Chapter 3:

Found Out

Oh man. This was not good, not good at all. Dash, self proclaimed number one fan of Phantom, second only in vocalizing his opinions to Paulina, had just seen him come out of the alley that Phantom had gone into. It wasn't physically possible that Fenton had missed seeing the ghost; they had passed far too close for that to be the case. Even the jock wasn't stupid enough to not connect the dots when they were laid out in front of him like that.

"Fento-?" Dash was finally able to manage. It was a pretty impressive show of coherency, given the fact that he looked like he was going into shock.

Danny's jaw worked up and down silently for a minute. It was all just too much for his brain to handle. Dash was supposed to be in school, in Lancer's classroom now. He was supposed to be far away from here, not following him and trying to get a front row seat to watch Skulker try out his upgraded arm cannon on him.

Not that it did the ghost much good. Heh.

But no, none of this was as it should be. None of it was right. And so it took his brain a much longer time to process everything than it normally would have.

Finally he snuck an arm around to rub the base of his neck and let out a sheepish half-laugh. "Uh, huh, hey, Dash… fancy seeing you here."

Dash looked at him like he was crazy.

"Fenton?" the jock repeated. "Why are you here?" He too was fumbling for what to say and looked around for some kind of support, some sense of normalcy that he could hold onto. He saw the alley he had just been heading for when the two boys collided. "But… I just saw Phantom go into that alley right there," he pointed and started to stumble toward it as Danny rushed out to block him.

"Uh, uh, yeah, yeah," Danny stuttered, frantic to find something to stop the blonde boy from getting any closer and not caring at all if it made sense. His brain kicked him for his attempt just a few seconds later.

(real smooth… like that will put him off anything… what are you thinking? oh that's right, you aren't.)

Danny's mouth was moving again before his brain had a chance to catch up, trying to salvage the situation as he continued, "But he's gone. Phantom's long gone."

(think he'll believe you if you repeat it enough? you're starting to sound suspicious…)

"He's a ghost you know!" Danny exclaimed, ready to face palm the very next minute if it hadn't completely given him away.

(really, Fenton? I mean, really… that was pretty much the lamest thing you've ever said to the guy… and that's saying something)

"Um…" he continued solidly, fumbling for something else to say, anything else to say that could distract the footballer from realizing what was going on. "And he doesn't like to stick around for very long."

(now that was just lame…)

To his surprise, however, that last sentence got Danny what he wanted. Dash stopped trying to walk into the alley and instead looked down at Danny with new eyes. "How… how would you know that?"

So, maybe that wasn't quite getting what Danny wanted out of the taller kid. He made him stop walking, yes, but at what price?

Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man. Why did he have to go and put his bit fat foot in his big fat mouth? He'd practically just admitted to being right with Phantom. How could he be so incredibly stupid?

Dash started toward the alley again, looking ready to ask Phantom the answer to the question and Danny moved in front of him to block his path.

"No, no," Danny protested again too vehemently. "Don't go down there. Phantom's long gone by now, just… just stay there… there's nothing to see."

"You know that Phantom just left, you… you saw him?" Dash pressed.

"Ah, no. No, no, no, no, no. I didn't see him," Danny paused to backtrack and realized that thinking on his feet really wasn't his strongest asset as he changed courses while answering yet again. "I mean, I did see him, but only from a distance. I was watching the fight from over there and then he flew out right above me and, yeah, that's all there was to it."

Danny hoped and prayed that Dash would buy the lie. It was possible. It was definitely a possible story that Danny had been walking to school and had just been caught up in everything. It was a probable scenario. It was not the best lie that he had ever come up with, but it was definitely a decent enough one to pass, especially pass by the jock.

But Dash looked skeptical. He looked like he was thinking about two and three and somehow only getting four.

And the blonde was eyeing the thermos. The same thermos that his ghost half had been using minutes before. Oh, no. How could he explain that? Quickly stashing it behind his back didn't do anything to remedy the situation.

