A/N: Thanks to all my readers and reviewers!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

Chapter Two: The Name Danny

Danny

"That's everything you need, and if you have any questions, you know where to find me. Have a cheerful day!" The secretary—Mrs. Scott, I think—pushed me and Vlad out the office door and into the vacant hallway. It was just seven o'clock—thirty more minutes until school started.

I kept my eyes on the floor, but I could guess that Vlad spared me no passing glance as he walked toward the waiting limo—he had brought the limo because he would never dream of appearing less wealthy than he really was. "You're walking home this afternoon" was his only goodbye. Not that I expected anything more.

I smiled wryly as I watched his feet move away and finally looked up to watch his back. Only he and I knew that I wouldn't be walking anywhere.

After Vlad was gone, I felt less tense. I felt as if I could calm down long enough to breathe. I realized that this was the first time since I met the man that I had literally been let out of his sight. When I was at home or doing a mission, he always knew my every move.

I stood in amazement for a moment, reveling in the feeling.

The feeling didn't last very long, though, because I was in unfamiliar territory and one thing Vlad had taught me early in life was to know where I was at all times. It had become a habit of mine to familiarize myself with my surroundings.

Of course, I also didn't have any idea as to what I was supposed to do, and I figured finding that out sooner than later would be a good thing. I could think back to first grade and remember key things about school then. There was a woman who stood at the front of the classroom and taught us kids how to read and write. I could remember that. I supposed high school was just like that, but harder.

I glanced at the papers in my hand. There were seven classes listed on the first sheet. The first class was Math in room twenty-two. Sounds like a good start. I got my bearings and set out to find my first class, intent on finding the rest of my classes after that so I would know how to get from place to place today.

That was my intent. However, as I came to the first corner, I heard something that made me stop.

"Ba-am! Ooh, yeah, I got you! You're going do-ooown, baby! Ta ra siscoomba! Death, death! You're going, going….gone forever with a day to spare. Death to you, Oh Mighty BLOT!"

The ramblings didn't let up. Curiosity got the best of me and I rounded the corner to see who was making the noise.

A boy in a beret was sitting in the floor in the middle of the long hallway with something in his hand. He had what looked like a small pen and was tapping furiously at the device he held. His face was bent over in concentration.

Seeing that there was no danger, I slowly turned around before I could be spotted. I could always go a different direct—

"Hey!"

I cringed and froze on the spot.

"Yeah, you. Who are you?"

I turned around and saw that the boy looked as if he were about to stand up. I tried to smile.

"My name's Danny. I'm new and was just looking around—"

"You're new? Cool!" The boy sprang onto his feet and slipped the device he was holding into his pocket. He dashed toward me. "My name's Tucker, and boy, are you one lucky dog. You couldn't have picked a better first person to run into. I am the biggest chick magnet around this school, and I know how everything works too. So no fear! I'll get you a girlfriend within the week and soon you'll be walking up and down these halls like you've been here for decades. I'm bored, let me see your schedule."

He ripped the papers out of my hands, took the one on top, and shoved the others back at me. His eyes quickly scanned the sheet before he broke into a wild grin. He grabbed my arm and started walking. When he was convinced that I would keep following him, he let go and looked at me.

"This is good. You've got third period Spanish with my best friend Sam, fifth period gym with both of us, and seventh period English with me. That way we can keep you informed all day long."

I nodded, trying to follow him.

"I'll brief you on the rules." He paused to take a breath, and I jumped at the opportunity to defer the speech.

"Why are you here so early? School doesn't start for twenty minutes, right?"

He smiled. "Yeah, but my mom has to be at work at seven-fifteen, and I wouldn't ride the bus if I were paid to." He shivered. "Way overcrowded. I'd much rather get here before the teachers and...eh, study...if they ask what I'm doing."

"Mmmm," I mumbled.

"So, what do you wanna do?" he asked. Thankfully, he seemed to have forgotten the rules topic. He had, however, no intentions of leaving me alone.

I mentally sighed and answered. "Show me where these classes are."

For the next ten minutes, Tucker took me on an extensive tour of the school. The tour was long enough that, by the end of it, other students were filing in the building.

"Gotta go meet Sam, you see," Tucker told me as handed my schedule back. "Gotta talk about things. You'll be fine, and I'll brief you on those rules in gym."

With that, there was no more Tucker. I stared after him with wide eyes, hoping that everyone wasn't going to be that friendly. I wouldn't be able to stand living like this if that were the case.

The day started off fine. Through my first two classes, math and Computer Tech, nothing extraordinary happened. I got my book for math. I got assignments to do in Computer. So far it should have been boring, but considering I had never seen most of this stuff, I was completely and totally absorbed by it.

My next class was Spanish. As I walked in the door and handed the teacher a sheet of paper to sign, I noticed someone. But, as my back was to the person I thought I had recognized, I waited until the teacher—Mrs. Harpy—gave me a book before I turned back around.

Yep. Just as I thought. Sitting in the first desk on the second row was the girl from the office this morning. The school was big enough that this was the first repeat face that I'd seen (though I knew I would see Tucker again in just two periods). It was comforting in a strange sense to be able to recognize someone familiar even if I didn't know her name.

I made my way to her side of the classroom—it was the less crowded side—and settled into the second from last desk in the first row closet to the door. The class was unevenly divided down the middle. My side of the classroom had only eight people, while the other side had close to fifteen. There was a nearly empty row separating the two sides.

The only person on my row was a black-haired girl who patterned her dress after her hair—black. She was sitting sideways in the first desk on the row and was leaned across the isle talking to the red-haired girl from the office.

