#Valerie latches on and does not let go | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

oblivious-aro · 8 months

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Friends in Strange Places Ch. 6 Pt 1

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

Summary: After a ghost fight, Danny and his friends hang out at The Nasty Burger and then Sam and Valerie go back to her house. Just the two of them. That won't be awkward.

Word count: 6700

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"Catch me if you can Dipsticks!" Ember cackled as she flew past the pier.

Danny and Valerie continued after her. Sam and Tucker stopped at the edge of the dock.

"Man," Tucker crossed his arms "It sucks not being able to fly.

After about twenty meters, Ember suddenly turned and blasted a pink beam from her guitar.

Danny and Valerie split apart, the beam missing both of them.

"Give it up Ember!" Danny said, charging up two ecto blasts "You can sing all the cheap pop songs you want, there's no one around here for you to even control!"

"Wrong on two counts, Dipstick!" Ember grinned smugly "My music comes from the heart, and I've discovered a brand new kind of audience out here."

Ember raised her hand high above her head and let out a mighty strum on her guitar.

Danny and Valerie looked around. Nothing happened.

"Look down, you drips."

Below their feet the the water was shifting ominously.

One by one, over a hundred fish began to break the surface. Their heads bobbed above the water, watching the floating trio.

"Seriously?" Valerie said "Fish? That's the best you could come up with?"

"Well I can't exactly go around rounding up teenagers again, now that you recognize me." Ember said bitterly "But with these little creatures, I can sill give you a performance you're bound to remember. Now, denizens of the deep," Ember pointed at Danny and Valerie "Attack!"

On Ember's command, the fish began launching themselves at Danny and Valerie.

"Agh!" They both yelped.

The fish were too small to hurt in any significant way, but getting smacked by dozens of fish over and over again was pretty disorienting.

Valerie activated the hand shield Tucker had embedded into her glove and attempted to bat away as many of the attacking fish as she could.

Ember floated there, grinning maliciously as pink and green ecto beams sailed right past her.

"Ooh, we turning this into a rave?" she said "I dig it."

"Stupid fish!" Danny cursed as one bounced off his face "That's it! I'm going where they can't reach me!"

Danny shot up into the air.

"Nice try Dipstick," Ember turned the dial on her guitar "But I've got a song for that."

She began to rapidly pick at the strings. Many of the fish in the water began to glow blue.

"Uh, Danny-" Valerie started to say.

Before she could finish her sentence, a dozen fish shot into the air towards Danny, leaving trails of blue behind them.

"Agh!" Danny yelled as he was assaulted by the high-flying fish "Why does your guitar even have that function?"

Ember laughed as she continued to pluck away.

Valerie tried to shoot her while she was distracted, but getting repeatedly bumped by so many fish kept making her miss wildly.

"Why did I decide to pursue ghost hunting again?" she asked herself as she swung her shield at a group of fish about to hit her face.

Back on the dock, Sam and Tucker were trying to watch the fight using the zoom feature on Tucker's PDA camera.

"It looks like they're having a rave over there." Sam said.

"Are those...fish?" Tucker squinted at the screen.

A fish suddenly jumped out of the water and latched onto Tucker's ear. The fish didn't have teeth, but it still freaked Tucker out.

"Aaaah!" he yelled "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"

After some flailing, Tucker managed to grab the fish and fling it back into the water.

"Did you really have to throw it that hard Tucker?" Sam chastised.

"The fish was biting me!" Tucker threw up his arms "What did you expect me to do?"

"It wasn't the fish's fault! You could at least-"

Sam was interrupted by another fish jumping out and grabbing onto her hand. She yelped and waved her arm around wildly until the fish went sailing off of it.

"What happened to it being 'not the fish's fault'?" Tucker smirked.

"If you say another word, you're going to have a lot more to worry about than a fish bite. Hey," Sam squinted at something behind Tucker "I know that person."

Tucker turned and saw a man standing in a stationary speedboat, transfixed by what was happening out on the water.

"Arnie!" Sam called, running towards the boat. Tucker decided to follow her.

"Ms Manson?" Arnie snapped his head towards the approaching teenagers "I don't know what you're doing here, but you better skedaddle! Some of them ghost creatures from the news are duking it out over there with a Power Ranger!"

"Arnie, we need you to take us over there!" Sam said, hopping into the boat.

"What're you doing child?!" Arnie cried "It's not safe! You ought to be heading as far away from the water as you-"

"Here's fifty dollars." Sam interrupted, shoving a bill into Arnie hands "And I'll double it if you don't ask questions. They need our help out there!"

