Author Note: Hey guys. Okay, so I just want to clear something up real quick. I hope I'm not making Sam's parents sound like villains. They aren't supposed to be some mean, horrible, cruel parents. They are just going through a lot with each other, and they are just disconnected from their daughter. They don't have a solid relationship with her, that's all. I don't want them to be evil or anything. That's all! :) I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: Eh, nothing's changed yet...I still don't own anything except my story. Le sigh...
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Danny watched Sam carefully across from him as they sat in their English class, her face set in a determined stance, and she scribble away. When she truly put her mind to something, Sam totally zoned out and was oblivious to everything going on around her. Currently, she was working very hard on their English In-Class Essay they were to hand in that day. Danny didn't know why she was working so hard, she had never worked hard before to earn her good grades, and his brow knit in confusion. Shrugging, he set back to his own essay, but found it hard to concentrate.
Her eyes were still dead. That's what he worried about all day in school. When she smiled, she smiled only with her mouth and not her eyes, and it pained Danny. What was going on? When would she tell him? It was driving him mad, insane, it was like he needed to know or else he wouldn't be content. Knowing his best friend was going through something and he couldn't be there for her killed him, and he had to remind himself to not become angry with Sam. She didn't mean to put barriers up, they were almost natural, second nature, and he couldn't necessarily blame her, but his patience was dwindling away. It wasn't fair to him, it really wasn't.
The fourth period bell rang, signaling the end of the day and Danny looked up, bewildered. How had ninety minutes flown by so incredibly fast? Had he been daydreaming that long? Looking down at his poorly written Essay which barely filled half the page, Danny grimaced. Looking back up at Sam, he saw her smiling, satisfied with her two-page Essay, a little gleam coming back into her eyes. He sighed, frustrated with himself, and gathered his books. Sam looked at him questionably, but stapled her paper, heading to the door. Danny followed suit and caught up with Sam in the hallway as they made their way to their lockers.
"I totally flunked," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was so out of it...dammit, I really needed a decent grade. Unlike you, who aced it yet again."
Sam looked over to Danny and rolled her eyes. "I needed that grade just as much as you did...my grade is slipping in that class like you don't even know." Sam frowned, as Danny and she turned a corner. Danny looked at her and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Why are your grades slipping?" Danny asked. It was true; Sam's grades were always very exceptional. Some parents only dreamed of having their child do that good. Whatever Sam was hiding was no doubt affecting her grades now, and pretty soon it'd be affecting her just as badly. Danny saw Sam's eyes working up about a million excuses and he wanted to yell so badly. Why can't she just tell me the truth? He thought bitterly.
"Oh," Sam said nervously, trying to sound casual but failing miserably. "Eh, I've been kind of distracted I guess...haven't had much sleep." She hadn't lied, no, but vagueness was just as bad. Damn vagueness. It left Danny more confused then before. He decided to let it go, and shrugged. Finally reaching his locker, Sam waited for him to grab his bag and hoodie, so they could go to her locker, and then the two of them could walk home. Hopefully Danny wouldn't try to pry too much, Sam wasn't sure she could keep making up excuses.
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"So," Sam sad, gladly changing the subject as they walked down the sidewalk, the November chill causing Sam to pull out her gloves and slip them on, hiding her fingers from the cold. "When are you going to get your car back?" Danny looked over at Sam miserably and Sam grinned.
"I got the bill yesterday," Danny said, grimacing. "It's going to cost me five-hundred dollars. Do you know how much that is? I don't have five hundred dollars! I make what—eight dollars an hour at the deli and I only work four nights a week—this is going to kill me. My mom and dad have refused to help me pay. They say it's my fault I crashed into that damn pole."
Sam giggled at the memory. It had been in September and late one night, when Sam, Tucker and Danny were extremely bored and decided to go for a spin. Granted, they'd had a few drinks and weren't exactly all there, but one thing led to another and Danny had crashed his car into a pole a few blocks from his house. His parents weren't exactly pleased...but they hadn't noticed the three sixteen year olds had been drinking. Thank God for that too...Danny never wanted to drink alcohol again, for a long time.
"It's not funny!" Danny shrilled. How could she laugh at his misfortune? "It's not your car I wrecked."
Sam continued to giggle. "Thank God..." Danny rolled his eyes but smirked nonetheless. He was glad to be back in a light mood with Sam...all these suspicions and anxiety had him slowly slipping into a slight depression. He hadn't heard her giggle in so long, and her laugh hadn't graced his ears for even longer. A sixteen year old boy could only take so much frowns and moods...yet he still yearned to know Sam's secret, which was so ironic about the whole situation. Sighing inwardly, Danny wondered when their lives had turned so complicated. Sam noticed his change and frowned as the two of them continued to make their way down the sidewalk.
"Something bothering you, Danny?" She asked. Danny looked at her and smiled tiredly. How could he tell her she was bothering him by keeping things from him? He didn't want to risk getting into a fight again. So he shrugged, and rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his that Sam was beginning to grow quite fond of, truth be told.
"Er, no...listen, you want to come over for a bit? My mom and dad are out, so it's just me and Jazz," Danny said. He really wanted to probe Sam some more, get her to open up to him, and he really wanted to spend more time with her. It had been a while since the two of them had just hung out, been laid-back together. He looked at Sam hopefully.
