Helen had no choice but to forgive her daughter.
She'd gone so far as to consider the alternative and tried. And that was really all she could ask for. Daria preferred her glasses and so the case was quickly dropped, however, she did grimace slightly at the thought of other 'potential' roadkill the duo would approach on Daria's future driving lessons, not that the bookworm was intentionally trying to de-populate the wildlife in Lawndale. People on the other hand...
But, despite the chestnut-haired misanthrope's resort back to her usual attire, she was still somewhat resentful of her own choice. She knew that it worked better for her, but she'd still come to dislike the sight of herself with those dark obstacles masking her face.
"Wanna stop by the opticians?" asked Jane, slurping her soda across from Daria. The lunch hall seemed particularly buzzy, mainly due to the presence of Quinn casually passing through and the horde of ecstatic, desiring suitors trailing behind her like ducklings.
"Sure. Maybe if I ask nicely, he'll rip out my eyeballs and paste some googly applications to my eyelids so it at least looks like I'm paying attention to everyone's drivel" humored Daria with a sigh. She pushed around the mashed potatoes on her plate aimlessly with her fork.
"I meant if you think the glasses are still a problem, maybe we could simply look at some different frames for you. The last time I passed by, they had these kinda neat looking thin frames where the underneath of the lens is left exposed. They had them on this doctor chick that looked like she'd gone insane from the too many patients she had been referred to. She had one of those shaky smiles and was holding her stethoscope like she was gonna shove it down your throat"
"Great"
"At least with that pair, you could like an elegant serial killer" Jane grinned.
"Considering how many bodies could probably pile-up due to my driving lessons, I'd like to leave the label of killer off the table"
"Fair. So, what do you think?"
Daria sighed again. "Fine. I'm not expecting everything to be fixed by this, but... I may as well try"
The mall was serenely peaceful. For a school day, things often were quite tame but collected a gentle liveliness once school was out for the day. Jane guided her friend to the opticians she'd mentioned previously.
"Hi there! Can I help you gals with anything?" offered the retail clerk.
"Yeah" greeted Jane. "I was hoping you'd be able to enhance my friend's sense of egotism with a more suited pair of frames"
Daria grumbled, with a slight frown. "Thanks"
"Been a while since your last pair?" asked the clerk to the brunette.
"Actually, I had myself tested a few months ago. There haven't been any changes for the last three years"
"Gotcha. Well, I'll let you two browse our selection and give us a shout if you need anything" the clerk smiled, leaving them be.
When they left, Daria sent her companion a mild scowl. "If there weren't so many potential witnesses, I'd have brought your head in a collision with that turnstile mirror"
"Yeesh, and this is what I get for considering your well-being?" Jane huffed in return at Daria's rotten attitude.
"I'm just not in the mood. I wanna find a pair and get outta here"
The raven-maned teen shrugged, having adopted her friend's sulk, as they scanned the various shapes and sizes of lenses. For a short while, they browsed the wide selection. Jane took into consideration a few sincere choices, whilst she looked over her shoulder at Daria checking her own picks in the nearby reflection. The poor nerd squinted with the chosen frames, hardly picking up much of an idea with the glasses she'd selected. With her face appearing as a messy blur, each set of glasses simply applied another awkward line of definition, whilst not giving any hint of how they really appeared on her face.
"It'd be nice if I could actually SEE the difference properly with these things" she muttered bitterly to herself.
"Ya need a second opinion, ya dolt" mused Jane with a tut, coming over. Fishing from her pocket her phone, she composed her friend, by turning her towards her and taking a picture. After which, Daria returned her prescription applied spectacles to her features, and inspected the more clear result on Jane's phone.
"Hmm... they're very... square" the brunette withdrew unenthusiastically.
"Okay, no biggie. Let's do the next pair" said Jane with a smile, just happy she could help out.
The girls went through a vast variation: different thicknesses, shapes, and colours. She noticed, however, with each consecutive set of photos, Daria's expression became dimmer and dimmer.
"Um, Daria?" she pried, concerned.
Giving a tremendous sigh, Daria withdrew the last attempt and placed them back on the rack. "Just... forget it. Let's go..." she mumbled, turning to leave.
