A/N: I broke my own rule, I know, but I couldn't wait to get this next chapter up. Okay, just so you know, This is when Dark is talking, This is normal, And this is thoughts. Now, to the story!

"Two days? That's all the time you're giving me to prepare for this! I'm going to be slaughtered!" Vlad could barely keep himself from exploding with laughter.

"Don't you think you're being a bit melodramatic about this? I'm not throwing you to the wolves!" Vlad chuckled and rolled his eyes as he heard Daniel's feeble argument.

"You might as well be. School? I'll never survive at a snobby rich kid school! I don't even know how to act! Why can't you send me to another public school, where I can actually fit in?" Vlad sighed. Does he ever think before he acts? He guessed not.

"Daniel, you don't think that people would get suspicious when Vlad Masters, the richest man on Earth, sends his only son to a public school?" He could tell that Daniel hadn't thought of that, for he looked down and chewed his lip for a minute before looking up and responding.

"No more than if Vlad Masters' only son had no idea how to act properly at a private school." This back and forth argument had already gone on for about an hour, ever since breakfast when he had brought it up. Daniel still had a wet splotch on his shirt from where he had choked on his orange juice. Vlad sighed, exasperated.

"I will tutor you on the proper etiquette when we get back from shopping today, so you will not have anything to worry about. Speaking of which-" He quickly continued, cutting off the boy's argument, "-We are leaving in twenty minutes. I would strongly suggest that you go upstairs to get ready. Unless you were planning on leaving the house in those?" He motioned towards the boy's current outfit, which consisted of rocket ship-covered pajamas and mismatched socks. Daniel blushed and ran upstairs to get ready, while I relaxed into the soft, plushy armchair and began reading the twenty-seventh chapter of Dracula.

As Danny rushed up the stairs, his focus turned inwards. Why does he enjoy tormenting me?

Because he's a seriously crazed-up fruitloop who loves to rub in the fact that he gets to act like your dad.

True that. He agreed as he opened the door to his room and dashed towards the closet. As he sifted through the multiple outfits, he asked Dark, as he had decided to call the voice, What do you think I should wear today? Today was the first day he would be wearing something outside the house, and he wanted to use this small amount of freedom to his advantage. This was Dark's body too, however, and it was only fair that he got a voice in the matter.

How about that black and red tee with those dark jeans, and those black Converse?

Danny grabbed the outfit that Dark had pointed out. The shirt that he had mentioned was the same design that his old shirts had been, but with black where the white had originally been. A bit dark, don't you think? How about a compromise.

Danny hung the tee back up and grabbed a crimson oxford from the other half of the closet. He also grabbed a fresh pair of matching socks from the basket as he walked out. Folding the outfit carefully over his lower arm, being sure not to wrinkle it, he stepped out of the room and down the hall, towards the bathroom. As he stepped through the door (literally), he flipped on the lights and walked over to the sink. He set his clothes down on one of the unused sinks as he reached his arm out and popped his compartment open.

Conditioner, check. Shampoo, check. Cologne, check. Towel, check. Hair gel, check. Anti-frizz gunk, check. As he took everything off of the shelf and set them on the sink, he unscrewed the lids of the bottles and memorized what order they were in. Then he plugged the sink and turned on the hot water, tested it, and held his breath before plunging his head into the small pool of water. He grabbed the bottle second from the left and squeezed the necessary amount into his hair. He then removed his head from the water, keeping his eyes tightly closed, and turned off the flow before massaging it roughly into his hair. Then he took another deep breath before submerging his head once again into the sink. He did the same thing with the bottle furthest to the left, and then with the one furthest on the right. With the third one to the left, he poured the tiniest bit into his hair, rubbed it in, and grabbed the soft, dry towel. After drying off his face, he unplugged the sink and listened to the slurping of the water running down the drain as he phased the water off of himself.

