Author Note: Sorry for the delay ya'll. Nothing like a little back to school writers block, right. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!!! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! Holler!

Disclaimer: I still don't own a damn thing but the clothes on my back, which I don't even own!!

As Sam stood in front of her mirror the next day, after Thanksgiving, she really, really wished she had more girl friends. It wasn't that she didn't love Danny and Tucker more than anything on earth, because she'd die for them in a heartbeat, but when it came down to the technical things...it just wasn't the same. She didn't have anyone to giggle with and have sleepovers with and gossip about boys with or just be silly and stupid with. Sure, she had slept over the guys' house before, but it just wasn't the same...the closest thing to a girl friend Sam had was Jazz. It did have its advantages, being that Jazz was two years older and was experienced and gave Sam good advice, but they weren't best friends, and Jazz had graduated. What Sam needed was someone her age, someone at her school, someone she could just be herself with.

Glancing at her reflection in the mirror Sam sighed. She hadn't changed much since freshman year. She'd grown taller, that was about it. She was no longer short at five foot two, but stood gracefully at five seven. Her hair was the same midnight black and still fell just under her jaw a few inches. Her eyes were still that rare shade of violet. Studying herself, Sam reasoned that the only difference was her height and the matured look she'd grown into. She never really cared about the way she looked—it didn't faze her. But as she grew and got older, her appearance seemed to slightly faze her, and it was at these times that Sam craved a female friend more than anything.

Sam checked the time on her clock on the bedside table and quickly stuffed a few bucks into her skirt pocket. Danny was picking her up in a few minutes with Tucker and the three of them were headed over to the movies. Sam smiled softly to herself as she clipped her bob-styled hair to the side and grabbed her house keys before heading down the stairs. It felt so long ago the three of them had just hung out, laid-back. The three of them were becoming so caught up in their own lives it was hard to be apart of each other's. Danny was always fighting ghosts and working at the deli, Tucker was always working and helping out his grandparents, and Sam...well Sam was busy throwing herself pity parties. Where had the time gone?

But they had finally started to cut down on their own time and spend time again with each other. Sam loved spending time with her two funny yet dorky friends. No matter what happened, Sam knew nothing would change the fact that they each loved each other and would always be there for each other, no matter what, even if that was incredibly corny.

Walking into the kitchen, Sam saw her mom sitting at the table, filling out some paperwork and drinking a cup of black coffee. Mrs. Manson had circles under her eyes but she didn't look tired. Mrs. Manson always put up that front—she was hard, cold, and determined. Sam was much the same way as her mother, but she didn't keep such a thick layer of ice around her heart as Mrs. Manson did.

When Sam entered the kitchen Mrs. Manson looked up at her daughter briefly. "Where are you going?"

"To the movies with Danny and Tuck," Sam said, walking over to the counter and taking a mint from her purse. She never went anywhere with her purse, but it held almost everything she needed. "I'll be home later—we might get something to eat afterwards."

Mrs. Manson studied her daughter again and didn't say anything. She returned to her paperwork and her hard expression returned her dark eyes brooding and deep. Sam studied her mother and frowned. No matter what, Sam just didn't feel a connection with the woman in front of her. The closest she ever came to feeling something remotely close to a connection with her mother was the night her father left, and they had stood crying and holding on to each other. But after that, it was back to the way things always were. Leaving notepads on the counter as means of communicating, family dinners consisting of fending for yourself, eating whatever was in the fridge. The only time Sam ever saw her mother was before she went to bed at night, when her mom came home from the office.

"What are those papers?" Sam asked, looking down at the papers that littered the table. Her mother looked up at her and sighed, taking a sip of her coffee.

"The divorce papers."

Sam almost choked on her mint. She looked up at her mom, her eyes wide. Divorce papers? Her parents were getting divorced? Sam felt stupid for being so shocked, she knew her father was cheating on her mother and she'd be stupid to stay with him, but still...it was like an ice cold wave that Sam was pulled under. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Sure, she'd wanted her parents to divorce but now that they were actually going through it...it was just heart breaking. Fucking heart breaking.

"Sam—is something wrong?" Mrs. Manson looked up at her daughter's vacant and hollow expression and frowned. Sam snapped out of her daze and looked at her mom, about to answer, when she heard a beep from outside. Quickly pulling herself together, Sam shook her head.

