Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
In accordance to the reader's wishes, I have attempted to write longer chapters, which in turn means it takes me longer to get a chapter up. Well that and discovering that my return to the soul stealing realm of fan fiction has been accompanied by a depressing fall in my grades. Not that those two things have any real correlation to the other, it has caused me to have less time to write. But for those of you who are sticking with me and reading I thank you greatly.
Daria could hear Jane talking to herself before they opened to door.
"I know they have sugar around here somewhere," Jane was saying, and, opening the door quietly, Daria saw her searching though the extra dresser that held the room's dry food and condiments. Jesse was still asleep on the floor.
"Second drawer from the bottom," Daria said, making the disheveled, bleary-eyed Jane jump.
"Damn you, woman. You have to let me have a cup before you surprise me like that." Jane said, pulling open the appropriate drawer and picking up the Tupperware container half-full of sugar. She moved back over to the full pot of coffee she had made and added, yawning, "Where have you two been?"
"On the common," Daria said, sitting down in her computer chair, turning it around to face the room instead on the computer.
Trent sat down on Laura's bed and took the cup of coffee Jane offered him and added, "I was hungry."
"You were up in time for breakfast?" Jane asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at her brother.
Trent shrugged. "Strange bed," he said by way of explanation and started on his coffee.
"Uh huh," Jane said skeptically, looking pointedly at Daria as she offered her the second cup of coffee she poured. Daria shook her head.
"If there's one thing I've learned from watching my mother all these years, it never drink more than one cup of coffee a day."
Jane shrugged and sat down on Daria's bed to drink the cup herself. Jesse rolled over, mumbling something about flamingos in his sleep. Before anyone could comment there was a knock on the door that Daria had left cracked. A dark haired girl in a grey bathrobe pushed her head in.
"Hey Daria, can I... Oh..." She stopped, seeing all the other people in the room. "Sorry, I didn't realize you had guests. Hi Jane," She added, smiling.
"Yo," Jane said. "Don't worry about it. We're not guests; we're invaders. That's my brother Trent, and, on the floor, my boyfriend, Jesse."
The girl nodded to Trent, "I'm Syl. I live down the hall." She said, finishing Jane's introduction. "Jane and Daria have told me about you guys. I'm looking forward to hearing the band play tomorrow."
"Cool," Trent said.
"A man of few words; I like that." Syl laughed. "Anyway, I'm just a lowly neighbor who needs to borrow a cup of sugar. Melinda's at home for the break, and I'm worried that I'll starve before she gets back. I'm terrible at grocery shopping. And of course the first things I ran out of were bread and sugar. I can live without bread, but I have to have sugar for my tea." She stepped tentatively over Jesse to take the sugar container from Jane. Stepping back she looked down at the sleeping bulk on the floor. Titling her head to one side she studied him for a moment. "Eh, not bad... you know, for a guy. He's just not really my type." She looked up at Jane, who was smirking at her. "But I guess you did alright."
"Gee, thanks for the vote of approval," Jane said sarcastically.
"No problem," Syl replies, grinning. "I'd ask if he had a sister but Melinda would probably find out and deck me." She looked at Daria and tapped the container of sugar. "Can I return this in a bit?"
"Yeah, sure," Daria said. "We've got some of those little packets if anyone gets really desperate."
Syl grimaced. "I'll be quick about it." She assured, and left.
Jane stretched out her leg and kicked Jesse in the foot to try and wake him up.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. After a real breakfast/lunch, everyone sat around and played in their own worlds. Jane slipped her headphones on and set up the small portable easel she had brought along. She was painting with passion, and the others knew better than to disturb the creative flow. Daria was idly looking around the internet for interesting facts for her project, half listening to the debate Trent and Jesse were having over chords and lyrics, not that she understood most of it.
When everyone decided they were ready to eat dinner, Daria and Jane lead the way to a pizza parlor that reminded them all of the Pizza King back in Lawndale. Jane and Jesse sat on one side of the booth, Trent and Daria on the other and they ordered a large pizza with everything on it.
"Have you written anything recently?" Jane asked, trying to make conversation among a groups pf people who she knew would stay silent if left to their own devices.
"I think Max said he had an idea," Jesse volunteered, but added, "but he never showed us anything."
Trent took a sip of his soda. "I've come up with some good music lately but I've run dry on lyrics."
