She was seething when she went to school the next morning. The first few periods went by without her exploding at anyone, and for short amounts of time, she actually forgot about Ben and Beetlejuice.

However, right before lunch, she went to her locker and was getting her books out when she felt someone pull her back and throw off her balance. As she clawed for a hold and fell backwards, she closed her eyes and awaited the impact on the hard linoleum.

But it never came. As her eyes were clenched tight, she felt someone catch her back and hold her up. Before she could breathe easy, she opened her eyes just as someone planted a long, wet kiss on her lips.

It was Ben.

In the millisecond she realized this, Claudia brought her hand up and smacked him. It sent his head snapping to the side, but he still laughed and grinned.

"I told you never to look like that again!" she hissed, not wanting to draw attention.

"And I told you I had to stay nearby," he chuckled, not really giving a damn about attention.

He righted her and she wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "Stay away from me, you pervert. Or I'll report you."

"And they'll do what? Lock me up? C'mon, babes. I'm a ghost."

"Maybe not. But you'll never be able to show your ugly face here again."

"Oh, it hurts! Your threats of banishment stab into my heart!" he moaned dramatically as he clutched at his chest as if in pain.

She was still raging under the surface as a group of girls came up and started talking to him.

"Ben," a blonde one purred, obviously the leader of their troupe. "You wouldn't happen to have a date for Friday's cotillion, would you?" She batted her eyelids and smiled seductively as if she couldn't contain her own hormones.

"No, as a matter of fact. And you? Who's the lucky stud that gets to take you?" he asked, playfully. They both were acting as if Claudia wasn't standing two feet away.

"It could be you, you know. It could really boost your status here at WRH. What do you think? Will you take the co-captain of the cheerleading squad to the dance?"

He smirked. "Sure thing, babes."

She smiled, triumphant, then finally seemed to notice Claudia, whose jaw was practically on the floor. The blonde gave her the once-over, then sneered. "Ben, what's a total hottie like you doing with a new-girl nobody like her? What's your name, honey? So I can tell everyone whose date to the dance I stole from right in front of her?"

Claudia growled. "None of your business, you slut. And you didn't steal him. I'd sooner chew my own legs off than use them to dance with that asshole. I hope you two have a really great time." She turned on her heels and left them standing there, slightly confused.


The nerve! She fumed as she took her lunch with her to the central court. The absolute gall and nerve! She couldn't get rid of him! And now she had him making her new enemies just by appearing as a drop-dead gorgeous-…

NO! He was fake! All of him; everything about the boy she thought was real…was all a lie. He didn't have that hot car or that enchanting smile or that cuff-pierced left ear or those perfectly expressive eyes…

Wait a minute! Come to think of it, she had never seen his eyes! He'd always been wearing shades. Well, all the better, she decided. One less thing to like about that liar.

And now he had a date to the cotillion with one of the most popular girls in school! Did the unfair irony never cease? He hadn't been in the school any longer than she had, and already he had friends and girls after him. He was so…two-faced! That was it!

Ben was the perfect guy! Almost nothing wrong with him! And Beetlejuice was perfectly wrong. He didn't have a good quality, not even to his name. Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he switched back and forth between personas at the drop of a hat. Playing with her mind, that's all it was! Psychologically messing with her.

Well, she wouldn't take it! Damn it all, she was not gonna spend a whole year playing mind games with the jerk. Come Hell or high water, she was gonna find a way to get rid of him, once and for all!