I am so sorry, oh my goodness. This is so late that it isn't even funny. I really would have updated later, but a lot went on with school, and when it ended I got caught up with a lot of other things. Plus, on Sunday, I left for a week to go on a course with people I had never met before.

I hated it, yet absolutely loved it at the same time. I want to go back, but then again, I don't.

This is too confusing! On with the next chapter!

Disclaimer: Butch Hartman owns Danny Phantom. Come on, why would I write fanfiction for it, otherwise?

"You can not be this bad at Maths. You have to be joking."

Danny merely shrugged in reply, while grinning sheepishly. He had wanted Star to check through his Maths work (which he had actually managed to complete for once), to make sure their were not too many mistakes.

Judging by Star's verbal reaction, there were.

Brilliant.

"Maths work needed to be done; had to rush it," he rasped out quickly. His throat was still sore from over-excessive use of the Ghostly Wail in training with Frostbite. But of course, Star didn't know that, and only deemed it as a common cold.

Hey, the excuse worked for now. That's all he wanted.

"Yes, well, you could have at least thought about some of the answers. I don't even want to know what you waste your time doing instead! Goodness Danny, this is the first bit of completed homework in months from what I've seen. What takes up your time?" Danny flinched at her question, and silently hoped she hadn't seen.

Life wasn't fair. She raised an eyebrow at him, confused at his reaction.

"Perhaps we should skip the questions for now, and focus on correcting your answers?" Star suggested. Danny hastily nodded his head, glad to be away from that subject.

He still wasn't ready to tell her.

"Well, let's see... I checked through all twenty questions, and you only have questions one, four, six, seven and nine correct. So, let's begin with the most difficult one first, which would be question eighteen. Ready?"

Danny, once again, nodded while he twirled his desk chair around. The room spun around him, making him slightly dizzy.

"You're such a child, you know that, right?" Star giggled, holding her hand to her mouth, "You still need to finish this though."

Danny groaned, and stopped twirling his chair around. He stood up, and then sat down on his bed next to Star.

She pointed to the worksheet and began explaining how to solve the problem.

He tried to focus, he really did, but he just couldn't help but let his wander. Where to? Well, of course, to Star.

He admired Star. She was incredibly intelligent, and stubborn too. Nowhere near as stubborn as Sam, but that was just Sam. Her turquoise eyes seemed to sparkle, especially when she laughed.

Her laugh. It was adorable. He'd never heard a more beautiful sound before. It was light and warm-hearted.

Her blonde hair too; he wanted to run his hands through it. Perhaps it sounded like a creepy thing to do, but he didn't care. He just liked being near her. It made him happy.

But he didn't know exactly what he felt towards her.

Sure, he could call it love. But heck, it was far too early for that. They'd only became friends at least a month ago! If it was love, it was for a friend.

Nothing more.

Right.

Danny sighed mentally, and tried to focus back on to what Star was saying, and not Star herself. It was bloody difficult though.

"Did you get all of that, Danny?" Star's voice interrupted his train of thought. He only blinked in reply.

Star sighed, and said, "I'm guessing no. How about I just give you all of the working out and answers? I need to go home soon, anyway. Would that be okay with you?"

He almost shook his head in reply, but thought better of it and slowly nodded. At this, Star stood up, stretched and sat down at his desk. She took out her homework and another spare piece of paper, picked up a pen and copied everything down.

Once done, she sighed again, and handed Danny the spare sheet.

"Here you go. Try not to lose it. I know you don't mean to do any of this Danny, I really do. Not doing your work, your bad grades, running away from your friends and I all of a sudden - although I think Sam and Tucker know what's going on and why - and having lost your voice for over a week; I believe it's all connected in some way. It's your secret though, and I won't intrude, I just hope you'll trust me soon enough to help me understand more than I do already." She smiled sadly, then muttered, "It's wishful thinking. Take your time, though. And make sure you do your homework too, slacker!"

As she was about to turn to leave, Danny suddenly stood up, and hugged her. He, with some difficulty, replied with a meaningful, "Thank you."

Star brought her arms up and hugged him back.

'This is nice,' she thought, although she responded with an equally meaningful, "You're welcome."

