Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom (though that would be pretty cool). DP belongs to Butch Hartman. Nor do I own the song Lovebug, which belongs to the Jonas Brothers. I did change some wordings and leave out some parts, though. (By the way, in the story, the song was written by Dash, not the JB's.)
Danny fell from the tree just as the branch he had been sitting on was incinerated.
Spitting out a mouthful of grass, Danny choked out, "Sam, what the heck—" Then he looked up, and got a confused look. "Skulker?"
"Give the boy a prize," I muttered, scrambling up. And there he was, hovering a few feet away and holding up a cannon aimed directly at us. The one he'd almost used to turn Danny into a smoldering pile of ghostly dust, I thought, shuddering.
Danny shot up, moving so that he was between me and Skulker, like I needed protection. Which I probably did. But seriously, I was no damsel in distress. Who'd saved whom a few moments ago? I stepped forward to be beside him. No way was he taking any hits for me.
"Hey, Skulker," he said, and Skulker leveled his un-human gaze on us. If I were Danny, I wouldn't be challenging someone who had the means to blast a hole right through us. "Didn't you get the notice? This is a park, not a junkyard." I rolled my eyes as Skulker's slits-for-eyes narrowed.
"I did not come here to play villain with you, ghost child," he replied. "As I said before, I have much more pressing matters than to deal with you." Danny faltered for a moment before starting up again. For some weird reason, he finds it even more threatening when the ghosts don't want to deal with him.
"Didn't look like that when you almost blasted a whole through my head," Danny replied coldly, forming a ghost ray in his hand. It was getting late, and the eerie green light cast strange shadows on his face, making it all the spookier. I definitely did not want to be Skulker right now. "So get over yourself and tell me what you want."
Skulker laughed, a strange metallic sound. "Relax, whelp." His eyes drifted to me the same way they had on Saturday. I glared back. "I just came on orders to see how your girlfriend's doing." Danny's eyes clouded over as he stepped back, looking down at his boot-clad feet.
"She's not my girlfriend," he said, and then for a moment, it was like I wasn't even there. "And if you've actually done anything the past few days, you'd know that she's found better guys than me, obviously." Ouch. That one was pretty much directed at me, not Skulker. I gave him a pained look. Was that what he thought? That I thought that Dash was better than him? Well, Dash was certainly acting better than him right now.
He was acting almost…jealous. I almost laughed at that thought. Jealous? Yeah. Right.
Skulker smirked. "Teenagers," he said, rolling his eyes, if that was even possible. "Always with the drama." Then his cold gaze was back on us. "Just get over yourself, Phantom." He nodded to Danny, smirking again. "That's from the Master." Then he sunk into the ground, and out of sight.
We stared at the ground for a few minutes before looking back at each other. The street was pretty much silent for now, and the crickets were the only thing I could hear. Amity Park gets real quiet at night- ever since the recent rise in ghost activity. And with the streetlights flickering- and I swear I could hear a wolf howling- I didn't blame them.
Danny was fuming. "What was that all about?" he snapped. "There he was on Saturday, and now on Monday…and who the heck is 'the Master' anyway?" He didn't give me a breath to answer. "And what does he mean by 'get over myself'?"
I sighed. I didn't really have to deal with an irate Danny a lot, since he was pretty mellow most of the time, but it sure wasn't a picnic.
"Well, you might have overreacted just a little bit—" Now he wheeled on me, and I stumbled back a bit.
"'Overreacted'? Sam, that guy almost blew a whole through me!" I shook my head, getting angry myself.
"Yeah, but other than that, nothing happened," I pointed out, and he just glared at me. Remembering what he'd said before, I snapped, "And what's with the whole 'better guys than me' thing? Since when do you think Dash is better than you?"
I'd never seen Danny looking so mad. Even before, when I'd wished I'd never met him, he hadn't been so angry. It was like I'd set off an alarm bell. "If he isn't, then why didn't tell me what was going on? I really did not need to find out by seeing you two make out in the middle of the football field. Especially when I'd come out there to help you." I put my hands on my hips, scowling at him.
"I don't remember you saying anything when I actually needed helping." He looked away angrily, but didn't say sorry. Ugh. Guys. "And we were not making out. For your information, he kissed me. End of story." Danny looked hopefully at me, a smile breaking out on his face.
"So you don't like him? At all?" Oh, God. Why did my life have to be so complicated? I bit my lip, not meeting his eyes. His smile turned into a scowl.
"You're kidding me," he muttered, then said to me, "Please tell me this is a joke. You and Dash Baxter? I mean, come on, Sam. He's either tricking you or worse, trying to use you." My eyes widened as his green ones bored into me accusingly.
"Using me? What is that supposed to mean?" I glared at him, poking him in the chest. "Why is it so hard to think that maybe he actually likes me? He's not like you think. He's actually really—" Danny snorted, interrupting me.
"It's Dash Baxter. Don't you think I know the guy who's beaten up on me pretty much my whole life?" Why wouldn't he just listen to me? Danny pushed some of his white hair out of his eyes, looking out at me pleadingly. "I don't want you to get hurt. Sam, Dash is—"
I cut him off with a glare. "Being a whole lot nicer than you are right now," I finished. Maybe Danny was just trying to protect me, but I didn't need protecting. And I don't remember him being so hot on my advice when he'd been slobbering over Paulina. "See you later, Danny."
