Chapter Text
Dash had been having a good day.
He’d greatly enjoyed the breakfast he’d made all by himself (a cheese omelette, fresh orange slices, hot chocolate and milk, thank you!), his mom had gotten him a new gym shirt that felt very nice, Pookie loved his new sweater, Paulina had braided her hair again and Dash got the chance to braid string together in an attempt to mimic it again. He’d be able to ask her to teach him, someday. It just required spilling a lot of information he really wasn’t ready to, and she’d have too many questions and get defensive and really, neither of them needed to cry or hit something.
He’d even been easy on Fenton, today, who looked at him like he had two heads when he walked past him and didn’t say anything.
Fenton was freaky, that much was clear. He’d always been freaky, but even more so since that weird accident. He’d spent the first half of freshman year learning to write with his left hand, the right one covered in so many skin grafts Dash had been surprised he’d even been allowed back into school. Granted, he wasn’t really sure how skin grafts worked, or even if there was more than one kind, but it felt like that was asking for an infection. He’d eased up on him since, cause, like... The dude was cold to the touch, so shoving him into a locker was usually the best way to avoid that and the weird, detached look in his eyes that sent shivers down the spine of anyone with a survival instinct.
Maybe it was just the knowledge that Fenton was, like, 2 steps away from death at all times or something like that, but he was just a little bit easier on him than he had been in middle school. Mostly because he didn’t want to piss off what might be possessing him.
Maybe.
Possibly.
Dash didn’t really care to pay attention to the “lore” surrounding Fenturd’s weirdness, but he also wasn’t stupid enough to think Kwan imagined his eyes glowing.
The point here being that Dash’s lovely day had come to a screeching halt at the sight of his brother standing by his locker.
To say Flash Baxter was a piece of fucking shit would be an understatement.
He was a monster that was made all the more terrifying by the fact that he was perfectly human. Sometimes Dash thought he was worse than their dad. Sure, Dad would threaten a million tons of legal trouble if Mom ever left him, he’d drink until he couldn’t see straight and flail his gun around, and Dash and Paulina had originally become friends by her teaching him how to apply concealer for bruises “from practice”, but Flash was the kind of criminal that people didn’t tolerate. Did security for some drug cartel down in Texas, and everyone knew damn well the only thing that kept him out of prison was that his daddy was the Chief of Police in Amity Park, the federal government’s most recent favourite plaything.
Dash was almost certain his heart stopped at the sight of him, and he bit back tears as Paulina, Star and Kwan immediately stepped between him and Flash.
“Oh, c’mon,” the older Baxter cooed, “I mean no harm!”
“Bullshit,” Star insisted, and Dash could see her gripping her knife in her pocket. Bad move. Stupid and suicidal move, actually, “Get the fuck out of here,”
“Who are you to tell me what to do?” Flash towered over the group of teenagers, and Dash was not willing to see what he’d do to his friends if Flash tried to hurt them.
No. No, he was perfectly capable of taking it.
“Relax, guys,” he assured his friends, forcing up that fake-casual tone he used to assure Lancer that yes everything was totally fine at home! Silly question, Mr. Lancer! “Flash says he means no harm, he means no harm,”
“Exactly,” Flash put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, and Dash bit his tongue to keep himself from wincing as he tightened his grip, “I got somethin’ for you,”
Oh, great! Totally Dash’s favourite nightmare- right above his mother bleeding at his feet while his hands were covered in her blood, Phantom knowing what a pathetic pushover he was and announcing it to the entire school, and the one where he’d forgotten his underwear, so when his pants were ripped off by a ghost, everyone saw and laughed!
He forced a smile, hoping it came off as easy, “Well, that’s- I mean- I do have History, you kno-”
“School, little brother, is for pussies,”
Dash swallowed, “Right! Total pussy shit,”
Flash’s arm slid fully around Dash’s shoulder, “C’mon,” he started leading him away from his friends, and Dash sent a nervous smile over his shoulder. He could handle this.
Flash led him out the side doors and around the side of the building to the dumpsters. Dash swallowed. There were no cameras back here.
Spit flew at Dash’s feet, and Fenton, who was currently bound, though not gagged, behind one of the dumpsters, actually snarled. Some part of Dash’s brain screamed as all the hairs on the back of his neck stood up at the sound, but found he was more scared of Flash’s reaction then whatever the hell was possessing Fenton.
Speak of the devil, Fenton had a nasty bruise forming on his chin and under his eye. In the shadows back here, it almost looked like his eyes were green.
