Chapter 4: Bullies

"Let me get this straight," said Tucker. "A ton of ghosts came through the portal, knocked your dad unconscious, and you kicked their butts with freak'n ghost powers?!"

Danny nodded, feeling uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how he felt about the way his friends were looking at him. Honestly, he wasn't even sure what their expressions meant. So he was surprised when their eyes lit up and Tucker grinned.

"That's totally awesome!"

Danny laughed with equal amounts of anxiety and relief. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he'd thought. "So you can control that white hair and glowing after all," Sam said with a smile. "I knew you could."

Danny smiled gratefully with a fluttering feeling in his chest as he looked at Sam. Tucker snorted, looking at the two of them as if he knew something they didn't. The dark skinned boy thought it should be obvious. Sam was totally crazy about Danny. His blue eyes and messy dark hair made him a looker, even if he didn't have much muscle definition. Danny seemed to be pretty into Sam as well. Sadly, neither of them could admit it, even to themselves.

Oblivious to Tucker's reaction, Danny was about to say something else, then he choked out a gasp. His mood became wary as the icy sensation escaped his mouth again. He looked around swiftly, feeling as though someone was watching him, but nothing was there. He rubbed his head in confusion. Was he imagining it? Maybe he was still just jumpy from yesterday. Yeah. That had to be it.

"Danny, what is it?" asked Sam worriedly.

Danny gave her a quick reassuring smile. "It's nothing. I guess I'm still feeling a bit on edge."

With those words, the three fourteen year olds continued their conversation. Then to their dismay, they saw an unpleasantly familiar face casually approaching them. Dash Baxter. The bully was obviously looking for trouble.

Vlad berated himself from getting so close. He might be invisible right now, but Daniel had obviously sensed him. Fortunately, he was too inexperienced to know what that feeling meant. Vlad's attention went away from that as he noticed a smirking jock slam his fist against Daniel's locker.

"Hey Fentina! I heard you had a week long vacation. Thought you could use a little welcome back."

Daniel's fist clenched. "Go away, Dash."

"Yeah, Dash. No one wants you here," Tucker added.

The smirking jock reddened. "I don't care if you were in a coma, Fentina. You need to learn who's boss again."

Vlad watched emotionlessly as Dash shoved Daniel's friends out of the way and clutched him by the collar. Slamming him against his own locker. So he was constantly bullied. That wasn't impressive. However, when he saw Daniel's eyes flash green with anger, Vlad couldn't help grinning a little. This might just get interesting after all.

"Okay, you can do that to me and I wouldn't care," Daniel growled. "My friends are off limits, though!"

Dash eyed his prey oddly. Usually the loser never put up much of a fight. Now he looked almost, well...scary. The blond jock hesitated even more when he saw the guy smirk. Things were getting unbearably tense, until they were saved by the bell.

"This isn't over Fentina!" Dash called, going down the hall. "You're still gonna take a beating today!"

Daniel's fists shook at his sides with anger. His eyes were flashing green with fury. Then an unfriendly smile touched his lips.

"It's Fenton, Dash, but you're right, it isn't over. Except I'm not the one getting a beating today."

Daniel's friends stared at him like they were just seeing him for the first time. Vlad could tell this wasn't the boy's usual behavior.

"Uh, Danny," the girl named Sam said a little warily. "Your eyes are kind of glowing green, and since when do you mess with Dash? You could get hurt!"

Danny looked surprised. "Wait? My eyes are glowing green?" He blinked rapidly, shaking his head, then he looked in a locker mirror. He sighed with relief when he saw that they were blue again.

"Um, see you guys in class," he said a little hesitantly.

"Yeah. Sure, man," Tucker said, and the teens went their separate ways.

Vlad watched the boy somewhat curiously, but began wondering if he was wasting his time. What could he possibly hope to see happen that would be of any interest?

When a mischievous grin touched the boy's face and he went into a storage closet, Vlad knew something was up. A faint glowing shone through the door, then Daniel literally phased through it. So he'd learned how to do that already as well. What was he up to, though? How could he let himself risk exposure either? Maybe he really wasn't so bright.

Vlad took that back when Daniel also managed to turn invisible. He followed the boy by the feel of his ghost sense until they ended up in the boys' locker room. The blond jock from earlier was there chatting with his friends as they prepped for gym.

Only Vlad noticed the finger seemingly floating in the air that tapped on Dash's shoulder, only to disappear.

Dash spun around, and seeing no one, he looked spooked. "Who's there?!"

His friends just stared at him. "Dude, who are you talking to?"

"No one!" Dash said quickly.

"You're going to fail today, Dash," came a cold whisper.

Dash looked around him again. "Show your face you, you—whoever you are!"

Daniel laughed as the other guys in the room stared at Dash like he was crazy. Then a moment later, Daniel walked over to them, fully visible and human again.

"Dash, really. Maybe you need to see a doctor. Hearing voices? That's just not normal."

Dash glared, "Why you little—!" He was cut short as Daniel stepped out into the gym.

Vlad couldn't help being a little amused. Although this was childish, the boy was at least proving to have a growing handle on his new abilities. Better yet, he seemed to be enjoying inflicting pain with them. He watched with boredom as the gym class went on.

Daniel wasn't very good at basketball by the looks of it, so he was forced to sit on the bench. Depressingly, no one even seemed to notice him there. Glaring at his more popular peers, Daniel seemed to get an idea. He ducked behind a bleacher bench and turned invisible again.

Vlad watched with amusement as the blond bully was subjected to all kinds of problems. He tripped constantly. None of his shots made the basket, and he was starting to freak out from those voices again. Eventually, the coach worriedly excused Dash to the nurses office. A fact the jock was horrified about.

"No! I'm fine. I can play. Really!"

The coach shook his head. "You're not feeling well. I can tell. Hearing voices? You probably have a fever or something."

Dash looked mortified as chuckles went throughout the room. Daniel's laughter was the hardest. Having done the damage, he went back to the bleachers and turned visible again.

After the class, his friends practically attacked him for what they knew he'd done. "Danny, that just isn't like you! I know Dash is a pain, and the jerk probably deserved it, but it doesn't mean you have to stoop to his level!"

Danny glared a little but sighed. "Fine. I won't do it again, but that was long overdue payback, and I finally can give him payback!" he looked both disappointed and happy at the same time.

"Danny," said Sam worriedly. "Just don't let this ghost thing get to your head."

"You guys seemed cool with it earlier," he grumbled.

"Yeah," said Tucker, "but you were saving your dad's life from ghosts then, not attacking a person."

Daniel's shoulders slumped. "As much as I don't want to say Dash is a person, you've got a point." His friends took what they could from that, leaving it there, then the three of them walked off.

The one thing Vlad could truly conclude from this spying session was that he now had more questions than answers about the boy. He would just have to keep learning more. For now, he was content to see how quickly Daniel was getting a hold of his abilities so far, and that he didn't seem to mind using them for less than kind purposes if it came to payback. Ultimately, Vlad could tell he wasn't the sort to hurt anyone, though.

"At least," he thought with a wicked grin, "not yet."