Chapter Two: School Begins
Monday, the First Day of School
Cassie examined her class schedule with some disgust as she wandered around trying to find her locker. 'Local History, a sophomore level class: stupid graduation requirements. Gym: yuck. Senior English: okay, calculus: yuck again. Lunch: that I like. Political science: all right I guess. History of the Ancient World: yay! Choir: yay! At least my last two classes are something I can look forward to.' She finally found her locker, stuck her lunch in it and hurried off through the crowded hallway to find her first class.
***********************************
Patricia Haruna felt a major headache coming on. This was her first year teaching at the high school level and she had just gotten her class role for her first period class. Unfortunately, she had recognized many of the names on the list from her days-teaching eighth grade. Lita Kino, Molly Baker, Melvin Fezwick, Amy Mizuno, and the one name that screamed out at her and promised many future headaches: Serena Tsukino. It's not that she didn't like the girl, but she just really didn't want her in her first period class. She somehow doubted that even a full year's time had changed the girl. Serena just couldn't get to school on time. Miss Haruna suspected that it was a genetic disorder as was her ability to fall asleep in class at the drop of a hat. The warning bell rang and Miss Patricia Haruna sighed the sigh of a martyr as the students began file into class.
***********************************
Cassie found her class and was surprised to see that she knew some of the kids in the class. As she stood in the doorway Lita caught sight of her and frantically waved her over. "Come on Cassie, sit with us!" Cassie smiled at her new friends and walked over. She took the seat that Lita indicated in the row on the far side of the classroom. Amy sat in the first seat, Lita sat behind her, and Cassie took the seat behind Lita. In the next row, the first seat was empty, Mina sat in the next, then there was a blank desk, then a girl with short wavy auburn hair. The auburn haired girl leaned across the aisle to Cassie.
"Hi, I'm Molly Baker," the girl had a strong New York accent.
"I'm Cassandra Whitmore." The girls smiled at each other.
A boy with glasses and huge pile of notebooks came into class and sat down behind Cassie. "Hi," he said from behind the pile of notebooks, "I'm Melvin Fezwick."
"Who are you saving that seat for?" Cassie nodded toward the empty desk between Mina and Molly.
"It's for Serena," Molly answered.
"Shouldn't she be here by now? The bell is fixing to ring." Everyone laughed at that. Cassie just looked confused.
Lita started to answer Cassie's question when Mina suddenly breathed, "Oh, he is cute!!!" A boy was standing in the door. He was tall with dark blonde hair and very dark blue eyes. He wasn't just cute, he was very handsome.
"He looks just like my old boyfriend." Lita's eyes were all hearts.
"If that's what your boyfriend looked like, I see why you're so hung up on him," Molly whispered.
"Who is he?" Amy called softly as she examined the newcomer over the edge of her book.
"Let me check my notes…" Melvin began digging through his pile of notebooks.
"His name is Christopher," Cassie offered. The four girls whipped around to stare at her for a second before turning back to stare at the boy. He began walking toward their side of the classroom.
"How do you know him?" asked Melvin.
"Well…" Cassie began.
"Hey Cass!" the boy called as he came near, "Are these the girls you met at the arcade?" He stopped by Mina's desk and grinned down at her. Mina looked like she had stopped breathing. "You didn't tell me they were so good looking." He picked up Mina's hand, bowed over it, and then kissed. He made what should have been a silly gesture look perfectly natural. "Hello, gorgeous," he whispered. Mina promptly swooned.
"Laying it on a bit thick Chris?" Cassie said dryly.
"Never," Chris looked totally unrepentant. "Are you going to introduce me?"
Cassie sighed and shook her head. "Ladies and Melvin, I'd like you to meet my little brother, Christopher Whitmore. He's a sophomore and sixteen like the rest of you. Chris this is Amy, Lita, Melvin, Molly, and I think you've already met Mina."
"So I have." He grinned down at the glaze-eyed blonde as the final bell rang.
"I hate to break this up," Miss Haruna had watched the whole scene with some interest from her desk at the front of the class, "but will everyone take their seats." Haruna took at quick head count as Chris slid into the seat in front of Mina.
The sound of pounding feet echoed down the now empty hall. Serena slid past the open classroom door as she tried to stop her headlong rush. She managed to grab on to the doorframe and pull herself into the class. "Long time no see Miss H!" she panted.
"Just take your seat Serena." Miss Haruna sighed. Some things just never change.
***************************
That day after school
Everyone had gathered at the Crown arcade after the last class. Serena and company, including her four guards, Molly and Cassie had staked out a table and were busy discussing their impressions of the new school year. And they were watching Serena inhale a humongous ice cream sundae.
"Well Cassie, what do you think of Crossroads High?" asked Amy from behind her book.
"It's okay. Although except for you guys no one seems very friendly."
"That's because of all of the cliques," Mina explained with Lita nodding in agreement. "Since you're new and you're a senior, no one knows how to treat you. All of the seniors already are parts of specific cliques."
