Neutral (Danny Fenton/Phantom x Reader)

Chapter 8 - Amity

Mr. Lancer smiled, I could see the gears turning in his head, "Which ones have you read?"

"The Body, Rose Madder, and Firestarter." I plopped a peach in my mouth and stole a look at the clock, two more minutes until my free period starts. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for that period, I'm not even sure if we're allowed off school grounds, can I just go home and nap for the next hour? Lancer tapped his red pen on his desk in thought, "I'd recommend reading Cujo, in that case. It's a psychological horror novel, not as scary as the rest, in my opinion at least. The school may actually have it in the library."

Boredom problem solved; books are better than people, anyway.

The bell blared loudly through my ears, I scooped my book into my backpack and put all the trash on the tray.

"Thanks for the suggestion, Mr. Lancer." I said, laying the untouched apple left on my tray on his desk before I left.

~★☆★~

Tut, tut, you should've listened to Tad.

What is with parents in horror novels never listening to their children? 'Oh, it's just your imagination!' are the famous last words before the kid's imaginary friend turns out to be some poltergeist and tries to kill everyone in the house. Even worse, why do they bother to stick around even when things are getting weird? By all means, stay in the house next to a literal pet cemetery, or continue going into the basement where some guy went bat-shit after an unexplained and probably murderous event.

"Come on, use your head!" I exclaimed, rocking back from my heel on the table in the uncomfortable chair I refused to get up from. The librarian looked up at me from her thick rimmed glasses with a warning in her eyes, making me pipe down and sit like a normal person. I guess my constant commentary and chair rocking was annoying her. It's not my fault that rocking back in a chair is the closest I can get to casually floating wherever I may please. Besides the point, Cujo so far has been cheesy, frustrating and a bit silly. Lancer was right, not very creepy. I closed the book, and slipped it into my bag without another word; I left the library and roamed the hallways.

Not a soul was journeying through the halls with me; believe me, I checked. The other students with a free period were doing other things, I assumed most were outside socializing with one another. I passed the lunchroom, now empty, say for a pair of boys sitting at a lunch table playing a card game together. This looks like a nice, quiet place to reside until the bell rings again.

"For this to be the number one ghost city in the united states, it sure is fairly tame." I mumbled, resting my bag on the seat next to me after I sat. The boy with the curly red hair turned around, "Don't get used to it, this is just a quiet day, you don't even want to know how bad the damage can get."

He pointed at a clear tarp taped to cover a massive hole in the wall, the students outside were blurry figures walking around through the plastic, "That was from a ghost dragon attack."

"Holy shit, a ghost dragon did that?"

The two boys nodded, the curly haired boy spoke again, "I'm Nathan, and that's Mikey." I turned my full attention back over to them, showing off a sweet smile.

"I'm (Y/N), nice to meet you both."

Mikey and Nathan went back to their game and I continued reading for a bit, enjoying the silence once more. As much as I would've loved to let that silence continue, something had been bugging me since first period and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I needed a name for the face, I can't keep calling him random nicknames I can't keep track of.

"Hey, um..."

How do I ask this without sounding creepy?

The two of them turned to me again, waiting for me to continue. I took a quick breath, "There's a boy in my class, do you guys know who he is?"

Mikey laid his cards face-down on their table, to ensure that Nathan wouldn't get a peek at his hand; Nathan did the same and looked at me expectantly.

"What does he look like?"

"He has really blue eyes-"

Nathan and Mikey didn't seem to need to have any more information beyond that, based on their knowing expressions. The two shared a look with each other, Nathan even looked a little smug when he stated,

"That would be, Danny Fenton."

~★☆★~

Danny Fenton. My blue-eyed boy wonder finally has a name.

Funnily enough, I've finally gathered more information about him from Nathan and Mikey. Apparently, Danny Fenton is considered a loser around here, which makes things both easier and harder. Being a loser means accepting other people into your group more easily, but also being shy and hesitant of peers, and I'm sure he's going to be a lot more hesitant of me when he has that secret to keep.

Well, better to start breaking through sooner than later.

But how do you just walk up to someone and casually start a friendship?

"Hey, (Y/N)!"

I looked over my shoulder and stopped walking, "Kwan?"

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side of the hall, the abundance of students that were pushing past me were now walking around the two of us while straining their necks to see who he was talking to. Kwan smiled at me and released my arm. "I have good news."

"What's your definition of good news?"

He laughed at my comment, I don't think he picked up the tone of how I said it. That, or he was dismissing it.

"I've been talking to my friends, the A-Listers. It took a lot of convincing, but they said that we can be seen together as long as I'm okay with whatever happens to my reputation because of you."

What?

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we get to hang out and they'll be cool with it! Isn't that great?"

That wasn't the part of that sentence I was focusing on.

I bit the inside of my cheek when he smiled again. Well, I guess being friends with Kwan would be kind of fun. He seems nice enough, for the most part, and it's not like I could hang out with my English teacher after school hours without it being super weird and inappropriate. I took a deep breath in and smiled back at him, "Yeah, that is really great, Kwan. Want to go somewhere if you don't have anything to do?"

"Absolutely!"

Well, if Kwan sticks around and we can stay on good terms, that'll be fine. Even if he doesn't, at least this experience will give me some social practice.