Chapter 5

On her way out Daria grabbed the keys to her mother vehicle off the table and walked directly to it. She stopped for a half a second, to ponder the grand theft auto she was about to attempt. Then decided her mother wouldn't be too worried since this wasn't the first time she had taken it, opened the door and climbed in. Her parents appeared in the front door looking bewildered just as she was reversing out the driveway.

Daria had already started on her way towards the cove when she thought it may not be the best thing to just show up. She pulled out her cell phone and dialled the number to the cove.

Tom's mother answered. "Hello? Mrs. Sloane? Is Tom there? Daria asked. He wasn't there. Apparently he had just run out for a bit with his cousins. "Well, would it be okay if I took you up on your offer to visit?" She asked waiting for a response. Of course Tom's mother said that would be fine. "I can be there in about four hours. Thanks very much, Mrs. Sloane."

He wasn't even there. It's not as if he expected her to come out. She couldn't let this upset her. There was no way she would beat him there. She would see him as soon as she got there. Of course it would start to rain though she thought as drops began to speckle the windshield.

Not long after the rain began it became a full fledged storm. Suddenly, the car in front of her spun out causing Daria to react. She quickly turned the wheel, which caused the SUV to spin slightly as well but she corrected, skidding to a stop on the side of the road.

Daria took a few deep breaths. She couldn't believe she almost just crashed. She hadn't gotten to speak to Tom yet. She hadn't even said a word to her parents before she left. Thankfully, she was ok.

A knock on the window interrupted her thoughts. A man stood at the window.

"Miss, are you all right? Miss! Miss!" He was shouting.

Daria snapped out of her thoughts and rolled the window down. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." She responded.

After the near crash, Daria couldn't face driving the highway for another almost 4 hours. She drove stopping at the Diner and called the only other person she needed to see.

...

Daria sat in a booth waiting. The weather must have been causing a hold up. Over an hour had past. In that time she had called her mom and told her she was sorry for storming out, about the near accident and that she was just taking some time for the storm to let up before coming back. Her parents understood and we're just relieved she was ok. Daria smirked thinking about her parents. They definitely weren't normal parents but she had lucked out. After calling home her phone had died so she had no way to contact anyone further. She had to wait now though. Out the window Daria saw Trent's car pull up. She felt relieved it made it here.

Jane walked in and Daria couldn't help herself. She ran up and hugged her best friend. This was another step in the more socially acceptable direction. Except to Jane, who stared at Daria in disbelief.

The girls sat back down at the booth ordered a coffee each and just sat and talked. First about the near accident, then about Jane's visit when Daria refused to leave the box leading up to Daria storming off.

"I'm not quite getting this. You ran off because of a fight your parents had 11 years ago?" Jane questioned.

"It's not the fight. It's the sudden realization that all these years, when I thought they were torturing me, in reality I was the one torturing them." Daria had figured this out while waiting for Jane to show up.

Jane raised one of her eyebrows. "First of all, I don't think it's either-or. From where I'm sitting, you and your folks have done a great job of torturing each other. And second of all, you mean to tell me you don't know when you're busting them?"

"Yes, I know when I'm busting them. What I didn't realize is what a pain I've been when I thought I was just being me." Daria said.

"Huh?"

"At age six, I decide I don't need to talk to other kids ever again; my parents are the ones who get called into school. At 12, I decide to try out some Shakespearean insults on my teachers; my parents are the ones who get called into school. At 15, I start writing violent revenge fantasies just to get a reaction..." Daria began reliving all the strange things her parents had to deal with due to her being strange.

"Your parents, et cetera, et cetera. Gotcha. But I never got the idea that they minded that much." Jane replied.

"Yeah. Which just makes it even worse."

"You really need to discuss this with them."

"I know, but first I had to talk to someone I could trust." Daria said. She really valued her friend.

Jane looked around. "Yeah, I'm sorry you didn't make it to the cove."

"I'm not." Daria said. "It would have been good to see Tom, but this way, I got to talk to the person I trust most."

