Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is under the trademark and copyright of Naoko Takeuchi, I am merely borrowing the names and relations of the characters for my story. (:
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Yuki's Corner:
This Chapters Guest: Serena Williams
Yuki: Hello
Serena: So, who are you supposed to be?
Yuki: The author, the Almighty one who's in charge of the events and such here.
Serena: Ohh, how come such a little girl get to be the one in charge? Can't they get anyone better?
Yuki: Tut. Tut. One more word of insult, and I swear I'll remove the protagonist role from you. Now apologize and call me the Almighty One!
Serena: Why Almighty One? That's so tacky.
Yuki: Okay the replacement protagonist will be...
Serena: Noooo! I'm sorry! I'm sorry Almighty One! Anything but that! Oh wait, so I'm the heroine here? *starts grinning* Does that mean I get to kick Darien's butt and all that in this story?
Yuki: Maybe, maybe not. *takes a sip from her bottle of green tea* (She hates him that much neh?)
Serena: Wha-? C'mon tell me! Tell me!
Yuki: No. Now be a good little girl and stay quiet if you want me to get on with the story.
Serena: Okay, okay..geez. *pulls out her iPod*
Yuki: Thank you and while you're at it, please help me think of a less tacky title...haha...And now without further delay....
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Am I really playing Juliet?
(And that idiot ape is my Romeo?!!!!)
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"Ugly Duckling" was what some people outside of Serena's group of friends, called her. Her four friends since childhood were all lovely young ladies' coming from either prestigious or amazing backgrounds; Amelia Martin, a soft-spoken consistent top-honours student who comes from a family of well-known doctors; Lita O'Connor, a strong-willed brunette who is both a star-athlete and a superb chef, daughter of the family who owns a line of restaurants all across America and Europe; Mina McCartney, a talented singer, the daughter of a famous movie director and an award-winning actress; Raye Valentina, the heiress to a signature clothing line who is quite vocal with her thoughts and aspirations. Serena Williams, on the other hand, though also an honour student, she isn't from some well-known family, her mother is a divorcee who makes a living by selling homemade pieces of pottery; she has never met her father, or even heard once from him since her parents divorced without her father knowing of her existence. In short, she was extremely plain compared to her friends when judged by her schoolmate's standards.
"It's not like you're not pretty Sere, you just don't pay attention to details like hair, clothes and make-up. You're gorgeous, really." Mina suddenly said while they were having some milk and homemade chocolate chip cookies at Lita's house.
"Yeah, Mina's right." Lita agreed as she returned from the kitchen with a freshly-baked batch of cookies. "I mean if you'd just pay a little attention to your appearance that would shut them up!" she said as she laid down the bowl at the centre of the table.
"Thanks girls, but really...I'm just fine with the way I am right now...And sorry if it's becoming embarrassing for you to be hanging out with some commoner with no sense of fashion." Serena mumbled before reaching out for another cookie. She was brought up by her mother in a frugal and simple style, and it showed even in the way she preferred to dress. Her wardrobe consisted mostly of just simple shirts, jeans and sneakers. She never even bothers with make-up and she just dons her hair into two spheres that continues into long pigtails. It's a style that very much contrasts the way her friends dressed; cashmere or silken dresses, frilled blouses and skirts, heels and Mary Jane's.
"Oh no, silly Sere! We're not embarrassed at all, just thought you might've become affected or something by those idiots at school." Amy said, and flung her arms around Serena. "So we were just worried."
"Yeah, I mean you're smarter, nicer and waaay better than those jerks." Raye said and leaned forward to playfully ruffle Serena's hair.
"Ahahaha...well enough talk about those lot, they're not worth our time. But a little update on how my dearest cousin Andrew and our Mina is doing, sure is worth it, yes?" Serena smiled mischievously as she tackled Mina, who immediately blushed at the topic that was brought up.
"Oooohh! Now that Serena mentioned it, how was your date with Andrew last night?" Raye asked excitedly.
"C'mon, spill! We want to hear about every single detail!" Lita said.
"There's no escape to this, is there?" Mina queried hopefully.
"Nope." The girls said in unison.
