*Smacks self for not being on in forever and a half* Hey, how's it going?

Heh, well, since I have a little while until band starts back up again, I decided to try the 100 DP drabbles challenge thing. It seems like fun and I'm in one of those very rare moods where I WANT to write. So… here's the first challenge:

1. INTRODUCTION

I didn't want to go… I mean I really did not want to go…

Leaving all my friends behind? Moving to a big city? Everything that I was accustomed to, gone?

Some kids can handle moving a lot better than some, and that 'some' includes me.

I'm Danny Fenton. Fourteen years old, freshman in high school, not very smart. That's pretty much my life…

Except for the fact that my parents are ghost hunters, I'm pretty normal. I guess I'll get into that a little bit later.

I lived in Alabama in a small town. I was actually pretty popular between the jocks and the band geeks. I played soccer and knew how to play the saxophone a little bit. Girls thought I was cute and I was the only one they would ever consider not out for 'just one thing.' Even though I'm a C average student, the teachers loved having me in their classes. Apparently I livened up things a little. As long as I wasn't kicked out, I was happy with that. I knew if my parents ever heard of me getting kicked out of class for anything, they would murder me with weapons…

That is most likely literally speaking…

Although my sister and I weren't really into the whole "ghost hunting" thing, my parents' lives revolved around that. They were constantly creating all these weird machines and guns to either capture or torture ghosts, but there was one thing I never actually understood. Where were the ghosts they kept talking about?

That is why I'm in this new city.

The government was basically backing my parents through all their experiments and ideas, but they wanted to see some ghosts so these things can be put to good use without wasting money for so many years. Back in college, my folks and their friend were trying to get into this other dimension they called the 'Ghost Zone.' It almost worked… until their colleague got infected with some rare disease. Although this guy was out of commission, my parents continued in their work until they graduated and got married. A couple of years later, they had my sister, Jazz. Another two years later, there I was. We basically lived around a ton of farmland, with barely any power lines. It was enough for my parents to work on the little things, but when the government said they needed to see some action, my folks knew we had to get out of there soon.

I would say breaking the news to everyone in school was the hardest part. Some of my closest friends that were practically brothers to me couldn't believe it. All the girls were devastated and the teachers were in complete shock. I guess they couldn't imagine school without me… I know I can barely imagine school there without me. My sister was having a hard time saying goodbye to her old lifestyle, but soon got over it when she heard how high the academic standard of the new school was. I just wish that it wasn't so far away from everything that I grew up with.

I was really nervous about the whole moving thing because it was a pretty big city from what I heard. All cities are big, but in my frame of mind, it was one of the largest places ever. It didn't help that I was used to wide, open spaces.

The first time I looked at our new home, I was honestly terrified. It was a tall, three-story building made out of brick. It had a flat roof and the windows were dark and uninviting. The stairs were white, made of marble, and cracking from previous years of stomping feet. The front door was a blue-green color, made of old wood, and didn't seem to be a very effective barrier against unwanted predators. I suppose Mom saw how uneasy I was about the house, so she came up to me and draped a comforting arm around my shoulder.

"Relax, Danny. I know it's a fixer-upper, but I bet it looks great inside," she offered with a sincere beam. I gave a light smile back, knowing that she was worried enough with her job on the line, let alone moving to a new town with the rest of her family.

"It just… doesn't look… um… Well-guarded, if you will," I explained with slight unease. From the way it looked, I gave it about two rain storms and a shove until the whole thing caved in. Mom rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Mr. Pouty Pants," she joked, ruffling my already messy hair, "If anything happens, your father's around. Right, Jack?" She glanced over her shoulder and her expression changed from one of reassurance to perplexity. I stared at her in confusion, then looked in the direction of her gaze only to find my dad buried underneath the massive weight of our suitcases, struggling to find his way to the surface of the carrying-case ocean. I sighed, knowing that anyone watching would be sure to think we were the strangest family ever. I couldn't blame these people, though. They've never seen the likes of us before… Come to think about it, I wasn't even used to the way my parents acted. Wearing jumpsuits constantly, obsessing over ghosts and the paranormal… this wasn't normal. Not even to someone who has lived with this for the past fourteen years. My sister jumped out of the car at that moment, took one look at my dad, and hurriedly got back into the car. She was really paranoid about her personal image, even though she's the one who tells me not to worry about that kind of thing.

"Danny," Mom called, knocking me out of my trance. I didn't even notice her walk toward my trapped dad. "Why don't you and Jasmine start bringing in these bags while I help your father?" She easily lifted the heavy bags off of him, much to the embarrassment of Dad, and handed a few of them to me at once. My smile drooped some as I slowly shook my head. Parents can be so weird at times…

I made my way up the marble stairs, careful not to trip on any of the rubble I noticed after a few steps. As soon as I reached the front door, I stopped in my tracks. Once I went in, there was no way I was moving back to my old neighborhood. As soon as I step through that doorframe… it'll all be set in stone. I will officially be living in Amity Park for the rest of my high school career.

