(Don't) Say My Name - CHAPTER 4


"Are you going to finish that, girl?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, go ahead."

Ember watches her plate of fries slide over to Freakshow and sighs. "I thought this would be more fun! Why is it taking so long?"

Her companion grins around a fry, "Fear not my dear, he will slip up eventually. We just have to be patient."

"I know but I'm still nervous. I could feel how angry Plasmius was when he found out how we changed his words around…" She shivers, "I only want to stick around long enough to see his face when the twerp says his name back. Then I'm getting the fuck outta here."

Freakshow nods thoughtfully, "Indeed, he will no doubt go looking for us. I am a little surprised he hasn't already. Maybe he's attempting to salvage the situation and still use the spell for personal gain…" He smirks, "His stubbornness will be our entertainment."

Ember just giggles at the implications, glad that Vlad should soon get what he deserves.


Freakshow was not wrong: Vlad is entirely too stubborn to quit so soon. The man paces his office at City Hall, pondering all the different ways he can still make use of the spell.

'The spell certainly makes him feel a kind of affection towards me, but this is absolutely NOT what I had in mind… those brats KNEW it…' Vlad rolls his eyes and leans against his desk, 'Either way, this could still work… He'll be… attracted… to me-' The man blanching at the thought. '-But at least I'll be free to begin expanding my control to other cities and perhaps even the state! Who knows! I could even run for President and be in command of one of the top most powerful countries in the world!' Vlad beams at the thought, mind running wild with plots and plans. 'And Daniel will be at my side, ah-affectionate… oh dear…' He sweats a little at the wild images his mind is so helpfully supplying him. Those big blue eyes looking up at him while pressed into his side, needy, expectant… 'Th-there will need to be some boundaries…' Vlad does his best to distract himself and bury those thoughts deep, throwing himself into his desk chair.

He figures a quick phone call to Ms. Ishiyama will push his plans along nicely. He imagines the look on Danny's face when the teen realizes what he is up to and smirks. He carefully keeps his thoughts strictly professional.


Danny is currently frozen. Mind running rampant. White knuckle grip on the edge of his desk. Eyes wide open. Face otherwise blank with practised control.

Before him stands his Vice Principal Mr. Lancer and his Mayor, arch-nemesis, thorn in his side and latest mental tormentor Vlad Masters.

'Why is he here? What does this mean? Is he still messing with me? But he knows – he KNOWS what happened at dinner… He knows I have reactions… He knows that I know he knows… ' Danny's mind whirls with half formed thoughts, accusations and speculations. He carefully keeps his features neutral while he waits – along with the rest of the class - for an explanation.

"Wonderful news students! Mr. Masters will be sitting in on our class today. Let's show him what we've learned about so far this term and for the love of Anne Frank people, please keep your questions professional and your language respectful." He gestures for Vlad to address the class and shoots warning glares to the students.

"Forgive me Mr. Lancer but I doubt I'll receive the same result with such stiff formalities. If it'll be all the same to you, I'd much prefer we relax the proper words and titles and let the students simply ask what comes to mind. Also, I would prefer if everyone called me Vlad, I want everyone here to feel at ease and treat me as you would another classmate. I am merely here to observe the smart and colourful minds of our future men and women that will one day stand in our place." Vlad smiles cheerfully at the teacher, watching him sputter for words.

"Well, yes of course, I assume you know best what you'd like after all. This is your show Mr.-ah-Vlad. You have the floor, if you need anything at all I'll be catching up on marking." Mr. Lancer recovers himself and quickly sits down.

Vlad turns his attention to the class, landing his eyes on Danny and smirking at the sad attempt the teen was making to slouch so low in his seat he was barely visible. "Alright everyone," he claps his hands together, "lets rearrange this room!"

Vlad takes his coat off and throws it over a chair before beginning to roll up his sleeves. When he notices no one has moved he lifts an eyebrow, "Well? I'm not here to be ogled at, push all your desks against the walls and bring the chairs to form a circle in the center. I want to see each and every one of you."

