Ignoring her own misgivings, and her own frustration, Quinn approached the new school year with a small sliver of solace; Daria was gone. The phrase wrung some idyllic charming little bit of warmth to rise in her. Her sister was gone; not that she hated her sister… she just preferred to never see, hear or refer to her sister in any shape or form in public. So, with her sister gone, it left her and her friends free to enjoy their senior year without any hassles or any kind of upsets. At least, that was her hope. With the disbanding of the fashion club came an upset to the social hierarchy. Another problem was that all the senior boys had graduated, leaving herself and the rest of her friends in some dry, drab boyless ravine.

‘Let’s just hope Quinn doesn’t get too much attention; she will be so busy trying to get good grades,’ Sandi solemnly confided in Tiffany, an unbeknownst Quinn hearing from just around the corner. She usually met up with the remnants of the Fashion Club on the way to school and had grown accustomed to Sandi’s special brand of narcissism.

‘Hey guys,’ Quinn ideally chided, her hands clasped around the arm straps of her backpack. She quickly ditched this gesture as Sandi eyed her. Even without the ‘Fashion Club’, there was still that unspoken idea of retaining some kind of physical superiority to people; even if it was over something stupid like how you held your hands.

‘So where is Stacy on this very important day?’ Sandi asked, her hands draped on her hips.

‘I-I’m here,’ a voice puffed from around the corner, the same corner Quinn had come from. ‘C-Could we change the meet-up place? I live about a block from school, so I have to walk all this way every day when – when I can just…’ Stacy trailed off as she received shocked looks from the three other girls.

Of course, this was owed in some ways.

Stacy now sported a pair of square glasses that sat daintily on the end of her nose – to top it off, her hair had been sheared down so it sat just against her chin in a noticeable bob. Stacy stood for a few seconds in mild concern before standing up straighter, her eyes narrowing, ‘What?’

‘Hair?’

‘Glasses?’

‘Your…’ Tiffany trailed off, her usual lackluster speech patterns allowing her time to think, ‘uhm… eyelashes…?’

‘O-oh. Well, yesterday,’ Stacy laughed as she absently scratched at her cheek, ‘I had to go get my eyes checked, and it turns out the reason I kept walking into things and why I had so much difficulty in classes is because… I’ve got really bad eyesight!’ Stacy laughed for a moment or two before coughing. ‘A-And, the hair is – well, I just felt like cutting it. It’s my hair, so I can do what I like with it,’ she said with a nod, crossing her arms and daring the three to say another word.

‘As President of the -’ Sandi began before the other three looked at her with annoyance, ‘Oh. Right, well, I still think we should have been asked about this. Tiffany has the shorter, stylish hair, I have the medium curly hair, you have the slightly longer, cute pigtails and Quinn has her hair… you’ve ruined the balance,’ Sandi said with a small note of anger.

Quinn issued a small laugh, ‘Oh Sandi, you’re so funny – Stacy, I think it looks good,’ Quinn quickly added, her smile a genuine one. If any of the girls understood humility, it was Stacy and Quinn, though Stacy was always a little hesitant to show it.

‘Thanks Quinn! It’s not as nice as your hair…’

‘Hey… are we going to school…?’ Tiffany asked, her head tilted slightly as she examined the other girls.

The four jumped in unison, quickly rushing down the street towards school – it was about 5 minutes before classes started, meaning they had just missed their homeroom session. Upon arrival, the four girls darted off to find some kind of timetable before stumbling into their very first history class of the year with barely a second to spare.

‘How kind of you to show up girls,’ O’Neil laughed, clearly trying to make a joke out of the hectic assortment of scarves, jeans and hairclips.

Their first year of seniority, and they hadn’t even bothered to lord it over the younger students; with reluctant sighs, the four girls took the seats they were accustomed to and began to unpack their bags. Tiffany and Stacy exchanged a look of concern as Sandi began to whisper to Quinn – something told them this year was going to prove interesting, as their group dynamic was shaken up and ruined; the hierarchy would need to reform, regroup and become something solid once more.

‘- so I told him that you and I had said -’

‘Sandi, could you please be quiet…?’ O’Neil chided from the front of the class. Sandi sat back, her lips pursed together and eyes narrowed up at him as if he had done her some physical damage.

‘Yes sir,’ Sandi said sharply, her hands resting on the desk as Quinn thanked O’Neil with a smile. He hadn’t intentionally saved her, but it was still something. Sandi had a habit of running through every date she’d ever had with Quinn, as if they were comparing notes or comparing some kind of sporting achievement; it had grown a little trivial over the years, especially as Quinn was slowly beginning to attend less dates and arrangements.

‘Of course, you all have your holiday homework assignments,’ O’Neil beamed, his hands grasping up the various assignments. Quinn tugged her out and noticed that Sandi hadn’t pulled anything out. Shaking her head, she handed up her assignment, seeing Tiffany and Stacy equally concerned with the lack of homework from Sandi.

‘I left it at home,’ she said simply, to which O’Neil nodded and mumbled that he expected the work in the very next day.

English flew by, rendering the four girls entirely wiped out – it had been a double session, so there was no escaping the pointless discussions of their feelings and the various ideological concerns O’Neil loved to bring up. ‘Lucky we have time off now,’ Sandi happily sighed, leaning against her locker for a moment before straightening up. ‘Wait.’

‘What?’ the three other girls asked, unsure they wanted a reply.

‘Who is that?’ Sandi asked pointedly, her eyes narrowed down the hallway.

‘I don’t know,’ was the sudden agreement; someone new was at school? And that someone was a boy? An attractive boy? The four girls stared until they decided there was no more they could decipher. Sandi, sensing a disturbance, quickly nabbed a passing senior and questioned them in hasty words and sharp concerns. After a few moments, the girl was freed and Sandi revealed that he wasn’t actually a new student.

‘Jeremy,’ Sandi breathed. The four continued to act as baffled as possible, with the exception of Stacy.

‘Why don’t you just go talk to him?’ she asked with a small laugh, her eyes shifting between the three. She received annoyed glares back, her idea shunned.

‘Why don’t you go talk to him?’ Sandi asked, raising an eyebrow at Stacy.

‘Fine,’ she replied, tugging her bag up before taking a deep breath and walking off toward the tall, statuesque thing that was busy chatting with the three J’s. Tiffany, Quinn and Sandi all stood and watched as their sudden interest placed in the only male none of them had dated or liked, as well as the newest eligible bachelor.

‘God speed young Stacy,’ Sandi muttered, waiting for the girl to be turned down on her face. But, much to her distain, Stacy and ‘Jeremy’ walked off down the hallway, Stacy only turning to provide a small wave and smile before turning back, her bob bouncing in the process.

‘Wow, I’m so proud of Stacy,’ Tiffany said with a small laugh, her hands darting for her compact.

‘Yes, proud,’ Sandi muttered, her eyes remaining on the figures as they rounded the corner. Sandi wasn’t sure she liked this ‘new’, happy and confident Stacy, her fingers tightly pressed into her arm as she turned her attention back to Quinn and Tiffany. ‘We need to watch them, see what they do,’ she said with a note of concern, ‘because we don’t know who he is – he could be some kind of crazy – guy.’

Tiffany and Quinn simply laughed the idea off and turned away toward their own lockers, leaving Sandi standing with an annoyed simper on her face, ‘Wait up,’ she mumbled before stalking after the two girls, her eyes occasionally darting over her shoulder to see if Stacy was coming back.