A/N: Meow. I'm bored. Onto the story!

Summary: Does Mr. Lancer have enough information and clues to actually put two and two together?

~oOo~

The Next Day…

It should've been just another mundane school day for Mr. Lancer. After having gone through a couple thousand of these in his lifetime, one would think that Mr. Lancer would consider it just another fish in the sea. But that day was different, much different than any of the other days.

For one thing, he hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep the night before. Mr. Lancer had actually shown up at school almost an hour earlier than usual because he had nothing better to do with his time spent not sleeping. He was finally starting to understand why his students were always so prone to taking naps in their classes.

Secondly, Mr. Lancer's head was still swimming with thoughts on those autographs; he was completely stumped by all of it. What his eyes told him was true was what his brain wouldn't come to terms with. His over-active imagination was getting to him, but he could no longer sort through all of his improbable ideas. All of that thinking the day before had bled into the night, and his brain hadn't let him go to sleep.

As he rubbing his temples, Mr. Lancer checked the clock once again. Students weren't going to start flooding into the building for another ten minutes or so.

He sighed. A yawn that he had been forcing down could no longer be contained. His eyes watered and stung. That desk of his looked so tempting… so inviting. One little nap couldn't hurt, could it?

Mr. Lancer's eyes drooped, and his head slumped until it was lying on the worktop.

Just fifteen minutes. That's all he wanted.

...

His phone rang.

Groaning, Mr. Lancer lifted his head, looking at the noisy contraption.

Be quiet,he mentally pleaded. But it wouldn't shut up. The annoyed teacher almost considered chucking the phone across the room, but even in his exhausted daze, Mr. Lancer could see a few problems or consequences if he carried out that notion.

He took the time to peer at the caller ID.

Catherine Shaw, Office.

Well, Miss Catherine Shaw could wait.

Mr. Lancer tried his best to ignore the persistent ringing. Although it seemed to take forever, after around the sixth ring, it stopped. The balding teacher breathed a sigh of relief while setting his head back on the desk.

He had just closed his eyes when, once again, the phone started to ring.

Mr. Lancer's eyes flew open, and he banged his head on the desk a few times in frustration. The racket wouldn't stop, and it was driving him nuts! What could Miss Catherine Shaw want with him, anyways? In obvious reluctance, Mr. Lancer grabbed the phone and raised it harshly to his face.

"Mr. Lancer-?"

"-Unless someone's died, I'm not interested!" He snapped, slamming the phone back down onto its receiver without waiting for a response from the Office Lady.

His blood-shot eyes looked quickly at the clock on the wall.

9 minutes until class starts. Oh well.

Mr. Lancer laid his head on his desk once more.

This was going to be a very long day.

~oOo~

Forty Minutes Later…

"Students, please take out in that homework packet that I assigned on Friday last week," Mr. Lancer mumbled in his natural monotone voice. The only thing odd about it was that his voice was layered with a fatigue that wasn't usually present.

Somehow, the class heard his request, and they pulled out their homework from their backpacks. He walked up and down the aisles, picking up the stack of papers that the students handed to him. A few kids grumbled as they handed their not-quite-finished packet to Mr. Lancer, who looked at them disapprovingly before strolling on to the next desk.

Paulina looked at him with false apology in her pleading eyes. I'm so sorry about the diary, she seemed to be thinking, Can I have it back now? Pretty, pretty please?

Mr. Lancer shook his head stubbornly as he grabbed her papers. Her demeanor changed immediately, and Paulina glanced at him with hateful daggers before turning to gossip with her friends. Mr. Lancer smirked and moved on.

Upon reaching the end of the line, only Danny and his small posse were left with homework in hand. Mr. Lancer kept his frail composure in tact as much as he could as he picked up Miss Mason's, Mr. Foley's, and finally, Mr. Fenton's papers and placed them on the top of the stack.

The lesson for that day went on as planned, except a few times whereas Mr. Lancer got completely distracted by one thing or another… and, of course, when he almost fell asleep that one time. Mr. Lancer usually didn't get that unfocused…

That's what happens when you don't get even two hours of shut-eye, He reminded himself.

