My dear readers,

Christmas time is upon us and in the midst of this season of red and green, family time is vitally important. Every one of you is part of this 'Rumour Mill' family and I thank everyone for their kind reviews and the stunning amount of you all who are enjoying, reviewing, favouriting and reading this story. It really warms my heart to see all of you enjoying my creation. I never thought I would get feedback like this when I started this story. Already there's over 100 reviews, which is just amazing! Here's hoping we can reach over 200 by June 2014!

This chapter will be the last one UNTIL after the New Year. There might be a little bit of a wait for the next chapter after this one because I won't be able to update again between January 10th and now because I won't be in the state until a week and a half after Christmas. I'll be visiting my mother who lives out of state and while I'm there, I won't have access to internet. That doesn't mean I'll stop writing so hopefully I should have a chapter or two written by the time I get home. I am hoping to have the next chapter up by January 20th at the latest but it may have to wait until February. I will do my best to get it up as soon as I can.

Sorry for the length of this author's note and I just have one last thing left to talk about before I'm done and the story can continue. I recently had a review from a fellow fanfiction account holder and they said that my portrayal of Danny's family's treatment of Danny sort of give off the impression that it has radically and recently changed. Yes, it has changed radically and very recently but sometimes things like this happen, especially in the beginning, because the family doesn't realise how they're acting. They're too caught up in their own lives to realise how they're treating the person who's taking all the heat. With Danny's parents, every single time I've had them interact with Danny, they're busy thinking about their own things (Maddie with the inventions and cooking and Jack with inventions and his pre-dinner naps). Same with Jazz, she's busy focussing on her schooling and she's always been a little rude to Danny any way so it makes sense, at least to me. And this reviewer also didn't like that Valerie is being portrayed as the 'bad guy'. Well, again, she's been like that in the show and it makes sense for her to be like that. I did say that this will be a Valerie bashing fic but it won't be for a while yet.

Okay, now that that is done, on to the chapter!

X-X

Valerie hummed to herself as she moved around her room, brushing her freshly washed hair. Her stereo played in the background lowly, just quiet enough to make sure it wouldn't disturb Valerie's father's sleep. He really hadn't been getting enough of it, especially with his recent mishap with the ghost boy at the Axiom factory.

Giving a little twirl of happiness, Valerie sat on her bed. She opened the top draw of her bedside cabinet and pulled out a tub of her favourite, rose and sandalwood scented lotion, which she rubbed onto her exposed arms and legs. The scent filled her nostrils and calmed her very being. Something about rose and sandalwood together had a calming effect on her. It had since her mother had used it to calm her when she was a fussy baby.

Once the lotion had been rubbed into her arms and legs, Valerie put the tub back in the draw and, before closing it, took out a black book with a red ribbon attached to the top of the spine. A light purple bejewelled pen laid on top of her drawers and she picked this up and began to write.

Dear Diary

These last couple weeks have been amazing! My Tucker has given me more attention now that Fenton isn't interfering any longer. He's always by my side, the way he should be. Even Manson has come around to my side! Not something I planned on, but not unwelcome either. Besides, it's much more satisfying now to see Fenton all by himself. When I see him, sitting all by himself, I can't help but smile. I'm careful not to let Tucker or Sam see my smile but I think Fenton noticed it once or twice. Oh well, let him see. I'm happy. I finally have everything I've wanted (and a little something extra) and he has nothing.

Now he'll know what it was like for me when Phantom ruined my life. I had to move house and sell everything. I didn't even get to keep my favourite outfit! It ended up selling for over 200 dollars but it was my favourite! And those Dumpty Humpty concert tickets, I can't believe Phantom made me miss that concert! At least Mister Masters was able to help out and give me a way to get back at Phantom. The ghost weapons he gave me have really come in handy, although I haven't actually been able to hit Phantom head on just yet. He is good, I'll admit that. But I'll be better.

And I'm sure now that his 'human' life is in ruins, Fenton won't be able to protect himself in his 'ghost' life. Yes, Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom. It took me a while to figure out but once I did, I was kicking myself for not noticing sooner. Fenton, Phantom. So similar, almost identical and yet, no-one figured it out. The perfect cover.

And in one small second, I figured it out.

A month ago, Danny Fenton sprained his ankle during gym, when we were all running track. He sprained it on the hurdles event and limped for three days. My Tucker had to help him walk around school then and ended up spending less time with me. Which, in a way, was a good thing because it gave me more time to deal with Phantom. The first time I battled with Phantom during those three days, Phantom had his ghostly tail instead of his legs. But the second time, he had legs. We were fighting and I chased him to the football field behind school. I got in a good hit with my blaster and he went down. Phantom crashed into the end-zone and for a second, he didn't move. I floated over on my hover board, said some witty jab and prepared to shoot again. But he got up, a little slowly but he did. He stood up and faced me, fire in his eyes but something caught my eye. Phantom was only standing on one leg and, coincidentally, the leg he wasn't standing on, was the one Fenton sprained the day before.

Then it clicked.

Danny Phantom. Danny Fenton. I nearly smacked myself right there.

Phantom took advantage of my distraction and flew off. By the time I got over my shock, he was gone and the bell for fourth period was going off.

I'm shocked that no-one had pieced it together before. Mister Masters himself didn't even know it.

But now, I finally have everything I've been wanting. Revenge on Phantom (it's still so confusing to call the ghost boy Fenton even though that's who he is), a loving boyfriend and no more Danny Fenton!

