"Daria!" Helen said, hugging her youngest. "How was the Corral?"
"Terribly tedious," Daria freely admitted. "The idiot in charge -"
"Daria! What have I told you about calling your elders idiots!"
"Sorry, mom. The man whose IQ is three standard deviations below normal tried to take my book away, and..." she made a face at this, "We were forced to do crafts."
Helen frowned. "I thought your babysitter Jane was a counselor there. Didn't you tell me you like doing arts and crafts with her?"
Daria nodded. "Yeah, but...Uncle Timothy, as he likes to be called, only lets us use pipe cleaners and beads...and he wanted us to make things representing our feelings!" Daria made a gagging noise.
Her mother sighed. "Did you at least try to behave?"
"Oh, I did. I made something that exactly represented my feelings." Helen almost had a chance to smile before Daria continued. "He excused me and let me read after that." Daria did smile then, one of her brief "I've punished an idiot" smiles she got on occasion. "Now, I'd like to go upstairs and catch up on the ten minutes of reading I lost when that jerk confiscated my book."
"Wait, Daria...I have a surprise for you!" Helen said. "Come on in!" she called to the kitchen.
Daria looked to see who her mother was calling out to, and her mouth dropped open in horror.
"Hi, Daria!" Amelia called out, before rushing over and squeezing her friend in a hug.
"What is...what are you doing here?" Daria asked, highly perturbed.
"Oh! Well, when I got to Camp Grizzly, I found out you weren't registered this year, so I refused to stay there. After we got back, my mom called your mom -"
"You gave Amelia's family our phone number?" Daria asked Helen increduously.
Amelia went on uninterrupted. "- and now I get to stay here with you the whole summer! Isn't that great?"
"The whole summer?" Amelia nodded eagerly, before squeezing Daria in another enthusiastic hug. "Oh yeah. Just. Great."