“Unrequited Love”
A PPMB Challenge
By Angelinhel kckli@yahoo.com
Legal Whosits: I don’t own “Daria” or any
facet thereof, Mtv/Viacom has that happy privilege. This is just for fun, blah, blah, blah. Hey, if they didn’t want
fans writing stuff they wouldn’t have cancelled it then given it to Noggin to
butcher.
Author’s Note: These 3 ficlets were
entries in a PPMB Challenge by WacoKid: In the space of a single message board
post, write a short story or ficlet about one Daria character's unrequited love
for another. The only two that are disallowed are Daria longing for Trent (and
vice versa) and Quinn with David, as both have been done too often to have any
hope of impressing the judges.
She slumped down on her bed. It wasn’t enough. Nothing was
ever enough. Graduation was soon and then all hope was lost. She'd done
everything she could think of.
She'd shown how popular she was with both sexes. Friends, admirers, dates lined
up till next year. See? I'm desirable, everyone else wants me...
She'd shown brains, briefly, then with more intensity over the summer.
She'd even admitted...and she NEVER planned that.
It still wasn't enough.
She pulled out the framed photo from it's hiding place. A tear splashed and
blurred the image.
Two little girls were hugging. And smiling. Quinn guessed it was the only
picture of it's kind.
"Daria, why don't you love me?"
All he could do was watch. All he could ever do was watch.
He'll never love you now, the voice whispered.
Jake began another rant. "ROT IN HELL OLD MAN!!"
I am, son, I am.
She sat and stared out the window, a litany of phrases
chanting in her head.
You're wearing that?!? You can get better grades than this. Should you be
eating that? Can't you try harder? You should be better than this. You're not
worth it.
You're not worth it.
That one hurt the worst. He didn't even know her. They went out once. In that
short time he had figured out what so far, pretty much everyone in her life had
told her.
You're not worth it.
No matter what she did, she didn't measure up. And she tried so hard. Everyone
said she was nice. Sweet. Giving. But apparently, not worth it. She wanted
everyone to be happy. She did everything she could to make them happy. Because
maybe, just maybe, if they were happy, she could be happy too. And they would
say "Thank you. I'm glad you're here."
She loved the world.
She couldn't help it. No matter how bad things were, she loved it. Even in her
darkest moments, the thought of not being a part of it was worse than whatever
hurt she was feeling. She wanted to make it better. She had to keep trying. But
it was getting so hard, and it didn't seem to matter what she did. The answer
was always the same...
"Sta-cyyy! Can't you pay attention?" Sandi demanded.
Stacy snapped to attention, "Sorry."
You're not worth it.
The world did not love her.
Additional
Notes: Just
some comments on “Love”: a “boyfriend” said those exact words to me, “You’re
not worth it.” No sorry, no reason. That hurt for a long time. The other things
were also said, some more times than I can count. “You can get better grades
than this” was usually when I brought home something like a 96 or 98. Where are
the other 2 points? Why is this B+ not an A? This was a good excuse to vent.