UNFORTUNATELY, I DON'T OWN THE SONGS ON MY FANFIC OR DANNY PHANTOM!! P.S. I DON'T OWN MCDONALD'S, EITHER!!
'Italic'- thoughts
Italic – flashbacks!
,"OVER MY DEAD BODY!!" A female voice bellowed through the small courtroom creating a booming echo as everyone tried to ease their fast beating hearts by the petit woman. She was clearly angry as her arms were parallel, her hands were gripped to the table as her nails were cracking the wooden surface, her body slanted as though she was a lioness ready to pounce on a zebra, and her face literally screamed of ardent detestation like a wild fire towards the man who was cowering behind another man with spectacles on his nose and a brief case on his table.
,"Miss Shadows…" The judge spoke calmly to the teenage mother, wearing a scarlet woman's suit, whose own face was blending with her uniform like a chameleon, "Please sit back down."
,"I'm not handing over my daughter to THAT MAN!" Her dark hair shook in disagreement to the judge who suggested that she leaved her daughter under the care of her biological father, who had been released from jail on good behavior. 'Good behavior, my ass!!'
The man in spectacles rose from his seat, "I assure you, Miss Shadows, that my client, Emanuel Suarez, will do no such harm to his daughter.
,"MY daughter." She darkly spoke through her gritted teeth, "And he shouldn't even be caring for Helena—he has been stripped of his parenting rights!" She looked at the judge, "Your Honor, please consider what he has done to my child."
,"She's my daughter!" The man rose from his own seat, wrinkling is dark blue suit into many other rows of creases. His brown hair was similar to his daughter but was greased with large amounts of gel; his eyes were actually green contrast to his little girl's caramel eyes, and his bronze skin shown in the light of the courtroom.
,"Biologically, yes." She took a step forward as the heel of the high heel sounded like a bullet coming out of a rifle, in the silent room, "But lawfully, Helena is my daughter!"
"Order! Order!" The banging of the gavel interrupted the argument as Mister Suarez was about to attack the teen, "Bailiff, hold down Mister Suarez before he commits a homicide in my courtroom." The bailiff pushed the man, whose green eyes glared at the college student like antique handcrafted jaded daggers found in Central America.
,"Ray, sit down…" A gentle hand pushed her shoulder down, making her lower back in her seat. His strawberry blond hair was untamable, and his hazel eyes were trying to ease the girl's rising anger to the man.
,"My client has been released a year early from jail on good behavior, and has completed his exercises the prison psychologist assigned him." His spectacles were pushed up by his index finger, "I am willing to give you letters from the prison psychologist, the prison warden and even fellow inmates, who will be willing to testify for Mister Suarez, that he is a changed man."
,"But as you can see, Judge Stuarts, that Mister Suarez was about to lash out at my client, clearly meaning that he has unresolved anger issues that needs treatment." 'Thank you, Jake!' He stood very still like a statue, awaiting the judge's answer.
The man narrowed his eyes on the female's lawyer, "Don't be a brown nose, Reynolds! You just want to protect Miss Shadows to go out for ice cream! You even witness your client provoking my client's anger!"
,"That's because he has no control of his anger!" The man- Reynolds- stood victoriously as the lawyer didn't even dare to open his mouth, "My client on the other hand, is in complete control of her emotions. She also is concerned for her daughter since her biological father traumatized her to the point where she wouldn't speak to anyone."
,"Very well," The judge glanced back and forth between the defendant and plaintiff, "I find in favor of Miss Raven Shadows in custody of Helena Shadows during her time at a contest." The bang of the gavel was a stamp of triumph to the band member's ears.
,"W-wait! What?!" The man rose from his seat and looked at Judge Stuarts in utter disbelief, "Who's going to take care of Helena while that woman is away in her contest?!"
,"Miss Shadows has a brother not far away from here, who will be more than willing to accept Helena with open arms during the time that she's in this contest." The judge rose from her seat, as her blonde hair pulled down as she collect the pieces of paper scattered across her table and placed them in a file. She looked up to see the angered face of a defeated Emanuel Suarez.
