Quinn's Code - Cafe Geekdale - Part 7

Thursday, October 21, 2005

Through the day, many of the students of Lawndale High, thought about what they might be seeing if they went to the Coffee House, or in a minority of cases, what they would be performing...

During lunch, Brittany was reading over the scene from Romeo and Juliet. 'Is that Caplet or Capulet?' She was excited about performing at the Coffee House, but she didn't know how Kevin would perform. 'At least he promised he would learn the lines.'

Jodie came up to Daria as they left Science. “Mr. O'Neill told me that you are doing something at the Coffee House,” she said.

“So?” Daria asked.

“So, I would like to know what you are going to do?”

“You will find out when everyone else does,” Daria said, as she walked off.

Jodie sighed. She had been hoping that she would be able to help Daria with whatever performance she had planned.

“What's wrong?” her boyfriend, Michael 'Mack' Mackenzie, asked as he came up.

“Nothing,” Jodie said.

Mack didn't believe that, but he didn't press.

After school, Quinn met Andrea as she left the school building. “There will be a meeting of the Programming Club tomorrow,” Andrea said.

“Yeah, Laurence told me,” Quinn replied, referring to another member of the Programming Club.

“One of the things we will be discussing will be the coffee house,” Andrea said, as she started walking.

Quinn followed her. “Why?” she asked.

Andrea looked back “You will find out,” she said.

“I'll be there,” Quinn said.

“Good,” Andrea said.

'What is she up to?' Quinn thought yet again.

When Daria arrived with Jane and Jennifer at the Pizza King, many of the patrons were discussing the Coffee House. “Is that all they can talk about?” Daria asked.

“It's Lawndale. There's not much else to talk about,” Jane said.

“I guess so,” Daria said, as she went to order a pizza.

“Touchy, isn't she?” Jane asked Jennifer.

“Definitely,” Jennifer murmured, as she remembered what Jodie told her about at lunch.

Griffin residence

The Fashion Club was in Sandi's room, they were nearing the end of their regular official meeting.

“Motion approved?” Sandi asked.

All three other members put up their hands.

“Motion carried,” Sandi said.

Tori smiled.

“Coool!” Tiffany said.

“Last topic for this afternoon; tomorrow night's opening of the Coffee House,” Sandi directed.

Stacy fidgeted as she entered the topic into her notebook, betraying her agitation about Sandi's antagonism towards Quinn.

Sandi noticed the fidgeting. “Sta-cy, is there, like, a problem?”

“Eep! No, Sandi. No, problem!” Stacy said quickly.

“Good. Now, I have written a speech in which I eloquently state the reason why Geeks, especially, like, that Quinn, should not be popular,” Sandi said. She took a sheet out of the right drawer beneath her computer.

“Are you going to read it to us?” Tori asked.

“Sure,” Sandi said. She then read the speech to the club.

“Good Evening, Students of Lawndale High and other Coffee House patrons...”

Later

“Opinions?” Sandi asked, looking at Tori.

“Quite argumentative. Most people will support us,” Tori said.

“But, Sandi -,” Stacy began to say, but she was interrupted by a glare from Sandi.

“No buts!” Sandi said.

“Sandi! What will Mr. O'Neill say?” Stacy asked.

Sandi snorted “Puh-lease, like Mr. O'Neill will do anything more than say 'Oh dear!' He won't say anything negative. He certainly won't say anything to Ms. Li,” she said, imitating Mr. O'Neill when she said 'Oh dear!'

“That's riiight,” Tiffany said.

'That seems to be true,' Tori thought.

“Maybe,” Stacy said, more subdued.

Sandi smiled. “That concludes this meeting. Stacy, concluding time?”

Stacy looked at her watch and at Sandi's bedroom clock. Both were within two minutes of each other. “5:45, for a duration of 1 hour and fifteen minutes,” she said, averaging the time between the two time pieces.

“Usual length of meeting, plus time to, like, read the speech,” Sandi said.

