Deleted Scenes

Okay, I love how I got a review asking for these in all caps. I hope you guys like it. Some of them are super funny, and some of them were obviously taken out because they were muse destroyers. My comments on the scene are written in bold.

Enjoy!

So, for this first one I never had any intention of putting it into the story, because it was just a short comedic paragraph. Not to mention that I didn't write it, my occasional co-writer, White Rabbit Asylum did. It's a funny story actually, she'd come over to hang out. I went to go fix us up some lunch and told her that I wouldn't give it to her until she'd written a post for me – something to get me going. This is that result and it's totally awesome.

Courtesy of White Rabbit Asylum

Danny whirled around. Professor Snape stood there. He looked exactly like he did in the books. "This, Fenton," he said slowly, "is the sort of post that results when you leave your best friend to write it for you when you're in a place where she has basically no idea what the hell you're doing or what character you're introducing. This is the sort of post that results when you hold a poor, starving girl's food hostage. Take a seat. Class is in session."

This following scene was the original opening to Chapter Four. However, it didn't feel right to me – not to mention that my muse was withering away – so I scraped it.

"They believe in you."

Needless to say, he didn't get much sleep that night. Of course, his insomnia couldn't be blamed entirely on his mother's ominous words. Another item was causing his gut to churn uncomfortably and keep his mind racing. It didn't leave him as he rose groggily the next morning, as he walked silently to school. He had no desire whatsoever to be squished onto the bus and mocked about the incident of yesterday. And, he didn't want Jazz psychoanalyzing every thing he did or did not say. No, he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts.

And his guilt.

Several hours after lying in wake, pondering over the possibility of ghosts, the remorse had wormed its way into his heart. He had really acted out yesterday, been moody and sulky to the two people that he really cared about, not to mention his own family. He'd seen his mother, briefly, before leaving for school. She had been talking to his dad in an undertone about something, then waved goodbye with a sad smile on her face. He hated to admit how much that hurt.

Like he'd disappointed her in some way.

Yeah, he'd been publicly humiliated. Yeah, Dash had thrown coleslaw at him. Yeah, his first day at high school had been terrible. But, his parents were going to love him no matter what. His friends would be there for him even if his parents laid siege to the mathematics wing and he was drenched in garbage. True, he would still gaze longingly at the popular crowd, but his friends would be right there, looking on with him – well, at least Tucker would be.

He really needed to apologize.

Leaving only a few minutes early from his house, he barely made it to school on time. He had only just stepped into English 09A when the bell chimed for class to begin. Avoiding the eyes of his classmates, he quickly took his seat near the back beside Tucker. His best friend looked worried. He opened his mouth to say something, and seemed to change his mind halfway through as the class was called into session and instead traded a significant glance with Sam – who sat on his other side. Danny felt another stab of guilt.

"Take out your essays," came Mr. Lancer's voice from the front of the classroom. Danny sighed heavily and reached into his backpack, pulling out his essay and laying it on his desk, re-reading his introductory statement. He'd had a little trouble starting it, unable to find the right words when his mind had been full with the events from the previous day. But, in the end, he'd created something he was fairly pleased with. English had always been one of his better subjects. Plus, writing an essay about himself wasn't that hard anyway.

"When I call your name, bring it up to my desk and grab one of these literature books," Mr. Lancer waved a careless hand to indicate the twenty or so thick blue books stacked on his desk, "Tell me the number, and then begin reading chapter one."

The homework turn-in and book checkout process took several minutes. It seemed that some students did have difficulty with the essay, or else had forgotten it completely. In any case, their excuses amused Danny as he waited for his turn. Several times he looked over at Tucker and Sam, who were talking in undertones, wondering what to say to them. They kept casting him anxious expressions, as though half-expecting him to explode.

"Danny Fenton."

Danny glanced up at Mr. Lancer and got gingerly to his feet, feeling increasingly miserable. As he handed in his paper and retrieved the textbook – which was much heavier than he had anticipated – he made his decision. Under the pretense of taking notes on the reading, he pulled out his spiral ripped out one of the pages while Mr. Lancer was distracted with the next student. As Tucker went to the front to get his book, he scribbled in a hurried yet legible scrawl:

I'm really sorry about ditching you and Sam yesterday. I was kinda a jerk.

He folded it up and, as Tucker was walking back to his seat, slipped it smoothly into his hand. Tucker – no doubt familiar with this tactic, especially considering that they'd done it all the time back in middle school – only glanced at him curiously before taking his seat and opening his book. After a few minutes, Tucker picked up the corner of his page and Danny gave Lancer a quick glance to make sure he was otherwise occupied before holding out his hand.

