Danny panted as he ran knowing that if he stopped he was sure to die. His lungs burned and his vision blurred with tears, his nostrils flared with each breath, he felt as if he was about to die, his muscles protested as he ran, Tucker was not far behind him, the moaning noises he was making only served to let Danny know that he was still alive.
I'm okay.
I'm Okay.
I'm okay.
I'M OKAY!
I THINK I'M GONNA DIE!
"Alright class, bring it in." Tetslaff boomed across the Gym. Panting Tucker and Danny made it to the gaggle of student.
"I expected a better show of fitness from the self proclaimed town hero." Tetslaff huffed.
"Ghost… Powers… not… human… fitness… being… human… is… hard." Danny puffed out through each breath; his hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat.
"That's no excuse." Tetslaff glared down at him. Danny sighed and his knees collapsed under him. Sam snickered to the side.
"You children better buck up, next month is the annual fitness test, in order to graduate you must pass this exam." Tetslaff barked. Groans filled the gym, "Stop yur whining. We train again tomorrow if we have to, and the day after that, so help me if we have to run in the rain, snow, and the apocalypse, you will all pass this exam." After a brief glare she dismissed class. Danny continued panting near Tucker. Shadows loomed over them and Tucker was picked off the mat.
"Hey!" he protested as Kwan carried him off. Danny stood.
"What was that for!?" He demanded.
"Meh, loser like him isn't worth your time. Just looking out for your best interests." Dash shrugged.
"First of all, I can look after my own interests, second of all, I don't think I want to hang out with anyone who treats other humans that way." Danny turned to leave.
"Wait!" Dash put a hand on Danny's shoulder to stop him, Danny whipped around with a glare and Dash put his hands up.
"Look I'm sorry about the techno geek, it won't happen again. I was just wondering if you needed somebody to train with, you know to get help adjusting to human life, I'll be happy to work out with you, or like, I have a personal gym at my house so you don't have to worry about doing it in public." Dash blushed. Danny sighed.
"Thanks for the offer, if I survive this week I may take you up on it." Danny paused, when Dash didn't leave he hesitated, "Is there something else?" He questioned.
"Well… the thing is, I've always looked up to you, and I was wondering if you'd like to hang out, I'd like to be more like you." Dash mumbled.
"Start by being nice to everyone, not just the people you deem worthy. I don't pick and choose who to save based on their popularity." Danny accused, "You seem like you sincerely mean it, but I don't like your actions." Dash didn't look ashamed, but more scolded. Danny turned and left him standing there, it was unlikely that he would think about the consequences of his actions, but there was always hope.
If there was one thing Danny was dreading above all else it would have to have been lunch.
It felt like thousands of eyes were on him, he could feel his face flushing while he kept his eyes firmly glued to his tray as he made his way through the lunch line. The lunch lady (not to be confused with The Lunch Lady) seemed un-impressed; Danny just wished everyone else would follow her lead.
If making it through the lunch line weren't bad enough as he turned there were at least 15 people staring at him, some just standing with anticipation wondering where he would drop his tray. Danny tried to quiet his heart; it seemed incredibly loud all of a sudden.
Sam… Tucker… where are you? Danny mentally pleaded scanning the cafeteria. He hesitated a moment longer when he suddenly felt a strong arm around his shoulders.
"So I've been thinking about what you've said." It was Dash. Danny nodded, "But I have to wonder, how are these nerds going to respect me if I'm nice to them?"
"They don't respect you Dash, they fear you." Danny replied in a flat tone eyes scanning for a quick escape.
"That's the same thing right?" Dash blinked. Danny sighed.
"No. No it's not. Respect and Fear are completely different, there are times when the two may seem similar but they are not. Do you respect any of the ghosts that attack the town?" Danny questioned as Dash led him to his table.
"No." Dash responded pulling out a chair for Danny to sit in.
"If one of them told you to do something would you do it?" Danny added.
"No." Dash defended.
"If a ghost was in front of you right now, glowing and mighty glaring down on you with a power that could crush you in seconds, and he told you to give him your homework, you wouldn't do it to save your arse?" Danny elaborated. Dash pondered.
"Ok, maybe, but only because I'll admit to him being more powerful than me." Dash allowed. Danny nodded.
"That is what you do to those 'nerds,' they don't respect you, they fear what you might do to them if they don't comply." Danny finished. Dash sat for a minute.
"What is respect if it's not pounding on people to get them to do what you want them to do." Dash frowned. Kwan joined the table.
"That's exactly what respect is. If they aren't scared of you, they aren't going to respect you." Kwan dug into his food. Dash shook his head.
