GhostWriterGirl: I'm back! And this time, me and Nell aren't alone! Introducing… Owen Fenton!

Owen:*waves shyly*Hey.

Nell:*groans*Ghosty, the readers enjoyed me and Owen sniping at each other in the actual story. I am not giving up the spotlight to Owen!

Owen: I never pegged you for the jealous type, Nell.

Nell: That's because I've never had to share anything for me to be jealous over!

Owen: Oh sure, and I don't think you're jealous you have to share Dustin with Ava, who's his little sister?

Nell:*blushes*I, uh… that's different! Dustin is Ava's brother! You're my sibling, and-

GhostWriterGirl: All right, all right, enough! Honestly, if you guys are going to continue to bicker during my ANs, I'm going to duct tape your mouths shut! With phase-proof duct tape for you, Nell! And you don't want me to do that, do you?*Nell and Owen share a look before shaking their heads*Good. Now, try to please learn to get along for both my and the readers' sanity! Clear?

Nell and Owen:*in unison*As crystal.

GhostWriterGirl: Good. *turns back to readers with an apologetic smile on her face*Sorry about that. A bit of sibling rivalry, but they'll get used to each other sharing the ANs. And now, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and because I can't trust them to not argue over it-

Nell and Owen: Hey!

GhostWriterGirl:*continues on*I'm going to do the disclaimer from now on until they learn how to not argue over sharing things! So, no, I don't own Danny Phantom, that belongs to Butch Hartman, otherwise I would have done a fourth season, put a few crossover episodes in there, have a certain evil villain trapped in a common piece of Fenton gear reappear, redone the third season finale, and all that jazz. I only own this story, Nell, Owen, Holly, Josie, Ava, and Dustin. Now, I better teach these two how to share the ANs. Enjoy the chapter! GhostWriterGirl out! Now…*pulls the half-siblings out of their chairs and drags them away to another room*

Chapter 9

Chapter 8: Ghost Power Hijinks, Admissions Of Feelings, And Danny Phantom

Nell's P.O.V

Beep! Beep! Be-

The obnoxious blaring of my alarm clock was silenced by a well-shot ghost ray from my finger. Pulling my head from underneath my covers, I looked at the still-smoking device, and frowned when I saw what I could make out of the red digits displayed on the cracked screen: 5:00.

Why do I have to be up this early? I thought. Whenever me, Owen and Josie practiced our powers(we let Holly sleep in because you-know-why)it was always at 6 AM. Why was this time different?

A yelp from the boys' room had me remember yesterday's events-the accident, and Danny's new ghost powers.

That's why, I thought, before I put on my everyday clothes and phased through the bathroom me and my brothers shared, sticking my intangible head into their room to see which new ghost power of Danny's acted up this time.

"Okay, which one was it?" I demanded tiredly as I phased fully into the room and turned tangible again, sitting cross-legged on Danny's bed and pinching the bridge of my nose tiredly.

Come to think of it, where was Danny anyway? The only person I saw here was Owen.

A muffled, "Woke up from sinking into my bed and landing on the floor," from Danny underneath his bed told me it was intangibility this time.

I turned my hand intangible and phased it into the bed, pulling a disgruntled Danny out from under his bed.

"I should have warned you-you're in for a few rude wakeup calls until you've got your powers under control," I informed him apologetically as I hopped off Danny's bed and stood on the floor. "But I thought it would have stopped, considering this is the third time in a row it acted up."

During the night, both me and Danny had woken up from Danny sinking through his bed twice, turning invisible thrice, and floating once. It was a miracle we had gotten some sleep at least for more than one hour last night.

"One, thanks for the warning," Danny responded back dryly. "And two, how should I know that this would have stopped after the, I don't know, first time!"

At his exclamation, Danny's eyes glowed neon green before reverting back to their normal blue.

"Well, I woke up a couple of times when my intangibility power kickstarted, but it was only once or twice a night, a week tops," I told him, sitting cross-legged on the floor. I mulled this over for a bit before I realised what was going on.

"It must be because we became half-ghosts differently!" I realised. Danny had a blank look on his face.

Clueless, I thought, before clarifying, "Think about it. I was born with these powers because my biological dad is a ghost. You got your powers from the accident in the ghost portal. It must be taking you longer to get your ghost powers under control than it was for me when they kickstarted."

Danny thought about it. "I think you may be-ARGH!"

Danny was cut off as he started to sink into the floor for about the fourth time now.

"And it is going to be a lot more harder to hide your powers if it's going to take you longer to control them," I quipped as I used my ghost strength to haul him up out of the floor.

"No kidding!"

Later

Breakfast had passed without a hitch-save for the fact that Danny's foot turned intangible as he was coming down the stairs and tripped him, he turned invisible when he was trying to avoid Jazz, and he almost transformed into his ghost form right in front of our parents, Jazz, Holly and Josie! I could easily lie and cover up the first two, as I experienced them acting up myself in front of people who didn't know my secret, but I was freaking out as much as Danny did when I saw the transformation rings starting to appear. Thankfully, I hid Danny in a closet before the rings could fully form and split off, changing him into ghost form, and Danny managed to change back to human form willingly before anyone could ask any questions.

