I Need You
by Phantasy Star
- - - - -

Chapter Six


"Good work, Raye," Darien said, "Ten out of ten. I don't know why I bother
checking your homework anymore."

Raye giggled and took back her spelling book, "Grandma always checked my
homework before I hand it in."

Darien nodded, "Well, dinner should be ready soon. Finish up your last math
questions and come downstairs."

"Oh, Dar Dar," Raye said, "I forgot to get you to sign my field trip form.
We're going to the museum tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? You should have told me earlier," Darien scolded, "When can I
pick you up?"

"I think we get back to the school by three."

"If you come back earlier, give me a call," Darien said.

"Okay, Dar Dar."

- - -

"This curry looks great, Serena," Darien said with a huge smile as he walked
into the kitchen.

"Do NOT speak to me, Chiba," Serena said flatly, "I'm still not talking
to you."

"Come on, Meatball Head," he said, exasperated, "I apologized a thousand times
already. The girls have forgiven me, why can't you?"

"Because they do not understand how evil you are for getting drunk with your
so called ex-girlfriend and forgetting about us, and then not even having the
guts to lie about it!"

"You wanted me to lie?"

"It's better than hearing the awful truth of what you did!" Serena yelled.

"If I lied, your Meatball radars would have picked it up and I would have been
in even more trouble..." Darien muttered under his breath.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Serena said.

"By the way..." he said as Serena put the chicken on a plate, "Who WAS that
guy you were talking to?"

"Rick?" Serena said, "He's Lita's coach for the softball team. He goes to
Juuban University too."

"I'm not sure you should let some stranger drive you and the girls home."

"He's not a stranger," Serena said, "The girls tell me he used to watch them
for Mrs. Muriel when she went out."

"Still... I don't really trust him."

Serena rolled her eyes, "You don't like any guy who's cuter than you, do you?"

"Cuter than me?" Darien exclaimed, "Yeah right. You must have bad taste,
Meatball Head."

"Don't grind my nerves, Darien," Serena said, "Now help me carry the chicken
to the dining room."

Darien nodded and picked up the plate.

He frowned.

'He's not really cuter than I am, is he?'

- - -

"All right, kids," Mr. Bailey said, "You all behaved very well today. I hope
you enjoyed your trip to the museum and you'll tell your parents all about it
when you get home."

Raye stared at her watch. It was only one. She remembered that Darien had
told her to call him if the field trip ended earlier than she thought.

"Raye, we're going to the store," a classmate said as she came up beside her.
"Let's go together."

"I can't," Raye said, "I promised Dar Dar I'd call him if we came back early."

"Come on, it'll be fun. You always love it."

"Yeah!" the other girls chorused.

"I... I don't..." Raye hesitated, then bit her lip, "Oh, all right."

The other girls cheered and Raye walked off to the store with them.

- - -

Serena came home from school and walked in the front door to see Darien staring
sternly at Raye, who sat on the living room sofa quietly, staring at her feet.

"Hey guys," Serena said, "What... what's going on?"

"Why don't you tell her, Raye?" Darien said sternly with his arms crossed.

"I..." Raye said softly, "I came back earlier from the field trip, and I was
supposed to call Dar Dar, but... but... but my friends wanted me to... to..."

Darien turned to Serena, "But her friends told her to go to the store and she
just went with them. I called the school an hour ago because I gave them Amy's
medical card number instead on the field trip form, and the secretary told me
it didn't matter because the trip was already over. Do you know how worried I
was?"

He turned to Raye, "I don't get it. Why couldn't you have called me? I
specifically said that if you got back before three o'clock-"

"Darien," Serena interrupted, "Come on, she knows she made a mistake."

"What she did was unacceptable," Darien said.

"Yeah, she knows," Serena said, "Can't you see that she's sorry?"

Raye nodded and wiped away a tear.

"Well, sorry or not, I'm not letting her talk to friends on the phone for
a week."

"That's ridiculous!" Serena exclaimed, "She's always been a good girl and
she only made one mistake. You don't have to punish her if she already
knows what she did wrong."

"Would you stop defending her?" Darien said, "She needs to know there are
consequences to her actions!"

"Darien, Raye's already learned her lesson!"

"You're just arguing with me because of the whole forgetting-to-pick-you-up
thing," Darien shot back.

Serena glared at him, "Oh, don't even remind me about that."