"But I don't respect ghosts, though I may… well may be just a little scared of what they can do to me. I'm not scared of them actually, know that, but what they can do scares me. But I don't respect them." Dash explained. Kwan paused in his eating.
"But that's different because it's ghosts." Kwan's eyebrows were furrowed though, like he didn't know himself.
"It's not different!" Danny slammed his hands on the table causing the two to jump, "It's still people with more power exploiting and intimidating people with less power!" Danny frowned at the two before him, "Think about who you respect!"
The two exchanged looks.
"Well I respect you." Dash admitted.
"Me too." Added Kwan, "and also Tesla."
"Why?" Danny demanded. Once again the two jocks looked toward each other as if looking for answers.
"Well I respect you because you're cool, and have powers… and… you're somebody." Dash attempted.
"Well I no longer have powers, does that mean I can go sit at what you've deemed the loser table, since I am irrevocably and unfortunately human. I have no markers by which you deemed me respectable before." Danny picked up his tray. Dash grabbed his arm.
"Wait…" Dash fumbled over his words, "I guess because you were a hero… I looked up to you, what you did for people, for me, the town… the powers were cool though, you have to admit." Dash mumbled toward the end.
"Well I respect Tesla because of the things he did for science, I guess he wasn't scary… except when he went crazy and tried to build a death ray…" Kwan frowned.
"Respect is something you earn, not something you pound out of people." Danny pulled his arm out of Dash's grasp and wandered over to an empty corner.
He expected to be swarmed immediately, but apparently the expression on his face was enough to ward people off. He glared into his semblance of mashed potatoes before he felt someone sit opposite him. He switched his glare to them before recognizing the face across from him.
"Valerie?" He blinked. Valerie glared.
"I hate you." She stated.
"Yeah. I know. You've only said that every time we've ever met, or rather yelled it every time we've fought." Danny quipped switching from surprised to defiant.
"Shut up spook I wasn't finished." Valerie glared, "and keep it down the whole cafeteria is listening." Danny held his hands up as a sign of surrender, "Listen… I hate you."
"Yes, we've established that." Danny went back to making a moonscape out of his potatoes, Valerie cleared her throat and continued.
"Look, this doesn't make us friends or anything… but what you said back there… it makes a lot of difference to people around here." Valerie glanced at the table where Mikey and a few other "nerds" were watching.
"Is this an apology?" Danny raised an eyebrow casting a quick glance at the table and back to Val.
"Oh hell no. They were just to shy to tell you themselves. I'm still going to make your life hell for what you've put me through." Val glared then got up from the table. Danny watched her get up and return to the table giving Mikey and the others a few words before leaving. One of the other kids caught his eye. Danny gave a half wave and a small smile to which the other hesitantly returned. Danny scanned the cafeteria; still no Sam and Tucker. Danny glanced down at his desolated lunch, if it could even be called that, then sighed and pushed it away laying his head down on the table. The next thing he knew Paulina was staring at him from across the table.
"You can pick me up at eight, they're showing a movie I'd like to watch at the cinema." She gave her most charming smile, and even Danny had to admit he's lost his brain for a few seconds there.
"Uh…." Danny blinked.
"Uh… really intelligent ghost boy." Sam sat her tray down next to Danny. Danny turned bright red, as if he wasn't embarrassed enough.
"Ew, get lost Goth, we don't want your kind around here." Paulina waved her hand dismissively; Sam gave her a deadpan look. Danny attempted not to chuckle, lest he feel Sam's wrath.
"My kind? You do realize that Ghosts are more in Goth territory than prep right? You know the whole being dead thing." Sam went back to her lunch.
"As if, superheroes fall squarely into my expertise Goth Freak!" Paulina send a glare over to Sam, then she smiled at Danny, "Wouldn't you like to see exactly how far my expertise extends though?" She gave a coy smile. Danny continued to blush red.
"Uh… yeah… sounds good and all… but the Fentons have me on a short leash, and I'm really not into the whole calling people freaks thing so…" Danny trailed of as Paulina's face morphed into one of disgust.
"Are you turning me down?" She frowned.
"Only circumstantially?" Danny winced, "I mean, it is possible under different circumstances… but not now? I mean…" Danny babbled. Sam saved him.
"He means the Fenton's like to keep a close eye on their experiments, and unfortunately for you, I know the Fentons and they've deputized me with the task of babysitting the worlds most clueless reformed ghost. And also unfortunately for you, the mayor has backed both the Fenton's up and by extension me. So if you would kindly remove your claws from the experiment or I'll be informing you're the mayor who will in turn inform your father, who will in turn do something unpleasant like… I don't know… cut your spending allowance." Sam rolled her eyes. Paulina glared.
