Danielle Grayson

Danielle Grayson is a fictitious character in the Dreams to Reality continuity, having appeared as a major character in all three incarnations of the series. In the novellas and web series, she is said to have recently moved to Eagle Creek; in the web series, she is said to have lived in Long Beach, California, until approximately a month prior to the events at the beginning of the series. In the novels, Danielle is actually a resident of Coral Beach, Florida, and will remain a regular cast member in Coral Beach for the first several installments before eventually being moved to Eagle Creek sometime between the series' 10th and 16th installments. She is the oldest daughter of Charles and Ivy Grayson and older sister of Stephanie Grayson. It has always been intended for the character to eventually form superpowers similar to those formed by Michael Bennett, though these powers are yet to have manifested themselves in her. The lack of superpowers, however, do not typically keep Danielle away from numerous dangerous situations, as she becomes intimately involved in many of the series' primary storylines.

Hope and Despair over Michael Bennett's Relationship with Rachel McCarey
During a physical education class one late spring day at Eagle Creek Junior High School, Brandon Danber told his friends Mark Shane and Ashley Chamberlain that his first choice for a date to the upcoming dance had been Danielle, but Danielle had turned him down in the hopes that she would end up attending the dance with Michael Bennett. In her own history class, Danielle spoke with David Richards, asking if he's talked to Rachel McCarey today and whether or not she has asked Michael to the dance yet. David responded that no, Rachel hadn't asked Michael and doesn't plan to because she's too shy, and added that he didn't think that Michael had asked Rachel to the dance yet, either. Danielle thought this was perfect, and planned to ask Michael to the dance after this class. David warned Danielle not to leave herself open for trouble, cautioning her against the wrath of Rachel if she moved in on Michael. However, Danielle planned to pretend that she wasn't aware that Rachel had a crush on Michael if any controversy should arise over her asking Michael to the dance. David hoped Danielle knew what she was doing, and Danielle claimed to know exactly what she is doing, and that by the end of the week, Michael would be hers. Danielle has David do her a favor and "grill" Michael for her during their next class in order to find out for certain whether or not Michael has asked Rachel to the dance yet, so that Danielle can ask him before he can ask her. David reluctantly agreed, prompting Danielle to exclaim excitedly during class and interrupt the teacher, Ms. Warner's lecture. Ms. Warner asks Danielle and David why they were interrupting her lecture, and Danielle claimed that David had agreed to let her use his science notes because she had missed that class. David would later chide her for coming up with such an excuse because his grades are poor due to his refusal to take notes during class. Danielle and David finalized their plan, with Danielle saying that she owes him big. After class, Danielle was the first person to come across an unconscious Nicole Halloway, who was lying at the base of a stairway after having fallen down the stairs. As Danielle checks on the unconscious Nicole, she is joined in the hallway by many other students, including Jack Brock, Jarrid Harlen, and Mandy Marin at first, and then Josh Poncek, as well. An unnamed English teacher warned the group not to move Nicole for fear of doing more damage if they do, and announced that an ambulance was on the way. Josh asked how this happened, adn Danielle explained to him that she simply found Nicole in this condition. Lisa Walker would arrive on the scene and reveal that Nicole had gotten into a physical altercation with Melinda Flint during Mrs. Jackson's science class and that Melinda had threatened Nicole for starting a fight with her. When the paramedics arrived to take Nicole out of the school into the ambulance, Josh and Danielle followed them outside. Josh and Danielle initially attempted to get into Nicole's ambulance, but were stopped by one of the paramedics and told they weren't allowed to ride with her unless they were related to her. Before the ambulance doors were closed, Josh and Danielle could hear that Nicole had regained consciousness and was seeming to warn Josh to stay away from Melinda, but neither of them could understand exactly what was said. Danielle pointed out that it was a good sign that Nicole seems to have regained consciousness. Danielle would then notice that there was a second ambulance over by the baseball field outside of the school, and wonders what happened there. Josh and Danielle made their way across the street to investigate the other ambulance, and find Ashley Chamberlain on the other side of the ambulance. Ashley explains to them that Mark Shane was injured during the baseball game when Brandon hit a line drive right back at Mark, striking him in the chest and knocking Mark to the ground unconscious. Danielle asked if Mark would be okay, and Ashley assured her that Mark was awake now and that they wre just taking him to the hospital for observation. Ashley then asked them about Nicole's ambulance, so Josh and Danielle told her what they knew about Nicole's accident, including Lisa's account of Nicole and Melinda's fight during class. Ashley asked if Melinda was the one who caused Nicole to fall down the stairs, at which point Brandon arrived on the scene and revealed that he just spoke to Melinda in the principal's office, where she claimed responsibility for Nicole's accident and is very proud of herself for it. Josh asked Brandon if he was sure about this, and Brandon confirmed Melinda is very happy with herself for causing Nicole to fall down the stairs. Danielle proposed the unsettling thought that if Melinda did this to Nicole on purpose, nothing is stopping her from trying to do something else to Nicole at the hospital, and Ashley wondered if Melinda could be capable of killing Nicole. Josh left the group to go confront Melinda himself, leaving Danielle, Ashley, and Brandon to continue to speculate as to whether or not Melinda could hurt Nicole any more than she already has. The three would soon head back inside the school, unaware of the man wearing a skull mask nearby (who had been seen to be armed with a large, sharpened, metallic hook), watching them as they entered the school. (DtRW #1)

