappeared and Barbara led Lydia out of her bedroom with Charles and Delia following. As the teen got herself ready to go to school, Barbara, Charles, and Delia headed downstairs and joined Adam in the kitchen.  "Isn't this exciting?" asked Barbara as she prepared the teen's lunch and organized it, putting it in the teenager's ghost shaped lunch bag. "Lydia's first day of a full year of school here in Connecticut!"

"Geez, Barb," said Adam as Barbara levitated Lydia's lunch bag in her black skull print backpack. "You're treating today like it's Lydia's first day of school ever. She's not a small child, she's a teen."

"I said it was her first day of a full year of school in Connecticut, Adam, not her first day of school ever. There's a difference," laughed Barbara.

"I was joking!"

"I know!"

"I think I'm going to be sick," lied Lydia in a teasing voice as she came down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Her family knew she was just teasing them and burst into laughter and she joined in too after about thirty seconds. The laughing fit soon subsided.

"Ready for your first day of a full year of school, sweetie?" asked Barbara as she levitated Lydia's backpack over near the door.

Lydia nodded. "Uh huh. Hopefully I will get to make some more friends this time around. I have to say, homeschooling for the last year has been one of the most strange and unusual things ever. Since I was never the new girl at a school before moving here last may, I guess I can't wait to see how my first day of my first full year of school plays out."

"Speaking of which, are you driving or are you catching the bus?" asked Adam as Lydia finished her breakfast and picked up her backpack. Not too long ago, Lydia had been given the Maitlands' car as a surprise when she got her driver's license and she couldn't ask for more than that.

"I'm driving, duh! What else would I do?" Lydia laughed.

"Right," was Adam's reply.

"Well, better get going so I'm not late for school," said Lydia, opening the door. "See you guys after school."

A chorus of "Bye, Lydia! Good luck at school" sounded and Lydia waved goodbye to her family as she headed out the door to go to school.

"What do we do now?" asked Barbara as she began washing the dishes.

"I guess all we can do is wait for Lydia to return home from-." Adam stopped, hearing a sort of strange sound. The others stopped and turned towards him, all slightly concerned and/or worried for him.

"What's going on, Ad?" asked Barbara, putting all the clean dishes, cups, and silverware in the appropriate cups and drawers before floating over towards him. Charles and Delia joined them, looking slightly scared as if they knew something was up.

"I hear something but I don't know what it is. I'm kinda afraid to find out," admitted the male ghost. The others nodded in agreement.

The sound of evil, gravelly laughter filled the room and all four of the adults huddled closely together, looking both scared and angry. Overhead, the lights flickered ominously and flashed from green and back multiple times in a matter of seconds, leading to all the adults believing that the power was going to go out instead of what was actually happening at the moment. Black and white stripes stretched over the walls and the same gravelly laughter from earlier was heard again.

"Betelgeuse, you monster! What do you want and why are you here?!" barked Charles with the rest of the adults growling in agreement. "Get out of the house this instant!"

"Oh, dear Chucky boy! I'm here to earn forgiveness from you guys. I heard Lydia wish that I would someday return and seek forgiveness from you guys that fateful night three months ago all the way in the Netherworld," Betelgeuse laughed as he appeared in all his glory in the center of the living room, smirking evilly at all the adults, who were all now huddled together and standing on the couch. They each sported angry looks on their faces, their teeth grit and their eyes narrowed. Their fists were raised as if they were preparing for a fight against the demon (which, to be fair, they were).

"Well, if you came for forgiveness, you aren't getting any!" spat the Maitlands, having both  forgotten that they had a conversation with Lydia where they had promised the teenager that they would forgive Betelgeuse if and when he ever showed up.

"Babs! Sexy!" Betelgeuse extended an arm out towards Barbara and was about to dip her into a kiss when Adam appeared in front of them and pulled Barbara away from him.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Adam demanded angrily, holding Barbara close to him. The female ghost was sniffing and crying ghostly tears as she held onto Adam for comfort. Even Charles and Delia were concerned, yet still angry, jumping off the couch and standing over by the Maitlands as if protecting them like they protected Lydia from harm. The two ghosts weren't considered part of the family for nothing. "You never explained to us why you are here again in the first place?!"

"I'm glad you asked, Sexy." Betelgeuse smirked again, adding a gravelly "it's showtime!"

A/N: A little clarification: in order to avoid confusion, it's Lydia's first year of going to school. She was homeschooled for at least a year because she was still dealing with the death of her mother after the events of the musical.