confessions of a teenager in denial Chapter 1: ex girlfriend syndrome, a danny phantom fanfic

Yes, finally. The author of Just What the Doctor Ordered is back with another Danny Phantom fic. Happy to see me?

Disclaimer: I don't Danny Phantom. But I will. Someday. Just you wait and see.

"You're bitter." Tucker grinned.

I glared back. "I am not bitter. Just a little…disgruntled." I nodded firmly.

Tucker snorted. My glare went up ten-fold. "I don't believe a word you say."

My mouth dropped. "Why would I be bitter? Because Paulina is dating Danny? And now Danny has ditched us, and no guy would ever go out with me except for Dash?" I hissed.

Tucker shrugged. "It's okay, Danny's not on my good side either. But…that's creepy, Sam. Dash likes you." He glanced behind him towards the Popular Table and spotted Dash. Staring at me. "He's staring at you."

I ducked down a little. "He's always staring at me."

Tucker shook his head. "Damn. I bet you wish it was Danny staring at you instead of Dash." He smirked.

I glared at him, again, and then I threw my tofu sandwich at him.

confessions of a teenager in denial

Chapter 1:

ex-girlfriend syndrome

I stood at my locker, dumbfounded. I was just appalled. Shocked. Stunned. Surprised.

Why was I left out of everything? Danny was my best friend, and he had always been my best friend. And now he was making out with Paulina at her locker.

My shock eventually gave out to anger, and I slammed my locker as hard as I could, hoping to startle them. No luck.

Tucker walked up to me. "So, Danny and Paulina." He stated without a "Hi", "Hello", or even an "Are you okay that our best friend is dating your worst enemy?" But maybe he already knew the answer to that.

I nodded, a disgusted look on my face. "How long has this been going on, do you think?"

Tucker shrugged. "Probably a few days."

"I thought he was our friend. I mean, dating Paulina is one thing. But ignoring us and doing stuff behind our backs just takes the cake!" I exclaimed, obviously still angry. Tucker nodded in agreement, knowing better than to interrupt me while I'm ranting. "If he thinks that I'm helping him tonight with his stupid ghost-hunting crap, he's SO WRONG!"

With those last words, I turned around and started walking down the hallway, going in the opposite direction of Danny and his new girlfriend.

Even though my class was that way.

Sam,

Are you mad at me?

-Danny

No, Danny. I've just been ignoring you and sending you and Paulina death glares because I enjoy my blood pressure reaching sky-high levels. I want to have a heart-attack.

Danny,

Maybe.

-Sam.

I smiled at the expression on his face as he read my vague answer. That shows him.

We were in Chemistry, the absolutely worse class of the day, because Danny sits behind me and Paulina sits in front of me. Oh, and I'm also very bad at Chemistry. Yuck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Danny rip another piece of paper out of his notebook and start writing. Good. I hope he has to use his whole notebook on me, begging and groveling for forgiveness. And then after awhile, and maybe after he buys me lunch, I will reluctantly forgive him. And then we all live happily-ever-after.

Sam,

Is this about Paulina, by any chance?

- Danny.

You're so dense, Danny. Yes, it's about Paulina. IT'S ALWAYS PAULINA.

Danny,

What would make you say that?

- Sam.

It's in my nature as a teenage girl to be cryptic and confusing. It's not my fault Danny's dense and clueless. He shouldn't be going out with Paulina anyways! She's an evil bitch!

I started glaring daggers at the back of Paulina's head. If only looks could kill…

Sam,

Well…me and Paulina are kind of…well, dating. Are you mad?

- Danny.

Oh, so NOW you tell me! It's not like I didn't see you making out in the hallway this morning, so why the hell are you telling me this now? It's kind of late, buddy.

Danny,

Oh, really? That's…great.

I'm not mad.

- Sam.

Okay, teenage girl or not, I probably should've told him that I was mad. Someone as clueless as Danny won't ever see the truth. Now he's going to ask me to-

Sam,

Okay, I'm glad.

Help me with any ghost-hunting tonight?

- Danny.

My face fell, and I ripped the note up, just in case someone were to read it. I put on my best fake smile and turned to him slightly, nodding. He smiled and nodded back.

Damn. I'm such a sucker.

I stood on the Fentons' front porch, my eyes on the sunset beside me. Hey, at least he still wanted me to go ghost-hunting with him. I could convince him that Paulina was evil and to break up with her-

The front door suddenly opened, and Jack Fenton smiled down at me. "Hi, Mr. Fenton. Is Danny here?"

