Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-
hewwo I'm Nicky and I have a beginning-fanfictions problem.
"Don't say a word," Tucker immediately told his friends. Both had opened their mouths to ask, but only Danny closed his mouth.
"Did you get into a ghost fight?" Sam's question came through anyway, concerned as she leaned in to look at the giant bruise on Tucker's face that had begun to swell, covering nearly half of his face and a harsh red-purple. Tucker blinked as he leaned back and away from her, before turning a bit pink and scowling.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said simply, and he brushed past them to his locker. He could hear Danny's boots clunking behind him, and he knew Sam was with him. He managed to find his locker with little trouble.
"Dude, it looks pretty bad. Was it one of the ectopusses?" Danny asked, keeping his voice a bit low. The hall was full of students, everybody seemingly lost in their own business as the school year was about to begin, trying to organize lockers and find classrooms. None of the trio was worried about somebody listening in on them, but one could never be too sure.
"Just drop it, okay," Tucker sighed, and he stuck his hand through his locker to open it. Using the combination was for suckers who didn't have cool half-ghost superpowers. He began to unload his bag full of books. Danny began to open the locker two spaces away from him. The goth had managed to convince somebody to trade him so he could be close to his best friend.
"Tucker, it's okay if you lost," Sam tried to assure him. Tucker noticed that she didn't have her hands full of books. She must have already visited her locker. She shot him a sympathetic smile. "I mean, you've only been half-ghost for like-"
"SHH!" Tucker cut her off, and she jumped a bit in surprise. She flushed, and she muttered an apology. Tucker sighed heavily, slamming his locker door shut and mumbling something.
"What?" Danny asked, furrowing his brows as he leaned in.
"I flew into a billboard okay!?" Tucker scowled. Danny's face immediately twisted as he tried to not crack up. "I had to walk my sister to school because she was nervous about starting junior high, and I decided, hey, I'm alone now, why not fly to my first day of high school!" Tucker waved his arm dramatically in annoyance. "And apparently, Axion Labs is opening a new pharmacy in the mall. Did you guys know that? I know that now." He muttered under his breath, "stupid billboard."
Danny couldn't help it. He began to laugh. Sam scowled, elbowing the goth in the ribs. He winced, but continued to laugh. Tucker's eyes flashed a dark yellow in annoyance at him.
"Dude," Danny gasped, clutching his side where he was elbowed. "Why didn't you just go intangible?"
"...I tried. I uh...it didn't happen."
Sam bit her lip, trying to not laugh as well, but she couldn't stop the smile.
"I thought your control was getting better," she questioned. Tucker sighed.
"Yeah, same. Apparently not," he stated bitterly, and he readjusted his backpack on his shoulders. He looked at Danny, who had managed to calm down. "Do your folks suspect we did anything yet?" he asked, his voice growing a bit hushed. "About the portal."
Danny grew serious, and he shook his head no.
"...No. They think they fixed it themselves. And I've been looking through their files and research papers like crazy." He shut his locker, leaning against it with an elbow while nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "Nothing that suggests there might be a cure for...this." He nodded at Tucker vaguely. Everybody knew what he meant. "You may just...have to learn to live with it. I mean, once you learn how to control it, it should be fine, right?" Even Danny didn't sound convinced, but he forced a smile. "You can be like Iron Man or something!"
"And that sounds so cool," Tucker agreed, giving back his own weak smile, "But...my dad..."
"Did he get the job?" Sam questioned. Tucker shook his head.
"No, no. We haven't heard back from them yet," he confessed. "But my dad's going to get it. He's been one of the top police officers in Amity Park for so long, and he has the right military background and all the recommendations...The Guys in White would be stupid to not hire him."
"But your dad may turn it down," Danny pointed out. Tucker sighed.
"No. The pay and benefits would be too good for him to pass up. Olivia and I are getting older, ya know? She wants to be a lawyer, I wanna get into computer forensics. College is gonna be expensive," Tucker counter argued. "Plus Mom says she worries about him when he's out on patrol. She thinks that the Guys in White is good, harmless busy work, cause she doesn't believe in ghosts. Neither does Olivia." Danny snorted in amusement.
"Well, you always got us," Sam assured him with a smile.
"Yeah, we got your back. If you ever need a place to crash, you can just come over, my parents love you. Jazz too, even though she'd never admit it, you're like another little brother to her," Danny agreed. Tucker felt a lot of the anxiety that had been unknowingly built up over the course of the morning fade, and he grinned.