Danny slowly turns to his best friends with wide eyes, feeling a very ugly and blotchy blush start to creep up his neck. On one hand, it's awesome they have homeroom together because Tucker and Sam can collectively cover for Danny when he misses classes but right now he is sincerely wishing they were not about to witness Danny enter one of the most awkward days of his high school career (and that includes dropping his drawers in front of Paulina!).

They both rise from their chairs, grinning like assholes, and begin to carry out Vlad's tasks. Danny starts to wonder why he even talked to them in the first place…

*CUE FLASHBACK*

"So." Tucker starts conversationally.

Sigh. "So?"

The teens are sitting up in Danny's room after that wreck of a dinner with Vlad, doing their best to ask about Danny's little problem down south without actually looking at it. Or acknowledging it in any other capacity. To save everyone some grief, Danny has a pillow in his lap and is doing his best to pretend this isn't happening.

Danny scrubs a hand over his eyes and looks into the faces of his two best friends as he mentally prepares how he wants to tackle this. "So yeah... um that was... well I think I might - no wait, remember last week? ... ahhh no - well maybe, actually... ah shit..."

A pause.

"... So you don't have a career in public speaking..." Tucker offers, much to Danny's relief, "But look dude, it's us. Me and Sam. We got you, so just relax."

Sam nods her head along with Tucker, "It'll probably be awkward considering..." She gestures to the pillow and everyone cringes. "But we won't judge you. No matter what you come up with, we've more than likely seen worse."

Danny snorts, "Thanks for that." Feeling confident, he takes a breath and figures just blurting it all out is the best way. His friends said they won't judge him, so maybe they can help.

"I think I'm starting to like Vlad!"

Dead silence.

Sam and Tucker are just staring at him like he's currently growing three heads out of his shoulder. They alternate between looks of horror, realization, and suspicion.

Danny let's them wrestle with that and leans forward, hands hanging between his knees. He knows he spoke clearly enough so now it's just waiting for the wild accusations and possibly proving he isn't possessed. This IS Vlad after all...

The silence is finally broken by Sam, "Well that explains last week." She murmurs thoughtfully.

Tucker snorts and looks to her, "You think he's under some sort of spell? Maybe being mind-controlled or even possessed?" He flicks his gaze to Danny and ducks his head apologetically. "Sorry dude. I know we just said we wouldn't judge you but this is just too uhh unexpected?"

Sam watches Danny fidget for a moment, "I don't think possession, his eyes would be red, and he'd probably be less embarrassed about all this. And I haven't seen Vlad do anything weird or radical except offer him a lift..." she hums thoughtfully.

"So this could be genuine?" Tucker's voice drops to a hush and looks to Danny with his mouth hanging open. "Dude... He's evil though."

Danny cringes, he was afraid of this part, "And I agree with you 100%. He is a total fruitloop. I still think that, I'm not brainwashed. Well, I don't feel brainwashed. I can't just forget everything he's done to us and the town. I just don't know how else to explain this feeling." He considers it and tries, "So like, when he talks to me, I get this pounding in my head and a tug in my stomach and then I..." He flusters a bit at his next words, reminding himself quickly he's in a safe space, "I get the need to be c-closer and t-touch him..." his face burns as he hoarsely whispers out, "Oh my god, what the fuck guys! I can't like VLAD!"

"Well it sure as shit sounds like you do." Sam snorts, crossing her arms. "Let me channel Jazz-vibes here a minute but are you maybe falling for the whole 'want what you can't have' idea?"

"Jesus Christ no! It's not like that!" Danny sputters, wildly embarrassed about 'wanting Vlad.' Ugh.

"Okay, then what's it like?" Tucker asks innocently, still very much not convinced.

Danny pauses to piece together a way to explain this without being embarrassed enough to kill what's left of his humanity. But Tucker doesn't understand and is impatient, so he barrels on and ticks off each item on a finger, "I know you aren't shallow enough for it to be money, and it's not like Vlad has a lot in common with you besides the halfa status, also let's not forget his infatuation with your mom, and his evil plans to rule the goddamned world! So what's left Danny? Because the more I talk the more I convince myself you're definitely brainwashed!"

