RIVALS – Chapter 9
Author: Umali

Thanks guys for patiently waiting for chapters…Im 
SO SORRY!

*** Café Mellenia***

"Okay guys, do any of you have any leads on this 
girl? Asked Darien 
to his assistants eating lunch at their favorite 
café.
"No… it seems that were at a dead end" said Nathan 
before taking a 
bite out of his hamburger.
"We cant find any clue that would indicate her 
name" said Zen
"How about you Rei, anything from Mr. Kina's 
assistants?" asked Darien
"Nothing they've all been to caught up in Serena's 
arrival" said a smiling Rei.
"Yeah we all are" said a smiling Michael who was 
grinning at Darien.
"Michael were doing business here" he said trying 
to hide a blush.
"Do I see a blush on Mr. Chiba's face" said Rei in 
utter surprise.  No 
has ever made the great Darien blush before… 
"Well Ill be, that is a blush" said Michael as the 
others start to laugh but 
was quickly over  powered by the loud  familiar 
voices.
"Hey look it's the Tsukino group" said Zen.  They 
turned to look and 
found Ami, Molly, Mina and Jayson laughing waiting 
to be seated.
"Boy, they look happy" said Micheal as they all 
watched as Joshua 
directed them to their table.

"Hey Lita" said the four sitting and laughing as 
they review the menu.
"Hey guy's, whats with the smiley faces?" asked 
Lita as Andrew came 
up behind her.
"Hey Andrew!"
"Nice to see you all again, how long has it been?" 
said Andrew sarcastically.
"Why Andrew, its been so…so…long.  I think 10 
hours and 15 seconds" 
said Mina laughing loudly being followed by the 
rest of them.
"Andrew do you not like seeing us…hmmm…?" said 
Molly with a questioning 
look.
"I think he's trying to tell us something?" said 
Ami laughing
"Okay Lita, have you been serving our customers 
your Happy Cake again" 
said Andrew to his laughing friends.  Then 
realizes Lita too was laughing 
"Not you too?" he said staring at his finance.
"Im sorry honey, but its contagious" she said 
laughing with them.  
Andrew notices that they were starting to have an 
audience and hushed them all.
"Guy's your creating a scene" said Andrew smiling 
at all the curious 
"What happened to you guys anyways, well what 
happened to make you 
guys laugh so hard?" he said looking at Jayson who 
was at lease trying to 
control his laughter.
"It's Serena….." he said trying to hold it in "she 
told us this one joke" he ended finally giving up 
to the laughter inside.
"What joke?" asked Lita curiously..
"The one with a nun who had three…three…kids" said 
Mina before they all started laughing.
"That doesn't make sense, a nun cant have kids" 
said Andrew
"We know that, but you have to listen to the whole 
joke" said Molly grinning.

"Why are they laughing so hard?" asked Zen
"Man, they've gone mad" said Nathan
"Look Lita's staring to laugh too" said Michael
"Hey what is she doing here?" asked Nathan finally 
noticing her presence as well as the many men 
around the room.  The group turned to look at the 
smiling beauty walking casually towards her 
laughing grinning.

"Okay what about Serena?" she said giving them all 
questioning looks
"Serena, what the heck did you do to these 
people?" asked Andrew "They cant stop laughing".
"Okay guys, stop it your creating a scene" said 
Serena giving them all looks, which caused all of 
them to stop.
"Hey Serena, how did you do that?" asked Andrew 
and Lita noticing Serena's power "We've been 
trying to get them to stop while you were gone and 
we havent been succesful"
"Oh it was nothing, I just sent them something 
telepathically" she said sarcastically as she 
looked over to the group.  They were turning red 
from trying to hold their laughter in then she 
notices that Jayson and Mina were taking a sip of 
their drinks. "So Andrew, Lita have you heard the 
joke about the nun with three kids?" asked Serena 
as Jayson and Mina laughingly spewed out their 
drinks and the group went into an uproar of 
laughter.
"I give up" said Andrew as he too couldn't help 
but laugh" 

"What the hell is going on over their?" asked 
Nathan
"They can't stop laughing" said Zen as they still 
held their gaze over the group on the table.  They 
tried to listen and can only laugh as Mina and 
Jayson ejected their drink to one another.
"Oh my gods, whats come over Mina and Jayson?" 
asked Michael holding in his laughter.
"I don't know, but I don't think Mr. Kina would 
like to see his assistants clothing dressed in 
soda" said a laughing Darien.
"Especially since they all seem to be wearing 
white" said Rei trying to hold her laughter in
"Yeah, he went to work yesterday after the coffee 
incident" said Zen.  The group laughed as they 
thought about yesterday's coffee incident.  They 
too was now laughing very hard and grabbed the 
attention of many including the Tsukino group.

