Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: Argh, matey! I be watching 'Periscope Down' with that rascal Kelsey Grammer as I be writin' this here tale. Now shut yer trap ye land luver and settle yerself down for a grand ol' chapter. Aye, ye heard me. Arr…
Lol…I'm so silly, I know! (Does the "har har har" dance!)
And ya'll thought the last chapter was a cliffie? You are going to hate, H-A-T-E, hate me for ending this chapter this way….lol, it had to be done though! Ya'll needed some suspense! Make all the assumptions you want, go to the LITC Forum and post, send me reviews or PMs, I want to hear from YOU! XD
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Twenty Nine: Cause
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
'And there she is,' Danny smiled as he watched Sam walk up to the corner where they met every morning to walk to school, 'Sometimes she's so unpredictable and others she so habitual.'
As he approached, he watched her stand and examine a small flyer held in her hand, no doubt on recycled paper. Curious as to what she was doing, Danny slipped into invisibility and snuck up on his best friend. Reading over her shoulder found him shaking his head.
'She wants to go…and she's going to try and talk me and Tuck into it,' and of course at a sudden realization he hung his head, 'and she's going to have absolutely no problems doing it either.'
Reading over her shoulder revealed a protest rally flyer for November the fourth, that day,from nine A.M. to four in the afternoon on the edge of town where a new supermarket was supposed to be built. The market apparently was reported to support destruction of certain parts of the rainforest and used non-recycled paper bags only, no plastic in sight. It was more than likely going to be one of the biggest rallies Amity Park had seen in quite a while.
'Sam's going to want us to skip school and go with her,' Danny sighed, 'and they're always so crazy and there's tons of stuff to do anyways….I actually don't think I'll mind going. Still, she's gonna' have to work for it.'
With an overly exuberant grin, Danny appeared right beside Sam and snatched the paper from her hands, "What's this!"
"Daniel Fenton!" Sam sounded like she was hyperventilating and, peeking over his shoulder, he could tell he had truly surprised her, "Don't you ever do that again! I hate it when you sneak up on me."
"Sneak? What do you mean by sneak?" Danny acted as though he were reading the flyer, "I was just walking along like a normal person and then stood beside you for like five minutes and you didn't even notice me. I was so hurt!"
At Danny's fake sniffle, Sam simply walked past him, trusting that he would continue on their way as normal. Three blocks later found Tucker meeting up with them and the two boys playing keep away with the crumpled up flyer and a slightly angry Goth girl.
"Give it back you guys, it isn't even yours," Sam jumped to grab it, but the ball sailed over her head into Tucker's waiting hands.
"Why do you want the flyer so much? You already know the place, the date, and the time," he chucked it back to Danny, whom Sam rushed as it was caught, "Wow, you really want that poster don't ya'?"
"Yes!" Sam said in frustration as Danny held the paper ball over her head, "Now give it back. If I have it when we get to the rally, they take it for recycling and we'd get free, environmentally friendly wrist cuffs!"
"We? Who said that we would be going anywhere today?" Danny fended off the girl with one arm, "You just assume things Sam."
"I was going to ask, but now I'm going to demand!" Sam pushed the halfa's arm away and successfully snatched her flyer back.
"Uh-uh Sam," Tucker crossed his arms, "If we miss school, Lancer is going to think it's for ghost hunting and try to keep us out of trouble. That falls under the whole 'betraying his trust' thing he was all up about."
"I've got that covered," Sam smiled and held up a note, "We go to first period, then I head to Lancer's office and slip this in his box. We're off to the rally, miss a day of school, and stay on the vice-principal's good side."
"And what exactly does the note say?" Tucker asked as he adjusted his glasses and stepped off the curb to cross the street with his friends.
"That we are, in actuality, not out at our 'job' today, but skipping to go to the rally."
"Wonderful, then my parent's and Tucker's and yours get a phone call," Danny rolled his eyes, "That's just what we all need."
"Deal with it," Sam straightened her flyer and smoothed it back out, "I cover for you all the time Fenton, I hardly ever ask either of you two for anything, you at least owe me things like this every now and again."
