Categories > Cartoons > Daria > Silent Cynic
Chapter 21—A Neon Parade
As Daria and Jane approached Lawndale High the next Monday, they paused and looked behind them when they heard a different-sounding motor approaching them. “Huh,” Jane said. “I thought it might be a riding lawnmower.” She thought a moment. “Well, at least it’s not a Vespa, or worse a little kiddie scooter.”
‘No,’ Daria agreed, ‘that is at least a quarter of a step up from a Vespa.’ ‘It’ was a small moped, with Kevin riding, held onto by Brittany – and both without helmets.
“I wonder where the other Shriners are?” Jane asked as the moped approached the school.
“Hey, Mack Daddy! What do you think of my new wheels?” Kevin asked as he pulled up to a group of students, including Mack, Jodie, Jane, and Daria.
“What I think is, shouldn’t you two be wearing a helmet? And don’t call me that!”
‘Yes, Brittany; even if Kevin is a good rider’ (which Daria privately doubted) ‘you should be wearing a helmet.’
Meanwhile, Kevin was answering Mack. “We don’t need helmets, we’re being, like, rebelliant.”
“Did he mean ‘repellant’?” Jane muttered.
“We get to feel the air this way!” Brittany exclaimed, ignoring that it was a warm morning, and that she and Kevin were wearing heavy leather jackets.
‘Is that worth having that cricket in your teeth?’ Daria asked.
Brittany’s response, when she realized that Daria was serious, was, “EEK!” Jumping off the moped, she continued at a slightly higher pitch than usual as she rushed into the school, “I need to brush my teeth! I need new teeth!”
“I wonder if the shop boys could make her a new set?” Jane wondered, making Jodie roll her eyes.
‘Metal shop, maybe but not in time today. Maybe the wood shoppers could have done before lunch, though,’ Daria retorted, making both Jane and Mack snort with amusement. This meant they, and Jodie who was paying attention to their byplay, missed what the rest of the crowd was going on about. When they tuned back into the crowd, the group was chanting, “Wheelie! Wheelie!”
‘This will not turn out well,’ Daria commented, while Mack and Jodie tried to calm the crowd down and to get Kevin to ignore the cries from the crowd. Jane just shook her head.
Kevin of course ignored Mack and Jodie and easily succumbed to peer pressure. He rode down the street, and then gunned the engine and he tried to ‘pop a wheelie.’
He failed, hitting the curb and landing mostly on the grass verge, but his left knee hit the edge of the sidewalk.
Then the screaming started.
Daria and Jane simply shook their heads as this happened, turned, and walked into the school. Mack ran past them, going for the school nurse, while Jodie tried to settle the remaining crowd down (as some of the more avid of Kevin’s encouragers had quickly fled the scene once the accident occurred).
The next morning, Daria and Jane walked into a rather more-subdued Lawndale High than usual. Softly sighing, Daria steeled herself and walked up to the sad-looking Brittany. As she did so, Daria noticed the usual people who surrounded Brittany were keeping their distance, as if she were a totem of bad luck. She hesitated again, but then lightly placed her hand on Brittany’s shoulder.
Startled, Brittany quickly turned and went into a defensive position. “Sorry,” she said, when she realized it had been Daria.
‘Sorry to have startled you,’ Daria replied in turn. ‘How is Kevin, and how are you?’
“Kevvie will be okay; he’s knee is bruised, and not as badly sprained as they first thought.” Brittany’s demeaner then dropped. “He will have to be on crutches until next week although the bruises will be better before then.” She almost pouted. “He’ll have to miss the first two games.
‘I am sure that is disappointing,’ Daria replied, ‘but again, how are you doing?’
Brittany gave Daria a wan smile. “Thank you for asking; you’re the only one who has.” A number of the students around them, especially the cheerleaders, looked at least a bit ashamed at that. “I guess I am okay; I’m just glad Kevvie wasn’t hurt worse.”
Daria patted Brittany’s arm and gave her a slight smile.
Daria had quickly noted the year before that football was almost as pervasive in Lawndale as it had been in much of Texas. On top of that, Lawndale was one of the two perennial ‘power houses’ in the area, and of course had even won the state championship a few years before. For the many who cared about such things, Lawndale High’s prospects were heavily debated before that first home game the next Saturday.
Jane was even less interested in all this than Daria. While it took just a bit of persuasion on Helen and Quinn’s parts to get Daria to agree to go to the football game, Daria had to try a few different stratagems to get Jane to come with her; bribing her with food didn’t work as well these days, as she was better fed. Finally, Daria asked, ‘Do you have a date with Tom Saturday afternoon?’
“No,” Jane admitted cautiously. “He’s stuck going to some fancy charity luncheon with his folks. We’re going out for onion rings and milk shakes when he’s free.”
Daria came up and looked Jane in the eyes, and then moved in even closer. “Wouldn’t you want to take me on a date Saturday afternoon?” she whispered in Jane’s ear, before kissing it.
“A date to the football game?” Jane asked dryly.
‘Well, that’s where I will have to be; where do you want to be?’
Jane gave in. “With you,” she admitted.
