Oh my gosh I'm so sorry it's been so long since I last updated! I'm in the middle of crunch time right now with school, I've got a ridiculous amount of work I'm trying to get done. But I promise there's more on it's way! I haven't forgotten about you guys! Here's the next chapter to tide you over for a bit. I'm working on the really interesting parts coming up. Happy reading!

Chapter 9 (Tucker's POV)

Why the FUCK did I have to think that?! I just jinxed us, didn't I? Damnit…

By the time we get to class our usual seats have already been taken. Instead, we have to cluster at a small crop of desks in the far-left corner of the room under the window. I walk over to the desks as Danny makes his way to his parents, the routine a ritual by now. Cheyenne and Valerie manage to find two seats open only one row away from us, though I expect we'll be leaving the classroom soon anyway. When Sam walks in, I flag her down, getting Danny's attention in the process and noticing the tense set of his shoulders. He walks over with Sam and sits down heavily. I did. I DID-

"What's the verdict?" The casual sarcasm from Sam never ceases to amuse me.

"They said they have an announcement to make before we'll be heading out for more training. Today is the start of week ten, so we'll be practicing using weapons while we fight now. Most of the class has been able to hold their own against at least the Box Ghost's level. Now they want to see if we can level up, basically."

"Level up? What for?" My words come out as a whisper.

"Well, the-"

RIINNNNG.

"Alright kids! We have an announcement really quick and then we'll be headed off to the practice field for some week ten level training! Ma- I mean, Mrs. Fenton? Do you want to start?"

"Of course. Today we will be announcing the end of year trip. This trip is only mandatory if you get permission to go. If you do not get permission to go, a different test option will be provided. This being said, the trip will be worth 75% of your grade. For those who do not go you will be taking a written test worth that much of your grade. Now that I've described how important this trip is, I'll let Mr. Fenton tell you where we're going."

"Okay class! The trip we'll be going on is going to test you on all the skills you've learned so far in this class. It will be completely safe because you'll have trained professionals on site going with you! Most importantly, it'll be a lot of fun!"

I look over to Danny out of the corner of my eye and see him silently banging his head against the desk. Oh no, don't say what I think you're going to say…

"Our trip will be all about exploring new places-"

Please don't say it…

"Seeing new creatures-"

For the love of all that's good, let anything happen to stop him from saying this…

"-and learning new skills!"

Don't say it don't say it don't say it DON'T SAY IT!

"We're going to-"

Nononononononononononono-

"The Ghost Zone!" The sound of my head hitting the desk is easily drowned out by the cacophonous noise in the classroom. Slowly, I lift my head to see Danny, who's still banging his head against his desk, muttering to himself. All the while Sam has her head tilted back like she's passed out. She might be, hearing this news… maybe I'm dreaming…

I'm brought back from my musings by the soft "shit" from my right. Looking to Danny I notice the blood running down his nose from where he smashed his face in the desk.

"Really? So annoyed your breaking your own nose now? You should leave that to the ghosts who like to attack you." I don't even realize I'm speaking until the words are out of my mouth. Danny pouts at me (as much as he can while holding his bleeding, broken nose) and sticks his tongue out, wincing a bit when it jostles his hand.

"You knew, didn't you? They told you when you talked to them."

"Sadly, yes. Unfortunately, there's nothing I could have done to stop this. They've already gotten it approved by the school board. I don't know how but they did. And they already have chaperones lined up in the form of a very enthusiastic middle-aged teacher."

"Lancer? You've gotta be joking! He's not gonna be any help!"

"I don't know what to tell you. They've already made up their minds. Nothing we say or do is gonna change that." I sighed. He was right. Again. Moving to my backpack I grabbed a pack of tissues and handed them over.

"Here, at least try to stop bleeding all over yourself." His smirk held nothing of the cheerful kid he used to be. In its place was a warrior, a fighter, a King.

"You've got that look on your face again." He throws the pack of tissues back at me after extracting at least half of them to hold to his nose.

"What look?"

"The "my friend puts way too much on his shoulders" look. I'm okay you know. I've got people to lean on."

