A/N: Hope you're ready for things to get serious. Makes me squirm, for sure, because you know I'm an action-lovin' kind of person. But even though I don't like it, heartache is part of the package deal when it comes to love. So, let's just get the regular stuff out of the way and get on it: IDNOAC and Enjoy!

TrueHeart—Chapter 39—Definitive Blow

Valerie spied Tucker in the cafeteria and headed right to him. He didn't see her at first. He was looking down at his food, trying to make himself eat. Shortly after that, he gave up. Sighing with depression, he looked up, and jolted when he met Valerie's emerald eyes. He felt his stomach knot up and he pushed his tray away from him.

But Valerie didn't give him a chance to say anything. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out the far doors of the cafeteria that led to the outside.

When she was satisfied that they were far enough away so no one would hear their conversation, she turned to him. But, suddenly, she hesitated. She wanted to blurt everything out, but now she wasn't so sure.

But Tucker interrupted her thoughts, "Well? Why did you pull me all the way out here in this cold? Hasn't everything you've done so far been cold enough?"

Valerie bit her lip at his remark. That was cruel. Still, she hadn't thought of the fact that they would have needed coats out here and that their coats were still inside. But she pressed on, "Tucker, I just had to talk to you! And you haven't given me any chance to do that!"

"I know I haven't," he said, firmly interrupting her. He began to shudder with the cold. "It's because I can't talk to you anymore! It just hurts too much!"

"But why, Tucker, why? If it's because of what I did at my birthday party, I totally agree with you! It was the stupidest thing I've ever did! And I'm so sorry that I didn't let you know about it before, and…."

But he didn't let her continue. He butted in, "It's not really that, though what happened at your party just made things worse. But, I just can't talk about it. You'll never understand!" He was now shaking uncontrollably, but this time, it wasn't just because of the cold.

"Yes, I can understand, Tucker! Just try me! I want to understand! I need to understand, don't you see? Because…because…you're very special to me." I think...I…er, you just are!"

Tucker's eyes widened at what she had just said. And he felt his heart cry in distress. That was the problem all along! That is why he was hurting so much when he told her they were through…Somehow, she was still important to him! But he knew they could never be a couple with how she was underneath or if he had to continue to lie to her.

He stammered with his next lie, but he had to do it. It was all for the best. "W-Well, then, it looks like you've been wasting your feelings with that thought, because we just can't go on. I'm sorry, Valerie. I can't see you anymore. I think it's all…over." He barely got that last bit out, and he couldn't look in her eyes. He darted back into the cafeteria without saying another word. He whipped out his PDA as he did and activated his invisibility program. How he wished it could make him disappear—permanently!

Valerie was suddenly aware of the cold, especially the cold, wet feeling now sliding down her cheeks. She let that bitterly numbing feeling encase her as she dashed to the side of the school and to a secluded area that beckoned her there.

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Sam sighed in irritation in front of her locker. She was still smoldering from Danny's stinging remark from this morning. She growled when her combination lock wasn't cooperating. Was it going to take all lunch period for her to open her darn locker?

Then, she grumbled when she finally realized that she was having a hard time because she couldn't concentrate. She was still suffering the consequences of her lack of sleep, which only made her more upset with Danny.

But then, her thoughts had drifted to Tucker. She didn't even want to see him yet. After all, she still felt he owed her an apology this time.

And just as Sam was wrestling with her combination lock, Spectra and Bertrand were phasing right into the area. They saw the girl's frustration and Spectra quickly grinned and whispered excitedly, "Oh, good! Looks like the little goth girl may be a little peeved. Makes her very vulnerable. Perfect!" But before Bertrand could comment back, the shadow ghost quickly ordered, "Quick, go get that other brat!"

She dove toward Sam and began to overshadow her. But, for some reason, Spectra hit some unseen force around Sam that prevented the shadow ghost from doing just that! In fact, if Sam had been fully rested instead of being so sleep-deprived, Spectra may have very well failed at the very beginning of her plans.

Throwing aside her confusion at what had just happened, Spectra concentrated and tried again. This time, Sam's eyes flared a solid red just before turning amethyst once more when the shadow ghost was successful.

Bertrand, meanwhile, had quickly located and overshadowed Armen. The teen suddenly turned around and left the teacher right in the middle of their conversation. The female teacher watched in bewilderment as the boy abruptly left without another word. She shrugged. She was having a very hard time understanding him anyway, and, maybe, that was part of his culture.

Bertrand quickly guided the controlled boy right to Sam, who was still at her locker, just as Danny was rushing to his locker.

But as Danny was getting there, he was in deep thought and groaned at the thought of wrestling with all the stuff that would automatically be falling out of his locker. But that wasn't the only thought with which he was wrestling.

