Chapter 4

Everyone was hooting and hollering as they left the field. They had won the game.the Wildcats were once again wild as they claimed their fourth year undefeated title. Darien stood in the middle of a large crowd as the hero of the night, scoring 4 touchdowns and 3 field goals.

Darien looked around the crowd and spotted Serena, pushing his way through the people to get to his beautiful girlfriend. Once he finally reached her he took her into his sweaty arms and kissed her with all that he had. Many of the other teammates cheered and the other girls swooned. Finally they broke of the kiss, and Serena giggled.

"Congratulations on the win Darien." She said shyly, burring herself in his chest. "But I think we should get out of here, maybe go get something to eat or something." Darien nodded.

"Sure thing babe." He wrapped his arm around her and walked her out to her car, which was being sat upon by the one and only.James.

"Hey Sugar! I had a feeling that you would come out sooner or later, though I hoped it would be without this big waste of time." He said nodding towards Darien.

"James, you will not talk to Serena like that, EVER! She is not someone you can just "conquer" and leave behind." Darien balled up his fists, trying to hold back his anger.

"Darien, calm down honey. There's nothing to be upset about." Serena placed a hand on Darien's shoulder to calm him.

"I don't think its going to work Sere.The two of them have some issues to be punched out." Serena turned around and saw Andrew.

"What do you mean?" She let go of Darien and walked back to Andrew who was standing next to the car beside hers. Darien didn't seem to notice her disappearance from his side, and continued to argue with James.

"James played Darien's sister, you know the one who moved out, and who he now lives with." Serena nodded. "Well.they were dating for a while and he got her drunk one night. Darien found out about it a few weeks later when Judy, his sister, told her parents she was pregnant."

"So that's why she moved out?" Andrew nodded.

"Their parents didn't like it much and argued about it all the time. When James found out, he ran like a bat out of hell. He didn't care about his child, or the girl. All he cared about was the sex she gave him." Andrew shook his head with the though that any man could do that, be so irresponsible, but he knew it was true, it happened every day.

"I would want to kick James' ass too if I were Dar-" Serena was interrupted by a loud thump. Andrew and Serena looked over toward Darien, who had just punched James square in the jaw. Andrew ran to the rescue and pulled the bulldog off the scared puppy.

"Darien! Calm yourself!" Andrew shook his friend and opened Serena's car door, putting him in the passenger seat. "Serena, take him home and get him to bed.alone." He winked at the blushing blond. She did as he told her and drove Darien home, leaving his car in the school parking lot.



"Darien?" Serena touched his shoulder to wake him. She took a long detour to get home and he fell asleep. His hair had fallen in his eyes and his lips were slightly parted. "Wake up.we're home." She called out to him, but he didn't even stir. She got out of the car and walked over to his side, opened the door, and undid his seat belt.

"Sere?" He mumbled and his eyes opened a little.

"Yes, it's me, now wake up.we need to get you in the house and into bed. You have been through a lot today, especially with the big game and stuff." She helped him out of the car and stabilized him so he wouldn't loose his balance and walked him to his house. "Where is your key?" Darien just shrugged so she just rang the doorbell. Footsteps were heard and the door was opened.

"Darien?" Judy pushed open the screen door and helped Serena get Darien in the house. She had medium length brown hair, which was layered, and was around Serena's height. "What happened to him?"

"Nothing really, he just fell asleep. I suppose he was too tired to stay awake."

"You must be Serena then right?" She nodded. "I'm Judy, I'm sorry I haven't been able to meet you before but I've been a little buzy and I've been out of town for the past few days."

"It's ok." Serena shifted under Darien's arm and giggled. "Where should we put this big star?"

"His room I guess." Serena nodded and helped Judy get Darien to his room, which was the last one down the downstairs hall. The house was split level, so when they walked in the house, they only saw stairs, one leading up to the living room and kitchen, and one leading downstairs to the den and one large bedroom.

The room was the size of a large living room, and was decorated with trophies and other sport awards, along with honor roll certificates from when he was younger. His queen size bed was covered with black blankets and pillows. One thing that stood out was the small rose sewn in the center of the pillow. The rose had perfect red petals and a long green stem, complete with thorns.

"Just set him on the bed." Serena nodded and the two practically threw him on the bed. Serena grabbed his shoes and set them on the side of the bed, along with his shirt she had taken off of him. She wasn't about to undo his pants with his sister there. "Serena, would you like some hot chocolate or tea?"

"Hot chocolate would be great, thanks." Serena smiled and followed Judy downstairs. She sat down at the small kitchen table and watched Judy make the drinks. Serena took off her jacket and set it on the back of her chair.

"So.tell me a bit about yourself Serena." Judy said, setting down the drink in front of Serena, taking her seat across from her.

