Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. I simply only own the plots
~~~
It was just another normal holiday, or a special day anyway. Everybody was smiling, playing pranks on each other, especially the students of Casper High. They enjoyed the supposed 'holiday' as it brought laughter and joy to everyone, even if ghosts managed to attack every chance they got. It was a way to let out all the tension and stress from school work.
But two students enjoyed April Fool's the most, the two best friends famously known for their tricks, Danny Fenton and Tucker Foley. They not only played pranks on each other, but they found amusement playing pranks on other students and teachers, even though that meant getting wailed on by the one and only, number one bully, Dash Baxter. It was a day where the trio forgot about their ghost problems and focused on having fun instead.
So the day before April Fool's, the two best friends and even Sam, agreed on some good pranks to play on the students of Casper High, especially the bullies. They didn't care that they would get in trouble afterward, they just knew that it had to be done. The pranks were too good to pass. And now that Danny had ghost powers, they used it to their advantage. Although Danny was reluctant of using his powers for his selfish reasons, he knew these powers were meant to fight ghosts and save people, Tucker finally convinced him, explaining to him that it was a harmless prank and nobody would get physically hurt.
Sam, on the other hand, did not like the idea. She knew they would get in serious trouble somehow and she was worried. She knew their plan would work and that would be the problem, meaning Dash would know who the culprit, or culprits, are. Sure Dash barely passed his classes, but he was smart when it came to stuff involving his classmates. She tried convincing the two stubborn boys that it would not be wise to play such a dangerous game on him but, of course, the two boys wouldn't hear it.
However, the trio was oblivious to the fact that their school enemy was also planning something, a mischievous act. He even managed to get his best friend, Kwan, to join this 'evil' plan. It was going to be great. Dash knew that Danny would most likely play a prank on him and he found it only fair that he returned the favour. After that time Danny placed all of his pink stuffed animals in his locker and Fenton toilet paper, he still held a grudge against him and was finally going to let it all out tomorrow.
He knew his plan would work, as there weren't any flaws. He was sure that the boy wouldn't suspect a thing, as it was going to be a surprise. He couldn't wait to see the look on his arch-enemy! However, he had to be cautious in the next couple of hours of school. Danny would try to play a prank on him too, knowing the boy was capable of it. He was going to pay extra attention tomorrow so that he wouldn't let him embarrass himself again in front of the whole school.
As the two rivals planned their well-thought pranks, they were unaware of what tomorrow held for them. They were unaware of how... serious this prank could go. But what could happen? It was just a prank. A harmless one. They were sure nobody would get hurt and by nobody, that included themselves and their friends. After all, April Fool's was supposed to be a fun day. What could go wrong?
Everything
~~~
The next day was certainly different, and a good change from other days. The students were more cheerful, including Sam, and less boring than usual but of course who would be? Especially if it meant playing pranks on their least favourite teachers aka Mr. Lancer. Although the pranks weren't serious, they got a laugh or two from other people and it seemed that April Fool's will be better this year.
However, nobody's expression can compare to Danny's. He was beaming, his face screaming rainbows and unicorns, as if he had just won a trophy. Everybody knew he was planning something big, and not only to his bully Dash. And even if it wasn't necessarily a big prank, they were certain it was still a good one. Danny had the same look on his face whenever he was about to do something mischievous.
Danny walked to his two best friends who were unlocking their lockers and grabbing their binders for the next period class. When they noticed Danny walking towards them, they waved at him and were glad to see him wearing a radiant expression.
"Hey guys," Danny simply said as he unlocked his locker before stuffing his backpack into the messy space. He didn't bother picking up the pieces of crumpled paper balls which landed softly on the ground. He finally took out his unfinished papers before locking it back.
"What took you so long? Don't tell me you overslept again," Sam warned, narrowing her eyes at the grinning teenage boy. It didn't look like he slept in though, in fact, it looked like he woke up extra early today. The bags were still under his eyes and he looked exhausted but still sober enough to focus in class. But she knew the boy was capable of oversleeping, considering the number of times he showed up late to their weekend plans.
Tucker pushed his PDA in front of the boy's face, displaying the time as he knew Danny never wore a watch and didn't have his phone with him at the moment. They were one minute late to class and were just about to leave if the boy hadn't shown up in time. They were used to Danny coming in late since there always happened to be a ghost nearby, but they were certain that there wasn't a ghost anywhere. And he didn't have any new cuts or bruises on his face or arms.
"I had some... business to attend to," the boy replied, hesitating on whether to tell his friends the truth or not. He quickly turned his head away from the confused glances they shot him, as he walked down the hallway leading to his class. His friends snapped out of their curious thoughts and rushed beside him, now determined to know what the boy had been doing. If someone had met him for the first time, they would've thought he just committed a crime and managed to escape.
"What were you exactly doing man?" Tucker asked cluelessly, eager to know what the boy had done to make him so excited. His eyes were on fire, burning with emotion, particularly anticipation. However, Sam didn't need to ask to know what made the boy so happy.
"You know he's gonna find out, right?" she stated obviously, raising an eyebrow at her friend as Tucker finally caught on, grinning. On the other hand, Danny only smiled smugly, not caring the slightest.
"Have you seen his grades?" Danny asked, rolling his eyes as his friend Tucker looked at him, eager to hear what he was going to say next. The two boys stopped walking as they turned to face each other, grinning.
"Never gonna happen!" the two exclaimed at the exact time, their fingers pointing at each other in the process, earning a chuckle. However, their goth friend only rolled her eyes, still not believing they would get away with it easily. The last time Danny pulled out the toilet paper prank on Dash, he got chased by him and was about to get wailed on if he hadn't escaped in time. She knew that Dash wouldn't be too lenient with him this time.
"Well, what comes around, goes around. Just be careful," Sam warned as the trio started walking again to their next period class, math. This time, Danny only sighed, the excitement on his face vanishing quickly. Sam instantly felt guilty, as if she were responsible for the boy's sudden mood.
"I know, I know. But I feel like Dash already has a prank planned for me," Danny admitted, rubbing his neck nervously. Tucker instantly placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, smiling in the process.
"Don't worry dude, we got your back," he softly said as Danny smiled appreciatively and Sam also placed a comforting hand on him.
"Yeah, he can try to get you, we won't let it happen. Speaking of which, what's the prank you planned for him anyway?" Sam asked as she smiled when the boy's mischievous expression returned.
"Oh, let's just say that his face will be pale as a ghost after this..." Danny mumbled with a smirk in the process. Oh, he just couldn't wait! Tucker raised an eyebrow at his friend's answer, questioning what he meant by that.
"Did you mean that literally?" he asked, smirking, as their goth friend shook her head, knowing she wouldn't be able to get them to stop performing the prank. Now that Tucker seemed interested in it, she won't be able to change either of their minds.
"Maybe..." Danny whispered, the grin still lingering on his face.
~~~
Danny wasn't the only one who had a plan coming up. Before the second-period class started, Dash walked down the hallway to meet up with his school pal, Kwan. He was supposed to retrieve a couple of supplies that he told his friend to get. These materials were what he needed to complete his plan.
