WoM- Hey, I'm not dead yet! Considering how much 'fun' Sadie had this week, that's an accomplishment if there ever was one… 'jaw drops' OVER 100 REVIEWS IN THREE CHAPTERS! You guys are WAY too kind to this pitiful, mildly psychotic fangirl! 'huggles reviewers' Thank you all for liking this crappy lil story of mine so much! And let me say right here and now that after this chapter, I'm very, VERY glad my teachers can't read my mind…
"Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen."
-Samuel Patterson
Red Flags
"Oh, man, this is GOLD!" Tucker laughed loudly, earning stared from most of the restaurant. "You and Paulina trapped in a room together for an hour with no one else to talk to? That's something I'd PAY to see!"
'I wonder if Tucker's gonna catch on that he needs to shut up before or after Sam shoves her large soda down his throat…?' Danny mused to himself.
"Hey, think Lancer will let me put in cameras? And maybe a mud wrestling pit?"
'After,' Danny decreed mentally. Next thing Mr. Lancer over heard was a loud 'Thunk!' followed by a yelp of pain.
"Can't you show a little sympathy, Tucker?" Sam snapped.
"Aw, come on, Sam," Danny said absently, "What's so bad about getting to know Paulina?"
'Hmm, I don't know,' Sam thought sarcastically. 'Maybe the fact that she's a deceitful little witch that has you wrapped around her little finger.'
"Tell you what," She said out loud. "Why don't we lock you in a room with Plasmius an hour a day and call it even?"
"Hey, that's not the same!" Danny protested almost instantly.
'Not much of a difference from where I'm standing…' Sam thought bitterly.
"Yeah, Sam," Tucker said, sounding amused. "After all, at least Paulina's all human."
'I'm not putting any money on that bet.' Sam said dryly in her head. Mr. Lancer was so alarmed, he almost didn't hear it, though. And this time it had nothing to do with his power.
'What in the world did Foley mean by that?' He thought, glancing over at the trio's table curiously. 'And who on earth is Plasmius? I've never heard that name around here before…'
"Tucker," Danny warned in a low voice, "there are people here,"
'And can we change the subject?' He added mentally, 'Vlad's the last guy I wanna talk about now… especially since the mere mention of his name seems to draw him sniffing around here lately. I've still got Desiree and Skulker running around, I don't need to deal with the fruitloop too.'
"So?" Tucker said, sounding unconcerned, "We're the invisible, Danny. No one cares about us enough to eavesdrop." Mr. Lancer frowned, a little offended by that remark for some reason. Not to mention very concerned.
'Invisibles?' He said mentally, 'Where in the world did they get such an inaccurate description of themselves? Sam is the cause behind every last one of the MANY protest in the school since she first entered Casper High, and Danny is still the most creative trouble maker I've ever met…. I still have no idea how he managed to break into the off limits boiler room and make the entire heating and cooling system go haywire last week… And as for Tucker himself, as loud as he is, one cannot ignore him for too long.'
What concerned him just as much, though, was the fact that neither Sam nor Danny was protesting the appalling label. This was especially bad considering that Sam was always ranting about individuality and such, so you'd think she'd be the first to protest such a title.
"Maybe, but I don't want to take any chances." Danny sighed, "Especially after what Technus said…"
'Technus…' Mr. Lancer frowned. 'Where have I heard that name before…?'
"Come on, Danny," Sam sighed, "He's probably just trying to make you paranoid… psych you out so Skulker or Desiree could finish the job."
'Yeah, right,' Danny scoffed, 'Technus isn't much of a liar. He's too simple to come up with a whopper like that. There has to be something else here I'm missing…'
"Hey, Danny!"
'Oh, please,' Sam thought, sounding angry and horrified. 'Not NOW!'
'Uh-oh…' Tucker sounded uneasy. 'Better move before the fur starts flying… I have a hard enough time getting dates as it is without getting caught in the middle of a cat fight.'
"Valerie?" Danny said out loud, sounding faintly surprised. "Wow, what are you doing here?"
