Disclaimer: Nope, don't own
A/N- so this is the longest chapter yet! wow. Danny's in denial, Sam's having way too much fun, Jazz is MIA and Tucker is completely oblivious. Oh and lockers are abused by all. It took me awhile to write this chapter- but here it is! I just wanted to thank everyone who reviewed, reviews really do get me to write faster. It's like crack for writers! Anywho, chapter four of walk in the park; hope you like!
He hadn't meant to look. He's studiously been not looking all day. For the past few days actually and things had gone off without a hitch. Unfortunately, he let his guard down and his eyes had drifted across the room before he'd realized what had happened. Now he was sucked into an abyss that threatened to swallow him whole and he had no way of getting free. Apparently being a teenager really did make you over dramatic.
It was just….those eyes. They were really blue. Like, really, really blue and he wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed before. They had captured his attention and had held it and now he couldn't bring himself to look away.
Distantly he realized that Sam and Tucker were talking to him but he had stopped paying attention and they had probably labeled it one of his 'zone outs', specifically one in Paulina's direction. Which was fine, he was fairly certain that Paulina was over there talking to Dash and Kwan. If he shifted his attention slightly he could see that their mouths were moving, but somehow he got the feeling that Dash wasn't really paying attention to them.
The quarterback's eyes kept drifting over in his direction as well, but Dash seemed to be valiantly fighting against whatever kept drawing their eyes to one another. Every so often he seemed to realize what he was doing and then he would snap his gaze away and twist his head, pasting a contemplative look on his face as he assured Paulina that he was listening.
It should have been enough to snap Danny out of their odd staring contest, but it just seemed to suck him in further. Waiting to see if and when Dash looked and…oh god- he was losing his mind if this was what entertained him now.
Of course, there was some sense of amusement from the fact that it appeared to be making Dash rather flustered. Whatever it was. Danny wasn't sure he could or would like to identify it.
He noticed just in time that Paulina was turning around to find out what Dash had been staring at. Danny fought the urge to turn invisible; realizing that turning invisible in a room full of people was not the smartest idea. He shifted his gaze to her quickly, a blush colouring his pale complexion. The lurch in his stomach that he had been so used to the previous year whenever he saw her had disappeared, he discovered with dismay.
Paulina smiled at him, something flirtatious and gorgeous and something he had wanted directed at him for ages. She waved, apparently not noticing his hesitation as he smiled back, waving, a awkward wave in return. Then, the most popular girl in the school, apparently satisfied, turned back to the popular kids. Maybe the rumors about Paulina liking him were true? He should have been more excited, but he wasn't.
"Now that's what I call entertainment." Danny jerked back to the present, eyes landing on the girl across the table from him. Sam had her head propped up on her hands, studying him with amusement, her lunch long since finished. Danny glanced around in confusion, noticing finally that Tucker had disappeared.
"What are you talking about? And where'd Tuck go?"
"He went to the library for a study date or something." Sam smirked at him, grabbing some of his untouched fries from his plate. "You on the other hand, had left us long before, something caught your eye and I bet I know what it is." Panic seized him as he involuntarily glanced back over to where the 'popular' people sat across the lunch room.
"Paulina looks great today." His mouth supplied before his mind could catch up with the rest of it. Well, at least it was believable. He could have said something ridiculous- if he was lucky then Sam would just drop the subject altogether.
"Right." He apparently wasn't very lucky.
"It's true. She looks really, uh, good today." Sam snorted in disbelief, leaning forwards and dropping her voice to a whisper.
"Tucker may not see it, but I'm not blind, Danny." He held his breath, panicking as he tried to figure out how Sam had figured it out. Belatedly he wondered if he could claim it was Valerie he liked…the thought was dismissed just as quickly.
"See what?" Danny tried, eyes darting to the exit, wondering how quickly he could escape.
"That you're head over heels for the school quarterback." He froze, wide eyes going to Sam, searching for some sign of revulsion or anger. Nothing. Sam stared calmly back at him, a slow smile spreading across her face. "I think it's about time. All that tension between the two of you couldn't have been healthy."
"I don't- it's not…" Sam eyed him skeptically across the table, the smile replaced with something more serious.
"You know I don't care who you date, right?" Danny shifted, nodding uneasily. "Even if it is the guy who spent years tormenting you." He glanced over at the table again, slightly surprised to see that Dash had slipped away while they had been talking. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed.
"I appreciate it Sam, but I'm not," He dropped his voice to a whisper so no one else would hear. Gossip spread like wildfire in a high school- it got annoying. "Head over heels for Dash."
