Thanks to Roger E. Moore, Robert Nowall, Crusading Saint, and THM. Thanks also to Mike Yamiolkoski for a lot of help with the earlier version of this fic.

I also have to apologize to Mistress Thea and Steven Galloway for going ahead with this story before I heard back. I just have no patience.




The Pariah Project
by Huggy




Scene 1: Sandi's house, the living room. The remaining members of the FC are sitting on the couch; all of them seem very unhappy.

Stacy (trying to sound hopeful): Um, maybe they all forgot when we were having the party.

Sandi (pissed): Is that, like, supposed to be comforting or something, because it's really not working.

Stacy (meek): Sorry Sandi.

Sandi (haughty): I should hope so. (beat, trying to find the silver lining) At least a few popular people managed to show up.



Cut to: A table on the other side of the room; Kevin, a blond cheerleader (Kevin's date), Corey, and Robert are at a table littered with glasses. All of them appear to have passed out except for the cheerleader who is trying to wake Kevin up.



Cut to: The FC again.

Tiffany (even she sounds a little depressed): Yeah, popular.

Sandi: I just don't understand it. We should be the most popular girls in school and we've done everything possible to ensure that we stay that way. I don't know what more can be done. (beat) We may be running out of options here.


Stacy (hopeful): Does that mean what I think it means?

Sandi (suddenly furious): I will never, ever, in a million years, ask that. person to come back to the Fashion Club, so don't ask again! (calms down a bit) However, if for some reason she asked to be returned to her old position I might see fit to overlook her past transgressions.

Stacy: Sandi, Qu. I mean, that person, hates us now. What makes you think she would ever ask to come back to the Fashion Club?

Sandi (slyly): I'm sure she can be persuaded. with the proper motivation. (stands) If you don't mind, I'd like some time alone to think.

Stacy (a little more nervously than her usual light quaking): Um, sure. It's getting kind of late anyway. Come on, Tiffany.

Tiffany: Oh, okay.

Stacy & Tiffany stand and head out the front door. Sandi stands by herself for a few seconds looking very grim, then heads upstairs to her room.



Cut to: Sandi's house, outside.

Cheerleader (VO): Kevin. Kevin, wake up! I can't walk all the way to my house from here!



Scene 2: Morgendorffer kitchen. Helen, Jake, and Quinn are sitting at the table having dinner. Jake is off in his own world somewhere and Helen is making her usual attempts at starting a conversation.

Helen (saccharine): Well, Quinn. Tomorrow's Monday, is there anything special happening at school this week.

Quinn (not interested): Well, it is my last week in that self-esteem class. (under her breath) Thank God.

Helen: Sweetie, that's wonderful! Isn't it, Jake?

Jake (clueless): Huh? Oh yeah, that's really great honey!

Helen (suspicious): Really? Tell me, Jake, what were we talking about?

Jake (guessing): Um, it was something about your work wasn't it?

Helen (starting to look really angry): What makes you say that?

Jake (enthusiastic, still unaware of any danger): Come on, Honey. What else would you be talking about?

Helen (nuclear): What?!

Jake (scared): Wait, that came out wrong! What I meant to say was that all you ever talk about is...no, that sounds bad, too.... (notices the way Helen is glaring at him) EAP!

Just as Helen is about to begin verbally dismembering Jake her cell rings.

Helen (answers, still angry): Yes! (beat, sweetly) Oh, hi, Eric. (gets up and walks off screen, still talking)

Meanwhile, Quinn has been watching this little scenario play out with a somewhat scared look on her face.

As the camera moves in for a CU of Quinn, the screen goes all ripply to signal the beginning of ...



Quinn's daydream: LHS Auditorium. Quinn is on the stage, behind the podium. She appears to be giving a speech similar to the one Daria gave when she finished the self-esteem class.

Quinn: No one can battle a terrible problem like low self-esteem on their own; it takes the support of friends, teachers, and most of all, from family.

Jake (off screen): Ya hear that, old man?! It's your fault I had a crappy childhood; even my kid says so! Ha!



Cut to: Audience. Jake is standing in front of his seat, shaking his fist at the ceiling. Helen is sitting next to him looking very embarrassed.

Helen (almost growling): Jake, sit down and be quiet! You're making a scene!

