Okay so here go one of the very first stories thatI had posted on First Love. I've decided to try and revise it lol but er um yea. So hit me up and tell me what you guys think. I've decided to add some more things. I'm out of college for the semester and I promise to actually contribute more to TheMidnight Run, its just that I'm stuck on a scene so yea it will be out soon though.

Just One of the Guys.

Chapter One

"Serena, honey! Darien is here!" Irene yelled up the steps to her long blonde haired daughter. Irene was a slim older woman with dark navy blue eyes and silky curly blonde hair. Her curls always fell downwards around the shape of her face. Irene chuckled, already sure of what her daughter was doing.

"Coming Ma." Serena answered back from her junky room that she just refused to clean. Serena paused in the middle of her rampage through her room to pick up her chain that she was looking for a minute ago before Darien's arrival. She kicked up a few magazines that blended in with the rest of her room's clutter. The thought of cleaning it crossed her mind but she felt like she had more important things to do than clean. More important things to do in Serena's vocabulary were to do absolutely nothing with Darien which equaled doing everything in her world.

"What's up?" Sammy asked his sister's best friend Darien, quickly giving him a high five hoping that he wouldn't tease him today. Sammy was Serena's prankster little brother. He had dirty sandy blonde hair with bangs. He refused to comb it, he always would complain. Sammy cracked a smile thinking that he was free from his usual torture for today.

"A noogie." Darien countered playfully with a gleeful look in his eyes. He grabbed Sammy causing him to yelp and squirm in his arms. He held his fist up towards Sammy's very tender head ready to implement his abuse tactic for the day. It was just natural for them to carry on this way. Sammy was like the little brother Darien never had. Sometimes Darien would think what it would have been like if Serena was a guy, but she acted so much like one that he never really thought on about it.

"Dad! Make him stop!" Sammy begged his father Ken who was sitting in the recliner with a news paper in front of him, his glasses perched on his nose.

"Darien, give him one for me." Ken said slightly grinning, allowing a small chuckle to escape his lips. He went back to reading his newspaper as his daughter Serena came down stairs nearly killing herself in the process. That was her morning routine to come flying down the steps without any grace. She was dressed in a pair of baggy denim blue jeans, a loose fitting white tee shirt. Her black leather timberland boots were slightly covered by her jeans which were cuffed at the bottom so she wouldn't drag them in the back. Her black Yankees fitted hat sat perched on top of her head hiding her golden locks that were wrapped up underneath it. A thin gold chain that Darien had bought her as a birthday present last year adorned her neck.

"What's up my Road Dog?" She asked Darien, giving him their special handshake which was a minute long. They slapped hands when they were done. To them it was unusual to hug, only proper to shake hands. Her unkempt eyebrows rose as she took in his appearance. The question she wanted to ask him running through her mind as he spoke it instead.

"Why do you have on what I have on?" He asked her a little bit amused by how they seemed to dress alike without telling one another what they were going to wear. He smiled, his usual quirky grin spreading across his face at how they blended so well together. That was Serena just one of the guys. Serena grinned sheepishly, her smile warming the room.

"Great minds think a like." She said nonchalantly shrugging her petite shoulders as she headed towards the kitchen with him on her heals. She picked up a piece of toast ready to embark on her quick breakfast only to be stopped by Darien.

"Come on before we are late." He chided her shoving his toast down and forcing her out of the door.

"But my toast" She whined, pouting her pink lips pleading with his eyes for her meal. This was their routine every morning, him stopping her but he always made it up to her at lunch. He would always score her some pizza or one of her favorite snacks.

"Come on." He commanded with more force dragging her off to school in the crisp cool air, refusing to be late the first day of school.

The classroom was packed with seniors, different groups sitting in sections. Gossip filtered the air drowning out their thoughts of homework.

"Homeroom sucks." Serena sighed out of boredom, fidgeting with her already chewed pencil. Thoughts of lunch time swirled through her head, small sandwiches teasing her stomach.

"Yeah that's if u don't do your homework." Darien stated with his sloppy grin which turned into his winning smile. They always argued about Serena's bad homework habits even during the first day of class.

"Hey I do my homework, it just magically disappears." Serena protested clicking her tongue at his teasing.

