AN: Wow, I have something to say at the beginning of this! I'm trying to keep all of Season 4 labeled as such but there is a few stories that have already been posted that I have incorporated into Season 4's head canon. I try to make it so you don't have to read those, or that you don't have to read any of the episodes of season 4, to know what's going on but the stories are here to read. Good Neighbor takes place in this universe as well as So What Really Happened. As of writing this, I haven't gotten to where Good Neighbor actually takes precedence, though there is a hint of it in this story, but So What Really Happened gets mentioned a few times in later episodes.
Yes, I said episodes. As of writing this (which is not when I'm posting it, man I've got a back log of at least two years but a schedule is a schedule so Tuesdays it is) I have 3 finished, Episode 4 is still in the notebook and episode 5 is in the idea phase.
You're in it for the long haul now!
Learning A New Normal: Making New Friends and New Enemies
Chapter 1
Saturday June 10, 2006
Danny looked down from where he and his parents sat on the bleachers inside Casper's gymnasium. Murmuring of conversations around him filled the air as he glanced at the empty chairs awaiting the graduating class of 2006. He expected Jazz would have one of the seats on the stage, her speech already replaying itself in his head after she had been practicing it on himself and his parents since she found out she would be the valedictorian speaker.
One of the stage crew caught his attention, the teen wearing a shirt he had seen far too often now. The shirt showed himself as Phantom, holding the Earth above his head in a colored version of the statues. It had been a few months since the Disasteroid. A few months since he had gathered the ghosts of the world to turn Earth intangible. A few months since his secret got out, the thought drawing his eyes to his parents beside him.
"Jack, be careful," Maddie warned as the large man fumbled with a camera.
"Don't worry, Mads," Jack said in a large booming voice easily heard over the crowd around them. "We won't miss a moment of Jazzy-pants' speech with this baby."
Danny smiled as he looked back down at the stage hand still preparing. Not everyone knew his secret, thankfully. His family; sure, Valerie; which had made the last few months of school awkward to say the least, his friends' parents; which made his new girlfriend and his relationship a little more difficult that it already would've been, and a few scientists both in NASA and the government. Without those last two, he knew he would already have been an experiment of the Guys in White, though with those last two his parents still had some struggles. One scientist in particular, a Dr. Tina Scherer, believed it was because of their lack of care for their children that Danny had ended up in the portal two years ago and got the powers in the first place. Added with all the times, publicly, his parents had vowed to capture him and warned the town against him, she had a strong case. Really if it wasn't for Jazz, he feared he might not be sitting here now. Though because of that, they had to make a compromise starting this summer.
Every week he was to report to Axium labs to meet with two doctors, a Dr. Bradley Wakeman for tests and scientific study, which he was not looking forward to, and a Dr. Robert Hendrick who was to be his councilor, both of them didn't know his secret. But what he couldn't wait for was the two weeks this summer he was supposed to be at NASA's Glenn Research Center over in Ohio. The chief director had been in Antarctica and had seen Danny's secret so those two weeks were going to be focused on what Dr. Wakeman couldn't test, but he wasn't looking forward to that. Instead he hoped he could prove to them that he could be important to the space program.
A cold sensation escaped his lips, turning him quickly towards the back of the gymnasium. He realized his parents had stopped talking as he scanned over where his inner cold core was pointing towards the other ghost.
"Danny?" Maddie asked, her voice apprehensive.
"I need to go check it out," Danny said, rising to his feet. He turned at the sound of them coping his motion as Pomp and Circumstance started to play, announcing the graduates to come out. People around them copied them, starting a portion of the bleachers to stand up. "No, stay here," he ordered, already knowing what they wanted. Throwing a thumb at the teachers coming through the door he added, "She'll only be graduating high school once. I can handle it."
"Are you sure?" Jack asked.