"Thanks!" he replied. "I love you guys."
"We love you too," Danny replied, and he reached in to wrap an arm around Tucker in a sidehug, Tucker returning it. Sam took a step forward to wrap her arms around both boys. "Come on. Jazz said that Lancer's a hard-ass."
The hug broke, and the three began to walk together to their homeroom.
"Whoa! Foul-ly! What happened to your face?" Dash's voice rang out. The halfa winced, ducking his head, and he began to move faster to his class, his friends speeding up with him.
"So, you still sticking with the goth thing?" Tucker questioned. Danny gave a shrug.
"I actually really like it," he confessed. He gestured to his black shirt with the red touches, the black skinny jeans and, you guessed it, black and red boots. "At first, it was honestly kinda to just freak Jazz out a bit, cause she's become such a psychoanalyzing pain in the ass, but I think it suits me."
"I like it," Sam piped up. "I think it fits your perfectly." Tucker suddenly took notice of something, and he squinted.
"Are you wearing make-up?" he asked his friend accusingly. Danny grinned, opening the classroom door for his friends, slipping in behind them.
"Make-up's gender neutral, my friend," he replied. Tucker glanced back. Indeed, the goth was wearing some black eyeliner. It was easier to tell in the light of the classroom rather than the dimmer, crowded halls. "Sam helped me get some."
"Yeah! We found the boots at the army supply store on sale too!" Sam added. "And the backpack too, but we dyed that because they only came in green."
"Oh, so are you gonna go goth soon too?" Tucker teased. He made a face as Sam rushed for a front seat. "No way, nerd!"
He grabbed the shoulder of her light purple sweater before she could sit, pulling her with him towards the last row. Sam whined.
"Come on, you know once you pick a seat people will never move!" she complained. Danny rolled his eyes.
"Sam, it's homeroom. You can sit in front when you get to your other classes," he told her. Sam gave a frown, but nodded as she moved to sit in front of Tucker, who sat in the very back. Danny took the seat next to Tucker, and Sam turned in her seat to better view her friends.
"So, you guys still wanting to come this weekend?" Danny questioned. Sam's eyes lit up, and she grinned.
"Of course! How often do I get a chance to go to a convention that's just packed with all sorts of ectobiology lectures! And I finally get to hear about the ghost plants your parents have been studying in the lab! I've been begging them for weeks to give me more info, but they kept telling me that I could wait until the lecture to learn all about it!" Sam gushed, eyes sparkling happily behind her glasses. Danny chuckled, calling her a nerd under his breath, earning a playful slap against his chest.
"Tuck?" Danny asked, his playful tone dropping. The halfa darted his eyes towards his friends. Both looked at him with concern, for obvious reasons. He shifted in his seat.
He had been looking forward to the convention ever since the Fentons announced that they were invited as one of the keynote speakers due to their new ghost portal and the ghost plants Sam was so in love with. But now...would it be a good idea?
As to emphasis the trio's concerns, Tucker fumbled as he began to fall through the chair a bit. Sam immediately reached out to grab his hand, Danny leaning over to grab his upper arm.
"You okay?" Sam questioned hurriedly. Tucker waved his free hand.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" he replied quickly, and he shifted to sit properly in his seat again. He brushed imaginary dirt from his blue jeans and green and yellow shirt, ignoring his friend's stares of worry. "Just...I'll be there." Danny's eyes widened.
"Are you sure? There's going to be a ton of ghost hunters and ectobiologists and such," Danny was skeptical. "I can get you out of it, it's no big. I totally get it."
No. You don't totally get it. Tucker smiled.
"I'll be okay. If nothing else, I can just leave early, right? Fly home?"
"Or into another billboard?" Danny joked. Tucker glared.
"Yeah, besides, this is an excellent opportunity to find out more things about Tucker!" Sam pointed out. "There's going to be an entire building full of ectobiologists! Just imagine how much they know! What we could learn! We could figure out a way to reverse this ourselves, or we could learn so much more about what kind of other cool ghost abilities Tucker may be able to learn!"
"Sam, you are the only person I know who could get so freaking excited about ghost biology besides my parents. Even normal kids who get excited about ghosts are more interested in getting freaked out while urban exploring," Danny deadpanned. "Are you sure we weren't switched at birth? All those words right out of your mouth were pure Maddie Fenton right there." Sam laughed, and Tucker chuckled. "Plus, my dad said his old college friends are going to be there, including Mr. Technus and Mr. Masters." Tucker's eyes widened.
