Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom as it's the property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Viacom International.
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Dani Fenton: School Daze
Chapter 5: Amity Elementary part 2
They say that sometimes wanting is better than having. That a person's journey is more important than the destination itself. Sometimes the idea of something might be better than the reality you end up facing.
Dani Fenton...well, she wasn't complaining at all….but the previous excitement she had this morning….The thrill she had about finally being in a school, with classmates her age and the chance to act like a normal girl...It wasn't as big as it was when she first arrived this morning and it was barely noon.
"So much for "learning is fun" and all that junk...'Dani muttered during one of the lessons, referring to one of the many motivational posters that decorated the classrooms and their irony.
So far she hasn't been experiencing any fun, though she knew it had something to do with all of her classmates staring at her and trying to ask questions about her big brother that she found it hard to enjoy being in class. Thankfully the teacher Mr. Harrington seemed to noticed her distress and made it clear that anyone who wasn't paying attention to the lesson would face consequences.
She sighed and tried to remind herself that this was probably a normal reaction and all the excitement of "The world hero's little sister" being in school would die down soon enough. She just hoped she'd be able to survive till them.
Dani heard the bell ring, signaling that class was over and that it was lunchtime. As if on cue, she felt her stomach rumbling and looked at her lunchbox under her desk, filled with the delicious lunch her mother made her since her brother had told her the horrors known as cafeteria food.
"Finally lunch..."Dani said with trying to keep from salivating, the smell of the food in her lunchbox was starting to get to her. She was just getting out of her desk when a bunch of students surrounded her...there were about ten kids or so, each having excited grins on their faces and worship in their eyes.
"Here we go...'Dani thought in annoyance as she knew where this was heading.
They were obviously her brother's fans.
"Hey Dani, do you want to have lunch together? I'll pay for your food..."A red haired boy asked eagerly and Dani felt uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her.
"Dani! I love your outfit, You gotta tell me who does your hair..." A short red haired girl with braces asked and Dani looked confused.
'Uh...I do..."Dani said hesitantly...Well, she normally did her own hair but this morning both her mother and sister insisted on styling her hair and Dani found herself enjoying the female bonding.
Not that she was going to tell them that.
"We should totally hang out...My mother owns a nail salon and we could get some mani-pedis later today..."A tanned girl with brown hair said and Dani backed away a bit.
While she was okay with shopping and promised Jazz that she would give some feminine things a chance, there were some things she drew he line at and that was a manicure. She was okay with the occasional use of nail polish for an important event but she was not going to waste over an hour getting a bunch of junk slapped on her nails and have to be careful in not breaking them.
It just wasn't very practical in her opinion.
'Um...Thanks but I...I'm not a manicure kind of girl..."Dani said carefully and was relieved that the girl didn't seem upset...but Dani was starting to get unnerved by the constant smiles.
"You might not have time for a manicure, but what about a movie with me..." A blonde boy asked and Dani backed away...This wasn't what she was expecting the first time a guy asking her out would be.
"I don't think...I'll have the time.."Dani said and kept walking, with the small fan club following her out the door.
Whatever these kids were paled in comparison with what she saw in the hallway. It seemed all the students from the kindergarten kids to the six graders were all gazing and whispering excitedly as they pointed at her. Dani had a feeling that the reason they all weren't swarming her was Mr. Harrington's threat and likely the other teachers made threats as well.
Dani soon entered the cafeteria and saw everyone was staring at her, even the lunch ladies. Dani found an empty table and went to sit there and soon the table was filled with many children around her age, while the ones who were too slow just grumbled in defeat before returning to their own tables.
"It must be so awesome having Danny Phantom as a brother..."A boy with brown hair and glasses said in an amazed voice.
"Is he as nice in person as he seems on TV?..."A blonde girl with pigtails asked.
"Uh, yeah, he's really nice...'Dani answered and was soon being bombarded by the miniature paparazzi.
This morning she was so excited for the chance to make friends….but it seems these people only wanted to be her brother's friends instead of hers.
