The Two-Sided Locker
DISCLAIMER: Daria is the creation of Glen Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. Worm is the creation of Wildbow and is his property. I own neither, nor do I deserve to profit from it.
This story is something that came up while I was taking a morning walk. I then wrote it for my own amusement and ego gratification. If you enjoyed reading it, please write a positive review
-The Two-Sided Locker-
"Let me out! Please, let me out! For God's sake, let me out! Please! Help!"
Sandi Griffin looked irritably at the locker several spaces down from her own. The screaming and the pleading came from one of the row full-sized lockers, a perk for Lawndale High's Seniors. They and they alone got full-length lockers. Hers and other underclassmen's hall lockers were only half-space lockers, with an upper locker for her and a lower locker which belonged to some freshman nobody named Phyllis.
Several clusters of Lawndale High students stood around staring at the locker and wondering what they should do. Sandi herself thought about talking to Ms. Li or the janitor to see about getting the locker opened. The noise was irritating and distracting and if whoever-it-was who'd locked themselves in the locker was let out, the racket would stop, and she'd be able to sort through her things in relative quiet. She hesitated for two reasons: first, the locker was Katherine Crosier's, an ugly, unfashionable, bullying Senior most girls at Lawndale, including Sandi, wisely chose to leave alone.
Her second reason was that she'd taken her mother's advice to heart: never volunteer, never play the hero. Being seen as a goody two-shoes was not her idea as to how to remain popular.
Stacy came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. To Sandi's consternation, she was so started she jumped.
Stacey looked distressed. "Uh, Sandi," she began.
"Stacey-," said Sandi, a warning note in her voice.
"But Sandi, shouldn't we like get the janitor or the guard to let her out?" said Stacey.
Sandi opened her mouth to tell Stacey why they should leave things along when she saw a couple of bugs crawl out of the locker's metal vents. And there was also a horrible smell.
Sandi decided that that changed everything. Ms. Li was about as death on bugs inside the school as she was nuts about security. She'd react hard and fast. If Crosier had put bugs in her locker, Ms. Li would come down on her so hard that Sandi and nearly everyone else in the hallway would have nothing to fear from Crosier's retaliation. She could have a two-fer: get the noisy girl out of the locker and get Crosier in trouble.
Stacey opened her mouth to say something, but Sandi stopped her dead in her tracks with a look and an upraised hand.
"Come along, Stacey," she said. "We are going to the Principal's Office to complain about the bugs in Katherine Crosier's locker."
FIN
Author's Notes: This story is a one-shot, and should be considered complete. I wrote it in part to make light of the grimdark nature of the Parahumans universe and to show that sometimes, not often, even the most selfish, self-centered people will do the right thing even if it's only for selfish reasons.
This story is NOT related to any of my other Daria/Worm crossovers.
Also, for those Daria fans who are not Worm cognoscenti: on the Earth Bet side of Katherine Crosier's/Taylor Hebert's hall locker, it is the day when bullies threw and locked Taylor Hebert inside her locker while on the Lawndale High side of the locker, it is just another Monday morning at Lawndale High.