Chapter Six
"A New Type of Jock"
"Attention class," Mr. Lancer said at the end of class, "our local art gallery is opening a new exhibit and they are hosting an art contest at the grand opening of the exhibit. The new exhibit is called the Phantom Exhibit and it appears to be showing our local ghost heroes. If you wish to enter, just fill out an application and turn it in to me tomorrow. The top thirty entries will be put on display at the gallery and the top five out of them will be put on tour around the world along with the rest of the gallery."
"When's the deadline?" Paulina asked over the excitement of the class.
"In two weeks and your entries must be on a canvas."
The bell rang and the class put away their books.
"Hey Danny," Tucker said as he came up to him, "you should enter the contest."
"I don't know," Danny replies.
"Thinking about entering Fen-turd?" it was Dash.
"Maybe," Danny said shrugging his shoulders.
"Hope not since I don't think they would want geek-arts in the exhibit."
"You know what, Dash?" Danielle asked him as she rose out of her seat. "I bet that Danny will get in with his art and be seen around the world."
"Having a girl protecting you? Eh, Fen-turd?" Dash mocks him with a chuckle.
"Hey!" Danny shouts as he stood up. "An insult towards me is an insult towards her!"
"Any trouble boys?" Mr. Lancer asked as he approached them raising an eyebrow.
"No, Sir," Dash answers innocently as he takes an entry form.
"Is there anything against joint works?" Danny asked.
Mr. Lancer checks the application, "No, there isn't Mr. Fenton."
Danny takes one and quickly leaves with Sam, Tucker, and Danielle following him.
"I'll show that jock who's the geek!" he mutters while his eyes glowed green as he opens his locker.
"Easy Danny," Danielle said warningly, "and why did you ask Mr. Lancer if you could do a joint work?"
"Were you also going to enter?"
"I was thinking about it, but if you want help bringing Dash down a peg; I'm in."
"Don't look now," Tucker said as he pulled out his PDA, "but I think we have a new jock to watch out for."
They turned in the direction he was pointing to see the popular group gathered around someone navy-blue jacket that was similar to the ones that Dash and the other jocks wore. His hair is combed back in pompadour fashion, his hazel eyes had hints of gold and green mixed together, and his smile seemed to sparkle under the florescent lights of the hallway.
"How much do to want to bet that he is the same as the others?" Sam asked bitterly.
"All jocks are the same, Sam," Tucker replied as they eyed the group.
"They only care about showing off and getting the prettiest girl in school. Now I see why Paulina sees my ghost-half as a prize. They're popular on the field while I'm popular amongst those who like me; my ghost-half that is. Anyone who's popular is a prize for anyone to have. They don't have any real friends since their friends only care for them because they are popular," Danny admitted even though he knew that his feelings for Paulina were waning.
Sam was shocked at what Danny had said and a small grin creeps on her face. Then she noticed the look on Danielle's face, and she noticed it right away as the very same dreamingly look that Danny does when he looks at Paulina.
"Danielle," Tucker asked when he noticed her look, "are you okay?"
Danny takes his eyes off of the group to look towards her.
"I know that look anywhere's," Sam began. "It's the same look that Danny gives Paulina at times."
"Danielle?" Danny asked but got no answer. He even waved his hand in front of her face but she didn't blink.
He decided to shock her out of her dazed state with a slight ecto-blast on the shoulder.
"Ouch!" she yelps in pain. "Why'd you do that for?"
"You were zoned out on the new guy," Sam replied as she kept her eyes on the group that was approaching them. "It's best if you try to find someone else since they won't talk to us."
The group was walking towards them and Dash, who was on the outside of the circle, shoves Danny into the lockers.
"Watch where you're going, Fen-toenail!"
"Dash!" Danny growls as he stands up causing the group to stop and stare while his eyes flashed green.
"Oh," Dash replies acting scared, "Fen-turd's got a backbone!" he laughs at his statement while receiving high-fives from his friends.
"I had enough of you and everyone else making fun of me, my friends, and everyone else who are considered geeks by you!"
"What are you going to do about it?"
To answer Dash's remark, Danny punches him in the face knocking him off his feet. All the pent up anger that he had build up over time had just been released by Dash's actions. Dash gets back on his feet groaning while clutching his nose. He removes his hands to see that his nose was bleeding.
"You'll pay for this, Fenton!" Dash yells as he rushes towards Danny.
Both Danny and Danielle grab Dash and stuff him upside-down in the nearest open locker, which happens to be Danny's, closing him inside it. Dash was beating on the locker yelling something that couldn't be heard clearly.
"What was that, Dash?" Danielle asked humorously. "You want me to beat on the locker?" she beats on the locker in an un-rhythmic matter.
After she had stopped beating on the locker, Dash's voice became much more vicious as he started to yell out insults and threats. Danny opens his locker, knowing that he was in for it later, and Dash falls flat on his face groaning in pain from having his eardrums blown out and from his already broken nose.
