ATTENTION!!!

I have some very sad news that a few of you might already be aware of. The Purpose of Random, who was my beta reader, has left The previous chapter was the last one she read. Although, she has given me advice on a few of my future ideas. I will deeply miss her and have decided to send news of her resignation to the fanfiction community-well, to as many as I can reach by posting this here. So, I dedicate this chapter in her honer. I wish her good luck in whatever she does.

That is all.

Chris's body snapped out of its frozen state and ran over to her unconscious friend. Matt was right behind her. They both kneeled down over the half-ghost.

"Matt…what…how…" She stammered, her gaze flickering from between the two boys.

Matt looked at the frantic girl and sighed. "Chris, you have to promise you won't tell anyone." He pleaded. "Yes, Jake's half-ghost, but he doesn't want anyone to know. You've seen how people treat his ghost half. What if they found out? He'd be in major trouble."

"I won't tell anyone." She swore. "I promise."

Matt gave her a weak smile. She already sounded more assured and confident.

"But…how?" The Goth girl continued.

"I think that's something he should tell you himself." The boy replied. "But for now, we should probably get him to his house."

Chris nodded in agreement, her face determined.

A short while later, Chris and Matt were carrying the unconscious Jake to the Fenton home. Matt took a deep breath.

"Remember, if anyone asks, there was a ghost attack by the Nasty Burger and he got hit by accident." Matt reminded the Goth girl.

"Got it." She confirmed.

They shifted Jake so that he was leaning upright on Chris and Matt's shoulders. The African American boy knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Sam opened the door. Her face instantly switched to shock and worry.

"What happened?!" She demanded frantically, although doing her best to hide it.

Matt and Chris came through the door. The girl couldn't help but look around a bit. Even though she was Jake's friend, it was still the home of the Phantoms.

"There was a ghost attack by the Nasty Burger. Jake accidentally got hit." Matt lied smoothly. He was much better than his father at it.

The mother relaxed slightly. Then, she noticed the girl that she had never seen before.

"Sorry. I forgot to introduce myself." Sam apologized to the new girl.

Chris snapped out of her silent observing.

"I'm Mrs. Fenton." Sam extended her hand. Matt shifted the half-ghost's weight onto himself so that Chris was free to shake it.

The Goth chuckled and shook the mother's hand politely. "I kinda figured. I'm Chris."

"Oh, right, Jake was talking about you. You just moved here, right?" The woman inquired.

"Yeah." She responded evenly, a small smile on her face. Jake talked about her?

"Um, shouldn't we get Jake upstairs before we continue this little chat?" Matt interrupted, straining under his friend's weight.

"Oh, right." Both females responded guiltily.

They just placed the boy on his black-sheeted bed when Chris's cell-phone went off. She grabbed it quickly.

"Hello, Mom." She paused. "No, I'm at a friend's house." Pause. "Yes, Mom." She groaned. "Fine, I'll be right there." The girl hung up.

"Sorry, my Mom wants me to go home now. I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school. Nice meeting you, Mrs. Fenton!" The Goth girl ran out the bedroom door, but Matt stopped her.

"Aren't you going to tell him?" He pressed.

"I will. Tomorrow. Matt, I have to go now. Bye!" Chris ran out as she said that.

Downstairs, she ran past Danny, who had just come home. He looked at her curiously as she continued to leave. He made his way up the stairs where Sam and Matt were in Jake's room and his son was sprawled out on the bed unconscious.

"Okay, I'm confused." He admitted.

Sam and Matt turned around, his wife looking surprised.

"Anyone want to explain to me why Jake is unconscious and a stranger just ran down the stairs and out our door?"

The next morning, Chris looked determined as she walked up to Jake before school. She was going to tell him.

"Jake, can I-?" She began when she got close to him, but was cut off when Jake yelled "Hey, Tori!"

Said girl walked over to her friend. Chris huffed. So close! She tried to stay calm as she practically glared at Tori. She was the one who had hurt Jake! How could he be so friendly toward her after that?!

"Hey, Jake. Chris." The huntress greeted, her greeting toward the Goth girl a little less friendly.

The mention of Chris made the boy turn around in shock. "Oh, Chris. I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." He apologized.

Chris slapped on a fake grin. "That's okay. I guess I'm just sneaky."

"Anyways," Tori interceded "are you guys totally pumped for the big field trip to day?!" She asked sarcastically, using her mock prep voice.

"Oh, totally." Jake replied using a duller sarcasm. "Looking at inanimate objects and listening to someone drone on for hours. Fun."

Chris couldn't help but smirk at Jake's comment. She was about to add her own opinion when Matt ran over.

"Hey, Jake. Where's Chris?" He blurted, not seeing the girl yet.

Chris cleared her throat loudly. The dark-skinned boy turned to face her. "Oh." He chuckled nervously. "I…didn't see you."

