Chapter Text
"We know something's wrong, Danny. At least go talk to her?" Jazz pleaded with him as they stood outside the school counselor's door. Ever since the accident, Danny had been evasive around his family and friends. Not that they even knew there was an accident. How could he tell them? Not only would he get the chewing out of a lifetime, there was no telling how his friends and family would even react.
To his friends, he'd be seen as a freak at best. To his family… an experiment at worst. There was already talk about capturing the mysterious 'ghost boy' to study him. Danny shuddered at the thought, which got a concerned look from his sister. "Nothing's wrong, Jazz, and I don't appreciate the fact that you're shoving me into this." Apparently, he hadn't been as careful as he'd thought about hiding the injuries he got from fighting ghosts, and his family and friends thought he was cutting himself. The worst part was that he couldn't refute their claims without telling them exactly how he was actually getting those injuries.
"Danny…" Jazz frowned, reaching out a hand to place on his shoulder—which he quickly shrugged away. "We're just worried about you."
"Well there's nothing to worry about, Jazz! I'm. Fine. Now buzz off, before I'm late for class." Again. Ghost attacks had been keeping him from getting into class on time, and the last thing he wanted was for his family and friends to think he was skipping.
Thanks to Jazz's needling, Danny barely made it to Lancer's class on time. He sighed and flopped down into his seat, resting his head on the desk in front of him. Next to him, Tucker poked his shoulder. "Hey man, you okay? You barely made it."
"Yeah, I'm good. Jazz almost made me late trying to get me to talk to the new school counselor." Danny sighed, glancing up to make sure Lancer wasn't paying too close attention to the three friends in the back of the classroom chatting with each other.
"Are you sure you shouldn't? I mean, you've been acting pretty weird lately." Sam looked… well, worried. It gave Danny a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, having to keep this from them. But they just wouldn't understand. He was the only one who could do what he was doing, they'd just try to talk him out of it. Danny couldn't let that happen.
"Oh great, so you're taking her side?"
Sam held up her hands, backing off a little. Beside him, Tucker rubbed at Danny's shoulder, causing him to tug on his long sleeves to keep the bandages from showing as his shirt shifted. Not that rumors hadn't been flying around his close circle about that already. 'Thanks again, Jazz.' Danny thought bitterly to himself.
"We're your friends, Danny. You've always told us everything. Maybe whatever's going on is too heavy for you to tell us, but Ms. Spectra's supposed to be a licensed therapist, right? She's gotta be able to help you out if we can't."
Danny groaned and settled his his head back down onto the table. Tucker had at least some point. Maybe he couldn't tell Ms. Spectra everything, but there were some things he should try to get off his chest. Who knew, maybe at bare minimum the counselor could help him with his bullying problem. He'd been using his ghost powers a bit more liberally to try and avoid getting beaten to a pulp, but he still had to keep from getting caught. Some advice on dealing with all of that on a more normal, human basis might take some stress off him and help keep him from aggravating his ghost-fighting injuries.
Of course, there was one person who would understand what he was going through, but Danny didn't want to think about him. Vlad was… Well, he wasn't the nicest of guys to begin with, what with trying to kill Danny's dad and get with his mom (ew). Still, that offer of teaching him was awfully tempting.
When they'd met, Danny had been grossly unprepared. He hadn't even been able to do those energy blasts or shields like Vlad had used against him, let alone the whole duplication thing. The only reason he walked away without more injuries was because of his blackmail against the older man. It was a terrifying prospect, for sure, but Danny would rather risk his parents finding out about him than let Vlad kill either one of them. Even if… his parents might rip him apart 'molecule by molecule,' as his dad so often liked to say.
"Mr. Fenton." Lancer's voice right next to him snapped Danny out of his thoughts, and he looked up at his teacher with a red flush to his face.
"Yes, Mr. Lancer?"
"Oh good, now that we've determined that there's nothing wrong with your hearing, maybe you would care to answer the question?"