Perhaps surprising a few, the game did not start off that badly for Lawndale, especially since they were playing their main rival and usually their toughest divisional game, Oakwood. The Lawndale defense played its heart out all game. Kevin’s backup also was doing okay in the first quarter, until he was gang-tackled, fell wrong, and fractured his left arm. Over the rest of the game, Coach Gibson tried three different players as quarterback. Each proved disappointing, making fumbles and interceptions that led to either Oakwood scoring drives or near-misses. In the end, the Coach tried Mack, his team’s only good running back. That too ended in an interception and touchdown. If not for the excellent play of the Lawndale defense, the score would have been far more lop-sided than 28-0.
Either that evening, the next day, or Monday (depending on publishing time in terms of print or airtime for tv and radio), the local sports media roasted or teased Lawndale’s offensive performance. Only the chance that Kevin might be ready to return after the second game kept the remarks somewhat limited.
It was clear that next Monday that Kevin was not mentally ready to begin doing anything to hurry his comeback. Even when his brace was removed Tuesday afternoon, he wrapped his knee with an Ace bandage and insisted on using his crutches the rest of the week. Not once since his accident had he appeared in school in even his jersey. Brittany reported Kevin even refused to drink his usual sports drinks, preferring Yoo Hoo.
The next weekend, Daria and Jane’s roles were slightly reversed. Fielding Prep fielded a football team, mostly due to alumni pressure. The current students preferred watching lacrosse or basketball to football, or more intermural sports like golf (they were the perennial regional winners there) or even chess (where they had been dominating until Troy started play; they hoped to recapture that this year, with Daria at Lawndale’s first board). In fact, Fielding’s best football season over the previous twenty years was 4-5-1, and they had not won more than three games in any season for the previous eight seasons.
Playing Fielding was usually Lawndale’s easiest conference game. As it was at Fielding, Tom was obliged to attend. As Tom rarely asked Jane to accompany him to any particular event (as opposed to planning on meeting but leaving the activity fairly open), she decided she should go with him, even if that meant sitting in the Fielding bleachers. And, since Daria had persuaded Jane to attend the previous week, Jane demanded Daria go with her and Tom. As the Fielding stadium was the best-lit high school field in several counties, the game would be Friday night.
Lawndale’s defense again played its heart out, and prevented Fielding from scoring any touchdowns. Unfortunately, that did not prevent Fielding from attempting six field goals (making four). While Lawndale’s offense did not make nearly the number of errors this week as they had the last game, they only managed one touchdown (with a second called back for a penalty). Lawndale therefore lost 12-7.
The local media ignored how well Lawndale’s defense had done, and that barring that one penalty Lawndale would have won, instead piling on the criticism of the offense. The local free paper (printed in Oakdale) went so far as to call Lawndale a ‘loser town.’
That Saturday, however, Daria could not have cared less about Lawndale’s football woes. She left the house a little after 8:00 and was at what passed for Georgetown’s public parking before 10:00. While Georgetown fielded a football team, it was not as much of an obsession as the sport was at some Division I schools (that was reserved for basketball at Georgetown). Still, this was a football weekend, which meant most visitors would be tailgating at the stadium rather than competing for parking on campus, although there was some spillover. Troy had purchased his roommate a ticket and he had been interested in attending all the other festivities associated with the game. He was therefore going to be gone most of the day, although he had not left when Daria knocked on their door.
While not overly happy with it, Daria was willing to allow Troy to show her off around the dorm and then around the campus through lunch, especially since once they left his dorm floor, he was more showing her the campus rather than just showing her off. In between Troy’s telling Daria stories about his time on campus that he had not already emailed her, and Daria’s filling Troy in on any Lawndale gossip she might have missed telling him, they spent the time pleasantly enough. After lunch, the pair retired to Troy’s dorm, in part to exchange much more intimate feelings, and spend a very sensual time reacquainting themselves, before indulging in even more intimate pleasures.
Daria stayed at Georgetown until after dinner. The couple strolled to Daria’s car after that, and it took more than a few minutes of hugging and kissing before they were willing to part. Still, Daria made it back to Lawndale without incident and before her mother’s suggested curfew. Both were happy with the visit – they had reconnected better than either had hoped for.
Monday saw increasing pressure on Kevin to come back to the team. He had convinced himself that his ‘career’ was over, and nothing, not even Brittany, could move him.
“He’s lost his confidence,” Tom pointed out that evening at Pizza Prince. “His football ability is all he’s really ever had. Until he gets some self-confidence back, he won’t believe he can come back.”
“So, someone who cares has to figure out how to get idiot boy his confidence back,” Jane commented.
‘But the people who care probably are not bright enough to figure something out,’ Daria retorted.
After Jane translated, Tom appeared deep in thought. After a few moments, he suggested, “Why not have him give a safety lecture to elementary kids? From what you’ve told me, that’s his level of communication skill, and I think we all would have preferred to listen to even someone like Kevin to most of what we did back then.”
Jane looked thoughtful, and looked at Daria, who nodded. “We’ll pass it along, but why do you care?”
“Hey, I might not go to a ‘loser school,’ but I still don’t want to live in ‘a loser town’,” he teased. Daria and Jane just rolled their eyes.
To Jane and Daria’s surprise, Tom’s plan worked fast – Kevin was back playing in the third game, moreover leading the Lions to victory. The Monday after that game however, the faculty were informed that due to the low attendance at the last football game, a number of budget restraints would have to be in place starting immediately. The faculty, who had been agitating for a substantial pay raise in view of the upcoming contract negotiations in January, were both unhappy and unconvinced at the necessity, but were forced to go along.
