WoM- No, people, you aren't imagining things. WingsofMorphius has, in fact, risen back from the dead to begin writing again. Danny Phantom fanfics, at that.

For those of you who don't follow me on DeviantArt, let me just say that, after a long, hard soul searching, I finally came to terms with some stuff that was bothering me and now feel good about returning to that which I love. You can check out my profile for the whole story there, but to make it brief, I've decided that I will be revising my old Danny Phantom stories (primarily Gender Confusion at first, then others to follow) and working on new ideas as well. I'm already halfway done with my new Outline for Gender Confusion, so I'll try to send the first revised chapter of that to my betas before the end of the week.

Also on that note, Please remember to throw some gratitude at Obi-Quiet and IronBloodAika for putting up with my terrible grammar and spelling, made more terrible by the fact that I did not have a spell check when originally writing this chapter! THANK YOU GUUUUUUYS! 'huggles violently'

Summer Daze

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

- Aristotle

I wonder if this is what it feels like when you're run over by a steamroller? Wincing slightly as her ribs began to crack under the pressure of the bear hug she was currently trapped in, the dark haired young woman gave her mother a comforting pat on the back as she blinked back tears of pain.

"Promise you'll call every day?" the woman fussed as she finally released her eldest child, much to the younger's relief. "And please don't try and do anything too dangerous. I know you've been in worse before, but you'll be all alone over there, so-!"

"I'll be careful, Mama, I swear," the girl vowed for the umpteenth time, smiling as her mother dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "Even if I'm by myself, I'll probably be better protected then all the people who have been living there for years now."

"Of course she will be!" her grandfather interjected loudly, puffing up with pride. "After all, I gave her some of my most powerful charms to protect her! No ghosts will be able to get within a hundred feet of my beloved granddaughter!" Laughing weakly at her grandfather's boast, the girl turned to hug him as well. It surprised her a bit how much she was going to miss the man's odd antics now that she was moving away.

"Just... don't do anything too dangerous dear," her mother begged. "I mean, I heard that one of those ghosts over there almost destroyed the entire city..." The girl opened her mouth to reassure her mother again, but was cut off by a dry snort from the tall, gangly teen beside her.

"Come on, Mama. We all know she's gonna say she'll be careful, then the first time someone's in danger she'll jump right in to help," he said dryly before grinning hopefully at the woman. "But if you let me go with her-!"

"Because having BOTH of my children in a ghost-infested town on the other side of the planet is going to make me feel so much better," the mother said flatly. "The answer's still no, young man. Even if there wasn't the safety issue to worry about, our family still doesn't have the money to send you to school in America. Besides, it's your last year of high school!"

"And once again, I miss out on all the action," the teen grumbled, earning a laugh from his sister.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you anything that happens. I promise," she said, grinning at him before catching her mother's eye. "I mean, um... not that anything's GOING to happen, since I'm going to be careful since I'm all on my own over there..."

"At least until the first ghost attack, when you'll go running off into danger just like your brother said," her mother finished, giving a defeated sort of smile. "Just... promise not to get in over your head?"

"I haven't managed to yet, have I?" The daughter said in lieu of making the vow her mother wanted. Before the older woman could point this out, the Intercom buzzed to life and a woman's voice floated over the crowd.

"Flight 281 to St. Paul, Minnesota is now boarding. Passengers please make your way to the gate with your ticket."

"Well, that's me," the young woman said, shouldering a bag before pulling her mother in for one last hug.

"You'll call us as soon as your plane lands. And again once you're all set up in Amity Park?" The older woman asked tearfully.

"Of course, Mama," the woman said with a warm smile. "I'll call every day, I promise," letting her mother go, the woman then turned to her brother, who accepted her hug with a grin.

"Knock 'em dead sis," he said jokingly.

"How can I if they're already dead to begin with?" the girl countered with a teasing smirk. "Don't break too many hearts while I'm gone, okay?"

"No promises." Shaking her head at her brother's cheekiness, the woman at last turned to her grandfather, who was looking quite tearful at this point.

"Remember to put up all the protective charms I gave you! And keep one with you at all times! Ghosts are tricky creatures, especially powerful ones, so you have to be careful who you trust over there! Better not let anyone in your house, especially young men..."

"I'll keep that in mind, grandpa!" the woman chuckled as she hugged him. Releasing the old man, the dark haired woman grinned at her family as a whole for one last time before she started towards her plane. "Well then, wish me luck!"

