Sam Manson looked up at the red neon EXIT sign hanging from the doorway then back to the hideous entrance to the lunch room. How come the EXIT signed door seemed so much more appealing. Because of the loud explosion of oblivious happy laughter from the stupid cafeteria. Sam thought to herself biting her lip. It wouldn't be so bad if she had some friends to sit with when she entered the lunch room but Sam had no friends. Being a goth had it's perks, individuality, a brain. But it had a few low points too. Like the 'no friends' part and the 'everyone's to intimidated by the glare permantly etched into your features' part. I'll never be like them. She thought bitterly. I'll never be some narrow minded sorority wanna-be. Craving for attention. They might as well all wear facebook like buttons and run around asking for likes. She let out a quiet huff. She frowned on them and their superficial standards. Their judging glances and their designer bags and Abercrombie jeans.

She didn't need that. She just needed herself. Sam gave one more longing glance towards the exit then walked into the overflowing lunch room. Luckily there was an empty lunch table near the door. It was against the wall which gave her the stealthy feel of lying under the radar, which is what she wanted. Her face fell into her palm and she pulled a notebook from her small purple spider backpack. She placed the bag by her feet gently not wanting it to end up in some soda spill that someone probably neglected to clean up. It leaned against one of her large black boots. She styled this with purple tights, a black tank top and a green and black plaid skirt. Her short black hair was cropped right above her pointed chin with a small pony tail at the top holding up the first layer of her thick hair. Her violet eyes danced along the lines of the pages in her notebook as she scribbled doodles. After a few minutes she became bored of this and pursed her lips letting out a wisp of breath. She scanned the lunch room, completely and utterly bored. Her eyes caught a fight she hadn't noticed had been going on. Dash Baxter, some narrow minded jock, was picking on Danny Fenton. Sam felt herself catch her breath and she had to shake her head to clear it. She didn't really know Danny but she did have the tinest crush on him, but only for his individuality. Most of the time her refused to get picked on. Unlike some of the other losers who just took what they knew was coming. But Danny… he was different. Dash grabbed a fistful of Danny's white t-shirt. Danny's eyes widened as he was lifted into the air.

"That's it Fenturd! Prepare for the wailing of your puny life!" Dash yelled anger lighting a small fire in his eyes. Sam couldn't help but notice the empty water bottle in Danny's hand and the soaking wet papers that Dash clenched in the fist that wasn't holding up the small raven black haired kid.

"Let me go!" Danny cried out as he grabbed Dash's fist and quickly pried it off his shirt. Dash made another grab for him but missed as Danny quickly ducked. Danny sprinted past Sam as he made a break for it out of the lunch room.

"This isn't over Fentonia!" Dash yelled after him angrily. He slammed the wet papers on the table and started talking to the other jocks. Probably planning to go after Fenton. Sam stood. She felt like she should go check on Danny or something. Try to help. She picked up her bag and turned on her heel and booked it after Danny. She didn't expect Barbie- I mean Paulina to be standing behind her. She gasped and skidded to a stop- but not quickly enough. Paulina's tray flung over onto her shirt. Tuna casserole went flying. Most of it was on Paulina's hot pink shirt, almost looking like some kind of unique scarf, but a lot of it had made it's way into her hair.

Sam's eyebrows pulled together and she stuttered at a loss for words. Paulina stood there, hands raised like she was surrendering but her eyes were burning with rage.

"Look, I am really sorry!" Sam said, not sure what to do.

"YOU LOSER!" She screamed. Her finger curling like claws. Her lower lip lowered and her jaw clamped together with an audible click. "YOU STUPID LOSER! ARGGHH!" She screamed again. Sam raised her eyebrows, surprised at the rage, it was just clothes. "This isn't over." She hissed, reminding Sam of Danny and Dash's previous quarrel. "I am going to ruin you. I am going to get the entire football team right now to kill you ." She pointed a finger towards Sam.

