"And so I told the moron who had the nerve to ask me out without getting me flowers first…hey, are you alright? You've been a little out of it lately." Dash snapped himself out of his daydream (of Danny) and looked up to find everyone at the popular table watching him with intense interest. Interest is rare for the popular table. It's very rare. Being popular is about having people who are jealous of you, want to be you, and try to work their way into your life.
The whole job was very tiring.
But, the trick was not to show it so that all of the others competing for your spot didn't see your weakness. Therefore, to portray any emotion other than happiness is social suicide.
"Nothing, I just have a lot on my mind."
"And what happened while I was gone to cause you to change like this. Come on, I was gone for an entire month and you've barely said a word to me!" Kwan was gripping his fork so tightly that his knuckles turned white, "I thought that we were best friends Dash."
Damn, Dash thought to himself, I knew that this was going to happen, but why did it have to so soon?
The jock knew that at some point, he was going to slip up. That at any time his grades would drop even more, his friends would abandon him, and even football be too stressful. Still, Dash had hoped that he could live in delusion for just a little bit longer.
Ghost hunting really sucked.
But he loved it, or rather what it protected, far too much to quit.
Life sucked even more.
Ducking low into the only place in town Paulina had deemed perfectly safe to gossip (although he suspected that it was just in case anything REALLY embarrassing happened to her she would have the dirt on everybody in town for blackmail) Kwan entered the almost obnoxiously pink bedroom.
Okay, so he didn't really have to duck, but he was uncomfortable asking his best friend's ex-girlfriend about his best friend. Of course Paulina didn't see it that way. No, she saw it as a chance to bring excitement to Casper High and make her life like the soap operas she loved to watch. In Kwan's opinion, he was glad that Dash wasn't dating her anymore. The brunette had defiantly not brought out the good side in his personality. The break-up had been horrible though.
But that's another story.
The very, very pretty cheerleader sitting legs crossed on the bed looked up from her lap top and smiled. The power of beauty must be stronger than most people think, as the second that girl smiled at him, all of his nasty thoughts about her ugly personality vanished. The only reason that he didn't just stand there stammering like an idiot was the fact that he had known her for years. Kwan wasn't delusional. He knew that Paulina wasn't interested in him, and that he would hate himself if he dated her just because of her looks. But the love of his life who talked so easily about the most difficult subjects with him in his dreams looked oddly enough like Paulina.
Nevertheless, as mentioned before, Kwan had known Paulina for many years. Her head was empty then, and it was empty now. But she was still one of his oldest and best friends...which is why he still hung around her. If Paulina had acted like she did now in elementary school they probably would have never been friends in the first place.
"Hello Kwan. You got here sooner than I thought you would."
Kwan tried to be surprised, he really did, but the fact that Paulina had known that he was going to pay her a visit without bothering to tell or ask her first wasn't that unsettling what with her network of spies.
She tilted her head to the side, smile melting into an all-knowing smirk. "I assume that you came to ask about Dash?"
He growled, thoroughly frustrated and slumped into a sitting position on the end of the bed. "I just don't get it! I was only gone for a month, but he somehow in that time became an entirely different person. Dash has barely spoken to me, never hangs out anymore, and spaces out entirely in class- okay, so that not that unusual, but he's not acting like my best friend anymore."
"Hmm. I don't think that Dash is trying to keep things from you. A lot has happened since you left. We started ghost hunting lessons, which you will join in on this week, you left. We started ghost hunting lessons, which you will join in on this week; there was another ghost attack which is why we can't use the locker room anymore, and… I'm actually unsure of how you will react to this." Her tone changed from motherly to indecision.
Kwan leaned in, "What"
"Maybe I shouldn't"
"What is it?" The jock's tone was becoming increasingly anxious, worried about whatever life-changing event happened in his absence.
"I don't think-"
"Tell me!"
Paulina blinked more than a little shocked at the sudden outburst. "Okay, okay! Fine, I'll tell you," she leaned in dramatically, "He admitted that he had feelings for Danny Fenton."
Kwan breathed in a sigh of relief. "Oh, is that it?"
The super model of a girl mouth dropped to form a perfect O. "You already knew?"
"Duh, I told everyone that a long time ago. Don't you remember?"
"We all thought that you were joking! None of us figured it out until just before Dash confessed… don't tell him that I said that."
"It was kind of obvious, wasn't it?" He held up three fingers, ticking them off one by one while he talked. "He stopped beating Danny, started complimenting him, and began staring at him intensely at lunch.
If you thought that I was joking, then why did you and Star start being nice?"
For the first time in a long time, Paulina was a loss for the reasoning behind her actions. Shrugging (trying to pass it off as if she didn't care, the Latina choose her words carefully. "I don't know. It got boring I guess."
