II

May 28, 2009

"I have great faith in American youth. The youth of today can change the world, and if they understand that then I think we can go far…"

Richard Nixon Campaign for the Youth of America, 1968

South Carolina, 1968

[Darien's POV]

"My my my…would you look at that." My best friend Andrew said from beside me as I bent down to tie my shoe. We were lazying around our usual hangout spot (aka, the main oak tree), swapping summer stories and preparing for the upcoming football season as we waited for the bell to ring.

"Where?" Chad asked, waking up suddenly at the sound of "gorgeous girl." You know how every group had a slacker/stoner that no one ever takes seriously but stays friends with because he's a total hoot at parties? Well, ours was Chad. The guy was heaps of fun when he had a bit of alcohol and weed in his system, but most of the time (especially at school) he was reduced to nothing more than a moving zombie. I swear, the guy never sleeps.

"Oh…my…god." Zach rubbed his eyes a couple of times in disbelief. Was this girl extremely gorgeous or something? Tying a double knot on my sneakers, I lifted my head and glanced around the school grounds.

"What are you guys talking about? I don't see anyone…" I stopped suddenly, eyes paused on a lone figure walking up the steps of the school.

She was possibly the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen. Soft, golden curls framed a heart shape face that had a light sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Even from this distance I could see that her eyes were a striking aquamarine blue.

And her body! Tits that would fit perfectly in my hand (and trust me, my hand was pretty huge) and a tan and toned body that alluded to the tropical summer vacation she must have had.

God. What I wouldn't like to suck those –

"Trying to trap flies with that?" Andrew joked, jabbing me hard in the ribs. I ignored him and continue staring at her as she made her way over to my group.

"She's coming over here!" Ken exclaimed, running a hand through his hair in an effort to straighten it. The guys quickly corrected their posture and changed conversation topics.

"This war is unreasonable!" Andrew bellowed loudly "The government's just trying to project a favorable view to the rest of the world, but at what cost? Thousands are dying."

Zach nodded. "Quite true, Quite true…" he murmured, glancing quickly at the approaching girl. "My cousin Bill – you remember him Drew, that time you came over for dinner? – well, I heard he was just recently drafted for Nam."

"That's outrageous!" Chad yelled vehemently, trying (and alas, failing horribly) to sound politically active. How he thinks he can get away with this obvious lie, with his long unkept hair and shirt declaring "Make love (all night longgg), Not War" I have no idea, but at the moment all the guys were acting weird.

For one, I knew for a fact that Zach has no cousin name Bill. I was his only cousin, therefore this little outburst of his was the biggest whopper of a lie.

For another, Andrew recently declared the other day that he would like to go to War because it "looked manly and attracted loads of girls." He could care less about what the government did.

They continued to argue about politics, the feminist movement (Chad: "Like, man, I'm totally cool with the burning bra thing. Personally, if they wanted to take it off and like, liberate there…ya know, they could have just asked me. I'm all for the women empowerment!") and everything else under the sun all the while keeping an eye on the girl.

"Damn, she walks slow!" Ken hissed. "You'd think with all of us standing here she'd hurry it up or something."

Yea. She was walking abnormally slow…and now that I looked closer, she looked extremely pissed off too.

"Why is she scowling?" Drew asked.

"Maybe she doesn't know how to put you guys down carefully," Chad whispered with all seriousness. "You know, not hurt your feelings and whatnot."

"Are you joking?" Zach scoffed.

"You sound surprised." Chad said, offended. "I happen to be a perfect boyfriend candidate."

I snorted. "In what way? Perhaps if they like to run their hand through your grease? Or perhaps you can offer them some of your secret stash?"

"I have a secret stash alright, all they have to do is stick their hand down my pants and dig around for it –"

"Oh god, that's disturbing –" Ken gagged.

"Only because you're imaging it right now!"

"What the hell? In your dreams –"

"She's not coming over."

We all turned to look at Drew.

"What?" I asked, turning around to look for the girl…who should've been standing in front of us by now.

She was nowhere in site.

"Do you think she fell down the stairs?!" Zach asked quickly, rushing over to the steps and peering down. "Nope!" He piped, "not here!"

"Then where could she be?" Ken yelled, frustrated.

