Hello! Sorry about the wait, somethings came up and *mumble mumble*...

Okay, yeah, I also got lazy. But I'm back now. So, here it is...

I don't own Danny Phantom.

Chapter 4: Back to School

Danny sat at the table, stirring his cereal with an absent mind. He rubbed his tired eyes with a yawn, lack of sleep beginning to take its toll. It was always hardest to stay awake in the mornings, but he knew that once he got past it he would be able to get by the rest of the day. He was down a bit early, having woken up hours before he usually did, and he had gotten tired of sitting and staring out a window. It was nice to be able to just sit down at the table and actually have a legit breakfast. He hadn't had one in forever.

His eyes began to close and his head drooped, making his messy hair dangle dangerously close to his cereal. His thoughts were slipping, and he contemplated giving in to the darkness that resided just behind his eyelids. Maybe he could catch a quick snooze before his friends came to walk to school with him... His unkempt hair began to brush against the milk in his bowl when he heard the sound of thundering footsteps.

With a sharp intake of breath, Danny jumped in his seat, sitting ramrod straight. He blinked away the sleep from his eyes and searched for the origin of the noise. His parents charged down the stairs, weapons out and ready to fight the non-existent danger.

"Oh...there you are kiddo. Almost thought you were gone again." His father laughed loudly and put a large hand on Danny. His parents tucked their guns and lasers away into their jumpsuits. "No ghost will ever touch my son again as long as Jack Fenton lives!" He proclaimed, almost as if to ward off nearby ghosts.

"Sweetie, what are you doing down here so early?" Maddie asked with a frown and her motherly instincts took over as she wiped milk off of the tips of his hair with a napkin. Danny watched Mom clean his hair and shrugged in reply. He grumbled a barely audible, "School".

Jack beamed proudly at his son. "Look at our son, Mads. Waking up bright and early for school like a true Fenton!" He gave a dramatic sniff. Danny rolled his eyes and huffed. He really didn't want to go.

His mother, being more observant, saw his lack of enthusiasm. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and looked him over. It was obvious he hadn't had a good rest yet. "Jack... Maybe we're pushing things a bit. Should we wait until he settles down a little more?"

"Nonsense, Maddie! Our son can handle himself!" Jack assured confidently. But she wasn't convinced yet.

"Danny, we could always wait a little longer..." she began, but Danny spoke before she could finish.

"Yeah, it's fine. I probably have a mountain of work to do and putting it off isn't going to help." Sure, he didn't want to go. At all. But he knew better than to try and avoid something as important as school. He would have to face it sooner or later. His mother finally seemed to stop worrying.

His dad alerted him that his friends had arrived. Danny pushed away his half eaten cereal and slung his backpack. His parents wished him a good day at school, to which he gave a half-hearted wave to, and he walked outside.

He was greeted with the sun's warm embrace and he took it in greedily. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Waking up a bit, he strode towards his friends who were waiting in front of his home. Danny gave a nod in acknowledgment and the trio walked on to Casper High. No words passed between them. It was much too early to be talking and there wasn't much to say right now anyways. The silence wasn't awkward. It was peace.

Danny's heart sank as the school came into view. He put up his mental barricades and braced for the worst. Sam and Tucker noticed this but decided not to say anything. They all knew what was going to happen and the best thing to do was just make it through the day until the whole thing blows over. Things would eventually settle down, but until it did...

It reeked.

The moment they stepped into the halls, all chattering was silenced so quick that Mr. Lancer would've been proud. Danny gritted his teeth as he felt eyes burrow into him. Sam and Tucker moved closer protectively as if to shield him. Not that it helped much. They speed walked through the halls, listening to the whispers of gossip as they passed by. Danny's sensitive ears were able to pick out a few words and phrases.

"...Fenton's back..."

"...Heard he ran away..."

"...Who cares..."

"...Still a loser..."

Tucker was able to keep calm by focusing on his PDA. Sam kept her composure with practiced ease, although there was a barely detectable trace of annoyance. Unfortunately for the half ghost, he wasn't used to being in the spotlight and was clearly struggling to force an indifferent look onto his face. The three of them were never so eager to get to class early.

