Disclaimer: Daria and all associated characters owned by MTV. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money or any other goods have been exchanged.

The characters Ashley Winters and Cassidy Hemming were created by Ognawk.

THE GREAT AND THE GOOD
By Ognawk

Part 1 - One Date Sloane

Tom Sloane pulled his rusty old Pinto into the garage of his family's home. He sighed as he sat in the car for a moment. I'm so tired of this, he thought as he finally got out of the car and made his way into the house.

Walking into the hallway, Tom threw his jacket up on the coat stand and started making his way upstairs. About halfway up, he stopped as he noticed his younger sister Elsie stood at the top, arms folded and eyebrow raised.

"Another successful date, dear brother?" she asked with a smirk.

"Elsie, I'm really not in the mood for your crap right now." he replied, doing a poor job of hiding his frustration.

"Oh, don't tell me you're tired of the girls of Fielding throwing themselves at your feet. Any boy your age would kill to be in that position. Most men, for that matter."

"Most boys might. And you know what? Maybe I am a bit bored of the whole thing. But at least my jadedness is genuine."

Elsie snorted at that comment and made her way to her room. Tom shook his head and carried on up the stairs, knocking at his parents door to let them know he was back before going to his own bedroom and closing the door, not noticing Elsie peeking out from her door, a look of concern on her face.

Once inside, Tom flopped onto his bed, looking at the ceiling for a few minutes. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about it, just plain white with an overly fancy light hanging from the ceiling. Looking at the clock on the chest of drawers, he sat up and grabbed the cordless phone nearby. I'm sure Ashley will be wanting a full report, he thought as he punched in a phone number.

After a few rings, someone picked up. "Hello, Ashley Winters."

"Ashley? Tom."

"Ah, Mr Sloane, I've been expecting your call." Ashley said with anticipation. Ashley Winters was one of Tom's friends, the only one who didn't ditch Tom on a regular basis to do something different. But he did enjoy teasing Tom about his dates with the various daughters of the great and the good of Maryland. "So tell me, how did the date with the lovely Ms Hemming go?"

"Pretty much the same as most dates do," Tom replied tiredly "Just another Fielding girl trying too hard to act like we have everything in common."

"Well, you're quite a catch, young Thomas. The girls just throw themselves at your gorgeous countenance."

Tom frowned at the obvious sarcasm in Ashley's voice, but decided he wasn't going to let it get to him tonight. He needed someone to air his thoughts to, and he trusted Ashley more than anyone else.

"I wish they were interested in me for me. It's just hard to tell who's genuine and who just has parents desperate for their precious little girl to marry into the Sloane family business."

Ashley paused for a second. He wanted to wind Tom up, but he could tell by the tone in his friend's voice that he was clearly troubled by this. Then he thought of something that would get a laugh out of him.

"Well, I suppose it's a downside of being the only son of a partner in one of the richest companies in the state. But if you really want to see who's genuine and who's just a gold digger, it's easy. Just put a couple of hundred pounds on and see who sticks around."

Tom couldn't help but chuckle at that comment, but it only cheered him for a moment, as he thought about his future.

"True. But there's something scary about this," Tom said, as a thought crossed his mind "I could abuse the fact that girls want to be with me, even if just for my family's money. It would be so easy."

"I've known you for a while now, Tom. I know that's not your style."

"Yeah. I don't know. It's just so frustrating not being able to tell who's for real, you know?"

"For you and everyone else with a few dollars in the bank."

Tom half smiled. "Much more of this, and I'll be getting a reputation for being a one date wonder."

"One Date Sloane." Ashley said, just managing to stifle a laugh. "Kind of has a ring to it, you know."

"Kind of does," Tom admitted, "But I doubt even that would stop the really desperate ones."

"You're a smart man, Sloane. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"I hope so. Well, I'm beat, so I'm going to hit the hay. See you in school tomorrow, Winters."

"I look forward to it, Mr Sloane. Goodnight."

Tom put the phone down and sighed. He got up and got himself ready for bed. Once ready, he picked up the copy of the Lawndale Herald on his bedside table and had a leaf through it. His eye was drawn to an advertisement in the Arts section.

Maybe a change of scenery will do me some good. For a little while at least, he thought as he put the paper in the bin and got into bed, quickly falling asleep.

Thanks to peetz5050 for beta reading.