(A/N)- Longer than I wanted, but I'm still working on the rest, and I'm house-sitting with no internet, so I'll have much less time for that.
Thank you welshrose for reviewing! :)
Chapter 2 - Max Meets Kat
"Okay, I have a full-proof plan," Dani began as they shuffled along the gravel road to the gates.
The sun was just beginning to set over the ocean. She had her camera bag hanging across her chest and an old rubber ball with prints of The Little Mermaid on it. It was rather old; she had it since she was six. She tossed it up in the air and caught it as she spoke.
"We'll throw the ball over the fence before we go in," she said, "That way, if anyone catches us on the property, we can just say we were getting our ball."
"Great," Max said, unenthusiastically, "You must've been planning that one all afternoon."
She shot an angry look at him before tossing the ball up in the air again.
They'd finally come up to the front gates. Dani stared over at it in awe, tucking her ball into her arm. She grasped the iron bars, peering at it through the fence as she leaned her head as if she was trying to shove her face through. Max simply stood there, hands in his jacket pockets, a brow raised in skepticism as he looked at the mansion.
"That place has to be haunted." Dani said firmly.
Max sighed, "Dani, look, I know we saw ghosts before ..." he said, recalling Thackery Binx's ghost and his sister Emily. "But that doesn't mean that they're there! It's just fun to make up stories ..."
Dani ignored him as she knelt down and began to squirm under the fence.
"Dani, wait!!" he shouted, grabbing her legs. She looked over her shoulder at him from the other side of the fence.
"Oh yeah," she remembered, and pointed to the ball that she left on the other side on a tuft of grass, "Throw that over, will ya?"
Max sighed in disbelief and took the ball up as she got her legs out from under the fence and stood up. Max took a step back and tossed the ball over the fence, sending it bouncing across a dead weed-filled field beside the castle. Dani unzipped her camera bag and strapped the camcorder to her hand.
"How am I supposed to get in?" he asked incredulously, throwing his hands up in annoyance.
"Squeeze!" she exclaimed with her usual little giggle, "Or climb. Your choice." she said, and turned her heel and walked off, humming happily to herself.
"Dani!" he yelled angrily. The tables have certainly turned since their last little 'adventure'. She was the one who was reasonable, and who'd be less likely to step into danger. He'd been the careless one who lit the black flame candle and awakened a bunch of witches from the 1600s!
Now, she was the one walking head on into possible danger without a care in the world, and he was the awakened brother who nearly died trying to save her! He didn't want to lose her, as much as she annoyed him to no end.
He attempted to fit himself under the fence, but with no luck. He stood and began to kick the gravel away from the slot, looking up to keep an eye on his sister as she walked along towards her ball, filming all the way.
Once Max kicked enough gravel away, he tried to squirm under, and wound up wasting more time taking his belt off because it kept getting snagged in the fence.
Finally he made it to the other side, and put his belt back on as he ran to catch up with his sister.
Dani stood by her ball, recording footage of the closest window she could see. It was dusty and she couldn't see through it, but she was hopeful. After a few seconds though, she realized how pointless it was, and paused the video with an irritated sigh.
"See anything, Ghost Buster?" Max asked as he slowed to a stop beside her.
"Nnnn," she whined, stomping off, "Nothing."
"Look Dani - I know you want to see a ghost, but if we get caught trespassing, I'm old enough to go to jail."
"C'mon Max - we won't be long!" she said, and turned her camcorder on him, filming, "If ghosts or anything bothers us, I'll get it all on tape."
"Ghosts can shut cameras off you know," he said, and she lowered it, pausing the tape.
"Seriously?" she asked, suddenly a little nervous.
"Yeah, watch any of those ghost hunting shows," he said, "Fully charged batteries just die when they're around. They think it's the energy they give off ..."
Suddenly, at that moment, her camcorder let out a series of beeps, making her jump out of her skin. Eventually it silenced.
"It's dead," she announced, looking up to him, her face a ghostly pale, "You don't think a ghost did it, do you?"
"Nahh," he brushed off, "You were using it all day."
Dani looked at him in disbelief before looking down at her camcorder, and back over at Whipstaff manor. The wind picked up and blew her curls around her face. Her eyes widened and she shoved her camcorder back in it's bag. She grabbed up her ball before saying quickly, "Okay, let's go." to her brother, but he stopped her.
"What, so without your camcorder, you're afraid?" he teased.
She scoffed, "No! There's just no point in being here if we don't have video proof. I'll charge the battery tonight and we'll come back tomorrow night."
"Are you serious?" he asked after her as she strode off.
She nodded, looking back at him as he followed, "I have a camcorder, Max. I'm sick of our parents thinking we made all that stuff up about the Sanderson Sisters. If something is in that mansion, I want to prove it to them."