"That's my ride—be home later." And before she could look at her mom anymore, Sam quickly ran out of the house, falling apart with every step.

"So, what movie are we seeing?" Tucker asked from the front passenger seat as Sam looked out the window from the back, trying her best to put on her façade and not fall apart. She felt so stupid once again for making it such a big deal, but it really did hurt that her parents were divorcing. Marriage was supposed to be eternal, forever; did that not mean anything to her parents? If they didn't love each other, why had they gotten married in the first place? What if all love was like this? What if Sam would never be happy? All of these questions gave Sam a headache and she leaned her head against the backseat, trying to stay calm. Tonight is going to be fun, she thought. I've just got to pull myself together.

"Um," Danny started, checking in his rearview mirror to see if any cars were coming before he turned onto Main Street. "I don't know...whatever's there I guess. What movie do you want to see Sam?"

Sam snapped out of her daze for the second time that night and looked at Tucker's expectant face looking back at her. She grinned and shrugged. "That sequel to Mad Malicious is playing. I've never seen the first one, but the only other movies that are playing are sappy romance movies, I am not in the mood for one of those."

Danny smirked and shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Sam looked back out the window and sighed. The only reason she wanted to see that stupid action filled brain-less no good for nothing movie Mad Malicious or whatever was because she needed to zone out. If she saw a movie that actually made her feel something, she'd be a mess, what with her emotions already screwed up enough as it was. She didn't know what was happening to her—Sam hated her parents always fighting, yet when they decide to divorce, she wanted nothing more than for them to stay together. What kind of sick twisted fuck was she?

Sam was so out of it she didn't even realize when Danny pulled into the parking lot of the theater. About to ask why they had stopped, she realized they reached their destination and sighed. Maybe going out wasn't such a good idea. She didn't want to seem miserable and ruin Danny and Tucker's good mood. Putting on her best fake smile, she turned to her two best friends as the approached the ticket counter and grinned.

"Okay guys, I'm not playing babysitter so no throwing wet gummy bears at the screen, okay?" Sam smirked at her best friends as they pretended to feign hurt.

"How dare you think me and Danny are that immature!" Tucker exclaimed, causing Sam to grin. "Besides, I'm older than you both, I turned seventeen a month ago losers."

Danny rolled his eyes and paid for the tickets. "You may be the oldest, but you act the youngest."

Tucker put a hand over his heart. "Ooh, Danny that hurt. Right here."

Danny smirked and the three friends made their way to the concession stand. The movie theater was ungodly crowded with teenagers that Sam was surprised they'd managed to buy tickets at all. It seemed there was nowhere else that the teens of her hometown could go on a Saturday night. Just as Sam received her coke from the guy across the counter, a giggly accented voice made her cringe as she turned her head to see Paulina, waiting in line for the very same movie as them, flirting with a few guys who were seniors at their school. Sam narrowed her eyes at the guy-magnet. It seemed every guy was fawning over her long, black hair and bright eyes, her pouty lips and curvy figure. Sam had never been jealous of Paulina, but it just bugged her how everyone seemed to worship a girl with looks, but a brain the size of a peanut. Sam had never been one to worry about looks, but compared to Paulina and about every other girl at Casper High, she always felt overlooked. Sighing, Sam waited until Danny and Tucker had gotten their drinks and watched Danny to see if he would look at Paulina. She didn't know why she was looking to see if he fawned over her, but she was relieved when he didn't glance her way, be it he just didn't see her, she didn't care. Sam didn't know why but lately she'd been thinking about Danny in more ways than she thought healthy. Shrugging it off as teenage hormones mixed with a healthy dosage of angst, Sam grinned at her two friends.

"I can't believe we're actually seeing this movie," Sam grumbled as they made their way in line, just a few back from Paulina and her admirers. "It's so stupid."

Tucker quirked an eyebrow as he popped popcorn into his mouth. "You're the one who wanted to see it," he said, a few pieces of popcorn flying out of his mouth. "Oops, sorry Danny."

Danny cocked his head back slightly and smirked. "Right."

Sam took a sip from her drink and leaned against the wall. "I only wanted to see it because there was nothing else to see Tucker. Oh well, I'd rather be out than home."

Danny glanced at Sam fleetingly. She seemed okay, but something was bothering her, he could tell. She'd been getting better at covering her emotions, and right now she was putting on a pretty good act. Had something else happened at home? Had her father come back? Something wasn't right, but he figured he'd pry it out of her later. It wasn't the time or the place to interrogate Sam about her home life.

