Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.
Blackmailed
Chapter 9: The Cat's Out of the Bag
Danny, Star and the others had left the Nasty Burger and were talking about recent events.
Namely the recent ghost activity today.
"Geez, Johnny really needs to get a hobby...or get better communications skills..." Danny muttered.
"That or Kitty needs to keep him on a shorter leash..." Star said.
Team Phantom laughed at that.
"Yeah...otherwise... one of these days Kitty might just get sick of him and dump him for someone else..." Danny jokingly said.
"As long as it's not you she's after, then we're good..." Star said. "It's bad enough that Ember has a thing for you. I don't need any more ghostly competition..."She said, annoyed.
"Don't you worry Starlight, you're the only girl for me..." Danny replied, with a quick peak on his girlfriend's cheek.
"Aww, Danny-boo! You're the best!~..." Star said affectionately, before kissing his cheek.
"Ugh! If you guys are going to start with the mushiness every time we see you two together, I'm going to have to start carrying a barf bag with me!..." Sam complained with a cringed look on her face.
"Let them be, Sam..." Jazz said. "Who knows, someday that may be you with Christopher..."She teased.
Sam said nothing to that, however her blush said more than any words could.
"Changing the topic to something less romantic. Any topic, please..." Tucker said dryly.
"We could recount who we went through today..."Sam suggested, wanting to change the topic.
"Today, we dealt with the Lunch Lady, Box Ghost, Ectopi, Skulker, Desiree, the ghost wolf that tried to eat Sam once and now Johnny. It's like my enemies decided to place bets to see who could annoy me the most..." Danny said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, the Box Ghost must have won that prize. As always..." Tucker said.
Everyone chuckled at that.
"Being serious now, I think there's got to be a natural portal open somewhere..." Danny said.
"It'll close eventually, if there is one..." Tucker said.
"Hopefully soon..." Jazz said.
"Especially given what we got planned on Star's birthday and our half-a-versary..." Danny said.
"If not, then we know a sorceress who can use her magic to help us seal up that natural portal..." Tucker said, looking amused until he got an angry glare from most of the girls in their group, especially the blonde one.
"What?..." He asked, not seeing the problem at the moment.
"You know better than to suggest going to HER for help so soon, especially anything involving her magic...at least for me. So, don't make any jokes about asking for her help..." Star muttered.
Tucker was caught off guard since he was still confused by whatever reason one of his friend is glaring daggers at him for.
"Oh... uh... oops?..." Tucker went sheepishly. "But I wasn't joking at all..." He responded genuinely, but the goth girl immediately changed topics before the blonde cheerleader got upset.
"Tucker, unless we have no other choice... I don't want that witch around. Period!..." Star muttered, as the rest knew Star trusted Misty the least.
Thankfully, the tension was cut short when someone saw what time it was.
"I gotta go. I promised my grandma that we would have some bonding time together..." Sam said.
"Planning on finishing a puzzle with her?..." Tucker asked jokingly.
"Close, but no dice Tuck..." Sam replied with an eye roll. "We're actually planning on playing Doomed, she recently got into computer games and wants me to join in the action..."She added.
"Only your grandma, Sam..." Star said in good nature. "Tell her that I said hi..." She said.
"Will do..." The Goth said. "See you guys later..." She said.
"See ya, Sam..." Danny said.
"Have fun with Christopher..." Star said with a giggle.
Her teasing got a light blush from the goth, as well as an annoyed look.
"Not funny..." Sam muttered under her breath.
The goth girl then turned away and left in a hurry to avoid any further teasing.
"I need to get going too..." Jazz said.
"What are you going to do, Jazz?..." Star asked.
"I'm going to the library..." The red haired girl said.
"You're probably gonna read child psychology books again..."Danny said, teasing his sister
"Actually, there's a lecture on psychology that I've been itching too see. It will help me prepare for my interview..." Jazz explained.
"Wow, you're living on the edge..." Tucker said sarcastically.
"Better than you almost dying from eating too many Nasty Burgers..." Jazz shot back.
"You guys are never going to let me live that down... are you?..." Tucker complained.
"Nope!..." Everyone else said in union.
"Figures..." The red fedora wearing boy said, with an eye roll.
"Well... try to avoid stuffing your face too much..." Star said.
Tucker didn't respond to that, only scowl before walking away.
"Anyway. While Tucker continues to accept his new eating lifestyle..." Jazz said, until she turned to Danny and Star with a grin." You two lovebirds try not to go too overboard with your special private couple's moments. Those love marks will eventually start to get hard to ignore..." Jazz teased.
"Ha ha. Real funny, Jazz..." Danny said, while he and Star quickly checked each other's necks.
They didn't see any noticeable red marks anywhere on them, which made his sister laugh.
"Made you look! I can't believe that you both fell for it..."Jazz said with a giggle.
"So not funny, Jazz. Do you have any idea how freaked out my Dad might get if he found out that Danny sometimes leaves a hickey on me?!..." Star said, sounding a bit anxious.
"The last time my Dad caught me after an intense tonsil hockey game with Danny, he tried to re-explain the birds and the bees story to me with his whiteboard from his home office..." The blonde said, still embarrassed by that experience.
"TMI..."Jazz said, though she still looked a little amused.
Her brother got annoyed and frowned at her.
"Go, now!..." Danny said, almost like a demand.
"Have fun with you two, but not too much fun. I'm not ready to be an aunt yet..."Jazz said, while Danny and Star blushed from her light teasing.