Ms Li started looking at possible new ways of raising money, in case the proposed tax increase did not pass. And, if it did, there were always more security items to be added to protect the school (i.e. her and her job). She was tempted to cut back on the homecoming festivities planned for the next month, but a little research showed that she could not divert money from the football and band boosters, as the homecoming schedule of events had already been publicized.
Daria also had to deal with the future homecoming weekend that week. During chess club, she was approached by the other two girls in the club that year, both freshmen. Alana was about an inch shorter than Daria, a little heavy, with dark red hair. Her father was a surgeon at the local hospital/medical complex. Charlotte was the daughter of the managers of the local Good Times Chinese franchise. As her family name was Chan, most people called her Charlie.
When the two came to Daria, she had shrugged and written, ‘Why ask me; James is the club president.’
“None of the boys are really interested in riding a float in the homecoming parade,” Alana admitted. “George did say he would drive his truck and pull a little float. Jimmy said he would build us a chess piece in wood shop. Charlie and I would decorate it, but we’d look silly riding alone.”
“So please, ride with us!” Charlotte piped up.
Daria looked torn.
“If you like, you can wear a crown and be the chess queen,” Alana suggested.
That earned her a very dirty look.
“Not as good an idea as we’d hoped, I guess,” Charlotte teased. “Look, we’ll wear our club t-shirts and jeans instead of dressing up. I think we can get Bobby and Tony and maybe James to ride as well if you do. They can throw some candy at the crowd. They’re boys; they like throwing things.”
Daria thought about it. No doubt Quinn would again exert pressure for Daria to ride on the golf club or pep squad float this year. She liked the girls in the golf club well enough, but she felt a bit like a mentor to these two. ‘I think the whole thing is silly.’ She erased and added, ‘But I’ll do it; I’ll even wave.’ Erase. ‘But I won’t smile.’
The two girls hugged Daria, and then rushed off, giggling and planning.
On a late Saturday morning as September had just turned into October, Daria was coming down the stairs to go the Jane’s, she spied Tori and Stacy sitting on the sofa on either side of Quinn. The trio was engrossed by a program, and unusually it did not look like a fashion-based one.
Coming up behind them, Daria saw the tv was set on a very high numbered channel, and the narrator was carrying on about some ‘miraculous’ intervention which had fixed a stranded motorist’s tire in a snowstorm. Rolling her eyes, Daria ignored them and the tv, and went on over to Jane’s; they were set to have a pleasant lunch, and even more pleasant afternoon, before Tom took Jane out to dinner and a play that evening.
Daria was therefore in a ‘pleasant’ mood when she returned home. Quinn had not moved far from her position of the sofa since morning so far as Daria could tell, although now she was alone and reading a book. Curious, Daria came up from behind and looked to see what Quinn was engrossed in.
‘Miracles Happen Every Day’? Daria read, rolling her eyes. She tapped Quinn on the shoulder, startling her, since she had been so engrossed by her reading.
“I swear, I’m going to put a bell on you,” Quinn teased. “I don’t know how you can be so quiet in those boots.”
‘I am not that quiet; you were just too buried in that silliness.’
“Oh, Daria, how can you say that? Don’t you believe in miracles?” Not giving Daria a chance to even start answering, Quinn pressed on, “What next, that you don’t believe in God?”
‘I believe in God, although I am not certain what form God takes.’ Seeing Quinn was at least somewhat interested, Daria pressed on. ‘Sometimes I am a Deist….’
“What’s a Deist?”
‘A Deist believes in God, that God created the universe. God may have even created the universe so that certain general outcomes were likely, even probable. However once created, God does not interfere with creation. In other words, no miracles.’
Quinn pouted, but asked, “And other times?”
Daria shrugged. ‘Then I would say, God answers all prayers, but the answer is almost always ‘no’.’
“Don’t you think that’s a bit negative?”
‘No. Look at us; excepting that attack on us that cost me my voice, what have we really had to endure compared to most of the world’s population? I know you do not follow the news closely, but I am sure you see enough to have some idea of how horrible it is for many people, maybe even most people, and how hard it is on even more.’
Quinn pouted, and Daria knew her sister realized her point was valid. Quinn just wanted to downplay it.
‘I hope that I am right and you are wrong; just think, if a very few people get miracles for no reason yet the vast majority suffer and a large minority suffer horribly, is that fair? Better for life to be random.’
Quinn shook her head at her sister, and went back to reading her book.
Daria shook her head at her sister, and went upstairs to her room to write an email to Troy before working on an idea for a one act play.
Daria’s next week had a relaxing normality for her, in part because nothing particularly stupid happened at school. She had her daily email exchanges with Troy; weekly email with Amy; Jane stayed over two nights; she got some writing done; chess and golf each worked out well, and so forth. She had checked on Alana and Charlotte, and saw they were not planning anything too over the top. She did get the chess piece on their little float (a king) to be painted in a black and white chess board pattern; Daria thought a six-foot-tall white king was a bit too on the nose for Lawndale.
That Saturday, Daria had been downstairs, reading on the sofa when an upset Jane called (Daria answered only because of the caller ID). After the call, Daria still wasn’t sure what the problem was; all the somewhat-incoherent Jane had managed to convey was that she was upset at Tom, and that somehow gummy bears were involved.