He nodded, opening the door wider so I could walk in. "He's in the kitchen. Maddie! Where did I put the Fenton Extractor?!" And he turned to walk down the hallway. I just rolled my eyes and shut the front door, making my way to the kitchen. I stopped in the doorway, my eyes wide and my mouth open.

Well, Mr. Fenton hadn't told me that Paulina was here, also.

They didn't even notice me come in, and by all the books and papers spread out across the kitchen table, they were supposed to be studying. But what they were doing sure didn't look like studying.

After a moment, I cleared my throat quiet loudly, crossing my arms over my chest. They broke apart from their make-out session and I had a weird-feeling in my chest all of a sudden. I couldn't name the feeling, but I really didn't like it.

Jealousy, perhaps?

Ha, no. Me, jealous? Never. Especially not of Paulina, of all people. I would have laughed if I knew I wouldn't be called crazy.

Paulina gave me a mock-sweet smile. "Um…Sam, is it? Hello. Me and Danny…we were just studying." Her tone was apologetic, but I knew better. Paulina was never sorry for anything, especially when it had to do with ruining my life.

I mimicked her smile and shrugged. "I'm sure you were."

Danny looked ashamed and embarrassed, and I found that he couldn't even look at me in the face. I thought that if he was really ashamed, he wouldn't even be with Paulina right now. Especially if he KNEW that I was coming over, the stupid bastard.

I watched as Paulina took her time picking up her books, and I politely (HA!) looked away as she gave him a good-bye kiss. I just stood there as Danny walked her to the door and I silently wondered to myself: Why do I even bother?

My life is such a tragedy.

I mean, in all seriousness, Danny is truly my best friend, and I know Paulina. She's just using him (for what, I have yet to find out), and she's going to end up breaking his heart. Unless I have a say in it, of course.

Tucker told me not to worry, that Danny will be fine, and once this weird stage of wanting to be popular and dating Paulina is over, then he'll come crawling back to us and we'll pick him up and pretend like nothing ever happened.

But nothing has to happen at ALL, if he would just listen to me.

I mean SERIOUSLY, I've been trying for the past half hour to convince to COME BACK TO ME AND TUCKER BEFORE PAULINA BREAKS YOUR HEART AND YOU'RE HUMILIATED, PLEASE, but to no avail. He's unshakeable. And since when? I'm his best friend (or at least, I THOUGHT I was his best friend!), he should really listen to me. I know best.

And I really wish I didn't have to scold him like I was his mother, but he's leaving me with no choice. This is his own doing.

So now I was standing on the ground, waiting for Danny to catch the Box Ghost so I could yell at him some more. Er, I mean…help him. Yes.

He landed gracefully in front of me, holding the Fenton Thermos. He smiled at me, as if we hadn't been yelling at each other just a few minutes ago, and I frowned in return.

"Danny."

"Sam, not now. I'm tired. And I don't see why you're so mad anyways!" He walked past me, and I struggled to keep up with him.

"I'm not mad, Danny, I swear! It's just that I believe Paulina will hurt you-"

"She won't, Sam!" He spun around to face me, and I realized he was taller than me. When did that happen? "You have to trust me." He said slowly. His glowing green eyes stared into my own.

"I do trust you Danny." I nodded, and he smiled a little. "It's Paulina I don't trust."

Danny huffed angrily and turned away again. "If you hate Paulina so much, then maybe you should just leave me - and her - alone."

We were at his front porch, and I felt a raindrop on my cheek. I glanced up at the dark blue clouds in the sky. Damn. And I had to walk home, too.

I shrugged, as if none of this was bothering me and I could care less if our friendship ended (basically, I was acting the opposite of how I felt), and replied coldly, "Maybe I should, I mean, if she's that important to you."

I left the statement open for an apology. I wasn't expecting one, and I wasn't expecting a, "No, she's not that important to me. You're more important to me, Sam." But it would've been very nice to hear.

He nodded, without even that much of a hesitation. That weird feeling was back in my chest again.

"She is."

What, was my heart breaking now? Is that what that feeling was? How cliché.

I shrugged again and took a few steps backwards. "Fine."

He shrugged back. "Fine."

After a moment of staring at him, watching him all safe and dry from the protection of his ghost form, and I felt the rain, which was now coming down pretty hard, soaking through my clothes and hitting my face, I started to walk away. Alone.

Great.

I think I just lost my best friend.

This…is an…experiment, if you will. Please review!