Hey everyone! This is the revised version of Chapter 10. Chapter 10 always had and always will have a special place in my heart, haha. TSAC was just on 90 something reviews, and this was my first two-digit chapter ever, and I got to write it with Lightning Streak! As you will see from the old Author's Note, I was pretty excited about it.
Well, sentimental time is done. ) Enjoy,
Keyarrah
(Old ANs:)
DivaGurl277: Hey Guys! Whoa! We're on Chapter 10! Can you believe it? Eight is the most chapters I've ever done. Thank you to everyone who's been with me through my fanfic journey. We're almost to 200 reviews! Oh-my-gosh. I'm spazzing, people! Haha. It's just so amazing to look at how far this fanfic has gone. When I first started out on with "Baby, We're Having A Baby" which was my first Danny Phantom fic, there were about 567, which led into 1,200 something Danny Phantom fics, and now look! There are over 6,000. Wow. Yeah. Enough gushing, and now on with the fic!
Now! With all of that said, we now present you with the tenth chapter! Yep. That's right. :) I said 'we', meaning Lightning Streak (my co-author) and I. She's been terribly busy but she's going to drop by and make a quick little appearance for our first two-digit chapter. (squeals for both the chapter and Lightning Steak) Okie. No more coffee for this authoress. ) Anything you'd like to add friend?
Lightning Streak: Hello, everyone! I apologize for being away from TSAC for so long; I don't think I realized just how much fun I was missing:) Anyways, I hope you like the chapter, for I know that DivaGurl put her heart and soul into this also. So, sit back, grab a bag of popcorn, and enjoy the randomness!
Sam woke up with a killer headache and a stabbing pain in her ankle. What happened? Furthermore, where the heck was she?
A quick look around told her that she was in her dorm room. The 'Evanescence', 'The Cure', 'Avril Lavigne', 'Good Charlotte', 'AFI', '30 Seconds To Mars', 'Fall Out Boy' and 'Panic! At The Disco' posters scattered on the violet walls told her that, as did the stray combat boot lying lopsided by the door.
But how did she get there? Everything seemed so blurry for some strange reason. They'd been looking for Annica…
Her thoughts were interrupted by someone else in her dorm room. She jumped (which hurt like more than a thousand knives) and blinked.
"Augh…why do I feel like Big Bessie from my Science class just fell on meeee?" she heard a voice groan.
"Ashley?" she asked.
Many things were supposed to be in her dorm room. The posters, the combat boot, her new laptop and Sidekick III that her dad sent for Christmas, yes. Those things were supposed to be in her dorm. Ashley? Yeah, not so much.
"Ashley…Ashley…! Oh my God! Ashley!" Sam suddenly cried. Everything was coming back to her in a flash of memory.
"Uhm, yeah, older sibby, now that we've established my name…Ow! Ow! OH-MY-FREAKING-OW! Ughghg..." Ashley trailed off angrily. "Why do I feel like I was just dropped on my head?"
"Because you were. Several times as a child." Sam piped up, not missing a beat.
"Haha. Recently, please." Ashley drawled.
"That is because you were, Ashleybear! From the high, high, high, high ceiling. Luckily your ever loving, ever caring sister jumped to your rescue and fractured her ankle in a blind attempt to save you." Emma announced, seemingly coming out of absolutely nowhere as she opened the door and let herself and the rest of their friends in.
"You see what you do? Do you see what you do?" Sam asked, pointing an accusing finger in the vicinity of where her sister was. Her head hurt and she dared not even try and turn Ashley's way.
"Yay, Hurray, Huzzah, they're up. Now can we stop hovering around them? I've got to pee like a racehorse…" an agitated Roxie muttered as she pushed Jazz out of the way of the bathroom.
The dorms in Amity were pretty classy. They should have been, seeing as the parents of the Amity students were shifting a heavy load out of their pockets.
(Raven once recalled her mother sighing and muttering to herself that she could have bought a yacht with half of the year's pay, and a small island for a year and a half. It wasn't as if Raven's mother, Leona even wanted those things though.)
The dorms had fully working bathrooms with bath/showers, beautiful porcelain sinks and toilets, full-length mirrors on the back of every door, and smaller ones over the sinks. The floors were a neatly tiled ivory color to match the taupe walls with tan accents.