I'm gonna need it if this crazy plan of mine has any hope of working... She added silently to herself as her family responded enthusiastically. Heart hammering, the young woman stepped on to the plane that would carry her away from her family, her home and everything else she had ever known. As her feet carried her away from the life she had led, the young lady suddenly recalled words from a conversation she held years ago with the being who played a big role in trying to ruin her life.

Moving forward is the only way back.

Determination swelled up in her as she thought of those words, making her fear and uncertainty ebb as her grip tightened on the weathered yellow backpack she carted with her onto the plane. It was far too late to turn back now, and she had no intention of doing anything of the sort. No matter what, she'd find what she was looking for, and no super-powered Spiritual Entity was going to stand in her way. Forcing a smile for the flight attendant, the woman spared one last look to her family before turning to face her future, whatever it may hold.

"Amity Park, here I come."

"You suck, Sam."

Samantha Abigail Manson- or Sam to anyone who didn't feel like swallowing their own teeth- rolled her eyes at her friend's accusation before throwing a flat look at the bespectacled boy who made it.

"Whine all you want, Tucker, you can't change the fact that school's starting again in less than a week, and none of us have any new school supplies," Sam shot back as she physically dragged the boy into the mall. She ignored the way that gooseflesh rose up on her arms when she walked under the air conditioning unit, which was doing its best to make the interior of the building a good fifty degrees cooler then what it was outside.

"Speak for yourself," the dark haired boy following them scoffed. "Jazz has enough school supplies to last both of us until college."

"Does that include the summer school that Lancer keeps threatening you with now?" Tucker joked, grinning at his best friend grimace at the reminder of that particularly unsavory conversation just before their freshman year had let out for the last time.

"He didn't threaten me," the blue eyed boy said defensively. "He just warned me that I'd be in trouble if I kept up with the whole 'skipping class and not turning in my homework thing.'"

"Sooo less of a threat and more of a promise," Sam pointed out, somewhere between exasperated and amused. "Any chance the ghosts have learned their lesson about popping up during school hours yet? You'd think after a whole year of having their butts kicked by Danny Phantom, something would start to sink in."

"Not likely," Danny Fenton, better known as Amity Park's infamous ghost boy Danny Phantom, grumbled a bit as he thought about the seemingly never-ending stream of ghosts that he was constantly fighting off in an attempt to keep his city safe. "If anything, there are more and more coming out lately to try and fight me. I'm thinking of putting up a toll booth in front of the Fenton Portal soon. 'Least that way, I can get some cash outta this superhero gig..."

"Do ghosts even carry money?" Tucker wondered, clearly bemused with the idea.

"What, you think Skulker works for Vlad out of the goodness of his heart?" Danny shot back, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

"True. Hey, I wonder what the going rate for a good lackey is nowadays? Has to beat the sidekick gig." Tucker pouted childishly at his nearly empty wallet as he said this, which made both of his companions shake their heads in exasperation.

"If I can talk my parents into going along with my toll booth idea, I'll split my share of the profits with you."

"Are you two done with the get rich quick schemes yet? We still need to buy our school supplies, you know," Sam reminded them tartly, making Danny gape at her.

"Okay seriously, who are you and what have you done with Sam?" the boy asked warily. "I mean, I get Jazz being all geared up to start school, but you?" Looking offended, Sam opened her mouth to demand to know what her friend meant by that when Tucker broke in with a comment of his own.

"She just wants to check out that new Supernatural Studies class they're starting this year. It's been pretty much all she talks about for, like, the last three months."

Thank you, Tucker. Sam thought sourly, elbowing her friend in the rib as retribution for his big mouth as Danny's face darkened. Want to remind him of the fact that his older ghost self almost destroyed the world while you're at it? Sighing, Sam turned back to her other friend with a halfway pleading look on her face.

"Come on, Danny, you have to admit it sounds interesting."

"Oh sure, what's more interesting than having more people around that could threaten my secret?" Danny asked bitterly as the trio entered an electronics store. "Think I'll get extra credit if the teacher turns me into a lab rat?"

"No one's turning you into a lab rat," Sam rolled her eyes at her friend's dramatics. "Danny, you live with two professional ghost hunters and dated Valerie," Sam grimaced as she spat out that particular name. "None of them ever figured out that there's anything different about you, so why should some silly teacher be any more of a threat?" Danny considered his friend's words for a moment before relaxing minutely.