"I don't fucking know Tuck!" Danny shouts, standing and clenching his fists, "Alls I DO know is I'm NOT brainwashed and Vlad keeps turning me on!" He's so mad it takes him a minute to register his friends' silence.

But when he does, he finds himself suddenly invisible as Tucker and Sam start laughing uncontrollably.

*END FLASHBACK*

The class is rearranged so the desks are pushed away and the chairs are in a circle so everyone can see everyone else. Danny keeps his eyes low and takes his seat, expecting Sam and Tucker to sit on either side of him, as per usual. As the chair to his right is gently pulled back, Danny turns to whichever best friend it is to tell them how bogus this is and why isn't Mr. Lancer complaining about this when he finds himself face-to-face with Vlad. The mayor grins and winks at him before gently leaning back and crossing his ankles, adopting a lazy and friendly manner.

It works immediately on the other students in class - except our hero of course - as he snaps his mouth closed and turns to glare daggers at Sam, who chose to sit on Tucker's other side. She snorts and waves a few fingers innocently as Tucker rolls his eyes and glares over Danny's shoulder at Vlad. Danny is happy to have at least someone on his side here!

Vlad clears his throat and the room falls silent, he knows how to demand attention without barely doing a thing. Danny hates how much that impresses him every time. 'Evil villain. Only evil villains know how to manipulate people.'

"Before we begin with the lesson proper, lets go around the circle and have each of you tell me a bit about what you want to do after post-secondary and one way you can get yourself there." He pauses, seeing some anxiety from the faces around him. "No stress, kids. Whatever comes to mind. Take your time and think about it while I go ahead and tell you what I was thinking at your age." He leans forward and stage whispers, "I haven't even told the public this yet so shhh." He winks at Star and Paulina and they visibly melt.

Danny rolls his eyes and leans back, crossing his arms. He's sure he knows the story well enough, going back in time to Vlad's university days will do that, and also of course hearing his parent's talk fondly about their mayor always reveals new little things that would either surprise or disgust Danny.

"So there I was, in front of my high school on the first day, dressed nice, covered in acne and being held upside down by my ankles. I was being emptied of my meager change for lunch and my backpack ransacked and dumped beside me. Ah yes folks, I was a victim of bullying." Vlad's intro definitely had the students' mouths all hanging open. How could such a successful, charismatic gentleman like Vlad Masters ever have been bullied? Its too much for the students to grasp.

Danny stares along with the rest, completely blind-sided by this information. His parents never mentioned this, wait no his parents met Vlad in University. Wow, this is new territory even for the young halfa. Maybe Vlad wasn't lying about never-before telling this part of his childhood to the media.

Vlad chuckles, "I am flattered you all look so disbelieving. But believe it. I was unfortunately a favoured victim of my school, what with my classic literature novels I read for fun and my multitude of ghost sighting clippings and research decorating my locker and bedroom." He smiles at the numerous gasps, "Yes I, 14-year-old Vlad Masters, always aspired to be a ghost chaser." His eyes flick to Danny, noticing a few others do the same because really, everyone knows the mayor was friends with Danny's parents. It's kind of hard to miss every election period. Danny sinks in his seat at the attention but remains watching Vlad, too interested to say much of anything yet. "Yes, yes, I'll get to the Fentons." He watches Danny flinch and continues, "At the time there were no ghost hunters because everyone thought their existence was an old wives' tale or a delusion of the insane. I dedicated my spare time inventing ways to not only prove their existence but communicate with them and glean their otherworldly insight on the afterlife and why there are so few of them."

Kwan raises his hand, "But Mr. Masters-"

"-Vlad. Please, I insist everyone be on a first name basis here. We are in a safe space. Also, please introduce yourself as you speak so I may return the favour."

