Chapter 8

"Uh... hey, are you okay?"

At the sound of Paulina's shaky voice, Sam partially opened her eyes. She felt dazed; she was still very much out of it, but when Paulina shook her shoulder, she became a lot more alert and let her eyes open more widely.

She glanced around the room she was in and nearly jolted upright in bewilderment when she didn't recognize her surroundings. The walls were a light shade of pink and the bed sheets were dark pink, which was an obvious sign that she wasn't in Danny's room, Tucker's room, or even her room.

That only left one person.

"This is my house and you're in my room," Paulina, who picked up on her confusion, abruptly informed her. she "After you, uh, got hit in the head back there, I persuaded Danny to bring you to my place since it was the closest."

"Ah, and where's Danny?" Sam inquired, her voice sounding hoarse.

"He said he was going to have a little talk with that Skulker ghost and then he would be coming back," Paulina answered.

Sam gave a dismissive nod of her head before attempting to sit up, only to discover that the action made her head throb. As a result of the unexpected pain, she hissed quietly and stilled herself for a few seconds. Paulina moved over to a small table behind her and grabbed an ice pack.

"He also said to give this to you after you woke up, so, here." She handed the ice pack to Sam, flashing her an almost apologetic look. Sam accepted the ice pack, though hesitantly, and slightly smiled her thanks. "Hey, so, about what happened back there—"

"Don't worry about it," Sam interposed. She really didn't want to talk about what happened back there. She wasn't embarrassed about what she had done, but more so because of the result.

Paulina frowned. "Look, I don't usually ever say this, but that was my fault. I shouldn't have popped up like that and distracted you guys, but to be fair, I just wanted to help."

"I know," Sam sighed, pressing the ice pack to her head. "That's why I said don't worry about it. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in the crossfire. No hard feelings. Really."

"Well, if you insist, but why did you do that?" Paulina asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, why did you push me out of the way and take the blow? You don't exactly like me."

"That doesn't mean I'm just going to stand aside and let you get hit. You didn't see what was happening and I did, so I got you out of the way. I didn't think I'd get knocked out in the process, but I don't regret doing what I did."

"Still, I appreciate what you did back there. You didn't have to do it, but you did, so thanks," Paulina responded. "I promise I won't pull something that risky again. From now on, I'll leave ghost fighting to you, Danny, and your other geeky friend."

"Tucker," Sam corrected.

"Same difference." Paulina backed over to the window of her bedroom and stared out of it. "How's your head?"

"It's fine. Why are you being so nice to me?" Sam asked skeptically, removing the ice pack from her head as she spoke. "You're supposed to be kicking me out of your room because I'm geeking up the atmosphere and then you're supposed to burn your bedsheets along with anything else I've touched."

Paulina rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in frustration. "It's Saturday. We fought on Tuesday. Do you really think I'd bother being nice to you for four days straight if I didn't want to make amends? You can be suspicious all you want, but don't you think that if I wanted to do something to you revenge -wise, I would've done it by now?"

Sam sighed heavily in defeat and raised the ice pack to her head once again. "It's just hard to believe that Paulina Sanchez, a cheerleader, A-lister, and the most popular girl in all of Casper High, wants to associate with Sam Manson, a geek, freak, outcast, and a loser, after years of bashing her."

"I don't really think you're all that," Paulina said quietly. "Well, maybe an outcast and a loser, but in a way, I admire you for that. You don't care what people say and you don't follow any social trends. You're just... you. That, and Danny chose you over me. I guess I was jealous of you."

"You?" Sam scoffed. "Jealous of me?"

"You know what?" Paulina started, rolling her eyes. "Never mind. Forget it."

She started to walk out of the room rather dramatically, prompting Sam to sigh loudly and lower her ice pack again. "Fine." Paulina stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking to her expectantly. "I'll give you one chance, but if you blow it, I swear to you—"

"I won't blow it. I promise," Paulina vowed. "I just don't want any bad blood with you." Strangely, to Sam, she seemed so genuine that it surprised her. She stared at the girl for several seconds to see if her expression would shift, but when it didn't, she shrugged.

"We'll see where it goes," she concluded, smiling a bit. Paulina returned the smile and nodded her head, accepting her answer.

Danny showed up about two minutes later, phasing in through Paulina's bedroom window. As soon as he noticed that Sam was awake now, he made a beeline for her side. "Look who's finally up," he said with a small smile. "Are you okay? You gave me quite the scare back there."

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's going to take a lot more than that to get rid of me. My head's pretty hard," she remarked, tapping the side of her head twice. Danny chuckled softly and ruffled her hair, causing her to grimace and playfully smack his hand.

"Thanks for trying to give us a hand back there. I really appreciate it," he told Paulina.

"Yeah, but if I wasn't there, she wouldn't have had to push me out of the way and we wouldn't be here right now."

