Well, these chapters and the plot are going to build up fairly slowly but I'll do what I can. Anyway, without further ado…
Danny and his friends were now beginning sophomore year. There had been no major ghost problems ever since the attack 3 weeks before. Unfortunately, that's what worried him, which made him think Plasmius was up to something.
"Just be grateful for a break." said Tucker. "We don't have to stay up all night."
"Well that's true." said Danny. "Let's get to Lancer's class before we're late."
They arrived just a matter of seconds before the bell rang. Lancer was the same as ever; out of shape, obsessed with books, etc. Today, however, he was looking annoyed.
"I'd like to introduce two new students." said Lancer. "They are William Grey and Travis Thorn. I suggest you treat them respectfully, or you will hear from me."
William was similar to Dash in size, except that he was fatter. He had blue hair and brown eyes and had a peaceful look about him. He wore a black shirt with blue shorts, which obviously revealed that he didn't care for fashion. He looked bored and eager to get the class over with.
Travis, on the other hand, was genuinely interested, though why Lancer glared at him was anybody's guess. He had brown, curly hair and brown eyes. He wore a brown shirt and pants, preferring a plain look. He was skinny, about Danny's size.
William sat next to Dash and Paulina while Travis sat next to Danny. Travis seemed to be more pleased with his seating arrangement than William, who was groaning.
"So do you two know each other?" Danny asked.
"We're cousins." he replied. "By the way, why do you have a paranormal book in your backpack?"
"How did you know it was paranormal?" asked Danny.
"I saw that book in a used bookstore two weeks ago. It had a black and green color combination on the top. Tucker, you're obsessed with Jasmine."
"No, I'm not!" exclaimed Tucker. "What would give you that idea?"
"More important, how do you know who she is?" asked Danny.
"For starters, your backpack is open and I recognized her from the two zits on the left side of her nose." said Travis. "As for knowing what her name was, I heard one of the teachers call 'Jazz' and she responded. What was I supposed to think?"
"You're certainly an observant person, Travis." said Sam. "What can you tell about me?"
"For starters, you're not a Goth except to appear different." said Travis. "Your parents are the complete opposite of you and you spray paint your clothes black as a form of teenage rebellion."
"How do you figure all this out?" asked Danny.
"You guys should keep your backpacks zipped all the way." he replied. "But even without that, I can sort of tell. You were complaining about your parents earlier and my hand brushed up against your dress. It didn't feel quite like a dress, so I put two and two together."
"What are you, a pervert?" asked Tucker.
"No, it was pure accident." said Travis. "You're worse than I am. You walked by the girls' locker room 11 times and every time someone came out, your eyes looked around as much as they can."
"We better get to work before Lancer catches us." said Tucker, trying to control his embarrassment.
Not to mention Sam's wearing a bra with straps in the front. On her back, there's no imprint of any straps. And Danny's also got lipstick in his…"
Before he could finish his sentence, the class started laughing. They apparently heard Travis' last comment. William shook, hoping this wouldn't be another school that hated his cousin.
"Students, if you have to talk about your personal lives, please do it outside of my classroom." Lancer said strictly and the class quieted down, though they still sniggered.
Class went by the same way for the next couple of hours. Travis seemed to have fun being around them, though Tucker and Sam were irritated. Danny, however, took an instant liking to the boy. William met up with him, furious at Dash for ripping up his handbook.
"So what school did you two go to?" asked Danny.
"We went to Sacramento Christian, a catholic school." said William. "It wasn't very fun, but my cousin won the state spelling tournament."
"He's that smart?" asked Sam.
"Yep, always was." replied William. "Social skills need some work, but you didn't need me to tell you that."
"Can you tell him not to shout out embarrassing facts?" asked Tucker.
"It won't do any good." said William. "Besides, you got to admit that it was… Valerie? Is that really you?"
Valerie walked up to the group and was shocked to see him. After a few seconds, they hugged each other tightly. Valerie decided to explain to the dumbfounded teens.
"We're half-siblings." said Valerie. "I'd rather not go into any more detail."
"Your mom ran off with another man." said Travis.
"I never told you that!" she said angrily.
