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Lesson 4

"I'm telling you Star, she's evil! EVIL! I think she was doing it all on purpose, just to get rid of me! She doesn't want to teach me because she thinks I'm just wasting her time! Can you believe that?!"

"Uh-huh. Evil." Star responded dully as she absently tapped her Sayonara Pussycat pen on the outdoor table, frowning at the magazine in front of her. The girl had been hoping to use their lunch period to find the perfect prom dress, but so far she wasn't having very much luck. "Hey, do you think I could pull off a gold gown, or would that clash too much with my natural coloring?" Eyebrow twitching, Paulina toyed with the idea of strangling her best friend for a moment before deciding against it. She'd look horrible in those orange jumpsuits they made the prisoners wear…

"Star." The Hispanic girl said through clenched teeth. "Did you hear a word of what I just said?"

"Of course." Star answered mildly, glancing up from her magazine. "You were just telling me about how for the past week Mrs. Fenton made you sit through the entire history of ghost hunting, gave you a science lesson on the chemical makeup of a ghost, told you what ectoplasm was made of, explained how ghost hunting weapons work and showed you all the different parts of the Fenton Thermos, a disassembled ecto-gun and an ecto-staff and how you're supposed to put them together without blowing yourself sky high." Paulina stared at her friend for a moment after the girl's detailed (And accurate) recap of her rant, impressed that the girl was able to retain all of that and look for her prom dress at the same time. No wonder Star had one of the highest GPAs in their class, under Foley and that creepy girl who sat in the back of the room and never talked to anyone…

"I've been going there every day, and she hasn't taught me a thing about hunting ghosts!" Paulina sighed in aggravation, glaring death at the paper in her hands. "I don't think she's taking me seriously." Star could believe it. Knowing Paulina as well as she did, it was hard to take any of the girl's flights of passions too seriously, with the possible exception of the girl's single-minded focus on the town's spectral superhero. To be honest, Star herself was expecting Paulina to quit in another week or so, given that she'd been working this long with no results to show for it.

Not that she could tell that to Paulina, though.

"Well, she's got to realize you're in it for the long haul soon." Star placated her friend smoothly, earning a disgruntled grunt from her fellow cheerleader. "Forget about Mrs. Fenton for now, Paulina. Have you found a dress for Prom yet?"

If possible, Paulina looked even more irritated at the supposedly 'safe' subject Star had brought up to distract her.

"Are you kidding?" She sulked. "I've been through fifty fashion magazines and nine different stores, and nothing looks right! The way things are going, I'm better off just going to prom naked!"

"I wouldn't mind seeing that." A voice behind the friends' joked, prompting the girls to turn to find Dash and Kwan approaching them. Naturally, the comment had come from the blonde of the pair. If Kwan had dared to comment on the appeal of a girl with Paulina's figure in as little clothing as humanly possible while in the presence of his girlfriend, Star would have most likely shoved her pen through his eyeball before promptly dumping him.

"Says the boy with the fashion sense of a rock." Paulina shot back dryly, rolling her eyes. "It will rain kittens before I ask your opinion on one of my outfits, Dash."

"Whatever. All that frilly, girly crap has always been your thing anyways." Dash shrugged as he sat across from the aqua-eyed girl. "Gimme a football or video game any day of the week."

"You girls going shopping for prom soon or something?" Kwan asked Star as he joined his friend.

"Kinda…" Star said hesitantly, shooting a quick glance at the girl beside her before turning back to her boyfriend. "We're both still browsing, but Paulina's being a little pickier then me."

"Well, if you do find something you like, lemme know and I'll buy it for you." Kwan volunteered chivalrously, smiling warmly at the blonde girl. "After all, that's the least I could do for such a pretty girlfriend."

"Aww, thanks Kwan! That's so sweet!" Star gushed, giggling at the jock's words. Paulina barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes next to her friends at the lovey-dovey couple's antics. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her friend or anything like that, Star was great and Paulina was honestly thrilled that the girl had found a boyfriend who could make her smile the way Kwan did. It was just a little harder to be encouraging about her best friend's luck in love when her own romantic interest was still so far from her.

It doesn't matter, though. Paulina told herself firmly as she flipped to the next page of her notebook. Danny Phantom will be mine soon enough, and when he is I'll finally have that kind of love too.

Just then, the notebook in Paulina's hands was snatched away without warning, making the girl look up in alarm. She scowled darkly when she saw her notes in Dash's hands, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as he scanned the page. "Dash!"

"Ectoplasmic energy has to be filtered through three different proton chambers before reaching the tri… tricombustial rod and charging for a brief but powerful blast of energy." The quarterback slowly read out loud off of the sheet, his confusion increasing as he stumbled a bit over some of the bigger words. "The energy isn't as powerful as it can be coming from a natural source like a ghost or ghost-based objects, but generally speaking it's powerful enough to attack spirits weaker then a 4.2 on the Spectral Scale… What the heck kind of mumbo jumbo is all this?!"

"Privacy much?!" Paulina snapped, snatching the notebook back from the popular jock.

"Just wanted to know what you were reading. It's not like you to be so wrapped up in notes, Paulina. What is all that for? Is Poluka making us study ghosts in science today or something?"

"Dash, we both had Poluka's science class second period." The cheerleader reminded the boy, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"Is that what that class is?" Dash asked, mildly surprised. "I always thought it was Math…"

Burying her head in her hands, Paulina didn't bother responding to the boy's statement.

"Anyways, whatcha studying those notes for, anyways? More Phantom stuff or something?"

"No Dash, this has nothing to do with the Ghost Boy." Paulina sighed. Danny Phantom was usually a happy medium for the two of them, something they both enjoyed talking about at length. In fact, there were times Paulina almost suspected that Dash was an even bigger raging fan of the superhero then herself. Especially when he began rehashing the story about how he got himself shrunk at the Fenton household and Danny Phantom saved him from some freaky robot ghost. All the A-list kids had heard of the event at least ten times each before they banned together and threaten to tie the jock to the goal post and leave him there overnight if he didn't shut up about it, with Paulina at the lead (She loved Danny Phantom, but even she had her limits). "It's a breakdown of how an ectogun works. I'm studying for my ghost hunting lessons."