Fenton laughed, high and humourless, “Oh, of course! Here I thought you were growing a conscience, but of course you’d just be leaving me for brother dearest!”
“I- I didn’t-” Dash tried, but Flash’s grip tightened on his shoulder and he muttered, “Yeah... Yeah that’s... that,”
Fenton rolled his eyes, “Sure, whatever,” he turned his attention to Flash, “And what are you doing back here anyway? Get too boring running drugs and killing asylum seekers for sport?”
Flash’s laughter was more nerve-wracking then the few times Dash had been close enough to Phantom to hear his static-filled snickers. He let go of Dash and kneeled down to take Fenton’s chin. Or, tried to, Fenton bit him.
Flash’s non-bit hand snapped forward to punch Fenton so hard the kid shrieked, blood splattering, “Should put a muzzle on you, christ,”
Fenton snarled again, and Dash took a couple steps backwards, “Uh- Flash- maybe we should-” but his brother’s hand came around his wrist, squeezing so tight Dash made a very embarrassing noise. That would leave bruises,
“You’re going to stay here, Maxwell, and you’re going to do what you’re told,”
Dash swallowed, but Fenton laughed again, “Oh my god, your name is Max Baxter?”
“Shut it, Fenturd! Nobody asked you!”
“I’m here, I heard what was said, I think-” Flash punched him again, and Fenton shrieked. It wasn’t a noise Dash was enjoying hearing, he squeezed his eyes shut as the freak spat blood onto the concrete and laughed, like his face getting rearranged was his favourite part of the day.
“C’mon, Baxter,” he sneered, and was Dash going crazy or was it colder out here? “Hit me again, harder. You know you want t- FUCK!” there was the horrible sound of bone crunching and blood splattering again, and Fenton hacked half a lung up, the sound of blood hitting the stone something Dash couldn’t open his eyes to look at.
“Don’t test me, fag,”
Dash’s eyes opened at that, and he tried, “You can’t sa-” but Fenton was laughing again. Dash turned to him with an expression that was probably incredibly dumbfounded, but fucking hell what was wrong with him!?
Blood was streaming down Fenton’s face, a look in his eyes like he was enjoying himself. He was grinning wildly, his laughter echoing off the walls. Someone was going to find them back here at this rate,
“C’mon, man!” Fenton said, struggling against his binds to try to sit up, but Flash grabbed his hair and slammed him back onto the concrete, “What, stopping at fag? You’re not gonna call me a tranny? A pussy? A fairy? C’mon, dude, step it up a little!”
Flash gripped Fenton’s hair again, lifted his head, and slammed it into the concrete so hard he stopped moving. Dash gasped and stumbled backwards, though Flash grabbed his wrist again to pull him back, “It wasn’t hard enough to kill him,” he snarled. Oh no, no, no. With Flash that was worse, “Keep him tied and get him in my trunk, we’re teaching this freak a lesson,”
Dash swallowed, “You don’t think that’s a little far-”
“Now, Max!”
That’s not my name. hovered on the edge of Dash’s tongue, but he knew better than to start something right now. When Flash was quiet, he was furious. And that usually meant violence.
Dash finished the last knot, grimacing at the sight of Fenton still out cold, his chest moving up and down far less than Dash would’ve liked. Didn’t he have some sort of heart disorder from that accident? Was this going to hurt him more?
Fenton made a noise in the back of his throat that made Dash leap to his feet and scramble back and started tugging on his binds, “What the hell!?” he shouted,
“You like it?” Flash asked from where he was leaning against a support pillar, “Borrowed em from your parents- apparently they stop ghosts from ‘phasing through them’ or whatever,” he raised his hands in quotation marks, and Fenton gave that horrible snarl again.
For just a moment, Dash swore his eyes glowed. He swore Fenton had fangs and the metal chair was creaking under his strength, and Dash was a deer staring down as semi-truck as it barrelled towards him, but then Fenton dropped his gaze, and the feeling was gone.
Fenton heaved a breath and tried to pull his arms out again. He was bound with his arms in the cuffs behind his back and the back of the chair, bound by his legs to the legs of the chair, as well, all with Fenton Fishing Line, which Flash insisted was for added insult.
The more he watched Fenton struggle, the more he wondered if it was just because it glowed a little in the darkness of the warehouse, so Flash could see the pain on his face.