It's all right dude. I probably would've reacted worse than you to be honest.

Danny smiled.

Still, never did tell Sam about her surprise.

He slipped it back. He had barely started reading the introductory paragraph when Tucker was giving him the note.

We could tell her now.

Danny raised an eyebrow. What, in the middle of class?

Well, she's trying to read over my shoulder anyway.

Danny managed to stifle a snigger. Haha, all right. We downloaded Bloodbath 2 in HD (just show her this).

Danny glanced up at Mr. Lancer. The books had all been checked out, the class silently reading their assigned chapter while Mr. Lancer graded their papers at his desk. He held out the note and Tucker took it. After glancing at the message briefly he grinned and passed it to Sam – who, Danny could see, was very interested in what they were talking about. There was a moment's silence, while she no doubt read over the entirety of their conversation, then she gasped.

"You what? No, way!" She muttered to them, her features shocked. It was all Danny could do to prevent himself from bursting into laughter right there. It was good that he didn't because a second later a voice called loudly toward them.

"Miss Manson, there is no need to talk while we read."

She turned pink and mumbled an apology before casting a reproachful look at Tucker and Danny, who were both grinning rather mischievously. She gave them the details later glance before returning to her book – although it was obvious to both of them she was merely re-reading their note. Danny saw a small smile tugging on the corner of her lips, relief in her gaze. His heart so much lighter than it had been, ever so grateful for his two best friends, he returned to his book. He had barely settled down to actually reading it when it happened.

A wave of icy cold washed over him, a chill crawling down his spine.

He sat bolt up right, his breath fast and unnatural. What on earth had that been? It was almost… almost as if someone had blown on his ear. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Must've been a draft of wind from the ventilation or an open window.

"They believe in you."

His mother's words came swimming back to the surface of his mind, somehow a great deal more menacing than he recalled. He shook his head, trying to clear the thought. Get a grip, he told himself firmly. Otherwise you'll become just as mad as they are.

But were they really mad though?

The bell rang, and he still hadn't finished the first paragraph. His troubled mind was reflected in his furrowed brows and it was harder than it should've been to put his book away. After he'd been at it for nearly a minute, Tucker poked him.

"Dude, are you okay? The chapter wasn't that deep."

"Wha—? Yeah, I'm fine." Danny blinked, his mind clearing slightly. "Just thinking."

Tucker watched him curiously for a moment, but before he could say anything Sam – who was already halfway to the door – called back, "Hurry up!" sending them after her. At the door, Mr. Lancer was handing back their graded essays. Which, Danny mused, meant there were either very few essays or they were all very short. Danny held out his hand as he passed Mr. Lancer, but he didn't give him the essay.

"Mr. Fenton, please stay a few minutes after class."

Danny stared at him. "But math—"

"Mr. Worth will be satisfied with a note."

Danny, perplexed as to why Mr. Lancer wanted to talk to him, could only nod and move out of line. Sam opened her mouth but Mr. Lancer cut her off.

"Danny will rejoin you in Math, Miss Manson." His tone left no room for argument.

Sam frowned, but proceeded out into the hallway, Tucker at her heels. Maybe Mr. Lancer had seen their note passing and was going to tell him off? But, then he would've asked Tucker and Sam to stay, wouldn't he? They'd been in on it. Danny fiddled with his thumbs as he waited for the rest of the class to file out. They all seemed to be avoiding his gaze, or else, ignoring him completely.

The following is another false start to Chapter Four

Guilt.

That's what Danny Fenton felt. From the moment he woke up, till the moment he was sitting down in Mr. Lancer's English class, his mind was wracked with remorse. He had really acted out yesterday, been moody and unreasonable to the two people that he really cared about, and not to mention his own mother. He'd seen her, briefly, before leaving for school. She had been talking to his dad in an undertone about something, and waved goodbye with a sad smile on her face. That hurt more than Sam and Tucker watching him apprehensively as they waited for the class to start, not talking – even to each other - and instead trading significant looks.

Yeah, he'd been publicly humiliated by his parents. Yeah, Dash had thrown coleslaw at him. Yeah, his first day at high school had been terrible. But, his friends were going to be there for him even if his parents laid siege to the mathematics wing and he was drenched in garbage. True, he would still gaze longingly at the popular group, but his friends would be right there, looking on with him – well, at least Tucker would be.

He needed to apologize.

"Take our your essays," came Mr. Lancer's voice from the front of the classroom, interrupting his decision making. He sighed and reached into his backpack, pulling out the essay and laying it upon his desk. He'd had a little trouble starting it, what with the conversation with his mother still running around in his mind, but about eleven o'clock he'd gotten inspired and written something that he was fairly pleased with. An essay about yourself wasn't that hard anyway.

