AN Sorry for the delay you guys!
Chapter Two: The Van
She couldn't tear her eyes away.
He was beautiful, his skin the color of pale milk white snow and his hair a golden sheen that not even sunlight could compare to. His eyes, though, distracted her as she felt herself drown in them. They were pools of yellow-
Wait. Yellow?
The Hell?
Serena stopped her besotted staring as she wrinkled her nose in deep thought, staring at the boy. Who had yellow eyes? Something was amiss, and Serena, who had been a girl detective in her youth, wasn't about to step away from a mystery.
"Don't even think about it," Morgan said, tossing her notebook of Malmaris family stats into a nearby dumpster now that the exposition had been provided, "Stanton's a major hottie, so I'm sure he doesn't see fug."
Serena frowned, looking at the blonde, "Why are you so goddamn mean?"
Morgan laughed, shaking her hair loose, "Because I'm fucking fabulous at it."
---
Meanwhile, across the cafeteria, Stanton sighed wistfully as he sat in the most isolated and tortured corner of the Malmaris official cafeteria table. He was so alone.
So terribly alone.
And gorgeous.
But still, all alone.
While he was reflecting on his eternity of solitude, Tymmie stole his wallet.
---
"No, Jerome, really it's fine. I can walk to class, you don't have to give me a piggy back ride," Serena said firmly to the boy who was literally bent over backwards for her. She then turned to her side, "And Zahi, honestly, I can handle carrying my book." It was A book, after all. A paper back novel, at that. Romeo and Juliet, so dreamy.
Zahi gave an adorable sexypout, before somehow acquiring a red rose and placing it in Serena's book, "For you, ma belle."
Serena blinked, taking the book and debating whether or not to use a timeless play to beat Jerome over the head until he was unconscious. She coughed, trying to use her French skills as well, "Merci, tu etait tres de jeune fille!" She beamed, thinking that she had called him very helpful.
Zahi paled, before quickly excusing himself, cursing the whole way for not choosing a more manly flower to put in Serena's book.
"Jerome, really, STOP IT," Serena said, sidestepping the insane boy to finally make it to her blessed haven of biology class.
Oh, biology class. Where the magic happened and nothing bad could ever occur. To ensure this, she slammed the door shut on Jerome's face. He collided with it like a pigeon on a windshield.
The room was practically empty, with only a few students sitting, most of whom had their own table all to themselves. Everyone was staring straight at her, their vacant, soulless eyes that were a unique product of years of public schooling made her shrink back into herself. Her uncomfortable feelings weren't helped when a particularly creepy child in the back started whispering something that sounded like "Meat…meat…meat…"
Serena was so rattled that she failed to notice the incredibly handsome and appropriately tormented boy sitting in the farthest, most darkest corner of the room.
Stanton froze upon seeing Serena enter his sacred biology class, her curls wafting ever so slowly in the breeze generated by the room's fan. Slightly interested- but not that interested, since he had a brooding reputation to protect- he assumed his sexy and totally covert mind-reading pose.
Everyone in class took that opportunity to cease the vaguely cannibalistic chanting at the hot new girl and instead swerved to stare at Stanton, the weird but beautiful blond guy who had crossed his arms, jutted his pouty lower lip, and had started to stare intensely at the new girl.
Stanton, oblivious to the fact that the students were totally clued in on his super secret ability, continued his attempt at mind reading towards Serena, who was suddenly very preoccupied with standing in front of the room instead of taking a seat like a normal person. The tinniest of frowns marred his all too perfect features.
Something. Was. Amiss.
Stanton's amazingly intelligent insight was cut off as their instructor, Professor "Please just call me Kendra, the most important lesson I will ever teach you is to stick it to the man" Turner wafted in like a breath of organic air.
"Hello my darlings, aren't you all just super excited to begin the greatest adventure of all time? The adventure of science! Ah, what a wonderful time we live in where we can learn how a tree is made!" Crooned Kendra, wearing a tie-die burlap ensemble and deciding that shoes were not part of the outfit.
