masq1

Out of the abyss, a girl emerges from the sea of ancient scrolls
about her, her eyes wide with exhaustion, and her hands aching with
writers cramp. As she gathers the scrolls up, a wicked grin flashes on her
chapped lips. Her mangled unwashed hair sweeps her brow and her
blood-shot eyes flash victoriously…she has done the revision!!!!!!!!
Okay, so a slight exaggeration. Don’t worry, my mouth is fine,
and I HAVE washed my hair (in fact I took a nice, relaxing bubble bath
yesterday!) and I don’t have writers cramp, and though I may have
eyestrain from staring at this screen too long, they are NOT blood-shot.
But here it is, the revision of Masquerade, in which extra scenes,
good grammar and good spelling finally come into the picture!
(Hopefully!)
Oh! I also included more lyrics of some lovely songs, because I
found that many songs I listened to pertained so well to the story, so
drifted them in…I know they are in abundance in the end, so I’ll just say
that I’d love for you to read them, because I believe they fit in nicely.
However, I understand if you don’t…believe me, I do.
SO HERE WE GO!!!!! Let’s go back to the past!

Love, Luck, and Luna,
Crystal Heart, the storyspinner

I don’t own these characters, but the story is most thankfully mine. Please
don’t sue.
The songs used in this story aren’t mine…
“Falling into you” belongs to Celine Dion
“My All” belongs to Mariah Carey
“Whenever You Call” belongs to Mariah Carey
“To the Moon and Back” belongs to Savagegarden

* denotes thought

Masquerade
By Crystal Heart

Chapter 1 - Family and Gossip

The blond at the mahogany desk looked absently out her 52nd
floor story window to see the amazing night-time skyline of New York
City when she was suddenly startled by the ring of a telephone.
Collecting herself, exhausted over her paperwork, she took off her
golden-frame reading glasses and picked up the phone. She sighed,
“Larynce and Larynce, Larynce the younger speaking.”
“Serena Larynce, if you don’t come back home later tonight, I will
go to New York, knock you out, and carry you back to Massachusetts!”
“Good evening, mother,” Serena lazily sat back in her black leather
chair. It engulfed her thin body, and she felt sleepy. She rubbed her
temples, contemplating the New York skyline, drenched in darkness,
smattered with glitter of lighted towers of gold. “I’ll be there tomorrow
early afternoon. I just have to finish up some business here, go to
Cambridge and pick up a few papers there to grade, and I’ll be there.”
“But tomorrow’s Christmas Eve! We wanted you to be here with
us the whole day!”
“I will…later,” she said, picking up another paper and starting to
read it.
“Serena…”
“Mother, please don’t start with me. We went through this last
year. I went though it today. And Aunt Hetty already threw a fit when I
wanted to stay in New York this week, instead of going to the Castle with
her.”
“Well that just shows I’m right. When your SENIOR partner in
your law firm, who is also your aunt, calls it a day for both of you, it
means that you both stop working.”
“Mother…”
“Don’t ‘mother’ me. I want you home tomorrow morning. The
Dredsdales are spending Christmas with us, so you have to be here too.”
“ALL the Dredsdales?” Her heart started to pound. All the
Dredsdales…which included…well…HIM!
“Yes, and if you came to visit more often, you’d know. But no,
you’re too busy with your law firm in New York and teaching at Harvard
to come!”
“I’m sorry…” Serena felt her mind in a flurry of wishes…to stay at
home, to go there and finally confront him, to just forget he ever existed…
“I’m worried about you…”
*When ISN’T she worried?* she rolled her eyes, tugging a short
gold curl that fell in front of her face back behind her ear. She focused her
thoughts on talking to her mother. She shouldn’t think about HIM right
now.
“Serena, you’re all alone in that city, and you haven’t met
anyone…”
*Of all times…of course! It’s the holiday season…Nothing like
packing a bunch of people in a house to know how much you want a
bunch a people for yourself!* “I’m still young…”
“YOU’RE TWENTY-SIX!”
“That’s not old…”
“Serena, a twenty-six-year-old does not just LIVE in New York.
She hides in the office buildings and apartment buildings, and goodness
knows where you’ll meet someone in all the millions of people who live
there…”
“Mom, I’m fine the way I am…”
“HA! If you were fine the way you were, you’d be here. Mark my
words Serena, if you had any sense in family tradition, you’d be right here,
right now. And perhaps, if you had a HUSBAND, you’d understand that
kind of duty…it’s called love of the family. Look it up some time!”