Me and Owen had excused ourselves early from breakfast so that we could converse in the shadows of my room(charmed against Holly and Josie from eavesdropping using shadow-travel, of course)about whether or not we should tell Jazz, Holly, Josie and our parents about Danny's new half-ghost status. We agreed it was for the best that Jazz and Mom and Dad didn't know(Jazz didn't believe in ghosts anyway and Mom and Dad are ghost hunters!), but we had argued over Holly and Josie knowing. Owen reasoned Holly and Josie should know since Holly saw Danny getting his ghost powers from the accident in her vision, but I countered that while Josie could probably roll with us telling Danny, Sam and Tucker about the family secret, Holly would kill us, then resurrect us, then kill us again for telling our adoptive brother and our friends the family secret, after I told Ava(she had practically death-glared me all week and it was even worse when she death-glared me in one of her morning-grouches; in other words, really, really, really ticked off with me), with him reluctantly agreeing. Of course, when Danny felt like he wanted to tell our parents, Jazz, Holly and Josie his new secret, I would probably tell Mom, Dad and Jazz that I was half-ghost as well and my half-brother and half-sisters would tell them the family secret as well.

Until then, me, Danny and Owen had adopted a "What they don't know won't hurt them" attitude about keeping Danny's new half-ghost status a secret around our parents and sisters.

Now, me, Danny, Owen, Sam, Tucker and Ava were walking to Casper High, talking about the accident and how we were going to hide Danny's powers from-basically-everyone else at school.

"The most important thing I've learnt during when I was controlling my own powers and I was in public places is that I could keep them from acting up if I was calm and not paranoid," I advised, glaring at Danny's freaked-out look. "If you're paranoid and believe that everyone suspects something's up, that's usually when the powers act up."

At those words, Danny's started sinking through the pavement. Sam and Tucker quickly hauled him up while me, Owen and Ava blocked any views from any pedestrians nearby at the front, side and back.

"Like that," I finished in a snarky tone as Danny's legs turned tangible again, grinning sheepishly. I gave him a sharp glare, but before he could protest, he shivered and gasped, a blue mist coming out of his mouth. This was followed by the feeling of a thousand electrical jolts going up my spine in a not-too-unpleasant way and an electric white mist snaking it's way out of my mouth as my own ghost sense activated. I looked around, knowing only one person who activated both mine and Danny's ghost senses.

We were at Casper High, and it was basically deserted this early in the morning. The only people around were students who were either snitches or goody-two-shoes; nerds that wanted some peace and quiet and a reprieve from jocks shoving them into lockers; the more kinder athletes warming up; and-though sometimes later-Valerie and Star. That, and a new guy who was just coming out of the registration building.

I growled and stormed towards the guy.

He looked like a normal human teen-messy brown hair, blue eyes with faint, almost unnoticeable gold flecks, silver guitar pick on a string that served as a necklace, black shirt, dark blue jeans, ratty grey and white Converses, and a red leather jacket. Black sunglasses dangled off the collar of his shirt, and a silver chain hanging from his concealed belt, smirk that was supposed to be charming, and black bracelet with grey spikes studding it completed the bad-boy charmer look. Honestly, you wouldn't have noticed the faint black marks on his clothes-especially his shirt-that looked suspiciously like smoke or ash, the deathly pallor of his skin despite the tan, the way the gold in his eyes held a faint, unnatural glow.

Or the fact he was faintly glowing.

The disguised ghost grinned at me.

"Why, hello there. I don't suppose I've seen you around. If you hadn't, the name's Dust. Dust Thornton."

"Knock it off Dustin," I snarled. "You do know me, Owen and Holly, since we're necromancers, know you're an actual ghost under that disguise, right? And that me and Danny can still sense you."

Dustin smirked. "That's exactly why I disguised myself, Nelly."

I growled. "Don't call me that."

Dustin gave me another cocky grin; I really hate that cocky grin.

Though it was a bit charming…

Dustin's grin? Charming? Uh, no way! Pull yourself together, Nell! You don't like him that way! No, no you don't, I mentally berated myself, though I wasn't sure how convincing I was-even to myself.

"Dustin?" Ava's voice called out behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. We looked to see a confused Ava walk up to us. "Why are you re-enrolled here?"

Dustin cracked another cocky grin.

"What does it look like? Someone's got to keep an eye on his living sister when the ghosts start attacking. And what better way to do that than to pretend you're alive again, re-enrol back in the same school you attended before you died a few months after your fifteenth birthday, and live up the dramas of high school again," he drawled, but got a sad look in his eyes when he mentioned the year of his death. That left me curious, despite me knowing it was a touchy subject to ask a ghost about how they died.

"Dustin, if you don't mind me asking-"

"Oh, I don't mind. I'm rather surprised you're talking to me civilly after you looked like you wanted to tear me apart minutes before," he cut in. I gritted my teeth, but continued.

"Anyway, and-forgive me for asking, but… how did you die?"

Ava looked at the ground while Dustin chewed his lip, sadness and indecisiveness playing over his face, as if he was contemplating whether or not to tell me.

I was beginning to think he wasn't going to tell me when he said, "It was three years ago. We just had Ava's twelfth birthday party. I think you were there, but I had left early to go out with my friends."

I did remember attending, and I did remember seeing an older boy, but that had been fleeting.

"Anyway, a few days after, me and my friend-Spike-were going back home after we snuck into a senior party, when we saw a burning building. Despite Spike's protests, I went to see what was going on, and I was shocked and surprised to see Ava there. She told me her friend, Star, was trapped in there, and despite her telling me to not go in, I went in and searched for her friend.

