Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: The first line from the speaker is used from something a speaker at my high-school once told us…the presentation however was not boring or disgusting as the one in this story, as our speaker was an extremely short, Hispanic lady in a bright red dress who danced for us while talking about sex.
She was awesome and we all loved her and thought the entire two hour presentation amazing. She made sure it was fun, unlike the speaker in this fic…
And I bumped it up to an M rating because I'm not sure how offended people are going to be at the sex talk and our trio's reaction to it….sorry you guys, I had to set up the teasing and the desperate want to escape from the gym…and besides, Danny and Tucker are boys...they will tease and react to it, so please don't hate me…(hides).
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Six: Hide'n'Sync
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
It was the last day of school. For the entire summer they would be free of the tyranny of school. There would be gaming and movies and late nights and junk food and numerous other summer activities…not forgetting any ghost incidents that might occur.
The entire student body was supposed to be in a happy state of celebration at being free. They were supposed to be watching movies, playing games, sitting around and talking and having a blast….
Instead they were stuck in the gym listening to a speaker droning on and on about the importance of abstinence and other sex related topics. Yes. This was exactly what ever single student wanted to be doing on their last day of school.
"But if you've already given away the present of your virginity, its alright. You can re-wrap it and wait again for that special person to share it with. Re-wrap your gift and wait to share it."
The man was going on and on and on and either people's little virgin ears were burning or they were eyeing the man incredulously. For the trio, it was simultaneously both, ranging from shaking their heads at the stupidity of the man to blushing furiously at some…colorful euphemism he just used.
'Oh yes,' Sam thought dryly, fighting to keep the blush down, 'I'm wedged between two boys, one of which I just happen to like, and we get a sex ed talk…wonderful. And why would anyone talk about bananas with such love in their voice? This guy is freaking me out…not to mention the fact that he has no respect for the human body, male or female. I swear, he is never going to get another job in Amity so long as I have the money to keep him and his disrespectful attitude away.'
As the teacher's made their rounds, Tucker noticed that the students weren't the only ones who found the speaker a bit disturbing. Their biology teacher was even fighting back a blush at that last mention of the 'little man who lives downstairs' and he taught classes about the human body.
'Man, could this get even worse?' Tucker sighed as he wiggled himself down farther into his chair, 'We aren't even allowed to talk. Maybe some nervous laughter amongst friends could relieve the tension. Of course, it might make it worse for Sam and Danny. Those two look like their about to walk across molten lava barefoot just because their next to each other.'
At another very…interesting comparison of a woman's 'foo-foo' and a 'deep, dark cave', a couple of the teachers had to leave the room. An uproar of nervous laughter mixed with outraged shock at some of the terms the man was using from outside of the gym doors let the students know that at least the teachers found this disturbing just as they did.
'God, could this get anymore boring and embarrassing?' Danny wanted to literally sink into the floor, it would be so easy after all, 'And I had to sit next to Sam. Why does she always have to sit in the middle? Why, oh why, oh why?'
Danny and Sam sighed boredly in unison then, and immediately broke out laughing, as did Tucker and most of the people seated around them. The laughter rippled through the gym, and like Tucker predicted, helped a great deal to lift the tenseness from the atmosphere. The monotone voice of the speaker was toned out and the embarrassed nervousness was replaced with full blown tedium.
'Gah,' Danny rubbed his eyes before slumping deeper into his seat and pretending to fall asleep on Sam's shoulder, 'At least I'm just bored now. Sam's shoulder is comfy.'
"What?" her voice interrupted his line of thought, "My shoulder that comfy or something?"
"Maybe," he replied with eyes still shut, "Or maybe since I'm a…how'd he put it? 'A hormone driven, raging sex addicted male youth' I'm just trying to get closer to the 'conflicted and confused, peer-pressured female youth who looses herself to the wantonness of the world around her' so I can get in a good grope and meet my peer's expectations…and my quota."
Tucker just laughed, "Yeah, 'cause us guys have to meet the 'grope quota' monthly. All those times a guy accidentally brushes you in the hall? Those are scores for their quotas…"
"Yep," Danny nodded, edging his arm around Sam, "Now be a dear and sit still, I'm a little behind this month…"
"Danny," Sam choked out and glared heatedly at him, "You have three seconds to remove your arm from my stomach or.."
