"Morning, Danny!"

I was standing, half asleep at the front door of my house in my flannel pajama pants and old NASA T-shirt that I wore to bed. Sam and Tucker were both smiling up at me.

"Huh?" I was still half asleep, as I already mentioned, and my brain never seems to work when I'd been suddenly pulled out my sleep.

"We always walk to school together so we were wondering if you wanted to join us."

"Oh...um...sure. Come in. I'll jus be a few minutes. You can wait in the living room." I closed the door after them and went to change and grab my school stuff.

Before leaving, I grabbed an apple and the lunch my mom had packed for me before finding my friends being (most likely) lectured by Jazz. I rolled my eyes at my older sister, bit waiting until she was done ranting to tell my friends I was ready to go.

"What was that about?" I asked them when we were safely out of Jazz's earshot.

"We said something about ghosts and she started lecturing us on the science of how ghosts are pretty much impossible," Tucker said.

"You haven't told her about your powers either?" Sam asked me.

I shook my head. "I-I don't know...I'm just scared that they'll think I'm insane or something."

"Hey, man, I get it," Tucker said. "You don't have to put up your guard like that."

"What guard?" I asked, feeling a little exposed. I never really had anyone to actually talk to for years and ever since the accident, I've lived in constant fear of being figured out and experimented on.

"We're your friends Danny," Sam said. "You're obviously not used to having people to rant to. It makes sense. You've never told anyone that you have powers because you don't want to ruin your family, right? I'm not really a good person to tell you this, but I think you should be honest with your parents. If they're really your parents, they should accept you, no matter who you are. And if not, you always have me and Tuck to smuggle you out of the country."

Tucker elbowed her in the side, but I smiled. It was nice to have people to talk to and not be judged for. I wasn't crazy. I was just a kid who could see ghosts.

A shiver went up my back and a thin trail of my frosted breath came from my mouth. "Oh...um...there's a ghost nearby." I looked around, but there were no green spectrums to be seen.

"Hey," Tucker said, pulling me from my thoughts. "Who's that old guy?"

I looked up and saw a tall, thin man with white hair pulled back into a pony tail. It was Vlad. What's he doing here? I thought. Then, his eyes landed on me and lit up. Oh crap.

Vlad rushed I've to me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Danny, my boy! I've been looking all over Amity Park for you."

"Um...my mom said that I'm not supposed to talk to you."

Vlad shook me a little. He smelled like he hadn't showered in weeks. "It's okay, kid. I can see ghosts too!"

I blinked. "Huh? Y-you can?"

"Yes! And I've gotta tell you something, something extremely important-" Suddenly, he started coughing. It racked his body. He wasn't looking too healthy.

A rock was thrown and hit Vlad in the head. He was dazed for a little bit before noticing my friends. They looked like they were about to beat up Vlad.

"You let him go!" Sam said.

Vlad looked from me to my friends, then back to me. He let go of my shoulders, but gave me a warning glare. "The Witch's Curse is coming, boy! You'd better be ready for it!"

The what curse?

He gave one last look st my friends before running off. I sighed in relief.

"Crazy old man," Tucker said.

"He's my uncle- well, sort of. He went to collage with my parents and they were good friends until there was an accident. He used to coke over, but it turns out he was just hitting on my mom."

"Yuck!" Both Tucker and Sam said at once.

"Yeah...after the accident, mom said I shouldn't talk to him ever again."

"What was he talking about? What's the Witch's Curse?"

I shrugged. "Beats me."

~

"Hey, Fenton!"

I groaned internally as I turned to face Dash. "What?"

"What was the big deal? You get two freaks to play your friends and now you can act all tough? You're still a scrawny little weirdo! Don't forget your place, freak!"

