Chapter 3: The Platinum Room
After learning how Eleanor intended to invite the Fentons to a VIP event and not them, Jeremy and Pamela Manson went to the Platinum Room to meet Jeremy's mother. "So, how do you like finally being here?" Ida Manson asked them.
"Wonderful, mother." Jeremy replied with a forced smile.
"You don't look so well, son." Ida commented. "Did the fresh air not agree with you?"
"No!" Jeremy and Pamela quickly answered. Too quickly in Ida's opinion.
"Remember." Ida ordered her son and her daughter-in-law. "The both of you are here as my guests. That means I will be held responsible for everything you do."
"Don't worry, Ida." Pamela tried to reassure her mother-in-law. "We'll be in our best behavior."
"Like that's good enough." Ida muttered and Sam nodded.
-LINE BREAK - COLETTE'S ROOM-
"Kwan, why won't you help me?" Colette asked on the phone. "Don't you want to take my stepsister from Mon Amore?"
"I don't want to force it, Colette." Kwan answered. "They're happy with each other and Fenton treats Star right. Do yourself a favor and get over that obsession with Fenton before you reach a level even Foley won't want anything with you."
"I wouldn't want anything with that techno-geek even if he's the last boy on Earth." Colette declared in outrage.
"You would if he dated Star." Kwan replied and heard Colette hanging up.
-LINE BREAK - PLATINUM ROOM-
While the Mansons were having lunch, they noticed Danny and Star sitting by another table.
Danny, however, nearly fainted when he saw the prices on the menu.
"30 bucks for a salad and that's the cheapest thing here. I know this place is expensive but I didn't realize how much the last time..."Danny said.
"No worries. My mom's one of the top members at the club, and she says that I can use her tab here..."Star said.
"Are you sure that's okay? I don't wanna impose on your mom..."Danny said, looking unsure.
"It's fine. She insisted. Sure, it's one of her attempts to earn brownie points with me, but it works in our favor here..."Star said before taking a sip of her ice tea.
Danny still seemed unsure, but decided to take her word for it. He ordered something that wasn't too expensive compared to the rest of the menu.
Pamela and Jeremy, who were eating lunch here with Ida and Sam, heard this and shook his head.
"A riff-raff like that mooching off Stella's daughter? Despicable..."Pamela said with a head shake.
"Well, gold diggers always look for deep pockets..."Jeremy said, angering Sam.
"Will you two shut up! Danny is NOT a gold digger and Star is smart enough to recognize one..."Sam said at them.
"She's right, now behave you two or you can forget about me using my tab to pay for the bill..."Ida warned.
"But, Mom." Jeremy pleaded.
"No buts, young man!" Ida replied with a tone that made it clear to Jeremy that his mother meant it.
"Pass the salt, please." Sam asked, wanting to break the tension.
"Here it is, Sammykins." Pamela replied as she passed the salt, hoping that manners show was giving the Golden Guild members a good impression.
"Thank you, Mom." Sam said.
"You're welcome, Sammykins." Pamela replied with a sweetness that made Sam want to vomit.
'At least Samantha is behaving.' Jeremy thought and then had an idea. "Samantha, you must be so tired of being with your mother and me all this time." He commented. "How about you go talk to your friend Star?"
"Good idea!" Pamela agreed, figuring out what her husband was planning. "You and Star probably have a lot of girl talk to catch up with and, hopefully, Eleanor Wellington will be impressed with how close you are to Stella's daughter."
"Well, it beats being near you, I guess." Sam muttered and walked away.
'Where did I go wrong?' Ida sadly thought.
Sam then approached Danny and Star. "Hi, Danny. Hi, Star."
"By your expression, I guess your parents sent you here to use me as a way to get them into the Golden Guild." Star said.
"Unfortunately." Sam muttered. "I'm sorry for interrupting your date but I couldn't stand them anymore."
Meanwhile, Pamela saw something that made her decide her husband couldn't have picked up a better time to send Sam after Danny and Star. "Look! Eleanor Wellington is approaching Star and the Fenton boy!"
"Wonderful!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Sam can tell us everything we miss!"
As Jeremy and Pamela watched, Eleanor approached the three teenagers. "So, Sam? How are you holding up?..."Eleanor asked the goth girl.
"Well, I haven't pulled out my hair...yet..."Sam stated.
"And you have to live with your parents..."Eleanor said, unaware that Jeremy and Pamela were eavesdropping their conversation.
They felt offended to hear that.
"How could she say that about us?..."Pamela said, feeling miserable.
"Shush..."Jeremy shushed her, trying to hear more.
"Well, I have some good news if you wanna hear..."Eleanor said.
"Yeah?..."Sam asked.
"I am thinking of extending an invitation to join the Golden Guild..."Eleanor began.
Pamela and Jeremy gasped in a hopeful way, thinking that she was talking about them.
However, what she said next dashed that hope into a million pieces.
"-to your friends, Danny and Stella's daughter..."The head of the country club said.
"For real?..."Sam asked, while her parents dropped their jaws.
"Yes, Estelle...or Star as you call her...is a legacy and I have known her since she was baby and I know that she is a sweet girl and has what it takes to be part of the guild..."Eleanor said with fondness in her tone.
"Danny is also a very nice boy and he's already helped the save club twice, along his family. I think he'd make a perfect new recruit to the guild. Sure, they won't be able to join until they become 18 like with you...but I'm more than happy to add them to the waiting list alongside you..."Eleanor said.
