Chapter Twenty-One: Absent Heartbeat

"Okay class," Mr. Lancer threateningly leaned in towards the blank faces of adolescence. "I expect you all to be well-behaved today for our guest speakers from the hospital to talk about the importance of the medical field. So Fenton, Weston, no shenanigans! Now, would you all please be respectful for Ms. Bridgett and Mrs. Foley."

In the back of the class Dash snorted, "Is that your Mommy, Shmoley."

"Fuck off, Dash," Tucker hissed, quiet enough so that his mother didn't hear him.

Angela Foley stood at a podium in front of the classroom, and sported a cancerous smile at the dead teenagers staring back at her. "Thank you, Mr. Lancer. Now, today, we'll be talking to you bright young students about what it's like being a medical worker, and will hopefully help some of you decide if it's what you want to pursue as a career. Yes, you're only Sophomores, but it's never too young to be thinking about the future..."

Wes groaned from his seat behind Danny, "Ugh, this is so pointless."

Danny heard this and rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Weston. This is actually important to some people."

Wes snorted, "Like you care so much about it."

"Well," Danny whispered, "I'm not bashing on other people's jobs, like you are. Medical workers are a huge part of society because everyone gets hurt at some point."

Wes smirked, and leaned right next to Danny's ear, "Well," he said in a tone, rivaling Danny's, "maybe less people would need medical attention if you did your job right."

Wes felt an adequate sense of satisfaction when he saw the faint glow of green reflect off of the surface of Danny's desk.

Time in class seemed to pass more slowly than usual, much to everyone's (especially Tucker's) dismay. About half an hour in, Ms. Bridgett, the other guest speaker, suggested a group activity to excite the less-than-alive (cough – Danny – cough) students. So they started with the simplest and one of the most vital skills important to know: how to find a pulse.

Wes scoffed, "This is a waste of time. Everyone knows how to find a pulse, therefore, there's absolutely no purpose to this."

Mrs. Foley heard him, and singled him out, "If that's how you feel..."

"Wes."

"If that's how you feel, Wes, then you can be the first person to demonstrate how to find a pulse. Now, would anyone be willing to volunteer to have their pulse found?"

An idea struck Danny, an idea that would wipe that stupid smug look off of Wes's idiotic, gloating face. Danny adopted a shit-eating expression, and was quick to raise his hand, "I'll do it, Mrs. Foley."

"Now Daniel," Mr. Lancer said experimentally, "you better not-"

"Thank you, Danny," Mrs. Foley said, without paying attention to Mr. Lancer. "You've always been one to step up to the plate when it comes to participation."

At those words, most of the class silently laughed at the irony considering Danny's usual lack for any participation.

"Now just hold your arm out for Wes... Wes, you'll find his pulse by applying pressure to his radial artery, which is here on his wrist. You always use your index and middle fingers, never your thumb."

"I know," Wes retorted sharply, following her instructions. He placed his fingers on Danny's wrist, before quickly readjusting them. And then readjusting again, and again, and again. No matter where he placed his fingers, he couldn't find any pulse. Wait, of course – since Danny was half-ghost, he could possibly have manipulation of his own heartbeat, stopping it to make Wes look like a complete fool. Wes growled in frustration. That son of a bitch!

Mrs. Foley was smirking, "Is there a problem Wes? Are you having a hard time locating the artery?"

Wes ignored her, and looked Danny straight in the eye, "I know what you're doing, you dead freak."

"Mr. Weston!" interjected Mr. Lancer.

"He's making me look stupid on purpose!" Wes tried to explain to the class. "He's stopping his own heartbeat!"

Mrs. Foley and Ms. Bridgett shared twin looks of bewilderment.

"Did you just say Danny's stopping his own heartbeat?" Mrs. Foley questioned.

"Yes, I did!" Wes fumed, "And it's because he is a freaking ghost!"

"MR. WESTON!" Lancer tried again.

"Excuse me?" questioned Mrs. Foley. "A ghost? Danny," she turned to the boy, "let me check your pulse."

Danny, who was quietly watching the exchange with eager eyes like the rest of the class, "Sure, Mrs. Foley."

He held his arm out, and within seconds Mrs. Foley was able to locate the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. She chuckled, "No ghost here, just a sleep-deprived, alive teenager. Though, your bpm is a little slow."

"But – but," Wes choked, "that doesn't prove anything! He can turn his heartbeat on and off, so-"

"Weston," Mr. Lancer snapped, "drop it! I'd like you to go wait outside in the hallway until the end of the period, and then we can talk after class."

"That's not fair-"

"WES!"

"Okay, sheesh, fine." Wes cautiously grabbed his belongings and exited the classroom. After that, the rest of the period went without incident, and Mrs. Foley and Ms. Bridgett were able to continue their presentation in peace.