Dash searched for Kwan, finally spotting him, talking with a familiar blonde girl, Star. The two looked to be in a good mood as they laughed and made small talk casually. When Star noticed Dash coming by, she said one last goodbye and excused herself, wanting to give the two boys some space. She knew it had to be something related to the prank they were planning so she finally decided to visit her popular best friend. She knew Paulina was probably at her locker, fanning over her Danny Phantom shrine.
Once Star was gone, Dash grinned at his friend, motioning him to take out the desired materials. Kwan immediately knew what his friend was talking about so he placed the light shopping bag on the floor and began taking out the materials his friend requested him to get; cans of spray paint (all shades of grey and white), an empty shampoo bottle and water bottle. As he took out the materials, the receipt fell out and Dash bent down to pick it up, examining the specified materials and their prices.
"Mhm... now that's the perfect one," Dash smiled satisfied, going down the list as he stuffed the receipt in his jeans pocket and picked up the perfect shade of light grey. "How long is this supposed to last exactly? Hopefully not just one day."
Kwan grinned as he took out more paint colours, looking at the back of the bottle where the instructions sticker was printed out. "Just enough time for everybody to realize he 'dyed' his hair. This is permanent spray paint, meaning it's more effective than normal hair dye. It's supposed to last for about a week before he's able to wash it out quickly. He won't be able to dye over it for cover before then because it's strong paint... Are you sure about this? We can get in serious trouble for this..."
Dash looked at his nervous friend before he examined the pewter shade bottle again, checking to see if it will cause any serious damage. Fortunately, it didn't mention anything about it seriously damaging the hair, other than it will stay there for a couple of days and maybe weaken it like any other chemical. He knew he would get in trouble for it but he wanted serious revenge on the boy.
"Relax Kwan, I'll be doing the rest, good? He can dye it back to his raven black hair, or even just wash it out after since it's washable, after everyone's had a good laugh or two. Plus, this is not a harmful kind and will only paint his hair. But why all of these shades of grey and white? Couldn't you choose something more flashy, like pink or orange?" Dash asked curiously, confused as to why his friend decided to use harbour grey as one of the paint colours.
"Well, it was supposed to make him feel like he's ageing quickly or some sort like that. But the other reason was that it's Phantom's hair colour and I always wondered how it would look on a teenage boy, even if it meant trying it on someone like Fenton," Kwan simply replied as his friend rolled his eyes, not believing that that was the actual reason.
"How'd you know the exact shade anyway? I've seen Phantom's hair colour and this one is similar to it..." The boy further asked, knowing it did look like Phantom's hair colour. Kwan only grinned, nudging his head towards the two popular girls, who were currently giggling over a silly teacher rumour going around. Dash raised an eyebrow, still not understanding what the shade colour had to do with Paulina and Star.
"Paulina has a shrine of him, dude. She practically knows his exact hair colour from the number of pictures she took. I even think she has a strand of his hair somewhere..." Kwan finally said, growing annoyed by the obliviousness of his friend. Dash's eyes widened, finally understanding the concept and shuddered. Stalker much? Sure he liked Phantom but not to the point where he had a shrine at home and school.
"Wow, guess I shouldn't be surprised. She has a major crush on him but I can't blame her. Phantom's awesome dude," Dash admitted, as he sighed dreamily of his hero while Kwan chuckled, still not believing his friend had a role model other than himself. If it's one thing he knew about Dash, it's that he loves himself to the point where he kisses his muscles.
"I know, I wish we knew who he was..." he replied as the boys nodded, going back to the task at hand. Dash picked up the perfect shade of light grey, pewter, before smiling evilly at it. He was excited to play a prank on his classmate and couldn't wait to see the reaction when the boy entered the cafeteria today. It was going to be priceless and he would be there to record and post the whole thing on the internet.
"I still don't know how spray painting someone's hair is supposed to be funny. Doesn't seem like a good enough prank to me," Kwan absentmindedly said, as his friend rolled his eyes.
"Kwan, ol' pal of mine. The purpose is not to give Fenturd a makeover. He was supposed to freak out over his new hair colour like a girl screaming over cockroaches, and I was supposed to videotape it so everybody would see. He would most probably hide his hair with some hat and then when he enters the cafeteria..." Dash trailed off as Kwan blinked a couple of times, before finally getting the idea.
"I would take it off. Got it," his friend completed the sentence as Dash grinned, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"I would be expecting some sort of scream which would make everybody laugh. You know how jittery he can get, especially around ghosts. He'll probably think he's some sort of ghost or something," the blonde boy explained as his friend nodded smiling, seeing what he meant. Now that Kwan knew why the prank was going to be a success, he was even more excited to see how the hair colour would turn out even if it meant trying it on someone like Fenton. It's not like he was Phantom or something anyway.
"And we're doing this today, right? But when? We have class before lunch and we can't just go spray paint his hair in the middle of the cafeteria!" Kwan stated as his friend rolled his eyes before he picked up the empty shampoo bottle, specifically the one Danny used all the time.
"You see this? Fenturd uses this type of shampoo all the time. He'll think that this is his actual shampoo and he'll put it on right before lunch, giving him no time to think twice," Dash explained as Kwan held his right finger up, ready to ask for a further explanation before Dash walked to the boy's washroom, motioning his friend to follow him. Kwan obliged, following his best friend as they entered the empty washroom.
"I have Phys.ed right before lunch and that's why I'll be the one doing the honours. He always takes a shower after everyone is done and that's why he's always late for lunch. Meanwhile, I'll slip by the change room, switch the two shampoo bottles and wait for the outcome, outside the gym," Dash further explained as he unscrewed the cap of the shampoo bottle and spray paint bottle before pouring the contents into the empty shampoo bottle. He made sure it wasn't too full to not attract any suspicion and he poured a bit of lukewarm water. He screwed the cap back on, the now full shampoo bottle before giving it a shake, making sure it mixed well. This will make sure the dye wasn't too powerful and that it wouldn't cause damage to his hair.
"Ah, you have this all planned out," Kwan commented as his friend grinned and exited the boy's washroom, the shampoo bottle held tightly in his right hand. He was now confident and pretty excited. It would be a good prank, he knew that for sure. He also knew it wouldn't cause harm to the boy which meant he won't get into trouble for this.
"Oh, you better watch out, Fentina. This won't be like my usual wailings," Dash smirked as he unlocked his locker, stuffing the bottle inside his gym bag so he doesn't forget.
~~~
Right after second period, Danny practically ran to his locker, not to only put his stuff away and grab his gym bag, but to put his prank into action. To say he was excited would be an understatement. Anybody who looked at him would immediately realize that there was something strange with the boy. The gleam in his eyes was shinier than usual, excitement being the most obvious one. Even his friends were stunned by their friend's weird demeanour, not knowing if this was a good sign or not. It didn't look like it caused him any serious trouble nor did it look like he was affected in a bad way. At least, he wasn't gloomy or mad like usual days.
Danny quickly unlocked his locker, thankful that it opened right this time. He didn't even need Tucker to help him with it, he did it on his own this time. Danny stuffed some algebra homework sheets on the top shelf, not bothering to check if it would get crumpled. It's not like he was going to do it anyway, his parents had a new ghost invention and wanted Danny to help them out today. And knowing himself, he either would help them or fight some ghosts that decided to show up.
He took out his desired item, his cracked phone. He usually brought his phone with him to class but he knew his teachers would probably take it away from him as they did with Tucker's PDA. So he decided to not risk it and keep it safe in his locker. This prank was too important and he needed to record it.