"It was hot, and sweltering, but I managed to find Star and get her out. I also found a trapped couple and pulled them out, and even saved a little boy. I thought that was everyone, but the boy told me his baby sister was still in there. I headed back in there again and managed to find the boy's sister and hand her over to the fireman with me-the fire brigade had just arrived when I pulled the little boy out-but before we could get out of the room, a flaming beam fell down. I pushed the fireman holding the boy's baby sister out of the way, but the beam had landed on my leg instead, trapping me. I told the fireman to take the baby and save her and himself. It took a long time for me to convince him to leave me, but he agreed and left, but it was too late to save me. I was burned alive, and it didn't help that the wooden beam had either broken or crushed my leg, so I was in agonising pain when I died."

Dustin took a deep breath he probably didn't need before continuing.

"When I woke up, the fire had been put out. I discovered I was glowing before I saw my charred body, burned beyond recognition. It was those two things-and me going through a wall and discovering that everyone outside the building couldn't see me-that I realised I was now a ghost.

"I freaked out at first, but I remembered that ghosts could be seen by someone if they had an object from when that ghost was alive. I instantly sought out Ava, as I had given her a bracelet I had from when I was twelve as a birthday present. She freaked out when she saw me, glowing, red-haired, and having eyes that reminded the both of us of the beach-" so I wasn't alone in that observation-"but she eventually calmed down when she realised that, ghost or not, I was still her older brother. She promised not to tell anybody about me, and during those first three years of my afterlife, I just hung around Amity Park, pulling pranks on people, watching as my little sister grew up, attended her first day of high school with her-" I knew my ghost sense hadn't gone haywire that same day!-"scared the loving daylights out of people picking on her, even though they couldn't see me, and supported and spent as much time as I could with Ava as her big brother since I was now a ghost invisible to the general public. I even attended her cheerleading tryout-which I had encouraged her to go for-and was where I first saw you."

He looked at me then, and I couldn't help a faint blush seep into my cheeks,

"At first, it took me a while to recognise you, but when I did, I instantly knew you were Nell Fenton. Honestly, who else has blue-black eyes that faintly glow like yours? Despite your different clothes and the red streaks in your newly short, shoulder-length hair, you still looked the same as you did when you were twelve."

Back then, I had just made gothic tomboy my fashion style, but my hair had been an all-natural, platinum blonde colour, and had reached to my waist. When it was the last week of summer, I decided I would start my first year of high school with a "New look, new start" attitude and got red streaks in my hair at the salon, cut my hair with scissors at home, tidied up the now-spiky ends at the salon as well and had just purchased most of the clothes I wore now.

But still, like Dustin said, hardly anyone had the same eyes as me. So it must have been pretty easy for him to recognise me as the twelve-year-old girl who had attended his little sister's twelfth birthday party.

My heart fluttered a bit at the tone he used to describe my eyes.

"When I saw you, I was shocked to discover you could see me. I never gave anything that I had from when I was alive to you, but there you were, staring at me in shock. You looked like you had seen, well, a ghost."

He was about to speak again when I pressed a finger to his mouth-which was as cold as ice.

"When did this turn from telling me about how you died to the story of your afterlife and now seeing me at Ava's tryout?" I demanded, but my voice held a teasing tone.

"I honestly don't know. Maybe I was rambling."

I stepped back a bit, finger now off his mouth, not liking how my heart was hammering against my ribcage like a trapped bird. I was about to make another comment when Dustin stumbled forward, almost falling into me, and I saw Ava smirk knowingly as she pulled back her elbow from the place she elbowed Dustin forward.

"Oh, go ahead and ask her out already!" Ava complained, rolling her eyes. "That was what you were building up to, right Dustin?"

"Ava," Dustin growled through gritted teeth. He then turned to face me. "Is there a place where we can go to? In private?"

I thought for a bit, before saying, "The roof's usually deserted at this time in the morning. We can go there, if you want."

Dustin nodded, before glaring at his sister again and answering, "Sure. Sounds fine."

Heading deeper into the shadows of the school, I concentrated, and grabbed Dustin's arm, ignoring the deathly coldness of it, and shadow-travelled up to the roof. Letting go of the travel, I brought myself and Dustin out of the shadows. Dustin looked a bit shaken.

"Uh… man. Nell, you do know we could have gone intangible and just phase up here, right?" Dustin sardonically asked.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" I snarked back. Looking at the shadows surrounding the roof, I concentrated and placed a charm restricting shadow-travel around the roof.

"The roof's now charmed against anyone shadow-travelling up here. We can talk without worrying about Owen or Holly eavesdropping," I informed Dustin as I moved to the edge, sitting down. I patted the space beside me, bits of gravel sticking to my hand.

"You can sit, if you want. Or stand. I don't mind," I stated coolly.

A brush of chilled air against the right side of my body told me that Dustin was sitting next to me.

"Are you gonna continue from where you let off, or are you gonna snark at me and make sarcastic comments at me?" I asked him irritably, not facing him.

"Would you like me to continue from where I left off?" Dustin asked back, hand sitting casually on top of mine. Looking at our hands, I blushed, as did Dustin.

"I, um, would like you to continue from where you left," I said, not liking how I stammered a bit and how clammy my hands were. Gosh, what was wrong with me!? I didn't have feelings for Dustin… did I?

Dustin cleared his throat, breaking me out of my thoughts, and I turned to him as he continued from where he left off.

