Day Five

"Last day of lunch hell with Gleason and we're free, Tuck, my friend." Danny grinned as the two of them walked towards Gleason's classroom.

"But that also means the last day with your new girlfriend." Tucker flashed him a mischievous grin.

Danny made a face. "Ew, please. She is so not my type."

"Oh, come on, Danny. Can't you just see it? You, her, a candlelight dinner of Tofurkey with soy cheese—"

Danny slugged his friend in the arm. "Yeah, right. And maybe someday I'll be able to shoot lasers from my hands and learn how to fly."

"It could happen."

"Shut up, Tucker."

They turned the corner to the hallway where Gleason's classroom was located and stopped short. A group of six or seven boys were clustered around one of the lockers. In the midst of them, standing a good head above everyone else, was Dash Baxter. Although a seventh grader like them, Dash looked big enough to be in high school. He was the quarterback of the seventh grade football team, and general consensus was that he would be the first freshman to make varsity as soon as he started at Casper High in two years. When Dash wasn't using his freakishly large arms to hurl footballs, he was usually using them to shove some smaller kid into a locker. Much of Danny's and Tucker's school life was spent staying completely off Dash's radar. That goal in mind, they ducked back around the corner.

Sure enough, they heard a plaintive squeal from the middle of the crowd. "Sounds like Mikey," Tucker said.

Danny nodded in agreement, peeking around the corner. He could see Mikey now, a short, skinny redhead, pressed back against the lockers. He was holding a tray from the cafeteria, loaded with whatever today's mystery meat was, and was trying somewhat unsuccessfully to use it as a shield between him and Dash without spilling its contents. Two of Dash's groupies grabbed the tray from him so that Dash could gain better access to his prey without risking getting the gelatinous goo all over his designer shirt. Danny looked down at Tuck, whose head was poking out around the corner just below him. "Think we can get to Gleason's classroom without being noticed?"

"They seem pretty preoccupied. We should make a run for it."

"Yeah. Just as soon as—"

"What's the problem, Dash? Did you lose your way again? I know it gets really confusing for you when you wander away from the gym."

Everyone looked to see Sam approaching from the other end of the hallway. Her arms were crossed, and she was using a sweet sing-songy voice like he was a kindergartner who had lost his mommy in a crowded shopping mall.

Dash, for his part, looked delighted to find a new target. Mikey forgotten, he rounded on Sam. "Look at what the bat dragged in."

She rolled her eyes. "Is that really the best you can do?"

"Oh, I haven't even gotten started, Buffy the Vampire."

Sam leaned back against the wall just below a huge purple banner that proudly proclaimed in gold letters, Muddlemore Middle School: A Tradition in Excellence! "Buffy's a vampire slayer. Drusilla, Darla… they were the vampires. And I'm way more Drusilla than Darla, in case you're wondering."

Dash moved closer to her, his eyes narrowing in threat. "You trying to say I'm stupid?"

"Why should I bother when you do all the work for me?"

"Man, he's gonna kill her," Tucker said.

Danny shook his head. "I dunno. She seems like she can hold her own. And I don't think Dash beats up on girls."

As Danny guessed, Dash didn't follow up the threatening look with his fists, but he did continue to use his mouth. "Haven't seen you in the cafeteria, lately. Not enough blood on the menu for you?"

A spark of anger flashed in her eyes. "Oh, there's plenty of blood on that menu, believe me."

Clearly thinking he'd found a weakness in her armor, Dash moved in to exploit it. "And you vampires love your blood, don't you? And here it is, lunch time. You must be starving!" He snapped his fingers at his sycophants. "Hey Kwan. You still got Mikey's lunch? The poor, starving little vampire needs her blood."

Kwan, who was only slightly smaller than Dash but with significantly fewer brain cells, looked confused. "Uh… I've got his lunch, but it looks like beef goulash, not blood…"

Dash rolled his eyes in annoyance and held out his hand. "Just give it here."

Sam, seeing where this was going, tried to slip away, but he had her pressed against the wall. Danny looked down at Tuck again. "We should do something…"

"I thought you said she could hold her own."

"Well, yeah, but I'm pretty sure the cafeteria's goulash qualifies as a lethal weapon." And she's a vegetarian…

Danny stepped out from the corner just as Kwan offered up the tray. Dash scooped up a handful of what may or may not have been goulash and went to smear it in Sam's face, but she used his momentary distraction to slide down the wall into a crouch. The goulash landed on the wall where her head had been, and while Dash was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong, Sam slipped between him and Kwan, knocking the latter off balance. The lunch tray went flying, smashing most of its contents onto the purple and gold banner. What didn't end up on the banner splashed back at Dash, splattering his hair, face, and shirt with the disgusting brown goop. Kwan got a few drops on him, too, but their intended target escaped without a speck of food on her.

