(( A/N:: The public has spoken, and it looks like short chapters win. This teeny chapter is a mere 1300ish words, so I hope you're not depending on this update for any prolonged distraction. It's mostly exposition about an insider's feelings about Dimmsdale. As soon as I finished writing this segment, I immediately looked it over and thought: Yeeeup, this is boring. I mean, people don't read fanfiction for original characters, or at least I don't. There will be extensive interaction with Danny Phantom, however, in the next chapter, which I have already written and will post next week. Be strong until then.))

Veronica woke up the second day of school feeling, for the first time since she'd learned she was moving from Dimmsdale, content.

Am I really that shallow? She thought wryly as she sat up in bed, blinking blearily as her alarm clock screamed static out at her. Hmm, it was still set to Dimmsdale's popular music station; she'd have to set it to a more Amity-Park-friendly frequency. Is finding another Popular to latch onto really all it takes to make me content? Paulina isn't Trixie. This shouldn't be enough to make me happy. Veronica shut off her alarm with a groan and dutifully threw off her warm, warm covers.

Gym the previous day had been, as expected, awesome. Veronica was unconfident in many aspects of herself, but physical coordination was not one of them. The very first gym class had been a fitness test, (Finally, a stroke of luck! Perhaps some benevolent god was looking out for her,) and Veronica had been able to show off in all her cheerleading-trained glory. After forty minutes of running, jumping, jumping-jacking, and muscle training, Veronica had come out as the best in the class. The teacher, Mr./Mrs. Testlaff (Veronica wasn't quite sure which,) had been duly impressed.

The only downside of the last period of the day was that Paulina wasn't there. The gym classes mixed grades, but the sophomores mingled with the freshmen, not the juniors. Not only that, but Veronica still had to find someone to give her rides to school. So when her fitness test was over, she'd struck up a conversation with the one potential taxi who was in her class: Star.

"The bus must be awful, huh?" she'd laughed a few minutes into their conversation, having successfully wrangled it into the right direction. "I mean, this is like one of the only two public high schools in Amity Park, right? It must be absolutely packed."

"It is," Star replied matter-of-factly, pursing her lips in a self-satisfied way. "I mean, I don't take the bus, I ride with Paulina. But whenever I see the bus pulling in, everyone spills out of it like an exploding volcano."

"Wow. I, like, so do not want to be a part of that," Veronica winced emphatically. "Do you think maybe... Paulina could give me a ride?"

Veronica was no stranger to high school intrigue, and was an old hand at reading the different subtle expressions that often appeared on her classmates' faces. She didn't miss the quirk of Star's lips or her slightly raised left eyebrow, a quickly vanishing expression that said, Paulina? Give a stranger like you a ride to school? Ain't happening, sweetcheeks.

"Oh, I don't know," Star drawled, mock-apologetically. "You'd have to ask her, and she'd have to ask her dad. (Well, at least until she gets her license, but don't mention that to her, it's a sore point.) And he doesn't really like going out of his way..."

"Hmm," Veronica nodded, pretending to consider the statement for the advice it really wasn't. "Well, I'll have to ask her then."

Star snorted quietly. "You do that," she said, and got up as Testlaff called her name.

Veronica seethed quietly. Though she couldn't really blame Star for being hostile (her position as Number 2 was in jeopardy, after all,) she didn't have to be such a, a bitch about it! God, all she wanted was a ride to school every day.

Star did horribly on her fitness test, by the way.

Though what Veronica wanted most was to ask Paulina for a ride so she could hop in her car the next day and figuratively bitch-slap the smirk off of Star's face, she wasn't stupid. Star knew Paulina, and Star figured that Paulina wouldn't agree to give her a ride at this beginning stage of their friendship. So Veronica had not texted Paulina to ask for a ride, and had even managed to resist asking Star for her cell phone number at all. No. There would be plenty of opportunities for that later.

So, once again, Veronica was waking up at six-thirty AM in order to have time to properly beautify herself and be able to walk to school. And if it took a week, a month, two months, for Paulina to offer to drive her to school? She'd survive. Her cousin commuted to a school an hour away and woke up at six AM every day; if dorky Gracie could do it, there was no way Veronica couldn't.

Once again, Veronica was showered, hair-straightened, and had her eyes perfectly made up by seven o'cock when her father came downstairs. (She hoped there wouldn't be any stressful situation in the morning, because if she put on any more mascara she'd look like a raccoon.) This time, however, she stayed in her room until her dad went to work. Just because she was happy after forty minutes with Paulina and a good workout didn't mean she was ready to have a heart-to-heart with her father.

As she listened to her father puttering around in the kitchen below, Veronica browsed her pictures to distract herself until he left. Let's see, there was her and Trixie on her last day in Dimmsdale, when they'd spent the whole day together. With Trixie's undivided attention and a fortunate run in with Timmy Turner at the cinema, it'd been a bittersweet day. More of her and Trixie, a few candids of Timmy, more of Trixie, some hot guys, lots more of Trixie...

Veronica was getting to the end of her photo reel. There were pictures of the scenery from the car trip, the new house, and oh look, there was Dash at the mall.

Veronica smirked. She'd taken several more candid pictures of Dash, Kwon, and numerous other jocks during the previous day to send to a very appreciative Trixie Tang. Okay, scrolling onwards, there was another of Dash, one of Paulina, and...

Veronica's breath hitched as she looked down at her phone screen. It was the ghost she'd run into on Sunday, Technus. A completely unknown and terrifying ectoplasmic creature that had almost killed her not two days before. And she'd forgotten about it. She'd cared more about getting in with the popular crowd than learning about the ghost that had nearly killed her.

Veronica huffed a laugh and cradled her head in her hands. Wow. Well, when she focused on something, she really focused on it. But it wasn't just that...

The thing was, weird stuff happened in Dimmsdale. Like, really weird stuff. There'd been a time when everyone in town had gotten superpowers*; Veronica had had beautiful golden wings, and though she was the lamest of all the superkids, she'd had freaking wings. She'd flown. Another time Timmy Turner had suddenly had, for about a week or so, a big brother**. He'd always been an only child, but for those few days in fifth grade he'd suddenly had an eighteen year old brother who was actually, biologically and physically, his elder brother. Living in Dimmsdale had been crazy and terrifying and exciting. Whenever the world turned over, which it did quite frequently there, everything went back to normal within a few days. By the time she was fourteen, Veronica was used to it. It was her normal, and it was a big reason she didn't want to leave.

So a ghost attack wasn't really that big of a deal. Veronica experienced it, survived it, and moved on, unconsciously assuming the problem would go away in no time. Despite what everyone else told her, she still measured things in Dimmsdalian terms.

Veronica laughed silently to herself, and shook her head slowly in her hands. One of her greatest fears about moving, something she hadn't even been aware of, had been allayed. At least now she didn't have to worry about "normal" anymore.

*Season 4 "The Big Superhero Wish"
**Season 5 "Oh, Brother!"

((Many thanks to Hmez, Evangelinne, Monkeygirlz3, SecretMarial, SmartyMcSmartle, biginferno, Zarianwen, Fluehatraya, majorshane, and Living Encyclopedia for reviewing Chapter 3. Your reviews show me that real people have real thoughts about my story, and I love it. (^_^) Even if your poems confuse me.

On that note, if there's anyone out there who thinks that they have the editing skills to make this fic better, PM me! I read over this stuff before I post it, but there'll be plenty of problems I don't catch. So if you have a suggestion that would make this story better, either review or PM, it's all appreciated. ^v^ Editors/Betas make the difference between good writing and great writing!))