Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When extraordinary things happen every day, it's hard to pay attention to the little details. Amity Park's citizens seemed to pick up on the bizarre aspects of mundane situations only when they smacked them in the face; otherwise, those little things went at most into the subconscious file for the "ordinarily strange.”

The kids at Carper High were a prime example of the obliviousness surrounding the haunted town. They had almost gotten used to it, even when they didn't know what that 'it' was. But with so many attacks happening at the public school, it was only a matter of time before someone began noticing patterns all around.

And Star was all about patterns as she tried to pay extra attention to the who, what, when, and where to have something new to gossip about.

Being a cheerleader and Paulina's best friend had become her first credentials whenever her name came up, but many were forgetting the socialite’s life before joining the A-listers. For starters, she wasn't as dense as everyone thought. She had been a leader of the chess club at one point in her childhood, and she also loved reading in her reduced spare time, science fiction being relegated to a guilty pleasure once she became Paulina’s “bestie.” Said affectionate term was very fragile and didn’t hold whenever a popular kid struggled in terms of wealth, influence, or popularity. Star had learned that from close experience, after being able to join their ranks once Valerie had hit rock bottom financially. It was funny how the two girls found a more sincere friendship out of Paulina’s sight.

Of course, the pressure of being relevant to the elite meant she had to keep her moves calculated enough to avoid falling from grace, lest the previous mockery and name-calling return in full force against her. That's how she started keeping tabs on everything that happened around her, mostly everyday observations that could be turned into gossip fodder or teasing material. She often loved scribbling them in the back of her notebook, pointing out her findings with small phrases.

As Mrs. Neil droned on with that day's lesson, dishing out formulas and terminology with which the ‘satellite’ was already familiar, Star allowed herself to be distracted by her scribbles. She indulged at times in writing things about the cool kids as well, realizing blackmail could be the third purpose for her newfound hobby. ‘Pauly has a new pair of shoes,’ one note read. ‘Her feet look tiny in them…maybe they didn’t have her size?’

‘Ashley skipped lunch again. Someone’s trying to get into her homecoming dress.’

'Dash makes tons of Phantom doodles. Hero worship or secret crush?’

She went on listing the simple things around her, even from the loser trio at the bottom of the social ladder. Her notes included musings about Manson's fidgeting (no doubt caused by Fenton's absence in the middle of the school day), or Foley’s focus on his PDA (‘who knew he got bored during math class?’). But when the door slammed open, she noticed a significant change right away.

"Oh, sorry, Mrs. Neil," one slightly disheveled Danny Fenton said, cringing as he met the teacher's glare. "I...got chased by a ghost in the hall?"

The excuse gained snickers from several classmates. "Knowing you, it was probably a flying bed sheet," Dash exclaimed, followed by a high-five with Kwan.

In all honesty, Star was too distracted to even consider celebrating their antics. For some reason, the kid who had just missed half of the class brought with him a chilling sensation into the room. It was very hard to miss. She followed Fenton with her gaze once the teacher sent him to his desk (detention included) and realized the chill moved with him to the back of the classroom.

Maybe sitting against the wall at the very front was the only reason why she noticed the change, if their classmates’ obliviousness was any indication.

Interest piqued, the cheerleader decided to write it down: 'Freaky Fenton strikes again. Might as well be Jack Frost...’

Not that she could picture the freak like one of her favorite characters from Rise of the Guardians: white hair and frosty glare. He wasn't cool enough for that.

Now that she was aware of the coldness following the odd boy, Star couldn’t stop noticing the ever-present chill. Whenever Fenton was around, it suddenly felt like someone had turned on the AC. It happened no matter how crowded or warm the room was. She once caught Mikey shuddering when the two nerdy boys accidentally bumped shoulders in the hall, but the redhead acted as if it didn’t register in his consciousness. She knew the town was blind sometimes, but this was starting to get on her nerves.

It was Thursday; the English classroom began to fill with students, not even one of them missing the bell for the first time that week. Star had mentally prepared herself for the iciness that followed Fenton as he finally walked through the door. She wondered how long this had been going on unnoticed, and most importantly what was the cause behind it, when a terrifying idea struck her: What if this involved something... supernatural? What if there were ghosts following him everywhere? Could he be even possessed by one? His supposed fear of paranormal entities hadn't made any sense unless there was a strong reason for that. Like maybe being constantly haunted...

Not caring about Mr. Lancer's current lecture on The Odyssey, the girl began writing a list on a new page, full of her recent theories and observations. The teacher would probably think she was dutifully taking notes. Not that she needed to; Greek gods and their adventures were another guilty pleasure of hers, though she always preferred a good mystery. And she loved being one step ahead of things.

If a ghost were truly involved, maybe she would have to raise more awareness of the situation. But how? She had failed so far getting her friends to notice the bizarre temperature changes, often receiving offhanded replies to get a sweater. Or worse…a superficial comment on how climate change was so “uncool,” just to jump on the bandwagon of what their favorite celebrities thought was relevant.

So, how could she get them to notice? And how could she make sure there wasn’t a creepy ghost floating invisibly in the classroom right now? The mere idea gave her the creeps.

Then, like some kind of epiphany, she figured out the obvious solution to the second question. Valerie Gray hated ghosts with an unrivaled passion, which meant she was probably paying close attention to them. Would she know how to detect possessed people?

Star couldn't wait to ask Val about it once her shift was over, which was when they usually had a chance to call each other to stay up to date. Now, she had to think of a way to make someone else notice the temperature thing, if only to not feel like she was going crazy.

As the blonde continued her notes, she idly listened to Mr. Lancer's analysis of Odysseus, the hero everyone thought was dead...

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Being part of the A-list meant usually hanging out as a group to maintain membership benefits. It was stupid and part of the reason why Star would rarely have time for other kinds of activities. Between school, homework, cheerleading, her chores at home, and keeping up with the popular group, she felt rather swamped. So, listening to her friends chat about their plans for the weekend wasn’t as exciting as it would seem for aspiring A-listers, much less while they were gathered somewhere as mainstream as the Nasty Burger.

After a few minutes of dully listening to every detail about Paulina’s upcoming trip to New York, which she had already heard twice that day, Star felt the unusual chill she had discovered earlier that week. Sure enough, she spotted in her peripheral vision a familiar trio passing by to sit two booths away from them. She wondered if anyone else had perceived it.

Unless…

The blonde made a show of hugging her arms and shivering, making sure the setup was not loud enough to get the losers’ attention. “Brrr, did you guys notice that?”

While the two other boys in the booth stared quizzically, she could feel the Latina glaring daggers at her.

“Notice what?” Kwan was the first to speak, his voice almost concerned.

"Sorry, Pauly,” Star began with her most sugar-coated voice before the Queen Bee of Casper High felt the need to replace her for such audacity. “I didn’t want to interrupt, but I'm just so freaked out...”

Paulina’s menacing glare was immediately replaced with a look of stirred curiosity. “Freaked out? What about?”

Star cautiously glanced to make sure the trio of losers wasn’t paying attention to them (they weren’t) then leaned closer to the center of the table, prompting the others to do the same as it usually indicated some incoming juicy gossip. “Whenever Fenton enters a room, the temperature takes a nosedive,” she said in a low voice, getting no initial reaction from her companions. When no one spoke, she continued, “It’s super freaky. Really hard to miss once you pay attention to it. It’s like there’s some weird ghostly stuff going on.”

Dash snorted. “Oh, man, are we seriously going to use our valuable time to talk about that freak?” He released a hearty laugh, wiping away a tear. The amusement died down once he realized the others were mulling over the girl’s words. “Oh, c'mon,” the quarterback whined in annoyance and crossed his arms over his chest.

If anything, Kwan and Paulina had become pensive after Star’s words. This rattled the blonde girl. “What? Did you notice that too?” she asked, her eyes wide at the sudden revelation.

The Latina licked her lips and stared at her fingernails. “He has a ghost sense,” she finally replied, as if the words had some heavy meaning they should have already known. Her teal eyes glanced up to gauge their reactions. At the lack of recognition, Paulina sighed. “Remember when we had that ghost disease or whatever?” Three heads nodded back. “And remember I had that awful blue breath? The ghost boy told me more about it. Because it’s one of his powers, right? So, he said it helps sense when a ghost is close to you. And then one day I saw Danny had the exact same thing.”

Star crumpled her nose. “What? When did that happen?” Why didn’t you say anything? was the real question she wanted to ask, but no way would Paulina tolerate being questioned like that.

Paulina steepled her fingers in front of her, something she mostly did when she was nervous to stop herself from damaging her manicure, her cheerleading teammate mentally noted. “It was, like, two weeks ago at the mall. I was waiting behind Danny at the smoothie stand. I was going to convince him to let me go first, but then...it happened. He let out that misty air, ran away with some excuse, and then a ghost showed up.”

“Wait, hold on," the self-proclaimed king of Casper High interjected in a louder tone than necessary.

“Dash,” Star scolded, turning just enough to see if Fenton was listening to them, only to find him laughing with his friends and oblivious to the huddle. “Not so loud,” she hissed anyway.

