A/N: Thanx for the reviews for the last chapter! You all made me so incredibly happy I had to hurry up and update…maybe this is what Lacey was talking about! Warnings…minor swearing shall commence and probably some very mild smut! Nothing to bad in this one…at least I don't think … oh whatever. Enjoy this one!
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Ashes to Ashes
Part Two: Smoke
"Arg," Sam growled to herself as she crumpled up yet another piece of paper with a few scribbles on it. "This should not be this hard! Hell, if that stupid ditz Miranda Jones could do it last year, I most certainly can! Now, let's just start this again Manson…. 'It's amazing how the year went by so fast…' Damn it!"
She crumpled up that paper and threw it into the trash bin with enough force to knock over a few piles of papers onto the floor beside it. She ran her left hand through her smooth, freshly washed raven hair, while stretching out her writing hand to let out the cramps that had accumulated over the past three hours. She cast her lilac gaze over to her calendar, noting in her mind that the big circled day was in fact the next day, which meant that her speech needed to be done in exactly 22 hours and forty-seven minutes. A week ago, that had not seemed to be such a daunting fact, but that was before a rainy tryst with a half ghost on top of a destroyed apartment complex.
Even though a tiny voice of reason told her she needed to write her speech, the rest of her mind and body went back to that moment as if she couldn't control her actions; plus, Danny was a much nicer topic to brood about then a farewell speech to a student body she didn't even like. It wasn't the first kiss she had with him, or with any boy for that matter, but it most certainly was the first that had her feeling things she never had before. Their last kiss, their 'fake-out make-out,' had been incredibly innocent has she looked back in hindsight, their hands hadn't even moved for goodness sakes. This one though…this one had made her feel like abandoning all her inhibitions to the wind, and had left her with thoughts that made her warm all over despite the chill that was still permeating Amity Park still. It was…
"Electrifying," Sam breathed aloud, knowing that was the only word that came close to describing what her and Danny had shared. "Or explosive," she said with a giggle as she rolled off her chair to lie down on her carpeted floor. Her parents had been inquiring her on what had brought about the cheerful disposition she had been exuding for a week, but she would always just smile and say that it was the weather. She really didn't want to tell them that she was happy because she had finally done what they had always feared she would do, get involved with that Fenton-boy! The fact that dating Danny would irk her parents to the point of insanity didn't help make their 'relationship' any less forbidding…which thrilled her.
She sat up and rested her head on her windowsill to gaze at the now full moon, this time out of happiness instead of self-pity and regret, and imagined she could see a familiar snowy-haired ghost streaking across the moon. It was mind-boggling, that one kiss could render her into a giddy-school girl, so un-Goth, but she didn't care about maintaining her image that much anymore. There were so many more important things that she could focus on, not trying to prove to people she was a unique person; she knew and that was all that mattered to her now. She laughed at the thought that, despite all her own efforts, she had grown up into a stable young woman, no longer the moody, sarcastic teenager that she had been.
Well, she was still sarcastic, but maybe not as bad.
The smile wilted into a small frown as she let her thoughts linger on that particular piece of information, her thoughts now branching off to a tangent topic that had to do with growing up. Sure, she was excited about graduating and going off to experience college, any high school senior usually is, but growing up meant she would have to leave behind her hometown. She'd have to leave her family (despite how much they annoyed her from time to time, she still loved them very much) and also everything she was used to here.
She'd have to leave Danny…
Danny, Sam, and Tucker had known after a counselor had come by to discuss there future and colleges in their junior year that Danny could never be an astronaut like he had always dreamt of being and that he could never go to a college that was far away from Amity park. He had been upset about it, but he accepted it as a necessary thing he would have to endure for choosing to be a hero; he had again been asked to give up the things he wanted and needed to protect people he didn't even know. He had put up a brave front as Tucker was accepted into a dozen technology programs at prestigious colleges, and had even helped his best friend narrow down his final choice to UCSD earlier that year.
But when Sam had been accepted into NYU, over a thousand miles away, she could visibly see his resolve start to crack. She had actually considered not going when she got her letter, not wanting to leave him here alone, but he had vehemently declared to her that she should not give up her life because of him. They got into an argument that resulted in a shaky friendship (for more than one reason she knew) that had endured until a week ago, and it was after that argument that she had realized how much she cared for him. She ended up following his wishes and would be going there in the fall, but now she doubted her decision. She had made that decision thinking it would be easier to leave this town and all the feelings she had for Danny here, but now that she had accepted those feeling, was it still the right decision?
Did she really want to leave Danny now that they discovered something so amazing between the two of them? Was she willing to actually try a long distance relationship in college, the ones that Jazz always said never worked out? Did she want to put herself through the pain of not being able to see him every day, or worse, watch their relationship fall apart as the distance ate away their passion?
