Authors: Lady Anime and Princess Makoto
Title: Two Mismatched Couples
Email: ladyanime@hotmail.com and makoto4sj@aol.com
Rated: PG

           Chapter One

    ~~~~~~~~Serena is in the park enjoying a warm Friday afternoon~~~~~~~~

    " Hey, Serena! Wait up!" a girl with wavy red hair called out to her friend.

    " Oh hey, Mol!" Serena turned to see her best friend Molly running towards her

    Serena and Molly had been best friends ever since they were both babies. They know
that they can count on each other no matter what. It was a rare and true friendship that they
both hoped would last forever. 

    " I heard there's a new Sailor V. movie coming out this weekend want
to go and see it with me?" Molly asked.

    " Sure!" Serena exclaimed.

    " Yo, Meathead? Shouldn't you be home studying? After all, you better study
for that science test coming up. Though, I don't know why I'm telling you to go
and study. After all, you're going to fail it either way...Ha!" A deep voice said
from behind them.

    Serena winced at the voice, she knew who it belonged to. She would know
HIS voice anywhere. 

    " Get lost, Darien! How did you know about my science test anyway?" Serena asked.

    " Um...Well, Andrew told me!" Darien said quickly. He wasn't going to tell HER that
he had been spying on her lately. And he knew about the science test through her friend
Ami and Lita. Well, he didn't exactly ask them. He sort of "overheard" them talking about 
it. And besides, if he told her that he'd had been spying on her, she would want to know why.
And there was no way, that he can tell her why. She'd probably die of laughter.
    Lucky for Darien, Serena being such an "innocent" person, she believed him without paying
much thought to it. (If she had, she would have remembered that she never tells Andrew, in fact
she never even mentions anything that has to do with school, much less about any tests coming
up.)

    " Why are you following us? Shouldn't you be with Andrew? Considering that he's your
only friend? You're not wanted here!" Serena said sharply.

    The words, " Only Friend and Not Wanted.." cut into Darien like a thousand tiny, invisible knives.
But before he could answer someone else called out to the girls.

    " Sereneeeee! Mollleeeeeee!" a high squeaky voice called out.

    " Oh no!" Both Serena and Molly covered their hands in front of their faces.

    " There you are! I've been looking all over for you two. Did I tell you about the latest
thing I found out?" a boy with messy brown hair and big weird glasses asked.

    " Melvin, for the last time. We don't care!" Molly said to the boy.

    " You would want to know this! I just learned that we're going to have two new students 
next week! They're names are Ann and Alan. According to me, those Ann came from
Germany because her parents died in an airplane accident and she's here to leave with her aunt.
    " Alan's story is similar to hers. His parents died in an accident too and he is here to leave with
his grandfather. It seems that Alan is really rich too. He might be quite snobby too." Melvin told the
two girls in a serious voice.    

    " Ohhh! That's so horrible! Losing both your mom and dad like that! I feel so bad for them! 
We should try and be extra nice to them when they're here." Serena said with a sad and emotional
voice. Her eyes were watering a little.

    Darien who was watching her thought to himself, " Wow! She never even knew them and she 
already cares...My little meatball head is the sweetest person on earth! Well, except when it
comes to me...~Sigh~".

    " Oh No! I should have been home 10 minutes ago! Bye Mol, Melvin, and Mr. Jerk." Serena yelled as she ran home.

    " Well, some things never change...." Darien smiled to himself.