"Kwan, sir - um - Vlad, uh, what do you mean by 'so few of them?' Because, like, there are ghosts showing up all the time. They're everywhere!" A lot of other kids nod along, curious as well.

"Yes well, take the world's population into consideration Kwan. How many people do we have in the world dying every minute of every day? As the years go by, think of how every single one of those people should, theoretically, be a ghost and 'showing up' as you put it. Well, where are they? That would be exponential numbers! We shouldn't be able to look outside without laying eyes on at least a handful of ghosts."

All the kids take a curious glance outside and begin speculating with one another. He isn't wrong.

Mr. Lancer pipes up from his desk, hearing the students talk among themselves, "Call of the Wild people, show some respect and listen." He waits for silence and turns to his honoured guest, "Sorry M-Vlad, they easily get carried away."

"No worries Lionel, they are allowed to speculate, I prefer the children to think and not be mere sheep to the system."

The students giggle and point to Mr. Lancers reddening face, many not realizing their teacher even had a first name, let alone it being Lionel.

Their teacher sputters an apology and returns his attention to his paperwork, muttering about discipline.

Vlad turns back to the class and rolls his eyes, causing some more giggling and a few more students to relax in their seats. Danny realizes he has swiveled in his chair to fully face Vlad and hastily retreats back in his seat. Don't want to appear eager or anything. This story isn't that interesting, right? It's just his enemy's sob story, probably carefully crafted to create sympathizers. Danny huffs and looks away, 'Doesn't feel made up…'

"So as I was saying, lots of people, billions of people, dying constantly. War, diseases, age, starvation, you name it. Where is everyone? Even now, with ghosts more comfortable showing themselves nearly daily, there isn't enough of them. This was just one of many questions I had hoped I could get an answer for. But first, I needed help. A team. Some people to bounce ideas off of, fellow scientists and ghost enthusiasts. Let me tell you, this was not easy back in my day. Like I said before, no one really believed in them yet. I was a nobody that dreamed about talking to dead people. You can imagine the response I gathered."

Vlad pauses, looking to the floor with a wistful expression, lost in his memories. "I threw myself into my studies. Chemistry. Biology. Physics. Math. The more difficult the class, the more I needed to learn it. Or so I believed. I knew knowledge would be the key to my success, my charisma and social status could suffer a little while longer. It was hard work, even harder when my favourite bullies would shred my research or start fires inside my locker with my notebooks." He grimly nods to the shocked silence of his listeners, "Bullies were a little different in the 70's. I must admit I became disheartened for a while. I slowly looked up the records less and less, keeping fewer tabs on ghost sightings, not even reading the newspapers from around the world anymore. I lost the thirst nearly entirely as I completed high school with top marks and no direction in life."

He takes in the sad and uncomfortable looks on the faces around him, "Rest assured everyone, it wasn't all for naught. One summer day I sat with my father in front of our small, colourless television and there, seemingly sent from the heavens above, a news reporter came on and criticized a university in Wisconsin for its bold new move by introducing a Paranormal Degree. The more the man badmouthed the school, the more I needed to know. I turned to my father at the same time that he turned to me and all he said was 'Fuck!' … In Russian of course." Vlad smiles at the startled laughing around him. "So, as you can assume, I applied to this school. I worked hard, earning myself two jobs that very same day to help pay for what my scholarships would not cover, and I enrolled myself in that university immediately. I marched myself onto that campus with a renewed fire in my heart. When I found my first classroom I was so enthralled by the various posters and clippings that weren't my own that I walked directly into another student. A rather large student, with an awful sense of style. He took one look at me and my paranormal classwork all over the floor and gripped my hand in the world's most crushing handshake. I'll never forget what he said to me, 'Get over here Mads! We aren't alone anymore!' He then introduced himself as Jack Fenton and the young woman that quickly came to join us as his best friend Madeline DeLisle."

Vlad watches in amusement as every student stares at Danny, flustering the teen to the point he growls out "What? So?"

