Behind Unknown Eyes

15

The taste of a crunchy, sweet cereal wasn't the thing Danny could focus on as he sat at the kitchen table. Sam and Tucker would be here at any given moment. His mind was swirling, curving in every direction. 

What he had said in public yesterday was still eating him up. Did anyone hear him? Did a person hear him call the evil ghost Plasmius by his real name? What was he to do if anyone did?

He jumped as he sat at the table, dropping his spoon in the bowl when he heard the doorbell. Danny grabbed his book bag and slung it over his shoulder as he walked towards the front door.

Once he opened the door, he was greeted with the faces of his two friends. "Are you sure that you're up for this, Danny?" Tucker asked. With the door clicking shut, Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I can't run away from it any longer."

The walk to school wasn't blissful for him and his friends. Danny was thinking of all the different scenarios that could happen as soon as he stepped through the school doors. Would everyone just simply stare at him and wonder what the heck he was and how he could possibly be a halfa? 

Would he be bombarded by a stampede of people who all of a sudden wanted to be his friend? Would a ghost hunter be there to pick him off at a time where he wasn't as alert? It made Danny's mind go wild. It made him not want to return to school ever. But, of course, the secret was out and there was no way of turning it back now. The damage was done.

Suddenly, he felt an elbow to the side. "Earth to Danny. Are you ready for anything that might happen in there?" Sam asked. Danny's eyes closed and he sighed. He ran a hand through his charcoal hair. 

"I mean, yes, but there's no telling what situation could sneak up on me." Tucker put a hand on his shoulder. "You got this, man. You have this." Danny nodded. There was just one question he had.

What if he really wasn't ready?

When the trio entered the school, the regular rush to get to class was in the midst. Danny looked at both of his friends and they both gave him a reassuring look.

He took a deep breath, relaxed his shoulders, and made his way through the crowded hallways. Every step took him an ounce of determination, a thought of saying that he couldn't let this secret ruin his life.

Sam and Tucker went through the open door of Mr. Lancer's classroom. He took a deep breath and followed them both into the room. Danny could feel the eyes burning into his flesh. He could feel their stares, their thoughts. He focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

He heard Mr. Lancer pause his lecture, but then regain focus quickly. As Danny sat down in his seat, Lancer began to pass out graded papers. 

Again, he could feel the stares, the eyes. He could sense their mutilated looks of what? Would it be the looks of disgust, maybe confusion? Danny closed his eyes and gripped his pencil. He took a silent sigh, trying to relieve his own tension in his brain.

He stared. He really didn't have anything in mind to stare at exactly. Danny was looking at his desk and was brought out of his trance when a paper slid onto his desk. It was a test from last Friday. And he failed it completely. 

He looked up at his teacher. Lancer's eyes widened but then quickly went back to their normal state. The man knew why this test was failed. There was no question about it anymore. Fenton was, in fact, busy saving Amity Park and civilian's lives rather than being busy with studying.

The middle-aged man sighed. "Danny, I need you to bring up your grades. You're failing this class." Danny stared at him. Frustration began to seize his mind. It twirled and sprung up in every nook and cranny. 

"I'm trying." Was all the teen could muster out. "I'm trying and it's not working."

The class had already been pretty quiet before this, but now the room was silent. Lancer glanced around the class before returning to the young boy in front of him. "Fenton, there are ways to get help with your studies. There's tutoring for example."

"I'm trying, Mr. Lancer. There are no shortcuts, no easy ways out. I'm only prone to doing it the hard way it seems. And it seems that that's the way it has worked out for me for the last year or so. So all I can say is that I can't promise anything." 

His teacher nodded his head, not saying another word. He seemed too frightened, too hesitant to push him as he did before, to ridicule him in front of the entire class. Now there was some shame involved in those actions for him.

Danny didn't dare to look at anyone. He looked down at his hands in his lap. The ghost boy's coal, black hair in his face. His nerves were surely getting the best of him. The boy heard whisper after whisper. His mind wondered what they were talking about. A thought of paranoia was setting in.

The ticking of the clock seemed louder than usual. The wind against the windowsill echoed throughout his ears. But suddenly, aside from all of these heightened senses, he felt something. He felt the ice inside him began to freeze. He could feel it running through his veins, his bloodstream.

Danny couldn't help but look to the left and through the windows. He could sense something before the alert came. He squinted his eyes and saw something. Out in the distance, he could see a mob. He could see ghosts.

Danny's ghost sense was chilling as it came from his mouth. He got up and immediately began to walk towards the window. As soon as he got another look at them, he turned to the class.

"Everyone needs to take cover, now."