"Your godfather's gonna be there?" Tucker blurted out excitedly. "I've been wanting to meet him for ages! I can't bail now! I have so many questions about Axion Labs!"
"Like why they suddenly put that new billboard up?" Sam snickered. Tucker flushed a deep red.
"You guys will never let that go, will you?"
"We wouldn't be friends if we did," Danny teased.
"But in all seriousness," Sam began, "are you okay, Tuck?"
"Actually, I think the bruise is getting better," Danny noted. This caught Sam's interest, and she sat on her knees backwards in her chair, leaning forward on Tucker's desk to take a closer look.
"It is!" she gasped. She put her finger up to point out the bruised areas, although she didn't touch. "I distinctly remember it extending to here and the coloring being a red-blue, which means it was new, but now it's turning into a pale green already! And it's actually fading into yellow-brown which means it's almost done! It takes nearly a week to do that!" Sam spoke faster and more excitedly with every word. "You have accelerated healing! That's amazing! That must mean that your cells-"
"You in the purple sweater, if you're done admiring your fellow students, would you please sit down properly in your seat?" Mr. Lancer's dry tone questioned, followed by an explosion of giggles.
Sam's face turned dark red, and she immediately turned and sat properly in her seat. She leaned forward a bit, tilting her head down and letting her long hair cover her face like a curtain as she listened silently to the teacher ahead of them begin to make announcements. Tucker was leaned back in his seat, a bit flushed at being unintentionally part of the call-out.
He felt a nudge against his shoulder, and he glanced over at Danny, who was grinning. He jerked his head towards Sam, jokingly making a kissy face. Tucker scowled, leaning over to punch his friend's shoulder. Danny shielded himself and playfully smacked back.
"Boys! Settle down!" Mr. Lancer boomed, and the best friends immediately stopped. Sam lifted her head to view the teacher glaring at the trio. "Am I going to have to separate you three?"
"No sir/Mr. Lancer!" the trio rang out in unison. He gave them a skeptical look before continuing on with announcements.
Tucker leaned his chin against a hand, sighing heavily. He sat up straight as he looked around curiously. He had that feeling that he had gotten before. A distinct, cold tingling feeling at the back of his head. His "spidey sense" as Danny called it. Or as Sam insisted on calling it, his ghost sense. The feeling never came without a ghost being nearby.
But where was the ghost?
Tucker scanned the room. Everybody looked like a typical kid, chatting amongst themselves quietly or passing notes, comparing schedules or just listening to music or scrolling on their phones. One kid in particular was just staring out the window. Was he mistaken? Tucker felt odd being on such high alert, but with nothing around that was needing to be alerted to.
"Dude, sup?" he heard Danny whisper to him. Tucker shot his attention to Danny. He was laying his head on his arms on his desk. Tucker mouthed the word ghost, and Danny sat up straight too, looking around. They both observed their surroundings for a minute. "I don't see any." They exchanged a curious look with one another. "False alarm?" Danny suggested quietly, as to not attract more attention.
"It's never been wrong before," Tucker mused softly, staring at his hands.
"Well, everything looks chill for now," Danny trailed off, doing another quick glance over. Tucker just nodded.
"If something happens, I'll do something," Tucker replied. Danny nodded.
That feeling was back. Distinct cold tingling at the back of his head, only stronger. His spidey sense. Or ghost sense. They needed a cooler name than ghost sense.
The tingling left him standing still, dumbly in the middle of the cafeteria, looking around dumbly. Most students seemed to just pass him, assuming he was looking for his friends. He noticed them out of the corner of his eye, and they were staring at him while he stared at everybody else.
"Tuck!" he heard Sam call out, and a hand shot up to grab his attention. He snapped out of it, and he moved to sit with them, slowing down as he noticed somebody else sitting with them.
A boy who looked deathly pale, in a white button up shirt and plaid pants, a bowtie and glasses, an almost cliche nerd outfit. Even his hair seemed a bit geeky. He looked depressed, staring at his tray of food. He had given Tucker a small glance with sad gray eyes when he sat down next to Sam and across from the stranger and Danny, but only gave a soft "hello" when Tucker greeted him first.
"Who's this?" Tucker asked. Danny beamed, wrapping an arm around the guy's shoulder. The stranger flushed anxiously.
"This is Sidney!" he replied. "Met him on the way here. Said he didn't have any friends, so I said he could join us," he explained.
