The Art of Conversation
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: This happens the same day as chapter six, so the bitterness of the breakup is still fresh…
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Seven: Chit Chat
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Welcome back, Ms. Manson," Lancer glanced up from his book to see her take a seat next to Danny in the detention room, "Though I can't say I'm glad to see you back here so soon."
"I was late to first period, Mr. Lancer," Sam pulled out the library book she had been trying to finish since Saturday, and set her backpack to rest beside her chair.
"As was Mr. Fenton," the man shook his head, one eyebrow raising in question, "The two incidents wouldn't happen to have a connection?"
"No," Danny snapped, not bother to even lift his head where it was nestled in the fold of his arms, "She got sprayed by a fire hydrant, I got harassed by a ghost. We were both late, big whoop."
Sam and Edward Lancer both shot Danny a curious look at his tone of voice, noting how odd it was the Danny didn't even look up. He was usually energetic, ready to talk and entertain, and might even have made a joke about them both being late if he had been feeling himself.
"Are you feeling quite alright, Daniel?" Lancer shifted in his seat, to gain a better look at the youth in his classroom, "Do you need to go to the nurse?"
"I'm fine," Danny raised his head, red marks from where his face had been resting on his spiral apparent on his face, as was his brooding frown, "No nurse needed."
"Well," the vice-principal turned back to his book, "As this is detention, and you've both been here before you know the rules. No talking, and work on something if you please."
A few minutes passed in silence, Sam and the oldest member of the three reading, Danny furiously scratching at something in his notebook. Whether or not he was actually working was debatable. A sudden clearing of the throat from Danny startled Sam so badly she jerked in her seat, causing the whole thing to creak at the sudden movement. A look passed between the two before Sam let out a breathy laugh and Danny gave her a half smile and a quiet, "Sorry."
"It's fine," Sam returned just as quietly as Lancer looked between them and then back down to his book. The crackling of the intercom followed hot on the heels of the other startling sound and shocked all three of them into jerking, much to Sam's own private amusement.
"Mr. Lancer," the secretary's voice rang out only a second after the intercom had crackled to life, "You have a meeting with the parents of Joey Strange this afternoon. Did you forget sir?"
"Huckleberry Fin! I forgot all about it. I actually have two students here in detention with me at the moment," he placed a paper in his book to mark his page and then stood, "I'll be down immediately, if you would be so kind as to let the Stanges know?"
"Of course, Mr. Lancer," and the intercom snapped off, ringing violently with feedback and making Sam, Lancer, and Danny cringe.
"Really need to get those fixed," the man muttered to himself, then stood looking sternly over his two charges, "You will please remain here until I return."
The man was out the door and as soon as it shut behind him, Danny was shaking his head and chuckling to himself, "You do realize that every time we're both in here Lancer leaves the room, even if it's only for a couple of minutes."
"I must be a good luck charm," Sam smiled, happy that Danny had seemingly snapped out of whatever funk he had been in, "but if you don't mind, this good luck charm wants to finish this stupid book that I've had since Saturday. I'm on the last chapter and I only have a few pages left."
"Whatever," Danny shrugged and turned back to his notebook, "I've just been drawing."
Minutes passed, the clock ticking away the seconds as Sam read and Danny doodled quietly, his good mood wearing away with the annoying ticks that could be heard. By the time ten minutes had passed, Danny was quite through with doodling and thrust his notebook in his bag in his ill temper.
Sam took a moment to dog ear her page, and then quietly closed her book. Something was really bothering Danny, other than the horrendously bad beginning of the school day. He hadn't seemed too bothered by that, so something had to of happened between lunch and detention. Surely it hadn't been anything she had done?
Five more minutes passed, then another five and Danny's fingers began to tap a cadence against his thigh, his leg jerking up and down as his leg bounced in irritation. The tapping sound he made drowned out the ticking clock but did little to relieve his bad mood.
"I'm bored," tapping fingers, tapping foot, "We only have five minutes left, couldn't he have come back and let us go if his meeting was going to last so long?"
"I don't know, so don't look at me," Sam sat back, arms folded, "I'm only in here every other week, unlike some people."
At her wry tone, Danny smiled a bit, realizing she was teasing and tried to let go of his sour mood, "Yeah, well, every other week is more than you used to get detention. Must be rubbing off on you."
