Prologue

"Daphne, you don't get it, if she finds you, she'll kill you! You have to hide!"

Daphne looked frantically around but footsteps sounded in the girls ears, in perfect rhythm to their pumping hearts.

They backed against the wall, not knowing what else to do, feeling helpless.

"DAPHNE ANN BLAKE, YOU GET HERE THIS INSTANT!"

Daphne's breathing went shallow and her arms went numb, this was it, she had been close to death before but she knew that something was about to go so horribly wrong.

"DAPHNE, I SAID GET HERE NOW!"

"Oh God, Daisy, I don't wanna die this way!"

Daisy looked at her sister sympathetically, but Daphne knew there was nothing she could do, this was her fate...

She took her first steps onto the landing when it pounced on her like a hound with a thirst for fresh blood. Daphne screamed, hands pulled at her hair, feet kicked her shins, this was it, she felt her last breath escape her...

"Delilllaaa, get ov me youf squafing my fashe ow!" Daphne yelled as her sister's hand pinned her head to the floor.

"Hey lil' sis! I know all seventeen types of strangulation, I know how to handle a bazooka, I could kill you in your sleep with a party popper and have this house blown up within ten minutes, you better not lie to me again, now where is my benefit foundation. I know you had it and...YOU'RE WEARING IT NOW!" Delilah wiped a wet wipe out of her pocket and scrubbed Daphne's face. "I want every inch of this foundation off, you owe me!"

Daphne attempted to move but her sister was in the army after all and you would think a tiny bit of make-up wouldn't bother her at all but NOO! After about ten minutes of 'I hate you', 'I hate you more' and 'You better not go to sleep Daphne, or at least hide that raw spaghetti from me, you have no idea what I can do to you with that...' Daphne decided to visit her other sister Dawn to see she could hide her tender and raw red skin with some of her foundation in there, after all you know it's got to be good if a model wears it. She knocked on her door but there was no answer.

"Dawn, can I come in? Please can I use some of your foundation? I am in desperate need of some! Delilah made me look like a lobster!" Daphne said loudly through the oak wooden door. "Dawn?" She pushed the door open and what met Daphne eyes next was so disgusting she could never speak about it again, unless you count that time with Velma at the beach, or when she told Shaggy in the lighthouse but after those times!

"Dawn, what the hell are you...OH GOD! MY EYES!" Daphne clamped her hands over her entire face but the audio she heard next was just as bad as the visual.

"Daphne, oh God!"

Zippp! "Daniel, get out of here!"

Slurp Slurp Slurp "I love you!"

"Daphne! What do you think you are doing?" Dawn screamed as Daniel hastily pulled on his crumpled shirt and scuttled down the stairs.

"Me! What do you think you're doing, and more importantly, WHO do you think you're doing?"

Dawn's face reddened with embarrassment. "That's Daniel."

"Yeah I guessed that!"

"He's my boyfriend."

"Oh you don't say!"

"Daphne! Please don't tell mum! Daniel and I are serious! We've been going out for nearly a year and-"

"A YEAR AND YOU HAVEN'T TOLD US!"

Dawn rugby tackled Daphne into her room and slammed the door behind her. "What the hell is wrong with you? NO, don't get up, I need to explain."

Daphne had just attempted to make a beeline for the door. "Okay, explain it to me!"

"Well, Daniel and I have been on and off for over a year now but we made it official three months ago and in my defence I am eighteen now and that is perfectly legal you know and it wasn't like everything went in-"

"I beg of you not to finish that sentence!" Daphne looked at Dawn once more before leaving for the privacy of her own room.

She slung herself over her purple plastic chair. Why is her family life so complicated? Everyone seemed so distant and parallel from one and other. Dawn and this Daniel guy had been going out for over a year and she had told no one. Some family we have, she thought. I wish we had it easy, everyone thinks my life is so good. Being a poor little rich girl with four sisters that everyone wants to date. The truth is she felt like a splodge of blue in a mix of perfect Blake purple, the odd ball. I'm not popular or naturally pretty (it really is amazing what make up can do.) The only thing I really love is my friends but that was the only main thing that counted.

Beep!

Daphne, call me now. Fred found something in the town called Winter Spring. Apparently some sort of freaky man has been robbing banks and stuff, he has already successfully robbed local little banks and kept 13 people hostage but no one has been hurt...yet. Please call me when you get this, you need to come over and talk to me about it! Also I have some serious gossip from Shaggy about Fred! Run if you have too!

Love Velma xxxx

Daphne smiled, once a best friend always a best friend, she thought.