Afraid – Chapter Five

Lancer sighed as he drearily picked at his spaghetti. He had read Daniel's essay on Friday and now it was Tuesday evening but he still hadn't spoken to the boy about it. It was quite shameful, really; as a teacher, he was supposed to support his students but all he was doing right now was avoiding this one.

Another sigh escaped his lips.

The man, deciding that he just wasn't going eat any more of his meal, picked up the plate and scraped the remains into the bin. It was a waste, he knew, but it wasn't like he even had a pet to give it to. Lancer haphazardly placed the dish into the sink before settling himself in an armchair. Perhaps Kain would have some advice for him. The teacher picked up his phoned and dialed the other man's number. After a couple of rings, Kain's familiar voice rang through the receiver.

"Hello? May I ask who's speaking?"

Lancer almost chuckled at the greeting. His friend was only this polite on the phone. Probably because he didn't have caller ID and didn't want to offend a stranger.

"It's just me, Kain."

The teacher could practically hear the other man's widening grin.

"L-man! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist calling your best friend slash romance adviser! So, what's the deal?"

"Don't call me that, Kain, we've already been through this."

Kain chuckled good-naturedly. "You know you love it."

"No. No I don't. In any case, I'm calling because I need some advice."

"Oh?" Lancer guessed that the man had raised an eyebrow. It was something he would do. "Women troubles?"

"What?! No! Is that all you ever think about?"

"Women? Definitely. Well, women and you of course."

"Don't even joke about that, Kain, it's disturbing. You're too old to make such remarks."

"You're so cruel to me, L-man." He was definitely pouting. Lancer could feel it. "So, what is the problem?"

Sighing, Lancer began to recite the next installment of his tale.

"Wait, so you still haven't talked to him? This isn't like you, L-man. You don't procrastinate. It just isn't done."

"I know that, Kain. What I want is some advice!"

"What kind of advice? I'm not sure if there's much I can give you. I mean, I don't know what was on the essay and I don't know who wrote it so there's not a lot I can do."

"How about how to confront them?"

"What about talking to the parents first?"

"Somehow I don't think that'll work in this case…"

"For goodness sake, Luke, just talk to the kid then!"

Kain was using his name instead of 'L-man'; he was annoyed. Lancer supposed that perhaps he should just talk to Daniel. After all, he was going to have to eventually, even if he did talk to others first. He sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that evening.

"Alright, Kain. I'll just do that…"

"…Look, L-man, just find the right time to do it and everything will turn out alright."

And then Kain hung up. Lancer stared at the phone.

"'Find the right time'? Just how am I supposed to do that…?"

When Friday arrived, Lancer was feeling tenser than he'd ever felt before (except for perhaps before his date with a woman that strangely resembled a cricket, but that was another matter entirely). He still hadn't built up the courage to confront Daniel about the essay and it didn't look like the situation would be resolving itself anytime soon. Things weren't looking too good and it would probably get worse if he left the predicament alone for the weekend. Sighing, the teacher glanced up at the classroom clock. He had ten minutes until the bell went – not exactly a large amount of time.

As the students began shuffling into the classroom, Lancer wasn't surprised to see that Daniel had yet to arrive. He was going to be late. Again. That meant detention for the teenager…Wait. If he managed to avoid giving other students detention that day then he would have the perfect opportunity to talk to Daniel without interruption. It was a last minute plan but it was simple enough and the man was pretty sure it wasn't illegal to do such a thing. Resolving to go through with the plan, Lancer began his lesson.

"Today we're going to be looking at the different techniques used in media – more specifically, advertising. Maybe this will help you stop being coerced into buying useless products like the rest of the teenage population…and the majority of the adult population too."

A couple of muffled laughs were heard after he said this. Lancer smiled slightly; at least he could still amuse some people.

A movement in the corner of his eye grabbed his attention. He sighed in exasperation before speaking, "Mr. Fenton, we can all see you sneaking into the room. Take your seat and report to me after school for detention. This is the fourth time you've been late to my lesson this week."

