Categories > Cartoons > Daria > Silent Cynic
The Silent Cynic
By Dr. T
Chapter 10—an Operation, an Incident, and a Prom
Daria only spent two nights in the hospital. She and her family were told that she was not to try speaking again until after a minor operation, scheduled over the Easter break. That should fully repair the blood vessel that had been damaged that Monday evening. Once that healed, she might still be able to whisper, although it was not certain. Still, the operation itself would not occur until early April, three months away.
The Morgendorffer household would therefore be a tense one for those three months. Daria shied away from nearly all additional involvements, and it took more than a bit of gentle coaxing from Quinn, Jane, and Troy for her to even maintain her prior commitments to the golf and chess clubs and with her signing group. She was still willing to go for pizza during the week, and to the movies on weekends with Troy, or with Jane if Troy was playing a tournament and Jane wasn’t on a date with Paul. Sometimes the two couples double-dated as well. Unless specifically instructed by one of her parents, during that three-month period Daria generally stayed away from home until around 8:00 during the week and 10:30 Friday and Saturdays. Some weekend nights she stayed at Jane’s or, slightly more often, Jane would stay with Daria. As she was maintaining her high grades in all classes (other than phys ed, which was still a satisfactory B+), there was little Helen dared say.
At first, part of Daria’s ‘study time’ time was spent on the science assignment, done at Mack’s. Mack and Daria worked hard over the next few weeks to train a mouse to respond to a series of signals. Barch unhappily assigned Mack an A- while Daria was given an A+. While Daria had given in to peer and family pressure and had attended some of the remaining football games in the fall, there was very little pressure to attend basketball games. She did go to a few, if only to show support to Mack (who played forward) while they were doing their project. Daria was even less interested in the girls’ team, but as she was friendly with several of the players who also golfed, she went to a few of those as well. The couple of times Jane did not join her at the games, Daria sat with Jodie (boys’ game) or some of the other girls from the golf team (girls’ team).
Oddly, there was a mostly different crew of cheerleaders for basketball than football. It was if they were mostly considered the replacement group for the football cheerleaders. The few that were on both went from the bottom of the football squad to the leaders for basketball. While not as insane as she considered Highland, Daria believed that Lawndale was just as weird, if in less dangerous (and perhaps more corrupt) ways.
Well, less dangerous to the students at least.
In Highland, there had been a charity event that pitted some of the high school faculty against those drawn from the local middle schools. This done via a ‘sport’ known as ‘donkey basketball.’ Listening in to the idle chatter at the regular basketball games, Daria learned that while there was no donkey basketball, there was an upcoming charity ‘roller-hockey’ game which pitted some of the high school teachers against local DJs.
Despite herself, Daria was slightly sucked into the hype many of the other students were putting out, as this was supposed to be a ‘grudge match’ between DeMartino and one of the DJs. Some were even betting that the teacher’s blood pressure would force him out of the game, possibly even fatally. As Daria rather liked DeMartino she did not place a bet, but the student excitement even got to her as it built towards the second half of March. That also allowed her to concentrate on something other than the up-coming surgery. In the end, Daria enjoyed it when Barch took out several of the DJs after one of them had sent DeMartino to the sidelines with both an ankle and a knee injury.
In other ways, it was clear to the few close to her that at best Daria was marking time, waiting until the surgery before being willing to expand her horizons to the extent she had throughout the autumn and over the holidays. Helen was not alone in worrying that even if the operation was successful and non-traumatic, Daria would still refuse to continue to develop as she had started the previous semester.
Helen was tempted to intervene; while she had not fully approved of the changes Daria had chosen to make the previous semester, she had been grateful that such changes existed. Her hidden frustrations, her resentments, and her unconscious desire that her family (as opposed to her extended family) seem ‘normal’ had conspired against her, and had damaged her daughter. These underlying causes were brought out by her therapist – Helen was again glad that it was Amy and Daria who had bonded, for had it been Rita and Quinn, her resentments would have been even worse. As it was, Helen knew that as long as Daria was at least not going back towards the social and even physical isolation she had been enveloped in at Highland, she should hold back from actual interference. Especially, of course, as she was the major cause of this current grinding halt.
While Daria alternated the activities period between the golf and chess clubs, she resisted Troy’s mild urgings to take over one of the positions on the intermural chess team, or to join him at a weekend tournament, although she did join the US Chess Federation. Troy wisely did not press Daria beyond that. Instead, he did his best to be supportive, although he had admitted he had no experience in doing so upfront. Appreciating his honesty since he obviously wanted to be supportive, Daria gave him some leeway.
Jane however did not need as much leeway, although she had little more experience in being supportive. On the other hand, Jane was more embedded in the everyday dynamics of the Morgendorffer family, spending more time with Daria as well as some with Quinn and with the whole family. When Daria was at home in the early evenings or during the day on the weekends, Jane was more often than not present as well. Since she thought Troy a good match for her friend, she helped keep him clued in. Paul, in turn, helped keep both Jane and Troy stable and looking ahead.