At the end of the school day, Danielle approached David at his locker, startling him as he closed his locker door. She apologized for startling David before asking if he spoke to Michael during the last class period. He replied that he didn't exactly talk to Michael, but that he found out some interesting things about the person Michael has a crush on. Danielle was surprised that the person apparently isn't Rachel, and David told her that she's not going to believe this, but Michael claimed to have a crush on a new student to the school with brown hair and brown eyes, accurately describing Danielle, much to Danielle's own excitement. David clarifies that Michael did not give a name, but it sure does sound like Danielle. An excited Danielle hugged David and thanked him for making her "day, week, month, year, whatever!" before taking off to go get her man, while David wished her good luck. Danielle would soon arrive by Michael's school locker, but Michael was not there, and Danielle wondered if maybe Michael had left the school already. She spotted Brandon and Ashley down the hallway from her and rushed up to speak with them. Danielle asked if they'd heard anything new about Mark or Nicole, and Ashley revealed that she and Brandon were going to the hospital as soon as they could to check on them. She then asked if they'd seen Josh since he left them outside earlier, having been worried about him. They hadn't seen Josh yet, and Ashley wondered what Josh was doing, but it is agreed that they all hoped that Josh wasn't going to do anything stupid in retaliation to Melinda. Changing the subject, Danielle revealed that David told her that Michael has a crush on her, explaining that Michael had apparently described a student new to the school with brown hair and brown eyes when speaking of a girl he claimed to have a crush on. Ashley agreed that it sounded like Danielle, and Brandon asked Danielle if she'd actually spoken to Michael about this yet. Danielle said that she hadn't yet, that she had gone to Michael's locker after David told her what he had said, but Michael wasn't there and must already be gone. Ashley suggested that Michael may be going to the hospital, assuming that someone must have told him about Mark and Nicole by now. Danielle remembered that Michael and Nicole are close friends and would be sure to go see her there. She decides that she's got to find him to see if the news David told her is true before rushing off. She would later arrive at the hospital, where David would tell her that while there wasn't yet any news about Mark, Nicole was conscious. Rachel would take Danielle aside and excitedly tell her that Michael asked her to the dance today, devastating Danielle. Danielle would hide her emotions for Rachel's sake, pretending to be happy for her, but loudly proclaiming that she can't believe Michael asked Rachel to the dance. Danielle asked Rachel if she and Michal are going to get together on a more permanent basis, and Rachel said that it was a possibility. Danielle said that this was good and excused herself, loudly proclaiming that she needs to talk to David. Danielle would then have to almost literally drag David away from an episode of The Jerry Springer Show that was playing in the hospital waiting room to confront him over the news Rachel just gave her. Once she got David alone, Danielle screamed at David that Michael likes Rachel, not her. David swore to Danielle that the girl Michael described sounded exactly like her, and pointed out that Michael had said that he liked a new student to the school with brown hair and brown eyes, while Rachel has attended Eagle Creek schools since she was in kindergarten and has brown hair and blue eyes, so either Michael doesn't know who he has a crush on or he lied. Danielle accepted this, but was extremely disappointed. David hugged Danielle to comfort her, but she told him that she just needs to be alone before leaving the waiting room. She would run to an empty room down the hall in tears, attracting Brandon's attention from Mark's hospital room as she went past. Danielle was sobbing uncontrollably when Brandon walked in and called attention to himself. Danielle would quickly try to compose herself, but Brandon asked her what was wrong. Danielle would claim nothing was wrong, but Brandon asked her why she was crying. Danielle broke down and told Brandon that Rachel just told her that Michael asked her to the dance and that she had accepted. She began to cry again, and Brandon would give her a supportive hug, telling her that everything is okay while Danielle continued to cry into his arms. (DtRW #2)