The shower curtain in every bathroom was also tan with the gold colored Amity emblem on the bottoms of the shower curtain. Every detail down to the toilet paper holders was thought out and made to be prestigious and well coordinated. At least in boarding school standards anyway.
"Yes. Please. Relieve your bladder while your friends wake up out of comas!" Annica called to Roxie who flipped her the finger and closed the bathroom door.
"Of all the uncouth…" Annica murmured. She was drowned out though, by Ashley and Sam's screams of,
"COMAS?!"
"I WAS IN A WHAT?!" Sam asked incredulously.
"AND THIS HAPPENED LIKE WHEN?! HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN OUT? IS MY HAIR DYE FADED?!" Ashley cried, feeling her hair for her blonde roots.
Jazz rolled her eyes.
"No. Annica is exaggerating. It was not a coma. And to answer your question, you were only out about twelve, maybe eighteen hours. All you two needed was a good nights sleep. So chillax. The both of you. Nothing earth shattering happened while you two were out. Ashley, your hair is fine. It is still it's bleachy blonde with it's white streaks of glory. And Sam, it was less than a day. Danny hasn't run off with Paulina or some model to go get married or something. Of course, if he did, it would give you enough time to steal his boxers." Jazz coughed with a faint smile.
Sam chose to ignore the reference to her assignment as the toilet in the bathroom flushed and she heard the running water of Roxie washing her hands.
"Twelve to eighteen hours? How could you not know? There are a lot of hours in between twelve and eighteen. There's one, two, three, four, five! Five hours! There's a five-hour difference, okay? I could have a like a brain…thingy!"
"'Brain thingy'?" asked Raven. "Yes. That is exactly what they call them in the medical books. 'We regret to inform you, Mr. and Mrs. Johansson, but your son, Archibald has died from a 'brain thingy''."
"Oh no! Not Archie!!" Emma cried out dramatically fake sobbing.
"Are we done mocking the injured?" Sam asked dryly.
"Oh yes."
"Quite finished."
"Yeah, sure."
Came answers from Jazz, Raven, and Emma. Sam rolled her eyes. "Now, what happened?"
"You tell us. You told us to take your sister and we did. You were left there with the ghosties." Annica informed.
"Yeah. All we know is we took Ashley to Nurse Warner, stayed to make sure she was okay, and then we ran to find you but Inviso-…I mean, Phantom met us in the second corridor by the office, you know that one? Yeah. He delivered you after telling us that you'd just passed out and that you would be okay after some rest, and then, yeah." Emma beamed.
Jazz nodded in agreement and Sam could have sworn that the two of them shared a special look. Did Jazz know that Sam knew?
She had to have met up with her brother after the whole thing, and knowing Jazz as well as she knew her (which was incredibly well) she would have pried for details down to the very molecule of the subject.
"Oh…yeah…I…remember now…" Sam murmured.
Sam barely recalled being carried out of the hole by Danny. He'd gone what he called 'ghost' and flew them out. This was of course after making sure that they didn't have anymore surprise visitors like his now ex-girlfriend, Paulina. She learned a lot from him in that short time.
She'd learned how it had happened, she learned that Tucker, Jazz, and their cousin Danielle were the only other people who knew, and she also learned that the orbs of energy and light that he and the ghost who he'd told her was named 'Vlad' had used were made out of ectoplasm.
She wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing. Danny Fenton, the boy who she'd admired from afar, become friends with so far throughout the year, the younger brother of her best friend, turned out to be Danny Phantom? She couldn't quite wrap her mind around it. She would feel so much better if she could just see him again.
'So it wasn't a dream…but I wish he were here so I could really make sure…but what do I say? "Oh, hi Danny. Don't think I'm like crazy or anything, but are you half ghost? Just wondering?" He'd whip out a restraining order so fast…' she thought.
"Hey. Am I interrupting something?" a voice asked. Sam looked up to see Danny peeking his head through the door.
"From the commotion I heard all the way downstairs, I figured that someone had woken up."
"Yep. Both of our Manson girls are awake…erm…not without injury though…" Roxie said, throwing Sam and Ashley sympathetic looks.
Sam gave an internal sigh as Ashley shrugged.
'Well…ask and you shall receive.' Sam thought, smirking.
