KEEPING YOU IN SIGHT
Chapter 2 (NEW)
By Reminjia
Reminjia@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13 (If anyone is offended by sexual innuendoes, just
skip part of this chapter, it's not too essential, it just builds
character, and adds comical relief.
Author's Note: I don't recall whether or not I stated this in my
revision of Chapter 1. My reasoning behind making this change is
partially in respect to the fact that I originally meant for it all
to be one chapter, but I didn't have time to perfect the second half
to my liking in enough time, and I was anxious to post at least the
first half and gather some response. After a lot of thinking, I
decided that I didn't like my chapter lengths the way they were. I
prefer to have longer but fewer chapters. If I'd have kept the
lengths at 7 pages, the story would go on forever and be discouraging.
So here is the new Chapter 2, which if I would have stayed with the
original set-up, would be chapters 3 and 4. I apologize for not
having this up last week, but I had an extremely busy week, and I
didn't want to rush this chapter... as it's an important one. I'll try
to have another chapter up this week too! With that note of
explanation, thanks for reading my story again, and I hope it is to
your liking!
I would like to give thanks to the following people who critiqued my
story on the site as of the time I updated: Adrianne, glitterprincess,
FloralBlackMoon. I would also like to thank the following people who
sent me feedback via e-mail and the ASMR message center: Angelgal44,
*Mandy*, Erika. You are the people who helped keep me motivated, and
helped me know that my writing was not only something for me anymore,
but it was really starting to be liked by other people.
The next person I'd like to thank is the most important. My little
sister, who goes under the name of Chibi-Serenity on this site, has
been a great support to me. Thanks to her, I LOVE YOU, Beef!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, or any of the associated
characters, in addition to not owning the rights to the song "I Can't
Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, which the title of the song
was derived from.
*Chapter 2*
The door slammed shut behind Darien, as he entered his living room.
He made certain that the door was locked before turning to look at
his apartment. The sparseness of his surroundings offered no real
welcome, but to him, it was home. Then again, there wasn't much
welcome in his personality either. Plopping down on his black
leather sofa, he relaxed a moment, organizing the thoughts in his
mind before attempting to organize his homework.
It had been nearly three days since he'd first bumped into the
gorgeous Serena Tsukino. Three days since he's had a full nights
rest. Three days his sanity hhad been missing, having take leave
almost immediately upon his meeting Serena. This was beyond his
thinking. How can an intelligent person like his self be so affected
by one girl?
'A girl you hardly know, Baka!" the voice inside his head pointed out.
He thought about it again and again, and he invented more theories
in explanation. Eventually he concluded that it had absolutely
nothing to do with Serena's long silky hair, nor her sparkling blue
eyes, but had everything to do with a prolonged absence of a certain
Goddess he had grown accustomed to being around. His mind was usually
occupied with thoughts of her, but recently she had been missing from
his thoughts, and missing from his life.
There hadn't been an attack made against the people of Earth in
several months, leaving him no opportunity to see his Sailor Moon.
While he enjoyed the break from his late nights spent fighting, he
missed the exhilarating battles. He missed Sailor Moon. For him,
Sailor Moon was like caffeine, intoxicating and essential to his life,
but when it wasn't in his system, he was left with a headache.
'Yes, that has to be the reason why this girl I barely know is able
to control my dreams.' Darien was certain his first glimpse of
Sailor Moon would forever leave Serena out of his mind. Though he
was well aware that this thought was purely fictional, he couldn't help
but make an attempt at his keeping pride. Darien yearned for a battle.
He yearned for his sanity.
Several years of experience had taught him that the only way to regain
his sanity was to cut lose and forget about everything stressful for
a while. Darien knew just how to do this.
One of his friends was having a party on Friday night, up to this
point, Darien had never really indulged in hanging out with friends.
Figuring that his weekend would mostly revolve around social events,
Darien thought he might as well give in and be a teenager. He had
the rest of his life to be a worrisome, middle aged man. Darien would
go to Chad's part and have a great time. Of course it didn't hurt
that a certain blonde-haired beauty would most definitely be in
attendance.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The flame in front of her flickered and spit. Raye opened her eyes
in a flash, terrified by what she saw. Their peace would be ended,
and very soon. A new evil had made its presence in the galaxy. It
would only be a matter of hours before it would first strike in
Juuban.
She had to tell the scouts. They needed to know.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Finally, school was over for the week. No more imprisonment
until Monday. Even more exciting was the Winter Formal that would
take place the following evening. Throughout the school, students
were arranging last minute dinner plans, and post dance events.
Girls were gushing about their gowns, and make-up, and explaining how
they would manage a facial between nails and hair appointments. The
male population whispered their concern for the lack of dancing
ability all of them possessed. A few select boys even wondered
whether or not it was really necessary to purchase a corsage,
considering a flower and ribbon to be a waste of money.
In the student lounge, a group of boys and girls sat comfortably on
overstuffed sofas and chairs. They had been discussing the matter of
Winter Formal for a matter of minutes now, and were on the verge of
wrapping it up.
"So these, boys are just going together, and eating at 'el Palacio'?"
Rita paused waiting to see them nod before continuing. "Well Molly,
Melvin, Andrew, and I are going out together at "Mario's" with a group
of people we have classes with," Rita spoke to Serena from her perch
on the armrest of Andrew's chair. "Isn't that right, Molly? I'm not
thinking of the wrong place, am I?"
"No," said Molly, who was sitting next to Melvin, both trying to
conceal that they were holding one another's hand, "you're right."
"I made the reservations last week," Melvin interjected. "They're
for seven people at six o'clock."
"Hmm, keeping in odd numbers," Lita asked, waving her eyebrows. "So
which of you lucky kids gets two dates?"
"One of my friends," Andrew explained, "didn't get a date, wanted to
go stag, I believe." Steal a
Upon finishing this statement, both Andrew and Rita couldn't help but
steal a look at Serena, who saw them look her way, and quickly changed
the topic to her own dinner plans.
"I think that Lita, Ami, Raye, and I will be going to "le Jardin. Us
single girls will only be without Mina. It's just too bad that her
competition today will be wrapped up tomorrow."
Andrew clarified that Mina would in fact be gone tomorrow. "Our
school made it to the finals right?"
"Yeah, they did," Serena said excitedly. "It's so great for Mina and
the team, they've all been working hard. I just wish that Mina
would be able to go to the dance. I know she's really bummed out
about it, but we'll all make it up to her"
"How do you make it up?" Chad asked looking at Serena expectantly.
"Do you all dress up and throw her a dance or something?"
"Actually yeah," Serena answered, looking in the direction of Chad,
but unable to make eye contact.
"What?" Chad exclaimed looking at her in a way that clearly showed he
thought her to be insane. After a moments pause, he turned to Rita
and asked her, "You don't ever do that, do you? It's just a
freshman thing, right?"
"Umm..." Rita managed to make out before looking down at her hands.
"Not you too?" Chad asked looking surprised.
"I think it's just a girl thing, Chad," Amy said.
"Yeah," Lita agreed, "because, I don't know of any girl who doesn't
at least once in a while put on a gown."
"It would be a complete waste of money to only wear it once," Amy
continued to defend.
"You continue to shock and amaze me, Amy," the comment had come from
Mark, who until that moment had talked only to Greg.
"Me too," Greg said, breaking his own silence.
"How so?" Amy asked.
"It's just that," Mark began.
"You seemed so against even going to the dance," Greg finished,
causing Amy to blush slightly.
"I guess I changed my mind," Amy said, trying to conceal her flushed
red cheeks, failing miserably.
"But not without a lot of persuasion on our part," Serena reminded
Amy.
Lita felt compelled to elaborate, "Between all of our nagging, me and
Serena-"
"Serena and I," Amy couldn't help but correcting.
"Fine," Lita rolled her eyes, "Serena AND I, rescued Amy from what
would have been a Saturday night wasted at home."
"And we're all so very glad you did," smiling, Rita said.
The group continued to discuss their plans for the following evening.
It wasn't quite clear, yet, where they would be going after the dance,
but they were all certain that they would try to go together. If all
else failed, they could go to "Crown Arcade" afterwards, and manage
to have a good time, it just wouldn't be as personal.
