fardell24 | Entries tagged with dianne bennett

“Quinn?” Xavier asked.

“Yes?” Quinn asked.

“You think your sister and Brittany…?”

“Maybe,” Quinn answered with a giggle. “It’ll be fine.”

The rest of the afternoon went well. Jen, Daria and Brittany met the rest of the class at F Moss Three.

“Is everyone here?” Bennett asked as she looked around.

“Yes,” Jodie answered after she looked around herself.

“Good!” Bennett said. “Time to return to Lawndale!”

“Good,” Daria said under her breath.

They soon returned to the bus. Daria hoped that the journey back would be less nausea inducing.

( Read More )

It took a while but Mrs. Bennet had found the Mall executive offices. However, while the meeting started out well, it soon went downhill.

“How about you? How many times a year do you go to the mall?” one of the executives asked.

Daria could see through him and his colleagues. “Don't people usually get paid for participating in market research?”

“Research?” the executive asked in a strangled tone.

Mrs. Bennett interrupted. “Now, Daria, these busy executives have been nice enough to give their time to help educate us on mall economics. Tell us about flow, would you?”

“OK,” one of the executives said.

“I bet that is a two-way mirror,” Daria said.

“You don’t say,” Jennifer said. She reached for a light switch. “You mean if I do this…” She flicked off the light, revealing that the mirror Brittany had been posing and examining herself in front of was a two-way mirror.

“The focus group is, um, a very important tool in mall management…” another of the executives began.

“I feel used. I feel abused. I feel that this is not a fun mall after all and the media should be made aware of it,” Jodie said.

“Alright, little lady,” the first executive said. “Here is a coupon for a free frozen yoghurt.”

“Don’t insult me,” Jodie said.

“Make it a ten-dollar merchandise coupon?”

“It’s still an insult!” Brittany pointed out.

The executive covered his ear in discomfort at her shriek.

“Okay, a twenty-five-dollar merchandise coupon for everyone in the class.”

“You don’t get it. There is a principle involved,” Daria shot back.

“No, there isn’t,” Jodie said.

“So, much for idealistic youth,” Daria said.

“For twenty-five bucks...” Jennifer mused. “But this is something you can use!”

“Of course,” Daria responded. “But the blame may be placed on our Fuzzy Wuzzy Weebit loving teacher.”

“It’s a start,” Jennifer pointed out.

Daria gave a small smile.

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30th

Excerpt from: Daria in the Background
“That is really none of your business!” the Principal exclaimed, glaring at the artist girl.

‘No doubt Jane’s a trouble maker,’ Daria thought.

Lawndale High School; November 9th; 11:39 AM
The imminent arrival of the Modelling agents was already affecting the curriculum. At least that was Daria’s thought on the matter as Mrs. Bennett went on about how the fashion industry used marketplace psychology.

“…The business insures its own survival by training consumers to focus on arbitrary styling distinctions, rather than quality and durability.”

Words: 84

Excerpt from: Convergence on Lawndale
“I think I could have a closer look at that thing,” Peter decided.

“Sure,” the Doctor said. “We can go back there rather quickly.”

“Let’s go,” Quinn said.

“Wait!” Daria said.

“What?” Quinn asked her sister.

“It’s four twenty,” Daria explained. “Sunrise is in two hours,”

“Plenty of time,” Quinn said in a dismissive tone and with a wave of her hand.

“I’ll make sure she gets to school,” Peter said.

Words: 71

Excerpt from: Chronicles of Time – The Danae Error
She looked around again. She then spotted the other time vehicle and saw the young woman who had travelled back in it. She didn’t recognise her. ‘Maybe Danae shares it with her,’ she thought.

Words: 34

Total: 189

Mega Mall Tribulations
Lawndale High October 26th, 10:24 AM
“In Economics, we call this flow,” Mrs. Diane Bennett said. “We have a scenario of supply and demand, where a new demand is created by a previous supply. Does everyone follow?” She paused, waiting for the class to answer. “Can anyone give me a concrete representation of this abstract theory?” She paused, again before calling on the new student, “Daria.”

‘Why is she calling on me?’ Daria wondered. She sighed and said. “Concrete? Then I’ll go with the mall, the repository of greed in today’s consumerist culture.”

“Very good, Daria. The mall is a very beautiful illustration of all these economic principles. In fact, it would make for an excellent field trip,” Mrs. Bennett said.

‘Field trip!’ Daria thought with slight panic.

“All right! Field trip!” Kevin said. He leaned over to Daria. “Where are we going, man?”
Daria looked down and didn’t answer the quarterback.

“Daria?” Kevin asked.

“We'll visit that brand new Mall of the Millennium. It's a perfect emblem of a modern day economic structure.”

Daria shook her head. She didn’t like that idea at all. She had enough trouble with a normal mall when she had to go to one.