Easter 1998 was April 12, and the school had April 6-10 off. This coincided with Amy’s spring break as well. Daria had been given the option of prepping at home April 5 and having the operation April 6, or going into the hospital the afternoon of the 6th and being operated on the 7th. After discussions, she had opted for the earlier operation. The extended Morgendorffer household was therefore up early on that Monday. As Daria had not been allowed to eat since late the previous afternoon, no one else had breakfast. Amy drove Daria, Quinn, and Jane to the hospital at 7:30 – Jane had stayed the night. Jane and Quinn had placed both Daria and Quinn’s mattresses on the floor of Quinn’s room, and Daria had slept cuddled between them. Daria was scheduled into pre-op at 8:45, with the operation starting at 10:00.
Troy and Paul were waiting for the quartet at the hospital. They kept Quinn and Jane company while Amy checked Daria in. At 8:30, Jane and Quinn each gave Daria a hug, which she nervously accepted. Troy gave her a half-hug and a kiss on the cheek, which at least made Daria give a tiny half-smile in return. Amy then escorted her in for the pre-op, leaving the four teens alone in the waiting area.
“How long do they think it will take?” Paul asked as they sat in a small grouping of chairs.
“A full hour, even if there are no problems,” Jane answered, her voice tight. Paul took her hand, and wisely said nothing.
Knowing Daria would likely be in the operating room for at least an hour, no one fidgeted much until it was close to 11:00. Nearly ten minutes after the hour, the surgeon came into the waiting room. “The repairs should be totally successful,” she told them. “Daria is in the recovery room and should be moved to her room in another fifteen minutes or so. It’s the same one she was in back in January. I would suggest that Ms Barksdale go there now while the rest of you have an early lunch, then you can spell her so she can eat before Daria’s parents come.” The surgeon knew that Jake was supposed to come right after lunch, while Helen had to drive back from a morning court session in Annapolis.
Troy went first after the teens ate. He found Amy holding a dozing Daria’s hand.
“She’s woken up twice,” Amy said. “She’s not supposed to drink anything in quantity, but is allowed to suck on ice chips. She can have one or two at a time, and three or four before taking a few minutes break.”
“I understand,” Troy replied. “I’ll keep a close eye on it.”
Amy reluctantly released Daria’s hand and stood. “After I eat, I’ll call Helen’s office and update them again. Just in case anyone asks.”
“Not a problem,” Troy assured her. “Shoo; we both know you’ll be back as soon as possible, so the sooner you go, the sooner you can come back.”
Amy gave him a wry smile. “Stop sounding like my father.” She bent over and kissed Daria on the forehead, patted Troy’s shoulder, and left.
Troy sat in the chair next to the bed and reached for Daria’s hand, but she moved it before he could take hold. ‘Kiss, please,’ she signed. ‘And then my ice chip.’
Troy stood back up and leaned over to kiss Daria gently. “As you wish.”
Daria smiled very slightly.
*
After the operation, Daria was still not to try and talk until mid-June at the earliest. Hopefully she would at least recover that whisper she had had before the incident. However, to her surprise, by that Thursday, she felt almost as good as she had the previous December, although not so much as she had between the Snow Ball and ‘the latest incident.’ The weekend after Easter, she even joined Troy at a chess tournament in the suburbs of Baltimore (Troy drove them back and forth). As Daria was still awaiting a rating, she played against a pair of low-rated and a pair of mid-rated players, defeating all four. Troy, the highest-rated player at the tournament, also won his four games. On the way home Sunday evening, Daria (to her own internal surprise) accepted a date to Lawndale’s Prom, held this year towards the end of May. To Daria’s surprise, she not only accepted the invitation, as she considered the idea over the next few days, she was almost eager to do so. Granted, she would barely acknowledge that to herself; she refused to admit it to Jane or Troy – and denied it to her mother and Quinn. Both tried to get Daria to invite Troy to the Freshman/Sophomore ‘Hop’ held the weekend before the Prom, but that she steadfastly refused to do, even if Jane and Paul were going to both the Hop and the Prom. Troy made it clear that he was willing to go to the Hop with her, but he wisely did not try to insist.
While claiming denial about how she really felt about the invitation to the Prom (which gratified her much more than the prospect of actually attending), Daria was pleased with her relationship with Troy, even if that meant the trappings like the Prom. It was in this relatively happy mood that found Daria being a trifle more sympathetic to Jodie than usual the next week as she complained about having to give a speech for a returning football hero that upcoming Friday afternoon. After several minutes of listening to her complaints and her truncated attempts at a speech, Daria asked, ‘Why do you have to give the speech? Shouldn’t the student council president’ (who was a senior) ‘have to give it?’
