This is one of those stories that make you feel terrible for a few characters. But it does have a happy ending!

Lunchtime. Everybody sitting outside the school, making more noise than humanly possible. Danny threaded his way through the crowd to a table, empty except for his best friend, Sam.

Danny groaned and dropped his head in his hands. "Ughhhh…"

Sam looked at him, slightly amused. "What's up?"

"I swear, I've asked every girl in the school out, but none of them are right for me, or even nice to me!" Danny exclaimed. He started banging his head on the table rhythmically.

Sam sounded thoughtful. "You haven't asked me out."

Danny was bewildered. She had to be joking. "Okay, Sam. Want to go out some time?" He joked.

"Sure."

Danny's head shot up and he looked at her, amazed. She appraised him with silent eyes and finished her yogurt before getting up and leaving the table. Danny just followed her with his eyes, mouth wide open.

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"Danny was still stunned when he was waling through the hallways to get to his locker. He was having an out-of-body experience. He leaned against his locker for support.

Tucker came up. "Hey, Dude, what's up? Sam said you were really depressed at lunch because nobody would go out with you."

Danny turned blank eyes on his best friend. Everything seemed different. He licked his lips nervously. "Tucker, does Sam like me?"

Tucker looked confused. "Of course she likes you, you're her best friend."

Danny slammed a fist into the locker next to him. "No." he said, staring at the metal. "Does she like me?"

Tucker raised an eyebrow. He felt himself filling with excitement. "Do you like her?" He asked. He felt a grin trying to escape.

Danny looked at him. "I…her…I don't know. But she basically told me she likes me and I don't know what to do!"

Tucker felt like slamming his head into his locker. No. Scratch that. He felt like slamming Danny's head into a locker. He took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down. "How did she tell you?" He said in a grave voice.

Danny stared at the metal of the lockers. He explained what had happened at lunch. Tucker's mood lightened a little. "Well, just go out with her."

Danny looked at him pleadingly. "But what if she was kidding? I'll sound stupid. And I don't even now if I like her or not!"

Tucker felt himself heat up with anger. "Just go out with her! You know you like her, and she likes you too."

Danny watched his friend walk down the hallway, fuming. Things were starting to change, and he didn't like it.

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Danny was walking through the hallways with Tucker. He had been avoiding Sam lie the plague and he was starting to really miss her. But it would be so awkward. Tucker was supremely pissed at him, but he couldn't do anything about the Sam situation.

Danny phased out as they passed Sam in the hallways. Her violet eyes looked at him intensely. "Danny, I don't have cooties and I'm not going to bite you. If you want to be just friends, so be it, but at least let me be a friend."

Danny stared after her retreating figure, horrified at what he'd done.

Depressed yet? You should be. I'm feeling morbid. But because I'm nice, I'm giving you guys a happy ending.

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Danny was staring at his phone, willing it to either blow up or dial itself. Here goes nothing. He picked it up quickly and dialed Sam's phone number.

It rang twice before he heard Sam's voice say, "Hello?"

He nearly slammed the phone down, he was so nervous. "Hi, Sam. I was.. Uh.. Wondering if you wanted to maybe…uh go out this Friday?"

Sam's steeling phone broke through. "Danny, I don't need your pity. If you don't like me, tell me and drop it."

Danny felt terrible. "No, Sam, I really want to go out with you. It's not a pity date."

Silence. "Are you sure?"

"Unh-huh."

"Tucker didn't bribe you?"

Danny laughed. He had missed Sam's sense of humor. "No, I wasn't bribed."

Sam sounded slightly happier. "All right, then. Do you want to see that new Star Wars movie at six?"

Danny was grinning like a maniac. "Sure."

"Okay. See you then." Danny could barely make out the word, but he heard Sam say softly. "I missed you, ghost boy."

Danny put down the receiver gently. Only then did the reality of his emotions come to him.

I like Sam back.