Disclaimer: same procedure as last chapter.
Hurt Before*New*
*Start a new kind of being
She's down and she's praying again*
"You're getting a new office?" Lita asked excitedly, "Wow!"
"That's great, Serena, you finally did it," Amy congratulated.
"Your brother was against such a scheme," Serena commented in a bitter sardonic tone.
"Well, you know him," Amy smiled, "He's scared that he will himself spending more time than he wishes in you office for different reasons."
"I don't think I could handle him," Serena laughed and did not notice the knowing looks between Amy and Mina, "I'd have to send him off to a specialist!"
Rei laughed, "If he ever goes into your office, I'll never let him live it down!"
"Oh, come on! Stop bickering about that piece of stone, we should be celebrating Serena!" Mina exclaimed with her eyes shining like diamonds (AN: heh) while the others groaned and Serena looked at them confused. Obviously she didn't know Mina that well. "I say we go SHOPPING!"
"You know, if Andrew ever becomes ruined, I will not be the least surprised," Lita commented.
"Come now, I have a great idea! Let's give Serena a make over!" Mina continued.
"A make over?" Serena hesitated, but it was too late…
"That IS a great idea!" Rei exclaimed as Lita agreed, and Amy nodded smiling.
"Now, girls…Girls?" Serena called at Rei and Mina who started to drag her out of the apartment. "What exactly do you have in mind?" she questioned suspiciously.
"Hey, what *do* we have in mind," Rei stopped, asking Mina with a clueless look.
"Uh-oh," Amy whispered.
"Okay, okay—" Serena started setting down the boundaries. "No dyeing my hair, no cutting it above mid-back, no plastic surgeries, no botox… let's see— no forcing me to pay for ugly, revealing clothes, or expensive make up, and no making me try any kind of underwear." She had suffered a make over at the end of high school, when Molly felt that they needed to go to the prom, so she was speaking pretty much from experience here.
"What? You ruled out the hair, clothes and make up? Now, there's nothing left of her make over…" Lita sighed.
"Don't worry," Mina exclaimed, ever bouncy, how Andrew still had not tired of his wife was a wonder… or perhaps not… "There's still change in hairstyle, highli—"
"NO highlights!" Serena boomed, Amy laughed, while the others ogled. Sometimes, when she lost her patience she could really sound like Darien.
"Okay, no highlights," Mina seemed to note, "There's still the spa, massage, manicure, pedicure, and perfumes—"
"I've found my smell thank you, I don't want to try any others, perfume shops make my head ache," she told them. (AN: and don't they ever? Evil little shops those are!)
"Okay, that too," Mina continued, "Then there's always the unrevealing clothes, the inexpensive make up— hang on, oh yeah, strike the two last ones; I'll pay for the clothes and make up, and of course, my specialty, the accessories."
"You don't understand," Serena insisted, "I'll never wear it, and it would be a waste of money… It would be better to give the money away to UNICEF or something that's good."
"Fine, we'll do the make over, then I'll send a sum to UNICEF if it makes you feel better," Mina hushed her.
"Let's not argue with her," Amy whispered, "I know how you're feeling, but trust me, it's better to not protest on this one."
So there went the Saturday with the girls; spa, massage, mani and pedicure, hairdresser, make up specialist, and shopping (lethal amounts of clothing, shoes, and accessories, at least according to Serena). Although they were making Serena over, the girls couldn't resist to join the madness themselves, so it was all fun.
It was mid afternoon when they had finished with all that shopping, and to escape from the darkness they decided to grab something to eat at a coffee shop, so that evil Mina just had to suggest that they should join "Andrew and the guys", as she put it at some Brazilian coffee shop. Everyone was up for it, except Serena.
"Darien will probably be there," she tried to explain, "And by the way I look now, I'll never be confident enough to answer his insults."
Her friends ogled at her. She looked fantastic in her navy blue, knee long, classical looking Prada dress, and the knee-high, black, mocha boots, and a cute pale pink cardigan from Ralph Lauren to go with the dress, and her white jacket wasn't ugly either…
"But Serena, you look fabulous," Rei tried.
"It's not that! You know how it takes a while to feel confident in new clothes?"
"Huh? I feel extra confident in new clothes," Lita said and Rei and Mina supported her with a "me too" each.
"Don't worry," said Amy, who was familiar with the feeling. "When my brother sees you, he won't be able to say anything clever— after all, he only but a man…"
With that the girls convinced her to come along.
The girls then joined Damon, Darien, and Andrew that the coffee house. Serena made sure to sit as far away from Darien as possible, to prevent him from talking to her. That meant sitting across him, and not being able to avoid noticing how he stared— no, glared at her with his stern face many times, leaving her with an uncomfortable feeling.
At some point during the meeting the seating arrangement changed, as Rei wanted Serena's seat to talk to Damon, and Serena could not counter the girl's demanding attitude. So, next thing she knew, she was seated beside the devil himself!
"You're only ordered hot chocolate," he commented frigidly, then he continued sarcastically, "That's right, you're thinking of all the starving children of the world, aren't you?"
"I simply lost my appetite when I saw that I'd be in you company on a perfectly good afternoon," she replied and then added with disgust, "You should be ashamed of yourself for making fun of starving children like that."
He looked at her with his ever intimidating stone-like face, and she, feeling awkward took a sip of her hot chocolate that was cooling down. She sat there for a long time, away from the encouragement of her friends.
"Have you lost your tongue?" Darien asked after a while, noticing her withdrawal from conversation. "You were just fine a few moments ago."
"Oh, that was when I wasn't sitting beside you. The fear of you abusing everything I say keeps me from talking," she told him, making him frown at her, probably with dislike.
Serena did, however, start to speak again, when Amy urged her to enter the conversation and to her surprise Darien did not make evil remarks. She did notice that he was on the verge of criticizing her many times, but the death looks that Amy and Rei flashed him kept him in his place.
Darien wasn't lucky enough to avoid seeing her that Saturday. But to his relief she was back to normal on Monday, with the exception of the unusually radiant skin, and the nicely done nails painted in pearly pink polish, and the new hairstyle which left her hair wavy, almost curly (okay, guys, not eighties big hair type of thing, more like fifties perfect curl style) instead of her old straight. That was a big relief to him, although he did not let it show, big relief indeed.
okay, here's another chapter. I've got to finish this story real quick, so that I can really focus on my studies instead on having my brain wandering off to ff.net, it's a really important semester with loads of projects, essays and what not that count for the grade. So, yeah, there will probably be more the one chapter a day in the near future, or none at all depending on my homework load *heh, I couldn't be bothered to do my homework over the break so now I have to pay*.
Now, maybe I'm a little late here, but did you hear of Britney's wedding and divorce? That girl's completely out of it! So my advertisement for this chappie goes like this: DON'T BE LIKE BRITNEY; DON'T DRINK (too much) OR TAKE DRUGS (I don't know if I should include cigarettes here… however, cigars aren't included here… don't ask… I just like Cuba, so sue me!).