Danny - A Week Later, Thursday
The next week went by normally—at least normal for a half-ghost. Danny patrolled every night as usual, running into weak ghosts that escaped through the portal.
School changed for the better, though. Poindexter's vengeance reduced the amount of bullying drastically. Some bullies were brave enough to continue their ways when in groups, but there were less every day.
It made it easier to ask someone to the upcoming dance. Less mocking when they were shot down. Not that Danny had. He'd had a crush on Paulina when she first moved in last year, but she was just as much a bully as Dash. No one else really caught his eye. The obvious answer was Sam, but she acted like she didn't care about the dance. (Did he even like her that way?)
Danny still thought about his options on Thursday morning—the day before the dance—as he ate his cereal. To his surprise, Mom came up from the basement lab.
"Hey, Mom," Danny said. "What are you doing?"
"Your father is obsessed with his new Fenton Ghost Fisher," she said derisively, then calmer, "so I thought I'd come up for some me time with the dishes." She started working on said dishes and added absently, "Maybe you could talk to him before school?"
"What could I say?" Danny asked. His parents were always obsessed with one thing or another. How was this any different?
"Just talk to him," Mom said, loading the dishwasher. "I'm sure he'll come around."
Danny shrugged, finished his cereal, and handed his bowl to Mom. He picked up his backpack and went downstairs.
Before he even got down the stairs, Danny knew the portal was open. Its swirling green vortex called to him, and he had to shake his head to clear it.
In the lab, Dad hunched over in a metal chair hanging on to a fishing rod. He sported a fishing vest and a drink hat with two empty drinks and the straw in his mouth. He looked a little ridiculous, but when didn't he?
"Hey, Dad," Danny said, dropping his backpack on the floor. "What are you doing?"
"Danny, keep it down," Dad said. "You'll scare away the ghosts." He pointed to the fishing pole proudly and said, "It's the Fenton Ghost Fisher. I'm fishing for ghosts."
He stretched out the line for Danny to see. "Check out this line. Coated with a special high-tensile ectoplasmal resin that ghosts can't break. Quiet now. Don't wanna spook 'em."
Dad recast the line before Danny could touch it. Danny hoped it wasn't true. A net made of that stuff could prove deadly.
Dad's stomach grumbled, and he said, "Whoa! That soda goes right through you like Sherman through Georgia." He handed the Fenton Ghost Fisher to Danny, who took it in surprise. "Here! Hang on to this. I'll be right back after I use the Fenton Urinal." And he ran upstairs.
Of course, as soon as he was out of sight, the fishing line reeled out and went taut. Danny's ghost sense went off.
"Oh no," Danny moaned.
He gripped the Fenton Fisher with all his ghostly strength, trying not to lose it to the Ghost Portal. The line snapped—good—but a blue dragon head popped through the portal, followed by the rest of her. She growled and the line's broken end hit Danny in the face.
"Da—?" Danny started to call out.
"I want to go!" the dragon roared.
Danny backed up a few steps, but the dragon snatched him in her claws. She brought him up to her face and yelled, "I have to go!"
"You'll have to stand in line behind my dad," Danny said. "In the meantime…"
He transformed into a ghost, turned into mist, and escaped her grasp. When he reformed, the surprised-looking dragon tried to hit him. He dodged, and she tried again. Another dodge. She blew green fire, which missed him. That gave him an opening. He whipped her with his tail, and she stumbled back.
She transformed into a ghostly-green girl wearing a blue dress and braided headband. She seemed to be from medieval times.
"All I wanted was to go to the Princess Costume Ball," she cried in an accent different from her dragon voice. "And my horrid brother won't let me!" She wailed and flew back through the portal.
"If that dragon suit's her idea of a costume, I'm on brother's side," Danny said, transforming into his human self. "Phew! Man, that's a relief!" As ghost fights went, that was an easy one.
Danny closed the enticing portal, grabbed his backpack, and headed upstairs. In the kitchen, Mom and Dad were arguing.
"…spend more time with us," Mom said.
Danny stayed beyond their sight and transformed into a ghost again. He didn't want to step foot in that mess. His flight to school would just start there instead of in the alley by the house.
On the way to school, Danny wondered why the dragon transformed into a girl. Why did she give up the fight so easily? Would she come back? If she did, he knew he could beat her again. And what was her deal? She said she wanted to go to a ball. Apparently ghosts had balls. And brothers. He hoped her brother wouldn't show up. That might get messy. But why was she hanging around the portal anyway?
One more thing. What had Dad used as bait to lure in ghosts? The dragon had it in her mouth, and when she transformed, he didn't see it.
So many questions, and no one to ask. Being a secret half-ghost was hard sometimes.
At the school, Tucker held the door open as girls walked through. The banner above him read "THE BIG DANCE."
"Hey there, I—" Tucker said to a girl.
"No!" the girl said.
To the next girl, Tucker said, "Hi, would you—"
"Forget it," the girl said.