Daniel groaned before trudging over to his desk and laying his head on its surface.

"This isn't naptime, Mr. Fenton. I would appreciate it if you could at least try to pay attention to what I'm saying, even if it is mindless drivel to you."

Lancer inwardly winced at the faint blush that followed the teenager's classmates' laughter. Perhaps in trying to act normal he was being too harsh on the teen. Despite this, the teacher continued with the lesson - it was too late to take back the statement anyway.

Danny was nervous – really nervous. Mr. Lancer was being particularly strict with him today which wasn't a good sign. Oh he really wished the Box Ghost could've picked a better time to annoy him. He was guessing that the continuous late arrivals were getting on his teacher's nerves. This wasn't good for him, especially if by some stroke of misfortune (on his part) Mr. Lancer had found the misplaced essay.

When the bell rang, signalling the end of the English lesson, Danny couldn't have been more relieved. He practically sprinted out of the classroom. When Sam and Tucker managed to catch up with him, they found him leaning his head on his locker.

"Dude, what's eating you?"

Danny lifted his head up an glanced at Tucker.

"It's nothing, I'm just paranoid about that essay…"

Tucker's eyes seemed to glint as he out away his PDA (for once), "Speaking of which, Sam and I have a plan to get it back from Lancer."

Danny groaned and leant back on his locker before speaking, "That's the problem. Mr. Lancer lost it."

Both Sam and Tucker looked taken aback by this announcement. They looked at each other and then back at their friend.

"But if Mr. Lancer hasn't got it, who does?" Sam asked in a worried tone.

"That's what I'm worried about!"

Tucker and Sam shared a look again; they hadn't missed the desperate tone in their friend's voice.

"Are you absolutely sure he's lost it?" Tucker wanted to confirm it before anyone did something rash.

"Yes! He told me so himself!"

"…Maybe he was lying."

Danny paused, that was always a possibility. But why would Mr. Lancer lie to him about that? What would he gain from it? The halfa groaned and banged his head on the locker again.

Sam was suddenly stuck by an idea, "Hey, you have detention with him after school, right?" Danny nodded in answer. "Why don't you ask him if he's found it? And if he gets suspicious, just tell him you worked hard on it and don't want it to go to waste."

Danny pondered on this, he supposed it could work. Actually, it was a great idea! He could look for signs that his teacher was lying if he said no and well…if he said yes, they could think about it then. Feeling much more optimistic, Danny grabbed Sam in a hug.

"That's great! Thanks Sam!"

And then he realised what he had just done.

"No problem, Danny…"

The two teens turned away slightly, blushing. Tucker just laughed behind a hand.

"Lovebirds…"

"Shut up, Tucker." Both Sam and Danny protested the same time.

When the detention finally arrived, Danny was feeling much less optimistic. What was he thinking? How could this plan work? Maybe he'd been blinded by the fact that it was Sam who came up with the plan…No. Best not to delve into that.

Lancer, surprisingly, arrived for the detention after Danny. He was surprised to see the teenager there on time. He wasn't sure whether he should he glad that his student seemed to be getting his timing under control or annoyed by the fact that this meant he had to confront him sooner.

"I'm only going to keep you here for half-an-hour. Believe it or not, I do have plans for this evening."

Danny couldn't bring himself to smile at that.

Lancer settled himself down at his desk, "Now, Mr. Fenton." He started. "I have something I want to discuss with you…"

Danny felt a foreboding feeling building up in the pit of his stomach. He didn't think Mr. Lancer was going to want to talk about video games or even his unexplained late arrivals. When the teacher took a familiar sheet of paper out of desk drawer, Danny knew he wasn't going to be leaving the room without revealing something.

"I want you to tell me what it is you meant by what you wrote in the essay…"

No, Danny thought, he definitely wouldn't be leaving the room with his secret unscathed.

Well, I finally updated. It's not a great chapter, I know, but I hope you'll forgive me. Thank you for the reviews. I greatly appreciated them. I've also made a few changes to previous chapters in the hopes of improving the quality of writing. I don't think it really worked though...