Disclaimer; X-men characters and places belong to Marvel, and Beetlejuice characters and places belong to Tim Burton.

We, the Waiting

Part Two

"The living usually avoid the

strange and unusual.

I myself am,

strange and unusual."

"Do you think that girl saw us?"
It was a woman, who asked the question. A woman with brown, curly hair that reached her shoulders. A woman who of build was both tall and thin. She looked pretty much like any other woman in her mid-thirties. The person she was talking to didn't spare her a look when he answered.

"I doubt it Barb..." he said absentmindedly, fingering with a white miniature house. His name was Adam, and like the woman he was talking to, his wife Barbra, he too had brown hair, (except his was much shorter.)

"Just look at what does kids did!" he said with a groan, adjusting his glasses.

"I'm sure they didn't mean to..." said Barbra, standing beside her husband and examining the rest of the miniature town. She hesitated, before saying;

"Maybe, just maybe, she's just like"

"She's not. She would've screamed, had she actually seen us." Adam countered immediately. He was in no mood for this conversation.

"But you heard them! Talking about powers and mutations. How can we be sure, if we don't at least try connect with her, to talk to her!"

"I don't doubt that they might have powers, but that doesn't change anything. Barbra," he placed his hand on her shoulder, "there will never be another Lydia."

Barbra didn't look convinced. The girl, the one with the auburn hair and odd white streaks, she was different from her friends. She was special, even among the other mutant teenagers. That girl could see them, or sense them at least. Them? The Maitland couple, silly.

The dead Maitland couple.

--:--

Two days. Two whole frigging' days is what it had taken for the X-men to make the old Maitland house look passable. No, not clean, livable or presentable. Just good enough for no one to catch some disease from the mold. Yes, the house had mold, something which had been discovered by a thoroughly disgusted Kitty Pryde. The young X-girl wasn't so sure how long she would be able to survive that place... But at least it was passable.

The third morning the X-men were woken horrifyingly early – at six o'clock to be precise – only to receive equally terrible news. Logan wanted them all ready in ten, to take a one hour hike in a nearby forest. Cursing under their breaths, they went after a few threats about having to de-mold the house by hand.

By the time they came back from said hike, they were all exhausted and the girls were ready to jump at each others throats for the chance to shower first. This resulted in a race up the stairs, and a small crack in the old woodwork.

"Hey, that's cheating!"

Jean Grey's shout as Kitty phased through the bathroom door could be heard throughout the house, and probably throughout Peaceful Pines. And the shouting match that had fired up between the three girls, wasn't about to end.

Ororo Munroe sighed. She wasn't about to make anyone's morning any better. How did she always end up being the bearer of bad news?

By the time everyone was done arguing and were ready for breakfast, it was time to ruin their morning even further.

"These," she said, handing each of the teens a brown paper package, "are your new uniforms."

"We get new uniforms?" Kitty asked, perking up immediately. "Cool... Oh, I hope mine is pink!"
'If only it were so, child...' Ororo thought to herself as she walked around the table.

"Also, as you may have noticed, the Professor has left to meet Dr. McCoy at the Massachusetts Academy, were they will both be staying for a week."

She was about to continue, but was interrupted by Kurt.

'Oh Goddess...'

"Vhat!" He near yelled, holding the fabric content of the package up. "Is this some sort of sick joke!"

What he was holding up was certainly no new X-Men uniform, but a white button-up shirt and a pair of black slacks. In other words, a school uniform. The other students ripped up their packages to really confirm that it was some sick joke Logan had decided to play on the blue elf, but...

"You gotta be jokin' me." Rogue muttered. "Ah ain't wearin' no school uniform!" she raged at Ororo and Logan, shaking her own shirt and below-the-knee length, plaited skirt in her fist.

"Believe me child," Ororo said softly, "had it not been for the schools' rules about uniforms, we would never dream of putting you through this." she explained, trying her best to wrap her little, white lie in sugar.

"Eh, Auntie O, when you say 'schools', you don't mean that in, plural, do you?"

