-1Darien sighed as he dropped onto a stool across the counter from Andrew.

"Hard day at the office--err--classroom?" the blonde questioned, sliding a cup of coffee into place near Darien's hand.

"You could say that. Apparently, young girls love me," Darien complained as he took a sip.

Andrew stared at him wide-eyed. Suddenly he burst into laughter.

Darien blinked. "Honestly, Andrew, will you ever grow-up?" He couldn't help a slight smile, though, and hid it behind his cup.

"Hard day… young girls…" Andrew gasped between laughs as he slowly calmed down. "Ah, you kill me." He wiped his eyes. "What were you saying?"

"The female students in the class I'm substitute teaching think I'm… er… hot." Darien made air quotes for the word hot.

"You just used…you're such a loser. I can't believe any woman finds you attractive." Andrew reached across the counter to take an order from his sister.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Liz commented. She slid an arm around Darien's shoulders. "Nerdiness is a real turn-on these days." As Liz received the evil eye from Andrew, Darien's face took on a deer-in-the-headlights quality. The girl laughed and kissed Darien on the cheek. "Relax; I'm just teasing Andy." She released him and leaned on the counter to wait impatiently.

After Andrew placed several milkshakes on a tray and watched his sister walk away, he commented, "If anyone ever tries to take her on a date, I will kill him. She's too young."

Darien stared at him. "And yet you try to convince me to go after Serena…"

Andrew's eyes lost the glazed sparkle they had taken on as he stopped fantasizing about murder. "Oh, pft. It's only 'cause she's my sister."

"So you would kill a male of any age for dating your 19-year-old sister, but it's okay for me, a 25-year-old, occasional substitute teacher to go after a 16-year-old?" Darien stared at him pointedly.

"Wrong, bud. All of the people in the class you're teaching are seniors in high school; that means 17 or 18." Andrew moved down the counter to pour a small soda for a little boy standing at the counter.

"That's still seven years. What could I possibly have in common with one of them?" Darien picked up a spoon and began stirring his coffee aimlessly.

"Are you an elitist now? Completely out of touch with the common youth?" Andrew asked, glaring at the boy who was digging around in his pockets for change to pay for the 3.25 soda.

Darien glanced up from the black liquid. "Did you just use the term elitist?"

"What? A guy can't know big words?" Andrew demanded, putting his fists on his hips.

Darien stared at him.

Andrew met his eyes for a few seconds and finally gave a sheepish grin. "All right; I get emails with a word of the day."

--

Today, Serena approached the Crown Arcade with her head held high. She had successfully survived Day Two and dodged Darien's questions. "Now," she thought as she stepped through the sliding doors, "I just have to avoid Mina." She walked over to sit across from Amy and next to Mina. She made sure to stare directly at Amy. "Hey, guys."

"Hello, Serena," Amy chirped. "Raye and Lita aren't coming today. Raye has to help her grandpa, and Lita's cooking." She paused thoughtfully. "Or perhaps cooking something up."

This intrigued Serena, so she opened her mouth to ask Amy what she meant by it, hoping that it was nothing to do with her or a certain dark haired jerk.

"Wanna play a game of Sailor V?" Mina asked energetically, bouncing in the seat next to Serena.

Serena turned to stare at Mina warily. No questions about school or Darien or her dreams? Something was up. "Not really; you always win," Serena replied.

"That's not true, Serena. You beat Mina once," Amy commented.

"See? Wanna play again?"

Serena looked at Amy imploringly. What a traitor! Setting her up to lose to Mina…

Amy looked equally imploring. "I was going to try to work on the next chapter of pre-calc so I could tutor you."

Serena sighed. Apparently, Mina's boundless energy was getting on everyone's nerves today. "Okay. I play; you pay," Serena agreed. She could spare Amy from Mina for at least a little while. It never occurred to her that extra bouncy Mina meant she was up to something.

Mina sighed. "That wasn't very polite, Serena," she said, but she led Serena to the game in the very corner of the arcade regardless. After she and Serena were seated next to it, Mina deposited four quarters and pushed a button; the game began. "You know, Serena, I could help you to get Darien to want you," Mina said quietly as she pounded the buttons, blasting monsters left and right.

"I don't want Darien to want me!" Serena exclaimed. The suggestion had taken her by surprise, and Serena hoped that her quick reaction assured Mina of her honesty.

"Sure you do, and you know it. Even he knows," Mina replied. "I mean, Darien is gorgeous, and he gives more attention to you than to any other girl, be it good or bad. It would make less sense if you didn't want him. I don't think he really means to be mean; he's just never learned how to show how he feels to a woman." Somehow she carried on her end of the conversation without taking her eyes off of the screen. It was better multitasking than most people gave her credit for.

Serena stared at her with wide eyes. "Are you serious?" She wasn't exactly sure what part of Mina's monologue that applied to, but she was entirely taken aback by the whole.

"Completely." After reaching just over 597,000 points, Mina lost her final life, and it was Serena's turn. "Think about it."

