Danny sits next Tucker in their shared History class. Their teacher, Mrs. Stewart, is standing in front of the classroom giving a lecture about what units they will be doing for the second semester. The two tuned it out while they talked amongst themselves.
"So where were you during science? Sam tried calling you but it went straight to voicemail." Tucker leans in close for an answer and Danny was trying his best to come up with an excuse.
"Well, um... my ghost sense when off last night, so I went to check it out and Skulker was terrorizing some people. I went to go stop him, but he, uh... hit me with his net thingy. And it electrocuted me and fried my phone. Yeah, and um, I went and kick his ass."
Danny could see Tucker becoming enveloped in his fairytale. "Once I sucked him into the Fenton Thermos I realized my phone was busted, sorry..." Danny sat on the edge, begging Tuck would believe the lie.
Danny's chest released the tension when he could see Tucker buy into it, but he wasn't all that surprised when he had a mixed look of horror and sadness after mentioning his phone being shot.
"That metal bucket!" Tucker yells in a hushed whisper, "Murdering innocent and beautiful technology! Oo! If only I could burn him to a crisp right now!" Tucker pulls out his PDA and began caressing it, "Don't worry my sweet precious, I won't let the big bad scary ghost bucket lay a hand on you." Tucker kisses his PDA which had Danny cringing.
"Okay okay, I get it. You can stop now." Danny laughs. "I'll give him the beating of a lifetime in your honor" Danny gave a salute to Tucker and they both laughed to themselves.
Danny looks at the board so his teacher doesn't get suspicious.
Without looking he whispered, "So you down to patrol tonight?"
"Sorry dude, can't tonight. My Grandma is coming into town for the week and you know how she is." Tucker chuckles and lightly shook his head.
"Right. Well, tell her I said hi and yes I am eating my vegetables." The two laugh and continue to joke around and pass the time.
Once the bell rang Danny felt his anxiety peak its ugly head out again. He took three large deep breathes as he packed his stuff up. He and Tucker walk down the hall casually conversing a videogame coming out in the next few weeks when Tucker's phone pings off.
From: Sam
Hey, I need your help with the library's computer. It's frizzing out again
Tucker slowed his pace and types out his response. Danny followed suit. "Hey, Sam needs help with the computers. I'll see you at Lancer's alright?"
"Yeah, see you then." Danny then turns on his heels and walks toward his locker. He opens the metal door and toses his History textbook in, reaches for his English one, and some papers.
When he pulls his arm out, another clothed in a cotton white sleeve with red trimmings slams the door shut. Almost instinctually he knew what was to happen.
Dash swings him around and lifts him by the front of his shirt and pins him against the locker.
"Hey there Fenton. Been looking for ya."
Danny wanted to make a smartass comeback but the overheard conversation in the bathroom popped in his head. He kept his mouth shut, he would let Dash take his anger out on him.
"What's wrong. Cat got your tongue? Maybe this'll help." Dash pulls Danny and slammed him back into the locker.
That's gonna leave another bruise. Danny subconsciously thought. Dash's face could be seen getting more red the more Danny didn't fight back.
"C'mon Fenturd. Fight back." Dash bangs Danny again, his spine on the handle. While Danny held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut Dash shoved Danny into the locker, hitting his head.
"Let's go, Fenton! Fight back! You coward! FIGHT BACK!" Dash raises his hand to punch only to be stopped by a loud shrill.
"DASH BAXTER! What the hell do you think you are doing!" Jazz had caught the wrist of Dash and leveled him with a glare.
Danny needed Jazz to stay out of it or else he couldn't help Dash. Thinking quickly he tried to play it off. "It's alright Jazz, just a little roughhousing is all." But the look from his sister let him know he needed to shut up.
Looking back at Dash, Jazz spoke with volumes of rage in her voice, "Dash Baxter put my brother down right now or so help me."
He hesitated for a second and then dropped Danny with no regard. Merely two seconds passed before Dash punches next to Danny's head, "Your lucky this time Fenton-"
"Dash!" Jazz screamed again.
Dash sent a glare at Danny then Jazz and storms away. Jazz looked at the still gathering crowd and they quickly scrambled away. She then leaned down with Danny and help him picked up his book and papers.
Danny felt his chest hollow slightly when Dash stormed off. He gonna be pissed later, well at least later isn't now. He tossed his backpack back over his shoulder and looks at his sister, "Jazz you didn't have to do that, seriously. I was okay." Danny flinches in on himself when Jazz looks at him with the same eyes she gave Dash.
His thoughts became chaotic again and he felt soulless. His vision blurred at the edges and he tried to cover his mistake. He twisted his hands and rubbed his neck. An awkward laugh escapes and he looks to the side, "Jazz, ha... Hey, uh, you... You alright?"
Jazz sighed, "Meet me at lunch in my car. We need to talk, no if's, and's or but's about it. This is a serious matter." Jazz said goodbye and walked away.
The crowd and halls slowly empty and Danny stays there. Silently trapped in his thoughts.
Shit. Did I upset her that bad? Is she mad at me for being stupid and getting into a fight or that I didn't keep my mouth shut? Fuck. What am I gonna do? She is for sure pissed at me. Oh god, what if she starts hating me too? Shit, shit, shit. I can't deal with that. I can barely hold it together as it is. FUCK! I'm so screwed! Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Once again saved by the bell from his thoughts. Danny snatches his bag and board and runs to Lancer's room. Lucky for him, it was right around the corner Dash took. Unlucky for him Lancer didn't care if the bell was still ringing when you walked in. You're still late.