"Ugh," Sam groaned as she hit her forehead on the windowsill. "Why can't I just go back to thinking about how nice he looks in that spandex suit! I don't want to have to think about these things right now!"
"Sam, are you okay?" a familiar voice asked her, causing her to whip her head up so fast she was surprised she didn't get whiplash. Her lilac eyes met two glowing green ones, which were currently looking at her in such a quizzical way, she couldn't help but smile at how adorable he looked when he was confused. He smiled back at her as he turned back into his human form and sat down on her bed, crossing his legs underneath his slender form Indian-style.
"Yeah, why?" Sam asked as she forced a blush she felt on her cheeks to dissipate and got up from her crouched position on the floor and sat next to him on her bed.
"Well," he said with a grin. "Whenever you're muttering to yourself on the floor of your room and not noticing when the temperature drops ten degrees, I get a little concerned. Do we need to send you back to the mental ward Miss Manson?"
"Shut up you jerk!" Sam said as she playfully shoved his shoulder. "You and Tucker snuck me there when I was still out after my appendicitis surgery! Do you know how confused I was when I woke up and I had a nurse trying to give me a shot of God knows what? You could have been sent to jail if anyone found out what you two did!"
"You know you wouldn't send a face as pretty as mine to jail Sammy," Danny said as he gave her his patented puppy-dog eyes and pout. If anything, it had only got more irresistible as he got older. "Plus, you know Tucker couldn't take it!"
"Well that's true," Sam conceded as an image of Tucker in jail filled her mind, making her chuckle in an evil way. She looked back at him and just enjoyed the fact that they were able to talk and joke around like they used again, she had missed that so much this past year.
"Thinking about me in spandex again?" Danny asked with a mischievous glimmer in his blue eyes, his mouth quirking into a cocky grin.
"You heard that?" Sam half groaned, half laughed as she buried her red face in her hands. After she composed herself to a light pink tint, she lifted her face to look at him again and grinned in a fiendish way. "Anyway, I was talking about Phantom in spandex, not you. Sorry Danny."
Danny gave her a surprised look before he furrowed his brow at her in mock anger. "Excuse me Manson, but I believe that you yourself have said that Phantom and Fenton is the same person. Are you now calling yourself a hypocrite?"
"Of course not," Sam answered with a smirk. "I'm to smart to let myself fall into that trap. Do you wear spandex at anytime other than when you're Phantom? No? Didn't think so mister Fenton. Besides, Phantom's a lot more forward than Fenton is."
"What?" Danny asked, now a little unnerved by how far Sam was taking the joke…if it still was a joke. He had a feeling that it wasn't.
""Well," Sam drawled as she leaned forward and biting her lip in a strangely seductive way that surprised her at her daring. "I don't think that Danny Fenton would have initiated a kiss like that the other night like Phantom did. It was nice to be surprised for once…"
"I can be daring without being Phantom," Danny said as his blue eyes darkened their color with something that Sam couldn't quite place, but something that thrilled her nonetheless.
"Prove it," Sam whispered in a husky voice that sounded like she had something stuck in her throat…maybe her heart. She could never remember a time when she had been so daring and, dare she think it, sexy; it excited her to see she had such a noticeable effect on the black-haired boy sitting across from her.
Whatever hesitations Sam thought that Danny would have were obviously false as he leaned over and captured her lips, one hand bracing him on the bed and the other cupping the back of her neck. She smiled into the kiss before she also responded, happy at both the surprise and the shivers going down her spine. Sure, her door was unlocked and her parents were home for once, but that just made the whole situation that much more appealing to her. It felt dangerous, a feeling she had never felt without being in mortal danger before, it was quite a nice sensation from the opposite viewpoint.
After a minute or so, Danny closed the small distance between them, pulling Sam into his lap, and encircling her slim waist with his arms. Sam willingly submitted to his embrace, draping her legs on either side of his own, and she dug her hands deep into his hair like she did on the apartment roof. It was so soft, and it felt nice that it wasn't wet Sam thought as she trusted her fingertips to massage his scalp; she breathed a happy sigh into his mouth as she felt one of his hands touch the skin on her lower back, the other still balancing her by holding her upper back.
Neither was sure just how long they were at it, much to lose in their own world of touches and feelings to notice something as unimportant as time, but when Sam heard a creak on the stairs outside her door she snapped out of that dreamland awful quick. She ripped her head away and looked up with a startled expression at the doorway, biting her lip in dread.
"Sam," Danny started before Sam clapped her hand over his mouth quickly to stifle his voice.
"Go invisible now," Sam hissed as she saw a shadow appear underneath her door frame. "Hurry Danny, my parents are outside!"