Annica caught on, and gave her a weird look. Sam looked away but was sure to wipe that smirk off of her face before any more suspicions arose.
"Hey." He said, smiling at Sam. Sam thought her head would spin clean off. Could she ever just get a grip? As she felt her heart flutter she felt like banging her head against a cold, hard, cement block. Evi-freaking-dently not.
"Hey." She said smiling back.
"You feeling alright?" Danny asked her.
"Uhm yeah. A lot better now…you know, now that I'm awake." She added quickly at the risk of sounding like a total sopped up, lovesick freak.
"Yeah, I get it. I, uhm, brought you this." Danny said. As he raised his hand to show her what was in it, it was the first time she'd even realized that he was holding anything. It was a shiny purple gift bag with light green paper.
"Open it." He urged quietly, leaning in closer to Sam.
Sam felt nervous, especially since everyone was eerily and uncharacteristically quiet for once. (And even more so since Roxie was pretending to make out with someone on the wall behind Danny. She would die if he turned around…and then Roxie would too.)
She carefully parted the green tissue paper and peered inside gingerly as if expecting a ghost to pop out. Realizing that she was being stupid she reached a hand in there and grabbed what was in it.
She smiled as she realized what it was. She'd recognize those gorgeous white locks anywhere.
It was a Danny Phantom plush doll.
She looked up at Danny to see that he was right next to her. As if to reassure her, his eyes flashed green for a split second before turning back into the blue eyes that she adored so much.
Her breath caught in her throat and she gave a small nod that was unnoticeable to anyone but Danny, and most likely Jazz since she was watching her brother and her best friend very intently.
"I figured…since he saved you and all…you might want something to keep." Danny said softly. Sam nodded again. Oh, she could just kiss him! Oh, did she want to. At the risk of doing something that could be deemed pure idiocy she looked down at her violet and lavender comforter.
"Hey lovebirds! If you two are gonna start going at it, we can leave!" Ashley announced. "Especially since Romeo over there didn't bring ME anything…" Ashley coughed.
Danny laughed and seemingly brushed off the 'lovebird' comment with nothing but a slight blush. "Au contraire, mademoiselle." Danny grabbed another bag; a blue one off of the floor by Sam's bed with bright red tissue paper.
Ashley, proving once again to be Sam's polar opposite ripped it open.
"Hawt. Thank you very much." Was her reaction.
It was a blonde-ish teddy bear with streaks in its fur that resembled Ashley's wild hair.
Danny grinned back to her as his reply. "So, Loverboy," Annica began, addressing Danny. "Won't the Queen Bee completely honey her cheerleading uniform when she hears about you passing gifts to other women?"
"Oh. I guess you guys haven't heard yet. She dumped me." Danny explained nonchalantly.
His statement was followed by loud exclaims of, "WHAT?" and a loud (too loud in Sam's opinion) "YES!!" from Roxie and Emma.
"And you were going to tell me this when, little brother?" Jazz teased, elbowing him lightly.
"Whenever you asked me, older sister, dear." Danny teased back, blowing a lock of hair out of his eyes.
"Why?" questioned a curious Ashley. It was obvious that that was the question on everyone's minds, obviously except for Sam who had been there…and had been the cause of it.
"Well, it was the day of the whole ghost fiasco. She saw me with Sammy and-" Raven cut him off.
"Wait…when were you with Sam?" she asked.
Sam's eyes widened slightly. Oh, why did the cute ones have to be so daft? Her life was in his hands? Oh boy. She mentally suggested that he stick to crime fighting and world saving.
"Oh. Didn't Danny tell you? He found me before Phantom did. That's all I remember before I passed out. Then apparently Phantom brought me back to you. As for Danny…well…I don't know. What happened, Dan?" Sam asked.
"Aww. Mega Cute." Emma whispered to Roxie.
"Yes. 'Dan'? Lookie that. They've nicknamed each other. 'Sammy' and 'Dan-Dan'. Next thing you know they'll be mating." Roxie hissed back at Emma.
"Eww! Gross Rox! I really don't want to picture Danny and Sam doing it!" Emma cried out loudly.
"WHAT?!" cried Danny and Sam, staring at Roxie and Emma in utter disbelief.
