A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to update! I had been spending almost all my time on Tortured Truth, thinking that this chapter was almost finished, but then when I went to post it I realized that it wasn't. Ooops. So, here it is and I'm really sorry.

Thanks so much for all the reviews of the Valerie chapter! I'm glad a lot of you weren't disappointed! I must say I was really nervous, so thanks for all your reviews!

Chapter Eight
The Temptations of Invisibility

Danny jumped awake as his alarm clock rang loudly from beside his bed. Automatically he hit the snooze button and rolled back under the comfort and warmth of his covers, his head falling into his feather soft pillow. He let his thoughts drift as sleep almost overtook him again. He turned around in his sleep and noticed covers pulled tightly over his windows, blocking the sunshine from radiating into his room. He started to wonder why he would have covers blocking his window, not at all unthankful that it blocked out the cursed sun that signaled that he needed to arise from the warm comfort of his bed, but he was still curious as to why it was there. Then he remembered; he used it to block out photographers. He had to because his secret was revealed. He felt a weight drop inside him, making him feel heavy and depressed. He should be used to this by now. Every morning he would wake up and forget reality, hope that it hadn't really happened, that it was just some bad dream, but then he'd realize that it was indeed reality. Then he remembered with another jolt that his parents were forcing him to go to school today. He moaned and fell back under his covers, burying his head, hoping that if he didn't see them, they couldn't see him. He was about to drift back into blissful sleep where his secret was still his own and weekends were eternal until he heard a pound on his door.

"Danny? Danny you need to wake up. You have to go to school today. Wake up!" his sister shouted through his door as she continued to pound.

"Alright, I'm up!" he yelled back with no intention of rising out of the comforts of his bed. As long as he stayed under the covers, he could just pretend that it wasn't happening, as long as he stayed under the covers, he was in control and could do what he wanted, which right now consisted of not going to school.

He couldn't go to school yet, he wasn't ready. It was bad enough facing Valerie last night, let alone facing everyone at school in an hour. He needed more time, more time to interact with small groups of people before he tackled a larger crowd and maybe even more time after that before he dared tackle school. All his classmates would just stare at him all day, treating him differently, treating him like he was just a ghost instead of a human being.

Danny decided that there was no way he was going to school today. He just couldn't. He grabbed onto his sheets and one pillow and turned him and his choice beddings intangible as he fell to the floor, hiding underneath his bed. He rose to his knees, his torso sticking out of the bed as he arranged the rest of the covers to make it look like he had risen out of bed. Then he flew, invisible, to the bathroom, locked the door, and turned on the water, leaving the appearance that he was in the shower. Then he retreated back to his hiding place under the bed and lay down on the pillow as he pulled the sheet over his head. His parents couldn't make him go to school if they couldn't find him. Sure it was dusty and a little cramped, but under here he was safe from the prying eyes and the different looks. He was free from school and all it represented, all it promised.

He remained under the bed for about ten minutes, drifting in the land between sleep and consciousness when he heard his mother walk up to the door. He turned himself and his bedding invisible as he heard his mother stop in front of the door and knock.

"Mom, Danny's not in there!" Jazz yelled from her bedroom. "He's in the shower!"

"So he's getting ready for school?"

"Yeah. I woke him up this morning and reminded him and then he went into the shower," Jazz replied as joined her mother outside his door.

"You mean without complaint?" his mother questioned curiously.

"Yeah, he just shouted that he was awake and then…went in the shower," Jazz finished slowly as she started getting suspicious.

"How long ago was that?" Maddie asked, her voice colored with suspicion.

"About fifteen minutes ago," Jazz stated.

Danny then heard the door to his room open and heard his mother and sister's footsteps in his room.

"Well, he's not in here," he heard his mother state as he felt joyful. They were falling for it.

"Maybe he's just taking a long time in the shower?" Jazz suggested hopefully.