The quarterback rolled his eyes and lowered his voice. “So, you’re saying he can sense ghosts? Puny, scared-shitless Fen-toenail can detect when there's something spooky going on?” He couldn’t hold his bubbling laughter any longer. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just...” he noticed Star’s shushing gesture and he lowered his voice again, “that has to be the lamest use of a cool power. Figures he would find a way to sense when to run away, crying like a baby.”

“Actually,” Kwan started, his reflective state untouched by his best friend’s guffawing. “I’ve been thinking about it, too. Like, a lot.”

“Oh, no, not you, too,” Dash whined again, taking his hands to his hair in frustration.

Kwan frowned at the gesture but didn’t feel deterred by it. “So, like, remember when ‘Lina told us how Phantom always shows up when Fenton’s around?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Paulina said as she rolled her eyes. “I even invited him and his two friends to my quinceañera, and they all stood me up!”

Star tried not to snort at the vivid memory. When Paulina had shared the party plans involving Fenton, they had all teased her for still not being over her ex. Sure, she always denied it. But no matter how much the head of the cheerleading squad pretended the brief relationship with the loser didn't happen, there would always be evidence for future blackmail.

Dash huffed. “Yeah, I didn’t believe it then, and I won’t believe that now.”

The Asian jock, patient as he was, only shrugged. “I did. And I started paying more attention. It’s just... think about it, man. Why would the son of ghost hunters run away from a ghost attack? Remember that time with the pirate ship? He taught us how to use all those weapons. And he fought those skeleton pirates with you guys.”

Now that she thought about it, Star couldn’t believe how it all fit together into the same strange picture, but it still felt like they were missing important pieces of information. Why or how did this happen? When did it start? Was there any real connection to Phantom? She thought he could be possessed or haunted. But what if it were worse than that? No... She didn’t dare finish that train of thought.

The only thing Star could be certain of was the terrifying realization that they had been messing with the wrong kid the whole time. Dash would be too stupid if he didn’t back off after this.

To his defense, the otherwise arrogant bully shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his bravado began to falter. “So? He later ditched us that one time. I see him running away, screaming and panicking all the time. It’s not something we made up to have even more reasons to wail on him.”

Paulina gave an exasperated sigh. “Soooo, it means he doesn’t run away from ghosts. He runs to get help from my ghost boy. Get it?”

Star felt there was more than that, and a part of her felt like running away from the boy in question, a newfound eeriness settling in the bottom of her stomach. She still couldn’t believe they were even having this conversation. It felt like they were uncovering something big. Big for what? Status? Blackmail? Making him join the A-listers again? She wouldn’t mind voting Dash out this time, however impossible it was.

“Guys, I think you’re missing the point,” the blonde began once an uncomfortable silence had settled. “If the temperature is dropping before a ghost shows up or his spooky sense acts up, I think there’s more to the story. What if he’s possessed or being followed around by a ghost?” Or...what if he were—

Nope. Not going there.

Paulina’s eyes widened with a hopeful glint. “My ghost boy? You mean...he’s right here?” The sparkle in her eyes only shone brighter as an idea struck her. “Wait, wait, wait... is that why he told me to wrap my mind around the idea of Paulina Fenton? Was that...a clue?”

The quarterback, not immediately dismissing their comments for once, frowned. “But that doesn’t make any sense. If anything, he would be hanging out with the cool kids, not some loser with lame ghost hunters as parents. That’s, like, suicide."

"But...what if he doesn't like the spotlight? I mean, what would be the least likely place you would go looking for him?" Star pointed out with more confidence.

Kwan's eyes widened, and he looked like his mind had just been blown. "You know what... It totally makes sense... That’s why he’s not so afraid of you, dude."

“Shut up,” Dash mumbled.

“No, no,” Star said. “What do you mean with ‘he’s not so afraid’?”

“Fenton doesn’t run, shrink, or even flinch when Dash is wailing on him. He just looks...tired when it happens. Dash thinks it’s because he’s losing his touch, but-”

Dash dropped his fist loudly on the table, interrupting the boy with the sudden clatter and the murderous look in his eyes. “I said shut up, Kwan!”

The outburst made everyone at the fast-food restaurant stop mid-conversation and turn to stare at the A-listers, some of the employees even doing so with disapproval. The group then saw the surprised and wide blue eyes of one Danny Fenton from his own table.

Fenton’s personal bully noticed, clenching his teeth and fists as he stared the boy down. “What the hell are you staring at, freak?” Dash barked loudly.

The teen in question lowered his eyebrows into an icy glare. Star could have sworn the temperature dropped again slightly, something both Kwan and Paulina reacted to as well, now that they were paying more attention to the eerie sensation.

Dash seemed taken aback for a moment, but instead of backing down, he matched the boy’s glare and stomped to his table.

The way Kwan described Fenton’s reactions to Dash didn’t even begin to cover the whole experience. True, the other boy didn’t cower in fear, despite the size and weight differences. But upon further inspection, he seemed to almost enjoy getting a rise out of the jock. Like it wasn't that big of a deal.

Now that Star thought about it, Fenton had been so strange since they started high school. Always missing assignments and classes, breaking material, starting food fights...like some poster boy for teenage delinquency. He was a desperate call for help.

But was that his goal? To get people to notice him?

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch if the Phantom theory turned out to be right. Who would want to be the constant target of ghost attacks and tiptoe around their parents, when they could just live like a regular kid? Maybe that was why Fenton didn’t mind getting in trouble, if it meant forcing Phantom to find a more overlooked civilian to shadow.

Great. Now she was psychoanalyzing Fenton, of all people.

Back to the confrontation, once Dash stood in front of the smaller boy, he grabbed his shirt, holding him up close to his face. “You wanna say something, Fenturd?”

The spooky kid gave Dash an innocent look. ”Nope. Seems to me Kwan already said enough for you to shoot him down like that.”

Before the jock’s growl could transform into the punch it threatened to become, a familiar face and voice intervened.

Valerie Gray, whose shift was still ongoing at the burger joint, appeared so fast next to the two boys it almost felt like watching a ninja. “Baxter,” she began in a warning tone, her emerald eyes screaming murder. “You know we have a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, so you better start making peace with Danny before I personally kick you out.”

Fenton used the distraction of the public scolding to try to pry his shirt out of Dash’s hands. Something in that action startled the jock into dropping the fabric, but he was quick to school his features into his usual menacing scowl. Star knew better, though; she saw the bully’s subdued twitching.

“It’s ok, Val,” Fenton replied, sounding even friendly despite the circumstances. “Dash was just heading back to his table, right? We’re cool here.”

The two boys held a silent glaring contest, with only one of them genuinely seething. When the blond’s wavering frustration fully disappeared, he huffed before retreating towards his booth. “Whatever,” he muttered.

As the restaurant atmosphere returned to normal, Fenton and Val continued talking for a couple of more seconds, both blushing awkwardly when they waved their farewells. As Valerie returned to her place at the register, her eyes met Star’s knowing look and promptly darted away.

Oh, yeah, she would never let Val live that down, not after she declared so many times how she had “moved on.”

That inspired Star with another idea. Maybe she could try asking Val if she had noticed anything strange about Fenton during their time together. The cheerleader had to be careful, though. Val really hated Phantom, so the blonde couldn't just dump all the unconfirmed theories they had about her ex.

Star wasn’t that mean.

Her thoughts were once again put on pause when Dash slumped in the seat in front of her, his face paler than usual. He avoided his friends’ concerned looks; apparently, his milkshake was much more interesting.

Paulina was the first to break the silence. “What the hell were you thinking?” she scolded in a hushed tone. The Latina noticed a few curious onlookers staring at their table, so her scowl immediately switched into a dazzling smile to throw them off.

Dash wasn’t very eloquent, and he never admitted being wrong. So, they had to give him credit after all the guts it took for him to fumble with his next words. “I... I... I believe you, okay?”

Paulina’s eyebrows rose to match her piqued interest. “What happened? Was my ghost boy there?”

Star wanted to roll her eyes but instead focused her sight on the other blond in the group. The jock dared to look up, briefly glanced at Fenton’s table, then turned to his companions with nervously shifting eyes. “Could we, uh... bail or something?”

Dash never allowed himself to be vulnerable. That was a huge no-no in the Baxter household. Even getting him to share his real interests was like pulling teeth. This led to the unhealthy habit of bottling up his feelings and bullying others as an outlet. So when Star noticed how scared Dash Baxter looked in front of them, she knew something big was up. “You totally noticed something.”

Without waiting for a response to his previous plea, the boy stood up and headed outside, trying to keep his haunted expression hidden. His three companions shared looks and shortly followed suit, with Kwan taking only a moment to go back to leave a tip next to their forgotten meals.

Once the four of them were out of the restaurant, they followed Dash to the parking lot, where they had left his car. He took out his keys as they walked, but his trembling fingers couldn’t find the right one. Star was sure he had one of those keyless cars but decided not to say anything. The jock didn’t need any additional pressure.

Once they reached the vehicle, Dash kicked one of the tires and began to hyperventilate. “I am so dead. So fucking dead.”

