Thanks to Snickerer, wfea, egyptianqueen777, and YumeTakato for the reviews.
Chapter 10: Whirlwind
Warning: may contain traces of shipping.
I don't own Danny Phantom or Coca Cola. I do own the Hirosaki PDA, though. And since this is still the climax, remember to think about emotions at every turn.
"Come on, Sam! I know it's in your bag. Just one more look, please!"
"No, Tucker. It's my PDA and I don't want you zoning out on us. We need to keep Aster happy, remember?"
"I can do that with a PDA."
"No, you can't. So you can't have it. Danny! Over here!" Sam waved at the black-haired boy who had just walked in to the Nasty Burger. He came over to the table and plunked himself down opposite her.
"Is Aster with you?" asked Tucker, hoping the answer was no so he could have another try for Sam's PDA.
"Ugh! Would you get your arm off me!" Sam yelled, hitting the air beside her. "Stupid hippie..."
"I resent that," said a laid-back voice from the vicinity of Sam's wailing fists.
"I'd take that as a yes," said Tucker. "Hey, Aster, would you mind if..."
"Don't even try, Tucker, or you're next," growled Sam.
"Okay, backing off... So how come you're late, Danny?"
"Had to rescue Dad from the Box Ghost."
Sam choked on her soda. Tucker's face went blank with surprise, then he burst out laughing, as did Aster. It really wasn't all that hard to picture Jack Fenton having trouble with Amity Park's biggest pest.
"Hey, guys. Mind if I join you? I'm on break," asked Valerie, standing over their table with a tray of food, which she held out. "I brought your order."
"We haven't ordered yet," said Sam pointedly. "We were waiting for Danny."
"Yeah. But you always have the same thing. Give me the money when you're done and it's all good." She slid into the seat next to Sam.
"Um, Val, Aster was there first," Danny said nervously. She froze and was on the verge of apologizing when she was cut off by a disembodied voice.
"Chill, Red. I moved after Sam started attacking me. I'm on the table now."
"You're on the table?!" exclaimed Tucker. "I am so getting my food off there."
"Relax, Tuck. It's not like Aster's dripping ectoplasm or anything. Your meat should be as 'healthy' as ever." Sam glared over at him, then turned to Valerie. "So, are we still on for Operation Nasty, Val?"
"Yep. Irving's off today, at some manager's training thing. Sue's covering for him, and I've cleared it with her."
"What did you tell her?" asked Danny.
"I'm doing a project on reactions to bad service, and want firsthand data." Everyone nodded.
"Sue thinks it's a great way to get back at Irving for docking everyone's wages last week, so she's actually recruited all the girls to help out."
"Sweet!" Tucker said. "You hear that, Aster?"
"No. I'm only sitting in front of her."
"Oooh, touchy, aren't we?" asked Sam dryly.
"Not my fault Tucker's on edge right now. I'm only projecting what he's feeling." Aster sounded smug, but tense.
"Yeah! I'm on edge because of that PD..."
"Not a chance. You'd have to eat vegetables first."
"Sam," warned Danny, "that's too much to ask, even if it's state-of-the-art."
"And not even released in Japan yet!" wailed Tucker.
"O-kay," said Valerie. "Since Tucker's got a one-track mind and my break's over anyway, I'm leaving. Get ready." She gave a thumbs-up sign to a red-haired girl behind the counter, who then disappeared into the kitchen. Valerie went behind the counter, tied her apron on again, and opened up her till. She had a customer a moment later.
"Welcome to Nasty Burger," she chirped dully. "What can I get you today, sir?"
"A Double Nasty with cheese and a strawberry shake."
"Okay, two Nasty Meals and a diet Coke." Valerie punched in the order, then smiled at the customer. "Anything else?"
"I said a Double Nasty with cheese and a strawberry shake."
"Oh, sorry, sir, two Nasty Meals, a diet Coke, a Double Nasty with cheese, and a strawberry shake." She punched the order in again.
"I never ordered a Nasty Meal or a Coke!"
Valerie apologized again and punched in the correct order before the customer got too angry. Then she moved on to the next customer, and things in the restaurant began to get crazy. In addition to punching in the wrong orders, the girls behind the counter managed to spill pop on customers (and, in one particularly inspired moment, their food as well), give customers the wrong food, accidentally put Nasty Salsa on everything, and burn the fries to a crisp twice.
