Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. A majority of the characters in the story are owned by Nickelodeon.
Double Clique
Chapter 11: Girls' Day
"Tucker! Your friends are here to see you!" called Mrs. Foley.
"Be right down!" Tucker called back.
Between homework and video games, Tucker didn't have any weekend plans. He certainly wasn't expecting a visit from Danny and Sam. Whatever kind of plans they had, Tucker was more than eager to join, if only to serve as an excuse for getting away from his math homework.
Tucker finally made it to the front door to meet with his friends. On instinct, he greeted, "Hey Sam. Hey Da-" He found his voice trapped in his throat when he noticed who was actually standing outside his doorframe. Sam was there, but Danny certainly wasn't. Instead, it was Paulina, giving a cute wave and carrying a small duffle bag.
"Sam? Paulina? Together?!" Tucker said, too dumbfounded to form proper sentences.
"Yeah, I can hardly believe it either," Sam joked.
"So girl' night was..." Tucker said.
"It started rough," Paulina informed, "but we made it work out well."
Tucker looked at the two of them, still unable to process what was in front of him. "And you're..." Tucker said, looking for the best word, "...friends now?"
"Yuh-huh," Paulina said, simultaneously with Sam's, "Work in progress."
"And you came all the way to my place just to tell me that?" Tucker asked.
"Actually," Paulina said, presenting her duffle bag, "I just wanted to give you this. Danny said you wanted to borrow my costume, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Tucker said, accepting the duffle. "I swear, it's nothing weird or anything..."
"I wouldn't give it to you if I didn't trust you with it," Paulina assured.
"Uh, right, yeah, sure," Tucker said, his face reddening. "So, why are you two...?"
"Together?" Paulina finished. "We're having a girls' da-"
"Spending some quality time together," Sam interrupted. "Last night started as kind of a disaster, so we thought maybe we could do a day-long do-over."
"Doing what?" Tucker asked.
"I dunno," Sam shrugged, "we were just gonna plan on wingin' it."
Tucker turned to Paulina and asked, "And you're okay with going out with her?"
"Well," Paulina said, nervously looking for a plausible excuse to just have fun with someone, "I'm not gonna run into every person at school, am I? No one but us will know."
"Well, don't let me stop you from having yourselves a good ol' time," Tucker said.
"We won't," Paulina said, heading out with Sam and waving good-bye to Tucker.
As the two girls disappeared around the corner, Tucker couldn't help but look on in amazement. "They're actually getting along," Tucker said. He then threw his fists into the air in excitement as he proclaimed, "And I'm winning the bet!" He them slammed the front door as he retreated to the attic.
Around the corner, Sam and Paulina were walking side by side, closer than either thought they could be next to each other without vomiting. "So, what can we do so start the day?" Sam asked.
"I dunno," Paulina said. "I guess we could see a movie or something."
"A movie?" Sam responded, a bit uneasy. "I don't think the two of us really have the same taste in movies. You really think we can agree on something?"
"Well," Paulina said, looking to compromise, "how about you pick the movie and I'll just go along with it?"
"You're seriously giving me that much power?" Sam said, almost eager.
"Sure, why not?" Paulina said. "Let's see what Sam Manson loves to see."
Two hours later, Paulina had exited the theater screening Chainsaw Children 5, utterly aghast at what she had just seen. Sam followed behind, somewhat unenthusiastic.
"I can't believe they show that stuff in the theater," Paulina said, still trying to wash out the grisly images in her head.
"You're telling me," Sam said, misinterpreting Paulina's words. "The franchise really peaked at the second one, then it just kinda went downhill. Still, it's an improvement from Chainsaw Children 4: Chainsaws Over Boise."
"How are you not even bothered?!" Paulina asked, still trembling as they exited the theater. "That was... So many body parts..."
"I dunno," Sam shrugged, having never really thought about it. "My parents always tried hammering in that a 'proper young lady' shouldn't watch that kind of 'filth'. So, naturally, I really wanted to watch that filth. I guess it started with Nightmare on Pine Boulevard, with that scene where Nightmerica pulls a kid into his bed, and there's this huge geyser of organs-"
"Sam, please!" Paulina stopped Sam from going any further, anything to keep her breakfast down. "I just need something that'll calm me down. That was just so... intense!"
