Disclaimer: Serena is not mine. I own no part of the Sailor Moon Universe. Darn the luck.

Note: Yay Opal: a girl after my own heart. D is definitely a creep. Anyway, thanks for the reviews guys! Keep 'em coming! And this is still a kind of pointless chapter… but hey, the next one has much more of a point. I think. Well, you'll see. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Ash was a great tour guide. Still, Serena found herself struggling to remember everything. Albert Einstein High had four floors of classrooms, two gyms, an indoor pool, a theater, tennis courts, baseball diamond, football field/ track, lacrosse and soccer fields. He assured her that there was a club for anything she could ever want to learn about, a team for any sport she could ever want to play, and a clique for any sort of friends she chose to have. The two of them were laughing like best friends by the time they made it to the tennis courts. Finally Ash announced that they had seen all of A.E. that he knew, so he'd have to take her to her class.

"But there's nothing wrong with taking the long way…" He smiled looking closely at Serena. A definite Betty if he ever saw one. And she was really nice. And to top it all, she'd promised to teach him how to cuss people out in Japanese. He couldn't wait to tell the guys about his luck- and to see the look on Gabriel's face when he found out Ash had gotten first dibs on the new girl!

Serena felt much calmer now she had an idea of where things were, she was even starting to think it would all work out… until she was standing outside the door to her first class. World History. 'Why me? I'm terrible at history! The whole school is going to know how stupid the new girl is after I'm in there for five seconds!' Ash laughed as he saw the look on her face.

"Relax, Serena! It's class- not a firing squad. Mr. Albrecht's really nice, you'll love him. Just don't take his volume personally: the guy's voice is gonna deafen you for the first day or so. He definitely speaks from the diaphragm. Must be a side effect of being a coach. Anyway, here goes…" Ash knocked politely, and opened the door. An athletic man with a buzz cut and a square jaw stood at the front of the room.

"Mr. Roman!" the man boomed out. Serena flinched. Yes, she was going to go deaf…

"Hi Mr. Albrecht! I've got a new student for you… This is Serena Tsukino, from Tokyo" Serena squared her shoulders and stepped up beside Ash, preparing herself for a scathing remark on her tardiness. Instead Mr. Albrecht smiled. He had a very pleasant smile.

"From Tokyo? You'll have to help me when we get to the unit on Japan!" Albrecht said, his voice nearly rattling Serena's brain.

"I-I'll try, sir."

"See you next period, Mr. Albrecht!" Ash said, slipping out. Serena felt very very alone.

The teacher nodded to Ash, then looked over the class. "Serena, you take a seat next to Diana there, in the second row. And I remind you all you'll have a seating chart by next week." Serena took her seat, smiling shyly at the girl beside her, a stunning blond with aquamarine eyes. The girl, Diana, smiled back.

"Hey, welcome to A.E., Serena," she said quietly. "What's your next class?"

Serena consulted her schedule. "Umm… Health. And I have no idea where it is…" Ash hadn't shown her a 'health' room.

"Mine too," Diana said. "I'll show you where it is."

It was in Seminar, the students' free period, which also included their separate lunch shifts, when Serena first heard of the RC- the Royal Court. The two girls she was talking to- Angie, an unbelievably thin blond, and Lexy, an athletic red-head, were dumbfounded when she said her old school hadn't really had any set groups or social hierarchy related to sports.

"That's so totally weird!" Angie yelped. "I mean hear you have the Goths, the computer geeks, the rejects, the stoners, the jocks, the cheerleaders…" Angie trailed off there with a sigh. Lexy smirked.

"Angie would die to make the cheerleading squad… But she also forgot the jet set, the punks, the future investment bankers, and the fine arts kids…" Lexy finished the list for her.

"Oh, and all of us freshmen," Angie added, with a sigh. "We're all just going to be picked on the whole year because we happen to be freshmen."

"But next year we get to torture the freshmen," Lexy said with a smile, then she stopped. "But Ang… we forgot the RC!"

"The what?" Serena blinked.

Angie paled. "The RC! The Royal Court! They're… they're… the coolest!"

"Hello Understatement!" Lexi said. "The Court are… they're it. Everyone wants to be them. To hang with them."

"So who is the Court?" Serena said, still confused.

"There are Theirry Valmont, the Wallet- he's got to be up around Bill Gates' league.... Then Zack Walker the Artist; Diana Marcus the Model; Gabriel Wolfe, the Tough Guy; Dee Charles, the Athlete…" Lexi paused for breath.

"Not to forget Illianna Blake the Dancer; Susan Butler the Rich Girl, and Thea Walker the Singer. Oh, and then there's Puck Winston and Ash Roman." Angie giggled. "They're like, THE Party Guys!"

Before the two girls' discussion of pranks past could get started, Serena interrupted. "Ash showed me around today!"

Lexi froze mid-giggle. "What? You're kidding? Was he nice? Oh, I'm soooo turning green!"

Serena thanked the powers above that the bell for their lunch shift rang and she was swept into a stampede for the cafeteria. She chose the salad bar, hoping that lighter food might stay down more easily… she was still nervous and didn't want to risk throwing up in her 4th class at Albert Einstein.

She had her plate and was staring around the sea of tables, beginning to feel queasy and isolated, and resigning herself to a lunch with the calorie-obsessed Angie and the giggling Lexy when from the Gods knew where, Ash materialized. ":Hey, Serena! Come on, I want you to meet my friends!"

It was then that she saw them for the first time. The Court. The group of kids sitting around a large table laughing and talking happily, oblivious to the envious and longing glances from other tables. She was struck with an odd realization as she looked over the group: they were all gorgeous, all of them made the maroon and gray uniforms look like the latest Calvin Klein look. And Ash was guiding her toward them.