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The Tutor

Summary:
Serena Tsukino miserably fails a test and her parents become concerned and decide to get her a tutor. They hire her old brother's best friend, offering him a price he cannot refuse. The two don't get along but when the tutoring is over they can't seem to stay away from each other.

Chapter Twenty Five

Serena found herself alone at school on Monday.

Amy had gone with her mother to a three day convention and Mina had her travel team volleyball tournament this week and wouldn't be back till Friday, just in time for the football game.

Serena was bored during her math class. Usually during the class she would make silly faces and text with Mina and they would try to text Amy, who would just ignore them until the bell rang.

Serena zoned out to her own world as she walked to her history class, not realizing that she had taken her old route until it was too late. Something in the back of her mind told her to look up and down the hall before she walked into the classroom. She couldn't help but blush when she made eye contact with Darien. She still liked him, a lot, but they couldn't be anything more than friends.

And it killed her.

Serena quickly looked away once she realized she was looking at him longer than she intended to and quickly rushed into the classroom and sat in her seat.

Their eye contact and her blush was all the motivation he needed to set his plan into motion.

Serena felt her phone vibrate in her jacket pocket and was thankful that they had a sub-in teacher for class today. She quickly opened the text message, without seeing who it was, and her heart began to pound furiously in her ears.

'Meet me at your locker in 5 minutes' the text was from a blocked number, but Serena had an idea of who it was and she had a nagging thought in the back of her mind that Andrew had somehow found out. She quickly got a bathroom pass and started making her way to her locker.

Serena froze when she saw who was waiting for her at her locker.

'If I just walk away now he won't know that I walked by, but we probably should talk about what happened—No, no he used me and that's that. Stop trying to think things can go back to how they were. Just turn around and go back to class.' Serena shook herself out of her thoughts and looked back to the person at her locker to see them looking at her. 'Crap they saw me… well no turning back now' Serena thought as she walked up to her locker.

"Hey, you wanted to talk?" Serena asked shyly as she stood in front of Darien.

"Yeah" there was a long awkward pause as Serena stared at Darien's feet while he stared at her, "We need to talk about what happened, we can't avoid this anymore—"

Serena cut him off, "What more is there to talk about? What's done is done and nothing more can come out of it."

Darien was taken aback by her response, she was giving up already?

"From what I recall it wasn't just me, you kissed me back too"

"I know I did, and I don't regret it, but it can't happen again." Serena refused to look at him as she tried to resist him, knowing that if she looked at him she would cave in and beg for forgiveness.

"Why are you so afraid of Andrew?"

She wasn't expecting that.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm not afraid of him!" Serena angrily said.

"You never do anything for yourself, you always do what Andrew tells you to do. He's even dating your best friend. Why don't you do something?" Darien was starting to become agitated.

"I have my reasons" Serena said softly.

"And what are they Serena? Because its clear that they are not working"

"I don't want Andrew to hate you" tears welled up in her eyes and she tried to run away to hide it, but she couldn't stop them when Darien embraced her. Only a few tears fell, and she quickly calmed herself down. "I don't want to be the reason why you would lose your best friend" Serena whispered softly.

"You wouldn't be Sere," Darien tried to reassure her.

"What about your double date with Andrew and Mina last weekend?"

"Drew randomly showed up at my place and said that he owed me big time if I agreed to the date."

"So nothing came out of it?" Serena asked referring to the girl who he was set up with.

"There's nothing to get jealous about Meatball Head."

"I'm not jealous" Serena replied too quickly, then added "I'm more hurt than jealous"

"You wouldn't be if you hadn't ignored me for the past week,"

Anger began to fill her, "I didn't know what to do Darien. I wanted to figure everything out first before I talked to you again so I wouldn't make a mistake"

"Well are you ready to tell me what you want, or should I just walk away now?" Darien was becoming frustrated, this wasn't supposed to be that complicated.

"Yes-No! I-I..." Serena looked down at the ground and took in a deep breath before she looked up back at Darien, "I know I don't want to lose you. I'm just not ready to go behind Andrew's back yet." That was all Darien needed to hear from her to not give up hope. "Can we go back to our tutoring?" Serena asked shyly.

Darien's eyes softened as he hugged her, "Sure, we can start again today if you'd like."

Serena nodded her head yes as she started feeling butterflies in her stomach. She was happy and she couldn't wait for school to be over so she could be with him again.

Darien was overjoyed that he had her back even though it was just back to their tutoring schedule, it was still something.

"I better get back to class," Serena said as she tried to let go but Darien wouldn't let her.

"Not now, you owe me 30 more seconds of hugging." Darien said as he tightened his hug.

"Darien Chiba I will tickle you if you don't let go go me this instant" Serena threatened as she slowly moved her hands to his sides and he immediately let go of her. "I'll see you after practice" Serena said with a wink as she walked away to head back to class.

During football practice, Darien felt like he was getting his groove back and he was not the only one who had noticed.

"Nice to see you back on track Chiba! You better stay this way till Friday's game!" Their coach yelled from the side lines as the players switched out drill groups.

"Glad to see ya back Dare," Jed said as he slapped Darien's should.

"Yeah it's good seeing you out of that funk," Zack commented, taking a gulp of water and then ran back out to the field with Jed.

"So I'm guessing you fixed things with her?" Andrew asked as he sat down next to him on the bench.

