Chapter Ninety-Eight: A Short-Lived Victory

The bell rang to
signify the end of another school day. After the hope of yesterday,
today had been a disappointment.

Sammy was about to find
out why.

“Ah, Mr. Samuel.
Could I have a word to you about what my son was doing yesterday?”
One of the parents approached him.

“Of course…”
Sammy replied warily.

“I honestly don't
believe that you should be wasting our childrens time with this
wishy-washy huggy-wuggy rubbish.” The parent started.

“Of course YOU would.
Your son has been attacking my daughter for weeks.” Another parent
grumbled.

Sammy knew what was
coming.

“My son is a
respectful young man, if your young trollop can't dress
appropriately-,”

Sammy quickly got
between the two parents, but the damage was done. The second parent
spat at the first and stormed out in a huff, and Sammy had to stop
the first parent from storming after the second to thump them.

“It seems that
there's a subsection of parents who don't want to take responsibility
for parenting and letting our children suffer for it!” Another
parent snapped.

“More like you're
raising a pack of sooks who can't look after themselves!”

Sammy groaned.

—

“Hey Dan, hey
'Tunia…holy heck Sammy what happened?!” Belle rushed into Bills
restaurant that evening.

“I had to stop a
brawl at school today.” Sammy was deep into a very large chocolate
cake and not letting up.

“It wasn't a
BRAWL…although it did come close…” Tammy corrected him. “You
managed to calm things down and send everyone home safely.”

“I guess I did.”
Sammy began to feel better.

That was when Charlie
burst in. “There's a HUGE fight happening outside of the primary
school guys!” He immediately launched into his story. Belle shushed
him while Sammy went pale.

“It could be
something completely unrelated Sam, just eat your chocolate cake.”
Lizzy tried to cheer her boyfriend up.

“What is going on,
and why aren't you doing the dishes?” Bill walked out of the
kitchen, throwing a sharp look at Lizzy.

“Problems at work.”
Daniel quickly calmed everyone down. “Sam has had a very rough
day.”

“First Teej, now
Sam.” Petunia flopped into a chair.

“This is probably
gonna get worse before it gets better guys.” Daniel pointed out.

“Why can't anything
ever go smoothly for us?” Belle groaned.

“Because ratings.”
Charlie quipped.

“Handy.” Belle
replied drily as TJ walked in looking frazzled.

“Sammy, what did you
DO?!” He cried. “Parents trying to kill each other all evening!”

“You're blaming ME?!”
Sammy suddenly shot up, ready for a fight.

“Your name came up. A
LOT.” TJ fired. “I had to sort the whole mess out AND write up
the bloody report!”

“Oh you poor thing,
it's not like you were threatened or anything!” Sammy snapped.

“I'm a COP, I'm
always in danger!”

“It's IN YOUR JOB
DESCRIPTION, it's not in MINE!”

“Guys, chill out!”
Tammy and Petunia tried to pull the pair apart while Daniel got
between them.

“This isn't a good
sign.” Belle said to Charlie.

“Gotta break a few
eggs to make a delicious omelette.” Charlie shrugged back.

“Not in my dining
area you don't!” Bill yelled, scaring everyone into silence.

—

“I heard about the
school today. Sounds like your new education modules aren't very
popular.” Demon read his report as Giggles sorted through her
paperwork.

“There were always
going to be teething issues.” Giggles replied, short and curt.

“Who said it was a
bad thing? I'm actually quite impressed with the amount of chaos you
caused in quite the underhanded fashion.” Demon smiled at her,
making her recoil.

“That wasn't the
point and you know it.” Giggles snapped.

“But it could have
been.” Demon pointed out.

“Not on your life.”
Giggles hissed.

“You really should
consider embracing your power to its fullest extent. With your
intelligence and the power of your little Backpack you could easily
make Pleasantville the most profitable it has ever been.”

“If you come any
closer I'm calling harassment.” Giggles pulled out both the Desert
Eagle and the Lucky Seven Gun.

Demon smirked and leaned back in his chair.
Everything seemed to be going well. He had already made sure to keep
Chuckles out of the picture by mentioning Sapphire, all he had to do
now was to get into the mind of Giggles and he could finally turn the
two biggest thorns in his side into his greatest allies. He wouldn't
have to worry about Marions mental health or Revolvers stupidity
anymore.

“I'm just throwing
the idea out there.” Demon backed off a little. “You could do
wonders with your own syndicate behind you.”

Giggles bristled, and
left the office through the window, throwing her paperwork at him as
she left.

“Of course, if you
can't even use a filing cabinet then the door than what's the use of
you?” Demon groaned.