The third girl held up her hand and said, "No!"
"I didn't ask you yet!" Tucker called after her.
Danny and Sam sat at a picnic table waiting for school to start. Tucker joined them, moping.
"Strike three, Tuck?" Danny asked.
"Try strike three-thousand," Tuck bemoaned.
"I don't know what the big deal is about going to some stupid school dance. I don't need to be asked to some dance to know I'm special, unlike a certain shallow princess named Paulina."
"Oh, no!" came Paulina's voice. Danny and the others turned to see her standing right behind them. "You did not just call me shallow, did you?!"
Sam stood up to confront Paulina. "If you mean do I think I can stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet, then yeah."
"Shallow?!" Paulina said. "I am not shallow!"
Sam grabbed Danny's shoulder and pulled him away. Tucker followed loyally.
After Lunch - Danny
After lunch, Danny was rummaging through his locker when he heard Paulina call to him.
"Yoo-hoo, Danny!"
Danny stuck his head out of his locker to look at her in confusion. Why was the most popular girl in school talking to him?
She skipped up to him and laughed flirtatiously. "Hi, you. I just wanted to—"
Dash shoved Danny into his locker and slammed it closed. Danny turned into a ghost so he could slide intangibly through other lockers and get out. Invisibly, he leaned out of the locker and glared at Dash's massive back.
Anger pulsed through Danny, and, without thinking, he grabbed Dash's shoulders. Danny's hands glowed, and he got sucked into Dash. It happened so fast, Danny didn't know for sure what happened.
"In Dash's body?" Danny said with Dash's mouth.
"Excuse me?" Paulina said with one eyebrow raised.
"Right! Of course!" Danny said. "I'm also president of the Casper High geek club, and I have every toenail I've ever clipped. Want to see 'em?"
"No," Paulina said.
"Oh," Danny said, "then you should get to know Danny Fenton. He doesn't scrub his mom's feet every night like I do." He leaned down, Dash's body moving with him, and grabbed Paulina's foot.
She backed up. "Ew! Get lost, loser!"
With the damage done, Danny went back into his locker and transformed into his human self.
"Why do I suddenly feel like scrubbing my mom's feet?" Dash wondered, his voice receding.
Paulina opened Danny's locker, and Danny fell out with a yelp. Paulina knelt next to him, but her eyes landed on something on the floor.
"Oh my gosh! What's that?" she asked gleefully. She picked up an amulet made of gold with an emerald jewel.
"That?" Danny asked. He had no idea. "Oh! Uh, it's a… uh… You like it?"
"It's beautiful!" Paulina said.
"Hey, that's great!" Danny said, thinking fast. "Because I, uh, got it for you."
"Really?"
They stood up, and Danny said, "Yeah. I-in case I got the nerve to ask you to the dance and you said yes, I thought I'd want to give you something and that's what it would have been. It's for you."
With his nerves jittering all over, Danny's intangibility power activated on only his legs, and his pants fell. His face grew hot, he took control of his powers, and he pulled his pants back up where they belonged.
"Whether you go with me or not," he finished lamely.
To his surprise, Paulina said, "Well, you are kind of cute, and you have great taste in underwear. I'd love to go with you." She put on the amulet and walked away.
Danny smiled dreamily, but then he frowned. "What am I doing? That thing doesn't belong to me. It could be my mom's, or my sister's."
When Paulina got to the end of the hall, she turned around and waved at Danny. "Bye, Danny. See you!"
"Or I could worry about that later," Danny said. "Because she said yes! Woohoo!" He pumped his fists in the air causing his pants to fall again.
Mr. Lancer came up behind him. Of course Mr. Lancer was there. "Pantless again, Mr. Fenton? Third time this week I've caught you… how do you kids say it?" He flipped through the book he held. "Dropping trou. I think it's time I saw your father for a parent-teacher conference." He handed Danny a notice slip.
"Oh, man," Danny moaned. "My dad?"
"Until then, here," Mr. Lancer said, holding out a belt. "It'll keep your pants up and… out of trouble with the man."
After School - Danny
Sam caught up with Danny just before he flew off to go home.
"I can't believe you're going with that shallow witch!" Sam raged.
Danny floated down to her level.
"What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely confused. "I thought you didn't care about going."
"I don't," Sam said. "But of all people you asked her?"
"She came on to me," Danny said. "I saw an opportunity, and I took it. What's the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? The big deal is that you're going with the most shallow girl in school! You know what? I bet she's using you somehow. That's the only explanation."
Danny bristled. "Using me? Why would she do that?"
Sam threw her hands up. "How should I know? Break it off with her, or I know you'll regret it."
Danny glared at her. "Is that a threat?"
"No! Of course not!" Sam said. She sighed and softened. "I just don't want to see you get hurt."
Danny crossed his arms, but his anger lessened. "I won't get hurt. Look, I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Alright, yeah, see you tomorrow," Sam said with a smile.