SMOKESCREEN

Chapter 3

The following week, of course, sucked. The headache subsided after a few days, and I was finally able to watch TV, sit behind my computer or do some of the assignments the teachers had prepared for me. Sam brought them to me, together with a pile of books from my locker and the notes she had taken in class. I was grateful that she did but that didn't make me like it.

Imagine my surprise when I found the assignments not difficult at all. They had gone easy on me, and for once I seemed to be getting a break. I finished them easily and quickly, and had Sam deliver them to the appropriate teachers on Friday. By that time, I was feeling a whole lot better, and I wasn't sleeping so much anymore. The ghosts, it seemed, were giving me a break too, because none of them showed up during the week, except for the Box Ghost. Sam and Tucker caught him. I hadn't used my ghost powers the entire week.

What I did do, much to my mother's surprise and dismay, was rearrange my closet. For some reason I couldn't stand the socks in the box, so I neatly placed them in a drawer. Then I arranged my shirts and jeans, neatly stacking them in an almost obsessive way. They were perfectly straight. When I was finished, I looked at the open closet for a while, feeling uneasy.

This was the way I had to do it. I knew that. But it hadn't been the way I had done it before. Before, I obviously hadn't cared. My room had been messy. I knew what it had looked like before. I knew I could be perfectly comfortable in a messy room. Instead, I cleaned it up, removed all the dirty laundry that somehow had ended up under my bed, neatly shelved all the books and emptied the trashcan. It was obsessive. It worried me.

As the resident self-proclaimed psychologist in the house, Jazz regarded my room and proceeded to question me about my motivations to clean it up. I couldn't give her a reason, other than that I felt I had to do it, or something bad would happen. She then lectured me on the subject of 'magical thinking', and told me that I was too old for that. I kicked her out of my room.

Sam came by after that, without Tucker this time, and I seized my chance. I had been thinking about it the whole week, but somehow hadn't quite gotten around working up the courage to do it. She was talking again, sitting on the chair at my desk, about school, the teachers' reactions to my homework – amazement – and how Tucker had found out that the 'meat surprise' at school actually contained less meat than her veggie burger. I smiled at that, silently snickering on the fact that it had taken him almost two years to figure that out, but kept staring at her, sitting at my desk like she usually did, gesturing and mimicking Tucker's expression. I was sitting on my bed, legs crossed, leaning my elbows on my knees and resting my chin on my right hand. Eventually she stopped talking and stared back.

"Danny, you're creeping me out," she said, "Why are you staring like that?"

"Um," I said, suddenly nervous again, "I was thinking, would you... I mean, my mom said I could go out tomorrow and I was wondering if you... if I... would you like to go to dinner with me tomorrow night?"

She sat very still. "You mean... just the two of us? Like a date?"

Suddenly I was convinced it was a bad idea. I looked away and started rubbing the back of my neck. What had I been thinking? This was my best friend. Best friends don't go on dates, do they? It'd muddy the water, create all sorts of awkward situations, give meaning to things that didn't mean anything...

"Well, you know, I can understand if you don't want to, I mean it's weird because you're my best friend and all and maybe we shouldn't but I'd really like to and I thought we'd go to that new all vegetarian restaurant where Tucker won't go..."

"Danny..."

"... and everybody says we're love birds and we're not of course but sometimes I think... no, I don't really think that..."

My stream of words ended when Sam jumped up from the chair, took two steps and placed her hand over my mouth. I blinked and blushed.

"Danny," she said, "Shut up."

"Oh." I looked at the floor.

"And I'd love to."

My head shot up and almost collided with her chin. She was smiling and I started grinning like an idiot. I was just about to open my mouth to say something when a chill came over me, and that cold core that was my ghostly self produced a streak of mist from my mouth. Something was out there, something strong.

"Um," I said, "I'd better get that."

"You sure you're alright?" she asked, already reaching under my bed to retrieve a thermos.

"Sure. No problem. Going ghost!"

