Negative Feedback (Danny Phantom Fic)

Chapter 17

RECAP: 

Her hand collided with the knuckles of someone else's from across the table, and she quickly jumped back while looking up at who she had just accidentally touched.

Bright blue eyes positioned just below a fringe of black hair under a newsboy cap met hers, and their mouths dropped open at the exact same moment.

"Camry?"

"Danny?"

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Their mutual, stunned stare endured a full three seconds of silence before she adopted a stormy look in her eyes and turned to march away. Her heels clicked angrily on the smooth floor, and she held her arms stiff at her sides with her hands balled into fists. 

"H-Hey, wait a sec!" Danny called after her as he zipped over the table without transforming and drew alongside her. "Camry, I've been looking everywhere for you--"

"And why would you do that?" she snapped back, refusing to look at him. "If memory serves, you ditched me in the Ghost Zone!"

"Uh, what?" he answered, both eyebrows shooting up under his shaggy hair as he all but stopped right in front of her. It forced her to stop walking and try to slide around him, but Danny wasn't about to let her just walk away so easily from this. "You told me to go."

"Th-That doesn't make any sense," Camry glowered, unable to help how her growing wrath had made her words catch in her throat. "You were the only person keeping me safe, so why would I tell you to go? Come up with some better logic, Danny."

And she finally got around him by spinning on her toes, putting her back to him as she all but orbited 180 degrees in one fluid motion. He didn't expect it, nor did he really register how she had moved so gracefully, so it took a second for him to turn and continue after her. 

"I'm telling the truth!" he insisted as he closed the distance between them and came up beside her again. "You got all mad at me for no reason all of a sudden, and there was fire and you told me to stop trying to help you. So I left, but then I realized that was a stupid mistake and came back to try and look for you. But then I couldn't find you anywhere! It's the honest truth, I swear." 

On his honor, he raised his right hand for a moment, then let it drop to his side. "Don't you remember any of that?"

Her pace had slowed as he explained, and by the time he asked her that question they had come to a complete stop under one of the amazingly high Gothic windows bedecked with gold and black drapes. Danny used the opportunity to stand in front of her again and fold his arms over his chest as he peered into her enigmatic face. She met his eyes for a brief second, then let her gaze drop to the ground between their feet. 

"I... I don't remember that," Camry finally admitted. By the tone of her voice, most of the fight seemed to have left her. "I don't remember anything about that... exchange."

A quiet sigh escaped him. "I'm glad you're alright, though. When Tucker and Sam set me straight, we hurried back and found you were totally gone. Where did you go?"

"Uh... here," she answered with a small gesture to the ballroom's general vicinity. "Dora found me and took me in."

"You're the apprentice she was talking about?" 

"Y-Yeah, and-- wait, why are you even at this ball?" She stared up at him with bewilderment; her heels did add a little bit of height, but she was still noticeably smaller. "I didn't see your name on the guest list when we were making it."