The yellow bus stopped in front of 55 Woodland Drive. Brandi Broke was waiting, looking heated. A blond teenager got off the bus, holding hands with a red haired girl.

'Dustin Broke!' Brandi yelled. Dustin looked staggered as he approached his mother.

'Yes, mother? What is it?' He tried to sound insolent, even though he feared his mother's rage. She had used to be fairly nice, but nothing was the same anymore.

'Show me your report card.'

The report card – she couldn't have forgotten, of course. She knew he was doing poorly at school. Dustin held his breath as he waited for his mother's outburst, but she just muttered, 'You know, Dustin, your father wouldn't be proud of you right now.'

Dustin blinked; that was hitting below the belt. He hadn't realized Angela's arm around his neck until he heard her whispering in his ear, 'You okay?'

The two teenagers climbed the stairs to the tiny pink house. He wasn't okay, but he didn't want to express it; Angie had been so helpful, she deserved a bit of happiness.

They sat on Dustin's bed. 'Well,' Angela said, her emerald eyes narrowing, her smile widening. 'Are we going to do it or what?' Are you going to kiss me or are you going to break up with me? It wasn't easy: he had just started going steady with her childhood friend, but they hadn't kissed yet. He closed his eyes and approached her. The kiss felt odd; it wasn't like he had expected it.

'I – I have to go to work,' he stuttered. 'See you tomorrow.'

'Yeah,' she said. 'See you.'

Angela Pleasant lived nearby. She hung her keys on the door and ran upstairs to her bedroom. She heard the giggles of her father and their attractive maid, Kaylynn. Angela knew that they were having an affair, and so did everyone else in the neighbourhood except for her mother, Mary Sue Pleasant. Mary Sue was too centred in her career to pay attention to her spouse and daughters.

Daniel wrapped Kaylynn's waist with his arms, and whispered in her ear, 'My wife is going to be late from work.' They ran to the master bedroom, and started woohooing.

Mary Sue had been sent early from work – and told not to come back the next day. That was it, she had been fired. All her efforts to climb the career ladder had been rendered useless, and all because of one little mistake. She walked through the front door, her head down. At least, she thought, Dan's not working today. He'll console me. With that soothing thought, she entered the master bedroom… and gasped in shock.

'DANIEL PLEASANT, YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU? CHEATING! ON! ME! WITH! THE! MAID!' Mary Sue yelled while hitting his face, which was now scarlet red.

'Mary Sue, listen to me! I was… thinking about you the -!' He couldn't finish, because this time it was Kaylynn who slapped him. He looked at her in disbelief.

Panting, Mary Sue got out a suitcase from underneath the closet and started filling it with her husband's possessions. She sounded more calm when she said, 'Kaylynn, you're fired.'

Kaylynn got promptly dressed and out of the house. Daniel and Mary Sue just stared at each other, speechless, motionless – none of them dared say a word, and Mary Sue opened the door. By then, the twins were already listening by the door, so they almost fell to the ground.

'Lilith, I need to talk to you,' Angela whispered. They went to Lilith's room. Angela looked repelled by Lilith's interior decoration, but she didn't say anything about it.

'This is terrible,' she said once they were alone. 'What are we going to do?'

'What do you mean, what are we going to do? They've gotten what they deserve. Mum's too absorbed by her job to care about anything, and Dad's just a cheater.

'But Lilith, we've got to do something!'

'No.' Lilith turned her back on Angela, got out her MP3 player and started listening to metal.

'You're unbelievable!'

Dina Caliente was on the Jacuzzi. She'd just invited Mortimer over, after spending the whole day at her neighbour's, Don. She'd gotten tired of waiting for Mortimer to propose; she'd have to do it herself. Meanwhile, Nina was preparing dinner for them: everything had to be perfect.

When Mortimer arrived, she greeted him with a kiss and took him to the dining room. 'So, Mortimer… have you ever though… about us?'

'I don't know, Dina… I'm still a married man.'

Dina laughed. 'To Bella? You know she's never coming back. Alexander needs a mother. Where is our relationship going?' She swallowed. 'I mean, if we're not formalizing our relationship, maybe we should just split up.'