Chapter 12 – PDA's
The warning bell sounded shrilly, cutting Danny off mid-sentence, causing him to sigh irritably.
"And the most important part is…" Danny continued with a smile, once the bell had stopped ringing. "…I love her."
A small smile crossed Sam's features. This was the first time Danny had admitted to his love for her in public.
"But you loved me. Doesn't that count for anything?" Paulina whined, unaware of the crowd she was drawing.
"I liked you Paulina, but I was clueless and stupid back then." Danny smiled gently at Sam, his love for his best friend blatantly obvious. "I'm older and wiser now and I've learnt my lesson. I like my girls with a bit of depth."
Danny's final statement was met by shocked silence, but was soon followed by wild applause. Sam was stunned by the support Danny received from his fellow students. She began to realise that Danny was finally losing his "loser" status. People were finally beginning to respect him.
"The Great Gatsby, people! What is going on here?"
At the sound of the Vice Principal's voice, the majority of the students scattered.
"These two losers insulted me." Paulina complained.
"Mr Fenton, Miss Manson?"
"We were just expressing our opinions on a fellow classmate, Mr Lancer. Since she is so clear about hers, we thought it'd be appropriate to share the opinion of the greater student body." Sam replied smoothly.
'Man, did I just start to sound like Jazz? Yikes – I knew living with her would start affecting me soon…'
"She called me a freak." Sam continued. "I called her shallow."
Mr Lancer sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. "Next time ladies, please keep your arguments to yourselves. You created quite a disturbance. Now, off to class."
Paulina glowered spitefully at the pair before storming off towards her first class. Sam sighed, releasing all her nervous tension, as she rested her head on Danny's chest.
"Thanks, Danny."
Squeezing her gently, Danny leant down to press a gentle kiss on top of her hair.
"You're welcome."
Unfortunately, the pair had once again forgotten that they had a teacher in their midst, and thus were startled once again by Mr Lancer's quiet cough.
"Mr Fenton," Lancer began seriously, yet with an amused twinkle in his eye, "I know that you are fully aware of the rule prohibiting Public Displays of Affection."
Danny panicked. He had forgotten all about PDA's. The punishment for being caught was detention, which was a major problem as he could be prevented from graduating if he gained too many in his senior year.
"Which, as you also know, calls for detention." The older teacher paused, thoroughly enjoying watching his students squirm. His stare soon broke into a grin. "Fortunately, today I will be lenient. Thanks to you two, I am now a very rich man."
Sam's couldn't believe her ears. Mr Lancer was being nice?
"Consider yourselves lucky." Lancer continued, as he pulled out a notebook to write a note explaining their lateness. Holding out the note, he winked. "Now get to class before I have to give you detention for tardiness."
Swiftly grabbing the note, Danny saluted the balding man with a hasty "Yes sir!" Sam rapidly slammed her locker shut and the pair rushed to class.
"Lovebirds." Mr Lancer chuckled softly as he watched the pair rush off, before heading towards his own class.
For Sam, the day seemed to drag on far longer than it should have. If Paulina's death glares weren't enough, she had been getting curious glances from the rest of her classmates all day. The stories of her pregnancy had clearly spread since the previous day, and her fight with Paulina had certainly drawn more attention than was desirable. She had been very glad for Danny's presence in most of her of her classes, as he counteracted the stares of the more inquisitive students with his own angry glare. Sam couldn't have been more grateful for Danny's overprotective side that day. Thanks to him, she was able to avoid the hundreds of probing questions that her peers were, no doubt, dying to ask. That is, until she was cornered by the A-list at the end of her only Danny-less class for that day.
"What's going on between you and Fenton?" Dash demanded, attempting to use his size to intimidate her.
"What does it matter to you?" Sam replied icily, her eyes shooting daggers. She attempted to walk past him, but he pushed her back, the other football players backing him up.
"Answer the question, Manson." He growled. "What is going on between you and Fenton?"
Refusing to feel threatened, Sam sighed. "He's my boyfriend. Now answer my question – what does it matter to you?"
"So Fenton knocked you up." Dash sneered. "I wonder if I should congratulate him or beat him up for insulting my girl."
"Paulina had it coming to her."
