HE-OI! Tee hee, I made a funny noise…what the hell is wrong with me? HA! I got TWO reviews...wow, I must really suck at stories. As if I didn't already know…Anyway, UHH! I can believe the producers are making us wait until January 11th to see a new LOST. it's so…barbaric! Why do they do that to us? They know we are dedicated fans! Speaking of which, we have to wait till January for a new Avatar, and I heard we might not see a new Danny Phantom until February! O God, I don't know if I can wait that long! ROAR!

Alright, on with the show then,

This chapter has been dedicated to the sleep warrior and purpledog100, and everyone else who reviews…but, they're pretty much the only people who review, haha. "thumbs up sign" you guys are okay in my book!

Chapter 9
A Familiar Face

Tucker said nothing in reply to Sam's story. He only kept driving. In fact, it seemed no one said a word after Sam's story. They kept a constant silence as they drove, with only the sweet melody of cars and crickets to keep them company. As well as the sound of their own car pulling in and out of rest stops for Tucker who still can't control his own blatter. Nevertheless, it was all still too quiet for anyone's liking, though they never even showed a sign it bothered them. Tucker ran his right index finger along the steering wheel. It was getting dark, too dark to see. He glanced at the car's clock that glowed bright green. He cleared his throat.

"Funny," he laughed slightly, "how it seems to go from six in the morning to nine at night in seconds," Danny didn't really hear Tucker and turned his head to look out the side window.

"It's getting pretty dark out," he said spinning around to face Sam. "We might want to try to find a hotel now,"

Tucker nodded at what Danny said and saw through the shimmer of the car lights, a green sign on the side of the road. "Hey, Sam, what hotels we got coming up?"

Sam leaned over to the right window and glimpsed at the passing sign. "There's a Sleep Inn off exit 6,"

Tucker shuttered. "Hate that place…smells like shit!" he exclaimed.

Sam rolled her eyes and looked at another passing sign. "Super 8 Motel,"

Tucker stuck out his tongue and made a farting noise. "Blah! You mean Super Shit Motel!"

"Alright Mr. Perfectionist," Sam mocked. There was one last sign coming up. "It's Holiday Inn or nothing," she told him.

Tucker glared at her. "Does this one have an indoor pool and hot tub?"

Sam sighed. "I don't know!…maybe,"

"Then let's go," Tucker beamed as he pulled the car onto exit 6. As the three of them drove down the exit, they hear a ring coming from the car. Tucker rolled his eyes. "Okay, remind me to kill the person who had the phone and wasn't smart enough to call for help in the middle of the woods!"

"No one had a phone with them besides Sam," Danny told him.

"Yeah," Sam said running her hands along the seat. "I lost mine right after the…" Sam paused a moment. While running her hands along the seat, she felt something hard that was vibrating between the leather seats. She pulled it out and starred at it for a moment. It was her cell phone. "…car crash," she murmured. The phone kept ringing.

"Oh, just open the God damn phone!" Tucker wined. "I can't take it anymore!"

Sam ignored him, opening the cell phone slowly and holding it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"HELLO, MISS!" a cheery little voice sung.

Sam smiled in relief. "Winston?"

"O Miss, thank god I found you," Winston panicked.

"Why?…What's wrong?" she asked. She could here someone else talking on the phone to Winston.

"I now, I know, shut up!" she heard him sputter.

"Winston?" she asked again.

"Uh-um…Well, the thing is," Winston hesitated. "We have good news and bad news,"

"We?" Sam said in surprise. "What do you mean 'we'?"

"Well, the good news is," Winston ignored her. "I finally got my boxes of cookies!"

"Well, good to know we have a fresh supply of thin mints.," she said sarcastically. "What's the bad news?"

"Uh….Remember that little thing about me covering for you when your parents got home?" he asked.

Sam paused. "Winston…what did you do!" there was more voices bickering in the background.

"Give me that!" someone shrieked. Sam heard a thud, someone fell on the floor. No doubt in her mind, it was Winston.

"Sammykins!" a voice rang throughout the phone.

Sam slumped her head into her hand. "Oh…shit," she groaned.

"Sammykins, this is Mommy, where are you?"

"Well, Mother," Sam grinned as she glanced out the window at a passing sign. "At the moment, I'm about halfway through Tennessee,"

"Sam…" her mother said sternly. "When were you planning on telling us this?"