"Ummm..." Tucker and Arnie said, a matching look of concern on their faces.

"Don't worry." Sam said "I have a plan."

"This is dangerous, and I don't like it!" Arnie said as he started up the motor "But knowing you child, you'll do something even more reckless to get over there if I refuse."

"Welp, I've gone along with worse plans." Tucker said to himself, jumping into the boat just before it sped off towards the fight.

Back at the fish-fight, Valerie was attempting to back away from Ember and hopefully the fish.

Getting some distance did help, but unfortunately there were still plenty of fish willing to attack her, even this far away from Ember.

"Stupid fish!" Valerie cursed as she kicked off a few that had latched on to her board "I swear, when this is over, I'm going to buy a deep fryer and-"

"Valerie!"

Valerie turned around to see Sam and Tucker approaching in a speedboat, driven by someone she'd never met.

"Sam?" Valerie raised an eyebrow under her mask "What're you doing here? Who's that?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Hey!" Arnie said indignantly.

"Think you can you distract Ember for a minute? We're gonna try a manouevre, but it won't work if she sees us coming."

"Can do." Valerie nodded as Sam and the others zoomed off.

"Hey Blue Man reject!" Valerie called.

Ember turned and Valerie charged, firing rapidly at Ember, who easily dodged them.

As Valerie got close, Ember banged out a chord that reverberated through the air, knocking Valerie off her board.

"Aah!" Valerie screamed as she went flying into the water. Ember was floating a meter away from her when she broke the surface.

"Gutsy move Red, I'll give you that." She said "You know, I like you. And that outfit's pretty rockin'. Any chance you wanna ditch ghost-boy and team up with someone who's actually going somewhere?"

"Not a chance you-you flamey freak!" It was hard to think of insults while trying to not drown.

"Aw well, your loss."

Valerie braced herself as Ember raised her hand.

"Hey Ember!"

Ember turned to the sound of Tucker's voice only to get drenched by the wake of Arnie's turning speedboat.

"Cowabunga." Tucker finished.

The dripping Ember hovered above the water completely shell shocked. Her makeup was runny and her fiery ponytail had vanished, put out by the water.

"Do you losers have any idea how much it'll cost if my guitar has water damage!" she screeched.

"Yeah, yeah, bill me from the Ghost Zone." Sam shrugged as Tucker pulled out The Fenton Thermos and sucked up the powerless Ember.

"Turns out there's a downside to hanging around water when you're a fire-based ghost." Tucker pulled the pair of Fenton Phones out of his ears "Thank goodness I can take out these ugly things."

Valerie's hoverboard zoomed to a stop beside her, hovering a few centimeters above the water. Valerie reached out and pulled herself up onto it.

"You good down there?" Danny asked, flying down to check on Valerie.

"I'm good." she said, standing up on her board "Wanna hear something neat? Turns out my suit is watertight."

"Ha, nice! Mine is too, actually. Except for the face part." Danny pulled off a fish that was still latched on to his boot "She's gone, you can go home." he said as he dropped the fish back into the water "Sheesh. Those little guys have a lot more determination than you'd expect."

Danny turned to look at Arnie.

"Hey uh, thanks...whoever you are."

Arnie didn't respond. He just gaped at Danny and Valerie for a very awkward fifteen seconds. Then he turned to Sam.

"Ms Manson," he said "You're gonna have to triple your initial offer to keep me quiet."

"Extorting me because I'm not really in a position to say 'no'? Low, but understandable."

"No, it's to cover the cost of a facial and massage at The Amity All-Day Spa. After what I've just been through, I need the relaxation desperately!"

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Arnie wasn't the only one who needed to decompress. The four of them decided to stop by The Nasty Burger before heading home.

They all let out a collective shudder when they saw the poster advertising the new fish burger special.

"So that's two Nasty Combos with diet cola, one of the fries upsized, and a Nasty Alternative Substance Patty with a diet ginger ale. Is that everything?" the cashier asked.

There was a moment of silence before Sam turned to Valerie.

"You gonna order anything?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm pretty strapped for cash right now. Between homework and ghost fighting, I don't exactly have time for a job."

"Order whatever you want." Sam said "It's on me."

Danny and Tucker wordlessly glanced at each other.

"Thanks, but I'd feel bad taking money from you." Valerie said "I know none of you three have time for jobs either."

