Title: All that Glitters - Part 7
By: Miki
E-mail: aya_miki@hotmail.com
Rating: G
Genre: Romance
Standard Disclaimer Apply
Hello minna, I just want to give a big thank to Riona for
posting the fic for me. She's great and you should check out
her fic "Eyes on You" if you haven't already.
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"I love our games against North High," Molly said as we filed
into the school gym. "Especially when we demolish them. Think
we'll kill 'em tonight, Serena?"
"I hope so," I said. "We're favored by eight points."
I let my eyes sweep over the crowd, searching for
Darien's Riley face. I knew that he wore a navy-blue coat,
(AN: that green jacket of his had got to go!) so my gaze
automatically paused every time I saw that color.
The basketball games against North High are among the
most popular events at school, and tonight was our last shot
at the state championship. Molly and I pressed through the crowd and found seats
about halfway up in the middle section of bleachers. Before I
sat down, I scanned the crowd one more time, alert for
Darien's thick, dark hair. I didn't see Darien, but one otherface caught my eye.
Mina Boyson. She had seen me, too, and was making her
way toward us, with two of the girls from her clique trailingbehind her.
Oh, no, I thought, this is not a good way to start the
evening. "Looking for Darien?" Molly shouted over the noise of
the Lincoln pep band. "Shh! Don't look now, but Mina Boyson saw us and is
heading this way. I'm afraid she's going to sit near us."
"Where? I don't see Mina Boyson--oh." Molly turned
around just as Mina sat down right beside her.
"Well, here we are, sitting right next to the Golden
Girl and her entourage. I feel so honored," Mina sneered.
"Don't you feel honored, girls?"
The two girls at her side nodded. "Honored," they saidlike puppets.
"Why is it that we are so fortunate?" Mina continuedsarcastically.
Molly turned around and smiled sweetly. "Just lucky, Iguess."
I shoved my elbow into Molly's ribs to quiet her, and
she stifled a giggle. A couple of girls sitting in front of us
had heard our conversation, and they turned around and
laughed, which got Molly giggling again.
Mina was obviously angry. She scowled at me. "Think
you're pretty hot stuff now, don't you, Golden Girl?" Mina
said. "Boys who normally wouldn't give you the time of day are
giving you a lot of attention. Isn't it great to be popular?
I've always enjoyed it myself."
I didn't answer or even turned around. I just wished
she'd disappear. "And you got yourself a makeover. You don't
even look like the same person. But then again, you really did
need some help in that department."
"Oh, shut up, Mina. Serena looks great," said one of
Sammy's friends who was sitting nearby.
"Okay," I said, finally turning around. "That's enough."
I could feel the eyes of about a dozen kids on us.
Unfortunately, our squabble was attracting more attention thanthe game.
Mina's face turned bright red as soon as I spoke, and
she stood up abruptly. "You'd better watch your step, GoldenGirl--"
"The name is Serena," I said calmly.
"Whatever. You're just a Plain Jane who got lucky,
that's all. Darien Riley--or any other person, for that
matter--will see you for what you are when you're finished
being the Golden Girl." And with that, she turned and began to push her way down
the bleacher steps. The crowd around us laughed and cheered. A few of them
even clapped. Apparently, Mina wasn't as popular as shethought she was.
I was glad that I'd won the battle, but I wondered if
there was any truth to Mina's words. What if she was right?
At halftime, we were ahead, 42-38. I usually like to
stay in the stands during halftime to see the show presented
by the cheerleaders and pep band or the school jazz ensemble.
But tonight, I was thinking a lot about Darien, and I hoped
I'd bump into him if I wandered out into the hall.
"I'm really thirsty," I said to Molly. "Let's go get asoda."
"And beside, Darien might be out there," she said.
I laughed. "You know me too well."
Slowly, with crowds of people milling around us, we made
our way into the hall. We waited in line for several minutes
before we could buy our colas, then moved to a less crowded
area of the foyer near the outside doors.
Suddenly I remembered something. "Do you think the rest
of the school is open?" I asked Molly. "I don't know," she said. "Why?"
I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. "I've got a math
test on Monday and I forgot my book. I need to get to mylocker."
"Go ahead and try," Molly said. "I'll hold your drinkfor you."
"Thanks." I handed her my cup and hurried down the dark
hallway. I'd never traveled inside the school without the
lights on, and although I knew my way, it was still kind ofspooky.
I reached my locker--it was the second from the end, so
it was very easy to find--opened it, and grabbed my book.
I was about halfway back to the gym when a figure
stepped out of the shadows and blocked my way.
"So you're the famous Golden Girl," the girl said. Her
voice was cold. "You don't look so special to me."
All I could see was her silhouette. Her face was
partially hidden in the darkness, with the lights from the gymat her back.
I joked to hide my nervousness. "That's because youdon't know me."
The girl was silent. I edged closer to her and saw that
she was a tall raven beauty, with long hair. The girl was
wearing a long raccoon coat and leather booths. She was so
sophisticated-looking that I just stood there staring at her.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked, looming above me inher high-heeled boots.
