Chapter Five
Sam was sitting on Danny's bed next morning very anxious about her situation. Danny had a hand on her knee and was looking at the ground as if it would give him an answer to all his problems.
The night before she and Danny had gone to his bedroom silently and both fell asleep without exchanging a word. When Sam woke up, she crawled her way to Danny's bed, waking him up to hold her. It was when she finally told him about the conversation the day before.
"Sam…" Danny sighed, removing the hand from her knee to caress her face, delicately. "I won't leave you alone with him." He said, "I'll go ghost and be by your side the whole time."
"Today he'll take me to dinner."
"You agreed already?" He asked, slightly surprised and hurt. He knew he had no right to feel hurt or jealous that she was going on a date, he didn't own her. She had never gone out in a date before; she had always hanged with him like there was nobody else in the world that would get her attention.
"I did, but he doesn't know what expects him tonight." She smiled devilishly. "I'll convince him to go to a cheap Italian restaurant and I'll eat the pasta in the most disgusting way ever!"
Danny's anger, jealously and everything he was feeling at that moment completely disappeared and he collapsed on the bed, laughing his head of.
Sam smiled at the scene before her. 'Mission accomplished.' She thought, seeing that had successfully set her best friend in a lighter mood.
"We better go to school." She said, standing up. At the moment she said that the telephone rang.
"Wait, I still have to fly you home, remember?" Danny said, picking up the phone "Hello?"
"Daniel Fenton I can't believe what you and Sam have been doing!" A very mad Maddie shouted on the phone.
"What are we doing, mom?" Danny asked, innocently, wondering if his parents had installed cameras around the house. If they had, they probably would be much more concerned about his half ghost side than the fact that he and Sam were sharing a room…
"Don't play dumb with me, young man, I read everything in today's magazine! You better give me a very good excuse to not go back home before we planned and ground you for a month!" Maddie yelled at the other side of the line. Even Sam could hear her.
"Magazine? What are you talking about?" Danny was really confused now, he wasn't just playing dumb.
"Yes, the Affluence Magazine came out today with a picture of you and Sam kissing in the park and it has an interview with your school nurse!"
"Oh crap…" Danny paled. Stupid journalists. How could they mess someone's lives so much? He looked up to Sam whose eyes were widened and blank. "Mom, it's not like that, Sam and I just kissed in the park, we're not together and the nurse just thought we were; that's all."
"Can I trust you?" His mother asked, still sounding suspicious.
"Mom, it's just me." Danny finally convinced her.
"Okay, but don't disappoint me, young man."
"I won't mom, you know me."
Sam watched the conversation go from awkward to extremely annoying. If she had remembered to bring her clothes with her she could go home by herself, but she wouldn't walk on the street in a nightgown. She sat on the bed again, waiting for Danny to finish the conversation.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
That night, Sam was in her room, getting dressed while her mother congratulated her from outside the door. Sam put on the darkest outfit she had. It was a black corset with a black skirt that looked like it had been completely ripped in the ends. She put her usual pair of combat boots and a collar that had a five inches pendant of a silver replica of a human skull.
She didn't put on her lilac make over; instead she applied a black lipstick and eyeliner, making her paler than normal, almost deadly pale.
"Danny?" She whispered, feeling the temperature drop.
"I'm here." He said, still invisible.
"How do I look?" She asked, grinning.
"Like you're part of Circus Gothika' show." He chuckled. "But cuter than freaky."
"Great." She replied, sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm going now; don't leave me, please."
"You can stay calm." He said, then he was completely silent. If it wasn't for the temperature, she would have doubted he was still there.
She opened the door and saw her mother gasp in horror. She completely ignored her and climbed down the stairs, seeing Kyle already waiting for her there. He was holding a single red rose, which he offered her as soon as she came into view.
To Sam's frustration, Kyle seemed to find her very attractive in her dark clothes. He smiled widely. She ignored his outstretched hand and led the way to the car, which wasn't going to be her black Mercedes, but Kyle's red Ferrari.
"I made reservations at the best Japanese restaurant in town, I hope you like sushi." He smiled and Sam shrugged. She hated Japanese food.
"I don't like sushi… I'm vegetarian and I don't eat any kind of meat, fish, chicken or whatever that used to be an animal."