Sam sighed and glanced at the clock. The movie would start in a few minutes, and pretty soon she could just forget about everything and zone out. Hopefully Danny wouldn't question her at all, and she'd be let off the hook. She wasn't in the mood for his interviews...honestly, she didn't know what the hell was the matter with her. Was she seriously that fucked up?

"Oh my God, this movie blows," Sam groaned as she sank lower into her seat between Tucker and Danny. She went to take a sip of her drink but found it to be completely empty. Growling, she leaned her head back and stared at the absolutely pointless explosion on screen taking place at a bank in the city. What did that have to do with the plot line? Nothing! Stupid Movie Theater, swallowing up poor teenager's money for such a flimsy movie. Danny looked down at Sam and smirked, but flicked his eyes back to the movie. He thought Sam looked cute when she was all agitated and sarcastic. He didn't know why he thought that, and he kind of felt sick for thinking that Sam could be 'cute' in any way, but yet he couldn't help it. He really needed to get a hold of himself. Sure, he was a sixteen year old guy, but he still couldn't shake the fact that he was developing a crush on his best friend. Yes that's right, Danny Fenton was freely admitting to himself that he was beginning to see Sam in a new light. And he wasn't exactly pleased about it. He wouldn't ever let anyone know, but then there it was. Those stupid butterflies infested his stomach whenever Sam giggled or smiled, and he found himself subconsciously glancing at her in more ways than he'd like. Dammit... he couldn't like Sam. It would change everything if it kept up. He swallowed and took a sip from his drink, eyes glued to the screen, though not understanding a damn thing.

Sam shifted uncomfortably in her chair and rested her arm on the armrest, squinting her eyes at the screen trying to decipher just exactly what was going on. Sam knew that coming was a mistake—couldn't they have just gone bowling or something? Sam leaned over to Danny and whispered in his ear, "How much longer do you think this will last?"

Danny looked over at Sam and tried to hide the chills that ran up his spine when she whispered in his ear. He coughed nervously and checked his watch. "Uhm...a little longer. Why—you got somewhere to be?"

Sam smirked and took a sip from his soda. "Nope! I just can't take much more of this!" She giggled and laid her head on her hand, watching the screen and wondering when she would be put out of her misery.

Danny flicked his eyes once again to the screen and sighed. Why did she have to do that to him? Why did she have to act all pissed one minute and then giggly the next? It just made her all the cuter. And why did he have to start feeling these things for her now? He was so confused with everything that he just didn't know what to do. He would not tell Sam how he felt because that was just plain stupid, and he would keep his feelings to himself. But how much longer could he go without cracking? Damn teenage boy-ness, damn it to hell.

Finally the last explosion which was also extremely pointless came to an end and the heroine came forth to claim her love, everything was happy, and the end credits began to roll. Sam squealed with delight and sat up, grinning from ear to ear.

"It's over! It's really over! I think I'm gonna cry!" She smiled broadly and sighed, turning to Tucker and Danny.

"If you hated that movie so much," Tucker began, getting up and filing into the mad rush to get out of the theater. "Why on earth did you want us to see it?"

Sam rolled her eyes and looked at her friend. "I didn't want to see it, but what else could we see, hm?"

"We could have gone bowling!" Danny threw in, looking around the mass crowd towards the exit. Sam rolled her eyes and he smirked. "Damn, it's gonna take forever to get out of here. I really wish I could just fly out."

Tucker and Sam looked at Danny expectantly and he raised his eyebrows. "I'm not going to fly out you psychos!"

Sam sighed as the crowd moved a little further up. "What's the good in having powers if you can't use them?" Tucker nudged Sam in the back and glared at her.

"Would you shut up? There's like a million people around here, they can hear you."

Sam rolled her eyes and gave the person in front of her a little shove. They were going too slow for her taste. She turned to Tucker and Danny. "I think I might be claustrophobic."

Tucker gave Sam a dull look. "You can't 'think' you're claustrophobic. You either are or you aren't."

Sam sighed, looking defeated. "I guess you're right. But I sure as hell am impatient. See you two suckers at the finish line." With that, Sam gave her friends a wink and ran into the crowd. Many cries of anger could be heard as the girl weaved her way out of the theater. Tucker looked at Danny and raised his eyebrows.

