Chapter 7: Cheaters, Tests and News

It was one of the days Dash Baxter hated the most was the day he had to take a math test. Of course, the bully hated all non-physical tests on principle but math was worse because, unlike most school subjects, math didn't have projects he could have nerds do for him to increase his grade so he actually had to study since taking his frustrations on Danny Fenton for failing the test, as refreshing as it was for Dash, wouldn't change the fact it'd disqualify him from football and he needed football to avoid punishment.

'Is this math or Greek?' Dash thought in frustration. Whenever he thought Mr. Falluca wasn't looking, the bully took a peek at Mikey's test.

"Time's up." Mr. Falluca said. "Bring me your tests so I may grade you. Good recess."

"Mikey, what was your answer to the fifth question?" Dash asked him after they left Mr. Falluca's classroom.

"27, Dash." Mikey answered.

"Phew." The jock was relieved.

For the last class of the day, Mr. Lancer brought a VCR. "Students, in honor to one of you having attended a major event in a foreign country, today's geography lesson will be based on that event." The teacher announced and then played a video Danny recognized as the one Tucker mentioned when they discussed booferfruits. Once the video reached the farting part, practically everyone in the room laughed. "I'm seeing it with my own eyes but I still can't believe it!" Danny exclaimed.

"Fenton!" Kwan called him. "Do those fruits really smell like a yak's…"

"Yes!" Danny quickly answered, not wanting to hear the rest of the question.

"How would you know?" Dash mockingly asked.

"Mr. Baxter, as much as it pleases me that the videos I present to class stimulates a student's curiosity, some questions are better left unanswered." Mr. Lancer intervened and played the video of Danny attending the harvest.

"Wait a minute!" Star said. "That girl looks familiar!"

"Duh!" Dash replied. "That's the Princess of Zoravia!"

"No, I recognize her from somewhere else." Star explained.

"I got it!" Paulina exclaimed. "She's Fenton's girlfriend! Whatever ghost possessed me to make me date that loser must be possessing her now!"

"Paulina, you have every right to be concerned after what you went through but not every girl is shallow like you!" Danny retorted.

"Albeit it surprises me there's a Princess who isn't." Sam muttered but nobody seemed to have heard her.

"Wait a minute." Kwan said. "Did it really happen?"

"Of course it did." Dash replied. "She'd have told us if she just meant to pull a prank on Fenton."

That discussion was interrupted by an announcement from Principal Ishiyama. "Dash Baxter, report to the Principal's office. Dash Baxter, report to the Principal's office."

"Fenton, if you asked your Dad's Mayor friend to get me in trouble…" Dash said but Mr. Lancer stopped him.

"Mr. Baxter, you'd better not to threaten classmates in the presence of a teacher." Mr. Lancer sternly said. "There's only so much scorn a student can be free of, football star or not."

"Yes, Mr. Lancer." Dash replied and left the room. Wondering what the Principal wanted with him, the bully walked towards her office, where he spotted Mr. Falluca, which not only shocked him but also gave him a clue to why the Principal wanted him for. "Did you want to see me, Principal Ishiyama?" Dash asked.

"Yes, Baxter." Principal Ishiyama answered. "Mr. Falluca's brought a serious accusation against you."

"Dash Baxter, I have a very good reason to believe you copied off some answers from another student's test." Mr. Falluca stated.

"That's unfair!" Dash protested. "Sir, how do you know it wasn't the other student who copied my answers or that the both of us got it right fair and square?"

"Because I set two different question sets, Baxter." Mr. Falluca answered. "The copied answers were correct for the other student's questions but not for yours."

Dash gasped in horror. "I want my lawyer."

"I'll call your parents to bring you one, Baxter." Principal Ishiyama jokingly replied.

"NO!" Dash screamed. "I mean, I just made some honest mistakes while answering the questions. No need to punish a football star over that, right?"

"Former football star, actually." Mr. Falluca corrected his student. "Punished for cheating or not, your grade is so low you lost your spot on the football team."

"Unless you pass the make-up test." Principal Ishiyama added, wanting to keep Dash in the team but unwilling to overlook the evidence presented to her.

"It's in two days and your eventual grade will be lowered as punishment for cheating." Mr. Falluca said. "Pass, and you're back in the team. Fail, and you'll serve a detention."

"And, to show you we mean it, Dash Baxter, empty your jersey's pockets and hand it over to me." Principal Ishiyama ordered him. "You'll have it back after and if you pass the test."

With a feeling of defeat, Dash Baxter did as ordered by the Principal. "Well done, Baxter. You may leave now."

After leaving, Dash was approached by your fellow A-Listers. "Dash, what happened to your jersey?" Paulina asked. "Aren't you a football player anymore?"

Still depressed over the matter, Dash explained it to his friends. "In that case, Dash, we have no choice but to ask you to hand over your A-List card." Paulina said.

"What?" Dash asked in shock.

"Four words: no longer football star." Paulina said.

"You're not handing it to Fenton, are you?" Dash asked in outrage.

"Paulina won't let us do it until it's proven Princess Natasha is dating him out of her free will." Star answered, just as glad Danny won't become an A-Lister again. "We'll give it back to you if you pass or give it to whoever replaces you as a football star if you fail."

"Well, that serves as a consolation." Dash commented.

That afternoon, Danny phoned his girlfriend to warn her that other Casper High students recognized her as the Crown Princess of Zoravia. "Sorry about that, Natasha." Danny said.

