"I quote, 'unless you can turn me into a princess, there's nothing that can be done...' I don't know what could possibly make her like this. So, would you mind giving it a shot?"



Darien looked at Serena again and felt a strange sensation come over him. She looked so dull and lifeless. "Alright, I'll try but I'm telling you... it's not gonna work. She hates me." Darien then made his way over to the corner booth to see if, by some miracle, she would open up to him.



"Hey Meatball Head" he greeted while taking a seat across from her. When she didn't offer anything in return, he tried again. "How are you today?"



Silence.



"Oh, come on... do you have to be so rude? I'm trying to be nice."



"You be nice?" Serena's head shot up and her eyes narrowed. She hadn't managed to fall asleep and fatigue was slowly taking her over. "Why would you be nice to me?"



Darien noticed that her tone was more harsh than it usually was when she was arguing with him. "I just so that you were upset and decided to come over and see if I could help."



"You lying skills definitely need work."



"What do you mean?"



"Hello, Andrew sent you over hear! You wouldn't have come if he hadn't put you up to. You don't care about me. You're such a jerk"



Darien was slightly hurt by her words, though he didn't know if it was because he really did care for her or if her words her true. "Well, I can go tell Andrew now that you're alright... you hate me, as usual..."



"That's just it! I don't hate you! And I'm not... alright..." Serena's hands shot up to cover her face in attempt to keep Darien from seeing her tears.



"Mea... I mean, Serena... what happened? It really can't be that bad, can it?"



"I don't know, you try going through it!"



"Seriously, what happened."



Serena hesitated to answer but some part of her that existed deep within her soul wanted Darien to know that it was her that he was with last night. "Have you ever fallen in love?"



Darien was caught off guard by the small girl's soft question but he answered nonetheless. "Yes, I have."



"Tell me about her..."



"Serena, this is about you, not me."



"Darien, please just do this."



"Alright, well... she's beautiful, kind, caring, and everything that I could ever hope for."



"How long have you been in love with this girl?"



"For as long as I remember..."



"Does she love you back?"



"Yes," Darien really wasn't certain where this was headed but his curiosity pushed him to continue.



"Now think about how much you love her, think about the things that you would do to be with her. Picture all the moments you've spent dreaming about this girl and all the moments you've shared together... How would you feel if she didn't love you back? What would you do if the whole time you were dreaming about her, she was dreaming about someone else? You love her more than anything, right? Well, what if she felt the exact same way... just about someone else? How would you feel?!"



Darien, in short, was stunned. He had no idea that Serena was capable of such love... of such passion.



"Serena, I had no idea..." Darien desperately tried to think of something to say that would make her feel better, but he knew that there were no words...



"Of course, you didn't. I made sure of that." Darien stared at Serena in confusion before they were interrupted by a perky voice calling out Serena's name.