"Daria Day 2004"
by Kristen Bealer
Daria and Jane stood in the
doorway of Lawndale High. Jane's jaw was hanging, and even the normally
expressionless Daria had raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Everyone, it seemed, was walking around in green jackets, goldish-brown
shirts, and black skirts. At least, they were pretty sure they were all wearing
skirts. Daria was hoping the guys were actually wearing baggy shorts. But
knowing this school...
"Buh?" Jane asked. "Gah?" she added.
Daria nudged her friend. "Stop it," she scolded. "There's a
perfectly reasonable explanation for this, and I intend to find an answer as
soon as possible..." Quinn came running up to them, also in uniform.
"...Like right now."
"Gawd, Daria!" Quinn was half-whining and half-shrieking.
"What did you do?"
"Gee, Quinn, I got up this morning, got dressed, and walked into some
kind of alternate dimension. Care to fill in any blanks for me?"
"You did this! You somehow got into 'Waif' headquarters and published
an article that said long bottoms and boxy tops were in! You had to have done
it!" Quinn was near tears. "You knew all the popular kids read it and
do what it says, and that all the unpopular kids do what the popular kids do
because they want to be popular, and--"
"Quinn!" Daria had to cut her sister off before her head
exploded. "If you're so upset about it, why are you dressed like
that?"
Quinn's eyes grew wide. "I can't have Sandi reprimanding me for not
following the fashion trends!" She paused. "Even if I think they're
fake."
"Even if I had the resources to pull off the Mission Impossible-style
stunt you're accusing me of, I wouldn't do it. You think I want to go to school
in a building full of clones of me?"
Quinn stammered for a moment, then threw her hands up and stormed off.
Daria shook her head and turned to Jane.
"Muh?" Jane asked.