"I see. Well, I'm still thinking about it..."Sam said.
Her parents, however, snuck away and went outside to complain.
"I can't believe it! I understand why Stella's daughter would get an invitation, but how could that little weirdo get invited?!..."Pamela said in anger and jealous.
"Nothing makes sense anymore. People like the Fentons being more liked here than elites like Beatrice Traville or us..."Jeremy whined, feeling jealous.
"Eleanor Wellington doesn't seem to place tradition and money above the rest as this club used to." Pamela said. "We should join another club or start one."
"That's a great idea, Pamela!" Jeremy replied.
Afterwards, they returned to the Platinum Room and rejoined Ida. "Is Sam still talking to Eleanor, Mom?" Jeremy asked his mother.
"Not anymore, Jeremy." Ida answered. "She left right after you did."
"Did she say anything about us after we left?" Pamela desperately asked.
"Ask Sam." Ida ordered back. "She's the one Eleanor was talking to, not me."
"There she is!" Jeremy exclaimed as Sam rejoined them. "Sam, did Eleanor say anything about us?"
"Actually, she asked me to relay a message to you and Mom, Dad." Sam replied.
"What's it, Sammykins?" Pamela eagerly asked.
"She asked me to say the both of you are pathetic jerks who will have to better yourselves a lot to have a chance to regain regular membership." Sam said.
"In that case, maybe we should really start our own country club." Jeremy stated.
"What?" Ida asked with a skeptical tone. "With blackjack and..."
"Mom, don't do that Futurama reference in front of the kid." Jeremy insisted.
"I would say... uh, forget it." Ida replied. "Anyway, where do you hope to get the money to do that?"
"You can be our first member, Ida." Pamela offered. "And I'm sure there'd be other elites who'd be glad to have a Golden Guild they can enter with no need to be charitable."
"I'd rather bequeath everything I own to Sam so she'll have something to fall back on after you and Jeremy drive yourselves bankrupt with that stupid idea." Ida replied.
"Mom, you are the one who insisted on me to do something for a living instead of just depending on the inheritance." Jeremy said.
"I never meant for you to waste that inheritance on some risky business venture, son." Ida argued.
"Jeremy, do you think Eleanor likes the Fentons because they're friends with Mayor Masters?" Pamela asked.
"That would explain things." Jeremy replied, oblivious to how Ida and Sam were rolling their eyes.
"We should talk to him once he returns from wherever he went for his honeymoon." Pamela said, shocking Sam.
"Honeymoon?" Sam asked in confusion.
"Sammykins, he suddenly leaves on vacation and then Affluence Magazine excludes him from their list of most eligible bachelors." Pamela said. "Do the math."
"Ewwwwwwww." Sam replied in disgust.
"Sam, that's not a nice thing to say." Jeremy scolded his daughter. "In fact, you should ask the Fentons what they know about that."
"Honestly, I don't think Vlad Masters would've been so secretive about things as serious as marriage." Sam commented.
"She's right, Jeremy. I doubt a Mayor can keep marriage a secret." Ida added. "Instead of acting upon conspiracy theories, the both of you should enjoy your stay in the Platinum Room while it lasts."
"She's right, Jeremy." Pamela agreed with her mother-in-law. "We must know what the competition has to offer."
Ida was so frustrated by that comment she banged her head on the table.
After they finished lunch, Danny and Star started walking around until they spotted Sam alone. "What's wrong, Sam?" Danny asked.
"You and Star wouldn't believe the crazy idea my parents came up with." Sam commented.
"Are they planning to start their own country club so they can make themselves Golden Guild members?" Star asked.
Sam was shocked that somebody figured that out. "Yeah but I was talking about a crazy theory they had about why Affluence Magazine no longer includes Vlad among the most eligible bachelors." She said. "They suggested Vlad's no longer a bachelor. Can you believe that?"
"Yes." Star answered, surprising Danny and Sam. "Not that Vlad Masters would get married, of course, but I can believe Mr. and Mrs. Manson would think that since they don't know his secrets."
"Makes sense." Danny agreed.
"True." Sam begrudgingly added.
"So, what do we do now?" Danny asked.
"You could phone your parents to see if they'll accept Mrs. Wellington's invitation, Danny-boo." Star suggested.
"Do you think they will?" Danny asked.
"I don't know but I think we should let them know regardless of that." Star answered.
"True but I'm sure they'd only come if there's a ghost..." Danny's reply was interrupted by his ghost sense. "Uh-oh."
"Beware!" The Box Ghost said. "I am the Box Ghost. Feel the fury of my matchbox... of DEATH!" He said and tried to light one of the matches but it didn't work. He tried another match but got the same result. "How can this be? Before coming here, I tried every one of them and all worked."
"Ugh." The three teenagers said. Danny then picked up his Fenton Thermos and sucked the Box ghost inside. "Well, that's a stress reliever."
Unbeknownst to them, a more menancing ghost was approaching them. Said ghost was using a locator to track Danny to the country club. "So, the whelp thinks this place is safe just because Plasmius is facing the consequences of making an enemy out of Puck?" The ghost arrogantly asked. "Well, he's got something else coming."
End chapter
Answer to Guest: I presume the incidents made it to the news. And I'm neither confirming nor denying they're O and K.
Author's Note: Thanks to Flowerprincess11 for helping with this chapter.