Title of Story: A Deal for Love
Chapter 4

By: Sweet Luna

Anger rose up boiling to the point where she felt like she was going to explode. Beryl watched from the other side of the cafeteria staring at the whole charade between Darien and Serena. HE KISSED HER! The anger and envy floated through her body followed by the pain. She shouldn't have toyed with him, that only led to their fight and she thought if she broke it off he would want her back, feeling guilty about what he's said. She should have never left him. She took the chance to see him crawl back to her but instead she got this. The endless regret of losing what she wanted to keep so badly. That Serena is going to get it. It's her fault that Darien isn't coming back. I'll get Darien back and Serena will be out of the picture. Beryl thought.

…………………….
Serena changed into her gym clothes hiding in the corner. She didn't want anyone staring at her change. She waited for her friends to hurry and as she stood there she caught a glimpse of Beryl. Beryl turned around and caught sight of Serena looking at her so she gave her a glare of pure hatred and walked out of the locker room. Serena turned back around and stared into space dumbfounded. Did she just give me a nasty look? What the hell did I do to her? Was it because of..

"Serena," Her friends called to her as Serena snapped out of her thoughts.

The whistle blew as the gym teachers waited for the students to get to their squads. Serena was pretty sure that Beryl was giving her the look. I'm going out with an enemy and I've made another one. In two days. Great.

"Today we're going to start the volleyball tournament. Ok so team one will face team nine on court A. Team two will face team four on court B," Serena tuned out as the gym teacher continued to read down the list on his clipboard. How could Darien do that? He had no right to uh, kiss me. It feels weird saying that. "Team six will face team eight on court E and team seven will face team three on court F. Remember this is the elimination round." Serena got up from where she was sitting and walked over to mina as they walked to their court. At least she had Mina on her team.

"How did it feel to get kissed by Darien?" Mina asked curious and happy that her dear friend had gotten a kiss by the most perfect guy ever.

"Like hell."

"Serena you make him sound like he's the enemy. I mean look at him he's perfect. He's good looking, friendly towards everyone, he's determined at whatever he tries, has a nice body, everything!"

"She does have a point meatball head," a voice came from behind her.

"See he just called me a meatball head. You think that's nice?" Serena tried to point out.

"Serena, don't get so riled up. It's probably just a little pet name right Darien?" Mina asked.

"What, you don't like it Serena?" Darien asked ingenuously.

"Would you excuse me and my "boyfriend" here?" Serena dragged Darien before anyone gave an answer. Serena looked around before she turned her attention to Darien.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Serena raged.

"You mean about the meatball head? Serena it's just a name. Why are you so mad about it?"

"No, not that you idiot. I mean why did you kiss me?"

"If you call that a kiss. "

"You stupid kiss thief. Did I say it was alright?" Serena mumbled her arms across her chest.

"Kiss thief?" Darien laughed at how immature Serena was acting.

"Yes kiss thief. You kissed me without my consent. Who do you think you are?" Darien laughter came to a stop.

"Don't get mad at me. You're the one who wanted to do this whole charade! And what, you expected you wouldn't have to kiss at least once to make it believable? And don't blame me, its part of the contract remember. Plus it was Andrew's fault." Serena stayed quiet and stared down at the ground. She knew he was looking at her waiting for her to say something. Truth be told she knew he was right but pride wouldn't let her admit it.

"Darien!" a high voice interrupted. Serena looked up and saw Darien turn around. She looked over and saw Beryl walking over to them with a grin on her slim face.

"Oh Darien!" she said in her high and mighty voice. She gave Serena a little death glare before turning back to Darien.

"What do you want Beryl?" Darien asked in a low husky voice.

"What? I can't say hi to you? After all you left me?" Beryl made a puppy face and Serena couldn't help but let out a snicker. Beryl raised her eyebrows at her. She walked over to Serena and glared down at her.

"Stay away from Darien you desperate wannabe. I know you just want the popularity and for everyone to recognize you," Beryl said in a low voice only Serena could hear. Serena returned the stare. She couldn't believe it.

Serena stared back at her anger swarming around her body. This was too ridiculous. "I'm going," Serena said to Darien and walked away.

"Ha that stupid girl," Beryl let out a little sneer.

"We're over, remember?" Darien told her in a rough tone. Beryl turned to him and put her arms around his neck.

"Don't you miss the old times?" Beryl asked innocently trying to sound smooth and silky. Darien took her arms and unwrapped them from him neck. Although it pained him to do this to the girl he actually had a real interest in. He really wasn't ready to let go of her. Maybe he shouldn't be doing this.

"You're the one who left me." Darien pointed out to her.

