Sexy Daria: Sexy Runaway

From upstairs she could hear them, even with the door closed she could hear them in her head, the shrill tones, the panic in their syllables, and most of all the fear of the unknown in which Daria had hurled herself.

"I've been to the Lane's twice!" Jake whined loudly, "I even went into the house and looked around but there was nothing there but a note saying that the Lanes were at a Family Reunion this weekend."

Quinn wondered if Daria would have tagged along but dismissed that out of hand, "Dealing with our family's problems is bad enough." She thought out loud while lounging on her bed with the TV on but not really taking in the images, "Why go to another family and get a double dose?"

Her parents had burnt up the lines and rubber on their tires going all around town to the LeVey's, the Lane's, the Crest's, the Feldman's, and at one point they had contacted the Landon's and the Mackenzie's out of sheer desperation but not a single hint of Daria Gianna Morgendorffer could be found anywhere.

"It's like she fell into one of those black bowls or something!" Quinn had whined at one point to which her parents had both yelled at her for some reason.

As if this was all her fault.

"I might have screwed up with Daria but I'm not the one that hit her." Quinn reminded herself while shifting position on her pretty pink bed in her pretty pink room but wasn't feeling very pretty herself.

She had tried calling the girls from the Fashion Club for any information but had gotten short shift from them.

"Big surprise there," Quinn muttered, "Considering how I blew up on them, but I tried so hard to save it, I really did but I… I failed."

She had to suppress sniffles since tears would ruin her makeup and her eyes would go all red and puffy.

It sucked not having friends.

She sighed and got up and off her bed and grabbed her copy of the yearbook and leafed through it again, going through the pictures of people that were close to Daria.

The major suspects were already eliminated, "Unless they're pulling a big cover-up like in those spy novels or something." Quinn muttered and decided to look at those who were friendly with Daria and had at least a semi-regular connection to her, but wouldn't stick out as a person she would go to for help…

"Well there is Tori I guess," Quinn thought darkly about the traitor, "But she and Daria only just started hanging out… Kevin?"

That made her laugh for the first time since before the argument, there was no way that Daria would go over to Kevin's.

"Everyone would think she was sleeping with him and Brittany would kill her!" Quinn said to herself and wondered if maybe Daria had gone over to the Blond Cheerleader of Death's pad to crash.

"…Nah." Quinn breathed.

It had to be someone else.

"Thanks for letting me stay over Brit," Daria said to the bouncy girl while setting down her suitcase and backpack on the floor of one of the guest bedrooms at the Taylor's, "You're the best!"

"Thank you Daria!" Brittany replied with a chirp while twirling her hair with a finger, "Your family sounds awful."

"They are," Daria replied honestly, "I'm just glad that I've got a true friend that I can depend on for my little getaway."

Ok that last part was laying it on a little thick.

Daria was nice enough to Brittany but calling her an outright friend was a stretch.

"But if it makes her happy then who am I to burst her bubble?" Daria asked herself.

She gave Brit a smile and asked if she could get something to eat.

"Sure!" Brittany chirped with a bounce in her step, "Let's get a snack!"

Daria in the meanwhile enjoyed the show of Brittany bouncing about the room, even as she walked and thought to herself, "Kevin cheats on that?! God he's dumb."

In the Taylor's garnish kitchen with its all modern appliances, and the omnipresent big game trophies that littered the walls, Brittany's idea of a snack involved chips and salsa.

Not that she minded at the moment, anything seemed good.

But it didn't take long to gain extra company in the form of Brittany's little brother Brian, who for some reason made them both nervous even though he had a big smile on his face the instant he saw Daria.

Daria recalled what Brittany had told Barch's class during the presentation of their Mazes and suppressed a shudder at the cringing mouse in its box.

"I can't believe they don't have him on meds." Daria thought to herself even as he sat down with them and grabbed a handful of chips, his smile never quite reaching his eyes.

Then two more people entered the room and Daria guessed that they were Brittany's parents and had to turn a laugh into a cough.

Steve Taylor was 40-something with brown hair in a business suit and on his arm was a much younger woman who turned out to be Brittany's step-mother, Ashley-Amber.

A.A., as Daria secretly thought of her in a few seconds was thrilled to meet a new friend of Brittany's, Daria wondered how it was possible that this wasn't Brit's actual mother due to her almost exactly the same mannerisms and level of intelligence (i.e. NONE).

Steve was polite enough, until Brian began to complain about wanting to invite a friend over too, then Steve's demeanor completely flipped to a disturbing level of anger that was quickly matched by his sons and a screaming match was on.

What was even more disturbing was that Ashley-Amber and Brittany were unfazed by this.

"I'm in a loony bin," Daria thought to herself, "But it beats my parents… God that's sad."

She had to get very close to Brit in order to be heard over the noise and told her that she was going to put on some running shoes and go for a jog to clear her head.

"That's great!" Brittany told her sweetly, keeping her eyes on anything but her fighting father and brother, "Too many thoughts in the brain give me headaches."

"Why am I not surprised?" Daria thought to herself even while saying something sweet out loud and heading on up to change into running gear, glad to be away from the wall of sound down below.

Before she had managed to escape completely, Brittany had come up to her at the front door and told her that Kevin was throwing a party that night at his place and that she was invited.

"Sounds good," Daria told her new best friend for the weekend, "I'll call Skylar later and have him come with."

"Great!" Brittany had chirped and bounced up and down, and Daria thanked God almighty for those tits.

They were a perfectly good reason to get up in the morning.

But once she was out the door and jogging down the picturesque and unfamiliar streets with the wind in her hair, everything melted away.

"I'm glad Jane talked me into trying this." Daria thought to herself, "That other cardio stuff was getting old."

After that she let rational thought shut down for a little bit and just went where her instincts told her to go.

She managed a good run for about twenty minutes before needing a drink, then realized she had forgotten to bring a water bottle and her wallet.

"Dammit!" she snapped and felt like kicking the tree she was standing under in a small park in the Crewe Neck, so the kids of the 'good sort' wouldn't have to sully themselves in a public park.

She managed to find a water fountain and drank her fill before doing some stretches in her black sweat soaked track suit with matching shoes.

She rubbed the back of her right calf for a minute since it was a bit tender before needing another drink of water and turned around just in time to see a guy slowing down from his own run to join her.

He was wearing a form hugging blue and gold Lawndale Track suit, his brown hair was sweaty and matted to his face, his beautiful face.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her, "Daria!" He breathed in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Out on a run," She replied with a shrug, "I needed to clear my head."

"Running's good for that," he replied with a charming smile, "And it keeps you in shape too."

Daria laughed while struggling to remember his name, "Yeah, otherwise I could never look like this and eat all the junk food I do."

He smiled again, "That explains a lot actually but… When did you start running anyway?"

"Oh my friend Jane does it all the time, and I started because I got bored with my old cardio routine." Daria explained while sitting down on a small stone bench.

He joined her and replied, "Jane… Oh that artsy girl that hangs out with you? Never would have thought."

Daria laughed at that, "Old Jane-o is full of surprises..."

She then remembered his name.

"Just like you Evan," she said after a minute, "I didn't know you lived in the Crewe Neck."

Evan Larson laughed at that, "Not in it, but within a couple blocks, the guards all know me so I can do my laps here."

"It pays to know people." Daria quipped with a small grin and a laugh that made Evan blush.

"Yeah…" He breathed, "It does."

After her run, Daria found the Taylor residence mercifully quiet and slipped up to her guest bedroom, grabbed a change of clothes, used the shower in the room's adjacent bathroom and went straight for her cellphone.

"Daria!" Skylar exclaimed once he answered, "What the hell is going on?!"

"What are you…?" Daria began before it clicked, "Oh my parents moved faster than I thought."

"Are you ok?" Skylar asked quickly in a panic and Daria laughed.

"Yeah I'm fine," she replied wearily, "I found a place to crash for a couple days until I can sort out the mess."

"Well could you at least tell me what the hell happened then?" Skylar asked with worry.

Daria filled him in and there was silence from the other end of the line for a minute.

Then, "…Wow." Skylar breathed in shock.

"…Yeah," Daria intoned, "The whole thing started over nothing and now… Well the cat's out of the bag I guess."

"I just wish you had come to me first though." Skylar replied with unreadable emotion, "I mean you can trust me."

"I trust you Skylar," Daria assured him quickly, "I just knew that Mom and Dad would search at your place first, so I avoided anyone that they knew that I had connections with."

"Oh," Skylar breathed faintly and then added more strongly, "Well then… where are you exactly?"

Daria laughed nervously, "Would you believe Brittany's?"

Skylar laughed at that until he realized that she wasn't kidding, "Whoa! Wow you must have been desperate!"

Daria managed to laugh even while cringing inside and replied, "The only other option would have been Kevin's."

Skylar growled at that, "Yeah… That would have been a mistake."

"The pepper spray would have flown." Daria assured him and then added, "But Brittany wants to go to a party at his place tonight, mind taking us there?"

"Daria!" Skylar exclaimed, "The parties at the Thompsons are always football/sporto shindigs, lots of cheap beer, a handful of hot girls, and if there's a fight the cops will show up."

