February 2nd – Part 1
Lawndale – Friday, 2nd February 2001
Daria Morgendorffer awoke. It seemed that it was the
radio that woke her... with a song by Sonny and Cher. 'Something about this is
familiar.' “All I don't know, that is true...”
She stirred. Something didn't feel right. Her chest felt
heavier, for the lack of a better term. Immediately she opened her eyes and sat
bolt upright. Something was definitely wrong. It wasn't her room for one thing.
'More like a room that a cheerleader would have,' she thought, while her heart
raced.
After looking around the room. She glanced in the mirror.
She fainted in shock.
She came to a short while later. She looked in the mirror
again. “This has to be a dream!” she said. The squeak was almost unexpected,
but it did confirm what was in the mirror, and why her chest was so heavy. “I'm
Brittany?!”
After reading Brittany's recent diary entries (which
didn't provide much information, but it had to do) and getting dressed
into the cheerleader uniform she went down to breakfast.
“Morning, sweetie,” Steve said.
“It's a good morning,” she said.
Steve frowned. “You don't sound right,” he said. “Are you
OK?”
“I'm fine,” Daria said, trying to remodulate her voice to
sound like what Brittany would normally sound like.
“Good,” Steve said after a moment. “Breakfast is almost
ready.”
After she had a quick breakfast. She left to go to
school. 'However, I can't go directly to school. Ms. Li has a school presence
at that Groundhog Ceremony,' she thought. She didn't really know why Lawndale
was attempting to steal Punxsutawney's thunder, but it was certainly an inconvenience
at present. She took Brittany's small convertible. It was like the cheerleader
herself, rather frivolous.”
It took her ten minutes to get to the Town Square, where
the Groundhog Ceremony was being held.
It also took Daria that long to get used to the
convertible. It was quite different to either Jake's Lexus, or Trent's
Plymouth. She managed to steer it and arrived at the Square ten minutes before
the ceremony was due to begin.
As she walked towards where the Ceremony was to be held,
she came across Andrea Hecuba. “Brittany,” she said.
“What do you want?” Daria asked.
“It has been a long time,” Andrea said quietly.
“What do you mean?” Daria asked, confused.
“We haven't talked.”
“So?”
“We used to talk a lot.”
That brought Daria up short, what if the cheerleader and
the goth girl really were friends in elementary school? She wasn't sure what to
say. “Later,” she said flatly. “I'm going to be late!”
“I'll hold you to that,” Andrea said.
“Ah, Ms. Taylor. You were almost late!” Ms. Li admonished
as she approached.
“It took a while to get ready,” she said.
“Never mind that, Ms. Taylor! there have been a few
changes in plan. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Jodie Landon has withdrawn
from the Ceremony. You have to take her place!”
“Me?”
“Yes, there is no one else at present,” Ms. Li said. She
handed DariaBritttany a piece of paper. “Go, and make Lawndale High
proud!”
'You mean make Angela Li proud,' Daria thought as
she took the paper.
“Now Representing Lawndale High School, Brittany
Taylor!”
“On behalf of Principal Li, Faculty and Students of
Lawndale High School, I welcome you to Lawndale's inaugural Groundhog Day
Festival!” DariaBrittany began. 'What a load of self aggrandisement!' she
thought. “Soon, the Groundhog is going to come out and see if there will be
another six weeks of winter. Please enjoy yourselves, and breakfast will be
served afterwards.”
The speech continued, but she soon grew tired of it. Then
came something she was dreading. She was going to have to do a Cheerleader
cheer.
“Give me a G! Give me an R! Give me an O! …”
That was exhausting but she managed it.
The Ceremony was over. She went back to her (for now)
convertible, confident that she would be able to get it to the school. However,
she could see Kevin approaching. She did not want to have to deal with
him. She leapt over the doors and quickly started the engine. “Hey, Babe!” he
called out. She manoeuvred out of the space and put the pedal to the metal...
Lawndale High was as she expected it to be. She quickly
made it to her homeroom.
“Brittany,” DeMartino called out.
“Here!”
As DeMartino called out the other students, Daria
wondered what the rest of the day was going to be like. Would it be possible to
avoid Kevin all day? And what of Brittany in her body, what was happening there?
What would Jane do if she noticed something wrong (and she knew that Jane
would)? Thus, she came to a decision, she would try to keep an eye on what
would be happening there, while avoiding Kevin.
After homeroom, the first class was Language Arts.
O'Neill came up to her. “You did great this morning,” he
said.
“Huh?” she said, saying what she thought Brittany would
say in that situation.
“At the Groundhog ceremony, after Jodie withdrew.”
“That's right.”
“You did a lot better than I expected.”
“I'm not just a cheerleader, you know.”
“Obviously,” the teacher said.
DariaBrittany then went and sat down in a spot away from
where Kevin would be sittting, and closer to where Jane would be.
Indeed, Jane and BrittanyDaria entered soon afterwards.
“She's here,” she heard Jane say. DariaBrittany looked and saw that
BrittanyDaria was definitely different to the way she was normally, wearing
clothes taken from Quinn's closet and her hair in pigtails. Jane came over. “I
know that something is happening, Amiga,” she said.
“Oh?” Daria asked, sounding more like herself.
“You were more articulate this morning than I expected.
Then when I got home, Brittany had come over...” Jane explained. She was
interrupted as more students entered the classroom.
“I see,” Daria said.
“Brit!” Kevin called as he came in.
Daria turned away. She still didn't want to face him.
“Kevin! She doesn't want to see you,” she heard BrittanyDaria say.
“You're not stopping me talking to her, Daria.”
“I said, she doesn't want to see you.”
“Are you sure?”
Daria sighed.
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