Disclaimer: No, I do not own Danny Phantom; I also don't own a sloth, but thanks for rubbing that in my face, too.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Danny lied, shifting uncomfortably at the table.

It had almost been a year since the accident, and Danny still hadn't gotten the nerve to tell them about his other half. Sure he almost did back when he was 14 and Vlad had almost destroyed the world, but when the time came, he said "Thanks for your help," and flew off.

Seated across from him, Maddie Fenton urged her son, "Please, Danny, tell me.". She had noted a change in his behavior when he was fourteen, and figured it was being a teenager, but now she wasn't so sure. Two years is an awfully long time to act so secretive and stand-offish.

Ugh, Danny sighed. Why did Jazz have to be at school already? It was only 7:15! If she were here, surely she'd help him out by saying something psychological.

"Danny... it's only me," his mother had tears in her eyes, and he hated himself for putting her through this, but the fact of the matter was, he could not tell her his deepest secret - ever.

Danny downed the rest of his orange juice, took a bite of toast, grabbed his backpack, and headed for the door. "Listen, Mom, I really got to get to school, but we can finish this conversation lat-" Danny's voice was cut off by the slam of the door.

Once safely out of sight on the other side of the door, Danny dropped his backpack, and sighed, running his hands through his jet-black hair.

That was too close.

He wanted to tell his mother and father - he had been close a few times - but something always stopped him. Normally, it's when he remembered his father saying he'd rip him apart "molecule by molecule."

He shook his head to empty his thoughts, and, grabbing his backpack, phased so he could get to school. Soaring through the air was quite peaceful. That is until Jack Fenton opened up his front door, and aimed a bazooka right at the pasty ghost kid. "Watch out Phantom! Jack Fenton is here; ready to rip you apart molecule by molecule!" Sighing, as his dad never could put up a good fight, he went intangible, and stayed that way until he was safely inside the boys bathroom of his school.

When he stepped into the hallway, he walked up to his locker, and tried to remember what his first period was. Racking his brain, he suddenly remembered he had Geometry first. He opened his locker, and reached for his Geometry textbook, but realized that he'd left it at home on his desk, when he was studying last night. He slapped his forehead, and groaned at his own stupidity.

"Hey man. Something wrong?" a familiar voice asked from his right.

"What?" he said looking up. "Oh hey Tucker. Yeah I just realized I forgot my math book at home... Do you think we'll need it today?"

"Yeah it's a sub. They always assign work in the book when there's a substitute," Tucker admitted, feeling sorry for Danny.

"Great," he sighed, again. "Maybe I can make it back to my house before the bell rings," Danny added hopefully.

"I don't know man, you've only got ten minutes..." Tucker looked at his PDA, and told him, doubtfully.

"Well, I've got to try, right." Danny said, clearly aggravated that he had to go back home. Tucker nodded, and said, encouragingly, "Hey! Sometimes subs take role late! You could slip in unnoticed!" Danny smiled, and ducked behind the cart of computers sitting outside the computer lab. All Tucker saw was a flash of light, and he knew that Danny was off.

Danny flew as fast as he could to get back to Fenton Works. He went intangible, and slipped inside his room. Searching around hurriedly, he scattered the papers on his desk around, looking for the book underneath any of them. "Where is it?" he asked, under his breath, in frustration. His hand flew to the right, and his desk lamp crashed onto the ground in a loud clang!

Looking at the desk lamp, he saw that the book had fallen onto the ground to the left of his desk, surprisingly right next to the lamp. Just as his fingers had scraped it, and he was about to pick it up, the door of his room bursted open, and none other than Maddie Fenton barged in, carrying the Fenton bat. Danny gasped, realizing with a sudden shock that he was currently Danny Phantom breaking in to Danny Fenton's room.

"You!" his mother gasped. "You better watch out, kid. I've been doing my research on you."

"Y-you have?" Danny asked, his voice cracking in fear.

"Not only that, but I'm about to get paid to do it! Hi-yah!" Danny didn't get a moment to dwell on the fact that his mother was going to get paid to hunt him down because he had to react so quickly to the bat being flung at his head. He hopped to the window, and saw Maddie running towards him. "Er - sorry about this," he apologized, and zapped the bat with ectoplas out of his finger. He jumped out of the window, and began the flight towards school, textbook in hand.

…

At lunch, Danny found Tucker and Sam quite easily. Even in his second year of high school, their lunch table only held three occupants.

"Hey, I heard you had to race back home this morning," Sam said, cheerfully as Danny walked up. "Ugh, don't remind me," he sighed. "As if that wasn't bad enough, my mom caught Danny Phantom going through Danny Fenton's stuff! This whole double-life thing is so difficult."

"But hey no ghosts on the way, right?" Tucker tried to cheer him up.

