A/N: This was an essay "on the importance of taking chances" from an 11th grade English test.

Danny and co. belong to Butch Hartman. I take full responsibility if you do not like this. Remember this is an AU. Sam would probablynot be popular given the chance. Oh, and Danny's smart for his grade. hehe

Danny's POV


You only live once, so live that one life to its fullest and take chances. If you don't take a chance then you are stuck wondering what might have been, instead of living it. When you start taking some chances, chances are great that your life will start taking off too. I found all those things out at when my friends told me I had one chance to get a date to Prom, and to ask the most popular girl in school, even though I had been going to Casper High for less than one month. Sounded like pretty horrendous odds to me. Let me take you back six years to my senior year in high school.

It was Thursday, May 17, and I still did not have a date to Prom, which just happened to be on Friday, May 18 this year.

"Hey, Danny!" My best friend Tucker said, "Wait up, I think I found you a date to Prom."

I stared at him, "Who would want to go out with me? I'm the new kid, the loser, remember." I said drawing out the last syllable.

"No, no, no. I'm serious. Sam Manson just broke up with Brad Phillips!"

"So?" I said. "Sam is way at the top and I'm so far down, if the social ladder was a circle, then we would be right next to each other, and besides, doesn't she have like a waiting list of guys, it'd take two weeks to date each of them for 30 minutes, with five or six dates a day! Prom is tomorrow!"

"You could just bypass the list and go straight to the girl."

"I want to actually like the girl I dance and hang out with for four hours."

"Just ask her, okay?"

"Okay, Tuck, fine," I said, exasperated.

"Hey, Danny." Tucker said, "Why not go out on a limb, isn't that where the fruit is?"

Laughing I asked, "Who said that?"

"Frank Scully," he said, as we parted ways.

Not only was Sam pretty, but she was also smart. Being seniors, we had to take Pre-Calculus, but Sam and I along with a few other seniors, and by "a few", I mean 4 others, are taking Calculus, having already taken Pre-Calculus as juniors. So, after class I saw my chance. "This is it," I told myself. Calculus just happened to be seventh period, which is more widely known as last period, so I didn't have anywhere to rush to after class, so I waited for her.

"Hi Danny," she said, in a very friendly voice. "What's up?"

"It was brought to my attention that you and Brad Phillips broke up, is that not true?" I asked, trying to sound intelligent.

"Yes, Danny. That is true."

"Are you two still on for prom, or are you now 'dateless,' as they call it?"

"Danny, if you want to ask me to prom, just ask me, I promise I won't bite your head off when I say no."

"Alright then, I will. Sam, would you like to go to prom with me?"

"I'd like nothing more than to go with you Danny."

One month at Casper High School and I had a date to prom.

The next day after school, I asked Sam if she wanted me to wear a tuxedo, and be like every other guy, or if she wanted me to be original. She replied with two words, "Be yourself," to that I replied with two words of my own, "Easy enough."

At seven o'clock, we made our way into the school gym, all the time I'm thinking to myself, 'this cannot be real,' 'this has got to be a dream,' thoughts like that. When we began to dance I asked Sam, "This can't be happening like this, it just doesn't make sense."

What came next made me realize that it wasn't a dream because I never could have dreamt anyone would have a reply such as hers: "Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common sense." I just stared into those beautiful amethyst eyes wondering what to say next. "Helen Rowland said that," she stated.

All I could say was, "that was beautiful, Sam." I said, getting lost in her incredible amethyst eyes. "Sam," I said breaking the silence.

"Danny," she said, as we leaned in and kissed in the middle of the dance floor, completely oblivious to our surroundings.

"It's getting late," I said glancing at my watch, realizing that it was twelve-thirty. "Let me take you home."

"Okay," she said.

When I pulled up to her house, she said, "Danny, let's do something sometime, just us." I replied, "Okay."

I drove home that night thinking about what had transpired in those five and one-half hours and realized that I had found someone I loved who had also happen to love me too. Samantha Manson became Samantha Fenton on, no coincidence, May 18, 2012, marrying me, Daniel Fenton. That day, I realized that if I hadn't asked Sam to prom, then I would be stuck wondering what might have been, instead of living it the way it is now. You only live once, take chances and do something with your life.

The End

Flames are accepted, not everyone will like every story I write, but not everyone will hate them either.

Oh, and, by the way, the real essay can be found under my penname (same thing) at FictionPress, and it helped me pass my English class. YAY!

Super Secret Squirrel