"Watch Out Meatball Head!"

1 Chapter Eleven

********************************Andrew*********************************

I glanced at the arcade door, for the hundredth time this morning, while wiping the counter clean, wondering if Darien was ever going to turn up. It was the day after Serena had fainted and Darien had promised to come over here, while I was working, so I could help put Mina's plan into action. I glanced at the clock on the wall behind me, as I served coffee to a customer. 11.30 a.m. unusually late for Darien, but then again Darien wasn't exactly himself lately. Just then the bells of the arcade door jingled.

I looked up to find Darien walk in. he was smiling ???

"hey Darien, how's Serena ?" I asked.

"I'm going to see her today," he replied. I raised my eyebrows. He ignore my look and continued. "listen, about yesterday morning, at the park. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about a lot of things, actually –." I held my hand up in protest, cutting him off.

"lets just forget the whole deal ever happened, o.k. ? any way there are some things I've kept from you since the accident." I started, putting Mina's plan into action.

"there are ?" his turn for raised eyebrows.

"yeah, like the fact that Serena was your girlfriend before the accident." I said bluntly. He stared at me, speechless. I glanced at him casually to see his reaction. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was hanging open in shock. I sighed in annoyance. "its not that hard to believe !" I said. Placing Dariens usual black coffee order in front of him.

He was quiet for a while. "I kind of suspected that." He replied. Now it was my turn to be shocked and in result I almost dropped the glass of mineral water, I was serving to another customer who had arrived. I quickly recovered though.

"what do you mean ?" I asked clearing my throat. If only he knew the truth ! sneering at the thought of Darien realizing that the girl he used to call 'meatball head' and torment her all day was 'now' his girlfriend. (A.N. …. Are you starting to understand Mina, the goddess of love's plan ?)

"well . . . um, you know yesterday at the arcade. When Serena started crying and fainted on me ?" I nodded encouraging him to go on. "I had one of those flash backs, the one's the doctor said I'll start getting. Actually we had a flash back. It was right before the accident when she ran into the street and I pushed her away in the last minute." He said. I looked closely at his face and noticed that Darien looked a bit shook up. I guess any guy would, experiencing a flash back that happened right before you saved a girl from getting hit by a truck.

He reached over to pick up his cup of coffee, then froze.

***********************************Serena*******************************

I had gotten up a bit late this morning, but I couldn't forget the dreams I had which were of a guy in a black cape and mask. (A.N. work with me here, how else can you describe tuxedo mask ???) I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it had something to do with unlocking my memory. It was about two hours since I'd gotten up this morning, and since then I had washed my hair, dried it and dressed nicely. I was a bit excited about Darien coming to visit. Dad, of course, didn't know. I told mum, (s.p.o.v. I didn't tell mum that Darien was the guy who saved my life, I just told her that he was someone I knew.) and she said it was fine as long as she was introduced to him first. Mum and dad also didn't know about my little fainting accident the night before, or about the things that were told by Raye, and hopefully those things would kept unrepeated to them. I didn't know what to feel towards the girls, right now. To tell you the truth, I was too caught up about dariens visit than to think about Raye.

I jumped out of living room couch as the doorbell rang, interrupting my thoughts. I quickly smoothed down the front of my dress and then taking a deep breath I opened the door. I gasped in surprise as I saw who it was. (A.N. I could end it right here !!!)

"hi Serena," Raye said. "can I come in ?" she asked uncertainly. I didn't know what to say so I stepped back and let her in. she smiled gratefully.

"why don't we go into my room ?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"actually I was wondering if we could go to the park." She replied.

"well umm, actually mum's not home and I cant leave without telling her and I'm expecting someone over." I said apologetically. I wanted to talk to Raye but I didn't want to miss out on seeing Darien today.

She stood there looking at me for a while, then looked down at her feet.

"well I guess I better get it over and done with now." She said avoiding my eyes. I waited patiently for her to continue.

"Raye ?" I asked when she didn't continue. She still didn't reply. "Raye ?" I repeated. She finally raised her eyes to meet mine, they were full of tears.

