Chapter 09

The time flew by faster than Danny thought it would. His parents didn't get angry when he arrived home late at night after a study session, taking pride in the fact that he was finally doing something about his grades. The constant studying, however, gave him little time to hang out with Tucker and Sam. The only time he saw them was at lunch when they drilled him about the ghost and spending so much time with Dash.

Classes were the same as that first day after the ghost attack. Dash kept stealing the seat right next to him and making sure he didn't fall asleep in class. But Danny was getting better at sensing his kicks. The first time he retaliated by kicking at Dash's foot before he could jerk the chair, panic made him sweat. He expected Dash to get angry and yell at him or punch him. Instead, Dash gave him half a grin as he turned back to the teacher. After that, it was almost like a game between them. Sometimes, Danny pretended to doze off just so they could play their little kick game between their desks. That got them into trouble a few times when it turned into an intense battle and they started laughing too loudly.

Danny thought he would be lucky and get weekends off to relax, but bright and early Dash came to pick him for another study session. He groaned as Dash dragged him to his house, but he didn't mind it as much as he thought he should. Hanging out with Dash and his football buddies wasn't all that bad. None of them made fun of him, and he liked getting to be in on all their jokes and pranks they pulled on each other when they study. They actually treated him like one of the group rather than some dorky loser they got stuck tutoring.

He realized absently that it was strange that Dash always took the seat next to him when they were studying. It was like they suddenly became glued to the hip, and Danny kept trying to push away his feelings before he did something stupid in front of all the jocks at the table. Pretending he wasn't attracted to Dash became more difficult whenever his leg bumped against Dash's leg under the table. He was surprised the Dash didn't immediately jerk away from him. Then there were times when one of the other jocks would bump into him while they were rough housing or joking around and he would nearly land right in Dash's lap. Danny was still trying to understand why Dash didn't seem in the least bit bothered by that. Could Sam and Tucker be right about the effect of the ghost attack? Was Dash treating him like this only because of that ghost attack? He scratched at his head, struggling with his thoughts.

"How did you manage to get a fraction in your answer for that?" Jordan exclaimed in shock as he glanced over Danny's work on his math homework. They were working in rounds so that none of Danny's classes got overlooked, but math remained his most troubled class. He ended working with Jordan a lot more than the rest of the jocks.

"Ugh! I don't know!" Danny complained as he rubbed out his answer. "I'm never going to remember all of this for finals." As much fun as he was having with the jocks, he still felt this overwhelming sense of hopelessness when it came to school. He didn't feel like his grades were improving at all, and his brain throbbed with all the information they were trying to cram into it. He breathed out a sigh, rubbing at his head.

"You're getting a lot better at it," Jordan told him with an encouraging pat on the back. "You got through most of those equations without an error. And this is the last problem. Then you can put math behind you for the rest of the day."

Danny stared miserably at the problem. He didn't even know how he ended up getting a fraction for the answer. As he struggled to work out the correct answer, his phone rang. Danny pulled out his cell phone and looked at the caller information. "I should take this," he mumbled as he stood from the table.

"Five minutes!" Zane shouted. "If you're not back in five minutes, I'm stealing your food."

Danny hesitated, knowing Zane would indeed steal his food while he was gone. He picked up his slice of pizza and took a long lick from cheese dripping tip to the crust. With a smirk, he dropped it back on his plate as Zane groaned about how disgusting that was. The other jocks burst into laughter while Danny slipped out the door into the backyard.

"What's up, Sam?" Danny asked, walking a little farther into the backyard. The air was humid in the late evening, but it felt refreshing and much needed after suffering the heat inside the kitchen. He tried to ignore it all day, but the room only seemed to grow hotter and hotter until his head felt like it was swimming in dizziness. It made it very hard to concentrate, especially when he remembered the way Dash's leg kept finding his leg under the table and rubbing against him. The memory made him swallow thickly, and the need to sit drew him to the tree at the back of the yard. He collapsed to the ground and leaned back against the tree.

"First, glad to hear from you," Sam said, almost sounding relieved. "We were beginning to wonder if Dash and his idiot friends might have killed you. I thought we had plans today."

"Oh!" Danny winced. "Yeah, sorry. I forgot all about the movies. I kind of got dragged out of bed, pretty much, by Dash to finish up all the homework and stuff that we didn't complete yesterday. I almost miss having my life constantly threatened by ghosts. At least that was something I knew how to deal with."

"I still think Tucker might be onto something with this whole thing about the attack causing some weird effect on Dash." Sam grew increasingly supportive of the theory the more time Danny spent with Dash.

It became an annoyance, and Danny had to take a deep breath not to let it draw him into a fight with his friends. Sometimes he wanted to yell at them when they made that suggestion. It almost hurt that they thought Dash couldn't like him as a friend without the help of a ghost. But he also realized that he was clinging to the hope that something more might happen between him and Dash. "So he's not being a dick to me anymore." He sighed, resting his head back against the tree. "If that's really the only effect, do we really need to be concerned?"

"Yes!" Sam snapped angrily. "We don't know that it's limited to that." She grumbled. "But I guess we don't really have anything else to go on. You haven't experienced anything since the attack."

"Nope," Danny agreed. But it was a lie. That wrinkled bit of flesh over his heart remained from the ghost attack. Whenever he touched it, he felt a terrible pinching pain in his chest. He never told Sam or Tucker about that, not wanting to make them worry any more than they already did. As long as he didn't touch that spot, he was fine.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you can remember from the attack?"