A long, awkward silence greeted Paulina's confession.

"Ghost… Hunting… Lessons…?" Dash repeated slowly.

"Yes, that's right." Paulina nodded. "I'm learning from Maddie Fenton." As one, both jocks burst into hysterical laugher, unaware of the deadly aura of rage now swirling around the popular cheerleader.

"Oh god, Paulina! For a second there I thought you were serious!" Dash guffawed loudly. "I mean seriously? You? A ghost hunter?! That's a good one!"

"And exactly what is so unbelievable about me wanting to hunt ghosts?" Paulina asked, her tone sweet and dangerous all at once. The boys' laugher died almost instantly as they flashed nervously looks at one another before turning to Star for help, to find her suddenly scrutinizing her magazine with such intensity that it almost seemed like she was trying transport herself onto the page. She was NOT getting involved in this if Paulina was using that tone. She liked living far too much to take that kind of risk.

"Come on, Paulina." Dash chuckled nervously. "It's just… You're the girl who screams whenever you see a bug, then finds a guy to squish it for you. You really expect us to believe that you wanna be a gun-toting superbabe like the Red Hunter or something?" Sinking down in her seat Star prayed feverously that Dash had NOT just used the words she could have sworn she had just heard come out of his mouth. Sadly enough, the fact that she could now feel the heat of Paulina's anger told the girl all too clearly that her hope was futile.

"EXCUSE me?!" Paulina hissed, jumping to her feet and jabbing her finger threateningly in Dash's face. "You think I can't be just as strong as that pathetic excuse for a ghost hunter?! HA! The only reason everyone thinks she's so cool is because she's such a lame showoff! I'm going to be three times the ghost hunter she is, no matter what you or anybody else thinks!"

"Alright! Alright! I get it!" Dash said, eyeing the perfectly manicured fingernail hovering dangerously close to his face with evident wariness. Satisfied, Paulina sat back down, gathering her notes up to try and find where she was before Dash had stolen them from her. "Anyways, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight. Patrick's parents are out of town, and he's having a party over at his place. From the sounds of it, it's gonna be pretty big!"

"Hmm? No thanks Dash, I'm gonna be busy." Paulina sighed softly, drumming her fingernails against the table and chewing her lip as she reread a line. What on earth had Mrs. Fenton meant by positive and negative ectoplasm…?

"Busy? Since when have you ever been too busy for a party?" Dash asked, obviously disappointed.

"Since now." Paulina responded, giving him a pointed glare. Wincing Dash deflated at the look with a defeated expression.

"Fine, fine. I'll go with Ashley, then. Cool?"

"Fine by me." Paulina said carelessly, waving the boy away. Taking the gesture as a sign of dismissal, Dash quickly got up to leave the girls in peace, prompting Kwan to do the same after exchanging a quick goodbye kiss with Star.

"I didn't know you were busy tonight, Paulina." Star said after the two had left. "A family thing or something?"

"No. I'm going over to Mrs. Fenton's again. She's supposed to show me some kind of Ghost Shield thing today."

"You're going there again?" Star asked, surprised. After a week of torture with no progress towards a more intimate relationship with Phantom, Star had kind of expected her friend to taper off as far as her lessons went soon, before she ultimately quit altogether.

"I'm not exactly studying the make up of an ecto-gun for my health here, Star." Paulina shot back irritably. Was her sticking with something really such a big deal? Her father had been dropping all these hints about wanting her to give up on ghost hunting over breakfast that morning, too… "No matter what anybody else says, I'm NOT giving up on my perfect guy!"

"I didn't think you would, Paulina." Star assured her friend quickly. I just figured you'd find an easier way to do it after a while. "Anyways, don't let what Dash said about the Red Hunter bother you too much. He's a guy, after all. They see a girl in a skintight battle suit and all the blood leaves their brains." Paulina frowned at Star's words, a troubled look on her face.

"Do you think Phantom's that way, too?" She asked, looking surprisingly insecure all of a sudden. Star faltered at her friend's question, feeling trapped. After all, if she said yes, that would imply that the Ghost Boy was shallow and wouldn't care about Paulina as a person if the two ever did get together, which would bother the cheerleader immensely (Although she tried not to show it, Paulina did have some uncertainties in regards to her looks, especially when it came to boys). On the other hand though, if she said no, that would mean that Danny Phantom's feelings for the ghost huntress were deeper then that, and that Paulina might have a harder time getting his attention.

"I think… I think the Ghost Boy's just lonely is all." Star said slowly, wracking her brain for a way to word her thoughts that wouldn't end with her best friend not speaking to her. "I mean, we did say that the ghost hunters and ghosts were really the only people Danny Phantom ever talked to, and he doesn't really get along with any of them too well, so maybe he just likes the Red Hunter because he can relate more to her." Star was relieved when she saw Paulina consider her friend's point for a moment before brightening considerably.

"Yeah, you're right!" the Hispanic girl said as she stood. She paused for a moment to consider the magazine in her friend's hands before snatching it away from the surprised blonde to quickly flip through to a specific page, handing it back to her friend when she found the one she was looking for. "Here, this one'll be perfect for you. I gotta get going now. Catch you later, Star!"

"Uh, sure…" Star said as Paulina left. Shaking off her confusion, Star turned to look curiously at the page the other girl had left her with, squealing in delight at the picture of a sexy lime green spaghetti strap prom dress that was loose in the chest, but hugged the waist tightly, with a billowy, flirty skirt that tapered up at the right hip to show off just a little bit of leg. Glancing down, Star's smile fell slightly when she saw the price tag attached to the dress.

It's a good thing Kwan's such a nice guy… She thought wryly as she began to wrack her brain for a way to make the ungodly steep price up to her boyfriend.

