It was now noon and Sam had been practising balancing on the board non-stop until she had finally gotten the hang of it. She was now able to give herself a gentle push with her right leg before placing it on the board behind her left leg and travel forwards without wobbling. Alex was very impressed that she had adapted to it so easily and as more people arrived at the park, he decided to give her a break. Alex ran up the quarter pipe and sat on the top, waiting for Sam to join him. After several attempts to run up the slope, Alex helped pull her up so she sat on his left with the board on her knees. They watched the other skaters for a while until Sam broke the silence.
"Those guys are really good!" she observed.
"You think so?" Alex asked.
"Yeh! They must have a natural gift!"
"Nah, they just had good lessons! You'll be able to do that in time, just be patient."
"One of my specialities when hanging out with my friends!" she said sarcastically.
Alex chuckled slightly and continued to watch the other skaters.
"How long have you been skating?" she asked quietly.
"Hmmm…since I was about seven I think. I've had a lot of practise at it so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doin'!" he joked.
Sam smiled at him. He had a wonderful sense of humour; he always seemed happy for some reason.
"Have you any other hobbies apart from this?"
"Well…not really…my dad and I go fishing in the summer and I play the guitar a bit, but that's about it. What about you?"
"Well…" she hesitated, sneaking a glance at him before making her decision, "Me and my friends kind of go ghost hunting at night!"
"Ghost hunting! Cool! Ever catch any?"
"Yeh, a few! My friend, Danny Fenton…his parents are ghost hunters and make these weapons to fight them with!"
"Oh, so that's what that Fenton Works is- a Ghost Hunting Service!"
"Yeh, but they're pretty cool parents!"
"I'm sure they are. Hey, you think I could tag along sometime; learn the ropes? You could teach me!"
"Oh uh, I don't know…" Sam began.
"Oh...well that's alright! Your friends probably don't want me to get involved- it is your thing after all, I wouldn't want to intrude!"
Despite Alex's cheerful attitude, Sam felt a rush of guilt wash over her. He was teaching her to skate after all; why not teach him to hunt ghosts? Besides, they could use all the help they could get!
"No, come along; I'm sure my friends won't mind!"
"Really? You don't mind?"
"No, it'll be fine," she assured while patting him on the shoulder.
"Sweet! Thanks. Do you guys go hunting every night or just certain nights?"
"Well, we do a night patrol sometimes, but Danny does it every night-"
Sam stopped what she was saying before she let anything slip. She wasn't sure if Danny was ok with him knowing; he hadn't even met him yet, and she certainly wasn't going to blab his secret it to every person she meets- there was just something different about Alex that made him so easy to talk to.
"He does! Man, that's rough! I kinda feel sorry for him!" he said sadly.
"We all do…"
"Well, are you going on one tonight?"
"Yeh, around 9:00pm I think. We're all meeting outside Danny's. If you want, I could get you before we meet so, you know, you don't have to come alone!"
"Yeh, sure that'd be great!"
"Where do you live again?"
"About two blocks down the road past the Fenton works; on the left you'll see an apartment. I live on the third floor, door 139. You can't miss it; it's near the elevator!"
"Right, I'll come over about 8:50?"
"Sure, that's fine by me!"
"Ok." She smiled.
"So, do you wanna do some more skating?" he asked as he pointed to the board in her hands.
"Sure! I can't wait until you teach me how to do that!"
Sam pointed towards one of the skaters who preformed an Ollie over one of the trick box sides. Alex laughed and grabbed the board off of Sam.
"One thing at a time!"
He placed the tail of the board on the edge of the quarter pipe and stepped on it. Leaning forward, he glided down the quarter pipe with ease and did a swift turn to face Sam.
"Ok, you have to teach me that!" she laughed as she slid down the slope.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…"Hey Tuck!" called Danny.
"Hey Danny! No Sam?" Tucker questioned as he looked around the park.
"No, she couldn't make it. She had something to do at home with her parents!"
"Uh-oh, that can't be good!" he laughed.
"I know. So what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know…we could go to the arcade?" suggested Tucker.
"Nah, I'm getting bored of that place!"
"The mall?"
"Ugh, my parents are there! The last thing I want is for one of their 'inventions' to go off in the middle of the shop and zap me in front of everyone in school!"
