Chapter 12: Starting School

"And remember, no ghost powers except in an emergency," Danny said. "If anyone asks, don't show off. It'll just come back to haunt you. No pun intended."

"Yes, sir," Danielle said with an annoyed grunt threw her teeth.

"And make sure you pay attention to what your homeroom teacher says. Also, it's best if you avoid the jello at lunch. I still say that it's not edible."

"Noted," she said, her patience wearing beyond thin.

"Try to avoid the jocks and the cheerleaders. Or, at least, try to avoid getting on their bad side."

"Danny," Sam said, nudging his arm as she could almost see the ecto-energy, clear as day, radiating off of Danielle. "Maybe you should-"

"One second, Sam. And another thing-"

"Okay, Dad! I get it!" Danielle shouted, turning around to face him as she threw her hands in the air. "You don't have to keep telling me the same things over and over again. I might only be 9 months old, but I know what to do, ok? Stop worrying!"

"She's right Danny," Sam said as they started to continue their walk down the street. "You're worrying way too much about that. You should be more worried that you're turning your daughter into an ecto-time bomb with all the ecto-energy she's radiating right now."

"What energy?" Tucker said as he looked upon Danielle. "She looks perfectly normal to me."

Sam paused to stare at her friend as if he had grown another pair of eyes. 'How can he not see it? I can practically feel it coming off her like a wave of heat.' Opening her mouth to question him, she stopped mid-sentence when she looked back at Danielle who, though still very angry, was no longer glowing the bright green she had been not a even thirty seconds ago and was no longer exuding the ghostly energy she had been.

"Uh…yeah. Anyway," she said, catching up to them all and continuing her previous train of thought. "You're worrying way too much, Danny. I haven't seen you worry about someone this much since that time Jazz had fallen for Johnny 13."

"I still can't believe that you liked him," Tucker said as he looked at her.

"I didn't like him. It was merely a phase of rebellion," she said, but couldn't help the blush that crept onto her face as everyone looked at her in disbelief. As the embarrassment set in, she couldn't help but to turn away from their gazes. "Well…I didn't like him a lot, anyway…"

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" Danny said to Danielle. "I'm just really worried about you, Ellie. I just want you to be safe and be able to learn without too much trouble. I just…don't want you to have the same kind of problems me, Tucker and Sam had."

"Problems?" Danielle asked, genuinely surprised.

"Um, have you seen our classmates!?" Tucker said in annoyance. "Those guys have been rubbing us the wrong way since the 4th grade."

"What Danny's trying to say, is that making enemies easy and early on can be something that will burn you pretty bad. So try to find some good friends that you can depend on, but don't trust just anybody," Sam said as she laid a hand on Danielle's shoulder.

Danielle let out a sigh, nodding her head before rounding on Danny. "Ok. I promise. I'll behave, I'll listen to my teacher, I'll avoid pissing off any and all A-Lister types of people as much as possible, and won't, under any circumstances other then dire, use my ghost powers. Alright?" she asked as she put her hands on her hips in a manner that mirrored Sam perfectly.

Danny smiled and nodded his head. "Right. But you forgot one thing," he said with a grin as she growled, blue eyes flashing electric green. "Just be sure to have fun and enjoy yourself. Even if it's boring."

"Great way to motivate your daughter into liking school, little brother," Jazz said with a roll of her eyes while Danielle's mouth dropped open as she looked at him in shock. She quickly turned, putting a slight pout on her face before they continued their walk.

"Hey, I'm just being honest with her. Besides, not everyone can be a space alien dropped here on Earth for being an annoying know it all like you," Danny said with a smile as Jazz glared at him.

Upon their arrival to the middle school not ten minutes later, Danielle was somewhat amazed at the size of the school which was about the same size as the high school.

"Casper Elementary. Wow. This really brings back some memories," Tucker said.

"Yeah, and not all of them good," Danny said as he turned to look at Danielle who had turned around to face her family. "Well, this is where we have to leave you, Ellie. Remember, you've got to get your schedule from the office, and call us if need us, and-"

"Danny!" Sam said, giving him a look that clearly said 'Shut up, now!' before kneeling in front of Danielle and bringing her into a hug. "Bye, Ellie. Be careful. We'll meet you here after school, ok?"

"Yeah, I got it," she said before giving both Tucker and Jazz a hug. Turning to Danny, she couldn't help smirking at him, and made sure to hug him a little bit tighter. "Bye, Dad. You really need to stop freaking out. You'll get gray hairs if you're not careful," she laughed.

