You know, I was thinking about all the times authors said they didn't die. What would happen if they had died? Would someone they know tell their readers? Would the readers just keep reviewing and private messaging a dead person? Is it possible that it's happened to some writers I've been upset with for quitting on their stories? 0.o That's just depressing…

You know what else I realized? I left those poor people who read "The Key" with two cliffies. One of them won't even be introduced till a long time from now! Sorry…?

.motnahP ynnaD nwo t'nod I (Congrats are given to those who can read that the first time through! My hope is that it would hold up in court…)

"Distractions: Teacher's Will"

Danny didn't let the fear show in his face, opting to pull the poker face he kept in reserve for battles.

Lancer's poker face wasn't nearly as unresponsive. Disbelief lined his tone as he responded, "Well, it looks to me as if you were attacked on your way to the restroom, and Ms. Manson and Mr. Foley were worried. But, Secret Garden, why wouldn't you immediately head to the nurse's station?"

"We were headed there next," Sam cut in coolly.

"We had to treat the injuries we could with this," Tucker continued, pulling out the first-aid kit Sam had been using.

Lancer raised an eyebrow. Not believing for a second that it was either Daniel's or Tucker's, he asked, "Why did you have a first-aid kit in the first place, Ms. Manson?"

"My parents are a little overbearing…" she mumbled, glaring pointedly at Tucker.

"My parents taught me how to use first-aid in case ghosts ever attacked a long time ago. I just told Sam what to do," Danny half-lied smoothly. He let a wince show through the poker face to make it more believable. "Guess I can't really say they were just paranoid anymore."

Lancer gave them a suspicious glare, but he didn't have any proof to counter it, so he let it slide, "Well, head on down to the nurse."

"I don't think that's necessary," Tucker said quickly.

"What Tucker meant to say was that I think I've got everything covered," Danny spoke without even sparing an angry glance at Tucker.

"Well, we should check to be sure."

"No!" Tucker exclaimed. Danny nearly slapped him.

"I know I've got everything covered Mr. Lancer. Trust me," the half-ghost assured.

Lancer's dubious look made them all nervous, but he sighed, "All right, but you're going to have to call your parents. You need to check out of school."

"I can't," Danny nearly whimpered, "If I fail gym on top of everything else, I don't think I'll even have a chance to get to the tenth grade."

"Well, you can't very well go through the rest of the school day in this state, much less gym class!" Lancer exclaimed.

"Yes. Yes, I can," the raven-haired boy disagreed fervently. "It's just a minor burn. I'll be fine. I've gotten worse in… my parents' lab accidents. I'll be fine."

"Lab accidents?" Lancer asked uncertainly, surprise etched onto his wrinkled face.

"My parents hunt ghosts with their own weapons," Danny answered, surprised Lancer didn't know that.

"Oh, yes, I knew that, but you've been in their lab during accidents?"

Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck. This conversation wasn't getting anywhere, and he was going to be late for lunch. "Yeah, it's not like they're easy to avoid," he answered nervously. "Look, I have to go to lunch. Sorry I missed the English test…"

"I'll reschedule it," the teacher said dismissively.

"Really?" Danny asked, excitement shining in his eyes.

Lancer didn't let on that Danny poker face had been shed. He hadn't seen any real emotion on the boy's face in a long time, unless you counted exhaustion and disappointment. "Of course," he said indignantly, "There was a ghost attack."

"Never stopped you before," Tucker muttered under his breath. Lancer ignored him.

"Well, if you're sure you're alright then get out of my classroom!" Lancer said, seating himself in his chair. "I've got papers to grade and another class lesson to prepare."

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." Danny answered, following his silent friends out of the classroom.

"What an odd child," Lancer said to himself, bemused by the look of relief and excitement that had come to his face when he found out he'd be given more time for the test. He smiled thoughtfully, "Maybe Phantom should come crashing through walls more often."

THIS IS A LINE BREAK! EVERYONE TAKE CAUTION! KIRBY BITES! ( O. O) (that's its name on Super Smash Bros anyway- which I do not own!)

