A/N: I am so so sorry about the late update! I was suffering from the traditional "I'm really nervous about this chapter because everyone's been looking forward to it" syndrome that I continually seem to catch. But, I finally decided that rereading it about 15 times was a bit ridiculous and that I just needed to post it, regardless of my nerves. So, here it is, Danny's first day back at school, for real.
Thanks so much to all of my reviewers for the last chapter!I cannot describe how awesome it makes me feelwhen I see all the glorious reviews you guys leave! And thank you for being so understanding about the long waits and the evil cliffie after the last chapter! After seeing the length of this one, you should understand why I stopped it!
Note: The rating has now changed due to some foul language (but not too foul) and some graphic depictions generated by Sam's mind. (This will make more sense after you read more).
Chapter Nine
Wall of Support
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz walked through the doors and down the halls of Casper High. The other students turned and stared at them, whispering to their friends.
"It's Danny Fenton!"
"Oh my gosh!"
"He's actually coming to school!"
"He's actually here!"
Danny started shifting nervously as he walked, quickly losing his determined attitude. His gaze shifted towards at the rows of lockers on either side of him, looking at all the students grouping together and whispering as they watched him walk down the hall. He started to slow down but he felt his sister push him onward.
"Just keep walking," she whispered to him.
Finally he reached his locker and he started turning the lock with shaking hands as people grouped around the locker, staring at him and his friends. He opened his locker and grabbed his books before turning around and facing the large crowd around him. How was he supposed to get to class in this mess?
"Um…guys…I need to get to class so can you please just…go away, or something?" he asked nervously to the crowd.
The crowd looked at each other and back at Danny, not sure whether or not they wanted to obey his request. Most of them looked absolutely ecstatic that he actually addressed them, but Danny saw a look of fear and wonderment on some of their faces.
"Hey, he asked if you would go away so he could get to class!" Sam yelled at them, stepping in front of Danny, separating him from the stares of the crowd. "He's just a regular student who needs to get to class, so can you please let him pass!"
"A regular student who happens to be part ghost," a student piped up. Many students murmured in agreement.
Jazz stepped in up and stood next to Sam. "So what? He still needs to get to class!"
"If he wants to get to class he can go intangible and walk through us!" another student commented as the rest of the students agreed.
"Or he could fly over us!" another one suggested.
"Give me a break!" Danny muttered as Tucker too moved in front of him.
"Because he shouldn't have to!" Tucker yelled at them.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin! What's going on here?" Mr. Lancer asked as he walked towards the circle of people surrounding Danny and his barrier.
"They won't let Danny through so he can get to class!" Jazz exclaimed.
Mr. Lancer shoved his way through to the students until he was standing in front of Danny's friends.
"Alright everyone this is ridiculous. Mr. Fenton is just another student at Casper High, and as such he needs to attend his classes and spend time with his friends without being followed by a mob of fanatical students! As such, I don't want to see anything like this ever happen again," Lancer threatened. "If I see anyone following him around or preventing him from getting to his classes again, the worst punishment imaginable will be dealt to you, do I make myself clear?"
Danny had never seen Lancer so angry in his life. It seemed like he radiated anger from his body, his eyes gleaming with anger.
The rest of the students seemed to notice this as well because the crowd quickly dissipated, the stragglers earning an evil glare from Lancer before they too rushed off to their lockers, looking at Danny from afar.
"I'm extremely sorry Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer apologized as he turned towards Danny who had emerged from behind his wall of friends. "This shouldn't be happening and I'm exceedingly sorry that it is."
"It's not your fault," Danny answered. "And thank you."
"Anytime Mr. Fenton, anytime. Please alert me the moment that something like this happens again, yes?"
"Of course."
"Well, I believe you have a class to attend Mr. Fenton. I wish you the best of luck today; you're going to need it."
"Thanks Mr. Lancer."
"Wow, Mr. Lancer actually stood up for you," Tucker stated in awe.
"Yeah. I get the feeling he's going to be doing that a lot from now on," Danny commented, still trying to recover from what had just happened.
"Danny, I think we should get to class and out of the hall as soon as possible," Sam suggested, still noticing that they were the object of everyone's stares.
"Good idea."
"Good luck Danny," Jazz wished. "I have to go to my class, but I'll be back to check up on you."
"Thanks Jazz."
