Danny woke up very late the next morning, so late in fact that he had only fifteen minutes to get ready for school. His body was sore all over as he got up and he had accidentally phased through his bedroom wall without knowing it, to get into the bathroom (luckily, his parents had failed to notice). Jazz was exceptionally tired too, once Danny had entered the kitchen. Dark bags had formed under her eyes and she yawned every ten seconds.
"So, um…Danny," Jazz began, while passing a few slices of toast to her brother, "are you okay?"
"A bit sore and tired," Danny mumbled as he cracked his neck side to side, "but I'm fine."
"No, I mean about last night," Jazz whispered. "What happened to you? You were all crazy and ferocious at first, and then you were all cautious and nervous."
"I really don't know." Danny rubbed his head. "I can't remember anything after I attacked Johnny. It's all a blur."
"By the way, how were you able to attack him at such a far distance?"
"I'll tell you when we're in the car." Danny and Jazz put their dishes into the sink and headed out the door for school.
"Hey dude," greeted Tucker. "How are you feeling?"
Danny shrugged as he took out his books for first period out of his locker. "The usual: tired and sore." He didn't really feel like telling his best friends about last night's events; they wouldn't understand.
"Are you sure you wanted to come to school today?" asked Sam. "Lancer has been giving out a load of homework since you were gone."
"I didn't actually have a choice," answered Danny, grimly. "My folks insisted when I was feeling better, I'd have to get back to my school work."
"Well, it's better than trying to cheat your way back in," said Tucker. "Remember the C.A.T. answers?"
"I handed them back in the end," reminded Danny, "and I still passed the re-test. Well, barely at least to Lancer's standards."
"Just be thankful, you're not crushing tanks or destroying the town ten years from now," said Sam.
The loud ring of the first period bell alerted the students to get to their classes. Danny and the gang wasted no time getting to Lancer's English class. As Danny set foot into the room, the loud chattering of the class suddenly died down quickly and many pairs of eyes just stared at him. Mr. Lancer merely gave a short smile and a curious hard stare.
"Well, it seems that Mr. Fenton has returned from the hospital sooner than we expected," he said coolly. "Let's give a round of applause for his recovery, shall we?"
All at once, the class applauded and cheered wildly. Danny felt accepted in the first time of his fourteen year old life and he was pretty happy for his temporary spot in the limelight. He took his seat, along with Sam and Tucker, and Mr. Lancer signaled the class to quiet down.
"All right, that's enough excitement for one class. Now, can anyone tell Mr. Fenton what we've covered in his absence?"
Sam's hand shot up. "We were just beginning to read "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and explaining about the affects between good and evil."
"Very good, Mrs. Manson," said Mr. Lancer, who sounded quite pleased. "At least someone has been paying attention in class. Now, turn to chapter two in your books and continue up to chapter four. Danny, since I don't have any spare copies with me at the moment, you will have to share with Mr. Foley."
Works for me, thought Danny with a brief shrug. Tucker took out his copy of the novel and Danny leaned towards his desk to read along.
Forty-five minutes later, the bell rang once again and the English class ran out into the hallway in frenzy. Danny, unfortunately, had to stay behind to get his copy of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and the literature notes he had to answer with every chapter. The only good thing that came out of his meeting with Lancer was he wasn't assigned any of the homework he had missed when he was in the hospital.
In Science class, he was partnered up with Tucker to test the conductivity of certain liquids and solids. Since Danny was banned from using beakers and test tubes in the lab, due to his "clumsiness", Tucker was the only one who could measure the liquids.
"Hey Danny, can you set up the battery and the solids on the plate, while I'm measuring?" asked the African American, trying not to spill an unknown clear liquid on his lab paper.
"Sure thing," replied Danny, adjusting his lab goggles. "Just try to be careful measuring that stuff. Palooka said one of them is a strong acid."
"Hey, I'm the master of being careful." Danny rolled his eyes at Tucker's comment, reminding him about few months ago when he was at the pier and Tucker accidentally dropped the Fenton Thermos, releasing all the ghosts Danny had captured that night.