"You don't have to, Danny." Natasha replied. "It's not your fault neither of us accounted for the possibility of Mr. Lancer showing that coverage to the students and, in spite of knowing Amity Park had people smart enough to see through that disguise, I failed to consider that possibility. My real concern is about your secrets."

"Is our date tomorrow still on?" Danny asked.

"Yeah!" Natasha answered.

After that phone call ended, Natasha heard the doorbell. "Who's there?" She heard Mrs. O'Brien ask. To her surprise, Mrs. O'Brien found herself surrounded by reporters. "Mrs. O'Brien, is it true the Crown Princess of Zoravia is living at your home as an exchange student?"

"No! Comments!" She answered and slammed the door on them.

"Thank you, Mrs. O'Brien." Natasha said.

"You're welcome, dear." Mrs. O'Brien replied. "The nerve of those tabloids. Just because you happen to come from Zoravia and have the same name as your Princess, they insinuate you're her. Like you weren't around while Greg danced with the real Princess."

"With a decoy." Natasha mumbled.

"That's another rumor, dear." Mrs. O'Brien replied.

That night, Natasha received a Boofer call from her father. "Natasha, I thought you understood you couldn't let people know you're a Princess." King Carl sternly told her. "What happened?"

"Things went out of control, Dad." Natasha replied. "Sorry."

"Apology accepted." King Carl stated. "However, I'm afraid that, until the secret is exposed for good, your locomotion within the United States of America is limited to conventional means and that means not using what your boyfriend calls 'Air Phantom' unless it's under circumstances where he'd do the same for anyone else."

"Understood, Dad." Natasha replied.

The next day, Natasha took a bus to Amity Park and Danny was waiting for her at the bus station. "Hi, Natasha." Danny said. "How was your journey?"

"Okay." Natasha neutrally answered. "Are we too late for the movie?"

"Not at all, Natasha." Danny replied. They then rode at Danny's scooter. "So, Dash Baxter must retake a test to regain his spot at your school's football team?" Natasha asked.

"Yes." Danny replied. "I so hope he fails so he'll no longer get away with bullying classmates."

"It sounds so unfair." Natasha commented. "It sounds like the reason some celebrities think they can get away with things the average Joe would rot in prison for."

"You said it, Natasha." Danny replied, suppressing the urge to call her 'Princess' since it wasn't a joking matter.

At the movie theater, Danny bought tickets while someone with a camera observed them. 'Is that girl really a Princess?' The character thought. 'What kind of Princess would date a scrawny guy like him? Well, I've got my orders.'

One movie later, Danny and Natasha found themselves walking towards a park. "Natasha, do you think Princesses can be like the one in that movie?" Danny jokingly asked.

"Well, behind all that blue blood, Princesses are individuals and, barring protocol restrictions, can have several kinds of personalities, which made it confusing back when I auditioned for a Princess role in a school play and everything the drama teacher told me when he rejected me was that Princesses are more Princess-like without saying what he meant by that."

"Really?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." Natasha answered. "And I thought I'd impress him with my impression of King Henry V."

"You were auditioning for a Princess role and yet you quoted a King?" Danny asked.

"At least it was better than the kind of Prince Oleg dressed himself as for the audition." Natasha commented.

"What do you mean by that?" Danny asked.

"Here's a clue: Oleg's line at the audition was 'Purple Rain'." Natasha answered.

"Ouch." Danny said.

"And he still was better than the kid who said "to be, or" and forgot what comes after." Natasha said.

"Double ouch." Danny replied.

As they approached the park, Danny felt his ghost sense. "Uh-oh."

Skulker then phased himself from the floor. "I'll hang your pelt on my wall, whelp." The Ghost Zone's self-proclaimed greatest hunter said until he was tackled on by Jack Fenton. "No ghost attacks the son of Jack Fenton!" Jack declared and sucked the ghost into a Fenton Thermos.

"Uh, thank you, Dad." Danny uneasily said.

"You're welcome, son." Jack replied.

"Do you always follow your son whenever he's on a date, Mr. Fenton?" Natasha asked.

"I'd like to stay here and talk to you but I need to flush this ghost back to the Ghost Zone. Bye." He quickly replied and left.

The next day, everyone at Casper High already read the tabloid announcing that Danny Fenton was dating the Crown Princess of Zoravia. "Danny, you won't ditch Sam and me for the A-List again, will you?" Tucker asked out of worry.

"Don't worry, Foley." Dash reassured the techno geek while taking a break from his reading. "Even if I fail the make-up test, Paulina won't let Fenton rejoin unless it's proven the Princess isn't being overshadowed."

"Then who gets your spot among the A-Listers?" Tucker asked.

"Whoever is chosen to replace me as football star." Dash sighed.

Tucker rushed to sign in for the tryouts. "Do you really think you have what it takes to become a jock, Foley?" Paulina asked in disdain.

"If I join the A-List, will you go on a date with me?" Tucker eagerly asked, creeping out Paulina.

"If you join without having a popular girl, overshadowed or not, I'll not only date you but also kiss you on the lips." Paulina replied, not believing it'd happen.

"You're on!" Tucker happily replied.

End chapter.

Author's Note: The idea of Dash having to retake a test and having a lower grade as punishment for cheating at the previous one came from the Danny and Kitty spin off of "The Many Dates of Danny Fenton". In that story, Mr. Lancer says that, had Danny cheated at the C.A.T. tests from "The Ultimate Enemy", he'd have to retake the test and his final grade would be lowered.

Answer to Leonardo (Guest): Não tenho certeza se eles vão saber.