(Same day, Lancer's Class)
"Your homework for tonight is the problems on pages 46-52. And I want your solution shown, people. No answers that just magically appeared to you. Show me your work."
Danny groaned and slumped in his seat. Great, he stayed out all night fighting ghosts, and now he had the struggle of algebra for tonight. Life just got better and better.
In front of him, Hayden was grumbled as she stuffed books into her bag. "I just don't get this stuff. What do letters have to do with math anyway?"
Danny had to laugh at her logic, considering he had the same thoughts. For a guy who had a super smart sister and a genius mom, algebra didn't have to work very hard to confuse him. Standing up, he waited until she had packed her backpack before he decided what to do next.
"You…got any lunch plans?"
He stared at her for a minute. Then, he scratched the back of his head and grinned, embarrassed. "Well, I was going to kind of ask you the same thing. But, I thought I'd go to the cafeteria and try to solve the mystery of the 'mystery' meat. Want to join me?"
"Yeah, sure." She frowned for a minute. "But what about your friends, Sam and Tucker? I thought you might want to eat with them."
Her question reminded him while he was upset with Tuck and Sam to begin with. But, it wasn't Hayden's fault that they thought he had given her the candy, was it? It shouldn't stop them from eating lunch together.
"We….kind of had a fight earlier. They're probably still mad."
"My candy box, right?" She sighed and looked down at her books.
"How'd…you know?" He stared at her, confused. She sighed again and looked him in the face. He noticed that even with her boots on, she was shorter than him.
"Danny, I've got to tell you something…"
Before she could on, he felt a shiver and inevitably, he saw his breath. Oh, no… Desperately, he turned his attention back to Hayden, only to find her looking preoccupied. He would apologize and tell her to meet him after school.
"Hay--."
"I'm sorry Danny, I have to go." Without another word, she ran out of the room at full speed, leaving him standing in the middle of an empty classroom, confused.
"What was that about?"
"I AM THE BOX GHOST; RULER OF ALL CUBED CONTAINERS!"
"Oh great."
(Lunch)
As usual, he had dispensed of the Box Ghost without much effort. Now, Danny stood at the end of the lunch line, desperately looking for somewhere to sit. Finally, he flopped down on the bench beside Tucker and began to eat his lunch without a word. Sam sighed.
"Look, we're sorry. But you have to admit, it looked that way!" Tucker pleaded with Danny, hoping to placate his friend into talking to them again.
"You should have believed me when I said I didn't do it. Besides, you guys should get to know Hayden. She's pretty nice."
"And when did you get to know her, exactly?" Sam glared at him over her tofu burger.
"We talked in Lancer's class today. We were going to eat lunch together, but she had to go all of a sudden." He poked at his food for a minute, troubled over what she had said before she left.
'My candy box, right?' How'd she know what we fought over? Must have overheard us or something…
He shivered as his ghost sense went off again. "Not again."
"Danny, your girlfriend's here." Sam pointed with her fork to the lunch line. Hayden stood with her tray, obviously looking for somewhere to sit; despite Paulina's attempts to get her attention. Danny raised his hand and waved at her, forgetting about his ghost sense a few minutes earlier.
Smiling, she waved back and began towards the table. She stopped at the end, however, when she saw Tucker and Sam.
"Hi Danny. Is…..it ok if I sit here?" It seemed like she was asking everyone, but she stared pointedly at Sam. The Goth girl shrugged.
"I don't care."
Being nudged by Danny, Tucker relinquished his stop to Hayden and moved to sit by Sam. The other girl sat down and stared at her food for a minute before she spoke.
"Thanks for letting me sit here. I'm……trying to avoid Paulina." Both Danny and Tucker raised their eyebrows questioningly as Sam glared at Hayden.
"Why's that? You two looked pretty chummy in the hallway. Believe me; you might want to sit at the popular table instead of with the freaks."
Hayden stabbed her food and glared right back at the Goth. "Look Sam, I know you probably think I'm a stuck up snob. But you're not necessarily broke yourself. So, just give me a break. I won't judge you by your parent's money if you don't rub my face in my crazy uncle's fortune. And let's get one thing straight: Paulina is not the type of person I'd hang out with. I don't do preppy, and I definitely don't do pink. One week with me and she'd be scarred for life."