"She said it!" Emma tattled, pointing a finger sporting newly hot pink painted polish at Roxie.
"ANYWAY, yes Danny. Please tell us what happened." Jazz said, determinedly ignoring Roxie and Emma who were both still pointing at the other, gaping and saying that the other had started it.
"Well, I guess I must've passed out myself…" Danny guessed, sheepishly grinning as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Sam repressed either a swoon or a giggle. She wasn't sure which one was about to come out. Either way though, she repressed it, which she was glad for.
She loved Danny's nervous habits. Two of them were the sheepish grin that he was known for that made her heart flutter, as well as the way that he rubbed the back of his neck when he was nervous or embarrassed.
"-and all that." She heard Danny say. She then realized that he'd been talking while she'd been mentally gushing about him.
"So I guess she took it the wrong way, accused me of some stuff, basically called me an adulterer, stormed out and broke a window." Danny shrugged.
"Wait…so Paulina thinks that you guys are having a torrid love affair?" Emma questioned, laughing at the thought.
"Just about, yep." Sam put in.
"And Danny, have you seen Paulina since then?" Emma questioned.
"Uhm…nope." Danny answered.
"Uh-oh…" Annica murmured, catching onto what her best friend was doing. "And Sam's been out of it since it happened…"
"Which would mean that no one's seen Sam…or Danny…" Jazz caught on.
"Are we missing something?" Sam asked, speaking for Danny and her.
She was ignored, as were Danny and Ashley.
"Your friends are weird…" Ashley whispered to Sam.
"I know…" Sam sighed, mock sullenly.
"And if they haven't seen either of them, together or apart…and since Paulina has undoubtedly spread that Sam is a boyfriend-stealing-two-bit-skank-floozy-whore..."
"HEY!" Sam cried out. "Who's side are you ON?!"
"…that would mean that everyone thinks they're hiding…" Raven pieced in, continuing as if Sam hadn't spoken.
"Oh, I get it now." Ashley nodded.
She then turned to Sam and her nodding head turning into a shaking one. "What are they talking about?!" she mouthed.
"Hello, duh. Since no one's seen you guys together, or at all in that case, with only Paulina's side of the story while the accused are conveniently nowhere to be found, they are obviously going to believe that you guys are hiding and ducking out together to escape the flames of your torrid love affair." Roxie explained matter-of-factly.
"B-B-B-But there is no 'torrid love affair'! There's not even a 'cold love affair'! There isn't a love affair of any temperature! There is no love!"
Sam got six 'yeah right' looks at that.
"There is no affair!" Sam alleged looking worried. "And as if I don't have enough Paulina problems!" she went on.
"She specifically told me to stay away from her boyfriend. And now she thinks I'm a-a-a-a whatever the hell Raven called me!" Sam cried.
"Boyfriend-stealing-two-bit-skank-floozy-whore." Filled in Raven, Jazz, Ashley, Roxie, Annica, and Emma on the spot.
Sam sent them all morbid death glares and using the ESP that she wished she had she bid them all to Hell.
Danny sat at the edge of Sam's bed near her elevated ankle, thinking about all that he'd just found out.
"Right. Well, in that case, I guess I'm not helping by prolonging my 'appearance'. So, uh, I'd better go down there and maintain some damage control before you guys get down there…y'anno whenever you guys are able to get up and around." He finished lamely getting up off of the soft comforter.
"See you later, Sammy." He smiled. He made his way through the short distance to Sam's white painted, somewhat heavy oak door, opened it and said, "Later guys." Before leaving completely.
After they were sure that he was gone, Raven spoke up. "So Sammy when's the wedding?"
"Sometime next June." Sam replied coolly.
"Who's your Maid Of Honor?" Ashley questioned.
"Jazz." Sam answered without hesitation. "The rest of you bunch are bridesmaids."
"Me? And why is that?" Jazz asked, fighting down a smirk.
The others agreed with Jazz and questioned her as to why.
"Because," Sam answered simply, feeling her mouth curve up into a smile, "Jazz is the only one that I can be completely certain won't sleep with the groom."
There was a moment of silence until one of them snickered and they all burst into laughter. From the other side of the door, Danny smirked at them and wondered what outrageous color they'd planned for his suit before finally going down the stairs.
