Amanda watched in fascination as Barb was called over to where her mother was sitting with Julian and Sarah, an unmistakable gleam present in her mother's eyes as the gears in her mind were no doubt in motion. A few words later Barb was walking a slightly bewildered but utterly coerced Sarah down the hall in the opposite direction and Sharon was staring hungrily at her now isolated prey. In only a moment they had slinked away from the party and disappeared into one of the rooms in the hallways opposite the one that Sarah had gone down with Barb.

Amanda wasn't a moron, and these 'diversions' that were being...