Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

II

Over at her school, Northanger Academy, Astrid Deetz hung up a flier for her club, the Climate Crew, that read, "Wake up! We're toast! Join the Northanger Climate Crew," before turning away.

    Despite not liking her mother, Astrid resembled her in more ways than one. Her raven hair was cut to medium length and tied with a tiny bun in the back. She had dark eyes and pale skin. And much like her mother was when she was a teenager, was morbid. Unlike Lydia, however, Astrid never believed in ghosts.

    As the bell rang, Astrid heard her phone ring. Looking down, she saw the contact read, "Alleged Mom," which caused her to immediately ignore it. Shouldering her backpack, Astrid walked up the stairs towards her dorm room, unaware of some girls nearby snickering as she did so. Opening the door, Astrid stumbled back when a fake ghost that held a sign reading "Boo!" swung down. The girls all laughed at their prank as Astrid turned to face them.

    "When you're all in your third kid and second divorce, we'll see who gets the last laugh," Astrid said coolly before moving past the prank and entering her room. However, she noticed that she dropped a picture of her and her dad, causing it to shatter.

    "Perfect," she said sarcastically. She picked up the picture and set it on her desk before sitting down. As she did, though, Lydia tried calling her again.

    "Leave me alone," Astrid muttered as she denied the call. She then tried to get to her homework, but turned to the picture she had saved. It was her dad holding a five-year-old Astrid on his shoulders as she held up a sign.

    He had died in an accident not that long ago, and Astrid had never really recovered. He was her best friend, and now he was gone. She knew people died all the time, but why did it have to be someone close to her? No one in the world could understand what she was going through.

—

Sighing, Cooper had set down the last few boxes in the crammed area that was supposed to be his new room. Kneeling down, he started to go through them until he found what he was looking for; a white hooded sweatshirt with a black number 12 written on the front.

    It was another gift Anna had given him, but that was before she had cancer. It was a congratulations present for Cooper when he first made the hockey team, under the number twelve. For some reason, just looking at the sweater made him think of his sister, who was laying in a casket six-feet under the ground.

    "I miss you, sis," Cooper muttered as he shrugged the hoodie on.

     As he began unpacking, Cooper noticed an old house on a hill right next to the house he was moving into. Cooper looked out the window and saw it looked familiar. It looked just like the house shown in the intro to "Ghost House."

    Cooper's eyes went wide. Lydia Deetz lived in that house once.

—

Rory drove a black car, taking Lydia and Delia down the leaf-littered road towards Astrid's school. As Lydia looked out the window anxiously, Delia said, "So it's settled, we'll bring Charles home to Winter River. I've never hosted a funeral. I've never hosted anything without Charles standing there, watching me in awe."

    Ignoring her stepmother, Lydia tried calling Astrid again.

    "It's Astrid, please don't leave a message," Astrid's voice said as Lydia shook her head in disbelief.

    "She won't pick up," she said.

    "Maybe I should tell Astrid about Charles," Rory offered. "Might be easier coming from a non-feminine masculine archetype."