Tucker and Jazz were on the floor, rolling with laughter as they had done that Halloween night. Danny and Sam glared, not amused in the slightest.

"You really should have seen your actual faces!" Tucker said after a few minutes of recovery. This did nothing to improve either's mood.

"This reminds me of the thing at school that convinced everyone you two were a couple," Jazz said, "Now, as I remember it..."

"If we're discussing unpleasant events, let's make it one for all of us," Sam interrupted defiantly.

"Like what?" Tucker asked.

"Dash moving in," Danny said glumly, "7th grade," all smiling, grinning, laughing, and happy atmosphere disappeared with these words. As if by instinct, everyone's thoughts turned back to that unfortunate day.

---

7th grade had been in for only a few weeks, and other than that unfortunate incident that now led to everyone believing Danny and Sam to be a couple, all had gone well. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were now in science class, sitting together at their usual table in the back of the room.

"Good morning class," their elderly teacher walked in. Behind him was a large boy with blonde hair, a red-and-white jacket, and a smug grin.

"Good morning," some of the class echoed unenthusiastically. Their science teacher was more boring than Ben Stein.

"Today we welcome in a new student," he said boringly, motioning to the boy, "Please welcome Dash Baxter," Dash looked around the classroom. Girls began gawking over him; guys stared in admiration. Tucker, Sam, and Danny looked disinterested and continued with their quiet conversation.

"Pleased to meet y'all," he said, doing that motion Tad and Chad did in The Farily Oddparents when delivering their speech. The swooning and "wow-ing" continued for everyone except Danny and company. Dash noticed, and was not happy.

"Thank you, Mr. Baxter," the teacher spoke up, "Please take a seat over there," he pointed to an empty chair by Qwan.

---

"You'll love Casper Junior High," Qwan said to Dash at lunch. Already Dash was welcomed into the jock's inner circle, "These nerds are a bunch of pushovers. You can beat on anyone who stands up to you and get any girl you want."

"Sounds like my kind of place," Dash popped off the tab on his soda, "and the sports teams?"

"Needs some work," Qwan said, "We could use a new star player for football."

"Well I guess I'll have to try out then, won't I?" Dash grinned stupidly, "Now, about the not-so-hot crowd in this place. Who were those kids that ignored my presence once I made my introduction here?"

"Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, and Sam Manson," Qwan said from memory, "Among the biggest losers in the school. Word is that Danny and Sam are together. You should have been here last week when they..."

"So what's with them not showing their superiors some respect?"

"Manson's a vegetarian/environ...envi...one of those people who care about trees and little prairie dogs. She's also into ghosts and dresses all creepy. Foley's a stupid techno geek, and Fenton...he's just not cool."

"Fenton sounds like the worst of 'em," Dash mumbled, "Anyone who doesn't have a reason to be a loser, and still is...that makes me sick."

"His sister's a grade up from us. She's like his opposite. Cool, hot, everything he's not."

"Remind me to check her out later. Right now," he rolled up his sleeve, "I have some introductions to make," with that, he marched across the lunchroom. Danny, Sam and Tucker were gathered around their usual table, Tucker looking over his PDA.

"These pics from last week are really quite impressive," he smiled slyly, hiding the pictures from view, "wanna see them again?" the yelling of the negative response almost knocked Tucker off his chair, but it didn't wipe the grin from his face, "Alright then, I'll save them for later."

"Haven't you spent enough time looking over those!?" Sam yelled.

"Remind me at the end of the decade," their conversation was interrupted by the shadow of a fellow student looming over them.

"You must be Danny Fenton," Dash wasted no time in singling Danny out from among the trio.

"Yeah..." Danny could tell by the tone of this kid's voice that this was not going to be good, "Dash, right?"

"I noticed you three weren't too enthusiastic when I introduced myself to this place," he looked menacingly and the three of them.

"Well," Tucker laughed nervously, "We would have, of course, but..."

"Save it, Foley."

"Wow. He picks up on names fast."

"I said, SAVE IT!" that silenced Tucker, "Now, Manson and Foley have reasons for being such losers. That's wrong, but not sick. You, Fenton," he looked Danny straight in the eye, "just are a loser from what I here. And that's sick."

"O-KAYYYYY..." Danny nodded, not sure how to answer, "Sorry?" suddenly, Dash grabbed Danny by the shirt collar and held him up in the air.

"I've been here for less than a day and already you're getting on my nerves, Fenton! I'm at the top of the cool scale already, so there's nothin' ta stop me from beatin' your face..."

"A-hem," Dash turned around. An attractive 8th grader a bit shorter than he was was standing right behind him. Dash smiled.

"Hello there, gorgeous," he said in a would-be ladies man voice, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Jazz Fenton," the girl said, not amused, "That's my brother you're strangling," Dash looked back at Danny.

"Oh! Right, right," he threw Danny onto the table, "So, now that Twinkie's out of the way, tell me about yourself. Me, I'm Dash Baxter, new student, soon-to-be star quarterback, and soon-to-be school hero..." he never finished that sentence. A huge shot of soda came from behind, knocking him face-first into a plate full of pudding. Blinded, he stumbled around, crashing into the janitor's clean-up bucket. He soon was rolling out of the cafeteria, screaming. The jocks followed after him, trying to save their newest member and future leader. Sam tossed the now empty soda can into a nearby trashbin, smiling.

---

"Actually, that day didn't turn out half bad," Sam said, smiling. Remembering Dash's little incident brought the cheerful atmosphere back into the room. The four spent the next half-hour going over the old album, laughing at old memories as they found particular photographs. Tucker's following Jazz on her first date, graduation from Junior High, and the vacation they all took together last summer.

Finally, once the rememberances were winding down as they neared the back of the album, Maddie came in, saying it was time for Sam and Tucker to head back. They exchanged goodbyes at the door, and Jazz set the album back on the shelf.

"That was pretty fun," she said contently, "We should really do stuff like that more often."

"Yeah," Danny nodded, "Not that much, though," Jazz yawned.

"Well, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

"'Night," Danny said. After Jazz headed upstairs, Danny turned back to the album. Another memory of his was coming to mind, one that wasn't in this album and one that no one had shared with him. It had happened just a few months ago, when the Ghost-Zone Portal had failed to work. Seeing his parents' disappointment, he had donned that lab-suit and headed inside the machine...

THE END