"Anyway, I also noticed your brother, Owen, could see me, but Danny and Tucker couldn't. I was confused at first, so after Ava went to your place, I searched the Internet for any references to people who could see ghosts without wearing anything belonging to that ghost from when that ghost was alive. Necromancers came up.

"At first, I was shocked, but it kinda made sense, and it also explained why you guys didn't seem to think that your parents hunting ghosts wasn't as crazy to you two as it was for Danny and Jazz. I was especially curious about you, considering I saw that white mist come out of your mouth. So, I decided to check on you and Ava, phasing into your bathroom to see. I phased my head into your room, and saw that white mist come out of your mouth again. You left, and went into the bathroom. I was about to leave, 'cause I wanted to give you some privacy, when I saw you transform. I was stunned, but I remembered to phase out and back outside. I was confused as to why you could possibly be a ghost, and a necromancer, but you noticing me told me you were both. And the next day after, you explaining your life story to Ava before you, Owen, Holly and Josie were adopted by the Fentons cleared everything up, but I was still stunned. I mean, it's not everyday that the best friend of your sister turns out to be a half-ghost necromancer!"

He flung his arms out as emphasis, before going on.

"I was unsure about you, and it was clear you didn't like me, but during that night in that storm, and that moment with you pinning me down when Danny became half-ghost and I now became visible to every citizen here in Amity, you looked so happy and content in the storm, but so passionate and filled with fire and energy, and sparking with electricity during that moment in the lab, and both times you looked so, beautiful, that I knew; despite me being dead and you being alive, I knew."

My heart tightened and my blood began to pound as I turned to face him. Gold-blue eyes held my blue-black, his eerily glowing eyes the perfect compliment to my ghost form's red-silver eyes and my human form's blue-black. We didn't move, but he continued to speak.

"Nell," he whispered, and my heart pounded against my ribcage even harder when he said my name in that tone. "I know I'm dead. I know I'm a ghost. I know I can never be alive again, or ever age; I'll always be stuck at fifteen. And I don't know how long this will last, but I'm hoping it will last for a darn long time. Because, Nell, ever since I saw you in that storm and in the lab, I knew what I felt for you. And the truth is Nell, is that I like you. I really, really, really like yo-"

He never finished. Because I kissed him.

His lips were cold, but I didn't care. He seemed hesitant, but he kissed me back, eyes closing. And I knew it probably wouldn't work, but I didn't care at this point in time. All I cared about was him now, and what I felt for him, after I finally accepted my feelings for him.

I pulled back, my shoulder-length hair falling around my face and my breath coming out in slight pants as I said, "I like you too, Dustin. At first, I thought I didn't like you, and tried to convince myself I didn't like you. But now, I have accepted my feelings for you. And the truth is that I like you. Really like you."

Dustin smiled happily, and I leaned in to give him another kiss. But before I could, he pulled back and said, "Nell, before we start fully making out… what do you say about being my girlfriend?"

Instead of answering, I kissed him. He eagerly reciprocated it, kissing me deeply. His fingers tangled in my hair and I stopped the kiss a second later as I asked, "Does that answer your question?"

He smiled giddily. "Yes. Yes it does."

I smiled back and was about to kiss him again when he pulled back from me, looking shy and nervous.

"Nell… before we start making out again," he started, "I want to give you this."

He pulled out something and showed it to me. My eyes widened.

"A ring?" I whispered.

"Well, yeah, if you want it. It's entirely your choice. But… I got it for you," Dustin rambled as I studied the ring. It was silver-banded, with an onyx the shape of a storm cloud on it, and an opal in the shape of a lighting bolt on top, so it appeared it was striking the cloud. Just like inside a natural storm.

My eyes misted.

"I told Ava I wanted to go out with you, and I wanted a ring that was special to give you-like you. So, she asked Star if she could ask her mother-" Star's mother was a jeweller-"if she could make you a ring that had a gem the shape and colour of a storm cloud and another on top of the first one, but in the shape and colour of a lighting bolt. When Ava gave it to me, I had to say, the onyx's and opal's colours matched pretty well to the objects they were trying to be."

Indeed they did. I couldn't stop looking at the lighting bolt-shaped opal, at the blues, whites, purples, and greens it gave off, so like the real thing inside a storm.

"But," he continued, "it's also a promise ring. Look inside the band."

I did and saw engraved, in curling letters, In Life And Death, I'll Always Love You; DT&NF.

Even though it was too early for us to use the "L" word, the promise engraved in the band of the ring was still sweet, and something I would cherish for as long as I lived.

"Nell, I'll always be with you, in life and death. I promise," Dustin promised. "No matter what comes, I'll be trying to make this work. No matter what comes."

"No matter what comes," I repeated. "I'll always be with you; no matter what comes."

"So, uh, Nell…" he began, looking at me with those eerie blue eyes, "will you like to be my girl?"

A tear slipped out of my eye as I whispered, "Yes, Dustin. Yes, yes, a thousand yeses yes!"

A look of pure happiness spread over Dustin's face as he he slid the promise ring on my left ring-finger, the band fitting snugly.

And with no further encouragement, I pressed my lips to Dustin's, sealing the promise we made to each other and that we were now an official couple, and kissed him deeply and passionately, proceeding to make out with him.

Danny's P.O.V

School was going to start soon, and Danny couldn't find Nell anywhere.

