Love Me or Forget Me
By Kukaburry
Sailor Moon Disclaimer
Chapter 4- Happiness is an illusion
Once again, Serena Tsukino woke up before her alarm clock sounded. Even her feline friend was amazed by her will to impress her friends, parents and teachers with her new-found charisma. "Serena, I believe I have underestimated you for a long time. I'm impressed with your new outlook on work." Serena gave Luna a genuine grin and dressed quickly in order to make it to detention on time.
She skipped a long and cheerful path to her school, humming a jingle to herself. As she passed the University building, a familiar, gruff voice called out to her. "Hey meatball-head! Wait up, will you?"
It was Darien Chiba, come to torment her cheerful grandeur once again. "What do you want Chiba?" She sighed, annoyed at his constant unwanted presence. "Andrew gave me a message last night at the party and he said to tell you to go see him this afternoon after school." Darien puffed out his chest with pride at being trusted to deliver a message.
"I have detention after school. Tell him I'll see him afterwards." She replied with very obvious lackluster. "No can do. He said to be there at four o'clock on the dot or the meeting will be useless," he stated pointedly.
Serena pondered to herself silently, 'Well, I could tell Mr. Solander that I can't stay late today and I'll make it up later….hopefully he'll understand.' "Ok Chiba, tell Andrew I'll be there! Gotta run, I don't want to have to make up another detention!" With that, she went trotting down the street.
As she entered Mr. Solander's room, a sensation of a rock dropping in her stomach overcame her. She realized that she was the only one in the room that day. "Good morning Serena!" He greeted her cheerfully, spreading his arms wide in welcome.
"Is it? I haven't noticed. Yes, I guess it is a nice day out." She commented lazily, selecting the seat closest to the door and furthest from Mr. Solander.
"Now, now Serena, I won't bite. Why don't you take a seat closer up here? We could chat about stuff," he smiled innocently, "as long as you don't tell the principal I've been breaking my own rules." He chuckled at his little joke and urged Serena to move closer.
With her teeth clenched and a stiff spine, she took up her book bag and sank into a seat closer to the front but still a comfortable distance from him. "How do you like getting up early every day Mrs. Tsukino?" He asked, leaning forward on his elbows, piercing her with yet another stare.
"Oh, I'm getting used to it, it's good practice for me really." She said truthfully.
"Oh no doubt about that. I hear you've never once, in the entire time here in high school, made it to your first class on time besides yesterday. You were the talk of the lounge room young lady." He meant for it to sound like a compliment but it came out sounding more like a joke.
"All I want to do is pass my classes and go to sc- uh.. social gatherings without my friends ragging on me all the time," she groaned into her arms, head spinning with lack of sleep from the night before. "Actually, I should study for my history test first period," she squeaked, finding an opportunity to escape his vicious stare.
"An excellent idea Mrs. Tsukino, I'm sure you'll do well on it," he claimed, attempting to sound encouraging but feeling annoyed that he'd no longer be able to talk with her. 'I won't let that stop me' he smirked to himself.
"What is the test on?" He questioned innocently.
"Oh, just some war in the early 1900's. That's all." She ensured with an air of boredom, burying her nose in her book and pressing her hands to her ears to block out any unwanted (his) voices.
Mr. Solander raised an eyebrow in interest. "I'm guessing you mean World War II?" He inquired, taking in her scent with relish. "Yeah something like that, some war with a lot of people in it. I'm sorry, I'm trying to concentrate sir if you don't mind," Serena bit back the venom in her voice with great difficulty. He sighed, and leaned back in his chair, growling to himself. 'We'll see how quiet she is this afternoon after I'm through with her.'
The rest of detention was rather dull and uneventful. Serena popped out of her chair as quickly as she could when the first bell rang and practically sprinted out of the door before Mr. Solander could blink.
As soon as Serena reached her first class, she had the whole chapter memorized and felt a feeling of confidence that she had never experienced before. 'I'm going to ACE this test!' She squealed in her head. "Good morning Mrs. Haruna. I'm looking forward to the test today!" She announced loudly.
"Well Mrs. Tsukino, I'm glad you've been putting your detention time to good use. I have no doubt you will pass." She didn't say 'ACE' she said 'pass'. This show of lack of confidence in Serena pulled her from cloud nine to cloud eight rapidly.