Fenton didn’t seem anything other than mildly annoyed, though, despite his constant tugging, and his eyes rolled over to Flash, “What? No tea and cakes?”
Flash laughed, low and cold, and Fenton’s mildly annoyed sneer faltered for just a moment, fear flickering behind his eyes. Flash picked up the baseball bat he’d brought out of his car, and Fenton started jerking the chair back. Dash squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.
“What the hell, man!?” Fenton demanded, “Are you insane? Do you have any idea what my parents will do to you-”
Crack. “I am not afraid of your pathetic, freakshow parents, Fenton,”
There was a horrible, shaky, wet breath from Fenton. He sniffed, loudly, and it was wet, too. Dash didn’t imagine it was snot he was trying to get back into his nose, “You should be,”
Dash quietly begged Phantom to show up. To swoop through the ceiling and punch Flash in his stupid face, maybe even kill him if they were lucky. He begged the universe to give him one good thing, to not let it end the way things always did with Flash, and-
Dash was jerked back to reality by Flash shoving the bat into his hands, and he spluttered, “I don’t think-”
“Are you gonna keep letting him talk, Dashy?” Flash demanded, getting so close Dash could smell his breath. He jerked his head back enough to touch the wall behind him,
“Uh- no- but-”
“No buts, Dashy,” he shoved Dash towards Fenton, who spat blood onto the ground beside him. He was an absolute mess, blood dried on his face from behind the school, his nose barely recognizable with how broken it was. The back of his shirt had blood on it, too, and his face was covered in new blood from where the bat had smashed into his temple, if Dash were to guess, coming from under his hairline.
He looked up at Dash through his eyelashes, and if Dash wasn’t frozen solid he would’ve punched him. He didn’t need Fenturd’s pity.
“You don’t have to do this Dash,” he said, “I know there’s a reasonable guy deep down- way, way deep down-”
“Stop letting him talk, Max,” Flash snapped, and Dash shifted so he was holding the bat correctly. Dash hated this, Fenton’s stupid expression pleading with him! Who was he to tell him what he did and didn’t have to do? If he didn’t do this, who knew what Flash would do to him? Or their mother? Or Pookie?
Instead, he raised the bat, and Fenton sighed, “For what it’s worth, I don’t hold this one against you,”
Rage boiled up in Dash’s chest, “STOP IT!” he swung the bat, and Fenton crumpled under it. He swung it again, and again, and again, “I DON’T NEED YOUR PITY, FENTON! I CAN HANDLE MY OWN SHIT!” Fenton wasn’t snarking back anymore, “YOU SHOULD HOLD IT AGAINST ME! YOU SHOULD, WHY DON’T YOU-” he froze as Fenton slumped forward, his head lolling against his chest, blood dribbling from his mouth, “... Oh my god,”
Flash’s hand was on his shoulder, too strong and far too much, “I suppose that is one way to teach someone respect,” he said, plucking the bat from Dash’s hands.
“Is he..?”
“Oh, if he’s alive, he won’t be for much longer,”
Fenton’s blood hit the concrete floor below them, “But- I didn’t-”
“You let the rage consume you, it’s an excellent tactic,”
Fenton didn’t move. Didn’t twitch. Didn’t breathe, “I-”
“I’ll handle the cleanup, little brother, just find where security is in here for me, will you?”
Dash’s head nodded, and his feet started to look around. But no matter where his eyes looked, he could only see Fenton slumped over, still, and very, very dead.
Valerie was going to strangle that ghost the next time she saw him.
Seriously, it had been nearly half an hour since their agreed upon meeting time! Where was he!?
As her board hovered over the docks, the Red Huntress frowned at the sight of an all-too-familiar face. Flash Baxter.
A snarl came through her lips, watching as he closed the warehouse door behind him and slid into his car, driving off. Oh, no. Not on her watch.
Valerie dropped to the ground in front of the warehouse as Flash disappeared around the corner. Her suit responded to her anxiety, showing her a HUD of her heartbeat on the visor of her helmet. She grumbled at it, but did as it was telling her, and led herself through breathing exercises as she moved through the storage units. Flash was a real piece of shit, at least from the bits Dash had told her- she’d never gotten the details, Dash was close lipped about him, at least to her. She hadn’t joined their friend group until high school, so Valerie understood.
But that was all the more reason to keep her guard up- Dash had been absent from last period.
She wasn’t entirely certain what she’d have said to Dash when she found him, but it didn’t matter. Her attempt to call out died on her lips when she turned a corner and saw Danny.