His adopted sister had left with Dustin a few minutes ago, and now the both of them had disappeared. When Danny had asked Ava, she just gave a knowing smirk, and when Owen had tried to shadow-travel to wherever Nell and Dustin were, he found that he couldn't. Not to mention he had a few close calls, thanks to his powers acting up-Dash had tried to wail on him again, but Danny had turned invisible instinctively, and he had begun to sink into the floor only a minute ago. If Sam and Tucker hadn't been there, Danny would probably have had a hard time explaining himself.

Now, he was climbing up the stairs to the roof, the last place he hadn't checked for Nell.

"Darn it, where is she?" Danny muttered, eyes glowing neon green from frustration before reverting back to their normal blue. He had been so into his thoughts, he hadn't noticed Owen shadow-travel in front of him.

"Hey Danny!" Owen greeted him cheerfully.

"ARGH!" Danny yelled, jumping and flying straight up into the ceiling before landing back down on the step. "Ow. Owen, don't do that!"

"Sorry Danny," Owen apologised, putting an arm around Danny in a brotherly way-an arm that Danny shrugged off.

"Knock it off, bro. Anyway, why are you here?"

"Same as you: looking for our elusive sister," he responded back.

"Where do you think she is?"

Owen pondered it over before smacking himself.

"Of course! It was so obvious! Why did I miss that!?"

"Uh, Owen, what did you miss?" Danny asked, thoroughly confused.

"The roof! Nell always goes up there either when she wants to get away from the school crowd, wants to think to herself, wants to practice her powers, or wants to see the view of Amity Park from up there," Owen answered, opening the roof door while talking. "She must have charmed it against shadow-travel, and that blocked me from going up there when I was trying to shadow-travel to wherever she was. Man, Nell has a lot of explaining to do about why she was up her-"

By then, Owen had swung the roof door open, but what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks, eyes wide. This also caused Danny-who was right behind Owen-to crash into him.

"OOF! Owen what the heck!?" Danny exclaimed, irritated. But it appeared that Owen didn't hear him.

Looking at Owen's face, Danny saw that his adopted brother's face was almost drained of colour, his eyes were wide, and he was stuttering.

"I will never un-see this," he whispered.

"Un-see what?" Danny demanded. "What!?"

Without saying a word, Owen pointed a finger. Following Owen's line of sight, Danny saw where he was pointing at and a smirk crossed his lips.

"They finally got together," he muttered, chuckling a bit. "Took them long enough."

There, lying on the roof, was Nell and Dustin, in the full throes of making out. Nell was on top of Dustin, and she was in ghost form, their combined auras lighting up the area around them. The two teens-one dead, one half-dead-were passionately kissing and didn't notice a sick-looking Owen and a smirking Danny. But a yelp from Danny at his foot turning intangible and going through the roof and falling face-first on the ground alerted Nell to them. She whirled around, and her red-silver eyes narrowed in anger and embarrassment, but mostly anger.

"What are you two doing here!?" she demanded, furious at being caught. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Before the two boys could say anything, a sudden, strong wind whipped up, slamming into the two boys and pushing them into the roof stairwell, the wind slamming the door closed. A strand of green-white lighting looped around the handle tightly.

Danny looked at Owen and almost laughed at the expression on his face.

"Please don't tell me you didn't see that coming, right?" Danny asked, looking at his adopted brother.

Owen still had a look of shocked disgust on his face, whispering, "I will never forget that for a long, long while."

Before Danny could say anything else, the door blew open and a fuming Nell stood there, back in human form-though her eyes were glowing a dangerous red-silver.

"Give," she hissed, "one good reason as to why you two were UP IN MY PRIVATE PLACE?!"

"Class is gonna start soon, and-AHHH!" Danny started, before he began to sink through the step he was on. Thankfully, Owen managed to pull him back up.

"And we didn't know where you were," Owen finished. "The roof was the last place we checked. Although, I wished we had found you at your other hangouts."

At that, Nell blushed furiously, muttering, "I'll be back there in a sec," and slamming the door shut. A second later, she came back, hauling a smiling Dustin behind her. The sunlight glinted off of something on Nell's left ring-finger. Looking at it, Danny saw it was a ring, with a black gem in the shape of a storm cloud and another in the shape of a lighting bolt on top.

"Nice ring, Nell," Danny complimented. "Did Dustin give it to you?"

Nell began blushing a deeper red, before she began to fiddle with the ring. Dustin, not noticing her embarrassment and being caught making out with him, slung an arm over her shoulders and gave her a peck on her cheek.

"Of course I did. Not only does it look absolutely stunning on her, but we're official now," Dustin informed them, before leaning in close to Nell. "Of course, everything looks stunning on you."

This time, instead of blushing, Nell whipped around and pressed her lips to Dustin's, the latter surprised before sinking into the kiss. This continued for several seconds, all the while making the two other teenage boys there feel very uncomfortable; Danny didn't even complain when he became invisible unwillingly.

At last, the two new lovebirds pulled apart, flushed but happy.

"Even your lips on mine?" Nell asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Even that," Dustin murmured, trailing a set of light, feathery kisses down Nell's cheek and to her lips, before moving apart and clasping Nell's hand, with her immediately lacing her fingers through his. Walking hand-in-hand, the new couple sidestepped around Danny and Owen, heading down the stairs. As soon as they were out of sight, Danny came back to visibility-only to have his new ghost sense go off a second later, obviously from Dustin.

"ARGH! I hate this ghost sense!" Danny yelled, not noticing when Owen pulled him down the stairs and to class, with only minutes to spare as the tardy bell rang.

