"Janey?" A much less raspy voice than what Jane had expected called from the kitchen table ". It's quite early, what are you doing here?".
"Trent? What the hell happened to you?"she yelled.
Her brother looked... different. Just like Daria, his clothing and aspect had changed drastically. He wasn't wearing his old green shirt and jeans or had his messy hair. His hair was combed and he was wearing clothes that made Jane think of Mr. O'Neill.
"What do you mean?".
She remembered her conversation with Daria a few hours earlier, she knew it would be useless to ask anything else.
"Never mind. Mom left something for you on your bed".
"Oh, yes, she left me a shirt as a gift because tomorrow it'll be one entire year since I entered college. I'm glad I want to be a doctor".
Jane was so confused she almost wanted to puke. She didn't know for how long could she hold her sanity under those conditions.
"But... what happened with Mystik Spiral?" She asked concerned.
"Jesse and I had a talk about it this morning and decided we can't rely on a band. We want to help people so I convinced him to go to college with me. We are still going to play, though, with happier lyrics. Positive is good, right?".
"I think... I'm going to go do my homework".
"Great! It's nice you are being responsible, Janey".
She nodded, confused, and went to her room. She closed the door and locked it, trying to breathe.
"Okay, Janey, don't panic. There's gotta be an an explanation for all this shit. This is probably a nightmare, yes! Just a nightmare" she laughed awkwardly until she needed to breathe again ". Wake up, Jane, dammit!" She screamed, but nothing happened ". What the hell is going on? Daria is a cheerleader, mom is home and Trent is a doctor and, god, Andrea, what have they done to you?".
What to do, she thought. She didn't know who should she ask. Whenever she asked anyone they didn't understand her. Was she surrounded by aliens or had she been abducted to another planet where everyone in Lawndale was brainwashed? She thought about her options. Was there anyone she hadn't seen at school acting weird? The answer came to her as a sickening possibility: she hadn't seen Charles at school at all.
Oh, god, she thought and escaped from the house in silence, to Charles' house.
"Well, hello lovely Ja-" Charles' greeting was interrupted by a violent sneeze.
"Upchuck? Okay, that didn't look like a creepy smile, not creepier than your usual self. Are you still, uh, you?".
"Oh, sweet Jane, you don't have to confuse me to seduce me, but your attempts make you even more of a feisty lady".
"It is you!" Jane screamed and hugged Charles, then immeaditaly noticed she had done that and moved away.
"Grrr... feisty!".
"Shut up, Upchuck, you won't tell anyone about that. I need to ask you something".
"Sure, anything for you" said Charles smiling at Jane.
"Okay, first of all, quit with the flirting. And second, what the hell is going on here?".
"What do you-".
"Don't you dare to ask me what I mean, I've heard that enough times today" she warned and entered Charles' house. She went straight to the living room and sat on the couch ". So you didn't go to school because you were sick. That makes sense but how come I wasn't brainwashed? And from all the people in Lawndale you were the only one who needed to be brainwashed".
"May I ask what are you talking about?".
"You weren't there, everyone's gone completely insane. Kevin studied for a test, Daria and Andrea are cheerleaders...".
"Feisty!" Charles interrupted.
"Shut up! This is important".
"Do you mean that was serious?".
"Yes, it was, Upchuck, everyone's acting... weird".
"That sounds... Jane, are you sure this isn't a joke?" Charles asked, being much more serious than Jane had ever seen.
"You could ask Daria about that but she seemed confused when I told her it wasn't funny anymore".
"Well, I think I may get better by tomorrow. I'll go to school and we can check out what's going on".
"Uh, Upchuck?".
"Yes?" He said taking a pill from the table and drinking it with some water.
"I... I can not believe I am going to say this, just thinking about getting those words out of my mouth sickens me but... uh would you mind if I spend the night here? I can't stand staying at home, my brother and my mom are freaking me out and my sanity can't stand being around them for much longer. And get that smile off your face, don't you dare to make any comments more than yes or no because I am so close to a nervous breakdown that I may punch you in the face if you say anything else".
"Okay" he said almost frightened by Jane's threat, which seemed quite serious ". Yes, you can stay, now whether you want to sleep in the guest's room or in my-" Charles didn't finish his sentence after he saw the cold look Jane gave him ". The guest's room, then".