A/N: Between job hunting and free time, I haven't had too many opportunities to update. Still, the show must go on. It took a long time to make this chapter as well when I was working on it. I had no idea exactly how I wanted to build the character introduced in this chapter.
"Don't you think you're a bit overdressed?" Hyde asked.
"And risk wearing something that'll give someone an excuse to say I look like a geek? No sir," Danny retorted, straightening his collar. The dress shirt may have been a little much, but the jeans and black sneakers were perfectly average. If someone's drunk enough to vomit on him, someone may be walking out with a black eye. Male or female.
"True. Just what was the point of this? Finally trying to find a way to have some fun?" Hyde questioned.
"Why not, right?" Danny said, unaware that someone was behind him.
"You look good," Jazz complimented idly as she stood in the door. Danny turned, and smiled a little.
"Thanks," he said, looking down. "I have no idea why I agreed to this."
"I call temporary insanity from recent events," Jazz said with a grin before it faded. "You don't have to go to this."
"I know. I certainly gave myself that option. But hell, I feel like I should," Danny said, making Jazz blink in slight surprise at how the cussword flew from his lips. "You still driving me back here?"
"Uh huh. I'll be over there in a few hours," Jazz said before raising an eyebrow questioningly. "Unless you'd rather stay all night?"
"The less I'm exposed to the self proclaimed king and queen of Casper High, the better. The king and queen of shallowness is more accurate," Danny said with a roll of his eyes, making Jazz smile slightly.
"Have a good time little brother," she said. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"There's no promises for that, Miss Goody Good," Danny said with a smirk. She rolled her eyes as he transformed into his ghost form and flew off.
"How heartwarming," Hyde said dryly. Danny rolled his eyes.
"You may not be one for emotions, but I am," he said.
"Being dead on the inside makes you indifferent to most things," Hyde said casually.
"So does actually being dead, I guess," Danny said. He would've done a noncommittal shrug had he not been flying.
"You're starting to understand," Hyde said, his voice sounding pleased.
"It's kind of obvious," Danny said.
"Which is more than some people can say," Hyde said as Danny flew in an alley across from the house before transforming back to his human form once he saw no one was around him. There was loud music playing from Paulina's house that he could hear even from here.
"Jesus, how do the neighbors here even cope with that kind of noise?" Danny questioned.
"Probably very, very good earplugs," Hyde said.
Danny approached the door and balled up his fist before beating on the door somewhat loudly. Dash being the one to answer the door was not promising. But he only raised an eyebrow at the sight of him.
"You're actually here," Dash said, making Danny shrug.
"Figured why not. Have I at least arrived before the drinks got spiked? I really don't want to stumble home drunk off my ass. It'll be kind of hard to explain that," Danny said, making Dash raise both of his eyebrows at the way he said it.
"You seem considerably less loser-ish today. That's a first," Dash said, making Danny shake his head.
"Heh, thanks," Danny said with absolutely no humor in his tone. "Can I come in now?" Dash moved to the side and let him in before closing the door.
"He cursed, and he's not dressed like he has absolutely no sense of clothing. What, were his friends the reason he looked like an absolute geek?" Dash questioned in his head. It was weird to think of it that way, and kind of screwed up, but that was the only reason he could think of.
"So what are you going to do? Drink? Smoke? Chat up a girl?" Hyde asked.
"Christ. What are you? The ghost of bad teenage decisions?" Danny asked, trying to not to let his irritated look show as he grabbed a cup of punch.
"I'm the ghost saying that you need to loosen your scrawny ass up and have some fun," Hyde said. "Believe me, if you're stressed, a blowjob will..."
"ENOUGH HYDE," Danny said furiously as he downed the drink in his hand without spilling a drop. "I'm so irritated with you, I wished that was spiked."
"In this scene, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. But seriously, spiked punch is so cliche. Then again, I doubt you could handle the rough stuff without getting 'drunk off your ass' in two seconds flat," Hyde said.
"You keep this up, I'm not going to be able to enjoy a damn thing," Danny said before doubling back and grabbing another drink.
"Fine. I'll quiet myself. But at least smoke some weed," Hyde said.
"Oh, for Pete's sake... Maybe. Will that satisfy you?" Danny asked.
"For now," Hyde said before going silent.
"Goodness gracious. Maybe Hyde is a sign that I have no sanity," Danny said, taking a more leveled sip from the drink in his hand.
The halfa decided rather than jumping into something, he'd rather take a look around as to what everyone was doing. There were a lot of people dancing. Not all of them looked drunk. Some of them seemed to actually know how to dance, unlike him. Dancing was definitely out. He was definitely not getting drunk. Sex? No. Smoking might've been the safest option.
"How does it even affect half ghosts anyway?" Danny thought. Ghosts couldn't get cancer from cigarettes, and he didn't even know what weed even guaranteed besides an intense hunger. Then he eyed the circle of people passing a blunt. Four guys, three girls. 'Maybe' wasn't a guarantee...
