This is my first story in a long time. I've edited it but since it's only me, I don't know if I've missed anything, admittedly. But either way, here it is. Part II is going to take a while, considering about only half of it is written. This is the mundane part, kind of long with lots of dialogue and not a lot of action. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, but I do own Fawney, Brian, and Aaron. Also, I'm not in College nor do I own the University of Berkley and therefore have no understanding of it at all. Please keep that in mind, for both our sakes.
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The first day of College wasn't so bad. Jazz cried a lot. She couldn't believe that Danny had gotten into his dream school. Frankly, neither did he. Danny hadn't expected to get into any school. Heck he didn't believe he'd even get into community college. How was he supposed to know that he'd been written the best, (literally the best), recommendation letter that the University of Berkeley had seen in twenty years. Hell, Danny couldn't even really remember who he had actually asked aside from the AP Physics teacher (a class he'd only gotten into because he had begged the AP Chem teacher to let him in, and it continued from there) Mr. Charles Stan. The science and math classes were the only classes that Danny focused on or spent any time doing anything.
Through High School, Danny's GPA had tanked and the only reason he managed the 3.6 his senior year was because of the AP Math and Science classes he took, Mr. Lancer for Lit, and then Sam and Tucker for making him sit and study. His grades were terrible, the only reason he pushed through was because of his dream to be an Astronaut. For a while during Junior year he was doing so bad- he and Sam had just broken up, there'd been a close call with Vlad, and his parents had been close to finding out his secret. But the thought of life after highschool, of after Amity Park, of after FentonWorks pushed him through. He could keep going to find the end.
Even so, with his grades and GPA, Danny had applied for the top colleges, a few mediocre ones, Community College, and then about a billion scholarships. And then he'd asked Mr. Stan for his recommendation letter, and then one came from Lancer, and then Vlad had offered to write one for him (denied, but Danny, Sam, and Tucker had a feeling that he'd done it anyway, anonymously), and then Danny had gotten one from his math teacher, Mrs. Peare, too.
The first few places denied him- CIT, Princeton, Cornell. He'd gotten into the Community College and then Berkley came back. He got it. He held the letter in his hands and stared at it for a full minute before he silently handed it over to Jazz.
"You got in?" she said, bewildered.
"You don't have to sound so surprised," he grumbled, but nodded. A smile peeking through as they both shouted and yelled and hugged each other.
He told everybody, Sam, and Tucker, his parents, then he sent an email to his teachers and then they celebrated at the Nasty Burger. Sam got into MICA in Baltimore, Maryland. Tucker got into MIT. They were going to be widespread apart and far away from each other. Tucker mentioned they had skype and the group chat that Danny would blow up with puns and memes. They laughed about it but until a week before Danny had to leave- before the rest of them- they realized it was going to be really different.
But even then, Danny had been here a week without them so far. It was weird. There was no Sam or Tucker, no hum of the Ghost Portal in the basement. Hell, there was no Ghost Portal! Or ghosts. Danny didn't quite know what to think about it. His roommate was an art student and they had gotten off to a great start. But Danny felt weird without the normalcy that he was used to.
He knew he needed to get used to the type of normal that was normal for every other American but him. Living on your own was so weird. School hadn't quite started yet and he still had to text his mom how he was doing but Danny had complete control of what his actions were. He could get up whenever he wanted and eat whatever he wanted and do just... whatever.
Brian Evans, his roommate, would leave everyday and do God knows what. Danny had left the dorm twice. Once on Wednesday for groceries and once on Friday to go outside and go to the park. Admittedly he flew there and landed invisibly behind some bushes but still, at least he'd gone out of the dorm room. Danny knew that he needed to go out and make friends. Hell, Tucker told him he needed to and so far Danny's only excuse was that it had been a week since he's arrived.
"Cut me some slack!" he complained, exasperated.
But Sam won the argument and so here he was, Saturday morning, standing at outside one of the Art Buildings with Brian who was talking to one of his friends.
"Aaron, this is Danny," Brian introduced, slapping Danny on the back. "He's my roommate. I've told you, right?"
Aaron, a tall black kid from Texas, stood there leaning against one of the giant planters outside the building. He looked at Danny over a pair of dark sunglasses. "Yeah, the kid that doesn't leave?"
Danny snorted as Brian looked back at him, clearly embarrassed. "This is nothing, you should've seen me the week of finals. My sister had to drag me out of the room just to get food." He frowned and turned to Brian. "I told you about the groceries I got on Wednesday right?"
"Nah, but I saw them. I'll pay you back for half?"
"Whatever works," Danny finished awkwardly.