He was bound to a chair in some of his parents’ anti-ghost fishing line and one of those anti-phase handcuffs, and he was absolutely covered in his own blood.
“Danny!” a shriek she hadn’t even known she was capable of came out of her mouth and she sprinted across the open space between units, immediately grabbing Danny’s face and putting fingers to his neck in terrified desperation. Her suit HUD popped up to show start showing her how to time CPR compressions, and another section popped up to say that Danny didn’t have a heartbeat.
A blade popped out from the wrist of her suit, and she sliced through the fishing line with ease, lifting Danny up and placing him on the ground. She sliced through the cuffs, too, and properly laid him on his back, starting compressions. Her suit contacted emergency services, and she struggled to fight back tears, “C’mon, Fenton...”
There was a clattering behind her, and Valerie turned before her suit pulled her back to keep compressions going. There wasn’t any response, still, and Valerie screamed to the space, “Whoever’s there, show yourself, or so help me I will track you down with everything I have, and-” her anger faltered for just a moment as Dash Baxter stepped into the light, his hands raised. Her breath shuddered, anger spiking back up. Of course it would be Dash, of course he’d have just left him here. Her suit lifted the bottom of her helmet up enough to show her mouth, and she dropped to momentarily do mouth to mouth. He was so cold, “How long?”
“... What?”
“How long has he been like this!?” she shrieked, tears coming in full force, now, “God damn it, Fenton, you start breathing or so help me!”
“I-” Dash Baxter of all people started to cry, too, “I didn’t mean to!” he wailed, “He just kept looking at me like that, and I was so mad, and-”
“So you did this!?” Valerie demanded, “God, I knew you were a coward, but-”
“You don’t know me!” he shrieked, and Valerie was distantly reminded that Dash and the Red Huntress had never so much as spoken, “You have no idea what-”
“I got a pretty good idea,” she assured him, “You’re going to stay here, and you’re going to tell the ambulance everything-”
“What!?” Dash took several steps back, “Flash said-”
“Whatever Flash said doesn’t matter! You- you-” killed him was on her lips, but she couldn’t make herself say it. Her suit gave her an ETA for an ambulance. 2 minutes wasn’t fast enough, “How long was he like this?” she demanded again, and Dash swayed on his feet.
“A couple minutes? Maybe?”
“How many is ‘a couple’?”
“5? Maybe!”
“Oh my god,” she dropped for another mouth to mouth, “You realize his brain has been without oxygen for that long!?”
“I- I didn’t mean to- I-”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” she turned to focus on her compressions, “C’mon, Fenton, you don’t get to leave me like this,”
“... Valerie?” Dash whispered, and Valerie growled,
“Can we focus, here!?” A minute 30 seconds. Not fast enough, “Come on you motherfuckers,” she growled, “Get here faster,”
Normally, she’d have contacted Mr. Masters, but considering he was some sort of monster masquerading as human, she disregarded that thought as soon as it came up. Calling Jazz was out of the question, and Jack and Maddie would tear the city apart trying to bring someone to justice.
“Shit!” she sobbed, her arms shaking from the effort. Danny still didn’t move, “How could you do this!?” she shrieked, and Dash took a couple steps back, Valerie’s suit bursting to life, “I get you didn’t like him, but this is- this-”
“I didn’t-”
“I get it! You didn’t mean to!” she turned to glower at him, “But you still did! If he lives-” she choked, the thought of Danny not living too much to handle. Was this how Manson and Foley had felt the night of his accident? Not sure whether he’d live or die? She shook her head, continuing, “If he lives, he’s never going to recover from this!” one of her guns started aiming at Dash’s chest, and she jerked her head back. It retreated back into the suit almost like a scolded dog, but Dash just kept standing there, staring at his hands.
“Valerie, I-”
“Don’t,” she snarled, “I don’t need your- AAH!” she was cut off as an ecto-blast slammed into her chest, sending her tumbling back. Shit, she couldn’t stop!
Skulker stepped over Danny, pushing him to the side with one foot. The shriek that came out of Valerie’s mouth was once again one she thought herself incapable of, and a weapon materialized in her hands, “GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
Her fire bounced off the ghost-hunter’s suit, and he chuckled, “You still haven’t figured it out, hmm?” he lunged, grabbing Valerie by the throat. She squeaked, the small amount of air still able to get in and out of her throat struggling to do what it could as her suit’s HUD went wild. She kicked and flailed at the ghost, but he just flew them up into the sky.
