Beetlejuice: High school AU

EP1 S1: The New Kid

Deep in the dark swirling abyss of the Nether world resided two abnormal-looking teens that zoomed around the darkened room, frantically filling an old, ratty, satchel with any essentials they could find. This included a few magazines, four packs of Oreos, a stick of pepperoni, something that might have once resembled a blanket, and a phone that they weren't even sure would work where one of them was going. The two of them sighed at the contents of the bag they had just haphazardly thrown together before the male of the two threw the strap over his head.  His female companion then began swatting a thin layer of dirt off of his striped shirt.
"I still wish you would take a change of clothes." The girl told him in a vaguely Spanish accent, "Or at least a jacket."
"Your clothes don't fit me and the jacket wouldn't do much, Tina."
She sighed again and just wrapped her arms around his neck. The boy held her for a moment as well as she whispered a quick, "Be safe." Into his pointed ear.
He nodded and pulled with a small twitch of his lips. One might have called it a smile if it weren't for the dire circumstances. They both turned to a bare wall as Tina kneeled down and drew a door-sized rectangle on it with a chunk of chalk. Stepping back from her handy work, she handed her friend the chalk before he walked up to the outline and knocked three times. A green glow came from newly formed cracks as if the chalk had cut through the wood, revealing what was on the other side. The sound of air rushing in hit their ears. The wall opened up like a door and, with one last deep breath from the boy, he stepped through.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" He heard somebody yell as he stumbled out of the door and it closed behind him.
This'll be fun. He thought to himself. A small grin graced his pale lips.
...
She hated it here.
Lydia Deetz had been in this new house and town for only two minutes but she already hated it. It wasn't that the house was bad and she hadn't been in the neighbourhood long enough to know if the people were friendly or not but she hated it anyways.
Hate hate hate hate.
Her mantra of hate was interrupted by a ding. Lydia reluctantly turned around to see the familiar sight of a red haired woman in a grey evening dress holding a triangle and the metal rod she had hit it with only moments ago.
"Yes, there is some good energy here." She said in a distant voice as she stared off into space. A smile formed on her red lips, "Very good."
She dropped the act, and the triangle, and went over to Lydia with a big grin.
"Isn't this great!? New town, new home, new start, free of past mistakes, hardships, and overbearing relatives that always told you you wouldn't find love or acceptance." She trailed off for a moment, "Isn't it exciting!?"
"Yeah, exciting." She replied in a dull tone.
The woman could almost hear the metaphorical eye roll in her voice and instantly backed off a bit. A small thump grabbed both of their attention as Lydia's father stumbled in with a giant box in his arms.
"Where would you like these, Delia?" The man asked.
"Oh, just put them in our room for now, Charles." The woman told him.
"Alright." And with that he disappeared down the hallway.
"And you had to make dad carry all your junk because?" Lydia asked with a hint of malice.
"My art isn't junk, Lydia." Delia told her while trying not to sound hostile, "And he volunteered to carry it after that mover almost dropped it."
Two movers had walked into the room just as she said that, carrying the couch in and setting it down before awkwardly running off when Delia gave one of them a look. Lydia just rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch with a bounce. Delia's face softened for a moment.
"Lydia, I know you miss the old house but I really think you should give this place a try." She sat down next to her, "You might even find that you like it here! It's going to     be okay."
Monday.
Trips and falls on her way to school.
Tuesday.
Gets singled out by some blonde girl.
Wednesday.
Gym sucks ass.
Thursday.
Way too much homework.
Friday.
Sits alone at lunch for the fifth time that week.
Lydia collapsed onto her bed with her eyes open and soulless. She stayed there for 20 minutes just contemplating life before she heard the door creek open.
"Lydia?" She heard a familiar voice call her name.
The girl glanced at the door to see her father's face peeking into her room. She was only looking at him for a second before her eyes moved back up to the ceiling.
"I have to be out tomorrow. I have a pretty long meeting."
"That's nice." She responded.
"I just wanted to let you know."
"Okay."
Silence fell over them for a moment. Charles began to move forward, his hesitant footsteps creaking against the old floorboards.