“Dude,” Kwan said in a soothing voice, but still keeping a fair distance. “Calm down. C’mon, breathe.”

Star regarded him with hesitation. “What happened?”

Dash turned to look her in the eye for the first time. Then he turned to Kwan, as if he could find better moral support from his teammate. Not that she blamed him; the popular clique didn't have the best reputation when it came to taking care of each other.

“He... He touched my hand,” the blue-eyed jock spluttered, his voice just as haunted as he looked. A shiver ran visibly up his spine. “He was so freaking cold. I’ve felt it before, alright? I already knew he was like that. All those times wailing on him? I totally noticed, okay? But I... I never understood what it meant. And today I felt it again...and it felt like touching a ghost.”

His friends only gaped, unsure of what to say. Even Kwan, calm and collected as he had been trying to be from the very start, looked stumped by the sudden revelation. “You knew something was off? And you didn’t stop?!”

The blond, instead of replying, apparently remembered he didn't really need a key and slid into the driver’s seat as soon as he opened the door. He looked like a cornered animal, a sight no one would believe unless they had been there to witness it. Paulina was the first to open the door opposite to the driver, with the two remaining friends getting into the back seat soon after.

Dash continued dodging Kwan’s question and stared blankly at the steering wheel. “I can't get his smile out of my head,” he said after a moment of silence. “He’s been taunting me. He knows there’s a ghost somewhere close that can beat me into a pulp. It’s like he’s waiting for me to really mess up to get back at me. I am sooo dead...”

Star was startled by his words. Sure, they had all heard the worst-case scenarios when it came to bullying. From going too far and breaking the kids on the receiving end, to becoming the prime targets of some gruesome retaliation.

But...Fenton didn’t seem like that kind of guy.

“Ok, dude, you need to calm down,” Kwan tried to soothe Dash again. “We talked about this, remember? Fenton’s not planning his revenge. He’s... Ok, maybe he’s hard to read, but he’s not gonna kill you, dude. But you definitely need to stop messing with him.”

Paulina rolled her eyes. “Oh, wow, so reassuring,” she muttered. “Dash, honey... if my ghost boy's with Danny, he won't let anything hurt you, okay? Didn’t you say you had that cool team up with him when that shrink ray zapped you?”

Star almost groaned at the memory. Dash wouldn’t shut up about it for a whole week or two. But it seemed Paulina's reminder worked like a charm: the quarterback gave her a sheepish smile in return.

“Yeah, we were awesome. But... he didn’t like my idea of sticking Fenton’s face in the toilet.” He sighed and facepalmed. “It makes a whole lotta sense now.”

“See?” Paulina continued. “If he really wanted to, he could’ve vaporized you or whatever at any time.” At this, the boy paled even more. “But he hasn’t, silly! He’s a hero, get it? No matter what Fenton tells him to do or not to do, he’s gonna save people. Not the opposite.”

Star saw this as her cue to ease the jock's mounting paranoia. “Pauly’s right,” she said, gaining some brownie points with her bestie at the same time. “Plus, didn’t Fenton once apologize for pulling pranks on you? What kind of revenge-seeking nerd would do that?”

The words struck a chord in Dash, his face now contorted in utter confusion. “Hey, wait a minute... he’s totally been using ghostly help! Sometimes he just disappears or gets out of his locker way too easily. And those pranks! There’s no way he pulled them off on his own.”

Kwan cocked his head to the side. “Uh, wouldn’t that make him even, at least?”

Dash considered this for a moment, still a long way from being entirely comfortable. “Maybe...”

Now that a panic attack was no longer an immediate issue, the four friends sat in a contemplative kind of silence. Star was trying to reconcile her memories with what she had learned so far, so she figured the others were doing the same. In that sense, she felt a bit like an outsider since she hadn’t had close interaction with Fenton as Dash or Paulina.

Regardless, Star owed it to Valerie to watch her back and find out if something eerie had happened while they were dating. If Val had noticed anything, would that be why she really broke up with him?

Kwan cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “So, uh... what now?”

That turned out to be the million-dollar question as they all took the following hours to debate the changes this new information would require.

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The next day started like any other Friday. Kids eager to start their weekend plans chattered in the halls of Casper High before the first bell. Friends met up as they grabbed books or exchanged last-minute adjustments to their homework, while the teachers chugged down as much coffee as possible to stay sane for the rest of the day.

Nothing seemed amiss so far, Star noted as she walked towards her locker. Her barely suppressed yawn reflected the previous night’s bursts of anxiety and insomnia. The girl was thankful for the advanced lessons in makeup she got from Paulina, which allowed her to successfully conceal the dark circles under her eyes. Small blessings... All in all, Star felt tired and a bit lost after realizing she had so many missing details from yesterday’s discovery. For all they knew, Fenton could just be using some of his parents’ inventions to make any of his weirdness possible, but the popular kids couldn’t take that kind of chance. She tried to write it all down anyway, just before going to bed, using code words in her newest entries in case her notebook reached the wrong hands. She would still be on the lookout for new clues but wasn’t sure how much more she was going to keep digging.

Star’s overloaded mind fought hard to remember what books she needed to pull out for this period, as her thoughts drifted between keeping an eye on the arrival of the other A-listers and trying to remember which locker belonged to Fenton. She almost jumped out of her skin when someone suddenly dropped their backpack on the floor next to her. Her jumpiness didn’t go unnoticed by the newcomer.

“Hey, Star,” Valerie Gray began slowly, frowning at the girl’s reaction to her sudden arrival. “Is everything ok?” she asked, not taking her concerned look off the cheerleader as she turned the dial on her neighboring locker.

The blonde tried to recover with a smile plastered on her face, but deep down she knew her friend would see right through it. “Hey, Val! Yeah, just tired. You?” she managed to ask.

Valerie eyed her even more critically now, which guaranteed she knew something was up. “Same. Sorry I didn’t call you last night. I had to work overtime, again.”

Star relaxed and appreciated not having to think of a starting topic. With everything she wanted to ask, she didn’t know where to begin or how to break the ice without sounding crazy. “Don’t worry about it,” she casually responded. “I had a busy afternoon, too.”

Before Val could ask about the previous day, the two girls noticed the arrival of the star quarterback in the overcrowded halls. While Dash’s general demeanor didn’t seem out of the ordinary, the determined look on his face revealed a man on a mission, apparently focused on just passing the invisible hurdles in front of his path to reach his locker, not even paying attention to the nerds retreating at the sight of their bully.

“Oh-kaaaay, that wasn’t out of character at all,” Val commented once the jock reached his destination.

If Star hadn’t participated or known anything about the agreements with the other A-listers the day before, this would have surely qualified as a comment in her notebook musings. As if to confirm the reason behind the boy’s strange behavior, a now-familiar chill seeped into the room as Fenton entered the hall, heading with his loser friends towards the line of lockers opposite to Dash. Val tensed, probably expecting some form of retaliation from the day before. On any other morning, the bully would have already insulted the smaller kid at the very least if not attacked him using the physical violence favored by the rather large bully.

But, today was a different story.

Dash Baxter simply took out what he needed from the metal case in front of him, met up with Kwan, and headed to their first class. All this while they ignored Fenton completely, even as they walked in front of the inseparable group of losers. Of course, no one would pay close attention to the stiffness in both jocks’ backs.

Following lots of discussion, Dash had agreed to obey his instincts and stop messing with the spooky kid, whatever his connections to ghosts were. His friends even convinced him to look for other healthier stress outlets and extend the amnesty to the rest of the nerds. After all, if Phantom was really hiding among them, he might not like others being wailed on either. The resulting strategy was very simple: ignore the other kids and focus on the little tasks he needed to do.

The change didn’t go unnoticed by the students gathered in the hall, some of which were left gawking at the scene. None of them, however, were more surprised than dumbstruck Danny Fenton himself, who then turned with a smile to talk with his friends. Maybe thanking his good luck, if Star had to guess.

Valerie gaped at the quiet turn of events and then faced Star questioningly. “What was that all about? I thought for sure he would get back at Danny!”

The blonde cheerleader sighed and tried to recall the cover story the A-listers had agreed on. “We talked after the whole incident,” all true so far. “And we realized maybe we had some growing up to do, you know?” A bit of a stretch there, but it would work. “Start playing nice. Or at least nicer.”

The dark-skinned girl snorted. “Yeah, right,” she said in an amused tone. “As if Paulina could ever play nice.”

Star shrugged. “What can I say? Just because we’re at the top of the social food chain, it doesn't mean we have to be, like, outright mean to people, right?”

Now that wasn't that much of a stretch. If they ever wanted to be anywhere close to Phantom or even just to his current messenger, all of them would have to make more than a few changes. Besides, they couldn't just start being lenient or nice to Danny Fenton and his friends without getting odd looks from everyone, especially from the spooky teen. So, they had to follow Dash's example and extend the same courtesy to everyone else. After all, they would still have their wealth, talent, and looks to retain their coveted popularity.