Jake: But, Helen! This is what I've been waiting for. Finally, some one is acknowledging that my father ruined my life by sending me to that damned military school! 'Learn some discipline', he said! 'It'll give me some confidence', he said! BULL CRAP!!!

Helen: You're making a fool of yourself. Now sit...

Helen is interrupted by her cell-phone.

Helen (answering): Hello? (beat) What do you mean you can't find them?! (beat) Let me make it easy for you; either find them or try to find a new job! (beat) Oh, never mind! I can be at the office in fifteen minutes and I'll find them myself! (hangs up, muttering) How on Earth do you lose a box of donuts?

With that, Helen storms out of the auditorium. Someone in the back starts snickering and Jake turns toward the source of the noise, enraged.

Jake: All right, who did that?! Come on, dammit, confess!

As the snickering starts to spread throughout the room, Jake looks like he is in danger of bursting another blood vessel.

Jake: Snicker, snicker! Well, screw the lot of ya!

Now it's Jake's turn to storm out.



Cut to: Quinn, still behind the podium. She looks thoroughly humiliated.



Quinn comes back to reality just as Helen finishes her call.

Helen: All right, Jake. What was it you were...

Helen sees that Jake has very wisely slipped away from the table while she was distracted.

Helen: Quinn, where did your father run off to?

Quinn: Um, I'm not really sure mom.

Helen (sitting down again): Oh, well. So tell me. Is there going to be some kind of graduation cerem...

Quinn (hurriedly): No. No, there isn't.

Helen (a little surprised at the way Quinn answered): Oh. Okay, then.

Both eat in silence for a moment then Helen gets a determined look on her face.

Helen: Quinn?

Quinn: Yeah.

Helen: I'm starting to worry that you may be spending too much time at home. Don't you think it's time you thought about getting involved in some extracurricular activity again?

Quinn: Not really. Besides, I can't think of any clubs I'd actually like to join.

Helen (hopeful): What about the Pep Squad? I remember they gave you an open invitation to join, you seemed very happy about that.

Quinn (grimacing as she says it): The Pep Squad? Mom, when they asked me to join I was happy just because they asked, not because I actually thought about joining. I mean come on; it's the Pep Squad! They're such geeks!

Helen: Fine, forget the Pep Squad. But, I really think you should try to find something to do. Now that you've finished with your self-esteem class you're going to have a lot of free time and you shouldn't spend all of it sitting around the house. (sweetly) Just ask around the school and see if there's anything you might be interested in doing. If you don't find anything I promise you won't hear another word about it. Okay?

Quinn (grudgingly): Fine, I'll look. But, I'm really not interested in joining any school clubs right now.

Helen: Why not?

Quinn: P.S.T.D.

Helen (shocked): What!?

Jake (from somewhere off screen): AAAHHH!!!!

Quinn and Helen both look very scared when they hear the thud from Jake collapsing.



Scene 3: Quinn's room. She is on her bed writing in her diary.

Quinn (writing VO): Things in general seem to be getting harder to deal with. Even the self-esteem class, which I thought might be a good idea for a fleeting moment, has turned into nothing more than an addition to a long list of daily annoyances. I should have known better since O'Neill is teaching the class, but years of mindless optimism seem to have wrecked my survival instincts. How are you supposed to feel good about yourself when your instructor has more problems than the whole class? I feel like I'm stuck in an asylum where the craziest patient has taken over. Luckily, I'll be done with all of that pretty soon.

Mom has decided that it's time for me to join some sort of club again. She says that I don't have to if I can't find anything I'm interested in, but in another couple of weeks she'll be trying to bribe me with everything she can think of. I plan on holding out for cash.

On a more serious note, I think I came very close to giving Dad another heart attack today. He was coming back to the kitchen to get the plate he had forgotten to take with him when he snuck away from the table and heard me use the wrong initials for post-traumatic stress disorder. Being Dad, he thought I was talking about a much more...uncomfortable subject and automatically jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Luckily, he just screamed and passed out, but it still took me half an hour to convince Mom that I'm perfectly healthy. This is what I get for thinking my life couldn't get any worse before my parents have tried to get involved.

I can handle my parents freaking out over everything, I've been doing that for years now. But, I'm starting to worry about what my life will be like once I'm no longer seen as some kind of popularity icon. I mean, eventually, I'll just be Quinn Morgendorffer. A teenage girl that most people couldn't care less about. Will I be able to handle that? I've thought about asking Daria for advise on how to handle being an outcast, but it would take me a few hours just to convince it wasn't some lame attempt at making fun of her. Besides, it's not like I was ever any help when she had this problem. Maybe because she never seemed to think of it as a problem.

