wOoOoOoOoOoO WoOOOOOO!!!111 [knight]

Okay, look, it wasn't her fault, really! Julie had accidently slept in, which... technically was her fault, since she had stayed up all night (and well into the morning) watching some awful horror movie with her boyfriend- alright alright, so maybe it was her fault, but she really hadn't meant to keep him waiting, honest! It had all been an accident, so hopefully he'd forgive her. Hayden certainly seemed like the forgiving type, with all his bright smiles and innocent eyes.

She had taken a shine to the cute boy right away, as 1.) he hadn't leered and/or flirted with her at the gym, and 2.) he reminded her of herself, in a way. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about Hayden in the time since they had met made her want to look out for him; to protect him, and make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. Julie didn't ask or pry, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in the boy's past. Something told her that they had a lot more in common than either of them were aware.

But enough of that, she was running late! The blonde let out a sigh as she fussed with her ponytail, trotting down the sidewalk and keeping an eye out for the tall brunette. They had agreed to meet around here somewhere, she just wasn't sure where exactly- AH. Julie grinned at the sight of Hayden sitting in the grass under a tree, watching a group of kids playing in the distance. Not that he was a pedophile or anything, please. Hayden was practically a kid himself, a puppy who just wanted to please everyone.

Which made teasing him so much more fun.

Her grin grew marginally wider, a wicked gleam entering her eyes as an idea began to form. Oh yes, within the short amount of time she had come to know Hayden Green, she had found that he was an all too easy target. Stepping off the sidewalk and walking lightly across the grass, Julie snuck around the back of Hayden's tree, remaining completely out of sight of the boy. It wouldn't do to give herself away, after all. Placing her bag on the ground first, she hoisted herself up into the branches, climbing up into the leaves. She was glad she had decided against wearing a dress today, that's for sure; she shimmied onto the branch above Hayden's head, cleared her throat, and stage-whispered, in her best rasping wheeze, "Haaayden, HaaaAAAaaaydeeen~"

Nobody could possibly fall for something like this, but it'd be good for a laugh, right?

O-Oh no, he... he actually fell for it... oh nooo.....

Actually, she wasn't that morally conflicted over this. She grinned at the hitch in his voice as he called her name, the note of panic as he stared up into the canopy of branches and leaves shielding her from discovery. Don't get her wrong, she loved Hayden and thought he was the cutest thing since baby animal videos on Youtube, but let's face it, she couldn't resist playing a joke on someone who was practically asking for it. Besides, it was all in good fun! Just a teeny tiny joke, then she'd reveal herself and take him on that tour of LA like she promised.

But for now:

"Nooo Hayden, this is the spirit of the girl who died under this very treeeee." She had to bite her lip to stop herself from bursting into giggles as she spoke, but she managed to keep quiet. "Haaaydeeen, I need you to avenge my death so that I can finally rest in peaceeeee." She glanced up and swept her gaze around the park, hurredly trying to find something appropriate to avenge a dead girl's spirit with. How do you even die under a tree in a public park in the middle of LA to begin with, anyway? Really, dead Julie, you needed to think these things through better.

"Iii neeeeed youuu tooo... collect all the quarters out of the fountaaaaaaain."

Yup. Nailed it.

She half-wondered if any normal person would be feeling at least a little guilty by now. (Then again, a normal person probably wouldn't have climbed up into a tree in order to prank sweet, innocent Hayden.) The poor kid was obviously pretty freaked out, but all she could do was try not to laugh and keep the charade going just a bit longer. Really, she was going to stop soon, cross her heart. She just needed to leave him with some parting words, maybe scare the piss out of him a little more. You know, no big deal.

"Then don't get caught." Had she said that a little too bluntly? It was true though, 'it wasn't illegal if you didn't get caught!' was her motto. It's what she and her best friend practically lived by, and given their tendency to sneak off at 4 AM to go on early morning adventures, it was a good thing they did. It was a miracle they hadn't been arrested yet, to be perfectly honest.

Clearing her throat and readjusting herself slightly on her perch, Julie rasped out, "If you do not complete this task for me, I will haunt you for the rest of your lifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. You'll never sleep again, and everything you eat will taste like..." Crap, what was the worst possible thing you could eat in the entire world--- "Toenails." Aww yeah. "Complete this task within the next hour, and you shall be spareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed." She turned her face away and held up a hand to her mouth, trying so hard not to laugh and give herself away. This was just too great- she was going to have to apologize to Hayden after this for sure.

"I don't know, I'm dead," she retorted, her voice full of a little too much snark and not enough spookiness. Err, hopefully he'd overlook that. Shoot, and she had been doing so well, too. Oh well, it was about time she wrapped this up and got this show on the road- she was kind of curious to see if he'd actually follow through on this or not. Julie wasn't sure if she wanted him to or not.

Clearing her throat slightly, Julie continued, a smile curling her lips, "The deaaad do not joooOOoke Hayden Greeeeen~" She paused at his question, frowning for only a moment, before replying, flatly, "No. You have one houuuur, so don't mess uuuuup." Apparently she wasn't the most benevolent of ghosts, but then again, she wasn't exactly the most benevolent of people. Woops!