"Let us pray not," Lancer's head popped through the door, "You are free to go, as my meeting is running unusually long."
"Thanks Mr. Lancer," Danny darted up, ready to go, "See you tomorrow."
"Have a nice day," Sam grabbed her bag and book and followed Danny, head down as Mr. Lancer's smile followed them to the door.
The vice-principal nodded, and held the door for them both, "You too. Have a safe day as well. The ghost forecasts call for extremely heavy saturation the rest of the week."
"Geeze," Danny mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was almost inaudible, but Sam caught it. The acerbic look on his face that had hovered over him for most of detention was making a reappearance, and convinced her not to ask.
The pair walked towards their lockers, and the feeling of familiarity settled on Sam. It was almost becoming tradition, she smiled wryly to herself. It was comforting, and she found that she enjoyed the company after her extra hour at school, even if she had to hurry home to escape her parent's wrath.
"Hey man," a voice shattered the peace between them as they rounded the corner, "Oh uh…Sam, right? Hey to you too."
He looked confused to see her, but she understood. It wasn't an everyday thing for her to be walking down the deserted hallway with anyone, let alone Danny Fenton. Sneaking a glance at Danny, she raised her eyebrow, asking for an introduction as she had been taught was proper.
"Uh, Tuck, you got it right, this is Sam," he finally grasped that she needed an introduction, "Sam, this is Tucker."
"Tucker Foley," he slid beside her as soon as Danny had turned back to his locker, "but you can call me T.F., as in 'Too Fine' if you want."
An extravagant wink followed, much to her chagrin.
"How about N.W. as in 'No Way'?" she calmly folded her arms, "Sorry, but I don't just randomly hook up with people. I like to get to know them first."
"So, is that a maybe?" Sam ground her teeth and balled her fists at her side. Tucker didn't notice, but Danny certainly did.
"Tuck," the halfa wisely stepped in, probably saving Tucker's life, "what're you doing still at school? Anything up?"
"Nope, just hanging around to check up on my bud," he leaned against the lockers as Danny and Sam went to their own on opposites sides of the hall. Danny cut him a glare as Sam turned with a confused look and a book in her hands.
"I'm fine," Danny ground out, ignoring both the raised eyebrow and the angry, huff of breath that freed her eye of that unruly strand of hair, "and why don't you just get a clip or something?"
"I don't want to," Sam shot back, "What's up with you? You've been in a mood all through detention. Mr. Lancer even noticed something was up."
"It's nothing," Danny shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it, but knowing they wouldn't leave him alone until he at least satisfied their curiosity, "Val and I…we had a nasty fight today right before last period and broke up."
"Oh," Sam immediately looked away, ashamed for having pushed him to talk, "I'm…sorry."
"It's fine," he shook his head and gently closed his locker, a far cry from what he had done earlier that afternoon, "She was just…she said some really horrible things about a friend and I didn't appreciate it. She was the one who decided to break up though, so no big deal."
He shouldered his backpack stiffly, not meeting Tucker's sympathetic eyes as he adjusted his straps. Nothing was said for a moment as the sound of Sam's locker closing echoed through the halls, then a hand was on his shoulder, much smaller than Tucker's would have been.
"I know I said it the other day," Sam shifted nervously, glancing at Tucker for what she didn't know, but finding support in his warm brown gaze, "but if you need to talk, I'm a pretty good listener, and I don't mind sob stories…when they're from a friend."
"Thanks," Danny turned with a huff of air, as he tried a small smile for his two concerned friends, "I really appreciate it, but I'm fine. I'll work it out, and honestly I was kinda' ready to end it anyways…we weren't really working out."
A last nod and a smile found Sam on her way ahead of the boys who stayed by the lockers for a moment more. Tucker leaned heavily and jammed his hands in his pockets, guilt over the plan he had formed weeks before bubbling in his stomach.
"You know man," he shook his head and took his glasses off to clean them on his shirt, "A couple of weeks ago I wanted you to break up with Valerie. It was stressing you out so bad, and the two of you tried for a year. A year. That's a long time, and the two of you just got worse and worse."
"I know," tired blue eyes turned Tucker's way just as he replaced his glasses, "I'm kinda' relieved in a weird way, but it still bothers me. I guess her being so nasty helped a lot."
