-- Author's Note -- Yey! I finally got my laptop back! Anyway, I am happy to give you the latest chapter so quickly. You can thank my Type teacher for leaving the room for an hour, as well as me for working through breaks, lunch, and of course finishing my Type work before everyone else. Hahaha! I actually got a ton done today too, during lunch and breaks during Graphic Design. I blame all the TT-ness on Saikyo, for her great new TT fic, and on Ryan for brining it up today during lunch, LoL. I must say that I feel much less dorky now for liking it because he's 5 years older than me, and he admitted it first. Haha. Anyway, a note on Tucker. No, he cannot sing well, and the idea for the beginning scene has been bugging me for ages. I wanted to use it somewhere, but it hasn't fit until now. Originally I was going to have Tucker sing it as they were walking to Magus to taunt Danny, but I thought that the convo they had was much more important, and slightly funnier. But I think it works well here, and it gives Tucker a reason to pick on Danny. Now, without further ado, Chapter 11. I'm off to get some sleep since I have class at 9:30 in the morning. Major ick!

Chapter 11 Build Me Up

Danny had no idea what was going on inside Sam's head. She had seemed so heartbroken last night. Had he really caused her all this pain?

"Are you okay Danny?" Jessica asked breaking him from thoughts. The three of them were standing in front of Tucker's locker.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm still a little tired."

"Don't you start getting all depressed on us. All right?"

"I'm fine Tucker. Just drop it."

"Did something happen last night Danny?"

That girl is way to perceptive, Danny thought. "No, just went home, worked on homework, and went to bed."

Jessica frowned as if she didn't believe him, but didn't press the matter.

"Hi, Danny right?" a voice asked from behind the trio. Turning around they saw that it was Sam looking very nervous.

"Uh, yeah. Hi Sam," he managed to mumble. She was talking to him!

"I just wanted to say that I was sorry for running into you the other day. It was really rude of me not to help you pick everything up." She looked down at her feet as she spoke.

"Oh no! I was the one who didn't look where they were going. It's my fault, really. Don't worry about it."

"Are-are you sure? I really feel bad." This time her eyes met his for a moment.

"Yeah, totally. Hey, are you busy after school? We were thinking about going to the mall, if you wanted to come."

Her face lost all the color it had gained while they spoke. Danny could see the fear in her eyes.

"Umm... I can't. I have to do something with my mom tonight. Umm... anyway I need to get going. Later." Sam dashed off to the girl's room without looking back.

"Why do you build me up, build me up, buttercup baby? Just to let me down, let me down, and mess me around. And then worst of all—"Tucker sang in a mocking tone.

"Shut up Tucker!" Danny glared at his friend.

"Sorry, sorry. I just couldn't help myself," Tucker offered with raised hands.

Jessica was doing a fairly poor job of suppressing her giggles.

"You know, I really don't need this now. I'm outta here." Danny turned and walked away in a huff. These were supposed to be his friends and they were mocking him.

All right, so he was overly hopeful about Sam talking to him. Why shouldn't he be? They needed to figure out what was going on, and soon. Danny didn't know how much longer he could take this.

----------------

"Hey Danny, are you still mad at us?" Jessica asked as she sat down next to him at the lunch table.

"Do I have a reason not to be?" Classes had calmed him down some, but he was still ticked off at the two.

Jessica waved Tucker over, who was lurking down the table. "Look Danny, we're sorry. Both of us know how much this is hurting you, but don't you think it's hurting us too?"

"You didn't know her the way I did," he muttered.

"Don't talk about her like she's dead. And thank goodness for that! I don't want to know what Sam's tonsils taste like. Ick!" Tucker joked.

This time Danny laughed. "And if you ever do find out I will have to kill you."

"Get in line then," Jessica told Danny.

"No. Both of you will have to take a number because I'd do it first," Tucker informed them.

They all laughed at this for a minute. "I know it hurts Danny, but all you can do is laugh at it."

"I know you guys, I know. But right now I would kill for some of that tea. My arm is killing me," he said as he tried to itch the burn through the bandage.

"Hey! No scratching. That will only make it worse," Jessica said matter of factly.

"Speaking of that," Tucker interrupted. "Just how do you know so much about burns and treatments and stuff? No matter what happens my mom will just slap a band-aid on it and say 'whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.'"

Jessica got quiet for a moment.

