Title: Where's the baby? Author: Henra E-mail: HenraM@tuxedomask.com Rated: G Hi all! Well, I've started a new series. I know I should be finishing up the others, but. . .well, I just got this idea. . . . . . Hope you enjoy it. Visit my website at http://fly.to/Moonieround Disclaimers: You know the usual stuff. . .blah, blah, blah. Whatever. By the way. . .Darien and Serena are the same age. But to be exact, he's bigger than her for four months. . . . . .well, that's not important, though. Chapter one "Serena, wait up!" Serena Terri turned around. "Hey, Amy, Lita!" Two of her best friends came up to her, faces all excited. "We've got news. We have a new Health teacher. I think she's nice, but she doesn't know anything about us, so I'm afraid that all those boys will seize the chance to get all, you know." Amy said. Serena nodded. "They are going to start laughing at everything she does. I feel sorry for her, even though I haven't meet her yet." "Oops, there's the bell. I gotta get to homeroom, I'll see you two in third period, okay?" Amy waved and ran. Lita and Serena looked at each other. Serena smiled. "Let's go, big-girl." She hooked one arm through Lita's. "Hello, Serena." Serena stopped dead in her tracks. She narrowed her eyes. "Hello, Darien. Would you mind move out of the way? I've got a class to get into." Darien Codon smirked. "Oh, dear Serena. . .have you forgotten that I'm in your homeroom? I'll go in first, and you can follow after me. You do know the meaning of the phrase, 'Follow the leader', right?" "More like 'Follow the snobby leader' in this situation." Serena shot back. When Darien didn't budge, she rolled her eyes, and walked around him. Lita followed. Once they were in the classroom, Serena glared behind her. "Can you believe that guy? He is so annoying! Just because he's popular, doesn't mean he has to be a jerk. Just a major pain in the neck." Lita chuckled. "Serena, you and Darien just don't get along. At least you get to talk to him. Do you not see all those girls who are willing to do anything to just have the chance to speak to him?" "Those girls are pathetic." Serena told her. Lita shook her head. "I don't get it. Why don't you and Darien get along? You've been fighting ever since the year started, ever since he moved here, and that means you fought for nearly two months already," Lita paused, as if she was thinking something over. "You know, if you just stop your battles, maybe you can see that you two are actually sort of alike. " "Alike? The only thing that guy and I have in common is that we both like to torment each other." Serena answered, trying not to laugh. She and Darien? Alike? Lita shrugged. "If he's as bad as you think he is, then why do all those girls like him?" Serena didn't know how to answer to that. "I don't know. . .those girls don't really know him, they just like his good looks, that's all." Lita cocked an eyebrow. "And you think you know him?" She hid a smile. "No. And I don't want to get to know him, either. I'm sure I'm just going to start hating him even more when I do know him." Serena answered after a long pause. "Serena, what is it about him that annoys you?" Lita asked. Serena threw her hands up the air. "Lita, are you blind? Do you see his attitude? I mean, it's like he's the king or something. He expects everyone to agree with everything he says, and no one even dares to disagree with him." Serena lifted her chin and smiled smugly. "Except me, of course. And that's why he's annoyed with me." Her friend laughed. "Oh, Serena. . ." Serena grinned at Lita. They sat down in their seats. A minute later the teacher came in. "Hello, students. Just a notify. . .um, for those of you who have Ms. Juno for Health are going to get a new teacher, uh, Mrs. Dorea, I think her name is. Okay?" Mr. Killiyo said to his class. Everyone nodded. *Wonder if she's nice.