Chapter Text
Sam was walking back to her table, trying to balance the large pile of food on her tray. It was fairly difficult considering the smell of meat that made her nauseous. Why did the Lunch Lady had to get so mad about the menu change? Now she had to deal with this pile of non-cruel-free slop. Why does Tucker love it so much, she’ll never know.
She stared at her tray in disgust and didn’t even notice Star blocking her way until the very last moment. She barely had enough time to stop and almost spilled everything that was on her tray. She glared at the smirking girl standing in front of her with her hands crossed over her chest.
“Oh wow, YOU’RE getting cafeteria food? I thought you were vegecyble or something. Did you finally decided to stop being a freak?”
Sam only glared at her even more fiercely and ignored the A-listers’ snickering from the nearby table. “For your information it’s ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and no, I have my own lunch.” She shook slightly the brown paper bag she was holding with her fingers under the tray. “It’s for Danny. The lunch lady won’t give him anymore, so I’m reclaiming my portion.” She moved past Star, who suddenly lacked a response, making sure to nudge her in the side with her elbow ‘on accident’.
Sam set down her lunch first before placing her tray in front of Danny who was already sitting at their table. Star looked after her and couldn’t think of any good come back. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the loser trio’s table. She noticed the excessive amount of food sitting in front of Fenton. He was already hallway through his first tray, yet it still looked much fuller than hers. She realized she got lost in thought and that the tech geek was now staring back at her confused. She quickly turned around and skittered off to her table.
She sat beside Paulina and glanced to the side. It really shouldn’t be surprising that someone, especially a teenage boy, had a ravenous appetite, but that was ridiculous! Fenton had already ate his mountain of a meal that just a few minutes ago had a hard time fitting on his plate and was now moving on to devour the slightly smaller portion brought to him by his goth friend. It didn’t take long for Kwan to notice her staring.
“Star, is something wrong? You look distracted.”
“Huh? Oh, no, it’s nothing. It’s just Fenton.” This got Dash’s attention.
“Fenturd? What did he do again?” The jock looked ready to stand up and beat up Danny, no matter the reason. Star threw her arms in the air in a defensive gesture.
“No, no, he hadn’t done anything. It’s just… have you ever seen his tray? It’s enormous!” All four of them turned to see what she meant. Paulina was the first to speak.
“Now that you mention it, he does eat like a little pig, HA!” She laughed loudly while picking up her drink.
“But like, look at him! He’s eating even more than Kwan-“
“Hey!” Kwan snapped, offended.
“- but he’s still so skinny!” Star tried to argue.
Dash looked in the loser trio’s direction once more. Danny was already done with both trays and was now unpacking a lunchbox filled to the brim with sandwiches and fruit. He also took out a large thermos and poured himself a cup of something green that Dash could swear was slightly glowing.
“I mean, I still have no issue with shoving him into a locker. He weights close to nothing so maybe it’s just a one-time thing?” He looked back at his friends. Kwan nodded in agreement.
“Probably. And I don’t eat THAT much.” He pointed an accusatory finger at Star. “I just need a lot of energy for the training, is all.”
“Sure you do, fatass.” Dash said teasingly and nudged him jokingly in the side. That started their friendly bickering that quickly turned into a small slap fight. Star sighed and tuned them out.
She looked to the side again just as Fenton was done eating. She couldn’t believe he actually finished it all. She would most definitely throw up or at least feel nauseous after just half that amount.
-***-
None of them talked about it out loud, but for the rest of the week every one of them paid much more attention to the amount of food their classmate consumed.
Turns out it wasn’t just a one-time occurrence as the lanky teen was inhaling tremendous amounts for lunch every day. Not only that but they also noticed how he always seemed to have some snacks on him and was constantly eating them both in between and sometimes even during classes. Kwan even saw him once pull out an apple, seemingly out of thin air, and start eating it in the middle of their run during PE.
Despite all that the boy was still extremely thin and Dash could swear he even felt a bit lighter than usual when he shoved him into his locker on Wednesday.
-***-
It was now Friday and they were all standing in front of Paulina’s locker.
“Ok, I know I said I didn’t care but I know you guys noticed it too, right?” Paulina was the first to approach the subject.
“Yeah, it’s honestly worrying. He eats as if he hadn’t eaten in days!” Star said her expression genuinely worried.