"No, I guess not," I said. "Should I?"
"I'm Raye Perkins." She seemed to think that I'drecognize the name.
"Okay, Raye Perkins," I said, still not sure what was
going on. "Now we've met. What do you want?"
She made an impatient little noise and shifted her
weight to her other hip. "I'm Darien Riley's girlfriend."
My mouth dropped open before I could stop it.
"You'd better watch yourself," she said. "Darien is off-
limits to you, understand?" "Raye?" It was Darien's voice. "Are you down here?"
Darien emerged form around the corner. He approached us
holding two large cups. When he was close enough to see me, hestopped short.
"Hi, Serena," he said softly. "Hi," I said.
There was an awkward paused as he glanced from Raye to
me and back to Raye again. "Uh, did you two meet each other?
Raye, this is Serena Montgomery, Serena, this--"
"We've met," Raye said coldly, glaring at me over her
fur collar. "I was just telling her that North is going to
cream Lincoln tonight." Darien laughed uncomfortably. "Don't be too sure of
that. Lincoln's ahead and playing well."
"Come on, Darien," Raye said then, her tone becoming
coy. "Let’s go. I'm dying of thirst."
She took one of Darien's arms and led him down the hall
to the gym. He threw me a quick smile over his shoulder before
he disappeared into the crowd.
I stood in the darkness for a moment to collect myself,
then slowly made my way back to the gym.
"Boy, that sure took a long time," Molly said, still
holding my soda. "Halftime is almost over."
I told Molly what had happened with Raye and Darien.
"Nice girl," Molly commented. "What's her problem,anyway?"
"I don't know," I said flippantly. "And I don't care."
I tasted my cola. It was watery, so I dumped it down the
drain of the drinking fountain nearby and tossed the cup in
the waste can. Then I leaned against the wall and groaned."I'm so stupid!"
"Oh, yeah?" Molly asked. "How come?"
"Because I do care!" I said. "I care about that guy
Darien Riley. I care that he has a girlfriend, and that he's
at this game with Raye Perkins and not me!"
Molly patted my arm. "I know," she said. "But just think
about it for a minute. If he had such bad taste, why would you
want to be with him anyway? Besides, if you were with him, you
wouldn't get to be with me right now."
I laughed. "Molly, you're the best. You're my favoritedate any day."
Suddenly I looked up and saw Mina Boyson leaning against
a wall, watching Molly and me. She sauntered over to us, a
malicious smile on her face.
"What's the matter, Serena?" she asked. "He never was
your boyfriend and he never will be. Even if he breaks up with
Raye, he'd never be interested in you."
"And I supposed you're assuming he'd prefer you, Mina,"Molly burst out angrily.
I was very quickly getting a monstrous migraine. "I know he would," Mina said.
"Come on," Molly laughed. "The guy's hot some class--"
"This is unreal," I said, clutching my throbbing head
with both hands. "I can't believe you're saying this stuff to
me, Mina. I thought people only talked like this on soapoperas."
Mina stalked off with a haughty toss of her head. "You okay?" Molly asked me.
"I've never had such a pounding headache," I answered.
"Want to go home?" Molly asked.
"Yeah," I said. "I've had enough for one night, that's
for sure. Wait hare, and I'll go and call my dad for a ride."
I fished change out of my pocket and dialed home. I let
it ring eight times before I gave up.
"They're not home," I told Molly, who was waiting by the
exist doors. "I guess we'll have to walk."
The trip wasn't long--less than a mile--but the
temperature was in the 20s. There was a brisk wind, and we
thought we'd freeze to death for sure before arriving home.
Finally we got to my front door. Molly and I stomped the
snow off our boots, then hurried inside. "Want some cocoa?" I asked.
"I was hoping you'd ask!" Molly said, rubbing her cold,
red hands together. "Can I turn on the TV? Maybe there's agood movie on."
"Sure," I said. Molly trudged into the family room, still wearing her
bulky down coat. Just then the front door opened, and Mom,
Dad, and Sammy piled into the living room. "Hi, guys," I said. "Where were you?"
"We went out to dinner," Mom said. "What happened to thebasketball game?"
Just then a high-pitched squeal sounded from the family
room. "Serena! Come quick! You're on TV!"
All of us ran into the family room. Molly was jumping up
and down, she was so excited.
It was really weird to stand in my own house and see
myself on TV. I'd seen the commercial at the studio just after
we taped it, but it was different seeing myself on the same TV
where I'd seen Gone With the Wind and Roots.
It was over in a flash, unfortunately. Molly clapped me
on the back and Sammy picked me up and swung me around. Mom
hugged me and exclaimed that it was the best local TV
commercial she'd ever seen. Even Dad yelled "Terrific!" and
put his arm around my shoulders.
I was really proud of it. I think I did a pretty good
job, and the spot looked very classy.
"I wonder what Mina will say when she sees it," Molly
whispered. "She's going to be positively green!"
I shivered. "I don't want to think about Mina," I said.
