Hi everyone! I'm kinda new at this although this is not my first fic. Please read and enjoy and leave a little something when you're done! I feel I should warn you, everyone's a little out of character. One of these days I may figure out how to keep them in character but it won't happen during this fic considering it's finished.

Once again please let me know if you are interested in reading more. As I said this fic is finished and you hold the key to it being posted! Review, review, review!

AK

Sam sighed heavily. It was Monday morning and she was standing near the door to Casper waiting for the two men in her life to appear. It had been a trying weekend for all three of them. Saturday had been the big night, four years in the making. Prom. Sam had spent the better part of those four years pining away for Danny. She had hoped that he would have realized what so many other Casper students had noticed all along. But then again, that's Danny for you, clueless to a fault. She couldn't help but love him for it. After four years of planning, hoping, wishing, dreaming and so on, she had ended up at her senior prom with Tucker. But maybe that's getting a little ahead of the story.

It had all started two months ago after another fight between Casper's two love birds. Danny and Sam had been enjoying lunch outside on a beautiful sunny day. There was nothing unusual about this except for the fact that Tucker had not been there to have his daily fight with Sam. That left Danny and Sam to themselves which turned out to be a very bad thing. Well it wasn't so bad until she had shown up, she, of course, being Valerie. What Sam wouldn't do to get her hands on her for just five minutes! Valerie sashayed her way past Danny and Sam sending a loving glance and wink Danny's way. This made Sam's blood boil. She could practically feel her temperature rise. Danny had been sent to another land entirely. There were no words that could properly describe the look of bliss he wore at that moment. Sam felt her stomach turn and felt as if she was going to be sick right there. She snapped and Danny was on the receiving end.

"How can you stand that horrendous bitch?"

"Sam, calm down! She's not a bitch. I think I'm gonna ask her to prom."

"Oh. I see."

That's all that was said between the two that day. Sam felt as if her soul had been crushed. She was the one Danny was supposed to ask. That's the way this story went. Boy meets girl in kindergarten, boy and girl become friends, boy and girl fall in love, boy takes girl to prom. Not girl falls in love with boy, boy takes murderous bitch to prom. No that's not part of this fairy tale, well it shouldn't be anyway. In the end that's exactly how it went. Not two days after the fight, Sam caught wind that Danny and Valerie were going to prom together. So much for fairy tales!

It hurt to think about it. Sam had become consumed with avoiding Danny and Valerie at all costs. She never spoke to either one of them and never spoke of them with Tucker. It was like they didn't exist anymore. Sam never wanted to let anyone know just how dead she felt. Sam had always thought of herself as independent. She didn't need anyone. At least that's what she thought, but Danny had changed that for her. She didn't need anyone but him and that's the one thing it seemed she'd never have. Without Danny, she felt alone and vulnerable. She could handle being alone, but vulnerable, that's one thing Sam Manson couldn't stand to be.

After two weeks of Sam not speaking of them or to them, Tucker had decided to have an intervention of sorts. The three of them had been driven apart by Sam and Danny's denial. None of this would have happened if they would have just 'fessed up to their feelings. That was just like them though. Tucker had no idea of how to get the two together at the same time, without Valerie. Since Danny had asked Valerie to prom, one was rarely seen without the other. This complicated things that much more. Finally an opportunity had presented itself in the form of a history project. The three of them had been put in a group together and now had to work together outside of class. Tucker had immediately suggested they meet at his house. There needed to be some sort of neutral ground for the two.

So, they met after school on a Friday afternoon. Danny was the last one to show and by the time he got there Sam was furious. She had thought Danny was going to blow it off to spend more time with Valerie. Although Sam had not been speaking to Danny, she allowed herself that just to argue with him.

"Where have you been? With Valerie?"

"I thought you weren't talking to me. So what if I was with Valerie. At least she isn't as hostile as you."

"Yeah right. Why don't you tell her about Phantom and then we'll see who's hostile.

"Tuck? I can't do this! If he's gonna be here I'm going home. I'll do any part of the project you want. Figure it out and let me know."

Sam had turned and left. Tucker had not even got a word in edgewise. He stood there with a bewildered look on his face. Danny also appeared a little shocked, although he wasn't quite sure why.

"I know I shouldn't be surprised that just happened, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. What happened, Tuck? We all used to get along so good together. Now she won't speak to me and even you seem to avoid me."

"Danny, dude, I know exactly what happened. I can't tell you though. I think you need to figure this one out for yourself. You and Sam have been friends practically your entire life; don't let her get away like this."

Danny and Tucker had spent the rest of the afternoon working on the project. When Danny left later that evening, he felt compelled to visit Sam. He wanted her to know that he still needed her friendship. He was becoming more aware that his fling with Valerie may not be long term. Valerie had a wandering eye. It seemed she liked boys a little too much to ever settle down with just one. Danny could see the heart break in his future. When it happened, he was going to need Sam. She was the one person who held him together and made his crazy life a little better.