"Sort of, we're talking again and we have plans for later." Darien tried not to say much to Andrew, hoping that he could keep Andrew in the dark for a little while longer.

"That's cool dude, I'm happy for you. Are you planning on taking her to homecoming? Mina wants to get a limo and we need five couples to get it down to their lowest price."

Homecoming, why did he never think of that?

'But Serena said she didn't even want to go' Darien thought as he recalled their conversation about the dance, 'Maybe she's waiting for someone to ask her?'

"Um we haven't really talked about it but I'll ask her when I see her."

"Cool cause Mina really wants to meet her. She won't stop talking about it,"

Practice had ended early, due to a sudden change in the weather, and Darien couldn't be more thankful.

Serena had texted him to meet her at the park, so he ran as fast as he could, hoping she had found a place to hide from the rain.

Today was definitely a day he wished he drove to school.

By the time he made it to the park, most of his uniform was drenched and he was having a hard time trying to find Serena. When his phone rang, and he read the text, he knew exactly where she was and started running again.

He slowed down when the sweet scent of roses mixed with rain was all he could smell. And there she was, in the center of the roses, waiting for him in a gazebo. She looked so beautiful standing there gazing out at the roses. Her hair looked like it was made of gold as it cascaded down her back.

She hadn't noticed him yet as he made his way toward her.

Darien decided that he wanted to sneak up on her, so he quickly walked around to the other side of the gazebo and tried not to make a sound as he snuck up behind her and softly wrapped his arms around her. He felt her tense, then relax and then tense again as she turned around in his arms.

"You're soaking wet, did you walk all the way here from school?" Serena asked, concerned.

"I didn't know it was going to rain today" Darien replied with a shrug.

"C'mon, lets get you home before you get sick" Serena said as she opened her dark pink umbrella with cute white bunnies on it and held it over them as they began to walk back to Darien's apartment.

The streets of Tokyo were unusually empty but it was probably because of the crappy weather, Serena observed as she looked around her as they walked to Darien's apartment.

There was suddenly a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud crash of thunder and Serena threw herself into Darien's arms as she trembled in fear.

Darien adjusted the umbrella in his hand and wrapped his free arm around her and held her close while trying to calm her down.

"Sere, it's okay, it's not going to hurt us" Darien said as he tired to calm her.

"I know, its just I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the sound. I've been like this since I was little" Serena explained as she began to calm down, "okay, let's go"

The walk to the apartment was silent as Serena tried to brave out the storm. She didn't realize she was holding Darien's hand until they walked into the lobby of his apartment building and he let go of her to close the umbrella.

Serena suddenly missed his warmth, but kept her self control as they walked to his apartment after they got off the elevator.

It didn't take long for them to complete their homework and when they finished they sat on the couch and watched some tv. The storm seemed to be getting worse outside and Serena slowly inched her way closer to Darien after every loud crack of thunder. Darien had noticed what Serena was doing and he was trying not to laugh when he felt the couch shift when she moved closer, so he stretched his arm out along the top of the couch, ready for when she would jump to him after the next loud bang of thunder. Serena was so close but the thunder had stopped and they could only hear the rain pouring outside.

Serena had finally calmed down and was now relaxed as they sat there watching tv.

Darien flipped through the channels until Serena told him to stop when she saw the movie Stardust.

"This is my favorite movie!" Serena said excitedly and Darien chuckled at her excitement.

A few minutes into the movie there was a bright flash of lightning and a loud crash of thunder. Serena threw herself into Darien's arms as the power flickered, but didn't go out. Darien held Serena closely as sh trembled in fear.

"Shh, it's okay Sere" Darien soothed her and turned the volume up on the tv to block out the sounds of the storm. They stayed like that until the storm had passed and then Serena had to go home.

The rest of the week passed by too quickly for Serena's liking. She had gotten into a routine with Darien, he would walk her to class and during lunch they would walk around the hallways that were usually empty. When Amy came back, Serena and Darien would only see each other during lunch and after school. Then when Mina came back they would see each other during lunch but they would be with their group of friends. The only time they had alone was after school and they had tried to make plans for the weekend but Serena had to cancel, saying that she had to do something with the girls. So Darien spent his Saturday hanging out with Andrew at the Crown.

"So how are things with you and that girl?" Andrew asked as he took a seat next to Darien at the counter.

Darien took a sip of his coffee, "Pretty good. We've been hanging out everyday this week" Darien said with a shrug.

"Wow, seems like you two are getting serious. So what's her name?"

Darien paused, he never thought of that, so he told him the first name that came to mind when he thought of Serena, "Bunny"

"Her name is Bunny?" Andrew questioned, not believing his friend.

"That's my nickname for her" Darien lied. He knew he used to call Serena 'Bunny' when they were kids, but he never thought of calling her that after the name 'Meatball Head' had surfaced.

"That's kind of cute... I guess I should come up with a nickname for Mina?" Darien almost choked on his coffee, never in a million years had he ever thought Andrew would say anything like that. "Do you have any ideas of a name I could call her?"

"Dude she's your girlfriend, you do that."

"This is too much pressure for no reason"

"Just call her by the first thing that pops into your head when you think about her" Darien suggested and then he heard his phone chime signaling a text message.

'911 HELP ME!' Darien furrowed his eyebrows, confused and concerned.

"Hey Drew I gotta go run a quick errand"

"Okay Dare, I gotta get back to work, see ya at practice"

Darien quickly left the arcade and called Serena.

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