It's cold.

It's always cold when there's a ghost attack, even among the ones that throw fire—it's death, creeping in, seeking you out. Sam can feel it now, after years of being close to Danny. He radiates it.

She's huddled in the corner of classroom 1131, a few other students around her and shivering. Danny sent word to her and Tucker specifically not to jump in, so she trusts him and hides. After this long, she's become a little less trigger happy. She trusts Danny a little more to handle things.

Without warning, the chill intensifies, and the door bursts open a scant few seconds before the wall does, caving inward and throwing the girls who'd just come running in to the ground with a shriek.

Pressing herself firmly against the wall, Sam watches as Paulina and Star start to pick themselves up, coughing away the dust of splintered drywall. Behind them, a great, ghostly cat growls, ready to pounce.

Sam had picked this room to hunker down in because it has multiple exits, and she sees the moment Paulina catches sight of the other door. Her gaze is piercing, locked onto that frame, set on escape.

Star is trapped under broken portions of the wall. None of it is particularly heavy, but there had been lockers on the other side, and one traps her ankle. Paulina doesn't notice.

"Come on, Star, let's go!" she says urgently, getting to her feet as she glances back at the cat. Paulina tugs at Star's arm, who yelps in pain.

"I can't," she moans. The cat—a tiger, maybe?—takes a half-step forward, and Paulina jerks back.

Don't get involved, Sam thinks, though her wrist itches where her blaster is strapped around it. Though her palm sweats, gripping a lipstick laser tight. She can hear the distant sounds of another battle—Danny is occupied.

Sam sees the moment Paulina decides to leave her. It's a fleeting, split-second thing. Paulina does not mouth 'I'm sorry,' nor does she tug Star's hand again. She just lets go, and runs.

In the same moment, the tiger leaps forward. So does Sam, and a swift blast of energy from her wrist ray knocks it off-course. Sam runs to stand between it and Star, and a few more careful shots between the ghost's eyes deter it, sending it fleeing from the room, whining in pain.

As soon as she's sure the ghost is gone, she turns back to Star. A quick sweep of the room shows no one else—whatever other students had been hiding with Sam must have followed Paulina's lead—and, without anyone else to worry about, Sam kneels and swiftly gets to work freeing her.

Star doesn't seem to register Sam's efforts. Instead, she gazes after the open door across the room, mouth gaping, eyes wide and unseeing. She's in shock, Sam's mind supplies.

As Sam carefully lifts the locker from Star's ankle, grunting with the effort—whoever's this is, they had clearly stored all their textbooks inside—Star seems to jerk back into a semi-awareness, turning to Sam, big tears slipping down her dusty cheeks.

"She left me," Star croaks out, voice shot. As she sits up, avoiding putting pressure on her ankle, Sam can see her tremble. "She left…" The girl trails off, sucking in air too fast to be safe. She scratches at her face, incoherent.

"Star," Sam cuts in, reaching out to take both of her wrists, pulling them away from where she'd scored red lines down her cheeks. "Star, breathe with me. In—" Sam pulls in a slow, long breath "—and out." She exhales. "In and out. Do it with me."

It takes a minute for Star to be able to follow Sam's lead and calm down. During that time, the chill recedes, and Sam knows the battle is over. Danny has won.

Star is quiet for a moment, and Sam sits with her, unwilling to leave her alone in case she panics again. After a minute or so of crushing silence, with the distant scrapes of Casper High students and faculty emerging from the rubble as background noise, she speaks.

"I knew she would," Star says, her eyes downcast, one hand gingerly poking at her ankle. "I just—I hoped—" She breaks off, another sob coming, though this one is softer. Sam isn't worried she'll dissolve anymore.

Paulina cares about Star. How much is anyone's guess, though it's telling that Sam hadn't been surprised when she left.

"I want to be someone meaningful to her," Star chokes out, wiping furiously at her eyes. "But she won't let me in." Star trembles. "She left me."

Sam can't say anything to that. She and Star aren't friends. Likely the only reason she's hearing any of this is because she's here, and Star is vomiting all of her baggage up out of shock. Were they in any other situation, Star would scoff in disgust and walk away. Sam would do the same.

And yet they're here. And Sam can do nothing but sit back on her knees and watch Star cry, waiting for her to collect herself enough to leave the broken, scattered classroom, and regroup with the rest of Casper's students.

Star's tears make holes in the dust.