"Yes Kendra," droned the class, vacant and soulless eyes in place.
"Oh how wonderful!" Kendra beamed, clasping her hands together, "Well today, oh wait, we have a new little friend!" She seemed to notice Serena standing there awkwardly for the first time, "Why don't you introduce yourself, and share with us your journey on this wonderful trip called life?"
Serena decided that perhaps standing in front of the fan was not the best thing to do, and she made her way over to the teacher, looking severely uncomfortable, "That's okay, I just was wondering where you wanted me to sit-"
"Nonsense!" Kendra cut her off, facing her less than enthused students, "Now class, who wants to tell our newcomer the number one class rule?"
"Strangers are just friends we haven't said hello to yet," they droned. Except for Stanton, who was above such things.
"That's ri~ght!"
Kendra and Serena were both totally oblivious to the fact that Stanton was now squinting really hard at the latter, as if trying to see straight through her. Or to make a poopy. Either or really, as Stanton's intimidating face is about the same as his constipated face.
It was Then That He Realized What Was Amiss.
He couldn't read Serena's mind.
Thinking it was some sort of fluke, he squinted even harder, determined to diverge all of her intensely private and guarded secrets.
Nothing. So either the girl had no brain activity or…
Or…
Stanton was bad at something.
A chill ran through his spine, the unique foreboding that one gets before an existential crisis.
"Um, well, my name's Serena-"
"Serena," echoed the Borg-like class.
She faltered a bit, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly, "Er, yeah, that's right, and I just moved here from a comfortable Los Angeles suburb with my brother-"
"Brother," came a classroom of voices.
Serena turned to her somewhat dippy instructor, "Do they always do this?"
Kendra blinked behind her owl eyed glasses, "Well of course they do! Reiterating what someone is trying to say is a crucial piece of communication. It's all about connectivity-"
Kendra's fuzzy wuzzy rant was cut off as Stanton abruptly stood up, his face as pale as death itself, although far more better-looking, and his nostrils flaring as he pointed a finger at Serena.
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
Serena blinked, "What?"
"I don't know what kind of game you're playing, pretending to be brain dead, but I will figure it out, mark my words! MARK THEM!" He cried, before picking up his books and storming out of the classroom, taking about two megatons of melodrama with him.
Kendra paused, lips pursed in thought, "Well, that certainly wasn't very friendly. Someone's going to need extra smile therapy when he gets back."
Serena sighed, depressed. The first day of school and already the most popular/gorgeous boy in existence hated her.
Today totally sucked.
---
The man panted heavily as he sprinted across the beach, widened eyes constantly checking behind him to see if he had finally lost them.
To his sides blurted dark figures, unrelenting as they chased after him.
His side cramped, and he could feel his adrenaline dying down to be replaced by exhaustion. He couldn't keep running like this, he just couldn't. They would find him, and probably kill him. He again berated himself for deciding to take a midnight surf in gang controlled territories. Curse him and his inability to resist the motion of the ocean!
He tripped over a seashell, and down he went, face planting in the sand as deep breaths racked his body. He shivered from the cold as his wetsuit was hardly the warmest thing on the planet at the moment.
He rolled onto his back, and saw three shadowy figures hovering over him.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!" He screamed into the darkness, madness overtaking him in what he thought was his final moments.
The shortest figure, the one in the middle, stepped forward, revealing an impossibly beautiful girl, "Dude, chill. We just wanted to know if you wanted to join us for hot dogs and s'mores down by our bonfire," she pointed down the beach, and sure enough, the man could make out a bonfire fully stocked with wieners, buns, graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallows, and those point sticky things.
"And if you wanted a freshly pressed towel," said the biggest one on the left, who revealed himself to be an older man with craggy features. In his hands was a fluffy, pink towel.
"Uh…" the man felt a bit silly for overreacting now as he took the towel, "Thank you."
"No sweat," said the girl with a smile as she made her way over towards the bonfire, "Snack time!"