"So I guess that the parties that we've had at Jane's were more fun?" Daria teased to make him feel better.

"Hell yeah!" Skylar replied enthusiastically, "There's always cool people at Jane's parties and, we haven't done it in all their bedrooms yet."

She laughed at that, "Not for a lack of trying… So you'll take us?"

"Sure," Skylar replied with some reluctance, "But would you mind bailing early?"

"Not at all," Daria replied honestly, "Besides I'm sure once Brit's there, her Kevy will keep her distracted for the night."

Skylar managed a small laugh at that, "True, very true… So I'll pick you two up in an hour?"

"Sounds good Skyman," Daria replied sweetly, "I'll see you then."

They said their goodbyes and as soon as Daria hung up the phone, for some reason she couldn't quite shake the awkward vibe she was getting from that call.

Quinn had come up with a brilliant idea, having heard through the remnants of the grapevine that was semi-willing to talk to her that Kevin was throwing a party that night at his place.

As she went through her outfits to pick something that could hide stains she thought, "This could be a way to build up my status if I can land a cute football player or something."

She then reminded herself that there would be more than just football players there, but with Kevin being Kevin the overall vibe would be around the cult of the pigskin.

"Plus," Quinn thought to herself with a hint of hope, "Daria might show up and then I can talk some sense to her."

Quinn just wasn't sure if Daria would go to a party like that, she hadn't before in Lawndale.

"Well she did go to Brit's party way back when." Quinn reminded herself as she found a nice printed top that would go with her new jeans, "But that wasn't like the parties at Kevin's."

But she could still hope and dream, and found herself humming 'Full of Esteem' again.

It always made her so happy when she heard it, even if it was a song that only popular girls could appreciate.

She glanced at her poster of the band Fetal Metal hidden on the inside of her door and suppressed a squeal.

Their lead singer was cuter than all the guys in BoysRGuys combined as far as she was concerned.

In Skylar's sports car, Brittany squealed her appreciate for the ride, while Daria whispered to her boyfriend her relief at being away from the Taylors for a while.

"Her little brother is insane!" she hissed at him and then kissed his cheek in appreciation.

Skylar laughed and then said more loudly, "I've got some vodka and coke on ice in the trunk."

"Why?" Brittany asked from the back while twirling her hair, "Cus Kevy always has alcohol at his parties."

Skylar snickered and replied, "Yeah but it's always beer… I prefer somethin' a little stronger, if ya know what I mean?"

He snickered again but Brittany was confused and asked Daria for clarification.

She suppressed a sigh and began to respond but then they pulled up to a street filled with cars and Brittany squealed, "Oooooh we're here!"

"Thank god." Daria thought to herself, even as she started to wish that she wasn't there at all.

Kevin's cries of pain echoed through his own house for a full minute, nearly shutting down the party until everyone figured out that Brittany had seen him trying to put the moves on Angie.

They all shrugged and turned the music back up and the drinks flowed again.

While Brittany was distracted giving Kevin what he deserved, Daria and Skylar took off to find the keg, figuring that Brit had the situation under control.

"Besides," Daria teased, "She'll forget all about it in five minutes and they'll be all over each other like white on rice."

Skylar laughed but his joy didn't seem to reach his eyes, but before Daria could ask him what was wrong, they slipped out into the Thompson's backyard and found the keg, and Kevin's Dad.

"What's he doing here?" Daria asked with a laugh as two of the J's, Joey and Jeffy came up to them, Skylar put an arm around her and pulled her close.

They greeted Daria enthusiastically and when asked where their girls where got two different answers.

"Me and Jackie kinda broke it off." Joey replied with a shrug, "It sucks but… It is what it is."

Jeffy answered, "Jen got dragged to a visit to her grandmothers this weekend."

Daria went, "Oh." and then asked them why Kevin's Dad was there, now doing a Keg stand.

"Oh Doug's cool," Jeffy replied happily, "He always gets us the booze and food and stuff, plus the last party he brought us strippers!"

The two J's and several other passersby cheered that last, awesome party.

"Didn't you guys get busted on that one?" Skylar asked being a buzzkill."

"Yeah…" Joey replied sheepishly, "But they let it slide cus we're on the Lions!"

He got another cheer out of the crowd and didn't see Daria's frown at that.

The two of them grabbed some food and beer and went back inside, but even after they found a quiet corner, Daria felt strange distance between her and Skylar and when she asked him about it only got a vague sort of answer.

"I just don't like parties like this." Skylar answered dismissively and then excuse himself to go the bathroom.

Daria found herself alone and slightly depressed and wasn't sure why.

It was in her wallflower state that the last person she had expected to see here came out of the crowd wearing a nice black shirt, jeans, and brown shoes.

"Daria!" Evan Larson said in surprise.

"Hey Evan." She replied while scooting a bit to let him stand with her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and when she gave him the scoop he laughed.

"So it's true then," Evan replied with a big grin, "You flew the coop."

"Yup." Daria replied flatly.

"How long?" He asked with curiosity.

Daria shrugged, "Not sure, but unless I can come up with something soon, I'll have to go back, though if that's the case then I plan to be spending a lot of time away from those people."

Evan laughed, "That'd be what I'd do if my parents tried to hit me."

Daria raised an eyebrow and asked how he had known that tidbit.

"Quinn's been asking around about you." He replied without missing a bit, "Unlike your rent's, she was more honest about what happened."

"The bitch." Daria muttered to herself while feeling her hands turn into fists.

"Glad I'm an only child." Evan teased to make her feel better.

"Heh, lucky." Daria told him with a smile.

Evan then leaned on the wall and asked where her boyfriend was.

Daria shrugged, "Bathroom."

Evan noticed that she didn't seem too thrilled at the reminder and wondered if there was trouble in paradise.

"Landing a gal like Daria would be freakin' sweet." Evan thought to himself, "She's hot, smart, and she can run! How could I resist?"

Out loud however he decided to say slyly, "You know if you do get dragged back home, you could sign up for a sport or something."

"…Why?" Daria asked him in genuine confusion at the topic change.

"Well if you signed up for something like swimming or… track." Evan said with a slight emphasis on 'track', "You'd have a reason not to be at home that they couldn't complain about."

"Oh Evan." Daria said sweetly, "Are you flirting with me?"

Evan grinned at that, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't."

That made Daria giggle and a certain part of anatomy to jiggle in her tight red strapless top, which caused a flood of hormones to flood Evan's bloodstream.

But before either one of them could act on anything there was a high pitched voice that, for Daria, was like nails on a chalk board.

"Daria!" Quinn exclaimed as she ran up to them in the latest thing from Junior 5, "Ohmigod I found you!"

Daria facepalmed and muttered with a growl, "Quinn… go… away…"

"Daria!" Quinn said even more loudly and attracting attention, "We have to talk!"

Seeing no other way to get rid of the twit Daria told her, "Outside."

After they left, Evan was pissed at Daria's redheaded sister for ruining his shot.

But he comforted himself with, "Well I got my foot in the door and if things are rocky between her and Skylar… Well… They say everything fair in love and war and junk."

But in the meanwhile he needed a refill on his beer so he went to get one.

Outside in the front lawn of the Thompson's, Daria folded her arms across her ample chest and gave her little sister a cold stare, "Ok Quinn, here I am and we are now talking."

Quinn began alternating between freaking out, asking if she was already, and freaking out again.

"I mean I know things haven't always been good between us," Quinn whined, "But… but… I mean you ran away from home! Do you know how serious this is?! Mom and Dad are freaking out! Dad's torn out a good chunk of his hair! And Mom is totally beside herself and stuff."

Daria sniffed at that, "Mom and Dad giving a shit about me?! Now there's a first."

"Daria!" Quinn whined, "This isn't the time for your crazy jokes…"

"Jokes?!" Daria snapped at her loudly, shutting her sister right up, "I am not joking Quinn, Mom and Dad have NEVER given a crap about me. Unlike you, their favorite, the pretty little girl who always wore the pretty clothes to go with her pretty face and had all the friends in the world, and oh sure she never did well in school but they always forgave that because you were so FUCKING CHARMING that they could just gloss that over!"

At some point Daria had started to yell, but she could never remember when.

"Meanwhile there was me, the nerdy plain girl in glasses who was picked on for being smart and who liked to read and they were always saying, 'Why can't you be more like Quinn?' or 'If you would only try to be more like Quinn you'd be happier?' and shit like that!"

Daria then laughed very darkly at her sister, "Well guess what? When I turned thirteen and we went to Grandma's, you remember right? Of course you do you twit!"

Quinn stood frozen to the spot as Daria's verbal diarrhea hit her full force, "Daria…" Quinn began to protest weakly.

"Save it bitch!" Daria roared at her with pure bile, "Remember when we were at Barksdale Manor with Grandma and she introduced us to the Todd's?! Of course you do! That's where we both met Danny!"

Quinn stuttered, "I said I was sorry about that!"

"Shut UP!" Daria screamed with her face turning red, "You were the one who just HAD to spy on the two of us, wondering why a pretty girl like that would want to hang out with your nerdy older sister and you just HAD TO BLAB TO EVERYONE ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW YOU FUCKING CUNT!"