Sadly, Jane shoved her device back in her pocket and jogged after her. "Daria, wait!"
Daria hadn't felt so conflicted in such a long time. For a long while, she'd preached the idea of herself standing out from the rest. And while she still stood by that motive, she couldn't deny she wanted to stand out in other ways. That being apart from being a 'brain'. Jane had somehow coaxed her into returning to her residence, and the anxious nerd sat on Jane's bed, watching Sick Sad World.
"Wildlife mutations from the Chernobyl aftermath resulting in hyper-intelligent mammals? Checking in with stags and their big 'i-deers', next on Sick Sad World!"
Switching off the television, Daria scooched further onto the bed, bringing herself to sit in a cross-legged fashion. "So, Sigmund Freud, what do you propose?"
At that point, Jane returned from the kitchen with some sodas and casually tossed the cold drink to her friend in an underarm throw. Seeing her intelligent, witty friend clumsily miss the offer made a small knot tighten in the artist's chest. Glaring in self frustration, Daria grabbed the drink from off the floor. "Alright, Daria. I have an idea is all"
"So long as there are no needles involved..."
"I was thinking, with what you said the other day. When you figured you no longer wanted contact lenses"
"Yeah, I know. I'm a stinking hypocrite"
"Not at all. I mean... you haven't changed your mind on the contacts, have you?" Jane asked, raising a brow.
"No"
"Well, you're not a hypocrite then"
"Look, Jane. I've made quite clear I'm not into laser surgery, so don't bother to ask about that" Daria quickly interjected, opening her soda. The bump on the floor previously had caused the sugary drink to briefly burst up into her face, making a sticky residue drip from her cheeks and forehead.
"But, it's not your eyes you're worried about really, is it?" probed Jane, fetching a tissue beside her. She would've laughed at the hopelessly dismal display wrought on her depressed friend, but that description in itself is what prevented her from doing so. Her friend was depressed. "You're upset because either you don't think there's a decent pair of glasses to suit what you're looking for, or you're brought down because you think you're not that attractive in the first place and see it is a redundant effort"
Daria appreciated the tentativeness of her friend trying to dry her off and blushed lightly, as she looked off to the side. "And here I thought I wasn't much of an open book"
"C'mon, Daria. It was clear as day you weren't happy in the store and what we were going through. I could literally see the hopelessness in your eyes as we went through them"
"Look a little closer, you'll rediscover the brute who threatened to smash your face into a pane of glass" Daria met with a regretful tone.
Jane delivered her an empathetic smile. "Hey, it's nothing. You're fed up and I get you're feeling like crap. Which is why I thought... maybe I could do a picture of you"
Blinking, Daria turned her attention back to her friend with a quizzical glimmer in her eyes. "Draw me? And what exactly is that gonna do for me?"
"Because I thought maybe if I could present a raw rendition of how I see you, maybe you'd learn to perhaps... appreciate yourself better?" Jane worded carefully. "C'mon, Daria. I suck at explaining things" she urged in a monotone, similar to Daria's characteristic, casual delivery.
"Let me get this straight. You want to draw me in order to show me how YOU see me? In that, it may in some feign hope elevate my own impression of myself and give myself some confidence"
"People can become so caged in their own minds regarding who they are, what they should do and worry about how others see them. I reckoned breaking you free, even temporarily, might breathe some fresh air to the situation" Jane opted softly.
"Worry about how people see me? I don't-"
The artist gave a firm frown at her friend's denial. "Squirm all you want, Morgendorffer. I know that's a pack of lies... everyone at some point cares what other people think about them"
The bookworm was trapped. She couldn't respond. She knew Jane was right. "So, this... drawing will remain private?" she affirmed.
"Private"
"Right"
"This drawing is for you, Daria. If you want others to see it later, that's up to you"
"Uh-huh. Sure. And after that, maybe I'll feed myself to the sharks" Daria responded, garnering an eye roll from her friend.
"You don't think I have what it takes, huh?" Jane prodded vocally.
"To depict me honestly? It's not a matter of talent. It's a matter of balls" the brunette dared with a small smile.
End of Part One