SEVENTEEN:Romantic Interlude
Serena was dreaming again. She walked down the stairs and into the living room. Her brother Sammy was sitting there watching television. To her shock, she was on it.
"Hey! I'm on TV," she said excitedly.
"Of course you're on TV. You have your own TV show remember. It's called Sailor Moon," Sammy said.
"What? But...that's real life," Serena said.
"No it isn't meatball head. Let me give you the low down. See this show was on TV for a while and they made 65 episodes that were all about you and your friends and how you fought evil and stuff. Then the show got cancelled and all these girls that liked the show got angry and this movement got started to bring the show back and then all these weird guys showed up and said they were Sailor Moon fans, but that can't be it was a show for girls, but anyway the show then got picked up by another network and then it got dropped again so everyone got angry so finally this other network picked it up and they're releasing some more episodes and so people are happy."
"So it's just a TV show?" Serena asked.
"Yeah, and that's not all, there all these people on internet writing fanfiction stories. There's this one where you're hardly in it sometimes and the other Sailor Scouts are getting more plots then you are."
"But it's my show!" Serena shrieked and then she woke up.
"What was that all about?" She asked herself and then hurriedly dashed to her closet. The locket which contained the empereyeum silver crystal was still there.
"Ah....phew..it was just a dream," She said.
"Serena....go back to sleep, it's two in the morning," Luna said drowsily while lying on her bed.
"Sure, Luna. Boy I'm glad you're real," Serena said.
"What else would I be?" Luna said with annoyance and curled back up into a ball.
Serena smiled and went back to bed.
Hopefully I won't have any more stupid dreams. She thought.
Crossroads Junior High was still standing, though several windows were covered with wood and plastic and the wall was missing a few pieces. As the students walked in. Principal Oksua stood out front watching. The school psychologist stood next to him.
"Well the students seem to have adjusted all right," the psychologist said.
"The students? Sure. All the guys think the damage is kinda cool..." Oksua said in a mocking tone, "and the girls are all happy because this Sailor Moon person was there. Of course it's the parents who are causing the trouble."
"Speaking of trouble," the psychologist said as he noticed Patterson emerging from his Uncle's army jeep and walking towards them supported by his cane.
"You know Patterson, I can't help thinking you're some how responsible for all this. It just seems like something you'd do," Oksua said.
"Yeah...right. I suppose I would enjoy destroying school property, but how would I have anything to do with this?" Patterson said with a grin.
"Knowing you and your sinister personality, anything's possible. You'd at least know who was behind it. You evil people always know that," Oksua said.
"Yeah, I'll bet, I probably know where they live, and what their favorite colors are too," Patterson said with another grin and hobbled inside.
"Is it just me or is he getting weirder?" Oksua asked.
"No...I think you've made a reasonable diagnosis," the Psychologist.
"He smiled twice in one conversation. I'd better go on full alert," Oksua muttered.
"We have a full alert?" The psychologist asked.
"No, but we could use one."
Serena dashed up towards the door.
"Miss Tsukino, you're not late. Why are you running?" Oksua asked.
"Old habits sir," Serena said and dashed inside.
"I know every principal says this at one time or another, but I really have to think about retirement," Oksua said.
"Why? It's so interesting here," the Psychologist said. Steve walked by, his face was covered with ashe and his hair was singed.
"Stupid rocket," he was muttering and went inside.
Oksua and the Psychologist glanced at each other.
"Let's go inside before something stupider happens," Oksua said.
The psychologist nodded.
"So Darrien's taking you out for an evening of romance?" Lita asked as the five sailor scouts sat in a circle eating their lunches. This was the result of the fact that they had summarily destroyed all the tables during their fight.
"Yes, it'll be great," Serena said. "We've been going out on dates, sure, but tonight. Ballroom dancing, an exotic restaurant. I can't wait!"
"Lucky you, Mike and I ate at Burger Palace last night," Mina muttered.
"It was Burger City for me and Steve," Lita muttered. The two glanced at Raye.
"Burger Castle," she muttered.
"Wow, what romantics your guys are," Serena said and began to laugh.
"Hey!" The three girls said.
"Sorry, it's just that I'm so happy," Serena said and stood up and began to dance around.
