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imekitty · 7 months

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Star Error XIV

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

Star investigates Danny’s glowing freckles.

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Star watched for any sign of the ghost boy over the entire weekend. During the day, she waited for news about a ghost fight, and at night, she went out to look for him. But he was nowhere.

On Monday in Lancer's English class, Star stared at Fenton a few desks in front of her as he scribbled something in his notebook. She still hadn't decided on a final yes-or-no question to ask him, and at this point, she wasn't sure she'd ever come up with anything good.

Was this it? Had she really lost this game? Had Fenton completely bested her after all?

Fenton shivered. Star frowned, wondering if she had just imagined it because it was actually kind of warm in the classroom.

He shivered again. Star tilted her head.

And then his breath fogged up. Star's eyes widened as she leaned forward because it definitely was not cold enough for that to be even scientifically possible.

Such a freak.

Fenton raised his hand. "Mr. Lancer, can I use the restroom?"

"We're about to break into reading groups, Mr. Fenton," said Lancer. "Are you sure you can't hold it?"

Fenton shook his head. "No, nope. Definitely can't."

Lancer sighed and waved in the direction of the restroom pass hanging near the door. Fenton wasted no time jumping up and running out of the room, grabbing the pass on his way out. Several students snickered. Manson and Foley stared after Fenton.

"The rest of you, please get into reading groups of two or three," said Lancer. "Read the passage on page three-eleven and answer the following questions together."

Students and desks began shuffling around the room, but Star stayed in place, not taking her eyes off the classroom door.

The school's ghost alarm started blaring. Many students screamed, others groaned, some chattered excitedly.

"Ooh, we haven't had a ghost attack in a while!" gushed Paulina. "I hope it comes here so the ghost boy can save us."

Star sat up straighter. The ghost boy, yes, of course. If there was a ghost at the school, then Danny Phantom would probably come to fight it off.

"Please remain calm, everyone," said Lancer as he activated the small ghost shield for the room. "Stay in your seats."

Star took advantage of the commotion to slip out of the room. She could hear Lancer still instructing her classmates to quiet down as she ran down the hall. Other teachers in their own classrooms were also telling their students not to panic, just sit and wait for the alarm to shut off and the all-clear sign.

Star ducked out of sight anytime she saw a teacher open a door and scan the hall for any wayward students. She listened intently as she continued through the halls, not entirely sure what she was listening for but she was sure she'd recognize the sound of a ghost as soon as she heard it.

The air grew colder. Star stopped right outside the library doors and stared at them. When she heard crashing sounds on the other side, she wasted no further time and pulled open the doors.

Inside the library, a huge monster ghost picked up an entire shelf of books and dumped them all into its unhinged jaw. The ghost then spit them out like bullets covered in glowing slime, firing them at none other than the ghost boy himself. Phantom flew out of the way, aiming his own ecto-rays at the monster ghost.

Star watched the battle before her, completely frozen with awe.

Until the library doors slammed shut behind her with a loud bang.

The monster and Phantom both turned their heads in her direction. Star clasped her hands behind her back and smiled sheepishly.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Phantom, his eyes wide. "Don't you hear the alarms? You've gotta go back to your classroom now."

"I will, I promise," said Star. "I just—I mean, there's something I want to ask you—"

"Go now," barked Phantom. "You're gonna get hurt if you—"

The monster ghost swiped at Phantom's right side with a clawed hand, tearing his suit and drawing ectoplasm from the fresh wounds. Phantom clutched at his side and grunted in pain, more ectoplasm oozing between his gloved fingers.

Star stepped backward, her back hitting the doors behind her as she gripped the front of her shirt.

The monster ghost spit more books at Phantom, hitting him in his chest and sending him to the floor with a crash. Phantom groaned, still holding his side, surrounded by torn and damaged books. The monster swallowed another line of books off a shelf and turned back to Phantom, whose head was down as he examined his wounds.

"Ghost boy!" shrieked Star.

Phantom looked up just in time to see the monster spit another barrage of books. He held out his hand and directed a blast of ice at the books, freezing all of them in a wall of thick ice. The monster roared and began attempting to punch through the ice.

"You really should get out of here," said Phantom, still sitting on the floor as he turned his head toward Star.

"No," said Star. "I might never find you again."

The monster's fist sailed through the ice wall, splintering and shattering the middle section. Phantom blasted more ice to freeze the monster's fist in place. The monster howled as it tried to free its hand.

"Well, now that we've broken the ice…"

Phantom phased down through the floor and disappeared. Star furrowed her brow and looked up right as Phantom reappeared in the air behind the monster and blasted a concentrated ecto-ray at the back of its head.

"I think it's time to end this," finished Phantom.

The ecto-ray launched the monster forward, slamming it into the ice wall and then to the floor where it lay in a dazed heap. Phantom then unclipped a Thermos from his belt and aimed it at the monster. Star squinted at the label on the device. It did indeed read 'Fenton,' just as Paulina said.

A bright flash of light, and the monster ghost was gone, sucked away into the Thermos. Phantom placed a cap on the Thermos and sighed with relief. He then looked around the library from where he hovered in the air.

