Several days later, Danae went into her room to fix her hair. She cast an angry glare in the direction of her bed, which was cluttered with Miranda's things, yet again. She had put up with this ever since Miranda had arrived, and now she'd had enough. Without a word, she marched over to her bed and literally tossed everything off the bed with an exasperated sigh.
The sounds of objects being flung about caught Miranda's attention, and she turned to glare at Danae. "What'd you do that for?" she demanded.
"'Cause I'm sick an' tired o' you dumpin yer stupid *junk* on *my* bed!" Danae snapped forcefully back without turning around to look at her. More of Miranda's knick-knacks went flying as Danae tossed the last of them off her bed.
"Don't do that!" Miranda demanded in a desperate, whining shout.
"Don't put it on my bed, then you won't have this problem." Danae replied curtly.
"I hate you, Danae!" Miranda said sulkily.
"So?" Danae scoffed, letting Miranda know that was hardly a newsflash, and she couldn't have cared less what Miranda thought of her. She went over to her dresser and looked around, but couldn't find her hair brush. That was when she saw that Miranda was using it.
Danae had been accustomed to living alone most of her life. Sharing a house with Pippi, who took in first NT, then Ariel was quite agreeable to her and the others, and sharing a room with one of the others might have presented some problems but nothing like this. Danae felt her private space was being seriously invaded by Miranda leaving her things all over her bed, and putting up those posters and pictures in her room, Danae's room.
Miranda had thrown a veritable fit when she discovered Danae had torn them down and stuffed them in Miranda's section of the closet. But although the posters weren't there any more, there were other ways Miranda invaded Danae's space, and taking her hairbrush without asking permission was just another example of that.
Danae lurched over to Miranda and snatched it from her. "Use your own!" she growled, glaring at Miranda with such dislike.
"Geesh,Danae." Miranda snapped back. "Take a chill pill, you know?"
Danae rolled her eyes, then sat down on her own bed and started brushing her hair. She would've been glad to continue ignoring Miranda, but the obnoxious brat made it nearly impossible to do.
"Hey, it was over here with my stuff, how was I supposed to know?" Miranda whined.
"Bull! I wouldn't dream of puttin it *anywhere near your* trash collection, an' it sure as heck didn't get over there by itself. This place is not a commune, so keep yer stuff to yerself an' leave mine alone."
"Not a commune? Please." Miranda retorted. "With all the people in this house it might as well be."
Danae thought, but didn't say aloud, ~Try living in a group home, then you'd know what a commune is.~ All she said aloud was, "Well it isn't; so keep outa my things!"
Miranda sneered. "Oh! Getting a little hot under the collar, are we?"
"And you're as cool as a cucumber, yeah right." Danae shot back with a scornful laugh.
"Watch who you're calling a cucumber, got that?"
"Oooooohhhhh, I struck a nerve. Your lucky that's all ya got 'cause I could call you a lot worse."
"Yeah right. You couldn't strike a drum if someone put the stick in your hand and moved it for you."
"Oh! (sniff) Ouch, that really hurt!" Danae pretended to cry. She shot Miranda a contemptuous glance. "How many weeks did you wrack your single-celled brain to come up with that infantile little thought? Please...Grow up." and with that, Danae put her brush back on the dresser and walked out.
Miranda cursed under her breath as Danae left. ~I'll fix her but good.~ She smiled coldly, thinking of how Tonya could help do just that.
All she needed was a few minutes. She went to the door and checked to make sure Danae wasn't coming right back.
Not seeing her--or anyone else, for that matter--she snatched Danae's brush off the dresser and carefully pulled some loose hair out of it. Then she separated out some of it and tossed the rest in the garbage.
Then she got a Kleenex and folded some strands of Danae's hair into it, and slipped the tiny makeshift packet into her pants pocket.
Another check of the hallway showed that the coast was clear, she went downstairs and smiled to see no one was in the living room as they had been when she'd gone upstairs. Luck was definitely with her. she chuckled as she slipped out the front door, thinking of how she'd fix them all but good.
