CONFRONTATION

"Serena?"

"Buh?" Serena replied, coming out of her thoughts to see Molly looking at her with a peculiar look on her face.

"Wow, you must have really been out of it. The last bell has rung and you're not even out of your seat yet!"

Serena yawned and looked outside. Was school really over already? Normally she was off daydreaming in class anyway, but today was different. She hadn't been aware of anything. Her mind was too busy, revisiting the previous night's events and trying to make sense of it all. And seeing Darien this morning hadn't helped much either, she was sure that he was probably going through the same thing. She'd seen it in his eyes, the confusion that was mirrored in hers.

"See Serena? You're doing it again!"

Serena snapped out of it this time, and have her friend an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Molly, I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

Molly sighed. "I can tell. Anything you want to tell me?"

Serena hesitated. There had been countless times that she had wanted to tell Molly everything, but that was the last thing she needed right now. "No, it's alright. Thanks anyway." Molly looked down at the floor, and Serena felt a pang of guilt. Molly was her best friend, and had been ever since they were little. Serena used to be able to tell her absolutely everything, and keeping her secret identity to herself had been difficult, especially with Molly's past involvement with Nephrite. She knew that one day she would be able to reveal everything, but it was not going to be today.

She grabbed her bag and stood up, with Molly following suite. "So, uh, what exactly did I miss in class today?" Serena asked, trying to shake the tension. Molly gave her a smile in reply. "Not much really, just some maths, and Melvin continuing to upstage Miss Haruna. You should have seen her! She got so angry with him."

Serena gave a small laugh, but her mind was somewhere else. Before she knew it, they were standing outside of the school gates. "Well, I'm off, but remember, you can talk to be about anything, okay Serena?" Molly told her, a look of worry on her face. "I know. And thanks, Molly." she gave her a reassuring smile, but wasn't sure how convincing it was. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Molly nodded her head, and bounded off down the road.

Serena headed in the opposite direction, remembering that there was a scouts meeting scheduled for that afternoon. But she wasn't sure if she could face Raye yet, not without talking to Darien at at her watch, she decided to make a quick detour to Darien's apartments. Even if it would make her a little bit late to the meeting, that was the norm for Serena, and her friends knew it.

She walked at a fast pace, keeping her head down as she went over her thoughts one last time. What would she say to him? What did he know? How did he feel about everything? Serena sighed. He probably knew as much as she did. Still, they at least needed to talk about what had gone on between them. But before Serena could think about that, she walked into a moving object and was knocked onto her backside on the sidewalk.

Squinting in pain, she looked up to see the very person she wanted to see. "Why do you always run into me?" she retorted out of habit, before getting to her feet and brushing of her skirt. Darien also stood up, watching her with a peculiar look on his face as she tried to think of what to say next.

"Actually Darien, I wanted to talk to you..." she started, but not before Darien's sigh broke her concentration.

"I'm sorry Serena. I have to go." he replied, before racing off again in the direction she had come. "Darien!" she yelled after him, upset about what had just happened. She was determined to get to the bottom of this. "You're not getting out of this that easily." she growled before running after him, making sure to steer clear of obstacles and other people. The last thing she needed was to fall over again.

After half an hour of non-stop running, Serena slowed to a stop. She had never run this much before, even if she did a lot of running - away, mostly - but she could feel a stitch in her stomach and wasn't sure how much further she could go.

Suddenly she saw a dark figure before her, standing near the Starlight Tower. Could it be Darien? She moved closer, trying to make sense of what was going on. Why was he here? What was so important here that he couldn't talk to her earlier? As she slowly approached him, the air suddenly became thick and everything turned red.

"Darien, what's going on?"