A/N: Well, hope you're still having fun with this story! Now, here is Chapter 5. Enjoy!
Rumor Has It—Chapter 5--Turning the Tables, Sort of
Fortunately for Danny, Sam and Tucker, there was an all-purpose special assembly most of the day and the entire student body was gathered in the gym for it. That made it easy for the three friends to ignore most of the small pockets of whispers that surrounded them as they sat throughout the event. And they were just as successful in avoiding Paulina and her crew. In fact, the day was so busy that the popular group did not have any opportunity to corner the trio. Not that it would have made a difference even if they wanted to. They had really run out of ideas on how to trap their prey.
And the morning rushed by and before everyone knew it, it was lunchtime. But then, the trip noticed the popular group huddled in a corner of the cafeteria.
"I can't believe that they're actually capable of still exerting mental energy on that stupid rumor, much less thinking of some kind of way to trip us up!" Sam said in disgust as she ate her lunch.
"Yeah, I would've thought that they had all ready used up their allotted brain cells for the week by now!" Tucker added with a smirk.
"Yeah, you know it!" Danny chuckled. "Well, at least they didn't get us so far today, and the way this day is going, they won't be able to get near us! But still, I'm really going to work even harder at trying to replicate myself as soon as I get home," he promised, suddenly yawning.
"I hope you don't wear yourself out, dude," Tucker said. "You know what happens when you get exhausted!"
"Don't worry, Tuck, I can handle it!" Danny assured him with another yawn.
His friends weren't so sure of that. But what was certain for now and for the rest of the day was that the trio had managed to keep out of the sites of the predators--alias Paulina and her friends.
After spending all night trying to replicate himself—again-- Danny dragged himself to school the next day. He was so tired that not only did he still not notice the still growing talk about his being the ghost boy, but he also didn't even notice Sam and Tucker who were waiting for him as he headed in automatic pilot to their usual meeting place.
"Hey, are you there?" Sam asked, flapping one of her hands in front of Danny's barely- registering face.
"Huh?" Danny murmured. "Oh, hi, Sam. Did you just get here?"
She looked at him queerly and then before she could remark, Tucker fretfully said, "Man, you look beat! Didn't you get enough sleep?"
"Huh?" Danny murmured again. "Oh, hi, Tuck. Did you just get here?"
"Talk about broken CDs!" Sam said. "Were you up all night trying to replicate yourself again?"
Danny didn't answer her.
But before Sam could comment again, Paulina, Starr, Dash and Qwan came up to them.
"Yoo-hoo, hello, Danny!" Paulina called to Danny in that sickening voice, and, of course, ignored his friends.
Dash gritted his teeth but Danny didn't answer—or even look at--her.
"Will you just leave him alone?" Sam growled, stepping in front of Danny and taking her 'just-look-at-me-wrong-and-I'll-be-glad-to-punch-you' kind of stance. "Your stupid rumor is making him a nervous wreck! He can't even sleep because of it!"
Dash hissed, "Well, then, that means we can finally get to the bottom of this stupid…" He stopped when Paulina frowned in irritation at his comment. "I mean now that Fenton will be too tired to worm his way out of anything. You were lucky yesterday. Just watch out!"
The clique snickered, and then turning around, headed into the school.
"This is bad!" Sam frowned in worry, watching the group disappear into the school.
"And this is worse!" Tucker yelled from behind her.
She jerked around and saw an obviously zonked Danny slowly seeping into the ground as his legs unexpectedly became intangible. Tucker, holding under both of his friend's arms, was desperately trying to prevent his friend from totally succeeding.
Thinking quickly, Sam grabbed one of Danny's arms and commanding a "C'mon!" to Tucker, pulled the still senseless Danny behind some bushes just as he went totally intangible and completely oozed out of their arms. The sleeping—and intangible--boy didn't seem to be bothered in the least as he slipped to the ground with a peaceful smile on his face.
"Now what are we going to do? You know he only does this if he's exhausted! And if he keeps falling asleep and going intangible like this, then it's all over!" Tucker moaned.
"I don't know! Let me think!" Sam objected. Then she brightened at her next thought. "Just hide him until I get back, OK?"
Just as she left, Tucker dryly said, "I think he has "hiding" covered just nicely right now!"
Meanwhile, Sam had sneaked into the teacher's lounge. She spied what she needed and seeing her chance, darted in and out as fast as she could.
"OK, Tucker, let's try to wake him!" she said when she returned.
"How? We can't shake him!" Tucker said.
"Urghh!!" she said as she knelt by her friend. "Danny!! Danny, wake up!!!" she loudly growled right into his intangible ear.
"Uh-huh?" Danny groggily muttered, turning solid again. "Sam? Is that you?"
"Here, Danny, drink this," she commanded, as she gave him the cold, black liquid.
Since he wasn't quite awake, he dutifully drank. When he was about all done, he started to gag and then coughed, "What the heck is that?"
"Uh, coffee," Sam sheepishly said. But she didn't know that it had been leftover concentrated coffee from the day before. And she especially didn't know that Danny had never had coffee before.
