Next chapter, ahoy! It's a bit longer, this time. You're welcome for that. ^_^


Chapter 2

Jack was just walking along the sets, getting to know them better, when he spotted Sally, the beautiful rag doll that had made his breath catch. He sighed dreamily at that.

He smiled and walked towards her, determined to know her better.

"Hi, Sally," he greeted warmly.

She managed a small smile before replying.

"Hello, Jack. What are you doing over here?" she asked, genuinely curious. He was the main character; she figured he should have more (important) things to do than just roaming about there.

"I was just giving myself a tour, you know, getting to know the settings. I especially like this one," he gestured to the snow-covered set of a graveyard and a curled hill.

The rag doll girl nodded.

"It reminds me of Christmas," she said "It's my favorite holiday."

Jack grinned. "Really? It's mine's too."

It wasn't a lie; it was probably the only thing he had in common with his character. The snow, the presents, and the cheer were all wonderful for him. It was a time when he didn't feel so alone, for a change. Not that he would reveal it to anyone other than her.

A small silence took place.

"So... Do you want to go see the rest of the settings with me?" he asked, uncharacteristically shy. When he caught her eye, he immediately looked down, embarrassed for some reason.

He was vaguely confused of what he'd just done. He was usually so confident, especially with girls, but when he had looked at her all of that disappeared. She was...different.

She giggled pleasantly, but then frowned. "I'd love to, but I can't."

Jack eyed her with a disappointed look. He really had wanted to spend some time with her.

"Why?" he asked, slightly downcast.

She smiled apologetically. "Mr. Burton wanted to meet with me in a while. I should go now."

She smiled at him sadly. He did seem nice, even if he was someone highly important talking with her.

Jack sighed as he watched her leave. He continued his walk, his annoyance for the annoying director increasing tenfold.

He slowed down as he saw Oogie not too far away. He had a mischievous look in his face. 'What is he up to?' Jack wondered. He crept closer silently and tapped his friend on the shoulder, almost laughing at the expression on the boogieman's face when he turned around to face him.

"What are you doing?" he asked calmly.

Oogie glared at him. "Don't do that! You might have blown my cover!" he said in a harsh whisper. "Now, shh!"

Jack nodded noncommittally, humoring him, and then watched as someone walked into the space Oogie was looking at. 'Speak of the devil,' Jack thought sourly.

Tim was very irked. That good-for-nothing boogieman had done it again! He'd gone and scared off the extras by spilling that disgusting green slime all over them! Ohhh, he was going to get it once he found him! How was he supposed to find Christmas elves in Hollywood? In summer?

Jack walked up to Tim. "What happened?" he asked plainly, noticing the director's face full of rage.

He glared at him as if he had done it. "Oogie happened!" he shouted, darting his eyes every which way looking for the culprit.

Jack smirked inwardly. 'So that's what he was up to!'

"I saw him running to the Town Square set," he said, pointing an opposite direction of where Oogie was. Tim marched in that direction.

When he was out of earshot, Jack busted out laughing.

Oogie went up to him, wondering had he said.

"Thanks for covering me, pal. I really managed to piss him off this time." He snickered, that look of mischief back in his eyes- or lack thereof.

Jack stopped laughing and looked at him quizzically.

"I don't want to know," he said, a little shocked.

Oogie shrugged nonchalantly.

"Wanna help me annoy someone else? Like the old coot in the wheelchair?" the burlap boogieman asked, that gleam back in his eyes. Jack pretended to weigh his options.

"Since I don't have anything better to do.." He sighed as if annoyed, but gave Oogie a devious smile. They both ran, almost like a child would, to look for Dr. Finkelstein.


They were late for filming the first scene. That much was true.

"Oogie! Hurry up, we're really late!" Jack shouted, panicking slightly. He was running and trying not to leave his friend, which was something difficult to say the least. Oogie didn't seem to care about being late.

"So what? We can arrive when they need us," he said, walking slowly just to annoy Jack.

