Edited: 5/26/16

Chapter 4

A couple days later, my phone beeped as I was watching TV in the living room with Luna, Sasha and Essie. Checking the device, I noticed that I had received an email back from Mina.

Serena!

I was so ecstatic to get your email. I was really worried about you. Artemis kept trying to calm me down that you would be okay, but I was still slightly freaking out. But everything worked out! You're safe and happy and that means I'm so happy for you! Your sisters sound totally awesome and I can't wait to meet them in person! (I am going to meet them, it's inevitable, I'm your best friend, it's required).

You found a new best friend?! I'm so insulted! No, just kidding, it's fine. I agree with you, having multiple best friends is totally fine. I have a friend who I grew up with who is totally like my best friend, both you and Harper are my absolute best friends. Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that I decided to follow your example and leave Japan, so I'm moving back home to England. I got into a school there, so I'm super excited to be going home (except for living with my parents again is just like ugh, supervision).

So the unmentionables are being super annoying, but I'm doing really well at avoiding them. As far as I can tell, they totally bought the bullshit that your parents have been feeding people. People are stupid. Oh, I also talked with Michiru, she was soooo shocked at finding out what happened to you (I managed to get to her before anyone else. Score one for me!). Michiru has broken up with Haruka and is also leaving Japan; she got a mega-big job offer in Paris so she's taking it. I don't really know what went down between her and Haruka when she went back to their apartment.

Michiriu is firmly in your camp, and I gave her your contact details and she'd said she'd contact you once she was able to get her thoughts together. She actually bumped me up to first class for the flight back so that we can sit together on our way to London, how fun is that? Oh did you know she was from England too? Small world right? Well, that's all I got for you right now. Next time I speak to you, I'll be safely back home in England.

Tootles!

Mina

I giggled at my friends antics, and tried to ignore the beat my heart skipped when I read that Michiru was on my side. We had kept how close we were from the other scouts, knowing that Setsuna would pitch a fit about outer scouts not being close to the inner scouts or the princess. The inner scouts are responsible for the princess, the outer scouts the kingdom, she could still hear Setsuna's irritating voice laying out the rules when all of them had met the first time. They were rules she liked breaking, giving her fondness for Chibi-Usa and Hotaru's relationship with the girl. The rules only seemed to apply to her, never the younger girl.

I set my phone down and turned my attention back to the TV, noting in distaste that Netflix was asking again if I was still watching. I hit the remote and flopped back down on the couch, shifting my feet slightly under Essie and Sasha. I had found that both of them liked laying on my feet, which I was grateful for as they kept them warm and it wouldn't hurt my ribs if they were on my feet. I dozed off lightly and awoke a few hours later when the front door of the house clicked open. I groaned, rubbing my eyes slightly, seeing that Netflix had turned off after hours of inactivity.

"Rough day?" Dawn's voice greeted me and I looked back to see her standing in the foyer, kicking off her shoes and taking the bags in her hand to the kitchen.

"Absolutely, I had to lie here all day and watch Netflix, it was awful," I groaned, following Dawn into the kitchen.

The older girl smirked, "Where's Stella?"

"Hailey came early this morning and dragged her out of the house for a spa day," I replied. "She was protesting the whole time."

Dawn chuckled, "I can imagine. It's not that she doesn't like the spa, but when Hailey does a spa day, she does the whole day."

"Can you even spend the whole day at a spa?"

"I can spend a week at a spa," she smirked. "Now you feel like helping me make dinner? You mentioned that you don't know how to cook, and I don't feel comfortable you growing into an adult and not knowing how to cook."

"Dawn," I whined, "I'm not very good!"

"Your protests have been heard and studiously ignored, now come on, we'll start with easy stuff." She pulled out a large pot from under the counter and filled it with water. "We're going to make spaghetti and salad, first is boil the spaghetti. I usually put some vegetable oil and salt into the water to make sure it doesn't boil over." She set the pot on one of the back burners on the stove and left it to heat up. She pulled out a pack of ground beef and dumped it in a skillet and put it on one of the front burners. She handed me a spatula and gestured towards the beef. "Break it up into small pieces and then cook it until all of it is a brownish gray color."