"Um…how was never going to work for you?" she thought. " 'Cause, that's kinda what I planned,"

"Who are you with?" her mother asked.

"Er-well…" Sam stammered.

"Are you with that strange boy and your outlandish friend with the glasses?" she asked.

"…no," Sam replied plainly.

"Hey, Sam," Danny said. "Who are you talking-"

Sam quickly covered Danny mouth with her hand and made a shushing noise. "Shush!" she whispered.

"Is that him now?" her mother sighed. "Sammykins, you stop this nonsense right now and come home,"

"Mom, I'm eighteen-"

"And immature- uh, hold on," her Mom sighed. "Grandma wants to talk to you,"

"…Okay, put her on," Sam moaned. She was getting sit of talking to her family. There was more ruffling on the phone again.

"Oh, Hello, Deary,"

Sam heaved a sigh and buried her face in her hand. "Uhh…Gran Gran, what do you want?"

"Oh, nothing from you, really," her grandmother giggled. "I just want you to get off the phone,"

"…Say what?"

"We're out of Hershey's chocolate, and I need your parents to go get me some more," she explained. "So, sorry, but we're going to half to go. I need my chocolate you know"

A smile began to stretch across Sam's face and she started to loosen up "Oh, no, no, no, that's perfectly fine. You go right ahead and get your…uh…"

"Chocolate," Gran Gran pointed out.

"Right," Sam nodded in confusion. "Uh…chocolate,"

"Alright then, bye bye, Dear- oh, and have fun at the Holiday Inn,"

"Uh hu-hey, wait a minute- how'd you know about-"

"Ta ta!" Gran Gran hummed as she hung up the phone. She turned to her son and smiled. "Now, Henry, can I go get my chocolate now?"

Mr. Manson sighed and closed his eyes. "Winston, bring my mother to the store to get some chocolate,"

"Oh, goody!" Winston beamed enthusiastically popping up next to Gran Gran. "What kind are we getting this time, Mrs. Manson!"

"Classic Hershey's chocolate with almonds! FIFTY THOUSAND BARS! AHAHAHAHA!" she laughed manically as she wheeled herself over to the door.

"I'll get the keys!" Winston sang as he skipped into the living room.

Mr. Manson shook his head and turned to his wife. "What on earth are we going to do with those two?"

"I'm not really sure," Mrs. Manson shrugged. "Oh well…want to go protest at Hot Topic?"

"Oh, why not," He said walking to the door.

Still slightly confused what the chocolate was about, Sam looked at the phone a moment and then hung it up.

By the time she had put it away into her purse, Tucker was pulling the car into the parking lot. "Who was that?" he turned around.

Sam shrugged and unlocked the door. "Family matters, nothing too important, really,"

"Oh, you're nice," Danny smiled as he jumped out the car and held the door open for Sam. She closed the door and the three of them made their way across the parking lot over to the hotel and walked inside.

The Holiday wasn't any grand villa, no doubt, but it was all they could find and they didn't really care. They were desperate, exhausted, and really stunk because of their lack of showering, being out in the woods all day. And unfortunately, none of them were smart enough to shower at Brook's. So the Holiday Inn felt like paradise to them. The three of them pushed the silver doors and stepped inside to a hotel where marble floors and metallic elevator doors stretched all around. There was a girl with dark skin at the front desk, yelling at the clerk.

"What'd ya mean you don't have any rooms left?" she shrieked. "I reserved a room here three days ago!"

"I'm sorry, Miss….uh,"

"Gray," she corrected. "It's Gray, and I reserved a room her days ago, even check your computer!"

"Um, I'm sorry, Miss Gray," the clerk stammered. "But-there aren't any rooms left-"

"Oh, don't give me that shit!" she retorted.

Distracted by the yelling, Tucker glanced over to the girl. "Hey, Danny," he said poking his friend, who clearly wasn't paying attention. He was much too preoccupied flipping through maps stack up on one of the tables to be bothered by Tucker. "…doesn't that look like Valerie…wait a minute, Valerie?"

The girl turned around by the sound of her name and smiled. "Tucker?"

"Valerie," Tucker laughed racing up to her. Realizing who the girl was, Danny and Sam followed. Valerie stayed in her position, though. And once Tucker reached her, she whacked him across the face with her purse. "O-bitch!" Tucker shrieked clutching at his face in pain.

Valerie folded her arms. "Where have you been?"