"No...Remember this is just hype….Soon the novelty will wear off and things will work out...'Dani thought and knew she was going to have to grin and bear it.
It was obvious that these kids were just excited that the ghost boy's sister was attending, but she knew that after a while it will die down and hopefully she'll find at least one person who would want to be friends with her and not just the sister of the world savior.
"Hopefully...'Was Dani's thought as the other kids kept asking her questions about herself, her powers and about her family, more specifically her brother and Dani tried her best to keep up with them.
'That's enough everyone...'A soft, high pitch voice said and suddenly Dani's mini paparazzi went silent.
Dani turned and saw a girl around her age approach her. The girl was a brunette with green eyes, she was wearing pink and she was already wearing make up despite her young age.
"I don't believe Danielle appreciates being interviewed right now..."The girl said and suddenly the other kids got up and just stood by the table while the girl sat next to Dani.
"Hello there Danielle...Is it alright if I call you that? My name is Lilly Dubois and I would like to personally welcome you here to Amity Elementary..."The girl, Lilly said in a sweet voice and Dani raised an eyebrow.
She didn't know why...but this girl seemed a little too friendly.
"Hey Lilly...Actually I prefer to be called Dani if you don't mind...'Dani said calmly to the brunette who kept flashing her a perfect smile.
'Alright then Dani..."The pretty girl said and Dani soon noticed everyone was looking at them now...but not with the same excitement and hushed whispers as earlier.
"Anyway, the reason I am here is because I wanted to invite you to my table..."Lilly said as she gestured to a table across the cafeteria by the windows.
Dani noticed there was already a bunch of other kids there as well, all of them wearing expensive looking clothes and looking excited. Dani also noticed that there 6 kids in total at the table...and the other kids were all keeping their distance.
Suddenly a memory flashed in her mind, from her brief time infiltrating Casper High when she was under Vlad;s orders. She recalled a similar table with a bunch of teenagers who looked like older version of those kids.
Dani knew these kids were the next generation of A-Listers...and that apparently they were here in elementary school as well.
'Great...'Dani thought sarcastically as she recalled her older brother's constant complaints about this group. While Dani knew it wasn't right to be quick to judge...sometimes it's best to trust your instincts. And they were telling her that these were the kind of friends she did not want.
Before Dani could answer, she soon found herself being dragged by the surprisingly strong little girl and found herself at the popular kids table.
"Dani, I would like to introduce you to everyone..."Lilly said to the dark hair guest….'Everyone, this is Danielle Phantom, or Dani as she likes to be called...'Lilly said and everyone looked even more interested in the hesitant ghost girl.
Lilly pointed to a dark haired boy with tan skin and blue eyes, who was wearing a baseball hat...'This is Mitch Brown, he's the star player of the school's little league baseball team, last year he brought the team to the championship...Mitch, this is Danielle...'Lilly said and Mitchell flashed a grin towards Dani.
'Charmed…."Mitch said and shook hands with Dani.
"Uh...Sure..."Dani said awkwardly.
Lilly then pointed towards the rest of the kids. She pointed to two boys that just had to be twins, they both had black hair, green eyes and fair skin.
"These two boys are Josh and Doug, Josh is the one in red while Doug is the one in blue and they are both the president and vice president of the journalism club…."Lilly answered to the identical boys.
"Good afternoon Ms. Fenton...I'm Josh and I'm the president of the Journalism club..."Josh said with a talk show host smile.
"I'm Doug and I'm the vice president, my brother and I were hoping to interview you about your first day here in good old Amity Elementary..."Dough said a little too close to the ghost girl.
Fortunately Lilly stepped in between them...'That's enough you two, I just said that Dani doesn't need a paparazzi right now..."Lilly said to the two boys who retracted.
"This here is Richie and his father is the Superintendent and he is also the MVP on the school's soccer team..."Lilly said smiling to a blonde boy with gray eyes.