"Oh, forget it," Danny thought before draining the rest of the drink and walking over there. "Room for one more?"
Contrary to what Danny thought, he wasn't met with weird looks that he was over here asking to smoke. He was met with smiles like he was one of them. It was extremely weird. How did he possibly fit in with a group of possible pothead strangers' than people from his own school?
"Sure dude. Trish, scoot," one guy said. The girl he spoke to moved over a few inches on her butt so that Danny could sit, giving Danny a wide smile.
"Note that I've never smoked a day in my life," Danny said, making all of them look at each other. If anything, it unnerved Danny that their grins got wider.
"Oh, we got a newbie here. Alright, then you get the first puff. Let's see how well you take it," another guy said, passing the blunt over to him. Danny gave it a slight apprehensive look before grabbing it. He looked at it for a few more seconds like it was poisoned, making everyone laugh.
"Trust me. It's not going to kill you. Quite the opposite, really," the girl named Trish said, gesturing for him to continue. Danny slowly brought it to his lips and sucked. Then he tried to blow it out like he saw people do, but it seemed he inhaled some of it in the process. That sent him into a coughing fit.
"Oh boy," Danny said, blinking rapidly.
"Close. Most people aren't naturals, but you got sorta kinda close. Everyone always accidentally inhales a little too much and ends up swallowing some of the smoke," the first guy said.
"Feels like that's what I did," Danny said before passing it to the guy next to him. He took a puff, avoided swallowing the smoke, and blew it out easily before passing it along.
"If you're in this for the long haul, you'll get it down," he told Danny.
"Trust me. If you got things holding you down, this is a great way to help with that," the second girl said.
"That's if I'm in this for the long haul," Danny said, making everyone chuckle.
"Oh, trust us. After you get the next few hits down, you will. I just recommend you stock up on extra food. You're going to clear out your fridge in no time," the third guy joked. "So what's your name?"
"Danny," he said simply.
"Danny. Well, I'm Jeff. That's Mark. That's Clark. That's Chris. As for the ladies, you got Stephanie, Trish, and Sapphire," Jeff said, pointing to each of them.
Jeff was a relatively dark black male, though it wasn't burned to a crisp level dark. He had nearly no hair on his head; almost as if he was shaved to get ready to join the military. He wore a hoodie and black jeans with Nikes of the same color. If he didn't smile so much, you'd almost think he was like... someone he knew of in a way. Into dark clothing and all that.
Chris, like Jeff was black, but he was definitely a few shades lighter. He looked about sixteen, though he was relatively tall for his age. His hair was smoothed down in waves with one earring in his left ear and a gold watch on his left wrist. By the looks of things, it looked like his family was fairly well off. If the latest pair of Jordans on his feet were any indicator.
Clark was a different story. He was around the same skin tone as Danny, if not a little paler. He looked at the same age as Chris, though he actually looked more like the size his age indicated. He wore a pair of faded, slightly baggy blue jeans with a black shirt and a pair of sneakers. Not as flashy as Chris' latest models, but they were in good shape. He had brown hair that hung just above his shoulders with the sides sticking out slightly like a thorn bush even though the rest of it was as smooth as anything.
Mark was Asian, and Danny wasn't even going to try to guess where from. He could be Korean for all he knew. He looked to be seventeen or eighteen, and his hair was styled with a high fade, and he wore a type of football jersey, muscles evident given the lack of sleeves. So he was definitely a jock. His eyes fell on Sapphire, who was the one wearing the letterman jacket to go with the jersey. Didn't have to second guess that those two were paired.
Speaking of whom, Sapphire was dressed just as casual as the guys. She had a slight tan, and was wearing Mark's letterman jacket and jeans that hugged her hips. A place Danny had quickly averted his eyes to to avoid staring. Complete with tennis shoes and long black hair that hung about an inch from her shoulders, she was a knockout. It reminded Danny of Dash and Paulina. Though he hoped for much better attitudes.
Stephanie was a blonde who was dressed similar to Sapphire only she had a blouse on instead of a letterman jacket. Her hair hung about half an inch above her shoulders, and she looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. Green eyes eyed Danny almost eagerly, which left him wonder what the hell that look meant.
Trish, who looked to be seventeen, seemed to be gifted with the power of red hair, though gifted with a little less sense of sense of modesty. The shirt she was wearing was a bit more low cut, which again, made him have to avert his eyes to avoid staring. Overall, trying to make friends while your eyes wandered to each of the girls was not the greatest timing in the world.
"Welcome to the Circle of Stoners," Chris said in a joking tone.
"Looked more like an oval when I walked over here," Danny said, making everyone laugh. Without his permission, he started to smile. Ok, maybe this actually was a good idea.
