My Immortal
Summary: Danny's life becomes impossible knowing he's ruined someone else's life. It's even worse knowing it's his best friend.
Rating: PG-13 for mature themes and language.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. I do not own My Immortal, Evanescence does.
Chapter Four
Cause your presence still lingers here.
Sam held up another shirt. Jazz glanced over and grinned at her. "That one's cute," the older teen commented. Sam held up the black shirt with some sort of blue and silver oriental design on it. Sam nodded. "Don't tell me your joining my brother and becoming a mute."
Sam smiled slightly. "Nah." She hooked the hanger for the shirt around her wrist so she could try it on. The Fenton's had promised to let her go clothes shopping but just sending her and Jazz out with a credit card and telling them to use judgment hadn't been what she was expecting. But it was turning out to be a fun afternoon. It was sort of refreshing to just be a normal teenage girl, even if it was just for a little while.
"Good!" The red-haired girl sighed. "I knew he wasn't speaking to any of us but I figured he would talk to you." She glanced toward the goth teen. Sam felt uncomfortable under the blue-green gaze. So she just shrugged. "Well, I just think it's weird, that's all."
Sam fingered the edge of a shirt before moving on. "We had a fight, sort of."
"What happened?" This must have surprised the older girl because she stopped looking through the rack for a moment. Sam bit her lip. She wanted Jazz's advice on what to do but she couldn't bring herself to tell her. "Did it involve his disappearance?"
Sam nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. It was almost becoming habit to do that when she was nervous. "Yeah, in a way…" Jazz just stared at her and it was clear that Sam was stuck, no backing out at this point. "I'd rather not talk about it, Jazz."
Sam brushed past her and started looking at a skirt. She heard the senior whistle. "That bad, huh?"
"Jazz," she sighed, flipping through clothes. "I really don't want to talk about it. Let's go try on stuff okay?" Without waiting for an answer, Sam took off towards the dressing rooms. She knew this wasn't fair the way she was treating Jazz at the moment but she couldn't help it. Jazzmine had a tendency to stick her nose where it didn't belong and this was one Sam was just not going to tell her. No matter what.
Sam slammed and locked the door behind her. "Sam!" She almost groaned inwardly. "I don't get why you two can't just apologize to each other. I'm sure whatever he said he didn't mean it."
Sam pulled a shirt over her head before replying. "It's not what he said, it's what he did."
She heard the other girl scoff. "My brother does stupid stuff all the time. It's the one common theme in Danny's life is doing things before thinking." Sam adjusted the skirt she had on while trying to decide how to answer that. Danny did stupid stuff, true. But that was like trying to take on something he knew he couldn't handle by himself. Nothing of this magnitude.
"You know what? I think you need to be the bigger person and forgive him," Jazz's voice said again. Sam unlocked the door and stepped out to stair at the older girl. She grinned. "That looks cute. Do you like it?"
Sam shook her head, brushing aside a strand that insisted on falling in her eyes. "Forget the clothes for a second. I didn't do anything wrong. I am not apologizing."
Jazz stared at her. Sam always hated that look, like she could just stare right into you and figure everything out. She always used to do it, especially when she used to question Danny freshman year. It was weird how she had just suddenly stopped. Sam had suggested that maybe she had figured his secret out, but both the guys assured her that hadn't happened. "So don't apologize, just forgive him."
Sam scoffed. "Do you hear yourself when you talk?"
"Sam, something is obviously wrong. I think maybe it's the fact that you hate him." Jazz flipped her hair behind her shoulder.
Sam spun and faced the three paneled mirror. She smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from the skirt. "I don't hate Danny."
"But you're not his best friend anymore."
Sam spun on her heel. "I never said that. There's nobody I'm closer to than Danny." Sam hoped she looked more convicting than she felt. It was a technical answer and deep down she knew it. There was no one who knew her better than Danny but she wasn't sure if she could be his best friend anymore. It hurt too much. It was like saying 'It's okay you killed my family.' Sam couldn't stand that thought. It wasn't okay that Ryan and Jacob were dead, far from it.
Sam stared into Jazz's blue green eyes for a few seconds before looking away. "You don't know what you're talking about?"
Jazz pushed herself out of the chair she was sitting in by the corner. "Maybe. But that's only cause you're trying to get me to give you advice without telling me anything." Sam didn't know what hurt more, the insinuation that she didn't trust Jazz or the fact that what she was saying was true.
Sam turned and started back towards the dressing room. She paused and half-turned. "I can't tell you. I mean, even if I wanted to, I can't."
"That's as good as admitting you don't want to tell me, Sam."
The dark-haired girl turned back to face her best friend's sister. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. It's one of those things where it's not just my secret, its Danny's too."
Jazz rolled her eyes. "Good luck getting him to tell it."
"Maybe you should stop ragging on him constantly. Maybe he's got something going on that he needs to work out by himself." Jazz stared at her for a moment as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Jazz sighed. "I know you're right. I'm just so sick of waiting for him to work in out on his own. He's had three months to work it out on his own. I know nagging isn't going to help. It's just frustrating to see him shut me out like this. He's my little brother."
"Maybe that's the problem," Sam said softly. "He's not the little Danny we both grew up with. He's changing, Jazz. He's growing up, or being forced to. Danny's been through more than enough but he's still always kept that positive outlook he always had. He's always been the good guy and now he's starting to question that. We need to be there for him."
Suddenly what Sam was saying slapped her in the face. She was yelling at Jazz for the same thing she was doing. True Danny had done horrible things but so had she. Maybe not to the same degree but she still knew how it felt. Boy did she ever. "Jazz, after this store, can we go home?"
The older girl seemed to be studying her. "You want to?"
"That would be why I asked," Sam bit out sarcastically.
Sam turned and walked back into the dressing room. She still hadn't forgave him, far from it. But she decided that maybe this was about more than her forgiveness. Maybe it was just about her not being there for him anymore. He needed her and she turned around and did the opposite. That was the same thing that her parents had done to her a year ago. She had wanted them to be understanding and forgiving and work through it with her. She at least owed Danny the same thing she wanted.
She could try to figure out how she felt without condoning what he'd done right? Sam leaned back against the wall of the dressing room. When did life get so confusing? When did it go from black and white to grayscale? She hated gray mater. It made everything so much more confusing.
She wanted it back to normal. But above all she wanted her best friend back. How many nights had she sat up in that attic just wishing she was back with Danny and his family? Maybe wishing was pointless. Over the past year, where had it gotten her? No where. It was Danny who had supported her, putting all his own things on hold, despite how he felt about what she was doing. He had just been there. Maybe she just wasn't as good of friend as him.
She frowned as she slipped of the top and put back on her normal one. She was his best friend, always had been. He counted on her to not let him down. She promised herself she was going to do a better job. Even if she didn't forgive him, she didn't want to see him destroy himself. Sure there relationship was rough at the moment, but she didn't see how it could get any worse. That just wasn't possible.
Wow. New chapter. And the next ones already started. I'm so proud of myself. But you know who I'm really proud of? My fabulous fans: The Fuzy Llama, Spice of Life, Dannys-Ghostly-Girl, autumngold, Ryo's destiny, Blackjewel6666, getfuzzyfan04, Fox of Light, Chibi Millenia Phantom, The Good Girl, Moody Maud, Mr. Delmont, Hwoarangsguardie, Sakura Scout, Chicken Person, MayB, The Angel of Anarchy, WormmonABC, and Wind91Rider. You guys are so supportive it's amazing.