"Dude, why were you running so fast?" Tucker asked, quickly catching up to his friend with Sam by his side. They were both panting, still questioning how the boy managed to get so far without a single sweat running down his forehead. They didn't even know he could run like that, as he never tried to in gym class. This prank must mean a lot to him.
"Yeah, not to mention you've been acting so weird lately. I would ask you to leave this prank alone but you wouldn't listen to me anyway," Sam stated, shrugging her shoulders as she placed her hand on the locker beside Danny's for support. However, Tucker only shook his head, not agreeing with what she was suggesting.
"Are you kidding?! This prank will be legendary and knowing Danny, he's got something big planned," his techno-geek friend exclaimed, catching the attention of several students walking to their next classes.
"Shh, be quiet!" Danny quickly hushed, raising his finger to his lips to signal him to stop talking. He looked around, checking to see if anyone was listening before leaning closer to his friends. "I'm going to the washroom, don't leave. Tucker, you record using this. The show's about to start soon."
Before either friends could question what Danny was talking about, he gently tossed his already broken phone to his male friend, running in the opposite direction to where they came from. Sam wanted to go follow him and demand an explanation but she noticed a blue light from the end of the hallway, to which no one else noticed, including Tucker. She raised an eyebrow at the scene, wondering as to why Danny had changed to his ghost form. Was there a ghost nearby?... But a blue mist would have appeared out of his mouth and he would have told them. Was it... was this a part of the prank?
While Sam stood there thinking about the possibilities, Tucker played with the phone his friend gave him, inspecting the cracks it already had. He shook his head at his friend's carelessness, understanding why he couldn't take care of his phone properly. Hell, he couldn't take care of himself without getting into some form of trouble!
Before Tucker could give out a statement about his friend's lack of responsibility to Sam, they heard a familiar scream, more specifically, Dash's. Tucker quickly tapped the record button, knowing this was Danny's way to cue him to start recording. The two friends ran to the direction where the commotion was coming from before stopping at a crowd surrounding Dash's locker.
Sam pushed by, eager to find out what exactly happened. By the conversations going on between her classmates, it looked like Dash had seen a 'ghost' but there wasn't one and everybody thought he was crazy now. She rolled her eyes, knowing exactly which ghost it was but before she could comment on the situation to Tucker, she noticed he was gone too. She pushed by the students, now eager to find her techno-geek friend when she noticed him recording in the front of the crowd.
Once she got to the front beside her Tucker, she noticed something that made her eyes go wide. There he was, Dash, prancing around like an escaped monkey who just learned ballet. He was currently wearing a tutu skirt over his outfit, and any other person would've mistaken him for being drunk by the way his body slugged across the hallway, his legs sloppily dragging along. Sam knew he was possessed, by the flickering green in his eyes. Of course, no one noticed this except for her and Tucker, because of the amusement 'Dash' was currently displaying. Even Tucker was grinning which only made Sam roll her eyes, not impressed by the immature behaviour of her two best friends.
Just then, Dash immediately dropped to the ground like a puppet who lost his strings, and when he opened his eyes again they were back to their usual blue, except he looked more tired and confused than before. He looked at the crowd, clearly confused as to why everybody was grinning and laughing at him. However, his expression quickly changed to shock and embarrassment, glancing at the outfit he was wearing and quickly ran to the boy's washroom, making sure to drag his friend, Kwan along.
Danny walked in, his black hair messier than usual but his mood is still the same as before. Nobody noticed Danny's classy entrance though and continued to talk about the prank, causing him to smirk even wider.
"So what did I miss?" he innocently asked, as Sam rolled her eyes while Tucker high-fived his friend. The mischievousness was written all over his face as if screaming 'I did it'. However, no one noticed it or even acknowledged Danny mysteriously walking into the crime scene. They didn't even pay attention to the fact that they were three minutes late to class and continued to chuckle on their way to class.
"You know he will suspect you, right?" Sam absentmindedly stated as she dragged both her friends down the hallway, one grinning like a crazy psychopath while the other posting the video on social media, smirking now and then.
"Oh, how will he know? It's not like he realized I'm a ghost or something," Danny stated as he looked over Tucker's shoulder, making sure the video was perfect and included all the necessary elements to make it a success. It would be the first video to be officially posted online about the whole prank.
"Other than the fact that your parents are ghost hunters and are constantly inventing ghost stuff, and not to mention the fact that you've done pranks on him before, everything !" Sam exclaimed nervously, pointing out the facts as the two boys simply just grinned, not caring at all with what they could be faced with after this.
"Who cares? His prank can't top this," Danny smugly stated as he earned another eye roll from his goth friend. It's not that she didn't enjoy pranks, especially Danny's, but Dash wasn't someone you should pull off these pranks with. She knew he would figure out it was Danny all along, and he would try to find a way to ruin his life. Dash's reputation was already basically drowning at the moment.
She didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling for today, even though the prank that her friend set up was pretty good and made her laugh too. She had a feeling that Dash also had a good prank and it wouldn't be something funny, at all ...
~~~
"Oh come on! It can't be that bad," Kwan soothingly said, trying to calm down the furious teenager but unfortunately, he wasn't succeeding. Dash was ready to explode into tiny bits, his face red of anger and his hands white from clutching onto the wet slippery sink. He didn't bother trying to cuff up the sleeves of his red and white sweater, not caring one bit. He hadn't even noticed his hands had started to throb not until he covered his face, not even wanting to look at himself in the mirror.
"My reputation is decreasing! At this rate, I'll be below fenturd," he growled to his friends, his eyes burning with embarrassment but mostly hate. Oh, how he wanted revenge on the person responsible for this- or ghost in this case. He'll be listed as the ballerina for the rest of high school now. Whoever this ghost was, he was going to pay dearly, in fact, he could care less for how dangerous this ghost is. All he cared about was getting his revenge.
The mention of his school rival quickly grabbed his attention. His eyes hardened, realizing who the culprit might be. Of course, how couldn't he have noticed?
Danny's facial expression from the morning was nowhere near relaxing. He had something big planned, that's for sure. However, he knew for sure the person to blame for his current situation would be him. It had to be, who else? He didn't know how he managed to get a ghost to overshadow him but he just knew he was the one who planned this. That was why he was looking so smug in the morning, so confident with himself. He knew his prank would work and Dash felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. He hated to admit it, but the black-haired teenager was certainly clever than he gave him credit for sometimes. Too bad he didn't use his brain in his school studies.
And although Dash had a hard time figuring out how Danny managed to pull this prank off, in the end, he was still sure that Danny was the one responsible for it. The more he thought about the prank, the greater his conclusion grew. Danny was responsible for it, and there was nothing anybody could do to change his mind. But that made things easier for him. Now, he wouldn't have to feel guilty for playing the other side of the game. He would feel no regret when the boy walked in after gym class with his hair white as snow, or sparkling grey in this case.