* Serena thought to herself. "Did you see him? He is so super cute!!!" a girl whispered to her friend as Serena, Amy and Lita passed by to their seats. Serena rolled her eyes at her friends. "She's so tasteless. You know what my greatest wish is? My wish is to get through school without hearing Darien's name for one day." Amy giggled. Her eyes traveled to the door, and she turned serious. "Oooh, here comes the new teacher now." The woman smiled. She had curly brownish-black hair that was down to her waist, and warm brown eyes. She put her stuff down. "Hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Mrs. Dorea, and from now on, I'll be your new Health teacher. I hope that we'll have fun for the rest of the year." She smiled again. Serena grinned. She liked this teacher. Mrs. Dorea clapped her hands together. "Well, I know this is going to be depressing for some of you, but I have to begin our first lesson with a project." Several people groaned. "But. . .this project is going to be super fun!" "Right, every single teacher says that when he or she gives us a project thing to do." A boy named James called out. A few others boys shouted yeah. Serena shook her head. Mrs. Dorea raised an eyebrow. "But this time, I guarantee you that this project is going to be fun." The room was silent. Mrs. Dorea began. "You, are going to become mothers and fathers." "Excuse me?" asked Darien. "Well, you'll each get a partner, a fake baby, but you'll pretend that it's real, and you need to take care of it." Mrs. Dorea said with a small smile. "But we already did that! Like, a long time ago!" a girl with blonde hair shouted out. "You did? Well, guess what? You are going to do it again!" Some cheered and some groaned. Serena looked at her desk, an exasperated look on her face. *A baby again? I've had enough trouble carrying it while I was in eighth grade! It totally interfered my works!* Behind her, she heard someone chuckle lightly. She turned around. Darien was holding a pencil and was staring right at her with a sneer on his face. Clearly he saw her expression. Serena narrowed her eyes. "Since a lot of you did it already, I'll just briefly explain everything. You need a doll, any kind. . .stuffed animal, plastic baby dolls, whatever, and five pounds of potatoes. The potatoes are just so that the baby weighs as much as a real baby. And then you need to wrap your 'baby' in a blanket that you have in your house, wrap it nice and tight, with the potatoes inside. You and your partner will take turn carrying it. . .if the 'father's busy, the 'mother' has to take care of the baby, and if the 'mother's busy, the 'father' has to hold it, clear? The things are due on Wednesday, but it you bring it all tomorrow, you can get extra credit. By the way, this project continues on for three whole weeks." Mrs. Dorea said quickly. "Three weeks?" Lita asked incredulously. "Yes, three weeks." Mrs. Dorea replied. She looked around. "All right, I'm going to start to pair you guys up. In my left hand, there's a box of names of the boys in this class, and in my right hands, there's a box of names of the girls in this class. I'll pick one from each, and then those two names of the boy and girl I picked are partners. This way, it's more fair." Mrs. Dorea winked at the students, and began. Serena held her breath. *I just hope I don't turn out to have some jerk as my pretend husband. I would die if I end up having Melvin or something. In fact, I'd have anyone but Melvin.* "Um, Liza and Mike. . ." a giggle came from the girl and a smile came from the boy as Mrs. Dorea read out loud the names she got. "Tiffany and. . . . . .Ben." two groans followed. "Let's see. . .Amy and, uh, Greg." Serena turned to look at her friend. Amy got a blank expression, and Serena looked at Greg, his expression was also unreadable. Mrs. Dorea put her hand in the box at her left. "Glori and Ned. . . Alyssa and David. . .um. . .Jessica and Darien. . . . . ." Serena smiled. *Poor Jessica, got stuck with Darien-the-jerk.* She sighed happily. *Now I don't have to worry about getting a snob as my partner. . .I have to worry about getting a nerd as my partner. . .* she leaned back in her chair, and waited. Mrs. Dorea looked at the little paper again. "No, wait. I'm sorry, I forgot to wear my glasses today. . .it's Jessica and Darrin, not Darien." Mrs. Dorea said. Jessica sighed. *Oh, so Jessica is not stuck with Darien after all. . .* Serena thought to herself. She glanced at Jessica, expecting to see relief on her face. Instead, she saw unhappiness. *And she looks glum! My God, is every single girl in this school blind?* "Serena. . .and. . . . . .let me get this out here…" Serena leaned forward. Who could be her partner? "Serena and Darien. . .got the real Darien here." Mrs. Dorea chuckled. Serena didn't feel even a bit funny about this. *Me and Darien? No, no, no, that can't be.