Size does matter

Story ©2008 by BlackHole
Daria and associated characters are ©2008 MTV Networks
(who still deprive the Daria community of a decent DVD box set containing all Daria episodes
— preferably in uncut condition with the original soundtrack)
Used without explicit permission and with explicit appreciation
Thanks for beta-reading etc. to:
JPAGC, RLobinske, Kristen Bealer, and vladimir1

Preface

“What if Daria and Quinn were quite tall? Let’s make Daria 6’1" and Quinn 6’2". How would they and their lives be different?”
Note: "tall" leaves width and depth open...

“Daria acting like a boy. She could be raised as one. She could simply be a tomboy (...) or some other freaky reason makes her act the part. How would everyone else react?”

None of these got elaborate responses, but they really inspired me - especially in combination. Read what my sick mind gave birth to...

Part 1

Tree, tree, house, carport, tree, empty lot, house, garage, lawn, tree, carport, house, tree, lawn...

«Great. We traded the desolate Texan countryside in desert climate for a desolate suburb in the humid and cold middle east.» Daria thought to herself as she watched the town pass by from the backseat of her father’s Lexus.

Sitting behind her father who navigated the unfamiliar streets of Lawndale she had a clear view at her sister to her right side, who had moved the passenger seat to its ultimate backward position. Watching Quinn’s lost-in-thought posture she knew that her sister had similar mixed feelings about the things to come.

She redirected her attention to the cityscape to the left as she worked on her prejudices of the locals.

«The houses are in better shape than in Highland. Well, must come with the cold winter. You would freeze your ass off in a shag like they build in Texas. Cars look more upscale as well. Maybe the local IQ100 won’t correspond to IQ87 in the national rating. Geez, Highland was a hole.»

«You think the same thing, aren’t you? ‘Maybe we can live a normal life here.’ How much I hope we could. Having normal friends, going on normal dates doing normal things. But normal is impossible. For both of us, and you didn’t even pick the shortest straw.»

Daria mentally groaned at her unintended pun. While being 16 months Quinn’s senior, she wasn’t the ‘big sister’. At 6’4" Quinn was, and so Daria voluntarily surrendered the additional legroom offered by the passenger seat to her.

«At least Dad ain’t that tall, so it isn’t that cramped behind him. There is no way I’d fit behind Quinn.»

‘Short’ wasn’t an attribute one would use for any of the Morgendorffer sisters. At 6’3" Daria stood quite tall herself.

«I would be able to live with that. But with the rest I really drew the short straw...»

Jake was well aware of the girl’s trepidation, and came to the conclusion that they were given enough time to brood.

He decided to interrupt the non-conversation that to some extend was covered up by the radio that Quinn had turned on immediately after they left their new home.

“Daria, don’t look at it as a burden, but as an opportunity. People’ll know you just the way you are right now. Blend in a little. Please?”

«Daria comes first. Again. I know you do not mean to, but... I know you love me, but you and Daria share something that I’ll never be a part of.»

Daria gestured at Quinn and herself as she replied “We kind of stick out. Everywhere.”

«Yeah» Quinn mentally agreed «but at least the attention’s divided as long as we’re together. There’ll be no real good half...»

“Quinn, support your sister even if you have not settled in yourself. You’re better with people. Please.”

“Don’t be afraid about missing the first two weeks of your freshmen year, Quinn. You’ll catch up with the curriculum in a breeze. And Daria’s going to help you. Right kiddo?”

«Kiddo my ass. I easily match you in size and weight.»
“Hm, sure dad. Just ask, Quinn.”

«That is not the kind of support that I had on my mind, but...»
“We start of with some orientation stuff, right?”

“That’s what the brochure said. Go to office, sign in, pick up class schedule, get tour. The rest - we’ll see. God, I hope they have decent sized furniture and not that old stuff that was designed considering the ’60s average height....1860s” Daria said with a smirk provoking a chuckle from Jake and Quinn.

«At least she’s joking.»
“You can always ask for a larger seat. They’ll understand. NOT LIKE THAT LOUSY... you know.” Jake stopped himself.

After a minute of silence, Daria offered her father “Bet you 10 I’ll be mistaken for a guy at least 5 times today.”

«Ah, Daria, why do you always turn the knife stuck in your own chest.» Quinn just knew it.

“Deal. Bet you 2 times max. Closest wins.” Jake said while presenting his hand to Daria behind him to seal the deal.

«Daddy, you’re such a bad liar, but nice try. At least you’re not trying to sugarcoat things with some ‘no one will mistake my daughter’ crap. Daria’s BS-detector would go off the scale, and you know she hates being lied to. At least it’s a good time for her to meet new people. I checked that this morning.»

«Daria, do you have any idea what strangers would think if they overheard you say stuff like that?»

Quinn leaned her head on the window. Daria wondered about the uneasy expression on her sister’s face.

«What’s it with Quinn’s mood? It’s going to be ‘vene vidi vici’ and all boys up to the seniors will worship her. OK, the girls are likely to hate her to the same degree, but she managed to placate ’em in Junior High, so what?»

“Girls, remember, your Mom and I have to get settled in at our new jobs today. If we’re not back on time, take care of yourselves. The kitchen’s unpacked and we did our initial grocery shopping, so just cook whatever you like.”

“Can I take a detour on the way back to see the neighborhood?” Quinn asked, and Jake’s answer was quick.

“No Quinn, come home straight on the first day. We’ll have a lot things to talk about. You can look around later.”

“So, you and mom going to be home or not?” Daria demanded slightly irritated.

“We’re trying to get home early, but no promises. Just go home straight. Ah, look girls, that’s your new school, right there. Doesn’t look it nice and welcoming?”

They rode the last minute in silence and took the location in. Sport fields bordered on the street well before they approached the simple, but on the first impression well kept buildings. A drop-off circle with a sign announcing “Lawndale High” was next to the main entrance, and a parking lot continued the school’s front on the other side of the buildings.

«Convenient.» Daria thought, «Very few students mill around the school area. The locals time their arrival at school with much less leeway than we newbies. Maybe we won’t immediately draw attention.»

«Here goes nothing» both girls thought as Jake pulled into the drop-off circle and stopped the Lexus.

“Have a good day, girls. Mom and I’ll be thinking of you. Love you both!” Jake said as he petted Quinn’s head.

With a “love you too” Quinn was out of the car and strode her trademark big steps towards the main doors, while Jake and Daria watched the students’ reactions. A group of three girls eyed Quinn and immediately intensified the chatter among them.

“As expected. They have a ‘The new secretary is pretty young and damn cute’-look all over. Haven’t spotted a single guy in the vicinity that did not stare at her until she vanished inside. You dad?”

Jake did not answer immediately, but turned a little bit as Daria opened the door. He was as uneasy as the girls.

“Dad, you know I’m not convinced of that. She handles herself pretty well. It wasn’t her who was...”

“Just do it.” Jake cut Daria off. He looked at her in the eyes, she nodded and closed the car’s door without another word.

«Daria, you’ve really a blind spot for Quinn. At least I don’t have to worry about guys trying to force you to do anything.» Jake thought as he rode off to his office to prepare for his first client in Lawndale. The appointment was for 10 o’clock.

*****

Sandi Griffin, President of the Lawndale High Fashion Club was clearly impressed with the woman that just slipped through the main doors and headed to the offices.

“If she’s a new secretary, the guys’ll start fights just to be sent to the office to see her!” giggled Stacy.

“She is so tall,...” Tiffany started, and in order to finish the conversation before the sound of the tardy bell Stacy chimed in.

Sandi sensed trouble and immediately went to work in order to get her sycophants back in line.

“Puhleaze! If she’d be model, why should she be working as a secretary? And besides that, we didn’t see her up close. I’m sure her face is not nearly as cute as mine. Or any of yours. Maybe she has a really bad case of acne...”

“Oh my god, Sandi, did you see her clothes? They were so last month. Or at least three weeks old. You’re right Sandi, she can’t be a model. No way.”

“Exactly Stacy. A model that is not up-to-date in fashion is like an ox-moron, aeh, forbids itself. That tallness is so totally wasted on someone like her.”

“So did you see the announcement for the spring fashion preview posted at Cashman’s ...”

Stacy brought the pre-school fashion club meeting back on schedule, only to be interrupted shortly after.

Following her gaze Sandi and Stacy got a glimpse at back of another person heading into the school towards the office.

“Did you see his shoulders?” Tiffany drawled into the subsequent silence. That was a view to her liking.

“Very impressive. And he was quite tall as well. I’d be able to recall if there was someone like him at Lawndale High. Must be a transfer student. Likely a football player. Do we need a temporary replacement for the quarterback - again?” Sandi stated, fearing that she missed some important gossip.

“The cheerleaders were not talking about anything like that when I overheard them yesterday, Sandi.” Stacy reassured Sandi. “Did you see that nice wavy brown hair fixed in a pony tail. It looks so ... rebellious.”

“Of course I noticed, but did you notice that ugly army jacket he was wearing? A total fashion-don’t. Let’s hope he gets his letter-jacket quick and starts wearing it, otherwise his popularity is sooooo going to drop.” Sandi took the offense.

The discussion of the new arrival’s dateability took precedence over the planned fashion club pre school meeting schedule, continued during the girls’ walk to the classroom, and was brought to an end as the teacher interrupted the girls by starting their class.

*****

“... my sister should be here any second” Quinn told the secretary just as Daria entered the office - just in time to see the color drain from the secretary’s already bugeyed face, “ah, there you are!”

“...your brother?” was the only thing the secretary was able to utter as her eyes danced between the Morgendorffer siblings.

“One. Daria Morgendorffer.” Daria introduced herself. «Dammit, things started so good...»

“My sister. As your records say.”
«You do realize that you just messed up, do you? These things hurt her.»

«You’re neither fast nor good at covering up...»
“You seem to have noticed our presence, so I consider us signed in. The brochure says you’re supposed to hand us our class schedules next.”

This got the secretary out of her confusion and she started to go through a file muttering “M..M...Morgen... M-O-R-G-E-N-D-O-R-doubleF-E-R?”

