Author's Note: Hey! I'd wanted to post this last night but something was wrong with FF and apparently the website wasn't available or something like that? I don't know, I'm glad it's up again.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
Chapter 10
When Sam woke up the next morning to the blare of her alarm clock, she turned over in bed and realized that Paulina was gone. She slammed her fist over the alarm clock, and rolled over into a sitting position. She yawned, and then started getting ready for school.
When she was done – which was no easy feat, but now that she'd gotten the hang of everything, she did it at a much swifter pace – she headed down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. She was surprised when she found Paulina there, already dressed, making breakfast.
"Good morning," Paulina said cheerfully as she poured the contents of the blender into a cup. "I made you a breakfast smoothie – you'll need to drink this at least twice a week because it's really healthy and full of proteins and such."
Sam eyed the drink warily, the greenish color of it not looking too appealing. She then looked back up suspiciously at Paulina, wondering why she was being nice this morning when just last night she had been acting like a bitch.
Sam pushed away the thought that maybe she'd poisoned the drink because then she'd be poisoning her own body and started drinking. Even though the drink was putrid, it had a familiar tingle in her throat, and she knew Paulina's body was used to taking in things like this all the time, so she drank the whole cup soundlessly.
"Okay, so since yesterday I blew Danny and Tucker off and you blew the cheerleaders off when they asked us to hang out, today we can't do that," Paulina started rambling. She was making herself a grilled cheese sandwich and was simultaneously chopping up cucumbers and carrots for Sam. "When my friends ask you to come to the Nasty Burger with them, don't say you're tired because they won't buy it. You can only fake being tired for so long. So just say yes, and I'll say yes to whatever Danny and Tucker want to do."
Sam, again, didn't reply, instead choosing to munch on her breakfast in silence. Paulina noticed, and stopped cutting the vegetables to look up at her. "What is up with you?" A look of realization dawned on her, and she rolled her eyes. "You're not still pissed about last night, are you?"
As a reply, Sam gave her a glare yet said nothing. "Come on," Paulina said. "It was just a stupid fight. Build a bridge and get over it."
Sam eyed all the efforts Paulina was going to in breakfast and wondered if that was her way of apologizing. But knowing Paulina like she did, Sam realized that Paulina was incapable of feeling remorse, even for the tiniest bit, so she just grabbed the grilled cheese sandwich that wasn't meant for her and started heading out.
"Hey!" Paulina yelled after her. "You're not supposed to eat that."
Sam walked right back to the table and slammed the sandwich back on the plate, and hissed at her, "And you're not supposed to meddle in things you have no business meddling in."
"God, why are you so scared?" Paulina put down the knife and gave Sam a knowing look. "Having sex is not a big deal. In fact, if you're too scared to cross that threshold by yourself, I can do it for you."
Sam felt like Paulina had just slapped her. She slammed her hands on the table, causing Paulina to jump in shock, and leaned closer over the table to make sure Paulina could hear her properly. "Back. Off."
Paulina accepted the challenge and leaned closer herself, sneering. "Make me."
"Fine," Sam shrugged at her. "Then maybe I'll just go quit the cheerleading team. Or start hooking up with nerds. You'd like that, won't you?"
Sam didn't know where that came from, but from the look that flashed across Paulina's face, she was glad she said it. Paulina shut up immediately, pursing her lips, having no retort to say. Sam smirked triumphantly; ignoring the food Paulina had chopped up for her and reached for an apple on the table instead. "Ground rules, Paulina. They're there for a reason."
Like a boss, Sam took a bite out of the apple, gave Paulina one last look, and strode out of the kitchen.
Sam hadn't spoken to Paulina since that morning.
Even at school, whenever they'd make eye contact, Sam would get a dark look on her expression and look away. They even bumped into each other once in the halls, but while Sam didn't say anything, Star sneered at her and said, "Watch where you're going, freak."
Paulina was too taken aback at her best friend's expression to say anything, almost forgetting whose body she was in. Sam didn't say anything as they walked away and didn't say anything as Paulina walked into the Nasty Burger with Danny and Tucker after school that afternoon and Sam had already been there.
Paulina sighed to herself as she and the guys took a seat in one of the stalls by the window. It felt weird to sit somewhere other than the place she and her friends usually sat. She stared at Sam, sitting at the popular table with all the A-listers. Paulina felt weird sitting here and not there; never once in her life had she ever sat at any other table.
Paulina had been spacing out the entire day, torn between trying to act normal as if Sam ignoring her meant nothing to her and locking Sam up in a locker for being such a baby. Paulina didn't even know why Sam was so mad at her. All she did was say the truth. Sam was the one who threatened to ruin her life. Her mood darkened. She wondered how people always saw her as the bad person when it was so obvious it was Sam.
She snapped out of her thoughts when Danny waved a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Sam. What are you staring at?"
Paulina shook her head. "Nothing."
Danny and Tucker trailed after where her gaze had been and found the popular table. Danny snorted when he saw Sam sitting there, but of course, he didn't see Sam; he saw Paulina. "I can't believe I ever had a crush on her."
"I mean, she is hot," Tucker shrugged, which Paulina smiled inwardly at smugly, but that smile was wiped when he added, "hot-headed and hot-tempered, but hot."
"Sorry I didn't listen to you about her sooner," Danny gave her an apologetic look, bumping her slightly on the shoulder with his. "If I'd realized what a shallow, dense witch she was sooner, maybe we would've gotten together sooner than the end of the world."
"I am not shallow and dense," Paulina accidentally said, then she instantly regretted it. Hastily, she added, "I mean, I think that's only the exterior that people see to her."
Tucker actually dropped his burger as his eyes bulged out to stare at her in shock. "What did you just say?"