"It's on my parent's tab." Sam clarified "And they're loaded, so you absolutely should not feel bad."

"Well in that case I'll take one of everything." Valerie grinned. Her expression quickly dropped "Uh, kidding, just kidding. I would take a Nasty Combo with diet iced tea if you're offering, though."

"You honestly could order the whole menu for all I care." Sam shrugged as she paid for their order.

"We can?" Tucker asked. Danny elbowed him.

"Sam and her parents don't really get along." Danny explained to Valerie as they sat down at a booth.

"If by 'don't get along' you mean they're overly controlling self-centered snobs with an incredibly narrow mindset they refuse to even try to broaden, then yes, we don't get along."

Nobody was really sure what to say to that.

"Ugh, don't look now." Sam suddenly cringed "Intense make out session happening at three o'clock. Actually, you can probably look, I don't think they'd notice if a meteor hit this place."

Danny, Tucker, and Valerie looked at the table next to them.

A girl with red hair and a boy with a beanie had moved their chairs right next to each other and were kissing. It was, as Sam put it, intense.

"Oh wow, they're...uh...pretty into it, huh?" Danny said.

"I'm jealous." Tucker grumbled "Being single sucks."

"It's not that bad." Sam rolled her eyes.

"You saying you wouldn't swap places with her if you could, Sam?"

Sam made a face like Tucker had just suggested she eat cat vomit.

"He's okay, I guess." Valerie shrugged. She looked down at spot on the table as she spoke "I wouldn't mind swapping places with him, though. The redhead's pretty cute."

"Oh," Danny said, turning to Valerie "So, like you're into girls? That's cool." He gave her a friendly smile.

"Yeah I'm...I'm actually bi." Valereie smiled back.

"Really?!" Tucker whipped around to face her. "That's awesome! Did you just figure that out recently, or-"

Sam kicked Tucker under the table.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Cool it with the estions-quay." she hissed.

"Nah, it's cool." Valerie waved her hand.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I've known for a while. Saw Brandy as Cinderella on TV when I was seven and something clicked. Paolo Montalban wasn't too bad as the prince either."

"Really?" Danny said "I had a crush on that Cinderlla when I was eight, actually. Can't speak for Montalban, though."

"No way!" Valerie smiled "I literally begged my dad to buy the VHS, I had it sooo bad for those two."

"That's so cool!" Tucker was beaming.

"Ha ha, yeah. I've actually still got that tape stashed in my dresser drawer. A lot of sentimental value there." Valerie looked back down at the table. "It's...actually kind of nice to tell someone."

"Wait," Sam raised her eyebrows "Are we the first people you've told?"

"Pretty much. My dad would probably be cool with it, it's just kind of awkward because you know, he's my dad. And we didn't really talk about this kind of stuff in my...old friend group."

"LGBT+ stuff?"

"Personal stuff."

"Kind of seems like that defeats the point of having frien- Ow!"

This time Tucker kicked Sam.

"Eh, you're not wrong." Valerie said. "I mean, I guess we did share stuff sometimes, just nothing too deep. You know how it is in Amity Park, especially at Casper. People aren't like, outright homophobic if they find out you're gay or whatever, they just..."

"Get kind of weird when you talk about it?" Danny finished.

"Yeah."

"Order number twelve!" Someone called up front.

"That's us." Danny said "I'll go grab them."

"I'll help." Sam stood up and followed Danny.

No one said much after Danny and Sam returned with the food. Ghost fighting was hungry work.

"Welp, I better get going soon." Danny said after they'd all finished eating "I want to get my homework out of the way in case some ghost raccoons decided to go through our trash later or something."

"Smart plan." Sam nodded "Tucker and I were going to go back to my place to do some training."

"Sounds terrible." Danny smirked.

"Yeah, we don't all have supernaturally enhaned abilities." Sam elbowed Danny "Some of us have to work for our brawn."

"I mean, if you want to try frying yourself with who knows how many volts of pure ecto energy, go ahead." Danny rubbed his arm.

A thoughtful look crossed Sam's face.

"Oh, and you also have to regularly clean my parents' lab."

"You know what, I think I'll stick to building muscle the old fashioned way." Sam said, flexing her arm. "Ecto stains do not come out without a fight. Even in black clothes."

"Sam's got her own private home gym." Tucker told Valerie "It's decked out with everything. Treadmills, weights, ellipticals, those gymnastic ring thingies, you name it."