"I'm the main character! They need me now, stupid!" Jack retorted, getting more frustrated by the minute.

Finally they made it to the entrance, and immediately every eye (and eye socket) in the room turned to them.

Jack glared murderously at Oogie as he made his way to the set, who did his best to ignore him, knowing it would annoy him.

"You're late, the both of you," Tim said, his arms crossed in a disapproving way. Jack copied him and huffed. He would have blamed Oogie, but.. Actually, he wondered why he didn't do that and be off the hook.

Instead, he just sighed.

"Can we just get started now?" he asked weakly, and everyone took their places. They led him to a changing room where they told him he had to put the scarecrow outfit on top of the normal suit. He entered, scowling. 'Why two outfits?' He sighed, aggravated, as he changed. What that stupid director made him do.

"Tim, what does this mean?" he asked the director once he had changed. He was still scowling, holding the pumpkin 'head' in one of his hands.

Tim ignored his scowl and beamed at his attire.

"Jack, you look positively terrifying! You see, the movie starts with you in the Halloween Town sign being blown by the wind. The citizens will sing the song and near the end of it you will appear in a stray horse. Got it till there?"

"Uh-huh," Jack said, not really interested. He looked the other way and spotted Sally talking with an assistant of the team, probably getting instructions too. She somehow looked even more beautiful beneath the low lighting of the room, and he couldn't help but stare at her in complete awe. Tim's talking soon faded out of his hearing.

"And that's the end of the first scene... Jack, are you listening to me?" he asked, a little annoyed when he noticed that the skeleton was not looking at him.

Jack shook his head lightly to get out of his trance.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, sending a blank stare to the man in front of him.

Tim watched hopelessly. He had lost him; the question is, to whom?

"Who were you looking at?" he asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow, and looking around to see if he could spot whoever was distracting his star so much.

"Um, n-no one! Why should I be? I was paying attention to you all the time," he defended, not helping himself at all with his nervous attitude.

"Well, I'll explain the last part again, since I think you're lying."

Tim didn't look convinced as he explained to Jack what he would be doing on top of the horse and the rest. When he finished, Jack had a confused look on his face.

"And what would I dance? I don't dance," he complained.

The very tired director sighed.

"Just do spins and stuff. Nothing too complicated, but it has to look spooky."

"Okaay," the costumed skeleton drawled, walking to take his place. The music began and the wind blew him as he pointed to Halloween Town. When the camera wasn't looking at him anymore, he got off there and went looking for that horse.

They pointed him where he had to go and some moments later he was ready to make his appearance. Then, he heard Oogie's voice in the song.

"I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright..."

'A shadow? That's all for him? Well, it sure is easy...' Jack thought, a little jealous of the boogieman's lack of role in the movie. Sure, he had been a minor character sometimes, but people got so distracted by him that they always treated him as if he was the star of the movie. He wondered what being ignored would feel like. What going unnoticed when he walked into a room, or having to memorize just a few lines instead of whole pages. What being able to go out without being ogled or chased by stark-raving fans. What being treated as someone normal, not a world-famous actor, would be. It must be nice to have people liking him for him, not for what he seemed to be.

Now, he was being pulled by some kind of creature with an axe on its head. This was the boring part: he had to stay still until he saw the ghoul who would hand him over the torch. And then he would set himself on fire-

Wait, what?!

"TIIIIM!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, horrified, just when he had seen the man with the torch. He took off his pumpkin head. "When did you said I had to set myself on fire!?"

The cast sighed in unison.

"CUT!" Tim shouted, then proceeded to scold the skeleton, "Jack, I explained it to you twice! So you have no excuse!" He was actually quite surprised Jack heard him but hadn't actually paid attention to him.

"But I don't want to set myself on fire..." he said sheepishly, hoping to dissuade the director.

However, that would not be the case. Tim had had enough.

"You will and that's it!" he shouted so loud Jack cringed. "Now from before Jack enters.. Places!"