_________________________________________________________________
A short while later, on the back porch at Ariel's...
Danae got up from the picnic table. "I'll go tell her highness lunch is ready."
NT tried not to laugh.
"Danae." Ariel actually did laugh.
Danae shook her head and went inside. "Miranda! Chow time!" she called.
A few minutes passed, and Danae came back. "She's gone somewhere again."
"What!" Ariel exclaimed.
"Oh dear." Pippi shook her head. This was not good, not at all. She had a feeling Miranda was probably off making trouble again. It was the weekend after all. At least things were quiet during the week when Miranda was in school. On the weekends, there was bound to be trouble. If not from an impossible, miserable and stubborn teenager in the house, her absence could come to mean nothing short of disaster done in NT's name.
"Did she leave a note?" Pippi asked.
"What, and actually do something so considerate?" Danae muttered. Aloud, she said, "Not that I can see. It would be nothing but lies anyway if she did."
"Oh, that girl!" Ariel got up and marched into the house. "Miranda!" she shouted. There was no answer. Ariel tried again and still there was no answer.
Losing her patience, running completely out of tolerance for anyone worrying about Miranda, Danae called back to Ariel, "Aw, forget it, she's not there, an' I'm not waiting 'til the food gets cold for her to show up and spoil our lunch."
Ariel came back, nodding dejectedly at Danae, who had already sat down and was indicating she was not willing to wait any longer.
_________________________________________________________________
In the mall...
Tonya was already sitting at a table with her sandwich and club soda, when Miranda arrived and spotted her.
She waved and they chatted for a few minutes, then Miranda went to get herself some lunch.
"Wow," Miranda said as she sat down with her salad and 7up. "You should've seen what went down in the computer store. It was *SO* hysterical!"
Tonya grinned malevolently. "Cool beans! So, did they ship the little brat off to the loony bin - or better still, throw her in jail? I wish I could've been there to see it all go down, but, you know..."
"No, they let her go. Can you believe that?" Miranda sighed. `Not enough evidence.'" she quoted in a mocking mimicry of an official tone.
Tonya absolutely glowered. "Demn!" she fumed.
"I thought it was working out beautifully when Titania Ross got in there and was so jealous of her boyfriend, but then *Pippi* had to interfere and put doubt back into things." Miranda said with a scowl.
"Tonya swore and scowled again, but the expression faded as soon as it had come. She got another idea. "You wouldn't happen to have something of Pippi's on you, would you?"
"Hah. I wish." Miranda pouted.
tonya growled in frustration. She had been delighting in fantasies of NT being put in the slammer, with footage of it and the store video tape being broadcast on the news. If it had happened that way, maybe Nick would finally believe what she was trying to tell him repeatedly that NT was a brat, a whiner, and a sleezy hypocrite.
Tonya knew Miranda hated NT, so this made Miranda an excellent tool in her agenda to get rid of NT.
Though the plan worked in causing NT extreme misery and embarrassment, it didn't go far enough. But that didn't mean Tonya was giving up, not by a long shot!
Tonya suddenly got an absolutely devilish look in her eye as she said, "If Nt thinks she's got it rough now, this was just a warm-up. I'm going to enjoy watching her suffer!"
Miranda laughed. "Couldn't happen to a stupider more clued out brat! Go for it!"
Tonya grinned for a moment, then suddenly frowned. "I need something for a double of Pippi but that goody-goody, holier-than-thou, scank monroe won't let Jacquan and me anywhere near NT or Pippi or even on their property. Stupid cow!"
"Well, as it happens, I *do* have something of the vixen of a roommate Danae Monroe's." Miranda said playfully, with a feindish grin.
Tonya gloated. "Well, let's take *her* down a few pegs."
"That'd be way sweet! She's always telling me off about NT, or this or that."
"What have you got for me to use?" Tonya asked.
