Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman

Story (c) Me

"Danny! Time to get up!"

This maternal voice was one of the most familiar voices he knew. And right now, he didn't want to hear it. He pulled a pillow over his head as he heard a knocking at the door. "Danny? Are you up?"

He chose not to respond and to rather turn invisible, acting as if he wasn't there at all. The sound of the door opening was painfully obvious. Inside, he was wishing that he had the power to pause time. Just a few more minutes to sleep...to not go to school and deal with everyone and everything. "Danny. C'mon." Maddie's voice came to him through the pillow. She pulled off his blankets.

She paused for a moment. Her eyes trailed over the seemingly empty bed- well, not even seemingly. Danny's bed had a lowered canyon in it where the weight of his body pushed down the springs in his bed. She guessed where his ribs were, then poked a nerve ending right under the ribs. As she expected, Danny jumped from the pressure being pushed on the nerve ending, turning visible as a result. He let go of his grip on his pillow with a loud groan. "I don't wanna go to school."

"C'mon, Danny, get up. I know this is going to be a long day for you, but what's the point of pushing it off? Besides, the earlier you get there, the less amount of kids you're going to have to attempt to avoid in the morning." Maddie encouraged. He sighed and sat up, stretching his stiff muscles.

"Fine." he grumbled, getting up. "I'm gonna get dressed, so can you leave please?" he asked. Maddie nodded, planted a kiss on his forehead, then left. Danny gazed about the room, groaning tiredly. "Well, here I go. Good God, I hate Mondays." he muttered, getting up. Quickly he threw on a pair of jeans and his usual shirt and stumbled out of his bedroom to the kitchen downstairs. The wonderful smell of fresh strawberries and french toast wafted- the only joy he had that morning.

Upon rounding into the kitchen, he saw his father and sister at the table. He raised an eyebrow. "Where's Mom?" Danny asked. Jack looked up.

"Doing something in the lab. She said she'd be back up in a minute. Come eat some breakfast." his father said cheerfully. Danny managed to smile and came into the kitchen, grabbed some strawberries and a slice of thick french toast, and began to eat. A moment later Maddie came in and got breakfast for herself.

Even with the delectable food, Danny still was without ease. He chewed quietly, remaining silent among the chatty family. Among his inner conflict, he failed to notice his hand go intangible and his french toast slip right through his finger, making for an unholy splat of the toast, landing halfway on his plate and halfway onto the table. Everyone turned to look as Danny finally realized what happened with mortification. He quickly turned his hand tangible and without a word got up for paper towels and cleaned up the mess.

Jazz finally spoke. "You haven't done that in a long time, Danny," she said, surprised, "Are you alright?"

Danny looked up, then back down with haste. "I-I'm fine."

"Ohh..." Maddie frowned. "Is it because you're going to school today, sweetheart?" she asked with sympathy. Danny sighed.

"Maybe a little..."

"Aw, Danny," Jack cut in. "You'll be fine. It's understandable you're nervous, but tell you what. You survive this day, and we get pizza tonight. That okay with you, Mads?"

"Perfect. Plus, you'll have Sam and Tuck to help you out. Alright?" she asked. Danny smiled a little- not a lot- and nodded. He looked to the clock in the kitchen.

"I wanna get there early, so I'm gonna leave now." He changed into this ghost form after saying that without much of a warning. "See you guys later." He phased through the ceiling and flew away. Jack frowned.

"I really wish he would tell us when he's gonna transform and fly off. Those ring-things that change him are blinding!"


As Danny flew towards the school, he saw that few students were there, and the ones that were there were too drowsy to notice the ghost boy flying over the school. Said ghost boy turned invisible lest they notice him and flew inside, transforming back in front of his locker when he made sure no one was there. Or so he thought.

Around a corner in the hall, two jocks were peering in on him. The blond haired one whispered to his friend. "I told you, Kwan, there he is! I knew he'd sneak in here early!"

"Dash, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, he's way stronger than we are, and if we make him mad..."

"If we make him mad, we run like there's a football one foot away from us we're trying to catch. No, faster."

"A-are you ready, then?"

"Duh. Let's go."

"But what if he doesn't want to be bug-"

"Go!"

