Lawndale and Sandi Griffin's Genie - Chapter 2 - Part 3

Daria arrived at Jane’s house and knocked on the door. There was no answer. ‘Maybe she is still asleep,’ she thought. She knew that Jane wasn’t a morning person, often requiring coffee to properly function. She found that the front door was unlocked. ‘figures, Trent forgot to lock the door,’ she thought.

Jane was on level 157 of Pac-Man when Daria entered the room. “Did you and Trent play games all night?” Daria asked.

A ghost got Jane’s Pac-Man, bringing an end to the game. “Yo Amiga!” Jane said, getting up stiffly and ensuring that she didn’t disturb the sleeping form of Trent (although she knew that wouldn't wake him anyway).

“Of course,” Daria said. To say that Trent Lane fell asleep was practically a tautology.

“So what is this about a genie? And what it has to do with what happened at school yesterday?” Jane asked.

“Mom asked us about what happened at school and Quinn says that she wouldn’t believe it,” Daria said.

“And?”

“Mom then asked Quinn why wouldn’t she believe it, and Quinn said that the events were totally fantastical, which they were,” Daria began.

“I see,” Jane said.

Daria then repeated everything that Quinn had said. (albiet, with more sardonic commentary).

Jane then told Daria about Tom and herself running into Sandi and Jean at the bowling alley and her 11^th birthday present from Trent.

Sandi and Jean walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where Sam and Chris were already having their breakfast. Sandi could tell that Sam hadn’t told Chris about the emerald. She then went and grabbed her box of low-carbohydrate cereal from the pantry. Jean put some toast into the toaster. “What is your plan?” She asked.

“We will go to school and, like, try to stay out of sight,” Sandi said, wondering how it had come to that.

“Good plan,” Jean said. She could see Linda come down the stairs.

“Good morning!” Linda said.

Lawndale Offices of Vitale, Davis, Horowitz, Rhiordan, Shrechter and Shrechter 8:00

Helen looked up from her piles of paperwork to see her boss, Eric Shrechter, walk into her office.

“Helen, you wanted to see me?” he asked.

“Yes, Eric. Something has come up regarding the High School, and I need some time off this afternoon to talk to some of the other parents about the issue,” Helen said.

“What sort of issue?” Eric asked, wondering what had come up.

“That is confidential and on a need to know basis,” Helen said strongly. She didn’t want anyone else in the law firm to know about the genie.

“Can’t your husband be there?” Eric asked.

“He could, and he may be, but I need to be there myself. I would like to know more about this issue first hand,” Helen said.

Eric thought. “It depends on how busy we are today,” he said, finally.

“Oh, alright,” Helen said as Eric left the office. She immediately went back to work.

“...In conclusion we agree that Sandi having the genie is a bad thing and that we need to sleep on it,” Stacy finished summarising the notes from their discussion at Tiffany’s the previous afternoon.

“Very good, Stacy,” Quinn said, encouragingly.

“So, your sister said that we need to consider the fact that Mrs Griffin or Ms Li may get the emerald?” Stacy asked.

“Cousin,” Quinn corrected.

“Oh, Quinn, we know that Daria is your sister,” Stacy said. ‘If this isn’t the time for this, there is otherwise no time,’ she thought.

“We were just being polite about it,” Tiffany added.

“Oh,” Quinn said. ‘Of course, there is an obvious resemblance, such as there is between Mom and Aunt Rita,’ she thought. “Thanks. Anyway, Stace, you were saying?”

“So, Daria suggested that we need to consider the fact that Mrs. Griffin or Ms. Li may get the emerald?” Stacy asked.

“Yes,” Quinn said.

“Right, which situation do we consider first, Mrs. Griffin or Ms. Li?” Stacy asked as she took down the notes.

Quinn thought about it for half a minute.

“Qui-inn?” Tiffany asked, wondering if she had dozed off.

“Most likely Ms. Li, because Sandi most likely will go to school today,” Quinn said.

“Ok, so you think that Jeans mischievous nature will cause her genie nature to come to Ms Li’s attention?” Stacy asked. ‘A likely outcome!’ she thought.

“Exactly,” Quinn said, although she was sure that she wouldn’t have had put it exactly the way that Stacy had.

“But there is no way to know what sort of events would happen as a result of Jean’s mischief!” Stacy said, starting to hyperventilate again.

“I know, we may need to organise some sort of distraction,” Quinn said.

“Bu-ut what sort of dis-traction?” Tiffany asked, confused. ‘It would have to be a very good distraction,’ she thought.

“I am sure Daria would have an idea,” Quinn said.

“But what do you think?” Stacy asked. ‘I am certain that she will come up with something. She does come up with many of ideas in the Fashion Club,’ she thought.

Quinn thought and came up with an idea. ‘It seems crazy, but it might just work,’ she thought. She then told the other two.

“But are you sure that would work?” Stacy asked.

“It would have to, unless Daria and her art friend can think of something else,” Quinn said. ‘I am certain that Daria would help me improve the plan,’ she thought.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Tiffany asked.

“Then Ms. Li may find out,” Quinn said.

“But it must work!” Stacy said.

