Chapter Two: The Second Experience is Much Worse


A Danny Phantom Fanfic


Written By CalypsoKatMinx and Katie-Phan


The next day was awkward, to say the least. Star just didn't have it in her to meet Danny's eyes, which Paulina didn't fail to notice.

"Why won't you look at that freak? I mean, come on! They are, like, the biggest losers in the school, and you won't even look at one in their eyes? The Techno Geek is one thing, sure, but the dude with the freaky parents? You need to look at them to make fun of them!"

Star shook her head, still downcast, and didn't notice that someone was walking towards her until it was too late. They collided in the halls, and she dropped all of her things on the floor.

The person whispered a quick,"Sorry…" that Star barely managed to hear.

Paulina just scoffed at her, and continued on her way. Kwan looked at her apologetically, and did nothing to help. He instead, decided to pay more attention to another popular girl. That girl was just under Star on the popularity scale, too. Just to add salt to her wounds, the girl laced her arm through Kwan's and stared back at her with a cold look.

She felt her face burning up in shame at how stupid she was. She always could be easily forgotten...

Her pencils rolled away and snapped as people stepped on them. Her papers were trampled underneath the student's feet, getting their footprints over her neat handwriting, smudging the pencil marks.

The person who she collided into seemed to have dropped his things, too, and they were both the only ones left in the hall as the bell rang. She reached for her last book, but the boy reached for it, too, at the same time. Their hands went on top of each other, and Star took that moment to look up at him.

Her eyes widened when she saw that it was the techno geek. No wonder Paulina scoffed.

Her gaze seemed to draw him out of the process of picking up the book, and he looked up at her with those eyes behind his half moon glasses. She was always a sucker for glasses, something she would never admit…

Stop it! He helped you out one time, and you can't just stop thinking about him, or his friend!

Their hands stayed still, and they both looked at each other. Both of them debating if they should be the first to speak.

"I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to ask you if I could have my shirt back…"

Star stared at him blankly for about five seconds before it clicked. She would have smacked herself on her forehead for forgetting about that. "Oops! I'm sorry Tucker, I kinda forgot it at home…"

She didn't want to mention that the cute shirt he gave her kind of burned up thanks to the ghost.

Tucker's eyes widened, and Star wondered why, but her questions were answered when he spoke. "I forgot about what happened yesterday! Danny told me about that stupid ghost… Don't sweat over it."

She just nodded and looked down. She forgot that Tucker was his friend…

Tucker stood up, and while doing that, moved Star's hand off of the book. She blushed when she realized that she had her hand on the techno geek's the entire time.

She accepted the hand that he offered, and allowed herself to be pulled up. He handed her the book, and she quickly took it from him, eyes still looking anywhere but at him.

"Thanks… I-I better get to class…"

Tucker tried to say something to her, but she hurried down the empty halls, and quickly went into her classroom.


...xoOo()oOox...


At lunch, there was another ghost attack.

Star and the other A-listers decided to go have lunch outside since it was warm, but not too warm to sweat, which Paulina reminded her would be bad for her skin. They picked their favorite spot under a huge oak tree a little ways off of the path. Star was already sitting on the edge of her seat, ready to run, when a cold, unnatural chill blew throughout the courtyard. Even though that it was previously sunnny, an unnatural green color seeped into the sky, signaling that this was from a ghost.

Her eyes swept across the grounds, looking for the spectral enemy, but she wasn't the only one. She looked over the other kids that were nearby, and noticed that a certain group of losers were also looking with a critical eye.

As she was looking at them, Sam seemed to feel her gaze, and quickly looked over to her. Sam's eyes narrowed, and Star knew that the goth didn't forget that one day in gym class with the whole pranking fiasco. She winced inwardly, but met the goth's gaze head on.

Sam was the first to break the staring contest, and Star knew why.

She heard a scream coming from the side of the school that had the football field. She stood up quickly, but not to get away. She ran towards the school, like everyone else, but as soon as she entered the building, she fought against the tide of students, and pushed her way into an empty hall.

Her head kept on whipping back and forth, looking for a teacher or anyone else that may give her away. Thank goodness that she was, because in the third hallway she walked in, someone stepped out in front of her.

