Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. A majority of the characters in the story are owned by Nickelodeon.
Double Clique
Chapter 9: It's a Date
"Guys, it actually happened!"
Tucker ran up to Danny and Sam, hanging out at Sam's locker, the following day at school waving his PDA in the air.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"Paulina's in the news!" Tucker said, sure to keep his voice down.
"She's what?!" Danny said, shocked.
"Great," Sam negatively added, "as if she needs more attention."
Tucker read aloud from his PDA, "In mid-afternoon, Amity Park Mall fell victim to another ghost attack. The ghost, described by witnesses as a giant rat, wreaked havoc throughout the mall until it faced an opposing entity. A new hero the Amity Park Angle has dubbed Water Wendy."
Danny cringed and needed Tucker to reiterate, "They actually named her 'Water Wendy'?"
Sam began laughing out loud and, after wiping a tear from her eye, commented, "Oh man, out of all the revenge fantasies I've ever had for Paulina, this might top every single one of them. All of Amity Park knows her name, and that name is 'Water Wendy'!"
Tucker continued reading, "Using powers witnesses have described as 'going all watery,' this masked vigilante was able to run the rat out of the mall, but not before causing property damage to the mall's food court and shoplifting some soap. Is this another rogue agent seeking the destruction of our fair city, or is Amity Park no longer a one-hero town?"
"Well," Danny said, trying to make the best out of the situation, "it was bound to happen sooner or later. Downpour is officially out there."
"Please, Danny," Sam said, still smiling, "Water Wendy is officially out there."
"Speaking of..." Tucker said, pointing out Paulina approaching down the hallway. It looked like she hadn't noticed them yet, so he waved to flag her down and called out, "Paulina!"
Paulina looked toward the call of her name to see Tucker waving toward her. Upon seeing him, she looked away, trying to avoid eye-contact, and began walking at a slightly faster pace.
Oblivious to what Paulina was doing, Tucker began rattling off, "So I was doing some thinking about hiding your identity, and I think I figured something out. I just need to borrow your..." Tucker slowly stopped talking as Paulina passed right by the three of them, not even stopping to say hello.
"She just ignored me," Tucker said, disappointed.
"She just ignored us," Sam corrected. "This is exactly what I said was going to happen. We help her out and she repays us by acting like we hardly exist."
"Well," Tucker said, looking for any excuse that'll stick, "she's got her reputation to think about. She can't just be seen cavorting with the likes of us, right?"
"You just don't want to lose our bet," Sam asked, smirking.
"There's room to grow and it hasn't been a week yet," Tucker quickly said.
"You know, Sam," Danny said, finally deciding to interject, "you really need to stop this negative attitude about Paulina. If you took some time to really know where she's coming from-"
"I don't have to do anything!" Sam said, becoming irritated that her friends seemed to be painting her as the bad guy. "The plan was to get Paulina back into Amity Park and to get Downpour, not Paulina, into Team Phantom. I did my part for the first half of that, and as far as you're both concerned, the second half's already been accomplished. I'm done with her!"
"Sam," Danny said, keeping his cool, "you're the only one here who hasn't tried to make any connection with Paulina."
"I did try, once," Sam said, referring back to seeing Paulina at the warehouse on her first day back. "It was all I needed to know that Paulina is still not a good person."
Danny felt stung at Sam's words. Not from the words themselves, but he felt reminded of evading Paulina's question from last night. Whatever guilt he had shouldered off just came crushing back down.
"Then try again!" Tucker pleaded. "You have to see that Paulina's really trying to be friendly with us. Even if it is in secret." Tucker then gasped as an idea suddenly popped into his head. "You know what you two need?"
Sam quickly responded, "Don't say 'girls' ni-'"
"A girls' night!" Tucker answered. "Two girls bonding over their shared interests and laughing about the differences that make them special!"
"What makes you think I share any interests with Paulina?" Sam asked, appalled by the idea.
"Try to think of it as a team building exercise," Danny suggested. "You just said one of our goals was to get Downpour on the team. How can I expect you to get along with Downpour if you won't even get along with Paulina?"
Sam gave a few moments to mull it over. She sighed and answered, "Okay fine. I'll hang out with Paulina. For the sake of the team."
"Woo, girls' night!" Tucker celebrated.
Sam slammed her locker shut, the loud clang getting Tucker's full attention. "Don't call it that!" she said. "Tell her to meet me at the Nasty Burger tonight. The sooner we get this out of the way, the better. And just so you two know, I'm not going to enjoy this."