But seriously, it was about time she ended this. This little game had been going on quite long enough, thank you very much. Even though she was the one to blame for all this to begin with... "I must go now, purgatory awaits. Avenge me Hayden, avenge meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~" She waited for a few seconds, letting the quiet draw out, before wiggling her way back out of the tangle of branches, landing on the ground with a soft thud. Julie quickly brushed the leaves off her shirt and picked the twigs out of her hair, walking back across the grass and onto the sidewalk. She tried not to grin too hard as she skipped across the pavement, entering Hayden's line of sight and waving at him.

She was a terrible human being.

"Hey! I'm so, so sorry for the wait, what's up?" She asked with a sunny smile, eyes glittering merrily at the expression on Hayden's face. She frowned in mock concern, a delicate brow rising upwards as she asked, a little too innocently, "Are you okay? You looked like you've seen a ghost." That was awful and she should feel awful, but for whatever reason Julie didn't really mind at all.

She had to hold in a snicker as he stuttered out a question, asking her if she was the ghost. Better play dumb for now; she cocked her head to one side, and fixed him with a questioning look. "Was what me?" If Hayden knew her a little better, he might have caught the amused gleam in her eyes, but thankfully the boy didn't know her well enough to read her like a book. (Like some people, who could call her out on her bluffs with ease. But even they sucked at it- HEY back on topic!)

Julie fixed her gaze on the small fountain in the center of the park, a bemused smile now curling her lips as she asked, her tone implying nothing but innocence, "Into the fountain...? Isn't that illegal?" And if it wasn't illegal, it would surely be frowned upon. She wasn't going to actually let him get into the fountain though, so there was nothing to worry about there.

Unless she decided to let him go through with this anyway. Wait what-

The blonde turned back to the tall brunette, squinting up at him. "Are you high?" She finally asked completely deadpan, even though she was having to stop herself from bursting out laughing.

He was serious.

He was dead serious.

How could such a darling child fall in league with such an evil adult like her? It was just awful, and Julie actually felt a pang of _. She should be ashamed of herself, taking advantage likepffft sorry, couldn't finish that sentence. She did feel pretty bad though, especially after that sad smile he shot her before he faced the fountain.

Hayden was too sweet for his own good, that was for sure. If a voice in a tree could convince him to do something as ridiculous as this, she shuddered to think what other people might do. She was just having some fun, but what if she had actually talked him into doing something dangerous? At least she was going to stop him from going through with this, but now that she saw firsthand just how willing the boy was to believe in everyone and everything, she was a little worried about the kid.

Just as he was about to step into the water, Julie finally broke. Grabbing his hand, she laughed, saying, "Hayden Hayden Hayden, I was the ghost in the tree, you don't have to go fishing for quarters!" She led him several steps away from the edge, as if she was afraid he was going to carry on with his mission. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd do it," She met his eyes and shot him a grin. "My bad."

Julie cocked an eyebrow as Hayden dropped like a stone to the ground, a hand over his face while the other one was still gripped in her hand. She had never seen anyone react to a joke like this, and she couldn't decide if it was sad or cute. It kind of reminded her of a puppy, actually, flopping over on the ground when it was exasperated with life. "You okay?" She asked mildly, peeking up at the old couple now whispering behind their hands to each other and stealing glances at the two of them. Well, you can't really blame them; the two of them probably looked like a very strange couple. "C'mon, cheer up, it could have been worse!"

She leaned down and patted him on the shoulder, a bit at a loss of what to do. She had never had someone fall to the ground like this before; first time for everything though, right? "To be fair, I'm a very convincing ghost." She replied jokingly to his question, before wrinkling her nose at his next comment. "Why are you apologizing, I was the jerk here." But she didn't comment on what he said- he may be naive, but that didn't make him an idiot. At least he was off the ground now, that was something!

"And no, not really." She shrugged, before shooting him a beaming grin. "I've seen worse." (Just ask her boyfriend.) "Don't worry about it, okay?"

She listened to the boy as he spoke, a slight frown on her face and and her bottom lip between her teeth. Oh man, now she actually did feel pretty bad. She had never really had the problem Hayden was describing; she had grown up a little too fast, was shoved into the real world a little too early on in her life. She had never been too naive or trusting to fall for other people's tricks; it was just in her nature. If anything, she was the one who pulled the wool over their eyes, time and time again.

But she could see where he was coming from; she didn't know everything, after all. She was as clueless about some things as Hayden was about not falling for pranks or trusting others too quickly. That really was just life, as Hayden so eloquently put it. She slowly nodded, a small smile quirking her lips as he finally paused. "Yup," she agreed with a grin, releasing the grip she had on his hand and replacing it by linking her arm through his. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't get eaten by the wolves, okay?"

Julie had quickly taken to the boy, and found that she really did want to help him out. He was a sweetheart, and didn't deserve a hard time. Was it weird that she wanted to look out for him like she did? She had never had younger siblings, or really interacted with children at all, but something about Hayden brought out the (very deeply buried) maternal side of her. She smiled to herself, before turning to him, asking cheerfully, "Speaking of the real world, shall we get going?"

They had a city to explore, after all!