The President's Daughter

After P.E., Seri and Dereck made their way though the cafeteria. Students stopped and starred at them both.

'Ugh....when will this day end?!'

Seri spotted Raya and Leslie, sitting at their normal table. Seri walked quickly to her table and joined them. Dereck remained standing near the table.

Raya spoke first. "Sooooo.....he's a bit smarter than the last ones." Seri rolled her eyes.

"He's only caught me once so far. I still have some tricks up my sleeve."

Leslie responded. "Actually 2 now, if you count last night."

"Oh yeah...." Seri said, slightly defeated.

"Can we go ahead and update that score zero to two?" Dereck says with a slight smirk. Seri looked at Dereck, annoyed.

"Can you keep your mouth shut?" She snapped at him.

He just looked away from Seri.

Someone else slid into the seat next to Seri at her table.

Damon says. "Hey babe, what's up?" He put his arm around Seri and she saw her friends cringe a bit. Seri also saw Dereck become visibly rigid.

"Uhm, weren't you calling Chelsea "babe" last week?" Raya says to him with her eyebrow raised.

Damon smirks. "Weren't you working on becoming a prostitute last week?"

"Damon!" Seri cries out.

"Dude, don't make me jump over this table and kick your ass! You know I will!" Raya said as she glared at him.

"I mean from what I hear your grades suck and you're not good for much else!"

"Alright, that's it!" Raya starts throwing things off her tray at him.

Seri felt herself being lifted out of her seat and on to her feet and away from her friends.

Seri looked up and saw Dereck putting her down.

"What the hell?! They're just my friends!"

"That may very well be, but they put you in a hostile environment."

Seri looked to see Raya screaming at him in Spanish and Leslie trying to hold her back. Damon got up, picking cheese out of his hair.

"You need to get a better handle on that bitch or just not talk to her."

Seri looked at Damon with a stern look.

"She's not a bitch! She's my best friend and I don't appreciate how you talked to her!"

"She dumped her food all over me! She tried to hit me!"

"Well, maybe if you didn't do things like....I dunno....cheat on me? Maybe she'd like you better!"

"Do you really think that matters? We're about to graduate and pretty soon they'll both be going off to college. You guys will drift apart and all you'll have is me." Damon says with a smirk.

"Oh my God Damon, no I won't! We've been friends since we were little! We will still be friends after highschool."

"Don't worry, you'll see." Damon gave her a sly grin before he walked out of the cafeteria.

Dereck watched as he left with a slight glare.

"Seri, I know it's not my place, but in my opinion, you should dump him for someone better."

Seri turned and snapped at him.

"Oh yeah, like who? You?! Or maybe you actually have friends who aren't complete D-bags! Oh....wait....that's all men! You just have to settle with whatever level of D-bag you're willing to put up with!"

Dereck smiled and tried to joke and cheer her up slightly.

"Well, if you aren't happy with your pick of men, you could always hop the fence."

Seri gave him a funny look.

"I'm not into girls."

"Just trying to help."

"Well....you're not helpful!"

Seri went back to her table where her friends were waiting.

Raya was fuming. "I swear, if he comes near me again...."

Leslie spoke up. "Going to be kinda hard not to since he's dating Seri again, apparently."

Seri defended herself. "I don't even know if we're dating again. He just comes and goes as he pleases!"

Raya crossed her arms over her chest. "And you keep allowing it....."

"You need to either dump him for good or get him to commit before Raya gets herself kicked out of school." Leslie said.

"Or put in prison for his murder. My Dad has a pretty good lawyer. Pretty sure he can get a plea deal for me." Raya said.

The whole table laughed.

"He did say something about you two though, that when we graduate, we won't be friends anymore." Seri said with sadness.

Raya rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, he doesn't know what real friendship looks like! We've all been together since kindergarten. Pretty sure if we've made it this far, we'll be lifelong friends!"

Seri was about to speak, but then the bell rang.