,"She can't take her daughter to her brother's place. They aren't on good terms with each other." The lawyer saved his client from exploding like a bomb.
,"How do you know of Miss Shadows personal life?" The blonde lawyer defended as he glared at the faces of his opponent in this case and courtroom, "It really doesn't concern of them, but Miss Shadows is a set of quintuplets, so one of her other brothers- who she doesn't have a strain relationship- will be happy to take care of Helena."
,"I've already made my decision final, Mister Suarez, Mister Wilmington." She walked away with her black eyes not even darting to the men, who were humiliated and gawking in astonishment.
,"Where the hell is he?" His fingers scrunched into his palm creating an angered fist from his thinning patience, " He left a long time ago, and now he's taking a hell of a good damn time coming back! That stupid ass bastard!"
Tucker looked at his best friend as he was about to be engulfed in the impatient rage that makes him…well…Danny!, "Haven't you ever heard of breathing? Take slow breaths and relax!"
The apartment door flew open, "My brothers from another mother! I am back!" Michael came in with McDonald bags in his arms, as well as in the arms of Raymond who was battling against the evil dragons of the children on the floor below.
,"Where's my Big Mac?" He sat on the couch, as his band drummer threw the square box toward him. He quickly caught it as he was stuffing his face with the God given Big Mac.
Tucker grabbed his special order of two greasy cheese burgers, and noticed that the pale skin guitarist wasn't in the room, "Hey, where's Ray-man, Mike?"
,"Back! Back! You beasts!" Raymond struggled to walk towards the safety of Danny's apartment. He tried to break free from the little boys that were fighting to get the burgers, fries, and chicken nuggets within a white bag. 'How pitiful! Running away from a three-foot serpent!', "Guys! Help!"
Danny poked his head out in the hallway, to see Raymond struggling with a boy on top of his ebony hair hitting him with a plastic helium filled hammer that squeaked every time it made contact to his temple, another boy had an iron grip on his right ankle as he dragged him across the carpeted hallway, and other boy was on his back like a little chimpanzee except it's tiny fingers were reaching for the bleached color bag with the cliché 'I'm lovin' it' motto.
He walked slowly to his friend and grabbed the bag, resulting in making Raymond to fall on the floor with relief, as the unharmed children stepped over his jacket and stood in front of his bandleader with wide eyes on the bag.
,"Alright boys, that's enough goofing around with Ray!" He held the bag high above his head as the three little boys began jumping to grab the bag that exerted a warm scent, "Let's make a deal?"
All three boys stopped jumping and stood looking up at the man, " Deal?" They spoke in unison.
,"Yeah, a deal!" Danny smiled at the little boys, "You don't kill Ray or my other friends when we come back to get a bag to eat, and in return we'll buy you guys each a burger, fries, and a small cup of juice."
The three boys looked at one another, and huddled up together; if they had worn jerseys, they could be in the NFL for kids. They looked back in his blue eyes and nodded, "Okay!"
,"We have a deal now boys!" He lowered the bag, and secretly smirked as he still found himself standing, instead of on the floor like Raymond, "But since you guys cooperated…" He paused as his hand dove into the bag and took out a large wrapped burger, and king size fries and handed them to the boys.
Their smiles reached ear to ear, as they looked at the burger and fries like they were treasures from the dark depths of the ocean," Thanks, man!"
Her brown hair gently swayed as she danced and sang to the music of her 'Aunt' Angie's iPod, but stopped as she noticed a couple of eyes on her. Turning her head, she opened her eyes, to see her 'Auntie' Angie and 'Aunty' Sam. She gently pulled the ear buds out of her ears and glanced at her Aunts.
,"Hey there, sweetie! What're you doing?" Sam walked into the small girl's room that showed how much she loved to sing by the posters of famous artists on the corners of her bedroom walls. She lowered herself to her 'niece's' height.
,"Just dancing." She set her small body on a chair and her 'Aunt's' iPod on her lap with care.
,"Really?" A small nod came from the five-year-old, "But we heard you singing? We're you singing, sweetie?" Her violet eyes looked into the little hazel orbs, and shook up and down, "How come you didn't want to tell us you were singing and dancing?"