Danny was the son of two ghost hunters, that was enough evidence to come to such a conclusion. He probably either had ghost allies or had an invention to blackmail them with. His father was always coming up with new inventions each day so it didn't seem entirely impossible. Not only that, Danny was the student ghosts mostly associated themselves with, counting the multiple times he and his friends had tried to fight them. And what made things even more suspicious was that after the ghost left his body and he looked at the laughing crowd, Danny was nowhere to be seen. His friend, Tucker, was the one recording instead of him and that made no sense whatsoever. Of course, why would Danny waste such a good chance like this? Shouldn't he be in the crowd, laughing or recording the scene to humiliate him later on? Shouldn't this be the time to get back on him?
He was with the ghost after this, probably finishing off the deal or something, Dash thought angrily, slapping himself mentally for not seeing this before. He was mad at Danny, and he couldn't wait till lunchtime. Now thanks to him, he was missing Phys.ed and instead, having a breakdown like a girl who just embarrassed herself in front of her crush. Can things get any worse?
His hands clenched into fists, begging him to leave the washroom and deliver a well-deserved punch at the boy responsible. But he had to be reasonable and smart about this, knowing that Danny will maybe not even admit it was him or even turn out not to be him in the first place. After all, he didn't have any solid proof that it was him. It could've just been a ghost that wanted to have some fun and chose to play puppet.
And although the idea of wailing on Danny seemed pleasing, he had to stop himself from storming off, reminding himself the reason why he had to remain so calm. If he wanted the prank to go smoothly, he'll have to push his emotions aside so that he can focus on the task.
He was more than eager to start right away with the plan and get it over with so he can have a laugh or two. He wanted to humiliate his rival just like he had done with him. If there was something Dash knew, it was revenge. He definitely cannot let this slide, knowing students will continue to whisper about him for the rest of high school. He had to give the audience something else to focus on, something amusing so that they'll forget whatever happened to him. It had to be something that will be remembered.
"Kwan, how much time do we have till lunch?" the boy asked darkly, his eyes staring boldly at the mirror, not blinking once. The look was enough to shatter the glass contained in it. Even his friend, Kwan took a step back, afraid to answer the simple yet unnerving question. He gulped, nervously rubbing his neck before sighing.
"T-thirty-seven minutes," the boy finally responded, gulping once more to wash away the tension his body was in. However, Dash obliviously ignored the nervousness of his friend and instead sighed annoyingly. He was unaware of the amount of time he had spent in the washroom. The coach was probably wondering where he was now, as he was pretty famous in the sports department so that meant hiding wasn't going to get him far enough. Meanwhile, for the students, they were either talking shit behind his back or waiting nervously for the entrance of the A-lister. If they were smart enough, they would've gone back to fearing him instead because he was gonna get back for whoever talked behind his back. That was a promise.
Dash exited the vacant washroom, his friend following beside him as they headed to their lockers. The hallways were really quiet, and Kwan found it odd that not a single student had left their classroom to go to the washroom. Either they drank less liquid today, or they were afraid to face the wrath of the school bully. Nobody was willing to take the chance of walking into the washroom and confronting Dash. It was like suicide.
Once they got to their desired destination, Dash unlocked his locker and searched through his gym bag, taking his time to examine the other bottles he had. After all, he was in no rush to go back to gym class. They had a lot of time till lunch and class still had twenty minutes left.
He finally took out the 'shampoo' before giving it a quick shake, making sure the water wasn't floating at the top. That would've made things suspicious. It had to look like real shampoo and for that to work, he had to mix the dye and water for a lighter, but still thick substance. Dash then grinned, examining the final results of his mixed chemicals before motioning to his friend to follow. Now all they needed to do was head to their gym class and switch the two alike bottles and get out of here. Well, Dash planned on staying and seeing the final results of his well-planned prank.
When they finally reached the heavy gym doors and pushed it open, they were glad to see that their class was outside in the field, playing soccer. It was quite a sunny day, and although it wasn't that hot, the weather was still nice and they could use some water at the moment. However, the two boys ignored their need to quench their thirst and walked by the basketball court, paying attention to their surroundings.
Now, their gym teacher won't have to ask them why they were late or what they were doing. There wasn't a single soul in the gym court except for the custodian, but he ignored them and continued onto his job. And that's not the best of all. They now didn't have to meet the eyes of their curious and snickering classmates. They weren't ready to meet the questioning glances and Dash still needed to calm down a bit in case he beat up a kid for saying something dumb.
The two boys quickly sneaked into the boy's change room and cautiously peeked in, making sure no one was present. They were afraid someone was left behind, and Kwan was especially afraid that Danny would be the one late (since it was always him for some reason). Kwan was afraid that he wouldn't be able to stop Dash from wailing on Danny since there weren't any teachers or students around to protect him.
However, the way they sneaked into the change room was something that came out of a fictional movie. If it weren't for the current situation, their actions would've been almost comical. Once they found out nobody was here, they entered the room and looked for a certain locker, specifically Danny's. They knew his locker had no lock on it since he always managed to either forget his combination or just couldn't open it, so it wasn't hard finding the correct one.
"Dash, here!" Kwan whispered excitedly, pointing to the right locker. Dash grinned and quickly headed to where his friend was standing. Once there, he yanked open the locker door and searched for the boy's shampoo, making the locker messier than before but Dash knew Danny wouldn't suspect a thing, he was always concentrated on other things. Once Dash was sure he held the right shampoo, he switched places with the dye bottle and shut the locker.
"Okay, now that you're finished, I'm leaving," Kwan stated as he waved 'goodbye' to his friend and quickly left, afraid to get caught by a passing teacher or curious student. Dash rolled his eyes at his friend but grinned nevertheless. He was too excited to regard the consequences of his actions. He knew Danny wouldn't suspect a thing, his plan was going perfectly so far. Now, all he had to do was wait until the fish took the bait. And that wouldn't be long since he had only fifteen minutes to go.
~~~
Danny had just finished with the final warm-up when he decided to take a shower. Today, Ms. Tetslaff made them do extra push-ups/sit-ups in advance for the upcoming fitness test and nobody seemed to be in the mood to do anything. If it weren't for the prank earlier, Danny would've complained about his aching sweaty body or for the fact that he got yelled at a couple of times today, though that happened all the time. But a ghostly smile was still visible on his face and it didn't seem that would change anytime soon.
"Nice video," a random student in his class complimented him, as Danny grinned in response, walking to the boy's change-room. Sure Tucker was the one who uploaded it, but it was under Danny's name for his friend didn't seem too keen on being yelled at by Dash after. And even if Danny was kind of afraid of Dash finding out it was him, he could care less. His reputation was increasing because of it, and for once, he didn't mind the attention he was getting. He was enjoying it. When was the last time since he had this much attention? Excluding his hero half, of course.
Another student gave him a high-five in the change-room as he returned it, taking a seat on one of the wooden benches. He ignored the fact that Dash and Kwan were nowhere to be seen and focused on relaxing his exhausted body. Sure he fought ghosts daily, but his body still wasn't the best and he did get tired often, especially when his gym teacher made them run laps all the time (and from Skulker's new weapons yesterday). It was certainly exhausting.
Danny sat there for a while, waiting for the rest of his classmates to take a shower and change so that he could do the same afterward. Danny never particularly liked changing or showering when people were around, even if it was just boys the same age as him. He felt a bit self-conscious and he liked to take his time without feeling some sort of pressure. That's another reason why he never had time for lunch. Either the people changing took too long or there was some sort of ghost he had to fight. He hated it when he was in the middle of showering and a ghost, the Box Ghost specifically, thought it was the perfect time to interrupt him from relaxing. He just hoped that these ghosts decided to take a break and let him rest for at least one day. He was having a good day and he didn't want anyone to ruin it.