And I know for sure that Tucker hasn't been meeting up with me behind my back. My teddy bear will make sure that if he does, I'll be the first to know.

Valerie closed her journal, hugged it to her chest and smiled. She finally had everything she wanted and nothing was going to change that.

Tucker slammed through his bedroom door, absently calling out an apology to his mother who had yelled up at him in reprimand. Calming ever so slightly, he slowly closed the door. Tucker went over and sat on the end of his bed. On his bedside table, a photo stood. It was of him, Sam, Valerie and Danny, only weeks before the rumour came out. They all seemed happy, laughing in the photo. Valerie was wrapped around Tucker, who had an arm thrown around his best friend. Sam stood on the other side of Danny, the smile on her face contrasted with the black and dark purple of her gothic outfit.

Tucked picked up the photo and stared at it. It seemed like such a long time ago when he and Danny were best friends, when his girlfriend wasn't so upset all of the time and when Sam wasn't walking around like someone shot a baby deer right in front of her.

Water welled up in Tucker's eyes but he refused to let the tears fall. He threw the photo across the room, watching the glass shatter against the wall. Like my friendship with Danny shattered, he thought. It still hurt, deep in his chest, to think about their destroyed friendship.

Tucker had been trying to be happy these last few weeks but he wasn't sure that he was succeeding. He certainly wasn't fooling himself and he knew that Sam could see past his façade as well. He sighed, running a hand over his head. His red beanie was hanging off the end of his chair at his desk.

Tucker almost couldn't believe that he and Danny had parted ways over a stupid rumour. He came home every day, feeling like such an asshole for how he treated Danny at school. It ached to know that he was the one causing his best friend so much pain.

Last week, Tucker had found Danny trying to talk to Valerie and Valerie looked upset. His mind clouded over in rage and he ran up, threw Danny off of her and towered over him. At the time, Tucker wanted Danny to get the message to leave Valerie alone, especially after everything he'd said to her that started all of this. But the way Danny hid behind his arms, almost seeming like he was afraid that Tucker was going to hurt him. Now, even though Tucker had broken off his friendship with Danny, he would never intentionally hurt him physically like that.

It made Tucker's blood run cold to think about someone doing that to his best friend.

He sighed again, aggravated. Ex-best friend, Tucker told himself, I need to remember that. We're not friends any more. But try as he might, something inside Tucker wouldn't let him truly end the friendship. It was like a small, thin but frayed string still connected him to Danny and no matter how hard Tucker tried or what Valerie said to him, he just couldn't bring himself to sever it completely. Tucker felt like the distance between him and Danny right now was like he'd lost a part of his soul. He couldn't imagine how much it would hurt to have it be truly final.

And he wasn't sure he was ready enough to admit it but secretly, he'd started to doubt his girlfriend.

She'd been the victim of something horrible against her by Tucker's best friend but the more Tucker thought about it, the less he believed Valerie.

At first, he believed her because she was his girlfriend and he hated seeing her so destroyed.

But when he thinks about it now, he wonders if it's all an act.

Every time she saw Danny looking at her that first week, she'd whimper and cuddle into his side. Tucker had repeatedly glared at Danny and ignored the little nagging voice in his mind that scolded him for that action.

In the beginning, Valerie had been upset, Tucker could see that. But it was still going on, even now. Danny hadn't looked at or spoken to Valerie since that day outside and Tucker made sure to keep watch just in case.

So why was Valerie still playing the victim?

Growling, Tucker stood and began to throw things around his room, making sure to check what he was throwing as he didn't want to throw and damage his electronics or his collectable or things that his parents wouldn't be able to replace or would make him pay for. So that ended up leaving him with plush footballs, a bouncy soccer ball (which bounced back off the wall to smack him in the forehead), and some stupid teddy that Valerie had given him for defending her from his 'horrible but thankfully ex-best friend' last week.

Tucker picked up the teddy bear and glared hatefully at it. Even if everything was calm right now, he still wouldn't have liked this bear. The only reason he accepted it was because Valerie kissed him, all sweet and gave him an exceptionally strong pouty puppy dog look, complete with wide eyes and tears. He caved almost immediately and has regretted it ever since.

The bear wouldn't have been so bad, except it was dressed from head to toe in a bright, frilly pink dress with a matching 'Little Bo Peep' style hat. It even had pale pink ballet shoes on its feet and a ridiculous rainbow coloured smile stitched onto its face. The bear was creepy but Tucker saw no way out.

No matter what he could and probably should have said, Valerie would only need to flash him that defeated, albeit adorable puppy dog look and he would cave. It was a weakness of his.

Right now, he didn't care if Valerie tore him apart 'molecule by molecule', as Danny's ghost hunting parents would say. The bear was ugly, extremely feminine and had no place whatsoever in his room full of techno gear and sports posters.

With what seemed like only a little effort, Tucker twisted the head of the teddy bear and yanked hard. It came away from the rest of the body with a quiet snap. But instead of just stuffing coming out, the head and the body were connected by a thin, black cord.

Curious, Tucker pulled on the cord until the pieces at either end came out of the doll and sat in his lax palm.

And suddenly, Tucker didn't know what was right any more.

At one end of the black cord was a small camera, which looked like it was facing out where an eye was supposed to be sewn into place. The other end was something Tucker had encountered before, although in each of those encounters, the device was obtained illegally or he had spotted one in Fruitloop's mansion. It was a listening device, a bug.

Tucker closed his fist tightly, not caring about the way the devices dug into his palm. They crushed beneath his grip.

There was only one person who could have done this.

Valerie.