Yah, I said Wednesday and if it wasn't for the fact that Doc Manager was down last night, you would have gotten this Wednesday! So there. Now for some Q&A:
Artgirl4 – Yes, this could be considered an event that happens after my first fic, but I didn't want to call it the sequel cuz then people who didn't read CFD might not have looked at it. Besides, I was thinking something more along the lines of another dinner with the parents only different for the sequel, you know?
New Ghost Girl – I agree and there's more of an answer to your comment at the end so be sure to look there. Oh and I love how you call him Vladdieh, that's so perfect!
Invader Johnny – Jack's chapter is approaching, if you're still wondering about him.
Luiz4200 – Vlaerie . . . huh. She just may come in handy. I hadn't thought of her yet, but now I will. Thanks!
CDON – Glad you decided to stick around. We would all have missed you dearly.
Thanks to everyone else as well!
Vlad got out of the car to find Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all lounging on the steps to Fenton Works. Immediately he got that feeling you get when you walk up to people and you can tell that they were just talking about you. "They probably were," he reminded himself, "and what did it matter?" Of course they were going to discuss him. He had to be discussed. Him and his "condition." Vlad found himself wishing that one day he would be in on their discussions. Maybe one day he'd be part of their team. Whoa! Where did that come from? Vlad forced himself to remember the reality of his situation and decided not to think that hard about things like that anymore.
"So what are we doing?" he asked, hoping his tone was able to successfully mask the weird thoughts running through his mind.
"Waiting for you," Danny answered as he hopped up from his place on the front stoop. His friends and sister followed his lead as he began walking down the street away from his house. "Come on," he said casually and with a wave of his hand, "we're going to the mall."
"The mall," Vlad questioned, falling into step with Danny at the head of the herd of teenagers.
"Yah," Danny replied, still casual, "I figure we can just chill today."
"Chill?" Vlad echoed.
"It's a whole new concept to you, isn't it?" Danny said with a grin.
"No, I did plenty of chilling in my teen years, thank you very much," Vlad said almost defensively, "It's just . . ."
"Yeeeees . . ." Danny drew the word out as if to encourage Vlad to question his judgment.
"Nothing," Vlad responded, taking a deep breath, "You're in charge. You think I should chill, I'll chill."
Danny shared a knowing look with his friends that Vlad didn't catch.
They walked in silence for a while until Vlad suddenly broke it.
"Hm, that's strange," he said.
"What?" Danny asked.
"Not one Danny Phantom billboard," Vlad pointed out, "no poster, no painted bench, nothing, except of course for the statue. But I thought the town would have your face everywhere and there's not so much as a toothpaste ad."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Danny exclaimed in mock-recollection, "Tuck, take a note, remind me to call Crest and tell them that if I'm not in their next commercial, I'm switching brands." Having ended his little performance, Danny shot Vlad a come-on-do-you-really-think-that-sounds-like-me? look.
"Ha, ha, very funny," Vlad replied dryly, "Seriously, what gives?"
"I don't like the attention, Vlad. Maybe I wanted it at one point, but now that I have it, it's just annoying. I did enough interviews to get the press off my back and then tried to pretend like nothing happened. I like my privacy and the world seems to be respecting that. For now."
Vlad made a noise at this, sort of like a snorting laugh type thing.
"What?" Danny said, raising an eyebrow.
"You never cease to amaze me," Vlad said in a light, wistful kind of way.
"Um, thanks?" Danny said with both eyebrows going up now in a somewhat surprised manner.
"Um you're welcome," Vlad said as if the three words were all one saying.
At this point they were now in front of the mall so they all went in. There weren't a whole lot of people inside. The town is small and it was a really nice day to be outside instead of in a stuffy mall. Danny was thankful for this because that meant less fans to run into. As they continued to walk, he realized people were indeed recognizing him. They were pointing and whispering, yet no one approached him. Danny found this odd as the people of his town weren't usually shy with him. "Maybe it's all just finally dying down," he thought hopefully, "I mean, I've got to have given every single person in town an autograph, by now." Maybe even two autographs per person. One's always "for their friend." They were on eBay. He knew. He had checked.
All of a sudden it hit him: Vlad. They were staying away because of Vlad. He looked over at Vlad, who was walking to his left. He looked pretty uncomfortable. "Duh, of course going out in public would be difficult for him, if it is for me!" Danny thought, feeling stupid. "Alright, time to let the cat out of the bag and get this mission over with," he decided as they neared their destination: Hair Cuttery.
Danny stopped in front of the outlet and, as if on cue, his team did too, surrounding Vlad.
"Why are we-" Vlad began and then it hit him. "Oh no, no," he started to panic, looking around at the teens with pleading eyes, "I refuse! You really expect me to-?"
