Chapter Four

The punch bowl was striped. No, that couldn't be right; it had been plastic with gaudy Technicolor flowers.

Lydia had been dancing for about five songs now; maybe all the adrenaline was affecting her eyesight. After all, this was her first time dancing with a boy. She bit her lip and looked at the bowl; it looked perfectly normal. But still…

"Antonio?"

"Please, Lydia," the smiling brown-eyed boy said, "call me Tony."

"OK. Tony, not to be rude, but I really have to go…" She eyed the punch bowl again; had she imagined it?

As Lydia unceremoniously disentangled her hands from Tony's and moved towards the snack table, a scream from the bathroom started her running in that direction.

"Prudence?" she shouted as she ran up to the bathroom and banged on the door. "Prudence, are you all right?"

The door opened with a soaking wet Prudence glumly trudging out of the bathroom.

"Prudence!" Lydia gasped. "What happened?"

"I don't know, Lydia," Prudence began slowly, as if still confused, "but when I was washing my hands, the faucet went crazy and sprayed me." She glanced down. "And this was a brand-new dress too…"

Fortunately, Samantha was discreet enough of a hostess that she was able to provide some towels and a change of clothes, and, much to Prudence's delight, Brian Byrd offered to drive her home.

Lydia, however, was furious. Locking herself in the bathroom, she stared at the mirror.

"I know you're here. Don't make me summon you."

There was no response. Lydia gripped the edge of the counter with shaking hands.

"Beetle—"

Instantly, Beetlejuice's face popped into the mirror.

"Uh, hey, babes," he said, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to give Prune a shower. Just trying to get out without getting my hair wet…against bein' clean, ya know."

Lydia scowled. "I can't believe you. I told you I was going to a party, my first dance party."

"I know, but Lyds, you always let me crash your parties," he said, crashing through the mirror and instantly reforming it. "I just wanted to—"

"You don't understand! You can't just show up whenever you want! People might notice something!"

"You never cared if I showed up before…"

"Well, now I do! I care now because…never mind." She turned away and crossed her arms over her chest. "You wouldn't understand."

"Hey, Lyds…I'm—"

"Beetlejuice, I want you to go away for a bit." She squeezed her arms closer together. "I'll talk to you when I get back home."

"OK," Beetlejuice said. "Whatever you want, I mean…yeah." He vanished immediately, leaving Lydia to swallow her tears and rejoin the party.

When Lydia's parents picked up her up, they were pleased to see her being escorted back to the car by Antonio, who politely introduced himself to them before saying goodbye to their daughter. As far as they could tell, the night had gone well.

On the way back, however, Lydia was silent, arms folded across her chest, staring absently out the window. When they got home, she ran into her room and, bursting into tears, flung herself on the bed.

Beetlejuice, feeling terrible, appeared in the mirror and watched her for a while.

"Babes?"

Lydia looked up and began sobbing harder.

"Go away! Just go!" she wailed, and Beetlejuice had no choice but to obey her.

Lydia passed the rest of the night alone, absolutely miserable and with no desire to do anything other than cry herself to sleep.

The next morning, she didn't come down for breakfast; instead, she resolutely faced her mirror.

"We need to talk."

He appeared reluctantly. Lydia neither screamed nor yelled; she just seemed tired, and for some reason, that actually scared Beetlejuice more than if she'd been loud. Lydia didn't get angry often, but when she did, she was more likely to vocalize it. This silence unnerved him.

"Beetlejuice, how old am I?"

He was at a loss for words; how was he supposed to remember that?

"Um…twelve?"

She frowned. "That's about how old I was when I met you. I'm sixteen now."

"Really? I guess I didn't notice…"

"That's the problem; you have no sense of the passage of time. We've been friends for five years, and this whole time, I've been growing and changing and you…" She paused. "You're dead; you can't change. But I'm alive. I'm going to change. I've already changed so much."

"I can't help being dead, Lyds."

Lydia stared at the floor; for the first time in her life, she was having trouble explaining to Beetlejuice exactly just what was wrong. He wasn't juicing her parents or friends maliciously, he wasn't walking around in front of the living and blowing his cover, and he wasn't being mean to her; why was she so frustrated? Why was it so difficult to say what was locked inside her heart?

"I know you're dead. I think you forget that I'm still alive." Beetlejuice started to sputter something in protest, but Lydia held up her hand. "It's not your fault, though, and I understand that. But, Beej, I'm not the same little girl anymore. I've got school and clubs and college to think about, and—"

"College?" Beetlejuice was shocked. "You're not old enough to go to college!"

"No, but I am a junior in high school and that's the year colleges pay the most attention!"

"I guess I just never figured you'd go." He fiddled with the lapel of his coat, missing the hurt look on Lydia's face. "So does that mean…when you're in college, you're not going to come home and spend time with me on Fridays?"

"I don't know…I want to go to college in New York. It's not that far away, but I'll probably be busy most Fridays. I'll have classes, there might be club meetings, o-or I could have a date."

Both froze; Lydia wasn't even sure she'd said those words until she saw the look on Beetlejuice's face.

"A date?" he said, his words poisoning the silence. "You want to go on dates?"

"I-I don't know," Lydia stammered. "I just…"

"You know what? It's a good thing I went to that party," Beetlejuice said dangerously. "Claire warned me about this."

"You saw Claire?" Lydia asked, but Beetlejuice kept talking without hearing her.

"She told me that there was a boy who "liked" you; I didn't understand it then, but I sure as heck understand now! If anyone thinks he can get to go on a date with my Lydia, he'll have to go through the ghost with the MOST!" he screamed as smoke and flames began spewing from his mouth and ears.

"Beetlejuice, stop!" Lydia said; she was honestly frightened. He'd never been this angry before. "Tony's a really nice boy!"

Immediately, he deflated. "'A nice boy?' You'd rather hang out with a nice boy instead of me?"

"That wasn't what I said!"

"Well, it sure didn't sound like you were saying you wouldn't go on a date with him!"

Now it was Lydia's turn to be angry again. "It's none of your business with whom I go on a date or if I date at all! Why do you even care so much?"

"I don't want you to go date him or anybody! I just want things to stay the same!" Beetlejuice shouted.

"Well, guess what, Beetlejuice?" Lydia said, her eyes cold with fury. "Things aren't going to be the same. I'm going to keep growing up and changing until I die one day, and with every single year, things will be different. I'll move to a new city, I'll get a new job, and yes, I'll even get new friends if I have to. I certainly don't need friends who won't give me room to grow."

"Lyds, I didn't…"

"Beetlejuice. I want you to go away. I never want to see you again—"

"No, Lyds, don't say it!"

"—as long as I live."

The moment the words left her lips, she regretted them, but it was too late. He'd vanished, and no amount of summoning, no matter what sort of magic she tried, could ever bring him back.