Hey!

So, here's the next chapter of "Remember: The Story Of Ember McLain"! This is where Laurie becomes more suspicious of Dean, we learn about an unexpected member of Amber's family and we learn more about Laurie's past and family! Hope you enjoy!

No, I don't own Danny Phantom, despite wishing that I did(that wasn't an actual wish Desiree, so don't even think about granting it!). That belongs to Butch Hartman. All I own is this story and my OCs. Please read and review!

GhostWriterGirl out!

Two Weeks, You Didn't Call.

It was now November.

Me and Dean had been a couple for two months now, which had earned some mixed reactions. Kitty and Johnny had been happy that I had found someone, Kitty more so, and even though Laurie tried to be happy for me for my sake, I could see that her eyes had a sad glint to them and whenever she looked at Dean, they would narrow with suspicion. But I dismissed her suspicion, thinking it was just paranoia and worry for me. I mean, Dean didn't stand me up, and he's a pretty damn good boyfriend.

Of course, Dean's friends were a different story. They tried to be supportive, but I always saw how nervous and uncomfortable they would get when I was with them, knowing I was Dean's girlfriend. I tried to not let that bother me, but inside, I was angry at Dean's friends for not being more happy for him to be dating me.

Terri, of course, was enraged. Since I was dating an A-lister, I was untouchable now, so she tried to take her anger out on other geeks. She would glare daggers at me and try to be as hostile to me as possible, despite the fact I was dating the basketball team's captain. I had a feeling Terri had a crush on him as well, with that feeling certified when I caught Terri throwing a tantrum in the girls' bathroom when me and Dean first became official. Well, at least I managed to irritate the prissy pink witch in more ways than one.

As for me, those two months had been absolute magic. We would kiss, flirt, giggle, hold hands, go on dates, call each other and make out. I loved being Dean's girlfriend, loved how he cared for me and supported my dream of becoming a rockstar, and I loved him. He was the only person, aside from my friends and my mother, who I could be myself around with. I believed that we were going to be forever, that we would graduate high school together, get married, and achieve our dreams together. It was almost too good to be true, like an illusion that would come crashing down and reality would come back. But I didn't care; I wanted this to be my reality.

But, on the tenth of November, did the illusion start to come crashing down and reality slowly started coming back.

...

Thursday, The Tenth Of November

"You're leaving!?" I asked Dean, shocked.

Dean looked down, rubbing his neck.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"My parents want me to come with them to visit my grandmother in Los Angeles. I couldn't find a way out of it, unfortunately."

"But… but we were going to the carnival tomorrow," I whispered, tears threatening to well up in my eyes.

"I know, I know, but don't you have family coming here to visit you tomorrow?"

I sniffed a bit and wiped my eyes. What he said was true; my mom's sister and her daughter were coming here to visit us, but still. As much as I loved my cousin, I had wanted to spend time with Dean, and now…

Dean, who must have seen my almost-tears, gently wiped them away as he held my hand.

"Hey, it's okay Amber. I'll only be gone two weeks. I promise to call you every day and who knows? Maybe I'll be back here before you know it."

I looked at him, my eyes still feeling wet, and kissed him.

"I love you, Baby-Pop. I love you so much," I whispered.

He kissed me back and whispered, "I love you too, Amber. I really, really love you."

I hugged him tightly, not wanting him to go, even though it would only be two weeks and he promised to call me.

Maybe, back then, I had a feeling that he wouldn't.

Sunday, Twelfth Of November

I was lying on my bed, looking through one of my rock magazines while anxiously checking my phone. Dean hadn't called me since he had arrived at his grandmother's house yesterday, and I was getting worried and a bit frantic.

Should I call him? Should I wait for him to call me back? Should I-

"AMBEEEERRRRRR!"

I was jolted out of my thoughts by my little cousin shouting my name.

Closing my magazine, I ran out of my room and down the stairs, before engulfing my little cousin into a hug.

"Hey there, cuz! How have ya been going?"

My twelve-year-old cousin, Pamela "Pam" McLain, laughed and hugged me back.

