Nothing, absolutely nothing, could knock Lori off her stride today. Even now, as she drove her noisy, disorderly siblings from school to home, their backseat antics did nothing to wipe her plastered grin off her face.

Normally, she would only take a few of her siblings with her from school to take them back to the house, leaving the others to either walk or take the bus. She knew firsthand that her siblings would always get rowdy whenever they were driven around in Vanzilla as a group, especially without their parents around to keep a tight leash on them and restore order. Even she was guilty of falling out of line with them from time to time.

But today, oh goodness, today had been fantastic for Lori, so much so that she was in a good enough mood to pick all her siblings up. But then again, why wouldn't she be soaring in the clouds? Not only did she find out that she aced both her American History test and her Calculus test but she won herself a $100 gift card for the Royal Woods Mall at a raffle from her school's "Male Pattern Baldness Cure" fundraiser.

Lori sunk back into the driver's seat and let out a dazed, content sigh, completely blocking off the sibling tomfoolery that would normally give her a splitting migraine and cause her to lash out.

'Make all the noise you want, twerps,' Lori thought to herself. 'You're not killing my joy today. Nothing will.'

The not-so peaceful drive finally came to an end as Lori parked Vanzilla in the driveway. Turning back towards her frenetic passengers, she sweetly announced, "Hey, guys, we're back home."

The melodious tone of her voice caused her siblings to stop mid-motion and give Lori bewildered looks, fully expecting her to unceremoniously kick them out of the van with a barb or two.

"Didn't you guys hear me?" Lori asked in that same unusually silvery voice. "Get in the house, you little rascals."

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the children did as Lori said, bolting out the van to run into the house, toppling over each other and hollering in the process.

Only Lincoln stayed behind, slowly exiting the van and waiting for Lori to come out. Once she did, he stepped in front of her to prevent her from going any further.

"Uh, Lori?"

"Yeeeees, Lincoln?" Lori responded ever-so delightfully along with batting her eyelashes.

That gesture caused Lincoln to flinch back and almost go running for the hills. It had been a long time since Lori had ever acted like this and it was starting to freak him out.

"Is…is everything okay?" Lincoln asked.

He let out a grunt of annoyance when Lori simply giggled and ruffled his hair.

"Why, of course, you silly goose," Lori teased. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

Lincoln could only shrug helplessly.

"I mean, I…I guess that you-"

"Oh, Lincoln, you're so adorable when you act all concerned for your sisters! C'mere, you!"

Before he could make sense of his sister's weird behavior, Lori had picked him off the ground and squeezed him tightly in a bear hug, causing breath to rush out of his lungs as he wheezed and spluttered at how roughly clamped on it was.

Finally, she released him and dragged him behind her by the hand despite his protests. Once they approached the door, they found their parents standing by the doorway with smiles on their faces. Lori let go of Lincoln's aching hand to run up to them and give them each a hug.

"Hello, dearest mother and father," Lori said, looking at them both expectantly.

"Um…h-hey, Lori," Lynn Sr. replied.

"We, uh, we were waiting for you and Lincoln to get in here so we could tell you kids something important," Rita added with a nervous smile.

Lori could only beam even brighter at that revelation. Why, with everything that was going her way today, who was to say that her parents hadn't chipped in and bought her own car? Or a yacht? Or a private jet?!

The point was, she had to find out. Now.

Taking Lincoln's hand again, Lori looked down at her freaked-out brother and said, "Well, you heard them, Lincoln. Let's go!"

With that, Lori sped past her parents, dragging a dissenting, grumbling Lincoln along until she was in front of the living room couch, where her other siblings sat and looked on her with befuddled expressions at Lori's demeanor, much like they did in the van.

Ignoring them, Lori found a spot right in the middle of the sofa and squeezed herself in. Then, she picked Lincoln up and plopped him onto her lap, looking over his head and flailing limbs as her parents shuffled in.

"So, kids," Lynn Sr. began as he and his wife stood in front of the TV, "we have something we'd like to say. Now, there are three parts to this news: good news, bad news, and more good news."

Although Lori slightly winced at "bad news", she had a gut feeling that the "bad news" would either not affect her, given her great fortune today, or it would be so minor that all the good stuff would offset the bad.

Either way, Lori was confident that she'd come out of this all smiles.

"The good news is, a few of my co-workers, along with myself, got invited by our boss to visit the DHCC tonight," Lynn Sr. continued.

"It gets better," Rita interjected. "The invite also said that he's allowed to bring family along for the trip."

Lori, along with her siblings, squealed in delight and bounced about in their seats. The Duke Hill Country Club(DHCC) was one of the most prestigious country clubs in the entire state. Anyone, who wasn't a member, would be more likely to dive into a volcano and climb out unharmed than get a single glance at the building in person, let alone actually go in person.

'I knew today would only get better,' Lori thought. 'I just knew it! There's nothing that can-'

"However, this is also where the bad news comes in," Rita interrupted with a sad inflection, causing everyone not named Lynn Sr. to lean in anticipation while holding out hope that the bad news wasn't too bad.

The nervous chuckle from Lynn Sr. didn't mollify their anxiety at all.

