Kiss Me

Chapter 1: Crush Revisited

Danny takes Sam on a date to prepare for a date with Paulina and unexpected feelings arise.

Disclaimer: Besides using the characters created by Butch Hartman for Danny Phantom, my major plot ideas are from the TV series 'Friends' including several dialogues that are taken directly from the series and altered appropriately. So I give ultimate and full credit there to Marta Kauffman, Kevin S. Bright and David Crane, executive producers of the show. I try to keep them as in character as I can, with all due respect to Mr. Hartman, but really. I'm human and they'll vary.

According to many sites with episode recap notes, Danny's identity is revealed in the upcoming 2nd season finale, "Reality Trip" to everyone. Which appears tomorrow, woo-hoo! Even if this is incorrect, let's assume it has occurred. I make reference as if it has occurred in the past.

"Can you believe Tucker got today off?" Sam laughed, pushing the rest of her books into her locker. "My parents would never do that. They believe in a formal education."

Danny laughed as he opened his own locker,

"Well, it's the end of the day and—"

"Hel-LO Danny!"

Sam cringed as the heavily accented girl with, in her opinion, way too much make-up, pushed Danny's locker closed to catch him off guard and then ran a quick finger down his shirt as she leaned in,

"Oooh. Have you been working out?"

"Um…..yeah. Yeah, I guess you could put it that way." Danny gave a great smile and blushed.

"Puh-lease," Sam rolled her eyes. If Danny was ripped somewhere beneath his oversized shirts, it was only because of his ghost powers and maybe his prowess at video games. Danny would never set foot in a gym.

She inserted herself between the two after looking at the clock and milked up a sweet voice,

"We have to be somewhere at the moment, Paulina. Danny will be back tomorrow. You can play with him then."

She grabbed Danny's arm and pulled him forward. Danny turned back in shock to Paulina, who clasped her hands together and waved, giggling. Blushing, he waved back. He spun around to Sam and yanked his hand out of her grasp.

"Ouch Sam! That hurts! And you didn't have to be so rude to her."

Sam stopped and turned around, eyes slightly narrowed,

"You do realize that she's only hitting on you because she now knows you're Danny Phantom. She'd never have given you the time of day otherwise."

"Still…." Danny rubbed his hands and a glossy look appeared on his face as he remembered her smell, "…..she's something, isn't she?"

"Yeah. A piece of crap. Now come on. Tucker's waiting for us and I can't wait to see the look on his face…."

"Ahh!" Tucker cried gleefully, "I've had the best day ever! I shot a two par at the golf course, got an updated PDA from Skulk and Lurk and mom and dad gave me tickets to the technology convention taking place next week!"

"Well, it's going to get even better," Sam grinned. She looked over at Danny, who nodded. A light ring appeared around his waist and around the ground below him. Transforming, he fell lightly through the ground below as if he was sinking into water.

"Huh?" Tucker asked.

"Wait for it," Sam crossed her arms, "By the way, you owe us big after this."

Danny popped up again through the floor, but this time he was holding a huge package.

"It's not new," Danny started. "We got it at a sale and it's deteriorated a little bit, but it definitely works…."

"And we'll be coming over to play with it," Sam pointed out.

"I love it! It's huge!" Tucker shouted. "Let's open it; OPEN IT!"

He ripped apart the paper and stared.

"It's a Pac-man machine," Sam explained quickly, "Do you like it?"

"Like it!" Tears shone in Tuckers eyes, "I love it! I practically spent my entire childhood at the arcades."

"Don't you still spend weekends there?" Danny raised an eyebrow, "You know--with me?"

"This is like, my second favorite game! Thanks guys!" Tucker hugged them and pressed the start button.

"Really? What was your first?" Sam asked.

"Well I don't really remember the name of it," Tucker said carefully.

"What'd it do?" Danny asked.

"You put a quarter in and pull some handles and well, you'd win a candy bar or something."

"A vending machine?" Sam asked slowly. Danny laughed.

"Hey! Don't feel bad for me!" Tucker crossed his arms. "I won every time!"

"You are so lucky," Sam told Tucker as they climbed the steps to Casper High. "My mother would have gotten me a dress for my birthday. And no. Not just any dress. Floral prints."

Tucker and Danny laughed.

A group of people had gathered at the top of the stairs around the doorframe.