"I know. I just… it's hard sometimes. Not being resentful of how our lives turned out." I look up when I hear his answer, whispered quietly in the space between us.

"I know…"

Sam jolts back to life when a stray piece of waded up paper hits the back of her head. Jerking from her half dead (heh) position, she looks between the two of us, me: with a package of bloody tissues in my hand, and Danny: with blood and tissues covering half his face and hands, before looking around at the chaos of the room.

People are moving around everywhere, no one is in their seats (besides us, Valerie, Cheyenne and surprisingly Mikey). There are screams, laughter, prayers, and just general chaos. Sam looks back at us.

"So… I just had a horrible dream, right?"

"Sadly, it wasn't a dream." I shake my head as I speak and look towards Danny, who's nose is still bleeding, for backup.

"Not a dream Sam. We really are this unlucky."

"FUCK!" The loud exclamation brings the attention of everyone in the room. Including the Fenton parents.

"Oh my god! Danny! What happened?" Maddie comes running over, looking concerned. I try not to laugh at the scene. Danny: covered in his own blood because he broke his own nose. His parents: concerned and completely unaware that they are the real cause for his predicament. This should be fun…

"It's… it's nothing mom. I just, got hit, in the nose. It was an accident." For once, not a horrible lie…

"What did you get hit with hard enough to make your nose bleed in the middle of class?" The question from Maddie had me glancing quickly over to see Sam's widening eyes as she starts to cut in to explain. Danny beats her to it.

"A piece of paper!" Of course…

"A piece… of paper?" The urge to facepalm is overwhelming at times like this, sadly all I can do is watch the train wreck that is my best friend attempting to lie.

"Yup! A piece of paper. It hit me. In the face." Looking to Sam I have to wonder if her expression of agony is mirrored on my own face. How long have we been lying to people? How do you still suck at it?

"Okay… uhm. Tucker? Can you go with Danny to see the nurse?"

"Of course, Mrs. F." Grabbing Danny's arm as I reply, I quickly guide us towards the door and out of the room. Danny walks silently behind me until we make it around the corner. Startling at his burst of laughter I turn to face him, walking backwards through the hall.

"What?"

"It's just… they asked YOU of all people to escort me to the nurse." Hearing my friend laugh always makes my chest feel lighter, even when it's at my expense.

"Hey! I'm capable! Anyway, we're not going to the nurse." I say as I lead him over to the men's bathroom. "I know the nurse isn't gonna be able to set your nose, and she certainly won't help get the blood out of your clothes. Might as well do what we can ourselves."

"Fair enough." He mutters as he walks up to the sinks. "This is gonna be uncomfortable…" I hear right before Danny drops the tissues he's been holding over his face and lines his hands up on either side of his nose. There's a loud cracking sound, a wince, and more blood as Danny leans down over the sink.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" My attempt at lightening the mood gets me a half-hearted glare and a smirk. Mission successful, basically.

"Next we'll break your nose." Is the sarcastic reply I receive over wads of paper towels.

"I locked the door, give me your shirt so I can scrub some of the stains out." Danny shrugs his flannel off before stripping from his black tee. I grab the t-shirt and walk over to the row of sinks.

"You know, if you weren't such a clutz, we wouldn't have to do this every other day." That earns me a snort, followed by a wince, and a dry chuckle.

"Yeah, cause it's my clumsiness that lands me bleeding in a bathroom stall all the time." I don't even have to look to know he's rolling his eyes, more preoccupied working the blood out of the shirt in my hands.

"To be fair, you're not in a bathroom stall this time. You're practically living the life of luxury, I got you the whole bathroom!" I can hear his eyes rolling, no one can tell me otherwise.

"Yeah. Luxury." Even with the sarcastic tone I can tell his spirits are lifted. Right, mission successful.

When the water finally starts running clear through the fabric of the shirt I walk back over to Danny.

"One wet rag at your service." His raised eyebrow is worth it. I watch as he walks back to the sink to turn the shirt intangible, letting the water fall through it. He stares into the mirror for a second before grabbing more paper towels and starting to clean the blood off his skin.

