At school the next day, I had a map in front of my nose for about half of the morning, trying to find my locker and then my first period class.

"So I make a right down the D hallway, and then…..no, that can't be right," I muttered to myself.

"You lost?" A voice asked.

I lowered the map from my face. In front of me stood a Black dude about my age. He was about as skinny as me, and a little bit taller. He had greenish-blue eyes that were framed by thick, nerdy black glasses, and he wore an old red 1920's beret worn backwards on his head. He reminded me of a traffic light, because at the top was the red beret, in the middle was his mustard-yellow turtleneck, and with those he wore forest-green cargo pants, thus creating the traffic light pattern.

Despite his questionable getup, he seemed pretty friendly, and I could use some directions. "Uh, yeah, actually," I answered. "Do you know where locker 623 is?"

He grinned and nodded. "It's right next to my first period. You can walk with me."

I grinned back. Finally, someone who wasn't a whore, had emotion, wasn't super-cheerful, and wasn't a ghost.

As we walked, he said, "The name's Tucker, by the way. Tucker Foley."

"Cool name," I replied honestly. "I'm Danny Fenton."

His grin, impossibly, widened. I couldn't help but widen my smile a bit, too. The guy's attitude was contagious.

That is, until I ran straight into what felt like a brick wall.

I looked up, and it might as well have been.

Towering over me stood a huge, buff dude in a black T-shirt and a red-and-white letterman jacket. His hair was light blonde and in a buzz cut, and his eyes were a grayish-blue. And he didn't look too happy.

As I looked from his face to his jacket, I could now tell why. I guess that he'd been holding some soda or something, because there was now a fresh purple stain on it.

"Oh," I said, backing away. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to-"

He gripped me by a fistful of my back-and-white Yin-Yang shirt, the same way that Phantom had last night. A part of me worried that the collar was going to be forever stretched out, but most of me worried about my face getting forever beaten to a pulp.

He growled, "You're gonna pay for this."

I know that I should've been focusing on more pressing matters, but jeez, his breath stank. Really, really badly.

"Dude, if you needed a breath mint," I choked, "you just had to ask."

He pulled his fist back. "That's it."

I braced myself for the punch, but, strangely, found none.

I opened my squeezed eyes and looked down. Next to the hulking muscle-brain was probably the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen.

She had waist-length, wavy, dark brown hair with hints of red in it, flawless tan skin, icy blue eyes that stared at me with curiosity, and pink-glossed lips that matched her pink hairclips, pink flats, and pink halter top.

Honestly? She could've been a model.

"Dash," she said in a pretty voice outlined with a Spanish accent, "don't go picking fights again."

The mindless muscle-dude- Dash, I guess (there was seriously someone named Dash?)- lowered me slightly.

"But he-!" He gestured to his stained letterman jacket.

The chick smiled sweetly at him. Oh, God. I'm pretty sure that my heart just melted.

"Don't hurt the poor boy. It wasn't his fault. Was it?" she asked, turning to me.

I stood there for a while, pretty shocked that she actually talking to me. Then I realized what an idiot I was making of myself, and I shook my head, finding the power to speak.

"Uh- no. It, uh- it wasn't."

"See? Put him down." Dash reluctantly set me down and scowled at the girl.

"Next time, I'm not listening to a word you say."

She smiled ruefully. "I guess I've used up my charm cards, then, huh?"

Dash didn't answer, instead turning away from us.

The girl came over to me and straightened out my shirt. "Sorry about Dash. He has a bit of a temper."

"Uh- …oh. Um, no it was fine. I, uh- I'm used to getting punched in the face on a regular basis."

Dang, why did I say that?

To my immense surprise, she giggled. Wow, she was cute…..

"-your name?"

I snapped back to reality. "I'm sorry?"

She giggled again. "I'm Paulina. What's your name?"

"Danny," I answered.

"Hm." She tapped her chin thoughtfully, as if contemplating something, then smiled again. "I'll see you later, Danny."

"Uh, see ya, Paulina," I stammered back. She turned and left.

"Dude," Tucker said, coming up behind me. "She just- you just- dang!"

He held out his hand for a high-five. I high-fived him and asked, "Who was that?"

"Like she said, her name's Paulina Sanchez. Hottest girl at school. Not too smart, but her looks cover up everything."

"No kidding."

"You're one lucky dude. She's totally into you."

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

I grinned, unbelieving. "No way."

