Author's Notes: This is the first full length story I've ever made public. The idea popped in my head this morning and I ran with it. I'm not sure how it's gonna turn out, but it's worth a try. Please let me know how I'm doing. I wanna become a better writer as more ideas come to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Two five year old children were playing on the swing set at recess on the first day of kindergarten. One was a brown haired boy with thick rimmed glasses and freckles and the other was a chubby blonde girl with a smile that lit up her face. She was laughing with delight as he pushed her higher and higher and finally slowed down so her friend could have a turn. "Did you have fun, Serena?" he asked when she came to a stop.

"Yeah Melvin," she said with a laugh. "It's so fun when you go so high."

"It's my turn," a female voice said meanly. Serena turned around and found a red headed girl standing over Melvin surrounded by other children. "Out of my way, Nerd!"

"You can't talk to my friend like that," Serena said going to help Melvin up. "If you wanted a turn on the swing all you had to do was ask nicely."

"Do you know who I am? I'm Beryl and my daddy's the principal so I can do what I want." She laughed "You're lucky you didn't break it when you were on it, Fatty."

"Ugly Fatty," a little boy started chanting. "Ugly Fatty, Ugly Fatty…" The other kids started chanting with him and got louder and louder. Serena finally ran away crying while Melvin ran after her.

"That's right, run away you crybaby!" Beryl shouted after them before getting on the swing.

"Serena," Melvin called once he ran a good distance away from the playground. "Where are you?" He heard crying behind a giant oak tree and followed the noise. He found Serena sitting there with her head in her hands and sat next to her. "Don't cry, Sere," Melvin said. "At least they didn't call you a nerd."

"But you're hiccup not a nerd," Serena said looking up at him. "You're my best friend."

Melvin smiled at her. "And you're not an ugly fatty. You're my best friend." He hugged her and smiled. "I like this tree you found. It's so big."

"This can be our secret hiding place when those kids won't leave us alone," Serena sniffled.

"Good idea, Serena!" Melvin exclaimed happily. "We can eat lunch here too."

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A month passed, but Beryl and her friends would not stop teasing Serena and Melvin so they made their tree a permanent area for them to go to during lunch and recess time. One day a new student was introduced to the class. "Children, this is Darien Shields," Mrs. Long said pointing to a little boy with black hair at the front of the classroom. "Please make him feel welcome." The class applauded for him, but he didn't seem affected. "Darien you can sit at the desk next to Beryl," she told him. "Beryl please wave so he knows who you are." Beryl waved enthusiastically while Darien slowly made his way to the desk. He didn't pay attention to anything anyone was saying and kept his head down the whole time.

It was time for lunch and Serena and Melvin went straight to their tree, but were surprised to see that someone was already sitting there. "Oh no!" Melvin said. "Someone found our tree. What if it's one of Beryl's friends?"

Serena heard crying and frowned. "Whoever it is sounds sad. Let's go see if we can cheer them up." She and Melvin approached the person sitting by their tree quietly. Whoever it was sat with their knees to their chest, had arms covering their face, and a mop of black hair. "Hey, are you ok?" Serena asked once she took a seat and touched their arm.

The person looked up as if he were startled and swiped hastily at his tears. "I'm fine," he lied.

"You don't look fine to me," Melvin stated. "You're the new boy in our class. Darien, right?" The boy nodded. "I'm Melvin."

"And my name is Serena," she said warmly. "Why are you so sad?"

New tears formed in Darien's eyes. "I miss hiccup my mommy and daddy. They're not here anymore and I live with new people."

"Well we can be your friends until they come back," Serena said.

"Yeah," Melvin said excitedly. "This is our secret hiding place. But you can hide here if you feel sad and don't want people to see you crying. We won't tell."

Darien smiled. "Thank you."

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As time went on Darien became quite popular among all the kids in his class, but he always ate lunch with Serena and Melvin before going to play with everyone else at recess. One day Darien was eating lunch with Serena alone. "Where's Melvin today?" Darien asked.

"He's sick. My mommy's taking me to see him after school. You can come if you want." She opened her lunch and offered Darien a cookie that he gladly took.

"Why don't you and Melvin ever play with the other kids?" Darien suddenly asked.

Serena stopped eating her sandwich for a moment. "Some of them don't like us. They call Melvin a nerd and Beryl always gets them to call me Ugly Fatty." Tears filled her eyes and Darien took her hand.

"You're not ugly," Darien said with a smile. "You're beautiful like my mommy was." Serena smiled back at him.

"EWWWW!" a voice said in front of them. Serena and Darien looked up and found Beryl with her friends staring at them. "What are you doing here with Ugly Fatty?" Beryl had set her sights on Darien and was planning to have lunch with him. She noticed that he was running towards a large tree and followed him, but was surprised to find Serena there too.

"Don't call her that," Darien said angrily. The children laughed.

"You like her," Beryl sneered. "Darien and Fatty sitting in a tree," she started singing. The other kids joined in after her. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love then comes marriage… "

"Stop singing that!" Darien yelled cutting short their song. "I don't like her. I was just… helping her eat her lunch so… she wouldn't be so fat." Serena looked at him with hurt as tears filled her eyes. Darien immediately felt bad when he saw her face.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Beryl said meanly. "Now that you're done you can eat your lunch with me."

Beryl and her friends left and Darien followed. He looked back at Serena who was sitting there crying by herself. He wanted to apologize, but he couldn't bring himself to do it right then. I'm sorry, Serena.