The three of them walked towards Biology, their first class, only to find that everyone was already sitting in the classroom even though class didn't start for another five minutes. They were all waiting for Danny to enter the classroom so they could talk to him in a more confined group.
Danny walked nervously to his desk and sat down, Sam and Tucker next to him as whispers started among the other students.
Danny looked around the room and noticed Dash sitting with his football buddies, whispering to them while looking and pointing at Danny. He looked over and saw Valerie sitting with her head down. She looked up at him and smiled a sympathetic smile, showing him that she was sorry he was being forced to go through this. He returned a slight smile in gratitude, but it was quickly replaced by a stoic expression as he continued to notice more and more students whispering about him to their friends.
Then he heard movement and turned around to see Paulina moving from her usual seat to sit behind Danny. He quickly turned around to face front, hoping that Lancer would come in soon so class would start.
"Hey Danny," Paulina cooed from behind him. He rolled his eyes and turned around to face her. The whispering had stopped and all eyes were on him and Paulina.
"Yes Paulina?" he asked, somewhat sarcastic.
"Did you get the letter I sent you?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes. A few days ago, this would have been a dream come true for Danny, but now, he no longer cared. She was just like the rest of them; she just wanted him because he was Danny Phantom.
"You mean that pink abomination that's now a pile of charred paper in my trash can? Yeah, I got it."
Paulina's smile flickered for a second but returned with its former confidence. "Well, I meant everything I said on it. I adore you Danny."
"The Fenton or the Phantom part?" he snapped harshly.
Paulina faltered. "Both," she answered.
"That's just because you know that's what I want you to say. Admit it Paulina, you don't like the Fenton part of me anymore than you did before, and you never will. In your eyes, I'm still the same loser I always was, except now with ghost powers."
Paulina's eyes were wide with shock. She looked ready to retort when Mr. Lancer stepped into the room, much to the disappointment of the rest of the class.
Mr. Lancer cleared his throat, ceasing all the whispers. "Now, I would like to state something before I begin the lecture. I don't know how many of you heard my little speech in the hall, so I'll repeat it for you. While Mr. Fenton may be the infamous Danny Phantom, he is still a student at this school and as such he still needs to attend his classes, take notes, and pay attention during the lecture. That being said, I don't want to see any of you treating him any differently. There will be no whispering, no constant badgering, no fawning, and no teasing. Any such acts will merit a punishment as harsh as can be administered without going against school rules, understood?" The class nodded in agreement. "Very well. Now, we shall resume our discussion on photosynthesis…"
Inside, Danny felt a rush of gratitude towards Mr. Lancer. He immediately took back everything bad he'd ever said about him. In just the past ten minutes he'd already stuck up for him twice.
Throughout the class, the students still continued to shift their attention over towards him while taking their notes. It seemed like they were trying to examine him and pass judgment on whether or not he was still just a student like them. Danny suddenly became aware of everything he'd do, every action he'd make, like he was on some dog show and his fellow students were the judges, deciding whether or not he could still be considered a student, whether he could still be considered human.
Finally the bell rang and for the first time no one jumped up immediately to leave. Instead, they all waited as Danny packed his stuff up, not wanting to leave the room without him. Danny noticed this and looked at Tucker and Sam for support. Both of them shrugged their heads, not knowing what to do in this situation. Normally he would have just left, but he wanted to talk to Mr. Lancer, to thank him yet again for standing up for him.
"Secret Garden! You don't have to wait for him to leave class!" Lancer yelled furiously at all of them as they jumped and bolted out of the classroom, remembering his threats of punishment.
"Again Mr. Fenton I feel I must apologize."
"For what?" Danny asked, confused. He was sticking up for him, defending him; he didn't need to apologize for anything.
"For the behavior of the students. I believe you deserve an apology for their horrid behavior and I know no one else will give it to you."
"Thank you Mr. Lancer, I appreciate it."
"Of course Mr. Fenton."
"Mr. Lancer, I just wanted to thank you, for sticking up for me, both back in the hall and at the beginning of class," Danny thanked as he walked towards Mr. Lancer's desk.
Tucker and Sam realized this wasn't a conversation they needed to be a part of and decided to leave the safety of the classroom.
"There's no need to thank me for that Mr. Fenton. I did what any respectable man would have done."
"Still, it makes me feel a lot better knowing that you're there for me."
