Phantom: Interference

ONE

Jazz leaned heavily on her elbow, hand propping her forehead up as she watched Dash struggle with the math problem. He boxed an answer and slid the notebook over to her triumphantly. She glanced at the work.

"Dash, that's the same answer you got before," she said, "You just wrote back over everything you erased." Dash's shoulders drooped slightly as he pulled the notebook back to him and picked up the eraser. Jazz stopped him, and ripped the page out of the notebook.

"Here," she said, "Try this one." She wrote a simpler problem down for him. Dash grabbed the pencil and got to work. Jazz picked up her phone and pretended to check her messages just so she could see the time. They still had thirty minutes before she could wrap up. When she'd signed up for the job, she hadn't realized tutoring students in math would be so hard. She looked back at Dash, who for all his brawn was possibly the most academically inept person she'd ever met. Glancing at the scrawl of numbers on the page, she saw he was headed in the right direction. Good, she thought, maybe we can finish early. She heard the front door open.

"Hey, Jazz!" Danny called. He walked into the kitchen, leading Paulina behind him. Jazz forced a smile on her face upon seeing the girl. What had her brother gotten himself into? Danny frowned when he saw Dash.

"What is he doing here?" he asked. Dash looked up.

"What does that mean, Fen-turd?" he snapped. Jazz interrupted.

"I've started tutoring him. He'll be here every Monday after school," Jazz said. Danny scoffed.

"If 'Fen-turd' is the best you can come up with, no wonder you need tutoring," he said to Dash. Paulina laughed. Jazz stood and crossed her arms.

"Danny, can I talk to you in the other room, please?"

"Yeah, sure," he said with a shrug.

Jazz led him into the office and shut the door quietly.

"Listen," Danny said, "If you're gonna tell me to be nice to Dash, don't bother. We have a bully-bullied relationship, and I'll even the score any chance I get."

"I'm not going to tell you to be nice to Dash," Jazz said.

"...So...what then?" Danny asked. Jazz crossed her arms.

"Well...I...well...Danny, be nice to Dash!" she snapped.

"If I'm nice to Dash, you've got to be nice to Paulina," Danny said.

"Are you comparing my tutoring Dash to your—unlikely as it is—relationship with Paulina?"

"Unlikely? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on, Danny. You can't possibly think it's normal for a girl like Paulina to be with a guy like you," Jazz said.

"Guy like me?" Danny asked. Jazz sighed, trying to come up with a response that wouldn't make her brother any angrier than he already was.

Meanwhile, Paulina and Dash were having a similar conversation in the kitchen. As soon as Danny and Jazz had left, Paulina had sat down next to Dash, taking the pencil from his hand and forcing him to pay attention to her.

"Listen, Dash," she said, "We need to talk about how you've been treating Danny." Dash grinned.

"Your boyfriend Danny? Really Paulina, I can't believe you're dating that guy," he said.

"He saved me—"

"From the 'dragon'. I know, I know," Dash said.

"Anyway, I'm dating him. Play nice. Can you do that for me?" she said. She stared up at him with a doe-like expression. Dash rolled his eyes.

"I don't get it, but fine. For you, not him," he said.

"Thank you Dash!" Paulina said, overly sweet. She glanced at the math.

"And carry the one," she said. Dash groaned, looking back to the problem.

"Come on Paulina," Danny said as he stormed back into the kitchen. Jazz followed him, frustrated.

"Dash, we're done for the day. Do that worksheet I gave you and we'll go over it next time," she said.

Danny and Paulina ran upstairs as Dash started to pack up.

"So, Danny," Paulina said, "What did your sister have to say?" Danny sighed, and flopped down on his bed.

"She wanted me to be nice to Dash. As if," he said.

"Oh?" Paulina sat down beside him.

"I mean, you know Dash," Danny said.

"Yeah, I know Dash," Paulina said. They were silent for a moment.

"How's your head? It's been over a week now."

"Better. I feel fine, but I still can't read anything or look at screens for too long. The doctor told me I have to take it easy with cheerleading too."

"That sucks," Danny said.

"It would've been worse if you hadn't saved me," she said. Leaning in, she kissed him softly. A few days ago she had kissed him for the first time. It didn't take long for him to realize how much he liked kissing Paulina.

"I didn't save you from anything," he said when she pulled back.

"Yes you did. You may have convinced the police there wasn't anything weird going on, but I remember more than you think," Paulina said. She went in for another kiss, but Danny drew back.

"What do you remember?" he asked.

