Author's Note:
You may notice that the author's notes have changed – that is, if you're re-reading this. I'm just simply updating my comments since the story has changed quite a bit – Mainly completing with Danny's portal accident and the absence of any actual crossoverness. Other than some wonderful guest appearances of characters that, in reality, are a part of religious and mythological folklore and therefore not belonging to any one fandom.
Special Thanks to Hornswaggler for Beta-ing for me!
Chapter Two
Breaking the Ice
Advisory was one of those reformations that the administration had implemented after it was obvious test scores were only continuing their steep decline. It was a change that nearly everyone disliked, with teachers complaining about the loss of valuable class time and students grumbling about being forced to take their academics seriously. Jazz, of course, had loved the idea. She had wasted no time in telling Danny all about it, how it was a way for students to keep on top of their grades, find tutors, and plot a course for their life. And, after two years of experimenting with the idea, the faculty seemed to think that they had finally gotten right. In all honesty, it didn't sound like a bad idea and Danny assumed it had stopped more than one kid from failing. But his opinion changed the instant he entered classroom 106.
The first strike against it was the absence of his two best friends. Sam and Tucker were in Mr. Lancer's homeroom, and he had never been without at least one of them before. The second strike was Jazz. Somehow, he knew it was her fault he wasn't in Mr. Lancer's homeroom. She had decided to be overbearing at school, as if home wasn't enough for her. Strike three?
Dash Baxter. And he suddenly, he hated advisory.
Tall, burly, and blonde, Dash was everything Danny was not. Becoming popular back in middle school due to his affinity with sports, he'd come back over the summer looking as though he'd turned sixteen, rather than fourteen. Class hadn't even started yet and Danny knew Dash had secured his status as "most popular" of the freshmen class. He was sitting in the front row, wearing an expression of the utmost smugness as he – by the looks of it – bragged loudly to the girls beside him about his summer accomplishments. As if beating up Mikey, the smallest boy in freshmen year, could be considered an accomplishment. He didn't even glance at him as Danny passed by his station, which suited Danny just fine.
Any conversation with Dash was painfully one-sided anyway.
Danny walked slow, hesitating, unsure of where to sit. The classroom was large and unnaturally clean, with white linoleum tiles and black hardtop counters. Instead of desks there were an array of three person stations, each equipped with two gas outlets, a sink, and storage space beneath. To the right of the whiteboard, opposite the entrance was a strange metal contraption that Danny recognized as an emergency shower. The classroom made the advisory look smaller than it really was, made each vacant seat strangely obvious. But, he didn't really know anyone well enough to sit with them. Sam and Tucker had always been with him…
In the end, he took a seat beside the only other freshmen, Valerie Gray, and a very freckled boy with sandy hair. Valerie tossed her black curly hair, glancing at him curiously for a moment before turning away, apparently uninterested in making conversation. Danny didn't mind, he didn't really know her anyway. The sandy haired boy on the other hand, grinned and extended a hand. "I'm Martin Clark, a sophomore. You're in the freshmen class, right?"
He had a hoarse scratchy voice, as though he gone to a concert the night before. Danny nodded. "Yeah. I'm Danny Fenton." He smiled back, feeling rough calluses' beneath his fingers as he shook hands with him.
Martin blinked, hazel eyes widening. "Fenton?" He gave a short airy laugh. "Aren't your parents those ghost enthusiasts?"
Danny quickly drained of color. "Ah… well, you could say that," he mumbled, casting his gaze to the floor. This happened every time he tried to introduce himself. They'd bring up his family's sick obsession with ghosts and then the teasing would start. Ever since his parents had crashed that city hall meeting three years ago under the pretense of a ghost haunting the ventilation system – which, of course, there wasn't – the reputation of the Fenton's had gone from slightly eccentric inventors to paranoid crackpots. Danny hunched his shoulders instinctively, waiting for the mocking to ensue, but Martin didn't touch the subject again. In fact, he behaved as though it had never taken place.
"So, I'm assuming you've never met Webb?"
Danny blinked and shook his head, slightly taken aback. Martin smiled and went on.
"In case you couldn't tell, she's the science teacher. Chemistry really, but of course, we need her to teach biology too – don't ask her the difference between foxes, dogs, and cats, she has no idea." He laughed, as though recalling an amusing memory. "She's really nice though, and favors her advisory kids – well, every teacher does, but she brings us treats and gives us extra credit opportunities. Just don't ask her—" he stopped abruptly, his head jerking toward the door. Danny followed his gaze.