Aaron looked at him intensely before he turned back to Brian. "Party tonight before classes begin on Monday. You coming?" He glanced at Danny and then smiled. "You can come too, you know. Get out a little."
Danny couldn't help but laugh. Of course, he goes out once and now he gets invited to a party. "Sure, why not? I'll be there."
Brain nodded seriously. "Yeah me too. Text me the address?"
Aaron nodded casually and then the two began talking about their portfolios for the art school. Danny grimaced, not quite sure what they were talking about. He was a Physics major, specializing in the "astro" bit. Hell he could tell them everything all the little buttons did in a Spaceship (not that his major required it) but he couldn't tell the difference between Phoenix clay or the other stuff. Not that it mattered, but he wanted to at least join in a conversation.
Isn't that how you made friends?
Eventually Aaron had to leave, something about an instrument, and that left Danny and Brian walking across campus.
"Okay man, listen. We go down to the beach at 7 the party starts at six but my hair doesn't just get like this. Besides, it's our first college party man I mean... jeez, we can't screw this up. I'll get the booze-."
Danny stopped short and turned to look at his roommate. "Whoa, wait... booze?"
Brian laughed. "Well, yeah? What else?"
"Apple juice. Apple juice is where it's at."
"Yeah, alright, Fenton," Brian said.
Eventually they went to get lunch and then Brian needed to go somewhere with a guy he'd met at the track. So it left Danny wondering around the campus before he returned to his dorm. He'd already begun going through his textbooks, the only damn things he was paying for, and had figured out a majority of the practice problems just from the books.
Around four he got on his laptop and checked on Skype. Both Sam and Tucker were on. After hovering on Sam's name he switched to Tucker's. Ever since they'd broken up in Junior year, Danny had had mixed feelings about Sam. They were, of course, still best friends and the breakup had been mutual. But it was still weird to think they'd dated. 'You know,' Sam had said. 'You just don't find true love at fourteen.' So they were friends but even then, things were awkward and often a little strained. Danny still kind of liked Sam, but he did his best not to show it. It was just awkward. Of course, Tucker and Danny had had a lot of discussions about it. Danny was sure Tucker and Sam had too. Poor guy.
Tucker answered the call and Danny smiled when he saw his friend. Tucker had grown a lot since freshman year when the accident happened. He wasn't as tall as Danny and Sam had hardly grown. But Tucker had filled out, whereas Danny was still a little lanky (muscular, but lanky).
"Hey man! Look at my dorm! It's so nice, and like... big!"
Danny laughed. Tucker took his laptop and spin around in the office chair he'd gotten from ikea (Danny had been there). "It looks good, Tuck," he said, grinning.
"Yeah, my roommate it pretty cool. Jeff. He's from 'Jorsey'," Tucker said. "Pretty neat guy. Likes comics. Kinda reminds me of you."
"Uh, well... sorry to break it to you, but I've never read comics Tuck. At least like, not for a good ten or so years."
Tucker paused. "I never even realized you read comics ever."
"Wow, Tucker."
The boy laughed and the two began talking about everything. Tucker had arrived at college on the day before but he looked perfectly settled in. Danny swore in the dark background of Tucker's room he could already see a pile of laundry, though whether that was his or his roommates he didn't know. Cautiously, Danny mentioned the party he was going to that night. Tucker's face was a slew of emotions; mostly pride and jealousy.
"Sam and I had to beg you to get out and now you are getting invited to a party! How'd that happen?"
"Uh, well... I went out with Brian this morning which he was cool with and all. So I hung out with him and then he had to go meet one of his art friends. Ummm... Aaron I think. So Aaron invited us to the party and then, um, yeah," Danny said, his sentence finishing lamely.
Tucker laughed. "Wow, I thought it would be more eventful. Brian isn't with you now is he?"
Danny shook his head.
Tucker leaned forward toward the screen. His face turned serious. "Any... you know, other friends around?"
Danny smiled a sad smile. "No, there's no ghost portal here. Nothing to worry about, you know?"
Danny recalled how Jazz had mentioned that Amity Park was still being attacked by ghosts. She was handling it before she had to return to Princeton, but it wouldn't be long before the town was defenseless. Danny had felt guilty when he accepted Berkeley's admittance to their University. But he'd known that one day he would have to leave Amity. It wasn't a huge deal, but the thought of the town being defenseless was stressful. For a while, it had really hurt. If he and Frostbite hadn't worked on dealing with Danny's Obsession, there would have been a big problem. The stomachaches were the price to pay for his choice, but they were worth it.
