Switching Places
Chapter Nine
Sam and Tucker met up with Johnny after lunch for fifth period.
"You ditched us again!" Sam yelled angrily. "And who for this time? Paulina!? Danny, what's wrong with you? I thought you wanted to keep your two best friends, but whatever, I could be wrong." Oh. So his new girlfriend's name was Paulina. That was pretty useful information.
"Hey! I would appreciate it if you didn't try to put down my new girlfriend." He looked over her head and waved at Paulina. Paulina sauntered over and pushed Sam and Tucker out of the way.
"Oh, Danny!" she giggled. "You're standing up for me! How romantic!"
"Anything for you, kitten," he said and grabbed her hand. Together, they walked into Mr. Lancer's class yet again.
---
School always goes by faster with a hot girl sitting next to you, Johnny thought, looking over at Paulina who smiled and waved. The bell rang and Johnny immediately stood up.
"Last few hours in this body. Might as well make it worth it," he said to himself and linked arms with Paulina.
"What's that?" Paulina asked.
"Uh, I was just sayin' how hot you looked today," he said as they walked past Sam and Tucker, who had been sitting in the back. Paulina giggled and looked at Sam, who was seething.
"Wow, Danny. I never knew you were this cool or I would have dated you a long time ago!" And this time, she actually meant it too. Now that he dumped his stupid friends, she found him way cooler. And being cute was an added bonus. But that definitely didn't mean that she planned on actually staying with him, she was just trying to make Dash angry. Besides, she still had her heart set on the Ghost Boy, Danny Phantom.
"Yeah, I know. How bout you n' me take a little stroll to the back of the school, kitten?" he asked.
"Oooh, Danny, I didn't know you were so quick with relationships either." Johnny smirked and pulled her in the direction of the school's back door. As soon as they were outside, they moved close to each other. Johnny inwardly cursed. Why did Danny have to be so short?
Well, apparently height didn't matter to Paulina. She pulled him close and closed her eyes. He felt just a little dirty, but he reminded himself that he wasn't cheating on Kitty, he was just helping Danny along with his social life. Right?
He leaned forward for the kiss, but he just couldn't bring himself to kiss her. The closer he got to her, the worse he felt. He couldn't do this. Even in another body, he was still responsible for the girls he kissed and he swore to himself that he would never kiss any girl but Kitty. Paulina noticed his hesitation and opened her eyes in confusion.
What's he doing? Paulina wondered. He should be kissing me! Just then, she happened to look over his shoulder. Sam was standing by the school entrance a few feet away, glaring daggers at the two of them and turning an embarrassing shade of pink. Paulina made eye contact with the Goth and smirked. She closed what little distance there was between her and her new boyfriend, grabbed his shoulders, and kissed, hard.
Because his thoughts were elsewhere he barely even saw it coming. Before he knew it, Paulina was kissing him furiously. Wow, she must really have a thing for Danny, Johnny thought. He wasn't kissing back, for Kitty's (well, really, his conscience's) sake. He raised his hands to her shoulders to push her off of him, but before anything else could happen, a phone rang. Johnny gently shoved Paulina away and reached into his pocket. I should have left the stupid thing on the roof.
Paulina leaned back against the wall of the school and awkwardly started rubbing one arm, inspecting her nails when Johnny flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"Danny?" came Jazz's voice. Johnny sighed angrily.
"What is it, Jazz?"
"Danny- I just wanted to warn you. I'm going to be gone for a psychology thing tonight, and I wanted to make sure you knew who Mom and Dad were inviting for dinner."
"Okay, so who are they inviting?"
"Umm… Danny, don't freak out or anything, but they invited the Fruit Loop. He's coming around five, I think, and it's already like three- something," she told him. To Johnny, it sounded like she was speaking cryptically. He had no idea what she was talking about. Why would it matter who the Fentons invited for dinner? Anyway, he didn't care. Hopefully, he would be out of this body by the time whoever the 'Fruit Loop' was showed up.
"Um, okay, whatever, Jazz. I don't really care. I gotta go," he said.
"Fine!" she said, slightly irritated by his tone. "Don't mind me, I was just warning you." Johnny heard the click on the other end and knew that she had hung up. Why would she need to warn Danny about some 'Fruit Loop'? he wondered. But he brushed the thought aside and turned back to Paulina. Before he could say anything, Danny's ghost sense went off yet again. Great. Just great.
"Uh, sorry kitten, but I gotta go," he told her, rushing. "Same time tomorrow? Okay, great," he said and without waiting for her answer he took off down the street, passing and ignoring Sam and Tucker yet again.
---
Fenton Works was only a few blocks away, so Johnny didn't even bother changing into Danny Phantom and flying. He had again chosen to ignore Danny's ghost sense when he saw Valerie flying a few miles up in the sky on her hover board chasing the Box Ghost. When he got to Fenton Works, he briefly considered calling Sam and Tucker to ask them who the Fruit Loop was, but decided against it. When he had passed Sam, he had noticed that she looked absolutely livid. And that Tucker hadn't exactly been smiling sunshine at him, either. So instead, he walked around the lab, inspecting the Fenton's ghost weapons and waiting for Danny to come through the open portal.
He had planned to wait there for the whole hour until Danny came, but Danny's parents had other plans.
"Daniel Fenton! Get up here this minute!" Mrs. Fenton called down the stairs. Johnny jumped at her voice and immediately obeyed, taking steps two at a time to get to Danny's mother.
"What did I do?"
"Not what you did, what you haven't done yet, dear," she explained in an irritated voice, though he could sense that her irritation wasn't directed at him. "I thought Jazz told you we have a guest coming for dinner. Your father said he called to say that he'll be here any minute now and I want you to go upstairs and get washed up. No more playing in the lab."
"Awww, moooom," he whined. He hated washing up!
When he got to Danny's room, he checked the clock that was hanging on the wall. 4:52. Danny was going to be here any minute now, too! He splashed water on his face to make it look like he was clean and was about to intangibly fall through the floors to the lab when the doorbell rang.
"Danny! Could you get that?" Danny's mom called. He sighed and regained tangibility. He stomped down the stairs to the door and opened it. And immediately stopped short, dropping his jaw to gape openly at the man on the other side.
Never in a million years would he have ever expected the person on the other end to be the Fenton's dinner guest.
great. the next chapter is chaos be ready.
