Categories > Cartoons > Daria > Silent Cynic
The Silent Cynic
By Dr. T
Chapter 22--Ascents
“Are you okay?” Jane asked Daria at lunch, who really did not look well. Jane didn’t think that it was caused by the macaroni/bland watery tomato sauce/tiny bits of mystery meat – at least not only that.
‘My head hurts,’ Daria admitted. ‘These colors really do hurt. I mean, not only are they garish but they are everywhere; there is no relief.’ She looked at Jane more directly. ‘I am surprised that you do not feel the same.’
“Well, they are rather…sick-making, on a visual and artistic level,” Jane admitted. “Just not on as visceral a level as they’re apparently getting to you. Of course, it’s only been a bit over three hours; I could feel the same at any time.” Jane put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Anything I can do to help?”
Daria sighed deeply and fished out some change. She looked at her carton of milk – it was a new brand, and it tasted closer to skimmed milk than regular, although it was not labeled as such. ‘I think the diluted milk will make me feel worse than this concoction. I hate to do this, but could you get me a soda? Maybe that will settle my stomach, even if it is these ads that are turning it.’
“No problemo, Amiga,” Jane assured her, taking the change and getting up.
“Mind if we sit here?” Jodie asked.
Daria looked up and saw Jodie and Brittany, but no Mack or Kevin. She gestured for them to sit across from where she and Jane were.
“Not eating?” Jodie asked.
‘No appetite,’ Daria wrote. ‘Between the mind-numbing colors and what’s passing for lunch….’
“I know,” Jodie agreed. She took a taste of the lunch and wrinkled her nose. “The budget cuts are even affecting lunch; at least before when they served this sort of…thing…there was more of whatever meat that is, a little cheese, and some sort of flavor.” She tried another taste and made a face. “I think if this was any more watery, it would be pink instead of light red.”
Brittany could no longer contain herself. “Lunch stinks, and THIS stinks!” Brittany pointed to her new cheerleader uniform – in Ultra Cola colors. “These aren’t our school colors; how can we have school spirit when we aren’t in school colors?”
‘We can have school spirit without school colors,’ Daria wrote. ‘However, I agree it’s harder with a lot of people in identical WRONG colors.’
Brittany took her first bite of the main dish and promptly spit it into a napkin. She looked the rest of her meal with distaste. “It’s bad when the greasy green beans and a stale sugar cookie are the best part of lunch.”
Jane returned and handed Daria her cola as she sat. Seeing the looks this earned them from Brittany and Jodie, Jane explained, “Medicinal use only; her tummy’s upset and head hurts and hopefully the caffeine will help.”
Daria wrinkled her nose. ‘This was never my favorite brand.’
“Where’s Mack?” Jane asked, hoping to divert the subject.
It failed. “The team is being hosted for lunch by Ultra Cola burgers and fries, not this…mess,” Jodie answered. “Then they’re getting new uniforms, just like the cheerleaders.”
“H’umpf,” was Brittany’s response.
Daria got Brittany’s attention and asked, ‘I know you wear the cheerleading outfit every day during the season and sometimes during the rest of the year. Is that required?’
Brittany translated for Jodie, as Jane was eating her (and most of Daria’s) lunch. After thinking about it a moment, Brittany answered. “No, I guess it’s not required. Why?”
‘If you, and I mean the entire squad agrees, do not like the new uniforms, only wear them to the games, or I guess the games and any pep rallies.’
“Ms Li won’t like it,” Jodie pointed out, handing Jane her plate to finish. Jane thought she should start bringing a bottle of seasoning, or maybe some of Mr. Morgendorffer’s hot sauce.
Perhaps surprisingly, the cheerleaders all agreed. They did not show up in uniform Tuesday morning, and so were all called into Ms Li’s office that afternoon. Ms Li did not like their attitude and chastised them for a lack of school spirit. Their retort, that they were all in fact wearing school colors (as they were, an idea given to Brittany by Daria), left Li seething but unable to say anything immediately. She did, however, remember an idea that she had rejected. The cheerleaders would learn a lesson at the next game.
With all this going on, most students ignored other minor occurrences that week, including Daria wearing a new pair of glasses that Thursday. For some of the few who noticed, it was because instead of the large round lenses, these were slightly smaller and hexagonal. Others first noticed these were tinted. Daria found some relief from the bright colors this way. She would wear her regular glasses when she could – the is outside of school.
Daria and most of the chess team spent the next weekend at a local tournament, thus missing perhaps the oddest Lawndale home football game to date. The players, band and associated units (majorettes, honor guard, pennant squad), and cheerleaders were all in Ultra Cola colors. The only things that weren’t were the band instruments, footballs, and American flag. Worse, the new band uniform jackets looked more like a cross between a soda can and the tin woodsman from the Wizard of Oz, and the cheerleader uniforms were worse. On top of that, Ms Li had basically encouraged the team to over-indulge in soda before the game, and many spent the first half having to run to the restrooms, and a few had bad stomach aches.
Unsurprisingly, Lawndale lost. To say that the local media criticized this was an understatement. One local sportswriter pointed out that when the best news from a weekend of sports was that the members of the chess club had done well at a local tournament (the girls’ field hockey team had lost a hard-fought game in overtime 3-2), it wasn’t a great weekend for a school’s sports program.
The firestorm was made worse because of the season opening games without Kevin. Halfway through the season, Lawndale was now 2-3. Ms Li was interviewed several times, and aggressively defended (many of) her actions, and claimed that the only cure would be passing the school tax increase in November. The fact that the football season would be just about over at the point was something she ignored.
Slightly on the plus side, the cheerleaders were allowed to go back to the original Ultra Cola uniforms by agreeing to wear them at school at least three times a week. For the students, that was also the week that the midterm grades came out. Daria had all As, except for a B+ in gym. Jane had one of the best reports she had ever had. Granted, all her grades had improved since she met Daria, but Daria had Jane working with Brittany in math while she oversaw both, and having to explain the concepts to Brittany helped Jane understand them better.
Unfortunately, not even Brittany could get Kevin to understand anything beyond basic math (and he didn’t understand that all that well, as his stint on the ice cream truck had shown).
Brittany herself was particularly excited about her grades. Her lowest grade, and only C-, was a 72 in her math class. She actually managed an 81 in English, and a 91 in art (and of course a 100 in gym). Her other grades were either Cs or C+s.