It didn't take Danny more than a millisecond to obey her, mention of her parents outside enough to convince him that it would be in his best interest to disappear now. He did not want to lose the other half of his life because her parents, who already disliked him for one reason or another, caught him and Sam on her bed... alone…and at night.
"Sammykins!" her mother shouted as she walked into the room, her husband not far behind her. "Just coming up to see how our little salutatorian is doing on her speech! Do you need a break or…why are you sitting on your bed like that?"
Sam looked down to see she was still sitting in a position with her legs over Danny's. He was invisible, so now it looked like she was practicing childbirth on her bed, something that even Sam knew her parents would not approve of…they'd probably say it was Danny's. "Oh, well I was kind of stressed out so I took a break to do…to do some uh, some yoga! Yoga yeah, it's so relaxing!" As if to exemplify her point, Sam arched her back to look like she was stretching like a cat, a stretch that both looked like a yoga pose and also succeeded in causing an invisible Danny to blush.
"Anyway," Sam said as she reached her arms back over her head, looking at her parents with a smile. "I already took a break, so I'll be getting back to work on it soon. I'll probably be up late so I'll just see you guys tomorrow morning."
"Okay Sammykins," her mother said with a big smile on her face. "We can go and get you some really yoga clothing tomorrow before you're hair appointment! I'm so happy you finally decided on a healthy hobby for once! Kisses darling!"
She dragged her husband out as she left, even as he shouted 'Good night sweetheart,' and shut the door with a soft click. Once Sam was sure they both were far away from her door, she let out a pent-up breath of relief and allowed a now visible Danny pull her back into her original position on his lap. He was still smiling at her with a slight blush, which of course caused her to blush as well for a fraction of a second.
"Yoga, uh Sammykins?" Danny said with a laugh as he quirked an eyebrow at her now embarrassed face. "Never knew you were into that…are you really that flexible?"
"Shut up you moron," she exclaimed with a playful punch as she allowed his arms to tighten around her waist again. "Ugh…now I'm going to have to do yoga with her in the morning…I hope you know how much that cost me to hide you. I hope you're at least thankful."
"Tons," Danny whispered as he kissed her neck with light kisses that felt like butterflies tickling her to Sam. She arched her neck to allow him greater access, knowing that he wouldn't leave her with a mark on her neck the night before graduation. Oh no there was that word again…
Her continued with his ministrations for a minute or two and then captured her lips in a brief, but sweet, kiss before he just held her in his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and he buried his face in her hair for a moment and whispered in her ear, "You're hair smells nice Sam."
"Thanks," she said with gentle giggle, pulling away and then resting her forehead against his. "I washed it believe it or not."
"You shower?" Danny asked with a mock confused look which caused Sam to arch her eyebrow at him. "Kidding Sammy, I'm just kidding."
They sat there, foreheads touching and hands entwined, for a while, enjoying each other's company and warmth. It seemed impossible to both that they were able to spend a whole year apart and still stay sane when sitting together like this made them feel at ease. Nothing seemed like it could bother them, but they both knew in their heads and hearts that the peace they were feeling couldn't last.
'Graduation…going away…'
'The note...that family…me staying here…'
"So," Danny said in an awkward voice, but still holding Sam in his lap. "How's the um, the speech coming along?"
"Don't even ask," Sam groaned, her closed eyes scrunching even more before she opened her lilac eyes to gaze at his blue ones. "Because it royally blows! I can't seem to put a single intelligent thought on paper that doesn't sound generic or like complete bull-shit. I'm beginning to think I'm just going to download something from the internet and read that, I'm sure there's a site for that; no one's going to listen to me anyway."
"Yes they will Sam," Danny said as he smiled at the cute, frustrated expression she had on her face. "And as for the words, just be generic if you want…everyone else is anyway. Don't worry about that right now."
"Kind of hard not to Danny," Sam said as she rolled out of his grip, got off her bed, and walked back over towards her desk. "It is tomorrow when I have to give this "speech" in front of our entire class and their parents. I need to have at least something to say…you don't want to see me booed off the podium do you?"
"Of course not," Danny said with a laugh as he rolled off the bed as well and stood next to her by the desk. "I especially don't want to see what your temper will be like afterwards!"
She smiled at him sadistically and sat back down, laughing as she grabbed her pencil and a fresh piece of paper, "I wouldn't want to either!" She sat in contemplative silence for a minute or two afterwards as she tried to figure out how she wanted to start her speech.
"Do you want me to leave?" Danny asked in her ear, recognizing she had to focus and he was a bit of a distraction.
"No!" Sam said quickly and whirling around so fast she nearly sent herself flying from her swivel chair. "I mean, it won't take long you know! I wouldn't mind if you…you know…if you just stayed here for a while longer…with me that is."
"You sure?" Danny asked, even though she could see a blush paint his cheeks, as was happening to her as well.
