I started Casper High the next day, and I was more than terrified of just getting near the school bus. So instead, I challenged the bus driver to a little race, and strangely he accepted. I guessed that kids were like that here.

Every time he looked out the window to look at me, I was just a few steps ahead of the bus. I knew because I myself frequently looked back, smirking. I was racing a bus and winning! I could see the shock on his face, and I had to say that I was enjoying this. I stopped to breathe whenever the bus stopped, and by the time I got to the school I was winded. I ignored the people who were murmuring as they got off the bus, no doubt about the new kid who had just won a race against the bus.

The triumph of confidence of winning the race faded quickly, and suddenly I was just a shy teenager being talked to by one of the buffest kids I had ever seen. He had on a red letterman jacket, his eyes were blue and his hair blonde. I whimpered as he got close to me, even though he had what I supposed was meant to be an encouraging smile.

"Hey," he said, smiling brightly at me. "Name's Dash. Dash Baxter. You a new kid, right?"

"U-Um," I stuttered, shrinking down a little. "Y-yes, I-I'm new h-here..."

He beamed. "Good, good! Say, how's your schedule?" Without waiting, he took it and shouted. "Aw yeah, you're in all of my classes! Just follow me around and we can be friend, alright kid? What's your name?"

I was getting even more intimidated by him as he backed me against the wall even more, because I kept trying to back away from him when I really should have just grabbed my schedule and run forward.

"M-My name's R-Rose," I whispered, trembling now. I assumed this kid, Dash, was part of the football team; I could see it in his face. Oh no. Was he trying to recruit me for football? I'd never played football in my entire life! Dash sort of grabbed my long-sleeve jacket and dragged me along, me only following so that my dark grey jacket wouldn't rip. He made me sit next to him, boxed in by some of his other "friends".

I noticed a black-haired kid with blue eyes and I asked about him, rather timidly, to Dash. Dash just chuckled and told me that the kid was the resident weakling of the school, named Danny Fenton. Dash tried to get me to come up with a good name to call Danny, but I couldn't think of one. Well, really, I could think of a lot of names but I was far too kind to call someone a horrible name. So I just told my new "friend" that I didn't have anything to work with and that I was sure that he could think up a name because he was "so smart".

I wanted to growl a little. He looked dumber than the kid at my old school who couldn't tell the two ends of a pencil apart. I met Mr. Lancer, who was thoroughly impressed with my knowledge of books even though I'd been reading Edgar Allen Poe's works of literature since I was in 5th grade. I nearly cried when Dash tried to get me to pick on Fenton with him, and I politely declined and managed to slip off.

I followed Dash around like a lost puppy, only using him to get to my classes. I soon found out that Danny Fenton also had all of his classes with me, so I considered asking him to show me around because I was pretty much terrified of Dash. Well, I was terrified of Fenton too but he looked much less intimidating than Dash did, even though Fenton was still taller than me by at least a foot. I was a pretty short kid, only 4'2" for a 15-year-old.

Multiple times, I caught people whispering about me. One girl, a very pretty but obviously shallow girl by the name of Paulina Sanchez, tried to get me to show her what my eye looked like under the shadowy-purple hair of my human form. I certainly didn't want to show anyone the empty socket where my right eye should have been, it having been clawed out by a ghost named Plasmius, who kept trying to get me to side with him. I could tell that he wanted to just use me, and I'd left my old home in Wisconsin to get away from him.

When Dash learned that I wasn't going to join the football team because I was terrified of everything save for butterflies, he stuffed me into his locker. I sighed and became intangible the moment he closed the locker door, climbing out when a black-haired girl with a ponytail let me out. I was shaking from exhaustion of using my intangibility, which drained me the most out of my powers. She called over two of her friends, one of which who happened to be Danny Fenton, and the other I learned was named Tucker Foley.

They had me sit near them for lunch, and we all compared schedules. In the one class that I didn't have with Danny, Gym, the black-haired girl, Sam Manson, was in with me. I felt myself growing at ease with the three friends, though I stayed out of most of the conversation and spaced off quite a bit. I felt a ghost sense coming up, and I turned away and pretended to cough to let the mist out. I didn't notice the mist come out of Danny's mouth too, and, for the second time that day, I nearly cried. Of course it had to be the Box Ghost, though, just playing a prank on me. The Box Ghost and I were sort of friends, he at least didn't go off on a rant about himself every time he popped up around me.

Pouting and blushing furiously, I slowly stalked my way over to the Box Ghost and slapped him. Hard. I whispered furiously to him and told him that the next time he scares me for no reason, I would shoot an ecto-ray at him no matter who was around. Of course, Skulker showed up after that and I hid to turn into my ghost form. I tried to distract Skulker, and when I did I noticed a tuft of white hair. Danny Phantom.

Danny Phantom had said he wasn't going to hurt me... so maybe I could trust him.

"Phantom!" I called, trying to control the stutter in my voice. "Let's take S-Skulker out, eh?"

Phantom looked startled at my call, but he smirked and nodded in way of answering. He looked sort of like Danny... if you just made his hair black and his eyes green... but now wasn't the time for that. I used my agility to spin out of the way of the incoming rockets while also shooting a purple ecto-ray at Skulker, and by the time that Phantom pulled out his weird thermos thing, I was exhausted again. When he'd sucked up Skulker again, I realized that he would talk to me.

Terrified once more, I hid and changed back to my human form. I called out to the three friends, Phantom having suddenly disappeared and Danny returned. I asked them why they hadn't left the cafeteria, and they answered evasively. I blinked and nodded, not really believing them.

"Okay, what class is next..." I muttered, looking over my schedule. I trembled a little. Gym. Gym with Sam Manson and Dash Baxter. Oh no.