"Ahh, look Dash, it's not…" he waved one hand frantically in front of his face as if to ward off any suspicion. "It's not really what… what you think, okay?"

He swallowed hard as Dash pierced him with an especially odd stare. It was accusatory, but of what Danny didn't know. Then it morphed into some sort of awe and respect but that was quickly passed over in favor of becoming his usual totally-better-than-thou smirk.

"I know exactly what it is," Dash said, thoroughly pleased with himself.

"You… you do?" Danny backed away from the jock, not quite sure where this was going.

"Yeah," Dash continued gleefully. "I know all about you… you and your little secret…"

Danny swallowed heavily. He couldn't mean that he knew about Phantom. It couldn't be. He was bluffing. The jock was thinking of something else… some other secret. Oh please don't let Dash know that he was Phantom—not him!

"I… I don't know what you're talking about…" Danny tried pitifully to deny it.

He continued to back up and Dash followed him. The scene was beginning to look painfully similar to one that might happen every day at school, except instead of a row of lockers behind him, Danny found himself pressed against a brick wall. He was still clutching the thermos that housed a peeved Skulker, trying to keep it as inconspicuous as possible while still maintaining a death grip on the thing.

Dash walked forward with a wicked gleam in his eye. "Oh, don't you, Fenton?"

Danny would have pressed himself into the wall if he could without revealing his intangibility powers.

"No, I don't. And, could we please reschedule this for some other time?" He edged away sideways. "Lancer's going to kill me if I'm not in his room in like thirty seconds."

Dash smirked. "I seriously doubt that you could make it there that fast, twerp… even if I was chasing you."

Okay, Dash didn't know that he was Phantom. He wouldn't have called him a twerp if that were the case. But he did think that he knew a huge secret and he was looking forward to blackmailing him with it. High time to be out of here, if you asked Danny.

"What, you don't…" Danny licked his lips as he looked up at the football player. "You don't think I could make it?"

Dash looked from Danny's cowering form behind him to see the distance between them and the school building, rising up out of its field. Then he looked back with a scathing reply…

only to find that Danny was gone. He had disappeared.

Man, that kid was fast. Oh well. Dash shook the dust off his letterman. He could always catch up with Danny later at the school. He smiled. And now… well, now he knew something that he didn't know before. It would certainly be interesting to see how that played itself out.

Except, playing it out with any of his usual tactics might not be the best idea. He couldn't fight this one with all muscle and tough punches. He would actually have to think about how to do this, how to take advantage of the information at his disposal.

Thinking back on what had happened, Dash realized that he might not have handled the situation quite as well as he should have. He might have to act differently around Fenton if what he suspected was actually somehow true. Not that he could imagine it was, but… what can you do but believe what you see?

No, he shouldn't have acted that stuck-up and A-listish. But it wasn't like he could really help it. It was his default setting and the whole shock of seeing Phantom and then Danny and figuring out what he had figured out had set his head spinning in every direction. He couldn't really help it if he had been a bit too disoriented to act appropriately.

He hadn't been thinking clearly, that was for sure. Dash realized that as he set out for Casper High and was sure of it as he passed through the halls long after everyone had fled them at the sound of the bell. But he would have time to figure out what he was going to do about all of this… and all of… that…

Man, he had completely forgotten about that! He shivered, thinking of what had made him change his plans this morning, the thing that had kept him up at nights, the thing he had been desperately trying to avoid thinking about.

But he had to calm down. He didn't have to think about the nasty creepy stuff and could just focus on this new situation. He would have all class period to think this through, because it wasn't like there would be anything worthwhile to listen to.

Danny had found his way to his usual seat, ignoring the worried glances Sam and Tucker were shooting at him and looked expectantly at the door. He, of course, had gotten a detention. Dash, who waltzed in several minutes after him, had not.

I'd love to hear what you think is going on and how I am doing... :)