Chapter 2: The Last Days of Summer

"Tommy," Chuckie said, irritably, "will you please turn the light off on that thing?"

Eleven-year-old Chuckie Finster, ten-year-old Tommy Pickles, and fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton were at the orthodontist. Chuckie's dad had told him he needed to get his teeth fixed. So, Chas Finster made an appointment for him at Dr. Major's orthodontist, and sure enough, Chuckie needed braces. Chuckie wasn't all that happy about having metal wires and brackets all over his teeth. So, Danny and Tommy were there to support him.

"Sorry, Chuck!" Tommy exclaimed, still holding his video camera to his left eye. "I can't turn it off without turning off the camera! Besides, it gives you such good lighting on your teeth! I can see your smile from all angles!"

Chuckie sat up, and glared at his best friend. "Not funny!"

Danny chuckled. "Don't worry, Chuck!" he said, trying to cheer him up. "It's only going to be for two point five years until they come off! Besides, you'll get rid of those buck teeth you've been wanting to get rid of for years!"

Chuckie nodded. "I guess so." he replied. "But I didn't want to get rid of them by moving my teeth into place with wires!"

"Well, there's no other way to move them, so deal with it!"

Just as he finished that sentence, Danny's cell phone started to ring. It was playing the "Dumpty Humpty " opening song. He answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Danny! Dude, has Chuck gotten his braces on yet?"

"No, Phil." Danny laughed. "He hasn't yet. But if you ever want to see Chuckie's buck teeth again, you'd better get here before they're gone!"

"Okay! I'll be there in five minutes!"

Danny hung up and glanced at Chuckie. "See? Even Phil is coming over to support you!"

Chuckie glared at his sneakers. "Why is everyone so interested in my teeth all of a sudden?" he asked.

"Because it's a precious childhood memory." Tommy joked. "Why do you think I brought my video camera with me?"

A minute later, Dr. Major walked up to the three boys. "Are you ready, Chuckie?" he asked, slipping a pair of rubber gloves on.

"It's Chuck." Chuckie corrected the orthodontist. "And no. We've got to wait for Phil. He'll be here in a few minutes."

About three minutes later, Phil entered the orthodontist's office. Once he explained to the lady behind the desk he was a friend of Chuckie's, he entered the back of the orthodontist where his friends were.

"Hey, guys!" Phil exclaimed.

"Hey, Phil!" his friends greeted him.

Dr. Major grinned at Chuckie. "Are you ready now, Chuck?"

"Not really." Chuckie mumbled to himself.

While heading out of the orthodontist, Chuckie was groaning. "Thanks for coming to support me you guys." He winced. "Sorry. My teeth are already sore. Does anybody know when they're supposed to stop hurting?"

Tommy grinned at his friend. "Dr. Major said they should stop hurting within three or four days."

Chuckie sighed. "I already hate these things."

As the four boys were getting closer to Tommy's house, Sam and Lil ran into them.

"Oh my gosh you guys!" Sam exclaimed. "Guess, what!"

Phil grinned. "Hello to you too!" he greeted.

Sam smiled and shook her head. "Sorry." she replied. "I guess I got a little carried away."

"What's up?" Danny asked.

"My little cousin just called."

Tommy raised an eyebrow at her. "Doesn't she call you almost every week?" he asked, wondering what the big deal was.

"Well, yeah." Sam admitted. "But this is really important."

Danny's face suddenly became fearful. "Is everything okay?" he asked, anxiously.

"Everything's more than okay! Her mom's pregnant!"

"That's great!"

"I know!" Sam exclaimed, then added, "There's more news!"

"What is it?" Tommy asked.

"She's moving here! In your guys town! My Aunt figured that the baby should be born in a safer environment than where she lives right now. So I figured, why not here?"

Phil nodded, and observed his neighborhood for a moment. "I find this place very safe." he replied. He paused then asked, "Hey, why not AmityPark?"

Lil stared at her twin brother with surprise. "Have you've even been to Danny or Tucker's house lately?" She didn't let Phil answer. "There's all sorts of ghostly activity going on around there lately. The last time I went to Sam's house, I almost got my backpack nabbed!"

Sam nodded. "Somebody's really got to clean that place up."

Tommy glanced at Danny. "Why not your parents? They're ghost hunters!"