"See, the club only allows for visitors and members to be thirteen and over. No exceptions. That means that Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily will have to stay behind while the rest of us go."

The room filled with the cacophony of cheers and grumbling with Lori doing the loudest on either end. She was in the clear and that was all that mattered. While she whooped and hollered jubilantly, her eyes scanned down to Lincoln, who was pouting with folded arms.

Though Lori did feel a pang of sympathy for her brother, along with everyone else who would be missing out, she was far too self-absorbed in her own joy to give them any pity, especially since they wanted to act like brats in the van earlier and threaten to chip away at her good mood.

In her mind, this called for a little rubbing in.

"Awww, don't be sad, Lincoln," Lori "consoled" with a hint of condescension as she petted his head, "you'll get in once you're older. You just have to wait for another two years."

She smirked inwardly at the dirty glare he casts her, loving how truly dejected and ruffled he was. Unfazed, Lori thought that maybe it'd teach him a thing or two about getting on her nerves all the time.

Before her silent gloating could continue, however, Lynn broke up the noisy commotion with a question.

"But wait, if we're going to the club, who's gonna be watching them?" Lynn asked while jabbing a finger at her uninvited siblings.

"Oh, oh, I know," Leni said enthusiastically as she waved her arms animatedly, "Lori can babysit them like she always does!"

Besides Leni, everyone in the room, even Lily, facepalmed.

"Um, Leni," Luna told her confused sister, "Lori's coming with us. She can't be in two places at once."

"Not until I have my cloning machine up and running, at least" Lisa said.

She then glowered at her parents.

"Shouldn't be too much of an issue since I'll be staying home."

Rita chuckled. "Now, now, Lisa. You haven't heard the other good news yet."

Lisa raised a challenging eyebrow as a gesture of her disbelief.

"Oh? And what exactly do you have in store that can placate my angst?"

Lynn Sr. got on eye-level with her by kneeling down in front of her, smiling at her as if his news was a guarantee to get her at least a little excited.

"We'll be hiring a babysitter to look after you while we're gone," he told her.

"But not just any babysitter," Rita jumped in. "We'll be sure to get the best one possible!"

Lori frowned a bit at her mother referring to someone other than her as the best babysitter possible. They rarely needed anyone other than her to watch over her younger siblings and by the sounds of it, they didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about handing over that huge responsibility, that obviously only she could handle at such an expert level, to someone else. Even if this person only had to watch over six of them, it would still be such a tall order to fill.

Lori sighed wearily. She supposed that her talent for commanding respect and order had to come at a price, the price of anxiety from not being around to keep things in order while someone less equipped for the job had their hands on the ship's wheel.

Oh well. C'est la vie, as the French would say.

"Like who?" Lincoln asked her mother with a curious gaze.

At that, Lynn Sr. retreated back to his wife's side and rubs the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"Weeeeeeeeell…we haven't quite found one juuuuust yet. We still haven't found someone who can meet up with the high demand of the job. But don't you kids worry about anything. We've got it covered. It's 3:00 now and we'll have to leave the house by 6:00 at the latest if we want to make it there in time by 7:00 like the invite wanted. I'm sure we'll find who we're looking for by then."

After saying his piece, Lynn Sr. left, walking up the stairs while Rita followed behind. The matriarch stops before she can get any further and leans over the banister.

"So, anyways," Rita said, "that's about it. Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn, go get yourselves ready. And as for the rest of you, I expect you to be on your best behavior. I don't want to hear any horror stories when I get back. Understand?"

When she gets a series of "Yes, Mom"'s from her children, Rita goes upstairs to join her husband. Meanwhile, the siblings all disperse, going about their own way…

Except for Lori. Despite the good news of the DHCC settling in, she couldn't help but focus on the situation it left the entire house in. For the first time in Lord knew how long, the house wouldn't be under her watchful eye when the need for a babysitter arose. Though the feeling wasn't entirely permeated within her, Lori still felt that her authority was being usurped from her, snatched away and given into the hands of a total stranger that Mom and Dad would scramble about to find in three hours.

It didn't sit well with her that well. At all.

Even if it was for one night, Lori hated feeling like she wasn't needed. She hated it so much that she cost Leni her driver's license over it, something that she still felt guilty about to this day.

But because of that, she knew that she couldn't be rash and do something stupid to ease her insecurity. With that in mind, she ultimately decided to suck it up and not let the gnawing feeling of helplessness ruin her day.

Like she had promised herself earlier, nothing would kill her joy, especially her own worry.

Later…

'Perfect,' Lori thought as she looked in her compact mirror and applied the last coat of spearmint lip gloss and gave her lips a few puckers to see if she missed a spot.

When she didn't find any faults in her application, Lori stuffed her makeup in the purse slung over her shoulder and exited the bathroom, feeling as though she was walking on air. Her worries had melted hours ago after a few self-assuring pep talks about not freaking out over the babysitter. She was sure the person would do an adequate job, especially with her mom telling them not to act up. Besides, even if they did need help, Lori could always give some advice over the phone, putting both her and the babysitter at ease all at once.