"Well, what do you suggest?" Sam asked. "I picked the movie, so it's only fair you pick what we do next."
Paulina stroked her chin, giving it some thought. Her face suddenly beamed, as if she had come up with the best plan imaginable. "I know exactly what we need," Paulina said, her grin unshakable. "Mani-pedi!"
Sam looked at Paulina quizzically and asked, "Who?"
Over at Josefina's Nails and Massage, Paulina was in paradise. She hadn't had proper foot and hand work in ages, and having a handful of professionals at her whim was relaxing beyond belief.
Paulina let out a relaxed breath and asked Sam, "Isn't this heaven?"
Next to her, Sam felt like her hands and feet were being crushed in a dozen different places, having to be held down by other masseurs to keep her from writhing too much in her chair. It was less like heaven for her, and more like the other place. Between grunts of agony, Sam asked, "Why! Is it! So! Painful?!"
"Maybe your combat boots built up a lot of tension?" Paulina guessed, as a masseuse treated her feet with a pumice stone.
"They were made for building character!" Sam said through gritted teeth.
A different masseuse began treating Sam's feet with a pumice stone, but was beginning to grow frustrated at her lack of progress. "Marco!" she called. "Bring out the heavy duty tools!"
From behind a curtain emerged Marco, a mountain of a man wielding a device that resembled a belt sander. He revved the device up, frightening Sam.
"That thing's supposed to be used on my feet?!" Sam asked.
"Oh, you sat through Chainsaw Children 5," Paulina informed, "this should be nothing to you."
"You saw Chainsaw Children 5?" one of Sam's masseuses eagerly asked. "How was it?"
"Eh," Sam remarked, indifferent, "it's better than 4."
"That's not exactly a vote of confidence," the masseuse reacted.
An hour later, Sam and Paulina left Josefina's, both with a sense of relief. "How was that?" Paulina asked Sam. "Bet you never had a foot and hand treatment like that before, huh?"
"I feel like I'm walking on pillows," Sam said, dreamy eyed.
"And I love what they did with your nails," Paulina complimented.
Sam checked out her nails again, painted a glossy black. "I gotta say," she said, "I didn't expect them to use just the right shade of black."
"It's what Josefina calls 'Manicurist's Intuition,'" Paulina said. "And the 'right shade'? I always though black just came in... well, black."
"There are as many shades of black," Sam said, "as there are seconds in the night."
"Ooh, that's deep," Paulina complimented.
"It's something I picked up from a goth poetry book," Sam said.
"So, what's next?" Paulina asked.
"Hmm," Sam pondered, "where can two affluent teens such as ourselves go where there's fun to be had..."
"Where it'd be hard for the two of us to be seen and recognized..." Paulina co-pondered.
"And can potentially last us most of the day?" Sam finished.
The two thought for a few moments when inspiration struck them both. "Carnival!" they both said to each other before running off to its general direction.
Amity Park's carnival wasn't so much a traditional traveling carnival, and acted more as a fixture to the city. It could be considered an amusement park all its own if its attractions weren't so modest. Still, they provided enjoyment to its paying customers.
As fun-seekers, Sam and Paulina were no different. Their first ride of the day took them on a roller coaster, on of the carnival's most popular attractions. The two teens' hearts raced as the train reached the peak of the first hill. Paulina held on tightly to the lap bar, while Sam raised her hands in the air as the train began its first drop.
As the two screamed in delight from the ride's sudden drops and banking turns, Sam thought it'd be fun to tickle Paulina. Just to get her to let go of the lap bar and experience a "proper" thrill ride. When the ride got just a bit more calm, Sam attacked Paulina's ribs. Paulina couldn't help but giggle as she fought off Sam's tickle barrage, but her laughter quickly became a scream of terror as the train made its next steep drop. Her arms flailed as she tried to get them back onto the lap bar or the front of the cart with whatever could constitute as a grip.
