Thursday, September 30th, 2004

Ten Days until Mystery Meat

Day 21: Research


"If man can have an extrasensory contact with another living mind, can he also have a similar bond with the minds of those who died?"

"Danny's never been interested in ghosts before. Why now?" Jazz sighed. Now that she had begun reading the Parapsychology book, she was having some trouble putting it down. It was actually quite interesting.

"If I start wearing a jumpsuit because of you, Danny, I will never forgive you," Jazz muttered to herself as the bell rang and she had to force herself to put the book away.

"Good job, Mister Fenton," his art teacher stated with a bit of pride when she finished critiquing his piece. Though the art pieces had been due on the last Friday, their art teacher still had yet to finish grading all of them, and was only now getting to Danny's. "A little rushed, but definitely still quite good. B+"

"Really?"

"Yes. You can put your piece back in your portfolio," the teacher informed him. He quickly took it down and rushed it over to the drawers.

"A B+ huh? That's great," Sam smiled at him. He blushed a bit with pride.

"Not bad for a straight C student, huh?"

"Not bad at all," Sam agreed.

"Time to clean up!" The art teacher called. "I'll grade the rest of you on Monday!"

"Man, she takes forever to grade stuff," Danny rolled his eyes.

"It gives time for lazy people to finish," Sam shrugged. They put away art supplies until the bell rang and then hurried to meet Tucker for Lunch.

"I am not becoming like my parents," Jazz whispered to herself. "I am not... I'm not..."

She battled with herself, extending her hand toward the parapsychology books, her finger trailing over the titles until she found one that caught her interest. She pulled it out and flipped through the book for a few moments. Satisfied. Jazz tucked it under her arm and headed to the register.

Just as she was approaching the desk, the doors opened to admit Sam, in all her gothic glory, with Danny and Tucker in tow. Jazz hastily hid the book, not wanting Danny to know that she was investigating his odd behavior. Luckily, they didn't even notice her, simply passing by to the section she had just left. She waited for the librarian to finish scanning her card, and then shoved the book into her bag and trailed after them.

"That's odd, the book isn't there anymore," Sam blinked, and then started to go through the other books. "Not many people check out books on parapsychology."

"Well, lots of people think it's a joke," Tucker shrugged. "Did I have to come here? The paper makes me nervous."

"You act as if you've never read before," Danny accused. "But I saw that you had books hidden in your closet!"

"What?! How did you find those!?" Tucker squeaked. "Don't tell anyone! I have a reputation!"

Danny fished a picture out of his pocket, "You know, it makes it so much easier to get blackmail when you have all the technology needed just... laying around your house," he showed a picture of Tucker's closet. "Who knew you knew how to read things on paper?"

"GIVE IT!"

"IF YOU CAN'T BE QUIET, PLEASE GET OUT OF MY LIBRARY. Except you, Sam dear," the librarian's angry tone abruptly changed to sweet and motherly.

"Oh come on, that's not fair!"

The librarian glared at Tucker, and the technogeek gulped nervously.

"I'll be good, I promise."

"Me too," Danny nodded vigorously. He obviously hadn't been prepared for the scary librarian. Jazz, however, knew exactly how terrifying she could be, since the library was one of her favorite haunts ever since freshman year.

The librarian glared at them for a few more moments, and then nodded slowly, flashing a smile at Sam, "Tell me if you need anything, Sam dear."

"Thank you!" Sam said brightly. Danny and Tucker scowled.

"Hey you guys!" Jazz approached them, an overly cheerful smile on her face, though her eyes were looking over them carefully. "What are you guys doing in the library?"

"I-is that a crime now?" Danny stuttered. "A-are we on your holy ground or something?"

"No, I was just surprised to see you and Tucker here," Jazz smiled even brighter, though inwardly she was even more suspicious. "I usually see Sam in here, but I didn't think you both liked to read."

"We don't," Tucker folded his arms. "Sam dragged us in here."

Jazz nodded knowingly, and then peered at the shelf, pretending she had no idea what was there already, "Parapsychology?"

"I like stuff like that," Sam said instantly, trying not to let herself look nervous.

Jazz didn't have to fake rolling her eyes, "You know that stuff is not real, right?"

"O-of course!" Danny grinned at her, though he looked nervous. "It's just silly stuff. H-hey, guys, wanna go to the computer lab?"

"Sure," Tucker nodded hastily. "Sam?"

"Guess so."

Despite their effort, it was obvious they were making a quick escape attempt. Jazz didn't mind too much, it just confirmed more of her suspicions. When they were out of the library, she walked over to one of the tables, pulled out a sheet of notebook paper, and started scribbling.

"Okay, possible explanations: Gang, Drugs, alcohol, cult, religion change..." The list went on as Jazz brainstormed.

After school found them all spread out on Danny's bed, papers littering the sheets and nearby floor as they studied for the history test they had all forgotten about until Tucker's PDA had gone off to remind him.

"Okay, so the Greeks wearing togas was going to be on that test tomorrow, right? Easy answer." Tucker flipped through his notes.

Danny quickly started to write that down, but Sam stopped him, "No, the Greeks wore chitons. It was the Romans who wore togas, and that was only the guys."

"They're the same thing," Tucker protested.

"They are not. If you get the clothing wrong that's a huge number of points off."

"Tucker," Danny whined. "You know I can't afford to flunk this test."

"I'm telling you, man, togas are the same thing as those keet-on things."

"They are not!"

"Okay, look you two," Danny rubbed his eyes wearily. "Tucker can put whatever he wants on his test and Sam can put what she wants. I, personally, am with Sam on this one."

"Fine, be that way," Tucker stuck his tongue out at him. "I bet you five dollars that I'm right."

"Deal!" Danny grinned. He trusted Sam's knowledge of history much more than Tucker's. They shook on it.

A/N: Just so you know and I don't get sued, the quote from the book Jazz is reading is actually from Parapsychology: A Century of Inquiry, by D. Scott Rogo. Sadly, this book is mostly about ESP, rather than Ghosts, but there is a chapter on hauntings. Even more sadly, I need to give it back to the school library tomorrow. But this also means I can look for more books on ghosts! Woo!

So yeah, history test. I just like the Greeks, honestly, and I was at a loss for what to do. So I thought "History test!" and I'm pretty nerdy when it comes to Greek mythology. For example, I was reading this fanfic the other day, and it was pretty good and all, and then they mentioned characters wearing togas and I was like "NO! GREEKS WORE CHITONS DANGIT!" Speaking of chitons, I can't wait for Halloween. My Persephone costume... actually looks pretty good considering it actually is a bedsheet pinned up like a chiton.

Sorry this chapter is short, but the next chapter will come out quite soon! Unfortunately, I spent a bit of time writing a scene for this chapter before I realized that this day is a B-day for Danny, and I was writing an English class! LE GASP!

Oh, and the countdown to Mystery Meat has BEGUN!

Thanks for the reviews!