"Nice." Valerie said "I mostly just fly around the park and set up old soup cans to shoot out of trees. And curl some dumbells I found in a closet. I mean sure, we couldn't keep vanity, but we kept the box of weights my dad hasn't touched in a decade." Valerie sighed and rested her chin on her hand "I suppose I should be thankful, though. At least that gives me something to strength train with."

Sam seemed to think carefully before speaking.

"You...could come too, if you want to Valerie. To train, I mean."

"Really?" Valerie said.

"Sure." Sam shrugged "If you're going to be regularly fighting ghosts with us, then you should be in the best shape you can be."

"Yeah, I definitely noticed ghost fights were a lot less strenuous after Sam and I started working out regularly." Tucker said "I'm honestly surprised the first few attacks didn't kill me. Running from ghosts is hard work. And the more work-out buddies you have, the funner it is! Right Sam?"

"Sure." Sam smirked "Maybe Valerie'll actually be able to keep up with me on the treadmill."

"Hey!" Tucker said "It's not my fault you cheat!"

"Tucker, I've been running on that things regularly for years. That's not 'cheating'."

"I'd call a multi-year headstart cheating." Tucker said indignantly.

He suddenly frowned.

"Aw dang, I forgot, it's Cleaning Day at my house."

"Cleaning day?" Valerie raised an eyebrow.

"It sounds fake, but it's very real." Danny said grimly. "They do it every month. I'm not allowed to come over Tucker's on Foley Cleaning Day."

"You don't escape Foley Cleaning Day." Tucker confirmed "My folks are usually very nice and normal people, but if I'm not home in fifteen minutes, they might actually kill me.

"Oh wow, your parents really go hard for cleaning, huh?" Valerie glanced awkwardly at Sam "Well, I guess we can train together another time or whatever."

"What? No, it's fine. We can work out, just the two of us." Sam's face fell a little as if she only just realized what exactly she was signing up for.

"Oh, okay." Valerie seemed genuinly surprised that Sam hadn't cancelled. "Yeah, sure. That'd be...cool."

"Yup." Sam said "Totally cool."

Tucker and Danny watched the awkward exchange, completely unsure what to do.

"Welp," Danny stood up quickly "I'd better get going."

Everyone else stood up and followed him out of the booth. Both groups split up once they were outside The Nasty Burger, Sam and Valerie heading to Sam's house, and Danny and Tucker heading to their own homes.

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"They'll...be okay. Right?" Danny said after he and Tucker had been walking for a bit.

"Sam and Valerie?" Tucker raised an eyebrow at Danny "Why wouldn't they be?"

"I don't think Sam's exactly Valerie's biggest fan."

"Aw, come on Danny. That was just one particular...incident that they talked out. Sure, they might not be BFFs or anything, but they've gotten along fine in ghost fights and stuff since then."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Danny said.

"Besides, if Sam had a problem hanging out with Valerie alone, you know she would not hesitate to say so."

"That is very true." Danny laughed.

"Uh, speaking of Valerie though..."

"What's up with Valerie?"

"Nothing's up with her, I was...kind of thinking about asking her out."

"Really?" Danny smiled "Well good. it's about time! I mean, you've liked her for-"

"Alright, alright, knock it off!"

Danny frowned.

"What's the matter with you?"

"What? A guy can't request that people don't tease him about his love life?"

"It's not that, Tuck. You just don't usually mind teasing this much."

"I'm just kind of nervous about it. Asking Valerie out, I mean."

"What? But you've asked out tons of girls. This technically isn't even the first time you've asked Valerie out."

"This is different."

"How?"

Tucker adjusted his back pack straps.

"Because I'd actually care if she turned me down."

"Oh."

There was a brief pause while Danny processed what Tucker had said.

"So you like, actually like-like her, huh?"

"Yeah, Valerie's really cool. And a good friend. Like, when I asked all those girls out to the dance, I just wanted a date, you know? I mean, it wouldn't be the end of the world or anything if she did say 'no', but it would hit a little harder than getting rejected by a girl I barely know."

"Yeah, that's definitely understandable."

They walked in silence for a few seconds.

"Hey, would you mind not mentioning any of this to Sam?" Tucker asked.

"Sam already knows you have a crush on Valerie, you're kind of super obvious dude."

"No, I mean don't tell her I'm asking Valerie out. I'm nervous enough as it is. I don't need Sam making fun of me."

"She wouldn't make fun of you for this."

"She's been teasing me about Valerie since day one."