But, goodness, my own voice is making me fall asleep! No wonder some of my students are always tired. If they stay up all night every night...

Just thinking about it made him shudder.

Finally, Mr. Lancer had a small break. His students were filling out a worksheet, so he had a little time near the end of class to relax in his chair and think about how he was going to survive the rest of the fuel-consuming day.

His planning period was his next class period. There, the exhausted teacher could grade papers and such, but it wouldn't matter if he 'accidentally' took a nap. If he could just pull through until then, then he could get a cup of coffee at least, just to wake him up a little. But until his planning period started, he was left teaching and trying as hard as he could to stay awake.

Mr. Lancer kept his eyes on the clock all throughout the class, willing for time to speed up. Just seven more minutes, then he would be free to do whatever his tired mind pleased.

The minute hand on the clock moved a millimeter. Six more minutes!

In his peripheral vision, Mr. Lancer noticed that a student had raised their hand. He looked up to find that it was none other than Mr. Fenton, who probably wanted to be excused, like always. The teacher took a moment to get his voice working before he responded. In that small amount of time, Danny's firm hand had resolved to waving around frantically, trying to get his attention.

"Mr. Fenton?" He was finally able to speak up.

Danny lowered his frenzied hand. "May I be excused?"

Mr. Lancer sighed. "Yes."

Danny jumped up out of his seat and grabbed his backpack before heading towards the door. His two friends passed worried glances to each other as he left. It looked as though they were going to ask to be excused as well, but Sam took one look at the clock and shook her head at Tucker. Mr. Lancer nodded to himself in understanding: With just three more minutes of class, they were probably going to wait to leave during break. Where they were going, Mr. Lancer didn't know.

That group was so enigmatic, it was nerve-wracking. Where did Danny always go during class? Why would his friends want to help him? Andwhy was his paper - possibly - signed by a ghost?

While Mr. Lancer stewed in these thoughts, the bell rang. Finally, class was dismissed.

Mr. Lancer watched all of the students leave, and when there wasn't a single person left in the room besides himself. Mr. Lancer shut his door and sat down in his comfy spiny-chair.

Finally! He could actually take some down time now!

After spinning around in the chair once, just for the heck of it, Mr. Lancer took a moment to stare at his desk in relaxing blankness in order to get his mind clear… only to realize that the ungraded homework that he had taken up earlier was staring right back at him.

Urg.

He definitely didn't want to grade that day. He was too tired as it was, and looking at black on white for too long would give him a terrible migraine. Adding that on top of his pre-existing fatigue could become the death of him.

But the teacher decided that getting at least a few papers done before his nap would be better than procrastinating and therefore having bigger work-load to grade later. Besides, it would give him a much needed break from his current obsession… Phantom, or Fenton? That topic had been driving him completely bonkers for the past few hours. Yes, grading was sure to take his mind off of it for the time being.

Tucking the ordeal to the back of his mind, Mr. Lancer picked up the top paper and glanced at the name.

It just had to be Mr. Fenton's paper, didn't it? Naturally.

Well,he thought as he skimmed through the homework, at least the name is correct this time…

The teacher couldn't help but shake his head, trying his best to push yesterday's events out of his head. He began to slowly check the answers, just to divert his thoughts.

He had only gotten about half-way through when an idea slowly crept its way into his mind. Mr. Lancer knew exactly how he could prove who signed the diary and test.

He had Mr. Fenton's homework in his hand, name correct and all. So Danny must have written that name. He still had Paulina's diary, too. So, if the two 'Danny's looked different, then Phantom must have, for some very strange reason, flown into his classroom the day before, just to sign the paper for Fenton. But if the two names looked the same, then… Mr. Lancer would have to figure that out if it came to it.

As he was pulling the diary out of its designated drawer, however, a banging sound distracted him. It was coming from outside. Mr. Lancer set down the stack of papers and peered out his classroom window in confusion.

It was Phantom, who was fighting a large, metal-looking ghost.

Of course, Phantom, of all people, had to show up. The fates weren't only trying to humor Mr. Lancer; they were set on driving him crazy, too.

