Chapter Two - Pain

Just another day at Casper High ... Another terrible, horrid, downtrodden, chaotically draining day. To start things off a certain ghost-boy had awoken late, had to fight a damn idiotic hunter and was now literally flying to school. Danny Phantom was purely rushing and he cut it close with a few minutes to spare. He hid behind a tree and transformed back into Danny Fenton, he scratched his right arm and subtly eyed it thinking of the five new marks he added last night. Five marks, five wrongs simple, the poor ghost was cutting himself but we'll review that later. Back to the present, he fixed his wind-whipped hair and stepped out from behind the tree only to snap back really quick... Dash was out along with his crew. As A-listers, the teachers didn't give two fucks what they did just as long as they kept winning games and championships. Right at that moment they were hanging by the lunch room doors... Smoking. Danny cringed and scratched his arm again out of fear, thinking of the beating Dash had laid on him yesterday all because the bedamned idiot had failed HIS math test. What justifies beating a poor ghoul senseless because you failed your damn test?! What makes it even worse Dash had gone the extra mile and twisted his arm to the breaking point —thank God for ghostly healing— for making him chase Danny all the way to the boiler room. Adding on to that the bully had been giving him odd looks lately and calling him things like 'baby' and 'sweetbody' like if he ever managed to get the boy alone unspeakable things were going to happen. Danny shook his head and shivered, how did he manage to fight dangerous ghosts on a regular basis but let a stupid human idiot like Dash get under his skin? He chucked up what little courage he had, made the cross sign on his head and chest then... He ran.

Dash looked up from his joint and saw the flash of white and red zip by in frenzied haste, he smiled darkly... His perfect little bitch. Fenton was a natural lame, and cute where he needed it be, Dash loved the submissive types.
"Fenton... " Kwan stepped next to him and cracked his knuckles.
"Should we get him? "
"Hell yeah. " They hit the ground running and gave chase, Danny knew they were on his tail by the extra foot falls that accompanied his own. He put a little ghostly pep in his steps to aid his escape but that barely helped because of the jocks physical prowess. During this whole chase, the bell rang killing Danny's last shreds of hope because now he was late and Lancer was going to be have his ass. He managed to make it to the front doors and pulled but... They were locked... Desperate times call for desperate measures, he went intangible and slipped inside. Danny looked back only to cringe with fear as the jocks jumped and banged on the door for him to let them in, especially Dash. He was glaring at him like a rabid mongrel and what made it really bad was that Danny could partially make out what he was saying or more so threatening.
"You're mine, FENTON! THAT ASS IS MINE! ONE DAY, BABY! " Danny could only turn and sob, covering his ears and praying for solace in the midst of his heinous abuse. If only he knew the cold fortune that soon awaited him...

Danny wondered the blank and empty halls wondering if he could just skip today, he'd done it before but that was because of some GHOST problem or another. That was another thing that had been slowly building up and snapping at his mind, all those damn ghosts. They always come, roll up on him, make some mischief, and he kicks their asses but at what expense? To get shot at by his own parents, he could still feel the burn from when their new Fenton blaster caught him in the side. To miss out on normal life and neglect his homework which once again he didn't get a chance to do because of a certain pop star. Hell, at least Valerie had let up on him since the last incident with Danielle but she gave him a bit of trouble every once in a while. But back to the ghosts problem it was still the same damn trouble makers : VLAD, Skulker, Spectra, Ember, Technus, Desiree and for those who believe he deserves some type of props, Box Ghost. But things had been slowly heating up just last week, Undergrowth popped back up again. In the beginning it took everything Danny had in the midst of not freezing himself inside out just to beat him, but now all it took was a good giant snowball to the face as a distraction and one hell of an ice beam. Nocturne even came back for another dose only to have his mind inflicted with one hell of a brain freeze. Danny's mind was just reeling with issues, switching from ghosts to... Humans. His bullies were obviously getting out of hand, from Dash blantly hitting on him while beating him senseless to Paulina using her beauty and status to trick him into a prank setup by the cheer squad. He couldn't do much to Dash just yet but Paulina got her due... She gained a morbid fear of ice after that even the mention of the word 'snow' made her scream. Then to add to his ever growing list of problems, his grades were in the toilet. A straight series of C's and D's all because of his 'side job', how dare his parents have the nerve to shot at him and then scream over his grades he was trying. The boy was actually smarter than his parents and sister combined, he just didn't get a chance to show it. He wandered around till he made it to his Class.

