DISCLAIMER: I do not own DP or any of its rightful characters.

Sam was officially sick of Paulina.

The sassy, shallow, and snobby Latina was even more impudent towards her for reasons that pointed nowhere other than jealousy. This was only evident because before Danny's secret was revealed and before he and Sam became a thing two years prior, she would more often than not pretend that she didn't exist, but afterwards, she started to pick at her every chance that she got.

She just ignored her for the most part, but she knew that her patience was running thin. Paulina made it a daily mission of hers to push or trip her in the hallway at school or steal her clothes during their shared gym class. The latter incident ceased once she stopped putting her clothes in her locker, but she was still highly irritated about having to move her belongings in the first place.

She was always a strong and tough individual, which is why she tried her best to not let the girl's foolish antics and desperate cries for attention get under her skin, but a person could only endure so much before something inside of them snapped. Still, she somehow managed to maintain her composure after each incident and walk away with her head held high.

Except that day.

She was having the roughest morning of her junior year. First, she overslept and was late to school because she forgot to set her alarm clock the night before, and because her parents and her grandmother were out that morning, nobody was around to wake her up. That, and she woke up with painful menstrual cramps.

Then, it started to rain on her way to school. She usually didn't mind rain, but having to rush to school in it and then having to enter the cold building while dripping like a wet rat wasn't exactly her favorite thing to do, especially in the morning.

Paulina harassing her as soon as she stepped into the building is what locked her in a bad mood. She was already feeling a bit insecure that day, so she wasn't in the mood to deal with the snickering, the insults, and the staring that she received from the Latina and her friends.

So, everything unfolded during Mr. Lancer's English class. He had been promoted to an upperclassmen Honors teacher during her sophomore year, which meant that she wasn't able to take his class until her current junior year. She shared the same class period with almost everyone from her Freshman year's class, save for Valerie, who had transferred schools during her sophomore year.

Mr. Lancer was standing near the front board of his classroom, explaining the assignment for the morning to his students. It was a group activity, which was something that Sam hated because she much preferred working solo. She should've liked working with Tucker and Danny, but Tucker was a bit of a pushover and Danny was always either distracted or asleep.

"After you and your group finish reading the passage, answer the six questions on the next page and turn it in on separate sheets of paper," Mr. Lancer instructed, casting a stern glance towards Dash. "Everybody must participate. One person is not allowed to do all of the work."

A few jocks groaned whilst a few nerds blew a short breath of relief. Sam paid them no attention and began doodling on the inside of her sketchbook, waiting for further instructions from Mr. Lancer. She was just in the middle of touching up on the Gothic Angel she had been working on when she felt something lightly hit her neck.

Curious, she glanced behind her, but Tucker and Danny were both oblivious and engaged in their own side conversation. She waited a few seconds to see if one of them would break character and start cracking up, but neither of them budged. Her eyes then panned around the room and towards the corner, where Paulina, Kwan, and Dash were snickering.

"Figures." She looked down and saw a small chunk of an eraser on the floor, which only made her roll her eyes and revert her attention to her drawing. She was certain that Paulina was the culprit because Dash and Kwan eased up on torturing her after Danny's secret was revealed. Sure, they were both still extremely childish, but Paulina definitely took the cake.

"Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley, Miss Vidal, and Miss Chambers, you're all going to be partnered up for this assignment." Mr. Lancer took a seat at his desk and folded his arms across his chest. "Please, push your desks together. Silently, if you will."

"Score!" Tucker whispered to Danny, who merely smirked in response and stood up to move his desk. Tucker joined him, but not before casting a sympathetic glance towards Sam, who had turned around to stare at him. "Don't feel left out, Sammy. This will all be over before you know it."

She offered him her signature eye roll as a response and spun back around in her seat. Mr. Lancer waited until the first group was settled down and working before he announced the second group. "Mr. Baxter, Miss Sanchez, Miss Snape, and Miss Manson. Second group."

Darn.

