Disclaimer: Characters owned by R.L. Stine

This was a small attempt at expanding on some of the minor characters from the "Seniors" book, Danielle Cortez and Greta Bradley, but my main focus was Danielle, who died twenty pages after her first appearance.

Danielle and Greta were both members of the cheerleading squad. From her short appearance, Danielle seems to be the absolute nicest of the entire Seniors class. Greta fully appeared in the sixth book after they updated the yearbook entry, and apparently has a reputation of being cold.

I'm worried my writing wasn't consistent through this though.

"I thought it was sweet."

"But the mom was horrible."

"She learned her lesson at least, that should count for something."

Danielle Cortez and Greta Bradley had just finished watching "The Killing Secret," a television movie Danielle had briefly glimpsed one late night when she couldn't sleep, and had managed to finally find a copy at the local video store.

Danielle and Greta were both students at Shadyside High School. Greta had fair skin and short blonde hair, while Danielle was tan and had long, wavy black hair down past her shoulders. Danielle was also roughly a couple of inches taller than Greta, although Greta wasn't exactly short.

Danielle popped the video into the rewinder while Greta stretched her long, slender legs out over the couch in Danielle's living room. Danielle's mother was still at work, but Danielle promised she wouldn't stay up too late. Of course, she wasn't sure how that would possible. Tomorrow was the very first day of senior year, her last year of high school before graduation. She was giddy just thinking about it!

Greta, however, didn't seem too excited or worried about tomorrow. That was the way Greta usually seemed to handle things. Some people called her an ice queen, but she didn't care that much. Or at the very least, didn't show it. Those same people were often also envious of the fact that she'd gained a spot on the Shadyside High Cheerleading squad, beating out dozens of other girls in the process. Not Danielle though. Danielle was also on the squad, and had joined around the same time as Greta and a couple of other girls.

Danielle never aspired to be the captain, but she hoped to be the best cheerleader she could. She loved what she did, she loved the girls. She always wanted to be of help to the girls and the team. Not like a big sister type, but maybe like a mom. Always telling them to do their best. Try their hardest. Almost always brimming with energy. Danielle may have been the only girl on the squad EVERYONE was friends with. That was a sad thought, but something Greta probably expected was true of the real world.

There's always someone who's friends with everyone, but not everyone is going to be friends with each other. Sad, but true.

"I still say we should've that David Duchovny movie." Greta said. Danielle removed the tape from the rewinder and placed it back in its case.

"I didn't know you were so a big X-Files fan." Danielle innocently joked.

Greta stuck her tongue out.

"Little green men and giant worms, like real life isn't freaky enough."

"I didn't think you'd be interested in 'Kalifornia.'" Danielle observed.

"Well it was either that or that weird black and white movie about the minister with those tattoos on his hands." Greta remembered.

"Yeah, I guess we should've gotten to the store earlier, I'm sorry." Danielle apologized.

"Not your fault." Greta waved the apology away.

"Wanna watch something else?" Danielle asked, noticing that it wasn't that late in the evening. "My mom has some tapes."

"Like what?" Greta got up and walked over to the wall unit where the Cortezs kept their TV. Danielle opened a cabinet on the bottom shelf and peered inside.

"Umm, let's see." Danielle began scanning the titles. "Ooh, wanna watch 'Working Girl?' It's the Director's Cut." Danielle said, attempting to entice Greta with the romantic comedy.

"Haven't we seen that like 500 times already?" Greta sighed.

"It gets better every time, too." Danielle said. She then looked up at Greta with big puppy dog eyes. "Pleeeease?"

Greta cast her glance aside, not meeting Danielle's.

"I'll be your best fwiend."

"Oh my God did you actually say 'fwiend?' How old are you supposed to be again?"

"Pwetty pweeeeeeease-?"

"Alright, alright!" Greta held up her hands in defeat. "Just, please! I feel like I'm getting cavities just listening to you!"

"You know you think I'm adorable." Danielle teased.

"Like fleas." Greta muttered.

Danielle placed the second video into the machine and the two girls sat back down on the couch. As the trailers began to play, the two began to talk about their plans for this year.

"I forgot to mention, I think Phoebe is planning a meeting tomorrow morning for the squad." Danielle mentioned.

"Ugh. On the first day. But of course she would." Greta looked disgusted.

"You know Phoebe's just doing what any captain would do." Danielle reasoned.

"But on the first day?" Greta retorted.

"I don't know why you and Jade have such a problem with her." Danielle mentioned.

Phoebe Yamura had beaten Jade Feldman for the role of captain of the cheerleading squad, and Jade had never stopped feeling bitter about it. Danielle was admittedly disappointed that Jade's anger had somewhat spread to Greta and a couple of others, but the only girl who truly sided with Phoebe on the matter was Dana Palmer, Jade's best friend.

"Me? Have a problem?" Greta asked.

"Well I think Phoebe's been a great captain so far." Danielle admitted. "Cut her some slack."

Greta sighed.

"Well, in all honesty, I don't have THAT much of a problem with her. She's alright. I wouldn't want to be captain, but if she does then good luck to her. I mean, I love Jade and everything, but she gets on our cases if she thinks we're not on her side. Agreeing with her just makes life a little easier."

"We're a team. Why does there have to be sides to begin with?" Danielle asked. "And besides, agreeing with Jade on everything doesn't really work for the entire squad. Just Jade. We've got an entire year to look forward to. We shouldn't have to look forward to arguing all the time."