They stood like that, hugging each other, for a while, before breaking it apart. Looking closely, Danny could see the light blush on Star's face, and she could on his. Star coughed awkwardly, and muttered a quick, "Bye!" before rushing out of his room, out of his house, and down the street to her house.

She ran into her room, without uttering a word to her poor stunned mother down the hallway, and sank to the floor with her back to the door. She grabbed a small pillow from the bottom of her bed nearby, and cuddled it to her chest.

'Stupid feelings.'

Danny grunted as Sam punched him playfully on the arm.

"Come on, Danny! I need to hear what your voice is like, to know whether your sore throat will be healed soon. Now, answer my previous question. How does your throat feel?"

Danny rolled his eyes, then replied with a reluctant, "Better."

Sam hummed, furrowed her eyebrows.

'Uh oh,' Danny thought, 'She has that thoughtful look on her face...' A full minute went by before Sam spoke again.

"You're happier too for some reason. Come on now, this'll be good practise for your voice! What happened to make you this happy?"

"Nothing!" Danny almost yelled a little too quickly. He winced as his throat stung, and slowly rubbed at his neck in hopes of soothing it.

Sam laughed, "Now that's rubbish, and you and I both know that. Was it Star?"

Danny's eyes widened considerably, and he had to force himself to look away from Sam's probing amethyst eyes, as a pink blush coloured his face.

Sam noticed this immediately.

"It is! Oh, Danny! What did you do?" Great, now she was accusing him of making a mistake.

...That hug was hardly a mistake.

Yet why was he so flustered over a hug?!

Downing a cup of water, he answered, "Just a hug."

Goodness, his throat burned.

"Just a hug? Just a hug. Just a hug! Danny, what did the hug mean to you?" Now, he had to think about that. What did the hug mean to him? After a good while, he finally gave his reply.

"A lot." Sam sighed, and placed her hand on her forehead. Of course. Trust Danny to get a crush on Star. Sam had to agree, Star was pretty in a sense (Tucker agreed but that's just Tucker). Heck, she was probably more beautiful than Paulina. She didn't use too much make-up, and she had a slim body with curves in the right places.

Sam sighed again, in defeat, and looked at Danny. He was staring intently at his hands that were folded in his lap, refusing to see Sam's reaction.

"You know, Tucker and I made a bet." Now that made Danny look up.

"A bet?"

"Yes, a bet. Tucker had bet that you and Star would get together before school broke up for the holiday. I made a bet that you and Star wouldn't get together."

"Why?" Simple questions from such a simple guy. Sam almost laughed at her own joke.

"At first, I didn't see it; Tucker was doing it just for a laugh. I think he might win the bet, though."

At this, Danny's eyes widened in surprise, gratitude clear in his eyes.

After all, Sam didn't like anyone really getting close to her two best friends, and she'd break someone's nose if they messed with the three of them.

But this was Danny's choice, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Besides, she did like Star too. Only in a friendly way, of course. She looked at Danny again, and gave him a thumbs-up.

She'd basically given him permission to do what he wanted.

Ah well.

"If she does anything to you though, I won't hesitate to harm her!" Sam warned.

"Of course, Sam. Wouldn't have it any other way."

I am still so sorry that this was so late. I'll try to update soon! I really will! But my holiday is a bit jam-packed. You're also lucky that I wrote this out and uploaded this in one day. I arrived back from the course yesterday, and yeesh am I tired?

I feel awful. But oh well.

Onto the reviews!

biginferno: thank you! I agree with you; Star is definitely a better person with Danny.

acosta perez jose ramiro: thank you! I hope this chapter is also a well written one. The last bit was rushed though... It might not make much sense...

Inviso-Al: actually, ghost puberty sounds like a funny idea. Aha, I think I might include that. Perhaps Vlad missed it since he became half-ghost at a much later age... Gah! Too many ideas! Thank you, anyway.

Guest: uhhh... Bought her way in? Valid question, valid reason.

The Blood On My Knife: I updated soon *shifty eyes* No, but really, I should update sooner. Thank you!

Until next time, my dear readers. I will honestly try incredibly hard to get the next chapter up. I finished the plot and know what I want to write now. I just have to not wander away from that path.

Happy reading!