"Uh, yeah," Sam said with a shy smile, feeling absolutely ridiculous at her girlish behavior. "Besides, you still need to tell me about what that note was. I mean, your sister and parents kind of interrupted you before you could tell me. You seemed kind of worried about it and I…I don't know, I just want make sure you're all right."
"It's nothing Sam," Danny lied, not a bit convincingly either. "Don't worry about that either. Just a prank Tucker pulled on me to freak me out a bit."
"Why would it freak you out?" Sam persisted, getting up and sitting back beside him on her bed. "Come on Danny, don't play the hero game. I…I felt something wrong with that note…maybe our kiss gave me some kind of connection with you or whatever, but I definitely felt something bad with that note."
"It's not anything I can't handle," he replied in a soft voice as she curled her small hand around his. "Please Sam; don't worry yourself over my problems."
"Kind of have to Danny," she said with a sarcastic smile. "You certainly don't. Oh come on Danny, I can help…is it a ghost or something?"
"In a way," he replied, looking at her with distance eyes, as if he was remembering something he had made himself forget. "Funny isn't it…I face monsters and undead creatures every day but when something alive confronts me… I can't stop from shaking."
"What are you talking about Danny?" Sam asked in a confused voice, turning to face him entirely. "Yes you can, and you're not shaking…whatever it is, you can beat it, I know it! Why are you so afraid to let me know what's bothering you?"
"Because," he said in a broken tone of voice. "I don't think I can protect you from him. I couldn't save…I can't beat this one Sam."
"Who, Vlad?" Sam asked with an almost amused smirk on her face. "You know he just as years on you, nothing else. And that evil version of yourself you say you saw when we were fourteen, that can't happen anymore…you prevented that by saving all of our lives that day in the Nasty Burger."
"He's not a ghost Sam," Danny said in a neutral voice that seemed to clash with the troubled look in his eyes. "Someone…someone that I hoped to never see again. I even convinced myself that I had imagined the whole thing was just a figment of my over-active imagination."
"Danny what are you--" Sam started to retort when he pressed a small piece of paper into the hand she had curled around his. He didn't look at her as she looked down at the crumpled, black scrap of paper and unfolded it. She lifted it up to her eyes to read the barely legible white ink and felt something tighten in her chest as she looked it over.
See You Soon…
M.R.
"Danny where did you find this?" Sam asked in a controlled voice. She met his eyes and she thought she saw a flash of silver and a black tattoo. "Have you told anyone about this? Who's M.R. and why would someone who's not a ghost send you this?"
"It was in an envelope to me from Amity Park University," Danny answered with a mirthless chuckle. "No one thought anything of it, that's where I'm going in the fall by the way, so I took it upstairs and opened it. There was no letter from the university in there, just this piece of black paper with three words written on it from a nightmare. I remember sitting down and thinking I saw someone outside the window…just nerves I guess."
"Danny," Sam persisted patiently, still receiving bizarre images that she assumed were from Danny. Now she saw a glimpse of a van and of a hulking man with dark hair, a man that stood next to another with a snake tattoo on his arm. "Who sent you this? If this is some sort of threat, ghost related or not, you have to go to the police."
"You remember when we first met Sammy?" Danny asked, looking back up at her, not really terrified but unnerved nonetheless. "I chased after Dash's ball into those bushes and ended up running into you after more time than it takes to get a ball?"
"Yes," Sam said as she continued to get blurry pictures in her head, now causing a slight buzzing sensation in her skull. "It took you forever and…and you didn't come back with a ball. You came back with a slash on your arm…Danny, you didn't hurt yourself did you?"
"No, I didn't," the blue-eyed halfa answered with a slight smile. "My mom knew I didn't either…that's why I wasn't allowed back in that park for a month. Remember how you had to come to my house to play? Didn't you wonder why Jazz and I weren't allowed out of the house alone for half a year?"
"Well," Sam answered back with a bit of a smirk despite the seriousness of the talk they were having. "I was only five years old Fenton. But, Tucker and I did think it was weird that we always had to go your house…who's the man with tattoo on his left forearm?" Danny gave her a sharp look, asking without words how she knew that. "I think that us…well, kissing I suppose…is letting me into your head a little bit if it's something that's bothering you. I keep seeing this tattoo and a flash of silver… was that a knife Danny?"
"You ask way too many questions," Danny exclaimed with a laugh as he fell backwards to lie on her bed, legs dangling off the edge and hands resting on his stomach. "Nothing's normal with me is it? Now you're seeing things out of my head…new powers everyday I guess uh?"
"Danny, you're not going to throw me off that easily," Sam replied with a smirk as she rolled over to lie next to him on her stomach. She rested her head on her arm and asked him gently, "Who is he Danny and why did he give this to you?"
