Chapter 2

St. Patrick's Day had been having a good time. To celebrate the last day of school in Holiday Island High, he and a bunch of friends, including Cupid, Thanksgiving, and Memorial Day, had been hanging out at his place playing poker. Halfway through the game, Cupid had gotten up and proclaimed that he had "business to take care of" and left.

Pat, being curious, had followed him all the way to Lawndale and to a street called Glenn Oaks Lane. He found Cupid standing nearby two conversing teenagers, who stood by a rusty old clunker in the road. St. Patrick's Day, realizing that Cupid had gone into invisible-to-mortals mode, used a bit of his magic to turn invisible as well. He briskly came over to Cupid.

"You're checking up on them again?!" St. Patrick's Day exclaimed. He pointed at Daria and Tom, the teenagers who Cupid had been watching.

Cupid turned to Pat. "Don't worry; this will be the last time for a while. I needed to make sure the chick doesn't get into the car, but it looks like I've got nothing to worry about. She already said to the dude 'I'm not getting in'."

"So what're you doing now?"

"I'm checking to make sure that they leave each other with positive vibes."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Oh, come on."

Cupid frowned in annoyance. "Pat, you ever heard the saying 'Love works in mysterious ways'?"

"Yes…"

"Well if I tell you, then it won't be a mystery anymore."

"Would ya at least explain to me why you won't let her get in the car?" St. Patrick's Day inquired.

Cupid sighed. "Fine. The car is a… special place for Daria and Tom. They've had a lot of cool memories there. Being in that car makes Daria a little less defensive, and she knows it too. That's why she doesn't want to get in the car and I don't think she should get in yet either. The last time she and Tom got into the car broken up, they ended up getting back together."

"Oh, and we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?" said St. Patrick's Day.

"Dude, who is the love expert here and who is the booze expert?"

"Aw shut up ya--"

"Shhh!" Cupid interrupted. "I need to start listening to their conversation again." Both of them moved closer to Daria and Tom to listen in."

"You look up to me?" Daria was saying incredulously. "Huh."

"Do you think next year I could call you from school, and we can compare notes on our lives in a completely non-romantic fashion? You know, like friends?" Tom requested, with a hopeful look in his eye.

"Um, yeah. Yeah! That's a good idea. Call me. That'll be nice." Daria grinned a little, already feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Ok. I'm starting to feel a little better. How 'bout you?" Tom asked.

"Awesome," said Cupid. "They're leaving each other with positive vibes. Makes my job easier." He reached into a hidden pocket and grabbed a notebook and pen.

"What are ya doin' now?" Patrick inquired as Cupid scratched something down on the pages.

"Changing my schedule. Looks like I've got a year to wrap things up with these two. That's when they said they'd be talking again."

"Whatever you say, boyo," said Pat. "Are you done now?"

Cupid turned back to where Daria and Tom had been talking. At the moment, Daria was heading towards her front door. "For now, it looks like. They're done talking anyway."

"Brilliant, let's get back to the game. We don't want to keep the others waiting."

"Yeah, yeah; I'm coming." Cupid looked back at Daria's house. "See you in a few months, Dudette."