Miranda reached into her pocket and took out a folded up Kleenex. She passed it to Tonya under the table.
Tonya chuckled and grinned malevolently as she took the package and slipped it into her purse.
About ten minutes later, they threw away the garbage from their lunch and headed for the restroom.
There were a couple of other women in the restroom, so Tonya went into a stall, and Miranda washed up, trying not to make it obvious she was waiting for the others to leave.
Eventually the sound of the hand drier went, and then the other women left the two trouble-makers alone in the restroom.
"Okay, coast's clear." Miranda announced.
Tonya came out of the stall, already holding Miranda's packet in her hand.
She opened it, murmuring some jibberish under her breath.
A moment later, a double of Danae Monroe appeared, glaring at the girls. "OK, what's in it fer me?" she snapped coldly.
Miranda chortled.
"What're you cackling at?" Danae2 demanded sharply, looking at Miranda.
"Nothing."
Danae2 grunted, and turned back to Tonya. "Well?"
Tonya smiled. "How about..." she pulled out a wad of bills. "Half of this now and the rest later."
Danae2 nodded. "I'd better get it, too. Or else."
"You will." Tonya did her best reassuring voice, and Danae the double stalked off.
Miranda whooped. "Cool. Now what about NT brat?"
Tonya nodded and with another gesture, NT's double reappeared. "Well, I dunno about you," NT the second said, "but I'm not gonna stay in *here* all afternoon. Let's go have some fun."
"Cool beans." Tonya said with a grin.
With that, the girls headed out into the mall.
A short while later, at the music store, Miranda went over and looked at the boyband cds while NT2 looked at the metal, rap and punk.
Miranda saw what NT2 was looking at and snickered, thinking of the real NT listening to Anthrax. ~Never in a million years,~ she thought, ~not with her being such a baby.~
Tonya looked through some of the pop cd's.
Several other customers walked in, and one of them was a kid, who was heard telling the sales clerk that he was looking for a birthday present for his older sister.
Two aisles over were a group of assorted people of all ages. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about any of them except that one girl was using a walker and had swollen features.
What made Miranda's day was seeing NT2 snicker and point at her.
NT2's amusement was cut short when a little kid asked her to give him room at the shelf where the metal music was so he could get a better look.
NT2 sighed in annoyance. "Wha'd'ya want, kid?"
"Metallica? My sister wants Metallica for her birthday."
"With your looks I'm surprised you can even use a pay phone. Get outa here." NT2 sneered at the kid.
"Aw, c'mon, it's for her birthday, I'm not buying it for myself."
"I said take a hike, kid!" and NT2 shoved him away.
Tonya allowed herself a slight smile as she listened to NT2's and the kid's conversation. She watched them out of the corner of her eye, while pretending to look totally absorbed in the cd's on the rack in front of her.
"That was uncalled for!" said one of the other customers who was helping the girl with the walker.
NT2 glared at the group, sticking her tongue out at them. Then, she decided to cut them down to size as well. "What's this, a freak show? First this little urchin," indicating the boy, "and now *her*." She pointed rudely at the girl with the walker.
The girl went pale and looked as if she were trying not to start crying. "You take that back!" she snapped.
An older woman, probably the girl's mother stepped away from the rest of the group and confronted NT2. "No one talks to her like that I suggest you apologize."
"Or what?" NT2 sneered.
The woman took a step forward and her fists clenched.
"You take that back!" the girl said again, beginning to cry.
"All right, geez, ya don't have to get ugly about it!" NT2 backed away from the girl's protectors.
That group of people hussled out of the store in disgust.
The kid rummaged quickly through the cd's, found one he wanted, and left, as desperate as the others to get away from there.
As the kid left, Miranda slipped over to join Tonya. "Wow."
"Yeah, let's get out of here. We shouldn't be seen leaving together, we can pick her up outside." Tonya replied.
But NT2 was headed dangerously for trouble at the store. Someone else had apparently witnessed her abusive treatment of the little kid and the sickly girl, and now came to confront her.
