Chapter Two- Lawndales future elite.
Pizza king.
Daria headed inside the pizza parlor and spotted Trent already waiting in a booth. As she approached the table and sat opposite him, Trent stared at her trying hard not to show his surprise. Once he found his voice he started to babble "You…wow.. look so different, good different, I mean not that you didn't look good before…it…just…um…wow.." Trent continued to stare as Daria said "Um thanks...oh hey, Jane met a guy on the way over but said she'll be here soon… did you order yet?
Trent replied in his raspy voice "Yea I ordered it to go, cause I gotta drop you both off at home then go to…" he was cut off by a loud commotion, coming from a corner booth. Both Trent and Daria looked over to see the three j's coming towards their table all the while hitting and tripping over each other.
Daria rolled her eyes and said quietly to herself "Damn, I thought I lost them."
Trent looked very confused "Huh? What's going on?"
Daria unsure of how to explain the situation as three j's approached their table, said nothing.
In unison the three j's "Hey Daria!"
Trent first looked at Daria who seemed embarrassed and kind of pissed at the same time; and then looked over at the guys who all looked very eager at Daria, but in an idiotic way. It then clicked very fast with Trent that the way Daria was dressed was why she was getting all the attention. Curious Trent decided to sit back and watch things unfold.
Joey, who was at first standing very close to Daria then decided to take a seat next to her and wrap his arm around her "Daria please let me take you out again!"
Trent raised one eyebrow and looked questioningly at Daria, while silently mouthing the word "again"?
Jamie slugged Jeffy in the nose which made him howl and said "No, go out with me!"
Daria cringed and thought No! No! No! Not in front of Trent, I won't be able to live this down!
Daria managed to squeak out a lame explanation to Trent "It's not what it sounds like-" but was cut off by a jealous Joey who started to glare at Trent.
Joey pulled Daria closer to him, "Yea I thought we had something special the other night, didn't you feel it too Daria?"
Daria ignored his question completely "Weren't you three supposed to go see Quinn?"
Jamie said lamely "We got hungry."
Joey tried again to get Daria's personal attention "You know Quinn always let us buy her clothes at Cashman's, she even gave us private modeling shows after…so you wanna go shopping?"
All three j's started chanting in unison, with fists raised in a pounding motion: "Private show! Private show!" As Daria tried to sink further into the booth, she face palmed and said "oh dear god"…
The Fashion club had now approached the table, and in typical Sandi tone, "Fellas please calm yourselves, (they stop chanting) (Sandi now facing Daria) "Quinn's cousin or whatever as fashion club president I must say your new look is still well below fashion club standards, however it is much improved."
Tiffany "Yeaaah, muuch improooved."
Jamie "Yea she's the hottest girl in school-"
Sandi clearly frustrated with all three guys behavior was now practically shouting "Shut it Jamal!"
Stacy stared wide eyed at Daria and piped up "Where did you get your navel pierced at? I so want one, did it hurt? Oh please say it didn't hurt…"
Daria embarrassed and very hungry at this point said "Joey/ Jeffy/ Jamie" (all three j's perked up at finally getting some attention from Daria) "I bet the fashion club would love for you all to take them to Cashman's, am I right girls?"
Stacy and Tiffany moved towards the door at the mention of shopping and clothes. As he was dragged away by Sandi, Joey yelled back at Daria "Call me!"
Trent completely bewildered by Daria's new friends said nothing as he got up to get their order; and bypassed a smirking Jane who was approaching the table "What the hell happened while I was gone?"
Daria "I'll explain later, let's go I can't take much more of the twilight zone today."
A while later Jane turned to looked at Daria who was seated in the back of the car "So what did the fashion club want? To start scheduling double dates with the three j's?"
Daria shook her head "Shut it lane."
As Trent silently listened to their conversation, he peeked at Daria in the rearview mirror and saw that she was staring out the window, so he took the opportunity to take in all of Daria. Daria's face, her hair, her body in that outfit… sighing, he had to stop or he would crash the car…
Trent cleared his throat "So what was that back there Daria?"
