"Life isn't about finding pieces of a puzzle. It's about creating and putting those exceptional pieces together." – Glenn van Dekken

Sam Manson was furious, and that was putting it kindly.

All the 14-year-old goth wanted was to change the school's lunch menu for one week. No, it wasn't even a full week – just the five standard days that was devoted to education. She hadn't asked for anything permanent beyond that week, not at all.

She didn't even bat an eye when the school board informed her that the breakfast menu for that week would remain the same; full of meat and other animal by-products. It was a compromise she would have to accept, especially after the school board finally gave in and approved her request for one week of Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian lunches. It was a small win, but a win nonetheless.

Or so she thought.

Sam knew that many students were picky when it came to their food, but she figured that if they could survive the cafeteria's less-than-savory mystery meat, a simple turfwich would be no biggie for the teens. There were complaints and grumbling, but that was to be expected. There was even some praise and compliments, and Sam was incredibly grateful for that. Negative feedback aside, it seemed like everything was actually going pretty well. And then all hell broke loose.

The first day of Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian lunch week started off with a bang, literally, when a mysterious lunch lady ghost appeared out of the blue. It was the first ghost that anyone of Casper High had ever seen, and up until that point the idea of such beings existing was absolutely ludicrous. The initial shock wore off immediately once the female spirit lashed out over the menu change, and – thanks to a certain techno-geek's loud tattling – started attacking Sam.

Luckily, another ghost randomly showed up and started fighting the lunch lady. Not just fighting her, but also saving anyone caught in the crossfire. Sam was shocked to say the least, especially when the male ghost, whom seemed to be around her age, had stood protectively in front of her, shielding her from any random meat being thrown around. Why would that ghost save her?

Before Sam could voice those thoughts or even thank the white-haired ghost boy, he disappeared with a somewhat apologetic glance at the goth not long after the lunch lady ghost herself had left. The fight seemed to be over by then, and it was as if everything went back to normal – minus all the random varieties of meat that now covered the cafeteria. That was gross.

The rest of that day carried on ghost-free, though the teens could not help but gossip about everything that happened. The amethyst-eyed girl mostly tuned out her peer's discussions and instead focused on how exactly she was going to convince the school board to continue Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian lunch week after what happened on the first disastrous day, which ended up not being hard at all.

The school board was completely fine with continuing their deal, though Sam assumed it was probably because the teachers were supposedly having a huge feast on the meat that the students weren't having. Not that Sam cared too much about that. Despite everything that took place, it was still a win. She'd keep telling herself that, despite the dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach; a gut instinct telling her that it was the calm before the storm.

The second day of Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian lunch week started off just as wildly, if not more so than the first. Sam had been greeted by none other than the techno-jerk from yesterday, Tucker Foley, leading a pro-meat protest. That should have been Sam's first inkling that the day was going to be hectic, but that didn't mean she wasn't prepared. It took barely any time at all for the young goth to start her own counter protest, defending the fact that humans didn't have to eat meat to survive. It was peaceful, but straight to the point.

There was a small moment when Foley's friend – Danny Fenton – had been seen arguing with the techno-geek about his pro-meat protest. Not that it seemed like the blue-eyed boy had enjoyed the temporary menu change any more than his beret-wearing friend had, but he seemed more accepting to the idea. It seemed that despite his C average grades, Danny Fenton knew that a week of vegan-based foods wasn't such a big deal and that everything would go back to normal next Monday.

While the thought of having to go back to bringing her own Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian lunches didn't settle well with the young goth, she knew she was lucky just to have been promised that week. For that, and for the support she did receive, Sam Manson was eternally grateful. It wasn't much, but it was a start. A ripple, if you will, that she hoped would someday grow into a giant wave.

She even thought about thanking Fenton for his support; it isn't always easy to disagree with your best friend, especially when it's something they were so passionate about. And apparently Tucker Foley was passionate about gorging himself with animal carcasses. As much disdain that Sam held for the techno-geek's eating habits, she didn't want something as simple as a menu change to cause a rift between two seemingly close friends, not that she knew either of the boys very well.