"Damn it, gotta go to class. I'll talk to you two later."

"Yeah, us too. Oh! When is your b-day party again?" Raya asked.

Seri stopped in her tracks for a moment and thought.

"Oh my God! It's tomorrow!"

Leslie laughed. "Did you forget you had a birthday, or something?"

Seri blushed. "Well....kinda....yeah...."

Raya laughed and pulled Seri closer to her.

"Well, I don't blame you. I'd forget my own name if that was following me around all day."

She wiggled her eyebrows at Seri.

"Raya!"

"Let's just say I'd be visiting the school bathroom a lot with him and locking the door."

"Is that all you think about?" Seri asked, shaking her head.

She let go of Seri as the second warning bell went off.

"Told you many times, I should've been born a dude!" She laughed as Raya and Leslie ran off to class.

Seri started towards her next class, Dereck next to her.

"Are you gonna attempt to give me the slip anymore today?"

"I'm not telling you."

Dereck gives Seri the one eyebrow look.

"You know we currently stand at 2 - 0, right?"

"Oh shut up! I'm just getting started! You can't watch me all of the time!"

"That's my job though, Seri. I'll still have my job, months, years from now. I guarantee it."

You make your way into the halls for your next class.

"Oh, Dereck. It's still too early in the game to call it yet!"

"We shall see. Don't forget, I have a partner as well."

"Who's currently babysitting my brother."

"Don't worry, we've got this wrapped up tighter than Fort Knox."

"We'll see."

"We will."

The rest of the day goes about the same as the other classes, Dereck handing each of the teachers a letter from Seri's Dad and them placing him awkwardly close to her. Other students gawking and whispering to each other.

'Ugh! I'll be so glad when this day is over!'

Eventually the school day does end.

Seri walked out to the school parking lot. One of the presidential limos was already waiting for her.

Seri and Dereck walk to the limo. The driver is already holding the door open for her.

"Could you not do that moving forward? It's a security risk." Dereck said sternly to the limo driver. The limo driver is a bit stunned, and frankly so is Seri.

"I....I'm sorry sir? I always open the doors for the president's Daughter...."

"Well, you don't anymore. It's a security risk. Anyone could jump in the driver's seat and take off with her."

"Oh....okay. I didn't think about that. Sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

The limo driver almost scrambles away back to the driver's seat quickly.

"You didn't have to scare the life out of that poor limo driver."

Dereck moved to hold the limo door for her.

"He needs to know our protocols and safety measures."

Seri rolled her eyes as she slipped into the limo.

Dereck followed and closed the door.

A shrill little boy's voice speaks up. "What are you doing in my limo?!" Daniel yelled.

Seri gasped in surprise.

"Danny! What are you doing in my limo?!"

"Villicini and I decided it would be tactically better if we combined the two school pick ups into one limo." Andrew replied.

Daniel slumped back into his seat across from Seri and Dereck.

"Lame...." Daniel says, pouting.

Seri also slumped back into her seat in the limo.

'Great....now I have to share a ride home everyday with the booger eater.'

"I've received word from Desert Eagle and the Swan to make sure the Dove and the Robin start on homework immediately as they are currently out." Andrew says as Dereck nodded .

"I received the same."

Of course, Daniel complained.

"Come on! I was gonna play on my PS5 for a while when I got home!"

"Sorry Daniel, it's orders from your parents." Dereck says plainly.

He pouts.

"Double lame!"

Seri's phone suddenly got a text message.

Damon: Hey babe, think you can sneak out to see me tonight?

Seri looked to make sure Dereck wasn't looking.

Seri tilted her phone away from him and began to reply.

Seri: I'll ditch the bodyguards.

Damon: That's my girl! Our usual spot then?

Seri: Yes.

"So, where are you attempting to go tonight?"

Seri nearly dropped her phone, seeing Dereck just inches away from her face.

"None of your busi....uh....no where. Absolutely nowhere."

Daniel starts laughing. "Busted! Soooo busted!"

