A/N: Yeah, I think this fic is pretty much gonna be an angst-fest. Just warning you.

Chapter Two

Danny slid into a seat in the lunchroom, thankful that the day was already half over. Across from him sat Sam and Gregor, both happily chowing down on salads and smoothies. Sam paused in her eating to smile, "Hey, Danny."

"Hey Sam, Gregor."

Gregor gave a half-wave in return, his mouth full of food. Danny looked back towards the lunch line, "Is Tuck gonna be joining us?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "No, he's trying to get Star to go out with him. Again. You'd think he'd give it a rest."

"She is, ah… the fickle type, yes?" Gregor gave a half-smile.

"Please, she's not fickle - she's just shallow. Fickle implies that there's actually some depth to her."

Gregor shrugged, smiling again, unwilling to get into an argument with his girlfriend. He knew she wasn't very fond of so many of the popular types in the school, and he knew better than to try to play devil's advocate. Danny, meanwhile, had begun eating his lunch, despite having severe doubts as to the integrity of the food. Sam looked at him now, though, and frowned, "Danny, is that blood on your sleeve?"

"Huh?" Danny looked down at his sleeve and saw that there was a rusty looking blotch near the cuff. Oh shit, he thought, but when he looked up he adopted a look of nonchalance, "Oh, must've been Dash. He grabbed me in the hall before school."

Sam raised her eyebrow, "You bled because he grabbed your wrist?"

Danny shrugged, swallowing some more of his lunch, "Well, I don't see what else could've caused it. Unless it was ketchup or something."

"Well, roll up your sleeve and check, then."

"Here, I'm almost done with my food, I can go see the nurse or something. I kind of have to go to the bathroom anyway." He shoveled the last of his meal into his mouth, and took a swig of his milk, "I'll see you in English."

"Well, alright…" Sam said, sounding a little bit doubtful. She watched Danny leave, frowning slightly. She looked at Gregor, who seemed to be thoughtfully regarding the retreating boy. She looked at Danny again, "Has he been acting a little off lately, or is it just me?"

"Well, I would not be able to say. You have known him a long time, yes? I have known him for a short time only."

It could just be fighting ghosts so much… Tuck and I haven't really been able to help him lately, after all…

Danny sat down in the stall, and rolled his sleeve up. Yeah, he'd been bleeding. But he suspected that he'd been partially right in asserting that it was Dash grabbing his arm that made him bleed, because that cut had definitely scabbed over before he got dressed in the morning. It didn't seem to be bleeding any more, so he rolled his sleeve back down.

He exited the stall and walked over the sink. He quickly glanced around the bathroom, before plunging his arm under the cold water tap. The blood came out easily enough, and he turned the sink off. He wrung out his sleeve as best he could, and then grabbed a paper towel and squeezed it around his wrist to further dry his sleeve. He discarded the paper towel and was just about to leave when Dash burst into the bathroom.

Great, here we go again, Danny thought as he saw Dash spot him. Dash thundered over, and Danny took a step backward. Dash scrutinized Danny, tilting his head slightly as if to get a better look. He finally leaned back slightly, "Hey, Fentoad, did I make you bleed?"

Danny blinked, suprised, "Uh, no."

"Oh. Good." Dash suddenly looked confused, though, "Wait, then why were you bleeding?"

"And how did you know I was bleeding?"

"'Cause it got on my hand, duh. Gross, Fenton germs, just what I need."

Danny rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I love you too."

"What!" The jock looked instantly horrified.

"It's called sarcasm."

Dash scowled, "Yeah, yeah, I knew that…"

Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He got the distinct feeling that if he did so he might end up in one of the toilets.

"Wait, so why were you bleeding?"

Danny cocked an eyebrow, "Why do you care?"

A cocky grin suddenly split Dash's face, "Hey, good point! I should just be shoving you in a locker!"

Danny blanched, "How about you just leave me alone for the day? Obviously someone else inflicted pain on me today, do you really need to add to that?"

"Well, yeah, but I gotta go corner Patterson before the end lunch." Here he smirked, "The geeky twerp owes me money. See ya later Fenturd!"

The door slammed, and Danny breathed a sigh of relief. At least something had broken in his favor. The bell rang, and he smiled ruefully - it seemed that Patterson, too, was going to escape the wrath of Dash Baxter, even if only for a day.