CHAPTER 8

"This is crazy."

"Which part?"

Taffyta stared at the papers strewn all over the floor, full of scribbled notes, drawings, and diagrams of varying legibility. "All of it," she replied. "There's no way we can possibly pull this off! Especially in—" She pulled a stack of papers towards her and riffled through it until she found the one she was looking for, then finished, "—fifteen minutes? This is like, the most complicated thing I've ever seen." She turned the paper towards him. There was a list of steps, with arrows drawn to flip their order, numbers crossed out, and something written sideways up the edge of the page that she doubted he'd even be able to read at this point. "How would we do it so fast?"

King Candy was laying on his stomach on the floor, sketching something on a blank sheet of paper. Without looking up, he said, "No other way to do it. From start to finish, it'll take thirteen and a half to seventeen minutes." Glancing at her—and the paper that she was still holding up—he added, "I only need three minutes to get into the code vault, find the code, and change it. Four, topsth."

Running a hand through her hair, Taffyta put the sheet of paper down on top of the stack and asked, "What if I can't do all this other stuff fast enough? What if you get caught and it's my fault?"

"Don't get caught," he said with a grin.

She pouted. "I'm serious."

With one eyebrow raised, he said, "So am I." He put the pencil down and planted his elbow on the floor, propping his head on the heel of his hand. "Look, we'll go through it, okay? You'll be fine. I have the utmostht faith in you."

Laughing humorlessly, Taffyta repeated, "Go through it? It's not like we can do a dry run of this."

Without taking his eyes off her, he said, "No, so listen, a verbal dry run's going to have to be good enough. Right? Let's start. First step, go."

Her mind went blank and she froze. Even though they'd spent the last three hours talking this through, planning, taking notes, finalizing this totally kookoo for cocoa puffs scheme, she couldn't remember how it started. And the first part was hers, too. What if when they went to do this for real, she forgot the very beginning of it?

"The castle," he prompted.

Pieces clicked together in her mind. "Oh! Oh yeah, that's right! We go to the castle right before the guard rotation for the camera room. I stall the guard coming on for his shift while you go to the camera room."

"Good, excellent, that's right." The camera room had been a new addition after the game had reset. Surge had suggested it, if Taffyta's casual eavesdropping was correct. The code there was separate from the code vault and it had been set up that way as an extra security measure. This way, if King Candy wanted to get into the code vault, he had to find a way to get around the separate security cameras. "Say whatever you have to to keep him occupied," King Candy went on. "Then I sneak into the camera room, do some basic coding, and set the cameras to play a loop of the last uneventful hour."

Clearly Surge and Vanellope hadn't thought much about how easy it would be for King Candy to circumvent this failsafe. Or maybe they just hadn't counted on someone helping him to do it. The cameras were trained on the code vault at all times, so all they needed to do was put their plan into action at a time when they knew Vanellope had been outside the throne room for the past hour. And considering how little time she spent there, between racing during the day and hanging out with Ralph at night, that wouldn't be hard.

She took a deep breath and looked at the window. Should they have drawn the curtains? "That's the easy part, though. After we rig the cameras, that's when I might mess up." When she stopped, twisting a strand of hair around her finger nervously, he motioned with a hand for her to go on. Setting her shoulders, she said, "Then I put on your Turbo jumpsuit and helmet and steal Vanellope's kart."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she buried her face in her hands. It sounded horrible, it sounded like a terrible idea, and yet, even with her fingers digging into her eyebrows, even with her heart thrumming with fear, she couldn't bring herself to put a stop to it. They had to get rid of the randomizer. It was bad for their game. If she let things go on like this, it was going to end with Sugar Rush getting unplugged. She knew that so deep in her code that she felt like she'd been programmed with the knowledge.

King Candy nodded, a small smile on his face. "Once you do that, you'll get everyone in Game Central Station scrambling." Holding up one of the pieces of paper with a diagram on it, he said, "And then you activate this."

Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she leaned forward and studied it. The page was split into two halves, and on one was a drawing of a box with a button on it. A cross section on the other half showed the box split open, with some kind of circuit board inside and wires criss-crossing the cavity. "Right…this. Explain this to me again?"

He pointed at the cross section. "Thisth will contain a fragment of my code. There'll be a teeny tiny transmitter inside, very limited range so this part is important, you need to get within a certain radius of an outlet entrance."

Taffyta continued staring at the diagram. "And you need me to crash."

"Unless you have a better idea of how to cause the maximum amount of disruption."

Shaking her head, she said, "Not really." Of the two of them, he was probably the expert on big, dramatic scenes designed to get everyone's attention. "So I drive through Game Central Station and make as much of a scene as possible and everybody thinks I'm you. Everyone who the arcade's trained to deal with you game-jumping—" King Candy scoffed, "—is going to rush in to stop me. That'll include the Oreo guard in the throne room whose job is to watch the code vault."

"Luckily most of them have no idea that not only are you the best racer in this game—currently, of course, seeing as how I'm not allowed within one hundred feet of any starting line—you also happen to be pretty killer at the art of the controlled crash." He raised an eyebrow. "I taught you that."

She shrugged. "I improved on what you taught me."

"Hoohoohoo!" He rocked back, kicked his feet out in mirth, and caught himself on his hands before he fell backwards. "That'sth my girl."

Her eyes returned to the diagram. "Once I crash, I can activate this…button thing with your code in it. Everyone will panic when the alarm goes off on whatever game I'm closest to, and while everyone's freaking out between the crash and what they think is you game-jumping, I change out of your dorky jumpsuit and sneak away."

"I'll ignore the sartorial slight," he said, leaning on one hand. She smirked. "While you're doing all that, I'll go into the code vault. By the time you get back, I should be halfway back to the house."

Something niggled at her memory. "The code vault…didn't Vanellope say something about you not knowing the code to get in?"

"Oh, that." He waved his hand dismissively and said, "You know, the glitch really isn't that tech savvy. She needs to learn to hide passwords better. I saw her enter the whole thing when I fixed the game three months ago."

Her eyes widening in surprise, she said, "You've known the code to get in this whole time?"

Chuckling, he replied, "Played that close to my chest, didn't I? Well, you know, no point in saying anything. I never knew if it would come in handy."

She watched him for a minute. Too bad no one except her would ever know he could have gotten into the code vault this entire time. Maybe it would have counted for something with all of them. Then again, maybe not. It didn't seem to occur to him that this was something he should be proud of, but…well, she was proud of him.

When she'd been silent for another minute, King Candy cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows at her. Taffyta still hesitated before she spoke. This plan—this nutso plan—actually sounded like it could work. That might have been the craziest thing of all. Leaning forward and wrapping her hands around her shoes, she said, "Okay, but there's just one other thing. How are we going to deal with the fact that everyone will think you stole Vanellope's kart and tried to game-jump?"

Flicking a hand, he said, "Oh, I'll talk my way out of that."

"No offense, but I'm not sure you have the cred to talk your way out of anything." After chewing at her lip for a second, she added, "The last thing I want is for you to get locked up in the fungeon again. I don't know if Vanellope would let you out."

She couldn't stand that. After the months of begging that it had taken to get him released in the first place, and all the awkwardness of the pain of him trying to just…to just…exist in the arcade now, for him to get thrown back in the fungeon was unthinkable. The Random Roster Race wasn't worth that. Running a hand through her hair, she said, "I don't know about any of this if it means you get locked up again."

There was a look of surprise on his face, as though it was shocking that she'd put his well-being above anything else. "I'll say I was bored." With a shrug, he added, "And that the alarm was too sensitive for whatever game you set off. Blaming Surge is alwaysth a sure bet. You know, tell them I didn't want to game jump, I just got…stir-crazy in here."

"Stir-crazy?" she repeated doubtfully. "I don't know. Do you think anyone will buy that?"

"Well, maybe try not to crash anywhere near a racing game." He shot her a grin. "In fact, now that I think about it, maybe try to make it something I've demonstrated absolutely no interest in visiting."