Sam clenched her eyelids shut and let a slow sigh trickle from her mouth. She wasn't in the mood to converse with anyone, especially not Paulina. Hopefully the girl would just keep to herself or address any other person in the group besides her, because she truly wasn't in the mood to bicker.

Seeing as how the other three members of her group were already seated together, she gathered her belongings and rose from her desk. Mr. Lancer didn't wait for her to switch seats, as he already started calling out the next group. She was just about to grab her backpack and cross the room when she felt something whack the side of her eye.

She didn't even have to look in Paulina's direction to know that she was the one who threw the eraser at her again. Her obnoxious snickering gave her away, but nonetheless, Sam pretended she was unbothered by the action and lifted up her backpack. Danny and Tucker seemed oblivious to what was happening, so she wasn't about to complain to them.

However, as soon as she sat down at an empty desk and started to push that one against Dash's desk, Paulina flung another chunk of her eraser at her and started cracking up. Something about that titter struck a chord of anger within her, which prompted her to immediately twist her body towards Paulina to fully face her.

"What's the problem?" She spoke so calmly that she surprised herself. If anyone chose to listen in, it would've just sounded like a regular conversation going on between them. Mr. Lancer was speaking over them, so nobody else was aware of their discussion besides their group.

Paulina simply sized her up in disgust. "I don't know. You tell me. You're the one who came over here."

"Because unfortunately, we're partners for this assignment. I really hope all that hairspray you use didn't give you amnesia," Sam retorted. Paulina's mouth dropped and Dash snickered until she flashed him a lethal glare.

"You have no right to talk to me like that, freak. Fenton saved the world. Not you." She then flicked her hair behind her shoulder and sharpened her glare. "I don't owe you even a pinch of respect just because you're shacking up with him."

Sam puffed out her lower lip and raised her shoulders nonchalantly. "That's completely fine. I don't care for your respect."

"Good," Paulina replied, "because you're not getting it. Don't come over here and start something with me that you're not going to finish."

"I'm not trying to start anything with you. Just stop throwing things at me and I'll go back to ignoring you. Simple, right?"

Paulina boldly decided to challenge her by grabbing another pre-ripped chunk of her eraser and chucking it right in the center of her face. Her lips then slid into her signature devious smirk, which only pissed off the girl in front of her. "What are you going to do about it, Goth?"

Sam just glared at her, opting to say nothing this time. She simply connected her desk with Dash's and sorted out her belongings on the surface of it. Paulina smirked, satisfied with the way the Goth appeared defeated.

The remainder of the class period went by smoothly, except for a few indirect snide remarks towards Sam from Paulina. She ignored all of them and focused on finishing her work, though she could slowly feel her anger and frustration building up throughout the period.

After class ended, she stopped by her locker to switch out her textbooks. She was still mildly irritated from what happened back in class, so she didn't bother waiting for Danny and Tucker outside of Mr. Lancer's classroom. She knew she was just going to vent to them about how vile Paulina was, so she chose to spare them for the moment.

Still, they caught up to her about half a minute later, both of them wearing equivalent expressions of confusion. The person who spoke up first was Tucker. "Hey, what gives? You usually wait for us first before going to your locker," he told her.

"Sorry," she apologized, glancing sideways at him and Danny. "I just wanted to get my books while I waited for you guys." She instantly chose to change the subject before they pressed the matter. "How was it working in your group?"

"It would've been great if I didn't have to listen to Tucker hit on Christina and Sarah the whole period," answered Danny, rolling his eyes.

"And it would've been even greater if I didn't have to watch them go all googly-eyed over you," Tucker retorted. "Man, I was so in there until they saw you!"

"Please. You weren't going anywhere even beforethey saw him," Sam replied, smirking. He started to say something, most likely clapping back, but she tuned him out because she saw Paulina advancing towards them. On either side of her were Star and a second girl that Sam had never seen before.

The trio stopped right in front of her, with Paulina moving her hands to her hips and sizing Sam up. "Out of my way, geek. You're blocking the view." She then looked over at Danny and waved, her smirk increasing on her face. "Hi, Danny. How are you? You look really good today."