"Yes!" Danny exclaimed as he followed his friends into the lunchroom. He might've been jumping for joy if it wasn't for his broken ribs. "Maybe I should crash through walls more often!"

Sam just shook her head exasperatedly. "If I didn't know what you were talking about, Danny, I'd think you were insane."

"Who cares? I've got an English test to make up!" He got a few blank stares from the people who heard him, but if he noticed, he didn't show it. "This is absolutely amazing!"

Tucker walked up to Sam and whispered, "I think he's finally lost it."

"I heard that," Danny said, not letting the smile slip from his face or even turning around from his spot in line.

"How? I could hardly hear it myself," Sam questioned.

"Sensitive hearing," he whispered conspiratorially.

Sam rolled her eyes, "Just what you need; another new power."

Danny grinned mischievously, "Who said it was new?"

She just rolled her eyes again as she received a greasy school-lunch salad. She glared at it suspiciously. "Even I'm not sure what this is," she said scooping a glop of something that could have passed for dressing in the ghost zone alone. "For all I know, it is animal fat watered down to look mildly appetizing to Cujo."

Danny laughed as the goop fell from her spoon and splattered all over her salad. "I don't even think Cujo would eat that."

"That's why meat is always better!" Tucker said, plopping his plate down next to Danny's.

Sam glared, "If Danny didn't need that to keep himself from collapsing next period, I'd scar you for life."

"Sam, no need for threats," Danny said cheerfully.

"Nothing's gonna ruin your mood, is it?" Tucker asked, smiling.

"Nope! Don't jinx it either!"

"I think you just did."

"Tucker!" Sam and Danny both exclaimed at the same time.

Danny's ghost sense went off, and he groaned, "Great! Just great! Cover me, please." Danny ducked under the table, his friends covering the flash of light. He phased through, whispered that he'd be back, and flew off to continue patrolling the halls.

KIRBY MADE A FRIEND! EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED TO ALL WHO ARE NEAR THIS LINE BREAK! IT BITES AS WELL! ( O. O) (O. O )

After lunch, Danny didn't show up until five minutes after gym started.

"Fenton, go get dressed! Then, I want you to give me five laps around the basketball court for being tardy," Tetslaff said as he walked through the door.

"Hello to you, too," Danny mumbled, taking as little time as possible to get to the locker room. He didn't want Sam or Tucker to notice his limp. He'd figured it should be gone by the end of the hour, but those laps were going to be some form of torture.

He quickly scanned the length of the locker room to be sure there were no dawdlers. No one was there so he changed quickly. He had taken to wearing sweatpants to gym, something Dash had immediately picked up on, teasing him about following in his Goth friend's footsteps or something else that didn't even make sense. For some reason, Tetslaff couldn't find anything in the rulebook that prevented his wearing them, so he got to keep them. He also wore his light blue jacket over his shirt, claiming to be cold, even in the summer. His temperature acclaimed to that one.

He pulled the end of his pant leg up to reveal the nasty-looking cut on his ankle. He wrapped it carefully, making it tight enough so that his limp wouldn't be noticeable by the rest of the class at least. Sam and Tucker, of course, would pick it out almost immediately. Tetslaff might notice, but that was only if she was studying him as he ran. He wasn't all that worried.

OH! HE'S DOING THE KIRBY DANCE! GO LINE BREAK! ( O. O) ^ ( O. O) ^ (O. O ) v ( O. O) v

Lancer watched as Daniel hobbled into the gym five minutes late. He hadn't realized that the boy was late to other classes, other than his. That ruled out the thought that it was just because Fenton didn't like him. Then again, he probably didn't like the coach too much, either. The hobbling was strange, but not unexpected, considering he was a very clumsy kid. When Daniel came back into the gym, he seemed to be controlling the limp, as though it was incriminating evidence against him. Lancer figured it was to keep his meager amount of pride from going down the drain.

