AN: I am so so so sorry this is late! Yesterday got away from me, I guess. Well, don't worry, here's another long chapter to tide you over, hopefully! Again, apologies! Maybe while you read this, you should watch out for...

Distractions

He wisely didn't tell anyone in his family of his encounter with Michael. If he did, they would think he was crazy for letting him get away. Or a traitor. That, and he had a new puzzle before him. He needed to figure out how it was that Michael had known his name without being told. He sighed, and walked into English, rubbing at his eyes. He nearly crashed into the wall next to the door, but when his vision cleared, he grinned. Andrew wasn't there yet!

Although it did make him worry, a bit. Andrew was always there early. Did something happened? He shook his head. No, the dork just probably got caught up in whatever book he was reading. He settled into his normal seat, and pulled out his homework. About five minutes later, Andrew stumbled into the classroom, and jeez, he looked terrible! It was like he stayed up all night then got ran over by a car! Danny should know. Who knew how many times that had almost happened to him.

Eyes not open enough to see where he was going, Andrew bumped into one of the desks, and fell on the ground. He groaned, and Danny began to worry when he didn't get up. He got out of his seat, and crouched next to Andrew. "Hey, man, you alright?" He muttered in a foreign language. It sounded like French, but there was another language mixed in. He couldn't tell what it was. Jeez, how many languages did the guy know?

Sighing, Danny grabbed Andrew's arm, and put it over his neck. He slowly stood, hindered by the size of the nerd he was now dragging to the nurses office and how much did this guy weigh?! He felt like the wind could blow him away! Andrew shook his head, though made no other attempt to move. He muttered, "Whaarudoin?"

Danny huffed, shifting so that his center of gravity was more in line. "I'm taking you to the nurse. No way are you going to class while you're this sleep deprived."

He tried to move away, but only succeeded in making his arm twitch. "'M fine…"

"No, you are not fine, now shut up and let me help you, you idiot."

Once they did finally get to the nurse, Danny thought he saw Andrew smirk as he was placed on the bed. "You aren't that bad. For a Fenton." Rolling his eyes, Danny left to go to class, wishing he could sleep, too. Though when he got back, the room felt oddly empty without Andrew there.

Lancer began roll, and when he got to Andrew's name, he paused at the silence. "Danny, you wouldn't have happened to see Andrew, this morning, have you? He is your partner, after all."

Danny nodded slowly, "Yeah, I, uh, he's at the nurse. I don't think he's going to be coming to class."

Lancer stared at him, before marking it off on the sheet. "Well, that is odd. I didn't take him for the type to…" He shook his head, moving on.

He nodded again, looking back down at his notebook. He didn't either. It was like Andrew had stayed up even later than Danny had, which was pretty late. Probably holed up in his bedroom reading. Danny took another glance at the door, and sighed. He just hoped he was alright, and that he had made the right move, making him get sleep.

It seemed he had, when he came to lunch looking perfectly fine and sat down at their table. He gave a soft smile to Danny. "You know, I really must thank you for earlier. Apparently, I didn't get enough sleep last night."

Danny scoffed at his sarcasm, "You're telling me? I was the one that dragged you to the nurse so you could catch up on your sleep."

Andrew rolled his eyes, "You do realize you have a hero-complex, right? You're concerned about me, Clock knows why, and yet you have dark purple circles under your eyes as though you went up against that Dash fellow, and lost. Twice."

He waved him off, "I'm fine, I'm fine, Sam, Tuck, tell him I'm fine." He smiled, knowing his friends would totally back him up.

The two glanced at each other with a grin, and started blurting things out, much to Danny's chagrin.

"He never sleeps before two in the morning."

"He always drops whatever he's doing to go fight a ghost, even if he's sleeping."

"His grades are low and he needs a tutor."

"He doesn't tell his friends what he should."

Andrew rose a hand, and they went silent with mischievous smirks. Danny glared at them. They were dirty, rotten, no good traitors, who liked to lie a lot, and he was so totally maybe not their friend anymore. Andrew smirked, "Well, I'm not sure about the other things, but I can certainly help with tutoring. After all, I am already going to be helping you with English."

He shoved his spork into his food and bit on the end of it. "I don't need help with English or any other subjects." Seeing the teen's hand, he furrowed his brow, grabbing it and examining it. "What happened? It looks like a mild burn."

Andrew quickly pulled his hand back, holding it. "One, I burned myself while making breakfast. And two," he sighed, shaking his head, "Trust me, you do need help in English. Nobody understands Shakespeare without help. Hell, the first time I read it, I had to ask the meaning of some phrases and soliloquies!" He put a hand to his forehead. "My point is, perhaps this could be the chance for us to completely start over, with a fresh slate. After all, I wasn't very kind, either."

Danny waved his hands defensively, "Woah, no, dude, I was the dick. I mean, your books are super important to you."

The elder smiled at him, "The blame lies in both parties, so how about we agree to forgive and forget, yes?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that… that sounds like a good idea."

Sam rose an eyebrow, "So, when did you two get so friendly?"

