Kindred

Dark Side of Popularity

She wondered why.

But seriously, she did not have time to contemplate the changes that Danny and Elsa being together brought. She had more important things to do, like her cheerleading competition and the likes.

She cursed as she was late for practice.

It was late when cheer practice end and she had to walk home, "Stupid Dash. I can't believe that he just left! He had promised a ride!" She glared at her phone, "And this thing just have to die during practice!" She then turned her eyes upward, "Oh...if only there is a hero somewhere that will pick me up..."

Phantom was hardly seen these days. What with the lack of other ghosts, he was barely spotted. The Fenton couple were patrolling endlessly like a hound that had loose it's scent. The GIW patrol cars were also aimless. It felt like the world did not need them without Phantom and ghosts causing havoc. Not that her sweet hero ever cause any problems. She believed him when the few times he defended himself when the Fenton duo and the GIW tried to put him down for 'crimes' of bank heist and taking the Mayor hostage; he was framed.

But ghosts were confusing. They could just easily erase any evidence of their crimes if they wanted to.

Paulina's shallow but she's not dumb. Well, not as dumb as people painted her as. She just don't want people to bother her with things that weren't interesting. So once she caught scent that people will lower their expectation in her if she acted shallow and dumb, she upped the act. It worked in her favor. Once she graduate, she will leave this no name town for the Big Apple. Paulina aimed to either be a model or an air stewardess. Either will take her around the world. She knew hard work and she knew beauty, so that was her strength and she will use it well.

Paulina gripped her pepper spray as she made her way home. Her Papa will be so mad at her for coming home so late and without company. Amity Park wasn't the most dangerous neighborhood even before the ghostly invasions from the other side. But it still have its own human crimes. Most of the criminals were usually people from outside. But whenever Phantom's out, they will usually be caught and handed to the police. He wasn't fond of handling human crime. Not that Paulina blame him. Even when he only ever dealt with ghost criminals, the ghost hunters hanging around town did not make his work easy. And should he ever be caught hurting a human, the outrage would be a nightmare.

And he didn't even hurt the so called hostage Mayor!

Paulina sighed, thinking of when Phantom will accept her feelings. He looked even more dashing these past few years. It was a little surprising to see his growth. After all, he's dead. He shouldn't be growing. But Paulina gleefully accept that as it meant that she won't be seen as a pedophile once she's considered an adult in the eyes of the law. It would be horrible to be dating an eternal 14 years old! Hero or not.

A car appeared around the corner and Paulina scowled. She wished her phone did not die as the car seemed to slowly follow her. From the plate, it's an out of state. She grumbled. After local criminals escaped Amity Park from the increase of ghost attacks, and the Box Ghost once stole their boxes of drugs, revealing their operation and location, locals were actually more wary of visitors from outside. Part of the reason was because criminals tended to be outside visitors these days. The other part was that ghost hunters tended to cause more property damage than Phantom's fight with the ghosts.

A man's voice whistled, "Hey, there, hot mama! Where are you heading?!"

Paulina hastened her steps. The downside of being so beautiful were creeps like these. She noticed their sleazy overage appearance and shuddered. She's 17, not whatever age they were supposed to be! That means that these people were either pedophiles or human traffickers. She started to pray for Phantom to patrol that night.