A/N: So, how's it going? Still digesting your Thanksgiving dinner? I know that I am STILL SO full that just a few minutes ago, I burped a little. The next thing I knew, my bloated body started to roll right over to my computer! And I was SO glad that it did, too, because before that wonderful eruption, I couldn't move AT ALL! And without that chain of events, I wouldn't have been able to post this chapter tonight! But now, I can! So, Happy Thanksgiving PLUS one day everyone! I am really VERY thankful for everything, including that I burped! Just the same, here is Chapter 11. Remember, the IDNOAC thing! So, enjoy and hope that hitting that bump won't cause any gas for ya! *permission to groan*
TrueHeart—Chapter 11—Hitting a Bump
Spectra anxiously peeked from behind the tree she had been hiding. Even though she could no longer see the invisible and intangible ghosts, she hoped they would go fast enough to avoid the nearing human couples and still get into the school before them.
But Bertrand had underestimated their speed and the speed of the two nearing human couples. It was becoming painfully obvious that they all were now headed on a collision course. Still, the shape-shifter knew that there was no way to slow Derek and Sarah in time, either. At this point, then, they really had no choice but to pass right between the human couples. And just as they did, Bertrand cringed with worry. He was sure that the 'De-ghost-a-fier' would keep the spellbound ghost couple under the young hybrid's ghost radar. But as for himself, he could only hope his small size would do the same.
Much to the shape-shifter's chagrin, however, Danny's ghost sense was activated the instant the small fly buzzed past him.
Danny gasped and his companions immediately noticed.
"What's wrong?" Tucker asked.
"Nothing!" he answered a little too quickly and frantically.
Valerie frowned in confusion, but Tucker, picking up on his friend's uneasiness, hurriedly said, "That's right! Today's goulash day and you didn't bring extra money again, did ya, Danny?"
"No, I mean, yes! Right! You're right, Tucker. You know how things just pop up and don't give you a ghost of a chance to take care of them!"
Valerie frowned in confusion and uttered, "Huh?"
But Sam and Tucker picked up right away that what Danny was really trying to tell them was that he had sensed a ghost.
"Well, just so you know, Valerie," Tucker piped in, "I usually keep an emergency food supply in my locker. Looks like I'll have to break it out. Right now. Uhm, that is, let's go, OK?"
The bespectacled boy grabbed his bewildered girlfriend's arm before she could respond, and led her firmly away from Danny and Sam and toward the inside of the school. He did not stop until he reached his locker, within which he did happen to have an emergency stash of food.
Meanwhile, Danny jumped behind a nearby bush and instantly transformed into his black-and-white hazmat-clad alter ego, Danny Phantom.
"Be careful," he heard Sam silently whisper to his mind.
"I will," he promised mentally back as he turned himself invisible and soared upward in search of any ghosts. However, he didn't find any, and his ghost sense remained mute. He could not know that Bertrand, Derek and Sarah had already gone into the school and were now waiting for him.
After a few more minutes of hunting, Danny turned invisible and returned to where Sam had remained, waiting for him. He flew behind the same bush and changed back into his human form, before walking around the plant and rejoining his girlfriend.
"Well?" Sam asked him when she saw his frustrated frown.
"Nothing!" he grumbled.
"And you're upset?" she inquired, trying to cheer him.
"No—and yes! I'm glad there's no ghost, of course. But my ghost sense is never wrong. And come to think of it, it wasn't that strong this time, almost like the ghost was hardly registering or something." He sighed in disappointment and continued, "Oh, well, let's hope that it was just passing harmlessly by."
"I'm sure you're right! But, don't worry. You'll detect it should it rear its ugly head again," Sam replied with a weak smile, trying to cheer him once more.
But Danny didn't smile back.
Sam decided to just change the subject, and said, "Hey, before we go to our lockers, I want to check out the bulletin board by the office real quick. Want to come along?"
"I guess," he said with a shrug, still bothered that the ghost he had sensed had gotten away. But he said nothing else about it as they quickly went into the school.
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Meanwhile, Bertrand, still invisible and intangible, had been hovering near the kids' lockers with the two spellbound ghost animals. He kept himself between the young ghost couple so that he would be ready to give them the command to act. But as time ebbed, he grew impatient waiting for Danny and Sam to arrive on the scene. He grumbled as he stared at Tucker and Valerie at theirs. But then he smirked when he saw how hard it was for Tucker to open his stuck locker.
"Darn locker!" Tucker said, his arms shaking from the effort to open it.
"Need help with that?" Valerie offered.