With that, Ilene Larynce slammed down the phone, convincing her
daughter to get out of her chair, and start to go back to her apartment. She
shut her eyes a moment, gathered her thoughts, and then stood up.
Serena sighed as she packed her things up. *Mother…*
Ilene Larynce was still a stickler for tradition and American family
values. Even if it meant beating up her daughter to take her home. Her
reign as the First Lady was over, but the White House was never the same
again. Serena laughed to herself as she thought about it.
She brought her leather briefcase out the door of her nice office,
and started to walk to the elevators. She was the only one left on the floor.
Serena felt somewhat content with that fact, and walked a little lighter.
She got in the elevators and pressed the down button.
Serena was a stickler for work. It was amazing how her value of
American family was so different from her mother’s. Serena had married
her studies and job, and had began in her aunt’s law firm and had worked
her way to the top. She then took on Harvard, as the new law professor.
She rose to be head of the department. She had a busy schedule, but she
liked the business. It was more professional. And she was the
embodiment of professionalism.
Her very fit body was always in strict business wear, unless she
was out in one of those social things her mother told her to attend, every
once in a while. She jogged every morning in Cambridge when she was at
Harvard, and sometimes ran in Central Park early in the morning when she
was in New York. But no one could really tell that now. She looked
feminine, and she looked professional. Right now, she was wearing a pink
Laura Ashley business suit, and her gold hair was bouncy and slightly
straight, curling at the ends to her neck. It flowed to just above her
shoulders. But it was now elegantly coiled up in a professional French
twist, but strands were falling out and gathering around her soft face. She
took the short haircut out of the fact that there was little maintenance, and
not because it was stylish, though she looked very beautiful with her hair
that way.
As she stepped out of the elevator, she said good night to the
security guard, and put on her trench coat, and buttoned up. She wound
her pink cashmere scarf around her neck, and put on her pink beret. She
then stepped out into the cold bustling of Manhattan.
The scarf and beret gave more away about her than anything else in
her appearance. The scarf showed that she was soft, and very beautiful on
the inside, that she liked fun and pretty things, though she didn’t show it
too often. She had learned to restrain herself from careless fancies over
the years. But Serena Larynce, no matter how distant she was to the
public, was still a little girl at heart, and only this way with her family and
friends.
Now, the scarf was whipping against the late December winds.
Snow was swirling about, in pretty tendrils from the sky. She walked
briskly and lightly down 5th Avenue, passing the shoppers rushing out of
Saks, happy with tons of shopping bags. She passed the crowds walking
about the Rockefeller Center, sighed and turned away while passing the
beautiful Christmas tree, and after a few blocks, went up the steps to a
fancy tall building. As the doorman greeted her, she smiled and wished
him a happy Christmas. She then walked to the brass doors of the elevator
and pushed the up button. As she stepped in, she rested against the wall,
closing her eyes lightly, pressing the button for the top floor, and inserting
the key into the elevator that would allow her access to that floor.
As she stepped off the elevator, and got out her key to open her
penthouse apartment. She entered, plopping her work bag and purse to the
floor, already carpeted with various other things she had carelessly
dropped after coming home other times.
So Serena Larynce wasn’t perfect. She didn’t have to manage a
beautiful life AND clean her apartment. That was just expecting way too
much! She only cleaned on rare occasions, when she knew she’d have
company, or when she had a rare Saturday to herself. Since she spent
most of her engagements in other places, and since she rarely had a free
Saturday, her apartment, however nicely it was decorated, was still a mess.
Serena had two main alternatives when she first decorated her
apartment, and that was the homey, or the elegant. She chose elegant, and
cream velvet carpets, silky cream curtains, and cream-colored leather
furniture. The coffee table was glass with white marble ends, and her
walls were cream, lit dimly by the simple light at the ceiling of the room.
The walls were also decorated with soft Monets and other impressionists.
She sighed as that elegance had more of the homey appearance
now, literally, for her coffee table was cluttered with coffee mugs she had
been mindlessly leaving there for a month or so, and her couch was
cluttered with briefs she was reading, and more papers she was grading
covered her laptop computer, which had drowned somewhere in there.
She stepped around the obstacles on the floor to the kitchen, which
was spotless, for lack of use. However, her sink was filled to the brim
with more coffee mugs.
*And my colleagues actually WONDER why I buy so many mugs,
and why I like them for Christmas!*
Serena went to the kitchen counter, by her cordless phone charger.
