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Danny had thought today as a pretty good day which was good since today he was meeting Valerie after school to work on their group project. But then around lunchtime a headache started to develop. Since then, it had only built in intensity, every time the bell rang it felt like someone was taking a hammer to his skull.
Finally, school was over. He only had to make it through about an hour of working with Valerie, and then if there were no serious ghost attacks, Sam and Tuck could handle the likes of the Box Ghost, he could take a nap.
They were about ten minutes into working on the project and Danny was staring at his computer and willing his headache back so that he could actually concentrate on the screen. He should probably find a book, the light from his computer was like stabbing needles into his eyes. But finding a book’s small font would also be extremely difficult to read, not to mention having to use the library’s ancient computer to see if they even had a book on their writer.
“Did you find anything?”
“Huh?”
“Did you find anything?” Valerie asked, turning toward him.
“Um… no.”
She rolled her eyes, “How difficult can it be to find where he was born and his basic family info?”
“Sorry,” he mumbled. He tried to focus on his screen again, but had to close his eyes as his headache spiked.
“You good?”
Danny looked up to see Valerie staring at him, looking slightly concerned.
“Headache.”
“Ah, my mom used to get really bad headaches.”
“Hm.” Danny said, even the effort to communicate was becoming more difficult.
“Do you want to reschedule?”
“No. I know you’re busy.” Danny said. He rubbed his eyes, “I should be used to these by now.”
She frowned, “Do you get them pretty often.”
“Ever since the accident.” Danny froze, avoiding looking at Valerie.
There was a moment of silence, and Danny desperately hoped Valerie wouldn’t ask. But of course his luck wasn’t that good.
“What accident?” He glanced at her. She was frowning at him again.
“I got a nasty shock in my parents’ lab.” he said, trying to keep it simple but not lie because she was way too good at seeing through lies, at least when her bias wasn’t in the way.
She looked alarmed. “When did that happen?”
“It’s fine. It happened a few months ago.”
“And you’re still getting headaches? Isn’t that, like, really bad?”
“I’m fine.” Danny said, a bit harsher than he’d wanted. He sighed. “Look, the accident was a while ago, and it did leave some annoying aftereffects. But I’m fine. I’m actually lucky I’m not dead.” Shoot. Why did he say that? This wasn’t Sam and Tucker who he could joke with about his secret. This was Valerie, the Red Huntress, who hated his ghostly guts.
“You could have died!”
Yup. Now she was alarmed. Great going Danny! You’re so good at keeping people from figuring out your secret!
“I’m fine.” he insisted again, but his words were undermined by the fact that his headache spiked suddenly and he dropped his head into his hands with a hiss.
It was blessedly silent for a moment.
“Sorry.” Valerie said. “I didn't mean to pry. I know it’s none of my business. I can’t do it tomorrow, but can we meet up Saturday evening?”
Danny nodded as best as he could with his head still cradled in his hands.
“Do you, umm… Need help getting home?” she sounded so uncertain, that any frustration Danny had faded.
He sighed. “No. I’ll call Jazz to pick me up.”
“Okay. Just umm… Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”
“See ya.”