"I-"

"Why haven't you called?"

"Bu-"

"Oh, God, did my dad send you!" Valerie squealed.

Tucker held up his hands. "Am I going to be able to at least say something?"

Still too distracted with her own thoughts, she continuously ignored him and asked again, "Where have you been?"

"I was with Danny and Sam," Tucker replied, gesturing towards his friends. "We went on a road trip because Sam was depressed about Abb-uhh…well-she was depressed, so…um, here we are." he smiled. "But what about you? What are you doing here?"

"I called you ten times last week," Valerie explained to him.

"I never got any messages-"

"Well, I tried to call you!" Valerie snapped at him. "I'm visiting my Mom in Nashville-"

"Your Mom's alive!" Tucker exclaimed excitedly.

Confused by what he had just said, Valerie starred at him blankly. "Uh…yeah," she nodded. "What, did you think she was dead?"

"Well-I," Tucker shrugged scratching the back of his neck. "All the time I've known you, you've never said anything about it-and I've never seen her-so I just assumed," Valerie rolled her eyes. "Well, if you are visiting your mom, why aren't you staying with her? Nashville's only five hours away,"

"Ah, screw it," she said. "I'm not driving, I have been all day. Figured I'd just give myself a break,"

"Uh hu- Oh, man, I'm so sorry," he said pointing to clerk. "Uh, don't let me interrupt-please, continue,"

The clerk caste and evil glare over at Tucker and resumed her position. "Thanks, but if your thinking of getting a room, forget it. As I've told to this Miss about a thousand times, we have no rooms left,"

Shaking his head and scratched his chin, Tucker looked at the clerk. "Look….uhh, Amy," he said reading her name tag.

"Uh, It says Jen," she pointed out.

"Whatever," Tucker shrugged. "I know for a fact you have rooms-"

"I'm sorry sir, but for the last time, there's none left," she said. The clerk was clearly getting irritated.

Discouraged by what she kept saying, Tucker turned to Sam. "…If you will," he told her. Rolling her eyes and pushed him out of the way, Sam dug through her purse. When she was done, she threw a few bills at Jen.

Picking them up and widening her eyes at the amount that was on the bills, Jen stuck them in her pants pocket and smiled at them. "Would you prefer your rooms separate or joined, Miss Gray?"

…Why do I always have to end these stories so soon! WHY! WHY CANT I WRITE LONGER CHAPTERS!

...Because it's fun to mess with people.

Because reviewers are just plain bad ass awesome, they deserve to be treated with respect!

purpledog100: HAHA! YES! Nothings better than seeing my favorite trio getting high off of…"caviar". Ahh, life is good I'll tell you. UG, expect my older brother practicing the clarinet in the other room. O…God, it sounds like a dieing cow being beaten up with an ugly stick! Life sucks again. Yeah, I know its wasn't until next week, I noticed that right after I sent it. You should have seen the expression on my face, I was like…shit, I messed up again! HAHA! After I actually proofread this one! DAMN YOU MICROSOFT WORKS! DAMN YOU TO HELL! Anyway, I guess I've kinda been mixing up weeks and going crazy, so much stuff has been coming up. And I don't have a calendar…yet. Anyway, Hope you have a Happy Christmas and possibly the both of us will have a new year that doesn't suck...unless yours was good and I'm the only one around here who…sucks at life. HORRAH!

the sleep warrior: didn't think it was long? Well, no surprise, after I saw it on the net. It probably seemed long to me because I had it double spaced and 11 font. I'll keep it 1.5 again at 11 font. You see the Christmas episode? AH! Sam's Jewish! I love it! Haha. You think you lost your talent too? NAY! Don't make me LAUGH sleep warrior, don't even try…seriously, please don't. When you or any other kick ass writer on says that…it give me no hope at all for myself. NO HOPE! I mean, if you guys lose you talent, what hope do the rest of us Lil' Folk have? NONE! We shall be buried in our own ashes! Terrible fate, really. Well anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and have a Happy Christmas, or in Sam's case, a happy Hanukah!

Well, my regards to the reviewers has been done, so is the chapter, and now I'm going to go eat some cookie dough ice cream while I think of something for my other fanfic, Murder Damage…Wow, my fanfic names really suck. Maybe I should rename that one…

REVIEW AND COME BACK FOR CHAPTER TEN!
-I Brake For Ghosts