"Coffee from where? Never mind! The way it tastes, I don't want to know!" he gagged again.
Sam told him, "You fell asleep and went intangible! What else were we supposed to do? You needed something to help you stay awake!"
Suddenly, as the effects of the caffeine in a hybrid's body kicked in, Danny's face brightened and his eyes suddenly widened and turned a brilliant green before returning to their original blue.
Sam noticed the change in his face and murmured, "Uh, Danny, have you ever had coffee before?"
"No, why? But maybe I should've had it before, 'cause I feel great!" he replied, quickly jumping to his feet right from the ground.
Tucker and Sam startled at his response.
"Uh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all!" Sam stammered, chagrin now written all over her face.
"C'mon, guys, we're going to be late," Danny rapidly said before turning and actually running into school and up to his locker.
Paulina and Starr were waiting at their lockers with whatever lame plot they had managed to muster up. They smiled when they saw Danny in their sites, but the boy was at his locker and then darting right to class before the two girls could even comprehend that he had been there.
Sam and Tucker then ran up to their lockers. Tucker, who was out of breath, got what he wanted and turned to Sam. Sam, who was not out of breath, got what she wanted and without hesitating, grabbed the still panting Tucker and chased after their friend.
Paulina and Starr looked after them totally baffled.
"What was that all about?" Starr asked.
"I don't know, but they must be up to something! Let's go!" Paulina answered, as she also ran after the trio. Starr was right on her heels.
Fortunately, Sam and Tucker found a very awake Danny sitting in his chair, eagerly awaiting the beginning of class. Unfortunately—as they would soon see—they were in their math class.
Mr. Falluca dragged himself into the classroom. He yawned and put his briefcase down and slowly opened it just as the bell rang.
"Sorry, people," he said, yawning again. "I was so rushed today that by the time I went to get my morning cup of coffee in the teacher's lounge, it was all gone! I really need that hi-test brew left over from the night before!"
The class groaned in response with this more-than-they-needed-to-know information; and Sam and Tucker actually began to feel sick. But Danny was on overdrive with another thought and did not notice the teacher's comment.
"OK, class,…" the math teacher began.
"Mr. Falluca?" Danny excitedly interrupted him, shaking his hand wildly.
"Yes, Mr. Fenton?" he answered.
But Danny's rapid-firing response barely registered with the sleepy teacher or anyone else in the room. Even though he said, "I know the answer to the first problem!", everyone else thought they heard one mega-word: Iknowtheanwer-tothefirstquestion!
The teacher blinked but then he kinda knew what the boy said. "But I haven't put it on the board yet!"
"Oh, yeah. ButI'mready!" Danny said with gusto.
Sam and Tucker squirmed with dread.
"OK, you can have a go at it, and if you solve it, of course, that will give you extra credit, meaning two full "A" test grades," Mr. Falluca said as he slowly wrote the problem of the day, the same one he always put up and no one had ever attempted.
The class looked on with anticipation.
Danny waved his hand wildly at the teacher again, "MrFalluca?"
"Uh, yes, Mr. Fenton?"
"I know the answer!" the boy said so rapidly and excitedly that everyone in the room again thought they heard one huge word: "Iknowtheanswer!"
"Uh, you already said that, I think. OK…" but before the teacher could complete his sentence, Danny had jumped out of his chair; and before the astounded teacher and class knew it, the boy had written the entire equation out and was proudly standing next to his circled answer.
After a few moments of shocked silence, Mr. Falluca stammered, "Very good, Mr. Fenton!! That's the first time in my twenty-five years of teaching that a student not only solved that problem, but actually did it in less than a minute! Uh, are you all right?" The teacher didn't even know if the answer was right, because it had been so long since he solved it.
"Ifeelgreat!" Danny said, and everyone else in the room blinked in bewilderment.
Mr. Falluca thought better than to say anymore, except, "Uh, OK, you may be seated, Mr….."
But before he could finish—again—Danny had practically jumped over the first two rows of seats to get to his own. He quickly sat down and then sat upright, bright-eyed and eagerly awaiting the rest of the lesson.
Paulina and Starr looked at each other and smiled in triumph. They would get him now.
Sam and Tucker glanced at each other and frowned in anxiety. They were all doomed.
Time definitely fast-forwarded for the entire class because of Danny's frenzied hyperactivity. Mr. Falluca hadn't planned on covering two full lesson plans then, but Danny was so enthusiastic that the teacher didn't have the heart to slow the boy down--not that he really could anyway.
After class, however, and much to Sam and Tucker's relief, Paulina and Starr couldn't keep up with Danny enough to even begin to try to trip him up.
But the popular girls didn't know that they still might just get the chance….
…Because just toward the end of third period, it was becoming rapidly apparent that the effects of the coffee were beginning to wear off. Danny's bright eyes were morphing into barely opened ones. And Sam and Tucker felt an odd mixture of relief and panic when they saw their friend beginning to wilt right before their eyes.