I rarely used that catch phrase anymore, but at that moment I was so happy it made me giddy. I reached inside of me and let the two rings appear, transforming me into Danny Phantom. The moment the transformation completed I shot up through the ceiling and into the air, hovered for a moment to get my bearings and then took off in the direction of the mayhem.

The ghost was easily found. It was a huge teddy bear, pink and glowing, and if it hadn't had those really sharp looking long claws it would have been cute. It was in the middle of the road, swaying a little, walking around and thrashing cars. Things got ugly pretty quickly after that. I saw it sweep a car sideways against a building and dove for it, turning it intangible at the last possible moment before it crashed against the wall. The car and its occupants – a family, man, woman and two small children – ended up inside the office building, standing between the desks and the shocked office workers.

"Sorry!" I shouted, and I rushed back to the pink menace.

Outside, it looked like a war zone. All the people had fled, thankfully, but several buildings had been damaged, and the cars were just piled up on one big heap near the end of the street. The huge teddy bear was sitting on top of it, looking around smugly. I don't know how I could tell the thing was smug, I mean, a teddy bear. But that's how it appeared to me. I hovered in front of him, wondering how to go about it. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Sam sneak up, trying to take cover behind a truck on its side along the curb.

"Hey!" I shouted, trying to make sure Teddy kept his eyes on me.

He turned and lashed out with his remarkably sharp paws. I ducked, managed to evade him and let out a massive ecto blast, hitting him straight in the fluffy chest. He squealed, and I felt dizzy for a moment. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. No time to worry about that, however, because he swung at me again.

I evaded again, and blasted again. Sam came closer, holding the thermos. The teddy bear was huge and dangerous but also stupid, and I blasted him again a couple of times, each time feeling myself go weaker. I'd better end this soon, I thought, as I flung myself at him and blasted him from up close. He shrieked again and flew backwards, and that was when Sam caught him in the thermos. I hovered for a moment, and then let myself float to the ground. Dust was falling down, settling on the street, and it was strangely quiet. As soon as I hit the ground I stumbled forward, catching myself on a lamp post. I felt totally drained.

"Danny! Where are you!"

I heard her call out to me and looked up, trying to see something through the cloud of dust that was slowly dissipating. Her vague form came at me, and I called out to her, surprised at the weakness in my voice.

"There you are," she said, smiling, "What's the matter with you? Are you alright..."

She stopped and stared at me, looking down. "Danny..." she said, a horror struck expression on her face.

I didn't know what she was looking at, so I looked down also. Green ectoplasm at my feet. But as far as I could tell, I wasn't wounded. I blinked in confusion. Then, frowning, I concentrated, clenching my fists. The ectoplasm retreated, reentering my body, settling itself in its proper place again. I felt relieved.

"Wha... what was that," Sam whispered.

"I don't know," I said, "Maybe I am weaker than I thought. Or maybe it's from not using my ghost powers the whole week. I'm fine now."

I looked around and let the two rings transform me back to Danny Fenton. As soon as I did that, I felt better. I also started coughing from the dust. In the distance, I heard sirens.

"Here comes the cavalry," I joked, "Let's get out of here."

She agreed, and we quickly made our way through the rubble and car wrecks littering the streets. Police cars and ambulances approached, but since we obviously weren't wounded, they let us pass, the policemen shouting at us to clear the area, with which we happily complied. Sam had put the thermos in her spider backpack, and after making a quick detour to the park to get some ice cream from the ice cream vendor there, we sat down on a bench near the school, watching the sun set behind the high rises of the town.

"I'm beat," I said, casually stretching out and putting my arms on the back of the bench, thereby so happening to put one arm behind her back.

It was pleasant and relaxing, and I felt my aching muscles unwind. I was tired. I took a few deep breaths and moved closer to Sam. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but she didn't protest, instead smiling uncertainly at me. Was I moving too fast? I backed away a little.

"You don't look too good," she said.

I shrugged. "I'm just a little tired," I said, trying to forget that strange pool of ectoplasm that had formed at my feet, "Nothing to worry about."

And with those magical words, I pushed all thoughts about melting out of my mind.