"Mance Riley," Danny hissed out as if it burned his tongue to even say the man's name. "He used to be a scientist at the same college as my parents…studying something in genetics and how he could isolate certain genes to enhance certain human traits, I think. He was competing with my parents for a research grant and I think he tried to prove how he should be the one to get it be testing some of whatever it was on himself. It messed him up physically and I guess a bit mentally…he blamed my parents for the situation. Said they stole his money and that they were the main factor for his condition, I think he was arrested for plotting murder or something."
"Danny…" Sam whispered, running her fingers through his jet-black hair.
"Just let me finish Sam," he interrupted, stopping her words so he could tell her everything before he lost his courage and kept it pent up inside again. "When I went into the bushes to get the ball, I saw a van on the curb next to the park. Before I could even tell myself to run, one of his friends grabbed my hair and kept me from running. I…I don't remember everything that he said, mainly because I was terrified, but he said something about how my parents deserved to be punished for the bad things they did to him. He pulled out a pocket-knife and trailed it down my face and asked if I loved my parents…I honestly thought he was going to kill my Sam…but then a cop car zoomed up and I, well I bit the big one's who was holding me hand and he dropped me. Riley slashed at me as I ran, that's where the cut came from, but he didn't try to follow me when I got away. He just called out that he'd see me soon. Then I ran into you and…well, you know the rest."
"Did your mom tell you all this about him afterwards?" she asked, scared for the boy staring back at her; a boy who was surprisingly calm for what he was telling her.
"She and dad told me and Jazz right after they called the police," he replied in a normal voice. "It's funny, I was so much more worried before, but I guess talking actually did help. Not that I'd ever tell Jazz that, she'd never shut up on how she was always right about expressing yourself! I guess I should tell mom and dad about it…especially if he knows what college I'm going to."
"What's wrong with you Danny?" Sam asked in a tired tone, burying her face in the covers of her bed in exasperation and muffling her voice slight. "You should be terrified about this! You're talking about this like your trying to decide what kind of cereal to eat in the morning!"
"I am worried Sammy," Danny said as he turned his head to look at her buried one. "But, I can't let it dictate my life right now…too much is going on. We're graduating tomorrow night, and I have someissues goingon in the Ghost Zone right now, and now there's well...there's you. Besides, I'm not exactly the same little kid I was twelve years ago…I got a bit of an upgrade."
"Oh," she said as she turned her face up to look into his depthless blue eyes. "Are you admitting that you're gifts aren't a curse anymore Danny Fenton?"
"No," he answered with a laugh. "They still suck when it comes to living my own life, but if I have a psychopathic kidnapper after me I think I'll be able to hold my own this time around! If I'm going to worry about anything, I'm going to worry about the fact he could use you to try and get to me…I'm sure he can learn that we're together if he could learn what college I'm attending."
"You are not breaking up with me Danny Fenton," Sam said with a stern expression on her face that made him think about how adorable she looked. Not that he'd tell her that, Samantha Manson wasn't the type to want to be called 'adorable' and such. "I can take care of myself thank you very much, and I like the perks of this too much to give it up just yet."
"Perks?" Danny asked coyly, quirking his eyebrow at the dark-haired beauty. "Just what sort of 'perks' are you talking about Manson?"
"These kind you dumb-ass," Sam said with a growl as she rolled over and straddled him quick as a cat. She lowered her lips to his; smiling inside at the completely off-guard expression he had on his face. Perhaps it wasn't as fiery as their previous encounters, but this one was thrilling in its own way because it was Sam who drove the kiss this time. When she broke the kiss, she didn't move off of him, but instead opted to lie down, her upper body draped over his so her face rested underneath his chin.
"Please tell me you'll tell your parents about this Riley character after graduation Danny," Sam whispered quietly after they had simply lay in each other's arms in comfortable silence for a moment. "I don't want you to get hurt because you're playing the hero…I care about you too much."
"I will, don't worry," he answered, fingers absently tickling her bare upper arm. "It's an issue for Jazz too. She probably just didn't get anything because she hasn't been at school for a week or two. I promise I will Sammy."
She kissed him softly to say thank you and got off him to try and attempt writing her speech again. He got up and said something how he needed to head home before Jazz sent out search parties for him, pausing to kiss her lightly on her temple as Phantom. He bent down and whispered in her ear something that she knew would give her insomnia for the rest of the night.
"I love you Sammy."
She turned around to reply but he had already phased through her outside wall, leaving her to touch her temple lightly and smile, despite her grim task before her. She turned back to the blank and picked up her pencil and began to write, even if it wasn't what she may have wanted. She would deal with the finer points later if she had too.
"I love you too Danny Fenton…my Phantom," she whispered as she scribbled furiously.
