A/N: Now, finally, here's the scoop for your enjoyment! Here in Chapter 6!! Hope you enjoy it! And, of course, I do not own any characters.
Rumor Has It—Chapter 6—Unexpected Surprises
Danny, Tucker and Sam were soon in the school cafeteria at their usual table, ready to eat whatever unburnt lunch was still available to them. But the behavior of everyone else in the room interrupted their every bite. It was painfully obvious that every one of the students purposely steered away from their usual paths to their tables so that they could pass and eye the friends, making comments under their breaths as they went by.
Chagrined at how blatant the scene was, Tucker mumbled under his breath, "Now I know how all those animals feel in the zoo!"
"Finally! You understand!" Sam said in triumph.
Meanwhile, not far from them, Paulina and Starr were in one corner of the room, busily whispering between themselves. Now that Paulina and Starr could see that Danny had considerably slowed his pace, they were eager to try out their next plan. But what they didn't know was that in a moment they would not get the chance...
...Because in the other near corner, a very jealous Dash huddled with a few of the other jocks, making his own plan.
Dash hissed to Qwan for the hundredth time, "I still don't see what Paulina sees in him! He's, like, shorter than I am!"
"Well, not as short since that crazy time when we all got shrunk!" Qwan replied, but seeing that this made Dash scowl even more, Qwan fretfully raised his hands in surrender and clammed up.
While switching his gaze between Danny, Sam and Tucker's table and his minions, Dash continued, "That can't be it! It's all because of that stupid rumor! But I'll never believe that that Fen-turd over there is the Ghost Kid! And darn it if I'll prove it…A ghost can't get hurt by one of these, can he?"
The jock whipped out a very large, ugly and deformed jalapeño hot pepper. It oozed with naturally and unnaturally colored juices; and its fetid odor reeked so badly that those kids standing in its immediate vicinity choked on the fumes.
Dash explained further, "My cousin has had this hidden under his bed, saving it for just the right moment. Like now! If Fen-tiny has no reaction to this, then he is the Ghost Kid. If he does react, well, then-- heh-heh-- it'll serve him right for stealing my girl from me! C'mon, we've all ready discussed the play-by-play. Let's go!"
So while Qwan and the other jocks distracted Sam and Tucker, Dash walked up to Danny with his hand hiding the hot pepper behind his back.
He addressed Danny through gritted teeth, "Listen, jerk! I don't for one minute believe you're anything special! You're not cool enough to be Danny Phantom. In fact,…" Dash suddenly looked up and pointed out the window with his free hand and exclaimed, "…there he is now!"
Truly perplexed, Danny uttered, "Huh? Where?" He quickly looked toward where Dash was pointing, and of course, saw nothing. But this was just enough of a distraction to give Dash the chance to drop the red pepper into Danny's salad, into which the vegetable monster quickly sank.
Dash then snickered, "Uh-oh! He's all ready gone! Not quick enough to see him, were you, nerd?"
He snorted as he walked away and re-huddled with his clique. They all turned and watched.
Sam, disgusted with the lame and contrived distraction that the jocks had set up, suspiciously asked, "What did Dash want? What's he up to?" She glanced at the group that just left and was just as wary when she saw that they were looking back.
Danny replied, "He was upset about that stupid rumor and accused me of not being Danny Phantom! So what else is new? Anyhow, it was nothin' to get worried about."
His friends just looked at him in silence, surprised at his casual attitude about it. They looked at each other and shrugged, attributing his response to his fatigue. They both resumed eating.
And just after making that comment, Danny pronged his salad. The group at the far end held their breath as he took a bite.
"Nothing happened!" Qwan whispered prematurely.
"Just wait! That thing sunk to the bottom as soon as it hit the salad. It has to wait and attack in secret," Dash hissed.
And just as Dash predicted, a few bites later, it became crystal clear that Dash's plan was successful, as Danny had finally gulped down the entire red pepper.
Immediately reacting to the vegetable that had just mercilessly attacked him, Danny shuddered violently and fell to the floor. Sam and Tucker looked on in horror as Danny's body twisted in agony, followed by an anguished—and loud--groan. And they didn't know until then that his face could change to so many colors so quickly as he reflexively held his aching head and roaring stomach at the same time.
