I do not own Danny Phantom.
Danny let his eyes skim over the dimly lit room.
Class movies were the best time to observe faces, teachers would always work quietly at their desks, having watched the film so many times they could practically recite the script, leaving the students to do as they please, besides talk, and it gave Danny the chance to slip invisible, as he sat in the back of the room, and get to know his fellow classmates better.
He had always been an observer of sorts, and once while he was out with his mother, she had taken notice of this hobby and bought him a professional grade camera, telling him to take pictures of what he saw.
He thought it was kind of a lame present at first, but it quickly turned into something he couldn't live without, and his mother loved it too. His photography was hung all over the house.
She thought that he worked magic behind the lens and that he gave the world an edge it otherwise didn't have.
So, during in class movies he usually sat in the front of the room and just watched. Faces and how the eyes took in what they saw fascinated him. Some people watched the movies more intently than others, their eyes darting from one side of the projector screen to the other. Others just listened and waited for the cue of a question then scribble down a half-assed answer to get full points. While some, though surprisingly less common then he always thought, chose to sleep.
Danny rolled his eyes at Paulina who looked back to see if he was in his seat, having put on her best flirt face, then turned back in a huff, quickly scribbling something to Star before looking back again.
That girl was pathetic, really.
Yes, she was beautiful, he gave her that, he had plenty of pictures to prove it, but she was vain, and Danny found out quickly how vain she really was after taking her out on a date. It was really a horrible experience, and not something he liked to remember.
Since sophomore year, girls had started to take notice of him. Danny relished in the praise until it went to the next level. The level of "Creeper", as Tucker called it. And it was true. The girls only seemed to think about boys, it was concerning, really.
Danny was a heartthrob, and a lot of girls wanted to date him, but there were plenty of girls that didn't and he liked to thank them in his head when they passed him in the hall.
"Thank you, girl, for having a life." He'd think as they kissed their boyfriend on the cheek, not even giving him a side-glance as they walked by.
He let his eyes wander away from Paulina and around to the window, a place a rarely looked, he realized, as his eyes landed on a girl he'd never seen. He drifted closer to her as she took notes from the movie, her short black hair covering her face slightly.
Danny gasped as she looked up, not expecting the sight he saw before him.
She was gorgeous.
Why hadn't he ever noticed her before?
He felt himself become tangible and fall to the floor with a soft 'thunk', thankfully still invisible. But apparently the sound his shoes made against the tile wasn't as soft as he hoped, making the girl, and a few others, jump then look at one another, searching for an answer. Danny quickly went intangible once more and floated back to his seat, slumping back into view.
"Blow your cover over there, buddy?" Tucker whispered, chuckling. Danny shot him a glare, which made the boy chuckle harder and lean away from his friend. "So I take it wasn't on purpose?" he asked when he had calmed down.
Danny looked at the desktop.
"No, I don't know what happened..." his voice was quiet, and Tucker had to lean in to catch what he had said. Danny put his head down on the desk, raking his fingers through his hair to let them rest on his neck.
Tucker looked over to where he had heard Danny slip.
It was right in front of Samantha Manson's desk.
His eyes widened. "Dude, who's desk were you in front of?" he asked, watching closely as Danny hesitated, then lifted his head and pointed to said girl's back, then returned to beating himself up for losing control.
Tucker stared at him.
"Do you know who that is?" he whispered urgently. Danny shook his head, not moving up from his spot. "That's Samantha Manson. I hear she's crazy." Danny turned his head to look at his friend.
"So I thought she was cute? It's not like I'm gonna ask her on a date." He said, irritated. "And you don't know first hand that she's crazy, you shouldn't listen to rumors, Tuck."
Tucker leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms and reverting his gaze to the screen when he saw the teacher give him a look. "You're right."
Danny grunted approvingly and hid his face again.
Tucker sat back and looked at his friend, thinking.
"Maybe you should talk to her?" he reasoned. Danny lifted his head.
"Yeah, cause that would go over well. 'Oh, I was invisible and noticed how cute you were, do you want to hang out sometime?'" Tucker rolled his eyes at his purist friend. "I don't think it work, Tuck."
"You don't have to ask her on a date, D." Tucker said, chuckling. "Just talk to her. I don't know, she gets picked on a lot," that got his attention, Tucker knew it would, hero complex and all. "Stand up for her, you know?" Danny rested his head on his hands, looking at the girl.
"Yeah." He muttered. "I could do that."
Tucker watched his friend. He hadn't seen that look since Paulina. "Was she really that cute?" he asked, he saw Danny's cheeks flush and he sat up quickly, picking up his pencil and looking at the screen.
"She was okay, I guess, I don't know." He rambled quietly. "Yeah, she was cute, just let it go, Tuck. It doesn't matter."
Tucker shook his head and smiled.
"Oh my gosh, Tucker, really!" Danny grumbled, gripping his lunch tray tightly. "I can do this on my own! I'm fully capable!"
Tucker laughed at his friend's red face. "Okay, okay, sorry for being helpful!" Danny rolled his eyes and sat down, putting his tray down on the table a little louder than he had planned, earning some odd looks from his peers. "Dude, chill, I'm just giving you a hard time, really." Tucker said sitting across from his friend.
"What should I say to her, Tuck?" Danny asked, looking a little desperate. Tucker looked past him.
"Maybe it's not what you say to her." He said, using his spork to point behind his friend. Danny turned around to see Dash and Paulina standing menacingly over the small girl in question. Danny's heart dropped and he stood quickly, walking over to the three.
"Who do you think you are, Manson?" Dash growled. The girl looked legitimately scared of Dash, which just made Danny walk faster over to her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him before giving Dash a shove and crossing his arms.
"Leave her alone, Dash, she didn't do anything to you." Danny felt her hands gripping his shirt and glared harder at Dash.
"Mind your own business, Fenton." He said, a little less menacingly. Danny loved being taller than the blonde quarterback.
Danny stood his ground, glaring. Dash rolled his eyes.
"Fine, whatever, keep her away from me." He said, turning, grabbing Paulina's wrist and dragging her away as she made lovey faces at Danny.
Danny continued to glare for a few more seconds before turning and taking Sam out of the lunchroom and into the courtyard. She was shaking, and Danny sat her down on a bench and knelt in front of her.
"Are you alright?" he asked gently. Her head was down and she nodded.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
"You're welcome." Danny whispered, "Why was he harassing you?"
Sam sighed. "He holds grudges." She said, wiping her eyes. "We used to date, and I broke up with him, he didn't like it."
Danny's eyes widened. "You dated him?"
Sam scoffed. "I know, right?" she smiled at him, making him blush. "Worst idea I ever had." Danny resisted the urge to hold her legs as he sat in front of her.
No need to freak her out more that she already was.
She was really very beautiful.
Danny felt his cheeks go hot and he stood, wiping his pants off idly. He watched as she stood also, wiping her skirt off.
"Thanks again, Danny." She said, smiling up at him.
Danny paused and gave her a look.
"Everyone knows who you are, Fenton." She said evenly, shrugging as if it was nothing. "It's hard not to when you're all that half the girls in this school talk about."
He smirked, "And are you one of those girls?" he asked, expecting her to blush and stammer, but instead all he got was a very dry, "You wish." as she pushed past him, if he wasn't the observer he was he would've never noticed the smile on her face as she passed.