Sam looked once at the finger then booked it, blindly, barley aware that she was going the same way Fenton ran. As she sprinted down the hall, occasionally throwing glances over her shoulder to see if the football team and Paulina were already after her, she barely noticed a few students giving her questioning glances. Her throat was exploding with flames but she pushed forward. She didn't want to be judged or beaten up, why was she so stupid and tried to stand out! So, so stupid! Lay under the radar, that should have always been the plan!

So enveloped in her self-loathing she didn't even notice the empty water bottle in front of the janitor's closet. The door swung open and she almost dove inside. She grabbed the handle and closed it as she walked in. She didn't even notice Danny until she stumbled into him.

"Ahh!" They both yelped crashing to the floor. Sam pulled out her phone and flipped it open. The light illuminated the closet and Danny's confused face as he looked up at her. "Woah, you should be some kind of football tackler, or is that just a regular player?" He pondered. She looked down at him. She was on top of him. Staring at his crystal blue eyes, biting her lip. He then looked at her and carefully started to sit up.

"Oh! Right! Sorry!" She said chopping her words short and giving a quick laugh at the end. She let out an unsteady breath. "What are you doing in here?" She tried to say casually but really, how can you ask someone casually why they are hiding in a broom closet?

"Uhh, Dash. Spilled water all over some homework he had, I guess." He said rubbing the back of his neck. Sam nodded and watched as he pulled his phone out of his phone and flipped it open and the light illuminated the small closet. "Now I can actually see you. Sam right?" He asked. Sam felt herself blush.

"Yeah." She said wearing the brightest she had ever worn. But quickly shook her head. Who cares if he knew her name?

"Cool, I'm Danny." He said, he didn't seem to notice her gushing. Sam didn't know but Danny was often referred to as clueless by Danny's only friend, Tucker. "Sooo… uhh why are you here?"

"Oh! Right! I… I bumped into Paulina earlier.. kind of spilled her lunch all over her. I'm pretty sure she's gathering an army right now to hunt me down." Sam cringed looking at the floor.

"Cool…." Danny nodded. Sam couldn't see him very well which she hoped worked vise versa. She probably had some kind of longing look in her eye.

"Yeah… cool…" She breathed. What should I say! She racked her head for anything. She couldn't be one of those preppy girls who just stared into their crushes eyes for hours, hoping for a touch at their abs. What? She cried out in her head. I sooo do NOT like him! He's just some kid in a closet. She still had to think of something to say. I wonder if this is his usual hiding spot… maybe this is where he goes when he takes those extended breaks from class saying he has to go to the bathroom. Right, duh! Ask him! "Do you-" She was instantly cut off by his hand clamping over her mouth. She looked at it cross eyed as he grabbed her waist spinning her around. Falling into his arms made her feel dizzy and barley care that she was practically being kidnapped or something. What was he doing? She cried out suddenly in her head. He looked down at her confused expression and motioned with her head towards the crack under the door. Some light creeped underneath but there were shadows. A few people walked by.

"I think she went this way." Sam heard the nasaly voice of Paulina. She imagined the wavy brown hair rolling down her back and the stubborn way she cocked her eyebrow looking back at whoever she was talking to. Her tan skin made her green eyes stand out. Making all the boys wanting to hook up with the annoying Hispanic girl.

"Who cares, we're looking for Fentonia." Dash's annoying voice rang out in response. Danny rolled his eyes at the obnoxious nickname.

"They're probably together. Ugly people herd together." She said with confidence. Sam and Danny looked at each other and had to hold back giggles at her stupidty. Danny let go of Sam and crawled closer to the door. Sam followed, not wanting to be left behind. They watched the shadows under the door slowly disappear as more and more people walked by. With each new step Sam and Danny's eyes got wider. Finally the two sat back.

"You weren't kidding when you said 'gathering an army'." Danny sighed. Sam nodded.

"Lunch can't last forever, soon they will have to go to class." She suggested. Danny sighed and leaned on the wall. Danny half wished the goth girl didn't choose this place to hide, if she had hid somewhere else he wouldn't have to walk through the halls to his next class. Now he couldn't just go ghost and phase through the walls.