"Just like everyone else." She muttered under her breath heatedly. She was trying her best to tell Jake that she knew, but no one was letting her!

"So, did you tell him yet?" Matt whispered to the girl.

She shook her head back and forth, slightly irritably. Then, before anything else could be said, the school bell rang and the students started to crowd inside.

They were all loading the busses, ready to leave for the field trip.

"Chop, chop, kids! The museum isn't going to wait all day!" Mr. Smith urged, clapping his hands.

Chris saw Jake again. He was at the back of the line to get on the bus. She hurried to get to him so that she'd be able to tell him before the ride there.

"Jake!" She panted, grabbing his shoulder.

The boy turned to face her and a simple smile washed over his face. "Hey, Chris. What's up?"

"I need to-" She started, but Mr. Smith cut her off.

"Come on, you two! Hurry up!" He urged, pushing Jake along.

"-tell you something." She finished to herself before slumping onto the bus. She looked to the back where it looked like Jake and Tori were talking. Tori seemed to be on offense while Jake was on defense. When Jake noticed the Goth girl, he waved, signaling for her to take the empty seat beside him. Chris reluctantly let a small smile grace her blue lips as she made her way down the aisle and sat next to him.

At that moment, Tori decided to interrupt. "So, I heard you helped Jake yesterday."

Chris' muscles tightened slightly. It instantly clicked that she was becoming a little protective of her friend. And with good reason. "Yeah." She answered, trying to be casual. "I mean, that's what friends do. Besides, we couldn't just leave him there, especially in his condition."

Tori winced. She should have been the one to help Jake. She had been his best friend forever and she had let him down! And now, after only being here for a short while, Chris had become his friend and helped him when she failed to!

Chris relaxed her muscles after she saw Tori's cringe. She realized that that had been a bit harsh.

"And you would have done the same thing." She added, amending for her previous hostility.

This seemed to make the huntress feel slightly better.

Jake stared in confusion at Matt. Was there some secret war going on that he didn't know about? He watched suspiciously as his friend just shrugged.

The kids were now in the museum. The exhibit was covered in tapestries and sculptures. In the middle, the students stood in a huddled group with Jake, Matt, Tori, and Chris near the back. In the front stood Mr. Smith.

"Remember, don't touch anything." The teacher warned, letting the kids wander off to whatever interested them.

The group of friends near the back drifted toward a wall covered in tapestries.

"Hey, Jake? Can I talk to you for a second?" Chris requested. Then, noticing Tori's stare, she added "Alone."

It was now or never. She just had to tell him!

Jake nodded curiously and walked with her. They came to a section filled with sculptures. No other kids surrounded them.

"What's up?" He asked anxiously.

She took a deep breath. "Well…Remember yesterday?"

Jake was about to say something when a bang sounded. He looked around to see Tori trying to spy on them. Matt was next to her, obviously trying to pull the devious girl away. It looked like he had bumped into one of the glass cases in doing so.

"Hey! I thought I told you not to touch anything!' Mr. Smith steamed, looking at Chris because Tori and Matt were hidden and Chris was directly in front of a platform with an ancient relic on it.

"But, Mr. Smith, I didn't…" She defended, absent-mindedly taking a few steps back. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a few too many. She tripped over her combat boots and fell against the display. It shook and trembled and the statue on top, resembling three monkeys each demonstrating either blocking their ears, mouth, or eyes, fell. The stone hit the ground and shattered.

Jake's ghost sense went off as a green mist began to pour out of it and a figure rose from it. It was an old man in a red kimono with blood red eyes, green skin, and silver hair pulled back into a thin pony tail. He smirked.

"At last!" He cried, swooping around the room and causing the students and teacher to scream. "Now, who…" A devilish smile appeared on his wrinkled face as he saw Chris lying against the stand with the smashed figurine on the floor beside her. Jake stood over her, gaping at the ghost. "Ah. You, girl, are the one who freed me, are you not?"

The Goth girl just stared wide-eyed with everyone else.

"Hm. Not a talker I see." He observed, floating down to the stunned girl. "Oh, I see. You seem to have had past troubles with that, haven't you?"

Chris panicked and her navy blue eyes went wider. He was reading her mind!

The ghost floated over to Jake next. "And you. I see that you have had problems hearing your friend." The spirit drifted to Matt and Tori. "And both of you, you can't see what's right in front of your faces. You miss the obvious. Unfortunately, I can only choose one and that would be…" He scrutinized and then pointed to Matt "You!"

"What are you talking about?!" Jake demanded, regaining his senses.

In return, the ghost smirked at him. "You are about to find out."

The green mist around the floor started to move in unusual patterns. It drifted towards the three aforementioned teens and began wrapping around their bodies. It enveloped them until you could no longer see them. When it cleared, they were gone.

Yes, I have decided that there will actually be somewhat of a moral in this story. Shocking, isn't it?

Review please!