Fashion Club Crisis: Sandi's Secret Admirer
by Imaj
Disclaimer: I do not own Daria, or it's characters, this is just some fun.
Authors note: Serious plot twist in all my fics, beware.
My dear beloved one,
You are the most beautiful girl on the face of this planet, but no one needs to tell you this. Why? Because you were not only gifted with unimaginable beauty, but a strong personality with plenty of charisma and charm. You know you are great. There are many people who envy you, and they should. They all should. Only the luckiest of people should be graced with your friendship, heaven forbid love. Do you have a love? I'd like to hope not, for if you are taken, my dreams are shattered.
Forever yours,
Your secret Admirer
"Oh my god, that is soooo romantic Sandi!" Stacey cried, "I wish I had a secret admirer."
"Well, we can't all be perfect Stacey." Sandi said what should have been comforting in a snide manner meant to hurt Stacey.
"But, we can all try our best." Quinn chirped in, trying to lighten the conversation. Frankly the 'love letter' creeped her out. Anyone worshiping Sandi had to be crazy, "Of course, Sandi you DO do the best at it though"
"Hmf. I suppose Quinn has a point Stacey, keep trying and you might become ah, closer to perfect."
"Who do you think it is?" Tiffany drolled, bringing the conversation back to the topic.
"I don't know, but I bet he's cute." Sandi said, "Dark hair, with blue eyes, and an undeniably good sense of fashion."
"What if he's a freak? You know, one of those computer nerds in a grease stained t-shirt?" Quinn asked, almost regretting she said it instantly because of the look Sandi gave her.
"Oh wouldn't that be horrible Sandi! Just think, he could wear… plaid!" Stacey went off again.
"Hmm." Sandi seemed to think about this, while visibly scowling at Quinn for putting the whole possibility out in the open. The thought had crossed her mind before, but it was something unimportant to her. This was meant to be a ploy to make the others jealous.
"You never know" Tiffany said without any real thought, or meaning to it.
"Ugly, unfashionable guys aren't romantic Quinn. Plus, losers should know better than to go for the President of the Fashion Club."
"That's true. This guy doesn't sound like a computer nerd Quinn." Stacey agreed with Sandi's point, "I had one ask me out on a date once. It was like sooooo EW.
"Wha'd you say?" Tiffany asked.
"I didn't answer him, I just ran away. I haven't like been in the same room with him since."
"Smart move." Sandi smirked, eying Quinn with a calculating eye. Quinn was frowning, obviously thrown off by Sandi's come-back. Could it be that Sandi had found a guy that Quinn wouldn't get to first? Sandi felt enormous triumph, though she'd never let it show that she ever envied Quinn to begin with.
"I have to get to class, bleh." Quinn said, in her normal cheery voice, "have a quiz today, see you guys later."
She walked down the hall towards her class, pondering what had just happened. Who could this mystery guy be? Why did it bother her? She decided not to think about it, and to schedule an extra special date for this evening.
Before her date she had to have dinner with her parents, and Daria. She sat down and ate her small helping as quickly as possible. Family time was definitely not on the 'in' list. No popular girl acknowledged their family, much less this weirdo bunch.
"How was school today girls?" Helen asked, as if she really cared. Quinn thought her mother did this to seem like more of a normal mother. None-the-less, this gave her a chance to rant about Sandi's secret Admirer.
"Sandi got this stupid love letter in her locker today. She made like this big deal about how he has to be cute, and the I told her that he could be a creep. So, I've got this big date tonight, it's alright if I stay out till eleven right?"
"No dates on school nights Quinn, we've been over this."
"Well, it's not a 'date' per-se, it's really more of a project for a class. I really have to work on it."
"Why didn't you say so? You can stay out as late as you need to, kiddo." Jake grinned, obviously not catching the blatant lie.
"I guess that will be fine Quinn." Helen sighed, "How about you Daria, anything interesting happen."
"What if I told you a meteor hit the gymnasium during a school assembly?"
"A Meteor!" Jake jumped up wide eyed.
"Now Daria, don't scare your father." Helen scolded.
"I'll go get the bomb shelter ready!" Jake ran out of the room. Helen sighed exasperatedly, then slowly followed after him.
"So, Sandi has a stalker?" Daria asked. Quinn's eyes widened much like her fathers had. Daria smirked.
"A stalker?" Quinn squeaked.
"Secretly admiring her, stalking her. The law doesn't draw much of a line between the two."
"Oh no! I have to call Sandi!" Quinn rushed out of the room.