Danny plugged in the cords and the battery to the nearest outlet near their table. He began placing several pieces of metal onto the Petri dish, trying to identify which one was which.
"Okay," he said to himself, "copper, gold, I don't know what this one is…YEOWCH!"
Danny dropped a silver colored piece of metal onto the floor and rushed to the nearest sink, putting his now smoking right hand under cold running water. Somehow, he had burnt his hand while picking up the strip of metal. He noticed now there was a small, but noticeable burn mark in the center of his palm. The water seemed to numb most to the pain, but it still stung.
"Is everything alright here, Danny?" asked Mr. Felucca, the science teacher. He was a short little man with a pointed nose, balding grey hair and a large pair of glasses that magnified his beady eyes to look like an owl. "Is something wrong?"
Danny hesitated. "Er… I just slightly burned myself on a piece of metal that's all. I think I left the battery on it for too long and made it overheat. It should be fine now; Tucker took the cables off of it." He gave a wink to Tucker as a signal.
"I guess Danny wasn't paying attention to what he was doing," said Tucker nervously.
The Science teacher came around to Danny and Tucker's table to examine the predicament.
"Hmm…it seems you burnt yourself on the silver strip," he concluded. "Luckily, it's cooled down now. Is your hand alright, Danny?"
"Yeah, but it still stings a little bit." He showed his hand to Mr. Felucca, which was now pink with a bright red rectangular burn lodged in his palm. The teacher readjusted his glasses and shook his head in dismay.
"Oh dear, we'd better treat that burn quickly then. Come with me."
Danny followed the science teacher down the classroom and into the supply room. There, Mr. Felucca took out a first aid kit and pulled out a roll of white bandages. He wrapped it carefully around Danny's hand and ended it with a metal fastener.
"There, that should do it. Don't take it off until you get back home. I'm sure your parents can do a far better job than I have."
Danny looked at his now bandaged hand. "Thanks. I guess so."
What was that all about? he wondered. He said I burnt myself on silver. Do ghosts have allergic reactions to silver? Or does it just affect half ghosts?
The cafeteria was bustling with activity as usual, before he was in the hospital. The lunch lady served unknown dishes of food that Danny didn't want to know what it was made of. Thank goodness they served burgers and soda here, or he'd starve. After paying for his meal, he sat with Tucker and Sam at their so called "loser" table (although his hand still hurt while he carried his tray).
"So, Tucker told me what happened in Science class," said Sam. "Is it true you brunt yourself on a regular piece of metal?" She pointed out the bandage around the raven haired teen's hand.
"Weird, huh?" said Danny with a shrug. "It wasn't even hot either. I mean, it was when it touched my skin but it seemed fine when Felucca picked it up."
"Maybe it's an allergic reaction to ghosts."
"That's what I thought too. Something weird is going on-"
WHACK!
An airborne piece of mystery meat hit a direct bull's-eye at the back of Danny's head. A group laugh was heard from the popular table in the east side of the room, while Dash and his posse approached Danny's table.
"I told you guys Fenton would be back for this week's target practice," he said in his nasally high voice. "Nice shot Kwan; definitely an improvement from last week's mashed potato incident."
Danny just merely wiped off the foul smelling substance with his free hand. "It's nice to see you too, Dash," he said sarcastically.
"Don't you have any sympathy?" protested Sam. "Danny just got back from the hospital!"
"Whoa, looks like Manson's going on the offence for Fenton!" teased the blonde haired jock. His posse snickered and grinned.
"When's the last time you tried asking Paulina out, Dash?" interrupted Tucker, giving a hard glare at the jock. "Oh, that's right: last week, but she turned down the offer because she thinks you're a low down jerk with no hand eye coordination! No wonder she likes the ghost boy better than you!"
The whole cafeteria fell completely silent and gasped. Even Sam and Danny were surprised by their friend's comeback. Was he out of his mind? Dash's bright indigo eyes just burned with rage. Danny could picture invisible smoke whistling out for Dash's ears like a tea kettle.
