HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can't believe that we are now in 2022! Gothica is still going alive and strong - I've just been filling up my backlog and rewriting this whole arc. It was supposed to be a lot shorter and less interesting, but you know me. I can't let anything be easy.

The fic will NOT be abandoned, so please be patient with me as I finally shake off the holidays and get back into writing on a more regular basis. I hope you like this new additional chapter and had a great, safe new year's day!

Without further ado, here is the next chapter in the Dancing With Dragons arc!

Explaining what had happened to Sam and Tucker the next day at school was difficult to say the least.

"What do you mean you can't meet up for lunch? I have to tell you and Tucker something crazy."

Sam shrugged her shoulders – no easy task when she was weighed down with five different books. "I don't know, Danny, how about some of us have three AP classes and at least five college applications to fill out and write essays for?"

Her tone was venomous, and he realized that he'd bombarded her at her locker at a bad time.

"Right, sorry. Um, maybe after school?"

Her eyebrows knit together in a way that suggested she felt nauseous by the idea of wasting any time on something other than her classwork, but she sighed and nodded.

"Okay, but we do it at my house. No excuses. I'll need to work while we talk."

"But your parents HATE me."

"That's not… okay, well maybe but they won't be there tonight. They have a charity fundraiser to plan for Halloween at Amity Acres."

Oh, that's right, Danny thought. Halloween is a week and a half away.

"It feels like your parents are always at the country club."

"Tell me about it."

Casper High was famous for having late October homecoming dances. Usually, it had a spooky theme and pushed the Halloween budget into the homecoming budget, thereby killing two birds with one stone for half the price. Danny was then reminded that homecoming's slapdash planning was just another argument for Sam to have with her parents about why on earth she would want to attend a public school.

"Sorry, I know your parents get weird around this time. I'll just tell Tucker and we'll see you at your place after school."

She gave him an apologetic smile. "When are they not weird? See you then."

Sam closed her locker with a loud bang and toted her books down the hallway. He watched her go and, although he couldn't believe there was anything more important than ghost hunting these days, he understood that maybe ghosts would have to occasionally take a back seat in their lives. After all, they were seniors in high school. They had their whole futures ahead to think of. It wasn't like he asked for this to happen, but neither did his friends.

Although it was really difficult to fathom that a dragon ghost and her leftover necklace wasn't their top priority right now.

Danny went to look for Tucker who was probably focused on finding a date for the dance. It seemed ironic that Danny was going to a "ball" when the poor ghost girl could not. He hadn't even thought to ask for her name.

It was Wednesday, which meant that he only had today and tomorrow to study before Lancer's Friday exam on Frankenstein. That also meant he only had today and tomorrow to find a date for homecoming that same Saturday.

There was so much to do.

.

.

.

Sam hadn't meant to be snippy but Danny was right: the Mansons did get weird around this time of year. That morning her parents had once again questioned her decision to go to public school, all while sneaking in suggestions about college.

"Can't you see that we only want you to make the right choices in life?" Her mother had spread apple butter over toast and pouted her perfect, Barbie pink lips.

"You're saying I make the wrong ones?"

Sam's grandmother had been out, running an errand with Henson, and therefore could not defend her.

"I'm just saying, an ivy league university isn't going to be much impressed by... Casper High."

Lately her parents had been sliding brochures for Dartmouth, Harvard, and MIT into her monthly book subscriptions and magazines. The idea that she might want to pursue politics or law was agreeable to them. This morning she confessed she would only pursue ivy league to advocate for the environment, LGBTQ+ rights, and women's rights. Her confession had terrified them. They'd rather she was unemployed without a degree at all at that point.

"You know, Sammy," Pamela Manson had said this morning, "housewives are just as respectable as CEO's and lawyers."

"But," Jeremy Manson had also mentioned, "CEO's and lawyers help further the family legacy."

"Well, that's why she can always marry one of them! There are plenty of good kids down at Amity Acres on a streamlined career path."

Basically, Sam was in a mood.

It was only the cruel hand of fate that thrust her and Paulina Sanchez together in the hallway not five minutes after her discussion with Danny. They collided when turning a corner past the auditorium doors. Sam dropped every one of her books. Paulina dropped none. Still, she howled like Sam had knifed her in the kidney.

"What the hell, loser! You elbowed me in the shoulder! My homecoming dress is strapless! If this leaves a bruise, I'll be suing."

"Wow," Sam said, rolling her eyes. She knelt down to collect her dropped books. "I just beat the all-time speed record for drowning in the shallow end of the gene pool."

Paulina's eyes sharpened like daggers.

"Oh, no, bitch, you did not just call me shallow, did you?"

Sam straightened up. "You mean, do I think that I could stand in a puddle of you and not get my feet wet? Yeah, I do."

Sam wasn't one to wait around and continue to be yelled at or called names. She breezed by Paulina and headed off to class, leaving the sputtering cheerleader behind.

.

.

.

Danny found Tucker in the eSports club at lunchtime. It was an old AV club room that hadn't been used since the early 90s. Members would bring their computer setups and lock them up there overnight or tote their gaming laptops to school so they could meet after classes. Tucker, vice president and therefore keeper of the key to the room, locked up after club meetings three nights a week.

