Oh my gosh it's been so long, I'm so sorry. I've been really busy with school lately so I haven't been posting anything, on the bright side I have been writing. I have a couple of chapters I'm planning on putting out in the next few months. This is a super slow burn fic so I'm sorry to everyone who is here for the ride. One thing I do promise is that I WILL get this finished, even if it takes me a hundred years. This story will not be abandoned. Give me time guys. We'll get through this. Here's chapter 4! I hope you all like it!

Chapter 4

I am not okay, I am not okay, I am not okay I am NOT OKAYIAM-

"Danny, calm down! It'll be fine, we're right here." Sam lays a hand in between my shoulder blades to try and soothe my frantic breathing as I think about all the possible ways this class could go wrong.

"Sam's right dude, we got your back. Anyway, it's not like they're gonna break out the weapons on the first day. That would be crazy!" Tuck is relaxed and smiling, Sam is shooting him a small glare and glancing at me nervously. If this were any other day, I might've smiled at the scene of my friends bickering, but today, or rather, this class has me on edge.

"You don't know my parents like I do Tuck, crazy is basically their only mode of operation. I'm pretty sure weapons are going to be the first thing we start working on." I'm starting to get my breathing under control again as Sam rubs my back, the soothing motion reminding me of late-night patch jobs after bad fights. It's weird how memories of an injury can bring a smile to my face.

"Danny's right Tuck, we need to be prepared for anything. But Danny, that also means we need to be prepared for the possibility that your parents won't do something crazy. We don't know what's going to happen until it does, and if something truly bad were to happen you know he would get involved. Everything is going to be okay. Let's just relax while we can." Sam always knows just what to say, the mention of my long-time mentor and teacher makes me smile and relax. It's true, if anything really wrong happened, Clockwork would get involved.

"You're right Sam, thank you. Come on guys, we have ten minutes till our new class starts, what do you say we go meet the teachers?" I smile at their surprised faces but know it won't last. The feeling of dread still sits heavy in my gut, I don't know what this class is going to bring, but I doubt it's going to be good.

The walk to the classroom is silent. We managed to avoid the A-listers for most of the day but I'm not sure how long that will last. Hopefully, it'll last the rest of the day…Fuck, I just jinxed us didn't I…

"Hey Fentina!" The call comes from down the hallway followed by the slam of a locker. I cringe. Yep, jinxed us.

"What is it now, Dash?" I want to get this over with as quickly as possible so I can talk to my parents before class starts.

"Maybe you don't remember cause you're so stupid, but I promised you a wailing Fenturd!" Struggling not to roll my eyes at the stubborn jock in front of me I just give a small nod and quietly motion for my friends to back up. Even though his assaults don't hurt, I still don't want my friends to deal with it.

I watch as Dash raises his hand to hit me, it looks as if he is moving in slow motion. Still, I move my body with his hand, and pretend to be in pain. Looking up at him through my bangs I still want to roll my eyes, instead I play my part. I back away from him, trying to look scared, and hold my hand to my face where no bruise will ever appear. I keep my eyes to the floor and listen to my friend's angry breaths. A laugh makes me look up.

"What a pathetic wimp! What's a weak loser like you going to do after you get out of here, huh?" He kicks me in the leg, forcing me to fall to my knees in order to keep up the charade. I flinch, but not from the pain. The words, the question, what are you going to do after you graduate? That question has weighed on my mind for a long time, and still, I have no answer to it. My friends watch my reaction and immediately know what I'm thinking. I'm still down on my knees on the floor pretending to be in pain when Lancer walks by.

"The Great Gatsby! What is going on here?!" His random exclamation of book titles never fails to amuse Sam, and I hear her giggle softly behind me. Dash quickly looks at Lancer and then back at me before a big smile overcame his face.

"I was just helping my classmate here. He fell down and I wanted to make sure he was okay." Dash spoke in a charming voice that contradicted his entire personality. I grind my teeth and start to stand up. Watching as Lancer narrowed his eyes in suspicion before looking over at me. I know Lancer will believe me no matter what I say but telling on Dash will only make my life harder in the long run. I sigh and run a hand through my hair once I get back to my feet.