"I' so sorry Serena, I didn't mean to hurt you ! I know its my fault that you got into the accident in the first place, but I didn't know ! you have to believe me. I know you think that I hate you but I don't – its just that I don't want to see you hurt. Please Serena ! you have to believe me !" she was sobbing now, clutching my hand and pleading. I starred at her face, her tears flowing down her cheeks freely. Then I did the only thing I could do. I reached over and hugged her,

I felt tears filling up in my own eyes. "Its ok. Its not your fault that I got into the accident, you know yesterday at the arcade? When you thought I fainted I actually had a flash back, the kind the doctor said I would start getting before I get my entire memory back. It was one right before the accident. I saw what happened. And you had nothing to do with it, and about yesterday? its ok really. I know you didn't mean to." I said quietly.

Just then the doorbell rang. It was just my luck that Darien decides to turn up when I had puffy cheeks and red eyes.

"That would be Amy, mina and Lita." Raye said wiping the trails of tears that had been running down her cheeks. I looked at her in surprise. Why is it, that everybody decides to visit me on the exact same day ? I opened the door and sure enough the three girls, were standing at my door step looking anxious. Mina took one look at our tear stained faces and smiled.

"they've made up ! now we can forget the tears and get to the real good stuff !" I didn't know what she was going on about, but I let her in anyway. Once we had all settled down, we started talking.

Amy told me about school. Lita told me about my eating habit, and Mina cut in finally to drop the bombshell. "you have a boyfriend !" for a minute I thought I had heard wrong. But she was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"who?" I managed to choke out one I'd gotten my voice back.

"Darien !!!" she squealed. "we didn't want to tell you before, because we thought it would be weird seeing that he saved my life and all…" she rattled on for about ten minutes, but I was still trying to get the information to sink in. Darien was my boyfriend ?!

"Serena had a flash back at the arcade yesterday, it was one of what happen before the accident" Raye said, quietly. Instantly everybody stopped talking. They all turned to look at me questionably.

I wriggled uncomfortably. "I don't remember much but, I was running and then I stopped and I realized that I was crying. There was this light and then I realized that it was a lorry. I couldn't move, and then there was someone else, its Darien I guess, and he was yelling something I couldn't make out. And suddenly I felt myself pushed aside. And then nothing. That's all." I shuddered as the entire scene played itself in my mind repeatedly.

When no one said anything, I looked at them. "why was I crying ?" I asked my voice barely a whisper. Nobody answered.

**********************************Darien********************************

As soon as I has touched that coffee mug I felt as though I had been pulled away from my body.

*FLASH BACK*

when I opened my eyes, I saw myself sitting in the same exact stool I had been sitting on, only moments ago. I was drinking coffee. Just then the bells on the arcade door jingled and opened. Serena walked in. she was dressed in her blue and white school uniform. She was clutching a piece of paper and looking depressed. She came and sat down at a the counter a few stools away from me. That was odd – if I were her boyfriend she would come and sit right next to me right ? maybe she hadn't seen me.

Then I saw myself move and turn to face her.

"hey meatball head ! why looking so low ? I bet you failed another test !" I winced as I heard myself say those words.

she turned and glared at me. "whats it to you Darien. Isn't there somebody else you'd rather pick on than me !" she hissed, turning her back to me.

"no actually, I find it amusing to pick on you in particular, 'cos you are so easy to wind up – seeing that you are stupid of course." I heard myself reply.

She turned her flushed face towards me. "I'm glad I fill up your social calendar Darien, but why don't you leave me out of it next time and get yourself a life !" she practically yelled and stormed out of the arcade.

End of *FLASH BACK*

"Darien ? hey, come on. Answer me." Andrew's voice rang out. I didn't even realize that I had my eyes closed. When I opened them, Andrew was standing in front of me looking worried.

"you zoned out, for a minute. Are you ok ?" he asked. I nodded – but I wasn't really ok. In fact I was more confused than ever. The flash back ? what was it about. Me and Serena fighting ?