I scanned the classroom, trying to see if I could find Tucker's friend Sam. There were only nine guys in the classroom and five of them were sitting in the corner of the room all wearing red and white jackets. Even though I was not very good at reading people because of my lack of time spent with full humans, I crossed those guys out in my mind. I supposed any of the other three guys could be Sam, but I had a hard time imagining anyone putting up with the Tucker's ramblings long enough to be considered a best friend.

I had to stop my scanning when Mrs. Harpy stood at the front of the classroom and pointed at me. I looked at her warily.

"Turn your book to page seven and pick a name."

So began my Spanish class. She said that from then on I was known as Edwardo Masters. I didn't understand completely until I realized that everyone in the class had a Spanish name. It was then that I realized my curiosity as to who Sam was would remain a mystery until fifth period.

By the end of the period, I was sure this would be the easiest class. After all, every other subject was building on the knowledge kids learned in elementary school—knowledge I didn't have. In this class, at least everyone was starting out on the same page—completely new. Hey, even if I were a couple of weeks behind, it wasn't the end of the world, right?

Fourth period I had biology and somewhere in the midst of that I went to lunch. It was fifth period that I was both dreading and curious about. Gym.

The gym was full of people. Mostly, the girls were on the right of the gym and the guys on the left. There were, however, a few exceptions. Three or four guys were chasing a group of squealing girls around the gym. And there were two people sitting by themselves at the bottom of the bleachers farthest away from the door.

I recognized them both. They were Tucker and the black-haired girl from Spanish. Tucker noticed me instantly (he had been watching the door; I could tell from the immediate smile on his face the moment I walked in the door) and waved me over to him.

I obeyed, not knowing anything else to do.

"Danny, my boy! Come on over, and meet Sam!" he called before I was halfway across the gym floor.

That was Sam? Oh.

Sam turned to face me, and her lips turned into a frown.

"Danny?" she asked. "Guess that explains it."

Before I could ask what she meant by that, Tucker jumped up. "Danny, Sam. Sam, Danny. Sam, I told him that we would totally go over every single rule of survival around here and not to worry. We'll have his ba—"

"Manson! Foley!" I jumped at the sound of a harsh new voice and turned to look at a huge woman in shorts. Her hands were on her hips and she was eying Sam and Tucker with the kind of murderous glare Vlad gave me if I didn't do something right. "You think you can skip today? Get out there with the rest of 'um."

They jogged to the middle of the gym and started running in circles with everyone else. The gym teacher eyed me meaningfully. "Masters, I assume," she muttered. She threw some fabric at me and continued talking. "I won't make you dress out today, but I expect you out there running with everyone else tomorrow before the bell rings."

And that was the end of the conversation. I raised an eyebrow as I watched her retreating figure. So far today, I hadn't had to contribute much to any conversation I'd been a part of. Maybe this whole fitting in thing would be easy.

I sat down and watched the mass of humans as they ran around and round the gym. I watched as Sam quickly took the lead and passed the big wad of people. I tried to find Tucker, but the wad was too big to pick out any one person. I was almost completely out of it, staring at nothing, when I felt a jerk on my arm.

"C'mon!"

Catching on to Sam's impatience, I scampered onto my feet and joined her in running. She didn't say anything as we made the next two laps, passing everyone else again in the process. I was beginning to think she just wanted someone to keep her company, but then then she asked me the first question.

"Where you from?"

I decided to tell her the truth. "Texas."

"You like the school there?"

"Home schooled." That was what Vlad had told Mrs. Scott.

She shot me a weird look. "Okay, well let me try and beat Tucker to the punch about the rules."

I tried not to groan. This was what she wanted to talk about? I was trying to avoid this conversation with Tucker.

"Rule one: There are none. Tucker is nuts and thinks of himself as the know-it-all at school. He makes this stuff up to get people to like him. It hasn't worked yet."

I grinned. "Okay, that makes sense," I agreed.

"Seriously, the only real advice you need is to stay away from the football players and cheerleaders unless one, you think you're popular and empty-headed enough to fit in with them or two, you want to get beat up." She pointed toward the wall of the gym where two kids were talking to the teacher. "That's Paulina and Dash—the worst two by far. I'd bet my right leg their trying to buy themselves out of running."

As we passed them I overheard Paulina whining. "But my leg hurts really bad!"

I laughed quietly. I had hurt my leg once training with Vlad. That had only increased his firing.

It seemed like Sam was finished talking for the moment, but I was still curious about what she had said early. I weighted bringing it up. Though Vlad had always taught me that I was never to ask anything out of line to him, I had a feeling that rule didn't apply to society. Of course, I also didn't know if my question would be considered out of line or not.

I decided to chance it.

"Sam...could I ask you a question?"

"What about?" she asked back, not seeming the least bit concerned.

"What was the comment about my name explaining things supposed to mean?" I figured she would've gotten mad, but just the opposite happened. She threw her head back and laughed.

"Please don't tell me you've been worrying about that!" she exclaimed. Suddenly she took on a serious look. "It's nothing. My friend just has a hard time adjusting to some things."

I tried prying further. I didn't know how much I should push my luck, but I was almost as curious about this as I was about how Vlad had gotten his powers or learned about the the Star prophecy.

"And my name is one of those things?" I asked.

She smiled. "Not just you're name. She has a complicated past that I really doubt she would appreciate me blabbing out to you. Why don't you sit back down before Mrs. Tetslaf sees you?"

I noticed we just happened to be passing by my seat. I jogged out of line. I wasn't accustomed to disobeying any kind of orders—even from someone I didn't know.

Someone had a problem with the name Danny. Weird.

A/N: Crappy ending, I know. But never fear, I will make up for this non-cliffie ending time and time again throughout this story. Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think!