A/N: Hello, every-bod-ee! How are ya? I certainly hope each of you have a very Happy Easter and get to eat lots of chocolate eggs. I prefer the chocolate bunnies, but, then again, I won't object to chocolate eggs since I'll take whatever chocolate fix I can get! In any case, here's something else for you to chew on: Chapter 30. I still do not own any characters, except, of course, the two ghost animals and those other two teens, but I won't hold that against anyone when I'm having too much fun…well, maybe more like emotional turmoil…with the latest happenings on our heroes! So, give me a sec and let me wipe the chocolate off my hands so that I can send this to ya, OK? And Happy Easter, again. And Enjoy!
TrueHeart—Chapter 30—The Stage is Set
Danny and Sam just arrived at school—without Tucker, of course—and headed slowly toward their lockers. They were still, of course, not quite awake after their restless nights worrying about Tucker. And having that little spat just before getting to school hadn't helped make them feel any better, even if they had stopped snapping at each other. Both of them tried to ignore their slight headache as they turned their combination locks. As they did, though, they spied Valerie just a little further down from them at her locker. But the hunter merely shot a quick glance at them just before looking into nothing in particular in her locker again.
The couple tried not to react to Valerie's doings and they just opened their lockers. Danny's books, of course, dutifully fell out into a large pile at his feet; and with a groan, he immediately squatted down to retrieve the ones he needed for his first couple of classes.
After yawning again, Sam couldn't help but smirk in amusement at this now expected scene. It really had been the only highlight for her in the past several days, giving her a much-needed, though brief, breath of fresh air from the otherwise murky cloud of discontent which had been surrounding her, Danny and Tucker. She had even had a fleeting thought of concern lately for Valerie. Sam quickly opened her locker right after definitively erasing that thought, and pulled out what she needed.
Neither she nor Danny noticed Valerie looking past them again, still hoping to see Tucker.
Meanwhile, Al had just arrived herself and headed toward her locker. But she purposefully tried to ignore the three other kids not more than a few feet from her.
And she and the others were still unaware that the three ghosts, who had for the most part been the source of their troubles, were also watching and waiting close-by…
Bertrand shot up in attention, and motioned to Spectra that this blond-haired girl was the one they were going to use.
Spectra acknowledge his signal with a head nod and then she harshly whispered to the little dove, "Okay. Be ready. And after you do what you're supposed to do, come back here and stay as close to me as possible." She then ironically chuckled, "Don't want you to get lost!"
The dove, in turn, barely nodded in compliance.
Meanwhile, Sam was the first to finish this time, and turning to her boyfriend, tiredly said, "See you at lunch?"
"See you at lunch," he repeated, stifling his yawn while still trying to balance the books he had crammed back in, timing the moment when he could close the door without their spilling out again.
Sam smirked briefly at him once more. But her thoughts then drifted back to all the problems the three best friends were having. She sadly sighed and then tried to squelch another yawn. Barely successful with that, she then headed toward her first class. She ignored Al as she passed by.
"Okay, now!" Spectra firmly but quietly commanded as she headed toward Sam, and Sarah headed toward Al.
Spectra was upon Sam in no time and flew right at her from behind. But as she began to overshadow the human girl, the shadow ghost felt a jolt that left her momentarily dizzy.
"What was that?" she asked herself, trying to shake the wooziness from her mind. She had no idea why that had happened and what that could possibly mean. But she quickly made Sam turn around and head back to her boyfriend.
In the meantime, Bertrand had reminded Sarah on what to do before he morphed into a fly and flew beside her as the ghost dove dutifully flew toward Al. Once near enough, Sarah swooped downward and successfully overshadowed Al. Not a moment later, Sarah had made the girl turn and walk toward Danny.
Danny was still struggling with his locker and was getting frustrated now that it looked like his locker was winning this time in the battle to close it. Finally, he gave the books one last shove and shut the door. He had just finished, when several things happened at once: he got up off the ground and turned to leave, only to find that he was captured in Al's waiting arms; and Spectra left Sam.
"Now!" Bertrand harshly whispered to Sarah through Al's ears and she promptly planted a big, awkward kiss on Danny before he could object.
Her mind now clear and her view even clearer, Sam stood momentarily stunned at what she was witnessing.
Danny quickly pulled the overshadowed girl off of him, wondering why she was so strong. He demanded, "What are you doing?" And just then, he saw Sam right behind Al.
But Al didn't say anything and merely tried to lean over to give him another kiss.
