#ghost studies

Somewhere around the fourth month into the class, the teacher brought in a certified ghost-expert from somewhere in California to do a guest-presentation about the various natural defenses against ghosts. The class dragged on as usual, but instead of their normal teacher, they had some wannabe ghost 'hunter' who knew nothing about the culture of Amity Park. Go figure, he didn't even react to Danny's presence in the classroom, meaning that he didn't recognize him as Phantom. Thank God, Danny thought, the last thing I need is another expert putting their hands all over me, trying to figure out why I'm the way I am.

“This,” said the presenter, a tall, blond man named Mr. Simmons, “is a plant called 'Stachys officinalis”, better known as betony. Traditionally, people in the Middle Ages planted it in churchyards and wore amulets of it to ward-off evil ghosts. But in modern ghost hunting, it's a practical defense to keep ghosts away. In fact, if there was a ghost in this room right now, it would feel immense pain and be forced to leave!”

The class collectively looked back at Danny with caution, who was sitting in his seat unimpressed. A few people snorted at Mr. Simmons's clear lack of credibility and collectively decided to just ignore the ignorant man. He had never been to Amity Park, so he didn't know a thing about actual ghost hunting.

“This next natural herb,” Mr. Simmons fished out another plastic bag, with a bright, yellow, star-shaped flower with blue tips, “is called 'Campanula xanthostella', more commonly known as ghost nip. If you are familiar with cat nip, this would be the equivalent of that for ghosts. It's very useful when you want to distract or lure ghosts into a trap, because it acts pretty much like a ghost drug.”

As Mr. Simmons held up the bag for the entire class to see, Danny's eyes immediately locked on to the vibrant flower, and everything else was lost to him. His peripheral vision dimmed into the background as the ghost nip became the center of his attention. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he recognized that this was a weird reaction to some flower, but he ignored it. It looked so captivating... enchanting, almost. It called to him from across the room like a siren pulling weary sailors towards a lethal barricade of rocks, and nothing else mattered. He wanted it. It was just so... alluring. It should've been illegal how much  he wanted that radiant flower.

The stupid blond man waved the bag around some more and continued to speak in a dull, monotonous tone. All Danny could focus on was the flower, and his eyes followed it's every movement. There was still that part of him that was hesitant to the ghost nip's tantalizing glamour, but he instinctively pushed down that screaming voice of human reason in his head. The flower was all that mattered. He felt blessed just being able to gaze upon it, yet there was still his desire to hold it within his own hands, to feel it's soft petals, to smell it. Oh, how he longed to breathe in it's delicious scent, to inhale it's exquisite fragrance.

His expression faded in to one of passive bliss as he refrained from thinking about anything but the majestic flower being dangled in front of him. His eyes were small lamps of green as the ghost within him itched to possess the flower. It was so close to being within his grasp... yet he couldn't bring himself to move, so he admired it from afar.

Kwan, who was sitting across from him, noticed Danny's faraway look and glowing green eyes. Confused, Kwan tentatively nudged Danny's shoulder. “Uhh... are you alright, dude?” Danny gave no response. “Fenton...?”

Kwan, who was starting to be concerned, leaned over and waved his hand in front of Danny's face, who swatted him away so he could stare dreamily at the flower some more. He didn't need such irritating distractions. Couldn't they see the flower's mesmerizing beauty?

When he realized what was wrong with Danny, Kwan paled. “Um... guys?” he addressed the rest of the class, solidly interrupting Mr. Simmons (who no one was listening to in the first place). “I think the ghost nip is affecting Danny.”

The class's attention was instantly drawn back to Danny who was still blankly staring at the ghost nip. Some people quietly laughed under their breath, while others looked at Danny with something akin to empathy or pity. Their regular teacher was out of the room, so when all the students directed their attention to Danny, Mr. Simmons didn't know how to react.

At first when Kwan said the ghost nip was affecting the misty eyed boy, Mr. Simmons dismissed it as a teenage joke, because the ghost nip obviously couldn't affect humans. So, reasonably unconcerned and assuming Danny was just fooling around, Mr. Simmons continued his lecture.

