A/N: This fic builds on the spooky!Danny premise creamcloud0 mentioned to me on tumblr and features many of their ideas for it. I thought Wes was a good fit as an outsider to witness this, and when the phandom spawned Kyle, I decided he'd be a good sounding board for poor Wes. I was going to publish this as a one-shot here, but then my word count passed 10 K, so now it'll be about five short chapters. This chapter title comes from Animation Adventures. Standard disclaimers apply.

On the surface, the dark-haired kid Wes spotted farther down the hallway in Casper High wasn't anything special.

Of course, on the surface, there wasn't anything special about Amity Park, either.

Most of the move had taken place over the weekend, but Wes had definitely been in town long enough to learn to trust his gut—especially when it came to the, ah, unadvertised invaders.

More than one unpleasant encounter in the last few days meant Wes didn't take anything at face value anymore, and if something about one of his classmates set his skin crawling, he wasn't about to ignore the feeling.

"What is up with that kid?" Wes whispered, loudly enough to be heard by the girl beside him but hopefully not by the kid in question. The general buzz of conversation, interspersed by the rattling and slamming of locker doors and supported by the steady shuffling of feet, meant the question wouldn't carry and be overheard. The lunch rush was more hallway crush than anything else right now; even as some students stepped out to drop off their books in their lockers before heading to the cafeteria, others were standing around visiting in little groups, including the boy Wes had spotted. He nodded slightly in the appropriate direction, hoping it was subtle enough not to be noticed by the other boy who was half-turned towards him even though it should be visible enough to the people nearest him.

The girl who was caught in the flow of students on his right frowned and pointed at him with her nail file. "Why are you talking to me?" she asked.

Wes blinked, not sure how he was supposed to answer that without making things worse.

The blonde girl behind the speaker added, "Just avoid Fenton if you don't want to be a loser like him."

"If it's not too late for that," the first girl added, slipping a lock of glossy dark hair behind her ear as she gave him a once over. He must not have passed whatever test that was, as the two of them laughed and walked off. He'd say they shoved their way ahead, but the worst of the crush was beginning to dissipate even in that brief span of time, and the crowd parted before them as best it could. Popular kids, then. He'd have to remember that and not get on their bad side more than he just had. There were few faster ways of finding yourself at the bottom of the social food chain than rubbing the popular kids the wrong way.

Besides, he didn't need to press for more details right now; he recognized the name they'd given him. That was Fenton, the kid with the crazy ghost hunting parents? Wes had only been in town for a few days, but he already knew to avoid the giant monstrosity of a vehicle the Fenton family owned. Ghosts might be real, but he valued his life too much to play chicken when it came to that thing.

"Got a crush already, bro? You're staring."

Wes started and glanced behind him. Kyle's smirk meant he knew exactly how irritating and downright infuriating he was, but of course, that was the reason behind the taunt. Wes rolled his eyes and looked back at Fenton, who was still talking to his friends. Kyle drew up alongside Wes, and years of practice meant Wes knew exactly where his brother would be standing without even looking. Still, Kyle didn't bother dodging the elbow jab and instead rammed his own into Wes's arm in return. He still thought moving to a supposedly haunted town was a laugh, and it was hardly the first time Wes had tried to slug him this week.

Kyle hadn't been practically attacked by ghosts on their first day in town, only to hear some cryptic comment like wrong kid before the ghosts were gone.

Heck, Kyle hadn't even seen the attack. No one in the family had. Worse still, Kyle kept insisting that Wes was joking. As if he'd joke about nearly being kidnapped by a trio of glowing green vultures.

"Just shut up and tell me if you think there's anything weird about that kid," Wes hissed, not taking his eyes off Fenton.

Kyle snorted. "Can't tell you anything if you want me to shut up."

The comment was enough to make Wes contemplate fratricide, even in a town where it was clear that would come back to haunt him, but Kyle just moved on without waiting for Wes's retort—and without answering the question.

Maybe it was the thinning crowd. Maybe it had been their conversation. Wes didn't think so—there were enough other conversations going on that his shouldn't have been anything special—but whatever the reason, Fenton glanced his way.

He shouldn't have felt Wes's eyes on him. The more reasonable explanation was that he was looking for someone else. Still, Wes hurriedly looked away, trying to suppress a shudder as he opened his locker and stared inside. He wasn't anyone to Fenton; Fenton's eyes should slide right over him.

The feeling of being watched didn't go away. Wes couldn't bring himself to look, but he just knew Fenton was still looking at him, and it felt like he'd somehow painted a target on his back.

Wes shivered. He tried to tell himself that he was imagining things, but he knew a lie when he heard it. A scrawny kid shouldn't make his brain scream danger, but….

Maybe it was the way Fenton held himself. Maybe it was the look in his eye. Wes wasn't sure, exactly, but he didn't think it was just the Fenton name itself. The kid didn't look at all intimidating on the surface, but the hairs on the back of Wes's neck thought otherwise. There was just something about him. Something wrong, somehow. He gave Wes the creeps.

Kyle would tell him he was overthinking things, that that was always his problem and he was doing it again. That there was a logical reason for everything, and that reason in this case was Wes being paranoid. Maybe he was, but maybe he wasn't, and maybe it was finally his turn to prove Kyle wrong.

Wes might not be able to put his finger on what was off about Danny Fenton right now, but he was going to find out.