A/N: I'd like to start off by saying that stuff like this brews in my head for a long time...and then I start writing...and then I get sick of it. Therefore, this fic is going to be relatively quick. I hope you all enjoy it, but I did write it for myself. Helpful reviews about how to improve my writing in any way (from grammer to characterization) are more than welcome. Flames from stuppid pepole wh0 cant evin spel rite will be laughed at and are also welcome. I would ask you not to leave flames just because you disagree with my point of view, however. In that case, simply do not get yourself upset by reading. ;)

As Illucian put it in "Helplessly, Hopelessly,""Danny Phantom," all characters, made-up nouns, settings, and previously-conceived plot lines are (c) Butch Hartman. I'm glad we get to play in his world and will try my best to stay loyal to how he'd want to see that world shown to others.

Not, that is, that I won't get a little bit sappier. Or cornier. Or sugarier. Whatever.

Rating is for romancey-ness and safety, not because Nick wouldn't air it if I were good enough to write for them.

Shut UP and write, Flight!

YOU shut up. --

---

"'You're driving me...stark-raving mad'?" Danny read from a hand-held note.

"Is that all?" asked Sam, trying to eye the handwriting.

"No. It also says, 'Ha ha, just kidding.'" Danny paused. "'But I'm not. Don't tell anyone. Love, nobody.' Wow...she signed it 'love.' She's serious!" Danny looked intensely flattered. Sam inwardly rolled her eyes; she could practically see his head expanding.

"Whoever it is sounds like she's got it bad," agreed Tucker. Deep down, he was envying his best friend for the attention, but he was also excited. Maybe something big would happen to the trio soon that didn't have to do with a ghost taking over the town...again. That did get old after living it for a while, odd as it sounds to admit it.

"It could be a prank, Danny," said Sam, a little bit worried. "I mean, even star-crossed lovers don't leave love letters that strange."

"But who could it be, then?" asked Danny doubtfully.

"Oh, I don't know. A certain popular preppy-princess, maybe?" Sam remarked in her usual scornful manner. "She just loves to watch you grovel at her feet."

"Sam, why are you always so negative about Paulina? Other than being popular, what has she done to you that's so personal? Just because a person's a little mean sometimes doesn't mean..."

"Why are you so positive about Paulina? She's just cruel to you. She sees nothing but makeup and clothing and money in anyone else, she steps on you all the time, and you act like you're her...minion or something."

Danny opened his mouth to say something, and Tucker quickly interrupted. "Ah-ah-ah, no more soapboxes for today, thank you very much," he said, covering his ears and scrunching up his eyes. "Let's just go have a peaceful, quiet, non-argumentative lunch, shall we? Besides," he added with a glint in his eye, "They've got Sloppy Joes today."

"Yum," said Sam sarcastically, following her best friends away from Danny's locker, thoughts of giant meat piles dancing in her head.

As with most arguments among Danny, Sam, and Tucker, this one was forgotten in the usual laughter and joy of the lunch room. And the meat.

---

All through the next class period, Danny wouldn't stop looking at the note. He compared it to his mental images of various people's handwriting, checking Paulina, Valerie, Star, any and every bully who might try to play an obnoxious joke, every girl whose handwriting he'd ever witnessed, and even Sam. No handwriting matched at all.

Hoping against hope, though, Danny wished Paulina had written it. She wasn't so bad at all! Who doesn't have bad days? Danny knew plenty of people who said mean things and acted ungrateful. Look at how grumpy Sam was. And Paulina wasn't all that bad when she wasn't trying to impress her buddies. She was human, and beautiful...

...absolutely beautiful.

Her blue-green eyes and slender, tall figure, her trendy wardrobe, her flowing black hair, her light flowery scent...and accent, too. And she hadn't always been cruel. Sometimes she'd been sort of kind. Danny didn't think Paulina would be so bad if high school didn't force her to conform so much. It's no one's fault that high school is just like that, right? You have to conform, or you're out of the loop.

She's so hard to get. She won't just hand over her affection to anybody who asks for it. She's got to think you're special.

And really, he was sure that once you got to the bottom of it and really learned who Paulina was on the inside, she wouldn't be as bad as her male counterparts, the jocks. She'd care about him a lot. In fact, he remembered when Kitty had possessed the Casper High queen and he'd really been convinced he mattered to her. Sam and Tuck had each other and Qwan, and he had Paulina. Not that he didn't like Sam and Tuck, or have fun with them, or give them everything, but he'd been waiting for Paulina for practically his whole life! Those were good times. Until--

"Ew," he said aloud, realizing what he'd just thought about a person who was really Kitty.

"Care to share, Mister Fenton?" came Lancer's voice from across the room.

"Um…what!"

"What was I just telling you, Mister Fenton?"

Tucker gave Danny a look. "It was Jane Austen," he whispered urgently.

"Jane Austen!" said Danny quickly. Tucker and Sam facepalmed. Lancer sighed.

"Fenton, please keep your ignorant commentary about great literature to an absolute minimum."