"Told you," Hyde said out of nowhere. There was no way to respond to that without Danny looking like an idiot, so he just opted to ignore it.
"This one got jokes. Alright, I'll give you that one. Steph, I'm putting you on circle check next time. If Danny here mocks our circle shape again, or lack thereof, I'm holding you fully responsible," Jeff said with what was an attempt at a stern finger point.
"Kiss my ass Jeff," Stephanie said, passing the blunt to Danny.
"But I already do so much more to it that that..." Jeff said in an innocent tone, making Danny's eyes widen before swallowing smoke on accident. That sent him into another coughing fit.
"Dammit, Jeff!" Danny exclaimed, which sent the entire group into hysterics.
"You really wanna kill the guy on his first day?" Clark asked, still unable to stop himself from laughing.
"I certainly don't," Trish said with a bit of a suggestive smirk. Danny had absolutely no way to respond to that, so he looked away.
"Get used to the dirty jokes right now. I'm telling you, Jeff does not stop with them," Sapphire said as Clark grabbed the blunt from Danny.
"There's no shame in my game," Jeff said, brushing imaginary dust off his shoulder.
"Your game is weak. I still keep a few batteries around," Stephanie said, making Danny choke again. But this time it was on laughter along with the rest of the group.
"You all are going to have me in the grave before I finish high school," Danny said, shaking his head.
"Either of laughter or choking on the kush smoke. Either way is not a horrible way to go out," Mark said, taking the blunt form Clark.
"My lungs disagree with the second one," Danny said with a shake of his head.
"Your lungs will be fine," Sapphire said with a dismissive wave of the hand.
"Also before you get any ideas, two of these ladies are paired up with someone. A guess as to which one I'm paired up with," Jeff said with a grin.
"Neither. You make love to a bottle of Jergens," Danny said dryly, making everyone snort out a laugh. Mark, who was in the process of taking a puff, ended up choking on some smoke himself.
"Low blow, dude. Low blow," Jeff said. He was still grinning widely, and Danny couldn't stop his grin from getting wider. Why was this so easy? It was strange.
"I'm starting to get used to this dynamic. But I guess the couples that smoke together, stay together," he said with a shrug.
"Believe it. Who needs dinner and a movie when you have a bag of grass?" Sapphire said.
"Amen to that," Mark said.
"Blunt's almost gone. Here. You take what's left," Stephanie said, passing it to Danny. When his mouth was about an inch from the blunt, his ghost sense went off. It took everything in him not to groan in exasperation. Quickly looking up, it wasn't hard to deduce who he was dealing with. That jacket... the slight glow of his skin... he knew who that was. And who was next to him. His eyes narrowed.
"Danny, you alright?" Jeff asked.
"I see someone I recognize. Give me a couple of minutes," Danny said, standing up. But he couldn't resist taking another drag. Christ, after this party, he was going to be addicted to weed. That was just great.
"Yeah, he's coming back. He's one of us now," Trish said with a grin. Danny rolled his eyes before forcing the blunt in her mouth and walking off. Why weren't there any potheads at Casper High? So much easier to get along with. At least these ones were.
"Tell me again, why am I here?" Ember asked, her tone low.
"Cause this is the best party that's going on right now. Now let's hope someone has already spiked the punch," Johnny said eagerly.
"You're not drinking too much. I refuse to fly you back to the Ghost Zone when you have no sense of the world and vomiting all over my shoulder in the process," Kitty said distastefully.
"I said I was sorry Kitten," Johnny said apologetically.
"Tell that to the jacket you ruined," Kitty reminded him.
"Back to this. You do realize I had to possess someone just so no one identifies me as the singer Ember?" Ember said, making sure to lower her voice while holding her arms out. The music was deafening, but it still was better to be careful.
"You'll be fine. Besides, if you want a night of fun, it won't be your body that's..."
"Kitty, no. Just no," Ember said, making Kitty shrug. "There are just some things you don't do in someone else's body."
"Your call. Anyway..." Kitty was cut off by her leg suddenly being grabbed and falling through the floor. Ember's eyes widened.
"If that's Phantom, I swear to God..." Ember said, getting out of the girl's body and quickly phasing through the ground before anyone saw her.
"What are you two even doing here?" Danny asked, his fists already ready to fire ecto blasts. Oh, come on!
"Don't do it babypop," Ember said, arming her guitar up for a blast. But Johnny was holding his hands out in surrender.
"Whoa, whoa! Dude, we're not here for trouble. We didn't even know you were going to be here. We're just here for the party," he said, making Danny raise an eyebrow.
"Let me get this straight. You're not here to cause trouble," Danny said, lowering his fists slightly.
"Right," Johnny said with a nod.
"You're just here for the party," Danny said.
"Right again," Johnny said.
"Since when?" Danny questioned.
"Well, we all enjoy our partying. We just kinda prefer messing around with the town more," Johnny said with a shrug.