"Hilarious..."Danny said in a somewhat dry tone, pointing away.
Soon enough, Jazz and Tucker left to their respective activities, leaving the happy couple alone.
"Well, this is nice..." Star said.
"We're alone now..." Danny said, smirking.
"Yes, we are...and that's just the way that I like it..." The blonde commented, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend.
Danny chuckled, as the two scooted closer to each other.
"So do I..." He said, grinning at her.
"Oh really?..." Star asked mischievously. "Maybe you'll like this even more..." She said, smiling.
Star then gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I liked it, but I think that I have something that you'll like even more..."Danny said as he lifted Star up by her waist and held her in his arms.
The happy couple started making out, blissfully unaware of the rest of the world.
"I will never get tired of this!..." Both teenagers thought at once.
After several minutes of passionate lip-locking, the lovebirds soon left together hand in hand, both unaware of the vile intentions of a certain spoiled brat from France.
The Next Day
It was the following day, and Team Phantom were at school. Danny and Star both held hands and smiled.
"Just a few more days until its our special day..." Star said happily.
"Yeah, I can't wait..." Danny said, smiling like he's never smiled before.
How could he not? After all, he was waiting to see how she'll love the surprise that he has planned for her.
As the ghost boy tried to feed his blonde girlfriend the bit of snacks, but almost booped Star's nose by mistake, which the teen couple to laugh.
"Wrong part of my face..." She said in a laugh, while her man looked sheepish.
"Sorry, Starlight..." Danny said within a couple laughs. "Here, let me get that for you..." He said.
Danny grabbed a few napkins and wiped away the tiny food stain on his blonde girlfriend's nose. Once he was done, the ghost boy then proceeded to plant an Eskimo kiss on Star.
"I don't need to see you to know that you're cringing at us, Sam..." Star said, knowing Sam was looking without even turning away from her half-ghost boyfriend.
Sam didn't bother denying Star's claim.
"You sense my bile rising..." Sam jokingly said.
"And your scowling. Too bad I have no intention of stopping..." Star said.
Sam, wanting not to see this, decided to speak up.
"Well, Chris and I are gonna be meeting again later today..." Sam said.
"Oh, calling him Chris now, are you?..." Star said in a teasing way.
"Don't read too much into it, lots of people shorten their names..." Sam said, being stubborn while Star, Danny and Jazz all gave her a knowing raised eyebrow.
"Sure, they do..." Both Star and Jazz said in unison and shared understanding.
"Yeah, but it's not like you've known him for as long as you've known us..." Tucker said.
"Shut it..." Sam responded.
"I am gonna try and see if I can make my move on Val. Wish me luck..." Tucker said.
"Behave yourself with my best friend..." Star warned.
"Got it.."He said.
"Don't choke!..." Sam said, albeit in a joking sort of way.
"Ha ha. That's so funny that I forgot to laugh! I love that making fun of me unites us all..."Tucker said sarcastically.
Everyone laughed at his discomfort before the bell rang. The techno geek then looked at his digital watch and then ran in a hurry.
Team Phantom soon went to class, unaware that a certain man was spying on them from a distance.
It was Cartland, who was spying on them and kept himself hidden, taking notes.
"This will be the easiest 10 grand I ever made..." Cartland thought, as he felt no remorse that he was going to destroy the futures of some innocent teenagers.
By tomorrow he wouldn't even remember their faces, much less why he should care why the French girl wanted this to begin with. He didn't care what he was doing this for. He only wanted to know how much he was being paid to help ruin them.
After all, he needed the money and as long as he didn't physically harm the minors, he had no qualms with what he had to do for this job. Though, he's willing to make an exception for deadbeat customers.
A part of him didn't trust that little snob to come through on paying him. She was too much like his ex but at the very least she paid the first half already for his services.
"That little brat had better pay up when this is all over..." Cartland thought, much more concerned about his payment than anything else.
Unknown to him, Colette's other minion was feeling enough guilt for twenty men.
"This is insane! This is so wrong on so many levels!..." Kwan thought, feeling miserable but also unable to stand up to Colette as he met with the shady detective.
Especially when Colette can hired that same detective to find out any more embarrassing or humiliating secrets of his own.
With one in particular.
The jock hated doing this but he still had to follow the orders to a rotten person while his concious was being eaten alive right now.
All the while, her targets were oblivious to her plans.
Later
It was the last period of the day and things were wrapping up for the day.
Thankfully, today was rather calm and beautiful in Amity Park. At least, it seemed that way so far compared to the usual daily atmosphere in Amity Park.
Anyone, classes would be over in 10 minutes and homework was being assigned.
"Now I'm sure that you all have plans for the weekend..."Mr. Felucca said, as he passed out homework. "But take the time to do the homework, it's due first thing Monday..." He explained.
Danny turned to his girlfriend, before speaking up.
"Wanna work on this together, so we can celebrate without needing to worry about anything else that could distract us during our special weekend?..."He asked.
"Sounds like a date, Danny boo..." Star said, smiling.
The teenage lovebirds held hands whenever the teacher wasn't looking, which was very often.
They didn't notice or care about the glares that a certain stalker was sending them the entire time.
Later
Classes ended and everyone began to pour out.
Danny and Star were about to hand towards their lockers and maybe sneak in a quick game of tonsil hockey, before heading for home.
However, Danny's ghost sense went off, which Star noticed.
"Ghost time. Need any help?..." Star offered.
Danny soon heard a familiar voice shout "WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?!" from the school hallway.