Brandon Danber
Sometime relatively recently to the events depicted at the beginning of the web series, Brandon Danber had asked Danielle to the upcoming school dance, but she had turned him down in the hopes that she would be able to attend the dance with Michael Bennett. The two would remain friends despite the rejection, however. When Danielle received the news that Michael had asked Rachel to the dance, Danielle was devastated and retreated into an empty hospital room to cry, but Brandon found her and asked her what was wrong. Upon learning what had upset Danielle, Brandon was quick to give Danielle a supportive hug and reassure her that everything would be okay. (DtRW #1-2)

Michael Bennett
Danielle began the web series with a large crush on Michael Bennett, and was plotting with her friend David Richards to ask Michael to the upcoming school dance. Danielle would dispatch David to find out whether or not Michael had asked Rachel McCarey to the dance yet (as she was aware that the two fo them had feelings for one another), but Michael would claim to have a crush on a new student to the school with brown hair and brown eyes, accurately describing Danielle and leading David to believe that Michael actually didn't have a crush on Rachel, but on Danielle. David told Danielle about this, giving Danielle hope that Michael actually had a crush on her and not Rachel, and made her way to Portage General, where Michael was visiting with a hospitalized Nicole. There, Rachel (unaware of Danielle's crush on Michael) happily told her that Michael had asked her to the dance, which came as devastating news to Danielle. (DtRW #1-2)

David Richards
Even though David and Danielle would never become an official couple, it was clear that David had a crush on Danielle almost immediately. He would accept Danielle's quest to win Michael away from Rachel McCarey prior to the school dance in order to please her, but actually had a crush on her at the same time. When Rachel told Danielle that Michael asked her to the dance, Danielle was devastated, and David felt awful for her because he was the one who told her that Michael had claimed to have a crush on a girl that matched Danielle's decription. He gave her a sympathetic hug, but Danielle would tell him that she needed to be alone. (DtRW #1-2)

Background & Trivia

 * Danielle's initial appearances in the web series depicted her as more of a scheming character than was originally intended. Danielle's appearances in the latter half of the web series is more of a depiction of the character Danielle was intended to be.
 * Danielle's family life will be given prominence in the novel series, as the circumstances behind Danielle arriving in Eagle Creek will be featured as live storylines in the novel series.
 * Danielle appeared in the novellas, but not until the second installment, thus, like Jack, Mandy, Jarrid, and Dustin (who joined in novella #11), she is not technically an original character, but did appear in the series' original incarnation, and as a major player in all three forms.
 * The addition of Danielle to the storyline involving Mark Shane and Holly Stanley's escape from Skullface in Long Beach (in the web series; Coral Beach in the novels) led directly to the decision to split Dreams to Reality off into a spin-off series, Past to Future, as it became even more clear that there were a lot of connections between Eagle Creek's cast members and the city of Long Beach. The storyline for Past to Future would be re-worked since its initial planning stages to shifted from being set in real-life Long Beach, California, to fictitious Coral Beach, Florida, and as a second main setting for the series, with storylines alternating between the two settings.

Quotes
(David tells Danielle that Michael had described someone matching Danielle's description as a person that he had a crush on):
 * Danielle: "Me?! Oh, my God! He likes me?!"
 * David: "Well, he didn't give a name, but it sure does sound like you, doesn't it?"
 * Danielle: "Oh, thank you so much, David! You've just made my day, week, month, year, whatever! (hugs David) I've got to go get my man!" (DtRW #2)