Ch.5: Duty Calls
When Sunlight meets Moonlight

Ch.5: Duty Calls

Serena opened her eyes as she felt the warm sunlight on her face. She had fallen asleep and hadn't bothered to change out of her white nightdress. Rising slowly and tiredly out of her bed, she found tear streaks dried on her cheeks. Pressing her lips together, she remembered her dreams from last night. Sighing, she went into the bathroom to get ready for her morning classes.

In the shower, Serena smiled content, surrounded by the warm spray of water, the smell of her citrus basil body wash, and the soft melody playing on her radio.

" Know all about, about your reputation and now its bound to be a heartbreak situation. But I can't help it if I'm helpless every time that I'm where you are." The radio sang.

Serena's smile faded. " Sounds like me and Darien." She sighed, getting out of the shower.

" Say my name, and I can't fight it anymore…...Loving you, isn't really something I should do. Shouldn't want to spend my time with you. But I should try to be strong. But baby, you're the right kind of wrong." The radio continued its song, as Serena got dressed.

" That's it. He's the right kind of wrong." Serena giggled at the oxymoron. " I hope I look okay. I don't want to attract the too much attention and I need to be comfortable. It is my second day here." Serena saddened at the thought of her second day at her last academy. All the girls had short hair, gray flares, white blouse, and a red tie. Serena had everything but the hair. After the first day of not fitting in, she decided to take matters into her own hands. The night before her second day, she had cut her hair so that it was the same length at the other girls. Her handy work wasn't as good as she thought. There were some uneven parts, etc. When she got in the school, her hopeful smile had faded when she saw all the snickering and smirking looks the students were giving her. She remembered crying to her father, who shook his head as he saw her hair. He decided the school was giving Serena bad ideas and quickly switched her to Rye Christi's.

Serena snapped back to reality. As she stared into the full-length mirror she ran her hair through her long blonde hair. She was glad it finally grew out. " I'm not changing myself for anyone or anything. I'm going to be myself. I don't care what anyone says." She thought with confidence she didn't feel.

" Serena! I made breakfast! Hurry, we only have an hour left before class!" Lita shouted through Serena's door.

" Coming Lita!" she yelled back. She turned to look in the mirror one last time. She saw a slim, pale girl with a determined face and long blonde hair. Her hair had grown back to its regular length; it fell just past her waist. Serena had dried and curled it, so that it fell in golden waves. She gave her short gray skirt one last tug, her crisp white shirt a few adjustments, and straightened her red tie. She sat down on her bed, and zipped up the knee-length boots. It'll take her awhile to get used to this outfit. Picking up her messenger bag filled with books, Serena walked down her dark hallway and out the door to the living room. Dropping her bag on the couch, she joined Lita at the breakfast table.

"Mmm. Smells good, Lita." Serena complimented, as she looked over the eggs, lox, and bagels.

Lita smiled. " Thanks Sere. I made fresh squeezed orange juice." She said pointing to the juice filled pitcher. " And I made some frappacinos in a bottle for a snack between classes. Also, too keep us awake!" Lita continued with a wink.

" What time-oh, no! Lita we only have 45 mins left, and we have 30 mins to walk!" Serena cried crashing back to reality as she looked at her watch. They both scarfed down their food, grabbed their bags, and ran out the door.

As they neared the Algebra II building, they slowed down. They strolled underneath the cherry blossoms and enjoyed the breezy yet sunny day.

" Serena calm down!" Lita said laughing. " We still have 15 minutes to go, and we're there already."

Serena slowed down a tad bit. " I guess you're right." She admitted sheepishly. She just didn't want to give the class a bad impression.

" Oh, yeah! Here's your frapp." Lita piped up handing Serena over a cold silver blue bottle. It had a white ice pack around it. " As long as the ice pack holds, it'll be fine for about 4 hours." She added, as Serena put the bottle hesitantly into her bag.

Side by side, they walked in silence to their classroom. Opening Mrs. Kane's door they were suddenly engulfed in the loud noises.

" What's going on?" Lita muttered, looking around the room.

" You mean it isn't usually like this?" Serena wondered.

"No." Lita scowled as she walked over to the fighting groups.

There were the 'pales' and the 'darks', each on their own side, each with their leader arguing. Mina was the leader of hers, and Raye seemed to be the leader of the 'darks', although Darien and several other girls stood in front with her.

" As I said before, Beryl didn't cheat. Your eyes just seemed to be wandering, Amy." Mina snapped back.

" Why would Amy cheat? She gets tops in this class, besides Darien. You're just jealous cause every time we beat you!" Raye yelled back.

" Oh, stuff it! You're just envious because you lost to me in the singing competition! Your voice wasn't good anyways!" Mina countered.

" What's going on, Greg?" Lita asked a dark haired boy, taking a quick look at the bickering girls.

Greg scowled. " Beryl accused Amy of cheating off of her, and Amy said Beryl was cheating off of her." He whispered back furious. " Amy wouldn't cheat, she gets great grades, but Beryl on the other hand." He trailed off.

