FicWad

The Silent Cynic
By Dr. T

Chapter 13—Paintings, a Storm, and a Dance

To Troy’s pleasure, Daria had indeed captured the second board position on the chess team in early September. Daria had slightly more mixed feelings. Part of her wished she could spend her after school time in Jane’s bedroom, reading or writing, while Jane painted, or with the pair watching ‘Sick, Sad World’ while dating Troy on weekends. Instead, the final school (activity) period was split between chess and golf rather than with Jane, zipping through homework while Jane sketched. After school was split between being with Troy, with Jane, or with both of them plus Paul. Sometimes they grabbed slices at Pizza Prince as a ‘snack,’ sometimes they would gather at one of their houses and do homework together if at least one of them had a much larger than usual amount, or they even (when Troy got permission – his mother was by far the strictest parent) would see an early movie.

While Daria was very happy to spend the time with Jane and Troy after school, this didn’t leave her very much time to learn to drive. She had turned sixteen the previous November, but had not been allowed to even get her permit until after she had completed the school’s in-class driver’s ed class in the mid-trimester. She had gotten some basic driving in during the morning short-periods in the final trimester, but neither parent had had any more time to ride with her in the evenings the previous spring or summer than they did this autumn. Weekends had been and continued to be busy for Helen and Jake as well; most of what little driving she had accomplished with them was done Sunday mornings.

Jake was as hyper-tense as a passenger/observer as he was behind the wheel. Still, Daria believed (or at least hoped) this would inoculate her from being too nervous when she finally felt up to taking the exam. Her mother was a calmer passenger, but had gotten it into her head that Daria needed contacts to drive and constantly nagged at her about it. Troy had laughed at the idea, pointing out how many drivers there were who wore glasses. Daria had to force herself to have the confidence to stop totally just staring ahead, and while that solved that portion of her driving problems, it hadn’t stopped her mother going on about contacts. Daria at least convinced her parents to pay the small fee so that she could continue practicing driving on school time during the morning module. She would finally pass the exam and get her license shortly before her birthday in November.

Of the four friends, weekends were the hardest on Daria. She had minimal interest in watching any sport, although she found football slightly less objectional than most (she blamed the amount of over-exposure to the sport she had endured in Texas as dulling her reaction to it). However, between the fact that the band (since Troy and Paul were members) played at all home games and some away games, being friends with Mack (this year captain of the team), and her sister determined to appear at Lawndale’s favorite fall pastime, Daria did not resist going to the games as much as she had back in Highland. Her parents wanted to network, as did Quinn, although she didn’t think of her socializing as networking. Jodie wanted to be with her friends in the stands (it was about the only guaranteed free time she had to socialize), Brittany encouraged Daria to come during the week and even waved to her in the stands to acknowledge her presence, and Jane was happy to go to the games so long as someone paid for the ticket and bought her snacks. Since Jane didn’t mind making as many snack bar runs as wanted (as opposed to watching a game she could not care less about), Jake was happy to make sure Jane was well-fed in return.

What made the football games more than merely tolerable for Daria was that the home games were (unusually) during the afternoons. All the other local high schools had lit stadiums and played Friday nights. Daria suspected that Lawndale’s lack was due to the fact that Lawndale State did not have a football team (they were a major, if Division II, basketball school), therefore with Lawndale High playing Saturday afternoons, their games were always carried over the radio. The area’s Friday night high school games had a hugely competitive field for media attention.

This meant that after the home games, Saturday evenings were wide open in many respects for the teens. Even Troy’s mother said nothing against any plans Troy was likely to admit to, provided she had a rough idea of where he was and that he was home by 11:00. Granted, that would only be five Saturday evenings between early September and early November. Still, two of those evenings no one was at the Lanes’, not even Trent (whose band would be out until the early hours of the next morning). The two couples enjoyed their time in separate bedrooms, although only Jane and Paul were now putting the bed to full use. Two of the other Saturday evenings were spent in more conventional dates (dinner and movie, followed by some brief parking in Paul’s car, with Troy and Daria in the back seat). One time Jodie and Mack joined the two couples in the dinner/movie portion, while for the other one, Quinn and a date had. The fourth of the five Saturdays would be Home Coming.

