Holy shit! Fenton. Wimpy, nerdy, ghost-hunter-parents, respected pilot, superior officer, "Fenton!" I stand.
He's as surprised as I am but recovers first. He claps me on the shoulder. "It's good to see a familiar face. When did you get transferred in?"
"Few days ago." I'm not sure what to do next and I guess Fenton doesn't know either cause he addresses our audience.
"Joey, Red, Casey," a pause "Rick."
"Don't worry Captain, I'll take good care of Dash, your friends, my friends and all that!" Rick gives a salute.
"Right." Fenton looks uncomfortable. "Well I hate to be rude, but I'm grabbing dinner to go. There's a lot of paperwork that needs my name on it." He turns back to me. "We should catch up sometime."
"Yeah." I agree awkwardly and he nods before turning back into the crowd.
I sat with an audible thump. Great. This was all I needed. I wanted to make a good impression. Fenturd better keep his mouth shut or I'll…
"How do you know the Captain?" I blink at Rick's question.
"We went to the same high school."
"Amity Park?" Asks Casey.
"Yes"
"You probably know some good stories about him then." Red has closed his book to give me his full attention.
"Not really."
"So our good Captain believes in ghosts too?" Joey question is… what's the word… scathing? And I find myself blurting out,
"His parents are ghost hunters." They're all staring at me. Fantastic. Joey in disbelief, Casey in curiosity, Rick in anticipation of hearing how great Fenton is probably, and Red just hoping for a good story and… actually I think I know one. "Sophomore year, my parents got this invite to a cruise. That's normal but, they went without me and not just my parents, everyone's parents were on that cruise. That's when I knew something was up. My friends and I witnessed ghosts abducting some parents and tried to find help. Fenton and his… friends were having a party. When he realized what was going on, Fenton took control of the situation, gave us equipment, showed us how to use it, devised an infiltration plan, got us onto that floating pirate ship and kicking ghost butt."
"What happened next?" Asked Casey.
"Fenton had to walk the plank. Phantom showed up and saved him. But he didn't come back with Phantom to finish the fight."
"What did the ghosts want with your parents?" Red sounds confused.
I shrug. "They had them on treadmills powering the ship."
"Are you saying the Captain ran away from a fight?" Rick's voice is hard and it makes me reconsider what I had always assumed. That Phantom rescued Fenton and Fenton decided to stay on the ground. But what if Fenton was injured, what if Phantom refused to give him a ride?
"No. Just the facts as I know them."
"Ghost devised an elaborate scheme to kidnap adults just to power a flying pirate ship? I suppose you must have plenty of other wacky ghost stories that Captain Fenton could corroborate." Joey is still skeptical.
"Corroborate?"
"Agree with." Casey clarifies.
I smirk at the challenge. "Sure do wanna hear another?"
A big thanks to all my reviewers. You are the reason this is being continued.