Lita understood. Amy was a genius, and usually got As. Beryl would gets by barely. In fact, she wouldn't even be in the school, if her father weren't able to pay the thousands of dollars each year for her to stay there. Her father had old money and rich as anything. Beryl lets it get to her head though. By the way she carries on, you'll believe she held honors.

" Why does it matter? You both got the same grade. That's like a tie. Anyway, Amy and Beryl couldn't have cheated off of each other. The work they showed isn't the same." Serena said, leafing through the girls' tests.

Mina and Raye looked at each other then grabbed the tests from Serena's hands. Leaning towards each other, they compared the tests.

" True, she did the…" Mina murmured.

" Yea. Amy did…" Raye added.

They looked up at each other and jumped away.

" Tie?" Mina asked, holding out her hand.

"Tie." Raye said, shaking her hand quickly.

Everyone returned to his or her desks, talking quietly and looking at Serena. Lita looked at Serena admirably.

" Good thinking." She praised.

" I would have won that, if the blonde hadn't butted in." Raye said loudly to her fan club glaring at Serena. " I don't know who she is, but if she constantly butts into my arguments, we'll never have the upperhand here." She continued loudly, so that Serena could hear here.

Serena blushed and looked at her notes from yesterday. " I guess, I shouldn't have interrupted," She thought quietly.

Darien turned slowly around to face Serena. He heard Raye clearly and wondered how Serena was taking it. Her head was bowed down, and she was staring at her notebook. Her hair cascaded into waves of gold, all across her face and spilled over her hands. He smiled at the picture that she made. " Good morning princess." He whispered, taking a piece of her hair and wrapping it around his hand.

Serena thought she was mistaking. " Did he just say…" Serena thought. Her head snapped up. " OW!" she cried. Her sudden movement caused Darien's hand to yank at the piece of hair he held in his hand.

" Sorry." He laughed as he saw the comical look Serena had on her red face, as she rubbed her head.

" Oooohh. I knew it was you. Good morning to you too!" she frowned.

Darien smiled innocently and grabbed an envelope from his bag. " Here." He said, and then turned quickly around.

" Wha-" Serena started.

" Okay, okay people. Let's get started." Mrs. Kane said, coming into the room and clapping her hands.

Raye saw this whole exchange and scowled. " He'll be mine soon." She thought.

In the middle of the class, when Mrs. Kane was grading papers and the students were suppose to be doing class work, Lita leaned over to Serena's desk. " What's that?" she whispered, nodding her head to the pale blue envelope on corner of Serena's desk.

" I don't know. Darien gave it to me." Serena whispered back.

Lita saw the red engraved on the flap of the envelope. Her eyes widened. " Its your first challenge. Open it!" Lita whispered harshly.

" But-" Serena frowned.

" Ladies, is there a problem?" Mrs. Kane looked up sharply from her papers.

" No. Sorry." Lita and Serena chorused.

Mrs. Kane went back to her work. When, the bell rang, Serena and Lita ran out of the classroom, so that they could open the envelope.

" What's that?" Raye asked snootily, as she looked at the envelope with distaste.

" Nothing. We have to go. Bye Raye." Lita said quickly, steering Serena outside.

" We have one hour, before History class. Lets go to the willow and read it." Lita suggested.

So to the weeping willow they went. Sitting underneath it, Serena slid her finger underneath the envelope flap. With an energetic movement, the envelope tore open. Serena took out a piece of beige paper. There were snowy roses printed over it. When Serena opened the paper, a red rose bud fell out of it. Lita picked it up, and stared at it.

" The rose of challenge." She whispered in awe.

" Yeah, yeah. You saw it before." Serena waved it away, without a concern. She quickly scanned the envelope.

" Well, what does it say?" Lita said, taking her frappacino out and taking a sip.

" It says- oh no! I forgot my bag in the room. Be right back. Read it yourself." Serena cried, running back to Mrs. Kane's room.

Lita picked up the paper and began to read…….

Dear Princess,

Duty calls. Time for the first seduction. Your first challenge is Kennedy [Ken] Harwich. He's a junior. One year older then you, sophomore. Find him and seduce him. When I see him at the Harvest Ball with you, you win only under one condition: an hour later, you will leave him brokenhearted. I will find out somehow, so don't try to deceive me. I await my challenge.

Your Prince.

PS- Thank you for the walk last night. How about if I meet you under the willow tonight and we walk again……

" Seems like she had fun last night." Lita smiled slyly.

" Mrs. Kane?" Serena asked quietly as she opened the creaking door. She stepped into the still classroom. " Mrs. Kane?" Serena asked again. She looked around, but the teacher seemed to be missing. She searched for her bag, and didn't find it against her desk. She looked up and saw it perched on the bookshelf in the back. Walking quickly to it, she reached up to grab it. With it safely in her hand, she fell into the darkness. She heard the door slam. Someone had turned off the light and the blinds were closed. She wrapped her arms tighter around her bag in terror. She heard light footsteps towards her. She tried to turn towards the sound of the movements. She felt a cold pair of hands slid around her throat.

To be continued………………………………………………… ^_- maybe.

AN- lol. Sorry. Cliffhanger again! Maybe if I get enough reviews, I'll continue!!! How was it? Good? Bad? How about my other stories??