"Hi, Amber! And I'm feeling wonderful!"

I smiled happily, before my smile turned into a devilish smirk.

Standing up, while still holding Pam, I lifted her up… and swung her around.

Pam shrieked with delight, her waist-long carrot-red hair streaming behind her, the deep pink knee-high dress she was wearing flaring out a bit. Eventually I stopped, holding my cousin in close as she dissolved into breathless laughter.

"That was fun Amber! Can you do it again please?"

"'Fraid not, kiddo. Your mom and my mom probably wouldn't like it if I swung you around and accidentally broke something."

"I thought you didn't care about rules!"

"When my mother's here, I tend to listen to the rules, even when I don't want to."

Pam giggled again, and a voice asked, "You two are already plotting something, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes and stood up, facing my aunt.

"Hello Aunt Tamara," I greeted, looking at my aunt.

Aunt Tamara was my mom's twin sister, except her hair was ebony-black instead of dark auburn like my mother's. However, Pam had inherited her father's red hair; a father that had left my aunt and Pam after Pam was born, making it hard for Aunt Tamara to find a job, since she was a single mother and was just barely scraping by. Nonetheless, Pam had a cheery outlook on life, and I absolutely adored my little cousin. Kitty did too, and I'm pretty sure even Laurie would like my little cousin.

I hoisted Pam up into a hug, looking at my Aunt Tamara.

"How's work, Aunt Tam?"

Aunt Tamara shrugged.

"Pretty good. I get a decent salary, since I'm a school counsellor. But I swear my co-worker, Penelope, is making the kids more miserable with every session. You'd think she was making them more and more miserable, wouldn't you?"

I shrugged, rolling my eyes.

"I can't really say. But at least you're getting paid right? So who cares about your co-worker, Penelope?"

A ghost of a smile flitted across my aunt's face.

"Well, I know that I'm helping these kids. But seriously. Someone other than me must notice that Penelope is making the kids more miserable, instead of helping them. I can't be the only one."

"Well, maybe you should-"

"Tamara! Pamela! I didn't know you had arrived!"

My mother, Marion, smiled as she and Aunt Tamara hugged, since it had been about four years since Aunt Tamara and Pamela had last visited, and that was to attend my dad's funeral. They would have come for Tommy's funeral, but couldn't because of a huge storm.

"Mari, Amber, I'm sorry about Tommy. If that storm hadn't happened, we would have been here for his funeral," Aunt Tamara said, her eyes showing her condolences. My mom smiled sadly at her.

"It's fine, Tammy. But I appreciate your condolences," Mom said back.

"Me too," I whispered.

A heavy silence hung in the room, before I broke it by asking, "Aunt Tamara, how long are you and Pam gonna be staying here?"

"Oh, for the remainder of this week. Then we'll leave on Sunday," Aunt Tamara answered. I smiled.

"Great! Now, is it okay if Pam can come to my room?"

"Sure. Just as long as there's no swearing, she doesn't read any inappropriate stuff or any other teenager stuff. If there is, I'm banning Pam from going into your room."

I laughed. "Duly noted."

Taking Pam's hand, I lead her up to my room, where I closed the door shut behind me. Pam let go of my hand and bounded right on top of my bed, giggling as she grabbed the nearest magazine that she could reach-which was the rock magazine that I had been flipping through.

"Amber, can I read this?"

I gave her a stern look. "No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty, pretty please?"

"Sorry, no."

"Pretty please with the mint chocolate ice cream with the gummi bears and the little sprinkles that you like on top?"

"No."

Pam huffed and dropped the magazine. "You're no fun, Amber. You used to let me read your rock magazines all the time. What changed?"

"When your mom threatened that you would be banned from my room if you hear swearing or read inappropriate, teenage stuff."

"But I'm twelve! I'm gonna be thirteen in December! I'm already a teenager!"

"Not according to your mom."

"Hmph!" Pam sulked, crossing her arms and glaring at the floor.

Suddenly, my phone rang, and I practically leaped across the room to reach it, surprising Pam.