"…or you'll castrate me and make sure that I never have sexual thoughts again for fear of female retribution. Gotcha' Sam," and he moved back, eyes laughing as Sam's lips thinned, her own eyes trying to bore holes into his forehead.
Tucker was currently trying his best not to laugh, and was instead shaking in silent mirth. The teachers had been sending them scathing glares, but had yet to react to their whispering.
"Hey guys," Danny turned back to them then, "You two as bored as I am?"
Both nodded furiously, Tucker from actual boredom, and Sam from just wanting to get away from Danny and a sex discussion being in the same room.
"Alright, well I have an idea, but first," Danny surreptitiously slipped his hand into Sam's, "take Tucker's hand Sam, and we'll get out of here."
Tucker grabbed onto Sam immediately and when Danny was certain all the teachers were looking elsewhere they disappeared and slid through the floor. It was a good thing they had been sitting in the very back at the end of the aisle. Hopefully the people around them would just assume they had missed seeing them get up to sneak out.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"I can't believe you two are actually agreeing with me," Danny said in slight disbelief as they meandered down the hall.
"What?" Tucker shot him a glance, "We were bored too you know, and besides, its not like we wanted to sit in the gym for another hour and hear a nasty, old man talk about sex and the importance of the lack of it."
"Still, I didn't think…" but he was quickly cut off by Sam.
"That we'd want to? That we were.." who was cut off by Danny.
"Too old for it? Yeah," he rubbed his neck nervously, "and I didn't know if either one of you might actually enjoy hearing about sex."
He was immediately clobbered by a vengeful Sam and whacked on the head by Tucker's hat, "Alright, alright, I was just joking! Sorry, but don't kill me! I couldn't resist."
Tucker readjusted his hat, and watched Danny shove Sam with the side of his hip, "Hey lovebirds, you do realize that you've been talking in sync a lot more than usual this whole month, and you just did it again a minute ago?"
They both turned to him, "We were?" and then they eyed each other, "Oh," and then of course they blushed and turned away.
"Yes, you were, and are…" Tucker took out his PDA, "This is getting recorded. Freaky occurrence number five-hundred and sixty three."
"You've got to be kidding me," Sam peeked over his shoulder, "And you are. You don't have anything numbered in your PDA."
"No, but this is the fifth time its happened this week alone," Tucker said as he returned his mini-computer to his pocket.
"It's not that…bad," and both Sam and Danny blushed again, before Danny continued alone with a frustrated sigh, "Well, this is one of those 'not good' things…"
"Why's it not good?" Sam turned to him, confusion evident in her face.
"He's just being paranoid, Sam," Tucker sidled up beside her, "And I'm still down on my grope quota…you think I could…"
He never finished as he found a hand on his chest. A firm shove sent him back a few paces as Danny folded his arms over his chest, standing between him and Sam, "How about no?"
Sam just rolled her eyes. Leave it to the boys to be weird around her after a sex ed talk, "Let's just play already…not it!"
"Not it!" Tucker grinned knowingly from ear to ear, both at Danny's reaction from a moment ago and beating him on calling not it.
"Dang it," Danny hung his head, "Fine, but I'm only counting to fifty, so get a move on it."
Tucker and Sam hauled it down the hallway as Danny began his count, grinning impishly. He kept his eyes open and walked forward and peeked around the corner, to see them rounding the next.
"Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!" Danny grinned and shuffled forward, "Ready or not here I come…"
Danny hunted and poked around for a bit, before stopping outside of the empty science classroom. He was certain he heard beeping…
He swung the door open and the beeping grew louder. Definitely Tucker and his game.
"You know Tuck," Danny smiled as he leaned over the teacher's desk and found Tucker underneath, finishing a level, "silent mode would have been useful to use."
"Yeah, but games are just so much more enjoyable with the sound effects!"
The ancient tradition of the rolling of the eyes proceeded, "Let's just find Sam," to which Tucker smiled happily and with a wink pointed to the storage closet.
Danny made himself invisible before phasing through the door, "Have a thing for closets, do you?"
"Danny!" Sam shrieked as she whipped around to see…nothing.
"Because you end up in them a lot, usually with me and Tucker though," he teased, floating right in front of her and slightly off the ground.
"That's cheating and you startled me you big jerk!" Sam huffed, folding her arms in a slight pout, "Then again," she softened, "I suppose it isn't because…"
"The rules don't say anything about being able to go intangible or invisible?"