«She can read! And spell!»
“Yes. Daria, that’s delta-alpha-romeo-india-alpha, would be me.”
«Let’s have some fun.»
“My little sister here’s Quinn. Quebeq-uniform-india-double november”.

The secretary did a double-take at this, but handed Daria her schedule after verifying the names’ spelling on the records. She froze as she glanced at Quinn’s schedule while handing it to her.

«And she does it again. She just loves it, doesn’t she.»
Daria knew what would come next.

“You are 14 years old?” - “14 and 8 months!” Quinn answered with a radiant smile while prying the schedule from the secretary’s hand.

“Ah. Ah. OK. Hm. Please wait next door for the other new students to arrive, you’ll get the tour then.”

Quinn instinctively ducked under the doorframe into an empty waiting area, and Daria closed the door to the office happy that she at least was able to walk upright through regular doors. Before the door closed, they heard the secretary mutter to herself “I need a drink!”.

“Could’ve been worse.” was Daria’s dry answer as she sat down on one of the simple chairs.

*****

During the next quarter of an hour four more students emerged the office into the waiting area.

A rather short girl with her hair dyed red, wearing a black jacket and an ankh pendant. A short guy in a blue sweater with glasses, a short guy wearing incredible baggy pants and a medium girl with shoulder long brown hair wearing a white blouse under a blue cardigan. They sat in silence and eyed each other warily.

«Teacher’s pet. Don’t get her wet, keep her out of bright light, and never feed her after midnight. I can see that you’re unsure what to think of me. And nervously averting your stare does not exactly help.»

«If we weren’t be sitting, they would already have freaked out. Quinn with her long legs particularly deceives the eye while sitting.»

Daria’s musings were interrupted by an Asian women entering the waiting area from another office well after homeroom ended and the first period had started.

Her eyes scanned the new arrivals and lingered a little bit longer on Quinn and Daria.
«Yes, she’s been warned.»

The students began to rise from their chairs and turned to Ms. Li, who watched the Morgendorffer siblings as they rose as well.

«Whoa!» said the boy wearing the baggy clothes while the other students just stared. The teachers pet took a step away from Daria who eyed the girl from above.

«Come on, glasses-guy, stop staring, look at the principal and wipe the drool of your face. You’re SOOO sophisticated. Daria, you’ve no idea how happy you are not to have to deal with that shit.»

“We are a fine institution of higher education and I am proud to say that under my administration this school has really started to flourish. Our school strives to provide the students an effective learning environment, and I take whatever means necessary to ensure that my, er, our reputation stays untarnished.”

Ms. Li droned on about the benefits of her, eh, the school. Football, cheerleading, track team, baseball ... which did not sit well with Daria.

«Ah. This is a school: Well equipped library, safe labs, teaching material from the current century and qualified teaching staff strictly optional. But I don’t like the way she looked at me when she mentioned the athletics stuff.»

Ms. Li went on. Locker assignments with codes on the schedule, zero tolerance policy for tardiness, damage of school property, harassment and about everything else beside breathing. Fundraising activities. Other ‘voluntary’ activities.

«Welcome to the brave new world. Everything not forbidden is mandatory. Do you notice that you’re describing a school - and haven’t used the word ‘teaching’ once within the last 20 minutes? At last now I know how things are going to work, Kommandant Li» Daria thought somewhat bitter, «however it’d be a benefit if those zero tolerance policies are all enforced.»

“OK students, now let me show you around the premises” Ms. Li said and led the group through a stereotypical school hallway to a side door while explaining the locker and classroom numbering system. The students watched impressed as Quinnducked through the first doorway, but then Daria and Quinn out of habit took the back of the group.

Ms. Li led them through the sports facilities and showed them the location of the locker rooms, the pool, the courts and the gym.

«Have to check this out. Maybe we can use that for our physiotherapy.» Daria thought as she shot a meaningful gaze at Quinn.

Periods changed as they moved to inspect the outdoor fields, where students started running laps and exercising despite the, for Daria’s and Quinn’s taste, cold weather.

Via the library building, which housed an average collection, they returned to the main building.

Daria was content with the day so far. She’d been mistaken only once, and the attention was kept on a minimum level.

«Could be because we haven’t been exposed to the student body so far...or my new cloaking device really works well. Shit.»

During the visit to the assembly hall Ms. Li looked at her watch and announced
“2nd period is nearly over; I’m going to show you to the cafeteria and give you the opportunity for an early lunch while I take care of something. I’ll pick you up shortly before 3rd period ends for the rest of the tour. Stay in the cafeteria, do not fool around! Any misdemeanor will be noticed and punished!”

They arrived at the cafeteria shortly after the bell announced the end of the 2nd period and the students started to flood the hallways. Navigating the crowd was easy, as it parted in front of Ms. Li as the red sea in front of Moses.

*****

Jane Lane was having a bad day. Usually this being a Monday would have been sufficient to qualify for a bad day, but the third Monday of her sophomore year was exceptionally bad. She had overslept as she had pulled some crazy hours on her latest art project, only to have her sleep interrupted by her brother’s drunken bandmates that carried their gear from their van into the Lane basement. At least they had tried to. Jane hadn’t dared to ask who of them had driven the van from the club to the house, as all band members had been too intoxicated to walk - let alone to drive.

Only a triple expresso strong enough to pose a threat to the inox sugar spoon and her running capabilities had let her arrive at homeroom just before the tardy bell rang - saving her from an hour of detention. Mr. DeMartino had eyed her disapprovingly, but hadn’t commented on it. Luckily she knew enough about Mexican history from her sister Penny’s tales in order to somehow wing the predictable grilling Mr. D gave her even without doing the assigned reading. In any other class she would have been sleeping already, but Mr. D kept his students on the edge. Today, Kevin seemed a little bit hung over, and so Mr. D took delight in talking rather loudly at him to provide Kevin’s headache with an opportunity to unfold to its maximum extent.

Second period was economics with Ms. Bennet. Jane tried to make out the hidden meaning in her diagrams to avoid nodding off, but she came up empty - and she usually could see the meaning of a painting done by Dali on acid.

On her way to her third period - math - she spotted a group of students down the hallway being led towards the cafeteria by Ms. Li.

«New cannon fodder. Welcome to the third circle of suburbian hell - and Ms. Li’s laboratory for applied Darwinism: the LHS cafeteria. Whoa. Check the two at the back. They really stick out. That tall, must be seniors. The girl is going to give the popular circles some grief. And the guy, ohlala, look at those shoulders. Nice. Really nice. Yummy. Has a smooth walk, must do some sports. Ah, crap, for sure a football player - with all known amenities.»

Math class passed much faster than usual for Jane, as she replayed the procession towards the cafeteria before her minds eye and did some quick sketches. She realized that those people must have been even taller than she initially estimated once she took the top line of the lockers into account. And that his clothing didn’t exactly fit the in-crowd. Maybe he was more than eye candy. Maybe she would get a chance.

*****

Once inside the cafeteria Ms. Li signaled the staff that the newcomers were supposed to stay there and should be served lunch even before the official lunch period started.

“Get your lunch, and stay here until I pick you up in about 50 minutes. Start socializing! And behave!” Ms. Li ordered the group prior to leaving the lunchroom.

The group silently formed a line in the same order as they entered the room, and after everybody grabbed a tray and cutlery.

“I’m 6’4". My sister is 6’3" ” answered Quinn willingly as Daria looked around her sister to face the whole group. «It has begun.»

“Sister? You didn’t verify that, did you?” said the boy in the blue sweater to himself - and became quite embarrased when he noticed that he had said it aloud.

«Two» Daria thought as she rolled her eyes, «but he didn’t say it, so it doesn’t count.»

“You’re seniors as well?” asked the teachers pet in order to loosen the situation.

“I don’t kid about having three years until graduation. That thought is plain too scary to joke about.”

“Did you repeatedly repeat classes?” asked the boy in the blue sweater feeling bolder.

«So, your name’s Mr-Foot-in-Mouth. Get some salt and your lunch is complete» Daria thought.

“Just think about how the question you ASKED relates to the question you wanted ANSWERED!”

«She ain’t no dummy. Let’s deliver Mr-Foot-in-Mouth from his predicament and get it over with.»

“We just grew up too fast and now look older than we are. Thank God I don’t look as old as I feel.”

Daria’s answer provoked a chuckle from the group and silenced the conversation for the time being.

Every one picked up some food, and started to settle down at a convenient table next to the checkout counter.

Years of experience told the ladies operating the food counter that Daria and Quinn would not appreciate a normal serving, even when Quinn asked for a salad.

Quinn waited for Daria to pay, and Daria knew that Quinn would not let her sit on her own.

“No, I’m keeping half of it to put it on the compost heap I have in my locker” Daria said rolling her eyes before digging in. The food immediately assaulted her taste buds.

«Yuk, this stuff is gross. And bland on top. If the food is continuously this bad, I’ll have to consider alternatives.»

The others ate in silence as they watched Daria slowly but systematically empty her tray.

“So where’re you guys from? We’re from Texas” offered Quinn in order to get some small talk going.

“Some village in Pennsylvania, a real backwood quarter compared to Lawndale” the tiny red head answered.

«Village in Pennsylvania and you’re wearing an ankh? I bet there are some interesting stories to tell...»

Daria thought as she tuned the other students telling about their whereabouts and the perks Lawndale offered - or not - out. Quinn had cleverly steered the conversation away from the sibling’s size.

The general staring and gawking subsided as everyone was busy talking and eating. The others’ meals weren’t better than Daria’s, and Quinn copiously complained about the salad.

«Please don’t let her be another lesbian starting to make a move on me. I hate these situations.»

Daria adjusted her glasses, nodded at her and continued with her dessert well after everybody else had finished their lunch. Quinn offered the girl an apologising look after she noticed the last part of their exchange.

“Students, return the trays and follow me. Everyone is going to have a short talk to our school psychologist and then you’ll be ready to join the afternoon classes among the happy students of Laaaawndale High.”

*****

Jane eyed the selection at the lunchroom carefully. As this was a Monday, there was no danger of getting leftovers from the day before, but coincidentally the available options were more limited than the other days.

