She took a deep breath. This was something she had been putting off for a while now, but she couldn't justify keeping it up anymore. "Danny, I've had a lot of fun these last few days, but my life's way too complicated right now for us to be anything other than... friends." She looked away, guilty as she finished explaining.

It was better this way, for both of them. Regardless, even without looking, she could picture the hurt in his eyes as he spoke. "Just friends…?"

Valerie shot up in bed, breathing hard and covered in a light sheen of sweat. She grimaced, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and glancing blearily at the clock. 3:24 in the morning. Again. Great.

She sighed, laying back down slowly to avoid another rush of vertigo. This was the third night in a row that she had woken up from that dream. She could never remember specific details, but she knew exactly what it was about. Three nights ago, she had broken Danny's heart as well as her own, and her subconscious refused to let her forget it. It was starting to get annoying.

Girls like Star and Paulina needed a boyfriend to feel secure in themselves. That was why Paulina was "dating" Dash despite being in love with Phantom (Valerie shuddered at the thought), and why Star had been desperate enough to date Foley at one time. But Valerie wasn't a girl like them. At the height of her popularity, maybe, but she had learned that she didn't need a boyfriend to be happy. She understood that. But, then, why was every dream about Danny Fenton?

With a groan, Valerie rolled over and shoved her face into her pillow. She had broken up with him to focus on ghost hunting, but now it seemed like Danny was on her mind more than ever. It was so frustrating. He wasn't even that great!

Sure, maybe some girls like the loveable dork act, but Valerie sure didn't. She didn't like tall, lithe guys, and certainly not guys with dark, constantly windswept hair that hung in front of his crystal blue eyes just begging for her to push it away, and…

Against her pillow, Valerie felt her face go red as she quickly clamped down on that train of thought. Maybe denying her feelings for Danny wasn't the right way. Accepting it was the easiest way to move on, right? She was pretty sure that she remembered Star yammering on about something to that effect from a magazine. That wasn't exactly encouraging, but Valerie supposed that she might as well try it.

It wasn't like she was in love or anything. Her feelings for Danny were only a small crush, and they would fade with time. Satisfied, Valerie rolled over onto her side and tried to sleep.

"Hey, Val?" There was a tap on her shoulder, and Valerie was pulled abruptly from her thoughts.

She turned, half-expecting to see Danny waiting for her, but she couldn't help but be disappointed when she saw Star instead. Of course, why would Danny be hanging around her? She had just broken up with him a few days ago. He still seemed like of down about it too, nowhere near as energetic as he usually was when she passed him in the halls.

Star raised an eyebrow, looking Valerie up and down before her nose crinkled in distaste. "Okay," she said shortly, "I thought that it was a blessing when you stopped talking non-stop about Fenton, but you look awful." Valerie didn't try to argue with that. She hadn't brushed her hair that morning, applied any makeup, or even bothered to smooth over her wrinkled shirt. The bags under her eyes were more like bruises. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or do I need to pry it from you?" Despite the light-hearted tone, there was a touch of concern to Star's voice that made Valerie smile.

"I'm fine," Valerie said dismissively. She turned back to her locker, gathering books without reading the titles just to look like she knew what she was doing. "Don't worry about me, Star, I just…" she sighed, "I really liked Danny, but my life's way too busy for a boyfriend. I thought it would be easier to let him down gently than try to keep pushing it. That's all." She shut her locker, giving her full attention to a very unimpressed looking Star. "I promise, alright? You're my best friend. I would tell you if something was wrong."

That made Star's expression soften. Valerie held back a wave of guilt. Once upon a time, that might have been true, but lately, there was hardly an aspect of Valerie's life that she hadn't lied about at one point or another.