"Okay true, but if she knew how important this was to you I'm sure she wouldn't."

"Maybe, but I still don't want to tell her just yet, okay?"

Danny frowned.

"You want to keep this a secret from Sam?"

"Just until after I actually ask Valerie out." Tucker said "And then I'll tell Sam. And I will ask her out soon."

Sam was one of Tucker's best friends. The fact that he wanted to keep something like this from her didn't sit well with Danny, even if it was just for a tiny bit.

"Okay, what's up with you two?"

"What do you mean?"

"It feels like you've been at each other's throats for months. And it's beyond friendly banter. I don't know what's going on, but it feels like something happened between you two that you refuse to talk about."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, dude." Tucker said.

Danny wasn't satisfied, but they had arrived at his house, and Danny knew Tucker needed to be home soon. He'd just have to interrogate him another day.

"If you say so." Danny relented "But maybe consider talking to Sam if there's something you're not telling me. Anyway, this is my stop. See you tomorow. Have fun cleaning." Danny started up the steps.

"You know I won't."

"And good luck with Valerie!" Danny called.

Tucker let out a strangled noise as Danny shut the door behind him.

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The walk back to Sam's house was painfully silent.

Despite her initial (admittedly hostile) reaction to Valerie, the two of them had gotten along just fine with each other the past few weeks.

Not great, not bad, just fine.

Outside of ghost fights, Sam and Valerie barely said a word to each other. Not maliciously, it was more that neither of them could really figure out what to say to the other.

They worked together well enough in combat, but Sam found there was an awkwardness between them that wasn't there with Danny or Tucker.

An awkwardness that was definitely here now.

"Welp, this is my place." Sam said, not looking to see Valerie's reaction. Since her dad worked security for the Mansons, Valerie already knew Sam's family was rich, but Sam still couldn't help feeling a little self-conscious.

"Not bad." Valerie said as she looked over the giant house.

The Manson's house brought up some mixed feelings in Valerie. Not too long ago, she'd been living in a house that size. Now she and her dad lived in an apartment and had to share a bathroom.

That being said, Valerie was thankful that her dad had found a better apartment for them after he'd gotten a decent job. And this one was a lot closer to Valerie's school.

But still, she missed the home she grew up in.

Sam led Valerie inside and down a set of stairs to the basement gym.

Valerie looked around, clearly impressed. The space was as decked out as Tucker had said. The Manson's home gym might have been mistaken for a public gym, if it wasn't for the fact that the equipment was only set up for one or two people to use at a time.

Sam took Valerie around the space and gave her the basic rundown. Valerie actually seemed to already have some familiarity with fitness equipment, and once the tour was done she went to inspect the rack of weighted plates.

Sam took a breath. She figured she should at least try to start up some kind of friendly conversation with Valerie. Just to try to break the ice.

"Hey uh, nice job out there today." Sam said "Ember doesn't com around a lot, but she's a pretty tough ghost. You did good." Sam hoped she didn't sound as awkward as she felt.

"Thanks. You too. Hey, how'd you know that guy with the boat?"

"Arnie? My grandma plays cards with him sometimes."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Sam wanted to keep talking, but she didn't know what to say next. What should she talk about? Sam barely knew anything about Valerie. What was she even interested in outside of ghost hunting?

The silence had been stretching on too long and Sam's scrambled brain landed on the thing she'd most recently learned about Valerie.

"So," Sam said "Back at The Nasty Burger. That was cool. When you told us you were bi, I mean."

"Yeah?" Valerie's tone was hard to read.

Maybe that had been a bad topic choice. Where was Sam supposed to go with that?

A lightbulb went off in Sam's head; she could tell Valerie she was aromantic! This was perfect! An exchange of similar information to establish mutual trust and connection.

"I find that kind of funny since-"

"What? Why?" Valerie's face hardened and she gripped the ten-kilogram disc in front of her like a shield.

Sam realized with horror the way Valerie thought she might've been about to end that sentence.

Operation improve-tense-relationship-with-Valerie was going just fantastic.

"I just meant that I kind of run on the opposite end of the spectrum." Sam said.

"What'd you mean?" Valerie asked.

"I'm like reverse bi. I don't like anybody." Sam internally facepalmed. 'Reverse bi'? Did she just seriously say that?

"Well, that's not exactly shocking."

"I meant romantically." It took all of Sam's willpower to avoid tacking 'you idiot' onto the end of that sentence.