"She's fucking insane."

Sam watched Tucker jog up to his front door and wave goodbye to his friends in Danny's car on the street. Danny waved back, and started toward Sam's house. Overall, the night had been pretty okay. While the movie sucked, they had fun together and afterwards at Decker's Pizza. But something had been missing...it just hung in the air, very thick. Like a foreshadowing-type thing, but Danny had no idea what it meant. Sighing, he glanced over at Sam as he turned onto her street.

Sam leaned her head against the back seat of the car and closed her eyes as they made their way to her house. She didn't want to leave Danny's car, she didn't want to move, and she didn't want to do anything. She just wanted to stay there forever with him, and drive on and on for endless hours, not worrying about a damn thing. Why couldn't life be like this all the time? Just Sam and Danny, without a care in the world, riding along, at peace...

Sam felt herself slipping off into a sleep when the car stopped and her eyes flew open. They had arrived at her house. Yawning, she sat up and stretched her arms high above her head. She looked at Danny and grinned lazily.

"Thanks for the ride," she said. "Sorry I was kind of miserable tonight...it wasn't really a good night."

Danny frowned and rested his hands on the steering wheel. "What happened?"

Sam sighed and looked up at her house. No lights were on, giving her home a creepy old mansion look. It looked cold and alone and it depressed her. Sometimes she wished she had a big family and lived in a small, cozy house, just to feel like a home. The tall brick structure in front of her was anything but a home; merely a place to live. Sam looked up into Danny's blue eyes and she couldn't help but melt.

"Um...it's nothing really," Sam mumbled. The last thing she wanted to do was dramatize something as trivial as her parent's getting a divorce. Yet still, it burned a place in her heart she never knew she had for her parents. "My...um...my mom told me my parents are getting a divorce."

Danny's eyes grew big and he studied Sam. "Oh," he stammered, not really knowing what else to say. He didn't want to say 'I'm sorry' because frankly, he wasn't. He was sorry that Sam was hurting, but a divorce was always for the better, and Sam's parents splitting meant no more fights which meant in the long run no more hurting for Sam. And when Sam was hurting, Danny was to.

Sam flicked her violet hues up to Danny and tried to grin but failed miserably. She took a shaky breath and tried to ignore the burning sensation in her throat. "I know it's for the best and all and I've wanted my parents to divorce for so long. I don't know why I'm getting all worked up over this. Why does it hurt so bad Danny?"

Danny looked at Sam and felt so useless. He wanted to hold her and wish all her pain away, tell her everything was going to be fine. But in truth, Danny was more confused than Sam ever was. He had no idea what was going to happen, and whether or not Sam's pain would end he would never know.

"It's going to hurt," Danny said quietly. "It hurts because it's something that happens all the time but you never think it's going to happen to you. And when it does, it's scary and it hurts."

Sam nodded and sighed. Danny always said the right things. She shuddered as she looked back up to the house, dreading going inside. It looked so unwelcoming, she cruel. She vowed then and there that when she was older and was married and had a family of her own, that she would always make her home welcome and warm and full of love. She never wanted her kids going through what she was going through then, glaring up at the house she called home.

"It's late," Sam mumbled. "I better get in."

"Yeah," Danny said, sitting up and looking at the steering wheel, suddenly feeling quite awkward. "I'll give you a call tomorrow, 'k Sam?"

Sam grinned at him, nodding silently. She gave him one last tired grin and made her way into the one place she wished she didn't have to go.

Danny watched her walk into her home and his heart dropped. This crush thing was definitely not good.

Sorry for the delay!!! Sadly, my 'muses' have been on a lovely little vacation and I've had writers block for some time. I just don't know where I'm going with this story. Hopefully it'll come to me and SOON!! Expect less frequent updates...school started and it's all like 'SCHOOL SCHOOL SCHOOL' which isn't a bad thing because I heart school. I do! I don't care if that's queer, but I love the social aspect of it. Oh hell I'll hate it in a few weeks but whatever. Okay enough of my babbling. StrAwbErRieS to: NuttyRoyale, LeoDiabla, AbsentAngel, Sakura Scout, Danni-2005, Annie, autumngold, Fox of Light, Moody Maud, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, Mujitsu Yume, Stardust 16, RavenForever. Thanks a bunch ya'll!!! Well I'm off to bed, adios!!! Adieu Adieu!! Love and Strawberries, The Good Girl.