Summer was invented to give me a break! Let the writing continue! But first, just a small celebration: Reviews! I now officially have two regular reviewers! This is a big deal for me! So thank you guys, I really appreciate that you care.
After school, Sam had a dentist appointment and Tucker was tutoring freshman for extra money, so Danny ended up walking home with Illusen, a reverse of that morning. A wind had picked up and her hair kept blowing all around her, something that made her smile gently as they made their way down the street.
"Ah, I can feel winter growing." Illusen said softly, looking up for a moment before the wind once again blew her hair across her face, a few strands sticking to her lips. "It feels great… Cold air, seeing for miles, evergreens, the first snow… You excited Danny?"
"Huh?" Danny had been lost in thought, trying to figure out a motive for the new ghost, and Illusen's words came back to him a bit slowly. "Oh, uhm, yeah, reasonable so. As long as I don't get sick or anything." His stomach growled, and he was reminded of something else. "Oh, Thanksgiving's next week, isn't it?"
"Yeah yeah, it should be fun." Illusen said. "Uncle and I, we normally make a Cornish hen for the two of us, have pie, watch the parade. Good stuff. Your family have any traditions?" She pushed her glasses up as she asked, rubbing her hands together.
"Well, Dad normally makes fudge and ham and occasionally one of the two comes alive, but normally Mom and Jazz make all of the food that doesn't attack us and then we just feed on leftovers for weeks." Illusen laughed softly, and Danny smiled to, thinking back to that fateful turkey attack. "Oh yeah, any family come to town for you guys?"
"Oh… no." Illusen said, quite suddenly looking at the sidewalk. "I, uhm, don't have much by way of family. There's Uncle and… Mom and Dad are usually… busy." She drew her jacket closer, and Danny knew he had touched a sensitive subject. "But that doesn't matter, the two of us are plenty!" She looked back at Danny with too wide of a smile and he smiled back, glad she wasn't too shaken up.
"Yeah, my family gathering are pretty small too." he said. "Mom's side of the family is a bit set in their ways."
"Oh I know." Illusen said, her smile becoming more natural before it vanished. "I mean, not that I know your family, that came out wrong. I just mean I, I know the, uhm, situation feel free to interrupt my blathering at any time…"
"No no, I get what you're saying." Danny said, and Illusen's smile crept back. She seemed weird to him, with how quickly her emotion changed, from normal to panicked to back again. He chalked it up to his knowledge of girls coming from Sam, who normally acted like there were no emotions other than disdain and contempt. "Its fine, you're really not blathering."
"Thanks." Illusen said, and they walked a little farther in silence as Danny's thought began to slip again. "Hey, uhm, Danny?"
"Yeah?" he answered, hoping that nothing would go wrong in the next three seconds as he saw a rather inquisitive looking squirrel looking at him.
"Do you, uhm, like Sam?" You never knew when they were ghost squirrels or normal ghosts in disguise or-
"Whoa what?" Danny asked, clearing his head. "We're just friends, I mean, what would make you think that?"
"N-nothing." Illusen said, blowing on her hands to warm them, her breath escaping as a small cloud. "Just… You seem to talk to her a lot and you smile more when she's nearby and you spend a lot of time looking at her eyes when you think she's not looking and… Yeah, I was just kind of wondering if like you guys were dating and I just sorta missed that or something. Nothing big."
"We're just friends." Danny repeated, trying to figure out how often he looked at Sam's eyes. Probably maybe not that often, not as often as Illusen made it sound, did he. "And, you know, friends… Do stuff like that."
"Okay." Illusen said, looking down and warming her hands again. "Because she does that stuff a lot too and I didn't know if you knew." Ghost squirrels were completely forgotten as Danny tried to think of times when Sam looked at him. She did smile more, but that was just because she knew she didn't have to put up she a tough girl act around him and besides, they had been friends forever. She probably smiled more around Tucker too. "But that's totally not important, sorry I ever mentioned it, I don't mean to be so strange."