"Try shutting your stupid trap, little girl." a woman of medium height and dark hair snapped as she advanced toward NT2. "Ship out while you're at it."
"Hold on, I want to see this." Tonya suddenly changed her mind.
"Mind your own business, will ya? Geesh, some people." NT2 retorted to the woman.
This only provoked her to a new height of apparent wrath. She glared right at NT2. "You are my business as long as you're in my sight, you snotty little brat." she got right in front of NT2, continuing to stare her down. "And you better get outa my sight before I make you beg me to get outa yours." She shoved NT2 aside, and reached past her to get a cd she wanted.
"Hey!" the infernal little brat protested. "I can't help it if people look so weird that - "
She wasn't prepared for what happened next. "Ow!" she cried out as the woman moved in front of her, in the position to deliberately step squarely on one of NT2's feet with a heal.
"Next time I catch you pickin on somebody for their appearance, the next one that's going to have theirs changed is you. Now get lost - move it!"
"Holy shart, what did she do to her?" Miranda snickered.
Tonya shrugged, but flashed a broad grin at Miranda, and turned back toward the scene.
"Hey Indy!" someone called from just down the aisle. "Come check this out!"
"Yeah, just a sec' Bren." the woman called back. "Indy?" NT2 snickered at her. "As in Indy 500 or Indiana Jones?"
"Neither, you sheep-minded twit." Indy laughed openly at her. "Now get outa my way."
"Sheep-minded?" NT2 narrowed her eyes, insulted for once. "And just exactly what do you mean by that?" "
The woman sniffed scornfully. "Well - if I have to spell out every little obvious detail - "
NT2 went on the defensive. "I happen to be smarter and more high class than those people who were just in here,"
The woman rolled her eyes and tsked loudly at her.
"At least I have good taste in clothes and music!" NT2 ranted.
"Oh, yeah, you look real high class," Indy sneered, "For someone who works in the red light district!""
Both Tonya and Miranda had to work hard to stifle the urge to chortle.
"Why you--" NT two began to flare, but Indy wasn't finished with her yet.
"And by sheep-minded, I mean you couldn't come up with an original idea to save your pitiful little life, such as it is. And yes, my name's Indianna - with a double N if you want to risk exploding your memory bank with that nice little bit of knowledge." came the snarling reply.
"You know, Indianna, you really aren't nice." NT2 said, feeling put down and hoping to make Indy feel the same way or worse.
"And *you* have a problem with that because?" came the scoffing reply.
Tonya shook with suppressed laughter, and Miranda had to hold her breath so she wouldn't howl.
"Indy?" came the call from the end of the aisle again.
"Yeah Bren, I'm just going to send this twit on its way and then I'll check it out."
"Don't call me a twit!" NT2 burst out angrily.
"Okay." Brenda called back to Indy.
"As for you, whatever your name is..." Indy resumed dressing NT2 down.
"It's NT." she answered. "NT
? And you thought my name was funny? Anyway - NT - get outa here, and watch your back."
"Hey I wasn't even bothering you, it was that other--"
"You picked on a little kid, and then someone who looks different and gets around with assistance obviously because of some condition she never asked for. And that's all it takes to bother me. Got that?" Indy held a clenched fist right at NT2's nose, so close she was almost touching her.
NT2 backed up.
Indianna took a step forward, intent on confronting her. "Not cool, not bright, not safe. Understand?"
"I wasn't trying to upset you, all right?" NT2 appealed.
"Not good enough, girlie. Now are you going to move your dumb butt outa here or do I have to--"
"Okay okay, I'm going, I'm going!" NT2 turned and fled, setting the store alarm off in the process.
Tonya clapped and grinned at Indy. "That's telling her!" she cheered.
The woman grinned, but took no more notice of Tonya as she moved off to join her sister further down the aisle.
Then as the chaos caused by NT2's exit set in, Miranda and Tonya quietly left the store, unnoticed.
