Daria – Brittany
Esteem of the Transfer Student
Brittany Taylor arrived at Lawndale High as she
usually did, with her stepmother, Ashley-Amber dropping her off.
“Have a
good day, Sweetie,” Ashley-Amber said with a giggle.
“I
shall!” As she got out of the car and Ashley-Amber drove away, she noticed
another, unfamiliar car in the turning circle. ‘Did someone get a new car?’ she
wondered as she twirled one of her pigtails. ‘Probably not,’ she concluded as
she saw two girls emerge from the car. They were obviously sisters, but
something told her that they were completely different. Maybe one of them was a
sophomore?
“Class,
we have a new student joining us today,” Mr. Anthony DeMartino said.
“Please welcome Daria Morgendorffer. Daria raise your hand please.”
Brittany
wasn’t that surprised. ‘So, which grade is the other sister in?’ she briefly
wondered as Daria raised her hand.
“Well,
Daria! As long as your hand raised…” Mr. DeMartino chuckled. “Last week we
began a unit on westward expansion. Perhaps you feel it’s unfair to be
asked a question on your first day of class.
“Excuse
me?” Daria asked. She sounded either bored or annoyed. Brittany wasn’t sure.
“Daria,
can you concisely and unemotionally sum up for us the doctrine of Manifest
Destiny?”
“Manifest
Destiny was a slogan popular in the 1840s. It was used by people who claimed it
was God's will for the U.S. to expand all the way to the Pacific Ocean. These
people did not include many Mexicans,” Daria answered.
‘She’s certainly a cynical one, isn’t she?’ Brittany
thought.
“Very good, Daria. Daria. Almost... suspiciously good.
All right, class. Who can tell me which war Manifest Destiny was used to
justify?
‘Don’t
choose Kevvy! Don’t choose Kevvy! Don’t choose Kevvy!’
“Kevin!
How about you!”
“The
Vietnam War?”
‘Wrong,
Kevvy!’ Brittany thought.
“That
came a little later, Kevin... a hundred years later. A
lot of good men died in that conflict, Kevin. I believe we owe it
to them to at least get the century right!”
Kevin
tried to think. “Uh… Operation Watergate?”
“Son,
promise me you'll come back and see me some day when you've got the Heisman
trophy and a chain of auto dealerships, and I'm saving
up for a second pair of pants! Will you promise me
that, Kevin?”
“Sure!”
“Can I come, too? I mean, if
Kevin and I are still together,” Brittany asked.
“We will
be, babe. We will be,” Kevin said.
Mr.
DeMartino then changed his attention to her. “Ahh... Brittany. Can you
guess which war we fought against the Mexicans over Manifest Destiny?”
She actually had an idea, but she didn’t want to
embarrass Kevin. “Mmm... no.” It wasn’t as if these in-class interactions were
graded.
“Please try, Brittany,” DeMartino said, almost pleading. Like
perhaps she could do better?
“Uh... the Viet Cong war?” Brittany said, expanding upon
what Kevin had said earlier.
Mr. DeMartino was then getting more annoyed. “Either
someone gives me the answer, or I give you all double homework and a quiz
tomorrow. I want a volunteer with the answer. Now!”
‘Double homework!’ Brittany thought. She had enough
homework as it was.
Daria raised her hand.
“Daria, stop showing off!” Mr. DeMartino said.
Was Daria a showoff? Brittany wondered as she hoped
someone else would come forward with the answer.
Jodie Landon raised her hand.
“Jodie?” DeMartino asked hopefully.
“The Mexican War.”
That evening, the Taylors were having dinner as they
usually did.
“…And so, I have detention again!” Brittany’s younger
brother, Brian groused.
“If you did what the teacher said, you wouldn’t be there!”
his father, Steve said.
Brian grumbled.
“What about you, Brittany?” Ashley Amber asked. “How was
your day?”
“Well, there’s this new girl in history who knows all the
answers, but Mr. DeMartino hates her.”
“Sounds, interesting,” Steve commented, still annoyed at Brian
getting detention.
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