Raising her eyebrows, she asked, "Like Virtua Cop?"

He rolled his eyes. "Exthactly. Why anyone would want to play that, let alone visit it in their off-hours, is beyond me. Oy. What a nightmare game."

She kept chewing her lip. "I guess you've made it pretty obvious how stupid you think it is. That Janet lady tried to throw a punch at you last time you were bad-mouthing it."

Holding up a hand, he said, "Oh, actually, that was because I told her without the body armor she'd have a great figure—what? After Sergeant Psychopath I have a phobia of women in kevlar, what can I say?"

Taffyta made a face. "Gross."

"Y'know, I would say someday you'll understand that sort of thing, but I sthuppose you won't. That whole being a nine-year-old forever."

"Gross."

With a laugh, King Candy said, "Okay, okay, point taken. We'll stay off the subject of my romantic conquests. Or, you know, lack thereof since Sugar Rush reset."

"GROSS!" Taffyta shuddered. "Just…stop. Ew. Yuck. I don't wanna hear about it. Let's just…get back to sneaking into the code vault, reprogramming the game, and breaking every rule in the arcade." Betraying everything and everyone in Litwak's suddenly felt a lot less horrifying if it meant she didn't have to hear about King Candy and…and…girls. It hadn't ever occurred to her that he might have had, like, a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or, oh god, like, maybe more than one. This was an aspect of her friend that she'd never once considered, and she wanted nothing more than to never consider it again.

Shaking herself, she said, "Okay, fine, I'll do my best to crash over by Virtua Cop. It's all the way over by Tapper's and Space Invaders so that should give you plenty of time to get into the code vault."

"Good." He shot her a grin. "I know you can do it."

She couldn't help but smile at the praise. "I mean, I am the best racer in the game."

"Better not let the glitch hear you say that."

With a scowl, Taffyta said, "Yeah, well, she has an unfair advantage. And it's Vanellope, by the way."

"Hoohoohoo! You're slipping, Taff. Took you a whole five secondsth to correct me, there." King Candy stood up and stretched his arms over his head, yawning widely. "Anyway, I'd say that's an excthellent night's work, wouldn't you?"

Taffyta stretched her legs out in front of her, knocking her shoes together. "I guess. But…there's kind of one thing we didn't decide." When King Candy raised an eyebrow, she said, "When we're doing this."

He picked up one of the sketches. "Good point. Not tomorrow."

"Oh my god, no!" Taffyta said, panic flooding through her at the thought.

Smiling at her slightly, as if he could tell she was just on the verge of freaking out—what was she thinking, of course he could; it's not like she was subtle—he made a paper airplane out of the sketch. "Give me a couple days to write the code and build this little thing-a-ma-jig. That's the technical term, you know."

He sent the paper airplane sailing through the air and she caught it as it went by her. "Okay," she said. Then, she sighed, the paper airplane dropping to her side and crumpling against her dress.

"What?"

"Oh, it's just…ugh." Her conscience was poking her, that was what it was. Now that she'd decided to do this, her conscience was just a stupid inconvenience. "I have to ask Vanellope about the Random Roster Race," Taffyta sighed. "She's probably gonna say no, but…I have to ask."

To her surprise, King Candy didn't say anything to this. He just smiled crookedly, with a hint of acerbity in his expression. "Two days," he said.

Taffyta drew in a breath. "Two days."

She figured she'd spend the next two days stewing until she finally worked up the nerve to talk to Vanellope, but a surprise arrived just before the arcade opened the next morning. Taffyta was in the kitchen, absently popping marshmallows into her mouth for breakfast, when she heard the door open and close. Popping her head around the cabinets, she saw King Candy waving an envelope.

"Hand-delivered," he said. Taffyta's gaze flicked to the window, where she could see Candlehead with her nose pressed against the glass, mouthing something that looked like see you soon! Taffyta waved and stifled a giggle, remembering that Candlehead was on the roster today, too. As the other girl skipped off, King Candy shook his head and said, "You know, every now and then it occurs to me how strange she is."

