Dash and Kwan walked out of the school together. Their last couple classes had passed without incident and now it was the end of the school day.
"What do you mean you can't come to our nightly run? You always come!"
Kwan shrugged. "Sorry, Dash. I'd love to get all sweaty with you in the dusk of night…"
"Why did you have to say it like that?"
"But my mom scheduled for me to get my senior pictures done today and then we're going out to eat with my grandparents."
"Ah, yes, can't disappoint the grandparents."
Kwan nodded sagely. "Sorry. You could always skip tonight's run."
Dash waved the comment away. "Nah. Then I'd have to make it up on a different day and I'm gonna be using the whole weekend to relax."
"Face masks, rom coms, and ice cream?" Kwan smirked at him.
"You know it!" Dash held his hand up for a high five and Kwan hit his hand with a whoop.
"Well, I gotta go. Have fun getting sweaty by yourself."
"I will. Bye."
Dash waved at Kwan as he walked away. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he began to walk across the schoolyard. He had time before he had to go home and start working on homework. Maybe he could go to the Nasty Burger.
He heard a loud laugh and he looked up. Standing there were Danny, Sam, and Tucker. He smiled and started heading towards them.
"Hey, guys!" He waved at them. "Kwan's being a nerd and being busy, you guys wanna go hang out at the Nasty Burger?"
Sam and Tucker both shot Danny looks and he was about to respond when he was interrupted by a gasp coming out of his own mouth.
"I, uh, sure. But I gotta go to the bathroom real quick!"
Danny ran off and Dash raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. He was about to ask Sam and Tucker why Danny always had to use the bathroom so much, but a scream interrupted him.
Running from around the back of the school was a giant green dog with red eyes. It stopped running and looked around everywhere. Its eyes landed on Sam and Tucker and it barked, looking at them excitedly with its butt in the air as its tail wagged.
"Does this dog know you guys?" Dash asked them.
"Sort of." Sam said.
"How-"
"Cujo!" Phantom yelled. "I told you, no visiting the high school! You're too big like this!"
The ghost dog panted happily, wagging its tail. It brought its face closer to Phantom's and gave him the biggest, wettest lick Dash had ever seen.
"Gross!" Phantom yelled, shaking saliva off of his arms. "Playtime isn't until later, Cujo. You don't even have your toy yet."
Cujo's ears picked up at the word toy.
"Yeah! Your toy! Can you go find it for me? And bring it back at the time we're actually supposed to have play time?"
Cujo barked before giving Phantom another lick. He shrank down and started running quickly through the air into the distance.
"He couldn't have shrank back down before licking me again?" Phantom groaned and shook his arms off a second time. "Now I have to go home and take a shower."
"Bro just phase it off." Tucker cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up at Phantom.
"Yeah, then you don't have to go take a shower." Sam shouted.
"Ghosts shower?" Dash asked.
"This one does." Tucker smirked. "Stinkiest teenage ghost there is."
"Hey!"
Sometimes Dash was jealous of the relationship Sam and Tucker seemed to have with Phantom. He didn't understand how they managed to become so close to him while Dash could hardly ever get a conversation out of the guy.
"Hey Phantom! Want to come hang out at the Nasty Burger with us?" Dash shouted.
Phantom glanced at Sam and Tucker and then back at Dash. "Sorry I've, uh, got previous engagements already. I'll see you guys later!"
He waved and flew away. A few moments later Danny came walking back out of the school.
"Ready to go eat our faces off?" Danny smiled up at him.
"You bet I am! I think I'm gonna be able to stuff my face more than Foley over there."
"No you won't!" Tucker yelled at him as he turned to start walking towards the Nasty Burger. "I'll have you know I won Casper High's hot dog eating championship with a new high record! There's no way you can beat me."
"You guys are so gross." Sam wrinkled her nose as she followed after Tucker. "What's the point of eating if you're just gonna inhale your food anyways? You won't even be able to taste it."
"It's the principle of it, Sam." Danny said. Dash fell into step beside him as they started walking.
"What principle?" She waved her hands in the air. "Of being gross?"
"Of being a man." Tucker puffed his chest out and smiled at her.
"Yeah, okay. I'm sure real men eat Nasty Burger's entire stock."
"Yeah, exactly! Now you're getting it!"
Sam rolled her eyes and continued walking.
Dash looked around them as they walked. The trees that grew alongside the sidewalks were a bright orange and red. Football season had just ended and he was looking for a more relaxing couple of weeks before basketball started. It gave him a good opportunity to actually get outside and admire the pretty colors.
Dash glanced at Danny. He was also looking around at his surroundings, admiring the leaves. Maybe one of these days he'd have to take everyone to his favorite hiking trail. Or just him and Danny could go. That could be where he confessed his feelings to him.
Then Danny's eyes met his. Dash could feel his face turning red and he quickly looked away. How was he going to confess anything if he couldn't even look Danny in the eye?
"They're pretty, huh?" Danny said. Dash looked back at him.
"Huh?"
"The leaves."
"Oh." Dash nodded. "Yeah, they are."
"We should go walk around the park before they all fall to the ground and turn brown. It's really pretty there."
Dash smiled. "Yeah! We should do that."
"There are prettier places to walk around and see the leaves." Sam turned to face them. "We all have our licenses. We could drive somewhere over the weekend and do some hiking."
"Yeah!" Tucker smiled. "Tiny roadtrip!"
Danny rolled his eyes. "It won't be a road trip, Tucker. We'll probably only be gone for a couple hours."
"That's why it's called a tiny road trip."
Dash smiled as he watched Danny and Tucker bicker. It was nice that they could be like this, that they were friends now. Danny threw back his head and laughed.
Dash hoped he never got to stop seeing his smile.
