Chapter 1

Casper High School's campus glowed welcomingly at the swarm of students that crowded its well-groomed lawns. The familiar sound of many chattering voices combined into one fluctuating noise filling the air.

Among the hustle and bustle, one student in particular rested in the shade of a young oak tree.

Unkempt raven-black hair partially hid his naturally pale face. He sat with his back against the sturdy trunk, chin resting on his knees in a content fashion. Dreamy crystal blue eyes stared beyond the crowds, marveling at grand fantasies that only he could see.

Spread out on the spongy grass beside him where two other teenagers. One was a girl with dark hair and sinister black clothing; making her appearance somewhat determined and strong-willed despite her relaxed expression.

Unlike his other two friends, the third one of the group squinted in concentration at a worn PDA that he always carried around, his shoulders tensed at whatever was happening on the miniature screen. Suddenly the device let out a high pitched beeping.

The boy who had been daydreaming against the tree jumped slightly at the noise and snapped back into reality, only to give his friend an irritated glare. "Tucker," he complained, "can't you shut that thing up?" "Hey, I didn't mean to make it do that!" Tucker said defensively, switching the sound off. "Well, be more careful next time!"

The girl, who had been watching from her comfortable position in the grass, sat up. Casually balancing on the heels of her silver-rimmed boots, she broke into the conversation. "You two can't go through a single day without having a fight of some sort can you?" Though her words were stern, the girl's tone held no hostility. The two boys looked at her, then back at each other. The raven-haired boy smiled forgivingly and held out a hand.

Their brief apology was interrupted by the familiar chime of the school bell ringing out over the noisy campus. Suddenly the place was alive with students rushing to their next class.

The three friends stood up hurriedly. "Where are you headed off to Danny?" The girl asked him.

The dark-haired teenager suddenly looked worried. "Oh no…" He groaned miserably, "I just remembered, there was a change in my schedule, my first day of Spanish starts today." "And what's so bad about that?" She asked him. Danny's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe she could say such a thing. "Are you kidding? I can barely keep my grades up in English!" "Relax." She told him coolly, "I took an introduction class to Spanish last year, it's not that hard." Danny snorted doubtfully. "Really!"She insisted, "Just remember that 'Si' means yes, and you're off to a good start."

They entered the school's indoor hallways just as the late bell rang. "Thanks Sam." Danny grumbled half-heartedly, obviously not encouraged by her advice. "I'll see you later." Sam watched him disappear among the rushing crowd and shook her head; the ghost issue was really taking a toll on him this week.

-----

Danny stepped through the door that was meant to be his new classroom, immediately he felt the temperature drop. A female teacher in the front of the room narrowed her eyes at him as he entered. Danny thought she looked kind of like one of those witches from that old 'Wizard of Oz' movie he used to watch. "Mr. Fenton," The teacher addressed him, "so good of you to join us, please take a seat." She sounded impatient. Danny took a seat near the front of the room, having no choice because all of the desks in the back had been taken.

"And do you have an excuse for being late?" She asked him. Danny watched her nervously; something in her voice was daring him to try and say anything to get him out of trouble. He looked at the floor submissively. "No ma'am." The teacher smirked and turned away to scribble something down at her desk. "We are NOT going to get along this year." Danny thought darkly, glaring at the back of her crimson business suit.

After their bitter encounter, she ignored Danny for most of the period. But then, there was the last five minutes of class. "Now, can anyone answer my question in Spanish?"

Danny, having lost interest a long while back in the last hour, was staring blankly out the window, oblivious to the teacher's Spanish babble. "Wow… the clouds move reeeally slowly in the afternoon…" Something red flashed across the sky at an extreme speed before vanishing into thin air. "What was that?" A thin trail of fog escaped his lips. "Oh no…" "It seems that Mr. Fenton knows the answer." Danny's attention snapped back to the teacher. "Wha?" She sighed impatiently and repeated the question in Spanish. Danny gave her a panicked stare. "Um…Uuuh……Si?" He tried.

She looked a little surprised but left him alone and continued the lesson.

