A/N: Hello lovely people!
Alright, I changed the end of the last chapter slightly, and I really wish I would have had my thoughts up-to-date before I posted the last chapter; sadly, they were lagging behind. It's no drastic change at all...just a little fluff. But here it is, so you don't have to go back and re-read it:
Tucker was silent for half a second. "Seriously?" Jazz could hear the smile in his voice now. "That'd be great!"
Jazz laughed conspiratorially. "Chick flick?"
Tucker groaned slightly. "You can make me sit through it, but you can't make me like it."
Jazz giggled. "That's completely fine. See you tomorrow."
"Ok, see you—wait, don't tell Danny!"
See! No big change!
Onto Jazz's call! Thank you wonderful reviewers and readers! You make me happy! ^_^
Episode referenced in the beginning is Frightmare, the part right after Tucker defeats the sleepwalkers, but before Danny and Sam defeated Nocturne in his dream. I always figured Tucker and Jazz had to have talked during that time...but about what? :)
Last Call: Jazz
"It's a uh..." Tucker started, pointed back at the mattress that had just broken his and Jazz's fall.
"Mattress factory," Jazz finished, dryly.
He laughed nervously. "Um, yeah." He stood up and held out a hand to help Jazz up as well.
"Thanks for catching me," Jazz told the boy. She looked around. "Okay...now what?"
Tucker sighed and pulled out his PDA. "Now...we wait, like always. I should have gotten rid of any sleepwalkers in Nocturne's dream, so it should just be a couple of minutes until those two defeat him and wake him up." He walked to the other side of the dream machine Nocturne was in, and Jazz followed him.
Jazz looked at the younger boy strangely. "You sound...almost jealous."
Tucker's head snapped up. "Of Danny?" Jazz nodded. Tucker smiled and shook his head, returning his eyes to his hand-held. "No way. I got over that a long time ago. He saves the world, I do his tech-stuff, and Sam kicks butt with the ghost weapons." He smirked. "And, well, flirts with Danny, but I figure you know that."
Jazz laughed softly. "Those two are so perfect for each other."
Tucker was busily pecking away at his hand-held, but he grunted in agreement. "For real. Danny is so clueless to realize how Sam feels, and Sam is too proud to tell him." Jazz shook her head at her little brother's cluelessness. She thought it was sort of cute...kinda sweet.
Tucker laughed, and Jazz looked at him. He was looking at her with an amused expression on his face. "You think anyone ever talks about you like that?"
Jazz laughed loudly. "No way. I'm not as clueless as Danny." A moment of silence passed before she looked back at Tucker. "Why? Do they?"
Tucker grinned big and strained to hold in an obnoxious laugh. "No, not that I know of. But that's not what I meant. I didn't mean to sound like I was asking you. I was sort of asking myself."
"Yeah, I understand. It's natural to wonder if people talk about you the same way you talk about other people. I mean, everyone talks about how Danny and Sam should totally get together."
Tucker smirked and turned his attention back to his PDA. "Yeah, but the difference with them is that people don't just talk behind their back. They talk right in front of Danny and Sam's faces about their relationship that's supposedly not there and never going to happen...according to them, at least."
Jazz smiled. "True." She sighed wistfully. "I wonder if one day there will be anyone out there for me, and it'll be so obvious that we would be perfect together, but I'm the only one who won't realize it." Jazz had never been much into relationships. She'd had a few dates throughout her high school career, of course, but none that had continued into a dating relationship. She was about to graduate soon, though. So thoughts of a boyfriend rarely registered in her mind.
"Yeah..." Tucker mumbled. Jazz realized she didn't hear him tapping away anymore. She frowned and looked at him. His hand was still positioned over his PDA, but it wasn't moving anymore. He was staring at her with a strange expression on his face. She was about to say something, but he shook his head and opened his mouth. A smirk developed across his face, but he turned back to his PDA. "Jazz, real love isn't like what you watch in the movies, you know. It takes a lot more work than just randomly running into the 'right person' or whatever."
Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Umm...are you lecturing me about love?"
"Yeah, what's the big deal?"
