Full Summary:
Danny Fenton, seventeen and finally in his last year of Casper High, was curious as to why his entire English class was picked to go to a sponsored trip to Europe, apparently for an exchange programme with another participating school in Italy. As far as he knew, there was nothing special about his class. But he was about to find out that this 'trip' was far more trouble than it had offered.
Chapter 1 - Filler
It was school opening after spring break. Casper High was littered with students; old and new. But there was a particular trio that caught everyone's attention.
Through the front doors of Casper High entered Danny Fenton, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. Well, at least that's who their past classmates thought they were – they looked so different!
The most noticeable of the group was Danny; gone was the scrawny, short boy that used to shy away from bullies. Now he was tall and had an air of confidence about him. Not even his past bullies dared challenge him, although they settled on glaring at him from a distance. His signature white baggy t-shirt and jeans were gone, instead wearing a plain white V-neck shirt, dark blue jeans and a black and red jacket.
Sam Manson, a girl who had always been a little on the skinny side because of her vegetarian diet, had filled out in all the right places but still kept up with her gothic look, adopting skinny black jeans and a form-fitting t-shirt with fishnet fingerless gloves.
Tucker Foley, who had been as short and as scrawny as his friend, was now only a few inches shorter from his friend and had finally gotten rid of his signature red beret, now only wearing a simple dark blue sweater and faded blue jeans.
Their entrance had made such and effect towards the student body that there was an actual standstill in the hall for a few minutes. When they realized that they were being stared at by their classmates, the Trio, who had been chatting and minding their own business, stopped and looked around.
"Anyone else feels like the centre on the world?" said Tucker, glancing at the still staring faces.
Sam growled, "What? Something on my face?!" she yelled to the entire hallway.
Those who had been staring, both classmates and juniors who had had the pleasure to experience Sam Manson's temper first hand, paled and looked away.
"Much better," she said, not noticing her friends' expressions, "Are you coming, or not?"d
"Uhh… yeah…"
"…Coming,"
They would like to say that school went on like it always had, with bullies wailing on Danny and Tucker, or the "A-Lister" females kept pestering Sam to be more like them but they didn't. In fact, they left the Trio alone like they were some kind of plague.
What had surprised the teachers was how much Danny had improved, like how he had been before his week of absence from the accident.
Danny figured that he needed to improve more in class, in fact, a lot more so Sam and Tucker made a deal with his parents; if he could do well in his soft more finals and pass with flying colours, his parents would get him a black 2007 Honda CBR1000RR, which he had been eyeing for the past year.
He still wasn't sure how he did it, juggling through schoolwork and ghost hunting, but he managed to bring his grade up to an A+. When he got his final report card for that year, all he could do was watch in blank fascination as he saw all the A's and A+'s for all his subjects.
There was no question; he got the bike. And more importantly, he had made his parents proud.
Yes, that was more important to Danny; new bike or not.
Ever since that day, he couldn't get his parent's faces out of his head; how proud they were of him, and he felt like it was the first time in a long time that they had looked at him like that. He made a promise to himself that he would make them look at him like that more often. If he couldn't get them to like his ghost half, the least he could do was make them proud of his human half.
The bell rang and students filed into the class, but the chattering was near impossible to stop.
"Alright class!" yelled Mr Lancer, "I have some very important news to tell you!"
The chatters didn't stop.
"Excuse me, can I have your attention please?!" he yelled again.
No one bothered to listen, except for the three mysterious teenagers sitting in the very back, who were in all honesty only watching in amusement as their teacher struggled with order of the class.
"Pride and Prejudice…" Mr Lancer moaned into his hands.
At the back of the class, a certain goth had had enough.
"HEY!"
The class silenced and all eyes turned to her.
"If you're quite done with the noise, we have a class," she snarled.
So as to not anger her any further, the class slowly took their seats and sulked like little children.
Mr Lancer sighed, "Thank you Miss Manson, but I had it all under control". To be honest, he knew that he didn't have it under control, but his pride won't allow him to admit that. "Now, as I was saying earlier, I have some very important news to tell you, from ISEP. Now those who do not know what ISEP is, it is the International Schools Exchange Programme."
That caught everyone's attention, and a small excited muttering began to echo in the classroom again.
"I am happy to announce that this very class has been picked by ISEP to participate in its exchange programme. You will be exchanging with a prestigious school in… "Mr Lancer paused dramatically, "Europe! Well, more specifically, Italy!"
The class erupted into cheers and whoops of excitement. Imagine, their class was picked for an exchange programme in Europe! Who in Amity Park can say that they've had this opportunity? The class kept on cheering, all except the blue-eyed boy in the back of the class.
"Dude, stop being so gloomy! We're going to Europe, smile a little!" said Tucker, patting his best friend in the back.