"Easy Daniel, everyone has a right to be curious." He grins at the flush he causes before speaking louder, "Yes, yes, they are Daniel's parents. But at the time they were the exact thing I needed in my life. We began pooling our research, making leaps and bounds in the very new and very radical field of Paranormal Research. We had unusual dreams and we made sure to follow them, society be damned."

He folds his hands in his lap and looks around at all the faces staring back at him with fascination, "You know the rest of the story through various media outlets so I won't bore you with redundant details. My point to this long-winded trip down memory lane is that you can never be wrong in what interests you. Even when the whole world seemed to be telling me I was crazy I was able to pull through, and so can you. Even the nerdy ghost boy was able to follow his dreams and become a world-renowned success." He scans the eyes of the students, lingering on Danny, "It takes a lot of hard work, and many failures and even more people telling you it's wrong but if you persist, you will succeed."

Vlad eyes the clock on the wall, "Well it seems my life tale didn't take much more than 10 minutes to tell, how sobering." He listens to the snickers and grins, "Alright class, I gave you more than enough time to think about your own choices. Who wants to go first and tell me about themselves, hm? Three things remember: name, a life goal, and one way to get it."

As the class begins to loosen up and share their life dreams and goals, it becomes apparent the students don't really know each other as well as they thought. Four students in, Danny watches Vlad out of the corner of his eye, 'That was kind of cool of him… it felt honest, and that's not normal for him… what is he up to? It's also very weird to see him out of his jacket in public…' He immediately berates himself for the path his thoughts led him down and looked to Sam and Tucker, both watching him with amusement.

Tucker shakes his head and Sam smirks with her head leaning on her fist, elbow on her knee. They were very obvious about it all and it made Danny feel even worse. He worries Vlad will notice them and pales, "Stop." He mouths at them, "Fuck of-"

Cutting off his suggestion is a thin wisp of blue smoke from between his lips. Both Tucker and Sam widen their eyes, flicking between Danny and Vlad. Danny looks back to Vlad in time to see the man's own ghost sense go off. They narrow their eyes at one another, Danny suspicious and Vlad very slightly shaking his head. Vlad is not behind this and Danny believes him.

Mr. Lancer startles the pair by jumping up, having seen the wisps as well and hurrying to the thermostat. He mutters about budget cuts and students catching pneumonia before apologizing to everyone and retaking his seat.

Danny clears his throat, "May I be excused?"

Vlad nods at him distractedly and returns his attention to the class. Danny knows the man is as concerned as he is about their spectral visitor and deadly curious as to who would be stupid enough to show up with both halfas present. They already are quite the formidable opponents individually, but working together? 'We would be unstoppable together… well not together-together… Ugh'

Danny pops into the nearest bathroom stall and transforms. He's actually kind of excited for the opportunity to test out his latest ghost power in a real-world situation.

He slides his eyes closed and takes a deep breath. He internally reaches for his core signature. The response is immediate, and his mind's eye is engulfed with his personal white-blue light. He then envisions expanding his sight around him, feeling instead of seeing the many hallways and rooms of the school with himself a bright beacon in the center. Then he releases his breath in a piercing chirp. The octave is high, high enough that Sam and Tucker have difficulty hearing it if they aren't actively waiting for it.

The chirp bursts out of him in a wave, pieces here and there bouncing back and painting a picture of his surroundings for him. The images were muted navy blues on black, barely perceivable, like being out on a moonless night. But the image isn't as important as the spots of light bouncing back at him. Danny uses the chirp as an echolocation to find ghost signatures hidden nearby.

It took him a lot of practice and bribery but today it finally pays off. He notices very near to him a strong deep red beacon from the classroom he just left, 'Why is Vlad red… not important right now.' He concentrates elsewhere and sees a fainter aqua-blue core signature moving steadily towards the brilliant red one. Danny tenses, knowing this is the intruder. He hopes it's a friendly one but can't recognize who it is.


"Be you beast or lady? My god girl, your grip is absolutely crushing." Freakshow hisses, glaring at the flaming ponytail in front of him while being dragged through yet another classroom.