* She turned around and risked a glance at him. His face was expressionless. Serena didn't know how he was feeling about this. But of course he wouldn't want her as a partner. He would call out any minute now and tell Mrs. Dorea to get him another girl. Serena waited. "Um. . .Carly and Toby. . ." Mrs. Dorea continued. "Josh and Whitney . . ." Serena was getting impatient. Was he ever going to start talking? Finally she couldn't wait anymore. *I might as well do it.* Serena raised her hand. Mrs. Dorea lifted her head. "Yes? Is there a problem?" "Um, I. . ." Serena hesitated. *Should I?* She didn't know what to say next. Should she really give up the chance of being the partner of the hottest guy in the school? And the most annoying? She sighed. Oh, Serena wished that Darien would just say that he agreed with her. But, there was silence. She realized that Mrs. Dorea was waiting for an answer. Serena turned around and looked at Darien. He caught her gaze and held it. His eyes had an amused glint in them. But there was also a challenge. Serena didn't look away. "Ms. Terri?" Mrs. Dorea's voice startled Serena. She snapped back to reality and shook her head. That gaze in Darien's eyes gave her an open choice. She took a deep breath and said, "No, there's no problem at all." "Very well." Mrs. Dorea turned her attention back to the two boxes. Serena closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them again. She bit her lip and regretted that she didn't say anything about changing a partner. Serena stared at the floor and her eyes automatically landed on Darien. He was staring at her closely, his face blank. Serena searched his face. *Are you up to it?* As if to answer her question, he smiled. It was not a sarcastic one; it was a real, eyes-sparkling, whole-face-lit-up smile. Before Serena could decide if she should smile back, Darien looked away. She shakily turned her attention back to Mrs. Dorea. Serena breathed in, breathed out. Well, if he didn't care, then she wouldn't care, either. They were partners. Period. "I thought you hated him!!" Lita said to Serena at lunch. "I know. I do." Serena answered. "So why didn't you tell Mrs. Dorea that you can't be his partner?" asked Lita. Serena didn't know what to say. She paused. "I-I really don't know. I just. . .I didn't feel like telling Mrs. Dorea that." Amy's eyes twinkled. "Either that, or you didn't feel like giving up the chance to be partner with the most gorgeous guy in the school." Serena hit her playfully on the arm. "Right." She frowned. "But, he is so insensitive. I'm sure he would put all the work on me." Amy put her hand on Serena's back. "Serena. . .you were the one who rejected the chance to have another partner. So, you just have to go through with it. Besides," Amy paused, not sure if what she was about to say was true, "maybe he will turn out to be really dependable." Lita snorted. "Darien? A dependable guy? Not in a million years." Serena sighed. "Why didn't I just tell Mrs. Dorea that I wanted another partner? I mean, I already raised my hand, and then I backed down. What was I thinking?" she muttered to herself. "Serena?" a male voice called out. Serena snapped to attention. She looked around the cafeteria. "Who's calling me?" Lita pointed behind her. "Darien, and he's walking right toward you." From Lita's look, Serena could tell that he was very close. "Hi, Serena." Darien said when he reached her table. There was a mocking grin on his face. Serena stared at him. "Um, hi." "Do you have a baby doll in your house that we can use?" Darien asked, his midnight blue eyes fixed on her. Serena swallowed. *Do I have a doll? Yes, I do. Except that it's gonna be hard to find. . .* she nodded her head. "Um, yeah, a baby doll, I have one somewhere in the closet. I think I can find it." "Great. And I'll bring the potatoes, okay?" "Sure, I guess." "All right. I'll see you." Darien turned to walk away. Then he stopped when he was about two feet away. Serena sucked in her breath. Here it comes, the insults. He turned back and his lips were stretched into a smile. "By the way, Sere, you have amazing eyes." And then he strolled across the room. Serena gawked after him. That was not an insult. Was it? Lita gaped at Serena. "He called you Sere! And he said you have amazing eyes! That's the first compliment I ever heard him said to anyone!" Serena