Maybe she should just go back to being enemies with Valerie. It would be a lot easier (and a lot less painful) than her attempt at friendship so far.

"Like you're aromantic? That would be pretty on-brand for you." Valerie grinned.

Sam felt her heart stop.

"Wait, you know what aromantisism is?"

"Yeah, I was on a bi forum and someone mentioned it."

"Okay, that's really cool," Sam smiled "But why was someone talking about aromantisism on a bi forum?"

"I think the poster was both. Like, they were aromantic and bi."

"You can be both?"

"Yeah. I guess there's actually, like, a couple different kinds of attractions, so some people are more than one thing. That was a pretty neat rabbit hole I got sucked into."

"Huh. Didn't know that. That's interesting. Are you more than one thing?"

"Nah. It was just neat to read about. You?"

Sam considered this.

"Nah. Just aromantic feels pretty right."

"Rad. Recent discovery for you?"

"Yeah. Just figured it out on that trip we took last weekend. Had a weird conversation that made some things clear."

"Heh, been there."

"With the bi thing?"

"Hm? Oh, nah, I figured that one out pretty early on, so it's always felt...normal, I guess. But recently I have been thinking about some other things, and...well, I'm not really sure, but I think I might be demi."

"What's that?"

"I don't think I can really like someone in a romantic way if I'm not close with them first. Like, they have to be a friend first."

"Really?" Sam raised an eyebrow "But I've seen you go to a few dances with people you don't really hang out with, and didn't you say you had a crush on Cinderella? Cuz I feel like you weren't personal friends with Brandy Norwood as a kid."

"Well, it's...I don't really know how to explain it, but crushes with fictional characters are...different."

"Huh. Okay."

"But that wouldn't make me less demi!"

"Oh, yeah, no, for sure." Sam said earnestly.

Valerie paused, taken aback by the lack of challenge from Sam.

"...So that makes sense to you?"

"Not really, if I'm being honest." Sam shrugged "But in my experience, the way you feel doesn't have to make sense. It just...is."

"Huh." Valerie said "That's pretty deep."

"Read that on a forum I found the other day." Sam said "So, did you like Kwan? I remember you two were going to go to the last dance together before- well, you know." Kwan had ditched Valerie at the last second and she'd ended up going with Tucker as a last resort. "To be honest, the whole going-to-the-dance with someone always confused me. I never got why it was such a big deal to go alone."

"I mean, going to the dance with someone is more about status. You don't really need to like your date, you just need to prove you're desirable. I may have been willing to go to a dance with Kwan, but I definitely don't like him that way. He's kind of nice, but he's also a total idiot who just goes along with what people tell him to do."

"I despise people like that." Sam glowered.

"But I did have to go with someone, and he asked me, and we were both part of the popular crowd, so you know. I mean, going with someone unpopular was preferable to going alone, but it's better to go with someone popular and not risk being too associated with the socially undesirable."

"This is legitimately how you thought about things?" Sam rubbed her temples "I'm getting tired just listening to you. Uh, no offense."

"None taken. Honestly, you're not wrong. It's actually a huge relief to not be caught in that mindset anymore. Turns out the only other people who really cared in the first place were the other popular kids. Ironically, it was the people I called my friends who were enforcing the idea that I constantly needed to keep up that 'socially acceptable' image. And I never considered how messed up that was for even a second!"

Valerie's knuckles turned white. She noticed this and put the plate she was clutching back on the rack.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get into all that."

"What? No, it's fine. Paulina and her crew are vultures. I totally understand."

"Do you? Cuz Like, no offence, but you three never seemed to be bothered by this stuff. Especially not you. You just say and do whatever you want and you don't care what people think about you. I wish I was more like you."

"You...do?" Sam was genuinely surprised to hear that. She never thought she'd hear anyone say that, least of all Valerie Gray.

"Yeah. You never hold back so people will like you. If I was more like you, maybe I wouldn't have wasted so much time with all that 'popular kid' nonsense. Hunting ghosts with you three and keeping Amity Park safe is the most fulfilled I've ever felt in my life. If I hadn't spent so much time caught up in my own self importance, I could've found people I actually trusted way sooner, and it makes me so angry that I didn't. I mean, it wasn't like my life was terrible or anything. My dad's great and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy all the shopping sprees and tennis lessons, but I could've been a much better person so much earlier and I wasn't. I hate that. I hate that it took almost dying and losing everything for me to start caring about things that actually mattered."