Danny stopped short, impressed. "I guess I was right in the first place. She can hold her own."

At that moment, a door banged open. All of Dash's herd, save Kwan and himself, scattered as Mr. Gleason appeared. His eyes swept around the hallway, taking in the mess on the banner, Dash, and Kwan, and finally coming to rest on Sam. "Miss Manson! Do you care to explain yourself?"

"I'm not a big goulash fan."

Gleason exploded. "That banner is older than you are, and significantly more difficult to clean! You not only bought yourself another week of detention—after school this time—you will also be responsible for the cost of dry cleaning the banner and Mr. Baxter and Mr. Kwan's clothes! Do you understand me?"

Dash and Kwan snickered, but Sam just shrugged. "Fine."

Gleason, looking apoplectic, opened his mouth to say something more, but Danny had had all he could take. "No, it isn't fine! She didn't do anything, Mr. Gleason. It was all Dash's fault!"

Dash's mouth dropped open, and he glared at Danny. "That is a total lie! We were minding our own business, on our way to lunch, and Batgirl here comes out of nowhere and throws a lunch tray at us!"

"You're full of it!" Danny shouted back.

Gleason glowered at him. "Mr. Fenton. I suggest you stay out of this, unless you want to add a few more days of lunch detention."

"But he's lying! He and a bunch of his friends were picking on Mikey, and Sam stopped him, so he took Mikey's lunch tray and was gonna throw goulash in her face, but she ducked and he hit the banner instead. Tucker and I saw the whole thing, right, Tuck?"

Tucker, still standing at the corner, looked horrified at being dragged into this mess, but he nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, he's right."

Gleason's eyes narrowed. "Really. Then where is Mikey? And this 'bunch of friends' that were supposedly picking on him?"

Danny looked around and saw that at some point Mikey had also fled. "They all ran off."

"I'm sure they did. And the fact that Miss Manson is already serving detention for one inappropriate rant against the food that the school cafeteria provides is a complete coincidence."

"Well, yeah."

"I find that rather unlikely."

"Why? Because she wears black and has more than two earrings and half her head is shaved? She's different, so she must be the problem?"

Gleason clenched his jaw so hard it looked like it was going to shatter. "I've had enough out of you, Mr. Fenton! One more week of lunch detention!"

Now that Danny was in trouble, Tucker was completely willing to jump in. "But he's telling the truth."

"Would you like another week as well, Mr. Foley?"

Tucker looked from Gleason to Sam to Danny, then back to Gleason. "If you get detention for telling the truth around here, then sign me up."

"Then two for lunch it is. And one for after school." He turned to Dash and Kwan, who were both grinning like the idiots they were. "Mr. Baxter, Mr. Kwan, you are excused. You three—" He jerked his head at Danny, Tucker, and Sam— "wait for me in my classroom while I go find a janitor to clean up this mess." He stomped off down the hallway.

Danny turned to go into Gleason's room, but Dash moved between him and the door. "Fenton, is it? Well, listen, Fen-Ton-O-Dead-Weight. You're on my list now. I'll be watching you."

Danny didn't flinch, but his stomach did an uneasy roll as Dash and Kwan walked away, laughing. Great.

Inside the room, Danny and Tucker sat in their usual seats, but instead of taking up her spot in the back row, Sam sat right behind them. "Why'd you do that, Danny?"

He pulled out his lunch and unwrapped his roast beef sandwich. "'Cause you didn't do anything wrong. And we kinda owed you."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed. "Gleason is such a jerk."

"And now you both have to spend another whole week with him." Sam shook her head. "Thanks."

Danny grinned. "No big."

Tucker pulled his lunch out of his backpack, then plopped it down on the desk, groaning. "Dude. I just realized… we're so gonna be grounded again for getting another week of detention. There goes our weekend."

"I dunno. I'll bet if I explain what happened, my mom at least will be on our side. Your folks, too."

Sam gawked at them. "You're kidding me."

"Why? Won't your parents believe you if you explain what happened?"

"Uh… let's just go with 'no.'"

Danny frowned, wondering what her parents must be like.

"What about your dad?" Tucker asked him. "He's kinda…"

"Clueless," Danny finished. "But they've got the contractors coming in to start digging up the basement this weekend. He'll be too distracted to even care."

"Good point. Should we still try and get together, then?"

"Sure." Danny looked over his shoulder at Sam. "Wanna come over?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Me?"

"Yeah. I mean, we're probably just gonna hang out and junk, but if you're not busy or anything…."

She grinned. "Will you show me the portal thingy your parents are building?"

"It's not gonna be anything more than a bunch of guys drilling a hole into the wall at this point."

"Still, sounds cool. And you never know. It might be a momentous occasion. The beginning of something really huge."

Danny considered this. "Yeah. I guess you never know."