let out a blow of air. She managed to tear her eyes away from where he was sitting and looked at her friend. "And he's getting the potatoes! And you thought he was irresponsible." Amy said incredulously. She looked at Serena, waiting for her to say something. "I don't know him any more than you do." Serena said, after her heartbeats returned to their normal speed. "And I'm sure that he didn't mean the amazing eyes part." Even though she hoped he did. "Look, Darien Codon isn't known to use words like 'amazing,' and he definitely isn't known to give people nicknames. Cute nicknames. He wouldn't say that to you if he didn't mean it," Lita grinned, "and now I think that you did the right thing by NOT giving him up as your partner." Serena didn't say anything. She silently finished her lunch. "Serena, phone!" Sammy shouted. "All right!" Serena picked up the phone in her room. "Hello?" "Serena, this is Darien." the voice said. Immediately, her heart started to pound. She didn't know what she should do. Definitely start with the harshness. "What do you want?" Serena asked callously. Darien snorted. "Can't you be a little bit nicer now that we are husband and wife?" Serena sighed. "You say that one more time, and I'm going to kill you." Serena told him, her eyes looking at the ceiling. "Ooo, I am so scared. Anyway, did you find the doll?" Serena frowned. "What doll?" "The doll that we are suppose to use as our baby? For Health class?" he reminded her in an irritated voice. Serena smiled. "Oh, that doll! Um, yes, I did find it. It's a little dusty, but it's good enough to be my child." She turned to look at the doll lying on her bed. "Our child, that is." Serena rolled her eyes. "Whatever." "All right, glad that you got it. Put it in your backpack right now so the baby is sure to be at school tomorrow. Be sure to bring a blanket . . .a clean one. And bring a few safety pins too, in case we need to make it very tight so the potatoes won't fall out. Besides, it's easier to hold when it's nice and firm." Serena got annoyed. "Who died and put you in charge?" "I'm the father. Fathers are usually the ones in charge." Darien said. "What? Well, don't you forget that the mothers are the ones who clean and do everything around the house! Without the mothers, I'm sure the fathers don't even have dinners to eat." Serena argued. She frowned when she realized how silly she was getting. "What in the world am I doing?" she muttered. "What did you say?" "I said, goodbye!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa. . .wait a minute. Let me finish. The potatoes. Any kind is all right?" "No, only the kind they have in the store." Serena said sarcastically. "All right." He replied just as callously. "Remember to get them at least five pounds together." Serena reminded him. "I want the extra credit." "I know that we need to get five pounds. All right, see you at school tomorrow, MY DEAR WIFE." With that, Darien hanged up. Serena stared at the phone, and then slowly put it back. "I should have been the one who hanged up, jerk." she murmured. Then she remembered the way he stared at her in Health class, and the voice he spoke in when he called her Sere, and told her that she had amazing eyes-- The phone rang again. Serena groaned. She picked it up. "What is it now, Darien?" There was a pause. "Um. . .Serena?" Serena gasped. "Oh, my God, I'm sorry! Lita, I thought you were. . .you-know-who." "Uh-huh. You just had a conversation with him?" "Yeah, if you can call it a conversation. He couldn't stop bossing me around! He was ordering to get a blanket, get safety pins. . ." Serena trailed off. "At least it's all about the baby project thing. That means he actually care." Lita told her. "Thank God he does. And how's your baby coming along?" Serena asked. Lita sighed happily. "Very smoothly. My partner, Kenny, is so responsible! He said he got the doll AND the potatoes. Can you believe it? I don't have to do anything, except, well, hold the baby tomorrow, of course." Serena groaned. "You are so lucky. Can we trade partners?" "No way do I want Darien as my partner!" Lita protested, laughing. "You know, this is weird. I mean, we already did this whole baby thing a long time ago, why do we still have to do it in our senior year?" Serena asked, staring at the doll sitting on her bed. "I don't know. Probably because she's new and stuff. Mrs. Dorea, I mean." Lita answered. "Look, I can't talk any longer, I got to go. Need to dust my baby. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Serena said, getting off the chair. "See ya." They hanged up. Serena sighed. "Now that I think about it, I'd rather want Melvin as my partner," Serena glanced outside, "at least he's not that cute, and doesn't have that real mysterious look on his face. And I don't need to fight with him about anything." She muttered to herself. Serena sighed. "Who knows, maybe I can get through this." Serena got a towel, wetted it, and wiped off some dirty spot on her doll. She stared at the doll's sparkling blue eyes and blonde pigtails. She grinned. "She sorta looks like me! You know what, doll," Serena held it up, "I'm going to name you Selena . . .which sounds just like Serena." she laughed. "You brought a GIRL?" Darien asked derisively. "I only have a GIRL doll!" Serena exclaimed, exasperated. "Couldn't you buy a boy doll?" Darien asked. "I'm not rich, okay? And if I have something already, I don't need to buy another one." Serena responded. "Did you bring the potatoes?" "Maybe I did." Darien retorted, a half-smile lit on his face. "What do you mean, maybe you did? We were suppose to wrap up the baby today! And if there are no potatoes, then the doll won't weight like a real baby, and I'm sure that then Mrs. Dorea won't give us extra credit for bringing stuff early--" "Hey, chill out! I did bring the potatoes, okay? God, you would think it's the end of the world or something." Darien said, a disbelieving look on his face as he stared at Serena. Serena felt her face burning up. *Do not lose your cool.* She stared hard at Darien. "Just don't joke about anything like that anymore, okay?" "Whatever." Then he walked away. A scowl worked its way to Serena's face. "God, he is annoying." She murmured to herself. "Hey." Amy greeted her as Serena walked into her third period class. The cheerful tone in her voice was immediately gone, however, when she saw the look on Serena's face. "Darien again?" Serena put down her bag. "Yeah." "Is he that bad?" "No, he is actually this perfectly sweet, responsible guy, who NEVER, EVER disagree on anything I say." Serena said sarcastically. Amy smiled. "Okay, he is that bad. But remember what he said yesterday. So he can't be that bad." Serena yawned. "I think I'd rather forget what he said." "Where's the doll?" Amy asked, sitting on the desk in front of Serena. "In my backpack." Serena turned and pulled Selena out of backpack, and handed it to Amy. Amy laughed. "You suffocated your child." She looked at the doll. "She sorta looks like you. . .what did you name her?" she gave Serena back the doll. "Selena." Serena answered while she hugged her baby in her arms. "Selena?" an ironic, male voice asked. Serena almost jumped. She turned around to find Darien behind her, arms crossed over the chest, leaning slightly on the wall by the windows. She tried very hard not to notice how attractive he looked. "Yes, Selena. That's my child's name. You have a problem with that?" Amy cleared her throat and walked away. "You keep forgetting that it's 'our' child." Darien reminded her. "Fine. OUR child's name is Selena. Do you have a problem with that?" Serena glared at him. The two corners of Darien's mouth turned up as he shook his head slightly. "Not at all. Selena is a fine name for our child." Serena didn't know what to say next. She expected him to point out how silly Selena sounded, she expected him to even command the child to have a boy name, but she didn't expect him to agree with her. Darien walked closer. Serena swallowed. He looked at her openly, and Serena felt like he was burning holes on her face. He moved closer and closer until their noses were almost touching. Serena didn't dare to move an inch. Her heart was pounding furiously. Darien leaned toward her. . .and looked down. "That's our Selena? I thought you said she was a little bit dusty." he said, raising an eyebrow. Serena took a deep breath. For a minute there, she thought he was going to--never mind. She took a step back. "She was." She sounded funny. Serena cleared her throat. "She was sort of dirty. But, um. . . I cleaned her up." "Well, that's what mothers do, isn't it? Clean up everything." Suddenly the annoyance was back again. Serena got mad. "Mothers work, too, okay?" "Whatever." Darien