A/N: Oh wow, what is this? An update after a week? So soon!

Not much to say here, but I have to answer some questions, since I don't normally answer them through PM. Other people might have the same question.

Phantom Ice: Danny and Sam aren't together, since PP never happened (I hated that episode, it was a mockery to space-science and to Vlad's character). We already have a couple in this story, so maybe later the lovebirds can be together. By the way, you've read my other stories too, and because of that, I wish I could hug you. :)

Wooster: You read another story of mine too, didn't you? Ahrg, I wish I could hug you too! X) Like I said, I'm a semi-pro with Danny's POV, so I'm not surprised that his POV ended up more detailed. The others will catch up in 'level of detail' with time. For now, I'm doing my best with them.

To Ichigo-lover-1412, Synaps, and MintbushCat: I'm so glad you all liked it. This fic is somewhat slow-paced, so you won't see much of an actual plot yet, but that doesn't mean I can't make it fun. There's nothing better than pure social conflict between people. *Cue the Evil Laugh*

Also, something about the last chapter. I wrote Mikey (also called Mickey in the wikia) as a blond, but he's a red-head. Where did I get the idea that he was blond...? I dunno.

Anyway, *Romance Alert* I swear I couldn't do anything, you know how Jake is when a certain someone's involved. :/

Grammar mistakes, forgive 'em, please.

Secret Trinity

Chapter 02

A Toast to New Friends

Jake would never claim to be that guy who gets claustrophobic with too many people all around him. He doesn't mind that, he's pretty used to crowded places – he's a New Yorker after all. But at this point, he had to admit, this was making him nervous.

He was walking around, checking every blond girl he saw, but didn't seem to be helping, so he stood still for a second, tapping his foot as the phone continued the call with no results. It just kept ringing, and he was starting to get nervous. 'Why isn't she picking up? Did something happen?' He immediately rolled his eyes at the thought.

It was a summer camp, there was no danger.

Maybe her phone's battery ran out; maybe she forgot her phone somewhere; maybe it was inside a purse or something, and she left it on silent. He pursed his lips as he looked around again, still no sign of her. This time, he sighed deeply. "There's nothing to worry about..." He mumbled, phone still ringing beside his ear. "Just chillax, man..."

"Jake?"

That voice behind him made all of his worries disappear like smoke, he blinked and whirled around, immediately grinning. "Rose! Hey!" He hugged her before she could take another step forward.

"Hey yourself," Rose chirped with a smile, hugging him back. "I knew it was you, no one else has this much gel on their hair." She had her own hair up in a ponytail, which only made her look better to him.

Once she pulled away, Jake blinked at his phone, still ringing, and turned it off, shaking his head at her joke. "You still love it."

"I think you look taller, too."

Jake shrugged and smirked smugly. "Thought you would always be the taller one, huh? Just you wait." It seems he was still a few – very few – inches shorter, but he felt like was definitely closer to her eyes now.

"Yeah, right." Her smile widened before she noticed the phone. "You were calling me, ah..." Rose winced and pulled something from the bag strapped around her shoulder. It was a wrecked pink phone, missing buttons, cracked screen and all, maybe slightly bent.

"Whoa, what happened?" He pocketed his own phone and picked it from her with both hands, as if expecting it to fall apart right there. Another button fell, but he didn't bother with it and only raised an amused eyebrow at Rose.

"Some guy bumped on me, and to finish it off, someone else stepped on my phone." She sighed. "If you weren't here, I would've never bothered with this kind of place." He handed the unusable phone back to her, and she shoved it back in her bag with an eye roll.

"Too crowded for you?"

Rose didn't answer with anything more than a nod, and then held his hands. For a few seconds of peace, they only maintained a comfortable eye contact, holding each other's hands firmly. Rose tilted her head a little. "It's different when it's not a dream, right?" She spoke in a calm, delicate tone. Something he knew she wasn't.

Jake scoffed softly, still smiling. "Totally, I can't believe I nearly forgot. It's been months," There was a... tactile feeling when it's not a dream. Everything is much more solid and powerful. Every touch and every feeling.