Jane opted for a prepacked sandwich that was thus safe for human consumption, and the coffee with the free refill option. She would get some real food for dinner, provided Trent did the grocery shopping as he promised. Otherwise, she would make him pick up some pizza to make it up to her. The cafeteria’s coffee had the quality of common dishwater, but 6 mugs would get her through the afternoon.

«Ah, crap, that stupid self-esteem class starts its first cycle today. I’ve to stay another hour. Ah, Trent won’t notice anyway. First cycle of the year, there should be many new faces to sketch. I wonder which regulars will be back - beside myself.»

The staff did not complain as she filled herself a seventh helping of coffee into her private travel mug.

*****

The threat of the psychological exam efficiently silenced any conversation among the new comers that found themselves in another small waiting area. The teacher’s pet was asked in first by the school’s psychologist, Ms. Manson.

«I can see fear in their eyes. Nobody likes someone else to poke around one’s brain. At leastDaria and I have a little experience with that profession.»

«I wonder if you know what you are doing or just some quack hired by the school at minimum wage to keep up an appearance. If I ask you if you’re related to Charles Manson you’re going to have me committed, aren’t you?»

As she left, Ms. Manson asked the boy in the blue sweater in. When after further 10 minutes the other girl was called in, Daria was sure that she and her sister would be the last students to go through the ordeal.

«What do you know, what not, what do you want to know?»
Daria’s thoughts raced as she planned options for the upcoming conversation.

Ms. Manson’s words brought Daria back to reality and she just got a glimpse at the last boy leaving.

“Whoa, you’re really tall. Please have a seat” Ms Manson said as she watched the girls enter and seated herself on one of three chairs at a small, round table. Daria and Quinn had to struggle a little to find sufficient legroom.

“I guess you get that a lot. You see, people can’t help it, you’re just impressive. Just ignore it.”

“You come from a very different situation than the other students. I just run a standardized test with them to gauge their reaction.”

“I called you in last so we would have more time to talk. I think that is necessary. My idea is to talk about the things that you have in common with both of you saving everyone some time, and have a little one-on-one talk with each of you girls afterwards. OK?”

The girls did not give an answer, just something that could be interpreted as a nod.

“Nobody is comfortable with talking to a psychologist. I don’t expect you to. I can accept that, but I have to do my job. So let me do the talking right now. During the transfer procedure LHS received your old school records. And had a look at them. And they don’t indicate even the smallest irregularity.”

«Yeah. No problems at all. Mom had them launder the records on the hottest setting with extra bleach.»

“I gather you are an exceptional student, Daria, and Quinn isn’t doing badly either.”

“Some extra curricular activities. Yearbook, school newspaper. Performing arts. That seems genuine as well. But that is about all in here.”

“My gut tells me that this is just a little too normal for the two of you. So tell me about the things that are not on record.”

She still looked at the girls. Daria had not moved even a little since she had sat down and looked her straight in the eyes. Quinn’s eyes were darting around the room every now and then. After a short moment Daria leaned a little forward, put her hands on her knees and spoke up.

“The records are true. Are we done now?”
«That does not imply complete...»
Daria wanted to get over with this interview.
«Just let bygones be bygones.»

Quinn contemplated into the silence to tell some minor facts, but stopped herself after a quick glance at Daria’s face, now an unmoving mask.

«Stop. She took charge, and I shouldn’t disturb whatever plan she has. I hope it’s working ...»

That did not go unnoticed by Ms. Manson, as well as the fact that Daria’s eyes never left her, even while the girl reassumed her previous pose. Exactly her previous pose.

Quinn shifted a little in her seat and Daria just blinked her eyes, but none of them was making any indication to speak.

“You talk now or I’ll inform CPS of suspected domestic violence. ‘Children reluctant to talk about home life.’ Works like a charm.”
«Don’t waste my time.»

«I really don’t need the lingering suspicions of any nightmares an ill disposed psychologist may stick on me. Gotta give her a little to keep her happy.»
“Long story short: Our genetic makeup made us go through puberty in fast forward mode with exceptional growth. Doctors announced me to be full grown six weeks ago.”

Ms. Manson had noted that Daria’s eyes had gotten a little wider when she had brought out the heavy guns. She knew she had the upper hand now.

“I’m still growing, but it’s decelerating. At least I should finally be able to buy some clothes that I’ll be able to wear longer than three months.”
«Tell as much as necessary to keep the shrink happy, tell as few as possible to keep Daria happy. I’ll need to wrap things up in some nice happy-go-lucky words.»

Daria shrugged, but her mask was still on. Her eyes left Ms. Manson for a short time to check up on Quinn.

“Door frames are a little low. And getting decent clothes is hard. Especially if you have only a budget for short term use.”

“We get along with our parents; there are no other siblings, mom and dad are ‘happily married’. Mom frequently works crazy hours, but makes sure Dad’s around. Both like a drink every now or then, but I haven’t seen any abuse.”
«Only if the extended family is gathered. And I’ll never tell you...»

«Either on the better side of normal or elaborated cover-up story.»
“Your home address isn’t in the trailer park, so I suppose the financial needs are taken care for as well. I suppose you’re both healthy, as I do not see any exemption from P.E. or other activities?”

«I think that is about all that I’ll get this way. Time for some separated questions to crosscheck.»
“I think we covered all topics that were suitable for a combined session. Daria, I’d like you to step outside and stay in the waiting area while I talk to Quinn. I’ll call you in later. Quinn, you want a cup of water from the cooler?”

Ms. Manson got up and moved towards the cooler, likely to get herself some water. Daria got up, picked up her backpack and headed to the door with well planned movements.

«That is bad. She spotted the weaker target, and is going to grill Quinn to get facts to use on me.»

She took a quick look over her shoulder into Quinn’s eyes, who was getting nervous again.

Daria watched Ms. Manson return from the water dispenser with two cups, as she closed the soundproofed door separating the office from the waiting area.

*****

Quinn felt very uncomfortable after Daria left the room and clung to the paper cup after she took a sip. She would have to be careful about some events.

“Well. Your sister is pretty close lipped. You seem to be much more communicative.”

«Talk about yourself, steer clear of Daria. Happy-go-lucky ...»
“I enjoy being around people, you know, sharing thoughts and such.”

«Translates to: gossip; no point beating around the bush.»
“So you like the attention coming with your height.”

“Yes, but I think my height is a little much. I can’t even wear platforms or heels, it just looks awful. And having only about three sets of clothes to choose from limits you so much. Getting any decent clothes in my size on a strict budget is sooo difficult. I’m so glad my growth is slowing down. Maybe I’ll get now what I’m missing in bust and hips to become perfect.”

Quinn made gestures at the mentioned parts of her body, moving her thin arms and fingers in graceful, flowing motions.

«No problems with self esteem here! And what is your problem with your body? You look good enough to be a model!»
“I understand that. But what about the attention?”

“Well, it is really nice to have all the guys looking at you, talk to you, do stuff for you or buy you gifts. And I really enjoy my modelling job, I like to teach people how to look perfect.”

«Someone really loves herself. And she already is a model. Ask about that later.»
“Aren’t you afraid of some guys forcing themselves unto you?”

Quinn’s smile dropped a little. That was an aspect that she preferred not to think too much about. She glanced at her fingers before she remembered Ms. Manson and continued carefully.

“Oh... No... Not really. I don’t date as much as I’d like to, and mom keeps really tight taps on me. Do you know how often I get that ‘No! You’re not even 15 yet!’? She sets rather tight rules and doesn’t let me date a boy whom she hasn’t met before. And, of course, there’s the group dynamics.”

“What do you think would happen if I hint, say at the football team, that some guy went rough on me? And beside that, mom made me take some self defence classes. I quit though, because all that sweating is icky. And bodily contact with those un-cute persons - ewwww. You didn’t even get to wear a nice sport dress, and if you weren’t really carefull, you got bruises! Bruises are so unfashionable and could permanently harm my complexion!”

«Oh. That’s smart - and devious... at least are you are aware of the problem. Likes things pristine. And that fashion-babble. Hmm, she didn’t mention her sister as a possible protector. Time to switch...»
“Those classes are not mentioned on your school records, so I take it that you attended some external classes.”

“That’s right, mom primarily wanted herself to attend the training and doing some bonding by attending them together seemed to be an additional benefit.”

Quinn noted her slip and immediately became alert; at least this did not concern her.

«Careful now, Quinn.»
“Yes, mom made both of us attend. Why would she bond with just one daughter if she could bond with both at the same time?”

«Good weird or bad weird? Ask later.»
“So what are your interests, besides being around people?”

«Full throttle now.»
“I like cute things! Like, puppies, stuffed animals, those suede shoes I saw at the mall last week, and those clothes they had at the last photo shoot were just adorable. I like music as well, but only if it’s performed by nice looking guys and does not distract the peoples’ attention from me.”

«Your looks may deceive, but you’re 14, no doubt.»
“And what kind of activities do you like?”

“Well, going to the mall to shop, I especially like browsing through the accessories department, there are so many accessories to chose from giving you so much combinations to look fashionable. And it’s really hard to avoid all those combinations that are unfashionable. You need constant updates to avoid fashion disasters. It’s like that live long learning thing. This is why I like watching fashion TV and read every Waif issue there is. And of course I like going to the movies, a nice restaurant or an amusement park with a guy. Or just hang out with my friends talking. I like people!”

«You mentioned that already. My head.»
“Well, ok. Did your size cause any health problems?”

“Naa, I just have to do some regular exercises, like physiotherapy. ‘Your muscles need to keep up with your skeleton’ the doctors said. I don’t like them, they get me sweaty and are boring, but mom and Daria are really on my back about this.”

*****

Daria grew nervous as time passed and Quinn was in the hot seat. She was unsure how well Quinn would control her blabbermouth. And what kind of ammunition she would hand to the shrink to use on her. Well, she couldn’t do anything about that right now. Depending on the consequences, she would have to talk to her mom about that.

The few magazines were halfway recent, but gardening and sewing magazines were not exactly to her interest. Or anybody else’s.

Luckily she had packed a paperback into her backpack that morning, as her textbooks would be handed out by the individual teacher through the course of the week.

«They allow music players as long as nobody else is bothered. I’ll have to remember mine for some privacy in the future.»