When Danny realized that they were just wrapping things up, he took out his school clothes and towel from his locker, making sure to also bring his shampoo and soap along. Lunch was about to start in five minutes and so far, not one ghost decided to make an entrance. When there weren't many people around, Danny tried looking for an empty shower stall and when he found one, he neatly placed his clothes somewhere dry and brought his necessities along.
The water was hot today, and he almost believed today would turn out great. After scrubbing his body, he unscrewed the cap from the shampoo bottle and put some on his head, not paying attention to the slightly changed colour of the content. He simply shrugged it off and focused on washing his hair, making sure it was clean enough. After he was satisfied, he rinsed all the excess soap out, making sure there was none at sight.
He turned the tap off and quickly wrapped the oversize towel around his body, shivering from the coldness of the atmosphere. Even though there was hot steam and his body temperature was cold, he still felt a sort of shiver and he was almost worried that there was a ghost nearby and he would have to fight naked. Fortunately, there was no one and he sighed happily, turning intangible so the water would slip itself from his body. He paid no attention to drying his hair and focused on getting dressed first, the chilliness not leaving him.
He then turned to face the full body mirror when he realized something that made him freeze. His hair was...white! Well, not completely white, it was more of a light shade of grey but it resembled the same colour he wore when he transformed into Phantom. The sight was certainly unsettling and he shakily forced himself to transform to his ghost self, ignoring his shivering body. He then changed back to his human self and realized the colour was still there.
He was afraid it was permanent. But most of all, he had a million questions in his head. What in the world had happened to his hair?! It couldn't have been some ghost symptom or something, right? He had to ask Frostbite if this was normal, but he was sure it wasn't. He didn't know what to say, so he just stood there, facing the mirror in horror.
He walked closer to the mirror, inspecting his hair even further when he realized there were still a few specs of his black hair at the top of his hair. It was mostly the longer strands that were affected. He was confused. It couldn't be his ghost self or his hair would've been completely white. It looked like someone had poorly dyed it!
He then brought his attention to the shampoo that was sitting on the bench and picked it up, unscrewing the lid and peeking through it. The first thing he noticed was the change of colour. He was sure the shampoo he had been using was pale blue and not this. When he poured a little bit of the content at his fingertips, he noticed the texture was also a bit thicker, like glue and it had a different smell of nail-polish. It almost reminded him of the smell of spray paint. But why would he have spray paint shampoo? He had been using the same bottle for two years and the last time he used it was only two days ago. What caused it to be like this? It wasn't like shampoo bottles had expiry dates or something.
But as he further inspected the bottle, he began to realize that it wasn't his. Sure it was the same shampoo bottle he used but it wasn't the same liquid. Plus, it didn't contain this much last time and he was now sure someone must've left it in his locker purposely.
He tried washing his hair again despite the time. He was sure his friends were probably worried about him even though it happened often. They would've known if he was fighting a ghost by now. Plus, he never took that much time taking a shower so he washed his hair over and over again, hoping for some progress that would prove to him that it wasn't permanent. And although it was dimmer than before meaning it had worn off a bit, which was a great relief, however, the color was still there and it didn't look like it was gonna go anytime soon.
Finally giving up, he took a seat at one of the benches and sighed, not bothering to check if there was water on it. But then a thought crossed his mind as he panicked, even more worried. What if people recognized him as Phantom with the hairdo? All they needed to do now was to Photoshop him in a phantom outfit and there goes his secret identity! He can't risk that happening so what should he do?
Should he... cut his hair? No, he can't risk that happening either! He wasn't a hairstylist and he would look like a total moron with very short hair. Plus, if he transformed into his ghost form, people would realize Phantom's new hairstyle and it wouldn't be long till they put two and two together. How coincidental is that they are both teenage boys, being around the same height and weight, that also got the same haircut, the same day? No, he cannot let that happen.
But he can't walk out there like that either. He needed help, and fast! Danny practically ran to his change-room locker and searched for his phone, ready to call his best friends.
"Tucker! Come fast, to the boy's change-room! I need you- I'll tell you after, this is serious!" Danny quickly yelled, not bothering to answer any of his friends concerning questions. He knew he couldn't have Sam with him here because she was a girl but he needed Tucker for help. It was too risky to search for them outside.
Danny played with his hands, nervous about the whole ordeal and waited patiently for his friend to come. Only a couple of minutes had passed as he heard the door open and his friend entered, his PDA held with him.
However, the two teenage friends weren't aware of the fact that there was also a third person waiting just outside the gym doors. Dash was excited to see the outcome of his plan. He couldn't imagine how Danny would look like with such shade of hair but he waited patiently for him to come out. And when he saw his geeky friend run into the gym with worry, clearly not paying attention to the other boy outside the gym, his grin widened even more. That was a good sign. Danny must've already discovered his new hair colour and was waiting for someone to help him.
Dash waited for a bit but when he realized they wouldn't be coming out anytime soon, he sighed and decided to just see for himself later in the cafeteria. It would be a surprise he didn't want to open until everyone was present so he forced himself to leave before the two boys left the gym doors. It's not like they could hide in there forever, there was still a bunch of time left till next period. He just had to wait.
Meanwhile, when Tucker saw Danny, he was confused. He was wondering why Danny was in his ghost form but was wearing casual clothes. And when he walked closer, he noticed that his eyes were blue too instead of green.
"Dude, what happened? What's with the sudden change, is this some ghost thing or something?" he asked confused, as Danny sighed, shaking his head.
"No, no, it doesn't involve my ghost half. I thought the same too-" Danny was then interrupted by Tucker's laughing as he glared at him. "What's so funny?"
Tucker continued to laugh, his left hand holding onto the railing of the bathroom stall for support while the other one was clutching onto his stomach. His face was highly amused and Danny continued to glare at him, not appreciating the 'support' he was getting. When his friend stopped laughing he looked back at him, before doubling in laughter.
"Finished?" Danny snarled in annoyance, not seeing what was so funny with the whole situation he was in. If anything, it was tense and he tried to mask his nervousness by frustrated anger. When Tucker stopped laughing, he looked at his friend, grinning with amusement.
"No," the male friend replied, laughing for a couple more seconds before the sound finally faded, the only noise being his heavy breathing. The techno-geek looked at his displeased friend with a smile and decided to explain it to him.
"You see, I thought this was some sort of late ghost puberty or something and that just made me laugh even more with your mad childish face. That, and a couple of black specs at the top of your hair makes it look like there is a baby skunk on your head," his friend explained as Danny rolled his eyes, not believing that was the reason for his amusement.
"Hilarious. Now, can we please focus on the actual problem here. If you haven't noticed, I have light grey hair and someone decided it would be funny to play such a weird prank on me," he said seriously as his friend nodded in agreement, leaning closer to inspect his friend's hair. It indeed looked like someone had poorly dyed the black hair and he tried to force his comical self to lay low for now. It did look serious.
"Hmm, yeah it's nothing related to your ghost half though that would've been funny," his friend said amusingly before holding his hands up in surrender when Danny flashed a pair of green angry eyes at him. "This is light spray paint mixed with a liquid; probably water."