    After Serena left, Molly and Melvin went home too and Darien went to see Andrew.

~~~~~~~~~~~Monday in Ms.Haraka's Class~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        " Class, we have a new student today, actually two, but the other one is with another class. 
Anyway, this is Alan. I know that you will all make him feel welcomed here." Miss H. gave her
class a be-nice-or-else kind of glare. " Alan, you can take the empty seat next to...Serena.

    And so after the brief intro., Ms.H began her class.

    Serena's P.O.V

    What a major hunk! I can't believe Ms.H is going to let him sit next to me. Ohhh, he's staring at me. What
should I do? Gosh, I hope my face isn't all red!

     Alan's P.O.V

    Oh, great! My parents just died and Gramps sends me to this school? With all that money, you'd think
he can get me into a better school than this! Gosh, there's not even a *cute* girl here. And everyone's so 
cold here. 
    Hey, wait a minute...Who's that girl with the weird hairstyle. She's cute...no wait, she's more than cute...
she's...she's amazing....I get to sit next to her? This is too cool. Maybe this school won't be so bad after all....

     Author's (me) P.O.V

    And so, due to the fact that Alan was all of Serena's classes, Alan spent the whole day staring
at Serena and Serena spent the whole day trying not to let Alan catch her staring at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~After School~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Rumors were all over the school now, all the girls in the whole school are in love with this
new and rich kid. You can find Alan anywhere in the school because he's always surrounded
by dozens of girls.

    But the girls were in for a big disappointment. As soon as Alan caught sight of Serena, he 
ditched the girls and walked over to her.

    " Hey, Serena!" Alan called.

    " Huh? Oh hi Alan! Are you enjoying your first day here?" Serena gave him a big warm smile.

    " I wasn't before, but I am now." Alan smiled as he saw a light blush on Serena's face.

    " What are you doing here?" Alan asked.

    " Waiting for my friends, Ami and Lita." Serena answered.

    " Umm...this might seem a little bold, since I only met you today, but wouldyougooutwithme?" Alan said
everything so quickly that Serena didn't catch a single word.

    " What did you say? Say it slower..." Serena said.

    " Would you go out with me? Tomorrow? After school? Please?" Alan gave her a puppy face.

    " I--" Serena was shocked. Here she was with this major hot hunk that every girl in the whole school
wants to date, just a minute ago she thought that she doesn't even stand a chance and now he's asking
her out? "Sure! I'd love to! Here's my number." She took out a pencil and wrote her number down on a 
piece of paper.

    " Thanks, um...I'm going to go now..."Alan stuttered as he slowly tore his eyes away from Serena and
almost walked straight into a wall before he snapped into reality. 

    " SERENA! What was that all about?" Lita asked. Ami and Lita just came out of their classes.

    " Alan just asked me out..." Serena said with dreamy eyes.

    " What? No way! Man, why do you always steal my guys?" Lita teased.

    " Since when was Alan your guy? Didn't you jus say two days ago that
you wanted Nate?" Serena asked.

    " Come on Serena! That was TWO WHOLE days ago! I'm way over
Nate. But I guess you can have Alan, he's not really that cute." Lita pretended to sigh.

    " You're right, he's not really that cute. HE IS HOT!" Serena said and then all three girls
started to giggle.

    By the end of two weeks, Alan and Serena were considered a steady "couple". They went
everywhere together. The whole school were envy of them, but they all had to agree that
those two made a very cute couple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the Arcade~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    " Hey, Andrew, have you seen Serena lately?" Darien asked.

    " Come to think of it. Not really. That's really strange. She usually comes by everyday." Andrew said.

    " Yeah, I'm getting little worried. Do you think she's sick?" Darien said with concern.

    " Why do you care? I thought you would be thrilled." Andrew asked curiously.

    " I don't. I just wonder." Darien said quickly.

    " Darien! I thought I was your best friend!" Andrew exclaimed.

    " You are!" Darien said.

    " Then why are you lying to me?"

    " I'm not!"

    " Yes you are! You like her don't you?"

    " Who? Meatball head? NO WAY!"

    " You're lying..." Andrew crossed his arms and tapped his foot giving Darien the cold glare.