Like her, the duo were loners around Casper High School; never really fitting in with the A-Listers and being dubbed as the school losers. They did certainly try though, that was for sure. Tucker Foley seemed to hit on anything with breasts, and Danny Fenton seemed to jump at any opportunity to hang out with the popular teens. In the end, however, they would always go back to lurking around the shadows, content with their spots on the social ladder.

There were some moments when the purple-eyed girl would speculate that perhaps neither of the boys really wanted to be popular. Perhaps they just wanted to be accepted as they were rather than rejected for simply just being themselves. School – hell, society – was pretty harsh, and it became apparent early on that people were quick to judge. It was all about your status, your wealth, what your parents did for a living, your looks, and your interests in sports. Somehow, though, it seemed that neither of the two boys really cared about all that stuff, not much anyways. It was obvious to everyone that they were happy being themselves, at least until they were being reprimanded by the popular teens.

It was because of those speculations that Sam had at one point or another considered hanging out with the duo, but at the same time she didn't mind being a loner. Her personality was somewhat dark, her humor sarcastic. She considered herself an acquired taste and knew that her personality probably clashed with that of Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley. Realistically speaking, she knew that a friendship with the two would be mismatched, and so she stayed away.

In a way, she was right on the money with that one. If Tucker Foley couldn't handle just five days of healthy, meatless meals, how would he ever get through a meal without possibly arguing with the proud Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian? It sounded impossible; imagining only caused the raven-haired girl to wrinkle her nose in annoyance. In the end, she knew that a friendship with the duo would be like shoving mismatched puzzle pieces together, hoping to make a proper connection: they just didn't fit together.

She wasn't sure if she could exactly say the same thing about Danny Fenton. He was somewhat of a mystery at Casper High; never really getting involved in extra-curricular activities. Hell, he didn't even seem to bother with curricular activities anymore, which had surprised his peers and disappointed his teachers as he once held the highest grades in class. He was friendly to every person he met, but there was something about the boy that Sam thought was mysterious. Every once in a while – whenever the two were paired up for an assignment or ran into one another in the hall – she would find herself wondering what thoughts lied behind his deep blue eyes.

In the end, both boys were total strangers to Sam and she figured she was better off alone anyways.

Her day had only gotten worse when, just as she was going to confront the PDA-wielding boy, the lunch lady ghost from the day prior had showed up again. This time, however, she had taken all of the meat from Foley's protest and covered herself with it, growing in both disgusting smells and height. Sam for sure would have thought she was dreaming up a nightmare, but had relaxed a bit when she wasn't wearing some over-the-top pink chiffon dress. Now that would have been one hellacious nightmare.

Unfortunately, her relief was short-lived when she realized that the meat monster was indeed real, and all the other students and teachers were in grave danger. The ghost seemed rather malevolent, and hell-bent on punishing Sam for changing the menu. As luck would have it, the same ghost boy from before had shown up and once again protected the amethyst-eyed girl. She had been so focused on watching the ghosts fight it out that she didn't even notice that the white-haired male had spoken to her until he was already up in the air.

The fight didn't take long, though there were a few moments when Sam had thought that the meat-loving ghost would win. It seemed like the elder spirit's only tactics included throwing the younger ghost as far as she could or burying him in a mountain of meat. Fortunately, though, he was able to beat the crazy lunch lady, causing the few students and faculty that hadn't run for safety to cheer him one. Sam had wanted to thank him, to see if he was okay. She wasn't exactly sure if ghosts could feel pain, but she wanted to make sure that the glowing-eyed boy hadn't been harmed. He must have been fine, though, as she noted a grin on his face as he flew off.

By then, Sam had just wanted the day to be over with. She didn't want to see or smell another piece of meat for as long as she lived. She wanted to be as far away from the pro-meat enthusiasts as possible. She wanted to just go home, scrub the stench of poor, dead animals from her body, and go to bed. She didn't want to think about the day's activities, ghostly or not. She just wanted to get away and go home before having to deal with any type of repercussions for her counter-protest.

Apparently, Mr. Lancer had other plans.