Quinn puts the diary under her mattress and goes to sleep.



Scene 4: Halls of LHS. Quinn is walking to her next class and reading a list of the clubs at the school.

Quinn (VO): Mathletics; no. Chess Club; no. Taxidermy? That's just creepy.

Tiffany (off screen): Hey, Quinn.

Quinn looks to her right and sees Tiffany walking toward her.

Quinn (suspicious): What are you doing here?

Tiffany (just pretend I had the patience to write the way she talks): Sandi sent me as an imma. ema.

Quinn: Emissary?

Tiffany (not really sure): Uh, yeah.

Tiffany doesn't say anything for a while and Quinn starts to look impatient.

Quinn: Well, what did she say?

Tiffany (vaguely annoyed): Give me a minute, I'm thinking.

Quinn (thought VO): The first time is always the hardest.

Tiffany: Oh yeah. She said she would be willing to allow you back into the Fashion Club if you asked before the end of the week.

Quinn: What makes her think I would want to join the Fashion Club again?

Tiffany (obviously confused): She said you would find that out sometime today.

Quinn: What's that supposed to mean?

Tiffany: I don't know, she said it.

Tiffany walks off, leaving Quinn, now looking a little worried.



Scene 5: DeMartino's room. Quinn is sitting at her desk, not noticing that many of the other students are glancing toward her every few seconds. DeMartino is in front of the class, lecturing.

DeMartino: CLASS, yesterday we DISCUSSED the Korean WAR! NOW, can at least ONE of you tell me which GENERAL led the American troops? SHEILA?



Cut to: A red haired girl in the front row with a deer-in-headlights look on her face.

Sheila: Um.

DeMartino: Never MIND, Miss Campbell. MISS Morgendorffer, perhaps you would care to enlighten us?

Quinn: Macarthur.

DeMartino: Excellent, Miss Morgendorffer.

Female voice (quietly): Know-it-all brat.

Quinn looks around to try and see who said that and spots Tori trying suspiciously hard to look innocent.

DeMartino: NOW, could someone ELSE at least try to answer ONE QUESTION!?

Male voice (also quietly): Thanks a lot, Quinn.

Quinn looks around again and spots Jamie and Jeffy, both looking rather shocked, staring at Joey.

DeMartino: Can ANYBODY tell me a country, OTHER than America, that was INVOLVED in the CONFLICT? Kevin?

Kevin: Ah man!

DeMartino: Come on KEVIN! Name another COUNTRY that fought in the KOREAN War!

Kevin (mumbling): Korean... Korean. Oh yeah. (to DeMartino) Since it was the Korean War, the other country must have been called Kory.

DeMartino stares at Kevin for several seconds, then walks out of the room. After a moment we hear glass breaking in the hall and DeMartino starts yelling, but thankfully none of the people in the class can actually tell what he's saying. Most of the students who aren't staring at the classroom door with stunned looks on their faces are now glaring at Quinn.

Quinn (thought VO, looking very nervous): Something very weird is going on here.



Scene 6:LHS hallway. Quinn opens her locker and finds a note someone has slipped into it.

Quinn (reading VO): Dear Quinn, in case you were wondering, you aren't mistaken in thinking that many of your classmates are acting strangely hostile today. You see, you've managed to adapt very nicely to the life of an outcast, but I couldn't help wondering what you would do if I raised the bar. Very soon you will not only be very unpopular; you will be hated. You're confused, aren't you? Let me explain: a rumor is spreading that because of your becoming a model student the teachers are now grading on a curve that just might make it harder for the other students to pass. Not only that, but their going to be making the class work harder. I know, I know, it makes no sense. Oh well, that doesn't really matter around here. What does matter is that from now on, any person who gets a failing grade in one of their classes will have the perfect person to blame it on. There are sure to be other, less tasteful, rumors in the future; unless, of course, you follow the advise a certain old friend gave you this morning and take up your old position in the Fashion Club. It's a cruel world out there Quinn, you do not want to know just how cruel it can get. A friend.


Roll credits. Music: So Lonely by Living End

The End

Notes: I've never actually heard this song before, but I came across the lyrics and it just seemed to fit.