Jazz flipped back her long red hair and looked at the small sheet of paper she held in her hand.
"Kelsey Davey." She looked up to see a young girl sitting against the brick wall of Casper high. She looked to be about thirteen and had long brown hair that matched her sad brown eyes. To complete her attitude she had a pair of baggy blue jeans and a Captain Jack Sparrow t-shirt covered by an unbuttoned jean jacket. She had a small sketch pad, which she didn't turn her eyes from.
Jazz stood looking at the girl. She didn't look too rebellious, but she looked so sad. No one sat by her, or maybe she didn't want them to. What was she drawing, and why did she have to talk to her?
"Ya know why people are left alone?" Kelsey asked Jazz, breaking the silence.
Jazz was caught off guard, "What?" she smiled crookedly and brought a hand to the back of her neck. She always hated these moments.
"Because people refuse to accept what other people are," Kelsey answered, still not turning from the notepad in her hands.
Jazz was silent. She let her words sink in, and realized it was true. She sat down next to the girl. She laid her own notebook down, and, out of curiosity, looked over Kelsey's shoulder at the developing sketch.
It was a drawing of the ghost boy. It wasn't the best ever, but it wasn't the worst drawing in the world. She had a lot of the features right, but it wasn't the drawing that Jazz noticed most. It was the saying above it.
"True acceptance is like a ghost, always invisible and unreal to the world."
Besides the fact, that the ghost boy was her little brother, but that saying made sense. It matched him. He always felt like that, and apparently, so did she.
"I thought it fit him," she said as she finally looked at Jazz, "I mean, he must always feel like that. Nobody accepts him, or likes him… even if he is cute." Kelsey looked away at that, hiding a blush.
Jazz couldn't help but smile. Danny would blush a scarlet red when she told him that.
"Yeah," Jazz put a hand on her shoulder, "I know he feels like that."
Kelsey turned around and looked her straight in the eyes, "How?"
"I know the ghost boy," Jazz wish she hadn't said that, and quickly covered her mouth.
"You do?" her face seemed to brighten up, "Can I meet him?"
"Umm…I-I don't know," Jazz stuttered. Why did she say anything?
"Why would a psychiatrist know him?" her expression melted from joy to confusion.
"Maybe he needs a one," a voice from behind Jazz said. The two girls looked up to see Danny Phantom floating in an Indian style sitting position above them.
"Danny Phantom." Kelsey brought a hand to her lips in shock.
"Why would he talk to someone like me? He's wasting his time on me. He should be saving someone or fighting a ghost, not talking to me," she thought.
Danny picked up the sketchbook and looked at the picture of him. He smiled, and read the saying that lined the top of the page.
"I-I thought it fit you," Kelsey said, as she drew in the dirt in front of her. She didn't look at Danny. He was too good for her.
It was quiet for a minute as Danny reread the words. It was one of those weird moments when someone coughs loudly to get a word out of someone.
"I…should go," Kelsey broke the silence as she picked up her backpack and stood up. She started to walk off when Danny spoke up.
"Unreal until they make a difference in it."
Kelsey froze. How did he know the other half of her saying? She turned to see Danny smiling; a golden grin that would amount the same as a million dollars to that thirteen year old girl.
"How did you know?" her cheeks were turning pink as she tried to hide the blush that threatened to stain her pale complexion.
Danny uncurled himself and finally stood on the ground. He walked over to Kelsey and handed the notebook back to her.
"That's how I feel." He smiled again, causing Kelsey's blush to finish its path across her cheeks.
"Gosh you're cute," she blurted out. Danny blushed crimson and Kelsey covered her mouth at what she just said. Jazz couldn't help but burst out in laughter. Danny looked over his shoulder and scowled at her. Sam was going to freak when she heard that.
"I-I'm sorry," Kelsey let her bangs fall into her face. She had reason to believe that made her invisible.
"Don't worry about it," Jazz answered for her brother, "I suppose we should start our meeting? Maybe Danny here would like to join?"
He just smiled and sat down next to Jazz. Kelsey reluctantly sat down as well.
"Now, Kelsey," Jazz began, "what encouraged you to break apart from everyone else and do what you did?"
Kelsey twirled a piece of hair around her pointer finger, "Well, you know, I was just feeling a little bit down. I never meant for it to get bad."
"Mm-hmm." Jazz jotted down a few notes. Danny looked over her shoulder, straining to read the notes as well, but Jazz kept her private words just enough distance from his wandering eye.
"What made you feel the way you did?" Jazz moved to her next question. Psychiatrists are much too curious.
Kelsey groaned a little, "Paulina and them were picking at my flaws again. I mean I'm just as good as them! What, is it illegal to do what I want? If I write a little someone is always snooping over my shoulder and has to share it with the entire world! If I draw someone will snatch it away and show to all their nosy friends, and no matter how good it is I always get picked on about it. I'm just as good as anyone else!"
Kelsey punched the ground in anger. The world just didn't make sense to her. Why were they always getting into other people's business? If they say go away they mean it. Why can't that process in their tiny brains?
Danny and Jazz looked at each other. She seemed really mad about something they said, which meant she cared too much about what the world thought.
"What did they say?" Jazz asked the question.
"They said I was just a useless nerd who wouldn't get anywhere in life. They said I was wasting it away with writing and drawing and that I would die a lonely painful death," she brought her legs up to her chest and buried her face in her knees.
"That's never going to happen," Danny put a hand on her shoulder.
"Look at me I'm already Ha-," he paused, "Dead, and I have friends still, Jazz being one. I'm not lonely and I use my talents to keep this town safe."
"Yeah. Danny has a good afterlife. No matter what you like to do, you'll never be any worse than anyone else if you like to do it. No one can say how you're going to die or what your future will be. If you enjoy what you do, keep doing it. Use your talents." Jazz finished.
Kelsey looked up at them. They were smiling. Smiling always made her feel better.
"Thank you," she hugged Danny and smiled at Jazz before grabbing her bag and running off.
"She reminds me of you," Jazz commented, standing up.
"What?" Danny stood up as well and turned to face her.
Jazz laughed. She too, grabbed her bag and patted Danny on the arm.
"I think you have some work to do little bro." she pointed at a small ghost flying high up in the sky.
He smiled and flew up. "See ya at Dinner Jazz."
"You too," Jazz smiled. That was her gig, her beat, her talent. What you ask? Making people realize their mistakes and fixing them before they got any worse. That was her beat, and she was walking it. She could do it for Danny and she could do it for Kelsey, but in every person a similar thing seemed to form in the core of their problem.
The world.
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A/N Have you ever wondered what a simple smile and a quick, "Hi" can do to somebody's day? You can make them feel the world better if they've had a rough morning and you can help them feel loved when they are alone. A smile is worth a million dollars to people. Don't ever hold back on making someone happy.
I wrote this story to say, no matter what the world may think, say or do. You being yourself is always better. No one is any better than you are and no one can tell you otherwise. You're just as pretty as they are, just as skinny as you wanna be and just a popular as them. If you like to do something that is considered dorky, do it anyways, because later it life it won't make a difference. Dorks will get somewhere in life, where the popular girl and jock boy probably won't. Maybe they will see their attitude and fix it, but no matter what anyone is as good as anyone else.
I don't care if I'm a dork anymore, or if I'm a dork for saying this, but it's true. The world is cruel, so you just have to ignore it and do what you think it right,
Luv ya all- JJaD