Partly

Mrs. Phuan sent Matt and the others away and went in to deal with Tanya.

Cindi emerged a few minutes later. "She's really fucked up."

"Yeah," Matt managed.

"So, what are we going to do about it?"

"Well, we already have your mom--"

"Yeah, sure. But let's get real. She's treating symptoms here. We need to deal with the core problems."

"Those being?"

Cindi put her fists on her little hips. "That Tanya's dad and Mrs. Fellers have power over us. As long as they pull our strings, we're going to be their puppets. And as long as that happens, Tanya is going to be torn to shreds no matter how many counseling sessions and psych **** she gets."

Sadly, Matt suspected she was right. While bringing Tanya's dad in as an investor had seemed like a brilliant move at the time, and maybe it had been absolutely essential... at least it had seemed to be, it was causing problems. As for Mrs. Fellers, her threats had been awfully convincing.

"Okay, we need to get together. You, me, Karen, Tanya, and April. Tonight. At the pizza place."

Cindi nodded. "Yeah, sounds like a plan. Do you need a ride?"

"I don't think so. I'll call you if I do."

"Okay. Should we shut down the broadcast for the rest of the day?"

"Nah. If we decide to shut it down, later will be fine. If we keep it going, we won't want to get a reputation as unreliable."

"Want to, you know, put on a show?"

Okay, he could use some relief but right now, that wasn't anywhere near the top of his list. Besides...

"You know," he said, "if we did it now, it would just be for dick relief. And I don't want to treat you like a disposable sleeve."

"I... well, I guess I don't mind that so much. I mean, if it means being a good girlfriend."

He kissed her on the lips. "We'll get together and have some real girlfriend/boyfriend time soon, okay. Right now, I've got to think how to get out of this mess."

"You're not the only one with a brain, you know."

He smiled. "Yeah, I know you're the smart one. So, right now I need you to put your brain to work on my problems--"

"Our problems."

"Fine. Put your mind on our problems."

"Uh-oh."

He noticed Cindi was staring over his shoulder.

"Wha--"

A big hand grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him off his chair.

"What the--"

Oh, shit.

He did his best to fake a smile. "Hi, dad."