They walked down the mall, past several stores until they reached some benches. There, they sat down and laughed until their sides ached.
"I'll have to see about getting to know that Indy," Tonya said, "She could really help us make NT's life a living hell."
Never the subtle one, Miranda chortled.
Presently, NT2 found them. She ran up to the benches where Miranda and Tonya were sitting. "Wow - this was sweet! You should've seen their faces when the alarm went off! Course I could run faster when I was sick than those lame-os."
"Mission accomplished," Tonya said with a satisfied smile.
Miranda grinned back.
"But I think our NT should go get up to some more fun, if you know what I mean," she winked at the double.
Oh cool--" NT2's elation at hanging around to commit more trouble was suddenly cut short. She caught site of something out of the corner of her eye. "Not so cool." She tried to jam herself in behind a pillar.
Soon, Miranda and Tonya saw why.
Walking down the mall were two women, one a tall blonde, the other a shorter, dark-haired one, the same one who ripped NT2 a new one back at the music store.
"Sit tight." Tonya suggested.
They waited, until the two women had walked safely past, chatting all the while.
Tonya hungrily studied Indy, trying to get her features fixed in her memory. She was completely wowed by Indy's dressing down of NT2 and was already fantasizing about getting in touch with her and getting her to put the real NT in her place time and time again. She had very little doubt Indy would do that, and although Tonya herself would have no trouble denigrating the real NT, the idea of watching someone like Indy do it, and on Tonya's behalf, excited her. She would've given almost anything to see Indy reduce the real NT to tears.
Tonya could certainly use a friend like that, someone she already felt herself intensely drawn to based on this tough first impression. And, Indy might turn out to be just as loyal and protective of Tonya as Jacquan was now, and Nick was starting to be. Indy didn't give the impression of being anything like Miranda, ditzy, spoiled, loud, impulsive or bratty. So, if Tonya played her cards right, Indy might turn out to be her best friend or something more if she had similar desires in common.
A little later on, Miranda and Tonya went to a library where Miranda could use a public terminal, and Tonya needed to return some overdue books.
NT2 stayed at the mall, causing yet more trouble. She even went into the Petland there and got herself thrown out for attempting to abuse the animals, lying to other customers about animal care, and pushing little kids around.
Next, she hit a book store, and the only damage she did there was to pretend to be browsing, while making sure to put all the books back - on the wrong shelves.
By the time she was finished that and ready to move onto a novelty shop, she found she wasn't welcome there.
She was also denied entrance to the sporting goods store, the bath shop, and all others.
Stores and security had apparently communicated and all were made aware to be on the lookout for her.
_________________________________________________________________
The Near Arrest of Danae Monroe
Later on in the day, just after dinner, Danae was up in her room, for once enjoying having it all to herself, but that time was much too short.
It was rudely shattered when Miranda burst in, demanding breathlessly,, "Danae, the police want to see you."
"Why?" she snapped irritably, giving Miranda a dirty look.
"They didn't say but they want to see you." Miranda repeated.
When Danae came to the front door, a worried Ariel was already there, and Pippi and NT were just coming up from the basement.
The same two officers were at the door, and the tall blond one said, "Miss Danae Monroe?"
"The name hasn't changed since the last time you barged in here." she responded tersely, letting them know they still weren't welcome.
Taking that as a yes, the officer continued. "We have a warrant for your arrest."
"What?" Ariel exclaimed.
Pippi shot the officers a look of mingled incredulousness and disgust.
"Oh crud, now what!?" Danae rolled her eyes, and tried not to show how much this rattled her.
"Forgery, Mam. Passing counterfeit checks. Could you come with us please?"
"Excuse me!?" Danae, who never did anything shady in her life was flabbergasted.
"Stop arresting innocent people, and get a real job!" NT gave the officers a disdainful look and burst into tears.
The dark haired officer then explained to Ariel that NT was cleared of all charges since there had been more problems at a mall that afternoon.