She fished the book out of her well-worn backpack, and immersed herself in Frisch’s ‘Homo faber’. She wasn’t sure whether Walter Faber should be considered blessed or cursed.

*****

«Darn, I thought I had her distracted. Now careful, Quinn.»
“OK I guess. She’s older, we have different interests and move in different circles. We don’t mesh much.”

“Yeah, Daria does her thing and I do my thing. You get good at ignoring each other if you grew up sharing a room. And Daria’s especially easy to ignore being busy reading and so.”

Despite her uneasiness about the topic Quinn managed to ad-lib some lez-affaire gestures.

“Huh? Why that? We’re both girls. Isn’t that something only boys would do?”

“That is a thing girls do all the same, but by slightly other means.”
«I take that as a ‘nay’ on violence. Maybe it was just respect for the ‘big sister’.»

“She’s my family. I’m not sure about ‘liking’, but I can tolerate her.”

«Keeping in mind that she’s just 14. Likely translates to ‘She mostly keeps to herself and does not bother me and I return the favor’.»
“Let’s move to another topic we skipped so far. Tell me a little about you father.”

“Well, he’s nice, really loves mom and us, runs a consultant business. He loves to cook but manages to wreck about every meal. Me and mom think he’s completely untalented at cooking, but don’t tell him. I think he has had a bad childhood, he frequently rants about Grandpa and his time at military school, but that got much better the last years.”
«Since he has a ‘son’ of his own. And she does not need to know that Daria is able to match him in that regard.»

“He’s self-employed and often does paperwork at home. So he’s around even while he’s working. He’s got call redirection and is trying to employ a part-time secretary, so he’ll not be stuck in his office.”

Ms. Manson looked at the clock above the door while she mentally reviewed the interview.

«I think most answers were truthful. No indication of violence. Rather normal parents that care for their children. Realizes that she looks incredibly good, but I think she ignores some of the possible side effects. Maybe on purpose. Healthy body with minor limitations due to growth. Gets sufficiently well along with her sister. Generally a little naive. Will have minor troubles fitting in, but not much. No problem here.»

“...I think we can end our interview at this point. It’s late enough already. I can currently not see any problems that would require me to report to Ms. Li...”

“..but I think I’ll inform the school nurse to talk to your parents again about your ability to attend P.E. Your records say ‘no restrictions’, but the school can’t take a risk with you doing physiotherapy.”

“I’ll give you a library pass, and you pass the 20 minutes to the next period in there before you join your first class at LH. I trust you to obey my instructions and not to cause any trouble.”

“OK. A bathroom break on the way won’t be a problem?”
«I need to make sure to look my best if I introduce myself. Shock and Awe!»

“No, and the next bathroom is on the right hand side of the hallway towards the main entrance.”

“You’ll be talking to Daria next?” Quinn asked as she stood, accepted the slip of paper Ms. Manson offered and put it in her backpack.

*****

Daria startled a little as she heard the office door open. She’d made little advance in her paperback, as her thoughts wandered towards the upcoming interview frequently.

A short eye contact with Quinn told her that no cataclysmic events had happened.

“Your sister is going to the library and join her classes at the start of the next period.”

Ms. Manson looked at Quinn who was reluctant to leave, but trotted away once she was spotted.

“I need to go back in there and take some final notes. Please wait another minute, I’ll call you in.”

«You waited until Quinn could not overhear that bit. You didn’t want us to talk. Especially not in private. What kind of mind games are you playing?»

She did not like being played. She did not like people snooping around in her life. She did not like the anger that started to build on the border of her consciousness.

*****

While Daria operated the cooler, Ms. Manson took a seat as well, shuffled her files and prepared her notepad. After Daria sat down Ms. Manson watched her take a sip, and looked her over.

«I can see the family resemblance. But her build is even more exceptional than Quinn’s. I would not like to meet her in a dark back alley. She’s assuming the most formal position the chair allows her, and is likely going to return to statue-mode. But even no body language tells me something: you do not want to tell my anything.»

«What’s she looking for? Attacking is the best form of defense.»
“Are you not going to mirandarize me?”

Daria shrugged.
“I respect other people’s privacy and expect them to do the same.”

“No details of whatever you are going to tell me will leave this room. I care about privacy.”
«My privacy.»

“I’m normal student with a flawless record. You only took 10 minutes for everybody else. So: Why the special treatment?”

If one knew were to look, one could have seen an impish little smile creep on Daria’s lips.

“When I was two I got a doll, it was filled with some kind of beans and was rather heavy. It was of green color and I really liked to have it with me everywhere, and so I took it everywhere. To the bathroom, to the living room, into the kitchen, to the garage, to the park, to the pool, to the hospital, to ....”

«Brat. That’s self-esteem class just for that. I pray you never ally with the latest Lane kid.»
“Daria.”

“You see, the county wants to make sure that every student can have fulfilling learning experience in a safe and sound environment. And because that includes caring for the students’ psychological health we have to get to know every student to spot possible problems on the horizon so we can work them out together.”
«I never thought Ms. Li’s newspeak could come handy some day.»

“I need to know you a little bit better than just from the records to make sure that you’re all right and will face minimum difficulties attending LHS.”

Ms. Manson underlined the ‘smart’ in ‘smartass’ on her note and put on her sweetest voice.

“So you’re not planning to challenge the authorities, necessitating parent-teacher conferences and alike? That is very wise if one wants to get out of high school without resentment and good prospects. So - tell me more about you.”

It took no genius to read between that lines. Daria’s shoulders slumped a little. Suppressing any body language would not matter any more.

«She has me. Involving Mom would be a...very bad idea.»
“You would settle for a sketch?”

*****

She had ducked into the restroom that Ms. Manson pointed out to her, relieved herself and checked her appearance in one of the mirrors. The restroom didn’t differ much from the ones at her middle school in Highland. The whole school wasn’t much different, only slightly bigger. The students made a more sane impression as well.

Still, facing her first class at high school under the given circumstances made her uneasy. At least the presence of older kids made sure that the height difference was not as incredible as it has been in her final middle school year.

She looked at her face reflected by the mirror, and automatically started to make some minor corrections to her sparse makeup. The trip to the psychologist with its uncertainties had made her nervous. It took less than five minutes to make all necessary corrections. After leaving the bathroom she headed towards the library. Navigating the empty hallways was easy, she remembered the way to the library from the initial tour. Only the faint voices of teachers and students behind the class room doors permeated the silence.

After entering she presented the pass to the librarian, who looked a little baffled at her, but courtly nodded to keep the silence. She could hear faint noises of one or two other visitors to the library, but otherwise it was empty. After a quick orientation Quinn headed to the easy chairs in the periodicals section and took a seat. Retrieving a map of Lawndale from her backpack, she started to familiarize herself with her new hometown. School. Home. Shortcut through that park? Mall. Pool. Another mall. Business district. City hall. City park. A gated community. ‘Dega Street’ had clubs. Eww - a landfill.

*****

More silence filled Ms. Manson’s office.Daria knew she was beaten. The rest of the interview would be rearguard action. But she relaxed a little. She would not have to hide that much anymore. Or be allowed to.

“About three years ago I was a tiny, scrawny kid. As tiny then as I’m big now. And then things got really weird. I grew a little in height, but grew tits and hips. One year later I look like one of these blow-up dolls. Then my real growth spurt started and I really got height and width. I looked like a guy, no hips, and my breasts looked like nice pecs with ‘unnatural’ large nipples. From there, I went to what I look now. 6’3" and about 190 pounds.”

“I think I have already talked every word that there is to talk about that matter. Three times.”

Ms Manson added ‘Has seen psychologist’ to her notes.
“Hm, Ok. I think I can assume most things from that information.”

Ms. Manson looked Daria over, who returned the glance with dull eyes. Her mask was still on, but not as tight as before. ‘Not happy with herself’ was the next line on the notepad.
“You hate the attention you’re getting most?”

“No, and because you’re going to ask it anyway, I hate being mistaken for a guy the most. At least currently.”

«Haven’t thought about that.»
“Oh. All right. Let’s take a short break here, I need to take some more notes, and you can help yourself to another cup of water.”

*****

The bell announcing the end of the current period broke Quinn’s concentration.

She packed the map away, strolled towards the door and steeled herself. It was time to face her audience. She would try to handle things the way she tried and tested at middle school. Be nice. Be natural. Fit in. Try to ignore the gawking. Control and steer the guys. Placate and befriend the girls. Find a somewhat similar clique that made herself stand out less. Minimize the involvement in extra curricular activities to free time for her modelling job. That was fun work, an opportunity to see fashion before it was in the stores and maybe a career. At least a start for a career.

Freshman science with Ms Barch was going to be her first class in high school - and the only one today. Locating the lab would be easy. Ms. Li’s tour had been comprehensive, and the room numbering was straight forward.

As the hallways filled with students, the show began. While only a few students saw her in the morning, she was now on full display. As expected, the student body was impressed by her appearance, and the crowds willingly formed an alley to gawk at her march to class. The gossip mill would be on overdrive from this moment on. She noted the looks on the students’ faces were looks of amazement. Adoration, envy, prejudices would take some time.

Without any holdups or getting lost, Quinn arrived at the science lab, automatically ducked through the doorway and approached the teacher.

*****

«Learning Spanish at an early age with Penny and studying with Trent really has its perks. Spanish is a breeze and does wonders for my GPA. I’m gonna join AP Spanish for sure next year. Whoa. Look at that.»

The tall girl walked towards her class, holding her class schedule in one hand and peeking at every doorplate she passed.

Miraculously, none of the students hurrying from class to class bumped into her. Instead, she was surrounded by a six foot circle that no student dared to enter. It moved with her, as if she wore a portable device generating a force field shielding her as only known from science fiction.

«She’s even taller than I remembered. She just dwarfs the people around her. And her graceful movements. She just has to have had training to walk like that. Ouch. That hurts.»

A little down the hallway, a guy walked straight into an open locker door as he was busy staring at the girl.

«A lot of people are staring at her. That includes me. I bet the noise level drops around her as well, because people are amazed speechless. I need to get moving, I don’t want to miss any of my art class. Damn, I want her as a model. Her legs just wont stop. And topped by the finest ... what am I thinking?! Must be turpentine withdrawal.»

