Chapter 1:

"Tucker?"

Tucker snapped his head to look behind him to see his friend Sam with her hand on his shoulder. Her violet eyes showed she was concerned.

"Is everything alright?"

Tucker nodded with a sigh, "Yeah, I'm just feeling a little out of it today."

"Oh, okay," Sam responded, "I was just wondering since… you spaced out on the way to class."

Sam pointed towards the door of Mr. Lancer's classroom, in all its glory. Tucker groaned. This was going to be a very long first day of school.

Stepping inside the classroom, Tucker could see that none of the other students have arrived yet, but Jazz Fenton seemed to be having a small talk with Mr. Lancer. It seemed important since Mr. Lancer scratched out one of the names on his attendance sheet. With a look of frustration on his face.

"Sam, Tucker," Jazz said, acknowledging them as she turned their way.

"Hey Jazz," Tucker greeted in return with a small wave of his hand, "So… Uh… How are you?"

"I'm fine thank you," Jazz responded, "I'm the school's new psychiatrist thanks to a special program I got in college."

"Wow! That's great!" Tucker answered with a grin, "I'm sure you'll do awesome, man!"

"I suppose…" Jazz said with a sigh, "Now if you'll excuse me… I better go before class starts."

She waved goodbye as she left the classroom. Sam and Tucker looked at each other and went to find their respected seats.

"Don't tell me she's still mad at us," Sam commented with a sour look on her face as she sat down in her seat at her desk. Tucker shrugged, seating himself behind her, "It's only been two weeks Sam. Give her time."

"I agree with Tucker," A voice nearby responded, Sam looked up to see Valerie choosing her seat. Between them remained one empty desk.

"Give her some space, she'll be back to her old self before you know it," Valerie said knowing how Jazz was feeling from her own life experiences. Sam glared at her in response.

"Butt out Valerie,"

Valerie grunted, almost wanting to retort, but at the same time she knew that Sam and Tucker were in the same boat. Instead she turned away from Sam and turned her attention to the board; waiting for class to start.

Valerie was about to take a pen and paper out of her bag to start the first writing assignment Mr. Lancer had planned when the air suddenly turned heavy. She felt like there was someone beside her. Impossible. The desk was empty… wasn't it?

She turned her head to the seat next to her and stared in shock.

Was she seeing things? It couldn't be…

Sitting next to her, doing his work was Danny…

"Ms. Grey, is everything alright?" Mr. Lancer's voice behind her making her jump and look behind her to see the teacher looking at her with worry.

"I… Um, everything's fine…" Valerie responded clumsily.

"Are you sure? You were staring at that desk for several minutes."

"Uh Yeah… Because maybe someone was sitting there?" Valerie said pointing at the desk only to find it was empty again. Mr. Lancer frowned at her with concern while the students around her began whispering amongst each other.

"Listen, if you need anything… Just let me know alright?"

Mr. Lancer then left Valerie alone as she continued to stare at the desk. Her heart was pounding in her chest. The heaviness in the air had not yet subsided and was making the room too cold for her liking. But the thoughts of what she had just seen never left her mind either.

She was in deep thought. Wondering why she was the only one who saw him there. Not even Sam or Tucker paid any notice. The strangest part of all… Her ghost detectors didn't go off either. So what did she see? There was no way it was a hallucination…

She unintentionally bristled at the thought as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. She knew that she disliked ghosts… but that was the first time she had a deep feeling of dread and fear.