"Busted nothing! Because I'm not going anywhere!" Seri insisted.

"No one that's not planning something looks at their phone and smiles like that."

Seri shot Andrew a glare.

"So again, where are we not not going tonight?" Dereck asked.

Seri looked at Dereck with annoyance. "Nowhere. I just saw something cute on social media."

"Then why not share it with the rest of the class?"

Seri looked around the limo as Dereck started reaching for her phone.

Seri jerked back, hiding her phone under her leg.

"No way! There are private things on there!"

"We're not asking you to show those things, just the thing that made you have that goofy smile."

Dereck reached for it again.

"I....I....I have my settings set to refresh every 30 seconds. It's gone. Sorry."

"She's probably talking to her boyfriend who is her boyfriend only when he feels like it." Daniel says with a smirk.

Seri glared at her little brother.

"I thought I told you to stop listening in on my phone conversations."

"You should learn to close your door all the way and not talk so loud."

Seri started to lunge for Daniel, but Dereck grabbed Seri by her belt and put her back down in her seat.

Seri whipped around on him, basically they were almost nose to nose.

'Oh....there's that weird feeling again.'

Seri shook it off and went to unleash on him.

"How dare you touch me like that! I'll be reporting you to my father!"

He smirked at her. "By all means, go ahead."

Andrew spoke up. "We've been authorized by your father to stop any sort of danger to either one of you by any means necessary."

Dereck interjected. "Including grabbing either one of you or having to touch either one of you."

Seri's mouth dropped open.

'Daddy really did that?!'

She felt the limo stop. She knew she was in the garage at the white house. Seri got out of the limo and slammed the door shut before Dereck could follow her.

Seri quickly walked out of the garage and into the house, through the halls, and into her room.

She slammed the door to her room and locked it.

'Daddy has gone too far! He's never allowed ANY of the bodyguards to touch me or Danny, ever!'

Seri then decided to go ahead and sneak out to see Damon. She pulled out her phone.

Seri: Hey, can we meet up earlier? I really need to get out of here.

Her phone dinged almost instantly.

Damon: Yeah, I'll leave now.

Seri tossed her phone on the bed and decide to get ready.

'Daddy's always freaking out about the tabloids and anything tarnishing his precious reputation. I think I'll give them something to talk about when they find me.'

Seri dug through her closet, and decided on a short black dress with spaghetti straps. It barely covered anything.

'Oh yeah, this should get them talking.'

She decided to sneak out through the house and not her balcony.

'They'll be expecting that since I tried it already.'

She stepped out into the hallway, hoping not to get caught early.

She tip-toed around her brother's room. He was acting like he's reading a book, but he was playing one of his video games, propped up in the book, completely distracted.

She easily snuck past him and headed for the stairs.

She very carefully checked around. No one to be seen. 'Maybe they're not as good as they seem.'

Seri actually made it out the door and closed it slowly behind her, barely clicking.

'I actually outsmarted them! I'm going to get away with it!'

She started to climb the gate. Once she was over the gate, she jumped down.

A car pulled up and she recognized it.

"Showed up just in time. Didn't think you'd actually be able to ditch them." Damon said after Seri opened the car door.

"I'm smarter than I look."

She slipped into his car.

"And you look great, babe. So, where to?"

"Somewhere where I'll be seen by a ton of people. Possibly even a photographer or two."

Damon looked surprised. "Really? I thought that's the last thing you'd want? You usually hate those random photographers popping out everywhere."

"Well, tonight is different. I'm going to tarnish Daddy's precious reputation and get those two goons fired in one shot."

"I hear ya, babe. Let's do it! To the mall we go!"

He slammed her back into her seat slightly as he squeals his tires and takes off on the road.

"Easy!"

"What, babe? You used to love it when I drove fast!"

"Well, yeah, but most of the time you warned me before you threw me into almost the back seat!"

"Oh come on, where's your sense of adventure?!"

He laughs.