Sidney didn't say anything in response. He didn't even smile or look up to spare a second glance at the halfa. He just looked...so sad. It was almost unnerving.
"So Sidney, are you new?" Sam questioned. She began to dig into her lunch. Sidney shook his head no.
"Have you lived in Amity Park long?" Tucker wondered. He nodded his head yes.
"What classes do you have?" Danny tried a non-yes-or-no question. Sidney didn't speak. He just stared at his lunch tray, unmoving and silent. It creeped Tucker out a bit, and the tingling feeling in the back of his head wasn't helping matters. The coldness of it was growing stronger, and he soon began to massage the back of his neck, hoping to soothe it.
"Sidney, are you okay?" Sam asked. Sidney didn't speak. "You should eat something." She reached out to lightly push Sidney's tray towards him a bit more. Sidney's eyes followed her hand, but he didn't budge an inch.
"Aren't you hungry?" Danny raised a curious eyebrow at his new friend. The boy shook his head no.
"I'll be back," Tucker spoke up, and he began to stand. "I have...a headache, gonna go to the nurse." He gave his friends a Look, and they understood immediately. Tucker shuffled out of his seat. He picked up his carton of milk to take with him, but he barely got three steps away before he felt somebody grab the back of his shirt.
"Hey Foul-ly! Your face's looking passable for human now." Tucker winced. "How about I help turn you back into the freak that you are?"
"I have to go," Tucker blurted out, and he tried to jerk his shoulders a bit to force the jock to let go. Dash held on tighter.
"What's the rush, Foe-low?" he demanded to know. Tucker squirmed a bit, noticing his friends out of the corner of his eye. Danny was beginning to stand up, grabbing a lunch tray that had been dumped of food contents. Sam had already made it out of her seat and was leaving, in search of a teacher. Sidney was, to his surprise, staring intently at him. Tucker met his gaze, and he shivered. His eyes looked hollow and empty. The tingling feeling felt stronger than ever.
"I don't want to fight, I just need to-" Tucker was cut off as he made contact with the lunch table. He groaned, feeling the wind knocked out of him as his gut hit the edge of the table, face slamming onto the plastic-wood and shin colliding with the seat. Despite it having fully healed in appearance, he could tell his face was going to be bruised-again-very soon from the impact. Danny glared at the other, holding up the tray.
"Fuck off, Dash," he threatened. His eyes narrowed as he was simply laughed at.
Tucker glanced up to see Sidney was no longer staring at him, but looking up at Dash. His face was scrunched up, angrily. He had no clue such a previously timid looking small guy could look so...well, intimidating.
"You bully!" Tucker was surprised at not just the outburst, but how strong and confidently it came out. Danny seemed taken aback too. Dash laughed, and he snapped his attention back to see Dash and some of his dumb jock friends.
"What are you gonna do about it, shrimp?"
Sidney put his hands on the table, and he pushed himself to his feet. The jocks watched him, amused as Sidney shuffled to stand on the table. Tucker found himself taking a seat, watching as well. Danny had lowered the tray in his hand, baffled at the scene. Tucker looked around. People were staring. Where was Sam?
"You think you're so funny, buster?" Sidney demanded to know. Tucker's eyes widened as he saw the teen clench his fist closed. And it began to glow. Shooting his look up to his eyes, they were slowly turning red. "Let's see how you like getting bullied!"
Sidney raised his hands up, and school supplies flew up into the air out of backpacks and off tables. Everybody began to scream and scramble. Tucker ducked under the desk, Danny coping his actions immediately. The two watched as pencils and pens began to fly at Dash and his friends like darts, hitting the floor with such force they stuck nearly half-way into the tiles. They screamed as they began to run, blending into the frenzied, panicked crowd. Tucker peeked out. Sidney was floating, papers and books swirling around him furiously as he shouted more.
"Dude!" he heard Danny gasp. Tucker looked over at him, and his friend, oddly enough, was grinning. Tucker found himself mirroring it. "It's go time! Get in there!"
"Time for Tucker Ghouly to shine!" he agreed, eyes flashing yellow excitedly. "I'm going ghost!"
A flash of light appeared at the teen's waist, flowing in opposite directions. It left behind Tucker in a black outfit with dark yellow touches, glowing yellow eyes and snow-white hair. Danny watched in almost awe when his friend phased through the top of the table and into the action. He began to army crawl out from under the table, keeping his improvised lunch tray weapon close.
