"Good luck on your biology test!" I turned and yelled after Danny. He made an over-exaggerated grimace and I giggled. Tucker hadn't stopped by to chat. I saw him over by the door asking out every girl that passed by. Had to hand it to him, he didn't give up easy. The dance was such a big deal to everyone. My parents had bought me a...Stupid! A stupid dress that I would never wear because I hate dances. In dresses.
*************************************************************************************
At lunch, I headed outside to meet the boys at our usual table with my salad. Danny was about to take a bite of his sandwich when he noticed me. "Hey." I sat down beside him.
"So how'd the test go?"
"Ah-I... bombed. I got another D. D for Danny." I had always had decent grades without really trying. I didn't actually know all that much, but I was really good at multiple choice. I felt sorta bad for him. I guess I could help him study sometime. Danny took a rather sad bite of his sandwich. I noticed the missing member.
"Where's Tuck?" Danny motioned toward the doors with his head. Underneath the banner that read 'The Big Dance' was Tucker, asking every girl who walked by. Eventually, he moped over to the opposite side of Danny. He sat down and put his head in his hands, frowning.
"Strike three, Tuck?"
"Try strike three-thousand." Danny took another bite.
"I don't know what the big deal is about going to some stupid dance. I don't need to be asked to some dance to know I'm special. I-" The guys were both staring at something, practically drooling.
"What?" They didn't even look away and spoke in unison.
"Paulina..." Paulina put her hands on her hips and looked around snobbishly, probably seeing how many boys were staring like Tuck and Danny were. Chaos erupted as she walked by. Boys walking into each other, crashing bikes into trees. They didn't perceive anything except Paulina. They didn't care."Paulina..." I looked at them both. They were zombies. Seriously, dudes?
"Oh please, Paulina? Girls like her are a dime a dozen." Immediately, Danny and Tucker started digging frantically in their pockets for change.
"How much change you got?" Tucker and Danny were both counting their coins. I'm going to think it again. Seriously, dudes?
"Ah HA HA. Very funny. Just remember, you can't judge a book by its cover." I remember doing that at my parent's library when I was younger. I started reading Lord of the Rings because of the awesome artwork on the front and found it way too slow (and heavy and thick) for my ten-year old tastes. I'll have to pick that one back up someday. The movies were too mainstream for my tastes, but not many people read the book anymore.
"Well, there's only one way to find out. Go on, Danny. Go to that library and check out that book." Tucker pointed encouragingly to the tree where Paulina sat down with her lunchbox.
"A-i-I can't! I get weak-kneed when I try to talk to cute girls!" He slouched against the table. Oh really?
"Oh. And you have absolutely no problems talking to me." Danny stuttered and tried to come up with an excuse.
"Ah...Eh..."
"Skip it!" I grabbed him under the armpits and lifted him off of the bench. "Go give your weak knees some exercise." That kid really could make use of some heavy endurance training. I lightly pushed him toward Paulina.
Danny sort of stumbled over there and came up behind Paulina. He inhaled deeply, then smiled and leaned on the tree. "Hi! I-" I couldn't really see his hand that was supporting him before, and Danny's face hit the bark before he fell over. I tried not to laugh. Sometimes his ghost-ness made me jealous, sometimes I was grateful that I didn't have any. And sometimes it was just gross. As if those two didn't loiter around the locker rooms enough...
"Pleeease, don't say you've suddenly fallen for me. That line is so last semester." She spooned some pink yogurt into her mouth. Danny got back up.
"Yeah. I mean, no. Th-that's...not it. I'm..." Paulina looked kind of annoyed already. It was sort of funny watching him struggle and sort of annoying to watch her crush his dreams. "I-I'm Danny." For a split second, his pants became translucent, then solidified and fell around his ankles. Simultaneously, everyone in the crowd started all-out laughing. Including miss shallow.
"A gentleman usually tips his hat...but I'll give you points for originality."
I decided to come to Danny's rescue. Because that's what friends do. "Kudos, Danny. You just set an all-time speed record for drowning in the shallow end of the gene pool." I directed the words to Paulina with my angry stare. After processing my words using her eyes somehow by looking around, she closed her eyes and shoved her palm toward me.
"Oh no. You did not just call me shallow, did you?"
"If you mean, do I think I could stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet? Then...yeah."
"Shallow, I am not shallow." I grabbed Danny's wrist and dragged the waistband warrior as fast as he could go without tripping himself. She glared after us. Sam:1, Paulina:0.
******************************************************************************************
I got to school late today because me and mom had a fight over a flowery skirt. I headed straight to my classes. In fact, I didn't see Danny at all! Halfway through lunch, Tucker came and took his seat.
"Hey. Where's Danny?"
"I gave him and Paulina some space."
