Twelve Days of Christmas

Friday, December 15th

(Ten days until Christmas)

Anticipation wasn't something Sam had much experience with. Longing, pining, even lusting were far more familiar. But the air of this Friday was unusually charged for her, the sense of eagerness making her morning less of a bother than it normally would be. She'd breezed through her first two classes, sleepy for the half hour that was homeroom, and was looking forward to (much to her disbelief) whatever vegan type meal the cafeteria was offering.

Tucker was ahead of her, his plate piled high with meatloaf and ham both. She shuddered at the thought, noticing that once again he'd skipped past anything that wasn't made of protein as she reached for one of the prepackaged salads (a triumph she'd managed during sophomore year) and the accompanying bowl of cubed tofu. It was questionable at best, but Sam was sure that if she didn't eat it no one would care.

Danny was behind her, just as quiet and distant as he'd been since the flowers had been given to her. She almost wanted to say he was jealous, but she was afraid that even thinking it would put far too much… just too much in to the nonexistent relationship. Besides, Danny was hardly one to sit back and hide his jealousy. If he were, she would know, and he wasn't.

As she turned to glance back at him the earrings brushed along her jaw, a cool reminder that so far her expectations hadn't been met. Her hesitation as she wondered if she was wrong went unnoticed, but Sam was sure that was only because Danny was staring at his plate and the food there—though Sam was pretty sure that calling whatever he'd let them serve him food was an insult to anything that was actually edible. She turned back toward the front of the line, moving forward behind Tucker, her skin still hyper sensitive to the unfamiliar touch of the earrings.

She paid for her salad and followed Tucker, Danny still silent and brooding behind her. His presence was almost uncomfortable; Sam wondered if she should have left the earrings at home. But there were so pretty, and Sam did sometimes give into her need to be feminine.

Valerie was at their table again with Tucker, talking animatedly about some new game that Tucker had gotten her interested in. It was, ironically enough, about ghost hunting, though it had nothing to do with Amity Park or Danny Phantom. But when Sam slid in to the chair next to Tucker and Danny sat between her and Valerie the conversation slowed to include them.

"I don't have it," Sam answered when Valerie asked if she'd tried it. But she smiled at the other girl's friendliness, grateful that it was genuine. It was hard at first to accept Valerie into their small circle, but once she had let go of the idea that Danny wasn't the enemy and made peace with his other half, it was hard to hate her. Sam hated to admit it (and rarely did), but she could understand Valerie's initial hatred. In the other girl's shoes with the same mindset she'd once had, Sam might very well have hated Danny's ghost half, too.

Thank god she wasn't, because the moment she'd stopped being an insufferable shallow bitch she'd have killed herself in utter shame. But Valerie was much nicer when she wasn't said insufferable shallow bitch, and especially when she wasn't trying to kill Danny.

"Are you going to?" the dark haired girl asked, her fork waving in the air questioningly with lettuce wobbling on the tines. "The soundtrack is great. It's like ghost hunting to a rock concert."

Tucker chuckled, and Sam bit back a laugh of her own. Valerie certainly acted like they knew her secret, though none of them ever told her. It was simply easier to let her keep hers while they kept theirs. But sometimes the irony was just too funny.

"Speaking of music," Danny interrupted. "I finished burning that CD, Tuck. If you want to come home with me after school I can give it back to you."

"Right," Tucker grumbled teasingly. "Two months after I gave it to you."

"What CD?" Valerie asked curiously, and when Tucker answered she squealed. "Oh my god, I love My Chem. Are you going to go to the concert?"

Tucker shook his head. "I'm going to try and get tickets, but I already spent my Christmas money. I have to wait till I get some at Christmas."

"They're going to be sold out by then," Sam put in, deciding that getting tickets for Tucker would be her Christmas gift.

"I know," Tucker moaned. "I really want to go." He looked at her hopefully. "Do you think you could get us all tickets and I'd pay you back for two of them?"

Sam laughed out loud as his cheeks reddened, even with his dark skin, as he glanced sidelong at Tucker. "We'll see," she temporized. "But they don't go on sale until the twenty-third."

Tucker gave a disheartened groan that seemed to echo through the suddenly much quieter cafeteria. The sudden weight in her stomach as she saw Danny's face turn stony had her turning her head hesitantly towards the cafeteria doors. The near familiar snow coated uniform of the courier had her heart jumping with the sudden renewal of anticipation even as her stomach twisted at the shuttered look in Danny's eyes.

Once again Sam cursed Star half a dozen times for not being able to keep her big, gossip-mongering mouth closed. Hundreds of eyes were following the courier as he was escorted straight to her by an amused Mr. Lancer. Sam silently cursed him, too, completely unaware of the fact that her eyes were wide and her mouth was opened slightly making her look startled, something that the entire population of Casper High had never seen on the girl.

And while Mr. Lancer stood there with his smug little smile Sam could only nod when the courier asked her to verify her name and then wished her yet another happy holidays and then handed her a slim mauve colored envelope. By the time Sam stopped staring at it the courier was gone, Mr. Lancer apparently having followed him, and the cafeteria was beginning to show signs of life again. To her great misfortune every word spoken was speculation about what was in the envelope.

After seeing the curiosity on Valerie's face, and the mixed surprise and thought in Tucker's, Sam didn't have the nerve to look at Danny, afraid of what she'd find there. Instead she slipped a finger beneath the single unsealed side of the envelope's flap, being careful not to cut her finger as she worked the flap free. When she reached inside and withdrew the small sheaf of thick papers, she nearly dropped them as she did the envelope itself.

In her hands were four front row tickets to the My Chemical Romance concert that wasn't going on sale for almost two weeks.

"Oh my god," she breathed.

Then the tickets did fall from her hands as she scrambled or the envelope on the floor even as Tucker and Danny both reached for what she had just dropped. As they looked she reached trembling fingers into the envelope to withdraw a small cream colored card embossed with three golden hens. The shuddering gasp she breathed out was as triumphant and frightened at the same time.

"The twelve days of Christmas," she whispered as she looked up. Tucker was incredulous; Valerie was staring at her in disbelief. And Danny's eyes were utterly betrayed.

xXx

Sorry this chapter was so late, but here you go. Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!