'It's a pleasure to meet you Dani, I hope you enjoy your time here in our humble little school..."Richie said smoothly and Dani merely nodded.
"Uh...Thanks..."Dani said.
"You know, my team practices every Tuesday and Thursday...You're free to come watch us whenever you want..."Richie said in a friendly tone of voice.
"Uh...Sure...maybe...'Dani answered and tried to ignore the way he was looking at her. It reminded her of how some of her brother's less insane fans would stare at him from a distance.
'And of course you have already met Carly and the girl on her right is Daisy..."Lilly said as she pointed to the blonde chatterbox who was still star struck by the ghostly pre-teen and a red hair girl with green eyes and a blue dress.
"Like, It's so awesome to be talking to you again Dani! I hope you like Amity Elementary….Carly said in her usual chatty way while Daisy seemed to be a little more reserved.
"Hello Dani…."Was all she said and Dani figured that was it.
"Anyway Dani dear, the reason I brought you here is that me and my friends would like to invite you to join our club, the junior A-Lists..."Lilly said towards the little ghost girl.
"She doesn't wait around does she?..."Dani thought with a raised eyebrow.
She just met them and while Jazz told her to keep an open mind, she learned a long time ago to tell when a person was genuinely interested in you...or if they were only interested in what you had. It was obvious from the start that these kids were just a bunch of spoiled, popular kids and only wanted her for her fame...or her brother's fame more specifically. There was no way she was going to there...These brats weren't friend material...for her at least.
...Still she figured she might as well see what this girl would say.
"A club, huh?...And what is this club about?..."Dani asked in a faux interested voice which the other kids failed to noticed.
'The A-Lists is an exclusive club for the best and most popular students in all the school, we are the in crowd..."Lilly said in a proud voice.
"As a member you get a lot of perks once you join, you get a geek to do your own homework, the hall monitor will know to leave you alone even if you don't have a hall pass, you also get a seat on the student council and you're automatically invited to all the parties hosted by us..."Richie said as he eyed the dark haired girl appreciatively. Despite the fact that he was 11...He liked girls, at least the cute ones and the other kids knew better than to tease him about it.
He knew that this Danielle girl was very pleasing.
"By joining our club, you have an automatic invitation to the annual super slumber party hosted by Lilly here..."Carly said pointed to the obvious leader of the group.
'You also don't have to wait in line for any of the playground equipment, the lunch line and toys..."Mitch explained to their new initiative.
"And why...are you offering this to me?..."Dani asked with a raised eyebrow.
She knew the reason why...They obviously wanted her because of her brother but she was interested in seeing what they would say.
'Well Duh, You're Danny Phantom's adoptive sister, that alone makes you cool enough to join..."Lilly explained like it was obvious and Dani didn't bother hiding her frown.
The brat didn't even tried to hide it….if anything she sounded like she was supposed to be flattered by this. Dani now knew she didn't like these kids….especially their little "princess".
'Thank you for your offer...Lilly, is it?...But I don't think I'm an A-list kind of girl..."Dani said calmly before getting up and leaving, though she tried not to laugh at the shock look on Lilly's face.
It was obvious she wasn't expecting a no from her. However it didn't last long as Lilly somehow broke out of it.
"But...Of course your A-List material..."Lilly insisted and Dani was starting to lose her patience with her.
"No...I don't think I am..."Dani said before grabbing her lunch box and leaving the cafeteria. She even went invisible which unfortunately caused a small commotion in the cafeteria as they all apparently broke whatever hold Lilly had on them and were now in search for the new girl.
"I've only been here for half a day and I already faced nothing but stupid fans and phony wanna-be friends….Still..."Dani thought semi-bitterly but tried to be optimistic.
She felt a little silly about her earlier thoughts...That she would join class, where it would be a fun adventure and everyone would want to be her friend.
Well, everyone did seem to want to be friends with her….but for the wrong reasons.