“What’s wrong, Daria? It’s your idea, and it’s perfect,” Mrs. Bennet.

“I second Daria,” Jodie Landon said. “The mall can be dangerous influence on today's teens, and the crowds can be intimidating to those who are introverts.”

“We'll take a vote. All in favor of a class trip to the mall next Friday instead of our usual surprise quiz?”

Most of the class raised their hands.

“Those opposed,” Bennett asked.

Daria, Jodie and a girl wearing a paint splattered red sweater raised their hands.

“This is great! Kevin and I love going to the mall during school,” Brittany said.

Mrs. Bennett frowned.

“I mean, between classes. I mean... what do I mean, babe?” Brittany added.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Bennet,” Daria said. “I can’t go to the Mall. I get anxious around large groups of people.”

“But you’re with a large group of people right now.”

“And I’m anxious every morning when I see the crowd in front of the school.”

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( 14th )

Total: 300

( 12th )
Total: 583

Part 3
Ronnie wasn’t that surprised when the teacher called her to her desk. “Yes, Miss Lane?”

“Do you know why Sam Griffin isn’t here today?”

“No.”

“I know you two have become fast friends since you started.”

“She didn’t say anything the last time I saw her.” Technically true, but also an omission.

“I’ll just mark her as absent then.”

Xander had quickly gotten bored. Mostly due to the ‘Three Js’ (as most in his grade called them) talking endlessly, but also due to the Interstate being an almost perfect driving surface. They were about halfway when he heard Quinn say something to him. “What was that?” he asked.

“I said, what are you going to buy at the Mall of the Millennium?” she asked.

“Um, I haven’t really thought about it,” he lied.

“Really?” Sam asked.

“I haven’t!” he said defensively. He didn’t want her, and Quinn, to know what he was going to buy. ‘I hope there is going to be enough space in the trunk.’

Xander’s perception of the Interstate’s smoothness was biased by the far superior suspension in his father’s car. Daria’s motion sickness only got worse the further they got from Lawndale. ‘I’ll have to find another way back,’ she decided. Maybe if she found Quinn and her friends, they would take her with them. ‘But there wouldn’t be enough room in the car.’

( Quinn saw the Mall of the Millennium first )

Part 2
Thursday came rather quickly. However, Xander quickly found a problem. “I have to take Sam and Chris to school?”

“Yes,” his mother answered. “I have to go to an interview on location out of town.”

“I see,” Xander grouched. “I will take them then.”

“Good.”

‘Great! Now I will have to tell Quinn I’ll be late!”

Jennifer arrived at the Morgendorffers to find Quinn and her friends out on the front step. “Quinn?” she asked.

“Hi, Jennifer,” Quinn said.

“Are you guys waiting for someone?”

“Someone,” Josie said enigmatically.

“Are you skipping school?” Jennifer asked.

“How did you guess?” Josie asked.

“Usually, you have already left here by this time,” Jennifer answered.

“Maybe,” Quinn responded, equally as enigmatic as Josie.

Jennifer sighed and went inside.

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Mega Mall, Mega Problems
Lawndale didn’t have everything. That was the issue that had vexed Quinn Morgendorffer over the past few weeks. Of course, it had more things than Highland did (and she was thankful that her family had finally got out of that place).

“There’s that Mall of the Millennium,” her friend Jessie Brown suggested as they left the High School one Monday afternoon.

“I have heard of it,” Quinn admitted, “but isn’t it out of the State?”

“It’s only 100 miles away,” Jessie said.

“I suppose that isn’t too far,” Quinn decided. “I’ll see what my parents will say.”

“Good luck,” Jessie said. Quinn had told her what her mother was like.

It wasn’t just her mother Quinn had to think about. When she broached the subject at Dinner, it was her father who reacted to it first. “A hundred miles? To go to a mall? Dammit, there's a mall five minutes away!” he said, as he stood up.

“Sit down, dear,” her mother said. “We’re not going.”

“Oh!” he said.

Quinn tried another tack. “It’s not a mall. It’s a super mall! The Mall of the Millennium. Shop there forever!”

“Shop there forever? That doesn’t sound right,” her younger sister, Veronica interrupted.

“If you play that John Lennon song backwards, it says, ‘Imagine all the people, browsing in a mall.’ Isn't that weird?” Her older sister, Daria, said.

“It’s too far away, Quinn.” their mother said. “And you’ve done enough shopping for this quarter.”

“Mo-om! I need to know what’s out there.”

“No more malls until you bring up your grade point average!” her mother said.

“Exactly!” Her father said. “What’s wrong with her grade point average?”

Quinn sighed. Her grade point average was fine. It may not have been Daria’s 4.0, or Ronnie’s 3.6, but she was still doing well.

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