Before her friend could say anything else, Paulina called Star excitedly from across the hall, making no attempt to slow down in her walk towards the two girls. Val was about to save the blonde from giving any explanations by just retreating into the bathroom when the Latina greeted her by name as well. “Oh, Val, hey! Nice bracelet. Is it new?” she spoke quickly, which Star thought was due to a higher dose of caffeine than usual that morning.

The school’s Queen Bee didn't even give Val a chance to respond as she switched topics. "So, how do I look?" Paulina asked, turning around to show off her current outfit.

The Latina's quick succession of questions to both girls about her makeup, some accessories she just bought, and the change in hairstyle was hard to follow. Once she received their compliments (however reluctant in Val's case), Paulina excused herself and left to show off her looks elsewhere. Star knew this wasn’t part of the explicit plans they all agreed on last night, but nothing impeded Paulina from looking her absolute best for her ghostly crush, in case he really was around.

Star shook her head and picked the books she was looking for, hoping she didn’t forget anything in her half-awake state. As the small metal door closed, she settled her full attention back onto the girl standing next to her. “Uh, Val?”

Valerie’s face went through a whole journey as she seemed to process everything that had just happened. Star belatedly realized if there was someone who could call them out for their change of heart, it would be the former A-lister who knew the group well enough. A look of suspicion (and was that murderous anger?) colored Val’s features. “No way. They have to be possessed,” she finally declared.

Star exhaled, unsure if it was a sigh of exhaustion, defeat, or relief. “Val, I have soooo many questions about that...like you wouldn’t believe!”

Chapter Text

Valerie ran at a hurried pace within the almost empty high school, each step still charged with the lingering adrenaline left from the recent fight against Skulker and Phantom. The frustrating reminder manifested itself in a soft growl, but Val quickly tried to dismiss it as she halted in front of the newly-refurbished doors of Casper High’s Library. She took a moment to close her eyes and inhale deeply to keep her cool. Getting worked up about how the elusive ghost kid had once again escaped wouldn’t help in that aspect.

And, boy, would she need to have patience... Working in the same team as Dash and Danny? Not a good combination since they were bound to be locked in two hours of annoying jabs at each other. At least Mikey and Star, the two brightest kids in class, also ended up in the same team and might be able to lead them all on the right path.

Val didn’t have a choice but to hope, anyway. With all the time spent ghost-hunting, she needed to pass unless she wanted to kiss her already-dwindling college dreams goodbye.

Taking one last calming breath and smoothing out her skirt, the huntress finally opened one of the library doors and searched for her teammates upon entering. The group wasn’t that hard to spot, occupying a table in the back of the room beyond the dozen empty seating areas. The only other person nearby was Ms. Lee, the old librarian, who was barely a year shy of retirement and knew all of the school’s urban legends.

The heatwave that started to creep on that early May afternoon felt stronger as the girl got deeper into the room. It had to be just their luck to be stuck in the one area with no working AC.

Val reached the occupied workspace and offered a small wave to Mikey, Star, and Dash. She noticed Danny’s absence, but her attention quickly shifted to the table in front of them, littered with a few newspapers and books, large sticky notes, index cards, markers, and a laptop, none of which had been used by the group yet. The antipathy in the room was almost tangible, as the three teens before her focused awkwardly on their smartphones, ignoring each other in silence.

This was going to be a long day…

Star looked up from her device to smile at Valerie, who dropped her bag next to the end of the table and took a seat between the cheerleader and a still-vacant chair to her left.

“Hey, Val!” the perky blonde greeted, earning a smile in response from the newcomer.

“Hey, sorry it took me so long to get here. Hope I didn’t miss anything important.”

Star turned to glance at the two boys and then back at her friend. “Other than complaining about dying of heatstroke at the library? Nope.”

Valerie was almost sure most of the complaints came from Star, her hunch reinforced by Dash’s indignant huff. “Why did we ever agree to come here, anyway?” Val asked in genuine confusion.

“Because none of our houses were a choice,” the jock replied begrudgingly while taking out a stress ball from his backpack, which had become a new recurring distraction to deal with his pent-up aggressive tendencies since The Turnaround, as many had dubbed the A-listers’ ceasefire.

Mikey hunched his shoulders and timidly spoke, “I still think Danny’s place would’ve been-“

“No!” the two blond teens replied in unison, shaken by the suggestion. 

Val squinted at the outburst and began to fiddle with her smartwatch as casually as possible without attracting any attention. 

Since she started having suspicions, she had modified a part of her tracker, calibrating it to sense cases of spectral possession, but it was still a tricky thing to pinpoint. Especially if you weren’t an engineering expert like the Fentons.

“Hey, where’s Danny, anyway?” the stealthy vigilante asked as her small screen silently showed a progress bar for the analysis she began to run.

“Late, as always,” Dash muttered without the usual mocking tone.

This Turnaround still reeked of overshadowing, but Val hadn’t been able to prove it so far. Her guard had been up ever since the group’s sudden reformed behavior. There was no way they'd give up bullying out of the goodness of their hearts.

The most glaring and consistent change had been their attitude towards Danny Fenton. Somehow, he had gone from being their favorite punching bag to some sort of ticking time bomb they didn’t dare touch with a ten-foot pole. Their wariness gave Casper High plenty of room to theorize the reasons behind the shift, ranging from good-old-fashioned blackmail to threats from whatever gang Fenton had allegedly joined. If anything, Danny was as puzzled as the rest of the kids at school. 

But then Star came up to Val with too many weird questions, always with a heavy undertone she couldn’t decipher. Like how to tell if someone was being overshadowed, or if there could be a ghost parading as a human or hiding in plain sight. The cheerleader would also “casually” point out weird temperature changes but never said anything outright.

Valerie was brought back to the present when she felt her watch vibrate. No ectoplasmic activity was detected. Her shoulders relaxed, for now. 

“Well, we could start without Fenton, right?” Star asked to break the uncomfortable silence.

Mikey pushed his glasses to the bridge of his freckled nose. “Uh, well, I-I’ve already brought up a few suggestions for our topic, if you want us to start discussing that.”

Star, the most organized note-taker anyone had ever met, flipped a page of her notebook open, filled with pretty headers, colored bullet points, and a diagram. “I had a few in mind, too. Why don't we put them all on these sticky notes and decide?”

Val frowned. “Shouldn’t Danny get a say on the topic, too?”

“Only if we need a tiebreaker,” the satellite replied with a dismissive hand gesture as she began writing on the colored papers, not waiting for anyone’s confirmation.

The huntress, student, and cashier already had enough on her plate to have any time to come up with project ideas before their meeting. So, Val sat back and allowed the two overachievers to take charge of the sticky notes.

Once all thirteen themes selected by Star and Mikey were arranged on the table, they began reading and discarding a few that were very similar. Dash leaned closer to squint at one particular Post-It and scoffed. “Seriously, Star? ‘Ghost hunting’?” he asked in incredulity. “Why not write something like ‘I want to make everyone hate me by talking shit about Phantom’ while you’re at it?”

Of course…leave it to Dash, of all people, to bring that insufferable thorn in her side into the discussion.

The blonde girl scrunched up her nose. “What? How’d you even make that connection?”

Dash’s face reddened, a bit uncomfortable with having to defend his statement. “I mean, we gotta support the topic and all that?”

“Well, yeah, but it doesn’t mean we have to take that route,” the other A-lister replied.

“So, wouldn’t we need to talk about the upside of hunting ghosts? That’d include why it’s good to go after Phantom, right? That’s definitely gonna get us in trouble with…uuuh…some people.”

Despite how appealing the topic was to her, Val sneered, “I know you’re a huge fanboy but, c’mon, Dash…it’s not like he’s going to be there, anyway.”

Right at that moment, the library’s doors slammed open with a loud bang, making everyone flinch in varying degrees. A cool sensation filled the atmosphere as running feet approached them. The librarian chided the newcomer, earning an earnest “Sorry, Ms. Lee!” in reply. They all heard Danny’s slight panting as he finally halted in front of the table. His blue gaze landed on the sticky notes and materials scattered on the surface. 

“Um, sorry I’m late,” he muttered.

The huntress, who had somehow grown fond of his antics, smiled and shook her head in disbelief. Where was Danny running to and from all the time, anyway? Maybe he did have a bladder problem as so many liked to joke. Whatever it was, she hoped it wasn’t anything serious or dangerous.

Mikey interrupted her musings with a friendly greeting. “Hey, man, we were checking out what topics we could analyze for the project. Unless you want to add another one.”

Val perked up with interest. He was the son of two crazy ectologists, after all.

“Oh, ok. Cool. What was the assignment again?” he dared to ask but at least had the decency to appear embarrassed. The two A-listers in the team pretended to ignore the boy and focused on their phones instead, sending messages to the same group chat if the synchronized buzzing and pings were any indication.

Valerie dismissed the odd behavior happening next to her to give Danny a deadpan look. “Seriously? I saw you taking notes and all.” 

If anything, that made the scrawny kid blush harder, his right hand moving to rub the back of his neck. “I-I did?”

”Man, you really are clueless…” Val teased.

