Kyle closed the door to the den so he could open up and start to tell his plan to his daughter. Nancy was still fuming about being called a bitch. This was ironic for people who used that word with misogynistic intentions would point out that her immature behavior about still being mad was proof she was one. Linda just wanted to get this talking to over with.

Nancy showed her disapproval of her dad agreeing with her mom “Dad just get this straight, no one, and I mean no one, can call me a bitch.”

Kyle laughed because he knew her reaction meant everyone believed his ruse. He was still going to get Linda to her prom. That hill he was still willing to die on. He was just waiting at camp until the had more optimal weather conditions to continue the trek to their shared goal.

Nancy hated hearing that laugh and said “This is serious. How dare you laugh about how I was treated.”

“Sorry, Nancy. I was laughing because you really believed what I said.

Rhonda is being a bitch about this, but right now we need we do not need any conflict going on. So,Linda and Nancy leave Ron alone for the next couple of days. Linda make sure that Sam also does not do anything stupid. I have this handled. You will be going to the prom.

I got it so your mom is going to be away for the weekend. I did it by making your mom think I agree with her about the punishment”

Linda did not like all this deception and scheming just so she would get out of being punished. “Dad I do not want me going to the prom to cause trouble between you and Mom.”

“LInda dear, it will not. She is going to be away when it happens and by the time she comes back she will be relaxed and in a great mood. She might be a little mad but it will blow over quickly, for she is smart enough to know that there is nothing she can do.

Your mom will not be mad at you because she knows how huge going to the prom is. She will know that you was not thinking when you went along with what I was planning when I sprung it on you. She knows how good I am at getting my way.

Ron will be mad but so what? Let that bitch cry. How he is treating you is wrong. He will get over it because sooner or later your mom is going to be sick of the divide in the house and not back him“

Hearing how confident her dad was putting her at ease. Plus to her dad, people are as easy to read as a children books. He had to be right. Ron was going to be mad at her away so there would be no long-term damage caused by her dad’s plan. Plus this might help to get her mom to stop backing Ron. She would have to see that nothing bad happened from her daughter going to the prom. Smiling Linda said “You are right dad.”

*************
The next three days there was an eerie peace in the Collive’s home. Ron knew the ceasefire was not the beginning of an armistice but them being in the eye of a hurricane until his dad’s plan was enacted. His mom also had the same gut feeling but was hoping that her family was finally starting to heal. She had to have hope because if not it meant her family as she knew it was over. If her husband did not keep his word how could she be with him?

Kyle and his daughter had a different forecast. They all saw that the storm was over. Kyle thought that there would be a minor fight with his wife, which he would win and then she would start to put pressure on Ron to just get over it. He knew Dawn wanted peace in her household and also a new start to a new day for her family.

Nancy was mad that Linda could not be open with her exciting about the upcoming prom. She was not going to forget this and she was going to make Ron pay. If somehow Linda was wrong her brother should have taken one for the team and let her go. The prom was an important event and Linda should not be hiding to mom about going to it.

Linda saw all the signs of worse is yet to come. How can anything good come from her dad deceiving her mom? He is lying to his own wife. Ron wants nothing to do with her now, how he is going to feel about her after she got what she wanted yet again. She might be mad about Ron but knew why he felt how he felt. Nancy was too antagonistic. She is trying to make Ron out as the villian

Even with all the data making it was sound to come to the conclusion of her going to the prom was not a nig deal, she went along with believing her dad. She had no choice. She put too much into being on his side at the point. This was because she did not think about how her actions affected Ron. Now if she changes and states she does not want to go to the prom she will lose the people who are supporting her and not gain anything.

Sam went along with the plan. The last thing he wanted was to mess up the prom for Linda. He still felt bad about breaking up with her over a lie. How could Ron do that to his own sister? Ron might have it hard being a girl in the wrong body but he needed to not throw his sister under the bus like that. She made up a bad story to keep that private and that was how Ron repaid her? Linda’s boyfriend knew it was only until to Friday night that he had to be neutral to Ron, then he can mess with that brat again.

Friday night came and Ron was in the living room with the rest of his family. His dad forbade him from in his bedroom and informed Ron that if he knew what was good for him he would not call his mom about Linda going to the prom . Kyle liked that it was rubbing it in Ron’s face that he cannot do anything about Linda going to the prom,but that was just pepperoni on the pizza. The main reason Kyle wanted his son downstair was to break Ron’s stubbornness. If his boy had to watch the rest of his family enjoying the build up to the prom that will just make him know that he cannot win.

