79Jazz yawned, lazily flipping through the pages of her history text book. Though her homework was long completed with, she thought she'd brush up on subjects learned earlier in the year. After all, she kept telling herself, one can never be too prepared for a pop-quiz- and as a nearing graduate of Casper High School, she found them happening quite frequently. Of course, that wasn't the only reason she was reading. Truth be told, Jazz actually enjoyed history class: as she put it, it was the one class where she could read about people who in their everyday lives experienced some strange, unexplained phenomenon….or at least something out of the ordinary. It gave her relief to know that once upon a time there were folks that lived a life of extreme obscurity, but were able to somehow cope with it all. As her turquoise eyes scanned through the text, she started to feel just a bit better about her current way of living.
"Yeah," she scoffed, turning the page, "but I doubt any of them had to deal with ghosts on a regular basis."
"DANIEL FENTON! GET IN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
Jazz jumped, unprepared for the sudden verbal explosion from downstairs. "Uh-oh." She breathed, recognizing the voice to be her mother's, "This can't be good."
Slamming her book shut, Jazz sprang to her feet, and raced down the stairs. Following the sound of voices, not only her mother's now but her father's as well, Jazz hurried her way to the kitchen, where, as she expected, her parents were standing around the table, looming over a scrawny boy of fourteen with messy black hair-her brother Danny, who was seated at the table, his shoulders hunched. Jazz rolled her eyes, a pang of sympathy hitting her hard as she relayed the scene. The kitchen. The table. The angry parents standing over the boy. A look of aggravation on his face. And, she noted, loose papers spread out in front of him-all with the letters C,D and at least one or two Fs. A grades conference. Not again, she thought, rushing over to them.
"Dad! Mom! Danny!" She cried, deciding to play dumb for the moment. "What's, er, going on?"
"Isn't that obvious dear?" Her mother, Maddie Fenton, replied, brow furrowing.
Yes. Jazz thought, but remained silent. She knew it was best to leave comments like that to herself. At least for the time being, anyway. Maddie, however, took advantage of her daughter's fail in reply.
"Your brother has received one-too-many Cs and Ds, and-"
"Don't forget Fs!" , her father, Jack, suddenly cut in.
Maddie nodded, "Thank you Jack. And Fs. I'm sure you understand, Jazz, that this cannot continue. If Danny isn't going to take his education seriously, he'll have to receive some consequence for it."
"Hold on!" Jazz blurted out, startling her mother, "It's not Danny's fault! He-"
She stopped, casting a quick glance at her brother. He shook his head subtly, but enough that she realized what he was trying to say. 'Don't even think about it, Jazz,' was the message he got across to her. 'I wasn't, don't worry,' she mouthed back. Maddie gave her a funny look.
"Honey?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Jazz froze. "What are you doing?"
"U-uh…." Jazz looked at Danny nervously, thinking frantically. What could she say? "W-what I mean is….it's not Danny's fault….because…." Ah ha. An idea. "…..because of all the community work he's been doing recently."
"Community work?" Both parents –and Danny-chorused together, clearly confused. Jazz sighed to herself, forcing a smile. So far, so good.
"Y-yes….you see, uh, Mr. Lancer and the other teachers know that Danny isn't doing well at school, so….um, they've already taken the liberty of giving him some-eh-afterschool work to do. Until his grades improve."
"Wait what?!" Danny began, having not yet caught on to what she was doing.
She threw him a pleading gaze, silently begging him to go along with her. Come on Danny...don't give me away….
He blinked, blue eyes widening in realization as he met his sister's eyes. "Right. Community work. Of course!" He laughed nervously, inching his chair away from his parents. "I've been so busy with afterschool activities that I completely forgot to stu-I mean….time just escaped me."
"Oh…." Maddie began, "well…."
"Wait just a minute young man!" Jack Fenton suddenly bellowed, clamping a hand on the back of Danny's chair, keeping him from moving any farther away, "How do we know what Jazz is saying is true?"
"Huh?!" Both kids said in unison, sweat beginning to form on their foreheads.
Jazz stepped forward, gritting her teeth.
"What reason would you have not to trust us, dad?" She questioned in defense, moving closer to her brother.
Jack didn't say anything right away; he just narrowed his eyes and brought a hand to his chin. "That is an excellent point, Jasmine. But-"
'But?'
"-but why didn't you or Danny tell us you were doing these afterschool things? He gasped, hands curling into fists, "Could it be that ghosts were controlling you this whole time?!" He made to run for the weapons' vault, however, Maddie dashed ahead, blocking his way.
"Now Jack, we have no proof ghosts are responsible for this, right?"
Before Jack had a chance to respond, Danny stood up. "T-that's right. Like I said before, time just escaped me. I-" He hung his head. "I forgot to tell you, because I've been so busy. Sorry."
"Aw sweetie…." Maddie cooed, coming over to give her son a hug.
Wow, Jazz observed, that was an incredibly fast change in moods.
Still feeling slightly under pressure, the girl piped up, "So does that mean Danny's off the hook?"
Her mother frowned again. Another fast change in mood. "No." she stated sternly, letting Danny go, "but I'll tell you what. " she added, turning to the boy, "Danny, if you can promise me you'll continue to do your best, and keep up with school, your father and I will see what we can do to lessen your amount of community hours, okay?"
"But-but-but…."
Jazz, who at this point was rather close to her brother, jabbed hi m-hard-in the ribcage with her elbow. He winced, and their mother turned, but Jazz just smiled, clasping a hand over Danny's mouth. "That's great mom!" she chimed, glaring at the now squirming Danny, "This really means a lot to us-him. Thanks a lot."