Stacy wrote the concluding remarks down and closed the notebook.

Unknown to the Fashion Club, Sandi's mother, Linda, had listened to Sandi make the speech. She smiled a wicked looking smile. 'Very good, Sandi,' she thought. It was exactly as she had hoped. Sandi was following in her footsteps.

Friday, 22 October, 2005

Sandi awoke at 7:20. After getting ready, she took the speech and went to the bathroom.

“Sandi Griffin, Fashion Club President,” she said, scrutinizing her near perfect appearance.

“Good Evening, Students of Lawndale High and other Coffee House patrons, I have prepared this statement to tell you that Geeks are not welcome, like as members of the popular cliques,” she began.

…

“Thank you for your time.” After this conclusion she was silent for a moment before looking at herself again. “You will be triumphant! Quinn, that Geekendorffer will not, like come back from this.”

There was knocking. “Come on Sis! I need to go!” her brother, Sam said.

'Of course he would,' Sandi thought. She folded the sheet with the speech on it and opened the door. “All yours, you brat!”

“Finally!” he said as he dashed into the bathroom past his sister.

Helen was preparing to leave for work when the door bell rang. “Who could that be?” she wondered. She went and opened the door. “Oh, Hi, Jennifer! Are you here for Quinn or for Daria, neither of them have come down for breakfast yet.”

“Hi, Mrs. Morgendorffer. For Daria. I am helping her with her performance at the Coffee House this evening,” Jennifer said.

Helen opened the door wider, allowing the quiet girl in. “It is great that she is participating in an extra-curricular activity. She is still quite anti-social and stubborn,” Helen said. 'I see that you have been a good influence,' she thought.

“I had to encourage her,” Jennifer murmured. She knew what it was like to be shy and emphasized with Daria.

“What was that?” Helen asked, not quite hearing what Jennifer said.

“Yeah, it's great,” Jennifer said with a little sarcasm.

“You can go right up,” Helen said, pondering Jennifer's tone.

Jennifer knocked on Daria's door.

Daria quickly opened it. “Hi, are you ready?” she asked.

“I am. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't.”

Daria smirked briefly, prior to letting Jennifer into the room.

“Close the door. I don't want Quinn complaining about the noise.”

“Sure,” Jennifer said, as she closed the door and glanced at the padded walls. 'Excellent soundproofing,' she thought.

Daria grabbed her guitar, carefully swung it around and began to play.

15 minutes later, Daria had gone through her performance twice.

“That's a little better. Mr. O'Neill will still react to it though,” Jennifer said.

“I want him to react,” Daria said.

“Make him think that the Coffee House is a bad idea?” Jennifer asked.

“Yes,” Daria simply said.

Jennifer shook her head in good humor.

Quinn and Jenna were talking as they approached Lawndale High.

“...And then Jennifer said that Daria doesn't want the Coffee House to succeed,” Quinn said.

Jenna stopped. “She wants it to fail?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“I hope that her song, whatever it is about, won't be that bad.”

“Well it's metal music, so I think it might be borderline,” Quinn said with a nervous laugh, as they came to the front of the school.

“I will try to convince Mr. O'Neill to have the Anime reviews first,” Jenna said.

“I have my Ghost in the Shell review.”

“That's good!”

Quinn smiled.

Quinn approached the Programming Club meeting with aprehension. “Why are you so apprehensive, Quinn?” Wolfgang Schuhardt asked.

Quinn turned to the nerdy boy. “Have you ever thought that Andrea may be a cracker or something?” she said quietly.

Wolfgang stopped and looked around. “I have, but only after others have told me their suspicions,” he said.

“No one has told me, but she gives off that vibe, you know,” Quinn said uneasily.

“She does give off an unfriendly vibe, but I don't think that means that she is a cracker.”

“What of the network share at her house?”

“You don't have to share files there if you don't want to.”

“I guess not,” Quinn said.

Wolfgang opened the door. “Girls first,” he said.

“Thanks,” Quinn said.