Lunch

It was barely the middle of lunch, and everyone had already seen, heard, or talked about Casper High's newest couple.

By the time Dustin and Nell(the couple that every student at Casper High had been talking about)had made it to their table, everyone was trying to pester them for answers about how Noel(or Nell, as everyone knew that they should call her, lest she got back at them with electric shocks)managed to win the heart of the mysterious new boy, Dust Thornton, so swiftly.

Or why would such a good-looking bad boy go out with a self-proclaimed loser and hang out with her outcast friends and loser brothers-with Nell, Danny and Owen being the kids of crazy people who claim to hunt "ghosts". It was odd, to say the least, and it got even weirder when it seemed like Nell and the new boy seemed to… know each other, before today.

The entire student body were so fixated on the two teens that hardly anyone noticed when Danny almost went through his seat and turned invisible before winking back to visibility. If Sam, Tucker, Owen, Ava, Dustin and Nell hadn't been there, a student that probably wasn't obsessing over Nell's new relationship status probably would have noticed.

"Thanks guys," Danny thanked, giving them all grateful smiles after his latest bout of his powers acting up. They smiled back, but the mood quickly soured when Nell, Danny and Dustin-with their enhanced hearing-heard a couple of A-listers snicker at Nell and Dustin, obviously making fun of the two.

Nell growled, eyes flashing a glowing red-silver, hands gripping the table so hard, it looked like she was crushing it.

"I hate the A-listers," she seethed. "I hate all these people whispering and talking about me and Dustin, or how all these people keep grilling us with questions! And I hate how they're staring at us! If I didn't need to keep my secret so badly or if I didn't need to get chewed out by you guys, I would probably have electrocuted all the school's gossiping students and the A-listers by now."

"Hey, Nell, it isn't so bad…" Dustin drawled, arm slung over Nell's shoulder. At that moment, someone cried out, "Loser love!"

Dustin growled, eyes glowing a harsh yellow before going back to their eerie, blue colour from before.

"And now it is," Dustin finished. At that, the bell rang, signalling the start of fourth period.

"Well, let's get this day over with," Nell sighed, standing up and dumping her remaining food into the nearest bin, Dustin doing the same. As soon as they were done, Dustin held Nell's hand as they walked to their next class, the new couple ignoring the stares and whispers circulating around them as they sauntered into the classroom.

Nell's P.O.V

It was last period; good news, it was the last one. Bad news, it was science.

Oh joy.

We had double-science on Mondays, and I hated every single second with a passion. Mr. Bern was desperate to get me into trouble, and me countering everything he did made his frustration grow. By now, he was trying to get me into trouble for even the simplest thing.

"Miss. Fenton! No holding hands with your new boyfriend!" Mr. Bern yelled at me, from where I was situated from behind my bench.

"I'm not holding hands with him!" I shouted back, glaring daggers at him from behind the stupid safety glasses we had to wear. We were doing chemistry; Danny, Sam and Tucker had paired up with each other, Valerie and Star stuck next to the A-listers and me, Ava, Dustin and Owen were together. Me and Dustin had lightly brushed our hands together as we were passing beakers full of copper sulfate and potassium chloride to each other; that didn't count as holding hands! "We were just passing beakers to one another! What, you wanted us to drop them and make this classroom explode?"

Gasps of shock and, "Ooo, burn", circulated across the room. I smirked, leaning back as smug satisfaction passed over me as I saw Mr. Bern's fuming face, left eye twitching.

"Touché, sir," I hissed under my breath, no amount of contempt in me held back from from saying that three-letter word.

Mr. Bern's eye twitched a couple of times before he shrieked, "That's it! Detention for you, Miss. Fenton!"

"For what!?" I shouted at him.

"For your insolence!" he accused.

"You really don't like me that much to actually accuse me of something!?" I fired back.

Before Mr. Bern could come up with another retort, a yelp sounded from the right, straight across from my bench.

We all turned-only to see Sam, Tucker and Danny standing far back from the shards of glass from the broken beaker and the hissing potassium chloride-copper sulfate combination it spilled.

To say the teacher was furious, was putting it mildly.

But, at least he forgot about me; for a while.

"MR. FENTON!" Mr. Bern shrieked. "HEAD TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE RIGHT NOW!"

Hunching his shoulders a bit, Danny walked to the door, seeing himself out. I gave a sympathetic shrug to Sam and Tucker, before giving a look to Owen, Ava and Dustin. Understanding, Owen covered me casually from sight at the front, Dustin at the side, Ava at the back, all of them surrounding me in a casual ring as I turned intangible and phased out into the hallway, catching Danny just as he was at the end of the hall.

"Danny, wait!" I yelled, turning tangible and racing after him. As soon as I caught up with him, my hand latched onto his arm, stopping him.

"Hey Danny, don't listen to what that old coot says," I assured him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "He's given me detention plenty of times, but have I attended a single one?"

Danny cracked a grin at me. "No."

"Exactly. And if I have learned something from butting heads with Bern, then he usually forgets whatever detention he has given me the next day or so," I told him, smiling slightly. That, and I usually overshadow him to make him forget, I added in my brain.

Danny turned to me, a full smile on his face.

"Thanks Nell, I really needed that. But I think we've better get to the principal's office."

"We?"

"Last time I heard, you had an appointment with detention."