The last was screamed with such force that it caused Quinn to cry.

Daria wheezed for air, "We were just sharing a kiss! A kiss that meant so much to me! It was the first time that ANYONE was able to see the real me, that anyone even cared…"

Daria fought back tears, "And then when you blabbed, Rita and Grandma had so much to say and Mom and Dad panicked and on the ride home yelled at me for ruining the trip!"

Daria then managed another dark laugh, "Well guess what I realized that night… Go on, guess… No? Well I'll tell you."

She then took a deep breath and said more quietly, "I realized that I didn't have to become you Quinn, in fact I could become… Better than you."

She then gave her little sister an evil smile, "And I succeeded."

"So go run back home and tell that bitch that walks like our mother and our worthless father whatever you wish, but do mention that they got what they wanted. Me to be like you."

"They just didn't get what they expected from the deal… that's all."

Daria then laughed in her frozen sister's face one last then turned her back on her and walked back into the party, not giving a crap who had heard them.

From Quinn there was no response, not even once her sister slipped back in through the front door.

When the cops arrived a few minutes later due to several noise complaints, they found Quinn Morgendorffer standing outside weeping silently.

Daria smiled at Skylar, glad that they had kept their heads down while Kevin's dad had talked the cops down, in fact most of them just wound up drinking and chatting about football with the other Lawndale Lions.

Once they were allowed to leave, Daria was extremely quiet as she feigned sleep with her forehead pressed against the cool glass.

Neither of them were in the mood to party much anymore, so Skylar dropped her off at the Taylor's with only a minimum of fuss, but even his goodbye kiss had a strange distance to it.

Before she managed to enter the door, Kevin's jeep pulled up and Brittany clambered out, her clothes rumpled.

Daria snickered as the boyfriends drove off and let Brittany slip in first.

"There isn't a curfew," Brittany assured her as they went in quietly, "But Daddy doesn't like being woken up by a lot of noise."

"Okay." Daria replied with a whisper and followed Brit up the stairs, then nodded when Brittany reminded her to lock her bedroom door since Brian would sneak in sometimes to scare people or pull pranks.

Then once she was in and the door bolted shut, Daria welcomed the comfort of the bed with sheets and pillows with a thread count that made her feel like she had entered heaven.

Then she welcomed the bliss of unawareness and slept like a newborn babe for the rest of the night.

After witnessing yet another Steve and Brian blow up at the breakfast table, Daria took the chance to slip away and stepped outside and sat in the empty driveway, and spent a few minutes enjoying the heat of the morning sun on her face.

Then her cellphone rang.

"Hi Jane," Daria answered after checking the caller id.

"Hey Daria," Jane replied, "Me and Trent cut our foray into the netherworld early."

"What happened?" Daria asked curiously.

Jane laughed, "Heh, well the usual, a bunch of Lane's stuffed into one mid-western split level served as a good reminder why we all scattered in the first place."

"Wanna give me the gory details?" Daria asked even while knowing the answer.

Jane laughed again and spilled the beans.

"Ouch!" Daria said in sympathy pain, "No wonder you bailed."

"Yeah…" Jane replied before asking, "What about you?"

Daria laughed darkly, "My family was actually worse, after I got back from the party me and my mother started arguing and then it culminated in the bitch hitting me, so I ran off."

"…What?!" Jane yelled in disbelief.

"My mother hit me during an argument, so I bailed on them, I'm crashing at Brittany's at the moment but well… let's just say that on Monday I'm going to need other accommodations."

"Can we talk about this over a pizza?" Jane asked after a moment's pause.

"Sure," Daria replied nonchalantly, "But either Trent's going to have to pick me up or Brittany will have to bring me since it seems that Skylar…"

She trailed off on the last, not really sure how to explain that situation over the phone.

"Well Trent passed out from jet lag as soon as we stepped through the door," Jane replied flatly, "So we're gonna have to bite the bullet on this one."

Daria shrugged, "Hopefully Kevin will be at the Pizza Prince and she'll get distracted."

Jane laughed, "Or any guy with popularity and muscles."

"Sounds about right," Daria laughed right back, "So I'll see you later?"

"It's a date." Jane teased before saying goodbye and hanging up.

After Brittany drove her into town, Daria and Jane were spared the cheerleader's company when she found Kevin already heading in with some of his friends, one of whom Daria noted was an exhausted looking Mack.

But sadly she didn't have a chance to speak to him, so she followed Jane in and took their usual booth.

After placing their order, Daria and Jane got down to it.

"I feel like a mooch for asking you this but can I crash at Casa Lane for the moment?" Daria asked very reluctantly.

"Of course you can Daria," Jane replied without hesitation, "Our home is your home."

Daria smiled at that, "Thank you."

"No prob." Jane replied kindly.

Then after the food arrived she was forced to bring up the obvious problem, where did she go from there?

"Well unless I can land a miracle job that can legitimately cover all my expenses there's no way any court would grant me emancipation." Daria noted bitterly, "Besides my mother the bitch would throw every legal monkey wrench she could in the process to keep control of me."

"What about extended relatives?" Jane asked and then wished she hadn't at the grimace on Daria's face.

"Now there's a laugh and a half," Daria replied even more bitterly, "Aunt Rita and her mother are homophobic bitches, I haven't seen Amy in years, my father's grandmother is a 1950's housewife, and I haven't even met my Dad's sister at all."

"So no dice there." Jane commented.

"My best course of action is to stay away as long as I can," Daria concluded, "Then when I go back make it clear to them that it's for legal reasons only, I'll be away from them as often as legally allowable."

Jane managed a weak laugh, "I guess one of the wandering Lanes will be losing their room then."

Daria made another face, "That's the other problem, I don't want to be a leech…"

"It's ok Daria," Jane replied quickly, "You are not a leech."

Daria sighed, "I'd feel like one unless I could bring in some sort of income…"

A thought occurred, "But under the current idea, if I'm just crashing on and off at your place then the money I get doesn't have to be perfectly legit."

Jane had a dark thought, "Uh Daria… What are you thinking about?"

Daria smiled, "Remember that college prep course we took a while back?"

That seemingly random thought threw Jane off for a minute before her memory replayed the episode, "Yeah… But what does this have to do with…?"

Daria laughed, "I told you about the family trip to the Middleton, and how me and Quinn wound up being Keg Queens for rival frats… Until we were busted."

Jane nodded, not sure where this was going.

"Well before that happened, the tour guide, Heather I believe showed me her dorm room and I found something about college, that those kids will shell out cash for even crap essays just to get out of homework."

Jane struggled to follow Daria's thought process until it clicked, and she grinned wickedly, "…And there's Lawndale State just a bus ride away…"

Daria's smile matched hers, "And the guys of Mystik Spiral do seem to attract the college crowd…"

The next bite of pizza in Daria's mouth after saying that was somehow more delicious than the previous ones.

After collecting her luggage from Brittany's car, she and Jane were forced to hoof it back to Casa Lane, but Daria didn't mind the walk.

Along the way the other subject bothering Daria came up, her relationship with Skylar.

"All of a sudden he's gone from hot to cold," Daria explained, "There's this sudden distance between us and… I don't know how to close the gap."

Jane thought it over for a minute, "Well I think this whole thing freaked him out."

"What do you mean?" Daria asked in confusion.

"Uh…" Jane intoned, "Let's see, your mother hit you, you ran off, and yes you had good reason to avoid the Feldman's, it probably bothers him that you didn't trust him and you went to Brittany's instead."

"But I knew Mom and Dad would look at his place," Daria replied forcefully, "They weren't about to poke around at the Taylors."

"Yes I know that," Jane replied, "And in his head I'm sure Skylar knows it too, but in his heart… That's another matter."

Daria sighed, "Yeah… I guess it explains his behavior at Kevin's party."

"You went to a party at Kevin's?!" Jane said in surprise.

Daria laughed, "Yeah, wanna hear the details? There was a fight between me and Quinn too."

"I'm all ears!" Jane replied.

In the Lane's living room, Trent was curled up in a ball under a blanket in a corner, Jane and Daria sat on the couch, with Scarlett on speaker phone.

"Wow," Jane gasped, "That's what Quinn did to you?! That fucking bitch!"

"You don't have to tell me twice." Daria replied flatly.

From the phone, Scarlett said, "I heard that story from the gossip chain, though the details made it sound like you and Quinn practically jello wrestled."

"Gossip chain?" Jane asked confused.

"Brooke." Scarlett replied flatly.

"I should have told you guys earlier," Daria apologized again, "But I had a lot on my plate."

"It's okay Daria I think we all understand." Scarlett answered for the group.

Daria sighed, "Between school and this and Skylar… It's all slipping away from me…"

"No it's not!" Jane and Scarlett replied in unison.

Jane then added first, "You still have us Daria."

Scarlett then added her own two cents, "Jane's right, we three are friends through thick and thin, that doesn't change, ever."

For a long moment, Daria's face screwed up and it took Jane a second to realize that her friend was fighting back tears.

"Thanks guys," Daria replied with powerful, difficult to read, emotion, "It's… It's nice to have people I can count on."

Her lip trembled, "I… I haven't ever had that…"

The sex goddess began to shake and hugged her arms across her chest as if holding herself together, until she finally let it out and exploded into sobs.