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"Mother, would you just calm down! I have everything here with me, and I'm going to change into my robes when I meet Danny, Tuck, and Valerie at the auditorium! Just make sure that you, Dad, and Grandma get there at five thirty or else you won't be able to take the million pictures I know you want to take. Mom, are listening to me?" Sam asked tiredly after she finished giving her mom instructions. She was trying to cram everything she needed into the small lavender clutch she had and finally looked up to see her mother looking at her with nothing but glowing admiration. Sam was unnerved because her mother usually looked at her with sadness that she wasn't wearing pastels, this was a look she wasn't used to. "Mom, are you okay?"
"Oh I'm fine Sammykins," her mother said as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek in only the way a mother can. "You just look so grown-up and pretty! I'm just…I'm really very proud of you honey."
"Really?" Sam asked with a funny smile on her face as she looked at herself in one of the mirrors in the entry room. She was wearing a crisp black skirt that clung to her small form in a flattering way that was just above the knee and a white camisole that brought out the color of her eyes. She had a pair of modest, black heels on as well and a single amethyst necklace Danny had gotten for her 18th birthday. Her hair was pulled back in an elegant bun that had a few wisps of hair frame her face in a way that she thought was very Audrey Hepburn…someone she never thought she could emulate.
"Yes, really Sammy," her father said as he entered the room and stood by her mother. "You'll wow all the boys tonight sweetie!"
"I only want to wow one boy," Sam said to herself before she could catch herself. Realizing what she said, she turned a brilliant shade of pink and turned back to face her parents, who were both smiling and frowning at the same time. "What I meant was that I don't really want to wow all those boys tonight you know? I mean it's so overrated having a boyfriend and I just don't think that I sho--"
"Oh Sammykins, you can stop being silly," her mother said with a wave of her dainty hand. She fixed her daughter with a gaze that both was happy and resigned and took a deep breath. "I know how you feel about that, that Fenton-boy…and I'm sure he feels the same. Now, I may think he's not the best boy out there for you, I trust…well I trust your judgment honey. I suppose you can say that I'm giving my approval of that little rascal."
Sam smiled and sent a questioning look to her father, hoping to nip this hurdle in the bud early and make it easy for her and Danny. He smiled back at her in a way only a father can who's accepted his daughter has grown up and has other men in her life and said, "Honestly Sammy, there was no stopping this one. It was only a matter of time."
She smiled and hugged both her parents, grateful for their understanding, and whispered "I love you both," quietly before pulling away and heading out the door, yelling that she'd see them at the school in two hours. She hurried out so fast with her gown and clutch that she didn't see them smiling at her in a different way, the way when a parent accepts a child for who they are.
It didn't take her long to get to school, and as soon as she found a parking spot, she started hurrying towards the gym, where the senior class was all lining up in their lines and chatting to their friends how happy and excited they were. She found Danny, Tucker, and Valerie waiting in the lobby waiting for her and she waved at them to get their attention.
"You look beautiful Sam," Danny said as he took her hand in a shy manner. No matter what he said about being as bold as Phantom, his ghost counter-part was a bit more confident than he was usually. She blushed and surveyed him as well as the other two. Both Danny and Tucker had black slacks on, and then they had a dark blue shirt and a dark green shirt respectively. Valerie had a simple yellow sundress on with white flip-flops, claiming that she didn't want to punish her feet by wearing heels.
"You look good too Danny," Sam whispered to him first, smirking at the blush she caused him to develop. "You all look great," she said aloud to the other two, who were both smirking at each other and then back at her and Danny. "Good thing it wasn't that cold outside today…just a little foggy."
"Yeah, looked like smoke this morning," Valerie said with a flip of her hair as the four friends walked over to the doors to be checked by the faculty on their outfits and what they were carrying. "It was weird, but whatever. As long as I don't freeze out there tonight, it's okay by me!" They all laughed and continued to chat about everything and nothing before they had to enter the gym.
"How's the speech?" Danny asked as the entered the noisy gym. "Get any farther after I left?"
He almost instantly regretted saying those words because then Tucker started to laugh and make comments that made Danny blush and Sam scowl for a minute or two. Sam sent one final glare at the techno-lover before answering, "Well, it's done if that's what you mean. It's not what I want, but it'll have to do."
"You'll do fine Sam," Tucker said, still chuckling in mirth at the couple's expense. "Don't even stress about it…come on Danny; we need to head over to our line."
"I still don't think that's fair," Valerie said to Sam as the two boys walked off, Danny shooting her one last encouraging smile before hurrying after Tucker. "The end up only two seats apart and I'll have to watch them make signals at each other the whole ceremony. Boys!"
"Just make sure you throw something at Danny if he isn't paying attention when his name is called," Sam shouted back playfully as Valerie walked over towards her line, two rows behind the boys. The girl waved a hand over her head to show Sam she would and disappeared in the mass of people.