I started breaking up the meat with Dawn standing nearby to let me know if I was doing something wrong. The meat started to sizzle when I finished breaking it up and Dawn dropped some salt in the pan to prevent the oil and fat from sizzling out, or so she said. I added the tomato sauce and spices that Dawn set out for me, listening to the explanation of each spice as to why it was going into the sauce and what it would do. "Why can I do this now?" I asked her while I was finishing the sauce and she was adding the pasta to the boiling water. "At- in Japan, with my, with my friends, they tried to teach me how to cook or bake but everything I do would burn or taste like pure salt."

"Part of cooking is the environment," Dawn told me, turning the heat down on the sauce and handing me a bag of lettuce to start making the salad. "From the little you've told me about these friends of yours, they never really believed in you or offered you a safe environment to learn and make mistakes. A recipe is simple enough to follow, but cooking is really trial and error, some things work, some don't, and you have to learn what your preference is with flavor. Learning to cook for yourself is the first step, learning to cook for others comes later." While she was talking, Dawn was slicing a tomato and a few carrots, sliding them in on top of the lettuce.

Following Dawn's direction, I drained and washed the spaghetti in the sink while she finished the salad and placed the noodles in a dish to mix with the sauce. I sat down on one of the bar stools on the other side of the counter and plated some of the food, moaning as the flavor eat my mouth. "Oh this tastes so good," I groaned, quickly devouring the meal.

"Here, don't forget your salad," my sister smirked, pouring some of her homemade dressing on top of it. "Eating the salad after your main meal will help with digestion."

"So," I starting, returning to the earlier conversation. "You think that my friends were stopping me from succeeding?"

Dawn gave me a sad smile, "If you're told long enough that you're stupid and can't do something, eventually you start to believe it. I know both Stella and I came close to giving up a few times."

"Really?"

She nodded and we both finished eating our dinner. "So, first lesson was a success, you learned how to boil water."

"I think I learned more than that," I protested.

Dawn smirked and shook her head, "No, you just followed directions. Learning how to boil water is the first step. You manage that and you can feed yourself. It'll probably just be ramen for the rest of forever, but it's something."

"Fine, at least I have this small accomplishment."

"And now, for your next lesson, show me how good you are at cleaning up from dinner."

"Awe, Dawn," I whined, whacking my head on the table.

"Stop whining, go clean, if you want to be able to stay in the house by yourself while I'm working and Stella's away, you're going to have to show me that you can be responsible and clean up after yourself."

"All right, all right," I sighed, getting up to clean the dishes.

"If you're up for it, I can take you to the high school Stella and I went to next week, La Guardia Magnet School of the Arts. I can show you around, and if you like it, you can register for classes. Most of the returning students have already registered, but the incoming freshmen register a week before classes start so you'll definitely want to get in before them."

"How will I get to school once the school year starts? It's too far out for a bus and you'll be working."

Dawn went to her purse on the end table by the door and rifled through the bag. She pulled out a book and handed it to me before sitting down in the living room. The book was the NYS driver's manual, and I flipped through the pages, taking in all of the rules and diagrams. "Study that and you can get a Learner's Permit, and then you can sign up for Driver's Ed at school. You won't be getting your license for a while, but Anna has offered to drive you."

"Isn't that a little out of her way?" I asked, sitting down on the couch, folding my legs up underneath me.

"She said it's fine, and she might crash here on some nights anyway. I kinda share the apartment with her and Christa in the city when I have late nights and early mornings. It's the same apartment Christa got in college, so I'm on the lease. But Anna said since I brought her a new friend, that she has to come stay with you so that she can get to know you better." Dawn rolled her eyes, "Anna is that kind of person."

"She seems nice," I said, remembering the way Anna stuck to my side when we were shopping, taking care to make me feel included.

The front door clicked open again and a few minutes later, Stella slunk into view, falling into her chair. Essie bound over to her, sitting next to the chair and looking up at her person. "How are we feeling?" Dawn asked, a teasing smile on her face.

"We are tired and we are wondering why we are even friends with Hailey to begin with," Stella moaned. "My whole body aches, the masseuse she booked was one of those rough, deep tissue people or whatever. I don't know, but all I know is I feel like I've been run through a steam dryer."

"Why did Hailey even want to go to a spa today anyway?" My oldest sister questioned.

"She's heading back to England tomorrow with TJ, something going on with her business or something like that," she sighed. "Even though I'll be in Paris by September and will only be a few hours away from her, she's determined to spend as much time together right now as possible."

"Long distance best friends are weird people," I agreed, scratching Luna on top of her head.