"Jess?" Tucker asked.

"Sorry, I'm okay. I learned from my mom when I was younger. She was a nurse before she died."

There was another length of silence that Danny swore he was getting use to.

"I'm sorry," the two boys said.

"Don't be. She's happy now, and I know that she's watching over me."

She smiled and Tucker put a hand on her shoulder.

"But anyway, if it's itching, Danny, you should go to the nurse for some ointment."

"Yeah, all right. I'll see you guys in class then."

---------------

After school Danny met up with Jessica and Tucker. "So are we really going to mall?" Jessica asked. "I figured we'd move on to the TV shows today."

"No, I just thought... I don't know what I thought. Never mind," Danny said.

"Hey, is that Sam?" Tucker asked as they exited the front doors. Sure enough Sam was lending against a tree, slightly hidden in the shadows.

"Yeah. Is she watching us?" Jessica wondered.

"Don't know. I'm gonna go talk to her," Danny said before starting towards her.

"Be careful," Jessica whispered after him.

"Hi Sam. Did you change your mind about coming with us?"

"What? Oh, no. My mom's coming to pick me up."

"Oh, all right. Well, if you ever change your mind you're welcome to hang out with us."

"Sure, okay."

"Hey Danny! Are you coming?" Tucker called.

"Yeah! Hold on!" He turned back to Sam. "Okay, I'll see you around." Then he took after Tucker and Jessica.

"Wow, she didn't kill you. I'm impressed," Jessica joked.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny. So what are we watching?"

"Justice League and Teen Titans."

"I thought that was a comic book," Danny wondered.

"It is. It's also a cartoon. I like the cartoon better because there aren't as many Titans."

"I feel like such a dork," Tucker said shaking his head.

"So last night after you guys left last night I went through all the fanfics I've read," Jessica said ignoring Tucker's comment.

"You keep a record of that?"

"Of course! Sometimes the fics are better than the show."

"Right," Tucker commented.

"I went through the last six months but I didn't find anything helpful."

"Figures. Six months worth of fics and you didn't come up with anything?"

"Not true. I came up with one."

"And?"

"Oh, it really wasn't much help. It was a Fruits Basket fic called Sister Sohma by some author. I think the penname was HawkMoon or something like that." (A/N: Haha. Shameless self promotion.)

"What's Fruits Basket?"

"An anime about a girl and this family that turns into animals."

"Yes, yes. As interesting as this is, what happened in the fic?"

"Well, first Tohru and Yuki hook up, it was super cute! They totally should hook up in the show."

"Back to topic," Danny reminded her. This girl could get so distracted by shiny objects.

"Right, so they all go camping and Tohru and Yuki go out for a walk. It starts pouring and the river floods, then Tohru trips and falls into the river. She wakes up down the river where these kids find her and she can't remember who she is."

"I somehow doubt that Sam fell into a river," Tucker muttered.

"How did she get her memory back?" Danny asked.

"Well, she just kinda woke up one day and it was back. That really happens you know. Someone loses their memory and then one day, poof, it's back."

"Strange, but I'm sure that's if you lose it from trauma or something like that. I can't believe something like that happened to Sam. No, I feel like there's something else going on here."

"I would have to agree," Jessica said. "Come on, let's get started on the videos." She opened the door to her apartment and let the boys in.

It was nearly nine when they had finished most of the Teen Titans. The last episode they watched was about this girl, Terra.

"They're even more clueless in the show!" Danny cried.

"I see what you mean now," Tucker laughed. "Starfire really is an airhead, but you would think that Robin would get a clue."

"I think that Raven knows that she likes Beast Boy, but she can't show it because she has to keep her emotions in check," Jessica commented.

"Agreed!" both boys cried throwing popcorn into the air.

"I can't stand that Terra girl though," Danny started. "She's totally getting between Raven and Beast Boy. And I just plain don't like her." He threw some popcorn at the screen to get his point across.

"You have good reasons not to like her," Jessica told him.

"What?"

"Terra's evil. She ends up working for Slade."

"Damn her," Danny mumbled.

"You know, as much fun as this is, and not matter how much I would love to sit around for another five hours talking about the Titans, it is a school night. Not to mention we have homework," Tucker said. Jessica threw some popcorn at him now laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right Tucker. I still have a paper to finish for Biology. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow," Danny said before he headed off for home, this time careful to avoid Sam's house.