When Daria went to get her boots, she managed to stop Quinn from stealing a bootlace. Why she thought the leather lace would match her outfit more than any of her scrunchies, barrettes, or other doodads for her hair, Daria could not guess. She gave Quinn a broken bootlace she had not gotten around to throwing away, which seemed to satisfy her. Sometimes Quinn could be very obsessive once an idea entered her head.
Rolling her eyes, Daria went to meet Jane.
A short time later, the pair was on their way to a huge box store, despite Daria’s suggestions of several alternatives. ‘Let me understand; you have been sorting gummy bears into different colors, because you were going to microwave them into an art piece for the student show at the Lawndale Art Museum.’
“Yeah, they melt into a neat stained-glass effect.”
‘You do not think they might object to an object that draws ants and maybe flies or even roaches?’
Jane thought about that, and admitted, “I hadn’t thought about that. Still, that’s not what’s important right now.”
‘No, you are upset because…?’
“Tom ate my gummy bears!”
‘Did he know they were art supplies and not snacks?’
Jane opened her mouth, but then shut it and thought a bit more. “Poo,” she finally said. “I don’t have a leg to stand on, do I?”
‘I do not think you do, Stumpy.’ After they walked a bit more, Daria asked, ‘Are you and Tom doing okay?’
“I’m not sure,” Jane admitted, as they approached the massive store. Seeing the huge crowd, Jane just shook her head, and forced Daria to plunge into the mob as she searched for inspiration.
In the end, Jane abandoned her candy stained-glass piece, and instead produced an installation piece based on the over-sized bottled products in the self-care aisle of the stuff, and the food samples. The judging panel decided it was a great kitschy commentary on the working class/lower middle class they had contempt for (Daria’s artist statement she had created for Jane helped steer them in that direction), and Jane added another award for her application packets and even a $1000 scholarship (divided over four years) should she be accepted into any type of art program.
That award was two weeks in the future, however. When the teens entered Lawndale High on the Monday after their box store excursion, they were greeted by a large number of signs in two-tone neon green (well, Jane insisted the lighter color was actually chartreuse), advertising Ultra Cola. In addition, where there had been four soda machines on the campus (one in the pool entrance, one outside the gym next to the ticket booth, one in the teachers’ lounge, and one outside the cafeteria), each offering generic versions of cola (two buttons), diet cola, lemon-lime, root beer, and orange, there were now eight more machines (two were actually in the cafeteria, the rest scattered throughout the complex). All now sold Ultra Cola (five Ultra Cola buttons, one Diet Ultra), plus the price had gone up ten cents per can.
“It looks like Ms Li doesn’t think the tax hike is going to go through in November,” Jodie commented.
‘It looks more like Dad dropped some LSD in my cereal,’ was Daria’s response.
Jane rolled her eyes at her friends, but asked Daria, “So, are you going to Georgetown this weekend?”
‘No, I am seeing Troy at a Tournament near Annapolis this weekend.’ Seeing a particularly large and garish sign, Daria averted her eyes. ‘It will be nicer than usual to get away from this place.
“Will Troy be here the next week to see you in the parade?” Jodie asked, only slightly teasing.
Daria merely nodded; she was still not thrilled by the idea, but she had agreed to do it and so would carry through (while hoping for rain).
Despite Daria’s best wishes (somewhat proving her point, in her own mind at least, about the efficiency of prayer), it did not rain for homecoming. She and Troy had not had much time to socialize at the chess tournament the week before. They did have lunch together both days, and supper on Saturday. Neither was staying near to the tournament, so both had to drive back separately.
At the parade itself, Daria mostly rode serenely, holding on to the back rail. She did smile slightly most of the time, and she managed to wave at anyone who waved at her that she knew, including Troy, her parents (Jake was videotaping), and a few others. Alana and Charlotte more than made up for Daria’s light participation, waving enthusiastically at everyone, while the two boys threw a large amount of candy (supplied by Alana’s father). The crowd was slightly more enthusiastic for the chess club float than it otherwise might have been with different placement, Daria had arranged with Jodie to place the chess club after the golf club (as Quinn and her friends would get the crowd’s attention as they all looked very nice in shorts and tight team shirts) and the Interpretive Dance Club, whose skin-tight leotards were always a crowd pleaser.
Daria did take Troy out to dinner after the parade. They made an appearance at the homecoming dance, but left early. Though they were unable to find a good spot with enough privacy to indulge in their occasionally ‘involved’ backseat activities this time, they still had a good time.
Meanwhile, Tom and Jane had miscommunicated about a location to meet at during the actual parade. Further upsetting Tom, he had gotten caught in the middle of a paint fight. Jane had been upset about their non-meeting, blaming Tom for not paying attention to her when she had told him where to meet him. He was upset because Jane thought his getting three pints of different colored paint all over him was amusing. Jane was not happy he blew off the homecoming dance, although he had never really agreed to go.
Tom rather wished Daria had been around to mediate.
The Monday after homecoming, Daria and Jane saw that there was a small crowd of students blocking the main entrance to the school. When they reached it, they saw the blockage was really on the inside, just past the doors. When they finally entered, they saw why the others had stopped, as they did the same. The halls were no longer painted in the school colors of blue and yellow, but in the two-tone neon of Ultra Cola.