"You never argue with anyone." Greta told her. "I don't think I've ever seen you get mad at anyone."

"I don't really see the point. Arguing, I mean. I get mad plenty of times, but, it just makes more sense to focus on something besides getting at each other's throats. Why should we waste our time arguing?"

"Well, unless Trisha Conrad's right and it won't matter anyway." Greta said darkly. "We ARE the 'Doomed Class' after all."

Danielle felt a chill go down her spine.

Trisha Conrad, a girl whose father owned the Division Street Mall, was rather infamous with the Class of 98 because of her purported "special" abilities. She claimed she could see into the future thanks to strange visions that happened at random. She couldn't expect or control them. But she did predict last June that the entire senior class would be dead before the year was over. So far though, the only strange occurrence had been the death of a math teacher a couple of months back. Things had remained calm. Well, as calm as Danielle and Greta knew. It was a big class. Chances are things were happening that neither of them could ever guess were going on.

"DO you think Trisha's right?" Greta sincerely asked. That took Danielle by surprise. She thought about it for a minute, completely unaware of the movie playing on the TV screen.

"I really don't know what to believe." Danielle said. "I don't know Trisha that well, so, I don't know if even SHE really believes what she's saying."

"You think she just said that to scare everyone?" Greta hypothesized. "I wouldn't put it past her. She's got a nasty streak."

Something I wouldn't know about at all, Greta thought.

"Maybe she believes it'll happen, maybe not. I don't know. I don't know if this is the kind of mindset I want to be in when we begin our last year of high school. Things are scary enough without worrying that we might die just because Trisha said we are." Danielle confessed. "Final exams, all the games we'll be cheering at, prom, graduating, college applications. Death shouldn't be a concern."

"It's not like the possibility wasn't there before Trisha said anything." Greta said. "Shadyside's messed up in general. Remember what they were saying about the cheerleaders a few years back? About that evil spirit?"

"And Corky Corcoran. Poor Corky." Danielle sighed.

"Even without that, does it bother you at all that about half the people our age in this town are either dead or in a mental hospital?" Greta pointed out. "Maybe it's something in the water."

Danielle hugged herself, suddenly feeling much colder than she should have. Greta suddenly realized she was making Danielle uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry." Greta apologized. "I don't know why I'm being so morbid right now."

"No no, it's alright." Danielle suddenly said. "Don't be sorry. You're just concerned."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't be making you feel bad just because I wanted to talk about this. I should've stopped when I saw mentioning Trisha made you tense." Greta ran a hand through her hair.

"Hey, I appreciate that you feel comfortable enough around me to talk about what's bothering you." Danielle smiled.

"Yeah, shocking for an ice queen, huh?"

"You're not an ice queen."

Greta laughed a cold, empty laugh.

"You sure?"

Danielle realized, through the look on Greta's face, that this obviously bothered her a lot. Danielle wasn't sure if Greta truly believed that Trisha Conrad was psychic, but it bothered her enough that she attempted to talk about it with Danielle. About Trisha predicting everyone was gonna die.

Danielle knew Greta wasn't an uncaring person, but she tended to put that mask on to deal with school and with life. It seemed to her, looking like something doesn't faze you is the only way to make it through life, the way to make sure you're not overwhelmed. Danielle understood this and didn't begrudge Greta. Who was she to judge how one lives? Danielle was more the type who faced challenges not totally with a smile, but by focusing on doing the best you could. She didn't stop to let the words of others bother her because she had so much more to be happy with in life. You're not gonna please everyone, so why worry about that?

And now Greta was feeling guilty because, admittedly, the conversation bothered Danielle a little, even though that wasn't Greta's intentions. Greta looked as if she was beating herself up from supposedly thinking only of herself and ignoring Danielle's feelings like a true "ice queen" would when she just wanted to talk about how she was feeling.

This wasn't exactly the direction I expected the evening to turn out, Danielle thought.

They were silent for a while. Not really watching the movie, but not talking to one another.

"Well…" Danielle began.

"Yeah?"

"I really think that, whatever happens is gonna happen, so, maybe, let's just take this year one day at a time instead of worrying about it as a whole?" Danielle propositioned. "Even if we are a 'Doomed Class.'"

"Just like that?"

"Hey, all we can do is to try the best we can." Danielle said.

"At what?" Greta asked, feeling a little lost in the conversation.

"Everything. Cheerleading, school, life. That's all we can do, right? Try the best we can?"

"Even if something bad happens?" Greta raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if it does, at least we can safely say we tried the best we could. Then, we just take it from there. But, we don't have to try our best because we're scared something bad will happen." Danielle gave Greta a reassuring glance and held her hand. "Let's just do what we can so we can say we did and feel proud of that. Okay?"

Greta looked at her hand and Danielle's hand, and then she looked up at Danielle.

"Okay." She said with a slight smile.

"Cool. Hey, is it okay if we can start this from the beginning?" She motioned to the movie.

"It's your house." Greta quipped. "You can do whatever you want."

"Does that mean I can dig for gold in the basement?"

"You're such a dork." Greta laughed.

"Are you feeling better?" Danielle asked.

Greta blinked.

"…a little, yeah."

"Good. I hope we have a great day tomorrow." Danielle earnestly said.

"Me too, surprisingly."

"I'm glad."

And tomorrow would be a good day for Danielle Cortez.

For all of five minutes.

Because, even though Danielle had no way of knowing this, her first day was going to be her last.