((Author's Note:
H'okay. I KNOW I had this up yesterday...but I had to do some serious revisions to this stupid story. -.- Anyways...most of this chapter (and this chapter of the story ALONE...hopefully) is narration. So if you are actually INTERESTED in it...I posted a brief yet informitive summary at teh bottom.
But...PLEASE review. I shall beg. And if you do...-shifty eyes-YOU GET COOKIES! SQUEE! Who DOESN'T want cookies loaded with sugary and chocolatey goodness!
Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman. FS owns...the pen she used to write this...too-detailed piece of HOLYMOTHERAMUFFIN!
-cough-...Chapter one...
NOTE: Later on I'll add a prologue...it's confusing if I add it right now. So...when I add the prologue...well...whatever. Heh.
Chapters written in ROMAN NUMERALS because it looks cool. -shifty eyes-))
I
I was mentally debating whether to bail out on a promise I had made six months ago (that still held strong, mind you) and walk home all by myself. Scoffing at the suggested thought, I crossed my arms and impatiently tapped my toes, the sound of my combat boots making contact with the concrete barely audible from the immense conversation around me.
Rain was pounding outside, and I was determined not to walk home alone in it. I had made a promise...and so had my two best friends that we would walk together. A stubborn and idiotic reason to remain under the crowded shelter of Casper High, yes, but I was in fact stubborn, so it didn't really matter.
The sound of teens conversing with each other, laughing at corny jokes, or arguing over unimportant business made me want to clamp my hands over my ears. It was too noisy, even with the rain pelting so hard against the roof that my eardrums were beginning to get sore from listening to it.
Heaving a heavy sigh, I unfolded my arms and decided to head back inside in search for the late friends of mine. Maybe I would find out exactly why they were late...or at least meet up with them to kick their butts. But as soon as I turned my body position, something hard and black rammed into me, sending me to the ground.
"Oh, Sam, I am so sorry!"
I opened my eyes to find Danny Fenton, blue eyes sparkling with amusement and jet black hair almost brushing against my forehead. He had his lips pursed, apparently trying not to smile at the situation we were in. His left arm was around my waist, and I assumed that he had stumbled out the door, like the klutz he was.
I waited for some form of pain to arrive. Anything.
Nothing.
It took me a moment to respond to what exactly just happened. I was too preoccupied with the fact that Danny was barely millimeters away from my face.
"Ugh," I groaned, propping myself on my elbows. Danny slid off of me cautiously as he waited for a scolding.
"I'm really sorry," He repeated, eyes full of sincerity now. I couldn't help but forgive him. He seemed to have that effect on people, persuading them with their eyes.
Though...maybe it was just me.
"Stop it," I mentally commanded, forcing that train of thought to be locked away in the depths of my mind.
I set my hand down, readying myself to stand up. An odd texture met my hand, and after I examined it, I moaned. My four-year-old backpack had finally broken, sending every single one of my books in various places of the entryway to Casper High. Clutching my Biology book, I closed my eyes and prayed that none of them landed outside.
I rose to my feet and grinned. Danny, holding the remainder of my books, was standing less than two inches away from me, an apologetic smile on his face.
It wasn't his fault he was a klutz...well most of the time, anyway.
"I'm really sorry, Sam," He repeated.
For what? Sending me to the ground or making us late for our weekly event?
I tucked the books underneath my arm, having a loss for a backpack at this current moment, and scrutinized his face.
"It's fine." I shrugged after a long pause, curious as to what his excuse for being so late was. Danny stuffed his hands into his pockets, avoiding eye contact with me.
I came to the obvious conclusion that he wasn't going to inform me without being instructed to do so, and since we were still waiting for someone else until we departed into the rain, I would have to flat out ask.
"Where were you?" I asked in one of those polite, uninterested tones, though you could easily distinguish the inquiry behind it.
Danny shrugged before answering.
"I--"
"Danny! Sam!"
Danny, whose tense expression morphed into a somewhat gratitude, and I turned around to face the speaker, though I had a pretty good guess concerning who it was.
Tucker Foley, a bespectacled techno-geek, emerged from the thick crowd. I couldn't help but snicker at his crooked glasses; the way out of the teens must have been tough.
"Hey!" Danny greeted Tucker almost too warmly.
Tucker straightened his glasses, grinning broadly.
"Hey, Tuck," I said, switching my books into another arm.
"What took you?" Danny asked fervently. The corners of my mouth twitched. He couldn't have been more conspicuous about his plan to get the subject off of him if he wanted to.
This is what irritated me the most in Danny. Sometimes he wouldn't completely (or in this case at all) explain himself, leaving me to draw some random that was much worse than what he could have possibly done...I hoped.
Tucker crooked his head to the side, and Danny and I turned around. Dash Baxter, star of the Casper High football team, school bully, was grinning his trademark grin at Tucker. I could sense from Tucker's winced reaction, he had met up with Dash after the final bell rang.