"Well.I recently moved from Washington. I loved it there, it was so beautiful and peaceful. The only problem with it was the people. If it was only me and Ash, it would have been great."

"Who is Ash?" Judy asked, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Oh, she is my best friends. We have known each other since forever. We sure have been through a lot. I really miss her." Serena sighed. "Who knows how many times she has gotten me out of a jam." Serena looked up at Judy. "For some reason I believe I can trust you, just like Darien." Judy smiled.

"We are a trustworthy family." Serena giggled a little.

"That's true." Serena smiled and took another sip of her drink. "While I was in Washington, I did some things I was not exactly proud of, and that's where Ashley came in a lot. I was really popular back then and I did anything I could to stay that way." Serena looked down, unable to meet Judy's gaze. "After I won a beauty contest my freshman year, I got cocky and thought I could have any man I wanted." A tear ran down Serena's face but she continued to talk. "There was this one guy, Mark, he was so sweet to me and I trusted him." Tears began to fall freely.

"Oh, its ok Serena." Judy said, walking over to her, and hugging her.

"He got me into drugs and alchol, but Ashley was there for me when I went to a clinic to recover. I was able to quit once I faced my fears of loosing people and being used like Mark did to me."

"I know how you feel, totally." Judy rubbed her back and allowed her to continue.

"One thing that I will never be able to thank Ashley for was the fact that she saved my life one night.



Serena sat in the middle of the large group of people. Everyone was drinking and smoking pot and having fun. Mark sat next to her on the right and Tom sat on her left. Mark was tall and muscular, he had brown hair and green eyes, and was about six feet tall. Tom was shorter and skinny, he had blond hair and brown eyes.

"Hey Sere, how about we let you come join us after this." Mark asked her, offering her another hit, which she gladly took. Nobody knew she was there and she always made sure that her parents would never know.

"Sure, but where are you going?" She asked him, coughing a little bit from the smoke.

"The Corner." Tom told her. The Corner was a place where most of they guys hung out and screwed girls who they got to fall into their trap.

"Sure." Serena was too drunk to say no, or to know what she was getting herself into. The two guys just smiled to them selves. They all got up and helped Serena to their car. Once they got in Mark turned on the car and prepared to leave, but a car pulled right in front of them.

"What the hell?" Mark got out of the car, along with Tom and Serena. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" He yelled. A girl with mid length brown hair stepped out of the car. "Ashley?"

"Mark, I'm here to take Serena home, her parents are looking for her." She said walking close to Serena.

"Oh no you're not, she said she would come with us." Tom said and pulled Serena close to him.

"Serena, come on, we'll get you some coffee and sobered for your parents." She held out her hand to her best friend, and Serena took it, causing Ashley to smile.

"You are not taking her anywhere!" Mark yelled out and grabbed her hair, slamming her against the car. She cried out in pain as he pulled her back and did it again.

"Stop it Mark!!!" Serena yelled, running towards him, throwing herself on him, trying to get him to let her go, but he just threw her off. The next thing she knew was Tom standing over Serena with a gun in his hands. A shot was fired and red blood was all over, but she didn't feel any pain. Serena opened her eyes that she unconsciously closed and saw Ashley standing lying beside her, holding her stomach.

"Holy Shit! Tom, we gotta get out of here!" Mark got in the car along with Tom and they drove off.

"Ashley!" Serena cried out, and examined her wound. She placed her hands on it, pushing down hard to try to stop the bleeding. The sound of cops and an ambulance was heard in the background.



".She was in the hospital for over three weeks in a coma." Serena chocked out. "Because of her, I wasn't killed or raped, and I will never be able to thank her enough for that." Judy was now crying too.

"Oh Serena, I am so sorry that you had to go through that experience."

"Yeah, but after that, I never took another drink or drugs. I never dated any guys either except Darien. He's different, more caring, and I feel so safe with him."

"Yeah, he is the perfect little brother." Judy smiled and hugged Serena again.

"Its getting late.I think I outta get home, and go to bed." Serena stood up.

"Ok, and if you ever need to talk anymore, I will be right here." Judy smiled. "I'll tell you my guy stories another day." Serena nodded and walked with Judy to the front door, thanking her for the hot chocolate and talk, then went on to her house, not bothering to drive her car over, since it was only about one hundred feet.

Serena walked into the house and saw her mother sitting on the couch. She walked over and hugged her, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

"Where have you been?" Carrie asked her daughter.

"I was talking to Darien's sister. I told her about Ashley." Carrie just smiled and hugged her daughter.

"I love that girl like a second daughter. You know, she is your guardian angel." Serena just laughed and nodded her head.

"I think I'll call her tomorrow." Carrie nodded and nudged her daughter up to bed. That night all Serena could do was think about her best friend, and how Darien has saved her from the horrors of men.

To Be continued.