"Say that again, Foley?" he said angrily, through clenched teeth.
The African American gulped and looked up at a fuming Dash. His turquoise eyes shrunk into pin point sized dots. "You h-h-heard m-me," he said fearfully. "Paulina likes the g-g-ghost b-b-boy-"
"Zip it, geek!" Dash stomped towards the frightened Tucker, pushing his gang aside to show them that this was a personal matter. He surprisingly grabbed Tucker by collar of his shirt and violently shook him until his trademark glasses shattered onto the floor.
"Don't you dare speak to me in that tone of voice, you little nerd!" he snarled.
"Put him down, Dash!" shouted Sam.
"This doesn't concern you, Manson. Why don't you just smooch Fenton while you wait?"
"For the last time, I'm not his girlfriend!"
Danny just sat there staring at his two best friends while they were beaten by Dash and his insults. How could he be so stupid? He saw Sam make a run for Dash, but was pulled back by Kwan and the rest of Dash's gang by her ponytail. She cried out in pain, trying to hit any of them while her arms were held by two other members of the football team. It was one thing to bully Tucker, but now Sam?
That was the last straw.
"Leave them alone, Dash," he growled, now standing up from the table with curled up fists.
Dash stopped shaking Tucker and faced Danny. His eyes lowered.
"What did you just say, Fenton?"
Danny frowned and crossed his arms. "You heard me idiot, or do you need a dictionary to understand what I'm saying?"
The whole cafeteria gasped again. Dash threw Tucker onto the floor in a heap and stomped towards Danny, like an angry bull to a matador.
"And just what do you think you're going to do about it, huh?" he sneered, while lightly shoving Danny across the room like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. Danny's eyes flashed a familiar bright green and smirked.
"This."
He swiftly grabbed Dash's wrists tightly and twisted them in a bone crushing snap. While the jock hollered out in pain, Danny crouched down and swept his left leg behind Dash's, forcing him to trip and fall like a ton of bricks. Dash had the wind knocked out of him; he gasped heavily for his lungs to become normal again.
"Guys, a little help?" he wheezed.
His gang blinked twice for a second to process the leader's command. Kwan charged in first, roaring a wordless battle cry while the rest of the group followed. Dash saw Danny's eyes flicker green once more and just gave a playful snort.
"Oh please…"
As the cloud of rambunctious and angry jocks came in arms length, Danny just merely sidestepped out of the way and put his left foot out. With a loud crash, the jocks one by one tripped and fell like a row of dominoes onto a vacant table.
"Is that the best you can do, Dash?" he mocked. "Your gang is nothing but mere muscle and no brains. Just like you."
Dash growled furiously. "Why you little…"
He stumbled up to his feet, but before he could take a step to punch the black haired teenager, Danny grabbed Dash by the collar of his shirt and slid him across an occupied table. Leftover trays, uneaten food and garbage was projected every direction while the students scattered.
Danny bared his teeth and let a loud, rattling growl escape from his throat. "Now, I have a few things to discuss with you, Dash."
Dash smirked. "What thinks I'm going to listen to you, Fentonio? I'm not afraid of you."
Danny's eyebrows lowered and his blue eyes faded to blood red. His pupils narrowed into tiny slits. He gritted his teeth, which now looked pointed and sharp like an animals. He still held a tight grip on Dash's shirt and now on his throat. Dash coughed and sputtered; his eyes widened in horror.
"I'm tired of you pushing me and my friends around," snarled Danny. "That also goes for the rest of the students. There going to be some changes around here from now on. One: my name is not Fentonio, nor Fentonowski, and its not even Fenton. It's Danny, and you'd better address me by that from now on."
Dash nodded. "Y-yes, sir."
Danny continued. "Two: Sam Manson is not my girlfriend. I repeat: she's not my girlfriend. She's one of my best friends and she's a girl, but that doesn't mean that we're necessarily dating.
