Daria: The College Years

Episode 12: A Thorn in the Lane

By: Farren O'Blivion

"So how was your walk last night?" Jane asked, quickly picking up Daria's last discard. "Discover anything new and exciting?"

Daria flashed back to the previous night's dealings with Trent. New and creepy, more like, she thought. "No, not really," she said, picking up from the deck. She glanced at her friend over her cards. "Sort things out with Trent?"

Jane scrutinized her hand and shrugged. "As much as we Lanes can. We hugged. That's enough." She set down three of a kind before discarding.

"Jesse and the guys were pretty nervous," Daria continued, her voice casual, disinterested. "It's like they expected a fight to break out."

"Yeah, well, boys are dumb. You didn't discard," Jane pointed out. When Daria obliged, Jane pounced on it. "Ah ha!" she crowed, laying down three face-cards of the same suit before slamming her final card into the discards. "I gin again! I'll tell you, amiga, it's lucky we're not playing Strip Gin 'cause you'd be putting on quite a show while taking it off!"

The auburn-haired girl's face remained impassive. "You should be ashamed," she monotoned.

Jane grinned. "Of my lascivious spirit? Never."

"No, of that horrible pun. You 'gin' again? Shame... shame," Daria tutted, shaking her head.

"You caught that, huh? Curse you, Morgendorffer!" Jane shook her fist in feigned frustration. "I can never get anything over on you!"

Daria laid down her cards. "Not like with Trent, huh?"

"Meaning?" Jane arched a brow.

"That whole song and dance this morning. I've never seen you move so fast in the morning before."

"Oh. That." Jane shrugged as she shuffled. "I told you about hearing Trent and Jesse arguing at that club, right? I figure it was about the other night, when Jess passed out beside me here." She glanced up at Daria and shrugged again. "Well, you heard him last night. He wasn't exactly all for Jesse sleeping up here. I think he only agreed 'cause you'd be here, too. Well, that and Delaney kind of influenced him..."

At this, both girls looked over at the room's third occupant. Delaney Connors was stretched across the tops of the two dressers under the window, her eyes closed against the midday sun. Pouch perched on her sternum, diligently cleaning his whiskers. Faint strains of crashing music occasionally escaped the confines of Delaney's headphones. As they watched, the blonde blindly slipped her hand into a pocket and extracted a small red box. She flicked the flimsy lid open with her thumb before sprinkling the contents onto her shirt. Three or four black nuggets tumbled out. Daria and Jane leant forward to see.

"Enjoy, Pouch," Delaney murmured, voice thick with sun-sleep. Pouch immediately scampered from her chest to her stomach, snatching up a nugget and nibbling frantically.

Ah. The girls settled back onto Daria's bed. Raisins.

Jane dealt out the cards.

"Okay, I get that Trent finding you where he left Jesse would... put him off even more than he was last night," Daria said as she arranged her hand. What a crap hand... "But what I want to know is how you got there."

The raven-haired girl frowned down at her own set of cards. "I don't really know," she admitted. "He must've woken up and made the switch himself."

"Nothing else?"

Jane laughed. "Oh, come on, Daria! You weren't gone that long!" She playfully slapped her cards against the other girl's knee. "Besides," she said between chuckles. "With Jesse? Trent would kill him, like, literally kill him. And Jess know it."

"Ah, yes. This 'real' Trent... Tell me about him."

Jane stopped laughing, all traces of mirth gone from her face so suddenly Daria was actually taken aback. She stared off into space for a moment, gathering her thoughts and memories before turning to her friend. "Don't tell him I told you," she said, compulsively fidgeting with her cards. "I don't think he'd want you to know."

"I'll try not to alert the media."

"I'm serious, Daria." The intensity in her voice alarmed Daria yet again.

"Of course I won't tell," she soothed. "I swear."

Jane stared at her for another tense, silent moment before nodding. She took a deep breath and slowly released it as she ran her hands through her hair. "Trent was... he was scary. Like, dangerous scary. Especially in his sleep... he used to mumble all the time, and then he'd laugh. He had... the creepiest laugh you've ever heard. It sounded so... cruel." Jane shuddered at the memory.

Daria felt the bottom of her stomach drop. That creepy chuckle from last night. Jesus, don't tell me he tortured and killed the neighborhood cats, too.

