Separate Entities//Miss Peregrine AU

Prologue

We spent the next hour chatting, seeing as her shift was ending. Elaina Hamilton offered to buy me a coffee with her employee discount, and I accepted gratefully. Soon enough, I learned that she was also enrolled in the State College of Florida, and, like me, was starting the next August. When it was time for her to go, as she had a date with her 'punk rocker boyfriend' Ricky Pickering, we stepped out into the early June air to wait for him. I would walk back to my apartment by myself.

My first impression of Ricky was a strange one. His beat up Crown Vic was certainly a surprise, but a good one as it reminded me of my friend Theresa's back in Orlando. Theresa's was a deep-blue-but-not-quite-navy color and in much better shape in Ricky's, whose car looked like a metal shop dump. His green hair also took me by surprise, even though Elaina mentioned it to me when she talked about him in the cafe. I wasn't surprised that he'd been dying his hair the same color for three years - I'd been doing the same thing for four.

"Hey, Batgirl. You friends with Lainie?" he asked me, referring to the light gray Batman shirt I just happened to be wearing. I suddenly felt oddly exposed under his gaze as he took Elaina in his arms and kissed her forehead, only looking away from me when she backed away a step. I nodded as I pulled the hem of my black shorts down until they were a few inches above my knees, then took a step toward the couple.

"Uh... yeah?" I mentally slapped myself as my answer came out in the form of a question. I saw something flicker out of the corner of my eye, but I dismissed it. It was probably a spirit, but unless I acknowledged its presence it wouldn't acknowledge mine.

"Nice. Hey, cool hair, Batgirl." I grabbed a piece of my hair self-consciously, twirling the cherry red chunk around my finger.

"Thanks," I was getting more comfortable with the new acquaintance. I had dyed my hair a lot since I was allowed to at thirteen years old, just because Louise was a blonde, and so was I, and nobody really wanted the reminder. Through my experiments, I found out that not only did I like the red, but it looked good on me, too. In addition, all of my old friends stated that it made me look more punk rock. "I should probably be going-"

"You can't be serious, it's six. Hang out with us for a while, Kal!" Elaina smiled warmly as she looked to Ricky for a confirmation.

"But our da-"

"We'll have other chances for dates. Right now, Kallie needs the grand tour of Englewood." It took a moment, but Ricky finally nodded and kicked open the passenger door of his car for Elaina. I grabbed the handle of the backseat door closest to me. To my surprise, someone was already sitting there. Two spirits sat in the back seat, seemingly waiting for Ricky to get going.

"Excuse me," I whispered, but just as I did, Ricky entered the car.

"Talking to ghosts there, Batgirl?" He looked back at me with a smirk on his face as he closed his door, and the ghost moved over to the middle of the seat. I looked at him with shock, but there was a glint in his eyes that told me he was only joking. I laughed, playing off my nervousness as a joke as he intended, and got into the car.

We spent half an hour driving around aimlessly, and Elaina and Ricky pointed out everything they would consider important. Among those things was a hiking trail that led to the stereotypical 'Make Out Point' of Englewood, the Smart Aid where Ricky's best friend Jacob Portman worked, and the best ice cream joint in Sarasota County. After a brief pit stop, I soon agreed to stop in for a cone.

It was almost seven by the time we showed up at the beach. The whole car ride consisted of Metallica and Nirvana, with a little bit of early My Chemical Romance, blaring from the radio and the wind let in through the wide open windows added to the noise. I managed to make conversations with Ricky's ghosts, until they flew out the window, fed up with Ricky for the day. Before leaving, they told me they'd died in the crash, but the driver managed to survive. The truck that hit them came at a perpendicular angle and hit the back end. Ricky managed to fix the car up good enough to drive again, but it still looked like shit.

When we arrived at the beach, Elaina nearly broke the passenger door getting out, followed by a laughing Ricky who climbed out the same side. "You coming, Batgirl?" he asked me, and I nodded, getting out at a much slower pace. By the time I closed the door firmly behind me, Elaina had stripped off her white leather jacket and sky blue shirt, leaving on her black bra and jean shorts. Ricky pulled off his shirt and followed his girlfriend into the cool water after the both of them kicked off their sandals. I trailed behind them and took off my flip flops before slowly wading into the water.

Despite growing up in Florida, I was never the biggest fan of beaches. I was naturally olive skinned and could tan nicely, so it wasn't burning that I had a problem with. I just didn't like the thought of what could happen out there. Undertow, sand bars, drop-offs, sharks... I wasn't terrified, just cautious. At least I would go up to my knees. And I was alright with pools, I actually knew what was in those.

We spent another hour at the beach, and Elaina finally coaxed me in until the water was at my waist. We didn't have any towels, so Elaina and Ricky used their shirts while she let me borrow her jacket.

"You know what, guys?" I start on the drive back to my apartment, shouting over the loud music. Dirty Deeds by AC/DC was playing, and I was tapping my fingers to the beat. "That was really fun. Thanks for the tour. And the beach wasn't that bad."

"What do you have against beaches, Batgirl?" Ricky asked, looking back at me briefly before pulling up in front of the motel.

"Nothing, it's just... So much can go wrong, you know? I've kind of always been this way." I smile sadly, then get out of the car and hand Elaina's jacket back to her through her open window.

"No, you can keep it. It looks better on you, anyway." We exchanged smiles, and as I turned to go, she grasped my arm. "Hey, Kallie? As long as you're hanging with us, you'll be perfectly fine."