As Daria and Jane approached Lawndale High the next Monday, they paused and looked behind them when they heard a different-sounding motor approaching them. “Huh,” Jane said. “I thought it might be a riding lawnmower.” She thought a moment. “Well, at least it’s not a Vespa, or worse a little kiddie scooter.”
‘No,’ Daria agreed, ‘that is at least a quarter of a step up from a Vespa.’ ‘It’ was a small moped, with Kevin riding, held onto by Brittany – and both without helmets.
“I wonder where the other Shriners are?” Jane asked as the moped approached the school.
“Hey, Mack Daddy! What do you think of my new wheels?” Kevin asked as he pulled up to a group of students, including Mack, Jodie, Jane, and Daria.
“What I think is, shouldn’t you two be wearing a helmet? And don’t call me that!”
‘Yes, Brittany; even if Kevin is a good rider’ (which Daria privately doubted) ‘you should be wearing a helmet.’
Meanwhile, Kevin was answering Mack. “We don’t need helmets, we’re being, like, rebelliant.”
“Did he mean ‘repellant’?” Jane muttered.
“We get to feel the air this way!” Brittany exclaimed, ignoring that it was a warm morning, and that she and Kevin were wearing heavy leather jackets.
‘Is that worth having that cricket in your teeth?’ Daria asked.
Brittany’s response, when she realized that Daria was serious, was, “EEK!” Jumping off the moped, she continued at a slightly higher pitch than usual as she rushed into the school, “I need to brush my teeth! I need new teeth!”
“I wonder if the shop boys could make her a new set?” Jane wondered, making Jodie roll her eyes.
‘Metal shop, maybe but not in time today. Maybe the wood shoppers could have done before lunch, though,’ Daria retorted, making both Jane and Mack snort with amusement. This meant they, and Jodie who was paying attention to their byplay, missed what the rest of the crowd was going on about. When they tuned back into the crowd, the group was chanting, “Wheelie! Wheelie!”
‘This will not turn out well,’ Daria commented, while Mack and Jodie tried to calm the crowd down and to get Kevin to ignore the cries from the crowd. Jane just shook her head.
Kevin of course ignored Mack and Jodie and easily succumbed to peer pressure. He rode down the street, and then gunned the engine and he tried to ‘pop a wheelie.’
He failed, hitting the curb and landing mostly on the grass verge, but his left knee hit the edge of the sidewalk.
Then the screaming started.
Daria and Jane simply shook their heads as this happened, turned, and walked into the school. Mack ran past them, going for the school nurse, while Jodie tried to settle the remaining crowd down (as some of the more avid of Kevin’s encouragers had quickly fled the scene once the accident occurred).
The next morning, Daria and Jane walked into a rather more-subdued Lawndale High than usual. Softly sighing, Daria steeled herself and walked up to the sad-looking Brittany. As she did so, Daria noticed the usual people who surrounded Brittany were keeping their distance, as if she were a totem of bad luck. She hesitated again, but then lightly placed her hand on Brittany’s shoulder.
Startled, Brittany quickly turned and went into a defensive position. “Sorry,” she said, when she realized it had been Daria.
‘Sorry to have startled you,’ Daria replied in turn. ‘How is Kevin, and how are you?’
“Kevvie will be okay; he’s knee is bruised, and not as badly sprained as they first thought.” Brittany’s demeaner then dropped. “He will have to be on crutches until next week although the bruises will be better before then.” She almost pouted. “He’ll have to miss the first two games.
‘I am sure that is disappointing,’ Daria replied, ‘but again, how are you doing?’
Brittany gave Daria a wan smile. “Thank you for asking; you’re the only one who has.” A number of the students around them, especially the cheerleaders, looked at least a bit ashamed at that. “I guess I am okay; I’m just glad Kevvie wasn’t hurt worse.”
Daria patted Brittany’s arm and gave her a slight smile.
Daria had quickly noted the year before that football was almost as pervasive in Lawndale as it had been in much of Texas. On top of that, Lawndale was one of the two perennial ‘power houses’ in the area, and of course had even won the state championship a few years before. For the many who cared about such things, Lawndale High’s prospects were heavily debated before that first home game the next Saturday.
Jane was even less interested in all this than Daria. While it took just a bit of persuasion on Helen and Quinn’s parts to get Daria to agree to go to the football game, Daria had to try a few different stratagems to get Jane to come with her; bribing her with food didn’t work as well these days, as she was better fed. Finally, Daria asked, ‘Do you have a date with Tom Saturday afternoon?’
“No,” Jane admitted cautiously. “He’s stuck going to some fancy charity luncheon with his folks. We’re going out for onion rings and milk shakes when he’s free.”
Daria came up and looked Jane in the eyes, and then moved in even closer. “Wouldn’t you want to take me on a date Saturday afternoon?” she whispered in Jane’s ear, before kissing it.
“A date to the football game?” Jane asked dryly.
‘Well, that’s where I will have to be; where do you want to be?’
Jane gave in. “With you,” she admitted.
