Jazz drove Danny to school the next day, and he avoided everyone but Sam and Tucker like the plague. He took the long ways to his classes, and he ate lunch on the benches of the football stadium, where few people went until just before class. He even made it through Lancer's class period without drawing any attention to himself, and was feeling rather proud of himself as he walked home later that day. Everything had gone smoothly, except for one incident where he fell through the desk he was leaning on. Even being in human form, if he used any powers it got to him, and it had taken him 20 minutes to calm down after that. It was no use waiting for a ride from Jazz, seeing as she had about 20 billion after-school activities almost every day. Fortunately, they had been canceled the day before, which is why she'd gotten home early. He'd have to avoid Vlad by himself, today, although he did not relish the thought of being in the house alone with his arch enemy.

He was thinking of ways to do this, when the familiar blue mist rolled out of his mouth.

"No," he groaned and turned in the direction of the source, taking out the thermos. If they were distracted when he got there, maybe he could get them before they saw him. But just in case they didn't, he grabbed the restrainer, a long stick he'd gotten from his parents. It would restrain a ghost in a similar way to the weapons they'd used during the prison riot in the Ghost Zone. That was everything Danny could fit in his backpack that morning.

He turned the corner to see...nothing. His ghost sense was going crazy, but while the ability screamed that the specter was right in front of him, Danny still couldn't see it. He wanted to go ghost so badly...He'd tear this stupid ghost apart for sending him on a wild goose chase! He glared as he glanced around, still searching for the anomaly.

He realized that some people were staring at him, but he didn't care. His ghost sense continued to pour out of his mouth, and he continued to look for the thing that had activated his powers...

"Wait a second," he said out-loud, suddenly realizing what was happening. Apparently, he'd have to avoid the ghost sense just like he had to avoid intangibility.

"Vlad," he said, sticking his weapons back in to his backpack, "I'm telling you, it won't work." And with that, he spun on his heels and continued home. When he got to the front door, he took a deep breath, opened it and dashed inside, taking the stairs two at a time, and dodging into his room. Slamming the door, he leaned against it, feeling almost safe for once. He locked it quickly, and threw his backpack down by the side of the bed. That's when he noticed the note laid on his pillow.

"I've gone to get some friends. Be back soon, Son. Vlad" Danny didn't notice that he had crumpled the paper in his hands, or that the wrist guards were glowing, until the paper he heldburst into flame. He jumped, causingthe ignited parchmentto flutter to the floor of his room. Trying not to panic, hestomped it out, angry at himself for being so careless.

"Stop being such an idiot, Fenton!" Danny growled to himself. The voice in his head laughed.

8 8 8 8 8

Danny claimed illness and stayed in his room all night, but he couldn't help stewing over Vlad's taunting, and he barely got any sleep. He felt much worse when he arose from his bed the next morning, partially due to his building powers, partially to his lack of sleep, and partially to the imminent future. Thedread, and strange anticipation that accompanied such thoughts seemed to throw his stomach into permanent blender mode.

"Hey, Danny," Jazz waved to him as he came down the stairs, in an obviously bad mood. "Want a ride?" Danny couldn't help but glare at her as he grabbed a bowl of cereal.

"No thanks, Jazz. I'll walk," he grumbled. She took the hint and smiled as she walked out the door. "Then I'll see you at lunch. My treat." Danny glanced back at her, feeling more rotten than ever as guilt washed over him. He didn't need to take out his aggression on her. She was only trying to help after all.

"I'll apologize to her at lunch," he grumbled, shoving several spoonfuls of the oat-bran into his mouth."Why did I get this stuff?" he choked and made a face. "I hate this stuff?" He growled and threw the bowl and what was left of the cereal into the sink."

"Clean that out, please,"his mother told him as she walked by, carryinga large armful of junk down to the basement.

"No," Danny said. "I'm going to be late."

"Daniel Fenton," Maddie glanced back at him, "there's no reason to use that tone with me, and if you don't clean that bowl out, you'll loose privileges. You're old enough to clean up after yourself." Seething, Danny grabbed the bowl, and rinsed it out as he watched her disappear downstairs. Growling in frustration, he threw the bowl back in the sink, and left the cereal in the drainer before grabbing his backpack and walking out the door. Reaching in back of him, he slammed it shut on his finger.

"OW!" he yelped, thrusting the door open again. He glared at the throbbing, purple finger, and slammed the door again. Still concentrating on his finger, he went to step down the stairs, and found himself at the bottom, on his stomach, and with several more bruises. He yelled a four letter word at the stairs he'd tripped down and stomped off towards the school. The day got worse from there.

When he reached the school, he was still upset about the day, and his whole predicament, but he felt himself calming down...that is until a large figure stepped in his way.

"Well if it isn't Fentonio," Dash and several of his buddies towered over Danny, malicious grins on their faces.

"Guess what?" Danny shrugged, already telling himself to stay calm. "I just got my report card yesterday, but I couldn't find you then." He slapped his fist into the palm of his other hand and advanced on Danny, who did not step back. "So I'll just have to take out my frustration now." Danny closed his eyes, and tried to breathe slowly, but it didn't succeed in calming him down. This time, he actually felt his eyes turn, and opened them looking down. He was slightly surprised, and very frightened when he found he didn't care.

"Go ahead and try," he whispered dangerously, turning and glaring up at Dash. Dash stopped dead in his tracks, seeing the look in his face. Then his malicious smile turned angry.

"You think that that's funny, Fenton? You think that red contacts will scare me?"

"I don't know," Danny shrugged, and felt a smile creep over his face, "You wouldn't be that intelligent, would you?" Dash growled and sent a fist towards Danny's face. He stepped aside, dodging easily.

"Don't think you can get away from me, Fenton!" he yelled, trying to recover from the momentum of his missed swing, his back now exposed to the half-ghost. Danny narrowed his eyes, and simply kicked his knees in. Dash fell on the floor, growling in frustration and anger, and his friends began to advance on Danny, who felt more than ready, for once, when a voice behind him yelled out:

"What's going on here?" Mr. Lancer came jogging up to the group. At any other time, Danny would have had to stifle a laugh at seeing the out-of-shape man running. However, he stood quietly asthe balding teacheradvanced.

"Mr. Lancer! Fenton started it! He said he didn't want me to play in the game tonight!" Dash started favoring the knee Danny had kicked, although Danny knew he hadn't hurt it, seeing as he'd only been able to hit the back of it at the time.

"That's not what happened," Danny hissed, "although he would have deserved it."

"That's enough out of you, Daniel," Mr. Lancer said, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him towards the office. By the time he made it to his first class, late because of Lancer, who wouldn't even give him an excuse note, he felt about ready to explode. Slipping into an empty seat, he vaguely realized that Sam, who usually saved him a seat when he was late, wasn't in the class that day.