Chapter Twenty-Nine: Muddled Motives

It took about two weeks for people to realize that there was something... different about Wes. Well, different as in he hadn't had any outbursts about Fenton lately – could that mean that he was finally over his obsession? Or was this radio silence a sign that he had another grand scheme up his sleeve? Sure, it's not like anyone cared about Wes... but usually he was predictable. He stuck to his schedule of thinking about Fenton, following Fenton, and talking about Fenton to anyone who'd listen – approximately no one. But now? Who knew what he was brewing? If he hadn't lost interest in Fenton, it was only a matter of time before he set his next plan into action. And Wes shenanigans were never good for anyone.

Of course, there were the odd few who were looking forward to Wes's next plan and were counting on the chaos. They were outliers though. Anybody who wanted to survive high school with minimal damage, which was a difficult task with constant ghost attacks, prayed that Wes had given up his pursuit of Fenton.

Some cautious students, others suspicious, turned to the only person who Wes still had a meaningful social connection with: Justin. That connection was frayed and thin, but it was their best shot.

Mikey and his gang cornered him first. They approached him before basketball practice and interrogated him.

"For everyone's benefit," Mikey started, "you have to tell us what he's up to. You're the only person who would know."

Justin blinked. "Wes? I don't know dude. We haven't really hung out in a few weeks – ever since his Fenton obsession, he's been drifting further and further away. Can't really complain, he's... made it difficult to tolerate him. Even though we used to be close, he's made it clear he'd rather be doing other things."

"So you're not friends anymore?" Lester clarified.

"I mean, I wouldn't say that," Justin corrected. "Wes is just... complicated. Neither of us really know where we stand right now, I guess."

"Well, you've heard the rumors, right?" Mikey asked. "That he's either planning something big or he's quitting this entire thing, for good?"

Justin raised a brow, "Really? Wes could be quitting this?"

"That's the general speculation," Nathan shrugged. "Then all this chaos would be over and we can all return to our studies when we're not running for our lives."

Justin scoffed, "You guys are such nerds. But yeah, if Wes finally calmed down... it'd be good to have him back. At first, all this was funny, like a joke... but then when he started getting more and more serious I just stepped back. Hell, I don't even think he noticed."

"If he hasn't noticed," Mikey suggested, "is he even worth keeping as a friend?"

Justin shrugged. "Everyone goes through stuff. I know Wes doesn't have the perfect home life with his Dad, this could just be how he's working through that. So if he stops this obsession, I'll be there for him."

"That's a good plan," Lester nodded. The nerds collectively decided to let Justin get ready for practice and walked away.

"Good luck," Nathan added. "You'll probably need it with Wes."

Mikey elbowed him, "Don't we all?"

Wes felt... oppressed. Ever since Ishiyama decided he wasn't allowed to 'bully' Danny anymore, he'd been laying low – keeping his mouth shut. He felt like he was being watched – and not just by his dad's crazy half-ghost boss – but by everyone around him. Like the whole school knew something was different about him. Sure, he'd served four days of suspension, but nobody should be paying attention to him. Was he really that obvious? Were his Fenton-ramblings so easily missed? He thought everyone hated him and now it felt like everyone was just waiting for him to up his game, to pick off where he left off.

This wasn't... right.

He was probably just imagining things, he was sure he was imagining things. Wes's reputation was horrible; there's no way that anyone had noticed he'd stopped pursuing Fenton. But people were more on edge than usual around him. Hell, the only people who weren't on edge were Danny and his friends – who seemed painstaking oblivious. But they were actors – their normal behavior was a performance. They fought ghosts between classes, they couldn't afford to act out of the ordinary... which was their greatest strength. Which was why Wes couldn't prove anything.

But he wasn't supposed to think about that. At least in class, anyway. He didn't need another lecture about his 'confusion' from an authority figure – Ishiyama was ignorant, but he couldn't fight her. His permanent record was at stake here. He wasn't always a goody-two-shoes but he wasn't risking anything serious. He couldn't afford to let Walter get involved, because now Vlad could get involved too... his life was a mess.