---

Paulina's good mood over her pep talk with Star lasted for the rest of the school day, and might have gone on a little longer if she hadn't decided to head to the bathroom to do a quick make up check before heading to Fentonworks for her daily lesson, more out of habit then an actual desire to impress anyone. Unfortunately, the girl was distracted with shoving her ghost hunting notes in her bag on her way to open the door to the ladies' room, and was thrown off balance when the door that her hand was supposed to push open wasn't where she expected it to be. The cheerleader had just enough time to lift her head before she crashed into the person exiting the bathroom she'd been attempting to enter, resulting in a rather painful collision of her skull on the other girl's jaw as the two instantly went down with twin grunts of pain.

Embarrassed and irritated, Paulina quickly shook off her pain to scowl at the other person, only to freeze when she recognized the girl.

Of course… The popular teen thought sourly as she bemoaned her luck. The other girl seemed to agree full heartedly, if the soft curses she was growling out under her breathe were anything to go by.

"Watch where you're going, Manson!" Paulina snapped as she got back to her feet and brushed the dirt off of her pants.

"So sorry, Paulina." Sam replied with scathing sarcasm as she pulled herself back up. "Next time I'll be sure to stand where you can't run me over like a charging bull." Paulina responded to the Goth's offer with a glare that had passerby's suspecting that she was trying to develop the ability to make objects (such as Sam Manson's head) spontaneously combust.

"I was distracted." Paulina said defensively. "What's your excuse? Did you forget how to walk without your bat cape?" And just like that, Sam was returning Paulina's death glare with one of her own.

Something about Sam Manson always brought out the worse of Paulina. As long as they had known each other, their relationship had been nothing but antagonistic. Paulina was fairly certain that most of Sam's hostility towards her had to do with Danny Fenton, since the Goth had been in love with the boy since forever and Danny, like so many other boys in Casper High, liked Paulina instead. It wasn't the first time Paulina got static from a girl over a guy, but no one else quite annoyed her with their attitude the way Sam always seemed to.

The weird thing was, Danny and Sam had dated a bit in their Sophomore and Junior years, before Sam herself opted to call it quits on the relationship. The whole school had been buzzing about that one for a while, since no one could figure out what had gone wrong between Casper High's honorary lovebirds, but Sam and Danny were pretty tight lipped about their break up, just saying that things didn't work out like they expected and they were more comfortable as friends.

Wild rumors ran rampant for a while, but when the two failed to provide any encouragement to the stories surrounding the end of their relationship, all the excitement eventually died off. Danny and Sam went back to being best friends, but Sam's animosity towards Paulina hadn't died off in the least, and Paulina herself wasn't in any hurry to extend the hand of friendship to the girl who had crashed one of her parties with spray cans of expired Fenton Foam that smelled like rotting eggs, which took weeks to get out of her furniture. Paulina still wasn't quite sure about the details behind that event, but she knew it had something to do with a ghost named 'Klemper' and one of her old childhood toys somehow coming to life via ghost powers. Thankfully, Danny Phantom had been there to save the day, so the mess wasn't a complete loss.

"Hey, Sam? You done yet? We're supposed to meet Tucker at- Paulina?" As one, both girls turned to find a surprised Danny Fenton standing a little ways off, looking between the two with evident wariness.

"Oh, I'm done alright." Sam said in disgust, brushing past Paulina with one last nasty look. "Come on Danny, let's get out of here before all the tables fill up at the Nasty Burger."

"Uh, right." Danny said uncertainly, looking between his friend and the pretty girl and wincing slightly at the tension between the two. "Paulina, you're heading over to my place for another lesson with my mom, right? Do you want me to give you a ride or something before I go?" The boy's offer surprised the cheerleader for a minute, making her miss the absolutely murderous look Sam threw her friend. It wasn't so much that Danny had volunteered to chuffer her to his home, since her lack of a car was well known among her peers, but that Danny himself had a vehicle. She'd never seen his car when she was at his house, after all.

…Then again, most of her time was spent in his parent's lab, so that might have been the reason why.

"No thanks. I'll walk." Paulina said civilly. She had made a point to try and be a bit nicer to Danny lately, given that he was the only son of the one person in town who could help her catch the Ghost Boy's eye (Whether Maddie liked it or not).

"Well, if you're sure…" Danny said hesitantly as Sam scoffed and raised an eyebrow at the cheerleader.

"Why are you going over to Fentonworks, anyways?" She asked suspiciously.

"Sam…" Danny half pleaded as Paulina threw the dark haired girl an ugly look.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm learning ghost hunting from Danny's mom." Paulina said haughtily. A brief silence met Paulina's confession, in which Danny had just enough time to shake his head forlornly and gaze heavenward before-

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Sam burst out, doubling over with laugher as the rest of Casper High stared at her as if she had finally gone insane. "Oh, MAN! That's a good one! I needed that after that test in World History!"

"Sam…" Danny sighed heavily in disapproval.

"What? Are you going to tell me that the thought of Miss Casper High here going after ghosts with ecto-guns blazing isn't totally gold?" Sam shot back, grinning from ear to ear. "You might as well tell your mom not to waste her time Danny, Princess here's gonna fall to pieces the first time she breaks a nail in a fight."

I could make it look like an accident. Paulina assured herself as she started towards the Goth, fully intent on breaking more then just Sam's nails. Star would be happy to give me an alibi, I'm sure. Before Paulina could attack, though, her vision of Sam was suddenly blocked by a boy's back. Faltering, Paulina pulled back slightly, blinking in surprise when she realized that Danny had somehow positioned himself between her and his friend, his attention on the Goth. Confused, Paulina turned to glance uncertainly at the spot a few feet down the hall, where the blue-eyed boy was supposed to be standing. Had Fenton always been able to move that fast…?

"Sam, that's enough." Danny said, his voice surprisingly authoritative all of a sudden. "Look, just go on ahead, alright? I'll meet you and Tuck at the Nasty Burger in a bit."

"Fine, fine." Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Humor the girl, what do I care? Just don't come crying to me when she makes a big mess that Danny Phantom has to clean up." And, with that warning, Sam gave Danny a casual wave, took one last glance at the fuming cheerleader and left, chuckling to herself as she went. Once she was gone, Danny sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry about that. Sam's a bit of a cynic, so-"

"Oh please, Danny." Paulina snapped back, still fuming over Sam's words. "Look, whatever you're gonna say, I don't wanna hear it, so why don't you just run back to the rest of your group? I am so done with everyone treating me being a ghost hunter like its some big joke or something! Is it too much to ask that ONE person actually believe in me?!" Danny looked a little startled by Paulina's frustrated outburst for a moment, before a confused look settled on his face.