Well before that event, however, something different happened. It started when Ms Li came into art class and announced a poster contest. Neither Daria nor Jane had been initially enthusiastic, but then Daria remembered her mother, in addition to nagging her about getting contacts, was also bugging her about adding some extra-curriculars in addition to golf and the chess team. (Daria suspected that her mother was like Jodie’s – the more extra-curriculars she had, the more that would be piled on.) Joining the contest wouldn’t help much there, but if she (and Jane) could win any recognition, that would add to their college applications.

Daria’s slight interest, along with the strong urging of Ms Defoe, had actually piqued Jane’s curiosity. She had learned that her parents had started a small college fund for each of their children. However, only Wind and Penny had each attended the local community college, and that for only for a year and a semester respectively. The unspent money in each older Lane’s college fund had been split in half, half going to that Lane, the other half split between each of the younger siblings’ funds. So, while each original fund individually had not been much, Jane’s had grown to a fair amount. While it wouldn’t pay for any private university, it would just cover four years tuition at Lawndale State (although none of the other many costs), and so at least a quarter of the tuition for most private universities.

Troy had already decided to enter the senior class portion of the competition, for the same reason Jane and Daria were – an extra line in his applications, which he would be submitting in November to his now-six universities and his ‘safety’ of Lawndale State. His would be a poster encouraging the study of computer science. Knowing both the creative and drawing/painting skills of the rest of the senior class, he was sure he could at least get a third place, which would send the poster to the regional contest and that would be good enough to allow him to add that line to his applications. Paul had no interest in the contest, and had no decent ideas to help either Troy or Jane.

Tori was not in an art class, but Quinn and Stacy were. The two sophomores, with some input Tori, were going to submit a poster on the power of fashion. Jodie had too many commitments as it was, and was not taking art. While Kevin was taking art (generally earning C+s, which helped keep him eligible to play), he wasn’t entering – the only art student not put under any pressure from Ms Li to at least submit a group submission. (Li was afraid of any public appearances from Kevin off the field.) Once Daria had helped Brittany figure out perspective the year before, the cheerleader had actually turned out to sometimes be the second-best artist in the class, with Daria about equal when she did not exert herself. Daria and Jane figured that if Brittany somehow stumbled onto a good idea, she was the only junior they might need to worry about.

Of course, that meant they would have to think of a good idea themselves.

There was a tight time element to submit the posters, so Daria and Jane spent the next two evenings trying to come up with an idea, which finally started to germinate the second night. As the two sat in Pizza Prince, a second large half-eaten carnivore pizza in front of them, a pair of their more ‘popular’ cohort passed by them, and one made a teasing remark about their over-eating.

This sparked Daria’s muse and more than nudged Jane’s. The first poem Daria came up with was a strong statement about bulimia. Jane was eager to illustrate that (even after Daria had talked her out of a rather graphic bathroom scene), but the next morning Daria realized that while that idea would have been excellent if the pair merely had wanted to make a point about how ‘encouraging’ Ms Li was by hammering their point home so obviously, if they wanted their poster to have a real chance at advancing (and so at least possibly getting her mother to let up on her ever-more extra-curriculars kick for a moment or two, and to look good for Jane’s college applications), they would need the poster to be at least a bit more subtle. Jane agreed about changing the poem, but resisted changing the idea for the painting until Daria showed Jane her second draft, and also made the remark that a change would also prevent Ms Li or Mr. O’Neill from trying to interfere with the work, as the poem and painting were more obviously linked. Both the poem and the poster would then have to be changed, rather than just the poem.

The new poem was longer, and it pointed out the pressures put on girls to be pretty and the anxieties that could cause. Daria carefully worded it so that it read as a warning, rather than as a down-beat graphic reality like the original. The ‘artists’ statement’ that she wrote for it reinforced the warning aspect, and even had citations from recent education journals. Jane’s painting was of a very pretty girl looking in the mirror, a small smile on her face, but the mirror showed tears going down the other side of that face.