Danny then immediately jumped away from the controlled girl and hurried over to his still-shocked girlfriend. "It's not what it definitely looks like, Sam!" he said as he grabbed her arm and ran as fast as he could away from the most definitely weird Al. He turned to Sam again and added, "That was totally random! I don't know what came over her!"
But Sam didn't say anything. She, too, didn't know what to make of this situation or how she had gotten there to witness it.
The fact that Sam wasn't saying anything made Danny nervous. He slowed their pace and asked, "Sam, aren't you going to say something?"
Really too tired to think about it, she turned to him and replied, "I don't know what to say. Let's leave it for later, okay?"
"But I want to know what you think," he honestly said, both confused and exasperated about everything.
"I don't know, Danny. I'm having a hard time…"
Thinking that she was referring to the fact that she was having one of her 'it's-hard-to-share-my-feelings' moment, he immediately suggested, "Or, we could…" He, of course, was hinting at using their telepathic powers.
She caught his drift. But she instinctually reacted. "NO!" she firmly said, surprising him. True, she usually welcomed every chance to make sure they would understand each other when they were arguing. But this time, she really wanted to think it through on her own before discussing it in any way with him. In fact, the way she had been feeling lately, and right now, she really could hardly even think.
"Okay…It's okay," he said haltingly, still extremely nervous and upset about the situation. "See you later, then?"
She barely nodded, and both of them headed to their next class, neither of them at all satisfied. If they hadn't been so down already with what was happening with Tucker—and that they weren't so tired—they would have been able to keep their heads clear and handle what Spectra and Bertrand still had in store for them.
Unfortunately for Danny, that meant class with Al, who by this time, had been released by Sarah and had no clue on what had happened. Danny was confused as to why the girl didn't even glance at him throughout the entire class; but in the end, he was very glad of it. He even had a fleeting thought that he had imagined that whole scene back there; but, of course, Sam wouldn't have ever imagined that.
But his relief was short-lived. Right when the bell rang, Sarah had overshadowed Al again right outside of class and put her into a darkened corner, and waited for Danny.
Once more, Spectra overshadowed Sam, who was in the classroom across the hall. And again, Spectra received another jolt when she first tried, and noticed a slight resistance to the overshadowing. She pushed harder against it and was finally successful. She quickly maneuvered the human girl into position. The shadow ghost was then suddenly aware that it was somehow harder for her to maintain her overshadowing over the teen girl. But it didn't matter at the moment, because Spectra had Sam where she wanted her. She quickly left the girl, who staggered a little from the experience.
But once Sam had regained her senses, she—along with a few stray students—gasped. She had just witnessed Al kissing her boyfriend again!
"Danny!" she screamed in disbelief. The shock had suddenly stricken her heart with thoughts of one of her insecurities, and she unconsciously threw her fisted hands to her sides.
The few stray students quickly scurried off, spooked by the scene.
She marched right up to Al just as Danny, who was again surprised by how strong Al was, had managed to pry her off of him.
Sam pulled the girl up by her shirt and looking right in her eyes, growled, "You stay away from my guy! I can see right through your plan! First the rumors and now this! I never was after your guy and you leave mine alone, got that?"
At first, the controlled girl looked in fear at Sam and Sam scrunched her face up in puzzlement. But then, Sarah-in-Al stammered, "T-There is n-no plan. Y-You have taken Armen from m-me! Y-you want each other! And now, it is only f-fair that I-I take Danny from you! Besides, I know h-he l-likes me!" Sarah was so upset now, she was barely able to repeat what she had been instructed to say if she as Al were to be confronted by Sam.
"WHAT?" Danny uttered in total shock, before turning to his girl. "That's not true, Sam! I have no idea what she's talking about!"
Sam also didn't know what to think. She could understand the first time this happened was only because Al wanted to get back at her. She could even blow this time off with the same thought. After all, the same kind of weirdness had happened to her over Armen.
But her mind wasn't satisfied. It whirled with a million thoughts, all of them not making sense about what was happening. None of this was right…But then, she was suddenly aware of three emotions in particular that she didn't want to be feeling right now. However, her head was so muddled, she couldn't help it.
Danny stood helpless, totally confused about what was happening. Was Sam right, and Al was just getting back at her for what Sam had done to Armen? He jolted at that thought, suddenly remembering what Al had said. What was that about Armen? But Sam insisted that there was nothing between her and Armen…Was the other girl right, then? Al had been right those other two times! He felt a new twinge of pain shoot through his already aching head. And he also felt a twinge of an uncomfortable feeling within him stir. And he knew that feeling. He had felt that when Sam had kissed Armen...