Perhaps surprising a few, the game did not start off that badly for Lawndale, especially since they were playing their main rival and usually their toughest divisional game, Oakwood. The Lawndale defense played its heart out all game. Kevin’s backup also was doing okay in the first quarter, until he was gang-tackled, fell wrong, and fractured his left arm. Over the rest of the game, Coach Gibson tried three different players as quarterback. Each proved disappointing, making fumbles and interceptions that led to either Oakwood scoring drives or near-misses. In the end, the Coach tried Mack, his team’s only good running back. That too ended in an interception and touchdown. If not for the excellent play of the Lawndale defense, the score would have been far more lop-sided than 28-0.
Either that evening, the next day, or Monday (depending on publishing time in terms of print or airtime for tv and radio), the local sports media roasted or teased Lawndale’s offensive performance. Only the chance that Kevin might be ready to return after the second game kept the remarks somewhat limited.
It was clear that next Monday that Kevin was not mentally ready to begin doing anything to hurry his comeback. Even when his brace was removed Tuesday afternoon, he wrapped his knee with an Ace bandage and insisted on using his crutches the rest of the week. Not once since his accident had he appeared in school in even his jersey. Brittany reported Kevin even refused to drink his usual sports drinks, preferring Yoo Hoo.
The next weekend, Daria and Jane’s roles were slightly reversed. Fielding Prep fielded a football team, mostly due to alumni pressure. The current students preferred watching lacrosse or basketball to football, or more intermural sports like golf (they were the perennial regional winners there) or even chess (where they had been dominating until Troy started play; they hoped to recapture that this year, with Daria at Lawndale’s first board). In fact, Fielding’s best football season over the previous twenty years was 4-5-1, and they had not won more than three games in any season for the previous eight seasons.
Playing Fielding was usually Lawndale’s easiest conference game. As it was at Fielding, Tom was obliged to attend. As Tom rarely asked Jane to accompany him to any particular event (as opposed to planning on meeting but leaving the activity fairly open), she decided she should go with him, even if that meant sitting in the Fielding bleachers. And, since Daria had persuaded Jane to attend the previous week, Jane demanded Daria go with her and Tom. As the Fielding stadium was the best-lit high school field in several counties, the game would be Friday night.
Lawndale’s defense again played its heart out, and prevented Fielding from scoring any touchdowns. Unfortunately, that did not prevent Fielding from attempting six field goals (making four). While Lawndale’s offense did not make nearly the number of errors this week as they had the last game, they only managed one touchdown (with a second called back for a penalty). Lawndale therefore lost 12-7.
The local media ignored how well Lawndale’s defense had done, and that barring that one penalty Lawndale would have won, instead piling on the criticism of the offense. The local free paper (printed in Oakdale) went so far as to call Lawndale a ‘loser town.’
That Saturday, however, Daria could not have cared less about Lawndale’s football woes. She left the house a little after 8:00 and was at what passed for Georgetown’s public parking before 10:00. While Georgetown fielded a football team, it was not as much of an obsession as the sport was at some Division I schools (that was reserved for basketball at Georgetown). Still, this was a football weekend, which meant most visitors would be tailgating at the stadium rather than competing for parking on campus, although there was some spillover. Troy had purchased his roommate a ticket and he had been interested in attending all the other festivities associated with the game. He was therefore going to be gone most of the day, although he had not left when Daria knocked on their door.
While not overly happy with it, Daria was willing to allow Troy to show her off around the dorm and then around the campus through lunch, especially since once they left his dorm floor, he was more showing her the campus rather than just showing her off. In between Troy’s telling Daria stories about his time on campus that he had not already emailed her, and Daria’s filling Troy in on any Lawndale gossip she might have missed telling him, they spent the time pleasantly enough. After lunch, the pair retired to Troy’s dorm, in part to exchange much more intimate feelings, and spend a very sensual time reacquainting themselves, before indulging in even more intimate pleasures.
Daria stayed at Georgetown until after dinner. The couple strolled to Daria’s car after that, and it took more than a few minutes of hugging and kissing before they were willing to part. Still, Daria made it back to Lawndale without incident and before her mother’s suggested curfew. Both were happy with the visit – they had reconnected better than either had hoped for.
Monday saw increasing pressure on Kevin to come back to the team. He had convinced himself that his ‘career’ was over, and nothing, not even Brittany, could move him.
“He’s lost his confidence,” Tom pointed out that evening at Pizza Prince. “His football ability is all he’s really ever had. Until he gets some self-confidence back, he won’t believe he can come back.”
“So, someone who cares has to figure out how to get idiot boy his confidence back,” Jane commented.
‘But the people who care probably are not bright enough to figure something out,’ Daria retorted.
After Jane translated, Tom appeared deep in thought. After a few moments, he suggested, “Why not have him give a safety lecture to elementary kids? From what you’ve told me, that’s his level of communication skill, and I think we all would have preferred to listen to even someone like Kevin to most of what we did back then.”
Jane looked thoughtful, and looked at Daria, who nodded. “We’ll pass it along, but why do you care?”
“Hey, I might not go to a ‘loser school,’ but I still don’t want to live in ‘a loser town’,” he teased. Daria and Jane just rolled their eyes.
To Jane and Daria’s surprise, Tom’s plan worked fast – Kevin was back playing in the third game, moreover leading the Lions to victory. The Monday after that game however, the faculty were informed that due to the low attendance at the last football game, a number of budget restraints would have to be in place starting immediately. The faculty, who had been agitating for a substantial pay raise in view of the upcoming contract negotiations in January, were both unhappy and unconvinced at the necessity, but were forced to go along.