Danny rolled his eyes as he stood to join the rest of the group, and gave her one last look before turning to his friends and sister and heading down the street toward their own school.

Danielle watched them for a few seconds before turning back to the school and taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. Though she would never admit to it, she was more scared then she could actually describe in words. She'd never been to school, and even though a small part of her was excited, an even bigger part of her was terrified and wanted to fly off to be with her parents.

'I really hope I don't get mobbed by all the people. I don't think I can handle that all by myself,' she thought as she began to ascend the stairs. As her hands grasped the door handle, she took one last breath for confidence and pulled it open. Entering the hallway, she was instantly surrounded by the sounds of lockers opening and closing, staff members making their way to their classrooms while sipping a mug of warm coffee, and kids of all ages, chatting, laughing and generally enjoying each other's company. Danielle looked around, waiting for the crowds of people to shout and scream and attack her for autographs and pictures. After about thirty seconds of nothing happened, she felt it was safe, and proceeded to walk through the halls slowly, looking about her new surroundings with a bit of wonder.

'Wow. Funny. This place kinda reminds me of Casper High. The design is basically the same. Maybe a little smaller. The colors are definitely similar. Though I guess I like the gray and red. But a crow for a mascot? This town needs more originality.'

As she continued to look around the hallway, a small sign caught her attention. Reading it, Danielle realized that she had found the main office, and couldn't help smiling at her good fortune. Opening the door, she quietly walked across the soft plush of the gray carpet that matched the school colors, and over to the desk where an elderly woman with short gray hair and rounded glasses sat, turned away from her, typing on her computer.

"Um, excuse me?" Danielle said, folding her hands over each other in front of her and pressing them into the denim of her skirt in an attempt to quell the butterflies in her stomach.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you come in. How may I help you, young lady?" she said in a caring voice as she turned to face Danielle.

"My-uh-cousin, said I was supposed to pick up my schedule here at the office."

"Oh, yes. You must be the new girl. If you'll just give me one moment, I'll print it out for you," she said, turning to her computer. "Can I have your name please?"

"Danielle…Fenton," she said a little hesitantly. 'I best be careful about who I tell my full name too. The less people who know, the better.'

"Ok, Ms. Fenton. Here is your schedule," she said, handing the small paper to Danielle with a smile. "And let me be the first to welcome you to Casper Elementary."

"Thanks a lot," Danielle said as she looked down at the name plate on the desk, "Mrs. Raytena."

"Of course, dear. Now, run along. You don't want to be late on your first day."

With a smile and a quick nod, Danielle turned on her heels and headed out the door, back into the hallway. Looking down at her schedule, Danielle saw that her homeroom was only a few doors down, and that her locker was just outside of it. As she continued down the hall, the first bell rang out loudly threw the school, bringing the halls even more to life as people started to make their way to their classrooms. As more and more people passed her, Danielle folded her schedule up and made a note to head straight for her homeroom instead of spending who knows how long trying to get her locker open.

As she finally came upon her homeroom, she could hear the faint sounds of chatter of the other students, and felt her nervousness come back to her tenfold as her heart beat sped up and a light sweat was beginning on her forehead.

"Ok, come on. Pull yourself together, Danielle," she whispered. Remembering her own words caused her to smile at the irony. "Jeez. The last time I said that, I was melting into a puddle of goo." Taking one last breath, she opened the door and walked in, gazing at the many students in the room.

"Hello. You must be the new student."

Danielle jumped at the sudden voice behind her and looked to see a woman, who was probably no older then her grandmother, standing behind her. The woman had long brown hair and bright green eyes that were both kind and stern.

"Uhh…yeah…yes," she corrected herself in an attempt to sound more polite. "I'm Danielle…Fenton."

"Fenton?" she asked, causing Danielle to blush and look around in her peripheral vision. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Danny and Jazz Fenton, would you?"

'Oh god. Here it comes.' She thought in a panic. "Yes, I am. They're my cousins."

"Oh wonderful!" she said with a smile as she placed a hand softly on Danielle's shaking shoulder. "No need to be nervous, dear. I'm not going to hurt you, and neither is anyone else here. I know it must be tough being new, but I promise, if you ever need anything, you can always talk to me."

"Really?" Danielle asked, her nerves calming a bit. "Thank you. And, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know Danny and Jazz?"

"I had both of them in my class when they were your age. They were both very bright."

"Yeah, well, Danny must have grown out of that. He's definitely not that way now," Danielle said with a grin as her teacher gave her a smile.