"Yeah," he conceded at last. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," Sam shot back with a grin. "So stop worrying about something that's probably not even going to be an issue and start getting excited. I mean, we're getting graded on how well we know ghosts. You should be able to pass this class in your sleep!" Danny grinned widely at Sam's point. Now that she mentioned it, there was something kinda awesome about that.

"Oof!" Danny grunted when he accidentally plowed into Tucker while he was considering this.

"Tucker?" Sam inquired with a worried frown before groaning at the all too familiar look that had glazed over her friend's face. "Oh, no..."

As one, Sam and Danny followed the besotted boy's line of sight to see what their friend was currently drooling over, their eyes soon falling on a pretty Asian woman with long black hair, who was pouting in front of the PC displays. Blinking, Danny turned to his female friend with a shrug.

"Well hey, at least it's a girl this time instead of the new MeDock."

"Dude, she's hot!" Tucker said, eyeing the curves that the woman's flowing, baby blue sundress left tastefully displayed.

"She's also a college student," Sam pointed out, a little dismayed that she was the only one who noticed this. "Waaaay out of your league, Romeo."

"Sam has a point," Danny at least had the good grace to sound apologetic about this, though privately he figured that even if the girl had been their age, Tucker probably still wouldn't have had a shot with her.

"Can't you guys at least let me dream?" Tucker whined, earning vicious looking grins from both his friends. "...You know what? You guys both suck."

"Come on, Tucker, we're just looking out for you," Danny reassured the boy with a grin. "I mean, think about it; what are the chances of a hot, older woman showing even a remote interest in guys like us?" Deflating, Tucker was about to concede his friend's point when suddenly a sweet, feminine voice broke in, making all three teen turn in surprise.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but do any of you guys know anything about computers?" Apparently, the woman they were discussing not moments before had approached them without any of the trio noticing, since she was now grinning sheepishly at them as she tucked a stray strand of wavy black hair behind her ear. "I need one before school starts, and when it comes to modern technology I'm pretty much hopeless with anything more complicated than a light switch."

Gaping in shock, Sam could only watch as Tucker's face light up like the Fourth of July. Wasting no time, the black teen grabbed the older girl by the wrist and dragged her back to the PC displays to begin toting the pros and cons of each model.

"Huh. First time for everything, I guess," the goth said dryly, turning to see what her companion thought of this recent turn of events to find Danny staring at the woman Tucker was with like he couldn't quite figure out what he was seeing.

"-And this one's got better graphics for games and stuff, but you need to watch out because the new OS is pretty buggy, but if you just-"

"Um, not that all of this isn't very interesting, but I was actually sorta just hoping you could recommend one that could handle the school year without blowing up in my face. I'm really not all that into games or anything. I mean, I'm sure they're very entertaining, but my family never had computers or anything in our home, so..." The girl looked a little embarrassed to admit this, which probably had something to do with the fact that Tucker was now giving her a look of abject horror.

"You don't play games?!" The boy repeated, making it sound as though the girl had just confessed to murder.

"Chill the melodramatics, Tuck," Sam scoffed before turning to address the increasingly uncomfortable girl. "If you want something simple for school, I'd recommend that Bell Desktop over there; the red one near the end. My grandma has one at home, and she uses it for almost everything.

"Thank you," the girl said, looking grateful. "I'll get that one, then. Good thing I spotted you guys, I was about to just play eeny meeny miny moe and just pick one randomly so I didn't spend the next five hours here looking like an idiot. I still have to shop for furniture and stuff too, after all."

"Did you just move to Amity Park?" Tucker asked curiously. The woman had an Asian accent, but spoke English well enough that it wasn't terribly noticeable, which suggested a foreign upbringing. But he couldn't imagine anyone from another country intentionally moving to Amity Park to attend college.

"About five minutes ago, actually," the woman laughed. "I came in last night around ten and crashed in a motel since my new apartment isn't furnished yet. I take it you guys have been here for a while?"

"Only our whole lives," Sam sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Do you three go to Casper High?"

"What? No! We just, um, look really young for our ages!" Tucker lied—badly. "I just so happen to be the CEO of a very successful company, and these two are my secretary and janitor!" Sam glared at Tucker for that, and Danny probably would've as well if he wasn't watching the woman they were speaking to like he was afraid she'd explode at any moment. Fighting back a laugh, the girl turned an inquiring look to Sam, who sighed through her nose before answering.