The history test was a breeze for Serena and she walked into chemistry beaming at everyone and flipping her hair arrogantly. She received her quiz on Moles from the previous day and her arrogant ways vanished into the inky blackness of failure. "I… I got a 69! I totally understood everything on this section and what do I get for it? I get a freakin 69! What the hell," Serena raged, suddenly aware that several people had turned and watched her reaction. She looked towards Mr. Barnes, and a soothing feeling rushed over her, he hadn't seen her outburst.
"I'm going to have to ask Amy for some help. I can't fail another quiz or I'll be done for sure." Serena slumped glumly from class to class the rest of the day, once again hating time for always jumping ahead when she wasn't looking. Before she realized it, she was again sitting in front of Mr. Solander and suffering an intolerable smile that hugged his lips. The after school class detention was completely filled and she was the last person to walk into detention, therefore she was punished by being forced to sit directly in front of her perverted detention officer.
The minute hand seemed to be glued to the back of the clock because as Serena watched it, she swore it had stopped moving for several minutes now. Suddenly is sprang back into life and inched one notch ahead. Serena slammed her head to her desk in an act of unbelievable irritation. 'Why is God punishing me? Am I really that bad of a student?'
After what seemed an eternity, the clock hands read 3:45 and everyone was free to go. Everyone except Serena. She pushed herself lightly out of the chair and scooted nervously towards Mr. Solander. "Mr. Solander sir, I'm terribly sorry but I won't be able to stay late today. My mother became ill this morning and she wants me home to cook dinner and clean. I will of course be willing to stay late tomorrow, Friday and Monday to make up for it sir." With that little white lie of a speech said, she waited desperately to see what he would say.
"Of course Mrs. Tsukino, your mother needs you more than this room does. No more excuses after today young lady. Do I make myself clear?" Serena nodded her head vigorously and grinned then ran from the room towards the arcade.
As she reached the glass doors of the arcade, she realized that two giant wooden cases had been stacked against the door, denying anyone entrance. Luckily for her, there was a small sign taped to the inside reading 'Use back entrance'. She shrugged and turned the corner and found the metal door leading to the kitchen.
She pulled the door open and her eyes met complete darkness from within. A pair of rough hands grabbed her wrists and pulled her inside against her will. "Hey! Who are you? Let go of me!" She declared, trying to tug her wrists free from the strong grasp.
"Shut it meatball-head. There's no time, Lizzie is on her way here and everyone is here to surprise her. Now be quiet." Darien's husky voice rang in her ear.
"Why didn't you tell me that earlier? I would have bought her something!" Serena asked, angry that no one reminded her that it was Lizzie's birthday.
"Because, meatball-head, you have the biggest mouth on this continent and we couldn't risk you blabbing the plans to her." Darien retorted with a satisfied smirk.
"I wouldn't have said anything! I can keep a secret!" Serena snorted in a dignified tone. She heard several hushed giggles and mock coughs attack her from behind. She sighed in a defeated way and realized that Darien still had a strong hold on her arm. She pinched his right arm (or she thought it was the right) and heard an intake of breath and supposedly realization hit him because he dropped her wrists in a flash.
Scuffling feet could be heard from outside and a banging of something against the door- possibly a purse or a bag of some sort. Everyone held their breath as the door swung open and light penetrated the silky darkness. A hand searched for a light switch and suddenly the entire room was engulfed in light. "Surprise!" Came a tremendous roar from 20 people.
Lizzie stood there stunned, tears welling in her eyes at the thoughtfulness of her friends. "I.. I don't know what to say everyone. This is amazing!" She sniffed, delighted that she was in the company of people who truly loved her.
Serena rushed to her side and gave her a bear hug. "Happy birthday Liz! You're finally fifteen!" Lizzie just smiled and hugged Serena back, unable to say anything. The party lasted until eight o'clock. The entire stock of food was consumed down to the very last crumb. Serena was sitting in a chair, completely at peace when Mina plopped herself next to her.
"Hey Sere, this was a pretty good idea wasn't it? It got you out of extra time with Salamander boy." Mina giggled, smiling at her own craftiness. "You're the one who got me out that? I thought it was Andrew!" Serena cried, hugging Mina forcefully. "No, we had the party planned for a long time, but when I heard that you'd be late because of stupid detention, I thought I'd try to get Andrew to bail you out. He did a fantastic job didn't he?" She said lovingly, looking towards Andrew's laughing face with awe.