"Well, I'm sure you're just as, if not even more bright. I'm your new teacher, Mrs. Otree, and it's very nice to meet you, Danielle."

"Thank you. And, I prefer Dani. With and "I", and not a "Y"," she said sheepishly. Mrs. Otree smiled and nodded as the second bell rang out and she turned to get everyone's attention.

"Students, quiet down, please," she said. Everyone turned around to the front of the class, and many were surprised to see the new person in their classroom. A few started to mummer and mutter softly to each other about her, asking who she was or if anyone knew anything about her. Danielle started to fidget under the harsh gaze of the people who stared at her, making her more uncomfortable then the time she was walked in on her parents get a bit friskier then she needed to ever see. Much like Danny, she was not big on being the center of attention unless it was in her ghost form where 9 times out of 10, she was more focused on the battle then what was going on around her. "Now, we have a new student joining our class, and I want you all to treat her with the same respect and kindness that you do each other," she said before turning and nodding to Danielle.

"Uh…Hi…everyone," she said with a small wave as she swallowed her nervousness. "My name's Danielle, but you can call me Dani. And that's Dani with an "I", not a "Y". I've recently moved in with my aunt, uncle and cousins, and hope to get settled in and adjusted here soon."

"Wonderful. Now, Dani, if you'll have a seat, we'll get started. There's an empty desk in the back." Danielle nodded her head, gripping her backpack a little tighter before making her way to the seat. As she walked to her seat, a few of the students watched her. Some looked bored while others smiled at her, which eased her nervousness a little. Once firmly planted in her seat, she sighed, feeling as if the hardest part was over, and pulled a notebook out of her custom black backpack with a spray painted white "DP" on it.

"Whoa, you like Danny Phantom?" A boy behind her asked as he stared at her backpack.

'He's kidding, right?' Danielle thought to herself. The backpack was a dead giveaway, and it couldn't have been more obvious she liked Danny Phantom then if she had written it across her forehead. She turned her head a little to see a boy with an average complexion, dark brown hair and brown eyes staring at her. Danielle cringed a little at the look of slight idiocy on his face, almost as if he was having trouble focusing on her.

"Yeah, no. I don't. I'm the one person on the entire planet who doesn't like the guy who kept it from being obliterated," she said as her voice just seemed to drip with sarcasm.

"Oh. Ok, sorry," he said as he looked back at the board. "It's just, you have a "DP" on your bag, and I figured you liked him."

Danielle almost smacked herself in frustration. 'Does this kid even understand what sarcasm is? He can't be serious right now.'

"Ok, for the record, that was sarcasm. And yes, I like him. Even if he is an over-protective, lazy, annoying-" she said as she started to rant, not really realizing what she was saying.

"Sar-what?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Nothing. Just forget it," she said, glad he wasn't smart enough to have heard anything she was saying.

"Well, you kinda sound like you know him."

Ok, maybe she wasn't that luck after all. Though, what he said did bring a question to her mind: why had no one seemed to be bothered or even notice that she was here? Could people really have forgotten about her already? No, she decided. There was no way that after being stuck in her house for the last month that everyone had forgotten about her. So why was it that none of the students or faculty seemed even the slightest bit phased by her presence? She had transformed in front of everyone, on television no less! Sure, at the time she was wearing pajamas pants and a hoodie, but could that have really made such a big difference then to what she wore now?

'Maybe I have changed a bit. I mean, my hair is a little longer. And now that I think about it, didn't I have my hood up to cover my head? I must have put it up to cover my head since I was so used to my beanie. It must have been covering my face more than I thought it was. Maybe I'm not as recognizable after.' She thought with a bit of a smile. If no one recognized her, she wouldn't have to worry about being mobbed by questions or crazy people!

'Now that I think about it, there has been a shortage of press lately. Thank goodness for that . I don't think I would have been able to deal with them at 7 am.'

Remembering that she was still talking to the boy behind her, she quickly hid the smile on her face, and gave a simple reply that she hoped would quell his thirst for answers.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just good at reading people."

"Whoa. That's so cool. Do you, like see words all over their bodies? Are you like a superhero?"

Danielle felt her body stiffen at his question. Maybe the boy wasn't as slow to pick up on things as she thought.

"Jordan, stop being a weirdo and leave her alone," the girl sitting to her left said, glaring at the boy before putting on an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him. I hope you don't get scared off by that. I swear we're not all like that here."

'Compared to what I've fought and had to deal with, a nosy 7th grader is nothing.' She thought with a smirk on her face.