Tucker floated above the lunch table. By now, the cafeteria had emptied itself of students, and Sidney had begun to make his way towards an exit. Books and papers still hovered around him, as well as a few notebooks and backpacks and other misc items from the cafeteria.
"Hey!" Tucker called out. The ghost stopped himself in his tracks, turning to look at Tucker. He didn't look angry with him, but he was clearly displeased. "Just because Dash is a jerk doesn't mean you gotta stab him with a pencil!" Sidney narrowed his still pure-red eyes at him.
"Only another bully would stand up for a bully," he spat out. He raised a hand up to Tucker. Several papers began to fly at him, following by books and a few calculators. Tucker flinched, holding his hands up defensively as he turned intangible. The items flew by him harmlessly, smashing into the wall or falling to the floor behind him. Tucker grinned briefly at his success before dropping his smile in favor of a stern look.
"Seriously, man. You can't stay here! You need to leave!" he spoke loudly, trying to harness the same bold, confident energy he had seen his dad use before on a suspect.
"NO!" Sidney's voice was unnervingly loud, echoing about the room. The items around him began to fly faster. Tucker swallowed nervously, feeling himself begin to sweat a little. "I will not be bullied out of anywhere I wanna be ever AGAIN!"
A frenzy of school supplies flew at Tucker. His eyes widened as the force pushed him backwards. He hit the wall, immediately shielding his face as he felt books, papers, pencils, calculators, erasers, all sorts of items hit or stab at him. The wave seemed to never end. He finally turned intangible, falling back into the wall.
Seconds later, he returned behind Sidney. He slammed into his back, causing the ghost to give a surprised yelp as he skidded across the floor. Tucker flew after him, kicking him in the stomach. The kick caused Sidney to skyrocket into the ceiling.
"Dude! You're kicking ass!"
Tucker grinned, glancing over at Danny. He was still clutching the lunch tray in his hands, but he was staring at his best friend with wide, excited eyes and a smile. The smile suddenly dropped, and Tucker glanced to see Sidney recovering. The ghost looked at the two of them before rushing for Danny. He grasped the teen by the upper arms, earning a surprised yelp.
"Danny!" he cried out. The goth had begun to pale in fear. "You've been such a good friend to me. I won't let this bully hurt you!"
He flew around to Danny's back, wrapping a protective arm around him.
"No-no-no! Wait!" Danny began to protest. Sidney hushed him, patting his shoulder.
"It's okay. I'll protect you!" he assured him, and he glared up at Tucker. The glare snapped the halfa out of his trance, and he flew for him. Sidney raised a hand, and a pile of books slammed into Tucker's back, sending him down into the floor.
Tucker groaned in pain as books continued to cover him, hiding him from view. He took a moment to recover before beginning to push them off of him, rolling over and sitting up to see Sidney disappear into the wall with a panicking Danny.
"TUCK!" he yelled.
"DANNY!" Tucker replied, his tone frantic. He rapidly began to push more books off of him. Exhausting was beginning to eat away at him, and he slowed down, putting a hand to his forehead as he involuntarily transformed back. "Fuck." he sighed to himself, only now taking notice of how heavy his breathing was.
The door burst open to the cafeteria, following by the suddenly very loud shouting match between two distinct voices. Sam and Dash. Tucker looked over, watching as his friend and the jock were yelling over each other at a shell-shocked Mr. Lancer. Tucker's heart began to pound anxiously.
"QUIET!" Mr. Lancer boomed, and the two voices immediately died out. He pointed to Dash.
"Foley started it! He insulted me and began a fight with this weird freak of a kid! They threw pencils at me like darts! I could have died!"
"He's a liar!" Sam half-yelled. "He started the fight. He called Tucker a freak and told him that he was going to beat him up to make him look like a freak. Sidney was just standing up for him!"
"Oh, so you're hanging out with a goth geek, a techno freak and Carrie White's equally psychotic brother now?"
"Leave my friends alone, you jerk!"
"Quiet!" Mr. Lancer snapped again, and the two became quiet. His eyes scanned the room, spotting Tucker. "Mr. Foley! Come here!"
The halfa pushed the rest of the books that remained on him off, weakly pulling himself to his feet. He dragged them over to Mr. Lancer, pulling at his shirt a bit. His chest hurt, and he felt a bit woozy. He came to a stop next to Sam, who had her arms crossed and was glaring at Dash.
