Chapter Three
Little Push in the Right Direction...
Greetings all. Here's the next part of my little fic. I hope you guys are enjoying this. Please, PLEASE email me and tell me what you think! NOW, on with the story...
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~ Lita ~
Oh, the possibilities. I looked around at the group assembled at the counter, all of them deep in thought, even little Hailey, who had so graciously spilled Darien's little secret. But how to get them together? Andrew had made it perfectly clear that Darien had an incredible amount of self-control, and probably won't do anything about his feelings for Serena on his own. But that's what friends are for, right?! Heehe!
"We could always lock them in a room together... alone?" Mina suggested thoughtfully, holding Logan in her lap.
"We could get them to go on a blind date together?" Raye put in.
"We could get Darien to over hear Bunny saying how she feels about him and then he wouldn't have to worry about her not liking him," Hailey added.
"We could... naw..." Andrew said.
"We could get Serena stuck in a tree so Darien had to save her!" Skyler offered.
"A tree??" everyone else asked.
"Well, I dunno," the little girl said, looking at her feet.
"Maybe all Darien needs is a chance to show Serena he's not half bad," a previously uninvolved voice suggested. All eyes turned to see Amy looking at them with interest. She'd put down her calculus book in favor of playing matchmaker (who'da thought, eh?), and now wore a smile like the cat who got the canary. "And," she went on, "I have the perfect idea."
"Well, what is it, girl? Go on!" I said breathlessly.
"Well, since you're all coming to the Christmas Eve party at my grandmother's house, I could get her to extend an invitation to Darien as well. And since he's so keen on Serena, he might go knowing that she's going to be there."
"Oh, Ames!" Raye said, "I didn't know you had it in you!" Well, Raye, neither did I. Ames sure had some tricks up her sleeve my match-maker's genius musta rubbed off on her. That's when it struck me, like one of the thunderbolts I use in battle.
"Hey, Andrew, you could invite him to go shopping with us all after school let's out for break tomorrow! D'you think he'd go?" I suggested.
"Oh, Lita, that's perfect!" Hailey exclaimed. Yup, I definitely like this girl. Kinda reminds me of me when I was that age.
"Well," Andrew seemed to be considering it, "Since Rita and I are going with you guys, and since Serena's gonna be there, yeah!"
"Great!" Amy said, with an enthusiasm I'd only seen her show for advanced trig. Maybe there's hope for her yet!
Monday Afternoon
~ Darien ~
"What? Me, go shopping? With all those girls?" I looked at Andrew, suddenly wondering if all those months of running an arcade had finally driven him batty.
"Not with 'all those girls'," Andrew said, "I'm going to be there, and so will Rita, and Raye's friend Chad is coming along too..." then he lowered his voice, "And it might interest you to know that a certain Meatball Head will also be attending." I gave him a warning glance but couldn't fight the appeal of the idea. Maybe Serena would loosen up if I was inducted into the little group. I mean, it couldn't be that bad, since Andrew seemed to enjoy his time with those girls. Hmmm...
"Oh, all right," I said, trying to make it sound as if I really didn't want to.
"Ha! I knew that would clinch it for you!" Andrew announced triumphantly. Well, this day just kept getting more interesting. After all, only this morning I had received an invitation to the party Amy Mizuno's grandmother hosted every year. Of course I knew about it, Amy's mom worked at St. Joe's, the same hospital I was interning at, and I knew that many of the nurses and doctors there had been invited as well. It was supposed to be a lot of fun. But, what surprised me was the fact that along with the invitation, I had received a little note from Amy inviting me to go sledding with her and her friends the day before. Hmm... why I am suddenly feeling rather suspicious of this little group?
Suddenly, all thought flew from my mind as I heard a cheery silver-like voice calling out; "Yes! No school for a whole three weeks! Haha! And I didn't even get any detention today! AND, get this Raye, I got a B, a *B* on my algebra quiz! I rock!" I didn't even have to turn around to know who that was. But I did anyway, only to see Serena prancing about in front of the booth currently occupied by her four friends.
"Oh, cool Serena!" Mina congratulated her.