"What?" Paulina was starting to get uncomfortable under their stares. "Looks can be deceiving, right?"
Tucker burst out laughing. "Sam, you've been calling her that for your entire life. Have you even forgotten the torment she puts you through every day, even until now? The torments she puts all of us through?"
"I hate to remind you, Sammy," Danny gave the A-list table a shake of his head, "but once a shallow witch, always a shallow witch. Isn't that what you always said?"
"I just don't think that's true anymore." Paulina didn't really appreciate all the things she was hearing. Well, okay, so she was guilty of doing the same thing too; she did always call Sam a freak and make fun of her constantly with her friends. And, so, yes, okay, she may have put all three of them through hell at one point of another, but she was not shallow. Not a lot. Just a little.
"Okay, something is very wrong with you recently," Tucker frowned at her.
Paulina laughed nervously, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "What? Nothing is wrong with me; why would you say that?"
"Well, for one thing, you just let Danny call you Sammy without getting injured." Tucker pointed out.
"Yeah," Paulina snorted. "So?"
She thought that Tucker was just messing with her, but when Danny gave her a look too, she inwardly cursed. "I mean," she tried to salvage the situation, "Danny is my boyfriend, so he gets to give me whatever pet name he wants. Right, Dan?"
Instead of lighting up the mood like she'd hoped she'd done, the tension around the trio tightened even more. Danny's expression got darker and he said, "Why would you call me that?"
"I'm giving you a pet name, silly," Sam shoved him playfully with her shoulder, but he avoided looking at her, his expression pained. When she frowned and looked up at Tucker, he shook his head at her, as if he didn't believe what she just did.
She didn't even know what she'd just done!
She cleared her throat, about to change the subject, when suddenly a weird mist escaped Danny's mouth. She didn't know what that was about, but right at that moment, he sighed, and muttered, "Goin' ghost."
He changed into Phantom next to her, and flew through the ceiling. Paulina didn't know why he randomly decided to leave like that, and was about to ask Tucker what that was about, when suddenly Tucker leaned forward and glared at her. "What was that about? Are you trying to start something?"
"What are you talking about?" Paulina was starting to get really pissed off with those two. There was a reason she had the relationships she did. She was the boss and she ran things, but with these boys, she felt like everything was constantly slipping from her control.
"Calling him Dan like that," Tucker looked frustrated, as if she should've already known. "You know he hates it."
"It's just a name," Paulina rolled her eyes. "Freaky, much?"
"What is up with you?" Tucker shook his head in disbelief at her. "Is this like a PMS thing?"
Paulina glared at him. "Shut up, geek."
Tucker looked like he still had a million things to say, when suddenly, a bang emanated throughout the Nasty Burger. Everyone's heads snapped to the commotion, and by the counter, Danny Phantom got up from where he'd been slammed, covered in what looked like ketchup. "You got nice new guns but you need to work on your aim, Skulker."
Paulina's heart almost stopped when the ghost Danny was talking to phased into the Nasty Burger. "My aim is perfect, whelp. The ketchup is a flavoring so that the vultures enjoy eating the rest of your body once I make a pelt out of you."
Paulina swallowed the lump in her throat and stared at Tucker in horror. "Did he just say pelt?"
Tucker got out of the booth and said, "Come on."
While everyone in The Nasty Burger had run out screaming, Tucker, instead of following the terrified screams, instead started heading towards where Skulker was floating.
Paulina squeaked silently as Tucker pulled her arm and dragged her along with him. The Nasty Burger had cleared out now, and just as Tucker was about to pull out his PDA and tap some buttons, Danny threw an ectoplasmic ray at Skulker and sent him flying through the same hole Danny had come in.
Tucker was still grabbing onto Paulina as he changed his direction and started heading outside of the Nasty Burger as Paulina had wanted earlier. This time, however, he didn't scurry away far enough with the rest of the bystanders to watch safely; he dove head-on to where the battle was taking place.
"Where are you going?" Paulina couldn't help yelling. "Are you crazy?"
Tucker ignored her as he reached the battle. Skulker and Danny were wrestling in the sky, each shooting rays of ectoplasm repeatedly at each other. Tucker handed Paulina a coffee can, and said, "Wait for the signal."
That was it. That was all he'd told her. Paulina's eyes widened in terror when she realized that Tucker had run off and left her alone with nothing to protect her but a coffee can.
Paulina had never deliberately walked into a ghost fight before, and right now, she was in the middle of it, with no clue as to what she should do but stand there and stare in horror.
"Sam!" Tucker yelled. "Now!"
Tucker had done something on his PDA a few feet away, and Skulker suddenly stopped shooting rays at Danny and groaned in pain. Electric shocks were seeping from his suit all over his body, and the only thing Paulina could think of was how weird it was to see a ghost being electrocuted by his own suit.
Unfortunately, whatever Tucker had insinuated she do didn't happen because Paulina had no idea what she was supposed to do, and so she missed her cue, just standing limply on the sidewalk, staring up in horror.
Skulker was seizing up in the air, his arms flying everywhere. He had no control over any motion he did, and so the guns strapped to his arms went off, shooting rays of ectoplasm randomly and everywhere.
Unfortunately, they weren't random enough, and one of the rays catapulted and headed right towards where Paulina stood.
A/N: Bet you didn't see THAT one coming... Ah, karma truly is a bitch xD.
A lot of the reviews about the last chapter were like, "Sam's revenge should be Dash" "Sam should use Dash" "Dash has to have a relevance at some point during this story" and such. But no. Sam is using a much more suitable form of revenge... The silent treatment *bursts out laughing*
Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this! Revieww x