In the next few minutes, several members of the group took their
leave after making their excuses. The only people left sitting
around were Lita, Amy, and Serena, who had all agreed to meet Raye
there after she got out of school. There was a pause of silence, and
in that time Lita cast Amy a sidelong look that asked, without saying,
if she thought that they should bring up the topic Mina had only told
them about the day before. They had all been concerned about Serena,
but none of them knew how to bring it up without upsetting her. Just
as they were about to say something, the silence was interrupted by
someone else.
"Serena," a masculine voice the others didn't recognize said. "Serena
Tsukino, remember me?"
Serena turned all the way around to be greeted by a pair of deep blue
eyes on a tall man with ebony hair. This was her brick wall.
"Oh, hey Darien," Serena said smiling, earning a shy little smile from
Darien, in return. "How's it going?"
"I'm great," Darien answered. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Serena said, and the two ran out of things to say. She
was wondering why Darien had come up to talk to her, as they'd had no
real contact, until their infamous encounter earlier that week. It's
not that Serena minded or anything, it was just something about him
made her feel very self conscious. She pulled down the end of her
skirt in an attempt to be more modest. As if anyone could in a
school uniform.
Darien interrupted her silence, and thought process by saying, "I'm
sorry I didn't bring this back earlier. I wanted to wash it before I
brought it back, and I didn't get to doing my laundry till yesterday,
so here it is." Handing her the shirt he had borrowed that Monday, he
ended his rambling.
"Thanks so much, Darien," Serena grinned. Removing the smile from
her face, she replaced it with a look of concern and asked, "How are
you doing? I hope the coffee burn didn't hurt you too badly!"
"Don't worry about it," Darien said, smiling at her concerned look.
She was so beautiful. If only-no, he couldn't think about that at
the moment. "It only hurt a little when it happened. I'll have to
tell Andrew that he doesn't make his coffee hot enough!"
"It's a good thing it wasn't on Monday though, or you'd still be
hurting now!" Serena laughed.
Laughing too, Darien agreed, "Yeah you're right! So are you going to
Chad's tonight?"
"Chad's?" Serena asked surprised. Of course she had been invited,
but she didn't know that Darien even knew who Chad was.
Sensing what she what she was wondering, he explained that he and
Chad were neighbors before he and his parents moved to be closer to
the temple where Chad was undergoing training.
"Oh, of course," Serena said, still not hiding her surprise at
another connection to this person she had hardly known. "Yeah, I'm
going, are you?"
"I don't know if I'll be there the whole time. I have to work until'
nine, so I'll probably try to stop by for a while afterwards," Darien
explained.
Serena brightened up a little bit by the prospect of seeing him later,
though she would die before admitting it. "That's great! I'll see
you there later probably!"
Smiling once again before saying goodbye, Darien left the school.
People who knew Darien would have been surprised to see him, for he
very rarely ever wore a grin of any kind, let alone a big smile. His
meeting with Serena had gone well, she had sounded happy by maybe
seeing him later. He walked by Raye, who had been an acquaintance of
his for a while, as he'd held a part time job there once. In his
euphoric state, he didn't see her, let alone acknowledge her. This
behavior struck Raye has very odd, and she thought she should tell her
friends about it. All thoughts about her premonition left her mind.
After finishing her discussion with Darien, Serena sat back down on
the sofa, and turned to talk to her friends. Amy and Lita had a
stunned look on her face. Even after Serena had started talking to
them, neither of them were able to wipe the look off of their faces.
"Okay, what?" Serena asked finally, unable to bare their shocked
stairs.
Amy was first to recover, and therefore was first to ask Serena,
"What was that?"
"What do you mean?" Serena asked, knowing what she meant, but not
wanting to admit to it.
"Explain what happened just now!" Amy demanded.
"Between you and Darien," Lita prodded, having just recovered.
Not knowing where to begin, as she hadn't even mentioned the original
situation to either of them, she chose to start by stating the
obvious. "Uhh... he was bringing back I shirt I lent him."
"We see that Serena, would you tell us-"
However, Lita was interrupted in the midst of her question by Raye
running up to them, saying "I just saw Darien looking the weirdest
I've ever seen him."
Serena blushed but made no comment.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, and gaining a grin, Lita asked Raye,
"How do you mean weird looking?"
"He was smiling, the cold fish was ACTUALLY smiling!" Raye said in
awe. "I've known him for a few years, and he has never been one to
smile, not like that."
By now, Serena couldn't look at anyone, but was a bit surprised to
hear that yet another of her friends had a connection to him. Then
Serena remembered that on the night when she and Darien had first
interacted, Darien had said hello to Raye, and asked her how things
at the temple were. Serena even recalled Darien working at the
temple at one point.
"Wow, Darien smiling?!?" Lita said slyly. "I wonder why, Serena was
probably the last person he talked to."
"What is it with you and Darien?" Raye asked, now wondering if her
'sworn off boys' best-friend was seeing someone, and hadn't included
her in the secret. "He was over at your house Monday when I went
over, and today he's all smiles, and you're blushing!"
"WHAT!" Amy and Lita exclaimed together, having a second major shock
in a matter of minutes.
"Serena," Amy said in a somewhat tense voice, "you have to tell us
what's going on now. I don't think any of us can wait much longer."
Taking a deep breath, Serena went over the basic events of last
Monday.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Serena reached her home, Serena found a letter waiting for her.
Since she hoped to go to Chad's that night, Serena made certain to
have her room looking somewhat decent, and then she offered to do the
dishes and such. After completing these few tasks, Serena went up to
her room to open the letter in privacy. The contents were enough to
leave her feeling staggered, and scared. She was thankful for having
the security of her own room to read it.
It had come from Cal, and it certainly didn't hold anything too good:
Serena,
I hoped we'd avoid a bad break up. Now I thinking that it has
become one. I want to make our friendship better but I don't know
what to do. Here's something I never meant to tell you, but I see
no reason to hide now. Remember when we first met? The few
moments at a party, and the hours the night of Homecoming. You
can't know how I felt those moments. You were under the
impression (due to my own lies, I'm sorry to say). Really I
felt absolutely nothing for you. I even forget about your
existence in both cases. The next time I saw you, I had no idea
that you were the same person I had seen only one night before. To
tell the truth, I didn't care about you then. I didn't even think
about you. I didn't even want to call you after that one night. I
only called because I was forced to by your friend Chad. I've
even determined now that it was you who pressed us to be together,
and not me, so the blame for this relationship lies completely in
your hands. You were the one who wanted more, I didn't. It's your
fault. You f*cked up our relationship, not me.
In compensation for my loss, all I ask is that you will simply say
something to me when you see me. It doesn't need to be about
anything, it doesn't even need to be relevant to anything. Just
say hello sometime, of am I expecting to much from you?
It's been too long since I've ever sought someone. And I don't
want to ever again, because I've found someone in you. We're
meant to be together. We're soul mates. Sometime, I'll make you
see that! Just give me a few months. By then you'll agree.
Cal
Reading those words, those hateful, pointless, and intimidating words
broke through the shield she had worked so hard to construct. Luna
had seen Serena's reaction, and though she didn't know what had caused
Serena to be upset, she knew the only thing she could do to help was
be a physical comfort. Luna hopped into Serena's lap and allowed
herself to be a pillow to cry on. She couldn't pity herself right
now, nothing gave her that right. Tonight she would have to be lively
and happy, otherwise everyone would know. She had to stand tall and
conquer, but for the moment, Serena felt it was safe to indulge in
the tears she longed for. Now, when no one was around to know. Head
buried in her pillow, hand stroking Luna, Serena cried to her hearts
content.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"... So they just bumped into each other, spilled some coffee, and
nothing else?" Mina asked over the phone.
"That's what she told us," Lita said, "but I'm not buying it!" In
the few minutes she had before heading over to Chad's, Lita had made
the phone call to Mina, so she wouldn't be out of the loop when she
returned from her tournament.
"Why do you say that?"
"Mina, you should have seen them, there was definitely something
going on between the two of them. At least some sort of chemistry."
Lita explained. She sighed before continuing, "I'm so jealous. I
wish I had someone looking at me like that. Serena deserves this,
though. Maybe it will make her happy."
