1 'Watch Out Meatball Head'

Chapter Twelve

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

"Darien ?" I repeated. I felt like I had just been punched in the stomach. One minute everything was perfectly fine and then 'Wham!' everything's in the worst possible state.

There was a pause at the other end. "ok so don't you think you should tell me more about my relationship than have Andrew explain it, if you know more about it than he does ?" he asked annoyed.

"Dar – Darien! I didn't know it was you, I was kind of expecting a call from Andrew. Uuh what do you mean I know more about your relationship than Andrew does ?" I asked buying for more time to come up with an explanation.

"well let me quote you on this. 'Serena was around so I couldn't exactly quote what you should tell Darien about their relationship.'" He said in a high pitch voice, obviously imitating me. I frowned annoyed. "I do NOT sound like that!" I said through greeted teeth.

"that is beside the point ! I want to know what it is exactly that went on between me and Serena, and I want to know every bit of it. If I am her boyfriend then I have every right to know." He said equally annoyed.

I sighed in relief. He didn't suspect anything ! he thought that I was telling Andrew about their relationship, because I knew more about it than Andrew did. I was so happy. My plan wasn't ruined after all.

When I didn't reply, I think Darien must've have gotten the idea that I was upset. "I'm sorry umm. Uhh…err… Mini ?" he asked embarrassed.

"its Mina." I glowered.

"yeah . . . . . . Mina, I know that even though Andrew and I are best friends I didn't tell him much about myself. So I guess if he didn't know much about our relationship then it would be my own fault." He said quietly.

My eyes widened in surprise. Darien ? apologising ?? wish he'd done more of that to Serena.

"look, does um, Serena know about you know, our relationship ?" he asked hesitantly.

"yeah, I told her." I said. I could hear him sigh in relief.

"um, uh, can you tell Serena I cant come over today ? I've really got to ….. to clear some stuff out of my apartment. And I'll call her and make some plans to meet sometime." He said quickly.

I knew he was lying but I could tell that he needed some time, to think this girlfriend boyfriend thing over, so I agreed to pass the message over to Serena.

"could we meet sometime ? you know, so you can tell me something about Serena and our relationship ? you know so I could be prepared ? it doesn't have to be you, anybody else who knows Serena would be fine !" he said nervously.

I hadn't thought of that, id assumed that Andrew would fill him in on their relationship but obviously Andrew wasn't a very entertaining story maker, specially when it came to a relationship between enemies.

"hold on a minute Darien, I'll ask one of the girls. I'm pretty busy this week so I cant meet you myself." Which was a total lie, but I couldn't be the only one to be involved in this matchmaker game, I was the goddess of love but I had to involve my friends !

I walked into Serena's room, everyone was huddles together giggling together, about one of Serena's 'why I fell asleep in class' excuses. They all glanced at me when I walked into the room. They were all wearing the same questioning expression. Ignoring the glances, I quickly turned to Serena.

"Serena can you please get us some more pop corn ?" I asked sweetly.

"but we've got plenty –." She pointed at the three filled bowls and started protesting.

"we'll need more if you want me to go through the entire population of boys Lita fell in love with." I said hustling her out of the door.

"hey!" Lita protested. "not that many !" after making sure that Serena had left I turned to look at them.

"ok, what is it ? we already got enough popcorn to last us till tomorrow." Raye said, in a bored voice.

I glared at her, then turned to the other two. "that was Darien on the phone, and he says he cant make it over here tonight." Lita chocked on her popcorn.

"what ? why ?" Raye wanted to know.

"wait, I haven't finished yet. Darien thinks he should talk to one of us today afternoon before he goes into the whole relationship thing with Serena. So I agreed that one of us will talk to him about all there is to know about Serena. And the basics of their relationship. Andrew didn't fill in on his part as that so. . . ." I trailed off. They stayed quiet and kept starring at me. "uhuh, no way" I said shaking my head. "I've done all the work so far – so its gonna be one of you guys."