With Ron being quiet and very withdrawn Kyle thought his plan was working. To Klye they were doing the right thing by the taming of the male shrew. He was wrong on both points. He was wrong on how Ron was feeling and he was doing the right thing to try to break his son. Ron was getting more and more apathetic towards his dad and sisters. He was seeing them more as three people he was in the same room as instead of his family.

The living room was a stage to him and His dad, Nancy, and Linda were merely players. It was amusing to him that they thought they were taming a make shrew. How they were so bad at trying to act natural made Ron find humor in their hubris. The look of pride they had all their faces after giving a weak solique to the audience of one added to his enjoyment. How could they think that those hack lines delivered by hack the actor and actresses were working. If they could read the audience of one they would know that the lack of interaction was from indifference not from defeat.

Ron was finally pulled into the participatory theater by the unannounced special guest star, Sam entering stage front door. Sam was able to still get Ron’s ire because of his arrogance that Ron has a crush on him. The other actor and actress arrogance did not get to him because it was not about how he felt ans Sam’s was. It just got to him that somehow that Linda boyfriend actually thought that if Ron was gay that somehow he would have such bad tatse and like him.

After greeting his main squeeze Sam asked Ron if he was looking forward to tomorrow. Sam thought the question his date with Chole so he said yes to maybe talk about sense into that delusional Sam.

Sam grinning was not the response Ron expected. “I knew you were, but remember you can look but not touch.”

Ron asked “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Kyle did not do anything. He liked his son’s response. Not from Ron standing up for himself but from him falsely believing this was his son last lash out before admitting defeat. This made it so his plan was going to be easy, with Ron not putting up a fight his wife would not either.

“You know seeing me in a tux. If you like me dress like this you are going to love me all dressed up. But remember you are not my type Rhonda.”

“Sam, what the fuck is your mental malfunction? You have to be crazy to think I would like a punk ass like you. I would say a pox on your house but they are all on your face.”

In most cases Ron would have thought that was a low blow and never would have brought it up, but not right now. He wanted to show Sam how repulsive he was to Ron and the truth was not working. He knew how insecure Sam was about the pockmarks on his face from a severe case of acne he had so he used it against him.

Sam was as furious as the five who hung out with Grandmaster Flash and was ready to let his fist show it. Going to the prom be damn, he was not going to let the girl who he was the forbidden fruit of hurt him because her feeling was unrequited. Before Ron’s rage could be shown by him unleashing his fist of fury Linda screamed “Sam, how many times have I told you to stop that.! Now leave, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and I am not going to put up with you making snide remarks at Ron. Why do you keeping saying that Ron has a crush on you when I told you to stop? Just quit bringing it up.”

Nancy took Linda’s question for what it meant, why did Sam think that Ron had a crush on him. Ron took it as Linda wanting Sam not to bring up her lie so there was less of a chance the truth would come out. Ron believed that Linda spread that rumor to her boyfriend to get him back, that was the only reasonable explanation. He could not fathom the truth, that his dad was more concerned about being right than doing the right thing that he would stoop to lying about his son.

Sam was about to tell the truth when he made eye contact with Linda’s dad. He did that unconsciously because Kyle was who he was going to be talking about. That eye contact gave the scheming dad the chance to stop Sam for ruining his plans and shook his head no.. Kyle did not want Linda to know his lie to Sam about Ron. He knew that would make her call off going to the prom. His daughter would feel so bad about how Ron was being treated. Sam understood the nonverbal communication and stayed quiet.

Ron took this chance to just leave the living room. He was not going to stay and see the end of the performance because it was not entertaining anymore. Kyle said where do you think you are going and before Ron could give the obvious answer Linda said “Just let Ron go to his room. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow and I do not need this.”

Kyle listened to his daughter, his work was done, and having Ron around would just give more chances of the unraveling of his tapestry of deceit. He was so close to getting his way and was happy. He did want to get one last dig in on Ron, to kick him when he was down so his son knew to stay down. “Ok, you can go to your room and pout like the bitch you are Rhonda.”

Nancy was trying to figure out why her sister said long day instead of a great day ahead of her. No one uses long to describe the day of their prom. She asked Linda “Don’t you mean great.”

Linda did not even notice that she used long until the question. “Yeah, I meant great. Sorry, I am just a little nervous about the day. It is going to be great.”

Nancy wanted to believe the lie so she did not press anymore. That answer was good enough for her but took it at face value. There was too much to do for Linda’s big day tomorrow. Linda on the other hand even with her audience believing her knew she meant long. She could not shake the feelings tomorrow was going to blow up on her and her two conspirators.