"Sometime between when he let me bor- use his books, and when I dragged him to the nurse."

"It does seem to have been rather eventful in between that time period," Andrew hummed.

Tucker took a large bite of his hamburger, "Wha di ou o oo de durs?" Andrew deadpanned until Tucker swallowed his food, and tried again. "Why did you go to the nurse?"

The teen nodded. "Ah, now that I understand. It was just a minor case of sleep deprivation, nothing to get worked up about." Seeing the look Danny was giving him, he turned, "What?"

"Just a minor case? Dude, you were almost passed out on the ground, and you were speaking some language I don't know."

It seemed that Andrew tensed up, but his voice was extremely casual. "Oh, was I? Perhaps I was possessed by a demon. Many strange things seem to happen in this town."

Sam grinned, "Speaking of, how are you liking Amity Park?"

He shrugged, "I suppose it could be worse. The ghostly visitors do seem to make life a little harder, but it's nothing I can't handle."

Sam's eyes widened, "Dude. We are keeping this one. Like, just, we have got to keep him. Okay, I am definitely taking you to the Skulk and Lurk after school."

Danny interrupted with a glare, "No, you're not! I need him, after school, if I want to catch up in English!"

Andrew gave her a smile, "My apologies, but we already had prior arrangements. Perhaps another time?"

She nodded, "Oh, yeah, dude, definitely! We all have to hang out, and show you the awesome things in town." She brought her backpack out from under the table, tore a scrap of paper from one of her notebooks, and began writing furiously on it. "Here's my number, call me when you aren't tutoring Mr. I Don't Need Anyone. And here's Danny and Tuck's numbers, for when all four of us are gonna hang out. I also put down our Skypes since, to be honest, we're all internet nerds and more likely to answer our computers than our phones."

He took the paper from her with a smile, and slipped it into his coat pocket. "Not sure when I'll need these, but I'll thank you anyway."

Tucker grinned, "You know, you're a lot cooler than Danny said you were."

He smirked with a sideways glance to Danny, "Oh, am I, now? And tell me, what, exactly, has he been saying about me?"

Tucker took out his PDA, and started clicking away, while Danny protested, "You've saved our conversations?!"

The techno-geek wisely didn't acknowledge that, instead played an audio sound clip.

"Well, obviously since the new kid is evil, I have to find out what his plans are! How do I do that? I get close to him."

"Dude, no-"

"I get close to him, and make him think I'm his friend. Then, when he tells me his secret plan, boom! I foil it! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!"

Tucker smirked in triumph, "Yeah, we're pretty sure he thinks you're his arch enemy, or something. The first day you got here, he was saying how we should stay away from and cause you're 'untrustworthy' and 'hiding a dangerous secret.'"

"Is that so? Well?" There it was again. That tenseness while trying to be totally cool with it all. "Do you still think I'm hiding a secret?"

Danny cautiously looked Andrew in the eyes. Everything about him seemed very casual and laid back, but he could tell. There was a certain fear that was there, that he was trying desperately to hide. It was that fear that made Danny pause, and realize something. This wasn't some big evil villain trying to defeat him, like in the comics. This was another kid, like him, just trying to survive with his secrets mostly intact. He slowly nodded, thinking over his words carefully. "I do think you're hiding something. And depending on what it is, it could be dangerous. But I don't think you'd purposefully hurt anyone who didn't deserve it."

He let out a forced chuckle, and seemed to truly relax. His voice was laced with sarcasm, "Well, that certainly is a relief. And here I thought I would have to worry about a fourteen year old boy discovering my secret and putting me and my family to shame, making the town exile us, and force us to go live in the forest, alone, off the land!"

Danny held up two fingers, "Two things. One, you are extremely overdramatic, for a nerd, and that's coming from me. I am like the king of drama. And two, I am fifteen, thank you very much!"

Andrew blinked, "Really? I was being generous when I said fourteen, I thought you were actually thirteen."

Sam waved her hand, a wicked grin making its way onto her face. "Aw, it's alright. Danny's used to a little misunderstanding."

Tucker snickered, "Yeah, it's not our fault he has such a short temper."

Danny narrowed his eyes at his friends' teasing, but his grin showed he wasn't as affected by it as he was dramatizing. "Well, fine! Since you guys obviously don't love me anymore, I'm gonna go to class all by myself, and let the popular girls sit in your seats!"

Sam glared at him, pointing at him with her fork dangerously, "You wouldn't."

He grinned, picking his food and backpack up, and running out the door, tossing the rest of the food in the trash on his way out. "See ya!"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other and nodded in sync, running after him, backpacks askew on their backs. "Get back here, punk! Don't make us tell your parents there was a ghost attack!"

Andrew rose an eyebrow, and finally turned away from the doors and back to his own meal. "Strange bunch."

So, you like? Isn't it great that Danny and Andrew are getting closer? Soon enough, they may even be able to call each other friends! Weird, right? Alright, remember, reviews make me smile! Love you all! Kasena, out!