Sam just leaned back, smirking and taking his food with her back to her side of the table. "Whatever you say."
Danny grabbed his bag and all but bolted out of the detention room, managing to make it out of there before the few other people that had been stuck in detention could even get to their feet.
It had not been his day, he'd ended up with detention because he'd missed one class (to chase a ghost that he still hadn't caught), forgotten his homework (in the rush to catch said ghost) and had fallen asleep in math (once again, a ghost was the cause). Sometimes he wondered what it was like to be a normal teenager. He certainly couldn't remember.
There was no point stopping by his locker, there wasn't anything he needed from it, so he headed for the doors that led out to the parking lot, choosing the fastest escape route possible.
The sun had set low on the horizon, common for the time of the year, casting long shadows everywhere. It was definitely colder with the sun down; Danny pulled his jacket closer around himself, fighting the chill as he made his way out into the parking lot.
A few cars still remained, even though school had been over for quite some time by that point, but otherwise it was quiet.
He just wanted to get home and maybe get some sleep in before he had to go out on patrol, it was pure luck that there wasn't any homework due the next day- and of course his luck that instead of going out to see a movie or something, he was headed home to sleep so he would be awake enough tomorrow after searching for that ghost that had gotten away.
Danny grimaced at the thought, idly wondering what Jazz would have said about his problem, one of his problems, if he asked her. Probably have him committed. He was fairly sure that most people would have him committed, actually.
A noise broke through his quiet musing, startling him from his thoughts. Danny glanced around, trying to pinpoint the sound, but he couldn't see anything. Shrugging to himself, he continued on, tugging his jacket collar higher against the wind.
He stopped a moment later, sharp ears picking up the odd noise again. It was coming from his right; as soon as he stopped, so did it. He narrowed his eyes, feeling them turn green for a moment as he searched the shadows for whatever was hiding there. The last thing he needed was some sort of stalker ghost.
It wasn't a ghost. He spotted them coming around the edge of the school building. Four of them- from the gang. They were seriously beginning to annoy him, why did they keep hanging around? His eyes turned back to blue as he contemplated going ghost and scaring the information out of them. They wouldn't stand a chance against Danny Phantom.
"Hey, Fenton!" Danny let out a startled yelp, as his name was called from across the parking lot. He turned, spotting Dash jogging towards him. "What are you doing here so late?"
Danny didn't answer, glancing back over to the building, half expecting the gang members to have disappeared, but they were still there, hanging on the outskirts, just visible in the lighting as though unsure as to whether they should continue or not.
Dash spotted them too; he realized as the quarterback put on a burst of speed and grabbed Danny's wrist and dragged him over to the familiar convertible, but with the roof up this time.
He unlocked the passenger side, shoving Danny into the car, even with his spluttered complaints, then sprinted around to the driver's side and slipped in.
"Dash, what…?" The quarterback shifted the car into drive and peeled out of the parking lot without a backwards glance. Danny grabbed at his seatbelt, clicking it into place as the school disappeared behind them. "What the hell?!"
"It's the guys from the park." Dash said by way of explanation, glancing in the rearview mirror as though somehow they could have been followed. Dash Baxter was running from a fight? A lot must have happened for the blonde to have been running from a fight. He used to instigate them.
"Yeah, they've been hanging around the school." Danny's right hand was glued to the handle on the door, knuckles turning white from their grip. "I don't think they had a car in the first place, so there's no way they can catch up to us." Thankfully Dash seemed to realize this as well, slowing until they were within the speed limit. Danny released the breath he hadn't known he had been holding.
"You've seen them around the school too?" Dash asked, going for nonchalant; it didn't fool him for a second. Dash was worried. The guy, who had taken a larger group on for Danny, by himself, was worried. Huh.
"Every once in awhile." Danny admitted, releasing his death grip. Dash nodded to himself, then took a sharp turn and pulled into the parking lot outside of a small restaurant. "What are we doing here?" He asked as Dash undid his seatbelt and opened the door climbing out.
"Eating." Danny scrambled to catch up, after a moments hesitation, leaving his bag in the car.
"I should just head home; I don't have any money on me." He certainly hadn't been expecting to be rescued by the blonde and then dragged off to dinner. It was actually the opposite of his 'sleep' plan.
"I'm paying." Dash informed him as they reached the door. The quarterback held the door open and then gestured for Danny to go ahead- unsure of what else he could do, Danny stepped into the warm restaurant to the delicious aromas of Italian food. Dash stepped in after him, discretely placing a hand on the small of Danny's back to guide him to a table off to the side.
Greedily soaking up the contact, he valiantly fought back the thought that this was some sort of date.
