Chapter 46

Tucker walked back into the video game store in a daze.

"Where's Danny?" Sam asked.

"Didn't catch him," he said, eyes still in shock.

"You okay?"

"Perfect…"

Sam rolled her eyes. "I'll get his pre-order for him. He can pay me back later."

"K."

She narrowed her eyes at Tucker but just shrugged it off as she paid for her and Danny's pre-orders. After she finished, she looked at Tucker.

"Are you gonna get your pre-order?"

He looked at her blankly. "Oh yeah." As he walked over to the counter, Sam touched his arm.

"Seriously, what's going on? What happened? It's something about Danny, isn't it?"

He pursed his lips. "Something about Danny? Huh…I guess so."

"What's going on?"

"I wish I knew. I can't believe he didn't tru—"

Sam furrowed her brows in frustration. That's the second time someone started to say something to her without finishing within 24 hours.

"I've gotta go," he said, powerwalking out of the store.

"Tucker, wait! The game?"

She groaned, turning back to the cashier. "One more pre-order, please."

"Please, Mrs. Fenton! I have to talk to him," Tucker pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Tucker. But Danny is grounded. That means outside of school, no friends."

"But it's really important. It's about a…math test! He, um, needs help studying."

She pondered this. "His math grade has been slipping lately."

He nodded adamantly.

"I'll have Jazz help him. Thanks for letting me know," she said, before closing the door.

He moaned before an idea struck him. He grabbed a rock and threw it up at Danny's window.

"Danny!" He yell-whispered. He threw another one.

He saw Danny come to the window with a confused expression. He opened the window. "Tuck, what are you doing?"

"We need to talk!"

"I'm grounded."

"Can't you just, you know, come down here, and we can talk?"

"My mom won't let me leave my room," he said, crossing his arms.

"Sure, but what if you just came down from the window?" Tucker suggested, trying to lead Danny to tell him the truth on his own.

"I'm on the second story," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Can't we just talk tomorrow at school?"

Tucker frowned. He wasn't going to tell him. Would he ever? Part of him wanted to tell Danny he knew. Another part of him wanted Danny to just come clean. He wanted to understand how this happened and why Danny never told him. They told each other everything. And it was clear Sam didn't know either, but she definitely knew something was up.

Does anyone know?

"Sure, dude. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, dejectedly.

"You have to come, Danny. We are supporting your Uncle Vlad," Maddie told him, straightening his tie.

"And some of the results have already come in!" Jack said cheerily. "Looks like he's already ahead."

"Woohoo," Danny said, sarcastically.

Jazz came down the stairs, in a navy-blue dress, with her hair up in a bun.

"Do we have to go to this?" She complained.

"I don't know if the two of you remember, but you are both grounded. That means you'll do exactly what we say, end of story," Maddie told them, hands on hips.

"And even if you weren't grounded, we'd still make you go!" Jack added.

"That I believe," Danny said.

They were among the first ones to arrive at the campaign party. It was at Vlad's luxurious mansion. A stage was set up at the back wall of the main room in the mansion. Everything was red, white, and blue with glitter. All the sparkle and shine worsened Danny's ever-increasing headache. He knew exactly what would happen: Vlad would win by a landslide. He'd make some terrible speech about how awful Phantom was for the town which everyone would love. It would be just perfect.

It turned out that Danny's friends and their families were invited too, just to make everything oh-so-sweeter. At least his friends were invulnerable to the scepter's hypnotic abilities with their Fenton Phones.

Tucker and his family came inside. He waved to Danny with a weird look on his face. With furrowed eyebrows, he nodded back. He couldn't help but be curious about what Tuck wanted to talk about. It made him a bit uneasy. But on his list of problems, that ranked towards the bottom.

Tuck, he could deal with. The end of the world? Not so much.

Sam's family came inside. She locked eyes with Danny. She was wearing a floor-length black dress, much to her mother's dismay. Her hair was half up, half down, and she had on purple eye makeup.

"Wow," Danny gasped.

Jazz smiled. "So, are you going to tell her the truth?"

He elbowed her then flashed his green eyes at her. "Cut it out, Jazz."

She put her hands up then walked away to the concessions. That's when he spotted Vlad milling about the room, shaking hands with some elites and then his parents. He rolled his eyes.

When he turned, Sam was right there. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, smiling.

"What are you smiling about? Vlad's about to win this election."

He shrugged. "At least it's just mayor."

"Next stop, governor, then senator, and before you know it, president of the United States!" She said, raising her arms, causing some people to look their way. She put her arms down and sighed.

