Danny waited for Vlad in the main foyer. After a tense breakfast, Danny gave up on continuing the silent treatment he had with the older man. He couldn't stay upset at the man because long ago Danny realized that everything that the older halfa did was for Danny's best interest. Yeah, Vlad could have gone about a better approach to stop him from arriving at school late, but personally driving him there was probably the most effective way to keep an eye on him. Making sure that nothing can intercept Danny on his route to school. No ghost was stupid enough to assault him when Vlad was around unless they were suicidal.
Vlad finally made his way downstairs. "Good morning, Daniel. Are you ready to leave?" Danny pulled his school bag onto his shoulder and nodded his head in assent.
When they walked out of the mansion, Danny stopped, "Can we not go in the limo today? I don't want anyone at school to know that I live with you."
"And why is that?" Vlad raised a questioning brow at his young charge.
Danny gave Vlad a pointed look, "You're freakin' Vlad Masters, one of the richest man in America! Everyone in Amity Park knows you." Danny waved his arms to emphasize. "I don't want the other kids at school to find another thing to use against me..."
"Daniel, you should not be bothered by how others view you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You mustn't concern yourselves with them." Vlad chided to the boy.
"I know but I rather not start any trouble."
Vlad let out a sigh, "Alright, we will not be using the limousine today." Vlad led Danny to another car. Pulling out his keys, the man opened the driver's door. Noting that the boy did not follow him in, "Daniel, do you need an invitation?"
"Seriously Vlad. What part of me 'wanting to remain inconspicuous' do you not understand?"
Of course, the car that Vlad picked was none other than a Lamborghini Veneno. The sleek black car was not only known for its speed but it was also one of the most expensive production cars on the market. The beast literally looked like the Batmobile and screamed WEALTHY.
"Uh, Vlad. I take that back. I'd rather take the limo."
"Nonsense, my boy. Get in." The man chuckled at the boy's reaction. Shaking his head, Danny rolled his eyes at the older halfa and climbed into the car.
-PotC-
Once the two halfas were a block from Casper Middle, Danny turned to Vlad. "You can drop me off here, I can walk the rest of the way." Vlad pulled them up to the curb.
Before Danny left the vehicle Vlad grabbed the boy's sleeve. "I will be traveling in the Ghost Zone today to search for a possible mentor for you, so I will be unable to pick you up after school. Give Carlos a call when you need a ride and he will come to you with the limousine."
"Got it. I will see you later today Vlad." Danny waved farewell to his ward and made his way towards Casper Middle School. As he left Vlad's line of sight, the cheerful smile faded from his face. Discarding his ebullient facade, he assumed his dispirited mask reserved for the student body at Casper: the withdrawn, antisocial geek. Hunching his posture and lowering his gaze, Danny mentally prepared himself for today's torture at his own personal hell. Keeping a lookout for a certain blond jock, he slowly trudged his way inside the building.
No sooner had he entered the building did his ghost-sense set off, the tell-tale blue wisps escaped his open mouth, alerting him of a ghost's presence in the school.
Danny froze for a moment, hesitant over whether he should go after the ghost or head to class. Of course, his hero-complex had to rear its head into his conscience, guilty over his selfish indecision to help people, Danny looked up at the clock in the hall. If he hurried, he might be able to make it to class in time.
His search did not take long as he soon found the ghost in the basement. The air was frigid to preserve the food stored there but the chilly temperature did not perturb the young halfa. In fact, he relished in it as the cold air that cooled and provided comfort to his core. Danny swept his gaze around the refrigerated storage space, the basement was filled with stacked boxes of packaged meat and fruit to be used in the cafeteria.
There was movement at Danny's left and several cardboard boxes glowed green, the common sign of possession. Recognizing the entrance, the halfa let out a desperate moan, "Please don't be who I think it is..."
But as usual, fate had it out for him with vengeance and his luck proved to be nonexistent. The pudgy, round ghost floated into view.
The overall-wearing ghost raised its gloved hands in a failed attempt to appear intimidating. "Beware! I am the Box Ghost!" the lone sound of a cricket answered back.
"I have control over all containers cardboard, cubic, and square. Tremble before the might of the Box Ghost, as you are at the mercy of..." the blue skinned ghost grabbed the nearest floating box and read the label, "Frozen corn puppies!"
Danny brought his palm to his face and dragged his hand down. His eyebrow twitched with his mounting annoyance.
"Seriously! I don't have time for this!" In a flash, rings traveled along Danny's body changing him into Phantom. Danny aimed the Fenton Thermos at the pitiful excuse of a ghost. Aware of the halfa's intentions, the ghost hurled the box's contents at the boy. Danny turned intangible to avoid the impact of the attack.
"You will not be able to contain the sheer awesomeness of the Box ghost in that cylindrical device! For I-" Danny caught off the Box ghost's tirade with the on button of the thermos. The ghost was soon enveloped in swirling light and his corporeal form began to distort. The Box Ghost let out one final "BEWARE!" before he was sucked into the device. Danny closed the cap on the thermos and reverted back to his human form.
The chime of the late bell reverberated throughout the building.
"Aww, crap..."
-PotC-
Danny peeked into the small rectangular window of the classroom door. Mr. Lancer was in the middle of droning out a mundane lecture to his English class. Danny held his breath as he slowly creaked the door open. Stealthy, he tiptoed his way into the classroom, trying to remain quiet and unnoticed by the teacher as he snuck toward his assigned seat near the back of the room. Danny froze as the room settled into a foreboding silence, the irate noise of a throat clearing caught his attention. Danny turned towards the vexed teacher. The portly, bald man had his arms crossed as his fingers tapped in an annoyed manner.