Jane continued towards the arts and craft section and noticed the tall girl heading for one of the science labs. A science lab surrounded by suspiciously many freshman, which made the girl seem even taller.

A disturbed Jane Lane entered her art class and started mechanically to set up her equipment, wondering what was going on.

*****

Ms. Li had informed the teachers about the tall female transfer students. She had explicitly reiterated the maxim to single no student out - and to limit any staring and the like. However, hearing about it and seeing the real thing are two different things, as Ms. Barch found out. When she had learned that one of the students would be in her science class today, she was resolved to act nonchalant. But seeing Quinn duck through the doorway made her gawk at the girl anyway. When she approached her, she started to feel small.

“Are you Ms. Barch? Hello. I’m Quinn Morgendorffer and I’ve transferred in just today.”

Standing about three feet away, Ms. Barch had to tilt her head back a little to look Quinn in the eyes.

«That is going to take a while to get used to. Don’t ask any stupid questions.»
“Hello Quinn. I was told that I was going to have a new student. This is your set of text books, please sign for them over here.”

Ms. Barch presented a ballpen and a form to Quinn after pointing at a stack of books. Watching Quinn bend over to sign the form on the teacher’s desk, she took in Quinn’s curves.

«The desk looks so low compared to her. And she has the figure of at least a senior girl. That poor kid must be constantly approached by those lecherous male lowlifes. At her age, she’ll be a helpless prey to those bastards. I’ll have to protect her innocence by all means. I should ask her to attend my ‘Take back the Night’ class!»

More students entered the room, most of them taking a double take at Quinn who towered beside Ms. Barch.

«The unassigned seat in the center is not going to work. No one behind her will be able to see the chalkboard properly. Not that any of those primitive dickheads is going to pay any attention to the chalkboard if she’s in the line of sight. Hmm...»
“Ah, let me take a look at the seating plan. We’ll have to make some changes. You’ll take the seat in the back row to the right of the center aisle.”

She mentally redistributed the class’ male students to ensure that they had no opportunity to act on their perverted thoughts during class.

While Quinn walked towards her assigned seat, she faced the class and observed their reaction. All boys were looking silently at her, with expressions from wonderment to intimidation. The girls looked as well, but were whispering among themselves. The boy whose seat she was to occupy had a pleased grin on his face as she approached him and he got a closer look at her. That grin, however, vanished as soon as he stood up and noticed that she was at least five inches taller than he was.

Ms. Barch’s voice reminded him that he was treading dangerous ground. With a shrieking voice she started to orchestrate the permutation, and since the male students complied without complaining, she finished the procedure right with the start-of-class bell.

Next to Quinn sat a girl with with brown hair done in pigtails, who looked unbelieving at the new arrival.

Stacy was in an uproar. Intimidated. The women was not a model, she was not the new secretary, she was a new student. A freshman. She was sitting right beside her. And suddenly hundreds of little tiny dayglow arrows seemed to point at Stacy’s own imperfections. This news required an emergency meeting of the fashion club immediately after school, because her arrival would disturb the established pecking order to its core.

“OK. We’ve a new student among us. Her name is Quinn Morgendorffer, and she transferred in just today. Make her feel welcome at Lawndale High. And you males: eyes front!”

With those words Ms. Barch launched into her lecture on the electric field. Quinn took some notes, but carefully observed her class mates. Some girls were looking at her every now and then, and carefully whispering among themselves when Ms. Barch wasn’t looking. It was not hard to guess what would be the topic of their discussion. But no boys were stealing glances at her, or talking or exchanging notes.

«Strange, let’s find out whats up with that...come on, write something on the board. Now!»
“Hi, I’m Quinn. What’s up with the boys?”

The girl to her left startled a little, got wide eyed, immediately looked straight ahead and ignored her while edging to the left side of her seat to increase the distance between her and Quinn.

«That went really well.» Quinn thought dejectedly before she redirected her attention at the lecture.

*****

«OK, Daria’s problem is with herself, not with the others. And she’s a smartass.»
“Let’s continue, Daria.”

After Daria sat down, her pose was far less refined than it had been for the first part of the session. Ms. Manson took the lead again.

“Normal, I think. Mom’s ok but bugs me every now and then, but I think that is in the job description, and I get along well with dad.”

«Hmm, two alpha-females clashing a little?»
“How do you get along with Quinn?”

“We can get along, but I think our interests are too different in order not to bore the other out of her skull.”

“Quinn’s interests are boring. Fashion, dating, looking at cute things. With her modelling I see a little benefit in her occupation with fashion, but the rest... However, I think most people of our generation are that way.”

Daria made some fuzzy gestures. The relationship to her sister was some of the few things that did not cause problems. Ms Manson appended ‘Veryjudgemental’ to her notes.

«Good. She didn’t get that right.»
“Yes, it was a little over three years ago.”
«...that I started.»

“Those classes really improved my body coordination. You know, fast growth.”

Daria gestured at her body and thought about the training’s additional benefits for her mental balance.

“We haven’t covered your father. You say you get along with him, so what do you do?”

“Mostly just hang out. Reading the newspaper. Cooking. Doing housework.”
«And the fun things we did that made mom mad at us. I enjoyed that as much as dad, no matter what mom thought.»

“He has had a complicated childhood that he’s never going to forget, but he goes to great lengths to make sure our family life is healthy.”

Even if Daria never told it to her father she was really appreciating his efford.

«No severe contradictions to her sisters statements. That will do.»
“I think we can end the interview now, we covered all important bases. I’ll let you head out in a minute, but I think there is no point in sending you to class for the last 35 minutes of the day.”

“I think you’ll have few problems while attending school here. However, ...”

“...from what you told me it is obvious that you have some issues.”
«Issues with authority, for example.»
“LHS offers a special class for students with self-esteem and body image issues. It’s a four week course an hour per day after school and you will really profit from attending it.”
«It will give you enough time to think of the way you approach people - people like me.»

Ms. Manson took some notes and Daria tried to come to terms with her predicament. Ms. Manson started to explain while still writing.

“The class’ cycle starts today, so you’ll need to stay in order to get it over with in a timely fashion. Here’s a hall pass, you can head over to the class room immediately and wait there for the start of the class. Your book should last that 40 minutes.”

“I’ll have the office inform your parents immediately, and I will inform Mr. O’Neill about your addition to the class roster. And I’ll make sure your sister is informed and gets home.”

«You still don’t see who has more pull here, do you. Well, I can arrange another cycle for you later on...»
“Considering that it’s for your benefit I doubt they will once I explained it to them.”

Daria’s small voice did not fit her large frame. She was not happy about getting an additional freak label stuck on to her, but being honest with herself she knew as well that she had still open issues. She would be the big freak anyway. Maybe it wouldn’t matter at all.

“Here’s a hall pass to head for the class room. I trust you to wait there without supervision until the class starts. Don’t betray that. I’ll inform everybody.”

Daria accepted the paper and slid it into her backpack. She nodded at Ms. Manson and was not sure whether the trust was heartfelt or just a tactical maneuver to placate her. She got up as Ms. Manson’s shuffling of papers made clear that the session was finished.

“Goodbye, Daria, and have a pleasant stay at LHS. And I want you to remember that it is my job to help students.”

“Goodbye, Ms. Manson.”
«Yes, and you really love your job. You just love to wield your shrink powers over the students’ heads and beat them into nice tiny malleable proles. You’re an ideal candidate for the MiniLove, did you already file your application?»

«She’s smart, does not like authority. Need to keep an eye on her. I would feel safer if she had another body. Something petite, little more than 5’ and around 105 pound. And the smarts to comply to her superiors. Yes, I would really like that.»

*****

Daria closed the door to the office from the outside, and felt more relieved than she would have expected. The anger about the additional freak label did not subside, but faded a little into the background.

She had memorized the room number, and as LHS had a simple layout, locating the room was no problem. On the way through the empty hallways she stopped at a restroom she passed by and relieved herself from the water she had drunk during the interview. She checked herself in the mirror above the sink, and decided to quickly freshen her face.

She just left the restroom and continued on her way when somebody ran into her at a hallway crossing. The scrawny guy with hair as red as her sister’s and lots of freckles just bounced off of her and fell to the floor.

“Here.”
He took the hand Daria offered him, got up without really looking at her and immediately made a beeline towards the boys rest room.

“Dude, I’m sorry, but I really really gotta go.” were his words before the restroom door closed behind him.

«That would be three, but he didn’t say it either. Dad’s going to win this one. I just didn’t meet enough people today. Maybe I can double the bet for tomorrow - then I’ll win for sure.»

Daria didn’t stall on her way to the class room, and arrived shortly after at her destination. The room wasn’t locked, so she entered, turn on the lights, and took a chair in the center of the room. She didn’t feel like reading, so she just put her backpack on her desk, put her arms around it and slumped over it, using it as a pillow to relax until this class began. Some of her hairs got stuck somewhere on her jacket, so she removed the hair band holding her brown mane in its small ponytail and used her hands to brush it free.

With her face shielded by her arms and her hair from the ceiling lights she nodded a bit and contemplated the day. It really nagged her to be forced into this class. Her physique made her enough of an outcast, she didn’t need her psyche to add to that. She was a little angry with herself that the shrink had been able to maneuver her into such a position. She was really cunning. Why did this of all schools to have a psychologist with a power complex? She got little more agitated, and started to think of other things to calm herself.

The new home’s kitchen was nice. Much bigger than the old one, and the appliances were much better. Cooking there would be more enjoyable. She suspected she’d to be cooking far more often than in the old home. With mom’s new job she would be home even less than before. And as her cooking was the most agreeable, it was highly probable that she would have to feed the household.

«Maybe I can work out a deal with mom and dad for a car once I turn 16. I’ll need to shop for groceries. And I’ll cook only on the condition that I get a say in the shopping. Otherwise it’s going to be kitchen sink stew every day.»

*****

Before Ms. Manson handed her reports on the new students to the secretary for filing, she entered Ms. Li’s office to report to her first. This was always wise in case of required corrections to the facts.

Ms. Manson knew that Ms. Li did not like people who wasted her time, so she got right to the point.