With a shrug, Taffyta said, "I guess. What's that?"

Tossing it to her, he said, "It'sth addressed to you."

Mail! She'd never gotten mail before. With a delighted squeal, she tore the envelope open and pulled out the contents. It was an invitation, on fancy paper, with loopy cursive writing and everything. "Felix and Calhoun are having a housewarming party," she said, surprised. Not like she'd had, like, a preconceived notion of what this invitation was going to be for, but this wasn't what she'd expected, even so.

"Oh?"

"It's for both of us," she said, flipping it around and holding it towards him. "You're invited too!" A grin lit her face. There, proof that not everyone in the arcade hated him! "It's tonight, we're going, right?"

He glitched to Turbo and fiddled with the zipper on his jumpsuit. "I…think I'm going to skip it. But you should go."

With an exasperated huff, she said, "No way. You have to come! You're invited!"

"Pretty sure getting an invitation doesn't make attendance mandatory." He glitched back. "Anyway, justht because I'm on there doesn't mean I'm really welcome."

She stuck her lip out. "Don't be stupid."

Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Well, I try not to be."

"Okay, then come to Felix and Calhoun's thing. It—" She'd been about to say, It'll be good for you to go somewhere besides the same boring old places, but she caught herself and instead said, "It'll be fun." When he just looked at her, she dropped her arms to her sides, the invitation clutched in one hand, and gave him an exasperated look. "King Candy, come on."

He laughed. "Okay, all right, fine, if it meansth that much to you. Now, don't you have a starting line to be at?"

"Oh, sugar." She glanced at the clock, grabbed another handful of marshmallows, and bolted out the door, yelling as she went, "See you later, we'll go to the party after the arcade closes!"

And Taffyta wasn't going to take no for an answer on that invitation. No way was he going to change his mind. If he did, she'd just…make some really, super great argument about why they should go, and he wouldn't be able to resist her logic.

Oh, who was she kidding. She'd just cry.

In the end, he didn't fight her when the arcade closed. He was waiting for her in the stands looking resigned and unenthused, but at least he didn't try to convince her not to go or to go without him. It was possible that the look of determination on her face was enough to dissuade him from attempting it. He even suffered the indignity of riding on the back of her kart again on the trip out to Game Central Station.

Nobody wanted to sit near them on the train to Fix-It Felix, Jr., not that Taffyta was surprised. He stuttered with red binary and glitched to Turbo, plonking his elbow on the side of the car and glaring at the front of the train, where Sonic was sitting and pretending he didn't see them. "I can't believe I let you convince me to come to this," he grumbled.

Considering the sour look on his face, she couldn't quite believe it either. "It could be fun," she said.

"Mmph." He pulled his helmet down over his eyes, then took it off his head entirely and stared at it critically, picking at an apparently nonexistent smudge on the front. Taffyta stared. Had she ever seen him take his helmet off? Underneath was a shock of black hair. His eyes flicked towards her, and he jammed the helmet back on. "Sure, it might be fun. And the glitch might make me vice president."

The train creaked around a bend in the tunnel and slowly rolled into the station in Fix-It Felix, Jr., dinging to announce its arrival. Turbo sat in the train for a second, staring up at the Niceland Apartment Building, before looking at her and opening his mouth to say something. She put a hand on her hip and cocked her head until he moved, muttering something under his breath.

They trooped into the building and up to the apartment without speaking, including while they waited for the elevator with Sonic. Taffyta would have liked to say she couldn't imagine a more awkward silence, but she figured that was probably selling future moments like this one short.

Finally, the elevator came, and once it arrived on Felix and Calhoun's floor, Sonic sped off. "We don't have to stay that long," Taffyta said, like she was conceding something.

He glitched back to King Candy, looked at her, but didn't respond to this. Instead, he produced a glass bottle from somewhere within his tailcoat and said, "By the way, I assume you're fine if I say this isth from both of us? You don't seem to have brought a gift." When she clapped her hands over her mouth in horror, he chuckled and said, "So I'll take that as a yes?"

