Chapter 28
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom
A/N: I really appreciated the very long review by the reviewer who was too lazy to log in. I always try to take what my reviewers say into consideration because it's very helpful to me as a writer. I just wanted to point out a few things. First was that Danny did tell Valerie about being Danny Phantom. He told her in Chapter 23. I didn't mean for Sam to come across as a 'lost puppy' when it came to Danny. This story is inevitably about Sam and Tucker, however; the story so far has mainly been about Tucker and his perceptions of things with only bits and pieces on Sam's thoughts in the beginning. I tried to put more of Sam's and Danny's thoughts into this as it went on. I have warned my precocious readers that I do have a hard time writing Danny. I also wanted to point out that Sam is still very opinionated just that I don't delve too deeply into it. A prime example is in Chapter 26 when she's telling everyone about her disgust for prom. I did not mean to make Danny into an insensitive creep. I do understand your concerns regarding that issue. I do also realize that not all guys ever think about is sex. I wasn't trying to come across that way at all. I also wanted to point out that Danny was not trying to brag that he did anything with Valerie. He was just basically saying that it happened and kept the rest quiet. He was just thinking that it was strange that Tucker hadn't been all over him for the details as he would have been before or at least in most people's interpretations of Tucker. I'm not going to go back and change anything in the previous chapters, however; I am going to clarify some things in this chapter. Once again I deeply appreciate any reviews that I can do. I don't care if you tell me that you hate my story as long as you tell me why. Thank you once again and I hope to get lots of reviews.
Sam's POV
Tucker came and picked me up for school. He asked me how my day with Valerie went. "Apparently girl talk is all about boys, shopping, shoes, and a lot of other things I have no desire to talk about. No wonder my two best friends are guys." He started laughing at me so I punched him in the arm. I'm too short to reach his face and kicking him seemed too childish. Well, I guess punching him is too, but I consider it less childish somehow. He just smiled bigger, but he did stop actually laughing at least.
"You're so cute, Sam." he told me. He knows I hate being called 'cute.' It's something you say about a puppy or a kitten, not me. I was just about to tell him as much again when he said, "beautiful, gorgeous, radiant..." kissing me between each one.
I held up my hand to stop him before he kissed me again, "Um, Tucker? What are you doing?"
"Making you forget about girl talk. Is it working?"
"You're so corny, Tucker, but yes it's working."
He kissed me long and hard once and then he said, "Good, let's go to school." and started walking.
I caught up to Tucker and grabbed his hand. I thought about mine and Valerie's conversation yesterday. Some of the stuff I was really surprised about and asked her to explain it without too much detail. Well not really. I just made a comment that it seemed too unDannyish of him to put his hands under her shirt. I mean I know that they've been dating for a long time, but it doesn't seem like something he'd do if they'd been dating for ten years.
She said that it wasn't like that, the way it sounded. She said that his hands were on her waist and her shirt rode up a little bit when he moved them to her hair. When he moved his hands back to her waist and felt her skin there he freaked and moved his hands right away. Valerie said that she moved Danny's hands back to her waist on the skin there. He didn't move his hands any higher or lower.
She said, not that I wanted to know, that even on prom night, that he was such a gentleman and was willing to stop whenever she wanted. She was the one who basically initiated the whole thing. That's when I told her that was more than enough information. I know they wash their sheets and everything, but that's just too weird. I'm never sitting on Danny's bed again. Kind of hypocritical of me I guess, but still.
I must have been zoning off because the next thing I know Tucker's waving his hand in front of my face and we were at my locker. "Sorry." I said, then got my stuff.
We were all together again at lunch. Valerie was babbling about the latest shoes she bought and I was trying to pretend to be interested. I honestly don't know why the average girl wants so many shoes. Seriously, all I need is three pairs: my combat boots, tennis shoes for gym and going to Tucker's secret place, and one pair of black dress shoes – black goes with anything.
As soon as Val mentioned shoes, Tucker took out his PDA and started playing like his life depended on it and Danny became very interested in what the cafeteria has the nerve to call lunch. Wimps. "So how many shoes do you own now?" I asked pretty much wishing we were talking about anything else.
"Twenty-seven." She said proudly.
"You really didn't strike me as the kind of girl to own a different pair of shoes for every outfit." She really didn't.
"Oh, I'm not," she assured me, "I've got my everyday school shoes, my gym shoes, my flip-flops, flat sandals, high heeled sandals, flat dressy shoes, one-inch high heels, three-inch high heels, and platforms. All of those I have in black, red, and pink."
"That sounds like shoes for every outfit to me, but whatever. What do you guys want to do today?" I asked. Danny and Tucker's heads snapped up, obviously glad of the change in conversation.
"I can't do anything after school today. I got a meeting with Mr. Lancer, the principal, and my parents. It's like deja vu except I haven't done anything to get me into trouble this year." Tucker said.
"What about you two?" I asked Danny and Valerie.
"Sure, we can hang out. We don't have anything planned, do we Val?" Danny said.
