Okay. It's been a while since I last updated- NaNoWriMo saw to that- but I hope this is another chapter fit for the cliffhanger I ended with last time. To end with another cliffhanger. Promise me, there won't be so many after this. Promise.
So, good news is that I sucsessfully wrote 50,000 words in November, which is totally awesome. If anyone else reading this participated in NaNo, congratulations, for any word amount that you wrote. Think of it this way- it's more words than you've written before, which is awesome in my book. Bad news? This story has been sitting, neglected, for more than a month. But now that's it back on it's seat, I hope you enjoy!
Okay, my heart isn't that strong. When I saw Danny, red lights flashed and sirens wailed in my head. I immediately pushed Dash away, staring at him.
"Dash! What the heck?" I snarled, while trying to look behind him for Danny. No luck, though. He was gone, and no wonder. I had been kissing Dash. Well, technically he had been kissing me, but whatever. It was still way, way weird. Me and Dash? I don't think so.
Dash had this goofy grin on his face, and I was about to smack him silly before he came back to his senses. I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him angrily. Dash frowned, like he didn't know why I was mad, then his eyes widened. "Oh, my god…Sam, I shouldn't have..." Dash paused. "Well, I told you I was bad at talking." I raised my eyebrows.
"Yet you can write songs? That's basically talking- or I guess singing- on paper," I pointed out, and Dash shrugged.
"I don't know," he admitted. "One day, I just got the inspiration, and started writing." Dash looked down at the ground. "I really love it." I smiled.
"Well, it's good you found something you love, other than beating other kids up," I said, a little coldly, but it's not like he could deny it. Dash started to say something, but I cut him off. "Anyway. Don't you think we should focus more on the matter at hand?" Dash's face fell.
"That's what my father tells everyone about me," he said bitterly. "'Dash? He's the head of his class, of the entire school, I'm telling you. That boy knows what he wants, and he goes and gets it.'" He said this all in a deeper voice, imitating his father. I raised an eyebrow. I wondered what my parents said about me. Dash's wasn't far from the truth, but my parents wanted a Paulina. I guess I didn't cut it.
"Look, I'm sorry," I replied, genuinely. "I really am. I know where you're coming from." Dash nodded sadly, and I scowled. "But I'm kind of caught up with the fact that you just freaking kissed me, and I kind of want an answer." Dash looked kind of nervous, and he was blushing like crazy.
"Sam, I really, really-" Dash was cut off by the bell. He looked relieved, and I wondered what he was going to say. Something big to be looking that relieved. "Whoa! Time just flies sometimes. There's the bell. Gotta go! See you, Sam!" He was rattling things off a mile a minute, so fast I could barely even make sense of them. Then he was gone, run off to who know's where leaving me bewildered and officially freaked out.
Can things get any more stranger?
(Don't answer that.)
I sunk into a seat beside Tucker, not daring to look at him. I'd dried off in the bathroom, and now we were in algebra, and Danny wasn't in our class. Thankfully. But there was also another problem. Tucker and Danny were super close, and while that's a really good thing, I wondered if that meant they confided in each other a lot. You know, things like… oh-my-god-Sam-was-kissing-Dash! You know. That sort of thing.
"Do you know where Danny is?" Tucker whispered to me, and I shrugged, sighing quietly in relief. Tucker wasn't that good at hiding his emotions, so I could safely confirm that he had no idea what had been going on.
"In class?" I guessed, and he shook his head.
"I haven't seen him since you ran off," he replied, and I sunk a little lower in my seat. Uh-oh. Not good. I wondered if this had anything to do with me. Knowing my luck, probably. "He went to see if you were okay." Tucker paused, eyes widening behind his glasses. "Wait. Did anything happen between you two?" I blushed, but tried to keep it down. Seriously, I was pretty pale. I didn't want to light up like it was Christmas or something.
"No," I said quickly, and Tucker raised his eyebrows. I scowled. "What. You think this is my fault or something?" He shook his head, and I sighed. Just another thing to add to my This-is-such-a-great-day! list: Danny was missing.
"Sorry. Just kinda worried, you know? He's totally skipping school. I mean, if he gets detention again, he'll probably be sentenced to life." Tucker made a weird noise that was half snort, half sigh. "Or longer, I guess." I nodded, grimacing.
"He probably just saw a ghost or something," I said, trying to assure him. Or maybe myself. "I'm sure he's fine." Danny wouldn't just skip school for nothing. It's not like it was his favorite thing ever, but he didn't want his parents involved.
"I hope you're right," Tucker replied, refocusing the attention on the board and Mr. Faluca. I did too. At least it was a distraction from all the thoughts running wild in my head.
And it left me wondering… where the heck was Danny, anyway?
Tucker's parents had picked him up from school, saying they wanted to do a "family activity" together. Whatever. Waving to him as he disappeared into the car, I set off. I needed some alone time, anyway. Just to kind of get away from my thoughts instead of letting them boil, frustrated, inside of me.
If you're reading this, you probably know that I'm not only Sam Manson, goth girl. I'm also an enviormentalist. Strolling through the park was one of my favorite things to do, especially when I needed an escape from the polluted metropolis area. Walking through it right now, I pulled up the hood of my purple hoodie over my head, shivering. It was winter and getting colder every day. I was counting the days until Christmas, probably my favorite day of the whole year- even though I didn't celebrate. I know, kind of weird, me being Jewish and all. But Christmas goes beyond faith, I think- it's all about spending time with your family and friends, and just spreading the joy. Even I can appreciate that.
And with it being early December, I didn't have long to wait. Grinning, I looked around the park. Then my eyes widened as I saw another person who was enjoying the park beauty. Or maybe not enjoying it- he looked pretty sour.
Danny. Or, if you care about details, Danny Phantom. If Paulina was with me, she'd have had a heart attack.
Walking over quietly, I sat down, leaning against the tree trunk. I couldn't sit beside him- he was way up in a tree, just looking up at the clouds. Either Danny didn't even know I was there, or he was ignoring me. I hoped the first one.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" I remarked quietly, trying to break the ice. I shouldn't have had to, though. I mean, this was Danny! My best friend! Why did I even feel guilty? It's not like kissing Dash was a federal offence, and I haven't even kissed him in the first place. He kissed me. End of story. But even if I had kissed him, Danny shouldn't care that much.
Danny's head whipped around, trying to locate who it was who was speaking. Finally, his eyes landed on me. He looked away and back up at the clouds quickly.
"Yeah," Danny replied lightly. "Great day." We sat in awkward silence. See? We can talk to each other about anything. Sheesh.
"Look, Danny," I said, sick of silence. It was now or never. "It isn't like what you think. I-" Danny looked back at me angrily.
"I know what I saw, Sam," he replied coldly. "You. Kissing Dash. Have I been missing out on something? When did you two stop hating each other, anyway? Or was that all just some pretending thing while you two secretly went out behind my back?" I stared at Danny.
"Danny, this is 9th grade, not the 1600's," I said. "It's not Romeo and Juliette or something. Look, I don't really know what happened, but it's not some conspiracy or anything." Danny just kept looking angry, and I sighed. Man, he was stubborn.
Then something made me look up. And thank god I had.
"Danny! Watch out!" I screamed, knocking him out of the tree and onto the ground.
We were under fire.