"She's got you Danny, you have to go with her now," Tucker smirked and continued on his way as he took up his position on one side of Sam with Danny on the other.
"Oh and she doesn't have you?" Danny started a staring contest over Sam's head with Tucker, "How many times has she let you have complete control of her movie theater slash bowling alley?"
A grimace settled over Tucker's face and he knew that he was beat, making Sam extremely happy, 'This was easier than I had planned on. Danny convinced Tucker for me and actually seemed okay with the protest rally…'
"Earth to Sam," Tucker called as he grabbed the back of her shirt to stop her, "We don't have to go inside the building just yet. School doesn't start for another ten minutes."
"Sorry Tuck," Sam leaned against the wall with her two best friends, "I was just thinking about how we will be striking a blow against corporate conglomerates that have no concern for the natural habitats of endangered species overseas today. It's going to be interesting."
"Whatever you say Sam," Danny yawned as he leaned back against the building, "I just hope Lancer doesn't kill us for this…"
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Ms. Manson, what a surprise," Edward Lancer paused behind the young woman, balancing his books in one hand, his coffee on top of them, and a file in his other hand on last week's 'baloney and mustard on the ceiling in the cafeteria incident' that had the lunch ladies quite upset.
"Mr. Lancer!" Sam whirled around, a small note clutched in her hands, "What an unexpected surprise!"
"Generally, yes, surprises are unexpected, however," he shifted his load and opened his door, "as this is my office perhaps one should not be too shocked? Please come in and tell me what I can do for you."
"Actually I think I'll just drop this note in your box and run," Sam smiled through the door and started to back away.
"No, no, I insist," Lancer finally managed to set his books down without spilling his coffee, still glancing over the file, "I can put this down for a minute and discuss whatever might be pertained in that note you are holding."
"I'd really rather just leave this for you to get to later….you look so busy."
"Ms. Manson. Sit."
And she did, and began to formulate a plan on how to escape what might happen, "So, how was your day sir?"
"Oh, it has been fine, being as I've only been up for a few hours," he smiled at his student, "Now if I could have the letter and we could begin our conversation on whatever it might contain?"
Reluctantly handing over the note, Sam sat in nervous contemplation on just how she would handle the upcoming situation. Should she say it was just a joke? No, it was obviously not a joke. Maybe she could get Danny to do that overshadowing trick again…no that was a stupid idea too…
"I see," Lancer finished reading and folded the note back up, only to tuck it into hisshirt'spocket, "So you wish to skip school with the two young men to attend this rally?"
"Yes," Sam answered and tilted her head up haughtily, "The only reason I was going to leave that note was so you wouldn't think that Danny was trying to take advantage of you trusting him. Um, well, so you didn't think me or Tucker were either…"
"That was very astute of you," Lancer smiled, "I thank you for not wanting to betray my trust. However, you do realize that by giving me this note you have sentenced yourself and the two boys to detention?"
"Yes sir," Sam grimaced, "but I'd rather the two boys didn't have to stay as long in detention as normal."
"Oh?"
"Um, well, I'm kinda' making them go to this rally with me," she looked down, "so they really don't deserve this because they wouldn't be skipping otherwise. I'll do extra detention for getting them into trouble."
"That is extremely generous of you Samantha Manson," he tapped the pocket he had the note in, "however, you did not think this through clearly enough. Now that I know you are going to skip and where you are going to be at, I can call the police and have you taken in for truancy."
"But sir!"
"No, now hear me out," Mr. Lancer looked down at her sternly, "I will warn you not to do it. I will insist that you not go to the rally. I will give you a chance to attend your next class, but I can in no way actually stop you from going, nor can I check in on you at anytime today. The only thing I will be able to do is note in the attendance records whether or not you were here, and that won't be until the end of the day. Do I make myself clear Ms. Manson?"
With a broad smile at the smile sent her way, Sam's only reply to his speech was, "Crystal clear. Mr. Lancer."