And everyone took their respective places in the set. The song started again from Oogie's part, and Jack sighed as he put on his pumpkin head again. The horse started to move and he started to wonder whether the fire would harm him. He guessed that Tim would not want to lose his star actor, and if he wanted him to be on fire, then he would be okay.

Just as he convinced himself of that, the monster passed him the torch.

He took it bravely and swallowed it whole, catching on fire almost instantly. The flames didn't burn, they were actually quite soothing. He was suddenly excited and started to dance on top of the horse with an impossible grace.

He roared at the citizens, who gave a surprised shriek of terror, and jumped into the fountain as he was instructed to. The scarecrow suit, much to his surprise, was easier to remove now that he had plenty of space underwater. His ascension was slow as he extended a hand to his citizens, smiling. The song ended and the cheering ensued.

Jack said his lines, remembering them from the script he read just an hour ago. Everything went smoothly until he briefly looked to the camera and saw it pointing in other direction. He looked back there. It was Sally!

Jack grinned; he was quite glad she didn't have a minor role in the movie. Maybe they could practice their lines together and then...

"Jack, snap out of it!" a witch yelled. He shook his head and stared at her, and then remembered what Tim had said about the fan club. He nodded distractedly, and it wasn't hard to look nervous as the stares they were all giving gave the impression they were about to eat him, if it wasn't from the resounding cry from the Mayor. He silently thanked him as he got away from the mob.

When he rounded the corner, he gave a much obliged sigh, and continued walking.

"Nice work, Bone Daddy..." the saxophone man said.

'What kind of nickname is that?' thought Jack as he replied and went out the gates.

"Perfect! Cut!" Tim shouted with glee. Jack came back from the path to the graveyard and saw that everyone was celebrating almost like in the movie. Putting aside the bizarre nature of the situation, he couldn't help but feel proud they had completed the first scene.

"It was perfect everyone; we just need to edit it a bit," Tim said, sparing a glance at Jack who just grinned sheepishly.

The other cast members didn't notice or didn't care as they continued celebrating and went out for their break. When they passed by him, they congratulated Jack for a good work. He nodded at their compliments, not really caring about anything besides getting out of there.

"Now, Jack, come here," Tim requested as he suddenly appeared by his side. Jack jumped a bit but nodded, nonetheless. He followed him to his office, where he offered him a seat.

Looking confused, Jack sat himself in the chair and looked at Tim nervously.

Tim crossed his arms, looking as if he had something on his mind.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" he asked out of the blue, confusing even more the poor skeleton.

Jack stared and asked, "Tell you what?"

"The girl you have a crush on," he said as if it was the most natural thing to ask. Jack was expecting that question, just not so soon.

He blanched a bit and stuttered a reply.

"I-I d-don't know what you're talking about."

He tried to look as confident as possible, but that plan backfired on him as soon as he felt the slight blanch on his face which he was sure was a sign of his embarrassment. Tim gave him a look that plainly said 'I know you're lying', but Jack wasn't that eager to reveal his secret to him. He remained silent for a while, avoiding his gaze and hoping the director would let him out the hook this once.

When the man sighed, Jack was ready to leave the office until he said,

"I'll have to force it out of you.." he said gravely.

Jack widened his eyes, suddenly very afraid of his boss.

"What..?" he barely muttered. He regained himself and said, "Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Because maybe I can help you with it, and I don't want you being distracted as we film..." he said the last part with a dangerous edge to it, and Jack gulped.

"B-but.."

"I know! It's Sally, isn't it?" he asked, eagerness spread all over his face. Jack gave him a 'how did you know?' look and tried to hide it as soon as he did, but Tim had seen it. The director smiled enthusiastically and a second later he was out of his office.

Jack blinked hopelessly. What just happened?


I'm kinda tired right now so I'll look for typos later. It's 4 in the freaking morning but I have to post this or else it'll take 3 more days of laziness to do so, and you wouldn't want that, would you? :)

Let me know if this made you laugh! :D