Some time after riding the roller coaster, Sam and Paulina found themselves riding the bumper cars. Maybe it was their rivalry from before or their budding camaraderie, but neither couldn't help but smile whenever they collided into one another. Before long, the two were crashing into each other almost exclusively, smiling and laughing with each bump they took.
Some time later, the two girls were wandering the fairgrounds, having exhausted most of the rides. Paulina's eyes suddenly lit up as she saw in the distance a photo booth. She grabbed Sam by the arm and dragged her into the photo booth before she could realize what was happening. From the outside, one could see four flashes emerge from the curtain. After the fourth flash, Paulina had dashed out, hyperventilating just a short distance from the photo booth with Sam laughing at her expense. Two photo strips were spat out of a slot next to the photo booth's entryway, one for each of girl.
The girls looked at the strips and both smiled. The first photo was simply Paulina smiling, with Sam still looking confused as to what was happening. The second photo was a simpler, more innocent photo, of the two girls simply smiling into the camera, Paulina's arm around Sam. The third photo was on the goofier side, as both girls struck some sort of fashion model pose. Paulina looked naturally fabulous with the sexy pout, while Sam, knowing nothing about posing, looked especially awkward with only a simple smile to try to compliment her pose. The final photo very easily explained Paulina's quick exit. Sam appeared to be scaring Paulina by making a frightening face that included sticking her tongue out and turning her eyelids inside out, complete with an "I'm gonna getcha" like motion. The camera went off at just the right moment to catch Paulina shrieking.
Paulina was visibly annoyed by the picture. She wasn't used to photos of her taken at her worst. Sam then suddenly put her arm around Paulina, laughing at the photos they took. For some strange reason, she didn't mind the last photo anymore. Like just being around Sam's enjoyment of the picture made her enjoy it just as much. She put her arm around Sam and smiled with her.
The sun setting over Amity Park, and as the sky was just about to turn from orange to black, Sam and Paulina had made it to the latter's house.
"So," Paulina began, "that was some day, huh?"
"Yeah, it's been quite the adventure," Sam said. "I always thought spending this much of the day with you would end with me throwing you into a bus."
Paulina added, matching Sam's dry and dark humor, "And I would've thought I'd have clawed your eyes out with my perfectly manicured nails."
"You can imagine yourself doing that," Sam queried, "but you can't stomach Chainsaw Children?"
"Let a girl joke, Sam!" Paulina said, playfully shoving Sam.
Sam took a seat on the first step of Paulina's porch. She could've left, but she felt like making the day last just a bit longer. "You know," Sam said, as Paulina sat down with her, "I could have just as easily had a day like this with Danny and Tucker, but something about this day was a lot more special. Is this really what having a girl friend is like?"
"I guess you haven't really had many, huh?" Paulina asked.
"Try none," Sam said. "I was never into all that girly stuff, so I just avoided other girls and they avoided me. I'm just thankful Danny and Tucker found me interesting enough to want to hang around me. I'd probably just be lonely and miserable." Sam quickly took account of what she just said and added, "But like, even more so than goth standards."
"You know, Sam," Paulina said, "I think I know what you mean about this day. I hung out with girls like Star and Valerie and everything, if only because we were in the same social circle."
"'You must be this cool to be seen with me,'" Sam said, impersonating a ride height marker with a level hand just above her shoulder.
"Something like that," Paulina chuckled. She then rather glumly added, "I honestly can't remember the last time I hung out with someone because I actually wanted them around. Like, as a friend or something, you know?"
"It's really that lonely at the top, huh?" Sam said.
"I wouldn't say it's lonely," Paulina said. "I've hung out with a lot of people, but you're the only person I can think of that's not hanging out with me to make yourself look cooler. And I really appreciate that, Sam."
Sam was genuinely touched. She put a hand on Paulina's shoulder and told her, "Well, it helps when you don't care what other people think about you." She got up from the step and said, "I better get home. I really gotta get started on this English paper."
"Yeah, me too," Paulina said. "I guess I'll see you Monday?"
"Yeah, you bet," Sam said, as she walked away.
