Hello

Summary: Walking home from Danny's one night, something horrific happens to Sam. Now Danny's left to try to put the pieces of his best friend back together.

Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. And I don't own Hello, Evanescence does.

Chapter Six

If I smile and don't believe.

Danny shrugged his bag further onto his shoulder as the bus slowed to a halt and the doors wheezed open. He walked onto the bus and put his hands on the back of every sit as leverage fighting past all the kids in the aisle. He did this till he reached the fifth seat on the left, the one he and Sam always shared. Tucker lived three streets too far over to be on their route.

The bus started again and rattled off towards fifth where they would pick up Jeff Thompson, Kalli and Jenna MacIntyre, and finally Sam. Danny stared at the back of the seat in front of him. When he and Sam were little they would always try to find things in the torn written on seat vinyl. Animals, food, faces, TV characters, anything you thought you saw you pointed out to the other. Danny had no idea why that had suddenly popped into his head. He reached forward and traced what vaguely looked like a bunny and stared out the window.

They stopped once again and Jeff got on. He was one of Dash's friends. Danny silently seethed for a moment as he heard Jeff shout something to some girl at the back of the bus. Danny glared bullets at him as he passed Jeff didn't even notice. Danny let his head fall back against the pane of glass.

He had stayed up late last night and come up with numerous painful ways in which he could kill the monster. Danny was proud of himself. Out of the twenty, only three involved his powers. No offense to his alter ego, but he wanted it to be Danny Fenton that made Dash suffer, not Danny Phantom.

Danny did realize though as much as he would like at the moment to watch Dash bleed to death and beg for mercy that it wasn't possible. His best hope was jamming Dash's head into something until he couldn't remember his own name. Danny smiled at the thought of Dash sitting in a corner drooling on himself. But he was going to put a stop to this that much he swore.

He was so deep in thought about it that he totally missed the MacIntyre's stop and Sam's. He didn't notice it till he felt the weight in the seat shift. He whirled around and saw Sam move his bag from the seat to the floor. As she dropped into the seat next to him, Danny noticed Sam looked pale.

Sam was naturally a fair-complected person but this morning she loocked down right ghostly. Her skin had unnatural pallor to it and dark rings made her eyes appear haunted. Her face looked blank and she looked like she hadn't ate or slept in days. "God, Sam, you look horrible!"

Sam didn't even look up. "Hello to you too." It came out sounding harsh, her bitter tone piercing.

Danny didn't know what to say. I mean sure it's not exactly what a girl wants to hear but normally Sam would have laughed it off and told him he was no prize himself. "What's wrong?"

She looked at him for a moment staring into his eyes, as if searching for the answer she needed. "Nothing." She said. It was a knee-jerk reaction and they both knew it.

"Sam, that's crap! And you know it." He bit out. Sam didn't move she stared straight ahead not even acknowledging that she had heard him. Danny began to get annoyed. "Look at me, Sam." The vacant look never wavered and her head never turned. "I know that you're was entitled to your privacy but this is way beyond that. If something's wrong enough to through you through a loop like this I have a right to know! I'm your best friend, doesn't that mean something to you?" She still stared at the seat. Danny could feel himself getting angrier at her by the moment. "Of course, we know that means nothing to you."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he wished he had never even thought them. Sam turned on him and he could see the pain and fury in her eyes. "I can't believe you. You've put me through hell trying to keep your secret! Do you have any idea what it's like to sit by every night and watch your best friend put himself in mortal danger? Of course not, that's my arena. Every time you've needed me, Danny. I've been their for you, every freaking time since we were four! Now the one time I need you, you try and tell me this friendship means nothing to you?" Sam was crying now and most the kids next to them were doing a poor job of pretending they weren't listening.

"Sam, that's not what I mean—"

The bus screeched to a stop at Casper High School and Sam grabbed her book of the seat. "You know what, Danny? I think you've made it abundantly clear what you mean. So, just leave well enough alone."

Sam shouldered her way to the front of the line. He tried to get up and follow but managed to find himself shoved repeatedly back into his seat by upperclassman trying to get off. By the time he got off he knew that there was no way he was going to find Sam. He felt the guilt close up his throat and didn't even bother fighting it. He deserved it all.

Sam didn't know where she was going she just knew that she had to get away from Danny. She was completely distraught. There was nothing anyone could say that would make her feel better. The only constant in her life had now just turned on her. And all Sam could do was watch helplessly as the bottom fell out of her world.

Now we're getting somewhere. Shorter than usually though. But we'd need a whole chapter to say what happens from here. Hehe. I'm sorry I'm torturing them but it's to fun to resist. I know last chapter sucked so bigger thanks than ever to all those who reviewed it: TinyXchamp, soulful-sin, Dragon Blade, saikyo:the youkai priestess, Spice of Life, RainbowSerenity, LivEviL, and aeris9919. Till next chapter, Kudos!