"If we even have a United States by then…" Danny muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing." There was no need to worry his friends with that information. The less they – and everyone else – know, the better. "Do you know what's up with Tuck? He wanted to talk to me earlier. I got the vibe that it was about something important."

"Who knows? By the way, I pre-ordered Doom 2 for you."

"Oh thanks! Let me know how much."

"Hey you guys," Tucker said.

"Hey Tuck," Danny said. "I guess we can talk now if you want?"

He pursed his lips then shrugged. "It was nothing."

Before Danny could ask why, there was microphone feedback from the stage, causing everyone to stir and look. Vlad had gotten up to the stage.

"Amity Park! It is with great excitement that I tell you that I, Vlad Masters, am projected to be your next mayor by a landslide!"

Ruckus applause broke out while Danny and his friends and sister crossed their arms. Vlad quieted down the crowd with his hands.

"Thank you!" He smiled, making eye contact with Danny when he said. "And with this change of leadership, will come many changes to our beautiful city." He smiled and turned his eyes back on the rest of the audience. "I'd first like to thank my team for their dedication to our cause!" More applause. "And I'd like to thank Danny Fenton, for his loyal support throughout my campaign. I couldn't have done this without you." When a spotlight went on Danny, he cringed. "As well as Jack Fenton for being my most loyal supporter. And Maddie Fenton, whom I'd like to welcome to the stage." She blushed when the spotlight came on her. She made her way up to the stage next to Vlad.

As he extended a hand, helping her up to the stage, people cheered loudly. They raised their hands up together. After probably ten minutes of redundant gestures and clapping, the audience's cheers finally died down, and everyone went back to mingling and celebrating.

Danny felt uneasy. Vlad having his mom on the stage like that was sickening. If he didn't have the scepter, people would have recognized how strange it was. He noticed the two of them were talking on the stage, before Vlad welcomed her backstage.

After they were out of sight, he listened closely to their conversation.

"Danny? What are you doing?" Tucker asked.

Danny shushed him, closing his eyes so he could hear.

He heard a champagne bottle pop, fizzing as it was poured into glasses. "To new beginnings," Vlad said.

"To new beginnings," Maddie said.

They clinked and sipped the champagne.

"Maddie, you do love me, don't you?"

"Oh, Vlad, of course. You are one of my closest friends."

Tucker started talking. "Look, Danny, I was thinking we could talk. You know, about the thing I was talking about earlier?"

Danny turned to him. "I really can't right now. Okay?"

Tucker's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, why not? You're just standing here…"

"You do love me," Vlad said.

"Yes, I love you," Maddie said, feeling absent from her voice.

"Danny, the truth is, I know –" Tucker started.

"Kiss me, Maddie."

"No!" Danny yelled, running backstage.

Tucker scratched his head. "That's not how I expected that to go."

"Get off my mom!" Danny fumed when he saw Vlad kissing her.

The kiss broke off. His mom turned to him.

"I love Vlad now, sweetie."

"No, you don't. He brainwashed you!"

"What's going on back here?" Jack barged in.

"Maddie loves me now, and you are fine with it. She will live here with me in my mansion from now on," Vlad told him.

Jack nodded. "Yes, that is fine."

"Dad, no! Vlad is brainwashing you and Mom." His parents stared at him blankly. "Vlad, stop this!"

"Why would I do that? If I wanted, I could make things a lot worse for you. This way, your father lives. You should see that as mercy. Oh, and if you so much as try to use Fenton Phones on either of them, your father will be as good as dead."

Danny felt his throat grow tight. He was powerless. There was nothing he could do.

"Run along now."

Danny pointed a finger at him. "This is not the end of this!"

When he charged out from backstage, Tucker walked to him. "Hey, man, so have you given it thought?"

"Given what a thought?" He asked shortly.

"What I just told you."

"Tuck, I'm tired, and frankly, I have a lot going on right now. I'm sorry. I just really need to get out of here," he said, pushing past him.

"Hold on. Did you even hear anything that I told you?"

"I guess not. What is it?" Danny turned around.

"Never mind, man. I guess you can't be bothered."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"For weeks, you've been so wrapped up in your own stuff, you haven't cared about what being best friends even means! It means we tell each other everything. But now I realize that it's completely one-sided. Whatever, man. Let me know when you're ready to start being best friends again. Until then, I'm done."

"Wait, Tuck!"

He stormed off.

"What the heck was that about?" Sam asked as she came up next to him with a cookie.

"I wish I knew."