Chapter 22:

Dani POV-

"Fine then," Scarlett started, "Danielle, I know that you believe in ghosts," she announced with a smug satisfaction. Nobody spoke; the cafeteria was completely silent as everyone tried to figure out how to react to this incredibly insignificant news.

"Is that it?" I asked her, pretending to be almost disappointed, when, in actuality I was relieved that she is actually as stupid as she looks. Everyone laughed at my reaction, but gave me a few strange looks. I shrugged, for one thing, a lot of…normal people believe in ghosts, and secondly, I could care less what they think.

"Well," Scarlett huffed, "Aren't you going to deny it? I mean, that is soo stupid. Ghosts aren't real."

"Haven't you seen the news? There have been ghost attacks around the city lately, also there is no scientific evidence to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts" Zeke spoke up, standing up behind me. I smiled at him, he smiled back, his dark green eyes glinting in amusement. It's funny that, even though he doesn't know my secret, he is still willing to protect and stand up for me. Several other people in the cafeteria chimed in with various forms of agreement, although, they weren't nearly as vocal (probably fearing that they would become the object of Scarlett's harassment).

"In fact," I said, fighting to hide the smirk on my face, "There's one right behind you."

She twitched slightly, but easily pretended to be unfazed as she glared at me.

"I'm not falling for that," she sneered. That had been what I was expecting, but remembering that I had my invisible duplicate on the stage behind her, I used it to pick up a prop, which just so happened to be a plastic hammer.

"Look!" I exclaimed with false fear. The cafeteria gasped and Scarlett turned around to see the hammer floating over he head. She screamed and bolted off of the stage. The other people in the cafeteria were torn between laughter and panic, as I invisibly dropped the hammer with a light thud. My weakened duplicate came rushing back to me and I practically collapsed at the amount of power it had taken to sustain even a weak duplicate for a few minutes.

'Man, I really need some practice,' I thought. Zeke and Issa immediately caught me before I completely toppled over, giving me looks of concern.

"I'm okay," I assured them, standing back up, my footing a little bit more stable on the floor. Issa and our other friends at the table nodded and went back to eating, but Zeke still looked a little concerned.

"Chill Zeke, I'm fine," I told him, sitting back at the table, as Issa rolled her eyes (why, I have no idea).

The rest of the day went easily, if it's possible, I somehow got even more unneeded popularity because the student body was somehow convinced that I had rigged the hammer to float over her head (which, in a way I had, but not the way they were thinking). Oddly, it was more attention than I had gotten since I became the adoptive daughter of Tony Stark. Honestly, I didn't like being the center of attention, I was so happy when it was finally time to go home.

I waited outside, Zeke had insisted on waiting with Issa and I just in case I fell again. Finally, Happy pulled up in the limo and Pepper got out of the back to let Issa and I in.

"Hey Dani," she smiled at us, "Who is this?" she asked, gesturing towards Zeke.

"Oh right, Pepper, this is Zeke, Zeke, this is Pepper," I introduced them.

Pepper smiled and extended her hand for him to shake, she seemed to be thinking about something.

"Zeke, would you like to come to Tony's house with us for dinner?" she asked, "That is if it's okay with your parents?" I almost sighed out load, it's not that it wouldn't be cool to have Zeke over for dinner, but I was going to show Issa the lab and now that would have to wait until after he left.

"My mom is working until seven, so it should be okay," he replied. Then Issa, Zeke and I piled into the back of the limo while Pepper too the passenger seat.

"This is cool," Zeke marveled at the inside of the limo, pressing random buttons on the ceiling.

"Yeah it is," Issa replied in a 'well duh' voice.

"So this is what it's like being rich…" he mused out load, ignoring Issa's comment. Zeke is the youngest of three, all of which rely on the income of his single mom and oldest sister. His dad died a few years after he was born, so his family has basically been living paycheck to paycheck since then. I smiled at his reaction. That is how I had felt after I had gotten adopted. Sometimes, it was almost unreal remembering how much my life had changed since then.

As we pulled up to the mansion, we all got out, and Zeke's eyes widened so large, I thought that they were about to pop out of his head.

"This is where you live?" he asked.

"Yeah, now. Now come on," I nudged him, motioning for him to follow us inside. Issa, is already too comfortable in our house, she ran in, even before me, and made a beeline for the kitchen, bugging Jarvis to make her a sundae. Ghost ran up to us. He sniffed Zeke for a second before eagerly licking his hand.

Zeke laughed, scratching Ghost on the top of his head.

"What's his name?" he asked me.

"Ghost," I replied. He gave me a weird look.

"Is that just a coincidence or is it some kind of inside joke?" he wondered, reminding me about Scarlett's announcement earlier today.

"Both," I said with a sly grin, before walking into the kitchen after Issa.

"Hey Dani, do you want to come down to the la—library," Tony covered, seeing Zeke next to me at the barstools in the kitchen.

"Hey Tony, this is my friend Zeke, Zeke, Tony," I introduced them.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Tony asked, looking at Zeke a little suspiciously.

"What?! No, we're just friends!" we both exclaimed in unison, and I blushed a little…or a lot. Tony scoffed and walked over to the other side of the room where Issa was raiding the pantry.

I distinctly heard, "clueless as…cousin" and "denial" then they both chuckled about something.

"Tony did you need my help with something?" I asked.

"No, that's okay, you just go hang out with your friends," he said with a amused grin.

"Come on guys," I rolled my eyes, hopping off my barstool and walking down the hall to my bedroom.

Hey guys, I know it's kind of a filler chapter, but I really wanted to introduce Zeke (even though he really won't play a big part until the sequel…that's right, after this one, I decided to make a sequel), and have Scarlett get embarrassed by Dani, but who knows, now Dani is even more popular and Scarlett might be a little more suspicious. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it.