"Now, I understand there's been a bit of an...incident." Sam snorted in amusement. Lancer shot her a Look. "But none of this explains how the cafeteria is in complete shambles." Tucker winced.
"I told you! Their weird psychotic friend made everything float!" Dash insisted, throwing his arms up and moving them to emphasis his words. "Pencils and pens and all sorts of stuff were going at me at like, mock ten! I could have DIED! They wanted to KILL me, sir!"
"None of this wouldn't have happened had you not picked on Tucker!" Sam scowled. Dash glared at her, but Mr. Lancer interrupted him before he could talk.
"Enough, Miss Manson." Sam's lips grew thin as she forced herself to not snap back. "All of you. My office. Now."
Tucker sat in his seat, leg bouncing anxiously as he leaned forward. His mind was racing. His dad was going to be so pissed when he heard about this.
Sam was leaning back in her own seat, scowling with one leg crossed over the other, Dash casually leaned back in his own. Not a care in the world. Sam's parents were always busy, and she was overall a good kid. They barely noticed her coming and going due to their business. Dash's parents seemed to let him get away with anything. Both of their parents would probably barely blink an eye at their phone calls home on the first flipping day of high school. His dad? His dad was going to kill him for not only getting a phone call home, but also basically destroying a cafeteria, letting his best friend get kidnapped by a weird depressed anti-bullying ghost, but oh hey, the whole ghost powers thing would probably come out right about now.
Least his dad couldn't work for the GIW once he ends up being convicted for murdering Tucker.
Mr. Lancer cleared his throat. The three stared up at him. Tucker's breath caught in his throat.
"Mr. Baxter, please go back to your class." Sam's jaw dropped.
"He's off the hook?" she demanded to know. Mr. Lancer frowned. "That's bullshit!"
"Miss Manson!" he said sharply. Her jaw quivered in anger. "Language." Tucker could almost see steam coming out of her ears. "I will talk to Mr. Baxter later with his coach about the issue."
"Oh, that's what it is!" she accused. "He's on some sports team, so you're letting him off scot-free! That's such horse crap!"
"Miss Manson, you are already in a world of trouble." The vice-principal/English teacher's voice was growing more and more impatient. "You already destroyed a school cafeteria, nearly caused serious physical harm to another student, interrupted homeroom and it's." Mr. Lancer mockingly looked at his watch. "Only 12:57 in the afternoon of your first day of high school." He stared at her, and Sam's confidence seemed to completely drop. "Do you really want to make this more difficult on yourself?"
Her lower lip quivered, and she sniffled a bit, wiping at her eyes despite no tears having appeared yet. Dash shot the two a smug look as he exited the room, giving a small, smug wave as he left and closed the door behind himself.
Soon as the door closed, Mr. Lancer coughed a bit to clear his throat, patting his chest as he set aside a file. Tucker assumed it was Dash's.
"Sam didn't do anything," Tucker finally spoke up. Mr. Lancer glanced up at him over the rim of his reading glasses. "She left to go find a teacher. She had nothing to do with any of this." He took a deep breath. "I did it all. I destroyed the cafeteria." Sam's eyes widened. Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is that so?" Tucker paused, but he nodded before bowing his head down. His dad was going to kill him.
"Yeah. She went as soon as everything began. She didn't do anything besides leave to go and find you."
Sam glanced anxiously from Tucker to Mr. Lancer, but she didn't say anything. Mr. Lancer observed the two for a moment. The bell rang, causing the two to jump. Mr. Lancer sighed heavily. He put his hands on his desk, using them to push himself to his feet as he took his reading glasses off.
"I'll be right back," he informed them. He picked up a giant stack of papers on his desk, tucking them under his arm as he grabbed a briefcase. "I need to start my class. Don't leave. The admin assistant will be watching the door."
He went to the door, opening it and leaving the two in silence before Sam finally broke it.
"You didn't have to take the blame for everything," she said softly. Tucker shook his head no.
"You literally didn't do anything. I really did," he sighed, and he began to rub his eyes tiredly with the palms of his hands. "I destroyed the cafeteria fighting Sidney. And now he's got Danny."
"He's got Danny!?" Sam gasped, eyes widening. Tucker nodded, and he sat up straight with a sudden boost of energy. Danny needed him.
"Yeah. He's got Danny. We need to find him, stat." Sam worriedly looked at the door.
