"I'm going to miss you so much!" Dream whined.

"Yeah I know," Chloe complained. They were at the airport and Chloe was about to go back to Miami.

"Take care, stay safe, text me when you get there."

"Stop, you're acting like my mom. Well even my mom isn't this overprotective. My grandma."

"Well your mom and grandma both ain't here right now so it's my responsibility to make sure you're going to be okay," Dream crossed her arms.

"Weirdo," Chloe muttered. "Well, I have to go now, I'll text you later," she said.

"Bye," Dream waved, kind of sadly, as Chloe went into the airport with her suitcase.

"Well," Dream's dad said, "We should probably get back."

The ride back home was slightly silent.

"So, what did you and your friends do at the ski resort?" her dad asked, in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Not much." Dream didn't know exactly how to explain to her dad about Francesca, Fatima, and Damon, her near drowning experience, saving the girl who tried to kill her, being tied up by an eight year old in a room with a poisonous snake, or anything else that had happened.

"Did you have fun though?"

"Yeah...sure..." Fun was one way to put it. Another way to describe the vacation was "traumatizing" or something along the lines of that.

"You sound like you didn't enjoy it very much," he frowned.

"No, no, it's nothing like that. It was...great...and...crazy..."

"Crazy, huh? Like what kind of crazy?"

How do you explain to a parent that you almost died on a vacation? Dream wondered.

"Let's just say it involved...a frozen lake, a snake, and another family on vacation."

"I can't see how that would be hectic, although a snake does sound scary. I assume it was fake, and even if it was real, it wasn't poisonous?"

"...Sure..."

There was a moment of rather awkward silence.

"What exactly happened, Dream?"

"Dad, it's a long story. And I'm tired right now."

"As your parent I need to know if you're in any danger."

Dream sighed. This was going to be a long ride home. "We ran into, um, the girl who saved Zac and I last time we got kidnapped," she decided to start there. "And her siblings."

"And?"

"And we found out that their dad is Marc's lawyer. Mr. Baren."

"Really...?"

"And their mom is, ah, Mrs. Woods."

Her dad's expression quickly turned to one of sheer horror. "Dream--"

"Yeah I know. But didn't you think Mr. Baren seemed to hate Mrs. Woods's gut?"

"It's one thing to hate a criminal. It's another thing to have children with one."

"Ehh, well why are you judging?"

"I'm not, continue."

"And Francesca - that's the girl who saved Zac and I - decided she was going to help us with the Lili Robinson case that's coming up, and her sister didn't want to testify against their mom. So, uh, her sister kind of tried to kill me?" Dream tried to brush over the fact lightly. "But Sawyer saved me so all is good. Also later on, she may have almost died so I saved her, and now she's on our side. But we all almost froze to death," again Dream tried to brush over this fact lightly, "But we were saved, but then their little brother, who apparently is a psycho like their mom, tried to lock us in a room with a poisonous snake to kill us. But Francesca saved us. So all is good. Right?" Dream grinned widely at her dad.

For a moment, he just stared into space, occasionally moving the steering wheel or stepping on the gas pedal. His mouth hung open, trying to process what Dream just said.

Then he exploded. "What? Dream, that was three near death experiences. How does any part of you think this is okay?"

"Well, uh..."

"No excuses. You're grounded."

"Grounded? What did I do wrong?"

"You almost died! Three times! Is this some kind of sick joke to you?"

"You're acting like I tried to kill myself three times. I'm not suicidal, okay?" Dream snapped, frustrated.

"Mind your tone of voice," her dad snapped back, equally frustrated.

Dream sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry, it's just I couldn't help anything that happened."

"That is fine, but I expect you'll be twice as careful as you usually are." He sighed. "I knew you shouldn't have gotten yourself involved in this!"

"You said I could testify in court after Mrs. Woods wrongfully sued you and Marc," Dream pointed out.

"You have no idea how much I regret that right now."

"Oh well," Dream said as her dad pulled into the parking lot next to their apartment. "It's still necessary, you know? I mean, Pebblebrook Creek High is shutting down until the Mrs. Woods case is closed."

"Well in that case, you'll be home all the time. No leaving unless I'm with you. You may have friends over but only friends I've met."

"What?" Dream's jaw dropped open. "That's so unfair!"

"It's unfair, but it's also necessary for your safety."

Dream huffed, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

---

A/N

Okay, I can't be the only one who hates Dream's dad more by the second. I mean, how crazy is he?!?!

Dream: Stella! Don't say anything bad about my dad!

Me: *coughing fit* Wait, what now?!

Dream: *crosses arms* Okay, he may be mean, but he's still my dad.

Me: *raises eyebrows*

Dream: Also, you might want to get that cough checked out. Could be COVID.

Me: Yeah, you're so lucky you live in a parallel universe where there's no COVID in 2020-2021... *sighs* I'm too nice to you. You're so rude.

Dream: Rude? Me? Pffffft. I'm sooo nice. Just ask Chloe. Or Savannah. Or Sawyer, or Zac, or Axel, or heck, even Francesca or Fatima.

Me: Well, I'm too lazy to channel Chloe or anyone else right now so I'll just have to deal with you for now lol. Anyways, you'd better brace yourself because I'm punishing you for your rudeness *cue foreshadowing filter* Something's going to happen, Dream. Something badddd.

Dream: *wide eyes* What? No, no, no. I'm so sorry Stella! Please don't let anything bad happen to me!

Me: Too late...

Dream: At least tell me when it's going to happen so I can prepare myself.

Me: During the next update. On Monday :) Stay tuned for that, everyone!

Dream: Don't forget to vote and comment if you want to! So, you know, Stella will be happy and hopefully nothing bad will happen to me.

Me: *cackles insanely* We'll see about that...

Anyways, thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the mini skit I wrote out of boredom XD. Vote, comment, and share if you want to! 

Next update: Monday ;)

💙, Stella Rose