"That's what I was thinking Lits," Mina said, staring out of her
window, and into the desolate parking lot of the motel she was
staying in. When she closed her eyes, she could almost see Serena,
the old Serena, the way she use to be. "In the long run it would be
a good thing for us too, you know?"
"How's that?" Lita twirled the phone cord around her finger, delighted
by the latest gossip concerning one of her good friends.
Grinning to herself, Mina stated what she had been thinking, "You
know just as well as I do, that when Serena is happy, everyone around
her is too. It will make for a pleasant working environment for us
all!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Oh you better believe it, Raye," Serena laughed. "When Mark and I
are in the backseat, you've gotta know that I've got MY head lights
all the way on!"
"So... do you go in there fully... equipped?" asked Chad, hoping to
continue Serena and Mark's game.
"Chad," Mark said, closing his eyes and shaking his head in mock
disdain, "how can you ask that? You of all people should know that I
fill my tank up regularly before I have ANYONE in my car, especially
when I've got arrangements with my best girl!"
The group composed of seven freshman were beyond help. Lita and Raye
had long since fallen on the ground, finding it difficult to stay
seated when their friend's behavior was so amusing that night. Chad,
Greg, and Amy had remained on the opposing couches, but were just as
cracked up. Serena and Mark sat opposing one another in chairs,
making the situation look entirely too much like a debate.
Everyone had tears in their eyes. Even Amy's stomach ached from the
laughter she had attempted to contain.
The game: Taking a topic too far.
The players: Serena and Mark
The goal: To beat out the other in obscene comments.
The topic: Sexual innuendoes having to do with car terminology (as
Mark was the proud owner to his very own car).
Something that happens all too often in the high school world was not
only going on, but had been running strong since Mark had slipped
when describing something about his car, which Serena of course
pointed out. No one could remember what his comment had been, but it
didn't matter, as so many funny things had been said.
Even Greg was getting into the conversation and threw out the
question, "Serena, what are your opinions of Marks... uhh... "
"Clutch?" Lita supplied, falling over, quite proud of her thought.
"Oh, that!" Serena said, then placing a look of mock satisfaction on
her face. "It's real good, I never use to like stick shift, but not
that I've had such a good one, I'll never go back."
"Mark's clutch? Good?" Chad cocked his eyebrow, pretending to look
unimpressed. "Puh-lease!"
"What can I say, Chad, I guess not everyone is quite so endowed with
gears that switch like that."
"And what do you have to say about Serena, Mark?" Amy surprised
everyone by asking.
"Amy, Serena is not just a good ride, but the best ride anyone could
ever have," Mark replied.
"I just wish you weren't so fast, Mark," Serena sighed. "At first I
found it kind of sexy, but then, it just always happened so fast I
hardly can tell what's happening to me!"
"Switching gears to fast, ay?" Raye joked.
"Wham, Bam, thank you, Ma'am!" a voice that hadn't been involved said,
causing everyone to turn around and see who had interrupted their
circle.
Andrew and Rita were standing side by side, both with expressions
that held disbelief for all of them.
"Freshman," Andrew said, making a second comment.
"Chad," Rita glared, "you promised me that there would be no alcohol
here to night!"
"Oh, Rita," Chad grinned, "there isn't any alcohol here. The only
thing going on is Serena and Mark besting each other using sexual
innuendoes."
The couple shook heads, as though synchronized, Andrew muttered,
"Freshman!" as they walked away.
"What's up his ass?" Lita asked, hoping the attacks would begin again.
"Speaking of which," Mark began, "did those warts ever clear up
Serena?"
Hardly able to prevent laughter from spewing out, Serena threw out a
remark, hoping it would be equally lethal. "Oh those old things?
They cleared up months ago! But really the question is, how is that
chunky discharge of yours? I hope it's all gone!"
And they were off again, this time trying to make the other person out
to be the most wrong and disturbing. Twenty minutes later, they were
still at it.
"Hey, Mark," Serena asked, "are you sure it's normal for you to only
have one testicle?"
Wiping the shocked look off his face, Mark exclaimed, "Are you sure
it's normal for you to have two?!?"
"Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!" every member of the group shouted, except for a
stunned, but fuming Serena, and a proud Mark.
Glaring daggers at him, Serena had nothing more she could think of to
say, as much as it hurt her pride to admit it, she had just been
defeated by Mark. He would be dearly for it. Unsure of what else to
do, Serena lunged across the coffee table in the center of the area,
and attempted to bash Mark physically, as she failed using her wit.
Clearly shocked, Mark could hardly keep his defenses up. Their entire
group went into an uproar of shouting, cheering, and Chad was trying
to get them all to place bets. He had $20 yen up against Raye saying
he though Mark would pull through, while Raye felt Serena would
ultimately win.
Meanwhile, before the wrestling match had begun, another person had
walked into the party. Looking for a familiar face, Darien found one
in Andrew, who was grabbing his girlfriend a pop from a cooler, and
talking to a kid from school. Darien thought he remembered his name
was Ken.
"Hey, Andrew!" Darien called out before walking up to him. As always,
Andrew returned his greeting with a happy smile.
"Darien," Andrew smiled, going up and slapping his best friend on the
back, "I didn't think you were coming. What made you change your
mind?"
Cocking his eyebrow, Darien turned a speculative glance towards
Andrew and Ken. Andrew hid his surprise fairly well, but Ken was
openly gaping. "Are you really that anxious for me to leave? You
know, now that you're single, the 'Darien and Andrew scouting' days
are over?"
"No, I didn't mean that. You've just never really been one to accept
an invitation to a party, that's all." Andrew laughed good naturedly.
Finding Andrew's response feasible, Darien explained the reasoning
behind his finally venturing out into the high school world of
parties, after two and a half years of abstaining, "I only had to
work until nine, and they let me off early, so I figured, 'I'm in the
area, why not stop by?' So here I am, ready to begin high school!"
"I hate to break this to you, man," giving a mock sigh before
continuing, "but our high school career is more than half way over."
"I know, that's why I've got to make this last part great enough to
cover all four years."
Having finished his comment, Darien gave a rare grin towards Andrew,
Darien said goodbye to the duo, and set out to "mingle" and perhaps
find some other friends.
Barely a few feet away from where he had last been, Darien bumped
into Rita. They both apologized quickly, and made the usual inquiries
about how the other was doing. Rita was trying to get over the
shock of seeing Darien some place other than school or the arcade.
This was something that had never happened before, and she wasn't
entirely sure how to react.
Picking up on what was running through her head, Darien answered
exactly what she had been wondering, "I got out of work early, and it
was in the neighborhood, so I figured I should stop by and say 'hi'
to everyone. Plus, I just needed to get out and take some time off
from studying."
Rita still stared at Darien, surprised, but nodded her head, showing
that she had heard and understood his last comment. It took a few
more seconds of consideration, but Rita finally registered that
Darien was in fact there, and he was there to have a good time.
"So where is our host at?" Darien asked looking around for a sign of
Chad anywhere in the room.
"HA!" Rita exclaimed, "I'm surprised you couldn't hear his group
outside!"
Giving her a strange look, Darien asked, "And why do you say that?"
"Let's just say that the freshman are having a sort of 'Battle of the
Sexes' match, and he's taking bets on everything," Rita explained,
laughing as she remembered the aggressive look of determination that
had been on Serena's face.
"'Battle of the Sexes', ay?" Darien mused. "Sounds interesting..."
Letting out a short laugh again, Rita filled Darien in on what she
had seen last time she had been in the room. "When Andrew and I
walked in there, we heard all sorts of sexual innuendoes having to do
with cars, but by the time we left, it had been turned into an
argument as to who could make the other sound most unappealing
sexually."
"Sounds like typical freshman," Darien muttered. "So who was in
participating this... uhh... refreshing conversation?"
"Let's see," Rita thought aloud, "Chad and Raye were making bets
against one another-Chad of course is losing, Greg, Amy, and Lita are
observing, interjecting a comment whenever they get the chance, but
the main conflict lies between the two masterminds."
"And who are the masterminds?" Darien asked. "Anyone I know?"