“You’d think that,” Jodie agreed. “I don’t know how it came down to me.”
“The seniors were freshmen when he played,” Jane explained to the pair. “He was a jerk then; he’s likely still one. They want nothing to do with him. The juniors probably heard enough bad stuff about him to want to avoid him, too. That left you, the first person who was responsible enough not to pass the buck.”
Jodie frowned. Somehow, this was becoming a common occurrence in her life, but she wasn’t sure how to avoid it.
‘Don’t try and be profound, just be as simple and short as you can be,’ Daria advised. ‘Other than Kevin, I doubt anyone else will mind, and anything beyond that is also beyond Kevin anyway.’
Jodie sighed, and had to agree with Daria’s brief analysis. Even though she knew Ms Li wanted much more, she had to agree that a short introduction was better in this case than any sort of real speech.
April 24
Ms Li felt trapped; how had this happened? This was supposed to be a simple fundraising event; local football hero and quarterback at a nearby popular Division II university would have a goalpost dedicated to him, followed by a well-attended $100 a plate dinner hosted by the football boosters. Instead, Sherman was under arrest, Daria Morgendorffer was being treated for what were hopefully sprains rather than any breaks to her left wrist and arm as well as many bruises after being slammed twice into hall lockers; Troy Loomis certainly had a slightly fractured left thumb, sprains, and a very black eye; and Michael MacKenzie had several icepacks on his face at the hospital. Fortunately, Daria’s mother was at the hospital rather than in Ms Li’s office; unfortunately that meant her place was not taken by her overly-excitable husband, but her boss – and James Vitale was widely regarded as one of the most dangerous attorneys in the area (and since that area included Annapolis, Baltimore, and above all Washington DC, that was saying a lot).
Vitale was not alone. While a housewife, Mack’s mother was a well-known and popular figure in both the area’s small civil rights community and the slightly larger local Christian charities group, and she could bring those pressure groups to bear if necessary. Worse, combining some of the worst aspects of Vitale’s shark-like persona and Mrs. Mackenzie’s maternal mamma-bear instincts, Grace Loomis, having been told that Helen Morgendorffer would be at the emergency room with her daughter and would look after Troy and the other teens who were being checked out despite having lesser injuries, was also there, glowering at Ms Li in a way that made the other two look kind and sympathetic.
Ms Li opened her mouth, but Vitale interrupted her. “Correct any misinterpretations, which I am sure you will substantiate via your infamous camera security system,” that made Li wince “but your adult guest was unescorted all day, and according to multiple witnesses spent the morning and early afternoon insulting students and sexually harassing numerous underage female students, including Brittany Taylor.” His grin looked even more shark-like. “I believe Steve Taylor will be seeing you after he finishes pressing addition charges downtown.”
Li winced again, as Steven Taylor had been one of the major contributors to the boosters’ club.
“He was blocking Ms Morgendorffer’s locker, and when she tried to communicate with him, he first insulted and then assaulted and injured her, then he attacked Mister Loomis when he tried to help her – and note he did not directly approach Sherman and was attacked for his efforts to render aid to Ms Morgendorffer – and finally Mister Mackenzie was attacked and beaten when he tried to interpose himself between Sherman and his two friends. A few other students, including a Ms Lane, a Ms Landon, and a Mister Thomas, were bruised as well. Finally, several senior football players, seeing their captain viciously attacked for trying to do a good deed, restrained Mister Sherman, and alerted by some senior cheerleaders – not your office which should have been at least monitoring a visitor – security arrived.” Vitale glowered. “Do I have the gist correct?” Mrs. Loomis and Mrs. Mackenzie exchanged looks, each deciding that Vitale’s summary was satisfactory. They went back to glaring at Ms Li.
Li swallowed nervously. This was one of the many times she wished she could rely on some group other than the supporters of the football team to bring in enough extra money to support those other programs.
There was no doubt this event was a loser all around. How could this get worse?
Ms Li’s secretary knocked softly on the door and then opened it. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Andrew Landon and his lawyers are here and want to have a word when it’s possible.”
Li’s elbows went on the table, and she covered her eyes.
*
“I never thought we’d have somewhat matching accessories,” Troy teased Daria the next day, as they joined Paul and Jane for a lunch of take-out burgers at the Lanes’.
Daria frowned, and glanced at their mismatched braces, as Troy’s included support for his hair-lined fractured thumb. With her wrist in a brace for the next few weeks, her signing was somewhat awkward and limited. Even using the white board was difficult to use, as she had to use her left hand to hold it still. Jane was going to stay with the Morgendorffers for the next week, so that she or Quinn could help her dress. That gave Jane a thought. “If Quinn had to be as uncommunicative, she’d go crazy.”
Daria nodded. Quinn disliked silence, especially from herself.
