Chapter 4 Paully
Dot.
Slash (/)
Dash (-)
All will be revealed in the end of the chapter.
The following day, Paulina aroused in a lousy mood. She got up earlier than usual in a succeeded attempt at avoiding her grandmother and father. She prepared Stephanie's breakfast, dropped her sister off at Peter Pan School (Pre-K - 1st grade), and then drove herself to school.
Paulina spun the wheel to the left, fidgeting anxiously as Casper High appeared in the distance.
When she had seen Fenton at the park, she had no intentions of speaking to him during school. In fact, she had been silently plotting ways to avoid him and even went so far as to touch on the thought of looking up Evasion Spells as she watched him enter his house.
But her 'avoid Danny at all costs' plan had exploded in her face when she told her mother's mother that he would be her date for the Quinces party.
She pulled into a spot nearest to the front doors and shut down her car. She bit her lip and gazed up at the school with sudden anxiety. After a few moments, she forced herself out of the car. She paused to smooth out her wrinkled, questionably short skirt and adjust the straps of her book bag before strolling towards her doom. Her slender hands extended and she found herself cursing inwardly upon hesitation.
The girl scowled as she barged into the all-too familiar building and headed over to the cafeteria. As expected, there was a mass of children already socializing at the high school, though it was nowhere near time for class to start.
The proud Latina raised her head high and forced a nonchalant look to her face as she glided down the halls.
Paulina met Star at their table and wasted no time in explaining the story of the previous day. Sure, it would've been nicer to be able to talk to Valerie, too, but the African American girl was on a temporary trip with her father.
After the head cheerleader spilled out all of the occurrences and cautiously leaving out the part about Danny's injuries, a smile crept onto Star's face. "So, you needa ask Fenton out, right?"
"I don't want to," Paulina admitted with a groan, "but I have to."
The perky blond scoffed. "Right. And you don't think—quote, unquote—that he had an 'oh-so perfect god-like body.'" Star enunciated each quoted word exaggeratedly. "Well, now's your chance." Star grinned, a malicious gleam lighting her eyes as she extended her polished finger and pointed at a spot beyond Paulina. The Hispanic teen immediately straightened up and followed her friend's line of vision only to find that, to her shock, Fenton was sitting with his own friends a mere two tables away from her.
Her mouth fell open at what she couldn't decipher as a lucky or unlucky moment. She snapped her jaws shut immediately and flashed an annoyingly smug Star a weary gaze.
"Wish me luck," she muttered before gathering as much confidence as she could muster up and sauntering over to the dreaded table. The few students that noticed the head cheerleader suddenly fell silent as they watched her sit down at the table. A few queer words wafted through her ear and she held her breath the instant she recognized Danny's voice.
"...caught them all before school started. Isn't that great? I've got the Thermos in my locker. Now all I need is to make sure they stay in there-"
"Danny," Paulina interrupted as she slid into the empty seat beside him. She winced when he snapped his gaze to her, shock and surprise lighting his eyes. Tucker stared at her with incredulous disbelief and Sam glared daggers at her, not bothering to hide the suspicion from her stunning amethyst eyes.
"P-Paulina?" Danny finally stuttered out, recovering from his initial astonishment. His gaze eventually softened but morphed into mild confusion.
"Look," Paulina straightforwardly began, "something sort of came up, and...I was wondering if you'd go to a party with me?"
Danny glanced around apprehensively, most likely wondering if this was another trick. "No thanks, I've...had my fair share of parties."
Paulina sighed, already having anticipated his denial. After all, from what she knew, he never had much luck in parties. He was either picked on, made fun of, or just completely ignored. It was no wonder the boy never showed up, even when Valerie went out of her way to invite the teen.
"It's not that kind of a party. No one from school is gonna be there. It's…with my family."
His eyes widened and, this time, he appeared incredulous, shocked, and completely befuddled at her words. "What-"
"Look, like I said something happened, I'll explain everything later. And..." she sighed and bit her lip, knowing full well she would live to regret her choice of words. "I promise, I'll do anything." She paused, reconsidered her words, and added, "As long as it's not something stupid."
"Alright." Danny immediately replied, his gaze skeptical but definite.
"W-what?" Paulina blinked. It was her turn to be dumbfounded. She hadn't at all expected such a quick answer. Was he already thinking about how she would repay him?
"I'll help. I'm sure you wouldn't have asked me straight up if it wasn't important." He shrugged. "Besides, you—you know," he dropped his voice briefly so that he spoke in low tones, "you did help me with my—the…incident last night. I owed you one." His voice rose to a normal tone. "So, I'll help. Consider it a…" He paused and mulled over his words. "…compensation."
"Really? That's great!" Paulina smiled, relieved to have such a large weight lifted off her shoulder. "Like I said, I'll tell you about it later. Meet me after school at the Nasty Burger, then we can talk."