Mikey, who had recently been trying to help Fenton during lunch with missing lessons, came to the other boy’s rescue. “Don’t worry, Danny, I’ll bring you up to speed. Here, see? We have to pick a topic based on any news article we find and show how we researched it. It’s better to have a controversial topic, though, so we can think of arguments in favor and against it since it’s one of the requirements.”

Danny nodded slowly and huffed. “Oof, all right, I think I remember now. How long does the essay or whatever have to be?”

“It’s more of a class presentation,” Mikey continued. “We can even make a short video instead. Mr. Lancer wants to see how we analyze the topic from different angles. We can do desk research or interviews or anything we want. But whatever we pick, we all have to be seen participating in the project.”

“Ok, so, aside from the seven ghost themes here… GameStonks? CheatCoin? What does that even mean? Are these memes? Wait, please don’t answer that or it’ll be embarrassing.” His face then lit up when he registered one of Mikey’s chosen subjects. “Hey, Space Z! I definitely heard of the launch to Ceres. And it’s got tons of controversy since many think the mission would imply wasting resources to try to analyze the core of a dangerous dwarf planet located in the middle of-”

“I think we should pick a topic everyone else knows about. No offense, Fenton,” Star interrupted in an attempt at being nice while dismissing their classmate, which earned only a small frown from the boy who dejectedly looked for a vacant seat. 

Dash didn’t dare say anything despite his evident annoyance, focusing instead on the small stress ball in his hands. The scene still felt straight out of The Twilight Zone.

Val was struck by inspiration and grinned at Star’s suggestion. “I guess we’re picking a ghost theme, then!” she exclaimed, turning to face Danny. “And for a nice added bonus, we could interview your folks and get the exclusive for this project.” That would be a great opportunity to get her peers to listen to how dangerous Phantom really was. And if she got close enough to study their handy tech? Well… win-win, right?

The youngest Fenton, who had settled into the chair between Mikey and Valerie, searched for something in his backpack and replied without glancing her way. “Yeah. No, hard pass on that.”

Anyone who had been around the Fenton kids had learned a few things from their time in high school: 1) they didn’t like ghosts (though that was to be expected given their family’s field of work) and 2) they were very embarrassed by their parents’ antics.

It was no surprise that the boy wouldn’t want to research the two subjects he abhorred the most. What was surprising was that he didn’t have enough sense of self-preservation to use the one advantage he had over every other kid in Casper High (sans his sister) who wanted to analyze paranormal creatures for a school project. Didn’t he care about his grades at least a little bit?

Valerie closed her eyes for a moment and slowly put a loose dark curl behind her ear. “Ok, just so we’re clear, you doknow that even if every other team picks the same topic, you’re the only kid with a family of ghost experts, right?”

Danny finally turned to the expectant stares from his peers and rolled his eyes. “I mean, if you want to spend a whole afternoon with my parents blathering on and on about how to rip ghosts apart molecule by molecule, while they examine a device that will most likely blow up in your face in the process, then be my guest.”

A wide smile formed on Star’s lips, which Valerie interpreted as a little insidious. “But it could be fun!” she exclaimed loudly. “Val’s right. No one has the kind of insight you have on that subject.”

This took Fenton aback. “Uh, what makes you think I have any kind of insight?”

Yep, there was something the cheerleader was looking for. Could this still be connected to her weird questions on overshadowing? Was she planning on using this project to get answers straight from the Fentons? And what was with her sudden interest in ghosts, anyway?

“You seriously want to tell us your parents' lectures didn’t stick at all?” Star asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, trust me,” Danny deadpanned. “They get stuck on you, all right.”

Val observed her best friend curiously before returning her attention to Fenton. “So, what…we discard any ghost mention from our topics?” she questioned with a huff. “That’s like 90% of any newspaper published in this town.”

The boy wrinkled his nose. “I never said that. I just don’t want my parents too involved, that’s all.” 

This sparked some interest in the very silent quarterback in the room, who started typing furiously in whatever group chat he had with his little exclusive clique. Star’s phone buzzed on the table as if to prove the point.

Val tried to ignore this sketchy interaction and instead smirked at her small victory. “Then it’s settled! And we’ll finally knock some sense into everyone so they stop defending Phantom.”

“I never said that either,” Fenton replied with a smug grin, which now gained interest from Star, who turned to her group chat this time. What was going on? What did she miss?

Valerie’s brow scrunched up in utter confusion. “What? I thought you, out of all people, would agree with me.”

Danny snorted. “Agree with what? That all ghosts are evil? That Phantom’s tricking everyone? I mean, not really.”

The huntress was taken aback. He always avoided ghost-related conversations like a plague. He didn’t even contribute to the topic during class discussions. Since when did he start taking this stance?

“That’s not what your parents say,” Val shot back.

Danny responded with an uneven smile. “Geez, I wonder why I don’t want to go ask their opinion for this project.”

The girl scowled. “If you’re so sure, care to cite your sources then?”

His challenging posture remained unperturbed. “Trust me, I’ve seen lots of weird stuff way before the portal started working. My parents are better at their job than people give them credit for, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t biased. They always shoot first and ask questions never. Definitely not the best approach.” That shook Val, feeling an indirect jab at her own hunting methods.

A third voice suddenly broke the tension between the two bickering teens once Star dared to join the conversation. “So, what kind of things have you seen, Fenton?”

The jock beside her blanched. “Star…” he warned in a hushed tone.

Now that the discussion was once again open to the rest of the team, Danny went back to his usually sheepish nature, as if the smug kid in his place a second ago had been a mere illusion. “I… Uh, let’s say I’ve seen enough to know that there can be good and harmless ghosts around, that’s all.”

Star leaned closer, resting her chin on her open hands, her elbows now placed on the table. “Really?” she asked, ready to pounce. Val would know, since it was the same tone her bestie used before she pulled out receipts on someone. “So you’d say you have a sixth sense for these things? Like…a ghost sense?”

Whatever she was implying had sent Dash into a very uncharacteristic panic mode, his stress ball completely squished between his curled fingers. 

Danny also understood perfectly what the girl meant, if his pale and shocked expression was anything to go by. “What?”

Star got whatever she was searching for, changing into a more innocent smile. “Oh, you know, it’s a silly wordplay because you can identify good ghosts and all that.” She batted her eyelashes. “What did you think I meant?”

Fenton’s eyes shifted between the two A-listers in front of him. “Uh, well, I can’t identify them. But I know not all ghosts out there are evil.”

Val couldn’t believe her ears. Was he insane?

The cheerleader didn’t miss a beat and dove back again to hunt for…information? A juicy piece of gossip? Valerie still wasn’t sure, but it made her ‘prey’ very uncomfortable. “That’s so cool.” The blonde then gave him a Cheshire grin. “Have you befriended anyone interesting?”

What kind of question was that? Not that it didn’t pique almost everyone’s interest. Was she implying Danny was friends with a ghost? Was that why they were wary around him? Well, except for Star, that is; her hunger for a good scoop was bigger than any sense of prudence.

The black-haired boy squinted as if trying to see through Star's very soul. “Are you kidding? You know who my parents are, right?”

The girl smirked. “Duh, that’s why I’m asking. I’m sure you get to help in a lot of their fights and—oh, wait,” she made a dramatic pause as she tapped her finger on her chin until, finally, she gave a soft slap to the side of her head. “That’s right. You don’t go near ghost attacks, do you? How do you always manage to hide so well, anyway?”

That struck a nerve for some reason, but Valerie didn’t get what the other girl was implying. Hiding from an active ectoplasmic threat was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, she admired Danny for having enough sense to stay away from a dangerous attack, unlike most of Casper High’s students, who usually stared at the fight and risked their necks to get a closer glimpse at Phantom.

Fenton faltered for a moment. Maybe he was embarrassed for being considered a coward? He bounced back quickly enough to glare at the cheerleader. “Hiding is a basic part of our ghost drills? Don’t you usually pay more attention than me to what Lancer says?”

“Oh, I pay plenty of attention,” Star replied triumphantly.

“Are you guys done?” Val asked, still having whiplash from all the changes in their interaction. She hated ending up with more questions than answers from everything she gathered. “We were discussing our project?”

The blonde smiled sweetly. “Oh, yeah, ghosts hiding among humans or something like that, right?” This elicited a muffled groan from Dash, who had dropped his head on his fists, his stress ball almost bursting from the added pressure.

Valerie’s attention, however, was drawn to her left. Danny gaped in shock, but the expression was concealed so fast she almost felt she had imagined it.

Before Val could ask Star what she meant, the redheaded geek in the team beat her with a different plan in mind. “You know what? That’s not a bad idea for our project,” Mikey exclaimed excitedly. He flipped through one of the newspapers until he stopped on a specific page, his finger tapping a small text box. “Here! There was this special report on a local bookstore that was regularly visited by an alleged writer trying to find inspiration, who then turned out to be a ghost. He never hurt anyone, but one day he mentioned he found everything he needed and then…disappeared.”

This was very dangerous territory. The moment everyone started treating specters as if they were curious folk tales, they stopped considering the real threat behind those slimy fiends. Was everyone out of their minds today?