Carefully, I twisted the knob and allowed myself to walk inside. The sooner I got that done and over with, the better and easier it would be to adjust.

Trust me; it made absolutely no difference in how hard it would be to adjust to the school.

I walked in the house, and it seemed nice enough. A living room with stairs leading to the second floor greeted me as I stared at the new place in shock. The outside looked terrible, but the inside was actually… kind of homey.

Walking up the new set of stairs, I looked over the balcony that hung over the living room. It was pretty cool, having stairs in your house instead of a one-floor rancher with a basement you were never allowed in since it was your parents' workspace. I couldn't help but think that it was neat, being able to look at everything from above. Felt like I belonged up there.

Realizing I was letting my mind wander, I made my way down the large hallway in search of a nice room. Mom and Dad said I would be able to get first pick with the rooms, since I had the smallest one back in Alabama. There was one that I had my eye on when we first looked at some pictures of the house online a few weeks back, so I went in search of that particular one.

When I finally found the room, I dropped the bags I was carrying in my right hand to open the door. When I saw my new room, I gasped in total shock.

The room was huge compared to my old room, along with the rest of the rooms in my small Alabama home. There were two windows on two different walls, since my room was in the front corner of the house, and there was a spectacular view of the sky from what I could see just by standing in the doorway. Upon closer inspection, I could see a decent sized closet and a few pieces of my bigger furniture already in there. I guess the moving guys had already come by then. I didn't think it was going to be so bad once I gave it a few personal touches and I started thinking that I was going to enjoy my stay here in Amity Park.

Smiling lightly to myself, I placed the bags off to the side of my bed frame and began walking down the hallway toward the stairs. I was about to turn the corner to descend them when I bumped into something.

I fell backward and landed hard on my butt, a small grunt escaping my mouth. I groaned as I pushed myself off the ground and stared at what – more like who I bumped into.

This wasn't Mom, Dad, or Jazz… I didn't even know who this girl was and she was in my new house…? I was utterly confused as I continued to stare at her in disbelief.

"Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna help me up?" the girl angrily snapped at me. I was a bit taken aback, but not by her words…

She was gorgeous. She had dark black hair and pale skin, complimented by her purple eyes that shined with something that I didn't quite recognize. I continued to stare dumbly at her and her black clothing and combat boots that I almost forgot what she was yelling at me for.

"Oh, sorry about that," I mumbled, a small blush appearing on my face as I offered my hand out to her. Looking down, she grabbed my hand and I pulled her up. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a little sore on my butt, but thanks," she replied with a roll of her eyes, but a small smile gracing her lips told me she wasn't bothered by it at all.

"I'm Sam. You just moved in here, didn't you?" Sam asked with a curious look in her eyes.

"Yeah… and my name's Danny." I told her as we shook hands. "You live close by here?" I asked.

"Just a few blocks over, actually," she said with a small nod. "I was walking to the animal shelter across town when I saw some adults struggling with some suit cases. Were… they your parents?" Sam raised an eyebrow and I could pretty much guess why.

"Heh, sometimes I wish they weren't…" I rubbed my neck out of habit and, surprisingly enough, she giggled.

"They don't seem so bad. They seemed like they were really nice people."

"Well, they're good parents, but they can be really strange at times," I explained. "You can probably tell by what they're wearing, right?"

Sam actually laughed pretty hard at this. "You're pretty funny, you know that, right?"

"Well, um… thanks, but really, they can be really weird at times."

"Well, I'm hoping to hear more about this some other time, but I actually have to get going to the animal shelter before I'm late again. I promised I'd take over someone else's shift tonight… You can come with me if you want to, you know," Sam blushed as she looked away, thinking that I'd probably say that I had too much unpacking to do.

While that was true, I really wanted to spend some more time with her.

"Sure, I'll go with you," I smiled brightly at her as I accepted her offer. She was practically beaming by the time we got to the front door where we ran into my parents.

"Hey, see you met Sam!" my father boomed in that one-of-a-kind voice of his. "She helped me out big time today!"

"Yeah Dad, I know," I said with a light roll of my eyes as Sam giggled. "Would it be okay if I go to the animal shelter with her for a few hours? She could probably show me around town a little bit, too, right?" I added as I looked back at her for approval. She agreed with a vigorous head nod and a bright, pleading smile at my parents.

"Sure thing, sweetie! Just be sure you're home for dinner! And Sam, you're more than welcome to join us if you want to!" my mom offered, always being the generous one.

"Thanks! I'd love to Mrs. Fenton," Sam said politely.

After exchanging a few more kind words, we finally said goodbye to my folks and walked all the way across the city to the animal shelter.

On the way there, Sam and I had gotten to know each other very well. It felt like I had known her for years when I'd only met her an hour before! I knew that this was the start of a very good friendship…

And possibly more…

Well, I actually wrote the previous author's note like, EONS ago when I started writing this, but then I stumbled upon this old thing and decided to work a little more on it. This was the end result. Hope you enjoyed it! :D Review please! You know I love to hear from you guys! :D