Andrew peered at me closely. "what happened ? another flash back ? that's good right ?" I nodded again, but he didn't look convinced.

"then why are you looking so pale ?" he wanted to know.

"I'm fine," I lied. " you know you said me and Serena were an item ? well were we close ?" I asked.

He starred at me for a minute probably wondering what had bought this on. "you guys were pretty close." He replied. Being vague.

"did we fight ?" I questioned. Andrew stopped wiping the counter.

**********************************Mina*********************************

my plan wasn't going right at all. This was supposed to be about Serena and Darien not about the accident, or what had happened before the accident.

"guys ? why was I crying ?" Serena repeated. Again nobody answered.

"lots of things, some that we know some we don't." Raye replied quietly after a long time. Serena remained silent. After a long uncomfortable silence I quickly bought everybody back to the most important subject.

"so Serena, don't you want to know more about Darien ?" I asked. She must have just remembered because she nodded.

"he's supposed to be coming over here today." Serena interrupted me before I could go into detail about her relationship with Darien. My mouth hung open in surprise. Had Andrew gotten Darien to ask her out already ?

"when did this happen ?" Lita asked as curios as the rest of us.

"last night, when he dropped me off. I asked him to come over . . . . and he said he would." Serena blushed as she gave us this information. It looked like I didn't have to do anything at all to get these two together, they were doing it themselves ! I smirked at the thought of them finding out the way they were acting to this little set up, when they realized that they were sworn enemies before the accident !

"Serena ?" Amy asked. "when exactly did you meet Darien ? because I thought that the first time was when you guys well sort of ran into each other at the arcade lat night." Amy finished. That thought hadn't occurred to me, but Amy was right. None of us had introduced them.

Serena ducked her head, but I could see the blush that covered her cheeks. "well actually you know the night after you guys came to visit ? and mum wouldn't let me out ? well I sneaked out of the house that morning and I ran into Darien." She admitted sheepishly. We did the chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs' at this.

After that things were pretty much great. And the day went from worst to best. Since Serena didn't know much about either of us, we talked to her about ourselves and told her more about herself. Then we went into stories and fun we had had together. When Serena's mother came home I could tell that she was happy to see Serena starting to get back to herself. But nothing we said so far had actually triggered her memory.

***********************************Andrew******************************

as slowly as I could I served the last customer. When Darien had asked me that question I hadn't known how to respond. The truth was that I didn't know whether to tell him the truth – which would ruin mina's plan or to tell him they didn't fight at all and go along with the plan. Luckily for me a bunch of people had just then entered the arcade so I quickly made an excuse to start serving those customers and I left Darien at the stool in the counter. But now that the last customer had been served I had no choice but to face him. Suddenly I got a bright idea, I quickly swept past Darien and into the backroom. Giving Darien a 'I'll be back in a minute' look. I reached for the pay phone and quickly inserted a coin into it.

After a few rings mina's mother picked up. "hello ?"

"hi, is mina there ?" I asked as politely as I could.

"I'm sorry but she's at Serena's, do you want me to give her a message ?"

"no that's ok, thank you. I'll call her there, Mrs. Aino." I said replacing the receiver and dialing Serena's number.

After two rings Serena picked up. "hello,"

"hi Serena, this is Andrew can I please speak to mina ?" I asked quickly, there wasn't much time left and I had run out of coins.

"hold on a minute." He placed the phone on the table and disappeared, I thought she was never going to return.

"hey Andrew!" came mina's chirpy voice.

"hey listen mina, you know with your plan ? well everything was going fine until Darien started asking me questions on the relationship. What am I supposed to say ! you didn't tell me this was going to happen."

There was a pause at the other end. "hmmm, oh no everything's fine" she replied.

"huh ?" I asked confused.

"I don't think I'll be able to come to the arcade today, I'll pick up my bag tomorrow. Thanks for calling, Andrew !"

"what ? no, mina –." I was cut off by the sound of the dialing tone. She had hung up on me. I frowned replaying the conversation in my mind and trying to make sense of what had just happened. Darien was waiting for me as I went back into the arcade.