Stella sighed, "And exhausting, I'm going to bed. Serena, we're spending the day together tomorrow."

"Where are we going?"

"Museum of Natural History, I want to look at some dinosaurs," she yawned as she walked down the hallway, disappearing into her section of the house.

"Dinosaurs?" I asked, glancing questioningly at my oldest sister.

"She gets into moods, just be glad you get to look at dinosaur bones. She made me go with her to look at rocks."

"Aren't dinosaur bones just rocks anyway?"

"Yes, but cool rocks."

"So what do you want to do on this, our last night of freedom?" Anna asked me, plopping down next to me on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. I had been living in New York with Dawn for about a month. Stella left around a week and a half later, and Dawn went back to work so I was alone a lot in the house with Luna, Sasha and Essie. Luna kept me company though and it was nice being able to talk to her outside of my bedroom. Anna came over a lot though, sometimes staying several days, and it's safe to say that the girl was quickly becoming my best friend.

"I have no idea," I groaned, propping my arm up on the armrest, "I never thought I would be so excited for school to start if it would only give me something to do during the day."

"Agreed," Anna nodded, "I had been working, but since school was starting back, the owner let me go until I could get back into the swing of things."

"Where were you working?"

"A small local theater, nothing major, cleaning, prop storage, taking care of the day by day, and collecting tickets on show night. It wasn't much, but it was something."

"Truth, something to do is better than nothing."

Anna gave a non-committal sigh before bouncing back into action. "So you never did tell me what you thought of the school," she said, looking at me with, what I can assume was an expectant look in her eyes, "I know you went with Dawn a couple weeks ago to get your schedule sorted, so tell me, what did you think, what classes are you taking, who's your homeroom teacher?"

I waited for a moment after her last breath. "Are you done?" I asked, hoping no more questions would come my way.

"Yeah, I think so, now spill."

"Well…"

Flashback

"Woah… This is where you went to school?" I gasped, gazing at the magnificent building before me. The building was constructed out of tan brick, and the façade looked like an old Greek temple. La Guardia Magnet of the Arts was carved in cursive lettering in the frieze just bellow the pediment on the façade. "And why is it named after an airport?"

I heard Dawn chuckle from beside me, "Yes, this is where we went to school and no it isn't named after an airport, they're both named after a former mayor of New York City, the one that helped get the city through the Great Depression. Whether you like his politics or not, he did do a lot for this city. Now come on, we have a meeting with the headmistress."

She started inside, and I trailed in after her, still taking in the unbelievable sights in front of me. The exterior of the building did nothing to hint at what was inside. One wall was covered in graffiti style murals depicting the various arts and the muses, while the other wall held lockers. "Geez," I said, glancing around as we kept walking down the hallway, "this school sure is a lot bigger than it looks on the outside."

Dawn looked back at me and smiled, "You mean the façade? Yeah, it just covers the main building, but the surrounding buildings are also part of the school. Theater, gym, etc, etc, the main building is set up as a square, with an open courtyard in the middle. Most of the classrooms face the courtyard."

"Wow," I murmured, still entranced by the atmosphere, "This place looks really cool, I'm excited."

"And you should be," a voice said from behind us. I turned around and saw what can only be described as an extremely eccentric personality. The woman was older; probably in her 60's, with spiky grey hair and swirling clothes that seemed to flow around her. She spoke with a French accent that gave her a unique artistic and eccentric persona. "Bonjour Dawn, you haven't come to see me recently," she said, turning to my sister.

Dawn grimaced and looked down sheepishly, "Sorry, I've been a bit scattered recently. Anyway, Fiona, this my youngest sister Serena, Serena this is the Headmistress, Fiona Alcott."

She reached out and kissed me on both cheeks, "Bonjour Serena, please call me Fiona, everyone here does."

"Hi," I replied, not sure what else to say.

Fiona nodded understandingly, and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, "Why don't we go get your schedule sorted out, Dawn you coming?"

"No, I think I'm going to go spend some time in the courtyard basking in the sun, I don't get enough of it on stage all day rehearsing," Dawn answered as she walked back down the hallway.

"Bonne, come along Serena," Fiona sang as she pulled me inside her office. "Now," she said as she sat me down in a plump recliner, "You'll be going into the 10th grade, you'll need the basic core classes of math, science, English, history, a foreign language, gym, and extra electives. Do you have any ideas as to what you would like to take?"