Finally, she made it down the stairs, where everyone had been waiting for her by the front door. She had taken the liberty of looking especially elegant, even though casual wear was the only thing that they needed to have on.

"About time you showed up," Luna grumbled. "We were waiting forever."

Lori rolled her eyes and gave Luna a playful slap on the back.

"Oh, come now, Luna. The babysitter hasn't even shown up yet so it's not as if we could've left any time soon. Besides, I needed to make sure I looked my best so I had to break out the spearmint lip gloss this time around."

Luan covered her hands over her mouth and snickered.

"I guess you didn't want to gloss over anything, eh, sis?" Luan joked, prompting her "captive" audience to groan and shake their heads, except for Lynn Sr, who laughed out loud.

"Good one, Luan," Lynn Sr. praised between chuckles.

While the pun-loving brunettes laughed together, Lola and Lana shuffled closer to the door until they were in front of Rita, looking up at her.

"So yeah, when is the babysitter coming?" Lola asked.

"And better yet, who is it?" Lana added.

At the questions she got, Rita checked her watch and smiled, finding that they were making good time despite the babysitter's absence.

"Well, seeing as how she's the best one we could hope to find in such short notice, I'm sure she'll be here by 5:30 like she promised," Rita promised.

Lola and Lana grinned widely at the pronoun "she".

"It's a 'she'?!" Lola squealed. "Ooooooh, I hope she loves to accessorize!"

"I hope she knows how to take care of pets," Lana hoped with a twinkle in her eye.

"I'd be pleased if she knew a thing or two about the occult," Lucy said, making everyone around her jump up with a shriek at Lucy's "sudden" intrusion.

After calming down his racing heart, Lynn Sr. said, "I don't know if she's into all of that but what I do know is that she'll be worth every penny. Isn't that right, Rita?"

Rita nodded. "Absolutely. We were both shocked when we found her profile on this website called Sitters4Hire and how…well, perfect she is for the job. She's one of the highest rated babysitters in Michigan. In fact, she even has a perfect five-star rating out of over 200 different ratings. Oh, and get this, even though she was in high demand, she chose our job offering specifically. Aren't we lucky or what?"

Lori scoffed under her breath. Perfect? Five stars? As if. The only way this person could be anyone of those things was if she was doing the job. Nonetheless, she supposed with those credentials, she could hope to be a good fit for second place; out of her league by a wide margin but second place all the same.

"So, I gotta ask, Dad," Lori asked amusedly, "who is our valiant, perfect knight in shining armor, coming to our rescue while we whisk away to a wonderful land of class and refinement?"

Lynn Sr. smirked and chortled, catching his daughter's almost acidic mirth easily and finding amusement in it himself.

"Well," Lynn Sr. explained, "your 'knight in shining armor' is…uhhhhh…"

Lynn Sr. paused and looked around at the expectant faces of his children. Shyly, he leaned over to Rita and whispered, "Uhhh…Rita?"

"Yes?"

"How do you say her last name again?"

Rita shook her head, rolled her eyes, and did what he requested when she whispered the name in his ear.

"Oh, right! Of course!" Lynn Sr. said and lightly bonked himself in the side of the head a few times with his fist. "I almost forgot for a second! It's quite the mouthful, I must say!"

He punctuated his excuse with a weak laugh before clearing his throat.

"A-anyways, you'll know who she is, Lori, because it said on her profile that she attends the same high school as you. Her name's Carol Pingrey."

In that split second, Lori's mind completely snaps, her brain melting and oozing underneath the weight of her boiling fury that she hides under the guise of an unnaturally large, toothy smile.

It couldn't be. I-It shouldn't be! This had to be a dream, some sort of nightmare that she hadn't waken up from. She should've expected this; her day had been doing so well, too. She never had a break this lucky in a long time so it made sense that it was just a dream that was now spinning wildly out of control and into the depths of the worst personal hell imaginable.

Carol Pingery? Babysitting her siblings? Pssh, of course it was just a nightmare.

Right?

RIGHT?!

"I'm…I'm sorry," Lori weakly retorted through her gritted teeth, "could you, uh, repeat that again for me? You said her name is…?"

"Carol…Pingrey?" Lynn Sr. replied apprehensively, noting his daughter's disturbing face.

Oh. Oooooookay. Well then…

Lori dropped to her knees, still wearing the smile on her face that everyone around her found extremely unsettling. Her left eye twitching didn't help settle their anxiety one bit.

"Lori?" Lincoln called out to her as he cautiously approached her unmoving, frozen form.

When he was right in front of her, he waved his hand up close to her face, trying to coax her to respond like a normal, totally not insane person would.

"Loooooooori?"

He flinched when Lori quickly turned her head towards him, all while wearing her creepy grin. He felt his stomach parkouring about and his heart thumping erratically, not liking Lori's silent replies at all. He had a feeling that something was off with her today, but he didn't imagine it would make her turn out like this.

For the final time, Lincoln tried to get through to his eldest sister, this time more directly.

"Lori, is everything ok-"

He yelped when Lori finally dropped her smile, leaned into him, and stood by as she sucked in a big breath of air in her chest before letting it all out in one loud, elongated monosyllabic word that was so heavily associated with her.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"