Daria blushed at receiving his attention but shifted uncomfortably at the question "Umm, it's hard to explain." Instead it was Jane who quickly filled Trent in on 'Brainiac Quinn', the reasoning behind Daria's wardrobe changes, and the three j's.
Trent "So, um you're not into those guys then? What did you call them Janey?"
Jane "The three j's- Jeffy /joey/ Jamie."
Trent looked at Daria again through the mirror and waited for her response to his question.
Daria somewhat hesitated but said "No, not interested. They are Quinn's sycophants not mine, plus they're just idiots drooling over a few shots of flesh and a strategically placed piercing… I 'm not taking their admiration seriously."
Jane added "Yea besides you're more into musicians aren't you Daria?" as Daria silently mouthed back 'you're dead'.
Trent silent at Daria's answer pulled up to Casa lane; as the girls headed inside to eat and watch sick sad world Trent hurriedly ate and took off to practice.
Unexpected Muse.
Casa Lane, midnight, Trent's room. Guns n' roses 'don't cry' is playing in Trent's CD player on repeat…
Description: Trent was trying to get a certain auburn haired beauty out of his mind; but first he had to figure out why she was in there...which could be too much for one slacker to take…
Trent, dressed only in blue boxers, was strumming his guitar, sitting on the floor surrounded by the usual clutter along with many wadded up sheets of paper. No lyrics were coming to him because his mind kept going back to Daria, and he didn't know why. As soon as he closed his eyes to think, Daria was there in his head doing things she shouldn't be doing to him, which made him feel weird and guilty. The way she looked today blew him away… it was just so different…she looked …well… hot, but there was something else too; she had been way more confident and had talked more easily to him which had been really nice…
He wondered why she dismissed those three guys at the pizza place; yea they seemed moronic but he thought with all the attention they gave her she would go for one of them…hmm…then again that wasn't Daria, she had standards... but if those morons couldn't get her he didn't really have a shot. Whoa… no he didn't want a shot with her, where had that thought come from? He wasn't interested in Daria like that she was just a kid… he knew she had a crush on him before but it was gone now; he had pretty much destroyed it when he didn't come through for her or Janey on that school project.
Hmmm…he didn't know what to think, for some reason his mind was battling between yea she's young and not even considering her that way, and then picturing Daria on his lap touching him and kissing him… Could he consider her more than a friend? Well maybe if she was older and they had more in common maybe… arrghh this was stupid! It was as if Daria had claimed his Brain waves as well as other body parts that day, and he had no escape.
Suddenly he was very inspired, he grabbed a pen and wrote out some lyrics and knew that although his brain was still jumbled about Daria that he had at least found an unexpected muse. He crawled into bed as dawn approached and had ended up cranking out eighteen sheets of lyrics…
Two Weeks later: Daria's room.
TV was blasting sick sad world in the background:
Announcer: Are ghosts haunting your house … while forcing you to clean up your messes... (TV shows ghost directing person to take out the trash) obsessive compulsive ghosts next sick sad world!
Daria was in front of her computer doing work when her cell rang.
Jane "Are you still speaking to me even though I've been sort of blowing you off …sorry, it can't be helped…I tell you that Nathan guy is really amazing!"
Daria replied curtly "No"
Jane "Come on, I'll buy you pizza…"
Daria "Damn you lane you drive a hard bargain."
Jane "and you're still spending the night right?"
Daria sounded exasperated "yea I have to get the hell out of here; Quinn has started to rap her poetry."
Jane cringed "you can stay the week here or move in if you want, but um.. anyway about tonight, Nathan is coming to hear Trent play."
Daria "Damn, well there goes girl's night, and I was planning on downing Jell-O shots off your belly; another time I guess…anyway I thought you liked Nathan so why subject him to that kind of musical torture so early on in your relationship?"
Jane "Well I kind of want to introduce him to Trent and you; and you know bring him into our little circle of friends."