"So there is something—"

"I mean, what do you think you remember?" Danny said.

"Danny, let's not worry about it." Again, she tried to kiss him and he pulled away.

"Paulina!" She huffed moodily and sat back.

"You're so serious Danny. Is daddy asking you to spy on me?" she asked, pouting. Danny couldn't help but stare at her lips. Big rosy lips—focus!

"No. I'm just worried about you," he said. Paulina huffed, and sat back.

"Fine. I'll tell you. There was a dragon, and you were trying to keep it from hurting me. And that guy, the one in the coma. I think he showed up after the dragon. That's all I remember." Danny felt relieved. If Paulina knew anything about him being the ghost boy, she was keeping it a secret. And Paulina kept secrets like a strainer held water, so he was probably in the clear.

"No dragon," Danny said, "Just you and Sam falling down the hill." Paulina rolled her eyes.

"If you say so," she said. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his face close to hers.

"How is Sam, by the way?" she asked.

"She's fine."

"Really?"

"I haven't talked to her much," Danny admitted. Paulina smiled.

"Good," she said, "Because I'm so the jealous type."

After Paulina left, Danny snuck down to the basement to grab the thermos his parents had invented for capturing ghosts. It was the first time both of them were out of the lab all week. After they heard a dragon had attacked Paulina, they took it upon themselves to investigate the matter. Danny's mom had taken days off of work and they'd pulled multiple all-nighters analyzing samples of dirt and grass from the football field. Finally they were finished, and were currently bringing the findings to the police. Danny groaned at the thought of his crazy parents telling Paulina's dad a 'ghost dragon' had attacked his little girl. But at least it gave him the opportunity to take the thermos back. He let Kerskul get away because he didn't have it with him, and that wasn't going to happen again.

As he was leaving the lab, something caught his eye. It was the control board for the ghost portal. It wasn't on, but some lights labeled 'WARNING' were flashing. Walking over, Danny checked that all the wires were plugged in and the switches were off. Everything seemed to be in order (as far as he could tell, but who knows what his dad thought was 'order'). Danny was about to give up and go back upstairs. After all, the last time he'd touched the control board, he'd gotten the power to turn into a ghost. Danny would've left the lab, had it not been for the icy cold shiver that ran down his spine.

"Really?" he hissed, looking around the lab for the ghost.

A faint sound made its way to Danny's ears. It sounded like something moving quickly across metal. Danny, listening carefully, followed it. As he crept around a table piled with spare parts, he unscrewed the top of the thermos.

Danny whirled around as something behind him clattered to the ground. He saw a spare bit of scrap metal spinning down to a rest on the tile floor. Moving closer, he spoke.

"Come out," Danny said. He tried to sound confident, but his voice came out more scared than anything else. He picked up the scrap metal, turning it over in his hands. It was warm to the touch.

A coil of wire threw itself to the floor behind him. Again, Danny whirled to face it. Then the cabinets on his right started shuddering.

"Don't—" Danny started to say, but the cabinet doors flew open and the contents flew across the room. Danny ducked to keep from being hit by glass beakers. As he straightened up, he saw a shadow across the room. Danny grinned. The shadow jumped towards him.

"Gotcha!" he yelled, and pointed the thermos at the ghost. But it was gone before he could pull it inside.

Danny froze, waiting for something else to move. Nothing did. He looked inside the thermos. Nothing there. And he wasn't possessed... His thought process was interrupted as he heard the garage door start to open.

"Crap!" he said, and ran towards the stairs, jumping over piles of broken glass on his way out. He made it to his room just as his parents got in the kitchen.

Danny sat across from Tucker and Sam at the Nasty Burger.

"It just vanished," he said, "It could be anywhere."

"And it got out of the portal when it wasn't on?" Sam asked, leaning over the table. Danny nodded.

"As far as I can tell." Tucker crossed his arms.

"Well it was only a shadow. That's good, right?" he asked.

"I don't know. I mean...should I be looking for it? I can't just aimlessly wander around town, can I?" Danny replied. Tuck shrugged and Sam shook her head.

"There's nothing you can do until he pops back up," she said. Danny grabbed some of the cheesy fries on his plate and shoved them in his mouth, discontented.

"I'll be back," Sam said, getting up from the table. She hopped awkwardly on one foot for a moment, until she got her crutches positioned under her arms. Then she started towards the bathrooms. As soon as she was out of earshot, Tuck slid directly in front of Danny and leaned over the table.

"So what's it like?" He asked.

"What's what like?" Danny said.