"where did you go ?" he asked, irritated that I had kept him waiting.

"I had to umm, make a phone call to uhh order more coffee, it seems to be running out pretty quick today." I said faking a laugh. I might not have sounded very convincing, because he just raised his eyebrows in reply.

"well aren't you going to answer my question." He asked expectantly.

"what question." I asked innocently, trying to buy some time.

"about me and Serena, did we fight ?" he asked impatiently.

"no ! you were totally in love but on the night of the accident you had your first argument ! that's why no one wanted you guys to know about your relationship, not at first anyway." I said, proud at the story I had come up with, to convince Darien.

"right. Were we . . . . you know, friends before we started going out ?" he asked.

"no." I said quickly. These questions were getting complicated as they went on.

"when did we first meet ?" he went on, unknown to the discomfort he was causing me. I wasn't used to lying and now that I had started I wasn't enjoying it.

"you met here, at the arcade. You were in here ordering the last coffee and she came in and asked for coffee and, when you found out you had the last coffee you agreed to share it with her !" I said. Mentally Patting myself in the back for coming up with such convincing coffee related stories.

*******************************Lita*************************************

"you met at the mall ! you both were buying a pair of jeans but when he realized that you had your purse stolen and couldn't buy it, he insisted on him buying it for you !" I listened to mina as she spun stories about Serena and Dariens apparent relationship to Serena. And Serena seem to believe every word said.

Raye seemed more cheerful than yesterday, Amy seemed puzzled. And I was just sitting on the floor of Serena's bedroom holding a bowl of popcorn watching all this happen. We had tried everything to get Serena's memory back, but nothing seem to trigger anything. We had decided earlier that morning that it would be best if nothing was said about the sailormoon matter. Nothing yet.

My eyes wondered around the room, I was wondering what could have happened to her brooch, transformation pen and communicator. She couldn't have lost it. If she did that meant that she couldn't be sailormoon. That thought had never occurred to any of us. If she had found the things she would have told us and would have wanted to know what they were. But as far as I knew nothing, so far. I hope everything will work out all right in the end.

There was a weird phone call from Andrew, earlier on that day. And mina had blabbed on about some forgotten bag. God knows what that girl was up to now.

As I watched Serena, I noticed her glancing at the bedroom clock for the hundredth time in this morning. She caught me looking and quickly turned away.

"so when is Darien going to turn up ?" mina wanted to know. Serena just shrugged in response.

"didn't you guys decide on a time ?" I asked. Serena shook her head slowly.

I was about to say something when the phone rang. (A.N. this is after Andrews phone call.) mina jumped saying that it was probably for her and that she was going to get it.

************************************************************************

(A.N. I know I usually tell you from who's point of view it is, but I left it blank for effect. Trust me you'll understand who it is at the end of this chapter !)

after I had talked to Andrew I went to the far end of the arcade and grabbed a pay phone. I didn't know what was going on but I wasn't sure I was ready to meet my girlfriend yet. Everything seemed a bit weird. So that's why I'd decided to call Serena and tell her that I couldn't make it.

"hello?" I asked as somebody picked up the phone.

"Andrew ? this is mina, listen I'm sorry about earlier on when you called me, Serena was around so I couldn't exactly quote what you should tell Darien about their relationship. You understand right ?"

I remained silent.

"Andrew ?" she asked. "oh come on ! don't be mad at me! Do this for Darien and Serena's sake-."

"this is Darien" I interrupted.

*~*~*~*~* am I confusing you ? I know this chapter is a bit slow as well I also know I said that Raye will be playing a big part in this chapter but I changed my mind in the last minute '-' anyway do like the twist in the end ? mina is complicating things ! well I'm sorry to say that my next chapter wont be coming out for a while. Sorry for any spelling mistakes I've made as I'm typing this at four in the morning or else I wouldn't have any time to do it at all !! so anyway, like I said I have an idea for another story but I need help. This is my problem = If Serena and Darien were to chat online, what would be the nicknames they would use ? I think this gives you a faint hint of what my next fic is going to be about ! more later.