Tucker frowned. "Yeah, I know. It's gonna be weird you know? For Sam and I too, but for you. Being Phantom was always such a big thing you did and now..."
Danny didn't want to get angry. Tucker was bringing up things he'd already thought long and hard about. It was like when your mom told you to clean your room, even though it was already on the list of things you'd made to do for yourself. "I know, Tuck." He paused. "I'll get used to it. And I can still go ghost, I just need to get used to not fighting other ghosts." Danny shouldn't have even gotten this far in life, although technically he hadn't anyway.
Tucker nodded and grinned. "True."
Danny turned when he heard the door of his dorm opening. "Gotta go, Tuck. Talk to you later."
His friend threw up a peace sign and the call ended. Danny shut his computer.
Brian walked in with a six pack of BudLight and chips. He held up both. "Chips are for us, beer is for party."
"I'm still not used to the beer thing. I mean, it's been a week."
Brian shrugged and set the beer and chips down on his own desk. "Embrace the suck, Fenton. Embrace the suck."
"I don't even know what that means," Danny replied, and slid his computer off his lap to stand up and stretch. Brian took a look at him and gave a low whistle.
"You know fam, you got a nice bod."
Danny stopped mid-stretch. "Thanks?"
The other boy grinned and flopped down on his bed. "We should work out. You look like you do. What is it? What's your routine?"
Danny hesitated. Truthfully, he did work out. His upper body was solid from four years of ghost-fighting and then from the beginning of Sophomore year when Sam finally convinced him to get a weight set and he just couldn't stop. He worked out every day for a year. About three months in he started to wear baggy clothing just to hide the fact he wasn't puny-Fenton anymore, nevermind that he would've been able to beat up his bullies regardless. His legs, however, were a different story. Toned but not muscular, Danny's legs as Danny Phantom weren't even there all the time. What was the point of legs if you were going to fly? He just never materialized them unless he landed on the ground.
"Um, lots of bench and shoulder press. And um… deadlifts sometimes," Danny replied slowly.
Brian looked impressed. "Numbers, Fenton, I need numbers."
Danny looked up at the ceiling, slightly exasperated. "Bench is around 375. Shoulder press is around 200." It was a lie, Danny could lift a truck if he wanted, but Brian didn't exactly need to know that. He could probably lift double if he tried hard enough. Junior year he broke the bar clean in half. That had been a mess with the Weight Training teacher, but it was eventually blamed on faulty equipment. How else could a 16 year old break solid metal?
"Dude… nice. We should work out at the gym, like… that'd be cool. Get swol."
"I don't even know what that means," Danny laughed. "But whatever you say. The party's at six right?"
Brian nodded. "Yeah, but I gotta shower and get ready. You need to change too."
"What? Why?"
"It's California and you're not in Minnesota any more farm boy-."
"I grew up in the city. And I'm not from Minnesota."
"-and we need to get you looking like a Cali native."
Danny looked at Brian and compared him to the few people he knew were from the area. Brian himself was from San Francisco. He had darker skin, and lighter hair and looked like he was ready to go hiking or surfing or some other strenuous physical activity. Danny didn't want to stereotype, but you could just tell Brian was from California; and from the beach no less. Danny still wore his jeans and t-shirt and a baggy sweatshirt over top and sneakers. He looked like he was ready to step into some bad Target Fall Edition Magazine while Brian stepped out of Calvin Klein.
"Yeah, alright."
The next hour was spent with Brian showering, getting dressed, changing, dressing again, styling his hair and then focusing on Danny. By the end and one Instagram picture later, it was six o'clock and both boys were ready to leave. Danny stood by the door, however, and slowly had to coax Brian out of the room.
"If we arrive too early then we'll be nerdy freshman."
"Brian, no matter what we do we'll be nerdy freshman. We could come late and they'll say we're trying too hard. We come early and we're too excited. But we leave when the party starts they'll assume it's traffic and we arrived exactly when we meant to," Danny said, smirking slightly. He had no idea what he was talking about.
Brian looked away thoughtfully and then shrugged. "Fair enough."
Eventually they made it to the beach house, the whole street filled with cars. Danny found a parking spot a street over and the boys walked over to the house. It was large, blue, and you could see people inside and in the back. Music boomed from the speakers and Brian looked like a kid on Christmas morning.
"I've been waiting for this my entire life," he whispered to Danny as they walked up the steps.
A girl came out of the door with a red cup in her hand, closing the door a little behind her. Her hair was tied up in a bun and she wore a yellow sundress. She looked confused when she saw them and then her eyes widened a little in realization. "You freshman?"