"Well, I don't think Sidney would leave the school," Sam said slowly as she thought. "According to the Fentons, lots of ghosts tend to stick to one area or location. Maybe we should just look around?" Tucker nodded. He stood up, allowing a bright light to briefly fill the room before he was left standing his ghost half. He reached a hand out to Sam, who looked puzzled.
"Come on," he encouraged her.
"What!?" she sputtered anxiously. "I can't go through walls." Tucker frowned. "And I can't just walk out the front door."
Tucker reached out to grab her hand, causing her to flush pink.
"It works with opening my locker door," he told her. "The same concept should apply."
Before Sam could protest, he turned them both intangible and pulled them through the floor. Sam let out a horrified shriek as they descended into the basement of the school. She finally stopped once she hit the floor, breathing heavily. Despite this, she had a wide grin on her face.
"Oh my god!" she gasped. "I can't believe that worked! How did you do that! How can you transfer your ghostly abilities so that I can experience the same thing as you!?" Tucker couldn't help but crack his own smile.
"I don't know, Sam," he admitted. "But we need to find Danny."
"Right, Danny." Sam agreed, giving a nod and turning serious. She noticed she was still holding Tucker's hand. Tucker suddenly let go of it, flushing a bit. "Let's go."
Danny gave a half-smile to Sidney as he accepted the apple from the other.
"Thank you," he said, a bit quietly. Sidney warmly smiled in returned. Danny reluctantly took a bite out of it. After all, he hadn't eaten lunch, and despite his kidnaping, Danny didn't really feel in danger. He wasn't even tied up. The goth was sitting on a box in the basement, surrounded by school supplies with Sidney floating before him.
"Are you hurt?" Sidney questioned, his voice equally quiet. Danny shook his head no.
"No. I'm fine," he assured him, forcing to smile more at him. "Tucker would never have hurt me. He's my best friend." Sidney's face fell.
"You're a bully too," he replied in disbelief. Danny put his hands up defensively.
"No-no-no!" he said quickly. "Tucker's not a bully." Danny hesitated. "I know it looks bad, and that he attacked you, but...to be fair, you were attacking other people too, Sid." The ghost's face soured.
"He was hurting people," he argued, clenching his fists together. They were shaking out of an anxious fear as he began to pace. "I couldn't do nothing. I had to do something." The ghost paused, his entire body briefly shaking. "When people do nothing, it's how people end up really, really hurt." Danny's heart went out to him.
"Is that what happened to you, man?" he asked, tone low. Sidney's lower lip quivered, and his eyes were tearing up dangerously.
"Why didn't anybody help me, Danny?" Sidney ignored his question. His voice was shaking dangerously. "Why were you the only person to ever ask me to sit with you at lunch? Nobody's asked me to sit with them. Nobody's ever bothered with me at all. Why did you?"
"I can't answer for why other people do stuff," Danny told him. "But I can say that I know what it's like to be alone, to not have any friends. Tuck was the first person who began talking to me, he kind of took me under his wing when I first moved to Amity Park, ya know? Him and Sam. They didn't care that my family were freaks, or that I was kind of weirdly into space. They still liked me. They're good friends."
Sidney didn't say anything, and Danny took the silence as a chance to continue to eat the apple.
"Danny!"
Sidney and Danny's attention snapped as Tucker slid into view, Sam not far behind him. Sidney pointed at Tucker accusingly, hands glowing. The school books and papers surrounding them began to form a stacked barrier around Danny with a few holes, allowing the goth to peek out at the upcoming battle.
"Stay back, bully!" Sidney called out. Tucker put his hands up in surrender.
"I'm not here to cause trouble," Tucker replied, raising his voice to assure he could be heard. "I just want Danny."
"You don't deserve him, you big bully! I know you hurt other ghosts just trying to find a home, you pick on others and you even go as far as to pick on your own family!" Sidney replied, narrowing his eyes accusingly. Tucker looked flabbergasted.
"Look, if this is about making a few things in my sister's room float to freak her out a bit-" he began, but he was cut off by a book being thrown at him. He managed to dodge. "Okay, you're clearly an only child!"
"Tucker, look out!" Sam yelled. Tucker pushed her off to the side before leaning back to avoid an incoming calculator.
"Remember the plan!" Tucker told her, and he began to fly straight towards Sidney. The ghost was caught off-guard, and they collided, sending them both flying backwards.
Sam made a beeline for Danny.
"Are you hurt?" she immediately questioned, reaching through the stack to grab for him. Danny took her hand, squeezing it.