Danny looked down at his phone as it blared loudly. The two looked at the phone horrorstruck and then at Sam's as it went off too. They were so surprised they didn't even reach to turn them off. Finally Danny blinked and grabbed his phone shutting it off. Danny grabbed her phone and did the same. The two pressed against the far wall of the closest. The two watched the bottom of the door as the shadows reappeared.

"Did you hear that? I told you it would work! They are around here somewhere!" Paulina said cheerfully.

"How did you like, get those losers numbers anyway?" Star asked. Star was Paulina's best friend. Blonde hair and no brains, she was a stereotype. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and puckered her lips like she usually did. It was like the duck face just was her face. The bell started blaring. The army groaned.

"No way am I going to class without revenge!" Paulina snarled

"What? Should we cut?" Dash cocked his head and scratched his arm uncomfortably. If he got caught he might not be able to play at the game Saturday. The jocks were counting on him.

"Yes!" She snapped then smiled sweetly pulling a paper out of her pocket. "One more punch for my A-listers hall pass and I get a free yogurt!" The A-list trudged away making their plans to split up so teachers wouldn't notice them.

"Great, now what do we do?" Sam wondered aloud. She couldn't help but like the situation. It was a lot better than her average wake up, go to every class, go home, homework, sleep routine. Maybe she would make her first friend.

"Go with the overflow crowd?" He suggested hesitantly putting a hand on the doorknob. Sam didn't want to cut class but….

"What do you have next?" Sam asked. Danny calculated in his head, third period on Thursday…

"Chemistry." Danny finally answered. Sam felt her stomach do a flip.

"Me too, duh , we have it together. Hmmm… it's four wings over." Sam's eyebrows pulled together. But inside she was pretty happy. She wouldn't mind being stuck in a closet with Fenton. Even if he was always anxious.

"Plus lockers." Danny huffed as he slumped back down. Great, another tardy and Ms. Clark said I would get a detention. Now I'll probably get three for cutting class. He mentally kicked himself.

"Have you ever cut before." Sam asked curiously.

"More times than you would know." He muttered recalling quite a few ghost attacks that caused him to completely miss a class. If only I didn't walk into that stupid portal last month. Then I wouldn't have accidentally made that stupid bottle intangible and the water wouldn't have splashed all over Dash's dumb homework which he defiantly didn't do. He probably got some A-lister wanna-be to do it.

Danny leaned into his palm remembering the incidence. It had been a rainy day. Tucker and Danny were stuck indoors while his parents were away at some ghost hunting expo and his sister, Jazz was at a friend's house. They both stared blankly, Danny lay on his bed staring at the ceiling and Tucker stared out the window. They were already depressed because after trying an illegal download of the newest version of Doom Danny's computer had crashed and now they had nothing to do.

"But Tucker, you're a techno geek! How can you not fix this?" Danny whined. He turned to face his dark skinned and equally bored friend. His thick rimmed glasses didn't make his brown eyes huge like you would think they would. They just looked as bored as Danny's blue eyes did.

"I already told you, I need a special disc from my house." Tucker mumbled, his voice flat.

"But whyyyyy?" Danny whined.

"What do you wanna do?" Tucker asked

"I dunno, whaddya wanna do?" Danny slowly responded.

"Urghhh." Tucker groaned. Letting his red hat slip over his eyes. "Let's go to your parents lab." Tucker suddenly burst out excited.

"What?" Danny asked sitting up and brushing his black hair out of his eyes.

"C'mon, it'll be cool."

"No way, that place creeps me out." Danny shook his head.

"C'mon! We can just look around really quick." Tucker urged. Danny sighed then after a long minute nodded and stood. The two made their way out of Danny's bedroom and to the basement. When they arrived Danny pursed his lips. All the green goo in containers lining the walls bothered him. It set a green aura in the room. On the far wall was a large metal octagon looking tunnel in the wall. Tucker ran to the entrance in awe. "Dude… you have to go in there!"

"What?" Danny cried out "Why me? Why not you?" Danny panicked.

"Because it's your parent's portal." Tucker snickered. He grabbed a white jumpsuit from a desk next to the portal entrance. But it was only a tunnel with a lot of wires for now. Danny's parents had no idea what they were missing to finish the portal.