"Sure Serena and pigs fly over the moon." Darien joked avoiding her playful punch that she threw. Serena's attention went back to the class waiting for the teacher to come and give out the usual crap that they would spew on the first day of school.

"First day and same Dick-heads." Serena snickered looking to the front of the class where the popular girls sat. She had a long heated history with them and the outcome was never good. She wouldn't allow them to ruin her senior year of high school with their petty arguments. She wanted to spend this year enjoying the perks of high school minus the detention. Last year she argued so much with her rival Ashley that she spent most of her free time in school serving long hours of detention. She even served Saturday detentions causing her to miss some of her and Darien's football games. Well she had made a vow not this year. This was her last year to spend time with Darien before they went off to college.

"Oh yeah them…" Darien paused, his eyes glazing over at the site of them, drooling a little over the group's leader Ashley. He had a small crush on Ashley and sometimes he would think about asking her out but he knew that Serena would never get along with her. Ashley stood there, her long auburn brown hair straightened and wrapped to perfection. Serena snorted staring at the image that she could never portray.

"Oh shut-up." She muttered glaring at him as she felt a pang in her chest. She shrugged it off trying to fight the nagging sensation to slap him. The thought of him never looking at her like that crossed her mind but she quickly banished it wondering why she would want him to look at her like that anyways. To her she had confirmed along time ago that boys were stupid and Darien was different but that still didn't cancel him out from being stupid. Her thoughts on the matter ended as she saw a group of new girls heading their way.

"Hey." The red head greeted as she sat on top of Serena's desk showing off her thighs in her skimpy mini skirt. The shock of her outfit wore off as Serena thought of how she was able to walk in the skirt or even get past the administrators in the school with it on.

"Hey." Serena greeted back wondering why this girl wasn't informed that she was flirting with the same sex. She stifled a giggle glancing over at Darien to see his reaction. He sat there with his tongue hanging out of his mouth not saying anything at all.

'This is why he's single.' Serena thought really trying to fight the laughter that was bubbling in her gut.

"So what's your name?" She asked the pretty red head. It puzzled Serena why the red head didn't catch on that she wasn't interested and that she sounded nothing like a guy. But damn her looks spoke more than her actions sometimes.

"It's Shauna." The girl replied scribbling her name and number down on a piece of paper to hand to Serena. She quickly wrote down Darien's number then handed it to Shauna who could have melted on the spot.

"Here call me sometimes." Serena told her winking as Shauna scooted off of her desk pulling her short skirt down in the process. Serena slipped Darien the number as Shauna sashayed back to her seat causing every male in the room to follow her every move. On her way back to her seat she turned and blew a kiss at Serena. Serena cringed wondering why Darien couldn't try to at least hit on girls with out her.

"Wow" Darien smirked laughing at Serena's weird position. Sometimes he got a kick out of watching her squirm. It was hard to picture her dressed as a girl when she always did cool things like getting him numbers. Sometimes he wondered how being considered a male made her feel, but to him she always seemed to take things well. That was another plus for Serena he would usually think about.

"Stop it Darien or I'll call her back over here to sit on your lap." Darien's laughter ceased him not wanting to call her bluff knowing that Serena would surely put him on the spot. He didn't know why he couldn't quite seem to talk to girls when it came to asking them out on dates. No matter what Serena told him, his mind just wouldn't work right when it came to the opposite sex. He seemed to disregard their feelings and forget to call them the next day. He always told himself that Serena was different he had the scars she had given him over the years to prove it. He stared down at his arm at the small scar that had started to fade over the years, it was becoming smaller.

The teacher scrambled in the class room looking disheveled while clutching a couple of books to her chest. She paused staring at the full class room; she mumbled something about bloody hell morons then sat the books down. A few minutes later she began to take roll. A petite blonde walked in a few minutes after the teacher headed in the direction of the only empty seat in the classroom. Serena and Darien stared open mouthed, watching her as she descended upon them. Serena didn't mean to stare but the blonde haired girl portrayed the image that she had always wanted to portray, and their resemblance was uncanny. She quickly closed her mouth and glanced over to see Darien's reaction, just like she thought, he was awe struck.