"Yeah, but I'll find a way to get out of it," I dismissed lightly, walking next to my adoptive brother as we walked to the principal's office. "Oh, and by the way, what was the story with the beaker? Even I know that it wasn't meant to have Bern focus on anything or anyone but me."

"Yeah, well…" Danny started, rubbing the back of his neck as he laughed nervously.

I repressed a groan. "It was intangibility, wasn't it?"

"Hey! You were in trouble, and Bern was going to say something that probably wouldn't have gone well with you. I panicked!" Danny defended. "I needed to find something to draw his attention away from you, the go-through-things power acted up-"

"Intangibility," I corrected automatically.

"Whatever. Anyway, it acted up, the beaker literally slipped through my fingers, and bam! The beaker's broken, and there's whatever-we're-working-with all over the ground! And, there was the thing Bern focused on and away from you," he finished, still looking nervously at the floor.

"Danny, I wouldn't have needed a distraction," I said to him. "Look, I have a ghost power that you'll probably get in the next month or so that let's me make the person I use this power on to control the person's actions and make sure that detention never happened to me."(AN: Any guesses[hint, it begins with "O"]).

Danny frowned. "This power that you're talking about… is it painful?"

I laughed.

"Danny, the people I use this power on don't remember me doing it to them in the first place," I told him. "And no, it just requires me turning intangible and… doing something to their bodies. But it's entirely painless."

I didn't what to tell Danny overshadowing was part of my powers and probably going to be one of his own powers. I wanted him to find out about it on his own, and wait until he found out about it before telling him I had that power as well. But, telling him tidbits of that power won't hurt.

Danny grimaced a bit. "Still sounds painful to whatever I'm doing to their bodies if I get this power."

"Trust me Danny, I've done this power about a hundred powers. It's entirely painless," I assured him. "Anyway, wanna ditch going to the principal's office?"

"Won't we get into more trouble?"

"Danny, it's last period. You can't punish someone when there's nothing but going home afterwards," I told him. "Relax. I know what I'm doing. And, it won't even matter in three… two… one."

At the end of my countdown, the bell blared and Casper High's student body poured out of the classrooms, ready to go home and prepare for another torturous day of high school tomorrow.

Expertly slipping into the crowd from the millions of times I had to go to an unfair detention at last period science and I didn't want to attend, heading towards the doors as I pulled Danny with me, navigating my way through the crowd. We walked out of the doors and headed towards the tree near the picnic bench facing the sidewalk and waited for Sam, Tucker, Owen and Ava to appear.

And Dustin.

A shiver ran up my spine, followed by an electrical jolt and an electric white mist passing my lips. Glimpsing out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue mist go out of Danny's mouth-just as Dustin wrapped his arms loosely around my neck.

"Good afternoon, Nelly," he greeted, placing a light kiss on my cheek.

"Mmm… afternoon Dustin, and don't call me Nelly," I said back, my tone meant to be angry, but came out more as playful.

"Why not? Should I call you Dell Nell every time we meet, Dell Nell?" Dustin asked back as I turned my head so that our lips could meet in a feathery kiss.

"Dell Nell's better than Nelly, Dustin," I returned, slipping out of his arms only so that I could fully face him and slide my own arms around his neck, my promise ring glinting. Blue-black eyes held good-blue. "Only my dad calls me Nelly. And now that I think about it, I need to give you a little ol' nickname, Dusty?"

Before he could reply, I pressed my lips to his in a soft, tender kiss, one which he gladly responded back to, making it deeper.

When we finally pulled back, he inquired, "Dusty, huh?"

"What, too childish?" I wondered, raising my eyebrows teasingly.

"No, never with you. In fact, I quite like it," he replied back, before his lips found mine. My hands found their way into his hair and I pulled him to me, the kiss going ever deeper, more passionate, more wonderful and-

"Oh, get a room guys!"

Breaking apart, we whirled around-only to see Ava lowering her hands from where they had been cupped around her mouth, a knowing grin on her face. Behind her, Sam and Tucker were looking at me and Dustin with stunned looks on their faces, but dropped them and replaced them with knowing grins. Danny was in-between them, and Owen was beside Ava. Still grinning, Ava turned to my brothers and friends, hand out.

"All right, pay up," she stated. Sighing, Danny, Owen and Tucker surrendered five bucks from their wallets to Ava, who instantly pocketed them.

"What was that about?" I asked, walking up to them with Dustin's arm around my shoulder.

"Oh, ever since that blush-blush moment back in the lab on Sunday, I told them about the times you and Dustin were around each other and the obvious sparks flying off you guys," Ava started, emphasising "obvious". I blushed, but it was light compared to when me and Dustin weren't going out. "Well, during when you and Danny had a little interval in training, I placed a bet-if you guys ended up admitting your oh-so-obvious feelings for each other and made out by the end of the week, anyone who betted against had to give me five dollars." Ava smirked at Sam. "Sam was the only one who betted you two lovebirds would end up making out by the end of lunch today."

Ava turned to me and Dustin, an unreadable look on her face.

"I agreed with her, so imagine our surprise when Danny and Owen told us you were making out with Dustin on top of the roof before first period! By the way, nice ring."

I barely heard Ava's compliment as I stormed up to my now-quailing brothers, furious. "You told our friends that!?"

"Hey, we had to tell them to call in the bet!" Danny defended. "Even though me, Owen and Tucker lost; we honestly thought it would take you guys months, maybe years to become a couple!"