Jazz stared at him like he had just grown another head. "What's the big deal?" she mocked. "Mr. I-flirt-with-every-girl-who-walks-by?"
Tucker smiled wide. "Ahh, well men can change."
"Men, yes. You, I'm not so sure about," Jazz replied sarcastically. "Besides, how would you know anything about sappy chick-flick love movies? All you three ever watch are fighting and action movies with tons of explosions or gore."
Tucker groaned. "I've watched a couple with my mom on Mother's Day before. Ugh...those wretched things shouldn't have the right to be passed off as entertainment."
Jazz smirked. "Tucker, I'm making it my mission to force you to go to see a chick-flick sometime."
Tucker raised an eyebrow and glanced at her for a short second. "Fine. You can make me sit through it, but you can't make me like it."
Before Jazz could reply, the container Nocturne was in bust open, and the ghost fell out of it, along with Danny and Sam. Tucker stashed away his PDA and fumbled around for the Fenton Thermos for a couple of seconds while Danny and Nocturne exchanged words, and he finally was able to suck the starry ghost into the thermos.
"Consider this your wake-up call!"
Jazz grabbed her weekend bag from the backseat of her car and locked the door. She had spent half the car-ride home trying to figure out what day Tucker had decided he wanted to ask her out, and she felt silly for not realizing it sooner.
She opened the front door and was immediately engulfed by her father. Her muffled screams went unnoticed. Finally, he let her go. "Jazzypants! I'm so glad to see ya!"
Jazz straightened out her clothes and smiled at her dad. "Me too...but it's only been like a month." Her mother appeared from behind her dad. She received a much less suffocating hug from her.
"Silly girl," Maddie said after pulling back and looking at her only daughter. "A month is like ten years in parent-time." The three laughed and talked for a couple of minutes before Jazz said she wanted to put her stuff upstairs. Her parents let her go, giving her a warning that supper would be ready soon (and that Maddie was trying out a new ecto-plasmic recipe—lasagna).
Danny was standing at the top of the stairs when Jazz started walking up. She smiled. "Hey, little bro."
He groaned. "I thought you agreed to stop calling me that?"
Jazz smiled wider and rustled his hair as she passed him. "I never agreed to that, but I might..." Danny's eyes lit up. "...if you save the world again." Danny's hopeful looked vanished.
"Well, as long as your criteria isn't high or anything." Jazz laughed and made a bee-line for her door, but Danny stepped in front of her. It was his turn to smile. "Jazz, before you go in there, there's something you need to know."
Jazz raised an eyebrow. Danny turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. Jazz was confused when she saw clothes scattered around the floor, but when the door was open wide enough for her to see who was sitting on the bed, she gasped. "Danielle?"
The girl in question looked up, and her face broke into a smile. "Jazz!" She sprung out of bed and ran to give the older girl a hug. "I didn't know you were coming home." She then got a worried expression on her face. "But wait...oh, I'm sorry about your room."
"No worries...as long as I can share for a couple of nights."
"No prob!" Suddenly, both her and Danny's ghost senses went off. "Please let me get this one, Danny!"
Danny looked from his cousin to the window and back, then sighed. "Fine, Dani, go ahead."
The girl shouted in glee before transforming and shooting off. Jazz shook her head and smiled. "You are so over-protective, Danny."
He was still watching the window. "I know, but that's a good thing."
"It really is," Jazz agreed. She stepped further into her room—well, Danielle's room now, it appeared—and set her stuff down. "So Mom finally came around? She's letting Dani live here?"
Danny looked at his big sister with a toothy grin. "Yeah. It was so sudden. Dani just showed up Wednesday, saying Mom had called her and told her she could come live with us. I have no idea what changed Mom's mind."
Jazz sat down on the bed. "That's so great...but strange. I wonder..."
"She won't talk about it," Danny interrupted. "She just says she changed her mind, and I'm not going to argue about it."
"Yeah, I wouldn't either." Danny walked over to the window, and Jazz looked out it as well. Dani was beating up the Box Ghost. Danny chuckled a bit.
"Oh, that reminds me...Mom and Dad want to have a family ghost hunting night tomorrow night." Danny shuddered. "So you may want to pretend you have plans or something."
