During lunch, Daria sat with Jane and Jennifer at their usual table.
“What do you think is going to happen with Mr. O'Neill's idea?” Jennifer asked, wondering if an old style coffee house in Lawndale would be successful.
“Nothing,” Daria said.
“Nothing?” Jennifer asked.
“Ms. Li will not shell out for it,” Daria said.
“Are you sure?” Jane asked.
“Look at how stingy this Cafeteria is. It is obvious that the Principal keeps a tight rein on the purse strings,” Daria said.
The three teens looked around. They could see that the décor dated from the early '90's at best, with hints of 70's and '80s here and there.
“So this morning would be the last we hear of it?” Jennifer asked with a slightly dubious tone. 'It could be a money raiser,' she thought.
“Want to bet on it?” Daria asked.
“Sure,” Jennifer said
After school, the Anime Club met in the library.
After approximately fifteen minutes of talking about an upcoming convention at the beginning of December, the topic of the conversation changed to the events of the day.
“And so, I will be cosplaying as Ichigo at the convention,” Quinn said, referring to the main character of Tokyo Mew Mew. She then went back to her seat. 'The convention is going to be really cool,' she thought.
Jenna Schwartz stepped back up to the front. “Very good, Quinn. That concludes official business for today,” she said.
“Jenna? What do you think of Mr. O'Neill's proposal for an old style coffeehouse?” Koichi 'Rob' Robazaki asked.
“It sounds like a very good idea,” Jenna said.
“What is this about a coffee house?” Quinn asked.
“After hearing about the break in at Alt.Lawndale.Com last night, Mr. O'Neill canceled the lesson that he had planned on Romeo and Juliet to talk to the class about their feelings about that break in,” Jenna said.
“How did that lead to a proposal for an old style coffee house?” Quinn asked.
“The new girl in our Language Arts class, Daria, I think her name is, said something that inspired Mr. O'Neill,” Rob said.
“Interesting,” Jenna said.
'Daria! Oh no!' Quinn thought, pondering how her sister got herself into that mess. 'Possibly some snide remark that Mr. O'Neill misread,' she thought.
“What is wrong?” a blonde named Tania Kingston asked.
“That's my embarrassing sister,” Quinn said.
“Oh,” Rob said.
“Anyway, continue,” Quinn said, being quite anxious to know more about Mr. O'Neill's Coffee House idea.
“Right. O'Neill than says that it would be place to watch some performers and hang out with friends,” Jenna said.
“Interesting idea,” Quinn said.
“We could read episode reviews there!” Tania said, excitedly. 'Then they will know that anime is better than it sounds!' she thought.
“Or cosplay and read episode reviews, or fanfic!” Tatiana Olivova exclaimed, emitting a squee-like squeal.
The others just looked at her.
“What? There's nothing wrong with fanfic!” she said.
“There isn't if it is well written. Most of it on that ff.net site is not,” Jenna said. 'There is a reason why I don't go on there anymore,' she thought. Most of her online fandom activities were concentrated on LiveJournal.
“Right,” Tatiana said.
“We didn't hear about the Coffee House in the freshmen class,” Quinn said, steering the conversation away from Tatiana's mention of fanfic.
“Really?” Rob asked.
“Yes,” Tatiana said.
“So you would like the junior class, and not just the sophomore class to be able to participate?” Jenna asked.
“Yes, otherwise it wouldn't be fair,” Quinn said.
“You can bring that up with Mr. O'Neill tomorrow. I will also talk to him about it,” Jenna said. 'Quinn does have a point.'
“That would be great,” Quinn said.
“Absolutely,” Tatiana said.
The Anime Club continued to talk about the idea for another ten minutes before breaking up to head home.
That night, after dinner, Cindy and Kristen visited Quinn.
“An old style coffeehouse?” Cindy asked, when Quinn had finished telling her and Kristen about what had happened at the Anime Club meeting. 'It would certainly add more variety to night activities here in Lawndale, that is for sure,' she thought.
“Yes,” Quinn said.
“What brought that on?” Kristen asked.
“What do you mean?” Quinn asked.
“How did Mr. O'Neill think of the idea?” Kristen asked.
"Koichi said that Mr. O'Neill was inspired by a remark that Daria had made," Quinn said.
“That explains that,” Kristen said.
“So, then I suggested that the freshmen as well as the sophomores can do performances there. That would, like, be rather cool,” Quinn said.
“It would be,” Cindy said.
“I know what you would like to do,” Kristen said to Cindy.
Cindy shrugged.
