I'M BACK!!! I know what everyone is thinking right now, here's another fic from that girl who has no life, and you're partly right. i have no life and I'm proud of it! Well this is a new fic and most of the mistakes have been corrected and so far I have recieved very positive responses from the few people I have read it. A very Special thank you to Clare-chan, you are a saint girl, I don't know where I would be without you. And Becky, thanks for your imput, she always writes me after I post telling me how much she likes my writing, bless you too. I can always count on kind words from the both of them, how about you see your name in the thanks section of the next chapter, drop me a line. I love e-mail and I will always take the time to respond to you and thank you for your time. Please people I would love to hear from you! Well enough talk time to read, I hope you all like it and please e-mail is love people! *~*liz-chan*~* "You are nothing but a cold hearted jerk Darien and I hate you!" Serena’s incredibly shrill voice echoed through out the arcade. It was yet another day in the life of Serena Tsukino and her never ending battle with that horrible man, Darien Chiba. "Save it meatball head, I don’t care how you feel about me." he told her calmly, taking a sip of his coffee, "Your opinion doesn’t matter to me at all." he smirked at her, it was always that look that made Serena simply melt. She pushed back the lovey-dovey thoughts of him and remembered all the mean things he had done to her. "Just because your some high school know-it-all doesn’t mean you can put me down Darien. Despite what you think I’m not stupid." she added softly. "Your test papers say something completely different, along with your actions. All you do is whine and cry and moan about everything, grow up or you’ll never make it in the real world." He caught Andrew throwing him a disapproving look at that little comment, but he shrugged it off, he didn’t care what Andrew thought. Serena always managed to bring out the absolute worst in him and sometimes maybe even a bit of happiness. "Darien, that wasn’t very nice." Andrew subdued voice found its way into the conversation that was now drawing stares in the front counter’s direction. Darien and Serena both turned to face him, "Andrew, please stay out of this. This is between meatball head and me." Darien threw a glance down at her crestfallen face, and felt the littlest amount of guilt creeping ever so slowly though his body. "Serena are you all right?" Darien asked her softly. She looked up at him bewildered at his use of her real name, why was it that the name Serena sounded so much better coming out of his mouth? Andrew looked at her cautiously as well, "You’re really pale Serena." "I’m fine, stop worrying Andrew." she stuffed the paper in her backpack, and ran from the arcade, leaving two surprised and very confused guys in her sad wake. "That girl..." Andrew trailed off and started to wipe down the counter. Darien smiled, "That girl is annoying, klutzy, and stupid." he finished his coffee and Andrew took his cup from in front of him. "You are way too hard on that girl, I mean it, you’re eighteen years old and she’s still a kid. Why don’t you start acting like an adult, stop being so mean to her." "Why are you defending her Andrew? She’s always in here making puppy dog eyes at you, doesn’t it bother you at all?" Andrew shook his head, "I’m defending her because all you ever do is put the poor girl down. You are so inconsiderate of other people’s feelings Darien." "Come off it Andrew! Since when can you tell me what to do?" "Since I see you making that poor girl cry every afternoon, haven’t you ever noticed how sad she looks after you finish making fun of her? She leaves here almost in tears every day." "Exactly what I mean Andrew, she’s crybaby wimp. She can dish it out but she can’t take it. She needs to get over it and just accept that I really don’t like her, and if she doesn’t like the way I treat her, then she needs to stay away from me." Andrew threw the towel down on the counter, and looked Darien straight in the eye, "I have a preposition for you Darien, a bet actually. I bet you my entire paycheck that if you spend a week, seven whole days, with Serena that you end up liking her." Darien stared at him for a second and then burst out laughing, "Andrew I will not take your paycheck on a bet that you have already lost. I will never like Serena, and that’s that. I wouldn’t spend a week with her for two paychecks!" "How about three?" Andrew wasn’t letting up and Darien knew exactly where this was going, "What about your rent, isn’t it due soon?" Andrew nodded but didn’t say anything else, Darien sighed, "Fine, but what’s in it for you?" Andrew face lit up with a bright smile, "You have to admit, in front of everyone here, that you were wrong, that she’s a nice person. She’s someone worth getting to know." Darien shook his head, "That’s not enough, you’re betting your paycheck for three weeks, don’t you want any money?" "No Darien, but you have to actually do stuff with her, take her places, dinner, the movies, stuff like that." Darien grimaced, "Dinner! Have you seen how much