"You probably know them by association, but I'm not positive if you
do." Rita quickly added, "But the two leading the discussion, and
about to draw blood from one another are Mark and Serena."
Darien looked at her blankly a moment. "Serena Tsukino?"
"The very same," Rita answered, then wondered aloud, "How do you know
Serena?"
"Umm..." Darien thought, "really long story, no real point. I think
I'll go check out the 'battle'."
Once again, Darien took his leave, only this time he knew his
destination.
'I'm just going to say hello to Chad,' the inner voice in Darien's
head told him. 'It just so happens that Serena is in that room.'
The last few days had been a big improvement in Darien's lying
skills. Oddly enough, he did most of his lying in his mind. Maybe
he really was going crazy, but it wasn't his fault.
Darien walked into the room just in time to here a loud crash, and
see a tangle of legs and arms flying all over the place. Two voices
were shouting expletives, and several other were rolling around on
the ground laughing hysterically. Thinking he must have walked into
the wrong room (though he was fairly confident he'd already
accidentally walked into the room of tonsil hockey, where he'd been
surprised, and a little grossed out to see an unlikely couple of
Molly and Melvin). Either the group of people were involved in some
massive orgy, or two of them were wrestling, and the rest of them were
laughing about it. He soon realized it was the latter, when he saw
Chad and Raye cheering on the wrestlers, money waving from their
hands.
It took a few more moments for him to figure out who the fighters
were, and when he did, he realized it was the most obvious answer.
Apparently the verbal battle Rita had earlier described had just
turned into a physical fight. Strangely enough, Serena seemed to not
only have held her own, but had nearly defeated Mark.
Not wanting to stop the fight, Darien asked Chad, "So where can I
place a bet, and what are the odds?"
"Mark was holding up more resistance earlier, but his defenses have
fallen quite a bit in the last few minutes. I have twenty yen on
Mark winning, and Raye has twenty on Serena." Chad filled Darien in,
surprised at seeing Darien, but much too involved in what was
happening. "What are you placing?"
"Hmmm..." Darien deliberated before answering, "I believe that the fight
will be ended in the next minute or two when Rita comes in to see
what all the noise is. Then just as we all think the fight is really
over, Serena will go back for one more cheap shot. Neither of them will
win, but Mark will have more injuries."
"Interesting," Chad thought, "but how much."
"I'm willing to double the stakes," confident and cool, Darien
replied.
"I'm for it," Raye exclaimed, pulling out twenty more yen.
Not wanting to give in so soon, Chad too pulled out twenty more. The
three returned to watching the fight, each cheering their point. The
two in the midst of battle were completely unaware of the bets being
made, or the havoc they had just raised. Each was just trying to be
the last man-or person-standing.
A shocked exclamation was heard from the doorway, causing pause to
everyone except Serena and Mark. Just as Darien had predicted, Rita
had come into the room to see what all the noise was about. She then
set about to pull the two apart from each other, and get reasonable
answers out of each of them.
Then again, as Darien predicted, once the two had been parted, Serena
turned around to tackle Mark again. Both Rita, Chad, and Lita had to
pull Serena off of Mark, then sat her down hoping to allow her time
to cool off. Likewise Greg and Amy were sitting Mark up, and had
grabbed a pack of his for him.
Chad and Raye groaned but forked over the money to Darien, who gladly
accepted it, fingering it over, counting to make sure he really had
just won $80 yen.
Andrew and Ken just stood in shock at the doorway, not quite sure
what to think of having seen Serena beat a guy down, and then seeing
Darien handed a huge wad of money.
While much of the group had moved to console Mark, who sat blushing
slightly, feeling his manhood being challenged by a tiny girl, Rita
sat with Serena, lecturing her about how it wasn't nice to use her
physical strength to badger Mark, even though he clearly had it
coming to him. Darien had been joined by Andrew (Ken had gone to
help in the retrieval of Mark's pride), and the two watched Serena
and Rita. Diverting his gaze from looking at Rita, Andrew turned to
look at Darien. That was the moment Andrew truly realized that
Darien might seriously have feelings for Serena. Both had been hurt,
and Andrew hoped the two could find their way around that.
She was beautiful. That was the though running through Serena's head.
In fact, he didn't think he could imagine her looking more lovely then
she did at the moment, all flushed and wild from her fight. After a
minute, she looked up and made eye contact with him. She then seemed
to blush a little, then looked down at her hands.
For the first time that evening, Serena had noticed Darien's presence.
Slightly embarrassed at being seen like this, Serena felt her cheeks
flush. Even though she knew she couldn't possibly like Darien, it was
still never a great idea to be caught rolling around on the floor with
another boy. She could only imagine the thoughts running through his
head right now. No she didn't like him, but for some reason, her
blush grew deeper.
Darien couldn't help but smile in response to her embarrassment. She
brought fun and happiness wherever she went, and even though he had
been completely annihilated, you could tell Mark thought it had been
very amusing, and didn't mind Serena winning. His forehead creased
as he thought about how he'd like to get to know her better. Suddenly
he was struck with an idea, and his eyebrows relaxed to a normal
stance.
"Hey Andrew," Darien said, gaining Andrew's full attention. "You
guys are still looking for a place to hang out at after the dance,
right?"
Catching what Darien was implying, Andrew replied, "Are you making an
offer?"
"I think I might be."
Relieved that they wouldn't be at Crown as they had begun to believe,
Andrew asked Darien, "Who should I invite?"
Thinking, but failing to find an answer, Darien shrugged, "Go ahead
and invite the people we normally would." Pausing again to look at
Serena and smile, Darien said, "Also, you should invite these kids,
they seem like they should be a lot of fun."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Once returned home, Serena walked around her room aimlessly. She had
left almost immediately after the "fight" incident with Mark. It was
so much fun to cut lose and mess around, she only hoped the swelling
on Mark's Abercrombie face would lessen by tomorrow. She'd hate to
deprive the female world of a beautiful face, especially at a dance.
With the dance being tomorrow evening, the morning and afternoon
before it would be consumed by events in preparation. Then after the
dance, she would attend a party or two for certain, and spend the
early hours of morning asleep at Raye's temple, where all of the
girl's would sleep until halfway through the next day. By then there
would only be a few hours to do all of the homework.
'Now I'm starting to sound like Amy!'
Settling down on her bed, comfy in her new pink flannel pajamas,
Serena looked at the books and folders sprawled across the bed. Not
quite sure where to begin, Serena finally decided to organize it all
into the most necessary (and time consuming) of homework, and the
stuff that would only take a few minutes, and could easily be done
Monday morning at the beginning of a class.
When this task was done, Serena couldn't bring herself to actually do
any of the homework. Her mind kept being drawn back to that letter
she had received earlier. It took every ounce of her strength not to
pull out all of the other letters he had sent her in the past few
months in order to see where things had gotten to the way they now
were. She already knew it would do no good.
Instead she thought of the new guy of interest in her life. No wrong,
not of interest, but of contemplation. Darien. The way he had looked
at her the past few days, stealing glances at her in the halls, had
made her feel so... pretty. As every time she worked up the courage to
look into his eyes, she say a look of interest, but more than that.
He looked interested in her. He looked-
"Bleep. Bleep. Bleep."
Her communicator went off, and Serena already felt a rush like she
hadn't known for months. She was going to get to destroy a creature
into dust. The adrenaline was already pulsing through her veins.
It was time for a new villain.
She had been right in her prediction.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
So what do you think? I believe this chapter is a whole page or two
longer than the combined first and second chapter. I know I said I'd
have another chapter up this week, but work and summer school exhaust
me. Plus this chapter is like what two chapters would normally be. I
also came up with a new story idea! I will probably be toying around
with it some pretty soon here. The planning for that and a few other
stories kind of got in the way of that! Sorry to say I don't think
my original plan for a Usagi birthday story will be up. I didn't
even have time to decide what I wanted done with it. Read my revision
of "Rest of the Best". It's sappy, but sweet, and it should make more
sense. Everyone e-mail me, or leave a critique! This was a rushed
chapter, and I want to know what's a weakness or strength (no
pressure). Reminjia@hotmail.com. Thanks so much for reading again,
you guys are so awesome.