"This is really good!" Danny moaned happily around a mouthful of pasta; oh course that probably meant that what he said made little to no sense, but he was warm and the food was really good and the company wasn't too bad so he didn't care too much if he made sense.
Dash for his part just stared at him, then quirked an eyebrow and smirked, chewing his own food before he replied.
"Glad to see it passes your expectations." Danny shot a half hearted glare in the blonde's direction, too busy with the plate in front of him.
"How did you find this place?" He managed to actually swallow before he asked the question this time; he figured it made up for not making sense before.
"I worked here for a bit over the summer." Dash shrugged. Danny got the feeling that Dash was downplaying something, he just wasn't sure what. He decided not to push the subject though, reaching for a piece of garlic bread and focusing his attention on it.
Surprisingly enough, at least for Danny, a comfortable silence descended on them, one he wasn't sure he wanted to break. Danny hadn't thought that anything with the quarterback could be comfortable, looked like he had been proven wrong this time- he could say that he was all that upset about being wrong.
Something kept nagging at his mind though, he really wanted to ask Dash what was going on, if this counted as a…date. Although if it was, he was probably likely to go running from the restaurant like a lunatic and that wouldn't do.
"So…how's football practice coming?" Danny tried, startled when Dash nearly choked on his food in a burst of laughter. It wasn't his normal mocking laughter either, it was actually happy laughter. Danny hadn't thought Dash could laugh like that.
"Danny- what do you actually know about football?" Danny, something inside him lightened at the use of his first name. A smile had made its way onto his face when he hadn't been paying attention.
"There's a ball…that you throw around." He wracked his brain for anything he could use to impress the blonde, but when it came to football he didn't really know anything. "And you're the quarterback…um…there's something called a Hail Mary?"
"Huh, well, that's more than I thought you knew." Dash actually looked impressed. It pleased Danny more than it probably should have. "The seasons almost over, but you could come to a practice sometime," Dash offered, eyes fixed on his plate in front of him. If he didn't know any better he'd say the blonde was blushing. "I could teach you the basics."
Danny got the feeling he'd ultimately fail at that, but for some reason he couldn't say no. It kind of sounded…fun.
"I don't think I'll be very good, but yeah- sure."
He had fun, the rest of the dinner going by faster than he had expected, or wanted if he admitted it. Before he knew it, they were leaving the restaurant, arms bumping as they headed for the car. The night had gotten colder, but he barely noticed with the warmth radiating from the body next to his.
"So, uh- thanks for dinner." Danny offered quietly, pausing next to the convertible when Dash stopped.
"No problem." Dash looked like he wanted to say something else, but whatever it was, was interrupted a moment later.
"Dash!" Two sets of startled eyes turned to whoever had called out. Kwan was across the street on the side walk, dressed in jogging clothes. He glanced down the road, and then jogged across to join them.
"Kwan jogs at night?" Danny hissed feeling panicked all of a sudden; his brain tried to remind himself that he had nothing to be panicked about, it wasn't like they were on a date. Dash nodded, but he looked vaguely like a small furry creature cornered by the big bad wolf. It was a weird comparison.
"Hey!" The other football player grinned at them, glancing from Danny to Dash in a knowing way that had Danny fighting the urge to run and hide. "What're you two doing here?"
"Grabbing something to eat." Dash supplied easily. Danny was too busy having an inner freak out to be much help with any answers. "There were some guys hanging around the school again, couldn't have Fenton getting in over his head again."
Danny ignored the twist in his gut at being referred to as Fenton again, focusing instead on the fact that Kwan knew about the park when he had figured Dash was content letting everyone believe that he had been protecting his secret girlfriend.
"I wasn't going to confront them." Danny defended, annoyed. It was only partially a lie, he hadn't been about to confront them, but Danny Phantom had been. Dash didn't look like he particularly believed him. "I wasn't."
"You're really good at attracting trouble." Kwan grinned at him, and then turned his attention back to Dash. "Well, I'd better get going- leave you two alone." He winked at Dash, and then jogged off down the street. Danny watched him go, confused and a little defensive at the implication that he got into a lot of trouble.
"Fenton?" Danny bristled at the use of his last name, turning and heading around the side of the car to the passenger side and waiting patiently for Dash to unlock the doors. "What is it?" Dash actually looked worried- Danny shoved away any guilt at putting the look on the quarterbacks face.
"Nothing, Baxter." It felt weird to call Dash by his last name. Even when Dash had been bullying him, he hadn't called the blonde by his last name. He didn't really like it, but judging by the look on Dash's face he was starting to understand. "I just have some stuff I need to do, some homework…" The door unlocked and he slipped in. Dash slid in silently a moment later, glancing over briefly before starting the car. The remaining ride was silent.
