Fic Author: Treesh Aradia
Website: http// treeshy . livejournal . com/

Rating: PT

Pairing: Dash/Sam

Summary: Things happen. In a toilet.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or the universe the cartoon is set in. Do not sue me, I am very poor.

Teen Dialectic: Goth and Jock Style

It wasn't because she was feeling neglected. No, Sam Manson would never admit to being sad just because she was not getting enough attention from her friends. Fact was she wasn't even sad. She was okay. A-okay. Better than fine, sunshine. Shiny. Why should Danny and Paulina's new smooch-fest 2006 affect her? It's not like she has a "thing" for Danny.

Phantom or Fenton.

That's just absurd. Ludicrous. Insane.

That was why she was bawling her eyes out alone in the toilet cubicle, ten minutes past lunchtime.

And Sam had last week to thank….when it all happened then. Paulina had decided that she was tired of waiting for the Phantom, and Danny being the most convenient footstool around managed to weasel his way into Paulina's black, empty and soulless heart. Dash Baxter acting way too immature for Queen P also played a part. Read: Fendi bags drenched in purple craze slurpee was a definite no-no, and Dash played one prank too far on Paulina. And so the Danny Paulina Love-Fest began.

Yay.

However, hearing about it from Tucker and Danny on the phone –she was away last week, visiting her other rich relatives in the east- and seeing it at lunch on the first day of school, were two very contrasting, very different experiences. One could be viewed with amusement and a bit of dubiousness, since Danny was known to be slightly "delusional" when it came to Paulina, while the other… had a ripping effect.

On Sam's heart.

Amusement and shredded cartilage.

Big difference.

Sam curses the day she failed to listen to her mother on the fortuity of bringing a tissue pack… something about young girls and good etiquette. And so, Sam contends with blowing her nose into the school's toilet roll sheets. She hated the way the rough texture made her nose itch. As if it wasn't Rudolph-red from the crying. Damn it.

"Hello?" Sam calls out as she hears the sudden open and slam of the toilet, followed by the loud, harsh breathing of someone leaning against her cubicle door.

"Look there are other cubicles alright? I'm busy in this one!" Sam called out, already frustrated. Stupid Paulina. And idiot Dash! She adds the last part in for the sake of it.

"Whoa! Is someone crying in there?"

Sam lets out a squeak as she hears the very male voice of no one other than the obnoxious blond haired, blue eyed jock-bully. She clutches more toilet sheets, praying Kwan wasn't there too. "Go away!"

"Shoosh woman. Keep the bawling to a minimum. I am trying to hide out here you know!"

"Why you unfeeling worm! If I wasn't busy in here, I would come out and-"

Suddenly she stills, hearing the loud voice of Kwan and the other jocks outside the toilet. "He needs to die! DASH Baxter! You are going down!" The stampede of heavy jock soles followed for about a few more seconds until it reached the other hallway.

From inside her cubicle, Sam asks "Dash, you still there? What is going on?"

"I know that voice. Sam Manson? Are you crying?"

"Shut up! I am not crying. I caught the flu. What is going on out there? WHY ARE YOU IN THE LADIES WASHROOM?"

"You sounded ok to me in the morning while I was shoving Tucker in the locker. You even managed to hit quite the high C with your 'Dash Baxter, you are a JERK!'"

Sam wishes bad luck on Dash as she feels her blood boil. That was a poor imitation of her. Even though she did tend to get slightly shrill at the last part.

"Look, if you are done hiding like the scared little baby you are then just get out of the ladies!" She hears the sound of footsteps draw closer and Sam pushes herself further into the cubicle. He's just outside her door.

"Well, suddenly, I feel tired. I think I'll have a seat right here." And she hears him enter the next cubicle. Sam pouts and seats herself down, prepared to wait it out.

"HAH CAUGHT YOU!"

Sam shouts and flails her arms as she notices the smug blond head above her, poking out from the next cubicle. "You freak! I could have been indecent!"

Dash stares at her and shrugs. "Lucky me you aren't"

"Lucky you?" She stops herself from stooping any further to his level, reminding herself she's not three. "Well, since you've made your money's worth at perusing the freak show, I best make a move now." She starts to head out of the ladies when she feels him tugging at her T-shirt sleeve.