"Dating Paulina!" Danny shrugged, pulling his phone from his pocket and checking it for messages. The screen flickered a little bit, and he frowned, pushing harder to try and make it work. Finally he managed to open his text messages.

"It's cool," Danny said, finally replying to Tuck's question. Tucker glared at him.

"Oh, come on!" he hissed, "You think I've been waiting for Sam to finish her fourth all-natural caffeine-free diet Cherry Whiz for 'it's cool'?"

"Okay," Danny said, "It's pretty awesome."

"Have you kissed her yet?" Danny grinned, raising his eyebrows.

"She kisses me," he said.

"What?! And you didn't tell me?" Danny scoffed.

"You realize we're not teenage girls, right?" he said, and heard a familiar sigh. He and Tucker attempted to look innocent, but it was too late.

"You realize how offensive that is, right?" Sam echoed back to him, pushing Tucker further into the booth and taking her seat back.

"But it's true," Danny said. Sam narrowed her eyes at him.

"Maybe for Paulina," she replied, her tone challenging. When Danny backed off, she added: "I don't know what you see in her."

"Are you kidding?" Danny said sarcastically, "She's only like, perfectly flawless."

He shook his head.

"Seriously Sam, I'm not stupid. Paulina does have a brain, even if she tries to convince people otherwise. And she likes me."

"Only because she thinks you saved her from a dragon."

"I did save her from a dragon. A dragon that just happened to be you," Danny said.

"Then maybe you should be thanking me," Sam said, flippant.

"Maybe you should stay out of my relationship," Danny replied.

"O-okay guys." Tucker tried to intervene, but Danny and Sam ignored him completely.

"Between you and my sister and Dash and everyone else at school, I've had enough of people asking me why Paulina is dating a 'guy like me'." Sam leaned low over the table and hissed at him.

"They only ask because Paulina's a vapid bitch who's only with you because she's obsessed with the fact that you saved her. Give it a month and she'll move on to the next big strong hero."

"Funny you say that, because I don't think Paulina's the bitch here," Danny shot back. He regretted the words as soon as he said them, especially when Sam tried to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes.

"Alright," she said, "Don't listen to me. We'll see how that goes." Grabbing her purse and crutches, she stormed out of the restaurant as quickly as she could. Tucker watched the scene unfold, unable to stop the painful downward spiral. Danny grabbed more cheesy fries and bit into them fiercely.

"Dude," Tucker said, "That was cold."

"Dude, it's none of her business anyway," Danny replied. Tucker put his hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture.

"I'm just saying. For whatever reason, Paulina bothers Sam. You could be a little more sensitive." Danny glared at him, then went back to his fries.

"What are you, a feelings expert all of a sudden? And besides, you brought it up in the first place."

"Fenton!" Great, Danny thought to himself as Dash came over to their table. He was flanked by two of his teammates.

"Yes, Dash?" Danny replied.

"Party. My house. Friday. Bring Paulina and don't embarrass her." Danny raised his eyebrows.

"You're inviting me to a party?" he asked. Dash shrugged, shoving his hands down in his pockets. He spoke as if it pained him to be so gruffly polite.

"Yeah, well...Paulina's a friend. And you're her boyfriend. So yeah." With that, he walked away, the other two following him like hulking henchmen.

"Well that was weird," Tuck said.

"No kidding," Danny replied. All of a sudden, his phone let out a loud beep, followed by some static noise. The screen flickered.

"Dammit!" Danny cursed, picking it up and trying desperately to resist the urge to hit it on the table. Tuck intervened, saving the poor device before Danny did something he would regret.

"I don't get it! It was working fine!" Danny exclaimed.

"It could be a ghost thing," Tucker suggested, "Want me to take a look at it?"

"Yeah, thanks," Danny said.

He pushed his now empty plate away from him and leaned forward onto the table, putting his forehead down on crossed arms.

"You gonna be alright?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe," Danny mumbled into his arms.

"Danny?" Danny looked up, and saw Paulina standing over him.

"Paulina! Hey!" he said.

"I've been texting you all day, why didn't you answer?" she said. Danny made a face and pointed to his phone.

"It's completely broken. I tried checking messages but it only gets about half of them and it won't send any. I'm sorry," he said. Paulina shrugged.

"No, I was just worried you were mad at me." A concerned look spread over Danny's face.

"And that's my cue to go," Tuck said, sliding out the other side of the seat.

"See ya, Danny," he said, and headed for the door. Danny gave a vague goodbye in his direction, still focused on Paulina.

