"How about this denim shirt? Navy blue?"

"Like no-ohh! Denim? We're not like on the golf team!"

Dawn Hall sighed. Thousands of dollars of design work and a redheaded ditz was sending it all to hell.

"Okay. These are pastel scoop necks. One hundred percent cotton."

Quinn looked over it with a practiced eye. "Too flimsy." She picked up a sample. "I can practically feel the low thread count!"

"All right." Hall opened up another box, pulling out a thick black windbreaker. "It can fit over anything you wear, so style isn't an option. Wear whatever you want to underneath."

"But, duh! That big "L" symbol makes you look like a Teamster! And, eww, you can smell the nylon!"

This has to stop. Dawn picked up her phone. "Jane…this is Dawn Hall…I need you for a meeting…it appears that your 'Fashion Consultant' is going to shoot down every idea that our own designers have thought up…yes…I'll wait for you." Hall put down the phone, as if to end further discussion.

"But Ms. Hall! You can't let Daria and Jane decide what we're going to wear! Because that's what I'm going to have to wear!"

"I've wasted an hour of my time here. We're going to come to a decision. Our presentation is tomorrow, and I'm going to have you look bold and distinctive, no thanks to you!"

Quinn looked ruined. "But…but…but that was my job! That was the job Jane gave me to do!!"

"Yes. And you botched it. You're wasting my time. You're incompetent."

Jane and Daria entered the room. "Fashion makers to the rescue!" said Jane. "Whazzup?"

"It looks like a clothing store exploded in here," said Daria.

"No, it was your sister. She can't make up her mind!"

"You won't even listen to me…! You're not even giving me anything to do!!" Quinn looked around at staring and unsympathetic eyes. Seeing no help from anyone, Quinn ran out of the room in emotional distress.

"I've never seen anyone get rid of Quinn that fast before," said Daria. "Thank you."

Dawn Hall looked to an unlikely ally. "Daria, do you have any suggestions for a Legion uniform?"

"Yeah. A paper bag with holes in it."

"Seriously. Just…pick something. Please."

Jane picked up what appeared to be some sort of red looking cloth. "What about this? This sort of looks okay."

It appeared to be a loose fitting red jumpsuit. Upon closer examination, it was a two-piece garment with an elastic waistband and a hidden Velcro fastener that kept the blouse from becoming untucked. Next to the zipper, at the left breast, was a solid black circle with a lower case white cursive "L" inside.

"Jane," said Dawn Hall, gritting her teeth. "That is the clothing of the janitorial staff. I was running out of ideas with Quinn."

"Big deal. One size fits all. So we get dirty. Isn't that the idea? To be real?"

"Well…." Dawn Hall thought about Quinn's feelings…then ignored the thoughts. "The janitors can always wear something else. I'll use the jumpsuit idea and clothe each of you in distinctive colors."

"Don't forget the cape," said Daria, dryly.

Dawn Hall ignotred the comment. "Make that 'single tone' colors. Blue, red, pink."

"Are we entertainers or are we the Power Rangers?"

"I think I've wasted enough time already. Two piece elastic scrubs it's going to have to be. Thank you, Jane. I'll have them for you in a few hours. And the next time you send your sister up here to choose anything fashion related for the Legion, I'm going to make you repackage all of this crap."

(la la LA la la)

"Gahh!!"

Quinn fired a bolt of electricity from her right hand and blew the ceramic disk out of the sky.

"Excellent job, Quinn! Way to go!!"

Quinn muttered under her breath. She felt ignored. Daria, Jane, and now Dawn Hall were just bossing her around. And when she got back home, her Mom and Dad would do the same! And she was more powerful than Daria and Jane put together!

"Pull!" shouted Quinn.

The ceramic disk flew by. Quinn disintegrated it.

"Great control, Quinn! Your aim is good! Now let's see what else you can do!!" Quinn muttered some more under her breath. The disks had imaginary faces on them, and she enjoyed blowing them out of the sky.

Daria watched Quinn practice in the distance. Dr. Burchell walked along side her as they both went back inside.

