Good Run of Bad Luck

I.

"Tucker! The thermos, give me the thermos already!"

"I'm trying, but…" Tucker replied to Danny's loud demand, rummaging through his backpack. He knew for a fact that he brought it with him; that was one thing he could never forget. But with a screaming ghost in the background and Danny floating right above him, he felt on edge.

"Ah, here it is!" he finally exclaimed, ripping it from his bag and holding it up in victory. Danny took it roughly from him the second he saw it, opening the lid as he pointed it at the large rat ghost.

Tucker, Danny, and Sam all gritted their teeth at the awful noise it made, holding their breaths as they waited for it to get captured. The energy in the thermos sucked the ghost right into it, Danny putting the lid securely on again afterward.

They all released the breath they had been holding.

"Well, that was fairly easy," Sam commented, smirking when Danny's form changed back to human, causing gravity to take over to make his feet hit the ground.

"Easy for you to say," Danny shot back, giving the thermos back to Tucker to hold, "Next time, have it ready."

Tucker shook his head and placed it back in his bag, "Hey, it all worked out fine. No big deal."

"It worked out fine this time," Danny said, beginning to walk along the trail toward the exit of the park. It was late at night, about eight o'clock, so they didn't have to worry about anyone else being there.

All three of them walked along, the incident soon forgotten. After all, can't have one ghost on the mind for too long; another one would be bound to show up anyway. Indeed, ghost hunting became a way of life for Danny, Sam, and Tucker, having been doing it almost everyday for the past two years.

At the age of sixteen and in their junior year of school, not too much had changed. They were still the odd trio of best friends around Casper High and still got annoyed by the big jocks and preps.

Of course, fighting ghosts for two years really strengthened Danny up, as his body was now taking in all the strenuous exercise to put some muscles on his arms and harden his abdomen. With the baggy clothes he wore, however, not too many people seemed to notice. One of the few was Dash; the football player noticing that he couldn't hurt Danny as much as before.

He still had somewhat of a crush on Paulina, but it definitely wasn't as strong as before. She was once something new at the beginning of high school, but was now fading into something old as more girls began to grow into themselves.

Sam, Danny noticed, was one of them. She was basically the same old Sam that he always knew, what with her gothic way of dressing and her moody attitude. But her face showed that she was maturing, her cheekbones becoming more prominent, her lips becoming fuller.

Danny heard some of the other guys at school talking about her sometimes, but the comments mixed bad with the good. For example: "The goth girl's really hot…too bad she's a freak!"

These wisecracks never failed to peeve Danny, but he chose to ignore them rather than fight against them. He knew that would only cause them to talk more.

On another note, Danny did just as well in school as he did when he was fourteen, but managed to keep a more balanced schedule. Though Tucker still put in little reminders in his PDA, Danny didn't need it as much. As was said before, ghost hunting became a way of life.

Among the three of them, Tucker was the one that basically stayed the same. He was still the techno-geek that couldn't get a girlfriend. Danny would never know where Tucker got up the courage to just go up to a girl and ask her out, when he already knew the negative answer was to come.

"Did you study for the history test yet, Danny?" Sam asked suddenly when they turned out of the park and began walking toward their houses.

"Not yet," he replied, "but I'll do it as soon as I get home."

"Uh-huh…" Sam began sarcastically.

"That's what you said last time. Then it turns out you didn't go straight home and decided to do a little ghost-touring of the city," Tucker chimed in, chuckling when he remembered Danny's shock upon seeing the big red D on the top of his test.

Danny shook his head in disagreement, "I mean it this time. I swear, I'll go straight home and study."

"Hm…do you think we should escort him to his house to make sure, Tucker?" Sam teased.

"Maybe we should…"

"Guys!" Danny yelled to stop them from going on. They stopped walking and faced each other, "I'm serious. And I'll prove it when I get an A on the test tomorrow."

Crickets chirped off to the side as Sam and Tucker stared at Danny blankly. Danny's eyes dulled, as he knew what was coming. He turned back around, wincing as soon as he heard his best friends laugh loudly.

"You…get an A on a history test?" Tucker emphasized, jogging to catch up to him.

"I never knew you knew a foreign language, Danny," Sam commented, walking on the other side of him.

Danny didn't answer as he gave them both the silent treatment, his fists clenched and his eyes straight ahead.

Tucker got the last of his laughs out, "Hey, we're only joking with you, man. No need to get upset."

"Yeah, I'll even come over and help you study if you want," Sam suggested, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Danny did a quick side-glance at her before sighing and lowering his eyes, "Thanks, but no thanks, Sam. I think I can cover it on my own."

"And get an A?" she smirked.

"And get an A!" he declared, cracking a small smile when she laughed again.