"Minimal damage this time," he said as the ghost alarms stopped blaring.

Star also looked around at the toppled bookcases and ruined books scattered on the floor. "This is minimal to you?"

"Well, the school's still standing, isn't it?"

Phantom reclipped the Thermos to his belt and landed on the floor in front of Star. He winced, bending a little at the waist as he placed a hand over his wounded side just above his right hip.

"Do you need to take care of that?" asked Star, noting the ectoplasm dripping down his jumpsuit and staining his white glove.

"What, this?" Phantom scoffed. "This is nothing."

He straightened up and lowered his arm, revealing three gashes that definitely didn't look like "nothing" to Star.

"Now what is so important that you had to risk your life to come see me in the middle of a ghost fight?" asked Phantom.

"Aw, I wasn't in any real danger." Star batted her eyes. "Not with a big strong hero like you around."

Phantom smirked. "I bet you can get guys to do just about anything for you with that kind of flattery, huh?"

"Hey." Star pouted. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me what you want to say," said Phantom with a small but amicable laugh. "You're Star, right? Paulina's friend?"

"You know me?"

"I've seen you around."

"Hmm." Star pointed to the Thermos on his belt. "Well, I want to ask about that."

Phantom looked down. "What, my Thermos? I use it to catch ghosts."

"Okay, but why does it say 'Fenton' on it?"

"Uh—oh—um—"

"Do you know Danny Fenton?"

"I—no, not at all. Who's that?"

"Don't play dumb." Star put her hands on her hips. "I saw him run out of class right before the ghost alarm went off. He ran out to give you that Thermos thing so you could catch the ghost, didn't he?"

"Uh…" Phantom paused. "Yeah, that's exactly what happened. His parents are ghost hunters, and he sometimes lets me use their inventions to fight off ghost threats." He nodded emphatically. "Right, yes, that's why it says 'Fenton,' no other reason."

"So you do know him," said Star.

"Um…" Phantom rubbed his neck. "Yeah."

"Really well?"

"Well, we're not like best friends or anything. But you know, he's a pretty cool guy." Phantom gave her a sly smile. "But you already know that. I heard you used to date him."

Star fumed. "I did not—" She caught herself, breathed in and blew it out. "Well, if you know that, then you must know other things about him, right? I mean, you trust him enough to actually work with him when his parents have been trying to hunt you down. He could easily give you some invention that actually traps you, couldn't he?"

"Uh…" Phantom's eyes darted around the room. "I guess I know him well enough to trust him, yeah."

"So then you must know that his freckles glow when he gets excited."

Phantom stared at her.

"Do you know why it happens?" Star leaned forward. "It's a ghost-related thing, isn't it? But what is it exactly that causes it to happen?"

Phantom stared at her a couple more seconds. Then his mouth twitched and he burst out laughing.

Star wrinkled her nose. "What is so funny?"

"That's why you're here, that's why you came here to find me." Phantom smirked. "Danny wouldn't tell you, so you thought that maybe I would tell you."

"I—" Star huffed. "Well, yeah."

Phantom laughed some more. Star felt her face turning red as she clenched her fists by her sides.

"Stop laughing!" she snarled.

"I'm sorry, but that's hilarious," gasped Phantom through his laughter.

"Why?" Star tapped her foot and pressed her fists against her hips. "Why is it hilarious?"

Phantom continued laughing. Star fumed more and more as she waited for him to stop.

God, he was just as insufferable as Fenton.

Phantom's laughter began to die. He held out his hands and breathed out in a final, calming sigh. "Okay, okay, I'm good now."

Star folded her arms and scowled. "Are you gonna tell me or not?"

"Tell you what?"

"About Fenton's freckles!"

"Oh!" Phantom shook his head. "Nope."

"Why not?" Star whined.

"Because he trusts me, too," said Phantom. "And if he doesn't want you to know why his freckles glow, then I'm not about to tell you either."

Star groaned and stamped her foot.

"But listen, I can see this is really important to you for some reason," continued Phantom. "I mean, you put yourself in the middle of a ghost fight just to ask me about it, so I don't want to just leave you here with nothing."

Star's eyes widened as she clasped her hands and waited.

"I can give you a hint if you want," said Phantom. "But that's it."

Star scrunched her mouth. "What kind of hint?"

"Well, first, you have to answer just one question for me," said Phantom. "One question, and then I'll give you the hint." He pointed a finger at her. "But you have to promise you'll be honest."

"Only if it's a yes-or-no question," said Star mockingly with a sassy shake of her head.

"It's not a yes-or-no question."

"Then I'm not answering it."

"Fine. Then you don't get your hint."

Star sighed. "All right, whatever, have it your way. What's your question?"

"What do you really think about Danny Fenton?"

Star blinked several times. "Excuse me?"

"Danny Fenton." Phantom folded his arms. "What are your thoughts about him?"

Star glanced up at the ceiling a quick second. "My thoughts about him as what? As my classmate?"

"Just as a person," said Phantom. "In general. How do you feel about him?"

Star squinted. "Why do you care how I feel about Fenton?"