Danny sighed.
"It's just Klemper. I can handle him. You just go home for your dress fitting...and I'll call you when I'm done..." He said, certain it'd be easy.
"Alright, Danny -Boo. Be careful..." Star said, smiling.
The lovebirds shared a quick kiss, both parting ways...though, after an extra kiss for good luck, just in case.
Danny flew off to go deal with Klemper, unaware that a certain stalker was following him.
"It iz time..." Colette whispered, as she closely watches Star walk herself home.
Colette pulled out her phone and called her minions and started unleashing phase 2 of her evil scheme.
"It iz time. Now get it done..." She ordered, before hanging up.
Knowing that the crux of her plan was here, Colette left to go follow the ghost boy, a devious smirk on her face.
"I win Estelle..."She whispered, thinking that her schemes will work out flawlessly and not expecting anything backfiring.
The spoiled brat was too optimistic for her own good. She couldn't see anyway where she couldn't win
As far as she was concern, here dream of "Danny Bevier" would come true.
Meanwhile
Sam had just left the school and met up with Christopher.
"Hey Chris..." Sam greeted.
"Hey Sam. My day has got a whole lot better now that you're here..." Christopher said playfully.
Sam rolled her eyes lightly at that.
"Nice to see you, Chris..." The goth girl said with amusement in her tone.
"Likewise, Sam. I'm always elated when I see you..." Christopher said cheekily.
"Sure..." Sam snarked good naturedly.
The two vegans then walked into Amity Park's new Ice Cream shop called the Dairy King, which thankfully had non dairy, vegan options.
"Why did we come in her again?..."Sam said, questioning why they decided to go to a newly built ice-cream shop.
"Because it's one of the few Dairy King's that offers vegan options..."Christopher said, also not sure which one of them suggested to stop by here.
"So...wanna get couple's Sundae special and feed each other spoonfuls of ice cream like in those cheesy movies?..."Chris asked in a playful way.
"Hilarious..."Sam said, without any sarcasm this time.
"Actually, I was half serious. And I'm kinda hungry too..." He said, craving something sweet and savory.
Before Sam could answer him, Sam got a call.
"Ugh...hang on...the parents..."She answered, before answering the phone.
"What is it now?..."She asked, annoyed.
What she heard next made her eye brows fly up, as she suddenly heard yelling.
"SAMANTHA MANSON! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE THAT YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE GROUNDED!..."Her mother's voice screeched on the other end, nearly deafening the goth girl.
The noise was enough that Christopher himself shuddered. She then spoke too fast for Sam to understand.
"Wait! Mom, slow down! I can't understand you? What was that? You're where?! The principal's office?!..."Sam asked, lost as her mother kept talking in a frantic way.
Why were her parents in Principal Ishiyama's office? And what could possibly have upset them enough to call her?
The goth girl frowned, as her mother kept yelling through the phone.
"I don't get it..." Sam said as she put her phone away.
"What's wrong?..."Christopher asked, concerned for her.
"I don't know, but I gotta go..."Sam said, getting up.
"What is going on?..."She thought as she left to go confront her parents.
She had no idea just what she was going to experience.
Meanwhile.
At the same time, Tucker is spending time with Valerie.
They were currently at the movie theater and just finished their film. Right now, the techno geek was going to take a step.
"So, Valerie...there's something that I've wanted to ask... for a while now..."Tucker said, he'd been building up the nerve to ask Valerie out for a while now and he was going to do it.
"Sure, what's up?..." Val asked, curious to what Tucker was going to ask.
However before he could do so, he suddenly got a phone call.
Tucker sighed.
"Great timing..."He thought before turning to Val. "One second..."He said, as he checked who was calling him.
He checked the caller ID and saw that it was his mother.
"Huh... that's weird. My folks usually don't call at this time..." He thought, before answering.
"Hello?..."He asked, only to be shocked by his mom's furious screams.
"TUCKER! HOW COULD YOU?! I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED!..."His mother shouted from the other end.
"Uh... what?..." Tuck asked, as he heard more yelling.
"YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE, YOUNG MAN! IF YOU'RE NOT AT PRINCIPAL ISHIYAMA'S OFFICE IN THE NEXT TWO MINUTES, IT'LL BE SO MUCH WORSE FOR YOU!..."His mother yelled angrily, so loud that he nearly dropped his phone.
"Oww!..."He hissed.
Val was surprised.
"What's wrong?..."She asked.
"I have no clue..."Tucker said.
However, Valerie soon got a phone call and checked the caller ID.
"Daddy?..."Val went as she answered her phone.
Once she did, she was also yelled at.
"VALERIE! FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, YOU BETTER BE ATTACKED BY A GHOST BECAUSE I WANT YOU HERE, IN FRONT OF ME, RIGHT NOW!..."Her father yelled, hurting his daughter's ears.
The young huntress was shocked, as was Tucker.
"Let me guess... Principal's office?..." Valerie asked.
"I'm next to the Foleys right now... get running..." Her father said, sounding mad.
The two teens soon left the theater to head back to school, not understanding what was going on and their parents were to win the contest for loudest adult over the phone.
Elsewhere
Jazz was at the library, preparing for her interview.
"I got a few days before the interview that will decide my destiny. Sure there's still Harvard, but I want my options open..."Jazz thought, looking over her notes.
She just hoped that everything was going to go well. Jazz then got a text from her mother, asking to call back. She did so, wondering what this was about.
"Hello?..." She greeted.