"What do you mean? Of course someone believes in you." Danny said blunting, looking at the popular girl like she had missed something as painfully obvious as Mr. Lancer's tragic case of hair loss.

"Oh really?" Paulina scoffed at the boy's words. "And I suppose that this 'someone' you're talking about is you?" This was why guys other then Danny Phantom irritated Paulina so much, they'd say and do anything to try and get closer to you, then leave you in the dust as soon as they got bored. Paulina had gotten enough of that crap when she was younger, and she was not about to let herself fall for it again any time soon.

"Wha- Oh! No, not me." Danny said, prompting Paulina to raise an eyebrow at the messy-haired teen. Apparently, Danny's words took a second to catch up with him, since he quickly flinched before hastily amending, "Ah, not that I don't believe in you, 'cause I do! I just meant-!"

"Save it." Paulina sighed, rolling her eyes and forcing herself not to smile as Danny continued to mentally smack himself for his chronic foot-in-mouth disorder. Her curiosity getting the better of her, the girl pressed on, "If you weren't talking about yourself, then who did you mean when you said that someone believed in me?"

"My mom." Danny said plainly, obviously still smarting over his earlier mistake. Paulina was so startled by the boy's confession though, that she hardly even noticed his embarrassment.

"What?" She said incredulously. "What are you talking about? Your mom hasn't been taking me seriously at all! She hasn't told me anything important about hunting ghosts, she just keeps giving me notes and formulas and all kinds of weird, boring facts!"

"Is that what you think?" Danny said, looking a bit troubled. "That's not true at all, Mom's really enthusiastic about showing you how to hunt. She just wants to make sure she does it right. I mean, 90% of the time a ghost hunter goes into a fight with a ghost, they're not sure what to expect. That's why it's important to get as much information as possible before you start firing, in case you accidentally do something to take the situation from bad to worse."

"You really expect me to believe all that?" Paulina said skeptically.

"Sure." Danny answered. Seeing Paulina's unconvinced look, the boy sighed. "Alright, let's try this; Say the school's being attacked by a ghost with yellow ectoplasm who's obsessed with… um… baseball! Yeah, that's a good one. So anyways, you either have the option to hit it with an ion blaster or freeze it with a stun ray. What would you do?"

"Are you crazy or something?" Paulina asked, rolling her eyes. "If it has yellow ectoplasm, then that means it's energy has a sporadic positive charge. Using an ion blaster would just make things worse since it will try to reverse the charges which could result in an explosion that would blow the school halfway to the moon. And positively-charged ghosts are immune to the core energy in a stun ray, which means that's totally useless. If anything, the best you could hope to do is take the energy control magnet from the ion blaster and attach it to the stun ray to try and convert the core energy into plasma, and hope that the thing doesn't fall apart until you can take the ghost out." It took a moment after Paulina finished her speech for what she said to really sink in, but when it did, the girl went absolutely still.

Oh…

"I rest my case." Danny said with a chuckle. "Ghost hunting's about more then just ecto-guns and hazmats, you know. And for what it's worth, my mom thinks you're brilliant at it. She keeps going on about how you were able to absorb more in a week then she could learn in a month when she started to learn ghost hunting. Thinks you're some kind of prodigy child or something." Glancing at the clock, Danny added. "Anyways, I'd better go. Good luck with your lesson, Paulina. I'll see you when I get home." Waving goodbye, Danny immediately set off down the hall, his thoughts distracting him enough that he didn't even realize how strange the sentence that he had just said sounded. Still reeling from her revelation, Paulina didn't even notice that he had left until he was already long gone.

---

"There you are!" Maddie said in relief as she opened the door for Paulina before she could even knock. "You're almost ten minutes late, sweetie! I was starting to get worried!"

"Sorry." Paulina apologized, suddenly feeling self-conscious for reasons that she didn't quite understand. "I kinda got caught up at school."

"Is everything alright?" Maddie asked, her tone full of motherly concern. "You don't sound like yourself, Paulina."

"I'm fine, Mrs. Fenton, really." Paulina assured the woman quickly. Hesitating a moment, the girl added. "I just…"

"Yes?" Maddie asked curiously.

"Mrs. Fenton, I have to ask… what makes you think I'd be any good as a ghost hunter? I mean, why bother with me at all?" Paulina had to know what made Maddie so certain that she had the potential for greatness as a ghost hunter when everyone else who actually knew her personally just burst out laughing at the thought of her as a ghost hunter.

"Is that what's bugging you?" Maddie asked in surprise before giving a light laugh. "Paulina, sweetie, I could tell the first day we met that you have everything a good ghost hunter needs. I mean, it was obvious after our first sit down that you're a smart girl with enough guts to go after something you want, and refusing to back down until you get it. And even though you might not necessarily enjoy learning all these boring fact I'm teaching you right now instead of the ecto-quick draw, you've retained everything I've told you, and your determination hasn't wavered in the slightest. Those traits are all very important in a ghost hunter, considering how crazy our jobs can get sometimes."

"Do you really mean all that?" Paulina asked, feeling a little embarrassed that Maddie had realized that she had been less then enthusiastic about the content of the woman's lessons, but still touched that the woman thought she was so great.

"Of course!" Maddie said cheerfully. "I wouldn't have agreed to teach you if I didn't see something special in you, after all. I don't exactly make a habit out of letting strange teenagers paw through our ghost hunting gear, you know." The sheer irony of the woman across from her, donned in her usual blue hazmat and red goggles, calling Paulina 'strange' made the cheerleader giggle slightly before she could stop herself, prompting a grin from Maddie.

"Now come on then! I want to show you what happens when ectoplasm is charged with electricity and used to create a force field that will keep ghosts at bay…"

"Right." Paulina said, following Maddie down to the lab. Strangely enough, Paulina was actually looking forward to her lesson for the first time in a week.