Three: Tomorrow, you and your gang will apologize to every person you've ever bullied, tricked or tormented since the beginning of the school year, starting with Tucker. You can also pay for his glasses you just broke a few minutes ago, too.
Four: You will go to Mr. Lancer later today and confess all the incidents you blamed me for this year. He'll see to it that he gives a necessary number of detentions and whether he'll decide keep you on the football team."
Dash gulped, noticing now Danny's grip was slowly loosening from around his neck.
"In spite, I'm going to let you go, knowing as I can't hold you like this all day," Danny concluded. Dash sighed, but was cut short by a swift choke to the neck once again. Danny moved in close to his face, his eyes glowing red in fury.
"But, if I catch you harming my friends like that again, I'm going to make you wish you were never born. Am I clear, Baxter?"
"Crystal," Dash croaked. "Just please, let me go!"
Danny then snarled once again and threw Dash into the wall so hard that it caused the bricks to dent. Dash slumped down into an almost unconscious heap. The once most popular guy in Casper High, had been beaten by the person he loathed and tormented all this time. His perfectly slicked back blonde hair was now a mess and covered in cafeteria food. His once clean clothes were now stained and torn. He saw his black shirt had a large hole at the collar, about the size of his fist. Strangely, it was the exact same place Danny had grabbed him.
"Wimp," Danny muttered as he walked towards the main doors. A frightened Sam and Tucker just stared at him speechless of what he might do to them.
"Are you coming?" he asked.
Sam and Tucker noticed their friend's eyes were back to normal. Nervously, they got up and walked beside him, leaving the cafeteria silent and puzzled as they were. It wasn't long before they blindly walked into something solid and fell to the floor. All three of them looked up to see a shocked Mr. Lancer and Jazz Fenton standing in the doorway.
"The Count of Monte Cristo!" the teachercried, using one of his famous book title exclamations as looked among the battle scarred room. "What happened here?" He gasped when he saw the beaten Dash, lying almost unconscious against the wall. He ran up to him to see he was okay.
"Are you alright, Mr. Baxter?" he asked, trying to bring Dash to his feet. "What on Earth happened to you?"
Dash looked up at Mr. Lancer weakly and made a head gesture to Danny. "Danny…he did this." Then he passed out into the English teacher's arms. Mr. Lancer turned to Danny, his mouth gaping open.
"Is this true, Mr. Fenton?" he demanded. "Did you do this? All of this?" He moved to head to where Dash's beaten and bruised posse was.
Danny got up and looked at Lancer hard in the eye, never blinking once as he replied.
"Yes, I did."
"I don't understand."
"He was hurting Sam and Tucker," Danny said firmly. "He started the fight by flinging food at me as a joke. Then, he was going to beat the living crap out of Tucker when he was sticking up for me. Sam told him to buzz off, and Dash let his thugs get her. That's when I came in and told them to leave them alone. Dash didn't listen to me and decided to push me around."
"So you decided to beat him up until he was unconscious?"
"He got what was coming to him for a very long time! Since the beginning of the year, he has been pulling off pranks and bullying other people behind your back. Who do you think was the cause of that food fight six months ago? Who was the one who decided to pull off a fake fire drill last week and blamed it on me? Who was the one who made me late last week by shoving me into my locker? Dash Baxter, that's what!"
"Mr. Fenton, I don't know what you're talking about, but I can assure you Dash wasn't the cause of this!'
"Yeah, that's right. Take his side, and blame everything on me!" shouted Danny. "You always do this! You might not know this but be torments me for fun every single day of my life when I'm here, and you don't seem to care a single thing about it! Sam and Tucker can even tell you what happened. Go on, tell him guys."
Danny gave a hopeful look at Sam and Tucker to help bail him out of this situation, but they didn't know what to say to explain this whole scene. He looked at Jazz, but she just hung her head in shame.
"I don't know what's come over you Danny," said Mr. Lancer strictly, "but you are in huge trouble once we get Mr. Baxter to the hospital."