Serena didn't respond. Instead, she began her turn as Sailor V and tried to figure out what exactly Mina wanted her to think about as her points racked up. She knew Mina would help her, so did the blonde want her to think about how? Or had her point been the revelation about Darien actually liking her. Serena had just cleared 575,000 points when the worst thing that could happen to her during a serious competition happened: Darien walked up behind her unexpectedly.

"Hey, Meatball Head," he said from over her head. He had tried to resist the temptation to tease her, but he couldn't stand it any more.

Serena jumped at the sudden intrusion. Sailor V's attack missed the monster, which hit Sailor V with a spike. "Crap! That's your fault, jerk!" she nearly yelled, turning to her right, away from Mina, and doing everything possible to avoid looking up.

"It's not my fault you can't do two things at once," he replied. "I've noticed that you have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time, too… or just walking."

Serena winced and felt her cheeks redden in annoyance, but she was determined not to rise to the bait. "No, it's your fault that you scared me and made me hit the button too soon," Serena retorted.

"Oh, please, Meatball Head. It's a video game; this isn't the end of the world." He hoped, at least. It hadn't been his intention to genuinely upset her, which, based on her folded arms and refusal to meet his eyes, she was.

"I was really trying for a high score!" She glared up at him before realizing her mistake. She quickly whirled around to face her friend. "Plus, now I lost to Mina."

"As always," Mina sing-songed. She winked at Serena and wandered off toward Amy.

Serena glanced up at Darien, hoping that he had not seen her friend's wink. What would he take it to mean? "Probably that she knows that I'm desperately in love with him or something," she thought with slight amusement. Luckily, Darien was completely focused on her and oblivious to Mina's exit. Maybe Mina had a point.

"You act like it's hard work," Darien scoffed, his eyes focusing on the Sailor V logo now on the screen. He was fairly certain that if the girl had devoted as much energy to school work as to this arcade game, she would never have had that failed test to toss over her shoulder at him.

Serena made an incredulous noise in her throat. "Think you could do better?" There was no way she could pass up this opportunity to bring Darien down a notch, no matter how she felt toward him at the moment.

Darien regarded her levelly. "Yes." How hard could it be? He was a business man and part-time substitute teacher after all. When Serena smiled widely at him, he felt a little uneasy. The glint in her eye was not a common sight. He watched her pushing the buttons rapidly as she played. He realized he would lose but assumed he could get a decent score. A loss was expected from him, he knew; Serena was the right age for video games, not guys his age.

When his turn came, Darien sat down, trying to seem as at ease as possible, a hard task considering that he hadn't played a video game since before grad school. He lost his first life in the first level and attempted a backhanded comment, "How much time do you spend playing these things?"

Serena sighed. She realized that Darien was trying to distract her from the fact that he was failing miserably. Admittedly, she wanted to show him up, but that was when she thought he might be some kind of competition. He obviously had no idea what he was doing and would not compare to her performance. "Here." She put one hand over his on the joystick and the other over the buttons to guide him through the game.

Darien was completely stunned at Serena's gesture. She usually avoided touching him, aside from a few occasions when she had pushed him in annoyance. Yet today she had quickly placed her tiny hands over his to help him. He noticed that her fingers were long and elegant, which seemed out of place with the typical gracelessness of Serena. He tried to focus on the screen or even the controls she was using, but most of his thoughts were less concerned with the fate of the pixilated villains and more with the proximity of Serena. In particular, they were interested in the warm softness pressed against his back, the brushes against his knuckles as she hit buttons, and the suggestiveness of their hands on the joystick.

"There, that's much better. You didn't do so bad; you just need some practice," Serena commented as she stepped back. Darien's score wasn't even comparable to hers, but it was a good start. Suddenly, Serena realized how close she had just been to Darien, how openly she had touched him. She hoped that the apprehension had didn't show in her face.

"Thanks." Darien paused, trying to think of something else to say. The silence stretched on too long between them, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I've gotta get home," Serena said suddenly. She turned on her heel and exited abruptly.

Darien was left staring after her with a feeling of shock still firmly in place. He teased Serena, and she reacted childishly; there was no room for this type of civility, especially with the newfound confusion he felt toward her.

--

After her calm exit, Serena began to run away from the arcade. Much to her surprise, she was brought to a crashing halt by an arm that shot out of an alley. She felt the arm before her momentum carried both her and her attacker into the wall of the building opposite. "Let go of me, you creep!" She struggled as best she could, but their legs were tangled. "If you lay a finger on me, I'll--I'll beat you over the head with my bag!"

A female laughed. "Do you think the three comic books you have in there will hurt?"

When her captor stepped back, Serena turned around and glared at her. "Mina! I thought you were going to kill me and bury me in a bunch of shoe boxes."

"Too much work. Besides, I have better things to do." Mina dusted invisible dirt from the front of Serena's school uniform. "Let's talk about how you're going to get Darien." Mina noticed that Serena glared harder and sighed. "Okay. Meet at my house early in the morning."

Serena's glare turned into a look of disbelief. "You want me to get up early on a day when we don't have school?" She adjusted her grip on her bag.

Mina rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Sleeping Queen--"

"Beauty," Serena corrected automatically. Though the topic was not to her liking, interpreting Mina-speak was second nature.

"Right. Meet at my house a little bit before you usually show up at the Crown."