"I'm stuck here till lunch period is over, so why don't you tell me what Danny did. Gives me the pretext I need to bash him up later anyway."

Sam looks up at the boy in wide eyed surprise. When did he gain insight to the problems she had, or was she that transparent? And he actually knew what pretext meant?

Her look did not go unnoticed, and Dash rolls his eyes. "Contrary to popular belief, I do learn at school Sam."

"That is quite contrary to popular belief isn't it?"

"Well?"

"Well what? Like you need a reason to beat on the weak." She flinches as she realizes the error she made. Danny would not appreciate her calling him weak. But then again, Danny's feelings weren't her business anymore.

"True, I don't, but it looks like you could- oh gosh I cannot believe I am saying this- but you look like you need a friend. Or a shoulder to cry on."

"Ok, you look like Dash, but obviously, you're the alien who probed and slurped his mind."

"Oh, haha. I try to be nice, this one time, and I get flake for it." He moves for the door, only to stop when she calls him back.

"Wait, I'm sorry. You're right. I didn't mean to be rude, although you really deserve – WAIT! I'm sorry again, you don't have to leave." Sam pauses, unsure of their new found civility. "I, I just feel off today."

"Off? Like a remote control?" He was so very dim.

Or very smart. Cause she could feel herself getting angry again. "No! Just, not my usual self."

"And by that, you mean angst-y and dark?"

"Hey, just because someone subscribes to the garb, doesn't mean they have to be that way all the time." She ends it by stabbing his chest with a sharp black fingernail.

"Relax, I know what you mean. I mean, I am here being nice aren't I?"

"Oh, and I really wonder why." And she does. She was in no way planning to give him any blackmail worthy material.

"Look, if this is too much conversation for you, Miss Moody, I can always leave." However he doesn't make a move, instead they both glare at each other for awhile until she sighs and plops onto the floor. Dash takes a moment before copying.

"So what have you done this time? I don't think I have ever seen your jock-minions turn against you" Sam questions, hoping to take the heat away from herself. She studies her companion for a bit, surreptitiously of course, taking inventory of the slim, streamlined stature, the lean muscular arms in a white T-shirt. Huh. She still doesn't know what made the mindless girls in the school fawn over him. Sure Dash has quite the body, but so did any of the other players…what gave him the extra drool?

And then she whips her head to his face, as she hears his laugh. And she finally sees the attraction. He had the nicest blue eyes, like the shade of cornflower on a sunny day she would describe if she were a poet…and the crinkles around his eyes as he laughed…

Come to think of it, she has never really seen Dash laugh. Sure there were the smug and slanted grins as he made a few people (boys) cry, but this had to be the first time she saw an honest to God laugh. And it made her queasy, like the time she ate one too many cheesy pizza slices and had a bout of stomach upset.

"Sam, Sam…if I tell ya I would have to kill ya."

She stared at him bluntly. "Wow, and we have surpassed the limits for clichéd phases and sentences, give the boy a prize."

"I kind of dumped the remaining slurpee from Paulina's bag onto Kwan's new car seat."

"Oh. And you thought he'd just lie down and take it like a good pup?"

"Hoped for it actually. But I do realize the stupidity of my actions."

"You do?" Sam asked uncertainly. Dash actually learning something, much less the error of his ways, was still a very foreign concept, even though Sam did feel bad for underestimating him in the first place.

"Absolutely. If I knew how much trouble I'd be in, I would have poured much more than purple slurpee. Makes hiding here all the more worthwhile." He adds a boyish smirk for good measure.

Then again, why did she even bother.Sam sighed, looking at her watch. "Still have a few more minutes to go."

The short silence was cut off just then by the bell. "Hmm, guess I was wrong." She says, feeling odd, having to leave th sanctuary of the toilet. And Dash.

However, she manages to stand up, offering a hand to the jock.

"Hey Sam, he's a fool you know" at Sam's questioning look, Dash explains "Danny, he's blind to se what's right there."

And suddenly, Sam doesn't actually know what to say. And Dash doesn't wait to hear it.

"Got to go, I think I have Kwan and some car seats to deal with." And he leaves the ladies.

Maybe Sam does see the attraction after all.