Jane sighed. “I guess I should go up and pack some stuff.”
“Can I help?” Paul asked.
Jane started to make a remark about why Paul might want to pack her undies, but thought better of it. “Sure.”
As they stood, Daria drew their attention by rapping on the table. Looking at Jane, she clumsily signed, “Take your time, but remember not to get too involved up there.”
Paul looked a little embarrassed at his own thoughts about being in Jane’s bedroom, but Jane merely teased back, “We’ll be sure to alert you two when we’re about to come down the stairs.” She grabbed Paul’s hand to lead him upstairs. She paused, turned, and stated, “Don’t expect us for at least forty-five minutes.”
As soon as they were out of the kitchen, Daria stood and held out her hand. As he stood, Daria leaned towards him and went up on her toes to kiss him, and then beckoned him to follow. When he did, she led him to the couch. Making him sit down, she signed, ‘Thank you again for trying to help.’ Not giving him time to answer, she plopped down on his lap, circled her right arm around his shoulders, and proceeded to kiss him until Jane announced her imminent descent.
To say Troy was pleased would have been a drastic understatement. Daria was always sincere, but she had never shown him anything close to this much passion. As they left, she as usual linked her right arm around his now-injured left arm, but, as Jane locked the door to her house, Daria leaned into his shoulder and smiled ever so slightly. While there was no one visible in the street, this was one of the strongest public displays of affection Daria had initiated.
*
While as a Sophomore Daria was entitled to go to the quaintly named ‘Hop’ (at least one part of the couple had to be a Freshman or Sophomore), despite strong hints from her mother and sister and an enquiry from Troy, she was more than content to just going to the Prom (where at least one of the couple had to be a junior or senior). Troy had of course inquired, but hardly to his surprise, Daria had firmly declined the idea of two spring dances. Not even Jane’s pleading moved her; Daria merely pointed out that she and Troy could instead play that weekend in a five-round chess tournament in Annapolis. As far as Jane and Troy were concerned, this at least counted as a date, as did Daria although she refused to acknowledge that to her sister or mother. Quinn and Helen were therefore less certain, especially Quinn. Helen suspected that Daria was more infatuated with Troy than she let on, and while worried about her, she did like Troy. And while Helen knew there could be severe emotional traumas to either daughter, she knew neither (if in different ways) would allow herself to be convinced to do anything she didn’t want to, and that each had been on birth control as soon as the physicians would prescribe them – a large percentage of those few girls not on birth control at Highland High (as well as a few in the middle schools) wound up pregnant at least once between Eighth grade and graduation.
Quinn of course was determined to go to both dances, at a minimum. Via the network she and Tori had built up over the academic year, Quinn managed to score different dates to the two Lawndale dances, plus a Prom at a nearby school. She could have gone to a third Prom, but that one was held the same Saturday as the Hop at Lawndale. While the Hop was classified as a ‘semi-formal’ (suits for the boy, slightly less formal/elaborate gowns for the girls) and the Proms as formals (over half of the boys would be in tuxedos at any of the local schools), Quinn knew that she really had to make the appearance at the Lawndale Hop rather than at rival Oakwood’s Prom to insure her in-school popularity.
Daria’s official chess rating came out just before the May tournament, ensuring she had much tougher matches. Still, she won three, drew one, and lost to the second-place winner, a national master. Troy won the tournament, winning a tough match against the national master, which went nearly fifty moves.
Quinn and Stacy had enjoyed the Hop (escorted by Jeffie and Jaime), and they had helped engineer the election of Tori as ‘Princess of the Hop.’ This had to be a Sophomore Lawndale girl, and earned Tori and her partner (even if not a Junior or Senior at Lawndale) a free ticket to the Lawndale Prom. Jodie would have been the only girl who could have easily beaten Tori, but she had asked not to be considered, since as the ‘Homecoming Queen’ the previous fall she already had a free ticket for her and Mack to the Prom. Since the Prom Queen had to be a Lawndale senior, Tori and Jodie would appear in prom photos as part of the Queen’s court in the yearbook’s summer supplement.
For Daria, the Prom was in many ways a somewhat lesser version of December’s Snow Ball. The two couples went to the same restaurant, although in separate cars. The Prom was actually held in the high school gym, rather than a huge, rented ball room, and there were no waltzes played. Troy had again been able to borrow his mother’s old LTD however, and so when they left the dance a bit early, he was able to find a place for them to park and neck – the advantage of having an old car with a bench seat in the front. Troy did manage to get Daria home just before her 11:30 deadline. While Daria’s hair was rather messy and lip gloss gone, Helen decided to say nothing, albeit with a bit of difficulty. Had she made the connection of the zipper in the back of Daria’s dress not being fully zipped up, she would have had a lot more to say. Troy’s mother was asleep when he got home, and so questioned him while he was in the dark hallway, and even her sharp eyes for once missed his misbuttoned shirt.
