Chapter 28: Parental Confrontation

Lin had been in trouble before for stupid things, especially in her younger years. But ever since her older brother and sister had entered high school, she had been the one who was always getting the good grades and always keeping out of trouble. She was, in a sense, the golden child in her parents' eyes. But as she sat at the kitchen table, her mother's scrutinizing gaze coming from the other side, she didn't feel very much like a golden child anymore. After everyone had been sent home early following the ghost attack and near destruction of the classroom at the hands of Danielle, Linda dragged Lin to their car, and drove home, though she was silent the entire time. Lin had seen her mother angry and upset before, and the long, emotionless stare she had on her face the entire ride unnerved her more than anything she'd ever seen.

Lin's gaze was on the table as they sat. She couldn't find the courage to look at her mother's eyes, the same green eyes that were her own, but knew that this was going to be a conversation that she would have to have and would regret later.

"Lindsey," Linda said, watching as her daughter looked in her general direction, but never looked into her eyes. Linda knew that look, having seen it on not only her own children's faces before, but on many children at the school numerous times. It was the look of someone who had been caught doing something that they shouldn't have been. It was the look of guilt, which only made her more upset because she knew for a fact that Lin knew better and that whatever it was she felt guilty for probably had something to do with Danielle. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, young lady."

Lin tried to swallow down the nerves that were gripping her throat at the moment, but the tone her mother was using made it hard to do. Slowly, Lin looked up into the harsh gaze, and almost dropped her head back down to avoid it.

"Yes ma'am," she said quietly.

"Now. Back at the school, Danielle said something about you leaving your friend high and dry when she needed you the most," Linda said, watching as Lin's body stiffened. "What and who is she talking about? And what's going on between you two? The way you were talking and acting toward each other…did you two have a fight? You never seem to hang around each other anymore and I haven't seen Danielle here in months."

Lin was quietly contemplating how to approach this because she knew that once she admitted to what she had done, there was literally no way to turn back and undo any of it. "No, Mom. Danielle and I don't hang out anymore because we're not friends anymore. We haven't been for months. That's why you haven't seen her around here. That's why we were arguing back outside the classroom."

"Lin, what happened? You two used to be so close, like best friends. How could all that have fallen apart?"

"It's just…she's changed, Mom. The person she used to be isn't who she is anymore. Ever since the incident and her joining the Renegades, she-"

"Wait, did you just say Renegades? That group of hooligans that goes around, beating people up and spray painting all over town?" Linda asked, clearly shocked.

"Yeah. Both she and Darren are part of that gang. That's why they're always together now," Lin said.

"My goodness," Linda said, placing a hand over her heart. "I guess that explains the slipping of her grades, the absences and the change of her attitude. I wonder if Danny and Sam know about this…"

"I doubt it," Lin said. "Based on what she was telling Darren earlier, she said that they've barely noticed anything she's done. She also doesn't usually wear the gear like the others do."

"I'm going to have to call them and notify them. When did this all start?"

"It was a few days after she came back from being suspended."

"Is that why you stopped being friends with her?" Linda asked, looking Lin in the eyes. And it was that statement that made her heart clench and tighten. It was time for her to face the music and admit that she had been shallow when she had abandoned the girl.

"No…I…I did it before she joined them," she said, gripping the end of her skirt in her hands.

"Well what happened? What aren't you telling me, Lin?" Linda asked.

"I…I ditched her…" Lin said in tone so quiet Linda hardly even heard her, though but the shocked expression that quickly turned angry, she knew she had.

"What did you just say?" Linda asked, her voice rising slightly as her anger started to go up. When her daughter didn't say anything else, Linda's temper hit its peak. "Lindsey Rachelle Otree, what did you do!?"

"I ditched her, ok!" she shouted back at her mother, tears in her eyes as she shook in her seat. "When she came back to school, she was getting teased and people where talking bad about her. I didn't like what they were saying about her, but I didn't say anything because everyone had started making fun of me and Jordan because we were her friends, and…I just crumbled under the pressure…I'm sorry."

"Sorry. You're sorry?" Linda said in disbelief as she stood up and looked at her daughter who she was beyond angry with at the moment. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Lindsey! How could you do that!? She was your friend, and when she needed you the most, you abandoned her because you were under pressure from other students!?"

"Mom, look-"

"Be quiet, Lindsey!" Linda said as she placed her hands on her hips. "I am so beyond disappointed with you right now. How could you do something like that? I know your father and I thought you better than that."

"I know…" she said, head hanging in remorse.

"And did you ever once think about how this would affect Danielle? She had her whole life crumbling around her, and when she needed you the most, you weren't there. Because of that, Lindsey, look where she ended up. Now she's in a gang. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Lin looked up to her mother and could only cry more at the disappointed look in her green eyes. She could only shake her head; she had nothing left to say and there was nothing she could say to justify her actions. Linda was beyond angry with the girl, and knew if she needed some time to think to herself.