"I cant I got computer class everyday after school. And today." Amy said quickly.

"I have to go directly to the temple, after this. Grandpa is organizing a karate class and I need to watch out for broken limbs." Raye said.

We all turned expectantly to Lita. "I . . . uhh I have . . . . uhh to have uhh . . . . at what time do I meet him ?" she asked defeated. I cheered.

"he's on the phone now, go and make your plans." I said. She got up grumpily and left, just as Serena walked into the room, balancing three more buttered popcorn bowls in her arms. 'uh oh' I thought. 'how are we going to get rid of all this popcorn?'

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

I muttered to myself, grumpily. I could have come up with a million and one excuses but at that time nothing had entered my mind, at a time I needed them most.

"hello Darien" I said into the phone.

"its about time ! I was about to run out of money ! don't you realize that pay phones cost !!" I held the phone away from my ear to keep from going deaf.

"are you done ?" I asked, irritated. I was the one doing him a favour, if he was going to be like this then he could just forget the whole thing.

"yeah, I guess," I could still hear the annoyance in his voice.

"I'll meet you at the fast food place opposite the 'Kwik Pick' groceries store at the mall at five ok ? I asked wanting to get off the phone as quick as possible. (A.N. ok so there isn't a grocery store called 'Kwik Pick' but in this story, lets pretend there is!)

"sure, you make all the arrangements !" he sneered.

If I was talking to him in person then I would have strangled the hell out of him and he would be lying in a nearby ditch, left to rot. I made a mental note to remember to ask mina why exactly was Serena been matched up with such a jerk. (Litas p o v : now I understand why Serena used to hate this guy so much !)

"listen Darien, I haven't got time for this ok ? I'm only doing you a favour. So lets get this over and done with." I replied trying hard not to loose control and blow up and start yelling at him.

"fine." He replied. "5 o'clock at the fast food place."

"right, bye" I was about to hang up when he piped up.

"uhh, one problem." He said sheepishly.

"what is it now ?" I asked irritated.

"I don't know your name or what you look like." He said quickly. He actually had the decency to sound embarrassed.

I sighed exasperatedly. "my name is Lita, I met you the other day at the arcade – I was the brunette." I said through greeted teeth.

"uhh right, well I'll probably be there first. I'll get a table. So when you come in, you can find me and come over and sit at my table with me." He said quickly, not wanting to deny the fact that he didn't remember what I looked like.

Not wanting to be on the phone longer than I needed with him, I agreed and hung up.

As I turned around I almost ran straight into Serena. I gulped, wondering how long she had been standing behind me. Now that I took a closer look at Serena's face she looked a bit sick, as though . . . . she couldn't possibly know . . . could she ?

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

I had been downstairs to get cans of sodas for everyone, When I ran into Lita, who was just hanging up the phone. That girl was like a rock, and running into a rock isn't exactly the most pleasant feeling (Serena's p o v : specially if you had forced yourself to eat popcorn!). I felt all the popcorn in my stomach, which mina had forced us to eat, churn. I took a deep breath trying not to feel sick.

Lita looked at me, she looked alarmed.

"I'm sorry Serena, I swear its not what it seems! its all complicated, and I cant tell you right now what it is but trust me ok, its not what you think !" she buttered out, panicking. She grabbed me by the shoulders and started shaking me, as though trying to force the thought into my brain. But all she was managing to do was make me feel even more sicker.

"Lita. !?" I managed to gasp. I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but whatever it was she was getting very worked up about it. And all the shaking was too much to take. I heard dull thuds as I lost grip on the cans and they fell on the floor. Suddenly Lita let go of me, which caught me off guard. I lost balance and spun around trying to grab something stable so I could hold myself. Unfortunately Amy came out of my room to look what the noise was all about so I found myself grabbing her and all of a sudden we both lost balance and fell on top of Mina who was directly behind Amy. Raye, who was behind Mina, stepped back but Mina had managed to grab her foot while falling, which pulled her on top of us.

