Chapter Three: Fate Hates Danny

Wes felt like his entire world view was flipped upside down. All of a sudden it was like Australia was in the Northern Hemisphere and the North Pole was now the South Pole (scientifically speaking, the North Pole is the South Pole, but whatever). Wes's mind was filled with endless amounts of questions that he didn't know where to begin answering. How the actual fuck could a human be a ghost? How would it even work? How could someone be alive and dead at the same time? (Schrödinger's cat, Wes's brain reminded him. But it's only a theory, so it won't help you here.)

Even though it made absolutely no sense from a scientific stand point, it made a bunch of other things make sense. It filled in all the gaps in the mystery of Danny Fenton. Danny Fenton looked like Danny Phantom because the two are the same person. Wes had came to the conclusion that Tucker probably knew Phantom, and since he and Danny are friends, he probably knows Danny's secret. It explained his frequent absence in class: Danny Phantom was seen fighting ghosts all over town through different parts of the day. It also kind of explained Justin's story about him leading a rescue mission on a ghost pirate ship. And since he fights ghosts all the time, it would make sense why he was constantly on edge. Wes supposed fighting spectral threats all the time gave you paranoia.

What Wes couldn't understand is why Danny would want to keep all of this a secret. He could be actually famous, popular. After all, everybody loved Danny Phantom; he was the town's hero. So why didn't he tell everyone who he was? Wes knew one thing for sure: now that he knew, he had to tell everybody. Once everybody found out that Fenton was Phantom, they would leave him alone, for good.

"I think I figured out why Fenton is so weird," Wes mentioned to Justin as they walked to the former's house after basketball practice.

"Does it also explain why you believe he looks like Phantom's twin?" Justin raised an eyebrow. "To be honest, I don't really see it."

"That's the thing Justin. It may sound crazy, but I know that Fenton is actually Phantom."

Justin backtracked, "Huh?"

"Danny Fenton," Wes said slowly, "is Danny Phantom."

"Sure..." Justin said. "And Dash is Trump. Actually... they're both sexist, obsessed with size, and have horrible hair... I might be on to something."

"Justin, listen to me for a second. I'm actually serious!"

Justin scoffed, "You're telling me, you believe that loser Danny Fenton, the son of Amity Park's most well-known ghost hunters, is the town's ghost-fighting hero?"

"Yeah. I mean, once you think about it, it actually makes sense," Wes said.

"I think you're just fucking with me and trying to see how gullible I am. I mean, this wouldn't be the first time. I'm still mad at you for that time last year when you convinced me that Mr. Lancer was transgender."

Wes gaped at him, "What was I supposed to think?! There is a picture on his fucking desk of him wearing a dress! Then there was that one time where he came out of the girl's bathroom-"

"Wes, that picture is of his sister. Believe me, I asked him," Justin said grimly.

"That picture is of him in a dress! You're just too thick-headed to see it! Just like you're too thick-headed to see that Danny fucking Fenton is actually Phantom!"

"Okay, just for a second, let's say that he is. Now explain to me how he would able to be both Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom at once. In Phantom's Phan Club, we've read all kinds of different texts on ghosts. All of them support the fact that humans can't have ghost powers."

Wes met eye contact with Justin, "But do you really believe that's true? What about that time at North Mercy Hospital?"

"Wes," Justin said, "I can't believe I'm arguing with you about this. We were told that everything we think happened at North Mercy Hospital was the result of the sickness we all contracted and drugs.

"Yeah, and that totally doesn't sound like a cover-up," Wes rolled his eyes.

Justin sighed, "Look dude, I know you're having a hard time with everyone calling you Phantom, but you're starting to scare me. Sure, you've always been the conspiracy theorists, but this is an honest to God delusion. I think you might need to see the counselor."

Wes grimaced, "I don't talk to shrinks. Besides, I'm in my right mind. It's you that refuses to see the truth."

"Wes..."

"Wes what? You think I'm crazy?"

"No, it's just, I think you're inventing things to distract yourself from everyone calling you Phantom."

"Am I inventing the way that Danny Fenton runs off whenever a ghost is around? Explain that."

"He's from a family of ghost hunters. The poor kid's probably scared of them."

"So now he's 'poor kid'? He hasn't done anything to be a 'poor kid'. All of this is his fault."

Deciding that he didn't want to spend anymore time around Justin, Wes took off in the opposite direction towards his apartment. I'll make him see soon enough, Wes resolved. I'll make everyone see. Wes continued towards his apartment, oblivious to the world around him. He thought about what Justin had said, 'In Phantom's Phan Club, we've read all kinds of different texts on ghosts. All of them support the fact that humans can't have ghost powers.' So how was it possible that Fenton could be Phantom? Wes was more determined than ever to find out. As he walked, a theory came to life in his mind. He figured that humans can't have ghost powers, but maybe Danny isn't a human. Maybe he's just a ghost masquerading as a human. That lead to the question... has Danny always been a ghost?

Wes remembered that at one point, Danny had been in his Kindergarten class. Once, Danny had brought in a few of his parents' ghost inventions for show and tell. Wes had felt one-upped after everyone's attention had left his Michael Jordan action figure and marveled over Danny's ghost whatchamacallit. Had Danny been a ghost then? Or did Danny die sometime along the way, and was still pretending to be alive? Was Danny even Danny? Maybe, a ghost killed the real Danny and took his place, and transformed into Phantom when he needed to. No, Wes told himself, that can't be right. Tucker and that Manson girl clearly know his secret. If they knew that it wasn't really Danny, they wouldn't be hanging around him. And he can't be threatening them... the three of them are literally connected at the hips. Their friendship is too real for him to be threatening them. Therefore, they're keeping the secret of their own choice.