Ms Defoe had looked at the submission for several minutes. The painting was both beautiful and melancholy; the poem leaned towards the graphic but she didn’t think it was over the top. Together, they made a strong statement about the power of the pressures on teen girls to aspire toward unattainable levels of ‘beauty.’

Mr. O’Neill strongly objected to what he considered to be a ‘downbeat’ poster, and took it to Ms Li, who called the pair of juniors into a conference. Daria merely presented the pair a prepared statement, which pointed out how their poster reenforced Lawndale High’s commitment to students’ mental welfare, as exemplified by the self-esteem class – which Mr. O’Neill was still in charge of.

Upon reading that, O’Neill started stuttering and turned a bit red. Ms Li gave the pair a dirty look, and went over and reread the poem, the artists’ statement, and the prepared statement, as well as looking at the painting again. She then sat, ignored the now-silent but still confused O’Neill, and red-penciled the two statements. She nearly made a change in the poem, but decided that, considering this pair of students, would likely be going too far. “Would you be prepared to make these changes, adding these lines to your artists statement?”

Jane let Daria read first. Li wanted them to delete two phrases from the artists’ statement and add three lines from the other, and to include the citations. Daria considered the changes; the substitutions would soften the power of the artist statement a little, but adding the citations would strengthen the academic impact. She looked at Li with a bit of surprise.

“While I would prefer more…upbeat messages, this does cover…mental health areas we must be on the lookout for,” Li answered, her distaste somewhat obvious. “After Mister O’Neill brought this to my attention, I looked over the other submissions. While this is the most…explicit, there are also other warnings about giving into peer pressure, not to mention against the use of alcohol – including drunk driving – drugs – both specific and generally – and tobacco; warnings against bullying and even one anti-gang poster.” Li made a face, this entry came close to crossing the line into being too strong and graphic, at least for her, but did it cross that line? And, even if it had crossed hers (it obviously had crossed O’Neill’s), did she want to argue the point with Helen Morgendorffer? “Since it is obvious that students have these concerns, we’ll allow this one, with those changes to the statement.”

Daria signed, to which Jane merely interpreted as, “We agree.” Li suspected there had been a few more words added which Jane had not interpreted, but let it go.

“I can’t believe we got away with that,” Jane admitted as they left the office to go to class.

Daria shrugged. ‘I thought we would, just that it would take more effort, maybe even bringing in my mother.’ She sighed. ‘Thank goodness I did not have to go to that extreme!’ Her mother would likely have helped, but even though their relationship was slowly improving, she would have held it over Daria for weeks at the least.


That Saturday after the game, there was an ‘open house’ at Lawndale High to show off all the posters and to announce the winners. Much to Mr. O’Neill’s chagrin, Jane and Daria’s poster not only won for the junior class posters (Brittany’s poster was second), but was also cited as the best poster overall. Ms Li was happy only because she convinced the Lawndale Herald not to publish a photo of the poster or quote the poem, just announce the winners. Troy’s poster had won second place amongst the seniors, and Quinn and Stacy’s poster placed second amongst the sophomores. While Mr. O’Neill was not happy with the results, the winners, Ms Li, and especially Helen Morgendorffer, were.


When Daria woke up the following Friday, the last of September, she looked out her window with a slight inclination towards optimism. The sky was clear, and there seemed to be just a hint of autumn in the air. The football game was away, and even though there would likely be a pep rally during the afternoon activity period, Troy’s parents were planning on spending the weekend at friend’s cabin, and Daria was considering allowing Troy’s hands and kisses ‘full access’ to second base for the first time if they could be completely alone at his house. The only promise they had made was not to go upstairs (except to use the bathroom, and then only separately), but there was that very nice den in the cellar they could use to have privacy from prying eyes should anyone return unexpectedly. As Daria entered the kitchen, she was confused to see her parents staring at the small tv they kept there. Coming close to see what was so interesting for once, she heard the announcer saying….