She quickly stopped, and tried to get over into the shadows as quietly as she could in her flats. She inwardly praised herself in not buying the heels that Paulina originally wanted her to get the previous weekend that Paulina was going to force her to wear at all times.

She peeked her head around the locker she was hiding behind, and saw someone she least expected.

Danny Fenton was sprinting down the deserted corridors towards the football field.

She waited until he was a good distance in front of her before following him. She stayed near the shadows, hoping that she wouldn't be caught.

She followed him until he entered a classroom near the doors that led outside. She waited outside the door, hoping to peek in and see what exactly he was doing.

As she put her head into the window, a blinding white light flashed throughout the classroom, and a new figure was in there instead of Danny.

Her eyes widened when she saw Phantom, and she knew Paulina would be jealous if she found out that Star met the ghost boy.

He flew quickly into the wall, vanishing, and Star hurried over to the doors that lead outside. She saw Phantom fly towards a certain metal ghost with flaming green hair. She would later wonder to where Fenton disappeared to, since he wasn't in there when Phantom was.

Phantom's back was to her, but she saw the other ghost's mouth open and close, and occasionally pause. She guessed that they were exchanging witty banter, as that was a trademark of Phantom's.

Star wanted to hear what they were saying, and without thinking, she left the safety of the school behind, and sneaked her way towards the bleachers nearby.

"-can't let you do that, Skulker-"

She winced as her foot accidentally hit a metal bar under the bleachers. The ring from it was loud to her ears, but apparently, not to theirs.

She sighed in relief, and continued walking until she was at a safe vantage point to hear the conversation, but still be out of the danger zone.

"-didn't ask for your permission, Whelp! Your pelt will lay at the foot of my bed when I'm done with you!" The metal ghost named Skulker, shot an ecto blast at Phantom, who dodged it with ease.

"First off; that's just gross. I thought you moved past the whole 'putting my pelt at the foot of your bed' thing." He put two fingers in the air with both hands, and moved them up and down, making quotation marks. "And second off; you have to catch me first!"

Phantom fired off two ecto blasts, which Skulker easily blocked, but while he was distracted with blocking them, Phantom charged with a glowing green fist, and punched Skulker in the face.

The punch made Skulker's mechanical face spin at a dizzying speed, Phantom backed off long enough for Skulker to stop his head spinning, but he quickly made up for the lost time by firing two more quick shots.

Skulker managed to bring up a glowing green dome around himself. He shook his mechanical head back and forth. "You'll pay for that, Welp!" He growled, and two ecto guns popped up on his shoulders, and he dropped the shield in order to fire off quick blasts at Phantom.

One of the shots missed, and Star barely had time to register the fact that the blast was heading straight towards her. She rolled out of the way, but the blast hit the support beam behind her, instantly melting the metal.

The bleachers gave a loud screech, and shuttered. They started tipping to one side, and only one thought registered in Star's mind: run! She didn't need telling twice, and she quickly moved towards the edge of the bleachers, but she wasn't fast enough.

She felt herself yell out her fear, and she rolled the rest of the way, barely managing to get out.

Star breathed a sigh of relief that was short-lived. Another ecto blast hurtled its way towards her, and she rolled again, barely managing to move out of the way. She was so close to getting hit that the blast singed off a bit of her hair. It caught the flower pin she always wore on fire, which she quickly took out and stomped on.

Phantom was there in front of her in a blink of an eye, and she thought that she was finally safe.

He erected a shield around them, and he turned to look at her. She almost flinched from looking directly into his fierce gaze. There was still so much mystery surrounding this ghost. Who knew what his true intentions were.

"What are you doing here?" The both of them flinched as another ecto blast hit the shield, but every time one would do so, Phantom would wince, as if it physically hurt him.

"I-I was following Danny, and then he disappeared and you showed up, and I-"

Phantom's eyes widened at her, but he couldn't say his thought, and she couldn't finish what she was saying, because just then, a huge ecto blast shattered the shield, and they were forced away from the blast, hitting the ground hard.

Star lost her breath, and it didn't help that Phantom landed next to her, touching her with his gloved hand. The chill emanating from him almost made her shiver.

