This is so so so good. I'm sorry I'm not being more specific, but after that last chapter, I'm struggling to find words. Everything in this is amazing. Thank you for sharing.

This was very well-written. Thank you so much for writing this!

And Danny enters the picture! And of course Dash has a crush on him - and takes offense to Danny's surface level crush on Paulina. (And to Sam's crush on Danny. Goodness, this is just some classic HS love triangle drama here.) It was kinda hilarious to see Dash flounder and trip over himself, because he's too used to his bad bullying habit to cover up his feelings that he makes a mess of everything. Well, serves him right, I suppose. Maybe this is the kick in the itching-powder pants he needs.

Danny's portal accident happens in this chapter too, as well as the emergence of ghosts. I kinda wonder how Dash's adoration of Phantom will play out in this fic - if he'll use it as a distraction from Danny or if he'll notice certain similarities.

Great chapter!

I kinda would like to know more about Becky, honestly. She's kinda got a shadow-puppetmaster thing going on.

Paulina's line of "she was going to make sure that she never missed something right in front of her again" makes me curious about the rest of this fic...

I'm glad you didn't give Kwan any huge secret to keep, because in the show, to me, he doesn't seem like he's the type of person who'd have unsettling hidden depths. He's not normal, per se, if that word means anything in the real world, but his happy go lucky attitude doesn't seem like it'd mesh with some dark secret.

His relationship with Star surprised me - since they don't seem to get together until HS in the show - and I'm now curious if you're going to break them up or make this an AU. I'm late to the party but I assume that's what that poll at the end of the chapter implied. ;) The way you wrote their relationship felt super in character for both Kwan and Star. Though I've never seen Kwan as portrayed as all but saying 'step on me'. Star's obsession with being perfect and trying to live up to the pedestal she's been placed on hurt to read. Hopefully the intervention and rehab later helped cut most of the worst short.

It's cool to see Kwan's perspective on the way the Elite's/A-Listers operate, viewing them kind of as secret heroes. Also later in the chapter when he learns his friends' deep dark secrets - his awe at never seeing something that'd been right under his nose - got me wondering if they'll look at that revelation and realize what other secrets their classmates might be keeping - and if their E-list is really as accurate as they think...

Yikes, that's quite a gauntlet for Star to go through - to hear about terrible things and watch it destroy someone she cared for, just before going into that environment herself. I see why she was so adamantly against bullying and whatnot the last chapter, why she went wooden when the conversation slipped out of her hands.

It's a shame she couldn't talk to anybody about Jake, or felt like she had to listen because she was the only confidant. That kind of thing takes its toll...

I always liked Dash's softer side in the show, I felt it added a whole lot more complexity to him that the actual show never really pursued. It's a shame, but it does offer fanfic opportunities like this! It was a ride watching as Dash's love for teddy bears - and his preference for boys - shaped most of his experience. One thing leads to another and pretty soon...

Lovely how it kept tying back into the bears, and what they meant for him. He even shows it in the final scene, as Paulina casually accepts his teddy bear secret in the same breath she accepts the rest of him. She did it so de-facto too, I loved that.

Maybe someday Dash will learn he doesn't need to tread on others to keep himself up.

Good chap!

You write Paulina's voice very well! And her nail problem, ooh, made me cringe. I enjoyed her and Sam's enemy-partnership and their determination to keep said nail thing on the down low. An interesting relationship, to be sure.

Holy shit this gets intense.

Reading this fic has been an absolute delight and I hope more people try to add dimension to characters like this

This is a fabulous story. Poor Dash, boy doesn't stand a chance. I'm very concerned about Star. I hope you pick this back up someday.

This gets better with every chapter. I love the depth you've added to everyone.

Wow, this one was an excellent read. It went a lot deeper than I thought it would!

Gosh I LOVE getting to read fics about the minor characters. I love Paulina's dynamic with Sam here, I've never seen another author do that. Can't wait to read the rest!

This fanfic is well-written. I prefer this characterization of the A-Listers over their canon counterparts! I'm hoping that you do continue this fic one day; I'm willing to wait until then. Thank you for writing this.