I continued looking around for her, straining my eyes in case she forgot something and had to run back to get it. Or perhaps she had an emergency and had to rush back home, or maybe she was too intimidated to approach us today and decided to do it another day. Yea, that's right. That was the only plausible reason…

"She's over there." Zach said, pointing towards the school. We all turned around at the same time and looked to see that he was right.

She was leaning against the main doors, a bored look on her face as she seemed to be waiting for something (or someone???). Her arms were crossed across her chest, and I noticed the impatient stamp of her feet as she rolled her eyes several times and…talked to herself.

But that part didn't bother me, oh no. What really confused me was that –

"She walked right past us." Drew said in disbelief.

There was one way and one way only to get to the main doors, and it required that you pass the old oak tree.

It required that you pass us.

And pass she had. Right. Passed. Us.

"She walked right passed us!" Drew repeated again, staring down at his hands like as if any minute now they'd grow mouths and start consoling him.

Drew was a ladies man, you see. I admit that I am also apart of this sought after group, but the thing about Drew was that he had this natural born charm that brought everyone to him be it women, men (some with friendship in mind and others with…other things in mind), old people, animals, everyone.

And to have this girl walk right past him while he was pulling out all the works, well, that was definitely a ball buster.

"It's okay Drew," I said sympathetically. "Maybe she…has a lot on her mind."

"I smiled at her." He murmured. "I used my best smile, the take-off-pants version 4 smile, dammit!"

Woah. Now that's pulling out the big guns.

I wasn't lying when I said Drew was a true ladies man – he had protocols and whatnot governing his flirting techniques (I kidd you not). Freshmen year was when the take-of-pants smile was first introduced (or, TOP as we like to call it).

Results? Success at first try. That was the year Drew became the big man on campus for being the first to deflower Headmaster Richard's daughter Helen.

To say the least he got a year's worth of detention after dumping her.

Sigh, and I told him to avoid that too. Dating the daughters of men in power is never a good thing.

Anyways, every year after that included the introduction of a new version of the TOP smile. Drew even invented a few general ones that we less-charming beings could utilize to our advantage; I told him to patent that skill and sell it to the world, but all he did was give me his No.2 smile from the "charming bullshit" line and say "Oh Dare, this is a one-of-a-kind thing. I don't like sharing."

Damn him.

Although, if I have to be honest, I'm about equal with Drew on the Ladies Man part. Whereas he has the whole "Charming, boy next door/prince on a white horse/blonde" look I had the upper hand on the "Bad Boy/brooding male heir/androgynous" thing. I guess between the two of us, I would have to say that Drew is the worst one.

I may also date and dump girls, but at least they know what they're getting in to. They expect that to happen, they might even want that to happen. But with Drew…he makes you put your guard down. Girls date him expecting the fairy-tale and dream wedding, not knowing that underneath all that lies a player…

Oh, shit, Drew's becoming a mess.

"Relax," I said, grabbing him by the shoulder. "You need to get a hold of yourself and pull it together!"

"She…walk…smile…why?"

"She's probably preoccupied!" I said, trying to comfort him.

"She's not even that pretty!" Ken added, but couldn't hold up the lie anymore and confessed. "Alright, I lied. She's gorgeous. But maybe she's just not that into you."

"You're not making it any better," Zach snapped, keeping a critical eye on Andrew in case he did something stupid.

Melodramatic? A bit. But imagine if all your life you've been surrounded by people who love you, and not once has anyone said anything bad to you or even ignored you.

That was the life Andrew lived…until now.

"Look, let's go up to her and introduce ourselves?" I suggested, still staring at the girl in my peripheral vision. I wonder what her name was…Audrey? Michelle?

No…those names were too common for her. I don't know why I placed such an emphasis on name, but I believed that you're called should fit you perfectly.

Andrew was…well, a Drew. An all around nice guy.

And Chad…well, he was Chad, the ultimate slacker. Doesn't it just sound like 'ultimate slacker' to you?

Zach? Seems brainy, doesn't it? And so it's fitting to Zach, who's currently our Valedictorian.

Ken sounds…normal. All around normal nice guy. Not as boring as it sounds, I assure you, for Ken can be quite entertaining when...drunk.

And me? Darien sounds right, doesn't it? I'm neither smart/stupid, charming/asshole.

I'm just Darien. And I think it fits just fine.

While we're on the topic of names that don't fit with their person, I have the perfect example for this.