"Or he's hiding somewhere, and I'm going to find him. It's a good thing we set his alarm an hour early, otherwise he'd be late for school."

Danny almost blew his hiding spot and shouted out in anger. They had changed the time on his clock! They must have foreseen that he'd put up a fight before going to school. If he was late for school, he might be able to convince his parents that he couldn't go because if he was late it would seem like he was trying to make an entrance, which he really didn't need. Oh well, it didn't really matter. He just needed to stay hidden for an extra hour, and then he wouldn't have to go.

"Alright Jazz, go inform your father that Danny's hiding and we need to execute Operation Ghost Boy Detection like we planned last night. I'm going to see if he's in the bathroom, you check the downstairs, and tell Jack to check the lab."

Operation Ghost Boy Detection? Danny thought. Wow, they must know me better than I thought.

"Alright," Jazz agreed as Danny heard her retreating footsteps. Maddie sighed as her eyes moved around the room one more time before she too walked out of the room, leaving Danny alone under the bed, smiling in his triumph. Just like always, he found the loophole to their plan.

Danny remained under the bed, enjoying the feeling of being nearly asleep and hearing his family yell information back and forth to each other from around the house.

It had been a good twenty minutes and Danny still hadn't been found. They had to be combing the house looking for him. Maybe they'd even left to check other houses? They were being quite quiet.

Then he heard the door to his room open, his sense of security shaking.

"Alright, he's in this room," he heard his mother state. He had a bad feeling about this. He had a feeling he needed to get out of the room.

Just as he was about to consider flying out the room and hiding somewhere else, he felt something wrap around his torso. He tried to phase through it, but couldn't. He was trapped in the Fenton Fisher. His mother started reeling it in, pulling the still invisible Danny out from under the bed. As he started being lifted into the air, he saw his father standing with the Fenton Ghost Finder as it beeped softly, indicating there was a ghost in the room. So that's how they'd been able to find him. Stupid ghost inventions.

"Daniel James Fenton you gain visibility right now!" his mother ordered.

Danny realized he was trapped and appeared, looking quite depressed.

"Now really honey, what were you trying to do?" his mother asked as she put him on the floor and untied him.

"Well, I figured that if you couldn't find me, then you wouldn't make me go to school."

His mother sighed and wrapped an arm around him as she led him over to the bed.

"Sweetheart, I know you're worried, but you can't let this phase you."

"Yeah son, you did fine at that press conference," his father comforted as he sat on the other side of him.

"Yes, but there was a stage and a platform in between me and everyone else at the conference. At school there won't be," Danny pointed out.

"Well, there may not be a stage and a platform, but there will be something in between you and everyone else," his sister comforted as he looked at her quizzically. "Tucker, Sam, and me."

Danny smiled at her and jumped off the bed to give her a hug. "Thanks Jazz."

"Danny," his mother stated as she walked towards him and kneeled down so she was looking him in the eyes "I know you really don't want to go to school and I know you're scared and nervous about what your classmates are going to do and say to you, but you have to face it someday. You can't hide invisible under your bed and let them control your life."

Danny looked to the floor and realized that his mom was right, as always. He couldn't let them scare him into not going to school. First it would be school, and then the mall, and then public in general. He would become a hermit that would only emerge from the safety of his room to fight a ghost. He took a deep breath and met his mother's eyes again.

"You're right. I know I have to face them. It's just, I don't want to."

His mother hugged him tightly. "Danny, you can do it; we know you can. You've made it through worse stuff than this before."

His father walked over to him and clamped an arm on his shoulder. "Don't worry son, if ever there was a boy that could make it through this, it would be you."

Danny smiled.

"So, are you going to start getting ready for school?" his mother asked.

"Yeah," he answered, which received another hug. "But I'm stopping off for Lettuce Wraps first."

The three of them laughed. "All right, if you get ready soon enough you can go get some Lettuce Wraps," his mother promised.