"I'm good. He didn't do anything. He's actually been pretty chill," Danny confessed. Sam nodded, and they let go of each other's hands. Sam began to tug on one of the books that was keeping the barrier together.
"There has to be a structural weak point somewhere," Sam mused. She touched the barrier. "It looks like it's got an ectoplasmic coating over it keeping it together. But I don't know what or if I can do anything about it."
Sidney quickly recovered from being flown into. He grabbed Tucker by the shirt, throwing him off of him. Tucker managed to land, skidding slightly as he got his bearings. He flew back towards the ghost, fists ready and sending a punch. Sidney dodged, and he kicked the halfa in the gut. Tucker gasped, but quickly grabbed Sidney's foot, tossing him. The ghost yelped as he was sent flying.
"Tucker!" He glanced to observe his friends. Danny was still trapped, looking up at him as Sam was frantically trying to pull anything from the pile to make a big enough hole to allow the goth to escape. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sidney still flying. He made a quick decision, and he flew for his friends.
Surprisingly, Tucker was able to phase a hand through the barrier to grab Danny's shirt. He turned the goth intangible, pulling him through before wrapping an arm around both of his friends, holding him tightly to him before flying towards a wall to the outside as fast as he could. Soon as they were outside, Tucker slowed down.
Slower and slower, he floated towards the back of the school before collapsing, bringing Danny and Sam down with him. Tucker laid on his stomach for a moment, breathing heavily as he changed back, clothing his eyes. Danny shifted to sit up, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Damn. Most interesting first day of school ever," he lightly joked. Sam rolled her eyes as she sat up too. She placed a hand on Tucker's back, lightly rubbing it.
"Tuck?" she asked softly. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," the half-ghost panted. He shifted to rest his head on his arm.
"Dude, you look exhausted," Danny said.
"Flying through walls and fighting ghosts will do that to ya," Tucker tried to joke, giving a weak grin. He sighed tiredly as he rolled onto his back before sitting up. "I know we all promised that we'd go to the Nasty Burger today after school, but-"
"No, dude, we totally get it," Danny interrupted him.
"Yeah. We probably could all use an early night. There's always the weekend," Sam agreed. Tucker felt like the luckiest half-ghost ever.
"You're the best," he sighed. "I'll text you later, but for now, I got a date with my bed."
Tucker slowly closed the front door to his home, sighing heavily as he immediately leaned against it once it clicked shut. His eyes closed, and he took a few moments to just...think as his forehead rested on the wood.
"Tucker? Baby is that you?" Tucker jerked his head back from the door, glancing behind him at the empty surroundings. It sounded like his mom was in the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's me," Tucker called out, shifting to take the backpack off his shoulders, slinging it on the bottom step of the stairs as he passed them to the kitchen. He opened the swinging door and stepped in, only to nearly skid to a halt at the sight before him.
His mom had made a pie, and he could tell based on the smell that it was blackberry. His dad's favorite. Eyes darting around, he noticed a small blue wrapped box next to it, as well as a card on top of an envelope. His mom, Angela, glanced at him, giving a smile. She was putting the final touches on dinner. Tucker noticed a bottle of wine on the counter. His parents rarely drank.
"Hey honey, how was school?" she asked.
"Good," he lied, his heart racing a bit.
"That's good," she replied, a bit softly. She used the spoon she was cooking with to gesture to the table. "Go sign the card over there and seal it please, Olivia already signed."
Tucker went over to the cards. There was a pen on the table, and he picked it up. He read what Olivia and his mom had wrote.
CONGRATULATIONS DADDY! I love you! Love, Olivia
Congratulations, Maurice. I'm so proud of you. XOXO, Angela
"Wait, so the-"
"Guys in White called?" Maurice's voice happily called out as he came in through the same swinging door that Tucker came through. Tucker quickly scribbled a Congrats and his name before scrambling to put the card into the envelope. He put the card on the table before turning to look at his dad. He wasn't in uniform right now, but casual attire. "Yup! I got the job."
"And I'm so proud," Angela gushed. She set her spoon down, moving to Maurice and happily giving him a kiss. Tucker made a soft, grossed out noise.
"Next Monday, I will officially be the head agent at the Guys in White," his dad announced, giving Tucker a smile. Tucker smiled weakly back.
"That's great, Dad." Great. He was already in a boatload of trouble at school and Lancer was bound to be on his ass tomorrow, there was still a ghost on the lose, and his dad got the job. Perfect. Could today get any worse? "I'm sure you'll do great."