"I can't believe I forgot a present!" she squeaked. "And where did you get that? Is that wine?"

With a sly smile, he said, "Yes well, you know, I possibly have a stash up at the castle that our Brat-in-Chief hasn't managed to find. And before you say anything," he added, holding up a hand, "I didn't sneak into the castle, I just nicthely asked Sour Bill to get it for me, and, hoo-hoo, yes I know, it's Vanellope."

"Sour Bill did you a favor?" she asked doubtfully.

"After I told him I'd buy him his next ten root beers from Tapper's. "

They turned the corner and saw Sonic knocking on Felix and Calhoun's door, and Taffyta remarked, "A stash of actual, real alcohol isn't very E-rated."

With a grin, King Candy said, "Oh, the obvious joke here is that I was living in a game with fourteen perpetual children—and the glitch, I mean, what a headache—anyone would need a drink in that situation." When she just looked at him, he laughed and said, "Look, it fell off the truck in American Pro Trucker. And I don't mean that in, you know, a shady sense; it literally fell off the truck, there were a bunch of broken bottles, huge wine pond in the middle of the freeway; it was a giant mess and they put out the word that they were just trying to unload all of it before the arcade opened."

Sonic glanced over at them and for a second Taffyta thought he was going to say something, like maybe he had something to add to this story. It was moments like this that she hoped reminded the other characters that King Candy had been part of the fabric of the arcade once. Then the apartment door opened and the moment was gone.

"Well, hi there, Sonic!" Felix's voice said, followed by his head poking out from the door. When he caught sight of Taffyta and King Candy, his face cycled through several emotions, the most obvious of which was shock. "You made it," he said. Or was it more like, you made it? Or you made it?

Taffyta couldn't decide, so she just chirped, "Yep!"

Luckily, Felix was smiling. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Come on in!"

Sonic twitched forward, then stopped, cleared his throat, and said, "Go ahead, guys."

With a slight glitch of red and a disdainful look in Sonic's direction, King Candy entered the apartment, Taffyta right on his heels. A warm bubble of chatter enveloped her and a quick look around told her that besides Vanellope, they were the only characters from Sugar Rush there. She guessed that was a compliment, but like…it was also a little weird. Taffyta didn't exactly have a super special relationship with Felix or Calhoun. Well, except if you counted that Felix had kind of been in charge of getting her better after she'd gone Turbo and brought the virus back to Sugar Rush, but that was more of a reason for her to invite him over, not the other way around.

"Here, this is for you," King Candy said, holding the bottle of wine out to Felix like he couldn't care less. "Congratsth on living in such close proximity to a homicidal maniac."

Felix looked sincerely touched, and also unaffected by the barb, which Taffyta was kind of impressed by. "Why, thank you, Turbo! Or, gosh-all-Potomac, I should've asked—would you rather go by King Candy?"

He blinked. "Er, it doesn't matter."

It was hard not to giggle at the befuddled look on King Candy's face, but she managed not to. Felix ushered them in, pointing them around the corner to the kitchen, where food was laid out on the counter and the central island. Taffyta had been here once before, right before last Christmas. Then, there'd been a big, beautiful Christmas tree in one corner of the living room. Now that spot was taken up by an end table with a lamp sitting on it. The rest of the apartment looked the way she remembered it, spacious but cozy. The couch and two chairs in the living room were all occupied by other guests, and more were milling around the coffee table, where there were several bottles of wine and a bowl of punch.

"Real mid-century modern in here, isn't it?" King Candy observed. "Must be Felix's touch; it's hard to imagine the sergeant there having much in the way of style."

Taffyta glanced over to where he'd just indicated, seeing Calhoun deep in conversation with Ralph and Vanellope, who was perched on the wrecker's soldier. "I don't know," Taffyta said. "At least she's wearing normal clothes right now."