"What?" he thought silently, "I was right? YES!" Danny smiled to himself. "Thank you Sam!" Shortly after the bell rang, Danny gathered up his books and rushed out the door before the crabby teacher could catch him with another Spanish question.

Tucker and Sam met him at the front of the school. "How did it go?" Sam asked him innocently. "I think my Spanish teacher is a witch." He replied sullenly. She sighed sympathetically, "I take it that means things didn't go well?" Danny nodded. The trio of friends started down the sidewalk.

"What about you Tucker, how were things over at math?" he asked his friend. Tucker shrugged, "Same old thing," he said, "Mr. Lancer is assigning WAY too much homework, but you know how that goes." "Yeah." he agreed. They walked on without saying anything for a while.

Danny stared tiredly at the sky until he suddenly remembered the red streak from earlier. "Oh yeah," he broke the silence, "I forgot to tell you guys, I think another ghost got out today. "Again?" Tucker and Sam moaned together. "Uh huh," Danny told them "I saw it near the end of Spanish." Sam scanned the sky attentively at this. "It could still be around for all we know," She said, half to herself, "did you remember the thermos today?" "Of course!" Danny exclaimed. Sam shrugged, "Then you have nothing to worry about." "But we still have to find it!" he argued. "We can't just-" he gasped as his ghost sense went off. "See?"

Suddenly the three where on high alert. With a quick glance around, Danny jumped behind a nearby tree to go ghost. Sam tossed him the Fenton Thermos from his backpack. "See anything?" Danny asked, clipping the thermos onto his white belt. "Not yet." His friends answered. "Well, keep-" meerow! "Whoa, did you hear that?" MEROW! Danny scanned the area for the source of the noise.

"It's in the tree." Sam mused; walking past him to the thick Aspen Danny had just been hiding behind. "Sam! You don't know what's up there!" A small smile crossed her face as she looked up. "Oh, I think I do." She motioned for her Danny to come closer. "What?" he asked; more curious rather than anxious now.

Sam pointed to something among the branches. Danny's face lit up in surprise. "You're kidding!" "What is it?" Tucker asked from the sidewalk, not wanting to be left out of the excitement. Danny ignored him and flew up into the tree. His two friends watched the tree's coating of leaves rustle quietly for a moment. Then they heard Danny muttering "Ow…" before he came floating back down with a small, furry, bundle in his hands. "What is it?" Tucker repeated, coming over to see for himself. He peered over Sam's shoulder and gasped in surprise "No way!"

The small bundle in Danny's gloved hands was nothing other than an innocent, blue-eyed, fuzzy grey kitten. He held it up; the miniature cat squirmed and mewled pathetically until Danny brought it close again. Mrrrr… it growled contently and buried its face in his black jumpsuit.

Sam couldn't suppress a giggle at her friend's puzzled expression as he stared confusedly at the purring ball of fur that was snuggling in his arms. "I think it likes you." She told him sweetly.

Danny pulled a weird face, not sure whether to frown of not, but definitely not wanting to smile. Instead, he examined the black collar around its neck. Slipping a finger under the leather strap and searching for an ID tag of some sort. Nothing.

Danny awkwardly stared once more at the kitten. It began to purr and knead his arm. "Ow, hey, I just got this suit stitched!" mrrrow! It continued to knead contently. Danny sighed and stroked it with his finger. "No," He caught himself silently, "Don't do that." Danny stopped petting the cat and noticed the smug grin on Sam's face. "Oh, you're enjoying this aren't you?" He asked; annoyed at how he had so easily embarrassed himself. She nodded brightly.

Tucker leaned down and picked something up at his feet. "What did you find?" Danny asked. "I dunno, it fell out of its collar." A neatly folded piece of paper rested in his hand. Tucker unfolded it and read it silently, his expression was a little disturbing when he passed it to Danny. "What?" he asked anxiously, scanning the paper in one hand with the infant cat in the other. Danny's eyes darted worriedly from the kitten to the paper and back again. The neat calligraphy plainly said:

She's your problem now Danny Phantom