Chapter 2: The Start of Something Wonderful

Well, I'm back again. I've had a little trouble figuring out how to set the stage for this story but now I feel confident enough to continue. I am also pleasantly surprised at the positive reception this story has received. I can only hope that this next chapter will be equally enjoyable. If you haven't already check, I still have the new story poll on my page suggesting the next story I should write. I do not own Danny Phantom. R&R and Enjoy!

***2 Weeks Earlier, In Front of the Amity Motor Dealership***

The day when Desiree escaped the Ghost Zone in preparation for the meteor shower had humble beginnings. Her exit from the Zone was fairly easy thanks to the bumbling scientists that were the Ghost Child's parents. Something about rechecking the genetic lock, she overheard as she quickly sped out of the house. Once outside, she quickly made her way to the part of Amity were she could gain some quick power from granting wishes. Incidentally, this was also of her favorite locations to grant wishes.

Phasing through several buildings, Desiree found herself in the less fortunate side of town. While not extremely big in comparison to the town's population and size, it was still noticeable. A warm smile came to her face as she went invisible and intangible before settling down near one of the barrel fires still lit as the sun began to rise.

A man in shabby clothes stirred from his slumber. His newspaper blanket scattered around his feet as he blinked the sleep from his eyes and clutched at his empty stomach.

"I wish I could have a good meal today." The man croaked.

Desiree whispered "So you have wished it, so it shall be."

There was a poof of smoke off in the distance before a Mercedes-Benz cruised through the street. As it pulled up near the wish maker, they could hear a commotion from inside the car. Finally, the car came to a stop and one of the tinted passenger windows lowered.

"Fine, Samantha. If you are going to be a spoiled brat and not eat the breakfast we prepared for you, then give it to that vagrant out there." A man's voice said from the driver's seat.

A finely manicured hand with a metal studded bracelet holding a plastic tray packed with French toast, bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, waffles, milk, and orange juice, handed it to the destitute man who took it graciously.

"Here. Enjoy your fatty, grease filled, typical American breakfast." The teenage girl said, not so much to the poor man but to her father.

The car sped away, leaving the homeless man staring in awe at his bountiful meal. Looking to the sky and saying a quick thank you, he began to dig in.

Desiree smiled as she gazed upon the poor man's delight at having a meal. When she was alive after her exile from the sultan's palace, she remembered roaming the streets, begging for food. Most ignored her. Some taunted her or tried to solicit sex from her in exchange for table scraps. But there were some who graciously gave her morsels of food or pocket change without asking anything in return. Upon becoming a wishing ghost, she did her best to help the poor and unfortunate because she knew and understood their pain. It was only to the selfish that she would inflict her twists upon them.

The was a shuffle of footsteps to her left and she saw several dirty children and their ragged mother looking upon the feast the wish maker had. The man looked upon the family then checked his surroundings. Others were now stirring and gazing upon the site before them. He looked back at his meal. It was most certainly a bounty for a single man but not enough for everyone on the street to enjoy. Sighing, the man beaconed the family near and began to share.

"I just wish there was enough for everyone." He sighed.

If Desiree was happy to have granted the man's first wish, she was overjoyed at his generous second wish.

"So you have wished it, so it shall be." She said before snapping her fingers.

There was a bright flash of light in the street, temporarily blinding the poor and destitute. The people looked around, trying to discern the origin of the blinding light before attributing it to the rising sun. As the man passed out the food to everyone, he noticed that the amount on his plate never decreased. Soon everyone was eating well and discussing their amazing fortune.

Satisfied with her work, Desiree floated off to find a new wish maker. As the morning passed into afternoon, she had gained a decent amount of power from granting wishes. While not as pleasing as aiding the poor, it was amusing with the creative twists she added. A teenager wished for a new phone. Unfortunately for him, the screen was shattered. Some football star wished he would make the play of the game that night. It would certainly be the play of the game. It would just aid the opposing team in claiming victory.

Her most recent and most amusing, however, was made by none other than the gloomy girl that was friends with the Ghost Child. As the teenagers were walking home from their day at school, Danny and his technology friend were admiring some cars in a lot. Apparently, this did not bode well for the girl dressed in black. She complained about how terrible they were for the environment and how the Ghost Child should use his powers to either destroy the vehicles or scare off the people purchasing them.

His comeback was quite witty.