It was Danny's turn to stare at Tommy. "Are you kidding me, Tommy? The last time my parents tried to catch a ghost, my Dad fell into the sewer hole!"

"Ewww!" Lil and Sam cried in disgust.

Danny nodded. "I know." He shook his head. "Where's Batman and Superman when you need them?"

"In the comic books." Tommy replied. "Oh, by the way, that reminds me! I entered another film contest, and I want you guys to be in my next film!" He paused and glanced down at his watch. "Could you guys get Angelica, Kimi, Susie, Jazz, Harold, and Tucker over at my house by three o' clock this afternoon?"

His friends nodded.

"Great! I'll explain what we're going for this time when we get everyone at my house!"

Danny grinned at his playmate. Ever since he could remember, Tommy had always been into filmmaking. When he was three years old, Tommy had picked up his Dad's camera and started filming, Creature From the Backyard, starring his dog, Spike. That was Tommy's very first film. He had already made over twenty-five films in the past seven years, and had won quite a few rewards for his videos.

"What's the next movie about, Tommy?" Danny asked.

Tommy grinned and said in an eerie voice, "When Fifth Graders Attack!"

"Now, that's something I could get into!" Phil exclaimed, giving his pal a high five. "Way to go, T!"

Lil rolled her eyes at her brother. "What's it about, Tommy?"

Tommy smiled once again. "It's about high school kids picking on a bunch of fifth graders." he replied. "That's where Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz come in. Then the fifth graders, which are Kimi, Lil, Phil, Dil, and Chuckie turn into a bunch of aliens when they get sucked up into an alien spaceship. Then, when they return to Earth, the fifth graders seek revenge on the high schoolers who gave them all of that grief just because they were younger than them."

Sam grinned. "Who are the aliens?"

"Angelica, Susie, and Harold."

"Angelica!" Sam exclaimed, excitedly. "Boy, I'm liking this movie already! I can't wait to get started!"

Suddenly, a huge beeping noise hit their eardrums. The five friends turned to glance at Phil, who was staring at his watch with an eager expression on his face. "Sorry, for the sudden interruption you guys," he started, quickly, "but I've got to go." He started running down the street behind him.

"Wait!" Lil cried. "Where are you going?"

"Soccer tryouts!" Phil called back to his twin sister.

Lil groaned. "I'd better follow him." she mumbled, running after her brother.

"Hey," Sam cried, "wait up! I'll come with you!" She turned to face the rest of the boys. "See you guys later!"

Sam then ran after the twins down the street.

Chuckie, Danny, and Tommy stood there in silence for a moment.

"So," Tommy started, "are you guys up for seeing a bit of soccer action?"

While waiting for the soccer tryouts to come out and practice, the six friends found a spot in the middle of Emerson's Elementary School bleachers. They all agreed that it would be a perfect spot for seeing all of the action from a clear view. That, and Tommy would be able to focus his camera lens better from that spot also.

"Hey, Tommy," Danny said, grinning. "Did you happen to notice that Chuck hasn't talked in over half an hour?"

Tommy smiled. "Yeah!" he said, turning to his best friend. "Hey, Chuck, we're at the soccer tryouts! Smile and have fun! Phil supported you when you got those braces on. Now, it's time for you to cheer him on!"

Chuckie groaned. "Try telling that to my teeth!" he cried. "I want to cheer Phil on, but how am I supposed to do that when my teeth are getting sorer and sorer by the minute?"

Sam glanced at Chuckie with grin on her face. "That's right!" she exclaimed. "You got your braces on today, didn't you Chuck?"

Chuckie hesitated, then slowly nodded.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Lil cried. "Let us see them!"

Chuckie sighed, and gave the girls a quick smile.

Sam gave him a reassuring grin. "They don't look all that bad." she replied. "I can't see any reason for not liking them."

"Yes." Danny replied. "I suppose the pain in his teeth is really enjoyable."

Sam laughed.

Danny grinned.

The rest of them -including Chuckie- just smirked.

Suddenly, "Hey, you guys! Here come the soccer players!"

The five friends glanced to where Lil was pointing. Sure enough, the soccer players were running out with excitement. One of those screaming players was Phil.

"Come on, Phil!" Lil cried. "You can do it!"

