Quinn's Code (Daria AU) 10: Blue Screen of Sherman Part 2
Later, Daria was talking to Jane on the phone. “So then, after I get Brittany squared away, Mr. O'Neill comes over wanting to talk. And they all say the same thing: "It really makes you think." I feel like getting a couch.”
“You're the girl of the hour. Maybe I should talk to you.”
“Yeah right. I can't believe the way people are reacting. I mean, yeah, it's terrible what happened, but it's not as if he was nice to anyone. They're acting like they lost a friend.”
“Boy, Daria, nothing gets through to you, does it.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“A guy died, and you're talking about what a jerk he was.”
“I just said...” She paused “look, you want to get some pizza?
“I'm going running.”
“After?”
“I don't know. It's going to be a long run. See you later.”
Daria sighed, she looked at her computer and saw that Jennifer had sent an instant message.
Burns_Jen: Daria?
Misandorffer: Yeah?
Burns_Jen: This thing with Tommy Sherman, It's so...
A lengthy interval of time passed before Jennifer sent another message.
Burns_Jen: ...Tragic.
Misandorffer: Yes...
Burns_Jen: It really makes you think.
Misandorffer: Not you too!
Burns_Jen: Huh?
Misandorffer: First it was Kevin, then Brittany, then Mr. O'Neill... And now Jane is...
Daria pressed Enter, wondering if the 'giving me grief' turn of phrase would be appropriate.
Misandorffer: 'Giving me grief' over it.
Burns_Jen: That's just it, everyone is greiving, bet it in their own way. They know you think a lot of the dark side...
Misandorffer: Not all the time.
Burns_Jen: But a lot of the time. I guess I'll call Jane myself.
Misandorffer: She said she's going on a run.
Burns_Jen: I'll call Trent.
The software then said that Jennifer was offline.
Daria sighed and turned on the television. “Malibu's Mopious Millionaire, next on Sick, Sad World.”
Then there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”
Quinn came in. “You still have your room like this?” she asked.
“Yes...”
“Daria, can I talk to you?” she paused. “About the dead guy?”
“No! Talk to Jennifer, or Mom and Dad, or your other friends,” Daria snapped. She had had it.
“What is up with you?” Quinn asked. She had thought that their relationship was getting better.
“What is up? Everyone wants to talk to me about their grief for that jerk. Kevin. Brittany. Mr. O'Neill. Jane. Jennifer. And now you! Out!”
Quinn saw that her sister was quite angry. She didn't want to argue, so she left. “Okay, just tell me when you're ready to talk.”
Quinn retreated to her room. She sat in front of her television and turned on her Gamecube. “OK... Super Smash Bros Melee...”
After a stress relieving session of Smash, Quinn called, Jennifer, no answer. She sighed. She then called Cindy...
Saturday, February 17, 2006
It was breakfast at the Morgendorffers. “So I called up Cindy, Kristen, Jenna and Andrea, and the Anime and Programming Clubs are going to take up collections to get safe new goal posts. Like, to honor the dead guy's memory.”
“Quinn, what a wonderful impulse. To make something positive come out of this devastating event.”
“It was Andrea's idea. She's good at this tragic stuff.”
'Good, maybe I'll redirect Jane onto her,' Daria thought. “Have to say, Quinn, it was one of the safe new goal posts that fell on him.”
“I know that, but it's the thought that counts,” Quinn responded. Having finished her breakfast, she got up and left.
“And how do you feel, Daria?” Helen asked.
Daria scowled. “I feel great. How else could I feel? I'm the miserable misanthrope chick! I'm going to Jane's.
At the Lane's, Trent answered to Daria's knock. “Hey, Daria. Janie went running.”
“Oh. Well, I'll see her another time,” Daria said as she turned to leave.
“Scary about Tommy Sherman.”
Daria turned back. “Yeah. You knew him, right?”
“We had a couple classes together. I mean, we didn't see him much. You know, he didn't show up too often.”
“Not like you, huh?”
Trent laughed and coughed “I guess I might have missed a few classes, now that you mention it. Weird thing. Freak accident.”
“Would you say it really makes you think?”
“No,” Trent said.
“Thank you for that.”
“Huh?”
“See ya,” Daria turned to leave.
“Hey, Daria?”
“Yeah.” She turned back.
“You know, it was a while ago that Janie went running. Maybe she came back and I didn't hear her or something. Anyway, why don't you check her room. She might be there.”
“I'll yell up the stairs.” Daria entered the house and went to the foot of the stairs.
“No, umm, sometimes she's got some music on and she can't hear really well. Why don't you just head on up?”
Daria frowned slightly. 'Something's up!' she thought.
Daria knocked on Jane's bedroom door. She could see Jane listening to music and sketching.
“Yo! Come on in! Oh. Hi.”
“Are you avoiding me?”
“Um... not anymore?”
“What's going on?”
“Nothing. I just haven't felt like talking to anybody.”
“I'm not anybody, and I'd like to talk to someone,” Daria said.
“But you've been talking to everyone,” Jane countered.
“No, everyone's been talking to me. There's a difference.”
“Well, what do you want to talk about, anyway? You don't care about what happened.”
“How can you say that?”