"Wait, wait, wait." Danny chuckled, giving Sam an amused grin. "So you are saying that it is ok for me to abuse my powers for your needs and desires but I can't use them to defend myself agains the school bullies? That sounds almost as brilliant as you suggesting me to step into the Fenton Portal. Oh wait. I did do that. And look where it got me."

"He's got a point. Your ideas do tend to get us into trouble." Tucker added.

The girl simply huffed in frustration before mumbling her foolish wish.

"Well, if you won't get rid of those horrible gas guzzlers, I wish someone would."

Desiree sighed in exasperation at the girl's adamance and carelessness. One day it would mean her downfall.

With a snap of her fingers, the wishing ghost animated a large cow to scare the auto shoppers. She made sure that nobody would get hurt but she did allow the haunted bovine to soak Ms. Dark and Brooding and her Technology Sidekick. As she stifled her laughter as the girl yelled in disgust and the boy wailed in pain for his ruined gear, she noticed a bystander watching the scene. Floating down towards her, she recalled her as the Latin girl, Paulina, that she granted a wish to when she first visited Amity. What was strange was that instead of gazing in fear at the animated cow or in awe at the Ghost Child, the girl seemed to be looking for someone.

"Oh, where is Danny? He's usually around these ghostly sightings if his friends are any indication." She whispered.

This intrigued Desiree. So the boy had an admirer. The girl certainly was beautiful with her lush black hair, light brown skin tone, and shapely body. She remembered how vain the girl had been during her first venture into Amity but now the girl seemed to have toned it down. In her hand she clutched a letter. Upon closer inspection, Desiree saw that it was an invitation to a party of sorts.

Looking back at up, Desiree noticed that the cow had been dealt with and the Ghost Child was now back in his human form and walking back towards his friends.

"Why am I so nervous to invite him?" The Latina girl asked herself. "Before I had no trouble mocking him. Now that I'm interested in him, I'm tongue tied and at a loss for words."

Desiree took pity on the girl. She recalled what it was like to fall in love. The butterflies in the stomach, the increased heart rate, and the longing.

"I just wish..." Paulina began to say.

Desiree prepared herself, ready to grant the wish she knew was coming but regretting it all the same.

"No." The Latina girl said suddenly. "Dreaming and wishing won't get me anywhere or what I want most. If I want to be with Danny, I need to put on the big girl panties and go get him myself."

With that she made her way over to the trio. Desiree was stunned. She had thought she would be granting the girl's wish. Yet she had stopped herself and decided to pursue the boy by herself. The wishing ghost was both immensely shock and pleased by this. Now she wouldn't have to worry about putting an unfortunate twist to her wish. Smiling broadly, Desiree followed the girl at a safe distance so as to listen in on her conversation with the boy while also remaining out of his detection.

***With the Trio and Paulina***

As she maintained her confident exterior walking towards Danny and his friends, inside, she was a nervous wreck. Dozens of situations played through her head on how this meeting could fail. She could accidentally make fun of him. She could revert to her old ways all together. She might even lie about why she was inviting him to her party, reasoning that she just wanted him so the Ghost Boy would show up.

'No!' She screamed in her head. 'I can do this. I just have to remain calm, cool, and collected.'

When she finally came to a stop in front of the three, she vaguely noted that the goth and the geek were completely dry. Hadn't they been soaked by the possessed cow? Never mind, it wasn't important now.

"Hey Danny." She said, giving him a warm smile instead of her usual cruel smirk.

The boy turned around and was surprised to see who was talking to him.

"Oh. Hey Paulina." Danny replied, a blush creeping on his cheeks while he avoided her eyes. It was one of the things she like about him, his modesty and shyness. Meanwhile, the Techno Geek unabashedly undressed her with his eyes while the Girl in Black glared daggers at her.

Not wanting to leave too much silence in the air, she continued. "Quite the fight, huh. Wonder why an animated cow would want to destroy a car lot."

"Yeah." Danny chuckled, lifting his eyes to meet hers. "I couldn't imagine how much it would set the dealership back if they were to lose their merchandise."

"Do you like cars?" She asked. Mentally, she cursed herself for asking such a stupid question.

"I do." He replied, much to her surprise and relief. "Tuck and I were admiring the new trucks that had come in but I personally like the classic muscle cars like the Charger and the Camaro."

Deciding to go along with the new change in topic, Paulina said, "Excellent choice. Although if I were to pick a style of car, it would be the cars from the 50's and 60's for their design and curves. My favorite car would have to be the 1958 Plymouth Fury like my grandpapi had."