A snicker escaped my lips.
Danny, Tucker, and I silently walked out into the rain, each step as if it were a part of some well rehearsed musical. We had done this each Friday—go to Nasty Burger, the one fast food restaurant in this minuscule town, immediately after school, rain or shine, in the sweltering heat or freezing cold.
I led Danny and Tucker through my personal shortcut: through the woods. Not only did we have the camouflage of the trees to obscure us from the rest of the pedestrians on the street, but the way to Nasty Burger was so much more faster. Besides, since it was raining we wouldn't get as wet as we would if we walked in the exposed atmosphere.
We all had our different reasons for following along with this for two years. I, because I wanted to stay as far away from home as humanly possible. My parents' work hours were normally at night, when I was supposed to be in bed.
Tucker remained consistent upon going to Nasty Burger because every girl that he had defined as 'hot' lingered there each Friday afternoon, and he was constantly informing Danny and I that they were there for him; that they just couldn't escape his good lucks and wonderful charm.
I smirked at his ignorance.
Danny was like Tucker. He went there for girls. Two girls, to be specific, though one seemed much more important than the other, nowadays. In the eighth grade, right after I moved from rainy Seattle, Washington and the three of us became the best of friends, Danny found out that Paulina Sanchez went to Nasty Burger every afternoon to hang out with her friends. He literally dragged Tucker and I along with him, though we argued and complained every time he did so.
Now, though, I was almost positive that the reason he loved going there so much was because of the bushy, black haired girl serving the food from behind the counter.
The thought of Valerie Gray sickened me; made my stomach fold up uncomfortably. I felt a sneer spreading across my face, and immediately attempted to dissolve the feature. The last thing I needed was for Danny to give me another lecture about how wonderful Valerie was. Once a day was more than enough for me.
With an irritated sigh, I shifted the weight of my books into the other arm, the pain from the fall finally coming. It was as if my right arm was just inches away from the intense heat of a flame on a nippy winter night. I furrowed my brow, trying to mentally rid the pain of the physical pain that was barely brushing against my arm.
I stepped on a twig, breaking it in half by the middle. That was perhaps the only amount of noise that the three of us could listen to.
"What did you guys make on that English test?" Danny asked wearily, shattering the momentary silence that had lapsed between us.
I chuckled. Mr. Lancer, the freshman English teacher, wasn't exactly known for giving out easy assignments. His quizzes resembled death wrapped up in a jolly blanket of doom. Except fairly worse.
"B," I announced tonelessly. I had been surprised upon finding that I actually passed something without effort. It was difficult for me to achieve something without working hard for it. I wasn't exactly a prodigy.
Danny and Tucker stopped dead in their tracks, gawking at me.
I furrowed my brow...though my ego did slightly rise.
"Minus," I added...for their sake.
Danny sighed.
"I really don't wanna repeat ninth grade..." His eyes narrowed at the thought.
Tucker and I laughed. Danny wasn't stupid, as he continually reminded us of. If he put his mind to something, he could easily soar through it. These days, however, his mind was far from school work, or the necessities of getting good grades. He was focused on much more important issues. Things such as the weight of the world on his shoulders alone...well, to put it more lightly, Amity Park's fate.
"You won't fail," Tucker assured him.
Danny raised an eyebrow but resisted the urge to say some "witty comment" to Tucker. That wouldn't disprove Tucker's theory, only prove his point.
"You just need some help." He paused. "Tutoring!" Tucker grinned at the idea. "I'm sure Sam would be willing to help."
I could feel a defining snarl building up in my chest as I glowered at Tucker. My eyes narrowed into slits, imaginary venom shooting out of them and hitting Tucker square on his nose.
Tucker had been stuck on this idea that I was completely in love with my best friend. After the countless times I informed him of mine and Danny's strictly platonic relationship, he'd always retort back, "Denial is always the proof."
I clenched my fists together, ready to strike at any moment. One more word--
"He doesn't need tutoring," I demanded, contemplating over how exactly I would murder the boy. Stupid techno geek. "He needs help so he can study."
A feeling of de ja vu washed over me. A conversation similar to this one had occurred months before.
"He would get more help if he was tutored by someone smart," Tucker pointed out, his grin increasing. "Someone like you."
"Or he could just as easily lay off the lame ghost attacks for a while."
Tucker rolled his eyes, straighted his glasses, and shook his head.
"He'd still get more done if he had some private study sessions with someone who he knows and likes and knows how he learns things."
I sighed, defeated for once. Tucker had a point. I could tutor Danny...but then what would that make me? Not only his just-a-friend...but his tutor! I knew as well as Danny that this wasn't going to happen, even if it was the best idea.
"Would you guys quit talking like I'm not even here!" Danny asked, his voice harder than my angery snarl. If the hard, cold feeling of a stone was a sound, that was what his voice was. Cold and stony.