A humorless chuckle escaped Danny's lips as Tucker simply watched him, waiting for him to continue, "She saw Sam eating with me and went flying off the handle about it, saying things about not wanting to be with me anymore if she kept seeing me with other girls and how horrible it was that I chose Sam to sit with because she's…different."
"Wow," Tucker let out a low whistle as he took in Danny's story. The halfa wasn't prone to lying or exaggeration, so what he heard was the true story. So long had Danny been fighting ghosts and working to save the town, he had taken the habit of stripping the truth to the bare essentials to save time. What Danny said happened, happened, and Tucker took it all at face value.
"Yeah," he shook his head and started walking, "I didn't think she had it in her…but then again, she was upset. She probably didn't really know what she was saying."
"It still doesn't excuse her," Tucker caught up with his friend, head still reeling from the news, "though I see where you're coming from."
"I dunno'," Danny looked over at Tucker just as a blue wisp escaped his mouth. The halfa let his head fall back to stare up at the tiled ceiling of the hallway, "Gotta' go."
"Maybe it'll be good therapy," Tucker grabbed for Danny's backpack as the boy slipped the thermos from it, "Beat 'em up, take out the aggression."
"I've already got Shadow and the Box Ghost in here," Danny tried to smile, but it came out more like a sneer, "One more isn't going to make me feel any better as far as I'm concerned."
"Maybe it will," Tucker prayed for his friend that this fight would be easy and short, then held up Danny's bag, "I'll drop this by the house and talk to you tomorrow."
"Thanks Tuck," Danny finally got off a real smile for his friend as he changed and took to the air, "You're a lifesaver."
"So are you man," Tucker made his way to the door as soon as Danny disappeared through the wall, literally meaning what he said, "So are you."
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
The afternoon sun beat down nicely on Sam, warming her skin and pulling a tired smile from her lips and eyes. She was thankful that she had dried before detention as she had been ever so cold in all her classes, and now the sun was heaven sent and deliciously warm. Leaning her head back, she paused in her walk home to gaze at the clouds above her head. It was a shame that such a beautiful day had seen such bad things happen to Danny. He really was a kind young man and didn't deserve any of it.
A flash of red to her right brought her out of her musing and turned her attention to the park, where several people could be heard screaming and were then seen running to escape whatever mayhem was taking place, 'And judging by the lightshow, it's the ghostly sort of mayhem.'
Inquisitiveness was part of her nature, and Sam eagerly followed the noises into the park. Ghosts, as of late, had seemingly been drawn to her, why should she not return the favor? If she was careful and stayed far enough away she'd be able to see exactly what happened and perhaps catch Phantom at his work. She had always thought it easiest to figure people out by observing them, and so she figured it would follow with a ghost.
The ghost in the park wasn't much to look at, a gangly youth who looked only a few years older than Phantom who arrived just as Sam did. She found no where to hide, so she stood on a hill overlooking where the new ghost raked up the ground in malicious glee. Phantom shot her a curious look, to which she just shrugged and moved back a bit to a tree for more protection. The other ghost had thankfully not noticed her.
Danny had spotted her on the hill almost instantly as he swept the area to see if more ghosts were lying in wait, or perhaps if his girlfriend, no…ex-girlfriend was around. She had merely shrugged at his confused look and stepped further back to hide behind a tree. He knew she didn't live near the park, and earlier she had said she was heading home, so he couldn't figure out why she was there, unless it was a shortcut of some kind.
'She doesn't have to tell me everything,' the halfa shook his head as he listened with half an ear to the speech the other ghost had obviously prepared and practiced, 'Maybe she just wanted to finish that book of hers in peace and got caught in another ghost fight. Definitely the suckiest day ever for both of us, then.'
"Okay, okay," Danny waved his hand, ending the other ghost's monologue, "Can we just get to the fighting, you're the third ghost today, I'm getting tired of listening to lectures, and today has sucked beyond all reason."
He hadn't even caught the other entity's name, but it didn't matter as he was all bark and no bite. It took only a few hits and a couple of minutes for the other ghost to be weakened enough to be sucked into the thermos and the fight was over as quickly as it had begun. A few stray shots had gone towards the tree that Sam had gone behind, singeing grass and branches alike. Danny was at the hill quickly, worried that something might have happened to one of his friends, one of the rare ones that knew him as a friend in both forms, even if she didn't know that he was just one person.