Still, it didn't sit well with him. He tried to throw that notion out and then thought about the other thing Al had said…about him liking her. That was so untrue! This girl was definitely mega-weird, yet what could all this mean? Was Al still out to get Sam and, now him, because of all that craziness a while ago about Armen? After all, he had thought Al had been responsible for all those ugly rumors. That would explain it. He looked over to Al and she was just sitting there, looking…looking so uncomfortable… He frowned in confusion when he finally noticed that.
But before he could think about anymore of all this, Sam grabbed his hand and started to pull him away from Al before saying, "Forget about it, then! We'll talk about this later, okay? We're going to be late for the next class!" But her voice didn't hide those feelings she could no longer keep at bay: her anger at Al, her hurt with Danny, or her jealousy from what she had just witnessed.
"Okay, Sam, if you say so," he replied just as they headed away from Al, who just stood there, as if not certain on what to do...
But a few moments later, Sarah released the blonde girl and Al gasped in dread. She had thought that all that unexplained craziness that had happened to her a week or so ago was ancient history—and totally freakish. But now, it had happened again! How did she get here and what had happened? She searched all around and sighed in relief that no one was around. Still, she was confused. What had happened? Now she understood how Armen must have felt when he had told her he thought he was losing his mind!
Finally, it was lunchtime, but Spectra and Bertrand weren't finished with Danny and Sam yet.
This time, they exchanged the ghost animals, locking Sarah up and taking the now recovered Derek with them under the same threat that if he didn't cooperate, Spectra would allow Bertrand to finally satisfy his wolf-form's appetite with Sarah.
Danny had arrived first at the cafeteria and had already gotten a seat when Sam finally came in. He saw her and waved. But just as she headed toward her boyfriend, Derek overshadowed Armen and brought him closer to Sam. When Sam caught his approach to her in the corner of her eye, she instinctively and violently veered away from him.
But then, Spectra headed the goth girl off at the last moment. And suddenly, as Spectra tried to overshadow Danny's girl once more, she found herself having even more difficulty doing just that. Fortunately, she finally succeeded and turned the controlled girl's path back to the overshadowed boy.
Right there, right in front of Danny and the whole room, Armen grabbed Sam and gave her a big kiss.
Several kids gasped in shock—including Al—while others laughed nervously, confused at the sight. They knew that the goth girl had never even kissed her boyfriend like that in school.
Al immediately ran out in tears.
Danny was stunned. But he immediately thought, "Is she getting back at me for what she saw earlier? Or is she more interested in Armen, like Al said?"
This was it. He completely disregarded that there was something wrong in all this and rashly responded in jealousy. He marched right up to the still-kissing pair.
But before he got to them, Spectra inadvertently had to release her hold onto Sam before this scene could play out. Somehow, she couldn't maintain her control over the girl.
Sam instantly became aware of Armen's kissing her and she immediately pulled away, gasped, and shoved the boy off as hard as she could. But her attempt only partially succeeded, and Derek-within-Armen merely stumbled back a bit from her.
Derek was so upset by what he had done and by Sam's unexpected—but understandable—reaction, that he immediately released the human teen when that happened.
The poor, innocent Armen groaned as his mind began to clear, only to yelp a little at feeling his body's suddenly being yanked violently back. Before he knew it, he had lost his balance and landed right on the ground.
He looked up in a daze, wondering what could have possibly made him fall, when he heard his answer. And even though he couldn't quite comprehend the words, he clearly understood the anger behind them.
"This time, I'm only warning you once, jerk! Stay away from my girl!" Danny seethed through gritted teeth. He was so angry, he hadn't noticed how he had been jabbing an angry, shaking finger at Armen and his other hand had been in a tight fist the entire time. Nor had Danny realized that his eyes had momentarily flashed a ghostly green—and, fortunately, neither had the still-dazed Armen—or anyone else for that matter.
Sam jolted at her boyfriend's reaction and then finally noticed everyone in the room staring in disbelief at them. But before she could even make any sense of it or say anything, Danny was firmly grabbing at and pulling her by her wrist.
"Let's go!" he commanded, giving her no chance to respond.
He guided her right to the nearest closet, morphed into Phantom, and still holding onto her wrist, shot upward, making them both intangible as he did. He flew to a small area on the roof that would allow them to sit undisturbed.
Finally, he turned to his girlfriend and angrily said, "Sam, if that's your idea of getting back at me, even when you haven't given me the change to explain all that happened—even though I really can't explain it—I think it's one of the worst things you could ever do to me! That was so unfair!"