said. And Mrs. Dorea came in. Everyone stopped talking and got in their seats. Amy shot a look at Serena, and mouthed the words, "What happened?" "I'll tell you later." Serena whispered, and turned her attention to the front. "Well, from the way it was in the hall today, I'm sure all of you brought your babies and your potatoes, and of course, blankets. Later I'm going to check each group and give you your extra credits. Right now, I'm going to give you ten minutes to wrap the baby together with your partner. Remember, the doll needs to be on top of the potatoes." She told the class. "I'm not going to tell you how to wrap it. . .you need to find how yourself. Get in your groups." Serena sighed and reluctantly walked over to Darien's desk, since she knew he wouldn't ever go to hers. She put the doll, the safety pins, and the pale blue blanket down on his desk. Darien looked up and half-smiled, then pulled the potatoes out of his backpack. "Sit down." He said, as he grabbed a chair from the empty seat in front of him. Serena was surprised that he made the gesture, and even more surprised when he got the chair for her. She slowly sat down beside him. "You know how to do this thing?" Darien asked casually as he laid the blanket out on his desk. Serena grinned. "Mothers are experts on these kind of stuff." Darien looked at her and smirked. He leaned back in his chair. "Be my guest, then." "Let's see if I remember." Serena muttered. She moved the blanket into a diamond kind of shape, and folded the top corner down to the middle. She made the potatoes the same level in the plastic bag, and put them right in the middle of the blanket. Then she got the doll and placed it on top of the potatoes. Serena folded the two corners by her side over the doll and used safety pins to make sure they were in place. While she was doing this, Serena was hyperaware that Darien's eyes were following her every move. She felt like he had her under major spotlights. Finally she was done. Serena slowly raised her eyes to look at Darien. He held her gaze for a moment and then turned his attention to the wrapped doll on his desk. "Done, huh?" he asked. "Um, yeah. Is it okay?" Serena asked uncertainly. She panicked when he didn't respond immediately. *Is it not tight enough or something?* Darien's eyes landed on hers again, and he smiled. "Yeah, it is perfectly okay." Serena allowed herself to calm down. Why did his opinion suddenly mattered so much to her? She thought she hated when he expressed his judgment on everything. "I'm going to carry the baby in first, second, third, and fourth period." Darien said casually. Serena was mad that he was commanding everything again. But her anger was swallowed by her surprise. He was going to carry it for four periods, and that meant she only had to carry it for two periods. *I thought he was going to put all work on me. But, I guess I was wrong.* "And you are going to carry the baby in fifth, sixth period. And, of course, at recess and lunchtime." Darien finished. "Should have known." Serena murmured. Darien smirked and got the baby in his hands. "Wow, it's heavy." "It's supposed to be. Have you ever held a baby before?" Serena asked, cocking an eyebrow. "No." he answered flatly. There was something in his voice that made Serena feel uncomfortable. "Oh, and when the potatoes are likely to be falling out any second, I'll have to bother you to rewrap it again. After all, mothers are experts, and fathers are dumbheads on these kind of things." Darien said, his eyes dancing. Serena laughed. She heard Mrs. Dorea clap her hands together. "Class? May I have your attention, please?" Mrs. Dorea asked. The whole class quieted down. "I'm going to just explain briefly about baby-sitting. Each of you will get three baby-sitting tickets, which you can use when you need someone to baby-sit your child. You only can have someone baby-sit your baby when you and your partner can't take care of him or her at the time. You write the name of the baby-sitter on the ticket and hand it to him or her. If someone is holding your baby and doesn't have a baby-sitting ticket with his or her name on it, then you and that person will be in trouble, okay?" she looked around the room. "All right. Um, you and you over there in the first row, can you help me hand out the tickets? Thank you." "I thought for sure that he was going to kiss you!" Amy blurted out at lunchtime. Lita nodded. "Yeah, I mean, when he leaned down. . ." "But, he didn't kiss me. Can we stop talking about this now?" Serena asked, a little bit annoyed that her friends were still chatting about something that didn't happen. To her surprise, Serena was actually sort of sad that he didn't kiss her. *But I don't even know him! How could I even think of him kissing me? I hated him just 12 hours ago.