"Like you and Sam?" I shot back, my tone teasing. At that, both Danny and Sam blushed tomato red.

"Uhhh… that's different!" Danny protested, still blushing. "You and Dustin know each other for only two weeks; me and Sam have been best friends for years."

"And we'll only be best friends," Sam added, though their furious blushing said otherwise.

As if Danny wasn't embarrassed enough, he went invisible.

"Okay, that is very annoying!" Danny's disembodied voice shouted irritatingly, before he winked back into visibility, an annoyed look on his face.

While he and Sam were recovering from their little blushing moment, I gathered Owen, Tucker, and Ava in close, a wicked smirk on my face.

"So, since you guys did a bet on whether or not me and Dustin would become official at the end of the week, how about we make another little bet…

"… But this time, on whether Danny and Sam will go out by the end of this year or next year."

Tucker scoffed.

"I bet near the end of next year; five dollars," Tucker betted.

"Nah, those two are major procrastinators when it comes to admitting their feelings for each other," Owen argued. "I bet when they're around sixteen or seventeen; five dollars."

"I'm a hopeless romantic, so the end of this year or next; five dollars," Ava doled out next.

"Well for me, the end of next year; five dollars," I added as well. I turned to my new ghost boyfriend. "Dustin?"

"Same as you, Dell Nell; five dollars," he betted, pulling me in close to give me a light kiss. Pulling back, I turned to them.

"Now remember, if Danny and Sam become an item at the end of this year or next, any of you who have betted against-"me, Dustin, Tucker and Ava looked at Owen-"you have to hand in your five dollars to me. If they don't become a couple, those who have betted they would become a couple have to hand their five dollars over to whoever betted against. Clear?"

"As crystal," came the four replies. I grinned.

"Then the bet's set," I murmured-just as Danny and Sam recovered from blushing like tomatoes and walked up to us.

"What bet?" Danny innocently inquired.

"Oh nothing; just a bet on whether or not you'll want your powers at the end of this month or so," I covered smoothly. At those words, a race of conflicting emotions went across Danny's face.

"I… actually don't know whether I want them or not at this stage," Danny admitted. "I guess it depends whether or not I'll have any control over them at the end of this month, and if I want to give the superhero gig you mentioned yesterday a go. By the way, even if I do have my powers under control and want to give the superhero thing a try at the end of the month, what would be the name I would use?"

That caught me a bit off-guard. "What?"

"Well, I have a battle cry. I think I would probably need a superhero name to go along with it," Danny pointed out.

That was true; I had my battle cry of "becoming banshee" and I did have the name Storm Banshee as my superhero alter ego. It should be fair Danny should have his own superhero name if he wanted to give being a superhero and ghost fighting a go when the ghosts come out of the portal.

"Hmmm… I actually have thought about it," Sam piped up. We all turned to her.

"Well, what do you think Danny's superhero name should be?" I asked, thanking that we were the only students left at the school, thanks to mine and Dustin's brief make-out session.

Sam gave a grin that could only say that whatever she was going to say was probably going to be something good and we would probably like it.

"Danny," she started. "Danny Phantom."

Danny grinned at the name, and I had to admit, it wasn't half-bad. It was catchy, and it definitely had a ghostly, cool feel to it.

"You know what, I like it," Danny said. "I think 'Danny Phantom' will be a great superhero, ghost fighting name."

I smiled even more.

Danny Phantom and Storm Banshee.

I think we'll make a pretty good team.

GhostWriterGirl: And so the name is uttered! And, Nestin has happened! Yay!

Nell:*blushes*Okay, okay, I guess I kinda saw it coming. What do ya think Owen? Owen?

Owen:…

GhostWriterGirl:*waves hand in front of Owen's blank face*I think he's still stunned and grossed out that he saw his sister making out with a ghost.

Nell: Well, I'm half-ghost. I don't think it's gross me and Dustin are kissing and hugging and making out and-

Owen:*shudders*I will never get that image out of my head.

Nell:*sighs exasperatedly*Owen, you're a necromancer. You know that Mom hooked up with my biological dad to have me-and my actual dad is a ghost. It's not that gross.

Owen:*still shudders*…

GhostWriterGirl: I think it might take Owen a looong time to recover from you witnessing you and Dustin making out, Nell. Anyway, on to the AN! So, what do ya think of this chapter? Hope there was plenty of Danny's powers acting up through out the chapter, and don't worry, the next chapter will finally be "Myst"-hold on a sec.*picks up Owen and Nell, unlocks phase-proof and shadow-travel-proof closet, and shoves them in, locking it behind her*Sorry! But I need to give this little bit without you guys hearing! Anyway, next chapter will be "Mystery Meat", and depending on the length and every Danny Phantom episode after it with Nell, Owen, Holly, Josie, Dustin and Ava in them, they'll be one-two chapters long, but mostly one chapter long. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter, and no, I do not own Danny Phantom, that belongs to Butch Hartman. If I did, Nell, Holly, Josie, Dustin, Owen and Ava would have been in there, Sam and Danny would have become a couple from around either the second and early third seasons, and there would definitely have been a fourth season with a few crossover episodes! Anyway, all said, see ya next chapter! Read and review! GhostWriterGirl out!*walks out of the room, forgetting about Owen and Nell in the closet.*

Nell: Hey Ghosty! Aren't you forgetting something?

Owen: More like someone!

Nell and Owen:*in unison*GET US OUT OF THIS CLOSET!