Ms Li started looking at possible new ways of raising money, in case the proposed tax increase did not pass. And, if it did, there were always more security items to be added to protect the school (i.e. her and her job). She was tempted to cut back on the homecoming festivities planned for the next month, but a little research showed that she could not divert money from the football and band boosters, as the homecoming schedule of events had already been publicized.
Daria also had to deal with the future homecoming weekend that week. During chess club, she was approached by the other two girls in the club that year, both freshmen. Alana was about an inch shorter than Daria, a little heavy, with dark red hair. Her father was a surgeon at the local hospital/medical complex. Charlotte was the daughter of the managers of the local Good Times Chinese franchise. As her family name was Chan, most people called her Charlie.
When the two came to Daria, she had shrugged and written, ‘Why ask me; James is the club president.’
“None of the boys are really interested in riding a float in the homecoming parade,” Alana admitted. “George did say he would drive his truck and pull a little float. Jimmy said he would build us a chess piece in wood shop. Charlie and I would decorate it, but we’d look silly riding alone.”
“So please, ride with us!” Charlotte piped up.
Daria looked torn.
“If you like, you can wear a crown and be the chess queen,” Alana suggested.
That earned her a very dirty look.
“Not as good an idea as we’d hoped, I guess,” Charlotte teased. “Look, we’ll wear our club t-shirts and jeans instead of dressing up. I think we can get Bobby and Tony and maybe James to ride as well if you do. They can throw some candy at the crowd. They’re boys; they like throwing things.”
Daria thought about it. No doubt Quinn would again exert pressure for Daria to ride on the golf club or pep squad float this year. She liked the girls in the golf club well enough, but she felt a bit like a mentor to these two. ‘I think the whole thing is silly.’ She erased and added, ‘But I’ll do it; I’ll even wave.’ Erase. ‘But I won’t smile.’
The two girls hugged Daria, and then rushed off, giggling and planning.
On a late Saturday morning as September had just turned into October, Daria was coming down the stairs to go the Jane’s, she spied Tori and Stacy sitting on the sofa on either side of Quinn. The trio was engrossed by a program, and unusually it did not look like a fashion-based one.
Coming up behind them, Daria saw the tv was set on a very high numbered channel, and the narrator was carrying on about some ‘miraculous’ intervention which had fixed a stranded motorist’s tire in a snowstorm. Rolling her eyes, Daria ignored them and the tv, and went on over to Jane’s; they were set to have a pleasant lunch, and even more pleasant afternoon, before Tom took Jane out to dinner and a play that evening.
Daria was therefore in a ‘pleasant’ mood when she returned home. Quinn had not moved far from her position of the sofa since morning so far as Daria could tell, although now she was alone and reading a book. Curious, Daria came up from behind and looked to see what Quinn was engrossed in.
‘Miracles Happen Every Day’? Daria read, rolling her eyes. She tapped Quinn on the shoulder, startling her, since she had been so engrossed by her reading.
“I swear, I’m going to put a bell on you,” Quinn teased. “I don’t know how you can be so quiet in those boots.”
‘I am not that quiet; you were just too buried in that silliness.’
“Oh, Daria, how can you say that? Don’t you believe in miracles?” Not giving Daria a chance to even start answering, Quinn pressed on, “What next, that you don’t believe in God?”
‘I believe in God, although I am not certain what form God takes.’ Seeing Quinn was at least somewhat interested, Daria pressed on. ‘Sometimes I am a Deist….’
“What’s a Deist?”
‘A Deist believes in God, that God created the universe. God may have even created the universe so that certain general outcomes were likely, even probable. However once created, God does not interfere with creation. In other words, no miracles.’
Quinn pouted, but asked, “And other times?”
Daria shrugged. ‘Then I would say, God answers all prayers, but the answer is almost always ‘no’.’
“Don’t you think that’s a bit negative?”
‘No. Look at us; excepting that attack on us that cost me my voice, what have we really had to endure compared to most of the world’s population? I know you do not follow the news closely, but I am sure you see enough to have some idea of how horrible it is for many people, maybe even most people, and how hard it is on even more.’
Quinn pouted, and Daria knew her sister realized her point was valid. Quinn just wanted to downplay it.
‘I hope that I am right and you are wrong; just think, if a very few people get miracles for no reason yet the vast majority suffer and a large minority suffer horribly, is that fair? Better for life to be random.’
Quinn shook her head at her sister, and went back to reading her book.
Daria shook her head at her sister, and went upstairs to her room to write an email to Troy before working on an idea for a one act play.
Daria’s next week had a relaxing normality for her, in part because nothing particularly stupid happened at school. She had her daily email exchanges with Troy; weekly email with Amy; Jane stayed over two nights; she got some writing done; chess and golf each worked out well, and so forth. She had checked on Alana and Charlotte, and saw they were not planning anything too over the top. She did get the chess piece on their little float (a king) to be painted in a black and white chess board pattern; Daria thought a six-foot-tall white king was a bit too on the nose for Lawndale.
That Saturday, Daria had been downstairs, reading on the sofa when an upset Jane called (Daria answered only because of the caller ID). After the call, Daria still wasn’t sure what the problem was; all the somewhat-incoherent Jane had managed to convey was that she was upset at Tom, and that somehow gummy bears were involved.