Jake couldn't even begin to compare a dream with reality.

Her smile widened again, with a look that spoke so much to him, of the love he knew she felt. He felt just the same, but seeing it on Rose's eyes was much more special than his own feelings. "I missed you..." Her voice was soft, and his eyes widened just a bit when she leaned forward, closing her eyes.

He was close enough to her that he no longer felt the tempting need to stand on his tip-toes so she wouldn't have to lean down too much. It was relieving, and he leaned forward, ready for the real kiss he's been eager for since the last time he saw her in Hong Kong.

Except that it didn't come, and Jake found himself pushed to the side by something. "Whoa!" He was briefly disoriented from being pushed so suddenly and fell on the ground.

"Oh, sorry, dude." Whoever said that continued walking with a quick pace, and Jake looked to see three teens walking away, one of them holding at least three bags.

His shoulders sagged, and then he pushed himself up when Rose pulled him by the arm. "Aw, man!" Now his clothes were covered in dust and dirt. He growled in frustration.

"A bit rude, but I'm sure it was an accident. Don't worry, Jake." Rose said, eyeing teens as they left with mild caution, a hand on his shoulder as he pawed at his jacket and shorts, creating little clouds of dust. She seemed to find this funny and didn't mind the interruption at all. Jake on the other hand was miffed enough. This annoyance vanished when she leaned forward again, this time getting a kiss that made him go still.

Not as passionate as it would have been before they were interrupted, but it was enough. They still had two months together, and nothing would change that. He heard a provocative whistle somewhere and Rose pulled away quickly, looking around.

Jake frowned. It's like she was afraid someone would see them. "Rose, chill, there's no Huntsclan, we don't have to hide." He motioned with a hand around them, trying to show her that there were no more malicious eyes to stop them. She was safe now.

Rose smiled, but he could see it was forced. "I know...! It's just..." He brows knitted together in worry, and Jake hated seeing her like this. "It's just a bit disorienting... now that I remember everything."

Jake raised an eyebrow in confusion, but felt that Rose needed to unload some worries. She would feel better if they weren't completely surrounded, so he grabbed her hand and led her towards the less crowded areas.

Rose continued talking as they walked, keeping her voice low so others wouldn't hear. "I mean, I know there's no Huntsclan anymore, but... I still remember them being present since forever... I remember living my life as a normal girl, but at the same time, I remember living as the Huntsgirl, and everything else..." She blinked and looked at him, they were now near one of the houses that would serve as their cabins. It was big and high enough to cast a shadow over them. "Does that make sense?"

"I think so..." Jake wasn't so sure if he understood what exactly she was feeling, but he had an idea of what was going on. "You remember two separate lives."

"Exactly. I-it's weird... I know it's been a few months, but I don't think I'll get used to this any time soon." Her shoulders slumped as she shook her head.

After a second of silence, Jake smiled at her, crossing his arms. "No worries, Rose. I'll stick with you and we'll get over this."

"It might take years, Jake..." She lowered her head, arms closing around herself, as if seeking some sort of comfort he couldn't give.

This made Jake want to laugh. It's like she thought this was an inconvenience so great that it would make him leave. He shook his head at that and continued grinning, placing a hand under her chin so she would look at him directly. "I'll still be with you."

Her beaming smile was real this time, filling him with satisfaction and happiness, and the kiss that followed was much more loving.

"You totally ruined their moment, dude." Tucker had commented minutes before, which made Danny wince. It was an accident, but he admitted, he had ruined a moment. While Tucker snickered, Sam was walking ahead of them, looking from side to side. He could see her lips mildly curled in disgust when she turned. Too many bright people around her and the day was too sunny. She seemed to be lost on her own thoughts, though.

His mind went back to the couple from before. His immediate thoughts when seeing people together like that were always the same these days. Well, not exactly a thought, more like an image. Sam...

Danny sighed, quickly shaking his head and banishing the thought from his head.

He might have ruined someone's moment, but he wasn't going to ruin his friendship with his best friend. Besides, he barely has time for school, much less romance, which was the least of his worries.

He slowed down and adjusted the bags he was carrying over his shoulder. "Why am I carrying your bags too, Tucker?"