Sam was stunned by how raw Valerie's words were. She had always seemed so self-assured. In Sam's mind, Valerie in a way seemed above such angst.

Of course now Sam realized that was kind of ridiculous. Valerie, however well she carried herself, was still human, and just as susceptible to human fear and doubt as anyone else.

"Well...you're here now." Sam said "So that's gotta count for something."

"But I could've- should've gotten 'here' earlier. I mean," Valerie gestured around the room "You were raised with the same financial status as me, and you didn't turn out to be a total self-absorbed snob."

"I mean, I'm not perfect either, I can be kind of self-absorbed sometimes." Sam scratched the back of her head "And honestly...sometimes I think the only reason I do a lot of the 'good' things I do is just because I to end up being like my parents."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I spent years watching them putting on fancy outfits and fake smiles and bending over backwards just so the right people would like them. And not even for anything. There was no goal or greater purpose for their stupid charade. They wasted so much time nitpicking their appearances just to be whatever the adult version of 'the popular kids' is. And I was just an accessory to only let me wear these awful frilly pink dresses, and they'd always laugh at me whenever I brought up certain serious things they didn't want to think about. They were always trying to force me into this stupid mould just to impress some idiots who didn't even care about us. My mom actually tried to bleach my hair when I was seven."

"Oh." Valerie's eyes widened in horror "That's...really messed up."

Sam felt herself shaking a little.

She didn't often talk about this stuff in detail, even to Danny and Tucker. She wasn't sure they'd really get it. They thought it was cool that Sam was rich and could just 'buy whatever she wanted'. Sure, there were definitely perks to her life, but Sam often wondered if it was worth the annoyances she had to put up with everyday.

Sure, she'd learned how to deal with her parents constant criticisms and occasional yelling, and she'd gotten pretty good at fighting back and channeling her anger into productivity as she'd gotten older, but even after all this time her parents' behaviour still wore at her.

So once Sam had started talking, she found it difficult to stop. To her surprise, Valerie did actually seem understanding towards Sam's situation, but Sam wasn't sure how she felt exposing this much of herself to someone she didn't know that well.

Sure, she'd wanted to get to know Valerie better, but this was a bit too much at once.

Sam needed to lighten things up a little.

"It's actually a funny story." she continued "That incident's actually why my mom started wearing gloves. I fought her with all the ferocity a seven-year-old could, and ended up biting her wrist so it left a mark for a week."

Sam laughed as she finished her story. Valerie laughed too, but it was stilted.

Maybe that story wasn't as funny as Sam had always thought...

"It wasn't a total sob story," Sam hurriedly switched topics "I had my grandma. She was always nice. And really funny. She always made faces behind my parents back when they were ranting at me, and she let me try her champagne at one of the stupid galas my parents forced me to go to. It was pretty gross." Sam smiled at the memory "Lots of kids with bad parents don't have someone like her in their lives, so I really could've had it a lot worse. Not to mention how handy it is to be able to finance some of our ghost hunting endeavours."

"Still though..." Valerie said.

Sam frowned. The amount of pity in Valerie's voice made her feel weird. Yeah, her childhood had been kind of rough, but it wasn't that rough...

She wasn't sure how she felt about Valerie's reaction. Or about sharing so much with Valerie in the first place. Or about what Valerie had shared with her.

They'd covered a lot of ground in such a short conversation. It had felt kind of good, and Sam had managed to ease some of the tension between her and Valerie, but now she was feeling pretty drained emotionally. She needed a break from deep conversation.

"So yeah, I learned very early on that all that pomp and ceremony was pointless, and there was no point in torturing yourself for approval that isn't real love anyway." Sam quickly summarized "Anyway, I'm gonna work on some pull-up exercises. You end up having to do so much more climbing than you'd expect when ghost hunting. Well, those of us that can't fly, anyway. Be careful if you're gonna use the barbell. It's easy to overdo it."

"Yeah, don't worry. This isn't my first rodeo."

"Good." Sam nodded as she headed to the pull-up bar.

The two of them spent the next hour exercising in near silence.

Sam watched Valerie pick out some weights for the barbell while she held herself up on the pull-up bar.

She hadn't meant for things to go that deep, and she had a feeling Valerie neither did Valerie.

A few months ago Sam had written Valerie off as another one of Paulina's airhead friends, and now here they were baring their souls to each other.

And it had been so effortless.

She'd only known Valerie for a short time, but she'd just gone full force into subjects she barely touched with Danny or Tucker.