"Yes Mr. Lancer. Dash was just stopping to make sure I was okay. I tripped and twisted my ankle." I add a bit of a limp to my walk as I head over to my backpack, trying to make the lie a bit more believable. Lancer still looks suspicious, but he gives a resigned sigh and nods his head.

"Alright Mr. Fenton. Do be more careful next time."

"Of course, Mr. Lancer" I give a small nod and begin again the walk with my friends to our next class. We only have three minutes now before the bell is going to ring. The walk is quick and silent, and we arrive just as my parents begin to re-write their names on the board.

"Hey mom, dad. I just wanted to see if I could get a sneak peek on the lesson for today?" I motion for my friends to grab our seats so I can talk aloe with them.

"Hello sweetie! We don't have a lot planned for today, with the time we have we were going to go over some basic information about ghosts and look at some of the equipment. Other than that, we won't have much time for anything else." My mom was obviously excited about the upcoming class, my dad even looks somewhat professional. Though they were still wearing their hazmat suits my dad was also wearing his lab coat. My mom turns back to the chalkboard to write down some of the words we were going to go over while my dad starts walking over to me.

"You already know about some of the things we'll be going over today since we've talked to you about them at home, so I'm sure you'll do fine, son. Just remember to take notes." A heavy hand lands on my shoulder when he finished. Nodding I walk back towards my friends.

"Of course, dad…" they can't know, it would be dangerous if they knew…

Sam smiles at me as I reach the small groups of desks, "What's the plan?" I hear Tuck shift closer so we can talk.

"We're gonna go over some basic info and talk about equipment. Looks like nothing heavy today. Guess we got lucky." Sam opens her mouth to say something but gets cut off by the loud ringing of the bell. Students slowly begin filing in the classroom one by one. There are whispers, chuckles, and gossip abound. Valerie is the first person of note to walk through the doors. Immediately our eyes meet over the loud din of the room. I nod, she nods, and she walks towards us.

Since sophomore year Valerie has been a tentative friend of ours. She doesn't know everything, in fact, she doesn't even know we hunt ghosts. But she does know we aren't what everyone thinks we are. She also knows that we know about her secret and accept it. She's accepted a partnership of sorts with Danny Phantom, or rather, she doesn't hunt me, and I do my best not to cause damage during fights. It's not perfect, but so few things are. I honestly appreciate it. Tucker, he's another story altogether…

"Hey guys, Tuck. Interesting we get stuck in the same class huh?" Valerie looks between the three of us as she talks before taking the seat next to Tucker. It's obvious to everyone but him that she likes him, sadly he's the smartest idiot I've ever met.

"H-hi Valerie. I'm good. And, yeah, what a coincidence…" I look at Tuck suspiciously when he says this, something about the way he said that made it seem like less of a coincidence and more of a-

"Yeah, it was really weird, I got pulled aside last Friday and handed a new schedule, said they counted out class numbers wrong or something. Very strange." I rolled my eyes in fond exasperation at Valerie's explanation. Only Tuck would hack the school's system for something so stupid…

"How are you doing Valerie?" Sam, the goddess of distraction strikes again. Valerie just smirks at Tucker before turning to face the goth.

"I'm good actually, excited about this class. I don't know if it'll be all that useful, but it'll be nice not having to try for a good grade for once." Valerie is the only one out of us that gets full marks in every subject. Sam is an English and History genius, Tucker is a Science and Math wizard, and I'm failing just about everything to keep up pretenses.

"That's good, just remember not to do too well, you know, don't wanna draw any special attention…" I have to say it, even though I don't want to. Valerie really does deserve to get top marks in this. She works harder than anyone I know so she can get a scholarship for college next year. Valerie might be the only one of us with a way out.

"Don't worry, I have a formula already tested and tried. I ran the numbers again last night, Tucker would be proud of it I bet, I used some of his advice from the last study session we had." She might as well have been throwing herself at his feet by saying that, with all the reaction it got from Tucker. His eyes were shining, and he smiled a million-dollar smile as he spoke.