They were inside five minutes before the bell rang–a world record in Danny's opinion, his average usually being somewhere between ten to fifteen minutes after the bell.

"Mr. Fenton! Welcome back." Their teacher greeted in a shocked tone. Even Mr. Lancer was surprised, though he knew his parents had already contacted the school so that they knew he was back. The surprise could've come from the fact that he had actually shown up to class after such a long time, not to mention, early.

"Morning, Mr. Lancer," Danny replied with a slight mumble. He looked away, feeling a bit awkward. He never really talked to his teachers unless it regarded him failing the class. Danny weaved his way to his assigned seat and rested his head against the desk. He tried to relax before his classmates arrived and made things hectic.

He kept his eyes closed as he heard the class become louder and louder with chatter that didn't belong to his friends. As the students entered, they spoke in hushed voices, the kind you only use when you want to talk about someone behind their back... except he was right in front of them. Jeez, at least show a little restraint, he thought of course, no one really cared about him. He was always being treated differently. To them, he was either a nobody or he was dirt. Or both. It was always like that. Good thing he had Tucker and Sam.

The bell rang and class started, although no one paid attention to it. It took Mr. Lancer at least four tries to get everyone to settle down. He began his lecture on some new book we were reading. Suddenly, a ball of crumpled up paper was thrown at Danny's head. He caught it before it reached him, thanks to his ghostly reflexes. He was annoyed at first, until he glanced over his shoulder and saw Tucker motioning for him to open it up. Danny carefully unfolded it and inspected the hastily written note.

"Class copy in the desk," it read, and he turned around to give Tucker a nod so he knew that he read the note. His friend smiled back him and went back to following Mr. Lancer in the book. Danny turned back around and reached into the desk, pulling out an old, worn out hard-cover book. It was titled, All Quiet On The Western Front.

Danny furrowed his brows as he tried to remember something about the book. The title was very familiar. Wasn't it about some dude who went to world war... Something? He didn't know much about it and frankly, he wasn't very interested. He rested his face on his hand and exhaled slowly. Time passed at a snail's pace, going even slower with the eyes that burned into his back and the occasional whisper of gossip around him. He ground his teeth together, feeling his endurance wearing thin.

He focused as hard as he could in Mr. Lancer, desperately trying to distract himself. Just until lunch, he repeated in his head.

Briiiiiiiiiiing!

Danny jumped up from his seat. He scrambled to fit all of his books, papers and binders into his backpack, carelessly shoving them away. He never felt so happy to hear that bell ring. Mr. Lancer was still shouting last minute assignments at us, which were lost in the sea of people and noise. Everyone was rushing to get outside, making it hard to spot his friends.

Pausing for a moment, he allowed the crowd of students to water down so he could see better. He caught a glimpse of them close to the exit, waiting for him to catch up. Sure that they hadn't left him yet, he began to carefully make his way to them. Not many students were left in the classroom now, which was never a good thing. Nobody ever liked being the last one out, the main reason being that those who were last were often-

"Mr. Fenton, could you stay behind a moment?" Mr. Lancer calmly called to him from behind his desk. "I assure you I won't hold you back for long."

Danny froze in place, internally cursing his bad luck. Sam and Tucker, who had heard what their teacher had told him, shared a silent look. "We'll save you a spot," Tucker called before leaving along with Sam. He stared longingly at the empty spots where they were moments ago, before resigning and turning to Mr. Lancer, hoping he didn't get a detention already on his first day back to school. The teacher tried to smile slightly as if to ease the growing discomfort, but seeing that it wasn't working as well as he had hoped, he went straight to the point.

"As you have probably already figured out, you have a lot of work ahead of you if you don't want to be held back." Mr. Lancer paused to make sure Danny was following. He nodded in agreement and his teacher continued.

"It is nearly impossible to help you get all of this done during school hours, since I do have a class to teach. You can either stay after school and work with me, or we can assign you a tutor. I assume you would rather go with the latter, correct?"

"I guess... but, who's gonna be my tutor?" Danny would rather do almost anything than stay after school with Mr. Lancer. Almost. It all depended on who his tutor would be.

"Oh, don't worry. You know her very well," His teacher winked at him.