By Dr. T
Chapter 10—an Operation, an Incident, and a Prom
Daria only spent two nights in the hospital. She and her family were told that she was not to try speaking again until after a minor operation, scheduled over the Easter break. That should fully repair the blood vessel that had been damaged that Monday evening. Once that healed, she might still be able to whisper, although it was not certain. Still, the operation itself would not occur until early April, three months away.
The Morgendorffer household would therefore be a tense one for those three months. Daria shied away from nearly all additional involvements, and it took more than a bit of gentle coaxing from Quinn, Jane, and Troy for her to even maintain her prior commitments to the golf and chess clubs and with her signing group. She was still willing to go for pizza during the week, and to the movies on weekends with Troy, or with Jane if Troy was playing a tournament and Jane wasn’t on a date with Paul. Sometimes the two couples double-dated as well. Unless specifically instructed by one of her parents, during that three-month period Daria generally stayed away from home until around 8:00 during the week and 10:30 Friday and Saturdays. Some weekend nights she stayed at Jane’s or, slightly more often, Jane would stay with Daria. As she was maintaining her high grades in all classes (other than phys ed, which was still a satisfactory B+), there was little Helen dared say.
At first, part of Daria’s ‘study time’ time was spent on the science assignment, done at Mack’s. Mack and Daria worked hard over the next few weeks to train a mouse to respond to a series of signals. Barch unhappily assigned Mack an A- while Daria was given an A+. While Daria had given in to peer and family pressure and had attended some of the remaining football games in the fall, there was very little pressure to attend basketball games. She did go to a few, if only to show support to Mack (who played forward) while they were doing their project. Daria was even less interested in the girls’ team, but as she was friendly with several of the players who also golfed, she went to a few of those as well. The couple of times Jane did not join her at the games, Daria sat with Jodie (boys’ game) or some of the other girls from the golf team (girls’ team).
Oddly, there was a mostly different crew of cheerleaders for basketball than football. It was if they were mostly considered the replacement group for the football cheerleaders. The few that were on both went from the bottom of the football squad to the leaders for basketball. While not as insane as she considered Highland, Daria believed that Lawndale was just as weird, if in less dangerous (and perhaps more corrupt) ways.
Well, less dangerous to the students at least.
In Highland, there had been a charity event that pitted some of the high school faculty against those drawn from the local middle schools. This done via a ‘sport’ known as ‘donkey basketball.’ Listening in to the idle chatter at the regular basketball games, Daria learned that while there was no donkey basketball, there was an upcoming charity ‘roller-hockey’ game which pitted some of the high school teachers against local DJs.
Despite herself, Daria was slightly sucked into the hype many of the other students were putting out, as this was supposed to be a ‘grudge match’ between DeMartino and one of the DJs. Some were even betting that the teacher’s blood pressure would force him out of the game, possibly even fatally. As Daria rather liked DeMartino she did not place a bet, but the student excitement even got to her as it built towards the second half of March. That also allowed her to concentrate on something other than the up-coming surgery. In the end, Daria enjoyed it when Barch took out several of the DJs after one of them had sent DeMartino to the sidelines with both an ankle and a knee injury.
In other ways, it was clear to the few close to her that at best Daria was marking time, waiting until the surgery before being willing to expand her horizons to the extent she had throughout the autumn and over the holidays. Helen was not alone in worrying that even if the operation was successful and non-traumatic, Daria would still refuse to continue to develop as she had started the previous semester.
Helen was tempted to intervene; while she had not fully approved of the changes Daria had chosen to make the previous semester, she had been grateful that such changes existed. Her hidden frustrations, her resentments, and her unconscious desire that her family (as opposed to her extended family) seem ‘normal’ had conspired against her, and had damaged her daughter. These underlying causes were brought out by her therapist – Helen was again glad that it was Amy and Daria who had bonded, for had it been Rita and Quinn, her resentments would have been even worse. As it was, Helen knew that as long as Daria was at least not going back towards the social and even physical isolation she had been enveloped in at Highland, she should hold back from actual interference. Especially, of course, as she was the major cause of this current grinding halt.
While Daria alternated the activities period between the golf and chess clubs, she resisted Troy’s mild urgings to take over one of the positions on the intermural chess team, or to join him at a weekend tournament, although she did join the US Chess Federation. Troy wisely did not press Daria beyond that. Instead, he did his best to be supportive, although he had admitted he had no experience in doing so upfront. Appreciating his honesty since he obviously wanted to be supportive, Daria gave him some leeway.
Jane however did not need as much leeway, although she had little more experience in being supportive. On the other hand, Jane was more embedded in the everyday dynamics of the Morgendorffer family, spending more time with Daria as well as some with Quinn and with the whole family. When Daria was at home in the early evenings or during the day on the weekends, Jane was more often than not present as well. Since she thought Troy a good match for her friend, she helped keep him clued in. Paul, in turn, helped keep both Jane and Troy stable and looking ahead.