“…hurricane’s path, while approaching the central Chesapeake coast, is still uncertain. It may veer off to the north by mid-afternoon or a little later into southern Pennsylvania, or may still continue straight inland….”

Daria turned away. The straight path shown would put it right though Lawndale, an uncomfortable thought. Highland had been far enough inland that only a few remnants of tropical storms ever threatened the town, but over the years she had still heard more than a fair share of hurricane forecasts. The fact that the final path was still to be determined this late was unusual. To her surprise, as she kept an ear out as she made her morning tea, school was not being cancelled and nothing nearby was seemingly affected, even though they were under a hurricane watch. It seemed that Lawndale and the surrounding communities in the county were all hoping for the best and refusing to prepare for the worst, even as other areas nearby were taking precautions. Hints to her mother about staying home ‘just in case’ did not produce results.

Daria was somewhat surprised – and bit disappointed in those around her – that few seemed even aware of the possibility of the hurricane striking Lawndale. Even Jane and Paul were blasé about it, both saying essentially ‘nothing really exciting ever happens in Lawndale.’ Troy was only a bit more interested, and again didn’t seem worried. Among the faculty, only DeMartino mentioned the hurricane in class, giving each of his classes ten minutes of ‘what to do, just in case’ information – which most paid little attention to.

Daria and Jane had planned to skip out of the pep rally scheduled for the activity period at the end of the day. They had just convinced Paul and Troy to join them for a bit of couples’ time on the school roof (neither was in the pep band) when Ms Morris spotted them and forced them into the gym and made them go join their respective grades.

The small pep band (six trumpets, a tuba, and six drummers) had just started to play the school fight song, after which the team would have run into the gym, when Ms Li stepped up and cut them short. “Attention students! We have just received word that the hurricane has still not changed paths, and even though this is a tightly-packed marginal category one, there will still be high winds and very heavy rain, with the outer bands expected to hit in an hour or so. When I give the signal, those of you who walk or drive home may leave; be out of the building in fifteen minutes! By then the buses should be arriving from the middle schools for the rest of you! Dismissed!”

As their fellow juniors started to leave around them, Jane turned and asked, “So, what do we do?”

Daria looked confused. Before she could answer, however, she and Jane were distracted by Jodie and Mack, who had met in front of them and were giggling, whispering loudly as they left about how they hoped Lawndale would blow away, the most upbeat of the students by far.

‘Wow,’ Daria signed, ‘and I thought we hated it here.’

An anxious-looking Quinn dashed over, followed by Stacy. She grabbed Daria’s arm, a look of fear taking over. “What do we do?” A near-tearful Stacy was standing next to Quinn, unable to speak, although she was making small squeaks of fear.

Daria sighed and shook her arm loose. ‘Does Stacy need to come with us?’

“Yeah, her parents are in North Carolina, well, her mother was supposed to get in very late tonight, but I don’t know….”

Daria raised her hand to quiet her sister. She turned to Jane. ‘You coming with us?’

A now-actually nervous Jane nodded hopefully – she didn’t know what to do, but it seemed like Daria would. Daria led the group, now joined by Troy and Paul, out to the school lobby, where there were some pay phones, two of which were not being used. ‘Quinn, ask Stacy if she can call her parents collect; if so ask if she can stay over with us. If she cannot reach them, she will have to go home, otherwise her parents will worry when she does not answer the phone.’

As Quinn told Stacy what to do (going with her, to prompt her if necessary), Daria turned to Jane. ‘See if you can wake Trent up; if so, tell him to come over and stay with us, unless he wants to hang with the band. Have him bring any candles and flashlights.’ She then turned to a smirking Troy. ‘What?’

He smiled, “Just awaiting orders, my dear.”

‘I would invite you both over, but your mother would have a fit.’