"You didn't need to." said Travis. "It's quite simple if you think about it. Mom, Burt and you all have blue eyes, but I have brown. Not to mention the nose differences, differences in hair type, that sort of thing."
"Do you ever listen to me?" she screamed.
"Valerie, calm down." said William. "Yelling at him isn't going to do any good. How many times have you done this before. Travis, what are you doing?"
"Just putting these lockers at zero." said Travis. "They're supposed to be at zero."
"Travis, leave my locker alone." said Danny. "It's fine where it is."
Travis sighed and looked around. He figured out that Paulina was a smoker, Dash and the other football players were trying to sneak into the girls' locker room, and a boy and girl that everyone thought was together were related.
His attention was focused on the football players, though. Dash was drinking grape soda, chugging it down to his disgust. Not to mention it dribbled over his shirt. Before Travis could clean, he was called back to reality.
The bell rang and they gathered their books. Travis saw Danny leaving his lock at 7 and fought the instinct to change it back to zero. Meanwhile, while getting their books, Valerie and William were talking about what had gone on over the years.
"So what exactly are we doing here?" asked Ron. "it's not like he's just going to show up."
"We don't know who he is." said Hermione. "We'll just have to wait until he comes around."
During lunch, they again walked to their lockers, chatting with each other. Sam and Tucker had warmed up to Travis a little, but they still were not happy with him. William had hung around, looking proud of himself for punching Dash in the stomach.
"You know, why the hell did we decide to take theatre arts?" asked Danny, opening his locker, ignoring Travis trying to set the lock at zero. "She's just plain obsessive."
"Mr. Fenton!" yelled a voice. Mr. Lancer was above them, glaring at Danny. He had no idea what was going on and wondered why he was angry this time. "Please open your locker."
He did so and Lancer's glare darkened. Inside was a box with over 250 dollars behind it, belonging to the 10th grade officers. Students started to crowd around, wondering who Lancer was yelling at.
"Mr. Lancer, it can't have been him!" said Tucker. "We were with him the whole time!"
"I'm sure, Mr. Foley." said Lancer. "As much as I would like to charge you and Ms. Manson as accessories, I'm afraid I can't prove it."
He dragged Danny to the office, with his friends staring in bewilderment. Sam sighed; she knew Danny didn't do this. She just knew it!
"He didn't do it." said Travis. "And I'm going to prove it."
Danny was expelled and sent home. His parents and Jazz were furious. Sam, Tucker, Travis, and William went to his house to try and console him. (Sam and Tucker didn't want them to come, but William knew that if it was planted, Travis would be the only one who could figure it out)
"Why did you do it, Danny?" asked Jasmine. She didn't want to believe he had done it, but who else could it be? "Why?"
"Jazz, I didn't." replied Danny. "I thought you of all people…"
"Forget it, Danny." said Jazz. "Just do the right thing. Please," She saw them and said. "Danny can't have visitors for a month. You better leave before Mom and Dad get back."
"Jasmine, if Danny truly didn't do it, Travis may be the only one that can prove it." said William. "Just give us a chance?"
"Okay, how do you know he's innocent?" asked Jazz.
"The locker," Travis replied. "When we went to third period, the lock was at 7, but when we arrived at lunch, it was all the way at 17." Jazz looked at him questioningly. "I got a good look, okay?"
"Can you help us?" asked Sam. "Please, I know he's innocent."
"I hope he didn't do it." said Jazz. "What kind of help do you want?"
At that moment, Tucker took out a jumbo bag of M and M's and started chomping down on them. William took them away, saying he'd get them back after they were done.
"Find out who was excused from class, who has a free period, everyone that was out in 3rd and 4th period." said Travis. "That should give me a list of suspects."
Danny walked out of the house, going for a walk. Unfortunately for him, a police car stopped and they got out of the vehicle with handcuffs.
"Daniel Fenton, you are under arrest for stealing school property." he said. "You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you by the state."
They stared in shock as he was hauled to the back of a police vehicle. "We don't have a lot of time." said William. "We're counting on you, Travis."
Danny groaned as he was once again interrogated. They would still not believe him when he said he was innocent. It looked like he was going to spend some time in the hall, not to mention his parents were going to kill him.
Speaking of which, they finally arrived, wanting to speak with their son. He wondered how much trouble he was going to get into.