"Alright," Star sighed after a moment. "But if you Fenton did anything to hurt you, Dash isn't going to be the only blonde in this school kicking his ass." Even though Star was threatening violence against the guy Valerie liked, the promise made her smile. At least Star wasn't as fake as Paulina was…

"Thanks. That means a lot, Star," Valerie replied honestly. She gave her friend a quick, one-armed hug, and pulled back. "I'm gonna head to class, but I'll see you around," she promised.

Star nodded, waving as Valerie walked off before her attention was caught by Kwan. She quickly hurried over to her boyfriend, and Valerie grimaced as she watched them over her shoulder. She was happy for Star, of course. It seemed like Kwan really was good for her, and he was a nice guy if a little easily-manipulated. She just wished that the sight of a happy couple didn't make her stomach twist unpleasantly.

Valerie turned to head towards her first period class, looking too late as she ran directly into someone. Surprised, she hit the ground, and the meaningless books that she had gathered went flying. She opened her mouth to start yelling at who she had rammed into, only for the words to catch in her throat.

Looking just as surprised as she was, Danny blinked down at her, as if not understanding what he was seeing. He looked out of breath, but Valerie had no idea what he could have been running from. For that matter, she didn't understand why he looked unfazed by her slamming into him. Danny Fenton was not the strongest kid in the school (or even in the hallway, for that matter), but it had felt like whatever Valerie had hit was built like a brick.

Finally, Danny seemed to piece everything together. Realization dawned on his face, and he crouched down to Valerie's level, apologetic and worried. "Are you alright?" He asked, refraining from touching her even as his eyes traced any visible skin for signs of a bruise. "Sorry, Val. I was, um… running from Dash, and I wasn't looking to see where I was going," he explained. Dazed, Valerie only nodded. Running from Dash made sense. Of course it did. Danny was always running somewhere.

He took Valerie's hand in his, putting the other on her shoulder as he helped her stand. With a grimace, Valerie winced, rubbing the tender spot at the base of her spine. "Ouch," she laughed faintly. "That's going to hurt tomorrow."

She meant for it to be a joke but, to her surprise, Danny looked stricken. Before Valerie could say anything to comfort him, the bell rang, jerking her from her ponderings. The sound seemed to snap Danny back to normal, and he gave a polite smile that made Valerie's stomach clench. That was the smile he always used when he was trying not to be rude to people he didn't know very well. He hadn't used that smile towards her in a long, long time.

"Well, I need to get to first period," Danny said, pointing down the hall opposite of where Valerie was going. "I can't wait to see the look on Lancer's face when I'm actually on time for once." The joke got Valerie to smile, but it quickly fell when Danny turned to start down the hall.

"Danny, wait!" Before she could use her better judgment, Valerie had reached out, grabbing the hem of Danny's shirt to keep him from running off. Her face burned as Danny turned to look at her, one eyebrow arched questioningly. Valerie refused to make eye contact, choosing instead to look to the left at the bank of lockers. Despite the obvious embarrassment, her grip on his shirt only seemed to tighten. "...can we hang out sometime?" She asked, far meeker than she would have liked. "We— we did agree to keep being friends, right?"

At first, Danny didn't answer. Valerie held her breath, almost afraid that he would, and then Danny gave a faint laugh. "Sure, Valerie. I'm looking forward to it already." He reached to grab her hand, and for a fleeting second, Valerie thought that he was going to pull her closer. But Danny merely unwrapped her fingers from his shirt, letting the loose-fitting material fall back into place around him. "Call me when you get off of work, alright? We can head over to the bowling alley if you feel like losing another game to me."

Valerie only nodded, too unsure of her own words to be surprised that he had remembered her work schedule. Unlike it would normally, his jab at her poor bowling skills didn't get a rise out of Valerie, let alone even get her to blink. "Sure," she agreed. "I'll, um, call you then." She waved as Danny left, but his back was already to her as he took off running down the hall again.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Valerie was aware that the bell had rung. She was officially late for class, but she didn't care. It had barely been four days since she had broken things off with Danny, and Valerie was already starting to think that it was one of the worst mistakes of her life.