Chapter 2 (NEW)
By Reminjia
Reminjia@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13 (If anyone is offended by sexual innuendoes, just
skip part of this chapter, it's not too essential, it just builds
character, and adds comical relief.
Author's Note: I don't recall whether or not I stated this in my
revision of Chapter 1. My reasoning behind making this change is
partially in respect to the fact that I originally meant for it all
to be one chapter, but I didn't have time to perfect the second half
to my liking in enough time, and I was anxious to post at least the
first half and gather some response. After a lot of thinking, I
decided that I didn't like my chapter lengths the way they were. I
prefer to have longer but fewer chapters. If I'd have kept the
lengths at 7 pages, the story would go on forever and be discouraging.
So here is the new Chapter 2, which if I would have stayed with the
original set-up, would be chapters 3 and 4. I apologize for not
having this up last week, but I had an extremely busy week, and I
didn't want to rush this chapter... as it's an important one. I'll try
to have another chapter up this week too! With that note of
explanation, thanks for reading my story again, and I hope it is to
your liking!
I would like to give thanks to the following people who critiqued my
story on the site as of the time I updated: Adrianne, glitterprincess,
FloralBlackMoon. I would also like to thank the following people who
sent me feedback via e-mail and the ASMR message center: Angelgal44,
*Mandy*, Erika. You are the people who helped keep me motivated, and
helped me know that my writing was not only something for me anymore,
but it was really starting to be liked by other people.
The next person I'd like to thank is the most important. My little
sister, who goes under the name of Chibi-Serenity on this site, has
been a great support to me. Thanks to her, I LOVE YOU, Beef!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, or any of the associated
characters, in addition to not owning the rights to the song "I Can't
Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, which the title of the song
was derived from.
*Chapter 2*
The door slammed shut behind Darien, as he entered his living room.
He made certain that the door was locked before turning to look at
his apartment. The sparseness of his surroundings offered no real
welcome, but to him, it was home. Then again, there wasn't much
welcome in his personality either. Plopping down on his black
leather sofa, he relaxed a moment, organizing the thoughts in his
mind before attempting to organize his homework.
It had been nearly three days since he'd first bumped into the
gorgeous Serena Tsukino. Three days since he's had a full nights
rest. Three days his sanity hhad been missing, having take leave
almost immediately upon his meeting Serena. This was beyond his
thinking. How can an intelligent person like his self be so affected
by one girl?
'A girl you hardly know, Baka!" the voice inside his head pointed out.
He thought about it again and again, and he invented more theories
in explanation. Eventually he concluded that it had absolutely
nothing to do with Serena's long silky hair, nor her sparkling blue
eyes, but had everything to do with a prolonged absence of a certain
Goddess he had grown accustomed to being around. His mind was usually
occupied with thoughts of her, but recently she had been missing from
his thoughts, and missing from his life.
There hadn't been an attack made against the people of Earth in
several months, leaving him no opportunity to see his Sailor Moon.
While he enjoyed the break from his late nights spent fighting, he
missed the exhilarating battles. He missed Sailor Moon. For him,
Sailor Moon was like caffeine, intoxicating and essential to his life,
but when it wasn't in his system, he was left with a headache.
'Yes, that has to be the reason why this girl I barely know is able
to control my dreams.' Darien was certain his first glimpse of
Sailor Moon would forever leave Serena out of his mind. Though he
was well aware that this thought was purely fictional, he couldn't help
but make an attempt at his keeping pride. Darien yearned for a battle.
He yearned for his sanity.
Several years of experience had taught him that the only way to regain
his sanity was to cut lose and forget about everything stressful for
a while. Darien knew just how to do this.
One of his friends was having a party on Friday night, up to this
point, Darien had never really indulged in hanging out with friends.
Figuring that his weekend would mostly revolve around social events,
Darien thought he might as well give in and be a teenager. He had
the rest of his life to be a worrisome, middle aged man. Darien would
go to Chad's part and have a great time. Of course it didn't hurt
that a certain blonde-haired beauty would most definitely be in
attendance.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The flame in front of her flickered and spit. Raye opened her eyes
in a flash, terrified by what she saw. Their peace would be ended,
and very soon. A new evil had made its presence in the galaxy. It
would only be a matter of hours before it would first strike in
Juuban.
She had to tell the scouts. They needed to know.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Finally, school was over for the week. No more imprisonment
until Monday. Even more exciting was the Winter Formal that would
take place the following evening. Throughout the school, students
were arranging last minute dinner plans, and post dance events.
Girls were gushing about their gowns, and make-up, and explaining how
they would manage a facial between nails and hair appointments. The
male population whispered their concern for the lack of dancing
ability all of them possessed. A few select boys even wondered
whether or not it was really necessary to purchase a corsage,
considering a flower and ribbon to be a waste of money.
In the student lounge, a group of boys and girls sat comfortably on
overstuffed sofas and chairs. They had been discussing the matter of
Winter Formal for a matter of minutes now, and were on the verge of
wrapping it up.
"So these, boys are just going together, and eating at 'el Palacio'?"
Rita paused waiting to see them nod before continuing. "Well Molly,
Melvin, Andrew, and I are going out together at "Mario's" with a group
of people we have classes with," Rita spoke to Serena from her perch
on the armrest of Andrew's chair. "Isn't that right, Molly? I'm not
thinking of the wrong place, am I?"
"No," said Molly, who was sitting next to Melvin, both trying to
conceal that they were holding one another's hand, "you're right."
"I made the reservations last week," Melvin interjected. "They're
for seven people at six o'clock."
"Hmm, keeping in odd numbers," Lita asked, waving her eyebrows. "So
which of you lucky kids gets two dates?"
"One of my friends," Andrew explained, "didn't get a date, wanted to
go stag, I believe." Steal a
Upon finishing this statement, both Andrew and Rita couldn't help but
steal a look at Serena, who saw them look her way, and quickly changed
the topic to her own dinner plans.
"I think that Lita, Ami, Raye, and I will be going to "le Jardin. Us
single girls will only be without Mina. It's just too bad that her
competition today will be wrapped up tomorrow."
Andrew clarified that Mina would in fact be gone tomorrow. "Our
school made it to the finals right?"
"Yeah, they did," Serena said excitedly. "It's so great for Mina and
the team, they've all been working hard. I just wish that Mina
would be able to go to the dance. I know she's really bummed out
about it, but we'll all make it up to her"
"How do you make it up?" Chad asked looking at Serena expectantly.
"Do you all dress up and throw her a dance or something?"
"Actually yeah," Serena answered, looking in the direction of Chad,
but unable to make eye contact.
"What?" Chad exclaimed looking at her in a way that clearly showed he
thought her to be insane. After a moments pause, he turned to Rita
and asked her, "You don't ever do that, do you? It's just a
freshman thing, right?"
"Umm..." Rita managed to make out before looking down at her hands.
"Not you too?" Chad asked looking surprised.
"I think it's just a girl thing, Chad," Amy said.
"Yeah," Lita agreed, "because, I don't know of any girl who doesn't
at least once in a while put on a gown."
"It would be a complete waste of money to only wear it once," Amy
continued to defend.
"You continue to shock and amaze me, Amy," the comment had come from
Mark, who until that moment had talked only to Greg.
"Me too," Greg said, breaking his own silence.
"How so?" Amy asked.
"It's just that," Mark began.
"You seemed so against even going to the dance," Greg finished,
causing Amy to blush slightly.
"I guess I changed my mind," Amy said, trying to conceal her flushed
red cheeks, failing miserably.
"But not without a lot of persuasion on our part," Serena reminded
Amy.
Lita felt compelled to elaborate, "Between all of our nagging, me and
Serena-"
"Serena and I," Amy couldn't help but correcting.
"Fine," Lita rolled her eyes, "Serena AND I, rescued Amy from what
would have been a Saturday night wasted at home."
"And we're all so very glad you did," smiling, Rita said.
The group continued to discuss their plans for the following evening.
It wasn't quite clear, yet, where they would be going after the dance,
but they were all certain that they would try to go together. If all
else failed, they could go to "Crown Arcade" afterwards, and manage
to have a good time, it just wouldn't be as personal.