It took a long time for her to stop, but Jane held her the entire time and Scarlett stayed on the line until she was done.

Quinn sighed to herself in her room, she had just gotten back home from a lunch at the mall with Stacy, it had been very awkward but she had done something she hardly ever did.

She had apologized, profusely.

"I'm the one that fucked up," Quinn reminded herself once more as she glanced at the very small amount of stuff she had bought (only two bags from RED, a lesser light among the hip clothing stores), "I've been fucking up for years."

She went over from her bed to her vanity mirror and stared at her reflection, but not the way she had before.

A million times before she had seen perfection in it, now with everything having fallen to pieces in front of her eyes, now she just saw a face, a tired face, covered in makeup, pretty yes, but…

"That's all that's there." Quinn said morosely, "It's all I've had, it's what made me what Daria said I was… The favorite."

Quinn glared at that reflection of herself for the first time in anger, "And now I don't even really have that… Daria beat me in everything because… because…"

She sighed in resignation and didn't finish that thought, it was still too much to bear.

"I'll make it up to Daria," Quinn promised herself again, "I… I don't know how yet but I will."

She managed to give herself a small smile, the first thing she had done with that promise was to give no hint to her parents that she had encountered Daria at Kevin's party, and had made up a story about being tired after coming home much earlier than expected.

She had no idea what the next step would be, but was determined to try.

"I have too," Quinn said to reversed image in her looking glass, "I'm the reason she's so screwed up, it's my job to unscrew her."

Then she realized how dirty could be taken if anyone had heard them and squealed, "Ewwww!"

After that she then tried to brainstorm some ideas but very little came to mind, except to wonder if there might be anything else she was good at besides being cute and (at one point) popular.

So far all she had was a blank.

In a back alley on Dega Street, even though the sun was up and out, there were still places where that little fact didn't matter.

Which allowed for the denizens of the rough area to do what they wished, as long as they didn't make too much noise.

Which is where Sandi was now, having dressed waaaaay, way down to blend into the background.

"It's better to be here than at home explaining to mother why I'm not, like the tour da force of LHS anymore." Sandi thought to herself, this time the bitterness directed at her mother Linda Griffin, rather than herself or the situation.

She walked through the back alley near the Zon, granted it was closed but it didn't mean that she couldn't loiter outside.

"In fact it's better if no one sees me." Sandi thought as she turned a corner and then was seen by someone.

She recognized him as a boy that went to Lawndale he had shaggy dirty blond hair, fang earrings, small blue shades, a cool demeanor, and his clothes always reminded her of the Scooby Doo character, Shaggy.

"Which is what we all, like call him." Sandi thought to herself, but her eyes zeroed in on what he was smoking.

A joint.

"Hey," he drawled to her, "Wanna hit?"

Sandi froze in shock, for a wild moment she wondered if it was a trick or something, but his sincerity convinced her that he wasn't playing a game.

Under normal circumstances she would have said no, then made fun of him for being a druggy loser.

But these weren't normal circumstances, "I'm just as big a loser as he is." Sandi thought darkly as she forced her limbs to move and took the offered thing from him and moved robotically to put it too her lips.

Then she inhaled.

Shaggy caught the joint as it fell from her hands as she gagged, "Virgin lung…" he drawled with a smirk and waited for her to calm down.

"Wanna try again?" he asked once she was done.

She looked up at him, having curled up around her stomach, her eyes now beet red with tears but something in her system felt… good.

So she managed a weak nod.

While trying her second toke of the sticky icky, one of the sleeves on her shirt came down a bit and Shaggy saw numerous cuts on her arm.

His eyes widened behind his shades, "Damn this girl is psycho…"

He had offered the joint to be nice, normally no one bothered him here on the weekend and he could get as blazed as he wanted, in fact he hadn't recognized her in those clothes, but once she had taken a hit it had clicked.

And now…

"This girl needs help man…" the guy everyone called Shaggy thought to himself, wondering if that drug counselor that his parents made him go too knew anything about shit like this.

"Not that he would," Devon thought to himself with a laugh, "He's a bigger pothead than I am."

The therapy his parents were shelling out cash for was clearly not working.

Once she had calmed down, Daria had gone upstairs to take a quick shower, then after changing into running clothes had dug out the number she had gotten from Brittany and dialed it.

She had to go through his mother but soon enough Evan Larson came on the line.

"Hey Lady D!" he said happily, "What's shakin?"

She laughed, "Not much, just wanting to go on a run, you interested?"

"Sure!" Evan replied with perkiness.

"I'm not in the Crewe Neck now," Daria explained, "Could you meet me at High Hills in an hour or so?"

"No problem Daria," Evan answered, "I'll be there."

"Great," she replied, "Mind if I get Jane to come with?"

"Not at all," Evan replied, curious to see if what she had said about Jane Lane was true.

"Cool!" Daria said with a laugh, "I'll see you there."

Click!

At High Hills during a basic sprint, Evan had immediately noticed that while Daria had the potential to be a good runner, Jane was already an amazing one.

"I think she's already better than me!" He thought to himself and had then decided to test that by offering to time them both against each other with a stop watch, the goal being to run between a chosen park bench and a distant statue of a general.

Jane relished a challenge, Daria decided it was something fun to do.

After it was over, Daria was panting, Jane seemed raring to go again.

"Pity she's with Charles," Evan thought to himself, "But Daria did hook up with Jodie… I wonder…"

While congratulating the two of them and then going on the long jog they had originally planned together, Evan had a fantasy of getting both girls together with him.

He had no idea if Jane would be up for something like that, but that didn't stop his hormones from telling him that it would be really hot if it did happen.

That day at High Hills Park, Evan had one of the best runs of his life.

Monday morning rolled around with disturbing speed and Daria found herself in the passenger side seat of Skylar's sports car. The radio was blaring to fill the silence between.

But it was still getting on her nerves.

As they wove through Lawndale with the remnants of breakfast being thrown into their Cluster Burger bags, she found her voice.

"Sky," she said while turning off the radio, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Skylar managed to keep from gritting his teeth, his belly sick with powerful emotions he didn't understand.

After a beat he replied, "What do you want to talk about?"

It was Daria's turn to suppress her irritation, "This sudden pissy act you're putting on."

"I'm not being pissy." Skylar protested while blatantly pissed off.

They came within sight of Lawndale High and as soon as the car stopped, Daria reached into the back and grabbed her bag and retorted, "Could have fooled me."

Skylar struggled to convey what he was feeling but by the time Daria was out of the car and out of sight he still didn't have anything.

"Dammit!" he bellowed and punched his steering wheel in frustration.

As usual everyone was staring at Daria with intense curiosity and whispering, but this time the looks weren't completely about her looks.

The word had spread about her bailing on her parents and living on the lamb, like a character out of a story.

Not to mention how she and Skylar were avoiding each other like the plague, that was certainly a topic of great interest, a ton of guys (and some girls) had been waiting for the first signs of cracks in the Skyaria relationship and were now angling for the first chance to pounce the instant they broke up.

In the meanwhile Daria was quickly joined by her gaggle of friends, and Brooke and Jackie were visibly relieved to see that Daria was ok and safe.

"I'm fine," Daria told them sweetly, "No really… Everything will be alright."

In truth she had no idea if that was true at all, "But if I let them see my worry then who the hell knows what will happen." Daria thought to herself, assuring herself that the tough nonchalant front was the best route to go.

Then while she was at her locker getting her books, a now familiar glimmer and turned and said warmly, "Hi Evan."

"Hi yourself Lady D," Evan replied with a big smile while leaning on the opposite locker casually, "How you holding up?"

She shrugged while getting her stuff out, "About as well as can be expected."

Evan followed her away from her locker and walked with her, "Everyone's talking about you, more than just the running off stuff."

Daria sighed, "Let me guess… They know about Skylar acting like an idiot?"

"You have guessed correctly." Evan replied with a sly grin as they reached her first hour class and he added, "If you need someone to talk too or a shoulder to cry on…"

Daria smiled at him, "Thank you, I might have to take you up on it… depending on how things go."

"You're welcome." He replied before she slipped into her homeroom.

He then headed to his with a spring in his step while thinking, "Dude you are so in!"

At the rate things were going, even if Skylar and Daria reconciled he had a guaranteed shot at her if and when they did wind up breaking up.

"Landing a gal like Daria would be like getting into heaven early." Evan thought as he walked past his fellow classmates, most of whom he could dismiss as worthless losers.

Though he did take note of Jane who was holding hands with Charles, which confirmed his guess about those two.

"Another point to me!" Evan thought and made a seemingly random swish motion with his hands as he walked on.

Jane wondered for half a second what Evan's little happy act was about before putting it out of her mind, and Charles said something that made her forget it completely.

"Did you hear about Mack and Jodie?" he asked her as they were heading to class.

"No, what?" Jane asked with morbid curiosity.

Charles replied, "They broke up on Saturday."

"Oh," Jane said flatly, "That would explain why Mack looks a bit blue and why Jodie didn't come in."