Phil glanced around, until he saw his sister and his friends up on the bleachers. He grinned, happy that his friends were there to cheer him on. Phil quickly waved and ran to where the other soccer tryouts were huddling.

Betty Deville, Phil and Lil's mom, was the coach of the soccer team, so she was the one who would get to decide who the new players were that year.

"Alright, kids!" Betty exclaimed. "You'll be running this course three times individually. I'll be keeping track of what you do on this clipboard. Line up near the bleachers. When I blow my whistle, you start!"

All of the soccer players ran toward the bleachers.

All of the kids who did the obstacle course did pretty well. Danny and Tommy glanced at each other anxiously. They knew they were thinking the same thing. What if Phil didn't do as good as they had hoped?

They decided not to think about it. Tommy quickly turned on his video camera.

Soon, it was Phil's turn. From what his friends could see, he looked pretty tense out on the field.

"We have to do something before the whistle blows!" Lil started to panic. "When Phil gets nervous, he doesn't even move!"

They all looked nervous. They didn't know what to do.

That's when Tommy decided to risk it. He stood up. "Come on, Phil! You can do it! Let's see what you can do!"

A moment later Danny joined in. "Come on Phil! Kick that ball out of the field!"

Soon, Lil was joining in.

Then Sam.

Even Chuckie started chanting.

Soon, Phil was smiling. He wasn't so afraid anymore.

Betty Deville blew the whistle. Phil started running. Other than missing one goal, and stumbling on two cones he did exceptionally well. His friends were absolutely sure he was going to make the team.

Phil finished his third and final round with a goal. Everyone cheered.

Betty smiled at the soccer players. "Alright, kids," she replied. "The members of the new team will be posted up in EmersonElementary School on Wednesday. Now, run along and have a fun last few days of summer!"

Phil ran as fast as he could up the bleachers to greet his friends. "Thanks for the help!" he exclaimed, hugging his sister. "If you guys hadn't started cheering for me, I would've frozen up!"

Lil laughed. "No problem, Phil!"

Danny frowned. "Sorry for interrupting the fun celebrating moment, but did Mrs. Deville say we only have a few days left of summer?"

The six friends glanced at each other tensely. They really didn't want this day to come. After all, Chuckie's teeth were sore and he was afraid people would make fun of his braces, Phil probably just made the soccer team and wanted to practice some more, and Danny, Sam, and Tucker were going to Casper High School for the first time ever! What if everyone was way too busy to hang out throughout the school year?

But Tommy didn't think of it that way. "Come, on you guys!" he exclaimed. "So we've only got a few days left of summer before school starts again! This is a time to celebrate, not sit around and moan about it!" He paused, then continued. "We can skip working on the movie for the next few days. We've got three months before it has to be finished. And we only got three days left of summer! What should we do to guarantee we had a great summer?"

His friends paused to think a moment. Tommy was right. They should spend their last day of summer in the most fun way possible.

A few minutes passed before Lil snapped her fingers. "You guys," she said, smiling, "I think I've got an idea!"

"Then," Phil continued, holding his flashlight up to his face, "the girl in the house turned around. But still, nothing. She could've sworn she heard footsteps behind her."

Danny slowly clutched his legs with both hands. To celebrate their last day of summer, Lil decided for them to have a sleepover. The boys were sleeping in a tent just outside the Pickles' home. The girls were next door at Phil and Lil's house.

Right now, the boys were telling scary stories. Danny didn't know what the girls were doing next door, but whatever they were doing, he assumed it was better than this.

Tommy glanced at his friend, and smiled. "Cheer up, Danny!" he whispered. "It's only a scary ghost story! There's nothing to worry about!"

Danny glared at his playmate.

"Oh, right." Tommy replied. "Sorry."

Danny sighed. "It's alright, Tommy. I'm just a little nervous."

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? In case you haven't noticed T, I'm starting High School tomorrow! Plus, with all of the ghostly activity going on lately, I'm afraid something is going to go terribly wrong!"

Tommy grinned, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "Danny, Casper High should be your only worry. The ghost activity is up to the police, the FBI, the bomb squad, and all of the ghost hunters except for your mom and dad. Besides," he added, "what could possibly go wrong?"