Filled with words of comfort and encouragement (and the hope of Lettuce Wraps) Danny rushed off into the bathroom to get ready for school.

Danny heard a knock at the front door while he was eating his breakfast. He rose to answer the door and then thought better of it and sat back down. Ever since the mob outside he'd refused to open the door, just incase. He heard the knock on the door again.

"Can someone get the door?" Danny yelled.

"Why don't you get it?" Jazz yelled back.

Sisters. "Because if it's a reporter I don't want to be near the door!"

"Then go invisible, I'm busy!"

He grumbled as he turned invisible and walked over to the door. He poked his head through the door and noticed that it was just Tucker and Sam, who had arrived just like they promised they would. Danny pulled his head out of the door, regained visibility and tangibility, and opened the door.

"Danny, wow. I didn't think you'd be the one to open the door," Tucker commented.

"Yeah, well no one wanted to get the door and Jazz was being a loser."

"I didn't even think you'd be up," Sam stated as she walked into the house.

"Your confidence in me is overwhelming," Danny retorted sarcastically.

"Honestly, we were completely prepared to have to drag you out of bed because you wouldn't want to go to school."

"Yeah, well you're a bit late. My parents already saw through my plans to stay home from school." They looked at him in curiosity. "I decided to hide, invisible, under my bed. Well, they decided to use the Fenton Ghost Finder and saw that I was under the bed and they fished me out using the Fenton Ghost Fisher."

The two of them laughed joyously at Danny's story.

"What's so funny?"

"You!" Tucker managed to answer between laughs. "You really must be desperate to get out of school if your parents have to resort to their inventions to get you out of bed!"

"Yeah yeah."

"But seriously Danny, are you all right? Are you ready to go to school?" Sam asked, sounding concerned.

Danny sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be. I have to do it eventually; I might as well get it over with now."

"Danny! Are Tucker and Sam here yet?" Jazz yelled from upstairs.

"Hi Jazz!" Sam yelled up the stairs as Danny smiled.

Jazz walked into the kitchen with her bag and keys. "Hi. Are you done eating? We need to go if you wanted to stop of at PF Changs."

"Yeah, I'm done."

"Are you sure? You barely ate anything."

Danny looked down at his plate of waffles. As he was eating, he spent more time cutting and toying with his food than actually putting it into his mouth. He figured that if he pieced together all the pieces of waffle scattered around the plate that he could fully assemble two and a half of the three waffles he started with.

"Oh, well, I'm saving room for the Lettuce Wraps."

Jazz could tell he was lying since he never had to save room for Lettuce Wraps. With Danny, just the mention of those Chinese delicacies created room in his stomach. She didn't press him though. She figured he probably wasn't hungry or couldn't stomach anything out of nerves.

"Well then, should we head off?"

Danny looked around the kitchen and at his friends' encouraging faces. "Yeah, let's go."

Danny went upstairs to get his bag and stopped off at the basement to tell his parents he was leaving.

"Mom, Dad, we're leaving."

They looked up from their inventions and walked over to the stairs.

"Oh son, we're so proud of you," his father gushed as he gave him a comforting hug.

"Thanks Dad."

"Now, just remember that things will get better. Today will be hard, I won't lie to you, but it's just because it's still a shock. And don't worry about what people think. If they see you differently now, then they really don't matter, no matter how close you thought you were."

Danny nodded. He figured that the rest of the student body would treat him differently now, but none of them really mattered. He'd already talked to the people that mattered in his life, and if the rest of them didn't want to go near him or didn't see him the same way, he didn't care. It wasn't like they were that friendly to him before. But still, there was a big difference between avoiding him because of his loser status and avoiding him out of fear.

"Alright, you probably should head out," his mother stated as she hugged him again.

"And remember, if it all gets to be too much, you can always just fly back here," his father comforted with a clap on the shoulder.

"But try to stay the whole time, alright?"

Danny nodded.

"We'll be here when you get home."

