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Mr. Lancer sat behind his desk after the school day waiting for one student of his to arrive and was trying and failing it keep his thoughts in order. The teacher liked to pride himself with his observance. He noticed things that others were more than likely not to see or perhaps choose not to.
For example, he noticed that perhaps Mr. Foley should probably consider adding more vegetables to his diet. For his own health if at the very least. Mr. Baxter certainly had a soft side for romance that he rarely showed, but sometimes let slip. Particularly when they were reading Pride and Prejudice. It wasn’t just people though. He noticed things about his surroundings as well.
One of those things he noticed was that ghost attacks seemed to happen in places with high qualities of people. The bowling alley, the park, the museum. The day he figured this out he sat for about an hour trying to figure out why that was.
As it so happened a week later was parent- teacher night and he had found himself talking to the Fenton’s when it came up again. Both ghost hunters were all too happy to explain to him that the reason that was the case was because ghosts liked to cause as much chaos as possible. The best way in doing that was to go to the most popular places in town and reek as much havoc as possible. Places like the mall, the theater and even the school itself.
Mr. Lancer supposed that made sense but at the same time he wasn’t a ghost expert ,he was a teacher and he wasn’t capable of disputing this information. Nor did he care enough to do so. What he did care about was his teaching. Filling the minds of the children of today to ready them for the challenges of tomorrow. Which is why it severely irked him with the way one Danny Fenton completely disregards her studies the same way someone discarded a candy wrapper on the sidewalk.
She would ‘forget’ her homework, leave her assignments either undone or half finished. That was, of course when she could stay awake in class. Which he had to admit was only slightly more tolerable then her not showing up at all. Mr. Lancer put his head in his hands, groaning he ran them down his face. Knowing now what he does, her behavior made a lot more sense.
Earlier today Casper High had yet another ghost attack. This one being an odd one. A kangaroo ghost wearing boxing gloves and a cowboy hat. The ghostly marsupial had been hopping down the halls of the school punching things and causing significant damage. Both to school property and to the students. Pure Mr. Baxter was unfortunate in accidentally crossing the ghosts path. Hopefully he’ll feel better by the time Fridays game came around.
Lancer was in the middle of herding students into safe places for them to hide away while the ghost was running amuck. He turned and ran down hallways, though he would deny it later; searching for any others that couldn’t find a safe haven away from the offending specter. That was when he saw Ms. Fenton run into the deserted cafeteria. Of course he knew that it wasn’t a very safe place to be during a ghost attack. To many sharp objects and not enough places to hide.
Knowing this he ran in after her. Looking around he noticed her in the right corner of the room, by the door. A bad place to be for sure, to open. He opened his mouth to yell at her to follow him someplace safe. Only for his mouth to hang open with what he saw next. Two white rings appeared around Ms. Fenton’s waist before they traveled the length of her form. Replacing her clothes with a black and white jumpsuit and turning her hair white and her eyes a ghostly green.
Mr. Lancer stood there slack jawed and utterly dumbfounded as to what he had just seen. Danny then shot herself threw the wall and, from where he was standing; Mr. Lancer heard crashing and banging from the hallway. He was stupefied, positively shocked. He could barely get a word out, and when he did say something it only emphasized how utterly bewildered he felt.” Dante’s Inferno!” he stuttered.
Afterwards when the noises out in the hallway stopped. He left the cafeteria and went in search for Danny Fenton. He found her with her friends whispering to one another, but he paid this no mind. Walking up to them he caught her attention and told her.” We need to discuss some things after school today Ms. Fenton. And no, we can not wait for a later date.” He said when it looked as though she was about to protest.” It’s rather important. Don’t be late.”
And with that he walked away. Leaving her and her friends to wonder what it was all about. Which leads him here. The last bell rang five minutes ago and Ms. Fenton had yet to show up. Mr. Lancer was beginning to think she had done what he asked her not to and skipped the meeting.
Right as he thought this however a knock sounded at his door before it opened. Looking up Lancer saw that Danny had walked through the door and closed it shut . “You wanted to see me?” she asked a bit nervously. Lancer sat up straight, placing his hands on the desk and tried his best to appear as neutral as possible given the situation.” Yes, please have a seat.”
Taking the chair in front of her teachers desk Danny took her book bag off and set it beside her feet giving her teacher a worried look. The teen had absolutely no idea what it was she was doing there. As well as had no idea as to what the older man wanted to talk about. By her own knowledge, she had done nothing wrong. The past week she had turned in all of her homework and class work with no problem. Though she can mainly attribute that to them working on a book that she had actually read, and liked; before hand.