"On a more serious topic, we need to have a park meeting tonight. It may be a while away, but we need to come up with some kind of plan for this ridiculous trip idea my parents are planning." I look to the ceiling for a moment.

"I know…" It's whispered, barely there. But when I look back to the mirror, I know he heard me. His eyes are clear, piercing into mine with an intensity I've seen a thousand times before. There's only one thing that ever comes from that look. Okay, battle stations then. We have to be prepared for everything.

"We'll get through this. It's not just the three of us anymore. I know you're still hesitant, but we have allies. It might be time to… to let them in on some of it. Not all of it. At least not right away. But it's going to take more than just us to survive this trip."

"I know. I think we should have a park meeting at the actual park today. There's someone I want to include." His voice is that of a warrior.

"Only one person? Sam might be sad."

"We need to start off slowly. Anyway, it's not our place to oust Valerie. We have to let her in a little bit before asking anything of her. After that we'll decide where to go." It makes sense. One at a time then. We can do this.

"Are you done?" I ask as Danny struggles his way back into his shirt. The blood has mostly been washed off, though there are still flecks of it on his hands. Probably doesn't even notice.

"Yeah, we should get back to class. They've probably already gone out to the field by now. How long have we been in here?" Grabbing my PDA from my pocket I check the time.

"Only about fifteen minutes. I'd say it's not bad considering you had to set a broken nose." His glare is worth the joke.

"Come on, Sam will be worried by now."

"Yeah yeah… I'm comin…" The walk to the classroom is short, and the time spent there is shorter, seeing as the class had already left.

"Told you we should've just gone straight out."

"Well, what if they were still there? It was pretty crazy when we left." I get an eye roll and a small smile for my troubles before we continue the walk to the outdoor practice field.

Arriving at the field arouses the attention of Sam, who comes running up to us, quickly followed by Valerie and Cheyenne.

"Are you okay? Where did you go?" Sam asks when she reaches us.

"What do you mean where did he go. You went to the nurse, right?" Cheyenne says the last part to Danny and me, while Valerie shakes her head.

"Oh no. That was definitely a broken nose. Nurse would've sent him to the hospital to get it set. But he's here, and his nose is set. Which means he either did it himself, or he knows someone who can set a nose."

"Right as always Valerie." Danny smiles, "It's not hard to set a broken nose. I've done it a few times."

"Doesn't that hurt…?" Cheyenne asks quietly. Danny gives a sad smile.

"I've had worse."

"So? Where did you go? You never answered my question."

"Oh. Sorry Sam. We just went to the bathroom to get cleaned up. Didn't mean to worry you." I tease.

"Oh please. Like I'd be worried about a broken nose. I just thought you might've gotten… caught up with something. But you didn't. So good." At this both Cheyenne and Valerie give a bit of a suspicious glance, though they both keep their mouths shut on the topic, for which I'm grateful.

"Anyway, how's practice going?" Danny cuts in, pointing vaguely in the direction of our other peers.

"So far everyone can at least hold their own against Nathan. Though, to be fair, that's not saying much." Valerie sighs. "There are about three people in the class who can hold their own against Dash, and half of that is just knowing how to dodge a punch. There's only one person in this class that I know can keep up with Mrs. Fenton. Though, I have my suspicions about a couple others…" She looks seriously at Sam, Danny and then me after saying this. I can't help but get the feeling she knows a lot more then she's letting on.

"I haven't seen anyone able to pick a fight against Mrs. Fenton." Cheyenne says, looking confused. With a single glance I can tell everyone is okay with telling her a small portion of our secret. Though I still hesitate. Danny speaks up first.

"The four of us… We have a lot more experience in this kind of thing then we've been up front about. We can talk about it more later. Right now, we should all get back to class." Valerie nods at Danny, a silent agreement, of what though I'm not sure. As far as jinxing goes, I've probably done worse…

I think we all know Tucker can screw things up pretty badly with his jinxing, but we still love him! I love writing from his point of view. I'll probably do more of him in the future. Next up we have the fateful park meeting. Can't wait to find out what happens!