,"Because…some girl in my school told me not to ever sing." She lowered her brown eyes and quickly responded before Sam could ask anything else, "She said I sing very ugly."
Angie walked over to the little girl and drew her into a sweet hug, "She's just jealous because you have a gift that she wants. She wants to have your beautiful voice that even angels want to steal your lovely melody." She felt her shirt lightly soaked by a little brown-haired girl. She pushed Helena out of their hug and quickly moved her hand to the little girls cheeks to wipe away any other tears.
,"We wanna hear you sing, Helena." She turned to her Aunt as she held a piece of paper in her hands. Her violet eyes stared at the little girl in front of her and thought of all the things she's been through, but she thought that the two most horrid things happened to this small female: a silenced voice and a lack of self-esteem. Her pretty Helena concealed a big voice that was more mesmerizing than Christina Aguilera's and higher than Mariah Carey's whistling note. She concealed a gift; frozen it shut by her ruby lips until she was barely turning five. Her mind rewind the movie she has never got tired of watching…like it just occurred yesterday.
--(Flashback)--
Walking down the dark hallway, she saw the light coming from the kitchen. Her bare feet clapped every step she took from the wooden floorboards as her brown eyes curiously looked in the corner, to see that woman sitting on the couch, reading a large album. She jumped as the woman's odd blue eyes connected with her tree-like ones.
,"Oh, hey there, Helena!" A small smile formed on her lips as she looked at the timid little girl as her fist gently grasp the teddy bear that she held in her arms, "Can't sleep, either, huh? You can sit right here and look at some pictures with me, if you want?" She saw as the little fawn took small steps towards her until she stood in front of this tall woman. Placing her slender hand on the padded cushions on the couch, signaling the girl to sit beside her, and smiled as the girl did.
She never heard music come out of her heavenly lips. She always wanted to hear her voice, and open her up like a fully bloomed rose she was. A rose bud that was preserving herself by invisible thorns, which she wanted to fall on their own without prickling her tiny fingers. She looked at her lowered hazel eyes that were particularly interested on the white carpet beneath the living room table.
A few minutes passed as the clock on in the kitchen 'tick-tocked' causing the tension between both the newly graduate and newly five-year-old. The sound of a hand flipping the page of an album caused a pair of chocolate eyes to dart at the next page of the woman's album. A picture of a woman who ghostly looked similar to the black-haired woman sitting beside her.
,"That's my Mom." The happy voice startled her, and looked up at the owner of it. 'Mom' was foreign to her tongue; never had she heard such a word said with immense meaning. She saw her warm sky-like eyes moisten with the thought of this 'Mom', "She left a long time ago, but it still hurts."
This 'Mom' who left this woman must be special to this woman who was resisting on spilling any tears. She continued to smile at the 'Mom' in the picture. She was posed with the sun behind her dark locks, like a halo and her smile outshined the sun as her eyes danced along with the fallen leaves. This burning feeling in her heart started to ignite; it always occurred when she was around the four women and constantly she fought the urge of her arms that wanted to grasp these cheerful females.
A hand stroked the brunette as she flinched at the sudden contact. But the gentle motions made her wish this hand would tenderly hold her for eternity; hold her the way she was never held before. Her chocolate eyes saw the affectionate within the deep blue eyes of the woman stroking her hair with care, "I know you'd miss your Mom, if you met her and she suddenly left, like mine. But I think it's worse if you never met your Mom, because you're left unanswered by how much she wanted to look after you and love you more than the world's treasures are worth."
She understood how she felt! The tiny hands gripped her neck, fighting the fuzziness of her vision caused by the liquid developing in her brown eyes. The woman was taken aback by the girl's sudden change of personality; first, she's timid and winced at the sudden physical contact, and now she's open and hugging her foster mother with as much force as she can make. Pale hands patted the girl's nightgown and hushed the tears that dampen her oversize t-shirt. Her eyes shut as the tiny grip of her neck loosened.
Oxygen was inhaled, and exerted on her exposed collar, "Ma…" Another breath was drawn and blown out, "…ma…" Her eyes widen at the voice that had rung in her ear and echoed, like a gong being struck. 'Her voice…It's beautiful!'