"You're going to pay for that Fentontina!" Dash growls approaching Danielle only to have Danny step in between them. "Step aside, Fen-toenail!"
"You're going to have to get through me!" Danny retorted as Dash cracks his knuckles.
"No need Danny!" Danielle says as she passes him approaching Dash. "I can take care of myself!" she punches Dash in his lower jaw knocking him flat on his back.
Dash gets back up moaning in pain clutching his lower jaw. He puts his fingers inside of his mouth and pulls out a tooth as some blood drips out of his mouth. Everyone present was shocked that lowly Danielle had knocked the big man on campus flat on his back and make him loose a tooth or two.
"And we're outta here!" Danny said nervously, knowing what was to come, as he grabbed Danielle and they ran off with an infuriated Dash chasing them.
They soon lost him by turning invisible and phasing through a wall that led them outside.
"You did not have to play a number on his eardrums!" Danny snaps at her while catching his breath.
"Danny," she protested as she caught her breath, "he deserved that and when are you going to start standing up to him?"
"I don't since I might expose myself."
They were just about to leave the campus when Dash came crashing out the doors looking infuriated while the rest of his group came out followed by Sam and Tucker.
"I'm going to wail on both of you!" Dash says as he cracks his knuckles.
"I hope he doesn't me screaming at us," Danielle muttered in a tone only Danny could hear as they backed up.
Their Ghost Sense went off and a whining voice followed.
"Will you be my friend?"
They turned to see someone dress in red and white pajamas floating in the air.
"No I don't!" Dash snaps causing the figure to cry. "Will you shut up!" he shouts at the figure.
The figure's tears formed balls of ice and he launches it at Dash causing him to freeze in place leaving only part of his torso and head unscathed. He launches more ice orbs catching everyone in the area as they screamed in fear. Danny and Danielle ran off as they dodged the ice orbs since they needed a place to transform.
"Where are you two going?" Dash shouts as he spied them fleeing.
"Anywhere but here!" Danielle shouts back.
They ran to the back of the school and transformed before flying towards the place where the ghost was. When they got there, they saw Dash yelling back at the ghost.
"I won't be friends with geeks like you!"
"No one wants to be my friend!" the ghost whines as he cried again forming another ice orb.
He was soon hit by a green blast knocking him back.
"Klemper," it was Danny Phantom coming down in front of him closely followed by his twin sister, Dani Phantom, "if they don't want to be your friend; accept it."
"Not everyone wants to be your friend and you should leave it at that," Dani continues.
"Will you be my friend?" Klemper whined as he put his hands in a begging position.
"No," Dani replies as she takes out her Thermos, "but we have a one-way ticket back to the Ghost Zone for you."
She activates the Thermos and Klemper was sucked into it in a blue vortex. The ice that held everyone else behind them soon vanished as the Phantoms' attention turned towards them.
"Is everyone alright?" Danny asked them.
"Yeah, if you two weren't so creepy; I would shake your hand," Dash replies only to have them roll their eyes.
The two were just about to leave when they were hit from behind that forces them onto the ground.
"Get away from them!" it was that Huntress and she was rushing towards them only to have the jocks step in front of the downed Phantoms. "What are you doing!"
"Lay off!" Dash shouts. "They saved our lives and the least we can do is to return the favor!"
"They're the cause of these ghost attacks and once I destroy them; I'll end these attacks for good!"
"Expose her?" Dani suggested as if she was begging it while Valerie and the jocks continued to argue.
"Try fear of exposure," Danny replies as they phased through the ground.
"The Ghost Boy saved our town from a ghost invasion!" Paulina snaps.
"I bet he was behind it, and once I take care of him; I'm going to destroy that clone-ish sister of his!"
She was soon hit in the back by a pair of blast that knocks her onto the ground. She turns to see that Phantoms floating above her with their arms crossed.
"I am not a clone!" Dani said with resentment as she emphasized each word.
"And," Danny adds, "nobody calls my sister a clone and gets away with it that easily."
"I'm not in the mood to talk to ghosts like you!" Valerie snaps as she opens fire on the two causing them to duplicate themselves as the blasts split them in two much to everyone's surprise.
They soon charged at her while she opens fire on them only to constantly miss. Two of the duplicates (or was it the originals) grabbed her and pinned her against the wall of the school while the other two held her at blast-point as they charged up for an attack.
"You will listen to us, or," the Danny hissed, "we'll expose you right here unless you call a permanent truce!"
"If you do," she hissed back, "I'll hunt both of you to the ends of the Earth!"
"Would you rather be an outcast at Casper High, or can you take the current negative press that you currently have?" Dani asked.
Valerie was thinking fast since she didn't want to be made an outcast again at Casper High, "Fine," she finally said, "but only temporarily!"
"Fine," Danny said after a sigh as he threw her to the ground.
The Phantom doubles became one and they left flying over the school. They both hid in a nearby alley to de-transform before they met Sam and Tucker at the mall. Sam and Tucker were already there when they had arrived just outside the entrance.
