Again, it feels like I haven't posted in forever! So I dug up a story I wrote on the side when I found myself having a bit of writer's block and after editing it a few times I've decided I should post it just so you all know everything's find and dandy(: I'm working on this huge story, in which I already have 60 pages written, so I can't wait until I can post the first chapter!

But until then, I leave you with story. I have no ownership of Danny Phantom, but please enjoy anyways.

Dear Journal

It was a beautiful spring day. School would be over in a little less than three months, leaving nature to warm the skin of those who cherished it. Sam Manson, resident Goth freak, sat beneath a tree in the front lawn of Casper High School with an apple, a book, and a wistful look on her facial features. As a junior with exceptional smarts she was allowed a study hall and had lucked out receiving one last period. During this time she normally sat somewhere outside, if not in the library, to wait for class to end for her best friends Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton.

As of a couple months ago she began writing in a journal, which she refused to call a diary since Goths do not own diaries, about anything and everything that came to mind. Most pages were filled with poems or thoughts about Danny as writing relaxed her mind and nerves, and today was no exception.

Though I've been writing in this journal for a while, and I must admit it helps, it still doesn't soothe my soul completely as flying with Danny does. As a half-ghost superhero I wonder if he's gained any mind-reading abilities. I don't know how but whenever I find myself wishing to soar amongst the clouds or stars he shows up knocking on my window…

Tucker really is underappreciated. I should try and talk to Valerie for him. She's actually not too bad now that she knows about Danny's secret and isn't trying to kill him. If I could convince her on one date with Tucker I know she'd have a great time, as would Tuck. He really likes her and I have a bit of an inkling she likes him too…

The sessions with Jazz have been great. I never knew that holding in my feelings for Danny could cause so many internal issues, what with Danny freaking about him thinking I liked Phantom over Fenton. He's such a dork. They're both the same person: him! And when he gave me that choker, which I still wear, as a sign of his apology I could have sworn he wanted to say more…

Sam popped the pen in the page after signing her name, as usual, at the end of her entries. The bell rang, signaling the end of last period so she quickly stood to throw away her apple core and meet her boys at their lockers. Her things were already packed but what she didn't notice was that her zipper had failed to stay closed and instead revealed her belongings to those who looked carefully.

She was not greeted with a happy sight.

Tucker and Danny were both being held by their shirt collars by Dash's right and left-hand jocks, rolling their eyes at whatever idiotic banter that spewed from their mouths. Sam huffed in impatience as she made her way over. "Seriously? Can't you guys give them a break just this once?! Where's your ring leader?"

The jocks turned to look at her, smirking when they saw Dash approaching from behind the petite girl. For the past few weeks they'd found that the best way to pull at Foley and Fenturd's strings was to mock, embarrass, harasses, or anything to Sam. They'd never hurt her because they were against hitting girls, but almost everything else was fair game. "Well if it isn't Samantha," Dash purred.

Instantly Sam tensed, already knowing what he had in mind. She could take the insults, the mocking, the teasing, but she hated the flirting. Tucker's brotherly temper flared as he struggled to get out from his confinement as Danny froze sending an icy death glare towards Dash, who leaned down to whisper who knows what in Sam's right ear. "Piss off Dash," Sam sneered as she crossed her arms and turned the other way.

"You look especially hot today," Dash commented, soaking in her body. Though he'd never feel nor had he ever felt anything for the girl, he was certainly correct in his statement. Sam had blossomed during their sophomore summer, filling out in all the right places while maintaining her athletic body. Her hair grew a bit more in length, resting nicely on her shoulders, and she tended to wear more than just her skirt and top. Though still Goth, Sam often wore black skinny jeans and today a cropped purple top and vested jean jacket with a hood. She wore her make-up a bit lighter but the ponytail on top of her head remained present along with her combat boots and aging spider backpack.

Danny and Tucker also changed looks, though the beret and glasses were Tuck's constant as were Danny's red converse. But Tucker now wore a yellow hooded sweatshirt and brown khakis with green converse. Danny normally wore some blue-colored button-up casual shirt, sleeves rolled up, with dark wash jeans.

Tucker huffed angrily when he determined he could not escape the jock's hold and instead mouthed to Sam to run. He and Danny hated that the popular boys took jabs and advantage of Sam to get on their nerves, but they had no idea how to stop it from happening. Even after they'd convinced Sam to hide the jocks would spread out in search for her and leave Tucker and Danny hanging, forced to watch as they dragged Sam back until the point of utter embarrassment by the lovebirds, Sam ending up mad at one of the two, or they ran out of things to try cracking Danny.

Danny never moved nor spoke whenever they brought Sam into their fights except in initial warning. Tucker guessed it was because Danny believed he'd lose control and Go Ghost, which Sam begged him not to do. She could handle the few minutes of bullying for the greater good.

Sam sharply nodded at Tucker, unnoticed by the jocks since it was so small and quick, and took a deep breath as she prepared to run off. "Lay-off jackass," she jabbed just before taking off in a sprint. Dash must have seen it coming though because just before she could get too far for his reach he grabbed her backpack and pulled her back to roughly to him, her back to her chest.

"Now now, sweetheart, why can't you simply accept an innocent compliment?" He turned her so her hands were smashed between their chests, held tightly against his body. Danny tensed even more, fists clenching and unclenching as fire roared openly in Sam's eyes.

"Hands off Dash or you'll regret it," Sam growled. As she counted to 300 in her head, the normal amount of time it took for this abuse to end as she took a swing at Dash's shin with her boot. This resulted in a tighter grip around her shoulders and Dash bending down with a glare.

