The Exonian
Chapter 2
Par La Fortuna
PG13
June 20, 2001

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, but the story is entirely
my own. Mess around with it, and you will die an
excruciatingly painful death.

NB: Trial and error, I suppose. I'm writing under an alias, so...
^^ Recognize me? Ugh... the first few chapters of this fic are
still trying to set the atmosphere. I know it's long, maybe
tedious even for you guys to read... ^^; I have no idea where
I'm going with this, but I'm trying. =)

Caution: Mild Inappropriate Language for youngsters. ^_^;

______________________________________________



Instead of going through new material, the teacher had decided
to spare them two days so that they could put some effort into
preparing for the final exam. All fifteen of the students were
currently sitting around the circular table, comparing notes and
studying in silence for the upcoming test.


Well, the room was almost entirely silent except for one arc of
the table.


"Serena, I don't think I'll be able to remember all by Friday.
I mean, who needs to know about the Roosevelt Corollary to
the Monroe Doctrine?"

"Lita, be quiet over there! This is a silent study period!"

The girl in question, very irreverently, rolled her eyes. "That entire
Zimmerman incident was interesting, but it doesn't relate to my
cooking, does it?" Lita asked in exasperation.

"Shhh... I thought you were studying for the past three days."

"NO! I wasn't. I couldn't!"

"Why not?" Serena asked.

"Remember the Szechaun dish that I promised to make for
Amy? Well, I forgot about it, and you know how it's a two-
day affair cooking that thing."

There went Lita and the pocketbook theory.

In whispers, Serena responded. "Don't fret about it, Lita.
We're having a study session later today at Amy's dorm.
We'll definitely be able to make it through Lyndon Johnson,
but not if you keep on complaining like that."

"But the dish isn't finished!"

"I thought you already spent two days steaming it and cooking
it and whatever else you do with it!"

Lita could do nothing but moan and slide further down in her
seat, bringing her notes down with her and grabbing her hair in
frustration. "You don't anything about cooking, Sere!"

Serena stifled a laugh, grinning to herself and wondering how
she could ever have thought of Lita as orderly. "Hush. The
teacher's going to flip if we keep on whispering like this."


A couple of minutes after the exchange with Lita, Serena
chanced a glance up across the table to see what was going
on at the other side and suddenly caught sight of a young man
whose eyes were fixated on her. Blushing slightly, Serena
quickly averted her eyes to stare down at her history notes.
She had never learned how to take these glances, these not-
so-discreet come-ons that were levied upon her. Lita had
once told her that attraction was the cause, listing the
attributes that guys would certainly find attractive in Serena.
Uniquely beautiful, Lita had said, not the stereotypical blonde
bombshell but one whose sensuality and intelligence was
undoubtably irresistible. One who knew her own mind, Lita
had added in contemplation. What else could a guy want?


But Serena had shooed away the idea, saying that there was
nothing in her for anyone to be attracted to.


Serena felt awkward receiving these glances, especially from
people like Daniel. She had been impressed by Daniel's all-
American good-boy looks, the golden hair, the hazel eyes,
cheery yet hooded, and the fair complexion. At first, Serena
had thought that he would be an affable person to befriend.
She carried that notion through her head for the first couple
of months, flattered by the polite comments that Daniel
gave her at odd moments. She would smile, laugh, and
secretly glance his way only to find that he was intently
watching her.


But it didn't take long for her to learn that being friends was
not Daniel's objective. At the beginning of the Sophomore
year, he had approached her with the seemingly innocent
proposal of an after school study session for government
and politics. Study sessions were common at Exonian and
effective, as the students rushed to prepare for upcoming
exams. Curious as to why he would ask the no-name girl
who was always silent in class, she had accepted, despite
the nagging knowledge that Daniel was not a student with
a most reputable character.

___________________________________________


"But how would you defend Tocqueville's statement?" She had
asked Daniel at the session.

"I don't know. How would you defend your position if I asked
you about it?"

"Look, I already outlined my position on the paper." Serena
pointed to the sheet.

"Mhm..." Daniel's eyes were focused on Serena but they were
no where near to glancing at the paper.

"Daniel, we really ought to get to work. We're getting nothing
done!"

"Oh, really? I think I'm getting a lot done."


He had responded casually, obviously disinterested with the
topic she was discussing and more interested in the tilt of her
face, the eye lashes pointed downwards, and the curl of her
shoulder-length golden hair towards her chin. When they
met at the campus library, they began going over the text but
it didn't take long for him to begin the use of one liners,
hoping to catch Serena in his finely spun web of seduction.


Impatient and frustrated with the lack of progress they were
making, when Serena had suddenly turned towards him,
intending to give him a piece of her mind, she instead found
herself speechless because of the close proximity of his figure.
His face was only inches away from hers and she could feel
his warm breath brushing across her cheeks. His hands were
nearing the tendrils of her hair, and the color of his eyes had
deepened into a darker shade of hazel. He had sat close to
her with the pretense of paying close attention to her words
at the outset, but now he was too close and Serena could
not tolerate the hooded suggestions his darkened hazel eyes
were sending her.


She immediately stood up, grabbed her things, quietly uttering
the words, "I've got to go," before walking hurriedly out of the
library. Unfortunately, she did not walk quickly enough to
escape the words Daniel muttered behind her, "Charity ingrate."


When she had returned to her dorm, Serena immediately
related the course of events to Lita, who proclaimed that
since Serena didn't get to voice her mind, she would willing
do so - with her fists.