When Daria went to get her boots, she managed to stop Quinn from stealing a bootlace. Why she thought the leather lace would match her outfit more than any of her scrunchies, barrettes, or other doodads for her hair, Daria could not guess. She gave Quinn a broken bootlace she had not gotten around to throwing away, which seemed to satisfy her. Sometimes Quinn could be very obsessive once an idea entered her head.
Rolling her eyes, Daria went to meet Jane.
A short time later, the pair was on their way to a huge box store, despite Daria’s suggestions of several alternatives. ‘Let me understand; you have been sorting gummy bears into different colors, because you were going to microwave them into an art piece for the student show at the Lawndale Art Museum.’
“Yeah, they melt into a neat stained-glass effect.”
‘You do not think they might object to an object that draws ants and maybe flies or even roaches?’
Jane thought about that, and admitted, “I hadn’t thought about that. Still, that’s not what’s important right now.”
‘No, you are upset because…?’
“Tom ate my gummy bears!”
‘Did he know they were art supplies and not snacks?’
Jane opened her mouth, but then shut it and thought a bit more. “Poo,” she finally said. “I don’t have a leg to stand on, do I?”
‘I do not think you do, Stumpy.’ After they walked a bit more, Daria asked, ‘Are you and Tom doing okay?’
“I’m not sure,” Jane admitted, as they approached the massive store. Seeing the huge crowd, Jane just shook her head, and forced Daria to plunge into the mob as she searched for inspiration.
In the end, Jane abandoned her candy stained-glass piece, and instead produced an installation piece based on the over-sized bottled products in the self-care aisle of the stuff, and the food samples. The judging panel decided it was a great kitschy commentary on the working class/lower middle class they had contempt for (Daria’s artist statement she had created for Jane helped steer them in that direction), and Jane added another award for her application packets and even a $1000 scholarship (divided over four years) should she be accepted into any type of art program.
That award was two weeks in the future, however. When the teens entered Lawndale High on the Monday after their box store excursion, they were greeted by a large number of signs in two-tone neon green (well, Jane insisted the lighter color was actually chartreuse), advertising Ultra Cola. In addition, where there had been four soda machines on the campus (one in the pool entrance, one outside the gym next to the ticket booth, one in the teachers’ lounge, and one outside the cafeteria), each offering generic versions of cola (two buttons), diet cola, lemon-lime, root beer, and orange, there were now eight more machines (two were actually in the cafeteria, the rest scattered throughout the complex). All now sold Ultra Cola (five Ultra Cola buttons, one Diet Ultra), plus the price had gone up ten cents per can.
“It looks like Ms Li doesn’t think the tax hike is going to go through in November,” Jodie commented.
‘It looks more like Dad dropped some LSD in my cereal,’ was Daria’s response.
Jane rolled her eyes at her friends, but asked Daria, “So, are you going to Georgetown this weekend?”
‘No, I am seeing Troy at a Tournament near Annapolis this weekend.’ Seeing a particularly large and garish sign, Daria averted her eyes. ‘It will be nicer than usual to get away from this place.
“Will Troy be here the next week to see you in the parade?” Jodie asked, only slightly teasing.
Daria merely nodded; she was still not thrilled by the idea, but she had agreed to do it and so would carry through (while hoping for rain).
Despite Daria’s best wishes (somewhat proving her point, in her own mind at least, about the efficiency of prayer), it did not rain for homecoming. She and Troy had not had much time to socialize at the chess tournament the week before. They did have lunch together both days, and supper on Saturday. Neither was staying near to the tournament, so both had to drive back separately.
At the parade itself, Daria mostly rode serenely, holding on to the back rail. She did smile slightly most of the time, and she managed to wave at anyone who waved at her that she knew, including Troy, her parents (Jake was videotaping), and a few others. Alana and Charlotte more than made up for Daria’s light participation, waving enthusiastically at everyone, while the two boys threw a large amount of candy (supplied by Alana’s father). The crowd was slightly more enthusiastic for the chess club float than it otherwise might have been with different placement, Daria had arranged with Jodie to place the chess club after the golf club (as Quinn and her friends would get the crowd’s attention as they all looked very nice in shorts and tight team shirts) and the Interpretive Dance Club, whose skin-tight leotards were always a crowd pleaser.
Daria did take Troy out to dinner after the parade. They made an appearance at the homecoming dance, but left early. Though they were unable to find a good spot with enough privacy to indulge in their occasionally ‘involved’ backseat activities this time, they still had a good time.
Meanwhile, Tom and Jane had miscommunicated about a location to meet at during the actual parade. Further upsetting Tom, he had gotten caught in the middle of a paint fight. Jane had been upset about their non-meeting, blaming Tom for not paying attention to her when she had told him where to meet him. He was upset because Jane thought his getting three pints of different colored paint all over him was amusing. Jane was not happy he blew off the homecoming dance, although he had never really agreed to go.
Tom rather wished Daria had been around to mediate.
The Monday after homecoming, Daria and Jane saw that there was a small crowd of students blocking the main entrance to the school. When they reached it, they saw the blockage was really on the inside, just past the doors. When they finally entered, they saw why the others had stopped, as they did the same. The halls were no longer painted in the school colors of blue and yellow, but in the two-tone neon of Ultra Cola.
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