At the end of class, Danny approached Mrs. Foley, looking slightly guilty. "Uh, Mrs. Foley?"

"Yeah, Danny," she said in a somewhat friendly tone, "what is it?"
"Well..." he started, "I was hoping that you wouldn't mention any of this to my parents? I mean, Wes is kind of a special case."

She looked confused for a moment, before realizing what Danny was talking about, "You mean about that boy thinking you're a ghost?"

Danny nodded, "Yeah."

Mrs. Foley laughed, "I get it, with parents like yours, I wouldn't want them to know anything about being associated with ghosts."

"Tell me about it," he said. "Anyway, thanks. Oh, and your presentation was really good today."

She smiled, "Well, it was interesting to say the least."

"Seriously, dude," Tucker said, "how long did you spend talking to my Mom?"

Danny shrugged, "I was just making sure she wouldn't tell my parents about Wes's latest 'episode'."

Tucker snorted, "Something tells me that if your parents haven't noticed your secret at this point, whatever Wes Weston says isn't going to change anything."

"I guess," Danny nodded in agreement.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were all standing in the same direction, so none of them noticed when a vengeful Wes crept behind Danny and forcefully grabbed his hair. Since Danny was in a school environment, he had to push down his normal reflexes to maintain his weakling act. He couldn't see who was behind him, but he pretended to struggle a little bit against his perpetrator's grasp, and before he could really do anything else, Wes let go of Danny. Danny turned around (and tripped a little, because he's 'weak') and came face to face with Wes.

"Wha-"

He felt the back of his hair where Wes had grabbed him, and recoiled instantly when he felt something slimy and gooey stuck in his hair. It only took him a few seconds to realize that the gross substance sticky to his hair was gum.

"What the fuck was that for?" Tucker barked. Sam seethed with anger, presumably too enraged to engage in her usual ranting.

Wes only wore a mask of revenge. "What's the problem, Phantom, can't you just phase it out?"

The squabble in the hallway had brought too much attention to them, because while even though Casper High was accustomed to Wes's screaming assaults, it wasn't often you saw him physically target Danny. This was... different. Everyone could see the gum in Danny's hair, and it was really stuck in there. The only way Danny could get it out would be a very careful haircut, unless he used his powers. And Wes was going to use that to his advantage. If the gum disappeared from Danny's hair without a haircut, that would have to mean that he had phased it out. It would ensure Wes's evidence.

At the moment, only about fifteen people were still in that area of the hallway, but all of them could see that Danny Fenton's hair was ultimately ruined.

"That was a little... extreme, Wes," a timid girl said.

He turned to her, confused. "Why?" Wes asked. "He can just phase it out of his hair-"

"Just drop it already dude," another guy said. "You're starting to be a real asshole."

"Oh I am?" Wes defended. "Sure, I'm not the one making me look crazy, it's all Danny!"

"Last time I checked," someone else chimed in, "you're the only person making yourself look crazy, Wes."

Wes swallowed a small cry of frustration. "Whatever!" he declared. "You'll all see. He'll phase the gum out of his hair, and it'll be obvious! You all see!"

At that moment, Danny's ghost sense went off. Everybody's focus was more on Wes than him, and those who still saw him wouldn't blame him for running away, so Danny took the opportunity to get out of sight. He slipped into a janitor's closet and subsequently transformed, flying through the roof as quick as possible. Danny anxiously looked around, wanting to get the fight resolved soon so he could get to his next class on time.

"Hey Phantom," a familiar voice called, followed by the rev of a monstrous motor. "I was getting kind of bored in the Zone so I thought I'd blow off a little steam, you get what I mean?"

Johnny's bike tore across the power-lines and landed perfectly on top of the school's roof. Shadow lingered behind him, ominously staying close to his master. Danny accessed the situation and decided that a fight with Johnny could be resolved fairly easily if Shadow was taken out of commission, so that would be his main priority.

"Why?" Danny taunted, "Did Kitty run off and cheat on you, again?"

Johnny, however, didn't take the bait. Instead, the biker ghost grinned in defiance. "Nah, if anything her clinginess is what's driving me up the wall." At those words, he threw out his arm, "Shadow! Attack!"

The shade left Johnny and shot towards Danny, who readily threw up a shield to deflect the weak attack. Then, in a clever counter, Danny purposely let go of the shield, and grabbed onto Shadow's vague shoulders, and pulled him down into the school building intangibly and invisibly. Danny held onto the shrieking Shadow as he forced his opponent into an empty health classroom. He then hit Shadow back with an ectoblast, to buy him a few seconds, and quickly plugged in a spare projector. Since nothing was in the projector, it created a beam of bright, concentrated light, which Danny then pointed at Shadow.