"Tucker, do something!" Sam commanded under her breath as Danny began to phase out again.
Tucker fretfully pulled out a small hand-held video game from between his books and feigning a loud sneeze to mask his arm movements, launched it right at his friend. The aim was true and Danny yelled out in pain—but at least it was awake pain.
The whole class and Mr. Lancer turned and looked at him, frowning in irritation.
"Mr. Fenton, if you don't mind!" Mr. Lancer tartly said and his laser-like fiery eyes bored more awake pain into Danny.
"Oh, sorry, Mr. Lancer, I don't know what hit me...!" Danny said, rubbing his head and adding under his breath, "…literally!"
But thankfully, it was enough to keep Danny alert until the class ended.
The bell to switch classes rang and the three friends met right outside the classroom.
Danny was still feeling the effects of Tucker's aim when he said, "Man! How did we get to fourth period all ready?"
"For you, very quickly. For us, very painfully!" Sam dryly said.
"You should talk!" he replied, rubbing his head again. "No, really, what happened? It's all a blur!"
"Yeah, that's the word!" Tucker muttered. "We, uh, gave you some coffee, dude. And trust us; it's a very good idea for you to totally avoid it from now on!"
Danny yawned and nodded.
Sam turned slightly away from Danny and looking at Tucker, said to both of them, "Well, the good news is that Danny's hyperactivity kept Paulina and her creeps out of our hair. We have literally been going non-stop until now."
"And now there's the bad news," Tucker commented, pointing to the now sleeping--and still standing—Danny, who was all ready beginning to ooze into the floor.
But this time, they were able to shake him awake before he fully dematerialized.
"What? I'm awake!" Danny said, becoming solid again only to immediately drift off again.
"Now what are we going to do?" Tucker whined as Sam grabbed Danny by his shoulders and shook him awake again. Danny barely responded.
"Well, we could hide him and try to dress up as him again!" Tucker suggested.
"Nah, that won't work!" Sam said, rejecting the idea with the wave of her hand before shaking her friend again.
Tucker continued, "But we still have one period to go before lunch!"
"But at least it's P.E.!" Sam said, goading Danny to wake up after he fell asleep again. "We might be able to keep him awake with all the activity or, like you said, hide him while he sleeps!"
"I vote for the last option! I think keeping him awake will make me exercise even more than the ones I try to avoid during P.E.!" Tucker said.
They dragged their barely awake friend into the gym, looking for a hiding place. But as soon as they and all the other students got halfway in, Mrs. Tetslaff bellowed, "OK, class! It's time for a heath pop quiz!" She then pointed the way to the adjoining classroom. "Go into the classroom and we'll get right on it!"
As soon as Danny sat down he began to drift off.
Sam grabbed Tucker and commanded, "C'mon!" She led him to a bookshelf full of heath books and ordered, "Take as many books as you can and follow me!"
Struggling with their load, Sam and Tucker moved as quickly as they could to where Danny was and just as he was phasing out, slammed the entire stack of books right around him. The books momentarily hid his turning intangible from the class's view while the loud plop of the books woke him up, jolting him back to a solid form.
"Ms. Mason and Mr. Foley!" a very loud voice boomed behind them, which caused the entire class—including Danny—to jump to attention. "This is not an open book test! Go put those books back!"
"Yes, ma'am," Sam and Tucker said together as they gathered the books back up and purposely dropped them several times along the way, saying "Sorry!" very loudly as they stumbled back to the bookshelf. The noise was enough to keep Danny barely awake--and tangible.
Paulina and Starr observed them all along, knowing that the three friends were up to something, but they said nothing--and waited.
Finally, Sam and Tucker headed to their chairs, but not before Sam noticed Danny falling back asleep. She quickly shoved him out of his seat as she passed him. Danny landed with a thud and was bolted awake. "Ow!" he yelled and got up off the floor and sat down at his desk again.
Now Sam and Tucker knew that there was nothing more they could do as Mrs. Testlaff started to hand out the quiz. They bit their lower lips as they watched Danny drift off again. Sweat began to form on their foreheads, seeing Paulina and Starr staring at them and knowing that Danny's going intangible was only moments away. And just when he was beginning to phase out….
The fire alarm blared.
Sam and Tucker let out a sigh of relief, and Paulina and Starr let out a sigh of aggravation when Danny woke with a start; and then the entire class rushed out of the building.
The trio kept to themselves, moving away from the crowd as they waited outside; and by the time they were let back into the building, it was time for lunch. Sam and Tucker would be thanking the lunch lady for burning their lunches.
The three friends quickly headed toward their lockers. Danny looked a little more refreshed and Sam and Tucker told him what happened.
"And I thought I was just having a nightmare," he said, reflexively rubbing his still sore head. "I don't think I'm that sleepy anymore. Between the caffeine rush in the morning and adrenaline rush after the fire alarm, I think I'm good to go for the rest of the day. And, uh, thanks for the save, you guys…I think!! Though I don't know if your kind of torture was better than Paulina and her cronies!"
All three laughed and headed to the cafeteria.