Now that he was clean, he yanked off his socks and pajama bottoms, then carefully unbuttoned his top. He shivered as the cool air hit his now-bare skin. Not that it bothered him, with his ice powers and all, but it was still a big temperature difference. With this done, he reached over and grabbed his clothes. He unzipped the jeans and slid them on, marveling at how comfortable the denim was, if it was even denim at all. With Vlad, you never know. He unbuttoned the red oxford and pulled it on before he used the mirror to button it correctly. He managed it after only two mistakes, which was a new record for him.

Next came the socks and leaned against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest one at a time so that he could get the that done, he looked up into the mirror and groaned when he saw his hair. It was sticking straight up in all directions, and looked like he had just jammed a fork into an electric socket. He sighed as he grabbed a glob of hair gel from the container and spread it through his locks with his fingers before he grabbed a comb and brushed it into his normal anti-gravitational spikes. As he glanced up into the mirror again, he realized something.

If my hair gets much longer, I'm going to have to put it into a ponytail. I'll have to ask Vlad about getting it cut while we're out. Shaking his head, he walked out of the bathroom and headed downstairs.

As he jumped off the bottom stair, he strode into the den where Vlad was relaxed in an armchair reading an extremely thick novel. As soon as he stepped into the room, Vlad pulled off his glasses and stuck them into his shirt pocket before he turned around. His eyes widened minutely as he took in Danny's choice of attire.

He expected you to wear a tee shirt and pale jeans like you normally do. He thinks that this is a bit dark of a choice of clothes for you.

Since when are you omniscient? His thoughts were cut off as Vlad cleared his throat, getting his attention.

"Nice choice of clothes. I was expecting you to wear something a bit less dark... But oh well." Danny grinned as he shared an internal laugh with Dark. "Here's a list of everything you will need to get while we're out." Vlad handed him a sheet of paper with fancy calligraphy on it. Danny glanced down and skimmed over it. Cell phone... Laptop... I-pad?... Daily planner... Vlad cleared his throat again to regain his attention. His gaze snapped upwards as Vlad began speaking again.

"I also have a copy of the school dress code. You are required to wear a suit and tie, as well as a pair of dress shoes, and you are forbidden from wearing anything that could be used as a weapon, represents a weapon or anything inappropriate, a hat, or piercings anywhere but your ears. Your pants cannot end more than two inches above your ankle, and neither can your sleeves to your wrists. Anything that goes inside those rules, such as belts or watches or something like that, you can get to personalize your attire." Danny nodded.

"Vlad? I noticed something while I was upstairs... Um... I kind of need a haircut..." He trailed off as a pink hue colored his cheeks. Vlad chuckled, making him look back at the man.

"I noticed the same thing. I just didn't want to bring it up if you were wanting to grow it out. Of course it's fine." Danny nodded.

"Thanks, Vlad."

"What's first on the list?" Vlad inquired, looking back at Danny as he drove through the city. I didn't even know there was a city out here. Danny sighed as he glanced down at the paper he was holding. He tried to decipher the first words.

"A cell phone." He informed the older man as soon as he could read the weird handwriting. He saw Vlad nod as he turned off into the parking lot of Best Buy. Danny raised an eyebrow at this. Geez, how does he know what an electronics store is? Vlad apparently saw his surprise, for he chuckled and responded as the sleek silver Jaguar rolled into an empty parking spot.

"I'm not that old, Daniel. I do know what Best Buy is." Danny grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck as he climbed out of the car. He straightened out his shirt before walking over to where Vlad was standing.

"He he... sorry." They walked over to the automatic doors and into the store. After questioning a rather flustered employee, they were quickly pointed over to the cellphone aisle. Or aisles, to be exact. There were about four of them. Touchscreen, normal, the kind that attaches to your ear, every type of phone imaginable. Vlad led him over to the touchscreen phones without hesitation. Danny glanced over all of them, and picked out six models that he liked more than any of the others; the i-phone 4S, the Droid Razr 4G, the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, the Lucid 4G, the Vivid 4G, and the Marquee LS855. After he picked out those, he was stuck. He couldn't decide which one he liked best out of all of them. He also didn't want to look like a complete moron.