"No no, its fine, its just nothing." Danny said, missing the smile that touched Illusen's lips for just as second before she warmed her hands again. "Does Sam really do that stuff?"
"Oh all the time." Illusen sang, and Danny believed her. There was something about her in that moment, something about her attitude and voice that made her seem distinctly right. "All the time…"
Danny didn't remember the rest of the walk home, though he got a feeling that there had been pleasant, light conversation about little to nothing and that Illusen had wished him a good evening from her front door step.
He must have gone to his house and done his homework, then eaten dinner and played video games for at least half an hour before going to bed. He didn't remember anything at all specific, but he knew all those things had to have happened when h woke up the next morning, pulling on his clothes and maybe eating breakfast before going to school in a sleepy haze.
"Danny." Sam whispered, snapping her fingers in front of his nose. "Hello, earth to Fenton, wake up." He blinked and noticed just how close Sam was, and how he was weirdly at school, in class. "You're like the living dead this morning, what's up?"
"Dude, she's totally right." Tucker seconded, texting as he did so. "You almost ran smack into a wall, that was weird. Did you forget to sleep?"
"Hmm?" Danny asked as Illusen sneezed rather loudly. "No, I just feel kinda out of it… Maybe I do need more sleep." He yawned, maybe just to prove a point. "Or less weirdness."
"Fear!" A loud voice echoed around the room and Danny was fully alert as all of the intercoms began to float. "You will all fear me!" A cry rose up from the class and Danny stood up quickly, sliding behind the bookshelf that had been placed away from the wall. Sam and Tucker followed, and a flash of bright light later, Danny Phantom drifted through the wall and over the heads of screaming students. "And now, you shall know the power of the Box Ghost!"
"Of all the ghosts it could be." Danny said to himself. "It has to be the lamest." Sighing, he flew over and saw the box ghost with several packing crates and milk carton, all of which were hurtled at Danny immediately. "Okay, milk gross." Danny said, turning intangible, but not before chocolate milk managed to explode on his shirt. "I hate this part… because it sucks."
"Fear me!" The Box Ghost wailed and Danny dodged more milk, hearing them smash against the wall and he flew in, turning tangible just soon enough to tackle him, making them both intangible as he flew through a wall. "Do not attempt to stop The Box Ghost!"
He shook Danny off and he went tangible as he hit a stack of gym mats, clouds of dust floating up as The Box Ghost flew away quickly, Danny coughing as he sat up, sighing before chasing the fading image of his stupidest and most irritating enemy. He did not want to fight, not now, not this ghost, and not when he could be sleeping or chewing on a pen or not doing this.
"Stupid dumb extra adjective ghost." Danny muttered, flying up and through to the roof, looking at the water tower and not finding anything before he dove through the roof and flew quickly, trying to locate and stop The Box Ghost before he could do anything spectacularly irritating. "Where is he?"
A loud gasp and Danny flew down the hall quickly, following the source of the noise and finding Illusen pushing out for under what looked like moving boxes. She saw him immediately and very quickly reached into her pocket for something, ducking as more boxes rained down upon her.
"These discarded containers are now a valuable accomplish-" Danny tackled The Box Ghost and tried to get a grip on the Fenton Thermos, which he knew had to be somewhere very close, like it always was. "Fear me?" The Box Ghost tried, and Danny had the Thermos in his hand, quickly unscrewing the lid and sucking The Box Ghost in.
"Oh wow." Danny turned and saw that Illusen had managed to push her way out of the cardboard boxes, peeling a piece of packing tape off of her arm. "You… You really did…" And then she did something a bit unexpected, nearly tackling Danny with a rather forceful hug. "You really do care." she whispered as Danny straightened himself up, feeling only a bit awkward. "Danny Phantom…" She let go quickly, tucking her hands behind her back. "Uhm, thank you… And uhm… I'm a big fan so thanks for… proving you're really the hero they say you are? No no, that's not right, its…"
"Well, you're welcome." Danny said, wondering how she had gotten to the second story when everyone else was probably running out the front door. "You are also a completely random person that I have never seen, meet or made friends with before." Illusen made a confused face and Danny just wanted to fly away. "Off to door more heroic stuff, bye now!" Danny phased through the floor, but not before noticing that Illusen was squinted at him, head tilted as though she was thinking, and that she was missing her glasses.