"Um, yes," Danny replied slowly. Brian grew beet red in the face.
"Aaron invited you?"
"Yeah," Brian rushed to say. "He invited us."
"Alright cool, enjoy."
She moved aside to let them in. Danny walked by with Brian. The house was decorated very modern but beachy. The living room were crowded with people dancing and talking and outback, straight through the house to a large deck, there was even more people. The music was loud and Danny winced; yeah, Paulina's party Freshman year had been busy but that was nothing in comparison to the sheer amount of people that managed to fit in house. Brian slapped him on the shoulder and shouted loudly, jumping forward to talk with people he knew.
For the next hour, Danny wandered around the party, hanging out with people and chilling with them. At around eight o'clock, the girl who let them in came around and said there'd be a bonfire in the back in thirty minutes. Danny yelled with the rest of the occupants of the dining room happily, and then went back to their conversations. When people finally started hanging out, Danny met back up with Brian who was with Aaron and sung Karaoke with them in the basement, which opened to the beach.
"Oh, dude," Brian said, grabbing Danny by the shoulders. "There's someone I want you to meet. A friend of mine- we went to highschool together in the area."
Brian and Aaron, who had warmed up considerably to Danny since that morning, dragged Danny out to the bonfire pit was surrounded by drunk college students.
On one of the logs sat a girl about Danny's height. She was tan and pretty, with long dark straight hair and a pretty flowery dress. She sat with her ankles crossed and hands clasped together, her lips tight as she watched some boys on a truck dancing. When she saw Brian and Aaron walking toward her, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Florence!" Brian called out, opening his arms for a hug. The girl rolled her eyes and pushed him away.
"I told you not to call me that, idiot. It's Fawney," she said. Danny got the feeling she really didn't care what he called her, with the smile crawling up her cheeks.
Brian shrugged and swung his arm over Danny. "This is my friend Danny Fenton. Danny, this is Fawney Earheart. Fawney, this is Danny."
The girl stuck her hand out and they awkwardly shook hands.
"You go to Berkeley?" he asked. He knew it was a stupid question, but they needed something to talk about.
Fawney didn't seem to care though. She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulders and smiled. "Yeah! I'm a Criminal Studies major. You?"
"Physics."
Her eyes widened. "Oh. Wow. That's like, scientifical and stuff."
Danny laughed. "Yeah, but it's really cool. I wanted to be an astronaut for the longest time and I mean, it's still the dream but like… just working for NASA would be amazing."
"I know what you mean. A friend of mine, she goes to a school in Florida though, but anyway… she's a Fine Arts Major and stuff and she just wants to work for Pixar. Like she want's to animate and all but like… kinda like you said! She just would love to work there!"
Danny smiled. "Yeah, my sister for the longest time she wanted to be a psychologist. Like, ever since middle school. She'd sit there when I was doing my homework sometimes and watch me in my room and like… I didn't really care, I'm a passive person. So, like, she'd sit there right? And watch me? And then list my bad habits over the past couple months on like… different things from psychology textbooks."
"Wow," Fawney muttered. "That's dedication."
"Yeah, that's what she's studying right now at Princeton."
"Jeez. Princeton?"
"Yup."
"Huh. And here my brother and I are both going to the same college."
Danny looked around. Through the lights and the music he could barely focus on Fawney (with Brian and Aaron messing around behind her), let alone what she was saying. The sun had gone down and above him the moon drifted behind clouds. "You're brother? Is he here?"
Fawney rolled her eyes. "He's dating the girl that is throwing the party. Kinley? She was the one that answered the door." She pointed to the guy that Danny had seen on the truck. He was still on there, except now he was holding a red up and had lost his shirt somewhere.
"That's him."
"Oh. Uh.. what's he study?"
"Business and Economics and stuff. He's a senior."
Danny nodded. He wasn't sure what to ask Fawney. He'd never been good at speaking with people and when he was younger he yearned for "popularity" or to at least to be noticed, but now that he was older he tried not to push himself to seem cooler.
"Are you from the area?"
"Huh?"
Fawney laughed and then sat down on the log she'd been sitting on. Danny joined her.
"I asked if you were from the area?"
"Oh, haha. No, I'm from Amity Park, Missouri. You?"
"San Francisco. I went to highschool with Brian, that's how we met. I actually grew up outside the city, but my aunt lived in it so my brother and I "lived" under her address so we could attend one of the schools here. What's Amity Park like?"