Shadow screamed and was forced into a weaker form as the light tore him apart. He retreated from Danny, and tried to fly up to the roof again, but Danny was faster. He grabbed his thermos and captured Shadow, before returning to the roof to deal with Johnny. But Johnny wasn't where he'd been before.

When Danny phased back up, he had to look around to find him, until his flying motorcycle appeared out of nowhere and almost ran Danny over. Danny didn't have any time to react, so he had to split his body in half to avoid being hit. Johnny cursed in frustration that his plan didn't work and Danny grinned, shooting an ectobast at one of the bike's tires.

"Did you really think that would work?" Danny asked. "I mean, how hard is it to dodge a bike? Admit it Johnny, you're getting a little uncreative."

"Oh yeah?" Johnny said. "What about this, then?" He clicked a button on the bike's handle, and the tires doubled in size and grew spikes. The base of the bike also glowed dark green and hummed with ectoplasmic fire.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Danny deadpanned.

Johnny looked offended. "Uhh, yes?"

"I've seen little girls with scarier bikes," he crossed his arms.

"You – you take that back!" Johnny protested. "My bike is scary as hell!"

"Well, prove it," Danny challenged. He knew when Johnny's ego got insulted he started making more irrational decisions.

The two began to fight again, and thanks to Johnny's bike, they took their battle all around Casper High's campus, effectively making Danny late for class. Finally, Danny managed to blow out all of the monster tires on the bike, leaving Johnny to rely on his powers to fight Danny. He couldn't even make an escape without his bike, so he was stuck. However, when he got closer to Danny for hand-to-hand combat, the biker ghost noticed something.

"Yo, Phantom," Johnny said, laughing as he dodged Danny's violent kick, "is that gum in your hair?"

Danny sighed, throwing another ectoblast, "Some asshole in school thought it'd be funny."

Johnny's laughing died down. "Really? Who?"

Danny didn't really notice the angry expression on Johnny's face, but he attested it to the fact that the two of them were currently in a fight.

"Just a kid, why do you care?"

"I don't," Johnny found himself saying. Even though he fought with Phantom a lot, he respected the dude, and didn't think it was cool that he was bullied in his human form. The guy was half-dead and already had to fight ghosts all day – he didn't need shit from human bullies either. He was better than that, especially since Phantom was tough enough to defend himself.

Johnny didn't realize it, but by the end of that fight, when Phantom had sucked him into his cramped thermos with Shadow, he'd made a decision. A decision that would definitely benefit the ghost-kid.

"Kitty, you know how Phantom has human bullies? One of them apparently put gum in his hair today."

"Hmm?" Kitty asked, wondering where Johnny was going with this. The two of them, well technically three counting that bad luck thing, were hanging around Kitty's lair.

"It's not really fair," Johnny elaborated. "Phantom's strong, he doesn't deserve to be their scrapegoat. Strong guys like him shouldn't be prey to ego-inflated humans. I think I wanna get some payback on the dude doing shit to him."

"What d'you mean 'payback'? And I thought you didn't like Phantom," she added.

"Nah, he's okay, I guess," Johnny shrugged. "He's one of the only other ghosts our age. And he's cool to fight. But I don't really hate the guy."

"Guess that makes sense," Kitty shrugs. "So what are you gonna do to the dude's bullies?"

"I think I'm just gonna set Shadow on them for a while, make their lives miserable with bad luck. He never told me who it was, but I'm guessing it's that tall blonde meat-head."

"Actually," Kitty thought, "it may not be. The blonde one usually goes for more physical beatings, I know cause I had to be his friend that time I overshadowed that one girl."

"Who could it be then?" Johnny wondered.

Kitty suddenly looked like she remembered something important. "It's probably that other boy, Wes or something. Y'know, red-head, annoying? The one that also knows Phantom's secret identity."

Johnny frowned, "Really? How do you know about all that?"

Kitty scoffed, "Um, have you been keeping up with the halfa gossip lately?" she put her hands on her hips. "Plasmius told me all of the deets at our Christmas party. Honestly I only invited him out of courtesy, but when he's drinking, he has a lot of cool stories to tell to basically anyone standing around. I guess you didn't notice 'cause you were getting handsy with that Aztec girl-"

Johnny looked like he'd been slapped. "Babe, I've told you, it wasn't like-"

"I know, whatever," she crossed her arms defensively.

"Whatever you say," Johnny grabbed Kitty's hands. "I promise. You're the best, princess."

"I know," Kitty said. "You are too, Johnny."

The two of them kissed, and Johnny didn't forget his plan to target that Wes kid. Phantom deserved it, after all.

Edit 7/29/2018: I had to rewrite major parts of this chapter, and it got so long I had to separate it into two parts, so that's this chapter and the next one.