She leaped off the table, knowing full well that Sam was immediately going to start jabbering Danny about him accompanying the Latina to the birthday party. Paulina hoped for all intents and purposes that the damned Goth wouldn't change Danny's mind.
"Lemme guess," Star began, peering up at Paulina's befuddled frown. "He said no."
"Actually, he said yes." Paulina replied, slightly dazed as she sat down across from her best friend.
"Oh," Star licked her spoon and focused on the dark-skinned teenager. "Then why do you look so confused?"
"Because...well, he said no but then he said yes after I told him it was for my family. I didn't think he'd—I dunno—agree so quickly." Paulina shrugged and rested her cheek on her fist. "He said it's for compensation, though.'"
"Right. He lets you take him to a party just because you gave him a ride? Well, I can't give you much advice since I don't like him." Star bluntly stated. "He's weird and just...I guess I get this creepy vibe off him. Like he's not normal. Anyways, when Valerie started to go out with him, she'd tell me that he was a nice guy and all that junk. So, if Valerie was here, she'd probably say he's helping because he feels sympathetic or just pities you." She paused, mulled over her words, and nodded for emphasis. "Yeah, I think that's what she'd say."
"Ugh, I don't need anyone's pity." Paulina wrinkled her nose. "But I am desperate." She sighed, feeling much like one of those animals she'd seen in Guatemala—like a dog scavenging for leftovers in a trashcan.
Paulina had never explicitly asked anyone for anything (except her dad) but…
"Wel," her friend chirped, "I get the feeling he's not expecting anything in return. Just be grateful that Fenton kid actually agreed to help. And not just because he's some Fan boy or because he wants your popularity." Star flipped her hair and rose to her feet at the sound of their school bell.
Pauline frowned and pulled her gaze to the cafeteria doors. This was gonna be a long week.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
"Okay," Danny began reluctantly as he peered around the house. Paulina had met up with the boy at his house. His parents were downstairs, working on an invention and his sister was out studying with a few friends. The absence of ¾ths of the Fentons made the house seem eerily quiet and rather normal.
Strange because, no more than a few minutes ago, Danny had sent her a cryptic text. It had read, "Change plans. Mrylk hooouse."
She figured out that he'd wanted the meeting to happen at his house, so she dialed him and asked if he wanted her to stop by NastyBurger to get something to eat. He agreed, grunted, promised to pay her back, and immediately hung up on her, cutting her off midsentence.
The Latina huffed and decided that, after this, she'd never try to be nice to Fenton again.
But, having already promised food, she stopped by the teenagers' favorite hang out place and ordered the pair a few meals after giving Danny a brief phone call.
She sighed and stared at him as he sat down across from her. When Danny had answered the door, he was panting, almost as if he'd been working out or running. He had a small bruise that was barely visible under his right eye and some sort of dark green liquid smeared on the back of his t-shirt.
She immediately assumed it was dried paint, but that wouldn't explain his flushed cheeks, disheveled hair, or fading bruise.
Paulina drew her eyes away from the peculiarities and focused solely on unwrapping her Nasty Burger.
"So," Danny began, interrupting the awkward silence. "Wanna tell me what this is about?"
Paulina hesitated and glanced down at her food. "Well, I, uh...look." She forced herself to raise her eyes and meet his gaze, struggling to block out her emotion-sensing ability. "My grandmother knows Dash and I are over. And ever since she found out, she's been trying to set me up with this guy named José and he's a real jackass."
"And what does this have to do with me and your family's party?" He questioned, his mesmerizing eyes clouding over with innocent confusion and attentiveness. He took a bite of his burger and trained all of his attention on her.
"Right, well, my cousin is having a Quinces. Err, a Quinceañera. It's a really big deal in my family and everyone has to go. My abuela saw this as an opportunity to set me with the puto I told you about. And, I sort of let it slip that you were my date for that night."
Danny sucked in a breath, coughed until his face turned red, and swallowed a sip of water. He then proceeded to drop the remaining bit of his burger onto the table. "What? Why me?"
Paulina sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Look, Danny, my grandma's met all of my guy friends and she knows this town pretty well. The only person she hasn't met is you, Tucker, Ned, Weldon, and Kwan. Your name was the first one to pop into my head. And, if I go to that party alone, José will not, under any circumstances leave me alone. That's why I accidentally had to invite you."
Danny swallowed and nodded, a thoughtful look creeping up his rather cute face. "Okay, so you just want me to show up, right? Stay with you?"
"For the most part. But, my cousins can be...real jerks. They like to pick on people a lot and they'll find any excuse to embarrass me and you. So, in order to stop that from happening, I'm gonna need to show you how to dance."