"I guess… I mean who know what kind of super cool thing could exist beyond that portal." Danny said brightly looking towards the bundles of wire and machinery.

"Yeah, yeah." Tucker said waving a hand at him. Danny pulled on the jumpsuit and stepped forward.

"Wait!" Tucker yelled making Danny spin around and look at Tucker confused. Tucker rushed forward and peeled off a sticker of Danny's dad's face from the jumpsuit. "That's just creepy." Tucker said waving the sticker. He walked to the trash can and started the long process of trying to throw the sticker away as it caught onto his hands back and fourth. Danny turned back to the portal.

"Well, here goes nothing." He sighed as he stepped inside. He casually pressed his hand against the wall, guiding him through the darkness. Suddenly his fingers brushed the big green button. He would've kept going if he hadn't tripped and grabbed the wall for balance. But he only pushed the button. Suddenly the entire portal started to glow. Danny looked around him in shock. Then electricity. He could feel it flowing through him. Thousands of volts. He screamed and only then did Tucker turn and drop his tape.

To sum it up… Danny became a half ghost. Ever since he's tried using his powers to help people from ghost attacks.

"Danny?" Sam asked. Sam didn't want to disturb him, he seemed in deep thought. But it had been a few minutes and she wasn't sure he was okay.

"Huh- what?" He asked returning to reality.

"Are you…okay?" Sam asked smiling.

"Yeah-uh just thinking." He looked down at his hands.

"About what?" Sam asked instinctively.

"Just-uh pressure." Danny said the first thing that came to mind. It was obvious he couldn't tell her what he was really thinking about.

"Oh, I know what that feels like." Sam muttered looking down at her hands like Danny had. Thinking of her high priority parents and their standards she never seemed to meet.

"Really? But aren't you the goth girl that lives by no one's rules?" He asked smiling and narrowing his eyes playfully. Sam laughed out loud and shook her head.

"You have not met my parents." She looked down again then up through her lashes.

"Oh, are they goth too?" Danny asked honestly. Sam couldn't help but let up another fit of laughter.

"Hardly." She stated. From that point on the two talked non-stop for the next hour. Not even aware that the A-lister's had gone to their next classes, giving up on the losers who had caused them so much trouble.

Danny had never talked to a girl with so many opinions on everything. Usually when he talked to a girl she just giggled and smiled a lot. But Sam was different, he liked talking to her. To hear her arguments on things as simple as the cafeteria lunch menu.

And Sam had never talked to a boy like Danny, she really didn't have any real conversations though with anyone. Barley even her parents. She didn't know what she was missing when she had tuned herself out. Refused to be part of all the socials and other kids.

"I've never talked to a girl like you." Danny instantly regretted saying this, feeling it was too corny and that Sam would raise an eyebrow or perhaps laugh it up.

"I'm not like most girls." She stated biting her lip and leaning a little closer to him.

"Most girls saying that." He countered leaning a little towards her.

"But most girls don't mean it." She whispered looking into his eyes, so close, so crystal blue.

Suddenly The closet door swung open. A janitor stood there awkwardly and stunned. He had found teens in his closet before but every time it happened it was like it had never happened before, how dare they take my closet! He would mentally rant.

"Alright, get out. To the office with you." He mumbled pointing towards the principles office. Sam and Danny looked up, both embarrassed, as if they hadn't noticed the janitors existence until that moment. They both went bright red and stood ashamed as they trudged out of the closet. The janitor walked into the closet quickly to put a mop away before walking the two to the office. But as soon as the janitor couldn't see them Sam grabbed Danny's wrist and bolted. Danny stumbled at first confused then ran with her predicting they were making a break for it. "Hey!"The janitor called after them but they were already far away enough that he wouldn't catch them. They laughed as they ran out the back doors and off the school grounds.

"Aren't we going to get caught?" Danny asked as they sprinted away.

"Probably, but who cares? We'll only get caught for cutting class! We only had 2 more periods in the day! And we already skipped one!" Danny smiled and they kept going.

"Where are we going?" He called.

"Who cares?" She called back smiling.