"It didn't work out once, and it isn't gonna work out again. I appreciate your concern, you guys, but let's just drop it, okay?"
I remained silent, glancing nervously over to Tucker. He had his lips pursed into a hard, thin line, refraining his hardest from uttering a single word.
I doubted his attempt would last two minutes.
I sighed at the sight of a horribly familiar girl bouncing through the open doors of the food joint, an umbrella hanging high over her head though the rain was barely dropping, revealing a slightly annoyed girl behind the counter. The two people I was just eager to see...right after drilling nails through my toes.
Reluctantly I glanced over to Danny, whose hard expression seemed to soften.
A whip of fire erupted in my stomach, burning my insides in an abnormal way. Not exactly physically, but not entirely emotionally either.
Whatever it was, I didn't like it.
Through the gaps in between trees, I could see Nasty Burger from just right across the street, the large windows showing every single person inside. A fire erupted in my stomach at the sight of the girl behind the counter, giving a customer an incredibly fake smile as they paid her for their food.
The fire lashed me with each step we took that neared us to Nasty Burger, Valerie's frame becoming larger and larger.
I pursed my lips to avoid saying anything "insulting" towards Danny about Valerie or the plastic doll that had just invaded Nasty Burger. I had plenty of nasty comments to say about them,but kept them to myself out of pure respect for Danny.
Danny was still trying to contort my feelings about Valerie. No matter what happened, though, I would always see her as the Phantom hating freak. The girl that used to taunt Danny whilst around her friends, but, after she had lost a majority of her money and respect (I didn't see it any other way, though Danny prodded me that it wasn't because of the peer pressure) she began flirting with Danny. It sickened me that she couldn't stand up for this boy in front of her friends then, but since she hated them, she didn't mind telling them off.
A sign of weakness. Not that my opinion mattered much, but still. I had a right to one.
I sucked on the inside of my cheek, racking my brain for something to say. Anything to even slightly occupy Danny away from Valerie and Paulina being so close to us, now. Nothing, of course, came to mind. I glanced over sideways to peer at Danny, face still dreamy.
The way his face contorted out of anything at the sight of Valerie or Paulina...it really irritated me. It always did, but for different reasons than what it was now. Danny was beginning to like Valerie because of something other than her looks...for who she was.
The thought made me want to gag. Valerie was nothing but a ghost-hating freak. She despised everything Danny stood for...and he didn't even know it!
I didn't know what it was that happened, but Danny made me trip and fall the second time in less than ten minutes.
"Did you guys get that Algebra homework for--" My words were cut off by a sudden gasp from Danny, following a blue smoke emitting from his mouth.
With books now siled in the mud, my chin scraped against the ground, twigs flying everywhere, eyes clenched as the immediate arrival of pain began. As I felt Danny's elbow beginning to wedge into my side, a distinct echo, a wailing or wooshing of some sort, could be heard.
Even with my eyes closed it wasn't hard to guess what happened. Danny, in spite of shock and bewilderment, had stumbled into me, causing me to crash into Tucker. With the three of us sprawled on the ground in a huge lump (me sandwiched in the middle...typical), Danny's weight was crushing up against me.
For a small kid he had a lot of muscle...
I opened my eyes, attempting to shove an immobile Danny off of me and gasped.
Floating right there before us was a small, purple cloaked creature, familiar grim expression sitting upon its cracked face.
Clockwork.
My stomach dropped, eyes widening at the sight of the time-controlling ghost. What in the world was he doing here!
Danny and Tucker seemed to be thinking the same thing, for I could feel a rapid shift in their body positions: all three of us had straightened up, as if we were toddlers awaiting a scolding from our mother.
"Come," Clockwork said, his form morphing into a bearded, elderly man.
"What?" Danny asked weakly after a long silence.
"There isn't much time!" Clockwork grabbed Danny by his forearm, pulling him off of Tucker and me. Danny struggled to stand onto his feet with the ghost's grip on him, but vacantly managed, staring up at Clockwork in confusion.
"What's going on!" Danny asked once more.
Clockwork's answer was a sharp tug on the boy's arm, his famous staff raised up high into the air. A blinding light enveloped Danny and Clockwork, so bright that I had to close my eyes.
And then they were gone.
((Author's Note: Summary...since I know I'd be kinda lazy to read a...mostly narrated chapter if I had a cruddy day:
Basically...it's Friday and Danny, Sam, and Tucker are planning on going to Nasty Burger. They take the forest route there. It's faster and no one can see them. Clockwork shows up and takes Danny away.
That's...pretty much all that happened in seven pages of uselessness. YAY!
So...remember up there? -points to previous AN-
You review...you shall get treats. A LOT of them...and ifyou do not...well the internet ninja shall come and eat your dinosaur! OH NO! -faint-
Until...soon. :D
Thanks for reading. Or...having any interest at all. ;)
FS))