“Relax, Stacy, we may come up with something else,” Quinn said. ‘Multiple plans, and contingency plans for all of them. Definitely Daria’s territory or maybe of that tycoon guy on that cartoon about those living statues,’ she thought.

They continued their discussion.

“Quite an interesting situation, it would be worthy of a Sick Sad World episode!” Jane said when Daria had finished her commentary.

“And most viewers would say ‘what the hell are they thinking’,” Daria said.

“’A genie in a Maryland suburban High School? Magic in the burbs, next on Sick Sad World!” Jane said, imitating the usual SSW announcer.

“It may work,” Daria said, with a tiny smirk.

“Told ya,” Jane said.

“Besides, we need to be going if we are going to meet Quinn, Stacy and Tiffany with sufficient time before homeroom,” Daria said.

“Whose idea was that again?” Jane asked.

“Mine.”

“And Quinn agreed?”

“Jane, if we’re going to stop this problem before it gets out of control, we need all the help we can get!”

“True, but the fashion fiends?” Jane asked. ‘Unless they’re growing up somehow,’ she thought.

“They aren’t as dumb as they appear; at least Quinn and Stacy aren’t,” Daria said.

“I guess so,” Jane said, unconvinced. Daria noticed the ET game cartridge where Jane had thrown it aside earlier. She picked it up.

“Isn’t this the worst game of all time?”

“According to Trent, Wind bought it,”

“That sort of makes sense. Not only is he a failure at relationships, he is also a failure as a gamer,” Daria said.

“Yeah,” Jane said as she lead the way out of the room.

“Do you think it would be safe to leave Trent in your room?”

“He knows not to mess with my stuff.”

Lawndale High School 8:40

After arriving early to school Anna Pearce was looking for Jean. She was curious to know why Jean was a genie and curious as to what the emerald could do...

“Anna? What are you doing?” Her friend, Lisbeth Siobhan ‘Chipmunk’ Ogden, asked as they appeared to be aimlessly wandering the school’s corridors.

“There was a genie at school yesterday, and I am sure that it will be here today,” Anna said.

“Maybe,” Chipmunk (Chip for short) said. Whilst she had heard of the rumours the previous day and had seen the extra floor on the science block, she was sceptical.

“You were here yesterday,” Anna said, as they entered the Industrial Arts Block.

“It is rather fantastical, even with that extra floor.”

“Maybe if you went to the library with me after school, instead of going to Track training, you would have better deductive reasoning skills,” Anna said.

Chip wasn’t sure what Anna was talking about. “But I am good at it!” she said, referring to her position in the Track team.

“Oh sure,” Anna said, in a teasing tone. Chip rolled her eyes.

Jeffy Brown’s car pulled into the LHS student parking lot, close to the school. “Thanks for the ride, Jeffy,” Quinn said.

“Anything for you, Quinn,” Jeffy said, sincerely. Stacy and Tiffany got out of the back seat, Stacy remembered to lock the door, but Tiffany didn’t.

“Do you know where to meet Daria and Jane?” Stacy asked.

As if on cue; Trent’s Plymouth coupé, being driven by Jane, pulled in next to Jeffy’s car. Jane turned off the engine and got out. Daria also got out.

“Oh,” Stacy said.

“I see that taking Trent’s car was a good idea,” Jane said.

“Wasting time searching for them would not have been well spent,” Daria said.

“Hi, Daria, have you and Jane come up with anything?” Quinn asked.

The Fashionable Trio plus Jeffy and the Amiga Outcasts filled each other in on their discussions as they walked towards the school.

Daria reached the door first. “That is a good idea, Quinn,” she said. She was going to say something else (with a mixture of encouragement and sarcasm), but she was interrupted by Jane.

“Quite surprising that you would come up with it,” she said.

“Well, Jane, this situation is quite shocking. As a result, I have started to re-evaluate what is important,” Quinn said, seriously.

“Oh!” Jane said, at a loss for words at the (slight) change in Quinn.

Daria didn’t know what to think about it either. She knew, however, that the changes in Quinn were slight. ‘It is at least a few steps in the right direction,’ she thought.

“But how are you going to set it into motion, Quinn?” Jeffy asked.

“We need to find a few others and talk to them about it. The bigger the distraction, the better,” Quinn said.

“The question is; who would be suitable?” Jane said.

“Andrea, Jodie, Mack, and though I loath to admit it, Upchuck,” Daria said.

“Upchuck? Really? Eeeeww!” Quinn said.

“There are brains in our grade who would do it better than Upchuck!” Stacy offered.

“Ok, Upchuck as a last resort. That leaves the other 3, and those other ‘brains’ that Stacy mentioned,” Daria said.

The group turned a corner, heading towards the HSIE block.

“Now to find one of those people, preferably Jodie and Mack,” Jane said.

“Joey and Jamie can help as well!” Jeffy said, as he trailed behind. ‘They aren’t as dumb as you think either,’ he thought.

Whilst Anna and Chip were passing through the Industrial Arts block and the Amiga Outcasts, Fashionable Trio and Jeffy were discussing whom would help them in their planned distraction of Ms. Li from Jean’s nature, Elias exited the library on his own search for Jean. He was sure that she needed a friend. He also wanted to keep an eye on Sandi, to ensure that she wouldn’t make any wishes that would change Lawndale any further.