Despite all that, Wes hadn't completely abstained from trying to reveal Danny. Wes was conceiving exposure plans on the down-low, but not in school – not where any faculty would know. As a result, Wes found more time to actually do his schoolwork between classes. He hadn't kept good grades in months, not since he realized the truth about Phantom. Wes supposed that was a good change, even though he'd rather be exposing Danny...

"Congratulations, Mr. Weston," Lancer groaned. "It appears your four days of suspension have proved beneficial." Lancer slapped a packet onto Wes's desk and moved onto the next student.

Wes didn't remember doing that much but work, but when he flipped through the papers, it was all worksheets that he'd completed in the past week. Wow. Did he really neglect that much schoolwork every week? No wonder he had a lot of zeroes... He looked through the packet and observed he hadn't gotten all As, but at least they were completed.

"–etting good grades too. Maybe it's a sign," someone whispered. A voice in Wes's head nagged at him to turn around, to see who'd spoken, but he repressed the urge. It was just paranoia. Nobody was watching him... nobody had a reason to. Right?

"–just weird..." another voice hissed, "–'m not complaining."

Stupid fucking paranoia making him think things. Now he was insecure for no reason and that sucked. Usually, he had reasons to be insecure but this was just ridiculous. At least he could dismiss reasons, but he couldn't rationally dismiss something that wasn't there.

Once class ended, Wes walked straight home and headed straight for his room. Well, he tried. Before he could hide in his bedroom for the rest of the night, his dad called him over. "Hey, Wes! There's something here for you!"

Oh God, was this another trick? Was his dad going to give him another lecture about taking down all his Phantom pictures? Wes had already refused twice! It wasn't fair – Wes had agreed that he wouldn't 'harass' Danny anymore but he should be able to decorate his room however he wanted. And if he wanted to use his room to pin up different pictures of his target, then that shouldn't be a problem.

Walter was home from work early – usually, he was still in his work clothes when Wes arrived, but his dad had already changed into a loose t-shirt and boxers. This indicated that Walter was probably in a good mood and wouldn't yell at him yet, but Wes was still suspicious.

"What?" Wes groaned. He shrugged off his backpack and tossed it toward the door.

"You got a package," Walter explained. He pointed with his foot toward a Fed Ex box on top of the coffee table.

Wes blinked. "A package?"

"Yeah," his Dad affirmed. "Something you ordered. Honestly, I don't really care what it is but since you used my credit card... you have to pay me back."

Wait, wait, wait. Something he ordered? "I didn't order anything," Wes gaped. "I don't remember doing that."

"Well, it says your name on the box," Walter deadpanned. "I checked my bank account and it said you bought something for forty bucks a few weeks ago. Pay me back and I don't care, got it?"

Wes shook his head. "That can't be right..." He pushed past his dad and examined the package and sure enough, it said his name on the box. Well, shit. He must've bought something during one of his sleep-deprived highs... Now he had fucking debt that he didn't know how to pay. Great going, Wes.

"I don't know how to make forty bucks," Wes admitted. "Can't you know... just let it slide?"

Walter narrowed his eyes. "I'd let it slide if you'd asked to borrow money in the first place, but seeing as you took my credit card..." he shrugged. "Pay me back. That's it."

He groaned. There was no arguing about money with Walter... it's the only thing he held precious besides Wes and Vlad. "Fine." He picked the package up from the table and carried it to his bedroom. Wes placed it on his bed and rummaged around his desk drawer to find a pair of scissors. The only pair he could find were polka-dotted safety scissors he'd used in fourth grade (he figured Walter confiscated his others, so he wouldn't cut out more Phantom pictures), but they'd have to work.

He turned the scissors upside down and used them to slice open the box. He didn't know what he was expecting – probably a bunch of t-shirts or something. Needless to say, he hadn't expected flowers.