"If one thing goes awry, I say one thing, I'll be using your hands to make you part of a ventriloquist act," Danny said darkly, making all three ghosts cringe at the image. Nevertheless, he dispersed his fists of the green energy. "I am most certainly not in the mood for a ghost fight. That's not what this night was supposed to be about."
"Wait, so... you're here for the party too?" Kitty asked.
"For once, yes. I was actually having a decent time before I knew you were here," Danny said, crossing his arms. It was then each of the ghosts took a look at him. They hadn't even noticed that he was wearing something different, and to be honest, more fitting than what he normally wore. Black was definitely his color.
"You actually don't look half bad," Kitty said. Danny blinked slightly at the compliment.
"Thank you. I can't believe I'm doing this, but as long as you cause no trouble, I guess you can stay," he said with a sigh before looking to Ember. "How has no one identified you yet? I mean you are... you." Ember knew it definitely wasn't the best idea to mention that she came here in someone else's body. Speaking of which, she had no idea where she would've gone to at this point.
"Been lucky so far," she said.
"For your sake, you better hope it stays that way," Danny said, heading towards the stairs of the basement and walking out. The three ghosts then looked at each other.
"Since when does the dipstick show up at parties?" Ember asked.
"Well, when it came to breakups, I used to do nothing but get drunk off my ass at parties," Kitty suggested.
"Yeah, but Phantom's not you. He's what we call 'the good guy.' So far, he's had the perfect life up until his friends," Johnny said.
"All it takes is one bad day," Kitty said. "He smelled like weed smoke."
"That's not a bad way to spend your first party," Johnny said, approval in his tone.
"Am I the only one concerned about these changes?" Ember questioned.
"Just stay out of his way, and we won't have to worry about it. I mean, he let us stay if we don't anything wrong," Johnny said.
"And that's the problem. Doing wrong things is pretty fun," Ember said.
"Well, you could work on your music. But with less of the mind control," Kitty suggested.
"That takes too long," Ember said.
"You really wanna try world domination with Phantom the way he is? I mean, he stood toe to toe with Pariah Dark, and he's still here. And he definitely didn't fight to brutalize like he did before," Kitty said.
"I heard barely," Ember retorted.
"Still, he gets credit for even being willing to fight him," Kitty said.
"Or stupid enough," Ember said with an eye roll.
"Let's drop the subject of Phantom. He let us enjoy the party, so how about we take advantage?" Johnny questioned, gesturing towards the stairs.
"Point. Let's go," Kitty said, taking Johnny's arm as they began to head upstairs. Ember raised her arms in exasperation before following them. The only reason she was even here was because Kitty dragged her along. It was not like she even had a date. Even then, Skulker wasn't necessarily a person you could take to an event like this an be inconspicuous. Even if he overshadowed someone. He'd probably feel insecure without his suit anyway.
"The punch isn't spiked. Good. Which means you can have as much of it as you want for right now, and I don't have to worry about getting you home," Kitty said, grabbing a cup herself.
"That was one time. Are you ever going to let me live it down?" Johnny asked.
"Nope," Kitty said cheerfully, making Johnny groan.
"If I have to watch you two go back and forth like this, I'm going to lose my sanity. Why'd you even bring me along in the first place?" Ember grumbled.
"So you would actually have some fun. Go drink. Talk to some people that don't fangirl over you," Kitty said before looking past her and pointing. "Or you could do what Phantom's doing."
Ember turned, and she saw the boy scout himself take a drag from a blunt before blowing the smoke in the air. His eyes became half lidded for a second before he laughed and all the people around him raised their arms with grins. Ember had never seen Phantom so... carefree. Then again, he was high. He probably thought he could look into God's window if he flew into the air.
"He looks as high a kite," Ember said.
"And he looks like he's loving it," Johnny said with a grin. "Kinda of weird to see Phantom passing a blunt around with a bunch of stoners."
"I'm going to find a beer or something," Ember said, waving her arms dismissively before walking away.
"She's just sore cause she doesn't have a date," Kitty said once she was some distance away. Almost immediately, she was nailed in the back of the head with some jock's football. "Ow! Jesus, does she have elephant ears?"
"It's like she has a sixth sense when someone's talking crap about her," Johnny said with a shrug.
"So you go to Casper High?" Clark asked, passing the blunt to Steven.
"Yup. Shittiest school in all of Amity," Danny said.
"Heh. I doubt that. You've ever been to Carrigan High?" Chris asked.
"Nope. I remember our football team going against your school one time," Danny said.
"Well, that is the shittiest school in Amity. Trust me. Shitty teachers followed by shitty food, students, and homework," Chris said.
"I went to Amity for a year. Was not impressed at all," Stephanie said, grabbing the blunt front Steven and taking a puff. "Then again, that was before all the ghost attacks."
"Ghost attacks?" Trish asked.
