The Fenton Phones were in his pocket, but he wouldn't call Phantom for help because
1, It would prove Paulina right and
2, He'd just been waiting for a chance to use the little blaster on his utility belt.
He thought that chance would have come with their fight with Ember, but he'd Hulked out instead.
Or, uh, Dragon'ed out. And Phantom had confiscated the amulet, afterwards.
But the blaster was filled with ectoplasm, not bullets or even lasers. Instead of freeing him it just sort of blinded Danny and splattered the inside of the locker door.
Some of it oozed out of the slates.
God, Danny thought. Some weapon.
oOo
It shouldn't be possible for a ghost to skateboard so easily, Phantom thought.
Not that Johnny was a pro. He tried a complicated jump where he kicked the board into a spin. The board landed wheels up and Johnny, when his feet connected, pinwheeled his arms and skidded with a painful scrapping of wood and concrete.
And then he fell.
He floated himself up before his chin could meet the ground, but he ripped the twin holes at the knees of his jeans wider.
"It's like you almost forgot you could fly," Phantom said.
"Fuck off, asswhipe," Johnny said. He picked his skateboard back up and glanced from it to Phantom. "Ain't you bored yet? 'M not used to a mother fucking audience."
"Is that why you come while the other skaters are at school?"
Phantom had been floating in place in what had become his favorite "sitting" position, with his legs crossed like a levitating monk, but now he tried to plant his feet on the ground.
He ended up bouncing slightly. It was like trying to stand still on a trampoline while someone else was jumping.
Johnny groaned. "It's always twenty questions with you."
"You're so good at looking human though," Phantom said. "You could hang out with the other skaters if you wanted to."
Johnny scoffed. "I got no use out of palling around with a buncha kiddos." He glared at Phantom. "One kid licking my heels is bad enough."
"How old were you when you died?" Phantom said. "I thought you were a high school kid."
"I keep sayin' it don't matter." Johnny glanced at the sky. In exasperation? Sometimes Johnny would get this look on his face, like he'd take a break from being grumpy and cool.
Was it melancholy? Phantom found that hard to believe.
"Okay, okay." Phantom gave up on trying to stand still and resumed his Zen float. "I'll leave you alone and stop asking you questions for the rest of eternity if you help me with something."
Johnny tilted his head. "Go on."
He was still standing firmly on the ground, holding his skateboard. He was glowing, but Phantom had seen him turn the glow off. He needed to know how.
But more importantly, "How do you control the floaty-ness?"
Johnny laughed. "The what now?"
To demonstrate, Phantom tried again to plant his feet on the ground. He landed so roughly that he bounced twice as high this time and was forced to do a little flip to get himself back down.
Johnny tisked. "My, my, monkey boy. Here I thought you was trapeze-in' for your own entertainment."
How does he know a word like trapeze and still use words like ain't? Phantom thought. Johnny's way of speaking was full of weird contrasts like that.
"I mean, sometimes it's fun to goof around," Phantom said. "But sometimes I want to try and pass for human. Like you, you know? Turn off the glow too, if I can."
Johnny grinned. "That one's the hard thing."
"I'll worry about it later then." Phantom was pacing around the ramps now, using their peeks as stepping stones. Then he got to that railing thing and pretended he was on a tightrope.
On a tightrope and human. Move one foot at a time, directly in front of each other, arms out and wobbly.
Johnny was leaning back on a ramp now, watching with his arms behind his head. "Doin' fine on your own, kid."
Phantom made it all the way across the railing and then gently floated off.
He walked back to Johnny with smaller jumps. He was still on the moon... Or maybe now he was on Mars. The space between his jumps was smaller, the gravity turned up.
"Dude, what's the difference between the railing and the regular ground?" Johnny said.
"I don't know?" Phantom said. "Some places are just easier to keep my feet on. Easiest is the ceiling."
"Uh-huh," Johnny said. "In the interest of an eternity of no more questions..."
"Yeah?"
"What do you think about when you're walking on the ceiling?"
Phantom grinned. "Spiderman."
"Well, there ya go." Johnny said. "He's sticky ain't he? Just be Spiderman everywhere."
Phantom frowned. "I can't think about Spiderman twenty four seven."
"Then what were you thinking about on the railing?"
"That it was a tightrope," Phantom said. "But that doesn't always work 'cause I have to talk myself into thinking it'll matter when I fall. And I usually can't."
Johnny sat forward, elbows on his knees. "And what do you think about when you're walking around the res' a the time?"
"That I'm on the moon," Phantom said. "Or Mars. Sometimes I'm on the space station orbiting around Earth. Sometimes on a ship on its way to-"
"Ima stop you right there," Johnny said. "That's your whole problem."
"Yeah?"
"Dude, just stop being a moonwalker." Johnny stood. "Get your head out of space. Walk on Earth."
Phantom thought about his Zen monk levitating imagery and realized he'd been thinking backwards this whole time.