As he floated invisibly outside her window, he watched her as she lay on her bed crying. He could hear the soft music floating out of her window and his heart broke. Had he done this to Sam? She couldn't possibly be crying over him. She was an independent girl. She had told him and Tuck plenty times that she didn't need anyone. She would never be crying over a boy, especially Danny. She was the one mad at him anyway. She could just come and talk to him and they could straighten this out. Danny flew toward his house thinking about Sam and what he could have possibly done to cause things to go so wrong between them.

The weekend went by and Sam never left her room. She had talked to Tucker a few times on the phone and he had given her the information she needed to complete her part of the history project. She worked on her part and spent the remaining moments crying on her bed. She cried for her broken friendship, his clueless ways, and her broken heart. It seemed as though all three could never be repaired. One thing of interest did happen that weekend. Her mother had shown up with a prom dress. For once, Sam was surprised at what her mother had picked out for her. It was a beautiful black dress. Sam would have been really happy, if she was going to go to the prom. Danny had been her only hope; no one would ask her now. She was a loser and nobody wanted to date a loser, not even Danny.

The following Monday, Sam was eating lunch with Tucker when their conversation turned to Friday night's events. Tucker was trying to convince her to talk to Danny. That was something she definitely did not want to do. She had cried all weekend over that boy and she just wanted to put it al behind her and move on. She promptly switched the subject.

"So, Tuck?"

"Yeah"

"Who are you going to prom with?"

"Nobody wants to go to the prom with me. I've asked every girl in school."

"Not every girl."

"Yeah, I have."

"You didn't ask me."

"Sam, you and I both know you don't want to go to the prom with me."

"Tucker you're my best friend. I wasn't going to go to the prom because Danny wasn't going to ask me. I think I would regret not going though. So what do you say? Me and you go to our senior prom together."

"Sounds fine to me I guess."

So just like that everything Sam had hoped for throughout four years of high school had been destroyed. Even if by some chance Danny broke up with Valerie and asked her to the prom there was no way she could dump Tucker. He had stood beside her through everything. She couldn't do that to him.

There was just six short weeks left until the prom. Danny was caught up in all the preparations with Valerie. She had demanded that everything be perfect. She had also not been shy about telling him what would happen if things didn't go off perfectly. The girl had been trying to kill him for three years, so Danny couldn't help but take her threats seriously.

Another week passed and Danny began to miss Tucker and Sam. They were his best friends and things just weren't the same without them. He was trying to think of a way to get them back. It seemed as long as Valerie was in the picture, Tucker and Sam weren't going to be. Maybe he could go out with them and see if he could put things back together. He called up both Tucker and Sam to see if they wanted to go see a movie with him. Tucker immediately agreed and Sam didn't. It took a little convincing but Danny was finally able to talk her into coming. Things were starting to look good again. He was going out with his friends again. Everything was fine until Valerie insisted she tag along. Danny knew that would not go over with Sam. He protested, but in the end, he stood in front of the theater waiting for Tucker and Sam with Valerie by his side.

Tucker and Sam walked down the street toward the theater. They were talking about the prom and trying to work out a few of the details. When they turned the corner they saw Danny standing in front of the theater with Valerie.

"That Jackass!"

Sam turned and ran home. Tucker continued on to the theater to confront Danny. It seemed as if Danny and Valerie were involved in some conversation and did not see what had just happened. Tucker cleared his throat to get the attention of the two.

"Danny? What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean? I'm waiting on you and Sam. Where is she anyway? The movie is starting soon."

"She's running back to her house. Did you really think she would stay when she saw Valerie here?"

"I don't know. I couldn't just tell Valerie she couldn't come. She's my girlfriend."

"And we're your best friends. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Of course it does! That's why I asked you all to come. Can we go watch the movie now?"

"Go right ahead. I'm going to go find Sam."

Tucker turned and headed in the direction Sam went. He couldn't believe how insensitive Danny was being about all this. The boy had to know that Sam loved him. He had to! Tucker soon found Sam sitting in a secluded part of the park. She was crying. That was something he had never seen her do before. He sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. They spent the entire evening sitting there. Sam cried and Tucker held her. There wasn't a word said between the two.

Another week passed which meant there was just one month left until prom. Final preparations were underway for everybody. Sam and Tucker had agreed to meet up after school to go find him a suit to wear. Sam was standing outside under a tree waiting on Tucker when Danny spotted her. He walked up to her to attempt to put some of this mess behind them. That would prove to be impossible; Sam wouldn't even look at him.

"Sam, I know you can hear me. I'm just going to talk for a minute and you can jump in anytime if you want. I don't know what it is that I did. I'm truly sorry. I'll do whatever you want to make it right. Just tell me what it is!"

