Danny Phantom: Origins

Chapter Four: Complications, Complications…

Disclaimer: I do NOT, and WILL NOT ever own anything from the Danny Phantom franchise.

It had been four days since the Slime Ghosts attack on Amity Park, and life had resumed as usual. The school had begun its reparations for the damage caused during the attack, but classes that took place in the fourth floor were either free periods or moved to other classrooms.

On one such free period, Danny, Tucker, and Sam found themselves aimlessly wandering the hallways, discussing the most recent ghost attacks, most of which were not publicized, save for minor mentions in the local news network and small columns in the daily paper.

Danny was just mentioning his latest encounter with an obnoxious ghost, calling itself the "Box Ghost" when, while turning into a corridor he bumped, hard, into somebody who was carrying a small stack of books, scattering them everywhere.

"Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry about that. I'm such a klutz. Are you okay?" said the girl, picking up her books while Danny lifted himself up.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine. Here, let me help you with that." Danny said absently, helping her with her books while checking himself for anything remotely worth concern.

"Thanks." The girl said as Danny handed over her books.

"No prob-…" Danny started, but his sentence was cut short as he observed the girl for the first time. Her brown hair was shoulder length, was parted at the side, and was let loose. Her eyebrows were slightly more arched than anyone else Danny had ever met, giving a somewhat softer look to her otherwise cold steel-gray eyes.

She wore a white shirt with sleeves that ended just below her elbow, with some flower-like patterns extending from the upper back of the shirt down to the left sleeve. The upper buttons of the shirt were open, revealing that the knee-length shirt she was wearing was in fact a dress, with small frills at the hem and patterns on the bottom left side similar to that on her shirt. There wasn't anything particularly pretty about her, though she wasn't at all ugly, but it was as if there was a certain radiance about her. At least, that's what Danny felt.

"Danny? Danny, are you still there? Hello?" Sam said, waving her hand in front of Danny's eyes. "He does this sometimes." She added to the girl.

"Allow me." Tucker said, motioning Sam aside. Suddenly Tucker hit Danny, hard, in the back of his head, bringing him out of his reverie. "There you go." Tucker said proudly.

"Ouch! Hey!" Danny protested.

"Umm… if you don't mind, I'd like my book back?" the girl said, pointing at the textbook still in Danny's hand.

"Uh… right. Sorry about that." Danny replied, giving the book back.

"Thanks."

"Are you new here? 'Cause I've never seen you here before." Sam said pointedly.

"Yes. My name's Naomi. I just moved to Amity Park two days ago."

"Right." Danny said. "What're you doing carrying those chemistry books? Chem lab's a floor below." He pointed to the direction she came from.

"Right. I seem to find myself kind of lost." Naomi said.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Chemistry's also out for the time being. What with the repairs and all." Tucker explained.

"Yeah, so this is a free period. What've you got after that?" Danny asked.

"Um… let's see… history." Naomi replied.

"Same as us. Why don't you just hang out with us instead?" Danny offered.

"Well… I dunno…" she said doubtfully.

"Come on, we'll show you around the school."

"Well, I haven't got anything better to do…"

"Wait a second." Sam suddenly interrupted. "We're sorry, Naomi, but apparently Danny forgot that we have plans today." She said, sounding oddly irritated.

"We do?" Danny said as Sam grabbed his and Tucker's arms.

"Well, I'll see you guys around, then!" Naomi shouted as the three of them disappeared into a corner.

"What was that all about?" Danny asked later after school, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"Nothing." Sam replied bluntly, sounding equally irritated. "I've never seen you so… warm to strangers before."

"That's it? That's it? Damn it, Sam, you're impossible! Since when do you care, anyway?" Danny began to feel angry at his friend for reasons he himself wasn't sure of.

"I don't!" Sam replied heatedly. An awkward silence fell between them during the rest of their walk home.

"Bye." Was all Danny said to them when they arrived at his house. Without another word, Danny shut the door on them and immediately went upstairs.

"You know, he does have a point," Tucker started, but a single glare from Sam immediately silenced him.

Over the next couple of days Danny and Sam still hadn't made up with each other, causing much grief for Tuck, who was uncertain of whom to side with. Finally, Tuck was forced to side with Sam, after she argued that he "always sides with Danny!" A statement they all knew very well was too true.

Since then, Danny found himself spending more time with Naomi, since Sam refused to talk to him and he was still sore at Tuck for siding with her. And it didn't hurt to see the look on Sam's face each time she saw them together.

Rumors quickly spread throughout the school because of their spending time together, though neither paid much attention to it. After the first few days, the intensity of the rumors quickly subsided, for there was always something new to talk about in Amity Park, and this time it was once again about ghosts.