"Your grandfather had a 1958 Plymouth Fury? What color was it?" Danny asked eagerly.

Paulina smiled at his eagerness and at his question.

"Red with white accents, just like Christine." She answered.

"That is so awesome!" The boy exclaimed, completely ignoring his other friends. Tucker was both shocked and awed at his friend talking with the most beautiful girl in school. What he wouldn't give to be in his shoes right now. Thinking fast, Tuck brought up the recording function on his PDA. There must be some secret to what Danny was doing to keep Paulina's attention. If Tucker could analyze and replicate it, there would be no limit to how much pussy he could have. Sam, on the other hand, was irritated. Here was Danny, her best friend and secret crush, chatting with Paulina, a girl she considered a bitch and a whore. Why was she talking with Danny and why was Danny giving her his attention? She had to do something to break up the conversation.

"So what happened to your grandpa's gas guzzler?" Sam interjected. "I haven't seen you riding around in it."

A sad look crossed Paulina's face. "Grandpapi and Grandma couldn't take it with them when they fled Cuba after Castro took power."

Danny quickly turned to Sam and scolded her for her comment before turning back to Paulina.

"I'm sorry to hear that. At least they were able to safely escape." Danny said, trying to cheer her up.

Paulina nodded her head. "Sorry about that. It tends to be a sensitive topic in my family."

"I understand. There are several things I'm afraid to bring up to my family for fear of how they would react."

There was a brief pause where Paulina collected her thoughts before deciding to move forward with her original intentions with Danny.

"I actually came over to invite you to my quienceanera. It's the same day as the meteor shower." She said shyly before handing him the invitation.

Danny gingerly took it from her and looked it over. He couldn't believe it. The most beautiful girl in his school and whom he had a crush on, had just invited him to her fifteenth birthday party. Quickly, he ran through his schedule in his head to see if he had any plans on that day. Thankfully, that day was clear.

"I would love to." Danny said enthusiastically.

"Really?" She asked, unable to believe he had accepted.

"Absolutely." He replied.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Paulina said, throwing her arms around his neck and bringing him into a hug. Danny was shocked for a few seconds before gently wrapping his arms around her waist and retuning the hug.

If Tucker's jaw wasn't connected to his skull, it would most likely be on the ground with how surprised he was at this turn of events. Sam, meanwhile, was furious. How dare this harlot invite Danny to her birthday party when she was going to invite him and Tucker to the new horror movie that was now in theaters.

When the two separated, they were both blushing furiously and trying not to look the other in the eye. After a few minutes of cute and awkward silence, Paulina asked, "So. Got any plans for the evening?"

"Nope." Danny answered, not noticing the outraged look Sam was making.

"Well..." The Latina girl said, wanting to test her already good fortune. "Would you maybe like to go catch a movie with me? If we hurry, we might be able to catch the 4:45 showing of Trinity of Doom."

"Great! I've been wanting to see that movie since the previews first came out." Danny said.

"Come on then." Paulina said, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the direction of the movie theater.

"Ok, ok." Danny chuckled at her enthusiasm. "See you tomorrow, guys." He said to Sam and Tucker before relenting and following the Latina girl.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Sam let out a feral growl.

"And done." Tucker said, ending the recording on his PDA. Quickly saving it, he proclaimed, "With this video, I can finally figure out what it take to get the beautiful women to pay attention to me!"

"Tuck." Sam said quietly, using all her self control not to yell at him. "If you don't delete that video within the next ten seconds, I am going to toss your PDA on the ground and stomp on it until it is dust."

Knowing the tone of voice and the seriousness of her threat, Tucker quickly deleted the video, but not before he quickly sent a copy of it to his personal email. Data like this couldn't go to waste.

"Done." He sighed, hoping she would drop the topic. Lucky for him, Sam had more important things to rant and rave about.

"How could Danny do that?" She asked, trying to understand what had just occurred moments earlier.

"Easy. She invited him to a party, he accepted. She invited him to the movies, he accepted." Tucker replied, thinking that the answer was obvious as the continued walking down the street.

"But I had already made plans for us that day." Sam said, pulling reserved movie tickets for Trinity of Doom. "I was going to tell you two that we would be seeing the new movie on the day of the meteor shower."

"Well," Tucker said, now understanding some of her frustration. "Danny didn't know that so from his perspective, that day was free for him. As to the movie, he didn't know you had gotten us tickets. I'm sure if you had brought it up earlier to us he would have accepted and not gone to the movies with Paulina."

