A/N: Yay! Another update. And thanks for the three of you who added my story to their favorites and alerts. But please review. I wanna know how the this is going so far! And as for the other people who've ALREADY been reviewing
THANKS!
I don't own Danny Phantom. Or a turtle which I've been begging my mom to buy me.
Danny scratched his head in confusion. "Did she just agree to help with the project?" His mind refused to process Paulina's agreement.
Sam smiled encouragingly. "Maybe she took the advice Phantom gave her," she offered. Her amethyst eyes clouded over skeptically.
Tucker pulled his aze away from his PDA long enough to focus on Danny and Sam. "Dude, if that's the case, maybe she'll consider hooking me up with Star," Tucker's eyes gleamed longingly as he withdrew into a dream-like daze.
Danny rolled his eyes and a smirk lit up his formerly confused face. "Tucker, your dream of having two Star's and me as your janitor is never, ever going to happen."
Sam chuckled at Danny's comment; Tucker merely scowled. "Hey! That dream was supposed to be personal!" He shouted.
"Anyways," Sam interrupted, brushing him off. "Paulina probably took your, er-Phantom's advice. You know what they say, people do the craziest things when they're in love." She pulled her gaze away from her best friend and withdrew into the same dreamy look Tucker previously worn.
Danny's eyes widened with fear as he gazed at his completely-out-of-character best friend. "Hello? Earth to Sam!" Danny frantically waved his hand in front of Sam's face.
"Oh, uhm, sorry." Sam blushed, snapping back to reality. "I was, uh, daydreaming." She cleared her throat nervously.
Tucker scrutinized her. "Geez, what's been up with you lately?" He rolled his eyes as he began typing through his PDA (the previous one having been destroyed during a ghostly battle).
Danny smiled, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "She met a guy at the goth poetry thingy," he explained.
"Ah." Tucker nodded understandingly. Sam scowled and sent daggers in Tucker's direction. Tucker opened his mouth, ready to make a snarky remark.
Danny cut him off with a sigh. "Anyways, I gotta meet Paulina in ten minutes." He said glancing at the electric clock near his bed. "I'll text you guys in case of an emergency."
Sam and Tucker nodded in response. They each bid their farewells before Danny turned intangible and flew through the wall and back towards the library.
When he arrived, Paulina was standing right outside, her glossy lips tugged down into a deep frown. Her dark hair was pulled up into a high ponytail; her sparkling eyes gazing seemingly nowhere and trapped in deep thought.
Danny-as-Phantom ducked behind the buildings wall and reappeared from around the corner as Fenton. "Uh, hey." Danny greeted nervously, slightly guilty for interrupting the pondering latina.
She blinked and gazed back at him, her sparkling eyes meeting his own bright blue ones.
"Hey." She replied before falling back into her silent state.
The two teeneagers remained motionless for a few seconds, neither of them quite sure of what to do next. Danny decided to be the first to break the silence. "You wanna go inside?" He gestured towards the door wooden doors of the library. The situation was already becoming uncomfortably awkward, and he hated the tense silence.
Paulina sighed. "Okay, sure." And they went inside.
They library was nothing special. It was small and slightly cramped with its shelves lined up in narrow rows and the building too crowded with teens preparing for their own assignments. The old ceiling had a few broken peices, revealing the moldy inside. The few desks that were placed in the library were worn, and the walls' paint seemed to be deteriorating. Many citizens had uselessly begged their mayor to have the old building repaired but to no avail.
"So what do we have to do our project on?" Paulina asked as they glanced around the bustling room.
"Well, Lancer said that all we have to do is research an author and write a full page biography on him...or her. Both of us have to do it and it's due tomorrow." Danny briefly explained.
"Tomorrow?" Paulina groaned. "We're so screwed! I'm not gonna have this finished by tomorrow." She sighed and ran a hand through her sleek waves.
"Nah. We can do it." Danny smiled with positive encouragement. "Besides, I already have some ideas. I got 'em when Ghostwr-ah, It's a long story." He interrupted himself, a brief memory of his truce with the writing-ghost flashing through his mind. Danny led her down an aisle, briefly reviewing through each of the books' summaries.
In an hour, the couple had finished, both of them walking out of the old, cozy place with copies of their typed paper, which they each tucked away into the safety of their bag. Surprisingly enough, Paulina had cooperated, doing what she was supposed to do without whining too much.
Danny felt relaxed. His day had calmy breezed past, and no ghost had come to interrupt them. Not once.
So, when Paulina then offered to stop by the mall for ice cream, Danny had quickly agreed. Mostly in an attempt to take advantage of the serene day.
They went out, ate, and chatted up a series of mini debates about the authors they had studied. (Paulina was astoundingly quick with words and extremely convincing.)
Afterwards, much to Danny's astonishment, Paulina agreed to go see the astronaut stuff he'd mentioned earlier. The beautiful prep surprised him more when she admitted that NASA was, indeed, truly fascinating.
"See? NASA is the best. You know, I have a cousin who's just like me and-" He
was cut off by a blue mist that escaped his parted lips. He bit back a groan.
Paulina pulled her gaze away from a model of their solar system. "And, what?" She questioned, slightly curious.
"Uh, would you hold on a moment? I...need to go to the bathroom."
She looked up at him expectantly and nodded.
The raven-haired teen dashed off and slipped into the nearest empty stall, transforming himself into the famous -or infamous- Danny Phantom.
He immediately shot out from behind the stalls and hovered in the air for a while, reappearing in the mall courtyard. A quick glance around, confirmed his suspicions.