So by all means she had no idea what was going on. Maybe he wanted to know about her suddenly good grades in this lesson. Did he want to know if she suddenly got a tutor? Did he think she was cheating and getting her notes online? She wasn’t and she’d tell him so. She may be a lot of things but Danny Fenton was not a cheater. She had already learned that lesson the hard way and she won’t let that version of her ever come into existence.
Mentally shaking herself out of her rapidly darkening thoughts. Danny chose instead to focus on the matter at hand, her teacher seemed to agree.” While I can think of about a few dozen ways to start this conversation Ms. Fenton. I suppose the best course to take would be to ask you a simple question. One that I ask you to please answer honestly.”
Nodding her head in silent agreement Danny patiently waited for what Mr. Lancer wanted to ask her. Did he want to ask about her family life? About her study habits. Which to be fair were not the best, but in her own defense she has learned to better juggle her homework and her ghost hunting after school. Even though she felt she needed to get better about going to bed at a more reasonable time. But hey, one problem at a time.
Looking her in the eyes Lancer watched his students face for her reaction.” Ms. Fenton, how long have you been Phantom?” he asked, and almost immediately the teens face went through a multitude of emotions. Shock, confusion, fear, sadness, panic and then back to shock. A minute went by before her face settled on a neutral mask,” I think you’re con-" Danny started only for Lancer to stop her excuses before they start.” I most certainly am not confused Ms. Fenton. I witnessed your transformation in the cafeteria earlier today, and I can assure you I did not hallucinate the whole thing. So don’t even try to pull that on me, because I can tell you right now. It won’t work on me.”
Danny felt like she was chocking on her own words. Her breathing stopped and her heart was pounding so hard she felt it rattle her ribcage. She tried to think. Think of something to do, something to say that could possibly convince Mr. Lancer that what he saw wasn’t what he thought. Couldn’t be what he thought, but in the end she couldn’t think of anything and her shoulders sagged in defeat. There was no point in lying. No point in giving him the go around when he saw what he saw, and knows what he saw, and knows that was real. Not a prank or an elaborate hoax.
Sighing, Danny resigned herself to the conversation she was going to have. If there was really no avoiding it she might as well get it out of the way. Looking up into her English teachers eyes she answered his question.” Since the beginning of freshman year.” She told him.
Mr. Lancer sat there with a stunned look on him face.” Your Freshman year? That was two years ago, you’re a Junior now. Are you telling me that you have been dealing with this since you were fourteen.” He asked her dumbfounded. Danny nodded her head in confirmation and Lancer gave her a look of astonishment.
“You’ve been handling this by yourself since you were fourteen.” He asked her, slowly becoming more concerned for his student.” Well actually Sam and Tucker have been helping me since the start and Jazz started helping a little later after she found out.”
Mr. Lancer sat back in his chair staring at his student who now looked anywhere but his face.” The dropping beakers, the clumsiness, the incidents with your pants. I have to say Ms. Fenton, it all makes sense now knowing what I know. But why didn’t you tell your parents? I’m sure they would be happy to help you any way they could.”
Danny looked up at him and let out a mirthless laugh.” Yeah, tell my parents, the world renowned ghost hunters; that I had been turned into a half ghost. Somehow I don’t see that going very well in any scenario.” She said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.” They would probably try and put me into some contraption to separate me from my ghost half. And trust me when I say I’ve done that myself more than once; and will not be doing it again. No matter the reason or the consequence.” Danny said folding her arms and giving her teacher a deadpan look.” It never ended well.” Of course in one of those instances she just split her personalities but still. She was making her point known.
Lancer looked off to the side,” I see what you mean. Neither of your parents seem to have the best track record when it comes to anything ghost related.” With a sigh Mr. Lancer looked back at Danny with a resigned look.” Then I suppose the only thing I can do is ask for you to be careful with your ‘extra-curricular’ activities and offer to write you a pass when you might need it.” He offered. Clasping his hand on his desk and giving the girl in front of him an encouraging smile.
Danny perked up at his words.” Your offering to cover for me?” she asked her teacher. He let out a low thoughtful hum and looked slightly pensive.” On occasion, yes. I’ve seen the good you’ve done for this town, and though not a whole lot of adults share my views on Phantom. I can tell you for certain that not all of them think of you as a trouble maker.” Holding out his hand to his student Mr. Lancer stood and gave her another smile.
Smiling back Danny stood up and took his hand. Shaking it she gave her thanks as profusely as she could. Making the older man smile.” Your welcome Ms. Fenton.” He said, his smile falling just a little,” Just try not to make a mess of the entire school while your at it.” He told her turning just a hint serious in order to get his point across.
“I can try, but I can’t guarantee that the other ghosts will even care about destroying school property.” She answered honestly.” I suppose that’s as good a promise as I’m going to get.” Mr. Lancer said in slight exasperation.” Probably.” Danny smiled.