Easter 1998 was April 12, and the school had April 6-10 off. This coincided with Amy’s spring break as well. Daria had been given the option of prepping at home April 5 and having the operation April 6, or going into the hospital the afternoon of the 6th and being operated on the 7th. After discussions, she had opted for the earlier operation. The extended Morgendorffer household was therefore up early on that Monday. As Daria had not been allowed to eat since late the previous afternoon, no one else had breakfast. Amy drove Daria, Quinn, and Jane to the hospital at 7:30 – Jane had stayed the night. Jane and Quinn had placed both Daria and Quinn’s mattresses on the floor of Quinn’s room, and Daria had slept cuddled between them. Daria was scheduled into pre-op at 8:45, with the operation starting at 10:00.
Troy and Paul were waiting for the quartet at the hospital. They kept Quinn and Jane company while Amy checked Daria in. At 8:30, Jane and Quinn each gave Daria a hug, which she nervously accepted. Troy gave her a half-hug and a kiss on the cheek, which at least made Daria give a tiny half-smile in return. Amy then escorted her in for the pre-op, leaving the four teens alone in the waiting area.
“How long do they think it will take?” Paul asked as they sat in a small grouping of chairs.
“A full hour, even if there are no problems,” Jane answered, her voice tight. Paul took her hand, and wisely said nothing.
Knowing Daria would likely be in the operating room for at least an hour, no one fidgeted much until it was close to 11:00. Nearly ten minutes after the hour, the surgeon came into the waiting room. “The repairs should be totally successful,” she told them. “Daria is in the recovery room and should be moved to her room in another fifteen minutes or so. It’s the same one she was in back in January. I would suggest that Ms Barksdale go there now while the rest of you have an early lunch, then you can spell her so she can eat before Daria’s parents come.” The surgeon knew that Jake was supposed to come right after lunch, while Helen had to drive back from a morning court session in Annapolis.
Troy went first after the teens ate. He found Amy holding a dozing Daria’s hand.
“She’s woken up twice,” Amy said. “She’s not supposed to drink anything in quantity, but is allowed to suck on ice chips. She can have one or two at a time, and three or four before taking a few minutes break.”
“I understand,” Troy replied. “I’ll keep a close eye on it.”
Amy reluctantly released Daria’s hand and stood. “After I eat, I’ll call Helen’s office and update them again. Just in case anyone asks.”
“Not a problem,” Troy assured her. “Shoo; we both know you’ll be back as soon as possible, so the sooner you go, the sooner you can come back.”
Amy gave him a wry smile. “Stop sounding like my father.” She bent over and kissed Daria on the forehead, patted Troy’s shoulder, and left.
Troy sat in the chair next to the bed and reached for Daria’s hand, but she moved it before he could take hold. ‘Kiss, please,’ she signed. ‘And then my ice chip.’
Troy stood back up and leaned over to kiss Daria gently. “As you wish.”
Daria smiled very slightly.
*
After the operation, Daria was still not to try and talk until mid-June at the earliest. Hopefully she would at least recover that whisper she had had before the incident. However, to her surprise, by that Thursday, she felt almost as good as she had the previous December, although not so much as she had between the Snow Ball and ‘the latest incident.’ The weekend after Easter, she even joined Troy at a chess tournament in the suburbs of Baltimore (Troy drove them back and forth). As Daria was still awaiting a rating, she played against a pair of low-rated and a pair of mid-rated players, defeating all four. Troy, the highest-rated player at the tournament, also won his four games. On the way home Sunday evening, Daria (to her own internal surprise) accepted a date to Lawndale’s Prom, held this year towards the end of May. To Daria’s surprise, she not only accepted the invitation, as she considered the idea over the next few days, she was almost eager to do so. Granted, she would barely acknowledge that to herself; she refused to admit it to Jane or Troy – and denied it to her mother and Quinn. Both tried to get Daria to invite Troy to the Freshman/Sophomore ‘Hop’ held the weekend before the Prom, but that she steadfastly refused to do, even if Jane and Paul were going to both the Hop and the Prom. Troy made it clear that he was willing to go to the Hop with her, but he wisely did not try to insist.
While claiming denial about how she really felt about the invitation to the Prom (which gratified her much more than the prospect of actually attending), Daria was pleased with her relationship with Troy, even if that meant the trappings like the Prom. It was in this relatively happy mood that found Daria being a trifle more sympathetic to Jodie than usual the next week as she complained about having to give a speech for a returning football hero that upcoming Friday afternoon. After several minutes of listening to her complaints and her truncated attempts at a speech, Daria asked, ‘Why do you have to give the speech? Shouldn’t the student council president’ (who was a senior) ‘have to give it?’
