"Welcome to The LD"
Part 2
Waiting for her best friend to arrive, Daria reviewed her homework simply out of boredom. Quinn had already left and her parents were gearing up to exit the house as well.
A ring of the doorbell brought Daria to her boot-clad feet. She grabbed her backpack and headed for the door, opened it and found Jodie Landon on her doorstep.
"Hey Dar."
"Hey Jo."
"Ready?"
"Yeah. Mom, Dad, I'm out!" Daria shouted back toward the kitchen before closing the front door behind her
"What took you so long?" Daria asked her best friend
"Ugh. Would you believe that my baby brother spit up on my blouse and I had to change into another one? Then I couldn't find my cell phone."
"Did you find it?"
"Yeah. Rachel had it and was playing with it, despite the fact that I told her not to." Jodie grumbled about her kid sister
"Little sisters. Whatever are they good for?"
"Ha. You're preaching to the choir."
"I never figured myself as preachy."
"No, you're just snarky and cynical." Jodie teased
"Only toward people who deserve it."
"Like most of the student body of LHS."
"Like most of Lawndale." Daria corrected
The two smartest girls in all of Lawndale High, Daria and Jodie, carried on like this everyday. They have been each others best friend and counterpart ever since the third grade, the year that Daria finally met someone who was her intellectual equal. Daria was not only intrigued by Jodie's matching intellect, but also by the fact that she was the only African-American kid in her entire class.
Not that Daria was raised to be prejudiced, but society in general had always impressed upon her that African-Americans were less intelligent than whites. Yet here was a black girl who was as smart, if not smarter, than her. It made Daria want to get to know Jodie, an act she had spared no one else her own age before. The two of them became best friends very quickly, and have been that way ever since.
Daria and Jodie cut a left on the first side street from the Morgendorffer home, which led directly to LHS by fifteen blocks. It was a lengthy walk, but both girls always had something to discuss to pass the time. This particular morning, Daria was in a teasing mood.
"So, what about that new guy you have your eyes on?"
This caught Jodie off guard, making her slightly blush.
"What are you talking about Morgendorffer?"
"Not what. Who. Michael Mackenzie in particular."
Jodie saw this as a good opportunity to use indignation as a deflection regarding her crush on the new African-American hunk who arrived in Lawndale two weeks ago.
"Oh, I see. A black guy moves to The LD and I'm supposed to automatically fall head-over-heels for him, right? We'd be Mr. and Mrs. Black Lawndale like everybody would expect right?" Jodie huffed
"Your phony indignation is weak, grasshopper. Nice try though."
Daria had seen right through Jodie, which made her best friend's blush grow even fuller.
"I don't like him! I barely even know Mack!"
"Yet you've managed to come up with a pet name for him. No emotional investment there."
"In case you haven't heard, everybody calls him Mack."
"In case you haven't heard, you've been macking him with your eyes from day one."
By then Jodie was so flustered that she began walking faster, so fast that Daria couldn't keep up.
"Jo, wait up." the auburn haired girl called as Jodie got further and further away
Feeling guilty about making her best friend upset, Daria ran after her and caught up.
"Jo, I'm sorry."
"Whatever." Jodie snorted as she kept marching forward, not even looking Daria in the eye
Daria decided to just let Jodie cool off. She said nothing else as she tried her best to match Jodie's stride, and by the time the duo reached LHS her feet and calves had begun to hurt from walking so hard in those combat boots.
"Later Jo?" Daria asked in an almost pleading tone as Jodie was departing toward her first class
"Yeah, later." Jodie replied, still not looking Daria in the eye
Though she was worried about how Jodie felt about her, Daria managed to make it through the first three periods of the day. It was then time for lunch, or as Daria called it, "Legalized juvenile poisoning". She wondered if Jodie would come for her as she waited outside of Mr. DeMartino's class like she always had. When she saw her best friend approaching from down the hall, Daria felt an overwhelming sense of relief.