Mr. Lancer stood up from behind his desk and stood level with Danny, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking him in the eyes. "Mr. Fenton, I know today's going to be hard and it's going to be an extremely difficult few weeks. We had a staff meeting this morning regarding you and even though all the teachers agreed on some policies a few of them don't seem so partial towards you. But you can't let the actions of the ignorant student body and some biased teachers get you down. You have so many people sticking up for you: your parents, your sister, your friends, not to mention a few students and teachers and probably a few other citizens."
"I know. It's just, every little bit helps, makes me feel better."
"I understand. But still, we're all wishing you to do well, to struggle through this, to get on with your life."
"Or what's left of it," Danny joked with a smile.
Mr. Lancer smiled back. "That's exactly the attitude I like to see: making jokes, still having fun."
The warning bell sounded through the school and Lancer sighed, clearly not pleased that their talk would be ending.
"Mr. Fenton, I would still like to continue talking to you later, if that's alright with you."
"Of course Mr. Lancer."
"After school or during lunch?"
"During lunch. I think by the time school's over it'll be a challenge not to get up and fly out of here as fast as I can."
Mr. Lancer chuckled, amazed at how open Danny was with his powers around people he trusted. "Alright then, during lunch in here. I'll be waiting."
"Okay," Danny agreed as he started walking out the door.
"Oh and Mr. Fenton, good luck."
Danny smiled back and dashed out of the classroom, running through the blissfully empty hallways towards his locker before running to his next class.
Danny dashed into the door just as the bell rang. He let out a sigh, not wanting to be tardy. He didn't know whether or not his teachers would go easy on him since he was the ghost boy and he really didn't feel like having detention today.
"Just in time Mr. Fenton," his math teacher, Mr. Dickens, stated sharply, giving him an evil glare.
Danny smiled weakly as he headed towards his seat.
"Why are you late Danny?" a student pestered.
"Was it a ghost?"
Danny sighed. "For your information not everything I do involves ghosts. I was talking to Mr. Lancer," he informed as he sat down.
"Mr. Fenton, I'm trying to teach here."
"Sorry Mr. Dickens," Danny apologized, even though he knew it really wasn't his fault.
"Just because you're part ghost does not mean you can make a scene when entering my classroom and disrupt the class."
"I know and I didn't mean to…"
"Even students who are half dead must still obey school laws," Mr. Dickens taunted as he turned towards the board, not seeing Danny's eyes flash green.
Danny heard Dash snicker to his buddies behind him. Danny wanted to retort that it wasn't his fault but he remembered that Mr. Lancer had said that some of his teachers weren't too thrilled at still having him as a student. Mr. Dickens was obviously one of them.
"Alright class, let's go over the weekend's homework." The sound of rustling pages echoed around the classroom as students pulled out their pages of homework and opened their books. Like usual, Danny simply pulled out a piece of paper, ready to copy down the examples he did on the board so he'd have something to study later.
"Mr. Fenton, why don't you have your homework?" Mr. Dickens asked.
Danny stared up in disbelief at his teacher. He had never cared before, so why now? Because now he knew he was half ghost. He didn't see him as another student, but an outsider, someone who didn't belong at the school, someone who wasn't human, someone who deserved to be picked on.
He had expected these thoughts from other students, but not from his teachers. He had always generally believed that teachers were supposed to be less shallow, less judgmental. Mr. Dickens, however, seemed to be shattering this belief.
"I never had a chance to do it," Danny answered.
"Really? Because I would have thought that since you were holed up in your house all weekend due to the press that you would have had plenty of time to do your homework."
"Well, I had other things on my mind," Danny answered coolly, trying not to lose his temper. Could he possibly be stupid enough to not realize that he wasn't entirely emotionally stable during that period? Or did he realize it and was just trying to aggravate him. Well, if it was the latter, it sure was working.
"That's no excuse Mr. Fenton. You haven't done your homework for many months and continue to either fail tests or skip classes."
"That's because he's been fighting ghosts every night!" Sam yelled out in Danny's defense, much to the agreement of some of the other students.
"Ms. Manson, that is not the tone of voice to use to your teachers," he reprimanded.
"And that's not the tone of voice to use to one of your students!" Sam yelled back.
"Detention, Ms. Manson."
"For what? For standing up for Danny because you're being particularly biased against him?" Tucker shouted. More murmured agreement sounded from the other students.