In the next few minutes, several members of the group took their
leave after making their excuses. The only people left sitting
around were Lita, Amy, and Serena, who had all agreed to meet Raye
there after she got out of school. There was a pause of silence, and
in that time Lita cast Amy a sidelong look that asked, without saying,
if she thought that they should bring up the topic Mina had only told
them about the day before. They had all been concerned about Serena,
but none of them knew how to bring it up without upsetting her. Just
as they were about to say something, the silence was interrupted by
someone else.
"Serena," a masculine voice the others didn't recognize said. "Serena
Tsukino, remember me?"
Serena turned all the way around to be greeted by a pair of deep blue
eyes on a tall man with ebony hair. This was her brick wall.
"Oh, hey Darien," Serena said smiling, earning a shy little smile from
Darien, in return. "How's it going?"
"I'm great," Darien answered. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Serena said, and the two ran out of things to say. She
was wondering why Darien had come up to talk to her, as they'd had no
real contact, until their infamous encounter earlier that week. It's
not that Serena minded or anything, it was just something about him
made her feel very self conscious. She pulled down the end of her
skirt in an attempt to be more modest. As if anyone could in a
school uniform.
Darien interrupted her silence, and thought process by saying, "I'm
sorry I didn't bring this back earlier. I wanted to wash it before I
brought it back, and I didn't get to doing my laundry till yesterday,
so here it is." Handing her the shirt he had borrowed that Monday, he
ended his rambling.
"Thanks so much, Darien," Serena grinned. Removing the smile from
her face, she replaced it with a look of concern and asked, "How are
you doing? I hope the coffee burn didn't hurt you too badly!"
"Don't worry about it," Darien said, smiling at her concerned look.
She was so beautiful. If only-no, he couldn't think about that at
the moment. "It only hurt a little when it happened. I'll have to
tell Andrew that he doesn't make his coffee hot enough!"
"It's a good thing it wasn't on Monday though, or you'd still be
hurting now!" Serena laughed.
Laughing too, Darien agreed, "Yeah you're right! So are you going to
Chad's tonight?"
"Chad's?" Serena asked surprised. Of course she had been invited,
but she didn't know that Darien even knew who Chad was.
Sensing what she what she was wondering, he explained that he and
Chad were neighbors before he and his parents moved to be closer to
the temple where Chad was undergoing training.
"Oh, of course," Serena said, still not hiding her surprise at
another connection to this person she had hardly known. "Yeah, I'm
going, are you?"
"I don't know if I'll be there the whole time. I have to work until'
nine, so I'll probably try to stop by for a while afterwards," Darien
explained.
Serena brightened up a little bit by the prospect of seeing him later,
though she would die before admitting it. "That's great! I'll see
you there later probably!"
Smiling once again before saying goodbye, Darien left the school.
People who knew Darien would have been surprised to see him, for he
very rarely ever wore a grin of any kind, let alone a big smile. His
meeting with Serena had gone well, she had sounded happy by maybe
seeing him later. He walked by Raye, who had been an acquaintance of
his for a while, as he'd held a part time job there once. In his
euphoric state, he didn't see her, let alone acknowledge her. This
behavior struck Raye has very odd, and she thought she should tell her
friends about it. All thoughts about her premonition left her mind.
After finishing her discussion with Darien, Serena sat back down on
the sofa, and turned to talk to her friends. Amy and Lita had a
stunned look on her face. Even after Serena had started talking to
them, neither of them were able to wipe the look off of their faces.
"Okay, what?" Serena asked finally, unable to bare their shocked
stairs.
Amy was first to recover, and therefore was first to ask Serena,
"What was that?"
"What do you mean?" Serena asked, knowing what she meant, but not
wanting to admit to it.
"Explain what happened just now!" Amy demanded.
"Between you and Darien," Lita prodded, having just recovered.
Not knowing where to begin, as she hadn't even mentioned the original
situation to either of them, she chose to start by stating the
obvious. "Uhh... he was bringing back I shirt I lent him."
"We see that Serena, would you tell us-"
However, Lita was interrupted in the midst of her question by Raye
running up to them, saying "I just saw Darien looking the weirdest
I've ever seen him."
Serena blushed but made no comment.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, and gaining a grin, Lita asked Raye,
"How do you mean weird looking?"
"He was smiling, the cold fish was ACTUALLY smiling!" Raye said in
awe. "I've known him for a few years, and he has never been one to
smile, not like that."
By now, Serena couldn't look at anyone, but was a bit surprised to
hear that yet another of her friends had a connection to him. Then
Serena remembered that on the night when she and Darien had first
interacted, Darien had said hello to Raye, and asked her how things
at the temple were. Serena even recalled Darien working at the
temple at one point.
"Wow, Darien smiling?!?" Lita said slyly. "I wonder why, Serena was
probably the last person he talked to."
"What is it with you and Darien?" Raye asked, now wondering if her
'sworn off boys' best-friend was seeing someone, and hadn't included
her in the secret. "He was over at your house Monday when I went
over, and today he's all smiles, and you're blushing!"
"WHAT!" Amy and Lita exclaimed together, having a second major shock
in a matter of minutes.
"Serena," Amy said in a somewhat tense voice, "you have to tell us
what's going on now. I don't think any of us can wait much longer."
Taking a deep breath, Serena went over the basic events of last
Monday.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When Serena reached her home, Serena found a letter waiting for her.
Since she hoped to go to Chad's that night, Serena made certain to
have her room looking somewhat decent, and then she offered to do the
dishes and such. After completing these few tasks, Serena went up to
her room to open the letter in privacy. The contents were enough to
leave her feeling staggered, and scared. She was thankful for having
the security of her own room to read it.
It had come from Cal, and it certainly didn't hold anything too good:
Serena,
I hoped we'd avoid a bad break up. Now I thinking that it has
become one. I want to make our friendship better but I don't know
what to do. Here's something I never meant to tell you, but I see
no reason to hide now. Remember when we first met? The few
moments at a party, and the hours the night of Homecoming. You
can't know how I felt those moments. You were under the
impression (due to my own lies, I'm sorry to say). Really I
felt absolutely nothing for you. I even forget about your
existence in both cases. The next time I saw you, I had no idea
that you were the same person I had seen only one night before. To
tell the truth, I didn't care about you then. I didn't even think
about you. I didn't even want to call you after that one night. I
only called because I was forced to by your friend Chad. I've
even determined now that it was you who pressed us to be together,
and not me, so the blame for this relationship lies completely in
your hands. You were the one who wanted more, I didn't. It's your
fault. You f*cked up our relationship, not me.
In compensation for my loss, all I ask is that you will simply say
something to me when you see me. It doesn't need to be about
anything, it doesn't even need to be relevant to anything. Just
say hello sometime, of am I expecting to much from you?
It's been too long since I've ever sought someone. And I don't
want to ever again, because I've found someone in you. We're
meant to be together. We're soul mates. Sometime, I'll make you
see that! Just give me a few months. By then you'll agree.
Cal
Reading those words, those hateful, pointless, and intimidating words
broke through the shield she had worked so hard to construct. Luna
had seen Serena's reaction, and though she didn't know what had caused
Serena to be upset, she knew the only thing she could do to help was
be a physical comfort. Luna hopped into Serena's lap and allowed
herself to be a pillow to cry on. She couldn't pity herself right
now, nothing gave her that right. Tonight she would have to be lively
and happy, otherwise everyone would know. She had to stand tall and
conquer, but for the moment, Serena felt it was safe to indulge in
the tears she longed for. Now, when no one was around to know. Head
buried in her pillow, hand stroking Luna, Serena cried to her hearts
content.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"... So they just bumped into each other, spilled some coffee, and
nothing else?" Mina asked over the phone.
"That's what she told us," Lita said, "but I'm not buying it!" In
the few minutes she had before heading over to Chad's, Lita had made
the phone call to Mina, so she wouldn't be out of the loop when she
returned from her tournament.
"Why do you say that?"
"Mina, you should have seen them, there was definitely something
going on between the two of them. At least some sort of chemistry."
Lita explained. She sighed before continuing, "I'm so jealous. I
wish I had someone looking at me like that. Serena deserves this,
though. Maybe it will make her happy."