A woman he could only assume was Ms. Webb entered, causing the class to fade into polite silence. She was a rather short woman, with the look of someone who had been sick for a long time. She was pale and thin, with purple shadows under her bright brown eyes. She was rather disheveled in appearance, her shirt wrinkled and mouse brown hair tied back in a messy knot. All the same, she smiled warmly, eyes crinkling as they scanned over the small group of students.
"Welcome to advisory!" She spoke in a low alto, yet clear and sharp like church bells. "I am Ms. Webb." She gave a mock bow and a few of the older students chuckled. "But, unlike some of the other teachers here, I don't mind if you drop the title. In fact, please do. It makes me feel old and far more proper than I am." A few more laughs followed this. Danny found himself smiling in spite of himself.
"Now listen up freshmen – everyone else can tune out, you've heard this spiel before – During the next four years, you will be in this advisory. Hopefully you'll come to think of us as family—" Danny glanced at Dash and resisted the urge to snort, fat chance, "—and trust us to help." Her smiled faded and she continued in a slightly more serious tone, "I cannot tell you how many tragedies could've be averted if only someone had opened their mouth. I may not be a counselor, but it doesn't take one to listen." She paused as though using the silence to make her point then went on, much more cheerful, "I will also be helping you form plans for the future. You probably have no idea what you want to do – I myself didn't decide till my sophomore year in college – but you don't want to close yourself to options with horrible grades. But we'll get more into that later," she said with a wave of her hand. "Today, we're just going to play a few icebreaker games to get to know each other better."
Webb beamed at them all then turned to write something on the whiteboard and the advisory immediately broke into excited whispers.
"Family."
Danny turned back to Martin. "What?"
"Don't ask her about her family," Martin said in an undertone, glancing toward Webb. "She has more than one issue with her sister and she'd rather not discuss it. But, if you ask, she feels as though she has to answer – so just don't ask."
"Okay…" Danny didn't have time to be more articulate than that; Webb had turned back to the class, stepping aside for them all to read the board. She had divided them into two teams, and to his relief, he saw he wasn't on the same one as Jazz.
"So, I believe you are all familiar with two truths and a lie?" Webb said glancing around at them all. "It's basically that, but the whole team has ten seconds to decide what is the lie. The team with the most points decides the treat for next week."
There was a pause as Webb produced a coin from her pocket. Danny waited for her to ask a team to pick heads or tails. Dash too was staring at her curiously, though Jazz merely rolled her eyes. Beside him, Martin looked as though he were preparing to jump. Then, without any warning, he yelled, "Heads!" just as she flipped it high in the air, cutting off all the others. Heads it was.
And so the game began.
Ashes to Ashes
It wasn't nearly as bad as Danny had thought it was going to be. Webb – who he had thought would just sit back and enjoy the show – joined in, behaving as exuberant as any of the others, despite the fact that Danny thought she looked likely to collapse. He had even managed to score a point for his team! Not even his sister had known that he preferred white to blue. And, he'd been key in figuring out Jazz's lie, resulting in their victory. Martin had high-fived him so hard that his hand had smarted for several minutes afterwards. They'd requested homemade brownies – Webb's specialty, according to the older students.
"See you next week!" Webb called over the bell.
"That wasn't so bad," Danny voiced to Martin, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
Martin laughed. "You'll probably change your mind when we start the test prepping." He waved, "Later, dude." And he turned left, while Danny went right.
That had really been much better than he had expected. Danny couldn't help but allow a smile to lighten his features as he strode down the hallway. Even Jazz hadn't been able to make a mess of things – not that she still wouldn't, though. He had noticed Dash giving him this very sour look at the end of the game though. Hopefully that didn't mean anything too sinister.
He found his friends standing outside of Mr. Lancer's classroom, deep in conversation and slightly nervous. Tucker wasn't even holding a piece of technology. When they spotted him, they dashed to his side.
"I'm really sorry, Danny," Sam said, and she truly looked it. "But, Lancer said the advisories are set. No switching of students."
"Yeah man, we tried everything." Tucker added, regarding him sadly.
Danny shrugged. "It's okay. Webb is pretty chill."
"Chill?"
Danny laughed. "Yeah," he said flashing them a reassuring smile. "Anyway, we have Mr. Lancer together now, right?"
Tucker grinned. "Yup. C'mon," and he lead the way into the classroom. "Lancer's all right. For now, anyway." He chuckled and Danny shared it with him. "We spent the whole time going over what we would be doing. Boring, but interesting."
Danny grinned wider. "Really? We played two truths and a lie."
Tucker made a noise of indignation, but drowned whatever retort he had. He swallowed, looking at a point above Danny's head, paling rapidly.
"Did you, Fenton? Well, perhaps you'd like to take a seat. We do not play icebreaker games in English."