"Really?" He replied, disappointed. "Your parents didn't tell me about this."
"Maybe my parents are not home long enough to notice some things about me." Sam responded simply, with a blank face to make it impossible for him to read her.
"You're quite lonely, aren't you?" He smiled sympathetic at her, getting her completely by surprise. Sam looked at him as if he had just told her he knew her deepest secret. She relaxed and put on her indifference mask once more.
"Sometimes." She answered quietly.
"Your only friends are Danny and Tucker?" He asked, sounding gentle and reassuring.
"Yes, they're the only ones." She smiled to herself and before she realized she had relaxed and was almost forgetting who was by her side… almost.
There was silence once again. Kyle parked in front of an Italian restaurant he had spotted and on the door they saw a big poster of an Opera that had just premiered the previous week. Sam stopped to read the poster and Kyle grinned at her.
"Do you like Operas?" He asked, almost unbelievingly.
"I love them." She answered. "I never could get Danny or Tucker to go with me so I've watched them by myself all these years." She said, knowing that a certain halfa was feeling very guilty right now.
"I never thought I would find a teen that liked operas!" Kyle cheered.
"Why? Do you like them, too?" She asked, surprised. She had never seen anyone who liked operas.
"You're kidding me? I love them!" He said, entering in the restaurant and holding out a chair for her. "What's your favorite?"
"Turandot!" Sam said immediately, "I think it's the most beautiful love-story I've ever heard. And Nessun Dorma is my favorite piece as well." She grinned. "Isn't it wonderful? The melody is so sensual… and the story…A princess that hates men and kills all princes that don't deserve her heart. She's so cruel and cold. And even with that personality the unknown prince still falls in love with her because he's equally cold and sadistic. It's so… dark and perfect."
Kyle smiled at Sam, understanding her completely. When she started talking about the opera he knew the reasons why she liked it, he knew she was more like Turandot than she'd ever knowledge.
"You seem to treat your princes like Turandot." He laughed, making her blush. "I bet that if you could I would be headless right now."
"Yeah… I was planning on poisoning your soda." She laughed, hiding the fact that she had seriously thought about it. "And what's your favorite opera?"
"La Traviata, from Verdi." He said and smiled when he saw Sam's eyes shine in interest. She knew that opera as well. "My favorite piece in this play is "Libiamo ne'lieti calici", you know, the toast scene."
"Of course I do." She smirked, starting to sing her favorite part, as if reading her mind; Kyle sang with her the same lines "Ah! Godiamo! La tazza e il cantico/ la notte abbella e il riso/ in questo paradiso / ne scopra il nuovo dì."
"Oh my, it's a shame you're have a boyfriend, I'm thinking that this marriage thing may be a good idea!" Kyle laughed, "I didn't expect you to speak Italian."
"I didn't think you'd like operas!" Sam laughed. "We gotta go watch one together!"
"If you want to, I heard Tosca will premiere in NY next week. We can go there."
Indeed, they were having a great time together… and that only increased Danny's fury. He wasn't expecting that twist. How could Sam suddenly talk to a jerk just because he liked operas? Wasn't she going to scare him away by dancing in the table, jumping on the chandelier and all that stuff?
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Danny?" Sam called him when she saw him opening his locker the next morning. He completely ignored her. "Why didn't you show up yesterday?"
"Maybe because you were too busy flirting with Mr. Rich-ass to remember I was there with you and maybe I got tired to see you two and went home." He spat sarcastically, which angered Sam because that was her trademark.
"Danny, you have no right to speak to me like that!" She replied, angrily. She looked around before continuing, deciding that if she whispered the last bit on his ear nobody would hear her "You're not my real boyfriend; I can flirt with whoever I want."
"Yeah, I know." He looked hurt and furious, with was a nasty combination "But I have been helping you to get away from the same person you're drooling over now!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not drooling over him." Sam finally decided that she was the one to be mature enough to give up and make them be friends again. "I'm not 'in danger' anymore so if you want to stop dating and go for Valerie I'll completely understand, but I really would appreciate if you helped me fool him for a bit longer. I think he's respecting me because he thinks I'm taken."