Dani soon found herself in the playground and decided to eat her lunch under a tree. There were a few other kids outside as well, while the majority of them were inside in the cafeteria, either eating lunch or searching for the school's celebrity.
Suddenly Dani heard a scream and turned around, still invisible to see a girl on the ground clutching a book that was currently all muddy.
"No...Oh No...This is not good...Agnes is expecting this tomorrow..."The girl said in a dismayed voice.
Dani noticed none of the other kids were doing anything...she also noticed the girl looked very upset...Obviously the book meant a lot to her...and to whoever this 'Agnes" girl is.
"Mom and dad did say to be good today...'Dani thought with a smile as she made her way to the other girl.
The girl in question was Lucille "Lucy" Maslow and she was not having a nice time today. While she was grateful that at least Lilly was too preoccupied with the new girl to try and bother her, everyone was a buzz about "Dani Phantom" and it had gotten really annoying, she could barely concentrate during class time with everyone gawking at the girl and whispering about how cool she was.
She admitted that the ghost power were pretty cool...but she was sure that at this point she was already being invited by Lilly to join her little posse and would officially be consumed by the drama of being "pretty and popular" and suddenly start acting like she owned the school.
She didn't want to see that happen and she knew that everyone would be in the cafeteria worshiping the new girl and witnessing her joining her new entourage and she didn't want to see that, which was why she decided to eat lunch outside and finish reading her book.
Unfortunately before she could get to a nice, shady spot, one of the boys who were playing kickball nearby messed up a shot and unfortunately knocked Lucy down and her book fell in a mud puddle.
"This can't get any worse..."Lucy muttered under her breath as she saw the mud all over the covers and on some of the pages.
She had to be careful, there was maybe a chance to clean if off before the mud did any permanent damage but she knew she was going to get an earful from the librarian for this.
"Hey….Do you need any help?..."A voice said and Lucy looked up but was shocked.
It was the new girl….Danny Phantom's adoptive sister was looking at her concernedly….Like she actually seemed to care about the misfortune of an unpopular student.
"Huh?..."Was all that came to Lucy's mind.
"What is she doing here?...Isn't she suppose to be with the A-Listers?...'Lucy thought in confusion,
She would have figured that this girl would be with Lilly at this point, doing what they usually do by acting like spoiled little princess and making fun of the other kids.
"Are you alright?...She asked once more and Lucy suddenly found her voice.
"Um...Yes...I'm alright..."Lucy answered and the girl offered her hand which she hesitantly took.
Lucy eyed the girl carefully and discreetly looked around….This wouldn't be the first time a popular girl helped her only to make things worse for her….as part of some depraved joke orchestrated for the school princess's jollies.
She was surprised to see that with the exception of them, the boys who were still obliviously playing and some younger kids playing in the sandbox...There was no one else here, there was no Lilly or one of her minions.
"Your book?..."Dani asked pointing to the muddy piece and Lucy was brought out of it.
She tried to hide her panic as she saw the condition her book was in. Hopefully Agnes would understand and she might be able to do something to replace it.
"It's a library book..."Lucy said and hoped that would answer her previous scream.
The truth was that she wasn't just upset because it was a library book. The three Musketeers was a personal favorite of hers and to see such a good book get ruined like that hurt her.
Not that anyone would understand anyway.
"Can I see it?..."The girl asked and Lucy hesitated...but then realize the damage was done and the girl likely couldn't make things worse.
Lucy handed the book to the girl who gave a quick look to it before something happened that Lucy knew she would never forget.
She saw the girls hands on the book, and suddenly a small glow appeared which made it disappearfor second.
Lucy has lived in Amity Park for over a year now and she has witness the occasional ghostly activity either on the news or by being one of the bystanders...but this was the first time she saw it up close.
Suddenly the girl handed the book back and Lucy checked it and was shocked to see the mud was gone and it was as good as new...It was as if it never got dirty in the first place.
"Oh...my...gosh..."Was all Lucy could mustered as she was still so taken with this.
Her book was alright and Agnes wouldn't scold her.