That sick feeling in Danny's stomach got worse as he realized he'd spaced out. Sure, he'd made it to class on time, but now he was slacking off. Just great. And to make it all worse, his classmates were snickering at him for being singled out.
"Er… what was the question again?" He hated asking, because the moment the words left his mouth the rest of the class was laughing at him.
Lancer frowned, shaking his head. "We can go over the details of Maya Angelou's poetry in detention, Mr. Fenton. I'll see you after school."
Just what he needed, detention. Danny prayed there wouldn't be any ghosts around in that case, because getting in trouble for skipping his punishment would have him grounded at home for sure.
By the time lunch rolled around, Danny just wanted to skip the rest of the school day and go home to sleep. Without the adrenaline of a ghost attack, he found himself nodding off in most of his classes. Which, of course, only earned him more reprimands, and soured his mood even further.
"I'm starting to think Danny's parents are right. Some of the weird things going on lately are too weird to be normal."
"Oh please, Tucker, ghosts aren't real. And even if they were, I don't think Danny's parents would be up for actually fighting them. I mean, have you seen his dad? Er. No offense, Danny."
Danny forced a slight grin, getting that much-needed adrenaline boost in one of the worst possible ways. He should've just gotten an energy drink from the vending machine instead, maybe then he could've missed this conversation. "Dad knows how to shoot when it counts, and Mom's a crack shot with those guns. They're just a little overenthusiastic." Which is what scared him the most.
"What about that supposed ghost kid? You know, the one in the black jumpsuit?"
Tucker's question made Danny's heart beat much too fast, blood pounding in his ears. "What about him?"
Sam rolled her eyes, scoffing at the mere mention of ghosts. "Look, if ghosts were real, they wouldn't go around rescuing people, Tucker. Whatever keeps ghosts going after death can't be anything pleasant, or helpful. If he exists? That ghost kid is up to something."
"Yeah… You're probably right. Hey Danny, didn't your parents say that ghosts were, uh, how'd they phrase it?" Tucker tried to strain his memory.
"Malevolent ectoplasmic entities. Try to keep up, Tucker." Sam said as she sat down at the table, followed shortly by Tucker.
"Whoops. Yeah. But basically, ghosts are evil, right? At least that's what your parents say."
Oh no. Danny swallowed, trying not to feel sick. Here he thought he was trying to prove that not all ghosts were evil. That he could be someone people could look up to. And even his friends couldn't see that.
"I… I'm not really feeling too great, guys. I'll catch you after school." Danny didn't want to be around anymore. He didn't know how much more ghost talk he could stomach without breaking down.
"Danny, wait, where are you going?" Sam reached out for Danny's arm, grabbing hold of his sleeve before he tugged it away.
"I'm going to go see the nurse. Seriously, I'll catch you after school." Danny tried to give a weak smile to reassure them.
"I've got programming club after school, dude, and you'll be in detention," Tucker reminded him.
Sam chewed her lip, averting her eyes. "I've got a family dinner I can't get out of. Sorry, Danny. Are you sure you can't stick around for lunch?"
Danny groaned, wishing he had a little more time he could spend with his friends. But… he seriously couldn't stay, not with them talking about 'evil ghosts.' Which, according to them, included their own best friend.
"Yeah. I'm sure. Look… I'll chat with you guys on skype later tonight, okay? If I'm not grounded for getting detention again." Hopefully nothing would happen and he'd be able to get home on time.
Tucker and Sam looked at each other, then back at Danny. "Yeah… Stay safe dude."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Sam tried to joke, but Danny could see that she was worried he was going off to… to…
Yeah, no. He'd seriously lost his appetite. But he could think of something he could do to reassure them. "I'll see if Ms. Spectra's still around after detention and talk to her then, okay?"
The smiles on their faces was worth the potential humiliation of having to see the school shrink. Besides, how bad could she be? "Seriously. I'll talk to you guys later."
Once he was away, Danny heaved a deep sigh and let his heart stop racing. Fuck. Didn't anyone believe in what he was doing? He'd just have to try harder. There had to be something he could do to prove himself, and he'd find it. Eventually.