-1Serena's awkward awakening had another unexpected affect. She typically set her alarm clock an hour early to make up for the number of times she hit the snooze button, and today, she woke up on the first bell. It was nice in some aspects because it allowed time for a warm breakfast and a leisurely walk to school, as opposed to the mad dash she usually experience. Bonuses aside, she arrived at school twenty five minutes early. Those were twenty-five more minutes she would have to spend alone with Darien Shields.

She went into the classroom and was surprised to find several students already there. Serena tried to hide her look of puzzlement as she plopped into her seat, but she couldn't help staring at the girls in the room. Though she came to school late nearly everyday, she was fairly certain that Brayden, Chelsea, and Tiffany were the last three students to enter the room no matter what. Well, they were the last excluding Serena, of course. They had a thing for being the center of attention, Serena knew. Being early didn't fit into their strategy.

Brayden looked up from the compact she was holding and noticed Serena's stare. "What are you looking at, Tsukino?" she questioned with one carefully sculpted eyebrow raised. Chelsea and Tiffany stopped whispering over a note they were reading to catch the exchange.

Serena shrugged and pulled out a Sailor V manga.

"Weird," Brayden muttered. She and her friends began whispering quietly.

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As he strolled through the halls of lockers, Darien swore students watching him, yet no one seemed to be paying attention as he walked past. He was sure, though, that eyes were trained on his back. The hallway was starting to seem miles long. He breathed a silent sigh of relief as he entered his classroom.

"Good morning, Mr. Shields," called a chorus of female voices.

Darien stared at his students for only a moment before regaining his composure. "Good morning, girls." He placed his coffee mug, a newspaper, and the red planner on the desk. He noticed that Serena had not look up from her comic book. "Good morning, Miss Tsukino." Darien heard one of the girls in the back of the room huff and glanced at her. When rewarded with a dazzling smile, he turned back to Serena, wondering what was wrong with teenage girls. He had thought Serena was strange, but apparently, she was just part of the crowd.

Serena barely lifted her eyes; she was in the middle of an intense fight scene. "Morning," she mumbled.

Darien shook his head and opened the newspaper. Typically, he would press her about her rudeness, but he didn't want to demean himself in front of students. Speaking of, they started to drift into the room as the bell rang. Once they had properly taken their seats, Darien took attendance, determining that the entire class was present. He then asked them to pass their homework from i The Grapes of Wrath /i to the front.

Serena's eyes grew wide in panic as she opened her folder. She remembered finishing her math worksheet but not English. She was relieved when she saw the paper on top of the stack. When she pulled it out, she realized why it was on top. She had forgotten to ask Molly about three questions. She had thought about asking Amy, but the last thing Serena needed was for Darien to complain that her answer sounded too smart. She managed to fill in two of the questions by the time that he reached her row to collect the papers.

"Didn't you finish your homework, Miss Tsukino?" Darien asked, taking the papers from Molly.

"Yes, I just wanted to ask my friend if I was right on one of the questions," Serena replied, trying to fill in the third question.

Unfortunately, Mr. Shields pulled the paper out of Serena's hands and looked at it. "Do you know what the word homework means?" he asked.

"No, but I'm sure you're ready to tell me," Serena answered, plastering a smile on her face.

"Funny. You obviously have such a busy schedule that you can't fit homework in, so why don't you stay after to allow yourself more time?" Darien countered.

Serena literally stared openmouthed at his back as he moved to the next row to collect their papers. "Of all the stupid reasons to give a person detention! Miss H. would be happy just to take off points for me not being finished," Serena thought.

When Darien reached the last row, Brayden's hand shot up. "Yes, Miss…" Darien trailed off, unable to remember the girl's name.

"Tyler, but I'd prefer Brayden. Mr. Shields…" She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I didn't do my homework." A look of guilt graced her features.

Darien wondered at the girl. He was impressed because few students would be so honest when faced with detention. It seemed, though, that by passing in the paper, she showed a willingness to sneak by. After a moment, he asked, "Why did you pass it in if you hadn't completed it?"

Brayden looked puzzled. "Well, I… er… everything was answered." When she noticed that Darien looked confused, she added, "It's not done well; I could have answered much more thoroughly."

"Oh, as long as you've answered everything, it should be fine. It's a completion grade," Mr. Shields answered, earning a smattering of groans or sighs of relief. Taking the row's papers at last, he turned back to his desk. With his back turned, he was unable to see Brayden's lips take on a pout or the annoyed glance she threw at Serena.

