Chapter Text
Back too soon,
Did you miss me mom and dad?
Am I the best mistake you ever had?
Dash was pretty sure if he had to listen to that stupid band one more time, he was going to punch something. Life was not meant to turn out like this. He wasn't meant to be the one who went back to Casper high to teach PE, he wasn't meant to be the single parent, he shouldn't be driving home fuming as he listened to the loser he used to wail on everyday sing his stupid songs.
Loser, freakshow!
Don't you know to let go,
You got nothing on me,
Nothing on me!
It seemed to be the only thing Sophie, his daughter, ever listened to nowadays. She sat in the seat next to him, staring at her phone but unconsciously bobbing her head to the song and mumbling the words. She loved it. Dash hoped it wasn't because she related. Practically all his songs were angsty teenager I'm-not-like-anyone-else songs but they all had this positive spin to it. Like being weird and unpopular was a good thing. It was probably to make up how terrible high school had been.
Miss me now you gotta kiss me,
Bet I'll push through,
I've got nothing to prove,
But what about you?
But it wasn't like he was alone. He had his weirdo friends and it wasn't like he never fought back. Well, maybe not literally but he did pull his own pranks on Dash. So who was he to sing stupid songs about how much of an outcast he was?
No you ain't bringing us down, down, down,
Yeah we'll see you around, 'round, 'round,
'Cause you ain't taking us down.
Ok, so he wasn't popular in high school. So what? He could have focused on other stuff. Like maybe getting good grades. Well, he did kinda do that near the end. It was a miracle he'd even graduated but somehow he managed to squeak through and get into college. Dash didn't know, or care, at the time what the nerd went on to do. But now his daughter was Half Dead's number one fan so Dash got to hear all about how he studied astrophysics and ecto-ology.
To be honest, that was expected.
Float away with me,
Dive between the stars,
And spin a whole new galaxy,
To show the world what we can be.
Dash sighed as the radio moved between all of Half Dead's greatest hits in the last 10 years. They'd released so many albums. They had they're own merch. They're own fan clubs. World tours. Record labels. Awards. And Dash was so god damn jealous. High school wasn't actually meant to be the best years of his life.
Where you gonna go?
Got the whole world at your finger tips?
No, I don't think so.
Don't get him wrong. He loved his daughter and he did enjoy teaching and coaching the football team but this wasn't what he expected. He was meant to do great things. But instead he was the high school bully who went no where. The amount of times Dash would think back to how he acted and winced. He wasn't going to give some sob story about how hard home was because everyone had their problems. He had no excuse. Now he was the teacher, the coach, he wasn't letting any of his students get away with it, like he had. But it's not like it matters any more. He'd left his mark on all those students he had bullied. The ones he shoved into lockers, dumped garbage on, punched, insulted, humiliated. And he got to remember it whenever one of Half Dead's most popular songs came on. “Top of the food chain.” Dash may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed but he could tell it was about him.
Top star quarterback,
Gotta take my lunch pack,
Shove me in the locker,
Cause you gotta impress her,
You're top of the food chain!
Yeah, top of the food chain!
You might be top of the food chain!
It wasn't very subtle.
But what you gonna do,
When there's nothing left to eat?
Dash turned off the radio, just to get it to stop for a second, only for Sophie to turn it right back on. “Wait, there's meant to be a big announcement.” Dash sighed but left the radio alone. Right, Half Dead were taking a break for a year and this was their last interview until they came back. There wasn't much information on it but Dash didn't really care.
It was a full year without hearing about stupid Danny Fenton.