“So you and Jane have to come to my party Saturday,” Brittany told Daria and Jane. “I wouldn’t have almost a C plus average without your help!”
‘Troy will not be in town, but I will be there,’ Daria assured her. She looked at Jane.
“I’ll be there,” Jane agreed. “I don’t know if Tom will be.”
‘Is everything okay between you two?’ Daria asked, a little concerned.
Jane shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”
“Boys,” Brittany agreed. “Sometimes I really wonder if they’re worth it.”
Since that week’s game was away, the team did not over-indulge in soda and managed to eke out a win against an average opponent. While evening out their record at 3-3, this only slightly quelled criticisms, with the PTA joining in the football and band boosters in their complaints. Ms Li again deflected their protests and pointed to the November election as the future solution.
On the whole, the first half of Brittany’s party was a success. Every attendee was happy that there was not a cola in sight, never mind Ultra Cola. Instead, on the back patio were tubs of ice with lemon-lime, root beer, orange, and black cherry sodas and their diet equivalents. Chips, dips, crackers, sliced hotdogs and sausages in different simmering sauces, wings, cookies, and other snacks lined several tables. To Jane’s surprise, Mystic Spiral had been hired. Since Daria had rewritten many of their lyrics (and the original lyrics for most of their new songs), the band had gotten a decent local reputation (as opposed to their old one of ‘usually available’). This had led to more playing (good, since the band did not practice nearly enough otherwise), which led to more gigs, etc.
“Wow,” Jane admitted, halfway through the band’s first set. “It’s been a while since we’ve heard them. They don’t suck nearly as much as they used to.”
Daria rolled her eyes. ‘Be fair, I would not say they are good, but they really do not suck.’
“Improved to mediocre?” Jane teased.
Daria shrugged. ‘On what scale? On the grand scale of bands, sure, mediocre at best. For a little townie band? Not bad.’
“True,” Jane had to agree.
After the first set, the party went downhill fast. This was in part because Steve Taylor saw Upchuck trying to hit on his trophy wife, Ashley-Amber, distracting both parents. This allowed Brittany’s little brother out from their close observation, where he quickly drank several bottles of soda, ran through the mingling guests, tripped and sent one mic stand through Max’s bass drum and another into the sound board, all while Steve Taylor was chasing Chuck out of the house.
Still, everyone agreed that the first half was a great party; while the end was usually referred to as ‘different’ or ‘exciting.’
Daria was in a very nice REM-cycle sleep. Troy and Jane were doing delightful things to her.
HONK! HONK! HONK!... HONK! HONK! HONK!...
Daria sat up, breathing heavily more in alarm than because of her dream. It took her a second to realize that one the smoke detectors was making all this noise.
HONK! HONK! HONK!!... HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!...
Daria quickly got out of bed as now both upstairs and down were going off together, pulled on a pair of jeans, and grabbed her glasses and keys.
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!... HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!...
She grabbed a pair of socks and her gym shoes and hurried out of her room. She barged into Quinn’s room, where she found her sister sitting up in bed, her hands over her ears. Rolling her eyes, Daria dragged Quinn out of bed, shoved a pair of jeans at her along with her pink sneakers.
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!... HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!...
She pushed the protesting Quinn out of her room. They could smell smoke coming up the stairs.
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!... HONK! HONK!
Finally the alarms stopped, downstairs and then upstairs.
As the teens reached the bottom of the stairs, Helen came out of the kitchen area. “Out the door girls! I called 911, and even if the fire is mostly under control, it might not be completely out. Go get into Daria’s car.”
Helen returned to the kitchen while Daria made Quinn pull her jeans on and shoved her out the door. They put their shoes on in Daria’s car.
The firetruck arrived a few minutes later, and the fire was fully out in less than ten minutes after the firefighters entered the house. There was damage in the kitchen, and smoke damage throughout the house.
It took a little convincing, but in the end, Helen allowed Daria to stay at Jane’s. She, Jake, and Quinn would stay at a hotel.
Daria would only learn the details later, but Quinn thought she was receiving a series of upgrades which covered various errors in booking, ordering, etc., but which were actually attempts by one of the staff to get into her (or any of her friends, who were hanging out with her at the hotel) pants. Daria herself was not having quite as good a time as she had hoped. Tom was over each afternoon, and he and Jane usually went out to dinner, once with a movie afterwards. He always seemed willing (perhaps a bit too interested, actually) to have Daria come along. He did not seem to realize that not only was he starting to annoy Daria, but that Jane was picking up on this as well.
That Saturday, Daria was spared having the choice of hanging around the Lanes’ while Jane and Tom had sex and finding an excuse to be elsewhere, as late that morning, the hotel had realized they were being scammed. Daria was asked to come over and help sooth her somewhat stunned and hysterical sister.
Jane noted that Tom seemed disappointed Daria was not around. He was even more disappointed that there was no sex that Saturday. He however did not make the connection.
To the surprise of many, the tax increase for the school district passed, although only by just over a 100-vote margin. Considering the costs, few students had thought this would mean a return to the school colors in terms of the paint scheme of the school itself. To the disappointment of many of the students, however, the football team and cheerleaders also remained in Ultra Cola colors for the last game. With a 6-4 season, there were many disappointed with the Lawndale Lions.
On the plus side, Ms Li stopped the hard selling of Ultra Cola in things like school announcements. Three of the soda machines also disappeared. On the whole, most thought things were at least not continuing downhill. The faculty had strong hopes for winning a good contract after the New Year.
It turned out that Ms Li did have one more scheme of her sleeve before the holidays: an overnight hike for a ‘Wilderness Adventure.’ Daria, Jane, and Quinn all had little interest in the trip. However, Troy would be playing in a tournament, Tom was going to a family gathering in Connecticut at Bromwell University – a large number of the family had attended and the alumni weekend was a traditional time for the family branches to have a get-together. In addition, Helen had plans for herself and Jake, and she wanted her kids well out of the way.
Despite attempts, Quinn was only able to get $100 for any new clothes for the trip. Daria was only given $75, but Jane was given $50 so Daria felt satisfied. They made sure they had nice sleeping bags, small pillows, and snacks. Quinn bought matching gloves and a scarf, and some special moisturizers and lip balm. That reminded Daria to get a tube of Chapstick. The Thursday before the trip was Daria’s 18th birthday, and she hosted a small pizza party in celebration (Jane, Jodie and Mack, Brittany, Quinn, Tori, Stacy, and a few members of the golf and chess clubs).
