Author's Note: Okay, I'm sorry I haven't reviewed in like, forever. But school is really hard right now. And I just got a boyfriend, so I've been behind on schoolwork and everything else in my life. This brings us to where we are now. I feel really crummy about not updating, but I finally got around to it today! Yay! So, enough of my babble, here's chapter 10, I think. Oh, and by the way, the beginning of the chapter is taking place on a Monday after the weekend that sere and dar went clue searching. I didn't feel like typing out the entire process, but I will sum it up in the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or its characters. I just like to take them and mess with their lives! Now, doesn't that sound like fun?
Chapter 10: Possibilities Arise
As Serena applied the last touches of mascara to her eyes, she was summoned downstairs by the loud rumbling sound of Darien's motorcycle. The weekend of clue searching proved to be a waste of time, for Serena and Darien couldn't find anything that he could use to claim his innocence. Serena couldn't understand how there couldn't be any leads or clues left behind. There was, after all, no such thing as the perfect crime.
Serena grabbed her keys off the coffee table and headed out of her apartment door to meet Darien and ride to school together. They had spent a great deal of time on the bike together, driving to his old neighborhood and apartment, but came out empty handed and their hopes in the gutter. Each day drew closer and closer to Darien's trial, which was announced the day before and left Darien more and more stressed. Serena did her best to get him to relax and keep his spirits high, but her attempts were futile and put all her energy towards trying to find a way to prove his innocence. Serena exited the apartment complex and greeted Darien with a kiss on the cheek as he handed her a spare helmet. She placed the helmet over her head and tucked her hair into the edges so it wouldn't whip around her face in the wind. She slung her leg over the side of the bike and wrapped her arms tightly around Darien's upper torso. Darien gave a loud roar to the bike and sped away from the curb onto the street. The wind flew against their bodies and to Serena, the street became a blur. She loved the feeling that riding on Darien's bike gave her. It felt as if it were him and her against the world, leaving behind all their problems. 'Maybe that's what we'll have to do, if we can't prove him innocent' she thought as she wrapped her arms tighter around him and laid her head on his back. She could smell his cologne through his leather jacket and sighed letting her thoughts drift away. All she could do was enjoy the time they spent together now and pray.
Darien felt Serena lay her head on his back as he turned a sharp corner. Like Serena, he was also disappointed in the results of the weekend. Every morning he woke up more stressed than the last, thinking about the trial that drew nearer and nearer. He felt even worse knowing that Serena was now involved with his problems. She seemed to be taking it harder than he was. She was up late every night on the internet trying to research the papers that had done a story on the murder. He hoped that she hadn't stayed up as late the night before, since she had to get up for school today. Serena confirmed his suspicions when she released a yawn and Darien could feel her breathing at a steady pace. This meant she was up even later, since she was drifting off to sleep on his motorcycle. 'Why does it have to be this way?' he asked himself. 'Why do I have to burden her with my problems?' He pulled into his usual parking spot and turned off his engine. Everyone stopped to stare at who the mysterious person on the back of his bike was. Darien got off his bike and gently touched Serena's back.
"Hey beautiful, we're here." He said gently as he saw her eyelids flutter open like the wings of a butterfly. She let out a yawn and crawled off the bike. When she removed her helmet, the jaws of the outside spectators dropped in shock when realizing that it was Serena, Darien's rival on his bike. At least, his rival since Friday. The couple gathered their bags and began walking to their first class together. As they walked down the halls, students continued to stare at the mismatched couple and whispered to the people around them. Finally, Serena couldn't take the attention any longer.
"What the hell are you all staring at?" she yelled. "It's as if you haven't seen two fucking people walking together before." Everyone immediately stopped their conversations and the hall was silent as people cleared the way for the King and Queen of Mean. "Now that's more like it!" Serena yelled over her shoulder as she and Darien entered their classroom. The students were just as silent in the classroom as they were in the hallway as Serena and Darien sat in neighboring desks together. As the one-minute bell rang, Darien looked around the room and realized that Andy wasn't there. He hadn't seen or talked to him since Friday night after leaving Anthony's "office". He was worried about how he was doing, since he left Darien after telling him the story of his sister's disturbing past.
"I wonder where Andy is." Darien said to Serena, who had laid her head on her desk with her eyes closed.