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Serena sighed as she returned to her seat for detention. She was dreading it as much as before, but she had a great topic if he chose to annoy her. The girls in her class had provided the perfect fodder. Perhaps she should thank them tomorrow. Serena couldn't stop the smirk at how that scene played out in her head; the looks her classmates would give her!

"Are you that happy about having detention?" Darien questioned as he walked in from the hall and saw Serena's smirk. She was the only one present again, but several students had seemed determined to get one. The most nearly earned was when Brayden and her friends were "whispering" loudly during the time he had told the class to read silently. The girls apologized profusely, opened their books quickly, and seemed involved to such an extent that he felt they would not repeat the incident. As far as Darien was concerned, there was no reason to punish them if they had already repented.

"What? Oh. No, not really." Realizing that she still had the grin on her face, Serena looked down. She really had to stop finding herself so funny; she quickly set to work on a math problem.

Darien spent several minutes trying to grade papers, but the temptation to pester Serena grew too much. Plus, he was dying to know how she'd respond. "Have any more dreams about me?" he asked.

Serena was careful not to look up until after she felt the color recede from her cheeks. "Why do you ask? It'd probably be better to ask Brayden." The fact that her voice came out steadily impressed her. If she could keep this up, she'd keep Darien from teasing her for good. She ignored the part of her mind that wanted to take the word teasing to other places and, instead, focused on Darien's reaction.

"Why should I ask Brayden? I believe you were the one day dreaming of me yesterday," Darien responded.

To Serena, he seemed genuinely puzzled. Was he really as stupid as she so often told him he was? "Um… maybe because I don't stare at you with my eyes glazed over or, you know, adjust my bow whenever you look at me to make you notice my chest?"

Darien stared blankly at her. A… what were these girls? Sixteenish? A sixteen-year-old girl trying to get him to look at her chest? This was new. Also, very worrisome.

Apparently, he really hadn't noticed. "Wow. You're an idiot," Serena deadpanned. Not feeling the need to add to the conversation, she went back to math.

Now, this Darien could do. Arguing with Serena was familiar ground. Being crushed on by teenagers was not. Well, being crushed on by non-Serena teenagers was not. "Names, Serena, names."

She refused to correct herself at his insistence. "Doesn't being called Mr. Shields make you feel old?" It was the first thing that came to mind.

Darien gave her a strange look that she didn't see. Lately, he had been thinking about his age. Andrew had really gotten him started with his jokes about Serena, making him wonder if he was too old to tease a high school girl. After all, he willingly admitted that it was childish. Plus, after Andrew and Amy had said the same thing, he had to wonder if maybe there was something he wasn't seeing. He decided there wasn't, but the fact that he had to think about it at all brought him back to his age. Plus, her little revelation today about her schoolmates crushing on him didn't help. There was no way Serena could know any of this, but he still felt like she had somehow read his mind. "No, it makes me feel... respected," Darien finished after a pause.

"And that is why I don't call you that," Serena replied. "It boosts your already overly inflated ego."

"I think it's well deserved, honestly." He had a lot be proud of, after all. He was well liked, smart, and relatively attractive.

"Yeah, well, you would." At this point, Serena decided to ignore all of his further attempts to talk to her.

Darien did his work for the following day, glancing at Serena occasionally to see if she seemed willing to converse. He forced himself to let her work because he had said she clearly needed more time to do homework. At the same time, he wanted to talk to her. She had been completely composed when he'd asked her about her dream; that was totally not like her. When she finally put her work away and looked up at the clock, he was ready. "You never told me about your dream about me."

"You've got to be kidding me," Serena groaned. She thought she was in the clear for the day, especially since she only had five more minutes of detention.

"I just feel like I should know why you were moaning my name. It was something to do with me, after all."

Serena's eyes widened. "I didn't moan!" she protested. Well, maybe at home, but not in class, right?

"We don't need to split hairs; it was close enough." For a moment, Darien considered that perhaps he shouldn't talk to Serena about her moaning his name, but he really did have a right to know. He should know about things involving himself. Irritating Serena was a bonus, and any awkward topics were outweighed by the entertainment value.

"Pft. Like you know what a moaning girl sounds like," Serena grumbled. She was seriously getting frustrated with Darien's fixation on this… among other things. "Oh, look! Time to go!" Serena jumped up and strode out of the room before Darien could say anything else.

Darien stared after her for a moment. She got the last word; that just didn't happen. "Then again, neither did Serena dreaming about me until yesterday," he thought. It set him back to his usual self.