Danny hesitated. He didn't want to just break out the ghosts just yet, but that was really the only thing going for Amity. There wasn't much that went on in the city besides the ghost attacks. In fact, most of the people beyond Amity didn't know about ghosts (aside from the G.I.W) and breaking that out to a girl he'd just met at a college party probably wasn't the best idea. "I mean, there's not much to say. Grew up on the Mississippi River though? That was fun I guess."
"Oh, okay! I've never been to Missouri. How do you like California?"
"The heat is… something else. I'm more of cold-type of person, you know? But I like the beach and Berkeley has a lot of cool stuff and shops and all. San Francisco is neat too, really different. The hills are… terrifying to drive on."
Fawney laughed. "No, I agree. Just imagine. I'm fifteen years old right and I'm learning how to drive and the first thing we do is drive up the steepest hill in San Francisco and then go down, trying not to speed up. I almost crashed."
"Oh, lord. Tell me you have more."
"Okay, okay! So, after I got my license right I'm driving around with my friend Angela in the car. And like… Angela's super loud and she plays really loud music and like so I'm not really paying attention cause you know I can drive now and stuff and 'mm super excited and we're just kinda carelessly driving through this residential area and I turn onto a one way right and like we're just not paying attention-"
"Hey, listen up losers!"
Danny and Fawney turned to tall kid standing on a balcony above them. He wore a tank top and a pair of short shorts and a sun scarf on his head. "We're gonna shoot off some damn fireworks and so help me god if ya'll don't watch I'm gonna scream!"
Brian swung his arms over Fawney and Danny and let out a larger whoop. Danny smirked at his friend and spared a glance at Fawney. He couldn't tell if she looked exasperated or excited; it was probably both.
The rest of the party swung into full shock mode and went crazy. Danny didn't know music could get that loud (excluding Ember, who was an outlier and couldn't be counted) but he and Fawney, and Brian reluctantly, who dragged Aaron along, went down to the beach by the waves. They sat out of the way, further down, their red cups resting in a moonlit sand. They joked around and Danny finally felt like he had a group of friends even though he'd only know them about one day, excluding Brian's whopper of a full week. It was true. After the party ended, they all left to go some cafe at three in the morning, hoping to drink off all the alcohol that Brian had consumed.
Afterward, Danny did have a group of friends. Once classes started, he only hung out with Aaron, Brian, and Fawney. They'd meet out at the park , or the library and another popular place was Danny and Brian's dorm, although getting four people in there was rough. They managed, though. By the fourth week of classes and many late nights, the group was finally a group. Danny, though, often took some nights to go ghost and float over San Francisco's lights, or talk to Tucker. He'd skyped with both of them together only twice, and it had mostly Sam saying how much she liked Mica and how everyone was so artistic and she's found some great second -hand stores and Danny finally figured out who Aaron had reminded him of. Sam. And Aaron was a bona fide Hipster.
Tucker and he had talked about Ghosts, but neither Danny nor Tucker or Sam had seen any. Danny wasn't sure whether to be relieved or if he should be waiting for something.
Another month passed before he talked to them again he was so caught up on schoolwork he hadn't focused on any calls or texts that didn't pertain to studying or hanging out at the cafe for a caffeine break with Fawney, who Danny rarely spent time with alone. It was always as a group or Danny and Brian and Aaron, or Aaron and Danny, or Brian and Danny. Fawney loved the cafe and she invited Danny to her outings often and he'd almost always take up her offer, to the point where she only had to text him "cafe" and he'd start packing up his laptop and textbooks. Brian teased him about it effortlessly and Danny just blushed a furious mixture of red and green and disappeared out the door.
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"Someone's hair is different!" Danny exclaimed, stopping short by his and Fawney's usual table. The girl giggled and patted the place in front of her. "Sit down, astroboy, I need some help with science."
"I didn't know your hair was curly," he said, sliding into the seat with his latte. Fawney rolled her eyes.
"Curly is an understatement, it's actually a new planet," she said, squeezing the mass of tight curls on top of her head. Her hair was practically an afro, circling her head like a halo. Danny thought she looked amazing but the moment the thought crossed his mind he hurriedly reached for his laptop.
Fawney huffed. "It really isn't this curly. I mean, it's curly, but like looser? I don't know, my friend did this is as a prank. I slept over last night, right, and I'm such a heavy sleeper and she took my hair and a curling iron and I didn't have enough time this morning to straighten it again. He reached forward, "Mind if I…?"
"Actually, yes."
"Oh, oh gosh, I'm sorry."
But thankfully Fawney laughed. "Don't worry about, you just don't know the amount of people who just go for it and just straight up touch my hair when it isn't straight without asking. Do you have a hair tie?"