"Yes, this calls for a celebration," Amy put in meekly
"I *knew* you had it in you!" Lita said, patting her friend on the back and nearly sending the small blond flying. That girl just doesn't know her own strength.
"Hey, Serena, way to go!" Andrew called out to her. Her attention gained, Serena pranced over to my table, ready to show off her grade.
"Look, Darien!" she exclaimed, "It's an eighty five! An eighty *five*. See, I'm not dumb!" I couldn't really tell if she was joking or not, all I knew was that her triumphant smile was positively radiant.
"I never said you were dumb, Meatball Head, I just pointed out that you didn't try," I corrected her. She immediately stopped her little victory dance to give me a glare that, if looks could kill, would have left me nothing but a grease stain the chair. Hey, I wasn't even trying to tease her...
"And you must have tried REALLY hard!" Andrew said, coming between me and the angry Meatball Head. "You deserve a treat. Chocolate fudge sundae, on me!"
"Oh, Andrew, really?" Serena asked, her tummy growling at the mention of food. She had the grace to blush.
"Sure, why not?" Andrew replied.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Serena squealed, throwing her arms around my so-called-best-friend's waist. ANDREW!! Why'd you have to go and do that, you KNOW she has a crush on you!
"You're welcome," Andrew managed as Serena let go. As he hurried off to get the sundae, Serena resumed her little dance. Actually, it was rather entertaining.
"Yes! This is so cool! You shoulda seen Ms. Haruna's face... I thought I was gonna need an ambulance! Heehe! Oh, and even cooler, I get to go shopping with Andrew and the girls tonight... and I actually have money for Christmas gifts, cool, huh? Oh, I just LOVE this time of year!"
"Speaking of shopping," Andrew said as he returned with the sundae, "Darien is coming with us."
"Whaaa?" Serena asked as she looked at me, sundae forgotten. Was it just me, or was Andrew exchanging a conspiratorial glance with the rest of the girls, who had abandoned their booth for mine, since their ring leader had been so happily dancing near by moments before. Probably not... But, then again... I had no time to think on this, since Serena had managed to find her voice, "You're going with us?" she squeaked.
"Yes, Meatball Head, I am. Something wrong with that. I mean, you didn't have a problem with me tagging along on Saturday." I pointed out, delighting in her rosy blush.
"Um, no that's fine," she rushed out. Then frowning, she turned to the others. "Oh, guys, I forgot to tell you, Molly was supposed to baby-sit the kids, but she called last minute to cancel 'cause Melvin wants her to go someplace with him. So I kinda have to bring the Three Musketeers with me. I hope you don't mind?"
"Don't worry about it, Serena," Lita assured her, "Besides, they're cute."
"Yeah, don't sweat it," Mina put in, "After all, the more the merrier!"
"Speaking of which, Serena," Raye piped up, "But you're gonna need to find someone to drive you." Did I just see her wink at Andrew? Man, I'm really paranoid.
"What!" Serena squawked, "I thought Chad was gonna take us!"
"That was before I was tagging along," Amy said in apology
"And since Chad's driving me and Amy, we can't possibly fit you AND your three cousins in his car." Raye reasoned. I could see Serena's eyes tearing up at the thought of not being able to go with her friends.
"What about you, Andrew?" she pleaded.
"Sorry, Serena," he said, "I'm already picking up Rita, Mina and Lita... there won't be any room." Serena blinked her eyes once, twice, uh oh, here is comes....
"But I wanna go!" Serena whimpered, much to my surprise. I'd thought she would be wailing by now.
"Relax, Meatball Head," I said, seeing my chance to come to the rescue again, "I'll drive you." She looked at me suspiciously, as she had the other day, but by now I guess she figured she could trust me.
"Thank you, Darien," she said, apparently relieved. She wrote the directions to her house down on a napkin, with express orders NOT to come to the door.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because her father is crazy!" Lita said. I looked at her skeptically
"She's telling the truth," Mina assured me, "He has a problem with guys and his daughter."
"It's not my fault," Serena whined.