--(End Flashback)--
Wiping the last tear to slip down her cheek, she smiled as she was happily crushed in the bear hug of her 'Aunties'. Releasing each other from the huddle, Sam lowered to the girl's small height, "Now, go practice your scales. You're Mama is going to be upset if you don't do them today, Okay?"
The little girl nodded, making her hair jump up and down like brown springs. Her tiny heels exited out of her room. The disappearance of the girl's clicking heels made the drummer sigh angrily, "I hate that we have to leave her!"
A hand moved up and down her spinal cord. She gratefully smiled at the leader of the Nightshades. She shot her eyes in utter impotence. She was completely helpless! To everyone! Her family! Her deceased aunt! Her ill uncle! Her willful cousins! And her diligent cousin! Was she really that weak? 'NO! I'm not! I might not've been strong enough to stop my cousin's family to crumble, but I am strong enough to help her and my niece! Just watch me! '
Grey eyes stared at the dark-haired twin as he was drawing something in his sketchbook. His pencil moved every millisecond along the page: drawing, erasing, scribbling and re-drawing again. He sighed, breaking the silence, "So, how's Raven?"
CRACK! The pencil broke! He saw the widen eyes of his childhood friend! Clearly, he did not expect Michael to bring up the conversation of his younger sister, "W-Why do you ask?" His word's stumbled.
,"Just because…ever since she almost stampede all over you when we went to the Altern Records to meet with the producers of the 'Battle of the Bands'- I was just wondering." He knew he was hiding something! 'Could it be that he likes…No! He admitted that he didn't like violent girls!'
,"Wondering?" He raised an eyebrow at his friend in confusion.
,"Yeah." He glanced away from the pair of blue eyes, "I was just wondering who was that girl with Raven."
He covered his drawing as a precaution from any intrusive eyes, "What girl?"
,"The girl with black hair. Dark eyes. Tan skin." His silvery orbs still distanced themselves from his companion.
,"Angela?" He questioned, "That's Raven's and my younger cousin. She's in like…" Pondering over the years they were apart- just one year, "…fifteen or sixteen." His eyes widen at his sudden accusations, and let out a whine along with an angered fist against the kitchen table, "Aww, man! C'mon!"
,"What?" He looked bewildered at the guitar's actions.
,"First, Tucker, and now you-Michael! What is this? 'Hook-Up-With-Raymond's-Family-Week'!" Disappointment showed in his irritated voice and troubled azure orbs. His head picked up, as he looked around the kitchen, from high p the ceilings to the tile floor beneath their sneakers, "Am I on 'Punk'd' or something? This is a joke, right? Right?"
Unfortunately, it wasn't a joke!
,"You never talked about you're family." He pointed out blankly. The blue color in his eyes faded as he lowered his head to the edge of the kitchen table, "What's the issue between you and you're sister, Ray-man?"
,"I left her." His attention was still on the table, but slowly moved to the black and white tiles of the floor as he remembered, "Even after I promised to protect her when she was being picked on. I was given a scholarship to study aboard in Europe. Raven was also given a scholarship, but somehow her name was erased from the list. My family approved of my decision, but I didn't know I would be separated from my sister until it was two weeks before my flight. I spoke with the Head of International Boards, the ones that had given me the scholarship- I asked them 'Why wasn't my sister coming along with me', as they told us so. They all laughed and said 'She is not suitable enough to be in the scholarship- therefore we've given in to another male'." They separated them! Just because she was born a girl and not a boy!
,"So basically, the Board didn't accept your sister?" Michael was intent on learning of Raymond's past. If you've ever had a friend who was always secretive about their family- wouldn't you like to listen and help them?
,"Yeah." He sighed another breath, "So, I went to Europe, leaving my twin behind; I decided to write letters to comfort her, but they never made it. They came back to me with a red 'Return to Sender' stamp on her name. I was supposed to stay in Europe for five or six years, but I manage to graduate in one year! I returned to Amity but went to Amity High school instead of Casper High with Raven…" From the tone of his voice told that he regretted his conclusion to leave his sister and sorrowful for being out of his family's life.