The Saturday morning before Thanksgiving, the reluctant trio of Daria, Jane, and Quinn found themselves in the school parking lot along with seventy-two other students, Ms Li, and three teachers.
“This must be some cabin we’re heading for,” Jane muttered.
‘It is a summer camp most of the year,’ Daria pointed out. Jane and Quinn translated for their friends (Jane for Kevin and Jodie, although Brittany and Mack didn’t need it; Quinn for Tori, Stacy, and the three Js). ‘The bad news is that the cabins are not well insulated, although they have woodstoves. We will likely be in the biggest cabin, which means two wings, one for boys and one for girls, but that also means they will have indoor plumbing.’
“Wait,” Quinn broke in. “You mean cabins like we had a Camp Grizzly?”
Daria nodded.
“But that means no electricity!”
Daria shrugged. ‘If we are at the big cabin, which we should be – they rent it out for retreats, hunters, and such – there’s a small lobby between the two wings. That is where the toilets are, and the restrooms and the pump room have electricity, but the bunk rooms do not.’
“You five get your worthless male selves over here and pick up these supplies!” Ms Barch screeched.
Quinn pouted as she tried to hold her little backpack for one of the boys to carry. Tori rolled her eyes as she shouldered her larger backpack. “Come on, Quinn,” she ordered gently. “A hike with something that light will help tone your legs.” She leaned in and whispered in Quinn’s ear, making her blush. Meanwhile, Mack was distributing the supplies between himself and over a dozen of the other boys. Mr. DeMartino chased Ms Barch away and got the carrying crew organized. As Ms Li got Mr. O’Neill set up with a video camera (and Ms Barch found and returned one of his asthma inhalers), the carrying crew was sent into one bus while the rest of students were split into two. At 9:00, they set off on a four-hour drive (not counting lunch) into the low mountains to the west.
There was one rest stop, at a highway exit which offered them two choices of fast-food (a well-known hamburger and taco franchise respectively) and a diner. Daria and Jane were two of the few to head towards the somewhat rundown diner, although they noted that Mr. DeMartino was heading that way as well. Daria figured that since four of the six big rigs present were parked by the diner, it would be safe enough to eat the food.
The inside was actually much cleaner and even cozier than the dingy outside suggested. Daria and Jane sat on stools at the counter and Daria gestured for DeMartino to join them. He shrugged and did so. Jane raised her eyebrows at the lunch Daria wanted Jane to order for her (since Daria usually ate light when travelling), but on reflection she just shrugged and decided to build off that for her own lunch/brunch. DeMartino smiled in approval at Daria’s choice of biscuits and sausage gravy and hash, while Jane ordered the same along with a large omelet. He knew the two would rarely eat like that (especially Daria), but they obviously had a better idea of what lay ahead than most of their compatriots. He would enjoy his open-faced roast beef sandwich, mashed potatoes, and green beans. He thought it unlikely the pair would order dessert, but they did order milkshakes to go. He decided to forgo his planned-on pie and did the same.
A little after 2:00, the buses discharged their loads at another exit. It took over 40 minutes for all the students to use the restrooms. A few took the opportunity to buy some additional snacks.
Ms Li was growing more and more impatient. She banged on the rest room doors while giving those remaining in line a dirty look, saying, “Unless you want to be hiking in the dark, don’t dawdle!” She then went to hurry along the shoppers, although since the gas station was allowing some 80 people to use their restrooms, she pretty much had to allow some shopping. When the students were finally gathered, she made them all don caps with ‘Lawndale High’ logos. Perhaps surprisingly, they were in the traditional school colors, not Ultra Cola’s.
Once the group was slowly trudging mostly uphill, the students were pretty quiet. It was not hard going, at least so far, but none of the students seemed very enthusiastic. On the one hand, it was more than very cool but not really very cold, on the other it was overcast and a bit damp and dreary. Ms. Li went back and forth along the line, trying to whip up some enthusiasm, or at least smiles, making sure O’Neill captured the occasional spurts of activity.
“Can someone tell me why we are doing this?” Jane asked after about forty minutes. “I mean, we’re hiking to a camp, spending the night, and hiking back. Is there a point that I’m missing?”
“You know Jane…you’re right,” Jodie agreed. “We’re just hiking; we aren’t looking at anything in nature – we’re not identifying plants or animals – we’re certainly not learning any woodcraft.”
“Hopefully we won’t need to learn any actual survival skills,” Jane added. That earned her a soft snort of laughter from Daria and several squeaks of fear from Quinn and a few others.
Daria snapped her fingers and then pointed at a puffing O’Neill, videoing the boys carrying the supplies as they went up a slightly-more inclined portion of the path than usual. ‘Li is trying to get some sort of sponsorship. We are the means to her ends.’
“I did hear her mutter something about the ‘Wilderness Adventure Club’ as she went by once,” Stacy admitted, “but I didn’t pay much attention. That’s probably why we have to wear these silly caps.”
“Oh,” Brooke spoke up. “I bet that’s what she meant by the ‘Extreme Sportz Mania Worldwide execs.’ That’s some cable channel my Dad watches.” She looked around. “This isn’t all that easy, but it’s hardly ‘extreme’.”
“Li will try and find some way to make it look that way,” one of the other girls muttered.
“Especially if Li can somehow modify the time-stamps,” Jane translated for Daria. She nodded, “Yeah, that would at least make it seem a lot longer than it is.”
“It’s long enough,” Quinn complained, puffing slightly. While no one looked really exhausted, fifteen of the girls and seven of the boys (and O’Neill) were puffing along.
“When do we get there?” Stacy complained.
At that point, there was a scream up ahead. They could see Brittany was hitting Kevin with a small bunch of wildflowers. Kevin had dropped his rucksack of supplies, which meant DeMartino and Barch were also yelling at him. Finally, Ms Li came over, got Kevin to pick up his load and get moving, examined Brittany’s face, and sent her moving as well.
As the group around Daria caught up to the now slow-moving Brittany, they saw she had been stung by a late-season wasp, which had been in the bunch of flowers Kevin had given her. Daria sighed and forced Quinn to help Jane take off and help carry Daria’s backpack. They all kept moving, albeit slowly as Daria dug around. Finally, she stopped, gave Brittany a pill and dabbed a little ointment on to Brittany’s stung cheek.
“Ms Morgendorffer, what are you giving her? What are you doing?” Li demanded, coming up quickly.