"Before you ask, I didn't do it." said Danny. "I don't know how the money got in there."
"Don't worry, I believe you, son." said Jack. "There's only one logical explanation: a ghost overshadowed you and framed you for what he did! I bet it was Inviso-Bill!"
"Yeah, I'm sure the jury is really going to believe that." Danny replied sarcastically.
"Danny, in juvenile cases, the verdict is decided by a judge, not a jury." said Maddie. "That is, unless it's a serious offense."
"So basically I'm screwed." said Danny. "This is just perfect."
"So that's the list." said Jazz.
"Danny definitely isn't on it." said William. "He's on to something."
"Okay, now who would have access to the money, or Danny's locker combination?" asked Travis. "The teachers would, but why would they steal the money and blame it on a student? No, I'm sure this is personal."
"We can't go to the school board based solely on this." said Tucker.
"True, but it is something." replied Jazz. "Travis, can you figure out anything more?"
"Where do they keep locker combinations?" asked Travis.
"They're in the counselor's office." said Sam. "So whoever did it was in the counselor's office before."
"But I'm sure they don't release the locker combinations to students." said Tucker. "They better not know mine."
"23-9-4." Travis replied and Tucker glared at him angrily. "All you have to do is be observant."
"Can we get back to the problem, please?" asked William.
"Okay, the person who framed Danny would have to have access to the money and the locker combinations." said Travis. "Who's the treasurer?"
"His name's Bob something." said Sam. "I didn't really pay attention."
"Jazz, I'll need one more favor." said Travis. "Ask the teachers what time they let students out and why. I want to take another look at his locker."
"What are you guys doing?" asked Valerie, walking into the room.
"Don't you ever knock?" Sam demanded.
"I've been knocking for 5 minutes, trying to get your attention." she replied. "So what is all this about?"
"Danny's innocent." said William. "Travis has been figuring every single reason why he couldn't do it."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Valerie.
"Go to the counselor's office." said Jazz. "You're one of her favorite students and ask her who's been in there."
"Isn't that confidential information?" asked Valerie.
"I'm sure there are ways around it," said William. "We don't have a lot of time to put our plan into action."
"Is that scanner working yet?" asked Tonks.
"No, I'm afraid not." said Hermione. "Something seems to be blocking it, but what kind of magic could do that?"
Just then, it completely shut down. Hermione growled and tried to fix it, but no matter what she did, nothing seemed to work.
"We've been here for nearly a day and found nothing." said Ron. "This may have been a waste of time."
"And this will be the end of your time." a voice laughed.
"Well, here are all the times the teacher remembers." said Jazz. "So what do you think?"
"I'm sure he'll figure out something, but this is nearly impossible." said Valerie. "Even he's going to have a hard time."
Ignoring her, Travis looked it over, deep in thought. After about 10 seconds, he set it down and walked around. He walked from room 206 to the office, then from room 206 to the bathroom. Travis was counting to himself as he walked slowly, then briskly.
After nearly 5 minutes of waiting, he stopped and faced them. "I solved the case." he said. "I know who did it and I know how. I'll have to check a few more things to be sure, but I think I can prove Danny's innocence."
"Thank you, Travis, thank you!" said Jazz, hugging him tightly.
"You still got it, cuz." said William. "Valerie, help him check what he needs. Jazz, maybe you should go with him in case they need you."
They left and Tucker and Sam looked no less proud. William laughed and they sat at a table. Tucker got himself starburst from the snack stands. He ripped open the wrapper and was about to eat them when Travis started sorting them by color.
"Travis, what are you doing?" asked Tucker, trying not to get mad. After all, he just proved Danny was innocent.
"I'm separating them." replied Travis. "They've got to be separate."
"Guys, Lancer's willing to hear us out." said Valerie. "We have to meet with him after school."
"Okay, I know that they had to let me go because they didn't have an arrest warrant for me, but why am I allowed in school?" asked Danny.
"Travis is about to prove you innocent, Danny." said Sam. "We're meeting with Mr. Lancer."
They walked into his office while he was talking with Dash. He told him to leave, but Travis shook his head, wanting him to be there.
"Okay, here's what happened." Travis began.
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