Sam looked thoughtful. She definitely didn't want to go home, and she always felt so warm and safe in Danny's house. But that also meant he would no doubt question her more, and she didn't know if she was ready to open up yet. She still felt embarrassed about making such a big deal about her parents, and she wasn't so sure Danny would understand what she was going through. His own parents hardly ever fought, and when they did, it was mindless bickering about who forgot to take out the trash, or something like that. Despite Danny's being a halfa, nothing really ever was extreme in his life, and he certainly held no deep dark secrets, except being part ghost. And even that he had Sam and Tucker by his side. She noticed Danny was looking at her kind of weird, and she realized she had spaced out. Snapping back into reality, Sam grinned at him.
"Yeah, sure."
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Sam lay sprawled across Danny's bed, staring at his ceiling, memorizing every crack and crevice like she so often did with her own ceiling. Her algebra book was opened next to her, but she hadn't glanced at it in several minutes...she could care less what the book had to say. Losing all interest in her homework, she lay there, enjoying the silence as Danny worked on his European Studies Essay at his desk. The room was so peaceful and Sam felt so...safe. Danny's bed smelled exactly like him, and the scent immediately put her at ease, as she played with a corner of his comforter. It'd been so long since Sam had peace, where no one was yelling at her or at each other, where there was no tension, where there was no threat of a door slamming, of something crashing.
She sighed to herself and her eyes fluttered shut as her mind took flight. If only she could always stay right there in that moment, where everything was certain, where she could just lie forever inside herself and dream all of her problems away. No one prodded her for information regarding her state, no one made her talk, no one made her do anything, she was just herself and that was that. Danny's window was cracked a bit open, and a gentle breeze played across her face, causing her comfort level to only increase. She felt tingly inside for some reason, and she didn't know what it was. Perhaps, it was because she wasn't at home, in her bed, but instead at Danny's house, where her parents didn't seem to exist. Where everything was okay, where people were actually happy, instead putting on fake smiles to fool the world.
Sam inwardly cried, frustrated. She hated putting a front on for her friends, for everyone. They just didn't get it. She knew her parents' fighting was not really as a big a deal as it felt, but she hated herself. Hated herself for making it such a damn big deal and affecting her the way it did. She hated how she couldn't open up, not just about her parents', but about anything. How she could never open up to Danny anymore, how she was growing apart from her best friend, apart from Tucker, everybody. She was losing herself, and why? Because she just couldn't deal with anything anymore. The blade on her desk was looking more appetizing every minute, and she didn't know why she suddenly had so much hate, so much angst. She hated waking up in the morning, going to a school filled with one-dimensional morons who couldn't give a damn about anything about themselves, about anything. She hated not making a difference in the world, hated how she was just another face in the crowd, how she fucking didn't matter. What if her life died tomorrow? She hadn't made one bit a difference, and the world go on as it always did if she wasn't there. It hurt knowing she was generic, just like everybody else. As much as she stressed being such an individual, she was nothing more than a boring, frightened, weak coward. And she knew that was all she would ever be...she couldn't even talk to her best friend anymore...Sam struggled to keep the angry tears from falling.
Danny watched Sam as she drifted off into what looked like a painful semi-sleep, and frowned. He hated seeing her like this...so tortured, so afraid...so distanced. This wasn't his best friend, the same best friend that made soup for Danny five days in a row because he had a fever he'd caught from Tucker. This wasn't the same best friend that stayed up with him until two o'clock in the morning to help him study for finals. This wasn't the same best friend that let him crawl through her window at one AM because he'd gotten locked out when his parents went away for the weekend and crash at her place. This wasn't Sam.
He didn't know what happened to Sam, but he was growing more and more worried everyday. What if she had gotten raped and was too ashamed to say anything? What if she was hurt, or sick? Danny ran his hands through his hair in frustration. There were so many what-if's, it made him so angry. Sam was slowly slipping away from him, and he was afraid he'd completely lose her. Just looking at her pale face laying on his bed, a pure look of sadness and pain on her face, made him want to scream. Here was this girl he'd been best friends with since forever, and he couldn't help her one bit. It killed him so badly.
Sam stirred and her violet eyes fluttered open. Immediately she moaned and sat up on her elbows, looking over to Danny. She looked so tired and frail that it nearly broke his heart.
"Hey Danny," she said, her voice kind of raspy from her short, restless nap. "I don't feel so good...I'm going to go head home, okay?" She really looked like she didn't feel good either. There were faint circles under her eyes, her face was pale, her complexion clammy.
"You want me to walk you home?" Danny asked, frowning. He didn't want her to walk him if she didn't feel okay. But Sam shook her head and grinned tiredly, putting her book into her bag and standing up.
"No, it's okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Bye Danny." And with that, she offered him one last grin and left his room, causing Danny to watch after her with concern.
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Yeah, that chapter was pretty short too. But I wanted a chapter with no drama, and just showing Danny and Sam's relationship. Let me know what you all think! Also, thanks to all who reviewed!! I appreciate it very much. Thanks to: Sakura Scout, Moody Maud, RainbowSerenity, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, autumngold (x2), CoLdPlAyEr813, Fox of Light, Danni-2005, Mujitse Yume. Thanks so much. :) Love and Strawberries, The Good Girl.