After Jane and her brother (as she had realised) had left looking for Daria, Brittany also left. It had been an exhausting night, but when she looked in her bedroom mirror before changing she found that she quite liked what she saw there. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
The next morning Daria told Jane what happened as they
walked to school. “Look, I’m sorry about last night,” she said after
concluding.
“Aw, forget it. It was a rare opportunity, getting to
hang out with Brittany in a grunge club. Although her hair did look good.”
“Really?” Daria asked.
“I thought it would make for a great portrait,” Jane said
with a shrug. “Any idea what caused this so-called rash?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Anyway, the important thing is that instead of going to
your friends for help, you ran screaming into the night.”
“Basically,” Daria said.
“Perfectly logical response.”
“I thought so.”
For Brittany, not much happened. Other students did give
her strange looks as they noticed that her hair was a different color, but that
was to be expected. However, she also noticed that Daria wasn’t in class in the
later periods after she had run out in Language Arts. Was it that blotchiness
she saw in the club, causing her to want to go home?
The next day, she caught up with Jane between classes.
“Jane?”
“Brittany? I see your hair is still dark.”
“Never mind that now! Have you seen…” she paused and
dropped her voice to a whisper, “Daria?”
“Why would you want… Daria?”
Jane had jumped to a conclusion. “What makes you think I
want her? I don't want her.”
“You asked me if I’d seen her.”
“She hasn't told you anything... interesting about me,
has she?”
“No one's ever told me anything interesting about you,”
Jane answered.
‘Really?’ Brittany asked herself. “That's a relief.”
“Anyway, she'll be back in a day or two. She's in the
hospital while they check out that ra... rare condition.”
Brittany knew Jane was going to say ‘rash’. “Condition?”
“Yeah, she's come down with a slight case of, um, brain
fever,” Jane answered. “It’s a thing that brains get.”
‘Really?’ Brittany thought. “Wow, that sounds serious!”
she said.
“No, no, usually if you just read a best-seller it'll go
away. So, um, no need to mention it to anyone. I'll tell her you asked about
her.”
“Just ask her if she remembers our deal.”
“What deal?” Jane asked.
“What deal?”
“The deal you just mentioned.”
It was a bad idea, Brittany decided. “I didn't say
anything about a deal. Forget I said anything about a deal.”
“Forget I said anything about a hospital.”
“OK.”
“Hey! Now we have a deal.”
“What deal?” Brittany asked, confused.
“Later,” Jane said before leaving.
“Brain fever,” Brittany considered as she twirled her
hair. She knew what to tell Kevin at least.
She met with Kevin, Mack and Jodie at the Pizza place
after school. “Babe, why is your hair still dark?” Kevin asked with his usual
confusion.
That wasn’t what she wanted to talk about! “Never mind
that now. Did you know that Daria has brain fever?” Given that she had made a
deal with Jane she didn’t want to say anything about a rash. But she was still
concerned for Daria!
“Brain fever?” Jodie asked incredulously.
“Yeah. Doesn't that sound serious?” Brittany answered.
“You get the scalpel. We can use my dad's barn as an
operating room,” Mack joked.
“We could use your basement,” Kevin said. Brittany wasn’t
sure he got the joke.
“Brittany, I’m sure if it was serious, Daria would be in
the hospital,” Jodie said.
Oops! “Um…” She didn’t want to break her deal with Jane!
“What?” Jodie asked. “She is in the hospital?”
“Eep!” Brittany let out.
“She’s not in the hospital?” Jodie asked again.
Brittany squealed with frustration. “I promised I
wouldn't say anything about the hospital because I made a deal with Daria and
she kept her part and I kept my part but then I made another deal with Jane and
I didn't even know I was making it and now I didn't keep my part because I told
about the hospital so now Jane's going to tell about the deal and I didn't mean
anything by it I just wanted to see what other kids do at night who don't do
sports and he didn't mean anything to me, Kevvy, I swear it!”
Kevin made some connections. “So… she is in the
hospital!”
Brittany nodded.
Jodie and Mack exchanged a look.
Kevin arrived at Mack’s house and rang the doorbell. His
sister came to the door. “Robbie? Is Mack Daddy home?”
“You know he hates that, right?” Robbie asked. “I haven’t
seen him.”
“Oh! Can I check?”
“Sure,” Robbie said.
The basement was empty. Mack wasn’t there. Nor was Daria.
‘Of course. She’s still in the hospital.’
“He wasn’t here?” Robbie asked.
“No,” Kevin said. “See you later.”
As he drove away, his concern for Daria grew, although he
was also wondering why Brittany had dyed her hair. Again.
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