Danny was having a hard time concentrating on lancer's lecture. Sure he always had a hard time paying attention to the dull constant drone that was Mr. Lancer, but today his attentions were on the events of last night.
What was that thing that tried to kill him last night?
"Daniel…"
Why did it try to kill him?
"Daniel…"
Where did it come from?
"Daniel…"
Who was it; did it even have a name?
"Daniel…"
When would it try again?
"DANIEL…"
And how the hell did he get home last night?
"DANIEL FENTON!"
Who was yelling at him? Oh yeah… Mr. Lancer.
"Huhwhowha? Sorry what was the question?" Danny finally responded.
"Now, as I was saying, I want you, Daniel Fenton, to read to the class, in your copy of Macbeth, the third paragraph from page 82, and tell us what you think it means."
Danny read from the proscribed passage and then said: "I honestly haven't the slightest clue. Shakespeare obviously failed at English cuz I don't believe half of this is really English."
The class laughed.
"Daniel Fenton! Shakespeare is one of the greatest authors the world has ever known!" bellowed Lancer.
"Well, it is my belief that the man as totally over rated. I mean I have never in my life heard any one talk like this, even on British television." Said Danny.
"Well Shakespeare was from a completely different era than what you grew up in today." Lancer shot back.
"Well there are other authors from this era, and I am willing to bet that none of them read like this and that they used actual English in there books." Danny shot back.
"Well then," spoke lancer, "name one."
Danny opened his mouth, and then closed it. He thought there for a moment, ignoring the giggling and the pointing of his fellow class mates. After a few more seconds he then conceded that he didn't actually know of any.
"Well then Daniel," said a rather calm Mr. Lancer, "in that case I give you this special assignment, find a book written by one of these other authors, and yes your right they do exist, read it, and write me a ten page report on it. Complete this to my standards and I will bump you a full letter grade. Failure will result in the loss of one full letter grade."
Mr. Lancer looked around the room. He saw that every one was laughing at Danny. Not that actually everyone was, but close enough for his mind. "On second thought, I think I will assign this to the whole class. It is worth a whole letter grade. If you fail to complete this task by say… the end of the month… the highest any of you can get out of this class is a B.
Everyone shut up at this. Then they all glared at Danny. Danny just tried to not complicate things further by turning invisible. Though he wished he could, it would just make things too difficult.
Danny did not bother to go to the cafeteria during lunch. Yes he was hungry, but it was not worth the effort of having to deal with his class mates. So he went to the library. And that's were Sam found him.
"I thought you would come here." She said to him.
"Yeah," Danny said, "one can tell from the dust that no one else does."
"Lancer sucks," said Sam, "I mean where the hell does he get off just giving such assigning assignments like that? I mean he's practically begging the school to turn you into some sort of social pariah!"
"psh, too late for that." Said Danny.
"what do you mean?" asked sam.
"do you want to know how many friends I have made in my entre time here at this school?" asked Danny.
Sam was afraid to ask. She did any way.
"just you." Said Danny.
"you're kidding…"
"I wish I was." Said Danny "can we please talk about something else now?"
"allright," said sam, "but that still doesn't make it right."
"last night," Danny started "ugh, after I went home and everyone went to bed, I met someone, something."
"Don't tell me you found a girlfriend Danny."
Danny just shot her a look. One that lets one know that now is not the time for jokes.
"uh, sorry…"
"Don't worry about it." Siad Danny.
"so what was this person/thing that you met?" she asked.
"well, I don't know who it was, but I have my guesses as to what it was." Said Danny, "but above all else it was evil."
"what do you mean it was evil, Danny?" sam asked.
"well, for starters it tried to kill me," Said Danny, "failing that, it tore out the guts of some poor homeless dude right in front of me."
"why did it kill him?" asked a rather pale Sam.
"here's the thing, it didn't kill him,"said Danny, "the man actually lived long enough to get to the hospital."
"Are you saying that it did that ust to get away?" asked Sam.
"what I'm saying is I don't think it's safe for you to hang around me."
The sound of Sam slapping Danny echoed throught the library.
"Danny you do not get to decide that for me," growled Sam, "Besides chances are that whoever or whatever the fuck that thing was probably already assossiates me with you."
Danny rubbed his face, "well that's reasuring, not."
Sam gave Danny a hug. It looked like he needed it.
"now that you know that you're not getting rid of me that easily, how about we go flying?" she asked.
Danny sighed, "all right."