Sam took a deep breath and slipped on the deep red gown over her head before heading over to where Lancer was waiting for her at the head of the lines. She hurried over and smiled at the valedictorian briefly, a tall young man she didn't know beyond his name, Nathan Wallace. She listened as the line leaders and supervising teachers gave the graduates instructions and put on her cap with all the rest of her class. She felt butterflies flittering around in her stomach, but they made her excited instead of anxious…well she was still nervous, but that was beside the point.
"Nervous?" Nathan asked her in a voice that was no longer nasally or obsessive over a certain ghost-hunter.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Sam answered honestly as they all started to march out to the graduation march, praying to some God up there that she wouldn't trip and fall on her face in front of the whole class.
"Don't worry," Nathan answered as they turned out onto the field which erupted into cheers by respective families and friends as the two rows walked down the aisles. "I know you'll do fine…just relax and do what comes naturally."
Sam chose not to respond and simply smiled back at him, wondering what got her into a mood to smile so often nowadays. Then she remembered Danny's hand on hers, his hair between her fingers, and the taste of his lips and she knew she had her answer. She waited for everyone to get into position and then sat down with everyone else like they had practiced at rehearsal the day before. She listened to the student body president give a hip speech, followed by a couple of important school board members, and then a performance by the music students of the song they had chosen as their class song. She laughed at the choice…the "Ghostbusters" theme just seemed appropriate for their high school!
She twisted her hands nervously in her hands as Lancer walked up to the podium, knowing her was going to introduce her and that meant she had do her speech…to say she was scared would be an understatement.
"And now family, friends, and the Graduating class of 2006, I introduce to you your salutatorian, Samantha Manson!" Lancer said into the microphone, clapping his hands and smiling at her in admiration. She didn't know if people were clapping for her or not, all she was focused on was walking up to the podium in a graceful manner that wouldn't embarrass her too badly. She took the microphone from Lancer with a thank you and put her speech in front of her on the wooden podium and looked out over the crowd. She took a deep breath and started in a clear voice.
"Well, amazing how four years can go by so fast, and before you know it, you're grown up and about to start life as an adult. We shared many of the same experiences and many of the same…"
Sam stopped herself and looked back down at the speech, noting out of the corner of her eye the teachers glancing at her worriedly. She lifted up the speech to eye level and began to laugh to herself, causing several students and parents to now become concerned. She looked back up at the young adults before and gave them her trademark smirk before she tore her speech in half and tossed it to the side. She grabbed the mike off the stand and walked out from being the podium to look at her class from the front of the stage.
"Sorry about that," she said with a shrug that said she wasn't sorry at all. "But I'm doing this my way. Yes, we have all come through this school and yes we did all have experiences, but to say we shared them…well that's just a lie. There is no way that any of us could have had the same experiences as another in this school, whether we were the high school princess, or the locker-stuffed loser, we all had different experiences to put us here now.
"My name is Sam Manson, some of you know me, some don't…that's just how life goes. Some of you hate me, or at least think you do, and I can accept that as well. Because I have some of the best friends anyone on Earth can ask for. It is through them that I have become the person I am today…and it is through your friends that you have all become what you all are now. It doesn't matter if we weren't friends with everybody; all that matters is that we were friends at all."
She took a pause and walked off the stage, getting as close as she could to her audience. "I know that I should depart on everyone here some sort of great wisdom that will help us all in the days to come, but I don't have any that doesn't sound generic or pre-packaged. So, I'm going to tell you what I learned my four years of here at Casper High…the good and the bad.
"I learned how to listen here to what others had to say, and learned that ignorance is not necessarily a crime.
"I learned how to trust even when my instinct screamed at me not to, and that first impressions are not always infallible.
"I learned that futures are not ever pre-determined, and that there is no fate but what we make for ourselves with our choices here and now.
"I learned what it feels like to hurt someone you care about so deeply that you question everything you may have believed to be for the best.
"I learned that it is much easier to just act as yourself instead of trying to prove to people you're something else…or something more extreme than you are.
"I learned what it feels like to be in love…and also what it feels to be loved by someone else.
"And finally, I learned what it feels to be alienated, and how it feels to overcome that and embrace the alienation and turn it into something else.
"Those are only a few of the things I learned, and they certainlywon't bethe last things I will learn, but it shows something about myself and about all of us sitting here tonight. We have all learned these things at sometime here, and it proves something that maybe we don't notice or don't want to face. But the fact is that we came into this school with a preconceived idea of what we needed to be or how we needed to act, and we are leaving as new people. I grew up here at Casper High School, ghost attacks and all, and I'm ready for whatever life may throw at me…and I know that my class of 2006 is as well. Congratulations class of 2006, we survived growing up."