* She shifted the baby in her arms. She looked at Selena. "Man, it is so uncomfortable to eat with the baby in my arms." "I know." Amy agreed, since she was holding her 'Emily' in her arms, too. Lita smiled. "Poor you. Kenny's got the baby, and he volunteered for it, too. That's so amazing, don't you think?" "Get that smile off of your face right now, Lita, or I'm going to start scream pain." Serena joked. Lita put her hands up, but her smile got wider. Suddenly she saw someone and waved. "Sorry, Kenny's calling me. I think he needs me to hold the baby now or something. See ya later." She got up and walked away. Serena stared at the half-eaten sandwich, the barely-touched milk, and some leftover noodles in her tray. "Well, I'm not hungry anymore." she got up, and got one hand on her lunch tray, but it was sort of heavy. She wanted to use the other hand, but it was holding the baby. Serena sighed, and she slowly got the tray with her left hand and walked toward the trashcan. Before she reached it, however, someone bumped into her and made her drop the lunch tray. The noodles were all over the floor, and the milk spilled everywhere. The sandwich landed on a poodle of milk. Serena groaned. The person who bumped into her gasped slightly. Serena turned around, ready to shout at whomever it was with all her might. But the words died in her throat when she saw the guy standing beside her. "Darien?" Darien smiled apologetically. "Sorry." "What's going on here?" a cafeteria lady appeared, a scowl on her face. Serena almost dropped Selena. "Oh, no. . ." she murmured painfully. She tried to think of a way to get out of the whole thing. But Serena came up with nothing. The woman looked at the mess on the floor, and glared at Serena. "What just happened?" Serena didn't know what to say. "I-I. . .I-," she stammered. "It was my fault, ma'am," Darien interrupted, "I wasn't looking at where I was going. I bumped into her, and caused her to drop everything. I'm sorry." Serena gaped at Darien, mouth hanging just a little bit open. The woman's eyes shifted over to Serena. Serena quickly put on an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry. It dropped to the floor because I was only holding it with my left hand. My right hand was busy holding this baby." Serena smiled again. The woman's face softened. She looked at Selena, and said, "Must be a pain taking care of her." "Oh, we were just starting." Serena said. The woman's eyes darted between Serena and Darien. She smiled. "You guys take care of your baby now, and I'll take care of the floor." Serena flashed a big grin at the woman. "Thank you!" She walked hurriedly back to Amy, her heart pounding. "Serena, wait!" Darien called out after her, rushing to catch up. Almost the whole cafeteria turned to look at them. Serena knew that everyone was wondering why the hottest guy in the school was going after her. She was wondering, too. Serena turned around. "Look, I'm sorry. About the whole mess and everything." Darien said apologetically, although his face didn't show any emotions. "It's okay. You did save me, after all." Serena responded. "I sorta figured I was suppose to." Serena smiled. Darien glanced at her and then walked away. "Well, congratulations, Serena. Your second day as partners, and you are already starting to get friendly with each other." Amy said with a grin when Serena walked back to their table. "I wouldn't exactly call that friendly. We are just starting to have normal conversations." Serena said, sitting down. She stared at the table. She really couldn't believe it, either. Before the partnership, she and Darien had never been through a conversation without at least one little snide remark about each other, and now. . .they actually had a few smiles and laughs. Things were definitely heading in a completely different direction. __________________________________________________ http://fly.to/Moonieround