“You’re right. I’ll make the rest short. The other four students were normal: disoriented, demotivated and dejected. They will fit nicely into our student body. One boy likely does some weed, I think I smelled some of that stuff on his clothes. Why do kids wear such baggy sacks today? Anyway, he seemed harmless so I just sent him to the self-esteem class for further monitoring.”

Having drug sniffing dogs on the premises made sure that the school did everything to shield the students from that problem. Ms. Le knew that they would just toke up elsewhere. And elsewhere was someone else’s problem - not hers.

“Well, the stoners don’t cause any trouble as long as they do not bring anything on school premises. And hardly ever complain about anything. If they’d be a lot more motivated and willing to work, they would be decent students. The Morgendorffer girls are really impressive, aren’t they?”

Ms. Manson worked through the list she had mentally prepared before entering the office.

“Indeed, they really stick out. Both well above six foot, and they look very mature for their age. They are a mixed bag. Both are not entirely happy with their body, but who is. Quinn, the younger one, has adjusted quite well and I don’t expect any trouble from her. The older one, Daria, however has at least a problem with authority. I sent her to self-esteem class just for stubborn self-determined behavior during the interview. She clearly needs an attitude adjustment.”

“It’s a pity the PTA did not approve the electro shock therapy, that would have made dealing with those cases much easier. And I already had a really good deal with the FSB for some second hand devices. Well, the THz imaging devices weren’t bad either. Did you know Coach Gibson has a pacemaker and Ms. Barch wears a loop?”

That was rather interesting information, but Ms. Manson would not dare to blab that tidbit. She did neither know nor dare to find out what Ms. Li’s records contained on herself.

“Ae, no. TMI. Well, about Daria. She’s smart, butthe threat with involving her parents worked. I have the distinct feeling should keep an eye on her. And she’s really intimidating, physique-wise. We should make sure she’s occupied with something. Sports?”
«Football. As team mascot. Chained to the wall of the boys’ locker room.»

“Of course! That would distract her, consume her energy, and depending on her abilities, could bring glory to Laaaaaaawndale High.”

Ms. Manson knew Ms. Li’s way to run things. Making suggestions to Ms. Li’s liking was not difficult.

“But I suggest we set up something that makes her resort to violence, and withhold the evidence - just in case. And we should make sure that she does not team up with that Lane girl. That would be troubling.”

“Hm, why? We have her under close monitoring there. She should be in class already.”

Ms. Li gave a wicked little smile. Ms. Manson had made another slip. Another entry in Ms Li’s little black book.

“Yes. But the Lane girl starts her seventh cycle today. This makes sure they meet, and given their dispositions, this increases the likelihood of them teaming up dramatically.”

“Darn. I missed that.”
«This is so going to come back and bite me. Either by Daria, or by Ms. Li. Or by both.»

Ms. Li decided to calm Ms. Manson. Really frightened employees weren’t as productive as the ones just intimidated.

“We can’t change that anymore. And it is just one alternative of many. Maybe Daria was just defensive.”

“Hmm, possible. She’s a loner. Maybe she’ll just stick to herself and keep her head low. Well. As much as is possible for her.”

*****

Jane Lane put her easel back into the storage room as another much-too-brief art class ended. The unknown tall students had been the single topic of all the chatter during class, but even the rumor mill had no information beyond ‘a boy and a girl, tall and hot’. She left the class without her usual talk with Ms. DeFoe, the art teacher, in order to move to her seventh cycle in the self-esteem class.

The hallways had cleared quickly after the last bell. The jocks headed to their training, and all sane students home, or to work, or in general anywhere else but school. Some clubs had their meetings, but generally the school was empty. And the school psychos gathered in the self-esteem class.

When she entered the class room, she could not believe her eyes. The tall cutie sat at a desk in the center of the room, slumped over his backpack. His hair was free and covered his face.

«Thank you God, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, Great Green Arkleseizure and whatever else is out there. Thanks for that first-row seat. I’ll never get a better chance!»

*****

Through her half closed eyes under her hair Daria watched the first other students arrive at the class room. The students distributed themselves equidistantly in the class room.

«Like electrons on a conducting plane. Welcome to Losers Anonymous, my name is Daria and I’m a loser. What a BS.»

A girl hurriedly entered the room, looked around and purposeful occupied the seat immediately behind her. It wouldn’t be long until the brainwashing would commence.

*****

Jane made a beeline for the unoccupied seat directly behind him. Which regulars would show up again and which wouldn’t, what new freaks would be there as involuntary models for sketching and whether Mr. O’Neill would tell something different this time didn’t matter to Jane anymore. Her seventh cycle through self-esteem class had suddenly became a huge success.

«What is he doing here? Hmm, I think they prescribed him an attitude adjustment. Maybe too much of an outsider. Kind of like me. He could be a little on the wild side. Or just stubborn. I bet things are never boring around him. I could really like that.»

Jane smirked inwardly as she took his body in. On autopilot she had fetched her sketchbook and a pencil from her bag and filled a page with a study of his prone form. His hair was brown, thickish and had a pleasant natural wave in it. It hid his face efficiently, but she could spot an earpiece of a pair of glasses poking out of his hairdo.

«Not long enough to be really girly, but longer than most guys are comfortable with. Well, barring those shags some of the metal heads wear. Yuk. I suppose pulled back with a hair-band as it has been before lunch it won’t even hinder him at sports.»

Jane’s thoughts were interrupted by Mr. O’Neill entering the classroom with some notes under his arm. He wore his usual friendly-colored shirt, slacks and his permanent saccharine smile. On that, the boy sat up and with swift, gracile motions of his hands pulled his hair back and fixed it with his black hair-band that he had secured around his left wrist. Sitting directly behind him, Jane wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of his face.

«Whow! For any girl that is one of the ultimate ‘come hither’ routines. Welllll, it’s working on me. Maybe he has a sister he took lessons from. ‘Ten perfect ways to lure a guy into a trap – but they work on girls as well. Bisexual beckonings, next on Sick, Sad World’»

“Welcome to our self-esteem class students! In this class we’ll explore our feelings and discover a whole new world!”

Mr. O’Neill started the class as usual. The guy fetched something from his backpack, likely a notepad and a pen.

*****

«That guy is talking complete and utter gibberish. ‘Realizing your actuality’. I have no clue what could be important and what not. And his voice is so...calming. He should market recordings against insomnia. This sounds so damn memorized, I bet it’s straight out of some psych book. A yellow ‘Teenagers’ psychosis for dummies’. I’d better search for it to get a real chance to pass the test the first time.»

Daria took some more notes of extremely prolific phrases that should give her enough hints to dig out the book. Looking at the two other students in her direct field of vision she concluded that further attention was not required and tuned the man’s voice out and began to reminisce about the summer gone by and the things she had seen.

*****

Jane finished another sketch, depicting him from behind throwing a javelin. It looked like a greek statue, and was of course nude as a greek statue. And it gave a pretty good impression what he could look like under his clothes.

«OK then. Staring at him will give me some nice ideas for tonight, but not help in the long run. I need to do something to get his attention before the girls line up. What’s the worst that could happen? A ‘Sorry, but I already have a girlfriend. Now get lost.’ would be unpleasant, but... Even if I can’t catch him, I could still be his friend. Maybe he can introduce me to another guy like him.»

«A simple ‘Hi!’? How creative. ‘Hi, I’ve all the answers to the exam, like my help?’ Sounds like a total brainiac. He’s likely to have girls all over him. I need to stick out of the crowd. I need to write something that proudly says ‘Jane Lane’. Artistic. Rebellious. Hmmm. A little provoking ...»

Jane was happy with her work. Writing had never been one of her strong points. But this would definitely start a conversation between them, and give her a head start over all other girls to get to know him. The choice of words would be explained and accredited to her artistic expression.

*****

A further while into the class Daria was disturbed in her thoughts by something poking into her back. Given its flexibility and the faint sounds it emitted, it was most likely a note. Unsure about the local tolerance for note passing and the like, she pondered what to do. The lack of reaction from the guy mad Jane nervous.

«Come on, take it. It’s likely neither a bomb nor anthrax laced! Don’t be one of these brainwashed rule abiding fellow travellers trying to stick to every rule ever uttered. You’re to big too successfully brown nose...»

Openly accepting it was no option for Daria. Ignoring it was, well, safe but impolite. So she opted for a stealth approach. Once Mr O’Neill’s attention was focussed to the far side of the classroom, she brought her arm behind her back and presented to Jane’s relief an open palm.

«Ah, here we go. Look at that paw. I bet he gives massages like a pro. Pleaseplease pretty please...»

Daria carefully brought her hand to her front. The note still hidden, she wondered if she had done a smart thing. Gathering her courage, Daria waited for an opportunity to read the letter unnoticed by the teacher.

«Please, no profession of undying love. No ‘Get lost freak!’. A simple ‘Hi, what’s your name I’m ...’ please.»

The note, however, read ‘Hi hunk, I’m Jane Lane. Have a vacancy for a cute and flexible girlfriend? XXX’.

The lines barely covered the blunt proposition, but despite her reputation Jane was not the kind of girl that was engaging in activities involving flexibility. Well, not yet. But she really enjoyed the window shopping, and she was currently working hard to get her hand on a bargain deal. She observed his reaction closely, as he read the lines.

Daria groaned mentally. «‘Hunk’. Two. And this one I have in writing. Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo.»

Daria felt her anger rising. She hated being mistaken for a boy. Not for the fact, but for the hurt. And that did hurt. The first contact during a ‘regular’ class, and the same old story again. Quinn would never have to bear this. That hussy behind her couldn’t even have seen her face. She started to control herself. Blowing up wouldn’t do any good. The girl had for sure no ill intent. And was in for a rude awakening herself.

Jane was not sure about his non-reaction. He didn’t even turn around to evaluate the goods offered. But he didn’t laugh either.

«He can’t be gay! That would be such a waste! That would be divine injustice for womankind! Maybe he’s thinking of a polite refusal. Or mentally shuffling his dates to fit me in.»

Daria fit the pieces together. ‘Jane Lane’ was the name of the black haired, lanky girl that occupied the seat behind her. And she likely hadn’t picked that seat for visual cover, but for a close view.