They both thought for a moment before deciding on going to see a new movie about vampires in the cinema. When they arrived, Tucker ordered the tickets as Danny collected the food and drinks. It took a while for Tucker to meet up with Danny as he was trying to flirt with the woman at the till- lets just say, it didn't end well! When they entered the correct room, they were shocked to find it empty! Everyone must have been outside enjoying the beautiful weather. So, they took a seat at the very back, right under the window for the projector, and put their feet up on the chairs in front of them. While the previews were up, they created figures on the screen with their hands- they had seen them all before and, quite frankly, car adds are very boring in a cinema; especially since you can't fast forward it! After a few laughs and Danny falling carelessly over the seats into the next row, they made small talk until the movie started.
"Man, Sam would have loved this!" exclaimed Tucker as he stuffed his face full of popcorn.
"I know! An empty theatre, lots of vegetarian-friendly food and a movie about vampires! She's gonna be kicking herself when she hears about this…"
'Not to mention sitting in a dark room with your long-time crush beside you for 2 hours!' thought Tucker in amusement, just about able to hide his smile from Danny.
"I wonder why she didn't come," Danny thought sadly out loud.
"I thought you said she had something to do with her parents?"
"I did…but maybe I heard her wrong! I mean what in the world could she be doing with her parents!"
"I don't know…trying to prevent another restraining order against you!" Tucker teased.
"Ha, maybe!" Danny smirked.
There was a silence.
"Maybe she lied…" muttered Tucker more to himself than Danny.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh, I'm just saying, maybe she lied about having something else to do."
"Why would she lie to us? We're her best friends?"
"I don't know…maybe she had stuff to think about…"
"Like what?"
"I don't know!"
"Come on Tucker, yes you do! What stuff!"
"Dude! The movie's starting!" Tucker said pointing at the screen beforestuffing his face full of popcorn once more.
Sighing in defeat, Danny turned back to the screen in front of him and watched the movie.
'I guess I'll just ask her when I see her later tonight…' he thought sadly.Tucker, on the other hand, sighed in relief and smiled to himself, leaning back in his chair.
'PHEW! That was a close one!'Later that day, way after skateboarding had lessons ended and Sam and Alex went their separate ways, she began to make her way from her house at 8:50pm to his apartment so they could start the ghost patrol. She followed his directions- past the Fenton Works, two blocks down the road on the left until she came across a run down looking building with graffiti all over the walls.
'No way does he live here,' she thought to herself but decided to check anyway- there was no other apartment block in sight.
'Third floor, door 139' she thought to herself as she entered an elevator to the right of the front door. The elevator was a dark red colour and singed by cigarettes, she presumed, in some areas. As the doors closed, it made a creaking sound that was less than comforting at the safety of it and the light above her flashed on and off! Travelling up it, strange sounds could be heard and Sam developed this image of the elevator wire snapping and her falling to her death- she had quite a vivid imagination! As soon as it reached the third floor, Sam jumped out of the elevator just to escape to somewhere safer than in there! She looked around her, taking in her battered surroundings before starting down the hall to find Alex's apartment. Sure enough, it wasn't far from the 'death hazard' of an elevator and she timidly knocked the door. A tall man with a pair of baggy trousers on and a long sleeve shirt answered the door and raised an eyebrow kindly at her.
"Uh…hi?" his voice was deep but kind.
""Hi…does Alex O'Hare live here?" she asked politely.
"Yeh, hold on sec. ALEX!"
"WHAT?" called a voice.
"DOOR!" he bellowed as he turned back to Sam.
"So how do you know my son?" he asked curiously.
"Um, he's teaching me how to skate…"
"Oh right! Your Sam!" he smiled.
"Yeh…" she smiled shyly back.
"He's been telling me a lot about you! Says you're taking him ghost hunting! Just be careful!"
'He's been talking about me? Wow…wait a minute, what! I only met him yesterday, he's just a friend and…I like Danny…so why should I care…?'
"Oh don't worry, I'll look out for him!" she reassured, blushing slightly at her thoughts.
"I wasn't talking about him!" he chuckled kindly, "It's a dangerous world out there for a young lady like yourself!"
Sam smiled shyly as Alex appeared behind him.
"Hey Sam!" he smiled as he threw on a loose jacket.
"Hey!"
"Ready to go?" he asked as he manoeuvred past his dad.
"Yeh," she replied, "It was nice to meet you Mr O'Hare!"
"Same to you. Stay safe out there!" he called to them as they walked towards the lift.
"We will!" Alex called back with a wave, "So are you ready to teach me how to hunt ghosts?" he asked Sam.
"Yeh, but first things first," Alex looked at her, "Can we please take the stairs!"
(Will it end well, or in tears, you'll just have to wait…by the way, HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE! Hope you all get lots of chocolate eggs!)