"Good then," the vice-principal smiled, "I will see you in detention then, and hopefully the word that I am not so un-cool will be spread a bit. After all, I too can remember skipping a day or two of school for a very good reason."
"Of course sir," Sam tried to keep from laughing, 'Who knew he would actually go along with this?'
"Mr. Lancer?" Sam got up the courage to address him right before she left his office, "Why are you helping us? And especially with this, why are you letting us go to the rally?"
"Ms. Manson," Lancer took a sip of his coffee, "the way I see it, the three of you do more for Amity Park than most would even think of doing. Your trio, as all people in the world, deserve a day off every now and again, even if two of the three participants are being dragged into it. I do not agree with this behavior, and I do not expect to see it repeated often, however, I can understand where you're coming from. You three are stillchildren in my eyes.Children need to have some fun and not be constantly worried about saving the world...it just isn't healthy."
Sam was sent off with one more tired smile from her vice-principal, a grin of her own plastering her face as she collected her boys and headed out towards the edge of Amity Park by means of a free flight from the resident halfa.
'I guess we all just forget that everyone was a teenager at one time or other…it's just to weird to generally think about it,' and Sam laughed, much to the confusion of the two young men with her.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Three cuffs, I brought my recyclable flyer with me," Sam handed the flyer over as a twenty-something looking college student began rummaging through boxes for something close to the correct sizes, shooting glances at Tucker.
"Skippin' school today?" she asked as she handed the boys their large, black, green, and blue plastic wrist cuffs and began to search for one to fit Sam's petite wrists.
'Nice,' Danny smirked to himself as he donned the tri-colored cuff, 'They're even in my colors!'
"Yeah," Tucker said happily, "Sam here decided to call in every favor we owe her or every nice thing she's done for us and make us play hooky. Not so bad I guess…"
"Well, it's a great day for a rally," the young woman handed Sam her own cuff, but kept her eye on Tucker, "and if nothing else, it's a great day for skippin' school! You three have a good time and I hope to see you around. Peace and love to you!"
"Yeah, uh, right back at ya'," Tucker gave a cautious smile and ushered his other two friends away from the girl grinning like a maniac, "Let's go you two, this chick is giving me the creeps."
"No," Sam chuckled under her breath, "She's giving you the eyes…I think someone…"
"…has a crush on you Tucker," Danny concluded with his own chuckle. Tucker could only blush as the pair made their own 'eyes' at him, teasing him about the girl at the table being in love with him.
"Oh knock it off you two," Tucker tried to shrug them off, "besides, she's not my type."
"So what is your type?" Danny started towards one of the veggie burger booths, as Sam headed off on her own to the front of thepicket line, "Daring, ghost-hunting, board riding, plasma shooting, girls in our own grade?"
"Maybe…" Tucker said slyly, "but you gotta' admit, it's either that, a stuck up, shallow girl, or one of a more Gothic orientation, but the Goth is already spoken for…"
"Shut up Tucker," Danny sent him a scathing glare, "Remember that little conversation about your house possibly becoming haunted in the near future?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't tease you and…" but Tucker cut himself off as Sam hurried back up to them and began to tug Danny in the general direction of the building site.
"You need to get over there and get rid of the…" but Sam too was cut off as a blue mist came from the halfa's mouth and the Box Ghost whizzed by them yelling about doom and bubble wrap.
"Get rid of the Box Ghost?" Danny smirked, pulled Tucker and Sam close to him, and changed, "Not a problem!"
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"What is going on?" Valerie yelled as people started to panic and move around her, 'I knew it! I followed that stupid ghost kid's signature here with my tracking device. He must be causing all this commotion!'
As the large group of people finally finished rushing past her and screaming about ghosts, Valerie turned her head to the side just in time to catch a bright flash of light coming from…Foley and Manson…
"Not a problem!" Danny Phantom cried as he shot off towards another ghost most residents of Amity had come to know as the Box Ghost.
'What in the world?' Valerie's eyes widened as she started to run, 'What the hell just happened?'