"Something like that," Sam said as she reached out hesitantly. Danny smiled and grabbed her hand, letting her know where he was at, though he didn't feel like becoming visible quite yet, because of the blush taking over his face. Damn that sex ed and abstinence talk right before this!
The two thoughts causing his blush were 'dark closet' and 'alone with Sam', before a third thought took over and he turned to rest his head against the door with a thump, "We really are talking more in sync again aren't we?"
"Yeah," Sam squeezed his hand, "but people can just think we're playing our game again. It could be worse…"
A knock and Tucker's laughing voice interrupted her then, "This isn't seven minutes in heaven you two. Get out of that closet before Danny takes care of his whole quota for the next year!"
"Shut up!" they both said as Danny wrenched the door open, becoming visible again and taking notice that Sam's cheeks were matching his own quite nicely.
"We were just talking Tucker," Danny nearly growled out, "Get your head out of the gutter. That speaker went to your head…or your groin."
"Hey, if you wanted to play hide'n'seek by yourselves," he winked, "you shoulda' just told me, I'm down with that."
"Just start counting," Sam glared at Tucker, "I'm assuming Danny found you first?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in, Closet Girl," he turned to start counting, "And no cheating by turning invisible Danny!"
But he was already out the door, "Sorry Tuck, didn't quite hear you!"
"Great," Tucker groaned dramatically, "Now I'll have to bump into him to find him."
"Your problem," Sam said as she too sprinted out the door.
"They must really hate me to make me count all by myself," Tucker pouted, before pulling out his PDA, "Oh well. One, two, three…oh, nasty hit…four, five…"
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Okay," Sam began to reason as she carefully snuck around the corner, "where would Tucker never look…"
"Besides away from his games?" Danny's voice caught her off guard for the second time that day and she jumped back, only to find herself steadied by invisible hands.
"That's not funny," Sam glared in what she thought was Danny's face's general direction, 'If that isn't his face then he'll have a real laugh at me glaring at nothing...or his arm or whatever…'
A chuckle escaped him as Sam glared at him, somehow managing to look him dead in the eye, "Of course it isn't funny."
"You're smirking aren't you? If I could see you, I'd wipe that smile off your face."
"Oh, come on Sam," he poked her shoulder, "You know you want to be cool like me and be invisible too."
"No," she stubbornly shook her head as she felt Danny release her, "I want to hide without cheating. I'm always the winner anyways, why start cheating now?"
Danny's form popped up beside her then, "Fine, let's hide in there," his index finger pointing directly to a door with a large plaque on it.
"The girl's locker room," Sam's amethyst eyes took on a tiny glint of amusement, "And what if someone finds us in there?"
"That's my problem, not yours. You're a girl and could make an excuse, besides, I could just go invisible," he grinned cheekily, "Tuck won't go in there anyways."
"We could both get into trouble," Sam shot back, not quite willing to give up the argument yet.
"And that's stopped us before, when?"
'Damn that adorable half-smile and those eyes!' Sam sighed, "I'm going to have to…"
'And damn him for always cutting me off by putting his hand over my mouth!' Sam mentally raged, before noticing that Danny had made them both invisible and had backed them against the wall, between the lockers and the water fountain.
"Hamlet!" Lancer's voice rang out as he suddenly appeared around the corner, "Am I becoming as mad as Ophelia? I swear I heard voices down this way."
As he began to thoroughly check every room in the hallway Danny whispered in Sam's ear as quietly as he could, "Let's go. We'll just walk through a couple of walls and try and find Tucker before Lancer catches him."
"A-alright," Sam managed, but barely. They sank through a couple of walls before starting their search, all the while Sam's mind being distracted by something completely different, 'Note to self, add 'breathing on my neck or ear' as things to curse and contemplate when I have time…'
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Danny and Sam had been searching for about ten minutes when they happened upon Tucker sitting outside of Lancer's office, a scowl on his face. His PDA was conspicuously absent as well.
"Pst. Tucker," Danny called out from a few feet away, holding onto Sam to keep them both invisible in case of Lance suddenly appearing, "Why're you sitting here?"
"Lancer caught me," he continued scowling, "and took away my PDA as part of the punishment."
Both Danny and Sam bit their lips to keep from laughing. Sam finally got enough control to ask, "Where did he catch you at?"
"He caught me poking around the girl's locker room," Tucker sighed and rested his head in his hands, leaning forward over his legs, "I thought I might as well take advantage of playing and take a peek."
