Danny and Star avoided each other for the rest of the day. What happened during lunch had spread throughout the students, and many had taken to staring at the two.

Star stayed away from Paulina, but kept sending flustered glances at Danny. Danny knew that Star was staring at him, but then again, so was everyone else. He ignored them all, all the attention making him slightly irritated.

Danny didn't understand what Star's problem was. She had tripped, and he had caught her. She had assured him that she was fine, then ran off for some reason. He hadn't hurt her. But the other students were staring at him as if he had assaulted her. Which he hadn't.

Danny sighed. Women are so troublesome...

School let out regularly, but not regularly. Of course, classes ended at two and students rushed out the door. However, not everyone left.

People slipped though the thick crowd of rushing teens, snatching people out of the safety of their surrounding peers to be questioned about the knowledge of -or actual being of the Human Phantom. From the general knowledge of gossip that Sam possessed, that is what people had taken to calling him.

Funnily enough, they just about covered everyone except Danny, who just watched amusedly as some random blonde haired green eyed kid ran from a horde of Phangirls. It was kind of hilarious to watch when the victim wasn't him.

__DP__

Danny sighed as he floated slowly above the trees, ankles crossed and arms behind his head. He was at the park again, in the middle of the night.

Is it sad that he didn't even have to sneak past his parents? They stayed down in the basement for the entire night, and he doubted they heard him leave.

I mean, who would hear somebody stomp down a flight of stairs and out the door, then slamming said door hard enough to make the glass window on it shatter into millions of pieces?

Danny laughed dryly at the thought. He did all of that to see if they would even bother to take a peek up the stairs... Which they didn't.

"Should I even bother going home next time?" Danny asked himself softly. He frowned, his glowing form lowering slightly so that the soft leaves brushed against his back.

"Well there's always a point in trying, right?" a voice asked.

Danny flashed out of his relaxed position, charging up a blue ectoblast, eyes an angry blue. "Show yourself, or I'll shatter you!" he demanded.

Lance waved his hands at up Danny in slight distress. "Whoa! Hold up, Frosty! Don't freeze a friend." he laughed. Danny blinked, before lowering his hand.

"Oh... Sorry Mr. Thunder." he said. Danny lowered his eyes, barely relaxing. He lowered himself to the ground where Lance stood, who noticed how Danny hesitated slightly before his white boots touched the grass.

Danny sighed softly, his downcast eyes full of pain. A short silence prevailed, before Lance huffed.

"Look, Danny..." he sighed. "I'm not gonna pretend that I understand what you're going through...because I don't. I can't. I can't do that to you." Lance said solemnly. Danny looked at him.

"I can't do that, not to you. You've done so much..." Lance continued. "You've done so much for the town. Keeping it safe and mostly ghost-free. Making sure no ghosts destroy our houses. Jeez, we wouldn't even have any money if it weren't for all of the tourists that come to see about you." he said.

"I don't know how your life is at home, and I'm not gonna bother you about it. I don't know what you relationship was with that young ghost from the other day. I don't know what the problem is with the ghost you were fighting, either. Hell, I don't know anything!" he yelled, surprising the young specter.

Lance noticed this and took a deep breath. Maybe he had riled himself up a bit too much...

Lance sighed softly. "What I'm trying to say.... Is that you tell people what you want when you're ready. Don't let anybody pressure you into saying or doing anything you don't want to. Ever."

Danny's eyes were the epitome of sadness, yet there were no tears. "I-I know, its....its just..." he looked away. "Its hard, Lance.... I can't do much, but when I do, you all praise me for everything. I... I love it. I accept it every time, because I don't get it much." he smiled sadly. "But then I change back, and its all different from then on.... No praise for anything... I thought that was fine, because reality is something everyone needs, y'know? To kill inflated egos, to keep themselves on the ground, stop them from going so high that they start hallucinating that the can do anything and everything whenever they want." he said bitterly.

"Even so, I realized after a while... My life was different. Reality is not that cruel to everybody...what was so different about my reality?"

Lance leaned against a tree with a sullen look on his face, and Danny subconsciously began floating again.

"Reality, huh?" Lance muttered.

Danny floated higher up, and sat down in the air. "Hey, Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I figured out something."

"Really?"

"Yeah. What was keeping me from telling you everything, who I am, all of my problems, my thoughts.... You're one of the only people who has actually asked me how I was feeling, in a long, long time. What stopped me from telling you everything then and there the other night, even when I was on a three hour sugar high..." he smiled. Lance scoffed.

"More like 6 hours..."

Danny glared at him mockingly. "That's not the point. The point is... I know my reason. I wanted to keep all my memories to myself. Nobody needs to know my personal business..."

Lance made a sound of agreement, eyes deep in thought.

"Hey, Lance?"

Lance shook himself out of his stupor. "Oh, yeah kid?"

Danny dropped to the ground a couple feet away. He tilted his head to the side, white hair falling across his eyes.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked, confused.

This made Lance scoff. "Listen kid. What makes you think there's a reason? The only remaining fact is that there's no one else."

Danny shook his head with a soft smile. "Tch. That's pretty sad..."

"I guess so." Lance huffed. "Now I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Is this going to be a regular thing?"

Danny let out a small laugh. "Yeah... I guess so. I can't think of anything better to do."

"Huh... You're right. Me neither."