People of all ages had suddenly sprung up; everyone had begun blindly running in all directions. Danny silently blamed Paulina for dragging him to the mall.
Then his eyes caught sight of an unfamiliar ghostly figured who was chasing a familiar girl.
"Paulina!" Danny cried out. He dropped down and levelled himself with the new messy-haired, red-eyed phantom.
"Who the heck are you?" Danny questioned as he kept at the same pace of the speeding ghost.
"Hey back off! I found her first." The spirit growled. "That reward is as good as mine! She is as good as mine." The ghost trained his eyes back to Paulina who'd easily dodged through the crowd of people. Danny shot an ecto blast at the ghost and sent it hurdling through the air.
The ghost simply growled and turned intangible as he sank beneath the ground.
Danny sighed and decided to let the ghost go, seeing as he hadn't thought of bringing his Thermos. He then dashed out and saw Paulina running...
He blinked. She was running away from the exits, away from safety.
She was coming back. But why?
And, that's when realization sank into Danny as he saw the direction she was running to. It was the store where he had left her.
"Dang it! She probably thinks I'm still there!" He flew back to the store, turned human then ran out to the entrance where he instantly crashed into Paulina.
"Paulina?" He blinked.
The girl in question was panting heavily and sweat was beginning to form on her almost-flawless, perfectly tan skin. "Danny! It's-there's a ghost and I-well, it chased me and I came back to warn you!" She gasped and scowled as she briefly glanced at a broken nail.
A loud thundering noise came from behind, startling both of them just as Danny's ghost sense went off.
He fished his cellphone out of his pocket and sent Sam a brief text message, then he grabbed Paulina by the wrist and went running.
A familiar voice echoed from behind the escapees as they dashed out of the store. "I, Technus, Master of all things Technology will capture you weak, spineless humans aaaand the reward!"
Danny rolled his eyes as he struggled to pull an exhausted Paulina to safety: her pace had slowed dramatically.
Danny glowered in annoyance at the girl's weariness. "This is taking too long!" He muttered. H instantly stopped and swooped Paulina up into his arms just as she released a surprised yelp.
"D-Danny! You're really strong!" Paulina noted.
"Now's not the time! Where the hell is Sam?"
No sooner had he uttered those words, he heard a voice call out, "Danny?"
Tucker.
Danny snuck a glance back and saw his friends running dangerously close to where Technus was building his new armour of technolgy.
He set Paulina down. "Go call for help. I'll be right back."
Paulina hesitated before nodding and running off, exiting the now empty and nearly destroyed mall.
Danny spun on his feet as he felt the familiar blue rings appear on his body.
He then hovered over Technus, they exchanged some witty banter, Danny froze every bit of the rambling ghost before allowing Sam to suck his technology-obssessed enemy into the Fenton Thermos. The fight had only lasted a few seconds.
"Come on, guys," Danny glanced at his best friends. "We need to find Paulina. I have a feeling she's in danger right now."'
The trio glanced at each other and nodded.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Paulina finally arrived home. As much as she argued and lashed out, Danny and his friends had politely walked her home and, through their whole stroll, Paulina and Sam continued to argue. She was drained and tired, and all she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. She was finally making her way up the stairs when her father's voice stopped her.
Paulina's father was a big man with a skin tone just slightly darker than her own. His dark hair had begun to gray and, tonight, his eyes seemed to withhold a familiar weariness.
He gazed down at her, his equally blue-green eyes clouded with an expression she knew all too well. "Pauina, I need to tell you something."
Paulina hesitated before crawling back down to the bottom of the stairs."Mi hijita,I'm -I'm going on a business trip." He paused and continued to speak in his accented voice. "I'll, uh, I'll only be gone for about a two weeks this time. Maybe a week and a half if everything goes well."
Paulina swallowed hard. "Okay, papi," she murmured quietly, averting her gaze.
"But," her dad added hurriedly, "when I come back, we'll go to the mall and buy you whatever you like. And, I'll even get you that new car you've been wanting."
Paulina smiled broadly, easily hiding her depressed state. "Okay,papi. I understand."
Her facade was too perfect but, honestly, she really didn't want to stay by herself that whole week by herself. An idea occurred to her. "Hey, papi? Is it alright if I stay with a friend while you're gone?"
Her dad nodded, obviously relieved that he didn't have to deal with any emotional distress. "Whatever you want amorecito, just ask for permission first because I'll be gone by tomorrow in the afternoon."
Paulina smiled. And she knew exactly who to ask...
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
"No." Star replied the following day at school.
"What? Why not?" Paulina inquired with a heartbroken stare.
Star's bright eyes dimmed with guilt. "'Cause I'm grounded. I was, like, caught sneaking out and, like, I got busted big time. No social contact for a whole week! That includes cellphones, computer, leaving the house and inviting friends!" Her face instantly fell.
"Sorry, Paulina." She paused and then a sly smile appeared on her cute face. "But I bet that Fenton kid would totally say yes!"
"What?" Paulina yelled, causing several students stopped to glance at her sudden outburst. Star nodded.
"Sure!" Star insisted. "You like him, he likes you. He's not busy and it's obvious he worries about you, judging by everything you told me. Why don't you think about it?"
"I don't like him-"
Star cut her off immediately, launching several reasons on why to ask Fenton to take her in.
And that was how Paulina reluctantly ended up trudging over to Fenton's desk that same day in Lancer's class.
A/N: I'm convinced I need more action. I'm still open for any suggestions.
I'll be typing up chapter 5 in the meantime...and i'll be eatin elote. Corn on the cob. ;D
Please review and, yes, I do accept flames!
Hasta luego!