"Yeah, we're in the tenth grade. Why do you ask?"

"My Aunt Aoko is the principal over there. She calls every now and then to talk about the school and all that ghost stuff that happens around here," the woman explained. Sam, Tucker and even Danny reeled for a moment at this information.

"Wait... Principal Ishiyama is your Aunt?!" Danny said, trying and failing to find a resemblance between their stern principal and the young woman before them.

"That is what I just said," the girl replied, bemused. "Anyways, do you guys like it over there? It's gotta be pretty freaky to get attacked by ghosts pretty much every other day."

"Nah, you get used to it after a while," Tucker insisted, putting on the airs of being tough. "Ghosts know who not to mess with in this town, and none of them would dare lay a finger on Tucker Foley."

"I see," the girl laughed, shooting Sam a bemused look when the goth rolled her eyes.

"We don't have anything to worry about at Casper High as long as Danny Phantom is around," Sam stated firmly, making Danny grin in a rather goofy sort of way.

"Yes, I've heard a lot about the local ghost boy," the girl said. "He's very popular even all the way over in Tokyo. Some of the girls in my brother's high school carry around pictures of him in their wallets. It's supposed to protect you from evil spirits."

"Seriously?" Danny said, caught off guard at the woman's statement. It was a little strange, knowing that girls on the other side of the planet were using him as a ghost repellant.

"Yeah. Don't know how well that works though. If things are really that bad over here in Amity Park, I might have to give it a try myself to see if it helps." Danny blushed a bit at the thought of the older girl keeping his picture around all the time, which made Sam shoot him a flat look and Tucker sulk a bit.

"Or you can use my picture instead!" Tucker insisted stubbornly. "Like I said, none of the ghosts mess with me! It'll work loads better then Phantom's picture, promise!"

"I'll keep that in mind," The woman laughed. "Anyways, I'd better buy my computer and get out of here before the furniture store closes. Thanks again for your help, it was nice meeting you three."

"Same here..." Tucker sighed waving at the girl walked away to flag down a store employee. "Man, that chick is hot!"

"Give it a rest, Tucker. She's too old for you," Sam reminded her friend, as she dragged him off to the section of the store that had the supplies they needed.

"Oh come on, she's only about twenty or so, right? That makes it a five year age difference! Five years is nothing in this day and age!"

"Oh really, and how do you plan on getting her to notice you as more than just some geeky high school kid who takes video games way too seriously?" Sam questioned.

"Easy, I'll find out which college she goes to and arrange a few 'accidental' meetings. Chicks love that sorta stuff!" Sam frowned a bit at that comment; disapproval heavy on her face. Before she could voice it, though, Danny broke in with a comment of his own.

"It might be better to keep your distance, Tuck. There was something really weird about her," Both friends turned to give their half ghost companion their full attention.

"Weird?" Sam repeated, narrowing her eyes. "Like ghost weird?"

"No... well, maybe... I dunno," Danny frowned as Sam and Tucker exchanged confused glances.

"Which is it, man?" Tucker asked.

"It's hard to explain. The whole time she was around, I had this weird feeling. It wasn't my ghost sense, but it was kinda like... well, you know that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep, then it's all numb and tingly for a long time afterwards? It was kinda like that, only in my whole body. I dunno, maybe I should follow her for a bit, to make sure she's not dangerous or something."

"So she's potentially dangerous because she gave you whole body sleepy foot tingles?" Tucker was clearly not impressed with Danny's logic. "Dude, you're losing it." Danny scowled a bit at Tucker's comment, which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Sam.

"Look, I'm not saying that your weird feeling is something to ignore, Danny, but if you think that Tucker shouldn't be following her around then you probably shouldn't be either. No sense in looking for trouble if it has powers you don't know anything about. We'll let Tucker stalk her for a bit, that'll give us way to figure out what your tingles are all about without tipping her off."

"Romance!" Tucker corrected with a scowl. "I'm gonna romance her, not stalk!"

"In your world, Tucker, those are the same thing."

It took a moment for Sam's words to sink in, but once they did a scowl quickly worked its way across the tech geek's face.

"Hey!"