Tucker then walked over to the bathroom sink where the bottle was placed and inspected the contents, pouring some of it on the sink and dipping his ring finger on it. "Water has been added to this to decrease the effects of it. Do you want the good news or bad news?"
"Good," Danny said immediately, eager to hear something that would make him feel better. Tucker nodded, washing his hands after smiling at his friend.
"Well, the good news is that it isn't permanent. It will wear off after some scrubbing and effective shampoo. The bad news is..." the boy continued before sighing at the nervous reaction of his best friend. "This will start to wear off completely only after two weeks. Until then, you can do nothing about it. You can't even dye over it or that'll result in damaged hair and make it look worse than before."
Danny gasped in alarm, his eyes about to burst out. "Two weeks?! You expect me to walk around like-like.. like that- for two weeks!? Are you insane?!" The boy yelled out, not believing a word his friend was saying. Did he mean he was gonna have to walk around the school, heck around his town, with white hair, without being figured out? How was this possible? Sure the citizens here weren't the brightest, but that didn't mean they had no brain!
"Damn man, chill out. What's so bad with white hair- oh..." Tucker trailed off with realization as he looked at the boy, nervous as well. He now realized that if Danny walked around, like that, he would surely be discovered.
"Tuck, what am I going to do?! I can't walk around like this, it'll be over for me! My secret identity won't be a secret anymore! I can kiss the chances of having a normal life goodbye!" Danny cried out, at this point not caring if someone was listening to their conversation.
"Okay, okay, we need to calm down, people could be listening to us right now! We won't be able to focus like this. First off, we need to know why someone would purposely give you a shampoo bottle of light grey spray paint," before Tucker could complete the sentence, Danny's eyes widened in realization before darkening, flashing green for a couple of seconds.
"Dash," the boy growled, mentioning the name in distaste as his friend raised an eyebrow in confusion before realizing what he meant. Of course, who other than Dash would wanna get revenge; excluding the hundreds of ghosts. He must've known that Danny was somewhat responsible for the prank earlier this morning and wanted to get back at him.
"I love how you instantly know who the culprit is," Tucker chuckled as Danny smiled a bit in response before sighing heavily, frowning.
"Ugh, I'm so stupid! Why didn't I check the shampoo first before layering it all over my hair? I'm so dumb!" the stressed boy cried out, burying his face by his shaking hands as Tucker sat beside him, comforting him. They sat there for a couple of minutes before Tucker decided to say something.
"Hey, why don't we ask Sam? She'll know what to do," he suggested as his friend raised his head, not seeming to reject the idea. Their goth friend always seemed to know what to do, as she was quite intelligent.
Danny nodded in agreement as they both got up and Danny took his stuff with him, making sure he also brought the shampoo along. When they needed to explain this to Sam, they would need this as proof. The boys walked out, Danny cautiously covering his hair with his white shirt. He hoped nobody would see him, knowing it was lunch and everybody was most likely outside or in the cafeteria. Tucker also decided to stand in front of him in case they ran into someone.
"Stay there," Tucker ordered, pointing to the storage room where they always hid in. Sam was inside the cafeteria and he couldn't go in there like this. Who knows how many students were in there! Danny silently complied, quickly running to the end of the hallway and forcing open the heavy door. Tucker would then go into the cafeteria to get Sam and he'll explain the situation to her here.
When Tucker was sure that his friend had left and that there was no one watching them, he opened the cafeteria doors and walked to where his friend was sitting, with Valerie. The trio always sat together but for some reason, Valerie decided to join them today. He didn't ask why though and instead pulled Sam aside to inform her of the problem. Of course, he only told her there was a problem regarding Danny, knowing he didn't have much time to waste. Danny was probably worried that someone might enter the janitor's closet and figure him out. So without further words, he dragged his female friend outside the cafeteria, ignoring the confused glances Valerie was giving them.
Danny panicked for a second when he heard the door being forced open, and quickly transformed into Phantom, prepared to turn invisible. But he then calmed down a bit when he saw it was only his two best friends.
"Guys, what's wrong? You had me worried!" Sam quietly exclaimed, worry evident on her face. Danny transformed back to his human self, preferring to show her instead of explaining. Sam's eyes remained frozen when she saw Danny's hair remain the same colour or changing slightly to a darker shade of white with a few specks of black on top. If it weren't for the current problem, she would've found the scene comical.
"Oh my god... you look so much like Phantom," she mumbled as Tucker rolled his eyes at his friend's obliviousness. Of course, he looked like Phantom, he is phantom! It doesn't take a genius to figure it out!
On the other hand, Danny groaned and cradled his face using his hands, which were still shaking from before. He couldn't get them to stop! But that was the least of his worries, Sam clearly could tell that he is Phantom! And although that's different, as she already knows his secret and she's smarter than the rest of the school, she could still tell and that was all that mattered. How was he going to get out of this now?
"Great, now all I need is some green contact lenses and a black and white hazmat suit," Danny muttered as his friends chuckled but looked worriedly at him.
"If it makes you better, I have a somewhat good solution," Sam trailed off as that quickly perked up Danny's attention, some hope glimmering on his face. "When we get back from school today, I'll hire a special hairstylist that will surely remove the dye from your hair. But for now, you can borrow one of Tucker's red hats that he keeps extra in his locker."
Tucker nodded in agreement whilst Danny sighed, realizing he'll just have to continue his school day like...that. He appreciated his goth friend's efforts in trying to help him and Tucker's hat too, but he was just worried that he couldn't focus on responding.
"By the way, guess who was behind this," Tucker said but before the goth friend could say something back, he continued. "The one and only bully, Dash. Speaking of which, I have a feeling Kwan was involved in this too."
The female friend crossed her arms together, an 'I-told-you-so' look appearing on her face, but surprisingly, said nothing. Instead, she looked at Danny displeased. Danny sighed angrily, scratching his hair nervously in the progress.
"Look, I get it. You were right about why I shouldn't have played a prank on Dash, all the dangers and such. But I don't regret it, okay? I'm tired of him messing around with me like I'm some wimp, which I'm not, but he just thinks I am," Danny ranted out, childishly crossing his arms, as he averted his eyes away from his friends. He didn't know if it was because of anger or embarrassment, or shame. Probably a mixture of all.
However, Sam simply just smiled weakly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "Danny, I'm not going to give you a lecture like some child; that's Jazz's job by the way. What's done is done, there's no point in bringing you down when we know it would do nothing other than start a stupid argument. I'm not blaming you either, I was just worried about you. That's all."
Danny was surprised and he looked up to see Sam smiling warmly at him. He smiled back, and they continued to look at each other for what seemed like forever when Tucker coughed, realizing he was in the middle of a couple.
"Not to break you two lovebirds and all, but we gotta head back to the cafeteria. I don't know about you guys but I need to eat, it's time for my feeding," he stated, looking down at his PDA as the pair blushed, looking away from each other, forgetting to remind their friend that they weren't lovebirds. Instead, they nodded in compliance, realizing they couldn't just stay here forever, as much as Danny wanted.
As the three friends exited the small room, they turned down the hallway and speed-walked to Tucker's locker to collect the extra red cap. Tucker quickly unlocked his locker and searched inside, rummaging through his school worksheets. When he finally found it, he handed it over to Danny who silently thanked him.