"Dance?" Danny's eyes widened to the size of dish plates. "Paulina, I've—I've never...danced before. And, even when I'm not dancing, I can be a real klutz. I- I don't think-"
Paulina raised a hand. "I'm gonna teach you. I've already thought about everything, and it's okay if you wanna back out now, but..." she flashed him the slightest pleading look. "You're sort of my last hope."
"I'm usually everyone's last hope," he mumbled to himself. He turned and focused solely on her, an unfamiliar look of determination radiating from his eyes. "I'll help."
"Really?" Paulina squealed and clapped her hands. "That's great! Knowing my cousin, there's gonna be about four types of dances: trival, cumbia, merengue, and bachata. Maybe some salsa but not so much. I'm not gonna be here Tuesday because my cousin and I are going shopping, and Thursday I'm gonna drop Stephanie off at my mother's house, so those days you'll have to practice with another friend of mines. We'll start practicing tomorrow, 'kay? I'll meet you then."
Danny flashed her a small smile when suddenly he shivered and a mist escaped his parted lips. Too distracted to notice, Paulina glanced at her watch and grabbed her purse. "I gotta go, okay? Tomorrow at five, be ready."
Paulina stashed her burger back into its bag, flashed him a smile and instantly fled the house, a gleeful smile planted on her face as she practically skipped all the way home.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Danny
"She wants you to dance?" Sam's screeching voice vibrated into Danny's ear, causing him to wince in pain.
Another person's dramatic laughter suddenly shot out from the small device. It seemed like his two friends were bent on destroying his eardrums. The hybrid ducked and flew higher into the air, trying and failing to disorient the ghost that was right by his spectral tail. "Danny? Dancing? That's classic! Since when have you ever danced?"
"Gee, thanks for the pep talk guys," he grunted as an ecto shot blasted at his rib, sending him spiraling a few feet away from his two enemies.
"I'm sorry, Danny, but I'm giving it to you straight. Paulina's a shallow witch. She probably only invited you for her own selfish reasons. I swear, I wanna strangle that bitch."
"I say go for it," Tucker opposed. "I mean, she's hot. This may be your only chance to impress her." He paused. "If you pull it off."
"Hold on guys." Danny spun mid air and felt a cool sensation escape his core and travel through his hands as an ice blast targeted one of his attackers. The adversary froze instantly and Danny immediately trapped the ghost into his Thermos before charging after his other opponent. "I'm only going to help her out. She already told me why she wants me to go. It's nothing romantic and even if something does go horribly wrong, you know perfectly well that I can easily sneak out of that place."
Danny's eyes widened as he caught sight of another spectral blob escaping southeast.
Tucker's voice resonated from the Phone; Danny could almost hear the smirk on his best friend's face. "Riiight. Nothing romantic about Latin dancing."
"Tucker, don't encourage him," the female Goth hissed.
Danny made a few loops in the air before turning abruptly and activating the Fenton Thermos. Caught off guard, the ghost wailed in what was a combination of fear, horror, and anger as he was sucked into the small container.
"Got 'im." Danny smirked as he slowly descended down to the Earth until finally he was finally hovering by Tucker.
The techno-geek friend was standing by a street lamp a couple blocks away from the NastyBurger, casually glancing up at his friend. "Took you long enough," Tucker waved his PDA in the air. "You're schedule says you've gotta go finish up cleaning the lab. I'd help but, you know, I haven't eaten in days and this carnivore isn't waiting another minute."
"You're heartless, Tucker." Sam snapped from the other end of the Phone.
"You're calling me, heartless? Are you kidding?" Tucker pressed a finger on the green, bluetooth-like device, opening his mouth to make some sort of snarky reply, but Sam beat him to the punch.
"Do you have any idea how many innocent animals are tortu-"
"Guys!" Danny interrupted, zeroing his gaze on an increasingly annoyed Tucker. "How about you get yourself a burger?" Danny offered, pulling some change from the pocket of his hazmat suit.
"Fine." Tucker harrumphed, plucked the Fenton Phones out of his ear, turned, and walked away.
"Is he gone?" Sam's voice echoed from the earphones, sighed with relief when the hybrid confirmed Tucker's absence. "Good, I told your parents that you and Tucker were out at the library and you're on your way back while Tucker gets food?"
"Got it. I'll be there in ten." Danny hesitated and peered over his shoulder, shivering slightly. His eyes darted around the area briefly before he took flight, brushing off the feeling that someone had been watching.
Around the corner of a nearby store, a pair of glittering eyes widened in surprise as they processed this new information. Perhaps, the Ghost Boy's friends could be used as weaknesses.
A/N:
Okay! Here is a little treat for you all! A taste of Latin dancing. It's my favorite dance and it's called Cumbia.
It will also be mentioned in the next chapter, so if you want to know what it is, here's the link.
It's a group of people doing a simple line dance. ;D Enjoy.
YouTube website: YouTube dot com slash watch?v=A4-8McI-e_4&feature=fvst
