Hurry Up, Get Happy (a Beetlejuice: the Musical Fanfiction)

Forgive and Forget

Lydia and Betelgeuse appeared in a flash of light right in the middle of the living room, coming face to face with all four of Lydia's parents — all of who were once again looking at Lydia's childhood photo albums.

They looked up, spotting them, and almost immediately, looks of anger appeared on each of their faces. Lydia gulped then let out a nervous laugh.

"I can explai-," Lydia began to say. She was cut off by Barbara.

"Where have you been, young lady," Barbara demanded of the nervous teenager in front of her, Adam, Charles, and Delia.

"Out in town again," was Lydia's immediate response. "Looking for ghosts at the local library." She bent down to place the books she'd gotten from the library on the coffee table and refocused her attention onto all four of her angered parents.

"And did you happen to find any?" Adam asked, folding his arms.

"Not really." Lydia scratched the back of her head. "Beej and I were planning — no — thinking about heading out to either the local cemetery or the local church and look for ghosts tomorrow. Those places will hopefully both be crawling with ghosts who never made it to the Netherworld."

"Absolutely not!" all four of her parents shouted in unison, upsetting Lydia.

Tears began to pour from the teenager's eyes as she turned and ran out of the living room. The anger her four parents had been feeling towards her faded away as they heard the sounds of her footsteps stomp across the upstairs landing and her bedroom door slam closed and lock.

They hurt her feelings and they now regretted it.

Betelgeuse had since gone upstairs as well, phasing through the teen's bedroom door considering it was locked.

"Should I go and check on her?" Barbara asked the rest of the adults of the Maitland-Deetzes.

"Give her time," Charles said as he turned the page of the album that he was showing Adam. "She'll be okay in an hour or two...I hope."

Barbara sighed and refocused her attention onto the album Delia had picked up and was showing her.

Still upset and crying, Lydia threw herself onto her bed and grabbed a pillow to scream into. She was too into her crying fit, she didn't notice Betelgeuse phasing through her bedroom door and sit himself down on the floor next to her, at least until she felt the touch of an ice cold hand on her back.

Brown eyes still blurry from too much crying, the teenager lifted her face from her pillow and looked up, spotting Betelgeuse. Immediately, she buried her face back into her pillow and said a muffled,

"Go away, Beej."

"No." Betelgeuse began to gently rub circles into Lydia's back in order to try and calm her down just a little. "I would much rather stay in here with you, Scarecrow. Y'know, in case you need some company."

Lydia lifted her face from her pillow again and looked back over towards the demon, still upset with tears now streaming down her face. Betelgeuse used his other hand to wipe the tears from his best human friend's eyes.

"I guess I really do need someone to keep me company," Lydia finally admitted.

Betelgeuse smiled as Lydia sat upright and he moved to sit on the bed next to her. He was still rubbing circles in Lydia's back and she was calming down...but only just a little.

"All better, Scarecrow?" Betelgeuse asked the moment he began to notice the amount of tears streaming down Lydia's face was slowing down.

"Much better," was Lydia's response. And then she fell asleep.

It had been an hour since Lydia and Betelgeuse had gotten home from their second trip out into the town that day and all four of Lydia's parents still regretted their brief yelling at the teenager.

Closing the album she was done looking through, Barbara stood up and turned to the rest of the adults in the living room.

"I think I'm going to go upstairs and check on Lydia and Betelgeuse," the female ghost said. "It's been long enough. Surely she would be okay by now.

"I'm coming too," Adam suddenly said. He and Barbara exited the living room and headed upstairs to Lydia's bedroom.

That just left Charles and Delia on their own in the living room. With a soft sounding sigh, Charles stood up and turned to Delia.

"I think I'm going to put these photo albums away and then do some work in my office," he told the Life Coach, to which she nodded.

He nodded as well, picking up the photo albums and heading straight back to his office, leaving Delia alone for the time being. The only thing she could think of doing for now was watching tv so she picked up the remote and switched it on.

She was half an hour into watching one of her favorite programs when she heard the sounds of what she thought was yelling coming from Charles's office.

The Maitlands had been knocking nonstop on Lydia's bedroom door for five short minutes, until eventually Betelgeuse phased halfway through the door to talk to them.

"She's still upset about you guys, Chuck, and Delilah yelling at her," Betelgeuse had explained to the two ghosts as he phased further through Lydia's bedroom door. "I managed to calm her down just a little but then she got upset all over again."

"Is there anything we could do to try and help her, mr. Betelgeuse?" Barbara asked out of concern. She was about to head into Lydia's room so she could comfort her but Betelgeuse stopped her.

"You could try," the demon explained.

"Good," said Adam. "Because we feel really bad about shouting at her. As do Charles and Delia actually. Yelling at her was something we never should have done."

Betelgeuse phased back through Lydia's bedroom door and the Maitlands followed suit.

They sat on either side of Lydia, Barbara resting an ice cold hand in the teenager's hair. Adam began rubbing cold circles into Lydia's back.

"Lydia," Barbara began. "We're really sorry about yelling at you earlier. We never should have done it."

Lydia said nothing in return. She just kept on with her crying.

Barbara removed her hand from Lydia's hair and cast a glance over towards Adam, who had since stopped rubbing circles into Lydia's back. He had the same look of worry as she did plastered on his face.

The same thing ran through their heads at the exact same time and they quickly turned, phasing through Lydia's bedroom door on their way to Charles's office.

"HEY!" Betelgeuse shouted after them as they rushed past him. "BABS! SEXY! WHERE'RE YOU GUYS GOING?!"

The Maitlands practically flew into Charles's office as fast as they both possibly could. The living male looked up at them, a look of worry appearing on his face when he saw the equally panicked looks on their faces.

"Adam, Barbara?" he spoke up out of surprise. "Is something the matter?"

That made them start talking over one another.

"We went to check on Lydia and make sure she was okay but we got nothing out of her," Barbara said in a hurry.

Adam added, "it's almost as if she can't see us anymore."

Charles held his hands up to calm the two frantic ghosts down. "Woah, woah, you guys," he said. "Calm down. One at a time please."

They turned and looked at one another before refocusing their attention back over towards Charles.

"We went to check up on Lydia, make sure she was okay after we yelled at her earlier," Barbara explained. "I told her we were all sorry for doing that and we got no reaction from her."

Charles's eyes widened at this. "Oh my," he said. "I was afraid of this."