A/N: Sorry for the slow updates and shorter chapters, school works been taking up a lot of my time. I've also felt less inspired the last few weeks, I'm sure it'll help when the new episodes start :)
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Kara Crane
Shiva the Sarcastic
Lt. Commander Richie
Sweeteen19
Celestial Maiden Sukira
Artemis's Arrow
Thanks for the reviews, glad you like it so far.
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CHAPTER 4
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Lydia's voice was caught somewhere between surprise and anger; Beetlejuice seemed taken aback but quickly composed himself and leaned against the nearby lockers, letting a sly grin slowly appear on his face.
"What's the matter Lydia, don't like it when I show up without you callin' me?" He said snidely.
"Nooooo…, I don't like it when someone I said goodbye to for the rest of my life shows up a week later stalking me at school." Lydia said, trying to keep herself from yelling, since classes were now in session.
"Stalking you? You make me sound like some dirty weirdo with nothing better to d-". Lydia glared at him.
"…Okay, so maybe I was following you" Beetlejuice said dismissively.
"How? I thought you had to haunt my old house"
"I would, if it was still there. The cops figured rats chewing the cables had something to do with the fire." Beetlejuice contorted his face till they resembled a rats, and made a chewing motion with his extended front teeth.
"You burned down my house!" Lydia yelled, approaching Beetlejuice menacingly.
Before Lydia could figure out the best way to murder someone who was already dead, a nearby classroom door swung open revealing a surly looking old man carrying a large tome-like book; behind him she could see a class in attendance, all had copies of The Merchant of Venice in there hands.
"Shouldn't you be in class miss?" The teacher asked sternly.
Lydia didn't have to check behind her to know Beetlejuice had disappeared the moment the door opened. Although she was glad to see him leave, she realized it now looked as though she'd been yelling to herself in the empty hallway.
"Umm… yeah, sorry. I was looking for Mr. Ferguson's English cla-"
"I am mister Ferguson, and you are 20 minutes late." He said narrowing his eyes on Lydia who produced an audible Gulp. "Since I assume you are the new student I was expecting today, I will not give a detention, but I expect you to arrive on time from now on; is that understood."
"Uh… Yes Sir" she walked passed him uncomfortably.
The classroom dissolved into a flurry of whispers; Lydia couldn't make out what most of them were saying, and she honestly didn't care what a bunch of people she didn't know thought of her. But one voice stood out so loudly she couldn't help but feel the person didn't care if she could hear what was being said.
"That crazy schizo girl had better not sit near me; I already have to work next to that Goth girl in biology, I don't want to be surrounded by losers all the time""
Lydia recognized the girl as the sexy Latina Danny had been staring at when they'd arrived at school. The girl was sitting with the same people Lydia had seen her talking to earlier; two football jocks, and a slim blonde.
'I have the feeling I'm going to hate that girl, reminds me way to much of Claire'. Lydia thought, remembering the spoiled princess she'd thankfully left behind at her last school.
There was a dark-skinned brunette sitting close to the blonde, but the girl didn't seem interested in what her friends were saying; in fact, she was the only person in class who hadn't so much as glanced in her direction. There was an empty desk right next to her.
"Hi, is it alright if I sit here?" Lydia asked
When the girl turned to face Lydia, she noticed for the first time just how worn-out she looked. There were dark circles under her eyes, along with various cuts and bruises on her exposed skin.
"I guess so… But if you're crazy, now would be the time to tell me" The girls eyes narrowed.
"I'm not crazy. That whole thing outside was… well, do you believe in ghosts?"
At the mention of the word 'ghost' the pencil in the girls hand snapped and Lydia noticed the girl's left eye twitch several times. 'Maybe this spot wasn't such a good idea'.
"Ghosts… ghosts ruined my life!" the girl said venomously, her eyes went wide and refocused on Lydia. "Are you telling me there was a ghost right outside this classroom?"
"Yeah, he kinda followed me here from my old town; my family just moved here. Names Lydia"
"Valerie" the girl said with a smile.
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English class with Valerie turned out to be very informative; they talked through the whole class. Lydia told Valerie about her family and where they moved from, Lydia didn't elaborate too much on the ghostly details but she could see they interested Valerie the most; when Valerie started talking she found out why. At the start of the school year Valerie had lost her friends, home, money, and possessions, all because of a ghost called…
"Danny Phantom!" Valerie practically spat the name out.
"I've never heard of a ghost going so far to ruin someone's life" Lydia said. She was shocked by what Valerie had told her; Beetlejuice pestered her but all you had to do was say his name three times to get rid of him.
"Well now you've heard. The ghosts in this town are all like that; we've been invaded, had our bodies taken over, our homes destroyed, you name it! But the thing I can't stand is that almost everyone in town idolizes Danny Phantom, just because he fights his own kind back to where they came from doesn't make him a hero- "
"Miss Grey, let's try to keep the chatter to a minimum" the Teacher said eyeing the two of them. As soon as he turned around Valerie leaned in closer.
"…It means he wants this world for himself, and I don't plan on letting him make this world his!" she said whispering sharply.
"But what can you do? How can you fight a ghost?"
At this point Valerie's mouth opened then snapped shut, as if she was going to say something incriminating but caught herself right before she said it. Lydia then noticed she seemed to be debating something in her head, leading to an awkward standstill in the conversation. Thankfully, the bell rang and Lydia didn't have to come up with something to fill the silence.
"Uh… sooo, see you around Val" Lydia said getting up.
"Huh? Oh yeah! See'ya!" She snapped out of her reverie; staying behind after Lydia left, slowly putting her books away. Her mind sank deep into thought once more.
'I just met her, there's no way I can trust her yet.'
'She's got a ghost following her around, trying to ruin her life! It's almost like what happened to me!'
'It's not a good enough reason to tell her you hunt ghosts.'
'But I can't do this on my own anymore. It's been nearly a year and I haven't been able to take down the ghost-boy. I could ask Danny to be my sidekick, but he knows too many people. Last thing I need is for Sam or Shudders Tucker to know.' Val grabbed the rest of her books and headed to her next class.
'This girls only been here a day; if I can get her on my side now and show her the ropes, I'll have enough help to clear all the ghosts out of Amity Park.'
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The rest of the day was a lot less interesting for Lydia. After English she had gym; which quickly became her least favorite subject thanks in no small part to the teacher's determination to "Put some meat on her."
"…But- Pant I'm- Pant a vegetarian!" Lydia cried attempting her 10th chin-up.
"So's Miss Manson and I whipped her into shape" The hefty teacher pulled out a large submarine sandwich, taking a bite after every exercise she ordered Lydia to do.
"Now onto the track field." She yelled to the class, after Lydia fell to the floor exhausted.
History with Danny, Sam, and Tucker wasn't what she expected. The only desk left was on the opposite side of the class from where they were sitting; she also had to face another old, out-of-shape teacher with an obsessive passion for what he taught.
While Mr. Lancer droned on, she watched Danny, Tuck, and Sam talking and goofing off. Danny would occasionally glance in her direction and wordlessly joke about how far she was from them, Lydia's stifled laughter caused students sitting next to her to scoot there desks further away.
'Guess people already know me as crazy girl' she looked back over at Danny and saw that Sam was having trouble getting his attention. Danny and Lydia just starred at one another for several seconds, before he started to blush and turn back around to a disgruntled Sam. 'At least someone doesn't care'.
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A/N: I feel this chapter went waaayyy to slow; I think I take way to much time describing things. What do you think? Next chapter will be action packed, I promise. No more fluff :)
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