She reached underneath the pile of papers next to it, pressed the button on
the answering machine, and walked away from it, to the refrigerator,
wondering if any of the leftovers of Chinese take out she had ordered three
days ago was still edible.
“Serena!”
Serena jumped from the refrigerator and laughed when she realized
that it was only her mother on the answering machine, and not in her
apartment. *If Mom saw this place NOW, she’d kill me!* Her mother
had undoubtedly called to find out why her daughter was not at the Castle,
and still in New York. *She first probably tried Cambridge and then my
prof office, and then called here and then my work number right after this,
and yelled at me then! I’ll have to remember that when I check my
answering machines at Cambridge!*
“It is 9:30 on the night before Christmas Eve. It’s bad enough you
aren’t here, with the rest of us, but it’s even worse you aren’t even at your
APARTMENT! But then again, it must look like a pigsty now! You
better be out shopping or doing something careless, because if I call and
catch you at work I will ground you at the Castle until you have spent all
of a year with us!”
Serena then tuned out as she rummaged the refrigerator once more,
pulling out and smelling the Chinese carton. She wrinkled her nose and
tossed it into her now slightly overflowing garbage can. *I’ve got to take
out the trash!*
She opened the freezer and finally decided on an ice cream
sandwich.
A furious click. Her mother had hung up. Serena tuned in for
more messages.
“Rena. Ken. Call.”
Serena laughed. Kenneth Larynce DID hate answering machines.
And that was the end of the messages.
She went into the living room, paced around a bit, and finally
decided that the phone was in the refrigerator.
She went to the refrigerator, and there it was, sitting next to the
milk carton. *I don’t know HOW it got there, and I don’t know HOW I
know.* she calmly told herself. *I don’t want to know. If I have time,
maybe I’ll clean up a little before I go to bed tonight. It’s only around ten
or so now,* as she looked at the clock on the wall. *I’ve got a few hours.
But I probably need two lifetimes.*
She then remembered the phone call, and picked up her phone and
dialed Ken’s cell phone number.
A woman picked up, her slightly deep and rich voice answering.
“Ken Larynce’s phone, his wife speaking.”
“Hey Lita!”
“Rena Larynce, if you don’t get your butt here now your mother
will kill you!” Lita scolded teasingly over the phone.
“I know, I know, it’s tough to get things done, though. I’ll try. I
just got your husband’s message, so can I talk to my second cousin once
removed?” Serena laughed.
“He’s tucking his little princess in.”
“And how is his queen?”
“Fine, my restaurant’s doing great. I’m thinking of opening in
New York now as well.”
“So Boston, Denver, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Washington DC,
Seattle, Orlando and goodness knows where still isn’t good enough?”
“Well, when your husband is the president-elect, the first lady’s
got to do something!”
Serena laughed. “I suppose so. And are all the Larynces and
Dredsdales there at the Castle, listening to my mother rant and rave about
her irresponsible daughter who doesn’t have her priorities set straight?”
“Pretty much all the guests have arrived. Mina Lockhart got here
this morning with Andrew, and Chad Larynce and his wife Raye got here
this afternoon. You remember her, right? The wedding in…what was
it…August? Yeah, right after cousin Loraine’s!”
“Yes, Raye is the somewhat temperamental business woman. But
very kind and sweet once you get to know her. I remember her. Didn’t
really get to talk with her or anything…hope to be better acquainted,
though.”
“And first cousin Amy came this evening, and brought her fiancee,
Greg!”
“OHHHHHH!!! THAT’S SOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!” Serena
squealed. “It’s about time Amy met someone special. I remember school
years; she was more than a social recluse!”
“Yeah, I’m pleased too. Greg is a very sweet and intelligent young
man. He’s pretty cute. To top it all off, he also absolutely worships her.
They love each other a lot.”
“I’m glad, but I wish Amy had told me!”
“Well, considering no one can ever get a hold of you…why don’t
you try a cell phone, or a pager?”
“I fear having them robbed.”
“Then move somewhere safe! You’re twenty-six, and alone in a
huge dangerous city.”
“You sound like my mother.”
“Well, I worry.”
“Even more like my mother.”
“Serena, you know you’re always the one set apart from the
Larynces…you never come to these family things…”
Serena smiled over the phone. “Well, things get busy…”
“Busier than family?”
“Believe me, I don’t miss much except for my mom, dad, Sam, and
you guys. And sometimes Gram, when she’s not setting me up…”
“Speaking of setups…”
“Oh…No…” Serena closed her eyes rubbing her eyes.