"I think that your threats towards Valarie are making her take more risks," Sam said as they approached them.
"She's just starting to annoy us with her constant appearances and her new toys," Danielle replies coming to a stop.
"Just between the four of us," Danny said in a whisper, "I'm thinking about exposing her the next time we meet in a crowd of people."
"I don't think that would be a good idea," Tucker implied. "Remember what happened the last time something like that happened."
"What happened last time?" Danielle asked.
"Nothing important," Danny replied waving aside her question.
Danny knew what Tucker was talking about. He was talking about the time Freakshow had the Reality Gauntlet and it was during that time that his secret came out. He was able to defeat Freakshow by making him jealous about being out staged by a ghost since he had ghost envy. Freakshow soon used the Gauntlet to make himself a ghost and Danny was able to capture him in his Thermos. Danny was also able to reset reality so that only those that knew of his secret remember it and he destroyed the Gauntlets.
There were quite a few sales at the mall and they took advantage of them. Sam bought some goth clothes that were on sale, they checked out the CD sale, and Tucker bought a few new tech-gadgets that came on sale. After they had finished shopping, they ran into Dash and the new guy when they were just leaving.
"There you are, Fen-turd Twins!"
"Dash," Danny said in resentment, "we're cousins and not twins!"
"Then why do you look alike?"
"Coincidence," both Danny and Danielle replied.
"That doesn't mean I can't wail on the both of you," Dash said as he cracked his knuckles.
"Dash," the new guy said with a slight drawling in his voice, "what'd they do to you besides breakin' your nose and knockin' a few teeth out?"
"They're geeks and it's my job to beat them up on a regular basis!"
"Very typical," he says with a short laugh shaking his head. "It's always the same stereotypical school jock. They always wail on those that are highly intellectual or are considered geeks by people like you."
"Stereo-what?" Dash asked in confusion.
"Stereotypical means to reduce somebody to an oversimplified category. What I'm sayin' is," he adds as Dash had a perplexed look on his face, "all school jocks are portrayed as jerks who consider themselves above everyone else and they force the geeks to do their work for them since they don't have the brains to do it themselves!"
Danny couldn't believe his ears. Here is a jock who is standing up to them and Dash was starting to get angrier by the second when he wouldn't let him hurt them. He also has some distrust for the jocks since they beat on the geeks on a regular basis.
"So," Dash says as his attention turns towards the new guy, "you're saying that you are a geek, and here I thought that you were one of us!"
"Explain," there was amusement in his voice.
"It's a jock's job to beat up geeks!"
"Have you ever considered their feelings?" now his anger was starting to show.
"That does it!"
Dash swings a punch and the new guy takes a step backwards blocking the punch. With his free hand and in quick succession, he hits Dash below the belt before hitting him in his nose and taking a step back with his hands on guard. Dash was reeling in pain as he collapsed onto his knees clutching his groin.
"Why'd you do that for?" Dash asked with a slightly high-pitched voice.
"I acted out of self-defense and it's guys like you who attack those that can't defend themselves! Plus, it's guys like you who give jocks a bad name!"
"You're dead!" Dash yells as he limps away.
"Is he always like this?" he asked as he turns towards them.
"If you like being annoyed on a daily basis, yes," Danielle sarcastically replied.
"The name is Chad Thomas and I'm nothing like that Dash character!"
"Thanks but no thanks," Sam said snapped as she leaves.
"Sam," Tucker complained, "he just took Dash down a peg!"
"He's just like any other jock at school!"
"I do have a cousin who's a goth," Chad said absentmindedly.
Sam stops at the statement and turns back towards Chad with mouth open, "Don't lie to us!"
"I don't lie, and I'm a jock who respects everyone. No matter if they're a goth, a techno-geek, or a pair of cousins who look like they're twins."
"Hello, the name's Tucker. This is Sam, Danny, and Danielle," Tucker said as he introduced themselves.
"A pleasure," Chad replies.
Soon Danny and Danielle's Ghost Sense went off followed be a rattling from Tucker's bag.
"Huh?" he says as he pulls out the box and opens it causing a figure to explode out of it.
"Beware!" it was the Box Ghost… yet again, "Fear my corrugated cardboard wrath for I am the Box Ghost! Master of all things cardboard and square!"
Chad was staring wide-eyed at him while the others had a bored look at him.
"Please," Danielle said as she rolled her eyes, "the Phantom Twins will be on your case."
"Beware!" the Box Ghost moans in her face before he leaves.
"What was that?" Chad asked flabbergasted.
"Welcome to Amity Park, the most haunted place in America," Danny replies as he shrugged his shoulders.
Post Author's Note: Out off all the shows that I've seen that have school jocks, they always tease the nerds in the school. So I created a new character to off-set that stereotypical school jock.
Copyright Notice: Chad Thomas belongs to me and can be used with my permission.