"I work here, remember?" Valerie said pointedly, amusement coloring her tone. The children's English teacher frowned. He had known that Valerie had applied for an after school job a while back, yes, but not at the Nasty Burger.
"Oh, right," Danny laughed sheepishly. "I thought you'd quit now that your dad has his old job back…"
"Nah," Valerie sighed. "I don't want to mooch everything off my dad anymore when I can earn it myself."
'I'm done playing the spoiled little brat,' She added in her head, 'I'm a big girl now, and from now on I take care of myself.'
"Wow, that's really cool of you, Val," Danny said warmly, "I don't think I could do it in your shoes…"
'And the fact that Danny thinks it's cool is defiantly a bonus,' The girl finished, sounding pleased with Danny's words. Mr. Lancer sighed. Why was it that the lives of every teenage girl in his class seemed to be centered around boys? Between Paulina, Sam and Phantom and Valerie, Sam and Danny, he wasn't sure with love triangle made him want to tear his hair out more.
'I suppose this is the next issue that will have to be dealt with,' The Teacher thought dryly, 'But after things settle down between Sam and Paulina. Sam already thinks I'm out to get her as it is, forcing her to spend time with both her rivals would probably only confirm it in her mind.' Though a part of him wondered when the Goth's love life had gotten so interesting. As far as he could ever tell, she only had eyes for Danny, so when did this fling with Phantom come around…?
'Uugh…' Sam thought in disgust. 'They're doing it again…'
"So, Valerie," the violet eyed girl said out loud, forcing herself into the conversation. "Did you sign up for the big trip to Hawaii?"
"Well, I was thinking about it," Valerie confessed, "But it might be too expensive."
"Too bad," Sam said, not sounding too broken up about it.
"Yeah," Danny agreed (Though far more honestly, in Mr. Lancer's opinion.) "I mean, we're all going…"
"You are?" Valerie said, sounding a little surprised.
"Jazz is one of the Senior Chaperones," Danny explained, "So I got in free and Tucker and Sam both paid their ways in,"
'One of the many benefits of one of your best friends being the sole heiress to millions of dollars.' Tucker thought cheerfully. Mr. Lancer coughed up the coffee he was drinking, his eyes wide.
'Well THAT'S certainly news…' He thought dryly, glancing over that the four teens, 'And yet knowing Miss Manson as I do, somehow it doesn't surprise me as much as it should…'
"At any rate," Sam continued, "It should be a fun trip. Sorry you'll miss it," Valerie's eyes narrowed.
"Well, I guess I'll have a talk with my dad and see if I can pull some funding, if you guys really want me to come." She said sweetly.
'Don't count me out yet, Manson,' She said internally, 'It might mean that I can't hunt for a long, LONG time, but I will make that trip!'
'…Hunt?' Lancer was honestly surprised. The girl never struck him as the nature type, after all, and hunting was generally a male sport. It also confused him that Mr. Grey would have a problem with his daughter perusing such a hobby. He couldn't have that much of a problem with guns, after all, being a security director…
Another thing that surprised him was the calculating challenges the girls in his class seemed fond of giving one another. All under the noses of the guys they like, without any of them ever noticing…
"Really?" Danny said, sounding happy, "Great!"
'Oh yeah,' Sam thought sarcastically. 'Super. Let's bring the ghost hunter along! As if she hasn't made thing complicated enough already…'
'…I couldn't have heard that right,' Lancer said, gaping pointedly at Sam before turning his eyes to Valerie, 'Miss Grey… is a GHOST HUNTER? Impossible! Damon would never allow his daughter to do something so dangerous!' That when Valerie's earlier comment made more sence, and the teacher groaned softly to himself. 'Sense and Sensibility, what is Valerie thinking, taking up such a dangerous side hobby?'
Valerie was far too young to take such a dangerous task upon herself. And how she managed to keep her little pastime hidden from the rest of the town baffled her teacher. Surely someone should've seen the signs and stopped her. If Sam, Tucker and Danny knew, then others had to know as well. Teenagers were horrible at keeping secrets from one another.