He thought he was placing metaphors on what was going on around him, but the metaphors were what caused what was going on around him.
But if he felt like he was swimming through the air didn't he "swim" or fly, before he thought it? Wasn't that the default?
Johnny clapped. "Congratulations Major Tom."
Phantom looked down. Boots firmly planted.
Huh. Guess floating really wasn't the default. He'd been so distracted by Fenton, that last time, that he'd stopped thinking about being a ghost.
Had stopped feeling like an astronaut on a foreign planet.
"That's great," Phantom said. "Now the glowing..."
oOo
Now that he thought about it, this technically wasn't the first time Dash had stuffed him in a locker.
Danny had a vague memory of Phantom mentioning it after he'd spent a couple hours in a Fenton thermos.
But it was his first experience with it and it was one he'd rather have lived without. Plus he was taller than Phantom must've been when it happened to him. His neck was cramping from the angle he was hunched at. His legs were going numb.
He didn't have enough wriggle room to reach into his pocket.
His elbow was right up against the door so he banged on it again. "Sam?!"
Had Dash left? He'd stopped responding.
"Sam, please tell me you aren't bleeding out or something," Danny said. "Did Dash flee a crime scene? C'mon."
He could feel the Fenton Phones pressed against his thighs. He managed to get two fingers into his pocket, but not far enough.
Then the door opened and he almost fell out.
Someone caught him.
"Sorry about that, buddy," Dash said. "I know I'm bad news, but enough is enough, eh? Let's get your girl and call it square."
Dash set Danny on his feet.
Then his knees buckled and Dash had to catch him again. It was a weird almost hug.
"Well, ain't that a bite," Dash murmured.
"My legs are numb, you prick," Danny said. "But I'd rather fall. Get the fuck off me."
Dash helped him slide down to the floor.
Was this normal behavior for him? Technically Danny didn't know the guy very well, but this was an odd mood change.
He was kneeling in front of Danny now, looking contrite.
Nearby, Sam groaned.
Danny gave his legs a punch and quickly crawled over to her. Dash made as if to follow. "Back off," Danny said.
Dash stayed put.
Okay this was scary. The good behaviour was probably because of Sam. Danny frantically looked for a wound, for blood.
There was none that he could see, but her hair was jet black and the injury was probably at the back of her head?
As gently as possible, he lifted her head and felt around the way he'd seen his mom do for his dad one time when he'd knocked himself out on a pipe.
He found the bruise, but it didn't feel too bad.
Sam opened her eyes.
He realized he was sort of cradling her and gave her an awkward smile. "Sorry," he said. "Just looking for blood."
"That's romantic," she muttered.
He grinned. If she still had energy for sarcasm she'd be fine.
"Let's get her to a nurse," Dash said. "Let me carry her for you."
Danny helped Sam sit up and they shared a look. Thankfully she seemed just as baffled by this offer as he was.
Dash gave his own arm a squeeze, grinning. "I got the guns for it."
Danny glared at him and Dash put his hands up like he was about to be mugged. "You don't need to worry. I'm no bird dog."
"What." Sam blinked at Dash several times. Long slow blinks. "Is he drunk?"
"Does alcohol make you bi-polar?" Danny said.
"Real smog in the noggin, I bet," Dash said. "But I'm, uh..."
He seemed to search for the right thing to say. He glanced around the empty hallway, then snapped his fingers. "I'm turning over a new leaf," he said. "From this day forth, I will bully no more! And I'll-"
"Shut up," Sam said. "You're too damn loud."
"Headache?" Danny said.
She nodded, then winced.
The blood flow had returned to his legs by now. Good enough anyway, that Danny could stand and help Sam to her feet.
Dash stood too and said, in a whisper, "Look I'm real sorry I harassed you and your girl-"
"Would you stop calling me that?" Sam said. "We seriously aren't dating, and even if we were-"
"Hot dog," Dash said. "A dark fuzzy duck like you, I mean I might have, but now-"
He glanced at Danny.
Sort of got stuck there. It was weird, the way he was staring now. Danny looked away. "Will you give it a rest? Leave us alone."
Dash nodded, really fast little nods. "Sure, sure. I'll make like a tree."
He walked away, but backwards.
Kept staring at them until he bumped into a wall. Then he laughed at himself and properly turned around, walking with his back straight as a ruler.
"The fuck is wrong with him?" Sam said.
Danny shrugged. "The nurse probably went home already," he said. "But my mom's great at first aid."
She sighed. "It's not visible right? I don't want a lecture when I get home."
"You're good in that department."
"Great, let's go to your place."
Danny swallowed. "Uh, should I tell Tucker to come over too?"
He was worried, suddenly, about being alone in a room with her.
Even though his parents were always home. Literally worked from there. They weren't exactly attentive chaperones.
Not that, uh, chaperones would be needed. Sam had a thing with Phantom.
And he-
"Yeah, I'll text Tucker," Sam said.