After their laughter had died down some, Ashley finally took a look towards the heavy black curtains that Sam had on her windows. Ashley parted one of the curtains, looked out the window and was shocked.
"Hey guys…has anyone else noticed that it's snowing…in February?" she asked in confusion.
"Uhm…well, February is considered winter so…" Annica trailed off.
"No, no, no. Here, fine. Let me put it this way. Has anyone else noticed that it is snowing…in February...in Amity Park, California?" she asked.
"Oh! Yeah. I meant to tell you. Our classes have been cancelled so far, and they are until further notice, probably because so many parents are totally freaked after the ghost attack, and a lot of students were hurt and injured during the attacks like you and Ashley.
"That, on top of the fact that no one's allowed to go outside because the snow is resulting in total trouble piled onto Lancer, lawsuits that might be filed, and a seriously heavy case of cabin fever spreading through the school." Raven explained.
"Okay, so what I don't get is, why the snow?" Sam asked.
"Well, it goes without saying that it has to be an effect of the ghost attack. Most likely it caused a weather related imbalance resulting in temperature changes somehow. We were just learning about things such as this in Mr. McLarkin's class when we covered—"
Roxie looked at Jazz with disdain. "Smart girl, shut up. You make me feel dumb."
"Well, maybe you are, Roxanne Eileen Forrester." Jazz taunted.
Roxie gasped. "Jazmine Madeline Fenton!"
"Oh, you naughty, naughty girls. Watch your language." Annica said blandly.
"Don't you start Britannica Marileen Reed." Jazz countered.
Annica pouted. "Low blow!" Emma laughed and Annica made a face at her. "It isn't funny Emily Alexandrea Court."
Emma shrugged and laughed some more. "Don't care! I'm perfectly fine with my name!"
The girls erupted into another fit of laughter. "I hate mine. It sounds so absolutely preppy! Ashley Christine Manson." Ashley said, making a yucky face at Sam when she snorted.
"Don't be so happy, Sam. With your Victorian sounding middle name." she said.
"Hey. 'Elizabeth' is a common middle name, thank you. Samantha Elizabeth Manson is just fine." Sam said.
"You mean 'Samantha Elizabeth Fenton'." Raven giggled.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, you're the last one to have their secret revealed. What's your last name?" Sam asked her.
"Ugh. Nooo. My name is way too…I dunno. I think it's ghetto!" Raven laughed. "If there was doubt in anyone's mind that I was a black girl, after they hear my name? Whoa."
"Oh, come on. Mine is 'Marileen'. Nothing is worse than that." Annica countered.
"That's the worst part. My mother gave me TWO middle names." Raven groaned.
"C'mooon!" Roxie urged.
"Fine…if I'm the last one…" Raven said, defeated. "My full name is Raven Anajia Brooke Chaudrey."
"That isn't even that bad you big baby. It's nice." Ashley told the older girl. "Don't cha think, Sam?"
Sam ignored her younger sister though.
"Hey…" said Sam, something suddenly dawning on her as she noticed a bunch of suitcases in the corner of her room. "Ashley…why are you in my room?"
"Oh!" Ashley beamed. "Since I woke up a little before you, when Nurse Gloria came in she told me that they moved me into your room so that we could be together. And since your room is bigger than the one I had, I asked if I could move in, she said yeah, my things were moved, and now, here we are roomie!"
Sam visibly blanched. Rooming? With Ashley?
"Jazz…make magic. Make it go awaaaay." Sam whined.
"Sam, I may be smart, we may be best friends, and my hair is at times prone to extreme bushiness, especially when I wake up in the morning, but regardless, I am not Hermione Granger and I cannot do magic."
Sam whimpered. The only thing she had to look forward to now was her ankle healing so she could kick her little sister out. But even then, she had to look forward to the drama of a lifetime with Paulina and her little crew.
Which was the lesser of two evils? She had not a clue.
(Lightning Streak Takes Over)
Her hands clenched. Her delicate fists shook in fury. Her pink, manicured nails dug into her palm.
She was mad.
No, scratch that: Paulina Sanchez was furious.
'How dare he!' She mentally screeched. 'How dare he!'
The Latina was currently seething over her so-called boyfriend; or rather, the lack of her so-called boyfriend.