"Is that why you came here talk to me?" Danny was still angered. "Kyle is all over you, it wouldn't make much difference!"
"Yes, it will." She grabbed a handful of his shirt so that he wouldn't walk away. "Stop this jealousy right now. I'm not comfortable with him like I am with you. YOU are my best friend, Danny, not him."
"But you seemed to have a better interaction with him…" Danny protested, finally admitting he was childish and pouted cutely, making Sam smile broadly at him and jump on his arms, hugging him tightly.
"And I just talked to him about operas, nothing else, you can't complain because you don't like them."
"I sort of left after he offered to take you to NY… have you accepted?"
"I said I would, but only if I could take you with me." She smiled, Danny sighed contently and held her close before both broke apart, smiling at each other.
"So… are you going to take me to dinner tonight?" She teased.
"Do I have to do everything he did?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "I don't have a Ferrari and I can't speak Italian."
"That's fine." She held his hand. "You don't have to do anything, I'm just teasing you."
"And talking about tease…" Tucker suddenly showed up behind them grinning madly while holding up a copy of the Affluence Magazine. "I didn't know you were sleeping together… or making out in the middle of the park." Tucker enjoyed the blushing faces in front of him. "Ah, young love."
"Which reminds me," Sam turned to Danny, changing the subject. "We have to kill a certain nurse…"
"I think we should leave it like that." Danny grinned. "Look at the students around us; they're looking at us like they finally respect us."
"Danny Fenton, I can't believe you'd use some rumor to rise to popularity!"
"I don't really care as long as we don't get in trouble." Danny grinned, "Now, milady, can I walk you to your next class?" He offered her his arm which she gladly took.
"Which reminds me, are you ready for the discussion?" Tucker asked, worriedly.
"Of course." Sam cracked her knuckles. "Paulina will go down in two minutes."
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Let's begin the discussion now, I remind you girls that you have ten minutes to introduce each sides of the discussion." Mr. Lancer said, sitting down on his desk.
Paulina stood up and walked to the front of the class with a paper in her hands.
"Love exists." She said proudly. "Love is like oxygen and everybody knows that. It may not be the greatest love of all, but everybody have felt love, the love for our parents, for our family, friends. The tiny love we feel daily is nothing compared to Love, the kind Plato philosophized about, but still exists. When you feel warm to see that special someone, intoxicating, life making kind of love it's when you know that Love is there. You wouldn't be here if your parents didn't love each other. Love is what makes the earth turns and mankind to keep going. Without love, what reason do we have to live?"
"Very well, Paulina." Mr. Lancer noted down what she said and waited for Sam to start. Paulina bounced back to her seat happily and looked at Sam like a vermin who was about to be squashed.
"Very well," Sam stood up and walked to the front of class. She didn't have a paper with her. "I'd like to start this discussion with a very interesting example from Sagan. If I tell you right now I found a dragon and I am hiding it in my garage, who would believe me?"
A few students raised their hands, making the rest of class laugh hysterically; Danny almost raised his hand, too, remembering the dragon ghost, but decided to stay quiet and listen to Sam.
"If you showed us the dragon we would believe it," Paulina said.
"Let's say the dragon is invisible." Sam smirked.
"I'd say you're lying." Danny said. "Uh… not really." He remembered that he could turn invisible, so why couldn't the dragon? "I'd ask if I could feel, smell or hear it."
"And I say the dragon is intangible and soundless."
"I say you're lying!" Tucker replied, laughing. "We need proofs, Sam, proofs we can try with our five senses."
"So my word of having a dragon isn't proof enough." Everybody agreed. "It's the same with Love." She grinned, seeing that people were staring at her like she had grown a second head. "Someone tell you that they're in love. Do you see 'love'? Do you hear 'love'?"
"I see a person who's in love's goofy face." Danny said, mimicking his goofy face making all the students laugh. "I think that's proof enough!"
"Not for me. I see a goofy face, that's all."
"But you can feel love, it's different." Paulina protested.
"Really? Let's use your example: you believe your mother loves you, right?" She nodded. "And I say your mother likes you, it's affection because you've been with her for years and she's used to you, she worries about you because she's used having you around and she'd be sad if something happened to you and you wouldn't be able to be there anymore."