"Hey Dar. Hungry?" Jodie asked in her normal friendly tone, letting Daria know that they were all square
"For the raw sewage that passes as LHS lunch? Always...Sorry again about earlier Jo."
"Heard you the first time Dar."
"Heard you the first time" was Jodie's way of saying "Shut up talking about it already", which meant that the issue was dead.
The girls took their trays of what was supposed to be beef stroganoff and corn to their usual table, located in a quiet corner in the back of the cafeteria. It was their favorite spot, not because they wanted to hide from the other students, but because they could talk in relative seclusion.
"Is it just me, or is DeMartino a little crankier than usual today?" Jodie vented
"Define crankier."
"Well first of all..."
Jodie and Daria continued to chat about the goings on at school when almost from out of nowhere a girl wearing a red button-down shirt and gray boots approached their table.
"Hey, um, mind if I cut in? Nobody else will let me sit." the girl asked as she alternated timid glances between Jodie and Daria
"Oh. Sure, go ahead." Jodie offered as she scooted over to make room
"Thanks..."
The girl was not familiar to either of the duo, which must have meant she was new.
"I don't think I've seen you around before." Jodie stated
"You haven't. It's my first day here, and I already hate this place." the girl mumbled as she picked at her beef stroganoff
"Wow, a new record. I didn't begin hating this place until my second day." Daria said dryly
"I meant this town really." Jane replied
"You're not from Lawndale?" Jodie asked
"No. I'm from Highland, and if you want me to leave then that's cool." Jane said almost apologetically
"No, you don't have to go. We need someone else to share in the torture that is LHS cuisine, right Dar?"
"The more who suffer, the merrier."
"Heh. Thanks."
"I'm Jodie Landon."
"Jane. Jane Lane, and please don't laugh."
Jodie stifled a giggle that was going to come out and composed herself.
"Daria Morgendorffer at your service."
"Morgendorffer?"
"Yup. You're not the only one with a funny name."
"No, not that. I met this girl earlier who was a Morgendorffer too. Quinn mean anything to you?"
"Unfortunately yes. She's my little sister. How do you know her?"
"I needed an assist in finding Ms. Li's office and she took me there. Between her and you guys, I've only met three decent folks so far."
"Well don't hold your breath waiting for more to emerge. We decent folk are a rare and dying breed."
"Daria, don't make the girl any more uneasy than she already is." Jodie admonished
"Yeah, yeah. There are actually more of us decent folk out there, but they don't belong to our pack."
"That's okay. I'm just glad there's a couple here...Um, you guys wouldn't mind if I sorta hung around you, would you? Just 'till I learn my way around?"
"I don't see why not. Daria?"
Daria could see the pleading in Jane's eyes, as though Jane were begging she and Jodie to take her.
"Fine by me."
"Appreciate it...So, what is a kid with no life and too much free time to do in this town?"
"Daria and I usually go to Pizza King after school. Either there or her house."
"There's a Pizza King here?"
"Yup. As long as we can remember." Jodie replied
"Sweet. I used to live at P.K. back in Highland."
"Because pizza is, after all, one of the five basic food groups." said Daria
"Sure wish I had some now instead of this crap. How can you eat this eveyday?" Jane asked as she forced herself to chew another mouthful of stroganoff
"Either this or starve." Jodie shrugged
"It's the decent folk survival mentality."
Jane gave a nervous grin. She was glad that she had found who seemed to be her first friends in Lawndale, but she was ill at ease with Daria. In Jane's opinion, Daria was much less friendly than Jodie, and she didn't seem to appreciate her presence in the least. This made Jane feel even more insecure than usual, and whenever Jane felt insecure she wanted to run away and close herself off. Jane willed herself to stay put however, hoping that Daria would eventually warm up to her.
A/N: I think you guys probably figured Jodie would be Daria's best friend, right? It just made the most sense to me. I was thinking about it being Brittany, but for me that would have been too much of a stretch, even for an AU. Thinking about future parts centering on Jodie and Jane, to expand beyond just Daria and Quinn.
Feedback will be heeded and appreciated.