'I can't believe it!' She fumed. 'He ditched me!'
'That loser ditched me. Me! And for some Goth freak…!'
Ooh, he was gonna get another mouthful of pain next time she saw him! 'Why, I ought to—'
"- Uh…Paulina?" a snobby, but rather hesitant voice interrupted her tirade. "You're spacing…and it's sooo totally not cool."
Instantly, Paulina snapped back to reality, a red blush marring her tanned skin. One of her followers was staring at her with a somewhat odd expression on her face.
"What?" Paulina snapped nastily, her eyes flashing green. The last thing she wanted to do was get reminded of that, that scene!
Instantly, her follower flew into "worship the leader" mode, and backpedaled a bit in her words. She bubbled something out, saying how Paulina was normally so graceful that it was strange to see her so…spacey.
The girl didn't mention the scary-eyes. She was too afraid to.
And Paulina, being the self-absorbed individual that she was, completely ignored her "friend's" opinion, and automatically ruled that she herself could do no wrong. It was the follower- whatever her name was…she thought it was Macy…or Cindy…- that was in the wrong.
Now, her boyfriend on the other hand…scratch that…ex-boyfriend…
He was wrong. Definitely wrong. Incredibly wrong. So wrong, in fact, that Paulina just wanted him to die.
She blinked for a second, and her eyes flashed back to normal.
They were sitting in the lunchroom. Well, Paulina was; not Danny.
As a matter of fact, the teen couldn't even find Danny at all. She was sitting with Dash, and Kwan, and other such characters, but her caramel eyes scanned every inch of that cafeteria in search of Danny.
And still, she couldn't find him.
Which was probably why she was so mad.
And probably why she was spacing. Which, she so totally wasn't doing, by the way.
At any rate, her hand still hurt from breaking a window. Her pride was still hurt because of that, too. And who did she have to thank for all of this trouble?
Sam Manson.
She gritted her teeth.
Just with the acknowledgement of that name, Paulina felt a wave of anger course through her body. Because of everything that had happened, her intense dislike for Sam Manson had flamed into a burning hatred.
'She's hiding with him, I know it! That boyfriend-stealing-two-bit-skank-floozy-whore stole my boyfriend!'
'That freak stole Danny! From me…'
She hadn't told anyone about it yet who was outside her circle, luckily. The obvious embarrassment would damage her own reputation, and if anything, hurt her reign as 'Queen Bee'.
'I got ditched for a freak!'
No, she couldn't tell anybody; at least not yet.
She was waiting for him to come crawling back, begging for forgiveness. Plead with her. Flash those regretful baby blues at her. And then, then, right when he thought he'd made it up to her, she would crush his heart. Break it into little, bite-sized pieces.
Like a crumbled, Oreo cookie.
The thought brought a small smile of satisfaction to Paulina's face.
She was sure that the others in the cafeteria were staring strangely, but she didn't care. She was planning revenge, and that was all that mattered.
During the ghost attack, Paulina had run with the rest of the crowd, edging away as fast as she could from that creepy vampire-ghost thing. She had just been passing, trying to find Danny. But apparently, that wasn't gonna happen anytime soon.
Nope, her self-preservation told her to forget about stickin' around.
But considering that fact that everyone was stampeding and tripping over each other, and whatnot, she figured that it wasn't worth it to try and find him.
She had originally shrugged her shoulders, thinking that he was one of the first to run out of the place.
She hadn't given it a second thought.
But then, when she caught a glimpse of a certain Ghost Boy, all of her fears subsided, and something else took its place. It was a heart-warming, little flame of hope, and a small smile found its way to her lips.
In the midst of the panic, occasional dropped clipboards from teachers, and overall stampede of coughing, sick students, Paulina found herself drawn back to the fight. The halls were streaming with panicked teachers and sick students, heading for the other end of the building, or any other possible escape.
And Paulina?
She had run back to the hall.
The sophomore had stuck close to a niche in the wall, and as soon as the stampede of students was gone, she had slowly crept back She had been expecting to see Inviso-Bill fighting like a knight in shining armor, defending her in her time of need! (Not that Danny needed to know about her small obsession with the ghost, or anything…it was just a crush! Nothing more! She wasn't cheating or anything by just looking, right?)
But no. Oh, no.