"When you bring it up to my desk, grab one of these literature books," Mr. Lancer waved a careless hand to indicate the twenty or so thick blue textbooks stacked on his desk, "And begin reading chapter one."

Danny got to his feet and followed the rest of the class. He glanced behind him and met Tucker's worried gaze. He looked unsure, opened his mouth to say something, and seemed to change his mind halfway through a hello. Danny felt another stab of guilt and managed to smile.

"Sorry, for… you know… being a jerk, yesterday."

Tucker relaxed. He broke into a grin and shrugged off Danny's apology. "It's all right, dude. I probably would've reacted worse than you, to be honest." He sighed and glanced down at the stapled paper in his hand. "I had to change my thesis." His pale green eyes narrowed, but before he could elaborate laughter behind him made him jump.

"What, couldn't write about how it's damaged your relationships?" Sam sniggered behind him. Danny grinned at her, and she beamed back. The guilt washed away. After a minute – during which Tucker grumbled something incoherent about technology and relationships – Danny was able to reach the desk. He deposited his paper on the pile he took one of the textbooks. It was extremely heavy and promised to be dull. Trading grimaces with Tucker, they walked back to their spot near the back. He heard no snide comments or sniggers regarding his person as he passed by his classmates. It seemed that he had already faded into invisibility, and though that was a good thing, it was also slightly depressing. Of course, he wasn't invisible on everyone's radar.

Especially not Dash's.

This scene was supposed to follow the first time Danny met Miss Invisible. However, I was growing just as frustrated as Danny and changed it up a bit.

The settle back into normalcy was almost disconcerting for Danny. There was nothing to suggest that Miss Invisible had come back while he worked in the basement, talking about the events of the day with Sam and Tucker. And soon, their conversation turned to the mundane, classes and the like. Danny found himself getting swept up by it, and wondered why it was that everyone could just accept the fact that their city was now tainted and move on as though it had merely rained and was sunny once more.

It bothered him a lot. He arose the next morning, settled himself in front of the television hoping to catch some inkling of the situation on the local news. But aside from reporting about the strange electrical outage and brief cough – which they thought signaled the return of flu season and nothing more – there was nothing. He supposed that meant that no one had seen any paranormal activity, or else, they hadn't realized what they'd seen.

It was all so anti-climatic! Even his friends had seemed to write off what had happened to the town. Sure, it was exciting for the first few hours, but then when a ghost didn't float past their faces, they had just lost interest. Moved on. He had tried several times over the weekend to get them to talk about it, to realize how serious this was. They wouldn't just be forgetting it if they had seen Azazel. But they had shrugged; Sam had said that since nothing had happened then maybe nothing would while Tucker said he'd rather think about it as little as possible.

The only ones who really seemed to have any clue were his parents, but they weren't really all that concerned, more like ecstatic. And, now that they knew that he believed in their existence, they wasted no time in relating in perfect detail the function of every one of their inventions. He didn't mind as much as he used to, but then again he hardly understood a thing they said anyway. He did like the conversations they had about ghosts in general though. His mother had been absolutely thrilled when she'd seen the book – though Danny still hadn't told her where he'd got it – and they'd spent several hours simply talking.

But after all that excitement, the sudden toss back to normalcy annoyed him.

Maybe that's why, sitting in advisory that Monday morning was so particularly unbearable.

Webb was calling them all up to her desk one at a time in order to check on how they were doing after their first week of school while the rest of the class played another icebreaker game. Beside him Martin kept throwing him questioning looks, as though aware that something was bothering him. Danny was rather glad that he didn't actually ask though. There would've been no way for him to tell him what was going on, especially since Danny didn't yet know him well enough to know whether or not he'd believe him. But his frustration boiled and frothed, his confusion grew.

In the original draft, Danny actually got to talk to Paulina before Dash knocked his lights out. It was very brief and actually, quite hilarious.

"He's not my boyfriend," Sam said casually. Danny glanced at her, noting how she seemed to be sizing Paulina up. As though trying to decide whether or not she was a threat. Girls did that, right? Assessed each other by their beauty or something? He'd never really paid attention to his sister's psychology spiels.

"W-we weren't doing anything!" Danny said a little too quickly, his face flushing with color.

"Aren't you adorable," Paulina laughed. Danny brightened another shade of red.

"S-so are you. Adorable. No, I-I mean pretty. Beautiful. Sorry, stunning—" Tucker elbowed him in the rib.

So.

That's pretty much it.

I hope this keeps you entertained for a few moments while I work on Dust to Dust.