"Oh...fine, if you insist." Mina half-groaned and rolled her eyes briefly before her expression changed into that filled with enthusiasm and delight, the pure image of a girl in love. "Well, as you've all known beforehand, he picked me up at sharply seven p.m., in a rather casual outfit, he looked really attractive. Before we left the house, he gave me a bouquet of sunflowers, I didn't know if he knew those were my favourite flowers. But I was happy either way."
"Oooohh! He did his research, plus points on Little Drew." Raye teased.
Still smiling, Mina continued on with her story, "Anyway, we went to see a movie. Then we had a nice dinner around 9 at that new Italian restaurant; the food there was superb, it's like the food was brought over from Italy itself; Very authentic in taste. Afterwards we went for a brief walk at the park before he drove me home."
"Oh, I didn't know that Andrew was such a romantic!" Serena giggled.
"So? Did you guys kiss?" Lita asked as she tapped her fingers impatiently on the arm rest of her seat.
"Well...uhm..." Mina said nervously, her cheeks flushed. "Just a quick peck before I got off the car." She finished off quickly, and then proceeded to cover her face with a throw pillow.
"Cheek, forehead or lips? C'mon Mina! Don't you dare hide such important points from us!" Raye demanded feistily as she snatched the pillow away from Mina.
"Lips." Mina squeaked.
Amy mouthed a silent "Oh my goodness." It was typical and expected of her to blush and be shy about situations such as this, since, among the girls in the group, she's the one who's most chaste and rather old-fashioned when it comes to habits and manners.
"I bet it wasn't even longer than 5 seconds, good grief! How long have you guys been dating? Like, a month already dearest, and til now all you've got is a peck?" Serena raised her hand to her temples. "Maybe I should give that cousin of mine a punch or two."
"Good idea Sere, I'll gladly help you out with that!" Lita agreed spunkily, and cracked her knuckles.
"Oh please, he's being such a gentleman to Mina, don't do such a thing." Amy finally spoke, worried that Serena and Lita might really do something to make Andrew a little more aggressive.
"Guess you're right Ames. At least he's not a womanizing asshole like his best friend, that Darien Shields." Serena said, wrinkling her nose, obviously annoyed when she mentioned the name.
"Womanizing asshole or not, I wouldn't care cause he's such a hot guy." Raye said dreamily.
"Oh God, not you too Raye!" Serena rolled her eyes. "Why is it that practically all the girls at school is going gaga about that egoistic jerk?"
"Well, he's handsome, hot, rockin' sexy body, filthy rich, captain of the football team, and well, he's hot." Lita quipped with a playful smirk as she sipped some milk.
"Beyond looks and money hasn't anybody here aside from me noticed the arrogant buffoon with an ego larger than Johnny Bravo's?" Serena stated, and was starting to look rather pissed.
"Oh c'mon, Serena! Why do you hate him so much? I mean, are you in love with him or something?" Lita teased. "You're always bickering with him and all that."
Since they were in kindergarten, Darien and Serena would often bicker and hurl comments at each other. Darien especially made fun of Serena's rather eccentric hairstyle and called her "Meatball Head".
"Eh? Of course not! What's to love in such a guy?" Serena frowned and crossed her arms squarely over her chest.
"What's not to love?" Mina snickered.
"Bah! It's pointless arguing about that jerk with his unofficial fan club!" Serena slumped over to reach for another piece of cookie.
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"Welcome home Serena. How was your day sweetheart?" her mother greeted warmly. Irene Williams, an ebony haired beauty, wed at the age of eighteen and soon divorced before she was even nineteen. Though still rather young and evidently beautiful, she never remarried nor did she inform her ex-husband that he had a daughter with her, and thus she took it all upon herself to raise Serena and give her a good upbringing.
"Hi mum!" Serena smiled and dropped her knapsack at the couch before hurrying over to give her mother a hug. "The usual stuff at school, then Lita baked us some cookies after school so we had it with tea at her place. She even gave me some to take home for you, it's in my bag. We can have it after dinner."
"Oh, how nice of Lita, please tell her I said thank you." Her mother said. "Speaking of dinner, we're having your favourite tonight. I made a fairly good business today, so I thought we'd celebrate so I ordered your favourite Japanese dishes."