Danny smiled as he walked back upstairs. His friends smiled at him and they headed towards the car.

"Danny Fenton! To what do we owe the honor?" the manager of PF Changs asked joyously as he emerged from the back. The hostess said she saw Danny and his friends walking up to the restaurant and immediately ran to fetch him. Someone this important definitely deserved a visit from the manager, especially after saving the restaurant a few nights ago.

"I'm off to school and I kinda need some comfort food."

"Ah, yes. Lettuce Wraps?" he asked with a smile.

Danny nodded. "Nothing calms the nerves like those pieces of heaven."

The manager laughed. "How many orders would you like?"

"Um, we'll go with three, just in case."

He smiled. "Anything for our number one customer. We'll have those right up for you."

"Thank you very much."

They left the restaurant, Lettuce Wraps in tow, and headed to Jazz's car. Once inside, Danny opened up the Lettuce Wraps and cherished in their sweet aroma. He piled the savory meat into the lettuce and bit down, relishing in the contrast between cold crispy lettuce and warm spicy chicken. He forgot about everything, about school, about the people in it, about life. All he thought about was the taste of the Lettuce Wrap.

Unfortunately, the stop of the car and the ceasing of the sound of the engine shook him out of his blissful thoughts. He looked up from his Lettuce Wrap and saw Casper High looming in front of him. He immediately paled. Not all the Lettuce Wraps in the world were going to save him now.

His sister opened the door next to him, but he remained motionless.

"Danny, come on. You have to do this. You can't be scared of this for your entire life. Tucker, Sam, and I will be right next to you the entire time. Everything will be fine."

Slowly and with great trepidation, Danny stepped out of the car. He noticed other students getting out of their cars as well, not paying him any attention. This didn't instill much hope in him though, since most of them were really just minding their own business and probably didn't even see him.

"Alright, now we're going to start walking to the school," Jazz told him as he nodded his head slowly, urging his feet to move. Tucker and Sam looked at each other and pushed him forward, forcing his legs to move.

They walked out of the parking lot and Danny's feet hit the cement of the walkway up to the school. He looked ahead of him and gazed upon Casper High. Oh how he didn't want to do this.

As he started walking towards the doors, students were finally starting to take notice that Danny was there. They stopped talking and stared at him as he walked up to the doors of the school.

The urge to turn invisible was exceedingly strong. He felt himself being pulled into the realm of the unseen but Jazz noticed what he was doing and jerked his arm, bringing him back to the visible world.

"No invisibility. The last thing they need is to see you use your powers," Jazz advised. "Now, I want you to know that no matter what happens today you have to remember that you're still just Danny Fenton, a fourteen year old boy who needs to go to school and just happens to fight ghosts on an extra-curricular basis. People will stare, but that's nothing new. People will stare at anything, whether it's a pimple on your face or a stain on your shirt. People will ask you questions, fawn over you, pester you to show off, but that's no different from the press conference. People may look at you differently and treat you differently, but what do they matter? People may tease you, call you a freak, but just remember that you're the one that saves their lives on a daily basis, and make sure they remember that too.

"It's like I told you before the press conference. You're the one with the power, you're the one holding all the cards. They'll do only what you let them do. Stay firm, put on the brave face that I know you have, and show them that you plan on living out the rest of high school like nothing happened."

Danny smiled at Jazz and hugged her. "Thanks Jazz."

"What are sisters for? Now, open those doors and show them you're not afraid of them."

Danny turned to look at Tucker and Sam. "You with me?"

"Always," they answered.

Danny took a deep breath and pushed open the doors to Casper High, ready for the first time that day to face the rest of the student body.

A/N: I know you're probably all planning on killing me right now for ending it there, but it was necessary. I know you've all been waiting for Casper High's reaction and I'm sorry I have to make you wait another chapter, but you know me, I can't pass up a chance for psychological trauma. I promise though, it'll be in the next chapter!