The next day, Amy, Mina, Lita, and Raye ran through the automatic hospital doors, huffing loudly.
"Oh my gosh! You're as bad as Serena!" Raye sighed. Mina simply giggled.
"But Andrew is so cute! Who am I to prevent a hot waiter from chatting it up with the girl of his dreams!?"
"Puh-lease! I've known Andrew longer than you so I have a better chance!" Lita said adamantly while flaunting her height advantage. At five-foot ten inches, Lita could easily look down on the other three petite females.
"Curse you!" Mina said under her breath.
"Then why'd he give me a free milkshake?" she countered aloud.
"Mina, darling, he gave you the milkshake because you walked in the arcade looking like your dog died," Lita said.
"That's not true. I wouldn't let a little make-up class get me down!" Mina's fist shot up in the air with affirmation. "Right, Amy?"
"You should be a little worried though. You need to pass chemistry to graduate," Amy replied serenely from beneath her glasses. Mina felt as if a bookshelf had fallen on her pride.
"Hey, guys. Is that—Serena!?" Raye asked. Sure enough there stood the infamous blonde at the main desk with a pile of books in front of her. She had already changed out of her uniform into normal clothing and had her identification tag in tow.
"Serena!?"
On the counter lay an assortment of books that had once been considered Serena's second greatest enemy. (Beryl is her first greatest). A blue math book lay on top of the pile with a purple Japanese book below, a red science book and green history book in the middle, and a yellow English book at the bottom.
"Whoa, look at all those books!" Lita couldn't believe that Serena would ever carry all the books at the same time and place. She was lucky if she got her math homework done on a normal day.
"You think she's actually going to study?" Mina said feeling oddly awkward. She pictured herself alone in a chemistry make-up class.
"Serena, I'm proud of you. Not only are you on time, but you have real textbooks!" Amy said with sincere satisfaction.
"I'm surprised you even knew what a textbook was?" Raye teased.
"You're just afraid that I will get better grades than you."
"You could get better grades than me if you tried!" Raye paused. "But at least I can walk in a straight line without falling," she gloated. In retaliation, Serena stalked over to the large pile of books, picked them up, and began walking down the hallway as gracefully as she could.
"Thank goodness I'm a sailor scout or else I'd have to get wheels for these things," she thought as she strolled proudly ahead.
Raye took her chin out of the air after Serena had walked ten yards.
"Wow, maybe she can do this," Lita voiced. Everyone shared the same skepticism.Suddenly, Serena whipped around with the intention of sticking her tongue out at her friends. Unfortunately, in the next second she had landed on her knee. Books went flying up in the air and all that could be heard from the blonde nest of hair was a large, ground shaking howl.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Her friends merely walked past her sullenly.
"Spoke too soon."
The whole group arrived at Darien's room; they felt they ought to meet him properly after yesterday's scene. When they reached the smooth, cream exterior, Serena peeked in through the small rectangular window above, but once again Darien's curtain surrounded him. Finally, she grabbed hold of the door. Serena slowly turned the golden knob, making it creak incessantly.
"Serena! Just open the door already!" Raye said exasperatedly.
Serena tried to open the door, but her palm remained trained to the door. Sweat prevented the lock from sliding out of place.
Serena froze for what seemed millennia. Finally, Mina, noticing her fellow scout's distress, grabbed the knob and opened the door widely. Discreetly, but with an irked expression, Mina wiped her hand on her blue, pleated skirt. Serena enabled herself to walk forward with much self-assurance that she was not only over-stressing, but insane for being afraid of a guy. Especially one that looked nothing like Melvin.In fact, she had to admit to herslef, he was gorgeous-With this abrupt thought, Serena stopped, though not before reaching Darien's sight. He turned his glance from the television to her. In one quick glance she noticed that some of his bandages were missing. Serena also could have sworn that his face had been dull, even gloomy, a second ago, but in this instant all she saw was a gentle smile.
"Hi Serena," he said in a sincere, but guarded way. In the next moment, however, he was fumbling for the remote to the television. Unfortunately, before he could shut it off, Serena spied Kerberos on the screen. She chuckled to herself before clearing her throat and gaining a confident composure.
"Hello, Darien. I would like you to meet my four dearest friends," Serena said as she held up her hand like the women who display items on "The Price is Right". Suddenly, two cats jumped onto the ledge of Darien's window sill, who, unbeknownst to the hospital patrons, had been hanging for dear life off the edge for some seconds.
