"I set fire,
To the chapter!
Watched it burn as I
Burned it more!"
…I was wondering when I'd reach the point of this story where I'd insert a song parody which would make some of you doubt my sanity.
So, this is a short chapter. Mostly because the two other scenes I considered for it made me want to stab somebody when I tried to write them. So in order to make it so you guys would get this chapter before Valentine's Day, I had to cut them and revise the featured scenes. Of course, that made me hate this chapter, thus you get the song.
Also I'm pretty sure I hit the humor genre with a bus. And that is why you shouldn't let me drive.
Onwards!
Chapter 9;
Danny wasn't at school the next day, since his parents had kept him home. He hadn't minded, since it would be the one-week anniversary of his mistake. Tucker and Sam had both called to make sure he was okay, though. Danny's reply in both cases had been "I'm alive, aren't I?"
On the bright side, Danielle was okay. She'd eventually gotten to Valerie's, and had his backpack. But she was okay, and that was the main thing.
It didn't change the fact that Danny was furious with his family. His parents for attacking Danielle, his sister for sending her away... If she decided she was going to leave and go back to traveling the world, Danny wouldn't blame her. He might even consider joining her for a bit, if he could think up some sort of cover story.
Sam and Tucker were waiting at his locker when he went to get his things the day after that, and Tucker had his pack. They greeted each other, Danny found out that he had missed a 'surprise test' in his English class, and Danny was in the process of moving his text books for the day into his backpack before they even touched the events of the day before last.
"So..." Sam started, "How have you been since that happened?"
Danny thought for a moment, "Well, I don't think I count as a Halfa anymore."
Tucker, who had been messing with his phone, nearly dropped it. Sam took a step back, looked at Tucker and then at Danny. The first bell had rung before she said, "Danny, what do you mean?"
"I might be a thirda," Danny mused, dropping a textbook from his locker into his backpack. "Yeah, that works. One third human, one third ghost," He slammed his locker closed and bashed his head on it. "And one third failure. Because that's all I do anymore; fail."
Sam and Tucker relaxed, and Sam placed her hand between Danny's head and the locker. "Danny, no. That's not true!"
"Yeah, dude," Tucker added on, pocketing his phone and pulling Danny up to his feet. "You made a mistake. So what? This one just happened to cause a chain reaction which probably screwed over your family- owie!" He was cut off as Sam stomped on his foot. He stumbled back, and Sam rolled her eyes.
"Wow Tucker," She said, "That was not a manly sound. I'm not sure how to feel about that. Danny, look. You made a mistake. Nobody died, so it's okay. Don't beat yourself up over it. And if you start hitting your head on that locker one more time within the next month I will tie you to a chair and tell Jazz all those little things you do that would make her want to psychoanalyze you. Okay?"
"...Yeah, sure, fine." Danny picked up his bag and pulled a strap onto one shoulder. "Let's just get to class. Tucker, stop dying and come with us." Good thing we won't be working on that stupid class project today. I really don't want to talk to Valerie, I'll probably end up screaming if I do.
Tucker, who had ended up sitting in the hallway and rubbing his foot, quickly scrambled up to follow them. "So, are you okay now?"
"Well, I'm not anymore dead than usual," Danny replied, turning a corner. "So, yeah, sure... Oh." He took a step back, "Hi, Dash. Now is not a good time."
The jock was standing beside his friend Kwan, and the two of them just looked at each other before pushing past Danny. "Leave it, Fentoni. It's Foley we're here for."
"Uh, yeah!" Kwan added on, and the two of them zeroed in on Tucker.
"What did I do?!" Tucker squeaked, and Danny got ready to jump between his friend and his bully.
"Did you make those?" Dash asked, "Star said you make those shirts for not supporting Phantom's Godfather. Do you?!"
"Why do you care?" Sam challenged, and there was a moment of silence.
It was Kwan who eventually said, "We want you to make two more, big enough for us. If you need money, I can-"
"Wait, hold on a second," Danny cut in, "I thought you guys supported him...?"