"'Her'?" Danny repeated, still confused. Then he thought about it. Who would be smart enough to be tutor and is a girl... "Jazz?" He guessed. Mr. Lancer nodded in answer and Danny relaxed, feeling the tension diffuse significantly.

"Your sister will be receiving all of the materials you need to catch up. I believe there is no one better to help get you back on your feet than her." He grinned proudly and added, "I'm sure you will be back with us in no time." Danny resisted rolling his eyes at his teacher's confidence in Jazz. Well, this is going a lot better than expected, he thought.

"Thank you, sir," He said gratefully, glad he was getting help from someone he knew. He turned back to the door, getting slightly anxious to leave. He didn't want to keep Sam and Tucker waiting.

"One last thing," Mr. Lancer stopped him from exiting once more. His hand paused over the doorknob as he stayed to listen to what his teacher had to say. He heard the chair Mr. Lancer was sitting on squeak in protest as he leaned forward. His hands clasped together on the table in front of him and his voice dropped in volume. Danny wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he wasn't comfortable with the tension, which had come back twice as thick.

"Perhaps you only see me as a teacher, but I do like to know my students outside of school as well. I know things are probably rough right now..." You have no idea, Danny thought dryly. "... but if you ever need to talk to someone about anything, you can always talk to me."

Danny blinked, a little shocked. He certainly wasn't prepared for that. He opened his mouth silently, unsure how to respond. There were so many things he could say to that, so many things he wanted to say. Did his teacher think he could understand him? Relate to him? Something snarled inside of him and he felt a strange sort of... anger come seemingly out of nowhere. He shook his his head and pushed it aside. Instead, he answered with a simple, "Thanks."

"Anytime, Mr. Fenton." Mr. Lancer smiled encouragingly as Danny dashed out the door, keeping his head down to avoid any stares from bystanders.

He sprinted down the halls, which were nearly empty of people. Only a few people were still around since it was well into lunch already. He made it outside and jogged over to his friends, who were sitting at their usual table. He slipped into his seat and set down his things. Burying his face in his arms he sighed in relief, glad to be back with his friends.

"That bad, huh?" Tucker set down his spork and patted him on the back. Danny raised his head enough so he could speak clearly.

"Man, I hope I never have to do that again," he muttered.

"So what happened?" Sam asked curiously after taking a bite of her sandwich. "You didn't get in trouble already, did you?" There was an obvious unvoiced threat in her tone.

"No, no it's nothing like that," he said quickly, and she calmed down. "It's just... Jazz is gonna be my tutor now, since I gotta catch up and stuff."

"Huh. I thought you said it was bad." Tucker said taking a bite of his meatloaf.

"No, that wasn't the bad part. It's what he said afterwards." He contemplated not telling them what happened, but he decided to just do a quick summary and skip the details. "He told me something like 'I know you're going through a hard time' and 'you can always talk to me'. It was really... weird."

They blinked. "Yeah, weird. " Tucker commented, but neither he nor Sam knew that Danny was talking about something completely different when he said that. "And a little creepy."

"Yeah, I don't think he's the kind of guy you'd tell your inner secrets to, " Sam joined in, making a face.

"Like you needed to tell me," Danny grimaced. It was then he noticed the space before him was strangely empty. "Must have forgotten to get food..." He mumbled mostly to himself.

"Here, you can have some of mine." Tucker said, pushing his tray towards him. Danny stared at the meatloaf a few moments before shaking his head.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm cool." He said dismissively. "It's not a big deal, really."

"'Not a big deal'?" Sam scoffed and pointed a finger. "It's like you're half-starved. No wonder why Lancer thought you needed someone to talk to."

"Okay, fine! I'll just grab something from a vending machine or get something at home." He gave in to assure them, but internally felt a little uneasy. He didn't feel as bad as they said he looked at all. Just a little tired.

"Hey so.. uh.." Tucker coughed and Danny immediately refocused onto the uncertainty in his friend's voice. "Do you remember anything yet?"

Danny's face fell upon hearing the question. "No."

"Still?" Sam frowned and adopted a thoughtful look. "That can't be good."

"Yeah, I know," Danny agreed soberly. "Do you think this.. memory blank is permanent?"

