"Is it Friday, yet?"
"Danny, that was just Monday."
The boy slammed his locker shut with a grunt. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
Sam smiled. He was so cute when he was disgruntled. "You'll live," she said, leaning forward, placing a hand on one cheek and softly kissing the other. She hadn't grown much since their freshman year and so she had to stand on her toes a little to reach him. Danny let the disgusted look fall from his face and be replaced by a small, shy smile.
Their on again off again relationship was once again "on" as the pair struggled yet again to figure out what exactly it was they should be together. There was no lack of feelings between the two of them, that was the simple part. They were, however, still growing up and constantly surprised when things never seemed to work out the way they thought they should. Jealousies, tempers, and misunderstandings leaped up and fizzled while the pair slowly learned that, sadly, relationships were work.
"If I have to do one more problem that takes half an hour just to set up, I'm going mental." Danny's attention was pulled away from the girl in front of him as Tucker came bounding down the hallway, one hand pulling his PDA out of his pocket, the other one pushing up the glasses that were sliding down his nose.
"Tucker, you're the one who decided to take calculus." Sam reminded him.
"It's calc two, thanks very much."
"Either way, it's too much math for me!" She said holding her hands out in front of her. "Keep away, I might catch number cooties or something."
"Ooh, Sam, what if the math ghost tries to catch you?" Danny leaned forward, making his voice comically creepy and wavering.
"Beware! I am the ghost of higher math! I have dominion over all logarithms and polynomials!" Tucker leaned in, holding his hands up near his face, with the fingers curled.
"Beware!" Both boys shouted at once.
"Knock it, off!" Sam said, trying to act perturbed but finding it especially difficult to do through a fit of giggles. "Can we get out of here already? Every moment I stay here I feel my soul being sucked further and further into a void of mediocrity."
"You know most people would just say, 'hey you want to go to the record store' or something like that."
"Whatever, Danny. Most people are boring."
Tucker looped an arm around her shoulder, as the trio made their way down the hall and out of school. "And that's what I've always loved about you, Sam. Your bright and cheerful personality."
"Oh, whatever."
Danny's attention drifted away from his playfully bickering friends as he started whistling the Ghostbuster's theme as they walked. Lately, he'd found that hilarious, and just humming it was enough to send him into a fit of laughter.
"At least I have better sense of humor than this one," she said pointing her thumb at Danny.
"Hey, what wrong with my..." Danny shivered and his breath came out in a visible puff. "ghost sense, which means I have to go. I'll see you guys later." Danny gave his friends a curt wave before darting around the corner of the school and hiding behind a dumpster. There was a flash of white light and a ghost in the shape of a young manshot into the air.
His head jerked around, looking for the thing or things that had set him off. Crouched on a small, empty side street, was a pair of ghostly, large cat-like creatures, licking their chops, and preparing to pounce. A smile broke out on the resolute ghost boy's face. He'd fought these before and knew that even though they were the size of lions, they were really just pussy cats.
"Here kitty, kitty!" He yelled as he dove down towards them. Both cats looked up in surprise. A shot of energy flew out of Danny's right hand, smacking one of the ghosts squarely between the eyes and sending it flying into the brick wall of a nearby building. The second cat took it's chance and leaped up snarling.
"Stupid boy!" It yelled, in a surprisingly human voice.
"Silly kitten!" Danny yelled back, hurtling towards the leaping cat. He few just low enough to throw a punch at the cat's chest while it was still in mid-leap. The blow landed with an extraordinary force and the second cat was tossed backwards, reeling from the punch and crashing into its friend.
Danny swooped down near them and unscrewed the top of the Fenton Thermos. "And now it's time to put the cat in the bag." A beam of light shot out from the device and in a moment the two ghosts were dragged into the impossibly small space, howling and swearing the entire time. Danny looked at the thermos contemplatively. "Or put the cat in the thermos, I guess." He chuckled a little at his own joke.
"See?" said a voice behind him. "I told you I have a better sense of humor."
"Hey!" Danny turned around to confront the girl dressed in black and purple behind him. "I thought it was funny."
"And that," said Tucker, "is her point."
Danny started to reply but stopped himself. He felt a strange chill. It wasn't his ghost sense, but rather the distinct feeling that he was being watched. Danny slowly turned around to confront his onlooker, only to find no one there. His eyes, scanned the horizon, looking for something, anything. Then he saw, far off in the distance, a man dressed in dark colors, bent over, as if he were leaning on a cane. Danny was about to say something, when a blinding light shot towards him. The world hummed and spun under his feet. As his vision returned everything seemed tinged with pink and red and less than solid.
"Danny... Danny?" Sam's voice came to him as if from a distance. Danny turned around to face her and Tucker the world slowly melting into normalcy again.
"Huh, what?"
"Are you okay? You sort of drifted off."
"Didn't you see that? What the heck was that light?"
Tucker and Sam looked at one another. "What light?" They said together.
"There... there was this guy. And then this pinkish light... really bright." Worried looks crossed his friend's faces. Sam stepped forward and placed a single hand on his cold cheek.
"Are you all right?" She looked unnerved and Danny felt a wave of guilt for making her worry. He was probably just over tired.
"I'm fine," he said. "I probably just haven't been sleeping enough lately." A familiar white light flashed over the ghost boy's body and an ordinary black-haired young man was left standing in his place. "You want to go to the record store? I'll get you that new Social Chaos CD you want."
Worry and happiness fought their way across Sam's face. She decided to let the happiness win.
"I guess that makes up for scaring me."
Tucker playfully put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Gee, I was worried, too. Can I have a CD?"
Danny smacked his hand away and grinned at his friend. "Not unless you look like my girlfriend."
Tucker laughed. Sam rolled her eyes.
"See what I mean? The boy has a lousy sense of humor."