They were individually wrapped in tissue paper, placed carefully beside each other so they wouldn't be crushed. It was a miracle that they hadn't been squished by going through the mail. Wes selected one of the flowers and observed it. It almost resembled a rose, but its color was a darker shade of red – sickly red. Additionally, its stem appeared back, but when he held it up to the light he realized that it was actually purple... weird.

Why was this familiar? He knew there was a reason he'd ordered these. They couldn't be a gift for Star – he doubted she'd appreciate these eccentric flowers. After all, Star's favorite flower was marigolds, like the one she wore in her hair... Nope, not for Star.

Wes looked back in the package, maybe there was some kind of clue... He moved some of the flowers and found a receipt. Yes! He scanned the receipt: ... total – $41.32... Enjoy your blood blossoms!

Blood blossoms. That's right... these are blood blossoms...

He remembered now, doing all that late-night research. Blood blossoms supposedly repelled ghosts and he'd wanted to test that theory. If they really did have ghost repelling properties, they'd be extremely useful! He could place them around his room and keep out any trespassers (namely Danny and Vlad)! That, and there were so many more options! If he could prove that blood blossoms repelled ghosts, then he could demonstrate Danny's aversion to them and expose him! First, he'd just have to develop a plan... and circumvent Ishiyama. Vlad wouldn't be fond of his plan either, so Wes had to hide these from Walter – but that was easy enough.

Wes smirked. This was already coming together. And maybe by the end of this, he'd have a way to repay his dad too...

"Why are you suddenly interested in working here," Valerie deadpanned. He'd applied to the Nasty Burger online last week and they'd finally called him in for an interview. They were sitting in the break room and she was keeping notes in a dark red notebook. He expected a manager or someone, not... her... but oh well. Valerie was one of the higher-ranked employees now since a lot of kids didn't last long working at the Nasty Burger. Especially with the frequent attacks.

He wasn't planning to work there long either. He just needed forty bucks and an opportunity to get close to Danny outside of school.

Wes shrugged. "I owe my dad some money and this is a close walk from school."

"Don't you have basketball after school?" she asked. "You're gonna lose a lot of your free time."

"Don't you hunt ghosts after school?" he pointed out.

She scowled and her eyes darkened. "This isn't about me, Weston. I'm here to hear about why you'd be a good griller."

"I've known how to cook since I was seven," Wes started. "Cooking comes naturally to me."

Valerie wrote something in her notebook and nodded. "And what makes you a better candidate than someone else who wants to work here?"

He shrugged. "I have a good work ethic," he offered.

"Have you had any previous jobs?" she asked.

"I had a lemonade stand in fifth grade," Wes remembered. "But not really."

Valerie sighed and set down her notebook. "Look, we usually just hire everyone applies. Those are pretty much the 'official' questions I have to ask," she drew finger quotes, "but tell me for real Wes, why are you doing this? Is it really for the extra cash? Or do you have another motive?"

"What motives would I have?" he asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes. "Playing dumb, then. I don't know why you've shifted your approach on revealing Danny, but I'm on to you. That said, you get the job." Wes exhaled in relief – his plan worked.

"My manager will contact you about your shifts later and have you sign these," Valerie handed him a pile of papers. "Just regular stuff. And well, there's a contract about ghost attack procedures. We had to implement that last year after some girl broke her arm and her parents sued us for allowing an 'unsafe environment'. Nasty Burger gets attacked as much as Casper High, so it's not your average minimum wage job."

He nodded, he knew that. Everyone who ate at the Nasty Burger knew that – but they had good food so no one minded. "Alright, cool."

"Now get out of here," Valerie gestured to the door. "I have to refill the soda machine before Dash complains again."

"Alright, Red," he smirked.

Her eyes flared. "Call me that again and I'll pour itching powder in your uniform, nutjob."

He held his hands up in surrender. "Fine then, Gray," he emphasized. He left the break room with a new-found zeal in his stride.