Jane Lane considered herself cute and was rather straight forward. She was obviously not in this class for any self-esteem issues. She said she was flexible, but her tall look did not fit a gymnast. More likely somebody from track-and-field. Daria couldn’t recall much more, she hadn’t paid enough attention.

«That’s some mighty bold proposition. Aren’t you afraid that you could be called on it as bluntly?»

While Mr. O’Neill droned on, Daria worked on a soft way to let this Jane Lane down, and what she’d to tell a psychologist about this episode.

*****

“Now, guys, I’ve got a little challenge for you. Today we talked about turning your daydreams into reality. Tonight, I want each one of you to go home and do just that. What do you say? Um... you.”
Mr O’Neill said and pointed at Daria.
“What’s a daydream that you’d like to see come true?”

Jane Lane was too occupied with her own thoughts to really hear the boy’s voice when he answered. She became alert, maybe she’d get another chance.

His voice was not as deep as Jane expected, but while it was soft, its presence filled the room. Still, something stroke Jane as odd. Maybe he had a cold. No kissy-kissy tonight. At least he had her sense of humor, and enough backbone to voice it.

“Uh... it’s healthy to air these feelings... I think. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow. Class dismissed.”

Mr O’Neill ended the class right on the bell, collected his notes and followed the quicker students outside. Daria steeled herself for the things to come.

In exception to her usual habits, Jane did not hightail out of the class room, but remained seated and watched the boy putting his things into his backpack. As he rose, Jane rose as well.

«Time for the truth. Pretty please, all you higher beings. Let him say yes, and I’ll sacrifice you a pizza as a burnt offering. A fresh one, not one of those out of the back of our freezer. Hell, just don’t let him say No.»

As the boy rose, it hit Jane how tall he really was. Taller than Jesse, taller than Trent. Compared to him, Trent was a stick. And then he turned. His army jacket, covered the most impressive set of pecs Jane had come across so far.

“Look, Jane Lane. My name is Daria, and beside this sorry excuse for a class we have two more things in common: We’re both girls and we both like boys. Good luck applying elsewhere.”

Daria delivered her explanation with practiced ease, turned, and set course for home. Watching the puzzlement of those who were mistaken had lost its novelty a long time ago. Having to repeat what she’d say was not exactly exciting either. And the usual lame excuses did nothing for her.

«Quinn, thank the gods that you’ll never have to go through this. This is so humiliating it hurts.»

*****

Jane Lane was rooted to the floor. Her mind had acquired some information, but refused to process it and thus stalled all higher brain functions. After her brain rebooted itself, Jane noticed that she was the last person in the class room. Even he was gone. She. What had happened? Jane opted to deal with it her usual way. Run home. Change. Run some more. She was good at running away problems.

*****

The Fashion Club after school emergency meeting was in full swing. Stacy had initiated the phone conference as soon as she arrived home to inform her fellow club members of her new findings about the tall girl. The fact that she was in freshman class made an impact like a bomb. This was so in violation of all known laws of nature.

“Gee, Stacy, that’s not a very unusual name, but a very uncute name. Is her face equally uncute?”

“No, Sandi, she’s so, like, perfect. Flawless, even complexion with small pores. A cute nose. Sparsely but skillfully applied makeup. And her hair color is natural, I couldn’t spot any roots showing.”

Stacy hurried to give more precise information.
“Yes, Ms. Barch had to take a step back to be able to look her properly in the eyes. And when she walked over, I felt soooo small. She must be 6’2", may be even more!”

“Ah, Stacy, for sure you overlooked the heels she was wearing. Like those four inch heels those streetside workers wear. Not that I’d know what they look like.”

“No, Sandi, she wasn’t even wearing any heels, just plain sneakers. But her legs go on, like, for miles. And...and...and...”

Once she started to sound like a broken record, Stacy needed to be nudged like one - and Sandi was happy to do so.
“Yes Stacy. I don’t have, like, time all day. Tell us, or is your memory deteriorating?”

“Her figure’s so perfect. So mature. At least like a senior girl. The distinct hips that have a perfect sway as she walks. Her breasts are prominent, but not ostentatious. And the perfect curves in between.”

Sandi knew that Stacy had to be exagerating, and only one possible reason came to her mind.
“What, Stacy, are you going to tell me that you’re switching teams next?”

Ever since a girl had made a rather blunt pass at her, lesbianism was nothing Tiffany would tolerate.
“Ewwww, Stacy. That is sooooo unfashionable.”

Sandi was not sure what to make of Stacy’s description. Stacy felt inferior to about everybody. And that Quinn girl having a senior girl’s figure did not matter either. Even if she had been only two weeks at Lawndale High she had decided that none of the senior girls did measure up to her. And those guys who would prefer one of the senior girls over the Fashion Club weren’t dateworthy to begin with.

“Gee Stacy, you make it sound as if we should consider her as a potential member of the Fashion Club. That is something that I’ll have to evaluate carefully.”

“Anoooother member?” Tiffany asked, knowing that Sandiconsidered her expandeble.

Stacy was happy that Sandi made the suggestion that she had not dared to make.
“YES! I mean, yes Sandi. We should consider this. Wouldn’t it be nice to have another girl to discuss current fashions with?”

“Well, Stacy, I’ll have to see for myself if your eyes didn’t deceive you. Any further findings?”

“Of course she did. With a degenerated body like that she is likely to get no dates at all. I mean, what sane boy would date a lamp post? Are there any news on the guy we spotted this morning?”

“No, Sandi. He was seen taking the tour with the group of new students, but I have heard nothing about him attending any classes or anything else.” Stacy reported as was her duty.

“That is not much information, but I believe I can not expect any better from you, Stacy. Anything else? No? OK, lets do an additional color coordination meeting tomorrow before school at the usual time and place. Meeting adjourned.”

Sandi smiled a little at herself as she put the phone down. Maybe somebody had arrived that was an opponent - not a victim. She had ordered her troops to stand by so she would be ready to face her down.

*****

Quinn went home alone. She and Daria had forgotten to arrange a meeting point and time for this, so she had waited 5 minutes at the school’s main exit. Someone from the office informed Quinn that Daria would be late, and had told her to go home alone.

The strange girl from her science class left the room at the sound of the bell like greased lightening. Quinn was sure she hadn’t offended her, so maybe she was just shy. She gave that vibe. Her other classmates had stared at her, but steered clear of her. At least after the the teacher left the class room, some of the boys looked at her as she left the room.

«What a weird day. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Daria after she took that stupid psych test. Well, a test is a test and Daria outsmarted the quack for sure. With the older students around high school feels much more comfortable than middle school. I don’t stick out as much. It’s bad in my freshman class though. And Daria didn’t pave the way for me as she did in middle school. She had the undivided attention as the school freak back then. Well, she dealt well with it.»

Arriving home, Quinn noted the empty driveway. Despite their promise to be home when the girls came in from their first day at the new school both of her parents were still at work. She unlocked the door and entered her still unfamiliar new home. After hanging up her coat she put her backpack down at the bottom of the stairs and headed over to the kitchen. Rummaging through the well stocked refrigerator she picked up a ultra low fat yoghurt and ate it in silence at the kitchen counter. The locked door, and the missing jacket hinted at Daria still being away.

Daria was still not home when she heard her mother’s urban assault vehicle arrive in the driveway.

“Hello girls, I’m back. Sorry I’m late, but the traffic’s much worse than I expected. I bet your father has the same problem.”

“OK, I guess. I only attended a single real class. We first got a tour of the school by the principal and than had to talk to the school psychologist which was totally pointless. The class was unfamiliar, and the girl I tried to talk to wouldn’t talk back so I think she’s shy. Besides I got stared at a lot.”

“Well, that was to be expected. It’s the same as it was with Daria in middle school. How are you faring?”

“No problems so far. I had minimal interaction with the other students, and they just asked the obvious ‘How tall are you?’. The secretary is a little slow, she mistook Daria for a boy even though she had her records at hand.”

“Ah, that’s bad, Daria doesn’t take that well. I bet she bet with your Dad on it, didn’t she.... Where’s Daria?”

“She’s not home yet, we forgot to agree to meet after school and I didn’t spot her at the main gate, so I walked home alone. Someone from the office said she would be late.”

As expected, the answering machine was flashing. Helen played back the single message and walked back into the kitchen.

“That was your principal. Daria has to take a self-esteem course after school. I was hoping she was beyond that stage. And they asked for an OK for you to participate in PE. I’m going to write you a ‘OK’ slip later on, Quinn.”

“Quinn, language! Four years ago I would have been sure. But now ... I just don’t know about her. Well, she didn’t get into any trouble and maybe it will help her a little. Maybe she can make some friends there.”

“Who knows that kind of psychos are collected there. What’s for dinner, mom?”

“Hmm, I’m too exhausted to start any serious cooking and Daria and Jake are late. I guess I’ll just put one of these frozen lasagnas into the oven.”

Quinn smiled inwardly. That was the most serious cooking her mother had been doing ever sice Daria had joined in on her father’s cooking adventures. And in contrast to her father, Daria produced quite tasty meals. A little too rich for Quinn’s taste, but she simply ate what she liked.

“I’m going upstairs, mom. I’ll have a look at my new textbooks - I need to make up for the last two weeks.”

*****

A tall glass of tap water in her hand, a freshly showered Jane sat at the Lane’s kitchen table and stared off into space. She prefered OJ after a run, but there wasn’t any in the fridge. Her training gave her time to process the day’s events. She had seriously drooled after a girl. There was no way of denying that. And she couldn’t even get the images out of her mind after she found out the ‘he’ was a ‘she’. She remembered her brief and concise statement only in pieces. She had said her name, but Jane could not recall it.

She could however recall clearly the impressive chest that had presented her as the girl turned towards her. And Jane still was curious what it would feel like under her fingers. Or those eyes, that had seemed to look straight into her soul. Those lips, that seemed so kissable.

«God damn it, Jane. A Girl a girl a girl. You need a guy for those kind of activities. Even if she looks like a guy, she’s still a girl. And you like boys. And she does, too. I remember she said that.»

Later Trent entered the kitchen and headed to the fridge. He noted Jane, but she sat unmovingly at the table, most likely beat from her run. Opening the fridge he noted its state. Empty. Uhoh, he had been supposed to get groceries today.

