A/N: Sorry for the long wait peoples. I was banned from the computer because I kinda fell behind on homework... I'm starting to hate my Spanish teacher...

Anywho! Here's the next chapter! I know everyone wants to know what Valerie finds, but don't worry, that's next chapter!

Danny lay on his bed, staring lazily at the ceiling, unanswered questions occasionally buzzing around inside his head. For at least half an hour, silence reigned. Then, a musical ring tone pierced the air, nearly causing Danny to fall off the bed.

"Hello?" The halfa answered his cell phone irritably after recovering from the slight shock.

"Hey Danny! It's Tucker."

"Oh, hey Tuck," Danny said, losing much of his anger. "Finally out of detention?"

"Oh shut up. You've had twice as many detentions as I have!" Tucker retaliated at the teasing tone in his best friend's voice.

"Whatever," Danny rolled his eyes. "So, what's up?"

"The sky," Tucker answered sarcastically.

"Ha, ha, ha. You're hilarious," the halfa replied, just as sardonically. "I meant, why'd you call?"

"Well… First off, you'd better sit down, because you might not like this news…"

"Oh, get on with it Tuck," Danny said, but with a slight unease evident in his tone.

"Alright, here goes…" With that, Tucker launched into a short explanation of his conversation with Mr. Lancer. Danny's eyes widened considerably as he spoke.

"What?" he said hoarsely after Tucker finished speaking. "You have got to be kidding me. Please say you're lying!"

"Wish I could… Sorry, but it's the truth," the techno-geek said ruefully. "Apparently, Lancer either knows that you're half ghost and is pretending he doesn't (which is unlikely), or he's very suspicious…"

"So what am I gonna do?" Danny asked desperately. "How am I going to keep this secret now that he's gonna be investigative and – "

"Dude, chill!" Tucker exclaimed, heading off his friend before a full-on rant ensued. "All you have to do is lie low for a while. Try not to draw attention to yourself."

Danny sighed. Tucker's suggestion seemed a bit clichéd, but he had a point. "Yeah, maybe that'll work… But what if it doesn't?"

"Don't even start with the 'what ifs'. You'll be able to go on for hours. Just try not to stress out too much and you'll be fine," Tucker told him.

"Alright. Thanks for telling me, Tuck. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Anytime. See ya."

After Danny hung up, he was immediately overcome with worry, not able to heed his friend's suggestion. Streams of what ifs flooded his mind:

What if Lancer finds out? What if he tells the whole town? What if they all end up rejecting me as a freak? What if my parents reject me? What if they throw me out of the house and I have to live on the streets?

As he thought of everything that could go wrong, Danny paced nervously around his room. He walked the same path so many times that, afterwards, he was surprised that he hadn't worn holes in the carpet.

Eventually, after thinking things like, What if they kill me?, Danny started running out of ideas for what ifs, and began to calm down. But before he could, his cell phone rang again.

"Hello?" he said, with the slightest bit of tension in his voice.

"Hi Danny." The halfa immediately recognized the feminine, slightly monotonous voice as belonging to Sam.

"Hi Sam," Danny replied. All strain in his tone had vanished.

"Hey, listen… Do you think you could meet me down at the park about five minutes from now?" Sam said with an undetectable amount of stiffness present in her voice.

"Uh… sure… But you do realize it's getting dark out, right?"

"Yeah, but this is urgent, okay? I'll see you there."

"Alright. Bye," Danny replied in parting. Barely taking a moment to ponder what was so urgent that Sam needed him now, he leaped into the air, going ghost in mid-jump. Then, he phased through the ceiling and promptly started for the park.

When Danny was half way there, he considered the fact that he probably should've told his parents or Jazz that he was going out. He even thought about turning around to do that. But that's when he spotted Sam.

To put it bluntly, the Goth girl didn't look happy. She seemed confused, deep in thought, and – upset?

I hope she's not mad at me… Danny thought worriedly, even though he hadn't done anything to displease her… Well, nothing he could think of…

"Hi Sam," the halfa greeted her after landing on the ground and reverting to his human appearance. "What's up?"

Sam looked up at him slowly, and sighed deeply before talking. Pulling something out of her pocket, she answered, "I'll tell you what's up. This."

Danny, of course, immediately recognized the small object Sam indicated. It was the ring he had wanted to give to Valerie… The ring he'd gotten from his dad… The ring that his dad had mistakenly engraved to –

Oh no… Danny thought miserably, figuring out the problem. The only thing he didn't know was how Sam would react…

"Danny," she said in a voice that was falsely sweet, "do you happen to remember who you were going to give this ring to?"

"Sam, I – "

"And do you know," the vegetarian continued loudly, now no kindness in her voice, yet not too much hostility either, "whose name is carved into it?"

Danny knew she was mad now. It wasn't the words she was using, so much as the slightly shrill tone her voice had taken on. Why she was so angry was anybody's guess, though…

"Sam, please listen! It's just that – "

"YOU WERE GOING TO GIVE THAT" – Sam then called Valerie such a bad name that Danny was very concerned, and that passerby were beginning to look on with interest – "A RING WITH MY NAME ON IT! AND YOU KNEW, DIDN'T YOU? AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE A – "

At this point, Danny felt the need to butt in: "I might've known, but I did care, Sam! I was nervous about giving Valerie that ring!"

"I DON'T CARE WHETHER YOU WERE NERVOUS OR NOT! YOU WERE STILL GOING TO DO IT, WEREN'T YOU?" Sam screamed at the top of her lungs. Now, every person in the area was curiously trying to locate the source of this tremendous noise (if they hadn't found it already).

Danny still didn't know why Sam was angry about the ring. But, as she opened her mouth to yell at him some more, Danny decided to try and interject again.

"Sam, please! I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!" the halfa exclaimed desperately. "What I did (or, almost did) was really stupid, and I know I shouldn't have! I just… liked her a lot, and I wanted to show her that…"

Sam just looked at him, her angry expression softening. Unfortunately, it turned into a slightly sad one.

"Sam… I promise, I won't ever do something like this again. Please forgive me," Danny said quietly, his light blue eyes meeting her amethyst ones.

"Yes Danny, I forgive you…" the Goth whispered with a strangely cheerless smile on her face. She then lowered her gaze and slowly turned around. As she walked away, Danny contemplated going after her and talking to her some more.

But that was when he suddenly shivered as a light blue mist shot from his mouth.

A/N: Oh, how I love cliffies! Please review! It's makes me happy! And then I write more!