I grabbed it and flipped it open, accepting the call and holding it to my ear, not bothering to look at the number, just so grateful that Dean had finally called me!

If I had looked at the number, I would have realised who was calling me, and saved myself from the embarrassment that was coming in a few seconds.

"Hello, Baby-Pop. What took ya so long to ca-"

"Baby-Pop?"

My eyes widened as my jaw went slack. "Laurie!?"

"Yes, this is Laurie. Are there any other punk-rocker girls you like to call Baby-Pop?"

I immediately went red at that, Pam laughing her head off behind me. "I thought you were Dean! That's why I called you Baby-Pop! If I had known it was you… Oh God, I embarrassed myself, haven't I?"

"You think?"

"No need for that sarcastic remark, Laurie."

"Sorry, can't help it. Sarcasm is my second nature."

I rolled my eyes, but before I could say anything, a voice in the background shouted, "Who are you talking to, Laurie?"

"My friend, Amber! No need for you to-" Laurie started to say, until the voice in the background shouted, "WHY DID YOU CALL HER!? IS SHE HAVING GHOST PROBLEMS!?"

Another voice shouted , "GHOST!? WHERE!? CAN I RIP IT APART MOLECULE BY MOLECULE!?"

I covered my laughter behind my hand as I heard Laurie sigh exasperatedly. "There's no ghost, Jack. Your father thought that I called my friend, Amber, because she was overshadowed."

"Awww," Jack whined disappointedly.

"It's okay, son. One day we'll get those spooks. Now, I think your mom made some fudge?"

"FUDGE!" Jack shouted, and I swear, I could hear him bounding up the basement stairs to the kitchen.

I smirked as Laurie apologised, "I'm so sorry, Amber. Sometimes I forget that my uncle and cousin can be a little…"

"Eccentric?" I supplied.

"I was going to say over enthusiastic, but that works too."

Sometimes I forgot that Laurie was James Fenton's niece, and Jack Fenton's cousin. He was in his last year of high school, so I didn't see him around Casper High. And before I say anything else, I need to say this… the Fentons are ghost-hunters.

Crazy, right? But true. I think Laurie is the normal one in their family.

She didn't like to say that she was related to the Fentons, mostly because if she did, social services would discover that she had run away from her abusive home and had come to her uncle and his family, since she had nowhere else to go aside from them. The only people who knew were me, Kitty and Johnny, and we promised to keep it a secret.

Anyway…

"So… Laurie, why did you call me? Not that I mind. I like speaking to my friends. I don't use my phone to speak to Dean all the time. Why am I still talking? I'm such a spazz," I rambled.

Laurie laughed. "Relax, Amber! I just wanted to call you so that I can feel normal for a bit."

"Feel… oh. They tried to get you into ghost-hunting again, didn't they?"

"Yep."

This time, it was my turn to laugh. "On a scale of one to ten, how much were you covered in ectoplasm?"

"About eleven."

"Poor Laurie… has to deal with not only school and looking suspiciously at my boyfriend, but also her family trying to get her into ghost-hunting," I teased lightheartedly.

"Ha ha, very funny. But seriously, why did you think I was Dean?"

"I was kinda waiting for him to call me. He's in Los Angeles, and he hasn't called me since he arrived at his grandma's h-"

"He's cheating on you."

It took me a while to process that, and when I did, I laughed.

"Man, Laurie, that's a good one! You had me going there for a second!"

"Amber, I'm serious. If Dean hasn't called you, then he's cheating on you."

"He's not cheating on me."

"He is."

"He's not. If he was, don't you think I would know? Girlfriend instincts and all that?"

"Amber, listen to me. Okay, maybe he isn't cheating on you but please, take my words into consideration. Call Dean, if you want to be sure, and find out. Don't say I didn't warn you if he's cheating on you."

"Okay, okay! Bye Laurie."

"Bye Amber."

I hung up on Laurie and dropped my phone on my bed, my face gloomy. Pam, noticing this, asked me, "Are you okay, Amber?"