"Excuse me," Serena added with a giggle, "My six dearest friends. Meet Mina, Lita, Amy, Raye (who you already have met), Mina's cat, Artemis, and my cat, Luna." Each of them nodded at the mention of their name.
"It's a pleasure," Darien said with a nod in return. Luna opened her mouth to let out a shocked remark, but mid-word, she caught herself. Instead, she fell off the ledge in embarrassment, with her cat like agility failing her. The scouts and white cat watched in horror with their jaws grazing the cool floor tiles; she almost spoke in front of Darien. Darien just watched with extreme curiosity.
"Am I missing something, Meatball Head?" Darien inquired. When her face became plastered with a false smile, he became sure that something was truly…up. He decided to ask again later.
While the other scouts watched Luna concernedly as she got bandaged on her chin by Amy, Lita looked at Darien from the corner of her eye, noticing something that the others had miraculously failed to see.
"You know guys; he looks a little like..."
"Yeah, we know…your ex-boyfriend. We went over this last time," Mina finished her sentence. The abruptness and rigor of her statement was noted by Lita, but did not stop her from continuing. Serena, who stood in the corner of the room watching Luna get more acquainted with Darien, was only half-listening to their conversation.
"No…don't you guys think he looks a little like...," Lita said, with a strange feeling that the scouts had pleading looks on their faces. But why would they?
"A little like Tuxedo Mask," she finished. As soon as the words left her lips, she realized that the other scouts had in fact already noticed the same thing. Serena visibly tensed.
"Serena, what's wrong?" Darien asked, while remaining completely unaffected by the name. Serena straightened her posture and put on as genuine a smile as she could muster.
"Nothing. I was just daydreaming," she reassured him. But, for some reason, Darien felt he could read her better than himself.
"Hey girls, don't you have other patients to visit," Serena said putting extra emphasis on "other".
"Oh, my, look at the time! Ken is waiting!" Lita was anxious to leave the scene of her previous slip-up. Nodding affirmatively, the girls all turned to leave.
"It's nice meeting you Darien," they all chorused.
"And by the way, Serena, I hope you didn't bring those books just to get exercise." Serena stuck her tongue out at her blue-haired friend before turning to look at the dreaded textbooks.
"I guess we'd better get started..." Serena looked like a werewolf staring at a full moon.
"Aren't you forgetting something---Meatball Head," Darien smirked at his cleverness. When she turned around with a grin that put her earlier smiles to shame, he felt almost-complete?
"That's right! And you already owe me for tomorrow, too!" Her red horns and tail wagged at the end of her thought. Luna looked up the pair with uncertainty. Teenagers.
Serena closed her eyes and crossed her arms like she had seen Ms. Haruna do earlier that day.
"So what'll it be Darien? Ghouls, fairies, gnomes or leprechauns? Or maybe knights in shining armor and glamorous princesses lying asleep at the top of towers?" Serena dramatized like a ten year old. Darien coughed to suppress laughter.
"Not quite," he said simply.
"Well stop teasing and tell me the story," Serena demanded. She then hopped on the bottom of his bed narrowly missing his legs.
"Geez. Why not put my leg back in a cast?" Darien winced at her brashness. He then sighed and thought back to a time long ago, that until now, he had hoped to forget. Serena noticed how in a blink of an eye, his eyes turned three shades darker. This observation prompted her to wait patiently for Darien to begin.
"Once, there was a boy who lived in a big house with his two parents. He never wanted for anything. However, at the age of five, he decided he wanted to go on a drive. While he and his parents were riding, the car lost control on the winding road they were on and they endured a terrible crash. The only survivor was the little boy. When he woke up later that day in a hospital bed, all he could remember was a name. Darien." Serena drew in a breath when she realized that this story was anything but fiction. Still, she listened intently.
"They called my survival, let alone recovery, miraculous. When they had reached me I was near death, but all on my own, my strength came back. By the end of the week, I was completely healed and able to leave the hospital. The doctors said I must have been "alien" to have survived the accident," Darien's eyes gazed to the moon that arose in the rainbow sherbet-colored sky, "Since then I've noticed that I could heal normal injuries in a matter of seconds simply by thinking about it. The weirdest thing about it is that on nights when there was a full moon, I'd heal even faster, as if I was strengthened by it. Though, lately, I haven't felt anything. The moon's been clouded over every day I've been here." Darien paused and his eyes lightened slightly.
"So, that's why I have to ask you… where did your cat get this crescent shaped bald spot?"