"Anytime you wanna study again we can! I can also look at your equation! Not that I doubt your work of course, but I bet it's amazing." Sam looks ready to barf or laugh, and I'm not entirely sure how both of those feelings were able to display so clearly simultaneously. A loud cough drew my attention to the front of the room.

"Hello class and welcome to Ghost Defense 101! My name is Mrs. Fenton, and this is Mr. Fenton. Today we'll be going over some basics on ghosts and the equipment used in the research and study of them. Everyone ready to begin?" My mom speaks calmly and confidently as she stands at the front of the room, easily commanding the attention of the entire class. A resounding yes echoes back at her and we began the lesson.

"Jack, do you want to start?"

"Sure! Okay class! The first thing you need to know about ghosts are what they're made out of. Every ghost is a remnant of post human consciousness recreated out of ectoplasm. Now, why are ghosts created in the first place? This doesn't actually have a real right or wrong answer, so if you see this on a quiz just try to remember a couple of reasons a ghost might be created. Ghosts usually are created because of some traumatic experience resulting in death. The death of a human, being either extremely painful or emotional, can take root in another dimension called the ghost zone. The energies of the ghost zone give a pseudo life to the emotions caused by the human's death and create a ghost. At least, this is the theory we in the supernatural society are working with right now. To be perfectly honest we're not entirely sure what creates a ghost, but someday through research and study our knowledge of ghosts will expand to be able to answer these questions." My class is doing me the wonderful favor of being absolutely shocked silent so I can freak out in peace.

A hand raises near the front of the class; I vaguely recognize the voice as belonging to Mikey.

"Uhm… if ghosts are created out of people's emotions, can they have emotions? Or do ghosts only feel the emotion they were created out of?" oh no…

"That's a great question… kid with glasses… I'll let Ma- I mean Mrs. Fenton answer it."

"Actually, the answer is we believe ghosts can feel emotions in some way. We're not entirely sure how much or how strongly, though we've hypothesized they feel negative emotions stronger than positive emotions. Specifically, because we believe ghosts are created from intense negative emotions it's easier to believe they can feel negative emotions, however we have seen cases of ghosts exhibiting obvious signs of positive emotions as well. To be perfectly clear, Ghosts do have emotions as far as we can tell, though the extent to which they feel is still unknown to us" stealing a glance from Sam and Tucker I watch in shock as my parents talk. This isn't… this isn't what they believe… what happened to ectoplasmic scum…? I'm so confused…

My confusion must've shown on my face because I suddenly felt eyes staring at me. Looking up I watch in slow motion as my mom calls out my name.

"Danny? Is there something wrong?" if I run away how bad would I look? I look at my friend's, but they're still stunned silent. I realize it's been quite some time since my mom spoke and the whole class is staring at me. Fuck.

"Uhm… it's just… you never talk about… this… your theories… at home. I guess I'm just… confused…?" I heard some snickers from around the class while my mom's worried frown settles a bit.

"We just knew you weren't interested so we didn't think to talk about it. That's all." I think my mind just broke. Or maybe the world just stopped moving.

"Okay." That one word holds none of the feelings that are exploding inside of me. I can't believe this.

The rest of the class flies by rather fast. I don't remember much of it, or any of it really. I think Sam took notes, and if she didn't Valerie probably did. We're walking through the hallway towards Sam's locker when I realize I really need to get away from school.

"Uhm… guys?" my friends stop walking when they hear me, turning to find me still standing in the middle of the hall. I know from their looks that they're worried, but I really can't be here right now, I need to process.

"Can you go without me? And take notes? I kinda need to… process. If that makes any sense…" They share a look before turning back to me.

"Of course, Danny, we understand. Meet you in the park later?" 'the park' was code for my lair. We usually meet up after something intense happens and we need to regroup.

"Yeah. Yeah, that… would be good." I nod absently and start to walk towards the men's bathroom. At a time like this there's only one person I want to see…

Oh my goshhh who does he want to seee? Yes I'm that kind of author. Anyway! I hope everyone liked this! The next chapter should be out soon! Maybe even in the next couple days if I get time to edit. I'm certain this is all gonna blow you away. I hope no one hates me for the trip I'm about to take you on! Keep reading and find out!