Just A Thought

A Daria ficlet by Angelinhel.

Plot Summary
The opening begins with a disjointed htought sequence by an unknown character, quickly followed by a flashback sequence.

The Fashion Club is in Mr. O'Neill's English class, having just been given an assignment to write a descriptive essay. A minor tiff bewteen Quinn and Sandi leads Quinn to arrive home in an agitated state.

Quinn arranges for her sister, Daria to wriet the English essay for her before leavign for a Fashion Club meeting. The meeting goes as usual, with Quinn and Sandi vying for power while Tiffany and Stacy try to stay out of the way. When Quinn reveals an embarassing fashion error by Sandi, Sandi takes it out on Stacy, berating her for a poor shoe choice. Stacy uncharacteristically ignores the comment and merely continues to write in her notebook.

Another sequence of disjointed thoughts does not reveal who the character is, but alludes that the flashback is connected to why they are frightened and confused.

The next flashback reveals one student handed in a disturbing essay for O'Neill's 'descriptive assignment, possibly somethign about shootign or harming other students in the class, specifically Sandi Griffin. In light of a recent school shooting at Oakwood High School, in a town not far from Lawndale, Principal Li had recently instituted a zero-tolerance policy about threatening writing concerning the Lawndale High and its students.

Brought before the principal, the school councilor Ms. Manson, and their parents, the student who wrote the essay tried to explain they hadn't meant any of it and planned to throw it away after they'd written it, not accidentally hand it in. Panicking at the thought of being expelled, the students induces fear and overreaction by the school administrators and their parents, leading to their hospitilization in a mental institution, 'for their own safety and the safety of others.'

The last section reveals Stacy Rowe as the essay writer who welcomes the oblivion the anti-depressants and sedatives the instituion inject her with regularly, fearing if she thought for herself again, she would only end up in a worse situation.

Trivia

 * Written partially in response to the tragic Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings and the subsequent zero-tolerance policies many schools adapted therefater. While the author admits graphic writings can be a sign of violence to come, a zero-tolerance policy may do more harm than good in some cases.