There was a shocked silence as we lay on the floor unmoving. After a long silence, Lita appeared and starred at us. Then she burst out laughing. We remained silent, then I found myself giggling. And in a matter of minutes we were all hysterical.

"why ahh we laughin' ?" (why are we laughing?) Raye gasped out, clutching her stomach's again. Nobody replied because that only made everything funnier. After what seemed like years we finally managed to untangle ourselves, and pull ourselves up. But every time one of us let out a giggle we ended up on the floor, clutching our stomachs. But when we did calm ourselves, I got up and went into the hallway to pick up the cans and found that one of cans had sort of exploded and had spilt over the carpet. (A.N. it was sort of a fizzy drink, it didn't exactly 'explode' but you know what I mean !) I went downstairs to collect a sponge to start cleaning the mess up, when Lita appeared.

"since it is partly my fault, I'll help you clean it up." She offered taking the sponge out of my hand. I agreed and we went upstairs to start clearing the mess.

"Lita ? what were you talking about when you know, you started shaking me ?" I asked. I was more than a bit confused over that. She looked unsure.

"you mean . . . . did you hear me on the phone ?" she asked. I shook my head slowly. She sighed in relief. "its nothing really !" she said returning to scrubbing the carpet. Well what ever it was that was bothering her seemed to have gone, so I didn't bother to ask any more questions. Instead I concentrated on getting the stain out of the carpet before mum came home.

********************************Amy*********************************

while Serena and Lita had cleaned the stained carpet mina, Raye and I were sitting crossed leg on the floor. I glanced casually at Raye. "you never got the chance to tell us what happened with Serena ?" I said quietly, not sure whether it was a subject she wanted to bring up or not.

She didn't seem annoyed that I had bought it up. In fact she smiled. "you guys were right, she does forgive easily. I'm glad I talked to her and got things sorted out. Do you know that she didn't even want to know why I said all those stuff about her." She paused. "guys, you know all that stuff I said, yesterday at the arcade ? well I didn't mean it." She looked sad.

"have any of you guys seen Luna ?" I asked attempting to change the subject.

"oh yeah, I forgot, I was meant to tell you. She's staying with me and Artimus while things get sorted with Serena. She feels pretty guilty about Serena's fall." It was just like Mina to forget to give important information like that. I rolled my eyes.

Just then Serena and Lita walked in. they settled down on the floor next to us, and we continued our story telling hoping that there would be something in that would trigger Serena's memory. Most of the stories were a list of Lita's boyfriend's as she insisted on Serena knowing every one of them. In the middle of one of Lita's 'how I fell in love' stories mina made some comment on how 'limited the amount of fish there were in the sea, and if she was gonna eat them all now, their wouldn't be any more fish left for the rest of them.' Which I think had something to do with 'there are plenty of fish in the sea' which somehow Mina had got into her head that fish were related to boys and that going out with boys meant eating them ??? and I don't think Lita heard Raye's comment on 'if she wants a guy, she goes for it – nothing is in her way to stop her.' Which I don't think Serena nor Lita heard. As we continued talking, we heard a faint click of a key being turned downstairs and the door being opened.

"Serena honey ? are you ok ? sorry I'm late ! I got a bit held back" came Serena's mums voice, from downstairs.

I glanced at the clock and got the shock of my life. I jumped to my feet. "guys, I didn't realise it was so late, its past four ! I'm late for my computer class, I have to run. BYE!" I ran out of Serena's room. Raye, who was calling out "I need to be at the temple or else, there'll be too many hurt people", closely followed behind me.

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

I glanced at the door, and stuffed some popcorn into my mouth. 'it couldn't be that late.' I thought as I glanced at the clock. I almost chocked at the sight of the clock. It was past four ! I would have to leave in a few minutes if I wanted to meet Darien on time.