"You mean Mr. Perfect isn't here yet?" she asked with her eyes closed.
"No and I'm kinda worried too. After he told me about your past, he left me alone seeming very upset. I don't understand why it affected him so much?"
"Don't worry about him. Andy's too big of a pussy to do anything drastic. He probably forgot his math book or something like that. He'll be here soon." The final bell rang and a nun whom Darien had never seen before walked into the classroom. Behind her followed a girl with auburn hair and of medium height. She had pale skin and delicate facial features. When she and the nun turned to face the class, Darien immediately recognized her.
"Class," the nun started, "I'm Sister Josephine, and I'll be your teacher for the rest of the semester. Your previous instructor was in an accident last weekend and will not be returning to class until she has recovered. Next to me is also a new student. Say hello to Ann."
"Ann." Darien whispered to himself. Serena opened her eyes at the comment and looked from the girl to Darien and saw how both their eyes showed that the two had met before.
"Who is she?" Serena asked sleepily. "Darien?" Darien was still in shock and returned to reality when Serena waved her hand in front of his face.
"Ann was Rita's best friend." He said stunned.
"What!?" Serena yelled, falling out of her chair. All eyes turned to see what had surprised the fearless Serena so much to cause her to fall out of her chair. Serena returned all the looks with a dirty glare, causing everyone to switch their attention back to the new girl, as she managed her way back to her seat. "What're you talking about?" she whispered to Darien as Ann made her way down the aisle towards Andy's empty seat.
"I'll tell you at lunch." He replied not taking his eyes off Ann until she looked down at him as she took her seat. It seemed like forever to him, before she finally turned her attention to the front board. For some reason, Serena felt an immediate jealousy towards the new girl, but decided that she was more useful for information than a threat. She decided that after she talked to Darien, she would ask Ann questions about Rita. Hell, she might be the key to proving Darien's innocence.
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Unbeknownst to Serena, a mysterious figure loomed outside the classroom window, watching her stare in envy at the new girl in her class.
"Don't worry my precious," said the figure, "you're still beautiful to me. I'd never lay eyes on another girl if you were my prize. Which you will, soon enough."
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"So Ann was Rita's best friend when she was alive?" Serena asked as soon as she and Darien sat down for lunch.
"Yeah." he said not returning Serena's eye contact. Serena now had an idea that Ann was something more to Darien, than he was letting on.
"Was she anything else to you, Darien?" This silenced Darien more than before Serena asked the question. After a few moments, Darien replied, choosing his words carefully.
"Ann and I used to be a couple before Rita and I started going out. She had a huge crush on me and asked me out. I thought that it would be fun to get to know her, so I accepted. We went out for about two months before Rita moved to our town. Ann and Rita were best friends before Rita moved and she constantly talked about how Rita was the best friend a girl could have. Finally, Ann introduced us and it was almost love at first site." Darien paused to look at what kind of expression Serena had on held on her face. Serena just looked down at her diet coke, as if she were trying to count the fizzle bubbles. She was obviously in shock. "We secretly started seeing each other and it wasn't until about 6 weeks later that we decided to tell Ann about our relationship."
Serena finally turned her gaze to Darien's face and finally spoke. "How did she take it?" she asked.
"She surprisingly took it well," he said with a surprised tone in his voice, "She said she figured that something was happening between the two of us and understood our feelings. She also said she had met someone else also who lived in another town and that she wanted to start seeing him. I never met the guy, but I figured any guy could treat Ann better than I did." The five minute bell had rung and Serena and Darien rose to start walking to their classes, which were in separate directions.
"Where do you want to meet after school?" Darien asked.
"Actually, I have to ask a teacher a question about an assignment, so I'll just walk home." She shouted over the crowd of students.
"Since when did you start caring about school?" Darien asked with a puzzled look on his face. It wasn't like Serena to want to go talk to her teachers after school, especially about school work.
"Since now!" Serena shouted before running off to class. "Call me!" And Serena left Darien alone in the crowd of students, for some reason, more worried than confused.
"I will."
