Hi. This is my first story for Daria. I hope I do okay with it.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE TV SHOW DARIA OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.
"Oh, thank God," Helen Morgendorffer sighed in relief as she entered her warm and soothing house. Today was an especially hectic day at work. Eric was pissed about something, there was a humongous load of documents, and her assistant Marianne was absent, which Helen wouldn't let her get away with scot-free.
She removed her high-heeled shoes and collapsed on the couch. She was about to doze off when...
"Mom! Tell Daria to get her butt out of my life!"
"That's interesting, Quinn, I didn't know it was possible to get my butt into your life without any medical help," Daria countered, flatly yet loudly.
"Just shut up, brain! Mo-om!"
Helen covered her face with her hands. Just ignore it, and it will go away, she thought.
"I swear, Daria, if you ruin my life again..."
"If you ask me, your existence did that for you already."
"What's THAT supposed to mean?"
Helen couldn't take it anymore. "Daria! Quinn!" she shouted. "You girls get in here this instant!"
Quinn entered, looking cross. Daria, whose face was normally devoid of emotion, looked uncharacteristically irritated. This must be a worse argument than Helen had thought.
"All right," she said sternly. "What's the matter now?"
"Well, see, there's this really huge concert that I'm going to, with Sandi and Stacy and Tiffany and Joey and Jeffy and Jeremy or whatever his name is—anyway, I have a huge problem."
"Lack of commas?" Daria offered quietly.
"Daria's going, too!" Quinn exclaimed. "I mean, couldn't she just stay here at home and read or whatever? It's not like she actually needs to come!"
"I told you," Daria said slowly in hope that her sister would understand, "it's an assignment for Mr. O'Neill's class."
Mildly curious, Helen forgot her anger for a moment and asked, "What kind of assignment requires attending a concert?"
"Exactly!" Quinn cried.
"Quiet, Quinn," Helen snapped. "Well?" she asked, looking at Daria.
"The assignment is something about going out of your comfort zone," Daria elaborated. "During the weekend, we have to go to a place that we would consider as torture. And since this place that I'm talking about involves a hundred sweaty, screaming people cramped together in one space with some cheesy singer on stage, how could I resist?"
"What are you talking about?" Quinn asked. "A concert is fun! You should be going to something gross, like a sewer or something. Ooh, or even worse, the public library!"
"Girls!" Helen interrupted as she saw Daria's lips forming a sarcastic retort. "This is hardly a problem. Quinn, like what Daria said, there are a lot of people in there. You probably wouldn't even see each other!"
"I doubt that," Quinn said. "She's probably going to embarrass me in front of that cute new guy Ben." Momentarily forgetting her anger, she continued dreamily, "Ben has the blondest hair ever. Plus, his family owns a limo company, which will make our dates even cooler!"
"I'm sure. It will be so cool, passersby will be in danger of pneumonia," Daria said.
Quinn snapped out of her limo dream and glowered at her sister. "Just stay away from me!"
The two sisters stormed off separately to their respective rooms.
As a mother, Helen would never admit it, but she would be glad to get away from her two children, at least for a while.
Just then, a voice broke the momentary silence. "Honey? Are you still going to make dinner? 'Cause I saw this really nice recipe in the Food Network—"
Helen groaned and ran to the kitchen before Jake managed to set the entire house on fire. Make that three children, she thought irritably to herself.
Daria and Quinn remained in their rooms, yet neither of them were able to sleep. They just lay there, tossing and turning.
At around 1:30, Daria couldn't take it anymore. She sat up and pushed her duvet away. Yawning tiredly, she groped for her glasses on the nightstand and stood up, heading for the kitchen. Maybe a glass of milk will help her fall asleep.
She just opened the fridge when someone let out a bloodcurdling scream. Daria dropped the milk carton. Warily, she flipped the lights open and was surprised to see her wild-eyed sister staring back at her.
"Quinn?" Daria asked, perplexed. "What the hell were you doing in the dark?"
"What the hell were you doing in the dark?" Quinn countered, rubbing her eyes.
Daria looked at the puddle of milk at her feet. "As the evidence suggests, I was getting a drink," she deadpanned. Sighing, she grabbed the paper towels from the counter and started wiping the floor. "You're lucky you didn't wake up Mom and Dad. You sounded like you were being tortured. If I hadn't known any better, I would've said you were practicing for the concert."
Quinn sighed. "That is actually when I will be tortured," she groused. "By my sister, no less."
Daria rolled her eyes. "As a matter of fact, Quinn, I'm going to go easy on you and let you choose. Would you like to be quartered or guillotined?"
Sullen silence filled the kitchen for a few moments, in which Daria finished drinking her milk and Quinn finished reading an article of a magazine that someone left on the counter.
"So why are you awake?" Daria asked finally. "Aren't you worried that you'll get bags under your eyes or something?"
Quinn anxiously placed her fingers under her eyes. "I'm not, am I?"
"Oh, don't worry. They couldn't be more visible if you hold a magnifying glass to your face."
"Thank God," Quinn sighed in relief, not realizing that she had just been dissed.
Daria tried to hide a contemptuous smirk from her face. She yawned openly and placed her glass in the sink. "I better go," she said.
"About time," Quinn mumbled, not looking up from a glossy page devoted to shoes.
Little did they know the surprise in store for them in the morning.
La la la la la...
Chapter two, comin' up. Review!