Disclaimer: Daria and all associated characters owned by MTV. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money or any other goods have been exchanged.

All original characters were created by Ognawk.

THE GREAT AND THE GOOD
By Ognawk

Part 21 - A Star Is Torn

Jane was setting up her paintings in one of the gallery rooms at the Starry Night Ball. She was with Giovanni Badoer, one of the directors of the Maryland Arts Society, who had been impressed with her work at Ashfield and brought her to the attention of the Society. She finished putting a cloth over the last painting and stepped back.

"There, that should do it," she said.

"Excellent," Giovanni replied, "I'm really looking forward to seeing how the patrons react to the works this year."

"Yeah. By the way, thanks again for giving me a shot here. This is a big deal for me."

"Well, Ms Lane, I think you have potential, and others should see that," Giovanni said with a smile.

At that point, Melissa Canton-Foster walked into the room and headed towards the two.

"Ah, Giovanni. And you must be Jane," she said, extending her hand, which Jane shook, "Jane, I'd like to talk to you for a moment if I could."

"Sure," she said, as she followed Melissa over to another area of the gallery.

They both moved towards a bench and sat down.

"It's always good to see new talent coming through," Melissa said, "Although some members of the board are a little concerned."

"Well, I have noticed my style is a little different to most of the artwork here," Jane replied.

"It's not the artwork that is the concern, it's you."

Jane had a confused look on her face. "Why so?"

"There are a few incidents that have happened to you. The drunken incident at Ashfield, you slapping my daughter and then the assault charge you faced," Melissa explained, "We hope these aren't a sign of things to come."

"Slapped your daughter?" Jane said, confused, until it finally clicked, "You're Cassidy's mother? I'm really sorry, she said some things I didn't like and I lost my cool. It won't happen again."

"I'm not happy about that, true, but I'm concerned about you being arrested for something else as well."

"I wasn't arrested for something else," Jane explained, "The arrest was for what happened to Cassidy."

Melissa looked confused. "The two were related?"

"Yeah. You mean you weren't the one that had me arrested?" Jane asked.

"No. That was nothing to do with me," Melissa replied, "In any case, I'm hoping that you two can try to exist in the same room tonight without something happening."

"Oh absolutely, I can be civil. My friends are coming, so I'll be with them mostly."

"Good, I'm glad we have an understanding," Melissa replied with a smile.

Daria and Ashley were in the car with Ashley's parents, Rachel and Adam, on the way to the ball. Daria was in the green dress she bought from the mall and Ashley was in a tuxedo, as was his father. His mother was in an elegant powder blue dress.

"I'm so pleased you agreed to come with us tonight, Daria," Rachel said, "It's a shame your parents couldn't make it."

"Well, my Mom's a workaholic, so she wouldn't have been able to go," Daria explained, "Dad didn't want to come without her, especially if there was a chance no-one would talk to him."

"Plus if they were serving martinis, you'd never get him away from the bar," Ashley said with a smirk, making Daria chuckle.

"Well, I hope you're going to keep my boy here on the straight and narrow," Adam said.

"Oh, I don't know if anyone can manage that," Daria replied with a slight smile.

"How very dare you," Ashley said, in mock offence, "I thought you loved me."

"I tolerate you."

"Aren't you two just adorable?" Rachel said with a smile.

"Hey, we're here," Adam said as they arrived at the ball.

As they entered and exchanged greetings with people, Daria was adjusting her dress.

"Uncomfortable?" Ashley asked.

"I'm not used to wearing a dress," Daria replied, "I haven't worn one since I was a little kid."

Ashley was about to respond, when he saw a familiar brunette girl approaching in an elaborate sliver coloured dress.

"Ashley Winters, surprised to see you at such a formal occasion," she said.

"Elaine Swinton, I'm surprised you're even talking to me," Ashley replied, "I thought I was beneath your presence."

"Well I thought I should at least be sociable," Elaine said, looking Daria up and down, "Still, I'm glad you've decided to date someone more on your level."

Daria frowned slightly before Ashley spoke again. "You do realise I never thought you'd go out with me, I just did it for a lark."

"Good to see you know your place," Elaine snorted.

"You wouldn't appreciate a nice, sweet, intelligent guy like Ashley anyway," Daria said.

"Was I talking to you?" Elaine asked, turning her attention to Ashley's girlfriend.