“And he looks like that too!” Dash added. “Do you think there’s something going on at his house or something?” Star looked at him surprised.
She didn’t think that out of all people Dash, Danny’s biggest bully, would be the one concerned about his home situation. Paulina bit her thumb slightly, in thought.
“I don’t know but we can’t exactly ask him…”
“why not?” All three of them stared at Dash with a ‘seriously?’ look on their faces. “What?”
“Dash, you bully him like everyday! He’s not gonna tell you anything.” Star threw her hands in the air to put more emphasis to her words.
“We could always try asking Jazz.” Kwan chimed in after a moment of silence. “She’s his sister, right? She has to know something.”
“That’s actually a good idea! She has math next to you in fifth period, right?”
“Yeah, I saw her there a few times before. I think it’s her last class, but I could ask her to stay a bit to talk with us.”
“Great! Bring her here then and we’ll ask her if she knows anything.” Paulina said and closed her locker just as the bell rang. All of them went to their own classes, waiting for the fifth period to come.
-***-
They were waiting anxiously, huddled around Paulina’s locker when they saw Jazz walking beside Kwan who looked much more shy than his usual, confident self. Jazz was walking confidently with her chin high up. She waved to them with her left hand, her right occupied by a math book and a notebook that she hadn’t had the time to put away just yet, and smiled at them.
“So, Kwan said you want to talk to me?”
Star stepped a bit forward before starting. “Yes, it’s about Danny.”
Jazz sighed heavily “Dash I told you to stop picking on him. What happened this time?”
“I didn’t do anything!” Dash blurted out a bit louder than necessary. Paulina pushed him gently behind her before speaking up.
“It’s just… we noticed his, um… eating habits and we were wondering if everything was okay.”
“Eating habits? What do you mean?”
“He’s eating so much, even I would be nauseous, yet he still looks as if he hadn’t eaten anything at home!" Kwan blurted out quickly "Do you guys have enough food or something?”
Jazz turned to face Kwan who spoke for the first time since asking her to come here and looked at him surprised before bursting into laughter. The A-listers stared at her in shock as she was trying to calm down her giggling. When she could finally catch her breath again, she wiped a tear that formed in her eye and sighed.
“I never would have thought that out of all people you four would care or even notice.”
“Hey, it’s not funny!” Star pouted.
“Oh, don’t worry we have enough food and he eats plenty. He eats more than dad and you saw the guy.” They all nodded as they remembered the giant form of Jack Fenton. “Just this morning he ate a whole carton of eggs, half a pack of bacon and half a loaf of bread, so trust me, he ain’t starving.”
“But then how is he still so light?” Dash asked making a movement with his hands as if he was picking someone up by their armpits.
“Honestly? I don’t know. A quick metabolism maybe? It's not like we tested him or anything. Oh look, he’s just coming this way.”
The four turned to look in the same direction as Jazz to see Danny, Sam and Tucker walking down the hall and talking about something. Danny was munching on a bar of chocolate which made Jazz furrow her brows. She stepped to the front and waved at her brother.
“Danny! How many of those have you had already?” She yelled and pointed at the half eaten chocolate in Danny's hand, which made the trio stop in their tracks.
“Uuuhh… two?” The boy answered unsure. Tucker smacked him across the head. “Hey! What was that for?!”
“Man, you know you can’t lie to her. She’s like a human lie detector!” He said laughing, completely ignoring Danny’s angry glare. Sam sighed heavily and shook her head disappointed, before turning to Jazz.
“That’s his sixth.”
“Sam! You didn’t have to out me like that!” Danny yelled before Jazz pulled him by the front of his shirt.
“I told you, if you have to snack at least eat something healthy!” She looked both angry and concerned.
“Well, yeah, but also consider-“ He didn’t end his sentence, instead dashing down the hall as quickly as he could. The A-listers stared at the scene in slight shock not even noticing how or when did he escape his sister’s grasp. Jazz quickly ran after him yelling for him to stop. Tucker and Sam weren’t far behind her, probably to see the show as they tried to stifle their snickering.
The four teenagers just stared after them flabbergasted before Kwan finally spoke. “Wow, Fenton is seriously something.”
“He’s even more fucked up than I thought.” Added Dash, finally being able to pull his eyes off the now empty hall. They couldn’t say anything more as the bell for their sixth period rang, but none of them forgot the weird ordeal.