"Go to your room, now. We'll talk more about this later," she said, pointing toward the stairs. Lin only nodded her head before sliding her chair out and walking, gaze to the floor, up the carpeted stairs. Lin had become accustomed to slight creak that the steps gave when they were walked upon, but as they remained silent under her shoes, Lin found herself even more unnerved then she thought possible. Her eyes turned up only as she came to her overly decorated door which didn't help her mood any. As she lifted her hand to the doorknob, the darkness of the hall seemed to diminish all the pinks, yellows and oranges that spelled out her name.

The normally vibrant green of her walls only made her more crestfallen as she went to sit on her bed. As her head rested on the soft pillow below her, Lin could only stare upward, almost missing the black spotted tabby cat that was perched on her dresser.

"Patches? What are you doing up there?" Lin asked weakly, her voice shaking, as the cat's yellow eyes watched her. The cat gave a small mew as its raised slightly on its hunches and jumped down, knocking over a picture frame in the process. Lin groaned, and prepared to yell at the young cat, but found that he had already run out the door. Grabbing her garbage can, Lin bent down and picked up the frame to clear the glass, but as her eyes fell on two in the picture, she froze as her heart constricted.

Standing in the picture, between a floury archway were her and Danielle. It had been taken at the dance after Danielle and Jacob had come back after their little dance off. Lin remembered how Danielle had admitted to her that the advice she had given her had worked, and as a result, Lin demanded that they all get pictures taken together. Danielle had been more then hesitant to do so, but after much wearing down, agreed and was dragged over to the archway where the photographer had been. Lin remembered that she had placed this picture in the frame because Danielle had told her that it was her favorite picture of the two of them. But after Danielle had started to hang out with the Renegades and started to become less and less of the person Lin once knew, she couldn't bring herself to look at the picture anymore as it was nothing but a painful reminder of what once was.

Lin felt the tears trail down her face and made no move to stop them as she pulled the picture of her friend to her chest. She knew she had wronged Danielle, and perhaps that was the reason she could never bring herself to throw the photo away. She remembered placing it face down and vowing to never look or touch it ever again, and perhaps that was the guilt of her actions talking. As much as Lin wanted to blame Tammy for what she had done, as much as she wanted to say it was all the other students faults, as much as she wanted to not care about Danielle, she just couldn't.

It was her fault. She was responsible for what happened. She had abandoned her friend, and as a result, the sweet innocent girl she once knew had been swallowed by a venomous creature that walked the halls, beating people up, causing trouble and acting out.

Lin shook her head at these thoughts. It wasn't right. None of it was right.

"I have to make things right, but I don't know how," she whispered, looking at the picture of Danielle, her smiling face and bright eyes leaving the question unanswered. "Please, Dani…how do I help you?" But still, the picture only smiled, features never changing from the captured second of time that it held and would continue to hold for eternity.

Lin's head began to hurt from all the crying she'd done, and she knew that she needed an aspirin and tissue to clean her face. As she reached up to her nightstand, her hand landed on a piece of paper that was much thicker then the paper she originally had been going for. Lin looked at it in confusion as she brought it up to read it. As her eyes scanned over the image of a family business, Lin's eyes grew wide as she looked at the six people on the front and the number listed at the very bottom of the flyer. Lin didn't know how this flyer had gotten there, but she knew that however it did, it was the answer that she had been looking for. With a quick wipe of her eyes at the back of her hand, Lin got to her feet, and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"I really hope this works. I just hope I'm not too late to help her."

Danny pressed the buttons on his controller furiously as he sat on the couch while Sam sat next to him, trying to do her homework and trying not to berate her boyfriend for not doing his. As Danny finished off the boss, cheering in delight, Danielle walked through the room, candybar in hand. She couldn't help the smile on her face as she not only chewed on the chocolaty delight, but also the fact that her mother wasn't going to say anything about her spoiling her dinner.

"Yes! New high score!" Danny cheered, turning to his daughter as she walked around. "Hey, you wanna play, Ellie? The new expansion pack just came out."

"Sure. Anything's better than doing homework," she said, sitting next to him. "Not to mention having to deal with that pain in the butt, Liana."

"Well at least you handled it without too much damage," Sam said. "I was scared you had gotten hurt when we heard about the fight."

"Oh, please. She's nothing but a baby. She's gotta be the weakest out of all the cubs in her tribe. She had no chance."

"You should be careful with that overconfidence, Danielle," Jazz said as she walked into the room. "You never know when someone will turn up with new tricks up their sleeve. Like when the Box Ghost had stolen Pandora's Box and-"

"Meh, meh, meh, don't be overconfident," Danielle said in a nasally voice as she rolled her eyes and played the game, ignoring the shocked and upset look on her aunt's face.