"Here, use these," his female friend said, handing Danny some purples barrettes as he looked at her confused.
"What, why?" he asked as she rolled her eyes and was about to place one on his hair but he took a step back, holding both his hands up. "Hey! There's no way I'm wearing that!"
"They are supposed to keep your hair in place dummy. Now keep still," she said as he shook his head in protest, taking a step back. There was no way he was going to be seen with them, even if he had a hat on top. Wearing Tucker's red cap was enough, now this?
"Yeah, not happening. Keep them to yourself, Sam, I'm not wearing those," he stubbornly said, refusing to be seen with them. His female friend sighed in defeat, placing the purple barrettes back in her skirt pockets. Tucker, on the other hand, was grinning but said nothing, afraid his two friends will not take it too well.
Danny adjusted the cap on his head, making sure his white hair wasn't peeking out. And although the barrettes could've helped, he remained stubborn, refusing to put them on his hair. His friends also helped him with his hair and even suggested wearing a hood to cover it in case. But Danny mentioned how he would look suspicious and it would be best if he just stuck with the red hat.
The trio walked to the cafeteria, each step holding a ton on Danny's shoulder. He didn't know why he was nervous, after all, he had managed to hide his hair well with the help of his friends. And Danny knew he couldn't hide here forever, he had to face them sometime soon whether he liked it or not.
As soon as the trio entered the cafeteria, Danny instantly regretted ever coming in, his confidence dropping lower than his math grades. Everybody was staring at them weirdly and although it didn't seem like it was humoured, it wasn't good staring either. His two friends forced him to continue walking to their original seat, nudging him now and then.
"You know, your horrified expression is making them stare at you more," Sam dryly said, nudging him by the shoulder when he froze for a second.
"Very funny, Sam," Danny weakly replied, trying to force an annoyed look at his friend but didn't have the energy to. Sam sighed at his response, wishing he would've at least glared at her, then she would be more relieved.
All Danny wanted to do right now was run out of the cafeteria doors and to the safety of his home, somewhat. But then he got reminded that he can't do that either when his parents notice the new look. As soon as they notice the white hair, he's a goner. At this point, he even considered turning invisible but that would be too suspicious in front of everybody. He even wished any ghost would interrupt, even Skulker, but to his misfortune, the blue mist never appeared. If only Desiree was present.
They were so close to their destination, but Danny never really got what he wanted.
"What's up, Fenturd?" a voice said behind as Danny froze, his face turning ten times paler than usual. He fearfully turned around to where the sound was coming from, knowing full well who it was. He wished that a miracle would happen and a ghost, any ghost, would show up to kick his butt but no luck.
"Wow, would you look at that. It looks like you've just seen a ghost!" Dash snickered, the jocks around him chuckling along. Dash had already explained to them about the prank and they all seemed excited to see the outcome.
Worse than any ghost I've encountered, Danny thought mentally but said nothing out loud, afraid he'll say something stupid and ruin the disguise he managed to pull off. If he wanted to finish the day off, he was gonna have to go along with what Dash said and swallow his pride. No matter how much he wanted to add a snarky remark.
"Go away Dash, we're not in the mood," Tucker said annoyingly, mentally rolling his eyes as the jock raised one of his eyebrows, bringing his eyes back to the victim.
"Hmm, I don't think I will. Say, Fenton, why are you so quiet today? I thought you would've said something by now, especially after the incident earlier this morning," he responded casually, smirking in response as Danny fought ever the urge to not grin. He must've figured out already, no surprise. His prank was indeed great but he couldn't show him his pleased reaction or Dash will play the other side of the game.
"Just get it over with Dash. I'm busy," Danny soberly said, making sure to hide his amused yet nervous expression from his rival. If he wanted to get out of here alive, he was gonna have to play it cool and hope for the best. Dash, however, ignored Danny's comment and took a step forward, wearing an amused grin.
"Nice hat, got it from Sucker, right?" he questioned as Danny nervously looked around while Tucker frowned, opening his mouth to correct him but stopped when he met Danny's eyes. He just wanted to get it over with. Danny nodded in response to Dash's question, hoping it was the last one but little did he know it was just the beginning.
"Why are you so nervous? Are you hiding something?..." he trailed off and Danny shook his head quickly before turning to face his friends, silently asking for help. "Are you afraid I'll do something like..this," Dash suddenly took a quick step forward, as if pretending to take off Danny's hat. Danny reacted quickly, pushing himself out of the way as he clutched onto the hat on top of his hair, depending on it like it was his life. Dash wore an amused expression as he turned around to face the captive crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm aware that my prank would make you forget what happened earlier this morning. Consider this as a warning to everyone that thinks it's funny to ever oppose me," he said darkly and before any of them, including Danny, could utter a word, Dash quickly pulled over and snatched the hat off of Danny's head. Unfortunately, he was too late this time to move out of the way. The action alone was shocking. His hair pulled along towards the direction the hat was snatched from, making it even more messier than usual. It was the same style Danny wore when he was Phantom and in the middle of a fight. Everybody gasped, including the jocks when they saw the reveal of Danny's hair colour, some of it now covering his left eye.
Danny hesitantly patted his head, making sure this was not a dream and the hat was still placed but to his horror, there was nothing on top. He wanted to run, scream crazily but he stood there, frozen. He was afraid, would they recognize him?
Not only was Danny shocked but so was the crowd, even Dash and the rest of the jocks. Nobody dared to say anything, afraid that one word would affect everyone. Dash was lightly holding onto the red hat, staring dumbfounded at the person who resembled his hero. The shampoo had worked effectively all right, but he wasn't expecting anything like this.
"Y-you... you look a lot like Phantom," Kwan finally said, breaking the silence as the rest of the jocks nodded their heads slowly in agreement, not finding the right words to continue. The rest of the students just continued to stare at the boy with white hair, trying to put the pieces together. Could...could it be?
"Ahah, t-that's funny. Why would I be the Phantom?" Danny nervously stuttered out, smiling at them like they were nuts. He can't just let his cover blow like that, knowing as soon as he admitted he was a ghost, the whole world would know about it in less than an hour. Thanks to social media.
"Yeah, that's impossible! Danny is a human, not a ghost like Phantom!" Tucker also said, trying to defend his friend as he stepped beside him. Sam was also about to step in and add another fact when she got interrupted by a certain blonde jock.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but, Kwan's right. You look vaguely similar to Phantom..." Dash trailed off and Danny shook his head quickly, looking at his friends for support.
"Just because he looks like him doesn't mean he is," Sam stated, which earned a few nods from the crowd while the rest just looked unsure at her, not buying it. Danny hated to say this but the people here weren't that dumb.
"Um, hello? Danny Fenton. Danny Phantom? They have the same first name and their last names sound the same too," a bold student from the crowd said intelligently while he continued. "Plus, they do have the same body shape and face too."
"Haha, how do they look alike? Phantom is all buff and muscular while Danny here is just wimpy," Tucker said as Danny glared at him from the corner of his eye. If it weren't for the situation, he would've protested and explained how his baggy clothes were the ones that made him look so small.
"Hmm, I don't know...They seem to have the same body shape to me..." another student said as some nodded in agreement while others just continued to gawk at him.