"Quinn can do amazing things," said Daria. "I'd almost ask to trade powers with her, but I don't think I would wish mind reading even on Quinn."

"Have you even tried to read anyone's mind since you've been here?"

"Twice. And both times it didn't work, but I think there's more than meets the eye. Actually I've been trying to not to think about it at all." Daria explained a bit more of her predicament to Dr. Burchell.

"Daria, you have to practice this power. I think that the blood pressure is the least of your problems."

"Why?"

"Well…let me put it this way," said Burchell, smiling. "Something tells me that you've faced the disapproval of others before."

"You got that right."

"The problem," said Dr. Burchell, "is that someday, you might read a thought that you don't want to read. A thought that might be about you. We keep secrets from even the closest of our friends, and just because someone's a friend, that doesn't mean that we don't make negative judgments about them. You might be faced with a negative judgment. And you won't have the luxury of telling yourself that they didn't really mean what they were thinking."

This was not what Daria wanted to talk about. "All right. Let's change the subject. The entertaining thing. I have to read minds. What am I going to do?"

"A simple set of card tricks. Answering questions. Nothing serious. You pick out one simple thought, and you read it. You've done it before."

"It sounds harmless enough."

"Good," said Burchell. She took a deck of cards out of her labcoat. "Now," she said, picking a card from the deck, "tell me what card I'm holding."

Daria smiled. "The three of clubs."

Burchell turned the card. "Excellent. Again."

Daria concentrated. "You've picked the four of spades. But you're going to lie to me and tell me it's another card."

"That's very good indeed. Now let me try another one."

Daria concentrated again. The thought was a bit fuzzier. "The…King of Diamonds?"

"You weren't sure about that one, we're you?"

"No. I didn't hear you in my head."

"That's because I wasn't speaking to myself in my head. I tried not to say 'The King of Diamonds' as a phrase in my mind, merely to recognize the fact and remember it. You get the distinction?"

A beep went off. Daria looked down at her monitor.

"One forty over eighty," said Burchell. "Not good. Your blood pressure began creeping up with only a few reads."

"So what do I do?"

"You try to keep another thought running in the background. Like theme music. The memory of something very pleasant. Does anything give you pleasure?"

"Uh…reading."

"Good. We'll start there…."

(la la LA la la)

Daria and Dr. Burchell spent the next two hours practicing in an empty room in the mansion, which had been quickly furnished with a desk and a computer monitor. The two frequently had to stop because Daria's biofeedback indicator would go off almost constantly. Daria found that the process of hearing the monitor go off was making her more anxious instead of less anxious.

"One thousand three hundred sixteen," said Daria.

Concentrate, dammit. Think of something calming. Like the ocean. No, I hate the ocean. Music? Well, the Offspring rock but it's not calming. Seeing Quinn humiliated?

Maybe that will work?

"Snaggletooth." Daria thought that Burchell's word association tests were getting more and more ridiculous. Burchell warned her that she might have to read the thoughts of weird people, so the mind reading was now becoming more and more out of the ordinary.

PING!

The blood pressure monitor went off. Daria tried to think of Quinn being yelled at, Quinn in her neck up to concrete, Quinn thrown out of the Fashion Club, Quinn unable to get dates, Quinn drunk and ridiculous. It wasn't working.

"Hey."

Daria looked behind her. It was Trent.

"What's up?"

"Sorry, Trent. I'm…um…I'm in the middle of an exercise."

Dammit, Trent. I'm trying to think of Quinn and you're killing my mental imaging. My blood pressure is going to take the hit, and I'll be peeing for an hour tomorrow morning after I take that damn pill.

"Keep going!" said Burchell. "You need to learn how to deal with distractions!"

"So what's up? – 'Superman'"

"Huh?"

"Sorry." Daria blushed. "I'm still reading Dr. Burchell's mind. I may say weird things every now and then. Do you…uh…plan on staying?"

Trent scratched the back of his head. "Might as well. It's not like the band has any gigs. I told Jesse I would call him back if I needed to. And there's nothing in the fridge to spoil."