Tucker walked up to Sam just as Danny finished his little speech. She turned to walk away with Tucker but stopped and looked back at Danny.

"Danny, we've been friends for as long as I can remember. I can't tell you what you did because part of the problem is simply that you don't know what you did. You should know by now."

Tucker and Sam left a confused and hurt Danny behind. It was about time that he tried to figure this mess out himself instead of just relying on one of them to fix the problem for him. Sam had been hurt and Danny was clueless as to the reasons.

The following weeks went by with little to no interaction within the trio. All outward appearances would suggest that the three were no longer friends. That might not have been far from the truth. It was one week before prom and the whole school was buzzing with excitement. It had been three weeks since Danny had spoken to Tucker or Sam. He figured there was no point in approaching Sam. She'd just give him the cold shoulder. He approached Tucker instead. He needed to know how things were going with his "best" friends. He followed them home until the roads split and Tucker was alone.

"Tuck, can you talk to me?"

"What is it, Danny?"

"I miss you guys so much. Things just aren't the same without you around."

"What about Valerie?"

"What about her? She's wrapped up in prom right now so I get a break from her."

"A break?"

"Yeah, she's kind of controlling."

"Ah, I see."

"Tuck, how's Sam doing?"

"Danny, you've hurt her more than you'll ever know. She's broken inside. Imagine that! Strong Sam is broken inside. I've listened to her cry more times than I can count. The funny thing is that before all this started, I'd never seen her cry before."

"Me either. I kinda watched her cry one night from outside her window. I can't deal with this, Tuck. This isn't how it's supposed to be!"

"No it isn't. The bigger problem is I don't think you know how it is supposed to be."

"Would you please tell me how it's supposed to be then? I wanna make this right!"

"I can't do that. Maybe in time you'll get it. You'll stop being clueless and things will change."

"Clueless? I hate it when you all call me that."

"Did you ever think there might be a reason for why we do?"

"I'm sure there is, but I'll never know. I have to get back to Valerie. Bye"

Danny disappeared and Tucker headed on home. Danny may never figure this out. If he didn't, what would happen to Sam? That was a question Tucker was pretty sure he didn't want to know the answer to.

The Friday before prom was very hectic. The prom committee was hurrying to put the final touches on the decorations. Sam and Tucker were finalizing there plans for the weekend and Danny was with Valerie while she made the last of the arrangements. She didn't trust Danny enough to let him get involved. After a rough afternoon, Danny decided to leave Valerie and hunt down Tucker and Sam. This was there last big dance in high school and he wanted to make sure both were in attendance. Things wouldn't be the same without them. He took off toward Sam's house to try and approach her first. He floated outside her bedroom window briefly trying to think of a way to approach her. It was then that he heard laughter coming from inside. What had made Sam so happy all of a sudden? The last time he had seen her she looked as if she was in the depths of despair. He invisibly phased his head through the window to see what was going on inside. What he saw made his heart clinch in his chest. There in her room was Sam with Tucker's arms wrapped around her waist. He immediately withdrew his head from the wall. He flew home as fast as he could.

Tucker spun Sam around one more time. They had spent the afternoon trying to teach Tucker to dance. Through all her attempts, Sam couldn't help but laugh at Tucker. He was more of a klutz than Danny was when it came to dancing. He had stepped on her feet far too many times to count, spun her into the wall three times, playfully dipped her and dropped her in the floor twice, and tripped over his own feet only to fall knocking over Sam's huge CD collection in the process. The last one made Sam laugh so hard she cried. Tucker didn't think it was that funny but he did enjoy seeing her a bit happier. After a quick trip to Nasty Burger, they both went their separate ways after Sam made Tucker promise to leave his PDA at home when he picked her up tomorrow.

Across town, Danny lay in his bed. He had been their since returning from Sam's earlier that afternoon. At first he thought what was bothering him was seeing his two best friends without him. After two long hours, Danny had come to the realization that in no way could the pain he felt be caused by something so simple. It had to go deeper than that. He tossed several ideas around in his head until he came across one that seemed to fit. He loved Sam. Not simply like, adored or cared about (although all those certainly apply, too) he loved her. Seeing her in Tucker's embrace was heart wrenching to say the least. The more he thought about it, the harder it became to pinpoint when he had fallen in love with her. She had always been a part of his life. He didn't have very many memories that didn't contain her. He just figured she'd always be there. He was waiting for the right moment to speak up. He wanted her to hear him but now it was too late. She had moved on and closed him out. There is always the hope that they wouldn't last, that Sam and Tucker would break up. What kind of friend would he be to wish that on his two best friends? Not much of one that's for sure. He had to let her know how he felt though. Life couldn't continue until he got it off his chest.