Quinn's Code - Invite of the Geek - Part 1

Daria and Jane were waiting for Jennifer in a secluded corner. “Uh oh,” Jane said as she noticed someone approaching.

“What?” Daria asked, noting her friend's tone of near alarm.

“Upchuck. The sleaze-ball of Lawndale High,” Jane said, pointing to the new arrival. 'That is all she needs to know for now,' she thought.

Daria recognised him from several of her classes. She recalled that all the girls tried to sit as far away from him as they could.

Upchuck' moved in on the two loners. “Chuck Ruttheimer here. And You are?” he asked, although he knew who Jane was.

“Jane.”

“Esmerelda,” Daria said, thinking that to tell this creep her real name right away wouldn't be a good idea.

“A pleasure to meet you lovely ladies. I'll be your social director for the evening,” Upchuck said. He gestured at the surrounding opulance. “Would you like a tour of the house? It's free.” Sleaze dripped from every word.

“We have to wait for a friend,” Daria said.

“A friend of the female persuasion, perhaps?” Upchuck asked.

Neither Daria nor Jane answered his question.

“Feisty!”

Jennifer approached Daria and Jane with sodas and various acoutrements of food. She noticed Upchuck near them and nearly dropped the plate with shock.

She walked up to the situation slowly.

“Well, if it isn't the mysterious Ms Burns!” Upchuck said, his ultra-suave sleaziness at maximum intensity.

“Hi!” Jennifer barely let out.

“He is offering us a tour of the house,” Daria said.

“Um, ok,” Jennifer said. Anything would be better than staying in the main part of the party, even if it was in the presence of that sleaze-ball.

Tori was continuing her popularity assessment of various party-goers. She pointed Quinn out. “She was new and cute so she became, like, popular overnight. Everyone seems to ignore the fact that she is a self proclaimed geek, like seriously!” she was about to say more about that topic, but was interuppted by Sandi.

“Tell me about it! I like, tried to tell people that geeks should not be popular! But they didn't listen!” Sandi said.

'So that was true afterall,' Tori thought. “Yeah, I heard about that. That took guts!” she said.

“Thank you. Anyway, everyone supported Quinn being popular. I even, like, offered her a vice-presidency in the Fashion Club. She turned it down!”

“Really?” Tori asked.

“Yes,” Sandi said, she then had a thought. “You know, Tori, that Vice-President position is still open.”

“Really?” Tori asked, while in thought.

“Yes. You can, like, help me with my plan for the destruction of that geek's popularity,” Sandi said.

Tori didn't hesitate. “I'm in.”

Sandi shook her hand. “Welcome to the Fashion Club, Tori Jericho.”

Something about Sandi's demeanor unnerved Tori. 'What have I just gotten myself into?' she wondered.

Whilst this discussion was going on Charles had began to lead the antisocial trio through the house.

“This five-bedroom house is designed in a combination of southern pseudo-plantation and late mock-Tudor styles. To your right, the quasi-Victorian breakfast nook. Straight ahead, the family den, which was inspired by the novels of Isak Dinesen.”

'Good thing that he knows about said Danish writer,” Jennifer thought. They walked up to the lawndry room door.

“And this... is the make-out room! Am I blushing? Confidentially, it's really the laundry room,” Upchuck said, as he knocked on the door.

“Can it, Upchuck, or I'll break your face,” came the reply of a member of the football team from the other side of the door.

This was followed by a fit of feminine giggling.

“As we've reached the end of our tour, I'd like to thank you for your undivided attention. Any questions?” Upchuck asked.

“How did you get invited?” Daria asked, assuming that Upchuck didn't just crash the party like Jane, Jennifer, Kristen and Cindy did.

“I dissected her frog,” Upchuck said.

“That would do it,” Jennifer mused.

Quinn, Kristen and Cindy walked up to Brittany, whom was still looking for Kevin after the latter had run away from Jennifer.

“Hey, Brittany. Is there like, going to be any dancing. One can't have a party without dancing!” Kristen said.

Brittany thought whilst twirling her hair and looking vacant. “I didn't think of that,” she said.

“Is there going to be any?” Cindy asked.

“Not sure. I will have to get Ashley-Amber's dance CDs out.”

“Ashley-Amber?” Quinn asked.

“My Stepmom,” Brittany said. “I'll be right back,” she said.

“I guess we should have told you about that,” Kristen said.

“Yeah, she could have been Brittany's older sister, or her cousin or something like that,” Quinn said.

“True,” Cindy said.

Jennifer, Daria and Jane were still hanging around near the Laundry room, after Upchuck had left them (chasing after either Angie, Nikki or their friend Lisa).

Jane noticed some boys, one of them with his head appearing to be larger than natural proportions would allow, looking at them. She notified the other two of that fact.

“Don't they know we're from two different worlds? Regular and Popular?” Daria asked.

'Good one, Daria,' Jennifer thought with a small smile.

“The one in the green shirt is cute... In a head-too-big-for-his-body kind of way,” Jane said.

Daria looked at Jane in disbelief

“I don't think so,” Jennifer whispered.

“I hate you,” Jane said to Daria in a non-serious way. She didn't hear what Jennifer said, but she assumed that she sided with Daria.

“Hey. Partying hard or hardly partying?” one of them asked.

'That's really bad,' Jennifer thought.

It seemed that Daria agreed with her. “Hardly Interested,” she said.

“So, where have you girls been all our lives?” the one with the large head asked.

“Waiting here for you. We were born in this room, we grew up in this room, and we thought that we would die here... alone. But now you've arrived, and our lives can truly begin,” Daria said, each word dripping with sarcasm.

“She likes you,” the one with the large head said, as he nudged one of his friends.

'Wow. She sure can handle them,' Jennifer thought.

“Isn't that Quinn?” Jane asked, pointing.

Daria looked over. Indeed she saw Quinn, with her friends Kristen and Cindy amongst a group of ceramic tigers. She waved. “Yoo-hoo! Sis!” she shouted.