,"My mother died while I was living in this apartment- and I didn't know or attend her funeral; I don't even know where she was buried. My brothers struggling with their small business- but I didn't offer any money they'd work so hard to give me. My father developed cancer- I could have helped but was too busy with my own life to even take in consideration of my family's." He tilted his head higher, looking into the silver eyes, asking- begging for advice.
He didn't know what to say, but…, "Apologize. But not to your sister…your family."
,"Thanks, Mike!" He looked up at his peculiar eyes and messy caramel-colored spikes.
Hopeful eyes looked into the blue seas, "Now, tell me about you're cousin?"
He glared at the drummer, "Don't pull a 'Tucker' on me Mike!"
,"And where were you?" Valerie looked at her friend as she entered the apartment with her hair in a low ponytail, "Court was over an hour ago."
She untied her ponytail, allowing her dark hair to fall in gentle waves, "I was just catching up with Jake! I haven't seen him in years!" She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cup from a cupboard.
,"Mm-hmm!" Her eyes darted at the guitarist, "Catching up? Yeah, right! You really like him." She smiled at the confused look in Raven's eyes.
She poured some water into her empty cup and placed the pitcher back in the refrigerator, "What?! That is what we were doing! And I don't like him THAT way! He's more like…another brother..," Her expression turned into a tart one at the thought of having her own S.W.A.T Team to annoy her even further.
Her finger flipped the page of a magazine, continuing to read the article, "Quit lying, Ray! You like him! And he likes you!"
A spray of water exerted from Raven's lips, her eyes were wide like dish plates. She wiped the water that fell to her chin with the sleeve of her red suit, "Excuse me! Jake does NOT like me! He's nineteen! We only have a friendly brother-sister relationship! Besides, he really likes Sam!" She placed her now empty cup in the sink and grabbed a small towel, cleaning up the water due to her surprised state.
Valerie dropped the magazine to the table and walked to Raven, as she was cleaning the wet counter. Her dark hair was to her shoulder, giving her a chance to see her friend's striking blue eyes and pale face that seemed to withstand the sun's strong waves, " Ray...He really does like you." Her voice was sincere.
Her head picked up at the female's comment as she saw into the aqua eyes of the keyboardist, "The way he looks at you is absolutely obvious, Ray." She grabbed the fabric of the red suit and dragged her to the nearest mirror that happened to be near the sink, "Look at yourself." Her blue eyes looked at Valerie's confidant ones, "I said look at yourself, not me!"
Her azure eyes hesitated in looking at her own reflecting, as though she was afraid of being sucked inside the glass. She saw her disheveled wavy hair that hid her ocean eye and her pale complexion was like the moon, Valerie squished her dark skin to Raven's white cheek, "You should give yourself more credit."
,"Val, he doesn't like me. He likes Sam!" She retorted, but Valerie wasn't going to let her friend be fooled by a man's true intentions.
,"Wanna bet?" Once again she lead her friend to her living room and forced her to sit on the couch, "Stay here and don't move!" She commanded as she ran to her apartment, ignoring her friend's plea to return.
She ran across her apartment and went into her room. It was completely organized when she entered the room but in less than three seconds: papers were scattered across her bedspread, boxes of filed work were cluttered against a corner, her work table was filled with opened binders of her notes in her English and Photography classes. Shimming under her bed, she victoriously retrieved an album of her most famous snapshot work. Running out of her room, not caring that once she slammed her door that her desk fell to her carpeted floor.
Valerie was majoring in Photography. She was very good at taking photos and was particularly favored for some of the world's best-known models, actors and singers. But she was mostly taking pictures of nature and ordinary people walking down a busy street everyday. As she was quickly skimming through her album, she was entirely elated by the picture she was hoping to find in this rather thick book. She entered Raven's apartment, shoving the picture right at the seated girl's nose, "Look! Just like I said!"
,"I can look at it on my own, thanks." She pulled the album a few inches away from her face since it was blurry when it was pushed at her nose. She examined the laminated picture of the thick booklet that the Nightshades keyboardist was so eager to show her.
