I'm sure you're wondering by now if I had dropped off the face of the earth or somethin'. . . but it's not the case. Being the guardian of the Gates of Paradise takes more out of ya than I realized! I apologize for not putting anything out for a while; my fall semester just started, and I don't have as much time to write as I used to anymore! I wouldn't still be here without the help of some people out there: Jade, Auston, Sailor Walnut, just to name a few. Thank you so much for your support! A quick note: This story is in Serena's perspective. It's fun to see what makes this girl tick! I also use Rei and Ami's japanese names. Disclaimer: I think everyone knows this by now, cause to tell you the truth, I don't think I can remember it all! But I know Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me, because if it did, I wouldn't be a poor college student! ^_^ Enough with these obnoxious author's notes. . . onto the story!! Life's A Dance by Sailor Elysia I stared in disbelief at the poster hanging from the bulletin board. Never in the three years I've been at Crossroads has the administration ever planned a dance. It's not that they're against it or anything, but I think they just never had a large enough budget to pull it off. What was worse, was they decided to make this a girl's choice dance. In my case, just being asked can be hard enough, but having to do the asking requires a lot of time and effort. And then, there's my father. Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly, but he tends to be quite overprotective of me, especially when boys are involved. I've told him time and time again that he has *nothing* to worry about. . . but I don't think he heard me. I really want to go. This would be my first school dance, and I think it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully I can persuade the others to come, too. There's only one other problem: Who am I going to ask? As soon as I got home, I told Mom about the dance. Being a girl and all, I thought she'd understand what I was going through the most. She seemed to be happy for me, and then I noticed the look on her face. I figured I should get to Rei's temple before she went all nostalgic on me. Being trapped in Mom's memories is definitely not something I prefer. I walked up the steps to the temple. One of these days, I'm going to count them. It's impossible to get to the top without having to catch your breath. Rei, as usual, was sweeping the leaves lying around the base of the fountain. "Hi, Rei," I called out to her. She looked up, and at the same time, her mouth dropped open, and the broom fell from her hands. "Serena? What are you doing here?" "You're the one who called the meeting, and you're asking me why I'm here? Sounds like you've burned out one too many brain cells." Rei scowled at me. "You're such a meatball head. You're never early to meetings, so why start today?" "Ms. H was in a good mood today. I didn't get detention or any homework, so I thought I'd surprise you." "Serena?" three voices echoed behind me. I turned and greeted Ami, Lita, and Mina with a smile. "I'll save you all the trouble of asking. I didn't have detention today, so that's why I'm early." "Don't expect it to become a habit," Rei muttered under her breath. "I heard that!" I turned on her and stuck my tongue out. The other girls just rolled their eyes as the two of us started another tongue war. So what if it's childish? I'd rather act like a kid than have to grow up too soon. Rei, on the other hand. . . "Guys? Are you just going to stand there all day, or are we going to find out why Rei called this meeting?" Lita asked impatiently. "Yes, Rei, why did you call us together? Have you sensed something evil from the Negaverse?" Ami asked. "Does every meeting we have have to involve the Negaverse? I called this meeting to discuss other things," Rei said, slightly annoyed now. "Such as?" I prompted her. Sometimes I just love to irk Rei on. It only proves how much of a fireball she really is. "I was about to tell everyone, until a certain meatball head interrupted me," Rei muttered, throwing me a look. I stuck my tongue out at her again. "Can we hurry this up? I'd really like to get home to study. I'm only 9 chapters ahead in Biology," Ami said quickly. Everyone sweatdropped. "Without any more interruptions," Rei said, glancing at me, "I called this meeting because I think it's time we have some fun, and I know the perfect place to go." She turned to Ami, Lita, and me. "I saw a flyer advertising a dance at your school. Why don't we all go together?" Well, looks like Rei took care of convincing everyone about the dance, but did she know about the catch? I raised my hard, just to make sure I wasn't interrupting. "Rei? There's just one little problem." She sighed. "What is it now, Serena?" "I'm not sure if you read the entire flyer, but at the bottom it clearly states it's a girl's-choice dance." The other girls gasped, realizing what this really meant. "Well," Mina said slowly, "we can still go, but we'll just have to find some guys to take. It doesn't have to be someone you're in love with. Lita, you could ask Ken, right? I'm sure he'd love to go. And Ami, you can ask your friend Greg." Lita quickly caught on to Mina's idea. "Yeah, Rei, why don't you ask Chad? We all know he needs to get out more often." Mina, I'm sure Andrew would be happy to go with you," Rei added with a wink. That took care of everyone, but me. "Sounds like everything's planned. I hope you guys have fun," I said dejectedly. "Hold on, Serena. I'm sure we can come up with someone for you to ask," Mina said. "Wait, I've got it! You may not like it, Serena, but I just thought of someone you could ask," Ami replied. I sighed. "Well, it can't be any worse than not going at all." "How about Darien?" I nearly choked. "D-Darien?" I admit, the guy's got the most gorgeous blue eyes not to mention I've had a small crush on him for a while too, but he always manages to tease me to the point of exhaustion. Maybe. . . I could change him around. Could I really build up enough courage to ask him? "Earth to Serena!" Rei waved her hand in front of my face. "What do you think, Meatball brain?" I scrunched up my face in thought. "I think it's worth a shot. Mina, I'd like to come with you when you ask Andrew, because Darien's usually hanging around him." I knew Rei was dying to ask me how I knew that, but I just ignored her. Mina nodded in agreement. "How about we go next Friday?" "Sounds good. That'll give me time to arrange everything else." "Serena, what about your father? Will he let you go?" Lita asked suddenly. I'd almost forgotten about him. What *would* he say? Maybe. . . I just won't say anything to him about it. "Don't worry, Lita. I've got it all under control."