Logan laughed gruffly at this, obviously enjoying the scholastic torture his students were about to receive. Ororo glared hard at him, the kind of glare where her eyes go just a little bit whiter. He stopped laughing then.

"It seems that the school system here works a bit differently. The girls, from ages 10 to 18 attend Miss Shannon's school for girls," Rogue groaned as she heard, while Kitty perked up a bit, "and the boys, from the same ages, attend Mister Illes' school for boys."

"That is so backwards." Jean muttered. "What are we, in the 1800th century?"

"I'm very sorry Jean, but it's the only offer they have."

"But,"

"No buts, Red. You're goin', no matter what century." Logan added, which meant that all further attempts at arguing, were futile.

---:---

"Ah can't believe they're makin' us do this." Rogue muttered as the three X-Girls were dropped off at the curb, in front of the school. "Ah ain't goin' to no all-girls school, especially not wearin' this dorky-lookin' outfit!"

"Come on Rogue, it's not that bad." Kitty said cheerfully, shifting her backpack from one shoulder to another. "I mean, we could have been wearing that Jane lady was wearing the other day."

Meanwhile, Jean was tugging at the sleeves of her shirt, trying to make her non-conformist views concerning the uniforms clear.

"This is so stereotypical." she complained, pulling her shirt out from her skirt.

"Ya pull that shirt a little higher, ya could pass for some Britney Spears wannabey." Rogue said darkly as Jean tied the shirt a little over her bellybutton. With heavy steps in her dark leather boots, the Southern girl made her way to the schools front door, and to what she felt would be the end of her.

Kitty jogged up to her friend's side.

"Aw, come on Rogue, look at the bright side!" Rogue sent her a very skeptical look, one eyebrow raised. "Not only are school uniform very in this year, but we so no longer have to help the guys with their homework." Shadowcat added with a grin.

"So that's why you're so happy about this." Jean said, catching up with them

"Duh. I am so sick of having to do Evan and Kurt's homework for them."

"You don't have to do it, you know."

"I know," Kitty admitted, as they waited for the bell to ring. "But I just don't wanna be mean to them."

"Not doin' their homework ain't bein' mean, Kitty." Rogue told her, while glaring at the school doors. "It's called self-preservation."

"That is so true!" a girl's voice cut through, followed by a group giggles. The three X-Girls turned, coming face to face with a group of thirteen year olds.

"You must be the new students!" the same girl, obviously the Queen Bee, said cheerfully. Rogue frowned slightly, the girl was eerily reminiscent of Jane Brewster, with the same large smile and blond hair. Even more eerily she sported an insanely deep tan, that could hardly be natural.

"Miss Shannon told us about you, and asked us to show you around. I'm Cassandra, Cassandra B. Skaaren." she said holding her hand out.

"Hi," Jean said politely, taking her hand. "I'm Jean Grey. This is Kitty Pryde and, eh..." Jean trailed of, glancing at her friend, not really knowing what to say. Rogue groaned and shook her head.

"Mah name's Rogue."

"Rogue..." Cassandra repeated the name a few times. "Is that European?"
Before Rogue could protest, or insult the girl's intelligence, Kitty interrupted.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Yes, it is."
The group of girls began to chatter animatedly amongst themselves, something about wishing their names were from Europe too.

"Ah wish Ah was in Europe..." Rogue said with a glum expression as the bell rang.

---:---

By the end of the day the girls had been introduced to every student in the school. All 87 of them. The younger girls didn't seem to care much about them. Unfortunately, neither did the girls their age. It was mostly Cassandra and her little crew that followed them around, wanting to hear everything about Bayville. Rogue had survived the first half the day, but realized she had to escape their clutches when Cassandra uttered the phrase, "Like, aren't I just the most?".

It was now every girl for herself.

She had managed to sneak away and into one of the small school's unused rooms, by the looks of it. It was a shock to find that this had once been a library, now reduced to what looked to be an extra broom closet. It was dusty and dirty, and it was even more shocking to find people back there, studying.

"Um, hi." she said slowly, a strange uncertainty finding it way to her voice.

"Hi." one of the girls said, not looking up from her book.