"Jasmine! Get to the school, right now!..."Maddie said in a panicked voice.
"What? Mom? What happened?! Did you and Dad attack Mr. Lancer again?!..." Jazz asked, recalling one such time.
"No one told me there was a ghost drill!..."Jack exclaimed in the background.
"Just get over here. Hurry. This is a very serious problem!..." Maddie yelled, urgently.
Jazz was shocked, but didn't argue. She decided to obey.
"What's going on?..."She wondered, growing concerned.
She soon left the library and headed back to school, unaware that her troubles were just beginning.
Later
At Casper High
The members of Team Phantom, minus the lovebirds were all sitting in Principal Ishiyama's office.
However, what was most strange was the fact that they were all accompanied with their parents, all of them looking furious while Principal Ishiyama and Mr. Lancer were looking even more furious for some reason.
"Can someone tell us what this is all about?..."Sam asked, sounding lost.
She was got her answer by her parents giving her very angered and silent stares at her.
"Don't act like you don't know, Miss. Manson!..."Principal Ishiyama said, opening a file.
"What is that?..."Jazz asked, still a bit confused about why they're all here, especially her of all people.
"They say that a picture speaks a thousand words. So, here's a whole file full of them..."Mr. Lancer said, as the file was opened.
There was a series of pictures showing Team Phantom committing acts of violence, fraud and very poor student behavior. The kind of stuff that even that Dash and the A-Listers wouldn't be able to get away with...and none of them looked good.
They all actually looked bad. Very bad!
There was a photo of Sam breaking into Miss Testlaffs car, taking it for a joyride and crashing it. One was about Jazz handing a file labeled Casper High Midterms answer key to a shady looking student in exchange for a stack of dollars. Then there were photographs of Tucker breaking into the school's computer system to change his poor grades into A+'s and causing a virus...and more and more pictures.
One of them even had Valerie defacing school property. Not to mention, relapsing back to her A-lister behavior, but even worse then before.
Like that could ever happen.
The former At poster and Team Phantom were shocked by all of this.
"Is this Vlad's doing? Did he overshadow us to get these pictures?..."Valerie thought. "There's pictures of me? Does that mean the Fruitloop knows I'm working with Danny?!..."She wondered, as the educators kept glaring at them like the students were guilty.
"As you can see, this is very incriminating!..." Mr. Lancer said, while the teenagers were stunned.
"What the heck is this?!..."Sam went, shocked at what she was seeing with her own eyes.
Plus, she is pretty upset that she's being accused of something that she didn't commit. Sure, Sam didn't have a squeaky clean record with school but most of it had to do with ghost fighting and the things that weren't were no where near this bad.
She wasn't the only one who was flabbergasted and the others made it clear.
"We had nothing to do with any of this!... "Tucker defended, remembering that he did do this before during that one wish to have ghost powers too.
However, he knows that he undid everything back then as to not trouble and promise himself never to do anything like this ever again.
His parents didn't believe him.
"Keep quiet Tucker, you're in deep enough trouble as it is!..."His dad said, sounding more angry than he ever had before.
"I expected better from you, Valerie..."Damon said, sounding more disappointed than mad.
"But Dad, we didn't do anything. You know that I would never spray paint Is graffiti on school grounds or do anything like this!..."Valerie said, since she and the rest of the teens knew that they didn't do any of these activities that the photographs were showing.
"These photos have to be some sort of fakes!..."Sam said.
"Enough of your excuses, young lady! You're not going to talk your way out of the trouble this time!..."Jeremy said, while his wife was equally upset with her daughter as he was.
"I knew that we should have ignored your grandmother and enrolled you in that nice boarding school in London..."Pamela said, wishing that she had made her daughter become what she considers a "proper lady".
Maybe if they had, Samantha would have become what a girl of her class and breeding should have been instead of a criminal!
"Because you hung around with public school degenerates, you've gone down a life of crime and you're going to be expelled!..."She screamed, still finding a small way of blaming Sam's friends for her mistakes in her behavior.
"Who are you calling degenerates?!..."Maddie said, pointing her anger at the snobby rich woman.
Before an argument between to mothers could start, the others caught their respective attention.
"Is the school going to press charges?..." Damon asked, worried for his daughter.
"Neither Mr. Lancer nor I think it's necessary to involve the police with this..." Principal Ishiyama answered
"However, we will be starting an investigation...which will result in expulsion if they are proven guilty..."The principal said, with a tone than made it clear she meant to say 'when' instead of 'if'.
"Expelled?!..."Team Phantom all exclaimed, horrified.
Principal Ishiyama nodded.
"There will be an investigation period over the weekend. However, in light of this evidence, it'll be more of a formality unless any evidence turns up... Mr. Foley, Miss Fenton, Miss Manson, Miss Gray...I hope that all of you have some valid alibis from reliable sources, because if you don't...then the four of you will be expelled..."The principal said, sounding more disappointed than angry.
Team Phantom were horrified, especially Jazz whose college future would definitely be put in jeopardy with this.
"HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN ALL THIS TO ALL THE UNIVERSITIES THAT I APPLY TOO?!..."Jazz screamed, worried about her academic future.
The Fentons gave her worried looks out of genuine concern for her. The other sets of parents, however, we're not.
"You've crossed a line now. This will be a weekend that you'll be spending in your room, grounded Tucker..."His mom said, looking angry and disappointed.
"But Mom-..."Tucker tried, but his parents shushed him.
Things weren't looking too much better for the red huntress either.