"Actually, I do have plans." Jazz was slightly nervous. This conversation could quickly veer into dangerous territory...that is, if she intended to keep her secret date...well, a secret.
Danny looked hopeful. "Really? Can I tag along? Please? Sam got roped into something with her parents, and she can't get out of it."
"What? No, you can't come." Jazz was trying hard not to sound defensive or angry.
"Why not?" Danny asked.
Jazz struggled for a second to figure out exactly the right thing to say. "Because it's just me and my friend." There...that wasn't a lie.
Danny raised an eyebrow, and all traces of his wanting to come vanished. "Friend? As in, singular?"
Jazz stared at her little brother strangely. "Yes...as in yes?"
"Is your friend a guy?"
Jazz groaned. "Oh, Danny, not this again."
"You just said it was a good thing for me to be over-protective!" he exclaimed. His face showed worry, and while Jazz was flattered that he cared so much for her, at the moment, she had to do everything possible to make sure he didn't spy on her tomorrow night.
"Danny, that's great and all, but I plan to carry a ghost tracker and a Fenton Thermos tomorrow night, so I'll know if you follow me." The two continued a staring contest for a minute, neither willing to back down. Finally, Danny sighed.
"Fine," he grumbled. "I promise I won't follow you."
"Yeah, you'd better not," Jazz warned. She smirked. "I've gotten better with my aim."
Danny smiled back. "Jazz...you've never needed good aim to manage to capture me in that thermos."
Jazz frowned and threw a pillow at Danny's face. He easily dodged it, and the two shared a laugh. "So...what are you gonna do tomorrow night?"
"I dunno." He trailed off for a second, before he face lit up. "Oh, I could call Tuck! He's always bugging me about how we never have bro time anymore since Sam and I started dating." Danny flipped out his phone and punched in the number. "Don't know why I didn't think of that before."
Jazz opened her mouth to tell him that Tucker wasn't available for tomorrow night, but she shut it just as quickly. If she said that, she'd have to explain how she knew he was free, and she was sure Tucker wouldn't appreciate her spilling the beans.
"Hey man! So I was thinking about a movie night tomorrow night." Danny paused, waiting on Tucker's response. He began walking out the door. "What do you mean you're busy?" With that, Danny closed the door to Jazz's room, leaving the girl alone with her thoughts.
Jazz sighed and laid back in her bed. Tucker probably wouldn't tell Danny about the date before it happened. She trusted that he would come up with some excuse on why he was busy tomorrow night. But his excuse wasn't what she was thinking about.
What would tomorrow night be like? Jazz was hoping it wouldn't be awkward and that the atmosphere would feel natural...like they were just hanging out...without Danny and Sam. She didn't want Tucker to act all strange or weird, and she didn't want to act that way either.
Jazz had to wonder exactly how much Tucker liked her. She didn't want to hurt the poor guy, but she was sure she didn't like him as anything more than a friend. She wasn't sure she could ever like him as much more than a friend. Then again, she realized her feelings could change, but she wasn't sure she could handle thinking about that at the moment.
So instead, she basked in the great feeling she received from knowing that there was someone would be thinking of her—her, Jazz Fenton—during the last moments of his life. She felt important...needed. The feeling was an enjoyable and happy one, and Jazz had to wonder...could she make anyone feel like this?
Who could she call to confess something to—something they would never know if she didn't tell them? Who could she call and give this amazing feeling to?
Her parents? Her brother? Jazz thought for quite a while, trying to come up with something exciting or original she could tell her family, but she came up empty. Her family knew everything that was going on in her life (well, except for her impending date). She had nothing earth-shattering to tell them, nothing she hadn't already thanked them for a million times over, nothing original.
She had thanked her parents for allowing her to move off for college—after all, she had received a full-ride to Yale—and she had already thanked Danny for letting her really become part of his ghost-fighting team—she had actually had to fight off an errant ghost in her dormitory the week after she moved in.
So who could—?
Her thoughts stopped, then picked back up again, quicker than before. She had an idea of who to call...someone who had given her advice that had seemed so silly and stupid (especially considering who she was receiving it from). Jazz bit her lip and flipped open her cell phone, but she then realized that she did not have this man's number programmed into her phone.