No one else said anything. Obviously not a very talk-active crowd, but she already liked them better than the 'Teen queens'. With careful steps she began to wander around the room, no bigger than her bedroom at the Maitland house. The shelves were all filled to the brim with books, reminding her much of the kind of library you would see in films. A pair of books stood out, newer than the rest, and she felt immediately drawn to them. Miss Shannon's School for Girls, Yearbook; 1884-1964 and 1965-...

Rogue pulled the latest one out, and flipped to the pages in the back. If what Jane had told her was true, than a picture of that girl would be found somewhere in this yearbook. Head buried in the leather-bound book she pulled out a chair and sat down at one of the tables. She flipped through the pages, studying each group-photo closely. It hadn't crossed her 'till then that she had no idea what the Deetz girl looked like, and there was no list of names underneath each picture.

"Excuse me," Rogue said to the two girls sitting opposite to her, turning the book towards them. "Do any of ya know who of these girls is Deetz?"

One of the girls, a 10 year-old who wore glasses, glanced over the 1985 picture Rogue was showing her.

"I think it's her." she said, pointing at the one girl who stood out in the picture. The one with hair that sprouted from the top of her head like a volcano erupting. "Her name's Lydia, she went to school with our mom."

"Shut up, Frances!" the other girl hissed, then glared at Rogue. "I don't who you are, or what you're trying to do, but you better stop it. Now." Rogue arched a brow.

"Look, Ah just wanna who she is. How she disappeared." she replied casually. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it?

"Well you're not going to find any answers here," the older girl snapped, then paused, "no one talks about it."

"That's not true Kathleen." the spec-eyed Frances said, staring at her sister. "There are ghost, in the Maitland house." Rogue stared incredulously at her.

"It's true!" Frances insisted. "Well, I've never seen them myself. But Lydia Deetz could. She see them and talk to them and stuff. She could even call upon them!"

"Shut u-up, Frances." Kathleen, her assumed-to-be sister, warned through clenched teeth.

"Mom told us all about it, they were friends in school."

She leaned a bit over the table.

"Mom says she even saw him once."

"Saw," Rogue stared at her, "who?"

---:---

The second she got back to the house Rogue rushed up to her bedroom, clutching her backpack to her chest. This town was creeping her out! The people here were reminding her more and more of something from a Stephen King novel. She didn't even want to think about what might happen should they find out she ripped that 1985 picture out of the yearbook. Let's just say she wasn't ruling out any options that had the words tar, feathers, burn or stake in them.

"Rogue!" Ororo's muffled voice called form downstairs. "The others have a friend here. Couldn't you come downstairs?"

"Sorry miss Munrow, Ah've got a lot of homework ta do." she called back. Whoever it was Jean and Kitty had brought home, she wasn't up for meeting. She dropped her backpack on the floor, after having pulled a thick, black notebook out from it. She sat down on the now dust-free bed, removed her clammy gloves and crossed her legs as she placed the book next to her.

She wasn't sure where she would go from here. She had a picture of the girl, some information on her, but nothing else. Apart from that girl in the library, whose name turned out to be Frances Love, no one seemed willing to talk about the Deetz girl – Lydia – nor the Maitland couple. Part of her thought she should be giving the whole thing up, that there was nothing to find but a clue here and a clue there, neither of which having a connection with the other. And, she told herself, she'd eventually drive herself as mad over this as she said the people in this town where.

Groaning, she got up from the bed and began pacing around the room. She actually liked the way the room was decorated, particularly the spider-web patterned curtains. And the books the girl had, she had read most of them herself. In some odd way she felt a connection to the person who had lived here. Maybe that's why she was so determined to find out what happened to her.

Very carefully she pulled out the top drawer of the vanity.

'Beetlejuice'

She jumped, startled to hear that voice again. The voice she had heard just the day before, right before Jane came into the room. It was only a whisper of a voice, but it sounded so very clear. She shook her head, and began pulling the content of the drawer out onto the vanity.

It was a small sketchbook that intrigued her the most. With bare fingers she flipped through it, enjoying the texture against her fingertips. She found that for each drawing she came over she became more and more fascinated. At first look they were just rough lines crossing each other in strange patterns, but the closer she looked she could see the drawings clearly. It all reminded her of some twisted version of Alice in Wonderland mixed with the Addams family.