"How's Jane?"

"Jane's cool. She's practicing her magnetic power."

"'The Lancastrians'." Daria was suddenly struck for a loss of conversation. "So…uh…hm…" Dammit, think of something to say!

"Hey," said Trent, interrupting with a cough, "it was me that bothered you. I'll let you get back to what you were doing!"

"'Koo Koo K'Joob!'"

Daria turned redder. Now she sounded like a moron. Trent smiled. "A Beatles fan. Good one, Daria. I'll see you."

Daria watched Trent walk away. "Dammit," she said, under her breath.

Dr. Burchell waited. "Daria…Daria?"

"Huh?"

"I was sending a thought. Were you paying attention?"

"Oh. Yeah." Daria sighed. "'Washington, DC'."

Dr. Burchell looked at the monitor readings. Daria's monitor was directly connected to the terminal; Burchell looked closely.

"Well, Daria, it seems that you've made some progress for the first time. Your blood pressure readings actually went down for the first time since we've been doing the exercise. No different from any young woman your age." Burchell looked up at Daria. "And I have a theory why this is so."

(la la LA la la)

Daria lay down in her room. She stared at the ceiling. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. A knock on the door forced her out of her thoughts for a few moments.

It was Jane. "Hey, amiga."

"Hey."

Jane smiled. "Notice something?"

Jane didn't look that much different. But for some reason she seemed…taller.

Daria looked down. Jane's feet were suspended a good four inches off the floor. Jane kicked at the empty air for emphasis.

" I can fly!! IcanflyIcanflyIcanfly!!"

"Thank you, Peter Pan!"

"This…." Jane smiled. "This just…rocks! I didn't know I could even fly at all until they started testing me. It has something to do with magnetic lines of force, or something. And when I learn how to do this right, I'm going to go anywhere I want to in the world! Of course, I can only go about four inches off the ground! But they said I could even go higher than that once I learned how!"

"That's…that's great."

"So, Daria…how's it going? With the blood pressure?"

"Well," Daria sighed. "Dr. Burchell thinks she's got the problem under control. We did another hour of testing today. My indicator didn't give the Ping of Death."

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah. I might even be able to walk down the streets without going crazy. Jane…I hate to say this, but I'm really really tired right now. I need a nap."

Jane was all full of adrenaline. "You do that! I'm going to show this to Trent!!"

Daria closed the door and pulled the covers down. She knew she wasn't going to sleep though.

Trent. Thinking about Trent brings my blood pressure down. Thinking about him in that gooey gooey dumb teenager way brings everything down. Stupid hormones. Great. He's the only person I didn't want to think about while I was here. And now, I have to think about him, or my head blows up. This…is…just…great. If Jane, or anyone else finds out, I'll never hear the end of it. If Trent finds out…well…I hope Jane finds a place high enough to drop me.

Crap! Daria climbed into bed and covered her head with the covers.

(la la LA la la)

"Quinn!"

"Uh…hi, Mom!" Quinn felt really embarrassed. Quest had been treating Helen and Jake to tours of the area while the girls practiced their powers. It was the only time that Helen and Quinn had been alone.

"Quinn, honey, we need to talk. Take a seat."

This couldn't be good. Quinn knew that nothing good came after "Quinn honey".

"Quinn, I want to tell you that…I understand what you did. You thought we were going to hurt Daria. However…I am disappointed that you couldn't be trusted with a confidence. So from now on, I might have to assume that whatever I tell you you're going to tell Daria. And I think that I've already decided a punishment for the two of you."

Eap! "Uh…okay…."

"Quinn, I don't think you or Daria can be trusted with this amount of money. I understand that Russell Stark, whatever his motives, made you the heirs to a fortune. However, as long as we're your parents, you're not going to spend this money on trivialities. I want both of you, as well as Jane, to lead as normal a life as possible."

"O…kay." Quinn didn't quite get what it all meant.

"Therefore, we're not staying here in Utah. We're going back to Lawndale, we're going back home and the two of you are going back to Lawndale High School."

"You mean it? You…really mean it??"