Kwan raised one-eyebrow, unimpressed with her answer. "I'm sure that's what it was."
Paulina looked up deep in thought and rested one chin on her palm. "But there's still one thing that's bothering me."
"And what's that." The beginnings of a headache were making itself known for both of the teens.
"Like you said before, Dash never just hangs out with us anymore. What's he doing with all of his time?"
Groaning, the Asian collapsed backwards so he was lying down on his backside.
"I have absolutely no idea."
"I have no idea what any of that is supposed to mean."
It was Kwan's first day of training, and Mrs. Fenton was trying to show him how to correctly and accurately hit the target. The keyword was trying. To be fair to Kwan, Mrs. Fenton wasn't being that helpful because she kept using words that were either very complex or made up.
Usually, (on Mondays like this one) Paulina, Dash, Star, and now Kwan would be learning about the different types of ghosts and what makes them different. They had all agreed that he should have separate classes to catch up with the science aspect of hunting ghosts and until he did, every lesson would be devoted to learning to use several different weapons.
Dash already had an unusual knack for getting a bull's-eye, and he was desperately trying to hide the fact by purposely missing. The blonde's stepfather had taken him hunting the summer Dash graduated middle school on every weekend for the "bonding" Dash's mother had forced on them. Bill had chosen hunting because apparently fishing was for old men and weaklings.
At first Dash had been horrible, but by the end of the summer he was shooting like pro and had a tinny lit of respect for his stepfather.
Unfortunately, that was also the same summer he met Ethan. Ethan was the son of one of Bill's friends and they sometimes spent their trip together. Ethan seemed nice enough at first. His family had just moved to Amity Park that summer, he liked football, and was already very good at handling a gun. But, he was very much a player.
He didn't care if it was a boy or girl, as long as they were pretty and interesting.
The two boys had a little spat because Ethan asked both Paulina and Star out at the same time, and then both of the girls had basically ordered him to beat him up. Neither of them won, but both came out with horrible bruising and scratches. To tell the truth, Dash had already been disgusted with Ethan's behavior, being the hopeless romantic he secretly was.
And the conflict continues.
Ethan had transferred into Casper High sophomore year and after dating nearly every desirable girl in school (a date here, a casual fling there) and had taken an instant liking to a certain raven haired boy. Danny had deflected the over-zealous advances easily; however Dash was still protective and a little jealous when Ethan grabbed Danny's ass or stole a kiss.
"AHHHH! DASH YOU ALMOST KILLED ME YOU IDIOT!" Coming back to the land of the conscious, Dash realized that he unintentionally pulled the trigger…and shot a spot in the wall that was maybe ten feet away from Star's head.
Blinking, he rubbed the back of his head, "Gosh, Star. I'm really-"
"No," she threw down her handgun, "No! I'm sick of this! You guys are crazy, and I'm soooo sick of this. We are going to die if we continue ghost hunting training. You guys stay here, but it's a waste of time."
She stomped her way to the door and slammed it behind her.
There was silence. Everybody turned to look at Dash.
Maddie cleared her throat. "Maybe this is a good stopping point. I made snacks for everybody because you guys have been working so hard. Apple pie. It's on the kitchen counter upstairs."
Whooping, the three teens left, Star forgotten. Star wasn't really a friend, she was just there (so Paulina wouldn't always be surrounded by guys…she does have a reputation to uphold) nobody really noticed that she was gone.
Like a wise goth said before, girls like those were a dime a dozen.
In the kitchen, they found Jack Fenton enjoying pie as well. He had a whole desert to himself. After cutting a generous piece from the tin, Maddie smiled at all the compliments she received from her apprentices. "You guys do know that I bought this from a Walmart bakery, right."
Kwan licked the remaining crumbs of crust off of his fork, grinning. "Well then, you certainly know how to buy food."
"You kids," she chuckled and shook her head, "I have to go clean the lab and shooting range, now."
Paulina covered her mouth and swallowed, "Thank you Mrs. Fenton."
"Don't you thank me. When everybody's done, you're all going to help me."
Everyone who was currently enjoying their snack suddenly slowed down, taking their own sweet time finishing their meal. It was almost as if they didn't want to help clean. What adolescent didn't want to spend their afternoon tidying up? Note the sarcasm.
Maddie reached the top of the steps before turning around. "Which reminds me; can somebody take an extra slice up to Danny. He's in his room."
Dash practically leaped up from his seat. "I'll do it," he said louder than necessary.
Maddie, who was already half-way down the steps, didn't answer. The remaining people who weren't pigging out (*cough* Jack *cough*) shared a look.
Meanwhile, Dash rushed to bring sweets to his crush.