"Wow! Congratulations mum!" Serena cheered and gave her mother another squeeze.
"Thank you dear." Her mother smiled her that favourite smile of Serena, so warm and kind. "Now, now hurry up and wash your hands so we can have dinner. The ramen's starting to get cold."
"Yikes! Roger that!" Serena did a playful salute before making a beeline for the kitchen sink.
Over dinner, Irene's disposition suddenly became serious. "Serena sweetheart, there's something important we have to discuss." She said, as she set aside her chopsticks.
"Hmm...What's the matter mum?" Serena paused from eating the egg rolls.
"It's about your father..." Irene started, looking deep in thought as to how she should begin her speech.
Serena doesn't know much about her father, except for his first name and that he and her mum were high school sweethearts who wed when they were in college and divorced even before a year had passed. They had not discussed about him since Serena was twelve years old, when her mother had decided that it was time for her to know about her father and all that. "What about my father?" Serena asked in a monotone.
"He called earlier, by some means or source; he found out that we have a daughter together. And he wanted to meet you." Irene told her.
She didn't know whether or not to be happy about her father wanting to meet her. She had been alive for seventeen years and only now did he decide to do something like this. Sure, her mother didn't tell him that she was pregnant with Serena...but all these years, did he never suspect and wonder? Why just now? What did he need from Serena and her mum?
"So then..." her mother hesitated to ask. "Would you agree to meet him?"
After a few seconds of silence, Serena finally spoke "I..I guess it'll be alright, sure."
"Oh, wonderful, I'm sure he'd be delighted." She breathed a sigh of relief.
Suspicious, why'd she look that so relieved...Could it be that...? Nah...It couldn't be...She shrugged the thought off before she could come up with any ridiculous conspiracy theory.
"Anyway, your birthday's in two weeks, do you have anything you want in mind?" her mother asked as she took the dishes to the kitchen sink.
"Nope, there isn't anything." Serena replied quickly.
"Are you sure? Maybe I could buy you a new cell phone or we could go shopping downtown, don't you want that sort of stuff?" Irene probed again.
"My cell phone's still working fine and my clothes are still okay, you don't have to worry mum." Serena smiled and stood up to give her mother a hug. "Really." She insisted.
"You know sweetheart, sometimes I think my daughter's already a middle-aged adult rather than a youthful teenager." She teased as she playfully pinched Serena's cheek.
"Hey, at least I'm not a rebellious brat right?" Serena pointed out.
"Yes, but even though we don't have much money, I wished you'd let me spoil you a little bit sometimes." Her mother complained.
Sighing, she finally gave in. "Okay mum, you can spoil me or do whatever you want on my birthday."
"Do you solemnly swear that?" her mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, a solemn promise." She replied.
"Yes! Thank you sweetheart!" her mother squealed happily and pulled her into another embrace.
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The next day would've been just like any other school day if not for the unexpected happenings in her English class. Her teacher, Mrs. Gabriella Johansson, was an ebullient plump old lady who loved spontaneity and surprises. And her jovial personality was reflected in her manner of dressing, always in beautiful, vibrant shades.
Two days ago, they started on discussing Romeo and Juliet, and yesterday she made each student in class read lines. But Serena never saw an activity such as this, coming.
"Okay people, settle down." Mrs. Johansson began. "I have an announcement to make." She waited for nearly a minute until the students had calmed down somewhat. "As you all know, around this time of the year, we usually start preparing for the annual classical production which juniors, you lot, are in charge of. I did much rationalizing yesterday, after you've each read lines taken from Romeo and Juliet, I've decided on the parts each of you will have. Since there aren't that many characters in this Shakespearean work, some of you will be in charge of the props and costumes, lighting and directing."
"Surely I'll get the part of Juliet and Darien will play my Romeo." Beryl Cassidy said confidently as she admired her reflection on the mirror of her compact powder case. A loud-mouthed and bitchy redhead, she is one who started on calling Serena, "Ugly Duckling" the others merely followed out of fear of angering Beryl; of course, Serena was not one to get into fights, so she merely retorts comments like "I'd rather be ugly and natural than be a beauty from plastic surgery." And that gets Beryl each and every time. Though despite being an artificial beauty, that did not keep people away from her or even standing up against her since Beryl's father was a wealthy businessman who owned most of the establishments in their city.