Tucker rolled his eyes and grabbed me by the arm. "Come on, lover-boy," he chuckled. "Don't want to be late for class."

I followed him, still dumbstruck. Wow. Just…wow.

\*/

Tucker and I ended up having most of the same classes; the only two that we didn't have together was chemistry and literature. By some magic miracle, I met two other people of interest in those two classes without him.

In chemistry, I was paired up with a girl named Valerie Grey.

She was extremely pretty in a natural way, with clear hot-chocolate-colored skin, dark-chocolate-brown curls that she pushed away from her face with a tangerine headband, large aqua-green eyes, and full lips that showed no hint of lipstick or gloss.

Before I could begin to drool over her, however, she gave me this look, like do NOT mess anything up, or I'll personally dismember you.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and sat down next to her.

She told me everything that they'd learned in class so far throughout the year, making sure that I was caught up. I listened to everything she said, getting the vibe that if I didn't, she'd probably strangle me.

Then we began on the lab, and she did most of the work. I was stuck with recording everything that happened, and she kept on correcting me anyway, so I was pretty much useless.

The teacher- Mr. Summers- came over to our table and gave Valerie and I a congratulatory smile. "Good work, Miss Grey and Mr. Fenton," he said.

I didn't dare to smile, for fear of Valerie pulling out a knife and stabbing me to death, but she smiled sweetly. "Thanks, Mister Summers. Danny's doing pretty well for a new student."

Mr. Summers grinned back. "That's wonderful to hear. You two will make a great pair."

As he walked away, surprisingly, Valerie smiled at me. "Good work."

Okay. Bipolar much?

As if reading my thoughts, she said with a radiant smile, "Sorry about scaring you earlier. I just…..I'm a little obsessive when it comes to education. I hate failure."

"Oh." I allowed myself to grin back. "Did you really mean it when you said that I was doing pretty good?"

"Well, yeah. You weren't positively perfect, but you catch on quickly."

I sighed, relieved. "Thanks. I was worried for a second that you might hit me with a candlestick or something."

Valerie laughed, shaking her head. "Nah. More like strangle you with a rope."

We both laughed at that, and then proceeded to do our work for other classes. Well, technically, Valerie did the studying and organizing and stuff. I doodled on the cover of my notebook.

When the bell rang, she flashed me another smile. "Do you want to sit with me at lunch? Unless you have your own plans, that is."

I nodded vigorously. "Yeah, of course. Just wave me over when you see me."

Her grin widened, and she nodded. "I'll see you then."

"See ya then."

As we went our separate ways, I couldn't help but compare how things were going here at Casper High to how they had gone at my house. To put it short, it was better. A lot better.

That is, until entered my Literature class.

\*/

"Daniel Fenton," the bald, out-of-shape teacher that I assumed was Mr. Lancer muttered. He looked from his roster to me and pointed to the back of the room. "You'll have a seat by Miss Manson."

I dearly hoped that he hadn't just said Manson. I hoped so with all of my being.

I looked next to my designated seat. Oh, joy. He had said Manson.

Sam's expression was totally blank, but her amethyst eyes flashed at me from behind her bangs, so I knew that she was silently warning me not to say a word to her.

I didn't even nod, instead calmly sitting in my seat. In my peripheral vision, Sam seemed not exactly happy, but…..relieved, weirdly enough. Oh, well. None of my concern.

I tried to ignore the curious eyes on me from around the classroom, instead pulling out my Literature journal and jotting notes down as Mr. Lancer rambled on. He made a few sarcastic, kind of scary comments as he was lecturing that only a few people out of the class seemed to get, but other than that he was pretty normal for a teacher.

I was doing fine until he paired us up.

"Okay, class, because half of our textbooks have gone God-knows-where, you will have to share with at least one other person. I'll give you your partners."

As he said the names, I silently prayed that it wouldn't be Sam, not Sam, not Sam, not Sam…..

"….Samantha Manson with Daniel Fenton…."

Ah, crap.

I turned to her. She wasn't taking it any better than I was. As a matter of fact, her eyes were wide, and her lips were slightly parted.

Huh. So she had some form of emotion after all.

Her hand shot in the air when Mr. Lancer finished pairing people up.

He turned to her. "Yes, Samantha?"

"May I work separately?"

"No, Samantha. We won't put that burden on Daniel."

The look that Sam gave me screamed, Say something or die here and now.

Immediately, my hand shot up.

"Yes, Daniel?"

"I wouldn't mind being in a group of three."

