Chapter Twenty-eight

Packing

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"Hey, Mina." Serena said into her phone.

"Hey, Serena. What's up?"

"Not much. Come to the park, I have a surprise for you."

"When?"

"Now. I'm calling the others too."
"Okay. See you in a few."

"Bye." She hung up before Mina could say anything.

She did the same, calling the other three girls.

When they finally arrived, each screamed with excitement. They all knew Yella very well, and loved her like a sister.

After each calmed down, they decided to take a walk and catch up.

"So when did you get in town?" Ami asked.

"Just last night."

"And you didn't call us?" Raye practically yelled.

"We didn't want to bug the guys too much. We stayed in their spare room last night. And I mean, I already feel like a burden to Darien." Serena sounded depressed.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you aren't a burden to me?" Came a voice from behind them.

"Huh?" Serena and the girls whirled around. "Oh, hi Darien." She greeted him with a hug and a peck on the lips.

"You didn't answer my question." He pointed out.

"Well, I do. I can't help it, I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"Hey, Serena. Maybe we could look today." Yella suggested.

Raye, Mina, Lita, and Ami just looked at each other in confusion.

"OH, didn't I tell you?" They shook their heads no. "Yella is moving out her, and I'm moving in with her!"
"That's good." Lita said.

"Sounds like it'll be fun." Mina added.

"When?" Raye asked.

"Well we still have to find a house..." Yella said.

"I WANNA HELP!" Mina shouted.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Sounds like a plan." Serena remembered something. "Darien, weren't you with the guys today?"

"They're all being interviewed. I told them to call me when they were done. To keep myself busy, I decided to go for a jog." He explained.

"Makes since." Serena laughed.

"Wanna come?" Yella offered.

"Sure."

They walked from house to house, finding nothing Serena or Yella liked. While in one house Darien got a phone call from the guys, saying they were done. They soon joined in the hunt for a house. It had been close to three hours before they finally found a nice one.

"I love it!" Serena said, walking out of a bedroom.

"Me too." Yella agreed.

"Its nice and close to everyone." Serena started.

"And school." Yella added.

"And school." Serena mumbled. "What do you guys think?"

"Yes!" All nine voices said at once.

"Okay, then I'll go talk with the owners." Yella said.

"We'll be outside." Serena waved.

They waited until Yella came running out of the house.

"We can move in this weekend." She said.

"YAY!" They all shouted.

"Now I just have to pack." Serena said, a little less enthused.

"We'll help." Mina said, putting a hand on Serena's shoulder.

"We an sell the house and their stuff too." Serena added with a sigh.

"Whatever you want us to do, we'll help." Darien wrapped her in a hug.

"Merci." Serena mumbled into his chest, hiding her huge grin.

"Little miss smarty pants." Darien replied with a grin.

The others just looked at each other in confusion.

"Darien said he was gonna get annoyed of 'thanks' so I said it in French." Serena laughed.

"Ohhhh." They all said with amusement.

"Well tomorrow I'll go back to my house and pack while you guys are at school." Yella said.

"Okay." Serena's stomach growled. "I'm hungry." Everyone laughed.

"Let's go to the Crown." Kevin suggested.

"OH, crap. I have work in...45 minutes. I have to get ready. I'll see you guys later." Darien said, giving Serena quick kiss before jogging off.

"Bye." Rang their voices after him.

"Now let's go eat." Serena said, taking the lead towards the Crown.

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They finished eating and headed home. It'd been a long day of walking in the heat, and it was catching up with them. Serena and Yella decided to get a head start on getting Serena's parents' stuff sorted.

They walked into Serena' s house and Serena sighed.

"I'll start with Sammy's room. Can you get mom and dad's?" Serena asked.

"Anything, Serena."

"Basically I want to just sort all the stuff into boxes. Like clothes, jewelry, pictures, and such in assorted boxes. I'll look through it all later." Serena was surprised with herself that she hadn't started crying.

She and Yella walked upstairs to start packing.

A few hours later, Serena was finished with Sammy's room and decided to face her parents room again.

"How's it going?" Serena chocked out, walking in.

"Good. How about Sammy's room?"

"Done. Want help?"

"Sure. I was just looking at this picture." Yella handed Serena a beautifully framed picture from the wall. In the picture was her parents, Sammy, Yella and herself.

"Oh, I remember this picture." She thought back to the day it was taken. "That day was so much fun. It was really hot day. It was my 16th birthday, and we went to my favorite restaurant. Then we went for ice cream and had a food fight with it. It felt good after the hot day." She laughed.

"Yah, that sure was a fun day." Yella agreed. "Hey, you'll be 17 soon...what, another two weeks?"

"12 days." Serena quickly sputtered out.

"But it's not like you're excited or anything."

"Nope." They started laughing.

"They were finishing packing her parents stuff when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Serena jumped up.

She ran down stairs and opened the door to a familiar face.
"DARIEN!" Serena shouted, excited to see her boyfriend...with food.

"Hey, Raye told me you came here to pack stuff up, so I brought some dinner." Darien said walking in.

Yella started down the steps. "I'm done Serena. Who was at-" She looked up from a photo album. "Hey, Darien."
"Hey."

"What brings you here."

He lifted the bag of food in his hand.

"Yum. Smells good." Serena led them to the living room. "What time is it anyways." She asked, noting the darkened sky.

"Eight." He replied.

"Wow, no wonder I'm starved. Let's eat." She said, grabbing the bag from Darien.

They quickly finished and decided they better head back to Darien's. They had school in the morning.

Fun, school. Serena sighed.