He awkwardly smiled in response and rubbed his neck, averting his gaze. She winked at him afterwards, and for some reason, that action spiked Sam's anger. She knew that Paulina wasn't just giving him a compliment; she was doing it to spite her.

"I know what you're doing, Paulina." After shutting her locker door, she flashed a cold glare at the cheerleader and brought a hand to her hip. "Just stop."

"Stop what? What am I doing?" Paulina asked, feigning innocence.

"You're trying to get under my skin. Just go somewhere else because I'm really not in the mood for you or your repugnant attitude right now," Sam growled. When Paulina appeared confused, she sighed. "Abhorrent." Still, Paulina was lost, so she rolled her eyes and tried again. "Obnoxious."

Paulina gasped, somehow taken aback by what she was just told. "Did you just call me obnoxious?" she demanded.

"Yeah?" Sam resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes again. "And abhorrent, repugnant—"

Paulina forcefully shoved her against the lockers, abruptly halting her speech. A few people gathered around, some with their phones out to record and others just watching in hopes of a fight. Danny and Tucker both looked completely dumbfounded, neither of them really knowing what to do.

Sam dropped her backpack and her textbook onto the floor and began advancing towards Paulina with her fists ready. "I swear to God—"

"Okay!" Danny quickly intervened, stepping in-between her and Paulina, who failed to flinch. He had Sam back up just a bit, and once he felt like she was at a decent distance, he said, "Let's get out of here."

She nodded, reaching down to retrieve her belongings from the floor. Before her hand could even make contact with her backpack, she heard Paulina say, "We can't all just shack up with a superhero and gain fame off of him the way you did, you know."

Something inside of her snapped at that moment, so instead of ignoring the comment and walking away, she whipped around as fast as lightning and punched Paulina right in her face. As a result, she stumbled backwards into Star, who gasped dramatically as she caught her best friend.

"Oh no she didn't!" Paulina regained her footing and rushed towards Sam, mushing her in the face with one hand whilst pushing her back against the lockers with her other one. Sam turned her face to the side to rid it of Paulina's hand and immediately grabbed onto the cheerleader's hair with both hands, swinging her down and around to the floor.

Right after she slammed the girl to the ground, the crowd of students around them instantly started cheering and egging on the fight. Paulina blindly swung her fist at her, successfully punching her once against the side of her head. She even tugged on Sam's hair afterwards, forcing her head down so that it would be difficult for her to see.

That didn't stop Sam from fighting back, however. She started swinging her fist at where she thought Paulina's face was, and she was successful in punching her there four times. Unfortunately, she couldn't continue, as she felt herself being pulled off of Paulina by two sets of hands.

"Paulina, let go of her hair!" That was Star's voice, coming from next to Paulina. "She's not worth you messing up your manicure!"

"Sam, stop!" That was Danny's voice this time. "Sam." She heard the amount of panic in his tone and stopped fighting without hesitation. She allowed herself to be hauled off of Paulina by both him and Tucker, who were the same ones grabbing at her before.

Dash and Star helped Paulina up, but she tried to shrug both of them off in order to sprint towards Sam. Danny saw this and protectively planted his hands against the wall on either side of Sam, restraining her without touching her.

"Calm down," he said softly, gazing into her eyes. "She's not worth this and you know that." She ignored him and glared right at Paulina, who was no longer trying to fight her way over to them. He saw that she wasn't looking at him and demanded, "Look at me."

She reluctantly obeyed, but only for three seconds before she returned her attention to Paulina. The cheerleader was boldly talking out loud now while smoothing down her hair. "How do you start a fight with me and lose?" she asked, laughing.

Sam, and everyone else who had watched the fight, already knew that Paulina was the one who actually lost, so nobody bothered agreeing with her.

Except for Star.

Sam ignored them and nodded at Danny, signaling to him that it was okay for him to let her go. He looked hesitant, but removed his arms from the sides of her head anyway. Before he or Tucker could say anything or even react to what just happened, Principal Ishiyama marched up to them alongside Mr. Lancer.

"You two," she started, pointing at Sam and Paulina. "My office. Now!"