Daria simply showed Ms Li the packaging, an antihistamine and a lotion for bites and stings.
Li simply nodded, and as she walked past O’Neill she asked, “Did you document that?”
“I got most of it, at least her putting on the ointment,” O’Neill panted. “I’m not sure that’s appropriate….”
“Get everything, then we can decide in editing what we can use!” She turned and glared at the lengthening line of straggling students. “Hurry up the in rear! We want to make it to camp before dark!” She huffed and looked at her watch. “We can still make it if there are no more of these incidents and surprises.
Then a snowflake fell on her watch. Li looked up at the now gently falling snow.
“Surprise,” Jane said, translating for Daria.
While not quite dark, dusk was well-along by the time the students struggled into the camp. Fortunately, while it had kept snowing, the temperature had only dropped from the low forties to just freezing during the ascent. It appeared that Daria was somewhat mistaken, as they were guided to the second largest sleeping building (other than this and the one Daria had described, all the others were much smaller cabins, with no running water). This one had a large main room, but instead of two wings, this one had one bunk area, with twenty-five sets of bunkbeds. At least it still had indoor plumbing and hot water, but the only electric heat was in the restrooms. Ms Li gave the students 30 minutes to use the facilities, but refused to allow anyone to stay in the sleeping area until later.
“Alright, people,” she finally ordered, “you will be drawing straws for the bunkbeds. Anyone wish to volunteer for the floor? If so, they get to choose where to sleep!” That did not seem like a good deal to most of the students, but to everyone’s surprise, Daria raised her and Jane’s hand.
“Ms Morgendorffer?”
“First, a question,” Jane interpreted. “We see rolls on the bunks, some sort of sleeping mats. If there aren’t enough extras for those of us on the floor, we on the floor should get them. If we do get them, one way or another, then yes, Daria and I will take the floor.”
“That does seem fair,” Li agreed. DeMartino smiled, he bet he knew about where Daria would choose as Daria had been of the many students to get a peek inside before Li had chased them all away from bunkroom.
Daria pulled Jane into the bunkroom while the others got ready for the drawing, as no one else volunteered. “Why are we doing this?” Jane asked.
Daria dragged Jane to the back of the room, which was longer than it was deep. ‘Observe, two wood stoves, no windows on this wall. The warmest spot will be between the woodstoves. Other than that, there is only that fireplace on that side wall, but there are windows on either side of it. People will want to be there, but unless they are right in front of the fireplace, they are going to be cold. Anyone on that other wall will be chilly at best.’
“Very good, Ms Morgendorffer,” DeMartino told her as he approached. He had been lighting some of the lanterns in the bunkhouse. “One of you help me with the firewood. We need to get these stoves started.”
Daria sent Jane to help DeMartino while she took two of the rolled bed pads from a pair of upper bunks and set them up next to each other. By the time the two wood stoves were going, Daria had their sleeping bags and pillows set up and their backpacks resting against the wall to provide a hint of insulation. Before Daria could ask, DeMartino told them, “Don’t mess with the woodstoves. Li and I will take care of those and the fireplace. While I am sure you two could handle it, I wouldn’t trust most of the rest of your…contemporaries.”
Jane and Daria had to admit that was fair.
They were distracted as a fuming Brittany came striding into the bunkroom, followed by a protesting Kevin. “But Babe, aren’t you glad I got a lower bunk?”
“H’umpf” was the approximate answer. Brittany then turned and slapped Kevin hard, grabbed a pad off a bunk and stormed over to Daria and Jane. “Can I sleep near you guys?”
Daria gestured to the other side of her, knowing that since someone was likely to sleep near them, it may as well be Brittany, since Kevin was going to be far away.
“You so-called men sleep from these bunks over to that side wall, since few of you had the decency to give up bunks,” Barch commanded, directing the males to the side away from the fireplace. She came over to the trio on the far wall. She inhaled, but Daria cut her off with Jane translating. “Ms Li said to pick a spot, and Mister DeMartino approved this one.” Barch glared at them, but just turned and left.
Jodie came over and handed them each an MRE. “They’re all the same; Ms Li suggested we wait until Six-thirty to eat.”
Brittany looked at her watch. “That’s over twenty minutes away. What will we do until then?” A look of horror came over her, as she looked around and realized that the bunkhouse was only lit by lanterns. “What are we going to do after that?”
Daria sighed. It was going to be a long evening.
Mister O’Neill’s suggestion of a sing-along was roundly ignored by everyone. In the end, those few with i-pods and similar devices sat in peace or shared with a friend. Daria, Jane, Jodie, and Mack sat near Daria and Jane’s sleeping area, playing hearts. Only two other students thought to bring cards, one student brought a Rubric’s Cube. A few actually brought a book. The other half of the students were left very very bored.
The next morning, no one was really in the mood to either stay where they were or to go out in the six inches of snow that had accumulated. Of course, the fact that they only had one breakfast MRE each to last them until they were off the mountain rather encouraged them towards one of the disliked alternatives they had to choose. So, a little after 9:00 (an hour after the originally planned departure), the students exited into the now-melting snow and started the slog down the now-slippery path. The only person who seemed anything other than unhappy or worse was Ms Li, who seemed convinced she was getting coverage that could at least be edited into something exciting as members of the expedition slid and slipped down the trail.
That afternoon, Daria and Jane trudged into the Morgendorffer household. Both looked tired and even a bit scruffy. “Where’s Quinn?” Helen asked brightly.
“She’s still in the car, pouting,” Jane answered.
“Why?”
“Well, she was one of the twenty-odd students who didn’t bring their own sleeping bag, so she had to sleep on a mat under one of those survival blankets. She was bored, because she didn’t bring anything to amuse herself and we were playing cards with Jodie and Mack and didn’t bring extra cards for her.”
‘Do not forget she was upset from the start because she had to carry her own backpack.’
“True,” Jane agreed
At that moment, Quinn came in. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” she demanded.
“We tried three times,” Jane retorted.
‘Come on,” Daria signed. ‘Jane and I are going to take a shower, then get pizza.’ Daria took three steps towards the stairs and then realized what she said and stopped. Turning, she saw the stunned looks on the other four faces, but then Jake of all people said, “Okay. Quinn, if you’re in a hurry, you can use our bathroom.”
Daria and Jane blushed a bit, but then Daria held out her hand and Jane took it, following her up the stairs.
When they were alone, Helen turned to Jake. “Are you sure that was the right thing to do?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I think that’s still okay.”
