Hey hey. Just procrastinating on my assignments and showing you guys I'm not dead. Will be revising and completing all my other stories in two weeks time. In the mean-time I hope you enjoy the totally OOC almost Holden Caulfield-esque Danny one-shot below...

I think I shall use this fic as an archive of random one-shots like this one. Feel free to adopt the oneshots and add a beginning and an end to them since a lot of these will be climactic scenes alluding to previous events or upcoming events.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom so does not belong to me. I wish it did.. I'd totally scrap PP and continue the series. Oh yeah, I'd also reprimand the Nickelodeon CEOs for letting go such an awesome show.

So, onto the story then:

Suspension

I stared at the door for about a minute, not wanting to go in. Of course I knew what was awaiting me. Who wouldn't after the week I've had? I breathed in, trying to collect my thoughts only to fail hopelessly as the disappointed stares of my parents flashed through my mind. They'll probably take Vlad up on his offer of sending me to that boarding school in Wisconsin. Yeah, it's gotten that bad.

Swallowing roughly, I reach for the door handle and hesitantly open the door. I peak around the door frame and I can make out the figure of Mr Lancer slouched over his desk. He looked pale and washed out – like he had just seen a ghost. Scratch that. It looks like he's seen an army of ghosts. Oh the irony.

"Ah, Mr Fenton, nice of you to actually join us." I knew what Lancer was insinuating. He wasn't expecting me to show. I wonder where he got that idea? Every class, every detention, I was there wasn't I? Maybe not physically but in spirit, I was. Ha ha. Spirit.. another word for ghost... I crack myself up, not!

"I'm sorry Mr Lancer but I kind of had to help a little old lady.."

"..cross the street?" Lancer finished for me with a scowl, "Don't you dare lie to me any more, Mr Fenton!'

I sincerely wished that it was a lie this time. Skulker was blasting his latest Ecto Launcher without regards to any by-standers. That little old lady just happened to be one of those by-standers. Granted, she did scream when I offered to help her carry her groceries..

Damn near gave me a heart attack.

"Just sit down, Danny," my Mom sighed. She didn't even look up at me as she gestured to the seat next to her. Before I sat down, I scoped out the cramped little office before directing my gaze to the large figure on the other side of my Mom. Dad didn't bother looking up either. His abnormally bright demeanor squashed like a ghost roach – making the room decidedly more depressing than it was before. Even his day-glo orange jumpsuit looked dull for some reason.

What I wouldn't give for a nice normal 'Hello, Sweety~' or 'Heya Danny-boy'.

As I sat down, I tugged on the end of my unzipped jacket nervously, quite happy that the weather had taken a turn for the worst. It hid the scars from last week's ghost invasion – the largest invasion by far. Even larger than when Pariah Dark was unleashed on the citizens of Amity – and that one in itself took a long time to recover from.

"For Daniel's benefit, I will repeat what I said before. After violating twenty-three different school codes, playing truant thirty-nine different times and committing seven counts of school property damage..." I fought the urge to sink through my chair as Lancer listed off my offenses, "the board and I had thought it was only fair to expel Mr Fenton."

I could feel a warm trickle of blood run down my arm from where Skulker had nicked me earlier that day. I tried my best to ignore the searing pain in my upper arm as I waited for Mr Lancer to continue. There was a lot more he wanted to say, and I wasn't looking forward to it. Neither was my parents as I sensed them tense up beside me.

"However, we gave him the benefit of the doubt and suspended him for two weeks whilst assigning him a report on ghosts, no less. If he completed that to an acceptable standard we would have allowed him back into the school on a probation of sorts.."

"You wanted him to stay. That's why you gave him such a simple task," my Mom stated bluntly. I glanced over at her bowed head, hands clenched into tight balls on her lap. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was beyond frustrated with the situation.

My Dad pulled Mom close and rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her down. It worked.. but neither of them bothered to look over at me. I was kind of glad they didn't. I probably looked like hell. Mr Lancer himself had also avoided any eye contact with me since I entered the room despite addressing me multiple times since then.

"Of course I wanted him to stay. I even gave him an extra week because the suspension coincided with the mass ghost invasion!" Lancer cried.

Fat chance that gave me. Obviously I didn't get anything done during the invasion because I was the one holding it off! Then I was out like a light for five days! Five days! I've never been out of commission for that long – ever! The remaining two days I spent trying to both recuperate and write that stupid report.

Not that anyone else in Lancer's office knew that.

"It's kind of ironic that the invasion that prevented me from writing the report provided me with a basis for writing one..." I laughed bitterly. I felt the cool trickle of ectoplasm run down my arm. Skulker must have cut into my arm deeper than I thought if ectoplasm was coming out of my arm when I was human.

Finally, all eyes were on me – albeit glaring ones. Hey, I found it funny in a kind of dark twisted way. The humor was just lost on them. So what if witty banter was more of a coping mechanism then anything else? It may be borne out of stress but it's still funny – I hope.

I watched as their eyes widened in horror at the sight of me. My eyes were stinging from lack of sleep and I knew I was ten times paler than Lancer currently is. This is based on how I looked yesterday. (Since I didn't have any time since then to even be in proximity to a bathroom, let alone a mirror.)

Great, they probably thought I was a druggie. May as well go home and pack for Wisconsin now..

"Danny, what happened to you?" My Dad croaked. I wouldn't have pegged him to be the most collected person in the room to actually ask.

Unfortunately, I was anything but calm and collected as was previously proven by the obscene amount of sarcastic comments running through my head. (Stupid coping mechanism.) So I did something unexpected:

I told the truth.

"I had a nasty run-in with Skulker this morning, if you must know." I reached up to brush my hair out of my eyes when my Mom stopped me. She was gripping my wrist tightly.

My hand was covered in blood. My blood. From my arm.

Great, now they probably thought I was emo and enjoyed cutting or something. Forget about packing for Wisconsin, all I need now is a straightjacket or something.

"Daniel, are you...?" Mr Lancer began before cutting himself off.

I cast my eyes downward in order to avoid any eye-contact. My eyes were watery, I knew it. Danny Phantom doesn't cry. He's a hero. Even when everyone seems to misunderstand, "A druggie? No. I don't take drugs. I never have. An emo? I don't inflict self-harm upon myself either."

Unfortunately, Danny Fenton does cry, a lot. Tears streamed down my face, "A half-human half-ghost? I doubt that was going through any of your minds but – ding, ding, ding – that would have been the right answer."

Phasing my arm through my Mother's vise-like grip. I slowly got up from the chair to walk away. I had barely taken a couple of steps when my head started spinning and I dropped to my knees. I guess this is what happens when you don't rest up after a fight that leaves you knocked out for five whole days – even with super-human healing powers.

If I hadn't just ratted myself out as a ghost, I bet Mom and Dad would have winced at my battle scars from the invasion. But as my world fades to black I kind of hope that they would still wince before proceeding to rip me apart...

Molecule by Molecule.

END

A/N: I'd appreciate some flames actually, just to get me motivated. But if you want to just review I'm not stopping you.

Now, Flame Away!