Notes:

Another new chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. You guys rock!

Chapter 4: I'm Not You

It has already been one week since I came home. Things have pretty much been the same. Even my newfound fame among the popular kids (which is only possible because they somehow felt sorry for me) has remained intact. They even drop by every now and then to see how I'm doing.

Yeah… I'm still confined to my home. It's not so bad, though. Now that my parents are not obsessed with ghosts, they have been working on other kinds of technology development, so things are not as tense as I remembered around here.

Besides, it's not like I'm inactive all day. I spend most of my hours studying for when I can finally go back to school. Yes: I, Daniel Fenton, am actually hitting the books in a non-literal way.

According to Mr. Lancer, I will be able to catch up with my classmates with some sort of make-up test. Huh… and here I was thinking that things couldn't be any easier.

But that's not all I do lately. Like I said, people come over to see me; Tucker, Sam, and Valerie among them. With the first two, I usually spend my time playing 'Doomed' to try to beat Sam. With Valerie, well… we just talk. Aside from the things she told me, we don't know each other that well, but we're starting to become good friends.

So that's what my life has been like for the last week. No ghosts. No secrets. No danger. Nothing. Just a regular life as a normal teenager.

I'm Danny Phantom no more. Not even in my head.

I can actually hear the birds sing right now. It's like the grass has become much greener and the sky is suddenly clear and bright.

Heck, I can even hear a song playing on the background while I walk down the street. Things are just turning out to be so perfect right now…

"Mr. Fenton, I hope you realize that you'll have to work harder than the rest of the class in order to keep this privilege. I know that being in a coma for a year is not something you could've foreseen, but you have to face the consequences of skipping a whole school year as it will eventually affect your future".

Danny nodded to Mr. Lancer. They were inside his office, making the necessary arrangements for his return to the halls of Casper High. "I get it. Don't worry. Jazz offered to tutor me and some of my classmates already gave me their notes to catch up with them," he said confidently.

I'm not going to mess up this time.

"Very well. You already have your schedule and your books". The bald teacher checked his watch. "We still have ten more minutes until the lunch break is over. I'll see you in class". He stood up and opened the door, motioning Danny to go outside.

"Thanks, Mr. Lancer". He was about to walk in a different direction, but decided to face the teacher once more. "Listen, uh… I know I didn't leave a good impression during my first week here a year ago, but I really want to change that".

The man smiled warmly and put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Don't try to impress me. Impress yourself". He then walked away to the teacher's lounge, leaving a dumbfounded student behind.

Mr. Lancer was being supportive? Maybe things will be better after all.

Danny then walked towards the cafeteria. As soon as he stepped into the room, several students greeted the boy. He spotted his three friends and was about to join them, but four people stopped him: Dash, Kwan, Star, and Paulina.

"Hey, Fenton. Shouldn't you be resting or something?" Dash asked as he approached his former punch-bag.

"No way… why should he waste all that social potential in his room?" Paulina exclaimed next.

"Social potential?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah… you're the one everyone talks about lately," Star now spoke.

"I am?" Danny kept his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. You're everyone's hero. You didn't have to come to school for a year," Kwan exclaimed.

"I was hospitalized," Danny pointed out in a dry tone.

"Don't listen to him. Why don't you come to sit with us?" Paulina asked, slightly flirting.

"Uh… thanks, but I… should go with my friends. I haven't seen them all day," he stated nervously, trying not to enrage the popular kids for turning them down.

Instead of a cold reply or an angry outburst towards the Fenton kid, the four teenagers smiled, and not in a mischievous way. "Ok, but don't forget about us tomorrow, Danny," Paulina said sweetly. "See you in class," she added and waved as she and the others returned to their table.

I guess I should get used to it. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't get too used to it. Once my fame fades, I'll become a loser again.

Danny shrugged his thoughts away as he reached his friends: Tucker, Sam, and Valerie (who now hanged out with them as well).

"Hey, Danny," Sam said. The other two greeted him as well.

"Hey, guys". Danny took a seat with them for the remainder of their lunch break.

