A/N: Character development warning! Or rather, assumed character development warning. Eh...I'm not proud of that, but I do believe some character development can be assumed. I really really like this chapter...MUCH more than I thought I was going to.
With that said, please enjoy! Thanks to all my reviewers and readers! You are amazing!
Dislaimer: Ummm...I don't own anything in the NFL, although I am a Greenbay Packers fan. And I trust that all you Danny Phantom Phans can figure out why. ;)
Last Call: Dash
"Remember kids, ghosts are dangerous. They could appear at any time. So you must always be on alert, and ready to fight!" Jack thrust his huge ecto-gun in the air to emphasize his point to the small group of students gathered in the hallway of Casper High.
Maddie echoed her husband's words. "Keep an eye out. Just because they helped us save our planet doesn't mean they won't find you and attack you."
As the couple continued taking turns at telling the dangers of ghosts, Dash and his cronies rolled their eyes. If there were a prize for the group of teenagers who knew the most about how dangerous ghosts were, the students at Casper High would win, hands-down. But the Fentons seemed like they couldn't rest a second without telling someone about ghosts.
Dash stole a look at Fenton as his friends, who were standing a little ways off from the crowd. Fenton put his head in his hands. Dash didn't blame him—if he were related to those two, he'd be embarrassed too.
"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!"
Lancer's voice caused Dash to return his attention to the crowd. Mr. Lancer was storming through the group of students, who were busy scattering to their classrooms. "You two have no authorization to be here. Even though I enjoy the thought of you making sure our students are educated in ghosts, you must go through the proper steps to schedule an assembly and..."
Dash tuned Mr. Lancer out. Zoning out of Laner's lectures was second nature to any Casper High student who had had the man for even only one class. Dash motioned to his friends, and they began walking to their next class. Right as they walked behind the Fentons, Jack's voice boomed.
"Absolutely! We understand!" Jack turned around quickly, with his gun outstretched, and whacked Dash smack in the head. He fell hard to the ground.
The next thing Dash remembered after the first blow was waking up in the hospital with a horrible headache. He had apparently hit his head hard when he fell to the ground as well. The Fentons had come to the hospital to make sure he was alright, and his parents were there as well, but Dash's head had been hurting so bad that he didn't remember much about being in the hospital either.
The accident had happened last Friday, and the doctor had given instructions for Dash to not go back to school for a week and to take things easy around the house. His parents had interpreted those instructions to mean that Dash wasn't allowed out of bed for an entire week. As restful of a week Dash had had, he was about to go completely insane by being locked up in his room all week. Thankfully (and Dash had never imagined himself thinking this), he could go back to school tomorrow, and finally get some fresh air.
Dash rolled out of bed and stretched. He crossed his room and smiled up at the wall half full of his high school achievements—all sports, of course. Even as a freshman and sophomore, he'd made headlines and won awards. He was on track to be the star quarterback...every college in the area would be tossing the big bucks to get him to come play for them...and eventually, he'd play in the NFL and his life would be made...
A loud knock on his door caught his attention. By the time he'd turned to face the door, it was already standing open. His mom was looking at him worriedly.
"Sweetie! You're supposed to be in bed."
"Mom!" Dash exclaimed, a little louder than he had intended. "I'm going back to school tomorrow. I think it's okay if I stand up for a second."
Although she was clearly still worried, she regained her composure and moved aside. "Paulina's here to see you."
Paulina smiled as she came into Dash's line of vision. "Gracias, mam."
Mrs. Baxter closed the door behind Paulina, and Paulina sat down on Dash's bed. "What'cha doing?"
Dash turned back around to glance at his wall of accomplishments. "Admiring my awards."
Paulina smiled hugely. "You deserve every single one of them, you know."
Dash smirked. "I know." He sat down in his desk chair and rolled closer to Paulina. "So what's up?"
Paulina shrugged. "Just coming by to check up on you."
Dash raised an eyebrow at the girl. He leaned in and kissed her check. "As much as I'd love to believe that, this is the first time I've seen you since the accident...and that was over a week ago now."
Paulina smiled coyly. "Oh, well...I knew you were fine. A silly concussion couldn't keep you down for long."
"What do you want, Paulina?" Dash asked, taking a stab at being straightforward.
Paulina laughed. "You know me a little too well. Ok, well me and Star were talking on our double date Friday night after the game and—"
"Wait...you went out on a date, Friday?" Dash interrupted.
Paulina cocked her head, confused. "Yeah, you knew about it. We were going to go out together, but then you got hurt and I couldn't leave Star and Kwan hanging."
Dash's mouth was hanging slightly open. "So...since I was hurt and not able to make the game or the date, you just...found another guy to go with?"
Paulina raised an eyebrow, apparently trying to figure out why Dash was getting so mad. "Yes, of course. I couldn't let my Friday night go to waste."
Dash stood up and turned away from Paulina, mumbling, "I bet you didn't get a date with who you wanted."
"Excuse me? What did you say?"
Dash turned around to find that Paulina was standing up now too. He growled at her. "You heard me. You didn't get a date with who you wanted, did you?" Dash was trying hard not to let out all his anger on her, but he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to cool down. He had been holding in these emotions ever since Fenton had revealed the truth to everyone. He had managed to avoid Fenton all summer, and even now that school had started back, Dash had only sent cold glares to Fenton while Paulina admired him from afar.
He had always looked up to Phantom, and he had never gotten too carried away with jealously because...well, Phantom was Phantom! Even he knew Paulina would never actually get a real shot at dating the guy. But now...now that Phantom was just Danny Fenton, and the only thing standing in the way of Paulina completely leaving Dash was Sam Manson (who was, by the way, pretty scary), Dash couldn't help but be a little worried and jealous.