"It's kind of a thing with our school. The ghost attacks are no secret as fast as the entire town is concerned, but like a chunk of them occur at my school. So no way in any shape or form is your school worse than mine," Danny said.
"And you haven't been smoking weed before?" Stephanie questioned, making Danny shake his head. "You're better than me."
"Steph, stressful situations did not get you smoking unlike Danny here. Stop trying to act all innocent," Jeff said, making Stephanie roll her eyes.
"I doubt any of us are innocent. I mean, look at what we're doing right now. Passing a blunt around at midnight," Mark said, as Jeff passed the blunt down to Sapphire.
"Personally, I doubt you can find a better way to spend your weekend," Trish said before looking at Danny. "We should make this a common thing."
"She's right. I doubt you have your own stash of weed," Clark said with a grin.
"I have no idea exactly what I would do with it if I did," Danny said in an as-a-matter-fact tone.
"How about this. We'll come kidnap you from Casper every now and again. We'll introduce you to our crazy little band. That is, if you're willing to come along," Jeff said.
"I'm willing. It's a good thing to make new friends," Danny said with a smile. But he wouldn't admit that thinking about Sam and Tucker again immediately killed his high. So much for forgetting your problems for one night. A few hours, maybe.
"Please let me cut in. My friends are driving me crazy," a familiar voice said, making Danny stiffen slightly. He swore Ember was only coming over here to annoy him.
"Sure. Not often we get a teen rock sensation sitting at our little circle," Jeff said with a grin. "Someone scooch over." Ember raised an eyebrow at how tame his response was.
"I got it," Clark said, giving Danny a wink. The halfa had no idea why.
Ember sat, and she gave Danny a wry smirk. The halfa rolled his eyes. Everyone was looking between the two several times.
"You both know each other?" Trish asked.
"Somewhat," Danny said curtly as he eyed Ember.
"I'm here babypop. Deal with it," she said with a smirk before taking a sip of beer. Judging by the way his eyes flashed green briefly, she was getting under his skin. It was so easy, yet so fun.
"Babypop? Sounds adorable," Sapphire said with a smirk at the two.
"It's either that or dipstick," Ember said, draining the rest of the can before crushing it in her hand and throwing it behind her. "Because believe me, he does act like a dipstick."
"And you're the type of person who loves to stick their nose where it wasn't wanted," Danny said, giving her a narrow eyed gaze.
"To defend what little innocence I have, I didn't want to be here. Kitty dragged me here," Ember said rather plainly.
Danny shook his head before just snatching the blunt from Trish and taking a long drag. Trish looked down at her hand where the blunt was previously before looking at Danny, blinking twice really fast.
"You couldn't have waited a few seconds?" she asked dryly. Danny waited until he blew the smoke out to shrug noncommittally. Trish rolled her eyes as he took another puff before passing the blunt back to her. "Newbies, I swear."
"Call it insurance that I can stay sane while this conversation lasts," Danny said, blowing out another puff of smoke. Ember still found it really bizarre that she was watching Phantom smoke weed. It was like seeing Santa Claus shoot someone or Mother Theresa participating in a threesome.
"So... Danny..." Ember said casually. A little too casually. It made Danny raise an eyebrow. Maybe she was trying a little too hard not to call him Phantom?
"Yes?" Danny asked.
"Do you drink now too?" Ember asked. It was actually an honest question. She wanted to know how far Phantom had fallen. And honestly, she wouldn't mind having a part.
"No. I'm not eager to experience a hangover. I think I'll stick with the punch until it gets spiked," Danny said evenly as Trish passed the blunt around to Ember, who just gave it to Danny. He raised an eyebrow at the gesture, but said nothing when he grabbed it from her and took another puff. With his eyes closed in a serene fashion, he blew the smoke in the air, the light gray smoke forming around him almost like a cloud. Danny gave off a few light coughs before passing it to Mark with a smile just as light.
"That's better than I could've thought," Danny said, still grinning.
"That's not even the good stuff," Clark said, making Danny's raise his eyebrows in surprise.
"You're kidding me," he said.
"Nope. All of us agreed that we're not taking the good stuff to a party where anyone could just snatch it. So we bring the basic stuff," Stephanie said, taking the blunt from Steven. "Speaking of basic, I think we oughta stop you there Danny."
"Why's that?" Danny asked with a frown.
"Cause it's possible to get too high," Ember finished. Danny looked at her, and she looked liked she spoke from experience. Regular drugs and alcohol still affected ghosts. That's the only reason parties like this were remotely worth Johnny and Kitty's time.
"How is it possible to get too high?" Danny asked.
"Because smoking, like drinking in a way, you have a type of tolerance. If you smoke past your tolerance, you'll really real fast that there's a difference between good high and the kind of high that will make unsure of the planet you're on. It'll almost be impossible for you to stand and you'll be so hungry you'll raid a supermarket after you're done with your kitchen," Jeff summed up.
