Daria sat up, a big grin on her face, and put her clothes back in order. She'd just spent half an hour making out with Tom in his car, and she decided that it might look a bit suspicious if she didn't come in. Tom sat up, rather uncomfortably, and put his keys in the ignition.
"I'll see you later, Daria."
"Yeah. Um.... I, uh..."
"I love you too, Daria."
Daria got out of the car, waved good-bye, and headed up the front walk. She put her hand on the knob, turned it, and walked into her house. Only to see her parents having sex on the couch. She immediately gagged and ran outside.
"THAT was more than I wanted to see."
She jogged up to Jane's house and knocked on the door. Trent answered it, and raised an eyebrow at the sickened expression on her face.
"All I'm gonna say is that parents pick the wrong place and the wront time to express affection."
Trent looked confused.
"Huh?"
"They were having sex on our living room couch. I'm watching TV in my room from now on."
He nearly gagged himself.
"Blech. Sorry. Our parents used to do that, too, untill they realized that we were always home."
Jane walked down the stairs at that moment in her jogging gear.
"Oh. Um, I was just going for a jog, but I'll change back and we can go get pizza or something."
"No, that's okay. Actually, I think I'll join you."
Jane looked at Daria funny, and then shrugged.
"Okay. There's an extra pair of shorts and shoes in my room. You can't go jogging like that. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
She spoke that last part in a cutsey voice, and Daria shook her head and went upstairs. She came down a couple of minutes later in black shorts, white running shoes, and her usual orange tee shirt without a jacket. Jane handed her a water bottle, and they set out for the town square. On the way, they passed all sorts of people who stared at them funny. It was then that Daria realized that maybe jogging after school on September first wasn't such a good idea. She continued on anyway. They stopped at the start of Dega Street.
"I didn't know you could jog that well, Daria."
She had an almost proud look on her face when she said that.
"Neither did I. Maybe it was the opportunity to get away that spurred me on."
Daria looked sickened again.
"Get away from what?"
She sighed.
"My parents having sex on the couch."
Jane went wide-eyed, then shuddered at the imagery.
"Ouch. I pity you."
"I pity the world. All I can say is they better not have another kid, or I'm gonna hurt somebody."
"I wouldn't want to see the aftermath of a third Morgendorffer child in this world. You'd have to babysit instead of date Tom."
"I could have sworn you said something about being over that."
"Doesn't mean I aint gonna rib ya 'bout it."
"Damn. I guess I'll have to leave you alone while you count your ribs."
Jane looked at Daria funny.
"That didn't make any sense."
"I know. Maybe the relative normalacy of my life is going to my head. I haven't been able to crack a good joke since-"
She blushed at her almost-revalation. Jane looked curious.
"Since what?"
"Nothing."
"No, what?!"
"NOTHING."
"Uh oh. You two were making out in his car, weren't you."
Daria saw her way out of this conversation. She smirked.
"No."
"Aw, c'mon! You were!"
"No, we weren't."
"Fine. I'll just have to ask Tom about it, then."
"Wouldn't help. We weren't."
This continued on down the street, and they stopped in a pizza parlor. Daria went to pay for the pizza, and on the way, she stopped at a phone booth and made a call.
"Hello, Sloan residence."
"Is Tom there?"
"Just a moment, Daria."
Daria waited untill Tom got on.
"Gotta make this quick. Whatever you do, don't let on that we were... ya know. In the car. Jane won't let the issue go because I almost told her. In truth, it's your grandmother's car, so that's my exit from the conversation."
"Aw, Jane wouldn't tease you too badly."
"You don't know Jane very well, do you?"
"No, I guess I kinda don't."
"Well, let me tell you something, she loves to play yenta, and she also loves to kid around with people about stuff. The problem is, she doesn't know when to stop, and she won't untill she's majorly crossed the line and hurt someone by teasing them. And it would hurt me to have her tease me about the first love of my life. So can you please please keep it quiet?"
"Okay."
"Um, bye, then."
"Bye, darl-Daria."
"Aw, go ahead and use the pet name if it's second nature to you. I really don't mind that much."