"Well," Daria said to herself, "I think I'm going to see what Jane is up to."
Daria knocked on the door. Trent answered.
"Hey Daria."
"Hey Trent, Jane around?"
"Yeah, up stairs." Trent walked away leaving the door open. Daria let herself in and closed it behind her. She went upstairs to Jane's room.
She was surprised to see Jane had a guest. Some girl with dark brunette hair tied off in a loose pony-tail high on her head.. She was wearing all black, looking almost commando-ish. She smiled at Daria.
"Hey, what's up?" Jane invited Daria in, "This is Sabrina, she's in my art class."
"Sorry, I didn't know you had company, I can go." Daria began to head back out the way she came.
"Don't be silly Daria. You can't scare Sabrina away, she's far more threatening than either you or I will ever be." Jane joked. Sabrina didn't seem hurt by this comment. That did amuse Daria.
"Well, in that case…" Daria said sarcastically.
"Aren't you Quinn's sister?" The girl randomly said. It was the first thing the girl said, and it had to do with Quinn. Perhaps Jane's comment wasn't a joke.
"Depends who's asking." Daria responded snidely.
"Can hardly tell you two are related, but it's there alright. No wonder she's such a messed up kid." Sabrina said. Daria had a sudden bout of anger. Why would Quinn be considered the messed up one by some outsider? Then she realized how silly that thought was, she herself considered Quinn to be weird.
"Wait, wait, wait." Jane shook a paint brush at her friend, "You know Quinn?"
"Not really." Sabrina cocked her head thoughtfully, "but I've seen her, and I've heard her talking to that group of girls. Also a few foolish guys. She's quite scary. Wouldn't you say?"
"Talk about scary, you almost scared me for a second. Thought you actually interacted with those air-heads. Whew, that's a load off my mind." Jane looked back to the canvas she was working on.
"How did you know we were related?" Daria knew Quinn wouldn't have told any of her friends that Daria was actually her sister.
"I can be pretty preceptive" The girl winked, "And Quinn has to be one of the worst liars I've ever seen."
Daria laughed. Maybe this girl was alright. She had a certain sense of humor, but was eerie none-the-less. She hung out with the two of them for a couple hours. It wasn't very exciting, aside from the snide remarks about students that stand out at Lawndale high. Jane was busy painting, and Sabrina was drawing in a notebook. With out an inch of talent for this kind of stuff Daria decided she'd head home and get some reading in before she had another exciting night of sleep.
The next morning Daria was walking down the hall with Jane when the Fashion club once again gathered around Sandi.
"Flowers!" Stacey cheered, "How romantic!"
"They're not just flowers Stacey, these are roses." Sandi scolded, "Flowers are shallow, roses are much deeper than that."
"Hear that Daria? Flowers are shallow, but roses, you have to really dig for those." Jane chuckled.
"If you bury the flowers under a heap of dirt before sticking them in a locker they'll be more meaningful. Remember that one."
"Noted." Jane said as they passed out of ear shot from the popular girls' conversation.
"But, aren't you worried about what I told you Sandi?" Quinn asked, genuinely concerned, "You know, like how this 'secret Admirer got your locker combo?"
"Yeah, that is just too weird." Tiffany agreed.
"Quinn you are way too paranoid. What is your problem, are you jealous? I gave him my locker combo."
"…But how?" Stacey said, "Did you meet him? Was he cute?"
"No stupid. I followed the directions he left for me to write back. What did you think, he would ask questions without me being able to answer? Duh."
"Oh." Stacey said, deflated.
"Directions to talk to him? Why doesn't he just come out and meet you? Saaaandi, can't you see? He's probably waiting outside your window watching with binoculars while you like sleep and stuff. He's a creep!" Quinn argued. The argument left the two less intelligent Fashion Club members standing back not wanting to get involved.
"Tiffany, Stacey go get me a slice of apple pie from the cafeteria" Sandi demanded.
"But you don't even like pie." Tiffany said, the glare she received made the demand clear. Stacey took her arm and they wandered toward the cafeteria.
"Quinn, this really needs to stop." Sandi said very seriously.
"Oh thank god Sandi, I didn't think you were going to agree."
"I don't agree Quinn. I don't need you putting down the way I choose to do things. I am the President of the Fashion Club, and as the President of the Fashion club I can kicked you out. You will be a loser like your cousin or whatever. Don't cross me again Quinn." Sandi's words were serious. Quinn felt angry, and scared, and worried all at the same time.
"Fine. If you want to end up hacked to pieces in some dumpster…" She said under her breath.
