Popular Girl Esteem

As Daria raised her hand to ask Mr. O'Neill what the hell he was talking about, she heard someone clear their throat behind her.

"Don't bother asking him anything." A girl's voice spoke up from behind Daria's seat.

She turned to find herself looking at a beautiful girl with blond hair, blue eyes, and oddly enough the latest clothes from Cashmans.

"O'Neill doesn't have any idea what he's talking about, he's just following a script." the girl said dismissively.

"Then why the hell is he teaching what is, in essence, a psychological course that's supposed to help people?!" Daria asked incredulously.

"Because this isn't a real class." Another girl chimed in from nearby, Daria glanced to see the 'art-girl' she had seen in some of her other classes earlier that day.

The art-girl then added, "It's a punishment for being different."

"Or just a punishment." The blond girl grumbled under her breath, staring in surprise at 'art-girl' for speaking.

"Want me to fill you in? The name's Jane by the way."

"Sure," Daria answered back, "And the name's Daria."

She then glanced at Jane and indicated towards the blond.

Jane shrugged her shoulders.

"My name is Tori," The blond answered with a look of surprise at Jane, "I've lived here for years."

An awkward silence began to bloom, but thankfully it was broken by Mr. O'Neill's attempts at putting a tape into a VCR, and then having to turn off the lights so people could see the TV screen.

After the torture, three girls were walking back to their respective homes in the sleepy suburb of Lawndale.

"...And then we get separated by gender and Ms. Manson talks to us about body image." Jane said to the two of them, keeping a brisk pace despite her boot-related footwear.

"Ugh, not again!" Tori complained loudly, "I've already gotten three different lectures about my weight from that witch. I'm not that freaking skinny, dammit!"

Then as Tori kicked a rock with her (fashionable) boots, Daria couldn't help but look at the girl a bit more appraisingly.

Jane however pressed on by saying, "I've got no clue what the guys talk is like..."

"Jane," Tori replied suddenly, "It's a room full of boys. What do you think they are talking about?!"

All three girls paused and gave a collective shudder before resuming their walk.

To fill the void, Daria asked Jane, "Ok, so you have the course memorized. Why haven't you passed the test to get out?"

Jane smirked, "Besides the fact that it pisses Ms. Li off? I'd have to say... That I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special."

Tori found herself staring at Jane, wondering if she had actually heard that, or if she was just suffering some sort of hallucination.

'Well, you were the one that didn't want to walk home in the dark by yourself,' a snide voice told her, 'Just go with the flow and be thankful that bitch Sandi doesn't know where you are right now.'

Tori mentally wiped her metaphorical forehead in relief, it was bad enough for her status to be stuffed in O'Neill's torture-class, much less that she was now with two girls that clearly didn't care about what people thought about them.

Or the worst thing of all...

'That you kind of like them for not giving a flying fuck.' that voice went again.

Thankfully for Tori's peace of mind she spotted her place and bade Daria and Jane a polite goodbye before heading in, leaving them to go on without her.

Note: Tori is the infamously unnamed backgrounder 'The Popular Girl'.