Chapter 2- Explain.

The next day, I woke up normally, got dressed normally, made myself a waffle, and was just sitting down to eat it, when I remembered what had happened yesterday.

Flashback:

After the fight, I told Burney, that I knew the two kids with the ghost boy. I told him they were students of mine that always 'Hang in' together with another student of mine, who wasn't there at the time,

"He has about the same hairstyle as the Phantom boy." I said. At any rate, Burney asked me to get the student's opinions on what happened that day. I thought of it as a risk to get closer in and ask about such a private affair with students I have a professional relationship with. He just slapped me on the back saying:

"That's my bud, I knew you'd do it for me." and reminded me that the correct term was 'hanging out.' Well that makes no sense. I thought. But all I could do was smirk a bit.

End Flashback.

I gulped. I was very curious myself, but this was a job for a counselor. Unfortunately, our school didn't seem to have luck with counselors. I sighed, and went back to eating my breakfast.

Once I was at the school, the only thing I could do was wait until period 4, and in the meantime, teach my classes, and figure out what I was going to ask, and how I was going to approach it. The rest of my class would have to do worksheets for today. I felt horrible about breaking the line between personal and professional relationships with these three students, and making the education of the rest of the class suffer, but my curiosity overshadowed my guilt. I took a sip of one of my many daily coffees, and got to teaching, and waiting for fourth period to arrive.

When it did, I felt so anxious that my tie seemed to choke me. As Danny and his friends came in the room, I almost gagged. My social skills were worsening; I started gaining more regrets, but I knew I had to get this over and done with. Besides, they're fourteen; they couldn't be that difficult to get answers out of. As I paid more attention to them, I noticed they all looked really nervous. Though I don't know why Fenton was so nervous, I was sure I knew why the others were so nervous, though in reality, I had no idea. I listened to as much as I could of their conversation.

"What if Skulker strikes again in this period?" I heard Samantha say, worried. "Can you risk fighting when there's so much suspicions from Mr. Lancer?"

"Guess I have to." I heard Mr. Fenton whispered. I didn't know what to think. Who was Skulker, and why were they so interested in fighting him. I stopped eavesdropping to start the class.

"Class, Today, I'm doing some counselor work, so I need you to quietly work on these worksheet packets while I'm working with three students." The class groaned at the words 'worksheet packets.' All except the three in back who knew which three students I would pick, and didn't seem too happy about it. They stared at me in a rejected/ surprised/ unexpected fashion; their mouths agape. I gulped again. Okay, Mr. Lancer, just open your mouth, and call out one of their names. They're only fourteen. I opened my mouth.

"Samantha Manson." I heard myself say quickly. I really had to work on my social skills. She stood up, failing to be calm. Actually shaking a bit. What was she so nervous about? I lead her to our old counselors room. We both shivered. The room hasn't been heated since it's last inhabitant, Professor Spectra, but as far as I knew, no one knew when she left, and to be truthful, she was a horrible counselor. I turned up the heat as much as I could, and then left Samantha for a second to get some blankets or something.

When I got back, I saw Samantha sitting on the chair freezing. I quickly wrapped her in a blanket. She smiled a little, but it didn't reach her eyes, which were still very worrisome, or that's how it seemed. I sat down besides the old desk, looking at the room. It was in horrible shape. There was mold everywhere, which confused me, because it was way too cold in here for mold. I exhaled. Time to get down to business.

"Samantha…"

"Sam." She corrected me.

"Right. You know I saw you with the ghost boy, and I explained it to a friend of mine…"

"You have friends?" She giggled. She put her hand to her mouth, obviously not meaning to say anything. I exhaled once more to keep myself calm, and started again.

"Yes, I do have friends. At any rate, I explained it to a friend of mine who is a children's counselor for a school a couple miles away," I lied. "He wanted me to ask the school counselor to talk to you. Since we don't have a school counselor, I decided to be one myself for this. If you could start by explaining why you were with the ghost boy in the first place?"

"Um… well, I… He saved me once, ya know, in the newspaper, so, we kinda got to know each other. He told me about how he fought ghosts, and was good, not evil, and how he's been misunderstood." I raised an eyebrow.

"What about Mr. Foley, why was he there?"

"Tuck? Um… I told him all about it, and he and I agreed to help."

"I see." I could tell by her hesitations that she wasn't telling the truth. But that's karma: lie to someone, you get lied to about something much more important. "One more question," I said firmly. She nodded; looking relieved, but still worried. "Why wasn't Daniel with you when you were with the ghost boy."

"You mean Danny?" She asked. I nodded slowly and a bit exasperated. "Oh." She said. She was apparently caught in a gridlock, thinking how she could squeeze out of this one without telling the truth. I could've been a doctor, I thought to myself again.

"He didn't really like excitement that much, so he left." She lied simply.

"I see." I repeated, raising my eyebrow once more. "Alright ms. Manson…"

"It's Sam."