"He's not wrong," everyone except Danny said, making him raise his hands in surrender. It was weird how all people who smoked weed were in sync. Even Ember.
"I'll take your word for it then," he said right as his phone beeped. It was Jazz.
"Everything alright over there, or do you want to come home early?" the message said.
"Everything good. Having a surprising amount of fun, really," Danny typed back swiftly before pocketing his phone.
"Folks?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Danny said. And he just left it at that.
"Alright, I'm officially starving," Clark said abruptly. "There any good food at this place?"
"I would hope so. Wouldn't be much of a party. Especially one to get high at," Chris said. "If your stomach is calling to you, please stand up."
Danny was about to stay seated, but his stomach knocked that idea out of the window. It wasn't hunger pains hungry, but it was very insistent about needing food. So he stood with everyone who wasn't Ember. She didn't really need food. It tasted good, but she didn't need it.
"Your first sensation of the munchies. Get ready to want to eat everything in sight," Trish said with a grin in his direction.
"It's not one of those painful hungers, but it's definitely one that gets you up and eating," Danny said.
"Yup, that's the munchie hunger right there. I shall guide you through this wonderful journey of food," Jeff said, putting an arm around Danny's shoulders and gesturing free arm out like he was telling an epic tale.
"I can think of something you can eat right now," Stephanie said with a grin.
Then, faster than anyone Danny's ever seen, Jeff picked Stephanie up and she was laughing while he had the most eager look on his face as he carried her away. Danny only blinked in slight surprise at how fast that all happened. Ember was rolling her eyes while the others shook their heads.
"I'm guessing that's common?" Danny asked.
"Almost every time we go to a party. They can't keep their hands off each other for very long after getting high together," Trish said.
"Modest is not in their vocabulary. If he says something or if she says something, they're gone for at least a half hour. It's enough to make them ignore munchie hunger, which says something," Mark said with an eye roll. "It's fine though. We'll journey to battle the hunger together."
"Can I talk to you really fast?" Trish asked Danny, making Ember raise an eyebrow. "Alone."
"Go for it," Sapphire said, grabbing Mark's hand and leading him away. Chris and Clark gave nods before walking away, Ember following them shortly after.
"I get the feeling that this isn't your type of scene," Trish said. It was a flat statement of fact.
"Every teenager has their problems, and I'm looking for ways to forget," Danny said.
"There are more ways to forget than just smoking. Highs can be killed," Trish said. Danny did not want to admit that his earlier one was killed a lot faster than it should've.
"Drinking works. Light drinking, if you want to avoid the hangovers. And as for the second way..." Trish trailed before grinning. "Well, that one I'm sure you can figure out on your own."
As Danny was walking, it took him a few seconds to get exactly what she meant by the second way. He had no plans to have sex at one of these types of parties.. Then again, he had no plans to ever smoke in his life, and look where he was now. Raiding chips to fight off the munchies.
"Let's just grab the whole damn bowl of dip and most of the chips. We're going to be coming back for them anyway," Chris said.
"Given the way my stomach feels, he's definitely not wrong," Danny said, already going for several bags of chips.
"Fenton." Paulina's voice suddenly drifted over to Danny, and he turned with several bags of chips in hand. She looked at him up and down with a critical eye before wrinkling her nose slightly. It irritated him more than he would care to admit. Then again, he was the one carrying several bags of chips like a hoarder.
"For the record, those were for all of us. He's not eating that by himself," Mark cut in, holding up the bowl of dip for emphasis.
"I could kind of figure that. I can smell the weed on him," Paulina said, wrinkling her nose slightly more.
"So the wrinkled nose wasn't a judging look. That surprises me," Danny thought.
"I don't care how much food you take. Just make sure you get Phantom here, alright?" Paulina told him.
"It's between you and him. If he promised you, he's going to keep that promise," Danny said before thinking as an afterthought, "As much as I would like to break it..." At least showing up at this party, he was just Danny. And he made friends just fine that way.
"Fine," Paulina said before walking away. But then she took a second look at Fenton. She had to admit that he actually looked good. Less of a nerd, and more... normal. Almost A-List territory. But she knew exactly who she was dealing with. At least he had the decency to at least look like he wasn't a loser.
"It's time to murder this food," Chris said, carrying two bags of chips in each hand with one bag in his mouth. It was amazing how he was able to speak clearly, yet the bag didn't drop from his mouth.
"Back to our circle," Danny said with a grin as the others followed. Ember looked at the group, and she was slightly surprised by how well Phantom seemed to fit with them. Like casually eating giant bags of chips and dip was normal.
Joining the rest of the group after grabbing another drink, Ember just saw them all inhaling chips in a very vacuum cleaner like manner for the next fifteen minutes. Her eyebrows were raised in disbelief the entire time. Then again, she couldn't really judge. She's gotten high several times, and the result was her raiding so many houses for food. It was definitely the pettiest use of her powers, but at the time, she didn't care.