"I wonder what time Darien goings to be here. Don't you think he should be here by now ?" Serena asked us. I turned to look at Serena, startled. Then I slowly turned to look at Mina. "you didn't tell her ?" I asked her incredulously.

She blushed, "I'm so sorry Serena, I forgot ! he called earlier on and he said that he couldn't make it, something about uhh, too much work to do. He said he'll call you and make plans to meet up again." She said quickly, embarrassed.

"oh" was all Serena said, obviously disappointed. I reached over and gave her a hug.

"don't worry about it. He is your boyfriend. He said he'll call you." I said squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. She smiled gratefully at me.

"you should know, you've had enough boyfriends to last you a life time." She said giggling. 'figures, I try to reassure the girl and she thanks me by insulting me !'

I gave the clock a final glance. "I better go or I'm going to be late for my uhh thing." I said getting up. "I'll see you guys later." With that I quickly got up and left the room, not wanting to answer any more questions than I needed to.

I knew that my parents were working late today so I decided to take the risk of not going home and leaving a note – I didn't have time to do that anyway. I made a dash to the bus stop and made it just in time to see the bus disappear around the far corner of the street. I sighed. This wasn't going well – not one bit. I checked the bus time table, it would be another fifteen minutes before the next bus would be coming. I sighed and glanced at the street lights, they should have been on by now. It was pretty dark for four o 'clock but it was nearing winter so it was o.k. weather. I walked into the bus shelter and leaned into one of the far end walls, I yelped in surprise as the wall gave away and I lost balance.

"I've been mistaken for many things but a wall, is definitely unusual." Came a deep voice, as an arm held my elbow to steady me. I looked up and found myself starring at a pair of gorgeous hazel eyes. Without realising it I had mistaken him for the wall of a bus shelter and leaned on him. I blushed realising how ridiculous my that sounded. I let my eyes travel around the length of his body, then finally met his eyes. Of course, I had an excuse he was dressed in black entirely, from the black tennis shoes to the black baseball cap he wore on his head, not to forget the fact that he had black hair, that fell lightly over his eyes. (A.N. this is NOT Darien!!)

"so how much do I score ?" he asked tilting his head to a side and looking at me expectantly.

"huh ?" I asked in confusion, it took a while for me to stop starring at him and take in what he had just said.

"well, I do realise when I girl is checking me out. And I must admit you're not the only one who is doing the looking. Its not all the time I take the bus, get mistaken for a wall and meet a gorgeous girl, all at the same time !" he looked amused. "I'm Pete." He smiled at me.

"I'm Lita," I managed to gasp out. Sure I wasn't exactly what you'd call ugly but I've never been called 'gorgeous' so openly by an equally gorgeous hunk.

Just then a bus arrived. He side stepped me, "this is my bus, nice to meet you Lita, may be I'll get the pleasure of seeing you around sometime." He said, giving me a final smile, he got into the bus. I watched the bus disappear. I sighed. For the remainder of the stay till my bus arrived, three words repeated it self in my mind. ' I'm in love'.

I was quickly snapped back to reality when I walked into the fast food place, which was actually called 'Fast Food', I glanced around at the Formica tables trying to spot Darien. I spotted him after a few minutes, he was sat at a corner booth at the back a table for two which was facing 'Kwik Pick, glancing at his watch. I braised myself for the earful I was going to get for being fifteen minutes late.

I walked over at the booth and stood facing him for a few minutes, he starred at me.

"Darien ?" I asked.

"yeah, Serena's friend right ? sit down." I sat and waited. He didn't say anything. I glanced at him nervously. Something wasn't right.

"look, this is very awkward for me o.k. I mean getting my girlfriends friend to fill me in on my girlfriend, that is usually unlikely, so I'll just ask the questions and you answer, got it ?" he asked, his tone impatient.

"shoot." I replied, ignoring his impatience.

"three words you'd describe her in ?"

"blond, blue eyed, and slim." I replied.

He sighed in exasperation, "I meant in personality !"

