-Chapter 2-

The next morning was as usual. But little did I know that today was the day my whole view of life would be turned upside-down.

So I got on the bus and listened to the usual comments made about my body, which I think should be against the law to say those things about someone. I pushed through the crown to get to my locker, as usual. And finally, it was class. However, today was different.

"Good morning, class. I have an announcement." the teacher declared. Ooohh... An announcement! Yippee... We have one of those every morning. Why is this one any different? The teacher continued. "We have a new student joining our school. Be nice for the first period, then you can tear down his social confidence later, okay?"

A handsome boy appeared shyly behind the teacher. He was quickly told to take a seat. Unfortunately for me, the only open seat was right next to me. Why was I the only girl in school who had this kind of luck? What did I do to deserve this? Anyway, he took the only available seat and grinned at me. Thinking he was grinning at my proportions, I put on my angry face and turned my head away from the disgusting little freak. I was trying to let him know I didn't like what he was thinking.

That moron just tilted his head in confusion. What, a girl never rejected you before? Oh well, that's not my problem. But you know what was my problem? The fact that the teacher said I had to show him around school. I swear that teacher just loves picking on her poor students, namely me. Why me, you ask? Who knows...

After that class, I had to show him around. My first act of business was to ask his name.

"Darien Shields." he said. Wow. That voice of his was so deep, it was almost profound... Very masculine, I must add. I could feel my heart skip a beat when he said that. But I wasn't going to set myself up just to be hurt. I acted like I didn't care about his voice or his name, even though I did.

"Yeah, okay. So, Darien, where do you wanna go first?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Well, don't we have classes to attend to? Ms... Uh..." he racked his brain for the right name.

"Serena. Serena Tsukino. And our classes were cut short so I could show you around." I answered.

"Serena. That's a very pretty name. I like it." he said.

I swear to God I felt my heart skip about thirty beats that time! No one had ever complimented my name before.

"Th-Thanks..." I said breathlessly, "Your name is nice as well." It was so obvious I was blushing. But I just couldn't help it!

He looked right past the blushing and asked me if I could take him to the cafeteria first. It was lunch time, anyway. That was when my stomach decided to make its statement in our conversation. It growled, not grumbled, at me. Of course, this didn't help at all. I was blushing even more now!

"Hey!" he said cheerfully, "Look at that! Your stomach is very demanding."

Oh, man... When he looked at me with those eyes... Whew... Wow... I still don't know for sure, but I think I started to drool a little. How. Embarrassing. "Y-Yes, it is."

At the cafeteria, Darien and I sat at different tables. My table was close enough that I could her Darien's voice. He was talking with another male of the human species.

"Hey, Darien?" Darien's newfound friend asked. As soon as Darien turned his head, his friend continued, "So I saw you with Serena today. Dude, I don't think you realize what a lucky stroke you got! Getting her to show you around the school! Man, I'm so jealous! You know she's like the hottest girl in school, right?"

Darien thought for a second, then answered, "Well, yes, I do think she's an attractive lady," he paused.

I knew it...

Then he continued, "However, I don't think that's quite what I like about her."

HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN WRONG?

"Darien, man, whatcha talkin' about? What else is there to like?" another boy asked, one that had obviously overheard the twosome's conversation.

"Well, I mean she does have good proportions, and yes, she does have great looks, but...I don't look for those things in a woman." he replied.

"Huh?" It was obvious no one else understood. The losers...

"I think she's really smart, spontaneous, funny, and fun to be around. Those are some of the traits I look for. I think I just haven't seen any of them from her yet because she might think I'm just like you guys."

"What are talking about 'just like us'?"

"Have you ever put yourself in her shoes? You guys only look at her body, and I'm pretty sure she knows it. Haven't you ever thought for a second she might be tired of being looked at that way? If I were her, I know I would be tired of it."

Oh my gosh... He really does understand me! Okay, maybe he's not all that bad a guy, after all.

"So you mean to tell me that you haven't looked at her body at all?" one of them questioned.

"Well, I have, but just not in the way you guys do. I don't lust after her like you. I just want to get to know her, at least. Then, if she wants, I'll be happy to be her friend. However, if things go beyond friendship, then it goes beyond friendship. It's not that I don't care, I just want to be sure she's okay with everything. If she doesn't want to be my girlfriend, then she doesn't have to be."

"So you just expect us to believe you're this innocent guy who only cares about her personality?"

"That's right." he plainly replied.

I sat at my table, feeling no need to rush my eating like everyone else did. So, he did care about my personality! The first one ever! I felt like running up to him, giving him a big hug, and thanking him. Actually, I felt like hanging all over him and kissing him all over until he had lipstick painting his face. For the first time I felt like one of my classmates actually cared about me as a person. And unless you've been there, done that, you don't know how good it feels to be cared about by someone other than your family. It feels like you're being renewed as a person!