Danny's locker shut with a slam, displaying fairly clearly his mood. He ignored the few startled looks it received, turning and striding down the hall, determined not to be stopped on the way to study hall. He was meeting Sam and Tucker there, he figured he should tell them about the gang members he kept seeing around the school grounds; anything to get rid of some of the frustration he could feel boiling beneath the surface.
A freshman jumped out of the way of his war path, eyes wide as Danny pushed past without a second glance. Great- now he was acting like Dash used to, and of course now he was thinking about Dash again. It didn't help his mood.
The quarterback had been conspicuously absent in math and science, finally showing up at lunch, but Danny had chosen to studiously avoid looking in that direction. If Sam had noticed she had kept quiet though, so he was grateful for that.
He figured he owed her big time. Considering it was getting harder to deny that he actually kind of liked the guy that used to shove him into lockers for fun. He wasn't sure what was weirder; the fact that he had apparently fallen for a guy or the fact that it was the guy who used to get his kicks making his life a living hell, it was a tough choice.
"Danny!" He sighed, pausing just inside the doors to study hall, cursing his luck. He had hoped to make it there unnoticed. "Wait up!"
Danny turned, finally noticing who was jogging down the hall towards him. Paulina. He grinned; actually a little excited to see her. She looked good, slim curves and a skirt that showed off long legs- not tall, muscled, blonde…he was doomed.
"Hey Paulina." She caught up to him, brushed a stray hair from her face and batted her eye lashes, Danny had the feeling he was being set up for something. "Um, what's up?"
"Well, I just wanted to talk to you before class." That was a first. Not that he really minded, but it was still a little odd.
"Okay, what did you want to talk about?" She stepped closer to him, a slender hand resting on his arm. He was pretty sure that she replied to his question, but he had stopped listening. Dash was a little ways down the hall, bag slung over his shoulder, scowl on his face. He was watching Danny and Paulina. He seemed to realize that Danny had caught him watching, turning, scowl still in place and essentially storming off down the hall regardless of the group of people that had been talking to him.
"You're a great listener, Danny." Danny blinked, focusing on the girl in front of him. He smiled, not as easily as before, but still managed to make it real as he dedicated himself to listening to Paulina.
He didn't have to pretend to understand what she was talking about for much longer though, when the second bell rang Paulina drifted off, slipping him a folded piece of paper. Danny stared at the paper in his hand in shock as he joined Sam and Tucker at a table.
"What's that?" Tucker asked as he sat down.
"Paulina's phone number." He'd been dreaming of this moment since the moment he met Paulina.
"Way to go Danny!" Tucker snagged the number from his hands, probably trying to memorize it before he had to give it back.
"Paulina gave you her number?" Sam was frowning, not celebrating with them, Danny had an idea why.
"Yeah. I guess she really does want me to invite her to prom." He and Paulina at senior prom? It was straight from his day dreams…the ones he hadn't had in awhile. He wasn't entirely sure what the big deal about prom was- it was still a long ways off, but maybe he could learn to be as excited as some of his classmates. He could start with inviting Paulina.
"Right. Can I talk to you for a second?" She glared at him from across the table, and then stared pointedly at Tucker. "Alone?"
Tucker glanced up from where he was copying down the number, finally catching onto what Sam was talking about.
"Uh, I have to go to the bathroom." Tucker announced, quickly leaving the table, and taking the paper with him.
"What was that about?" Now Tucker was going to suspect something was up. That was so not what he needed at the moment.
"You're thinking of asking Paulina to prom aren't you?" Sam accused, voice a harsh whisper in the still loud room.
"So what if I am?" It was his business who he invited and who he…didn't. If he invited Paulina then maybe he could get over this stupid Dash faze and get back to being in love with the prettiest girl in school- who apparently now liked him back.
"Danny, if you invite Paulina because you actually like her, then I'll support you completely." Sam began, sliding forwards in her chair and bringing their heads closer together. "But if you invite her to get over Dash, or to prove to yourself that you don't have feelings for him, then you're an idiot and will end up hurting a few people in the process." He opened his mouth to deny the accusation, and then shut it again at the look he was receiving. Of course Sam could see things Tucker couldn't- they were both his best friends but Sam had always been better at reading him. She'd always known things that he himself might not have wanted to know.
"I like Paulina." Danny protested weakly.
"You used to claim you loved her." She pointed out.
