Serena sat on the wooden chair, spinning slowly around and around. She was early for once, earlier than the people she was supposed to be meeting. Andrew was helping out with some customers. It was pretty busy today for some reason. They usually only had this much business on the weekends, not on a Monday afternoon. About five minutes later Andrew walked around the counter with her chocolate milkshake. He sat it down in front of her and then took a seat on the left side of her. Serena looked at the milkshake in awe, licking her lips in anticipation.

' Everyone has a weakness or two. Mine just happens to be Andrews milkshakes. It not cheating really...'

After finally convincing herself she pulled the cold concoction to her and took a big gulp out of the large straw. The thick liquid slid down her throat, silently putting her in a semi-state of heaven.

' If I could only live in this moment! Oh, Kami-Sama, I love chocolate'

Andrew laughed at the look of pure love in Serena's eyes. He got a lot of compliments about his milkshakes, but no one had the same reaction to them as Serena did. It was quiet amusing to see the 17 year old girl acting like a child at the sight of one. He was surprised she didn't squeal in delight like she usually did, but she had been acting strange lately. Usually she would have pulled him away from his work, ordered up the entire menu, and then chatted about how much school sucked or how she would finally beat the Sailor V game. She was basically growing up before his eyes.

The bell rang signaling more customers, but Andrew stayed in his seat. Serena swivelled in her seat to look at who had just arrived. The Sailor Senshi and Darien were all laughing and joking about something. Rei hit Darien's arm after he had said something under his breath. They passed by Andrew and Serena both and walked to the back of the room, and sat down at the gangs usual table.

" Watch, in like, 20 minutes she is going to come running in here, dragging some poor victim behind her, talking on the top of her lungs, and totally drag Andrew away from his work. By the way, were is Andrew? Usually he would have already come to talk to us." Lita had said, looking around the arcade/restaurant to find Andrew. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the look on Serena's face.

Everyone in the group gasped when they saw who was listening to their conversation. It was none other than Serena herself.

Serena couldn't believe what she had just heard. She knew they talked about her in private, but in public, AND with Darien? Was she really that bad? They faced her with a shocked look on their faces, and she gave them the most unusual reaction. She tried her best to smile, and she acted strong, even though she could feel the burning in the back of her throat, and could feel the tears building up behind her eyes.

' No. This is not what is going to happen. I am not weak, they will not see me cry. I do not care about what they say about me. This is my first real test.'

She shook her head lightly, making the twin buns on the top of her head loose. The golden hair swirled until it landed in soft layers over her shoulder. She smiled lightly, barely a tightening of her lips, and slid down from the high bar stool. A chime resounded in the background to the left of them, signifying another customer had entered the shop. Andrew stayed perched on his own wooden stool, to shocked to move and help the person. Never had he heard of the group talking about Serena this way, even if they did tease or complain about her usually. This was almost unnatural, out of place.

A flash of silver passed by him and latched onto Serena's arm. He looked over confusedly, gasping at what he saw.

" Wow Serena! This place is great! You told me how cute this place was but I never thought it would be this Kawaii! Do they have the new Sailor V game we were talking about! I bet if we team up we can finally pass the Jewelry Store Burglars! Serena?"

Once the girl finally noticed her companion had not responded with her usual eagerness, she stepped back and walked in front of her. She faced Serena and looked into her sky blue eyes. Andrew had to hold his breath. Since when did Serena hang around such...beautiful people? The regular group was quiet a site in itself, but this girl just, shone somehow. Her school outfit was replaced by a pair of low raise jeans and black halter top. As he was admiring her he heard footsteps coming from behind him and turned around.

A man about 6 1' was looking at Serena with a heated gaze. He had the oddest silver like blonde hair and violet eyes. Once he noticed the man was now looking at him instead of Serena, he turned around to focus on the tense group.

' What a strange day this has been...'

Serena gazed at the silver eyes searching her own, before breaking off into a wide grin. For some reason Kylie seemed to make her defenses against her emotions stronger. She was sure she would have been running out of the door crying if she hadn't came barging in.