"Hey, you don't get to ask a question right now," said Phantom with a smile.

Star rolled her eyes. "He's a pain in the ass, that's how I feel about him."

"Okay, but what else?" asked Phantom. "Tell me honestly, come on."

Star scrunched her mouth, genuinely confused. "What else, like what?"

"Like, is he nice?" asked Phantom. "Maybe somehow not a total dweeb?"

Star laughed. "No, he's definitely a total dweeb. Gets all dopey about space and planets when I'm just trying to teach him math." She paused, thinking. "But…he can be weirdly thoughtful, I guess. I mean, he bought me orange roses for a total dickhead reason, but he at least remembered orange is my favorite color."

She thought about the way Fenton smiled at her, the flattering fit of his shirt.

"And he's not, like, hideous," Star continued. "He is kind of cute. I mean, you know, his eyes are a pretty blue color, and he's been putting on some muscle the past year, he's not all that scrawny anymore. And whatever cologne he wears, it smells nice."

Star paused, wondering why she was remembering the way Fenton smelled. But then she sniffed the air and it all made sense.

"Fenton really did give you that Thermos, didn't he?" Star leaned toward Phantom and sniffed again. "I can smell his cologne on you."

"Ah—" Phantom stumbled back one step. "So you really don't mind being around him?"

Star shrugged. "No. I guess being close to him isn't, like, repulsive. I really wouldn't mind tutoring him if he would just shut up and focus."

"He can do that," said Phantom with an eager nod. "Definitely."

Star quirked a brow.

"I mean, um—" Phantom cleared his throat. "So, would you ever go out with him on a real date, maybe?"

Star's face warmed. "Would I—what?"

"You're right, sorry." Phantom shook his head. "That's a new question. Forget I asked that."

A green blush flooded Phantom's cheeks. Star tilted her head, sticking out her bottom lip as she studied him.

"So, are we good?" she asked. "Do I get my hint now? About Fenton's freckles?"

"Oh, right." Phantom straightened. "The hint is, his freckles didn't always glow. I mean, he wasn't born like that. It was an accident."

"An accident? What kind of accident?"

"Well, now, I can't tell you that."

Star groaned and rolled her eyes.

"But is that an okay hint?" asked Phantom.

"Will you give me another if I say no?" asked Star.

Phantom laughed. "No, that's all you get."

"Then I guess it's fine."

"But I mean, does it help you at all?"

Star pouted as she studied Phantom, who appeared almost anxious for her approval.

"Yeah." Star nodded. "It does. Thanks, ghost boy."

"You can just call me 'Danny.'" Phantom jerked his head in a quick shake. "Or 'Phantom.' You know, whatever feels right to you."

Star smiled. "Okay. Phantom."

Phantom smiled back. Star couldn't help but notice that his eyes held such a pretty glimmer to them, gently ebbing with a peridot pulse.

And then Phantom hissed and clutched at his side.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Star.

"I probably should clean it up," said Phantom, his gloved hand still covering the gashes.

"Right, yeah, you probably should," said Star.

They both nodded, but neither of them moved. They stared at each other, a strange energy in the air between them.

And for a moment, Star understood exactly why Paulina was so enamored with this boy.

But there was something else about him, something that reminded her of a different boy with dark hair and blue eyes that also seemed to glimmer at times.

"Um, so, to answer your last question…" Star wrung her hands. "I guess I wouldn't be completely against going on a real date with Fenton."

Phantom's eyes widened, his snowy eyelashes fluttering a couple times.

And then little spots of green light began twinkling across his nose and cheeks, even brighter than his ghostly glow already was.

Star's mouth fell open.

"Uhhhhhhh," was all she could get out.

"Star?" Phantom frowned, his freckles dimming. "Everything okay?"

"Uh—yeah, I'm fine." Star forced herself to nod. "I, uh—I should get back to class."

"Me too," said Phantom. "Uh, I mean, not class—I mean—I should go, too."

Phantom floated into the air, his legs melding into a transparent ghost tail before he zoomed away, phasing through a wall. Star stared after him, too dumbfounded to move, trying to figure out if she really just saw what she thought she saw.

Because did that mean—?

No, no, impossible.

Or was it—?

Star turned on her heel and pushed through the library doors out into the hall. She opened the door to Lancer's classroom and scanned all the faces, immediately locating Fenton's. He was sitting at his desk, staring at her like everyone else.

"Miss Rainsdon, please take your seat," said Lancer from the front of the room. "You weren't supposed to leave, not when there's an active ghost threat in the school."

Star ignored him and stared at Fenton, meeting his big blue eyes looking as dopey as ever.

He was here, right here in class.

So he couldn't have been out in the library with her just moments earlier.

Right?

Star narrowed her eyes and entered the classroom, studying Fenton as she walked past him toward her seat.

He smiled at her.

Star's heart quickened.

Why did he have to have such a nice smile?

Star sank into her seat and pulled her hair in front of her ears, hoping to hide the blooming flush in her cheeks.

#danny phantom #star error #imekitty writes #star rainsdon #danny fenton #danny/star #I meant to post this yesterday and forgot lol

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