Disclaimer: I asked Santa in advance if I could own Danny Phantom, all he sent back was a letter with the word 'LOL' on it...now I'm trying for a laptop.
Author's Notes: Enjoy!
Chapter 5: The History Hustle
Danny quickly tossed his books into his backpack. He rummaged through his locker until he pulled out a blue notebook in triumph. He stuffed it in with the rest of his things before slamming his locker shut. As he walked down the hallway he met up with his friends. He smiled at them and listened as the two talked about their plans for the weekend.
A secretive smile pulled at the corners of his mouth the more he looked at his best friends. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he swore that this whole week they seemed different around each other. As the three walked together, Danny kept seeing their shoulders brush up against each other, yet neither one moved away. Sam seemed to smile a little more whenever she saw Tucker and Danny noticed his other best friend behaving differently around the Goth girl.
"What about you Danny? Got any special plans this weekend?" asked Tucker.
Danny replied back nonchalant, "Not really. After tonight's game, I'm just going to finish up my history paper."
Sam and Tucker looked at each other, their gazes shifting from surprise to mischievous. They both gasped dramatically as they stood in front of their friend.
"Who are you and what have you done with Danny?" Tucker said dramatically.
"Yeah, the real Danny would never even start a paper until the week it was due," said Sam.
Tucker moved toward Danny and ran his PDA up and down all the while making computer noises.
"Sam, my sensors indicate that he's increased his biomass, becoming more task-oriented, and actually socializing with the higher species of our school."
"Oh no! Our Danny's gone!" said Sam as she pretended to cry on Tucker's shoulder.
Danny laughed aloud, "Knock it off you guys, I'm still the same old Danny."
A group of football players caught his attention as he passed by and he greeted them in return. Danny turned back to his friends, their faces showing their skepticism. The two walked away leaving Danny to catch up.
"Ok ok, so maybe I've changed a little, but at least I'm not being a shallow popularity freak like last time."
When he thought about it, his life really had taken a strange turn around ever since he joined the football team. His mother had been opposed to the idea at first, but he pointed out that now that his grades were more important he was actually studying more. Danny left out the fact that he could also study more because there weren't that many ghost incidents this month.
Sam and Tucker pointed out the small change in his personality saying that he seemed happier and more confident. Even he had noticed how his school status took a metamorphosis and suddenly more people began to notice and even talk to him. Tucker had joked once that some of Griffith's charm had rubbed off on him.
The bizarre senior still stood out as ever, his gaze becoming an ominous smirk around Danny. A few weeks ago they had talked and Griffith had explained that in order to make their challenge fair, only Danny would remember who really caused the fire. Whenever Danny overhead Dash talk about it, the other boy always explained that his mom fainted while a grease fire spread throughout his kitchen. Danny figured it was better if Dash didn't know the whole truth because he was still unsure if the other boy had seen him transform.
"Yeah that's true," Tucker agreed, "but you're definitely not the same guy anymore. Not that that's a bad thing and on the bright side even football players like Dash have stopped picking on you."
Danny's happy demeanor fell slightly at the mention of the blond's name.
Sam elbowed Tucker's side and muttered, "Nice going, Tucker."
Tucker winced at his words and quickly tried to apologize, "Sorry man, I didn't mean to bring up D-"
Danny quickly dispelled the unnecessary apology, "It's ok Tuck, just forget about it."
As he passed by the humanities building, he remembered his history teacher asking that he stop by after school. "Look guys I gotta go. Ms. Jackson wanted to talk to me after school about my last paper."
"Ok, well we'll catch up with you later Danny," said Sam with an understanding smile.
Tucker looked like he wanted to say something else, but the words left him as he watched his friend walk away.
Sam turned back to Tucker, "Tucker, why'd you say that? You know that right now Dash is a touchy subject for him."
"I know, I know and I'm sorry. It just sort of slipped out and now he's all mopey," said Tucker with dismay.
Sam's fierce gaze softened slightly, "Don't worry Tucker, Danny will get over it. He just needs some space right now. Meanwhile, you and I have to think of a way to help him. We can't just sit around and let Danny fail like that, there has to be something we can do."
"Yeah, but we've tried everything. Face it Sam, we're gonna need a miracle to bring those to together."
Just thinking about a certain blond made him sigh in frustration. Despite all of Danny's good fortune, he still hadn't made much progress in becoming friends with Dash. At football practice they got along relatively well and Danny had slowly gained some of the other boy's respect. Outside of it however, the two hardly ever talked and nothing brought them closer.
On the plus side Danny took it as a good sign that Dash had stopped picking on him. The only problem was with 70 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes and 13 seconds left, Danny was beginning to wonder if he would ever have the chance to become friends with Dash. If only something could make the blond trust him enough so that Danny could help him fall in love with somebody and complete the challenge.
Danny sighed as he walked up the set of nearby stairs. His mind shifted to the present and conjured up dozens of scenarios about what Ms. Jackson was going to say to him, none of them ending particularly pleasant. He shifted the strap on his backpack nervously as he headed toward room 67. He slowly knocked on the door and a few seconds later he stared straight into the jovial eyes of his history teacher. The black woman's smile widened at the sight of him.
