Chapter 9
*ring* *ring*
"Hello?"
"OH MY GOD, RENA! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" Mina screamed excitedly over the phone.
Serena flinched from the volume, "Tell you what?"
"THAT YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH DARIEN SHOCKCOR!"
Serena dropped the pencil she was writing her essay with. "I'm what?"
Mina sighed, exasperated, "Going out with Darien Shockcor, duh! Oh my god, you should have seen Raye's face! It was a total kodak moment. You should've been there—"
"Hold on a sec, I'm not going out with Darien, what are you talking about?" Serena questioned almost fearfully.
Mina seemed to calm down a little, but still sounded doubtful. "What do you mean you're not? Your whole English class saw you two kissing like a million times! And rumor has it that you guys are going to the up coming dance together. This dance is the most important dance of the year, you know. I heard that the prom is usually a total bummer—"
Serena interrupted, "Mina! I didn't kiss him a million times!"
"You…didn't?" She said, sounding disappointed.
"I only kissed him twice in front of them!"
Mina's face broke out into a grin, "So…you did kiss him! You go, girl!"
"Mina! It's only because of the whole Romeo and Juliet project thing!" Serena lied.
"Sure, that's what they all say," said Mina slyly.
Serena rolled her eyes, "But I still don't know if I'm going to accept his offer on the 'most important dance of the year'."
"Rena!" Mina gasped, "If you don't accept, then I'm seriously going to sneak into your room tonight and…um…shave off your eyebrows, missy!"
Serena's eyebrow rose, "Shave off my eyebrows?" She laughed, "Talk about creepy!"
Laughing along with her, Mina said jokingly, "Yeah, well, that's only the beginning."
After their laughter ceased, Serena said seriously, "I don't know what I should do, Mina."
"Well, do you want to go with him? Even a little?"
Serena hesitated before answering, "No…yes…I don't know! Every time I'm around him, I feel like strangling him and kissing him at the same time!" She yelled in frustration.
"Rena, you should go if you want to go even a little. You don't want to spend the rest of your life wondering what would've happened if you went to the dance with him, do you? Go! Or you'll regret it BIG TIME."
Serena thought about it for a moment then decided that was the best thing to do. Mina had a point. She didn't want to be a lonely old lady day dreaming about what could have been if she only decided to go.
"You are absolutely right. I should go."
"I know I'm right," she giggled, "you are going to have a great time. Trust me. If it goes wrong, then I'll poke Darien's eyes out with a rusty spoon and stab him a thousand times with a dull butter knife and—"
"Uh, Mina?"
"Yeah?"
"Rusty spoon and dull butter knife?"
"What? It makes me sound less violent that way!"
Serena banged her hand on the locker in frustration. Damn it. She was about to band on the locker again when she heard his cocky voice.
"Damn, baby. I'm beginning to think that you're purposely getting your locker stuck to get me to help you," said Darien, smirking as he banged on the locker twice with the side of his fist.
Serena narrowed her eyes at the comment, while glaring at the now opened locker.
"Well don't get your hopes up, Shockcor."
They walked together to their classroom in silence when Serena stopped before the entrance.
"Listen," she began, "about the dance…"
Darien immediately assumed that she was going to say no.
"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you're too chicken to go," said Darien, trying to cover up his disappointment with a smirk.
"If you'd have let me finish, you would've heard me say that I'll go," she said, annoyed.
Darien blinked but quickly regained his composure, barely able to hide his happiness. "Great! That's great."
"Okay," replied Serena, not having anything to say. 'Okay'? What am I, dumb?
They stood there in awkward silence until Darien spoke up jokingly to lighten the mood.
"So, are we going to go in or stand here and grow old?"
Serena rolled her eyes, and said exasperated, "Yes. In. Now."
"You know, if you'd have said that when you were inviting me into your house and not a classroom full of people, it would have been much more kinkier."
"Shut up."
"I will if you'll make me."
"What do you want me to do, spank you?"
"Ooh, kinky."
"Ugh, I led myself right into that one."
"Actually, you inviting me into a classroom full of people is kinky, too. So public, so many possibilities." He winked suggestively.
"Gross! Shut the hell up! And stop using the word, 'kinky'!"
Serena got into her car and started to drive toward her house. The performance went pretty well for Serena except for the fact that practically all the girls in the class were giving her murderous looks. She was thinking about the dance. She didn't know what was going to happen with Darien. He was certainly not her type. He was nothing like her type. He was arrogant, selfish, perverted, and incorrigible. But then why did she agree to go with him? She had absolutely no idea. For all she knew he could go to the dance with her and dump her like 4th period French the next day.
During the middle of her pondering, it took her a while to realize that she had no idea how to dress up for the dance. She had no clue as to if the dance was formal or informal. Even if she knew, she still had nothing to wear! Panicked, she took out her cell phone out of her bag and started to dial Mina's number until she remembered that she probably wasn't even home yet. She exhaled slowly and forced herself to calm down.
After she arrived at her house, she ran up to her room and dialed Mina's number, hoping that she would be home. However, her hope was squashed when her answering machine picked up.
"Hi! I'm out right now so leave a message, 'kay?"
*BEEP*
"Hey, Mina, it's Serena. It's an emergency so you just have to call me back ASAP."
A minute after Serena hung up, her phone rang. She quickly picked it up.
"Mina?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, babe, but I don't think I'll grow breasts any time soon."
Serena was disappointed that it wasn't Mina but still a little excited that it was Darien.
"Oh. It's just you," said Serena pretending to be disappointed. She couldn't let him think that he was getting to her.
"You wound me, Sere."
Serena rolled her eyes wearily and plopped onto her bed.
"Ow!"
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Was there alarm and concern in Darien voice or was she just hallucinating?
"I'm fine, it's nothing. I just banged my head on the headboard."
Darien started to smirk. He couldn't hold back on a chance like this.
"I can go over there and we can do some banging on the headboard together."
"You are so impossible!"
"Sorry," he grinned, "I couldn't resist."
"Why is it that you turn everything I say into something sexual?"
"I guess I'm just talented," he said jokingly.
"Uh huh," said Serena, half amused and half annoyed. "Anyway, I have to get off soon. I'm waiting for a call from a friend."
"Right. Before you go, I just want to remind you that I'll pick you up at 8."
"Oh yeah. I've been meaning to ask someone. Is this a formal or a casual dance?"
"Semi-formal."
"Oh."
"Don't worry, Sere. You'll look beautiful in anything."
Serena blushed. "Thanks."
"That's not a compliment."
Confused, Serena stuttered out a puzzled response.
"What?"
"That's a fact."
In all her life, that was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever said to her. She had to admit that she was shocked by the sincerity in his voice. She smiled. Maybe there was something in Darien Shockcor after all.