Ember sighs dramatically and turns them invisible when she notices this room is in use. She says nothing more and pulls her human companion directly through the teacher, snickering as he sputters and whines. She winks at him and holds a finger to her lips before poking her head through the wall.

She turns back to Freakshow and opens her mouth to report their arrival when suddenly both are being forcibly dragged into the ground and dropped unceremoniously onto the basement floor. Danny floats above them, watching them groan and crosses his arms, waiting.

Ember recovers first, immediately pissy and raises her fists to the offender before noticing who it was.

"Ember? Freakshow? What are you doing here?"


"Wait, what? When did they get out of jail?"

"Also, I think 'How?' is another good question."

Danny just shrugs, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"So what happened then? You came back to class quick enough. Were you maybe a little eager to get back?"

Danny chokes on his mouthful of food, Sam laughing at his struggle while Tucker groans. "Dude as much as I want to keep backing you up on the Vlad thing, you're making it very difficult."

"Wha-! Am not! How?"

"Danny, that class with Vlad had you messed up. You were like, staring dude."

"Well yeah! I'm trying to figure this shit out!" Danny sputtered defensively, "I don't understand why these… feelings ugh are coming up now out of nowhere!"

"Mhmm, and researching every angle of Vlad's face is helping you?"

Danny groans and lays his head on the table, ignoring the heat in his ears and the laughter coming from the two assholes at his table.

"Okay okay, but seriously, what did Ember want and why was she with Freakshow?" Sam brings everyone back on track, still smiling at Danny's expense.

"They seemed to be hanging out, like partners or something. It was weird, I never thought they would work together. I mean, Freakshow's human and I thought he hated ghosts…"

"Yeah no kidding, but we've seen weirder combinations, right?"

"True enough," Danny shrugs, "So anyway, they knew Vlad was going to be at the school today and wanted to spy on him."

"Uh what? Why?" Tucker raises an eyebrow, "He's not that interesting, well today's class was all kinds of interesting but not for other people or ghosts…?"

Danny cringes but doesn't comment, he's tired of being made fun of already and its only lunchtime! "ANYWAYS, I told them to scram and… uh, th-they took my advice."

"What was that? You hesitated." Of course Sam heard his stumble.

"Nothing at all! I didn't hesitate!" 'Shit.'

Tucker snorts, "You've never been good at lying man, just get it over with and spill."

Sigh. "Uuuugh fiiine. I told them to scram, Vlad can't come out and play because he's too busy tormenting me so they'll have to take a number."

"...Your lame jokes never fail to amuse me."

"Shut it. So then Ember whistles and says to Freakshow, 'Wow, someone sounds jealous. Come on Freak, let's go so Babypop can-'" Danny buries his face in his arms on the table in yet another attempt to hide his misery, "'-so Babypop can get back to his boyfriend.'"

Sam and Tucker start laughing again, Tucker patting his back, "Told ya you're being obvious."

"I'm not obvious! There's nothing to be obvious about!"

"Danny really. We were there in class. The whole time."

*ANOTHER FLASHBACK*

Danny returns to class as the last few students finish off listing their aspirations to the mayor. Danny sits down, lifts an eyebrow to Sam and Tucker, giving a small smile to show everything is fine.

Vlad leans ever so slightly in Danny's direction and whispers "Who?"

Danny tries to not notice the small amount of space between them and whispers "Ember. Freakshow?"

Danny watches Vlad's eyes turn red for a split second, so fast a human wouldn't even be able to tell. Danny raises an eyebrow but resists for now, he can't be whispering with Vlad in the middle of class, especially about ghost matters.

Danny sits back in his seat, noticing the pointed looks his friends give to Vlad and him. He flushes and slouches further. Today is just all kinds of awkward, but at least he didn't have to try and conceal a boner. That'd be the icing on the freakin' cake.