Danny smiled as he took in his conflicted parents. "I'll call you if I need your help," he settled with, knowing they wanted to help. Before they could try and change his mind, he quickly walked down the bleachers, noticing a few people watching him leave. He made his way through the last family to show up to the graduation and turned towards the closest bathroom, hoping he could go ghost and get rid of the ghost problem before Jazz noticed he had left.
"Danny!"
The raven haired teen skidded to a stop at the voice that had called out his name. He quickly turned around, his teeth already bared, as he took in Kitty and Johnny. His hands gripped tight as he demanded, "What are you two doing here?"
"Relax, will you?" Johnny defended, reaching into the inside pocket of his leather jacket. He pulled out a piece of paper and held it between his pointer and middle finger to the teen. "Your sister invited us."
"She's been trying some ghost/human relationship thing and said we were perfect for her study or something," Kitty tried to explain.
Danny took the letter from Johnny and opened it up, quickly recognizing Jazz's handwriting. "Right, her paper for school next year," Danny mumbled more to himself as he skimmed through the invite. He let out a sigh as he folded the paper up and handed it back to Johnny. "Wish she had told me you were coming."
"We didn't know until this morning," Johnny pointed out, taking the letter to return to his pocket. "And really, why would we wanna be at some girl's graduation. We didn't even get to go to our own."
"But," Kitty interjected before Danny's mind could wrap around what Johnny had said. She grabbed Johnny's arm and continued, "After everything your sister has done for us, especially after how we first met, we felt it was the right thing to do."
"So are we gonna stand out here and miss her speech or what?" Johnny asked, shoving his free hand in his pocket.
"Sure, you wanna sit with me and my parents?" Danny asked, walking with them back towards the gym.
"I don't think your pops would like that," Johnny reminded with a smile. "It's fine. We'll sit somewhere else."
Danny opened his mouth only for Kitty to say, "And don't worry, we'll follow your rules."
"You're no fun, man, you know that?" Johnny pointed out.
Danny pushed open the door with a smile on his face as he said just above a whisper, "I have to be."
"-and Mr. Lancer who taught us what happened in classic books in a most unusual way," Jazz was saying, getting laughs from most of her class.
Danny made his way back to his parents, noticing Jack's full attention on the camera as it recorded Jazz's speech. As Danny sat down, Maddie turned with a questioning glance.
Not wanting his voice to be caught on camera he waved her worry away, throwing a glance down to the back of the gym where the two ghosts tried to be inconspicuous in their seats. He turned back to Jaz, tuning back into her speech.
"Over the next few minutes I'd like to talk about what we've learned, the people we have to thank, and those we have to remember." Jazz gripped the edges of the podium, running her eyes over the whole room as she smiled sadly. "A lot has changed since I first stepped through the doors of Casper High, for the school as well as the world. If I had told myself four years ago that ghosts were more than my parent's ranting and raving, I would've laughed. Now I'm a part of a graduating class that not only has gone through the trials of normal school life but has also helped save their parents from ghosts, has dealt with a ghost flu pandemic, has dealt with our entire town being held prisoner in the Ghost Zone, and keeping our grades up. I don't even have to mention the Disasteroid event that took place at the beginning of preparations for this day. We as a student body have gone through a lot. We as a community have gone through a lot. And through it all the teachers here at Casper have done what makes them so respectable in our eyes. Miss Ishiyama," she turned to the woman sitting on stage behind her, making sure she stood so the mike could still pick up her voice. "Who else could have led this school through all of the craziness that has happened since the worst of the ghosts started showing up two years ago?" She turned to motion to the gentleman in a matching robe beside her. "Mr. Lancer, through out my four years here I've seen you take up many hats after you took on being both English teacher and Vice Principal. Our school's not big and in a way I'm thankful for that since you manage to teach all four levels of the language. And Mrs. Williams," for this last teacher she had to turn the other way to motion to a teacher sitting next to her own empty chair. "I don't know if I would've ever started on the path I am now without your guidance and counseling. Add to it, your science classes have always been fun." Jazz turned back to face the crowd and added, "And more personally, I have to point out my parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton, who have persuaded me to continue going for my dream as well as my brother, Danny, who showed me I always have something to fight for."