Valerie’s humorless chuckle got everyone’s attention. “Right, friendly ghosts. So now we’re going to forget all about the casualties and injuries, or the property damage during their attacks, the PTSD the survivors go through, the lives that were ruined, the people who’ve been overshadowed and violated by extension, or the long list of-“

“Whoa, hold on, violated?” Danny interrupted, somewhat alarmed. “What do you mean by that?”

The girl stared at the boy as if he had grown a third head. “Well, it’s not like they ask for any consent when possessing someone. That’s a total violation of our privacy, hell, even our bodily autonomy. Don’t you think that’s extremelycreepy?”

Fenton glanced down. “I…never thought about it that way,” he admitted, clearly distraught.

Valerie’s reply came in a colder tone. “Sure you wouldn’t. Apparently, you’re too busy looking for good ghosts to—“ the girl stopped abruptly as an idea struck her. Her focus went back to her smartwatch, tapping on its screen to run a new analysis as millions of thoughts followed this new thread that had appeared out of nowhere.

The A-listers had changed overnight. They were acting differently, especially towards Danny, who for some reason put them on edge. The son of the town’s ecto-biologists, who now claimed not all ghosts were evil, despite having heard years of lectures from his parents concerning the nature of those creatures. Danny, who refused to address paranormal topics but now had willingly given them more input than he usually would. The kid who was always running during spectral attacks. 

Star’s questions on overshadowing and ghosts posing as people… Those weren’t regarding her friends.

It had all been about Danny…

The boy who was currently showing high traces of ectoplasm on her re-calibrated tracker.

This couldn’t be happening. Was he being overshadowed? Was there one of those things right next to him? Was this something else? He had never set her device off before, but she hadn’t tested the new settings either, which required a more manual activation unless she wanted to have ambient ectoplasm triggering her alarms every five seconds. She knew the Fentons lived above an active portal. But could that be the cause for his readings? What had Star and Dash seen to make them act all sketchy? She had clearly missed important clues from the very start.

The huntress licked her dry lips. “Hey, Star, remember when you asked me about the thing?” Her eyes then darted to Danny as discreetly as possible.

The other girl, who had taken out her light jacket to put on, followed her gaze and gasped as she turned to Val. “As in…the really confusing thing?” Star asked with a pointed look while she flicked her long hair out of the back of her jacket. “Oh, by the way, crazy weather, huh? Can you believe it’s freezing?”

So that’s what Star had been trying to hint at all those times.  Now that she mentioned it, the library was way too cold compared to just several minutes ago. Temperature drop? But there were no other ectoplasmic readings nearby. Unless someone else in the room was being overshadowed, hiding the ecto-signature more efficiently.

But no. 

The only reading had come from the raven-haired kid who began to glance apprehensively between the two girls.

Danny shifted in his seat. “I mean, we always have the worst air conditioning system. It makes sense it’s getting colder.”

Val wanted to believe his argument, but she couldn’t dismiss the evidence. After all, the library was known for nothaving had a working AC in ages.

That thought alone strengthened her resolve. “Or it could be a ghost,” she challenged. “Didn’t your parents ever tell you to watch out for cold spots?”

Fenton (or the creep posing as him) studied her for a moment with a deep frown. His gaze fell lower to her wrist, but she quickly moved her watch away from his line of view. He sighed in defeat and stood up, his movements followed by everyone’s scrutiny. Val felt her muscles tighten, her suit humming in the back of her head in anticipation. After a moment of uncomfortable silence while the boy mechanically put his things away, he turned to face his peers with haunted blue eyes. 

“Look, I have no clue why you’re acting weird or why Lancer thought putting us in the same group was such a good idea, but we can’t work together like this.” Danny picked up his backpack and headed towards the exit without waiting for a response.

This had to be an act. Whatever specter was there, it probably knew she was getting suspicious and opted for a silent retreat to avoid being captured or blasted by her. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t make sense unless that thingwas already aware of her side job. And even if it knew, she had been so subtle; there’s no way it could have noticed. Only a known enemy would be so on guard.

Val didn’t want to put anyone in danger, but she couldn’t let the ghost get away either. She needed to assess the threat, keep Fenton in her sight. Maybe carry on the conversation while she figured out a plan.

The retreating boy gave them one last glance before reaching the door. “I guess I’ll just…find another team who doesn’t act like I’m possessed or something,” he weakly announced, the words audible enough from across the silent room.

“Are you?” Val’s icy tone carried loud and clear to the other side of the library.

Danny stopped in his tracks with the door half-open. The two teens stared at each other in a silent confrontation. 

The boy hesitated for a moment, his grip on the handle tightening. When he finally released it, the sound of the door hitting against the frame echoed ominously in the library. Tension filled the room as heavily as the dropping temperature that seemed to plummet with every step Danny took towards the group of teens. The aging wooden floorboards began to contract and crackle, the telling sound sending a chill down Val’s spine. The lamp on their table flickered in the corner of her unblinking eyes, making her turn in time to note her slack-jawed classmates cowering in their seats.

There was an eerie silence once Fenton stood in front of his vacant seat. “Am I what?” he dared with crossed arms, everyone else holding their breaths as he paused. “Overshadowed?”

The petrified students were taken aback by his response, never expecting such a direct approach. For a strained moment, the pale A-listers and Mikey looked ready to keel over. Val, however, would not give any ecto-jerk the satisfaction, no matter what face it wore. Her instincts told her to run as far away as possible; her suit, however, almost begged her to stand her ground, ready to engage as soon as she gave the mental order.

Not yet, she told the buzzing armor.

Valerie fixed a steady glare on her target. “You’re making it very hard to change my mind.” 

The coldness, the defying attitude, the way he had noticed her calculative stance…the ectoplasmic reading. She hadn’t had this much evidence against the suspiciously reformed bullies, but she had never stopped to consider it could be someone else.

Alarm crossed the two A-listers’ faces. Dash, despite how silent he had been before, suddenly found his voice again. “Uh, we’ll be going. No need to get in your way.”

He began to stand up and grab Star’s shoulder when Danny spoke, almost freezing them in place. “Please stay,” Fenton said without breaking his staring duel with Val. “I think we all need to clear a few things up.”

The frightening kid was the first to break the stare as he sat down and scooted his chair closer to the table, causing the other teens to tense further. He closed his eyes for a second that almost felt like an eternity. His slow and deep breaths seemed to reign in some of the chill in the room, though it wasn’t enough to stop Star from being paralyzed in her spot when Danny’s cold, blue eyes opened and fell on her shivering frame. 

Fenton’s voice still held an edge as he spoke. “You were right, Star. I do have some sort of insight after spending so much time with my parents.” He then grabbed a block of sticky notes and a nearby marker. “First,” he began as he wrote his next words on the yellow paper. “Never, ever, accuse someone of being a ghost without evidence.” He put the note on an empty space on the table once he finished scribbling, his glare shifting between his companions.

“Oh, you want proof?” Val started to protest, her rage bubbling in each word. “I’ll give-“

“Two,” Danny interrupted and wrote down on a new Post-it as he spoke. “Make sure your evidence is solid and consistent, not biased or circumstantial.” He turned to give Valerie an unimpressed side-glance as he slapped the finished note down next to the first one. “But most importantly,” he continued on a third piece of paper. “Don’t put lives at risk unless you’re completely sure what you’re doing.” The words hung heavily with unspoken implications, which didn’t fit with everything they knew regarding their classmate.

If that was him at all…

Fenton finally turned to study everyone once he had placed the third sticky note on the table. “The GIW is known to cause a huge mess if they suspect there’s even a speck of ectoplasm nearby,” he spoke in a somber tone, only fueling the overshadowing suspicions more. “You remember Gregor? Or Elliot, or whatever he goes by these days.”

“The foreign Phantom wannabe?” Val questioned. What did he have to do with anything?

“Yeah, they didn’t get the ‘wannabe’ part,” he replied with a slight cringe. Then, in a more serious tone, “he had to change schools after those idiots tried to attack him with missile launchers. Not all ecto-weapons are harmless against humans.”

The brief piercing glare he gave her made Valerie’s stomach churn. Memories of what almost happened with Danielle, the half-ghost girl, filled her thoughts, but she refused to let it show. Her suit’s hum receded further to the back of her head. What if she was wrong now, too? Could he be as human as Danielle or Vlad? 

No, this must be a ghost overshadowing him, messing with her head in the process.

“And my parents…” the boy continued and snapped her out of her thoughts. “My parents also traumatized Mr. Lancer because they thought he was overshadowed. They tried to hunt him. Poor guy had to leave school for a whole week for a complete medical and spectral checkup to prove he didn’t have any traces of ectoplasm in him.”

Danny let the silence linger for a few seconds, his glare shifting between the teens in front of him. Val had to admit, whoever this was, this ectoplasmic scum was good. No one dared to make a sound before he spoke again. “See where I’m going with this? So, now, do you seriously want to put anyone through that without proof?”

Surprisingly, Star raised her hand and was the first to speak, her now timid voice clashing completely with her inquisitive approach moments ago. Maybe she knew she had poked the potentially overshadowed boy too far. “Um, but…we have proof?”