"Look, can't you see I didn't mean to cause this much trouble?" Danny exclaimed. "This was his entire fault to start off with and you call yourself a teacher? You're supposed to help students, not ignore them!"
"One more word of you, Danny, and you're going to be expelled from Casper High!" Jazz clasped her hands over her mouth in shock. She didn't want her brother to be expelled from school and not receive a proper education. Plus, she would never hear the end of it when her parents found out.
"Danny, don't do this," she warned quietly.
"I don't care anymore!" screamed Danny. "They say they can help me with my problems, but then they abandon me in my time of need. I've had it with this school! I'm out of here for good!"
Danny then shoved past his friends and his sister and ran down the empty hallway. In frustration, he transformed and flew through the roof of the building. By the time Mr. Lancer, Jazz, Sam and Tucker caught up, Danny was gone without a trace.
"Of Mice and Men!" exclaimed Mr. Lancer, puzzled by Danny's quick escape. "Where could he have gone off to? Surely, he could have gotten that far!"
Trust me, thought Jazz worried. You don't know what my brother can do when he's a ghost.
Danny flew into the afternoon sky, still fuming about the fight. How come everything bad has to happen to him while he's human and a ghost? Danny snorted in frustration as he looped around a flagpole. He heard a loud growl out of nowhere. He instantly found out it was his stomach. He had been so distracted sticking up for his friends, he didn't have a chance to take a bite of his lunch.
"Oh great," Danny grumbled, "and I don't even have enough money to grab half of an order of fries at the Nasty Burger! Just great…"
Ironically, he was just near the entrance of his favorite restaurant. He smelt the grease and burgers grilling inside. Just thinking about it made his stomach growl louder. He stopped in mid air, paused for a moment to think and then grinned.
He made himself intangible and flew down into the roof of the Nasty Burger.
"Have a nice day, sir! Enjoy your meal!"
Katrina gave a friendly smile as her customer walked away without bothering to say "thank you" for her service. Then she gave a heavy sigh and frowned. She curled her finger around her light brown hair and straightened out her official "Nasty Burger" uniform.
"It's only for another month," she muttered. "'Just until I get enough money to pay for college. Then I can get out of this du -"
She stopped mid sentence as her body contracted and her skin became cold as ice. She couldn't move speak or even blink once; it was like she was a living statue. The last thing she saw was a flash of neon green before she blacked out.
"Hey, I need a number one with a cola to go, stat!"
The sudden shock of the Katrina's voice made Ben's spatula airborne and dropped back onto the grill. He was quite surprised with the enthusiasm in her voice. By now, her cheeks would be aching from smiling so much and she'd be half asleep from her 6 am shift. He shrugged, an order was an order.
In a matter of seconds, a white bag with the "Nasty Burger" logo printed on the front, slid down the metal shute; packed up and ready to go for travel. Katrina picked up the bag in one hand and gave a 'thumbs up' to Ben.
Ben chuckled. "You're welcome!"
The cook's smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a gasp. Katrina's body was glowing. Something Ben had never seen in his entire life until he noticed what happened next. A shimmering turquoise blue image flew out of her chest and materialized into a kid wearing a black and while jumpsuit, with white hair and bright green eyes. Ben suddenly knew who this kid was.
"Danny Phantom?" he asked; his mouth still agape.
The ghost boy paused, turned and winked at Ben. Then he snatched the bag out of the semi conscious Katrina's hand with lightning fast speed and placed a couple of quarters in its place.
"Here's a tip for your troubles," Danny said softly. "Thanks for all the helpful service!" He turned back to Ben and gave a quick 'thumbs up'. "You too, man."
Danny then turned intangible and disappeared through the ceiling in the blink of an eye. Ben and Katrina rubbed their eyes in bewilderment. Katrina stared at her tip and then back at the ceiling.
"What the heck just happened here?" she demanded. "Was that the ghost kid? Did he just give me a tip and a helpful comment? Wow!"
Ben placed his spatula down and counted up the quarters in his co-worker's hand. He paused for a brief second until he realized something.