“You've been treating it like, 'Oh well, another stupid day.' The guy died.”
“I know he died! I'm sorry he died! But I'm not going to pretend that he was some great person when he wasn't. People aren't upset because Tommy Sherman died, they're upset because they're going to die,” Daria explained.
“That's understandable.”
“Okay, but you know what I've been hearing? 'You know how I feel, Daria. You're gloomy. I knew I can talk to you, Daria. You're always miserable.' Tragedy hits the school and everyone thinks of me. A popular guy died, and now I'm popular because I'm the miserable misanthrope chick. But I'm not miserable. I'm just not like them.”
“It really makes you think.”
“Not funny! Thanks a lot!” She turned to leave.
“- No! That's why they want to talk to you. When they say, 'You're always unhappy, Daria,' what they mean is, 'You think Daria. I can tell because you don't smile. Now this guy died and it makes me think and that hurts my little head and makes me stop smiling. So, tell me how you cope with thinking all the time, Daria, until I can get back to my normal vegetable state.'”
“Okay. So why have you been avoiding me?”
“Because I've been trying not to think. About the way we were making jokes about him dying and then, boom, it happened.”
“We didn't have anything to do with the guy dying. It was a freak accident.”
“Yeah, well, I don't like it when I say people should die and then they do. I don't want that kind of responsibility. At least not until I've got a job in middle management.”
Daria paused before saying. “You didn't make him die.”
“You're not the miserable misanthrope chick.”
“All right, then.”
“All right, then.”
There was another pause. “He shouldn't have died,” Daria said.
“No.”
“But he wasn't a nice guy.”
Jane frowned. “No,” she said.
“Did Trent know you were up here?”
“Told him to tell anyone who dropped by that I was out running. What a surprise... he forgot.”
“No, he didn't.”
Jane chuckled. “Cool.”
While Daria was talking to Jane, Quinn arrived at Cindy's house...
“Quinn?” Cindy asked when she opened the door.
“You want to talk about … ?” Quinn asked, before trailing off.
“Sure,” Cindy said, with slight hesitation.
After talking to Jane, Daria headed to Jennifer's. She accepted Trent's offer of a lift. “You know, no one died while I was at school,” Trent said.
“No one like Tommy Sherman came back?” Daria asked.
“No one lead the Lion's to the State Championship, like Sherman did,” Trent said. “According to Ms. Li, anyway.”
Daria considered this. “I guess history won't repeat itself with Kevin,” she said.
Hmm. “Lawndale, where history doesn't repeat.”
“Nah. Where they only learn when it comes to football,”
“Lawndale, where history repeats, but not with football...”
Jennifer answered the door. Daria was there. She could see Trent driving away. “Hi,” she said after a few moments.
“Hi, I must apologise. Can I come in?”
Jennifer was surprised. “Sure,” she said as she opened the door wider.
“So, you talked to Jane?” Jennifer asked once they were in her room.
“Yes,” Daria answered.
“Yes, I have been avoiding you,” Jennifer said.
“I knew that,” Daria said.
“You got tired of everyone saying 'It really makes you think'.”
“Yes.”
“I don't think about mortality often. This was very close...” Jennifer dropped off.
“There is a reason why...”
“Yeah, my father...”
Sunday, February 18, 2006
512 Grandstaff Drive
Sandi Griffin re-entered her room, after having a tense discussion with Tori Jericho about her treatment of the other two members of the Fashion Club.
That was quickly forgotten, as she immediately noticed her cat, Fluffy, on her bedside table. He didn't look very good... She rushed over and quickly found the reason... He had somehow got into her foundation... “Mom!”
Soon, the Griffins were rushing to the vet.
Monday, February 19, 2006
Lawndale High
Daria approached the school with a small amount of trepidation. She hoped that no one would be perstering her, telling her 'It really makes you think', asking how to feel better.
Later in Mr. O'Neill's class,
“'It is better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all.' Just what is Lord Tennyson talking about? Brittany?”
“Um, love?” Brittany answered.
“Anyone else? Daria?”
“Well, he's acknowledging that if something makes you feel good, like being in love, there must be a corresponding painful side, like losing a love, and that it's just a fact of life,” Daria answered.
“Is he a big unhappiness freak?”
“No, he's realist. He says, 'Emotional involvement brings pleasures and extraordinary pain.' Then he declares that it's better than feeling nothing at all.
“That is excellent, Daria,” O'Neill praised.
“Of course, this was before the advent of community property laws.”
After class.
“Hello? Geekendorffer's sister or whatever?”
“Yeah?” Daria answered, slightly amused at the nickname that Quinn had picked up.
“You're supposed to be, like, really good with bummed out stuff?”
“Yeah?” Daria asked, warily.
“My cat, he got into my makeup or something and, like, ODed on foundation, and he spent the whole day puking,” Sandi said.
“And the experience left him questioning the meaning of life?” Jane asked.
“And I've been feeling really bad about it, and I was wondering if you had, like, some advice or something.”
“No!” Daria said.
“No?”
“No!” Daria said, she ran off.
“Daria?” Jane asked. She wondered why Daria brushed her off in that manner. 'I guess she doesn't like the reputation of being the Miserable Misanthrope Chick.”
finis