The voice from the doorway immediately grabbed everyone's attention, causing the group to turn and face the intruder. Sam's eyes lit up with eagerness as she glimpsed a furious Danny Fenton standing just inside the classroom, his arms folded across his chest. Walking forward purposefully, he pushed through the group of students and pulled Sam out. Drawing her closer, Danny turned to glare at Dash menacingly.
"If you have a problem with me, you can take it up with me." Danny snarled. "Stay the hell away from Sam."
"And what if I don't?" Dash replied cockily, not noticing the subtle green glow of Danny's eyes – or his fists.
Turning away, Danny left one final statement. "If you've got a problem with that, be at fountain in the park after school. You've pushed it too far so don't think I'll go easy on you."
With his eyes partially closed to hide the glow of his ghost-half's eyes, Danny quickly directed Sam out of the classroom and into the hallway. Spying a janitor's closet, he glanced around to check for teachers before pulling Sam into the closet behind him.
"What the hell was THAT?" Sam screeched, as soon as the door was closed behind them.
"Shhh." Danny hissed, using one had to cover her mouth. "We can't let them hear us. If they do, we'll get caught."
"Fine then." Sam replied sullenly, her voice dropping to a loud whisper. "What on earth was that about?"
"I told him what he needed to hear." Danny replied gently, lighting up the closet with an ectoplasmic orb. "If Dash wants a fight, he'll get one."
Sam's eyes widened fearfully. "But Danny, you can't fight him. What'll happen if you get hurt?"
He smirked. "Sam, I've been fighting ghosts for almost four years. I'm stronger, faster and I heal quicker. I highly doubt that Dash could do much damage."
"Don't get cocky, Danny." Sam growled, a frown crossing her face. "What if you lose control and he gets hurt? Have you thought about that?"
"Dash needs to be taught a lesson about respect. I can't let him keep hassling you." Danny reached out and gently stroked her cheek. "I won't lose control. I promise."
Later that afternoon, Sam watched from a distance as Dash and his crew approached the fountain and crept up on a seemingly unsuspecting Danny. In typical Dash style, he was determined to use surprise and numbers to take advantage of the situation and to prove his point.
'Prove that he doesn't have a brain is more like it.'
Dash cared about his reputation a great deal. So if someone insulted him or anyone close to him – in other words, his girl' – he took it personally. Danny's invitation to fight was the perfect excuse for him to prove his superiority. Or so he thought.
SPLASH!
Dash had barely placed his hand on Danny's shoulder when he found himself flying through the air and into the fountain. Sam silently cheered as Danny flipped the bully without even looking over his shoulder. Danny leapt to his feet and into a fighting stance, before glancing disdainfully over his shoulder at the soaked football player sitting in the fountain.
"H-how did you do that?" Dash spluttered, shivering.
Danny sighed and rolled his eyes, relaxing his posture. "My parents are ghost hunters. My mom is a ninth-degree blackbelt. How do you think I learnt that?"
Dash growled. Still dripping, the quarterback climbed out of the fountain and raised his fists, mimicking a boxer's stance. Seeing this, Danny also assumed his fighting stance, keeping one eye on Dash and another on the rest of the football team, who were beginning to crowd around them.
Dash threw the first punch, which Danny easily dodged. This infuriated the quarterback, leading him to throw punch after punch in quick succession. Danny matched him, blocking or dodging every hit before swiping underneath his legs with a single kick, bringing Dash to the ground.
Despite Danny's insistence, Sam refused to leave the park when the fight took place. She didn't want to him to be alone if he got hurt, so she was determined to be there in case he got ambushed. What neither of them expected was that Danny was not going to be ambushed, but rather Sam.
Even with Sam's attempts to stay hidden, she had been spotted early-on by a few of the older members of Dash's gang – ex-Casper High football players who had graduated in previous years – who weren't know for being chivalrous. When the fight began to lean in Danny's favour, two of the boys crept up behind Sam. It was only when the pair was hovering over her with malicious grins on their faces that Sam glanced behind her and realised their intentions.
She screamed.
A/N: Yes, here is your promised chapter. But I have some bad news. THIS STORY IS NOW OFFICIALLY ON HIATUS. Hopefully this is not indefinite, but no guarantees. My muse has moved onto a different fandom, and unfortunately I haven't been able to sway it back towards Danny Phantom. I will update again if my muse sees fit, but I won't promise anything.