Jazz paused for a moment, her smile falling before she continued. "Finally I'd like to take a moment to remember those who should be here graduating with us. John Carson and Kathrin George who both passed away in a bad motorcycle accident. I sadly never got to know them while they were alive but those I've talked to have painted the picture of two creative high schoolers just trying to find where they belonged."
Danny looked back down at Johnny and Kitty, shock on his face as he realized what Johnny had told him outside. They had been in Jazz's class? True, they looked about her age now, but if they were part of her class, how did no one register they were one in the same?
Danny froze as a saying he had used himself came into mind: a lot can change when you pass over, appearances included. That same thought was what Sam reasoned to be why his Phantom half looked so different from his Fenton half.
"In about an hour, we'll be high school graduates. There's gonna be good byes as some of us go to college while others start work. Hugs and tears will follow as we all promise to stay in touch. But one thing will be the same, we will be living our lives and doing our best," Jazz continued. "As a final thought, I'd like to leave you with a quote from someone we all read from as a kid, Dr. Seuss. Sometimes you'll never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Thank you all for being that memory."
Danny clapped as his sister stepped back from the podium, standing to the side as Miss Ishiyama stepped up to the mike with Mr. Lancer following behind. "Thank you, Jasmine," Miss Ishiyama said. "And thank you, class of 2006!" Loud cheers came from all around as the principal clapped for those graduating. Once the cheering died down the woman glanced down at the piece of paper on the podium. "Now I will call you all up to receive your diplomas. Jasmine Madison Fenton."
Jazz stepped forward to stand beside Mr. Lancer and was handed a manila colored rolled up piece of paper, her free hand shaking the vice principal's. Freeing both of his hands, he reached up and put the tassel on the other side of her cap, signifying she had graduated.
"Taylor George Best," Miss Ishiyama called out as Jazz took her seat back beside Mrs. Williams.
"John Eugene Carson," Miss Ishiyama called out next, looking back at Mr. Lancer as he sat the deceased's paper on a table beside the podium. By the time Travis Daniel Young was called up, two pieces of paper sat on the table for the two who didn't make it to graduation. As the teen left the stage Miss Ishiyama said with a large smile, "Congratulations to the graduating class of 2006!"
Sniffling caught Danny's attention, turning him to his parents to see Jack wiping his nose with a tissue. He gave his father a smile before looking back at the graduating class as hats rained down. He watched as upper classmen he had only really known through his sister hugged one another as families left the bleachers to find their graduate. He found Jazz making a beeline to where Johnny and Kitty were getting up to leave only to be caught by a classmate.
"I'll be back," Danny threw off to his parents as he stood up. He quickly made his way through the crowd, some people he took that a little literally as he phased through an arm or bag as the ghostly couple left through the double doors in the back. The doors managed to close right before Danny's hand took hold of the handlebar. He pushed the door open only to see the hallway void of any soul.
Footsteps behind him caught his attention, getting him to step aside the door and hold it open for a graduate and their family. Behind them a familiar red head made her way through the door.
"Are they still here?" Jazz asked as she stopped beside her brother.
Danny shook his head, giving the hall another glance as more people left out of the other gym doors. He turned back towards the gym and the two started looking for their parents as he asked, "Were they really your classmates?"
"I don't know for certain," Jazz admitted. "John and Kathrin's death was around the same time Johnny and Kitty first showed up in town and the motorcycle accident made it all seem like too much of a coincidence. I was hoping to ask them…" Jazz let her voice fall away as they stepped over to their parents.
"Jazz, we're so proud of you," Maddie said with a smile as she got a hug with the girl.
"Couldn't say that more, Jazzerincess," Jack said, wrapping his arms around the two. Freeing them he held up the camera and said, "Come on! Let's go outside for pictures."