For nearly three hours, Sam had to clean up the mess created by the protests and ghost fight. She should have been glad that she wasn't the only one having to pick up all the disgusting meat and wasted veggies. She would have been grateful, if not for the fact that the only other ones cleaning were Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley. She didn't even understand why Fenton had to help clean the mess, but she wouldn't complain about the extra hand if it meant one less rib-eye she had to touch. But alas, Mr. Lancer once again had other plans.

It seemed that the out of shape teacher took his punishments very seriously. You could walk through the classroom door just as the bell would ring and he'd give you detention. You could be home sick during a cafeteria food fight and he'd still punish the entire class to write one hundred sentences as punishment. You could be late for class after being shoved in a locker, and he'd still give you detention. Sam couldn't decide if Mr. Lancer was just a hardass trying to keep students in order or if he was born an ugly baby that grew up to become a sadistic jerk.

She was leaning towards the latter. Or possibly a combination of the two.

Throughout their punishment, the balding educator would point out various pieces of meat for Sam to dispose of with her bare hands. That made her angrier. The only thing that made her feel the least bit better was seeing him do the same thing with Tucker Foley and the turfwiches. That and the few moments when Danny Fenton would wait until Lancer wasn't looking and start picking up pieces of meat around Sam so she wouldn't have to. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful, confused, or even irritated with his chivalry, but she opted not to complain.

Instead, she would offer the taller male a small nod of thanks and move on to a different spot while hoping to get everything cleaned up as soon as possible. It seemed like whenever the blue-eyed boy would get close to her, he'd look like he wanted to say something. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, she'd look at him almost expectantly and he'd clam it shut and immediately high-tail it elsewhere. Her annoyance at the whole situation only grew, so she chose to spend the rest of her punishment doing one of the few things that helped her simmer down: blasting angry rock music on her mp3 player.

By the time that the school grounds were finally cleaned, the exhausted teen had made a run for it as soon as Mr. Lancer gave them the O.K. It was the most freeing feeling she felt in hours, until she realized she forgot to grab her favorite spider backpack from her locker. The goth swore under her breath as she headed back towards the building, only to be stopped by the sight of seeing her punk friend, Spike, being openly judged by some preppy redhead.

Dammit.

A/N:

I hope you guys enjoyed this! I have mentioned quite a bit in my A/N's on my other story -(Kaleidoscope) that I've recently been feeling a burst of inspiration hit. I have so many ideas jotted down - some of which have already been started on - that I can't wait to share with you guys. My main focus for now will be Kaleidoscope, but I figure that it wouldn't hurt to have just one side project until its finished. You know, unless I suddenly feel like I'm ready to tackle dozens of one-shots and multi-chapter fics at once. Not that it couldn't happen, but I am trying to focus more on quality than quantity.

Mismatched Connections is an idea that I thought about not long after I first started writing Kaleidoscope. I actually thought about starting this fic first, but I had wanted to do Kaleidoscope far too long to put it off. Now that I'm feeling a little more confident in my writing, I'm super excited to finally be sharing this fic with you guys.

I know this chapter isn't the greatest; it is just something to kick off the fic, hence the lack of interactions. After this, all chapters will be their own and much more separated in the show (though I don't plan on making the characters too OOC, if at all). I hope this gives you all an idea of the direction the story will be heading, but if not then there's only a few things you really need to know:

MC is an au-fic where Danny and Tucker are best buds, but Sam is a loner. They've all grown up in Amity Park, just as they did in the show, but neither of the boys or Sam has ever taken the initiative to hang out. Danny is a half-ghost and C average student. Sam is a goth and closeted rich kid. Tucker is a proud techno-geek and meat enthusiast. Jazz is a know-it-all that and tries to push herself into the adult world. MC will be in Sam's POV and is essentially about Sam befriending Jazz and slowly warming up to Danny and Tucker. It'll be DxS all the way. I'm hoping it'll be no more than 10 chapters. It'll be written somewhat different than Kaleidoscope, so you guys don't have to worry about one day taking six chapters, haha.

Let me know what you think!

-NC