Chapter 12: Graduation

Danny had, once again, sucked the Box Ghost inside a Fenton Thermos. "Him again?" Mac asked after he told her about it during their date at the Nasty Burger. "How many times have you fought him by now?"

"To be honest, I've stopped keeping count way before we first met." Danny commented.

"Fair enough." She replied. "Danny, next Friday my class will have a graduation ceremony. Would you like to go there with me?"

"Of course!" Danny happily exclaimed.

"Excuse me." Tucker said as he entered. "Mac, Fernando only came to this country as an exchange student, right?"

"Right." Mac answered while wondering what Tucker was up to.

"In that case, if Fernando's already back in whatever country he came from by the time the graduation ceremony takes place, Chrissy could go with me." Tucker suggested with a smile that creeped out both Mac and Danny.

"If you buy the plane tickets…" Mac joked.

"Good one, Mac." Danny commented.

"Danny." Tucker moaned.

"Sorry, Tuck, but you walked right into it." Danny replied. "And besides, you know Chrissy has a boyfriend."

"And Fernando's right behind you." Mac added, shocking the techno geek.

"What?" Tucker turned around in fear. "Please, don't hit… very funny."

"It certainly is." Mac replied, intentionally ignoring Tucker's sarcasm. "But jokes aside, he's still graduating with the rest of us."

"It's okay." Tucker replied. "I'll talk to the local cheerleaders and see if one of them wants to be my date at the Casper High graduation ceremony. Bye."

"Is he for real?" Mac asked Danny after Tucker left.

"Unfortunately yes, Mac." Danny answered. "Speaking of graduations, mine is one week after yours. Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes, Danny!" Mac answered.

"Awesome!" Danny exclaimed.

After the two heroes ate their meals and set their appointments, Danny escorted her to the bus station so Mac could go back to Bay City. "Thank you, Danny." Mac said. "You're a gentleman."

"You're welcome, and a Lady." Danny replied. After she left, he went back home. "Mom, Dad, I need a suit for Mac's graduation and later for mine."

"Fear not, son." Jack said. "You can use the suit I wore to my own High School graduation."

Fearful for her brother's social standing, Jasmine Fenton decided to intervene. "Dad, I don't think that's a good idea." She told Jack.

"Afraid my suit is too old-fashioned for your generation, Jazzypants?" Jack asked his daughter.

"Well, that and the fact I doubt you used to have the same measure as Danny has." Jazz answered.

"Jack, she has a point." Maddie told her husband.

"Nothing a few adjustments can't solve, Mads." Jack tried to reassure his wife.

"Jack, did you forget what happened the last time you tried to adjust an old suit of yours?" Maddie asked while glaring at Jack.

"Fine, I'm buying Danny a new suit." Jack grumbled but then softened his stance. "He deserves it."

"Thank you, Jazz." Danny whispered to his sister.

"Just put up a good word with Mac to name me Godmother to your first child." Jazz replied.

"Okay, Jazz." Danny replied.

Later on, the Groove Squad girls were having their measures taken for their graduation dresses. "Do you think Danny's going to like me in my new dress?" Mac asked her friends Chrissy and Ping.

"Mac, you'll be so beautiful he'll be stunned." Ping replied.

"Or spooked." Chrissy joked and the three girls giggled at that joke. Everyone else assumed it was some inside joke.

Meanwhile, Zeke went to a tailor to pick up his new suit when he chanced upon someone he knew from school. "Fernando?"

"Zeke, who would guess we had the same tailor?" Fernando asked.

"Not much of a coincidence all things considered, Fernando." Zeke commented.

"What do you mean, Zeke?" Fernando asked.

"There are so few tailors around it's not a surprise that one of them would have two or more customers who already know one another." Zeke explained.

"It makes sense." Fernando agreed.

Eventually, it was time for Mac's graduation. "And now, before our class valedictorian makes her speech, I have here a letter written by your former classmate Star Nightingale and I'll read it to you." Bay City High's Principal announced.

"I thought that wasn't her actual surname, Mac." Danny commented.

"It stuck, unfortunately." Mac replied.

"In short, it's unfortunate I cannot be there dancing with my beloved Fernando." The Principal awkwardly finished reading Bay City High's former student Star's letter.

"Doesn't she know he'd still be dancing with Chrissy even if she still was here?" Danny asked in confusion.

"Some people stubbornly live in that Egyptian river." Mac commented.

"Egyptian river?" Danny asked.

"Denial." Mac answered and Danny laughed. Mac was then called to the stage to give her speech as valedictorian.

After the speech, the graduated students started dancing. "Danny, you're such a gentle dancer." Mac said.

"You too, Mac." Danny replied. "I've heard you were accepted at the M.I.T. Congratulations but, aren't you concerned Bay City won't last long without the whole squad to protect it?"

"Don't worry, Danny." Mac reassured her boyfriend. "Without mad scientists, villains with superpowers, or giant worms, crime in Bay City has been reduced to a mundane level the cops can solve. What about you, Danny? Are you going to a public college back in Amity Park because you are afraid nobody else can stop the ghosts who attack your town?"