That wasn't what she saw…
Instead, she saw her boyfriend, Danny, in a freakin' hole with her enemy, the gothic-freak. On top of each other.
Humping. Or so it looked.
And man, after that, she saw red. Blood red. She remembered screaming at Danny and his little hole buddy, and then storming away. Hot tears threatened to fall, and her hands shook with absolute fury and embarrassment.
And then Ms. Baxter came, offering to help.
After that, Paulina couldn't remember much. At times, she didn't even feel like herself, especially when she got mad. Her friends gave her weird looks every once in a while.
Sometimes, she felt déjà vu, and the strangest sense of falling asleep for moments at a time. But then, she'd "wake up" and be seemingly functioning fine. Like her body was on 'automatic' or something.
And, for the past few days, it seemed to be getting worse. These strange 'lapses' got longer every time. It was growing increasingly harder to connect back to reality.
Totally weird...
It sort of made Paulina's skin crawl, just thinking about it.
She didn't want to think about it, though. She didn't want it to get in her way. No, she had better things to worry about!
Like getting revenge on Danny.
Her bubble-gum pink glossed lips curled up into a cruel smile. 'Revenge sounds nice…'
And off on a mental tangent she went.
Oh yes, she was gonna make her two-timing boyfriend...ahem, exboyfriend pay, and pay dearly. She was gonna hurt him somehow, someway. The idea of making him beg for forgiveness just had this ringto it. And the idea of turning the whole school against them sounded even better.
Little did she know, her eyes had flashed green once more.
Her mind was overtaken with hatred.
Oh yes, cute little 'Sammy and Dan-Dan' were gonna pay…
Revenge was a dish best served cold.
Three weeks passed by faster than the blink of an eye. Paulina had yet to reveal the truth to the school masses, and Danny and Sam had yet to publicly show any knowledge of what had really gone on. The girls still crusaded on in their secret missions, and all still teased Sam unmercifully about Danny.
They were convinced that a wedding was in order.
Oh, and Sam still didn't like having her sister as a roommate. Actually, she hated it. It was like, in her own words, the ultimate Hell for any older sister.
No one could have that amount of energy and still be human.
But that's irrelevant to the current situation.
Anyway, that day found them all at lunch. Reliable, old school lunch…unlike their unreliable surroundings…
It had all started off innocently enough. Paulina had entered the lunch line behind our favorite gang, as if in one of those "I'm-hot-and-you're-not" trances. And the Secret Assignment gang had rolled their eyes, you know, same old same old.
It got more interesting after that.
After the gang had paid for their food, they had gone to sit down. Which, normally, wasn't such a big deal, because most things they did weren't incredibly ground shaking.
It was what happened after they sat down that was really messed up.
Emma and Ashley had decided to bond a bit, and sat next to each other on one side of the table, babbling about strange and random things that made strangers look at them oddly.
Because of this; Raven, Annica, Roxie, Tucker, and Jazz sat on the other side of the table, in a small attempt to maintain their sanity. In that order.
After that, all Hell broke loose.
For not but two minutes later, Paulina had just paid for her lunch, and Danny and Sam had just walked into the cafeteria.
Together. Side-by-side. Buddy, buddy.
Holding hands…well, not really. Danny was helping Sam get in the door since she was still a little wobbly with walking.
Well, their rather silent entrance undoubtedly shouted a message to the world.
And Paulina was, surprisingly, not the first one to get that message.
Rather, the student body was.
In the matter of seconds after being spotted, the two's names were on everybody's lips.
"Hey, do you guys see that? I—"
"—thought they had something going on!"
"—so weird to see that they—"
"—are holding hands! Hands, Frenchie!"
"—Thought he was going out with Paulina?"
Sam and Danny were completely submerged in their own little world, seemingly forgetting about reality. Their hands swung in time with their steps, and Danny turned his head to whisper something in Sam's ear.
Unfortunately, from the perspective of the student body, that small action actually looked like Danny had kissed Sam. Instantly, their loud whispers grew to a steady disbelief.
And that was when Paulina turned around.
Her jaw dropped.
Oh. My. God.
For the first time in three weeks, Paulina actually laid eyes on her former boyfriend. And from the flare of hatred that instantly rose to her eyes, her grudge hadn't died.
