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Little Sister
Part 2
by Marie-chan
Ashleigh stumbles out the doorway, covered with cuts
and dirt. She is crying. Darien
runs up and hugs her. He says that he is so glad that she's OK.
Some other people come out the
door , then fire engines start to arrive.
It's late at night and Serena is asleep with Renie
in her bed. Luna is between them. A
knocking sound wakes Luna up, who wakes up the girls. Renie runs
down the stairs, and Serena
follows slowly, grumbling the whole way down. Renie opens the
door, and is surprised to see
Darien there. Serena hears Darien's voice and hurries down the
rest of the stairs. Darien
apologizes for waking them up so late, but explains that it's an emergency.
He tells them what
happened and asks, “Could Ashleigh please stay with you for a little
while, just until something
more permanent can be arranged? I'd let her stay at my place,”
he says, “but I don't have
anyplace for her to sleep or anything appropriate to eat.” Just
then, Serena's mom comes down
and asks Serena what they're doing up at this time of night.
Serena opens the door wider, so her
mom can see Darien. She says hello to him, then asks if something's
wrong. He says (a little
nervously), “You see, Mrs. Tsukino, there's this girl, her name's Ashleigh,
and she's like a little
sister to me. She was staying at an orphanage nearby, but there
was a big explosion, and I was
wondering if she could stay here for a few days. I wouldn't ask,
but I don't have anyplace else to
take her.” Serena's mom insists that Ashleigh stay with them.
Darien goes to get her from the
car. When Renie sees her she looks very worried and asks Ashleigh
if she's hurt bad. Ashleigh
smiles and says she's not, then tells Serena's mom, “I'm so sorry to
inconvenience you, Mrs.
Tsukino.” Serena's mom says that it's no trouble at all, she
would never turn out a poor child
with no place else to stay. So Ashleigh comes in, and they all
say good bye to Darien, then
Ashleigh turns back and asks Darien if he still runs in the morning.
He says yes, so she asks if she
can come with him before school tomorrow. He asks her if she'll
be up to running, after a night
like tonight. She says she'll be fine; all she needs is to clean
up and get some sleep. He considers
it, then agrees, saying he'll pick her up at 6:00. She says she'll
be ready, so he won't have to
knock and wake everybody up.
They go inside, and Serena's mom has her dad move
an extra bed from Sammy's room
into Serena's room. In the meantime, Ashleigh has cleaned up
and fallen asleep on the couch
downstairs. Serena's mom wipes away a tear when she sees her.
Serena's dad carries Ashleigh
up to the new bed in Serena's room, and they all go back to their rooms.
Before they go back to
sleep, Renie says to Serena, “Why would anyone want to blow up an orphanage?
I feel so sad for
her.” Then Ashleigh opens her eyes and says, “It's all because
of me.” Serena and Renie's eyes
widen and they look at each other. Ashleigh goes back to sleep,
(although it seems she might not
really have been awake after all). Serena wonders what she meant.
The next morning Ashleigh wakes up at exactly 5:45.
She gets out of bed, goes into the
bathroom and washes her face, then ties her hair back into a ponytail
with a ribbon. She looks at
her reflection in the mirror and starts to cry.
Darien, in his jogging suit, runs up to the door
of Serena's house. When he gets to the
porch steps, the door opens and Ashleigh steps out and quietly shuts
the door behind her. She
turns to face him. He sets down a scorched suitcase, then says
that the police had found it after
the fire was put out, and had brought it to his place. “How are
you holding up, Ash?” She
squeezes her eyes shut and a tear trickles down her cheek. She
opens her eyes and runs to Darien
and hugs him. He puts his arms around her. Tears stream
down her face, and Darien looks sadly
down at her. She pulls back and wipes away the tears, then smiles
up at him. She says, “C’mon,
lets run!”, then sprints off the porch and down the driveway, and turns
left at the sidewalk.
Darien looks surprised, then jogs after her, calling for her to wait
up.
Ashleigh and Darien are jogging side-by-side down
the streets of Tokyo. She says,
“Thanks for bringing by my stuff, Dare. I'll need my uniform
for school today.” Darien says it
was no problem, and that he's sure Serena would have let her borrow
one of her uniforms, since
Ashleigh is to go to the same school as her now. Ashleigh says
that she likes Serena and her
family, and that they're all very nice to her. Then she asks
how Renie is related to them. Darien
says, “She claimed to be Serena's cousin, but we know she's not.
She won't tell us who she is, or
where she's from, but all she says is that she needs the Silver Crystal
to save her mother. We've
been protecting her.” Then Darien remembers to tell her something.
“When the police dropped
the suit case off, they said they had a few more questions for you,
Ash. They want us to come by
after school today, OK?” She says, “I thought they finished all
their questions last night.” She
looks upset. Darien says, “I know you want to forget what happened,
Ash, but they need to find
out who did it.” When she says nothing, he tells her that he'll
pick her up after school at Serena's
house. Just then, they reach the gate to Serena's house, and
they part. Ashleigh goes inside,
taking the suitcase with her. She says good morning to Serena's
mom, who is making breakfast.
She asks Ashleigh how she slept, who then says, “Very soundly, thank
you.” Serena's mom says
that's good, because Serena and Renie both say the other one snores.