"Well," Dash shrugged, "Phantom doesn't, so why should we?"
Wait... That was our argument. That was our argument! We got Dash on Kwan on our side! We have Dash and Kwan on our side! Danny couldn't help himself, he threw his fists in the air and a smile took up half his face. "My luck is back! Woo!"
Beat that, Plasmius! I just got people who hate me to go from your side to mine.
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Jack, was it just me, or did our children seem mad at us this morning?"
Jack, who had been working on a prototype of a stronger ghost shield, looked up at his wife. "What do you mean, Mads?"
Maddie shrugged, and looked towards the lab's computer. She had forced herself to give up searching through that database, upon Jack's insistence. She hadn't found what she'd been looking for anyways. "Nothing, I just... It's nothing."
Jack frowned, "Maddie, if it's bothering you, there's no way that it's just nothing. What's wrong?"
"It doesn't matter, Jack." Maddie dismissed him, and though her husband didn't seem too thrilled about it, he let it go. The two lapsed into silence for a few moments before the shrill ringing of their home phone broke it.
Maddie pushed herself away from the computer and rushed up the stairs, picking the device up from its booth. "Fenton Works, Maddie Fenton speaking. What can I do for you?"
"Hello," The voice on the other end took a deep breath in, "This is Damon Gray. Remember me?"
"Oh, Damon!" Maddie smiled, "Yes, I remember you! How are you? And how's Valerie?"
"Fine, fine. We're both fine." Damon paused, and there were a couple seconds of silence. "Actually, it's Valerie who I want to talk to you about. With everything that's going on... I was wondering if you and your husband would be interested in giving her some lessons in ghost hunting? I don't have that much to pay you for them, though, but I want her to be safe."
"Why, Damon!" Maddie's smile widened, "Of course we would! I'll tell you what, we'll give her one free to teach her some basics and see what she can do, and you can see where the two of you want to take it from there. Does that sound good?"
"That sounds excellent!" Damon sounded delighted, "But shouldn't you talk it over with your husband first?"
"Jack trusts me to make these kind of decisions," Maddie replied, which was truth enough. They both knew that she was the reason that most people would call them to report ghost attacks or order defensive items against ghosts, despite most of their inventions being the result of Jack's creativity. They may be a team, but Amity Park seemed to see them as 'Maddie Works' instead of 'Fenton Works.' Jack left Maddie in charge of most things because of that ideal, and as much as he claimed he was telling the truth, Maddie knew he only pretended to be fine with it. "I'll have to run the details by him, of course, but he would do the same for me."
"Oh, of course. That-" He was interrupted by a crash, "-Makes sense. Could you hold on for a moment?"
He didn't wait for an answer, and in the background Maddie heard the voice of a young girl call, "I'm okay! Nothing fell but me! And a computer! And maybe a chair!"
"Damon?" Maddie's expression morphed into one of confusion, "If you're busy, we can continue planning this some other time."
"No, it's fine, I'm on a break." Damon cleared his throat, "Sorry about that. Valerie was doing some community service, and took in this little girl for a little bit. I didn't want her alone in my house, so I took her to work with me. Your son was helping her with it, or so I've heard. He called asking for her, you know."
"No," Maddie frowned, "I didn't." Why would Danny not tell me? I understand he's a teenage boy, but... Hold on, what if he did try, and I didn't listen. What if that's why they were so upset earlier? Because I wouldn't listen and they-
...Oh, I'm being ridiculous. Danny was probably just calling to talk to Valerie and wanted an excuse. He really liked her.
"Oh? ...Well, I'm sure he has a reason." Maddie could tell that Damon was trying to direct the conversation away, and she let him.
"Of course he does," Maddie's tone brightened, "So when would we be training Valerie? Jack and I won't be doing anything major for the next couple of weeks."
"Hm, hold on," There was a pause, and Maddie heard the sound of flipping paper. "...How about Thursday, after the kids get out of school? Around 4:00? I'm not working then, and neither is Valerie."