“There’s something funny going on here…”
“And I bet it has to do with me and a Dredsdale. The lengths my
grandmother will go to see me ‘happily settled’. I can find my own
husband…if I want one.”
“Serena…”
“What?”
“Anyways, rumor has it that the Dredsdale PRINCE is here for
Christmas. I don’t believe YOU have ever met him, though almost every
other Larynce girl has. They’re all madly in love.”
“Prince?” her heart beat faster. HIM.
“Yes…from what I hear, he’s Gertrude’s favorite, she raised him
since his parents had died. Every Larynce princess is crazy about him. He
is hot, I’m told,” Lita laughed, thinking of the distress that was in Serena
right now.
“But Dredsdales are genetically inclined to look fabulous anyhow,”
Serena giggled, trying to sound calm. Her heart…it was up in her throat.
HIM!
“But none are as hot as the prince. I haven’t met him, but I’ve
heard. Ken tutored him English when he first came to America.”
“From where?” Serena asked, dumbly. Of course, she knew. She
knew everything.
“Japan,” Lita said, smiling over the line.
“Japan?” she asked again conversationally…trying to sound
calm…she knew the story…she just wanted to hear it again, she supposed.
Besides, Lita didn’t know about…that…did she?
“But he’s not Japanese. He was born in America, had the same
story as you did, basically, but this time, it’s not a happy ending. His
parents got killed in a car accident, and he was taken here by Gertrude,”
Lita continued, thinking she could hear the shallow nervous breathing on
the other side of the line.
“Ah…no wonder the Larynce cats are all sharpening their claws.
The matriarch’s prodigy. I think I’ve heard of him. Hot, but cruel! Isn’t
he some kind of DOCTOR or something?” she asked, again
conversationally. Of course he was a doctor…she’d known that for
years…
“Yeah. From what I hear, he’s a GREAT doctor, top of his field,
teaching at Johns Hopskins. I hear he also teaches a little med and bio up
at Harvard as well. You might know him,” Lita said, *HA! Know Him,
or know OF Him?*
“I don’t think so. I haven’t really gotten to know the staff outside
of the law department. I don’t think I even SET FOOT outside the law
department buildings and my apartment there. But anyways, about the
prince…what was his name…Darrick, Darren, Dorkus…what was it?” she
laughed. Keep up the charade…besides, she never really MET him…
“Darien.”
“Ah…with a name like that a girl ought to melt upon just hearing
it!” Serena faked a sigh. The name, however, was more than familiar. Ah,
the boy Gram always mentioned to Serena, the name that had been
stealthily slipped into her mind and memory. *Darien did this…Darien
did that…* She was FIERCELY competitive with the image of all Darien
represented. However, she wouldn’t compete in medicine with him…she
wasn’t really into the medical stuff. She loved politics and American
Government and History…and she had an astounding speaking ability…a
captain of the Debate team for three years in a row in high school, then
another three in college. No, Darien Dredsdale couldn’t compete with her
there, but he did projects with profs and ended up going to places like
Poland and Italy to present his ideas…it was ridiculous the way they
competed, and she knew it now, but when she was younger, there was an
importance. “Oh, I’m already feeling my cheeks flush at his name, and
my heart is thudding.” Actually, it was, for she was going to finally meet,
face to face, with the one man she had competed with all her life. She
wondered what it would be like. And she knew, it would be strange.
“Rena, I wouldn’t talk so fast. If everything said about him is true,
then you will absolutely swoon once you meet him.” *SWOON? She’ll be
in love…she’s already halfway there…though she’s never met him!* Lita
smirked.
“I’m sure I will…with laughter…” She knew of his good looks.
She never saw him…she had many opportunities when she was younger,
at many of the parties, but she never cared much to meet him. She was
always afraid…to go and find that the boy she was competing with, this
young intelligent man, would be a nice guy. It was TOO hard to compete
with a nice guy. Now, she had read some medical journals about him
(only to remain up to date in medicine, of course). His name was
everywhere. She’d never seen him before, but had a vague image in her
mind of him. She imagined the arrogant young man she’d always
pictured, with slicked blond hair, and proud dark brown eyes. He’d be tall
and domineering, with an ego the size of Mount Everest. To see an actual
picture would spoil her image, and spoil her whole fancy.