"She's pretty far gone," Lita said.
"Ehh...let her enjoy it," Mina said.
"Yeah, how long before Darrien leaves again?" Raye said.
"Knowing them, Serena's got a month," Lita said.
"Actually if you average the days they've been seperated..." Amy began and then stopped abruptly. "Oh...never mind."
"I just realized something," Raye said.
"Which is?" Mina asked.
"Well...we've got boyfriends, but we're not eating lunch with them. I mean it's not like we need this time to talk about Sailor Scout business since there isn't anyone to fight," Raye said.
"That's a good point," Lita said.
"Let's go get them," Mina said.
The three stood up and walked over to the fence that Mike, Steve, Rick, and Patterson were all sitting on. The first three were leaning back and attemping to see how far they could go without falling. Patterson was watching and waiting. As he expected, all three almost simultaneously fell backward and crashed to the ground.
"Heh..." he said and carefully stepped to the ground and hobbled off as he noticed the three girls approaching. Rick was the first one to look up and see them on the other side of the fence.
"Guess what guys," he said. "We just made fools of ourselves in front of our girlfriends."
"So? I do that all the time," Mike said.
"Yeah, but we don't," Steve said.
"Couldn't tell," Mike said.
"Shut up," Steve said and the three guys began to argue. Their girlfriends
just watched the nonsense and contemplated for yet another time whether they
weren't making a mistake or not.
"You know Amy, life just isn't any better than this," Serena said between chews on her sandwich.
"I've got a great date and this is a really good sandwich," she continued. Amy just smiled and nodded.
"Hey girls!" Melvin said doing yet another of his infamous appearances out of nowhere. Serena was so surprised she spat her sandwich piece out and it hit and stuck to Melvin's shirt.
"Ewww!"he said.
"Dang it! You made me waste a piece of good food!" Serena shouted and hit Melvin on the head.
"Sorry," Melvin said. "Say..um...what would you two say if I told you I was Maverick," Melvin said.
"You're Maverick. How interesting," Serena said and glanced at Amy.
"Yep, I'm him. Surprising isn't it?" Melvin said.
"Oh, yeah. I can't contain my surprise, it's so...surprising," Serena said.
"Hmm...I would never have guessed it was you," Amy said.
"Yeah well...it all goes to show you..." Melvin began to say before he was yanked away by a the curved end of a cane.
"Hello Melvin," Patterson said managing to grin.
"Oh....um...hi.." Melvin said. "Did you hear. I'm Maverick."
"Oh you are...well good for you," Patterson said and patted Melvin on the back before hobbling off. Serena and Amy chuckled.
"He doesn't believe me does he?" Melvin asked turning back to the two.
"He's just jealous of you," Amy said surprised she had made the joke.
"Yeah...you know...all that power you have," Serena said suppressing a laugh.
"I get it," Melvin said and walked off.
"Bacha," Serena muttered.
"Serena. What did you just say?" Amy asked.
"I don't know, it just sounds like something I should be saying when Umino...ahem..Melvin is around," Serena said.
"Oh," Amy said.
What is going on in her head? She thought.
That night, Serena had managed to slip out of the house without being asked any questions. Her father would not exactly the idea of Serena going out for a night romance, so she didn't want to raise the issue.
Darrien was waiting at Raye's temple where she changed into her evening gown.
"So...Darrien. This is going to be one heck of a night for you huh?" Raye asked.
"Sure. I'm going to try and make it up to Serena for all the trouble I've been lately," Darrien said.
"Yeah well that's nice. It's good to see at least one guy on this planet knows how to treat a girl," Raye said.
"Man troubles?" Darrien asked.
"No," Raye said defensively and walked off.
"Heh, she never changes," Darrien said. Serena emerged from the house in her dress and a pair of golden earings.
"What do you think?" She said.
"Gorgeous," Darrien said.
"Yes!" Serena shouted and jumped into the air only to land awkwardly on her pumps and fall to the ground.
"Whoops," she said and blushed. "This would happen to me."
"I'll help you up," Darrien said and pulled her off the ground.
"Let's go before I trip again," Serena said and the two hurried to Darrien's car.
