-1AN: Sorry for taking so long; I get distracted by college work/transferring.

I was thinking about how weird it seemed in the story to have Serena calling people in her room. If I was going to call someone, I'd do it from the car or something on my cell phone. Then I realized that when I originally wrote this story, five or so years ago, cell phones were not as common as they are now. Then, no one in my family had one, but now even my 10-year-old niece has one. In future chapters, 'm going to keep with the lack of cell phones because Sailor Moon was pre-cell phones, but I feel old.

--

Serena sat in front of her mirror, unweaving her hair from the braid she wore to sleep while contemplating the weekend's events. Seeing Darien at school was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew there was no way out of it; her mother stopped falling for the sick routine years before. Running her fingers through her hair to straighten it, she thought of what Darien had said. After two nights, she was finally able to avoid blushing at it. Still, she felt certain that no matter what he said, Darien sincerely liked her. Reaching for a hairbrush, she considered his possible motives for freaking her out intentionally. Perhaps Darien hadn't meant to freak her out; maybe it was his way of expressing himself.

"Maybe he doesn't know how to have a relationship because he's never had one!" she exclaimed to her reflection. A frown met a frown.

Wait. Mina had said that Darien was worried that she was too young, so maybe he wanted to scare her off. "That's logical," she told her mirror image sarcastically. Then again, the whole thing seemed to lack any obvious logic, so… Serena thought back to sitting in Darien's lap, and after taking one last glance in the mirror, she thought ahead to sitting in class with Darien. And she couldn't avoid Mina any longer Iand/I would have to tell her the story. "Today sucks."

--

Darien stared at the planner on his desk, intentionally avoiding eye contact with anyone. The longer he could avoid Serena's gaze, the better. He felt that his plan had worked too efficiently. The childish bickering they had done before was never serious, and he dreaded seeing hate in her eyes; she was too sweet for such feeling. The bell rang.

"Good morning, class. Please take out your homework." Darien wrote a reading assignment on the board as he spoke.

"Mr. Shields?" Brayden called.

Turning away from the board, Darien directed his gaze quickly to her waving hand. "Yes, Miss Tyler?"

"It's Brayden. My dog ate my homework." The girl gave an apologetic shrug.

Clutching her own homework, Serena muttered, "You've got to be kidding me." A nudge from Molly quieted her.

Darien stared at the Brayden. He refused to lose patience with her. That would allow her to win. "Miss Tsukino, your comments are unnecessary." His eyes remained on Brayden. "I expect that if you look a little harder, you'll find that your dog left your homework more intact than you might have thought."

"Honestly, sir. Fluffy loves to eat paper," Brayden explained. This was accompanied by a look that was meant to be worried but seemed almost smug.

Taking the stack of papers from Melvin at the front of Brayden's row, Darien continued to stare at her levelly. "All right, then, Miss Tyler. I expect it tomorrow morning. Be careful where you leave your papers; I'd hate to hear that Fluffy ruined any more of your hard work." He hoped that sounded as sincere as he thought.

"Please open your books to page 402." While waiting for the class to finish shuffling their things, Darien scanned the questions that had been answered as homework. Why make it easy? "The theme of this selection can be applied to The Catcher in the Rye as a whole. Does anyone want to take a guess?" When no one reacted, he said, "Shall I call on people? Miss Baker?"

"Gee, I don't really know, Mr. Shields. Is it failure?" Molly guessed, looking extremely uncertain. "He's always talking about not being in school."

"That's a logical speculation, but that's not the overall theme," Darien said. He smiled reassuringly at her. "Anyone else?"

Different voices from around the room called, "phoniness," "being a rebel," and "depression."

Unfazed by this barrage, Darien called, "Miss Anderson?"

Amy, who had just finished rolling her eyes, said simply, "It's alienation."

"Correct. Throughout the novel, Holden tries to come to terms with alienation that he feels because of… Yes, Miss Tyler?" He knew he couldn't ignore her hand, but he really wanted to. Ever since Serena mentioned Brayden's attention to him, he had been worrying about it. Well, in the time when he wasn't thinking about Serena, that is.

"I don't think that that's the theme," she complained, her lips in a pout.

Darien swiftly put the lid on a day dream that ended with him having the girl expelled. "I was just going to explain--"

"I think the theme is sexuality." She glared at a few people across the room who giggled at her.

Wondering why he would ever take a job where he would be faced with such immaturity, Darien forced himself to stay calm. "While that could be a very minor--"

"It's not minor; it's major. There's a hooker." She smoothed her face before turning back to her teacher.

"Actually--"

"I don't see why you keep arguing; alienation makes no sense," Brayden interrupted, folding her arms.

"Frankly, Miss Tyler--" Darien tried again.

"Brayden. I'd prefer you to call me that whenever you say my name." This earned a laugh from several members of the class.

Darien really couldn't ignore the innuendo, and at this point it was on his nerves. "Miss Tyler," he repeated in a stern voice, "I am tired of your attempts to land yourself in detention, so if you will allow me to conduct the class without further incident, I will see you there after school."

"If you insist, Mr. Shields." Brayden smiled brightly and began twirling a piece of her hair.

Serena laughed loudly and leaned to whisper to Molly.

"You too, Miss Tsukino," Darien stated. When Serena stared open mouthed at him, Darien immediately looked down at the story to avoid her eyes. It served to calm his nerves as well, but it caused him to miss the glare that Brayden was dividing between the two of them.