Danny looked at his wrists. "As a matter of fact, I do. My friend Sam, from high school she'd always forget them and I got the duty of carrying them on my wrist. I'll just need it back."
He handed her the hair tie and she grabbed her hair and pulled it back and then…
"It broke."
"I don't know what to tell you?"
"Biology. Let's just… let's just do that."
That's what they did. Danny and Fawney sat there for two hours, went through six cups of coffee together (Fawney: 4, Danny: 2), and discussed Biology. Danny was good at it, just like his parents. It had just taken him a while to get into the swing of things. Admittedly, his freshman year started off with rocky start. Actually, Danny's genius was in his drawing skills. He'd taken several classes in and out of school and did AP Studio Art his senior year, with a solid 4 as his overall score. But art wasn't his passion, space was, by extension, so was science in general. Science in general was also basically biology, and so here he was.
Afterward, Fawney had her English class and so Danny walked her to class and then wandered around campus. He'd gotten his homework done while helping Fawney study and now had nothing to do. Taking out his phone, he scrolled down to the name "Sam". His thumb hovered over the contact and then he clicked on it.
Hey!
A minute passed.
Ugh, thank god. Someone competent. Sorry, my creative writing class is awful. I'm gonna kill the kid that sits next to me. How are you!? I felt like I haven't talked to you or Tucker since classes have started!- Sam
He grinned to himself and began typing his reply. He and Sam were iffy, but still friends. She only ever thought about how things affected her, and not realize that other people's personal choices affecting her wasn't what she should be concerned about. Sam didn't take too kindly to Danny telling her that, though.
Good! What happened with the kid in your class? Just had a Bio study session with my friend Fawney, she's literally fine in anything else but Bio. Or Calc, apparently. According to Brian. They went to highschool together. Classes are good and stuff, I'm enjoying them a lot! Berkley is really nice. How's Baltimore?"
Several minutes passed again before his phone buzzed.
Who's Fawney? Baltimore is interesting. I've been going out on the weekends with friends and there's this great Amish Market in Annapolis, they have fantastic pretzels. And there's really huge malls here, I'm gonna have to watch my spending.
Danny sat there formulating a reply to answer Sam with. How did he describe Fawney? He knew Sam wasn't jealous or liked him anymore, but he still felt weird telling her about girls. Valerie he was fine with, but Sam was just weird and oddly always judgmental about the girls he was interested in or dated. He paused and then, Friend I met at a party. She and my roommate Brian went to highschool together and he introduced us and a friend of theirs too. So I have a group of friends now? I guess. And that's great! Lol, yeah same, groceries are already a pain in the butt.
He did homework for the next two hours, Sam never texting him back. He looked up and then… "Ghost? Here?"
He looked around and then, above him, in the sky, which had turned an eerie purple was a floating ghost in a white dress. Around her flickered Lightning and people on campus were staring at the ghost with shocked expressions, pointing. Danny grimaced and ducked behind several bushes. He hadn't transformed into Phantom in a while but the familiar tingle of being a ghost crawled up his body and he transformed into a ghost. He flew straight up to the ghost, his fist meeting it's face. The thing rocketed backward with a screech and threw a bolt of ectoplasmic lightning at him. He dodged to the side, frowning. He was out of practice.
"What do you want?" He asked, shouting. The ghost looked around.
"I've been wronged," it replied. "I cannot be wronged again."
It's voice, a scratchy sound, grated against his ears and he held his hands against them. The ghost rocketed forward with amazing speed and knocked Danny into the Library. He groaned, holding his hand and a flash of light from a phone camera didn't help.
"Get out of here!" He yelled and slammed into the ghost. A punch, then a kick and then the ghost was lying on the ground. He flew to his bag and unpacked the Fenton Thermos, sucking the ghost in. The sky brightened considerably, and everyone was then staring at him.
"What?" He asked. "Never seen a ghost before?"
And then he was gone, behind one of the buildings by a security door. He untransformed and let out a relieved sigh. The first thing he did when he got back was grab his phone and hurry off to his dorm room to text Sam and Tucker, and possibly Jazz. Just as he was about the slide his key card down the slider-thing to get inside his hall, a hand tightly gripped his wrist.
"What was that?"
He turned to his right to find Fawney holding his wrist, her face pale as she stared at him with wide eyes. His mouth gaped and for a moment they stared at each other.
"I… what was what?"
She leaned forward. "You're asking me? I didn't see you just… just detransform from whatever that was!"
He looked around hurriedly. "Follow me, I'll explain I promise." He led her upstairs to his and Brian's room, thankful that his roommate was out with another friend of theirs. She stood awkwardly away from him, out of place suddenly in Danny's strange world. He sat down in his bed and sighed. Fawney figeted and gestured for him to get going.
