Chapter 17: Daria Digs
"Quinn! Sandi! Lift 'em! Push 'em! Smack 'em! Jane! Tori! Rock 'em! Sock 'em! Whack 'em! Battledore! Paddle 'em! Rocket-racket! Rocket-racket! Rah, rah, rah! Go LIONS!"
Mai gave Siobhan a wide grin. Pris rolled her eyes and waved a Lawndale pennant. Daria cringed and shrunk a bit while sandwiched between her father and Mai on Oakwood's bleachers. Siobhan continued her impromptu, extemporaneous badminton-themed cheering.
"Popcorn?" her father asked. He reached across Daria and passed a bag each to Mai, Pris and Siobhan. Siobhan sat down to enjoy the treat.
"Thanks, Mr. Morgendorffer." The three chorused. Mai selected a fat, full kernel and impulsively stuck it in front of Daria's mouth. Daria jerked back instinctively but then she nearly took Mai's fingers off with the speed at which she snatched it up in her teeth.
"Umm." Jake said while offering a massive bag of popcorn which exuded a heavy smell of oil. "How's about you and Mai share this bag? I haven't put my paws in it yet."
"Thanks, I don't know, Dad." Daria considered the soaked bag bottom. "It might burst open and stain my spotless skirt. You know how concerned I am about my appearance."
"Great, thanks, Mr. Morgendorffer." Mai reached across Daria to snatch the bag. "I'll take the risk and see that Little Miss Fussy here stays neat and clean."
Pris and Siobhan were willing to take Mai's bag off her hands. As Jake turned to talk to someone Mai gave Daria a fiendish smile in return for a glare. Daria resistance to artificial butter was as strong as her resistance to free pizza and soon her fingers were slick with oil. She stopped wondering about her father's gift-giving motives and observational skills as Quinn and Sandi took the courts along with two Oakwood players.
"Ugh," Mai announced. "Once again I'm glad I play for Lawwwndale High for all its peculiarities. I know they're the Taproots but do their uniforms have to be sh-, uh, dirt brown and puke yellow?"
Daria was more interested in watching Sandi and Quinn warm up. She thunked a small pair of binoculars against her lenses before she remembered to take off her glasses first. Then some time was spent blinking and twiddling knobs before the court came into sharp focus.
"Looks like that ancient Chinese secret salve you gave Sandi brought down the swelling and redness on her ear. And the scratch under Quinn's chin is much better too thanks to your mysterious Oriental concoctions. And even more impressive they're talking quietly to each other."
"Some ancient Chinese secret. It's just corn-husker's lotion for Sandi. Ba swears by it for his hands but I'm not sure if it's supposed to make people speak civilly to each other. Maybe Sandi and Quinn guzzled a bottle before their last practice."
The Oakwood girls looked determined in this fourth and last match of the round-robin. They had already lost to Jane and Tori two games to one while the other Oakwood team had beaten Sandi and Quinn again two games to one before the brief intermission.
The match began and soon Daria found herself nearly getting squashed as Mai and Jake on either side of her leaped up frequently to cheer each Lawndale point or give the line judges a hard time over a contested call. In simple self-defense she gamely began rising with her bleacher-mates. Daria's modest, sincere 'hip-hip-huzzah' was lost in Pris' restrained cheer when Sandi and Quinn handily swept their three games. Jake noticed, however, and gave Daria a wide, knowing smile while patting his jacket breast pocket significantly.
Daria and Mai smacked slippery hands as they dug into the popcorn bag. Mai gave her a solid squeeze, hidden by the recesses of the bag. It was noticed by Pris who grimaced a bit but passed on some napkins to wipe grease off their fingers. Then she smiled and nodded.
By that time Jane and Tori were warming up and bouncing around on the floor with their Oakwood contenders. The Oakwood girls wore determined expressions; if they could win two out of three games they could pull ahead by one game over Lawndale for the night, and Daria could tell they would give a hard match to the upstart, novice Lawndalians. Tori and Jane looked relaxed and concentrated. The four shook hands and spun their rackets showingly around in their palms as they took up opposing spots.
"Hell, this makes me more nervous than playing volleyball." Mai declared as they watched the four players consult with their coaches at twenty-nine points all in the final game. Lawndale and Oakwood stood at one game each in the last match.
"So this is the last point?" Daria asked. "I thought someone had to win by two."
"Nah," Siobhan told her. "They go to thirty at the most. Otherwise, we'll be here all night."
Tori blasted a serve down the middle, coming in barely over the net, her signature serve, Jane had said. Spectators' heads jerked back and forth in concentration until the Lawndale contingent groaned and the Taproot fans breathed a sigh of relief and then cheered.
Somehow Jane and Tori had fallen prey to the classic "I thought you had it" mistake and the birdie dropped between them. Jane appeared to wilt as Tori spun around away from the net and put her hands on her knees. They both recovered quickly as Quinn bounded onto the court and consoled her teammates. Sandi, surprisingly, was the first out to congratulate the Oakwooders. The eight girls huddled near the net and conversed.
"Whew, what a match and night." Mai said. "They did amazingly amazing for their very first outing."
"Ah, win some, lose some." Daria heard the man next to Jake say. She turned as she realized they were sitting next to her mother's boss, Eric Schrecter. Schrecter discreetly passed a thick envelope to Jake who deposited it in his inner jacket pocket. Eric then shook his head as he got up and mooched off.
"The girl's had a fine game, Mr. Morgendorffer." Daria heard her principal's voice next and saw Ms. Li approaching from the lower bleachers.
"Boy, I'll say. You can't complain about their effort and results in their first game against another school. I think Lawndale High is going to need a bigger trophy case. And make sure you spell 'Morgendorffer' right."
"Thank you, Mr. Morgendorffer. It's wonderful to see parents support their children in such worthy endeavors. And thank you again for your generous pledge to support our students' extracurricular activities."
Jake smiled ruefully as he reached into his pocket and passed an envelope to an appreciative Ms. Li. Daria noted that it looked thinner than the packet Schrecter had given her father. She looked on her other side and saw that her friends had not seemed to notice the exchanges.
"Dad?" She said with arched brow when Ms. Li had wandered off.
"What, kiddo? Oh, Let's talk about it later. You can help me with the math. Say, I bet you all are hungry. How's about you treat the other girls to pizza and sodas?"
He pulled a fifty from his wallet and handed it over. Then he reconsidered. "Hmm, eight hungry girls? Four just off a rugged, tough badminton game? Here." Another fifty was deposited in a wide-eyed Daria's hands.
Daria turned back to her friends. "Guys, pizzas with everything is on me. But nobody can ask too many questions. And you all have to promise to let Jane order only one with anchovies."