"Excuse me, but are you mocking me, young lady?" Jazz asked in an accusing tone.

"Well maybe if you weren't talking so much about things no one cares about, I wouldn't have to find ways to make you be quiet."

"You better watch that mouth of yours, Danielle, or else-"

"Or else what?" Danielle said, fed up with the red head as she whipped around to glare at her. "You're not my mother, Jazz, meaning that I don't give a crap about what you say!"

Jazz was beyond stunned at the girl, though this isn't the first time that she has mouthed off to someone in the house. Looking at Danny and Sam, she gave them a questioning look as neither said anything, only looking between the two.

"Aren't you two going to say anything!?"

"You know what? I suddenly don't feel like playing anymore," Danielle stated, hoping off the couch and heading towards the stairs. "Maybe you should mind your own business." With that Danielle headed up the stairs, but not before flipping up her middle finger at Jazz who gasped before her face began to turn bright red in anger. The teen quickly rounded on her brother and his girlfriend who, though stunned, had yet to say a word.

"What the hell is wrong with you two!?" She yelled. "She has completely lost her mind, and you two haven't done a thing about her behavior in weeks!"

"Jazz, calm down," Danny said, standing and walking over to his sister. "Look, I know that she's gotten a little…abrasive lately, but it's just a phase she's going through."

"Yeah. She's just trying to get her confidence back," Sam said, though the look on her face told Jazz that she wasn't sure she really believed that herself.

"Abrasive? Confidence? That's bull, and you two know it," Jazz stated. "You two haven't been the same ever since she went back to school. You've let her come as go as she pleases. You've let her eat and do anything she wants. Her grades have slipped beyond even Danny's when he was trying to hide his secret. You two have lost it. And you know why?"

"Jazz," Danny said, a warning tone in his voice as his eyes narrowed at his older sibling. Though the look shook Jazz a little on the inside, she wasn't about to let her baby brother scare her just because he had powers. Besides, this needed to be said, and they need to hear it.

"You two are scared to punish her because you're afraid of her getting upset with you again like she had when she said she hated you," Jazz stated. The air in the room became thick with tension as Sam could only stare at her, emotionless, while Danny hung his head, fist gripped at his side. Danny knew Jazz was right, but that didn't mean he wanted to hear it.

"Ok, so maybe we've been a little slack about her behavior, Jazz, but I don't see what that has to do with anything or anyone else," Sam stated, looking at her with the same conflicted eyes.

"She's disrespectful to other people, she's secretive about where she goes all the time. Do you know how she acted toward Mom and Dad earlier when she came back from school after that ghost attack? Mom said she was beyond disrespectful, something you know Mom and Dad would never let us get away with. So I don't know if you two are just ignoring all these problems, but you need to snap out of the whole "just trying to be her friends" thing, and get off your asses and start acting like her parents!"

Danny felt his eyes flash green as his jaw set in a hard line. "We don't need you telling us how to handle our daughter, Jazz. So why don't you mind your own damn business!" he yelled.

Jazz resisted the growing urge she had to slap Danny, and stalked off to the stairs, turning to them. "Well then maybe you should handle your daughter!" Danny turned away from her as he tried to ease his breathing back to normal, but couldn't help wincing when he heard her door slam. Sam looked at him, sighing as she wrapped her arms around herself. Danny looked at her, trying to figure out what he could say, but nothing came to mind. The two were brought out of their thoughts as the phone rang. Sam looked at Danny before walking up to the wall mounted electronic, and putting it to her ear.

"Fenton Works, Amity Park's leading Ghost Hunting headquarters, this is Sam speaking, how can I help you?" she said, reading the practiced speech Danny's parents had put by the phone for unknown numbers. The voice on the other end was small and hesitant, almost like the person was scared to speak, making it hard for Sam to hear. "Hello?"

"I need to speak to you. And to Danny too," the girl said in a whispered voice. Sam looked over to Danny who looked just as confused but came over, turning the phone around and hitting the speakerphone button.

"Hello? Who is this?" he asked cautiously.

"That…that doesn't matter. Right now, the only thing that matters is what I have to tell you about…Danielle."

This instantly got both of their attention as they looked wide eyed at the phone. Danny's grip on the phone tightened slightly as the person on the other end sniffed, telling them that she was or had been crying. This confused Danny and Sam, though neither said anything, only listening intently as the girl took a deep breath and spoke once more.