“True.” Troy moved closer, and the two shared a brief kiss as no one was really looking. “I’ll get you started home until we have to split up.” Daria smiled and gave him an additional, if even briefer, kiss. She admitted to herself that she was actually more disappointed that their weekend plans had to be postponed than she was relieved to put them off once again.

Jane came over, “Trent actually answered. He’ll be over; even if he’s threatening to bring his acoustic guitar.” She smiled as Paul stood behind her and put his arms around her waist.

Quinn and Stacy came over. “Stacy caught her mother just before she left. She’ll stay in North Carolina and Stacy will come with us.” She frowned. “I hope Mom won’t object.”

‘Do you want to call her now?’

“No,” Quinn admitted.

Daria looked around at the group, raised her hand, and pointed forward. Jane snickered and announced, “Let’s move out!”


Helen walked into her house, and while gratified that her daughters were both home, she was confused by the extra bodies. Well, Jane was mostly expected, Helen knew Amanda and Vincent were out of town. Trent was less expected, but it wasn’t totally surprising, seeing that his sister was here. Stacy was the biggest surprise.

Daria explained the series of events that had led to the group coming together. She also mentioned that they had hit a convenience store on the way home before it had been emptied, getting ice (already stored in ice chests), milk, bread, peanut butter, various snacks, and even the last candles in the store (even if they were large Catholic votive candles). Daria did not mention that Trent had brought over the band’s supply of gummy bricks, “Just in case.” She hoped to avoid their use.

Helen was very impressed with the planning, which she knew would have been mostly Daria’s. She liked Trent and Stacy and so under the circumstances had no problem with their staying. One thing bothered her as she looked around. “Where’s Quinn?”

‘In the kitchen, making a huge pot of cocoa and a larger pot of soup.’

That gave Helen pause for a moment, but she quickly recovered. “Why?”

‘Why the cocoa? No idea, but Quinn seems to think that is what one does in an emergency to calm everyone down. Since we do not all drink coffee or tea but do like chocolate, I thought ‘why not?’ As for the soup, it is easily digestible, hydrating, perhaps a bit comforting, and even in the worst-case scenario we should still have power long enough to eat it warm if not hot. I have all the flashlights I know about handy and ready to use, as well as the spare batteries. Also, I have all the candles out and in the available candle holders that I could find, and there is a book or box of matches near each group of them. We have a votive candle in each room and each bathroom to act as nightlights if needed. Trent brought over some candles as well as a few flashlights, although I had to replace the batteries in one. Trent and Jane already put away the lawn furniture and garbage cans.’

Helen smiled. “Well done.” She considered. “Actually, very well done, sweetie.”

That made Daria smile; she often felt her contributions were taken for granted. Helen looked around. “Shall we go see if Quinn’s finished making the cocoa?”

Trent stood and stretched. “Cool.”


By the time Jake got in, the wind was blowing at a constant 40 mph with gusts nearing 60, and the rain was nearing a downpour. He nearly burst into the empty living area, “Helen! Is everything alright? Are the girls here? Did you tape the windows? Secure everything in the yard? The garbage cans?” He looked around the deserted area in a panic until Helen entered from the kitchen area. “Where’s…?”

“Jake, calm down. The girls are here, along with Jane, Trent, and Stacy. The things outside, including the garbage cans, are inside the garage. Taping the windows actually doesn’t accomplish much.” She gestured with the mug in her hand. “Now come into the kitchen and have some cocoa; Quinn made a lovely batch for everyone.”

Jake’s panic faded away, and then his face brightened. “Cocoa?”


In the end, the hurricane turned just far enough to the north that Lawndale only suffered the worst of the western, weaker side. Some trees toppled, more than a few limbs were torn off them, with some of either the limbs or trees themselves taking out the odd powerline. A few places had power outages for up to nine hours (the Morgendorffers’ power was out for less than six), and more than a few buildings had at least some roof damage, a few others had various types of minor damage. On the whole, Lawndale escaped even moderate damage, and the Morgendorffers had none at all. They would just need to clean up a few small branches. The last to fall asleep that night, Trent, was thankful Jane had made such a wonderful friend with a kind, if odd, family.


