LATER THAT EVENING, Scarlett stood amongst the snotty children as she waited for Tory to finish her shift. They were going back to Lucille's after to get ready for the drive-in. She knew Tory hated the job but she needed it.

The mermaids came onto the stage blowing kisses and doing fancy poses before they started dancing as the little girls screamed in happiness.

Tory glared at her halfheartedly as she snickered. She glanced up and her glare became real. Scarlett turned and groaned seeing her mother and sister standing at the back. The music stopped and the children split into groups. Tory came over to her, "What the hell are they doing here?"

"This is my mom's co-worker's daughter's party, I totally forgot. I'm so sorry," Scarlett sighed.

"It's alright Scar, now, come help me with these... demons," Tory dragged her over to a group and they sat.

Tory started the story and Sam came and sat down, "The prince did everything to climb the mountain, but the dragon carried me there so he could eat me alive. But then the valiant prince came to my rescue."

Sam piped up, "Is that the prince you stole from another princess?"

"The other princess wasn't dating that prince anymore," Tory glared.

"And plus that other princess kissed this princess's boyfriend," Scarlett added discreetly pointing at them in their respective places.

"Anyway, uh, the dragon breathed hot fire at the prince melting his sword. So now I had to save the prince," Tory continued.

"Using what? A weapon like, I don't know a spike bracelet or nunchucks?" Sam asked. Scarlett sighed. Her sister liked to say she was unproblematic but here she was stirring the pot of drama that had inevitably enveloped their lives.

"No, by singing a magic song."

"Oh, and how did the song go?" Sam asked.

"Yeah! Sing us the song!" A girl cheered causing the children to cheer also.

Tory hesitated before she started to sing a made-up song. Sam snickered, "Wow. And I thought you were bad at fighting." The girl stood and walked away.

"I'm gonna kill her. I don't care if she's my sister," Scarlett said through her gritted teeth as she saw Tory's expression.

"No don't I've got an idea," Tory said, "But the story doesn't end there. You see the song didn't put the dragon to sleep. Instead, it turned it into an evil witch. And that witch has been spotted at kids' parties all over the Valley. And the only way she can be destroyed is with a glitter bomb," Tory said as she glanced at the cups of glitter behind Scarlett.

Tory stood and handed the kids the glitter.

"Oh and look! There she is now trying to blend in with the crowd!" Scarlett pointed at Sam and Tory smirked.

"Die evil witch!" The kids screamed as they threw the glitter at her. Sam was bombarded by the glitter monstrosity and turned to watch the two who were laughing. Tory kissed her fingers and Scarlett laughed at Sam's expression.

Scarlett walked up to her mother with a fake pitiful expression, "You might want to watch the favourite child Amanda. Bullying is a very serious offense."

She walked away with a smirk and fist-bumped Tory. She sat down as Tory painted a little girl's face.

The brunette looked up and her smile dropped as she saw Miguel talking to Sam. Sam smirked and pulled him in for a kiss.

Tory got up angrily and bumped into her manager, "Hey no breaks."

"Cool it asshole," Scarlett snapped. She went into the back to find her friend and found her talking to her mother.

"-No. No you don't know so why don't you just back off!" she caught the last of Tory's sentence.

"Okay. Okay. I will. Just know that the world isn't out to get you. There's gotta be someone in your family who can help," Amanda said.

"No one I can trust," Tory replied, "But it doesn't matter. I can handle my own shit.

"Fine. But no one can help you if you don't let them. If you ask you might be surprised."

"Wow look at you all motherly," Scarlett said making her presence known to her mother, "Let's go, Tory, we have a movie to watch." The two girls walked off and Amanda sighed.