As a man who had been educating children for longer then he cared to remember, Obadiah Lancer had a lot of reservations about the changes that had been made recently to the Casper High curriculum. Specifically, he worried about the new so-called 'Supernatural Studies' class that was now being implemented. It wasn't that he didn't feel there was a need for the children to learn to protect themselves from the spirits that were constantly harassing their school. Actually he wouldn't mind a few lessons on how to keep ghosts at bay himself, to be honest. But the fact of the matter remained that he had very little faith in any humans knowing how to deal with the supernatural on any sort of level. And for good reason, with all the bumbling ghost hunters that were constantly tearing through Amity Park. The only one who seemed fairly competent was the mysterious red hunter, who was also just that; a mystery. He highly doubted that the young lady would reveal herself just to teach a high school class, and even less that she was qualified to teach at all.

To the reassurance of absolutely no one, Principal Ishiyama was unusually tight-lipped about why she thought the person she hired was fit for the admittedly odd job they would be required to do. She simply kept insisting that she had complete faith in the new teacher she hired, and that it would be virtually impossible to find someone more qualified to teach about the supernatural world.

Staring down at the five foot one twenty-four year old Asian woman in a white sleeveless turtleneck blouse over a pink skirt and brown boots, Lancer found himself seriously doubting the Principal's sanity.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Lancer," the girl said with a respectful bow that had her thick black hair slipping over her shoulders to curtain the sides of her face. "My Aunt Aoko has told me what a respected colleague you are here at Casper High. I look forward to working alongside you."

"Ah, yes... well... you too," Lancer managed despite his confusion. Aunt Aoko? This girl was Principal Ishiyama's niece? THAT was her idea of a qualified instructor?! "I have to admit though I wasn't expecting someone so... erm..." Oh, the adjectives that came to mind; small, cheerful, girlish, so vulnerable that he couldn't imagine her being able to protect herself from a ghost, much less show another person how to fend off spiritual attacks. "...Young. Have you had any experience teaching before?"

"I was a student teacher last year at Seiyo Academy, but this will be my first time having my own class," the girl confessed, looking a little nervous.

"And... you've had experience with the supernatural before?" Lancer asked doubtfully.

"More experience then I've had teaching, to tell you the truth."

What?

His confusion must have shown on his face, since the young lady hid a laugh behind her hand, blue eyes sparkling at the older instructor.

"I've had a very unusual life, Mr. Lancer," she explained. "It would take me a long time to explain it all to you, and you probably won't believe most of it, but let's just say that if there's one thing I can do and do well, it's keep supernatural beings in line. To be honest, it's the teenagers I'm more worried about then the ghosts."

"Smart woman," Lancer said dryly, earning a grin from the girl.

"Though I actually did meet a few of the kids that go here the other day when I was computer shopping. They seemed like good kids. A little unusual, but good."

"Yes, Casper High does have a few good kids mixed in with the disobedient, self absorbed youths that that seem to congregate in our halls," Lancer confessed, smiling wryly. "Unfortunately, you can't afford to be soft with any of them, especially the good ones. I find that they are general the ones most in need of a firm hand to keep them on task."

"I'll keep that in mind, sir," the girl said with a giggle, which made the older teacher smile.

Well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a younger teacher around, after all.

"Well then, young lady, I suppose that it's time to begin your tour around the school," Lancer said cheerfully as he escorted the blue eyed woman to the door. "I'm sure your Aunt has already provided you with a map, but the other teachers and I have found several routes for quick, easy escapes in the case of a ghost attack. Since the priority in this school is to keep the students safe, it's best that you memorize them as well."

"Of course, Mr. Lancer. I'll do my best," the young lady said, smiling brightly at the vice principal.

Over the next twenty minutes he spent showing the new teacher around Casper High's meager faculties, Lancer quickly found himself being charmed by the young lady accompanying him, to the point where he quickly found himself disregarding her age and lack of experience as a setback. Aoko Ishiyama's niece was cheerful, outgoing, intelligent and had manners as pretty as her appearance. It was nice to be treated with respect for once, since it was something he rarely got from either his students or fellow staff members. She didn't even laugh or give him strange looks when he mentioned that he used to be a male cheerleader.

He learned quite a bit about the young lady herself as well. She liked animals, but had a paralyzing fear of insects, particularly centipedes and spiders. Her favorite subject in school was History, though she was skilled in English as well since her grandmother on her father's side was an American and her mother—Principal Ishiyama's older sister—had been born an American citizen as well, but the family moved back to Japan after the second world war to escape discrimination after the young lady's mother had her arm broken in a tussle she got into with some older boys. Principal Ishiyama moved back to America in her twenties with her husband when he got a well-paying job at Axion Labs, where the man still worked today.