So they had seen something… That’s where all those weird questions came from.

Fenton, or the undead hitchhiker inhabiting him, was nonplussed by the revelation as if he had expected them to have dirt on him already. “Oh, awesome, then we can work with that,” he replied with a hint of sarcasm lacing his words.

The hesitant A-lister turned to Dash for backup, but he avoided Star’s eye contact.

“Can you share?” the black-haired teen huffed. “Or are you going to keep making rumors about me?”

Valerie didn’t like the challenging tone. Alarm bells rang in her head, setting her instincts on edge again. She started formulating a plan, figuring this could be one of those enemies who loved the sound of their own voice and monologued to no end. If she could let Star do the talking to get its attention away from Val…

The cheerleader didn’t disappoint. “Rumors?” Star asked with a raised eyebrow. “Fenton, you make the temperature drop wherever you go. You have a ghost sense. You are not afraid when you’re being bullied, not to mention your impossible escape tactics." Mikey perked up at that. "You run away during ghost attacks. Phantom always shows up if you’re around. Those aren’t tales from the grapevine. Those are facts.”

The name-drop put the huntress on high alert. Was Phantom in there? Was he the reason Danny was late today? Had he overshadowed the boy after the fight against Skulker? She saw him vanish with that thermos he always carried. 

A Fenton Thermos, she mentally amended. 

Phantom, who knew what and where to find whatever he needed in the Fenton Lab. The ghost who was oddly too comfortable snooping around a ghost hunter’s house.

The rival who knew her name and address from the get-go.

So many coincidences had started to line up, a nagging feeling telling her to consider the impossible. But she couldn’t let her thoughts wander in that direction just because she had learned Vlad and Danielle were not entirely human not long ago.

Phantom’s cousin Danielle.

It couldn’t be possible. Because then that would mean she had been— 

That she had shot— 

She had almost—

Danny’s steady voice broke her inner turmoil. “Yeah, okay, I can see how that would look. Still, not overshadowed,” he said with a heavy stare, an expression that lost all its bite and was replaced with a glint of concern once he noticed Val’s horrified state.

Valerie turned to gauge her peers’ behavior. Did they understand half of what was going on? Had Mikey heard any of this beforehand? In any case, none of them were aware of Fenton's ectoplasmic readings. She hadn’t exactly shared the one damning piece of evidence that would provide the final confirmation the two blondes so desperately craved.

The A-listers, oblivious to the earth-shattering revelation, had no reason to stop prying. “So, are you going to explain, or…?” The half-formed inquiry escaped Star’s lips, shooting an expectant stare at the boy to prompt him for an answer.

The teen in question sat back on his chair and snorted. It dawned on Val that maybe he wasn’t feeling as threatened. At least not immediately. If he knew about her dual life, he was probably counting on her unwillingness to reveal her secret in front of her classmates. Her alter ego wasn’t exactly popular among Phantom fans, after all. “Okay, honestly? I don’t owe you any explanation,” he countered with a more determined stance. “Besides, I thought you guys were the overshadowed ones. I mean, really? A complete change of heart from one day to the next? An almost bullying-free school? Not that we don’t appreciate The Turnaround…”

Dash took a deep breath and mustered whatever courage was still left in him, with a pleading expression directed to the other teen. “Fenton, you’re the reason we decided to change.”

“What?” Danny squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

The reaction gave the quarterback a small boost of confidence to continue. “We’re…scared of all the freaky stuff going around you. We figured we shouldn’t be messing with you or anyone else anymore because we could get, like, seriously hurt. We’re not that dumb. We know ghosts can be dangerous, even the good ones.”

Mikey, who had been quiet the whole time to the observations from the popular kids, gasped loud enough for Val to hear. His face was as white as a sheet, a haunted realization in his green eyes.  The bespectacled boy stared at the notes on the table, muttering almost in a daze, “That’s why you always took the brunt of our bullying… Of course you could handle it…”

Valerie couldn’t be sure everything her peers mentioned had actually happened, but she added to her mental list of evidence the odd disappearances, his subtle taunts when being bullied, his constant running to who-knew-where… 

How long had this been going on right in front of her nose?

Danny shifted uncomfortably, staring down at the edge of the table. “I’m not— it’s not what you think,” he began in a softer voice, giving a more vulnerable impression than any of them had ever seen. “I know a lot of things around me seem…weird. I’m not stupid, I’ve heard most of the rumors circulating since freshman year. When it was always related to a gang or drugs or whatever, it didn’t matter, y’know?” His blue gaze lingered on Dash for a moment. “But making up stories that I’m a ghost? That’s going a little too far, don’t you think?”

Star perked at that. “Huh, that’s funny…we never said anything about you being a ghost,” she leaned closer with a smug smirk on her face.

Val needed to have a serious talk with her. Star shouldn’t keep provoking a dangerous specter like that unless she had training or protection.

Fenton sighed in exasperation. “Goddammit, Star, this isn’t a game,” he barked, making the cheerleader flinch as her smile thinned.

“Oh my god…" Mikey whispered out of nowhere, his jaw dropping when he studied the creepy classmate among them. "You’re just as scared as we are. You don’t want anyone to know… No wonder you didn’t want any attention for saving us from our bullies..."

As soon as he spoke the words, Valerie realized how much she had misinterpreted Danny’s reaction: he was really shaken. Everyone was. She surveyed Mikey, who was torn between being awestruck and terrified, while the two A-listers’ gaped expectantly at Fenton.

Val loosened the painfully firm grip she had on her seat and appraised the anxious teen next to her, not entirely sure what got him so frightened. Was Danny that afraid of the truth? Or was this related to the GIW and his parents?

Was he spooked by her? Of what she was capable of doing?

That meant it was him, wasn’t he? Even if he hadn’t admitted to anything, she couldn’t deny what was right in front of her. The screen of her watch still displayed the same readings. Would they match Phantom’s ecto-signature when he was like…this?

“Is it true?” her voice, devoid of emotion, spoke before she could process what she was saying.

Danny (Phantom) frowned at the question, assessing her stance, until he registered the small screen on her wrist and the small alert displayed. He met her eyes and his breath hitched. His pupils dilated as his terror became more pronounced.

He knew.

He knew she knew.

The slight goosebumps on her bare arms alerted her of another temperature drop, less dread-inducing than the previous one.

The ghost kid gave her a meaningful look, something unnaturally green shining faintly on the icy blue surface of his eyes. “Should I be scared?”

He wasn’t trying to be intimidating. He was trying to protect himself.

The huntress’ mind continued to race with unanswered questions, a different kind of tension reclaiming her nerves. The ethereal glow in his irises dissolved when she blinked. She glanced around the table — nobody else reacted to the unearthly effect. Did they even notice?

The eerie teen tried to regain composure by avoiding Valerie and redirected his attention to Star. “Look, I get it. This whole thing is probably to get blackmail material or whatever. But…what if you’re wrong? What if, despite being told to back off, you turn this rumor into something so convincing it ends up in the wrong ears?”

He licked his lips, focusing on his hands as he considered his next words. “Most hunters don’t care if you’re human. They would attack anyway if they think you’re a ghost. Even my parents. I don’t want my life to be ruined just because they couldn’t tell the difference between high school fodder and the truth.”

Val felt numb, the sensation disarming her from the faint nudge brought on by her suit. Phantom’s words a few months ago echoed in her head: ‘Fine! Destroy ghosts! But can you really take part in destroying a human?’

His piercing stare turned to each of his classmates. “Do you understand what I’m trying to say? People, not only ghosts, can get hurt because of this.”

Their other three classmates stared at him in shock. Whether they felt their theories confirmed or not, it wasn’t clear. Maybe it didn’t matter.

Valerie lowered her gaze, now avoiding Danny’s desperate expression. She needed answers only the Red Huntress would be able to obtain, but how far was she willing to push? There were many variables the other teens were not aware of. They didn’t know the dark secrets that lurked at night while they were comfortably sleeping, like half-ghost girls almost dissolving into a puddle of ectoplasm, or evil mayors trying to orchestrate terrible schemes to manipulate the living and dead alike. They had never needed to ask themselves what kind of painful experiments the GIW were capable of or what the words ‘molecule by molecule’ would mean to someone who wasn’t entirely dead.

“So,” Star found her voice after a bit of hesitation. “What are we supposed to do with everything we know? Just ignore it and go crazy in the process?”

If there was one endearing quality about Danny, that Val had learned to value above many other attributes from her favorite people, it was his ability to turn any sour situation into a joke. Something to laugh over instead of worrying too much. Which is why her heart clenched when she saw his previous despair melt into an amused smile. A comforting façade for the sake of others, hiding a terrible tempest behind. 

“I mean, it’s not like you don’t already ignore everything else going on around you,” Danny replied with a shrug. “And look at you… You still pass as sane as anyone in Amity Park can hope to be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Valerie asked, still somewhat conflicted by the change of attitude. It was like hoping to keep a straight course on a rollercoaster.

The boy blinked and motioned a hand to point at the two A-listers. “I mean, these two didn’t figure out Paulina was overshadowed.”