"Oh...Paulina. Ummm, let's change the subject. Still haven't got a date?" Tucker grimaced. So me and Tucker spent lunch talking about the stupid dance. Which was far better than talking about miss Shallow.
*********************************************A day passes ************************** ******************
After school, we met up at the mall. This was the first time I actually got to see Danny since... Paulina. Tucker got something to eat first thing. He oggled every teenage girl that he could see. They all said no before he could even ask. After Danny finished telling us about how he totally humiliated Dash (who deserved it), and we stopped laughing, and his romancing with Paulina (who didn't deserve anything, especially not the mysterious necklace), and I stopped secretly gagging, I asked something slightly more pressing. "So, your Dad is going to chaperon the dance?"
"Yes, but he doesn't know he's going to chaperon because he doesn't remember that I made him say yes!" Danny put his head in his hand. I stabbed a forkful of lettuce and ate it.
"So, lemme get this straight. You can just walk into people and take over their bodies from the inside?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Tucker sat up straighter and looked at the nearest girl.
"Hey, Danny. If you could control a girl for just about two minutes..." Danny looked at her, then looked at Tucker with his hand up innocently.
"Forget it." Danny threw down his hand and picked up his burger. "You can get your own date to the dance, like I did." I looked at Tucker.
"Does he have to take off his pants and act like a dweeb? Or will either one do?" I said with a playful grin. Danny gave me a confused look, as if realizing what I said was about him. I hope he didn't take that badly. I didn't like it when Danny was mad.
"Honestly, guys, I'm glad I'm not going to this stupid dance. Saves me the embarrassment of wearing the lame dress my parents bought me. Hah, ha ha."
"So no one's asked ya, Huh?" He was right. But... did it really matter? It was a dance. Dances weren't important...
"Maybe if I was as pretty as Paulina!" Danny looked at me, a question in his expression.
"Why are you so down on her? So she's pretty! It's not a crime." But being... for lack of a better word, bitchy, was. I frowned.
"Looks are decieving, Danny." People started running and screaming. I looked behind me to look for the danger. I heard Danny exhale loudly behind me.
"Ghost-time. Can I finish your fries?" I still hadn't seen what everyone was so afraid of. Danny ran in front of me and exchanged his baggy clothing for a sleek black jumpsuit. His eyes and hair changed colour and he took off. Toward a giant ghost-dragon...that I totally missed. This might have been the same dragon Danny fought a couple of days ago at his house...
"Say, haven't we met somewhere?" The dragon replied with a roar, and started breathing fire. Danny dodged easily, still keeping his composure. "Let's try this again. Hi, I'm Danny Phantom. And you are?" The dragon roared again. I don't think it was much for conversation. It whipped Danny into one of the food court booths using its immense tail. "Testy. Got it!" The dragon toasted the wiener booth just as Danny dodged. "Sorry, Dude! I think you've got the wrong weenie!" Danny punched the dragon and it flew down the hallway. I peered around the corner of the salad bar to watch. By the time I got there, the dragon had Danny in its clutches.
The dragon threw Danny to the ground and pinned him there. "MUST HAVE TEE!"
"Tea? Oh, good idea. Coffee might make you jittery. Better yet..." Danny dissapeared into the floor. The dragon looked around, then Danny flew up out of the floor and performed a powerful uppercut. "HAVE SOME PUNCH!" I think he might have too much fun fighting ghosts. His banter got lamer and lamer. The dragon flew toward a woman carrying an Abyss shopping bag. It slammed hard on the floor and slowly shrunk. It was... Paulina?!? HA! I knew there was something evil about her! She looked dazed, and peered inside the shopping bag that the woman had dropped. She put her necklace back on...How did it come off? She jumped for joy at the sight of the t-shirt in the bag.
Danny floated up through the floor in front of me."Danny! Are you okay?" Danny reverted back to his normal self.
"Fine. But that's the second time I've fought that dragon. We need to investigate. How are you guys?"
"Great! If you don't count me still being dateless for the dance." Tucker pressed random buttons on his PDA. "Sasha, no, Denise, no. I've hit every girl in school except..." Valerie walked over to us. "Valerie."
"Yeah, hi. Sucker, is it?" She looked at him snobbishly. Oh, how I disliked the popular girls.
"Tucker. Or Tuck. Or Tuckerino."
"Which ends with no. Which, by the way, is my answer. Unless something happens in the next five minutes that makes me dateless." Kwan ran over to Valerie.
"You'll never guess what happened! Donna said she'll go to the dance with me! So you're dateless!" He walked away excitedly.
"You're on."
"I'll take it!" Tucker was ecstatic. "Some may call it the rebound, but I call it a yes! I GOT A DATE! WOO! And the pants are still on!"
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