And we're back to super short chapters. Whoops, sorry. Honestly this chapter has been giving me so much trouble its like every time I try to write it turns to crap. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, Lancer is one of my favorite characetrs (which is probably really weird) so I hope I did him some justice
Disclaimer: Don't own DP or original AU idea
"I hope all of you remember how you felt right now, and study harder next time," Lance said as he passed out the tests from last week. "Especially you, Mr. Fenton," he muttered, just loud enough for Danny to hear.
Danny groaned loudly and put his face in his hands. Why me? If he'd actually had time to study then maybe he wouldn't have failed so badly, but when you hunt ghosts out of guilt because you're responsible for the mass haunting of the town then you typically don't have time for much of anything, at least in Danny's case. Ghosts were coming through the portal much faster than him and his friends could catch them, so they were up at all hours tracking them. The Fenton Ghost Finder was currently out of commission because "GHOST COUNT OVER CAPACITY" so they had to patrol the streets at all hours.
Since it wasn't fair that Sam and Tucker were stuck sleep deprived because of him, he tried carrying the Fenton Thermos with an oven mitt on; the scorch marks had taken three hours to leave his hand. After that disaster they'd tried thicker materials. Needless to say, a leather glove, a baseball mitt, and a boxing glove had all been fried in the process.
Since that idea was obviously destined for failure, they'd started trying to think of ways Danny could casually ask his parents to reprogram the thermos without being suspicious. They didn't have anything so far, but not for lack of trying.
Lancer sat down at his desk with a sigh, disheartened by the youth of today. "Next time I give you a reading and tell you to study, you'll find that you'll be much more successful if you actually read and study it." The bell rang and students all jumped out of their chairs at once, excited for the last class on a Friday. Danny gathered up his stuff and walked to the door, but Mr. Lancer stopped him from leaving, "I would like to talk to you Mr. Fenton. I'll write you a note for your next class. Please, have a seat."
Danny glanced around the empty room nervously, "Um, okay." He pulled a desk chair up to Lancer's desk and sat down, fidgeting with his hands.
"How are you, Daniel?"
"I'm good," Danny replied, unsure.
"How are things going at home? Is everything good?"
"Yeah? Um, Mr. Lancer, what's this about?"
He clasped his hands, "You know you can talk to me if something happens, Daniel. I promise I won't tell anyone unless you would like me to do so."
Danny swallowed and looked away for a second, "Yeah, sure, Mr. Lancer." There was silence between them as Mr. Lancer peered at Danny. He felt like the teacher was staring straight through him. The lamp on Lancer's desk flickered briefly and out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw a small paperweight begin to float upward. Crap.
"Uh, if that was all you wanted to say, Mr. Lancer, I should really get to Math…"
Lancer stared at him for a minute longer, "If something is keeping you from completing your assignments I would understand if you told me. Is there something prohibiting you from studying, Daniel?"
Danny glanced around the room nervously. Pieces of chalk and textbooks behind Mr. Lancer's head were now hovering a foot above their usual spots. Danny gulped, "Nothing's wrong, I've just, uh, been really lazy these past few days. Haven't even started my math homework due next class," he tried for a 'what are you gonna do?' expression just as the lamp started blinking rapidly.
Mr. Lancer frowned, "I could have sworn I replaced the bulb last week…"
"I'll get you a new one!" Danny said abruptly and not at all suspiciously.
He jumped up and was already out the door when Lancer shouted after him, "They're in the supply closet to your left!"
Danny turned left quickly and walked straight through the closet door without noticing. The stack of toilet papers to his right started shaking along with the broom and three cases of light bulbs. Crap crap crap crap. He grabbed rolls of toilet paper out of the air and pushed them into a shelf, and then he took the broom and wedged it between the shelf and the wall. He barely had time to sigh in relief before a light bulb spontaneously shattered. And another. And another. Damn, are you serious? Mr. Lancer is going to kill me.
Danny grabbed as many light bulbs as he could find, willing them not to shatter. Miraculously, only two in his hand broke. He stowed the remainder in a plastic drawer at his side. Danny took a couple of seconds to try to get his ghost powers under control before walking out the door and quickly shutting it behind him.
When he walked back into the room, Lancer looked about ready to come after him himself. "What was that noise?"
"Noise? Oh, I just knocked a broom against a shelf. Nothing major."
"Really? It sounded like something shattered."
Danny coughed, "Nope, nothing that bad." He rubbed his neck, "Well, if that's all you wanted, here's your light bulb," he passed it to him, "I'll see you next week, Mr. Lancer."
It took Lancer a second to realize what Danny had said. By the time he opened his mouth to protest, Danny was already halfway down the hallway. He sighed and sat back down at his desk. Daniel was definitely hiding something, something that was causing him to have bags under his eyes and his schoolwork to suffer; it was up to Mr. Lancer o find out what and, hopefully, help.