But she did have—yes, that would work!
Jazz found the number she was looking for and quickly received the information she needed. Not three minutes later, she was dialing another number. She was nervous, but if she wanted someone to know that they were important to her, she had to go through with this call.
The phone had rung three times before he sighed angrily and folded his newspaper. Where was his wife? Or his daughter? They were usually the ones who picked up the home phone.
"Manson residence," he greeted, gracefully. There was no need to alert the caller to his less-than-happy attitude.
"Hi, Mr. Manson?" Jeremy thought the voice sounded familiar—where had he—? Ah, Danny's sister, Jazz.
"Hello, Jasmine," Jeremy answered. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Mr. Manson. Actually, I sort of wanted to tell you something." Jeremy silenced a laugh. Of course she would want to tell him something. Why else would she call? Although, young Jasmine wanting to speak with him was strange. What could she possibly need to tell him?
"Go on," he urged. He was anxious to get back to his reading his newspaper. He was fascinated with the political mud-slinging that was being fired back-and-forth, alerting the less observant citizens that an election was only two months away now.
"Well, do you remember the advice you gave me, like, back in June?"
Jeremy frowned and thought back to June. He quickly remembered the small snippet of advice he had given to the upcoming college freshmen. "Yes, yes I do. What about it?"
He heard the girl laugh slightly. "If you couldn't tell, I didn't think it was going to make much of a difference, honestly. But I decided to give it a shot, and I have to say that I am amazed at how much change can add up. I counted it this morning, and, since June, I've collected twenty dollars." She paused for a second, and, while Jeremy was glad for Jazz, he couldn't figure out where she was going with this. "So, I guess I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for giving me that advice, because if you hadn't, I would have missed the opportunity to gain or save that money." She paused again. "And, you know, it kinda made me realize that there are missed opportunities all around us everyday. I've keeping my eye open for those too."
Jeremy felt his heart warm. She was saying thank-you? Jeremy had thought nothing of the advice he had given the girl. For one, he assumed most people already collected change, as he did, and besides that, he had given tons of people the same advice. However, no one had ever thanked him for his words. He smiled, enjoying the feeling of knowing that his words had not fallen on deaf ears.
"Your very welcome, Jasmine. I'm glad you took my advice."
"Yeah, I was just thinking that I needed to pass that on to you. Someone called me and told me something they thought I needed to know, just in case they never got the chance to tell me again. And well, I thought the same thing, and I decided that you needed to know how much I appreciate and use your advice."
Jeremy was full-out grinning now. "Thank you, that really means a lot."
"Your—ah!" Jeremy jumped when he heard the scream from over the phone. He heard another girl's voice softly in the background.
"Sorry, I didn't know you were on the phone."
Jazz laughed. "Sorry about that Mr. Manson, but I think I'm going to have to let you go."
"Alright, Jasmine," Jeremy stated calmly, betraying his curiosity. "Goodbye."
A/N: So...I didn't come right out and tell you the advice Jeremy gave to Jazz, but I hinted around it pretty heavily. No worries though, because I intend to delve a little further into it next chapter. And, by the way, it's very simple, nothing outrageous. (I was thinking about having him give her some great advice on investing money, but I don't know enough about money myself to not seem stupid.) But...when thinking up this chapter, I was trying to figure out something good Jazz would need to call him for, and the best thing I came up with had to do with money, since, after all, he is a Manson.
In completely unrelated news, I have discovered Harry Potter. Okay, well discovered is the wrong word, but I just watched the first Harry Potter movie Monday night. :) Amazing, huh? I've gone my entire life without knowing anything about Harry Potter, except for the line "You're a wizard, Harry." Seriously...that was the extent of my knowledge. (I did learn from one of my more obsessed friends last semester that he has a scar on his forehead.) Oh, and I knew the bad guy's name. Other than that, I had no idea what Harry Potter was really about. So my friends all decided that I needed to be educated, haha. Second movie is tonight, and I must say, I'm very much looking forward to it.
Till next time! Please leave your thoughts!
