Dom-de-dom-de-do, I have nothing to do... can anyone else hear a lie detector beeping?

Careo Danny Phantom (Latin)

Tucker was screaming because Sam was screaming, Sam was screaming because whatever she stepped on was screaming, and what she stepped on was screaming because it was stepped on. They all screamed for what seemed like hours, until a fourth voice joined in the scream fest. Sam ran back to Tucker so fast she rammed right into the back wall. The force of impact was too great for the decaying wood. The entire back wall fell away and sunlight touched the inside of the tree house for the first time in years.

The new light revealed that the monsters in the tree house were really just kids. One was an older red headed girl in muddy purple pyjamas, and the other was a raven-haired boy in equally muddy pj's who couldn't be any older than Sam and Tucker. The two of them were clinging to each other. The girl was in a protective stance with her back towards the invaders, using herself as a shield for the smaller boy. The boy looked as if he had just woke up with his legs tucked behind him and his head raised just off of the girls lap.

After a long moment of tense silence Tucker broke the ice. "Um, hi?"

"What do you want?" The girl snapped, pulling the blue eyed boy closer to her.

Tucker put his hands up in surrender. "It's not my fault, she dared me!" Sam hissed at his accusation.

The boy rubbed his eyes sleepily. "They're kids, Jazz. We are in the preschool tree house."

The girl, Jazz visibly relaxed and she suddenly looked as if she hadn't slept in days. "Oh, right."

"Wha'cha doing in here?" Sam's curiosity suppressed her former fear. She and Tucker crawled forward a bit to find a spot on the floor that was not so coated in dust.

"We live here now." The boy answered.

"Danny!" Jazz hissed at him. She reminded Sam of a wounded animal that had lost its home.

"You can't live in here, that's silly." Tucker told them as a matter of fact.

"Why not, it's a house" Danny yawned, rubbing the blood back into his numb legs.

"It's not a real house, it's just a pretend house." Tucker laughed. "If you live here, then where are your mom and dad?"

The two muddy kids stiffened. "That's none of your business. Who are you anyway?" Jazz was on the defence again.

"I'm Sam, and this dummy is Tucker." Sam introduced them, trying to use humour to calm the older girl down.

"Don't call her Samantha, she'll suck out your brain and eat it." Tucker tried to get revenge for the Dummy comment while giving a legitimate warning. Danny found it funny and chuckled, which seemed to calm Jazz down a bit.

"We're Danny and Jazz Fe-... Phantom." Danny introduced himself and his sister, looking a bit put out at his almost-said last name. "And I'm hungry!" As if on cue, Danny's stomach complained loudly.

Sam and Tucker laughed out loud. "Teacher said that snack time is soon, do you wanna come? They always have extra." How Tucker knew they had extra was a mystery, seeing as it was his first day there.

Still, that didn't stop Danny from jumping at the chance for food. "We haven't eaten since... a long time. Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Let's go, let's go, let's go." Tucker joined in with his chant. He wasn't all that hungry, but he was easily sweated up by the other boys enthusiasm.

"They can't go like that, they look like homeless kids!" Sam pointed out to Tucker. She didn't care about appearances, but he mother always made her wash up before eating, it was proper.

"But they're not homeless, they live in a tree house." Tucker joked.

Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker for the second time that day. She pulled him to his feet and marched him to the door, "We're going to get our spares, they can use them." Because of the history of mud throwing and pants peeing, all preschoolers in Amity had to bring a spare change of clothes.

"We'll be right back." Tucker told the Phantoms before leaving the tree house with Sam.

After the noise of the preschoolers climbing the ladder ended, Danny sat cross legged in front of his sister with a nervous expression. "Do you think they'll tattle?"

"No, we wouldn't still be here if I though they would." Jazz rubbed her red eyes. "No, we're safe... HEY, GET DOWN YOU!" Danny had started floated and was now laying on the inside of the roof.

"Make me." Danny said with a mischievous smile. Too bad for him that the tree house was only tall enough for Jazz to stand in, so it was easy for her to reach the stubborn boy. He pouted, but didn't resist when she sat him on the floor.

Sam and Tucker arrived just after Jazz forced Danny to land. They had their backpacks with them and while Sam was fine, Tucker looked like a Penguin in a sauna. "Told you we'd be back."

"Did we – have to – run?" Tucker panted, flopping heavily on the old planks. He used the last of his strength to toss his bag to Jazz. "I'm tall - might – fit." Inside Jazz found a pare of turquoise slacks and a black long-sleeve shirt. There were no shoes, there would not have been a reason for them to have been.

Jazz showed off her new things to her brother while Sam opened her bag. "OH, NO!" Sam yelled with a look a disbelief on her face.

"What's wrong?" all three other kids asked in unison.

From the bag in her hands Sam withdrew a puffy blue-and-yellow-flowered dress lined with yellow lace.

"You can't make my brother wear that!" Jazz declared, sounding appalled. Danny nodded vigorously to show his agreement with his sister's statement. It was a dress, boys weren't supposed to wear dresses.

Sam and Tucker exchanged looks, and Sam stuffed the dress back into her bag. "What can we do? He can't go all dirty, it's gross!"

Jazz thought for a moment, then an idea came to her. "Just turn your pj's inside out, they're clean on the inside."

"Ya! That's a good idea!" Danny agreed. He immediately yanked on the neckline of his one piece pj's, causing most of the snaps to bust open. Some of the snaps near the bottom were encrusted with mud and refused to budge, but they were far enough down that Danny could just slip out of it. After that he got Jazz to flip the spaceship pj's inside out so he could slipped back in, and then he got her to help him do the snaps back up.

"Did it work?" Danny asked his age mates, unable to see himself.

"Yep." Both Sam and Tucker cheered, not being too picky. He had 'cleaned up', that's all they needed. Jazz, however, hemmed and hawed for a bit, then licked her thumb and started smudging the dirt on Danny's face.

"Jazz! Stop it. Let's gooo!" Danny urged, trying to pull away from Jazz's mothering. Said big sister rolled her eyes, but gave in, too hungry to pick anymore.

"Wait outside for a sec and then we can go." Jazz told them, hurdling the trio of 5 year olds to the door.

"Why?" Tucker asked innocently.

"I'm getting changed, now go." Jazz said, softly pushing them along.

"So? Danny got changed, we didn't have to leave then." Tucker continued, honestly not understanding why.

"GET OUT!" Jazz yelled, sending the youngsters scrambling for the door. For good measure she added "And no peeking!"

Sitting on the unstable deck, Tucker turned to Sam, the person most likely to get what just happened. "What did we do?"

Sam rolled her eyes and regurgitated what her mother always told her. "It's impolite to watch a lady changing. It's shameful."

"Why?"

"I don't know, it just is!" Sam spat, not liking being questioned about something she didn't understand herself.

"Girls are weird." Tucker muttered, then let it go. The three of them picked at leaves, waiting for Jazz, the leader due to her age, to tell them they could go eat.

I'm starting to regret adding Sam and Tucker, they're taking all the lime light. When it's just Jazz, Danny, and maybe one other character it's alright, but the two of them are taking all the space, Danny hardly has time to talk anymore. Ne-ow well, I know how to fix that. Muahahaha.

Thank you Mir, and readers, for allowing me to take some of your time with my imagination, hope to see you all again next chapter.