Sam simply grunted, understanding his logic but reluctant to accept it. As they approached the movie theater, they saw Danny and Paulina enter the theater and head to the refreshment counter in the lobby to grab some snacks before the movie started. What irritated her even more was that Danny seemed delighted to be with Paulina and she with him. Once they had purchased their popcorn and soda, Paulina hooked her arm through Danny's before they walked towards their movie.

"I wish something really bad happens to Paulina." She hissed under her breath as she and Tuck pass a movie poster advertising for Trinity of Doom.

As the two teenager continued walking, an invisible Desiree floated in front of the theater. She had remained invisible the entire time and had overheard the entire conversation between the Latin Girl and the Ghost Child and the following talk between the Techno Sidekick and the Gloomy Girl. She had been immensely proud of the Paulina for getting the courage to talk to Danny and invite him to her birthday party. The invitation to the movie was simply icing on the cake. Then things took a turn for the worse once she had overheard the talk between Danny's two friends. It seemed that Sam was extremely possessive and jealous while Tucker was simply a hormone driven teenager. It pained Desiree to have to grant the wish the Gloomy Girl made. Unfortunately, due to the nature of her curse, she was forced to grant it.

"So you have wished it, so it shall be." Desiree said before snapping her fingers. The poster advertising of Trinity of Doom glowed for a few seconds before dying away. She knew the characters on the poster would come alive but not until tomorrow. Hopefully the Ghost Child would be able to deal with them.

Shaking her head, Desiree made her way to the Casper High Football Stadium. Hopefully ruining the wish maker's game would take her mind off the thought of the vengeful wish the Gloomy Girl had made.

***8:30 PM, Amity Central Park***

"Remember when the blonde thought it was a good idea to have sex with her boyfriend hours after she had seen the mutilated body of her friend?" Danny asked.

Paulina giggled before responding. "Yeah. The Femalien made short work of them. Or what about the scene where Terminatra burnt those stoners to a crisp and the whole time they thought it was a movie they were watching?"

"Woah." Danny said in his best stoner voice. "Its almost like I can feel the heat and, like, smell your burning flesh, dude."

"Your senses are not deceiving you. You and your friend are being burned alive." Paulina added in a monotone Austrian accent.

"You think there will be a sequel?" Danny asked.

"If the closing scene with Nightmerica's severed claw hand crawling away on it's own is any indication, I think they will." Paulina replied.

The movie with Danny had gone better than she would have dreamed. They had both enjoyed the movie while occasionally making jokes about the various horror movie cliches. Then there was the jump scare that frightened her, causing her to curl into Danny's side. He was initially shocked by this but decided to gently wrap his arm around her. Even when she had calmed down, Paulina decided to stay in his hold, enjoying his warm embrace.

After cutting through the park, they ended up near the entrance to Paulina's neighborhood. She gently took his hand and led him towards her house. As the walked towards her front door, Danny noted that it was a quaint, two story, Victorian style house.

"I really appreciated you going to the movies with me, Danny." She said, smiling at him.

"So did I." He said, smiling for a bit until it fell into a frown.

"What's wrong?" Paulina asked, giving him a concerned look.

"What happens now?" he asked, giving her a questioning and hopeful look. "Where do we go from here? Was this just a one time thing and then we go our separate ways? Or...or could we...?"

She gently cupped his face in her hands and brought his eyes to meet hers.

"I...I want to give us a try. I really did have an amazing time with you and I want to see where things go...if that is ok with you." She replied.

Danny was overjoyed to hear her reply.

"Absolutely!" Danny answered eagerly.

Now Paulina was grinning ear to ear at his response.

"There is one more thing I think we should talk about first." She said.

"What is it?"

"I think we should keep this a secret from our friends."

Now Danny looked confused.

"Why would we do that?" He asked.

"One, I don't want to give Dash or the other A-Lister's another reason to hurt and make fun of you." She answered.

"I appreciate your concern. I hadn't thought about that." He replied.

"And two, I'm not sure your friend Sam will take the two of us going out very well. You may not have seen it but she was giving me the evil eye the minute I walked towards you three."

"Yeah." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "She tends to be that way around people she believes 'conform to and promote the societal norms.' It takes some getting used to."

"Hopefully this will only be a temporary measure and we can figure out a way to tell them." Paulina said before fishing her key out of her pocket and putting it in the lock. As she opened the door, she turned back to Danny one last time.

"Thank you again for accepting my invitation and going to the movies with me." She said.