"It went out the window with the last BMW you crashed recently."

Damon's smile faded. "I didn't crash it. It had a minor disagreement with the road."

"Which led straight into the guard rail. Speed had nothing to do with it, right?" Seri said, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Hey now, that guard rail came out of nowhere!"

"Sure. I'm surprised your Dad got you another one."

"It's two models behind the one I had."

Seri shrugged.

"Should've thought about that before you went and did something dumb."

He turned to her slightly.

"Says the president's daughter with no car of her own."

She winced a little.

"Not my fault Dad insists on using the perks of his job. Having people to drive you everywhere.

I got my license over two years ago. He only let me have it because eventually this will end in 3 years, hopefully."

"Starting tomorrow he can't run your life anymore and if the paparazzi gets a great photo of you, He can't do jack shit about it!"

Damon made the turn into the mall parking lot.

He parked and they both got out.

He grabbed her hand as she walked towards the mall. Seri actually didn't feel that normal tingle she used to.

'I guess it's true what they say, cheating changes your whole dynamic, even if you don't take them back.'

"Damon, what are you doing?"

He looked at her and stopped walking.

"Hanging out with my girlfriend at the mall. What does it look like?"

"So I'm back to being your girlfriend now? You didn't even talk to me to see if I wanted to get back together. You just assumed like you always do after you cheat...."

He abruptly interrupted her.

"For the last damn time Seri, I didn't cheat on you! I told you we were on a break...."

Now she interrupted him.

"Via text message! You didn't even have the guts to call or talk to me in person!"

He crossed his arms over his chest, now glaring at her a bit.

"Because this is what I wanted to avoid, a confrontation! You making a scene!"

"So that gives you all the permission in the world to cheat on me, not once, but twice?!"

"If you're that pissed off about it, then why are you here? Why are we even doing this? Why did you reply to my text if you're not with me? Are you just using me to get away from your prison of a life?"

Before she could answer, she felt herself being gently, but firmly pulled back.

She looked up to see Dereck, both concerned and a bit angry?

"Okay, your little field trip is over. Time to leave."

"How did you..?"

"That's none of your concern. It's time to leave, Seri."

Seri violently shoved her way out of Dereck's grasp.

"I'll be 18 tomorrow! I'm practically 18 now! I'm not leaving!"

Garcia appeared from behind Dereck.

"Oh, yes you are. Let's go, now!" Dereck says.

He gently but firmly grabbed her arm and started to escort her out.

Damon yells. "Hey! You can't do that!"

Andrew stepped in front of him and stopped him.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Andrew says.

"Oh yeah?! And what are you going to do...."

Garcia flashes him a taser from under his jacket.

Damon backs up.

"Woah....okay man, I'm cool."

"Let me go! You're not the boss of me!" Seri continued to flail and jerk to try and break his grip.

He finally whipped her around to face him.

"Technically, I am. I'm pretty sure someone has already gotten a photo of you in....that. Your father won't be happy with any of us."

"So who's taking care of Danny?"

"I called your parents immediately when we learned you had gone missing. They're waiting for you at home."

Seri stared at him for a moment. She noticed his eyes were a mix of blue and green.

'For someone whose mission seems to be ruining my life, he has nice eyes. So not fair!'

"Did you hear me? We're leaving right now!"

He practically dragged Seri outside to the waiting car. Garcia close behind.

Dereck opened the car door to the back and held it open for her.

She got in without any fight. Any fight she had left in her was wasted on Damon.

'Gotta save my strength for the fight to come with Daddy and probably Mom.' Dereck and Andrew got into the driver's seat and passenger's seat.

Andrew was driving while Dereck was sitting in the passenger's seat.

The whole ride home was in awkward silence.

Eventually they arrived home.

Seri attempted to make a run for her room, but Dereck stepped in front of her.

"Your parents request your presence in the conference room."

'Well, shit. I saw this coming.'

She made her way to the conference room.