Sam took the mike away from her mouth and walked back up the stage to put it back in place, not caring anymore if she embarrassed herself in front of everyone. When she turned back around she was met with an uproar of cheers, even from those who she may not have been all that great of friends with. She felt her heart swell as she saw Danny, among the few who were standing and applauding, smile at her and mouth I love you and she mouthed it back. She sat back down and Lancer, who was also clapping loudly, introduced Nathan as the valedictorian. The red-headed young man gave her a smile that said 'I told you so,' and walked up to the podium, starting his speech off about how he felt silly going up after Sam.
The rest of the ceremony sped by quickly; she cheered loudly when Danny, Tucker, and Valerie all received their diplomas and smiled when she felt a familiar cold presence with her as she accepted hers. The atmosphere was charged as Principal Yashimoto told them to move their tassels to the left, and she found herself throwing her hat into the air with her class, celebrating the completion of a step in all of their lives. She turned around from her seat in the front couple rows and hurried over to the other side of the field, pausing to say thanks to the graduates who congratulated her on the speech.
"That was so awesome Sam!" Tucker yelled as he hugged her briefly, smiling from ear to ear. "I thought for a second that you had forgotten your line or something, but when you tore the speech in half, I was all like, 'That's my Sam!'"
Sam let go of Tucker to hug Valerie, who was also gushing about how well she did her speech, and yelled over the din, "Thanks you guys! It just sounded stupid to me so I changed it. You know me, always up for a change! Where's Danny?"
"His parents hoodwinked him before he could come over," Tucker answered with a smirk as Valerie was hugging the blonde-haired Star and gushing about how pretty she looked. "They were taking pictures over there with, surprising enough, your parents. Larry!" Tucker yelled out suddenly and hurried over to one of his friends from the computer science club. Sam shook her head in humor and hurried over to where she saw the still large Jack Fenton towering above the other parents.
"Sammykins!" her mother yelled as she caught her daughter in a hug and planted a kiss on her forehead. "You looked wonderful up there! I'm so proud of you dear!"
"Thanks mom," Sam answered as she caught Danny's eye, smirking at the big smile he had on his face as his sister was hugging him and gushing about how much he had grown up. Danny hurried over to her and caught her up in a huge hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around before setting her down. The Fentons and Mansons smiled at each other, happy that their children had finally realized what they had known all along. Even if they had their differences, they could appreciate something as rare as trueyoung love when it happened.
"I need a picture of you and Sam, Danny," Jazz said as she got into position with her digital camera. "I have to show all my friends at school the beautiful girl my little brother got!" She snapped the picture after Sam's blush had receded, and whispered in his ear, "I'll distract mom and dad…go have fun." She gave them both a wink and hurried off to tell her hyper-active parents that she thought she a ghost over near the podium.
Danny put his arms around Sam and turned them both invisible, lifting into the air and away from the minor chaos his parents were causing as they rushed towards the stage. "You know, it really is useful thatJazz knows about my powers," he said in a genuinely happy voice as they glided over the cafeteria and towards wherever their hearts wished.
"Should we tell Tuck and Valerie that we left?" Sam asked as she smiled at the cold breeze flow past her face, admiring the twinkle of the stars and of a pair of green eyes.
"I told them we'd meet them at the after-party thing at the community center in an hour or so," he answered as he dove slightly, making Sam gasp in surprise. "This is your time Sam. Wherever you want to go, that's where we'll go. Any ideas?"
"One," she answered, craning her neck back to look at him, her lilac eyes twinkling mischievously. "I want to dance in the stars…can you arrange that Phantom?"
Smiling at her, the snowy-haired Danny Phantom took her hands and spun her around to face him and stopped flying. He linked on of his hands with her s and put the other on the small of her back, letting her rest her other hand on his shoulder. And so they floated there, dancing their fairy dance and leaving all there cares and worried behind for the night, only focusing on what they had found in each other and what they had learned the past four years.
The clouds were still dark and dense though, promising that they were not done with the young couple just yet…dark like smoke and obscuring fact from fiction.
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A/N: And I'm done again! That was longer than the last one…I'd hoped this would be the shortest one but I guess that didn't happen. I know this one really wasn't angsty, but my story isn't just going to be about that…love as many sides to it and I'm going to try my best to represent as many sides of it as I can. Again, I'll post warnings at the beginning of each chapter to let you all know what to expect.
Sorry if I got the Ultimate Enemy reference wrong…I only know what generally happened because I was working when they played it and never got to see it…even though I've seen Reign Storm like ten times… ! Can someone let me know where I can find a screenshot or picture of Dan Phantom…it would really help me out later! And the principal…I only know she's oriental, sorry if I got the name wrong!
Remember to review people! I try to respond to them all, and they honestly do help me write faster than usual! Thanx again to all those who did review last chapter! See you in the next part…Adieu!
Osco