One transformation, several harried students and seven minutes later, class resumed, with Danny being about as interested as he had been before the ghost attack. Instead, he kept casting sidelong glances at Sam, noting that more often that not he would meet her eye and both of them would look away quickly. Maybe Illusen had been right, maybe Sam really did look at him and maybe he really did smile more.
But what on earth would that mean? He couldn't really like Sam because, sure they had kissed when he was controlled by a ghost or as a cover and they hung out together but deep down somewhere, they were just friends and that had to be the end of the story. Wasn't it?
Danny was still thinking at lunch, when a rather pointed piece of bacon made a straight course for his forehead. Blinking, he looked at Tucker, the source of the bacon, who was grinning proudly.
"Dude, you have got to pay better attention." Tucker said, smirking. "You've been so out of it, its like you just floated off. You didn't even bask in the ghost time like the rest of us and chill outside." Tucker pushed his hat down and continued eating his lunch as Danny's eyes wandered back to Sam. He wasn't obsessed with her, he was obsessed with the though of being obsessed with her. Because he wasn't. Man, now even his own thoughts were confusing. "Danny?"
"Sorry dude, I think I need to go take a walk." Danny said, not really noticing much as he got up, walking around and then out of the lunchroom, ready to wander the halls. He was having an off-day, and as he roamed, he ran smack into Star.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Star near shouted, pushing Danny away and bending over to pick up the posters she had dropped. Danny bent down to help her, handing back the brightly colored sheets of paper as he looked at one. "I'm going to need all of them you know."
"A Christmas party at the no-kill shelter?" Danny asked, handing her the last flyer. "That's… new."
"Its for a good cause." Star said a bit huffily, looking at Danny and then handing him back a flyer. "Here, if anyone asks, say you ripped it off the wall or something. But please come, its only five dollars in advance." With a quick look around, Star gave Danny a faint smile and dashed down the hallway, leaving Danny with a flyer in his hands.
"Well that was different." Danny said, continuing in the aimless direction that he had been headed. Instead of actually thinking about anything in particular, Danny decided that deep thoughts about the bricks in the wall were in order, and he stared them down in a contemplative manner.
He managed to make it through the rest of the day, and even got a bit of his homework done before getting distracted again. His attention span really was completely shot, and Danny felt dazed.
"What am I doing?" he asked himself, looking at the posters on his walls. "I don't even know… That should be a problem." A sigh, and then "I am talking to myself. Sign of insanity right there." He looked out of his window and saw Illusen in her yard, dancing around with a rake in one hand. "I should stop talking…"
"I love air!" Illusen exclaimed, spinning and then adjusting her scarf as she continued raking leaves. It had been so long since she had spent time anywhere that leaves had to be raked, and it really was a fun experience. "Oh please hurry winter, I can't wait for snow and break and things I don't even know are coming yet…" She raked a few more of the plentiful leaves towards her accumulating pile and then simply flopped backwards, liking the smell of leaves and grass and cold air. "So. Much. Happiness."
"Lou!" Recut called, and Illusen smiled, sinking deeper into the pile. "Lou, I know you're in the leaves." She could hear him walk over and then saw him leaning over her, taking the rake from her. "Well, you made a good start."
"Uncle, there is absolutely no reason for raking leaves if you can't play in the pile." Illusen said, sitting up. "Besides, I'm freakishly happy. Just be glad I'm not having a minor meltdown like usual and giving you a problem child to fix."
"Ah yes, small miracles." her uncle said, holding out his hand and letting Illy take it, pulling herself up. "By the way, I believe Danny is going to come out in just a minute, so if you'd like to panic about your hair, do so now."
"I have leaf hair." Illusen said. "That is nothing to worry about. Besides, I told you, I've calmed down. I figured out what the problem was."