Her Mother and Father were waiting there for her. Looks of obvious anger, disgust, and disappointment are hard to miss.

Seri slowly sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

Kent speaks first. "Let me ask you one thing Seri, what were you thinking?"

Anita then put her two cents in. "Especially going out looking like that! You look like a prostitute!"

She flinched at her mother's comment.

Seri's Father continued. "We had to cut our charity event short because Mr. Villicini called to say you had gone missing. The cameras did catch you hopping the fence and getting into that Damon boy's car."

"I thought you said you were done with him?! He's nothing but trouble!" Seri's Mother nearly yelled at her.

"And to make matters worse...."

Her father pushed his cell phone towards her.

Seri gingerly picked it up.

"There's not only pictures of you, scantily clad in public, but there's also a video of you fighting in public with your boyfriend! Did you do all this on purpose?!" Kent raised his voice angrily at Seri.

She sank back into the chair, wishing she could disappear.

"Seri, you'll be 18 tomorrow. You're acting more like a child than an adult." Anita says, with obvious disappointment in her voice.

"I have half the mind to cancel your party for tomorrow!"

Seri gasped, on the verge of tears.

"Please Daddy, don't....!!!"

Kent sighed.

"But...I've already paid the DJ a non-refundable booking fee."

He turned to Dereck and Andrew.

"As for you two, she did manage to slip through your fingers, but you managed to recover her quickly. For this, I thank you, but don't let it happen again."

Dereck answered first. "Yes sir, it will not happen again."

Andrew answered second. "We will re-evaluate our protocols and enact them swiftly, sir."

Seri rolled her eyes slightly.

"Now, these two will escort you back to your room for the night. And don't even think about trying to sneak out during your party tomorrow. I will have added security for the event." Kent states.

Seri just stared at him, having no words to say.

"You all can go." He waved his hand as if shooing her away.

Seri got up to go back to her room, with her two escorts in tow.

'I've never seen Daddy that mad before. I've snuck out many times, pissed him off multiple times, but maybe this time I've gone too far. I want my freedom, I want to live life as a normal teenager, but I truly don't want to hurt Daddy or Mom.'

She stopped in front of her door.

"I've got it from here, Garcia. I'll take first watch." Dereck said.

Andrew nodded and responded.

Dereck waited for him to leave enough to not be within earshot. Dereck looked at Seri with sincerity in his eyes, and slight concern.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I had to do it. It's...."

She help up a hand to stop him.

"I know, I know, it's your job."

"I truly do feel sorry for you. I'm sorry I have to help your father basically keep you hostage. I'm sorry that you can't truly live your life yet. I promise when you're in college, I'll back off slightly."

She gave him a weird look.

'What the hell is he doing? Does he actually feel sorry for me?'

She stared at him once more and saw obvious concern in his eyes. He was being genuine.

"Well....I'm gonna go to bed now...."

He nods.

"Happy early Birthday, by the way."

Seri smiled as she opened her bedroom door.

"Thanks. See you in the morning?"

He smiled back as she went into her room.

"Where else would I be? It'll either be me or Garcia."

She closed her door and leaned back against it.

'What was that all about? And....why do I want to talk to him more? I don't get it....'

Seri pulled out her phone, opening up her social media app. Sure enough, pictures of Seri and Damon at the mall.

Pictures of her walking in, pictures of Damon getting in her face, and one really caught her attention.

'Oh, there's where Dereck pulled me in front of him. It looks like we're about to kiss, despite him looking a bit mad.'

The text below it really confirmed her thoughts.

"President's Daughter and Bodyguard; possible love triangle?!" She shook her head while reading the headline.

'They post and assume the most ridiculous crap....' Seri sighed.

'Although....He might be a nice change from Damon.....'

Seri shook her head at this thought.

'It would never work. I'm just a job to him. Me and my whole family.'

She went over to her bed and laid down, putting her phone on the nightstand.

'I'm about to be 18 in a few hours. Maybe things will change....'

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