Ever since that morning, Danny had been fighting both his headache and his guilt. He had really bashed Sam more than he had meant to. Yes, being upset about 'the Armen thing' had been put momentarily aside—really, by neither one of their faults—but the problem was still there. And, yes, they really hadn't had the time to talk about much of anything since the two animals had come, but there still was the issue about all that weirdness between Sam and that other guy. Though he now wanted to find the time to work it out with Sam, he couldn't help but feel his doubts about the situation creep back up in his mind….

Still, he was feeling a bit bad about everything he had spat at Sam that morning. It bothered him because they use to be so good at talking things through. Why couldn't they now?

As the half-ghost attempted to find an answer to that, Spectra silently laughed in triumph when she saw Danny coming right to them. She wouldn't have to go search for him inside of this icky goth, after all! And, of course, she knew just what to say and do. She had it all carefully planned.

Pretending that she hadn't seen Danny and knowing he was within earshot, she had Sam grab Armen's hand and said through Sam's clear voice, "Armen! We can't be seen like this! Someone might discover us and tell Danny!"

Just then, Spectra heard Danny gasp in disbelief at what he just heard. She made the girl turn toward the Ghost Boy and dryly said, "Oh, Danny! I didn't know you were there! Ah, there you have it, then! Just as well that you find out the truth now! I've been hiding all of it from you for all these weeks, and I'm tired of doing that! So, let me spell it out to you. I don't want you anymore! I want Armen!" She ended her remark by grabbing the passive boy and giving him a huge but quick kiss. She turned back and smiled wickedly at Danny.

Though stunned once more, Danny managed to utter, "Is this your idea of a cruel joke because of that jab I gave you this morning? I can't believe you would stoop this low, Sam! How could you?" He turned to the boy and hissed, "And what's in it for you, Armen?"

The overshadowed boy said nothing. Danny frowned in confusion that Armen just stood there.

But before Danny could make another comment, Spectra, still in control of Sam and now sensing some of the girl's insecurities, said with a dark tone of voice, "I'll tell you how I could! Very easily! I told you I didn't want you to burn out with me, but guess what? I've burned out with you! I needed the change and then Armen came into my dull life. I've been seeing him from the time I met him, right under your nose! And he's perfect! All that I really wanted! Not like the creepy, not-too-bright-of-a-little freak that you are!"

Danny's eyes widened and his heart constricted to a momentary halt at her insult. He stumbled over his next response, "I-I c-can't believe you could be this mean after I got mad at you last night and this morning—especially when you deserved it!...And did you just called me a freak?"

"Just a freak?" she said with an even darker grin. "You're right, I can't believe it myself! I've had enough of trying to get along with you! So, what I really meant was that I don't want to waste my time and breath on a loser of a freak like you anymore!"

"W-What are you saying?" Danny choked out. "I-I don't understand. W-what do you mean by that, Sam?" But he didn't know what he was saying, and he couldn't believe what she was saying. He knew they both were tired and had short fuses this morning, but this was too much. This had come way out of the blue!

Spectra was suddenly aware of another of Sam's insecurities. She made the girl pull Armen's hand around her waist and hissed, "Don't you get it? I've had my own little dark secret all along! I can't take it anymore! I can't deal with all this 'feeling-sharing' thing anymore. It just takes too much effort… I need my space, my privacy! Before I got messed up with you, things were simpler. But now they're way too complicated for me… Besides, I have had enough of you! And this is the last straw! I finally got way tired of you not trusting or believing in me and trying to push me away. And I will never be of much help to you as you want, so it's over!"

"No, I don't get all this! What's wrong with you, Sam? This doesn't sound at all like you!" he insisted, his groggy mind trying, but failing, to make any sense of any of this.

"Excuse you?" she insisted back. "Aren't you listening? Obviously, you haven't! So let the dark little evil side of me you knew I always had tell it to you straight! I've had enough of everything about you, but especially you! It's OH-VER!" She pulled the dazed boy closer to her, and Bertrand made Armen squeeze her harder.

This time, Danny grew angry and said, "I don't believe any of this, Sam! I've never seen you like this before! Something's very wrong here!"

Sam huffed, "There sure is! There's something wrong with you! Because you definitely aren't on the bright side at all, are you? Not that I'm surprised… But believe this, then! This is me, now! This is Armen and this is us! So, how about you making yourself go invisible—permanently?"

"You really know how to cut deep, Sam!" he said bitterly as he unconsciously fisted his hands to his sides. His eyes widened when he looked at her eyes… and he could swear he could see that dark little evil side of her that she had just admitted she had!

"Deep? You actually have something of substance thick enough in you?"

