Golden
Sam smiled at herself in the mirror as she put the finishing touches on her hair. "There we go. All done for this week." With a practiced hand, she applied the layers of makeup that she wore daily before allowing a single individual to see her each day.
"Miss Samantha," a maid said knocking on the door, "It's almost time for breakfast."
"Fine, whatever. I'll be down when I'm ready," she said, applying the last layer of not animal tested makeup. She grabbed her bottle of hair dye and tucked it into its secret hiding place in an old cutout book on etiquette. Her mother would throw the dye away if she ever found it. In fact, she had in the past. But the latest hiding place had proven illusive to her mother. She would never think to look in an etiquette book since she knows how much I hate them. The more I say I want to throw that old thing away, the harder she pushes for me to keep it.
Sam made sure that the book looked as it always did before she left the room. In the kitchen, she pulled out a box of wheat germ and poured it into a bowl. She could feel her mother's scowl across the room.
"I see you've touched up your hair again," Mrs. Manson said only grinding her teeth a little this week.
"Yep!" Sam said, happily, "It was looking a touch light at the roots."
"You do know that if you keep using that stuff, Sammykins, that your hair is going to fall out, right?" Sam's mother stated.
Sam smirked, "Nope, my hair won't fall out. This is all natural dye, not tested on animals, and made from plant starch."
"How… appealing," her mother said, pushing her plate away as Sam sat down with her wheat germ. She opened up a newspaper, "What are you doing today?"
"Not much. Going to hang out with Tucker and Danny. Tease Tucker and Danny. Undermine the social structure of my peers. The usual."
Her mother frowned but did not say anything. Sam stood up and put her dishes away. "Mom!" she said, shocked, "Why have you switched dishwashing detergent!" She picked up the bottle, "This isn't biodegradable. It was tested on animals!"
Disinterestedly, her mother said, "I'll get it replaced."
Sam dropped it in the sink with a disgusted look, "Sure you will. I'm off."
By the park fountain, stood Tucker. He was doing something on his PDA as Sam walked up. "What's up, Sam?" he asked.
"The usual. Psyching my parents out." She looked around, "Where's Danny?"
"He got interrupted by a ghost when he called me. Sounded like the Box Ghost. I bet he'll be here soon," Tucker said, not looking up from his PDA.
"Sorry I'm late!" Danny yelled, running up to them as if on cue. "It was the Box Ghost again. I swear, he exists just to be irritating."
Tucker put his PDA in the ever present backpack and asked, "So, what do you guys want to do on this rare day of freedom that is usually confined to the classroom?"
"Wow, Tucker, you just sounded like Technus just then," Sam said.
Tucker cringed, "Ouch."
Danny grinned deviously and reached into the back he was carrying. In his hand, he held a water balloon. "I have an idea," he said, slowly approaching Tucker.
Tucker put up his hands to ward off the attack. He screeched, "I have electronics! Don't hurt my PDA!"
Danny's gaze shifted to land on Sam. "Oh no you don't," Sam said, backing away. "Don't you dare."
"But I do!" he laughed and threw the balloon. But he threw it in a way that made it easy to dodge.
Sam glared at him, "Jerk."
Danny laughed a little. He pulled some more water balloons out of the bag. "What's wrong with a little good clean fun?" he asked, handing Sam two and Tucker another two. He pulled out two more. The bag clearly was not holding anymore full water balloons.
"Okay, dude," Tucker said, putting his PDA in a plastic bag, sealing it up. "If that's the way you want to play…," he trailed off throwing a balloon at Danny.
Danny laughed as he dodged the balloon and threw one back at Tucker, only to be hit by one thrown by Sam. Tucker and Danny shared a look and advanced on Sam, each hefting a balloon. "If you guys know what's good for you, you won't throw those," she threatened.
"Please, Sam, we chase after ghosts on a nearly daily basis, nothing you say or do is going to put us off," Tucker said, throwing his balloon at Sam. Danny quickly followed suit. Sam was hit in the torso and on the head. Water dripped from her hair as she glared at the boys.
She threw her last balloon at Tucker and ran up to Danny, grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the fountain. "This was your bright idea, you're going to pay for it," she said as she hefted him into the fountain.
Undeterred, Danny held onto her arm and pulled her in with him. After she surfaced, he grinned, unrepentantly at her. After a moment, the grin flowed away as he squinted and looked at her head.
"What is it?" she sighed.
"Your hair is dripping black dye."
"It is… oh crud!" Sam said, jumping up and trying to get out of the fountain but only succeeded in tripping over Danny and back into the water.
"Woah! Sam, are you okay?" Tucker said, hurrying over to the fountain to help Sam and Danny out.
Sam glared at him… again, "Do I look okay?"
"You look wet. Hey, what's up with you hair?" Tucker asked, adjusting his glasses and looking closer at her hair.
"Nothing," she said, quickly, "Nothing is up with my hair." Shootshootshoot. Can't let just dyed hair get wet! It ruins the job!
Danny stood, giving Sam a hand up. "Tucker's right. Your hair looks, well, lighter. Especially at the roots."
Tucker gasped and then started to giggle. "Sam's not black-haired! She's –snicker- she's…"
"Not another word," Sam said, raising her fist at Tucker threateningly. The expression on her face was stormy.
"It's blonde!" Tucker managed to spit out breathlessly between giggles. Sam threw herself at him. She pulled him into the water so now they were all wet.
Danny looked closer at Sam's hair. "You're right!" he said, surprised at the discovery. "Wow, Sam, I never expected you to be a blonde!" He thought about it a moment, "Though, that would explain why you hair holds the dye so well."
"You'd better not tell anyone," she muttered, sitting down unhappily in the water.
Tucker, who had finally caught his breath, said, "Don't worry about it. We haven't told anyone else your other secret. I just didn't expect that."
"I know what Tuck means. It looks so natural black, you had me fooled. Don't know why, though. You're parents are blonde and red haired, why would you be black haired unless you were adopted?"
"You think it looks natural black?" she asked.
"Yeah, couldn't tell you dye it," Danny affirmed.
"That's what you get if you use natural dyes," she said with a smile. The smile dropped way, "But if you tell anyone…"
"We are going to get it," Tucker and Danny chorused together.
Danny looked around the park for a moment. Apparently, their antics had scared everyone off. Probably afraid of their kids catching Fenton germs or something. "How about I take us all back to Sam's house, so she can fix her hair before anyone else sees it?"
"Sounds good to me!" Tucker chimed. "I got dibs on the remote control!"
"You'd do that?" Sam asked, a tentative smile on her face.
Danny shrugged and looked abashed, "Well, it is kind of my fault your hair is messed up. I might as well get you back home unseen." Checking the park again for other people, he changed into Danny Phantom and grabbed his friends' hands. Turning them invisible, he flew them to Sam's house so she could clean up.
The End