"Valerie, we're going to have a LONG talk when we get home!..."Damon said, looking angrier than Tucker's Mom.
"But dad..."Val tried, but he wouldn't listen.
"No buts, young lady..."Damon replied.
"The same to you, Sam. Thankfully, the police aren't getting involved but we'll also be looking into a PROPER school for you that'll steer you away from these criminal elements!..." Jeremy added, while his daughter frowned.
His wife then noticed the Fentons weren't saying anything.
"Aren't you going to punish your daughter, Fentons? Or are you that negligent of as parenst?..."Pamela said in a snobby way, as she usually did when talking to the Fentons.
Jack and Maddie had been silent throughout most of this meeting. However, enough was enough.
"HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?!..."Jack shouted, nearly deafening everyone.
"Do you all seriously believe these kids are capable of this?! You know that our children aren't criminals!..."Maddie said. "Do you all seriously believe that photographic forgery?!..."Maddie asked, furious at the other adults.
"I mean... maybe you Mansons think that, but you're lousy parents..."Jack said, offending them.
"EXCUSE YOU?!..." Pamela demanded in anger, as Jeremy looked insulted.
"We've known Sam since she was five, but we've only known you two for less than a year in that time...almost every time we've seen you, you've mostly tried to change your daughter to be more like you...so yes. we don't have a high opinion of you as parents..."She said, frowning at Sam's parents.
"Honestly, until last year... I thought you two were dead and Ida was the one raising Sam. Negligent parents..." Jack added his honest opinion, which Sam agreed with.
"Excuse you?! Who are you to judge our parenting style?! Our daughter isn't a cheat and we don't have a gold digger for a son!..." Pamela shrieked.
"Probably because you don't have a son to turn into one. And don't call him that, considering money is not his reasons for dating Star..." Maddie retorted, before turning towards the two educators in the room.
"I can understand you're feelings, Mrs. Fenton, but the fact that the matter is that these photos do not lie..."Mr. Lancer said, believing the evidence.
"Photos schmotos! The kids were probably just being controlled by some ghosts!..."Jack said, defending the kids.
"That's your answer for EVERYTHING, Fenton!..."Jeremy said, remaining skeptical.
"It doesn't mean that I'm wrong! Some ghost probably overshadowed them into doing these bad things!..."Jack said, still defending the kids.
"Heck, I've got an app on my phone that could make a picture of me having fudge with President Abe Lincoln but that doesn't mean it actually happens!...Jack said as he pulled out his phone showing that he's he did have a photoshopped picture of himself eating fudge with Abe Lincoln.
"Dad? Why do you have that on your phone?..." Jazz wondered, as everyone looked at Jack strangely.
"No reason, Jazzy pants. I was just goofing around while waiting for the dentist. but my point remains...my daughter is no criminal...Jack said, trusting his daughter.
That piece of info got the adult to go silent for a moment, but realized that this only complicates matters even more.
Jack's wife also gave her two cents.
"While my husband went off on a tangent, he has a point here. Have these photos been tested they could be forged? Have they? Or was that a group of imposters? Or did you investigate to see if these were taken out of context?..." Maddie asked in scientific mode.
"Or they were possessed by ghosts? Still possible. I'm calling it..." Jack added as his wife kept insisting on her stance.
"This is a public school, not a crime lab, Mrs. Fenton..." Mr. Lancer answered.
"So what? Hand the pictures to a real crime lab if that's what it takes. My daughter is innocent..." Jack said, not satisfied with that.
"Besides, where did you even receive this photos in the first place?..."Maddie asked, feeling that something isn't right.
"We received an anonymous tip earlier today and the photos came with it..."Principal Ishiyama said, not finding anything odd.
That raised some alarms with the Fenton parents. Even Jack Fenton could tell that something seem strange about that source of intel.
"And that doesn't strike you as fishy? Even a ghost could pull something like this..."Jack said, while the educators remained skeptical.
"Heck...did you get any corroborating witnesses or are you just that eager to punish someone? You're not even asking if the kids have an alibi before mentioning the words expulsion. For all you know, they weren't even near the school when it happened..."Jack said in a surprisingly serious tone.
"I'm surprised that you're capable of saying words longer than a single syllable, Fenton..." Jeremy sneered rudely.
Pamela nodded in agreement as the other parents the teens and the educators in the room thought the insult was uncalled for.
Jack grew angry and retorted.
"I might be a goof and not always the best at following traffic laws but I've got several degrees and patents to my name. Enough that my wife and I were able to self fund our lab and our ghost hunting operations and future inventions, and not have to worry about our kids college expenses. Don't challenge my intelligence unless you have the credentials to back it up..." Jack pointed out.
"That's more than a snob like you has done with your life, Manson..."He retorted.
"What did you just call me?!..." Jeremy shouted, insulted by his words.
"A snob! Don't like that, Manson? Then I got more...like how about a skinny, wimpy, self absorbed, whiny little mama's boy with noodle arms that can't lift up a butterfly and a scrawny torso with the spine of a jellyfish who NEVER worked a single day in his life and feels no shame in mooching off his own elderly mother for decades like a parasite clinging on and showing his impressionable daughter on how NOT to act as a reasonable adult! As well as a clueless fool who has so little faith in his own child that easily buys lies without any real proof!..." Jack said, shocking even Sam with how he just burned Mr. Manson.
"Wow..." Sam said, rather impressed.
"Now I know where Danny gets his quips from..."Valerie thought, as Mr. Manson became red faced and furious.
