Alright, alright.

I'm back.

I'm sorry D':

It's taken me a while, but I think I'm back in the groove of things. Kind of.

Anyways.

I challenged myself to have this story and the others that are incomplete to be updated by my birthday.

Which was on the fourth.

...obviously, I failed.

Majorly.

So as an apology, I started yet another chapter fic.

Probably going to end up being my longest one yet.

But, you're here to read this story, not my other stories.

Sooooo here's chapter five. I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope you can forgive me for my terribly long absence.

*sigh* I don't own Danny Phantom.

All Around Us

Chapter Five: Not Some Stupid Bimbo Singer

August 7, 2012


Music is very spiritual, it has the power to bring people together.
- Edgar Winter


When Sam arrived at school the following morning, she was momentarily surprised that Tucker was not waiting for her in the parking lot. But the surprise quickly wore off when she realized that Valerie's car was parked beside Tucker's yet again; the new couple must be inside the school already, she thought. She got her backpack out of her trunk and was just swinging the door shut when Danny appeared beside her.

"Hey," He grinned, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Hey, yourself," Sam grunted. She was exhausted; she had suffered from several nightmares that night, most of them involving Battle of the Bands and Elliot.

Concern flashed across Danny's face. "You okay?" He asked, his brows knit together as they walked toward the school.

"M'fine," She said, choosing to look at the ground instead of at Danny. "Couldn't sleep worth a shit last night."

"Ah," Danny nodded. "I know the feeling."

"I kept having these stupid nightmares," Sam said before she could stop herself. From the corner of her eye, she could see his head whip around sharply, his eyes blazing. She'd had nightmares about ghost battles before. Danny hated it.

"What happened in them?" He asked as they climbed the steps to the doors of the school.

"Oh, um...ah...it was just...Ember and...Technus...they were fighting and they burned down the book store," She fabricated quickly, refusing to meet his eye. "Nobody got hurt or anything, they just burned down the bookstore before we could stop them."

Danny didn't believe her and she knew it. But he did not press the matter. He merely pressed his lips together and nodded. Sam noticed he was walking a bit closer to her than he usually did; he did this when he sensed she was uncomfortable. He believed she had terrible nightmares. Sam's heart did a little flip. Despite her jibes, she kind of liked it when Danny was overprotective. But only kind of.

Mercifully, Tucker appeared moments later, effectively ending the discussion of her nightmares. Danny kept his close proximity, though, and Sam braced herself for the lovebird comments Tucker would surely hurl their direction. But Tucker was too preoccupied with texting Valerie to even notice.

They entered their homeroom in silence, Tucker's face buried in his cell phone, Danny close behind Sam. She swore she could feel his hand on her backpack. When they sat, Danny kept one arm on her desk and continuously glanced back at her as if to assure himself that she was still in one piece. Sam sighed and began doodling in the margins of her paper, ignoring the feeling of Danny's eyes on her face. If this was what it took to keep him happy, then she'd let him fret.

"Good morning class," Mr. Lancer called when he walked in a few moments later. Danny turned his head to the front of the room but kept his arm on Sam's desk, elliciting a dramatic eye-roll from the girl. "I have a lot of preperations I still need to do for Battle of the Bands, so please feel free to take this period as a study hall opportunity."

A quiet buzz of conversation began as the other students turned to each other. Danny turned his body completely sideways and rested both of this elbows on Sam's desk. She looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Whatcha drawing?" He asked. He took much more interest in her doodles ever since she had created the emblem on the chest of his ghostly self.

She splayed her hands across the paper, covering most of the doodles. "Nothing," She said a little too quickly.

Eyes. She had been drawing eyes. Danny's eyes, to be specific, but since she was doodling with a pencil, it could have been anyone's eyes. Eyes filled with joy. Eyes filled with pain. Emotions poured through the eyes. Danny scooped both of her wrists up in one hand, twisting the paper in his direction before Sam could stop him. She growled in protest, not wanting to scream and attract unwanted attention. She glanced at Tucker. He was completely absorbed in his cell phone.