"You know, Daria's been known to turn a phrase. Maybe she could help you out," Jane offered cheerily, giving Daria, whose cheeks had flushed, an evil little grin.
Trent chuckled a little, nudging Daria, "Maybe we could trade lyrics for guitar lessons, huh Daria?"
"Hmm," was the only answer Daria gave before sticking the straw of her drinking into her mouth to keep from having to answer, the red in her cheeks deepening slightly.
Jane knew that there was a reference to something she didn't understand there. Daria? Guitar lessons? Before she could inquire, however, the pizza arrived, so she stored the tidbit in the back of her mind to clarify at a later date.
They ate in relative silence, and after leaving the pizza parlor decided to stop by the local video store and rent a movie. They ended up with a low-budget, cheesy horror flick, and headed back to the dorm to spend the rest of the night making fun of the horrible acting, bad costumes, and cheesy lines.
The next day passed very similarly to the day before. Everyone hung around the room until a few hours before the party when Trent and Jesse decided to leave to set up and get in a few warm-up rounds. Jane translated this to Daria as "That means they're all going to get stoned and talk about how great they'll be tonight and how soon their going to get their big break."
"Whatever works," Trent shrugged, picking up his guitar and a bag with some of his other essentials.
As the door shut, Daria looked up from the black and green screen on her computer and turned to Jane. "It says here there's a Sick Sad World marathon on. Feel like rotting our brains for a few hours? It will probably make us feel more at home at this party tonight."
"Yeah, sure, but first, I have something I need to do." Jane said as she began putting up her brushes and paints. "I'll be right back."
Daria felt a small amount of worry flash in her head as she left. Jane had that "I've-got-an-idea" look in her eyes again. Daria shuddered and forced her self to stop thinking about what possible humiliations that might mean for her. Sitting on her bed to face the TV at the foot of it, she tuned in to the appropriate channel.
"Mountain goats from Hell, tonight on Sick Sad World!"
It took almost twenty minutes for Jane to return, and when she came back into the room, Daria wasn't happy with what she saw. Jane was followed by Syl, both of whom where carrying an armful of clothes.
"What the hell is this?" Daria asked, swinging her feet around to the floor.
"This is us making you get dressed for a ball, Cinderella." said Jane, laying her armful on Laura's bed.
Daria reached down and put her hand on the floor. "No, it doesn't feel nearly cold enough down there."
"Oh, come on Daria," Syl said, sorting though the clothes on the bed. "This is your, and our, first party as college students. We gotta live it up."
"Oh sure, right after I get back from having my head stepped on by particularly vicious mountain goats." Daria deadpanned, cutting her eyes at the red-eyed quadrupeds on the TV screen.
"You're not getting out of this, Morgendorffer, so don't even try to use that sarcasm on us. Don't worry; I know what kind of clothes Trent likes see." Jane smiled, silently thanking the powers that be that looks couldn't kill.
Although it took them much bullying - and much more verbal abuse from Daria - Jane and Syl finally got her to agree to wear a sleeveless, dark grey dress Syl had dug out of her closet, but only on the condition that she still got to wear her boots. As Daria said, "I'll need to be able to kick you with when this permanently ruins my reputation."
"You mean that non-existent reputation you hold ever so dearly?" Jane replied, handing her the boots.
Daria would never admit it out loud, but she actually liked the dress... a little. It was the same length as the skirt she had always worn in high school, but the rest of the dress showed off what she had covered all during that time. Daria had never felt comfortable showing off the figure she didn't even admit to having, and she knew Jane wasn't going to let her get away with covering it up with a jacket now. She sighed and sat down on the bed to lace up her boots, deciding to just live with it though the night, and then never speak of the incident again. Then it got worse.
"Well, now that we're past the dress unpleasantness, can I force you into makeup?" Syl asked innocently, although she knew she should be prepared on the off chance that Daria shot lasers out of her eyes.
Daria's hands stopped lacing and she looked up at Syl. "Only if you'll let me to do your eye liner with my fist."
Syl laughed, "Fine, we got you into the dress; we'll save the makeup for next time."
'Not likely,' Daria thought, but said "You two are starting to remind me of Quinn and her Fashion cult."
"Except we don't give a damn about how popular you are," Jane said, pulling on her own boots.
"Only how much a fool we make out of you." Syl supplied, finishing the last touches of her makeup.