"Yup," Charles answered as they reached DeMartino's room and walked in, having to let go the instant they were sight of the teacher and took their seats, "But I think it's for the best, I mean neither of them took the relationship seriously until they did and I suspect that they realized that they didn't know each other at all."

Jane made a sound, "Pretty insightful… You should become a psychiatrist."

Charles laughed as Mr. D began to speak, "Nah, keeping myself sane is enough work for me."

"Sanity in this town?" Jane asked with a smirk, "Good luck, you'll need it."

Meanwhile Mr. DeMartino got the ball rolling by asking Robert a question about World War I and growled in frustration when the big lug confused it World War II.

"At least he got the century right." They heard Daria comment next to them.

It was the best that she could come up with.

After talking with Ms. Li, Daria took her pass from Ms. Lime gladly and walked away, happy to be away from Principal Genghis Khan.

"What a waste of time," she thought to herself about being called out of class to the office, "She could have just said all that in the hallway and it would have saved me the damn trip."

The only good thing was that it had burned through the rest of class so she found her friends in the halls and when Jane asked her what was up, Daria told them.

"Oh Ms. Li wanted to cover her butt, legally speaking regarding my 'situation'." Daria said and put the word situation in air quotes.

"That is the best euphemism for living wild that I've heard in a long time." Scarlett said without missing a beat.

Ronnie in the meanwhile nudged her shoulder and pointed at the couple walking past their group.

"Wow," Daria said in surprise as Tori walked by them on Jamie's arm oblivious to the world, "I guess Jane's party was the place for new hookups."

"Even when I'm not playing Yenta, I can play a mean Yenta!" Jane crowed with a fist pump of triumph.

Everyone was laughing at that when Charles arrived and put an arm around his girl and tried to kiss her cheek but she dodged it playfully.

"Save it for later." She told him and hope sprung eternal in Charles Ruttheimer's heart at the thought of what that next time might entail.

"Speaking of later," Daria added a bit more darkly, "We have O'Neill's next."

Everyone winced in sympathy pain and Scarlett asked, "Ok so how are you going to avoid Mr. Creepy and his need to 'help'?"

"I think I'll borrow Evan's running shoes." Daria said and while everyone thought she was kidding, she was in fact dead serious.

After setting a record at getting out of class, and ensuring that Timothy O'Neill couldn't finish asking her to stay behind after class, she breathed a sigh of relief and made a beeline for Evan's locker.

She found the man of the hour there and without saying a word took off his kicks and handed them over and he returned her hostages, her white sandals.

"So how'd it go?" Evan asked once he had his favorite running shoes back.

"I was able to scram before he could get the words out," Daria told him with the look of one who has completed a herculean task, "I couldn't have done it without you."

Evan's smile at that melted her heart a bit, "No problem Daria, no problem at all."

The blushing of her cheeks made her even more attractive, and even after she had to leave for her next class, the image lingered in his mind.

For Daria, what stood out to her was his devil-may-care look while leaning on his locker with his brown locks and gorgeous face.

"He's beautiful, nice, has a nice body," Daria thought before telling herself, "Stop it Daria you've got a boyfriend… One that's acting like a jerk right now… Ok I need to get Skylar talking to get to the bottom of this."

It was like that for a long time.

Quinn had spent the day staying out of sight as much as possible, between her ruined social status, the loss of the Fashion Club, and the events of Saturday night, it was all too much to deal with at once.

Instead she had spent her time mending some serious fences with Stacy and Tiffany, the latter of whom Quinn was surprised to see wasn't trying to mooch onto some other popular girl's popularity.

Until Tiffany pointed out, "Thhhee poppulaaarrr girrrlll isss Daarrriaaa."

"Oh." Quinn had replied to that one flatly.

Stacy as it turned out was the hard sell, it took two periods to get her to talk, and when she did it was pretty ugly.

"Quinn," Stacy said very coldly and with unusual spine, "Considering the crap that you said to me at the Roller Hockey game did you really think that I would just shove it all to the side and forget?"

"No," Quinn said surprising the hell out of them both, "I'm the one that screwed up, I've been screwing up even before I met you guys. I have a lot to make up for I know but just… Give me a chance! Please?!"

Stacy relented, but only after Quinn pleaded for a while.

But once that very tentative pardon was given Tiffany was the one who asked, "Buuuut wittthhhouuutt thhheee Faaashionnn Cluuubbb whhhaaattt willll weeee dooo?"

They thought hard on this during Bennett's class before Quinn had a brainstorm, "We'll just do something else!"

"But what else is there than fashion?" Stacy asked a bit confused and the three of them tried to brainstorm ideas to little effect.

By the end of class the three of them had headaches.

Then at lunch Quinn did have a thought but it didn't have anything to do with the subject at hand.

"Say Tiff," she asked her Asian friend, "When you guys all got that plastic surgery why didn't your nose have issues?"

Tiffany's demeanor didn't change a bit as she replied, "Iiiii diddddn'tttt geeeetttt thhhheee suuurrrgeeeerrryyy."

"What?!" Stacy and Quinn exclaimed in unison.

The tiniest hints of a smile were on Tiffany's bland and docile face, "Iiiii liiieeeddd annnnddd puuutttt taaaapppeee onnnn myyy noooossseee."

The smile remained even after she got up and took her tray up to be thrown away, leaving them both in stunned silence.

Then Stacy felt a nervous giggle escape her mouth and that broke the dam.

By the time Tiffany came back they were both laughing like loons with a couple of tears streaming down their faces.

Sandi sat next to Shaggy with some kids she hadn't really talked to all that much, she knew a couple of them from elementary school and others not at all.

"Jennifer 'Burnout' Burns," Sandi thought to herself with a glance at the blond girl with the slacker appearance, "She's dating Jeffy Mercer, he's in the bathroom."

Then Jennifer's brother, Josh Burns arrived, his hair as blond as his twin sister's wearing a blue track suit and baggy jeans, his eyebrow pierced.

Near them was the blue haired punk named Bob, she wasn't sure what his last name was since he moved to Lawndale the year before. Next to him was that Goth girl Andrea and that 80's metal head Angel.

Devon, or as everyone else called him Shaggy caught her eye and gave her a smile, she grinned nervously back and tried to socialize as best as she could.

"I'm glad we snuck out and toked before lunch," Sandi thought gratefully at Shaggy, "Otherwise I would have been too nervous."

When she got nervous she became even more bitchy than normal, something that he had told her wouldn't win her many friends.

She had started to snap at him until he just said flatly, "See." And had started to walk off.

It had taken a big apology on her part to get him to forgive her.

She didn't realize that he had done that on purpose to get the message across.

Her hand moved of its own accord and reached out for his underneath the table and he stiffened in surprise but relaxed and took it into his own as she began to find her stride and tried to open up.

"It's kind of a funny story," she said when asked how she and Shaggy had met, "You see I just had to escape the house and wound up on Dega Street…"

As she related wandering up and down the big DS and getting lost until she found herself near the back of the Zon, Shaggy thought to himself, "She's off to a good start."

He gripped her hand a bit more firmly as if to say, "Keep it up."

The last bell rang and the student body of Lawndale rushed out to escape, lest some vestige of the building tried to strip them of their grip on reality further than it already was doing.

Since Jodie was out officially sick and her second in command, Jenna had a date that night, she told the newspaper staff that they were going to just call it an off day.

Which normally would have suited Daria fine but now that meant time back into her increasingly illegal situation.

The first test came when she spotted a very familiar blue Lexus amidst the parental cars that were pulling up on the curb to pick up their kids.

Daria got one look of this and hoped that she hadn't been spotted in the crowd and made a beeline for the student parking lot and found Skylar's sports car easily enough and never had she felt more relief in her life when she saw him coming up to her.

He reached her and said, "Hop in."

A bit more flatly than normal but not angry like that morning.

Then an angry voice emerged from the crowd, "Daria!"

"Let's go." Daria stated simply and got into Skylar's car and he pulled out and left Jake Morgendorffer in the dust.

Daria simply asked him to find a shady spot and he located a parking lot at a mini-mall for them.

As soon as the car was no longer in motion, she looked in dead in the eye and said, "Ok Skylar I want you to look at me and we are both going to talk about whatever has gone wrong between us calmly and rationally, ok?"

"Ok." Skylar answered contritely.

"You have the floor." Daria replied.

Skylar began to speak.

"Daria, I…" Skylar began before trailing off, clearly struggling on articulating what he was wanting to say.

He took a deep breath and then began again, "I'm not very good with… you know, emotional stuff, but I'm going to do my best, okay?"

Daria nodded, knowing that particular struggle very well herself.

Skylar blinked and said, "The whole running off thing, I have to admit it threw me, but in a twisted sort of way it didn't bother me… Since I've seen what your family is like."

It was her turn to blink and Skylar put a hand on her shoulder, "But what really threw me was how I found out about all this."

"Skylar I…" Daria began to say apologetically but he stopped her with a motion.

"It's ok now," Skylar replied, "I understand in my head that you had a lot on your plate at the time… But for me, learning from your mother, who by the way is pretty scary when riled up, that you ran off and thought that I was the one hiding you…"

He shuddered at the memory of dealing with Helen Morgendorffer, then his parents who had no idea what to think of the situation, until it was painfully obvious after Helen scoured every possible inch of their house that Daria wasn't there.