"Mr. Foley, you will be joining Ms. Manson in detention, and another outbreak by either of you will result in detention every day for the rest of the week."
Danny's eyes glowed green as anger surged through him. There was no reason for the two of them to receive detention; they were just sticking up for him.
"Do that again with your eyes Mr. Fenton and you will be joining them," his teacher threatened. "I will not tolerate you using your abnormal powers in my classroom."
His eyes returned to their normal blue color as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He remembered that he didn't want detention today and now, more than before, he wanted to get out of the school.
"Now that we've put the ghost and his friends in their place, let's continue on with class."
Underneath his desk Danny snapped one of his pencils in half, trying to relieve some of the anger. So he did just see him as some inhuman ghost, forgetting the fact that he was still partly human. How in the world was he supposed to survive the rest of the year if math was going to be like this every day? He was definitely going to talk to Mr. Lancer about this at lunch.
Danny didn't pay much attention to the lesson for the rest of class. He spent most of his time in an imaginary world where he could do anything to anyone he wanted without consequences or moral judgment. He imagined Mr. Dickens running around in darkness being chased and shot at by all of his ghost enemies while he floated above them all, laughing.
Finally the bell rang and Danny stood up to dash out of class.
"Mr. Fenton."
Danny stopped, his eyes flashing green for just a moment. He turned around and walked towards Mr. Dickens, summing up every ounce of self control he possessed to prevent himself from ecto-blasting him out the window.
"Yes Mr. Dickens?" he responded, his voice extremely controlled.
"I just wanted to inform you that though you may not have detention today, if you come to class tomorrow without a complete homework assignment or act out again in class, I will make sure that you will. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
"Yes Mr. Dickens," he replied, still trying to control his tone.
"And I also wanted to let you know that I'm as unhappy to still have you in my class as I'm sure you are to be in my class."
"Well at least we have one thing in common," he replied bitterly as he swept towards the door. Before he left, he turned towards his now least favorite teacher. "You know Mr. Dickens, there are two kinds of things in this world: those than can change, and those that can't. Me being part ghost, that can't change, but your attitude towards me, that can change, if you start to see that I'm more than just some ghost and that I'm still human too."
He stormed through the door and slammed it behind him, hoping that something he said penetrated his teacher's thick skull.
"What a son of a bitch!" Sam yelled, slamming her locker door as Danny approached. "That horrible, lousy, prejudiced bastard!"
"Yeah, I can't believe I ever liked that teacher," Tucker commented as he too slammed his locker door.
"Oh if only I could get a hold of him. I'd tie him to a chair and peel his skin off with a vegetable peeler and then pour lemon juice on it," Sam described, a manic glint in her eyes.
Danny shuddered at the thought as he grabbed his books out of his locker before heading to his next class. The sooner he got out of the hallway the better, owing to the fact that everyone was still staring at him.
"Remind me not to make Sam mad," Danny whispered to Tucker as Sam continued to depict the different torture methods she'd use on Mr. Dickens.
"Remind me not to make her mad. You might at least survive some of those, or at least find a way to escape," Tucker replied as he shuddered at Sam's most recent elaboration involving said teacher being chased over a barbed wire fence by rabid weasels only to end up in a pit of acid.
They entered their next class to the same amount of stares as the previous two. Danny just sat down, still not comfortable with the stares, but he was starting to get used to them, to expect them. Thankfully, all they wanted to do was stare. Most of them had been in his previous math class and felt an awkward silence present between themselves and Danny, feeling like they should say something, but not really knowing what to say.
Danny didn't mind the silence. He actually found it quite welcoming. Having been accompanied all day with constant questions and whispers the silence felt good. Unfortunately, the silence also gave Danny time to think about his history teacher's reaction to him. Would she be like Mr. Dickens? Well, if he could handle him he supposed he could handle his history teacher as well. She couldn't possibly be worse.
Fortunately his teacher, though not welcoming, was at least better mannered Mr. Dickens. She was obviously frightened by his presence and wouldn't even look at him or ask him to answer any questions like she usually did. The only time she seemed to acknowledge his presence was when she was forced to look in his general direction. Her eyes would open wide with fear and her voice would get steadily higher and squeakier.
Finally the bell rang and he retreated to his locker. If was finally time for lunch, which meant that he could finally talk to Mr. Lancer.