Maybe Mrs. Fenton wasn't so bad after all…

Description
Lesson 4

"I'm telling you Star, she's evil! EVIL! I think she was doing it all on purpose, just to get rid of me! She doesn't want to teach me because she thinks I'm just wasting her time! Can you believe that?!"

"Uh-huh. Evil." Star responded dully as she absently tapped her Sayonara Pussycat pen on the outdoor table, frowning at the magazine in front of her. The girl had been hoping to use their lunch period to find the perfect prom dress, but so far she wasn't having very much luck. "Hey, do you think I could pull off a gold gown, or would that clash too much with my natural coloring?" Eyebrow twitching, Paulina toyed with the idea of strangling her best friend for a moment before deciding against it. She'd look horrible in those orange jumpsuits they made the prisoners wear…

"Star." The Hispanic girl said through clenched teeth. "Did you hear a word of what I just said?"

"Of course." Star answered mildly, glancing up from her magazine. "You were just telling me about how for the past week Mrs. Fenton made you sit through the entire history of ghost hunting, gave you a science lesson on the chemical makeup of a ghost, told you what ectoplasm was made of, explained how ghost hunting weapons work and showed you all the different parts of the Fenton Thermos, a disassembled ecto-gun and an ecto-staff and how you're supposed to put them together without blowing yourself sky high." Paulina stared at her friend for a moment after the girl's detailed (And accurate) recap of her rant, impressed that the girl was able to retain all of that and look for her prom dress at the same time. No wonder Star had one of the highest GPAs in their class, under Foley and that creepy girl who sat in the back of the room and never talked to anyone…

"I've been going there every day, and she hasn't taught me a thing about hunting ghosts!" Paulina sighed in aggravation, glaring death at the paper in her hands. "I don't think she's taking me seriously." Star could believe it. Knowing Paulina as well as she did, it was hard to take any of the girl's flights of passions too seriously, with the possible exception of the girl's single-minded focus on the town's spectral superhero. To be honest, Star herself was expecting Paulina to quit in another week or so, given that she'd been working this long with no results to show for it.

Not that she could tell that to Paulina, though.

"Well, she's got to realize you're in it for the long haul soon." Star placated her friend smoothly, earning a disgruntled grunt from her fellow cheerleader. "Forget about Mrs. Fenton for now, Paulina. Have you found a dress for Prom yet?"

If possible, Paulina looked even more irritated at the supposedly 'safe' subject Star had brought up to distract her.

"Are you kidding?" She sulked. "I've been through fifty fashion magazines and nine different stores, and nothing looks right! The way things are going, I'm better off just going to prom naked!"

"I wouldn't mind seeing that." A voice behind the friends' joked, prompting the girls to turn to find Dash and Kwan approaching them. Naturally, the comment had come from the blonde of the pair. If Kwan had dared to comment on the appeal of a girl with Paulina's figure in as little clothing as humanly possible while in the presence of his girlfriend, Star would have most likely shoved her pen through his eyeball before promptly dumping him.

"Says the boy with the fashion sense of a rock." Paulina shot back dryly, rolling her eyes. "It will rain kittens before I ask your opinion on one of my outfits, Dash."

"Whatever. All that frilly, girly crap has always been your thing anyways." Dash shrugged as he sat across from the aqua-eyed girl. "Gimme a football or video game any day of the week."

"You girls going shopping for prom soon or something?" Kwan asked Star as he joined his friend.

"Kinda…" Star said hesitantly, shooting a quick glance at the girl beside her before turning back to her boyfriend. "We're both still browsing, but Paulina's being a little pickier then me."

"Well, if you do find something you like, lemme know and I'll buy it for you." Kwan volunteered chivalrously, smiling warmly at the blonde girl. "After all, that's the least I could do for such a pretty girlfriend."

"Aww, thanks Kwan! That's so sweet!" Star gushed, giggling at the jock's words. Paulina barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes next to her friends at the lovey-dovey couple's antics. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her friend or anything like that, Star was great and Paulina was honestly thrilled that the girl had found a boyfriend who could make her smile the way Kwan did. It was just a little harder to be encouraging about her best friend's luck in love when her own romantic interest was still so far from her.

It doesn't matter, though. Paulina told herself firmly as she flipped to the next page of her notebook. Danny Phantom will be mine soon enough, and when he is I'll finally have that kind of love too.

Just then, the notebook in Paulina's hands was snatched away without warning, making the girl look up in alarm. She scowled darkly when she saw her notes in Dash's hands, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as he scanned the page. "Dash!"

"Ectoplasmic energy has to be filtered through three different proton chambers before reaching the tri… tricombustial rod and charging for a brief but powerful blast of energy." The quarterback slowly read out loud off of the sheet, his confusion increasing as he stumbled a bit over some of the bigger words. "The energy isn't as powerful as it can be coming from a natural source like a ghost or ghost-based objects, but generally speaking it's powerful enough to attack spirits weaker then a 4.2 on the Spectral Scale… What the heck kind of mumbo jumbo is all this?!"

"Privacy much?!" Paulina snapped, snatching the notebook back from the popular jock.

"Just wanted to know what you were reading. It's not like you to be so wrapped up in notes, Paulina. What is all that for? Is Poluka making us study ghosts in science today or something?"

"Dash, we both had Poluka's science class second period." The cheerleader reminded the boy, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"Is that what that class is?" Dash asked, mildly surprised. "I always thought it was Math…"

Burying her head in her hands, Paulina didn't bother responding to the boy's statement.

"Anyways, whatcha studying those notes for, anyways? More Phantom stuff or something?"

"No Dash, this has nothing to do with the Ghost Boy." Paulina sighed. Danny Phantom was usually a happy medium for the two of them, something they both enjoyed talking about at length. In fact, there were times Paulina almost suspected that Dash was an even bigger raging fan of the superhero then herself. Especially when he began rehashing the story about how he got himself shrunk at the Fenton household and Danny Phantom saved him from some freaky robot ghost. All the A-list kids had heard of the event at least ten times each before they banned together and threaten to tie the jock to the goal post and leave him there overnight if he didn't shut up about it, with Paulina at the lead (She loved Danny Phantom, but even she had her limits). "It's a breakdown of how an ectogun works. I'm studying for my ghost hunting lessons."