"I told you where I came from was weird," he began.
Fawney nodded. "Yeah, because it's from the midwest right?"
Danny winced. "Not exactly. Well it really began with my parents. They're scientists. For ghosts. I think the official title is Ectoplasmic and Other-Wordly Sciences or something, but anyway, in college my parents were really into the supernatural and they built this prototype ghost… portal thing. Well, it worked, mostly and they built one in their lab, our basement. Well, it didn't work. My friend, Sam she wanted to see it and we went down there and she wanted a picture of me inside it and I went in and kind of… turned it on."
Fawney gasped. "How are you still alive?"
He blushed. "Well that's the thing, the ghost portal activated and my town is literally overflooded with actual, real life ghosts. But the thing… kind of killed me." He stood up and let the rings transform him, changing him into Danny Phantom. "This is my ghost form, Phantom, that I can transform into. I fought the ghosts."
Fawney was wide eyed. "And did you bring them here? Was that what that thing was? A ghost?"
Danny scowled and shook his head. "Yes, but I don't think I brought them here. I think someone had a portal, or at least there's a way for the ghosts to get through. A natural portal maybe? They don't stay open for long so I think maybe that one just got lucky?"
A hum from Fawney interrupted him. He turned mid-air to look at him. "Don't go off on a tangent, not now. You need to tell me everything."
Well, Danny thought, I don't. But he liked Fawney and now that she knew, Danny wanted to be sure that no one else would know unless he wanted them too. Besides, he had told her that he would explain. "Well," he said, "Uh, like I said. The portal… I stepped into the one my parents had made and activated it. We don't know how, I mean, we kind of do but not really, but the portal halfway killed me. It gave me ghost powers, kind of, and it lets me change forms between my ghost half and my human half. Kinda cool, huh?" He smirked, but the frown on Fawney's face wiped the smirk off.
She deflated a little, plopping on Brian's bed. "Wow, the only guy I've liked is kind of dead."
"Wait, what?"
Fawney groaned, throwing her head back. "So what now?"
"Wait, no I'm still-"
"Don't worry about it Fenton. What now? We look for the portal you mentioned?"
Danny straightened. "Yes. Um. Yeah, yeah. Natural portals occur often but sporadically, you can't look for them, you have to trace their ectoplasmic outtake levels." He paused. "Something like that."
"So how do we look for them?"
"Fawney, I really don't want to drag you into this-"
She waved him away, cutting his sentence short. "Oh no, don't worry about me. I didn't mean to see you, but if these things keep coming through these portals, than you're gonna need help. You said your old town was flooded with ghosts, I bet you didn't handle that yourself! Besides, if it is just looking for the portal, then that means this will be quick and easy, right?"
Despite her confidence and seemingly unaffected attitude, Danny was worried. He knew she could handle herself, no doubt about it, but he had this intense feeling it wasn't going to just be finding a portal.
][][][
After that, it was late night, caffeine, and plenty of close calls. Danny and Fawney drove all around the city to find the portal, but nothing came up. It wasn't until long that Brian, and by extent Aaron got suspicious. However, it wasn't for the reasons that Danny actually a little relieved. If the only thing they thought of were secret make-out sessions, than it was fine. Danny didn't mind the guys thinking he'd gotten someone as beautiful as she was, because to be honest, she was amazing.
The constant teasing, on the other hand, was annoying. But it was worth the price of his secret. Fawney's belief in his ghost abilities was one thing, and her simply knowing was already uncomfortable. It wasn't because Danny actually distrusted her, but because he'd been so used to only four other people knowing for four years, three people if you didn't count Valerie's two years. Danny definitely knew he didn't trust Brian; he gossiped like no tomorrow. The second he found something out about one of their classmates, even if Danny didn't know them, Brian would turn around and spout details like a cloud on a rainy day. Because of Brian's inability to keep his piehole shut, have of their class now believed that Danny and Fawney were dating, or in some sort of friends-with-benefits deal.
That consequently made things very awkward. Fawney couldn't look him in the eye without blushing a deep red.
Tonight was going to be fun. Fawney was waiting on the street corner, a sweater over the flower print dress, huddled very snugly with her scarf around her neck. She smiled at him and gave a small wave as he slowed to a stop. She opened the door and sat inside.
"Hey, so where-"
"Shit, Danny where are we going bud?"
"Holy fuck!"
"What the hell, Brian!?"