'Neitherworld'

She almost dropped the book at the sound of the voice.

'Three times...'

'Beetlejuice'

'Be wary...'

'Neitherworld, Beetle'

'Neitherworld.'

She flipped to the last page and gasped, a strange surge running through her whole body. Almost like when she absorbed someone... She dropped the book and reeled backwards, her whole head spinning. Leaning herself against the wall her eyes wandered to the top of the bookshelf, to that doll. She blinked. He was grinning wickedly at her.

"Rogue!"

It was Kurt and Evan who burst through the door right then.

"Girl, you gotta hide us!" Evan pleaded. "That girl is insane!"

Rogue said nothing, only held one hand against her forehead. Her head was hurting, pounding like a bad headache. The room was spinning, she didn't know how long she'd be able to stand up straight even.

Oblivious to the fact that his sister was in pain, Kurt grabbed Evans arm and teleported them out of the room, leaving a thin layer of smoke in the room. Rogue began coughing hard, clutching her chest. Her head was swimming now, she could hardly make out the bed, everything was just a blur. She couldn't understand what was happening, she just knew there was something, someone in her head. She staggered towards the bed.

Jean, Kitty and their guest found this to be the opportune moment to enter her room.

"Rogue!" Jean cried, noticing at once that something was wrong with her, and rushed to her side.

"Get offa' me!" Rogue shouted, pushing Jean away. Jean gasped, noticing that Rogue wasn't wearing her gloves.

"So, this is that freak girl's room." it was Cassandras voice that rung through the room, filled with awe.

"You." Rogue said, turning to face her, a hateful glare in her eyes. "Claire." she spat the name at her.

Cassandra looked horrified, and took several steps backwards until she bumped into Kitty.

"That, that's my mom's name." she whispered, her voice trembling. "How do you know that?"

"Get out." Rogue hissed, or more like the person in her head did.

"You, you're just like her aren't you?" Cassandra pointed at her. "That freak!... You're a freak!

"Get the hell out of my room Claire!" Rogue shouted, but not in her usual southern accent. "All of you, get out of my room!"

Cassandra didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted out of the room, screaming the whole way. Kitty hurried after her, to find Logan or Ororo. Only Jean stayed behind.

"Rogue, please calm down." she said softly, trying to pry her way into the girl's mind.

"Stay outtah mah head Jean!" Rogue shouted, at once noticing what the redhead was trying to do. "For yah own good, stay out."

And with all the force she could muster, she grabbed Jean and threw her out of the room. She locked the door and leaned against it, slipping to the floor. Her head and neck felt limp, but somehow she kept her eyes locked upon the still dust-covered mirror of the vanity. She stared at the mirror, wanting to cry out.

She saw figures there, hundreds, thousand even, moving around. Two were more prominent, moving closer and closer to the glass surface at a great speed. It was as if they were trying to break through. Letting out a piercing scream, Rogue lifted one arm in front of her face and held the other out-stretched in front of her, palm flexed to stop whatever was coming at her.

She didn't know how, she wasn't looking, but the mirror glass broke, splinters flying everywhere. Curling up against the door she could clearly hear the footsteps of the X-men rushing down the hall, and their voices shouting. But she didn't know what happened after that. All she knew, it that things faded...

- - - : - - -

Eh, this is sudden isn't it? Oh well... The next chapter will be more of an interlude with their morning hike, the boys school day and stuff like that.

Um, if you're wondering who the OC girls are, here are some short bio's;

-Cassandra Brewster Skaaren, daughter of Claire Brewster (cartoon), who was 'the bane of Lydia's existence', and is the image of her mother in both attitude and appearance. This also makes her, according to me, the granddaughter of Jane Butterfield (movie).

-Kathleen and Frances Love are daughters of another Beetlejuice cartoon character, Prudence 'no-known-last name' who was one of Lydia's two best human friends.

Reviews are much appreciated, especially with some form of constructive criticism.

-Natasha