Danny smiled. After all, Tommy was right. This was their last day of summer. He should be having fun. Not worrying about what was going to happen in the future. Danny grabbed a bag of potato chips, opened it, and started eating.

Once Phil finished his story, he gave them all a sly smile and said, "If you guys thought that was scary, wait until you see what we're going to do next." He quickly unzipped the red sport's bag he had brought with him, rummaged through it, and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "What do you say we see what the girls are up to?"

Tommy grinned. "Dude, you didn't!"

Phil nodded. "I taped the other walkie-talkie underneath the coffee table in our living room and taped the button in. Now, I can finally find out if Lil took my bubble soap when I was seven!"

Danny quickly caught on. "No way!" he exclaimed. "I am not going to spy on the girls!"

Phil grinned even wider. "It's not spying, Danny! It's-,"

"Listening to their personal conversations? Eavesdropping? Snooping? An invasion of privacy?"

Tucker who had also come to the sleepover, grinned. "You worry too much, D!" He turned to Phil. "I'm totally in!"

Tommy nodded. "I guess I can find out a little bit more about what girls do during sleepovers besides reading magazines and doing nails. What about you Chuck?"

Chuckie hesitated, then shook his head. "I'm going to have to agree with Danny on this one you guys. There's probably some things a guy shouldn't know about in life. Besides," he added, "I don't want to get into trouble."

"Suit yourself." Phil said, shrugging and turning on his walkie-talkie.

The girls' conversation came in loud and clear.

"I still don't see what's so great about the Sulky Boys." Sam replied. "I just think they're some dumb boy band that's hypnotizing guys into mindless idiots, and girls into drooling over them." She paused. "No offence or anything."

Lil smiled. "That's fine. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Will you pass me the popcorn, Kimi?"

Chuckie's younger stepsister grinned and quickly passed the bowl to Lil. "Okay," she sighed, "now that we're all filled up with popcorn, what should we do?"

"Yeah." Angelica replied, stubbornly. "I'm sure the boys are having more fun than us."

"Boy, are we ever!" Tucker exclaimed.

"How about a game of truth or dare?" Susie suggested.

Sam hesitated, then slowly nodded. "Okay. That sounds reasonable."

"Are there any rules to the game?" Lil asked.

Susie was silent for a moment, then she nodded. "Yes. Rule number one, we all go around in a circle clockwise. Rule number two, we can ask anyone a question as long as we don't do any dares that are really dumb and risky. Number three," she continued, "to make this game more interesting, you can't change for example from a dare to a truth once the question is asked. But, you can say pass if you don't want to do it. So, are those rules good enough?"

Kimi grinned. "I'm in!" Then she added, "This should be interesting."

"I'll go first!" Susie exclaimed. "Lil, truth or dare?"

Lil thought for a second, then said, "Truth!"

"Okay. Did you take Phil's bubble soap back in the first grade?"

"Yes." Lil said without hesitation. "I keep telling Phil I didn't take it just for laughs."

"I knew it!" Phil cried.

"Angelica," Kimi asked, "truth or dare?"

Angelica paused for a moment, then said, "Dare."

"I dare you to…go into the bathroom and make a toilet paper necklace that says, I love ponies and unicorns on it. Oh, and you have to wear it for the rest of the evening."

The four boys burst out laughing.

"What is it?" Chuckie asked, curious. A moment ago he and Danny were playing a game of war with a deck of cards.

"Your sister just dared Angelica to do something great!"

Chuckie grinned, and crawled over to where his friends were. "What? What did Kimi do to her? I've got to hear this!" he exclaimed.

Danny sighed. After all, how was he going to play a game of cards without another person? More importantly, how was he going to get distracted enough to not overhear the conversation? Danny glanced down at a Spiderman comic book on Phil's sleeping bag. He shrugged, picked it up, turned on his flashlight, and started reading.

Angelica practically spit out her lemonade. "You're kidding, right?" She turned to Susie. "Isn't this a dumb dare? It's against the rules!"

Susie laughed. "It isn't dumb. It's funny! Now, march down to the bathroom, you pony lover, you!" she joked.

Angelica growled, and stomped down to the bathroom.

Lil grinned. "While we're waiting for Angelica, Sam, truth or dare?"

Sam, who was holding back her laughter took a deep breath and said, "Truth."

