This is just a short one-chapter about Serena doing the unthinkable. You'll find out once you read!
Serena woke with a jolt to the sound of her alarm clock blaring. She flailed around in her bed, then fell over onto the floor, taking all of her blankets with her. Then she reached up and slammed her hand down on the 'off' button on her clock. "Grrr," she said. Then she realized that something was covering her face, and she tried to push it out of the way.
It was her hair. In her attempt to move the giant blonde mass, her hands got caught up in its many tangles. She sat there, helpless, until Mina came in to check on her.
"Sere, are you. . .okay?" she asked, staring at the mess.
"Just help me, will you?" Serena said angrily. Mina began the slow process of untangling the moon princess from her hair. It took a while. Then finally. . .
"Yes! I'm free!" said Serena jovially. Then she tossed all the covers back on her bed as Mina left to finish her breakfast.
After she had dressed, Serena sat in front of her vanity. It had a huge mirror that she used to admire her beautiful face. But her hair was a disaster. She dug the brush out from one of the drawers, and began to comb through it, yanking through all the knots. This is going to take forever, she thought.
Then a thought occurred to her. What if. . .no, she couldn't. Could she? Yes. It would definitely be worth it.
She walked to the hair salon.
"Hello, there," said the lady behind the counter. She had short, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and a thick pair of glasses. There was a forgotten pencil behind her left ear. "I've never seen you in here before. What's your name?"
"Serena," she replied. The lady began to type furiously on her computer, asking for other information like her address and phone number as well.
"Okay, head over there to Becky. She'll get you fixed right up." The lady was referring to the mass of mess atop her head. Serena's hair swished against her knees, and she wondered if she was going to miss it.
Yes. She was going to get her hair cut. A/N: This is the part where you all gasp and come after me with your torches and pitchforks.
Becky too had blonde hair, only hers was about shoulder length. It was neatly brushed, and she had bangs. She looked a bit nerdy to Serena. But whatever. Becky didn't even bother to attempt to wash her hair. She just sat Serena right down in the black swivel chair, and tied a blue plastic apron around her neck. She had already had a pair of scissors in one hand, but then when she had seen Serena's hair, she put them down and grabbed a pair that must have been three times bigger. They looked rather lethal to her, and wondered briefly if maybe this woman was working for Queen Beryl. But, more likely than not, she was just your average mortal, living in an average Japanese home.
"Are you sure you're ready?" asked the blonde. The other blonde nodded. "Okay, then." With that, she made the first cut, at the bottom of her back. Serena winced at the sound. How long had it been since she'd had her hair cut last? Had it ever been cut?
Her thoughts were interrupted when the hair lady spoke again. "How short d'you want it?"
"Er—same as yours," she said, "but without the bangs. Please."
"Alrighty then." She was chewing some bubble gum; Serena could hear the smacking.
The lady kept snipping. Or should I say, 'bush whacking'?
Serena's long, golden hair fell to pieces on the floor. With every cut, her head seemed to feel lighter, as if a great weight had been taken off of it. Well, a great weight had been taken off of it. How much did hair weigh?
"Okay, all done, honey. Tell me what you think." She handed Serena a mirror, then turned her around so that her mirror was facing the mirror behind her, so that she could see the back of her head.
The result was shocking. It was so short! Most people wouldn't call shoulder-length short, but to Serena it was like being bald. But thank God she wasn't bald.
"It looks. . .good," she said. She was sort of dazed from the whole experience. Then a thought struck her: what on Earth would the girls think?
She paid the lady with the pencil, and walked briskly out of the salon.
When she got home, she could hear all of the girl's voices when she got to the door. That meant they were all up and about. She reached out her hand and opened the door.
There was a scream, followed by three more.
"Someone's breaking in!" shouted Mina.
"Mars Fireball Surround!" shouted Raye's voice. Serena ducked the incoming ball of fire.
"Guys, stop! It's me, Serena," yelled Serena at the top of her lungs.
They all stopped moving. They stared at her, trying to figure out if it was really her or not.
"Serena. . .it can't be. . .your hair!" shouted Lita. Amy, Raye and Mina were silent and still gawking.
"Well. . .do you like it?" Serena asked hopefully. Silence followed.
"It's. . .different," said Mina.
"Well, does your head feel lighter, Sere?" asked Raye. Serena nodded.
More silence followed.
Then, it seemed as if a bubble had suddenly been burst, and the girls started laughing uproariously. It wasn't a rude kind of laugh; it was just that they were amazed and amused at what their friend had done. Serena joined in. She methodically reached up to brush the hair out of her face, but there was nothing there but air to move.
"What's Darien got to say about all this?" asked Amy.
Serena felt like she had just been hit by a train. Darien? What was he going to say? She hadn't even thought about him. For once, said a nagging voice in the back of her mind. Shut up, she said back.