"Not at all. We can totally hang out with you today." Valerie said in a perkiness that could rival Paulina. That's kind of creepy. At least Valerie has a brain, unlike Paulina. I hate Paulina still, if you haven't figured it out already.
"Great. So what do you guys wanna do?" I asked. Both Valerie and Danny shrugged. "Wanna go bowling at my house?" They both nodded. "Tucker, do you wanna come after your meeting?" I didn't want him to feel left out or anything.
"That sounds nice, but I don't know when it'll be over so I'll text you when it is and you can tell me if you guys are still doing anything." he said.
"Okay, sounds like a plan." I said. Then we started to talk about other random crap that didn't matter, but at least all of us were participating in the conversation.
Tucker's POV
I came and picked Sam up for school. Well, when I say picked up I mean I walked to her house so that we could walk to school together. She still thought that cars were terrible pollutants to the environment and she didn't want to contribute to the desecration of the ozone layer. I don't mind because it gives me a longer time alone with Sam before we meet up with Danny and Valerie.
I asked her how her day with Valerie went. "Apparently girl talk is all about boys, shopping, shoes, and a lot of other things I have no desire to talk about. No wonder my two best friends are guys." I couldn't help but laugh. I mean her face was just so funny. She got mad at me for it, of course and punched me in the arm. It didn't hurt or anything. I did stop laughing, but I smiled bigger at her.
"You're so cute, Sam." I told her. I know she hates being called 'cute.' She's told me that many times, but I just couldn't help it. "Beautiful," I kissed her, "gorgeous," I kissed her again, "radiant." She put up her hand before I could kiss her again.
"Um Tucker?" She asked me, "What are you doing?"
"Making you forget about girl talk. Is it working?" I asked.
"You're so corny, Tucker, but yes it's working." I kissed her once more, but for like twenty seconds.
Then I said, "Good, let's go to school." I started walking leaving a somewhat stunned Sam behind me. She caught up to me and grabbed my hand.
She was quiet the whole way there. She didn't say anything once we were at my locker and when we went to hers, she seemed so completely unaware of anything. I started waving my hand in front of her face, which seemed to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.
At lunch Valerie started talking about shoes. I glanced at Sam. She was trying to look interested for Valerie's sake, but I could read the 'please shoot me now' sign in her eyes. I took out my PDA because seriously, shoes are not my thing. Well, I really wouldn't expect them to be anybody at this table's thing, but apparently it's Valerie's.
Danny also looked somewhere other than the two girls. Sam glanced at both of us doing other things and rolled her eyes. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sam changed the subject. Danny and I both snapped our heads to look at her gratefully. She rolled her eyes again. She asked what we wanted to do after school.
That reminded me that I had a meeting with Mr. Lancer, the principal, and my parents after school. I mentioned that it was a little like deja vu except that I haven't done anything this year to get into trouble. The last time I had a meeting like that was when they raised my homework level.
After school I went to the room where the meeting was to take place while the rest went to Sam's house to go bowling. I had no idea what they wanted to talk to me about. I've gotta say, I'm more than a little nervous.
"Ah, Mr. Foley. It's nice to see you again under such different circumstances." said the principal. Well, at least I know I'm not in trouble. I saw my parents smiling encouragingly at me. Apparently they know what's going on or maybe they just know it's not bad. I didn't know what to say so I just nodded.
Mr. Lancer came bounding in, I say bounding because he was practically skipping into the room. "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'm so excited. If you agree to this, then it will be the first time in history for Casper High. Not even Miss Fenton (Jazz) got this chance." I just looked at him severely confused, "sit down, sit down."
I sat down next to my parents. "I'm sure you're wondering why we've called this meeting." The principal said. I just nodded. I wanted to say 'well, duh.' I didn't though. "Mr. Lancer has shown me, as well as your parents, you're homework for this year. It's very impressive. You've gotten one hundred percent on every homework assignment as well as every test. Not only that, but Mr. Lancer has informed us that you do approximately twenty-five assignments in his class each day. I've also talked to some of your other teachers. It seems that you haven't missed a single question at all this year."
I knew this, but I really didn't think it was something to be bragging about. I mean I'm a nerd, geek, loser, what have you. The only difference is that I can no longer fit inside a locker and can actually defend myself before I get beat up.
"We always knew Tucker was smart," my mom said, "He hasn't missed one question in any of his classes?" The principal looked at his notes.
"That's correct, Mrs. Foley. I've been looking over his past assignments from last year as well. He hadn't missed any then either, but that fact was overshadowed by his bout of rebelliousness." he said. I was kind of wondering why the heck they were going on about it.
"It's impressive, but is that the only reason that you've gathered us here?" my dad asked. Thank you! I wanted to shout. I mean they were just kind of going in circles.
