Chapter 4 – Last Day

The next day at school, everyone was excited because it was the last day before summer recess. Everyone, that is except for Sam.

"Uh, Sam, you ok?" Danny could see dark circles under her eyes as they walked between classes.

"Oh yeah. Had trouble sleeping last night." She rubbed her eyes. She didn't want to talk about her dream.

"Danny! Sam! Got my yearbook, you've got to write in it!" Tucker was almost running down the hallway.

"Cool." Danny opened it up, flipping through the pages, looking for a place to sign. To his surprise, he found next to the standard class picture of his face, an article from the Amity Park newspaper about his rescue of Sam last fall. He was listed in the school yearbook as a hero!

"Whoa, Danny, this is awesome!" said Tucker. Sam peered over Danny's shoulder, her hand on Danny's fingers to steady the yearbook as she gazed. Danny blushed as she came close. Did he smell roses? Danny and Tucker looked at her, Tucker adjusting his black framed glasses. She gave a brief smile.

She spoke close in his ear: "You're a hero Danny. That is where I want you to sign mine too. I gotta go to class. See you guys at lunchtime." Squeezing his arm, she turned around, skirt twirling around her as she walked away.

Danny watched her walk away. Tucker watched Danny.

"Dude, you still got a chance!" He knew Danny and Sam belonged together. "That was a very friendly goodbye!"

"I dunno Tuck. She seemed kinda down today. Maybe she just needed her friends."

He turned around and walked to class, looking down at the ground. He didn't want to get his hopes up again and cause himself more heartache. He had to back off from crossing the line. Tucker put his hand on Danny's shoulder.

Tucker had always wished for the right girl to come along for himself, and didn't understand Sam and Danny's hesitation with each other. He would jump at the chance to express affection towards a girl, if he had one. But he dropped the thought. The next class was math!

……………………………

At lunchtime, the trio met again at the usual table. Danny sat next to Sam, Tucker on the other side facing them.

Danny inspected a sandwich of doubtful contents.

"I won't be walking home with you guys today, mom and dad are picking me up after school. They want to show me something."

Sam was popping open her Tupperware bowl of salad. She had picked up a second wind after napping in science class. They were supposed to be saying goodbyes, and signing yearbooks during the class, but Sam didn't really have any friends in that class. Most of the kids were science savvy and thought her Gothic lifestyle to be primitive, and not logical. She was outcast. "What? Where to?" she asked.

"It is more what than where" Danny replied, "something about a new instrument in the Fenton RV. They want to show me how it works. They have this family thing about, how we are all in it together, Jazz and me, even though I don't have a clue about what they are talking about. You know, learning the family trade, following their footsteps. Sheesh."

Tucker was curious.

"Do you think I could tag along? I can walk home from your place afterwards."

"Me too." Sam wanted to tag along. She enjoyed being with Danny's family more than her own.

"OK, as long as you don't mind going to the cemetery." Danny kept his head down towards his sandwich, but he was looking through his shaggy hair with blue eyes to see his friend's reaction.

Tucker adjusted his red baseball cap, glanced at Sam, then looked back at Danny.

"Cemetery?" Sam glanced at Tucker, then back at Danny with lavender eyes narrowed to a focus.

"Uh yeah, somehow they have to test it there. Don't know why." Danny's mom and dad worked on things in the downstairs lab that he found difficult to understand, so he could never explain the things that Sam and Tucker saw when they came over.

Sam liked the idea of going to the cemetery. As a Goth-girl, she wondered why she hadn't thought of going there before.

"Sounds really cool to me!" She had a mischievous smile as she popped a carrot slice into her mouth.

"Ok, then we'll meet in the parking lot after school." Danny said, as he watched Sam start to munch a celery stick. Across the table, Tucker was eating a celery stick too, but it sure wasn't the same as watching Sam!