The young teacher didn't like cars, and preferred to walk to and from school even though it was a twenty minute travel on foot, and despite being young, she didn't acquire her generation's taste for modern technology. Instead, the girl preferred reading as a past time, and favored quite a number of classic books that Lancer had in his personal library at home. She also greatly enjoyed the outdoors, and was already working to set up a small garden on the balcony of her new apartment. And even though she had graduated with a degree in education, the girl was interested and adept in medicine as well, though she lacked any formal training in the field.

The more he spoke to the girl, though, the more questions began to burn in the older teacher's mind until finally he found himself unable to contain his curiosity.

"I must admit, it doesn't make any sense to me," he said, earning a puzzled look from his companion. "You are a very charismatic and intelligent young woman. What on earth would possess you—If you'd pardon the bad pun—to come teach at the most haunted school in the most haunted city in America rather than finding a job in Japan where you could remain close to your family? Surely you must have had job offers over there."

"A few," the girl confessed. "But Casper High is the only one I could really consider, even if it meant moving away from home. Even if it's strange and dangerous, I feel like this is the place my experience is best suited for."

That answer, if anything, only served to make Lancer even more curious about the young lady.

Before he could persist further, though, an obnoxious wolf whistle sounded from across the hall, making both educators turn to find a group of students leering at the young female teacher.

"Some of the disobedient, self absorbed youths, I take it?" The girl sighed, looking a mildly aggravated at the ill-mannered teens.

"They may be among their numbers, yes," Lancer agreed flatly, glaring at the students. Raising his voice, the teacher boomed across the hall. "That's enough of that behavior! If you boys are going to act like a bunch of wild animals, then I'll be sure to lock you up like one. In detention!" The boys fled at Lancer's threat, laughing and shouting as they departed.

"Hey babe! Lose the old man and I'll show you a real good time!"

"Call me sometime, sexy!"

"Be seein' you in my dreams, beautiful!"

"Charming," The young woman scoffed, clearly not impressed with the teenage boys' and their audacity.

"Don't worry, Miss. I'll be sure to teach those little hoodlums a lesson about respect later," Mr. Lancer fumed, a little embarrassed that the newcomer had already seen some of the most blatantly disrespectful students the school had to offer.

"Actually, I'd like to handle it myself, if you don't mind," the younger teacher requested with a bright smile that made it rather difficult to say no to the pretty young woman.

"Well, I suppose..." Mr. Lancer said, faintly confused. "May I ask what you have in mind for their punishment?"

The young Asian woman's smile practically began to sparkle in response to Lancer's question. It was actually sort of terrifying now, to be honest.

"Oh don't worry. I'll just be asking them to help demonstrate some of the safety procedures I'll be teaching the class throughout the school year." Lancer blinked at that, more than a little thrown.

"And that's punishment how, exactly?" The vice principal wondered.

The girl merely smiled wider in reply.

"You're a horrible stalker, Tucker."

"Shut up."

"Seriously, man. A whole week and you still haven't been able to track down that computer chick?"

"Hey! I'm still working on it, okay?!" Shaking her head as her best friends argued, Sam couldn't help but grin to herself as she pulled an armload of books out of her locker.

There's something kinda sick about the fact that these sort of conversations are normal around here, the goth mused as she closed her locker and turned back to her friends.

"Don't be so hard on him, Danny. I mean, other than the creepy tingle you got when you met that girl, there hasn't been anything abnormal happening lately. Same ol' ghosts, same ol' fights, same ol' world domination schemes... Maybe that girl is just a normal college student who had too much static electricity around her that day or something."

Danny pulled a face at that, but he couldn't deny that Sam had a point. Despite his fears about a new power being at play in the city, there hadn't been anything especially weird going on since he bumped into the computer girl.

Well, weird by Amity Park's standards, anyways.

"I know, I know," the blue eyed teen groused. "I just... I have a bad feeling about it, okay? Something about that girl was super creepy."

"You're really starting to get paranoid if you look at a college chick as hot as that and think 'creepy,' man," Tucker stated flatly.

"You want me to stop being paranoid?" Danny shot back with a dirty look. "Find her and help me figure out why I wanted to run screaming the other way when I saw her."

