The next morning, Serena woke up to rain. She jumped up & ran to the window. She looked out & sighed. "Blah, rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. Little Me wants to play." she sang.
"Serena?" her mom called out. "Are you up?"
"Yeah!" Serena yelled back.
"Get ready for your ballet class." her mom reminds her.
"Oh yeah, I have ballet!" she exclaimed, happy. She changed into a light blue tee, light blue sweatpants & a blue cuff . She threw her leotard, tights & ballet shoes in her ballet bag & grabed her heather gray hoodie & dark blue denim slides & runs downstairs.
She was greeted by eggs & milk. "This looks really good." She smiles, putting her shoes & hoodie down. She starts eating.
When she's done, she puts the dirty dishes in the sink & sees her mom with a brush, hair ties & a clip. Her mom does her hair in a bun.
"There we are. Are you ready to go?" her mom asks.
Serena nods. "Yeah, let's go!"
Serena puts on her hoodie, slides, raincoat & galoshes. She grabs her bag & umbrella & she walks out the door with her mom.
When they get there, her mom turns. "Now, sweetheart. I'll be here in 2 hours to pick you up. I have something special to tell you." She pats her stomach.
Serena doesn't notice, though. She grabs her bag & umbrella. "OK, bye momma!" She shuts the door & runs into the studio.
Once she gets inside, she notices something weird. All the girls are sleeping. "Melissa?" she goes over to her brunette friend. She shakes her softly. "Melissa, wake up…"
Melissa doesn't stir. Serena puts her stuff down & goes over to the teacher, who is busy with something. "Miss Mackenzie, why is everyone asleep?" she asks.
Miss Mackenzie says softly. "It's because they are tired, Serena. Why don't you sleep also?"
"I'm not tired, though. Can we wake them up?" Serena asks, walking over to Melissa.
"NO!" Miss Mackenzie screams, spinning around. Serena stops in her tracks, scared. Miss Mackenzie has an evil glint in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Miss Mackenzie…" Serena starts, but Miss Mackenzie walks over & smacks her across the face!
Serena puts her hand to her face, tears streaming down her face. "Miss Mackenzie, what's wrong?"
Miss Mackenzie laughs. "Nothing once you go to sleep as well." She changes into a monster!
Serena screams & runs outside. Miss Mackenzie (or should I say the monster) runs after her.
Serena slips in the rain, but jumps up & keeps running. But the monster jumps in front of her & stops her. "Time to go to sleep, Sailor brat." the monster growled, grabbing her by the collar.
Serena lets out a bloodcurdling scream & her body begins to glow. "What's this!" the monster exclaims.
Serena keeps on screaming until a crescent moon appears on her forehead. Before the monster can do anything, the moon unleashes a furious blast of energy, blasting the monster into oblivion.
Serena, passed out on the ground, turns back to normal. The last thing she remembered was a warmness.
Serena opens her eyes to a room that looks like a shrine. She sits up. "What's going on?"
"I brought you here." she heard a voice & turns to see a girl her age, with long black hair, making tea.
"Who are you?" Serena gets up & crawls over to the girl.
"My name is Raye Hino. What's yours?"
"Serena Tsukino. What happened?" Serena asks, wrapping herself in a blanket.
"I was walking with my grandpa & we found you, lying on the ground, in the rain. Grandpa brought you back here." Raye explains.
"Oh…Thank you." Serena bows. "But I have to be getting back. Everyone at my dance class was sleeping & my teacher turned into a monster." She shivers at the memory.
Raye turns around with some tea ."That's an imaginative story." Raye smiles, handing Serena a cup.
Serena takes it & takes a sip. "But it was real…at least I think it was…" Serena says.
"Well, there was no one when we found you, so in a few minutes, Grandpa will take you back." Raye says, taking a sip.
"What school do you go to?" Serena asks.
"Brookdale Elementary. What about you?"
"Crossroads Elementary. Isn't Brookdale a private school?"
Raye nods. "Yeah, it is."
Serena nods & looks around the room. "This is cool. Do you live here?"
"Yeah, I live with my grandpa."
"Where are your parents?" Serena asks, sipping.
Raye gets serious & Serena feels like she said something stupid. "You don't have to tell me…"
"It's OK. I don't mind." Raye says, keeping tears in. "My mom died when I was 4 & my dad is a big time politician who travels the world. So he left me here."
Serena nods. "I'm sorry…"
"It's OK." Raye turns, smiling. "I like living with Grandpa. He's funny."
As if to prove her point, Serena & Raye hear a sort of jungle yell. They run out under the porch & see Grandpa swinging from trees as if he were Tarzan.
Raye laughs, but Serena stands in awe. "He's brave…"
"Nah, he's just stupid." Raye clears up.
Serena nods, still in awe. Raye calls out. "Grandpa, can we take Serena back now!"
Grandpa lets go of the vine, does a flip & lands in a huge puddle, splashing the girls. "Hey!" Serena exclaimed, wiping off her wet clothes.
"Grandpa!" Raye whined, but Grandpa ignored her. He walked over to Serena, shook off the rain, soaking the girls even more & grins. "Hi, I'm Grandpa Hino. You can call me plain old Grandpa though."
Serena nods. "OK, I'm Serena Tsukino."
Grandpa nods. "I see." He gets serious. "Now what were you doing in the rain, passed out?"
Serena didn't really want to explain, so she lied. "I slipped & hit my head."
Grandpa claps his hands. "Knew it! Now why don't we go take you back?"
Serena nods. "OK."
Grandpa turns to Raye. "Raye, put on a raincoat & galoshes. Share an umbrella with Serena."
Raye nods. "OK." She runs back inside & comes out in a red raincoat & galoshes. She has an red umbrella with her.
"Wow, that's a lot of red." Serena remarks.
Grandpa rolls his eyes. "That's all she buys."
Raye pretends to pout. "Be nice."
"I am nice. You're just hardheaded."
"Meanie!" Raye stuck her tongue out at Grandpa. She opens her umbrella & the three of them walk off.
I've introduced Raye & am starting to add more about Serena's 'mystical powers' I'll update as soon as I can. In the meantime, pleaz RR!