“Serena…I know you’ve been wanting to meet him. When I first
met you, one of the first things Ken said to me was that you had been
fiercely competitive with guy you’ve never met, and that he was Darien
Dredsdale. I don’t know…we all thought that it would be romantic…”
Lita started, thinking that she HAD to tell Serena she knew…it was fair
this way, she supposed. Then she could tease her all the more for
pretending Serena DIDN’T know of him.
“HA! I thought I was beyond the age of romance!” Serena laughed
nervously, having been seen through. Her cheeks colored and she looked
up the ceiling, closing her eyes. Darien’d never hear about this anyhow,
but all the same…
“Ken married me when he was twenty-nine. Darien’s only twenty-
eight. I was twenty-seven. You’re only going to be twenty-six. Ken and
I’ve been married for ten years now, and have a beautiful nine-year-old,
and a wonderful six-year-old. That wasn’t too late. Who knows, Serena,
Darien could sweep you off your feet, and you could fall in love, as fast as
I did.”
“Yeah, but you’re sweet, agreeable. You WANTED matrimony.
You loved each other. I’m not that kind of girl anymore. I was when I
was a teenager, and that was what being a teenager was all about. Being
foolish enough to fall in love with love. Now I know romance does exist,
but only for certain ones. Not me. Especially not with some “prince” all
my mindless cousins are swooning over; he’s probably got the body of a
tennis pro, a bank account the size of Fort Knox in Switzerland, and let’s
not forget the brain of tapioca pudding…”
“He’s the HEAD OF THE MED DEPARTMENT OF JOHN’S
HOPSKINS!” Lita sighed.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. My cousins don’t care for intelligent guys;
they tend to be boring, seeing that INTELLIGENT guys tend to talk about
things other than other women’s dresses. I hope my taste in men is better
than THAT, or else, he’ll have to keep me up with fashion trends!” Serena
knew that was entirely untrue. If he was a blockhead, then she’d never
forgive herself for competing with an illusion.
“We’ll see, when you duel with the prince yourself tomorrow.”
“And is my charming opponent already there?” she asked, her eyes
bright and wide. Her heart quivering.
“As a matter of fact, he came in an hour ago. He then proceeded to
be locked up in the den with my husband for an hour, and they discussed
macho guy things. Speaking of which, I think my husband is ready for
you now.” Serena wanted to protest. She wanted to hear more about
Darien…so she’d be prepared tomorrow.
She heard the phone being passed, and she heard a clearing of a
throat. “Rena Larynce. Why aren’t you here yet? You’re mother’s
worried sick about you!”
Serena laughed. “And how is my cousin, the president-elect of the
United States of America?”
“Good, if his dear cousin Rena will agree to be his wonderful
attorney general.”
“WHAT?”
“I meant it, Rena. I want you to be my attorney general when I take
office. I KNOW you’ll just do a great job!”
Serena laughed. “I’m, well, very flattered that you have asked me!
In fact, I am going to something I don’t normally do. I’m going to accept
this position impulsively, and not even bother thinking about that law firm
I have in New York.”
“I know, it’s complicated to get out of a law partnership, but Rena,
I know it’s been your dream to sweep all of Washington, ever since you’ve
lived here to be mortified at the press.”
Serena pressed her lips, remembering the past. She had changed
over the years. No, the eight year old Usagi Tsukino in that walked
carefully onto American soil for the first time would never had guessed
she’d end up being Serena Larynce, the former first daughter, successful
lawyer.
Sure, she had certainly regretted leaving Japan. Though she was
born in America, she had barely even begun to live when her father was
transferred for diplomatic reasons to Japan to discuss politics with the
Japanese president. It wasn’t fair that when she was eight, the American
government had decided that Michael Larynce was needed back in
Washington, where he could preside over American politics.
And certainly wasn’t fair when Usagi Tsukino had to give up her
bunny name, her Japanese name, which was a mere adoption to make the
Larynces welcome in Japan, to be Miss Serena Larynce, always “Miss
Serena” to everyone, or “the Larynce princess”.
And it was even more unfair when she had to learn English from
scratch, since the only thing she had known in her life was Japanese. And
being a Larynce didn’t help. She didn’t understand everything, but she
knew that people looked down on her, as the dull-witted princess, the Late
Larynce, as she was nicknamed, who’d only get what she want because
she had the money to do it.
Well, she showed them. Serena was very sensitive to what people
said, and after going through stages of arrogance, anger and self-pity, she
decided not to throw in the towel, and just take the press on a little ride.