Daria smiled at her friend who smiled back, looked over at the time then back. "Thanks." She said. "That being said, I called Tom for you on my way here. He kind of panicked because he couldn't reach you so I told him where you were."

"You what?" Daria said.

At that moment, Tom burst in the door. He ran over to their table and hugged Daria.

"I'm so glad you're ok" he said holding her face. He looked over at Jane. "Thanks for calling me."

"All in days work. You're here quicker than I thought you would be." Jane laughed. "Well I'll leave you to love bunnies now then."

She got up as Tom took her place across from Daria.

Daria looked at Jane. "Thanks for always being the best friend I could have ever asked for." She said.

Jane just turned and winked then walked towards the door.

After Jane had left, Tom sat staring at Daria. Now that he was here she didn't know what to say to him. She consciously ignored the whole thing about Tom with Jane so she had no time to sort out the words she had planned to say to him after she got to cove.

Tom spoke first. "Why were you coming to the cove?"

"I.. Uh.. Needed to talk to you." Daria said.

"You couldn't have waited until I got back and talked on the phone. You had me so worried, even before Jane called. Then I couldn't reach you!" Tom said frantic.

"I'm sorry." Daria said tears building in her eyes. She didn't plan on crying. "And no, what I meant to say is I needed to see you."

Tom grabbed Daria's hand across the table. "Don't cry. I'm sorry too. I'm not mad at you. But you have to talk to me. What's going on?"

Daria explained the entire box situation with her parents and her revelations about her character. He was more understanding then Jane surprisingly. He expressed always feeling like he was a disappointment to his parents too. Then she revealed her self conscious thoughts about them taking it to the next level.

"That's crazy Daria!" Tom exclaimed. "I thought I did something wrong because you seemed like you didn't want be around me. I invited you to come with originally remember."

"I know but I didn't want to seem any different" Daria said. "You like me and my sarcasm. I didn't want to turn into a needy girlfriend."

"Things have changed so it's ok to change with them. And I love you, your sarcasm and whatever else you become." Tom said. "Needy girlfriend included."

"I'm not planning on becoming a needy girlfriend. But I do enjoy having you around." Daria paused for a second. "I love you too.."

...

Tom followed Daria in his car as she drove home and waited out front as she went inside.

"Oh, thank God!" Helen said getting up from the couch. Jake followed her and they both hugged her. "But Daria, why did you have to run away when you heard that story about getting called in to school?"

"Yeah, we used to get called in to school all the time!" Jake said.

"Jake!" Helen shouted shooting him a glare.

Jake corrected. "I mean... we were used to it!"

"Jake!" Helen shouted again.

"I mean..." He tried again.

"Jake!"

"It was part of the deal. It was the other side to you being so smart and perceptive." He finished.

"What do you mean?" Daria asked.

"Daria, you can't have a child with your kind of intelligence and expect her to fit in easily with other kids. We weren't happy to be called into school because we knew it meant you weren't happy." Helen stated.

"But we were never unhappy with you." Jake added.

"Oh. Well, that's good. Daria said pausing a moment. "Um... do you think I'm a misfit?" She asked.

"Daria, you make your choices. We understand that." Helen said.

"Yeah!" Jake said. "We do?"

"Choices?" Daria said.

"Yes. Like deciding not to visit Tom while he was away. You choose not to interact and we understand. It doesn't make you a misfit." Helen said.

"It just makes me antisocial." Daria said. "Oh yea, about that. Tom is kind of outside waiting for me now. Is it ok if I do go to the cove now?"

"He's waiting for you now? It's pretty late, Daria." Helen began then paused. "You know what, sure. Go. Have fun."

"Thanks" Daria said, running upstairs to grab a few things. She stopped on the stairs and turned around. "I just want to say... it occurs to me that maybe I wasn't the easiest child in the world to raise, and, um... perhaps I'm quite lucky to have you for parents." Then continued up the stairs.