"You know," said the final member of the group, a handsome young man in his late teens with dark, curly hair, "You really ought to wear a jacket. Just because its summer time doesn't mean you can't catch a cold."
"Er," the man said, getting up to follow the others towards the bonfire, "I'll keep that in mind."
The young man nodded, pleased, as they went over to the fire.
The man ate a gooey s'more. It was delicious.
---
Collin smiled happily as he hummed a little ditty, absolutely pouring ketchup down onto some French fries, completely ignoring the metaphorical rain cloud that hovered above Serena's head. French fries, then baby sister's happiness. That's just how it had to be today. The two of them were currently eating at a diner, seeing as Collin had blown up the microwave trying to make pancakes. Serena was currently telling him about her first day at school, making him wish that he hadn't asked the question in the first place.
"And then, he threw his textbooks into the air and stormed out of the classroom. And then, when I went into the principal's office to change my schedule I overheard him talking to the secretary, asking her to do medical tests on me! And then, Jerome jumped out of the backseat of my truck when I was halfway home yelling 'Surprise!' which totally surprised me and almost caused a pile up. And then-"
His sister's bizarre recounting of her day was only half heard as Collin chomped down on the oh so crunchy fries.
Both of the Killingsworth siblings were interrupted with their important activities when Collin felt someone tap his shoulder.
"Yo man!" Came a cheerful boy who looked to be about Collin's age, red hair jutting out from underneath a helmet.
"Dude, Derek, what's up?" Collin asked doing the standard bromantic welcome of high fiving, shaking hands, and then pounding.
"Not much, just got done skating at the park," he looked over and saw the other occupant of the table, "What's up? I'm Derek."
"Serena," she said halfheartedly, remembering what happened the last time she had introduced herself.
"Bitchin'. Anyway, Collin, a few of us were thinking about going surfing in gang related territories tomorrow, the night where there's no moon, you down?"
Serena gasped. Gang related surfing territories? "That sounds downright dangerous!"
Collin rolled his eyes, "Serena, what am I always telling you? No Fear-"
"Collin, you said that about the alligator farm."
Collin smiled nostalgically, "Oh yeah."
"And the sky diving."
"…Oh yeah," the smile waned a bit.
"And the time you decided to go slip and sliding off that cliff-"
"Oh…yeah," the smile was gone now.
"And the-"
Collin abruptly turned to face Derek, "You know, I'd love to man, but I've got a thing. I'll take a rain check though."
Derek nodded, pounding that shit yet again as his and Collin's fists bumped, "Bitchin'. Well, I'm out then bro, nice to meet you, Female Collin!" He said before he hopped on his skateboard and skated away, despite the fact that they were in a carpeted, indoor seating area.
"It's SERENA!" She cried after the skater boy.
"He's pretty chill. I met him this morning and decided that we should be BFFs," Collin said easily, squirting out some more ketchup.
Serena sighed, looking down into her lap. Even Collin was making friends, was there something wrong with her? If only she had a best friend that she knew from so very long ago-
Serena was interrupted when the waitress came by the Killingsworth table.
"Yo, you done drowning your sorrows in tomatoes and vinegar?" Came a sassy voice that Serena somewhat recognized. Startled, Serena looked up and was surprised when she read the nametag.
"Jimena?"
The girl, who had gang tattoos and a rather intimidating posture, popped a hip, "That's what the nametag says."
Serena's jaw dropped, "Jimena Castillo?!"
Now Jimena looked quite a bit freaked out, her fingers drifting to her sidearm that she always kept on her just in case, "You with Wilshire? Because I will step on your neck if I have to-"
"Chill, it's me, Serena!"
The violent girl's eyes widened, "No way!"
"Way!" Squealed Serena.
The Diner of Friendly Acquaintances was surely the last place Serena thought she would run into her best friend from grade school. Jimena had gone to Serena's old elementary back when she lived a school zone and three miles away. But, as soon as she and her abuela had moved into the city, Serena had never, ever seen her again.
The two hugged. Collin finally looked up from his French fries in order to check out the waitress's bum when she was preoccupied.
