A/N Long wait. Sorry about that; my muse just didn't strike me for a long time there. As to the character I rather abruptly introduce in this chapter, I;ve always had a soft spot for her. She's never been really spectacularly evil, but she's done some pretty mean stuff. I like her better as I portray her here, most definitely, but I can certainly see her turning out this way if this was how the circumstances played out. Confused yet? You should be.

I'd like to thank all of the wonderful people who reviewed my last chapter (I'll only name people by chapter now as there's just too many of you), namely A. LaRosa (I love your work, by the way), your loving sister (she is my loving sister and she just got herself a penname WOO), Smallvillecrazy, Kats02980416, Alchemistress, darkdragon, kpfan72491, cutereviewgirl, and karmatic.luv. You guys are incredible.

Just as a warning, the purposes of this chapter are two: introduce the new character into the story and get Sam a dress. Therefore, there is only one blushy moment and no stolen kisses. Don't be upset, they can't be every chapter or I'd throw up writing it and no one wants a sick author on their hands.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is not mine. Neither is the name Pretty in Pink (movie), but the store itself is mine. Oh, and the dress isn't mine, either.

Chapter 10

"You did not just bring me to a dress store called Pretty in Pink." Sam's face was pale, paler than usual, and she looked like she was going to punch someone. Namely, Danny. "This is just a bad dream, a nightmare, and it will pass as soon as I woke up." She swiftly turned her glare on Danny. "At least, you'd better hope so or you might be losing some important appendages sometime in the very near future."

Danny held his hands out in a placating manner, the look on his face comical. "Hey, it's supposed to be the best place within driving range for dresses, so please don't hurt me?" The last part was half-whined, half-pleaded.

Sam snorted. "Yeah, the best place to look like a poofy pastel princess. And how would you know that this is the best dress shop, hmm?"

"Uh, internet?"

"Riiight."

Taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the array of obnoxious pink poofballs, Sam grabbed Danny's wrist and dragged him into the store. The decor actually wasn't half as bad as she'd thought. The walls were painted a nice shade of blue; light enough to make the room seem larger, but dark enough to make it feel cozy. Yes, the dresses in the front of the store were basically up to par with Sam's expectations, but she saw that the racks further back contained dresses that actually looked halway decent. To her right was a bored-looking clerk, reading a magazine. Hey, at least she's not up in my face and saying how good I'd look in pink, Sam though rather grimly.

"Excuse me." The clerk looked up from her magazine, visibly annoyed. "I'm looking for a dress."

"No shit, sherlock," the clerk replied in a monotone, her pixie-cut blonde hair falling into her eyes. Sam frowned, never a good sign. "Dress stores usually attract people who want dresses."

By this point, Danny was frowning, too. He was just about to butt in with a comment of his own, his mouth open and a finger pointed, but Sam interrupted him. "Look, I just want a dress. If you can lift yourself off your ass for a minute or two, then by all means, I welcome your company. If not, tell me now and spare me the opportunity to waste more words on you."

The girl actually looked amused, one of the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. "Most people just go off to find their own crap after that kind of show," she said, her grin already widening. She put her magazine down on the counter and held out a hand. "I'm Star."

Both Sam and Danny's jaws dropped. This is Star? they both wondered. She had moved away in junior year when her father was given the chance to become a partner of a prestigious law firm in Virginia and hadn't seen or heard of her since. Apparently, she'd changed more than they'd thought. No longer was she the perky, bubbly popular girl who clinged to Paulina and the rest of the A-List crowd; instead, she seemed more comfortable with herself; less self-conscious.

I guess everyone changes, Danny mused.

"Star?" Sam finally squeaked. "Since when did you have a sense of humor? And when did you move back?"

Star gave her a weird look. "How do you know I moved away?" she asked. "Do I know you?"

Danny took a step forward. "Do you remember when I dated Paulina?" he asked, nervously scratching the back of his neck. He wasn't completely sure how Sam would react to the memory, but she continued to stare at Star. "You dragged Tucker along with you for a bit and this one here," he said, poking Sam in the side, "hung out with Kwan. At least until Paulina dumped me."

Star's confused expression remained for a few seconds before recognition dawned on her face. "You," she gasped, pointing between the two. "You're Danny Fenton and Sam Manson! Holy shit!" She actually grabbed the counter behind her and leaned back on it for some support.

Sam cracked a smile. "You've certainly changed since high school," she drawled. "How's life been treating you?"

Star quickly recovered from her momentary shock, shaking her head. "Not bad, actually," she managed. "And as for your first question, I decided to give Amity a shot and come here for college. I haven't regretted it too much."

"Which college?" Danny cut in.

"Park College. I'm a major in fashion and business." Star's eyes gleamed as she spoke. "I want to open my own line of clothing one day, but if that doesn't work out, I'll always have the business aspect to fall back on. Until then," she lost most of the sparkle in her eye, "I'm stuck here."

Danny furrowed his brow. "You go to Park College, too? I haven't seen you around at all in the past two years."

"Well last year, I went to LeFay College, but it sucked to go to school so close to my parents," she explained. "So I transferred. It's a big college, so we wouldn't have necessarily bumped into one another last semester. Even if we did, we probably wouldn't have recognized each other."

"Makes sense," Danny nodded.

"How's Pauline been?" Sam asked amusedly with only a tiny hint of malice.

Star rolled her eyes. "Don't even ask," she said tiredly. "She stopped calling a week and a half after I moved. Last I heard of her, she was still mooching off her parents and hanging out with ost of the old crowd. Except for Kwan, anyway." She suddenly hopped up on the counter, her hand in her hands. "But enough about me. What about you two? Married yet?"