"So, you really are going to be with us in class?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah. I already put my documentation in order and had some sort of agreement with Mr. Lancer," the raven-haired boy replied.

"Great! You're starting today?" Tucker questioned.

Danny nodded. Just then, the bell rang. He sighed and smiled. "Ah… I missed that sound".

"Are you sure you didn't have any brain damage or something?" Sam asked teasingly.

"Hey! I haven't been around for a while. I even missed Lancer!" Danny replied and the others laughed.

They kept talking on their way out of the cafeteria and on their way to their lockers. As they walked towards the classroom, Danny noticed his shoe was untied.

"Go ahead. Meet you there in a second," he said as he bent to tie his shoelace.

When he finished (which didn't take him more than five seconds), the halls were already empty.

Wow. Either I was too slow or they were too quick.

He turned his head to see if the hall was equally deserted behind him and confirmed his suspicion. He started walking, still looking behind over his shoulder, until he bumped into someone.

"Sorry," he began as he turned his head to apologize to the person he hit, only to be shocked by the sight of such a familiar face: Danny Phantom.

"We don't have much time," the white-haired ghost spoke as he checked their surroundings. The echo that came from his voice paralyzed Fenton even more.

He's not real. He's not real. He's not real. He's not real. He's not real.

"Listen, you're in danger. I can't be here for long but I had to warn you. We have to fight. YOU have to fight," Phantom continued, still floating in front of the wide-eyed teenager.

It's just my imagination. I'm seeing things. Another wacky dream. This is not really happening. That's not me. That's not him.

Phantom seemed to know what was on Fenton's mind. He tried to grab the boy's shoulders but he phased through them, so instead he snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Snap out of it! You can't just tell me that after all those things we went through together you're just going to let it all go to waste and pretend it was just a dream!"

Fenton actually snapped out of it… and he glared at the ghost. "No, YOU listen to me, figment of my imagination. I'M NOT YOU! YOU'RE NOT REAL! I'm tired of believing in some crazy fantasy. Sure I had my share of fun, but that was all fake. I'm tired of avoiding my family, my friends, my responsibilities, my goals, and everything else just because YOU came along. So, do me a favor, and to yourself for that matter: GET THE HELL OUT OF MY LIFE!" Fenton finished, starting to walk away from the ghost.

Phantom's face seemed disappointed and hurt. He just floated there for a few seconds with a grim expression on his face. "So that's it? You give up on me just like that? You decide to live this life just because it's easier than the one you had? Fine. Do whatever you want. But just for your information, I would never think about giving up on you". Fenton listened to his speech, still walking without turning around. When he was at the end of the hall, he stopped and turned his head to Phantom's direction, but the ghost was already gone. Danny sighed and continued walking towards his classroom. Once he made it to the room, he noticed that his classmates were just taking their seats, so he was actually on time.

He took his seat next to Sam. Tucker and Valerie were sitting in front of them. Sam frowned when she saw her friend's face. "Danny, are you all right? You look like a kid who just found out that Santa Claus wasn't real".

"I'm fine," he answered shortly in a dry tone, not looking at the Goth girl.

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything, right?" she questioned with a faint smile.

Yeah, right. So she can laugh at me again?

"I promise not to laugh this time," she reassured him, putting a hand on top of his.

"I'm fine," he replied again, more severe this time, which made Sam frown and remove her hand. She stared to the blackboard as Mr. Lancer began that day's lesson.

What the hell are you doing, Danny? It's not her fault you're upset about something.

Danny shrugged those thoughts away and tried to listen to what the teacher was saying. It was difficult to pay attention, though. Not only because Lancer's class was boring but also because Danny spent more of his time looking around the room and through the window for any signs of Phantom.

I guess I did imagine him after all. Otherwise, he would still have been there when I turned around. I should probably tell Dr. Masters about this. Maybe that hallucination was a side effect to my awakening.

Yeah. That's just probably it. Besides, if he had been a real ghost, I would've felt the temperature drop at least.

He decided to let the subject go and focus on his class, but he suddenly realized something.

Wait… if he wasn't real, how come I felt him when I bumped into him?