"Like I said, man, I'm working on it, but there isn't much to go on. We didn't get her name, so all we really know is that she's a college girl here to start school and she just moved into a new apartment. Not exactly the best information to have when you're searching for someone, man."

"Come to think of it, isn't that a little strange?" Sam realized with a frown. "I mean, college terms don't start for another month. Why was she in such a hurry to get ready for school if she still has all that time?"

"Maybe she just wanted to acquaint herself with the city?" Tucker suggested. "I mean, she did move here all the way from Japan, after all."

"Okay, then why the motel and the apartment?" Sam asked. "She said Principal Ishiyama's her aunt, right? And they talk a lot despite the international charges, so they must be on good terms. Couldn't she live with her while she went to school? I mean, I've seen Principal Ishiyama's house, and she's got plenty of room for creepy, tingly college girls."

"Oh come on, there was nothing creepy about that girl!" Tucker groused, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, that is pretty weird," Danny realized, frowning. "Hey, Tucker, did you look into Principal Ishiyama's family to see what you can find there?" Tucker froze at his friend's question, making both Danny and Sam stare at him incredulously.

"You didn't, did you?" Sam accused dryly, making the bespectacled boy blush.

"I forgot she said that the Principal was her aunt, okay?!" Tucker grumbled, looking thoroughly embarrassed at missing the most obvious lead to the mystery girl's identity. Pulling out his PDA, Tucker began to do a search as Danny and Sam exchanged looks over his head.

"Danny!" Jolting at the sound of his name, Danny turned to find his sister jogging towards him with an armful of books. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"You have?" Danny asked, puzzled. "Why? Is there a problem?"

"No, but I wanted to catch you before you went to first hour to tell you to take notes for me," Jazz demanded, handing her little brother a red notebook as he stared at her in confusion. Notes? Why would Jazz want him to take-

...Oh.

Oh, Crap.

"Supernatural Studies!" Danny groaned, smacking his forehead. "Man, I was so busy trying to find the creepy chick I completely forgot about that stupid class!"

"Creepy chick?" Jazz repeated, turning to Sam with a worried look. "Should I be concerned?"

"We aren't yet," Sam replied with a shrug. Taking that as a no, Jazz turned back to her brother to focus on the task at hand.

"Well anyways, I want to make sure I have someone taking notes for me in all the Supernatural Studies classes, in case the teacher covers anything or answers any questions in one class that she doesn't in mine. Make sure to write everything down, okay? I don't want to miss a single detail! Oh, and can you ask her some of these questions, too? And tell me if she has any books she recommends as soon as you leave class, that way I can start on them before I see her!"

"Isn't this a little excessive, Jazz?" Sam wondered. She was looking forward to Supernatural Studies herself, but the older redhead teen was kind of starting to scare her with her enthusiasm.

"Are you kidding? Principal Ishiyama says she personally called in a true expert in the supernatural to teach this class. Someone with intelligence and reason who has learned about the spiritual world on a deeper level than anyone else in the world, instead of just a nutjob in a hazmat suit waving around an ecto gun." Danny frowned a bit at the scorn in his sister's voice when she made a not-so-subtle reference to their enthusiastically trigger-happy parents, who were both still a little sullen that they weren't asked to teach this Supernatural Class instead of some outsider.

Truth be told, the relief Danny felt that his parents wouldn't be coming to school with him greatly outweighed any worries he had about the so-called supernatural expert they had brought in instead. A sentiment he knew his older sister shared.

"Anyways, promise me you'll take notes for me, okay? I don't want to miss anything, since this is my senior year and I won't be able to learn as much from the teacher before I go." Jazz seemed genuinely upset by this fact, which would have amused Danny if he hadn't been busy worrying about this new teacher again.

What exactly did their principal mean by a true expert, anyways?

"Honestly Jazz, I'm pretty sure you're getting your hopes up for nothing," Sam pointed out. "I mean, as far as 'learning about the spiritual world on a deeper level than anyone else in the world' I don't think there's anyone that tops Danny."

"Other than Vlad," Danny suggested, his tone a bit dark as he threw out the other half ghost's name. For a moment, Danny imagined Vlad in his school, teaching one of his classes before promptly throwing the thought far, far away.

Like he really needed any more nightmare material.