He went in and a series of groans and snickers met his ears, he opened his eyes only to expertly spot some students exchanging money. They were using his misery to get rich off one another... The bedamned site made him ill. A small bit of frost worked up around his body but he controlled his emotions enough to hide it.
"Late yet again, Mr. Fenton? " Danny's eyes blazed electric blue at the demeaning tone of the question, he finally directed his attention to the chubby teacher writing on the board about Hamlet with aforementioned book in hand. Lancer turned to him with a glare, one which read 'I've had enough of your bison'. "Well~ Are you going to answer my question? " The frost spread a bit at the hidden torment.
"I'm sorry, I was getting chased down by~"
"No more excuses just have a seat. " Lancer ordered. "We both know you were going to have detention today anyway. " Danny made to go to his seat but something in his heart made him reflect. His thoughts:
"How dare that chubby overweight bastard degrade me? Does he not know the scars and bruises I endure to save his ass? Along with all these other ungrateful little shit stains! I've had enough of this miserable planet! " Sam stood up as she watched her friend shiver in feverish anger, he looked ready to blow his shit. She had noticed for a while now that Danny had been on that act up, beating down enemies, using his ice powers for tidbits of revenge. She was worried he was going off the deep end and she was right... The tinniest of evil smirks came about on Danny's face and... POOF! Lancer caught a face full of instantaneous freezing snowball, his whole head encased in ice accept for that comical cartoon blink of his eyes. Everyone in the room gaped in horror at the boy as he went to his seat and put his head down. Tucker tentatively went and sat beside him, rubbing his shoulder but caught the solid tears that fell down his cheeks. These incidents were becoming higher in number, a teacher would call Danny out for an alleged wrong the ghost-boy would retaliate with a minor ice attack. He was tired, tired of protecting his tormentors, tired of being the hero just plain damn tired.

It was hard but Lancer somehow managed to teach despite the ice block weighing his head down and hindering his speech. At the sounding of the bell, the class stampeded out, it would've been a hopeless endeavor to give them homework. Danny practically flew through the halls, onlookers either worried or laughing. He couldn't take it anymore he needed release, he wanted out! Something! Anything to take his pain away! He ran into the bathroom and used a small ghost ray to seal it off, he then ran into a graffiti'd stale and cried his heart out. He was tired of fighting, tired of protecting, he wanted what he gave: love, protection, intimacy, admiration. But all he got was pain, abuse and neglect. He lived in his sister's shadow, his parents ignored him and when they did pay attention their devices blew up in his face, he had enemies coming out the woodwork and what's worse... The one man he loved hated him to the depths of the universe... Cut number one. The glinting ice shard sliced pale snow skin slowly then a mix of red and toxic green leaked free splashing on to the filthy tile below. Cut number two... Three... Four... The cuts continued on yet they healed after they were made but they continued on till...
"DANNY! OPEN UP THE DOOR, MANE! DANNY! " A life line had arrived... Tucker, he was banging on the bathroom door and trying to Jimmy the lock but failed. "DANNY! PLEASE OPEN UP! BRUH! " He banged on for another minute more till he shot the door open with a spare ecto-gun. He dashed in and busted open each stall till, he gasped in horror at what he discovered... Even though the cuts had healed he could tell Danny had a lost a lot of blood based on the fact his bestie was slumped over.
"Oh my God! SOMEBODY CALL A DOCTOR!"