"We've only had one student before Tucker who had this particularly high level IQ. That was Jazz Fenton. She was already very sure in her future and knew exactly where she wanted to go. She got the highest on the CAT in Casper High history until Tucker. He answered the whole thing correctly. We didn't announce it as we had with Miss Fenton's because for some reason it slipped underneath our radar until I was going back through his records." The principal said.
"You still haven't told us exactly why it is that we're here." my dad was starting to get a little impatient. I was too.
"Mr. Lancer brought this to my attention. He was the one who suggested this. We've never had any students interested in this, but we've talked to colleges along with the school board. We want Tucker to take all AP dual credit classes next year," he saw our confused looks and explained, "AP classes are Advanced Placement classes that are for extremely gifted students. Dual credit means that it will count for both high school and college credit. Based on what you take next year, it could either count as one or very less likely two years of college." I couldn't believe it. Neither could my parents from the looks on their faces.
"You say you didn't offer this chance to Jazz? May I ask why not?" I was curious. I mean Jazz was way smarter than me.
"We did offer it to her, but she chose not to take it. Something about wanting/needing to be psychologically closer to her patients' needs with her intellect." That sounded like something Jazz would do, "Do you want to talk about it before you make your decision?" I looked to my parents. They nodded.
"I think we will talk about it before I make my final decision. Thank you for this opportunity." I said. He dismissed us and we left. I was thinking about texting Sam that I was done, but I figured that we should really talk this out first.
Danny's POV
I love Valerie, but I honestly don't understand her sometimes. How can she such a hardcore ghost hunter and yet still have a twenty minute conversation about shoes? Tucker and I tried not to pay attention at all. Finally Sam changed the subject. I was kind of surprised that Sam was able to talk about shoes as long as she did.
Tucker said that he couldn't do anything after school because he had a meeting with Lancer, the principal, and his parents. He said it was kind of like deja vu. I didn't know that he'd had a meeting with all of them before, but I guess it makes sense since he got in trouble all the time last year.
After school we went to Sam's house and went bowling. It was fun, but Sam's head wasn't really in it. Valerie said that Sam was thinking about Tucker. I didn't get it, but she just shook her head at me muttering 'clueless.' Why does everybody say that? Okay, well sometimes I know, but most of the time I think they're just trying to annoy me.
Valerie and I left at about 9 p.m. Sam was kind of freaking out because Tucker hadn't texted her yet. We tried to assure her that everything was fine, but it didn't seem to help any. So when Val wasn't looking I texted Tucker. Text Sam wn u can. She's worried. I knew that Valerie would kill me if she found out, but not nearly as bad as Sam would. Sam hates for anybody to think that she's weak, even if it means that she's worried about something.
I flew Valerie home. It's a lot faster than walking and/or driving. I gave her a long kiss goodnight. I was still a little worried about Sam because when I say freaking out, I really mean freaking out. She kept pacing and saying stuff under her breath. Finally, Valerie took her into another room. I don't know what they did. All I know is that when she came back, Sam seemed a whole lot calmer. As we were leaving I glanced back at Sam and she was back to pacing.
Sam's POV
I couldn't help it. I really couldn't. Me, Val, and Danny were bowling, but I couldn't really pay attention. My mind was on Tucker. At lunch I didn't really act nervous or anything. I guess it didn't really click with me at the time. As soon as I remembered the look on his face, I realized how worried he was about this meeting.
As soon as seven rolled around I was starting to get antsy. I started pacing while looking at my cellphone every ten seconds and muttering 'why hasn't he texted me yet' under my breath. I must have been like that for like ten minutes before Valerie pulled me into another room where Danny wasn't and said, "Alright girl, spill."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You know what I mean. Why are you all fidgety and stuff? Tucker will text you eventually." she said.
"I know. I just remembered the look on his face and got all worried. I just want to know that he's okay. Is that too clingy of me?" I asked because I honestly didn't know.
"No. You're just being a good girlfriend. I understand, but he will text you because he promised. Has he ever broken a promise when it comes to you?" I shook my head 'no.' "I didn't think so. Now let's go in there and show my boyfriend that us girls can totally whip him at bowling." I had to laugh a little at her enthusiasm. I felt a lot better after that.
They left at 9 p.m. and Tucker still hadn't texted me. I started pacing again. I mean their meeting couldn't have lasted that long. My grandma rolled in and told me to calm down already. She watched me pacing before she said I was making her dizzy. She came with me into the living room and I sat down on the couch. She talked me into telling her what was wrong. I still feel like an overbearing girlfriend, but grandma basically told me the same thing that Valerie did.
I was just about to head to bed at 11 p.m. when I finally got a text from Tucker. Sorry about the time. Tell u all about it 2morrow. TF
Now I can go to sleep without wondering if he'll ever text me. I'm glad he promised to tell me about it. He probably knows that I'd never let him get away with not telling me.
A/N: I want to know your opinion on something. Should I keep this as just one story or should I have it have a sequel? If you want a sequel, then there will still be a few chapters left in this one, but if I should keep it as just one, then there will be a whole lot more than that. Also, I'd love some reviews.