Being use to these ghost fights, however, he was able to ignore the blasts and the shouting as best as he could. Mr. Lancer turned his attention back to his experiment. He flipped through the journal, trying to remember what page the signature was on. But before the teacher could do anything productive, the ghost boy hit the window with a loud bang.

Annoyed and just a little startled, Mr. Lancer looked up from his work, just to see Phantom standing up from where he had been crumpled on the ground from one of the other ghost's well-aimed fires. Phantom started shouting something to the other ghost, just stalling while he got his energy together.

Mr. Lancer groaned in exasperation, his eyes turning into slits. Distractions were not going to butt into his precious break time. He quickly looked back down at the newly-located signature in the diary, trying to block out the ghostly conversation that was seeping through his closed classroom window.

"Jeez, Skulker!"

Mr. Lancer couldn't help but watch the ghost boy from his peripherals. Phantom was rubbing his forehead as he stood up; this was the only sign that his slam into the window had actually hurt.

The young ghost continued, "Not only were you stupid enough to get an angry, irritated me out of bed earlier this morning, but now you've decided to give it yet another go!" Phantom launched himself into the air, his voice becoming more distant the higher up he floated. "How did you get out of that thermos, anyways?"

The other ghost, Sulker's, voice was very stifled. Mr. Lancer could barely make out the words 'new tech' and 'decorative rug' before the cringing Phantom flew off, taking the fighting and the banter somewhere further away from the school.

Mr. Lancer sighed. Once this distraction disappeared, he was finally able to get cracking on his puzzling investigation. His eyes wandered from the window, to the name in the diary, to the name in the homework.

He studied them and looked them over. And after experiencing a few moments of serious déjà vu, the teacher, once again, happened to find something that was absolutely unexplainable. Just as he had dreaded, the two 'Danny's were exactly the same. And his findings were completely indisputable this time.

This made him consider what this actually meant. But his thoughts were in a jumbled mess. Nothing probable came to him. Mr. Lancer was in doubt about everything. He knew how implausible it all was.

But,he reminded himself, implausible doesn't make it impossible.

"It's like what Sherlock said," Mr. Lancer couldn't help but whisper out loud in an attempt to motivate himself, "'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' All I have to do is pull the fact together, and a possible scenario will surely present itself!"

With the great words of Sherlock Holmes pulsing throughout his mind, Mr. Lancer was able to look at his problem under a new, almost perfect light.

He began with what he knew: The name 'Danny' in Phantom and Fenton's signature was too similar to ignore.

Next, Mr. Lancer considered everything he knew about the two boys. For starters, they were both around the same age by the looks of it. They had very similar names, and possibly very similar signatures. But, other than that, they were complete opposites!

While Fenton was lazy and forgetful, Phantom tried his best to protect Amity Park and its citizens. While Fenton was the underdog who tried his best to hide in the shadows, Phantom was heroic and loved by almost everyone. While Fenton skipped school all the time, Phantom was always there to save the day.

While Fenton skipped school all the time, Phantom was always there to save the day.

This pattern, this obscure and almost frightening coincidence, appeared in Mr. Lancer's overworking mind as clear as day.

Whenever Fenton skipped school, without fail, Phantom always appeared, fighting a ghost somewhere.

Mr. Lancer was never one to ignore a coincidence.

So, as he flipped through the pages of the diary in a hysterical frenzy, and as his eyes landed on a blurry, black and white headshot of the benevolent ghost, Mr. Lancer had very good reason to be shocked as an epiphany breached his closed-mindedness.

"Holy… Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!"

~oOo~

A/N: Ohhhhhhhhh, it's getting good now! What a… Plot Twist. Yes, that was a nice plot twist. Nah, you were all probably expecting it… Oh well.

So, the usual... Review, if you're up to it… But this time, I have a challenge for you all! One of my good friends, lightning4022, did this in her fan-fiction, and I wanted to do the same.

So the challenge is: How old do you think I am? Just tag your answer to the end of your review. I'm interested to what you all think! And if you know how old I am, don't spoil it for the others. That's it!

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

And "Thanks!" to my awesome Beta, sapphireswimming!

Until next time, peeps!