But his protests were ignored and the teens pushed and pulled him into the hair salon.
Maddie sat in the kitchen fiddling with yet another of Jack's attempts at making ghost weaponry. All of a sudden she heard the front door open which had to mean that the kids were back. With Vlad. Sure enough, she could hear excited voices floating in from the living room.
"Hang on," she heard Danny's voice clearly as he made his way to the kitchen, "I'll get some ice!"
"How'd it go, sweetie?" she asked when he entered.
Danny laughed as he went to the fridge and grabbed a few cubes of ice. "Well, he got a little too into it, I guess."
"What do you mean?" Maddie inquired, staring at the ice skeptically.
Danny laughed again, "Come see for yourself."
She followed him into the living room where she found Vlad sitting on their couch with Sam sitting next to him on one side and Tucker and Jazz on the other. Sam seemed to be doing something to Vlad's ear that was making him wince in pain.
"What are you guys do-" she began but had to stop when Sam turned to look at her and her hands moved to reveal a small and shiny silver ring going through the top of Vlad's ear.
"Oh. My. Gosh." Maddie stammered with her jaw on the floor.
"Is it that bad?" Vlad whined.
"Bad? It's not bad at all," Sam said excitedly. "Danny-" she began just as he brought over the ice and held it out in front of her. "Ah, thanks," she said snatching a piece and holding it as close to Vlad's earring as she could get it.
Vlad let out a hiss through his teeth.
"This should numb it a little," Sam explained, "Man, I wish my parents would just cave already and let me get a piercing. They know I'm gonna do it anyways when I turn eighteen." She eased the ice back a bit. "It's looking good, seriously, it's gonna be fine," she assured Vlad.
"How did this happen?" Maddie asked incredulously, "I mean, why? What made you-?" She couldn't even finish.
"Wow," Danny commented, "You would think I was the one who put a hole in my ear."
Maddie shot Danny a menacing don't-you-ever look.
"It wasn't my idea," Danny said with a shrug, "I was only in charge of the hair and clothes."
Maddie returned her gaze to Vlad. Now she realized the other stuff. His hair for one, was cut short and spiky. Longer than a buzz cut, but still way shorter than it had been, considering he had once sported a freaking pony tail. And his facial hair had been removed completely, save for a bit of stubborn stubble. His clothes were different too. The jeans were more faded and in-looking. His clean-collared shirt had been replaced by a plain t-shirt and over that was a plaid long-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned. Maddie realized she was gawking when Vlad started talking, trying to explain about the earring.
"I don't know what came over me," he said, sounding regretful, "I was on such a high after the hair cut and then trying on all the clothes . . . and there was this song that was playing at practically every store we went to . . . something about cutting your hair and changing your name-"
"Cuz we all just wanna be big rock stars?" Tucker finished for him.
"Yah, that's the one!" Vlad said, looking excited, but then his smile faded as he got up and went to the mirror on the wall.
"I don't know, it was stupid I guess," he said with a sigh as he studied his ear in the mirror and then ran his fingers over his short hair.
"I'm not saying it's stupid," Maddie said defensively, "it's just . . . different."
Vlad laughed at that, "Well, yes, very."
"But that's the point," Danny cut in, "you're starting over. If you're going to be a different person, you have to dress differently too. The point of today was to let you play around with what kind of different person you want to be. I like what you came up with and I think the earring's a nice touch."
"Um, thanks," Vlad said.
"Um you're welcome," Danny replied, mimicking Vlad's response from earlier that day. They shared a smile, and then Danny looked at his watch.
"Your ride should be here soon," he said, walking Vlad to the door.
"Oh and just a warning, come well-rested next time. You might even want to drink a Red Bull."
Vlad gave him a confused look.
"I can tell the mall trip wore you out and that was supposed to be leisurely so imagine what I have in mind when I say that your next session is gonna require a lot of youthful energy."
"Bring it on," Vlad responded, jokingly, "I'm dressing like a teen, so I might as well act like one."
Danny smiled, pleased with Vlad's enthusiasm, but also because he was smug with the idea of his once most-feared enemy acting like a teenager.
Alright before I let you down in the next chapter I'm gonna go ahead and admit that I'm not writing out all of what happens at the next session. If you haven't figured it out already, it's the go-carts I mentioned it the summary. I'll sum it up, but I couldn't find a whole lot to say about it. Plus, New Ghost Girl is right; it's time to bring in the baddies! Next chapter's gonna be serious as I feel the need for a bigger conflict since Vlad is doing so well with his therapy. Anyways, I'm thinking Friday . . . but we'll see! Oh and the song Vlad was talking about is "Rockstar" by Nickelback if you didn't already know. Which you probably did. That song was like all the radio played for weeks over the summer!