"Whoa," Danny whispered. Sam yanked her hands out of his grasp and snatched the paper out of Danny's grasp. Danny leaned forward, his eyes following the paper into Sam's bag. "Those were really good!"

"Thanks." Sam grunted, sinking down in her chair.

"No, seriously, they were good. Have you looked into the art progr-"

"No, okay? I haven't looked into the art program, I haven't looked into the music program, I want to be a psychologist. Not some stupid bimbo singer, not a hobo who swears he's starving for his art, a psychologist." Sam's voice had risen considerably. She blinked and glanced around the room, which had suddenly fallen silent. Every eye was on hers, including Mr. Lancer's.

"Okay," Danny mumbled. He pulled his elbows off of her desk. "Sorry."

Sam sighed. She grabbed her backpack by the handle and shoved her way up the aisle and out of the room without a word. She jogged to the girl's bathroom.

She kicked the door open and sighed in relief when she found the room to be empty. Slowly, she shuffled to one of the mirrors. She leaned against the sink, dropping her backpack by her feet, and braced her hands on either side of the sink. She was pale; it was obvious she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. She touched a single dark circle beneath one of her eyes, grimacing as she did.

Sam did not look around when the bathroom door opened. Most people at her school were afraid of her because she was so different, so she was accustomed to girls giving her plenty of space in the bathroom. Why would it be any different this time?

"Hey, Sam," a familiar voice said. Sam looked around and spotted Valerie, who was smiling a bit sheepishly at her.

"Hey," Sam said, stepping away from the mirror.

"I won't lie...Tucker asked me to come check on you. Is everything okay?" Valerie asked gently, taking a step closer. Sam cringed.

"I'm fine," Sam lied. "I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Valerie nodded. "Yeah, I know how that feels," She said, chuckling a little. Sam had to close her eyes to avoid rolling them at Valerie; Sam knew exactly how Valerie knew.

"Congratulations, by the way," Sam offered, eager to change the subject. Valerie beamed. "I know how much Tucker likes you, so...uh, yeah,"

"Thank you," Valerie said. "I've liked him for a while now too, I was really hoping he'd ask me out again soon..." She chuckled, obviously lost in the memory. Sam smiled in spite of herself. "Sorry," Valerie laughed, shaking her head vigerously. "So you're alright?"

"I will be," Sam sighed. "I just need sleep,"

Valerie nodded. "You think you can make it through today without dying?"

Sam laughed appreciatively, walking beside Valerie to the door of the bathroom. "We'll see," She chortled as the bell rang for first period.


Sam did not see either Danny or Tucker again until lunch. By then, she was in a considerably better mood, having slept for fifteen minutes in her calculus class. Luckily, Tucker was not in the cafeteria when Sam got there; she spotted Danny sitting in his usual place, picking moodily at his pizza.

"Hey, listen, about what happened during home room..." Sam said as she slid into the seat across from Danny. Danny looked up at her, confusion in his eyes. She hesitated. "I...yelled at you, remember?"

"Oh!" Danny said, dropping his pizza on his plate.

"Yeah...I'm really sorry, I just didn't get hardly any sleep last night and I was in a terrible mood, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm sorry." Sam batted her eyes at him playfully, earning a snort from her best friend.

"I figured as much, no harm done," Danny shrugged, flashing his signature crooked grin at her. "I was more worried about you than anything else,"

Sam rolled her eyes and waived his attention off. "Nothing to worry about," She smiled, pulling her salad out of the depths of her backpack. "Is that why you were so tense when I walked in?"

Danny's expression darkened. "No," He muttered, dropping his gaze back to his pizza. Sam froze, the plastic lid of her salad held aloft.

"What?" She asked nervously. "Vlad?"