"So, I say you've broken about even," Tucker declared.
"What are you talking about?" Danny asked, confused.
"Well, you had math where the teacher would constantly give you negative attention followed by history where the teacher wouldn't even acknowledge your existence! Isn't that just weird?"
"Tucker, only you would think of something like that," Danny replied with a smile.
"Hey Fentonia! Or should I say Phantomia!"
Danny turned around to see Dash marching up to him, muscles flexed, eyes narrowed. A large group followed behind him, probably wanting to watch the show. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned towards Danny and Dash. Many of them looked shocked to see Dash still executing his daily Fenton torture, knowing full well that Danny was the infamous and powerful ghost boy.
Danny sighed, knowing that Dash's teasing would come eventually. Still, he had half hoped that maybe Dash would be smart enough to realize that he wasn't dealing with the same old Fenton.
"Yes Dash?" he answered, a cocky smirk on his face.
"You think you're so cool now Fenton, don't you? Now that everyone knows that you're Danny Phantom. But you know something, you were right in Lancer's class, you're still the same loser you've always been, except now you're also a freak!"
He quickly grabbed Danny by the collar and artfully shoved him into his locker, slamming the door with a laugh.
"Even as the Ghost Boy I can shove you into a locker! You're not so tough! You're a weak and pathetic loser, just like you've always been," Dash teased as he laughed even harder, all the popular students joining in.
Inside the locker, Danny's eyes were glowing bright green. He wasn't going to take any more of this. Jazz had told him that they were only going to go as far as he'd let them, and things had gone far enough. He might not be able to do anything to his jerky teachers, but he certainly could show Dash that conquering the Ghost Boy wasn't as easy as he thought. He was going to show them why his name and presence was feared in the Ghost Zone.
A bright light erupted from inside the locker and Danny floated out the top in ghost mode, much to the gasps of everyone in the crowd. They stared at him in wonder, but he didn't care. Right now, he wanted to deal with Dash.
"See Dash, I think the point of being shoved into a locker is to, I don't know, make sure that person will stay in the locker. Kinda loses its kick when said victim can escape just by phasing through the door."
"Well then get down here so we can do it proper," he challenged, cracking his knuckles.
"Oh yes, so you can grab me and stuff me into the locker so that I can float out again. Brilliant."
"Fine, then we'll handle this the real way."
"The real way? What's that?" Then Danny noticed Dash's clenched fists and fighting stance. "Fighting? You've got to be joking me. You actually want to fight me?"
"What, afraid?"
"No, I just know that I'll win," he stated simply as he floated down to the ground, the group clearing a large circle for them.
Dash lunged at Danny who just turned intangible, allowing Dash to fall right through him and into the crowd, knocking over a few bystanders. He got up and tried again but Danny simply remained intangible, putting his hand over his mouth, faking a yawn.
"Dash, why don't you just give up and save the small amount of credibility you have as a bully while you can? I don't know about you, but I can do this all day." Danny really didn't want to hurt him, since that would hurt the image he'd been trying so hard to build. He just wanted to completely humiliate him, and that was working out really nicely.
"Why don't you do something more than just being all see-through? Or is that the only thing you can do?"
"It's called intangible Dash. If you had more than half a brain cell, you'd know that," he ridiculed as Dash took a swipe at his head, his had going cleanly through it. "And you want something more? Alright." He smiled right before he disappeared from sight.
"Is this more what you were talking about?" Danny's disembodied voice asked tauntingly as Dash looked around confused.
"Why don't you show yourself?" Dash yelled, not really knowing how to fight an invisible opponent.
"Well you wanted me to do something else," Danny answered mockingly as he appeared, floating above the circle. "You see Dash, even without attacking you I still manage to beat you." He landed on the floor, Dash backing away from him slowly. "And you know what, now that the secret's out, I don't have to put up with you anymore. I don't have to take your daily torment; I can fight back. I don't have to let you throw me into the locker, don't have to wait for you to leave before I phase myself through the door, don't have to sit idly by and let you constantly poke fun at me or pick on me. I don't have to go easy and I don't have to hold back. So, for your own good, go find someone else to pick on, or better yet, don't pick on anyone at all.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Danny remarked as the white rings formed around his waist, changing him into his human form "I have to meet with Mr. Lancer."
