Karen Manson is a normal girl; that is, up until her fourteenth birthday. Contains OC's. R&R no flames please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. I never have, I never will. Get over it.

Chapter One: Birthday Morning

Birthdays had never really held much meaning to me. I enjoyed celebrating them, but I never really felt the magic that was supposed to come with them. But for some reason, I felt like my fourteenth birthday was different. It was exciting; it gave me a thrill, like something big was going to happen.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt it. The morning of my fourteenth birthday—April 18, just a couple of months before the end of eighth grade—my mom was extremely on edge. When I walked down the stairs to get breakfast, I saw her at the kitchen table muttering to herself.

"Uh…Mom?" I said.

She looked up at me, and for a moment I thought I saw panic in her eyes. Then she shook her head, and the look disappeared. She stood up, walked over to me, and gave me a hug. "Happy Birthday, honey," she said to me. She pulled away and smiled. I looked at her with a confused eye.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Of course I am why wouldn't I be? It's my daughter's birthday, after all," she replied, a little too quickly. I saw another look in her eyes: a mixture of nostalgia, pain, and guilt. I knew the look instantly.

"You were thinking about Danny, weren't you," I said, not saying it as a question. Mom's smile faded and she looked away from me. I shook my head. "Mom," I told her, "I'm fine with it. You can think about him all you like; I have no problem with it." I paused. A picture ran into my mind and I grimaced. "Unless you were thinking about the two of you…"

Mom laughed. "No, no, I wasn't thinking that. I was just…" She broke off and went over to the kitchen counter.

"Just what?" I asked.

"Just…remembering when Danny and I were fourteen." She gave off a dry chuckle. "Good times."

"Right." I smiled, remembering some things she had told me about her childhood. "Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, and Sam Manson: the Motley Crew. The Three Musketeers. The Scooby Gang minus Scooby."

Mom laughed again, a good heart-felt laugh this time. "Sounds about right." There was silence for a moment. "So, you're graduating from eighth grade soon," she said tersely, changing the subject.

Dammit, Karen, you shouldn't have brought up Danny, I scolded myself, but I didn't say it out loud. Instead I said, "Yeah, can you believe it? Six months from now I'll be a high school freshman."

Mom made a fake cooing voice. "It seems like only yesterday that you were a teeny-weeny baby in my arms…"

I rolled my eyes. "Enough." We both laughed. "Seriously, though," I said, "I can't believe I'm already fourteen. I feel…" I paused, not sure if I could put it into words. "I feel like something big is going to happen. Like something will happen that will change my life."

Mom stopped smiling and gave me a look I couldn't read. "You mean high school?"

I thought about it. Was it high school? It was coming up soon, and high school is always a time for change. The answer came to me.

"No," I answered. "Something else."

Mom looked away from me. I caught a glimpse of her face; it was filled with something I couldn't identify.

Later, I realized that the look on her face was grief.

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Yay, next chapter! This was a lot longer, I know. This whole thing was kind of me rushing and rambling (I'm typing this on a plane with a low battery), so forgive me if this chapter sucks. The real plot will begin soon, I promise! R&R no flames please!