"Any ti..." Danny began to say before he felt Paulina give him a quick kiss on his cheek before waving good bye and closing the door.

The boy stood there, surprised by what Paulina had done. He lifted his hand and touched the spot where she had kissed him to confirm that it really happened. Drawing back his hand, he saw some residual lipstick smeared on his fingertips.

"YES!" Danny cheered, jumping up while throwing a fist in the air. He had not only been invited to Paulina's Birthday Party, not only gone to the movies with her, and not only been told that she wants to try a relationship with him, but she had also kissed him! The world could end and Danny could say he died happy. With that, he made his way home with an extra skip in his step.

On the other side of the door, Paulina giggled at Danny's reaction to her kiss. That had been a completely spur of the moment decision for her but she did not regret it. Walking into the kitchen, she noticed a plate covered by a napkin left for her on the kitchen table. Next to it sat a note.

Your father will be working late tonight at the office and the hospital called me to do the graveyard shift tonight. We left you dinner and there is some ice cream in the freezer.

te queremos,

Mama y Papi

Letting out a heavy sigh, Paulina reheated her dinner and sat in front of the TV for an hour. Once her dishes were put away she worked on her homework due tomorrow before jumping in the shower.

'Today truly was an amazing day.' Paulina thought as she lathered her hair with shampoo and conditioner. 'Taking her chance in talking with Danny payed off tremendously. Originally she had hoped he would accept the invitation and that would be it. Yet she had felt compelled to ask him to the movies. As the hot water washed the dirt and grime off of her body, she smiled at the memory of his comforting arm around her after the jump scare. Something Dash, he ex-boyfriend of one month would never do for her.

As she stepped out of the shower and began to dry herself off, she saw that she had a new text message.

"Speak of the Devil and he shall come." She muttered to herself as she saw who had messaged her.

Hey. Why weren't you at the game tonight? Dash sent.

Not feeling the need to hurry and reply to his text, Paulina finished drying herself off before walking to her dresser and putting on a pair of black and pink, striped, cotton panties before making herself comfortable on her bed.

I got caught up doing something else. She replied, being intentionally vague. It didn't take long for him to reply.

I needed your enthusiasm for the game.

Paulina glared disgustedly at the message. Dash didn't want her enthusiasm. He wanted a quick fuck or suck before the game. Thinking she might as well and humor him by asking the obvious question, she began typing her reply.

What happened?

When she read his reply, she couldn't help but laugh at his misfortune.

So it was the last play of the game. Kwan hiked the ball. I'm running down the field waiting for the pass. The ball is thrown and I can tell I can catch it and make the game winning touchdown. Out of nowhere, I trip on a weed in the middle of the field, missing the ball. The worst part was that a player from the opposing team intercepted the ball and made a 90 yard touchdown, winning the game for them.

Tears of laughter were streaming down her face as she finished reading the text. She had most definitely made the better decision to go with Danny to the movies rather than to the football game.

Gee, that must suck. She replied.

The next text she received killed her good mood.

Yeah. Would you mind giving the losing player a consolation prize?

Paulina did not like what the text was implying.

What are you suggesting?

If she wasn't mad at her ex before, she certainly was now with his next text.

You know what I mean ;). Show me some skin. He sent, along with a snap shot of his dick. It wasn't much to look at. Three inches and thin. He could talk big game but he definitely didn't have it where it counted. Not that size always mattered. Star had shown her pictures of Kwan's package and that ten inch anaconda was too much for her.

How about no. She replied, unable to believe that he was asking to sext her after they had broken up.

Come on, babe. I sent you a cock pick. The least you can do is show me your tits.

Unbelievable. His stupidity and cockiness knew no bounds.

Good night, Dash. She quickly sent before turning off her phone. Laying back on her pillow, she began to drift off to sleep and dream of more pleasant things than Dash and his flimsy penis. Like...her and Danny. Sitting on her bed. He in only his black boxers and her as she was now. He gave her a shy smile, trying not to stare at her exposed breast. It made her giggle. Ever the gentleman, she thought. With one hand, she cupped his chin and turned his face towards hers. With the other, she grabbed his right hand and put it on her left breast. In reality, Paulina was fondling her own breasts with one hand while the other snaked its way into her knickers.

Yes, she most certainly would have sweet dreams tonight.

Author's Note: I hope you guys don't mind the minor alterations I made to the original Memory Blank episode. Hopefully you enjoyed despite the changes.