"I know that Danielle has been hurt badly, and I…I can't tell you how sorry I am for not helping her, but she's going down a dangerous path that can only lead to disaster."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"Well…it's hard to describe, but it has a lot to do with her change in attitude. On the day that Danielle came back to school…a lot of the students treated her really badly and made fun of her. They teased her, and beat her up because she couldn't defend herself. Then…her…her friends left her all alone…"

Sam gasped, looking at Danny who could only gape at this information. Danielle hadn't told them any of this. Why wouldn't she have told them that she had been hurt so badly? Did she think that they wouldn't care or understand all because they had made her go back to school? Did she really have no faith in them? Before he could voice any of his questions, the person continued speaking.

"I don't know how or when, but a boy named Nicholas approached her and offered her help. I guess Danielle took it because soon after that, it became known that she was hanging with the wrong crowd because she was seen…she was seen with…"

"What was she seen with," Danny asked, his voice low as his throat tightened. Danny didn't know why, but he knew he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"…she was seen hanging out with members of the Renegades gang and wearing a wristband with their symbol on it."

Danny nearly dropped the phone as Sam dropped to her knees in his peripheral vision. Though Danny heard her small sobs as she struggled to get her breathing and her crying under control, he couldn't get himself to move to comfort her. He was speechless as his mind ran around in confused circles as the words they had just heard tried to process through his minds. Danny could feel a lot of emotions running through him; guilt, sadness, but most of all, anger. He was angry at himself, at Sam, and at Danielle for being so stupid. She could have come to them with her problems, and instead, she goes and joins a gang. No, Danny would have none of that. Turning to Sam, who was now back on her feet, he was met with the same determined, hard look on her face through her tears, which was all he need to know that she understood that they had to handle this.

"Please, you have to stop her before she does something she'll regret."

"Thank you, whoever you are. And I promise, we'll deal with it," Danny said, hanging up the phone as his body shook. Looking up, his eye instantly flashed a harsh green. He turned to Sam as she placed a hand on his shoulder, her eyes shining the same green color.

"Jazz was right," he said, leaving no room for argument.

"We have been acting too much like her friends, and not like parents," Sam added.

"We let our fear of her hating us get the better of us, and instead of bringing us closer, it's only let her slip further and further."

"We've let things slide too far for too long. Now, we need to go and put her in her place, and get her back into her right mind."

Danny nodded his head, grasping her hand and walking out of the kitchen to the stairs. The two remained completely quiet as they walked down the corridor, their footsteps heavy on the tiled floor. Sam could feel her heart beating furiously as she thought about all the things she had let Danielle do. All the junk food she let her eat. All the times she didn't say anything when she back sassed someone, and should couldn't believe that she had let any of it go on without so much as a scolding look in the girls direction. Danny was beyond furious at himself as he thought about all the times Danielle had yelled and screamed to get her way. All the times she had skipped school. All the times he didn't so much as blink when she shrugged off her responsibilities without a single care in the world, and he knew that this was going to stop. He recalled when he had talked to his friends and family, confining in them that he and Sam thought that they had been too strict and over bearing. They had been defending her actions. He could hate himself more for not realizing that they had done a complete 180, ignoring everything she did and not doing his job as a parent. But that was about to change right now.

The two teens didn't even bother knocking as they barged into their daughter's room, eyes glowing fiercely as they fell upon the shocked girl who had been reading a comic book. The door hit the wall with a deafening thud as it rested against the wall, setting the mood instantly. Danielle looked at the stiff posture the two held, and knew that something was wrong. Placing her comic down, she quickly got to her feet, ignoring the whimpering of her ghostly pet, and looked at her parents.

"What's going on? Are you guys ok?" Danielle asked, a feeling of unease building in her stomach.

"Danielle Lilith Fenton," Sam said, her voice low and dangerous, and that was all it took for Danielle to know she was in trouble. The fear that had built in her stomach was a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long time, and it made Danielle almost sick as her knees gave a weak shake.

"You little attitude problems are going to end right now," Danny said. Danielle didn't know where this was coming from, but she knew that this was not going to be pleasant.

To Be Continued….

Hello, everyone. I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter done. I've been very busy as of late, and I would have had this done yesterday, but my Mom decided to go on some super clean streak and forced me to help. Then I would have had it done earlier today, but she had me running around with her all day. So, I'm sorry.

Anyway, here it is, the long awaited, by many of you, parental chapter. I can't even remember how many of you asked if I was ever going to do this chapter. Lol. But as you can see, not only has Lin finally realized that its partially her fault that Danielle is the way she is right now, but it has all come full circle for Danielle as her parents now know what she has been up to. And they are not pleased. Oh yeah. It's hit the fan.

Another thing, for all of those that don't follow me, I just wanted to let you know that the first chapter of the YJ/DP crossover called Phantom Light: Resurrection is finally up, as well as the other crossover between the two I started called Polar Opposites. So go check both of those out, and let me know what you think.

Also, tomorrow (8/19/2013) is my birthday! Oh yeah! Anyway, have a good one, and stay tuned for more because this story is wrapping up and the tension is only getting started!