The next day, there was a lot of calling around as friends and family throughout the area checked on each other. The Lanes’ were spared any damage to the house, although they had to remove some medium-sized fallen tree limbs that had nearly caused damage. Troy’s neighborhood, which included Mack and Paul’s families’ houses, also suffered just minor tree damage and similar problems. In fact, the only house belonging to any of Daria or Quinn’s friends which suffered any real damage was the Taylors’ – Brittany’s brother had not actually cleaned up the side of the yard he had been made responsible for, and a small metal tea table had blown into a window.

All in all, the worst thing that had happened, according to many of Daria’s friends and acquaintances (but not Daria herself), was that the Friday night football game had been cancelled. Daria regretted the lost weekend with Troy, however.


The following Tuesday, Quinn became worried when the leaders of the Pep Squad dismissed the rest of the group and surrounded her. “No need to be frightened,” the president of the Squad told her.

“Nervous or worried, maybe,” another senior teased, “but not frightened.”

“That’s enough of that,” the president said sternly before turning back to Quinn. “Two weeks from Saturday is Homecoming; which means that Saturday night is the Homecoming Dance. The Pep Squad and some other volunteers take care of it. A junior and a sophomore usually take the lead, which then, if they do a good job, puts them in charge of the Prom and the Hop respectively next semester. We’d like you to coordinate parts of it.”

Having paid attention to Daria for the last few years, Quinn had learned not to agree to things too quickly. “That depends on what parts that would be.”

The president smiled. “Okay, what needs to be coordinated are help with the parade, the half time ceremony, booking the band for the dance, taking care of the refreshments and some other setup, and decorating the gym. The toughest job is decorating and then cleaning up the gym, since whoever does that needs to get the most volunteer labor. I’ll book the band; you should tag along so that you can learn how. Jodie works with a faculty member to coordinate the parade and with the band director over halftime. So, refreshments or decorating? Refreshments and some of the basic setup is nearly as tough as the decorating and the rest of the setup, but you’ll probably need about half the help. In both cases, the toughest part is getting help to stay after and clean up. The difference is, the decorations can go up Friday after school or early Saturday morning, unless you’re not involved in the parade, in which case you’d have the whole morning, or even afternoon if you want to miss the parade or the game. Refreshment and floor setup means missing the second half of the game.”

Quinn knew how the pecking order worked in Lawndale. Success meant a boost, but a failure…. “I think I can do one or the other. Can I tell you tomorrow before homeroom?”

“Okay. Go grab your clubs.”


Quinn managed to coordinate Daria, Troy, Jane, Paul, Stacy, Tori, and a few of her other friends into an after-school meeting despite the short notice. Quinn explained the situation as well as she could, and then simply stated, “Help!”

“I’ll go first,” Tori answered. “First of all, I know what’s needed for either, so I can help plan. But as I’m sure you all can guess if you didn’t know, the hardest part of either will be the setup and sticking around for the cleanup—and parents will have to agree with that, because it means you’ll be at the gym ‘til at least midnight. I will actually ask my folks if I can help cleanup, but of course Brooke and I will be in the parade and the half time show.” They were both majorettes.

“I’ll ask my parents, too,” Brooke added.

“Paul and I are in the band,” Troy reminded Quinn. The friends exchanged looks.

“We’ll both ask if we can stay out to help cleanup,” Paul added.

“With so many involved with the parade and halftime, that means the bigger job of decorations,” Quinn pointed out. She looked around. “Help?” she asked again.

“The basics are school color streamers and some other decorations,” Tori pointed out. “We always drag out that old fiberglass lion mascot.” That was a larger-than-life-size fiberglass model on wheels that the school had purchased in the early 1970s. “The question is, what else can we decorate with? A basic banner and streamers? That’s all there’s been the last two years, and maybe longer. Is there anything we can do different that’s doable?”

The group pondered for a moment, then Troy stood. “Jane, a word in private?”