Daria sighed "That's a small circle… umm since I would be the obvious third wheel do you still want me to come?"
Jane "Of course! I wanna hang with you tonight; hey maybe you should invite one of the three j's, it'll be a gas!"
Daria "Hell no and a gas? Jane find a time machine and come back to the present day."
Jane "Ok, ok , geez I'll let that one go just cause I know your probably really irritated living with Jewel right now… Look, head over now and we'll go for pizza, remember my treat."
Daria "Yea ok I'll pack and head over now." Daria hung up, and dressed in a tight white tank top with the word molly written on it in small black letters, with a tiny black skull and crossbones below it, paired with her usual black skirt and same black boots. Her hair was the same, with mild makeup and contacts. She hurriedly packed her stuff and left the house, but as she started to walk down the sidewalk Trent's car pulled up.
Daria "Hey I was going to walk over."
Jane offered an explanation as she let Daria into the backseat: "The band is actually behind schedule, so we decided to come get you and pick up a pizza to go, and eat at the club.." Jane looked over at Trent and continued, "Someone in the band decided to start an hour earlier than usual; I'm assuming they were really drunk when they agreed to this, am I right Trent?"
Trent to Jane "Umm yea max I think."
Jane rolled her eyes "Yea right, max; anyway with this change of plans Nathan is just going to meet me there."
Trent smiled looking Daria over "Hey you look nice."
Daria smiled back "Thanks again for the top, one of my better birthday presents from last year."
Trent " I got it from a shop on Dega street, you know uh…we should definitely do another hang out there sometime."
Daria surprised at this invitation squeaked out "Really? um I know Jane was thinking of going there this weekend to get more paint supplies so I could meet you two there, whenever."
Although three people were not included in his original plan, given his confusion over her, it was probably for the best so he agreed somewhat unenthusiastically "Yea that'd be great for all three of us to go and buy paint supplies, hang out...whatever..." Trent trailed off and was lost in thought for the rest of the car ride.
At the club: Montage of Trent and the band setting up/ of Daria and Jane eating and talking at nearby table. No one else was there yet since they were an hour early. Later that night the club was more crowded; and on stage Trent had been trying out his new songs with great success with most of the crowd being into the music.
Jane and Nathan were in old fashioned clothes dancing while Daria was talking to a dark haired Brittney who was crying nonstop. From across the room there was a green eyed young man in khakis and a grey sweater that was eyeing Daria.
Daria felt someone staring at her and turned to see a cute guy walking up to her.
Guy smiled " Hi, I'm Tom, and you are."
Daria in disbelief this hot guy was talking to her, replied "I'm Daria."
Tom "Pretty girl, pretty name…So you want to go get a burger?"
Daria "Um well I don't go off with strange guys I just met."
Tom "Wow smart and beautiful, that's a wicked combination right there. Can I at least get you a drink?"
Daria "Yea, thanks, a closed can of coke would be ok." As Tom went off towards the bar, Brittney commented in her squeaky voice "Wow Daria he's cute" (twirls black hair) "and really into you."
Daria "Uh I guess...wait how can you tell?"
Britney: "Well he couldn't take his eyes off you; he complemented you, oh yea Daria, he's really into you- oh hey there's Brian that jerk! I'm going to go say hi, see you later."
Daria was in disbelief at Britney's words, and headed towards the bar where she and Tom engaged in friendly verbal banter for the rest of the night.
Trent on stage had witnessed Daria talking with some guy; he had decided before tonight, to let whatever was bugging him about Daria go. She was just too young, that was it, end of story; and he wouldn't consider her beyond a friend, it was just too weird otherwise…but that didn't stop the pissed off feeling he had when he saw her talk to that guy… Arrghh- lyrics just started flowing through his mind right then. Damn, he had to write them down before he forgot anything; as he was singing he went over to Jesse on stage and quickly mouthed 'take over; Jesse nodded yes and mouthed back 'you ok?' Trent nodded and headed back stage, wrote down the lyrics and then headed back on stage to finish the last set.