"You guys realize I can hear every wordyou just said, right?" Danny finally cut in. He finally closed his locker after taking out books he needed and turned to the startled boys who came out from their hiding spot. "You guys are really bad at keeping quiet. If you're planning on just bothering me or shoving me in my locker, go away. I don't feel like dealing with either of you." He flashed his eyes green for his point. The jocks backed up.

"N-no, nothing like that. Of course not. We were...um, stupid. Really stupid to bully Danny Phantom or not even notice it was him. Anyhow..." Dash cleared his throat. "Just hear us out, okay?"

Danny was both surprised and suspicious. "Well, what can they do to me? If they're not being serious, it's not like I can't phase through their grip."he thought to himself. He shrugged. "Fine, but make it quick. I still don't trust either of you or anyone else who treated me like crud. They'd only be kind to me because of who they realized I am."

"We promise that's not why! Uh..." Even Dash gulped. "You see...oh, to heck with it! We wanna know if you'll join the football team!" he blurted out. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"And why is that?" he inquired. Kwan cut in.

"B-because, imagine! You have superpowers and when you get tackled, you could phase right out of the guy's grip and-"

"That would be cheating."

"Then super strength!" Dash cut in. "You could plow your way through the-"

"I'm only 'super strong' in ghost form."

"What about flying over the other team? No one could reach you!"

"Again, cheating, again, only in ghost form- haven't really learned to fly much in human form. Look, if you're just going to constantly bother me about the football team- which I really don't have time for as a superhero, then...wait, look over there!" he pointed behind them. The two jocks flipped around in alarm.

"Why, what's behind us?" Kwan asked, looking around in confusion. "Is it a-"

"Boo."

With screams, the two boys fled. Danny chuckled after a moment and turned visible again. He hadn't even bothered to put any sort of effort into that 'boo' and it still scared the jocks enough to make them scream and run. Maybe this day wouldn't be so-

"Hello there, Danny.How might you be, you cutie?" A familiar Hispanic girl's voice purred. Danny groaned.

"And...I take that last thought back. Seriously, what is it with people and coming behind me to surprise me to talk to me?"He thought to himself, irritated, as he turned to Paulina. "Paulina, I-"

"I'm sorry I ignored you, babe. My true love was right in front of me the whole time..." While Paulina was speaking, Danny began to become anxious. More and more people were coming in and noticing him. Whispers and gasps and pointing fingers were directed to or about him. Paulina continued. "And I say we forget what happened before and begin dating, hmm?" she said. Danny groaned.

"Paulina, I'm already dating-"

"-He's already with me, Paulina." Sam came up to Danny's rescue. Danny turned to the goth girl who was now beside him. Paulina gasped.

"Prove it! You wouldn't leave me for her, would you, Danny?" she asked. Sam pulled off a familiar ring from her finger and showed Paulina the inside which read 'Sam'. Paulina gasped in horror. "There's no way he would-"

"You're deluding yourself, woman."

"Danny-"

"I'm sorry, Paulina. Sam's already claimed my heart. Look, you have to move on. There's plenty of guys who would love to have you- like Dash. Later." Danny said. He gripped Sam's hand and turned away before Paulina could say anything. He grimaced.

"That was awkward...and there's people staring."

"Would they not stare if we weren't holding hands?"

"Point taken. Where's Tucker?"

"He's...gonna be late to school today, Danny."

"Why?"

"He learned yesterday that he's not actually mayor...and that even if he was, he's underage..." Sam murmured. Danny frowned.

"Oh, ouch.That's why he wasn't online yesterday. I was trying to message him, but he was gone-"

"Danny!" Tucker's cry came without a warning as Danny was pushed to the ground with a tackling hug. As they stood up, Tucker still clung to Danny. "How could they do this to me, bro? Why?" he wailed. Danny patted Tucker's back awkwardly.

"Whoa, Tuck, calm down- people are staring."

Tucker paused for a moment. He then let go. "Uh...sorry. That was awkward." he said. The two boys then snickered. Sam rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Maybe I should have told Paulina that you two were in a relationship, not me with Danny."

"Hey!"

"Let it go, boys. We have to get to class before we're late." Sam said, beginning to walk in the direction of their first period class. Tucker pouted.

"Meanie!"