"oh . . . . right. Um, sweet, funny and uhh." I fumbled in my mind for another word. "sleepy ?" I managed to say.

"sleepy ?," he repeated incredulously.

"well, she falls asleep, a lot in class !" I said, annoyed.

"so now your saying my girl friend is a ditz." He muttered.

"hey ! Serena is NOT a ditz, maybe a bit clumsy but NOT a ditz." I glared at him.

"sure, whatever." He replied, a frown appearing on his face.

This wasn't going alright. I wish I had been prepared for this. But I wasn't, not one bit.

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

Mina had left a few minutes ago, I crawling around in the floor of my room picking up stray bits of popcorn that had gone flying across the room while we were talking. I was glad that they had come, but I was still a bit disappointed that my so – called – boyfriend hadn't been able to make it. Throughout all this I wonder why everybody decided to tell me now instead of later on.

A yell came from the kitchen, downstairs. I ran down to find out, what was going on.

"mum ? what's wrong ?" I asked as I appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. She was standing in the middle of the kitchen in the middle of half unpacked grocery bags, her hands on her hips and a frustrated look on her face.

"oh Serena, you know tonight, your fathers boss is coming for dinner and I've left a bag in the shopping store, and it had to be the bag with the chicken in it !" she threw her hands up in defeat. "I cant go back now, I wouldn't have enough time to make dinner, and the traffic is awful at this time." She sighed sinking into a chair.

I thought for a minute. "the mall is about three blocks away, right ?" she pulled her hands away from her face and nodded. I glanced at the bags which read 'Kwik Pick' in bold red letters. "so that must mean 'Kwik Pick' is in there somewhere." I continued. Her eyes narrowed.

"what are you getting at Serena ?" she asked suspiciously.

"well," I said. "what if I ran over to the mall and get the bag for you ?" I asked excitedly.

She jumped out of her chair, in relief. "you're the greatest !" she cried hugging me. Then she frowned as she let me go. " I cant let you go ! you still got amnesia and your father wouldn't like it, and you only got home from hospital a few days earlier. I'll send Sammy instead."

"you cant, he 's staying over for the night at a friends house, remember ? and anyway its not like you're sending me to Hawaii on my own or anything, its just a few streets to cross. I'll find the place easily. Plus dad would probably agree to it himself, its either sending me to the shopping centre or ruining his diner with his boss." I said.

With a little more convincing mum agreed to let me go. It only took minutes to reach the shopping centre, but finding 'Kwik Pick' was a bit more complicated than I had expected. I had to ask for directions three times, before I found the place.

I had a list of the items that were in the bag. So when I reached the cashier she directed me towards the manages office, where all lost items that were left behind customers were kept. He recognized me, he said that I looked a lot like my mother (!!!) and that I was always over at the 'Fast Food'. I politely told him that their had been an accident and that I had lost my memory. He looked sympathetic and said that if he could ever help it was that I always went into the 'Fast Food' with four other girls, after school.

After thanking him for both returning the bag and telling me where I always went, "where's the 'Fast Food' ?" I asked. He laughed and pointed behind me.

"exactly across from here." He replied.

I turned around and glanced at what he was pointing. I felt myself stiffen. With a last thank you to the store manager I walked out of 'Kwik Pick' my eyes still locked on the two figures sitting at a booth for two at 'Fast Food'. Lita and Darien. My friend and my boyfriend. "if she wants a guy, she goes for it – nothing is in her way to stop her." Raye's words echoed in my mind.

*~*~*~* another cliff hanger !! looks like I've got my 'touch' back ! sorry this took ages to write up, but I'm in the middle of writing the prologue / chapter one of my other story. So it'll be coming out in a few days !! sorry for any spelling mistakes – hope you like it !!! I know that instead of Lita it should have been Raye that went to meet Darien as it would have been weird seeing that she went out with Darien before. But because mina, and Raye already played a pretty big part in this story I decided to start getting Lita and Amy involved. More later !