"So now you're making the same mistake, with her!" NT said, indicating Danae.
"She's right." Ariel put in.
"Haven't you learned anything from the other night?" Pippi asked impatiently, giving them a disgusted look.
Danae nodded in agreement.
The officers didn't know what to say to any of them other than apologies that it was so hard on the mother and daughter.
Miranda retreated into her room, but not before her smirking presence caught NT's eye.
NT had sent her a look that suggested she was about to kill her if she didn't beat a hasty retreat, and Miranda didn't want to risk fighting and getting in bad with those officers either. She didn't stick around to figure out why one of them was lagging behind.
The cameras were removed from the home now that NT was cleared.
A couple of hours later, they had to let Danae go, and the officer looked truly apologetic. "I really am sorry to put you through this, it seems you are right, someone does seem to have it in for your family."
"Now you're finally catching on." Danae replied shortly.
The officer apologized again and was very courteous to Danae from then on, and he gave her a ride home.
For her part, Danae was inwardly pleased they were finally starting to see what was going on, but she was not about to let on. She remained quiet and stern faced throughout the whole ride home.
When the officer finally asked her if she remembered helping him and his family out of some harrowing situation some time in the past, she didn't recall at first, and remained unmoved. It took him telling her his name and an account of the situation for her to realize who he was.
Only then did she allow herself a slight, fleeting smile as she acknowledged the memory.
"That's why it was hard to bring you in tonight," the officer explained. "I couldn't imagine somebody who'd helped me and my family out so much in the past would be forging checks."
She only nodded in response.
Miranda barely glanced up from the TV as the door slammed. On seeing it was Danae, she buried her nose in a magazine.
Ariel came from the kitchen. "How'd it--" she started to ask, then broke off as she saw the look on Danae's face.
Danae ignored her and went straight for Miranda. "Tompkins, this is the last straw! You can take yer stuff and get the ruddy heck outa my room, tonight!"
"Yes!" NT put in bitterly from the top of the stairs and made her way down to join the others in the front room.
Miranda rolled her eyes. "What bee's gotten into your bonnet this time? Geesh, Danae, give a girl a break, you know?"
"you know demn well what this is about, now move it!" With that, Danae took the TV remote and roughly turned it off.
"Hey! what was that for!" Miranda exclaimed. "Like I've some idea what the hex you're talking about!"
"Now, Miranda!" Danae roared, "Move your stinkin butt an' get packing!"
"You can't just toss me out!" Miranda cried. "You going to let her do that?" she squealed at Ariel, then shook her head. "Geesh, who am I asking!"
"I don't see why I shouldn't!" Ariel said, finally allowing herself to express some of the hurt and anger she was feeling toward Miranda.
"You'll leg it if you know what's good for you!" Danae warned.
"You - were behind getting Danae in trouble with those checks!" NT accused her.
Miranda guffawed. "OOOOH. boy. So *that's* what this is about."
"Just like you tried to do to me!"
"Stuff it NT! Saint Danae's just come down off her high horse and you want to blame it on me!!" Miranda ranted.
"I'll stick you on a high horse, and ya won't be able to get down, if ya don't cut the lip!" Danae was holding back for all she was worth not to literally grab Miranda and drag her kicking and screaming upstairs.
"Lay off already!" Miranda snapped, but before she could say more, NT interrupted.
"Oh, that's just like you. Look, spare us the 'Poor me, I didn't do it' act! You and - somebody else - can't stand us and you'll go for anything that'll make our lives a living hell!"
"Miranda, you never told us about your friends, the ones you've been hanging around with." Ariel interposed. "Now just who have you got doing the impersonations?"
"Impersonations?" Miranda exclaimed in mock surprise/puzzlement. "The only one I know anything about is the guy who did Elvis last week. Though I suppose that's my fault too!" she ranted.
"You? Elvis? Neither of you belong in the same sentence!" NT couldn't keep her feelings in any longer. "You sing like a sick crow!"