"Dude, you got super-strength...!" He whispered the last part, leaning closer to make extra sure no one would hear. "All that tech and games in one bag was killing my back." To demonstrate that, he stretched his back, and Danny did hear a few pops.

Danny scoffed. "That's probably because of the bus, seats hard as bricks, remember...?" He didn't mind carrying everything, considering Tucker was right. He did have super-strength after all, so he's supposed to use it to help. He didn't bother asking Sam, though. She would probably be pissed off if the did, she's perfectly capable of carrying her own stuff, she would say, ignoring the fact that offering to carry her bag had nothing to do with her independence or whatever she rants about when he offers help.

He just wanted to help her out as a friend.

Suddenly, there was the high pitch sound of a microphone being tuned. Danny grimaced, the frequency hurting his heightened hearing sense, and stopped to look at the direction it was coming from. Tucker and Sam stopped with him.

To the side of the mess hall, now a few meters away from where they were walking, there was a stage, where some adults were gathering, including Mr. Lancer, who looked pretty pleased to be there.

He still had his megaphone.

Behind the microphone, Danny saw a tall and thin as a stick kind of man, with small bug-eyes and graying hair. "Ah, excuse me? Campers," Many teenagers stopped to listen, mostly the ones near the stage, but many near the back continued talking as if nothing happened. The man huffed when looking at them and then proceeded to ignore them."Good afternoon! It good to see everyone so excited for this year's summer camp!" His tone was... positively bright, for the lack of a better term.

"Yes, so excited..." He heard Tucker mutter, and Danny couldn't agree more.

"I'm Irving Slimovitz, principal of Norrisiville High School, and this good sir here, is Mr. Walter Weyden," The man motioned to the side, near the back of the stage, where a crinkly old man – possibly frail like paper – was sitting with his cane, smiling and shaking like a leaf because of old age.

He seemed fine, but Danny was worried that the wind would carry the poor man away if no one tied him down.

"Because of NHS status as a, heh, guest of honor," He gave them a self-important smug laugh. "and because of Mr. Weyden's old age, I'll be this camp's administrator for the durations of this summer, any problems, I'll solve them!"

"If I find myself in a cabin with Paulina, we will have a problem." Danny heard Sam mutter beside him. Danny was already losing focus on what was being said and yawned.

"-will work like this. To the left here, are the girls' side, to the right, the boys." He motioned to each side of the mess hall, where the cabins/houses were built around. "No co-ed!" Danny could hear disappointed groans in random spots of the crowd, Tucker joined them. "No more than three per room, and I suggest you find yourselves a set and a room quickly, because if you don't, or if you find yourself being a loner, WE will sort you wherever we see fit! Now shoo! Skedaddle!"

And people did skedaddle. Picking their bags and rushing to either right or left.

Danny adjusted the bags around his shoulders again, focusing on his two friends. "Alright, Tucker and I gonna find our room first. It's better than wasting time trying to find someone to fit in with us."

"You're going to risk getting stuck with someone random instead of choosing?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"They wouldn't throw a bully in a room with two obvious losers, would they?"

"Hey!" Tucker protested.

"You know how they see us, don't argue." Danny responded with a deadpan, then looked back at Sam. "What about you?"

"I..." She sighed in frustration, hands on her hips. "I don't know. I guess I'll look for some decent girls to bunk with. Anything but cheerleaders and Paulina-clones is fine with me." She shrugged and started walking to the left side of the camp. "I'll check with you guys later, good luck!"

"Good luck..." Danny waved meekly at her retreating form. "...We'll need it."

"Come on then,"

As soon as Danny started walking, however, he hit someone, again. But this time, they both fell. "Again...? Really?" He complained as he rubbed his head, mostly in annoyance. Tucker helped him up, mumbling 'and here I thought I was the unlucky one'.

He heard a loud gasp and Danny blinked. "My taco!" He looked at the kid in front of him, a stocky ginger who was kneeling in front of the remains of what used to be a very nice taco.

"Er, sorry-" Danny barely had time to finish before the boy got up and glared at him in a way that nearly made Danny jump in surprise.