"Excuse me..." Mina, the blonde haired beauty tapped on Serena's shoulder not sure if the seat beside the new student was taken or just vacant. Serena gazed at her waiting for her to ask whatever she wanted. 'Wow, this guy looks like me.' Mina thought taking a step back. Serena didn't pay her actions any mind.

"Is this seat taken?" Mina asked trying not to stare but the boy sitting in front of her could have been her twin.

"Serena… Do we have a Serena in the class?" The teacher asked growing annoyed from being unanswered.

"Right here." Serena said raising her hand to be seen. The girl Shauna did a double take, her eyes rolling around she nearly fell out of her seat. She couldn't believe that she had hit on a girl. She wanted to throw up, but instead she placed her head down on her desk and hid her face.

"You're a girl." Mina spoke shocked by the discovery, just a few seconds ago she was sure that she was standing in front of a boy.

"Of course. What did you think I was? A boy." Serena joked hiding the fact that she was slightly hurt by the new girl's assumption. Darien cackled next to her, to him her embarrassing moments were always worth while.

"Sorry Serena. Well I mean well you know…" Mina said blushing slightly from embarrassment; she slid into the empty desk seat not wanting to look at the female next to her.

'Way to go Mina. Go around embarrassing yourself when it's your first day of school.' She thought waiting for the bell to ring signaling their departure. Darien chuckled unable to help himself.

"Well Rena you always seem to get more chicks than I do." He said as she swatted an angry fist at him missing his nose by inches.

"Hi. Since you know my name I guess it's only fair that you tell us yours. Oh and that's Darien." Serena said turning around and extending her hand towards Mina, mentioning Darien as if he wasn't important. Mina giggled and smiled; a smile that seemed eerily like Serena's and it was then that Serena knew that they would be good friends.

"It's Mina." She said shaking Serena's hand just as she had the same thought that they would be very good friends.

The afternoon sun beamed down on them. Their fitted hats perched on top of their heads, shielding their eyes from the bright sun. The sidewalk was crowded with afternoon shoppers and high school students.

"What's the matter with you?" Serena asked her eyes roaming over Darien's sad countenance. She hated when his mood would switch like this, just a few minutes ago nothing could stop him from smiling. A small breeze blew, bristled their t shirts as they slowly walked past pondering onlookers.

"Nothing." He replied smoothing out the crinkles in his t shirt. He loved her so much for caring about him. These were the aspects of a female that would show through in her. She never noticed it but he would catch a glimpse of it when it came to him.

"I've got you four phone numbers. What more could you want?" She started another usual argument of theirs as she pranced around him on a mission to pick his spirits up. Her smile never faltered and in that moment he thought of her being beautiful. He felt the urge to just touch her. 'Maybe the heat is getting to me.' He told himself trying to shake off the feeling of wanting to touch his best friend as he would touch any other girl.

"Come on." He whispered not in the mood to play around. He didn't want her to take it the wrong way. He knew that she was being silly for him. He grasped her hand gently as he stared into her summer blue sky eyes. The contact immediately stopped his wild thoughts, he felt calmer. Her antics ceased at the new sensation, of course they held hands plenty of times before but this was different, something was different. She did something that she hadn't done in ages she blushed under his gaze. The image of her standing before him a pink hue blending over her lightly freckled cheeks stunned him. He never admitted it before but he knew how many freckles adorned her face, he had counted them so many times before from memory. The moment continued to move in slow motion.

"Look at the guy's holding hands in public." Two girls said, standing there open mouthed at whom they considered two men displaying affection for one another. The moment was broken, but the affects from it still lingered in the air. Some of the school students who knew them snickered, it was every day somebody confused them for a couple, or Serena for a guy.

"Get a room." An old couple yelled as they walked past them. Serena and Darien laughed. They always laughed it off. It was just a joke to them, and hearing that old couple yell at them really made their day. They moved closer together oblivious to their surroundings as he put his arm around her waist. She didn't move him away. In the past she would prance out of his reach, but today she stayed. He smiled trying to stop his thoughts from running away with him. He didn't want to think right now.

'Maybe we are just really comfortable today.' He told himself not wanting to look at her like any other girl.

'Wow.' She thought just accepting that maybe he needed a hug, they rarely had contact outside of sports and other things.

'Maybe we should hug more.' She thought as they headed to Darien's house.