"No, Pam. My friend, Laurie, thinks that my boyfriend is cheating on me."

"And he is?"

"Well… I don't know. I want to call him, but what if he isn't? I'm going to not call him, I'm going to still trust him in this. But… I hope he calls me. Now, do you wanna play dress-up, Pam?"

Monday, Twentieth Of November

Call me, call me, call me, I thought, gazing at my phone, as if it would make Dean call me faster.

It has been a week and Dean hasn't called me. I wanted to believe that his phone had lost charge and he couldn't find the time to charge it, but that belief was slipping away by the second…

He's cheating on you.

Laurie could be wrong about that, right? She was wrong about Dean standing me up when we went out on our first date. But what if she was right? What if…

No. Think positive, Amber. He'll call you. He promised.

But that promise seemed to be unkept.

Sunday, Twenty-Sixth Of November

I shuffled from foot to foot, leaning slightly forward to see if I could spot Dean.

It was now two weeks later, and despite him not calling me, I was here to meet him. His plane had landed a few minutes ago, and it was only a matter of time until I saw my boyfriend again.

Any second now

As if my thoughts had been a summon, my eyes saw a familiar figure, with windswept brown hair and gorgeous teal eyes…

I grinned.

"Dean! Over here!" I shouted, waving. Dean, startled by my shout, saw me.

His eyes widened and, much to my confusion, he walked away from me.

My happy expression melted to a puzzled frown, watching as Dean walked away from me, heading to another exit.

Why was Dean avoiding me?

Aaand… BAM!

Seems like Amber and Dean's relationship is starting to crash and burn…

Yes, Pam McLain, Amber's cousin, is Pamela Manson, Sam's mother, and Laurie is Jack Fenton's cousin! Which means, if Amber hadn't died and become Ember, she would have been Sam's second cousin and Laurie is Jazz and Danny's second cousin!

Don't you love complicated family trees?

And it seems like there is a pattern in first name's here… Tamara, Pamela, Samantha?

Also, did you also get the reference to another ghost in Danny Phantom?

REPLIES TO MY AWESOME REVIEWERS:

Aurora Marie Williams: Thank you! Glad that I'm improving! And, thank you for the compliment!

I'm glad that you're excited to see updates so frequently that are quality additions to this story; glad that I'm doing a good job there :).

I checked out your beta profile; it was awesome! And, I'll be happy to PM you!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

EleahBlue: It could go either way, but for me, I found it really sweet. And, thank you! Thanks for that; I always thought that was the reason why Ember had flaming hair. It had burned away, but was restored as flames when she became a ghost. I know, poor Tommy! But, I hope I cleared a few things up with the reasoning for my reply to your last review.

That's okay! I hope you like this update!

Anyways, before I do the disclaimer and sign off, I've got three important notices, so please read:

One: I'm publishing a new story! This story is being beta'd by the awesome Aurora Marie Williams. It's called "Frostbitten", and so far it's only the prologue, but if you guys want to, please read it!

Two: I'm not going to be updating for a while. I'm going to go caravanning with my family for a while, so I'm not sure whether or not there will be free Wi-Fi. If there is, I'll be updating, but if there isn't, I'll be updating my stories when I have Wi-Fi again.

Three: I'm closing my poll. I know I said I would close my poll when I finished my "Danny Phantom And Storm Banshee-Season One(From The Very Beginning…)" story, but I'm gonna admit this… I suck at deadlines. That story, I've been procrastinating a lot on it, and I was sure I would have finished it by now, so I'm gonna say this-I'm closing the poll. If you guys haven't voted on it already, I advise you vote now; for I'll be closing it tomorrow.

And that's my notices.

So, I'll write the next chapters for this story and my other stories while I'm away and update them when I get back, but no promises(like I said, I suck at deadlines). And, based on the poll results, I'll have the first chapter of the story that you guys want me to write next updated by tomorrow, so look out for that!

Anyways, I don't own Danny Phantom, that will always belong to Butch Hartman. I only own this story.

Please read and review!

GhostWriterGirl out!