And when he said 'go beyond friendship', well... Let's just say I was really hoping it would. But even if it didn't, I'd be more than happy to be his friend, in the least.

And that's when it struck me: I was in love with him! Head over heels in love with him!

The lunch bell rang right at that moment. Perfect.

Right before Darien left the lunch room, I held him back. When everyone left, I pulled him into the kitchen. There were leftovers and it stunk of cafeteria food, but that was the last thing I was focused on. Darien. That was the only thing I was focused on.

Unfortunately, my plans to stay in the kitchen and talk to him there were ruined by a lunch lady, who was yelling at us to get out. We obeyed.

Out in the empty cafeteria, which also stunk of cafeteria food, I rearranged my plans to talk to Darien. I wanted to let him know I'd overheard him and thank him for what he'd said. He was a real lifesaver to me. My hero. I know it sounds cliche, but it's true. He was my hero.

"Darien..." I started, realizing I was losing all my confidence for the first time ever. Why was it this hard? "I...overheard you...talking." I managed.

"Y-You did? Okay! You know what? I can explain! I was-"

"N-No... I' sorry." I said, breaking off his sentence before he had a chance to make a complete fool of himself.

"What? Why are sorry? You didn't even do anything."

"Yes, I did. I thought you were...you know."

He cocked his head in confusion. "What does 'you know' mean?"

I tried to answer him, I really did. But I couldn't. I couldn't tell him that I thought he was looking at my body this whole time; that I thought he was just another perverted guy. I looked down, totally ashamed of myself for just assuming things. I should've looked into this first...

I had to calm down, fast. I could already feel my face getting red and tears coming to my eyes. Immediately I ran over to the furthest stool away from Darien, trying to think of anything other than him. Nothing was working! I couldn't let Darien see me cry, though... I didn't know why, but I just didn't like people seeing me cry, thinking I was weak or a crybaby or that I couldn't take a little pressure. I tried to focus on bloody battlefields and McDonald's chicken nuggets and sweet tea. Not helping. I soon found myself trying to focus on brownies and other chocolaty delights. The best stuff was made by Hershey's brand.

It wasn't long before I heard Darien's footsteps coming ever so closer. Closer... Closer... And still closer... I didn't try to move or get away, mainly because there was a wall not too far from where I was sitting. I tensed noticeably as I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. A friendly touch, one that meant Darien didn't want any trouble and just wanted me to feel better. I responded by shrugging it off, making sure he knew just how upset I was.

I heard him trying to walk around me, probably trying to look me in the face. I moved so my back followed the sound of his footsteps. He walked in the opposite direction, and I moved my back, again, to follow the sound of his footsteps. H walked in the opposite direction he was just walking and I did the same thing. This action showed remorse at first, but it soon looked more like a childish game than anything else. I smiled after awhile of this, knowing he wasn't going to easily give up. Then, the next thing I knew, I was laughing at how child-like I was being.

Eventually I stopped moving and let him see my face. I pouted, as though I was still upset, but apparently my smile was showing through the mask I'd put over it because Darien scooped me up in those muscular arms of his and tossed me up into the air. It wasn't high enough to make him drop me when I came back down, but it was high enough to scare me in a friendly way.

Eventually I had to give in. I kept screaming stop and laughing right after I screamed it. As soon as he finally put me down I pouted again and turned my back toward him.

"You aren't easy, are you?" he said, "If you don't stop, I'm gonna have to bring out the big guns, Serena."

What on earth was he talking about? Big guns? What was that? Or those, whichever. I soon found out.

He grabbed my sides and furiously tickled them. I burst into spontaneous laughter and pleaded for him to stop. But the man was relentless. I thrashed and squirmed but nothing would work! This guy was pure evil... He didn't cease his tickle torture for a whole ten minutes. By the time he stopped, at last, I was completely breathless.

He looked at my face and instead of pouting, this time I smiled, even though my lungs were telling me to let them regain enough oxygen before I smiled. He smiled back, and I swear to you, I've never seen a smile quite like his. He offered me one of his hands. When I took it in my own, he helped me up. Oooohhh... Chivalry.

I was no longer feeling down or remorseful. I was glad, because now I knew he was my friend. He'd be there for me when I needed him. It was a great feeling to have, actually. Now, maybe we could take this a step further. But I knew we had a long ways to go before that happened. We had to get to know each other much better than we did now. But I could wait; I was in no rush to hurry things or speed them up. All I would do is wait, and have fun while I was waiting.