Author's Note: Hello all. Writing drabbles is really, really hard. I can't believe I managed this one in only 98 words!! Go me! I loved writing this particular drabble (there will be a Part 2 – I know, I'm cheating) but I immediately started thinking of how to convert it into an epic-length story. Must… resist… must be… strong! Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review if you like. Anyone with an idea for a drabble in one word, please let me know (Example: Ice Cream, Rainbow Crystal, Spaghetti, etc.). By the way, this is a First Season drabble.
Title: Distractions: Part 1
Words: 98
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Sailor Moon and I receive no money from the proceedings. Unfortunately…
Serena could see a nest of birds in the tree outside the window. The mother flitted back and forth, her feathers catching in the sunlight to flash blue and black as it glided gracefully before her shrieking babies. Serena had given up the pretense of paying attention during the algebra review she was currently suffering through. She should have paid attention – she was "hopelessly lost in terms of the content of the upcoming exam," as Amy had put it, but it was impossible to keep her attention on the chalkboard.
Three boys were passing a hentai manga to each other four desks up to her right, Molly and her friend Sarah were passing notes and whispering directly behind her, the teacher's oblivious voice droned on in monotone, someone was running down the hall outside the classroom, the sun fell just so on her golden hair so that it exploded in a prism of different colors if she looked hard enough at the strands, birds played on the branches only meters away… with all these distractions, how could anyone pay attention?
'I bet Darien could focus," she thought with a mental scowl. She twirled her pencil between two fingers, thinking of his nose buried in a book, his voice chiding her for not studying hard enough. The more she thought of his obnoxious laugh and his incessant need to stare at her as if she was something fascinating, like he could see right through to her soul like no one else could.
Without realizing what she was doing, Serena blocked out the distractions. She developed a sort of tunnel vision, seeing only the chalk in front of her teacher's hand as he wrote. She tuned out all sounds save for the soft squeaking of the chalk and the teacher's suddenly interesting voice. Her fingers stilled from their twirling and she began to copy down the notes. The entire time, she continued to sense Darien in the back of her mind.
At some point, his insults shifted so that they sounded more teasing, his jabs playful. His mocking eyes became loving, his smirk became a delighted smile. When the teacher surprised her by calling on her to answer a difficult question, she surprised everyone (including herself) by knowing the correct answer. She'd been following along with the step-by-step explanation and she'd challenged herself by solving it before the teacher. In her mind, Darien congratulated her. Serena found herself grinning, the troublesome problems suddenly became challenges, trials for her to overcome and win Darien's admiration. He cheered her on, his Odango.
When she left school that day, she grinned all the way to the arcade.