Brian and Aaron broke out in peels of laughter until it faded into snickering. "We knew you two were secretly dating!" Brian exclaimed, "I mean look at you, Fawney even dressed up!" The two had hidden underneath a blanket Danny had in the back of his car, apparently waiting to pounce when both the victims were together. Danny was glad he hadn't turned around and electrocuted them with ectoplasm- that would have been a disaster.
"We aren't dating!" Fawney yelled. "God, you guys are so nosy!"
"Then why are you too together? Both of ya'll are constantly with each other at night and don't provide any explanation to where you were," Aaron said, leaning forward in the seat, bushing Brian back. His voice, deep, hung around the car.
Danny turned around, his eyes narrowed. "You know what? Fine. You want to know what we are doing? We're ghost hunting."
Brian laughed and then grew somber when he looked at Danny's face. "Wait, you're serious?"
"Completely," Danny remarked. "You remember that attack a couple of weeks ago, right? The news says it was a ghost and hell I would know, my town is completely run over by them. My parents are scientists that work with ghosts. I'm dead serious."
"Fuck, man. What?"
"I believe him," Aaron said. All three friends looked at him.
"You do?" Danny said.
"Yeah, Fawney ain't stupid. If she thinks Danny's telling the truth, than he is," Aaron said, throwing his hands up in defense. He leaned back in the seat and buckled himself in, crossing his arms. "That doesn't mean I don't wanna see where this is going though."
Brian leaned forward and grasped Danny's shoulders. "Ghosts?"
"I can prove it if we get out of sight, promise."
Brian was buckled in an instant. "Let's go bitches."
As they drove, Danny explained the ghost portal and his parents. He even described the failure and him walking in, and getting electrocuted. He didn't like thinking about how he technically died, but it did explain the emergence of his electric powers. As ghosts got older, their cores could change. The ice core had developed first, but now a newer core, more based on his half "death", had emerged to replace it. It simply meant his ghost body was maturing.
"So you're a ghost?" Aaron asked.
"Kind of, not exactly. We're here though," Danny replied. They stepped out a little ways away in front of the science institute and hid behind some bushes. "Okay, I'm gonna go invisible and check for guards. I really think this is where the portal is based."
"What?"
But Danny had already disappeared.
"What the fuck," Brian whispered softly, but he was grinning. They were quiet, sitting behind the bushes.
"I can't believe it's real," Aaron muttered. Fawney gave him a nod.
"Danny and I have been looking for stuff for like… I don't know? Sixish weeks now? There's been ectoplasmic… stuff in the air that Danny says only happens when there is a portal, but we can't help but find it. We mapped it out though and found that this was the center. It took us awhile but I think that's because there wasn't enough data."
"Is that what Danny told you?"
"Absolutely."
Danny reappeared behind them. Brian shrieked a little. After they settled him down, Danny grabbed ahold of all of them. "I'm going to fly us inside the lobby. No guards, except in a camera room but I ripped some random cords and cables out so that should preoccupy them."
He transformed, the rings of light enveloping them so they had to shield their eyes, and in Danny Fentons place was Danny Phantom, whose white hair glittered and glowed softly. Fawney couldn't help but stare. "Grab ahold of me."
In the next instant, they were flying through a wall and up several floors. They appeared, and both Aaron and Brian gasped.
"That was insane!" he insisted, and proceeded to talk about it for the next five minutes as they Danny and Fawney searched the floor. One locked door.
"Give me a sec," Danny whispered, and phased through it. It was a lab, clearly for graduate students. There were blueprints and chemicals. Danny knew his way around a lab though, he circled around the desk, looking for anything suspicious and then walked back to the work desk. "Shit," he whispered. He touched the rim of the miniature ghost portal. It didn't resemble his parents clunky one at home. It was sleek and silver, and it sat on top of miniature steel beams. He searched around for an on button, careful to move away as he clicked it. The thing buzzed to life like a little engine, casting green light around the room.
Inside the silver was the swirling green mass of the ghost zone, twisting and almost beckoning for Danny to fly into it. He almost smashed the on/off button to turn it off. Danny paused, trying to recollect himself and ignore the feeling to return home.
Not home, he told himself, the ghost zone was never home. He turned away from the portal and flew back to the desk, grasping at the blueprints. "Jonathan G. Wilkins," he read aloud. "Gotcha Mista J."
He flew back out the door. Fawney and Brian sprang back. "Find anything?" the girl asked, hurried.
"A name," he said. "And a portal."
"What? Really? You found it? Did you destroy it?"
Danny shook his head, ignoring Fawney's angry and surprised yelp. "Let's get back to the car."
End of Part I.