“You’d think that,” Jodie agreed. “I don’t know how it came down to me.”
“The seniors were freshmen when he played,” Jane explained to the pair. “He was a jerk then; he’s likely still one. They want nothing to do with him. The juniors probably heard enough bad stuff about him to want to avoid him, too. That left you, the first person who was responsible enough not to pass the buck.”
Jodie frowned. Somehow, this was becoming a common occurrence in her life, but she wasn’t sure how to avoid it.
‘Don’t try and be profound, just be as simple and short as you can be,’ Daria advised. ‘Other than Kevin, I doubt anyone else will mind, and anything beyond that is also beyond Kevin anyway.’
Jodie sighed, and had to agree with Daria’s brief analysis. Even though she knew Ms Li wanted much more, she had to agree that a short introduction was better in this case than any sort of real speech.
April 24
Ms Li felt trapped; how had this happened? This was supposed to be a simple fundraising event; local football hero and quarterback at a nearby popular Division II university would have a goalpost dedicated to him, followed by a well-attended $100 a plate dinner hosted by the football boosters. Instead, Sherman was under arrest, Daria Morgendorffer was being treated for what were hopefully sprains rather than any breaks to her left wrist and arm as well as many bruises after being slammed twice into hall lockers; Troy Loomis certainly had a slightly fractured left thumb, sprains, and a very black eye; and Michael MacKenzie had several icepacks on his face at the hospital. Fortunately, Daria’s mother was at the hospital rather than in Ms Li’s office; unfortunately that meant her place was not taken by her overly-excitable husband, but her boss – and James Vitale was widely regarded as one of the most dangerous attorneys in the area (and since that area included Annapolis, Baltimore, and above all Washington DC, that was saying a lot).
Vitale was not alone. While a housewife, Mack’s mother was a well-known and popular figure in both the area’s small civil rights community and the slightly larger local Christian charities group, and she could bring those pressure groups to bear if necessary. Worse, combining some of the worst aspects of Vitale’s shark-like persona and Mrs. Mackenzie’s maternal mamma-bear instincts, Grace Loomis, having been told that Helen Morgendorffer would be at the emergency room with her daughter and would look after Troy and the other teens who were being checked out despite having lesser injuries, was also there, glowering at Ms Li in a way that made the other two look kind and sympathetic.
Ms Li opened her mouth, but Vitale interrupted her. “Correct any misinterpretations, which I am sure you will substantiate via your infamous camera security system,” that made Li wince “but your adult guest was unescorted all day, and according to multiple witnesses spent the morning and early afternoon insulting students and sexually harassing numerous underage female students, including Brittany Taylor.” His grin looked even more shark-like. “I believe Steve Taylor will be seeing you after he finishes pressing addition charges downtown.”
Li winced again, as Steven Taylor had been one of the major contributors to the boosters’ club.
“He was blocking Ms Morgendorffer’s locker, and when she tried to communicate with him, he first insulted and then assaulted and injured her, then he attacked Mister Loomis when he tried to help her – and note he did not directly approach Sherman and was attacked for his efforts to render aid to Ms Morgendorffer – and finally Mister Mackenzie was attacked and beaten when he tried to interpose himself between Sherman and his two friends. A few other students, including a Ms Lane, a Ms Landon, and a Mister Thomas, were bruised as well. Finally, several senior football players, seeing their captain viciously attacked for trying to do a good deed, restrained Mister Sherman, and alerted by some senior cheerleaders – not your office which should have been at least monitoring a visitor – security arrived.” Vitale glowered. “Do I have the gist correct?” Mrs. Loomis and Mrs. Mackenzie exchanged looks, each deciding that Vitale’s summary was satisfactory. They went back to glaring at Ms Li.
Li swallowed nervously. This was one of the many times she wished she could rely on some group other than the supporters of the football team to bring in enough extra money to support those other programs.
There was no doubt this event was a loser all around. How could this get worse?
Ms Li’s secretary knocked softly on the door and then opened it. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Andrew Landon and his lawyers are here and want to have a word when it’s possible.”
Li’s elbows went on the table, and she covered her eyes.
*
“I never thought we’d have somewhat matching accessories,” Troy teased Daria the next day, as they joined Paul and Jane for a lunch of take-out burgers at the Lanes’.
Daria frowned, and glanced at their mismatched braces, as Troy’s included support for his hair-lined fractured thumb. With her wrist in a brace for the next few weeks, her signing was somewhat awkward and limited. Even using the white board was difficult to use, as she had to use her left hand to hold it still. Jane was going to stay with the Morgendorffers for the next week, so that she or Quinn could help her dress. That gave Jane a thought. “If Quinn had to be as uncommunicative, she’d go crazy.”
Daria nodded. Quinn disliked silence, especially from herself.
Jane sighed. “I guess I should go up and pack some stuff.”