--

Serena stared at the clock; the hands were turning far too slowly. Spending another 45 minutes here was not what she wanted to be doing. Really, she wanted to be doing anything that Iwasn't/I spending another 45 minutes here. She looked back down at her math worksheet. More than anything, she wanted this detention to go smoothly so she could get away from Brayden and Darien as soon as possible. She liked the guy, but this punishment was totally uncalled for and rather annoyed her. The fact that she could feel him staring at her sometimes didn't help; it did make her feel self conscious, have trouble focusing.

"She looks so cute with her forehead scrunched in concentration." Darien quickly looked down. He had to stop thinking things like that. The last thing he wanted was for Serena to dislike him more. Come to think of it, she didn't really act as terrified or even as resentful as he had expected.

Serena snuck a glance at Darien; he wasn't looking this time. He was driving her crazy with that. The staring, though annoying, did have one benefit: it solidified Serena's theory that Darien really did like her. She had already caught him watching once or twice, and it wasn't like he was ogling her. He was just looking at her and thinking.

Brayden sighed loudly. She raised her eyebrows when both Serena and Darien turned to look at her. "What? I'm bored."

"Please do your work, Miss Tyler," Darien instructed. When it seemed like she might open her mouth to respond, he quickly looked down at the papers he was grading, but he wasn't really looking at them.

Realizing that Serena was still staring at her, Brayden sneered at her before studying the pink polished nails of one hand and using the other to twirl a strand of red hair.

Shaking her head, Serena turned back to her work. He was staring at her Iagain/I.

Darien had often teased Serena about having a crush on him. A few times, her friends' reactions had nearly convinced him that his jest wasn't all wrong. He had never expected her to act on it, though. He definitely didn't expect her to show up at the Crown wearing next to nothing for his benefit. Unable to stop himself, he raised his eyes slightly to see just over his desk to her long legs. He wondered if they were as smooth to the touch as they looked and thought about running his hands up and down her calves. If her school uniform was a little shorter…

"Stop," Serena said without looking up.

"Please do," Brayden begged. "Why do you always pay so much attention to Tsukino?" She folded her arms as Darien looked towards her, pushing her breasts up noticeably.

As Darien opened his mouth to respond, Serena simply glared, but neither got the chance to respond. The door to the classroom opened, and Chelsea and Tiffany entered.

"Chels! Tiff! I'm so glad you're here!" Brayden extended her arms in a welcoming gesture.

Serena stared at the girls, her glare replaced with a dumbfounded stare.

"Hey, girl," Chelsea began. "We're going to the mall after--"

"Are you serious?" Darien asked. His voice was low, almost dangerous sounding.

As Chelsea turned to look at him, she began nervously playing with one of her blonde locks. "What?"

"Miss Doyle and Miss Chang, leave immediately. Detention is not a place for socializing." Darien stood and walked to the door, holding it open.

"But, Mr. Shields--" Brayden wheedled.

"That's enough from you, Miss Tyler, or you and your friends can begin joining me in detention indefinitely." His brows remained furrowed as he watched the two shuffle past him, waving cheerfully to their friend.

Across the room, Brayden pouted. Just as Darien closed the door, she asked, "May I go to the restroom?"

Darien sighed. This one student was beginning to make him wonder why he had ever considered substitute teaching to begin with; he certainly didn't need the money. "Yes, but I expect you back within five minutes."

As soon as the door closed again, Serena burst out laughing. "Way to go, Shields," she congratulated. The look of near defeat Darien gave her almost chastised her. Almost.

"Please call me Mr. Shields," he asked. As if he wasn't tried enough, Serena had apparently decided to go back to bickering with him. This opened up a new line of questioning: had she been unfazed by his message?

"Sorry, Mr. Shields." The emphasis she put on his name dripped with sarcasm. She smiled widely at him before looking back down at her work.

Darien smiled bemusedly at Serena's buns. The teasing was so familiar; it had always cheered him up, even though it did nothing but annoy Serena. Being on the receiving end of a smile was nice for a change. Thinking back on their arguments and the insinuations that she had had a crush on him, but he had never thought it was true. Now Darien wasn't sure if it was new knowledge or old memory that showed him an embarrassed flush on her cheeks. Here he was thinking about what he shouldn't be again…

The door swung open. "Mr. Shields? A word?" Mr. Greene held the door open as Brayden reentered with a dazzling smile at Darien.

Jarred completely from his thoughts, Darien jumped to agree, his face reflecting a myriad of emotions.

Serena glowered at Brayden until the men were out of earshot. "What did you do?" she hissed.

Brayden grinned toothily at her. "I let Mr. Greene know of possible sexual harassment; I wouldn't like to think that any teachers are abusing their power."

About to respond with some choice words, Serena realized that Brayden currently had the principal completely on her side. There was no way she wanted Darien to lose his job, even if he had lately acted like cocky, assumptive bastard. Instead, Serena huffed and returned to work.

The last fifteen minutes of detention were tense with Serena and Darien working diligently, their eyes fixed on their work, and Brayden staring between the two with her arms crossed. When the time came, the girls bolted from the room, and Darien stared at their empty chairs, especially one in particular. His apprehension had been validated by the chat with his boss. Remembering the barely restrained anger in the man's voice, Darien cringed. He was a terrible person to be unable to get a young girl off his mind. Still, in his mind, Serena's smiling face replaced Mr. Greene. He pressed his hands into his eyes for a moment before standing and striding from the room.