Tucker frowned in mild irritation just as the locker popped open and rattled from his assault. "No, have that covered," he wryly said.
Suddenly, Bertrand saw the other victims, Armen and Al, as they neared the scene. They were so caught up in their simple conversation that they didn't notice that they were rapidly approaching their lockers. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company. And, clearly, Al had easily forgotten her tiff over Sam trying to steal her guy away now that Armen seemed so happy to be with her.
Bertrand smiled, keeping his multiple eyes glued to them. But he inadvertently mumbled to himself loudly enough for the hazed ghost animals to hear his every word. "Good! There's those two brats that Derek and Sarah are going to overshadow…"
He did not see his companions' eyes light up when he said their names. And he didn't realize that he was still mulling over his plans as he continued in a low voice, "OK. Sarah will overshadow that girl Al, er, Alice, or whatever her name is; and Derek will overshadow that boy. I think his name is Armen."
Just then, however, Dash and Paulina came up to the two new kids. Dash purposely blocked their path and jeered, "So, Armen, when can I bring my basketball clothes over for you to wash? I only want you to use your name brand soap, if you know what I mean." He snickered at his own joke and Paulina chuckled.
The Croatian boy just smiled, not knowing what Dash meant at all. And neither did he or anyone else know that the dazed ghost animals were watching the entire scene unfold.
Al immediately came to the boy's defense and the ghost animals turned their gaze to her. "And just what do you mean by that crack?" she challenged.
"Well, look who's here to defend the laundry boy! Hey! Maybe 'Arm-'n'-Hammer' can't fight his own battles and needs geek girls with boys' names to defend him after all."
What the jerk in front of her had just said suddenly hit the blonde girl, and she began to wonder if Sam had actually been defending Armen from Dash yesterday. But Al quickly dismissed the thought. She knew what flirting looked like. And Sam had clearly been trying to steal Armen from her. She frowned, refocusing back to the matter at hand, which was to get rid of this creep right now. She hissed, "Look here, jerk! If you think for one moment that's worth any waste of my breath to comment on, you need to get a brain transplant to put in that empty head! And I wouldn't wish an orangutan's brain on you! It's way too smart for you! "
She quickly ended her barb by shoving Dash out of their way and continuing down toward their lockers with Armen in tow.
Dash and Paulina merely frowned and walked off in a huff.
Al looked briefly back, and when she saw that the coast was clear, she sighed.
"Me, uhm, you all right?" Armen asked, scrunching his face with worry. Though he hadn't entirely understood the conversation between Dash and Al, he knew it was heated, and was about him.
"No, I'm alright. Don't worry. He's obviously just a big jerk." But when she saw the confused look in Armen's eyes, she laughed a little. "I wish I knew what that meant in your language! Oh, well, while I'm helping you learn English, you can help me learn a little Croatian, OK? It'll be fun.
"Yes, Croatia and be fun," he replied, still confused.
"Meet me at lunch again, Armen?" Al asked with a smile, knowing that he had not really understood everything that she had just said.
"Yes, lunch? Yes, lunch! You, I mean, I —uh, yes, Al," the boy answered with one of his own shy smiles.
Al squelched a sigh on just how cute Armen looked just now. Instead, she nodded and they began to part.
Meanwhile, the controlled ghost animals watched in silence and recalling Armen and Al's names, knew that these must be the ones of whom Bertrand referred. They nodded once more in acknowledgement.
But Bertrand didn't see their reaction again, as he was too busy glaring at Tucker and Valerie in frustration. "Darn it!" he said out loud once more, and the ghost animals turned to his direction as he continued, "Where is the Ghost Kid and his girlfriend? They usually aren't too far from the Geek Kid and his girl! Oh, well, once those two human brats, Armen and Al, take care of the Ghost Kid, they can break up Tucker and Valerie over there!"
The spellbound ghost couple immediately moved their gaze toward Tucker and Valerie's direction and nodded in obedience. Immediately afterward, they flew away from Bertrand, surprising him.
He hoarsely and frantically whispered, "What? Wait! Where are you going? I didn't tell you what to do yet!" But he hadn't, of course, realized that he had actually done just that and that they didn't hear his command to stop. He helplessly tracked their path as they soared downward to Armen and Al.
Sarah immediately entered Alice and Derek overshadowed Armen. Both of the humans' eyes turned a solid, flaming red before reverting back to their original colors.