The limp became slightly more pronounced as the laps wore on, but the boy kept at it, refusing to give in and tell his coach that he'd stubbed his toe or whatever he had done to it. Lancer was tempted himself to inform Ms. Tetslaff of the defect, but he wanted to see how Mr. Fenton would handle it. The rest of the children were finishing up their pull-ups when Daniel joined them. This was where he drew the line. Running a lap with a stubbed toe wasn't too bad, but doing pull-ups with a burn across the chest? This was just preposterous!

As he watched, though, Daniel tried to talk to his coach. He didn't even flinch as she yelled at him loud enough for all the others to hear, "You can't do pull-ups, huh? Well, maybe you want a pacifier and blanket as well, Mr. Fenton! Slackers don't pass my class, kid, now get on those bars!"

Lancer's shocked expression wasn't mirrored by anyone. The football players snickered, and the cheerleaders giggled, but nobody else seemed to care. Daniel only shrugged and walked over to the bars. He hid the pain well, Lancer could see, but only from the careless students looking on.

The pain was still very visible in his eyes, but, oddly enough, it didn't seem to bug him as much as the running had.

"I want to see twenty more of those, Fenton!" Tetslaff said. Is this how all teachers sound? Lancer wondered (A/N: A resounding, "No, just a lot of them."). How many times had he, himself, blown off a child's excuse as merely an effort to slack? Then again, it was true in most cases. He would help in this one, though. It would not be good for a healing body to strain so much, even if the pull-ups looked effortless to young Daniel.

He made his way over to the coach. She was watching Fenton like a hawk. "Yes, Mr. Lancer?" she said distractedly.

"I'm here to excuse Mr. Fenton from doing his exercises today," he said simply.

Tetslaff laughed, but it soon died down. "Wait, you were serious?"

"I am serious. He has been injured in the crossfire of a ghost fight," he said with authority.

Tetslaff's eyes widened, "Why didn't he say anything before?"

"I was watching as he asked you to be excused. You yelled in his face and gave him more work."

"Well, I… Well, I thought he was lying…" she said helplessly, "Fenton! Get your butt over here!"

"Yes, Coach?" he asked nervously as he limped over.

"Why didn't you say anything about being hurt?" Tetslaff asked.

"Who said I was hurt?" Both teachers caught the fleeting glimpse of nervousness before he pulled a mask of puzzlement over it.

Tetslaff pointed at Lancer. Danny glared at the floor. "Show me," Tetslaff ordered.

"No," Danny answered simply. Only Tetslaff seemed shocked by this reaction.

"You didn't go to the nurse like I told you, did you, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked.

"I told you! Sam and Tucker took care of it. I'm fine!" Danny insisted.

"I told you to show me," Tetslaff growled, reentering the conversation.

Danny looked her dead in the eye. "No offense, Coach, but I'd rather do a twenty more pull-ups than take off the bandages." At least he confessed outright to having been hurt.

"Show me the bandages, then," Tetslaff compromised exasperatedly.

"Fine!" Danny shouted, getting fed up. He carefully pulled his shirt up to show the bandage that covered the burn, trying not to let them see the scars running along the rest of his body.

A collective gasp rose up from the students. Those who hadn't looked when Danny had shouted immediately turned their attention to the bandaged body of the school's biggest loser. He hastily pulled his shirt back down.

"There, happy now? Can I leave?" he said, still sounding annoyed and now sporting a red face.

As he walked back, though, Lancer stopped him, unable to hold back his curiosity, "Daniel, did you stub your toe? I couldn't help but notice you're limping."

Danny nearly strangled himself. He spun around in anxiety, "Limping? I-I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Daniel," Lancer said warningly.

"Fine, yeah, I stubbed my toe," he answered in irritation, "Can I leave, now?" With that, he walked away without a backwards glance.

I know I got a little carried away with the Kirby Line Breaks… Sorry? I'm not even sure the site will allow it to show up…

Sorry if I spelled Tetslaff wrong… She wasn't in the list of characters…

Final comment: Did anyone else notice that "Denial" and "Daniel" are the same if you switch the "e" and the "a"? I found that rather interesting ;)