"Hey, he didn't pay!"
Danny sat in the tallest and shadowy branches of an old oak tree in the community park while he devoured his well deserved meal in less than six bites. While he licked off the ketchup from his white gloves, he realized something: he was still in his ghost form. What if someone saw him? Better yet, what if his parents saw him? He couldn't walk around as Danny Fenton that's for sure, not what happened back at the school. It was best to stay as a ghost for the time being until things died down.
He laid his back against the tree's trunk and let the gentle cool air brush against his face. It was nice to relax for a change instead of fighting ghosts like Technus or Skulker, all the time. The whistling of the leaves soothed Danny as he closed his eyes slowly. Then before he knew it, he was asleep.
A loud chattering woke Danny up with a start. A brown squirrel stood before him on the branch he sat on, holding an oversized acorn in its jaws. It kept chattering like crazy, tying to tell him to get out of the way. Before he knew it, a loud, agitated growl and an ear shattering bark escaped from the ghost boy's mouth that made the rodent scatter with pure terror.
"It serves you right for waking me up, you little pest!" Danny shouted as the squirrel ran through the grass to the neighboring tree.
He sighed and stood up to stretch his tired limbs. A little sleep did him some good after what he had been through today. He decided to fly around a little bit before he went back home so he could lock himself in his room for the rest of his life.
The park seemed peaceful. There were hardly any people around, only dog owners and…
"FRISBEE!" Danny cried happily, while cranking up his speed to catch the nearby flying yellow disk. The Frisbee was flying high in the air in a lemon yellow blur while a German Sheppard and a golden retriever ran along side each other, their slobbering tongues hanging outside of their mouths. Unfortunately for the dogs, the ghost boy was much too fast for them and caught their beloved toy right in his mouth happily, then landed on the ground on all fours.
The two canines barked loudly, but Danny let out a deep, throaty growl and his eyes shone a brighter green than before. The dogs' barking suddenly ceased and whined, while cowering with their tails in between their legs. Danny blinked for a moment confused, then took the now slobbered Frisbee out of his mouth and threw it back into the air. The dogs took no time to recover from their 'ghostly' encounter and sprinted across the grass after their toy.
What was that all about? he wondered. I've never done that before…
"Mommy, Mommy! Look: it's Danny Phantom!"
Danny turned around to see an eight year old boy with short light brown hair and bright turquoise eyes. He had a rounded face with freckles dusted around his cheeks and a small pointed nose. He was wearing a faint turquoise and red shirt, red pants and white shoes. The ghost boy suddenly remembered that this was the little boy he met back at Christmastime when he was trapped in the book by the Ghost Writer. According him, the little boy thought Danny was cool. Danny mentally chuckled. Cool. That was something he hadn't been called in a while.
"Jason, you'd better not be pretending again - oh…"
Danny looked up to see Jason's mother who had been walking up the side walk, now stood perfectly still with fright. Jason, though, had left his mother's protection seconds ago and was running through the grass with an excited twinkle in his eyes.
"Wow! You're so cool, Danny!" cried Jason, who was now standing in from of the ghost boy. "I've seen you on TV fighting those ghosts with your powers! You're all like: 'Whoosh!"' and 'Pow!' and 'Bang!'"
What the heck does this kid eat? Liquid sugar?
Danny picked himself off of the ground and brushed some invisible dirt off his uniform. "Uh, thanks kid." He realized the sky was getting dimmer; it was time to go home and face the music. "Look, I…um… got to go. 'Got to do some, uh… town patrol, in case any ghosts show up."
Jason smiled. "Okay, but before you go…" He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a black marker and a small piece of crumpled ball paper. "Can I have your autograph?"
Danny blinked twice, baffled. Autograph?