Through his blush and embarrassment, Danny summoned the courage to say, "Nope. Not yet."

Sam's blush only deepened. She aimed her best death glare at Danny and smacked him in the head. "Don't make stupid jokes," she threatened. "They aren't funny and no one appreciates them."

Danny gulped and nodded. "Got it. But," he added with a smirk, "who said I was joking?"

In front of them and yet unnoticed by the two over their bickering, Star was smiling. They might as well have been married; they sure acted like it. All the freaking time. It was just as she remembered them back in high school. High school...she bit her lip. She was a bitch back then. An untouchable popular bitch. Virginia had kicked some sense into her; Star had had to start over completely and, as such, decided that she could be the person she wanted to be instead of the person she had become. It was an incredibly eye-opening experience to have most people openly scorn or ignore her, but she had made some friends, some really good friends. She'd even kept in touch with one. She smiled at the thought; Kwan was a big reason she decided to transfer. She had missed his company far too much; they'd tried dating once, but their relationship had eventually evolved into one of brotherly and sisterly affection. Star really didn't know where she'd be without his incredible advice and patience, but she could never date him again.

Back to the situation at hand. Star knew that she'd often been downright hateful to the two people before her. It didn't seem right to her; they had never done anything worthy of her rejection other than being unpopular. She hated how shallow she had been back then. But Star reasoned that, if they could be this happy to see her, then they couldn't hate her. Right?

Danny and Sam were still arguing, so Star cleared her throat. "Uh, sorry to interrupt," she said, though neither looked particular disappointed or displeased that their fighting was over. Star took a deep, shuddering breath and continued. "I just want to say that I'm sorry for how I acted toward you both back in the day. Neither of you really deserved it and - "

"It's okay," Danny interrupted. "Pretty much everyone treated us like that, not that that's an excuse. But we were all younger and we've matured since then. So no harm done."

Star and Sam both gawked at Danny. "Since when are you so profound, Fenton?" Star asked with a smile.

Danny shrugged. "It's not profound, just the truth."

"So," Sam said, clearing her throat slightly, "are we getting a dress or what?"

"Right." Star turned to the back of the room and started looking through different dresses. "What's the occassion?"

"Wedding. Black tie."

"Not yours, I assume?" Star ased with a grin on her face.

Sam sighed noisily. "No, it's a...a friend's."

Star nodded. "Any colors in mind?"

Sam thought for a minute. What colors did she usually see ghosts wearing. "Black, definitely. And maybe some red or green. Or purple."

Sam and Danny waited for a few minutes while Star picked out dresses for Sam to try on. She came back with five dresses in her arms and handed them to Sam, directing her to the changing rooms.

The first was completely black. The fabric went down to her ankles, the bottom very jagged and ripped looking. Her sleeves almost covered her hands, but the material dripped down and hung about a foot beneath her hands. The only redeeming quality Danny could see in the not-too-tight, not-short-enough dress was that the neckline dipped fairly low. Star winced and commented, "No, you look a bit too much like Morticia Addams in that."

"And what's wrong with that?" Sam asked as she was hustled back in the dressing room.

The next dress was a red salsa dress. It was kind of a halter, two straps hooking in the back, but they weren't the support. The fabric clinged to her body and mid-thigh, rained down ruffles that weren't too poofy. Danny liked this one much better, but Sam looked a bit uncomfortable. "It's really tight," she gasped out, clutching her ribcage. "I don't even know how I managed to zip it up. Do you have it a size or two bigger?"

Star checked the racks and the computer, but it was apparently the only dres within three sizes of Sam's actual dress size. To Danny's great disappointment, she went back in to try on the next dress.

The third dress nearly knocked Danny's eyes. It wasn't nearly as revealing as the salsa dress, but it looked like it was made for Sam. It looked like something right out of the Renaissance, which Danny knew to be Sam's favorite period in history. The blood red bodice fit snugly, accentuating all the right curves. It was floorlength red with black snowflakes here and there; the black sleeves were long as well, but they, too, were snug and looked comfortable. Sam looked like a queen.

"Get that one," Danny quickly said before Star or Sam could appraise it.

Sam twirled, smiling when she saw that the dress flared out. "I really like this one, Star. Really comfy but gorgeous, too. How much is it?"

Star checked the price on the computer. "Five hundred bucks," she said. "A bit much for a dress, but Sam, that really looks stunning on you. And I'm not just saying that because I get commissions; that dress looks great on you."

Still smiling, Sam fished around in her purse for her wallet, pulling out a credit card before turning to Danny. "So you really like this one, huh?"

Danny could only nod. Sam smirked; she'd never managed to make him speechless before. Stuttering, yes, but speechless was an entirely new concept. And if it was the dress that did it, then who was she to ignore it for something else?

After the dress had been purchased and bagged, Star called out to Danny and Sam before they left. "Hey, don't make yourself strangers around here. I could use the company."

"Will do, Star," Sam called back before stepping out the door. Star watched them go, a sense of nostalgia washing over her. She really had been horrible to them, hadn't she? Tucker worst of all; that time they dated, she'd basically made him her personal slave. Going back to her magazine, she vaguely wondered how Tucker was doing these days. Maybe we'll run into one another sometime, she thought as she flipped a page in her magazine. I need to apologize to him, too, after all. Right?

A/N Star is fun to work with. Also, if you want to see Sam's dress, here it is (delete the spaces): http :// www. blanchesplace. com/ sitebuildercontent/ sitebuilderpictures/ PIRATEDRESS. jpg