Rather, it had gotten worse.
She had been planning on confronting him and Sam that day. That lunch hour. She meant to tell the whole cafeteria about their sin against her!
And now, her whole plan was ruined!
Them…holding hands! Kissing! Acting all…together-ish! Paulina's lips curled back in a disgusted shock. Her turquoise colored eyes were wide, as if she had been punched in the gut.
The whispers of her friends instantly sprang to her ears, as did the loud questions of those surrounding her.
"What's going on, Paulina?"
"I thought you and Danny were going out?"
"—Danny and her doing together?"
"—why he's with her, and not you?"
Her temples pulsed with their words. Her head ached with the sudden onslaught of interrogation.
Now…now she'd have to do a little improvising. Which, for someone like her (who obviously could do anything), acting wouldn't be hard. It wasn't really acting, anyway. It was the truth, with a little twist.
In a moment's quick decision, Paulina decided to switch her tactics.
She "accidentally" dropped her tray on the ground, and proceeded to dish out a massive unloading from three years of Acting Class. The sound of flying carrots and clattering plastic caught everyone's attention, and all eyes flew to Paulina.
A small, mental smile hid behind her eyes. Oh, she was gonna make this scene good. She was gonna come out on top, like the unknowing victim.
She was going to send Sam and Danny to the slaughterhouse.
Paulina dramatically froze in her spot, as if she was a deer caught in the headlights.
Crocodile tears welled up in her eyes. Her bottom lip quivered, her shoulders shook softly, and her speech purposely stuttered. "I…I…"
And instantly, her friends surrounded her like a brick wall, comforting her and asking what happened.
Cue Paulina's freakishly realistic breakdown.
"I-it…it was so horrible!" she sobbed into the shoulders of her protective friends. "I didn't know what to do!"
"I knew it had been going on for a while; I knew Danny was cheating on me…" She sniffled a bit, and everyone hung on her words.
Danny and Sam glanced at each other, wide-eyed. What's going on?! Seemed to be reflected in both their expressions.
Paulina continued on with her story, an unseen evil glint in her eye. "I just…I just didn't want to believe it, you know?" she explained pathetically. "I didn't want to believe that my boyfriend was going behind my back…I just tried to be a good girlfriend…"
There was absolute silence in that cafeteria. A random individual could have heard a pin drop.
"Especially after he defended her against his own teammate!" she sobbed.
Everyone was hung on Paulina's words, as if addicted to the angst pouring from her story. All around, confusion and surprise floated through people's heads. The idea of Paulina Sanchez being hurt by a guy was almost unheard of! Taboo!
Not to mention that they had originally thought Danny was so nice…
And all the while, Danny was too shocked to speak up and defend himself. Sam was just too surprised to do anything.
'What…in the world…?'
What had this misunderstanding escalated to?
Paulina's dry sobs softened a bit as she tried to speak. "And then…and then, I saw it. I didn't want to believe it, but I saw it…"
Her hands suddenly began to shake in anger, and her eyes quickly flashed green. "I saw them!" she pointed angrily at Danny and Sam. "Together! I had just been trying to find Danny to spend time with him, and what do I find? Them freakin' humping each other in some friggin', God-forsaken hole!"
Her speech having reached its climax, she dramatically collapsed to the floor on her knees (careful to avoid her spilled lunch.) Her friends kneeled beside her, and rubbed her shoulders, and did things that even fake friends would do to help a distressed individual.
A few people from the tables even came to surround Paulina and try to comfort her.
"I can't believe it…"
The Secret Assignment gang just stared on in complete, and utter shock.
'Oh my God…This is so not good…!' Emma thought.
Worried glances met, and yet none were able to say a word in Danny's defense.
"I knew I should have listened to my friends!" Paulina cried out angrily. "I knew you were a no-good, back-stabbing cheater, Danny Fenton!" She gave him one pitiful sob, allowing her posse to help her back up.
"I hope you're happy!" she bit out, with every inch of malice. Her eyes flashed a deep green for the quickest second. "Danny Fenton!" Paulina shook, and then added in the quietest whisper, "you broke my heart…"
Finally, with that, she dashed out of the cafeteria and slammed open the doors, leaving her silent audience in their shocked state.
Leaving Danny in one heck of a Lion's Den.