"HOW DARE YOU?! I'm NOT wimpy! And I can SO lift up a butterfly and my arms are NOT like noodles!..." Jeremy said, not really convincing anyone.
"Really? That's what you are more concerned about?..." Pamela questioned, secretly agreeing with Jack about the arms.
"Makes sense, he's a narcissistic peacock...who can't lift his own shirts without help..." Jack mocked.
The Manson patriarch fumed in anger. Both he and Jack glared at each other.
"If you hit me, I'll sue!..." Jeremy said, hating being humiliated.
"I don't attack anything but ghosts...but I think we both know that even just one flick from me can knock you down..." Jack said as Maddie laughed out loud.
Jeremy was angry that he was being insulted, and lost his temper.
"That's it! You ask for this!..." Jeremy yelled, as he tried to hypocritically push Jack in anger.
However, since Jack was bigger, heavier and stronger, Jeremy struggled and easily got tired. He tried to fight him but pathetically wasn't much of a fighter, much to the embarrassment of his wife and daughter, as well as the annoyance of Jack.
"Really? You're weaker than I thought. You really suck at this..." Jack mocked as Jeremy pouted.
"Dad, stop it before you embarrassed yourself further..." Sam said, pitying her father.
"For once, I agree with Sam..." Pamela said, shaking her head in embarrassment.
"A breeze has hit me harder than you. I almost wish a ghost did attack me..." Jack taunted, angering the smaller man.
"Shut up! Of course it's hard to move an overweight hippo like you!..." Jeremy yelled at him.
Jack frowned, insulted by his words.
"Who you calling a hippo, you tiny, little dyed blonde toothpick?!..."He yelled, getting into his face.
"My hair is natural, you brute!... Jeremy defended, stomping his foot.
Before this could turn into a fist fight, the other adults tried to break this up.
"Enough, no fighting! Honestly, you two are worse than the kids!..." Mr. Lancer said as the two fathers kept glaring at each other.
The longer this went on the more embarrassing it was for Mr. Manson to the faculty, though they didn't say it out loud.
"The fact of the matter is that there IS a virus in the computer system, Miss Tesslaff's car is ruined, the answers for the quarter finals are missing and the school was vandalized and they're the only suspects. Our only lead are these photos here..."Principal Ishiyama said, while the Fenton parents both refused to accept the photos as definite proof of guilty.
"That's just circumstantial..."Maddie, said, still defending the kids innocence.
"Yeah, some ghost probably did all that and blamed it on the kids..."Jack said, still believing his theory.
And he wasn't the only one defending.
Maddie, being the more reasonable and level-headed one, made her case clear about the innocence of Jazz, Valerie, Sam and Tucker.
"Our daughter has been a straight A honor student since kindergarten and we know that she'd never do anything dishonest in her life. We've also known Tucker and Sam for over a decade and we know that they are good kids and wouldn't do anything like this. And while we haven't know Valerie as long, she is a nice girl and a good friend to our son. So, no...we do not believe this flimsy evidence that came from someone even you both don't seem to know!..."Maddie said, not believing the teachers won't suspect forgery.
"Yeah, what she said. Also, we can't rule out that a ghost might be involved in this somehow...Or at the very least some punks trying to get them in trouble..but I think a ghost is most likely..."Jack said.
Hearing this made Jazz, Tucker, Sam and even Valerie feel touched by how the Fentons felt about them.
Despite the weirdness and wackiness of the Adult Fentons, they both really did have good intentions and better common sense than most people give them credit for.
"Glad to see at least two adults don't assume the worst about us..."Sam said, sending a glare at her parents.
"Yeah..."Tucker said, mirroring Sam's feelings.
"I guess they aren't so bad as parents. Better than the Mansons and the Foleys at least..."Jazz thought, as her mother kept talking.
Even Valerie was touched and moved by how much the Fentons believed and trusted her innocence. However, the school principal remained inflexible while the Fentons kept defending the teens.
"As such, we can say that these three are good kids... are they perfect? Of course not but if you go through with expelling them based on this evidence alone, we will be contacting our attorney, Johnathan Strong..."She promised.
Jack nodded in agreement, looking just as furious.
The mention of Johnathan Strong did indeed startled the bald big belly vice principal, but did his best to keep a stern face.
"Is that really necessary?..." He asked uneasily.
"Considering this kangaroo court where you're trying to expel our daughter, two kids who we see as our own and my son's other friend over this, yes..." Maddie pointed out the obvious.
Mr. Lancer was silent for a moment, nervous now.
"I would have assumed you would try to prove their innocence too..." Maddie said to the other parents, glaring at them.
Damon seemed to be having second thoughts now, while Jeremy and Pamela were still glaring at them and Maurice and Angela were looking between the Fentons and their son, looking torn about something.
"Jack, Maddie...We're grateful that you'd come to Tucker's defense..." Maurice said.
"But it's been one problem after another since he came to Casper High..." Angela finished.
"Whether it's breaking his PDAs and blaming it on ghost attacks so he can get a new one, the racket he did with the flour baby project or loitering by the girls locker room. I don't want to believe that he'd do something like this...but it's clear Tucker did what the pictures said. We'll have to side with the school..." Maurice said, looking stern at his son.
Tucker looked like he got punched in the gut at that his parents didn't believe him.
"I never realized that they both felt this way about me..." He grumbled as Val sent him a sympathetic look.
"And I thought Dash and his friends made a low blow…" She thought.