she eats? She doesn’t even chew!" "Oh stop complaining, the bet starts tomorrow. You’re lucky it’s summer vacation, you can spend the whole day with her." Andrew grinned widely at his best friend, he knew this would work, the chemistry was already there, they just needed a shove in the right direction. @~~~~>>~~~~~ "Stupid Darien, he never lets up. Why do his words hurt so much, it’s like his opinion of me actually matters." she blinked back the tears, and let out a shaky sigh, "He did seemed concerned about me today, why can’t that jerk just make up his stupid mind?" she continued to walk slowly home. The overcast sky fit her mood perfectly, the wind blew though her hair and whipped it around her face and neck. She focused her eyes on the ground and concentrated on the thoughts that filled her head with confusion and doubt about her true feelings for Darien. "Serena!" a deep voice rang down the street after her. She jerked her head up at the sudden sound and turned back to see who was yelling for her. A dark haired man was walking quickly toward her. She took a few more steps forward, debating on whether or not to run away before he could reach her. She glanced down the street and then back at the ever closer Darien approaching her. Finally the running option won out and she turned to take off "Serena wait, don’t run! I need to talk to you about something!" he started to run after her but he didn’t have to run far. Serena’s shoe caught on the sidewalk and sent her sprawling to the ground. She landed hard on her hand and scrapped up her arms and knees. She laid there not moving for a few seconds until the throbbing pain in her wrist broke though her shock. "AHHHHH! It hurts!" she let the tears roll down her face, the pain was horrible and she never had a very high tolerance for it. She was well aware that Darien was bent over her, concerned about her injures. She tried to stand up but any weigh she put on her hand caused her to whimper in pain. "Here let me help you up." Darien wrapped a strong arm around her waist and hoisted her up to her feet. She looked over at his face, and almost smiled at him, "Thanks." she whispered. She tore her eyes away from his beautiful dark blue ones. "You really cut yourself up didn’t you, figures." he closed his eyes, she really was such a klutz. Serena turned her face back up to his and pulled away from his arm that they both just realized was still wrapped around her waist, "I really should be going." she started walking away from him but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "I’m sorry, it’s your fault you’re such a klutz. Why were you running away in the first place?" his eyes narrowed slightly, the bickering was starting up already. He would end up with Andrew’s paychecks no problems at this rate. Serena jerked away from him, "To avoid you and moments like this, which will ultimately cause me to become more depressed than I already am right now." she sniffed. "Depressed? You’re always so happy Serena." her eyes flashed at again the wonderful sound or her name coming out of his mouth, why could he do this to her? She curved her lips downward into a frown, "You may think it’s just playing around, but it hurts Darien." she dropped her eyes to the ground and felt a eerie silence settle over them. She finally drew her eyes up to his once more, and saw him looking down at the ground, "Don’t you want to say anything?" she had to say something, the quiet was unsettling and so was his shame. His head jerked up and caught her right in the eyes, "Would you like to go to dinner tomorrow night with me?" she felt the breath catch in the back of her throat, "W-what? I thought you just asked me out to dinner." she blushed bright red, she couldn’t have heard that. He turned his piercing gaze away from hers and focused at the area above her head, "I did." he said in a half whisper. "Why would you want to spend money on me? You hate me remember? We hate each other, people who hate each other don’t ask the other one out to dinner all of a sudden." it had to be a trick, he would stand her up and he would have a good laugh with Andrew about how stupid and gullible Serena was. She wasn’t about to put herself though that. "I don’t hate you." the words flew from his mouth before he could stop them. Her insides twisted, like something good had suddenly come from this impromptu meeting. "You don’t hate me?" he shook his head no, "Well I don’t hate you either. You’re not one of my favorite people, but I certainly don’t hate you." she cleared her throat, not sure what was going to happen next. "I’m glad." their eyes caught once again and Serena’s stomach did a flip flop, did he know he could do this to her? Could she do the same to him, she could hope couldn’t she? "I really should be going now, my mom’s probably worried sick. I’ll talk to you tomorrow." he nodded slowly and she walked away, her heart beating a million time a minute, filled with the beautiful knowledge that he didn’t hate her after all. Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Why aren't you writing, e-mail me now! i love Alex! Ignore me now, too much sugar and no sleep = a very insane Elisabeth! BYE!!!