"No, only a bazooka and a bat. Which reminds me," he paused for a moment, reflecting on the events earlier that morning. "When my mom caught me, she said she's gonna start getting paid to hunt me... What do you think that means?" Sam and Tucker both shrugged. Danny shook his head, and changed the subject, suddenly tired of talking about his life's problems.

"So what's going on in-" Danny's ghost-sense interrupted him, and he instinctively look out of the window. Standing - or rather floating - outside was a ghost, one Danny had never seen before, smiling menacingly at him. He was green with red eyes - like all ghosts (besides Danny) looked - but this one had on a white lab coat, and his white hair was frizzy and poofy. He wore lab goggles, and reminded Danny of a younger Technus.

Danny gasped, and stood up to look around the lunchroom for a place to go ghost, but he couldn't find anything. He was about to make a run for the hallway, but when he looked back at his friends, they had already flipped the table over on its side. Smiling his appreciation, he phased safely behind it, and shot up into the air towards the new ghost.

"Okay, doctor, time to stick a needle through your-" Danny was cut off by his own understanding: the ghost was no longer there. He scratched his head, and looked around, but couldn't see him anywhere. He shrugged, and went inside his locker to phase before getting to his last two classes.

…

"What happened to that ghost at lunch?" Sam asked Danny at the end of the day when she met him by his locker. "I don't know," Danny admitted. "When I got outside, he'd disappeared. I couldn't see where he'd gone, so I came back in. Weird, huh?" Sam nodded, but wasn't going to let it drop that easily. "I can get some information on him if you want."

"Sam," Danny sighed. "I don't even know his name."

"Never underestimate the power of a techno geek," Sam's wide smile was contagious, and Danny couldn't help but return it.

"I'll call you later tonight if I find anything," Sam promised.

"You mean if Tucker finds something," Danny winked.

"I'm not seeing a difference," Sam joked.

Danny took off toward the doors, and prepared for his walk home.

…

"I don't understand," Danny said, clearly confused. When he'd gotten home, his mother and father sat him and Jazz down at the table, and told them they were going on a ghost-hunting vacation.

"I got the call today! They told me we'd get to go to a private camp just outside of Lake Eerie for a month just an hour and a half away! All expense are paid for; I just have to be working during the vacation," Maddie told her children.

"That's right!" Jack added. "Your mother and I will be hunting down that good-for-nothing ghost kid while you two can play around the camp!"

Jazz and Danny gasped at the same time. "W-why?" Jazz stuttered.

"They told us they had a some evidence that the ghost kid's hideout was somewhere near there, and that he comes to Amity Park when he wants to stir up trouble. We're supposed to be researching him. They told us that they were 100% sure he'd show up!"

"Er, who's 'they'?" Danny asked, and gulped in fear of this vacation. "You know I'm not sure they said... some fellow ghost hunter I'm sure!" Maddie answered.

Great, Danny sighed.

"Well we leave tomorrow at noon, so you two go pack!" Jack instructed.

"Dad! Jazz objected. Danny and I have school! Junior year is a very crucial year with college acceptance, and I have to be there!" Jazz, who dreams of the future belong to Yale, was always staying on top of her studies - and Danny's for that matter.

"It's okay, Sweetie, we already called your school, and they sent us your assignments for the next month."

Jazz and Danny both groaned. It was clear they were not going to make it out of this one.

…

That night, Danny grabbed the land line and dialed Sam's number. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hey it's me. Listen, er-"

"I was just about to call you! Tucker and I found something. The ghost from today was a scientist when he was alive. And a mad one at that. He had this theory-"

"That's great Sam, but it's gonna have to wait," Danny interrupted.

Confused, Sam asked, "How come?"

"My parents are dragging me on a camping trip in hunt for Danny Phantom! Some one called and said there is a '100% chance the ghost-kid will show up.' Can you believe that? How would they even know I'd be there?"

Sam slapped her forehead. "They know because they know your identity! Of course the ghost kid will be there if he's the Fenton's son!"

Danny eyes shot wide open, even in his tired state, at her realization. Why hadn't he noticed that?

"Be careful Danny. It could be a trap," Sam warned.

Danny promised he would, said his farewell, and hung up.

He dialed Tucker's number next. For the most part, the conversation was the same; as a matter of fact, the only difference was Tucker didn't notice what Sam had about the knowledge of his identity. Danny was going to tell him, but figured Tucker would just find out tomorrow when he talked to Sam.

Looking at his open closet, Danny threw in most of his clothes and underwear into a duffel bag, zipped it up, and plopped back onto his bed.

This vacation was going to be fine. He just could never go ghost - no exceptions. The last thing he needed was his own two parents strapping him down and experimenting on him 'molecule by molecule.'

He tried to think about the ghost from earlier, and even succeeded for a while, but eventually he gave up, exhausted, and fell sound asleep against his soft pillow and warm sheets.

So that was Chapter 1! Make sure to comment whether you think I should continue, and if you liked it! I always feel more motivated about updating when I get a bunch of positive feedback!