Vanellope looked around and spotted them at that moment, waving to Taffyta and making sure to shoot a glare at King Candy. The rest of the characters at the party were giving them as wide a berth as possible, though they were still closer to him than they wanted to be. The only person that made direct eye contact with either of them, besides Vanellope, was one of the soldiers from Hero's Duty, what was his name? Kohut, yeah. He was looking at them and—oh. He was looking at them like they needed to be watched. Taffyta sighed.

Heading into the living room to pour himself a glass of punch, King Candy asked over his shoulder, "Having fun yet?"

She caught up with him and muttered, "At least no one's throwing anything at us."

"True." He took a sip of punch, his eyes roving across the room and taking in the other characters. Deanna, Mary, and Ms. Pac-Man had all frozen with, in Deanna's case, her glass of wine raised halfway to her lips. Across the room, Sorceress was whispering to Zangief, who was sitting on the arm of one of the chairs. The only sound in the living room came from the other chair, where the Pong paddles were slowly bouncing a ball between them.

"Don't let me interrupt," King Candy said in a withering tone.

Boink. Boink. Boink. Ms. Pac-Man shifted uneasily on the couch and Mary looked at the ceiling, clearing her throat. Ugh, why did everything have to be like this? Feeling miserable and trying to fight it, Taffyta reached for a cup and the punch ladle, only to yelp when King Candy snatched the little plastic goblet out of her hand. "What was that for?" she demanded.

"You're nine years old, and that isth liberally spiked with rum," he said sternly. "Listen, just because I'm an evil game-jumper doesn't mean I'm going to allow any underage drinking."

There was a noise almost like a snicker, and Taffyta tried to figure out where it had come from. Was Zangief scratching his nose to hide a smile?

"Oh," a voice said behind them, "you're here." Both King Candy and Taffyta turned around. A short man in a blue cardigan and slacks was standing there, swirling his drink around in a martini glass.

King Candy raised an eyebrow. A not-very-nice smile was twitching at his mouth. He may have looked like King Candy at the moment, but that smile was pure Turbo. "Now that is the sort of astute observation that must have gotten you elected mayor of this place, Gene."

"Oh, you're Gene!" Taffyta exclaimed, remembering that Ralph and Felix had said he held the power over whether or not King Candy was allowed into Fix-It Felix, Jr. Considering the disdainful expression on his face, she was surprised he'd agreed to it.

The Nicelander turned his head to look at her, peering down his nose in a way that made her instantly defensive. "I see Turbo's keeping company at his own maturity level. Why Felix insists on inviting children to these things, I'll never understand."

"Probably because they're more fun than you, Gene," Ralph suddenly said, approaching from the kitchen. He had to slouch a little to keep from scraping his head against the ceiling. "Hey, shouldn't you find a target that's more challenging, anyway? Picking on kids and the guy that everyone already hates, that's kind of low-hanging fruit."

Gene rolled his eyes and his mustache twitched. Taffyta was already staring at it—it was so bristly! How had she never paid any attention to this guy? Well, maybe it wasn't much of a mystery; he was exactly the kind of boring, stuffy adult that she ignored, and his tone made her wish King Candy had let her get a drink, only so she could accidentally-on-purpose spill it on his stupid, expensive looking sweater. "Don't you have to like, change your adult diaper or something?" she drawled.

Ralph snorted with laughter and Gene glared, brushing past her and King Candy to go talk to the Nicelanders on the couch. Once he was gone, Ralph said, "Hey, kid, there's some more age-appropriate drinks in the kitchen. You want something? I can make a plate up for you too, if you want."

"What, nothing for me?" King Candy asked.

"You can get your own food, Puffy-Pants," Ralph said cheerfully.

Craning her neck around Ralph's bulk to look towards the kitchen, Taffyta asked, "What's in there?"

Gesturing, Ralph said, "Oh, you know, the usual." Actually, Taffyta didn't know, since she'd never been to a Felix-and-Calhoun party before, but she nodded as though she did. "A bunch of fiddly food you have to eat with a toothpick, and—"

There was a garbled glitching sound, and Vanellope appeared at his side, "And that makes Stinkbrain here look really dainty, like, tea party level dainty. I'm pretty sure you were sticking your pinky out while you were eating that tiny hotdog."