'She is my friend like this right?' he questioned himself as he landed and peered around the tree, surprised beyond all reason to find Sam calmly reading the last page of her book, 'Okay, obviously she either really trusts me, or didn't think that what's his name would ever notice her…'
"Ahem," Danny exaggeratedly coughed into his gloved hand, smirking a bit as Sam jumped but kept reading, ignoring him in favor of finishing. She had been wanting to finish that book since Saturday, or so he remembered her saying. The thought of Saturday, though, had him frowning and crossing his arms all over again as the memory of what had been started then and finished earlier that day crossed his mind.
"Done," Sam smiled upwards, but upon catching Phantom's folded arms and rapidly darkening face, she swallowed slightly and closed her book, "Sorry."
'Great, I've gone and pissed him off,' she worriedly tucked her book into her backpack, 'Way to go, maybe he's schizophrenic, friendly one second, ready to kill the next…oh, don't think that…'
"What?" It had taken a second for her quiet voice to make its way into his consciousness, "Why are you sorry?"
His gentle tone had her looking up into a much more relaxed, if not quizzical, face, "I thought I made you upset by ignoring you. It might seem weird to you, but I don't want to piss off the most powerful ghost in Amity Park."
"Um, you didn't piss me off," the ghost wearily sank to sit beside her on the soft grass, folding long legs to rest Indian style, "I've just had a really bad day."
"You too?" she looked out over the torn up ground, then glanced back beside her to the young ghost, "You aren't going to just take off? You usually do."
"I usually have somewhere to be or another ghost to catch," he laughed humorlessly, the echo in his voice creating strange sounds within the laughter, "Today I have nothing to do and nowhere to be, and hopefully a friend to sit and rest with. It looks like today was hard on you, too."
"A little," Sam shifted, trying to get more comfortable without moving too much. Skirts could be dangerous things when sitting as she was, "but my friend had it worse. All sorts of bad stuff was happening to him today, and then to top it off his girlfriend dumped him."
"Ouch," Danny swallowed heavily, averting his eyes so she wouldn't see the pain in them.
"Yeah, ouch," Sam agreed, then turned to see his own head turned, "You said your day was bad too? I'm a good listener…"
Her teasing tone as she tempted him to talk got a small laugh from him, "Yeah, bad day. Three ghosts, a not so great day in general, and uh…girl problems."
'That's right,' Sam nodded her head as she listened, 'He said he had a date that one time we talked, so I guess everything that goes with dating can happen to a ghost too…'
"Anyways, that's all over with," he waved a hand in front of his face as if to clear away something, "I'm actually kind of glad it happened. We honestly hadn't been getting along, and she had different…goals than I do."
"That's always tough," Sam nodded, "Not that I've ever had a boyfriend, but my parents are like that. You saw my house, I'm filthy rich, but no one would ever know it by looking at me or talking to me. I don't flaunt it, but my parents…my parents do nothing but flaunt it. They think I should be little Ms. Apple Pie American Sweetheart, with pink dresses and the full 'Samantha' to go with it."
"I can't see you in pink," Phantom laughed beside her, "So if they think that, what do you think?"
"I think that I should be an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, which means I eat nothing with a face, I should wear what I feel like, and read and listen to what I feel like," Sam smiled up at the sun, "I should get to just be me, and people should accept me like that. The problem is, most people can't."
"It could be worse," the halfa joined her in looking upwards, enjoying the warmth that seeped into his frigidly cold body, "You could be me."
"I know, I'm sorry," Sam shook her head and sat up a bit straighter, "I shouldn't talk about my problems, I mean…I'm still…alive after all. My problems probably pale pretty dramatically."
"Not really," Danny shook his head and moved to a more comfortable position as well, "I don't know how to explain it, but it's not all that different I suppose. The problem is, most ghosts seem to have an obsession of some sort. Get past that and they're usually pretty nice."
'Wonder what his is,' Sam shot him a sideways look as she ran her hand over the grass, a focused look on her face as she thought, 'Though he did say most ghosts, so that means not all…maybe he's one of the few or something.'
"I don't have one if that's what you're thinking," the boy beside her frowned, the cute pout on his face making her laugh, "I don't. Unless you count keeping this town as ghost free as I can…maybe that's my obsession and I really do have one."
"It's a good obsession for the rest of us," Sam leaned further against the tree, folding her hands over her lap, "but I don't think that counts. Why do you do it anyways?"