Danny takes a solid deep breath and opens the door. Almost immediately all eyes in the class are on him. A pit rooted itself in Danny's stomach and he looks away. The others look for a few seconds more and then shifted back to their work. Lancer never looked up. He tries to walk slowly to his desk but Lancer clears his throat for Danny's attention, which he already had even before he opened the door.
"Mr. Fenton. Can you tell me time is it?" Was all Lancer had to say before Danny froze dead in his tracks and the class began to stir with mockery.
Danny turns and looks at the clock over Mr. Lancer's head, "It's, uh, 10:59 Mr. Lancer." Oh, Danny did not want to deal with this after what just happened. He can see Dash out the corner of his eye and he did not look happy. Oh boy.
"Right you are Mr. Fenton. Now, can you tell me what time class starts?" Lancer still has yet to look up from his papers.
"10:57, sir." Danny was a ball of anxiety waiting to plunge into himself. It was only a matter of time before the lit cord reaches the bomb.
"Right again Mr. Fenton! So tell me this. Why for the nth time this year are you late to my class! Do not take me for a fool either Mr. Fenton. I wasn't born yesterday." Lancer finally looks up and gave a solid stern look directed directly at Danny.
Danny felt the cord getting smaller and smaller. He looks over at his friends in the back corner and they gave him pitted looks and shrug, not knowing what to do either.
Mr. Lancer leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his potbelly. "Well, Mr. Fenton? Got any excuses left?"
Danny turns back around staring at his feet and mumbles, "I don't... I, uh, I don't sir."
And there goes the bomb. The class erupts into laughter and Danny can feel himself curling inward. A very deep and loud sigh was heard coming from Lancer's lips as he rubbed his forehead.
"Mr. Fenton, you'll stay after class and you'll be assigned detention for the rest of the week. No arguments."
Danny opened his mouth to argue but the look in Lancer's eyes made him close his trap again. He just sighs and walks the rest of the way to his seat.
Now seated with Sam and Tucker they start to console their friend but Danny just shrugged it off as nothing. He was fine. He needed to be in case there was a ghost attack.
As the time in Lancer's class drug onward, and Lancers' voice put several students to sleep, not much action happened. That was until a shiver ran up Danny's spine and a transparent light blue mist came rolling off his tongue. He jolted his head towards his friends and they immediately knew what they had to do. Tucker pulls out a rubber band and hands it off to Sam.
Sam ever so elegantly twists the band around her fingers into a makeshift slingshot. She takes the gum out of her mouth and loaded it into the band and aimed for the group of A-listers that sat in front.
She went back and forth on which target would suffer, "Eenie." She traveled over Brittany's head. "Meenie." Over Valerie's head. "Miney." Over Star's. "Mo." She landed on Paulina's head and smiled. The gum went flying hard into Paulina's head she had to feel it.
In seconds Paulina whipped her hand behind her head to feel the thing caught in her hair. When she touched the saliva filled gum she screamed. Gaining everyone's attention, even Lancer's. With Paulina crying over her hair and freaking out, Danny had a window to switch forms.
In a few short seconds, Danny had ducked below the tables and called his ghost half. Letting the rings open and wash over him. His clothes disappeared into his classic black and grey-white hazmat and his hair dyeing itself into that near pearl white. Lastly his eyes, an icy blue flickered to his signature neon toxic green. In another short few seconds, he had turn intangible and sprints out the door.
In the hallway, he shoots to the top of the school. Once up there he begins to skout the outside of the school. Even so far as going a few blocks down the road to find which ghost set of his sense. After several minutes of searching, Danny then goes to look through the school itself. After more time passes, and him coming up empty-handed, Danny flies back to the floor Mr. Lancer's class is on and finds the nearest janitor closest.
Floating down to the ground Danny turns his head intangible and peeks his head through the door, seeing no one he quickly pulls back in and lets the light again wash over him and he falls the last few inches to the floor. Now back to human he quickly opens the door and walks out. making sure to lock it again. Now he is walking at a fast pace back to class, as soon as he sees the hallway for Lancer's class he lets his pace slow.
"Damn, I should've stayed out a bit longer, could've popped in to see if the class was still in chaos before I came back in," Danny mumbles to himself, now looking down at his feet and thinking of how he'll sneak back in.
Without even bothering to pay attention Danny turns the corner and walks face-first into someone. He stumbles back and starts to apologize on instinct but his stomach quickly bottoms out, not only because he was too stupid to realize he accidentally walked into someone, but that someone was, of course, none other than Dash. And the anger from earlier still had yet to subside.
It takes a second for Dash to realize what happened but he only really needs a second to get pissed.
"Fenton." Dash grits out.
He steps forward, trying to intimidate Danny, which wasn't that hard to do now consider the show earlier.
Danny steps back and apologizes again. "Shit, Dash I'm sorry. Really! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and-"
"And nothing Fenturd. It's your own fault for running into me." Dash shoves Danny to the floor. He clenches his fist, ready to swing. Danny sucks a deep breath and tightens his jaw, preparing himself to be hit.
When he doesn't feel the blunt force, he opens his eyes to Dash who is slowly lowering his hand. Danny is thrown for a loop.
Dash backs off and huffs, "Whatever," and then walks away, back down the hall.
After losing sight of Dash, Danny sits up and goes back to what just occurred. His brain couldn't process that Dash, for the first time ever, since becoming his punching bag, had let him go?
What?
A door down the hall slams closed and Danny jumps back to the present, still having yet to get back to Lancers. Jumping to his feet he now sprints the rest of the way to Lancers, completely forgetting what just happened with Dash.