Well, she was going to find out what Darien had to say about all this later on that day, when she met him at the corner restaurant for lunch.
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Serena strolled into the restaurant. It was like those little cafés, with lots of little circular tables and a series of barstools at the counter. He was waiting at a table in the middle. The place wasn't very busy.
She walked over to where Darien was seated, and she was about to sit down when Darien looked up and said, "Uh, there's someone sitting here. . ."
Serena gave him an upset puppy-dog face. "Why, it's me, Darien," she said. "Don't you recognize me?" She stuck out her lower lip for effect.
Darien gawked at her. "Serena? What have you done to your hair? Oh my God, someone has taken over your mind! Aliens! Help!" He wasn't kidding.
"Darien! Knock it off," she exclaimed. "I just got a haircut. Don't you love me still?" She was about to cry.
"Well. . .why of course, sweetey, I'm just so. . .shocked. . .actually, I love it! It frames your face really. . .well," he was stammering to find the right words.
Serena sat down. By now, everyone in the restaurant was staring in their direction.
"So. . .what d'you wanna eat?"
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"C'mon, Serena!" shouted Raye from the living room. "We've got to go battle the Youma at the park! What are you doing?"
"Hang on!" shouted Serena. She was, in fact, sitting at her vanity, brushing her hair. It was so easy to brush now! She didn't even have to pull it around her shoulder. Actually, she couldn't. It was too short. She ran the brush through it a few more times, then threw it into the drawer and ran out the door, sprinting to catch up with the rest of the group. Every time she had walked past one of them at the house, they would keep staring. It was so weird to see her with hair that short!
At last, they reached the park, and began to transform.
"Mercury star power!"
"Venus star power!"
"Mars star power"
"Jupiter star power!
Serena halted a moment to catch her breath before belting out, "Moon crystal power!" When she had finished transforming, the girls gasped.
Gone were long pigtails and buns. Now, it was just two little fluffy stubs of blonde hair sitting on top of her hair. The little red balls had disappeared too. It was a strange sight to see.
Their minds were torn away from the sight as a loud growl broke the air.
The girls whirled around to see a giant Youma behind them with no particular animal form. It was just a huge, brown-skinned monster, with humongous yellow-tinged fangs dripping with saliva. Raye screamed as a bit of it fell onto her hand.
"Supreme Thunder Clash!" shouted Sailor Jupiter. The monster gave a savage cry, clutching its stomach. It grasped about wildly, trying to find who had inflicted its pain, and in the process swiped Lita off her feet. She hit the ground with a thud. But she quickly recovered and pulled herself back up.
"Mars Fireball Surround!" shouted the Sailor of fire. A huge fireball struck the creature and some of its tufts of fur caught fire. It began to scream a loud, high-pitched scream.
"Finish it off, Sailor Moon!" shouted Raye.
"Moon Tiara Action!" she shouted as she threw her tiara like a boomerang toward it.
The Youma gave one more deafening cry, and then it vanished in a cloud of smoke. But out of that cloud of smoke stepped a woman, who they recognized immediately.
"Beryl," muttered Amy.
And so it was. Just her presence there made a shiver go up each girl's spine. She stared at each Sailor Scout, one at a time. Then, finally, her eyes came to a rest on Serena.
"What's this? A new Sailor Moon?" Beryl was so perplexed, they all started to giggle. She kept looking around back and forth, and then she walked up to Sailor Moon.
"I think I want to touch them," she said nonchalantly. She reached out her bone white hand to feel Serena's tiny little pigtails. It tickled her hair as she did so. Then Serena ducked out from underneath her, and sent a whirling ball of white light towards Beryl's chest.
Beryl didn't even make a sound as she suddenly disappeared.
"Did you see the look on her face?" said Lita.
"I couldn't believe it!" agreed Mina.
"I got a picture!" shouted Amy. The girls eagerly rushed over to look at the small screen on her new digital camera.
There, in 10 megapixel beauty on a 2.5 inch swivel screen, was Beryl's perplexed face. The gang shared another round of laughs.
"We'll have to frame that one and put it on the wall," said Mina.
"Heck yes we will!" agreed Raye.
"C'mon, let's get home," said Lita.
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It only took a couple of months for Serena's hair to grow back to its previous length, which they were all sure was a world record.
"That has to be ten inches per month!" exclaimed Amy. "Maybe it has to do with the chemical make up of her DNA and the way they produce proteins. . ."
"Do us all a favor, and shut up, will ya?" asked Raye. They were all taking turns brushing it.
"I'm so glad it's back," piped in Lita.
"Me too, guys. Me too."
The giggle gang giggled once more.
"Although it was kind of nice having it out of the way. . ."
"Don't even think about it," said Mina.