Wes finally reached his apartment. Once he was inside the confines of his own room, he would set to work in proving that Fenton was Phantom... Wes pulled open the door only to be faced with his father... just great.

"Wes, did you get the mail?" Walter asked. "I'm expecting an invitation from Vlad."

"No, I didn't get the mail. I have... homework to do."

Walter ran a hand through his hair, "It can wait. Go get the mail."

"Why don't you do it?" Wes said. "Who knows, you might find a life in one of those letters."

"I have a life, thank you very much. The two of us are going to a dinner party at Vlad's mansion this weekend." Walter paused, remembering why he was telling this to Wes, "Go get the mail."

"What are those things growing out of your ass? Do it yourself." Wes remarked snidely.

"Excuse me, young man, where is your respect?"

"Mom has it," Wes called, as he brushed pass his father and into his room. He hadn't meant to be exclusively rude to his Dad... it's just, Wes was too focused on this. That, and he was not looking forward to any party that included Vlad Masters in it. He'd have to find a way out of it before the weekend (it was only Tuesday after all). Wes opened his laptop, hardly thinking at all before he typed the words 'Danny Phantom' into the browser.

Danny really wanted to kill Spectra – but seeing as she was already dead, that would defeat the purpose. He arrived at school on Friday thirty minutes late with almost two hours of sleep. All he wanted was to just sink into the background and maybe sleep a little during classes when nobody was looking. But fate, using the mouth of Wes Weston, decided to fuck with him. Honestly, Danny should have been a little more worried that Wes was spilling his secret he fought so hard to protect, but at this point he was so tired he hardly even cared.

It had started in between second and third period. Danny had been on his way to his locker, ready to just phase his hand through and pray nobody looked in his direction when he saw Wes marching up to the A-Listers with a notebook. What took Danny aback was that Wes looked as nearly sleep deprived as himself. Despite having been halfway across the noisy hallway, Danny was able to hear every word Wes was saying with his enhanced hearing.

"I've found out Danny Phantom's secret!" Wes said excitedly.

Danny rolled his eyes. Sure he did. He was probably planning on making a move on Paulina; everyone knew the best way to get her attention was to start talking about Phantom. There were some moments Danny was willing to take advantage of that, but decided against it so he wouldn't risk his secret. Besides, Sam would kill him... again.

"You mean, your secret, Phantom?" Dash threw at Wes.

"No," Wes said quickly. "The actual Danny Phantom. Or should I say Danny Fenton. Believe it or not, I've figured out that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom."

Fuck. Danny hadn't been expecting that. How the hell did he figure it out? When did he figure it out? Ever since Jazz found out, he's been especially careful of making sure he was completely out of sight when he transformed. And now... what was gonna-

"Buhahahaha!" Dash cackled. "You don't- mean- that- that- literally? Do you?"

Thank God. Danny thought. Still as ignorant as ever. That means I can go back to being half-asleep. My heart rate almost went up to a normal heart beat for once.

"Yeah," Wes said. "I do mean it literally. Once you look at it all, it makes sense."

"You think that Fenton's dead?" Star asked. Danny felt her eyes move her way over to where he was standing. "Doesn't look dead, moron."

"That's because his human form is a disguise. Or maybe he's some kind of hybrid. I haven't figured that part out yet."

How much has he figured out? Danny wondered.

"And... why does this make sense to you? If I'm not mistaken, this is just another ploy for you to divert attention away from yourself," Dash said. "I may not be the smartest, but I won't believe anything."

"But this is true! Danny Fenton can turn into Danny Phantom. It's the reason he always cuts class: to fight ghosts!"

"Fenton can't even fight a human. How the hell would he be able to fight ghosts?"

"But he can fight! Remember the whole pirate ship thing last year?" Wes reasoned.

"How do you know about that?" Dash snarled. "You weren't even there, dipshit. If you were, you would happen to know that Fenton was thrown off the ship by a bunch of ghosts, then saved by Phantom."

"Wes, just shut the hell up right now," Paulina said. "It's like goth-girl said in the cafeteria the other day. Humans can't be ghosts."

"If Fenton is Phantom, and Manson knew about it, of course she would say that. She's covering for him!"

"It's scie- scientaef- scientific fact, moron!" Kwan said.

Danny internally groaned. He had heard enough of this. He turned away from his locker and slowly started approaching the group of A-Listers that had ganged up on Wes. "Did I hear my name?"

"Fentonia!" Dash said. "This crackhead thinks you're a ghost."

Danny scrunched up his face in confusion, "A ghost? I'm sorry dude, but have you met my parents? I think they'd ground me if I was a ghost."

"Y- you- you-" Wes stuttered.

"Besides, you're not cool enough to be my one true love..." Paulina said dreamily. Well, that stung.

"Speaking of not being cool enough..." Dash grabbed Danny's shirt. "I'm pretty sure we missed this morning's wailing. Here, I'll prove to Weston that you're too puny to be the ghost-boy."

Danny sighed. Fate really did hate him.

I have state testing tomorrow, but instead I'm posting this at midnight... Oh well. Technically I am studying for English.