Serena Greenfield – the stalker. The name sounds angelic, doesn't it? Sounds fitting for a princess, for someone gorgeous and innocent!

Not the case. Serena Greenfield was neither angelic, a princess, or innocent.

Not that she was a promiscuous girl, just that she was a creep…which absolutely rules out the innocent bit. She wasn't pretty either, in fact, she was positively ugly.

Yea, I'm just going to be blunt.

Unkept hair, unkept face…unkept body. She was pudgy and nerdy, but what's worse about is was that she was mean.

I tried being friends, way back in Kindergarten, I really tried. But she shot me down that one day I offered my olive branch and from then on has stalked me. Confused? Yea, so am I. But it's been almost eleven year since that day and in that time, I've come to accept that Serena was a part of my life – at least for now, until I went to college. No way in hell would I let her do this kind of thing at university.

Why didn't I go to the police? The teachers? Anyone?

Trust me, I have. I've tried everything and yet every time the officer would simply smile, pat me on the head and say "Hoho boy, looks like you've got yourself an admirer!"

…

Same thing happened whenever a teacher got involved, it's like they all have this "we love Serena" kind of thing in which whatever she did was perfectly acceptable.

So what else could I do but learn to deal?

"Why…why…?" Andrew kept saying. He looked like someone who just had his life torn from him and is now stuck in utter misery.

"Come on!" I said. "Let's go talk to her, I'm sure it'll clear everything up."

I stalked towards the steps and motioned for Andrew to follow me.

"Not you guys," I said to the others when I saw that they were going to follow us. "It'd look weird and a bit homosexual if we all came in a group."

"Fine." They muttered, falling back. I ignored the dejected look on their faces and motioned for Andrew to keep walking.

You know how some people look gorgeous from afar? I remember this one time back in tenth grade when Andrew and I snuck out of the house and somehow managed to get into this bar. Right when we entered, I saw this beautiful girl (older, of course, but at the time I liked that) standing near the jukebox, sipping on a drink.

She was blonde, blue eyes, tight ass. Everything that I liked.

Well humdee-dum. Upon closer inspection, let's just say that her passing as a woman was a great feat in itself. She looked like a fifty year old man!

How she could look so great from far away and look like a total beast from up close, I don't know, but from then on I've learned to be weary of distance. It can greatly alter the truth.

So as we're walking towards the girl, I crossed my fingers and prayed that she wasn't ugly.

Actually, if she was ugly, it'd make Drew feel a lot better about not being able to get her but…

Boy I hope she was pretty.

[Serena's POV]

Darien was sitting at his usual hang out, the same damn ol' place that he's been at since freshmen year.

With his boys. Chad Michaels, Andrew Jones, Zach Kinkaid, and Ken Ruthers. I guess the only good thing about them always hanging out together is that these boys truly followed the Dicks before Chicks saying. Occasionally, over the years there'd be girls – temporary twits that they screwed during the off season – but never was there a permanent addition to their group of five.

Sigh. Boys.

I must admit though, I do feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that I caught their eye. I was even onto their little act – puhlease, since when did the feminist movement (or anything at all) become an interest of Chad Michael's, aka the school's residential stoner?

Right. Since never.

It took all the self-constraint in the world for me not to turn around and knee each and everyone of them in the groin. I know what they were thinking – that I was another bimbo who was walking towards them.

Hehe. I wish I could've seen the look on their faces when they realized that I had walked right past them! Especially Darien's, that arrogant prick.

Yes, I loath him. The rest of the school may like him for his looks and persona, but I was with him 24/7 and knew the truth!

Oh shit. He's walking towards me now.

[Darien's POV]

"Look Drew, she's smiling at you." I said to Drew, trying my best to cheer him up.

"She's scowling."

"No, that's a smile!"

"She's rolling her eyes."

"She's been doing that all day," I snapped. "It's probably a condition."

"She's walking away."

"What?" I shouted. "No! Hey, girl!"

[Serena's POV]

My eye twitched.

Hey…girl?

Who the hell did he think he was?!

I, of course, ignored him and reached for the door.

"Wait!" He ordered.

Typical Darien. Typical typical Darien. He would expect everyone to do as he said, wouldn't he?

Asshole.

I ignored his outburst again and pulled on the door, all intending to go inside and shut out the annoying chatter.