"Haven't you already been in the girl's locker room?" Sam asked incredulously.
His head shot up as he pointed at Danny, "You weren't supposed to tell her about that! I'm surprised she didn't kill you!"
"I didn't tell her!" Danny answered, but worry outweighed this issue. A new thought was in his mind, 'I didn't tell her, so how would she know, unless the link is growing. No, this can't happen again, but I can't stop it by myself and Sam doesn't even realize what's going on…crap. How am I suppose to handle this? If people start to notice…we won't be able to pass it off as a prank for a second time…'
"It was just a guess!" Sam said suddenly. She felt so tense and nervous, like a panic attack was starting, though she never had one, 'Why am I feeling this way?'
At the boys' startled glances, Sam began to backtrack and make a feasible excuse, "I figure that the two of you would have snuck in there at some point or other since Danny got his powers."
"Anyways," Tucker shook his head and sighed, "I got caught and Lancer is currently writing me up and is keeping my PDA until I ask my parents to come pick it up for me."
"Ouch," Danny and Sam said and winced, not noticing they spoke in sync once again.
"Hey, Danny? Lancer thought he was hearing voices when he almost caught us in the hallway, right?" Sam turned excitedly to him then.
"Yeah…"
"You mean you two got out of getting in trouble," Tucker asked, slightly upset. He, however, was ultimately ignored as Sam continued with her plotting.
"Why don't we convince him he really is hearing and seeing things?"
"So what?" Danny asked after thinking it over, "Something like making Tucker fade out in front of him?"
"That's it," Sam smiled.
"But what about my PDA? And me getting written up?" Tucker cut in again.
"You two just let me take care of that," Danny winked, but Tucker of course didn't see it, 'This is gonna' be good…'
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"So, Foley," Lancer began after hurrying him into his office and having him sit for what seemed like forever as he wrote out the happening on his computer, "Just feel like sneaking out of the presentation and into the girl's locker room?"
"No, sir," he answered as he felt Danny's hand on him, "I felt like telling you, you're dreaming."
Lancer watched as the boy faded before his eyes. Outside the office Danny released Tucker, leaving him with Sam, before flying back in and overshadowing Lancer.
"Now let's see…" Danny turned to the computer first, deleting the typed copy of Tucker's offense. Next came the written paper, PDA, and letter to Tucker's parents he found, which Danny took directly to Tucker and Sam, before sitting Lancer down in the chair and resting his head on his desk. He closed the man's eyes, just before he slipped out, whispering, "Wake up," as he made a run for it, grabbing Sam and Tucker along the way.
Mr. Lancer sat up, just as the bell signaling the end of the school year rang, wild shouts and laughter coming from the direction of the gym. Rubbing his eyes, he fuzzily tried to recount where his day had gone. He had been patrolling the hallways and then…Foley, but the boy wasn't here now and there was no report on his computer or desk. No PDA either. Perhaps it had been a dream…
"Rip Van Winkle, I must have slept half the day away!" and with that, the Vice-principal of Casper High shrugged off the strange happening, just as he had all other strange happenings. Those were too much like an ironic literary plot device that occurred frequently and made odd things occur to actually be real, weren't they?
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Sam, Danny, and Tucker laughed for a good five minutes after finally making it through the crowd of students and out the doors of the school.
"That was awesome! Best last day of school prank ever!" Tucker was nearly crowing as the three started on their way home.
Danny chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. It was unlike Sam to suggest for him to use his powers for something other than fighting off the ghosts, but this had been worth it. 'Best school prank though? No I think me and Sam still can claim that one. Everybody thinks what we used to do was a prank, but it wasn't so that makes it that much better of a prank. I just hope no one's noticed how much we've been talking together…'
Sam smiled at her two best friends. Life was certainly never boring around those two, and she was relieved that her little plan had worked out as well as it had. She had felt horrible that Tucker had gotten into trouble, but in the end, it turned out for the best. He was right, best end of school prank ever.
"Hey you two," Tucker said after a couple of blocks, "I'm gonna' hit the mall. My Dad's birthday is coming up, and ya' know. You wanna' come with?"
Tucker knew, somehow, that they would both find excuses to not accompany him, but he was fine with that. He actually halfway planned it that way. They needed time alone, and he was going to make sure they got it. He chuckled to himself as they waved him off and then turned to walk on, closer than they were before, 'One of these days it will finally click and one of them is gonna' act on it and the other's gonna' be shell-shocked.'
