Author's Note: I own nothing.

28 Attitude About Town

When Dani arrived at school the next morning, Tanya being kind enough to carry her bag, she noticed a few things had changed. The football field was cordoned off with caution tape for one. For another a lot of the teens here were chatting openly about Phantom. Dani shook her head, wincing slightly. She was exhausted had been since her fight with Pariah. The good news was in the few days since Vlad had left and ghostly attacks had dipped to nothing. If they were off rebuilding their haunts or had just decided to give Dani a break she couldn't say but she was glad regardless.

"This is weird." Dani said frowning as Sam unlocked her locker. She was under orders not to lift her arms over her shoulders and hers was on the top row.

"What's weird is anyone knowing." Tanya pointed out. "My mom sat me down for a conversation. I thought she was going to rip my head off. She said my stitching needed work. Like I was the one to stitch you up after that thing with the Fright Knight. I told her Sam did it." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me for not having perfect stitches on the first try." Sam grouched pulling Dani's book for English out of the locker.

"Fenton!" The call was a familiar one, one that once upon a time might have made Dani flinch but now Paulina calling down the hall just made her roll her eyes. "Fenton, I heard you broke ribs looking to help people." Paulina called and Dani rolled her eyes again. She was too tired for this shit today.

"You heard correctly Paulina." She deadpanned turning to face, not just Paulina but all of the A-Listers.

"Not bad Fenton." Kwan commented and even Dash nodded.

"Come on we all knew she was the only competent ghost hunter in the Fenton family." Star said examining her nails. Dani blinked then remembered the whole thing with Youngblood and the pirate ship not too long ago. It seemed like half a lifetime ago. She shrugged and winced.

"Alright, everyone move off to class please." Lancer called as the bell rang overhead. He stepped in front of Dani who raised an eyebrow at him as the hall cleared. "Let me know if there's anything you need, and since we're just watching video today in both English and Biology I will look the other way if someone were to fall asleep." He said and Dani blinked at him. "I want you to know that you don't need to pick up any slack you feel may be happening around you." He said and Dani blinked again. "I'll admit I wasn't sure how to feel about Phantom at first but I think we should let her take care of the ghosts from now on." He said and Dani couldn't help her grin.

"Sure Mr. Lancer." Dani said as she slipped around him, fighting laughter. She sat down at her desk and gently flopped forward. She idly spun the ring on her finger. She had to admit Jazz had a point about these things. She'd been talking about easy stress relief for a while now. Dani had never though a spinner ring would be so effective in calming her down though. She sighed, wishing she could freely stretch without breaking the scab on her back. It wouldn't do to bleed through her shirt in front of the school and Angelica wouldn't be able to come over to change her bandages until late tonight, though she could probably convince Tanya to do it sooner. But not while they were at school. She winced lightly as someone laid a jacket over her.

Peering around the red hood which had fallen over most of her face Dani spotted Vince shooting her a grin. His arm was still in a sling and would be for a week or two yet but he winked and turned his attention back to the front of the room. Dani felt her cheeks heating up slightly as she smiled.

It was as if a switch had been flipped. Everyone seemed to have changed their stance on Phantom, a name that seemed to be on everyones mind instead of being generally unknown. A sign up sheet for the Phantom Phan-club appeared on the notice board in the cafeteria and the spots filled up before lunch was even halfway over. Dani shook her head swigging from her black water bottle. It had to be black, otherwise someone might have raised eyebrows at her drinking ectoplasm straight. She shook her head slightly.

"It's still weird." She said and Tanya nodded.

"I mean I always said all you really needed was good PR. Looks like I was right." She said smugly. Sam rolled his eyes. Dani snorted.

"Maybe. But you guys are sure Officer Wulfric and his buddy Kyle know?" She asked before taking another long draw on her water bottle. Sam nodded.

"Heard them talking to Vlad. They saw you both go up against the GK and nearly get blasted into oblivion." He said and Dani winced.

"Not like I planned it that time." She muttered and he nodded.

"Speaking of plans, do we think Vlad has one?" Tanya asked. Their theory was he'd taken the suit. All Dani knew was she'd passed out in it with him standing over her. She had to assume that he'd phased her out of the suit before it could finish her off. That was why she was so tired, the suit had drained her as it had her father when it had been halfway finished. She shook her head picking up her sandwich.

"That is a problem for future Dani. Present Dani just wants to feel better. Future Dani can deal with Officer Wulfric and Kyle and Vlad, it's not currently my problem." She said between bites of the sandwich. Tanya laughed, Sam smiled lightly.

"I like that plan." Tanya said nodding. Dani grinned. For now everything was alright, and she was hoping it would stay that way for a while.