"Wow, Jimena, now that I finally found a friend I'm pretty sure today isn't going to totally suck!" Serena said happily.
Jimena smiled back, "I'm glad, but Serena…"
"Yes, best friend?"
"Tell your brother to stop ogling my ass or I'm going to have to castrate him with the shards of a broken ketchup bottle."
Collin swallowed hard, and handed the bottle back to the waitress, "Memo sent."
---
The next few days flew by insanely fast, and as Serena dodged romantic affections from Zahi and Jerome, and bitchy attacks by Morgan and Corrine, she realized that Stanton and his insanely hot family had not reappeared at all in any of their classes. Not that she was stalking them or anything…she just noticed, that's all…no harm in an observant mind…
She frowned when she noticed that the seat next to hers in biology was empty yet again. Kendra had assigned the pair to sit next to each other despite the fact that the class was practically empty in an attempt to 'bridge the chasm of communication.'
However, as soon as she sat down she smelled the unmistakable scent of manliness with the faintest hint of freesia, Stanton's smell, to be sure. Her green eyes widened as she watched him stroll into the biology class effortlessly and take his seat without any preamble.
Serena opened her mouth to speak to him, but she was cut off as Kendra decided to make her illustrious appearance.
"My children, I hope you are all ready for the exciting adventure rollercoaster that is cell mitosis!"
Serena groaned, and she was surprised to see that Stanton was staring at her not with a look of constipation, but with his most dazzling smile.
"What?" Serena asked.
"Nothing," whistled Stanton.
She frowned, but couldn't find it in herself to stay angry at such a good looking boy. She shook her hair, before quickly getting ready to start categorizing some cells.
---
As soon as the bell signaling the end of class rang, Serena swept up her books (including accidentally jacking the microscope. Oopsie.) and made a beeline for the exit. She was surprised when Stanton suddenly appeared by her side.
"I couldn't help but notice how exceptional you are at placing slides in order," he complimented smoothly as he walked beside her.
"…um. Thanks," she said uncomfortably, walking a little faster.
"It confirms that you're not brain dead," he said with a dazzling nod.
Serena outright glared at him for that comment, "Thanks, I wouldn't have known with out you." She paused, "Why are you talking to me?"
Stanton blinked like an innocent little toddler, "Isn't it normal for lab partners to get to know each other?"
She pouted slightly, "The other day you openly threatened me in class-"
"And what a fond memory it is for me too," Stanton brushed off airily.
She scowled, "Do you suffer from mood swings or something?"
He paused, looking actually quite flabbergasted, "No, of course not! Just the occasional character reinvention every few books or so, no big deal," he said, staring pointedly out into a distance Serena could not see, "No. Big. Deal."
She coughed uncomfortably, "Well, that's nice. But I have to get going now so-" she fell silent as she looked him in the eyes for the first time, "Did you get contacts or something?"
Stanton gaped, "That would imply that I have a physical flaw! I'm too lonely, and tortured to have physical flaws."
"Oh…I just could have sworn they were yellow earlier. Now they're a beautiful baby blue-"
"Periwinkle, but who cares about the shade?" Stanton said with a shrug of the shoulders, "And they've always been periwinkle, and they will never be anything other than periwinkle."
Serena took an uncomfortable step backwards, "That's…oddly intense."
"Thank you."
"It wasn't really a compli-"
Serena was cut off as she felt something latching onto her arm like a barnacle.
"Serena, my love!" Cried Jerome as he appeared from nowhere, dragging his obsession towards the opposite side of the school, "I made a still life portrait of you out of your hair in art class, you simply MUST see it!"
"Um, okay," Serena said uncomfortably as she was hauled like a piece of luggage, calling over her shoulder, "I'll talk to you later?"
Stanton said nothing, only gave a suave and sexy nod before seemingly vanishing into shadows.
---
Serena breathed happily as she exited the school building, having pried herself away from Jerome at last. She unwisely had ipod earbuds in her ear as she listened to terribly trendy music and made her way across the parking lot towards her truck.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced and saw Stanton glowering sexily at her from across the lot, standing to his side was an adorable blonde girl that Serena recognized as Kelly and a really bitchy girl who had to have been Cassandra as she was not blonde like Morgan.