"You don't scare me." She defiantly jutted out her chin, "Just because you've got the power of the government behind you for now doesn't mean much for long, you'll see. Everyone has their price." Paulina's voice went back to dripping with sweetness, "Even you ghost boy." She smiled. Danny gulped, but Paulina retreated back to her usual table, Tucker sat down.
"Damn… what did I miss?"
Danny was glad to duck into the safety of the Fenton RV as his mom pulled up. He practically dove into the back; the only thing that would have made his entrance more dramatic is if he'd yelled "STEP ON IT!" as he reached the RV.
Maddie raised her eyebrows at his antics. She drove carefully away, there were children trying to get a glimpse inside and Phantom clung to the floorboards.
"Bad day?" Maddie questioned.
"Bad doesn't even summarize it." Phantom peeked up and hesitantly made his way into the passenger seat as the High School shrunk behind them, "Try… horrifying, or exhausting, or even excruciatingly painful with a dash of petrifying embarrassment." Phantom ranted. Maddie gave a brief nod.
"Understandable."
"Understandable? Understandable? Excuse me but did you just say understandable? After all this, my pain is understandable. Thanks; I'm glad you summed up my entire shitty day in one word. Understandable." Phantom growled folding his arms and grumbling out the window. Maddie bit back a laugh. Trust a teen to be over dramatic. She thought. The ride home was fast, probably because most cars tended to get out of the way when they saw the Fenton RV, mostly due to Jack's driving.
Phantom grumbled his way to the guest bedroom while Maddie went down to the Lab and began checking the experiment she'd left. She was making a modified Boo-merang, which would hopefully respond to Danny. It had targeted him before, and seemed to be keyed into him, but hopefully it would respond this time. She'd tried using it before, to no avail, but it has run into a wall and turned itself off, when she tried it in open air it lodged itself into the ground. It didn't seem to be working properly, so this time around she'd re-inputted the data using Danny's DNA from his hair rather than just relying on what the Boo-merang seemed to have picked up from Danny before. The Data had just finished uploading and the Boo-merang was beeping cheerfully. She threw it. It flew around the room a couple times then made its way up the stairs. Maddie chased after it as it flew to the bedrooms, into Danny's room and hit Phantom square in the forehead.
Phantom hit the ground and groaned holding his head. The Boo-merang chirped happily once more as if it expected to be rewarded.
"Are you kidding me!'" Phantom groaned picking up the Boo-merang, "You again! I thought you'd stop picking up on my ecto-signature given THAT I DON'T HAVE ONE ANYMRORE!" Phantom yelled at the device, apparently oblivious to Maddie in the doorway. He turned his back on her setting the Boo-merang down on the bed and holding his forehead and sitting down at Danny's computer. Maddie wanted to say something, object, but something stopped her.
Surprisingly Phantom's quick fingers brought the computer alive as he expertly navigated through Danny's computer opening the chat browser. The computer hummed till Sam and Tucker popped up on the screen, Maddie took a quiet step back watching.
"Hey dude." Tucker smiled. Sam nodded at Danny but seemed to be in the middle of painting her nails a darker shade of black.
"Hey guys." Phantom gave a familiar sheepish smile. Sam glanced up at the monitor.
"You do realize you're bleeding." She commented. Phantom touched a hand to his head pulling away with blood on it.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" He yelled, he grabbed the tissues off Danny's desk and held them to his bleeding head.
"You might want to seek more medical attention than that." Sam raised an eyebrow.
"It'll heal in a few minutes." Phantom muttered clicking through files on Danny's computer.
"Uh… no it won't, dude, you're not half-ghost anymore." Tucker's voice came from the other window.
"Thanks for reminding me." Phantom made a face, "I'll be back…" He swiveled on his chair headed toward Maddie, but his face was still turned toward the screen, Maddie froze, "My mom's downstairs with an experiment of some sort, I'll clean up then we can…" Phantom's eyes had met hers. His mouth formed a small o.
"Danny?" Sam and Tucker squinted at their screens.
"You ok?" Came Tucker's question moving his head as if he could see around Phantom. There was silence between the two. Sam and Tucker seemed to be trying to get Phantom's attention, but Phantom and Maddie were in the middle of an intense staring contest.
"Uh…" Phantom broke the silence, "How long have you been standing there?"
And on that cliffhanger I leave you.
Please leave reviews, honestly they do motivate me. It may not seem like it given that there have been times when I don't update for months, but they really do motivate me, especially when I haven't updated for months. To see that you guys still care and that people are still reading is fantastic. And so is some nice words about my stuff. I really enjoy it.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Con-San out!