She had risen quickly, taking in her information the speed of light,
and skipping two grades…the one grade behind she had started before at,
and then another grade for good measure. She was accomplished, and she
was ready. She had shown them all. Serena Larynce was not a dumb
princess. She was clever, beautiful, and very distant.
It wasn’t her fault if she was born into one of the richest families in
America, and it was even less her fault that her father had happened to be
likable enough to become Massachusetts state senator, and eventually
president of the United States. So there was absolutely no reason why the
press should have had a field day with her anyway.
He became president when Serena was studying in the most
prestigious schools in the nation, when she was fourteen. She heard about
it on the radio, and had called her father, who hadn’t wanted to disturb her
studies; after all, she had two huge tests the next day.
She spent only two years at the White House, when she was not at
her private boarding school, and the remaining six years of her father’s
presidential term was spent at college. She had only been sixteen when
she had graduated high school.
Serena Larynce was different, but not quite as different as everyone
thought. She kept the distant image because it suited her study
environment. If she remained distant, the press would be distant with her
as well, calling her shots as acts of arrogance, or some nonsense
foolishness. But she wasn’t really as distant and cold as the press said. In
fact, she loved her family, and she loved her friends. It wasn’t her fault if
the press had set out to throw mud at her in the very beginning, and it
wasn’t her fault if the press decided to nickname her the Ice Queen.
Of course, in the midst of all this, there was also another icon she
always fought…and that was the ever-lasting image of this boy her
grandmother had put on a pedestal…Darien Dredsdale, the Dredsdale
prodigy…her “intended”, sort of. She knew her grandmother had hopes
for both of them, and it annoyed her. So she strived to be better than
Darien, trying to show her grandmother that she was good enough for
anyone she chose…it was her choice, and not Darien’s, not Gram’s.
“Rena? You there? Are you reminiscing?”
“Of course! What else?”
“Rena. Don’t worry about the press. You are untouchable now.
Perfect. Besides, you never really cared much about what they said.”
A bump formed in Serena’s throat and she laughed superficially
and said, “No, of course not!”
“Well, then just show them you don’t care. Be my attorney
general, and be the best attorney general in history. Make the Larynces
proud.”
“All right.”
“Now pack those bags. We want to see you here tomorrow, safe
and sound, relaxed and cheerful. It’s the holidays, and we’re going to be
one loving family again.”
“Yeah, the bunch of brats, sweeties, gossips, charity saviors, snobs
and other things that we are. I can’t wait. For a whole week, and maybe
beyond, if there is a snow blizzard. And this time, we do it times two,
with a new family there as well,” she sighed, laughing. No, the Larynces
weren’t ALL floozies, only a few. Over all, the Larynces were a great
family.
“Well, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Ken, and thank you.”
As she pressed the off button, she placed the phone back in the
refrigerator as she mindlessly took out the milk carton and poured herself
some milk. As she gulped down the glass, calm and composed, a smile
crept into her like a tide. She set the glass in the pile of mugs in her sink
and shined.
*ATTORNEY GENERAL!!!!!* “WAHOO!!!!!!!” she shouted
into the air.
She spun around the things on the floor, and slipped on a stray
sheet and fell the couch, laughing hysterically that no matter how late she
had to stay up, she was going to clean this apartment, pack up, and leave
for Boston first thing tomorrow.
She started to organize her things and pick them up. She took the
shopping bags she had carelessly brought home over the last month and
hung the clothes inside the bags up in her closet. All those nice business
suits which she never had the time to get out of the shopping bags. And
all those nice casual clothes she was going to bring with her. Serena rarely
went shopping, but when she did, she went all out. She spent a whole day.
She knew she had some things in her Cambridge apartment as well, but
she decided she didn’t need to stop by there anymore. She had some
papers already here, and she’d take those to grade. As she piled stack over
stack of briefs on the shelves, into the folders of the filing cabinet, she
chose a few she was going to bring with her to Massachusetts.
At four in the morning, Serena had cleaned her living room, her
desk room, her kitchen, her bedroom and closet. Her mugs were all
washed, and her phone was charging in the phone set. Two or three of her
briefs were sitting on her desk to be packed into her work bag for her trip,
a yellow highlighter placed on top, and a stack of papers was at the side,
with a red marker placed on top of that. By that, her packed up laptop
computer sat in her nice desk chair, and a sappy romance novel was placed
with it.
In her bedroom all the clothes she had planned to bring were folded
and laid on the bed.
Serena was laid out on the couch, asleep.