"No, not at all. I've been here to Amity a couple of times before and I've seen some crazy stuff before, so it's no biggie."

"Well that's good. I'm Lindsay Otree, but everyone calls me Lin."

"Otree? So, you're related to Mrs. Otree?" Danielle asked as she compared the girl's green eyes and blonde hair to her teacher's.

"Yep. She's my mom. But don't listen to what anyone says. I do NOT get special treatment just because I'm the teacher's daughter. I actually have more pressure to do well."

"Don't worry. I completely understand," she said as she thought about how the world expected her to be just as good as Danny.

"So what exactly brings you to Amity?"

"Well like I said, I recently moved in with my cousin's family. My parents and older sister had died in an electrical fire," she said as she tried to seem sad, which apparently worked pretty well.

"Really? Wow. I am so sorry. It must be so hard adjusting to a new place."

"Kind of. I'm not really used to staying in one place for too long, so it'll take some getting used to."

"Well I'm sure you'll like here. Do your cousins go here too?"

"No. They're both in high school."

"Casper High?"

"Yeah."

"My older brother and sister go there. What are their names?"

"Uhh…" Danielle said, hesitating as he cheeks started to turn a light pink color. Turning away from Lin's gaze did little to ease the red hot feeling she was getting from her face as she contemplated her next move. In retrospect, even if people didn't know who she was now, it was only a matter of time before they found out. But was sooner really better? Sneaking a glance back to her left, she found that Lin was now looking at her with concern.

'Ok, I've got two options. I can totally lie my butt off right now, or I can completely spill the beans and prepare myself for the impending freak out. Oh god, why do neither of these options seem any good?'

"My…um…cousins are…Danny and Jazz Fenton," she said as the pink blush on her cheeks changed into a redish color. As Danielle turned back to her young blonde classmate, she was met with a face of shock and a jaw hanging more open the Ghost Portal when Jack forgot to close it for the night.

"No way. You are so lying right now," she said as a smile crept to her face.

"I wish…" Danielle mumbled. "All those damned reporters around my house…"

"Oh my god! That is so cool!" she whisper yelled. "What's he like!?"

"He's an overprotective know it all jerk," she said, smiling as she thought about how annoyed he got with Jazz. "But he's really caring. Even if I don't need it all the time."

"Well with a family of ghost hunters, I'm sure you're perfectly fine. So does that mean that you hunt ghost too?"

"Yeah, I do. And not to toot my own horn, but I'm the second best in the family."

"Second?"

"Right after Danny, of course," she said with a smile. "I can give Danny a run for his money though."

"How can you give him a run for his money if he's got super powers?"

"I'm, uh…just a really good hunter, is all," she said nervously.

"If you say so. But I gotta know; is it scary fighting ghost?"

"Sometimes it is, but not because they're scary. It's mostly because of how strong they can be. Some are really powerful, and some are just really annoying. But it's a huge adrenaline rush."

"Cool! Do you know any ghost? I mean besides Danny?"

"I know a few. There's this dog Danny named Cujo. He's really cute and really playful. But if he gets angry he turns into a giant monster dog. Then there's this yeti ghost Danny told me about who's the king of a frozen wasteland in the Ghost Zone. And a princess ghost who can turn into a dragon with this amulet. I got to meet her and she's really nice. There's also a kid captain ghost named Youngblood who can only be seen by kids or anyone who thinks and acts like a kid."

"Wow. What about that other girl ghost? The one everyone was talking about that looked like Danny and said-" she stopped for a moment and just stared at Danielle who could tell by the look in her eye that something wasn't right. "and said she was his cousin…"

"Um…I have no idea who you're talking about," she said as she tried to look as convincing as possible. 'God, I could really use a distraction right now…'

"No no, I swear. She looked just like him and-" but she was soon cut off as the entire building began to rumble and a loud, shrill laugh echoed round them. Many of the students began to scream in panic as the sky outside the window turned a bright pink color and long puff of green smoke rose from the ground. In a flash of bright green light that blinded everyone for a moment, the smoke took form, revealing none other than Desiree, the wishing ghost.

Danielle stared at the ghost in both horror and irritation.

"Not the kind of distraction I had in mind," she mumbled, smacking her hand over her eyes as everyone else around her screamed in panic. "Of course. The one day I wished for a distraction, and what do I get? A freaking ghost! Can this get any worse?"

"If it is a distraction you wish for, then so shall it be!" Desiree yelled, laughing in mockery at the obvious twist she had played on who ever had just mentioned a distraction.

"Me and my big mouth," Danielle said as she placed her head on the desk.