He walked towards the edge of the circle and the crowd parted for him, allowing him to walk easily through them, Tucker and Sam following behind him, both looking pleased.
"I am so never going to forget that moment," Tucker commented, relishing in the memories of the fight. "Watching Dash run right through you was just priceless!"
"I'm going to relish in this moment for the rest of lunch," Sam replied in a dreamy tone, obviously lost in her world of instant replay.
"You do that. I'm going to talk to Lancer and I probably won't see you for all of lunch, so I'll see you in PE," Danny informed.
"Alright, see you later."
They parted and Danny headed towards Mr. Lancer's room, hoping that he wasn't too late. He knocked on the door and, upon hearing Mr. Lancer grant him permission to enter, opened it to a smiling teacher.
"Mr. Fenton, please take a seat and feel welcome to eat your lunch in here in case our conversation takes all hour."
Danny sat down and pulled out the rest of his Lettuce Wraps and began eating while Mr. Lancer began to eat his sandwich.
"How has your day been?"
"Probably as good as it can be, given the situation."
"Yes, that's probably true. There are a number of things I would like to discuss Mr. Fenton and then if there's anything else you wish to talk to me about then feel free to do so.
"I'd like to start by explaining some new policies that the principle and your teachers developed this morning. First, you cannot be given detention for being late to class if there was a ghost attack. Second, if you end up missing a class due to an attack, just let the teacher know later that day and you will be excused from the class and given the homework. Third, if you need to leave during a ghost attack, you merely need to raise your hand and tell the teacher that there's a ghost and you're free to leave the class. Now, in regards to homework…"
Mr. Lancer was cut off by a blue mist emerging from Danny's mouth.
"Mr. Fenton, may I ask…?"
"Ghost sense. It lets me know when there's a ghost nearby," he answered as the Box Ghost entered the room.
"I am the Box Ghost! You shall all be neatly packaged and shipped in my cubic boxes of doom! Beware!"
Danny turned around, his eyes glowing green. "What is your problem? Can't you leave me alone for a day or two? Can't you see that I'm trying to have an important discussion with my teacher and that you're interrupting us?"
"No, for I am the Box Ghost! It is my duty to…"
"To shut up!" Danny yelled as he shot an ecto-blast at him while reaching for his thermos with his other hand. As the Box Ghost staggered from the blast Danny uncapped the thermos and aimed it at the ghost, sucking him into the blue beam.
Danny turned around and faced a wide-eyed Mr. Lancer. "Sorry about that," Danny apologized.
Mr. Lancer shook himself out of his awe, having never really seen Danny use his powers. He'd never even seen a ghost, other than Danny, first hand. "That's quite alright Mr. Fenton. Now, we were discussing your homework situation."
Danny smiled, grateful to see Mr. Lancer getting right back on topic. Most other people would have started freaking out with excitement because he'd just used his powers, but not Mr. Lancer. Sure he looked a little awestruck, but he just got right back to their conversation like nothing had happened.
"I must admit it was extremely difficult trying to find a solution to this dilemma. We would all like to see you do your homework but we also know that you have an extremely busy schedule to which you neither have control of nor can deviate from. So, we decided that we will only assign homework that is relevant or important and not the excess fluff of projects and such. You also have a week to hand in each homework assignment and if you need an extension you need only ask. Does this sound like it will work? You know how busy you are more than we do."
"Yeah, that'll be more than helpful," Danny answered.
"Now, this isn't an official policy and I don't know how many teacher will choose to enact it, but I wanted to inform you that when grading tests and essays and such I will take into consideration that you spend most of your time ghost fighting."
Danny's eyes brightened. "Are you serious?" he asked, amazed. This was better than he ever expected. He should have told Mr. Lancer sooner!
"I'm quite serious Mr. Fenton. I'm sure that, given the minds of your parents and sister, you are extremely smart, just a little lazy and extremely busy. The fact that you're still passing even though you spend all your time fighting ghosts I think proves this theory. I'm sure that were your situation different, you'd actually have time to study and try hard and get good grades. Therefore, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."
"Thank you Mr. Lancer. I really don't know what to say."
"Oh it's nothing. Just consider it a thank you from the school for saving our lives almost every day," Lancer remarked with a smile.
Danny blushed as he smiled back.