By Dr. T
Chapter 22--Ascents
“Are you okay?” Jane asked Daria at lunch, who really did not look well. Jane didn’t think that it was caused by the macaroni/bland watery tomato sauce/tiny bits of mystery meat – at least not only that.
‘My head hurts,’ Daria admitted. ‘These colors really do hurt. I mean, not only are they garish but they are everywhere; there is no relief.’ She looked at Jane more directly. ‘I am surprised that you do not feel the same.’
“Well, they are rather…sick-making, on a visual and artistic level,” Jane admitted. “Just not on as visceral a level as they’re apparently getting to you. Of course, it’s only been a bit over three hours; I could feel the same at any time.” Jane put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Anything I can do to help?”
Daria sighed deeply and fished out some change. She looked at her carton of milk – it was a new brand, and it tasted closer to skimmed milk than regular, although it was not labeled as such. ‘I think the diluted milk will make me feel worse than this concoction. I hate to do this, but could you get me a soda? Maybe that will settle my stomach, even if it is these ads that are turning it.’
“No problemo, Amiga,” Jane assured her, taking the change and getting up.
“Mind if we sit here?” Jodie asked.
Daria looked up and saw Jodie and Brittany, but no Mack or Kevin. She gestured for them to sit across from where she and Jane were.
“Not eating?” Jodie asked.
‘No appetite,’ Daria wrote. ‘Between the mind-numbing colors and what’s passing for lunch….’
“I know,” Jodie agreed. She took a taste of the lunch and wrinkled her nose. “The budget cuts are even affecting lunch; at least before when they served this sort of…thing…there was more of whatever meat that is, a little cheese, and some sort of flavor.” She tried another taste and made a face. “I think if this was any more watery, it would be pink instead of light red.”
Brittany could no longer contain herself. “Lunch stinks, and THIS stinks!” Brittany pointed to her new cheerleader uniform – in Ultra Cola colors. “These aren’t our school colors; how can we have school spirit when we aren’t in school colors?”
‘We can have school spirit without school colors,’ Daria wrote. ‘However, I agree it’s harder with a lot of people in identical WRONG colors.’
Brittany took her first bite of the main dish and promptly spit it into a napkin. She looked the rest of her meal with distaste. “It’s bad when the greasy green beans and a stale sugar cookie are the best part of lunch.”
Jane returned and handed Daria her cola as she sat. Seeing the looks this earned them from Brittany and Jodie, Jane explained, “Medicinal use only; her tummy’s upset and head hurts and hopefully the caffeine will help.”
Daria wrinkled her nose. ‘This was never my favorite brand.’
“Where’s Mack?” Jane asked, hoping to divert the subject.
It failed. “The team is being hosted for lunch by Ultra Cola burgers and fries, not this…mess,” Jodie answered. “Then they’re getting new uniforms, just like the cheerleaders.”
“H’umpf,” was Brittany’s response.
Daria got Brittany’s attention and asked, ‘I know you wear the cheerleading outfit every day during the season and sometimes during the rest of the year. Is that required?’
Brittany translated for Jodie, as Jane was eating her (and most of Daria’s) lunch. After thinking about it a moment, Brittany answered. “No, I guess it’s not required. Why?”
‘If you, and I mean the entire squad agrees, do not like the new uniforms, only wear them to the games, or I guess the games and any pep rallies.’
“Ms Li won’t like it,” Jodie pointed out, handing Jane her plate to finish. Jane thought she should start bringing a bottle of seasoning, or maybe some of Mr. Morgendorffer’s hot sauce.
Perhaps surprisingly, the cheerleaders all agreed. They did not show up in uniform Tuesday morning, and so were all called into Ms Li’s office that afternoon. Ms Li did not like their attitude and chastised them for a lack of school spirit. Their retort, that they were all in fact wearing school colors (as they were, an idea given to Brittany by Daria), left Li seething but unable to say anything immediately. She did, however, remember an idea that she had rejected. The cheerleaders would learn a lesson at the next game.
With all this going on, most students ignored other minor occurrences that week, including Daria wearing a new pair of glasses that Thursday. For some of the few who noticed, it was because instead of the large round lenses, these were slightly smaller and hexagonal. Others first noticed these were tinted. Daria found some relief from the bright colors this way. She would wear her regular glasses when she could – the is outside of school.
Daria and most of the chess team spent the next weekend at a local tournament, thus missing perhaps the oddest Lawndale home football game to date. The players, band and associated units (majorettes, honor guard, pennant squad), and cheerleaders were all in Ultra Cola colors. The only things that weren’t were the band instruments, footballs, and American flag. Worse, the new band uniform jackets looked more like a cross between a soda can and the tin woodsman from the Wizard of Oz, and the cheerleader uniforms were worse. On top of that, Ms Li had basically encouraged the team to over-indulge in soda before the game, and many spent the first half having to run to the restrooms, and a few had bad stomach aches.
Unsurprisingly, Lawndale lost. To say that the local media criticized this was an understatement. One local sportswriter pointed out that when the best news from a weekend of sports was that the members of the chess club had done well at a local tournament (the girls’ field hockey team had lost a hard-fought game in overtime 3-2), it wasn’t a great weekend for a school’s sports program.
The firestorm was made worse because of the season opening games without Kevin. Halfway through the season, Lawndale was now 2-3. Ms Li was interviewed several times, and aggressively defended (many of) her actions, and claimed that the only cure would be passing the school tax increase in November. The fact that the football season would be just about over at the point was something she ignored.
Slightly on the plus side, the cheerleaders were allowed to go back to the original Ultra Cola uniforms by agreeing to wear them at school at least three times a week. For the students, that was also the week that the midterm grades came out. Daria had all As, except for a B+ in gym. Jane had one of the best reports she had ever had. Granted, all her grades had improved since she met Daria, but Daria had Jane working with Brittany in math while she oversaw both, and having to explain the concepts to Brittany helped Jane understand them better.
Unfortunately, not even Brittany could get Kevin to understand anything beyond basic math (and he didn’t understand that all that well, as his stint on the ice cream truck had shown).
Brittany herself was particularly excited about her grades. Her lowest grade, and only C-, was a 72 in her math class. She actually managed an 81 in English, and a 91 in art (and of course a 100 in gym). Her other grades were either Cs or C+s.
“So you and Jane have to come to my party Saturday,” Brittany told Daria and Jane. “I wouldn’t have almost a C plus average without your help!”