"Yeah," Molly added, "and on top of that, even Melvin can find very little out about you and your family. That makes you majorly mysterious."
"You have your own information-gathering network in a high school?!!" Cassie was astounded.
"You bet!" Lita grinned knowingly. "They knew about all the rumors about me before I even entered the doors of the school when I transferred here. And that was in Junior High!"
Cassie just shook her head as the rest of the girls laughed. Andrew wandered over with the drinks that the group had ordered. He grinned and winked at Cassie as he left.
"Hey I think Andrew likes you!" Serena giggled between bites of ice cream.
"How would you know meatball-head? You were convinced he was in love with you for a while!" Raye glared at the blonde girl.
"Raye you're so mean! WAAH!!!" Serena wailed. The fight was on.
"There is nothing wrong with that girl's lungs!" Cassie quipped as she put her hands over her ears.
"You're telling me!" Molly leaned over as that Cassie could hear her over the noise. "She's been my best friend for years and I'm still not used to it."
"Serena! Raye! Cool it!" Amy yelled. The combatants were shocked enough by the outburst to stop fighting and just stare at Amy. She readjusted her book and proceeded to ignore them.
"Any way, I think Serena's right." Mina said into the insuing silence. "Andrew has definitely been checking you out Cassie!"
"But what about Rita?" Lita demanded.
"Who's Rita?" Cassie asked.
"She's Andrew's girlfriend." Amy answered from behind her book.
"Ex-girlfriend." Mina clarified.
"What?!!!" the other girls chorused.
"It's supposed to be a secret, but…" Everyone leaned in to hear Mina's whispered gossip, even Amy stopped attempting to study and put her book down.
Over by the counter, Andrew stood looking at the huddled mass of giggling girls. Serena popped her head out the huddle for a moment and looked at Andrew speculatively for a moment before ducking back into the group. "I don't like the look of that," the arcade guy mumbled. The automatic doors opened seemingly by themselves, until he leaned over saw the black cat on the floor. "Hello Luna," he called. The cat seemed almost as smart as a human as she scanned the arcade for her owner. The blonde college boy just shook his head and gave up on understanding the mysteries of cats and girls, at least for the moment.
The black cat went over to the table of giggling girls. She tried to get Serena's attention by patting at her leg, but didn't succeed. She finally just jumped up on the table. The girls stopped gossiping and stared at the cat.
"Umm, hi Luna!" Serena glanced around at her friends. Luna looked like she had a message, but she couldn't speak in front of Molly and Cassie. Serena racked her mind for an excuse to leave those two behind and not hurt their feelings.
Cassie was staring at the cat. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the yellow crescent moon on her forehead. "What a pretty cat! Whose is it?"
"Oh, that's Serena's cat Luna," Molly answered.
"What an unusual mark on her head! Has she always had it?" Cassie reached out and began rubbing Luna on the chin in an attempt to get her to look her in the eye. Luna jumped down and ran to the door, where she stopped and looked back over her shoulder at the table of girls.
"I think she wants to be fed! I better go!" Serena bolted after her feline. The others all made their excuses and hurriedly left, leaving Molly and Cassie alone.
"Do they often do this mass exodus act?" Cassie asked Molly.
The auburn haired girl sighed. "More times than I care to remember. Well, I guess that I better be getting home too. See you later Cassandra."
'Poor girl.' Cassie thought. Something beeped in her pocket. She pulled out a slim silver compact with a burgundy infinity sign on it. She flipped it open. "You rang Percy?" A gray cat with a crescent moon on its forehead looked out of the mirror at her. "Monster attack in the park," the cat said. "On my way," Cassie replied, "Oh and Percy, I think I found at least some of the other Scouts." She stood up and made her way out of the arcade.
************************
People were running screaming from the park as the Sailor Scouts arrived. They followed the sound of something roaring over by the lake. The young heroines screeched to halt when they caught sight of it. The monster was huge, green, and slobbering, but that wasn't the worst part. It was encased in some kind of glowing armor and welded a really big ax.
"Well Sailor Moon?" Mars poked her leader in the side.
"What?! Oh yeah!" Sailor Moon struck a pose. "Hey you monster! You are disturbing the peace of this park and you interrupted a very interesting gossip-fest! For that, I can't forgive you! I am Sailor Moon! The Champion of Love and Just! And on behalf of the Moon, I will punish you!" She pointed toward the monster, which didn't seem the least bit phased. It roared and rushed toward the Scouts swinging its ax.
"Scatter!" Sailor Venus cried. The Scouts all ran off in different directions. The monster paused for a moment, as if deciding who to chase. That was all the time Scouts needed to turn and attack.
"Mars Celestial Fire …"
"Venus Love Chain…"
"Jupiter Thunder Clap…"
"Shine Aqua…"
"Surround!" "Encircle!" "Zap!" "Illusion!"
The attacks hit the monster at almost the same time. The Scouts cheered as it disappeared behind a cloud of dust. Their elation was short lived however, because as the dust settled, the monster came back into view unharmed.