"Well I'm willing to give you one more shot." Beryl gazed into him. Her hand made over to his face caressing it slightly. Her touch was familiar and it still held the power to make him feel knotted inside. "You think it about ok?" she said in a soft voice as she walked away. It still lingered around him as Darien went into his own thoughts. He was thinking, battling the options out. He would have gone to her, been happy that they're going to give it another shot if he didn't know what would happen. What always happened. She would always go off with another guy, like she wasn't satisfied enough. She knew how things worked, how the game was played. Darien had to give it to her; she was experienced and knew the art of conniving. And Darien knew the chances of her leaving what they try to have again for someone else. It especially it turned to a bigger wound when she went for him. She slept with him once. There are possibilities she would do it again. And he couldn't just go back to her like he was some kind of a pathetic toy she had thrown away and wanted to play with it one last time; he had his own sense pride and stubbornness. She was good at being devious and he had to admit, he fell for it. But he too had a lot of practice and had tricks of his own. And it seemed like it was working…

Never had Serena seen Darien so serious. Was it possible that he still had feelings for Beryl? Who would go out with a loser like that anyways? The teacher blew the whistle for the tournament to begin. Serena went to court B. They were facing team four and Serena realized that it was Andrew's team. I hope he gets spiked in the face. Serena watched as Mina served and on went the two teams hitting it back and forth. It bounced one, twice and Mina went for the spike. The ball sped past the other team's players and bounced off the ground. Serena served and watched as it went over the net and again back and forth, back and forth. Serena moved to the front and was standing across from Andrew. He smiled at her and smacked the ball. Serena looked at him in disappointment. Did he know? Then her attention went to the other court and saw Darien. He was bent low waiting for the ball, leaning weight on one side than the other. As the ball was high up, he jumped and hit it. It fell to the ground and Darien smiled giving his teammates a high five. God he's good at everything. Serena stood there watching Darien's game not bothering to participate in hers.

"Serena!" Before Serena realized what was happening she saw a ball fly towards her head. She stumbled backwards a little and watched the room spin. She saw a blurred face and realized it was Mina.

"You alright? I tried to warn you but you were so dazed." Mina held onto her elbow preventing her from falling. "You should go to the nurse. Coach I think she should go to the nurse's office" The teacher came over and looked at Serena and nodded.

"I'll take her down. After all it was my fault." Serena tried to concentrate on the face. It became a little clearer and recognized it was Andrew. He took her arm and led her out of the gym. It was silent and the only noises were the squeaks of their sneakers. She put her hand to her head although it didn't help the throbbing.

"Does it hurt?" Andrew asked.

"You tell me how you would feel if you had a ball going 90mph and hit you on the head. Arg I hate you."

"Don't worry. The headache will go away."

"It's not because of the headache." Serena looked forward as Andrew stared at her. "The thing at lunch. Do you know?"

"Know what? What are you talking about Serena?" Andrew said plainly. It was hard for Serena to say anything. What if he didn't really know anything? Should she risk her chance to find out if he knew or not? If he didn't have a clue as to what was going on between her and Darien he'd find out because she asked him if he knew. But she was pretty sure he did know. He's known Darien since forever and they're so close. Was it possible that Darien told him? But that would be breaking the rules Serena thought. Or did he find out on his own already? If he was able to figure it out than I'm pretty sure other people will too. Is it this obvious?

"You know, I know you do," Serena looked at him from the corners of her eyes. He had a straight face and all of the sudden it broke into a smile.

"Yea, I did," Andrew admitted proudly.

"How?" Serena burst out at him," Was it obvious? Will other people find out? What do you know?" They stopped looking at each other.

"Calm down Serena. I knew because I was there when all this happened. Remember? I was there when you had your little scene with Chris and how out of nowhere you said Darien was your boyfriend. I've known Darien since we were kids and he'd tell me everything. Even he looked shocked when you said you had a boyfriend, nonetheless it being him. At first all this was a shocker and I believed it, but than I also remembered he had a serious relationship he wasn't quite over so for him to jump onto the next girl was quite ironic. The final clue was when you freaked out about kissing Darien which was quite funny I have to admit." He was very good at connecting one thing to another. She defiantly wouldn't have figure all that out in a day.

"Gee thanks. Do other people know? Do my friends know?" Serena asked him praying in her head that they didn't.

"No I didn't tell anyone. I doubt anyone knows especially your friends. They seem to be so caught up in seeing you have a boyfriend that they don't bother to really think about it. I only figured everything out because I'm the only closest one to Darien and he would tell me anything so for him to not tell me you guys were going out seemed a bit odd." They stopped in front of the nurse's office and stood facing each other. Serena couldn't help it. She couldn't stand being mad at him, he was so innocent. With his sandy blonde hair and the color of soft blue water, it was hard for Serena not to loosen up.

"But I still hate you. And all this time I thought only Darien worked for the devil." Andrew gave a laugh that shocked Serena. She gave him a look wondering what was so amusing.

"C'mon Serena. You don't think it was a tad bit funny?"