"I'm not saying it's not great and all, but… I don't know, something feels off about this guys," said Danny.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"I mean… and no offence to anyone, but our class isn't the best in the school. Sure, we've been doing pretty well and our grades are at least meeting the needed average, but come on! There are other classes that have been going over the needed GPA and… where are they in this? Not to mention, some of the students in here aren't the brightest," he said, subtly looking pointedly at the A – Lister's.
Sam and Tucker both frowned, seeing the truth in his words. Needing to ask, Sam raised her hand in the air. "Mr Lancer?"
"Yes, Miss Manson?"
"Not to be ungrateful, or anything, but why exactly are we chosen for this programme? Shouldn't it be the advanced classes that get to go?"
Trying vainly to ignore the sudden silence in the room, Mr Lancer said, "Well, as for that Miss Manson, I'm not so sure. All I know is that ISEP contacted us just before school re-opened and told us that they wanted this specific class to join in their programme. They had an earlier conversation with Principle Ishiyama and they were able to thoroughly examine all the eligible classes and they came up with this class." He suddenly looked thoughtful, "I think you have a point there Miss Manson, I'll get back to you on that. But now that the excitement has finally levelled down, lets continue on with our lesson."
Groans filled the air.
The bell sounded, signalling the end of the period.
Mr Lancer sighed, hoping that he would have a few more minutes. "Alright class, that's all for today. And before you leave, please step up here and collect your permission slips for the trip. I need them signed by your parents or guardian and returned to me tomorrow. Any further inquiries that you need about the trip will be found on the slip. Thank you."
Excitement filled the air around the students as they discussed the trip.
"Oh my gawwdd, can you believe it? Italy!" squealed Star.
"I know! I am so excited!" said Paulina in her thick Latina accent. "But that goth girl had to ruin it. So what if the advanced classes weren't picked?"
"Yeah, we get to go to Italy! Some people are just so self-centered," Star sniffed.
"I know right!"
Behind the two girls were Danny, Sam and Tucker walking with their head bowed totally lost in thought.
"Okay, I give up! Come on man, what makes you think that this is some plot? Maybe it's just an exchange programme!" Tucker exclaimed.
"Yeah, 'cause it's always just an exchange programme. Just like it was just a camping trip! Or how it was just an Egyptian exhibit! Come on Tucker, this is us we're talking about, and me! Things aren't just, just with us. You should know this," Danny snapped.
"Alright, fine! Geez!" Tucker grumbled, but seeing the argument wasn't in his favour, he let it go.
"But you're right Danny," Sam started, "this doesn't add up at all."
"Yeah, well… I don't always like being right. Let's hope I'm wrong. " Danny muttered as they made their way to their next class.
"How did I forget that we had gym today?" Danny moaned. It was after lunchtime and their last subject of the day was P.E.
"Just hope for the best I guess…?" said Tucker uncertainly.
Of course the two friends knew why Danny was so worried; it was because of a ghost hunting accident. It was late and they were all tired but Skulker was being annoying and as persistent as ever trying to make Danny his trophy pelt. He had just upgraded his weapons systems and had acquired new blades. Long story short, the new wound on Danny's hip was only half-healed and still ached.
"Does it still hurt?" Sam asked.
"A little, but I'm fine." Danny said, immediately noticing his friend's flat stares directed at him, "What…?"
"Sure, you're fine," Tucker said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Come on man, let's just go change before Tetslaff whips out butts."
Danny nodded, "See you later Sam,"
"Yeah, see you," she waved as they made their way to their respective locker rooms.
"Rope climbing is a bitch," Danny groaned. He rubbed his hip tenderly, feeling the throbbing ache when it was his turn on the ropes.
"Yeah, the bitchiest," Tucker groaned, rubbing his aching shoulders. "How's your hip?" he saw the way Danny's face had tensed when he was climbing the ropes.
"What? Oh, um… fine," he mumbled.
Tucker narrowed his eyes; he was used to Danny being like this. Saying that he was fine when he really wasn't. He would just have to keep a close eye on him.
They quickly finished changing and met up with Sam soon after.
"I swear you take a longer time changing than most girls do," she smirked when she saw them walking towards her, books for her next class already in hand.
"Hey! This is a masterpiece," Tucker said, gesturing to himself, "It takes time to create masterpieces, okay?"
Danny sighed, "Let's just get to class okay? I don't want to be late."
Hopefully the day would go on without any problems.
Surprisingly, the day went on without a hitch; Danny bid his friends goodbye as he hopped on his motorcycle and made his way home. Usually, they would just hang out at the Nasty Burger but first days were always brutal. All the teachers had given them enough work to last them a whole week. Instead they promised to meet up later that night for ghost patrol.
And maybe, just maybe, tomorrow he would find out he was wrong about this whole "trip being a trap" thing.
He hoped.
Hey there. This is a new story, hopefully one that I don't leave just because I'm lazy.
I know the chapter is a little long, but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any confusion as this is an alternated universe.
Read, review and enjoy!