"Danny... Are you Phantom?" Dash simply asked, staring at him with guilt hidden beneath his eyes. He didn't know why but something about Danny made him look very similar to Phantom. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed the similarities before, probably because he never paid attention or compared them together.
"You guys are seriously weird. How can I be-" before Danny could even complete his sentence, a cold wisp appeared from his mouth, alerting him of a nearby ghost. Everybody looked at him in confusion, while the jocks raised an eyebrow.
"Are you okay? Why's there smoke coming out of your mouth? It's not even cold today," Dash said confusedly as Danny took a step back, also confused as to how they noticed it. But before he can say anything, a ghost phased from the ceiling, specifically the Box Ghost.
"I am the box ghoooost! Fear me!" the 'scary' ghost stated, his voice echoing through the cafeteria as Danny and his friends rolled their eyes. Of all the ghosts that could've appeared, the most annoying one had to show up. But that's not what annoyed Danny the most. The fact that a ghost had to come out after Dash revealed his hair is what made him frustrated. And although he wasn't complaining since he didn't want to come up with an excuse in response to Dash's question, he was still annoyed.
"Gimme a break," Danny muttered under his breath so no one would hear. But before he could do anything, he got the feeling that people were still staring at him. So he looked at the crowd, instantly wishing he hadn't. He was right, they were still staring at him, waiting for something to happen. He raised an eyebrow at them as if asking why they weren't running around but then he sighed, realizing the Box Ghost wasn't scary anyway.
"What're you guys waiting for? Runoff," the goth female growled, noticing the discomfort of her ghost friend. Some people stepped back, slowly walking out but still looking back to see if they would miss anything while the others just stayed, not budging. Danny sighed heavily, realizing he couldn't 'go ghost' here so he decided to leave as well to the male restroom.
Today's going to be a long day, Danny thought mentally before letting the two blue rings wash over him, turning him into his ghost half.
~~~
And I thought today couldn't get any worse, Danny inwardly groaned, not focusing. He wanted to get this over with but he couldn't do anything without all the curious questions being thrown at him every minute. And he had trouble throwing shots at the annoying ghost with all the people around, afraid he'll hurt someone by accident.
He motioned to Sam to unscrew the Fenton thermos so that they can capture the other ghost who managed to appear after the box ghost.
So now they decide to show up, Danny dryly thought to himself, annoyed both at the ghosts and his classmates. They were making this ten times harder than any other time. That's one of the reasons why he didn't seem too keen on revealing his identity.
"You got this Danny!" a student yelled from the crowd, breaking his concentration as he raised an eyebrow at the comment. He's never heard anyone call him Danny before, that is, in his ghost form. They either referred to him as Inviso-bill, Ghostboy, or Phantom. Never Danny.
After the last ghost was done with, Danny quickly flew to the washroom so he could revert to his human self before anybody questioned him any further. He then slowly exited the restroom, not feeling excited about the next class. He wanted to avoid people at all costs and ask Tucker for another extra red hat. At least then, it would be less awkward and people wouldn't pay too much attention.
But before he could take one step down the hallway, he was pulled by a certain someone. Or people in this case.
"What-" before Danny could say anything else, he was silenced when he noticed who these people were. Dash, Kwan, Paulina, Star, and a couple more jocks and cheerleaders- basically all the people who half hated him. Surprisingly, there wasn't a crowd following them as usual, in fact, nobody was in the hallways except for them.
"Say, Danny, where were you during the ghost fight that happened in the cafeteria?" Dash asked suspiciously as Danny's eyes perked up, noticing how Dash didn't give him a nickname. Nothing about today seemed normal to him.
"Um, I was at the washroom obviously," he nervously said, fidgeting with his fingers. Nice going, Fenton, he mentally added.
"For twenty minutes?" Kwan asked, raising an eyebrow as everybody continued to look at him, or look at his hair anyway.
"Y-yeah," he stuttered, trying to find a good excuse as to why he would spend a bunch of time in the washroom. "I was, uh, washing my hair."
They continued to stare at him, not believing the poor excuse the boy had come up with on the spot. They were now one hundred percent sure that Danny was Phantom; same hair, same body, the same face, the same voice, the list goes on.
"Why don't you wanna tell us?" Paulina asked all of a sudden as he mentally rolled his eyes, forcing himself not to say anything stupid. He could come up with a list as to why he wouldn't want to tell anyone, especially them, but it would continue till sunset.
"Why don't you guys just leave him alone?" Sam angrily retorted back, running up to Danny so that she was beside him. He mentally thanked her, knowing you wouldn't have known what to say afterward. Tucker also came by, standing on the other side.
"Yeah! If he doesn't want to tell you then let him be!" Tucker yelled out, not paying attention to what he meant by that. Danny glared at him while Tucker looked at him confused, not knowing why he was mad. But then he took a moment to realize what he said and shot Danny a guilty look.
Surprisingly, none of the jocks said anything to him, they just continued to stare at him, scrutinizing them closely. By this point, Danny ran out of stuff to say and he was about to admit that he is indeed Phantom. The rumour was going to get passed on anyway and they already had enough evidence to prove it.
"Listen, guys, I-" Danny was suddenly interrupted by Dash as he signalled his group to leave, leaving them with only Kwan, Star and Paulina by his side.
"It's okay, you don't have to say anything. Tell us when you need anything," Dash simply said, as his friends nodded, while Danny just stood there, confused. They then left, but before that, Paulina smiled at him and winked.
"I've finally wrapped myself around the idea of 'Paulina Fenton'" she said, blowing a kiss as she left as well, while the trio just stood there shocked.
"Okay, I'm feeling relieved and nauseated at the same time," Sam said, rolling her eyes as the two friends chuckled at her behaviour, but one question remained in their minds.
What just happened?
~~~
The next day felt somewhat normal yet different at the same time. For starters, yesterday during class went slowly, especially with the same stares from the cafeteria but Danny ignored it. And right after school, Danny went over to Sam's where she hired a special hairstylist who managed to get the chemicals off his hair without dying or damaging it. He was extremely thankful for that. He also got a small haircut along the way since his hair was beginning to cover his eyes and he couldn't fight ghosts with blocked eyesight.
And the next day, there were still the occasional stares even though he washed the white off his hair, but nobody bothered with the questions this time. They just let him get through school and the regular ghost fights. Even the jocks and cheerleaders left him alone, and that was weird. They were acting nice to him, offering to help him with school stuff or to sit with them during lunch to which Danny declined.
The thing was they weren't mad at him. Even Dash stopped wailing on him and showed kindness.
But the weirdest part of the day was no one outside of Casper High knew about the hair incident. Even the parents. Danny thought it was impossible for the students to not share this online but he was wrong. His parents weren't aware of the situation which was a surprise since they always watched the news and the trio wouldn't believe it.
Life for Danny was now much easier. They knew his secret but respected his wishes of not revealing it to the world. He still had some crazy fans now and then during school, but it was better than having them all the time. Plus, he liked the attention a bit and he was glad now that he wasn't chosen last for dodge-ball or a math project. He can finally fight ghosts during school without coming up with excuses or the tense pressure of keeping his identity a secret. He even suspected that the teachers secretly knew about this and why they never marked him absent or demanded complete homework.
Danny, for once, started liking school even though math remained his least favourite subject.
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Word Count: 13 080