Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, I got pretty sick. But I'm hoping to wrap this fic up soon!

Star Error XV

When the final bell rang, Fenton was quick to leave the classroom with Foley and Manson. Star watched him leave before turning to her own friends.

"So when did Fenton come back to class?" she asked.

"Huh?" Kwan cocked his head.

"When did he come back to class when?" asked Dash. "Today?"

"Yes, today!" snapped Star. "He went out to use the restroom, remember? And then the ghost alarm went off."

Paulina sighed glumly. "The ghost didn't even attack us. No chance for the ghost boy to come save me."

"So when did Fenton come back?" asked Star again. "Was it like right before I came back? Or a few minutes? Longer?"

"I don't know," said Dash. "I didn't even see him come back in."

"How did you not see him?" whined Star.

"Look, I don't pay attention to Fenton every second of the day," said Dash. "I'm not in love with him like you are."

Star blushed. "I am not—"

"He's all you ever talk about now," said Dash with a sneer.

The A-Listers began to gather their things and stand. Star watched them, still baffled.

"You really don't remember when he came back in?" she asked, rising to her feet and scooping her things into her arms.

"He was just kind of here again," said Kwan.

"Yes, the ghost alarm went off and Lancer started his lecture again and then…" Paulina puckered her lips in thought. "I remember you coming back in. That's all."

"Fenton must've come back in when the ghost alarm was going off and we were all too distracted to notice," said Kwan with a shrug.

"Come on, I'm starving," said Dash, leading the way out of the classroom. "I gotta eat something before practice."

"Yeah, don't want you passing out on the field again," laughed Kwan.

Dash shoved him. "Shut up, I didn't pass out. I just tripped."

"And didn't get up for a whole minute."

"It was not that long!"

Star trailed behind the other A-Listers as they entered the hallway, their chattering getting lost in the cacophony of all the other voices as students scurried past, laughing and shouting and gossiping. As she opened her locker and took out her backpack, she could see Fenton down the hall at his own locker. He caught her eye and smiled.

Star narrowed her eyes as she studied him hard. Fenton's attention was quickly pulled away by his friends, and then he shut his locker and disappeared around a corner.

Fenton and Phantom were at least somewhat close to each other, that much she knew for sure now.

But how close?

In the tutoring room, she took a seat and looked over the list of students signed up for math help that afternoon. But as she tried to concentrate on helping students with quadratic formulas and coordinate planes and differential equations, she found that her mind just kept turning back to Fenton and Phantom.

What do you really think about Danny Fenton?

She had thought it was a strange question for Phantom to ask in the moment, but it seemed even more peculiar now. Was it some kind of wingman routine? Did Fenton ask Phantom to ask her what she thought of him? But how did Fenton know that she and Phantom were going to meet? Was it really just a coincidence?

It had to be, yes. Because it made much more sense than the alternative.

Fenton and Phantom…

They couldn't possibly be the same person. That made absolutely no sense.

"Did I do it right?" asked Gina, the girl Star was tutoring.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Star blinked and looked over the problem Gina was working on, then quickly shook her head. "Oh, wait, no, no. This is all wrong. Sorry, I'm a little distracted…"

She took an eraser and rubbed out Gina's mistakes, almost all of her penciled calculations. Gina looked at the mostly empty space and sighed.

"You had the right idea," said Star. "Just, uh, just try again."

Star tapped the empty space a couple times with her manicured index finger. Gina sighed again and started a new attempt to solve the problem. Star tried to focus on the movements of Gina's pencil, the numbers being written, but her mind would not stop wandering.

"So, um…" Star hesitated, clearing her throat to stall a moment. "Just out of curiosity, um… What would you do if you thought the ghost kid was a student at our school?"

Gina looked up from her paper, her eyes becoming quite round. "The ghost kid? As in Danny Phantom?" She grinned, somewhat dreamily. "I'd definitely try to get his autograph. And maybe his phone number. I mean, if he has a phone number." She scrunched her mouth. "Do ghosts have cell phones?"

Star glanced down at her phone in her lap as she thought about the times she had seen Fenton using his own phone.

"Maybe," she murmured.

…

The next day, Star watched Fenton closely, keeping her distance as she tried to covertly follow him as much as she could.

But of course, all of the A-Listers noticed.

"You're really taking this breakup hard, aren't you?" asked Dash with a laugh.

"We did not—we were never—" Star groaned and gave up as she followed the group to their next class.

"When you and I broke up, it was easy," said Kwan. "You must really like Fenton to be this hung up on him."

"I am not—"

"I think he might still like you, too," said Paulina. "He's looking this way!"

Star blushed and turned her face just a little to find Fenton indeed looking at her. Their eyes met for a small moment before Manson took Fenton by the arm and pulled him away down the hall.

"You really are out of his league, Star," said Kwan. "But hey, it's your life."

Star was about to turn her face away from Fenton when she saw him stumbling as he tried to keep up with Manson's pace. He clutched his right side, hobbling a few steps before righting himself and walking straight.

Star blinked several times, trying to remember Phantom's wound from the day before. Which side was it?

She remembered the library, the monster ghost baring its claws on one hand and taking a swipe at Phantom. The monster's claws tore through Phantom's suit and there was ectoplasm bleeding out, oozing between Phantom's gloved fingers as he pressed a hand to his side.

His right side.

Star looked over at Fenton again, who was still walking straight but she saw him clutching his right side, yes, definitely his right side.

It's your life, Kwan had said.

But at this moment, Star was far more interested in Fenton's life.