Over the next hour, Aster kept making gleeful comments about the emotions rolling through him, and the three teenagers did their best to ignore him. After the hour was over, the teens had to head home for dinner. As they walked along, they talked excitedly about their favourite events of the afternoon.
Aster's favourite moment was when Valerie had sweetly announced that a Mighty Meaty Cheesy Melt and a chocolate ice cream cone came to $129 and the frazzled mother who had placed the order fainted.
Danny's favourite moment was when Sam had jumped out of her seat and ran over to said unconscious woman, yelling "Don't worry, I know the Heimlich Maneuver!" and then had started explaining, "Well, um, I think you make a fist and hit the chest kind of like this ... oh, oops a little too hard there, heh heh, and then you , er, no, that's not working. Someone help me lift her legs."
Tucker's favourite moment was when Valerie had grabbed a bucket of mop water and dumped it on Sam and the woman to wake her up, but soaked half the concerned people who'd clustered around the hysterical goth, including a girl Jazz's age in a white tank top.
Sam's favourite moment was when Tucker had started crying after Danny had got him in a half-nelson in midair while the tech nerd had been jumping over the table in search of the Hirosaki XR57A while Sam was away from the table. Her least favourite moment had, of course, been getting soaked with dirty wash water. As Sam squelched alongside her friends, she began planning revenge on Valerie (all in good humour, of course, since Val was only trying to get a reaction out of her). She felt someone come up behind her.
"Hey, Sammy. You got lighten up, girl. So much dark emotion just ain't good for you. Think happy thoughts."
Sam glowered at the ground. "Shut up, Aster."
---
Dinner was a quiet affair at the Manson household since Sam had managed to sneak past her parents and change out of her wet clothes beforehand. After dinner was a different matter, though. Pamela Manson had just seen bad news on her doorstep and she wasn't happy about it.
"Samantha!" she snapped, "What on earth is that Fenton boy doing over here? I thought we'd agreed homework only."
"He's not staying, Mom." Sam's mother sighed, relieved. Her daughter turned on the charm and quickly continued, "I'm leaving with him. We're going to a movie." Pam's eyes blazed in fury.
"Alone? On a date?"
Aster, floating behind Danny, smiled invisibly at the overwhelming terror the strawberry blond was exuding.
"No. We're meeting friends there." Well, sort of. We've got a ghost chaperone, but it's still pretty much a date in my books.
Jeremy Manson walked up and put his arm around his wife's shoulder and massaged it. "Pammy, let her go. It's the last day of school. She should celebrate."
"What about ghosts?" quavered Pam.
"That's what we have the ghost hunters for. She'll be fine."
"I'll protect her, Mr. and Mrs. Manson," piped up Danny. "The ghosts will have to get through me first."
"I admire your bravery, son, but leave that to Phantom, okay?" Jeremy Manson smiled jovially. He'd had a little too much wine at dinner and was starting to show the effects.
"All right." Danny tried to sound dejected. "We'd better go, Sam, or we'll miss the beginning."
"Home at ten, young lady."
"'Kay!" Sam jumped on the back of Danny's scooter and he pressed the gas. Jeremy turned to his wife.
"He's really not that bad of a boy, Pam. I wish you'd relax about him. Samantha could be doing a lot worse."
---
Aster sat in the back of the movie theatre with his feet up on the empty seats in front of him. In his lap, he held a regular-sized tub of popcorn that Danny had kindly bought it for him. Every so often Aster would throw a piece of popcorn at a member of the audience and watch in glee as they slapped the back of their head.
Several rows directly in front of Aster sat two black-haired teens, one in a black midriff and the other in a white T-shirt. They were sharing a large popcorn and making snide comments about the zombies rampaging on screen. Every so often the boy would move to put his arm around the girl, then think better of it, and the girl would periodically lean towards the boy, then pull away. The couple (who were not actually a couple, according to them) was emitting a continuous and pleasant mixture of happiness and love. Aster was firmly in the camp that believed that the two teens were really in love with each other, though neither was ready to admit it. Their current behaviour confirmed it.