'And why on earth would Sam have a problem with Valerie being a ghost hunter, anyways?' Mr. Lancer asked himself. 'After all, the Fentons are a family of ghost hunters, and she certainly has no problem with them. She and Foley practically live in FentonWorks…'
'Was that Mr. Lancer right now?' The teacher jerked slightly at his name, his eyes meeting the baby blue scrutiny of Danny Fenton. The teenager looked surprised for a moment. 'Whoa! Creepy, it was like he knew I was thinking about him… but why did he groan just now? He's not listening in on us… is he?'
'Perhaps the boy has a keener eye for detail then I first thought,' the bald man thought to himself, frowning. No one else had noticed, after all. Even when he accidentally answered someone's thoughts out loud. He was just hoping the boy wouldn't say anything to his friends about his suspicions when Danny gave a sharp gasp, shivering for no reason that the English Major could find.
'Not now!' Danny wailed in his head, standing up despite his reluctance to deal with whatever his mysterious problem was.
"I've gotta go," He told his friend, hurrying out the back doors to the empty alley.
'He's running off again?' Valerie thought, sounding disappointed, 'Man, where the heck does he go all the time? I've hunted ghosts that are better at staying still then that guy!'
"You know, one of these days I'm gonna find out why he runs off like that," Valerie told the others at the table.
"You do that," Sam said in a cool voice.
'I can tell you right now you won't like the answer…'
'And I can tell you that I don't like that response,' Mr. Lancer said dryly. It was obvious that unlike with Paulina, there was more to Sam abhorrence towards Valerie then just jealousy.
…Of course, that wasn't to say that jealousy didn't play a big role…
'BOOM!'
Several customers screamed as a wall exploded, and when the dust settled, Mr. Lancer was surprised to find a rather dazed Danny Phantom sitting in what remained of the rubble of the wall, a high-tech looking ghost in a battle suit hovering above him.
"I have you now, Ghost boy!" He growled. "Prepare to have your head stuffed and mounted on my wall!"
"Dude!" Tucker cried out, sounding horrified, "Some of us just finished eating here!"
'Nice,' Phantom thought sarcastically, shooting Tucker a glare, 'His concern for my safety is touching.'
"Pass," The ghost child said out loud, going intangible. He appeared moments later right in front of the ghost, punching him out of the restaurant and following without pause.
Mr. Lancer's eyes immediately sought out Valerie, only to see her disappear around a corner. There was a flash of pink light from around the bend before the Red Hunter came flying out on her jet sled, peeling out in the same direction the ghosts had gone. Mr. Lancer stood with his jaw gaping as he watched her go with one last thought ringing through her head.
'You're not getting away today, Ghost boy!'
'Impossible…' He thought, numbly as around him people panicked and scattered, 'Valerie is the Red Hunter?'
Hours later in his small, simple home, the teacher was still pacing a path in his hardwood floor trying to think of what to do with what he'd just learned about Valerie. So far all he had figured out was that the thirtieth plank from his south side wall groaned when someone put too much pressure on it.
'Should I speak with her father about it?' He asked himself. 'It should be his affair to handle after all… but if he wonders how I found out, what will I tell him? Should I lie and say I caught her in her transformation? No, I'm sure she checks before she does something like that, she'll know I lied and will get suspicious… of course, I can't tell her herself, either.' Mr. Lancer sighed starting to get a headache.
When did things get so complicated?
'Perhaps all I need to do is discreetly keep her from fighting ghosts on school grounds?' he decided. 'Maintain a careful watch on her and stop her when she attempts to hunt a ghost.' It wasn't much, but it would keep her alive and out of harm's way.
Now on to deal with Danny Fenton and his friends…
'What on Earth are they involved in?' He wondered to himself, 'And how did they know that Valerie hunted ghosts?' Surely they weren't in on the whole hunting thing…
…Were they?
'It does seem like the sort of thing they'd involve themselves in,' He thought dryly, 'Especially Sam…' The teacher sighed. He knew that if he wanted answers, he'd have to be patent and wait. Especially since Danny was catching on to him already…
WoM- Lancer knows about Valerie! 'giggles' I can't wait to get to the trip! And how much longer will Danny's secret last? Stay tuned to find out!
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Next update; February 17th
See you then!