Andrew turned and saw the way Mina was looking at him and turned a deep shade of red to match his shirt. "Hey Mina, I think he likes you," came a gruff voice from behind Serena and Mina. "Sneaking up on people and listening to their personal conversations isn't a very attractive trait Darien." Serena hissed, not even bothering to look him in the face.
"Watch out Tsukino, you'd better be nice to me. I helped with your jail break as well. I wouldn't want your parents to find out that you've skipped extra detention." He said maliciously, leaning in between their two heads.
"And I wouldn't want that pretty face of yours to get more messed up than it already is Darien." Serena warned.
"Are you going to hightail it tomorrow too?" He asked wonderingly. "You can say that your mom is ill or something," he suggested. "Ha, well that's not going to work. I already used that excuse today. The slime ball actually believed it too," she cheered, laughing as Mina shook her head in wonderment.
Andrew appeared at Mina's side and gave a little cough to announce his presence. "Um.. Mina, could I talk to you for a minute in private?" Andrew asked, rubbing his neck awkwardly and shuffling his feet. "Yea sure!" Mina couldn't keep her excitement from showing.
As Mina disappeared into the manager room, Serena said out loud, " Well, now it's only me." Darien took Mina's spot and asked, "What do you mean? I'm still here." Serena clicked her tongue and shook her head, "No, I mean now I'm the only one without a boyfriend." Darien laughed and said, "What are you talking about? Lizzie doesn't have a boyfriend eith….oh…" he stopped mid-sentence as he saw Lizzie wrapped up in a chestnut-haired boys arms, as if they were having a tongue wrestling match.
"Oh no, you're absolutely right Darien. She's so obviously not taken. Mmm-hmm." She drew this out with a sarcastic tone and a mean glare. "Well she was single about an hour ago anyways," he continued, defending his ego as well as he could.
"Serena, even though I pick on you all the time, you know you can come to me for help. This detention officer of yours shouldn't be able to treat you like that. It's just not normal." Serena's head began to spin as Darien said this. He's never been that nice before, and she began to realize that he was right, it wasn't normal for her detention officer to treat her like that. She placed her hand on his arm. "Thank you Darien. That means a lot to me," and she meant it. "Do you have any ideas for how I could get out of staying late?"
Darien smiled and pondered. "You could say that you don't feel well. Or you have a project you need to finish. OR you could say that your mother became really ill and had to go to the hospital so you need to go straight there."
"I like that last idea. It goes along with what I said yesterday," she was extremely grateful for his help. "Thanks for looking out for me Darien. I should go. My parents are probably getting worried." With that, she patted his shoulder and said her goodbyes to everyone, not even noticing that Andrew and Mina were still locked in the manager room.
An elated feeling had crept into Serena's breast and settled there as she thought of Darien as a friend rather than an annoyance. "Maybe he isn't the self-centered prick I thought he was."
She reached home in what seemed to be record time and blew by her parents, kissing their cheeks, and hurried to her room. The sound of the communicator beeping snapped Serena out of her reverie. "Hey Amy, what's up?" She asked nonchalantly, looking at the dirt in her fingernails.
"Serena, we think something terrible has happened. Remember when Vlania said 'I have failed you my queen'? Well we think she was referring to Queen Trike." Amy didn't want to upset Serena with too much information.
"What? Not that ugly bitch Tripe.I thought we sizzled her last year!" Serena groaned, hoping that it really wasn't her. "Scout meeting tomorrow after school then?" Serena asked hopefully.
"No, we're not getting you out of detention Sakura. You got your OWN self into trouble now you have to pay for it. The meeting will start at six. You had better be on time." Then Amy cut the connection with a fuming Sakura still staring at the blank screen.
"I'm not irresponsible! I'm just slow and forgetful! That's never been a crime." She huffed, throwing her communicator back on her nightstand and crashed onto her mattress. "I think Amy's right Serena," Luna voiced, licking her paw daintily. "Some friend you are." With that, Serena fell into a restless sleep filled with Mr. Solander's creepy stare.
Well folks! I hope this chapter was to your liking! I promise, MUCH more action is coming up in the next chapter. Don't worry.