"Okay, Danny, I believe you. Anyway, this is where I split with you guys. See you tomorrow," she said as she crossed the street, waving behind her.

"Later," Danny and Tucker said in unison, continuing their walk.

"Should've taken Sam up on her offer," Tucker put in.

"Why?"

"Because…"

"Because why?"

"Just because," Tucker said simply, shrugging his shoulder, "you two haven't been alone in awhile. I'm beginning to feel like I'm invading."

Danny looked over at him in shock that he would say such a thing, "Huh? Tuck, what are you talking about? Since when did you begin thinking you were invading or whatever?"

Tucker sighed at Danny's stupidity…or naïve ways, "Even if you don't notice it, I do. And I know Sam must, too. Dude, she's been trying to get closer to you for I don't know how long now, and she must feel a little awkward with me being here."

Danny's eyes remained confused, "…huh?"

"She's doing it so well, even I have a hard time noticing sometimes."

"Noticing what?" Danny didn't know why he was so interested in what Tucker had to say about Sam, and he was getting somewhat frustrated that he was beating around the bush instead of saying it straight out. He tried to tell himself that his curiosity was more on why Tucker felt awkward, rather than the way Sam was acting.

"Just little things. That's all," Tucker said, finalizing the conversation, for he soon crossed the street also. "Well, this is my stop. Later, Danny."

Danny stood dumbfounded for a moment, debating on whether he should call Tucker back or not. In the end, he allowed Tucker to enter his home in peace. Sticking his hands in his pockets, Danny continued on to the next street where his weird looking house was. To say the least, he forgot about Tucker's little speech, figuring it was nothing anyway.

Once he reached his home, he stood across the street for a moment, not yet ready to go in. His parents had been working on one of their inventions last night and early this morning. He didn't think he wanted to know on what.

He sighed in defeat, "Can't ignore the inevitable…" he murmured, his eyes going wide when he saw his breath, a cold "ghost-chill" coming over him. "Oh no…not now, please…"

With narrowed eyes, he scanned the area cautiously, trying to get a feel of where the ghost was hiding. What he saw instead made him more surprised than seeing a ghost. He squinted his eyes to get a better view, "…Sam?"

Sure enough, Sam walked out of the darkness between his house and his neighbors, stopping abruptly when she saw Danny across the street.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Danny called out to her, only to see her turn and run down the street, turning the first bend so Danny could no longer see her. Quirking an eyebrow in confusion, he shook his head and walked to his house. "If that was just one of the little things Tucker was talking about…I don't wanna know."

Having completely forgotten about having his ghost senses tingle, Danny walked inside, slamming the door behind him, "I'm home!" he called, just to see who would answer.

"Thanks for the update," Jazz called back to him from the kitchen. Danny peeked in to see what she was doing, rolling his eyes when she was reading a thick book at the counter.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" he asked, nodding knowingly when she pointed her finger downward. "Sorry for disturbing you," he said not so apologetically. He turned and walked down the steps to the lab, already hearing a lot of metal clanging and sparks shooting.

Once he reached the platform, he stared at the rather large object that looked more like a beam set to blast a whole planet to smithereens.

Jack happened to look up and see Danny standing there. He stopped working for a moment, flipping his mask to the top of his head, "Hey Son, wanna come see our newest invention?"

"Sure, I guess…" Danny replied, walking further into the lab. Danny learned overtime to get to know everything about his parents little inventions, some actually proving quite helpful in his ghost hunting. Not too many verified to be dangerous to him, only ones that made Jack and Maddie confused when it acted up around Danny.

"This…!" Jack exclaimed, waving his arm towards it like it was some sort of discovery from outer space, "This…is the FGES 6000!"

Danny looked at it, then at his dad, "F…guess?"

Jack nodded, "FGES! It stands for Fenton Ghost Energy Sucker!"

"Uhh…" Danny looked to his mother.

"You father came up with the name," she defended in her honor, "That's why I told him to shorten it down."

"Thus, FGES was born!" Jack yelled, staring at his new invention as though it was another one of his children. Danny and Jazz often noticed this, how sometimes their parents looked at their inventions with more pride. Instead of trying to reason with them or feel hurt by it, they chose to ignore it.

Danny took a step closer to it, not being able to help but yawn. He was surprised at himself, for usually he could hide his boredom in front of them. He noticed how his father looked at him with disapproval and quickly tried to cover it up, "Didn't you and Mom already come up with something like this?"

"Yes, but this is the new and improved version. This baby can suck even the biggest of ghosts dry in one helping. Not even one little ghost drop can get past it," he explained, nothing on his mind but his contraption.