"But it would corrupt the system," Mr. Lancer sighed, giving me a disapproving look- as if this was all my fault. "I'm afraid not, Daniel."

Sam's face turned into a scowl, and she shook her head, passing the textbook beneath her desk to me.

"You'd really fail a class to get me to leave you alone? Jeez, what did I do wrong?" I glanced at her uncertainly.

"It's not you," she snapped. "I just don't like working with people in general."

"But Jazz said that she and you get along so well." Okay. Maybe I was pushing my luck, but my commentary works faster than my brain.

Sam's face lost the scowl temporarily. "Well….yeah, we-" she turned back to me, and the scowl returned. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

She quickly scooted her desk to mine and speed-read the selection. I usually got to about a paragraph before she'd turn the page again.

Within ten minutes, she was done. She hastily scooted away from me again and took a deep breath. Her expression smoothed out again, and she didn't glance at me for the rest of the period.

I got to read half of the selection before the bell rang, and Sam was gone in a flash of dark clothes and fair skin.

\*/

Valerie, Tucker, and I got a table to ourselves, surprisingly. The cafeteria wasn't super-huge, and there were a lot of kids at Casper High, but everyone made it a point to avoid us.

Well. There went about half of my self-esteem.

Valerie had brought her own lunch: a PB and J sandwich, a bottle of water, a bag of baby carrots, and a bag of apple slices. Tucker and I had bought a cheeseburger from the school kitchen, as well as a chocolate shake and a bag of Funions.

"So Danny," Valerie said as she bit a carrot, "where're you from?"

"New York," I answered.

"Why'd you move here?"

"Mom wants a 'new start'," I said, using finger quotation marks for the words new start.

"You didn't want to leave?" Tucker asked, interested.

I shook my head. "But I'm here now, and everything else is pretty much irrelevant."

"Hm." Val moved on from her carrots to her apples slices. "What's your favorite subject?"

Immediately, I answered, "Astronomy. I mean, I know that I don't have it as a class or anything, but I've always wanted to be an astronaut."

Tucker nodded, slightly interested but mostly preoccupied by something. Valerie, on the other hand, was intrigued. "Wow. Really?"

I nodded. "It's just…..have you ever wondered what mysteries lie in the unknown of the universe, what questions could be answered in unsolved mysteries? Space is seriously one of the biggest mysteries of all. I mean, there could be actual space aliens, other societies outside of Earth, alternate worlds- the possibilities are endless."

Valerie nodded, still super-interested. "I've never thought of it that way, but you have a point. You're really willing to do stuff like venture into black holes, leave the galaxy- stuff like that?"

I nodded, grinning. "It sounds stupid, reckless, and dangerous, but imagine the things that we could find. There could be a cure for cancer on Neptune, or some creature whose fluids can heal any injury within seconds outside of the Milky Way." I took another bite of my cheeseburger, my mind reeling.

Valerie laughed. I must have had some kind of facial reaction to this, because when she saw my face she backtracked. "Oh, no, I don't think it's stupid at all. It's actually pretty genius. I'm just laughing at myself for not holding on to these possibilities. When I was little, I thought of the same things that you're talking about. I'd thought that they were childish thoughts, like believing in unicorns, but now that you put it this way, it occurs to me that they're actually the truth. Anything is possible. Even unicorns."

"Even unicorns," I agreed, nodding and grinning. I was about to go on, but Tucker nudged me.

"Dude….Paulina's waving at you."

Immediately, my gaze went from Val to the A-list table (as Tucker called it), where Paulina was, in fact, smiling sweetly at me and wiggling her fingers in a waving gesture.

My philosophical thoughts about the Universe turned to sand in my brain, and all I could really think about was how just freaking gorgeous she was. I couldn't get over it; it knocked the breath out of me every time.

I suddenly realized that I was supposed to wave back. I did (with a scoop of extra dumb on top), and Paulina giggled and turned back around.

God, she was gorgeous. Just…ah.

And then, out of nowhere, a lunchbox hit my head.

"AH!"

I rubbed the back of my head, where I was sure there was going to be a knot in the morning, and picked up the stupid metal lunchbox, which was shaped like a bat.

I looked around for the jerk that had thrown it at me, ready to throw it right back.

You can imagine my surprise when I found Sam Manson glaring at me a few tables down, an expectant look in her eyes.

I rolled my eyes and opened the lunchbox. Inside was a folded piece of paper.