That was it! Danny couldn't take this anymore. His weary mind hadn't noticed that during the entire time, Armen still hadn't said a word, and the foreign boy's face had shown no emotions whatsoever. He was reeling too much from Sam's biting words, and now his mind was not only tired, it was clouded with confusion, hurt and anger once more. And his headache was much worse, so much so that he could feel the blood pounding at his temples. He had ended up believing her about what happened between her and Armen before…but now…now, he couldn't deny it. All his suspicions about everything that had happened in the past few weeks that he had buried suddenly jutted upward through the web of his tangled mind.

She had finally told him the truth. She had been cheating on him and she had been lying, and had been so good at keeping her own little sinister secret all along! And the truth stung worse than any thrusting blade of a heavy knife. After all, hadn't he heard it right from those same lips he had caressed with his love? And the pain at each thrusting poignant word that suddenly flooded his weary and wounded mind bit deeper into his soul:

Sam and he were no more.

He turned and ran off as fast as he could. And just as he left, Spectra unexpectedly found herself being violently propelled out of Sam.

And as Spectra was in the midst of her unplanned ousting, she heard Sam mentally scream, "GET OUT OF ME!"

The shadow ghost gasped as she slammed into the nearby wall. She hurried off, confused on how that happened.

Sam regained her senses immediately and gasped when she found herself tightly within Armen's arms. She threw the poor boy off and yelled out in dread, "OH, NO! Not again! What are you DOING here?"

But he didn't answer her and didn't even flinch. Then, he suddenly staggered when Bertrand released him after seeing Danny take off. The foreign boy looked all around dazed at first. But when he came to his senses moments later, he gasped. It happened again! And there was Sam again!

Then, their eyes met briefly and Armen felt his spine tingle in dread. He turned quickly around and dashed off, without saying a word. Not that he could. He was so confused, he could only try to think in his native language. He headed right out of the school and headed for his home. He had to see a doctor!

Sam had looked at Armen's reaction and when she did, their eyes briefly connected. In that fleeting moment, Sam suddenly knew. This time was very different. She knew! She was absolutely sure. He was just as much a victim as she had been… And she knew now that this was exactly what had happened all those other mysterious other times that she couldn't explain.

She had been overshadowed by a ghost!

But, then, so was Armen just now! Still, she didn't know which ghosts had overshadowed them, but she was certain they had been overshadowed. And she had the strong, sick hunch that Danny was in some way involved again in that convenient little scene just now. And that she, somehow, knew that he was in anguish.

But then, she wondered why Danny didn't know that they had been overshadowed? Why hadn't his ghost sense alerted him of the ghost? She couldn't explain that, either.

Sam startled at her next thought, totally riveting her once groggy mind. Just how did she know and how did she get that ghost out of her?

But she had no time to think about all that now. She darted toward the front of the school. She had to figure out what exactly had happened just now. She quickly concentrated, searching her own mind as she ran. A vague image appeared—a shadow ghost! She gasped. Was it Jiva? She growled in irritation when she lost the image. She bit her lip and then another thought surfaced. Vague words…biting, hateful words that had come out of her mouth not moments before…and she felt a knot of dread in her stomach…But why? Why had a shadow ghost overshadowed her and made her do all those things just now, and especially to Danny?

She stopped in her tracks at her next idea. Did the ghost want to break them up? And they were doing it by framing her—again? But why? She suddenly felt a lump in her throat and understood how her grandfather must have felt when Grandma Mason had accused him of cheating when he hadn't.

Still, the thought would not let her go. Trumped–up evidence, carefully orchestrated to…to…that was it! She now was certain. She couldn't explain it, but she was certain! All this unexplained stuff that had been happening to her in the past few weeks had a well-planned purpose…with the purpose of trying to break up Danny and her! And she searched her heart and somehow knew that it had worked! She could feel Danny's heartbreak! And, this time, she was no longer in doubt. She was absolutely certain that Danny had been involved in that little scene between Armen and her just now. She wasn't going to question how she knew. She just did. She swallowed hard with that thought.

But then, another thought seized her and it was more alarming than all of this….Again, she couldn't explain it, but she was certain that it was true! Danny was not only in emotional pain right now…but also physical pain! And she sensed that what had happened to him was bad, even dangerous! And it had to do with something attacking him, she just knew it. She felt her heart jump but immediately switched to her defensive mode. As she ran onward again, she couldn't help but be charged even more in desperate worry. She just had to find him!

She dashed outside, searching the sky. Underneath, she realized that it would all be in vain. Somehow, she knew that Danny was far away from the school, but where? She ran around the corner of the school, searching for a secluded place where she could concentrate.

As she searched, she said in determination to herself, "Sorry, Danny. Desperate times call for desperate measures!" She suddenly groaned, "Darn it! Did I just say that?" She quickly shrugged it off and started to concentrate on her boyfriend as she ran onward toward a place near the school to where hardly anyone went.

But her concentration was broken by a sudden and undeniable wail just ahead at that very same secluded place. Someone was crying!

And, indeed, someone was…..