Quinn sighed as she held her cell phone silently. She had thought again about talking to Stacy, but then remembered this would be prime fodder for gossip, and that Sandi could get it out of Stacy without any real effort. Stacy had a long way to go before she was ready to face Sandi alone, but she was definitely on her way.
Leaning back against the pillows stacked at the head of her bed, Quinn sighed while thinking about Stacy. She desperately wanted to be accepted, and seemingly over time had let her own self dissolve away. Letting her eyes slide shut in thought Quinn remembered when she first realized just how badly Stacy wanted to be someone else, instead of the little mousy girl she was.
It was back when Daria had visited that snooty brain's school and Quinn had somehow managed to arrange to stay with Stacy for the night after getting kicked out of Sandi's and Tiffany's places. Stacy kept talking about how she thought of Quinn as her first best friend, and Sandi and Tiffany were secondary to her, but Quinn wasn't listening. She had always known that she and Stacy were best friends, even before the rest of the fashion club. She wasn't paying attention though, because she was thinking about Daria, and wondering if her big sister was moving onto something that would destroy her. She had heard terrible things about Grove Hill from the gossip lines, and she was really worried that Daria would become a snooty know-it-all, instead of the smart and caring girl that hide behind her shields of cynicism and aloofness. To hide her fears she was blathering about inane fashion details while Stacy dressed to go to a movie or something. When she walked out of her closet wearing a matching outfit disturbingly close to Quinn's, and then wanted to dye both girl's hair the same color, that scared her deeply, so much so that she didn't even want to be home alone. She had made up some excuse about masked serial puppy killers, just to avoid admitting that she was afraid of Stacy stalking her and stay with Daria's friend, Jane.
Opening her eyes again Quinn sighed and frowned, looking at the far wall in thought. She really didn't know what to do about Daria's situation, or even if she should do anything at all. No, she had to do something... it was just a matter of what. Should she confront Daria about it? Or maybe give them some alone time... maybe she should try to help them build a relationship... or maybe she should just be willing to listen whenever they wanted to talk. No, they wouldn't talk to her. Who could blame them really?
When had she ever done anything for anyone but herself, let alone them? Would she even trust her own actions? No, right now her actions were fueled by her need to help her sister, her need to be there for her sister, her wanting to be accepted as something other than a soulless, mindless fashion plate. Lowering her face into her hands, she was shocked when her palms met with wetness on her cheeks. She was crying; she didn't know she could cry without noticing it. Was she right about being nothing but a fashion plate?
No, she wouldn't let herself end like that. Maybe if she asked her mother to hire a tutor for the summer and really studied... Maybe if she started asking for advice from her smarter sister, instead of trying to buy her sister's works for the grades. Maybe if she could show Daria that she wanted to be smart, maybe then Daria would accept her, not repeating that pseudo-intellectual bout she had back when she wrote that stupid essay. Now, she had to show real depth of character, and intelligence.
The first thing she had to do was to leave her sister and Jennifer alone, and let them sort it out. If one of them came to her, she'd help them, but she shouldn't force herself in, even if she had done so last night. She was such an idiot spying on them like that; maybe she shouldn't try helping anyone.
She could feel that tomboy side of herself laughing at how foolish she was. She knew what she'd do if that was her, she'd sit down and talk with Daria about her suspicions, get the facts. She would never let anyone or anything stop her, save maybe Daria's cooler and wiser head. No, she'd know exactly what to do. That's right, she would know... and now that Quinn thought about it, so did she. Standing up from her bed Quinn walked into the bathroom to shower for the day. It wouldn't do for her to talk with Daria if she looked like a rag doll that had been rescued from a landfill.
Closing her bathroom door behind her she frowned in thought again. What if Daria wanted more than she could give?