"Sorry?! I'M sorry! I just lost my taco!"

Danny sighed and dusted his clothes. His patience seemed to be thin at the moment, expected, considering he didn't sleep well. It was either a ghost at home, or a sudden lurch in the bus. "Look, I said I'm sorry." There wasn't much Danny could do to appease people like this. He should just count himself lucky that he didn't make someone bigger and meaner drop their lunch.

"Well, if you were looking where you were going-!"

"Dude..." Tucker said warningly. He might not be very athletic, but he wasn't afraid of a human who wasn't even bigger than him. In height at least. Besides, the revenge he could plot was digital, not physical.

Danny on the other hand, was feeling the need to argue and was biting his tongue at this point. He even gave Tucker a look to get him to back off. Then, another kid walked into their argument, this time a tall and skinny boy with wild purple-ish hair, who pulled the ginger boy by the shoulder with a cautious tone. "Calm down, Howard, I'll get you another one."

"This one was mine, and now I'll never finish it! It was so good...! You're gonna pay for another one!" The stocky boy pointed at Danny again, making Danny recoil in surprise.

"Dude, it was an accident! We're not paying for anything!" Tucker said in disbelief.

Danny couldn't help it, he rolled his eyes and sighed, focusing on the taller boy. "You really should watch where you leave your friend. He could get hurt." Because if he'd yelled at someone like Dash, the poor kid would be walking away with a mouth-full of grass-taco spiced with top-soil.

The kid with wild hair raised an eyebrow, then his expression turned somewhat sly as he crossed his arms. "He was right in front of you, so maybe you should watch where you keep your eyes."

Danny blinked at the two, the taller one extending a hand to the other one, who slapped it in accomplishment, neither breaking eye contact with Danny and Tucker. Danny narrowed his eyes. Is this guy trying to banter with him...? Because only The Phantom can banter around, not Fenton. This sudden thought made him hold his tongue.

"Come on, Tucker, we don't have time for this...!" Danny pulled his friend by the shoulder, the two younger kids looking even smugger than before.

Danny huffed and pulled Tucker along. But he still caught their conversation.

"We killed it, but my taco..."

"I said I would get you another one, come on."

"It's the third time this happens today...!"

Danny shook his head, trying to dispel the sudden annoyance. They still had to find their room, and a lot of them were probably taken now that they wasted so much time. He didn't need to deal with those kids – probably just some freshmen – and considering the size of the camp, he wouldn't even have to see them again.

Oh, what a weird feeling he's been having since he set foot into this camp...

A/N: I'm not really sure about this chapter. I have that feeling that I forgot something, or that something's missing... It's driving me nuts! But I gotta update! D:

First thing, I AM NOT GOOD WITH ROMANCE (also a note: not good with witty banter either). But what can I do?! You can't put Jake and Rose in the same scene and not have the love! And no Randy POV here! D: Don't worry, he'll be here next chapter.

Also Happy belated Christmas! I didn't write on Christmas because Christmas Time is Family Time. And Happy early New Year! I feel like 2016 will be a good year...! Well, it will be good for the manga I'm reading, I'm sure. The world will stay the same mishmash of hell and heaven as always and I'm sure the economy in my country will remain just as shitty.

Anyway, this chapter is shorter, but I updated in a week or so! Which is kind of weird for me... Still really happy and excited for this story. I thank everyone who took the time to read and liked it, I thank you, reviewers, for giving me your opinions, it's really good to know people are liking it, and I thank everyone who faved and followed this fic. I'll do my best to update regularly.

As you might have noticed, this fic has a somewhat slow-pace. It has a villain, yes, but not in the conventional sense, it's not what you'd expect, that's for sure. But even so, you won't have to wait for anything interesting to happen, because I don't think this 'villain' is the main conflict of this story, nuh-uh, despite the fact that it's an important aspect anyway. Confusing, maybe, but I'm sure you'll understand soon. *Cue the Evil Laugh*

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, I hope the chapter was okay and all. Whatever's missing, will bug me for days, but I have to update.

Please review, fave and/or follow, and I'll see you next time. o/