Somebody's on the Roof (Beetlejuice fanfic)

Attic

Despite passing out the second she got back into bed, Lydia was exhausted throughout the entire school day. She barely kept herself awake through her classes, the teachers' lectures quickly turning into mush.
She had tried hard to hide her black eye with makeup, but it was useless. Everyone already knew what had happened. She refused to look at anyone, doodling little bugs all over her notes.
Usually, she didn't run into Claire until lunch, when her little group would pass by her table. Lydia had found a home with the theater stage crew; none of them ever said a word to her, but it was less socially destructive than sitting alone. She tried to do her algebra homework, periodically glancing up to look for Claire. Eventually, her friends passed by, shooting her ugly glares once they caught her staring.
She was left completely alone on her way to sixth period. Claire wasn't at school.
Lydia's mind raced with reasons as to why. Had they messed her up that bad? Had her parents decided she was crazy and sent her away? Had they felt so sorry for their little baby girl and decided on an impromptu trip to the Bahamas? She didn't know which one she wanted to be true. She was just glad to have the peace of being left alone.
On the bus that afternoon, Lydia sat where she normally did- next to a girl who wore her headphones the entire ride. The girl glanced over, doing a double take once she saw the black eye.
"The hell happened to you?" She slipped her headphones off. Lydia was surprised to hear her voice, which was husky and deep.
"Claire. One of them kneed me in the face."
"Hm." She put the headphones back on. "Hate that bitch."
Lydia smiled.
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Once again, Lydia couldn't sleep.
It was confusing; one day she would be exhausted and want to sleep forever, then the next day she could hardly close her eyes for five minutes. She wished her body would make up its mind.
She decided she may as well have someone to talk to. She got up, lit another one of her black candles, and sat on the floor of her room, glancing up at the newly appeared shadow. He was waiting. Lydia closed her eyes.
"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice."
"I like the dramatic effect you're going for here."
His appearance didn't even surprise her. She opened her eyes, smiling softly at the sight of him cross-legged in front of her. She could see in the candlelight that his yellow eyes were happy, shining.
"I mean, demon summoning by candlelight," he continued, his voice soft. "Badass."
"I've always wanted to do it. Never thought I'd actually be able to."
"Well, you're in luck. What's up?"
"I can't sleep."
He raised an eyebrow. "What, you want a story or something?"
"No." Lydia rolled her eyes. "I thought we were pals, or whatever you call it. Let's hang out."
"Is that what breathers do?" Beetlejuice watched her from the floor as she stood and made her way to the makeshift mural on the wall. She had pinned up the pictures she'd taken of the house onto a cork board, trying to form some sort of cohesive picture with all of them. She stared at it.
"Breathers?" She grabbed her camera and turned to face him.
"The living. Breathers. Whatever."
"Yes, that's what breathers do." Lydia smiled. "Hang out. Now come look at this."
Beetlejuice reached over and placed his hand over the candle flame, causing it to go out. The room was shrouded in darkness for a split second before an even bigger flame burst to life- one coming straight from his hand. He went to stand by her.
"Alright, that's cool," Lydia muttered. "Anyway, I've been trying to make a mural. This house is creepy as hell, so I figured it'd make a good project. It just looks weird, though."
"I don't know much about this stuff, kid."
"But doesn't it look off?"
"They're dark. Can't see much."
"Yeah. I'm gonna try again at the proper times. The sun come through all the windows at different times. Golden hour and all that."
"You're missing the attic, too."
Lydia immediately turned her head. "We have an attic?" She asked, bewildered.
"Uh, yeah?"
Lydia shook her head. The sight of a green-haired, stripe-wearing demon standing next to her with one of his hands on fire was still a little much. "Since when?"
"C'mere. We'll be quiet." He began to walk away, and Lydia followed the flame. They went into the hallway, and he stopped outside a small door at the very end. It creaked open, revealing a steep wooden staircase.
"Whoa," Lydia said as they reached the top. Beetlejuice reached for the light switch, the dim overhead bulb weakly flickering on.
The room was small, the ceiling taking on the shape of the roof. A small window looked out into the backyard, which she hadn't been in yet. No wonder she hadn't known about this.
There was furniture, too; someone had left behind an old, red couch, a beanbag chair, and a TV with a DVD player.
Beetlejuice smiled, holding his arms out. "Welcome to B's room," he said.
"Wait, you hang out up here?" Lydia, still clutching her camera, took a step forward.
"It's just my style. The rest of the house is too stuffy." He collapsed into the beanbag chair. "I've been up here a lot more since you guys got here."
"This is awesome." Lydia let out a chuckle of disbelief. "How did no one see this?"
"I locked the door. Besides, you only had movers come to the main rooms, right?"
"Yeah. I guess so." She looked around. "Where'd you get the stuff?"
"I stole it."
"What?!"
"From my clients! C'mon, they don't need it. They're dead! Dead and gone. Passed on. That's why it's all old."
"Did you just..teleport it or something?"
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid. I just..I moved it. I moved, and it came with me. You gonna tattle on me?"
"No way. I'm not gonna say anything. Delia and my dad would ruin it. Delia would want all her weird crystals up here or something."
"Hell yeah, secret..hangout. Place. Is that what you said?"
She laughed, sitting down on the couch. "Yeah. That's what I said."
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Hey guys, I hope you're still enjoying this!
I finally have a coherent plan for the storyline of this thing, but it's going to be..a bit long? Nowhere near like 60 parts but it'll be a bit lengthy I think. Would you be okay with that?
Always feel free to leave comments : ) thanks