The two artists went out into the hall and had a ten-minute discussion. When they came back in, it seemed as if Jane had agreed to Troy’s idea but didn’t like it much. As they came into the bedroom, Jane remarked, “You’ll have to deal with Ms Li.”

“I know,” Troy had to agree.

“What have I gotten myself into?” Quinn muttered.


The next morning, Troy presented himself in Ms Li’s office well before homeroom. Despite her many faults, Ms Li did have an open-door policy. After hearing Troy out, Li demanded, “Do you know how much this would cost?”

Troy had an estimate, which made Li frown. “We can do it cheaper, but then it’s all a one-time use. We can do it this way, and with a little care it should last well over a decade.” Seeing Li hesitate, he added, “It would also look very good on the school website, and in the slideshow you have to present to the school board in December – you could even have it hanging behind you.”

Li gave Troy a dirty look, but simply said, “Very well, I’ll agree to the expenditure, but it had best meet your claims. And don’t forget the receipts!”


Thursday afternoon, Troy, Jane, Daria, Quinn, and Tori gathered in a storage area in the basement of the high school. There was a large assortment of paints, two rolls of canvas (three feet x twelve feet) and a large, mounted canvas (six foot high x twelve wide) for a banner. “Okay, here’s the deal, all the canvases have been gessoed. I’m going to add some yellow to this gallon of gesso, and we’re going to go over each canvas tonight to tint them, then do the blue borders and lettering tomorrow. Jane and I will paint the rest next week. Jane gets overall control of the two rolls to be a bit more imaginative with, but she may need some help filling them up.” With that, the crew got started.


Unlike many schools, where the homecoming dance was merely a dance during homecoming weekend with no one really dressed up, at Lawndale it was a ‘semi-formal’, boys in suits, girls in nice dresses/outfits, rather than tuxes and gowns. Daria was not thrilled attending, and outright refused to wear a dress. However, she knew the event was important to Quinn, and only slightly less so to Jane and Troy, plus she did like dancing with Troy, even if they only danced slow dances – there would likely be no waltzes this night. Therefore, Daria was dressed in a dark green skirt a bit shorter and form-fitting than usual and a matching jacket, a subdued yellow silk turtleneck, and a large, translucent light green quartz pendant her mother had bought for her when she and Daria had shopped for the outfit. While she refused to wear heels, Daria was again wearing the more formal boots she had purchased for the Snow Ball the previous year.

The band, barely a step above Mystic Spiral, were performing on a platform. Behind them was the banner that Troy and Jane had painted. Heraldic Lions were on the outside edges, and under ‘LAWNDALE HIGH’ as well as between the letters and the heraldic lions, a number of other, realistic lions, had been painted. While the heraldic lions were of course male, of the nine other lions, six were female.

The two canvases Jane had mostly created hung down on either side of the painting. Jane had drawn all the figures but two, as well as designing the backgrounds. Jane had allowed Brittany to draw and paint a cheerleader on each canvas, in exchange for paying for some of the non-basic paints Li had sprung for. Daria had painted much of the solid background areas Jane had designated, with a bit of help from Quinn and Stacy. Jane had done most of the other work. Taking the theme from the poster contest, ‘student life at the dawn of a new millennium,’ the canvases depicted exactly that. On the one hand, while there was nothing overtly negative (since Jane knew Ms Li would disallow that outright), most of the images were neutral – a computer, a tv, pizza, etc. Each canvas had student couples of various sizes depicted – few would ever notice that the smallest couple on each roll was of a same-sex couple (male on the right banner, female on the left), and there were two couples on each which were interracial. Really, the happiest image on either canvas were Brittany’s cheerleaders.

As the last dance played, Troy and Daria as well as Jane and Paul joined the other couples in a long, slow dance. A number of them would be staying to help with the cleanup, but at that moment, none were giving that any thought. When the song ended, Daria gave Troy a long, deep kiss, something she hardly ever did in public. Like many of the other couples doing the same, they held it until the lights slowly grew brighter.