The photo was in vibrant colors. It showed of a smiling Raven standing as tall as the man a few feet away from her. Her eyes were shimmering like they were the sea, reflecting the light off it's blue surface creating it's own beauty; she was preoccupied on the blue lycaenid butterfly perched on her forefinger and thumb that was almost made from the same material of the blue sky above her dark head whipping along with the warm breeze. Jacob was staring at her as she continued to look at the butterfly like an adventurous child filled with curiosity. His reddish-blond hair moved along with the wind and smudged his vision, but his camel eyes were tenderly concentrated on the gleeful Shadow female as the beautiful insect on her appendage captured her childlike personality.
'I'm going to kill her!' She mentally noted to herself as she stared at the picture. She was spying on her when she was hanging out with Jake! It was about two or three years ago; she was either fourteen or fifteen and he was either sixteen or seventeen and both were spending a day at the park before Jacob was leaving for Harvard- he's uncle is the School Director giving him an easy way in the most famous law schools.
She remembered both befriended each other in an art class they shared in which their was a huge paint fight and both were accused of starting it and force to clean the Art Room, in return that they don't get detention or expelled. They were quick friends as he commented on the Art teacher's and Principal's stupidity. He began to open up abut his girlfriend troubles and she shared her hidden talent from the school (minus the Nightshades) in return he didn't tell anyone that she was in a band and she gave him girl advice.
,"I told you!" The prideful voice of a Grey female interrupted her remembrance of the past. She glared at the ecstatic keyboardist, who was basically smirking in victory, thinking she had defeated her, like she penetrated the wall of her actual emotions. She had always wondered why she was so distant with the opposite gender, especially when she was at the diner, but the African-American girl concluded that it was because Kat tried to hook not only her but also Sam and Ray on blind dates on 'suitable bachelors'.
A sigh parted her red lips as she looked at the Nightshades band member, "This picture proves nothing, Val. Except that you're an astounding photographer! Who stalks people! Why were you stalking me and Jake?!"
,"Stalking is such a bad word to use." Her aqua eyes diverted between the dark blue-dyed guitarist to the photo she had taken, "I'd prefer to say keeping an eye on you. He was an older man-they can be pretty sneaky! Plus, I thought you were on a date!"
Her glare deepened into her chocolate skin, "Val!"
Her muscular figure walked towards her friend's curvaceous one. She held her hands up in defense, stopping the angered Mexican, "It was out of the goodness of my heart, Ray! But I'll admit, you got good taste in men!"
She gently punched her, even when she was immensely upset, "But honestly, Ray, he really likes you!"
,"No he doesn't!" She bellowed back to her, "How many times, do I have to tell you? He LIKES Sam, NOT ME!" She sat back on her black nylon couch; plopping down on the ebony cushion dramatically.
Valerie retorted back to her friend, "YES, HE DOES! He's lying to you, Ray! He likes you so much that he won't even admit it to himself!" Bright aqua and dark azure clashed with each other, "Everyone knows that Jacob likes you, Ray! HE was entirely distraught when he had to leave Amity, because he would be leaving you! HE was upset to find out that you had a daughter, because he thought some bastard left you to care for this beautiful baby! HE was awestruck that you were fighting for the protection of a child that wasn't your own! HE was delighted to see you! Face it Ray, Jake likes you!"
,"Why would he be interested in me?" She rose to her feet facing Valerie. She was trying so hard to prove to her that Jacob didn't like her, but soon doubted herself, "I'm a single foster mother whose working two jobs and is just in her first year in college! What makes you think he likes me? What proof do you have that shows that Jacob actually likes me?"
Valerie looked over Raven's shoulder; where they knew was the closed entrance to Raven's apartment. She looked back to the agitated navy eyes of the pale-skinned girl with intense eyes, "Because he told me."
PLEAZE REVIEW!!
Yeah, I know! Not much of Danny and Sam! It actually revolved around Raven, Raymond, Angela, and Helena with a sprinkle of Michael and Jacob! But still review please! I've been trying hard to update!
Sorry it took so long; but my imagination went wild and ended up with 15 pages! But it's worth it!