"Lydia..." He said, sitting down on the side of her bed, "I know it's been hard... What with the new step mom, new house, new town... But we have to move forward." He reached over and placed his hand over hers, "So maybe you should find a way to distract yourself?"
Lydia looked at him again and raised an eyebrow as he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a black leather notebook.
"I thought you could put your photos in it, or write about your thoughts, or write about your photos?" He said in an unsure tone.
Lydia slowly shifted herself into a sitting position beside her father and just stared at the book. Part of her wanted to be mad. She knew what he was doing and she was certain he knew it too. He was avoiding the thing that was bothering her and he was doing it on purpose because it was bothering him too. But she couldn't be mad because, despite everything, she knew he was hurting too and at least he was trying. She slowly reached out and took the book in her hands.
"Thanks, dad..."
A very faint smile crossed Charles's face for a split second.
"You're welcome." He said, standing up, "Well, I better be off. I have to grab some money from the bank before dinner."
"Why?" Lydia asked as he made his way to the door.
"Take out. Delia is trying to cook again."
That got her to laugh. It was small but she giggled just a tiny bit and it was something. Charles smiled too before closing the door.
...
"Have you heard about the school board's little 'problem'?"
Lydia slowly raised her head up from her desk as a voice was heard from behind her.
"You mean the weird guy that sorta just showed up?"
"Yeah. Apparently they're thinking of sending him to an actual SCHOOL."
"Are you serious!?"
Lydia didn't get to hear anything else because the class ended but it confused her a bit. A guy who just showed up? Was he some kind of immigrant? And why would it be such a weird thing to send him to school? Maybe he never got a chance to go to school as a kid and is an adult. Normally Lydia would have loved to sit around and think about it some more but she had another class to get to. Weirdly enough, only moments after she got there, there was an announcement that told everyone to report to the auditorium for an emergency assembly.
Most of the students that pooled into the auditorium did so in a confused manner and Lydia was one of them. She found her seat along with the many other kids her age and waited. It wasn't long before Miss Shanon, the stuffy and uptight school principal, walked on stage.
"Thank you all for coming here on such short notice." She said in a voice that was just a little too sweet, "I'm sure you are all confused as to why you have been called here so I will simply get to the point. Tomorrow, Peaceful Pines Public School will be receiving an exchange student... from the Netherworld."
All was quiet for a moment... and then all hell broke loose.
The room was filled with the sound of confused screaming, loud objections, and even some scared crying.
Everyone was in complete and utter panic except for Lydia. An exchange student from the Netherworld? The place filled with monsters and ghouls and all manner of strange and unusual? SIGN HER UP. She had always been fascinated by the Netherworld and now she would get to personally ask someone who lived there what it was like. Instead of getting all her knowledge of it from some biased history book written by a 200 old racist dead guy. She was, for the first time in months, EXCITED.
The teachers began trying to calm everyone down.
"Settle down, settle down." Miss Shanon tried, lamely, "Yes, we are aware that this is a troubling time for us all but you mustn't panic. The boy cannot return to the Netherworld as of now. He says he's been banished. So the government and the school board have decided to place him in our care in order to keep a close look on him. They say he doesn't seem hostile but you never know with these folk so please, keep your distance and come talk to a member of staff should he make you feel unsafe."
There was a collective murmur of halfhearted agreement and everyone was dismissed back to their classes.
...
Lydia had rushed home that day with an excited smile and made a beeline for her room. Charles and Delia had not missed the forgein emotion in the girl as she rushed up the stairs with a quick, "Hi Dad, hi Delia, can't talk now, bye!"
She then slammed the door shut to her room, dived into bed, and, instead of doing so in exasperation, let out a giant, hopeful sigh. She stared up at the ceiling as she had the day before but this time with a big grin. She then leaped off the bed and lifted the matrise up to reveal the notebook her father had gifted to her.
She had put it there mostly because she hadn't wanted to throw it away as she might have a use for it but also hadn't wanted to look at it when Charles gave it to her. Quickly swiping it up, letting the matrise fall and plopping herself back down on it. Lydia flipped to the first blank page, got out a pen, and started writing.