Danny was into the Spiderman comic book by the third page. He had never actually sat down and read those types of comic books before. And the funny part was, it was the first issue. Danny read all the way through where Peter Parker got a spider bite, and got spider powers.

He decided to flip through the pages. They were so colorful, and they looked creepily real for drawn characters and scenery. As Danny was flipping through the amazingly cool pictures, there was a sentence that caught his eye. It said:

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Danny thought about that for a moment. He wasn't so sure if that was true or not. And he was glad that he would never find out. But one thing was for sure, that one sentence kept him distracted.

"Okay, Sam." Danny absentmindedly heard Lil say. "Do you like Danny?"

The five boys who were listening, eyes widened with surprise. They glanced at Danny with smirks on their faces. Danny's eyes had widened as well. That got his attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Sam asked, nervously.

"What do mean, what do I mean?" Lil asked, smirking. "I mean, do you like him more than friends?"

Sam put her right hand behind her head. "Um, well…"

The guys leaned in closer toward the walkie-talkie. They all had to hear the answer. Especially Danny. After all, he was a bit curious to hear what Sam had to say.

Suddenly, a small beeping noise came out of the walkie-talkie.

"Oh, no!" Phil cried, smacking the walkie-talkie with his right hand. "Don't die you stupid thing! We need to hear the answer!"

The walkie-talkie started to become static. Phil started smacking it harder. Finally, one large static came out, and then the walkie-talkie died.

"You see," Sam continued, "I'm sort of seeing someone else right now."

The girls' eyes widened. After all, that was really unexpected.

"And you didn't tell me?" Lil cried, excitedly. "Who is it?"

Sam sighed happily, then said, "His name is Gregor. I met him after the soccer tryouts. He's a vegetarian, he likes helping the environment, plus he's a goth!"

Susie grinned. "He sounds a lot like you." she replied.

Sam nodded. "I know, right?"

"Are you going to ask him out?" Kimi asked.

Sam sighed deeply, lie down on her sleeping bag, and said, "I don't know. After all, school starts tomorrow, I'll probably have a lot of homework, and," she paused then said, "I'm kind of nervous about asking him out."

Lil's eyes widened even more. "You? Sam Manson's nervous about asking a guy out?" She turned to Susie and Kimi. "And I thought the first news was shocking."

Sam quickly sat up. "Of course you're shocked, Lil. You were granted with some girlish charm that has guys asking you out all of the time."

Lil grinned. "Thanks, Sam!"

"What if he doesn't like me anyway?"

"You'll never know unless you ask him."

"What if he says no?" Sam paused then said, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not very good at expressing my personal feelings."

"Really." Kimi said, rolling her eyes. "I hadn't noticed."

Sam glanced at her suspiciously. "What's that supposed to mean, Kimi?"

Kimi smirked. "Remember, the Valentines Day incident?"

"Danny and I were five! We were locked in a closet by you guys! We-," Sam paused. "Wait a minute! How do you know about the Valentines Day incident? You didn't live here then!"

Lil smiled nervously and shrugged. "It came up in a conversation we had once." she explained.

"Still," Susie interrupted, "either way Sam, we're happy for you!"

Sam grinned. "Thanks, Susie!"

That's when Angelica walked into the room with her toilet paper necklace around her neck. The girls' burst out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah." Angelica mumbled. "Laugh all you want." She sat down on her sleeping bag. "So, what did I miss?"

The guys, both tired and disappointed that they didn't get to listen to the rest of the conversation, decided to go to sleep.

Once everyone was asleep, Danny said to Tommy, "It's too bad we didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation."

"Why?" Tommy asked, looking at his playmate slyly. "Because you like Sam or something?"

"No!" Danny said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't! Not like that anyway."

Tommy grinned. "I know you like her, Danny." Then he frowned, and said seriously, "You know, if you don't make your move soon, she's going to fall in love with someone else."

Danny chuckled. "That's not going to happen, Tommy."

"Oh, so you are interested in Sam."

"I didn't say that."

Tommy laughed softly. "Sorry, D. I'm just getting that vibe." He turned on his right side, away from his friend, and closed his eyes.

"Whatever, T." Danny replied. He lie flat on his back, and soon fell asleep.