Which one? He asked hurriedly. If a voice inside his head could sigh, Dark would have.

The Galaxy S II would probably be best. You know nothing about technology, huh?

Nope. I grabbed the phone and went over to where Vlad was patiently waiting for him. As I showed him my choice, he nodded and murmured,
"Good choice. For a minute there, it looked like you didn't know what you were doing." Dark was laughing hysterically inside my head. Oh, shut up. I told him impatiently.

"What's next on the list?" Vlad asked me, glancing around the store almost nervously. I didn't really blame him, because everyone was staring at us curiously. Apparently the employee had spread the news. I glanced up at him sympathetically for a moment before I decoded the next item on the list.

"A laptop, which I know for a fact is over there." I pointed up at a large sign that said 'Laptop Computers' over an aisle not too far away. I could tell that Vlad was relieved that he didn't have to ask someone else for directions by the way he exhaled shakily. We loped towards the aisle at a reasonably quick pace. This time, there were only two aisles of computers. I went ahead and searched through the computers for one that had plenty of memory and stuff like that. I found three that looked good; the 15.6" Pavillion Laptop with 6GB memory and a 640GB hard drive, the Asus 15.6" Laptop with 6GB memory and a 750GB hard drive, and the Samsung 15.6" Series 7 Laptop with 8GB memory and 1TB Hard drive.

Dark? Another sigh.

Samsung Series 7. I seriously must be your intelligent side or something...

Possibly. I snatched the computer and walked over to Vlad, who was now doing his best to hide from the people passing by. I think he forgot that he could turn invisible. When he saw me standing there, he tried to look as dignified as possible. I couldn't restrain a snort of amusement as I saw Vlad's bright red face. I muttered a quiet apology and passed him the laptop.

"Did you seriously forget that you have ghost powers?" I asked him quietly as I handed him the box. If he didn't have a reputation to uphold, he most likely would have face-palmed right there. "Next on the list is..." I squinted and tilted the paper in order to decipher the scrawl. "An i-pad. Oh, I saw those while I was browsing the laptops! They're over here." I walked over towards the end of one of the isles. There were about forty different models of the i-pad. I grabbed the newest version with WiFi, 4G, and 64GB without even thinking about it.

"Okay, now I need a protective cover for my i-pad and cellphone, and a satchel to carry my things on Monday." I scanned the ceiling for another sign to point us in the right direction. I didn't see one, but I did see that the wall of the store opposite us was covered in bags. That would probably be a good place to start. I pointed it out to Vlad.

"You go find what you need, and I'll go get virus protection and minute plans for your things. I'll meet you by the checkout counter." He turned and walked off. I started walking towards the bags. After a couple minutes, I saw that they were indeed laptop cases. I also saw that there were hundreds of them. I had no idea where to start. Then I saw a sign that said 'Trouble? Best Buy online can help narrow your search' with an arrow pointing down at a computer with a chair in front of it. That's convenient. I sat down in the chair and moved the mouse. When the screensaver turned off, I saw that the website was already up. I searched for Laptop Cases, and got almost two thousand results. I groaned. I narrowed the search down to traditional cases and got fifty-nine results. Better, I sighed mentally. I glanced down to see what size laptop I had so that I could narrow it down more. 15.6 inches... So sixteen inches would be a safe estimate. Once I put it in, I got only seventeen results. Once there, I checked the different models until I got the one that I needed. It was the Targus A7 Messenger laptop case. It had somewhere for my phone, the main compartment for my laptop, a padded inner pocket for my i-pad, and other pockets for pens, discs, and papers. I took a spare sheet of paper out of my pocket to write down the model so that I wouldn't forget it.