"No, no ghosts," Danny said quickly, glancing up at her through his hair. "Just...before you got in here -"

"Sam!" A voice cried from behind her. She whirled around, dropping the lid of her salad on the table. Elliot was sauntering toward her, grinning in what she guessed was supposed to be an alluring smile. She immediately thought of a hyena circling its' prey. He slid into the seat on Sam's right, completely ignoring Danny. "Have you given my offer any more thought?"

"Yes. It gave me nightmares." Sam spat. She glanced at Danny. Every muscle in the boy's body was tensed; he was poised to lunge across the table and rip Elliot's throat out at any given moment.

Elliot threw his head back and laughed loudly, drawing stares from the students in the near vicinity. Silence was beginning to ripple across the cafeteria. Sam swallowed hard.

"You're hilarious," Elliot said, wiping dramatically at his eyes. "But seriously, your last chance to sign up is Friday."

"I don't think she's interested, dude," A voice called. Sam looked over Elliot's shoulder and felt her heart drop. David had appeared. He was standing a few feet behind Elliot, his arms crossed over his chest. Anger twisted his face.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Elliot asked, lowering his sunglasses further down his nose. David bared his teeth at him.

"Elliot, get out." Sam growled. She stood and seized David by his upper arms. "Come with me." She muttered, dragging him out of the cafeteria while trying to ignore the gawking stares of the rest of the students. She waited until they were in a completely deserted hallway before turning on her heel to face him. "What were you thinking?" She demanded.

"I was about to tell him that you're already in a band, so he can shove it!" David said, his hands on his hips. "Why did you stop me?"

"Because Danny doesn't know I'm in a band." Sam muttered through clenched teeth. "And I don't have any intention of telling him. Not yet, at least."

David gaped at her. "Isn't he your best friend?" He asked when he recovered.

"Yes, and I have a well-known reputation of hating music. I'm not ready for that to change."

"Seriously?" David asked, his voice raising in incredulity. "That's so stupid, why don't you just -"

"Tell someone?" Sam finished, raising her eyebrows emphatically. David paled.

"That's different." He muttered. "That's my entire life we're talking about, not something as stupid as whether or not you like music..."

"For me, hating music is a big part of my life. For as long as Danny and Tucker have known me, I've hated music. I don't back off of my beliefs. This is just as important to me as yours is to you."

David huffed. "What are you gonna tell them when we have to have rehearsals?" He demanded.

"I told them I'm in a group project for Forensics. That's my excuse."

"And when they see you at Battle of the Bands?"

Sam swallowed. She hadn't thought that far ahead yet. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." She muttered. "Please, David. I'm keeping your secret. I'm trusting you to keep mine."

David eyed her a moment longer before sighing and nodding. "Fine, I'll keep your stupid secret." He grumbled. Sam beamed.

When she returned to the lunch room, it appeared that everything had returned to normal. Elliot was nowhere to be seen, and conversations had broken back out among the other students. Danny was still sitting exactly where Sam had left him, jiggling his leg restlessly. He glanced over his shoulder as she approached, and sat up straighter when he recognized her.

"Sorry," She muttered as she sat back down. She noticed Danny's eyes were following someone; she followed his gaze and saw he was watching David reclaiming his seat. When she looked back around, however, she found that Danny had eyes for no one but her.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, his voice hushed. Sam nodded. "Who is that guy?" Danny asked, nodding in David's direction.

"One of my partners for that forensics project I was telling you about," She lied smoothly, ripping the plastic packaging off of her fork and spearing a large mouthful of spinach leaves into her mouth.

Danny grunted, watching her eat. "What the hell is Elliot's problem, anyway?" He grumbled. "Can he not take a hint?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess he likes to think I'm playing hard to get," She said, examining a spinach leaf.

Danny hmphed and picked up his pizza again. "I'll deck him next time he comes near you, just say the word."

Sam glanced up and found Danny staring at David again. She gulped.

This is gonna be a bit harder than I thought.


Music is very spiritual, it has the power to bring people together.
- Edgar Winter