    " I'm not...not really...you see...hehe...I might think she's just a little cute and all, but nothing
really." 

    " Are you sure?" Andrew stared hard into Darien's eyes.

    " I'm very...not sure..." Darien gave up.

    " So, you really like her don't ya? I knew it! The way you always tease her. You know, you
really should tell her how you feel."

    " And have her laugh right into my face? No thanks!"

    Before the conversation could go any farther, a sad and depressed Serena walked into the
arcade.

    " Hi peeps." She managed a small smile.

    " What's wrong Sere?" Andrew asked with concern. He had never seen Serena so sad before.

    " I'm in big trouble! I---it's so---ugggg!" Serena buried her face in her arms.

    " Come on, Serena...You can tell me." Andrew urged softly.

    " It's like this, there's going to be a huge test coming up in two weeks. I've tried to study for it.
It's going to count as a major part of our grade. But when I was looking through my book last night,
I've realized it's going to be hopeless. I don't even know how to study! If I fail this test, then, then...
then...I'm going to..." Serena began to cry.

    " What subject is it going to be about?" Andrew asked.

    " Sci...en...ce." Serena said through soft sobs.

    An idea popped into Andrew's head.

    " You know, Serena. Darien's really good at science. I'm sure he won't mind tutoring you." Andrew said.

    " I don't?" Darien said. Then he realized what Andrew was trying to do.

    " Yeah, come on Meat-I mean Serena. I'll tutor you for free. It's going to be fun!" Darien said.

    " No, thanks. I'm desperate, but not that desperate! I need someone to "help" me, not yell at
me on every little mistake I make." Serena rejected the idea almost immediately. But Andrew was not
going to be defeated so easily. He was determined to get Serena and Darien together.

    " Now, Serena. Think about this. If you have a tutor, you will pass this test with flying colors! Think
of how proud your parents will be! Think of how proud your friends will be! And besides, Darien's going
to teach you for free...so you don't have to tell anyone about him and wouldn't it be such a great surprise
when you go home with a 100% on your test instead of...you know. I bet your mom will faint...." Andrew 
continued to pursue Serena.

    " Well....." Serena began to weigh out all the pros and cons.

    " If I let Darien tutor me, I might pass the test....I'd make everyone so proud! That's good...And
Darien did seem pretty nice. Maybe he's sorry for all the nasty things he said to me....We can become
good friends....And then since Alan is going away for two weeks, I would have no problem canceling
about the dates and things....And he would be so happy to come back and see me with my wonderful score....
But.....if I let Darien tutor me, it would mean no Arcade for the rest of the two weeks....Hmmm..."

     In the end she said, " Okay, fine, but if I fail this test, I'm gonna blame it on you!" She pointed
her finger directly at a nervous Darien.

    " Hehe...Sure Meatball-ug sorry....Serena." Darien said.

    So the whole thing was settled. Serena would go to Darien's apartment after school and stay for about an hour
to study for the test. Then Serena went home.

    " Don't blow this man." Andrew said as he watched Serena leave.

    " Huh?" Darien said.

    " I said, 'Don't blow this!' You have a perfect chance to patch things up with Serena. Don't ruin it!" Andrew warned.

    " I won't! Thanks, Drew. Don't know how I'm ever going to thank you enough!" Darien smiled at Andrew.

    Andrew noticed that it wasn't his normal fake grin, but a real warm smile that reached his eyes. Darien hadn't
smiled like that for too long. " I hope this whole thing works out!" Andrew prayed silently.

~~~~~~~~~~~End of First Chapter~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady Anime: Well, what do you think? Do you like it? (Watch Princess Makoto make a face, then puts on a fake smile)
                     I hope you readers will like it anyway. Even if Princess M. doesn't! Mail me at ladyanime@hotmail.com!
                     By the way, I had Princess Makoto edit this chapter before I posted it here, so if you find any grammar
                     or spelling booboos....blame it on Princess Makoto! See ya next time!

Princess Makoto: (Laughs at Lady Anime's fake grin) And I DO like it! Oh, and      
              Please email us! We love mail, mail is a great thing...oops started to babble a little there!
              (Lady Anime sweatdrops and shakes her head.) Well ja ne!