Phantom was breathing hard. "You… You need to get out of here, now! Find Sam and Tucker, tell them that you know about-"

A figure charged into his side, pulling him away from Star, and she gasped. She watched as Skulker punched Phantom repeatedly in the stomach. With each hit, ectoplasm followed freely.

Skulker did one last punch, and Phantom soared towards the ground, hitting the ground with so much force that it left a crater.

Skulker flew down, ready to finish what he was doing, and Star couldn't just watch. She had to do something to save the ghost, even if it was debatable if he was evil or not.

She quickly scrambled to her feet, but she didn't run.

She just remembered that she never gave back Fenton the wrist ray. She put her arm out in front of her, and pressed the hidden button. A miniature gun popped out, and she didn't hesitate when she pointed it at the hostile ghost and pressed the trigger.

Her shot bounced right off of his high tech armour, and he quickly whipped his head in a one-eighty to look at Star. He quickly made the rest of his body turn, making himself look as normal as a ghost could. Shivers were sent down her spine, making her question why she was out here, and why she shot at the ghost.

She had one thought in her mind, give Phantom enough time to fight back!

She shot a couple more shots, which missed because of her hands shaking.

Skulker smiled at her with an evil look in his mechanical eyes.

Another gun appeared, but this time it was on his wrist. He chuckled, and Star's eyes widened. She only had seconds to dodge the blast. When it hit the ground, it left a smoking hole right where she was previously. She rolled away from it, giving herself enough momentum to launch into the sky a couple of feet in the air.

She landed on her feet and ran, trying to lead the ghost away from Phantom. As she ran, she fired off quick, precise shots that hit her mark every time.

Skulker let loose and angry snarl, and charged her, his ecto guns completely forgotten.

Star didn't forget about hers, though, and she kept on firing as best as she could while running away as fast as she could now.

She was still firing away at the ghost that kept steadily racing towards her, acting as if the shots didn't affect him when she was grabbed under her arms and yanked into the air.

Star twisted and fought, desperate to get out of whoevers hold she was in until a voice hissed in her ear, eerily familiar, even with the robotic tone laced in it.

"What are you doing here?! I thought you and the rest of the A-Listers would be hiding in a classroom already! And why do you have a wrist ray?!" The Red Huntress said all of that while dodging and exchanging fire with the mechanical ghost. Star was starting to get motion sickness from all the twirling the Huntress was forced to take in order to avoid all of the blasts.

She seemed to realize that Star was about to puke, and quickly rushed down towards the Earth- which gave Star the chance to realize just how high they managed to get in the air.

"I'll cover you, but this time, GET IN THE SCHOOL! I can't keep saving any of you if I want to capture these ghosts!" She dropped Star on the ground a good twenty yards from the back entrance to the school, making Star land in an ungraceful pile on the ground. Star scrambled to her feet as best as she could, and ran towards the school without a backwards glance.

She heard the Huntress' ecto guns shooting at the mechanical ghost, and if she wasn't mistaken, she also heard the Huntress grunt as she most likely got hit with an ecto 's when the ectoblasts started racing towards her again. Star dodged the blasts as best as she could while not looking back, but then she was scooped out of the air again. She didn't fight it this time because the presence felt warm, unlike a ghost's icy touch. She heard the Huntress panting as they raced inside the school, and they darted into a deserted classroom.

They slowed to a stop and Star managed to hop off the jet sled without resistance. She turned back to thank the Huntress, but before she could get the words out, she collapsed on the ground and the suit she was wearing retracted into a small bracelet on the girl's arms.

Star quickly whipped her whole body around to face anywhere but at the girl before her, but the damage was already done.

The Red Huntress turned out to be her ex-best friend, Valerie Grey.


...xoOo()oOox...


Star was having a full-blown panic attack, but she was interrupted when she heard a groan from the girl on the floor. She turned around slowly to see Valerie slowly rising from the floor to sit up. She put a hand to her chest, where a small hole in her shirt was. It seemed like her suit took most of the damage from all of the blasts Valerie was forced to take while watching Star.

"What happened?" Valerie rubbed her temples and looked up at Star.