“Of course you haven’t, I’m unsurprised. You see it all so black and white,”
She kicked at his chest, and he let go of her. Valerie dropped like a rock, landing with a thud onto her board. Her panic-addled brain shot back to Danny, and she shot through the skylight back into the warehouse.
EMTs were scattered across the building, frantically searching for whoever had been called for, “He’s over here!” Valerie called, leading them to where she’d found Danny.
But there was no one. Not Dash, not Danny, just the pieces of fishing line and broken handcuffs, “That’s impossible,” she breathed, “He didn’t have a heartbeat, he’d been without oxygen for nearly 7 minutes!” the wrist of her suit lit up, a holographic display showing footage from a camera in the forehead of her suit of her laying Danny down to start compressions, “Woah,” she muttered at the sight.
One EMT stepped forward, “Was there anyone else with you, Red Huntress?”
“There was,” she said, rage shooting through her veins, “A Casper High student, judging by his varsity jacket,” if Dash took him out of some sort of twisted sense of guilt-
“Then we need to find him,” the EMT said, “Send visuals to dispatch, we’ll get a search team out there,”
“On it,”
“I’m afraid the young man you found, if he’s still-”
“I know,” Valerie’s fists clenched at the thought, a sob bubbling up through her throat, “I know... I knew as soon as I saw him. I just didn’t want to think about it,”
The EMTs were already scrambling, but the one she was talking to put his hand on her shoulder, “We’ll find him, I promise,”
They didn’t find him.
Valerie spent half the night assisting the search parties before they insisted she go home and rest. She insisted they go fuck themselves, but Amity’s emergency service personnel were some of the most hearty bitches out there. You had to be, in this town.
What worried Valerie more, now that she was laying down in bed, staring at her ceiling, was that Phantom hadn’t shown up once. The one night he was out of town and one of her friends died.
And he was dead, that much was certain. Wherever Dash had ran off to, probably to cover his tracks, he’d taken what was left of Danny with him. Jack and Maddie were going to tear the city apart looking for him, but Valerie feared they’d never find him.
It was always so much more bitter, the human crimes she’d come across. They sat in her stomach like spoiled milk, the victim’s faces never leaving her. She had a binder full of cases she’d helped with over the past year, but Danny’s she wasn’t sure if she could put in there.
It was different when you knew someone. When you knew how their face moved and laughed, how it would snort and roll it’s eyes at some rude comment from a stranger. How the eyes, now dull and lifeless, used to light up at the smallest mention of space.
She’d had hoped she could take him up to see earth from orbit one day.
Her alarm came too fast, and despite trudging into the living room fully dressed she couldn’t make herself eat. How was she supposed to look Manson and Foley in the eyes today? Or, god forbid, Jazz?
Her dad tilted her head at her, “What’s up with you, sugarpie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost- or, well...”
Valerie couldn’t help it, a sob finally choked it’s way out, “I’m sorry, Daddy!” she wailed, “I know I told you I wasn’t ghost hunting anymore, but I have been, but it’s more complicated now! Mayor Masters is a monster and Phantom didn’t-” she put her hand over her mouth and sat down at the table, “... I found Danny’s body last night,”
“You what?” Damon sat down next to her, taking her hand, “Honey, what happened?”
“I-” she sniffled, “I was just doing my patrols, and I saw Dash’s shitty older brother leaving a warehouse. I thought, that’s weird, because Dash wasn’t in last period, so I was concerned he did something to him, but...” she raised her head to look at her father, “Daddy, he was already gone when I found him. I couldn’t save him. I- I-”
“Oh, Valerie,” her father pulled her into a hug, and she cried into his shoulder, “It was not your job to save him. You found him, you brought his family peace, that’s more than enough,”
“But he’s missing, Daddy! Skulker threw me around when I was in the middle of compressions, by the time I got back he was gone! Emergency services searched all night!”
“They’ll find him, baby. It’s out of your hands now,”
Valerie gripped her father’s shirt, wanting nothing more than to dive into her bed and stay there until Phantom would come knock on her window and drag her out of bed. But that wasn’t going to solve anything.
She sniffled again and raised her head, “I know. But I’m not gonna hide from it,”
“That’s good,” he kissed her forehead, “What about Mayor Masters being a monster?”