No run could exhaust Jane enough to stop her from chewing him out for not doing this chore. He noted the water in her glass. Jane was obviously troubled. He sat down at the table across from her and watched her for a while.

Trent provided an opening for Jane to open up. She would have to do the rest. He continued to watch her to spot any hints indicating her predicament. The absence of tear marks and red eyes somewhat relieved him.

Jane was opening up. However, he’d never seen her so troubled by guy problems up to now. As her brother, he didn’t like guys around her, but he knew...

“A total hunk. Tall. Broad shoulders. Dreamy hair. Wicked appearance. Sweet voice. Material from a dream. A wet dream. He’s in self-esteem class as well.”

Trent smiled a little. Jane just had it bad. He couldn’t wait to see the paintings and sketches to come. Jane stood up, walked over to her backpack that was slumped at the bottom of the stairs and retrieved her sketchbook. She opened it to the sketches she did in self-esteem class and tossed it over to Trent. He looked at it, and accredited the greek statue to Jane’s vivid imagination.

Trent’s smile instantly dropped from his face. He became alert, as he feared the possible implications. Jane noted his reaction.

Trent raised an eyebrow. He would have laughed at it if it wasn’t troubling Jane.

“I like guys. I know she’s a girl. But I still want to know how it feels to be hold in those strong arms. Feel those glorious pecs. Argh, tits, tits, tits. God, I’m so disturbed.”

Trent was not impressed. When he had been rummaging through the attic some years ago he had come across some pictures his father had taken during his parents’ hippie days. Pictures that no child should ever be exposed to. He knew for sure that his mother had been ‘sexually non preferential’. He was open about these things. If Jane’s nature was that way, so be it.

“Look, you’re upset. You had high hopes, tried, things didn’t work out. Sleep on it, and rethink it tomorrow.”

“Sleeping is your solution to everything, Trent! God, I’ll never be able to look her straight in the eyes.”

«What must the girl feel like - being mistaken for a guy, and bluntly propositioned. But Jane doesn’t need that guilt right now. Maybe I can distract her a little. Change the subject - with a hammer...»

“The fridge’s still empty. I’m gonna ride to Food Lord. Wanna tag along?”

Jane sighed and considered Trent’s offer. His try at distracting her was obvious, but working. She needed to get her mind of the whole mess.

“Yeah. At least then I can make sure you’re buying what you’re supposed to. And that you don’t fall asleep testing the demonstration lawn chairs.”

“Right, right. Get your stuff, we’ll head out. By the way, we’ll stop for pizza on the way back and you’re gonna pay.”

Jane and Trent rode in silence. Currently just being there for her was the best thing he could do. A sexuality crisis. Why did he have to deal with that - this was his parents’ job. But a job they didn’t care about. The memories from the visit to the OB/GYN still haunted Trent. Janey had gotten her first period, nobody beside him had been around, and being male he had had not the slightest clue what to do. So he had taken her to the doctor. A 18 year old guy with a 12 year old girl visit the OB/GYN. He could still fell the stares. He had expected to be arrested as soon they left the doctor’s practice. After being tarred and feathered. But Janey was well.

*****

As Daria arrived at her new home, both of her parents’ cars stood in the driveway. There was a garage, but it was still filled with boxes that nobody cared to unpack since the move a week ago. Daria was not sure how her parents would react on her late arrival and felt a little uneasy as she opened the door and announced her presence.

Daria hung up her jacket as the salutations emerged from the kitchen. She put her backpack down at the bottom of the staircase and entered the kitchen.

Her mother was by the oven looking at something inside, while her father set the table. Quinn was out of sight.

“They put you in the self-esteem class after a psyche test. There was a call on the answering machine, so we didn’t have to worry. Want to tell me about it?”

“Hmm, maybe later at the table. I won’t have to tell things twice that way. Dad?”

Daria fished two crumpled five dollar bills from her wallet that she took out of the back pocket of her jeans. The thought of lying and pocket a tenner never crossed her mind.

«Kiddo my ass.»
“It wasn’t exactly fair. I wasn’t in any regular class today, so I had next to no exposure. Double the bet for tomorrow?”

“Ok, you’re on.”
Jake was not happy about it, but it would provide him with another opportunity to sneak Daria a 10 without giving Helen the opportunity to object.

“Jake. Daria. You know I do not like you gambling. Especially on such matters. Daria, Quinn told me about that stupid secretary, but what do you mean by ‘in writing’.”

Daria retrieved the note from her jacket’s pocket. She had not had the nerve to throw it away. And she somehow admired the artsy bluntness of the note. She handed it over the kitchen counter to her mother.

“Let me put it this way. If I were into girls, I would have gotten lucky tonight.”

Quinn had heard the increase in conversation downstairs and came down on her own, expecting her sister to be back. Daria’s last statement was the first she could make out clearly.

“How’s that?” she asked from the bottom of the stairs and walked over to her mother, who still held on to the note. Quinn read it over her mother’s shoulder, which was an easy feat for her even though her mother was standing upright.

“Oh. Whoa. I always thought just guys would be so...” That Jane Lane gal had some nerve. She’d have a serious talk with her.

“How did you react?” Helen asked Daria. She didn’t need her daughter to scare people on the first day at school.

“I got the note during class, so I had plenty of time to think of an answer. I just pointed the facts out to her. You know I hate doing this.”

Quinn’s question sidetracked Daria. She had hardly looked at this Jane Lane. What was Quinn trying to get at? She shrugged.

Helen tried to keep the conversation on track as long as Daria was in a particularly communicative mood.

“The teacher recites some feel-good babble from some book he memorized. Today was about ‘actualizing your reality.’. Or was it ‘realizing your actuality’? Something along those lines.”

“And why did you get sent there? You do not exactly lack self-esteem and are quite able to assert yourself.”

“You know my dislike for shrinks. I guess my lack of cooperation ticked that quack a little. I told her as little as possible.”

«Mom does not need to know all the details.»
“She had to point to the county’s regulations to make me talk. And I stuck to the bare essentials.”

“I think her problem is that I think by myself and don’t simply do as I’m told to.”

Jake knew that his daughter was not free of psychological issues. Maybe that school shrink had better instincts than Daria expected.

“Completely sure. You know I had my fill of talks with shrinks. I know the experts’ opinion is that my ‘body image’ is not well, but I also know that I do not lack self-esteem.”

“Hmm, if you are sure that is a ridiculous reason to send you to some class that is of no use for you? I can call that principal and ...”

«Hell no!»
“Mom. No. No way. Look, it might be unfair, and your offer is well-meant. But I’d rather sit through that course before I got another label stuck to me. Please.”

«That’s you as well: Endure in silence. I expected you to have learned a different lesson in the past.»
“Well, Daria, that’s up to you, but you’re wasting your time in that class. And sending you there as a punishment is wrong to begin with. Do you really not...”

“Maybe she can even learn a little bit in that course, Helen. And it’s not like it’s going to make things worse.”

«I wonder if you would accept the help if the offer came from your father...»
“Well, it’s your choice and your time. I think you should really consider lying through your teeth as an option when it comes to situations like that. You are smart enough to pull it off.”

“I know. And you made your trade-off. Four weeks after school classes instead of lying.”

“Well, I really should consider it. I don’t have to start making a living of it.”

«Ouch, that could get ugly. Helen, why do you poke Daria when she is irked already?»
“Quinn, what people did you meet during your first class in high school?”

“I tried to talk to the girl beside me in science class. She was really cute and I thought we could be friends. But she clammed up, so I guess she isshy. That class was generally weird. All the guys just sat there like statues...”

As Quinn prattled on, Jake went over to Daria, put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. Hurt. Anxiety. He just saw it.

“It’s going to work out. Just give them some time.” Jake muttered to comfort Daria before he returned to the table. Quinn looked sadly at the scene, but went on.

The dinner was unspectacular. Quinn and Daria told about the school’s facilities, and Daria did not fail to mention the existence of the gym to her parents and announced she would be checking it out.

«I knew you would not let me get out of my excercise. With mom and dad primed, it’s a done deal.»

Daria complained about the quality of the school’s cafeteria food, and hinted at preparing a lunch at home if the first day indicated the permanent quality. Quinn felt seriously relieved. If Daria did it for herself, she would not get around preparing a lunch for Quinn as well. And Daria’s food was good.

Helen and Jake told about their first day at work, and the lasagna was finished quickly. As the conversation continued, Jake stood up and got himself a can of beer from the fridge. After he closed the door, he squinted at the family planner that was affixed to its front. He reopened the fridge and got another can out, put both on the counter top and wrote something on the planner. Helen glared at him as he popped one of the cans and took a swig. He walked back to the table and put the second can in front of Daria.

“Helen, she’s had a hard day. Her last one was more than three weeks ago.”

Jake sat down again, and Helen knew that the final word on that matter had been spoken.

Quinn watched Daria reach for the beer.
«Yeah, and my day was all fun and giggles, Daddy, so I don’t need any comfort...»

Daria popped the can as well and took a little swig. Then she got up and began loading the dishwasher. With the convenience food, this task was completed in an eyeblink. Meanwhile Quinn excused herself to her room, and so did Daria once the kitchen looked decent again while her parents gently talked among themselves. Her beer in hand she stopped upstairs by Quinn’s room, knocked and entered the pink universe. It was a mystery to her where Quinn had located a canopy bed in extra long. She wordlessly offered the can to Quinn, knowing that it was not smart to hog such privileges. Especially as long as Quinn declined to take her up on the offer.

That warning told, Daria closed the door and retreated into her room. She had successfully defended it against any remodelling. The padded walls that had been installed to accommodate a schizophrenic woman seemed appropriate for her own state of mind. She swapped her boots for some slippers and spent the rest of the evening sorting through the boxes that still hadn’t been unpacked since the move. Sorting her underwear took a while, but putting her books in the shelves was worse. She contemplated booting up her computer and writing a little, but her mind was not into it. So she chose to go to bed early, relax a little and then sleep. She would have to get up a little earlier tomorrow, as her dad would not give them a ride. Daria’s sleep that night was uneasy.