"Have they finally closed school down?" Tucker asked hopefully.

"Fat chance," Sam frowned, "Probably another highly chaperoned, moral entrenched dance to entice high society and please the hormonal crowds."

"It is!" Danny grabbed quickly for a trampled flyer on the ground, "Three weeks from now."

"What!" Tucker waved his arms frustratingly. "That's so far ahead!"

"Maybe they wanted to give us enough notice," said Sam. "You know—in case we wanted to skip town."

"Oh please. Dances are fun, Sam," Tucker grinned. His eyes widened immediately as Star passed, quickly stepping in her way. He gave a low bow.

"Mademoiselle. Would you like to join me, Sir Tuck, to the extravagant Fall Ball?"

Star snorted and pulled his hat over his face,

"As IF! Geekazoid."

Dash and Kwan laughed as Tucker danced around trying to pull the hat off his face, scowling in frustration. Sam turned to Danny and noticed that he was staring dazedly at Valerie, who was currently reading the flyer for the first time. Then she turned and saw Paulina staring at him. She ripped Tuckers hat off and sighed.

"Where did Tucker go?" Sam asked, stepping through the doors and realizing, once again, that he was nowhere near her and Danny.

"Oh DANNY!" Paulina came running up to the two, whipping her hair behind her shoulders.

"Quick!" Sam panicked. "Do you think she saw us or can we still run away?"

"Oh chill Sam," Danny turned and grinned at Paulina.

"Oh Danny!" she breathed, pushing her hips forward and lowering her eyes seductively, "Did you hear about the dance?"

"Yeah…." Danny said slowly.

"Oh my gosh," Sam rolled her eyes and whispered off to the side.

Paulina gave her a little glare,

"Excuse me. But I believe this is a private conversation."

"I was just leaving," Sam growled, "See you in class Danny."

"Bye!" Danny waved without taking his face away from Paulina's.

Paulina grinned,

"Have you asked anyone to go yet?"

"Umm……no," Danny said, his mind immediately jumping to Valerie, "No. Not yet."

"Well, I'll have you know….I am currently available." Paulina gave him a wink before sauntering away. Danny blinked.

"You have a date to the dance…..already?" Sam's mouth dropped open as Tucker told her before class started, "WHO! What idiot made that decision?"

"It's for me to know and--- hey! She's not an idiot." Tucker folded his arms resentfully.

The bell ring and Sam's attention was diverted,

"Oh no! Danny's late!"

Mr. Lancer strolled up to the classroom. As usual, he wore a scowl,

"Now that every boy and girl has had the chance to see certain papers introducing a certain social event three weeks from now, we will turn our attention to much more important and pressing….." He stopped talking however when he noticed no one was listening or even fully sitting down. He frowned.

The door opened slowly and Sam turned to see Danny looking at them with panicked eyes. Sam waved her arms quickly, motioning for him to come in while everyone else was distracted.

He quickly ran to her side, pushing himself into the desk quickly and giving a huge sigh of relief when he realized no one had seen him. Not a moment later, Mr. Lancer picked up a book and slammed it on the desk. Everyone fell silent immediately.

"Now then. If I hear one more word about this dance…." His eyes fell on Danny, "I will personally make sure you receive detention with me and don't get the chance to attend. Ah……Mr. Phantom. I see you finally graced us with your---ah, presence. Detention. For being tardy."

Danny gulped as Sam and Tucker turned to him with a look of "Well, see you in the afterlife!"

Dash and Kwan started laughing to themselves. Tucker, who was closest to them, could make out phrases like,

"What a phanto-nerd," and "Like father, like son…..both are two ghosts short."

Tucker glared, but it was Paulina's "innocent" elbow that silenced their laughter. His mouth dropped open in shock. An A List member hitting another A List member? It was almost unheard of.

"Where were you?" Sam asked.

"With Valerie?" Danny hesitated.

"Valerie!" Both Sam and Tucker shouted in surprise.

"Foley! Manson! Detention!" Mr. Lancer yelled from the front.

Authors Note: Hooray! The end of the 1st chapter. I probably could have kept going, but now I'll have somewhere to start off the next chapter with and you all can keep guessing what Danny was doing with Valerie when he's supposedly going on a date with Paulina! And WHO is Tucker dating? hehehe.