Ghost appearances had increased in Amity Park, which caused Danny more grief as he struggled to remain below the radar. His more frequent appearances caused his alter-ego to become increasingly known throughout Amity Park, making that a near-impossible feat now. His grades were steadily declining because of this as well, and it didn't help that Sam and Tucker weren't there to help him.

Although his grades were no immediate danger, he knew that eventually his ghost-fighting and school duties would clash with each other, and he would - for a time – have to withhold his hero activities. He knew he had to do something, but what, he did not know. He could ask for Naomi's help, for she had proven herself a straight-A student, but then he might have to risk revealing his secret, and he didn't yet know whether she could be trusted that much.

Yet if he did nothing, his grades would fail and he would risk having his parents called. And if that happened, he knew his parents would force him to study more, which would put an end – at least temporarily – to his ghost-fighting days. Should that happen, his parents, or at least his mom would notice that the so-called "Ghost-Boy" was absent during that time.

Making up with Sam seemed to be no longer an option, for every time he called her she was mysteriously not home or busy doing something in her room. And she also refused to return his calls. Seeing it as a lost cause, Danny gave up on trying altogether.

Weighing his options, Danny eventually decided that he should try asking Naomi for help first. About his ghost-fighting adventures, he decided that he would withhold that information from her unless he had no other options. As an afterthought, he decided that in the event that he was forced to reveal his secret and she betrayed him, he could always use his ghost powers to get her to cooperate. Immediately afterwards he shook the thought out of his mind.

"You need help with your studies?" Naomi said over the phone the next day.

"That's what I'm saying." Danny replied. "I've been kinda busy these days." He added.

"Busy? Doing what?" Naomi said, not quite believing him. Danny grunted in response. "I mean, what could a fifteen year old be so busy doing that it interrupts his studies? What are you, some kind of superhero? Normal student by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night?" She laughed.

You have no idea… Danny thought to himself, laughing at that remark. "So are you helping me or not?"

"I guess there's no harm in it," Naomi said, shrugging to herself. "My place, after school?"

"Right. Though there's a chance I might be late…"

"Why?"

"Like I said, I've been busy."

"Whatever you say, then."

It turned out that Danny wasn't late the next day, nor for the days after it. The ghost appearances seemed to have somewhat decreased in the following days, giving Danny some breathing space, though not as much as he would have hoped for.

Despite the decrease of ghost attacks, Sam had become increasingly hostile towards Danny. Her actions had moved from giving him the cold shoulders to glaring him daggers every time they met in the hallways, ever since she found out about his studying trips to Naomi's house. He still had no idea what she was so upset, or rather, furious about, as she still refused to talk to him.

"Could you please ask her what she's so steamed about?" Danny said to Tucker one day during last period. Sam happened to be out of town with her family that day, so it was safe for Tucker to talk to him without being scolded.

"'Steamed'… that's an odd word to use…" Tucker commented.

"That's aside from the point, Tuck. I need to know what she's so mad about if I want to have any chance of making up with her, which I happen to know would benefit you as well."

"I dunno, Danny. She's not telling me that either. Listen, I'm no genius," Danny lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I am a bit, but I have a feeling it's got something to do with Naomi."

"Naomi?" Danny said incredulously. "What the heck's wrong with Naomi? She's my friend."

"And she's a girl." Tucker said, trying to imply something.

"So is Sam," Danny retorted.

"My point exactly. Before Naomi came along, Sam and I were the only close friends you had, Sam being the only girl close to you."

"What're you saying?" Danny asked, having a bad feeling of where this was going.

Sighing, Tucker said, "Didn't you think that Sam might feel… jealous about you and Naomi?"

"Jealous?" Danny said, taken aback. "She's just my friend. So is Sam."

"Didn't it ever occur to you that Sam doesn't think of you as just a friend? That she might think of you as something… more?"

"More? What d'you-" Danny started, but before he could finish, the bell rang, and everybody filed out of class.

More? Danny thought. What the heck does that mean? Could it be that- he immediately shook the thought that came to him as he saw Naomi waiting outside for him. Nah, it couldn't be.

Author's Note(s)

I am terribly sorry for the extremely long update, and I'm perfectly aware that this short chapter will not make up for it. A lot has happened to me lately, but I will make no excuses. Feel free to flame this chapter.

Yes, Naomi is an OC… designed to add spice to the story. I suck at romance fics.

You will notice the return of the line border thingies.. i just realized that the asterisks and dashes i used have disappeared from previous chapters, making it difficult to tell the scene changes..