" It's nothing Kylie, I just thought I heard something that I didn't.", she looked at the group behind Kylie, each having their own look of shame on their faces, " Would you like to meet my other friends now, the ones I told you about?"

Kylie's silver orbs narrowed slightly as she heard Serena lie to her face, but brightened once more and turned around to face the people that Serena was pointing to. She bowed politely to each, her face guarded from their curious gazes. She hated these people. Every single one of them, including her boss behind her back. Serena was oblivious to this all as she walked over to stand next to the table they had occupied.

" The one in the gray uniform is Rei, she's the priestess that works at her grandpa's shrine." Serena pointed to a long black haired girl in a uniform similar to her own. Kylie pretended to think hard, and then lifted her eye brows in confusion.

" This is the one you said had great talent with the fire right?" Serena nodded her head and Rei blushed at the compliment. She steeled herself and held down the blush, brushing past Serena.

" I don't need you to introduce me, meatball head. I can introduce myself." Serena visibly deflated a bit, but picked her head up and opened her mouth to retort. At the last second she caught herself and narrowed her gaze.

'That was a little to close for my liking. Just calm down, you can rant later about how RUDE Rei is.'

Bowing at the silver haired girl, Rei offered her a small smile. " You must be Kylie, Our new class mate, ne?" Kylie nodded and focused back on Serena, unnoticeably irritating Rei. With a sigh Rei sat down at the corner closest to Darien.

" The one with the blue hair is Amy, she's the intelligent one in our group. Next to her is Mina, she's the one that is starting to model, I showed you her picture?", Kylie nodded as she recognized the face from the picture Serena had showed her.

" Next to Mina is Lita, she is the amazing cook." the brown haired pony-tail girl waved brightly at her, " And next to her is my boyfriend Darien." Kylie gasped a little walking closer to Darien, scrutinizing him with her eyes.

" So this is the hottie you wouldn't shut up about in Science. Not to bad, but my cousin is hotter, just look behind you." Serena and Darien's eyes widened and she swirled around to come face to face with the purple eyes god she had seen earlier. She gulped as he stared at her, his lips turning up in a smirk at her surprised expression. She had to tilt her head all the way up to meet his gaze, shocked at her reaction.

' Wow...'

If she thought he had been attractive before, seeing him in distressed jeans and a black wife beater almost made her faint. His eyes... she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen them before. They locked their eyes and held it, each looking for something in the others orbs. Apparently he found it first because he glanced over her shoulder to his cousin, flashing her a knowing smile. Once he broke eye contact she felt slightly dizzy, almost like she had been in a trance.

' How odd, I've had this feeling before.'

Darien, not liking the way his girlfriend was looking at the older man, got up and walked over, slipping his arm around her waist, a show of odd possessiveness. Giving the blonde man a sneer, he looked him up an down. A look of pure distaste was clear on his face. Serena made a small protesting noise in the back of her throat as Darien continued to squish her small frame against his own muscular one.

" I believe you are hurting your girlfriend." The unnamed person's deep baritone voice laced out, whipping against Darien invisibly. Darien glared at the man, not caring how impolite he was being or not. Kylie, watching the battle of wills smugly, decided to end things before they could get out of hand. They were supposed to befriend these people, not the opposite.

" Come on Hisoka, stop scaring Serena's friends." She gestured to the group of people behind them, " Guy's meet my cousin Hisoka Tamata." a collective gasp was heard from everyone but Serena, Kylie, and Hisoka himself. He smirked inwardly as Darien forgot his momentary anger, instead his brown eyes widened in surprise.

' There they go again, what is so special about this guy? Why does everyone turn to mush when they hear his name?'

" You think he would get fed up of having everyone praise his name day in and day out. I think it bothers me more than it does him. He seems to love the attention." Serena just nodded distractedly and slurped her milkshake, once again slipping into paradise.

' Hmmmmmmmm...chocolate...'

HotAngelFromHell