“Oh, uh-” she groaned, “That son of a bitch had me twisted right around his finger! He masquerades as a human, I don’t know how long he’s been doing it, but... There was this girl, she was somehow only half ghost, and Vlad wanted to melt her down into ectoplasm. I thought it was all Plasmius- uh, the Wisconsin Ghost- but I went back to check on him and saw him transform, right there!”
“I take it you’re not working for him anymore,” Damon narrowed his eyes at her, and Valerie sighed,
“He’s good for his money, and for how much he tricked me I think I owe him the favour,” she fiddled with her watch, “But- uh- not right now... I’m sorry I went behind your back, I just-”
“I know,” Damon sighed, “There’s just no telling you kids what to do in this town, is there? I’ll figure out a way for this to be done safely, Val, just be careful,”
Valerie smirked, “I will, I’m Mama’s daughter after all,”
“I can see that more every day,” he motioned to the kitchen, “At least try to eat something? Bring some snacks if you can’t, I’m sure everything will turn out okay,”
Valerie’s brain was like a train slamming into a wall at the reminder of what had her so out of it, “... Right. I’ll try, Daddy, I promise,”
“You’d better,”
She did as she was told, stuffing some granola bars into her backpack and taking off on her board. Phantom still wasn’t anywhere she could see him along his normal patrol routes, and Valerie swore to herself. She was going to kill him when she got her hands on him.
Double-kill. Whatever.
She gave her sensors a quick check as she dropped down behind the bleachers, not in the mood for anyone to actually come after her. She spotted Manson and Foley by Danny’s locker and wanted to grab and shake them, scream the truth, but she knew better.
“... just not like him,” Manson was saying.
“I know,” Foley looked down the hall, “it’s weird. You’d think he’d have at least said ‘Hey! Not dead by the way!’ by now,”
Valerie swallowed her guilt and stormed past them, glowering at the sight of Dash in their shared first period classroom.
Dash turned from his quiet conversation with Kwan to Valerie, who was doing her best to give off every bit of murderous rage she was capable of.
She sat down next to Dash with perhaps too much force, and Paulina scoffed, “Who said you could sit there-”
“She’s fine,” Dash insisted, and Valerie gave him another death glare.
“You know that extra credit work we have together?” Valerie asked, and Dash visibly stiffened, “Why don’t you come chat about it with me where Her Majesty won’t be offended?”
“Oh please,” Paulina scoffed, but Dash stood, much to Valerie’s surprise,
“I got this, ‘Lina, don’t worry,”
Paulina did actually look worried for a split second, but it was replaced with casual bitterness just as quickly, “Fine, whatever,”
Valerie lead Dash across the room and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, “Who do you think you are?” she hissed, “Where did you put him!? We searched for-”
“Put him?” Dash repeated, “What are you talking about?”
“Danny, you moron! When I got back there Emergency Services was tearing the place apart looking for him!”
“I thought you and the ghost took him,” Dash said, “He was threatening you and then you were gone, and so was Fenton,”
Valerie opened her mouth to speak, but what she would’ve said died on her lips as Danny walked through the classroom door.
He had a wicked bruise on his chin and under one of his eyes, as well as one forming under his temple that Valerie could just make out, but other than that he looked perfectly, completely fine.
But there was absolutely no way he could be.
Danny looked at them both, who must’ve been staring at him like he had three heads, and snorted, “I know, I know, I’m on time, it’s crazy,” he gave little jazz hands, and Valerie couldn’t help but laugh, a little hysteric. Danny just grinned, clearly thinking she just thought he was funny, “And, uh, for what it’s worth, Dash, I meant what I said. I don’t hold it against you,”
Dash just kind of stumbled back until he hit the wall, and Valerie asked, “Are you, um..?” she motioned to her own temple, “Are you okay?”
“Eh,” Danny shrugged, “One of- um- Dad’s new toys exploded last night and I took a chunk of it to the head, I’m fine, promise,”
Well that was a blatant lie if Valerie had ever heard one. She swallowed, nodding, and forced a smile, “Right.. Well I’m glad you’re okay, then,”
“I am,” he motioned to Dash sprinting out of the classroom, “Dunno if he is though,”
Paulina leaped to her feet and stormed after him, Kwan and Star on their heels. Danny frowned after them, but just leaned back in his seat, “Weird. You’d think he saw a ghost,” he turned to grin at her, and Valerie’s stomach dropped, “Or you know, something we don’t see every day,”
Of course he looked perfectly fine. Of course he was lying to cover Dash’s ass.
Because he was absolutely dead before Valerie got her hands on him, and he didn’t even know it.