A long, awkward silence greeted Paulina's confession.

"Ghost… Hunting… Lessons…?" Dash repeated slowly.

"Yes, that's right." Paulina nodded. "I'm learning from Maddie Fenton." As one, both jocks burst into hysterical laugher, unaware of the deadly aura of rage now swirling around the popular cheerleader.

"Oh god, Paulina! For a second there I thought you were serious!" Dash guffawed loudly. "I mean seriously? You? A ghost hunter?! That's a good one!"

"And exactly what is so unbelievable about me wanting to hunt ghosts?" Paulina asked, her tone sweet and dangerous all at once. The boys' laugher died almost instantly as they flashed nervously looks at one another before turning to Star for help, to find her suddenly scrutinizing her magazine with such intensity that it almost seemed like she was trying transport herself onto the page. She was NOT getting involved in this if Paulina was using that tone. She liked living far too much to take that kind of risk.

"Come on, Paulina." Dash chuckled nervously. "It's just… You're the girl who screams whenever you see a bug, then finds a guy to squish it for you. You really expect us to believe that you wanna be a gun-toting superbabe like the Red Hunter or something?" Sinking down in her seat Star prayed feverously that Dash had NOT just used the words she could have sworn she had just heard come out of his mouth. Sadly enough, the fact that she could now feel the heat of Paulina's anger told the girl all too clearly that her hope was futile.

"EXCUSE me?!" Paulina hissed, jumping to her feet and jabbing her finger threateningly in Dash's face. "You think I can't be just as strong as that pathetic excuse for a ghost hunter?! HA! The only reason everyone thinks she's so cool is because she's such a lame showoff! I'm going to be three times the ghost hunter she is, no matter what you or anybody else thinks!"

"Alright! Alright! I get it!" Dash said, eyeing the perfectly manicured fingernail hovering dangerously close to his face with evident wariness. Satisfied, Paulina sat back down, gathering her notes up to try and find where she was before Dash had stolen them from her. "Anyways, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out tonight. Patrick's parents are out of town, and he's having a party over at his place. From the sounds of it, it's gonna be pretty big!"

"Hmm? No thanks Dash, I'm gonna be busy." Paulina sighed softly, drumming her fingernails against the table and chewing her lip as she reread a line. What on earth had Mrs. Fenton meant by positive and negative ectoplasm…?

"Busy? Since when have you ever been too busy for a party?" Dash asked, obviously disappointed.

"Since now." Paulina responded, giving him a pointed glare. Wincing Dash deflated at the look with a defeated expression.

"Fine, fine. I'll go with Ashley, then. Cool?"

"Fine by me." Paulina said carelessly, waving the boy away. Taking the gesture as a sign of dismissal, Dash quickly got up to leave the girls in peace, prompting Kwan to do the same after exchanging a quick goodbye kiss with Star.

"I didn't know you were busy tonight, Paulina." Star said after the two had left. "A family thing or something?"

"No. I'm going over to Mrs. Fenton's again. She's supposed to show me some kind of Ghost Shield thing today."

"You're going there again?" Star asked, surprised. After a week of torture with no progress towards a more intimate relationship with Phantom, Star had kind of expected her friend to taper off as far as her lessons went soon, before she ultimately quit altogether.

"I'm not exactly studying the make up of an ecto-gun for my health here, Star." Paulina shot back irritably. Was her sticking with something really such a big deal? Her father had been dropping all these hints about wanting her to give up on ghost hunting over breakfast that morning, too… "No matter what anybody else says, I'm NOT giving up on my perfect guy!"

"I didn't think you would, Paulina." Star assured her friend quickly. I just figured you'd find an easier way to do it after a while. "Anyways, don't let what Dash said about the Red Hunter bother you too much. He's a guy, after all. They see a girl in a skintight battle suit and all the blood leaves their brains." Paulina frowned at Star's words, a troubled look on her face.

"Do you think Phantom's that way, too?" She asked, looking surprisingly insecure all of a sudden. Star faltered at her friend's question, feeling trapped. After all, if she said yes, that would imply that the Ghost Boy was shallow and wouldn't care about Paulina as a person if the two ever did get together, which would bother the cheerleader immensely (Although she tried not to show it, Paulina did have some uncertainties in regards to her looks, especially when it came to boys). On the other hand though, if she said no, that would mean that Danny Phantom's feelings for the ghost huntress were deeper then that, and that Paulina might have a harder time getting his attention.

"I think… I think the Ghost Boy's just lonely is all." Star said slowly, wracking her brain for a way to word her thoughts that wouldn't end with her best friend not speaking to her. "I mean, we did say that the ghost hunters and ghosts were really the only people Danny Phantom ever talked to, and he doesn't really get along with any of them too well, so maybe he just likes the Red Hunter because he can relate more to her." Star was relieved when she saw Paulina consider her friend's point for a moment before brightening considerably.

"Yeah, you're right!" the Hispanic girl said as she stood. She paused for a moment to consider the magazine in her friend's hands before snatching it away from the surprised blonde to quickly flip through to a specific page, handing it back to her friend when she found the one she was looking for. "Here, this one'll be perfect for you. I gotta get going now. Catch you later, Star!"

"Uh, sure…" Star said as Paulina left. Shaking off her confusion, Star turned to look curiously at the page the other girl had left her with, squealing in delight at the picture of a sexy lime green spaghetti strap prom dress that was loose in the chest, but hugged the waist tightly, with a billowy, flirty skirt that tapered up at the right hip to show off just a little bit of leg. Glancing down, Star's smile fell slightly when she saw the price tag attached to the dress.

It's a good thing Kwan's such a nice guy… She thought wryly as she began to wrack her brain for a way to make the ungodly steep price up to her boyfriend.

---

Paulina's good mood over her pep talk with Star lasted for the rest of the school day, and might have gone on a little longer if she hadn't decided to head to the bathroom to do a quick make up check before heading to Fentonworks for her daily lesson, more out of habit then an actual desire to impress anyone. Unfortunately, the girl was distracted with shoving her ghost hunting notes in her bag on her way to open the door to the ladies' room, and was thrown off balance when the door that her hand was supposed to push open wasn't where she expected it to be. The cheerleader had just enough time to lift her head before she crashed into the person exiting the bathroom she'd been attempting to enter, resulting in a rather painful collision of her skull on the other girl's jaw as the two instantly went down with twin grunts of pain.