Valerie was so different from them. Maybe that was it. She understood what feeling pressured to keep up appearances was like. Danny had never had the option with his parents' reputation following him everywhere, and Tucker had no qualms hanging out with the nerds, openly carrying his PDA everywhere, and constantly quoting Star Trek. He was a full blown geek and he never seemed to feel the need to try and hide it.

Sam didn't either, but they didn't know what it was like having a constant presence in your life trying to force you to be something you're not.

And she'd had no idea it'd feel this way to have someone understand what that was like.

Sam was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice Valerie was finishing up putting her weights away.

"Whew!" Valerie wiped her forehead with her arm "That was way better than my dad's old hand weights! I should probably get going now, though. Thanks for having me."

"Sure." Sam dropped down from the bar "Hey, feel free to drop by anytime. Seriously, even if I'm not around you can still use the gym."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Ghost hunters gotta keep in shape. The same invitation's open to Tucker, but he never uses it. Don't know why. Personally, I love burning off steam down here."

"I'll...keep that in mind." Valerie smiled "Thanks."

"No problem. You, uh, need me to show you the way out?"

"Nah, I'm good. I remember." Valerie said, grabbing her backpack. She stopped at the foot of the stairs. "Your gym's pretty cool. And...I enjoyed our conversation. Earlier."

"Yeah," Sam scratched the back of her head "Me too."

Valerie smiled.

"Well, see you later Sam." she said as she headed up the stairs.

Sam waited until she was sure Valerie was gone. Once she couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, Sam flopped down on the weight bench and let out a breath.

Truthfully, she was a little relieved Valerie was finally gone, but some part of her was looking forward to hanging out with Valerie in the future.

"It's progress, I suppose." Sam said to the empty room.

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Valerie wasn't sure how to feel about what had just happened.

She'd assumed Sam had only invited her to her gym to be polite. It genuinely surprised her when Sam had actually agreed to hang out with her alone. It wasn't like she thought Sam hated her, or vice versa. They got along just fine in ghost fights, but Valerie had gotten the impression Sam didn't exactly want to be BFFs from their...tumultuous first meeting.

But Valerie had somehow ended ended up spilling her guts to Sam, and Sam had done the same. That was truly shocking.

Then again, Valerie had kind of done the same with Tucker and Danny on separate occasions. Valerie wasn't the kind of person to hold her tongue, but she hadn't really shared such deep parts of herself with her old friends. And yet she did so so easily with those three.

It was a little scary how open she found herself being with her new friends.

Were they friends?

Sure they fought ghosts together, and they always invited her to hang out with them afterwards, but Valerie had been pretty sure that the A-listers were her friends, and they-

Valerie shook her head.

No, her new friends weren't anything like her old 'friends'. She felt comfortable with Tucker, Danny, and even Sam in a way she never had with Dash, Paulina, and any of the others.

It was a good thing that she could open up to Danny, Tucker, and Sam, she told herself. That meant her relationship with them was better than the A-Listers.

Strange and different, but better.

"Hey Dad!" Valerie called as she opened their apartment door "I'm home!"

"Hey Sweetheart!" her Dad "Did you have fun with your friends?"

"Yeah." She said "I did. We hung out by the wharf for a while and then went to The Nasty Burger."

"The wharf? Heh, you teenagers sure like hanging out in the strangest of places."

"It's nice." Valerie said defensively "It's...you know...peaceful. Anyway, how was work?"

#danny phantom #dp #danny phantom fanfic #dp fanfic #friends in strange places #fisp #my writing #my fanfic

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sunnys567 · 8 months

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Friends in strange Places Ch. 6 Pt 1

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

Summary: After a ghost fight, Danny and his friends hang out at The Nasty Burger and then Sam and Valerie go back to her house. Just the two of them. That won't be awkward.

Word count: 6700

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"Catch me if you can Dipsticks!" Ember cackled as she flew past the pier.

Danny and Valerie continued after her. Sam and Tucker stopped at the edge of the dock.

"Man," Tucker crossed his arms "It sucks not being able to fly.

After about twenty meters, Ember suddenly turned and blasted a pink beam from her guitar.

Danny and Valerie split apart, the beam missing both of them.

"Give it up Ember!" Danny said, charging up two ecto blasts "You can sing all the cheap pop songs you want, there's no one around here for you to even control!"

"Wrong on two counts, Dipstick!" Ember grinned smugly "My music comes from the heart, and I've discovered a brand new kind of audience out here."

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