CHAPTER SIX

The next morning when Serena awoke, it took her a good five minutes to figure out why she woke up in a strange place. As soon as she had regained her composure, all the events from the night before came flooding back.

Jerk, she thought and then tried to distract herself by getting ready for school. For once she found the act of putting on her uniform to be very therapeutic.

As she made her way down the stairs she could smell the aroma of eggs, bacon and freshly made toast. Her mouth immediately started watering. She had not had hot food for breakfast in a very long time. Her dad tended to leave quite early to prepare the restaurant and so she was left with eating by herself which was usually just one slice of toast with jam and orange juice.

"Good morning, Serena. Come, sit and have breakfast," beckoned Aunt Jenny as she set down a freshly brewed pot of coffee.

Serena made a mental note to wake up earlier tomorrow so she could help. She did not want them to think that her father raised her to be ungrateful of other people's hospitality.

Serena also noticed that she was the last one to gather at the table. Her father and Uncle Kevin were already deep in conversation about goodness knows what. Darien sat on his father's left side eating and reading a newspaper. Nate was quietly eating his eggs and toast with a smile on his face sitting next to his brother.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Hello Meatball Head," piped Nate.

Serena looked at him with surprise. Then she looked over at Darien and glared. All he did was give her a shrug as if he wasn't behind that nickname at all. But they both knew better.

"Nate, that is not very nice," chided Uncle Kevin. Nate pouted and went to eating sneaking a silent raspberry Serena's way.

Serena had to admit that she could not blame him for being annoyed. Although the house was big, the space was taken up by the huge sizes of the rooms and Serena and her father were occupying two of these rooms.

"Darien, don't forget to wait for Serena. You have to show her the way to school," stated Aunt Jenny. Darien just nodded curtly and went back to reading the newspaper.

About ten minutes later Darien got up out of his chair. Serena quickly finished off the last bits of her toast and sculled her milk down to catch up to Darien. It was clear that he would not wait for her. She was just putting on her shoes when he left through the door. And two minutes later she flew out the door and ran after him.

Halfway down the street, Darien suddenly stopped in his tracks and Serena could not stop herself on time and ended up colliding with his back. Needless to say, he was not happy when he turned around to face her.

"I'm only going to show you the way to school once so you better memorize it. And in the future walk at least two meters away from me. I don't want to be seen with someone who still has bread crumbs and jam on their face and clothes," he said curtly and continued walking.

Serena glared at his back. She was muttering under her breath the whole fifteen minute journey to school. What a pompous ass, was what kept recycling in her head. She did not even notice her friends at the gate because of the frustration she was going through because of that jerk.

"Serena, is everything okay? You look like you want to kill," Mina enquired with a nervous laugh.

"Damn straight I want to commit murder!" she gritted her teeth as they way made their way to class.

Out of the five of them, only Amy and Raye were in the top class for the year. And while Serena, Mina and Lita were not in the lowest class they could not exactly say that their class was any different. Lots of delinquents in their class who just manages to scrape into the passing mark.

Once they were seated, their homeroom teacher, Mr Sparks did the roll call all while everyone was being their usual restless selves.

"So everyone I just wanted to remind you that the mid-terms is only a week away," reminded Mr Sparks.

There was a collective groan from all around the room. That was when Serena had the most brilliant idea.

She stood up and declared, "Don't worry, sir. I will surely make the top fifty list in the mid-terms!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Serena. Then everyone, including Mina and Lita, started laughing. It was a known fact that Serena was at the bottom in terms of grades. It was laughable. But this time she was determined. She was determined to show Darien that their names will be posted on the same piece of paper for everyone to see.

"What has gotten into you, Serena? Lita said when class had broken for lunch. The three of them were on their way to their spot under the willow tree at the far end of the grassed area outside of their homeroom building. There they found Amy and Raye already deep in conversation.

"Why? Don't I have a right to be on that list?"

"You know what I mean."

"Hey, guys, we heard about what happened," Raye informed them.

For the third time that week, Serena found herself to be the topic of conversation around the school. Apparently her classmates did not have much faith in her and so decided to spread it to the rest of the school.

"Do you really think you can do it?" asked Amy.

"Of course I can! I want to show that jerk face Darien that he's not the only one who can perform miracles," Serena said determinedly.

"I'll help you," offered Amy.

"No, Amy. This time I will do it myself," she declared.

"Oh dear!"

Her friends shook their heads and dropped the subject.

"Anyway, Serena, how is the new place?" Mina asked changing the topic.

"Oh you know. It's fine," she muttered.

The morning memory flashed back in her head. After Darien's little tirade about the bread crumbs on her uniform he coldly added that under no circumstances was she allowed to tell anyone that they were now living under the same roof.

"So who are you living with?" curiously asked Lita.

"My dad's friend. But it's far so I can't tell you where it is."

The rest of the day they tried to extract the information out of her. But Serena did not budge. She was more afraid of what Darien would do to her should she blurt out their current living arrangements.

Her main concern at this stage was how to make it into the top fifty list for mid-terms in just a week. Panic was starting to set in. Maybe she had bitten off more than she could chew.