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It was an odd coincidence to Serena that when she wanted to talk with Ann about Rita after school, that she happened to have her last period with her. 'At least I won't have to find her after school.' She thought. Serena purposefully took the chair next to Ann so she could study her, and maybe have a conversation with her before bringing up the death of her best friend. Unfortunately, all the teacher did that day was talk, so she couldn't hold a private conversation with Ann. At the end of the period, all the students got up to leave except for Ann and Serena. When the room was quiet, Ann turned her head towards Serena and broke the silence.
"I know that you want to talk to me Serena." She said which took Serena by surprise.
"Wait, why do you know my name?" Serena asked feeling slightly insulted that the girl seemed to already know more about her than she wanted her to.
"Oh, please. I heard about your name throughout the hallways and when I heard that Darien went to this school, I figured you two must be connected together somehow. So, has he screwed you and told you how much you mean to him?" she asked accusingly. Serena more pissed than a cat sprayed with a hose, leapt out of her desk and slammed her fist on Ann's desk and bent her head down to her level.
"That's none of your damn business, you stupid wench!" she yelled. "I'm just here talking to your sorry ass so I can prove that your ex-lover is innocent of killing your friend!"
"He never loved me!" Ann cried. "And he never loved Rita either! He wouldn't have killed her if he did! He was involved with someone else, just like he was with me!"
"Bull shit! If Darien cares about someone, he wouldn't do anything to harm them! You're just jealous that he loved Rita the way you wanted to be loved!" Serena screamed. Ideas flew through her head about Rita now. Hell, her bitch-ass best friend stated that Darien killed Rita without question.
"What do you want from me?" Ann asked, gasping for air, trying not to cry. "Do you want me to defend a killer? I want justice for Rita! And I'm not going to let that sorry-ass liar get off scotch free. He'll pay for what he did!"
"How do you know that he killed her?" Serena asked, starting to calm down a little, but still ready for a fight. "Maybe someone else who was infatuated with her killed her? Hmmmm? Did you ever think about that?" Ann took a few moments think about this theory.
"It…could be a…possibility." Ann thought slowly. "She did mention a few times to me that some other guy had caught her eye and she couldn't decide if she should break up with Darien." Hope sparked Serena's eyes as she began to ask Ann more questions.
"Did Rita have a diary or a journal of some sort?" she asked excitedly.
"I think she did, but it would still be at her house." Ann responded thinking slowly. "It would probably be in the top drawer of her night stand."
"Ann, I need to get a hold of that diary. Where did Rita live?" Serena got the address to Rita's house and thanked Ann for her help. She got a taxi and rode to Rita's old apartment complex. After confirming the address, she got out of the car and went inside. She asked the complex owner if the apartment was still there with all of Rita's belongings in it and they said yes for police purposes. She asked if she could be let into the apartment, but the owner said no. Disappointed, Serena walked around to the side of the building and when no one was looking, shimmied up the fire escape to Rita's old apartment. She peered through the window to Rita's bedroom and pulled out her credit card to try to pry open the window with. After a minute of struggle, Serena noticed that the window was already unlocked.
"How convenient." She said to herself and crawled through the window.
She landed right next to Rita's old bed and began looking through her nightstand drawers. When she came out empty-handed, she noticed that Rita had two night stands and made her way to the other side of the bed. She opened the top drawer and beneath some old letters was Rita's old diary, just as Ann had described it would be. Serena flipped the pages towards the last entry, since Rita probably met the new guy before she was murdered. She found an entry describing some guy she met and how confused she was about her feelings. She read the entry to herself:
"Dear Diary,
I'm so confused. I don't know if I still love Darien the way I used to or if my real prince charming is-"
"Oh my God! It can't be!" Serena said in shock. She suddenly heard a loud sound and turned around and was hit on the head with a club. She fell to the floor into an unconscious sleep.
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Ha! I'm evil! Another cliff hanger! Oh Ashley, you're so bad! Sorry guys! I'm really sorry to keep y'all waiting for this chapter, but I will finish this story. Hopefully some of you are still interested in it. Who's the mysterious stalker? Who is the mysterious guy in Rita's journal? Where's Andy? And what about that prissy bitch Ann? Will Serena be okay? Will Darien come to her rescue? Find out in the next chapter! And please Review! It keeps me going! You people are the one's who influence me the most, so influence me to finish this story! I love you all bunches!
-Neo Crystal Angel
