Chapter Two
Quinn tried to look calm as she walked towards the football stadium. Tonight was yet another big sale at Cashman's, but she had asked Sandi, Stacy, and Tiffany to go first so that they would get the best picks available, and they had seemed to buy the excuse. She tried to suppress her newly-found instinct to search all over for cameras, but she couldn't help looking around every now and then to see if anyone was following her.
She approached the bleachers. Daria was sitting there, reading a book while the football players practiced. She silently sat down next to her sister. She then thought to pull a Waif magazine out of her backpack and thumb through it absently. "So, now what?" Quinn asked.
"Now you tell me what you've seen. Then I tell you what I've figured out, and we go from there."
"Well, I was listening to the radio, and I thought they were talking about me. When I noticed, it was as if the radio knob turned itself back to WTQS on the other side of the dial."
"WTQS?"
"That's my favorite station. All boy bands and teen pop singers."
"Of course. That explains WTDS, the all-angst station. Go on."
"Well, I saw the new bunch of flowers Mom got, and one of them, um, wasn't a flower."
"The old mic-in-the-flowers trick. You mentioned a camera?"
"Behind your frozen dinners. I never saw you eating those before."
"That's because they were meant to block the camera. I'm sure I look terrible when I'm scrounging for food."
"Daria, since when do you care what you look like?"
"Since I figured out why there are all these cameras around. Since I realized why those two jerks from Highland seemed to be everywhere I turned back then. Since I determined why Lawndale's Football team plays year-round; why the same group of people always seem to end up on the same stupid trips and activities; why Kevin and Brittany keep passing classes despite having the IQ of those tackling dummies; why we always have the same exact teachers for English, History, and Science; why there are no drugs around here other than alcohol and caffeine. Quinn, either everybody here is even less sane than us, or we're on TV."
Quinn froze in realization. Her mind was processing the myriad of repercussions this would have on her life.
"Quinn, we can't spend too long here or come here too often. They haven't seemed to catch on to this place, and when I come here, I just pretend to read while I figure things out. I'll let you know when this place is safe. Anything you want to say, I suggest you condense it down to the next few minutes before the coach arrives."
"So, what's with the radio stations?"
Daria sighed. "WTQS. The Quinn Station. Three guesses what WTDS stands for."
"Oh, duh. That time where you said something about the Holidays staying in your room?"
"I figure by then they knew I was onto something, or maybe they were testing to see if I would break. I just took it in stride that the personifications of like seven holidays were in my home, and that they came from a high school on Holiday Island to form a band. I figured it would at least be a change of pace."
"I knew I remembered our house filled with cobwebs. Anyone else you think isn't in on the whole show thing?"
"I know Jane's in on it. I'm betting that your Fashion Club and the J's are in on it too. Jodie and Mack are in, and even if Kevin and Brittany aren't in on it, they aren't going to be much help. The adults are right out. I'm pretty sure we're on our own. In fact, I was starting to wonder if you were in on it, but I remembered that I told you those things in Highland, and you kept your promise not to tell anyone."
"This does explain why the J's are still going after me after how little I've given to them. Why Sandi's always trying to goad me into a reaction. Why Stacy's always taking my side and never stands up for herself. Why Tiffany talks like a stoner, when she was fairly normal when I met her. So, what are you doing about it?"
"Well, I've done what I can to hide what I know, but I'm sure they have an inkling that I'm aware of the whole deal. I'm just riding it out to see where it goes. If this means that I'll end up a celebrity, maybe I can turn it into a successful business or at least a lawsuit. Overall, I guess this is a better life than growing up on the streets, or to a welfare mother-of-twelve, or staying in Highland forever. There are just two things that worry me." Daria motioned at the football coach coming onto the field, and started packing up.
"What's that?" Quinn asked, gathering up her backpack.
"When does this end and what happens to us when it does?"
Quinn had no answers, and a part of her wasn't sure she wanted to know what the answers were.