"Now, I'd also just like to state that even though these policies are in effect for you and possibly Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson, we don't see you as anything other than a student. You are getting special privileges and I know you just want to be treated like a regular student, but they are in effect because of your unique situation. We're just trying to work around it as best as possible so that you can be a regular student and not struggle with your grades. Does this make sense?"
Danny nodded, glad that Lancer took the time to mention that. He did want to be treated like a regular student but he was also really glad that these new policies would be in effect. With these new policies he could finally balance his school and ghost fighting lives and maybe actually do well in school.
"Good. Now I'd like to take this opportunity to reiterate that I'm always here if you need someone to talk to about anything, school related or not. No matter what, I'm always here."
"I appreciate that Mr. Lancer."
"That being said, I'd like to finish by asking you if there's anything you'd like to tell me about what's happened today."
"Well actually, there was. It's my math teacher, Mr. Dickens."
"Ah yes, I was expecting you to mention him. He was one of your teachers that was extremely adamant against giving you special treatment. He seemed to think that you didn't deserve it."
"Of course he doesn't; that blind jerk only sees me as a ghost." Danny proceeded to relate the events of the class and all the prejudiced things Mr. Dickens had done and said. As he continued to relay the information, Mr. Lancer got increasingly angry.
"Well that is definitely going to change. That is completely uncalled for and there is no reason for you to be forced to put up with that. You may inform Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson that they do not have detention today. I'm going to talk to him after school today and set him straight. He had no right to say any of those things to you or specifically pick on you. If this still continues, come and talk to me and we'll find you a new teacher. Anything else?"
Danny then told him about his history teacher and her fearful attitude towards him. Again Lancer looked shocked that someone could be so cruel and vowed to talk to her as well.
"Well, if that's all that happened today, I will open this conversation to your questions as I promised."
Danny stared at the desk, knowing that he had a question that had been bothering him all day, but he didn't really know how to ask it. He felt awkward asking it, but he knew he had to.
"Actually, can I ask you a really awkward question?"
"Of course, Mr. Fenton."
"And will you promise to be completely truthful?"
"Of course."
"Do you see me any differently, now that you know I'm not completely…human?" The reactions he'd received from his two teachers, the reactions from the student body, the reaction from Dash all made him feel more inhuman, more separate from everyone else. He told himself that their reactions wouldn't matter, but who was he fooling? They did matter to him. Now these feelings left him insecure with this question lingering in his mind. He knew that Tucker, Sam, and his family didn't see him any different, but what about people he wasn't completely close to, like Lancer or Valerie? He already knew that Valerie saw him differently, but what about Lancer?
He noticed that Mr. Lancer paused, looking as if he was trying to find the best way to answer the question.
"I was about to ask you why you would ask such a preposterous question that has such a clear answer, but were I in your position I'd probably be asking the same thing, and I can see that this is important to you. When I look at you, Mr. Fenton, I see a young boy full of courage, bravery, wit, creativity, and laziness, the same things I saw in you before I knew you were the ghost boy. You're still the same Daniel Fenton to me. You're still going to arrive to class late, still going to skip an occasional class, still going to leave your homework incomplete. The only thing that has changed is that now, I know why."
Danny smiled, knowing that Mr. Lancer meant what he said.
"And if you're worried about whether other people see you differently, which I'm sure you are otherwise you wouldn't be asking this question, you just have to remember that most people aren't intelligent or completely accepting. Yes, they will see you differently for now, but eventually as time passes this ghost thing will become common place, just like how ghost attacks are common place now. They'll eventually start seeing you as Danny Fenton again and treat you like they usually do, just like Mr. Baxter shoving you into your locker before our meeting."
Danny looked up at him, shocked that he knew about that.
"Yes Mr. Fenton, I heard about that. I must say though that I'm glad to see you finally sticking up for yourself. And, off the record, I personally believe that you should have hit him."
Danny smiled. He realized that with Mr. Lancer's help in addition to the support of his friends and sister he would be able to survive school. Lancer was right, things would get back to normal eventually, he just needed to give it time.
A/N: So, hoping it met your expectations, like always. And for those of you who wanted more of certain things, there's still day two at school either next chapter or the chapter after, depending on length, but I have some really fun stuff planned! smiles evilly
I just wanted to explain about the weasel and acid torture method. That's a tribute to the Weasel Run, a torture my friend developed to subject people in movies, books, or tv shows that annoy us to.