"Watch it Samantha." He would have said more had something not caught his eye in her open backpack. It seemed only he saw this, as Danny's eyes were currently closed to try and bring the ecto-energy releasing into his eyes back to his core and Tucker huffed and blinked sweat from his eyes. With his free hand, Dash snatched the book in question and slid it beneath his jacket on his back, resting between his lower back and jeans.

"Don't call me Samantha and for the last time, let go!"

Dash took Sam's cheeks in his right hand and forced her to look at him. "I'll call you whatever I want. See ya around babe." With that he took off followed by his wingmen, leaving Sam to stumble backwards. It was obvious they wouldn't find much of a reaction from Danny and Dash was way too interested in the book he'd stolen.

Tucker rushed over to her, checking for any bruises as he repeatedly asked, "Are you okay? Did the jerk hurt you?"

"I'm fine Tucker. Just growing tired at the stupidity of it all." She crossed her arms after Tucker determined she hadn't gotten a scratch and they walked over to a silently fuming Danny, who greedily took deep breaths to try soothing his raging hatred towards the head jock. He disliked when guys besides himself—sometimes even Tucker—touched Sam but hated when the jocks did it to try and force him to react. One of these days he'd snapp.

Sam put a gentle hand on Danny's left arm, his dominant limb, and immediately most of the tension left in favor of relaxation. She was safe. "C'mon, let's head home." Finally opening his eyes he found both friends nodding in agreement and Tucker took guard on Sam's left side as he took her right. She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as they made their way to Fenton Works.

Down a few blocks, Dash found himself leaning against his headboard in bed looking over the strange book. It was a deep violet and the first page read: Journal. He smirked. Opening to page one his eyes skimmed the text only to nearly pop out at reading the paragraph near the bottom.

I know Danny wouldn't like me thinking like this, but sometimes I wish I'd never dared him to walk into that stupid ghost portal. Sure, he says he loves being a halfa and that he couldn't imagine a life without being Danny Phantom, but I technically killed him! Well, half-killed him since he's still half alive, but still! Jazz says that she won't tell him that I feel this way and insists I don't regret it as much as I believe I do, so we'll see if the next few talks will help or not. She also thinks I should talk to Danny about it but I don't know…

Dash couldn't believe what he'd read. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom?

…It's bad enough I love my best friend and the feelings will probably never be reciprocated, but being the cause for why he can't ever be normal again, that I ruined my best friend's life...

No wonder he likes Paulina so much. She's normal and beautiful and bright—everything I'm not. Though I'm loathed to admit this, I'm nothing compared to her and her flawless skin. I guess I should be happy though. If him and her dating would make him happy then who am I to interfere? I'm just so jealous and…

It was as though a light bulb flickered to life above his head as Dash cruelly smiled into the pages. He, along with pretty much the rest of the school, new Danny felt the same for Sam as she did him. And he knew if he had a girlfriend, the last thing he'd want is her dumping him to date his enemy. Pulling his letterman back on, Dash took a picture of Sam's diary cover before hiding it in his wall safe, hidden from view behind a prized football. He then left his house, whistling happily as he made his way to Manson Mansion. Knocking on the door he was delighted to find that Sam was home and that he didn't hear anyone else moving around inside.

"What do you want Dash?" Sam spat at her visitor. She had been surprised when she first answered the door and was ready to slam it in his face, but something told her not too. And when Dash held up his phone to show her a picture she almost wished she had. Her face paled considerably as Dash smirked at her. "What do you want Dash?" The same question was asked, but this time full of dread, sadness, and barely above a whisper.

"Can I come in so you can hear my offer?" She gulped but opened the door wider anyways, unsure if she was happy or upset her parents weren't around. She showed him to her front room and sat on a chair, Dash taking the one opposite.

"How much have you read?"

"First few pages, so I know a lot. I'll admit it shocked me, but after I thought about it, it makes sense. Fenton's never around when Phantom is and both seem to hang around you and Foley."

"…Are you going to tell anyone? Have you told anyone?"

"Nope. That's actually why I'm here: to make a deal. And I won't budge on this one." Sam paled even more, her hands clenching her skirt as her eyes glossed over. She gave a curt nod and he continued, enjoying the power he felt over the situation. "You have to date me for the rest of the semester. That's two weeks. You can't tell anyone and you have to pretend to actually date me. If you don't or you tell, I'll spill all I know and use your diary as proof. In fact, you can never tell anyone."

"What?!" Sam could hardly believe her ears. Why would he want that, of all things? But soon it made total sense. This would kill both boys, especially Danny. Their friendships would be strained leaving her a broken mess as her friends would no doubt leave her after Dash 'dumped' her and she went 'crawling back' to them.

"You heard me. I'm going to make a big scene tomorrow to tell everyone and you better play along or else."

It took a few minutes for Sam to be able to breathe again, the tears threatening to flow freely from her eyes barely restrained. "I hate you," was how she agreed to his terms. He smirked, stood, and saw himself out the door leaving her shell-shocked in her chair. Once she heard the door slam shut she allowed herself to sob and cry until the sun went down. Making her way up to her room she threw pillows and books, shoes and clothes, anything she could get her hands on as she screamed and cried until exhaustion took over and she fell into a nightmare-plagued, restless sleep.

So, personally, I feel as though this could be an overused fanfic topic, and it's not a very mature plot line in my opinion, but I think it was a story I had to write. And I knew I have Dash taking advantage of Sam again, in case you've read my last posted story Deal with Dash, but I really didn't feel like creating a whole new character when Dash was ripe for the picking. Though I believe he could truly change his heart for the better, he was so easy to use as the villian. Sorry Dash lovers!

Another update is soon to come, I hope. With my busy schedule it may be a few days!