"Tonight I just want to enjoy being a star!""I saw you on TV!"
That was the first thing I heard when I walked into
school on Monday. I wasn't sure how to respond to the girl in
my science class, so I just smiled and said, "Oh, yes, Icaught it, too."
"Hey, you were great on the Trent's commercial!" another
girl I didn't know called out as I was walking down the hall.
"Hiya, beautiful!" one of Sammy's friends said,
grinning, as he passed me in the hall. "You were great on TV
last night. I saw it twice!" That was a surprise to me. I
didn't know they'd run the spot more than once. I was feeling
pretty good as I walked to homeroom.
But the minute I rounded the corner into the room, I
knew something was up. Molly was sitting at her desk, closest
to the door. Her face was red and she looked very angry. A
couple of kids were laughing as they watched what was going on
at the front of the room. I stopped just inside the door and my mouth dropped
open. Mina Boyon was standing behind the podium at the front
of the classroom. She had obviously made herself up to look
just like me. She'd teased her hair into a style similar to
mine, and was wearing tones of makeup. She smiled out at the
class in an exaggerated imitation of me. "So come on out to
the Golden Girl sale! I'll be looking for you!" she announced,
batting her eyelashes. When the kids saw me standing there, the room fell
silent. Mina stopped and turned toward me, then flashed me an
exaggerated smile. "Hi, Serena!"
The tightness in my chest returned as my heart hammered
wildly. My face was hot and I could feel the tears coming. But
I wasn't going to give Mina the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
I turned and ran out of the room, down the hall, to the
bathroom. I closed myself up in one of the stalls.
After a few minutes, the bathroom door opened and Icould hear someone come in.
"Serena?" It was Molly. "She was just awful, and I got
so mad. I'm sorry you had to see that. You know she's just
jealous. She's so incredible unhappy and jealous of you that
she made a fool out of herself like that in front of a wholeclass of kids."
I wanted to answer Molly, but I couldn't stop crying.
"Most of the kids hated what she did. After you ran out,
they yelled at her to shut up and stop." I opened the stall. "Really?" I said.
Molly came over and hugged me. "Really. Come on. Let's
go back to homeroom. Mrs. Haruna won't know where you are. She
was late getting to class or she'd never have let Mina getaway with that."
We walked slowly back to class. The day hadn't start off
pretty well, that was for sure. And it didn't get any better
when I took my math test. I'd had such a hard time
concentrating on homework for the past week or so that I just
wasn't prepared for it. I couldn't figure out most of the
problems. I knew when I handed it in to Ms. Michiru that I'd
bombed on it, and there was a huge lump in my throat as I
walked out of class. My average is usually about a B+, and
grades are important to me. (AN: let's just pretend that it
is, okay?) I couldn't remember the last time I'd failed a
test. (AN: I know I'm really exaggerating a bit)
Just after school, I saw Darien in the hall. He saw me
and smiled, and I steadied myself determined to act very cool.
Ever since seeing him and Raye at the game, I'd decided that I
wouldn't allow myself to feel overwhelmed by him anymore.
Darien was off-limits, and he wasn't worse the hassle.
"Hey, Serena," he called. "I've been looking for you allday."
"Oh, yeah?" I said casually. "What's up?"
"Nothing really," he said. "Did you see our spot lastnight?"
I noticed the 'our' right away. "Yes, as a matter of fact I did," I said.
"Well?" he asked with a grin. "Didn't you think we did a
great job? Didn't it look smooth?" "It was pretty slick," I said.
"My dad's an excellent director and producer," he said."He makes good choices."
"Yes," I said airily. "Your dad is a very talented guy."
"And so are you," Darien said, his gaze hanging on mine.
"Yes, I'm a very talented guy, too," I said, not battingan eye.
Darien laughed. "You know what I mean. You were great."
Darien shifted his weight over one hip. "Uh, about that night
at the basketball game--" he said.
"What about it?" I asked, shrugging indifferently.
"I don't know what Raye said to you before I came over--"
"She was talking about the game," I lied.
Darien gazed into my eyes a moment. "Well, neither of
you seemed comfortable with the conversation…"
"It was no big deal," I lied again. "But anyway, I have
to get home now. See you around, Darien."
Darien's mouth fell open, and he took a step back, but
he didn’t try to make me stay and talk to him. "Right," he said shortly.
It took all the self-discipline I had to walk away from
him. What I wanted to do was whirl around and say, "Make me
stay and talk! What did you want to say about Raye at the
game? That she's horrible and disgusting and you hate her?
Talk to me; tell me you love me, not Raye," and all kinds of
crazy things like that. Of course, I didn't say any of that stuff. I may be a
little bit nuts, but I'm not crazy.
Besides, if Darien wasn't going to be part of my
personal life, I would be okay. Even after the Golden Girl job
was over and I wasn't a "celebrity" anymore, I would still
feel good about myself and have a little head start on feeling
like a together, poised adult.
I walked out of the school building, holding my head
high, and started out for home.
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