--
--
Max was late to school on his first day. His parents drove Dani to school since Max insisted that he could find his school. As it turned out, he couldn't, but eventually did arrive there on his bike ... nearly a half an hour late, with fifteen minutes left of the period. Still, his teacher didn't seem too bothered about it.
"You must be Max Dennison," Mr. Curtis said with a broad smile, extending his hand.
"Yeah," Max replied. He shook his hand with a nervous smile, and looked to the class. About thirty kids his age stared back at him, some in disgust, others in amusement. His nervous smile faltered.
"Kids, please welcome your new classmate, Max Dennison," the teacher started to clap, but quit awkwardly when no one followed as Max took a seat at the back of the classroom by a lone dark haired girl who avoided eye contact.
"Max, come up here and introduce yourself," the teacher prodded.
Max set his backpack down on his chair and returned awkwardly to the front of the room, wishing he were dead.
He stood before the scrutinizing class once more, and offered another one of his nervous grins.
"Hi, I'm Max Dennisson .. umm," he scratched the back of his head, "I lived in Los Angelos, California for most of my life ... and I spent a little over a year living in Salem Massachusetts."
"Oh, Salem!" the teacher exclaimed in awe, "Meet any witches there?" The class laughed.
"Yeah, you can say that ..." he said with a nervous laugh, but no one seemed to hear him or they just didn't care. He dug his hands furthur into his coat pockets.
"I've been to Salem myself; it's a wonderful place to visit, especially around Halloween."
Max laughed nervously, "Well, I don't know about wonderful, but ... it's interesting." he said enthusiastically.
He caught the eye of the girl at the back of the room, for she was staring at him in curiosity. Once she realized he was looking at her, her eyes fell to her paper once again as she doodled aimlessly.
The bell rang, and everyone headed off to their next class. He wanted to talk to the girl, but she'd already gone. It wasn't that he found her cute or hot or anything - she was easy on the eyes, but Allison was the only girl for him. There was just something about that girl ... maybe he just felt compelled to talk to her because she seemed to be like him - alone and without a friend.
--
He was lucky enough to catch her at the end of the day as he was on his way out of the building.
"Hi, my name's Max," he said casually as he met the girl by her locker. She raised a brow at him, as if questioning the nerve he had to speak to her.
"Yeah, I heard," she said, shoving her textbooks into her locker and filling her bag with the books she needed for homework.
She shot an annoyed glance when he just stood there, and she finally said, "My name's Kat."
"Kat?" he smiled teasingly, "As in Kitty Kat?" he asked.
"Don't," she warned in a sort of growl as she glared menacingly at him a moment, "My ... uncles call me that, as well as the other people who are mean to me, and I don't like it."
"Sorry," he said, "I didn't know; I was just joking around ..."
"It's all right," she said, suddenly sounding a little kinder.
-
"So you're from Salem, huh?" she recalled as they walked out of the building.
"Yeah," he said, "I sorta miss it, but I didn't stay there for too long ..." he said, "My dad got an offer for a higher paying job here, so ..." he shrugged, "I had to go with them."
She laughed shortly, "Yeah, my dad made me move here a couple years back. For a town that's called Friendship, there are a lot of pretty nasty people here," she said seriously, "but if you hang around long enough, you might be lucky and find someone who's decent."
"Well, you seem pretty decent to me," he said with a smile.
She laughed, "Thanks, but you hardly know me," she said, tucking a strand of her dark brown hair behind one ear as he unlocked his bike from the rack, "Well, I guess I'll seeya tomorrow then."
"I can walk you home if you'd like," he offered politely.
She smiled, "Thanks, but no thanks," she said, "It was nice meeting you."
"Nice meeting you too," he said with a grin.
She nodded, bit her lip, and turned away to walk off.
He hopped on his bike and pedaled away, and she looked to see him pass by her, going in the direction of Whipstaff.
"Crap," she muttered, "He lives near us."
"I don't like him," Casper piped up, staying invisible lest he scare anyone nearby.
She frowned, "Oh come on, don't tell me you're jealous," she said, shaking her head, "He's not my type, don't worry." she said, and grinned, "He's not pale enough, he has a pulse, and he's probably got a reflection."
Casper blushed visibly, and she laughed.
"Do you believe what he said about witches though?" Casper asked a while later.
"Of course," she said, "There are loads of people in Salem who study witchcraft, so I don't see why not."
"But the way he said it," Casper said, "He sounded pretty nervous about it. D'you think witches did something to him?"
"Casper, you gotta stop watching TV," she said, "He was just as nervous as I was when I first got here." She sighed, "I think you're overreacting."
"I don't know ..." he trailed off, looking thoughtfully in the direction the new kid had gone.
(A/N)- Hope that wasn't too corny - I'm trying to keep with the spirit of both films and say stuff that I can hear the characters saying. :P Please review if you want to read more! :)