Especially since he was starting to think he liked Paulina a lot more than he had originally intended to.
Paulina laughed. "You are soo pathetically jealous."
"It's not like you're giving me a reason not to be. I'm not able to go out with you because I'm injured, so you go and find another guy to go out with so you won't mess up your plans?"
Paulina put a hand on her hip and frowned. "Dash...our relationship is casual...it always has been and you know that...you've taken advantage of that before! What's you're deal?" Dash was about to reply when Paulina seemed to remember something. "Wait, are you gonna be able to go to the Homecoming Dance with me?"
Dash raised an eyebrow. "Duh, of course, that's not for like, another month—" Dash paused and he frowned at Paulina. "And if I wasn't?"
"Then I'd have to find another date, duh." Paulina flipped her hair back. "Ugh. Honestly, Dash, you need to check your attitude." She pulled a piece of fabric out of her purse and laid it on Dash's bed. "That's what color my dress is for homecoming. Call me when you have your life adjusted."
With those parting words, Paulina turned around sharply and sauntered out the door.
Dash stared at the closed door for a second before he closed his eyes and breathed out heavily. He would call her sometime later tonight and apologize; they would make-up and ride to school together tomorrow. That's how their fights were always resolved.
Dash shook his head. What was he thinking...getting so jealous? He had never actually gotten jealous before, but maybe that was because he had never actually liked Paulina before. She was a cheerleader and he was the quarterback; therefore, they were supposed to date. They'd been together since their freshman year, but they both knew the relationship was open, and they both went on other dates frequently.
So why had he lost his cool this time?
Dash stared up at the wall of his awards again. He would never, ever admit this to anyone, but...Dash thought he was scared. Scared of losing everything he'd ever known. Even though this injury had only been mildly serious, who knew if the next one would be life-threatening or career-ending? He heard horror stories all the time about athletes pulling an ACL or getting knocked in the head the wrong way and then...poof. Their career was gone.
If that happened to Dash, he would have nothing. And the conversation he'd just had with Paulina was proof enough that she wasn't anything to count on. Too bad too...considering he was just now getting to the point to where he liked her just a little too much.
So...his awards, his potential fame, his girl...everything would be gone if something bad ever happened to him.
Dash laid back on his bed. But there was no other choice, was there? He wasn't good at anything else, so he had to give football his all and hope for the best, didn't he?
The more Dash realized that was the truth, the more uncertain he became about whether or not he was happy with his life.
Growing up was horrible.
Suddenly, Dash remembered something...an offer he had gotten not too long ago. Dash sat up in bed, a smile playing at his lips. Maybe all he had was football, but shouldn't he have a back-up plan? Just in case things went south?
And he knew exactly what his back-up plan could be. But wait...Dash had been such a jerk to the man. Why would he want to hire Dash anymore?
Suddenly, Dash remembered Mr. Fenton calling him yesterday, and how surprised he had been to get the call. Couldn't Dash do exactly what the bumbling idiot had done for him? He could pass some kind words along to someone else, and get something for himself in return.
Dash smiled as he flipped through his contacts list. Maybe growing up wasn't so horrible after all.
"Hello?" He had been taking a short nap and had just woken before his telephone rang. He was still a little groggy though.
"Hi, is this Mr. Gray?"
"Yes it is. How can I help you?" Damon pulled the lever on the side of the recliner and sat up in an upright position.
"Hi, this is Dash Baxter. You offered me an internship a few days ago."
Damon frowned. Yes, he remembered offering the internship to the boy, but he also remembered the boy's reaction.
"An internship at Axion Labs? What? Why would I want that?" Dash asked the man, incredulously.
"I just thought that you might be interested in the job. It will definitely be a growing field in your lifetime. If you don't like it, you don't have to stick around very long, but you could gain experience in something that could set the tone for the rest of your life. Getting into college would be easier and—"
"Look, I'm getting into college based on my football playing ability. An internship at some lab isn't going to help my chances any. Why did you even bothering coming to me?"
Damon sighed. "I offered it to Kwan, since he's Valerie's best friend's boyfriend. But he said he didn't want to go into anything like that; he told me to ask you because he didn't know what your plans are."
Dash scoffed. "I'll have to have a talk with him."
"Um...yes, yes I did."
"Well, first off, I want to apologize for how I treated you the other day. It wasn't right of me to talk that way, so sorry about that. But, if the offer is still available, I was wondering if you would still like to have me as your intern."
Damon was speechless. The boy was apologizing? From what Valerie had told him about Dash, the football player wasn't much for admitting weakness. But to offer an apology to someone...that caused Damon to instantly change his mind about the boy. Anyone who would offer themselves up on the slaughtering table after disrespecting authority was a good person in Damon's eyes.
"What changed your mind, Dash?"
"Well, a couple of things. I got to thinking about my future and how I needed a back-up plan if football doesn't work out for some reason. And then, I just thought apologizing would sort of make your day or something. I mean, someone had the guts enough to call me up and say sorry for something. After all, if I suddenly dropped dead, you'd think I thought you were crazy for offering me that job, and I realize now that that was the wrong impression to leave on you, sir."
Damon smiled. He could tell that with a little bit of work, this boy would turn out all right.
"Well, could you start tomorrow?"
There was silence on the other end of the line.
"Wha—Yeah! I mean, yes. Yes, sir. I'll be there right after school. I can't start back football practice for a couple weeks anyway."
"Good, I'll see you tomorrow, Dash."
"Thank you, Mr. Gray."
A/N: Please leave me your thoughts! I love hearing them! Until next time...