My parents were already going to kill me, but I took the long way home, my anger fueling my quick steps. Why did Danny even care? Yeah, it might be the guy who'd beaten him up, and believe me, I wasn't going to forget it.
But I could change it.
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"You do realize this is the last thing we'll ever do together?"
"Count on it."
Those words echoed in my head as I took the short walk to school the next morning. Usually, I'd walk with Danny and Tucker, but Danny had conveniently taken a different route, probably dragging Tucker with him. I wondered if he'd told Tucker about me "making out" with Dash yet.
And with the words: the thing about it was that we'd totally meant them when we said it. We'd just finished "training" Danny and Tucker, and I think we did and pretty good job all and all. We'd received our metals and looked distastefully at each other, saying what we thought was the absolute truth.
Ha.
Walking through the broad halls of Casper High and the students talking and gossiping all around me, I couldn't help but wonder if Danny was actually right. I mean, Dash Baxter: football star, king of Casper High, and closet songwriter? It just didn't fit.
Strolling up to my locker, I found Tucker already leaning on it. Straightening his beret, he glared at me and said, "Cough it up. If Danny won't tell me, you will. What the heck is going on between you two?" Sighing, I moved him away from the locker.
Opening it up, I got a shock. A big one. Taped to the inside of my locker door was as note. Or, rather, a song.
Met you for the first time on Sunday
Finally found the missing part of me
I felt so close but you were far away
Left me without anything to say
Now I'm speechless over the edge, I'm just breathless
I never thought that I'd catch this lovebug again
Hopeless, head over heels in the moment
I never thought that I'd get hit by this lovebug again
I can't get your smile out of my mind
(I can't get you outta my mind)
I think about your eyes all the time
You're beautiful but you don't even try
(You don't even, don't even try)
Modesty is just so hard to find
Now I'm speechless over the edge, I'm just breathless
I never thought that I'd catch this lovebug again
Now I'm hopeless, head over heels in the moment
I never thought that I'd get hit by this lovebug again
Wow…Lovebug again
Told you I liked songwriting. Like it?
Now I was speechless. Tucker's voice came from over my shoulder. "Either Danny's a really good actor, or I've found the problem." I snapped up, slamming my locket shut even though I didn't have any of my books.
"It's nothing," I lied. "It's a, um…English project." Tucker raised an eyebrow at me.
"Uh, Sam, I have English with you, and I'm pretty sure there was nothing about writing a love song in it." I brushed past him.
"Extra credit," I called out over my shoulder. I could just imagine his bemused expression as I walked away.
I'm such a liar.
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Lunch. It's like the African jungle, high school style.
You know, adults really don't appreciate how predator vs. prey it can get in the cafeteria. There's trying to be first in the lunch line. Getting the last slice of pizza. And don't even get me started on the whole hierarchy of table order.
And as I put my salad on my plate and headed toward my table (the Outcast table, if you really want to know), Danny's glowering look stopped me short. No way did I want to be under that glare while I ate. It could wilt even my salad leaves. So I took the empty table by the window.
Which, as it turned out, was not completely empty.
"You're sitting at my table." I looked up at Valerie, who was clutching her paper bag and staring at me like I'd just committed a felon. Which, maybe in Valerie-world, it was.
"Seems like," I said as I glanced around at the other-wise empty table. I wasn't in the mood to argue with her today, and I think she wasn't, either. And figuring how Danny was usually the main point of our arguments, and he was the least thing I wanted to talk about, we were sunk in the conversation department.
"Having boyfriend troubles?" I nearly dropped my spork, glaring up at her. He was more her boyfriend than mine. "He's not my boyfriend, Valerie." She arched an eyebrow.
"Mm-hmm. Right." Sheesh. Where had I heard this before?
I gave her an irate look. "If he's my boyfriend, then why did you keep hitting on him?" But she just ignored my question, sitting down a little ways beside me and taking a sandwich out of her bag.
"You know, I'm not the enemy here." I wanted to snap back, Oh, really? Because, even if she didn't know that I knew, she was a ghost hunter. And I happened to have a best friend who was half-ghost, who she repeatedly tried to annihilate. And, though she didn't know this either, the guy she was wailing on was her almost-boyfriend.
Complicated world, isn't it?
"You're an ex-popular girl who used to be just like Paulina and Star, who, you might have noticed, I'm not too fond of." Valerie gave me a reproachful look.
"Yeah, well notice the word ex," she replied, rolling her eyes. "'Cause as far as I can see, that part of my life isn't coming back anytime soon." I rolled my eyes, too.
"You seem to be pretty buddy-buddy with Star," I pointed out. Then I got an idea. Trying to sound casual, I said, "Hey, Valerie. Do you remember when Dash became popular?" Maybe I could find a little bit more out about this guy with someone who had been in the A-List.
Valerie looked confused. "Dash? Why do you care about Dash?" I started to make up a hasty excuse when—
"Yeah, why do you care about Dash, Sam?"
Voila. Hoped you liked it. By the way, if anyone has any criticism, constructive or no, I'd love to hear it. I'd like to knowif you think the story is flowing well and if the characters are acting OOC-ish.
Have a nice week!