Danny stares at his feet, he figured he'd be past awkward high school drama. He's in his final year, ready to graduate and move into the world as an adult and finally contribute to society (as a human). But along comes Vlad and now he's got these pounding headaches and is burning up….

Speaking of which, he has a pretty killer headache now. 'Jeez where'd that come from? And why am I so warm?'

Danny squeaks (he'll deny it until the day of his full death) at the hand suddenly pressed to his shoulder. It's blazing hot and he whips his head around, fists up and eyes wide looking for an oncoming attack. He sees the hand and his eyes slowly trail up the arm attached to it before landing on its owner. Vlad. Of course.

"Daniel I've been calling on you for almost a full minute now. Where'd you go, young man?"

The class snickers and the teen wishes he could just snap invisible for the rest of his life. "Uhh nowhere. I'm good."

"Yes well, since you've been so unfocused I'm going to volunteer you for next to present."

Danny blinks a few times, trying to remember what has been happening in the class before Ember and Freakshow…

Blank. "Uhh..."

"Really, you've already forgotten." Vlad lounges in his seat lazily, enjoying himself and listening to the class laugh along with him. "Alright so you're going to tell us what you want to do with your life after post-secondary and one way you'll get yourself there. Oh and you have to introduce yourself." Vlad smiles, raising an eyebrow, challenging the teen.

"Pfft. 'Kay, seriously? You've known me literally my whole life. Since when do I need to introduce myself to you?" 'Fruitloop.'

"Since today. Since everyone else had to do it."

"Why do you care so much?"

"It's only fair, Daniel."

"You literally just proved that you know my name."

"Fuck sakes Danny, just do what he says!" Everyone turns to Valerie, shocked at her outburst. Vlad silently allows it and doesn't break eye contact with Danny.

The teen eventually sighs, rolls his eyes, "Fine! My name is Danny Fent-"

"Stand up please, Daniel. It's only fair." Vlad says quietly, winking to the class.

Danny groans, stands up and starts over, "My name is Dann-"

"Sit down again Daniel, I just wanted to prove how little you paid attention to your classmates today. No one else stood to present."

The class bursts into laughter and Danny feels a blotchy blush climb up his neck, cheeks and ears. He ducks his head and sits down quickly. 'This headache is making it hard to concentrate, and Vlad is a total asshole.'

He rubs his forehead and grinds out through clenched teeth, "Daniel Fenton. Want to study human physiology and how it reacts or combines with advanced tech in zero-gravity." He sighs and looks up to his peers, "I know I'll never be an astronaut because I just don't physically make the cut, but I still want to work with NASA and possibly help build their equipment and life-sustaining tech. One way I can do that is to work with my parents, I know everyone thinks of them as these total whack-job ghost hunters but they're scientists first and they know their stuff. I plan to apprentice with them over the summer to get a leg up on my studies." He turns to Vlad, "Satisfied?"

Vlad watches him a moment, apparently Danny hasn't told him this yet because he seems surprised. Then he breaks out into a wide smile, eyes dancing dangerously, "Thank you Daniel, I am indeed satisfied."

Vlad then tells the class to pull out their English books and Danny immediately hides behind his, hating the elbow to his ribs from Tucker that he ignores, hating Vlad for being so infuriating and hating himself for his mind supplying the double entendre ~with pictures~.

*END FLASHBACK*

"Yeah buddy, you're obvious."

"Kill me now? Okay? I'm done now. Put an end to it. I've lived almost 18 years. That's a good long life. Kill my other half, I'll find a nice chunk of rock to call my lair in the Ghost Zone and just stay there. Forever."

Sam snorts, "Sure I'll help you." She checks the cafeteria clock, "We have gym in 2 minutes, how about I go tell coach Tetslaff that you guys feel you don't need gym anymore, that you're in perfect health?"

The boys pause a beat, watching Sam get up and collect her lunch bag. They look to each other in horror before quickly grabbing their things and peeling after her.

"NO! Wait!"

"Sam no! Please!"

"I didn't mean it, Sam!"

"Nonononono!"