"But Danny, I don't know what happened. I mean, until I saw Armen right on top of me!"
"Was that before he kissed you or after you wanted a breathing break?"
Her mouth fell open at his accusation, but she quickly rebounded, and spat back, "I can't believe you would even think that…that…And that's not even worth a response! I told you I don't know what happened. One moment I was going into the cafeteria, and the next, I was kissing Armen! I can't explain it!"
Danny looked at her, unconvinced. "Okay. I said I would wait for you to be ready to talk about this. But something is totally not right here. I think it's time we talk about it our way!"
"You're right, Danny!" she replied. Even though she wasn't ready, this was too important now and she knew, underneath, she trusted him.
They both concentrated, but because they were both still tired from their restless nights, their connection failed.
Danny suddenly had a fleeting suspicion that Sam was purposely trying to block him. But then, she interrupted his thoughts.
"I'm sorry, Danny, I'm so tired, I'm having a hard time concentrating. Can we try it again?" she said out loud.
He nodded, suddenly realizing that he, too, had had the same difficulty—for the same reason.
They tried again and this time, Danny mentally gasped at the next thought he felt from her. She was totally confused over the whole thing. He had never known her to be this….lost.
But then, he mentally said to her, "Okay, now what happened? And why did you do that?"
"I already told you, I don't know!"
Danny could feel that some of her thoughts about the incident with Armen were blanked out. That same wild thought then hit him again. Was she purposely blocking it and keeping him from the truth? That would make some sense, since she still struggled with being able to tell him her real feelings. And she was better at this telepathic stuff than he was. Or was he reading too much into their power? He didn't think so. Then, she couldn't be lying, could she? Sometimes, she did kinda lie when she couldn't spit out the way she was feeling. Maybe she was better at that than he was as well…
But before he could muse more about it, Sam surprised him with her next mental comment, "Alright. I admit it! I couldn't help but be jealous and suspicious when Al kissed you earlier! I would have let it slide because I thought she was getting back at me for all that craziness that happened with Armen and me a couple of weeks ago. But when she said you were interested in her, I thought you were tired of me and I guess I went a little crazy myself!"
"So you did kiss Armen on purpose just now!" he accused.
"No, I didn't! I don't know what happened!"
"That doesn't make any sense, Sam! I'm not sure what to make of this. You say one thing, yet I don't get why you're blocking me when it comes to the real reason why you kissed Armen."
"But I'm not blocking it! I swear, Danny!" she insisted.
He paused. She seemed sincere, yet why did she block the memory?
But then, he realized that his headache had increased and that he couldn't concentrate anymore. Though both irritated by this snafu and that he was still not appeased, he continued, now speaking out loud to her, "Well, okay. Maybe we need a 'time out' to think this over!"
Not only did Sam notice that he had severed their connection, but she could also tell that his voice still sounded accusatory. She wanted to say something sarcastic right back at him, but stopped just short of that, suddenly feeling that that wouldn't make the situation better. Plus, her headache was worse. She tensed up and then silently grunted. All this 'feeling sharing' stuff had made her grow soft! She put on her "old Sam' mode and said, "Okay, can we just drop this whole thing and chalk it up to total weirdness-again?"
But Danny could tell that she was conflicted and edgy when she said that. She might be hiding something after all! But why would she do that now? She had been beginning to be so…so open with him since they had gotten this special bond between them. He had liked that. And now she was back to guarding herself, something she had been so good at in the past. Still, his muddled mind could not come up with any other possible explanation. Something was up. He finally responded, "Yeah, right. It's certainly totally weird. Too weird. But, still, I'm not happy about it at all."
"Me, neither, Danny, but you've got to believe me!" she replied and he could tell by her tone that there was a little of the 'true' Sam in that response.
He hesitated again. He had always believed her until this. Even when she had a hard time sharing her real feelings, struggling to be more open with him, he had believed her. Yet he had a nagging feeling that she was hiding something. Why did she block him? Still, he could also tell that she had essentially blown off his incidence with Al, except for her being jealous. But this was nothing really new about her. It was easy for her to move on. She wasn't the grudge-holding type. That made him feel slightly better. But not totally. He finally said, "Well, we don't have anymore time to talk about it now. It's time to get to class already."
"Okay, Danny," she said, slightly relieved.
But he couldn't help the feeling that she was relieved because she had gotten away with blocking the truth from him.
Just the same, he brought her back down to the janitor's closet. They went their separate ways, not at all satisfied about the results of their conversation.
And still, they remained totally unaware that Spectra and Bertrand weren't through with them—yet.