Aster threw a handful of popcorn at Danny and Sam, then sat back and enjoyed the rest of the movie.
---
As Danny and Sam were leaving the movie theatre, Danny heard screams (his ghost sense was unreliable because of Aster being so close by). He turned to Sam, who said automatically, "Go. Do your thing." Danny didn't even take the time to nod before dashing back into the empty theatre. He reappeared a moment later hovering above Sam as Danny Phantom.
"Okay," he said, looking around. "Where is it?"
He heard more screams, which managed to block all but the last word of the ghost's cry.
"...friend?"
Danny rolled his eyes. It was Klemper again. Danny unslung his Fenton Thermos from his shoulder.
"Hey, Klemper!"
An aquamarine ghost in baggy striped pajamas flew out of a nearby arcade and threw his arms out as soon as he caught sight of Danny.
"Friend!"
Danny waited until Klemper got close to him and Sam before uncapping the Thermos. He was just about to suck the ghost in when Klemper suddenly altered course and caught Sam up in a bear hug.
"Friend!"
"Danny!" Sam wheezed through gritted teeth. The halfa nodded and took advantage of Klemper's distraction to catch him in the Thermos' tractor beam. The ghost was sucked down and into the canister so that Sam was lowered to the ground at the same time.
As he was capping the Thermos, Sam caught sight of Paulina coming out of a boutique. The hispanic girl had just noticed Danny and started to swoon. Sam grinned and looked admiringly at Danny. She even batted her eyes.
"My hero!" She grabbed Danny by the shoulders and twisted him around to face her. Before he had a chance to realize what was happening, she planted a kiss right on his lips.
From Aster's point of view, Paulina exploded. A tsunami of anger and jealousy flew out from her and caught him off guard. It was all he could do to fight back an outburst and remain invisible. Unfortunately, the bombardment continued at the same strength for a full minute and he had to fly off to release the pent-up emotions, so he didn't see Danny pulling away from Sam confused and Paulina running off in tears.
"Did I miss something?" Danny asked.
"Yeah. Paulina." Sam grinned wickedly. "I just made her really jealous."
"Oh." He blushed. Silly me, thinking it was to thank me for the date. Then he looked down at himself in fear and breathed a sigh of relief. He was still in ghost mode.
I must be getting stronger, he noted. I didn't turn human this time. Thank God. Then a thought hit him and made his stomach quaver in nervousness. That's seriously going to put a crimp in the fake-out make-outs, though. Guess I'll have to be more careful now.
He was brought back to reality by the sound of feet running towards him. Danny and Sam turned from each other to see Tucker running towards them.
"I saw that," the boy accused, grinning. "I guess it really was a date, then."
"It was NOT!" Danny and Sam shouted.
"Then why'd you kiss him, Sam? That wasn't a fake-out make-out." It took Sam a moment to respond, but when she did, it was with dignity.
"I kissed him because Paulina was there and Aster hadn't had a good bout of jealousy yet."
"Suuure," Tucker drawled.
"It's true!" At that moment, Aster reappeared beside them.
"Man, that was awesome! That girl's a goldmine."
Sam blushed again. "It was nothing, really..."
"Anyway, I'll let you two lovebirds enjoy the rest of your night. I'm going to torment Spirit for a while." The hippie flew off and everyone else sighed. Their part in the day's "festivities" was finally over.
Of course, that meant only one thing to Tucker. "Sam?" he asked. "Remember how you said I couldn't have that PDA because I needed to entertain Aster?" Sam rummaged around in her backpack and pulled out the slim metal object.
"Here." She handed it to her friend. "I was trying to get Aster some greed. You earned it."
"It's mine? It's really mine? Hahahahahahahahaha! See you guys! I'm going home to be with my baby!" Tucker ran off, too engrossed in the Hirosaki XR57A to notice the lamppost in front of him. He hit it with a reverberating clang and fell backwards, stunned. Sam and Danny started laughing.
Tucker acted instinctively, rolling over and cradling the PDA in his hands. "Are you okay, sweetie? Uncle Tucker didn't hurt you, did he?"
Danny and Sam grinned at each other. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and then flew his not-a-date home. He didn't get a good night kiss, though. He was too scared to try.