"Guys, I think we're in trouble!" Sailor Moon was, as always, the master of the obvious.
"Mercury, any ideas?" Jupiter called from the other side of the monster.
Mercury pulled out her computer and began typing. "I'm working on it! Just keep it busy!"
"Oh that's just peachy!" Mars snapped.
"Come on guys! We've got to buy Mercury some time!" Venus led the Scouts in an attempt to do just that. Battle cries and the monster's roaring filled the park. The Scouts managed to stay just one step in front of the armored monster's ax, but they were tiring and their own attacks didn't even make a dent in the thing.
"I've got it!" Mercury cried, "It's the armor! We have to get it out of the armor!"
Mars stopped and stared with exasperation at the blue Scout. "How do we do that? Get it to play strip poker?!!!"
"Mars! Watch out!" The monster chose that moment to fling its ax at the distracted Mars. She had no time to react.
Just as the massive ax reached her, a gray blur slammed into the Scout of Fire. They tumbled to a stop at Mercury's feet. The Scouts stared at the newcomer. It was a girl in a gray skirted and collared scout uniform with burgundy bows and a matching burgundy choker. She wore high-heeled sandals of the same color as her bows. Her brown hair reached halfway down her back. The front part of it was pulled back like Venus's, but instead using a huge red bow, she had a simple burgundy barrette. Cool gray eyes met Mars' fiery violet ones as she pulled the raven haired Scout to her feet.
"Watch your back when you make sarcastic comments. You never know who'll be watching." The mystery Scout turned toward Mercury. "You said that the armor must come off." Mercury nodded. "Maybe I can be of service." The gray clad Scout turned to face the monster, who was trying vainly to pry its ax out of the ground.
"Wait!" Sailor Moon shouted, "Who are you?"
The Sailor Scout smiled. "How careless of me! I forgot the standard introduction." She struck a pose. "I am the Sailor Scout of Memory and Music: Sailor Athena! On behalf of the lost planet of wisdom, I will punish all who threaten the search for true knowledge!" She smiled wryly, "And at this moment that means that incompetent hulk over there."
"Athena!" She pirouetted with her arms held out. Silver gray power swirled with her. "Sonic!" The silver-gray power condensed into two short javelins, one in each hand. As she completed the spin, she threw the javelins at the monster. They stuck in the thing's armor like two giant pins. "Shatter!" she screamed and dropped her arms to her side. For an instant nothing seemed to happen, then with a sound like breaking glass, the monster's armor fell off in tiny pieces revealing a scrawny creature clad only in heart covered boxers. "Now Sailor Moon!"
"Right! Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" The embarrassed looking monster was blasted into moon dust.
"Dusted!" Everyone cheered; everyone except for Sailor Athena. She was gone.
"Where did she?…" Sailor Jupiter trailed off as she scanned the area looking for Athena.
"I don't know." Mercury put her computer back in her subspace pocket.
"Let's go home girls," Sailor Mars said as she rubbed her bruised shoulder. She hadn't landed very well when Athena had pushed her out of the way of the monster's attack. The other Scouts nodded and headed out of the park.
***********
"Well?" asked a deep male voice as Cassandra opened the door to her darkened bedroom. She closed the door behind her before answering, leaving the room in almost total darkness. She paused to let her eyes adjust.
"It's hard to tell through the glamour, but I'm pretty sure that Serena Tsukino is the Princess and Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina are the Inner Guard." Cassandra collapsed onto her bed beside her Guardian Cat. Perseus climbed up on her stomach and stretched out.
"What about the other girl? Molly, isn't it?" he asked. Cassie reached up and began scratching him behind the ears.
"I don't know. She has a familiar feel to her, but I can't place her or Melvin either. There is something about them both though. On the other hand, the Prince is easy enough to identify."
"Really?" Percy sounded skeptical.
"Darien Chiba was once Endymion, the Prince of Earth and is now the infamous Tuxedo Mask."
"I should have known. No wonder the two of you act like you're related. He was your cousin during the Silver Millennium!" Percy chuckled. He stopped suddenly when he felt the hand rubbing his ears begin to tremble. "Cassie? You used an attack, didn't you?" He sat up on her stomach and stared down at her in disapproval.
Cassie met his stare with exhausted, pain-filled, unrepentant eyes.
Percy sighed and stretched back out along the top of her body. "I wish you wouldn't risk it. You are much too frail for the strain of using your mystical attacks."
"I will do my duty, Perseus. No matter the cost."
Percy shook his head at the steel in her brittle voice. "I know milady, I know." He laid his head in the hollow between her breasts and proceeded to purr his trembling charge to sleep. As they lay in the darkness, Perseus turned his thoughts to the first time he had seen Cassandra, almost four years ago now.
Next time on Sailor Moon: Serenity's Court:
We find out how Perseus and Cassandra first meet in: The Secret Origins of Sailor Athena.
Back to the Table of Contents