"I could ask you the same thing, Valerie. Or should I say Red Huntress?" Star's pale face was nothing to Valerie's.

The girl blanched and slowly looked down, realizing that her suit wasn't there anymore. Just as quickly as she was shocked, she was suddenly serious with her eyes narrowed.

"You can't tell anyone, you hear me? No one! The last thing I need is Paulina knowing who I really am. She would sick the hounds to try to get back at me for hunting her 'precious ghost boy'." Valerie unsteadily got to her feet and walked towards a hidden window in the classroom. She placed her hands on the windowsill and peered out at all of the destruction that the two ghosts had made.

"Well, looks like the battle's already over." Valerie grumbled. Star quickly walked next to Valerie in time to see Phantom suck a green blob into a very familiar Fenton Thermos. He then followed by sucking in the motionless mechanical ghost, and flew off of the field, looking worse for wear.

Valerie turned away, thinking that the ghost would already be long gone, but Star stood there, still looking out for Phantom.

"I guess we have some things to talk about, then. And I swear, Star, if you tell anyone about this I will personally make your life hell…"

Well, that was probably the best reaction that Star could've hoped for.

I mean, imagine if Phantom had a secret this shocking!


...xoOo()oOox...


The rest of the school day was uneventful. After Valerie made lots of death threats to Star, she finally managed to convince the Huntress to go home from her injuries. So that left Star in her final class period, which just happened to be Star's best subject to everyone's disbelief, science.

She loved doing all of the fun experiments. Unlike most of the populars, who failed every class, she kept a B- average in science with a C in all of her other classes. Valerie usually sat next to her, with Paulina sitting in front of Star, but with Valerie gone, their usual routine of sadly staring at each other, wishing that they could be friends again. If Star was nice to Valerie, Paulina would kick her out of the A-Listers and make her life miserable. She would have no friends and no life if she was nice to Valerie, which shouldn't change now that she knows her secret, right?

"Star, this is the last straw! You haven't been paying attention all class period, and I think it's about time for you to go up and have a talk with Principal Ishiyama and see when you can do your one hour detention after school!" Star jolted out of her thoughts with a start and was left to gap at her teacher. She was saved from having to respond to the angry science teacher because the bell rang. The class quickly filed out of the classroom, and the last people to leave was Star with Danny in front of her. He gave her a pitying look and walked out the hall, towards Tucker and Sam who were waiting for him so they could probably do a nerd or goth thing.

Star stared at the back of Danny's head for a moment, wishing she had friends like that.

She stepped out of the classroom and made her way down the hall, towards the principal's office. As she walked down the hall, she noticed things she really never payed attention to. Dash was across the hall, shoving a kid towards a locker. He grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. As she walked by Dash, she heard the death threats he threw violently at who she recognized to be Mikey.

She quickly hurried away and as she rounded the corner, she could just hear Dash's voice making a new threat to someone else.

"What are you gonna do about it, Fentina? You're just a scrawny loser. You're a bug that I can crush under my foot, easy!"

She was soon out of hearing rang, but Star has a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. It took her a second to recognize what it was, but when she did, she was also full of shock. She felt guilty for not helping Danny. She guessed that because he saved her from the ghost, she felt she had to repay him somehow.


...xoOo()oOox...


Ten minutes later she found herself in detention in 's class. The talk with the principal went well in Star's eyes because she was a friend of Kwan's and an A-Lister. Star really enjoyed the perks of being at the top of the social ladder, or as close as she could get, and she couldn't imagine her life without it.

Being in detention gave her a lot to think about. The words that her old counselor said yesterday were still haunting her, and with nothing to do to occupy her thoughts, she couldn't help but think of them.

She thought back on how well Danny managed to fight that ghost- Fenton, not Phantom- when he usually showed no interest in his parent's career. If Danny was able to make all of those moves, why did he just let Dash bully him? Why was he failing P.E. class? And most of all, why was he failing most of his classes?

Star let out a sigh and changed her thoughts again to something that happened even more recently. Valerie was the Red Huntress. Valerie was the one girl who could match in a fight. She could take down ghosts single handedly with that suit. Star was afraid to say it, but maybe Valerie was even more flexible than herself.