"No, but you were talking about me," Daria replied, "The way I see it, you think you're too good for him, when in reality, he's too good for you. You act like you're someone important, but all you are is just the daughter of some rich family. There are plenty of people in this world who are above you."

Elaine was about to just speak, but just scowled at Daria and turned and walked away.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Ashley said to Daria with a grin.

"This is going to be a long night," she replied, rubbing her temples.

Jane was happy as she was walking across the room with a soda in her hand. People seem to really like my paintings, she thought. Her mood soon soured slightly when she noticed Cassidy walking towards her dressed in a one shoulder, sleeveless red dress with a rhinestone belt, with Tom accompanying her in an expensive tuxedo. OK Lane, just remain calm.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Jane, what with that arrest I heard about," Cassidy said.

"Oh, I'm sure you had nothing to do with that, did you?" Jane replied.

"What, just because you slapped me in the face? Perish the thought. So, they decided to take pity on you and set you free, then," she said, a slight smirk on her face.

"Oh they warned me alright," Jane replied, smiling sweetly, "Still, I spent a few hours in a cell before, so I'm sure I could have coped for a while."

"Oh really? What on earth could you have done to get locked up?" Cassidy inquired, her interest piqued.

"Just a little traffic violation," Jane explained, sipping on her soda, "But me and my brother's band paid off our debt to society by helping with a birthday party for the sheriff's kid."

"Your brother's band, you say? Creativity must run in the family."

"We try. You and Tom are looking nice tonight, I must say."

"Well, my Mother is on the board of the Maryland Art Society and Tom's Mother is a sponsor of the ball, so it's expected for us to look the part."

"That's a nice dress, by the way Jane," Tom said with a smile.

"Oh, this old thing?" Jane replied with a smile of her own, "My boyfriend bought it for me."

"Oh? And where is this boyfriend?" Cassidy enquired.

"He couldn't be here tonight. Big school project he needed to finish up."

"That's a shame, I'd like to meet him." Cassidy replied.

Meanwhile, Elsie moved up behind Jane. Just as she was about to speak, she noticed Jane's proximity to Cassidy and the soda in her hand, and a wicked smile crept upon her face. In the next moment, she bumped into Jane, making it look like it was accident. Jane jolted forward and then quickly spun around, noticing Elsie.

"Hey Elsie, watch where you're going, will ya?"

"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHH!"

The scream made Jane spin round again in shock and saw Cassidy had soda all over her dress.

"What the hell did you do that for?" she shouted.

"Oh my God. I'm sorry, Cassidy, it was an accident. Someone bumped into me," Jane explained.

"This was an expensive dress! You've ruined it!"

"Here, let me help," Tom said, trying to dry Cassidy's dress somewhat with some napkins.

Jane looked shocked. "I didn't mean..."

Before Jane could finish speaking, Cassidy had thrown the water she had right in Jane's face.

"Cassidy!" Tom said in shock.

"You will be sorry, Lane!" Cassidy hissed as she stormed off with Tom in hot pursuit as Jane wiped some of the water from her eyes. Elsie stepped beside Jane and handed her a napkin, which she used to dry her face.

"Whoops!" Elsie said, a smirk on her face.

Later in the evening, Jane, Daria and Ashley were walking into the gallery, with Giovanni and two other directors of the Maryland Art Society, William Dreyfus and Jacob Lanser.

"I've got to admit, I'm not a fan of that style of art, but I think you've got definite talent," William said to Jane.

"It's very good, I think you've got a lot of potential, Jane," Jacob added.

"Thanks," Jane replied with a smile.

"We've had talks with a couple of people who might be interested in buying..."

"What the heck happened here?" Ashley said, pointing to a couple of paintings across the room.

There were three paintings in the room, all next to each other. All three of them had been badly damaged, covered in holes and slashes, with the biggest painting having a huge diagonal slice right across it. Jane noticed and ran over to them in a panic.

"My paintings!" she cried, touching the damage done to each of them, "Someone ruined my paintings!"

The rest of the party came over in complete shock. Jane continued to pay particular attention to the slash in the middle of the big painting as Daria and Ashley examined the others.

"This is most heinous," Giovanni said, "Miss Lane, we will do everything we can to find out who's responsible for this act."

Jane just stood, staring at the paintings in shock before sitting on the floor, putting her head in her hands.

"All that work for nothing!" she said, as she started sobbing, Daria sitting next to her, putting her hand on Jane's shoulder.