"That'll work," Maddie replied, looking over at the wall calendar. "Oh! Would you like to watch? We can set up a shielded area for you, if so."
"Well, if it isn't too much of a problem..."
"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Maddie pulled out a pen, and quickly scribbled down 'GH lessons- Grays 4:00' on the calendar. "Will that little girl still be with you two by then? Maybe she would like to learn a bit about ghost hunting too. And besides, knowing basic defense against the supernatural can't harm anyone!"
"...She probably won't, but in case she is I'll keep that in mind." Maddie heard a voice in the background, and there was a second before Damon spoke again. "I have to go. Thanks for this, Maddie. It means a lot to me that Valerie gets these lessons."
"Oh, of course. See you Thursday!"
"Thursday."
The call was ended with that, and Maddie rushed back down the stairs. "Jack!" She called, "Get the white board! We're teaching Valerie Gray how to hunt ghosts on Thursday and we need a lesson plan!"
.-.-.-.-.-.
Valerie and her dad were fighting.
Danielle had locked herself in the bathroom, and currently just sat in the bathtub. She wished she could turn off her powers, just for a few minutes, so that she had normal human hearing and didn't have to hear them shouting at each other.
Their argument was stupid, honestly; Valerie's dad had set up lessons with Danny's parents on how to hunt ghosts, which Valerie didn't need and somehow because of that worked as a punishment...?
Danielle didn't know. She didn't want to know.
This whole thing was getting just plain stupid, and Danielle knew she didn't have to stay. Danny was done with anything Vlad was going to throw at him, Valerie didn't want her here, and being in the same town as Vlad scared her.
The problem was, knowing Vlad, he wasn't even close to finished with Danny. He was going to pull some trick, some lie, something. And Danny wouldn't realize what was happening until it was thrown in his face.
After all, she'd been cloned from Danny, and she'd fallen for some of those lies. It made a lot of sense, in her mind at least, that he'd fall for it too.
So despite the argument which was making her cringe- and Danielle swore her name had been brought up a few times in it by Valerie's dad- going on a little ways away, and despite how much she did not want to stay with Valerie, Dani knew she had to.
The second Vlad got an opportunity; he would pull every string he owned to get Danny on his side. Danielle knew he would. She just had to make sure he never got that opportunity.
And if doing that meant she had to stay with a ghost hunter and her dad until Vlad made his plan obvious... Well, it was a risk she was going to take. For Danny, because she was sure he'd do the same for her.
Besides, she owed him for stabilizing her. If her stay with Vlad had taught her anything, it was to pay off your debts as quickly as you could, otherwise they could be used against you. After all, that was how he gained his allies.
The argument ended as she heard a door slam, and Danielle bit her lip. Just because she had to do it, didn't mean she had to like it.
/Throws salt at the chapter/ Be gone, foul demon!
The deleted scenes consisted of A) Valerie and Danny trying to figure out how much each other knows about Danielle without giving away their secrets, and Valerie gets confused about why Phantom would allow the son of people who hate him to know about Halfas. That scene had to be cut because it's the reason this chapter wasn't out in December. And B) Vlad dicking around the Ghost Zone trying to find someone, bits of his plan are revealed and how he intends to get Danny on his side. This one had to be cut because I should not write Vlad at four in the morning. There is a fine line between 'in character' and 'wrong character.' I think he was skipping rope with it.
I might include those in a later chapter, since the first one was actually kind of important. Vlad's scene… Eh, it might show up. Anything's possible.
And finally, if you happen to enjoy angst and background characters acting like real people, I suggest you check out Behind the Mask by LoveWritingStories. Seriously, her story needs some love.
Reviews, follows, favorites, votes for the misleading poll (that'll only be up for a few more chapters, for the record), are all loved. But if any of those reviews turn into flames I'll sacrifice them to the Powers Above so that I don't lose my ability to socialize while I should be replying to reviews again.
Because seriously, all that managed to do was make me feel bad because you people took the time to comment and I didn't reply to them.