‘Troy will not be in town, but I will be there,’ Daria assured her. She looked at Jane.
“I’ll be there,” Jane agreed. “I don’t know if Tom will be.”
‘Is everything okay between you two?’ Daria asked, a little concerned.
Jane shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”
“Boys,” Brittany agreed. “Sometimes I really wonder if they’re worth it.”
Since that week’s game was away, the team did not over-indulge in soda and managed to eke out a win against an average opponent. While evening out their record at 3-3, this only slightly quelled criticisms, with the PTA joining in the football and band boosters in their complaints. Ms Li again deflected their protests and pointed to the November election as the future solution.
On the whole, the first half of Brittany’s party was a success. Every attendee was happy that there was not a cola in sight, never mind Ultra Cola. Instead, on the back patio were tubs of ice with lemon-lime, root beer, orange, and black cherry sodas and their diet equivalents. Chips, dips, crackers, sliced hotdogs and sausages in different simmering sauces, wings, cookies, and other snacks lined several tables. To Jane’s surprise, Mystic Spiral had been hired. Since Daria had rewritten many of their lyrics (and the original lyrics for most of their new songs), the band had gotten a decent local reputation (as opposed to their old one of ‘usually available’). This had led to more playing (good, since the band did not practice nearly enough otherwise), which led to more gigs, etc.
“Wow,” Jane admitted, halfway through the band’s first set. “It’s been a while since we’ve heard them. They don’t suck nearly as much as they used to.”
Daria rolled her eyes. ‘Be fair, I would not say they are good, but they really do not suck.’
“Improved to mediocre?” Jane teased.
Daria shrugged. ‘On what scale? On the grand scale of bands, sure, mediocre at best. For a little townie band? Not bad.’
“True,” Jane had to agree.
After the first set, the party went downhill fast. This was in part because Steve Taylor saw Upchuck trying to hit on his trophy wife, Ashley-Amber, distracting both parents. This allowed Brittany’s little brother out from their close observation, where he quickly drank several bottles of soda, ran through the mingling guests, tripped and sent one mic stand through Max’s bass drum and another into the sound board, all while Steve Taylor was chasing Chuck out of the house.
Still, everyone agreed that the first half was a great party; while the end was usually referred to as ‘different’ or ‘exciting.’
Daria was in a very nice REM-cycle sleep. Troy and Jane were doing delightful things to her.
HONK! HONK! HONK!... HONK! HONK! HONK!...
Daria sat up, breathing heavily more in alarm than because of her dream. It took her a second to realize that one the smoke detectors was making all this noise.
HONK! HONK! HONK!!... HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!...
Daria quickly got out of bed as now both upstairs and down were going off together, pulled on a pair of jeans, and grabbed her glasses and keys.
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!... HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!...
She grabbed a pair of socks and her gym shoes and hurried out of her room. She barged into Quinn’s room, where she found her sister sitting up in bed, her hands over her ears. Rolling her eyes, Daria dragged Quinn out of bed, shoved a pair of jeans at her along with her pink sneakers.
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!... HONK!! HONK!! HONK!!...
She pushed the protesting Quinn out of her room. They could smell smoke coming up the stairs.
HONK!! HONK!! HONK!... HONK! HONK!
Finally the alarms stopped, downstairs and then upstairs.
As the teens reached the bottom of the stairs, Helen came out of the kitchen area. “Out the door girls! I called 911, and even if the fire is mostly under control, it might not be completely out. Go get into Daria’s car.”
Helen returned to the kitchen while Daria made Quinn pull her jeans on and shoved her out the door. They put their shoes on in Daria’s car.
The firetruck arrived a few minutes later, and the fire was fully out in less than ten minutes after the firefighters entered the house. There was damage in the kitchen, and smoke damage throughout the house.
It took a little convincing, but in the end, Helen allowed Daria to stay at Jane’s. She, Jake, and Quinn would stay at a hotel.
Daria would only learn the details later, but Quinn thought she was receiving a series of upgrades which covered various errors in booking, ordering, etc., but which were actually attempts by one of the staff to get into her (or any of her friends, who were hanging out with her at the hotel) pants. Daria herself was not having quite as good a time as she had hoped. Tom was over each afternoon, and he and Jane usually went out to dinner, once with a movie afterwards. He always seemed willing (perhaps a bit too interested, actually) to have Daria come along. He did not seem to realize that not only was he starting to annoy Daria, but that Jane was picking up on this as well.
That Saturday, Daria was spared having the choice of hanging around the Lanes’ while Jane and Tom had sex and finding an excuse to be elsewhere, as late that morning, the hotel had realized they were being scammed. Daria was asked to come over and help sooth her somewhat stunned and hysterical sister.
Jane noted that Tom seemed disappointed Daria was not around. He was even more disappointed that there was no sex that Saturday. He however did not make the connection.
To the surprise of many, the tax increase for the school district passed, although only by just over a 100-vote margin. Considering the costs, few students had thought this would mean a return to the school colors in terms of the paint scheme of the school itself. To the disappointment of many of the students, however, the football team and cheerleaders also remained in Ultra Cola colors for the last game. With a 6-4 season, there were many disappointed with the Lawndale Lions.
On the plus side, Ms Li stopped the hard selling of Ultra Cola in things like school announcements. Three of the soda machines also disappeared. On the whole, most thought things were at least not continuing downhill. The faculty had strong hopes for winning a good contract after the New Year.
It turned out that Ms Li did have one more scheme of her sleeve before the holidays: an overnight hike for a ‘Wilderness Adventure.’ Daria, Jane, and Quinn all had little interest in the trip. However, Troy would be playing in a tournament, Tom was going to a family gathering in Connecticut at Bromwell University – a large number of the family had attended and the alumni weekend was a traditional time for the family branches to have a get-together. In addition, Helen had plans for herself and Jake, and she wanted her kids well out of the way.
Despite attempts, Quinn was only able to get $100 for any new clothes for the trip. Daria was only given $75, but Jane was given $50 so Daria felt satisfied. They made sure they had nice sleeping bags, small pillows, and snacks. Quinn bought matching gloves and a scarf, and some special moisturizers and lip balm. That reminded Daria to get a tube of Chapstick. The Thursday before the trip was Daria’s 18th birthday, and she hosted a small pizza party in celebration (Jane, Jodie and Mack, Brittany, Quinn, Tori, Stacy, and a few members of the golf and chess clubs).