"It's my home," he looked over Sam, taking in her dark eyes and short cropped hair, "I want to protect it and I don't like seeing people getting hurt just because other ghosts are after me."
"Good enough reason for me," she smiled again closing her eyes in the sun once more, "I figured it was something like that. You don't seem like you have ulterior motives."
"You never know," green eyes flashed playfully, as he enjoyed himself for a few moments more before having to leave for home, "I could be working up some evil plot. Take over the world sort, and all that, or maybe just take over Amity Park."
"That's been done before, several times," Sam rolled her eyes, feeling more and more at ease with the young ghost beside her, and beyond thankful that she'd found yet another person to talk to and relax with, "You seem more original than that."
The pair sat for a moment more, hidden from prying eyes by the large tree trunk they sat behind, listening to the voices of people returning to the park and inspecting the torn up ground. Most of them were blaming it on Phantom, and Sam felt her stomach churn with righteous indignation. He had just saved them, and truly it was the other ghost that had caused the damage.
"It's getting late," the halfa stood, glancing around as the voices grew, "We should probably leave."
"Those stupid, ignorant people," Sam got to her knees, eyes burning holes through the tree to the people beyond, "They don't even know what happened, they all ran away like cowards!"
"Um, it's okay," Danny watched in amusement, and some awe, as Sam went on a tirade against the 'ignorant populace' who followed with the 'group mentality'. It lasted a good two minutes before she was finished with fire in her eyes and a blush heating her cheeks. She was defending him again, even if it was only to herself and himself, but it left a goofy smile on his face. She quickly ended her rant, with a questioning look, torn between confusion and amusement herself.
"Well," Sam finished as she stood and crossed her arms, "Just…ignore them. That's what I was trying to get out, because they aren't worth your time. They don't know what they're talking about."
"Well thank you, again, for defending me," Phantom laughed and jerked his head over his shoulder towards the rapidly sinking sun, "but I have to go, and I'd imagine you do too."
"I should have been home right after school," Sam rolled her eyes, stooping to pick up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder as she straightened back up, "I'm going to catch it for being out so late and not calling. I had detention anyways, so I'll just say I got stuck at school and heard that a ghost fight was going on so I played it safe and stayed where I was. They'll take that, but I'll probably still be in trouble."
"Sorry I got you in trouble," Phantom winced, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture that seemed vaguely familiar, "I always seem to get people in trouble."
"It's not your fault," she turned to go, then turned back slightly, "Thanks for the talk, I don't usually get the chance to just chat with a friend. It was…nice, hanging out."
"Well, you should do it more often then," he chuckled, then glanced around for second, checking if anyone was around, "Um, it's a walk to your house…"
"Not that bad," she stopped moving to look at him, a hint of a smirk hovering over her face, "Don't get all gentleman on me and offer to walk me home. I'm sure that's the last thing either of our reputations need, Sam Manson and resident Phantom seen walking together."
"Heh," he bite his lip and tugged at the collar of his jumpsuit as faint color washed across his pale cheeks, "I was actually going to say I'd fly you home if you didn't want to walk…"
"Oh," she suddenly felt bad for teasing him, as she honestly didn't mind people acting courteously, "I was just teasing, I didn't mean anything…anyway, I had better just walk. It really isn't that far, and I'm not sure about…flying."
"Okay," Danny smiled, happy that she wasn't upset by the offer, and amused that she wasn't sure about flying, "but you don't know what you're missing out on. You're loss I guess."
He made his point by raising into the air and hovering a few feet above the ground, enjoying Sam's quirked lips and laughing eyes. She simply started to walk away again, and shook her head, calling over her shoulder to him, "I'll take a rain check!"
"See ya' around," he called back and watched her wave. The day had sucked, but it seemed to be ending far better than he had hoped for.
'Small blessings,' he reminded himself as he took to the air and headed home, thermos in hand, 'It's the little things that make the world work, and gaining a friend is way better than loosing a whiney girlfriend.'
Laughter filled the air over Amity Park and Danny enjoyed his last thought, feeling a little silly about being so mean to Valerie, who had been his friend for a while, but letting it all out anyway. Jazz would tell him the best way to deal with the situation would be to face his feelings as they came, and right now he was happy. After all, Danny thought, even halfas deserved some happiness every now and again.