"Leave him alone, Dash." Said Sam, suddenly coming up from behind me with Tucker right behind her. Sam could be pretty scary if she wanted to be. With her dark clothes and makeup, nobody wanted to mess with her. To be honest, when I first saw her, I would've guessed she was the kind of person to do black magic and summon some sort of demon to kill her enemies. It was stereotyping, but after I got the weird ghost powers, I've decided that even a rebel like her wouldn't want to go that deep into the darkness.

Dash tried to cover up her shock of being talked to like that, especially by a weirdo like Sam Mason, but he back off. "Watch your back, Fenton!" He let that threat hang there as he walked over to his football buddies who were snickering and making fun of what a wimp he was.

I sighed and followed my friends to class. We compared our schedules the other day and figured out that we actually had more classes then I thought we did. School used to be boring and useless for me. I was constantly alone, I got bad grades, and I had to watch my back to make sure no one was there to beat me up for the fun of it. I'd never really had anyone to talk to about how much I hared going to school. Jazz lectured me how a good education would help me in life, dad never listened, and mom was always telling me she was close to a breakthrough and not to interrupt her.

I went through three boring periods before the one I dreaded the most. Mr. Lancer's English class.

I'd actually enjoyed English before I got to High School. But now, with constant detention slips, failed homework assignments and essays due practically every Friday, I hated the class with a burning passion. Plus, it was the class right before lunch, so that made it ten times worse.

Instead of listening o his boring lecture on Hamlet, which I was suppose to have read the first half but haven't even started it yet, I tried to understand what Vlad meant by the Witch's Curse.

As Mr. Lancer droned on, I remembered in elementary school when we put on a play about the Witch Trials of Amity Park. I'd seen a couple ghosts of 'witches' every once in a while when I went walking around town. But before my powers, I was just a normal kid. Or...was I. I had a pretty horrible memory, but I do recall getting a vision during the play. It was something about a Witch. It had been so embarrassing, I'd tried to wipe it from my memory. I'd screamed about how the 'dead were coming' in the middle of Dash's most important line and everyone had laughed. I doubted anyone else cared, but the more I thought about it, the more embarrassing the memory was.

Instead, I tried to think about Vlad's words. I'd have to visit him after school to see what he wants. What did he mean that he was like me?

"Mr. Fenton!"

I snapped out of my thoughts. "Huh?"

"Still not paying attention, hm? Are you just too good for my class?"

A couple students giggled, but suddenly a chill went up my spine and a thin stream of mist came out of my mouth. "A-actually, I'm feeling kinda sick. M-may I go to the office."

"Third time this month?"

"Um...I've got a weak immune system...?"

"See me after class, Mr. Fenton. And no, you may not go to the office."

I sighed and the chills kept coming so I really did feel sick. I was shivering and trying to stay positive. Maybe it's just a ghost passing by. No need to worry. The shivers got worse. Finally, the bell rang. I was about you jump and and leave wit the crowd, but Mr. Lander grabbed me by the shoulder and steered me over to his desk.

"Mr. Fenton, you're the son of two, or at least one, brilliant scientist. I expect a little more cooperation from you. When Jasmine was in my class..."

I groaned internally. I'd heard it all before. I didn't need every teacher telling me that Jazz was perfect and I was a failure. They had no idea what my life's like! If it wasn't for me, Amity Park wouldn't be standing now. I'd fought ghosts, saved lives, and got my share of broken bones and sleepless nights for no respect or recognition whatsoever!

After Mr. Lancer let me free, I ran to the janitor's closet and changed into my ghost form. Phasing through the walls, I found the ghost that had been making my class period miserable. It was Skulker. Of course it is. I can never get a break!

With a sigh, I formed ectorays on both my hands and went to kick some ghost butt.

~
Yay! Long chapter!

Hope you guys are liking this so far (I should probably watch ParaNorman again, but eh)

I didn't mean to make Danny such a depressing character, but what's done is very hard to be undone. (And I'm a lazy author)

Also, I'm bad with fight scenes, so I don't know if the fight with Skulker will be in the next chapter or not.