The Saturday morning before Thanksgiving, the reluctant trio of Daria, Jane, and Quinn found themselves in the school parking lot along with seventy-two other students, Ms Li, and three teachers.
“This must be some cabin we’re heading for,” Jane muttered.
‘It is a summer camp most of the year,’ Daria pointed out. Jane and Quinn translated for their friends (Jane for Kevin and Jodie, although Brittany and Mack didn’t need it; Quinn for Tori, Stacy, and the three Js). ‘The bad news is that the cabins are not well insulated, although they have woodstoves. We will likely be in the biggest cabin, which means two wings, one for boys and one for girls, but that also means they will have indoor plumbing.’
“Wait,” Quinn broke in. “You mean cabins like we had a Camp Grizzly?”
Daria nodded.
“But that means no electricity!”
Daria shrugged. ‘If we are at the big cabin, which we should be – they rent it out for retreats, hunters, and such – there’s a small lobby between the two wings. That is where the toilets are, and the restrooms and the pump room have electricity, but the bunk rooms do not.’
“You five get your worthless male selves over here and pick up these supplies!” Ms Barch screeched.
Quinn pouted as she tried to hold her little backpack for one of the boys to carry. Tori rolled her eyes as she shouldered her larger backpack. “Come on, Quinn,” she ordered gently. “A hike with something that light will help tone your legs.” She leaned in and whispered in Quinn’s ear, making her blush. Meanwhile, Mack was distributing the supplies between himself and over a dozen of the other boys. Mr. DeMartino chased Ms Barch away and got the carrying crew organized. As Ms Li got Mr. O’Neill set up with a video camera (and Ms Barch found and returned one of his asthma inhalers), the carrying crew was sent into one bus while the rest of students were split into two. At 9:00, they set off on a four-hour drive (not counting lunch) into the low mountains to the west.
There was one rest stop, at a highway exit which offered them two choices of fast-food (a well-known hamburger and taco franchise respectively) and a diner. Daria and Jane were two of the few to head towards the somewhat rundown diner, although they noted that Mr. DeMartino was heading that way as well. Daria figured that since four of the six big rigs present were parked by the diner, it would be safe enough to eat the food.
The inside was actually much cleaner and even cozier than the dingy outside suggested. Daria and Jane sat on stools at the counter and Daria gestured for DeMartino to join them. He shrugged and did so. Jane raised her eyebrows at the lunch Daria wanted Jane to order for her (since Daria usually ate light when travelling), but on reflection she just shrugged and decided to build off that for her own lunch/brunch. DeMartino smiled in approval at Daria’s choice of biscuits and sausage gravy and hash, while Jane ordered the same along with a large omelet. He knew the two would rarely eat like that (especially Daria), but they obviously had a better idea of what lay ahead than most of their compatriots. He would enjoy his open-faced roast beef sandwich, mashed potatoes, and green beans. He thought it unlikely the pair would order dessert, but they did order milkshakes to go. He decided to forgo his planned-on pie and did the same.
A little after 2:00, the buses discharged their loads at another exit. It took over 40 minutes for all the students to use the restrooms. A few took the opportunity to buy some additional snacks.
Ms Li was growing more and more impatient. She banged on the rest room doors while giving those remaining in line a dirty look, saying, “Unless you want to be hiking in the dark, don’t dawdle!” She then went to hurry along the shoppers, although since the gas station was allowing some 80 people to use their restrooms, she pretty much had to allow some shopping. When the students were finally gathered, she made them all don caps with ‘Lawndale High’ logos. Perhaps surprisingly, they were in the traditional school colors, not Ultra Cola’s.
Once the group was slowly trudging mostly uphill, the students were pretty quiet. It was not hard going, at least so far, but none of the students seemed very enthusiastic. On the one hand, it was more than very cool but not really very cold, on the other it was overcast and a bit damp and dreary. Ms. Li went back and forth along the line, trying to whip up some enthusiasm, or at least smiles, making sure O’Neill captured the occasional spurts of activity.
“Can someone tell me why we are doing this?” Jane asked after about forty minutes. “I mean, we’re hiking to a camp, spending the night, and hiking back. Is there a point that I’m missing?”
“You know Jane…you’re right,” Jodie agreed. “We’re just hiking; we aren’t looking at anything in nature – we’re not identifying plants or animals – we’re certainly not learning any woodcraft.”
“Hopefully we won’t need to learn any actual survival skills,” Jane added. That earned her a soft snort of laughter from Daria and several squeaks of fear from Quinn and a few others.
Daria snapped her fingers and then pointed at a puffing O’Neill, videoing the boys carrying the supplies as they went up a slightly-more inclined portion of the path than usual. ‘Li is trying to get some sort of sponsorship. We are the means to her ends.’
“I did hear her mutter something about the ‘Wilderness Adventure Club’ as she went by once,” Stacy admitted, “but I didn’t pay much attention. That’s probably why we have to wear these silly caps.”
“Oh,” Brooke spoke up. “I bet that’s what she meant by the ‘Extreme Sportz Mania Worldwide execs.’ That’s some cable channel my Dad watches.” She looked around. “This isn’t all that easy, but it’s hardly ‘extreme’.”
“Li will try and find some way to make it look that way,” one of the other girls muttered.
“Especially if Li can somehow modify the time-stamps,” Jane translated for Daria. She nodded, “Yeah, that would at least make it seem a lot longer than it is.”
“It’s long enough,” Quinn complained, puffing slightly. While no one looked really exhausted, fifteen of the girls and seven of the boys (and O’Neill) were puffing along.
“When do we get there?” Stacy complained.
At that point, there was a scream up ahead. They could see Brittany was hitting Kevin with a small bunch of wildflowers. Kevin had dropped his rucksack of supplies, which meant DeMartino and Barch were also yelling at him. Finally, Ms Li came over, got Kevin to pick up his load and get moving, examined Brittany’s face, and sent her moving as well.
As the group around Daria caught up to the now slow-moving Brittany, they saw she had been stung by a late-season wasp, which had been in the bunch of flowers Kevin had given her. Daria sighed and forced Quinn to help Jane take off and help carry Daria’s backpack. They all kept moving, albeit slowly as Daria dug around. Finally, she stopped, gave Brittany a pill and dabbed a little ointment on to Brittany’s stung cheek.
“Ms Morgendorffer, what are you giving her? What are you doing?” Li demanded, coming up quickly.