"That's one of my reasons, Mac." Danny uneasily answered. "I might have improved my study habits ever since the Blasters helped with ghost attacks but I still wasn't good enough for other universities to accept me. I hope you're not ashamed of having a C-student as a boyfriend."

"As I said, for as long as you don't mind having a girlfriend who's smarter than you, it's okay." Mac replied. "So, still hoping to become an astronaut?"

"To be honest, regardless of what my college options are, I'd rather learn how to make anti-ghost weapons." Danny replied. "Maybe I even make something not related to ghosts. That's how my parents earned enough money to finance their research and raise my sister and me before the world learned they were right about ghosts being real."

The next day, Danny was telling his friends about the graduation. "I can't believe Mac's so selfish!" Sam commented.

"What do you mean, Sam?" Danny asked with a glare.

"I mean, I know she's a cheerleader but all that time made me expect better from Groove Squad." Sam commented.

"Bay City doesn't need her as much as Amity Park needs Danny Phantom." Danny argued in defense of his girlfriend.

At that point, Tucker decided to stop the tension. "Danny, guess who's also going to the M.I T.?"

"You?" Danny asked Tucker. "Congratulations."

"Thank you and don't worry." Tucker replied. "Out of respect for our friendship, I won't try anything with her even if she realizes how attractive I am."

"You're as attractive as you're modest, Tucker." Danny replied, showing it didn't worry him.

"True but you don't need to worry." Tucker reassured Danny, not understanding what his friend meant.

"What about you, Sam?" Danny asked, still wary of the goth. "Going to the M.I.T. to pressure Mac?"

"No, Danny, I'm going to the local community college like you." She answered and noticed her friends staring at her. "What?"

"Aren't you rich?" Tucker asked.

"You not going anywhere else will give the idea you do want more than friendship with me and are taking advantage of the fact I'm not attending the same university Mac is." Danny commented. "Aren't your parents paying to get you into some ivy league?"

"I don't want to live under their terms and they said that until I change my mind there won't be any handouts from them." Sam explained. "I'm even applying for summer jobs."

"What about your Grandma Ida?" Tucker asked.

"Not only she thinks I'm wasting an opportunity by turning down my parents' offer but also thinks I'm obsessed with a boy who already has a girlfriend." Sam sadly answered. "It's not like I can tell her I'm helping Danny Phantom."

"Yeah, she'd send you overseas for safety." Tucker commented.

"Actually, I was thinking she simply wouldn't believe me but you have a point, Tucker." Sam commented.

"And you will stop insulting my girlfriend over her choice of not being a full time superhero or I will no longer be your friend." Danny demanded, making Tucker upset his plan failed but the techno geek didn't say anything.

Days later, it was time for the Casper High graduation ceremony. "Danny, why's she glaring at me like that?" Mac asked upon looking at Sam.

"Sam's upset you're leaving Bay City to pursue your career, Mac." Danny answered.

"What?" Mac asked in shock, attracting attention from nearby people. "Sorry."

"I'll tell the details later." Danny whispered to his girlfriend.

"For as long as I don't have to endure bullies like Dash Baxter hoping I'll ditch you for one of them over some silly stereotype." Mac commented.

"That's the best part!" Danny happily said. "Dash won't be here because he didn't graduate."

"Really?"

"It seemed he and some other A-Listers didn't expect a test during the last two weeks of class." Danny explained.

"One of those threatened my straight-A record so I don't blame them for being upset but yet they should be more studious." Mac commented.

Tucker then approached them. "Mac, once you befriend your fellow future M.I.T. girls, would you tell them about your boyfriend's good-looking best friend who, like you, is also going to the M.I.T.?" The techno geek asked. "And, if it's not too much, would you also tell them I'd be dating you if not for my friendship with Danny?"

"Tucker!" Sam scolded Tucker and pulled his ear. "Ouch."

"That cheerleader already has too much of an ego as it is." Sam said.

Two dances with Danny later, Mac went to the bathroom and met Sam. Upon looking around and being sure they were alone, the cheerleader approached the goth. "Samantha Manson, how is it any of your business what I do with my adult life?" Mac asked Sam.

"It's "Sam", and it's my business because, as a superheroine, you have a responsibility to your hometown." Sam answered.

"Bay City no longer has any monsters or villains that require the Groove Squad and it's my choice, not yours." Mac pointed out.

"You should be…" Whatever Sam would say was interrupted by the door being opened. It was Paulina. "You wouldn't believe what happened." The shallow cheerleader commented.

"A broken nail?" Sam sarcastically asked.

"Worse!" Paulina exclaimed and then thought it over. "Well, not necessarily worse but nearly just as bad. Star was chosen over me as queen and is now dancing with Kwan."

"I didn't come here for this drama." Mac said as she washed her hands and left. She then had another dance with Danny.

End chapter.