As I stood up, I walked over to the wall and looked for the model. It was a bit down from the end, on the top row. It was out of my reach, so I glanced around to make sure no one was watching before making an invisible duplicate to float up and bring it down to me before I absorbed it again. Next, I had to find the phone and i-pad covers before I met up with Vlad. Thankfully, this one was easier. I only had to look around for a few moments before I saw the small section with the covers. He grabbed a package with two invisible screen protectors for the i-pad, and a similar one for his phone. He also grabbed a stylus specially designed for the i-pad before he went to the checkout counter. Or at least, tried to.

As he was walking to the front of the store, he was knocked to his feet by a yellow blur. He grunted as he landed on the hard white floor. Gosh people, watch where you're going! The young man who had knocked him to his his feet walked back and offered him a hand, which he gladly accepted without looking up.

"Sorry, dude. I was-" The boy broke off as he stared at him. He seemed to have thought of something. Danny glanced up at his face and froze. This is not good... "Danny?" An exremely shocked Tucker asked. Danny unfroze in time to pull himself to his feet and dash to the checkout aisle, away from his stunned ex-best friend. "Danny, wait!"

Danny only stopped running as quickly as he could when he saw Vlad standing beside one of the counters, checking his watch. He stumbled to a halt beside the man, gasping for breath.

"Daniel? Are you alright?" He asked worriedly. Daniel was like a son to him, and if there was anything wrong with him, he ought to know. He saw the boy shake his head briskly before pointing with the hand that wasn't leaning on the countertop. He followed the finger's direction and immediately saw what was causing the boy distress. His old friend-Tucker, wasn't it- heading towards them hurriedly. Vlad saw him freeze when he saw who the boy was with. The shock seemed to pass, however, for Tucker began walking forward with his eyes narrowed. When he was no less than three feet away, the boy spoke.

"Vlad? What did you do to Danny? First what he did to his family, and now he's with you? Danny would never do that, and he wouldn't go to you if his life depended on it! What did you do, use Freakshow's crystal ball on him again to make him obey your every command? Or-" To both of their surprise, Daniel cut him off.

"Vlad didn't do anything to me, Tuck. When I killed them, that was me. When I stood there and laughed at the carnage, that was me. Hell, when Freakshow took control, that was still me. When I went to Vlad's of my own free will, that was me. You need to get this through your thick skull, Tuck. I only played the hero because I thought people needed me to protect them. I took the bad publicity, the death threats, the angry mobs, because I thought that there were people out there I could depend on. Apparently I was wrong, because you are all the same. Stupid, stubborn, and disloyal. If there is nobody out there who wants a hero, then I won't be a hero. Let them suffer because of their foolishness. Now Tuck, get away from us before I make you." Daniel's eyes flared a bright red during his entire speech, but Vlad doubted that he noticed through his anger. Tucker's eyes widened as he shook his head minutely and backed away.

"Dude... There's something wrong with you." With that being said, he spun on his heel and ran off. Vlad was thinking something rather similar, though he would never have mentioned it aloud. What is wrong with you, Daniel?

Nice speech, Danny boy.

Shut up.

I didn't think that the hero would have so much rage bottled up inside him. I'm seriously impressed.

I told you to shut up. That was you, too, and you know it.

Was it?

...No. It was me. I just... don't want to admit it.

Hey, Vlad's trying to get our attention. Shh! I snapped back into focus just in time to hear Vlad say something.

"What were you two talking about? Who's Freakshow?" I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck nervously before I answered.

"Long story. Did you see the cashiers expression after my speech, though? Priceless." Vlad and I both broke out laughing as the car rolled out of the parking lot and headed towards the shopping mall.

A/N: Urg! I took so much time looking up computers that I fell asleep on the keyboard more than once. This hurt to write! It was a fast upload, though, I'll admit. Tomorrow is my first soccer game as keeper; Wish me luck!

To make up for the lack of foreign languages, whoever translates this Esparanto correctly can tell me one of their favorite companies and their first name for me to use as an OC in one of my chapters to come. Here's the esparanto; Kial estas lardo en la sapo?