"Just take the stupid notes!" Jazz snapped, exasperated. "I gotta go now. English starts in two minutes. Good luck, Danny! You too Sam, Tucker!" And, before the trio could say anything in turn, the redhead plowed back through the crowd on her way to her class. Shaking her head, Sam turned to her friends with a weary sigh.

"Come on, we better get to class, too," the goth said as she grabbed Tucker and began hauling him down the hall, Danny following somewhat reluctantly.

He still had a bit of a bad feeling about this Supernatural Studies stuff, to be honest, and his sister's little speech out in the hall about how brilliant their teacher was supposed to be hadn't made him feel any better.

Entering the class, Danny suddenly felt much, much worse.

"Well well, if it isn't Fen-turd!" Dash Baxter, quarterback and bully extraordinaire sneered at the smaller, paler teen from across the room, leaning away from the pretty Hispanic girl he'd been flirting with to eye Danny evilly. "And here I thought you did us all a favor and died over the summer or something."

There was an irony somewhere in Dash's statement, but Danny was too busy smarting at the popular boy's comment to find it.

"Back off, Baxter," the pretty curly haired black girl in the front of the room snarled at Dash. "Unless you want the next new grave in Amity Park to be yours, anyways."

"Oooh, got girls fighting your battle for you now, Fenton?" Dash sneered. Wisely though, the boy didn't challenge the girl's threat any further. Valerie Gray was truly a force to be reckoned with when she found something was worth fighting for. Danny knew that painfully, painfully well.

Shooting Valerie a weak, but grateful grin, Danny followed his friends as Sam led them towards the back corner of the room, which was as far away from both Valerie and Paulina as she could get. Purely coincidental, of course.

"Hey, I think I got something!" Tucker exclaimed, grinning proudly at his PDA while it beeped and gave him the information he needed. "Hang on, just gotta put it through a translator so it's not in Japanese anymore..." Before Tucker could do this, Mr. Lancer entered the room, looking as stern and formidable as ever.

"Alright, class settle down. Mr. Foley, please put that away before I confiscate it again." Hastily, Tucker hid his PDA from sight. He knew better then to test Mr. Lancer's threat to take away his beloved electronics. "Now then, as I'm sure you all know, there's a new teacher here at Casper High, brought here specifically to teach you how to protect yourself from ghosts and various other supernatural beings. This is a very important thing to learn given the state of our town, so I don't want to hear anything about people acting up in this class. You are to treat her with the same respect that you show all other authority figures. If I find out about someone giving her a hard time, I will personally make sure that the culprit never sees the outside of the detention room for a long, long time, understand?"

Danny felt mildly offended at the fact that Lancer gave him a pointed look when he said that. It quickly vanished though, when a weird, numb tingly feeling began creeping its way into his consciousness just before a warm, feminine laugh sounded on the other side of the classroom door.

Oh, no...

"Come on, Mr. Lancer, there's no need to scare the kids," the young Asian woman said as she entered the room, oblivious to the curious looks she was getting from most of the class and the unfiltered alarm and shock on the faces of three teens in particular. "I'm sure they get the message by now, there's no reason to be so overprotective."

"Just making sure they understand," Mr. Lancer said with one last long, hard look around the room. "Feel free to tell me if anyone gives you any problems, young lady, my door is always open."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," the woman said brightly as Mr. Lancer left. As soon as the door closed behind him, the woman grinned widely at the class. "Well then! On to business, I guess." Turning around, the woman began to write on the board, oblivious to the internal screaming of a certain half ghost as she did so.

Oh, nononononooo...

"There we go!" The woman half sang out when she finished printing her name and class information on the board in large letters. "So, as you can see, I'm Miss Kagome Higurashi, and I'll be your instructor in all things supernatural!"

As the rest of the class stared dumbly at the woman who barely looked any older than them, Danny buried his head into his arms, one woeful lament working its way through his mind as he realized that he was going to be seeing a lot more of the creepy computer chick then he originally thought.

Why me?!

WoM- You have no idea how much I sulked over the fact that the submission style here on ffn basically ruined the surprise of who the teacher was gonna be. 'sighs dramatically' Well, whatever. I had fun writing this, either way. And there are many more fun things to come, trust me on that. Or don't. I like surprising people. Anywho, thoughts and feedback are grately appreciated! please try to keep some of it relevant to the story, though. Anyone who leaves a review that's entirely about other fanfics of mine will be smacked with a rolled up newpaper. 'assumes batting position'