“Anyway. I could read some poetry,” Kristen said as she thought. 'Some of the audience would appreciate it.'
“It's not too angsty, is it?” Quinn asked, knowing that Goths often wrote poetry that was quite angsty.
Kristen looked away. “It really depends on how one defines angst, doesn't it,” she said. 'I don't think it's that angsty.'
“Sorry,” Quinn said, also looking away.
“Don't worry, she does get like that sometimes,” Cindy said. 'One thing I have learned is; don't judge Kristen by her appearance!'
“Anyhow. I would bring some of my more hopeful poetry to the first night, whenever that is going to be,” Kristen said.
“I would certainly listen to it,” Cindy said.
“I know that you have listened to some of it,” Kristen said with a smile.
“I really should listen to it, huh?” Quinn said, guessing where she had gone wrong in the last minute.
“Yes,” Cindy said, jumping in.
“Sorry about that,” Quinn said. Then the sound of metal music came through the walls.
“Who's playing that music?” Kristen asked, wanting to change the subject from the discussion about her poetry.
“Oh, that is just Daria, playing her music really loud,” Quinn said. “A good thing that her room has that soundproofing,” she said, quieter.
“It sounds a little interesting, if a little sad,” Kristen said.
“Of course it's sad. Daria's a misanthrope!” Quinn said.
“The question would be; why is she a misanthrope? Wouldn't it?” Kristen said, as she went to the door.
“I wouldn't disturb her, she's rather private,” Quinn said.
“I'll be back, after I ask Daria about that music,” Kristen said. She left.
“You think that Daria won't talk to Kristen?” Cindy asked.
“She will tell her to leave her alone and then slam the door in her face. Otherwise she will just ignore her,” Quinn said.
“Maybe Jane and Jennifer have had a positive effect on her?”
“The likelihood is remote. Jennifer says that she feels that her friendship with Jane is closer than that with Daria.”
“It's still possible,” Cindy said in thought.
“I guess so,” Quinn said, as she looked out one of the front windows.
Kristen walked up to Daria's room and knocked on the door. After a minute of the music continuing at the same volume she knocked again.
'Nothing for it, except to just go in,' she thought. She grabbed the handle and slowly opened the door, preparing herself to see whatever was inside.
However, she was not prepared to see what she actually saw. Padded walls like those in a psychiatric institution.
She looked around in slight shock, at the archaeological print, the wheelchair rail, the plain brown bed, the sawn off bars in the windows, the models of a slice of cheese and a human heart, the television on the trolley, the keyboard set up and amplifier, the set of drawers, computer set up, Kafka poster and book shelves.
She saw the short, auburn-haired, teen playing the music on a bass guitar with the lead plugged into the amplifier. She was reading the music off a handwritten sheet held above the keyboard and softly singing the lyrics. Kristen stepped into the room and listened to the sad metal tunes.
After another minute Kristen made another move. “Daria?” she asked.
At the sound of Kristen's voice Daria started “Eep!” and dropped the guitar on the keyboard. She swiftly turned around, causing her bleached bangs to fall across her face. She blew them aside with a harsh blow. “How long have you been there?” she asked, with a stern expression.
“Only about a minute,” Kristen said.
Daria thought for a moment “That's alright I guess. But you shouldn't just barge in uninvited and listen to my internal musings!” she said.
“I guess so. But you sound so sad,” Kristen said.
“You would sound sad too if you grew up in a town like Highland, and your younger sister hogged the spotlight constantly!”
“I guess so,” Kristen said. She was the youngest, but she did feel that Kelly did hog some of the spotlight in the eyes of her parents. 'She even dyed her hair the same as me. I dyed it this way first!' she thought. She shook her head, turning her thoughts back to Daria. 'She isn't telling the whole story.'
“Out!” Daria said.
“Wait!” Kristen said.
“What?” Daria asked.
“I would like to ask you about your music, besides the personal aspects, that is.”
Daria thought for a moment. “Fine. I write metal, it suits my mood. I also listen to metal, otherwise it would be punk or rock. Anything from any other genre would have to have an existential bent to it,” she said.
“That would include blues and country and western, wouldn't it?”
“Yes.”
“What I like, is similar, but a little more upbeat. Also more Gothic in tone,” Kristen said.
“As I expected,” Daria said, playing an improvisational piece on the keyboard. She stopped, then flipped pages in the notebook and quickly wrote down the notes she had just played.
'She's quite talented,' Kristen thought. “What was expected?” she asked.
“The Gothic tones.”
'Of course,' Kristen thought. She would have said something more except that Quinn came into the room.