I unfolded it. It read:

Danny-

Not that I care, but you're falling down a python's throat by falling for Paulina. She acts all sweet, and then out of nowhere, she'll break your heart. I'd be more careful if I were you.

-Sam

P.S. Again, I don't care about your personal feelings, so don't get your hopes up. I just hate her in general, and I'll probably go ballistic if she tears out yet another guy's heart. So listen to me. Or do things the hard way. It's honestly your choice.

I looked back at her, but she was already out of the cafeteria.

Of course, seeing how Sam wanted no part in my life whatsoever, I didn't even really heed her warning. As if someone as nice as Paulina Sanchez- who not only saved me from getting my face caved in, but also actually waved to me from across the cafeteria- could play me in the way that Sam was indicating.

I then decided that maybe it was best that I completely ignored Sam Manson.

\*/

"Oh, wow. You're back?"

"Yes, Phantom. Kids tend to come back from school."

"Huh. I'd thought that you'd have been killed by lunch."

"Killed?" I glanced at my look-alike, who was lying on his back in mid-air, incredulously. "By what, spit ball- shooting ninjas?"

"Nah." Phantom shook his head. "Stupidity, lies, murderous plots, puberty, homework, hideous teachers, and general angst."

"Ah. Well, I almost did die, thanks so much."

"By which?"

"None of the above. Just this girl. Three girls, actually."

"Ooooooooh, girls." Phantom grinned and wiggled his eyebrows in a really, really stupid way. "Do tell, do tell."

"It's none of your business, Phantom," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Well, of course it is! I, Phantom Phantom-"

"Phantom Phantom?"

"Yes, Phantom Phantom. I, Phantom Phantom, am a master with the ladies."

"You're a ghost." I said with a deadpan stare.

He nodded cheerfully. "Yup. I am. And I'm also a love expert. So come, child, tell your freakishly similar-looking ghostly friend of these girl issues."

Deciding that Phantom was enough of a weirdo to be persistent about this, I just sighed and told him.

"Well, the first two- Valerie and Paulina- are great, but there's one named Sam…."

I needed to post this, and I'm at fifteen pages already, so you'll have to check out Phantom and Danny's little chat next chaptah.

And yes, his name is Phantom Phantom.

Deal with it.

So, as I predicted, this story is soooooo much fun to write. I already want to start the next chapter. But I need to circulate my fanfics. I need to update the other fun one- Heart of Gold- and then Where Butterflies Never Die, and then PHANTOM, then Evanescent, then Haunted, and back to this one. So, uh, fun, then angst, then more angst, then deep, philosophical sorrow, then romance, and then fun again.

Oh, how my mind works.

Btw, I have yet ANOTHER idea in mind (I know- I'm horrible).

So, quick question.

Would it be worth waiting for the others to update for an even longer time if you read the fic accompanying this summary?

He didn't look like us, didn't think like us, but he had a strong heart and nowhere to rest it. That is why I took him in and raised him as the next Master of Time.

It all went awry when he finally discovered his origins- and a girl to walk him through it all.

He's fallen for her. My end is near, and Time will fall apart if he doesn't remember who he is. The world will be in worse than pandemonium if he does not remember his responsibility. Everyone's fate will simply die if he does not accept his.

But even I, Clockwork, current Master of Time am at a loss when it comes to who he truly is.

He is not human. He is not ghost. He is not one of my kind.

The answers to who Phantom truly is lie within the lock of his own heart.

And thus far, no one has been able to find the key to suck a lock.

Ahem. Yeah. SUPER dramatic.

Anyway, tell me what you think in your review or in a PM, pwease. :D

And- oh yes.

Personified Stitch?

Stitch: What? I, uh- I wasn't doing anything.

Me: Stitch, it's me. I KNOW you.

Stitch: I miss having four arms. And being able to pick my nose with my tongue.

Me: You're still able to do that.

Stitch: Really?! Cool! *picks nose with super-long tongue*

Me: You are the only one who can make that cute. Seriously. The only one.

Stitch: *pulls tongue back in* REVIEW! (And send me some sunglasses, while you're at it. Nani confiscated my last ones.) (And Lilo, if you're reading this, I've been a good boy. Erase the red on the chart-thingy. And get me a new surfboard. I bit the other one. Thanks.)

Me: You heard the cute, personified alien.

Stitch: *grins widely, revealing sharper-than-normal canines and dimples*

Me: :'DD YOU HAVE DIMPLES AS A HUMAN! KAWAII!