"And he was just a little boy, you know? That just made it worse," Jane continued without noticing Daria's reaction. "I mean, there's five years between us so I didn't notice for a while, but when I thought back... When I was about three, I was playing on our stoop. I had a... a Mason jar lid, just the flat part, and I was spinning it around and the... the neighbor boy saw me and he came over and took it, just because he could. And, being only three, I started to cry. And Trent came out to see why... He went across the street to the boy's house and I remember the boy's two sisters opened the door. Trent must have asked for him 'cause they disappeared and... as soon as their brother came to the door, Trent punched him hard in the face. He went down screaming and crying. And Trent... he bent down and then he came back to me. He just handed me the top and went back inside like nothing had happened as those two girls tried to drag their brother inside so they could shut the door..." She gave Daria a significant look. "That neighbor boy was at least ten or eleven. Trent was eight. And he just marched over there and back, no problem, no fear, no reaction at all. That's not normal, you know? I mean, kids run around, screaming and laughing, right? Well, Trent never did. I remember him in the schoolyard-"

"Well, neither did I," Daria pointed out, interrupting, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. "I was always by myself on the playground. Wasn't interested in the games they played."

"Yeah, but you were a bookworm, right?" Daria nodded. "So you were at least doing something. Trent would run around with Jesse, sure, but... at school he'd stand by the fence and stare, just stare, at the other kids. Like he was lying in wait for one of them to become separated from the herd or something. I remember my first day, Trent walked me, held my hand the whole way. You know he taught me how to look both ways before crossing the street? He'd quiz me at every corner." Jane smiled, her eyes far away. "He stopped outside the fence to wait for Jess but I was so excited I ran ahead. Yeah, me excited about school. Go figure." Her smile faded.

"I ran up to a group of kids. They started making fun of my outfit and hair. I didn't understand why; I'd styled it myself and was quite proud but hand-me-downs are embarrassing, I guess. They were all laughing at me and this one boy took it further and pushed me down. And then Trent was there with Jesse behind him. He grabbed that kid and lifted him up, lifted him completely like he weighed nothing, and said, 'don't you ever touch my sister, ever again.' And you know what that kid said? 'Oh, she's your sister? I didn't know.' And Trent said, 'now you do' and dropped him and that kid stayed down. He crawled away, apologizing, Daria."

"Trent was a bully?" Daria asked incredulously. She winced as she realized how shrill she'd sounded and glanced over at Delaney. She appeared to have drifted off in the noonday sun.

"That's just it! He was like the anti-bully," Jane said, shooting a quick look at Delaney and lowering her voice. "But what kid does that? Trent would fight anybody and everybody, didn't matter who or how many. Remember that neighbor boy that took my top? Well, he got his friends together and went after Trent. Jess, too. It was five against two." Jane shook her head in wonder. "Apparently, Trent fought so viciously that Jesse had to pull him away. But when he came home, there was barely a mark on him... Neighbor Boy's parents came to our house to complain about their son's injuries. Yeah, injuries. I opened the door and they told me to get my parents but Trent stepped in front of me. They started to lecture him and ask him things like, 'does that make you proud?' 'are you pleased with yourself, young man?' but Trent never said a word, never even moved. He just stared at them.

"Daria... they started to back down the walkway. When they got to the sidewalk, Trent shut the door and told me, 'don't open the door for strangers, Janey.' And then he walked away. But can you imagine that? Two adults, afraid of a child?"

Daria had a sudden image of a much younger Trent; shorter, with a bald chin and un-inked skin but still pale, still with bristly black hair and snapping eyes as dark as death. She looked up at Jane. "I dunno. Have you ever seen The Omen?"

Jane blinked but then broke into a grin. "Hmm. My brother is the spawn of Satan... Then I shall be his right-hand man."

"Only with boobs and a vagina," Daria pointed out.

Jane ignored that. "We shall rule the world," she cried theatrically, shaking her fist at the visible heavens outside the window. She dropped her arm and frowned. "Unless... You don't think he already slept through the appointed apocalypse?" She grinned at Daria's snort of laughter and began collecting their un-played but discarded hands.

Daria watched silently for a minute before asking, "So. What happened with Neighbor Boy and Neighbor Parents?"

Jane stilled and looked at her friend from under her brows. "They moved."


A/N: Jane's first story is true & accurate; it's based on what happened to me when I was 2-3, only I had a sister seven years older. One of the nicest things she ever did for me, actually. Also, much of Trent's (current & future) behavior is based on that of my own sister. The group fight is also based on fact; it happened to me, I was about 9 & I was alone. They were all 10-11, all boys, and all foolish to underestimate just how vicious one lone girl could be! Can I get an amen?

Tell me if you get the title pun. :)