All thanks to this...ghost girl
"So how is it now?..."The girls voice suddenly broke Lucy out of her mini trance and she realized she asked her a question.
"Oh...It's perfect….Thank you..."Was all Lucy could say to her.
"You're welcome..."The ghost girl said with a kind smile and extended her hand.
"My names is Danielle Fenton...but I prefer to be called Dani..."She said and for a brief second Lucy wondered why she was still talking to her.
Wasn't she an A-List girl or something? A-Listers don't bother with book worms, or at least that's what Lilly's policy stated anyway.
Still she realized she at least owned the girl an introduction.
"I'm Lucille Maslow...but I prefer Lucy..."She said shyly to the little ghost girl.
She didn't know why but she was feeling a bit self-conscious right now...slightly worried that Lilly would suddenly pop out and start dissing her and the girl would join in….but it never came.
Dani looked at this girl, she seemed familiar...Then it dawned on her...She was from her last class...and the one before that as well...She thinks...So many kids were all over her it was hard to keep track of them...but Dani knew she had seen her before.
"Hey...You're in my home room right?..."Dani said in a way that resembled a question and Lucy nodded.
"Yes I am...Mr. Harrington's homeroom...I actually sit right next to you..."Lucy said flatly to the blinking ghost girl.
She spent all of homeroom trying to focus of the teacher and filter out Carly's chattering and shallow flattery along with the other kid's eyeing her like she was an exotic bird in a cage.
"Oh...Right..."Dani said awkwardly.
Dani just looked at the girl who still held her book possessively and looked like she didn't know what to say now...and Dani realized she didn't either. She never realized how hard small talk could be.
"Uh...Thank you again for...whatever it is that you did that fixed my book..."Lucy said quickly.
"It was no trouble..."Dani said to the girl.
She seemed to be on the shy side...and strangely enough she was the first person who didn't rush to her and made questions about her brother….even after she said her name.
If anything the girl almost looked intimidated by her...though maybe it was a normal reaction. She did use her powers after all.
Suddenly a loud grumbling noise was heard and both girls realize it was Dani's stomach. Dani clutched her tummy and realized with all the drama she's faced today, she hasn't had lunch yet.
Realizing she left her lunchbox by the tree, Dani needed to get back to it before she died of starvation.
'Anyway, it was nice meeting you Lucy...See ya..."Dani said as she walked back to the tree where she was sitting at.
Lucy just stood there as she looked at both her book and the girl who fixed it...Why did she bother helping her out?...Maybe she was lucky and Lilly hadn't had the chance to corrupt her yet or something.
Lucy decided not to over-think it, the girl did her a favor but she seemed busy now and Lunch time was going to be over in twenty minutes...she might as well finish her book before she has to give it back tomorrow morning.
Back at the tree, Dani wasted no time in inhaling the food, devouring the delicious PB&J sandwich, fruit salad, and grape juice her mother packed her this morning as she reflected the events so far.
All the other students were over her because she was famous, she already had the A-Listers after her but at least the teachers weren't treating any different….but so far she hasn't made a real friend yet...and apparently the few students who weren't trying to schmooze her are too shy to approach her or something.
"Some first day..."Dani thought ruefully.
This wasn't how she imagined it would have been like, but she reminded herself it was just the first day of school and she was sure the worse was behind her. She knew that once the hype died down, everyone would get used to her, and she was certain after a while, she would find some friends that liked her for her and not for her fame, her powers and most especially not her big brother.
Right?
-To be continued-
Next time on Dani Fenton: School Daze
Dani's debut
REPLIES to my loyal reviewers
LooneyAces: I'm glad :)
Rogue Deity Master: I suppose….
DragoonSensei: I guess we will just have to wait and see ;)
Joggerwriting: Thanks, but I can't take all the credit...Dani is just a lovable cutie all her own ^-^
SheWolfCass: My guess….not long LOL
Christina370: Thank you
:) Till next time beautiful people and don't forget to review :)