"Until this matter is resolved...your children are barred from the school campus..." Mr. Lancer said, continued getting the angry Fentons to glare at him for a moment, before the parents left with their children.
However, this matter was far from over and certainly will be brought up again later.
All the while, the real culprit was in the middle of step three of their plan.
Outside the office
The teens left the office, upset and worried about this unfortunate development.
"I can't believe this is happening to me. To us! We didn't do anything!..." Jazz said, while the others were in distress too.
"Don't worry, Jazzy-pants. We know you didn't do it. We'll find a way to prove your innocence..."Jack said.
"Thanks Dad. You too, Mom..."Jazz said, feeling worried for her future but appreciating their faith in her innocence.
"And don't think that we forgot about you kids. We'll talk to Johnathan about all this and see what he has to say on the matter. You'll be back in school in no time..."Maddie said.
"Yeah, while we have Johnathan do his legal magic, we'll try and find proof that you kids were overshadowed and innocent..."Jack said, showing how serious his tunnel vision was.
"Of course, Dad..." Jazz said, as the others nodded.
There was still one more surprise left for Team Phantom to find and it was none other than Star, waiting outside the principal's office.
"Guys!..."Star said, while Georgia appeared, looking very concerned for the young lady.
"Girl, what are you doing here?..."Valerie asked, concerned she knew the answer.
"You guys are not gonna believe why I'm being called into the Principal's office..." Star said, since even she could barely believe what was happening to her right now.
"Let me guess, you were accused of something and there's photographic evidence on Principal Ishiyama's desk and now you're expelled pending a formal investigation..." Sam said, figuring out it could be the same thing as it's happening to them.
Star seemed surprised to hear that and was weirded out by how accurate Sam was
"Okay, did Sam somehow develop powers since the last time I saw her?..."She thought, before shaking her head.
"Actually I'm just suspended but yeah. How did you know?.." Star asked.
"Same thing happened to us, except we're getting expelled!..." Sam said, while her parents grabbed her by the wrist, still angry.
"Samantha, we forbid you to talk to that gold digger's idiot girlfriend!..." Pamela scolded. "It's bad enough that you let those Fentons attack us in there but you continue to talk to them too. Unbelievable!..." She said, being meaner than usual.
"Excuse you"?! How dare you speak about Star like that?!..."Georgia said, jumping to the defense of her boss's daughter, but since she was a servant she was ignored.
"I'll contact my attorney see if we can sue those lousy Fentons brutes for slander than we can look into a boarding school in London..." Jeremy said, but Danny's parents were not intimidated at all.
"HA! I can't be sued just for stating facts. Plus, you're the one who 'attacked' me, ya whiny little gnat!..." Jack challenged, still amazed at how weak Jeremy was.
Jeremy huffed in anger before being pulled back by his wife to avoid looking like a fool.
"Tucker, come on. Get away from that girl you've harassed in the past. We're leaving..." Angela demanded.
"I've never harassed anyone/he's never harassed anyone!..." Tucker and Star said at the same time.
"Heck, if anything, you should want me away from him. I've attacked him twice back when I used to bully people.." Star admitted while her housekeeper/nanny nodded.
"Something which she has been grounded for and has apologized profusely for..." Georgia added, arms crossed.
However, Angela and Maurice weren't convinced.
"It's sweet that you're trying to defend him young lady, but Tucker has to face the consequences of his actions..." Angela said, while her son looked more upset to hear that.
"Tucker William Foley, let's go..." Maurice said while they dragged their son back home.
"Come now, Samantha. We're going. You can't weasel your way out of this!…"Pamela said crossly.
Despite being worried about her own troubles, the blonde girl was shocked by how some of her friends' parents were being right now.
"It''s like they truly believe the worst about of their own kid..."Star thought as she was unsurprised about the Mansons' behavior and the Foleys' reactions.
She saw Sam's parents berating her and she frowned harder now.
"The only good thing they ever did for her was say no to Toadman's proposal..."Star thought before being called into office.
"Don't think we forgot about you, Star. We know you're a sweet kid and that you are innocent too. We'll prove that it was a ghost that's framing you like the others. No putrid pile of ectoplasma hurts my daughter, my son's lady and their friends gets away with it. Mark my words..."Jack shouted as she was lead inside.
"If it is a ghost, this doesn't seem like something they would do..." Star thought, realizing something.
"Oh man, I hope that Danny isn't next!..."She thought, hoping that her boyfriend was safe and not in harm's way.
Unknown to her, he was going to be in a different kind and arguably even worse kind of trouble.
With Danny
The ghost boy had captured Klemper and readied himself to press the green button on his Fenton Thermos.
"This'll heat things up. Let's hurry because I gotta be somewhere else..." Danny said, as he pulled out his thermos.
"WHY WON'T ANYONE BE MY FRIEND?!..." Klemper whined as he was trapped inside.
"Maybe because you're really loud and freeze people if they say no!..." Danny sassed, before clasping it shut.
The ghost boy didn't wait to hear for a response, as he took off in the skies and headed straight home.
Danny soon arrived to his house, but before he went inside, he checked to make sure no one was looking.
Seeing his parents and Jazz's car weren't in the driveway, he flew in, happy to enjoy the privacy of being home alone.
"Maybe I'll invite Star over to work on the homework from Mr. Felucca...and maybe a kiss or two..."Danny thought with a smirk.
However, his plans were foiled when his phone rang.
"Huh, who could this be?..." Danny asked nobody on particular, as he answered his cellphone.
"DANNY! YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS! I'VE BEEN FRAMED!..." Sam said, sounding frantic on the other end.
