"Unrequited Love"
A PPMB Challenge
By Angelinhel
kckli@yahoo.com
Legal Whosits:
I don’t own "Daria" or any facet thereof, Mtv/Viacom has that happy privilege. This is just for fun, blah, blah, blah. Hey, if they didn’t want fans writing stuff they wouldn’t have cancelled it then given it to Noggin to butcher.
Author’s Note:
These 3 ficlets were entries in a PPMB Challenge by WacoKid: In the space of a single message board post, write a short story or ficlet about one Daria character's unrequited love for another. The only two that are disallowed are Daria longing for Trent (and vice versa) and Quinn with David, as both have been done too often to have any hope of impressing the judges.
Part 1: Never Enough
She slumped down on her bed. It wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough. Graduation was soon and then all hope was lost. She'd done everything she could think of.
She'd shown how popular she was with both sexes. Friends, admirers, dates lined up till next year. See? I'm desirable, everyone else wants me...
She'd shown brains, briefly, then with more intensity over the summer.
She'd even admitted...and she NEVER planned that.
It still wasn't enough.
She pulled out the framed photo from it's hiding place. A tear splashed and blurred the image.
Two little girls were hugging. And smiling. Quinn guessed it was the only picture of it's kind.
Part 2: Unrequited Love
All he could do was watch. All he could ever do was watch.
He'll never love you now, the voice whispered.
Jake began another rant. "ROT IN HELL OLD MAN!!"
I am, son, I am.
Part 3: Love
She sat and stared out the window, a litany of phrases chanting in her head.
You're wearing that?!? You can get better grades than this. Should you be eating that? Can't you try harder? You should be better than this. You're not worth it.
You're not worth it.
That one hurt the worst. He didn't even know her. They went out once. In that short time he had figured out what so far, pretty much everyone in her life had told her.
You're not worth it.
No matter what she did, she didn't measure up. And she tried so hard. Everyone said she was nice. Sweet. But apparently, not worth it. She wanted everyone to be happy. She did everything she could to make them happy. Because maybe, just maybe, if they were happy, she could be happy too. And they would say "Thank you for making this a better place."
She loved the world.
She couldn't help it. No matter how bad things were, she loved it. Even in her darkest moments, the thought of not being a part of it was worse than whatever hurt she was feeling. She wanted to make it better. She had to keep trying. But it was getting so hard, and it didn't seem to matter what she did. The answer was always the same...
"Sta-cyyy! Can't you pay attention?" Sandi demanded.
Stacy snapped to attention, "Sorry."
You're not worth it.
The world did not love her.
Additional Notes:
Just some comments on "Love": a "boyfriend" said those exact words to me, "You’re not worth it." No sorry, no reason. That hurt for a long time. The other things were also said, some more times than I can count. "You can get better grades than this" was usually when I brought home something like a 96 or 98. Where are the other 2 points? Why is this B+ not an A? This was a good excuse to vent. I know it needs a re-write.