[Darien's POV]

Why was this girl not listening? I'm only two feet from her, I know she can hear me!

"Wait!" I yelled again, rushing to her. Reaching out I grabbed her hand and pulled her back, stopping her from opening the door.

"What's you're problem?" she snapped, glaring at me.

Did I do something wrong? Why was she so adamant about avoiding me, we don't even know each other!

"Did I do something to upset you?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow. I was still holding her hand and gallantly brought it to my lips, placing a gentle kiss on it. I made sure to linger just enough to let her know that I was interested.

At that she smiled. Now a smile I could definitely handle.

Gosh darnit Darien, you've done it again!

Story of my life.

"I'm Darien," I introduced smoothly, before noticing that Drew was still sulking nearby.

Pulling him by the collar of his polo, I flashed the girl another brilliant grin, nudging Drew in the side. "And this is my buddy Andrew."

Drew quickly regained his wits and gave his smile another go, practically oozing with charisma.

"Hi I'm Andrew."

Too bad it was shot down again.

"Charmed." She answered shortly, giving me an amused grin (and completely ignoring Drew).

I'm confused about why she was grinning but squashed it down, too excited that I had her attention.

What's wrong with you? You're acting like a pubescent teen who just got his first boner!

Yea, well, she's definitely giving me a boner right now…

I continued smiling. "And your are…?"

"Taken."

"Ouch," I answered goodheartedly, though I was a bit disappointed that this conquest ended so soon. The girl really was gorgeous, probably even more so up close.

"At least let me know your name." I flirted, completely oblivious to Drew who was still foaming at the mouth over being ignored not once, but twice.

"Why Darien," her sweet voice answered. It was like warm honey to my ears, flowing ever so soothingly. "You should already know."

Eh?

"How can I know when we've just met," I replied. "Baby, I'm amazing but even a man has got his limits."

Was it just me, or did her grin widen?

"Well Baby," she shot back. I just love her calling me that and could just imagine her screaming it under me while I drove into her. "I wouldn't exactly say we've just met."

Huh?

"What are you trying to imply?" When confused, answer a question with another question.

"In fact…" she licked her lips seductively. "I'd say we're childhood friends."

"Odd," I said, confused. "I think I would remember you."

"Oh I'm pretty sure you will –" The bell suddenly rang, signaling the beginning of school. My mystery girl paused, as if to ponder something, before winking at me.

"I'll see you in class." She said, turned towards the doors.

"Wait!" I yelled. "What if we're not in the same class?"

"Oh we will." She said confidently, which might I add is the ultimate turn on.

And with that, she left me (and a rabid Andrew) on the steps of our school.

No one has ever left me at the steps of anything. But for some reason, I didn't particularly mind.

As long as I got the girl in the end, of course.

AN: Hey guys, sorry about the long wait! I just finished up with school and am now finally home!! I have a small break before interning/researching begins so I'll try to write as much as I can during this time. Unfortunately, this means that the chapters will be poorly edited but I'll go back and edit them when I have time. I think you guys would rather have the chapters then wait a couple of weeks longer for me to run them through the grinder ;)

Anyways, here are a few important things that i want you guys to keep in mind:

If you have already noticed, I have set the main part of this story in 1968, South Carolina no less. The dialogue will be a bit contemporary as I do not know how they talked back then…but I will try to stay as accurate as possible to the time period.

For those of you who don't know, 1968 is when America's involvement with the Vietnam war was at its peak. This is when the Tet offensive occurred, which shocked many people because they never expected the North Vietnamese (Communists) to be so powerful or to have such an upper hand.

No, I will not focus on the war a lot but it will be included in order to fit in with the plot I had in mind. I realize that this is a bit more serious than what usual SM fanfics are about, but rest assured that you will still get a lot of Serena&Darien romance (:

This story is Comedy/Drama, so it won't be all angst and teen romance. In fact, if the story is not yet rated M, I might up the rating later on. I like high school romance and all, but as a college kid I no longer find them that interesting.

Which is why although this story is based in high school, it'll definitely have more mature themes surrounding the characters. Also, keep in mind about the FIRST PARAGRAPH of the story – you know, the one set in New York, New York Present Day?

Yea. That's definitely important.

Whew, and that ends my long author's note.

Please REVIEW!!

Please REVIEW!!