They laugh, and Ashleigh
says she'll be back down after she fixes her hair and gets changed
for school, and she also says
she'll get Serena up.
Upstairs, Ashleigh is in a school uniform like Serena's
and Amy's, with her hair neatly
brushed with two little pearl barrettes in it, and is standing over
Serena. She gently shakes her
and tells her to wake up, because it's time to get dressed for school.
Serena flies up and out of
bed, knocking Luna and Renie off, too. “What's wrong? Has
the Negaverse attacked?”, she asks
loudly. Ashleigh looks shocked. “No, Serena, it's just
time to get up!”, Ashleigh explains.
Serena complains that it's way too early to get up. Ashleigh
says they've got just enough time to
get dressed and eat breakfast. Renie whispers to her that Serena's
usually late every day. Serena
glares at her. Ashleigh goes to the closet and pulls out a uniform
of Serena's, and asks her to
please put it on. Serena grumbles, but finally consents.
Ashleigh pulls Serena down the stairs to the kitchen,
and Renie pushes from behind.
Everyone drops everything (including their jaws) when they see Serena
up on time. “Renie
informs me that Serena has a reputation of being late.” she says, “Well,
get out the camera,
because this is going to be a Kodak moment!” She smiles.
Serena is still sluggish and half asleep.
Renie and Ashleigh lead her to a chair and sit her down. Serena's
mom puts a bowl of hot rice in
front of her, right under her nose. Serena wakes up when she
smells it. “Ooh, food.”, she says.
Her mom smiles because she knows her daughter so well. Renie
says that they found the only
thing that could have woken Serena, who is now wolfing down the rice,
then asking for another
bowl. They all sit down to eat. After a while, Ashleigh
looks at the clock and says that they'd
better get going, or they'll be late for school. She pulls Serena
out the door, grabbing both of
their lunches and bookcases along the way.
Just outside the school, Serena asks who's class
Ashleigh is in. She pulls a paper out of
her bookcase and reads it aloud, “Miss Haruna's class.” Serena
looks shocked, “I thought you
were two years younger than me! Miss Haruna's my teacher!”
Ashleigh says, “Yes, but I
skipped two grades a while back. It's because I always used to
help Darien study for school. I
learned a lot from him. He taught me how to read when I was really
little. We always helped
each other with schoolwork.” “Wow, you must be really smart!
Finally, some competition for
Amy!”, Serena exclaims. Ashleigh says not if what she's heard
about Amy is true.
By now they have walked into school, and are at the classroom.
They walk in together.
When Miss Haruna sees Serena, she grabs Molly and says, “Molly, do
you see that!? Get the
nurse, I think I'm hallucinating! Serena's not only here on time,
but she's five minutes early! I'd
better sit down, I think I might faint from the shock!” Serena
explains that she was literally
dragged out of bed and forced to get dressed. She says that Ashleigh
and Renie were conspiring
against her. Miss Haruna looks at Ashleigh and asks her, “Are
you one of the new students? You
look a bit young; I think you're in the wrong class.” Ashleigh
says, “Not as long as you're Miss
Haruna.” Serena says that Ashleigh is super-smart and skipped
a lot of grades. Miss Haruna
smiles and says that anyone who can figure out a way to get Serena
to school on time must be a
genius. Then, as she walks away, she says, “Maybe Amy will finally
get some competition!”
Ashleigh starts to reply, but then she hears a voice behind her.
She turns and finds herself faced
with a really cute guy. “Excuse me, but is this Miss Haruna's
class?”, he asks. He has blond hair
and dark eyes. He smiles at Ashleigh, and she blushes and looks
down. Then she remembers his
question and stutters, “Oh! Yes, this is her classroom.”
He says that's good, because it means
he's in the right place. Then he holds his hand out and says,
“Hi, I'm Scott.” She shyly takes his
hand and shakes it, then replies, “I'm Ashleigh, and I'm very pleased
to meet you.” Their eyes
meet, and neither of them can look away. That is, until Serena
comes up and grabs Ashleigh and
pulls her away. “Come on, class is about to start! Take
this seat by me before someone else sits
there.” Ashleigh glances back at Scott, but then looks away.
They sit down, and class begins.
Miss Haruna takes attendance and has to erase the “tardy” that she
puts for everyday at the
beginning of the week for Serena. At lunch Serena introduces
Ashleigh to Molly and Melvin.
Molly says, “Hey , Serena, isn't that new guy a hunk?” Melvin
says not compared to him, and he
stands up and flexes his “muscles”. Molly tells him to sit down.
Serena says that she didn't really
notice the new guy, and Molly says that's because she's so in love
with Darien. They ask
Ashleigh what she thought of him, but she just blushes. Molly
teases, “Ooh, Ashleigh's got a
crush on him!” Ashleigh denies it and Serena tells them to leave
her alone. The rest of the day
passes without much happening, except that Ashleigh does really well
on a math quiz.
On the way home from school that day Ashleigh asks
Serena if Darien asked her to
protect her. At first Serena says, “No,” but then she admits
it. She explains that Darien just
worries about her. Ashleigh says that she knows, but that sometimes
Darien is a little over-
protective.
To be continued.....
OK guys, I know that's a stupid place to stop, but I had to cut it in
two, so this is about the middle. Please tell me what you thought
of it.
Marie-chan