The next morning, Claudia rose from her slumber, yawning. She rubbed her eyes and pulled the curtains on her windows apart, letting the sunlight stream in.
"Saturday. I think I'll see what the town has down there."
As she was pulling off her nightdress, she thought she heard something. But it stopped in a second and she shrugged it off.
She habitually switched her pj pants with her jeans at the same time, and was about to reach for her shirt to put over nothing but her bra when she heard the noise again. This time, it was much more defined. It sounded like…laughing! Someone nearby…. Someone like-
"BEETLEJUICE!!!"
She pivoted on one foot while pulling her shirt on as fast as she could. Wrenching the closet door open, she tried to spot the little peeping tom, but was unable to find him.
"Lookin' for me, babes?"
The voice was coming from across the room! From her vanity!
Racing over, she found him sitting on the handle of a brush, cross-legged, watching her every move.
"You filthy little pervert!" she yelled, slamming her hands down on the vanity top, shaking several whatnots from their resting place and sending them rolling and toppling down.
"How did you get out of that closet? Out of the model!"
He thought for a moment, trying to regain his balance from the shaking. "Well, last night you must have been muttering my name in your sleep. It wasn't loud enough to let me "loose", persay, but it was enough to let me out of the model. Goes to show how fickle the rules can be." He grinned at her.
"Does it? Well you're about to discover how fickle I can be when some sick little guy like you goes and tries to look at me in nothing but a bra!"
With that, she picked up the brush he was sitting on before and promptly turned it, bristle-side down, on top of him.
"Yowch!"
Claudia removed the brush to see the exact same Beetlejuice, only with huge gaping holes through him.
"You know, babes, you shouldn't be too embarrassed about yourself. At least you're filled out in all the right places." He laughed uncontrollably as he made the holes "fill" back in, the proper clothes and skin appearing over the spots once more. Claudia blushed.
"Oh, shut up."
This time, however, she actually looked in the mirror. Dark, chocolate-brown hair fell to just above her shoulders. A medium top, skinny tummy and hips almost matching her top. But sparkling, brown eyes staring back into brown eyes completed her earthy looks.
"Just because I have to stay here, it doesn't mean I can't have a little fun, does it?" Beetlejuice's voice brought her out of her reverie.
"No, it doesn't." She looked down at him. "But it does mean that the next time I catch you spying on me, I'll tie you up and hang you out the window for the birds to eat."
BJ looked up at her, thoroughly disgusted.
"How can you be so cold, toots? Who spat in your morning mouth?"
"It's just because I have to live out here, thousands of miles from my friends in San Diego, and on top of all the moving and school transitions and crap like that, I have to have a ghost staying in my room. It's a little overwhelming, and I'm certainly not partial to a peeping tom. Know what I mean?"
"Totally, babes! I know exactly what you mean!"
Claudia gave a little smile. "Nice to know."
"By the way, what's your name anyway? I never got it from the Maitlands."
She thought for a moment about whether or not she wanted to answer, then decided it was a safe question.
"Claudia."
"Claudia?"
"Yeah. You make fun of it and I will string you up."
BJ backed off, putting his hands out in front of him. "No way, Clauds. It's a great name!"
She smiled again and began brushing out her hair. Beetlejuice strolled nonchalantly around her vanity top, inspecting the various feminine appliances and makeup. Somehow, he managed to climb up on the lid of a case of powder, but fell in and landed on the fluffy puff, covered in the peach-colored dust.
Claudia laughed. BJ looked up at her like a little kid, red with embarrassment and wanting to redeem himself. He dragged his powdered rear out of the case and tried to brush himself off, only succeeding in rubbing the powder farther in.
"You're going to have to wait for it to wear off. Powder doesn't come off easily. That's why I don't use it." She was watching his efforts with an interested eye.
"Then why do you have this little dust-trap lying open? I mean, if you don't use it, why have any of this stuff?"
"My mom gives it to me. I only keep it out to make her feel good. I barely ever use any of it, but when I do, it's usually a bit of lipstick and that's it."
"Lydia used a lot. Even when she got older…"
"Who?" Claudia bent down and rested her chin on her palms, lying on the hard wood of the tabletop.
"Lydia. She was the girl who lived her with her family before you guys came. She used to use a lot of dark makeup. But you don't see me using any of this junk."
Claudia laughed, not sure if he was being sarcastic or serious.
"So this Lydia, did you spy on her too? Or am I the special case?"
BJ floated off the countertop, coming up to eye level with the astonished girl. He looked her straight in the surprised optic and scoffed.
"When are you gonna get over the whole 'spying' thing? Didn't I say I was sorry?"
"No."
"Oh…" He tried to think back. "You're right. I don't apologize for anything.
"But no, I didn't really spy on her. We had some laughs, but she grew up and moved out. I guess she forgot about me. Kinda happens when you get older, you start to deny stuff. I remember her mentioning something about minoring in psychology. I blame that."
"Oh…you must have been so sad…" Claudia looked at him through new eyes. The poor guy! "Is that why you killed yourself?"
"WHAT?" BJ stared at her, jaw dropped.
"Well, isn't that how you died? I heard rumors of a suicide in this house…"
"No, that's not what happened! Lydia had gone through some hard times and thought about suicide, and her parents found the note after she'd gotten over it! I didn't kill myself here!"
"Well, then how did you die?"
This made Beetlejuice freeze. "I…don't…remember…"
"Huh?"
"It's funny, I can't remember how I died." He scratched his head, trying to help his memory.
"Well, if I do remember, I'll be sure to reenact it with as much relish as I can muster for you." Beetlejuice grinned.