When Danny arrived, Tucker was chatting up Gray Griffin, the bespeckled redhead from a few weeks ago. She laughed too loudly and complimented his hat. No one compliments Tucker's hat. He'd been wearing the same one for three years – it was practically part of his body.

Yeah, she's into him, Danny thought.

But Tucker, for all of his jokes and comments, didn't seem much into her.

Weird. She'd probably jump at the chance to go with him to the dance.

"Yo, Tuck," Danny called across the room. Tucker turned in his swivel chair and smiled.

"Hey man, what's up?"

Gray took a step back from Tucker and eyed Danny like he had interrupted her favorite podcast.

"Need to talk to you."

Tucker's face went from relaxed to slightly alarmed. He recovered quickly and excused himself from the room. He shut the door behind him and they stood in the empty hallway, their voices low.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, nothing yet," Danny said.

"Love it when you start sentences like that."

"Something crazy happened last night and I need some help. Sam asked if we could talk about it tonight at her place. You free?"

Tucker hesitated. He glanced sideways at the door to the clubroom.

"I'm supposed to lock up tonight at like, six."

"You can't get someone to cover?"

Tucker shook his head. "Nah man, Mikey's on vacation with his folks. He's been absent all week."

"He's on vacation during homecoming week?"

Tucker rolled his eyes. "When has Mikey ever expressed interest in homecoming?"

"I mean, I dunno, you're his friend not me."

"Right, well, he's not here so I'm acting president."

"Of course you are."

"Just tell me what's going on, man-"

The door to the clubroom opened and Gray stood there with her arms crossed.

"Hey, we need Tucker. The modem is on the fritz and he's the one who installed it."

Tucker shot Danny an apologetic glance and shrugged.

Danny gestured for Tucker to go. "I'll tell you later."

"You sure?"

Gray still hovered in the doorway.

"I'm sure."

Tucker led the way back into the clubroom. Gray offered him some kind of smile as she shut the door in his face.

Pleasant, that one, he thought as he pressed his hands into his jeans pockets and headed back to his locker.

How was it possible that a dragon ghost had left an artifact in his possession and neither of his best friends were available to talk about it? Danny had a sneaking suspicion that he would have to figure out this problem alone.

When he reached his locker, he opened it to stare at the contents, debating what he would need for the rest of the day. He still had gym with Tetslaff after lunch (a horrible combination of food and running) and then math class with Mr. Falluca. Danny sighed and pulled down his math homework and textbook. Part of him already felt sick to his stomach. That dragon girl would be back, and she would probably be angry. Considering the circumstances, he didn't think it was unreasonable to take the rest of the day off. Who would even know that he'd left?

Just as he was about to put the textbooks back, he felt a presence sidle up next to him.

"Hey, you."

Danny turned with a start and saw that Paulina Sanchez was leaning up against the adjacent locker as though she had been planning to meet him here. Her expression both made him feel weak in the knees and woefully underprepared for whatever she wanted from him.

"P-Paulina?"

"Listen, I know that you've probably already got a date for the dance, but if you happen to be free…" she purred.

What is happening here? Danny swallowed a huge lump that had somehow appeared in his throat, his tongue going completely dry. Is she asking to go to the dance with me? No, that's not possible.

Paulina Sanchez was as gorgeous as she was popular. Considering that she was head cheerleader, a teacher's pet, homecoming queen three years running, and on the student body council, her beauty probably rivaled Aphrodite herself. There was no way that she was asking him to be her date.

"I-I don't-"

"Oh, you're so right," she said, stepping back, her full lower lip pouting ever so slightly, "this is so silly of me. You've totally got a date already. I'm so embarrassed! I had been waiting around and hoping you would ask me all week but I… I understand."

Danny looked around. There was no Dash or Kwan standing around the corner getting ready to pummel him or laugh at him, was there? No Star, Paulina's best friend, with her smartphone out taking a prank video?

No, there was no one. She was being serious.

This was really happening.

Paulina watched as emotions rapid-fired over Danny Fenton's face. Confusion for sure, but also a little bit of fear, some longing, and – like with every boy at Casper High who looked at her – desire.

"You were?"

Her smile was subtle. Her eyes bore into his. "Duh. So, are you free?"

"I d-don't have a date, no."

She waited.

"Um, Paulina?"

"Yes?" She leaned closer again. She smelled like Tahitian vanilla and coconut. He felt his palms begin to sweat.

"Would you want to go with me... to the dance?"

Paulina grinned and pressed herself so close to him that Danny was having trouble not falling into his locker.

"I would. Pick me up at seven on Saturday? Here's my address."

She pulled an already prepared slip of paper from her pocket with not only her address, but her actual phone number, written in glittering, purple gel pen.

"Can't wait," she said. Her dark eyes stared into his soul before she reached down to squeeze his hand once, then walked away.

Danny watched her go feeling both like he was in the Twilight Zone and having had the best conversation of his entire life.

"I… don't even know how to dance," he said to himself.

Not that that mattered.

"WHOO!" Danny yelled. A couple of students turned to give him a startled look.

Suddenly revitalized, Danny rushed off to gym class, forgetting his math textbook and the fact that he didn't actually eat anything for lunch. He would tell Tucker and Sam about the ghost, and that he had a date to the dance!