With that being said, she stared defiantly at the other girl. Sam continued the staring contest for a minute before grinning. "I think I'm starting to like you."
Hayden smiled. "Good, let's keep that way." She started eating finally, although she gave the mystery meat a hard look before moving to her salad. She grinned sideways at Danny.
"I'm not taking any chances with that meat." She went back to attacking her salad as Danny laughed.
Tucker and Sam just rolled their eyes and went back to eating.
(After school)
Danny and Sam waited as Tucker ran back inside to grab his PDA from the locker. How in the world he managed to forget it, neither of them knew. But, being the good friends they were, they were willing to wait for the little techno geek.
"So, did you ever figure out who gave Hayden her candy?" Sam picked lint of her skirt. Danny just sighed.
"I thought we decided that I didn't do it."
"We did. I'm just curious. I mean, if nobody else goes to this school with the same initials as you, then he must be from somewhere else." She folded her arms and leaned against a tree.
"Why does it matter? He's probably from where ever she's from." For some reason, his chest hurt to think it. What if she had a boyfriend back in her hometown?
"I know, I just wondered…..What's taking Tucker so long?" Sam pushed herself away from the tree and brushed bark off her shirt. "It doesn't take that long to get a stupid PDA."
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Tucker came flying out of the school's doors, running for his life.
Danny cursed as his ghost sense went off again. "What is it with today? That's the 3rd time!" He followed Sam in running up the steps and into the school. Once inside, he glanced around for any sign of the ghost.
"All right, where is it..." He tentatively peered around the corner. The roar of a motorcycle warned him to pull back seconds before his head was taken off by Johnny 13's bike. He stumbled backwards and managed to go ghost before the biker turned his ride around. The blonde grinned manically at him.
"Well, well, well, if it ain't Phantom. You know, for a minute there I thought you were getting a little stuck-up. Sending your side-kick to fight me. I'm glad to see you decided to show your ugly face." He revved his engine, but stayed where he was.
Aside form his normal banter of insults, something Johnny said struck Danny as odd. "What do you mean my sidekick? You mean Tucker?"
The man shook his head. "Nah, not the little techno geek. I'm talking about the girl you sent to beat me."
"What are you talking about!" Sam was also seriously confused now. Danny scratched his head. Who exactly was Johnny talking about? It appeared Kitty had beat Johnny with her purse one too many times.
"I'm talking about that other halfa, you idiot!" Johnny apparently had gotten fed up with Danny's confusion. Revving his engine again, he grinned. "It doesn't matter. I taught her a lesson, and now I'm going to teach you!" He raced towards Danny and Sam, laughing.
Danny barely had time to push Sam into a classroom, out of the way, before Johnny zoomed by. Dazed, but determined, he scrambled back out the door and prepared to face Johnny. Unfortunately the blonde biker was indisposed at the moment, as Danny soon found out.
"Hey, let go of my damn wheel, you crazy chick!" Johnny frantically twisted his handlebars, but to no avail. His front tire was being held firmly in place by…..
"A halfa?"
Danny stared incredulously at the person before him. The figure was dressed in a suit similar to his, except for the fact that their sleeves were short. Their hair, as white as his, was braided and held back with a black band. The person yanked Johnny's wheel, causing his to lose his balance. He scrambled back onto his back and glanced from the figure to Danny and back again.
"Two halfas…forget that, man!" He whipped the bike around and took off, disappearing through the far wall. Danny watched him disappear completely before shifting his attention back to the person in front of him.
"What….who are you?" He took a couple of steps towards them as Sam flung the door to the classroom open.
"Danny, what happened? Did you find out what Johnny was--…" She trailed off as she saw the other person in the hall with them.
"Talking about? What the…."
The figure had turned around as Sam opened the door, and Danny had seen that it was indeed a girl. She was dressed like him, and while her hair was the same color, her eyes were a bright iridescent blue color. Before either one of them could say anything, she materialized through the floor and disappeared.
Danny returned to normal and turned to Sam, shocked.
"Tucker's never going to believe us."
Author's Note: And the plot thickens! Thanks to ur1crazedupfruitloop and Queen S of Randomness 016 for my first two reviews on this story. You guys are so nice, thanks again! Anyway, you know the drill on this. R&R!