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"So," Danny started up the conversation again as they continued on, "What are your plans for summer?"
"I know there is definitely one concert happening in July that I'm dragging you and Tucker to," Sam smirked, "just so I can enjoy the mosh pits and not worry about being trampled. Other than that, I think I'm going to play it by ear."
"You're going to the Fourth of July thing in the park right? My parents are going to have a booth for the kids to play 'zap the ghosts' in, so I have to be there to help out," he rolled his eyes, before turning on the puppy dog look, "You wouldn't leave me to suffer through it alone, would you?"
"No," Sam replied, playfully nudging him with her shoulder, "Though it might be fun to watch you writhe in agony."
"Oh, so now you're just going to watch me suffer," Danny moved back beside her, "Then I guess I'll just have to pay you back ahead of time," the halfa quickly grabbed his best friend, stole her green hair holder, and began messing up her hair.
Sam shouted and yelled and fussed and pushed and pulled, but couldn't break away from the much larger and stronger Danny, who was mercilessly rubbing her hair into odd patterns. Laughing, he finally let her slip away from him trying all the while to smooth her frizzed and kinked hair back down.
It wasn't working very well, Danny noted with a pleased grin. With another laugh he started to help her smooth her hair down, a silent apology for messing it up so much, 'Though it is really cute when it's all messed up like that. Like bed head or…not going there. Damn that sex speaker today. My mind's in the gutter and I'm enjoying thinking about…that about Sam. I really need to stop this.'
Sam just stood still as Danny smoothed out the parts of her hair she couldn't fix, enjoying his hands in her hair once again, just like a month ago when he had taken her to the roof to look at the stars with him. He had returned to her room almost every night to either just sit and talk with her when he knew she was awake, or just sit on the edge of her bed and ponder when he thought her asleep.
Truth was she had been waiting up every night for Danny to appear, sometimes acting like she was sleeping just to see what he would do. Without fail, every time she pretended to be asleep Danny would sit for about an hour before getting ready to leave, making sure she was well tucked in and brushing her hair back away from her face.
'He's so careful with me, too,' Sam noticed as he patiently coaxed a piece of her hair out of a knot that had formed, 'Not like he treats me like a piece of glass or anything like that, but he still takes care of me. He has since we met, but even more so since fifth. I don't think he ever really got over what happened between us and Dash and those other kids.'
"All done," Danny said, sounding pleased with himself, "and here is your hair dilly, thingy, whatcha' mah call it…"
Sam grabbed it as he dangled it in front of her face, moving to put her hair up. She was stopped when it disappeared from her grasp to see Danny had stolen it from her, "Let me have it. I was gonna' put my hair up."
"Leave it down," his eyes were sparkling with slight nervousness and something happy, "You look nice with it down like that."
"Uh," Sam was at a slight loss for words, "thank you. I never really think of doing my hair any other way."
"You should wear it that way more often," Danny blushed, "It looks, uh, cute down. Not bubble-gum, preppy cute though!"
Sam let her hair fall over her face as they resumed walking, hiding the very 'bubble-gum, preppy' like blush that was forming at his compliments and concern about her opinion. She blushed even more, and smiled, when he nudged her with his shoulder and she found him grinning that damnable, loveable half-smile down at her.
'This has been a great day,' they both thought as they continued silently walking to their houses, nudging one another from time to time and just enjoying the presence of a friend before they had to part ways.
'A friend? More like a best friend who I have the absolute hugest crush on in the history of crushes,' Danny wryly thought to himself.
He laughed with Sam as he nudged her one last time before they went to their own houses, smiling all the way home at the look she had sent him and the blush that had been staining her cheeks since they had started playing.
'One of these days I'll tell her. I just have to grow a backbone first. And a nerve. Or a couple of nerves, rather. For someone who can face down death and emanate doom, I sure suck at being brave.'
With a last laugh at himself and his own helplessness in the face of Sam, he made up his mind to call up Tucker and talk to him about what had been going on all day, or according to the tech genius all month.
'But first,' Danny sighed to himself as he saw his own breath and the Box Ghost rushed past him, "I'm goin' ghost and kickin' some butt."
And so ended the Sophomore year of the trio, which coincidentally marked the beginning of many, many changes in Casper High and the town of Amity Park. For better or for worse was still to be determined though….