Everyone else in the cafeteria froze at the sight.
Then Danny's eyes widened in fright with a feeling that he knew he would not be able to control unless he got to the bathroom—fast! Barely able to talk, he choked, "I gotta run!" And made a mad dash out of the cafeteria.
Dash and his cronies laughed hysterically at the scene. Calming a bit, Dash uttered, "See? I told you he wasn't no ghost!"
Sam glared at them and then fretfully looked in the direction that Danny had escaped. Tucker didn't hesitate to follow his friend.
Moments later, in the boys' bathroom, Danny still stood at the sink panting and sweating. Taking a deep breath, he began to wash his face at the sink when Tucker burst in.
"Man, are you all right?" Tucker fretfully asked.
Still panting, Danny moaned, "No! I didn't see anything crawling in my salad, but man, it's sure running in me now! I feel like my head and stomach are splitting in two!"
And to both of the boys' utter shock, Danny suddenly split into two Danny Fentons.
"Wow!" Tucker gasped in awe.
Danny then closed his eyes, held his head and reformed back into one Danny Fenton.
Tucker, now very impressed and no longer concerned over how Danny was feeling, excitedly cried, "See if you can do that as Danny Phantom!"
His friend nodded weakly in acknowledgement. And much more slowly—and painfully--than usual, his jeans and shirt morphed to a black-and-white suit, as Danny struggled with the transformation. But at last successful, Danny held his head under his white hair, grabbed his stomach and closed his green glowing eyes and tried to split himself into two Danny Phantoms. Again--very slowly because of all the discomfort--he did it!
Still cradling his head and stomach, one of the Dannys groaned, "Great! So all I have to do to duplicate myself from now on is to think of my splitting headache and rumbling stomach and that'll do it?"
And the other Danny, who was also holding his head and stomach added, "That's definitely not something I'm looking forward to!"
Suddenly, the door of the boys' bathroom began to squeak open. Panicking and still aching and not thinking clearly, Danny tried to reform back to one Danny Phantom and change back to Danny Fenton all at once.
But before either Danny could do either successfully, Tucker hurriedly shoved both of him into one of the stalls. Then whipping out his PDA, Tucker turned to face the boy who was coming in.
Shoving the hand-held computer at the unsuspecting teen, Tucker stammered, "Uh, mind helping me out with this?"
That boy forgot why he was there and immediately turned around in response to this very weird request. And he left in a much bigger hurry than when he came in.
Not a moment later, Danny came out of the stall. He didn't realize that his right half was Danny Fenton--raven-haired, blue-eyed and all--from head to toe; and his left half was Danny Phantom—black and white suit, half a logo and all-- from head to toe. But he screamed when he finally discovered that fact in the mirror; and the other boy who had just left the bathroom heard Danny's scream and understood.
Both of Danny's halves yelled, "Tucker! Look what you did!"
Tucker cringed and replied, "Sorry, man! What else was I supposed to do?"
Both Dannys closed their eyes tightly, concentrated, and then finally turned back into one Danny Fenton. Inspecting himself again, he sighed, "Well, I seem to be OK, for now."
Then Tucker's eyes brightened at his next thought. "Hey, now that you finally got it, all you have to do is be Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom at once and we can stop this rumor!"
Danny conceded, "Yes, I know! But I'm not sure if I can do this again; and I especially won't try if it means eating that salad again! I'll work on it some more when I can catch my speeding stomach."
"You sure you're all right, then, dude?" Tucker asked, again worried about his friend.
"No, but thanks for asking. At least for now, I think I'm sorta under control," Danny answered with a weak smile.
And they left the bathroom and headed back to catch up with Sam.
Except for the continued whispers and finger-pointing by most of the students, and Danny, Sam and Tucker's automatic attempts to avoid everyone--especially Paulina, Dash and their crew--the rest of the day was relatively uneventful compared to all the other things that had gone on. The trio of best friends had never been so happy to have a school day end, and Danny promised to get some sleep, after, of course, he had caught that speeding stomach of his.
Tomorrow was going to be a better day, they hoped.