"That's what I was thinking Lits," Mina said, staring out of her
window, and into the desolate parking lot of the motel she was
staying in. When she closed her eyes, she could almost see Serena,
the old Serena, the way she use to be. "In the long run it would be
a good thing for us too, you know?"
"How's that?" Lita twirled the phone cord around her finger, delighted
by the latest gossip concerning one of her good friends.
Grinning to herself, Mina stated what she had been thinking, "You
know just as well as I do, that when Serena is happy, everyone around
her is too. It will make for a pleasant working environment for us
all!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Oh you better believe it, Raye," Serena laughed. "When Mark and I
are in the backseat, you've gotta know that I've got MY head lights
all the way on!"
"So... do you go in there fully... equipped?" asked Chad, hoping to
continue Serena and Mark's game.
"Chad," Mark said, closing his eyes and shaking his head in mock
disdain, "how can you ask that? You of all people should know that I
fill my tank up regularly before I have ANYONE in my car, especially
when I've got arrangements with my best girl!"
The group composed of seven freshman were beyond help. Lita and Raye
had long since fallen on the ground, finding it difficult to stay
seated when their friend's behavior was so amusing that night. Chad,
Greg, and Amy had remained on the opposing couches, but were just as
cracked up. Serena and Mark sat opposing one another in chairs,
making the situation look entirely too much like a debate.
Everyone had tears in their eyes. Even Amy's stomach ached from the
laughter she had attempted to contain.
The game: Taking a topic too far.
The players: Serena and Mark
The goal: To beat out the other in obscene comments.
The topic: Sexual innuendoes having to do with car terminology (as
Mark was the proud owner to his very own car).
Something that happens all too often in the high school world was not
only going on, but had been running strong since Mark had slipped
when describing something about his car, which Serena of course
pointed out. No one could remember what his comment had been, but it
didn't matter, as so many funny things had been said.
Even Greg was getting into the conversation and threw out the
question, "Serena, what are your opinions of Marks... uhh... "
"Clutch?" Lita supplied, falling over, quite proud of her thought.
"Oh, that!" Serena said, then placing a look of mock satisfaction on
her face. "It's real good, I never use to like stick shift, but not
that I've had such a good one, I'll never go back."
"Mark's clutch? Good?" Chad cocked his eyebrow, pretending to look
unimpressed. "Puh-lease!"
"What can I say, Chad, I guess not everyone is quite so endowed with
gears that switch like that."
"And what do you have to say about Serena, Mark?" Amy surprised
everyone by asking.
"Amy, Serena is not just a good ride, but the best ride anyone could
ever have," Mark replied.
"I just wish you weren't so fast, Mark," Serena sighed. "At first I
found it kind of sexy, but then, it just always happened so fast I
hardly can tell what's happening to me!"
"Switching gears to fast, ay?" Raye joked.
"Wham, Bam, thank you, Ma'am!" a voice that hadn't been involved said,
causing everyone to turn around and see who had interrupted their
circle.
Andrew and Rita were standing side by side, both with expressions
that held disbelief for all of them.
"Freshman," Andrew said, making a second comment.
"Chad," Rita glared, "you promised me that there would be no alcohol
here to night!"
"Oh, Rita," Chad grinned, "there isn't any alcohol here. The only
thing going on is Serena and Mark besting each other using sexual
innuendoes."
The couple shook heads, as though synchronized, Andrew muttered,
"Freshman!" as they walked away.
"What's up his ass?" Lita asked, hoping the attacks would begin again.
"Speaking of which," Mark began, "did those warts ever clear up
Serena?"
Hardly able to prevent laughter from spewing out, Serena threw out a
remark, hoping it would be equally lethal. "Oh those old things?
They cleared up months ago! But really the question is, how is that
chunky discharge of yours? I hope it's all gone!"
And they were off again, this time trying to make the other person out
to be the most wrong and disturbing. Twenty minutes later, they were
still at it.
"Hey, Mark," Serena asked, "are you sure it's normal for you to only
have one testicle?"
Wiping the shocked look off his face, Mark exclaimed, "Are you sure
it's normal for you to have two?!?"
"Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!" every member of the group shouted, except for a
stunned, but fuming Serena, and a proud Mark.
Glaring daggers at him, Serena had nothing more she could think of to
say, as much as it hurt her pride to admit it, she had just been
defeated by Mark. He would be dearly for it. Unsure of what else to
do, Serena lunged across the coffee table in the center of the area,
and attempted to bash Mark physically, as she failed using her wit.
Clearly shocked, Mark could hardly keep his defenses up. Their entire
group went into an uproar of shouting, cheering, and Chad was trying
to get them all to place bets. He had $20 yen up against Raye saying
he though Mark would pull through, while Raye felt Serena would
ultimately win.
Meanwhile, before the wrestling match had begun, another person had
walked into the party. Looking for a familiar face, Darien found one
in Andrew, who was grabbing his girlfriend a pop from a cooler, and
talking to a kid from school. Darien thought he remembered his name
was Ken.
"Hey, Andrew!" Darien called out before walking up to him. As always,
Andrew returned his greeting with a happy smile.
"Darien," Andrew smiled, going up and slapping his best friend on the
back, "I didn't think you were coming. What made you change your
mind?"
Cocking his eyebrow, Darien turned a speculative glance towards
Andrew and Ken. Andrew hid his surprise fairly well, but Ken was
openly gaping. "Are you really that anxious for me to leave? You
know, now that you're single, the 'Darien and Andrew scouting' days
are over?"
"No, I didn't mean that. You've just never really been one to accept
an invitation to a party, that's all." Andrew laughed good naturedly.
Finding Andrew's response feasible, Darien explained the reasoning
behind his finally venturing out into the high school world of
parties, after two and a half years of abstaining, "I only had to
work until nine, and they let me off early, so I figured, 'I'm in the
area, why not stop by?' So here I am, ready to begin high school!"
"I hate to break this to you, man," giving a mock sigh before
continuing, "but our high school career is more than half way over."
"I know, that's why I've got to make this last part great enough to
cover all four years."
Having finished his comment, Darien gave a rare grin towards Andrew,
Darien said goodbye to the duo, and set out to "mingle" and perhaps
find some other friends.
Barely a few feet away from where he had last been, Darien bumped
into Rita. They both apologized quickly, and made the usual inquiries
about how the other was doing. Rita was trying to get over the
shock of seeing Darien some place other than school or the arcade.
This was something that had never happened before, and she wasn't
entirely sure how to react.
Picking up on what was running through her head, Darien answered
exactly what she had been wondering, "I got out of work early, and it
was in the neighborhood, so I figured I should stop by and say 'hi'
to everyone. Plus, I just needed to get out and take some time off
from studying."
Rita still stared at Darien, surprised, but nodded her head, showing
that she had heard and understood his last comment. It took a few
more seconds of consideration, but Rita finally registered that
Darien was in fact there, and he was there to have a good time.
"So where is our host at?" Darien asked looking around for a sign of
Chad anywhere in the room.
"HA!" Rita exclaimed, "I'm surprised you couldn't hear his group
outside!"
Giving her a strange look, Darien asked, "And why do you say that?"
"Let's just say that the freshman are having a sort of 'Battle of the
Sexes' match, and he's taking bets on everything," Rita explained,
laughing as she remembered the aggressive look of determination that
had been on Serena's face.
"'Battle of the Sexes', ay?" Darien mused. "Sounds interesting..."
Letting out a short laugh again, Rita filled Darien in on what she
had seen last time she had been in the room. "When Andrew and I
walked in there, we heard all sorts of sexual innuendoes having to do
with cars, but by the time we left, it had been turned into an
argument as to who could make the other sound most unappealing
sexually."
"Sounds like typical freshman," Darien muttered. "So who was in
participating this... uhh... refreshing conversation?"
"Let's see," Rita thought aloud, "Chad and Raye were making bets
against one another-Chad of course is losing, Greg, Amy, and Lita are
observing, interjecting a comment whenever they get the chance, but
the main conflict lies between the two masterminds."
"And who are the masterminds?" Darien asked. "Anyone I know?"