With a figurative shiver, her thoughts her once again centered on Danny. Star knew that she followed him to that classroom, but if she really thought about it, Danny disappeared off of the face of the Earth after the bright flash of light and Phantom appeared.

Her thoughts were already a little foggy from all of the other more pressing matters, but since Star had nothing better to do for her remaining thirty-five minutes of detention, she closed her eyes and tried to think back to that moment.

She remembered seeing Danny standing in the room for a split second before the white light blinded her. If she really thought about it, Phantom appeared in the same place Fenton was standing.

What if…

What if Danny is Phantom and Phantom is Danny?!

Star opened her eyes and sat straight up. She got weird looks from the other kids and Lancer glanced at her from the book he was reading before looking back down to continue. Star flipped her hair and tried her best stuck-up face that made the others look away, knowing that she had the whole football team behind her and at a single whim she could have them attack them.

After flaunting her power a bit, Star returned back to her thoughts.

Danny couldn't possibly be Phantom… right?


...xoOo()oOox...


Star decided to take matters into her own hands the next day. She waved at Valerie before delving deeper into the school in search of the geeky trio.

She rushed past the A-Listers and just barely managed to get past Paulina without her noticing.

Kwan did, though, and he waved a greeting at her, which she quickly waved back and rushed farther away. Her life would be easier if she didn't get distracted or seen with the trio by any of them.

Star barely managed to find the trio rushing to their first period just as the bell rang. The halls were mostly empty, so Star took a risk and called out to them.

"Danny!" She waved her hand in the air to get his attention before he entered the classroom.

Danny turned in surprise and raised an eyebrow in her direction. Star skidded to a stop in front of him.

"Let's go somewhere more private." Danny put his hand in Star's and led her to the fire escape that led to the roof.

They walked quietly up as quick as they possibly could.

Danny opened the door at the top and led Star farther away from it, letting the door close. Star blinked the spots out of her vision and managed to hear the door shut with a loud click, making the door lock them out.

"I… I guess I should explain, shouldn't I?" Star looked over and saw Danny rubbing his neck self consciously. Star nodded to the boy to continue. "W-Well, it's kind of hard to explain, but I guess I should start at the beginning?" He cleared his throat. "It all started when Sam dared me to go into the portal. I- I tripped and my hand slid on the 'on' button. I don't remember what happened after that, but Sam and Tucker said that I stumbled out of the portal looking like Phantom."

Danny kept his gaze on his feet, as if begging Star to forgive him for doing something that he had no control over. She placed her hand on his shoulder with a little hesitation. Danny looked up at Star, his eyes a little watery. She felt the sting at the corner of her eyes, too.

"I guess I always knew the loser was a freak. I just didn't know how true those words are… I guess I should say thank you for saving us all over and over."

She gave him a quick hug. "But, Danny… How are we getting back in the school?"

Star saw Danny crack a grin. "You're friends with the ghost boy, there's no place I can't go anymore." He grabbed her hand, and Star felt a weird tingling sensation before she was sinking down into the roof. They landed gently in the janitor's closet in pitch black. Star saw an unearthly green glow surround Danny's hand and light up the room. Danny chuckled at the sparkle in Star's eyes.

It was all ruined when Danny involuntarily opened his mouth and a blue mist seeped out of his mouth. "I-I have to go." Star had to close her eyes at the bright white rings that appeared at Danny's waist and traveled up and down his body, transforming him into his ghostly alter ego.

He dashed through the wall, leaving Star alone in the pitch black darkness of the janitor's closet. She blindly searched for the door handle to get out. When she managed to grip it, the door was thrown open and a shadowy figure of her old counselor appeared in the doorway.

She grabbed Star and quickly flew away from the approaching black and white blur. Spectra cackled as she dodged his ecto blasts.

The last thing anyone at Casper High heard before the fighting ghosts disappeared was Star screaming one word. "PHANTOOOOM!"


The End... Or Is It?


A/N

So how did I do? It kind of dragged and at the time I'm posting this, I just finished editing it enough to make me happy. Any questions, comments or concerns? Any ideas for another oneshot? Please tell me! I need something to distract me right now!