Chapter 22 - False Assumptions

The four teens traveled the rest of the way to Wisconsin in an awkward silence. Danny flew alongside the ecto-wheeler, leaving Sam, Tucker, and Paulina to ride inside. Paulina sat in the back, pushing herself against the glass dome to avoid eye contact with the other teens. She played with her hair, one strange thought sticking to the front of her mind.

Paulina had beautiful hair. She had ever since she could remember. It was thick and smooth and it grew faster than most people's she knew. Her mom always said she could be a hair model. Paulina believed that, too. While she played with the ends, she could see her mother's eyes looking at her - they were proud. Now that her mother was...most likely dead, would she be proud of who she'd become? That thought caused her eyes to mist over.

When the team was about half a mile from Vlad's mansion, they pulled over to talk about a game plan.

"So, she just wants Tucker and Danny and I?" Sam asked while she leaned against a tree in the dense forest near the mansion.

"Yeah," Paulina breathed, looking down at the ground. Her favorite pair of pink shoes were covered in mud. That fact would've driven her crazy just two weeks ago, but now she felt too numb for it to bother her.

"Well, then we'll play that close to our chests. Paulina, if you hide in the woods, you might be able to catch her off guard and break us out," Tucker said, his voice gradually getting quicker.

"That might just work!" Sam said, drawing Paulina's attention up. She scanned over the other three teens, her eyes landing on Danny. He was looking down, biting his lip anxiously.

Paulina knew it right away - the plan was far too risky. If she couldn't get in, her new friends would die, and she couldn't have that.

"It's a great plan," Paulina feigned a smile, looking down at her ecto-whip. "Actually, I should probably, uh, go find a place to hide right now..."

Sam and Tucker nodded eagerly, continuing to talk about their thinly constructed plan while Paulina walked through the woods. A million thoughts raced through her mind, though one stuck. Star was in there. As much as the rest of team Phantom wanted to get Jazz out of there, Paulina could only think of her. Star. The closer she got to the mansion, the more she began shaking. She remembered all of the things she loved about her best friend - her smile, her eyes, the way she looked at her. Paulina made a silent promise to herself that when she got Star out of there, she'd tell her how much she loved her. Paulina loved her, and she wasn't going to hide it anymore.

Just as the mansion came into Paulina's view, she heard a ruffling from the bush near just behind her. Activating her whip, she turned around and instinctively struck. The moment she saw that it was Danny, she gasped, retracting the glowing green weapon.

"Oh my god, Danny, you can't scare me like that!" Paulina said, helping Danny - Danny Phantom this time - to his feel carefully. "What are you doing out here?"

"Stopping you from doing something stupid," Danny explained, going intangible so that the mud and leaves covering his suit fell to the ground below him. Paulina opened her mouth to respond, but the snowy haired boy interrupted him before she could. "I know you don't like Sam and Tucker's plan. You were gonna go in there by yourself, weren't you?"

Paulina huffed, crossing her arms defensively. "Look, ghost boy, it doesn't matter what I was doing. You're not in charge of me like your friends act like you are."

"Paulina—" he began.

"Fenton- Phantom — whoever the hell you are — just let me do this. Let me save her," Paulina said, her voice cracking against her will at the end of the sentence.

"Her?" Danny asked, his eyebrows and taking a small step forward. "...Star?"

Paulina bit her now quivering lip before turning around and starting forward again. "I'm leaving, and you can't do anything to stop me—" Danny landed right in front of her with a gently thump, causing her to jump. She looked behind her, cursing under her breath. "Dammit, Danny!"

"You don't have to—"

"What, don't have to do this by myself?" Paulina asked, her eyes watering while she wiped the unshed tears away. "Yeah, I do. It's my fault we're here. My mom...she..." she trailed off, taking a shaking breath. "You can't stop me."

"I don't want to stop you," Danny said, his face shockingly intense. "I'm here to come with you."

Ok, so I have a reason for the super inconsistent updates. For whatever reason, the chapter I updated almost a week ago didn't actually get posted until a day or two ago? I'm not quite sure why that is, but it's up now at least!

Also! I still have a tiny bit of writer's block! I'm trying really hard to write good content, but idk why I'm haviing such a hard time right now. Hopefully it'll go away soon...

Please leave a review telling me what you all think, it would mean so much to me!! Also, thanks to everyone who reads, favorites, and follows - y'all are the best.

Until next time,

Ash