"It hurt," Skylar finished flatly, "It hurt real bad that you didn't trust me…"

"I trust you!" Daria answered very forcefully.

He looked at her with those big eyes of his and said, "At the time it felt like you didn't, but I… I can see the logic now."

Those eyes seemed to glisten and he said sadly, "I… I'm sorry that I started acting like a jerk to you Daria. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I… I nearly pissed it away."

"Can you forgive me?" he asked meekly with his head a bit down.

Daria was silent and her face was a mask of stone, impossible to read, until she nodded and said, "Yes, I can."

Skylar's smile of relief could have been used as a book light, and Daria gave him a small grin of her own.

He then managed a weak laugh, "But still… The Taylors?!"

Daria chuckled lightly right back, "It was all I could come up with on short notice."

Skylar began to snicker and it proved contagious and before they could stop themselves they were laughing like idiots.

"GAH GAH DAMMIT!" Jake screamed while driving without purpose along a stretch of highway somewhere in downtown, not wanting to go home and face his wife's accusing eyes.

Even while hurling verbal and horn abuse at his fellow drivers, and playing chicken with everything on the road and tailgating like it was nobody's business, his mind was in pieces.

"I screwed it up dammit!" Jake thought out loud and very loudly, "Oh it was supposed to be simple. Just ambush Daria after she left school and bundle her in the car before she could react. But she ran off, again! Dammit! Helen's going to chew off my dick for this!"

He then flipped from anger to weeping for a few minutes before falling back on the anger ball.

"And dammit neither of the women seem to give a damn! Dammit!" Jake complained while passing three cars at once and barely avoiding hitting oncoming traffic.

"Helen's thrown herself into work even harder than before, when she isn't trying to figure out a way to make Daria come back without involving the police!" Jake whined.

"And Quinn's been running around blowing it all off! Hell I don't really remember seeing her out of her room much all weekend…" Jake pondered for a second, then his thoughts fell on Daria again.

"Dammit!" Jake screamed and punched his horn, setting it off and scaring other drivers even more than they already were, "I can't believe that Daria would pull a stunt like this! Doesn't she even care about the rest of the family?! I mean I can remember all the times that my dad hit ME and I didn't even have the guts to up and bolt like she did..."

There was moment's pause in his madness when he realized that he envied her that kind of courage.

Then he wondered where it all went wrong, and that set him off again.

"I know that Daria's turned into a complete tart but that doesn't give Helen the right to hit her. I know who's fault this really is, it was that Danny slut or whoever who corrupted my little girl! Who turned her from a genius and into the damn town whore!"

Jake then froze in horror at what he had just called his eldest daughter, then had to apply the brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of him and started screaming at the other, innocent driver.

But it didn't make him feel any better.

Skylar walked into the Lane's with Daria and said as a joke, "Wow, there isn't a party. I'm losing my touch."

Daria gave him a small smile and replied, "Maybe next time."

Jane came bounding down the stairs and greeted them and gave Daria a question look and the sexy vamp answered the unspoken question.

"We've reached an accord." Was all that Daria would say on the matter.

While they sat down on the couch, Scarlett emerged from the downstairs bathroom and joined them.

"So what's the plan Lady D?" Skylar asked once they were all situated.

Daria smiled and replied, "I'm going to be spending a lot of my time here at the Lane's, though I will have to make some token appearances at my parents."

Skylar just went, "Oh…"

Then he gave her a hug.

Scarlett and Jane exchanged "Dwaaaaa." looks.

Daria then sighed, "I'll have to go back sometime tomorrow since even my mother will have to concede and call the cops if I wait too much longer."

She then looked more resolute as she added, "But I doubt that they'll object to seeing less of me, in fact I think they'll go for it with gusto."

The others were careful with their outward reactions to this, the last thing that Daria needed right now was pity.

She looked at Jane and said, "I'm not going to mooch either, I'll make money and try to cover my own end as best as I can."

Jane just nodded and said more practically, "Bedroom wise you've got quite a bit of choice, between my wandering siblings and the unused 'guest' bedroom. There is plenty of space to be had."

Daria smiled, "I'll take the guest room, on the off-chance that one of your siblings shows up looking for their old haunt to use."

Everyone laughed at that, the very notion of Jane's family congregating was ridiculous.

"What about the legalities?" Scarlett spoke up, "I mean in terms of emergencies and stuff, I know that Trent has power of attorney for you Jane. But I doubt that the State would extend it for Daria."

"I think I'll play that one by ear." Daria answered gingerly, "Though if Trent did find some sort of regular paying gig it would look better if, let's say CPS came calling."

Jane made a sound, "Trent… Working… Does… Not… Compute."

The uproarious laughter at that pretty good robot impersonation lasted for a few minutes.

But Skylar got his breath first and said, "Well maybe Trent could get something on that seedy area… Dega Street."

He then elaborated as best he could, "Isn't there like tattoo shops, piercing places, bars, and head shops and stuff down there? Your brother could get a job or something there easy and still not be a total sellout."

Jane made another sound in her throat, "…Good point. But I'd better run this by him first, before we get him a job… He has to be awake at regular intervals in order to keep it and all."

Scarlett snarked, "That might be his downfall."

"Might?" Daria teased gently.

"Ok it will be his downfall." Scarlett conceded with a shrug.

Jane then looked at her watch and said that Sick, Sad World would be on in a few minutes.

Skylar tried to turn on the downstairs TV before the girls had to tell him that it had been broken for years.

Sandi had made her first real shopping trip since her downfall, though she had avoided the mall like the plague.

"Too many popular girls," Sandi thought darkly as she stared at herself in the mirror, "Not enough hiding places."

The one time she had tried to go to Cashman's to update her wardrobe, she had been forced to run after a bunch of upperclassmen had spotted her and tried to shove her into a trash can.

Instead she had slipped onto Dega Street with Shaggy and that Burnout girl to a couple thrift stores and found some stuff that would let her fit right in.

"It isn't fashionable." She conceded, "But… It doesn't matter anymore."

So she slipped into her new things without a thought, the shirt was green and white stripped, tight and tattered, she had converted it into a belly shirt. The blue bellbottoms she wore were skin tight, she threw on a clunky necklace and wore her regular sneakers, fluffed up her hair and put on some makeup and was ready in only about seven minutes.

She gave herself a brave smile to stir up some bravado and grabbed her purse before heading out of her room.

"I'm glad Mom is pulling a double," Sandi thought with relief as she went downstairs for the front door and headed out, "It's bad enough with her trying to push me to keep trying to be popular again."

Even she had figured out that it wasn't in the cards.

But… A small part of her had truly ceased to care.

While the TV played on, Daria curled up next to Skylar and he put an arm around her, while Scarlett and Jane pretended not to notice.

Just as it cut to commercial, the doorbell rang, breaking the mood.

"I'll get it." Jane said with a weary sigh while getting up, once she was out of her room she muttered curses at the latest salesman to come a knocking.

"It has to be one of those jerks," Jane thought to herself, "People that know us, know that our locks are shot so they can just come in, the ones who bother to knock are religious nuts, vacuum cleaner salesmen, or just salesmen.

She couldn't' see who it was through the door window and growled to work herself up to deal with whoever it was properly.

"Whatever it is you're selling we're not… interested…" Jane said with rage as she opened the door and then trailed off into silence as she processed who was on her door stoop.

"Jane!" Quinn Morgendorffer said with unusual stress in her voice, "I need to find Daria! I have got to talk to her."

At those words Jane folded her arms across her chest and said very coldly, "She doesn't want to talk to you… She told me about Danny."

Quinn gasped and went, "That's why I have to talk to her!"

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't slap the taste out of your mouth, Quinn." Jane informed her with a twitch of her hand in her arms.

"Because I'm her sister dammit!" Quinn said loudly with a stomp of her foot, "I KNOW that I screwed up bad. I've been a stuck up little monster to her for… well forever. But I… I… I need to fix it."

Quinn seemed to crumble right in front of her eyes and Jane thought it over quietly, not taking her eyes off of Daria's younger sibling.

Then she said very carefully, "Come on in… No promises about what happens next though."

Quinn nodded, "I understand."

She followed Jane into the house and shut the door behind her.

"Quinn." Daria said very flatly, and very coldly once Jane had come back to her room and her younger, unwanted sibling had stepped in behind her.

Quinn replied very quickly with, "Daria, we need to talk."

Daria stood up, feeling Skylar and Scarlett looking at her with worry, Jane clearly torn about her decision to let Quinn in at all.

"About?" Daria asked in those dead, cold tones.

Quinn then began to struggle with what she wanted to say, but gave up and asked if they could talk somewhere more private.

Daria tried to think of a way around this, but all she could come up with was homicide.

So she just sighed and seemed to deflate and said to Jane, "We'll be outside at your Gazebo."

"Gotcha." Jane replied even as Daria walked past Quinn and led her out.

Once they were gone, Skylar spoke up, "Shouldn't we, you know, follow them and make sure they're ok?"

Scarlett answered, "Bad idea, they have to sort this out on their own."

Jane sat down in front of the TV, not really seeing the screen, "Yup, we'd just make it worse."

