Serena let out a gasp as a firm hand pulled her into a hold.
"Shh…it's me." A familiar voice soothed. The arm directed Serena so that she was now facing the person holding her.
"Stanton? What are you doing here? Trying to scare me to death?" Serena said in a strong whisper.
"Of course not, I just wanted to check up on you. How are you?" Despite his best efforts of sounding convincing, Serena knew that wasn't the real reason why he came. His gaze far beyond her and he was very obviously distracted.
"First of all, if you wanted to see if I was okay, you may want to consider doing it a less frightening way. And secondly, you forget that I can read you without going into your mind, what is the real reason, don't lie." Serena said, tilting her head up to give him that look.
"Don't give me that look." Stanton pleaded.
"What look? I am not giving you any look." Serena said, shaking her head slightly.
"Yes you are," Stanton said, leading Serena further into the shadows. "That look you make when you think you are right and I am wrong"
"Am I and are you?" Serena said, pulling her arm out of his grasp, "And if so, tell me soon, I can't afford another tardy."
"Look, something is up. I thought I should warn you. Is it alright if I come over tonight to talk?" Stanton asked, but his gaze returned to that far off way again.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." Serena said, turning to look at what Stanton was seeing.
"Alright, go to class, and stick by your friends."
"Okay, but don't think that…" Serena turned back around and Stanton was gone.
Serena sighed and went off to class. She was tardy and she did get in trouble. The day went by very slowly and she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her, she also noticed that the shadows seem unusually dark and large. But by lunch, the feeling was going. 'Stanton,' she thought while eating her lunch, pretending to listen to Tianna going on about some punchbowl and Vanessa. 'Stanton has been watching over me lately, not just because of last night, but from before that. It was no coincidence that he just so happened to be there when Bobby stated chasing me.'
"Serena…"
'He was following me the whole night…he knew something was going to happen to me…"
"Serena!"
'Maybe he didn't know about Bobby, but maybe he was expecting something else to happen…'
"SERENA!"
"What?" Serena shot back into reality.
"I was saying, 'are we still on for Planet Bang tonight?'" Tianna bounced up and down, still new to the whole goddess deal, Planet Bang was a regular, and no need to get all excited about.
"Oh, God, I forgot." Serena said, slapping her hand on her forehead. "I told someone I would meet them tonight."
Her four best friends', sitting around her at the table, faces fell. "What, we planned on going for weeks." Jimena said. "What's up?
"Nothing, you know what, it's not important. I'll go instead, I did promise you first." Serena said, twiddling her yogurt with the plastic spoon in her hand.
"You sure? If it's important then you don't have to come…if it has to deal with last night, then you should definitely not go." Tianna said bravely. No one has mentioned what happened since that morning.
'Should I tell them that Stanton talked to me this morning and warned me of danger, would they understand that I trust him again?' Serena's thoughts were running through her, confusing her even more than she already was. 'He did say to stay with my friends…Why not?' "No, no…nothing like that. Lets all go tonight, in celebration of the strength of the goddesses!"
And they drank to that.