"Okay, then. Bye Darlin'."
"Bye."
She hung up, turned around, and there was Jane, with a curious and somewhat hurt expression on her face."
"Um, how long have you been standing there?"
Jane half-smiled.
"Oh, about at the line 'she doesn't know when to stop.'"
Daria blushed and hung her head a bit.
"Well, I only said it because it's true."
"Why didn't you tell me that before, Daria?"
"Because I know it hurts me more than anything at this point in my life to have pointed out the fact that I'm hurting someone, and I don't want to hurt you."
"But you hurt me even more by not telling me."
"And that hurt's me more than having to tell you."
"So, all in all, we are now smarter, and more hurt. Have anymore of that invisible body armor you wear?"
"It's not right to put on armor and hide yourself away. Quinn did it, and it cost her friendships and relationships that could have been good. I did it and it cost me life experiences that I need to make it in the real world. Mom told me all of that, but I guess it took this summer and all that's going on in my life to drive it home."
"I guess it's the truth."
The next time they spoke, it was at the same time.
"And the truth hurts."
They smirked and linked pinkies, then walked back to their table, where their pizza was waiting. In the corner, Alison smirked. She waited 'till they were done with their pizza to head on over.
"So, you really are bi."
Jane looked up, shocked to see and hear that.
"I already told you I'm straight."
"Then what were you two doing holding pinkies?"
Daria had no problem guessing who this was. She stepped into the conversation.
"Jinks."
"Huh?"
She repeated herself.
"Jinks. We both said 'and the truth hurts' at the same time. It was jinksed, so we linked pinkies to break the bad luck."
Alison looked at her, curiously. It was Jane who spoke next.
"You know. Immature highschool stuff."
They got up and left.
"So, that was the mysterious bi girl. Or should I say womanly child. What makes her seem like such a hypocrite?"
"She was sitting with me, and we were both dissing the guy that runs the colony. Then after she hit on me, then next day she shows up and he smacks her ass. Turns out they're dating. Sure, she says she's only in cuz she wants some fun, but it's still hypocritical of her"
Daria contemplated for a moment.
"You know, technically that's supporting the guy who runs the art colony."
Jane thought for a second, then smirked.
"Aren't I a hypocrite."
It was more of a statement than a question, so Daria and Jane smirked and headed away. When Daria got home, she peeked in the garage door. No sign of a car. She sighed with relief and headed inside and up to her room. Her computer was booted up, and Quinn was sitting there. A page was up about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Quinn had a document file up, typing away. Daria looked stunned for a moment, but then decided the wisest thing to do would be to treat this like it was a usual thing. She took a book about Georges Bizet off her shelf and sat on her bed to read.
After awhile, Quinn printed the file and looked up. She hadn't even noticed Daria's presence.
"Oh. Hi. Hope you don't mind, but my laptop doesn't do internet so well anymore."
Daria looked nonchalant.
"That's okay."
"Whatcha readin'?"
"Book on Georges Bizet."
Quinn looked puzzled.
"Where have I heard that name before?"
"He was the guy who wrote the opera 'Carmen'"
"Oh. Tell me about him."
Daria looked shocked, but shrugged.
"Okay. Have a seat. He was born Alexandre-Cesar-Leopold, in Paris, on October 25th, 1838. His dad was a singing instructor, and his mother was a pianist. He entered the great Paris Conservatory of.........."
Helen stood proudly in the doorway and looked in proudly at her daughters, reflecting over how much they had grown over the summer. She smiled and turned to Jake, who stood beside her. He took her hand and they walked down the hall.
End Notes: This could not have been written, and would not be understood, without the help of the MTV made-for-tv movie, 'Daria: Is It Fall Yet?' This movie is well written, and was the total inspiration for this rather short fanfiction. I hope you liked it. The information regarding Georges Bizet was obtained from Compton's Encyclopedia, and was not used in any way in violation of copyright. Feedback would be appriciated.
Daria is � 2000, MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International, Inc. All rights reserved. Used without permission. No copyright infringement intended.