Shaking her head, she tried to hide her blush as she fumbled with her keys to get into the cab of the beastly truck. So absorbed was she with her task as well as listening to uber trendy music that she didn't see or hear the van coming until it was too late.
A rustic VW van pulled up alongside Serena's truck and the back door slid open, Serena was startled and dropped her keys as well as her ipod.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who was standing inside of the open door. It was only the clean-cut, captain of the water polo team Michael Saratoga. What a relief. He certainly wasn't a threat in anyway.
"Hey there," he said, smiling in a way that made him compete with Stanton for most Sexiest Thing to Ever Sex, "Want to check out my van?"
Serena blinked rather dumbly, "Why?"
Michael whistled innocently, "No reason."
Serena shrugged, "Sounds safe enough," she reasoned aloud, before taking Michael's outstretched hand-
-only to have it promptly slapped away by Stanton's.
"Oh, Michael," Stanton said in a long suffering tone, shielding Serena with his body, "We've been over this."
Michael glared at the blond, "Stanton!" He hissed.
Stanton took the opportunity to look inside Michael's van, "Ugh, no rose petals?! Would it kill you to have any sense of romanticism? There's not even mood music playing for chrissakes!"
Michael frowned, "Rose petals are messy-"
"That doesn't explain why there's no red velvet on the seats, or chilled champagne, or handwritten poetry, or-"
Serena processed what had almost just happened, and she felt her jaw go somewhat slack as Stanton continued to rattle on about what a love van needed to be a romantic love van.
"And you're not dressed up nicely-get a haircut you damn hippie-, and there's no chocolate dipped strawberries, or a down blanket or-"
Serena blinked, as she witnessed something that could possibly shake the very core of her life forever.
Stanton…
"And you didn't even look into her eyes soulfully as you attempted to woo her, nor did you seek her guardian's consent, you didn't even court her-"
Stanton was…
"Nor did you even apologize for startling her. Would it kill you to take into account her feelings and not just your own? How about giving her some time? You've only known each other for two days and already you're making a move! Some girls need their space just as badly as boys do!"
Stanton was sensitive.
Serena felt as if her very foundation crumbled underneath her feet. A dangerous, sexy guy who was sensitive and romantic to boot? She thought those had only existed in myths and old legends-
Serena's revelation was cut short when, for no apparent reason, a baseball bat came crashing down on top of her head, knocking her unconscious.
Stanton paused his rant on proper seducing when he heard Serena crumple to the ground. He swerved around, a very pissy look on his face when he noticed Tymmie standing above Serena with a bat in hand.
"Tymmie! What do you think you're doing!"
Tymmie shrugged, "Cassandra said that people would be less likely to believe her if she suffered head trauma."
Stanton frowned, "Believe her saying what?"
Tymmie looked down at the unconscious teenager on the ground, to his leader, back to the girl, "You mean…she didn't just witness you using your super secret Follower powers and outing our lifestyle to the world?"
Stanton ground out between clenched teeth, "No. She didn't."
Tymmie shrugged, "Oh, I guess Cassandra was just feeling extra bitchy today and wanted me to deal her an injury with a blunt object." He said it so matter of fact that it was as if he beat fifteen year olds in the skull all the time. Tymmie seemed to notice Michael for the first time, who had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of Stanton's ranting, "Want me to knock him out too?"
Stanton sighed, and gave a shrug. After all, in for a penny…, "Why not?"
Tymmie smiled before hitting Michael in the head as well.
Stanton then bent down, scooping Serena up into his arms, "We should probably get her to Lambert."
Tymmie nodded, before looking at Cassandra, knowing his girlfriend was in for a stern talking to by Stanton when they all returned to Casa De La Malmaris.
---
Phew, this chapter was a beast. Hope you enjoyed!
Next Up: Dr. Lambert and his charming family.