Helen knew she would have to be firm. "I insist on it."

"YAYYYYY!!!!" Quinn started jumping around and immediately grabbed her mother in a hug. "Mom, can I call my friends? Can I let them know I'm coming back?"

"Um…of course, sweetie! But remember, you made a promise to help Ms. Hall with her charity work, and I'm holding you and Daria to that. So you can come to Utah every now and then…when you don't have homework or duties around the house or family responsibilites!"

Quinn thought this was great. She was tired of being pushed around by her big sister. "I'm going to call Sandi right away and let her know we're coming back! I love you, Mom!!" Quinn immediately bounced out of the room.

Helen scratched her head. She thought Quinn might have put up more resistance. Helen sighed. It had been a long time since she had been a teenager.

(la la LA la la)

"Gee, Quinn…so your cousin tried to run away?" Sandi couldn't wait to hear the rest of the story.

" Yeah, it was like, she was trying to head back to Utah to visit her abusive family again. And, well, you know Sandi, Mom was worried about her, and she sent me to escort her to make sure nothing happened to her! "

"Well…I suppose that was a good thing to do. A member of the Fashion Club, selflessly sacrificing her appearance priorities to help others!"

"Ohhh, Sandi! I didn't sacrifice my priorities! We even got new clothes from…uh…members of the family!"

"So you'll be coming back to Lawndale?" Sandi figured that the boys would go wild when Quinn came back. It was time to figure out some humiliating story that would dampen the fires of popularity lit by Quinn's return. 'Quinn ran away for an abortion?' No, too cruel, even for her….Quinn needing plastic surgery, on the other hand….

"Yeah. In a few days."

"So why didn't you – AHCHOO!!!" Sandi snorfled, and grabbed some tissues.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sick. I've missed two days of school. I can't even keep anything down."

"Wowwww…."

"And Tiffany's missed two days of school too! I think I caught it from her! We have to get our gossip from Stacy! I've put Stacy on double fashion watch duty, so that we know who at Lawndale is trying to escape under the radar with their fashion disasters! Do you know that Heidi tried wearing scrubs to school yesterday?"

"Uh…yeah…well…I'm sure she…uh…had a reason!" The news had been delivered by Jane about the unfortunate fashion choices of the Legion.

Sandi rolled her eyes. "The Fashion Club bylaws have an entire section of scrubs, jumpsuits, and other articles of clothing appropriately called 'service wear'. The – !"

Quinn heard silence from the other end of the phone. "…Sandi…what's wrong…?"

"I…I have to go!" Sandi dropped the phone, ran out of the room and raced to the bathroom. It was time to worship the porcelain god again.

(la la LA la la)

3:40 AM.

Tiffany hadn't slept. She knew that lack of sleep would be marginally damaging to her appearance. Bags under the eyes were just sooooo not done. It was a good thing that she was being allowed to miss a few days of school, at least until her mother sent her back out the door again.

She thought that at least, she didn't have the rash again. However, she had the same symptoms as Sandi. An inability to keep food down, which was a problem for Sandi but really wasn't for Tiffany. Looking thin was great! She hoped to stay nauseous for a long time!

However, the day before, she noticed that the pallor of her face was washing out. Her mother told Tiffany that she looked like a ghost. Very unflattering. Tiffany had already calculated how much makeup it would take to return her to her natural tones. She had been working with the makeup most of the night, since she couldn't get to sleep anyway.

In pajamas, Tiffany tip-toed to the private bathroom adjoining her bedroom. She flipped on the lights to see what kind of damage another 45 minutes of sleeplessness had done.

Tiffany looked at herself in the mirror. Instead of seeing a young, very tired, fashionable cute dark haired goddess, she saw what looked like the washed out, half-faded projection of one. She could actually see the reflection of the shower curtain in the mirror with the ghostly-half-image of her face, superimposed.

She looked at her hands. All she could make out were the faint outlines. She looked right through her right hand, making out the sink faucet that the hand should have obscured.

"…I am sooooo pale…." Tiffany made a decision. Next time, use more blush!!