"If you're going to eat that much, you could at least try a beer," Ember said, drinking out of her own beer. "Even you won't get a hangover after a few sips."
"She's right. Nothing wrong with a few beers," Mark said, popping a chip in his mouth after dipping it.
"Somebody say something about a few beers?" Johnny said, walking up to the group with a grin on his face. Danny sighed before shaking his head. At least Ember was tolerable. He wasn't so sure about Johnny. Kitty seemed nice. When she wasn't around Johnny and/or banishing people.
"We're trying to get him to try drinking. It's not as good as weed, but it's got its own little perks. Helps to forget a day if needed," Trish said.
Kitty looked at Danny, who was giving nothing away in his expression. She was somewhat amazed that he wasn't even going all out. If anyone needed to forget a day, it was him. She doubted she'd have same restraints, but she wasn't Phantom. No one was like Phantom, honestly.
"I honestly don't see the point of getting into another bad habit after getting into one already," Danny said before popping another chip into my mouth. "Even though I will gladly smoke weed now."
"We have converted thou holy subject to our devilish ways," Sapphire said in a joking manner.
"Oh, I wouldn't say I'm completely innocent..." Danny trailed. Ember may have imagined this, but she could've sworn his eyes cleanly landed on her and went over to Johnny and Kitty as well. It was a subtle sign that what he did to them weeks prior of this party certainly wasn't innocent in the slightest.
"Oh, do tell," Trish said.
"It's my little secret," Danny said with a small smirk.
"It's better not to know," Kitty suddenly said, digging into Danny's chip bag. He gave the ghostly biker a minor look of irritation, who only gave him a sweet smile in return. He went to dig in his bag, but a can of beer was put in front of his face.
"Are you hard of hearing?" Danny questioned.
"One sip will not kill you," Ember said in an exasperated tone. Danny sighed.
"Hand it here," he said. Ember smiled before handing him the can. Her smile made him raise an eyebrow and question whether or not the can was poisoned, but he brought it up to his lips and took a sip. The taste made him look at the can strangely. He was expecting something disgusting. Not... this.
"Straw-Ber-Rita. That's surprisingly good," Danny said, looking at the can.
"That's the weak stuff. Definitely not the drink you want if you want to get drunk off your ass," Ember said.
"Which is what I'm looking to avoid," Danny said before reluctantly handing the drink back to Ember. He didn't not want to admit that the drink was delicious. Not to meant he felt a type of strange warmth and burn his throat that was definitely the alcohol. "But to be honest, that drink was surprisingly good."
"Told you. And it's got a little... kick to it that you can't get with just soda," Ember said.
"I noticed that. A strange warmth," Danny said.
"A lot more-" Ember's attention was grabbed by the music suddenly stopping and there was a yell about the police showing up. Sure enough, there were red and blue sirens flashing behind the curtains. "Oh, shit."
"Play it cool. We should be able to get out through a window in the back," Clark said before turning and seeing that literally EVERYONE had the same idea and was bumping into each other in the process. "Well, so much for that idea."
"Side window. Just get out and run. Luckily we parked a few blocks awa-" Chris cut himself off. "Aw, shit. Jeff and Stephanie are probably still going at it and can't even hear us. Perfect timing, don't you think?"
"Just text him fast or something. We gotta go," Johnny said. Under normal circumstances, they could just phase out, but for some reason, they became stuck with the task of trying to look like regular people to Phantom's new friends. Since when was this their responsibility?
"They have their own car. If they can get their clothes on and slip out fast enough, they'll be fine to get away. We've talked this over before," Mark said before moving some curtains so he could climb out of a window. Luckily, they all stayed on the first floor. This was a big mansion, and it was real easy to end up stuck on the second floor. At that point, you had to be really devoted to getting away from the cops.
"Hey!" a policeman yelled in their direction once Danny climbed out of the window, who was the last one to climb out.
"Run. Now," Clark said, immediately darting forward to get towards an alley.
"We need to split up. We're easier to spot if we just clump together like this," Kitty said.
"You gonna be ok?" Chris asked.
"We'll be fine. Just go," Ember insisted.
"I'll get you at Casper one day. Just make sure to get away," Mark said before giving a quick salute and bolting down the street at a very jock like speed with the rest of his friends. Johnny, Kitty, Ember, and Danny all shared a look before getting into the darkness of an alley before turning invisible. The policeman who saw them come down this alley was extremely confused when he saw no one.
"What the hell? Could've sworn..." he trialed before shining his light down the alley to check every dark corner. Danny stood completely still, but was exasperated on the inside. All this for a bunch of partying teenagers?