Daria simply showed Ms Li the packaging, an antihistamine and a lotion for bites and stings.
Li simply nodded, and as she walked past O’Neill she asked, “Did you document that?”
“I got most of it, at least her putting on the ointment,” O’Neill panted. “I’m not sure that’s appropriate….”
“Get everything, then we can decide in editing what we can use!” She turned and glared at the lengthening line of straggling students. “Hurry up the in rear! We want to make it to camp before dark!” She huffed and looked at her watch. “We can still make it if there are no more of these incidents and surprises.
Then a snowflake fell on her watch. Li looked up at the now gently falling snow.
“Surprise,” Jane said, translating for Daria.
While not quite dark, dusk was well-along by the time the students struggled into the camp. Fortunately, while it had kept snowing, the temperature had only dropped from the low forties to just freezing during the ascent. It appeared that Daria was somewhat mistaken, as they were guided to the second largest sleeping building (other than this and the one Daria had described, all the others were much smaller cabins, with no running water). This one had a large main room, but instead of two wings, this one had one bunk area, with twenty-five sets of bunkbeds. At least it still had indoor plumbing and hot water, but the only electric heat was in the restrooms. Ms Li gave the students 30 minutes to use the facilities, but refused to allow anyone to stay in the sleeping area until later.
“Alright, people,” she finally ordered, “you will be drawing straws for the bunkbeds. Anyone wish to volunteer for the floor? If so, they get to choose where to sleep!” That did not seem like a good deal to most of the students, but to everyone’s surprise, Daria raised her and Jane’s hand.
“Ms Morgendorffer?”
“First, a question,” Jane interpreted. “We see rolls on the bunks, some sort of sleeping mats. If there aren’t enough extras for those of us on the floor, we on the floor should get them. If we do get them, one way or another, then yes, Daria and I will take the floor.”
“That does seem fair,” Li agreed. DeMartino smiled, he bet he knew about where Daria would choose as Daria had been of the many students to get a peek inside before Li had chased them all away from bunkroom.
Daria pulled Jane into the bunkroom while the others got ready for the drawing, as no one else volunteered. “Why are we doing this?” Jane asked.
Daria dragged Jane to the back of the room, which was longer than it was deep. ‘Observe, two wood stoves, no windows on this wall. The warmest spot will be between the woodstoves. Other than that, there is only that fireplace on that side wall, but there are windows on either side of it. People will want to be there, but unless they are right in front of the fireplace, they are going to be cold. Anyone on that other wall will be chilly at best.’
“Very good, Ms Morgendorffer,” DeMartino told her as he approached. He had been lighting some of the lanterns in the bunkhouse. “One of you help me with the firewood. We need to get these stoves started.”
Daria sent Jane to help DeMartino while she took two of the rolled bed pads from a pair of upper bunks and set them up next to each other. By the time the two wood stoves were going, Daria had their sleeping bags and pillows set up and their backpacks resting against the wall to provide a hint of insulation. Before Daria could ask, DeMartino told them, “Don’t mess with the woodstoves. Li and I will take care of those and the fireplace. While I am sure you two could handle it, I wouldn’t trust most of the rest of your…contemporaries.”
Jane and Daria had to admit that was fair.
They were distracted as a fuming Brittany came striding into the bunkroom, followed by a protesting Kevin. “But Babe, aren’t you glad I got a lower bunk?”
“H’umpf” was the approximate answer. Brittany then turned and slapped Kevin hard, grabbed a pad off a bunk and stormed over to Daria and Jane. “Can I sleep near you guys?”
Daria gestured to the other side of her, knowing that since someone was likely to sleep near them, it may as well be Brittany, since Kevin was going to be far away.
“You so-called men sleep from these bunks over to that side wall, since few of you had the decency to give up bunks,” Barch commanded, directing the males to the side away from the fireplace. She came over to the trio on the far wall. She inhaled, but Daria cut her off with Jane translating. “Ms Li said to pick a spot, and Mister DeMartino approved this one.” Barch glared at them, but just turned and left.
Jodie came over and handed them each an MRE. “They’re all the same; Ms Li suggested we wait until Six-thirty to eat.”
Brittany looked at her watch. “That’s over twenty minutes away. What will we do until then?” A look of horror came over her, as she looked around and realized that the bunkhouse was only lit by lanterns. “What are we going to do after that?”
Daria sighed. It was going to be a long evening.
Mister O’Neill’s suggestion of a sing-along was roundly ignored by everyone. In the end, those few with i-pods and similar devices sat in peace or shared with a friend. Daria, Jane, Jodie, and Mack sat near Daria and Jane’s sleeping area, playing hearts. Only two other students thought to bring cards, one student brought a Rubric’s Cube. A few actually brought a book. The other half of the students were left very very bored.
The next morning, no one was really in the mood to either stay where they were or to go out in the six inches of snow that had accumulated. Of course, the fact that they only had one breakfast MRE each to last them until they were off the mountain rather encouraged them towards one of the disliked alternatives they had to choose. So, a little after 9:00 (an hour after the originally planned departure), the students exited into the now-melting snow and started the slog down the now-slippery path. The only person who seemed anything other than unhappy or worse was Ms Li, who seemed convinced she was getting coverage that could at least be edited into something exciting as members of the expedition slid and slipped down the trail.
That afternoon, Daria and Jane trudged into the Morgendorffer household. Both looked tired and even a bit scruffy. “Where’s Quinn?” Helen asked brightly.
“She’s still in the car, pouting,” Jane answered.
“Why?”
“Well, she was one of the twenty-odd students who didn’t bring their own sleeping bag, so she had to sleep on a mat under one of those survival blankets. She was bored, because she didn’t bring anything to amuse herself and we were playing cards with Jodie and Mack and didn’t bring extra cards for her.”
‘Do not forget she was upset from the start because she had to carry her own backpack.’
“True,” Jane agreed
At that moment, Quinn came in. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” she demanded.
“We tried three times,” Jane retorted.
‘Come on,” Daria signed. ‘Jane and I are going to take a shower, then get pizza.’ Daria took three steps towards the stairs and then realized what she said and stopped. Turning, she saw the stunned looks on the other four faces, but then Jake of all people said, “Okay. Quinn, if you’re in a hurry, you can use our bathroom.”
Daria and Jane blushed a bit, but then Daria held out her hand and Jane took it, following her up the stairs.
When they were alone, Helen turned to Jake. “Are you sure that was the right thing to do?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I think that’s still okay.”
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