Descent

Back at the Tremaine household, Lady Tremaine and Drizella were still hot under the collar with regards to the recent altercation with Zephyr.

“Ugh, what am I going to do with that kid!?” Lady Tremaine said.

“Let’s kick him out!” Drizella said gleefully, something even Lucifer meowed in assent to.

“Now Drizella you know I can’t do that, at the end of the day Zephyr is a MINOR, and there are certain laws which prohibit me from kicking him out, at least for now.” Lady Tremaine said.

“Darn!” Drizella said angrily.

“Indeed! Things would certainly be much better if he weren’t around here all the time…” Lady Tremaine said.

“But you’re going to have him start working in the cleaning business, won’t that be a fair amount of time that he’s away from home?” Drizella said.

“Yes, but it isn’t enough!” Lady Tremaine said “I need a break from… HIM before I lose my sanity.” However, then, her eyes lit up as she donned an evil smile. “A break… that’s it, give me a second…” she said as she grabbed her phone and began searching online.

“What’re you up to!?” Drizella said.

“Tell me Drizella, what was it you wanted to do more than anything?” Lady Tremaine said dodging the question as she kept searching.

“Marry a rich man and mooch off his income while he’s away and then inherit his estate when he dies and then marry a prince in a love at first sight situation when the ruler of the land spontaneously throws a ball trying to get his son laid er um I mean married?” Drizella said, and Lucifer chuckled at that specific scenario.

“No, not that, though I do respect that ambition.” Lady Tremaine said, “I meant with regards to school.”

“Ohhhh, a semester at sea… right?” Drizella said. “But what does that have to do with anything? You already said we’re too broke to do anything extravagant like that!” Drizella said angrily.

“Yes, I did.” Lady Tremaine said. “But, that was before I thought of something…” she said, still looking up something on her phone, before her eyes lit up as she found what she was looking for. . “Ah, here we are! The Hightanic, a luxury cruise ship with a semester at sea program! Who knew actually listening at Zephyr’s IEP meetings would pay off…”

“Hightanic!?” Drizella said.

“Yes, I assume it’s a mix of high school and Titanic, not a very original name if you ask me….” Lady Tremaine said. “However, what it lacks in originality it does make up for in amenities. It says here they have a movie theater, dances, a shopping mall, fancy restaurants for…. Courtship, AND special stops at different places around!”

“Ooh, sounds promising!” Drizella said getting excited, before losing the excitement quickly. “But who cares mother, this thing probably costs a fortune.”

“Indeed,” Lady Tremaine said, “It does… Which is precisely why WE won’t be paying for it!”

“Huh!” Drizella said.

“I am pretty sure I could ‘convince’ the school district to pay his education fees, if, of course, we mention possibly bringing to light all the times they didn’t do anything when Zephyr made reports about bullying!” Lady Tremaine said.

“But mother, that’s BLACKMAIL.” Drizella said shocked, before chuckling and saying “Now I’m really intrigued!!”

“I taught you well,” Lady Tremaine said, “Either way though, it wouldn’t look good for their reputation if word of this got out, so I’m pretty sure they’d be willing to fork over some serious dough if it would make it all… ‘go away’, so to speak, perhaps even enough to pay for your ticket as well!”

“Are you sure about that?” Drizella said.

“Oh indeed!” Lady Tremaine said, “A potential loss of reputation can be a VERY powerful motivator!”

“Oh mother, you are such a genius.” Drizella said chuckling in glee, before the door opened and Zephyr Breeze walked in.

“Oh look, speak of the devil! It’s the manchild himself! “Drizella said.” Guess what, it’s your lucky day! You’re not going to have to do that cleaning business this summer anymore!” Drizella said, smiling gleefully.