"Is that even possible?" Skylar asked himself as he grabbed a pillow and clutched it to his chest, like Jane and Scarlett next to him, he wasn't really seeing the TV screen at all.

His thoughts were elsewhere.

Out in the Lane's backyard, Quinn had to suppress her instinct 'ick' factor at the completely unfashionable design of the place.

Even the gazebo was completely out of style.

"So you wanted to talk Quinn," Daria said in a voice that turned the air into frost, "So… Talk."

Quinn sat down on the opposite side of the gazebo, facing her older sibling, who was once more wearing her usual whore's uniform (as Quinn thought of it).

Then she did her best to shove that thought aside and focus on the task at hand, before her attention slipped.

"Daria," Quinn began unusually flat and quiet, "I've been thinking about the stuff that you told me at Kevin's party and…"

She fought back a sniffle before picking up the thread, "I… I screwed up. I shouldn't have ratted you and Danielle out like that."

She took a deep breath and swallowed, her voice cracked a bit, "I am deeply and truly sorry."

There was a long pause, Daria's expression was impossible to read, then Quinn spoke up again, "I know that you're not going to forgive me, not anytime soon anyways."

Daria stared at her in total silence like an ancient totem, she only moved to fold her arms across her chest.

Quinn deflated in front of her and said, "And yes I know that Mom and Dad have favored me for, like, years, but that's not my fault."

She then looked directly at Daria and said, "I don't know how to fix things between you and them, hell I'm not even sure I can fix what's wrong between us Daria, but I promise I'm going to try."

There was another long, awkward silence before Quinn said pleadingly, "Daria please say something."

Her sister took in a deep breath, her chest heaved, and she said very flatly, "I don't know what to say."

She had been analyzing Quinn, having seen her in all of her emotional states over the years, and she had a good handle on reading her.

"She seems sincere." Daria was forced to concede.

She still didn't trust her completely though.

But out loud Daria added, "If you really want to patch things up Quinn, and this isn't part of some plot on Mom's part, then… Well… We can start with something small."

"What would that be?" Quinn asked her with a touch of confusion and interest.

"We'll go back to Jane's room," Daria explained while rising up, "And we'll watch some TV together."

Daria then paused and took a deep breath and added, "I don't know where things will go after that… I guess we'll have to take it one step at a time and see, won't we."

Quinn managed a smile and said happily, "It'll be different Daria, I promise!"

As they headed back into the house, Daria thought to herself, "That's easier said than done, but… She deserves a chance."

Daria then added that it would be Quinn's second and only chance, but so far she was doing a better job than their parents.

"God that's sad." Daria thought to herself as she walked through the Lane's kitchen with Quinn in tow.

Once they were back in Jane's room, they got themselves settled and told them to hold all questions that night.

They watched TV in a semi-comfortable silence until it got dark.

In a dive bar near Dega Street, Helen sat on a stool at the bar, several empty shot glasses in front of her, three sheets to the wind and nowhere near as drunk as she wanted to be.

After Jake completely failed in his mission to get Daria back without a fuss, he had had the gall to blame her for everything.

They had gotten into a nasty fight, and now here she was, at a bar getting hammered with a cheap motel room booked for that night.

The morning after was going to be a bitch.

But so was she, so she didn't care.

"Helen!" the voice of her boss, Eric emerged from seeming nothingness and he sat down at the stool next to hers and ordered whiskey.

"Eric!" she said with the first real happiness she had felt all night.

"What's shakin'?" Eric asked as he downed his first shot.

"Family trouble." Helen informed him darkly before doing a shot of her own.

"Ouch!" Eric winced in exaggerated sympathy pain, "Wanna talk about it?"

She smiled at that, even though he was a bit older than her, he still had a boyish charm to him.

"Sure…" she slurred before ordering another drink, and gave him the once over.

Eric grinned and ordered doubles for them both.

At the Morgendorffers, Jake was passed out on the couch with an empty bottle of Wild Turkey on the floor in front of him.

That was how Quinn found him when she got home.

She just sighed and got him an extra pillow and a blanket and let him be.

Jodie Landon was wide awake, it was four AM but she couldn't sleep.

At all.

"Insomnia sucks." She muttered to herself as she watched television at a low volume in her room.

She still felt like crap since Mack had broken up with her, while he had proceeded to move on quick as lightening after a couple days.

She sighed, "At the rate he's going, he'll match Kevin's record for most cheerleaders banged in the back of their cars."

She turned off her TV in disgust, the light of her lamp making the glass of the television set create a reflection of the room, she saw herself in it and growled in frustration.

"Ok Jodie," she told her reversed image, "Enough is enough, Tomorrow night you are going out on the town and you are going to have some fun!"

Just another crappy day at school to contend with first, then she could figure out where she wanted to go.

Sandi was laughing like a loon as Josh pulled up in front of her house, he and his sister Burnout were in the front.

She and Devon were in the back, Angel had already been dropped off.

And she was three sheets to the wind, high as a kite, and the ecstasy pills were only now wearing off.

But that didn't stop her from sucking on Shaggy's face again for a good long while before having to pull back and saying, "I haven't had that much fun in years!"

He laughed back, just as fucked up, "Glad to have been of service."

She gave a lusty chuckle, "Oh… You'll get more than that soon enough."

Josh and Burnout both made sounds of approval, Shaggy blushed, but tried to go over for seconds, but Sandi already had the door open and was stepping out.

"Till' next time bucko!" she told him and laughed as Josh began to speed away, forcing Devon to close the door.

Sandi felt the crispness of the late night air on her skin and inhaled a breath deep into her lungs.

She smiled big and spread her arms wide and just looked up at the big night sky, she stared at it in wonder and said to herself, "It's so pretty… I haven't seen it like this in, like, forever!"

She was grinning ear to ear as she walked as quietly as she could to her front door, digging her key out of her purse.

She slid into the lock and turned it, stepping in only after taking her shoes off.

She made a few feet into the pitch black living room before a lamp came on, and there was her mother, Linda Griffin.

She was mad as hell.

"Oh fuck." Sandi muttered to herself.

This wasn't going to be pretty.

Breakfast time in the Morgendorffer house the next morning was a silent affair.

That could be chalked up to the fact that Jake Morgendorffer was nursing a major hangover, Quinn didn't feel like talking, and now Daria and Helen were M.I.A.

At the moment Quinn was just happy to be left to her thoughts, and boy did she have a lot of them.

Like the very tentative reconciliation she had managed to gain with Daria, or the conversation afterward when she had gone into the Lane's house and watched TV with Daria and her friends.

It had been very difficult at the time to keep her objections to herself but she hadn't wanted to risk… Whatever it was they had achieved so early.

"I still can't believe that Daria is just going to up and move out though," Quinn thought again as she slowly sipped her diet soda, "I mean there are like, laws and stuff against this sort of thing."

She was confident that their mother would put a stop to it.

The question was, would stopping Daria be a good thing?

Quinn wasn't sure about the answer.

She was dragged out of her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening, a few moments later a disheveled looking Helen Morgendorffer stepped into the kitchen and made a beeline for the coffee pot.

Jake was looking anywhere possible except at his wife.

Quinn sat wide-eyed and as quiet as a church mouse, praying that no one would notice her.

Helen turned around with a steaming cup in her hands, her eyes haggard and tired, she was clearly struggling to think of something to say.

She opened her mouth but froze before a single sound was uttered.

Quinn watched her mother's jaws snap shut tight and she sucked down her morning joe before walking out of the kitchen, muttering about a shower before work.

Quinn was so absorbed into watching her mother's retreating figure that she didn't notice her father at all.

Sitting quietly in his chair with a stricken look on his face, with an air of confusion and despair that came from not knowing what to ask or to say.

Sitting in the back of Skylar's car, Jane had a birds-eye view of Daria and her beau as they exchanged pleasant conversation.

Jane couldn't help but suspect that they were overdoing it a bit.

But she gave it a mental shrug, "Hey, they just hit a bump in the road and working on smoothing it over."

However she couldn't shake the feeling that she was witnessing the beginning of the end.

Thankfully she hadn't been really drawn into the conversation much, and they arrived at Lawndale High in short order.

As the three of them climbed out of the vehicle, Daria told Skylar she'd catch up in a minute and reached out for Jane before she could head on in.

Daria took a deep breath before saying, "Today is the day I get everything ready for the move."

Jane said very carefully, "Okay, so what's with the secretive act?"

Daria smirked ever so slightly, "Too obvious?"

"Yeah, a little."

Daria shook her head, and inadvertently sending a cascade of rainbow light off of her shimmering hair, "Well I'm going to skip lunch and sneak back into Morgendorffer lair and secure my cash and clothes while the rents are at work."

Jane motioned for her friend to start moving, as they headed into LHS, Daria continued with, "I'll call the moving van after school and I'll take the next day off and get the things that I can loaded and brought to Casa Lane."

"You are completely sure that you can get your parents to allow this?"

"I'm not giving them a choice, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Jane drawled.

As soon as Quinn Morgendorffer stepped foot in Lawndale High she was accosted by a squealing Stacy and Tiffany flanking her.