"Lita, I don't want to raise any troubles now, especially since
it's just the beginning of the school year. He'll forget about it,
I'll forget about it. It was nothing, just unwanted attention. I'm
sure he didn't intend to offend me like that."

"He's an inconsiderate cad, Sere. I know that, and so do you.
You know how many girls he's gone through like water, how
he carves his conquests in to the wall. How could you have
said yes when he asked you to study with him?"

Serena sighed then. "I thought it'd be fine. I thought he
wanted to study."

"Don't let it get to you. He's not worth it."

Responding to her friend with only a nod of the head, Serena
went back into her room to finish her other assignments.


The next day in class, when Serena went to the teacher to
hand in her assignment on Tocqueville, she brushed Daniel
slightly on the arm. The contact startled her, and she looked
down at the young man whose arm she had unwittingly
touched. Daniel gave her a come-hither look, and Serena
looked away immediately in disgust.


After class, she walked out in to the fall air, relieved that
nothing else had come of the incident at the library. She
heard the doors behind her open and close, and when she
heard the voices, she was shell-shocked and rooted to the
ground.


"Come with me to the ice cream parlor," Daniel said
smoothly to a giggling girl.

"I would love to, Daniel. Promise me we'll go the movies
this weekend?"


Then, Daniel and the girl walked pass Serena, neither even
looking her way. "Sure. Anything for you, sweetheart." With
his arms wrapped around the young girl's shoulders, he
sauntered down the sidewalk lane away from the building. In
the distance, Serena saw him bend his head down toward the
girl's uplifted face.

___________________________________________


Disappointment had one been element of Serena's feelings
when she returned to the dorm that day. Anger and outright
humiliation were two others, but she was determined not to
let her embarrassment show, not even to Lita. It was a year
ago, but the mild tinge of hurt was still present, and Serena
could do nothing to squelch it.


"Charity ingrate"? Was she really that dispensable? That
invaluable as a person for Daniel to disregard her with such
contemptuous nonchalance? Was it her middle-income
background, one that made someone like Daniel who came
from a rich and distinguishable family think less of her and
therefore let him think that he could do this to her?


The factor of her family background was a tender spot for
Serena, for she distinctly felt the difference between her
personal history and that of others at Exonian. She was
there on account of the financial aid, while others had
squirmed their way in because of their aristocratic lineage
- indeed, some were truly royalty. How could she not feel
the difference when she saw the expensive Mercedes and
Rolls-Royces that drove the students and their luggage
back after a vacation break. While the uniform Exonians
were required to wear hid some of the stigma, Serena
knew that the repeated wear of her clothes outside of class
had attracted the notice of the chic at school. In addition,
there was the reliance on second-hand library books
instead of new textbooks in class and the dependency on
the use of the auto-laundry mats in the basement of the
dormitory instead of the laundering service provided.


But Serena thrived on this difference, even though she
suffered as well - but she struggled through it with a smile.
She was proud of her heritage, of her lineage, of her parents
who worked so very hard to support her. Hah, she could
get to Exonian without the fiscal backing (though how she
did it, she still didn't quite know - where was that nice
admissions officer?). Serena wasn't envious of the material
goods that she lacked. Materialism wasn't that important,
in the end, when one's life was based on what he or she
did with it, not what things one could acquire. And if she
could do it, Serena would show these people that, in
academics at least, she could surpass them, and that in the
future, she would be successful in life because she willed it.
Many she wasn't an exceptional student when she entered
Exonian, but she would be once she left.


Serena reminded herself that Daniel was a reprehensible
person, that the young girl that day was probably being
fed the same lines he used on her at the library just the day
before, that what happened at the library was
inconsequential. But the affront had been committed, and
despite what she said to Lita that day, Serena had not
forgotten.


Since then, other guys had approached her with offers of
study sessions and unforgetable movie thrills. Serena had
rejected them all, fearing the possibility of meeting another
Daniel at Exonian. Instead, she focused on what she came
to the boarding school for. She learned from the teachers,
taught herself from the textbooks, and when she did attend
a study session, it was only with friends like Lita and Amy.


"You ought to try and look less desirable somehow in order
to deter the Exonian men," a friend of Ami's had once
remarked.

Serena had responded, shaking her head, "What do you
mean? I'm trying to do all that I can."


There wasn't much that she could do however. The
obligatory attire she had to don every day could not be
tampered and it made the loveliness of her figure even
more apparent; the brightness of her eyes and the sensibility
of her character could not be hidden from all. All she could
do was remain quiet and as inconspicuous as possible, but
Serena was far from successful.


Her constant rejection of admirers and potential boyfriends
did not do much for Serena's position on the social hierarchy
at school. Libeled as the "frigid bitch," such offers of getting
to know one another better came less and less. However, by
the end of the second trimester of Upper year, there were
still offers though, and enough rejections to further malign
her reputation. She wasn't the easy blonde, nor was she the
beauty queen, simply the "frigid bitch" in the eyes of many.
The young men at Exonian quickly learned from word of
mouth that any attempts would be spurned by Serena, but
some were still self-confident enough to give it a go.


And so, Daniel would still give her the same come-hither
looks, as he was doing now. In spite of the efforts Serena
made to stop the rush of blood to her cheeks, the rosy color
still blossumed. Stop it, she berated herself. He's not worth
blushing over, Serena thought, thinking back to Lita's advice.
You should despise the guy, Sere. And she did, but her rosy
cheeks did not help the situation. They made her look like
she was still infatuated with the jerk!


Focusing her eyes on her notes again, Serena began going
over the Harding administration, looking forward to the end
of class when she could convene with her friends.