“Can I help?” Paul asked.
Jane started to make a remark about why Paul might want to pack her undies, but thought better of it. “Sure.”
As they stood, Daria drew their attention by rapping on the table. Looking at Jane, she clumsily signed, “Take your time, but remember not to get too involved up there.”
Paul looked a little embarrassed at his own thoughts about being in Jane’s bedroom, but Jane merely teased back, “We’ll be sure to alert you two when we’re about to come down the stairs.” She grabbed Paul’s hand to lead him upstairs. She paused, turned, and stated, “Don’t expect us for at least forty-five minutes.”
As soon as they were out of the kitchen, Daria stood and held out her hand. As he stood, Daria leaned towards him and went up on her toes to kiss him, and then beckoned him to follow. When he did, she led him to the couch. Making him sit down, she signed, ‘Thank you again for trying to help.’ Not giving him time to answer, she plopped down on his lap, circled her right arm around his shoulders, and proceeded to kiss him until Jane announced her imminent descent.
To say Troy was pleased would have been a drastic understatement. Daria was always sincere, but she had never shown him anything close to this much passion. As they left, she as usual linked her right arm around his now-injured left arm, but, as Jane locked the door to her house, Daria leaned into his shoulder and smiled ever so slightly. While there was no one visible in the street, this was one of the strongest public displays of affection Daria had initiated.
*
While as a Sophomore Daria was entitled to go to the quaintly named ‘Hop’ (at least one part of the couple had to be a Freshman or Sophomore), despite strong hints from her mother and sister and an enquiry from Troy, she was more than content to just going to the Prom (where at least one of the couple had to be a junior or senior). Troy had of course inquired, but hardly to his surprise, Daria had firmly declined the idea of two spring dances. Not even Jane’s pleading moved her; Daria merely pointed out that she and Troy could instead play that weekend in a five-round chess tournament in Annapolis. As far as Jane and Troy were concerned, this at least counted as a date, as did Daria although she refused to acknowledge that to her sister or mother. Quinn and Helen were therefore less certain, especially Quinn. Helen suspected that Daria was more infatuated with Troy than she let on, and while worried about her, she did like Troy. And while Helen knew there could be severe emotional traumas to either daughter, she knew neither (if in different ways) would allow herself to be convinced to do anything she didn’t want to, and that each had been on birth control as soon as the physicians would prescribe them – a large percentage of those few girls not on birth control at Highland High (as well as a few in the middle schools) wound up pregnant at least once between Eighth grade and graduation.
Quinn of course was determined to go to both dances, at a minimum. Via the network she and Tori had built up over the academic year, Quinn managed to score different dates to the two Lawndale dances, plus a Prom at a nearby school. She could have gone to a third Prom, but that one was held the same Saturday as the Hop at Lawndale. While the Hop was classified as a ‘semi-formal’ (suits for the boy, slightly less formal/elaborate gowns for the girls) and the Proms as formals (over half of the boys would be in tuxedos at any of the local schools), Quinn knew that she really had to make the appearance at the Lawndale Hop rather than at rival Oakwood’s Prom to insure her in-school popularity.
Daria’s official chess rating came out just before the May tournament, ensuring she had much tougher matches. Still, she won three, drew one, and lost to the second-place winner, a national master. Troy won the tournament, winning a tough match against the national master, which went nearly fifty moves.
Quinn and Stacy had enjoyed the Hop (escorted by Jeffie and Jaime), and they had helped engineer the election of Tori as ‘Princess of the Hop.’ This had to be a Sophomore Lawndale girl, and earned Tori and her partner (even if not a Junior or Senior at Lawndale) a free ticket to the Lawndale Prom. Jodie would have been the only girl who could have easily beaten Tori, but she had asked not to be considered, since as the ‘Homecoming Queen’ the previous fall she already had a free ticket for her and Mack to the Prom. Since the Prom Queen had to be a Lawndale senior, Tori and Jodie would appear in prom photos as part of the Queen’s court in the yearbook’s summer supplement.
For Daria, the Prom was in many ways a somewhat lesser version of December’s Snow Ball. The two couples went to the same restaurant, although in separate cars. The Prom was actually held in the high school gym, rather than a huge, rented ball room, and there were no waltzes played. Troy had again been able to borrow his mother’s old LTD however, and so when they left the dance a bit early, he was able to find a place for them to park and neck – the advantage of having an old car with a bench seat in the front. Troy did manage to get Daria home just before her 11:30 deadline. While Daria’s hair was rather messy and lip gloss gone, Helen decided to say nothing, albeit with a bit of difficulty. Had she made the connection of the zipper in the back of Daria’s dress not being fully zipped up, she would have had a lot more to say. Troy’s mother was asleep when he got home, and so questioned him while he was in the dark hallway, and even her sharp eyes for once missed his misbuttoned shirt.
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