"It's probably that evil wench Tonya," Danae speculated.
"Oh, lay off her, Danae! Tonya has nothing to do with this!" Miranda raged.
"Sure she does!" NT snapped back. "You're sick sucking up to her just now, proves it! Either you really are that tight with her or else you're scared of what she might do to you for ratting her out to anyone!"
"Or both," Danae put in.
"You were the least convincing of the witnesses when NT was questioned the other night." Ariel added.
"Ha! You're only saying that because no one dare accuse NT of anything!"
"oh please!" NT rolled her eyes. "You'd accuse me of the holocaust if you thought there was even one single idiot on earth stupid enough to believe you!"
"Like I said to Miss High and Mighty over here," Miranda yelled at Ariel, meantime waving a hand in Danae's direction, "you just can't stand to think your precious daughter is anything less than perfect! That's the demn First Commandment around here! Sorry I broke that rule!!"
"Shut up! Just shut up! I'm sick of your hate and your lies! I'm just sick of *you*! It's not my fault you act like a brat!" NT shouted back. She would have gone for Miranda if Ariel hadn't been holding her back.
"Miranda, that's enough! Now stop it!" Ariel raised her voice. "Stop fighting, both of you."
NT, feeling lumped in with Miranda at this, glared and moved away from Ariel. Miranda was the one doing all the misbehaving, NT's anger was warranted, and neither Ariel nor Danae were exactly calm at this point, so why they expected NT to be calm and not show any anger at all, and accuse her of "fighting" made no sense.
In truth, Ariel only said "Both of you" for Miranda's benefit so she couldn't accuse her of only yelling at her and not NT this time.
Incidents like this impacted NT more than she let on, and one day her inner rage was likely to boil over.
Danae lost what little patience she had left and stormed upstairs. Soon the sounds of things being roughly packed up and moved was heard.
"You gonna let her do that?" Miranda rolled her eyes. "Geesh why am I even asking--" turned and ran for the stairs "Danae get your paws off my stuff, you got that!!"
Danae's voice was heard issuing from upstairs. "Sure, when YOU get your ruddy stinkin trash outa my room!"
Miranda raced up the stairs, muttering curses under her breath.
Soon, Danae came down, carrying a chair, the chair she had turned into an extra bed for Miranda when she'd first arrived. Now, it was a chair again, and it was going back down into the basement.
Miranda tried to plead her case. "where am I gonna sleep? Geez!"
"In the basement on the couch - for now!" Danae replied sharply. "An' you can get busy cleanin out yer end of the closet too. An I'm warnin you, if you nick anything of mine--"
Miranda blasphemed.
"Miranda, that's enough! You are not to use Christ's name in vain, not in my house, do you understand?"
"As if you could make me, stupid cow!" Miranda retorted venomously.
"You take that back!" NT shouted at her in turn.
Ariel looked hurt, she couldn't hide it any longer, but somehow didn't seem to know how to be firm enough with Miranda.
"Why should I listen to you anyway? It used to be you were taking orders from Daddy and me." Miranda whined in one of her snotty, superior tones.
"That's over!" NT shot back, turning white, then red with anger. "And if you bring that up again I'll--"
"It's all right, NT, let Danae handle it." Ariel tried to make NT subside.
"No, it's *NOT all right!" NT fired back.
"Put a sock in it and choke on it, N!" Miranda ranted.
Finally, pushed way beyond her limit, NT let her have it. "I'll make you shut your demn mouth!" she shouted, lunging for Miranda.
It did get physical, with hair tearing, slapping, scratching on the part of both girls, and a great deal of screaming at each other.
Pippi had come down from working at the computer in her room. Unable to get a word in edgewise, she had quietly observed a good deal of the fight, enough to get more than the jist of what had caused it all, and was definitely unimpressed.
She took hold of Miranda and shook her, while Ariel pulled NT away.
"Miranda!" Pippi raised her voice at the girl for the first time. And that was all she needed to say.
