Quinn's Code - The Esteeemsters Code - Part 3

History Class

Daria came into the classroom.

“Class, we have we have a new student joining us today. Please welcome Daria Morgendorffer. Daria, raise your hand, please,” Mr. Anthony DeMartino said.

Daria raised her hand.

“Well, Daria! As long as you have your hand raised... “ Mr. DeMartino chuckled. “Last week we began a unit on westward expansion. Perhaps you feel it's unfair to be asked a question on your first day of class.”

“Excuse Me?” Daria asked, nonplussed.

“Daria, can you concisely and unemotionally sum up for us the doctrine of Manifest Destiny?”

“Manifest Destiny was a slogan popular in the 1840s. It was used by people who claimed it was God's will for the U.S. to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. These people did not include many Mexicans.” Daria said, concisely and unemotionally, albeit with rather thick sarcasm.

'Wow, that is concise,' Jennifer thought.

Mr. DeMartino was surprised “Very good, Daria. Almost... suspiciously good. All right, class. Who can tell me which war Manifest Destiny was used to justify?” He looked to someone in the class whom was wearing a football outfit. “Kevin! How about you?”

“The Vietnam War?” Kevin Thompson asked.

“That came a little later, Kevin... a hundred years later. A lot of good men died in that conflict, Kevin. I believe we owe it to them to at least get the century right! “ Mr DeMartino said, (more than) annoyed at Kevin's stupidity.

“Uh... Operation Watergate?” Kevin asked.

Mr. DeMartino was even more annoyed.

End of Flashback

“Interesting, but that Kevin sounds rather stupid!” Quinn said.

“Oh, Stupid does not begin to describe it. He doesn't get it through his thick head that I don't like being called Mack-Daddy!” Mack said.

“You know him?” Quinn asked. 'of course he does,' she thought.

“Unfortunately, yes. It's also unfortunate that he's the junior-varsity Quarterback,” Mack said. Jennifer left the kitchen (unnoticed by Quinn and Mack, but not by Kristen)

“So are you on the team?” Quinn asked.

“As a running back,” Mack said.

“Ok,” Quinn said. She noticed that Jennifer was gone. “Where's Jennifer?”

Jennifer entered her bedroom and opened a drawer immediately to the left of the door. She grabbed one of the Computer Club membership applications and then went back downstairs.

“Here is the membership form,” she said, handing it to Quinn.

“Thanks!” Quinn said. She began to fill it out.

Twenty minutes later, Quinn had finished filling out the form. She handed it back to Jennifer.

Jennifer read over the form and then placed it in her backpack. “I will show it to the office in the morning, but as far as I am concerned you are now a member of the Lawndale High Computer Club,” Jennifer said.

“Yes!” Quinn squealed. “When's the next meeting?”

“Wednesday at Lunch, it will be in the main computer lab,” Jennifer said.

“Cool,” Quinn said.

The Valiant pulled up in front of a two story house larger than Jennifer's but smaller than Jodie's. Quinn got out of the car and immediately thought that it looked rather foreboding. She could see black curtains in two of the upstairs windows, to the right of the front door.

“So why did Cindy not want to come here again?” she asked Kristen.

“Andrea creeps her out,” Kristen said.

“Now her house is giving me the creeps,” Quinn said. “Like an icky feeling that I can't describe.”

“You and me, both,” Mack said as he got out the car.

“Let's get this over with,” Quinn said as she walked towards the front door.

Quinn rang the door bell. About ten seconds later the door was opened by a Goth chick whom looked more Gothic than Kristen did. Quinn could see why she would creep Cindy out.

“Who are you?” she asked, looking at Quinn.

“Andrea, this is Quinn Morgendorffer,” Mack said.

“I would like to join the Programming Club,” Quinn said.

“Oh, come right in,” Andrea said, without preamble.

The living room was sparsely decorated, with throw rugs on the floor and paintings on the wall. The stairs to the second level were at the back of the room, adjacent to the door to the kitchen. On the TV was a paused scene of blood being splattered. Quinn saw the TV and fought back nausea. “Eeewww! What is that?” she asked.

“American Psycho, I recently bought the tape,” Andrea said.

“Yuck!” Mack mumbled.

“Ick, Andrea!” Kristen said.

“Fine, I'll change to a channel!” Andrea said, getting the hints from her guests. She then picked up the TV remote and changed the TV input from the VCR channel to a broadcast channel. Then she used the stereo system remote to start a previously paused CD. “Hip, Hip to be a square...” It was Huey Lewis and the News' Hip to be Square.

Andrea danced to the beat for a short while before pausing the CD again.

“Come on, the stuff is in my room,” Andrea said.

“Okay...” Quinn said, as Andrea started going up the stairs.

The upstairs corridor was dark, with the only light coming up the stairs, from a window at one end of the hallway and a slightly open doorway opposite the stairwell. The sound of dripping water could be heard from the bathroom, making the place seem even more eerie.

“That faucet needs to be repaired,” Andrea said. “Only one of many things wrong with this house,” she added, as she lead her guests towards her bedroom.

“There isn't a ghost, is there?” Quinn asked.

Andrea simply unlocked her bedroom door (marked Andrea's Lair Enter at Own Risk) and opened it.

Andrea's room was all black. Black curtains, black walls, black carpet, black ceiling, black bed covers. Just about the only things that weren't black were the power outlets and various other items, including some decorations. There was a heavy smell of incense and red candles burned in various locations around the room, including around Andrea's computer set-up.

“Are those cases custom made?” Quinn asked.

“Yes. Cost my parents a bundle too. They are now making noises about me needing to get a job. Like, I don't have enough to deal with already,” Andrea said.

She opened a drawer below one of the computers and took out a Programming Club membership application form. She gave it to Quinn.

“Thanks!” Quinn said.

She sat at the computer desk, and began to fill it out, whilst Andrea opened her bar fridge (hidden next to the computer desk) and took out four sodas.

“List the the Programming Languages that you have any level of skill in,” Quinn read. 'Ok,' she thought as she started writing down the languages that came off the top of her head.

BASIC

C++

VBScript

…

Quinn completed the form and handed it to Andrea. Andrea read it and signed it. “You are now a probationary member of the Programming Club,” she said.

“Probationary?” Quinn asked.

“I will test you on your proficiency in the languages that you listed prior to giving you full membership,” Andrea said.

“Ok,” Quinn said. 'That's not so bad,' she thought.

“You can come over tomorrow and I'll start by testing you on BASIC,” Andrea said.

“That will be OK,” Quinn said warily. 'Best to get it over with as quickly as possible,' she thought.

“Good, I'll see you here, tomorrow before 4:00,” Andrea said. It wasn't a question.

“I will be here,” Quinn said. Being in the Programming Club was worth being in the Hecuba's creepy house many times a week.