"A tad bit funny? Why don't you give it a try and kiss him and I'll tell you if it was a tad bit funny." Andrew raised his eyebrows at her odd comment. "Oh shut up," Serena said after seeing Andrew's expression. She couldn't help it. The corners of her lips kept tugging and even if she tried to resist it couldn't be help. She let out a little chuckle.

"What was that Serena?" Andrew elbowed her lightly," Was that a laugh? Did I do that? Of course, who else?"

"What are you talking about? I was thinking about something funny so laughed quietly. Ok?" Serena looked at Andrew from the corners of her eyes and saw him mimicking her. Serena bumped him on the shoulders and smiled. It was funny how easily he can make her simply smile. They stopped in front of the nurse's office.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Andrew asked.

"Nah its fine. Thanks though." He shrugged and waited till Serena went inside before leaving back to gym. Serena noticed the sharp smell that could only link with hospitals. She disliked the odor, it made her nervous and her body shake.

"Yes can I help you?" a lady around thirty years old appeared out of nowhere.

"Uh well I got hit with a ball on my head and I think its getting swollen here."

"Alright you just sit down right there and I'll get you some ice pack." The lady left the room. Serena looked around. Everything was blue. The walls, the chairs, the bed, the uniforms. It was kind of creepy, even in hospitals it was blue. Serena went over to the chair that the nurse pointed to and sat down. Her spine shivered as the coldness of metal touched her. The nurse came back with a pack of ice wrapped around a paper towel and handed it to Serena.

"Alright the pain should subside so just put that ice on your head for a while." The nurse left her alone in the room. Serena looked around at the posters hanging around the walls. One had how to keep cuts clean and what would happen if it got an infection. Another had where babies came from and about teen pregnancy. Serena waited, her head getting numb from the cold ice. She heard someone enter and then the nurse fussing.

"Oh boy that's a pretty big wound," the lady said kindly," Come to the other room and wash it." Serena saw the nurse enter searching in her cabinet for some ointment and Serena went to see who it was. Darien entered slowly and made his way to the sink cleaning his injury. The nurse kept on mumbling to herself as she searched. Finally she got what she needed and made Darien sit on a chair. Serena looked at what was wrong with Darien and noticed part of his leg was red.

After the nurse was done putting the ointment on his leg she wrapped cloth around his wound and got him an ice pack.

"Alright have that on your leg for a few minutes and you're free to go." After she left the room Serena looked over to Darien. He was on the bed with his leg stretched out in front of him. He was looking around the room and caught Serena's eye.

"Well?" Serena asked impatiently.

"Well what?" Darien questioned like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Do I have to spell it out? God. What happened to your leg?"

"I got hurt, what else?" Serena's patience was thinning out.

"You always have to find a way to frustrate me don't you?" Serena let out.

"Well if you're that curious. I burned my leg because it slid on the gym floor." Serena laughed at him. "You think that's pathetic? You're here because you got hit in the head because of a volleyball, which you should've been paying attention to anyways. How the hell do you get knocked out by volleyball?"

"So what? My head's getting numb because of this ice," Serena tried to change the subject. She went over to sit next to Darien on the bed. "Here poke this side right here. It's numb. I can't feel a thing. C'mon poke it." Darien raised his eyebrows. What was wrong with this girl?

"Oh c'mon poke it. What are you scared of?" Darien touched her forehead lightly and turned around. "What, that's it? C'mon that was weak. Hit it harder." She was defiantly odd and strange but her company was somewhat pleasing.

"So you don't feel this?" Darien kept poking," That's probably because you have nothing in that head of yours." Serena rolled her eyes at him and smiled.

"Oh yea? How about this?" Serena hit his leg. Darien pretended to be in pain and Serena started to freak out. She kept repeating I'm sorry over and over until Darien gave her a little push to reassure her that he was fine. Serena wrinkled her eyebrows. This actually felt... nice, being able to fool around with Darien! But Serena remembered…

"I still hate you I hope you know." Serena, now more serious, eyed him like he was a prey that she was ready to pounce.

"Not the first time you said that," Darien responded. "It was a stupid kiss." The fun time was over. The moment that they had back there was gone as the atmosphere changed back to how it was.

"It broke one of the rules."

"What rule?"

"Neither one of them will be forced into doing something life threatening or truly uncomfortable/displeasing to themselves or others."

"Well I bade by the rules. Public affection display. I'm allowed to do that remember? Getting kissed wasn't life threatening, maybe for me but not for you. I'm just doing what we agreed on. Do you want more people to find out?"

"What do you mean more?" Serena looked at him curiously.

"Andrew knows doesn't he?"

"Yea so? You're such a selfish jerk." Serena scorned.

"So? You're a twit and a prude." Darien mocked back. They remained to spit poison at each other until the period was over.