Embarrassed and irritated, Paulina quickly shook off her pain to scowl at the other person, only to freeze when she recognized the girl.

Of course… The popular teen thought sourly as she bemoaned her luck. The other girl seemed to agree full heartedly, if the soft curses she was growling out under her breathe were anything to go by.

"Watch where you're going, Manson!" Paulina snapped as she got back to her feet and brushed the dirt off of her pants.

"So sorry, Paulina." Sam replied with scathing sarcasm as she pulled herself back up. "Next time I'll be sure to stand where you can't run me over like a charging bull." Paulina responded to the Goth's offer with a glare that had passerby's suspecting that she was trying to develop the ability to make objects (such as Sam Manson's head) spontaneously combust.

"I was distracted." Paulina said defensively. "What's your excuse? Did you forget how to walk without your bat cape?" And just like that, Sam was returning Paulina's death glare with one of her own.

Something about Sam Manson always brought out the worse of Paulina. As long as they had known each other, their relationship had been nothing but antagonistic. Paulina was fairly certain that most of Sam's hostility towards her had to do with Danny Fenton, since the Goth had been in love with the boy since forever and Danny, like so many other boys in Casper High, liked Paulina instead. It wasn't the first time Paulina got static from a girl over a guy, but no one else quite annoyed her with their attitude the way Sam always seemed to.

The weird thing was, Danny and Sam had dated a bit in their Sophomore and Junior years, before Sam herself opted to call it quits on the relationship. The whole school had been buzzing about that one for a while, since no one could figure out what had gone wrong between Casper High's honorary lovebirds, but Sam and Danny were pretty tight lipped about their break up, just saying that things didn't work out like they expected and they were more comfortable as friends.

Wild rumors ran rampant for a while, but when the two failed to provide any encouragement to the stories surrounding the end of their relationship, all the excitement eventually died off. Danny and Sam went back to being best friends, but Sam's animosity towards Paulina hadn't died off in the least, and Paulina herself wasn't in any hurry to extend the hand of friendship to the girl who had crashed one of her parties with spray cans of expired Fenton Foam that smelled like rotting eggs, which took weeks to get out of her furniture. Paulina still wasn't quite sure about the details behind that event, but she knew it had something to do with a ghost named 'Klemper' and one of her old childhood toys somehow coming to life via ghost powers. Thankfully, Danny Phantom had been there to save the day, so the mess wasn't a complete loss.

"Hey, Sam? You done yet? We're supposed to meet Tucker at- Paulina?" As one, both girls turned to find a surprised Danny Fenton standing a little ways off, looking between the two with evident wariness.

"Oh, I'm done alright." Sam said in disgust, brushing past Paulina with one last nasty look. "Come on Danny, let's get out of here before all the tables fill up at the Nasty Burger."

"Uh, right." Danny said uncertainly, looking between his friend and the pretty girl and wincing slightly at the tension between the two. "Paulina, you're heading over to my place for another lesson with my mom, right? Do you want me to give you a ride or something before I go?" The boy's offer surprised the cheerleader for a minute, making her miss the absolutely murderous look Sam threw her friend. It wasn't so much that Danny had volunteered to chuffer her to his home, since her lack of a car was well known among her peers, but that Danny himself had a vehicle. She'd never seen his car when she was at his house, after all.

…Then again, most of her time was spent in his parent's lab, so that might have been the reason why.

"No thanks. I'll walk." Paulina said civilly. She had made a point to try and be a bit nicer to Danny lately, given that he was the only son of the one person in town who could help her catch the Ghost Boy's eye (Whether Maddie liked it or not).

"Well, if you're sure…" Danny said hesitantly as Sam scoffed and raised an eyebrow at the cheerleader.

"Why are you going over to Fentonworks, anyways?" She asked suspiciously.

"Sam…" Danny half pleaded as Paulina threw the dark haired girl an ugly look.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm learning ghost hunting from Danny's mom." Paulina said haughtily. A brief silence met Paulina's confession, in which Danny had just enough time to shake his head forlornly and gaze heavenward before-

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Sam burst out, doubling over with laugher as the rest of Casper High stared at her as if she had finally gone insane. "Oh, MAN! That's a good one! I needed that after that test in World History!"

"Sam…" Danny sighed heavily in disapproval.

"What? Are you going to tell me that the thought of Miss Casper High here going after ghosts with ecto-guns blazing isn't totally gold?" Sam shot back, grinning from ear to ear. "You might as well tell your mom not to waste her time Danny, Princess here's gonna fall to pieces the first time she breaks a nail in a fight."

I could make it look like an accident. Paulina assured herself as she started towards the Goth, fully intent on breaking more then just Sam's nails. Star would be happy to give me an alibi, I'm sure. Before Paulina could attack, though, her vision of Sam was suddenly blocked by a boy's back. Faltering, Paulina pulled back slightly, blinking in surprise when she realized that Danny had somehow positioned himself between her and his friend, his attention on the Goth. Confused, Paulina turned to glance uncertainly at the spot a few feet down the hall, where the blue-eyed boy was supposed to be standing. Had Fenton always been able to move that fast…?

"Sam, that's enough." Danny said, his voice surprisingly authoritative all of a sudden. "Look, just go on ahead, alright? I'll meet you and Tuck at the Nasty Burger in a bit."

"Fine, fine." Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Humor the girl, what do I care? Just don't come crying to me when she makes a big mess that Danny Phantom has to clean up." And, with that warning, Sam gave Danny a casual wave, took one last glance at the fuming cheerleader and left, chuckling to herself as she went. Once she was gone, Danny sighed and shook his head.

