Lydia 2.0||A Beetlejuice: the Musical Fanfiction

Prank or be Pranked

As expected, Charles did forgive Betelgeuse for all the trouble he had caused the previous night. Fifteen minutes had passed, and, as promised, the Maitlands were already waiting for Lydia and Betelgeuse to join them so they could go over the details of their plan to scare Charles and Delia into thinking Lydia had died again (it would be their best prank ever pulled, a close second to the possession Adam and Barbara had put Charles, Delia, and their dinner party guests through almost four days ago with Lydia's help), sitting on the couch together and chatting about some early details for their plan.

Eventually, Lydia came running down the stairs at full speed, dragging Betelgeuse behind her and nearly falling as she jumped off the last step. Adam and Barbara teleported over to her, steadied her and Betelgeuse and teleported themselves and Lydia and Betelgeuse back into the living room. Lydia plonked herself onto the couch and Betelgeuse took a seat on the floor in front of her whilst the Maitlands took a seat on either side of Lydia and the four of them began to discuss their plans on how to prank Charles and Delia.

"So, do you think that this is actually going to work, Barb? What if my dad and Delia don't fall for it and my dad gets angry all over again?" asked Lydia, looking a little bit concerned about their current plans. Noticing that she was beginning to sweat rapidly, in an attempt to calm her down and reassure her, Barbara put a hand on Lydia's shoulder and the teenager looked up at her, stopped sweating, and smiled. She was still worrying that this wasn't going to work and began to breathe heavily, leading to Barbara rubbing gentle circles into her back.

"Calm down, Lydia," she encouraged. "Take slower, calmer breaths."

She did so and soon was calm. Then they went right back to discussing their plans.

"Of course it's going to work," replied Barbara as she moved her arm and rested it around Lydia's shoulder. "I can already tell."

"How come?"

"Ghost senses," laughed Barbara and Lydia let out an adorable giggle that the Maitlands were sure they'd never heard from her before. "So, how should we go about it?"

"I say we create an illusion of Lydia reliving her death when she gave up her soul to free me from being stuck in this house and make it look real," suggested Betelgeuse with a simple shrug.

"No, they won't buy it, Beej," said Lydia. "They're so upset about it happening once before that they can easily tell it's faked. Adam, Barbara, you guys got any better ideas?"

"How about you lay on the floor and we pretend to be upset, Lydia," suggested Adam. Lydia looked at her ghost dad with a wide smile and gave him a nod and a thumbs up. Now, that plan might actually work, unlike a certain demon's create an illusion of Lydia's death giving up her soul plan.

"That sounds like an even better idea," said Barbara, patting her husband on the back. "But how are we going to go about it?"

"Easy, first Lydia lies on the floor, stops moving, and ceases breathing when we hear Charles and Delia coming down the stairs and then Betelgeuse has to make a pool of blood appear around Lydia to make it look realistic. That should be enough to freak them out."

"Speaking of which, I hear Charles and Delia coming down the stairs right now," explained a panicking Adam.

"Quick, everyone, get into position," ordered Barbara quickly and quietly. Lydia laid herself down on the floor and ceased with her movements and breathing, sticking her tongue out and closing her eyes for extra measure. Betelgeuse snapped his fingers and a pool of blood appeared around Lydia. Then he hid behind one of the comfy chairs with Adam and Barbara as the three of them waited for the living couple to enter the living room. They couldn't wait to see their reactions.

Sure enough, Charles and Delia entered the living room and stopped to stare at the scene in front of them, freaking out. It just looked so realistic (they didn't know it wasn't quite yet). As soon as they heard snickering behind one of the chairs, they both immediately knew that something was up and Charles put his hands on his hips and smiled whilst Delia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Okay, you guys." Charles laughed once hysterically. "The jig is up. What's going on?"

"Aw, you caught us." Barbara pouted as she, Adam, and Betelgeuse stepped out from behind the chair and Lydia sat up, covered in some of the blood that Betelgeuse had summoned to make it look real. "We were trying to prank you."

"Guess it didn't work out quite exactly how we had it planned," continued Adam, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"Yeah." Charles sighed, resting a hand against his forehead to regain himself. "Guess it didn't. But now we need to talk about this. What made you decide to do all this?"

"Well, we - I had this idea when Lydia came out to the roof to find us," said Barbara. "It just popped into my head and we all decided to go through with it. It was originally intended to make you freak out a lot but I'm surprised that it didn't happen the way it was supposed to. Heh."

"Well, the next time you try to prank us, try to do something better than making us believe Lydia died a second time." Lydia, the Maitlands, and Betelgeuse nodded in unison. "Delia and I have to go out for a while, important stuff that I'm not allowed to talk about with you guys. Maitlands, promise us you'll keep a watchful eye on Lydia until we get back, okay?"

The Maitlands nodded.

"You can count on us, Charles!" said Barbara.

"Great!" He smiled. "And Lydia, try not to cause chaos with Betelgeuse. We don't want to come home to a messy house."

Lydia nodded.

Charles nodded in response and he and Delia left, talking to one another. Smiles crossed Adam's and Barbara's faces when they heard Delia say, "she loves them as much as she loves us, Charles. She'll behave for them. I know she will," from the hallway.

"So?" Adam asked, turning to Lydia as Charles and Delia left the house. "What should we do to pass the time until they get back?"

"Well, I was thinking-."