"Heart-break Hill"
A Danny Phantom Fanfic by carbonhchi
Disclaimer: I do not own the poem that this story was based upon; it was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and I only used it for this fanfic. Also, I don't own any of the characters in Danny Phantom, nor the show itself, but the original character(s) that appear in this fic are solely mine. One last thing: In the intro, the last line spoken by Danny was based on the line from Spiderman, but if you read carefully, it isn't the exact line. Thankies!
Chapter one: Brilliant Heights of Sorrow
"There are brilliant heights of sorrow
That only the few may know;
And the lesser woes of the world, like waves,
Break noiselessly, far below."
The pain I feel…cannot adequately be described merely using words. One must first understand how my agony came about to catch even a glimpse of my despair. You see, my story, just like countless stories before, is all about a girl…
"Danny!" Sam called from downstairs. I was up in my room, getting ready for school.
"Just a minute!" I called, giving myself a once-over in the mirror. "I'm almost ready!" I heard her sigh dramatically. She'd been waiting for five minutes, but she acted as if it'd been five hours. I ran my fingers through my hair one last time, smoothed the wrinkles from my shirt, and bounded down the staircase.
"Ready," I said cheerfully.
"Finally," she muttered. She nudged Tucker, who was half asleep on my couch. "Let's go, Tuck, Danny's here."
"About time," he yawned, pulling himself off of the cushion.
"What are you two so anxious about? I mean, it's just school." I locked the door behind me and entered the cold outdoors; it was no telling when my rents would be up.
Tucker responded first, telling us about some computer science project. I tuned out, instead focusing my attention on Sam. Her hair was so dark, so richly black; it just sucked in all my interest. But her eyes drew mine away from her beautiful hair, and I was dumbfounded. The graceful specks that danced effortlessly around each pupil stood out against striking purple rings of perfection. I longed—no, I willed them to look into mine; my heart skipped a beat when they did. Instinctively, I looked away, and I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.
"What's the matter, Danny?" she asked with genuine concern.
I risked a glance back up, and saw that her gaze returned my sparkle. "Nothing. I just—" I was interrupted by a fire hydrant, right before my face became suddenly acquainted with the sidewalk. My arms, now sprawled uselessly in front of me, did little to break my fall. My bag, amazingly still somehow on my back, had dumped its contents ahead, the momentum of our walking pace still carrying them.
Sam bent over, took my arm in her hands, and helped me up, while Tucker gathered my stuff. "Are you okay?" she asked, her deep purple eyes searching me for any bodily harm.
Those eyes were my downfall, I thought to myself. Literally. But aloud I responded, almost mechanically, "Yeah, I'm fine." Tucker handed me my school supplies and I dropped them into my backpack. "So," I said quickly, averting any attention off of myself, "what were you saying, Sam?"
Her eyes suddenly avoided mine, breaking the link. "Well, I… I was just saying… Uh, I was explaining why I wanted to get to school so badly…"
"Oh," I said, grateful for the distraction. "Continue. Please."
Her cheeks flushed a light pink, lighting up her face. "Uh, okay," she said after a pause. "I… I wanted to go to school because I want to talk to Jared." Her right hand gripped her left arm, the nails digging into her flesh. The silence lingered a few agonizing seconds before I realized that I had missed my cue of support. But I couldn't say anything; my heart was frozen, and my tongue tied. So Tucker stepped in for me.
"That new Goth kid?" he asked, his voice masking his apprehension of the tension in the air. We rounded the corner and walked up the steps to Casper High.
"Y-yeah," she stammered. Her eyes, the same eyes that I had held in admiration mere moments before, were focused on me. But I didn't look at her. I couldn't. I concentrated only on the steps my feet were taking – right foot, left foot, right foot. Tucker elbowed me in the ribs and I reluctantly looked up.
"That's…cool…" I croaked, and disappeared into Lancer's classroom. I forgot, however, that they had the same class.
"Danny," she said, pulling me aside. "If there's a problem with…well, with anything, just—"
"No, it's cool." I pulled away from her and slung my bag off my arm. It fell beside my desk. "You talk to Jared, hang out, whatever. I don't care. Why would there be a problem?" I slid into my seat and focused on the chalkboard streaks, my thumbs pressed firmly under my chin. My elbows hurt because I was pushing them into the desk, my head propped up.
"Okay…" she said slowly, and walked away. Probably to go sit by Jared.
Tucker leaned across the aisle to look into my face. "Jealous much?"
"Me? No way! Why would I be jealous of him?" I looked at Jared sitting two rows ahead of me. He was talking, his hands in motion. And Sam was laughing.
"Because Sam—"
"No, Tucker, okay? Whatever, it's cool." I tore my eyes away from the couple, instead looking down at my twiddling thumbs. Man, does rejection ever hurt.
Next—Chapter 2: The Great High Place of a Hopeless Grief
If you've read any of my other fics, you'd see that this one's a little different. If you haven't seen that already, read it again. It's very different. As already stated before, this fic is based on a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The idea came about after reading many of his pieces (I like poetry, okey?), and I think it'll be great! However, since some people probably don't read the beginning and ending author's notes, I guess it doesn't much matter. Only to those who do. But some people don't even care anyway; they just want to read the fic. That's okey too. Read read read! Just remember to review when you're done. I accept anonymous reviews, too.