"Mad? Why would I be mad at you?" he asked. Paulina shrugged and sat down in Tuck's seat.

"I don't know," she said, "But usually when your boyfriend doesn't text you back he's either cheating on you or mad at you." Danny frowned.

"I would never—Paulina I'm sorry, I should've called your house or something." Paulina laughed a little.

"My dad would've just hung up on you. He's not exactly happy about us being together," she said.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Danny said, unsure what exactly to do in this situation.

"It's not your fault. That's just how he is," Paulina replied, "Although your parents aren't doing us any favors, trying to convince him that the dragon was really there." Danny grimaced.

"I wish they would stop," he said, "I've told them over and over the dragon wasn't real."

"Yeah..." Paulina said. A moment of silence stretched between them.

"...You don't still think there was a dragon, do you?" Danny asked. Paulina shrugged.

"I don't know. After talking to everyone at school, what you said happened just made more sense. It's a shame though, I kind of liked the whole 'knight in shining armor' thing," she said.

"Well, maybe I didn't fight a dragon, but I can still be a knight in shining armor," Danny said jokingly. Paulina gave him a weak smile.

"True," she said, "If you can deal with my dad, it's almost the same thing." Another moment of silence.

"Hey," Danny said, "Dash is having a party this Friday, wanna go?" Paulina's eyes lit up.

"A party! Yes!" she said. She reached across the table and grabbed his hands.

"Our first party!" she exclaimed, "It's gonna be so much fun. You can hang out with all my friends, and we can dance. And Dash will have good drinks there, none of the cheap stuff."

She leaned across the table and kissed his cheek.

"This is going to be great!"

"Yeah," Danny said, glad he was able to make her so happy.

Paulina drove Danny home (he only questioned her concussion for a moment before she scolded him into the car), chattering the whole way about what she should wear, and whether or not she and Danny should try and coordinate. She eventually decided against it, because it was far too middle school for a party at Dash's house.

"But wear something nice!" She called through the open window as she sped away from his house. Danny gave her a double thumbs up, then looked at his hands, embarrassed.

"Thumbs up?" he said aloud to himself, shaking his head as he turned and walked up to his front door.

Sam lay on her stomach on Tuck's bed as he fiddled with Danny's phone. The thing still wasn't working right. It would show a blank screen, or pixelated text, or emit loud and sudden noises, no matter how many times Tuck turned it on and off. Finally he decided to try and get at it through his computer. Pulling out his laptop, he plugged the phone in using a USB cord.

"Is that really gonna work?" Sam asked, swinging her good foot back and forth as she looked up from her book.

"It should," Tuck said, then spouted out some technological mumbo jumbo that Sam wasn't inclined to try and decipher.

"Wow," she said like she was listening, and went back to her book. Tucker paused in his techno-geeking and spun his seat around to face Sam.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said.

"Shoot," Sam replied, still focused on her book.

"Why can't you just tell Danny you like him? Isn't this whole love triangle thing a bit cliche?" Sam rolled her eyes at the question, slamming her book shut. She pushed herself into a sitting position.

"I know!" she exclaimed, "And it's not like I want to like Danny. He's annoying. And thick headed. And God can he be shallow! But I do and it's just so..." She let her hands drop into her lap.

"...frustrating," she finished. Tucker blinked, a little shocked at the flood of anger that had come spilling out of her.

"Then can't you just...stop liking him?" he asked. Sam slouched.

"I wish," she said, "Because he doesn't like me. Sometimes I think he doesn't even want to be my friend." Tucker rolled his chair over to the bed.

"That's not true."

"It is! We fight—all the time, in case you haven't noticed," she said. Tuck gave her an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I wish I could do something."

"Wave your magic fairy wand and make my feelings go away?" Sam suggested. Tucker laughed.

"I can do the next best thing," he said. Sam eyed him, suspicious.

"If the next words out of your mouth are in any way related to your 'magic wand', I will hurt you," she warned. Tuck shrugged.

"Well I was going to challenge you to a Mario Kart tournament, but now that you mention it—"

"No!" Sam exclaimed. She shoved his shoulder playfully, sending his chair into a full spin as both of them cracked up laughing.

"But I will take you up on Mario Kart," Sam said. Grinning, Tuck picked up her crutches and helped her get off the bed without putting any weight on her ankle.

They left Danny's phone plugged into Tuck's computer to finish connecting. If they'd turned to look at the screen on the way out, they would've seen the static disturbance that flickered across it.