"You two would make a beautiful couple." Ruby Matthews complimented. She is Beryl's cousin with a slightly less wicked personality, and she is always seen supporting the comments or insults Beryl says, and pretty much following her every whim and command.
"Of course." She chortled. "Who else would, but I?"
Mrs. Johansson proceeded with the casting. "For props and set, the crew would be composed of Samantha Evans, Ruby Matthews, Charles Smith, Kevin Moore, Patrick Chan, Merrick Stevens, Isabelle Jenner, and John Avery; for costumes we have, Noelle Sherman, Hilary Thompson, Cassandra Lilith and Minerva Greene; Music and sounds will be Amelia Martin and Molly Carmichael; Assistant Director, Denise Scott and Director, Lita O'Connor."
"And now on with the characters, Friar Lawrence, Andrew Jones; Tybalt, Diamond Campbell; Lady Capulet, Michelle McAdams; Lord Capulet, Pierre Daumier; Lady Montague, Raye Valentina; Lord Montague, Nathaniel Gonzales; Nurse, Mina McCartney; Count Paris, Seiya Steinberg; Mercutio, Thomas Durant; Rosaline, Beryl Cassidy. And for our play's lovers," Mrs, Johansson paused to smile, as if to weigh the reaction of the class, before announcing the finale of the casting, "the handsome Romeo Montague will be played by Darien Shields and the lovely Juliet Capulet, Serena Williams." She finished.
The class was abuzz with murmurs of awe and surprise by the unlikely pair being cast into the lead roles and chatter with regards to their own roles. Lita was obviously happy with being made director; Amy, too was overjoyed with heading the music and sound effects; Raye found it amusing that she'd be playing Romeo's mother, was her casting to that character also due to her similar hair colour to Darien's? She mused; Mina thought her role to be ironic, since in real life, it was Serena who mostly takes care of her whilst in the play, her role was a nanny to Serena's character; and our Serena, was confused on how she should react...She got the lead role but her Romeo would be Darien, she didn't know if she'd be happy or angry at this.
Suddenly, Beryl shrieked and stood up from her seat. "I object to the casting! How come I'm only Rosaline? I'm much more suited to be Juliet Capulet than that Ugly Duckling!" she spat, and pointed an accusing finger at Serena.
Mrs. Johansson looked up from her list and adjusted her spectacles to have a good look at Beryl. "Quiet Ms. Cassidy, if you had been vying for that role then you should've done better with your lines yesterday, with or without the knowledge that you have been in fact auditioning for parts for the play." She said sternly, her eyes sharp and unwavering, a complete contrast from her usual tone and expression. "And clearly, the rash behaviour you're displaying right now is not suited for the pure and innocent image of Juliet Capulet. If you have any more objections and rude thrashings, I'll have you placed in the props team and sent to the Principal's office."
Seething with anger and humiliated, Beryl was forced to return to her seat.
"At least you're still Romeo's first love in the story." Ruby tried to comfort her cousin.
"You don't know when to shut up, do you Ruby?" she retorted angrily.
Mrs. Johansson lifted a box from beside her desk and took out a stack of booklets. "These are the scripts for the play, I expect you'll all memorize and deliver your lines well." She said her with her usual voice and smile back. "Let's make this play a success and one that the audience will never forget!" she encouraged, and the class broke into loud cheers and applauds.
Over lunch, the girls were abuzz with chatter about the play.
"Mrs. Johansson sure casted us well." Lita said, smiling. "I can hear it now, the cheering and applause of the crowd for the play well directed!" she made big gestures in the air and pretended to bow.
"Oh shut up Lita!" Raye laughed, and impishly threw a couple of fries at her.
"Amy will be in charge of music, Lita the director, Raye will be Lady Montague, and poor little me will only be Serena's nanny." Mina complained teasingly and made a face.
"Such a lovely nurse I have to care for me." Serena quipped. She wasn't really that enthusiastic about being chosen to play Juliet since her Romeo would be Darien.