With a determined smile on both of their faces, the two overshadowed humans turned toward Tucker and Valerie. They were about to step toward them when Valerie said, "Hey, Tucker, I have to go turn this late paper into Mr. Lancer right now. He said he had to have it in his hot little hands before school or else he wouldn't count it. Meet you back in a few minutes?"
"Sure, Valerie," he said, still searching in his locker for any food he didn't really like to use for later.
Valerie smiled and rushed toward Mr. Lancer's room, unaware that Armen had turned and followed after her like a magnet to steel.
Tucker, meanwhile, deciding that he didn't want to give away any of the food in his locker after all, sighed in resignation and grabbed a couple of more granola bars. He had to be ready to give them to Danny, just in case his best friend had forgotten to bring extra money.
And just as he had shut his unaligned locker door—after the second attempt—-he jumped at the noise it made. He could never predict just how loud it could be and still wasn't use to it. But then, he jolted a second time when he suddenly saw Al. He had not noticed that she had crept behind the locker door when it had been opened.
"U-Uh, hello!" Tucker nervously stammered. "Sorry, I didn't see you standing there!"
The overshadowed girl drew closer and purred, "But I saw you, and I would have waited all day if I had to in order to talk to you."
"Uh, Oh-kayyy," Tucker replied with an uncomfortable smile. "Uh, you must be new here?"
"Uh-huh," she cooed as she inched closer to the boy. "But I do not care to meet anyone new but you!"
Tucker then had an odd feeling. Part of him was very pleased and a part of him was scared silly by her comment. He should have been very happy about it, but something stopped him. Instead, he nervously blurted out, "Uh, that's nice." And he hadn't realized that he had unconsciously stepped backward away from her.
But she stepped closer again, narrowing the gap between them even more. "Yes. Nice. You are nice. Are you not the Tucker?"
"The Tucker?" he silently questioned, but with his voice clearly reflecting his mounting discomfort, he added, "Yes, ahem, how did you know my name?" He pulled backward again, but his back met his locker behind him as she pressed closer to him.
"I just knew it!" she breathlessly said, pressing against him. "Such a perfect, handsome name for one so handsome as you!"
"Ah-hah, uh, yeah, well," Tucker stammered, oozing himself sideways away from his locker and the incoming girl. "It was so nice talking to you, uhm…."
"Alice," she completed for him, pronouncing her name as if it were a sweet-smelling perfume wafting right out of a bottle. She moved toward him again.
Tucker felt the sweat ooze out of his furrowed forehead as he nervously replied, "….Alice. Yes, well, Alice, I, uh,…"
"HEY!"
Tucker startled when he heard Valerie's firm and loud voice. But Alice didn't flinch.
"V-Valerie!" Tucker stuttered, so embarrassed that he wished he could have phased right through the locker that was immediately behind him.
But Valerie hadn't been addressing him. She had been yelling at Al just then. She had set her sites on the blonde girl after seeing her get awfully friendly awfully fast with Tucker. And Valerie was livid when Al had wedged Tucker against his locker. She didn't hesitate to stomp right up to this strange girl and yank her off of her boyfriend.
But in her anger, she hadn't noticed that Armen had just been right behind her. Nor was she aware that he had been following her the entire time. So she hadn't seen the overshadowed boy's eyes flash upon finally seeing his opportunity to catch up with his victim.…
Oblivious to all except what she had seen between Al and Tucker, Valerie pointed her index finger aggressively in Al's face to emphasize her next growled words. "Look, whoever you are, that's my guy you're flirting with!"
But Alice didn't even blink in response.
"Didn't you hear me?" Valerie sneered again.
This time Tucker butted in. "Hey, Valerie, it's OK. She didn't mean anything. She's new here and…"
But he stopped when he saw darts coming out his girlfriend's glare.
Valerie was about to spout out more at Al, but then, Tucker's words finally sunk in. Instead, she heaved a large sigh as she unconsciously fisted her hands to her sides. She glared once more at Al, and said through gritted teeth, "Fine! So, you're new here! Welcome to Casper High, and keep your paws off of my guy!"
She abruptly turned on her heels and grabbed Tucker by one of his arms as she did, pulling him away from the bewitched girl.
Alice, meanwhile, just stood there, still clueless as she smiled after Tucker. Then, she started to move—toward Tucker again.
"I'm sorry, Valerie," Tucker began, his voice quivering with embarrassment. "She just, like, came out of nowhere and…"
"Forget it," Valerie growled back as she continued to lead him to their first class. "It happens."
They walked into their next classroom, not realizing that the overshadowed couple was still following them.
They were also not aware that they had just missed Danny and Sam, who were just getting to their lockers.