"What?!..." Danny exclaimed, sounding shocked.
"I didn't do it! ... at least, THIS time!..." Sam went, before the sound of a struggle could be heard in the background.
"Samantha! Phone!..." He heard Pamela say before the call was cut.
Raising an eyebrow, Danny was about to call back when he got another call.
"Hello?..." Danny naturally responded.
"Danny... I'm in trouble!... I've b- Oh, hi Mom..."Tucker suddenly went before disconnection happened.
"What's going on?..." He asked, bewildered right now.
At that moment, Danny's phone buzzed. He was now seeing a text from Jazz.
"SOMEONE FRAMED US WITH FAKE PICTURES! WE'RE PRETTY MUCH EXPELLED!..."It read in big letters, coming with photos of the three, along with Valerie and Star.
Danny was horrified after reading all of that.
"Framed?!..." He asked out loud, worried.
Who would do something like that?
"Who'd frame the guys?! It has to be a ghost or Plasmius!..." He thought, trying to process this.
Sam and Tucker have made plenty of ghost enemies of their own and Vlad might have found out that Val is spying on him...so, they might have a motive.
But why frame them? Why not just attack them like they usually do?!
The odds were it was likely Vlad but why go after his friends like this? There is the possibility someone wanted him alone.
For why, he didn't know.
All he did know is that Star, Jazz and all of his friends were in trouble and he needed to be there for them.
"I better hurry..." He thought.
The ghost boy quickly sped up to drop off the not-so-friendly ice pajama wearing ghost into the ghost zone and then races towards his girlfriend, big sister and friends to comfort them and see what else is going on with them.
Danny went inside his house, unaware that something MUCH worse than ghosts was waiting for him until he stepped inside.
"About time..."Was heard, making the ghost boy freeze up.
"Wait... that voice..." Danny said, turning his head to see who it was.
"Welcome home, Mon Amore..."Colette said with a smile, sitting on his couch.
Danny gasped and jumped back in shock as he let his anger rise.
"COLETTE?!..."Danny yelled in shocked.
Colette then stood up with a smile.
"Of course it is me, Danny. I alone would wait for you in this trap of a house you live in..."She said in a coy way.
After the shock wore off, Danny frowned and clenched his fists.
This had gone way too far now.
The lady fruitloop was breaking into his house now?!
"Hey, I can call the cops and not worry about saying information that only Phantom would know, I can just say that my girlfriend's crazy stepsister broke in..."Danny thought, as his stalker kept sitting there like she owned the place.
"We're alone now... "Colette said in a coy way.
"I'm calling the cops!..." Danny said as he pulled out his phone, dialing the 9 and the 11.
Colette saw this and frowned.
"You will not! Don't you there!..." She yelled, marching over and pulling the phone away from him.
Danny managed to pull the phone back from her, glaring at her.
"What do you want, Colette?! You have 5 seconds, before I go back to calling the police! Starting now!..." Danny said, pointing at a non-existent watch to be clear.
His thumb hovering over the call button, ready to press it and get her arrested.
"You, obviously... and I have something of great importance to tell you." Colette said, crossing her arms.
"Is it the chipped tooth I can see?..." Danny jokingly asked.
"WHAT?! Chipped tooth?!..." Colette looked to her mirror. "I don't s-..." Upon seeing the mocking smile on Danny's face, Colette realizes it was to mess with her.
"Well, if you don't mind, I-..."
Colette once again tried to take his phone, only for Danny to hold it far enough from her while making him unable to dial.
"Now Mon Amore, let us not beat around zee bush. I have proof that you and that oddly attractive Phantom are one and zee same! And if you do not do what I want, I shall tell everyone!..."Colette said in a threatening way.
Danny suddenly felt his world shatter as her words echoed in his head.
Like an annoying song that you can't stand getting struck in your head. Only the singer was Colette, and the song was something he never thought he'd be hearing come out of her mouth.
"W-What?!..."A now pale Danny let out, completely shocked by what he just heard.
In that moment, the whole world felt like it was ending. And Colette herself was the one riding the pale horse.
-To be continued-
Next time on Blackmailed
Trouble, Thy Name Is Colette
A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
A/N(2): Special thanks to NeoMark, 61394, Invader Johnny, Luiz4200 and Jay The Average Fanboy for all their help. You guys rock :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
61394 and Jebest4781: Thank you.
Pokemon fan 1991, CZS4, Invader Johnny, Fiction Realm,Luiz4200, Jacob Cook, Phantom Fan 21 and Bob the mammoth: Yeah.
RonaldM40196867:
1) They work part time at a tire store.
2) I just wanted to show how she has been doing lately.
3) His name is The Remover.
4) Probably.
5) She is a "friend" of Jean-Luc that Stella is unaware of.
6) Their names are Theodore Prescott Shawdale III and Vivian Diane Fallbrook.
7) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
8) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
9) They warned her.
10) Right.
11) I will consider it. Thanks for the suggestion.
12) Yes.
13) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
14) Probably.
Danifan3000:
1) How is this?
2) I see.
3) LOL.
Intexplosion R8:
1) Well, you aren't wrong that she is nuts.
2) I will consider it. Thanks for the suggestion.
3) I will check it soon.
4) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you.
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) Dash, for starters.
2) No.
3) I think that she'd be surprised, but hope that she would become a better parent than Vlad.
4) I don't see him as the parenting type, he would probably leave the child with someone else.
5) N/A.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)