"All right," I said, assuming that the girls were just exaggerating Finally, Serena noticed she hadn't touched her sundae and quickly devoured it. The conversation went on without me, and I honestly can't tell you what they were talking about, since I was contemplating the virtues of buying a Christmas gift for a certain golden-haired Meatball Head.
Later that Evening
~ Serena ~
I checked my hair in the mirror one last time before tying a pair of red ribbons around my two blond buns of hair.
"Bunny!?" I heard a little voice call, accompanying the knock that sounded on my bedroom door, "Are you ready?"
"Just about!" I said as I threw on my red sweater and opened the door, allowing Hailey to tumble inside. "Hi, Bunny," she said sheepishly, dusting off her purple gingham dress.
"Is Skyler all ready?" I asked. I really, really hoped I could avoid my father discovering just who was driving me to the mall.
"Yup," Hailey said as she pranced out into the hall, "All we need to do is get our coats on. I can't wait to see Darien again!" I smiled to myself, neither could I, though I had no idea why.
"Bye, Mom, I love you," I said as I poked my head in the kitchen, then hurried into the hallway to help my cousins bundle up. In no time at all, I heard a horn honk outside.
"Dear, is that your ride?" my mom asked.
"Yup, that'll be Darien, gotta-go-mom,-love-you-bye!" I rushed out as I scooped up Logan and grabbed Hailey's hand.
"Darien!?" My father's voice sounded from the other room. Shoot....
"Is he dating you Serena? How old is he? Is he still in school? I want to meet him now!" My father harassed me. As I opened the door, he got a load of Darien's red sports car and his eyes, I swear, turned red.
"Dad, he's just a friend... not even that, really!" I protested. He didn't hear me.
"No WAY is that boy dating my daughter..." the rest was lost as I hurried out the door, only to realize Skyler was still standing in my father's way, paralyzed. Oh, dear. I grabbed her hand and rushed outside. Darien had the door open and I rushed the kids into the back seat and climbed in the passenger side and slammed the door.
"What happened, you look like you've seen a ghost," Darien said with concern.
"Man, Bunny, that was scary," Hailey breathed.
~ Darien ~I heard Hailey's comment and looked in the rear-view mirror, only to be met with a rather disturbing sight. A man, obviously Serena's father, was standing in the doorway and waving his fist. I swear I saw smoke coming out of his ears!
"Whoa, that IS scary!" I said as I put the pedal to the metal.
"Monster!" Logan wailed.
"Sorry about that," Serena apologized, slumping in her seat.
"Not your fault," I assured her, "Come on, smile, you're going shopping after all." At that thought, she did smile, and I did too.
"Serena?" a little voice asked from the back seat.
"Yes, Skyler?"
"I never heard none of those words before..." the little girl said, aghast. Oh, boy, I think I'll just steer clear of Serena's dad for a little while...
~ Irene ~
(AKA: Serena's Mom)
I could hear my husband yelling at my baby girl as she hurried out the door, practically dragging the kids behind her. I shook my head. I'd watched the little red sports car sitting there for about five minutes, and even caught a glimpse of its driver. He seemed nice enough, and Serena obviously wasn't going on a date, since she'd consented to take the kids with her. I'd better go calm Ken down.
"Dear, come on inside, you'll catch your death," I said. I turned to me, still irate "Besides, we both need to get dressed for the company dinner."
"I'm going to go get her and bring her home. Imagine, that BOY with my baby..." Ken fumed.
My son, Sammy, poked his head into the hallway and asked; "Has Dad killed Serena's new boyfriend yet?"
"No, Sammy, go finish your homework." I said, a little annoyed. That boy took too much pleasure in tormenting his sister.
"But MA! It's not due till after Christmas Break!" he protested.
"Finish it now and it'll be out of your way," I ordered.
"I'm gonna go get her," Ken said. That's it, he's being irrational!
"Oh, no you don't! If you do, you'll be sleeping on the couch over break!" I threatened. Giving up, my husband let his shoulders slump in defeat. "Now be a dear and go get dressed." Boy, I think I'll grab the Advil before we leave.
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To the world you may be one person, but to the person you may be the world.