“What?!” Dash and Star screeched in unison.

“Uh, freshman year? Paulina dating me? You thought that was normal? And then none of you ever spoke about that again?”

Valerie was still bitter at Paulina for replacing her and then using a “loser boyfriend” to prove a point or whatever. She was already aware of how Star had taken her spot in the so-called elite club to give Val some sort of petty lesson. But part of that had been under the influence of a ghost and no one caught on?

The Latina’s current satellite gasped. “Oh my god…poor Lina. She had to kiss you and she didn’t even know? What a pervert, Fenton…”

Danny blushed and raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t know, okay? I found out later, and then she wouldn’t give me the time of the day to explain what had happened.”

Dash made a placating motion towards his former bullying target. “Yeah, okay, just…please don’t tell her or anyone else we didn’t notice. She’ll definitely flip.” In a softer voice, he added, “I can’t believe I kicked Kwan out of our club because of a ghost…”

Danny plastered a shit-eating grin on his face. “Sure, but there’s also the whole thing with the old mayor. Pretty positive you were all overshadowed as well, Ghostkateers.”

This took Valerie aback. “What? When did that happen?” She remembered Mayor Montez’s kidnapping, but she didn’t know her former group of friends had been possessed.

Fenton’s relaxed attitude didn’t falter. If anything, he was content with making his classmates uncomfortable with the cursed revelations. “That was freshman year, when everyone thought Phantom held the mayor hostage. Oh, and the Ember concerts that put the entire world under her spell, myself included. And don’t get me started with the whole Spectra thing that got us all depressed and almost got my sister killed. Or the time everyone gained freaky powers due to a literal ghost bug. Or when Undergrowth turned the whole town into his personal Drones ‘R Us. Or the-”

“Okay!” The huntress interrupted with her hands raised, not liking to be reminded of the good old days when she was either too oblivious of the growing ecto-infestation or too inexperienced for the hunting gig. “So what’s your point?”

The boy’s brow settled into a more serious expression. “My point is we’ve all been acting weird at one time or another. That doesn’t mean everyone’s a ‘putrid sack of ectoplasm’ trying to hurt us. Sometimes shit happens and you end up controlled by an evil plant or working for a pissed-off warden. Does that mean we gotta stop trusting people? Of course not. Should we maybe keep our eyes open so we don’t fall into obvious traps? Definitely! Do we need to put ghost hunters on alert because of a stupid rumor when there’s no real sign of danger? Nope. Please don’t. Nothing good ever comes from the GIW getting involved in any case. They almost blew up our whole dimension, for crying out loud.”

“So what are you suggesting we do?” Val asked in a more neutral tone.

The puzzling kid grimaced. “Be careful about the rumors you fuel? I mean... I don’t know what to tell you.” His expression sobered. “I don’t want to be seen like some psycho who’s two seconds away from setting everything on fire. Or worse: a mystery you all have to solve. So how about you start minding your own business and let me handle mine? Sounds fair?”

Star cleared her throat to say something else but was cut short by a buzzing sound. Her eyes darted to the phone in her hands and then met Dash’s frightened stare. The girl huffed and crossed her arms.

The room got eerily quiet after that as the cold sensation continued to linger, daring anyone to oppose Danny’s request. 

To challenge Phantom’s request, as far as she was concerned. 

Somehow, Val started to come to terms with what this meant. With the way her notions of reality shifted once more. This wasn’t an evil mastermind bent on destroying everything. Her life wasn’t ruined because of a malevolent ghost.

No, this was an inexperienced kid who probably read too many comic books before trying to be some sort of superhero. Her life was turned upside down by a careless teenager who was in way over his head.

Like she was, if Val had to be entirely honest. A mere high school student who hadn’t questioned the intentions of a sketchy forty-year-old billionaire giving dangerous tech to a teenager he hadn’t even met. A creep who later turned out to be an evil half-ghost bent on destroying her sworn enemy. How had their lives gotten this complicated?

Her turquoise eyes turned to contemplate the rest of their teammates. They were still silently musing whatever just happened, with their gazes fixed to the ground. However, when Val leaned slightly to her right, she noticed Dash and Star were typing furiously on their muted phones underneath the table, barely out of Danny’s line of sight.

Val’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t be sure the two popular kids had gotten the point about not getting the freaked-out boy into a dangerous situation. What the hell did they think they were doing?

Before she could call out the A-listers, Dash spoke with a confident smile for once on his lips. “You know, Fenton? I always figured you had a backbone hidden in ya. Good for you!”

What?

Danny didn’t know how to take that comment either. “Uh, thanks?”

The quarterback regarded the deformed stress ball in the palm of his hand. “I guess we can try keeping our cool about the whole thing, huh? Don’t wanna end up making weird conspiracy theories.”

The smaller kid eyed him curiously and shot him a small smile. “I appreciate it, dude.”

“So, does this mean you’ll stay to work on the project with us?” Mikey asked with a pointed look.

This earned him a chuckle from Danny in response. “Sure. I mean, I already sort of laid out the topic you proposed. That’s the most work I’ve done for a group project in a while. Just...don’t get used to it.”

Star begrudgingly turned over a new page on her notebook to begin scribbling the date and title with an apprehensive grip on her purple pen. “What was the topic again? Overshadowing?”

Val stared at the boy next to her, blue meeting turquoise in silent understanding. “How about ‘the risks of mistaking humans for ghosts’?” the huntress offered.

The blonde wrote it down in perfectly stylized letters. “We don’t have much time left till school closes. So, any ideas on how that would work?”

Danny sat closer to the table and stared at the sticky notes he had previously shared with his peers. His face changed from quiet unease to something more determined. “Okay, so why don’t we try this…”

Despite the silent agreements, no one wanted to stay in the library any longer than necessary. After roughly an hour of brainstorming and assigning tasks for their English project, Dash, Star, and Mikey were the first to hurry out of the premises, claiming either fear of being so late outside due to potential ghost attacks or some other excuse to get away from the source of their anxieties. Val silently watched from her seat as the others said their rushed goodbyes, giving an automatic wave in response to the departing teens.

She found it funny how there was no reason to be afraid of the almost deserted school when you were a badass vigilante.

Or a powerful half-ghost.

The chill that had claimed her nerves at the beginning of their meeting returned at this realization. As eager as Val was to confront Danny, she realized she didn’t know how to act or what to say now that their civilian masks were no longer needed.

The strange boy hadn’t moved from his seat either, simply burying his face in his arms on top of the table as he attempted some breathing exercises. She realized the temperature had dropped almost at the same time his nervous breakdown resumed.

Huh, where had all that false bravado gone? Was it only an act to stop the rumor mill?

She was hesitant to make the first move. But it had always been that way, hadn’t it? Whenever they fought, she was the one to initiate the attack and he usually managed to dodge and fly away. Val took a deep breath, searching for the courage and comfort her hidden armor sent her. “Are you going to cut the bullshit now?” she asked in a steely tone.

Danny stopped his deep breathing and uncovered his face only enough to peek at her. “Do you think we can do this when I’m not having an anxiety attack?” he almost whispered, hands trembling.

The huntress frowned at the boy. “It’s not the end of the world, Phantom. What do you usually do when there’s nowhere else to hide?”

A downcast expression appeared on his now-visible face. “That’s the scary thing. I’ve always had some last resort. But now? How am I going to deal with this…this time-bomb over my head?”

He came across as lost and confused, and Val had to remind herself this was her sworn enemy. The cocky punk who had a pun ready in battle. The irritating jerk who had faced and defeated Pariah Dark. This was…the same ghost who ran away from fighting the Fentons. His parents.

The ghost who would leisurely fly as high as he could…to reach the stars? Danny had always wanted to be an astronaut, even wearing the same NASA shirt to school every day. He was just the same dork who enjoyed bowling and playing video games in his spare time.

The cute guy who stole her heart by wearing his own on his sleeve.  

Val smiled sadly but quickly tried to hide it behind a sly smirk. “Truce your way out of it?” she replied playfully.

Danny snorted but the mirth didn’t stay on his expression, his brows now furrowed in thought. “Thanks for not completely outing me there. I figured you saw something in your tracker to react that way.” He hesitated for a moment, stretching the silence before his haunted gaze fell on hers. “Sorry for not telling you sooner.”

Val felt her stomach drop at the raw sincerity in those simple words. An apology she wasn’t expecting and yet that she didn’t know she needed. But…had she deserved it?

She stared at him once more. Now that she knew what to look for, everything screamed ‘Phantom’ in her head, even if the coloring or the posture weren’t right. It would take a while to get used to it. She still wanted to scream and punch him, but there was something so broken in him.

Movement at the front desk caught her eye. She wanted to say so many things, but she knew this wasn’t the time or place. At least not while they were within Ms. Lee’s earshot.

The huntress crossed her arms and fixed a playful glare on the half-ghost. “So, care to tell me how your ‘mind your own business’ philosophy fits that time you unmasked me to my dad?”

Danny’s face burned bright red and he slumped back into his hands on the table. “Okay, you can blast me now.”