"Our dearest Serena is Juliet and her Romeo is Darien Shields, kind of ironic don't you think?" Mina said. "Or could this be a sign from Venus that you and Darien are a match meant to be? Seeing as you're playing lovers in this play." she smiled mischievously as she inspected her perfectly manicured nails, checking for possible minute smudges.
"Ugh...Don't speak of such ominous, not to mention disgusting stuff Mina! You're making me lose my appetite!" Serena frowned, as she poked at her food.
"But if it turns out to be true, let's hope they don't be the same as Romeo and Juliet who were star-crossed lovers." Amy remarked, as she looked up from the Calculus book she was reading. "That would be no good."
"I say not even lovers, please!" Serena whined, flailing her arms above her head.
"Speaking of the devil, here comes your Romeo, Juliet darling." Mina grinned wickedly.
"Hello girls, meatball head...or should I say, my Juliet?" Darien greeted, and flashed them his trademark smile that have made dozens of girls swoon. He was a tall guy, a good six-foot-one, and unmistakably handsome with his wavy jet-black hair, onyx eyes and fine features. Being an athlete, he also has well-defined muscles. Handsome, smart, popular and wealthy, he was the dream guy of pretty much every girl in school...with Serena as the exception of course.
"What do you want, pig?" Serena scoffed at him.
"I was wondering if you're free after school, I'd like for us to start practicing our lines together, see." Darien replied casually.
"I didn't know that mister star athlete would be so eager to practice his lines for a play, this soon." Serena answered haughtily. "And no, I'm not free this afternoon. I have an appointment with the----"Her speech was suddenly cut off by Lita's hand. "Oh, no! Serena doesn't have any appointments at all!"
"Don't listen to what she's saying right now, she's just grumpy because her favourite meal was out of stock." Raye interjected.
"Yes, yes, so really, she'd love to practice with you." Amy added.
"At her house, 4 o'clock." Mina finished.
"Thank you girls." Darien grinned. "Parting is such a sweet sorrow, until later then my Juliet." He said, and took Serena's hand and pressed a kiss atop her fingers.
After successfully freeing herself from Lita's grasp, she waved her hand away from him. "'Parting is such a sweet sorrow', is Juliet's line you ape!"
Darien merely laughed at her reaction and walked away.
Serena turned to look at the girls who were all grinning, even sweet Amelia. "What were you girls thinking? Doing something like that?!!"
"Well, it's for the good of the play." Said Lita in an as-a-matter-of fact tone, as she paused from munching on her cinnamon roll.
"Don't you 'for the good of the play' me!" Serena retorted. "And besides, I thought you girls liked him?"
"I have Andrew, so I'm out of that." Mina said immediately.
"He's hot and all but I'm not interested in having him as a boyfriend." Raye answered in a bored tone as she twirled a lock of her dark raven hair around her finger. "And besides, he's my son." She joked, pointing out their roles in the play.
"I'm not interested either." Lita agreed indifferently.
"I'm not into romance stuff." Amy admitted easily as she buried her nose again in her book.
"Director's order, do well on your practice after school." Lita commanded puckishly.
"Abuse of authority and bullying!" Serena muttered irritably as she went back to eating her food.
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Yuki's Notes:
A new story at hand whilst the others still lie unfinished, my humble apologies to the readers of my other Darien x Serena stories, I haven't had any ideas or inspirations to continue them lately, but since I was struck with the vision for this story, this will be my main focus for now.
And so, on with the discussion of the story...I came up with this in the middle of my summer vacation. On my first and second drafts of this story, I wasn't able to portray and introduce the characters the way I intended, so I rewrote several scenes, removed some, and added several new things, including the Romeo and Juliet play. I find it a rather amusing recurrence, the Romeo and Juliet play, since in the first fan fiction I wrote about the anime Gakuen Alice, the same play was used, but in that story, only a small scene was done, not the entire play.
I hope you guys liked this first chapter and I'd like to hear you comments, suggestions and creative criticisms. A private rehearsals of their lines, let's see what'll happen when we leave our favourite bickering pair, Serena and Darien, all by themselves. *wink* see you all on Chapter 2!!! XD