Nicole was Sherri’s first victim. Sherri turned to her and in no uncertain terms (there’s some dispute about exactly what she said, which is why we are merely summarizing for you now) told her what a shitty thing it was to leave Katie and Morgan out of Riley’s Boda Borg birthday party.

Nicole has that fair skin that hides neither shame nor alcohol, and almost immediately she reddened. She looked to some of us for backup, but nobody came to her defense. The next day some of us regretted that. But at the time, we were all too shocked. Seriously, Sherri Griffin had never been anything but unassuming and pleasant. Meek, you would have called her. Milquetoast, if you were being fancy, but we weren’t typically that fancy.

After she had dispensed with Nicole, Sherri turned her attention to Dawn, and let loose on her for her telling everyone she’d been crawling around on the Laundromat floor at the beginning of the summer. How Sherri heard about that we do not know. That story had been told to just a few of us, in private.

After the evisceration of Dawn, Sherri set her teeth into Tammy. Not literally. But it felt like it. Her beef with Tammy had to do with an Instagram photo Tammy’s daughter, Casey, had posted at a sleepover, when she’d tagged Katie even though she wasn’t there—she hadn’t been invited.

“Terrible,” we all agreed later, hoping our daughters hadn’t been guilty of the same shortcoming. “Real mean-girl stuff.” We made mental notes to go home later and check Instagram accounts. And if we’re being completely honest, Tammy doesn’t always have the best judgment with that sort of thing herself. Sometimes, like mother like daughter.

When that was done, some of us slunk into the shadows, where the lights didn’t reach, lest we were next. As it turned out, no single person was next. Sherri Griffin was addressing the whole group. She tossed her blond hair (definitely Shanti, we decided, probably that new stylist who had been brought in to do only color) and said, “Here’s what we’re going to do, ladies.”

Even the bartender was listening.