"Sorry about that. Sam's a bit of a cynic, so-"

"Oh please, Danny." Paulina snapped back, still fuming over Sam's words. "Look, whatever you're gonna say, I don't wanna hear it, so why don't you just run back to the rest of your group? I am so done with everyone treating me being a ghost hunter like its some big joke or something! Is it too much to ask that ONE person actually believe in me?!" Danny looked a little startled by Paulina's frustrated outburst for a moment, before a confused look settled on his face.

"What do you mean? Of course someone believes in you." Danny said blunting, looking at the popular girl like she had missed something as painfully obvious as Mr. Lancer's tragic case of hair loss.

"Oh really?" Paulina scoffed at the boy's words. "And I suppose that this 'someone' you're talking about is you?" This was why guys other then Danny Phantom irritated Paulina so much, they'd say and do anything to try and get closer to you, then leave you in the dust as soon as they got bored. Paulina had gotten enough of that crap when she was younger, and she was not about to let herself fall for it again any time soon.

"Wha- Oh! No, not me." Danny said, prompting Paulina to raise an eyebrow at the messy-haired teen. Apparently, Danny's words took a second to catch up with him, since he quickly flinched before hastily amending, "Ah, not that I don't believe in you, 'cause I do! I just meant-!"

"Save it." Paulina sighed, rolling her eyes and forcing herself not to smile as Danny continued to mentally smack himself for his chronic foot-in-mouth disorder. Her curiosity getting the better of her, the girl pressed on, "If you weren't talking about yourself, then who did you mean when you said that someone believed in me?"

"My mom." Danny said plainly, obviously still smarting over his earlier mistake. Paulina was so startled by the boy's confession though, that she hardly even noticed his embarrassment.

"What?" She said incredulously. "What are you talking about? Your mom hasn't been taking me seriously at all! She hasn't told me anything important about hunting ghosts, she just keeps giving me notes and formulas and all kinds of weird, boring facts!"

"Is that what you think?" Danny said, looking a bit troubled. "That's not true at all, Mom's really enthusiastic about showing you how to hunt. She just wants to make sure she does it right. I mean, 90% of the time a ghost hunter goes into a fight with a ghost, they're not sure what to expect. That's why it's important to get as much information as possible before you start firing, in case you accidentally do something to take the situation from bad to worse."

"You really expect me to believe all that?" Paulina said skeptically.

"Sure." Danny answered. Seeing Paulina's unconvinced look, the boy sighed. "Alright, let's try this; Say the school's being attacked by a ghost with yellow ectoplasm who's obsessed with… um… baseball! Yeah, that's a good one. So anyways, you either have the option to hit it with an ion blaster or freeze it with a stun ray. What would you do?"

"Are you crazy or something?" Paulina asked, rolling her eyes. "If it has yellow ectoplasm, then that means it's energy has a sporadic positive charge. Using an ion blaster would just make things worse since it will try to reverse the charges which could result in an explosion that would blow the school halfway to the moon. And positively-charged ghosts are immune to the core energy in a stun ray, which means that's totally useless. If anything, the best you could hope to do is take the energy control magnet from the ion blaster and attach it to the stun ray to try and convert the core energy into plasma, and hope that the thing doesn't fall apart until you can take the ghost out." It took a moment after Paulina finished her speech for what she said to really sink in, but when it did, the girl went absolutely still.

Oh…

"I rest my case." Danny said with a chuckle. "Ghost hunting's about more then just ecto-guns and hazmats, you know. And for what it's worth, my mom thinks you're brilliant at it. She keeps going on about how you were able to absorb more in a week then she could learn in a month when she started to learn ghost hunting. Thinks you're some kind of prodigy child or something." Glancing at the clock, Danny added. "Anyways, I'd better go. Good luck with your lesson, Paulina. I'll see you when I get home." Waving goodbye, Danny immediately set off down the hall, his thoughts distracting him enough that he didn't even realize how strange the sentence that he had just said sounded. Still reeling from her revelation, Paulina didn't even notice that he had left until he was already long gone.

---

"There you are!" Maddie said in relief as she opened the door for Paulina before she could even knock. "You're almost ten minutes late, sweetie! I was starting to get worried!"

"Sorry." Paulina apologized, suddenly feeling self-conscious for reasons that she didn't quite understand. "I kinda got caught up at school."

"Is everything alright?" Maddie asked, her tone full of motherly concern. "You don't sound like yourself, Paulina."

"I'm fine, Mrs. Fenton, really." Paulina assured the woman quickly. Hesitating a moment, the girl added. "I just…"

"Yes?" Maddie asked curiously.

"Mrs. Fenton, I have to ask… what makes you think I'd be any good as a ghost hunter? I mean, why bother with me at all?" Paulina had to know what made Maddie so certain that she had the potential for greatness as a ghost hunter when everyone else who actually knew her personally just burst out laughing at the thought of her as a ghost hunter.

"Is that what's bugging you?" Maddie asked in surprise before giving a light laugh. "Paulina, sweetie, I could tell the first day we met that you have everything a good ghost hunter needs. I mean, it was obvious after our first sit down that you're a smart girl with enough guts to go after something you want, and refusing to back down until you get it. And even though you might not necessarily enjoy learning all these boring fact I'm teaching you right now instead of the ecto-quick draw, you've retained everything I've told you, and your determination hasn't wavered in the slightest. Those traits are all very important in a ghost hunter, considering how crazy our jobs can get sometimes."

"Do you really mean all that?" Paulina asked, feeling a little embarrassed that Maddie had realized that she had been less then enthusiastic about the content of the woman's lessons, but still touched that the woman thought she was so great.

"Of course!" Maddie said cheerfully. "I wouldn't have agreed to teach you if I didn't see something special in you, after all. I don't exactly make a habit out of letting strange teenagers paw through our ghost hunting gear, you know." The sheer irony of the woman across from her, donned in her usual blue hazmat and red goggles, calling Paulina 'strange' made the cheerleader giggle slightly before she could stop herself, prompting a grin from Maddie.

"Now come on then! I want to show you what happens when ectoplasm is charged with electricity and used to create a force field that will keep ghosts at bay…"

"Right." Paulina said, following Maddie down to the lab. Strangely enough, Paulina was actually looking forward to her lesson for the first time in a week.

Maybe Mrs. Fenton wasn't so bad after all…