"I might like Dash." He held his breath waiting for someone to overhear or the sky to fall or whatever. Sam just nodded. "And he's not always a jerk. Not like he used to be and over dinner he-"
"Wait- dinner?" Danny winced at the sudden gleeful tone her voice had taken as she straightened up suddenly, grinning like the cat that had caught the canary.
"Yeah. Some of the gang members showed up last night and Dash all but kidnapped me when he spotted them and the next thing I know I'm having dinner with Dash at some nice restaurant." Danny let out a long breath, face tinted pink as he finished. Sam just continued to grin at him, like she knew something he didn't know and it was slowly driving him crazy. "What?"
"You two went on a date."
"No we didn't." He denied quickly, feeling his face turn even brighter pink.
"Yeah- you did." Sam smirked, glancing quickly over his shoulder. "Which is why I don't think Paulina should be your prom date." Danny opened his mouth to reply- to say something, but Tucker returned, dropping into his seat noisily as though to announce his presence. He glanced curiously between the two of them, but didn't say anything, instead digging out his books as Danny decided to fill them in on the gang members he kept seeing.
His mind wasn't on the topic at hand though, thinking instead of blonde hair, blue eyes and a hard body pressed up against his own.
Prom was a long ways off. He didn't even want to think about it at the moment, let alone who he'd be asking. So what if he asked Paulina? He and Dash weren't dating; it was ridiculous to even consider that. But he didn't get the same butterflies around Paulina as he did around the quarterback.
Ring-ring. Ring-ring. Ring-ring. Ring-ring. This is Jazz- sorry you missed me. Leave a detailed message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible- if this is mom, I already told you I would be back for Danny's birthday. *Beep*
Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Where the hell was his sister? It wasn't like her to take off and not check her messages. He was actually kind of worried. Maybe she'd run off on one of her adventures. She'd taken to taking off on trips with Green Peace or whatever her latest kick was.
Danny hung up the phone, tossing it across the room in frustration. He was officially convinced that the world was against him- or the universe. Something was out to get him.
"Danny?" He jumped, feeling sheepish as his mom peered through the door to his room. "Are you alright honey?" Great, now his mother was worried about him. Way to go Danny.
"I'm fine, just trying to get a hold of Jazz." His mother nodded stepping into his room and seating herself on his unmade bed. Danny sighed, joining her on the bed, figuring that he could add another person to the list of people who thought he needed to be locked in a padded room.
"Is everything alright? At school and with your friends?" He hadn't quite been expecting that.
"Yeah- just have lots to do." His mom tugged him close, placing an arm around his shoulders.
"You haven't really been yourself recently. I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. I won't judge." Mom I'm having an identity crisis, I have feelings for the guy who spent years shoving me into a locker and oh yeah- I'm half ghost. He could imagine his mom smiling at him, in an understanding manner and then having him carted off in a straightjacket the next day.
"I know- thanks." She smiled at him, then stood and left his room, calling over her shoulder that dinner would be in half an hour. His sister was already going to think he was nuts, he didn't need his mom to believe it too.
All in all, he felt a lot better. The weekend had helped him forget some of his problems; he'd seen a movie with Tucker and Sam and had ignored most of his homework, choosing to put himself into a television and sugar coma for the better part of the day. Oh and the city had been blissfully ghost free, which made him a little paranoid, but seriously- he had needed the break.
So, he felt a lot more relaxed when he walked into school Monday morning. This of course didn't actually last that long. He'd been heading for his locker when of course he had turned the corner and found a large crowd milling around.
He pushed his way through, trying to find out what was going on, and bumped into Tucker on his way.
"What's going on?" He asked, balancing on his tip toes to see above the other students.
"Someone broke into the school over the weekend." Tucker explained. "They left a message for Danny Phantom." He sent him a significant look. Danny nodded, backed up and got out of the hall. He found the closest closet and ducked into it, going ghost and turning invisible. By the time he made it back to the hall, floating above the students, Lancer had arrived. A vein stood out on his neck, face purple as he read the writing on the lockers.
Danny felt his stomach drop out as he read the message once, and then again, glancing down the hall to where his own locker was.
Dash stood at the edge of the crowd, face too pale- it looked like he had an idea who wrote it. Paulina stood next to him, looking pale, but unsure about what was going on. He wanted to go over, stand next to Dash and- and what? Offer comfort? Yeah, like that would go over well. Get comfort? Danny snorted at the idea- eyeing the spray painted words again. He couldn't afford to slip up, not after this message.
Without a backwards glance he left, heading back to the closet to change back.
'Watch out Phantom. We've got our eyes on you and your friends,' Remained scrawled across a bank of lockers for everyone to see.