"It's not! She loves me!"
"Can you prove it?"
"She cooks for me, she makes my bed, and she tucks me in." Paulina started counting.
"So, if someone cooks for you they love you? I'll return in five minutes with a pie and you'll know I love you then." Sam grinned, making the students laugh. "Your maid makes your bed, does she love you?"
"Fine, I can't prove somebody else's love." Paulina finally gave up. "I can't feel it for them."
"But you're sure you are able to love, right?" Sam continued and Paulina nodded. "Can I believe you?"
"No, you can't feel it for me so I think you can't." She answered, feeling like she was loosing the discussion, which was making her very angry.
"You say that when you're feeling warm and shivering you're in love," Paulina nodded again. "I say you have a fever."
Danny laughed so hard he fell on the ground. Tucker laughed, too, recording the discussion in his PDA.
"What do you call what you feel for Danny then?" Paulina raised an eyebrow, skeptically. "I heard your relationship is a bit more serious than we thought."
Sam finally felt cornered. If she admitted she didn't like Danny she'd ruin the pretend game and if she said she liked him she would be ruining the point in the discussion. Finally, the answer came to her.
"I am attracted to him. What two people have is temporary attraction towards each other. It's instinct; people choose the best pair to continue the species, like dogs, like lions, like insects. You can sleep with someone to reproduce only… of course nowadays we know that the pleasure is better so we try to stop conceiving, but I'm talking in the origin of the species."
"Miss Manson." Mr. Lancer interrupted her. "How many books have you read for this discussion?" He asked, impressed.
"The Origins of Species, of Darwin, of course, The Five Ways of Agrippa, Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan… and I'm using some other strategies I've read randomly…" Sam explained, blushing slightly.
"Does someone still believe in love?" Mr. Lancer addressed the class with a smirk. Nobody moved. "Well… so, as sad as it is, our discussion reveled that love doesn't exist."
"You can still go out with your boyfriend, though, Paulina." Sam smirked, walking back to her desk. "You don't have to stop enjoying life because of this small discussion."
Paulina was feeling so humiliated that she swore she'd get her revenge somehow.
"Fenton," Dash called him in a whisper. Danny was suspicious, but leaned forward to hear him out anyway, "How many times you made her scream 'I love you'?" He laughed. The students around them laughed, too. Danny blushed and didn't know how to answer. Sam had heard Dash as well and turned around to look him lovingly in the face to answer him.
"I don't have to say it, you know." She smirked. "It's not the words that count, but the screaming, but of course, you wouldn't know that."
Dash was left without any more comments, staring at Sam unbelievingly furious and Danny was left with his cheeks burning. How could Sam joke like that? They hadn't done that! And he didn't know if she was a screamer… though he'd like to find out.
Dude… she was a special one.
Okay, I've received some reviews saying that it is disgusting to marry your cousin. So, it is not like Sam's parentsand Kyle's parents are brothers, it is their grandparents that are brothers. And I have based Sam's situation in a real story. It happened to my high school friend. Her family made her marry her cousin when she was only nineteen, she didn't complain because she accepted the 'family responsibility' (unlike Sam). Today she's twenty one and is pregnant of her first child. I see her everyday in college (she didn't give up studding), but she'll never get a career because as soon as classes end, she'll be a housewife, stay home and raise the kids.
It is weird how she accepted putting her life aside to be a married woman, but I don't think it is weird to marry a cousin. Rich families do that to keep the inheritance IN the family. Is it weird? Yes, but it happens. Life is weird.
And just because I like to spoil my lovely readers here's a preview of the next chapter. Since I'm so nice what about lots and lots of reviews?
"Sam… I had a lot on my mind, but I swear I didn't stand you up on purpose." He begged. He turned human to reveal he was wearing his casual jeans and a new polo shirt on, looking very handsome.
"Were you going out when I called you?" She asked in curiosity.
"What? Oh, no." He realized she was talking about his clothes. "I just put up them on before flying here; I thought you'd still be interested on the date…" He gave her a small smile. "The reservations are up until nine."
"You have reservations?" Sam asked, incredulously.
"I told you it was going to be a fancy date."
Now, be a dear and review. The next chapter may come out sooner if you do…