"I'm exhausted!" Kaitlin complained as she and the other two mortals "took a quick break" which ended up to be hiding in the janitor's closet trying to avoid the panicked people running around town trying to enlist their aid for the most ridiculous of tasks.
"Tell me about it. I liked it better when everyone was dead." Zoë agreed turning an empty bucket over and sitting on it. "They may have made fun of us for being alive, but now that they know what it's like. I've been reduced from shouting insults at them to hiding from them in this dirty old closet. I mean look at this place! Yuck!" she yelped as a spider fell only inches from her face. Kaitlin sat against the door on the other side of the room.
"Don't insult the dead." Kaitlin said grimly. "Because they might just turn human and depend on you for every little thing." Zoë applauded her agreement careful not to be too loud in case someone was in search of them.
"You two are such pessimists." Page giggled. "Look at it on the bright side!" the gaze of her companions shifted to her. Seeing that she had their attention Page launched into a speech. "Before there was only like one guy worth dating in the entire school! Now there's like... a bunch!" she said with a dreamy sigh. Kaitlin raised a questioning eyebrow.
"And she gets straight *S's how exactly?" Kaitlin asked looking at Zoë. Her curly haired companion merely shrugged at her. Zoë's silence seemed to be a cue to Page to continue with her explanation so she gladly did as she felt she was compelled to do.
"Before this transformation Junior was the only descent guy and he was already dating. Now afterward I have had my eyes opened to a new world of guys. I mean... look at Shade! Who knew Dr. Finkelstien's kid could look like a model. He went from nerd to four on my list of the world's cutest guys!" Page said excitedly.
"List?" Zoë asked uncertainly.
"World's cutest guys?" Kaitlin asked sounding stunned.
"Number four?"
"Shade Finkelstien?"
"Have you lost your mind!?" they asked together. Page shook her head acting as if she were disappointed in her two companions for not taking time out of their hectic schedules to take a look at the guys around them and rate their appearance.
"Well it's not like he was going to rate above Orlando Bloom. He's not that fine" Page said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Speaking of losses, Kaitlin how are you doing with the..." Page lowered her voice in case of eavesdroppers. "You-know-what?" she asked softly.
"I didn't understand a word you just said to me." Kaitlin replied irritably getting to her feet. Page looked at her slightly offended but at once realization dawned on her. She grinned slightly, the moved to the other side of to room to join Zoë.
"You know what I'm talking about." Page laughed. "So everything still there or do we have a quick solution to our biggest problem?" Kaitlin looked at her uncertainly for a bit but the confusion was just a façade and once she knew she wasn't getting away with her act Kaitlin let out a sigh. She put an ear to the door trying to hear if anyone was out there. If people were, they weren't moving.
"No such luck." Kaitlin sighed leaning against the door and sliding into a sitting position once again. "It's not fair! The one thing I wanted to happen- the one good that could have come from this ended up not happening!" She stood up and began pacing nervously. Though good-humored Kaitlin was never what one would describe as a calm girl.
"Great so now not only is it still here we're going to have the worst time hiding it now that everything's the way it is." Zoë said shaking her head in a way that made her curls lash around frantically. "Kaitlin can you stop pacing? You're making me dizzy."
"Yeah, sorry." Kaitlin said coming to a halt. "This stinks, the whole reason that I came to this town, and brought you with me, has now gone up in metaphorical flames!" The door swung open so silently Kaitlin failed to notice. She continued her rave unaware of the presence of Hally Skellington, Jack and Sally's only daughter, lurking behind her. "I wish I could just-" seeing her friends looking nervously behind her made the young mortal stop short.
"Just what Kaitlin, don't stop just because of me." Hally said with a slight grin.
"J...Just help Dr. Finkelstien with his invention. Are you sure there's no way to start it without magic?" she asked innocently.
"Positive, and unless you know anyone with magic I-"
"Magic!? Whop would have magic!? We're all mortals now! Who mentioned magic?" Kaitlin asked accusingly. Hally looked at her stunned. Her personality had changed as quickly as Dr. Jekyll's daughter Jacquelyn Hyde's.
"You did!" Hally responded.
"Oh yeah, I did didn't I?" Kaitlin asked laughing. "Oh look at the time gotta run!" she called pushing passed Hally and vanishing down the hallway.
"We better go with her." Zoë said politely jumping to her feet.
"Yeah, she doesn't know where she's going." Page added. "But before we go, you don't happen to know if Shade is single, and if so, have his number on you? Do you?"
"Let's go Juliet." Zoë grumbled dragging Page behind her.
"But guys I-" Hally began but they were gone.
***************
"I'm serious! Something is up with Kaitlin!"
"Was she acting nervous?"
"Yes."
"At the mention of magic?"
"Yes!"
"And she ran out before the conversation could continue?"
"YES! I knew you'd agree with me!"
"No, she's seems to be acting normally to me."
"SHADE!"
"Hally, I appreciate your conspiracy theories but this, like every single one you have ever presented to me has a logical explanation behind it." Shade said closing the door to his locker after acquiring the correct calculations that were supposed to aid the doctor in his attempt to make the invention work without magic to spark it. "Kaitlin is under sever pressure with being a mortal in a world of the dead. As you can see Zoë and Page dress as a dead rock star and a homicidal cheerleader. But Kaitlin makes no efforts to hide her mortality." Shade said brushing a piece of extremely light brown hair out of his face. "Because of her lack of will to blend in we can tell that she wishes not to change to be like us but to be like us normally. So thus at the mention of the magic's of which she is not in possession; her ideal reaction is to leave before the conversation gets over her head."
"You lost me." Hally said shaking her head.
"When?"
"After you said Hally."
"Look let me put it simply: Kaitlin is a naturally nervous person. She likes to be in control of the situation. When magic is the discussion topic she is at a loss for words and doesn't like it. Naturally she wishes to leave the discussion." Shade said pointedly.
"By running out of the door!?" Hally asked in disbelief.
"We all have different ways to deal with nerves."
"Like you and knockout breath!"
"Let's not bring that into this conversation please." Shade said irritably.
"You were just saying-"
"Hally please."
"I mean you knocked out the entire stadium judges included."
"Real mature Hally."
"Thank you."
"Can we drop this?"
"You're the one still talking about it."
"I'm leaving. There are much more important issues to tend to." Shade said picking up his pace.
"Well I think Kaitlin's hiding something! And I'm going to prove it to you! Mark my words Shade! This time I'm going to be right and you'll be wrong!" Hally called after him. As if turning human wasn't bad enough, now Hally had a feeling Kaitlin might no more about it than she was letting on.
***************
*S- S stands for Screaming it is the Halloween equivilant of an A