Sam was just about to turn a corner when she heard Paulina call out, "Hey, Sam!" She spun her head back quickly, almost enough to give her whiplash. She seemed a lot more excited than she ought to be. Was this the apology she was waiting for?
There was a brief silence between the two before Paulina finally said, "Thanks for today."
Sam didn't make her disappointment known. She simply responded, "Yeah, right back at'cha." And with that, she disappeared around the corner.
Paulina smiled as she watched Sam leave. She really felt happy having another girl to be around, and found Sam far more interesting than she thought. She had wished her farewell was stronger, like she had something she really wanted to say.
"Well, well, well," a familiar voice came from behind Paulina. She turned around spotting a figure in a beige raincoat, beige fedora, and dark glasses. In one swift motion, the figure threw them all off to reveal...
"Star?!" Paulina gasped. She noticed Star's latest fashion accessory and asked, "Wait, when did you start wearing knit caps?"
"That's not the point," Star dismissed. "The point is you were getting awfully close with Sam Manson of all people. When did that happen, hmm?"
"Were you-" Paulina stammered. "Were you following us?!"
"Actually, I was following you," Star said, pulling out her phone. "Funny how you mentioned the both of you. Speaking of both of you..."
Star showed her phone to Paulina, scrolling through photos of Sam hanging out with the latter. Exiting the movie theater, checking out their nails outside of Josefina's, standing arm and arm outside the carnival's photo booth. Everything they did that day was there. Paulina's heart stopped.
"Look," Paulina defended, "I can hang out with whoever I want!"
"Oh, please!" Star guffawed. "You chose hang with her? Let me tell you something about 'hanging'. The jocks hang with the jocks, the band geeks hang with the band geeks, and the losers hang out with the losers. Are you a loser, Paulina?"
Paulina continued stammering, finally settling for, "It doesn't mean anything!"
"Oh really?" Star questioned. "Then I guess you won't mind if I post this all over the internet then?"
Paulina suddenly found herself trying to snatch Star's phone, but Star moved the phone out of her reach, fully anticipating the move. Star knew right then that she had Paulina exactly where she wanted her.
"I can understand why you really want to stay on top of the school's social pyramid," Star said. "It's a loooong way to the bottom. And I'd really hate to see you take that fall, since our friendship is so important to me."
"You're certainly not acting like a friend right now," Paulina said, growing angry.
"I've always acted like your friend!" Star shouted, startling Paulina with her unhinged volume. "How do you think I was able to take your spot while you were away?!" Star took a deep breath and, almost eerily, calmed down. "My point is, if you want to stay on top, I think you should start acting more like my friend."
Paulina stood her ground, but Star's crazed personality was making her feel uneasy. "Those pictures won't change anything," Paulina meekly said.
"Oh, please!" Star said, calling Paulina's bluff. "I know this school inside and out. If everyone knows you and Sam Manson hung out, they'd think you were just as much a freak as she is."
That thought stung Paulina to her core. She heard what the people at the mall had thought of her when she exposed her powers. The last thing Paulina needed digging into her mind was everyone thinking she was a freak while she still passed as human.
"You seem conflicted," Star noticed. "I'll tell you what: because I value our friendship so much, I'll give you until Monday to decide what you're gonna do. But once that first bell rings, I'll make sure you and Manson go viral." She then wrapped her arm around Paulina and pulled her close, then held up her phone in a position for a selfie.
"Beanie Buddies forever!" Star said, disturbingly cheerful as she snapped the photo. As she turned and left in the opposite direction of Sam, she told Paulina, still struggling with her conflict, "See you Monday."
Author's commentary: I had a lot of ideas for a chapter like this. The movies was originally a part of my girls' night, which originally didn't have an outburst from Paulina but made Sam far too antagonistic. The movie was originally gonna be some kind of Twilight parody, back when mocking Twilight was relevant. I feel I had to really cheat at the carnival. They showed up in several episodes, (13, Flirting With Disaster), so I thought I'd make it a regular place and not a traveling thing. In Flirting With Disaster, it was even fenced in, which suggested a permanent fixture to me. Honestly, I just really wanted to write a montage of the girls having fun, and it was easier if it all happened in one place.