Raye watched them go from a bush and then flipped on her pocket communicator.
"This is Raye, they're headed your way. I'll be there in a few minutes," she said.
"Got it," Lita replied.
"Are we really supposed to be using our communicators for this?" Amy asked.
"Why not? Over and out," Mina said.
The other three scouts were crouching behind a bush across from the Eternal Angel Restaurant. This was Darrien and Serena's destination.
"The moral issues involved here cause me to question why we're doing this," Amy said.
"We're doing this because Serena's going out on a romantic date and we want to know everything about it," Lita said.
"Yeah, spying is fine as long as it's harmless," Mina said.
"Heh, yeah..it's not like we're acting like Patterson or anything," Lita said. Strangely the three girls looked around.
"Hmm...I almost expected to see him," Lita said.
"Yeah me too," Mina said.
"Guess he actually gave it up and is living up to his promise," Amy said.
"They almost saw me," Patterson muttered lying behind a bush several yards
behind the scouts. "Why am I bothering? I should be planning attack strategies."
With that he crawled away and headed back to his house.
"Here they come," Lita said. Darrien's sports car rolled up to the entrance. A valet helped Serena out and took the keys. The two then walked in arm and arm.
"How cute," Mina said.
"Yeah," Lita said dreamily. "In this light, Darrien almost looks like my old boyfriend."
Mina and Amy glanced at each other worriedly.
"So...here we are," Serena said as she and Darrien waited for their food to come.
"Yeah," Darrien said. "By the way, do you know what escargot is Serena?"
"Um....should I?"
"Well...yeah...that's what you ordered."
"Hah, well it's French, so that means it must taste good."
"Um.....good point," Darrien said raising his eyebrows.
"So Darrien..how's your friend. I hadn't thought to ask that."
"Oh my friend in America. Sh- ahem he's fine..." Darrien said nervously.
"That's good."
"Yeah," Darrien said with a sigh of relief.
"Have I missed anything?" Raye asked joining her friends in their vigil outside the restaurant.
"No," the others said.
"It's been pretty uneventful," Lita added.
"Hmm...I wonder what they're talking about," Raye said.
"Probably the beauty of a rose or some romantic subject," Lita said.
"Since when was a tomato a fruit?" Serena asked.
"That's been true a long time," Darrien said.
"Oh," Serena said. Darrien's cellular phone rang. He picked it up.
"Yeah...what? I see. They are? Thanks," Darrien said and put it down.
"Who was that?" Serena asked.
"A fly on the wall so to speak," Darrien said.
"Dinner is served," The waiter said arriving with a plate of food.
"Yum," Serena said before the escargot, or in English, snails, were put in front of her.
"What is this?" she screeched.
"Escargot madam," The waiter said.
"Why don't they just say they're snails?" Serena whined.
"Uh..why don't you just give me the snails and give her the steak, I'm sure she'll eat it," Darrien said quickly.
"As you wish," The waiter said.
Teenage girls. Hmph. He thought.
"Steak. That's much better," Serena said and dived in. Darrien glanced at the snails sitting on his plate. Ehh...I paid for the meal. He thought and ate one.
When Serena finished the t-bone steak, two minutes later, Darrien became slightly worried. Apparently her eating habits haven't improved.
"That was good," Serena said wiping her mouth. "How's the snails."
"Oh..um....you don't know what your missing," Darrien said managing a grin.
Eating Snails? What is the world coming to? He thought. Of course they've
been eaten for generations, but that's not the point. He added as an
afterthought.
"What was all that commotion about?" Raye asked.
"I couldn't really tell. I think it had something to do with the food," Lita said.
"Darrien and Serena switched plates. It didn't look like he was enjoying himself," Amy said.
"Heh..well he chose her for a girlfriend he'll have to deal with it," Mina
said and the four laughed.
Meanwhile, on top of a seventeen story building in the middle of the city, three figures were standing on the edge of the roof let the wind blow their hair in various directions.
"Guys. What is the meaning of life?" Steve asked.
"The what?" The other two said.
"You know. The meaning of life," Steve said.
"How would we know?" Mike said.
"Why are you even bringing up the subject?" Rick asked.