Miranda froze and looked at Pippi in surprise.
"That's enough out of you." Pippi continued in a lower but no less firm tone.
"But she's--" Miranda started to say.
"Did you hear what I just said?" Pippi asked, staring angrily into Miranda's eyes.
"I want her gone!" NT was heard sobbing angrily as she ran up the stairs to her room. "Either she goes or I do!"
Ariel followed her and tried to talk with her while Pippi and Miranda continued arguing down in the living room.
"But you didn't hear what Danae was--" Miranda started going into her victim act.
"I heard enough." Pippi refused to let Miranda make any attempt to snivel her way out of this one. "You wouldn't have half the problems you did if you'd act anywhere near your age."
"Oh, please! Tell that to the little brat up there!" Miranda ranted. "Look at her for cripes sake! 'I want her gone!'" Miranda made a very exaggerated wail in a mock immitation of NT, "And you call *me* childish!?"
""*You've* wanted *her* gone since the day you came, Miranda. If NT's acting childish right now, you've given her plenty of reason to, and--"
"Right! Take her side!" Miranda flushed and started turning on the waterworks. "Just like everybody else here! I thought you were different, Pippi, I used to think you were cool and level-headed. But--"
"Quite frankly, my dear," Pippi said in a clipped, annoyed tone, "I don't care about your low opinion of me. Don't even try that tactic. This is about *you* Miranda - not me, not Ariel or Danae - or even NT...you."
"I'm not!" Miranda wailed. "Nobody understands me! You don't understand--"
"Miranda!" Pippi shook her again, letting her know she was not about to play into anything. "Don't insult my intelligence by pretending you really think you've done nothing to antagonize everybody in this house since the day you set foot in it."
Victim act not working, pride wounded, Miranda's temper flared once again. "Insult your intelligence? What's there to insult?" she flung back, heedlessly.
Almost as soon as she said it, she began to regret it. "Hey! Let go!" she cried out as a now sufficiently provoked Pippi Longstocking picked her up and hauled her up the stairs. "Pippi!" Miranda protested, but Pippi said nothing as she carried her along. "What're you doing!?"
"Something that should've been done long ago." Pippi replied in disgust.
She got to the top of the stairs and turned in the opposite direction of NT's room. The bathroom was right at the end of that hall.
Pippi carried the flailing, kicking and screaming Miranda into the bathroom and shut the door firmly with a free hand, then turned on the light.
"What the freakin hex are you doing!?" Miranda demanded.
Pippi didn't even have to work too hard to get Miranda's mouth open, since the girl was yelling a mile a minute. But when Miranda saw that Pippi had put soap on a cloth and was about to cram it into her mouth, she became horrified.
Miranda couldn't close her mouth in time, nor could she bite down once Pippi began putting the soapy cloth in, because Pippi held her jaws open.
Miranda put up a huge fuss, as was expected, and she even started trying to force out the tears, so pippi would either feel sorry for her and stop the punishment, or else end up alarming Ariel, Danae, or even NT, who might think Pippi was abusing her.
Pippi withdrew the cloth and set Miranda down. "Now rince well."
"Bleuch!" Miranda complained.
Pippi watched her for a moment, then turned and left without saying another word.
Miranda stood there, stupidly staring at the mirror. She was absolutely dumbfounded.
She had thought Ariel might throw her out, or Danae might hit her, or NT might put a spell on her for revenge. But never had she expected Pippi to be so angry as to punish her.
But even in her anger, Pippi seemed errily controled. That plus her unusual strength which prevented Miranda from getting away, made her all the more frightening.
All this time, Miranda had been a little bit creeped out by Danae - now it began dawning on her. It was Pippi, the one she had actually liked out of all these residents, who Miranda should've been careful to steer clear of.
But how could she have? Pippi wasn't blind or stupid, and she had seen Miranda's bullying for what it was, long ago.
Miranda rebuked herself, she should have realized. Well, now it was official, she and Pippi were enemies too.