I am so sorry! It's been so long since I've updated one of my stories and I feel terrible because I know you guys like this one a lot! I've been getting ready to start school (yay.) and my life has been really busy (especially after Irene hit).
Anyway, I hope you like the chapter. The drama's starting to pick up.
Disclaimer: Why would I own Danny Phantom? If I did, I'd be working on the show and not wasting my time writing stories!
"Ah!" Danny yelled, bolting upwards in bed. Just another nightmare, he thought, pushing the sheets to the edge of the bed. He had some weird dream that he got strangled with evil plants.
The morning sped by, and Danny walked to school, ready to meet his friends. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket so he picked up.
"Oh, hey, Tucker,"
"Hey, man. Listen, I gotta talk to you about something…"
Danny knew what was coming. "It's about Sam."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Sam's tough, so that's why she probably didn't want to go to the nurse's office, but she was acting really angry at points. Sam never gets that angry."
"And did you see her eyes? They were slightly glowing. You don't think she got ghost powers, do you?"
"Don't you think Sam would tell of if she mysteriously inherited ghost powers?"
"Yeah… Oh, I gotta go, man. Sam's coming, and she'd beat me to a pulp if she found out I was talking about her to you. Don't wanna let her get the wrong idea."
Before the call ended, Danny heard a muffled "Woah, Sam!" Then the phone beeped, signaling an ended call.
Oh, brother, Danny thought. I wonder what's going on. Maybe I should fly to school today…
He raced into an alley and murmured "Goin' ghost," under his breath before transforming and flying into the air. In about half a minute, he was at Casper High. He turned invisible, not wanting to get mobbed by all the fans, then transformed back into Fenton, secluded by the branches of a tree. Then, Danny jumped down and walked to where Sam and Tucker normally waited for him…assuming he wasn't late for school.
"Woah," Danny said. All he could do was stare. Instead of Sam's normal purple 'n black gothic clothing, she'd substituted purple for a foresty green. She wore a green tank top in place of her black one and green leggings in place of her purple ones. Danny was relieved to find that she hadn't substituted her skirt or combat boots. He wasn't ready for a dramatic wardrobe change in his best goth friend.
"Oh, hey, Danny," she greeted casually, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Tucker just stared at Danny with a sullen look on his face. Now Danny knew something was wrong. However, nothing added up.
"Nice outfit?" he said, not sure if it was a question or statement.
"Thanks. I thought it would be nice to change up the wardrobe every once in a while."
"Sure?"
They all walked to Lancer's class and sat down. "All right, children. As you all know, you have a test today on William Shakespeare."
"Shoot! I forgot to study!" Danny muttered bitterly. He couldn't believe he was so stupid the night before. He just decided to go for a little flight and relieve some stress, but completely forgot how wrapped up he could become once he started. All he could do was fly and fly and fly under the stars.
Meanwhile, Sam received her test and zipped through the questions. Maybe cramming does work, she thought. It was weird, because she wasn't sure what had compelled her to wear green. She felt as if only half of her brain was working, and that half didn't make her clothing decision. Nevertheless, she actually liked it.
Sam got up and slapped her test down on top of Mr. Lancer's desk.
"Finished so soon, Miss Manson?" he asked, slowly taking the test and clicking his red pen. "Let's see if your confidence pays off."
He started looking over each answer carefully.
Danny looked up and felt a pang of guilt. It was probably his fault that Mr. Lancer was so skeptical of the trio's tests, considering the fact that Dan cheated on the CATs and almost destroyed his future.
"Well, Samantha," Sam cringed upon hearing this. "Amazing job! You have a perfect paper!"
For some reason, Sam felt bad about her test. When she was stuck on a question, her slightly-not-her voice would tell her the answer. It sounded like her…mostly…so why should she feel guilt?
Tucker happily passed with a B, but Danny on the other hand wasn't so lucky and got a D. It didn't bother him as much as it used to, considering the fact that he almost failed nearly all his tests.
Later that day, the students all had to attend an assembly about saving the planet.
"Not another one of those assemblies," Tucker grumbled, his eyes glued to his PDA. "I needed free period to spend quality time with Brittany!"
"Brittany?" Danny and Sam asked in unison.
"My PDA," he answered matter-of-factly. Danny smirked while Sam rolled her eyes.
"But I know what you mean, Tuck," Danny said, brushing a few loose strands of hair out of his eyes. "They're always telling us 'Save the planet! Recycle!' We get it now! You think that you'd get the picture after the first fifty times someone tells you something."
"Gosh, Danny, stop overreacting. At least they're trying to make an effort to make the world a better place."
"I'm just saying! Not overreacting!"
The assembly began as some overweight, balding man who closely resembled Mr. Lancer droned on about all the ways you could save the environment. Danny's head was in his hands and his eyelids started to droop lower and lower.
"If I fall asleep, don't wake me up."
Tucker held his PDA down low and was playing countless games, not paying the slightest attention to what the speaker had to say.
"Guys," Sam whispered, extremely annoyed. "Don't you care a smidge about the environment?"
"Sam, we've been through this. I do care. It's just that I show my care in other ways…like recycling soda cans."
"Ugh," she muttered before standing up and marching to the stage. She snatched the microphone out of the speaker's hand and glared at the half-asleep student body. "Students, teachers, and faculty of Amity Park, does anyone actually care? We are destroying our own planet!" Sam yelled into the microphone.
"Okay, I'm out," Danny said, unnoticeably phasing through the bleachers.
"Hey, Man! You can't leave me!" Tucker protested. A couple of the kids shot him funny looks since he was shouting at bleachers.
"We can't just leave our planet to rot! We need to do something, but all of you are falling asleep in your seats! Stand up! Fight for what's right!"
"Kill me now," Tucker muttered, burying his face in his hands.
"We need to demolish the cities and grow a new forests in place of them!"
A worried whisper swept across the audience.
"Now, sweetie," the speaker started, "We don't need to demolish to build a better future. Baby steps," he said, a little worried about the teen.
"Yeah, you're wrong!" a student called from the audience.
"You're crazy!" Paulina yelled.
Suddenly, a huge rumble sounded from the center of the gym. A huge vine blasted through the stage as multiple vines wrapped around it. "Or maybe she's right!" A voice boomed.
Danny was pressed up against the double doors, peering through the windows making sure everything was right. When Undergrowth appeared, he quickly transformed into his alter ego, Danny Phantom, and flew into the room.
Undergrowth snatched Sam up, but the normally spunky girl didn't fight back. She just hung there limply.
"SAM!" Danny cried. A confused murmur arose from the audience. Danny Phantom knows Sam?
"Ah, if it isn't Danny Phantom," Undergrowth sneered. "Your little friend here was the perfect pawn in play in this game. And now I will be reclaiming her as me queen! Checkmate, Danny. I win."
"What?"
Dun dun dun! Yes, Undergrowth's taken Sam captive, but she's pretty much hypnotized by now. I'll try to keep the updates coming as fast as I can, but remember, I have five stories going on at the same time, so I can make no promises.
Also, please vote in the poll on my page. I'm trying to figure out which stories I can put on hold (just so I feel less rushed and can finish up some of my other stories) so if you like this one and don't want it to be put on hold, please vote! It would mean a lot to me! (Seriously, I'm really stressed out right because I'm trying to dish out all of these updates and would really appreciate it if you helped me out. I can't decide which stories I'm going to put on hold; I love them all!)
Please review! Feedback motivates me to update!