"So you finally decided to bless us with your presence, Fenton? Late to class again. Rest assure, your guardian will hear of this." Danny heaved a sigh in defeat and made his way to his seat. The surrounding students giggled at the black-haired geek's distress. Danny's ears tinged red as he slid down into his chair.
-PotC-
In the hallway, Danny ducked through the crowd of teens. He weaved in and out while keeping to the sides, careful to avoid any unnecessary attention as he made his way to class. Unfortunately for him, his attempt was in vain as he caught the eyes of none other than Dash Baxter.
The larger boy barreled his way to Danny. "Hey, Fenturd!" The jock forced his way to Danny with his other jock friend, Kwan, in tow.
"Dash, I really don't have time for this. I actually want to get to class on time for once, can we settle this on another date?" The halfa let out a small awkward chuckle, hoping to placate the incoming threat.
Knowing Dash and the way the bigger boy smashed his fists together in what Danny supposed was to be a show of power, he was here to give Danny a beating. Danny carefully edged his way back, trying to keep the distance between him and the looming jocks.
He had experience with fighting ghosts that posed a bigger threat than the mere bullying teen. Danny had undergone and survived against his fair share of painful battles and came out on top with quite a few grievous injuries for his troubles. But this was different, he had fought against ghosts; not humans. Ghosts were durable enough to hold their own against his strength and powers. Humans were fragile. One wrong hit from the halfa and the human can be sent to an early grave.
Danny could not fight back against the blond teen. All he could do was either find a way to escape or endure the hits that the jock inflicted on him. Yes, he was used to pain and he had a fairly high pain tolerance than what was considered the norm, but that doesn't change the fact that he still would prefer to come out from the confrontation unscathed.
"I got an 'F' in class today!" Dash shoved the paper into the smaller boy's face. Kwan positioned himself to the halfa's other side, barring his escape.
"And pray tell, what exactly does it have to do with me?" Danny drawled, voice laced with sarcasm. Dash's eyes twitched in anger at his tone. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say to Dash.
"I have to wail on someone to relieve my stress, you know what that means?" Dash cracked his knuckles.
By now, the two boys had drawn the attention of a small crowd. Some were curious while others were eager to see the spectacle that was bound to happen. Teens jeered at Danny and egged the bully on, hoping for a good show. Dash basked in the attention, pleased with his position of power over the student body.
Knowing that the blonde was not going to let him leave, Danny let out a resigned sigh and motioned for the bully to continue.
Dash frowned as he was still unable to get the satisfying reaction of fear from the raven-haired teen.
"What, you still upset that your family was blown sky high?" Danny visibly stiffened.
The bigger boy grinned as he finally got the reaction he wanted from Fenton, Dash looked back at the gathering crowd before continuing on. "It probably was your dad's fault that they blew up, he always did manage to mess up everything like a blundering idiot. Too bad he didn't get you too. The least he could have done was keep you together with your family. Guess he ruined that too since we still have to deal-"
He was caught off as the smaller boy slammed his fist into Dash's jaw. The jock's body spun through the hall in a wide arc. Blood spurted from Dash's lips as several teeth flew out and he hit the lockers with a resounding thud. The teen slumped to the ground. It would have been comical if it weren't for the fact that the supposed weakling, Danny Fenton- favorite punching bag of Dash Baxter, was the one who threw that hit.
"U-urgh..." The bloodied blonde weakly groaned in pain.
The crowd hushed and stared with a wide-eyed gobsmacked expression at Danny, the surrounding teens were stunned into silence at the shocking act that the school geek displayed. Although the proof was right there, no one could believe their eyes on what exactly had transpired.
Mr. Lancer pushed his way through the crowd of bystanders. His eyes landed on the crumpled form of Dash Baxter, Casper's football star.
"Moby Dick! What in god's name happened here?" All accusing eyes fell on Danny. Mr. Lancer turned to see said teen frozen in position, his fist still out and knuckles bloody from the punch he unleashed just moments earlier. Unnerved by the pointed stares, Danny sheepishly smiled to the middle-aged teacher.
"Mr. Fenton, detention with me after school. Mr. Lee, take your friend to the infirmary." The bald man then turns his attention to the gawking students in the hall, "What are you all standing out here for? Get to class everyone!" The crowd quickly dispersed, scurrying away to their next class.
When the bell rang, announcing the end of school, teens rushed out the building to freedom. Danny wasn't released like everyone else, instead, he had to head to Mr. Lancer's room. When he stepped inside, Mr. Lancer was already seated at his desk waiting for the boy.
"Mr. Fenton, are aware of why you are here? It has come to my att-" the man flinched as he was cut off by a loud shrill scream. Several more quickly followed as flashes of electric green light shown through the window. Mr. Lancer ran to the window to see what was going on outside.
"Lord of the Flies! We're under attack!" The man's face turned ashen as he saw the horrors occurring at Amity Park. He quickly turned to Danny and ordered the boy to stay inside and hide while he went and got help.
Danny waited until the man left the room before transforming into his alter self and fazed through the building. Rather than the typical ghost attack on Amity Park, he was met with an unexpected sight. Multiple strange men wearing black hooded robes and masks cracked into existence.
-PotC-
Author's Note 4:
As a fellow reader, I personally hate short chapters. I understand the frustration of reading a good book that seems to have a lot of chapters and appears to be a lengthy read, only to be sorely disappointed to find out that it is not due to the short word count of each chapter. So I am dutifully making it my goal to at least have 1000 words minimum in each chapter. Due to this, it will take some time to write each chapter and thoroughly edit them. Just a heads up.
last edited: 1/9/17