"Don't blame yourself for that. Trust me, it's not your fault. The most important thing now is that you're both okay." When Paulina nodded understandably, he turned to Sam and started to help her out of the bed. "I should get you home now."

Paulina led them downstairs and opened the front door for them. Danny scooped Sam up into his arms, but before he took off, she told Paulina, "Really, don't blame yourself for what happened back there."

The cheerleader smiled faintly, and with that, they took off into the sky.

"She's starting to warm up to us," Danny noted as he flew through the air. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were starting to warm up to her too."

Sam nestled her head in the crook of his neck to prevent blocking his line of vision. "I'm not going home. I'm coming with you to see Tucker," she stated, changing the subject because that wasn't something she was about to admit to him, true or not.

"Nope. You're going home with your possible concussion and I'm going to go see Tucker, but I'll make sure he knows to call you later."

"I'm fine," Sam stubbornly insisted, "but if you take me home, I won't be. My parents are going to lecture me into a coma for sneaking out to go to the Nasty Burger with you."

Danny paused, thinking it over for a few seconds. "If they think you snuck out, that means they won't check your room for you, right?" She knew what he was implying, so she glared at him and made him backpedal. "All right, all right. City hall it is."

They reached City Hall just a few minutes later. Tucker was sitting at his computer, completely focused on the screen while typing vigorously. He barely noticed them walking in, but once he did, he grinned and got up from his computer chair. "Hey, guys!" he greeted. "I was starting to think you lovebirds forgot about me."

"How could we forget about you and all your glory? That'd be criminal," Sam teased, smiling weakly. She shuffled her way over to a bean bag chair in the corner of the room and plopped down onto it, letting out an exhausted sigh. Tucker noticed this and glanced over at Danny curiously.

"Ghost fight gone wrong," the Halfa told him. "Paulina edition."

Tucker's eyebrows skyrocketed. "No way. What happened?"

Danny switched back into his human form and sat down in a chair that was in front of Tucker's desk. "Paulina showed up out of freaking nowhere, wanting to help me and Sam mid-battle," he explained. "Long story short, she ended up getting in the way and Sam got hurt because of it."

"What, did she break a nail and take it out on you?" Tucker snorted, making Sam crack a smirk.

"More like I got the consciousness knocked out of me while pushing her out of harm's way," she retorted, closing her eyes. "I'm still fine though, Danny, so you can get the idea of taking me home out of your head right now."

When she heard him grunt, her smirk increased into a smile. She opened her eyes to see Tucker shaking his head as he walked back over to his desk. "I never thought I'd live to see the day where Samantha Manson gets knocked out during a battle because she was trying to save her enemy."

"Call me Samantha again and you won't live to see any other days."

Tucker ducked behind his computer, warily peeking above it to make sure a boot wasn't being chucked in his direction. Danny laughed at the pair and held up a hand, intervening. "Okay, guys. From now on, only trained people are allowed to help us out with ghost fighting."

Sam nodded. "After today, I agree with absolutely no hesitation."

"You know, I never pinned Paulina as the helping hand type of person when it comes to ghost fighting. Usually, she's running away and screaming," Tucker pointed out. "What suddenly changed her mind today?"

"Sam," Danny answered, jerking his head in her direction. "That's the only reason I can think of. Paulina's been really trying to prove herself lately."

She glared faintly at him before clarifying, "I am not the reason." At least, she hoped she wasn't. The more she thought about it, the more she started to feel guilty. If Paulina only rushed in to help so that she could prove how serious she was about wanting a friendship with Sam, then that put her at fault.

"I can't picture you guys being friends," Tucker shuddered. "That's just... wrong, like toothpaste and orange juice."

"Or like me and Mondays," Danny pitched.

"Oh, no," Sam began, pointing accusingly at him. "You don't get to crack jokes about this. You were the same person who told me to give her a chance yesterday."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean this situation isn't somewhat amusing. I mean, this is the same girl you've called a menace to society, an outrage against nature, a fire-breathing cheerleader, Wicked Witch of the West, Friday the 13th: Paulina edition, and—"

"Wait. I've never called her that last one," Sam frowned.

"Actually, that was Val," Tucker corrected. "During the beginning of Sophomore year."

"Oh," Danny drawled, chuckling. "I remember that now."

Sam chose to remain silent and just let them carry on the conversation without her. She started to deeply think about the whole Paulina situation. Maybe the girl was being sincere and actually wanted to form a real friendship with her. It was strange, but who was she to blatantly deny that?

She figured she'd just give the cheerleader a chance to prove herself as an acquaintance first before making any drastic decisions. That was the same thing she had done with Valerie after Danny's secret was revealed, so she was going to try that with Paulina.

She just hoped she wasn't going to regret it in the end.