"You think I enjoy fighting ghosts?" Danny said, trying to imply to Sam they weren't asking much from her.
"Besides," Tucker added, "one day you're gonna look back at this night and say to yourself, 'Wow, I'm glad I took the time to get to know Paulina a little better. That night greatly strengthened the bond of Team Phantom.'" Sam simply stared at Tucker, looking rather annoyed. He continued, "And then you're gonna give me twenty dollars."
Sam chuckled and told Tucker, "It's funny that you think twenty dollars means something to me," before leaving for class.
Finally free of Sam's tension, Danny asked Tucker, "So, what were you gonna ask Paulina for?"
"Funny you should ask," Tucker started to explain.
Further along the hallway, Paulina was making her way to her classroom, still feeling bad about ignoring Danny and his friends. She had been getting friendly with Danny and Tucker, but she didn't want people to think differently of her. She had a hard enough time keeping her powers secret from the entire school. She didn't need them to know she hangs out with the dorks as well.
"Yo, Paulina!" she heard. She looked lightly ahead to see Kwan beside Star's locker, waving her down with a newspaper in hand, Dash and Star right with him. Paulina smiled and waved as she walked toward the group.
"What's up?" Paulina said.
"'What's up'?" Kwan responded. He enthusiastically added, "You were there when what was up happened!"
"It's the mall thing," Star dryly reminded. "He's talking about the mall thing."
"Oh, that!" Paulina said. Trying to keep it in a positive light, she answered. "Well, we're both in one piece. Everything's fine."
"It was just the worst!" Star said, somewhat dramatic. "This giant ghost rat came out of nowhere and attacked us! Paulina and I were lucky enough to escape together."
"Together?!" Paulina said, angrily. Not wanting to bring up specifics, she calmly continued, "That's funny, Star, because when we were fleeing that ghost rat, I distinctly remember you getting ahead of me."
Star rolled her eyes, seemingly oblivious to what Paulina was implying. "I meant we both got out at all. So what if we got separated? I don't need to be around you every minute of the day." Star then loudly proclaimed, "Because I'm not the satellite!"
"Hey, Paulina, quick question," Kwan said. He held his newspaper's front page to Paulina's face and asked, "What do you think of Water Wendy?"
"Water Wendy?" Paulina asked, confused by the awful name. She looked down at Kwan's paper and gasped in absolute horror. The front page had posted a picture of her in front of the destroyed food court. The photo showed her face covered and her hair down, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. She looked like a deer in headlights in the picture. A look she duplicated from looking at the picture. "Me?!" She panicked as she grabbed Kwan's paper from out of his hands.
"Yeah, you," Star said, thankfully misinterpreting Paulina's exclamation. "What do you think of Water Wendy?"
Paulina stammered, trying to find the right things to say to not draw attention to herself. "Well, uh... I think that... uh... It's cool that there's another hero in town or... Something?"
Dash finally entered the conversation, asking his group, "You think she looks hot under that mask? I bet she looks hot."
"Did you get to see her in action?" Star asked. "I was too busy running away to see her, but maybe you did. You were behind me after all."
"No!" Paulina quickly responded, handing the paper back to Kwan while trying to find an out in the conversation. "I mean, I was also running away, so I guess I missed her."
"Hey, Paulina," Kwan added, pointing to Downpour's picture, "you think it's funny how you both share a taste in maroon?"
"I don't wanna talk about yesterday!" Paulina shouted. She stormed away from the group and continued, "I just wanna get to class!"
Star, Kwan, and Dash simply stared as Paulina broke away from their conversation. "What was that about?" Star said, breaking the silence.
"If I had to guess," Kwan said, "after being in the Ghost Zone for as long as she has been, Paulina just wants to have a normal life. But being attacked by ghosts here in the real world made her relive that traumatizing experience all over again. And we irresponsibly kept digging into that pain. I believe it's our duty to not just be people she hangs around with, but to also be real friends to support and care for her."
Dash responded by slapping Kwan in the back of the head. As Kwan rubbed and soothed his sore head, Dash asked him, "Who said you get to be sensitive?"
The final bell had rung. Paulina was was just glad to get away from chatter of her alter ego. Of all the days for the school to obsess over her, it had to be one where she had exposed her powers. Most of the reception had been positive, with some even rooting for a team-up with Danny Phantom. A few had dismissed her as just another ghost, something she hoped would keep suspicion off of her. Others thought she may have been human, and the few of those found her "freaky." Hearing things like that would cause Paulina to walk faster to get away from the gossip. The talk had fortunately died down by the end of the school day.