"SERENA" said Mina
"WHAT?" 
'Why did you have to go on telling him while we're 
drinking?" asked Mina as she wiped her mouth and 
suit "look at me, Ive got soda stains all over"
"What about me?  This is like total de ja vu from 
yesterday" said Jayson as they heard laughter from 
the other side of the room.  They all glanced the 
other way-taking note that the Chiba group was 
watching them.
"Michael don you dare laugh at me" said Mina 
loudly
"Jayson honey do you have a problem drinking?" 
asked Rei sarcastically "do we need to get you a 
sippy cup?" 
"Hey come now," said Andrew still laughing "you 
guys over their mind you own business".  Once the 
laughter died down they all held their stomachs 
for the still lingering feeling.
"So I take it that they know" said Lita to Serena
"yes… yes they do know" she smiled
"and with all the work that she gave us this 
morning the bill goes to her" said Mina
"Oh Serena, congratulations" said Lita hugging her 
friend "Im proud of you"
"thanks Lita"
"Congratulations Serena" said Andrew giving Serena 
a hug himself  "I've only known you in a day, but 
it seems like forever" he said, releasing her but 
kept his arm draped over her shoulder "Well you 
know, with Lita talking about you so much and all, 
I can almost say you're my best friend too " 
Andrew ended as he can feel someone's piercing 
gaze upon him.  He turned and found Darien staring 
at him with envy and a bit jealous.  He released 
Serena completely and stood next to his fiancé.  
Not understand why he was so jealous over Andrews 
friendly hug all Darien could do was stare harshly 
towards his best friend.
"Thanks Andrew" said Serena winking at Lita and 
mouthing the words 'good catch' as they turned 
towards Mina… who's stomach was growling 
furiously.
"CAN WE GET SOME SERVICE HERE? Or Im going to 
start complaining to management" said the hungry 
girl.
"Go ahead and see if you'll get another free meal 
again" said a smiling Lita while Mina stuck her 
tongue out.
"Okay KIDS!" said Andrew "we will not have any of 
that here" he said while waving to a young man 
"and you, what would you like?" asked Lita to 
Serena.
"Chinese Chicken salad please" said Serena with a 
smile
"Coming right up!"said Lita as she disappeared 
through the kitchen door.
"Excuse me ladies" he said smiling at them, and 
before Jayson could make his remark " AND 
gentleman, you seem to be taking too much of my 
time" he said sarcastically and walking away 
towards the Chiba group.

Darien still held a gaze over what was going on 
with the group.  He couldn't help but stare with 
jealousy over his best friend and the angel he 
barely knew.  'Drew I swear' he thought to himself 
quietly while drowning his jealousy on cold glass 
of water.
"hey Andrew?" said the group
"hi guys, how's lunch?"
"Lunch as usual is great" said Nathan
"Andrew, what was going on there?" Michael asked 
curiously
"Oh with them laughing hard, well Serena told a 
joke and the just couldn't get it out of their 
system"
"and about that hug with Serena?" asked Darien 
boldly wanting answers
"Dare, that was a simple hug congratulating her on 
her promotion as Tsu…" said Andrew cutting himself 
off and biting his lips as the same time.
"As what?" asked Darien demandingly
"as….." staggered Andrew "Come on Darien, I cant. 
I promised Lita remember" he said a little 
frustrated.
"You know Andrew, if you werent my best friend I 
would of lost my patience with you a long time 
ago" said Darien in a some what serious tone.
"Dare, don't worry you'll find out soon enough" 
said Andrew

END of Chapter 9….

**************************************************
***********Sorry ya'all for the long absence… I 
know I know..Ive done it before..well things 
happen
And life is hectic!… but atlease I got this out 
now…

Thanks to you who have emailed and told me to keep 
going.  I though for a minute that no-one really 
cared if I finished the story or not anymore and I 
was actually debating if I should or shouldn't.  
Thanks to Sara and Takako..they  persuaded me to 
keep going and there friendly emails were very 
helpful.  So please keep the emails going and let 
me know how it is.

And I don't mind ideas… Let me know if you have 
any suggestions or want me to add a scene..I would 
be happy to try to incorporate them together.

Thanks Again.
Racquel