Cliché

Chapter 3: Wrath of the Hobos IV

A/N: I am back! Sorry for the long update, but school was been getting progressivley busier this time of year, plus ive had other things going on as well. So hopefully this should tide you over till next time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or related Characters, my man Butch H. Does

Jazz, leaning her cheek against her palm, was beginning to grow bored listening to her parents and his dad's friend chat about nothing.

"Dad… seriously, how can you talk about your high school high jinks like that? You're putting your own wife to sleep." Jazz pondered as she stifled a yawn and nodded to whatever her father might be blabbering about. Her mom, to steps ahead of Jazz, already had her eyes closed and soon-to-be developing palm-print forming on her cheek where she was resting it in said palm. "Jack, my good friend, enough of high school already, what's done is done. I have no need to listen to events that no longer affect my life. Tell me more about what you are doing nowadays." Vlad said to his chubby 'friend', doing his best to act somewhat interested.

"Well if you say so V-man. Basically, I spend most of my time at home with Maddie down in the lab working on some spectacular ghostly machinery to help alleviate the spectral threat to this city."

"My… you're vocabulary sure has grown since college." Vlad said, surprised.

"Well you'd be surprised what kind smarts you can get when you work around a smart scientist like Maddie… heck I didn't really know half the words I just said…Maddie tells me those things." Jack bellowed.

"Why am I not surprised?" Jazz thought focusing into what Vlad was trying to worm out of her dad.

"Haha! Oh Jack, you never cease to make me laugh. So tell me, what kind of interesting ghostly gadgets are you making nowadays?" Vlad questioned.

"Oh just some super secret high-tech stuff… wish I could tell you more, but frankly… Maddie doesn't even let me see or work on it."

Vlad's face fell sharply and he got up from his chair and made his way to the door.

"Vlad! Where are you going? You barely got here!" Jack asked standing up in confusion, awaking his wife from her slumber.

"Huh? Wha- what's going on? Did he leave yet?" Maddie said groggily.

"Yeah.. he had to leave all of a sudden, not sure why..."

Jazz noticed Vlad's departure and came to a conclusion that he wanted to…leave. Obvious deduction you might assume. And yes, it was, but the young woman had a gut feeling why Vlad was in such a rush leave, perhaps having extracted all the information he could get from Jack.

"Hmm probably just wanted to go because he got all he needed from Dad." Jazz thought as she got up and headed up to her room to relax.

Jazz stepped up each step on the stairs, silently counting each one as if to assure herself that she was sane enough to remember how many steps there were. There were 16. When she finally set foot on that 16th one, she mentally breathed a quiet sigh of relief and turned a sharp left to the hallway which led to her room. She opened the creaky door and plopped down on her bed. She rolled over pulled off her socks and grabbed a nearby book about who knows what. Actually I know what…being the narrator and all. It was a romance novel, and it was as cliché as it comes. We're talking drama, action, love scenes, where the leading characters were best friends who were oblivious to each other until the very end. Which is when they would fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after.

Jazz's mind began to wander into the depths of the book's plot. She lost herself to the sanctuary of love and romance. Jazz soon desired to be that character in that novel, to be romanced, to be loved, to just be in a state of bliss, to hold someone soft and strong. To be in love. This, being waaay out of Jazz's usual state of mind, being logic oriented, and way to tightly strung, is why she only reads these sorts of books at night in her room, and she prays every night that her brother doesn't spy on her while she's doing this. If he has, he's been real quiet about it lately.

Minutes and minutes passed as Jazz began to fall victim to exhaustion. Her eye lids began to feel like lead weights and her heart beat slowed down from the heated plot of the book. She was about to comfortably fall asleep when it hit her.

"EEEP!" Jazz had to go to the bathroom…

The rest of the household was quietly slumbering away so she tiptoed her way to the bathroom.

There was always this one floorboard in the hallway that made a horrendous squeal when stepped upon, so when Jazz's full body weight hit that particular spot.

"CREEAAAAAAAAK!"

This loud screech of the hardwood nearly made Danny jump out of bed, but instead, he just rolled over and hit his noggin.

"Ow…" Danny muttered as he stood up and glanced over at the clock.

"10:43? Hey, that's perfect! I'll just put my shoes on grab my wallet and head out to the movies." Danny said putting on the very shoes he talked about, and grabbing the exact same wallet he also said.

Running his hand through his hair a few times to disguise the fact he was sleeping for so long, knowing the taunts he would receive from Sam about being a lightweight in the terms of staying up late. Danny continued to scurry about his room, trying to see if he was forgetting anything he needed.

"Nope… nope… neh… Man, I really should pick up some of this stuff." Danny bent over to pick of a dirty, old pair of underwear, "I mean… this really can't be good for the carpet."

Danny chucked the undergarment over his shoulder into his laundry basket. Only he didn't actually toss it in, he missed by a good four feet.

"Alright…my one responsible deed for the day has been accomplished, so movie time!" Danny shouted.

Jazz heard his scream but just rolled her now awaken eyes and smiled knowing that her little brother was about to have some fun quality time with his friends.

Danny looked around one more just to double check for any possible parental presence and quietly transformed into his heroic alter ego, Danny Phantom. He did exactly he planned on doing, phasing through the window and flying to the movie theatre where his two chums were waiting patiently.

"DANNY! Oh my god! Where have you been? The movie is starting in two minutes! And the best part is making fun of the previews" Tucker yelled, dragging him in the theatre shoving a ticket in his hand, and pushing him into a dark empty movie theatre where Sam sat impatiently waiting holding 3 large sodas and tubs of popcorn with artificial butter shimmering from the reflection of the images on the screen ahead of them.

"We miss anything Sam?" Tucker asked, plopping Danny in between himself and a now somewhat calm Sam.

"Just a lame preview..." Sam said dully.

"Aww man…" Danny added, shoving a handful of corn into his mouth, accidentally bumping hands with Sam's as she reached in the bucket as well. This resulted in a faint blush that practically unnoticeable due to the darkness of the room and Danny's focused attention on the screen.

The following preview is rated PG-13…
A/N: As for the very last bit here, yes overused and over done... but there's a reason why this story is called what it is, to help the world of Fanfic readers to realize cliche moments when the see them (as if you couldn't...) Sorry again for the delayed update, but it's getting to that time of year where all my teachers want to cram one last chapter of crap into my brain before finals... yuck hopefully more quicker updates will follow.

KITHN