Mandy regarded her mom, whom she called “Carol” both to others and to her face, more as a peer than a parent, which seemed to reinforce Carol’s conviction that she was staying young and hip enough to truly understand and relate to her teenage daughter, proving her a successful mother according to some distorted, baby-boom generation ideal of parenthood. Preoccupied with advancing her career selling insurance and with salvaging some romance while she was still a young 35 and unquestionably attractive, Carol left Mandy to do pretty much as she pleased.
Mandy was spoiled rotten and presumed that she would never be denied anything she wanted. She had learned at an early age that any resistance by an adult, especially an adult male, could be overcome by coquettish entreaties and she became a habitual flirt and shameless manipulator.