"Oh my god Quinn!" Stacy wheezed, "Guess what?"

"Uh… You landed a super cool date?" Quinn offered up, it was the best she could do that early in the morning.

"Noooopppeee." Tiffany drawled as she pulled out her compact and began to redo her makeup.

Stacy explained, "I heard from Luanne, you know that girl that lives on Sandi's street? Well anyway there was a big fight at the Griffins at like one in the morning."

"What?!"

"Yup!" Stacy nodded enthusiastically, "Apparently Sandi's mom busted her sneaking in late and one thing lead to another and they started fighting, as in physically fighting!"

"…Whoa!"

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh" Tiffany drawled absently as she moved on to her mascara.

"And the cops were called!" Stacy emphasized, "Not to mention an ambulance."

"Oh my god!"

Stacy added, "It was for Sandi, her mom did a number on her, did I mention that Mrs. Griffin was arrested? I'm not sure if she made bail yet."

"Is… Is Sandi ok?" Quinn asked hesitantly.

Stacy shrugged.

As Quinn began to get very, very nervous, none of the three noticed the boy hanging near them.

The boy with shaggy hair, blue sun glasses, and fang earrings.

No one noticed him leaving LHS for the day either.

As Evan shut his locker he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Jane and Charles were nearby, so he decided to lean on his locker, seemingly not paying attention to much so he could be a fly on the wall.

"Wow…" Charles drawled in a mix of awe and shock, "I mean I knew she was thinking about doing it but I didn't think she'd go through with it."

Jane just shook her head, "This is Daria we're talking about, and trust me, getting her out of that house is probably for the best."

"Yeah but still…" Charles began before Jane cut him off with a kiss.

"There is a silver lining," she added once she pulled away, "Quinn and her had a heart to heart, so there's at least one reconciliation in the works."

"What about her and Skylar?" Charles asked and Evan zeroed in like a hawk.

"They patched things up," Jane began and Evan began to feel the Earth fall out from beneath his feet.

"But," Jane added and a glimmer of hope bloomed in the lad, "Things still seem… off. I don't think they'll last too much longer."

"Phew!" Evan thought with a mental wiping of his brow.

Charles nodded a bit sadly, "Skylar's is a surprisingly nice guy, I mean behind the whole posh thing he used to do, but hey I guess that's how the cookie crumbles."

"Yeah," Jane drawled, "But in slightly happier news I'm thinking about joining the track team."

"Really, why?"

"Well normally I don't go out for anything that involves spending more time in school than needed," Jane admitted, "But I went running with Daria and Evan during the weekend and the kid was impressed."

"That's my cue." Evan thought to himself as he moved in casually to join in on the conversation.

"In awe is more like it." He said by way of introduction, "Jane I wouldn't say this to just anyone but you've got a real talent, as in world-class potential. Of course I think you should go out for the team."

To smooth things over he added a snarky aside, "Besides, it'll give Morris a heart attack."

That earned Evan a couple of laughs from Charles and Jane, and forgiveness for whatever amount of listening in he had been doing.

As he headed off to his next class, Evan felt good, damn good.

"I think I'll go for it," Jane thought to herself as she and Charles Ruttheimer went on to their mutual class with DeMartino.

At eleven o'clock, when most of the rest of the student body was at lunch, Daria Morgendorffer, Skylar Feldman, and Jodie Landon weren't eating.

Or even in Lawndale High.

Daria had asked Jodie to call in quite a few favors to ensure that Ms. Li's security apparatus would malfunction so they could sneak out and sneak back in without being bothered.

As the trio entered the Morgendorffer residence, Jodie laughed, "When I asked if I could hang with you today, this wasn't what I had in mind."

Daria smirked, "Sorry Jodie, but I have a few things to take care off."

Jodie nodded as she followed Daria up the stairs, Skylar in their wake.

Once they were in Daria's room, Skylar and Jodie had the pleasure of seeing Daria's Alice tramp stamp when she went into her closet and stretched up to grab a suitcase.

She set it out and proceeded to fill it with some clothes, then went to a drawer and moved some clothes around and pulled out a slightly beaten up looking box.

She put it in the suitcase and packed some more clothing around it.

"So how much are you going to take?" Skylar asked when Daria paused and began looking around.

Daria sighed, her beautiful chest going up and down in a stray sunbeam through her bared windows.

"Not sure just yet," she admitted, "It has to be enough to get by at the Lane's, but not so much that I can't be here comfortably either."

About a minute later Daria had her answer, "I might not need a moving van, since my room at the Lane's already has a bed, and I'm leaving this dresser drawer here so… The main things that I'll have to move are my desk, my computer, the desk chair, and my bone collection."

Jodie spoke up, "Then maybe you just need a regular van or a truck?"

"That sounds like a plan to me." Daria replied a bit more happily, "Plus it saves the hassle of getting a moving van."

She then shook her head, "I wonder why I thought I'd need one…"

As Skylar eyeballed the TV in the room and Daria's collection of movies, Jodie answered, "It's ok Lady D, you've had a rough weekend, just be glad you didn't drop the ball on something more serious."

"Are you taking the TV too?" Skylar asked from the background.

After a moment's pause, Daria slapped her forehead and went, "Doh!"

In a small room in Cedars of Lawndale, the main medical care provider in the Lawndale County area, a teenage girl whose face was a mass of bruises, a few broken knuckles, and her arms covered in self-inflicted cuts was sleeping peacefully.

Sitting unnoticed by everyone, a teenager named Devan Rogers was sitting a chair next to the bed, putting a comforting hand on the parts of her right arm that weren't covered in bandages or gauze.

Sandi was smiling slightly in her sleep, and Devan was just smiling.

As Helen Morgendorffer drove back home after an unusually short day at work, she was doing her best not to think about the night before, or the morning after, or the day she had just experienced.

It wasn't working.

She felt gut wrenching guilt and shameless desire at what had transpired.

The sickening awkwardness of coming home in the morning and seeing the twisted confusion on her husband's face, and Quinn as unreadable as Daria before her 'tramp phase' kicked in.

She had tried to say something, anything, an apology for the fight, a confession for…

She didn't complete the thought.

Instead Helen's brain skipped to work, and the strange and yet exhilarating tension between her and Eric, even while they acted casual, there had been those two different times they had slipped into a supply closet and… and…

As she reached Glen Oaks Lane her body felt a hunger that couldn't be sated by food.

Though the room key that was burning a hole in her purse could help with that later that night.

She pulled her SUV into the driveway and parked it and went in as usual, then after a few steps into the house she stopped in midstep.

Helen blinked and rubbed her eyes but the image didn't change.

For the first time since 'the incident' as she had taken to thinking calling the episode, was her eldest daughter, Daria.

Sitting on the couch with the TV on, though Daria was now turning that indifferent gaze upon her.

"Hello Helen." Daria said as flat as a stone.

"Daria…" Helen began to say before a rave of emotions began to well up, a mix of regret and anger that cut her off.

"I'm going to get to the point so I can leave faster," Daria said as though she was talking about the weather, "As much I want to, leaving this place behind isn't a realistic option."

Just before Helen could respond Daria added something that drove an icy spike into her heart.

"For now."

Helen shuddered and repeated, "Daria…" with confusion and a hint of regret.

"So for now I'll be spending a lot of my time at the Lanes."

Helen tried to respond again but Daria cut her off a wave of her hand, "I'm not moving out completely, I'll be around a bit, but don't expect to actually see a whole lot of me."

Comprende?

Daria rose from the couch, "I'll be sleeping here tonight, and tomorrow I'll take the day off so I can move the things I can't replicate at Jane's."

As Daria walked around her mother to head upstairs, Helen managed to rally and began to say, "Young lady! I know we've had our issues but I am NOT going to allow you to just up and leave like this!"

Daria froze in mid-step on the first step and turned to face her, her beautiful face the ultimate poker face.

"If you try to stop me I will contact CPS about the hitting and do everything in my power to get them to declare this place a toxic environment."

Helen found herself froze in place, her eyes unable to break from her daughter's steely-eyed glare.

"Even if I fail and I'm stuck here until my eighteenth, your reputation will suffer, and the one thing that I've learned from you, Helen is that you value your reputation more than your family, your health, or even life itself."

Helen managed a very slight squeak, everything in the fiber of her being was screaming at her to stop this, to fix this, to do something!

But she couldn't, because a nasty voice in her head was whispering about how true Daria's words really were.

"Trent Lane promised to get his drummer friend to bring his van tomorrow." Daria said plainly before turning round and heading back up the stairs without a single goodbye uttered.

Helen stood rooted to the spot, her gaze elsewhere, her thoughts in pieces.

"This wasn't a childish tantrum," her inner voice whispered with sorrow, "You lost her Helen… You lost Daria."

With slow, jerky movements Helen made her way to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a tall glass of gin, without ice, and began to drink it down.

After she was finished she did the only thing she could at that point.

She called Eric to see if he could make it to the motel room a little bit earlier than they had planned.

THE END

Note: I apologize for the long delay, but I had a round of writers block but I managed to get back into this, and this is NOT the end of the series. There is more Sexy Daria to come. The next chapter is currently titled 'The Misery Sex', if that tells you anything.