I gaped at her, "I get to choose?"

Fiona laughed at my expression, "Why of course dear, I mean some classes will be required, but the electives are yours to choose." The older woman registered me for English, History, Science, Health and Math classes, before we shifted to the electives.

"Spanish, French, German or Latin for your foreign language?" Fiona asked.

I stared blankly at her, "Um, you know I'm already fluent in two languages right?"

"Yes yes, I know, many of our students are, but you still have to take four years of a foreign language, one not one of the ones you already speak," she replied, waving her hand.

"Um, okay, French then? Dawn and Stella speak it fluently so they should be able to help me."

"Mais oui," Fiona replied, "Dawn is still a little rusty on the subjunctive case. Not as important for speaking, but it shows up in reading. Now, gym class, you're only required to take one gym and health class, which you're already signed up for, but we do offer other classes or afterschool activities for sports and fitness."

My nose twitched slightly in confusion, "I thought this was an art school?"

"Yes, but the body is like a work of art don't you think?" The eccentric headmistress countered, waving her hand slightly in the air. "Anyway, we offer yoga, weightlifting and swimming classes, but we also have clubs and afterschool classes for those as well, and archery and fencing club. Oh and if you're planning on playing a sport like soccer or baseball, you'll have to sign up for a gym class as well, school policy."

"Ugh," my head began to feel like it was imploding. "I'm not very good at sports…"

Fiona sat up in her chair and laced her fingers together, propping up her head to stare at me critically. "Whether you're good or not has nothing to do with desiring to participate in club activities. We have a zero tolerance party for bullying. These clubs and classes are meant to be safe places for students to learn to do something that normally wouldn't do or continue doing what they like to do. You can join or participate in as many as you want so long as it doesn't interfere with your grades. Now, for your final elective, anything else you want to try?"

I glanced through the list, "Um, how about theater? I can't read music very well so that's out, dance is a no, I might take drawing at a later point, but I want to see what theater is like."

"Bonne," Fiona said, writing down my choices. "Now you'll only have a few of these classes this semester, but you'll be able to register for others next semester. I'll make the schedule myself and email it to Dawn later, mon petit lapin, the computer will have to think about it awhile."

"Well, thank you," I replied awkwardly as I inched towards the door.

Fiona grabbed me and kissed me on both cheeks, "A bientot lapin."

I exited the room and went to find Dawn, lying down in the courtyard. "Hey," she said as I reached her, "How did it go?"

"She's weird…"

End Flashback

"Oh boy, someone really needs to speak to Fiona about scaring the newbies," Anna muttered, smacking her hand to her forehead.

"She's like that all the time then?" I asked her, surprised.

Anna nodded her head, "She likes to pretend she's French, but she gets carried away, of course it just continues to add to her eccentric persona. Now, enough about that, tell me about your schedule!"

"Um, I have French I for 1st period, English II in 2nd period, Theater I 3rd period, Earth Science 4th period, and finally gym for 5th period."

"Woo hoo!" Anna yelled, punching her fists in the air, "Wait, who's your homeroom teacher?"

"Um, a Mr. Caffrey?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I was worried that we would be split up, but looks like we lucked out. We have the same homeroom, and we have 3rd and 4th period together."

"How did we get the same homeroom?"

"They're divided alphabetically, my last name is Rainor, so we barely made it into the same one."

I hummed not really interested, then something the headmistress said filtered into my head. "Wait, how do we have the same Science class? Fiona said only freshman take that class."

My eyes narrowed when I saw Anna flinch and I stared at her until she provided an answer. "I may or may not have failed the class last year when I took it," she murmured looking down. I prodded her to continue with her explanation. "I was sick a lot and so I couldn't keep up, I barely passed my other classes. Science was the only one I had a problem with."

I nudged her with my elbow, "We'll get through it together, even if it kills us."

"It just might," Anna wailed, pathetically.

I laughed at her, "C'mon, Disney movie marathon, on this, our last night. We can order some Thai food from that place we found."

Anna perked up immediately. "I'll call it in!" she yelled, dashing towards the kitchen.

"Can you get the movies too? I have to go get something upstairs," I asked her, making my way upstairs.

"As long as you don't complain about my choices!"