Danny closed his eyes, holding back an exasperated sigh at the question. "I've already told you everything. I told you what he looks like. I told you where I first found him. I told you about his attacks. We've gone over every detail at least a hundred times. What do you expect to hear by asking about it again?"

"We're just trying to help." Sam grumbled again to herself. "Anyway, Tucker and I are going to check around some more tonight and see if we can find this ghost. Do you want to come?"

"I don't know. I still have a lot of studying. And I don't think these guys are going to me go anytime soon."

"It's beginning to feel like they're trying to steal you away."

Danny could see the frown on her face. "It's not like that! They're just helping me with studying. Besides they wouldn't be doing it if Dash didn't ask them first. And don't start with the Dash stuff again. We've talked it to death already at school."

"You're being awfully defensive about Dash. If I didn't know any better, I would think you like being stuck hanging out with him."

Danny laughed, and it sounded forced even to him. "Like it? Why would I like it?"

"Danny," Sam spoke in a slow, threatening tone that made Danny nervous. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Like what?" Danny swallowed and was terribly tempted to "accidentally" hang up on the call. "Look. I should probably get back now before they send out the jock search party to find me."

"Danny-" Her voice cut off when Danny ended the call. He winced knowing that would probably earned him an entire lunch period of yelling from Sam. But he really didn't want to listen to Sam trying to make guesses about his feelings toward Dash. He didn't want to think of his friends' reactions when they found out he liked Dash. They probably still thought he was madly crushing on Paulina.

A soft whine brought Danny's mind out of his thoughts. He dropped his gaze to see Dash's golden Labrador sitting in front of him. With a grin, he reached out and rubbed the dog's head. Bruno, as he learned the dog was named, wedged his way between Danny's legs so that he could lick at the man's face. His head dropped, and he sniffed at Danny's shirt, pressing his wet nose against the man's chest.

"Ah!" Danny lifted the dog's head as a sharp pain stabbed at his chest. "No touching that spot," he warned the dog who merely gave him another big lick to the face. Danny sighed as he wrapped his arms around the dog and buried his face the soft fur. "I wish your owner liked me as much as you seem to."

"Zane is getting really tempted to steal your pizza."

When Kwan's voice suddenly reached him, Danny tensed. Heat rose to his face, making his head feel even dizzier than before. Slowly, he lifted his head from the dog's neck to see Kwan standing before him with a bright smile on his face. He gulped nervously. "Uh, hi, Kwan," he said with a weak laugh as he glanced away. "What'cha doing out here?"

Kwan rolled his eyes. "I came out here to get you. It seems like you're done with that phone call."

"Right." Danny met Kwan's eyes, but he couldn't read whether or not the man heard his comment. If he did, was he going to run off and tell Dash about it the first moment they were alone? His breath hitched at that thought. If Dash learned about his crush, it would definitely scare the jock off! He stared warily at the man in front of him. In the time they spent together, Kwan didn't seem like the type to go around spreading rumors about someone crushing on someone else.

Taking a deep breath, Danny stood. He would have to face the music eventually. When he took a step, Danny wobbled, the world tipping before him. He landed against a hard chest and lifted his blurry vision to stare up at Kwan.

"Are you feeling all right?" Kwan's voice was filled with concern as he helped steady Danny on his feet.

"Yeah, just, you know, head feels like it's going to explode with all the stuff you all keep trying to cram into it," Danny answered, laughing. He let go of Kwan and started walking toward the backdoor. In not more than three steps, his legs bucked under him. With his quick reflexes, Kwan was there to catch him, arms wrapping around the man's torso.

"Perhaps it's time to call things done for tonight," Kwan suggested. This time he held Danny up as they walked toward the backdoor. When they entered the kitchen, Jordan and Peter were cackling like mad while Zane was trying to wipe pizza sauce off his face.

"What's wrong?" Dash asked, spying the pair immediately when they came back.

"I think we may be pushing poor little Fenton a little too much," Kwan answered, ruffling Danny's hair. "I think he's about to pass out from mental overload."

"But we didn't even get to French yet," Peter complained.

"Tomorrow," Danny told him, gathering up his books. He ended up needing Dash and Kwan's help when he kept stumbling and dropping things. The heat was even more intense in the kitchen, and he struggled not to let his consciousness slip and pass out right then and there. Didn't any of the jocks notice the terrible heat?

"Come on. I'll drive you home," Dash said, pushing Danny toward the front door.

"I'll get a ride with Jordon," Kwan called as they left.

Danny collapsed into the passenger's seat of Dash's car. His back pressed into the seat as he closed his eyes. "Why is it so hot?" he mumbled, picking at the front of his shirt and trying to fan himself with it.

"You know, you don't look so good." Dash frowned, concern flashing swiftly through his blue eyes. His head shook when Danny glared at him. "I mean, you look all sweaty. Do you have a fever? If you're sick, you should have said something sooner? We would have given you a break from studying if you aren't well."

Danny huffed, pulling up his shirt to wipe his face with it. He did feel horribly sweaty everywhere. Maybe he was getting sick. "I was feeling fine this morning," he grumbled. "Then it just kept feeling warmer, and I guess that wasn't the normal near summer warmth that we've been having."

"Well, try to get some rest tomorrow," Dash told him, still with that eerie concern in his voice. "It won't be good if you end up having to skip school because you're sick."

"I can't afford to miss anymore classes." Danny didn't even notice when they finally reached his house. Dash actually got out and helped him to the front door. After a few tries and Dash guiding his hand, Danny managed to get the door unlocked. He thought there may have been a short talk with his parents, but he only remembered crawling into bed and drawing his covers around him like a protective cocoon.