They shrugged, also unsure. Tucker's brows came together as he concentrated on trying to figure out the mystery. "It's so strange."

"What, not being able to recall a thing in the three months you went missing? It is pretty strange." Sam scoffed at the obvious comment.

"Well that too, but don't you think it's a little off that he would just wake up in his own bed like normal?" He explained.

"You mean, like, instead of just wasting me or dumping me into the streets, someone brought me home?" Danny shuddered at the thought of some creeper going to his house and tucking him into bed. And he still wasn't letting go of the idea that Vlad had something to do with all of this.

"Why would anyone do that? Who would go through all the effort of kidnapping someone just to let them go?" Tucker continued to ask.

"And that's saying that you didn't run away," Their female friend added. "But I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that it isn't a possibility, anyways."

"You guys know I would've told you if I ever had to leave." Danny felt a hint of a grin on his face, feeling a little proud of his friends and his confidence in them. They smiled back, thinking the same.

"So, who do you think could've done it... Besides Vlad, Danny," Sam looked pointedly at him, who in turn shot her a light glare.

"I have a ton of enemies." Danny spoke with frustration. "It's gonna be nearly impossible to pinpoint a single one."

"Well we could at least try narrowing it down. " Tucker suggested. "Which one would be most likely to kidnap you and be able to mess with your memory?

"Besides Vlad?" Danny leaned back and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Not sure. "

Tucker sighed and said, "Look, I don't like him any more than you do. We all know he's a total Fruitloop, but isn't there a tiny possibility that he didn't do anything this time? He doesn't have to be behind everything, and besides, you said it yourself, dude, you got a ton of enemies. "

"Hey guys," Sam spoke swiftly before Danny could retaliate. "What about Freakshow? He made you disappear once, and that time you weren't able to remember a lot about what happened either." They were reminded of the incident when Freakshow put Danny under his control and forced him to work for him. After the spell was broken, his memory got pretty scrambled.

"I don't think so. He's locked up pretty tight right now by the Guys in White, right?" Danny countered, and then added as an afterthought, "Plus, we smashed his staff into pieces, so how could he have controlled me again without it?"

"I guess you're right. I'm just putting it out there." She shrugged.

They went on, naming possible enemies and making a list (which was stored away into Tucker's PDA). So far, there was Desiree, Skulker, and the Guys in White. They ended up putting Freakshow on the list, just to be safe. By the time they were finished, the bell rang once more, signaling the end of their break.

"I guess that's it for now," Sam concluded, looking at the list of names. "We can think of more later."

"Ugh, I seriously don't wanna go back to class," Danny complained as they got up to leave.

"Dude, at least it's a Wednesday." Tucker said, but his words brought little comfort to Danny.

The minute the final bell rang, Danny was sprinting out the door like a madman. He carelessly shoved bystanders aside in his

haste, desperate for escape. He even left his friends struggling to catch up with him. It was only when they finally reached the school exit he slowed down his pace. He pushed open the doors and inhaled the sweet smell of the doors.

"Haha, finally, freedom!" Danny laughed. "Man, I thought this day would never end."

"Now you just have to do all that make-up work with your sister." Tucker said cheerily, although his words unintentionally brought up a gloomy expression on his friend's face.

"Gee Tuck, I thought it was my job to make people depressed, " Sam sniggered at Danny's quick change in mood, but stopped short at an unusual sight outside.

Directly in front of the gang was a long, sleek, black limousine. It was parked neatly next to the sidewalk, the fancy vehicle sticking out like a sore thumb. No one around here (besides maybe Sam, but she never showed it) was wealthy enough to own such a thing. The chauffeur stepped out and opened up the door. Straightening up with his hands clasped behind his back was...

"Ah, Daniel. So nice to see you again." The mayor spoke, smirking.

Sorry it's been so slow! Argh, I wanna get into the action but I couldn't fit everything in this chapter. I promise within the next 2 chapters things are seriously going to heat up. So thank you everyone who's being patient and baring with me! I'm already working on the next chapter as we speak, so I think I can get it up within a few days even.

As always, thanks to all the favorites and follows! Please remember to leave a quick review- it helps me out a ton! I'll see ya soon~