I raced up the stairs towards my room, mindful of the last time she chose the movies unsupervised, I had to watch some cheesy B-rated horror movies. She's limited to Disney this time, but I still don't trust her. "Luna!" I yelled, reaching my room, "We're ordering Thai food and watching Disney movies, do you want to come down?"

"Will you give me some of your food if I do?" Luna asked from her perch on the window seat.

"Of course, and I'll even make that special treat Dawn showed me how to make if you stay through all the movies."

"Well, if you put it that way, I guess I must," Luna conceded. I chuckled, and grabbed my laptop off my desk. Luna and I headed back down the stairs and plopped on the couch.

"So what movies did you pick?" I yelled as I opened my laptop.

"Tehehe, we're going for Disney classics tonight, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Fox and the Hound and One Hundred and One Dalmatians, all animal tales of course, as it should be," Anna replied, walking into the room with a stack on movies. "Food should be here in like 30 minutes, I used the pre-paid credit card Dawn left you to pay for it."

I hummed and clicked on my email, noticing another message from Mina. She had texted me when she got back to England and got a new cell phone, and we've been communicating back and forth. We sent emails though when we knew that the conversation would get to long for a text message. I didn't want Dawn made at me for going over the data usage on my phone or international texting charges.

Serena!

I start school tomorrow, and I'm super nervous. It's late and I'll probably be in bed by the time you respond to this but I feel like I should talk to someone. I'm like super freaking out about going to school. You know I was never a good student, like never, but this school has a really good drama program that can help me with my dream of becoming a famous actress. This is my chance to make it big, but if I don't keep my grades up I won't be able to stay. Hehoohehoohehoohehooo… I may or may not be hyperventilating…

Okay, how are you? Oh, you start school tomorrow too don't you? You'll have to let me know how it goes. Are you and Anna in any of the same classes? By the way, I'm super excited about meeting her, I am meeting her and some point right? I MUST MEET HER!

Has Michiru contacted you yet? She might not have had time, she moved to France last week to start her job, so I know she's been super busy packing and making sure she had everything. Of course it's not like she just can't come back if she forgets something, but traveling from Paris to London is just so taxing, yuck. Anyway, she said she'd see if Harper and I could visit over Christmas. My family doesn't do much so it would be nice. I'll think about it anyway. Anyhoo, til next time!

"Is that an email from your friend? Mina something?" Anna asked, leaning over to read the email, "Does she make it a habit to smoke crack?"

I burst out laughing, and I noticed Luna had difficulty hiding her snickers, "No, she's just… really bubbly."

"Fair enough, are you going to email her back?"

"Probably later," I replied but Anna was already grabbing my computer and running away, typing as she ran. "Anna come back here!"

"Nope," she said, dodging my attempts to grab her, still typing away with one hand. "And send," the dark haired girl said, closing my computer and handing it back to me.

I quickly opened it and glanced through the sent messages, not seeing anything. "Did you or did you not send something?"

Anna just giggled and skipped back to the couch, settling back in, "I guess you'll never know will you."

I rolled my eyes at her antics, "You're so weird." Soon enough the food arrived, and we dug into our meals as we started our first movie, the Aristocats.

Halfway through the movie and the food, Anna started a conversation, "So who is this Michiru person?"

"Michiru?" I questioned, remembering that Mina mentioned something about the older girl in the email. "Oh right, um, she's… she's a friend." I tried to keep my face from blushing but I knew that it wasn't working.

"A friend uh?"

"Yes," I squeaked out, "Just a friend."

Anna stared at me suspiciously for a few seconds before turning back to the TV. "You know," she started, "If she wasn't just a friend, if she was more than a friend, that would be okay with me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean, you're you, I'm me, you're pretty cool so far so it doesn't really matter. I haven't put all that much thought into it but it doesn't bother me."

I stared at her for a few minutes and leaned over and hugged her. "Thanks, that means a lot to me, but Michiru and I are just friends."

"Then why did you blush when I asked?" Anna teased.

I could feel my face turn red and I grabbed one of the couch cushions and smacked the other girl in the face. That started an impromptu pillow fight as we hit each other with the couch pillows for a few minutes. By the time we took a breather, the cats on the movie had started singing about how great it was to be a cat. I watched the screen, not really taking anything in, thinking on Anna's words. "Just so you know," I said to her after a minute, "It's okay with me too, just in case you… you know."

Anna reached over and squeezed my hand and we continued to watch our movies.