"Hey Daria, can we talk?"
Daria looked up in surprise to find Quinn, of all people, standing in her doorway, looking more nervous and confused than pissed off, which was odd considering whose door she was standing in.
"Quinn? What's up?" Daria put aside her fan mail – she was still going through some of the older bags, even if it had mostly transferred to the web page now – and gave her sister her full attention. As much as she may dislike Quinn, that didn't mean she would turn her away when she came to her for something.
"It's about your show," she admitted, coming fully into the room and standing by Daria's bed.
"No, you can't be a guest."
"That's not it. It's -"
"I also refuse to revoke what I said about where I shop," Daria cut in, guessing where the conversation might actually be headed.
"I didn't expect you would. The fashion club has decided that since we can't do anything on a large enough scale to get people back to buying fashionable clothes, we're just going to have to be the best dressed on our own."
"How self-sacrificing of you. So what do you want?"
"It's about that guy who was hanging around."
"You are referring to the jerk-wad who calls himself Tom Slone?" Daria asked.
"Beat up car, waited around for you to come home every other day to ask you out?" Quinn said. She'd never learned his name.
"Tom Slone," Daria confirmed.
"Right. Why didn't you go out with him?"
"Apart from the fact that he's Jane's ex-boyfriend, I don't like the guy and I'm dating Trent," Daria answered.
"But Trent isn't here to know," Quinn pointed out.
"Did you miss the part where I said that I don't like Tom?" Daria asked.
"No, I got that part when the whole restraining order thing started to come up. I guess I'm mostly wondering why you bother being loyal to a guy when he isn't around."
"Foreign concept, Quinn? I know you have three guys permanently on stand-by waiting to take you out."
"Joey, Jeffey and Jamie?" Quinn said, confused again. "I'm not dating any of them. I told them that ages ago."
"Yet they continue to try. Furthermore, they continue to try in competition with each other, attempting to outdo the one who spoke before in hopes of gaining your favour. What's worse is that even though you claim to have turned them all down, you continue to encourage their behaviour."
Quinn sat down beside Daria on the bed.
"I do, don't I?"
"Quinn, what's this really about?"
"Um, my tutor, actually."
---
"I don't think extending the tour again is a good idea," Trent said, when the band sat down with the manager they had been assigned by the record company.
"Why not? You're doing really good right now."
"I just want to walk through my own door and see my little sister and my girlfriend sitting on the couch watching TV again," Trent explained.
Jesse nodded. "This tour has already gone from being just the west coast to being along the Canadian boarder and down the east coast as well. I really want to just skip Texas and go back to Lawndale right now."
"Mostly just farming states in the middle anyway," Nick pointed out.
"Home sounds good to me too," joined in Max.
"Besides, we need a little down time to write some new stuff. There's a limited number of times we can perform what we have before we need a break from it," Trent finished.
"Alright, you guys win. I guess I did push you guys a bit much for your first tour," conceded the manager.
Trent smiled while Nick and Max cheered, and Jesse ran for the phone. At last, they were finally, definitely on their way home.
"I'm coming Daria," he whispered.
---
Jane ran through the halls of Lawndale High, desperately searching for her best friend. Spying the flash of green, she picked up her pace just that little bit more for the final stretch.
"Daria! Daria, they're on their way back!" She yelled.
"Jane? What?"
"Mystic Spiral! They're really on their way home this time. They talked to their road manager last night and the tour's over. They'll be back either late tomorrow or early the day after! Daria they're coming home!" Jane cried, wrapping her friend up in a delighted hug.
"Alright, I get it, enough with the public displays of affection," Daria said, though she was just as excited as Jane.
"Hey, what's all the fuss?" Jodie. How that chick had such perfect timing, Daria wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"My brother's band, Mystik Spiral, has finally finished their tour and they're coming home," Jane explained, moving from Daria to embrace Jodie as well.
"That's great," she said, patting Jane on the back awkwardly, sharing enthusiasm slightly while at the same time indicating that she would like to be released now please. "Hang on, Mystik Spiral? Isn't that the band D plays on her show like, once a week? Your brother's band is that Mystik Spiral?"
Jane's eyes bugged. "Um... Could you keep it under your hat Jodie? I don't want fans flocking to the Lane residence searching for Trent. I'm fairly sure he wouldn't either."
"I'll keep it quiet, but this school is practically its own gossip column, so if you start hearing about some really famous band coming to Lawndale, it will probably be about them," Jodie pointed out.
Daria cursed silently in her mind. Jane cursed out loud.
"By the way, have you sent in your college applications yet?"
"We're Boston bound," Daria said. "Yourself?"
"Well, there's the college my dad wants me to go to, and then there's the one I want to go to. If one of them would accept me, and the other reject me, there'd be no problem about me having to decide," Jodie explained.
"Life is not that kind, even to the people who deserve it," Daria said, not completely unsympathetic.
"Pretty much," Jodie said. "I'm glad your brother is back for your graduation Jane," she added before the bell rang and they had to begin their school day.
---