"It's a cocktail sausage," Gene snapped as he made his way past them again, his martini glass now empty.

Ralph winked at Vanellope and Taffyta, then said, "Well? What do you say, you hungry?"

Her stomach growled right at that moment, and Taffyta realized she hadn't eaten all day, except the handfuls of candy she'd grabbed now and then between quarter alerts. With a nod, she followed Ralph, with Vanellope skipping along beside him. To her surprise, King Candy stayed where he was, sipping at his punch and staring around the apartment with hooded eyes.

"Nobody thought you two would show," Ralph said as he grabbed her a plate and started piling food on it. "What do you want, deviled eggs? These pointless, tiny sandwiches? Sushi? Some stale bread with salsa on it?"

Vanellope giggled. "That's bruschetta, Ralph."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I almost broke a tooth on it." He looked over the counter and said, "Here, how about this brie and jam thing, this looks good, ooh, and you need a tiny quiche, and some of this, some of…uh, whatever this is, and here you go." He handed the plate to Taffyta, which was piled high with food and so heavy that she almost dropped it.

"Thanks," she said, standing as still as she could to keep the whole delicate construction from tumbling over. There was an olive teetering on the top of the food tower, and if she moved, it was going to fall for sure. "And duh, of course we'd come. Why did everyone think we wouldn't?" She'd just leave out the fact that King Candy had been…um, strongly opposed.

Vanellope rolled her eyes. "Because Turbutt's an antisocial jerk."

When Taffyta looked at Ralph, pouting, he shrugged and said, "I mean, yeah. That's basically it."

Carefully, Taffyta picked the olive off the food tower she was holding. Did she even like olives? She popped it in her mouth and made a face. Ew, no. Normally she'd just have spit it out, but she forced herself to chew and swallow. Gross, it was like eating an old tire or something. "I don't even get why Felix and Calhoun invited us."

"Me either," Vanellope muttered.

Ralph grabbed a mini quiche from the counter, popped it into his mouth, and then said, "You'll have to ask Felix."

Taffyta looked at King Candy, still standing by himself drinking punch. There was a defiant cast to his eyebrows, like he was just daring anybody to start something with him. Maybe she was the only one who could see that, though. Making sure her plate was balanced, she carefully raised a hand to wave him over.

As he was making his way towards the kitchen, however, Felix intercepted him, smiling brightly like King Candy was exactly the person he wanted to talk to. Maybe he was, Taffyta thought, as she tilted her head and watched King Candy grudgingly engage in the conversation. In the meantime, she looked back to Ralph and Vanellope and said, "I figured it would be good for him to like, have a change of scene."

"Must be nice for you to have something else to do, too," Ralph said.

The pile of food on her plate wobbled and she stared hard at it, as though by sheer force of will she could keep it standing. "Um, not really," she said absently, wondering which piece of food she could extract that wouldn't affect the stability of the structure. "I like Sugar Rush. I don't mind spending most of my time there." The quiche, for sure, she decided. The deviled egg seemed like it was fusing the whole midsection of the food tower together. She pulled the quiche out slowly, holding her breath, and let out a sigh when she successfully removed it. Taking a bite, she said around a mouthful of buttery crust, "But I mean, it's nice Felix and Calhoun invited us. I like parties."

Huh, Felix was still talking to King Candy. Actually, King Candy seemed to be…talking with him? His fingers were fidgeting around his punch cup, but she caught a quick flash of a smile on his face as Felix said, "Remember that time the guys from Asteroids said you weren't much of a racer because all you ever did was drive around an oval track?"

And at that, the nascent smile on King Candy's face turned into a laugh—a genuine, delighted laugh. "I told them to pick the hardest track they could come up with and they chose Pac-Man."

With a chuckle, Felix said, "Boy, were they ever surprised when you raced around that entire level without hitting a single wall."

Taffyta smiled to herself and turned back to the conversation with Ralph and Vanellope. Maybe tonight wasn't going to be the totally awkward, miserable night she'd been afraid it was going to be, after all.