School Boy Crush

notes

Danny met up with his friends at the Nasty Burger. Since it was Saturday, they decided to hang out at the arcade and go to the movies after. Danny spent a good hour and a half ranting about Mr. Masters, and was thankful his friends put up with it. After they finished catching a movie, they walked to the park together. Danny rested his back against a tree, Sam resting her head on his lap and Tucker resting his on hers. They enjoyed the peacefulness of the evening. Danny felt himself start to relax. It had been a stressful week and it was great not to have to think about everything. He yawned tiredly, noticing the concerned glance from Sam.

"What?" He asked.

"You look tired. What happened?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Oh, Skulker was in the area last night. He put up a good fight and took me longer than I expected to catch him in the thermos. I sent him back the ghost zone right before I caught up with guys today."

She frowned, something obviously bothering her. "Danny, I think you need to cut down on the ghost hunting."

Danny felt his good mood shortening. Patiently, he asked, "Why?"

Tucker watched his friends from the corner of his eyes and knew this conversation wasn't going to go over well. Still, Sam replied; "Because you're tired out and it's only the first week of school. I hate to say it, but Mr. Masters is right. You can't just scrap by this year. You need to focus on your grades so you can get into a good college."

"I can't just stop ghost fighting, Sam." Danny said irritably, feeling defensive. "Who's going to defend Amity Park if Danny Phantom isn't around? Valerie is around sometimes but not enough for me to just leave it up to her. It's not like my parents are dependable for that as well. The Guys in White? They're useless!"

Sam knew Danny had a point, but still. "Well what do you plan to do for College? You're not going to stay in Amity Park, are you?"

"I, well, I'm not sure." He sighed. He wanted to go away to experience something different. His friends were planning on going to a different state as well.

"You can't do this forever, Danny." Sam continued gently.

Danny didn't reply. He didn't want to think about it or think about how Sam was right. "I'll see, okay?"

With a sigh, Sam nodded and decided to leave the subject alone. It was a tender one. Tucker was relieved. He didn't want any fights between the three of them. They had a rough time every now and then because they all expressed different opinions on things and it was stressful. Now that they had to think about college, it seemed more important to let petty fights go. He stretched his body out and stared up at the sky. He wished he could help Danny out more with ghost hunting, but Sam was right. They had other things to worry about. Their grades weren't suffering as poorly as Danny's.

Danny went home that night and stared at the assignment he hadn't touched yet. He could ignore it one more day, right? He stayed up that night playing a video game, forcing himself to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him he should be doing something else at the moment. Namely, his neglected assignment. It was pointless to, anyway! It's not like he understood it. He quickly sent Sam a text asking if she would be willing to help him tomorrow. She responded positively. Feeling a bit better, Danny continued playing his game.

Danny woke up in the afternoon. He changed to his ghost form and made his way over to Sam's. He was greeted by her parents and made his way into her bedroom. Without bothering to knock, he went in. Sam was sitting in her chair, reading a book. When she realized Danny was in her room, she dog tagged her book and tossed it aside. She offered Danny an encouraging smile.