Another short chapter, but it's an ok one.
Disclaimer:I still don't own any of this except Mary-Ann
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The next morning, Danny woke up a bit early. He had a little surprise for his mom. Smiling evilly, he flew through his floor into the kitchen, where he knew his mom would be. She was alone, because Jack was never up this early. Staying invisible, he flew right up to his mom's ear. "Boo! I mean, uh, fear me!" He then started laughing. Maddie, knowing her son's laugh anywhere, ghost-like or not, looked to where he had been before and put her hands on her hips.
"Ok, I get it, you know I know! Now, quit goofing off!" Danny turned visible again and rolled his eyes. "Oh common, you have no sense of humor. At least Sam or Jazz would go on about how scared of ghosts they are." He rolled his eyes again, this time with a smile. Maddie was proud to see her son was becoming more assertive, even if it meant somehow rearranging his DNA. His ghost persona was much stronger mentally and emotionally than his human one. He made more jokes, and seemed to take hits easier, if he got hit at all. He let himself float to the ground next to her.
"Do you want some breakfast? Seeing as you haven't really eaten lately, I imagine you're starving. Danny shook his head. "Ghosts don't need to eat, sleep, or breathe. We just do it if we feel like it. And honestly, I don't feel like eating right now. I'm a little nervous about telling Dad." Maddie saw Jazz sneaking to the door of her parents' bedroom, guarding it in case Jack got the idea to wake up early for once. "I can see that you'd be nervous. After all, you're his son, and you love him. You don't want to scare him, and you also don't want to get hurt. Let me tell you, dear, that I'll have a talk with your father later, after you leave for school, telling him that the you'll probably be showing up after school today to tell him your name. I'll tell him not to hurt you or anything like that, and that he should remember that he is dealing with a teenager, and a scared one at that. He also has to be willing to acknowledge that you might be someone he knows. I think we're all going to be ok, Danny. Don't give up!" Danny smiled at his mom's ability to think things out and rationalize, and how to do things without hurting anyone.
"Good morning, Dad! How are you?" Jazz almost yelled from upstairs. Danny, taking the hint, flew back up to his room, where he was going to get his makeup and such on. He'd be down at breakfast in a few minutes. When Danny came down, his dad was sitting at the table, blabbering on about ghosts and such. "Oh geez, I hope that kid tells me soon, that's gotta be the worst thing I ever did." Jack stared at his plate of pancakes, and sighed. Everyone could tell how bad he felt. Danny, even though he was scared, just wanted to scream that he was the ghost kid, just to stop his father's pain.
"Hey Jack, I actually saw the ghost kid before you were up this morning. He said he'd be down this afternoon to tell you who he is, because things are getting to be way too much for him. He didn't tell me who he is, he said he didn't want the word to get out more than it had to. This kid's been telling me about how hard it is to pretend nothing's wrong in school, and all the stuff he has to do to look human." She threw a quick glance and smile in Danny's direction as she said this, and Jack didn't notice at all. "Maddie! Why didn't you tell me! Gee, if that ghost kid was still here, I'd suggest he tell me now, so he could have a normal day, and I wouldn't feel bad about it." Jack rambled. Danny walked over to his dad, and put a sleeved arm around his shoulder. "Don't worry Dad, I'm sure the kid will make it through the day just fine. I mean, if he couldn't, wouldn't everyone know who he was by now? For all I know, some of the popular people might know, and things haven't gotten down to the bottom of the social grapevine. But I'm guessing that if somebody knew, within a few hours it would be on the news, and there hasn't been anything suggesting it." Jack looked up at his son, eyes filled with the good thoughts that Danny had given him. Danny smiled a meek smile back, and turned around. "I'll be in my room. I've gotta get ready for school." He hurried up the stairs.
Taking the hint, Maddie followed him up. When he got there, she sat on his bed while he ran a comb through his false raven-black hair. He was getting fed up with it sticking on clumps of dye. Getting too mad, he made his hair intangible long enough for the dried clumps ended in a bucket. He was starting to run a comb through his now white hair when his mom had an idea. "Uh, Danny? How would you like to stay home from school today? I can get your father to go on some meaningless task and we can chat. I'd love to know all the amazing stuff you've done, and what ghosts you've battled. First off, when did you get ghost powers?" Danny froze at this. It had been a while now, how long ago was it? He decided that that one event that gave him the powers would be sufficient info, after all they knew that much. "It was the accident. It was just so weird. I think I'm getting used to them more, with less phasing through stuff when nervous and such. About staying home, please! It's way too much at school!" Maddie nodded, and smiled at her son. He was trying to evenly spread the new hair dye in his hair. She walked over to him to give him a hand. He gave her a thankful smile and a big hug.
"So, what kind of meaningless task should we send your father on? A ghost haunting the other end of town? What ghost is the easiest to beat?" Danny smiled at this. He loved his mom's attention and value of his opinion now. "That's an easy one, the Box Ghost. Sure, he won't shut up, but it'll get Dad out of my hair. And it's not like either of them will do any real damage to the town, right?" Danny reached into his desk and pulled out a thermos. "Um, let's see here...which button will let out the Box Ghost? Let's see here. Desiree? No. Plasmius? When did I catch him? I actually caught him? I mean, uh, no. He's my arch enemy. Technus? Master of long winded introductions? Torture. Ember? Definitely not. Ah, here he is. Now just to get him to the other end of town. Let's see here...I know! JAZZ!" His sister ran upstairs, panting slightly when she got there. "Danny? What's wrong? Is there a ghost? Where?" He couldn't help but smile at his slightly weird sister.
"Uh, not here. But downtown maybe, in like ten minutes? Can you do that? You just hit this button." He threw the thermos at her, a small button marked in red marker. Jazz nodded. "But why?" After the explanation, she nodded and ran out of the room, front door slamming about five minutes later. In about ten more, Jack ran out of the house, having heard about a ghost attack downtown. Now that they were alone, Danny took off all the makeup and extra clothes.
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Next chapter's mostly a conversation between Danny and his mom. Oh, common guys, you know that kinda has to happen. If you want a preview:
"I mean, there were a few cases when I'd fall through floors and stuff, that explains the dropped beakers too. My first month was the hardest. After that, I got better almost exponentially. Wow, exponentially, I didn't know I knew that word. I guess I do learn when I actually get a chance to stay in class." Maddie furrowed her eyebrows at this. What was her son saying? When he got a chance to stay in class?