Paulina's trip to her locker was uneventful. She had opened it to retrieve some books for homework. Her locker was still filled with Danny Phantom memorabilia, which she did plan on cleaning out someday, but she did find a note that wasn't there before. Assuming it to be another note from Tucker, probably containing what he was going to tell her earlier today, Paulina gave it a read.
See me in the broom closet after school. -DF
Danny Fenton, Paulina had figured out. She was relieved to see Danny was playing along with keeping any interactions private. Less people seeing them together meant less questions. And she was genuinely interested in what Danny wanted to say to her.
It was a short walk to the broom closet in question. After looking around to check if anyone was watching her, Paulina quietly and smoothly snuck into the closet.
"Danny?" Paulina whispered, using only the light of the closet's slightly ajar door. As if on cue, Danny emerged from behind a shelf.
"Hey," Danny said. "Glad you could make it."
"You're really doing me a favor doing this in private."
"Well, after earlier today, the gang and I figured you wanted to keep our interactions on the down-low."
Paulina opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She knew Danny was talking about her just walking past Tucker as he was telling her something. Her eyes darted around like she was trying to find something to say about the incident be fore ultimately hanging her head in defeat.
"You know," Danny said, noticing her guilt, "we don't have to do this in a broom closet. We can just go out and talk like it's no big deal."
"No!" Paulina suddenly said. Danny noted how worried she sounded about the idea of the being seen together. Paulina toned her response back and said, "I mean... Look, I really do wanna help you guys with ghosts and everything, but I'm still trying to settle back into school and real life and stuff like that. Hanging with Star, staying away from you... It just makes things... easier."
"You know, this was never supposed to be easy," Danny reminded.
"I'm still learning that," Paulina said. "And after what the guys did to Tucker yesterday, I just don't want that happening to you guys." She tried to come off as more positive, adding, "But we can still talk like this, right?"
"Well, about that," Danny said. "Do you have plans for tonight?"
Paulina's face instantly went red. She began to stammer, "Plans? But I- You said- I thought we agreed that-"
"What?" Danny asked confused. When he finally caught on to what she thought he meant, he turned just as red and said, "Oh! No! Not that at all!"
"Oh, thank goodness," Paulina breathed.
After the two had a brief little laugh over the situation, Danny finally suggested, "The group and I thought we should build the team up a bit, and Tucker and I thought the best way to do that is set up a night with Sam."
"With Sam?!" Paulina said, almost disgusted by the idea.
Danny continued, "She already agreed to meet up with you, now we just need to see if you're up for meeting her at the Nasty Burger tonight."
"You really think Sam and I can get along?" Paulina said, annoyed at the idea. "She ruins everything I'm apart of! The dance, the pageant, even this! I tried being nice to her and she just throws it back in my face!"
"Paulina, I'm not letting you play the victim here," Danny said, rather frustrated that Paulina had this point of view. "You aren't exactly innocent either."
Paulina just huffed, still annoyed at the idea.
Danny continued, "You said you wanted to help fight ghosts. For the best possible results, I can't have two of my teammates constantly at each others throats. The team really needs you to do this."
Paulina furrowed her brow at her conundrum. She finally said, "You know I can't be seen with any of you, right?"
"Who is honestly gonna care that you and Sam Manson met up for dinner one time?" Danny queried.
Paulina gave a defeated sigh and said, "Alright, I'll figure something out. I'll do it."
"Great!" Danny said. "I'll find Sam and tell her the news." Danny was about to exit the closet when he stopped and turned back to Paulina. "One more thing: Tucker said he wants to borrow your costume."
"What?" Paulina asked, confused and cautious. "Why?"
"He told me not to tell you," Danny said. "And he assured me that he not gonna do anything creepy with it."
Paulina took a moment to think about it. Since Tucker had proven to be reliable and eager to help, she answered, "Okay, I'll see that he gets it."
"Alright then!" Danny said. "Everything's set. Have a fun girls' night!" At that, he disappeared from sight.
"Don't call it that!" Paulina called out. It was too late. The quiet had confirmed that Danny had already left the closet. She assumed this was to make sure no one could see one leave right after the other.
Now she had dinner plans. With a girl she wasn't terribly fond of. "How am I gonna make this work?" She pondered.
Author's Commentary: I had originally went with "Liquid Lucy" as a name. Then "Water Wendy" came up and I had to go with it since it was so much worse.