Danny whirled around, nearly jumping out of his skin. Mr. Lancer was a man who, by the looks of it, had gone bald prematurely as his goatee was still charcoal black. He had a square chin, but a good-natured face. He gave off the vibe of a man who was going to seed, but had done his best to ignore it. He did not look angry, in fact his green eyes looked rather amused, but Danny heard the doleful sarcasm in his tone.
"Ah, right. We'll get right on that," Sam said briskly giving Tucker a quick nudge and leading the way over to a group of seats near the back. Danny quickly followed suit, sitting beside Tucker.
The classroom was different from Webb's. Smaller, the desks were all separate from each other, placed in perfect rows. At the back, a small library of books adorned several bookshelves, and a single sad looking computer sat on the blacktopped counter at the far left corner. Warm golden light streamed in through the windows all on one side of the room, displaying only a glimpse of half-dried lawn before hitting the black asphalt of the parking lot. Mr. Lancer took a moment to write the name of the course on the board – English 09A – before turning back to the students. He smiled. It looked painful.
"Welcome to English. For those who don't already know, I am Mr. Lancer." He sounded bored, as though he had repeated himself one too many times. "Using short stories and essays as material, you will learn how to write persuasive, expository, and analytical papers. After a final project in which you will summarize your favorite story, and persuade me to like it too we will move onto poetry. Any questions?"
Danny glanced around the classroom. He could tell that Mr. Lancer had already lost several students. Dash was gazing at a spot just above Mr. Lancer's shoulder looking glassy-eyed, and a blonde girl in front of him – Star, he thought was her name – texted rapidly from under the table. Mr. Lancer didn't seem to care though, as though he had fully expected this. He continued in the same droll, though his eyes now flickered to only to the students still paying attention, skipping over the others.
"Tonight I want you all to write a paper about yourselves, it should be easy enough." This woke several students up with a groan. Mr. Lancer gave a half-smile, a genuine one. "Yes, homework the first night is so horrible, but it lets me know where you all stand. You may use the remainder of the class to create your outlines. Who knows, some of you might even get the essay finished."
And with that he sat down, pulled out a book, and ignored the class. There was a general murmur of discontent as everyone pulled out binders and pencils, but within ten minutes the side chatter had returned with reinforcements.
"Argh, do I have to put something about my parent's obsession?" Danny asked, frowning at his messy web-plot.
"I am," Sam said with a shrug. "It's kind of a part of you, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but…"
"Danny, look, he probably already knows. You can write about how living with your parent's eccentricities has been a difficult thing to overcome."
Danny nodded, his expression grim. "And how their reputation is tarnishing my own?"
"Yeah."
"That sounds all right." He sighed. "What are you centering yours around?"
Sam laughed. "Isn't it obvious? My parents' refusal to accept my unique individuality and constant attempt to conform my person into another mindless robot."
Tucker – who had been staring at a blank page for quite some time – slammed his pen down, looking agitated. "English majors, please, help the technology geek. "
Danny laughed. "Write about that."
Tucker frowned. "Easier said than done. Just help me get a thesis."
"Okay, okay." Sam paused, apparently mulling something over. "How about, your obsession with technology has been signed off as a phase and has been underappreciated by your parents?"
"No… my parents are totally cool with it."
"Well," Danny said grinning. "You could always write how about technology has prevented you hooking up since you realized girls were pretty." He ducked as Tucker tried to hit him with his PDA, working hard to stifle his sniggers.
"That's not funny, dude!"
"Well, how about this," Sam broke in quickly, though Danny saw the amusement in her eyes. "Technology has both accelerated your thinking, and hurt your social relationships."
"That sounds… all right."
"But that's—ouch!"
Sam had kicked him under the desk. Danny shot a glare at her, to which she merely grinned innocently – it looked more like a warning smile, to tell the truth – and he sighed. Tucker didn't seem to notice the exchange. He had bent back over his spiral so close that his nose nearly touched the paper, writing the idea down. It was the same thing he'd said, just said nicer. Danny knew that Tucker would probably realize it about nine and then try to feverishly think of a new topic before turning in a very hasty paper.
He nearly smiled at the thought of it.
He had just been about to resume tackling his own paper when a loud annoying, almost siren-like sound blared through the halls. Above the doorway strobe lights flashed, and everyone jumped. Several girls screamed. Mr. Lancer seemed to wince slightly as Dash leapt to his feet and started demanding what was going on.
"Is it a fire?" Dash yelled, covering his ears with his hands. "What's going on?"
"Everyone! Please remain calm," Mr. Lancer said in a fairly bored tone. Danny was beginning to wonder if there was anything that could actually surprise him. "We are experiencing a Lock-down."