"Sam… antha." I couldn't call by nicknames. I still didn't want to break the line between professional and personal, which was so far, not broken; cracked, but not broken. "You are free to go. Please go get Mr. Foley." She breathed a sigh of relief, and ran out the door. About ten minutes later, Mr. Foley came trudging through the door.

"Hi, Mr. Lancer." He said dully.

"Ms. Manson explained what this was about, correct?" I asked.

"Yes." He said dully again.

"Well, what do you have to say?"

"Nothing."

"Would it be better if I broke it down into questions for you?" I asked. No reply. "Fine, why were you with the ghost boy?"

"Well, first of all, his name is not 'the ghost boy,' its Danny Phantom, second, though he's not exactly human, he's still a cool dude, and third, I was with him because I consider him a friend."

"Okay then… Do you know if the ghost he was fighting has a name."

"Yes."

"What is it?" I asked. He hesitated, but eventually said something.

"Skulker." He said, almost too soft to hear.

"Alright… Why wasn't Mr. Fenton there?"

"Who? Oh you mean Danny?"

"Yes," I said through clenched teeth.

"Right, uh… I guess he just really didn't want to get involved. He never was the 'go getter' type."

"Alright then. Thank you, please go get Mr. Fenton."

"K, Thanks," He ran from the hot seat as well. And ten minutes later, Danny strutted in, looking exhausted.

"Mr. Fenton," His head flew up at the sound of his name. "I trust your friends told you what was going on."

"Yes," He said as he sat down. I could see a bruise on his face that wasn't there yesterday.

"So do you have anything to say?"

"I guess…." He answered.

"Well?" I moved my hands in an onward motion.

"Sam told me what happened, and I just shrugged it off. Having to deal with ghost hunting parents, you see ghosts just about every day. I wasn't really interested in too much friendship with someone that reminds me so much of home." He finished.

"Do you think this Phantom character good or evil?" I asked. He sat up at this question, looking more, well, twitchy. I studied him carefully when suddenly, he gasped and I could see his breath like it was forty bellow. (Mind you, it was cold, but the heat had kicked in so it wasn't cold enough to see breath like that.) He suddenly looked worried, but very alert. His eyes darted around the room. And he mumbled something to himself.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail!" I yelled. While through the ceiling came that ghost. What was his name? Skulker. Just as I thought that, I could hear Mr. Fenton murmur under his breath:

"Skulker."

I stared between the two of them.

"Hello, whelp," Skulker said. "Sorry to interrupt your fine meeting…" They both looked at me for a second. I was still petrified with fear and confusion. "But I believe it's time, once again to hunt you down." he said menacingly. Danny didn't look scared though; more or less brave, really, and nothing like his friends had described. He looked fine. But he still looked a little worried, and kept glancing at me, then looking back at the ghost then glancing at me again. But time was running out and Skulker was setting up some sort of weapon, and Danny was still looking from me to Skulker and back again. What was he doing? Why wasn't he scared? Why wasn't he running for it? These were just a few of the questions buzzing in my head. It wasn't long before…

"Watch out!" I yelled as the ghost shot his weapon. But Danny dodged it in a back handspring and bolted, jumping out the window. The ghost, Skulker followed calmly. I gaped wide-eyed. How did he… I never knew he could…" I stammered. "Wow," I ended up saying plainly.

A few moments later, me still overwhelmed with fear and disbelief, I heard a large blast from outside. I looked out the window to see Danny Phantom battling Skulker. I watched for a moment, amazed at all the flips and tricks and dodges this ghost kid could do, and how much witty banter he could think of. I chuckled. Then I realized: Where's Daniel? What if he got seriously injured? I could get sued! I steadied myself. I was being way too hard on myself. If this Phantom kid is really a good guy, he would tell Danny to leave so he wouldn't get hurt. I went back to the classroom, hoping everyone would be there; but sure enough, one was missing. Guess who. I sat down at my desk.

Ten minutes later, Ms. Manson raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Manson."

"Where's Danny?" She asked. I exhaled; I knew this would come.

"A ghost invaded the room we were in." I stated. The class looked up. I continued. "The ghost shot at Danny, but…" I hesitated. "He did a back-handspring out of the way and jumped out the window." The class gasped in amazement. All except Mr. Foley and Mrs. Manson, whose hands shot up at these words.

"Yes, Mr. Foley."

"Can I …umm…. go to the bathroom?" I rolled my eyes.

"Yes." I said, knowing he was going to search high and low for his friend. "Ms. Manson."

"Can I go to the nurse, I don't think I ate enough for breakfast."

"Yes." She was going to do the same thing. They both ran out of the room. Wait… I thought. I forgot my tape recorder in the counselor's room. I was using a tape recorder to record the meetings, and hear things for a second time if I missed anything. I left the room and headed to the counselor's room.

Thank you for reading! I'll post another chappy soon!

Please DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!   !