"I don't know. We're standing here on the roof of the world's largest rubber monster suit manufacturing conglomerate and the air is clean and a cold breeze is blowing and it's one of those things that hits you," Steve said.
"That won't be the only thing hitting you if you don't get off this higher level of thinking right now," Rick said.
"Any time, Fujimori," Steve said.
"Guys, let's not fight over all of this. I mean...there are plenty more reasonable things to beat each other up about," Mike said.
"Good point," The other two agreed.
Back at the restaurant on the dance floor, Serena and Darrien were involved in one of the slow dances they had come for.
"I'm glad to be doing this again," Serena said.
"This is really the first time we've done this," Darrien said.
"We did it a lot, before, if you know what I mean," Serena said referring the silver millenium.
"I see," Darrien said.
"I'm getting good at this aren't I?" Serena asked.
"Um..yeah...you're getting better," Darrien said. Only the sixth time she's
almost tripped in the last five minutes. He thought. Still, she's having a good
time.
"Now that is romance right there," Lita swooned.
"Yeah, I guess this is as close as were going to get to it with our joker boyfriends," Raye muttered.
"Yeah," Mina said and the three sighed.
"I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so much," Amy said and grinned.
Serena and Darrien walked onto the patio of the restaurant which because of it's position on a hill overlooked a nice part of the city, now lit by the various lights inside the various buildings.
"What a beautiful place this is," Serena said.
"That's why I picked it," Darrien said.
"Wow....I usually never get such a good view of the city. It really makes you think," Serena said.
"Uh huh," Darrien said standing back a few feet. Serena stood at the balcony. The crescent moon seemed to float in front of her. She turned back towards him in such way that it was reminiscent of a vision Darrien had had of her over a year ago. The moonlight was shining of her face and it was at the moment that her beauty to him was maginifed tenfold. He started a bit.
"What is it Darrien?" She asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Darrien said and walked up next to her. The two
just stared out at the view for an hour, not speaking or moving. They didn't
need to.
"What the heck's going on in there? Where'd they go?" Raye asked impatiently.
"The restaurant has a patio Raye," Amy said.
"How would you know that?" Raye asked.
"Yeah..." Mina and Lita chimed in.
"Uh...I just do," Amy said.
"Hmm...could it be that Greg is a connosieur of fine cusine?" Raye asked.
"Uh, do we really need to talk about this?" Amy asked blushing.
"Yes, now spill the beans," the other three said.
"Well....I won one of those various school competitions, you know like the geography bee or something. I mean I win so many I lose track. Any.. they gave me two free dinner passes and well Greg was in town on day over the summer and we went....." Amy said.
"And you didn't tell us!" the three girls said.
"Serena and Darrien are leaving," Amy muttered and pointed. The other three looked to see that indeed Darrien and Serena were at the curb waiting for Darrien's car to be brought around.
"This was a wonderful evening," Serena said.
"I'm glad you liked it," Darrien said.
"Yeah. It was great," Serena said.
The car was brought up and the valet handed the keys to Darrien.
"Time to go Serena. Oh...and why don't you wave to your friends across the street?" Darrien said grinning.
"Oh...right.." Serena said and waved right at where the four were sitting.
"Bye guys...see you tommorow!" She yelled and got into the car.
"How did she know?" The four said in surprise.
"Heh heh." Patterson said watching from a block away before hobbling off.
Cellular phones can be fun. he thought.
As the car took her back to a place where she could change, Serena still had smile on her face.
"Boy this was great. We should do this more often," Serena said.
"Uh...right," Darrien said. Like I can afford a hundred dollar dinner every night. He thought.
"Well I'd better get back. I don't want my parents asking any questions."
"Right good idea," Darrien said.
"You know I almost expected some ugly monster to jump out at some point and attack. Thank goodness it didn't happen."
"I know what you mean, but maybe we'll have some peace and quiet," Darrien said.
"Yeah, and I know what to spend it doing," Serena said. An image of Amy appeared in her head.
"Studying," it said.
"No, not that," Serena said.
"What?" Darrien said.
"Just talking to myself," Serena said.
"Oh...." Darrien said. She's weirder than a black Dalmation with white spots, but I love her. He thought