Eventually, he left. Then the four of them took to the skies. It was really bizarre flying with three ghosts that he used to fight on a daily basis. Well, flying with them instead of flying to shoot them out of the air with ecto blasts.
"I have no idea why we didn't just fly away. I mean, it's not like we care if anyone knows we're ghosts," Ember said.
"Wouldn't want to ruin the innocence of Phantom's new friends," Kitty said, a smirk laced in her voice.
"Bite me," Danny said with a roll of his eyes. "As much as I don't want to say it, I have to thank you for that. I really didn't need the ghost drama tonight. Why can't you all just do stuff like this instead of attacking the town?"
"Cause it's not as fun. Plus the whole idea of world domination is pretty cool in its own right," Ember said nonchalantly.
"If you already make good music, then what's the point of mind control?" Danny questioned.
"Danny Phantom admitting he likes my music? I detect a clone," Ember said, her tone full of mirth.
"As much as it kills me to admit," Danny said flatly. Ember couldn't suppress a laugh.
"Well, you're not too bad Phantom when you're at a party," Johnny said.
"And you're not that bad when you're not attacking my town and causing problems for me and my friends," Danny said, a bit of venom making its way into his tone. It took Johnny completely off guard.
"Whoa man. Calm down," Johnny said, easing away from Phantom.
"Sorry. High's gone. Attitude's coming back," Danny said before stopping several yards away from Fenton works. "You might not wanna get any closer. Ghost shield automatically springs up."
"Thanks for the tidbit. Maybe we can show you what a ghost party is like. It might result in you starting a fight and getting kicked out, but... ghost parties are pretty fun," Kitty suggested. Danny at each of the ghosts floating in front of him before sighing.
"I'll think about it. We'll see where this... situation between us goes," Danny said before turning back to normal and easing himself back down to the ground.
"Today's been a weird day," Ember said, shaking her head.
"Seriously. We go to a party, Phantom's already there smoking pot, and he lets us stay. Doesn't get any nuttier than that," Johnny said before looking at Kitty. "You meant what you said about taking him with us to a party?"
"Eh, why the heck not. I mean, he definitely looks good enough for a party..." Kitty trailed, making Johnny narrow his gaze slightly. Ember pursued her lips. It was better to not comment on this situation.
"Kitten..." Johnny trailed, even though there was definitely some intent behind his tone.
"Oh, come on. If you can look, why can't I?" Kitty said, raising her hands in surrender. "The jumpsuit looks kinda stupid, but in that dress shirt..."
"Kitty! Come back Kitty!" Ember said, snapping her fingers.
"Come on. You can't blame me. In those dress shirt and jeans, he kinda had something going on. Don't judge me," Kitty said, her cheeks coloring slightly.
"Can we not talk about this?" Johnny said, his tone impatient.
"Sorry Johnny," Kitty said, looking slightly sheepish. Ember rolled her eyes as the three ghosts took to the skies.
"Fun time, wasn't it?" Hyde asked.
"First party, and already crashed by the cops. Unbelievable," Danny said before using his key to open the door. He was greeted of the sight of Vlad sitting properly on the couch while his dad was talking away in an eager fashion. The strange thing was that Vlad... actually seemed to be listening. His mom was sitting in the chair on the side, and Vlad's eyes didn't even dart to her. But his attention turned to him once he opened the door.
"Hello Daniel," Vlad said with a smile. Not one of those strange, "I still want you to be my son" smiles. This smile made Vlad look more... human. More welcome, to be honest. "Vlad" and "welcome" were two words he used to never associate with each other.
"Hey Vlad," Danny said in a subdued tone.
"You have a good time Danny? Vladdie here just came by here to talk," Jack said, gesturing to the man in question.
"Yeah, I can see that. And yeah. It was a relatively quiet party. But I think I'm ready to turn in. Have fun talking about... whatever you're talking about," Danny said, blinking in a perplexed fashion before walking into the hallway. He ran directly into Jazz in the process.
"You didn't freak out over Vlad being up to something? What's going on?" Jazz asked, grabbing his shoulders and holding him still.
"It's because I don't think he's up to something. At least not this time," Danny said.
"What makes you so sure?" Jazz asked.
"Call it a feeling. And if you're wondering why I'm here early, cops showed up. Apparently they knew what was going on," Danny said.
"Yeah, and by the smell of things, you participated in some of it," Jazz said, sniffing his clothes. "Smoking pot? Really Danny?" Danny smiled. It was kind of funny to have her scold him for weed like he just stole a cookie before dinner or something.
"Don't knock it till you try it. But in any case, I'm going to have me a shower. Have a nice night," Danny said, heading straight for his room.
A/N: That took so much longer than it should've. It really did. But I got it done. So we've officially got Danny involved with a bunch of potheads and ghosts he could without a doubt at one point, could call his enemies. Where am I going with it? Even I don't know. But let's roll with it people. Hope you enjoyed the chapter tho.