Danny laid his head down on his desk. His cross-state chase had ended a couple weeks ago, but he hadn't been able to catch up on sleep quite yet. When they got back to Amity they had found it infested with low and medium level ghosts. Valerie had been away on a vacation with her dad when Skulker had chosen to attack. She had finally gotten back yesterday and had agreed on another temporary truce as the rounded up the majority of the rest of the ghosts. She had of course blamed him on letting the town get that bad though. It seemed like every time he had thought he had a chance to rest a couple more ghosts would pop up. Last night he was pretty sure he had caught the last of the low-level ghosts with Valerie. As he sucked the last low level ghost in his thermos Val called off their truce, her exact words had been 'watch your back Phantom because next time we meet I'll be shooting at it.' The past couple weeks had been so exhausting that when he finally got the opportunity to sleep last night he hadn't been able to sleep well. He kept thinking that he was going to be attacked every time he closed his eyes.

So, staying awake during class was going to be an entirely different battle. For once he was actually wasn't late for school so Mr. Lancer had to give him props for that. Especially with it being the first day of the school year. Sam and Tucker walked into the room, neither of them looked particularly well rested either. As the two made it over to Danny, Tucker patted Danny on the back in greeting. Danny let out a hiss of pain. The burn mark on his back still hadn't healed fully, he hadn't gotten enough down time for his powers to focus on healing him fully. He's had to be in his ghost form for so long in the past few weeks that his core had been stretched thin, so yeah healing had been put on the backburner.

Tucker's eyes went wide "Oh, dude, sorry. I totally forgot."

Danny gave him a tired grin, "It's fine Tuck, no lasting damage."

A few minutes later the rest of the class trickled in, as did Mr. Lancer. When Mr. Lancer saw Danny, his eyes went wide for a moment before smiling. The boy seemed to be making a better effort this year.

As the class settled in Mr. Lancer got everyone's attention "Alright everyone quiet down, I have an announcement to make. For the next two weeks, we will be having three transfer students. They will be arriving momentarily, they are finishing up some paperwork with the principle. When they get here I will allow them to talk to you all to see who they will mesh the best with."

"What do you mean by that?" Star interrupted him.

"Ah, yes. I have contacted all of your parents and they have given their consent to house the transfer students if they choose to become your shadows." Mr. Lancer explained.

Paulina made a face "Wait I minute, there is a chance that somebody could be following me around constantly" then a smile lit up her face "That's great, it would be like having an admirer."

Mr. Lancer chose to ignore her "When they choose who they are going to shadow, those kids are going to help the transfer students around school and show them around town. No arguments from anybody."

A few moments later two girls and a boy entered the room. The boy had bright orange hair and mischief filled green eyes. The first girl had long blonde hair tide back in a ponytail and had dark grey eyes. The other girl had long brownish-orange hair, lots of freckles, and deep brown eyes.

"Class this is Wally West, Artemis Crock, and Megan Morse; make them feel welcome. Now I will let you three talk to my class and choose who you think you will get along the most with."

Sam narrowed her eyes slightly and leaned over to her friends "This could be bad for us if they choose us. It would be much harder for us to get away with people following us around."

Danny gave a tired yet thoughtful look "I don't know, it would make it harder. Though, what are the odds that they would choose us? We are literally the very bottom of the social ladder. More than likely they'll choose Dash, Paulina, and their group."

Tucker nodded his agreement. After everyone talked to the three newcomers for a bit, they announced they decided who they wanted to shadow.

Artemis stepped up first "I'll go with Sam." She said stepping next to the goth. Sam's eyes went wide in shock before turning to glare at Danny who had effectively jinxed their chances. Danny rubbed the back of his head nervously at Sam's look.

Wally went and took the empty desk next to Tucker, pulling out a granola bar "Tucker sounds fun." He said with a grin before taking a bite.

Finally, Megan stood next to Danny "I would like to Shadow Danny please."

The Phantom trio shared a look. Why had they chosen them? They really were the bottom of the social food chain. That and it was going to be a lot more difficult for Danny to sneak away and fight ghosts.

"Hey babe," Dash said towards Megan "You sure you want to spend time with Fenton? He's a total loser, you would probably have more fun with me." He said from his seat.

A small frown appeared on Megan's face "No I'm sure. Danny seems very nice."

Danny blushed slightly at the compliment. He looked over to Dash, saw his angry look directed towards him, and knew he was going to be on Dash's hit list today for sure. Danny let out a sigh, great just what he needed. Great way to start the school year Fenton.

Wally glared slightly at the blonde jock "Jerk." He murmured under his breath.

Tucker heard him and let out a low laugh "You have no idea."

Mr. Lancer looked like he wanted the three transfers to choose different people, but kept his thoughts to himself. "Alright Class, let's begin." Artemis and Megan grabbed the extra chairs and placed them next to their chosen shadows. Desks would be brought in the next day for them to use.

The morning flew by, thankfully ghost attack free. As lunch came the Phantom trio tried to make a hasty exit outside and get temporary freedom from the bullies. Danny went on ahead slightly so he could grab his lunch from his locker. The thought however was in vain. Dash cut him off in front of the lockers. Danny groaned, he was still Dash's favorite it seemed.

Dash grabbed the front of Danny's shirt and slammed him into the lockers. "You made me look stupid Fentonia!" Dash growled.

From the corner of his eye Danny saw his group catch up to him. It looked like Wally was going to step in to do something, but Tucker grabbed his arm and shook his head. Tucker than probably started explaining how it was best to just let Dash get it out of his system or else it he only got worse.

Beside himself Danny rolled his eyes "Pretty sure you did that yourself Dash."

Rage appeared in his eyes "Let's see how nice you seem to her stuffed in a locker Fentonio." Dash ripped open a locker and proceeded to shove Danny into it. Danny's shoulder bumped sharply into one of the hooks in the locker and Danny let out a hiss of pain for the second time that morning. Dash slammed the locker closed and walked off laughing, his friends following him also laughing.

Danny let out a sigh and knocked on the door "Hey Tuck, can you let me out?"

Tucker shook his head as he opened the door, "Dude you have the worst luck. First week back and you already got stuffed into a locker."

Danny let out a groan, "The school has got to start getting them able to open from the inside."

Megan appeared in front of him "Are you alright? Why did he do that?" she looked genuinely confused.

Danny took a step back to get some personal space back and rubbed the back of his head "I'm fine, nothing I'm not used to. Dash is just a bully and I'm his favorite to beat on."

"You should tell someone, bullying isn't right." Wally said with a frown.

Danny gave a shrug "Dash is the head quarterback of the football team. I'm the town freaks' kid. As long as Dash keeps getting touchdowns for the team he's practically untouchable. Plus, it's better if he's just focused on me. That way he leaves most of the rest of us losers alone." He finished with a small smile.

Artemis gave a small scowl "What do you mean by that?"

Sam gave them a smirk "Oh, didn't you figure it out already? You guys picked out the lowest on the social school food chain to shadow for the next two weeks."

Tucker let out a laugh "Oh face it guys, we are officially lower than the losers by now."

Danny sent him a grin, not really caring about 'popularity' anymore "Yeah, you're probably right."

They made their way outside and started talking about themselves and getting to know each other. They figured if they were going to be around each other constantly for the next two weeks they should at least get to know each other. The only thing he was worried about was bringing Megan back to his house and meeting his parents, things always seemed to go wrong around there with new potential friends.