"You probably know them by association, but I'm not positive if you
do." Rita quickly added, "But the two leading the discussion, and
about to draw blood from one another are Mark and Serena."
Darien looked at her blankly a moment. "Serena Tsukino?"
"The very same," Rita answered, then wondered aloud, "How do you know
Serena?"
"Umm..." Darien thought, "really long story, no real point. I think
I'll go check out the 'battle'."
Once again, Darien took his leave, only this time he knew his
destination.
'I'm just going to say hello to Chad,' the inner voice in Darien's
head told him. 'It just so happens that Serena is in that room.'
The last few days had been a big improvement in Darien's lying
skills. Oddly enough, he did most of his lying in his mind. Maybe
he really was going crazy, but it wasn't his fault.
Darien walked into the room just in time to here a loud crash, and
see a tangle of legs and arms flying all over the place. Two voices
were shouting expletives, and several other were rolling around on
the ground laughing hysterically. Thinking he must have walked into
the wrong room (though he was fairly confident he'd already
accidentally walked into the room of tonsil hockey, where he'd been
surprised, and a little grossed out to see an unlikely couple of
Molly and Melvin). Either the group of people were involved in some
massive orgy, or two of them were wrestling, and the rest of them were
laughing about it. He soon realized it was the latter, when he saw
Chad and Raye cheering on the wrestlers, money waving from their
hands.
It took a few more moments for him to figure out who the fighters
were, and when he did, he realized it was the most obvious answer.
Apparently the verbal battle Rita had earlier described had just
turned into a physical fight. Strangely enough, Serena seemed to not
only have held her own, but had nearly defeated Mark.
Not wanting to stop the fight, Darien asked Chad, "So where can I
place a bet, and what are the odds?"
"Mark was holding up more resistance earlier, but his defenses have
fallen quite a bit in the last few minutes. I have twenty yen on
Mark winning, and Raye has twenty on Serena." Chad filled Darien in,
surprised at seeing Darien, but much too involved in what was
happening. "What are you placing?"
"Hmmm..." Darien deliberated before answering, "I believe that the fight
will be ended in the next minute or two when Rita comes in to see
what all the noise is. Then just as we all think the fight is really
over, Serena will go back for one more cheap shot. Neither of them will
win, but Mark will have more injuries."
"Interesting," Chad thought, "but how much."
"I'm willing to double the stakes," confident and cool, Darien
replied.
"I'm for it," Raye exclaimed, pulling out twenty more yen.
Not wanting to give in so soon, Chad too pulled out twenty more. The
three returned to watching the fight, each cheering their point. The
two in the midst of battle were completely unaware of the bets being
made, or the havoc they had just raised. Each was just trying to be
the last man-or person-standing.
A shocked exclamation was heard from the doorway, causing pause to
everyone except Serena and Mark. Just as Darien had predicted, Rita
had come into the room to see what all the noise was about. She then
set about to pull the two apart from each other, and get reasonable
answers out of each of them.
Then again, as Darien predicted, once the two had been parted, Serena
turned around to tackle Mark again. Both Rita, Chad, and Lita had to
pull Serena off of Mark, then sat her down hoping to allow her time
to cool off. Likewise Greg and Amy were sitting Mark up, and had
grabbed a pack of his for him.
Chad and Raye groaned but forked over the money to Darien, who gladly
accepted it, fingering it over, counting to make sure he really had
just won $80 yen.
Andrew and Ken just stood in shock at the doorway, not quite sure
what to think of having seen Serena beat a guy down, and then seeing
Darien handed a huge wad of money.
While much of the group had moved to console Mark, who sat blushing
slightly, feeling his manhood being challenged by a tiny girl, Rita
sat with Serena, lecturing her about how it wasn't nice to use her
physical strength to badger Mark, even though he clearly had it
coming to him. Darien had been joined by Andrew (Ken had gone to
help in the retrieval of Mark's pride), and the two watched Serena
and Rita. Diverting his gaze from looking at Rita, Andrew turned to
look at Darien. That was the moment Andrew truly realized that
Darien might seriously have feelings for Serena. Both had been hurt,
and Andrew hoped the two could find their way around that.
She was beautiful. That was the though running through Serena's head.
In fact, he didn't think he could imagine her looking more lovely then
she did at the moment, all flushed and wild from her fight. After a
minute, she looked up and made eye contact with him. She then seemed
to blush a little, then looked down at her hands.
For the first time that evening, Serena had noticed Darien's presence.
Slightly embarrassed at being seen like this, Serena felt her cheeks
flush. Even though she knew she couldn't possibly like Darien, it was
still never a great idea to be caught rolling around on the floor with
another boy. She could only imagine the thoughts running through his
head right now. No she didn't like him, but for some reason, her
blush grew deeper.
Darien couldn't help but smile in response to her embarrassment. She
brought fun and happiness wherever she went, and even though he had
been completely annihilated, you could tell Mark thought it had been
very amusing, and didn't mind Serena winning. His forehead creased
as he thought about how he'd like to get to know her better. Suddenly
he was struck with an idea, and his eyebrows relaxed to a normal
stance.
"Hey Andrew," Darien said, gaining Andrew's full attention. "You
guys are still looking for a place to hang out at after the dance,
right?"
Catching what Darien was implying, Andrew replied, "Are you making an
offer?"
"I think I might be."
Relieved that they wouldn't be at Crown as they had begun to believe,
Andrew asked Darien, "Who should I invite?"
Thinking, but failing to find an answer, Darien shrugged, "Go ahead
and invite the people we normally would." Pausing again to look at
Serena and smile, Darien said, "Also, you should invite these kids,
they seem like they should be a lot of fun."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Once returned home, Serena walked around her room aimlessly. She had
left almost immediately after the "fight" incident with Mark. It was
so much fun to cut lose and mess around, she only hoped the swelling
on Mark's Abercrombie face would lessen by tomorrow. She'd hate to
deprive the female world of a beautiful face, especially at a dance.
With the dance being tomorrow evening, the morning and afternoon
before it would be consumed by events in preparation. Then after the
dance, she would attend a party or two for certain, and spend the
early hours of morning asleep at Raye's temple, where all of the
girl's would sleep until halfway through the next day. By then there
would only be a few hours to do all of the homework.
'Now I'm starting to sound like Amy!'
Settling down on her bed, comfy in her new pink flannel pajamas,
Serena looked at the books and folders sprawled across the bed. Not
quite sure where to begin, Serena finally decided to organize it all
into the most necessary (and time consuming) of homework, and the
stuff that would only take a few minutes, and could easily be done
Monday morning at the beginning of a class.
When this task was done, Serena couldn't bring herself to actually do
any of the homework. Her mind kept being drawn back to that letter
she had received earlier. It took every ounce of her strength not to
pull out all of the other letters he had sent her in the past few
months in order to see where things had gotten to the way they now
were. She already knew it would do no good.
Instead she thought of the new guy of interest in her life. No wrong,
not of interest, but of contemplation. Darien. The way he had looked
at her the past few days, stealing glances at her in the halls, had
made her feel so... pretty. As every time she worked up the courage to
look into his eyes, she say a look of interest, but more than that.
He looked interested in her. He looked-
"Bleep. Bleep. Bleep."
Her communicator went off, and Serena already felt a rush like she
hadn't known for months. She was going to get to destroy a creature
into dust. The adrenaline was already pulsing through her veins.
It was time for a new villain.
She had been right in her prediction.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
So what do you think? I believe this chapter is a whole page or two
longer than the combined first and second chapter. I know I said I'd
have another chapter up this week, but work and summer school exhaust
me. Plus this chapter is like what two chapters would normally be. I
also came up with a new story idea! I will probably be toying around
with it some pretty soon here. The planning for that and a few other
stories kind of got in the way of that! Sorry to say I don't think
my original plan for a Usagi birthday story will be up. I didn't
even have time to decide what I wanted done with it. Read my revision
of "Rest of the Best". It's sappy, but sweet, and it should make more
sense. Everyone e-mail me, or leave a critique! This was a rushed
chapter, and I want to know what's a weakness or strength (no
pressure). Reminjia@hotmail.com. Thanks so much for reading again,
you guys are so awesome.