"Ah, there you are Danny. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come," said Ms. Jackson as she held the door open for him.
Ms. Jackson quickly sat down at her desk while Danny pulled up a chair to sit in front of her.
"I'm really glad you're here Danny, out of all my students I think you're the one who has improved the most in my class," she said as she searched through a stack of papers.
"I am?" Danny asked surprised.
"Take a look for yourself," said Ms. Jackson as she handed him his last two papers.
Danny smiled slowly as he saw the B plus and A minus grades.
"It's very impressive Danny. You went from D and C papers to this. I hope you realize I expect you to continue this quality work," she said, a stern look on her face.
Danny smiled back at her nervously, but nodded his head.
"While I did want to tell you this good news, the real reason I asked you to come by is because I was wondering if you would be interested in tutoring a fellow student?" she asked.
"Tutoring?" Danny asked curiously.
"Yes, unfortunately I don't have many students that are willing and able to tutor the few that are falling behind in my class. I don't need 'A' students necessarily, but students that have either improved greatly or have a good standing in my class. The tutoring itself is like a study buddy system that I hope will help those students improve and as a bonus, those students that do tutor receive extra credit for my class. If you're interested, I'd like you to meet who you might be paired up with. He's talking to Coach Higgins right now, so I'm sure he won't be here for another 5 minutes."
"Coach Higgins? Is it someone on the football team?" asked Danny.
Immediately the name Kwan came to mind and he remembered overhearing the Asian boy talk about how he was going to be kicked off the team unless he brought up his grade in history. Danny already imagined Kwan giving him a smug look as he strutted into the room.
"Yes he is actually. Well this will be convenient since you get to help out one of your fellow teammates," said Ms. Jackson as she straightened out her desk.
The sound of a loud knock echoed into the room and both turned their attention to the door.
Ms. Jackson smiled as she got up, "Good he's here."
Danny smiled slightly, at the turn his luck had taken. Getting closer to Kwan would definitely help him find out more about Dash. Kwan was practically Dash's best friend so he had to have an idea of what kind of girls Dash liked. 'Perfect, I can do this,' Danny thought confidently.
"Sorry Ms. Jackson, I had to tell coach that I was cleared to play tonight's game," said a familiar voice.
"Well now that you're here I'd like you to meet your tutor, Danny Fenton," said Ms. Jackson as she looked at the young boy.
Danny looked up in surprise.
"Danny, I'd like you to meet your pupil, Dash Baxter."
End of Chapter 5
Author's End Notes: Wow what a buzz kill for Danny. He thought he was getting the best friend, but he got the big fish instead. Now that Jazz is done tutoring Dash, it's Danny's turn to pick up the slack...and then some. Please review! Thanks!
Spider's Shout Outs:
(because the PA system at your school won't say them)
Kate: Hey girl, well I've been keeping an eye out for what you're looking for to no avail. I think I have a lead on your yu-gi-oh eps but I'm not sure. I'll e-mail you later if anything comes of it. I think I just might give your fic idea a try after I finish this and another DP fic I'm working on. Thanks for the reviews.
Phantom Child: Hey! I'm glad you dug my fic and I liked how you were very straight forward in your review. Hopefully, this chapter will be an improvement from my usual spelling slip-ups. (pssst, if you catch some in here tell me) Griffith's not annoying right now, but his actions later on might be. By the way this is a funny coincidence, but your name is the title of another DP fic I'm working on, lol. Hope that doesn't bother you. Thanks again for the cool review!
KimuraSato: Hello again! Yeah I guess Danny joining the football team would be pretty random, but there is a method to the madness. Now I wonder what you think about this tutoring madness. :-D lol. Anyway, I hope you liked the update and thanks for the review! (pssst...I like where you're taking your fics)
Kayume Silver: Hoozah! A new reader has come forth, very cool. Let me start off by saying that I found your review to be very kind towards my fic and a unique one at that. I'm so glad you like it. You're one of the few people that tell me my story has some originality to it and you even gave me high marks, something I rarely get as it is, lol. Thanks so much, it was unexpected and brightened my day.
Akiko: Cool another new reviewer and a "short, sweet and said it complete" reviewer at that. Wow...my fic is...fun? (O.o) Really? I never thought of it that way and that's why I learned another thing today. Thanks for the review! Hope you liked the update.
lauren: Hey there! I'm happy that you like my fic so much and that you're getting into other DP fics out there. I wanna see who Dash falls in love with too. lol jk. As far as that goes, right now it might not be who you think. :wink wink: Thanks for the review and the luck too. Keep reading the fics out there; I'm sure you'll find even cooler ones.
Dorks Will Rule The World: First off thanks a bunch for the constructive criticism. You could have been mean about it, but instead you showed me a good suggestion. I looked over my story and realized it could have been written a lot better in some areas. Hopefully by the time you get to the next one, there will be a slight improvement. Thanks again!