Again, Danny raised a brow and couldn't help but blush at the way his father explained it. Neither of his parents seemed to notice the explicitness of it all. He yawned again, his eyes going wide as he realized he was tired. He turned and ran back up the stairs, calling back, "Well, good luck with that! I have a test to study for!"

His parents were already back to working, so he didn't receive a response. He ran up to his room where his school books were, quickly taking out his history book and throwing it on his desk. He flipped it open to a random page and hoped it was the chapter they were covering.

"Gotta study…" he told himself, "gotta get an A on the test tomorrow…" His eyes scanned the page, falling on the first sentence he focused on, "In the last 1800's…" Danny's eyes drooped almost immediately, his head hitting the book.

"A D-?!" Danny yelled the next day at school, a sweat bead rolling down the side of his face as he imagined the anger on his parents' faces. Sam and Tucker shook their heads as they stared down at his test that showed just as much red as black and white. "This can't be happening…"

The bell rang and the whole class began exiting the classroom to go to lunch, Danny, Sam, and Tucker following slowly behind.

"Did you study last night like you said you were gonna do?" Sam asked, her eyes showing some sympathy for him. She knew how enraged his parents could get when they saw their son was on the verge of failing.

"Yes…well…no. I mean, I tried…I was just about to and then…I fell asleep," Danny explained, still finding it hard to believe he passed out that quickly. He didn't even feel that tired when he was done fighting the ghost.

"You fell asleep?" Tucker asked incredulously, the three of them getting in line to get their lunches, "Are you sure you didn't fly around again?"

"Positive," Danny replied, "I walked straight home and…even though I didn't really want to, I…hey, wait a sec," he turned to Sam when he remembered having seen her the night before, "Last night, what were you doing?"

"Me?" she asked, looking at him strangely in a sort of why-would-you-ask-me-something-like-that look, "Umm…well, I went home, I listened to some music as I studied—unlike you—and then I—."

They all walked over to an empty table and sat their trays down. Danny stopped her from going on, "No, I mean when you were at my house."

"Your house?" Sam looked confused, "I wasn't at your house."

Danny nodded, "Yes you were…I saw you come out of the shadows and then run away."

Tucker laughed, "That sounds like something Sam would do."

Sam shot him a glare before turning back to Danny, "Listen Danny…I think I would know if I came out of the shadows then ran away. But I know that I didn't. When you saw me walk to my house was the last time I was outside."

"Maybe he only imagined it, because he thought you would look good appearing out of—," he stopped quickly when Danny elbowed him in the gut. Tucker looked to see a glare on his face now and laughed nervously, "You're right…I don't know why you would imagine that and then imagine her running away." They all stayed quiet for awhile before Tucker couldn't resist speaking some more, "Unless your imagination wanted you to run after her, but reality told you, you had to study for—," again, he was elbowed.

"Tucker!" Danny yelled, "Give it a rest already."

"All right, all right…I was just kidding," Tucker defended himself.

Danny sighed as he silently forgave his best friend, "Maybe it was only my imagination then. Or maybe it was just someone that looked like you."

It was Sam's turn to laugh, "You serious? You think you saw someone…that looked like me?"

After staring at her for a moment, Danny nodded, "Yeah, you're right. You're one of a kind, Sam. I guess it was my imagination…wouldn't doubt it, since I was tired last night…I think."

After his first little comment, Sam couldn't help but blush and twirl her fork in her salad, "You really mean that, Danny?" He really thought she was one of a kind? Just remembering him saying it brought a deeper blush to her cheeks.

"Yes, I swear! It's the truth," he told her, almost a little too enthusiastically.

Her ever-growing smile made her face burn more, "Wow, Danny…I never knew you thought that way…"

"Heh, yeah I—wait, what?" he asked after realizing she made no sense.

Seeing how he looked confused made her look confused, "What?"

Danny looked from side to side, trying to think of something intellectual to say. He looked back up at her, "Huh?"

"What are you talking about, Danny?" She finally asked, getting annoyed quickly with their back and forth nonsense.

"Well…" he started, not quite sure what was going on, "I said I was tired, then you asked if I meant that. Then I said yes, because it's true. No matter what you and Tucker may think, I swear to you, I went straight home!"

Sam could do nothing but blink for a moment before finally realizing that he didn't even remember what he said about her. She closed her eyes and counted to ten…slowly. She heard Tucker laughing, but ignored it as she stood up to throw her tray away, having lost her appetite.

"Way to go, man," Tucker stated, shoving a large piece of meat in his mouth.

Danny looked back and forth between his two friends, "What!? I don't get it…"

My first Danny Phantom fic! Wow…and I swore to myself that I would stick with nothing but anime. Darn. Well, I wasn't getting any inspiration from anything else at the moment. So I wrote this! Sorry if the chapter started off slow…I'll try to get to the good parts soon. Thanks for reading!