"Jeez, that kid has got to get some sort of hyperactive management course or something. He was bouncing off the trees when I gave him that autograph! Of course not, Sam; I didn't give him my real signature, I just did my costume symbol. I'm not that stupid! How's Dash? Ooh, yikes! Well, he got what he deserved over half a year…"
Danny flew through the evening sky while he talked on his cell phone. It was too risky to use the Fenton Phones; his parents could tap into the line to figure out where he was. Well, Phantom possibly, not Fenton. He still had to take precautions.
"Yes, yes. I'm fine, Tuck. No sudden attacks. It was hard not being seen today. Is Jazz-?" His face fell suddenly. "Oh…okay. I'd better sign off. Later."
Danny turned his cell phone off as he phased through the Op-Center of Fenton Works and changed back to normal once he entered his room. He suddenly saw a neatly folded piece of paper on his dresser. He opened it and began to read.
Danny,
I have talked with Mr. Lancer after you suddenly 'disappeared', and he seemed really serious of expelling you from school. Nonetheless, I convinced him to suspend you from school instead for a few days next week, saying that you were possessed by a vicious ghost. I don't know what happened to you today, but you have to be careful of using your powers like that again. That was too close to revealing your secret. Who knows what could have happened if the school found out you were Danny Phantom!
I have gone to visit Dash at the hospital to see if he's okay; won't be home until possibly 9 pm tonight. Mom and Dad have gone to a ghost hunting convention out of town somewhere, and will be back around tomorrow night at the latest.
There are some leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry and don't use your powers if necessary (ex. A ghost attack), I'm still puzzled of what happened last night. I hope you can manage all of what I have mentioned in this note.
See you later,
Jazz
P.S. You should take the extra time you have tonight to come up with an excuse for Mom and Dad. Mr. Lancer called tonight and left a message on the answering machine. Do not erase it. I'll be checking as soon as I get back to make sure it's still there.
Danny sighed. When the heck did Jazz take over Mom's place?
He crumpled up the note and threw it into his basket. He yawned loudly. According to his clock, it was only 8:30 pm, but he was exhausted beyond relief. Today had been a rough day for him. So much had gone on, but one thing he hadn't been satisfied with was with his fight with Lancer. He threatened him with expulsion from Casper High, just for getting back at someone who deserved payback. What a total jerk!
If Danny had the chance to get his hands on him, he'd have a long talk; a seriously long talk. He fell back on his bed frustratingly, and shut his eyes.
Mr. Lancer groaned as he shoved a full black garbage bag into one of the beaten up silver cans near the side of his house. His back was stiff today for some unknown reason.
"'Must have pulled something today," he muttered to himself. "I'd better take something before it gets any worse."
The nearby crickets chirping melody had suddenly silenced when he was walking out of the shadows of the back alley. He shivered with cold. He knew this evening was supposed to be cool, but this was ridiculous! The temperature had dropped rapidly in only a few seconds of stepping out of his home. It felt like an early winter chill, due to the fact he could see his own breath in the night air. He rubbed his arms and blew into his hands to keep warm.
As he turned around, his eyes lost all seriousness and shrank into tiny turquoise pinpoints. He gasped as his jaw dropped open. A dark and hulking shadowy figure, five times the size of him, stood before him on two pointed legs. It blood red eyes were now narrow slits of glowing red light, while its massive jaws curved into an angry scowl. Rows of jagged sharp teeth, coated in lime green saliva were the only other things Lancer could see through the dark of the night.
The creature growled with displeasure and stepped foreword. Lancer spotted something bright green sprouting from the creature's massive hands, five thin beams on each one. The vice principal began to tremble with fear, beads of sweat rolling down his face. His brain was screaming to get the heck out of there, but legs were frozen stiff. As the creature took another step, the dim moonlight shone on its head. Lancer spotted black hair, black as a raven's feathers and two small pointed ears stood back on its head, almost like a… wolf. But there were no wolves in this part of the country for miles. How could one have grown so large and stand on its hind legs?
Before he could think anymore, the wolf creature raised its shining green claws above its head and let a blood chilling long howl that sent massive shivers up Lancer's spine.
"Hound of the Baskervilles!"
A loud, horrifying scream cut through the bleak silence of the night.