“Unless you have a serious inquiry,” Mr. Simmons spoke, “please remain silent during my presentation, boys. I don't tolerate tasteless humor.”

The students gaped at Mr. Simmons. How could he look at Danny and not see something was wrong? His eyes were literally glowing and he was in some sort of hypnotic trance.

A petite girl in the front row attempted to explain to the oblivious man. “Look, you don't understand, he's actually-”

“That'll be all about this topic,” Mr. Simmons replied, in a harsh tone, not even allowing her to get a meaningful word in. “Now, if you can all take it seriously, I'll be allowing you all to pass the flower around to see what it looks like. Be very delicate with it, it's very rare and difficult to obtain.”

When everyone realized what he was about to do, the class reacted almost immediately. Mr. Simmons quickly opened the ziplock bag with the ghost nip, and all hell broke lose.

Several students tried to warn him not to open it, but it was too late. When the aromatic smell of the sweet flower hit the air, Danny finally surrendered control. The flower was simply too bewitching to resist any longer, and God how he wanted it, that scent was just irresistible. It smelled nothing like he had ever smelled before. It was like honey and vanilla, but also the sickly smell of rain at night and fresh cut flowers, and so many other indecipherable layers that blended into one aroma of ecstasy. It rung even more loudly in his mind now: that flower had to be his.

His classmates watched helplessly as the ghost boy slowly stood up, and like a marionette, he unconsciously glided across the floor with his sense of control forfeited. His attention belonged to the flower in all of it's magnificence. Mr. Simmons stared at Danny suspiciously as he approached the man loosely gripping the bag with the flower.

That's my flower, Danny thought possessively.

Danny didn't register his actions, but as he grew closer and closer to the ghost nip, he finally lost his last shred of control. His human formed slipped from him, and he transformed into Phantom in the center of the classroom as he approached his flower, his beautiful flower. It made him feel so... at ease. It was precious.

Of course, he didn't notice how Mr. Simmons dropped the bag in complete shock having witnessed Danny's transformation. Instead, Danny tore the bag from the air and instantly held it to his face, breathing in even more of the sirenic scent. He was in heaven, this was heaven. Nothing in his existence could ever be more pleasurable than this moment.

His classmates, for the most part, tried to talk him out of it, to no avail. Mr. Simmons feebly used the teacher's desk to support his weight as he tried to regain from his momentary mental breakdown that he'd been in the same room as Danny Phantom, didn't even realize it, and had accidentally drugged him in the process. What the hell?

Meanwhile, there was an alert in Principal Ishiyama's office. For legal purposes, Danny wasn't prohibited to use any of his powers on campus, unless there was an impending ghost attack at hand. There were sensors located all over the school to log any use of Danny's ghost powers, so if he fully transformed or even turned partially invisible, Ishiyama would know immediately. There was a second program that tracked the ectosignatures of any enemy ghosts, that way if there was an attack, she would know, and not be concerned about Danny breaking the rules.

However, the alert in her office had just notified her that Danny had transformed without the presence of a ghostly enemy, so naturally she was required to make sure that he wasn't violating the school's power-restricting policy.

Dropping her current paperwork, Principal Ishiyama quickly made her way down to the Ectology 101 Classroom to assess the situation. And when she arrived... things weren't pretty.

Danny Phantom was surrounded by a few pleading classmates in a corner of the classroom, thoughtlessly sniffing a flower with wide, dazed green eyes. The class's guest speaker had helplessly sprawled himself over a desk and appeared incapacitated. Ishiyama turned her attention back to Danny, who smiled absently, appearing deliriously entranced, which indicated that he was at least somewhat high. (She'd found enough crackheads in the parking lot to know the look.) She was relieved that he didn't seem to be aware of his actions, but was nonetheless confused about how this particular predicament had occurred.

She looked to a bunch of idle students watching the scene unfold with an almost apathetic fascination. “Explain,” she addressed them strictly. “What's wrong with him?”

“It's uh... ghost nip,” a boy answered, meekly. “We tried telling Mr. Simmons not to uh... open the bag, but he didn't listen, and then Danny just sort of... yeah.”