Self Aware

The Boy

Danny trudged out of the bathroom, his now black hair a mess and his blue eyes drooping.

When he bumped into Jazz in the hallway, she yanked him into his room and locked the door.

"Alright, Danny," she sighed. "Spill."

Oh, great. The last thing he needed was his over protective sister riding his case. "What are you talking about?" he asked, faking ignorance.

The ginger rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly. "Come on, Danny, don't play dumb. You've been acting really strange lately, and you look awful. Did you sleep at all last night?"

"I'm just stressed," he assured her. And he wasn't lying. His grades were plummeting, the ghosts had been more active lately, and if he didn't pass Lancers test today, he was so dead (no pun intended). Not to mention the brewing argument with his ghostly family.

"Danny, you know you can talk to me, right?" his sister asked.

"I do talk to you," he promised. "I tell you everything I tell Sam and Tucker."

"What about everything else?"

...

Danny walked with his hands stuffed in his pockets, ignoring Sam and Tuckers bantering over the lifestyles of vegetarians and non. He knew the argument. He could probably recite each of their points a dozen times over. Usually, he would step between the two, try to calm them down before something was said and taken too far.

But his un beating heart wasn't in it. The realization of his one year anniversary had hit him hard, and after his conversation with Jazz... he was more than ready to call it a day.

Something pulled him from his thoughts and he blinked when his mind registered the sound of snapping fingers.

"I'm listening," he rushed, looking at Sam, who rolled her eyes and lowered her hand back to her side.

"Sure you were." Her eyes softened, and looked at him more worriedly. "Danny, are you okay?"

"Of course he isn't," Tucker answered. "He's upset that we aren't throwing him a party. I told you we should have thrown him a party."

"Party?" Danny asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "A party for what?"

"Uh, hello? It's your one year anniversary of getting your powers!" Tucker exclaimed. "Or should we call it your Death Day?" Danny winced, earning Tucker a shush and an elbow to the ribs from Sam.

A jogger gave them a weird look as she passed, which the high schoolers ignored.

"Why don't you make that your Facebook status, Tucker?" Sam scolded.

"Sorry," he blushed. "But seriously, dude, we gotta celebrate. Aren't you even a little excited?"

"Oh, I um, forgot about it," Danny lied. "You know, I actually promised Jazz that I would help with, uh, chores. So I actually can't do anything tonight."

Sam's violet eyes narrowed. "Did she twist your arm behind your back?"

The halfa forced a laugh. "Something like that."

"Hey, Fenton!"

Danny looked up and realized they had made it school. The blond jock that had called his name was marching towards the trio, looking pissed.

"What'd you do this time?" Sam smirked.

"Who knows?" Danny groaned, but stood up straight to face his foe.

When Dash made it over, he held up a piece of paper full of red markings. On the top a fat F was scribbled in red.

"Do you see this?" he demanded. "This is your fault, Fenton! If your stupid ghost hunting parents hadn't blasted the wall down in the middle of my test, I would've had a B!"

Danny wasn't so sure about that last part, but his parents had been barging in at school a lot lately. They claimed their scanners were picking up an insane amount of ghost energy, and Danny feared it was only a matter of time before he was discovered.

"Look, Dash-"

The shrill ringing of the school bell cut him off, and the black haired boy sighed in relief as Sam and Tucker dragged him through the school halls.

"At least he didn't slam you into a locker," Tucker teased.

"Ha ha." Danny rolled his eyes and stopped at the door of his first hour.

Sam smiled and began walking to her own class, with Tucker in tow. "See you later, Danny!"