"I told you what the problem was." Recut countered. "But you did solve it yourself. So, been having good nights? I haven't heard you toss and turn in a long time."
"Not a bit of tossing." Illusen said, looking over her uncle's shoulder. "Hey, Danny!" She waved energetically and Recut stepped aside. "Hey Danny, come on over, I have a leaf pile!" Maybe not the smartest thing she could have said, but at the time it seemed quite right.
"Okay." Danny said, walking over with his hands in his pockets. Something still felt weird, but Danny tried to push the thoughts aside, think about something else. "Hey Illy, uhm, what happened in that ghost attack today?" She looked at him and her smile dropped just a bit, before resuming its original intensity.
"What do you mean?" Illusen asked, taking the rake from her uncle and resuming her attempts at a leaf mound. "A ghost attacked, isn't that normally what happens?" Danny wanted to ask why she had hugged him, but that would involve explaining that he was actually the super powered object of her obsession, ends that did not justify the means.
"Uhm, yeah." Danny said, shrugging and wishing that he had thought to bring a jacket. His house was right there, but going back inside seemed like too much effort. "But I heard you like, personally got attacked." Her grip on the rake tightened as she turned away from him, and Danny wondered if this was going down the path of conversation fail.
"Who told you that?" Illusen asked, a hint of laughter in her voice. "I mean, I got a box on my head, but Danny Phantom came to save the day. Though… I don't remember any one else being there…" She turned, a questioning look on her face. "Who told you I got personally attacked?" And now he had to think of an excuse. This was a bad plan.
"Oh, I just heard it at lunch." Danny tried, looking up at the sky. "Maybe one of the teachers saw it, sounded like it was coming from the teachers' lounge." Illusen shrugged and went back to raking.
"Could have sworn I was the only one there…" Illusen said. "Oh well. Hey, you wanna jump?" She turned to Danny with a smile on her face and put the rake against the side of the house, looking a little more bouncy than usual. "It'll be fun, I promise. Everyone's a little kid when it comes to leaf jumping."
It seemed like a perfectly good idea. Really, Danny couldn't remember the last time he had jumped in a pile of leaves, but it seemed like it had been far too long. Illusen looked perfectly harmless next to all of those leaves, and it wasn't like he was doing anything.
"Sure, why not?" Danny said, and with a smirk, Illusen jumped into the pile of leaves, Danny right behind her. "So why exactly are you doing this?"
"Because its fun." Illusen said, smiling and pushing her glasses up. "Is there any better reason?"
They played in the leaves for awhile, Illusen raking the leaves back up every so often and eventually, the entire yard of leaves was collected into one massive pile. Recut came back out as it grew dark, and got the two teens inside as he bagged up the leaves. They drank cider that had been left on the stove and Illusen seemed to never stop smiling as she and Danny talked and talked and talk.
"Uhm, kids, its dark." Recut said, coming inside. "Danny, you should probably get back to you house, your parents will wonder if you're lost." Danny got up, and Illusen followed him to the door, still laughing faintly. "Glad you and Lou are getting along."
"Yeah, thanks for hanging out Danny." Illusen said, looking down at her shoes as she suddenly became shy again. "It was really great… I hope we can keep hanging out. You seem like… like a really good friend. I liked getting to know you."
"It was cool." Danny agreed, hands returning to his pockets. "We should definitely leaf-jump again sometime." Illusen nodded, and then hugged him quickly, the side of her head touching his before he let go and stepped out of the door.
"Bye!" Illusen said, waving. Danny returned the wave and made his way to his house, delighted when nothing attacked him on his way in the door.
"That was cool." Danny muttered, laying down on his bed. "Illy is cool…" And still distracted, thoughts still swarming, Danny drifted off to sleep.
Go to sleep kids! Next chapter will be here within two week, depending on when I get back from build a house camp. And if I'm awake. If it takes a couple extra days, its because I'm getting wisdom teeth out, and I might be slightly loopy on the painkillers.
Excuses are for losers! It'll be on time.
~ Natalie