"Serena, can't you just let me handle this? You're going way too soft on them.
We have to teach them to be obedient."

"You're the one being way too strict. Children are like rubber bands. If you
pull them too far one way, they'll fly off the other and you won't be able to
pull them back!"

"What, so I should just let them do whatever they want and not teach them
about consequences and responsibilities? Maybe that's how you like to deal
with things but I don't need you teaching this to the girls."

"Fine!" Serena said angrily, "If you don't trust that I can do a good job
taking care of the girls, YOU can do it. I... I'm going for a walk."

She pulled open the door and walked out.

Darien stared at the ground and gave a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry, Dar Dar," Raye said almost inaudibly, "I... I won't talk to my
friends on the phone this week if you want..."

"Forget about it," he said gruffly and walked to the kitchen, "Just go to your
room and do your homework."

- - -

Serena stomped down the street towards her house.

'What a JERK he is!' she thought angrily, 'How could he be so strict with Raye?
It's not like she disobeyed him on purpose...'

Serena suddenly stopped dead in her tracks when she came to a corner and stared
across the street.

A dark-haired girl and blond guy were kissing under a lamp post.

'Isn't that... Elisa?'

- - -

Serena turned the key and went into her house.

"What am I going to do?" she whined to no one, "Should I tell Darien? He's
going to be so angry and disappointed..."

She sat down on the sofa and stared at the coffee table.

'Maybe I made a mistake... Maybe it was just a girl who LOOKED like Elisa...'

She buried her face in her hands.

'No, it's definitely her... I have to tell Darien... But how? I have to do
something to put him in a good mood so it's not so bad... Maybe I should buy
him a chocolate cake or something. That always makes me feel better...'

She frowned and sat up suddenly, blinking in confusion.

"What am I doing? Why should I care so much how Darien feels? It's HIS
cheating girlfriend, HE should be the one to deal with it."

She stood up and grabbed her coat, ready to head back to Mrs. Muriel's house.

She sighed.

'Still, no matter how big of a jerk he is, he doesn't deserve this...'

- - -

Serena walked as slowly as possible back to the mansion. This was just about
the last thing she wanted to do - to tell a guy who already hates her that his
girlfriend was cheating on him.

"Serena!"

The blonde turned and saw Rick walking towards her.

"Hey," she said with a smile, happy for the temporary delay, "What are you
doing here?"

"I live right over there, next to... Mrs. Muriel."

"Oh, cool," Serena exclaimed, "I didn't know we were neighbours."

She noticed his solemn expression and stopped smiling, "What... what's wrong?"

"Um, Serena," Rick said, "You might want to sit down for this."

- - -

A minute later, they were sitting on the front steps of his house.

"Well?" Serena said, "What's going on?"

Rick took a deep breath. "I... I went to the hospital yesterday... I wanted to
see how Mrs. Muriel was doing... I..."

Serena stared at him, not liking where this was going.

Rick closed his eyes.

"She's... gone. She passed away before I got there. Yesterday morning at
seven o'clock."

Serena's mouth opened slightly but no sound came out.

"I'm sorry," Rick finished, "I thought you should know."

Serena put her hand over her mouth and a tear slowly made its way down her
face. "I can't believe it. Oh, Mrs. Muriel... And, how can I tell the girls?"

Rick put his arm around her sympathetically, "Don't think about that now.
It'll be all-"

He stopped when Serena fell into his arms and cried into his shirt. He froze
for a moment in surprise, then put his other arm around her comfortingly.

"It's okay..." he said softly, "It's okay..."

- - -

Darien walked back and forth in the living room.

'She's just on one of her temper tantrums,' he told himself, 'She'll be back
in a few minutes...'

He groaned. He wished he could leave the house and go find her, but the girls
couldn't stay home by themselves.

Not knowing what else to do, he wandered out the front door for some fresh air.
After a moment, he turned and was about to head back in when something caught
his eye.

Serena and the guy he saw the other night, sitting on his front steps, him
holding her and whispering quietly to her.

It took a moment for his brain to register what he was seeing. Then he turned
away, his eyes slightly pained.

"Looks like she's not mad anymore..." he muttered under his breath.

He went back into the house and shut the door quietly behind him.


- Author's Notes:

Thank you for a lot of comments from
last chapter. As a "thank you", I
uploaded this chapter only three days
after the last one (It's a record!)
Hope you liked Chapter Six.

Phantasy Star