"Quinn!" Sandi threatened.
"I'm sorry Sandi, I was wrong to question your judgments. You're right, he's probably like a cool guy." Quinn apologized. She didn't believe the words coming out of her own mouth. Why did she always let Sandi push her around like this, if Sandi did kick her out of the fashion club, again, what would be the worst to happen? She was the center of attention anyway.
"Good, now when Tiffany and Stacey get back with that pie, get rid of it." She turned and walked away with an air of disdain. A part of Quinn wanted to tackle her. She shouldn't think things like that, looking down at her feet she saw a slip of notebook paper. She picked it up.
Sandi my lovely,
I was actually quite surprised to see a letter from you. It's unlike you, does this mean I've actually got a chance? I won't get my hopes up too fast. I'm a jock, among quite a few other talents. If I give you too much information you may discover who I am, and surprises like these roses won't have the same effect. Roses are the most beautiful of flowers. Only the best for best. I'm glad to hear you haven't lowered your standards like your only completion this school has. She's dated every guy with any plausible 'good point' from your grade up to mine. I must tell you, I would never touch that tramp. She is nothing compared to you, and you deserve better. You should be running this place.
Always,
Y.S.A.
"Oooooo" Quinn crinkled up the note, "No wonder she's so defensive. He's trying to ruin our friendship."
"Who is?" Stacey said from behind Quinn, "Where's Sandi?"
"She left, she didn't want the pie after all." Quinn said flatly, obviously frustrated.
"She didn't demote you did she?" Stacey asked, "Because you didn't do anything wrong. I think your right, this is all too weird."
Quinn sighed. She decided she needed to talk to Daria. Daria should be able to tell her how to find out who the creep is. If she could find the creep, then she could shut him up. She walked away, leaving Stacey and Tiffany confused and with a slice of nasty cafeteria pie.
Quinn snuck out of class early to meet Daria during her lunch. Daria was where she always was with Jane.
"Red alert, family in close proximity" Jane warned. Daria looked over her shoulder.
"Great. Hopefully she doesn't need more advice on becoming a brain. Once was enough for that." Daria looked back to Jane. Jane just shrugged. Quinn sat next to them as if it where the most casual thing.
"I have a problem." Quinn sighed.
"The first step to recovery is admitting that you do have a problem. Congratulations, you've passed the first step."
"It's not actually ME who has the problem, but my friend."
"And back to the beginning she goes." Jane commented. Quinn ignored her.
"She has that stalker, and that stalker is saying all kinds of mean things about me. I need to find out who he is, so I can like, set things right."
"And what does this have to do with me?" Daria asked flatly.
"I thought maybe you could help me figure out who he is."
"It'll cost you." Daria smiled.
"Arrrgh, how much?" Quinn whined exasperatedly.
"Two weeks allowance."
"That's insane! That's like, eighty dollars!"
"Do you want my help or not?"
"Fine. That's like, robbery or whatever, but fine."
"Do you have any clues?"
"Here. I don't know anything else, just, find out who he is." Quinn tossed the ball of rolled up notebook paper onto the table.
Jane unfolded it and began studying the evidence. Quinn hurried away from their table.
"So, what's the clue?"
"He's an ego-maniac and a jock. How surprising. Holds, of all people, Sandi on this pedistol, seems to dislike your sister. He's in a higher grade than Quinn is. That's all we've got."
"So, he's like every jock but he has no interest in Quinn. Maybe we should start at the school library."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Jane asked.
At the library they found what they were looking for. A year book from last year. They photocopied the entire junior and senior class. They knew most of the juniors.
Two skipped classes, and a lot of X's later, they had almost every guy they actually knew crossed out. There were 10 potential matches they knew of, plus another 20 that they didn't have the slightest idea about.
"Well, that didn't help." Daria sighed. This project had given her something interesting to do, but really the prospect of two weeks of Quinn's allowance had given it purpose.
"It did help. Hmmm. A little." Jane pondered.
"What about your friend?" Daria asked.
"What friend? You?" Jane raised an eyebrow. "No, I highly doubt you are the stalker."
"No, no. The girl from your art class, what grade is she in?"
"What are you getting at Daria?"
"Answer the question Lane."
"Oooh, getting all detective like now, huh? She's a senior, and barely even that, she only has two classes. Art and, I think English?" Jane put a hand to her chin as if she really had to think about what classes the girl was in.
"I bet she would know a chunk of these guys we don't."
"Good idea. Narrow down our suspects a little more." Jane stood up and took the photocopies with her. Daria followed.